So my Beta reader, the lovely Ghost, does her correction in a different way then I'm use to. I'm hoping I found all of her ** marked add ins and fixed them. Sorry if I didn't ...

Anyway, enjoy chapter three! I'm going to try to update this weekly.

PS. I have a new poll up on my page that is about possible stories I post next. Pleas take a look at their description on my profile then then vote for what you like! thanks~

DROH

Chapter Three:

Changes

The cemetery was quiet, as one would expect it to be. Still, Kira had thought she might see someone there, as it was mid-afternoon. Looking around, though, she was met with the company of only tombstones and graves.

It was a stretching length of land far off to the side of the village and out of sight from the main streets people ventured on. After all, no one wanted to look upon the dead every day, no matter who they were. She walked slowly into the thick of them, her sky blue ninja shirt seeming out of place in such a dismal place.

Her feet led her towards the back where larger stones stood tall, the Suna ninja sign carved on them. Those shinobi who fell were always placed towards the front as if guarding the civilians even after death. Nearest to the back, where newly dug graves sat – easily distinguished by the color of the soil – Kira stopped, her left hand gripping the stem of the bright purple flowers. The new graves, over a dozen of them, were people Kira had known, perhaps not well, but once one reached the rank of ANBU, everyone knew each other to a point.

Of all the things she had missed in the time during her team's mission, it was Gaara's death and revival that had shook her most, but the deaths of so many ANBU hadn't gone didn't go unnoticed by her either. Every single one of them had been guarding the wall that stood in front of the village, and they had all been killed, betrayed and caught off balance by it all. It didn't seem right, that Kira and her teammates had been lucky enough to not be there. Could they have made a difference? It was a question that had pledged her mind since returning home.

Now, over a week later, Kira finally had the chance to pay her respects. With all the deaths, her team along with others had been was on village entrance duty, taking shifts with other ninja of the village to guard the only way in. It was long hours of standing and pacing back and forth, something Kira wasn't a big fan of, but also something she knew how to do fairly well. Intel gathering was her forte, but watching people was a lot more interesting than watching the wind play with sand.

Now, with her shift over, she'd stopped by the only flower shop in the village and had headed to where she was now. Gently, she laid one Sego Lily in front of each new gravestone, careful to place it in the small groove so it wouldn't be blown away. She read each name, trying to recall their faces, even if they had never really spoken. Her mother told her that by remembering the dead, you kept them alive, and Kira wanted to help in that.

The last grave she went to had a slightly bigger marker, showing that the person had been prominent in the village. Kira frowned, crouching down in front of Lady Chiyo's grave and brushed away the sand that had settled on it before laying down the last three flowers.

Of all the people in the village, the elder had been the last person Kira had thought would pass on. It had surprised her, finding out how she had died; part of her had not believed it. Not because she thought the woman uncaring, but rather because she had thought Chiyo disliked Gaara.

Then again, she made it appear as though she liked very little.

"Hey, Kira!"

She flinched, startled as she turned slightly to look behind her. Kankurō stood near the entrance of the graveyard, a hand raised. After a moment, she returned the gesture, surprised to see him there, but welcoming it all the same. They had spoken a few times since the day of her outburst, but not very much. They were busy, as he had said before, and that fact remained true.

Taking her acknowledgment as a good sign, the puppet master made his way up to her as she stood up from her crouch and dusted off her black pants. She gave him a small smile when he neared her and he tilted his head, eyeing the flowers she had just set down.

"I was wondering why you were over here, but I guess I can see why now," he muttered, rubbing his neck. He caught the symbol of the ANBU on the graves and frowned. "They were people you worked with."

It wasn't a question, but Kira nodded her head anyway. "Yes. I didn't know a lot of them well, but ANBU all know each other. I remember a few large scale missions with several teams that were made up of some of these people." She sighed, resting her hand on the grave in front of her.

"What about the old lady?"

"Well, everyone knew Lady Chiyo," she pointed out blinking as if she thought he had a marble loose. Glancing at the grave she shrugged. "It's just, I never knew her but I always kind of admired her. How she could still seem to enjoy living, even after everything that happened to her.

He shifted next to her, nodding in understanding. "Yeah, I guess I can see why you'd come see her then since you missed the funeral. Probably makes the old lady happy you felt that way."

Kira smiled at that, liking the idea. "Why are you out here?" she asked, after a moment of silence. Kankurō shifted a bit again, looking a tad uneasy at her question.

"Ah well, see, I saw your mom when I was out walking, and we talked a little. She said you'd be on your own tonight."

Kira paused, recalling what day it was and nodded her head once more. "Yes, Tuesdays she goes to a friend's house and meets up with others to play cards," she explained. "I don't mind; I'm glad she still has the time to have fun."

"Cool," he said quickly before clearing his throat slightly. "So, I got to thinking maybe since you'd be on your own, do you want to hang out? You could come over for dinner and we could talk? Maybe watch a movie?"

Kira blinked once.

Twice.

Three times before her mind restarted from the shock of his sudden invitation. Sure, she had figured they'd talk a bit when they had time, but she hadn't really thought about the idea of them really hanging out again, let alone him inviting her to his house. When they were younger, Kankurō would spend hours over at her house, but she'd never been allowed to his.

Of course, with Gaara no longer trying to kill people, and his father gone, she supposed there weren't really any reasons for him not to invite her over. Plus, she wasn't sure she could really say no to the face he was giving her.

"Uh, yeah, sure," she mumbled, her eyes gluing themselves to the ground in embarrassment. Kankurō laughed at her display, moving to put a hand on her head before he seemed to think better as she tensed ever so slightly.

"Same old Kira, too shy for her own good. Come on, I need to get back and tell the cook to make enough for one more." He didn't wait for her to reply, just turned on his heels and started making his way out of the cemetery.

Kira watched him for a moment, still a bit stunned by the event that had just occurred, but found herself smiling all the same. Quickly, she turned back to Lady Chiyo's grave and gave a short bow, her ponytail flipping over her head for a moment before she stood again.

With that done, she turned away, and hurried after her old friend, feeling more like a kid than she had in a long time. Perhaps, speaking out of turn had done more good for her than she could have ever thought possible.

….

They had missed dinner.

Kankurō had actually managed to get out of the office on time. In his days as Kazekage, Gaara had learned his brother was not a paperwork person. Kankurō would do it, but he always got twitchy and he struggled to focus. Having to watch someone do paperwork only seemed to make it worse. With that in mind, on afternoons when it had been calm and nothing was left but paperwork, he would often dismiss his elder brother from guard duty.

Their sister was more than enough, and she could spend hours with her thoughts, much like him.

With the paperwork finally done, Temari had started towards the door out, only for a messenger to come flooding in with a report about one of their father's old less-than-savory contacts that took priority. Gaara had sat back down, Temari had taken her hand from the door and the ninja had quietly left, his sister's eyes following the messenger as if he were the scum of the earth.

In the end, it took him almost an hour to complete what needed to be done, and as they left, Gaara realized that maybe his sister didn't like paperwork very much anymore either.

When they'd finally reached the Kazekage's family quarters, Temari had sighed heavily, her fan banging to the ground as she let it lean on a wall. Dinner had been served already, as per Gaara's own orders to the cooks. The blond was sullen, even if she knew much like Gaara that warm plates of food still waited for them in the kitchen.

It was the interaction she mourned, the redhead guessed. Temari loved her family and while it had taken months for them to become comfortable with eating in the same room together after the attack on the Leaf, now it was a common pastime that she seemed to cherish.

He would at least make sure the two of them ate together if nothing else.

He knew better than to think his brother would have waited for them this long; food was his best friend, or at least, that's what Temari always said. The puppet master was probably already hidden away in his room, or that had been the assumption Gaara had made before reaching hearing-range of the family room.

The TV was on, which was a rarity all its own. The sound had the two ninjas stopping to listen and Temari raised an eyebrow when she heard a distinctly female voice.

"I'm surprised you would like a film like this."

"Hey, I like watching movies, I'm more surprised you have the time to see anything current," his brother's voice replied back, just as light. He wasn't sure what to do in this position, and when he moved to simply walk around the corner, he found his sister stopping him. The blond shook her head and pointed behind him. On the far wall was a mirror, and as convenient as it was, the reflection it showed peered into the living room, though not the whole thing.

The TV wasn't facing the mirror, but the couch was, and his brother appeared to be just sitting down, and he sank into the dark fabric with a sigh. His face paint was gone, as he normally took it off when he was off duty. Sitting beside him, though, was none other than the ANBU Kira, though she appeared to be wearing some blue and black clothing close to his sister's in style.

Gaara wasn't sure if he was surprised or not to see her. Certainly, their family didn't have many people over. Kankurō had mentioned trying to rekindle his friendship with the black haired ninja, but it had never occurred to the sand user that she'd show up at his house.

He hadn't seen much of the girl since that first day, though she did seem to follow her mother around every Friday and help her with shopping. Her files were still being found as well, so Gaara had pushed the thoughts of her aside.

Now, though, it seemed she'd once again claimed his attention. As he watched he saw a smile appear on her face as she took one hand and shoved his brother's shoulder gently.

"I do have a life, you know," she grumbled, waving at her lap where a mess of colored string sat. "Aya loves movies, so she normally drags me to everyone she sees. She's a bit of a romantic, and some of the stuff she likes is a bit too girly honestly. I liked this one, though."

Gaara glanced at his sister and was relieved to find she looked a bit surprised. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who had thought the ANBU girl tended to not speak much. He also, he realized, hadn't seen his brother with that silly grin of his for a while.

"I'm not sure weaving string is a life, Kira." The puppet master pointed out, drawing Gaara's attention back to the mirror and their reflection once more. Kira raised an eyebrow, glancing from the show to her friend again.

"It's not, it's a hobby, and it's much better than your obsession with puppets. Least I don't use string in my ninjutsu."

"Hey! They're not the same thing. I collect marionettes, I fight with giant weaponized-"

"…Marionettes?"

Temari half covered a snort of laughter, muffling it in her hand as Gaara heard his brother make a frustrated sound. "No! I, they… agh. Just watch the movie."

Back in the reflection, Gaara saw the girl look away and give a small, secret smile, before turning her attention to the movie like she'd been told. Temari took that as a cue for them to stop snooping, which Gaara was rather happy to do. He followed her, as she walked straight through the living room to the kitchen, rather than taking the side route.

Maybe she wasn't quite done after all.

"Hey guys," she said calmly, as she walked through, causing both of them to lose sight of the show. His brother, of course simply looked annoying, Kira on the other hand, straightened with a jerk. Glancing from his sister to himself she bowed her head slightly.

"Uhh…" she fumbled, her hand tangled in string, distracting her. "Welcome home, Kazekage."

Gaara almost raised an eyebrow at her. Almost. Ninja were normally not too close to their leaders, but they didn't normally change demeanors so drastically when in their presence.

Gaara shook his head to clear the thought. "Kira, Kankurō," he stated easily, to which she twitched and his brother waved with a small grin.

"Hey, Gaara. Kira was all alone today, so I thought she could use some company. We just finished dinner, so it should still be pretty fresh."

"Alright, thanks. See you around Kira," Temari replied with a smile, and then, just like that the two of them had crossed the room and were headed to the kitchen. As they moved Gaara picked up the sound of his brother laughing.

"Oh come on Kira, it's relaxing time, eh?" There was a pause, and Gaara wasn't sure if his brother was waiting for something or if the girl had simply spoken too softly for his departing hearing range. Either way, Kankurō spoke again." You're off duty, yeah? We're just normal people, and we're watching a movie."

"…Yeah." Her voice was quiet, but not unsteady like before and Gaara took that as a sign that he could cast his thoughts to other things.

"She's really twitchy, isn't she?" his sister muttered, apparently not done with the subject yet. Gaara frowned, looking forward before nodding slightly. He recalled Kankurō mentioning that Kira seemed to have some sort of touch issue, but she'd been so confident in his office weeks ago and had been perfectly fine with his brother, teasing and shoving his shoulder. Gaara hadn't seen any indication of shyness in her before he'd walked into the room.

Was she scared of him after all?

That hardly made sense, seeing as she had brought up his safety. His thoughts trailed back to her lack of information; only the front sheet of her file had been found. No Justus, no background, and no squad leader or trainer. That fact meant that her files were either hidden or had never been made to begin with. The latter seemed unrealistic; his father was careful, but not that paranoid. If they were hidden, there was no telling when her information would be found, if ever.

That left getting the answers from Kira herself like he'd considered doing from the start. She seemed wary of him, though, and that bothered him, made him wonder what she was worried about. As much as it was his job to be cautious, Gaara doubted she was hiding anything too sinister. His brother did seem to trust her well enough, seeing as he'd let her into their home.

It was a lot to consider, he realized as he turned the corner with his sister to enter the kitchen. The matter ended up consuming his thoughts through dinner and for a great deal of the rest of the night, listening to the echoes of laughter from his brother and the girl, and later, his sister. The ANBU agent left a few hours later, and by then Gaara had made up his mind. Whether she liked it or not, it was time he approached her to figure things out.

Mainly, who had overseen her training. If she answered that, it would fill in quite a few gaps in her behavior.

Gaara was starting to have his suspicions, but he sincerely hoped they turned out to be wrong.