He wasn't surprised when Naruto showed no sign of a hangover. When Shikamaru knocked on the door he was told to come in. He found the blonde sitting at her coffee table reading a book, other books and scrolls piled onto the white, plastic surface. She smiled at him as he walked into the kitchen before bookmarking where she was up to in her book.

"How are you feeling?" Shikamaru asked, sitting across from her and leafing through the resources she had collected. All of them were about chakra in some form.

"I'm good." Naruto leant back in her chair.

"I thought you would be feeling some effects from the alcohol last night."

Naruto laughed, giving him a cheeky smile. "Takes more than that to give me a hangover."

"See, that's unfair." Shikamaru shook his head as Naruto laughed again. He walked over to the sink, starting to fill it with hot water and soap.

"You don't have to do that," Naruto started, standing up.

The dark haired man waved her off. "It's no problem. You broke your arm helping me so it's the least I can do."

"Well, when you put it that way." Naruto smiled, sitting back down and leafing through the book in front of her.

"So what are you doing with all that research? Making a bonfire?" Shikamaru asked, looking over his shoulder at the blonde who chuckled.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do if none of this tells me how to get more chakra for my jutsu." Naruto scanned through the page she was open to before turning to Shikamaru. "Do you know anything about Sages? There is only a brief explanation here."

Shikamaru washed the cup in his hand, mulling over the question. "From what I know Sages are often connected to a summoning animal. Like your toads, or Lady Tsunade's slugs. The animals teach the ninja some special techniques and lend them their strength. I'm not sure if that's correct though. You should talk to Jiraiya, he's a Toad Sage."

"Oh yeah. I always ignore him when he tries to prattle on about his title. When he's back in the village I'll harass him about it. In the mean time," Naruto groaned, dropping her head onto the table. She giggled when Shikamaru snorted. "I thought this was appropriate reaction to my frustration, but with you standing there it feels overdramatic." Finally, she lifted her head, rubbing her forehead.

Shikamaru laughed, drying his hands. "Well, your small number of dishes are done. I honestly expected it to be more than this." He went to the fridge. "Do you want a drink?"

"Yes, please." Naruto didn't even look up from her book when there was a knock on the door. "It's open."

"Do you even know who is there?" Shikamaru asked in surprise as he walked to the table. He received an amused smile as the door opened and the Sand Siblings walked in. "Right, should have realised you would know who it was."

"Hey, Shikamaru, didn't expect to see you here," Temari commented with a wicked smile.

"Seeing as I'm Naruto's friend I think that's my line," the Nara retorted, handing Naruto her drink and sitting down.

"What brings you guys to my house?" Naruto closed her book and tried to move the books off the table to make space. With her arm in a cast it was a difficult, especially with the bigger ones. After nearly dropping one of the books Shikamaru took over. "Thanks. Feel free to sit, guys."

Kankuro walked forward and dropped into a chair, seeming to feel at home as he lazily looked around the apartment. He gave an appreciated nod as Temari grinned at Shikamaru, winking at him as she sat down next to him.

"We wanted to talk to Naruto about why we were here. We thought you had a right to know." Kankuro sat forward, his eyes locking with Naruto's. "Gaara wants to petition the other Kage to be open to one another about the Jinchurikki and whether the Jinchurikki are alive. Gaara also wants to make the other Kage start protecting their Jinchurikki. Obviously Lady Tsunade already does that with you. That's why we're here to discuss with her about also petitioning the Kage. Two against three is more effective than one against three and one neutral."

Naruto frowned. "Why are you bothering to tell me though?"

"Naruto," Kankuro started, only to stop, frowning at the table.

Sighing, Temari took over for her brother. "If the other Kage agree, all the names of the Jinchurikki will be released to the other Kage and many of their higher ups. Until now only your village, us, Gaara, and our Sensei know that you are hosting the Nine-Tails. It's no secret that Jinchurikki are mistreated. You risk being recognised by every ninja you meet."

For her credit Naruto didn't blurt out the first thought in her mind. Instead she sat back, mulling over the information. Shikamaru watched her closely and nearly snorted when Naruto shrugged.

"All well." At the confused look she received from the two Sand siblings she sighed. "I have been mistreated by the villagers. By the people I buy food off, the ninjas who were meant to protect me, the teachers meant to guide me, and the people at the orphanage who were meant to raise me. I was thankful when I was told I had the Nine-Tails in me. The man who told me was trying to use me, and trying to kill Iruka-Sensei. I learnt that day that Iruka-Sensei had every reason to hate me, more than most other people in the village, and yet, he loved me. I know who truly cares about me because they can look at me and not see the Nine-Tails. I don't see what I am as a curse because I know when people look at me with respect it means I more than earned it."

Shikamaru smiled, reaching over and taking Naruto's uninjured hand. He received a small smile back from the blonde.

"Hmm." The noise made Shikamaru and Naruto look over at Kankuro. "I really wish Gaara had been able to see it that way. I think life for him would have been easier if we weren't his siblings. Dad wasn't exactly… fatherly towards us but he still acknowledged us. For years he just put Gaara into this lush room and left our uncle to look after him. When our uncle died he let us meet Gaara. For six years we thought he was a stillborn and Gaara didn't know we existed. Then he found out that he had two siblings that dad actually spent some time with, and were allowed out into the village without everyone worried they would explode. We should have been there for him from the start but since we weren't I feel like he should never have found out about us."

"Kankuro," Temari said softly, "you've been a great brother. You've always tested Gaara's food before letting him have it so he wouldn't be poisoned. He still doesn't know you do that."

"Yeah, but we let people mistreat him. And he became a monster. For years I was afraid of him. I thought he was violent, and evil, and had no heart. I looked at him and saw the Shukaku. I thought that they were one in the same. I thought Jinchurikkis were just like that, and no one ever made me think otherwise. No one, until I met you, Naruto. The way Gaara sought you out the moment he entered the village made me think you were different. Every time you were around he stared at you. I studied you, wondering why you were causing this reaction in my brother. When you guys fought I understood why but it just confused me more. Why weren't you like my brother? Why had you declared you would beat that long haired guy for hurting that girl, what's her name…"

"Hinata," Naruto added.

"Hinata. Why did you care so much? Why did people laugh at you and think you were going to loose your fights. I thought they should have been walking on egg shells around you. It was after we got back to the village and Gaara started to actively change that I realised what happened. Shukaku wasn't the monster I was looking at. Gaara was a separate monster, which we had created. Jinchurikki weren't turned into monsters by the Tailed Beasts, they were turned into monsters by the way the villagers treating them. I don't know how you turned out so caring, Naruto."

Naruto sighed, a small smile on her face. "I had a Hokage who… didn't try to kill me, I had Iruka-Sensei who cared about me, some reluctant friends, and someone who cared enough to notice I was illiterate, and leave me a frog wallet when they realised I didn't have one."

Shikamaru tried not to blush as he gave Naruto's hand a squeeze. She smiled at him, squeezing his hand back.

"Gaara is lucky to have you two. Honestly, the reason he was able to come back from the person he had become was because he realised he had two people who would do anything for him and loved him. You only need one person to stop you from falling into darkness. The more people you have to pull you away from the edge the easier it is to find more people to support you."

"Thank you for helping Gaara to see that." Temari blinked rapidly, sniffing. When the three looked at her she turned her head away, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

"Any time." Naruto took a sip of her drink before meeting Kankuro's gaze. "Perhaps you should mention to Old Granny and Gaara that this petition will be a good time to put forward better treatment for Jinchurikki. Gaara commented to me last time I saw him that he had found it odd how I was territorial of the village during the Chunin exams until he became Kazekage. It was because the people precious to me live here. If the other Jinchurikki have someone precious in their village they will do anything for that village. The least the village can do in return is treating them with some dignity."

The Nara heir blinked at the venom in Naruto's voice. He had always thought the blonde had let all the horrible things roll off her back. He knew she was still hurt by the memory of her childhood but he had never thought her angered by it. He was actually glad to see this side of Naruto. To know the village still had to prove itself to her made him proud of her. He had always assumed she had forgiven them all without cause. It was good to know they had work to do before they earned Naruto as their Hokage.

The Sand siblings were silent for some time before Kankuro looked up at Naruto, his face pinking under his war paint. "Naruto, are you going to explain to us why you had… you know," he mimed breasts, "last night?"

The blonde frowned, looking confused. "I didn't see you last night."

For a moment Shikamaru thought that Naruto honestly didn't remember the interactions of the night before. But then he saw a slight spark in her blue eyes, one he recognised from their academy days.

"You were a bit drunk," Kankuro assured, "but I saw you and you had… you know!"

"I was sober and I didn't see you," Shikamaru piped up, trying to keep a neutral expression.

"Yes, you did!" Kankuro said in a wavering voice. He turned to his sister. "We saw them, didn't we?"

Temari frowned heavily at her brother, leaning in closer to him, studying him. "Are you alright? We didn't see them last night."

"Maybe you need to get more sleep, Kankuro," advised Naruto in a concerned voice.

"No, I know I saw you."

"Apparently my brother dreams of you as a female, Naruto."

Naruto scooted her chair away from Kankuro, looking frightened. Shikamaru and Temari laughed whilst Kankuro pouted, looking suspiciously at the three. Thankfully, Temari's stomach grumbled loudly, drawing the attention to its need for food.

"Do you want to go get something to eat?" Temari asked, looking pointedly at Shikamaru, who tried to glare at her without anyone noticing.

"Yeah, we skipped breakfast," Kankuro complained.

"Arr," Naruto looked between Temari and Shikamaru slowly, making the Nara heir worry she had noticed the exchange. "I suppose, I could eat. If you two want to catch up that's alright."

"Are you kidding?" Temari laughed, standing up. "I'm already sick of him. Come on, I'm starving."

Naruto gave her old, wide, closed eye smile, before getting up and grabbing her keys and frog wallet. Shikamaru tried to walk with her to the café but found she kept falling back to walk with Kankuro, who shot her bemused looks. It forced him to walk with Temari, who kept pulling faces at him, silently taunting him. Yet again Naruto confused Shikamaru. Yet again she was the one person he could not read as easily as a book. Although he loved her for it, it was sometimes incredibly frustrating. He wouldn't change that about her for even a second.

Hope you all like. A tattoo on the inside of the wrist really slows down typing. Totally worth it though, since I had more time to plan out this chapter. For those who are anti-tattoo… well it isn't your skin, so breathe, and relax, guys.