Author's Note

You might notice a small change from this chapter onward ;) I already have the next chapter complete so I will take my time and edit it this time, and I am about halfway done with the chapter after that. This book still has a ways to go before the next part hits, so I still have a lot of work ahead of me. Going to try and get a few more chapters done before I start working on part 2 of Inheritants. I still want to have all three parts of 'Mark of the One' done before the end of the year. A hefty goal considering I haven't finished the second part yet, but hey, I am ambitious and I finally am getting my writing mojo back hehe.

As always, reviews/comments serve to inspire. 3

Kisarei

I felt both heavy and light at the same time. I hadn't bothered moving. I wasn't sure when I had fallen asleep after removing my bandages, but the sun filtered through the windows of the room, so I must have slept the night through. I took a deep breath. I hadn't finished reading through the file yet, and there were a few more pages to look through after my certificate of citizenship. I wasn't sure what else there would be, but now seemed as good a time as anything to look through it. While I had time and had to wait. Wait for something to happen. Wait for Gaara. Wait for my precious daughter. My heart thudded in my chest. I was going to meet her.

What will she look like? She was what, two, three months old now? Did she have hair? What color are her eyes? I smiled. My baby, I was going to hold her. In my arms. I could have her. Any doubt of me loving her vanished with the thought. How could I have thought it? Was all of this worth it? I don't know, but she deserved life. I would never have been able to take that away from her, no matter how good or terrible my own life was.

With a soft sigh I sat up and when I did, something clattered on the floor near the window. My stomach twisted and I turned to see what it was just to find yet another girl I didn't recognize in my room. She stared at me, her eyes wide. "Who in the hell are you?" I was getting sick of surprises.

"You are awake." Her voice hitched, surprised.

Well, that was unexpected. "Yeah, kinda obvious, don't cha think?" I scratched at my head. "You still didn't say who you are."

"Oh." She gave me a half smile. "My name is Yumi."

"Well then Yumi, mind telling me why you're in my room?" I frowned at her. The first girl was let up by Temari, but this girl looked as though she had been caught doing something she shouldn't. She scanned the room and I followed the trail her eyes made and noticed a few drawers were open.

"Um..."

"You could tell me the truth ya know. Also, I wouldn't go through those drawers, they belong to Gaara."

Her eyes focused on me. "That's why I am going through them. I need to find something"

I sighed. "Unless your looking for spares of his outfit or something way more freaking creepy, I wouldn't go through them. Pretty damn pointless." If she replied I didn't notice because I shifted to get to the pillows on the side of the bed. I moved the pillows behind me so I could sit back and one fell to the floor. I groaned. I stared at it a moment, then looked over to the girl. I sighed. "Oh fuck it. You, could you grab that stupid thing? I don't feel like explaining to whoever comes in the room next why I am on the floor."

"I..." She trailed off, then nodded. "Ok." She came closer to the bed then handed me the pillow. "How long you been awake anyway? Shinki never mentioned it."

I frowned as I took the pillow. "You know Shinki?" I set it behind me and leaned back. I studied her this time. "You new on his team or something?"

She shook her head. "I am not a ninja. The families where I am from, who are in the resistance are not allowed to enter any of the academies or recognize."

I studied her a bit closer. Brown hair, sorta plain but pretty eyes. "You his girlfriend then? He's never mentioned you, but then again he is kinda weird like this entire freaking family."

She choked some, her cheeks reddened and she shook her head no. "There's no way. They'd kill me."

"Why would..." I trailed off. Resistance? "What's the resistance?"

She eyed the bed, shrugged then sat down on it, drawing her knee up so she could face me. "You aren't from here are you?"

"Konoha."

"You are a ninja?"

Yes. "No." The word hurt. "My brother was." I swallowed and my shoulders trembled. I am fine. This was fine. Stop being weird about it.

"Was?" Her eyes widened with the question.

"Yeah, was." I took a deep breath. "He was killed in the attack a few months ago. Naruto Uzumaki."

Her look was blank. "Who?"

I stared at her. "Seriously?" Who the heck didn't know the names of all the Kage?

She frowned, raised her shoulders and shook her head. "No idea."

"Wow. That's a new one." I laughed. "Great." I smiled at her, the widest smile I could muster. "I mean that, it's great."

She looked confused and I laughed again.

"Hey, I don't have to live up to him, yeah? He was Konoha's Hokage." I raised my hands and clasped them behind my head. "Seriously though, what's this resistance? I mean, you are shuffling through my husbands things and all."

She looked away from me. "Husband, huh?" She took a deep breath, clenched her fists and looked back to me, her face showing no sign of emotion. "Have you seen a picture of a boy in this room?"

I lowered my hands. "No. The only pictures I've seen is of his family, there aren't really any of him until he was Kazekage." I frowned. "I wonder if there are any floating around out there."

She sighed. "Wonder what he did with it. They are going to kill me."

"Who?"

"My parents. I took the picture hoping I could find some trace of him, but..." She took a breath. "Your husband isn't exactly the nicest guy. Don't know how much they told you about him."

I stared at her. Was she being serious. "You trying to warn me about Gaara?"

She gave a slow nod.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face. This kid was trying to warn me about Gaara. I laughed. I laughed hard, harder than I intended to. I wiped at my eyes to remove the stray tears. "Oh my god, I needed that. You've no idea." I smacked her leg. "I like you. Shinki wants to date you, I will back you guys up. Buffer it out to Gaara, though it would have to be pretty obvious before he notices anything, the poor guy's clueless when it comes to this shit."

There was a look of horror on the girl's face. "You know?"

"It was my brother who knocked sense into him when he was twelve." My smile fell at the memory.

"Knowing about who he is, what he's done, how could you still want to marry him?"

I watched her silently a moment. Why? "The truth?"

She nodded. "My uncle, he disappeared years ago, with thousands of others from Suna. Gaara of the Sand was a plague to this nation, and now everyone follows him blindly, as though nothing happened. We know, we know at every meal, every holiday. There is a giant hole in our district because of him, we got hit the worst because its where he lived. Don't you get it?"

I looked away. I felt sick. Her family was the reason. The people who lived there was the reason. I removed my hand from her thigh. "Don't ask me to sympathize with you. I get loss, I do. Don't think I don't care, but... It's not like you tried to change it. It isn't like any of you tried to prevent him from going bat shit crazy."

"How in the hell could we have?"

I snapped my eyes back to her. "Somebody could have noticed him, cared about him. Show him he was more than just a weapon. Anybody. It only takes one person to save someone from that kind of hell." I leaned forward. I remembered the stares. I remember the words. I remember the disgust, the fear, the hatred. I remembered Iruka saving me from myself. "You have no idea. No idea what it's like living in that kind of state. Why would he care when he thought nobody wanted him to live, when he thought the only reason he was living was to kill?" I grabbed her shoulder when she leaned away from me, her eyes wide. If I had grown up knowing what was inside me, I could easily have become like Gaara. "I won't excuse it. I won't, but you need to understand. Back then, people were faceless insects to him. Pointless. He barely even seen his own siblings as people back then."

Her face held a look of shock. She was silent a moment. She took a breath. "But he remembers him."

I let her go. "That's impossible." I leaned back. "He told me once he never could place a face with anybody he had killed before outside of one. It bothers him, you know." He remembered someone? It didn't seem likely to me.

"He looked shocked, maybe the picture triggered a memory."

Shocked? I bit the inside of my lip, not wanting to drag this out any. Maybe I would ask him about it after he came around again. Talked. Not that we talked much before all this, but... I sighed. "Yeah, maybe." I studied the girl. I didn't even know her, and she was sitting on my bed, talking about my Gaara and... "You never answered what the resistance is."

"A faction of people from Lord Gaara's childhood neighborhood. They will not accept him as their Kazekage, even after all this time. I grew up with the stories, the pictures. I never believed them until a few weeks ago though."

"What happened a few weeks ago?" I frowned. Gaara had been out of it, more so than I had ever seen him before. I wanted to know.

She looked away. "I don't think it's for me to say. He may have shown mercy to me before, but if I were to tell someone, especially one he apparently cares about, I am pretty sure I would end up part of his armor, like many of the people who were lost in Suna."

I frowned at her. "He doesn't carry the people of Suna around as his armor."

She shrugged. "They say he ground their bones until they were part of his sand, a small reminder for him he killed something."

I hummed. It would be dumb of me to forget what Gaara was underneath all that sand. "Yeah, he does that kind of shit."

Her eyes widened and she stared at me. "But-"

I interrupted her before she could finish. "As far as I know he hasn't gone on a Suna killing spree since before he was killed." The words left a bitter taste in my mouth, but they were truthful.

She continued to stare at me. "Wasn't that just some hoax to force the people of Suna to rally behind him?"

My stomach lurched. Hoax? I wrapped my arms around my stomach. "I almost lost him. I did lose him. He was gone for an entire day, you know. I carried around his body for a while. If it weren't for me and Lady Chiyo..." I trailed off. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to contemplate a life without Gaara in it. Out of everyone, I think his loss would be something I couldn't recover from. There were others which hit me hard. Pervy Sage, Neji... But Gaara?

I would probably have joined him, after getting revenge. It was before I cared about not following through, cared about... Why was I telling this to some girl who I didn't know? She could have been lying about knowing Shinki. "If you're part of this resistance thing, why are you even hanging around and meeting with Shinki in the first place?"

"I didn't know who he was when I met him. Where I live is a media free zone." Her lips lifted in a forced smile. "To say the least I was surprised when the Kazekage brought me here because of him."

What in the hell happened while I was out? "Here, as in his house?"

She shook her head. "No, as in here, this room."

"Was I in here?" Gaara brought this girl in here?

"It's why I was a bit surprised you were awake."

While I was in here? I scoffed. "Must trust ya, then."

She looked away and didn't respond to what I said. We sat like this, quietly for a few minutes. I would ask her to leave, but damn. I just wanted the company, even if the company was an intruder. I am so freaking pathetic. A few more minutes passed and the silence was starting to get to me. Even now, after being stuck in a room alone for a while, I couldn't stand the silence. "Does anyone know you've been talking to the son of the Kazekage?"

Her back stiffened. "They can't know." Her voice was tight.

I frowned. "Hey, Yumi, that's your name, right?"

"Yeah." She didn't look back to me.

"Don't let predispositions sway your opinion on him. Shinki's a good kid."

She turned to look at me. "He's different. Kind, I can tell." She frowned. "Does he always get a strange blank expression with you too?"

"Get used to it. Creepy as hell, but yeah. His dad gets it more often than he does, I fear it will only get worse with age." I shuddered. "I get a terrible feeling it will be an inherited thing." I flashed her my widest smile. "Could you imagine an entire house full of kids with that expression? I'm doomed, aren't I?" Kids. Plural. What am I thinking here exactly? My eyes widened as flashed of memory came. Hot breath, skin, the sound of my name whispered on his lips. I swallowed and looked up to the spiral. Where did that come from? I took a deep breath.

"Are you alright?"

I kept my eyes focused on the drawing on the ceiling. "Fine." Another breath as I tried to clear my mind. I closed my eyes. "Just memories."

"Like what?"

I looked down and locked eyes with her. "Everything. You know, I gave up everything I had in order to be here. To have my daughter. Gaara, Shinki, they are my family. They may be a bit dysfunctional and weird, but they are mine. I can tell you like him, I see it in your eyes."

She went to speak and I covered her mouth with my hand. "I will support and back ya if you decide to go for it. He's like his dad, it won't be easy, but it could happen. Also." I leaned in. Threat. This whole resistance thing didn't sound good. He probably left him alone because he already felt he terrorized them enough. "Ever try to harm my family, I will figure out a way to hunt you down. I might have lost my ability to fight, but for as long as I breathe, I won't let anybody hurt my family. Got it?"

Her eyes were wide and she nodded. I let her go. I didn't go through all this just to have some girl use Shinki and destroy it all. She cleared her throat. "I'm not like that. I won't be." She looked away, her eyes holding tears, unfallen. "I'm sorry. I should go." She shoved off from the bed and headed to the door. She paused. "You really gave up everything to follow your heart?" Her hand hovered over the doorknob.

This girl, I had a feeling about her. "Everything." She had no idea by how much.

Her shoulders heaved with a deep breath. "Was it hard?"

I wasn't going to sugar coat it. If I was right in my feeling, this girl was thinking about defecting from her family for whatever her reasons. "The hardest thing I've ever done, and it's saying a hell of a lot, ya know?" I watched Gaara die. I lost the Pervy Sage. I resisted the urge to avenge him. Neji died protecting me and Hinata. I gave in and allowed Hinata to love me. I worked so hard to become and maintain being Hokage I ignored everything else I ever wanted. "You have no idea."

She swallowed, nodded and turned toward the door. She hesitated, then left through it, shutting it without a sound behind her. Yumi.

I couldn't shake the feeling it wouldn't be the last time I would see her.

.*. .*. .*.

"Alright, Gaara has settled on tonight as the time you will see them. He finally is out and moving again, so I agree with him this time." Temari flopped down on the side of my bed, a big smile on her face. "Finally. He is so damn stubborn. I think it will do him good to move past it all, don't you?"

"I..."

"I only have about four days left before I have to head back, so this is perfect. Everything will move along fine, as long as he goes through with it. I told you I was leaving again, didn't I? I just found out today so I wasn't sure." She gave half a laugh, stood up and started to pace next to my bed. "Some kind of leads on the attacks or something."

I nodded. The papers past my name had contained a brief, edited and mostly blacked out report about an attack on a hospital. The time slot coincided within a week of the attack on Konoha and I had a sick feeling it had something to do with me. The attack destroyed most of the hospital, and the casualty count was higher than I wanted to think about. If I were the cause...

"But I'm sure everything is going to go well. It has to go well. Kankuro is pointless to have around at the moment, until he gets over what happened with him, so-"

"What happened with Kankuro?" Seriously, what in the hell happened while I was out?

She gave a nervous laugh. "Well, I don't think it's for me to say."

I groaned. "Yeah, something else to ask Gaara whenever he gets around to talking to me. Don't get me wrong Temari, I get it. I get he isn't good with this shit, but I can't stand not knowing anything. I didn't get the chance to tell him about me, about having his kid, about how it happened. Yet, everything is left for him to tell me. It's not fair, all I'm sayin'."

She sighed. "It's Gaara. You will just get mad and talk our ears off, he gets mad, something breaks or dies."

I flopped back onto the pillows. I didn't say anything to her. She had been rambling, and it felt weird coming from someone else. It was kind of annoying. Why hadn't anyone turned it on me sooner? I wasn't sure it would have stopped me from doing it since it was kind of a nervous habit, but at least I would have known the effect better.

"I'll be here when it happens, when he brings her."

"Do you think she will like me?"

She sat on the edge of the bed. "Don't be so weird about it, huh? You're her mother."

"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" Mother. I swallowed. "I wonder when I'll get used to it. The change. Being Mom and not Dad." I took a deep breath. "I don't even remember having her that well, I just remember Gaara, then pain. Gods, the pain." I pulled my arm up to my eyes. I shuddered, recalling feeling as though my insides were being pulled out from me. "Does it always hurt like that, Temari? I never asked before, is it normal for it to hurt that much?" I kept my arm there, not wanting to show any emotions that might be showing on my face.

"It hurts. Trust me, it hurts." She sighed. "You were kind of different though. You've changed even more since you went into your coma and well, it wasn't exactly the most normal of circumstances. Might have hurt more for you than normal."

I groaned. "Yeah, leave it to me to make it more complicated."

"You lived through it though."

I moved my arm. "Yeah."

She smiled at me and stood up. "Next time you see me, I'll be here with your daughter. Are you ready?"

I forced a smile. "Ready as ever."

"Oh." She rummaged out a small book from her pocket. "Thought I would give this to you. You know, for preparation."

Preparation for what? I took the little thing from her when she handed it to me and I read the cover as she headed towards the door. Taking care of babies for first time mothers - A general guide. "Seriously Temari? I've had kids before."

She turned at the door just before she closed it, a wide smile on her face. "Not as a mother." I could hear her laugh as it shut behind her.

I stared at the book in my hand. What in the hell would I do with this? "Kinda pointless, Temari." I shoved it over to the stand next to my bed. Like I didn't know what to do with a baby. I had raised two, technically. I helped a lot with Boruto when he was little, and I was around a bit for Himawari.

I tried to remember her as a baby. She was tiny and... I think it's when I made my side office into a more permanent residence for myself. She cried so much I could barely think. I had so much work to do, so much to prove. I wasn't some natural at politics and brute strength alone didn't make a person a Kage in this area. I groaned and eyed the little book then shook my head.

"Maybe it's better I can't fight anymore."

I knew how to take care of babies, it had been years, but I've done it.

This time, I was going to be better about it.

.*. .*. .*.

I stared at the window. The sun was falling. Temari said tonight, didn't she? Tonight as in now considering the sky was growing dimmer by the minute? I shifted in my bed. Couldn't I wear something better than a hospital gown for my first meeting with my own daughter? What would she think?

Nothing. She is three damn months old, why in the hell would she care?

But her Father would be with her, wouldn't he? Gaara might like to see me in something more than a slip of fabric that tied at the back. I groaned. Why in the hell would I care what he thinks? Not like he's been chomping at the bit to see me or anything.

I shifted again. I wonder what happened to the outfit I had found that belonged to him. I could wear it, at least it would be something more than a damn piece of fabric with ties. I grit my teeth. There was nobody here to help. What if there was no warning or announcement and Temari just waltzed in with the baby and here I was unprepared? It was outright embarrassing. A lady shouldn't meet her child like this. "Lady, tsch." I laughed. It was so dumb. "Lady of Suna, as though I would ever fit the bill for that, eh?"

I swung my legs over the bed. My heart leapt up to my throat. I was going to meet her. I would finally have her in my arms. I could see for myself if she was ok, if they had been treating her right. I took a deep breath. My thoughts had been centering around it, I couldn't clear my head no matter how hard I tried and every time I thought about it, my nerves would rise. My baby.

My husband.

But mostly my baby. I gripped the bed. I needed to do something other than just sit here and the book on the nightstand taunted me with its presence. Baby. Think of your baby. Excited?

How about we freak out about it?

"I need to move." I shifted forward until my feet were on the ground. If I had Kurama this would have been a whole lot easier.

Kurama.

"Wow, really, Naru... Kisarei?" I caught myself mid name. I am Kisarei. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Kurama was dead. Naruto was dead along with him. "I am Naruto Uzumaki's twin sister. I share his memories. I am his..." My voice cracked.

My shoulders trembled. Well, that's a great way to clear my head of my baby.

I wonder if she will... "Damn it!" I grabbed a pillow and launched it across the room. If I was more sure I wouldn't pass out by making a clone, I would make one. I wasn't going to chance missing my baby's visit though. "What does she look like, what's her name?" Three months.

I should know the answers of these questions.

I fell back onto the bed. Maybe Temari would be nice and come early. Maybe she would let me get dressed or something.

Maybe I would magically return to normal before he came back and surprise the hell out of both of them. I snickered. Wouldn't it be something? I raised my arms and slid my hands behind my head as a makeshift pillow as I let my feet dangle over the edge of the bed while I waited. "Normal, huh? What in the hell is normal anyway?"

"You ever figure it out, let me in on it, will you?"

Well, I wasn't expecting to hear him, of all people. "Hey, haven't heard from you in a while."

"Don't get me wrong, but I've been avoiding Gaara lately. Figured I should probably keep out or something, you know."

I laughed. "Oh sure, this probably is the safest spot in the house if you're avoiding him." I sat back up to look at my current intruder. "Why do you all have to be so damn creepy anyway? I never even heard the door open." I pouted out my lip and frowned. Sounded like a joke, I'm sure, but I was being serious.

He stared at me. For once, no emotion showing on his face. Was it really a full family habit, the no emotion thing?

"Kankuro, the hell?"

"I... You couldn't tell or anything at all?" His blank face fell, a frown on his lips. "You didn't sense me approaching or..." He sighed. "Well, damn." He moved over to the chair left near the bed. "Wasn't thinking you'd be gone that much. Not like I was hiding my presence."

I looked away from him a moment. I took a breath. Finally, someone who wasn't going to skirt it. "Yeah, I've noticed. Hell, can't even walk right yet. Can't make a clone without passing out. Pretty damn sure I'm not going to get anywhere near what I used to be, ya know?"

He hummed. "Maybe." He leaned back into the chair and crossed his arms.

I studied him a moment. "Not complaining or anything, but... Why are you here anyway?"

"Heard Temari's heading out in a bit. Figured someone with a brain should check on you."

I snorted. "Thanks."

He raised his brows. "What for?"

"For not being weird. Temari skirts around what's going on with me like she's walking on glass. The nurses don't actually say anything and Shinki well... He is Shinki."

He sighed. "Don't remind me, he ain't talking to me either."

"Seriously, what the hell happened while I was out?"

He crossed his arms. "Which time? Honestly, I'm pretty psyched Gaara is even functioning at all." He tilted his head. "Well, he might just be on autopilot. He's done his job while in his rest state before. Didn't even remember what the hell he did during it too. It's been years though."

I frowned at him. "You're not going to tell me either are you?"

He moved his index fingers to his mouth and formed an 'x'. "My lips are sealed. I've no idea what Gaara wants to tell you himself, and I am not about to piss him off any more than I already have. Figure he will seek me out when he's ready. I've only seen him in passing or when we are forced into the same room, but man. He might not show his emotion, but his eyes..." He tapped the corner of his eye. "I can see the anger in them."

"Why is he mad at you?"

"Not sayin'. I just know he is so mad at me he almost instantly forgave Temari for what she did." He leaned forward. "I did want to warn you though. He sent for that doctor friend of yours. Not sure why, but I think she is going to be coming."

Thought left me a moment. Doctor friend? "Sakura?"

He gave a nod.

My stomach churned. "Great." I fell backward. I wasn't sure I wanted to see her. "She knows I'm alive then." He wouldn't send for her if she didn't. Unless there was another reason.

"Yeah, she was part of the operation your stupid clone came up with."

I groaned. Gaaruto. "I can't shake the feeling that guy is up to something."

"Maybe. Seems to have gotten attached to Gaara's doctor after she..." He looked away. "Damn, I hate hush orders."

I took a breath. Then, I smiled. "You have any idea where there is some real clothes around here? Temari and Gaara are supposed to come tonight with my baby, and I don't want to be in a damned hospital gown.

He groaned. "The one day I decide to come and visit my new sister in law and it's the day she meets the kid." His voice sounded pained, but the smile betrayed the amusement in his words.

I responded via pillow toss jutsu.

My new specialty.

.*. .*. .*.

"You're getting yourself dressed man. I refuse to even look at ya naked. Unless you haven't noticed Gaara hasn't let me be alone with you since I did that clone of yours." Kankuro tossed some kind of dress at me. "Pretty sure he would kill me if he knew I was in here alone with you now, which is why I am not going to stick around much longer. In case he is attached to Temari when she comes and I am not about to die over something as stupid as talking to you."

I held up the dress. It was a plain dull gray one, but it was better than a hospital gown. "Gaara wouldn't kill you."

He snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, sure. Just a warning, since you got hitched to him, the guy might be better than when we were kids but he can't always control his crazy, you know." He leaned on the door frame. "He'd regret it. I know he would, but it wouldn't take much for him to lose it I don't think. I'd rather not tempt him."

I gripped the fabric and I stared at it. My heart hurt. I ruined everything. This wish. This thing I've done. My selfish desire to keep the small piece of Gaara which grew inside me alive. "I'm sorry you know. I didn't mean for all this to happen, I just-"

"Hey, shut up will ya? Nothing to apologize for."

I felt the tears stinging at my eyes and Kankuro was blurry when I looked back up to him. "Gaara, I hurt him in all this."

"Hey man, I said shut up." He pushed himself off the door and neared the bed. He leaned down. "I'm only going to say it once, so listen up. Kid, you've annoyed me ever since I've met you. Honestly, I have never been able to stand you." One hand landed next to me and his weight followed behind it and I felt the shift from his weight. "I'm only going to say it once. I will never have enough breath in this body to ever thank you as much as I want to for what you did for my brother. You gave him a light where none of us could get through, and now... That kid, you, it's the best thing to happen to him yet."

I tried to form words. Me? I know I have heard people say it, but... Other than knocking the guy out, what have I really ever done?"

"Ever. He's not good with change. Give it time, will ya?"

I swallowed and nodded. Not good with change. How was I good for him exactly? I sort of forced this on him. I looked back down to the dress. Dress. Another lump formed in my throat and I felt as often as they formed I should be used to them by now. I cleared my throat and looked away. Change the subject. I wasn't anything.

I was never going to be anything, not in this form. Just the wife of the Kazekage. The royal baby maker. I felt numb at the thought. Could I even have more kids? Would I even want to?

My mouth went dry. Having more would mean... "Turn around will you? I can't exactly put this on with you leaning on the damn bed, now can I?"

"I don't have a death wish, idiot." He pushed off the bed and held his hands up. "I'm just going to head out. Not sticking around to be found out." He stalked off towards the door. "Good luck with him." He flashed me a wide smile and scooted out the door before I could respond.

If I had wanted to respond, which I didn't. I gripped the fabric in my hands. Dress. At least it should be easy, right? I worked at loosening the binds to my hospital gown. I smiled as it slid forward on my shoulders and the cooler air of the room his the bare skin of my back. I wiggled to finish removing the thing from my body, then gathered it into a ball. With a single motion I hurled it halfway across the room, the fabric defying me and unfolding midair then landing in the middle of the floor.

I groaned. Oh well. Hopefully Temari would pick it up when she came. When she came with my baby. When she came with Gaara. I stared at the place it fell. Gaara was coming. I was finally going to see him. I was finally going to talk to him. It would be the first time since I had woke up beyond his brief stop to see I was still alive and moving.

I wanted to be mad at him for it. I wanted to hate him for abandoning me while I was like this. I wanted to scream at him for not being around when I needed someone, anyone to help me through becoming a chick. I couldn't. I had moments, but I couldn't. This was my fault. All of this was my fault. Everything from the wish to the incident in the cave, to avoiding him like the plague to choosing to keep the baby. None of this was because of him. I had raped him, I had made him a father, I had made him a husband just by carrying his child. I buried my head in my hands.

All of this because I couldn't be a good husband to my wife. I just wasn't good at it. I was halfway sure I was going to suck being a mom. I mean, it's the same thing, just under a different name, right? Why couldn't I have let go of my obsession with Gaara? Why couldn't I get past it? Damn it, I tried. I tried so fucking hard. I got married. I had kids. I avoided him for years until I became Hokage.

My stomach twisted. I ruined Gaara's life because I couldn't fall out of love with him. Even if I didn't recognize what the emotion was, it was always there. I thought about him too much, longed for him too much. Even in the early years of my marriage, he was a constant thought in my life. He had become so beautiful as he grew older. I always hated he had to be a man, yet, somehow it was me who ended up the girl in all this.

"Are you trying to kill my brother?"

I dropped my hands and looked up at Temari. "Why would you say that?"

An odd look passed over her features. "I never know when to take you seriously. Are you being serious?"

I stared at her. I frowned. "Come on Temari, what's your deal? I've no idea what you-"

She distracted my when she rushed to the desk in the middle of the room and held up a mirror.

I felt myself get hot. The image was of a naked woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. I folded my arms around my bare chest and watched the woman in the image do the same. Oh. "Oh." Well, damn. I gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I forgot about those for a second." I tore my eyes away from my image to grab the gray fabric in my lap and pushed it on over my head. "Gaara's seen me naked before, but usually just as a guy. I think I do remember him acting a little weird when we were in the cave."

"Weird? You think, Rei?" Rei? She stressed the name and I figured it was what she was shortening my name down to since it was the second time I heard her use it. I scoffed and she crossed her arms. "I think it was weird enough you two ended up with a kid, unless that sort of thing happened between you guys before and just hid the crap."

I pulled some on my hair. "Tsch, I wish." I slapped my hand over my mouth. She didn't need to know I had fantasized about that. Also, I really had to stop saying anything with the word 'wish' in it. I know the old lady said it was only good for two, but who needed to take chances?

She smirked at me. "I think you have had enough wishing to last you a lifetime." She came over to the bed. "Gaara is about to come with the baby, so I just want to have you ready."

I froze. Gaara. Baby. Now. It's happening. "I get to meet her." My words were breathy. The smile formed on its own and I grabbed her arm. "I don't know if I'm ready. Hell, I'm ready. What do I do? What if she cries? What if there is something wrong with her, what if-"

She grabbed my shoulder and gave a firm shake. "It's fine. You will probably just hold her, she is healthy, she is beautiful. I'm sure she is ready to meet you too."

I bit at my lip to keep myself quiet and nodded as a response instead. Temari worked at the pillows behind my back and once she was done, I was fully upright with support on my back.

My heart lurched to my throat when a small, barely audible knock on the door sounded. It beat wildly after a moment when there was nothing else which followed and Temari left the room to see what it was.

Had he backed out? Did he change his mind? He didn't change his mind, did he? "Temari?"

Soon, the door reopened and Temari returned alone. No, wait.

There was something in her arms. My heart thumped wild in my chest and my breath hitched. "Is that..."

A wide smile spread across her face. "Yes, it is."

I swallowed and looked back at the closed door. Gaara? He wasn't coming with her? "He isn't coming?"

The smile faltered. "I... Well he..."

"Oh." Alone. He was leaving me alone for this moment. Again. I took a deep breath and settled my eyes on the tiny bundle of blankets and red hair in Temari's arms.

Red hair. Butterflies erupted in my chest. The Uzumaki hair color lived on through her, thanks to him. I felt my lips twitch upward. "Hell with him." I held up my arms. "I want her. Please, let me see her, let me hold her. I..." I lost my words. I was too close to crying. She was here. She was here.

Temari came close to the bed and sat down next to me. "Kisarei." Her voice choked on the name. "Meet your daughter. She's sleeping, so she might fuss at getting woke up." She shifted her in her arms and started to pull back the blankets which held her firm.

My breath hitched as her tiny little arms moved the moment they were free and she made a small protest at the loss of blanket. I studied her face. Her perfect little face. "She looks like him. She really fucking looks like him." I gave a half laugh and the smile which followed was wide. She had his red hair, the dark markings around her eyes like him. She had the same type of whiskers I had. I reached out and touched one. The butterflies exploded and spread throughout my whole body. My daughter. My sweet little daughter. My vision blurred. "Let me hold her. I need to see, I need to see she is ok, please, I..."

Temari nodded and shifted her and I was able to wrap my arms around the bundle of baby in her arms. I lifted and she moved. She is alive. She is warm. She is so damn tiny. I brought her to my chest unable to remove my eyes off of her. "Hey there, little one. See, we made it, didn't we?" I promised her. I needed to see more. I needed, I needed to... I removed more of the blanket. I picked up her hands and counted her fingers, then I counted all of her toes, I removed the cloths covering her to check to see if there was anything else amiss and... "She is perfect." I felt my body begin to tremble. Tears continued to form in my eyes.

We made it. Both of us made it. This tiny person, I made her somehow. I shouldn't have been able to, but I had. In an instant every ache, every pain, every sacrifice was worth it just to hold her in my arms. "Love you to the moon and back, a million times, I love you."

Worth it. How had I doubted it? I held her and I cried. Then, she started to make a sound. The sound turned into a small cry of her own. "Shh, I'm sorry. Mama's sorry." I brushed at her hair, the word referring to myself as a mother no longer weird to me. I was this creatures mother. I carried her, I made her within my own body, I nearly gave my own life so she would live.

Her cries didn't stop, instead they became more insistent. Her eyes opened. I froze. Her eyes were an icy blue green, brighter than either mine or Gaara's. Pupil less. Almost eerie. We locked eyes for a moment, then the worst sound erupted from her mouth. A cry, worse than before. I held her close. "Shh, it's ok. I'm your mom, I won't let anything happen, ok?" The crying began to get worse.

"What the hell?" Temari's voice was rushed, panicked.

I looked up to her and the sight before me made my heart stop.

Sand. Sand was just floating in the air, hovering around us. I tightened my grip on my baby. "Is it Gaara?"

"Who else would be able to do this, you idiot?" She locked eyes with me. "Get her to stop crying."

I nodded. Maybe that jackass should have just come in instead of freaking out over her crying. "Shh." I brought her up to my shoulder and patted her back. Something which used to work with Boruto when he was little.

It didn't work. Her cries became desperate. More sand rose into the air. I swallowed and held her close to me. He wouldn't hurt her, would he? I cupped my hand around the back of her head. Come on Gaara, control yourself. She is with me, I wouldn't hurt her. Even you would know that.

More cries, more sand. It began to agitate. My breath hitched. I pulled my blanket up. He wouldn't. The blanket made her freak out entirely, she screamed in my arms. The screams triggered the sand to move.

It was everywhere, all at once and I ducked my head and buried my baby into my body as much as I could. Protect her. Keep her safe. Please, I need to keep her safe. Sand stung at my skin as it rushed past me, I held the blanket to my mouth so I could breathe. The sand built in speed and I felt the sting as it scraped at the skin which I still had exposed. The sound of it in the air sounded as a roar and I couldn't stand it.

What was happening?

Why was this happening? Couldn't I have this one moment? Couldn't anything be easy?

Don't let me lose her.

Not this way.

I could feel it embed into my skin.

She continued to scream in my arms.

Temari's muffled voice screaming Gaara's name barely made it to my ears.

Gaara please, make it stop.