Okies, here's chapter 3, totally unedited. My typing speed is about to be like a million words per minute at the rate I'm writing this thing, lol. To be honest though, I might only give y'all a couple a week if I can manage it because mama needs a break! D: I'm gonna wear myself out.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, blah, blah, blah you know what this is for, don't sue me.
Cause and Effect
The inside of a lamp is not luxurious. There isn't miniature furniture with little curved walls and cute tapestries. It's dark, because it's a prison, and time is a meaningless stream of existence. Miyako, in all her years of forced service, had learned how to shut off her mind in the periods between masters, when the lamp traveled to places. Sometimes she came out of the lamp to advancements so far along she could deduce she'd been trapped for decades. Sometimes she came out of the lamp and hardly anything had changed, figuring out time then was a little more difficult, though on most cases it had at the very least had been several months.
She had never been trapped in the lamp before during her service to a master. It was ten times more torturous, and she couldn't explain if that was because it was a first, or because it was Gaara. Either way, there was no turning off her brain this time, despite her best efforts, her mind was in a constant barrage of Gaara's emotions. She could feel the years changing his energy into something so dark it was nearly unrecognizable. The warmth that had signified Gaara's presence had shriveled down into a cold, flickering spark, the red so bright and violent against her eyelids that it tore up memories of her past lives she would rather forget.
He tasted like the Angel of Death, like the first time she'd lost control and burned a man alive, like watching the blood stain the sand as her first love died in her arms.
That image was imprinted on her brain, ironic in that this child whom she tried to love so desperately was dying a symbolic death was likened to the reel that played on repeat of the first man she loved dying.
And then everything was spinning, spinning, spinning. Her memories swirling together in a way that way painful and nauseating, and just when she was reaching a point she couldn't take it anymore, she heard it, stark clear:
I wish someone understood me.
It echoed in the chamber of red, and that spark, barely distinguishable from the horrid backdrop, sparked up in a brilliant little white flash that grew until it swallowed her up.
G/M
She threw up on Gaara's carpet. She didn't even know she could still throw up, what was there even in her stomach after so long to throw up? Gross, she wrinkled her nose in revulsion at the mess, but at least he wasn't here to witness it.
It took some time for the nausea to pass, chiefly because it had been so long since she'd been physically sick that it took a moment to remember what to do.
When she could wobble to her legs, she hovered a hand over the mess, and it disappeared instantly as if it were never there. She then proceeded to the bathroom to brush her teeth because she wasn't doing anything with the taste of vomit still on her tongue.
She flicked the light on and busied her with rummaging through cabinets until she found a spare toothbrush. Halfway through blearily brushing her teeth, she blinked at her reflection and then screamed.
"Shit." She spat out the toothpaste and rubbed the mess from the mirror to see herself clearly.
She was clearly much older than when she went in the lamp, he'd trapped her in there, without wishing, for years. She felt along her now less rounded face, smoothed her hands across her breasts—well developing breasts anyway, her widening hips and ended her exploration at a rounded ass and thickening thighs.
"Shit." She repeated, palming her bare face once again, gaping in thought.
'Okay, think. Due to the developmental stage I'm at, and the fact that I synced our ages, Gaara has got to be between 11 and 13 right now.' She groaned aloud, softly banging her head against the countertop.
"Fuck me, not puberty all over again." She raked her fingers through her hair, now skimming her waist and growled at the knots tangled throughout.
She bit her nails into her palms and breathed, rolling her shoulders to expel the tension from being confined in a small space for too long.
"Okay," She looked back up at her reflection. "Gaara isn't here," she closed her eyes and tried to pinpoint exactly where he was through their bond. She was attacked at first by the red once again, and ripped her eyes open, hissing at how powerful his influence had become.
He…he's dead, he's dead because of me
He was just trying to get in your head Gaara, he's lying
You're the liar!
She banged her head on the countertop, jolting the memories from her brain, for now. 'I don't have time for this, I have to find Gaara, if he wished me out…' She hesitated and shook her head, 'One thing at a time.'
She searched through the bond again, tearing past the screaming red bleeding in her vision to feel something outside of anger, violence and bloodlust. Gaara's spark, the tiny bit of warmth he had left, flickered a long distance away, and she followed its call, slugging through the violent twists of negative emotions, nearly invisible red tendrils that licked at her consciousness and tried to coax out more of her memories.
Eventually she started feeling a call of something outside of the red, the spark dancing a little, closer now. It had an orange glow to it, negative interest she realized. Once she was close enough, she reached out to comb her fingers through its sizzling energy and closed her eyes.
This is how she established connection with her masters to locate them should they be separated, it allowed her to feel what was around them use that to establish a location. Admittedly it had been pretty difficult at first to distinguish location simply from feeling instead of seeing, but it was much easier now that she was older and she knew, broadly, what kind of energy each country held.
Peace enveloped her immediately, and it was so starkly different from Gaara's energy that it was almost like playing tug of war. She felt around some more, the wind caressing them and sun warming as she steadily reached out farther with her influence.
She picked up an unsettled waver somewhere beside Gaara, it felt distantly familiar, but definitely not like someone she would've met before. They were similar to Gaara, in that they too had a fire inside them, though theirs was more of an untapped self-righteous type of rage. Stoking that fire was dangerous curiosity, and a cold, wet darkness that threatened to snuff the flame at any moment.
She wove away from this person and tried to reach out to feel more of her general surroundings, Gaara was clearly engaging with these people, as his interest twisted into annoyance fairly quickly. She followed its influence and was nearly knocked back and out of the connection all together.
Clustered together were…what felt like maybe 7 people. Three had an energy so faint it was like the beating of a hummingbird's wings. Two were clearly Temari and Kakuro, she having felt the strange mixture of haughtiness and fear they carried around with them constantly in Gaara's presence. The last one, somewhere near the actual concerning energy, tasted like tears and licorice, probably a young girl.
She swerved away from the group, not being able to stand the presence of such a large energy through their bond without inviting a headache. It was reminiscent of the first time she'd met Bee, only wilder and ten times stronger. It felt searching, insisting, larger than life and too big for one person to possibly be able to carry around. Another tailed beast.
She had to extend herself pretty far to get away from the overwhelming energy of that one man, and the tension she tasted in the air. Finally on the outskirts of the issue, she felt calmer airs and a stillness that came with contentment, there wasn't anything but camaraderie and the sharpness that came with being among nature.
Konoha it was then.
She drifted back towards the center of the conflict, now having dispersed some and quickly darted past the overwhelming energy and back to the siblings, who were moving away. The still Gaara part of Gaara was lit up with excitement and interest, his spark being coaxed into a glossy orange by the swirling negative influence of the Shukaku. She retracted her fingers from the light, frowning sadly as it shot sparkles of orange tinted bolts into the atmosphere, playing with the red around it.
She couldn't dwell on how potentially far her master had fallen now though, she needed to find out why they were in Konoha, and more importantly, if Gaara was even aware that he'd wished her back out of the lamp in the first place.
G/M
To be a spy, it is best to attract as little attention as possible, so Miyako was in plain long faded blue cotton pants and a beige T-shirt, with a black scarf around her neck to cover half of her face, her normally massive curly mane woven into a braid, and her eyes glamored into a soft brown just in case.
Just milling about the village, she could see Suna Jounin attempting discretion as they darted along the rooftops quickly, and those taking the pavement flittering to and from the Kazekage mansion with forced unhurried steps. Something was definitely going on, but it seemed she wouldn't have any luck simply overhearing a conversation on the street, even with her slow walk and obvious ease.
Miyako paced herself to the epicenter of the village, where the shopping bazaar lied and the taverns began. It was best if she stationed herself in one of the more popular ninja taverns just before peak time, that way no one would really notice her slip in and she could situate herself in a good spot for listening when the real heavy players arrived. She roved her eyes over the sky briefly, noting that it was not yet late enough to begin to warrant her entering a pub without being labeled a day-drunk, so she took her time browsing amongst merchant stands.
She wound her way to a pair of older women known for making enchanting pottery strictly in Suna colors of royal blue and golds. If she remembered correctly from her "childhood" these two were amongst a brood of gossiping hens who prided themselves on extracting information from their Chuunin, at the time, grandsons. They paid you kindly in this information in exchange for flattery, a purchased ware or two, depending on what you wanted to know, and maybe a trade of information if you had something juicy enough they didn't already know. As Miyako was fresh out of secrets she could share, she would have to take the charming traveler route and see what she could find out.
The two were tittering amongst themselves as Miyako drew up to their stall, eyes alight with practiced curiosity at their wares. The one on the right, who as child she'd fondly called "flower-baa-chan" on account of her obsession with wearing flower-printed materials, was hawk-eyed and spied her interest immediately.
"My, my, what a pretty girl we have today in our company Gira." She nudged her companion, who set down the glimmering golden tea kettle she was polishing to regard Miyako with the appraising eyes only mothers possessed.
"Ah, but it's a shame she covers her face, I'm sure she must be lovely." Miyako bowed in appreciation, feigning shyness by fingering the end of her braid.
"Such beautiful wares you have on display, missus." Miyako tugged on her hair as her eyes pinched together. "It's so hard to choose from such a unique and masterfully crafted variety."
The two women grinned so hard Miyako was sure their faces hurt, crowding forward to regard her more closely. "What excellent eyes you have for finery, my dear." The first, Gira if she recalled, crowed.
"But I don't think we've had the pleasure of seeing you before, such a presence is hard to forget."
'And yet,' she stifled her laughter, 'you have done just that.'
"Ah," She bowed once more, "I am a measly traveler missus; I roam far and wide. To know my name wouldn't do you much good." The elder ladies pouted at this answer, but were resilient in hawking their wares, even if they couldn't get the next bit of juicy gossip.
"It's such a beautiful country though, it's hard to fight the allure of staying." Miyako continued, running her finger over a nearby baby bluish vase with swirls of gold inlaid.
"This piece is only 4,500¥ my dear, a steal." Gira tried to say over her friend's obvious scoffing, but Miyako would be remiss if she didn't let the woman vent, now wouldn't she?
"You don't agree?" Miyako urged conversationally, shaking her head lightly at Gira's inquisitive gesturing to her lovely vase.
"Don't get me wrong," Flower-baa-chan started, and her companion tried to hiss a "don't start" at her, but she plowed on with a dismissive hand motion. "I would do anything for the Land of the Wind, but that daimyo!" She snorted, very unladylike, narrowly avoiding Gira's weathered old hand swatting at her in protest.
"Enough Kagome!" Gira groaned, but she tottered around the pottery, clearly giving Kagome the floor with only a few mumbles in surrender.
"The Daimyo?" Miyako urged, eyes lingering on a nearby softer robin's blue ceramic egg with golden accents.
"He's made sitting ducks of us!" She exclaimed nearly hitting her friend who had went to grab the piece Miyako was eyeing.
"Oh no." She murmured sympathetically, allowing the other woman to put the egg in her hands, and babble something about feeling the weight and smoothness of the outside.
"Mmmm." The woman nodded, worked up now. "For too long he's allowed other nations to lord over us, restrict our manpower!" Miyako nodded along encouragingly to the elder's words, giving back the egg at Gira's penetrating gaze with the whispered excuse of "it's too big to carry on my travels".
"Why, it's all our present ninja can do to keep us afloat." She huffed, clicking her tongue and folding her arms, "this poor village has been losing money for years." The woman wrung her hands, and Miyako winced slightly as the wrinkles shifted in her skin, afraid she was going to twist something in her fury.
"Our poor shinobi, they do the best they can, but I fear we will never regain what was lost, in political power or in excellent ninja." The woman sighed as if personally shamed.
Gira took this moment to butt in, a wonderfully potted mini-cactus in a delicate royal blue with gold shimmer glazed on top in her hands, "ah, but Kagome, all that will soon change." She placed the small pot in Miyako's hands and wrapped them around, a sign to Miyako that this woman was assured Miyako would purchase this piece.
"Right, right the attack-"
"Shh!"
Miyako tried not to show too much interest in the words "attack", laser-focusing all her attention on the cute cacti in her hands so as to run through her emotions.
'It makes sense that they would be in Konoha then, from what I remember it was one of the strongest Shinobi villages of the 5 nations. That would explain why so many Jounin are present in the village and why they're fluttering about. But why have Gaara and the siblings been sent ahead?' Something still wasn't adding up, but it was doubtful that much else had been shared with these two women than what they'd already revealed. Besides, she glanced up from her plant to see Gira quietly scolding Kagome whilst she thought Miyako was still occupied, it didn't seem like either was going to go into any more of the detail that they knew anyway.
"That's an Old Lady cactus." Gira announced, breaking Miyako of her thoughts. Miyako glanced back down at the little cactus, back up at the mischievous grin of Gira and couldn't help the crinkle of her eyes at the subtle little joke.
"You'll remember who gave it to you if nothing else." Kagome finished, seemingly having calmed down from her rant.
"How much?" She droned good-naturedly, and the two lit up.
That's how Miyako left the stall, after bidding her goodbyes and promises to see them again before she left town, 500¥ poorer but richer in information and now a responsible plant mother.
"The things I do for you Gaara." She grumbled, thumbing the pot as the sun shrunk in the sky.
G/M
Miyako had managed to sneak in with a rush of other Chuunin eager to drink the stresses of the day away and commandeered a seat just shy of the wall at the bar. Luckily she hadn't been made to produce some kind of identification, but as the rush starting pouring in, she guessed that was more out of luck and the owner being overwhelmed than what was normal practice.
She wasn't planning to get drunk, so she'd only ordered typical tavern food and a small bottle of sake she probably wasn't going to finish. She slowly consumed her food, finding eating weird after having no nutrition for several years. While she waited for something interesting to happen, she got lost in thoughts once again.
'Suna plans on attacking Konoha, which I guess makes sense from the standpoint that I don't know much of what's going on...' She furrowed her brow, sipping her sake and trying not to cringe at having to get accustomed to the taste of alcohol all over again.
'What doesn't make sense is why they would send Gaara and the siblings there ahead of them. Gaara isn't exactly the type you trust to collect information.' She couldn't think of any other reason to send out scouts ahead, and more specifically those three.
'And how would they even go about collecting said information? What's their cover story? Ninja from other lands, whether on good terms or not, aren't welcome willy nilly into other villages without reason.' Unless things had changed that drastically in the time she'd been in the lamp, something didn't add up.
A pair of what seemed to be Jounin tapping on the counter next to her brought her from her thoughts. She pulled her eyes to stare up at them questionably, really hoping they weren't here to hit on her.
"Excuse me, but are these seats taken?" The nearest inquired and she shook her head no, wondering if these two would be her marks of the night.
They sat down gratefully and Miyako pointedly turned back to her small meal as the two ordered drinks beside her. Once they'd received their drinks, they skulked them down within a matter of minutes, and Miyako tried not to stare out the corner of her eye while sipping her sake.
"Man, preparations are killing me." The jounin nearest to her groaned, massaging his neck briefly before leaning his arms on the polished bar surface with a scowl.
"Hey, we've got the Sound behind us, and this will all be over in a matter of weeks." She heard the other say, patting his friend on the back soothingly.
'Sound? That's new, I don't think I've heard of such a village. But apparently they are bolstering Suna's military power. But what's this about weeks?'
"I hope so, the Kazekage is getting antsy and I don't like all these visits to him lately. He somehow gives me the creeps." The man mock-shivered, and stifled laughter when his friend smacked him on the arm, warning him that the Kazekage might have ears everywhere.
The men nursed their new drinks, straying off the topic for a bit to talk about any respective assignments outside of the current happenings. Miyako couldn't eat any slower than she already was without it looking suspicious, so by the time she'd finished both her sake and her food, there wasn't anything necessarily keeping her there outside of ordering more drinks, which wasn't advisable. As it was, she felt a little dizzy and only her willpower was keeping her from swaying like a novice drinker. The last thing she needed was someone finding out she was, "technically", underage.
In between squinting at the board as an excuse to decide whether or not she should stay and risk it or leave, the two men got back onto a topic that perked her interest. By now, they were a bit tipsy, thus their lips were looser.
"I wonder if the demon is going to be able to hold out for a few weeks though. I know he's our trump card, but chances are that kid blows our cover by killing the wrong person." The man nearest to her seemed to be a glutton for stress, now moaning into the table about ruined chances.
"Baki will keep him under control." The other scoffed, throwing back another shot, "besides, it's not like we have much of a choice, the Chuunin exams were our best bet at infiltrating." The man waved off his still groaning friend. "You worry too much."
'The Chuunin exams huh? So Konoha is hosting this year, and Suna plans to infiltrate at some point during them? And Gaara and his siblings are being used not only as spies to judge the abilities of the enemy, but as trump cards to potentially destroy the whole village.'
Well, it was certain that whether or not the siblings were acting as spies was yet to be seen, but Miyako was much better at it. A plan cooked in her mind as she paid her tab.
'This works on a lot of assumptions but-' she gazed up the Kazekage mansion, the moon high in the sky, 'my gut has rarely steered me wrong before.' She cracked her knuckles, then her neck, preparing herself to break into the Kazekage's office and do a little…paperwork.
G/M
As the Chuunin exams were to begin in only two days, the sentinels posted at the front gates of Konohagakure were busier than ever, checking in dozens of applicants every hour.
To say they were weary by the time their shift was coming to an end would be an understatement. The Chuunin posted at the gate eagerly checked his watch, noting that the shift change was due in mere minutes. His comrade noticed his eager face and swiftly elbowed him, reeling him down from his high far too quickly.
"Look sharp, we have one last visitor before shift ends." He jutted his chin to an incoming traveler.
She walked leisurely across the open field towards the gates, and from this distance the two men had to guess that she wasn't any more than 14. Her curls and black scarf situated over her face just under her eyes, with the Suna symbol stitched in caught the wind, giving them a clear shot of her body. A form-fitting long-sleeved black fishnet top rested over a purple and gold studded bikini top and met a similarly colored semi-sheer purple skirt with golden chains cinching and scrunching the fabric at the waist and a left side slit that should be illegal. Thankfully underneath the skirt was black leggings that held her kunai pouch and ended in black sandals.
She reached them for processing with a minute to spare on their shift, paperwork already in hand.
The eager-to-finish comrade had her paperwork in hand before the other could even offer a hello. The man scanned over the official Kazekage crest and to her mission details, noting in interest that she was not only a Jounin, but had been sent by the Kazekage to provide additional preparation for combat. He looked to the girl, who was chatting amicably with his fellow guard, in slight disbelief, before shaking his head and stamping her paperwork.
"Welcome to Konoha, please enjoy the Chuunin exams, and your stay." He handed her back her credentials and she gave her a crinkle with her purple eyes, which she assumed meant was a smile.
"Thank you, have a great day." She gave one last wave before jogging inside just as the sunset overhead.
G/M
Miyako didn't know Baki personally, but if she were coordinating a team that was a vital piece to an infiltration and destruction mission, she wouldn't trust a woman who claimed to be a spy sent so late to their aid. Naturally she planned to show up with just enough valuable information to tickle Baki's interest, at least enough for him to give thought to trusting her.
Every village had one bar that was favored among ninja. It might've been because they would look the other way if a jutsu was used outside of combat, or that they enforced discretion when necessary, or maybe because they were conveniently located near the Kage headquarters—there was a multitude of reasons. For Konoha it was a fairly medium-sized haunt tucked into a darker corner just a jaunt away from the Hokage mansion. How did Miyako find it? Easy, every upper level ninja was squeezed inside, with some spilling into the streets.
She bypassed the curious stares she got as she waltzed through the squeeze of bodies, scanning the various headbands of the ninja milling about. Admittedly Miyako didn't entirely know what she was looking for, but being able to present Baki with any information was better than nothing.
She found a group of ninja lounging by a back corner booth, all proudly wearing leaf headbands somewhere on their body. Miyako didn't immediately approach them, sinking into the din of the bar to watch them instead.
The four seemed familiar to each other, speaking easily through languid sips of their chosen poison. One woman, dark haired with red eyes in a, cute, bandage dress, amongst three men. Two of the men had spikier hair, though it seemed more appropriate to describe the gray-haired one's hair as gravity-defying. The other man was mouthing what looked like an unlit cigarette like it was a toothpick, sitting too close to the woman for them to simply be comrades or even friends. Standing up and near the table and speaking animatedly was a muscly green-bean with a bowl-cut masquerading as a man.
Miyako contemplated how to invite herself amongst their ranks, and decided to wing it, maybe they would be kind enough to let her sit if she played up the tired traveler routine?
She squeezed through the gathered bodies and smacked a distressed expression on her face, roving her eyes this way and that way seemingly in search of a seat. She made sure to slump her shoulders a little in defeat, which wasn't too hard to fake, seeing as there really was nowhere viable to sit in the place.
From her brief assessment there didn't seem to be any shinobi here from Sand, the vast majority being what looked like Chuunin and Jounin from the Leaf, probably getting in some hard liquor before they had to work their asses off at the exams the next couple of days.
She drifted into the path of a more boisterous man as if she was lost in thought. As she predicted, he threw his whole body into his story in the next second, making it easy for her to flinch away just in time and make it seem like she accidentally ran into the green-bean man.
"Ah, sorry." Miyako apologized, giving the green-suited man a timid pat on the arm. He stared at her blankly, internally sending Miyako into a panic thinking she'd misjudged the man's character from afar as she slowly recoiled.
The next second her hand was inbetween his own two while a stream of steady tears flowed down his face and Miyako had to school her expression quickly, muscles twitching to get away from the sudden change in demeanor.
"No I Must Apologize For Obstructing Your Path!" Miyako noted that his cheeks were lightly tinted and then he was suddenly on his knees, and the tears seemed to get heavier if that were possible. "Please, Forgive Me!"
His companions were in various states of exasperation as they observed the debacle, so clearly this wasn't unusual behavior for the man.
"Pl-please stand, it's quite alright." Miyako looked around nervously at all the eyes suddenly on them, she inherently hated attention, and motioned for the green man to rise.
"I Will Lunge Around The Village 200 Times If That Is What It Takes For Your Forgiveness!" He sobbed, fist clenched and somehow conjuring up an ocean view behind his head, dolphins arcing out of the water to the setting sun. Miyako's eye twitched, captured between the sheer absurdity of this situation and awe.
"No, no I definitely forgive you! There's no need for that." She laughed nervously, pulling on his sleeve to urge him to get up.
The masked gray-haired man sighed, looking the most deadpanned of the group. "Gai, please, you promised you wouldn't embarrass us again."
The scene behind the man dispelled, and he leapt up like a ballerina and struck a pose, one hand on his hip and the other pointing an accusing finger in the other man's face.
"Ka-" He hiccupped, "kashi! How Dare You Insult My Youth, I Challenge You!" He wobbled a little in his stance, but otherwise looked dead serious- well as serious as a drunk man could be in this situation.
"You might as well sit down," the man with the cigarette in his mouth gestured to the unoccupied space between him and the gray-haired man, who was now sipping his drink boredly through his mask as "Gai" ranted at him. "Gai is going to go for a while."
Miyako beamed a little, "oh thank you…?"
"Sarutobi Asuma."
"Maki Miyako." She traveled her gaze to the still unnamed gray-haired man, who shuffled out of his seat and rose so she could scurry in.
"Yes! Rise My Eternal Rival, LET THE FLAMES OF YOUTH RAGE THROUGH YOU!"
Miyako pressed her lips together to avoid breaking into hysterics. She wondered how these two could be friends when the gray-haired man looked so bored and Gai looked so passionate.
The woman leaned around Asuma to introduce herself. "Yuhi Kurenai, nice to meet you." They shook hands. "I would say they aren't always like this, but that would be a lie." Miyako let out a good-natured chuckle.
"So, what's a young one like you doing in a bar?" Asuma swished his glass, which was mostly ice at this point. He pointedly looked down at her handband. "And before the exams?"
She put on a look of contrition, "well, I wasn't looking to drink, if that's what you're implying." She pushed her scarf a little higher over her face. "I just got in not even an hour ago and wanted to rest for a bit, it's certainly not a short trip."
Asuma nodded sagely, and Kurenai was curious. "Where's the rest of your team?"
"Team? Oh!" She shook her head, "I'm not here to take the exams."
The gray-haired man, who was apparently listening to their conversation though it seemingly appeared that all his attention was on Gai, arched an eyebrow in her direction. "Oh? Are you Chuunin already?" His brow furrowed in thought, probably wondering why she was here if that was the case.
"I'm actually a Jounin." Miyako answered nonchalantly.
Gai, who also had evidently been paying attention, despite going on a rant about the powers of youth or something, paused and gaped.
"Oh, impressive." The masked man didn't seem all too impressed if she were to be honest, which tickled her interest.
The others recovered quickly, Asuma sputtering that she couldn't be any more than a teenager. She shrugged, "I'm 12." She answered simply, stifling her cackle at their varied reactions.
"Another prodigy huh?" Asuma mumbled into his mostly empty glass, giving the gray-haired man a meaningful look.
"Oh?" She titled her head to the man, who regarded her coolly.
"Hatake Kakashi." He introduced himself, shaking her hand lightly, but didn't take the bait of light teasing Asuma seemed eager to dish out.
Unbothered by Kakashi's lack of reaction, Asuma plowed on. "It's interesting that you both have prodigy tendencies and an aversion to showing your faces." Kakashi only wrinkled his nose slightly, but gave Asuma no other satisfaction.
"So, you're a Jounin with no team of genin participating in the exams?" Kurenai wondered aloud. Miyako shook her head, laughing slightly. "I only recently became a Jounin, and I doubted I could maintain the type of authority it takes to train a team of genin that would essentially be the same age or older than me."
Asuma and Kurenai flinched, probably imagining themselves what it would've been like had they had a sensei younger than them.
Kakashi and Gai had turned their full attention to her, Gai with a certain spark of passion in his eye that still freaked her out a little bit, and Kakashi with a slightly more suspicious glint. He would certainly prove to be the more difficult to extract information from, but it would be a nice little challenge for her to try.
"Maa, then what are you doing here Miyako-san?" Kakashi questioned, entire body angled and awaiting her response.
She grinned sheepishly, "it's not really all that exciting. The Kazekage just sent me in case the challengers prove to be outside of his children's experience." It was vague enough to let them know that she wasn't going to get into the specific reason she was here, but riddled with clues. There was nothing against extra coaching during the Chuunin exams, as long as there wasn't any foul play.
Kakashi hummed noncommittally, and Kurenai pounced on the opportunity. "You know the Kazekage's children?"
She twisted the ends of her scarf and shrugged. "Not personally, but everyone in Suna knows of them."
"What are they like?" She could see why Asuma and Kurenai were together, opportunists, the both of them.
Miyako laughed, "I wish I knew. I'm a little nervous to meet them. Ah, I almost wish I was old enough to drink so I could gain a little liquid confidence." She raked her fingers through her hair and pouted.
"Yosh! Take Heart Miyako-san! Who Wouldn't Be Charmed By Your Cute Personality?" Gai clenched his fists and his eyes were literally on fire with what she could only assume were the flames of youth.
"Cripes, and here I thought I could get a little information out of you about my team's chances." Asuma grumbled, futilely sipping at the watered down dredges of his drink.
"'Fraid not, as far as specifics can go." She giggled, and swept her eyes over the group. "You all have teams participating then?"
They droned affirmatives, Asuma murmuring to himself that he was a little worried though. Miyako only shot him a look of interest as Kurenai ribbed him.
"Have more faith, we recommended them together, didn't we?"
"No offense, but it's Kakashi's team I'm worried about." Kurenai pouted despite his best attempts.
"You can't mean Naruto or Sakura." She scoffed, shooting Kakashi a barely contrite look. "No offense."
Kakashi shrugged as Asuma plowed on, more drunk than Miyako originally believed. "Shikamaru and Choji are so unmotivated, and Ino," he groaned, "one look at Sasuke and it's over."
"That's the way of young kunoichi sometimes, unfortunately." Kurenai wrapped herself around Asuma's arm. "What are you going to do?"
"Not My Tenten!" Gai announced, slamming an open palm on the table. "She Has A One-Track Mind For Victory!" He posed once again, hand on one hip and teeth sparkling despite the god-awful lighting in the place. Seriously, Miyako looked around suspiciously, what kind of magic did this man possess?
Asuma groaned, "don't remind me of your team Gai, it's enough you have Neji, but if that Lee is anything like you."
All Miyako had to do was tilt her head with mild interest and Gai was off to the races. "Nevermind Sasuke, Lee is the Real Threat! He Is Prepared To Blow The Competition Away With His Youth!" As predicted, the background behind him changed into crashing waves. Miyako desperately needed a drink, but she had to endure more of this man's…eccentricity if she wanted the information she came for. Kakashi and Kurenai seemed far less drunk and talkative, and Asuma, though tipsy, just seemed likely to vent without going into specifics.
From what she gathered, Sasuke seemed to be on Kakashi's team by process of elimination and Kurenai's lack of reaction at the taunt. Remembering that Gai identified Kakashi as his "eternal rival" earlier, Miyako wondered what he would do if she poked at the bear.
"Sasuke?" She questioned, turning completely to Kakashi, barely hiding a grin beneath her scarf at Gai's eye twitch.
"Uchiha Sasuke, he's a part of my team." His eye zeroed in on her, so she knew that he caught her slight flinch before she could hide it.
'Of course, I can never seem to escape the damn Uchiha clan no matter how hard I try.'
"The kid's a force." Asuma offered petulantly, seemingly still put out that his team wasn't going to be much of a threat during the exams.
"You know the Uchiha?" Kakashi wondered with too much forced nonchalance.
"Not Sasuke obviously, but to not know of the Uchiha is to live under a rock." She assuaged, inherently knowing that she didn't want Kakashi's suspicion on her. She may not know him well, but that seemed to be by design. His aura tasted of brushes with death and melancholy.
She quickly turned back to a pouting Gai, seeing that he was all wound up and rearing to burst. "And this hidden gem of yours, Lee?" She prompted.
Gai whipped back up so fast Miyako felt like she was getting whiplash. He proceeded to babble about his "Precious Student".
"He Is A Taijutsu Specialist!"
That was certainly new to Miyako, while she'd encountered plenty of people who were more than decent in hand-to-hand combat, no one had ever bragged about being great at Taijutsu. People were often more fixated on Ninjutsu out of the three, so Miyako really didn't know all the capabilities of Taijutsu.
"Taijutsu Specialist?" Miyako tried her hardest to sound uninterested, but Kakashi saw right through her apparently.
"Gai…" he warned, while simultaneously shooting Miyako a look that subtly read: "back off". Miyako held up her hands in an attempt to placate it. "I meant no harm, only curiosity." She turned back to Gai, "so you think your Taijutsu Specialist can defeat Sasuke then?"
Gai postured proudly, like a green peacock, "Of Course! He Is A Genius Of Hard Work!"
Asuma rolled his eyes, "Come on Gai, can he even beat Neji?" Kurenai hummed in thought. "Well, Sasuke isn't a Hyuuga, so he might stand a chance, Asuma."
'A Hyuuga huh? So we have an Uchiha and their pesky Sharingan in one corner and the Hyuuga with the Byukugan in the other. It looks like I made the right decision in choosing these four, but is that enough to appease this Baki?'
Miyako tuned out the ensuing fight between Asuma and Gai over whether Lee stood a chance in defeating Sasuke and his own teammate. Chances were that Neji wouldn't be the issue for Gaara, as she was well aware that this was probably Baki's most pressing concern. Uchiha, however, weren't the bane of Miyako's existence for no reason. The clan tended to be filled with apt, albeit greedy, ninja who were quite formidable in battle.
It was well on its way to midnight when Miyako stepped out of the bar, with the encouragement of Gai and parting waves from the other Jounin seeing her off. She turned the information she'd gathered thus far over in her head, filling in blanks to weave together something of a "report" to Baki.
She followed Gaara's new bloodthirsty aura to their temporary place of residence, a small two-story complex. They were all still up it seems, and gathered fairly close together. Miyako momentarily deluded herself into believing that they were having quality family time and had to stifle a laugh.
She dug through her backpack after knocking on the door, just producing the proper scroll she needed as a fierce looking man with half his face shielded in white cloth answered.
"Baki." She didn't have to guess, there were only four people in the house and she definitely knew how the other three looked even if she hadn't seen them in years.
Baki rose an eyebrow and gave her a quick once over, eyes coming to pause on her headband.
"And who are you?" He inquired gruffly. Instead of verbally answering she held out the scroll, which he took carefully and surveyed for a moment, before breaking the seal and reading the contents.
She let him mull over it for a minute, read it a few times, and then said: "well, can I come in?"
The man sighed, but motioned her inside anyway, still obviously wary of these new developments. Miyako cheerfully marched in and removed her shoes at the front door politely before facing Baki expectantly. He motioned her into the living room where Kankuro and Temari sat kneeled on the floor and Gaara was leaned against the wall, eyes shut in a false sense of serenity.
Miyako noticed several things rapidly, the first was—oh yeah, it's definitely been 7 years. Temari had boobs now, Kankuro was taller and wearing face paint for some reason, but Gaara…
Gaara's hair was a lot flatter than it used to be, which she guessed is what happened when you caved into bloodlust. There was also a red tattoo that read love on his forehead that had definitely not been there before and the rings around his eyes were ridiculously pronounced. The only thing that seemed to be similar was, despite the fact that she was sure he was going through puberty, he was still wiry and short for his age.
"Miyako." But it wasn't her name being said that clued her into the fact that she'd been staring at Gaara for…well too long. It was the opening and subsequent narrowing of seafoam eyes.
Well either Gaara didn't remember her at all or didn't remember her very fondly.
"Yes?" She turned to Baki, totally prepared now for his questions and not at all distracted by her master being literally less than 3 feet from her after 7 years. Nope.
"Baki-sensei, who is this?" Temari and Kankuro eyed her warily and Gaara continued to…well glare. This was turning out to be a great reunion.
"This is Maki Miyako, she was apparently sent here by the Kazekage to spy." The unspoken why hung heavy in the air.
"A spy?" Temari mumbled under her breath, also reasonably skeptical.
"I didn't know someone so…young was a spy for Suna." Kankuro snorted, eyes attempting to physically cut through her confidence.
So they hadn't changed in the least, and clearly didn't remember her, though she wasn't really expecting much from the siblings considering the Kazekage had done his damnedest to ensure his children weren't alone with her or Gaara in the year she'd been around.
"That was on a need-to-know basis." Miyako dismissed coolly. "You didn't need to know before, but you know now." Kankuro scoffed, but Miyako wasn't really focused on him. Well, she was trying to stay focused on Baki, but it was hard because Gaara was still there and was harder to read than ever.
"Why has the Kazekage sent you so late?" Baki settled on the opposite wall from Gaara, also clearly sizing her up.
"I was on a mission beforehand." She lied easily.
"More important than this one?" Baki scoffed incredulously.
"Pertaining to the infiltration," she ignored his obvious jab, "I've been in Sound." She shrugged.
Baki leaned forward. "And?" Miyako smirked behind her scarf, the expression showing up as a fierce fold of her eyes. "You know I can't tell you any of that." She countered coolly. "All you need to know is that Suna is my first priority."
"So father sent you to, what, gather information on Konoha?" Kankuro scoffed, while Temari was, quite obviously, analyzing her every move.
"He sent me to ensure the infiltration goes smoothly, and yes, that includes collecting information on Konoha during the exams for potential future use."
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of Kabuto?" Baki cocked his head, clearly watching for a reaction he wasn't going to get. Miyako had already factored in that Sound probably had a spy of their own, now she would just have to look out for this "Kabuto". Thankfully she didn't need to know much about Kabuto, because she'd heard enough stories and seen as many glimpses of Orochimaru.
When she'd dug through the Kazekage's paperwork and discovered documents between the Sannin and the Kazekage she'd immediately gotten a bad taste in her mouth. It reeked of a setup, but Suna was obviously desperate enough to give anything a shot at this point, even if it came in the form of an obvious snake.
She smirked, she guessed they were confident in their ability to bounce back, because truly that was what it would take.
"The Kazekage and I are both wary of snakes." She states simply, which seemed to be enough for Baki, who mumbled that it didn't hurt to have an extra pair of eyes regardless.
"To be frank I have doubt in your abilities," Baki was a straightforward son-of-a-bitch if nothing else. "But since you just got in, I'll give you some time to prove yourself." He pushed himself off the wall, and made to exit.
"Who said anything about just getting in?" She trilled lightly, seeing no reason to hide the crinkling of her eyes when the man paused.
"Oh? Don't tell me you've already gotten to work?"
"I'm not a slacker." She drawled, grinning impishly when he appeared back in her line of vision.
"Well?" He prompted, and Miyako had a strange urge to play.
She stretched, "hmmm, I don't know, you did say you were going to give me time right? Maybe," And she arched her back for exaggeration, "I should save it for tomorrow?"
She cackled at Baki's annoyed look before sighing, "fine, fine. Can I at least sit first?" He motioned at the head of the table, in clear view of all four occupants.
"This better be good." Kankuro grumbled, setting on arm on the coffee table and leaning his head on it boredly.
"Upon my initial surveillance of the perimeter, I noticed that the East gate seems to be the weakest point of defense, and, taking into account that a lot of the Leaf Shinobi will be occupied by the matches, it would be best to make that your point of entry." Baki nodded slowly. "Check it out yourself if you don't believe me." She shrugged.
"Anyway, I went to a bar a few hours ago, drunk ninja mean looser lips." She continued casually.
"They let you in?" Temari cut in, somewhere between impressed and, as always, skeptical.
"It was overly crowded, not entirely a feat to blend in." Miyako dismissed humbly. "I found some Leaf Jounin whose teams were participating in the exams." Miyako pulled her hair over her shoulder and fingered it. "The consensus seems to be that this Sasuke character is going to be a problem."
She didn't miss the way Gaara, who previously had his eyes closed in what was probably boredom, cracked one eye open.
"Sasuke, that's the one-"
"That's the punk who attacked me the other day!" Kankuro suddenly crowed, slamming his fist into the table and disrupting the tea set sat there, much to Miyako's thinly veiled amusement.
"Attacked you?" Miyako encouraged, ignoring Temari's glare at entertaining her brother.
"That high-and-mighty little asshole threw a rock at me-"
"You were terrorizing a kid and his teammates, it's not like you didn't deserve it." Temari reached over to pull his ear, much to his protest.
"Oh, bullying leaf shinobi Kankuro? Don't you think that's being a little obvious?" Miyako egged on. Kankuro rounded on her to defend himself and Temari groaned, but they both froze as Gaara's voice cut through their bickering.
"What did you find out about Uchiha Sasuke?"
Miyako stiffened, and the siblings eyed she and Gaara warily, misinterpreting her sudden clamminess as fear. And oh, she was afraid, but more of how deliciously deep his voice had gotten.
'Stupid hormones.' She forced her eye not to twitch and settled her nerves.
"Well," she had to clear her throat a few times, "his sensei wasn't necessarily forthcoming." She locked eyes with Gaara, who had his full attention on her now. "But I've…run across an Uchiha before. And I do have to agree that the Sharingan is a nasty dojutsu."
"Run across? Who?" Baki prodded.
"I wasn't eager to get his name." She snorted. "I just saw those eyes and the aftermath and I knew." She cleared her throat again, aware that she sounded much older than she looked with that one statement, and paranoid they'd find her out if she started showing past tendencies.
"Anyway, the Sharingan is a dojutsu that allows the user to predict movements, create genjutsu that vary in levels of usability and to an extent copy ninjutsu, but there's apparently levels. If I had to guess, Sasuke shouldn't be that adept at it yet. The Uchiha are also known to be proficient in fire jutsu, but those aren't necessarily specifics to Sasuke. However, the Leaf Jounin seem to think of Sasuke of something of a prodigy, so until I find him and see for myself, it remains to be seen."
"They all agreed he was a threat?"
"Yeah, him and Neji Hyuuga."
"And what of this Neji person, is he a threat to the operation?"
"From what I know of the two clans, Sasuke would be the one you should keep your eye on amongst the genin. The Hyuuga are more widely known for their taijutsu, so as long as you stay a considerable distance they won't pose a problem." She barely stifled a yawn after that long explanation.
"Anything else?" Baki asked after a beat, letting the other three digest the sudden splurge of information.
"Mmmm, watch out for Hatake Kakashi." She grumbled, remembering the way his cold eye was practically dissecting her.
"Hatake Kakashi?"
"He's a Leaf Jounin, Sasuke's sensei. He's formidable and naturally suspicious, I hardly even gave him a reason and he was breathing down my neck." She cracked said neck.
"And how did you come to this conclusion?' Baki murmured in question.
Miyako blinked, remembering his aura that sang of melancholy and seemed to attract danger. "I'm pretty adept at being able to just feel it and tell." She lifted her shoulders wearily and dropped them.
The others began rising, Gaara being the first to materialize away in a swirl of sand with a pensive look on his face. Kankuro and Temari shuffled to the stairs while Baki looked at the still reclining Miyako awkwardly.
"What is it now?" She murmured, succumbing to the desire to lay down.
"There aren't enough rooms…"
"If there's a mat somewhere I'll be fine, I've slept in worse conditions." He didn't know how true that was, and she let out a soft snort, a wide open floor beat the inside of a piece of pottery any day. Though at the slow rate of her speaking, she wasn't going to last long enough for Baki to fetch her a mat and set it up before she fell.
She heard Baki grunt and promised herself she was only closing her eyes for a second.
G/M
The night was swathed in rich dark blues as Miyako made her way back to the Kazekage mansion, a rich smelling loaf of bread in her hand and a bag of gizzards in the other. The normally cheerful little girl had a tiny scowl on her face that had inadvertently worked to hurry the merchants in processing her purchases, thus getting her back to Gaara faster.
Under her skin was an itch of worry, she hadn't wanted to leave Gaara alone, but Yashamaru had asked "so nicely" as Gaara insisted, so Miyako couldn't very well continue to protest his request for her to run a few errands from her without upsetting Gaara .
It frustrated her how every time she thought she was close to understanding what he and the Kazekage's game was, what the main objective behind all these assassination attempts were for, that they threw her for another loop.
Miyako had exhausted every option in her arsenal. She'd tried reading their auras, but their emotions weren't as easy to access as Gaara's. She'd tried to post herself nearby when they assigned new assassins, but they never said anything incriminating about their reasons. She'd tried subduing their emotions, but they were simply too strong and it required too much magic. She'd tried breaking into the Kazekage's office and reading through his paperwork, but nothing outlined a clear plan or even an answer as to why Rasa wanted to off his own child. She'd even tried torturing some of the attempted assassins to see if they knew anything, but they all spouted the same fanatical nonsense.
It also was getting harder to focus when every day with Gaara was a contribution to her own happiness. If it weren't for the fact that the Kazekage kept sending his Jounin after Gaara, Miyako might've forgotten all together that she wasn't actually a child. As the hours and minutes and seconds ticked by, she became more and more entrenched in the dream-like quality of her new existence, of learning more of Gaara's cute little ticks, of looking forward to spending countless hours with him laughing as she hadn't in decades, of truly having a friend.
It was dangerous, but it was a beautiful danger she was more than willing to court and more than willing to protect.
She sped up her pace to the mansion, the itch getting stronger under her skin, her mouth pulling tight across her face.
That's why she needed to figure out what Yashamaru and Rasa were planning, she couldn't allow them to ruin hers or Gaara's happiness.
'It would all be solved if we killed them.'
Normally she wouldn't have even hesitated, her fingers twitched for it now, but she couldn't realistically get away with it. Not only would she be robbing an already struggling nation of a leader without an adequate replacement in the wings, she'd be robbing Gaara, Kankuro and Temari of a father, and she had no clue what that would due to Gaara's already fragile psyche. Yashamaru was an even worse bet, because Gaara was so in love with that vile man there was no separating them at this point. Yashamaru was adamant about having alone time with Gaara quite frequently, and Gaara was so overjoyed she couldn't say no without implicating herself and having to explain the situation, even though she desperately wanted to, and have some choice words with that bastard as well.
She took a deep breath, there was no use showing her face to Gaara when she was so upset, he would immediately pick up on it, and she didn't want to worry him unnecessarily.
She tried to look up to the moon to calm herself, it was a steady presence she and Gaara had come to rely on in the growth of this friendship. Her eyes caught Gaara's shape on the rooftop, his sand forming a half dome around him, and his alarm crashing down on her all at once.
She teleported so fast a normal ninja's head would spin. In seconds she was mere feet from the scene, furious at the sight of Gaara bending over a heavily bleeding Yashamaru, already understanding what had transpired without even having been there.
'They say if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, don't they?' She sneered, ready to finish him off herself, but his next words had her freezing.
"You were born as an experiment, imbued with Shukaku, and meant to be the Sand's greatest weapon. But you can't control it, you're a danger to the village, so before you were lost completely…" Yashamaru trailed off to cough wetly.
'Of course, why hadn't that occurred to me? An asset is no longer an asset without being able to be controlled, it's a liability.'
"So…Yashamaru, you had no choice but to f-follow my father's order?"
Miyako timidly took a step forward, knowing that Gaara was spiraling, scrambling for excuses to make this out to be something it isn't. He was a child, she thought firmly, but Miyako was not. She knew exactly what was going on here and there wasn't any excuse Yashamaru could pull that would work on her.
Yashamaru pulled his eyes to look straight at Gaara, though he couldn't move any part of his body. "No, this was my choice. I did it, because I hate you."
Miyako felt it, the first snap inside Gaara's mind, and her body acted on instinct, rushing to his side and pulling him into her body, trying in vain to physically shield him from Yashamaru's words.
"Stop." She whispered, but he continued on, his voice still perceptibly soft and unbothered even on death's door.
"My sister, who you took from me, she hated this village. She named you, Gaara, in the hopes that you would love and fight only for yourself, and continue to curse this village as she cursed it in her death. She didn't want you, she never loved you."
Miyako scrambled to cover Gaara's ears as he sobbed into her chest. "STOP!" She shouted. "You sick bastard, you liar! I know what you're doing." Before Miyako could move to summon one of her toys and end him herself, he opened his jacket and revealed a layer of paper bombs.
"You and he, monsters, can both die together." He had the audacity to give one last little smile, as if in peace with his actions, before the explosion went off.
Miyako curled herself around Gaara's body, his sand coming to shield them as well as a dome of hard purple light. But Miyako didn't care about that weak attempt at homicidal-suicide, she cared about the rapid descent she could feel in Gaara's emotions, the spiral he was winding down into.
"Gaara," she choked, pushing little hands into his face to make him look at her. "Look at me, Gaara."
Emptiness washed over her, self-hatred wrapped it's arms around her, and she was starting to get dizzy from the warring emotions, his and hers, intertwining.
"Gaara, please. Say something." There was a frenzied feeling inside her, words battered themselves against her lips, but she after years of not having attachments like this one, ever, to her masters, she didn't know how to even start with piecing back together this child that had been lied to.
"He's right." He wasn't looking at her, more like through her, and the frantic feeling rose up like bile in her throat.
"Gaara, no, he's not right. He's wrong, you can't believe anything he says okay? Hey-" she patted his face to get something, any sort of reaction than this eerie calm racing against this frantic energy. For the first time since she'd met Gaara they didn't match, they weren't in sync, and she could feel herself choking.
"My mother, she wanted me to love only myself, so that's what I'll do. No one else loves me, not really." He intoned, and like a cap snuffing out a flame, his beautiful little warmth was sealed shut, deprived of oxygen. She was here, watching it die.
"Gaara that's not true! Yashamaru, he's a liar, he's lying!" Miyako wiped the leftover tears on Gaara's face with shaky fingers.
"He's dead, because of me, because my father-" he continued, still staring soullessly above Miyako's head.
"No, Gaara, no, he's not dead because of you, this isn't your fault. Yashamaru was lying! He's a liar" Miyako felt like a broken record playing a tune to a wall as Gaara mumbled a chant of "no one loves me" under his breath.
"Gaara!" She finally snapped, her desperation driving her finally to smack him. And everything stopped.
"P-please," she tried, voice shaking, "please-"
"You're a liar." He growled, eyes boring right into hers suddenly, and pushed her harshly away.
"N-no, I, Gaara please just listen to me-"
"You're the liar." He repeated, somehow even more fiercely than before, his arm cutting through the air and sending sand in a violent whipping motion, though nowhere near Miyako. "Yashamaru, he was the only one who ever…who ever loved me. He tried, and it wasn't real!" He shouted.
"That's not true, he was just trying to get into your head!" Miyako sobbed, breaths laboring and heart beating too fast. She felt like she was dying, it had been so long since she felt anything like this, this uncontrollable panic and powerlessness.
"I have to fight only for myself, and love only myself, so no one can ever hurt me with false love again." She faintly felt the gears turning in his head as he paced.
Miyako crawled towards him, and if she had been her adult self as an outsider looking in, she would've been disgusted at the tears brimming in her tiny form's eyes, or the way she clutched at Gaara's tunic shirt on her knees, as if in prayer, as if in worship. But what would've really set her off, really appalled her were the words she spoke next, the ones she didn't even know were true or real until they were out in the open.
"No, Gaara, please." Her heart in her throat, she choked out, "I love you. I love you, so don't-" her lower lip trembled, "don't do this please."
It was the most vulnerable she'd ever been with someone in over 150 years, and yet Gaara stared right through her as if she'd told him a hurricane was coming to Suna, as if the idea of her loving him was impossible.
"Liar." He repeated. "You don't love me, and you're only my friend because I wished you to be."
She shook her head, and it spun. She felt sick, and her vision was blurring so badly she couldn't even tell what expression Gaara had on his face anymore. But it didn't matter, he'd turned his back to her, dislodged her from his person, discarded her like a pest.
If Gaara was empty Miyako was hollow, she didn't know how long she sat there waiting for something unknown, with a sinking feeling sucking down all the oxygen from her chest.
"I wish," Gaara started and she perked up, eyes widening.
"Gaara," she hiccupped, "Gaa-chan," she gasped, beside herself. He turned slowly around to face her, the joy she was normally greeted with every day for the last year completely gone from his face, replaced with a blank mask that completely shattered any hope she had left.
"I wish, that you were back in your lamp, and that you couldn't come out."
She choked, her magic reacting instantly despite her mouth opening to protest. The choker on her neck burned as her vision was obscured by dark purple smoke. The last thing she ever saw, his emotionless eyes looking on with a twisted sort of fascination.
"Please." The whisper echoed, everything now dark.
Woooow what a long one! Poor Miyako #prayersforMiyako. Let me know your feelings about the chapter in the comments, and please review! Cause that took a lot out of me .
.Acronym