Chapter 12: In the Meantime

The next morning, someone unexpected came to Maya's door. She had been awake for a while, surprised to find her fridge restocked with ingredients, so she made herself cabbage and onigiri with seaweed, eating it slowly. This was Itachi's favorite meal. Sadness came over her thinking that she couldn't make him happy one last time before he died. Maya tilted back in her chair, looking at the ceiling and wondering what Sasuke's favorite food was when a knock made her jolt upright, the legs of the chair back on the ground.

"Coming!" she shouted, wiping her mouth before heading for the door. Team 7 was out on a mission and it was Kakashi who had become the one to get her in the morning, by accident really, but it stuck. With him gone, the white eyes that flashed to her face when the door opened were a pleasant change. "Hinata?"

"H-hello, Maya-san," Hinata greeted with a bow. "Kiba said you wanted to see me soon and since your team is gone, I thought you might be stuck here…"

"You're so thoughtful! But don't call me so formally," she scolded, switching tones. Then she grinned happily, glad the Hyuga girl had stopped by. "Even though they're not my team, I really wish they were. They're great people… Especially Naruto, huh?"

Red tinged Hinata's cheeks. "Th-that's not…"

"Don't worry, I won't tell," Maya promised, about to wink when she caught herself. This scene strangely reminded her of something… What was it? Oh, that day in camp when Suigetsu said the same thing to her about Sasuke. It wasn't true that she was looking at Sasuke romantically, but his implication had been enough to make her blush, just as Hinata was now. She waved a hand, saying, "Anyway, did you have anything in mind?"

"No," she admitted shyly. "I'm sorry, I just sort of wanted to see you."

Maya blinked, stunned. Really? Her switch was off so she couldn't tell exactly what the dark-haired girl meant, but it made her happy. "That's perfect. I'm really glad you came by," she smiled. "Do you have anything you have to do today? If it's alright for me to tag along, I would."

She shook her head. "Just training with my team in an hour. Normally we train separately, but our styles are so different that without Kurenai, our mission was almost a flop." Hinata let out a sigh, looking dejected. "I'm sure I was the weakest link, and I was in the office this morning handing in our report when I heard Kakashi talking about you and nominating you for the next jounin exam. That's amazing, Maya-s… I mean, Maya! He must've seen something incredible in you."

"He thinks too highly of me," Maya laughed. Compliments usually left her feeling awkward but the look of admiration in Hinata's eyes made her feel a bit better about hearing those words coming from her. "You probably thought that I could help you somehow, huh?"

"That's not why I came here, though," she objected quickly and earnestly, leaving Maya no choice but to believe the girl. "That day we met outside Konoha, you were so cheerful even though you were probably really nervous at the time and… and…"

Tilting her head, Maya started to realize something. Hinata was attracted to the sort of person who was the exact opposite of herself. If she was more outspoken, she might not need other people to speak out for her. Maya smiled reassuringly, pushing Hinata out of the doorway so that she could shut the door behind her. "I was really nervous, but I was also excited about all the new things I'd see. Instead of worrying so much about your current state, focus on how it'll feel once you start doing really well," she advised, walking out from the shade of the walkway above. Her long russet colored hair swished in the light breeze, making the sun's heat more bearable.

"Show me the way!"

"To where?" the Hyuga asked in confusion, following the older girl out.

"The place where you three train, of course."

"It's not for another hour."

Maya shrugged. "Maybe I want to check it out first, see what we can do," she said, but really she wanted to watch Hinata without anyone else interfering. Hinata nodding, starting in one direction and making a few turns through buildings before leading them towards a straight path into the woods. As they walked, Maya asked questions about Konoha, stopping in awe when she noticed the face of the mountain with the faces carved into it.

"Whoa, what's that?"

"You didn't see it when you went to see the Hokage-sama?"

"I was looking at my feet," Maya confessed with a laugh, still staring in amazement. "Who are they?"

"The past Hokages." She went on to list them all, explaining each of their stories when Maya eagerly demanded them. By the time she was done, the two of them were sitting on the ground facing each other while Hinata talked. Maya was enchanted by the history behind Konoha, falling back on the ground when it was over, astounded.

"This place is even greater than I thought… My parents became king and queen through pure carnage and fear. But these people truly deserved it… Wow."

"The demon world has a king and queen?" Hinata asked. "And your parents, no less."

"Yeah," she grunted, turning on her side to look at the younger girl. "My mom is still there, wreaking havoc probably. She wouldn't dare come back to the human world because she's ashamed that seven of her tails were sealed by one."

"And your father?"

Maya shut up immediately, standing up abruptly. "We're late."

Trailing behind the girl, Hinata was burning with curiosity. What was wrong with Maya's father that she didn't want to talk about him? But she knew not to press about these sorts of things. After all, thinking of the reason she didn't want to talk about her father, it could be something similar and just as painful, so she let it go until Maya would be ready to talk. Maya paused after a while, remembering that she didn't know the way, and let Hinata take the lead again. When they arrived, Kiba and Shino were both already there.

"Sorry I took so long," apologized Hinata once they were in earshot. Kiba froze and Maya swore that she heard a muffled sound from Shino, but it was hard to tell.

"Is she going to train with us?" Shino was probably looking at Maya when he said that.

"I don't know…" Hinata glanced at the older girl. "Will you?"

Maya shook her head. "I prefer to observe. What do you normally do?"

"Warm up, first," the only girl of the group answered, turning towards the trees. Shino had already moved to his own area and Kiba remained the only one standing still. The large dog next to him whined and nudged his hand, pulling him out of his day dreaming. That was when Maya realized that Kiba was another one of the people she'd met of the Leaf ninjas that day so long ago. She smiled encouragingly at him, but he turned away.

The duo was amazing to watch. Akamaru was truly an incredible animal and his obedience was hard to comprehend. Interested, Maya flicked her switch on, concentrating on Akamaru. There was an intensity burning from him like she'd only ever felt from humans as well as deep intelligence and affection for his owner. The bond the two of them had formed was unbreakable. Her lips curled into a smile at the thought of something that could last forever like that.

"Maya, you look a bit dazed," said a male voice from her side. She jerked her head up, having been focused on Akamaru so much that she didn't notice Kiba approaching her with a water bottle.

"Thanks," she said, taking a long drink. The sun had been beating down on her back, causing sweat to form on her forehead. May wiped it away with a gloved hand, suddenly realizing that she'd been wearing the same clothes for a while now with a frown. Though the village had provided her other essentials so that she didn't need to pay, since she had no money, she wondered who had forgotten about clothing.

"You sure about just watching?" he asked, plopping down next to her, his breathing still labored.

"It's not like I need to keep up on my skills for anything," she sighed.

Kiba snuck a glance at her from the corner of his eye. "I thought you were going to try for jounin," he pointed out.

"Kakashi wants me to," Maya acknowledged, cringing when Hinata fell hard on her back. "Does she always get like that?"

"Like what?"

"Messes up once and then it ruins her morale, so she stops trying hard enough."

Startled, Kiba openly looked at the demon girl. "You already picked up on that?"

She rested her head on her knees which she'd pulled up to her chest. "Why does everyone think it's so strange when I say things like that? Don't you guys have perceptive people here in Konoha?"

"Sure, people like Shikamaru who are geniuses with IQs in the four-digits, but it's amazing when regular people like us are at their level… Or, well, I guess you're not regular," he corrected himself, scratching his head.

Maya lifted her head and glared hard at him. "Stop treating me like I'm so different," she snapped. "I came with these abilities because I'm a demon, but don't I look and act like a human?" Biting her lip, she felt bad seeing the regretful look he had on. She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean that. You're right to treat me like that. I bet that's what everyone else is thinking, too."

"You're probably more human than some of us," he said quietly, turning away from her. With a groan, he got on his feet, knees popping. "Ahh, that felt good."

"Kiba, keep working hard!" she shouted after him.

He stopped, then turned back with a toothy grin and a thumbs up. "Yep! Hey, you two, let's start with…"

Kiba took the lead of the group, instructing them what to start with and she watched as they executed it perfectly. She narrowed her eyes, paying close attention to the way they seemed to leave Akamaru to Kiba and mostly avoid him. It was a weakness in every combination of moves they came up with. All an enemy would have to do is place the dog in a situation that the others wouldn't be able to deal with and bam, they were cut apart. She chewed on her lip, the thought burning a hole in her head until she had to say something. Maya stood up, waving her arms to get their attention.

It was Kiba who rode over on Akamaru's back, since he was the fastest of the group. Panting, he asked, "What's up?"

"The others don't work well with Akamaru, do they? Try and get them used to him instead of jumping around to get out of his way. It makes you guys look clumsy."

He opened his mouth to protest, but a thoughtful look crossed his expression. "You're right, they don't really have their own bond with him… That's great! Thanks a bunch, Maya," he grinned, galloping back to his teammates. Hinata sent her a look of gratitude once Kiba finished explaining which Maya returned by smiling.

They had improved significantly by the end of the day and even Shino pet Akamaru in congratulations for being such a good teammate. Hinata was glowing with pride—she hadn't fallen back, not once, because she had remembered Maya's words and pushed herself to reach the end line. The sun had crept across the sky while they trained, close to sunset. Shino said he had some business to attend to with his clan and so did Kiba, but he offered for them to tag along since it wasn't anything too important, just the birth of some new pups.

Maya instantly lit up. She'd loved looking into Akamaru's mind and finding out how human he was. The idea of more dogs like him was fascinating. "Hinata, let's go, definitely!"

She hesitated. "My father…"

"Screw your father! Puppies!" she exclaimed excitedly, grabbing the younger girl's hands in earnest. Maya was only an inch taller but her lack of shoes compared to Hinata's low-heeled sandals made up for it, resulting in her dark brown eyes looking directly into Hinata's white ones, begging. "Come on, please? I really want to see them. You'll love them, too. They'll be so cute! We had pups born in the demon world, but they were so ugly, I didn't even want to touch them. I saw pictures of these puppies in books and I just wanna hold them and love them and ahh! Please!"

Hinata couldn't help the laugh the escaped her. The animated demon girl was happy, she couldn't refuse. "Okay, okay, let's go," she agreed, "but I have to go within the next hour."

It looked like Maya was about to object, but she grinned wide and nodded. "Yes!" she cried triumphantly.

Kiba smirked. "Want to ride Akamaru with me?"

"Could I?" she gasped, whipping around to Hinata. "Ride behind me, too!"

"I don't think I'll fit. Anyway," she added before Maya could stop her, "I'm sort of afraid of heights."

"Pfft, that's hardly high at all," Maya stated, raising an eyebrow at the Hyuga. She didn't budge. "You're serious?" The dark-haired girl nodded. "Okay, but we'll work on that some other time." Maya walked over to the front of Akamaru and flipped her switch on, petting him affectionately. It was nice to feel his bliss at the feeling of being pet. With a lazy smile on her face, Maya went over to his side and let Kiba pull her up, arms wrapped around the shinobi's waist so that she wouldn't fall off. Hinata was a few paces behind them but she kept up well enough.

They arrived at the Inuzuka veterinary office and Kiba led them in, leaving Akamaru outside for one of his family members to take away.

"Why are you letting him go with that person?" Maya asked, watching Akamaru trotting somewhere with another Inuzuka.

"It's his feeding time," he explained, going up to the receptionist and asking if the puppies had been born yet. They had, so the three of them were allowed in the far back where the mother was finishing cleaning them up. Four little dogs were squealing, toppling over each other to get to their mother's milk. Maya's initial reaction was pure happiness and she stared stupidly at them for a while, just grinning. "You can pick them up, you know…"

Maya shook her head hard. "They're having such a good time! I can't take them away," she said, crouching down to watch them more closely.

"Who's this?" a woman's voice suddenly asked. Maya turned her head to look at a pretty, older woman with her brown hair in a ponytail and the familiar red triangles that were the sign of the Inuzuka clan.

"Nee-chan, this is Maya," he introduced. "And this is my sister, Hana."

She smiled at his sister. "Nice to meet you."

"Did she replace Shino?" she asked in confusion.

"No, she's sort of with Team 7, but they're off on a mission so she tagged along today," Kiba explained. "I told her about the pups and she really wanted to see them."

Maya grinned sheepishly.

Hana returned her smile. "They won't be up and running for another few weeks, so you can come back when they're ready to start playing. At this age they're pretty cute but boring."

"They can hear you!" her brother snapped teasingly.

She laughed. "I'll see you later. The triplets and I are going out for a bit."

"Sure." He turned to Hinata when his sister had left. "It's a long way back to the Hyuga household and the sun's about to disappear. Should I take you home?"

"But Maya needs someone to…"

"I'll take her back, but I can't let a girl go home on her own," he said. "You don't mind leaving the pups, right?" The question was directed at Maya who shook her head.

"Nah, I'll come see them again when they can walk."

"Then it's settled. Come on, Hinata." Kiba found Akamaru and Maya rode on his back again, enjoying the feeling of wind through her hair. She closed her eyes, leaning her head on Kiba's back comfortably. Maya flipped the switch on to check that they weren't too heavy for Akamaru and they were, but he seemed to take it as a challenge so she turned the switch back off. When they arrived in front of the Hyuga's home, Hinata's father was waiting on the steps. He stood up intimidatingly, grabbing his daughter by the arm when she walked up to him, ready to apologize.

"Where have you been?" he accused. "It's already dark!"

"Tr-training," she stuttered, looking away.

Unhappy with Hiashi's behavior, Maya slid off Akamaru's back, ignoring Kiba's warning to stay out of it. She walked right up to Hiashi and bowed deeply, rising back up with a soft smile on her face. "Please forgive Hinata, it was I who held her back. She was so helpful in training me that I didn't want her to come home yet, but she insisted."

"You were training a demon? What about working on yourself?" he snapped, letting go of his daughter roughly.

"Sir, I believe you're thinking of the wrong person," she said politely. "I'm clearly human. And the reason I came to Hinata was because of the way she flawlessly beat that guy, over there." Maya jerked a thumb over her shoulder in Kiba's direction. A spark of pride appeared in Hiashi's eyes.

"Is that so?" he mused. "Well, nevertheless, you missed dinner. Get inside, Hinata. Thank you for bringing her home."

Hinata looked back at the demon girl, mouthing the words, "Thank you," before the door shut and cut them off from each other. Maya blew a raspberry angrily at the closed door, storming back to Akamaru and kissing him on the nose. He licked her face reassuring, allowing her to smile again, but she was still annoyed when she let Kiba pull her up on the dog's back.

"That was a bold move," he allowed, "but did you have to say that she beat me?"

"Is he always like that?" Maya snapped, ignoring his hurt ego.

"I guess so," Kiba shrugged. "She was the heiress but he felt that she was a failure so he passed that duty on to her younger sister, Hanabi."

"I know that! But to be so blatantly rude like that for no reason… Hinata doesn't deserve someone like that," she determined resolutely.

"You're right, but there's nothing we can do."

"We can train her." Maya's eyes sparkled. "Make her so strong that her father will feel like he made a huge mistake, and then she won't take his offer to be the heiress again and he'll drown in his misery night after night, reliving the day he denied his own daughter!"

"…that sounds sinister," laughed Kiba.

"I'm serious," she pouted, removing her arms from around him.

"Hey, hold on, or you'll—"

Feeling herself tilt, Maya grabbed onto his shirt in a panic, but it ended up making them both fall to the ground. Maya skinned her knee hard, cursing her pants that ended right above them. Kiba only grazed his palms a little, swearing when he noticed the gash on Maya's knee.

"Jeez, Maya, you're bleeding a lot!" he exclaimed in surprise. He didn't think they'd fallen that hard. Akamaru nudged him to the side, licking Maya's wound a few times. When he sat back, it was already closing, leaving Kiba speechless. "I heard what they said about dog saliva, but man…"

"It's my demon powers," Maya said, stifling a laugh. "You're so gullible."

Kiba quickly stood up, brushing himself off. "Shut up," he grumbled, hopping back onto Akamaru. "Will you hold on this time?"

"Yeah," she laughed, amused by his embarrassment.

"Actually, the two of them are getting along better lately. I wonder what made him so agitated," Kiba said, thinking aloud. Maya hoped that he was right and that it wasn't such a constant burden on her like she'd briefly seen in Hinata's mind. "Maybe something's stirring in Konoha? I heard that there was some sort of disagreement between the elders and Tsunade."

"A disagreement?" That caught her interest.

"You heard about Danzou's short time as Hokage, right? Well, it looks like he was furious about being kicked out of the position so quickly. I overheard on the streets about people getting pulled from odd jobs on his special team back to their headquarters," Kiba went on. His hands gripped Akamaru's fur tighter. "I hope it's nothing. Konoha doesn't need any more trouble."

"Who is Tsunade going to leave in charge when she goes to the Summit of the Five Kages?" she asked quietly, worrying building up in her.

"I don't know, but I sure hope it's not him."

"Me too," Maya agreed. Hearing the stories of the four Hokage's faces etched into the mountain, despite the fact that she didn't know Danzou, everyone's weariness of him told her that he didn't deserve his face to be carved next to the others'. A Hokage was someone strong, reliable, and someone people looked up to. She'd met Tsunade once, but every one of those qualities fit her. She had risked her life to save Konoha from Pain's destruction.

"I'm still sorry for earlier," he said after a while. The Hyuga household had taken them all the way across the village, completely opposite from where Maya was allowed. She and Sasuke broke their boundaries left and right but hopefully, the Hokage and council members could overlook that because she wasn't doing anyone harm. Or they could just not know… The road was long, so Kiba tried to fill it with conversation.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just a little more anxious than the average person about fitting in."

"More anxious than Sasuke?"

"Probably," she remarked, thinking. "I mean, he's familiar with this place and everyone. He just needs to work on trust. I need to work on proving myself, which is another matter entirely."

"You're fine," he assured. "Everyone likes you already."

Maya snorted.

"It's true!" Kiba countered seriously. "The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were something special."

"Different," she corrected sharply.

"Special," he shot back, his tone firm and leaving no room for argument. "Different, maybe, but definitely special. Understand? You're just like Hinata. Maybe you should both train and become strong enough to make her father regret treating her that way."

"How would my training help that?" she asked with a laugh.

Kiba shrugged, glad that he'd gotten her a little more cheerful. "Anyway, we're almost there. Sure you'll be alright by yourself?"

The demon girl didn't answer until they were in front of the housing building. Under the walkway, it was just as dark as the night before, no light shining until you were at a certain angle to catch a glimpse of the street light. She held her breath, remembering Sasuke's strange actions last night. She wondered if he was okay, a little dazed just from recalling the events.

"Maya?"

She snapped out of it, sliding off the side of Akamaru and petting him one final time before smiling up at Kiba. It felt fake. "I've slept by myself for many years now, Kiba," she said smartly.

He didn't buy her act. "You look pale."

"How can you tell when I'm lit up by moonlight?" Maya inquired, referring to the fact that only the moon gave any source of light at all.

"Because I've trained my eyes to see in the dark. If something's off, Maya, you can tell me."

"Just a bunch of petty worries," she said, running a hand through her russet hair. Maya pushed her bangs back, looking up at Kiba. She could see better without the messy bangs in her face. Hinata's straight-cut ones had seemed much more manageable. "Good night."

"Good night."

She watched Akamaru's tail until it disappeared around a corner. A cold, lonely feeling overcame her. In Konoha, she was basically a prisoner, unwanted. She felt safer with Sasuke around, but he was miles away on an important mission to deliver messages to the five Kages. The summit, she assumed, was about the issue of Akatsuki and the threat they pose to every hidden village. He was with his friends and old teacher while Maya was making new, strained connections with people she might not even see very often. It was tiring. She wanted her team back.

They're not your team, she reminded herself, resulting in an even lonelier feeling. Maya turned towards the cliff face where the past Hokage's faces were even though it was blocked by her building and closed her eyes. Please give us the strength to get through this.

Opening her eyes, Maya walked into her apartment and undressed, going to sleep without any clothes for two reasons. One, she didn't have any pajamas, and two, even at night her apartment was hot. That night, her dreams were filled with images of the four Team 7 members wandering around in snow wearing brown cloaks. It felt so real that when Maya woke up in the middle of the night, she was shivering. She'd kicked her blanket off in her sleep, so she rolled to the side of the bed to pick it off the ground. She wrapped herself up in it once more, curling into a ball. Why was it so cold now?

When she started dreaming again, it was Itachi that she dreamed of. Sasuke's memories had flowed into her as well at the time when he used to mangekyou sharingan. She relived the moments Sasuke had with his older brother so many times that it was almost torture. To see those sweet, unsuspecting faces that would turn cold, hard glares. They had no idea what fate awaited them. The second time Maya woke up, there was sunlight outside and someone was knocking at the door, but she didn't answer.

"That was so boring!" complained Naruto upon finishing their mission. "Why the hell did we go so fast? We're already done and it's only the third day."

"Be glad that nothing awful happened," Sakura snapped, annoyed with the heat beating down her back as they walked from Suna back to Konoha. "Actually, it probably wasn't so boring for Sasuke-kun, so put a lid on it."

Sasuke didn't acknowledge that he'd heard the pink-haired kunoichi, but she was absolutely right. He'd spent each visit struggling to convince people that he wasn't going to attack them. Apparently, he was a known criminal even as far as the land of the samurais who were wary of him despite being completely peaceful. It wasn't so much his struggle as it was Naruto and Sakura's, because he didn't say much to stand up for himself, but he felt every emotion nonetheless. Their blatant cautiousness around him reminded him that even in his home village there was work to do in order to blend in again. Then again, as an Uchiha, he never blended in much in the first place.

"Once we get to the woods, we'll make camp since the sun will have gone down by then. We'll make the home stretch in the morning," Kakashi told his team.

For the next few hours, they didn't talk much. It was hot and no one was happy with their situation, except maybe Naruto who would occasionally talk about how it was still weird that Gaara was Kazekage and other useless things. Sakura answered him sometimes, mostly to tell him to shut up. Kakashi found their antics amusing, relieved when Sasuke mentioned a few words. He'd been anticipating the Uchiha boy to hole up inside himself again, but it was good to see that he wasn't too affected by the mission's events. And with his return, his life could go back to normal.

They reached the forest, setting up camp swiftly as only finely-tuned ninjas could. Naruto stood with his hands on his hips, looking proudly at their handiwork. "That was the fastest I've ever set up camp before," he said with a grin.

"We're tired," Sasuke commented dryly.

Sakura almost laughed at his blunt honesty but kept it in check, crawling into her sleeping bag. She was the first asleep, followed by Naruto, then surprisingly Sasuke. Kakashi stayed awake a bit longer to make sure that no one was in the area. Feeling a presence, he snuck out of camp. Even though everyone was already asleep, he knew that they'd pulled a fast one over him before and faked it, waiting for him to sleep first so they could go off and do their own thing or whatever. Keeping his back to a tree, he rounded it, startled by the masked face that was inches from his.

"Hello, my name is Tobi, what's yours?"

AN: I probably should've mentioned it in the last chapter; sorry to confuse. xD I went back and morphed a few of the first chapters together to make longer chapters since they were so short in comparison to the newer ones, so the chapters went about three back, and they now have titles. I've got 13, 14, and 15 written. I post the next chapter whenever I get a review on the last one. Otherwise I won't know that people want to continue reading. :P

There you have it! Explanation of the weird changes. Anyway, I'd like to hear thoughts. Kiba/Maya or Sasuke/Maya? Because Kiba definitely likes her, but I don't know if I want Maya to just be there to support Sasuke, or something more... I'd like romance between then buuuuut maybe she fits better with Kiba in the end? I don't know. Let me know!