Hi everyone! I was able to get another chapter done! Thank you guys so much for letting me know your thoughts. Its really reassuring when I'm writing these things to know that you guys think that a joke is funny or that you like things going on with the character development. It gives me a lot of direction and that helps streamline the writing process for me. I appreciate all your help and feedback!

"What?" Beki poured milk on the table in shock. She shook her head, catching herself. She tipped the milk back up and Hinata had already sprung into action with a dish towel.

"Yeah." Naruto stuck his hands in his pockets. "Isn't it awful?"

"Kurenai sensei is going to be devastated." Hinata wrung her hands. "What's she going to do? Her and Asuma sensei just got married and now..." She looked back and forth between Beki and Naruto. Hinata squared her shoulders and headed for the door. "I need to go get Kiba and Shino. We need to go check on her."

Beki nodded. "Don't worry. We'll take care of the rest."

Hinata put on her shoes and walked out the door as Naruto took over cooking dinner. Beki finished mopping up her spill and started to set the table. "So," Beki kept her eyes on the table. "Can you go into details or is it a national secret?"

"I mean, if you were some other diplomat I don't think I would share." Naruto explained. "But you're close enough to everyone you'll find out eventually: It was Akatsuki. Again."

"Shit." Beki tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You would think that losing members would make them less bold, not more so."

"I don't know all the details myself but it was apparently pretty bad." Naruto sighed. "His team saw everything. He died in their arms."

A ball formed in Beki's throat, her mind instantly shifting to her father slumped over in a chair. The smell of smoke, blood, and burnt hair somehow materialized, filling her nose with the acrid scent. The soup on the stove and the bread in the oven did nothing to combat the sensation. "That's horrible."

Naruto braced himself on the counter. "It must be really hard for them."

"That's an understatement." Beki stared down at the plates. "It's bad enough losing someone you love. Actually being there when it happens takes it to a whole new level of distress."

"I mean, they still have each other. Asuma sensei would want them to stick together and get through it-" Naruto began.

"It's easy to say that kind of stuff, Naruto." Beki folded her arms and leaned on a chair. "It was easy for people to tell me how much my dad loved me and how he would have wanted me to keep going. I knew all that. That didn't make losing him and having to pick up the pieces any easier."

Naruto listened silently, shuffling uncomfortably by the hot stove. "Well, I mean, what should a person say? Should I just not say anything? I'm just trying to help."

"Do you remember how I treated Hinata right after it happened? I know she loves me and wanted to help me. When everyone is doing that though, its smothering. You can't hear yourself think. Grief isn't like being wrong about something. A person can't come along with the right answer and poof." Beki snapped her finger. "That's what you needed to hear and you're cured now!" She took a sip of her milk. "You have to get through it. And it's different from person to person. Some people never recover, they're just always sad and empty afterwards. Other people are angry all the way through. The thing is they have to get through it with a little help from time to time. Someone to tell them that they aren't crazy for feeling what they're feeling, to stop them when they are doing something crazy."

Beki looked up and saw the pinched look on Naruto's face. He was too polite to say anything but she knew what he was thinking. "Sorry, let's change the subject. I don't need to lecture anyone. God knows I'm not an expert at anything."

…

The funeral had been several days before. It was incredible to Beki how even though Konoha was such a large village, a single death seemed to set the whole town under a dark cloud. Crowds seemed to speak more softly and everyone had a somber expression. The whole was rather depressing and Beki didn't feel up to braving it. She was going to take side streets home when she noticed a familiar, albeit bowed head.

"Konohamaru." Beki walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "How are you doing, buddy?"

"Hey, nee san." Konohamaru rubbed his nose with his sleeve. He looked paler, less rested than usual. His whole manner was subdued to an unnatural maturity. Beki felt her heart ache at the sight of his broken spirit. She knelt down so they were eye to eye, which each time she saw him seemed to be less and less distance.

"How's your family?" She asked.

Konohamaru gave a shrug. "They're all sad. Like when grandpa died but worse."

Beki nodded. "It makes it hard when you lose someone young. You aren't ready for it."

Konohamaru shook his head. "No. Mom's been crying a lot. Dad's really quiet. No one's really talking a whole lot right now."

"It'll be like that for a bit." Beki brushed the hair out of his face. "But everyone will be okay. Just like when you lost your grandpa. You guys may get sad again once in a while when you miss him, but that's okay."

Konohamaru nodded. "Asuma was my only uncle, nee chan. It's going to be really weird not having him around." His lip quivered and his eyes started to well up, but Konohamaru swallowed hard and blinked them back. Beki looked around and then smiled comfortingly.

"Want a hug?"

Konohamaru nodded silently and Beki squeezed him tight. "You can have one of those whenever you want, okay buddy? I'll never run out."

"Beki?" Konohamaru's voice was muffled by her shirt. "What if my parents die?"

Beki gave him another squeeze. "I don't think anything is going to happen to your parents. Your uncle and grandpa were doing the same thing, protecting the people of the Leaf. That was their job. We're going to get the bad guys who hurt your uncle, the same way they got the guys that hurt your grandpa. Everytime we stop one of the bad guys, there's one less of them to hurt good people." Beki scratched his head.

"Why do people hurt each other?" Konohamaru had gotten very still. Beki could only guess that this stuff was eating at him but he didn't want to worry his already overstressed parents. Beki had never been much of a philosopher and the kid was throwing some curveballs at her. If it was anyone else, she would deflect. Konohamaru needed her and she wasn't going to let him down.

"Everybody is broken, Konohamaru. Every single person you see walking down the street has been hurt before. Some of us take that hurt and we change it into help. We've been hurt so we don't want other people to feel that pain and do good things. Bad people are hurt, too. But they make choices to keep the pain going. They hurt so they don't want other people to be happy, they want them to hurt too."

Beki could feel either snot or tears on her shirt as Konohamaru gave a soft nod. "So how do we fix it?"

Beki shrugged. "I don't have all the answers, buddy. Just keep doing good. Keep stopping the bad guys and help where people are hurting." She pulled away and gave him a soft smile. "Nothing makes you feel better when you're hurt than helping someone else."

Konohamaru blinked a few times. "Okay. So you think if I go home and do some chores that might make my mom feel a little better?"

"She might not say anything right now. She'll notice and you'll feel good that you helped." Beki squeezed his arms.

Konohamaru nodded and went in for one more hug. Beki rocked him a little bit until he let go. "Thanks, nee chan." Konohamaru wiped his eyes. "I'll see you later."

Beki waved as he ran off, waiting till he was out of sight to check her shirt. Okay good, just tears. As she slipped off down the side streets, Beki couldn't help but shake the weird sensation she wasn't alone. She looked around and spotted a familiar pineapple shaped head peeking out over the top of a building. Her face fell at the sight and Beki let out a sigh. He doesn't even like you, Beki. She argued with herself. He has friends, they'll talk him through this. Even if you tried to help him he would probably just verbally abuse you anyway. Beki took a few steps when her dad's voice sounded off in her head: Stop being such a pansy bitch and do the right thing. Coward. Beki glared at the wall, knowing the voice was right. She squared her shoulders and jumped up on the roof.

The cigarette dangled out of Shikamaru's mouth so loosely a strong wind would snatch it. He was struggling with a silver lighter, the flint wheel clicking with each failed attempt. Beki pressed a hand to her face to test the temperature; she noticed her core was usually hotter than her extremities. Sure enough, her conversation with Konohamaru had been stressful enough that she was running hot.

"Here," Beki said as she snatched the cigarette out of his mouth and put the end against her cheek. Shikamaru opened his mouth to protest just as smoke started to waft from the end. Beki held out the lit cigarette and waited for the incoming insults.

"Shouldn't you be running through town naked or something?" Shikamaru took his first puff, wincing almost imperceptibly.

Beki shrugged. "What day is it?"

Shikamaru threw her a sideways glance. "Wednesday."

"Nope, not one of my designated streaking days." She sat down on the roof just out of arms reach.

"No." Shikamaru shook his head. "Whatever this is, we aren't doing it. You can take your problems somewhere else."

"I've asked you for help like, one time." Beki rolled her eyes. "I don't know why Chouji is the only person in your group that isn't so damned high strung."

Shikamaru scoffed. "If you could get one other person in this village to call me 'high strung' I would give you a hundred ryo."

Beki shrugged but remained silent. It had been easy helping Konohamaru but Shikamaru would take a different approach.

"Aren't you like, a diplomat or something now?" Shikamaru spat. "Sorry, I can't keep up with all the excuses for why you live here but don't ever do anything."

"No one likes a dick, Shikamaru." Beki spat back.

"Or a useless whore." Shikamaru laid back on the roof. "Why don't you go stir up some more trouble for Neji or Gaara. Hell, maybe you could get them fired from their jobs. That would be a fun day for you."

Beki screwed up her face in disbelief and opened her mouth to say something nasty but stopped herself. This is exactly how she had been towards Hinata and everyone else who tried to help her. Instead she sighed, took a deep breath, and reminded herself why she was there.

"Regardless of how you feel about me or what your girlfriend has told you," Beki began, noticing panic briefly cloud Shikamaru's face when she said the word "girlfriend". "I just wanted to tell you it's going to be okay-"

"What the hell?" Shikamaru scoffed. "You think I want platitudes from you, of all people? You didn't even know Asuma and you think you're going to come up here and-"

"I saw my dad die." Beki stopped him cold. "Everyone around here is an orphan. They've lost friends, they've lost their parents, they've lost family members. For most of them, it happened when they were kids. I know from personal experience that losing my mom at 5 didn't suck half as much as losing my dad."

Shikamaru still had the sour expression on his face but he was quiet. He was cautiously listening to her with a mouth poised to spit back the second he didn't like what he heard. Beki continued on, keeping her gaze fixed off towards the woods.

"You're right. I didn't know Asuma sensei all that well. From the few times I talked to him, he seemed like a decent person. I'm not here for him though. I'm…" Beki had to take a deep breath to prepare herself for the recoil she was about to get. "I'm here for you."

Shikamaru snorted, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. He pretended to fall asleep. Beki watched the imitation of sleep breathing and rolled her eyes. "I don't expect you to come and pour your heart out to me. We aren't close like that and to be honest, I wouldn't let you. The last thing I need in my life is Temari thinking I'm trying to take her boytoy away along with her brother. My head would end up on a spear somewhere." She shook her head. "I just...I had to go through the same thing. The feeling angry, and scared, and guilty. Wanting revenge on the bastards that took them from you, terrified you'll lose everyone else, and wondering why it wasn't you. My dad was a lot more important than I was, made more of an impact than I ever will. But he died and I lived. I still...I still have nightmares about it. I can smell that room, the blood and fear. They prepare us for a lot as shinobi, but nothing quite makes you ready for that."

Beki pushed at a pebble on the roof, dragging it against the flat surface like an inkstone. "I was wicked mean, even to people who loved me and wanted to help, and that made me hate myself more." She shook her head. "It may be different for you. I've been watching my mom deal with his death and she's handing it completely different. Drinking, smoking, all that stuff." Beki gave a soft chuckle. "I guess that's why I came up here. You kind of remind me of my mom."

There was no response but Beki had said her peace. She stood and walked towards the edge of the roof. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss." Beki hopped down off the roof and back onto the side street.

As she walked home, Beki could still feel the dark pressure hovering around. I've done my best. She thought. Things will sort themselves out, I suppose. Beki ran her fingers along the wall, feeling the rough plaster grate against her skin. A few bits of paint flecked away when her nails caught worn spots, chipping away and falling to the ground like confetti. Beki pulled her hand away and brushed the dirty fingers against her pants. She was so absorbed in her world that it took a moment for her to pick up on the footsteps up ahead. Beki gave a quick glance out of habit and stopped with a start. It was Neji, walking by himself with his hands in his pockets and his head bowed in thought. It didn't look like he'd gone to training yet; his clothes still looked crisp and his hair was immaculate. She hesitated to call out to him, which was strange. Beki had never been uncomfortable approaching Neji before but she couldn't help but feel like she would be bothering him. You're being stupid. Go talk to him.

"Hey!" Beki called out and picked up pace. Neji slowed to almost a stop and looked over his shoulder. She smiled and waved at him, her heart sinking at his lack of response. "Rough day?"

Neji shrugged and gestured to the sweat towel around his neck. "No. Just on my way to train with Gai sensei." He kept walking and Beki kept pace. Neji seemed tired, his face drawn and whole affect coming off flat. She never got to see him anymore, let alone talk to him, and it felt like there was a whole world of conversation that had backed up in his absence.

The silence seemed comfortable for Neji but to Beki it was deafening. As much as she wanted to be respectful and give him some space, Beki needed to talk to him. It was a physical need, like wanting to scratch an unreachable itch. I don't know what he's been up to. Bringing up Asuma and all that would be too depressing of a way to start it off. How is it that I live in the same complex as him but I never see him anymore? I used to feel like I couldn't get rid of him and now he's like a unicorn. I'm getting off track; just say something!

"Ren and Daiske went home." Beki stuffed her hands in her pockets and instantly wanted to hit herself. Why would Neji want to talk about her teammates?

"Oh." He said distractedly, like a busy parent.

"We had a bit of a mess happen at the festival. It was packed and some scaffolding collapsed. Long story short a nail got embedded in Ren's throat." Beki paused.

"Is she okay?" Neji asked.

"Yes," Beki sighed, grateful for the first legitimate exchange. "It turns out her Hanged Maiden powers let her heal really quickly. It was like nothing had happened. Other than, well, the blood everywhere. Ruined all of our clothes."

Neji nodded. "That's good."

Beki was tempted to grab him by the collar and shake him. Why was he doing this to her? Didn't he realize that this was killing her not to be able to talk to him? After a moment, she decided that bringing up Ren had been a bad idea. That must have been why Neji was reacting so poorly. This would be a good chance for her to bring up Ren's games and try to fix the damage.

"About Ren." Beki looked at him, hoping for some eye contact. "I'm really sorry about her. She isn't the most mature person and sometimes does insensitive things for her own amusement. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it but in the meantime people get hurt."

Neji shook his head. "That isn't an issue, Beki. I…I liked somebody else."

Beki lit up. This is my chance! I can fix things between us! "Who is it? I could help you!"

Neji looked away and wrinkled his nose. "I don't see how you could help."

"Oh." Beki felt like she'd been struck. "Is it not someone I know?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Neji sighed, frustration edging into his voice. He took the sweat towel draped around his neck and tossed it over her face. "I'll see you later, Beki."

She stood stunned in place. She took the towel off her face and thanked God it was clean. Now, not only was Neji avoiding her but he was being downright rude. Beki was surprised at herself; if this had been anyone else she would have burned through her clothes (and possibly the city block) by now. Instead of anger, she just felt hurt. It wasn't an insulted kind of hurt, it was a physical one. Like she'd taken a blow to the chest or the gut. It made her feel weak and vulnerable, so much so there was a lump forming in her throat.

…

Yuki shook her head. This was worse than watching Beki with Red, albeit the rooftop was a better scouting location than the tree she'd used before. The tension between Beki and Neji was so palpable Yuki could have cut it with a knife. Neither of the idiots would just come out and say anything, of course. She watched the emotions flying across her daughter's face as plainly as fast forwarding through a movie. There was pain, sadness, and then searching for answers in the nothing before her.

Beki furrowed her brows, her face so twisted with concentration it made her look simple minded. Thinking seemed to be beyond her capabilities when she made that face. "What was he hinting at? 'I just don't get it'?" Beki shook her head and put her hand to her chin. "Is he trying to tell me he's gay?"

Yuki nodded. The same thought had crossed her mind once or twice. "It's a possibility," She said softly, engaging her daughter in conversation even though Beki couldn't hear her.

"I mean it would make sense?" Beki cocked her head. "I never see him with any girls and he's prettier than any girl I've ever known."

"If I was anyone else, he would make me insecure about my womanhood." Yuki agreed.

Beki let out a groan of frustration. "Whatever," She grumbled and stormed away. Yuki tapped her fingers on her knee. Neji had told Yuki he liked Beki, but saying things and doing them were different animals. There was only one way to be sure that Neji wasn't just playing lip service and covering for himself.

…

Neji had thrown himself into his training, trying desperately to block out his own thoughts. He had taken it a step too far; if his sparring opponent had been anyone but Lee, Neji would have seriously injured them. He walked away from his training feeling guiltier than he had going in. He sighed and fixed his sagging shirt.

As he headed home, the evening crowd was oppressive. Neji struggled so much to deal with being bumped around by strangers that he eventually gave up and took to the back streets. No sooner had he disappeared from public view than he was snatched down a seedy alley by a pair of ghostly hands.

He was thrown against a wall and pinned there so quickly he had no time to respond. Neji looked at his assailant, afraid it was the last thing he would ever see. He recognized the face and his stomach sank. Of course Yukihana would be the one to murder me in an alley. Her appearance didn't help his preconceptions; she was wearing a long trench coat in spite of the mild weather and carried a generally secretive air about her.

"Alright, Neji." Yuki stared him down. "I have one question for you."

In one swift movement, she had thrown off her trench coat. She stood before him in an incredibly seductive rendition of a maid outfit. The dress had no sides and was simultaneously dangerously low and indecently short. He saw so much of her milky breasts it was a miracle that her nipples weren't showing. The skirt barely covered her nethers, but he couldn't help but staring at that area because of the lines of her garter belt and nylons.

"You ready to become a man?" Yuki's voice was dangerous, but there was an irresistible seductive quality to it that Neji couldn't fully ignore, no matter how much he wanted to. Yuki flicked up the tiniest excuse of a mini skirt to show Neji the very lacey black thong she had underneath. Neji gulped and tried to resist looking, but Yuki's supple flesh was too well contrasted with the black lace. She really knew how to catch a man's attention.

"I-I-I-" Neji shook his head. "I should go-!"

Yuki took a step towards him and Neji tried to run away. She slammed him against the wall with one hand and grabbed his junk with the other. Neji froze instantly at the contact. "Wh-what are you doing?!"

"Okay, so that settles it." Yuki folded her arms. "You aren't making it up. You like girls."

"Excuse me?!" Neji covered his manhood defensively. "I told you I like Beki!"

Yuki shrugged. "Saying and doing are different things. I had to make sure the reason you haven't asked her out yet wasn't just that you were deflecting."

Before Neji could answer, Kakashi walked by with his nose in a copy of Icha Icha. He said nothing as he passed, so Neji turned his attention back on Yuki. "So you thought it was okay to corner me in an alley and…and…" He gestured to her outfit. "Assault me!"

Kakashi walked backwards and stopped beside them. "…Yuki?"

Yukihana glanced up at Kakashi and gestured at Neji, as casual as could be. "Neji isn't gay."

Kakashi looked down at Yuki's legs and then breasts. "I don't know if you can determine anything while wearing that get-up. Anyone could get tempted by that. Besides, haven't you harassed enough young men lately? I think the last one needed therapy." Kakashi shook his head and continued down the path he had originally walked.

Yuki followed Kakashi with her eyes until he was out of view. She then turned back towards Neji with a smile that was both seductive and threating. "You figure out a way to tell Beki how you feel. Once you do that, you're going to work your ass off to make her a happy little princess. Fail to do this and I swear on the grave of my dead twin I will find you and lay you so hard, you'll wake up with a maid fetish." Yuki darted in and sniffed Neji's neck, inhaling his scent deeply. She then backed away slowly, taking a second to put her trench coat back on.

Neji stood in stunned silence, his pants much too tight to be comfortable. When did his life get so crazy?