Chapter 29:

The Spirit of Knowledge

"There, all done. I just need to grab my clothes from your house and I'll be finished." Mizu finished setting up her herbal table in the new tiny apartment. It had been a few days since the incident in the market. She hadn't told Gaara about the tryst because she didn't see a point in dragging him into her problems. Gaara stood in the living room looking lethargic and disappointed. She wanted to tease him, but she refrained.

"Where is Yoki going to stay?" Gaara eyed the tiny space.

"Outside. He's pretty adaptable in that regard. He knows how to stay out of trouble and keep a low profile. Thank you for your help." She gave him a peck on the cheek and made him blush.

He muttered, "You didn't have to leave."

"We aren't family, so it would look bad if I stayed. I'd look like a mistress." Mizu rolled her eyes.

Gaara stared at her blankly. "Then just become my family and there won't be a problem."

She forced back the weird sound that almost came out of her throat and cleared it. "What? You want me to adopt you as my little brother?"

He didn't seem to like the joke. "I already have siblings."

"Then, my son?"

"Mizu!"

She laughed until tears welled up in her eyes. Gaara reached over and brushed a tear away, looking concerned.

"Why are you crying?" He didn't seem to understand.

She shook her head. "Someday, Lord Kazekage, you'll know what happy tears are."

"There's such a thing?" The question was an innocent one.

Mizu sighed. "Yes, now hurry to work before you get scolded. Aren't you seeing Temari off tomorrow?"

Gaara nodded slowly and sighed. He smiled at her and she felt uncomfortable at his gentleness. His open and honest feelings left her guilty sometimes.

"I'll see you when I get off work?" Gaara looked at her expectantly.

"Yes, yes. It's your turn to plan the date. Have you thought of where to go?" Mizu pried, but Gaara only smiled at her.

"You'll see." He retreated out the door before she could get anything out of him. She stood on the balcony of her new apartment and watched his back fade into the distance before he turned a corner. Locking up, she headed back to Gaara's house to retrieve the last of her stuff and to tell Yoki that she'd finished.

When she arrived, she found Yoki wasn't waiting under his tree like she thought he would be. She headed inside to get her stuff. Before she could go to the guest room, movement through a window at the back of the house caught her attention. Yoki was standing in the backyard talking with a woman. Mizu exited the house and approached them. She paused when she recognized the woman. The unearthly being, with orange hair that flowed down her back in waves of silk, turned to her and Mizu flinched under the wise crimson red eyes. The woman wore a simple white kimono with an orange obi. Fox ears stuck out of her head and a bushy orange tail on her back swished with every movement.

Mizu fell to the ground and bowed deeply to Chishiki, the goddess sprit of knowledge. In her many years Mizu had met her only twice, and each time she found herself unnerved with the being's presence. Her predictions of the future were always spot on and her knowledge of the past was accurate down to the minute detail. Mizu had only ever met her in this human form, but Yoki told her that her proper form was that of a beautiful nine-tailed fox. Once Mizu asked her if she had any relation to the nine-tailed fox spirit that rampaged in the leaf village. Chishiki had laughed, saying that she was much older than the spirit in question and that the nine-tailed fox spirit was like a baby cousin to her.

"Mizu," her voice was soft, kind and powerful. "It's been a while. How many years?"

"About a hundred or so I believe." Mizu kept her head bowed.

"Close. It's been ninety-nine years, ten months, and eight days since I last saw you." The spirit laughed.

"Do not tease her, Chishiki," Yoki intervened.

"I wasn't. Stand, Uta Mizu, the last survivor of the true clan of song."

Mizu rose reluctantly and glanced at Yoki, who only bowed his head. The spirit of knowledge was kind, but Mizu always felt uneasy in her presence.

"What can I do for you, Chishiki-sama?" Mizu clasped her hands together and did her best not to run away even as the desire overwhelmed her.

Chishiki grinned, her jewel-like eyes sparkling. "Do for me? Child you still don't understand what you've done for all of us, have you? Yoki never was good at explaining the big picture."

Mizu looked at her partner, who's expression didn't change, but after so many years together she could tell it annoyed him.

"You mean with Shikkan?" She didn't understand why this concerned the spirit of knowledge.

Chishiki nodded. "I see he didn't really explain. Shikkan, unlike the tailed beasts, it could not be controlled because it had no conscious. If we had allowed him free without a host all this time, then humanity would have perished and with it the spirit world would have collapsed. The balance of our worlds is always a precarious thing, which is why we try not to interfere as much as we can. With a few exceptions."

"I didn't do much, I wasn't even the one to restrain…" Mizu didn't know where this conversation was leading too.

"Yes, Yoki told me of the vessel for one of the tailed beasts. Gaara was his name, correct?"

Mizu remained quiet. The spirit of knowledge wouldn't need to ask for confirmation. She would already know, so why was she bringing this up?

"Calm yourself, child. I came because Yoki asked me if there is a way to break your contract early." Chishiki walked toward Mizu and much to her surprise took her hands. They were warm and smooth. The spirit continued to smile, but her eyes grew sad. "There is exactly two years, five months and fifteen days left on your contract. I could easily break your contract here and now; you've earned that much. However, child, it would end your life immediately."

The news hit her like icy water. She would die once the contract was up. She and Gaara couldn't be together. Tears welled up in her eyes along with years of exhaustion that she'd been holding back. Chishiki gently brushed her hair back from her face and smiled at her.

"Tell me child, you've lived many lifetimes. You've experienced many sorrows and said many goodbyes. Do you wish to rest?"

Resting didn't sound so bad. She was weary. She could finally join her clan and Moyasu, her dead husband. Gaara's smiled flashed in her mind. Grabbing a handful of her hair, she gritted her teeth. This wasn't fair.

Her voice came out low, "No… No, I don't. I don't want to die, yet. I still… I want to live. I want to spend the rest of my life here in the sand village. With Gaara."

"You will die in a few years," Chishiki said, but not unkindly.

Mizu looked the spirit in the face and felt rage boil up. "I know. I know I'll be making people suffer more. I know that I'll be hurting Gaara, but I still want to… I don't want to die. I don't want to leave. I've given up everything for this mission, I've suffered over and over and over. Why can't I have peace, at least for these last few years I have left? I… I… I want to grow old. I want to grow old with him. I want to tease him more and I want to love him."

Chishiki gently stroked her hair as the tears spilled over. "Then, are you willing to take a chance, child of song?"

Mizu sniffled and looked at Yoki, who nodded. "What chance?"

Chishiki finally released her. "A chance to live and a chance to die naturally."

"What do you mean?" She wiped away her tears. "You mean it's possible for me to grow old?"

The spirit of knowledge's eyes were playful. "Yes. When you formed this contract with Yoki, it stopped your time, and it took the rest of your life span as part of the payment for the contract. There is a way to take it back and restart it."

Mizu's breath caught in her throat. If that was possible, then she might be able to finish out her life normally.

Chishiki paused and looked hesitant, but continued, "It's only a slight possibility. Even I can't see the outcome. You may very well die from trying. There isn't time for you to wait either."

"What do you mean?"

The spirit took her face in her hands and smiled sadly. "You can live out the rest of your contract here in this village and die at its end. Or you can risk what time you have left to get back the rest of your normal life span."

The spirit released her and walked over to the edge of the yard, letting Mizu take in this information. She could die trying to get a normal life or she could die after she spent a couple years with Gaara. She looked back at Gaara's house. It had been the most comforting place she'd stayed in these long years since her first home. Many times, when he'd greeted her in the morning or after they'd both come back from work, she felt happier than she'd been in years. She so badly wanted this place to be her home, to share it with him. She didn't want their time to be fleeting.

Mizu took a deep breath and turned back to Chishiki, her mind made up. "What do I need to do?"

Chishiki's eyes darkened. "You need to return to where your time stopped. It's time for you to return home, Uta Mizu, back to the Uta clan's homeland. When you get there, find my mate. The Spirit of Song. He will guide you."

"What will I have to do though?" Mizu didn't like that it involved so many spirits.

Chishiki took a deep breath. "You will have to steal your time back. You will have to face, Jikan, the father of time.

Gaara finished signing the last paper and passed it to Hana. He stood up quickly and headed for the door.

"L-Lord Kazekage," the adolescent girl tried to interrupt him, but he ignored her and left as fast as he could.

He'd barely finished up his work in time. The sun had already set. He needed to hurry and get Mizu. Tonight, he planned to sneak her to the top of the wall and watch a meteor shower together. Heading to her apartment, his stomach squirming with excitement. He hoped she like the surprise. When he got to her new apartment, he knocked on the door, but no one answered.

"Mizu? Are you in?" There was no answer. Focusing his hearing, he listened, but he didn't sense anyone inside.

"Lord Kazekage?" Gaara turned to the middle-aged landlord, who bowed to him. "If you're looking for the woman in that apartment, she took her stuff and left."

Gaara's brow furrowed. "Left?"

The landlord nodded. "She said she changed her mind and canceled her lease."

Changed her mind? Wait, does that mean she's not leaving? Gaara's heart soared. He thanked the man and went home. She's going to stay! But why? He didn't really care as long as she was staying. When he made it to his house, he found the lights off; he entered and called out for her but there was no one there. Where did she go? We need to hurry or we'll miss the meteor shower.

"Gaara!" Kankuro burst into his house holding a letter in his hand.

"What? What's wrong?" Gaara tensed, prepared for news of an attack. Yama village has been quiet since the flood, but it's possible they could be preparing for something.

Kankuro's breathing was heavy as he tried to catch his breath. "The… guards at the front… Said, Uta Mizu left."

Gaara's mind went blank. He smiled at his brother, who flinched in response, and he asked, "Left? When? Where did she go?"

His brother's face fell as he handed over the letter. "I… don't know."

Taking the letter, he unrolled it, and found Mizu's handwriting.

Gaara,

I'm sorry. There's somewhere I need to go and something I need to try. This time you can't come after me. What I'm doing could cost me my life. If I'm not back by summer, consider me dead.

Goodbye,

Mizu

Gaara stood there in his kitchen and reread the brief letter not once, but three times until the reality of it sunk in. She'd left. She'd left and didn't say goodbye. She might not be coming back. He looked up at his brother, his mind blank, and ran out the door. He could hear Kankuro shouting after him, but he just kept going. He went on through the gate and passed the startled guards right up to the sand's edge. Like the time when he'd went after her, he dug his hands in the ground and searched for her with his chakra. He stretched his chakra to its limits, probing in all directions, but there was nothing.

"G-Gaara." Kankuro ran up behind him. "She left this morning. You won't catch her this time."

He knelt in the sand, looking over the empty dunes. A flash in the sky caught his eye. Looking up, he saw the night sky rain with streaks of light. The meteor shower he'd wanted her to see.

"Gaara… I'm so sorry." His brother placed a hand on his shoulder, but Gaara didn't feel its warmth.

"It's fine." He felt nothing as he stood up and turned back to his village.

"H-her letter said she might come back," Kankuro tried to cheer him up.

He turned an empty gaze to his brother. "It's fine."

"Gaara…"

He walked back into the village; he couldn't feel anything. Time seemed to stand still.