A/N: Hey guys! Couple of things to mention about this chapter!
1: It's the Sasuke Retrieval Arc! Yayayayaya~! Not.
2: Did I mention that the story will sort of stick to canon from now on? Yea, no more high school for our favorite characters because, well, Gaara don't need to go to high school, he's gon be the Kazekage!
3: If anybody happened to like Cat from the last chapter…I apologize in advance.
4: As always I tweaked canon a little bit to fit my preferences. But you guys are okay with it as usual, right?
5: The italicized print in the thought quotations is the overlay of what Miyako (Raccoon) is telling the council, the regular print is her remembering what actually happened and the details that she's not telling them .
Forgive my country speak above. Alright, reviewer appreciation time!
Shyna: Sorry I didn't add you in my last reviewer love session, I was just so pumped to get chapter 13 out that I forgot to add you in! Anyway, is this fast enough for you? I'll try to increase my typing powers to the speed of light! Lol. I also appreciate your love, it has been put in my love box for me to cuddle with when I'm lacking review fuel.
RedX17: You were like my first reviewer for this chapter at like two in the morning. That's what real love is about right there, being so excited for a TWT chapter that you immediately must read it at two in the morning. Much love back to you my friend.
Victor: I know! I'm sure no one saw Miyako's death being faked coming, except me of course, and you we're all so sad. Here comes some Kimimaro vs. Gaara action, from the storyline of Gaara by the by.
REDRydingHood: Miyako says thanks for thinking she's cool and that your squeal of delight warms her insides. Lol.
Flatwaffles29: Interesting concept you've come up with there with the whole Miyako took Gaara's bad and put it inside herself deal. Please don't send yourself to an Asylum, because Chapter 14 is here!
Anyway!
Oh disclaimer!
Disclaimer: You know what SFA wants for Christmas? To own Naruto and also a car, but you know what? She's not getting either of those things because her parents aren't rich and Masashi Kishimoto just won't give up one of the top watched anime's to some crazy college girl.
SFA: Thanks. Fathead. Anyway…
On with the story
Nothing Stays the Same
The councilmembers were busy chatting about Gaara's recent progress this last week, when Raccoon suddenly appeared inside the council room her uniform bloody and her aura radiating anger.
The members were about to berate the girl for her insolence, when she wordlessly threw a white object in the middle of the council table, drawing curious eyes.
It was a bloody Cat mask.
To be specific Cat's bloody Cheshire grinning Cat mask.
"You didn't." The head councilmen gaped, his eyes swinging back and forth between the Cat and Raccoon masks.
"It shouldn't be too hard to find a replacement, she was of average height, 5'5'' I believe, with brown hair, which is common in Suna, her eye color doesn't need to be precise but I'm sure it won't be hard to find someone with brown hair who also has brown eyes-"
"Raccoon I demand explanation, what is the meaning of this?!" The head councilmen interrupted, standing straight up.
"She was warned what would happen if she attempted murder against Sabaku-san again, I only fulfilled my promise."
"Cat attempted to murder Gaara-san? Why?" An elder councilwoman across the room sounded disbelieving.
"Why else? She let her petty opinions and feelings cloud her judgment, and those who take action on that clouded judgment only deserve her punishment, death. I'm just sorry that I couldn't make her feel the pain she caused Sabaku-san."
It didn't matter much that she didn't sound like a professional ANBU right now, nor did it matter that she sounded like Miyako right now, all that mattered was the still seething rage she held for the numerous disbelieving villagers of Sunagakure.
Gaara had not lifted one finger against them, had not said one thing to provoke anger in them, had been doing his hardest to show them his changes, and yet still some chose to remain purposely blind to the monster that they themselves had created who was now trying to prove more than ever that he had overcome the turmoil that they'd caused; that he was actively fighting against the monster inside.
"Why did you not come to us first with this information, you had no right to do as you did to Cat, she is our responsibility and as such should have been dealt with by us-"
"So you could speculate whether she deserved the punishment meant for her or not?! And while you did, she would've struck again and possibly been successful this second time! Do you know how close she was to succeeding? What would've happened had I not been there!"
So angered by the appalled faces of the council was Miyako that she couldn't stand to look at them any longer and so turned to face the wall while she composed herself. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had to yell like that, she couldn't even recall her spats with Baki getting that heated.
"You said to the people of Sunagakure that you would not tolerate any disrespect to any of your candidates, and that included the death of all attempted assassins and so I thought that I was going to be through with arguing with the Council about such matters. The intent in your statement was clear, I would deal with all attempted assassins quietly and out of the public eye. So why are you objecting so harshly when I simply have done as you've asked?"
"The Council does not like to be in the dark Raccoon, you should have informed us of this treachery first, and then we would have gladly handed Cat over to you to be dealt with."
Miyako had since then cooled, and realized that she couldn't very well sit here and argue this topic with the council, they were all stubborn.
"I apologize." She turned and bowed stiffly to the council, "I only struck because I did not want her to gain another opportunity to strike again."
'And because I've hated that rude and vile bitch since the first day I met her.' Those thoughts could stay in her head though.
"What is this about you wanting to replace Cat with an identical woman?" The Head Councilmen inquired as Miyako placed herself back in the line of the council's sight.
"We don't need Sabaku-san thinking that he cannot trust even his own security detail, and so to avoid any nasty consequences that may arise I suggest we keep this death between us and keep Sabaku-san in blissful ignorance."
"Gaara-san is a big boy Raccoon." An elder man snorted somewhere beside her. "I think he already knows that few really trust his intentions."
"I don't doubt that he does, but the suggestion was less for Sabaku-san and more for his siblings." At their confused stares she elaborated with an unseen eye roll. "If Temari-san and Kankuro-san were to find out not only that Cat attempted to betray Sabaku-san but that there was a struggle between Cat and I ending in her death, they'd begin to question the trustworthiness of everyone, me, Weasel, Fox; The Council." She grinned as looks of realization crossed their faces.
"And who knows how they'd react to it? They might not let any of us anywhere near Sabaku-san…ever again."
The Council looked frightful of this outcome and the head councilmen even rubbed his head in agitation with a groan.
"How did this even happen? Please tell me you followed the correct procedures?"
Raccoon sighed as she retold the story.
G/M
'As you know, Sabaku-san did one of his usual walk-arounds again yesterday.'
Gaara, with his siblings flanking his sides and Raccoon walking calming behind him, was making his way slowly around the epicenter of Suna, greeting bizarre shoppers and occasionally lending a hand to those in need of assistance with his own two hands.
'I was of course in the public eye of Gaara's defense, while Cat, Weasel and Fox were in a triangular formation on the rooftops.'
Temari and Kankuro occasionally paused to discuss something with friends sparse among the crowds but rarely left their position for long before rushing back to Gaara's side.
Raccoon of course was keeping a constant vigilant lookout for anyone stupid enough to try and worm their way past the three man defense.
The sun was shining brightly down upon the citizens of Sunagakure, making many watch Gaara's presence from the small overhanging shadows of the booths, but none looked threatening, just wary. This wariness was expected and welcomed for Raccoon, as long as none dared to take threatening action she was just fine with their still lingering distrust.
'It was a mostly peaceful and quiet day, as all the others had been.'
'They're learning, thankfully, at this rate I might become obsolete, not that I mind the thought too much as long as Gaara is safe and happy.'
'Then a man collapsed near Gaara and being as he is now, he immediately rushed forth to help along with his siblings.'
Just as it looked like it was going to be another uneventful day, a man suddenly collapsed near Gaara; sending the team immediately into action.
Raccoon was the only one amongst Gaara and his siblings not surging to understand the sudden collapsing and get the man to a hospital, as she was too busy searching for any possible outside catalysts that could've caused this sudden disturbance.
'I looked for anything suspicious around as they were taking the man to the hospital.'
No one could say that she didn't take her job seriously.
'Then there was a kunai whizzing towards Sabaku-san as he went to take the man away…'
As Gaara was hauling the man up with Kankuro's help, his torso facing the direction of the hospital to tow him away, Raccoon felt the prickling sensation of danger crawl up her spine that translated itself into a fast approaching kunai aimed with direct precision at Gaara's heart.
'I tracked it to Cat's general vicinity and so I figured at first that she must've been fighting an enemy…'
Before the kunai even had a prayer of hitting her precious charge she had fisted it and was tracking its trajectory to…
Cat's appointed rooftop.
'If she knows what's good for her she had better be fighting an enemy.'
Raccoon wasn't stupid, although Cat didn't show it, she obviously had less than fuzzy feelings for Gaara, it had been made obvious the very way she treated he and his siblings and the incident of the announcement of his campaign that had brought that to Raccoon's attention. Unfortunately she didn't have the time to verify if it was or wasn't an enemy, there were too many risks involved now that someone was attacking Gaara to track down whoever it was, she'd have to trust that Fox and Weasel could handle it, that is if they weren't in on it too.
'I didn't apprehend the enemy at that time, because I was still unaware of who it could possibly be and because Sabaku-san was being targeted, again, I was of course responsible for his safety and made sure to watch his back and keep him unaware of these transgressions.'
She followed the swiftly moving sand cloud from the rooftops, although it was floating low enough for the villagers to spot the unconscious man.
Raccoon was pleased to find that Temari and Kankuro were on high alert as they followed on foot, not because they had seen or sensed the kunai, Raccoon had made sure of that, but because that's just the kind of siblings they were becoming.
In her jumps Raccoon saw no hid or hair of the grinning Cheshire Cat, but to be fair she didn't see Weasel or Fox either, and figured that they were also unaware of what had happened in Cat's general vicinity.
'But if Cat was being attacked, why wouldn't they sense it and attempt to apprehend?"
'I was suspicious, but as I said before I had no time to devote to suspicions that had no solid proof, the matter would just have to be dealt with later. And so I followed Sabaku-san to the hospital.'
The man was speedily admitted and Gaara was allowed to go up with him flanked by his siblings though they were not allowed to crowd into the room. Raccoon had to hide a smile from her aura at the genuinely worried face of her master to instead take post outside the man's window and watch for any signs of threat.
It was almost too tranquil as the sun continued to beat down on Suna, as if the real trouble wasn't going to surface until she least expected it, in a form that she least expected it.
Oh how right she was.
'The attempted assassin used another kunai, except this one was different…'
The attempting assassin must've been quite a boring individual to only resort to kunais from afar, and Raccoon couldn't help but sneer behind her mask as she caught the kunai once again skillfully between her fingers.
'They could have at least given me a flurry of kunai to work with, what a poorly trained assassin-'
A sudden hard downward motion of her hand and the sharp pang of a sharp tip entering straight through the flesh just below her collarbone had her reassessing her previous thoughts.
'This kunai seemed to be charged with a jutsu that almost acted like a remote control; the ability to aim your kunai from a certain distance with only a thought it seems.'
The resistance lessened thankfully upon impact to where she could just yank it out with a hiss and wonder idly just where the hell her team was when she needed them taking care of such an important situation.
'They're all going to get an earful when this is over.'
She analyzed the kunai with narrowed eyes. The weapon didn't seem to be special, besides its apparent desire to bury itself into flesh at whatever cost, but aside from this small factor it appeared on the outside to be a normal kunai.
'That means jutsu, but that's where this would-be assassin slips up.'
'I attempted to trace this jutsu and its chakra trail to its owner; did you know every jutsu leaves a chakra trail if only you know what to spot? Nevertheless it wasn't successful.'
Impossible! How did the assassin manage to know of the invisible paths of chakra left from activating a jutsu? Few rarely knew, in fact Raccoon was sure it was a technique only she had the market on exclusively, well besides the Hyuga's, but they cheated with their fancy Kekkai Genkai, although one could argue she cheated by funneling magic to her eyes.
This assassin was earned more credit than Raccoon was begrudgingly willing to give, for they had confused the poor girl by activating spurts of a jutsu in other random places fanning out to cover a section of Suna all in the same vicinity as the trajectory of the kunai.
That, coupled with the fact that she was unable to pursue had her grinding her teeth in frustration.
'And so I resigned myself to blocking all attempts until I could investigate this matter personally.'
Raccoon looked out and blocked all attempts at Gaara's life, a near barrage of kunai coming at her shortly after Gaara had left the man in the care of the hospital, all aimed at the front entrance though she somehow managed to catch and further riddle herself with kunai holes before Gaara could even catch wind.
She knew that three weren't stupid though, as good as she was at hiding the evidence all day, they still eyed her frayed uniform suspiciously and she was sure they were taking note of the fact that she was eyeing everything and everyone with lingering suspicion.
Her paranoia drove her so up the wall that she had even started to question the whole reason this incident started to begin with.
'What if that stupid man had only pretended to suffer from heat stroke just to give the assassin a clear shot at my Gaara? I wouldn't put it past these rotten villagers to stoop to such an uncouth and despicable level. And I have seen neither a hid or hair of my team since this whole ordeal started, surely they cannot be that busy to where they have not noticed the happenings today. I swear if they're in on any part of this they'll all suffer the cold steel of each of these blades multiplied in spades.'
It was actually a relief when the siblings had finally finished their outing and deigned to retire just as the sun was sinking lower on the horizon. Normally she looked forward to night watches where she could watch her Gaara without suspicion, because he knew she was there and therefore did not look upon her as if she was a creeper, but today more pressing matters of slicing this would-be assassin who dared to hurt her Gaara took precedence.
'The siblings dismissed me and I set out to find the culprit of these crimes, after I interrogated my negligent team of course.'
The ANBU facilities seemed empty when Raccoon crept down there, but she knew as well as any trained ANBU that what might look like one thing can always turn out to be another.
She found Fox and Weasel, sans masks, speaking in whispers in a dark corner and would've completely passed them up had she not had such sharp eyes.
"Weasel, Fox!" There really was no reason to shout their names like that, they had already known she was here after all, but she had to vent her frustration some way.
"Raccoon." They greeted simultaneously, bowing shallowly to their superior.
"Would you like to explain what the hell happened today on patrol? Or should I just start assuming the worst?"
Out of the shadows the two men stepped, one with russet brown hair that was cropped close to his head; his young face looking almost boyish if the ripped figure beneath the uniform wasn't enough clarity; a face that Raccoon was glad a mask was kept over 99% of the time if he was always this obvious with his expressions.
The other was a surprisingly blonde man, one of the few she had actually met in her life, though his hair wasn't as sunny as Naruto's or as platinum as Ino's but somewhere in between and styled to be a slicked down version of the blonde Jinchuriki. Thankfully he was much more on guard with his expressions, and so those bright green eyes didn't give anything away.
"We apologize for not coming to your aid, but in truth we were a tad bit…compromised in the decision between duty and loyalty."
Raccoon had a sinking feeling to what that could mean, but it was not a time to be jumping to conclusions, she needed to make absolutely sure that the right person was brought to justice for these heinous crimes.
'The two explained to me that the real culprit was Cat as I had suspected and even explained why.'
By now Raccoon was grinding her teeth in anger, not only at affirming that it was indeed Cat who'd caused all this mischief, but at her other two teammates that would seriously consider choosing their loyalty to their long time teammate over the future Kazekage!
Though when she thought about it rationally if she was faced with a decision of protecting Gaara, regardless of the fact that she was bound to as his genie, verses some important political figure, Gaara would be chosen every time, after all, a political figure could be replaced with another just as charming political figure.
"So then why did you decide to suddenly rat her out?"
Though she understood their reasoning for protecting Cat as her friends, that did not dismiss the fact that she was now on edge with them and was prepared to take them down with Cat should the need arise. They had already proven that Cat was worth protecting even if she broke the law, who's to say the whole conversation they were having wasn't a distraction so that she could do the deed-
"If you two are stalling me here-!" Raccoon suddenly raved at the epiphany, making to scramble out.
"No wait, Raccoon!" Weasel, the brunette, grabbed her arm with a frantic expression, dragging her back to the two much to her anger.
"Weasel I will kill you if you don't let me go this instant!"
"Look," Fox hissed, though his face was still such a calm mask for such an acidic tone. "Sabaku-san and his siblings can handle themselves even if Cat manages to pose a threat to them. Which she doesn't." Fox sighed, rubbing his face once before looking back at Raccoon squarely.
"I know I can't change your mind now, this is just something to tell the council when you inevitably go out and kill Cat in the next hour. By now it should be obvious that the previous incident at the campaign was not an accident. Cat jumped purposely out of the way so that Gaara would be left open, and needless to say that when you reacted so quickly she was surprised and well, angry. To be frank we all were."
"And what exactly are you saying?"
"Raccoon, we're not going to lie, we didn't react as quickly as you on purpose, and we wanted to see if Ren, the assassin, could actually accomplish the task and rid us of having to guard Sabaku-san."
The longer the two talked, the angrier Raccoon got and the angrier Raccoon got the more she just wanted to get the hell out of there and save her precious master from that wicked, spineless-
"And you want me to stay and believe that this isn't a set up because?"
"Because our opinions have changed! We had thought that Sabaku-san hadn't changed at all but Raccoon he's shown us vast improvement!" Weasel defended, and cowered a little when Raccoon snarled at him in disbelief.
"It's true, he's shown us this past week that's he's serious about this, that he really wants to make up for the mistakes of the past. Cat couldn't see what we saw though, and to top it off, when you killed Ren, who also happened to be her boyfriend and number one hater of the Sabaku hater club, she swore vengeance on not only Sabaku-san but you."
"And that explains why the attempted assassin was never taken care of and I couldn't find hid or hair of you two."
"We tried to talk her out of it but she was determined! Believe us Raccoon, we never meant to step on any feelings you might have for Sabaku-san."
Raccoon bristled, because the accusation sounded like he knew more than he should, which put her even more on edge with the two than she was before.
"I've wasted enough time on you two, you're spared, because I gave the same warning to Cat about attempting betrayal like this and because you didn't commit the act with your own two hands I'll allow you to breathe in the same space as Sabaku-san, but if you ever do anything like this again, whether it's covering for the enemy or doing the deed yourself, rest assured that you will find yourselves in an early grave."
'It was easy to find Cat after that, after all the two had basically told me right where she was going to be, and they're just lucky that I apprehended her when I did.'
If anyone heard the grunt of pain from two bodies colliding together, the sleeping village didn't acknowledge it. Raccoon was surprised by even herself that she could still manage the strength to overpower Cat with all the still healing holes in her body. There was no explanation and no talking from the brunette girl as Raccoon dragged her into a dark alley. She had to wonder why it was so easy and quickly found her answer when she noticed that the brunette girl's struggle was weak at best.
"Used up all your damn chakra trying to riddle holes in Sabaku-san, huh?"
The Cheshire masked girl stood up quickly, back against the alley wall that Raccoon had thrown her against.
"I should've known it was you, after all the only one who knew about my ability to see traces of chakra from a jutsu was you, Weasel and Fox, and unfortunately for you Weasel and Fox ratted you out."
"Did you talk this much when you killed the assassin too?"
A kunai buried itself into the flesh right below her collarbone and she fell down gasping and crawling away from the steadily approaching and steadily raging Raccoon.
"Speaking of the assassin," Raccoon went on as if she'd never been interrupted and wasn't emitting an aura that spoke of death to all. "I heard he was your little boyfriend?" She tugged another of the collected kunai from the attempted assassination out of her pouch.
"That's right and you killed him you bitch!" Cat seethed; though she was more worried about crawling someplace out in the open like the end of the alleyway.
Another kunai was lodged into the inside of Cat's inner thigh, who winced but kept pulling herself to the nearest exit as Raccoon languidly followed.
"You should be happy, now the two of you get to be together as you rot in hell." Another kunai was revealed.
"We'll be waiting for you there I guess." Her smart reply awarded her another kunai, this time in the arm because she'd thrown it up to block.
"And I'll kick your asses all over again, but you know what still has me curious?" Another kunai.
"I couldn't care less."
"What has me curious is why you wanted to know so much about Maki Miyako."
"Why should I explain my reasons to you?"
"You don't." Cat couldn't stop the wince that came with having a kunai in your stomach. "But I was just curious to know why you accused her of such things."
"I live to protect my country from people like Sabaku no Gaara and Maki Miyako, monsters running around with human faces that think they can have everyone fooled if they only do a heroic action! But they are nothing without their power, nothing without the people and I had hoped to make the villagers see until this. I praise whoever ended that monster's life!"
She hissed involuntarily as another kunai made another satisfying plunk of burying itself into her shoulder.
"I see, well I've got a secret to tell you, Cat. One last thing to take to the grave."
With that she whipped off her mask dramatically, though most would be confused by the sight of short russet hair had they not known of the piercing purple eyes.
'And then I killed her.'
"I am Maki Miyako." She giggled sadistically, and enjoyed the frightened face of shock before she riddled the rest of Cat's body with magic lances and set her ablaze until she was nothing but ash.
G/M
What Raccoon did not mention was the events that took place during the watch of that night.
As mentioned before Gaara knew of her presence, and she knew that Gaara knew of her presence, leading her to believe that he knew that she knew that he knew of her presence. After all, it wasn't like she was going to great lengths to hide it, Gaara was told from the beginning that his privacy would be miniscule and that his every move would be scrutinized and watching him at night was no exception.
Of course she often conducted the night watches, in fact she always conducted the night watches. Originally they were supposed to switch off duty watches to be fair, but because of a combination of Raccoon's obsession over Gaara's safety and her obsession over, well, Gaara, she had insisted that she take all the night watches, which was just fine with the rest of the team. Now that she thought about it she was glad that she'd insisted so much, for she feared that had she not Cat and her on-again off-again cohorts might've gotten a clearer chance at taking a stab at her master.
Fox and Weasel had offered to take the night watch in her stead, even going so far as to argue that they'd do it to prove their change of heart and overall loyalty to her, but when it all boiled down to why she'd vehemently refused the reason was that she just didn't trust them, not after what they'd just told her, true they'd told her but that didn't change the content of the words or the truths behind them.
She wouldn't allow them within twenty feet of her Gaara without her present.
And so she arrived late that night, exhausted because she'd literally ran to her apartment, had scrubbed herself rushed and raw in ten minutes of the blood, changed and ran all the way back.
True she lived close to the Kazekage mansion, and it was true that the ANBU facilities were fairly close to the Kazekage mansion as well as the council chambers, but that still didn't mean that it didn't take a lot of energy out of a dying person to run around to all those places.
But the important thing was that Gaara noticed all of this. So she was stunned when he'd called out to her in a quiet voice:
"Raccoon?"
She considered ignoring and treating him as an ANBU was supposed to treat their clients, with unwavering silent intimidation, but the urge to speak to her master again, to have his beautiful gruff voice only directed at her, won out over all other reason and so she answered his request, sticking herself to the building side until she was to the right of the window Gaara was standing in front of.
She waited in silent question for the reason he'd call her to his window and meanwhile squashed the fanciful notion that he felt like a midnight tryst while cursing escalating hormones.
"What happened out there today?"
That was something she didn't feel like answering, she knew she would- how could she not? - But she'd rather play dumb for as long as possible before giving in.
At that moment she wished she could just pull a Lion and get away Scott-free with a head tilt, things didn't work that way though, as she was the only one who ever really understood Lion.
"There were bloody holes in your suit and you were a lot tenser than usual…" She must've imagined the subtle soft look he'd given her, because there was just no way that Gaara, at least the one she knew, could muster a soft look.
Her Gaara on the other hand…
"Thank you."
Alright, she had to say something to that, it was only right that he knew how she felt about his appreciation.
"There is no need to thank me, Sabaku-san; I am only doing my job." She might've sounded a little breathless through the monotony she was going for, but only because she felt like a giddy schoolgirl.
"I realize that this is less than suitable, having to protect someone who has failed to protect you, but-"
"Sabaku-san if I may interrupt."
Despite the fact that his face was projecting boredom in the low light of the moon, she could see that self-loathing as it shimmered out in his eyes though the rest of his emotions stayed carefully guarded.
"You may…" He seemed highly hesitant to hear what Raccoon had to say, but the sharp tone she had used to address him had him curious.
"To be frank, I have no opinion of you or what you harbor, though I had heard and still hear the tales of the villagers, whether they are tall or real horrible tales I will never know. You should know that I also do not care, the things that you have done in the past should not be like guillotines hanging over your head for the rest of your future. The past is the past, and if you are willing to change than the people of this country should be willing as well."
"You seem very passionate about such a subject." An offhanded comment, an offhanded comment that had Miyako sweating inside the mask though Raccoon saw it fit screen any reaction she might've had. Luckily Gaara didn't seem at all suspicious as he said it, in fact he almost sounded envious, but envious of what?
Oh how she yearned to talk to Gaara how she used to.
"Your definition of passion is much different than mine then, Sabaku-san."
"I don't think I'm mistaken about this," she almost died of a heart attack when he managed a small wistful smile, "but I wonder what you'll do if I do become Kazekage?"
She wanted so badly to correct his if to a when, but his question sidetracked her. What would she do when Gaara became Kazekage? For once in her life she hadn't thought adequately far enough ahead, only assuming that she would still be his head ANBU until he had no more use of her, but what if he had no more use of her in the near future? Where would she go then?
"My feelings will not change," she assured him in the most bored voice she could muster. "I will still be loyal to my country…and as a consequence you, until I meet my time."
She had to consciously twist the order of those points; though her mind screamed at her instinctively that Gaara always came first and country second, if it rarely ever mattered at all.
"Good." His face was back to its hard masking ways, but she wasn't his servant for nothing, she could detect the grateful calm underneath the serious overlay of his eyes.
"Goodnight Raccoon." And then he was gone from the window, leaving Raccoon to stare after in dumb suspension.
"Goodnight Sabaku-san." She finally choked out before crawling herself back to her post.
G/M
Despite the wariness felt by the council at Raccoon's somewhat abrupt actions, Cat was replaced with almost an exact replica- Fox and Weasel insisted that the new Cat wasn't even remotely the same to the last, but Raccoon's stares communicated to them that not only did she not care what they thought about the situation but that she actually preferred that Cat was different- in height and hair color to the original Cat.
The Sabaku siblings didn't notice, although she could feel Gaara's curiosity at the slight change of the atmosphere of the room every time Cat was around. Raccoon gave silent death glares to all council members and especially her team to keep their mouths shut.
They couldn't really dwell on it too long, for the council quickly got them a distraction only a week into the replacement.
"Konohagakure is requesting our aid in retrieving an Uchiha Sasuke."
Just that name got everyone in the building's attention; even the eavesdropping passerby's had their interest piqued.
While everyone else was curious Raccoon was only tense, her hand tightening and loosening sporadically on her hidden arm though her face gave nothing away.
Her thoughts were flying around at a mile a minute it seemed, most of them centered around what the hell kind of trouble Sasuke could've put Konoha through now, how it was affecting Naruto, if Sakura had done something stupid like run after him yet, if Kakashi would lead the mission to find him.
'But if they're requesting aid in retrieving him than he must've already made good headway out of the village and they've run into complications. I don't know what kind of complications Sasuke could pose though, if I could kick his ass as weak as I am than a whole village, especially with Naruto's growth, should have no problem hunting and taking down Uchiha.'
"What are the circumstances?" Gaara was in all business mode, every part of him unreadable, though Miyako could guess what he was thinking underneath it all.
'If things went as well as they seemed to between Naruto and Gaara than Gaara's probably only doing this as a favor to the blonde…or perhaps with this sudden defection Gaara sees a little bit of himself in Sasuke? He always did say something about how he and Sasuke were more alike.'
She still couldn't put her finger on what could've prompted Konoha to ask for Suna's help…much less in catching Sasuke. She realized that Suna was obviously making some sort of peace treaty with Konoha and in conjunction helping out in any way that they could, but why was Sasuke giving them so much trouble?
"It appears that they had sent out a retrieval squad consisting of Nara Shikamaru as the captain, Akimichi Chouji, Hyuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto, but that they were all apprehended in their pursuit of Sasuke by one of Orochimaru's cohorts."
'That's why. Orochimaru must've had some sort of chat with Sasuke that further convinced him to come join him, although I can't imagine how convincing he really could have been considering the rumors of how freakin scary he looks.'
"And what is our objective?" Temari voiced from her position by Gaara's side.
"You three, upon choosing to accept the mission, must provide assistance to any of the retrieval squad needing aid."
"And what about the capture of the Uchiha?" Kankuro finished in a grunt in tandem with his sister.
"As Uzumaki Naruto has currently not reported any injury or deterrent in reaching the Uchiha it will be left up to him to retrieve and bring Uchiha-san back."
"Do not call him Uchiha-san, he is not worthy of such a title with this sort of betrayal against his best friend." Gaara grumbled just short of hissing.
'So that answers that question of how he feels about this whole situation, but I had thought he'd be just a little more understanding…though in hindsight I suppose that if he's not giving his own self a break on a life he couldn't very well control, why would he give Sasuke one for something that he could?' Raccoon did not fidget despite her thoughts and patiently a waited what she was to do for this impromptu mission.
"You each have your assignments and time is of the essence; so I suggest you start packing immediately and gather at the gates as soon as you can."
Raccoon reigned in her alarm very well as the siblings took off to start their grand adventure to Konoha, but as soon as they were out of sensing and hearing range she let the council have it.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She barked, uncharacteristic of the old Miyako, but very characteristic of the new Miyako/Raccoon. It was a necessary change, at least that's what she kept telling herself.
"What is your concern, Raccoon?" It was only lucky for her that the council interpreted her lack of respect as what it truly was, overprotectiveness of Gaara.
"You didn't mention me at all, is there a reason for that?" Of course it was a rhetorical question, because no matter what crap reason they came up with it would still set her off into a frenzy of anger, and no matter what they threatened her with they'd never managed to convince her not to follow, because they didn't know she'd follow Gaara to the ends of the earth.
"The Council sees no reason for you to accompany the siblings, they are capable Shinobi they can certainly take care of a few of Orochimaru's men. They don't need our constant supervision, we do not completely distrust them and Gaara has proven his worth in this last month."
"No one is disputing that," she wondered vaguely how much trouble she would be in if she just left without their permission, surely it didn't take that much magic to make them conveniently forget one tiny little transgression… "But I hardly see sending them to the place we senselessly attacked a month ago without at least one guard posted as safe."
"What do you think is going to happen?"
Oh how she hated when people belittled her concerns, especially her concerns about Gaara's safety, it's like they didn't comprehend the obvious things.
"I would wager that Sabaku-san is more likely to be attacked in Konoha during this mission, because he's going to a place where he nearly killed thousands of villagers." She resisted the urge to mimic their voices and speak down to them, and then they'd know what it felt like to be belittled.
"I would hardly think so, Raccoon, the ninja of Konoha understand the situation they will take Gaara's safety into their own hands and we feel that they are perfectly capable."
Raccoon didn't doubt that they were, but that still didn't alleviate the strange strangling sensation developing in her heart. Since she doubted it was heart attack, yet, she would have to guess that the thought of leaving Gaara behind was causing it. Could one build up to a heart attack?
"So that's it? You're just going to leave our potential future Kazekage in the hands of some other nation's ninja? I understand that you want to make Sabaku-san feel as though he's the big boy that he is, but even he has to understand that he is far too valuable a resource to just be arbitrarily handed over and cared for by skeptical and still possible enemy ninja."
And she certainly did not care if her voice sounded far too mocking at that point to be speaking to the council, if they didn't give her clearance to at least meet the siblings in Konoha for their trip back; she would do far worse than bruise their pride.
"So it's wrong to instill a little bit of trust in the Konoha ninja, is that what you're saying?"
"You want to instill trust in a former enemy nation after only a month when it took you just as long to stop looking at Sabaku-san as if he were a monster? You won't even decrease his security yet around the village, but you want to send some sort of message to both he and Konoha now that you trust the two of them? What makes you think that Konoha won't bat an eyelash to send an assassin after Sabaku-san during his stay there? You can't trust that nothing will happen to him, and that's why you need me there to make sure." 'Because that's what you hired me for.' She thought in her head while mentally rolling her eyes.
The council still looked skeptical, which only increased the strangling feeling in her chest and her desire to strangle them.
"And what will it possibly say to Sabaku-san if there's no guard there to meet him in Konoha to ensure a safe trip back? I can imagine that he might think that his country has abandoned him in his time to cement relations between fighting lands, and you wouldn't want a furious Sabaku-san, or perhaps Sabaku-sans is more appropriate."
Now she was playing low, and lying, but she was good at lying, she'd been doing it since Gaara had sporadically shoved her out the lamp and even eons before so she had a sort of mastery over it. The truth was that the siblings would probably like to have fewer guards around and be free to breathe; in fact they may not even notice her absence, but the fact was she needed to be there for her own sanity. She should at least keep that intact, she wasn't much use to Gaara dying and insane.
Nevertheless that got the Council onboard quickly, apparently dealing with Temari is terrifying to them as well, and she was instructed that she should only travel to Konoha and not interfere with any battles taking place, aka make her scarce.
As they dismissed the four of them Raccoon finally let out the exasperated sigh she'd been holding once out of ear range, a giant duh ringing in her head at the Council's stupidity.
'This is why Kage run villages, because a bunch of uptight farts can't do or remember a damn thing, a Kage would remember that it is an ANBU's job to be scarce. Morons.'
G/M
Of course that didn't mean that Raccoon wasn't going to spy on the battles taking place anyway, besides she deserved to know what was going on just as much as everyone else. Sasuke was her first…and really last, beat down, and she needed to check up on him…to maybe beat him up again.
But if he really was putting up as much trouble as the Council claimed he was than she really shouldn't go anywhere near his royal-pain-in-the-ass-Uchiha. It was only logical that all this fuss must've meant that he'd gotten stronger, which normally wouldn't bother her if she wasn't so much weaker.
Finding Temari's and Kankuro's battles were easy, they were apparently aiding Nara Shikamaru and Inuzuka Kiba respectfully, Kiba she could understand because he'd gotten his ass handed to him by Naruto, although she expected so much better out of him after two months, but Shikamaru just had her plain confused.
'Isn't he supposed to be some sort of genius or something? Just what the hell is he doing, getting himself outsmarted by some Sound ninja girl with pink hair and a swearing problem?'
Even in her head that sounded really spiteful and judgmental, so she just stopped thinking about it and let Temari do her terrifying Wind moves. She'd probably hear the whole story later anyway, Temari kind of liked to gossip, and since Raccoon wasn't really known to spread their personal secrets thus far she made the perfect confidant.
Kankuro was the same, just using his puppets. When did he get that new freaky looking one? Whatever, all the same it was equally terrifying and she left the two to their own devices as well.
Now on to the most important matter, Gaara.
They were in a clearing, and the "they" she observed that it was her beloved master Gaara and Lee, the man he'd severely injured but two months ago…they were getting along strangely well for two people who still hadn't worked out their unspoken problems. Although as she kept looking on that could've been because Lee was wobbling strangely with pink tinted cheeks.
'Is he drunk? What the gizzards? I didn't know Lee drank or fought drunk…I wonder if Gai knows about this? Wait, when was he healed? I thought he'd never be able to pursue a ninja career with his injuries or something like that? Not that I'm not thrilled that he can stand and fight again…'
The blanched guy took her attention away from her distracting thoughts and back to the matter at hand, which was killing the blanched guy, finding Sasuke and dragging his emo-duckbutt-styled-asshat self back home.
'Wait, where is Sasuke? Where is Naruto? Why does that freaky pale guy have a strange protruding exoskeleton as his Kekkai Genkai? I might have to copy that…oh great now I sound like Kakashi, oh great sad memories.'
On another note Lee was really good at blocking bone attacks even in his drunken state, which was mildly amusing, but she wondered when Gaara was going to jump in.
'Good thing he's on the other side of the clearing, with my luck I'd have picked a spot right next to him without even thinking about it.'
She would've cross-analyzed exactly why this was in her spare thought time, but the pale guy decided that it was about time to stop playing with Lee and knocked him down to the ground, intent on finishing him, which is about the time when Gaara showed up, said something to Lee and then to the pale guy and then they commenced in having a ninja stare off.
'What is with ninjas and staring? Is this like the time they use to flashback to important moments leading up to this point in a montage that's only meaningful to them? What am I saying, they're probably strategizing.' That thought seemed much more plausible than the previous.
Gaara started off with a block of the PG's (Pale guys) projectile fingertip bones. What are those called? Who cares, it made Raccoon twitch in annoyance though. Lee tried to run ahead and take the guy on again, but who was he kidding he was bleeding, there was no way reformed Gaara was going to let Lee fight this battle. And he didn't, if his silent forceful tactics of saying "stay behind me" with sand were anything to go by.
'So aggressive, I wonder if he'd be like that in bed...'
The guy tried to shoot his bones again, but Gaara is a no nonsense kind of guy and so his sand danced to intercept him while he danced away.
'Huh. Ninjas are kind of like dancers, except they dance to live… stupid pretty, graceful people.'
PG said something to Gaara that Gaara must've not liked and replied back to, and she saw that he had trapped him with sand and was about to rain more sand upon him to complete his sand burial technique.
'Wow, this is the most he's talked in one sitting in his life, besides when we were six. I wonder if this all works out if I'll ever get him to talk like that again. Or maybe use his mouth for something else…'
Once complete she thought it was over, she would've been glad if it was, but PG apparently had more spring in his step than she thought.
'Wait, how did he survive that? Oh yeah, bones, he probably made another skeleton for himself under his skin or something, I'll just ask Gaara later, these ninja are notorious for explaining their techniques while in battle.'
PG said something, Gaara said nothing and then he just abruptly started making all of these handsigns viciously while a giant sand wall built up and rose into a wave that was much taller than the trees she was hiding behind.
And then she couldn't think anymore because she was too busy running to the other side of the field so she wouldn't be trapped under a suffocating blanket of quicksand.
'I'll bet by the time this is over he'll have sand in places he never knew he could have.' She thought from the safety of a tree well behind Gaara and the chaos he was causing to the natural wilderness of the Konoha forests.
From behind Lee was looking at Gaara but she couldn't see his expression, so she just had to imagine that he was at awe at Gaara's awesome might and the improvement he'd made thus far.
'Alright, if this guy doesn't die inside of this giant suffocating blanket then I don't know what will kill him, so just in case…' She then set to work on finding a weakness of PG as he transformed into an ugly brown dinosaur-thing and ran straight for Gaara.
In the middle of her search she was distracted by Gaara being rammed into, which felt like someone was ramming a stake through her heart. That pale ass guy better just thank his lucky stars that Gaara was wearing sand armor or she'd totally break cover and find some way to kick his butt even if she was dying.
Hey, that's something they had in common, the pale guy and she were both dying it seemed. Well, he was dying from some sort of weird disease and she was dying because she was a coward and feared rejection, but they were still both going at a sluggish pace.
Anyway, while she was out, Gaara had tried Sand burial again it seemed, but that did not work, and tried doing arm cardio exercises before PG hit him, but that did not work either.
'At least he tried, all that cardio has to work somewhere efficiently, if not here maybe in the sack…wait a minute!'
Momentarily she was distracted by the use of the ultimate defense shield that resembled Shukaku, but she'd deal with that irritating problem later, the actual problem now was,
'Where are all these blatant sexual thoughts coming from?! I just thought three in the past ten minutes! And why isn't his ultimate defense a statue of me for crying out loud?! I've been protecting him for practically his whole life! Well, except for seven years of it, but that's more than the actual monster did!'
PG tried to drill through the sand with that super hardened bone of his, but it didn't work of course, and Gaara only had enough chakra for one last move, burying PG under thousands of tons of sand.
'I hope he gets to feel sand in uncomfortable places for the rest of his life, he better suffocate like he's supposed to and never come out from under there.' Raccoon watched with a sigh, relieved that it finally seemed to be over…for the fifth time.
That is until thousands of bones protruded from the earth and Gaara narrowly escaped by using the sand to float above all the chaos.
'What the hell are you doing over there Gaara, you and Lee come here?! Come over here now; don't just hover above the protruding bone structures as if they're magnificent pieces of art!'
It seemed to be over, again, but if Raccoon had learned anything about this guy, it was that he was persistent as they came, hell, he could rival Naruto if he wanted to.
'Well than if he won't die the proper way, by choking on sand, we'll just have to get rid of him the Miyako way, with magic and lots of subtlety.'
The only way to do that was to speed up his sickness and so she made sure to have a suffocating coil around his heart so he could feel the same pain she felt every day and made sure to squeeze generously.
It seemed like this time it was actually over, and just when Lee and Gaara had decided that Gaara was spent and head on over to her side, PG just decided that he would defy her heart squeezing and waste the little oxygen he had left on trying to kill her beloved master.
'OH HELL NO!' She couldn't very well have that, even if it did take a nice sum of the magic she had left to strangle his heart until it was nothing but a shriveled prune.
He died just before the bone could meet Gaara's face, and Raccoon was so happy that she just barely passed out from the combination of joy and utter exhaustion.
For the first time in a while she knew exactly how Gaara felt.
However she had a cover to keep up and barely got away in time for Gaara and Lee to land safely amongst the trees not too far from where she'd vacated, she only got as far as the deeper thicket of the woods before her eyes met their eyelid partners in sweet surrender.
G/M
She woke up in the middle of the Sand Siblings goodbyes to Shikamaru, in her pre-prepared original body that had been previously occupied by a clone completing her assignment for her. The memories were boring at best, except for the part where the three questioned the clone relentlessly about why she was there, and she had made sure that the clone had said little, as did she when goodbyes were exchanged, only bowing politely to Shikamaru as a goodbye even though she really wanted to find Naruto, hug him for a really long time and ask what the hell had went on.
She'd get it from the siblings she supposed.
"Not that we're not thrilled to see you, because we really are if you haven't noticed how tired Gaara is right now, but we really didn't need a babysitter to go to the Leaf Village, they wouldn't have hurt us there."
Raccoon resisted the groan bubbling in her throat to instead shrug noncommittally and answer vaguely.
"The Council worries."
Temari took the answer in stride, and Raccoon was glad to see that she really wasn't at all put off by her sudden unannounced presence.
Raccoon then let Temari chatter on and on about vague details of their mission while Raccoon half-listened, her eyes trained intently up ahead.
She was so intent on what was ahead that she did not even sense or look at the ground, which is why she will forever blame the tree root for tripping her and not her sudden carelessness.
The siblings noted her stumble but said nothing as she quickly righted herself, only giving her strange looks as they continued onwards.
G/M
I'm soooooo sorry! This was supposed to be published like…last year! But with a combination of writer's block, laziness from the long break at home and then general laziness, there is a difference, I literally wrote nothing! I'm ashamed! I will try, really try, to get at least two more chapters out before I have to go back to school, and then the update dates are anyone's guess. No seriously, my schedule is harder this semester and I anticipate a lot of reading and studying, which means zero social life much less fanfic life!
But on to a more interesting note, that last sentence is…foreshadowing! Dun Dun Dun! You'll see by like the 16th chapter what I mean and then by the 18th chapter you will really see what I mean, but until then, you'll just have to wonder! Or guess…I mean it's not that hard I've been saying it for the past…eight chapters.
Anyway, toodles and review if you still love me! I ain't too proud to beg now.
So Funny Acronym