Finally we've made it out of the Chuunin exams, yay! *breathes a sigh of relief*
This chapter is…kind of a breather? A filler? I mean don't skip it or anything because there's still important information and feels. But we're kind of taking a break from the drama.
Again, thank you to all my readers, followers, reviewers, favoriters, you make it worth it
Thoughts are in italics
Memories/flashbacks are in bold italics
Bold if not for emphasis, is for my beginning/endnotes.
Disclaimer: Naruto is definitely not mine friends, but oh sometimes how I wish.
Killing Time
You can't save everybody, you're just one person. One person who isn't meant to decide who lives or dies, don't take that burden on sweetheart, you'll never win.
It was hard to take her father's words to heart—after all, she was only a human while her whole country was dying from a mysterious disease when he'd given her this advice meant to comfort. She really was only one person, crying in her bedroom, a whole country's death count on her back, but knowing it wasn't her fault in the end.
She sat on a far rooftop, almost too far away to see the proceedings taking place on top of the Hokage mansion, and let the rain pour down over her. Miyako was a wonderer by nature, a person who had suddenly felt the need to question her choices ever since she met Gaara. She thought one of the perks of no longer being "human" was avoiding these types of conundrums: caring, morality, responsibility. What did she care if the 3rd Hokage had died? She didn't even know him. She'd never met him. His was collateral in choices she hadn't even made.
But apparently being some sort of higher power gave Miyako the idea that she could've done something. She wasn't God, Fate, an Angel, but she still could do things humans couldn't do, and apparently that made her feel guilty when she didn't do those things even for people she didn't know or care about.
She didn't particularly think she had a soft spot for the Leaf village, as the Sand likely had concluded by now, but she would like to think she could empathize enough to be able to feel bad about their situation that she was indirectly a part of.
Could she have saved Hiruzen? She sighed as they began to place white flowers at his grave, twirling her own purple Hyacinth between her fingers. The answer was obviously no, not only because going up against Orochimaru sounded like suicide to her in her current state—she flinched as the image of her blood sliding down her shield assaulted her eyes— but because she had an obligation to Gaara first.
And sometimes it's just a person's time to go, and nothing you do can stop that. When this happens, you just have to be thankful for the people you were able to save.
The sun broke through the clouds after a while, and eventually everyone dispersed until Miyako couldn't feel one remaining presence aside from what looked like Asuma along with Konohamaru who was being held close by Iruka and two elders of the village, most likely councilmembers.
It was hard for Miyako to just be glad that she saved villagers when she couldn't see the direct outcome of that. But, she grinned wryly at the sobbing child, she guessed seeing Konohamaru alive was enough for her, and she was sure it was enough for Hiruzen as well.
When even they'd left, long after actually, Miyako finally made herself move to appear in front of his photo, dropping her hyacinth in the midst of the sea of white flowers. It looked stark there, definitely too different, but Miyako had already went back and forth in her head a million times about paying her respects, and dammit she wasn't going to back out now.
"So…" She said to his picture. "We never formally met, but I figured I should pay my respects." She looked around to all of the shinobi lined up beside his picture. "You were obviously a good leader, inspiring, thought-provoking, sincere." She trailed off. "I would ask you not to be mad at me for not intervening, but I can't expect you to understand my situation, so I'll just say thank you for raising a fine village that produces even greater people in it." Miyako trailed off, letting the silence envelope her for a moment before deciding to try her luck.
G/M
"Baki-san…" A Chuunin sand ninja stood at the entrance of a dimly lit room as Baki rifled through papers, nervously twisting his hands at the already irritated expression lining his face.
"Well, don't just stand there, what is it?" The man snapped as he notated something else down in a scroll filled to the brim with notes.
The Chuunin jumped to attention and gulped, but hurried along, not at all eager to continue to be in Baki's presence. "Ah, the Cypher Division has found some evidence they'd like to present to you, it's about Maki Miyako." The man bit back a yelp when Baki's head whipped up, his gaze piercing through his very flesh.
"And? Out with it? What did they find?" The Chuunin looked back and forth from Baki's tightened fist to his thunderous face and barely held back a whimper.
"Her files, it appears that they're forgeries." Baki shook and the Chuunin repeated the phrase 'please don't shoot the messenger' in his head like a prayer.
"Do you have them with you now?" He grunted, rising to his feet. The Chuunin shook his head no quickly before Baki could take any step closer to him.
"No, the team is still searching through the documents and are going to begin investigating tomorrow morning. They're organizing a search party to find her, and another party to interview the villagers to pinpoint when exactly she could've been first spotted in the village—"
"There's no way she's still in the village." Baki huffed. "She's a smart kid, that much I've learned." Baki began pacing, massaging his temples as he went. "It's been over 72 hours and the siblings said they hadn't seen her after she dropped Gaara off." He mumbled to himself.
"Sir?" The Chuunin questioned quietly, desperate to make a hasty exit.
"But why are they trying to establish a timeline for when she arrived in the village, what does that matter—?" Baki cut himself off with a groan.
"Well…"The Chuunin trailed off hesitantly. "I did overhear one of the Councilmembers saying she could've been connected to the Kazekage's murder…and that it may be likely Orochimaru sent her here to assassinate him."
Baki stopped dead in his tracks, the idea spinning in his head. "So…if they establish that Miyako was seen in the village around the time of the Kazekage's murder—"
"She'll be a labeled a prime suspect and more than likely and, no matter what happens really, she'll be labelled an S-class missing ninja."
Baki scoffed, but made himself sit back down before thanking and dismissing the Chuunin who practically ran out of the room. He turned back to his current task, which had been to gather enough evidence of their innocence to present to the Leaf council in order to re-establish peace between the lands. The Council of Jounin were scrambling to simultaneously expedite a peace agreement between the two nations before they decided they wanted to retaliate, and investigate and dismantle Orochimaru's crimes and influence in the land, and now on top of that they had Maki Miyako a potential dirty spy with unknown motives and ties.
Every muscle in him was twitching to dive headfirst into Miyako's investigation and he knew that it was fueled by the fact that he'd been somehow outsmarted by a kid he hadn't even trusted in the first place. He blamed himself for the potential harm she'd brought upon the village, because he should've followed his instincts when she'd first arrived on their doorstep in Konoha and looked into her then. Hell, he could've looked into her when he'd made the trip here before the final rounds, but they'd been so fixated on ensuring that the infiltration had gone smoothly that they'd all let Miyako fall through the cracks, which is exactly what she wanted.
He shook his head and rolled up the various scrolls he had lying on the desk, knowing he couldn't concentrate on this tonight despite its urgency. He made a mental list of what he needed to do the next morning as he re-organized the space.
First he needed to re-visit all their interactions with Miyako to see if they weren't missing something, which meant he'd have to talk to the siblings. Gaara was out of the hospital and acting...odd, well for Gaara. He was almost…nice? Baki still hadn't worked through that drastic shift in personality, but he'd get used to it. He'd have to intercept them before the Cypher team did, because it wouldn't take them long to go down that route, and he didn't need them setting off Gaara.
He blew out the flame to the lamp, hanging it beside the door and shutting it tight. It rattled lightly as he banged his head against it, forcing himself to breathe despite his chest tightening.
'Miyako you better hope I never find you,' he thought angrily, teeth and eyes clenching as he forced back tears, 'because I'll kill you for making me feel like a failure to my homeland.'
G/M
Miyako sneezed, startling herself and Naruto, who'd just entered his tiny apartment to find Miyako sitting casually on his bed. The door banged shut behind him as he stood in silence, gaping at her figure sitting primly on his bed.
"It was a beautiful service." She started when it looked like Naruto wouldn't say anything. He blinked confused for a second, before looking down at himself and remembering he was in funeral clothes, before looking back at Miyako in astonishment.
"You…you were there…?" He clarified, hollowly, before it seemed to dawn on him. "You were there!" His fists clenched by his sides at Miyako's unchanging expression. "You were there after everything you did?!" He exclaimed.
"And what did I do?" She challenged back softly.
"What—what did you do?" He echoed, seeming to get angrier by the second. "Your village is the reason we even had a funeral today!" He pointed his finger at her, she went cross-eyed staring at it. "You're the reason our Hokage is dead!"
"Your Kage is dead because Orochimaru killed him." Miyako deadpanned. "Your village had a funeral because Suna and Oto attacked them." Miyako moved his finger away. "I asked you to tell me what I did."
He seethed, stomping closer to her. "Are you not a ninja of Suna, did you not aid in attacking us?"
"No." She answered quickly, to which he scoffed. Miyako shrugged, "I didn't. In fact, I bet if you ask your Cypher division, they're probably trying to figure out why I attacked my own comrades at this very moment. And if you can't ask them, you can ask Konohamaru to confirm that I saved he and his classmate's lives." Naruto jerked in place, eyes narrowing, suddenly unsure in his stance.
"So you're a traitor then? How is that supposed to make me feel any better about you being here, if you can turn on your own village then you have no loyalty."
Miyako leaned back casually into the wall, raising an eyebrow at Naruto nonchalantly. "Are you going to just stand there the whole time? That's got to be uncomfortable." When the blond didn't make any move to shift in his glare, Miyako sighed again.
"I didn't actually kill any Sand ninja, only Sound ninja, so I kept my loyalties where they needed to be kept."
"Why?" Naruto immediately shot.
"Naruto, you've met Orochimaru haven't you? Why would anyone rationally ally themselves with such a twisted mind?" Her eyes crinkled triumphantly at his scowl. "Yeah exactly, I wasn't exactly onboard with this whole thing, so I did what I thought was right."
Naruto's forehead wrinkled in thought. "Was part of what you thought was right leaving me to have a near death match with Gaara too?" He scoffed.
Miyako sighed and sat back up, wringing her hands together as her face took on a suddenly very…contrite look.
"I actually came to both thank you for that and…apologize." She mumbled, working her fingers through her hair. Naruto didn't look entirely convinced.
"Thank me? Apologize? For what?" He grumbled. Miyako patted the bed encouragingly until Naruto reluctantly joined her, obviously believing her enough for now to conclude that she wasn't a threat.
She sighed heavily and threw herself back onto the bed, observing the ceiling for a long moment before she confessed to the spiderweb cracks she found there.
"I actually…arranged for you to fight Gaara, to some degree." She mumbled. She didn't have to see his balk to know he was balking. He towered over her, probably for the first time in his short life considering he was…well short.
"What? Why? That makes no sense!" He drilled holes into her flat purple eyes, not really looking at her so much as through. "You saved me from Gaara…twice." He emphasized, scowling at the thought. "If you thought I was a match for him than why would you do that?!"
"Because the first time, if you recall, you'd just woken up after being admitted to the hospital for chakra exhaustion, three days prior." Naruto scoffed as Miyako folded her hands behind her head. "The second time, well I knew Gaara wouldn't actually do anything to you or Shikamaru, but it would've ruined my plans if he'd been riled up." She shrugged.
"So this whole time…was everything you did just so I could fight Gaara? Why?" She frowned at the look of betrayal that crossed his face, knowing full well that she deserved it, but surprised that it hurt her this much to see it.
"In the beginning…yes." She closed her eyes at his sob. "Yes, I admit that it was shitty of me. When I saw what you did at the Chuunin exams during the preliminary matches—how you were able to encourage people and change hearts with just your words, I knew that I needed you if I was ever going to reach Gaara." She opened her eyes back to see Naruto's eyes glassy but looking on at her in bewilderment. She reached a hand up to him and patted his cheek, and she thinks that they were both surprised that he let her.
"Reach…?" He echoed, brow furrowing.
"You and Gaara, you've been shunned all your life for the monsters they've put inside of you, the Biju." She paused momentarily at his gaped face, but went on despite the questions she could see richoceting in his head.
"But somehow, despite the fact that the two of you lived mirrored lives in your village, you were able to lead of life of happiness, you persevered. You had the one thing Gaara didn't have—love." She wasn't so much looking at Naruto as she recited her reasons, lacing her fingers over her stomach.
"I needed you to emphatize with him somehow, that's why I didn't directly interfere in Lee's room when Gaara attacked, because he shared his story with you. I wanted to know what you would do." She laughed humorlessly. "I was distraught at the look on your face, because I knew after you'd heard you went the exact opposite way I expected you to. You didn't immediately understand; you met his transgressions with fear." She held up a hand as she heard him suck in a breath. "I understand now that I was expecting something out of you that wasn't reasonable, you don't have to be ashamed of your reaction."
She brought her eyes back to Naruto. "Up until Gaara threatened Sakura I was sure that you wouldn't be able to do it, that I was going to have to find another way of reaching Gaara. But you managed, because your loved ones were in danger, I'm half-relieved I didn't think of it and angry that it didn't occur to me before." He narrowed his eyes at her and Miyako sighed, realizing she wasn't doing so great at apologizing.
"I know, I'm sorry. Gaara and I are…maybe a little too similar when it comes to regarding people as…well human beings and not a means to an end. Gaara used them to verify his existence and I used you and your friends to save him from himself." She grabbed Naruto's hand suddenly, so quickly that he couldn't take it back, and squeezed. "I am sorry." She stressed, staring him straight in his stormy blue eyes. "You have to know that even if I started this as a means to save Gaara from his path of destruction, I do care about you." She squeezed a little harder, her throat getting uncharacteristically thick. She coughed lightly into her other hand but never broke eye contact. "I wouldn't have let Gaara kill you, or Sakura or Sasuke. If I thought you couldn't handle it I would've intervened." She promised.
Naruto swallowed thickly, staring Miyako down in the silence that followed with a swirl of emotions playing in his head. Only one question was important to him now.
"Why?" He finally choked out.
"Why?" She repeated when he didn't elaborate.
"Why go that far for…for Gaara?"
Miyako wondered what the best course of action here was as she locked gazes with Naruto. She hadn't planned on getting this deep with Naruto. Of course she hadn't expected the kid to just be okay with the fact that Miyako had used him and only befriended him to assess his skill and subtly convince him to emphatize with a boy that would become his enemy, but she hadn't thought far enough ahead as far as her explanation for it all. For some reason, some stupid reason, she thought Naruto wouldn't care. In her mind the rational thing for Naruto to have done would've been to tell her that he didn't care for her apology, that he'd never forgive her for the danger she'd put him and his comrades in, and then she'd leave before he could even make to alert anyone of her presence.
But this was Naruto. Naruto, who was maybe too good, too forgiving, too ready to see the good in people.
"I love him." Is what she landed on. The truth, a truth that had Naruto gaping in shock and now squeezing her hand.
"Oh." It sounded like he'd expelled all the air from his gut. They sat staring for a few more minutes before Naruto was able to regain his voice.
"Really?" He seemed dubious. "You loved Gaara, even with the way he is now?"
Miyako laughed humorlessly, raking her free hand through her hand. "Love doesn't let you turn your feelings off even when you know it would be better for you." Naruto blinked and pursed his lips.
"But Miyako if you love Gaara, why couldn't you have been the person in his life he needed? The comrade he needed to keep him from loneliness and off the killer path?"
Miyako sighed heavily and forced herself to sit up. Naruto scrambled beside her and the two barely had any room between them on the small bed once they sat cross legged facing one another. Miyako braced herself against Naruto's wall, eyes downcast as she tried not to get lost in the memories of the past…again.
"I was…at one point." Naruto couldn't see it, but Miyako was biting her lip in half, but she released it and forced herself to talk through it. "We knew each other when we were children…but someone near to him betrayed him, tried to kill him." Her laugh sounded too wet, so she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle back the moisture threatening to escape. One shaky breath later, she was still avoiding Naruto's eyes, but plowing on. "And he…he didn't think anyone could love him after this incident. He wouldn't listen to me, no matter what I tried. He…forced me away." She flinched as tears streaked their way down her face, all because she'd blinked too hard.
She brought her wrist to her face, the rough material of her fishnet immediately irritating her skin as she wicked away the moisture. Hands grabbed at her wrists and she made herself look up at Naruto, breath hitching when instead of disappointment she saw a sympathetic look of sadness on his face. She involuntarily sobbed and he crushed her into his arms.
"It's not your fault." He soothed, palms patting her back too hard, but what did she care when he was keeping her together right now?
"It feels like it is, so I…I had to do whatever I could to make it right." She wrenched herself away from Naruto, patting him on the head when he grumbled at the abrupt action.
"Sorry, I came here to thank you and apologize and now I'm crying all over your bed." She laughed nervously.
"Well you love him, so," Naruto shrugged, blushing a little bit. "I don't know much about comforting broken-hearts so…" He scratched his chin and Miyako laughed, ruffling his hair again, he mildly protested as he watched her rise.
"Thank you." She sighed, but beamed behind her mask. "I needed that."
"What are you going to do now?" He murmured, smiling but carefully.
"Go back of course." Miyako grinned a little. "I have to check on Gaara's progress after all." She winked and then seemed to think a little. "Oh yeah, let's keep this to ourselves Naruto, yeah?"
He snorted, crossing his arms. "Which part? That you broke into my apartment despite the fact that our villages aren't on good terms? Or that you love Gaara and used me to try and change him?"
"All of them." She cackled at the roll of his eyes. "Although the Leaf and Suna are patching up relations as we speak, so I don't really need to worry too much about that."
Naruto guffawed at that. "What? How do you know that?"
"I'm a spy Naruto, it's my job to know things." She let out a peal of laughter at his overexaggerated shocked reaction.
"Spy? This whole time?" He hopped up from his bed and Miyako darted away from him, giggling as he flailed about.
"Oh and about the other thing." She said suddenly serious, and he froze. "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell Gaara I was in love with him."
"Why?" He huffed childishly, arms crossed in confusion.
"Duh, I wanna tell him myself." He hummed in acknowledgement and Miyako took the time he was distracted to dart to his window.
"Wait!" He called, and she paused on the windowsill, but didn't look back, the only indication he got that she was listening.
"Will I…see you again?" He sounded hopeful, and Miyako hated to crush him, but the chance was slim. Suna was probably conducting an investigation as they spoke. She could never be Maki Miyako, the Jounin spy, again. She'd committed too many crimes during the infiltration to be able to defend herself properly to the Jounin council, not that she could.
Still, she didn't know what would happen in the future. Maybe they would.
"Yeah." She said to the wind, and then she disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.
G/M
Baki found the siblings in one of the training grounds near the outskirts of the village, the morning sun only illuminating half of the grounds. Temari was making small maelstroms away from her brothers, Kankuro was working on assembling another puppet if the tools in his hands and parts scattered around him were any indication and Gaara was…meditating?
He cleared his throat and the three snapped their heads up to him, he relaxed slightly when they didn't seem to meet him with anything other than curiosity. Hopefully that meant that no one else had gotten to them yet.
"Gaara, glad to see you're out of the hospital." The redhead nodded curtly at him as Temari wandered closer to Gaara and Kankuro, brow pinched in concern.
"Sensei?" She prompted and Baki sighed, deciding it would be best to rip this off like a bandaid.
"Miyako Maki's paperwork was a forgery. She's not actually a registered Suna ninja or even a citizen." Temari and Kankuro visibly flinched at this while Gaara straightened his posture, his full attention on Baki now.
"How?" Temari was the first to choke out.
"The Council believes that she must have arrived days prior to the Chuunin exams and used the confusion of preparation of infiltration to plant fake documents." Baki sighed and went to lean against the domed wall in the shade, the siblings tracking him with their eyes.
"What else does the council believe?" Kankuro followed up gruffly. Baki could see he was shaking, his fists clenched around the small screwdriver in his hand.
There was no reason to keep the Council's speculations from them, but he still hesitated to tell them for some reason. However at their expectant looks he pushed past the knot in his throat. "They believe she was working for Orochimaru."
Gaara rose at this, expression soured into a scowl. "That's not possible." He spat. The siblings turned to gape at him. "Gaara—" Temari started warily. At the waver in her voice he schooled his expression once more, but there was still fire in his eyes.
"That's why I came to speak with you before the Cypher division could get ahold of you." Baki placated, walking closer to the siblings and thusly lowering his voice dramatically.
"I need to know everything that happened between the four of you during the Chuunin exams." Baki sighed as he looked to Gaara, who still seemed mildly irritated, in confusion. "I understand what accusing someone of working for Orochimaru entails." He leveled his gaze at all three of them. "But you have to understand, regardless of who she was working for, Miyako is a criminal. What we're working towards now is finding out exactly why she chose Suna, how much damage she's caused and how much she knows."
Temari cleared her throat and started. "You know I never trusted her from the beginning." She ignored the sidelong glances Kankuro gave her. "But I will admit she had me fooled towards the end. When we were trying to get Gaara to safety so he could heal his wounds, Miyako split off from us and claimed that she would "clear us a path" and gave us directions to a section of woods that led to a clearing. She didn't show back up until we'd already been engaged by two Leaf Shinobi and were being tailed by a whole group. While she did bring Kankuro to safety, she also refused to help Gaara who was ultimately bested by Uzumaki Naruto."
Kankuro nodded in rapid succession. "When she found me, she also picked up my opponent and took him to safety first. And when we were in the forest for Gaara and Naruto's fight, she trapped us in an impenetrable chakra field."
Baki narrowed his eyes. "Did it look similar to the field Orochimaru used to entrap the Hokage?"
Temari shook her head. "It only acted to keep us in and Naruto and Gaara out. It didn't set anything on fire and it only spanned the perimeter of maybe 15 kilometers across and 5 deep, just enough to cover everyone who wasn't involved in the fight."
"So…she protected you?" Baki wondered aloud.
"Or she was protecting the Leaf ninja." Kankuro scoffed. "She released Sakura from Gaara's trap and she told Naruto that she wouldn't interfere in his and Gaara's fight."
Temari blinked rapidly in thought. "Do you think the Leaf sent her here? To foil the infiltration?"
Baki shook his head. "If that were the case, the Leaf would've been better prepared for the attack."
"And she wouldn't have spied on Uchiha." Gaara inputted.
"But," Kankuro dragged his eyes over to Gaara, "you said that Miyako reported to you during the Chuunin exams that Sasuke was targeted by Sound ninja."
"And if she was working for Orochimaru it was just as convenient for her as it was for you to spy on Sasuke." Baki finished.
Gaara huffed, still unconvinced. "But that would contradict your idea that she was protecting the Leaf ninja during Naruto and I's fight."
"She could've been only protecting Sasuke and to throw suspicious off herself she encased all of us." Temari offered, rubbing her chin in thought.
Gaara shook his head. "She wasn't protecting Sasuke, she told me she'd kill him if he continued to distract me during the Chuunin exams." Gaara barely held back a smirk of victory at his siblings perturbed faces.
"But how seriously can we take that threat, she didn't actually do anything to him." Kankuro added, Temari overlapping him with a question of her own. "Why would she threaten to kill Sasuke if he distracted you?" She hummed.
Gaara looked guiltily off to the side, "I wanted her to help Sasuke's team cheat in the Forest of Death and she refused. If she was really helping Orochimaru wouldn't she have done it no questions asked?"
Temari's lashes fluttered in surprise but she still managed to shake her head. "No, not necessarily. A number of things could've motivated her to say that to you. She could've been covering her ass; it would've been risky if she had helped Sasuke's team cheat and was found out. Or, she was trying to trick you into thinking she really was here for Suna."
"Or she was jealous of Sasuke." Baki grunted and the siblings, minus Gaara of course—who was determined not to follow this line of thinking for some reason, gave thoughtful faces.
Gaara wrinkled his nose. "Why would she be jealous of Sasuke?"
Baki hummed. "Orochimaru's subordinates seem to be quite prone to jealousy amongst each other. If Orochimaru is looking to get his hands on Sasuke…"
"But she hated Orochimaru." Gaara shot. "She told us so when she arrived."
"A cover up." Temari explained away easily. "But I do have one question." She spoke loudly over Gaara's grunt of annoyance. "How did you come to the conclusion that she worked or is working for Orochimaru?"
Baki rubbed at his neck. "There's no solid evidence, which I'm sure will be our biggest obstacle. But the Council is taking into account eyewitness testimony of when villagers documented her arrival and it matches about the time they believe that the Kazekage was murdered—"
"You think Miyako is working for Orochimaru because the Council thinks she may have killed our father?" Gaara was clearly unconvinced, and Baki had had about enough of it.
"Okay, since you seem to believe in her so much, enlighten us Gaara." Baki threw up his hands, Gaara blinked rapidly, casting his eyes downward.
"The only reason she even followed Sasuke at all is because I asked her to—"
"Because we made it clear she was a threat." Baki corrected.
"Regardless," Gaara growled, "she followed Sasuke because of us. And if Orochimaru's goal was to destroy the Leaf village, why did she go out of her way to visit, help and interact with Leaf shinobi?"
"She was a spy, I'm sure she did that to collect information." Temari retorted.
"There was no reason for Miyako to interfere during the Chuunin exams after Gai had already halted the match. There was also no reason for her to visit Lee that many times in the hospital. There also wasn't any reason for her to befriend both Naruto and Shikamaru during her time there and yet they relied on her enough to ask for her assistance." Gaara crossed his arms as he dispassionately delivered his speech.
Baki grunted in annoyance, recalling that in several reports the remaining Suna jounin had made, Miyako was observed blatantly killing Sound ninja and only incapacitating Sand and Leaf ninja. He massaged his temples and leaned back against the wall, knowing that the Council would be hard-pressed to charge Miyako with anything when there was no clear indication of who had murdered the Kazekage and Miyako's motives were so…well all over the place. If Miyako was working for Orochimaru than why would she only kill Sound ninja? If she was working for Konoha than the infiltration shouldn't have happened at all. If she was a rouge than what was she after? Intelligence?
"Did you tell her anything that could be used against you or Suna?" Just keep yourself steady Baki.
Kankuro and Temari both looked pointedly at Gaara whose eyes widened in shock. "Why?" Is all he said.
"Gaara, you know that Miyako didn't spend nearly as much time with us as she did with you." Temari snorted.
"You stalked her dude." Kankuro deadpanned. They both had to hold back laughter when Gaara's mouth opened in betrayal.
"I didn't stalk her!" Baki wanted to continue down this line of questioning, because while it was obvious that Miyako and Gaara had a…stranger relationship than what she shared with the rest of them, he hadn't known that she and Gaara had gotten that close, or frankly how. 'The real mystery here is how Miyako managed to get along with Gaara at all.'
"Anyway, I didn't tell her anything personal, no. I don't know what kind of relationship you believe we had, but we weren't that close." Despite the conviction in Gaara's voice Baki didn't miss that the frown on his face was in mourning for that supposed ruined relationship.
The siblings dropped it, obviously sensing Gaara wasn't too keen on going further into it than that. Baki also let out a long suffering sigh upon realizing that they'd reach a stalemate no matter what information was provided—with no evidence to back it up and no village ties to speak of, how would they even go about charging her? He tsked in frustration, the girl, whatever her plan was in the end, had covered enough of her bases to ensure they couldn't pin anything substantial on her other than traitorous acts against a nation—which they still couldn't back up because there weren't any files to substantiate her existence in the village beforehand, and espionage without knowing exactly what information was taken and to where.
Baki heaved himself off the wall, the siblings eyeing him warily. "What are you going to do now?" Temari wondered aloud, obvious interest in her eyes.
"I doubt it if we find Miyako, it's been 4 days at this point, and if she was capable of sneaking into the village without detection until now—" he cut his own self off with a sigh.
"We'll declare the obvious charges, traitorous acts and espionage, and she'll be recorded in the Bingo book." Baki rolled the stiffness from his shoulders. "From then we'll just have to remain vigilant." He grunted.
The siblings nodded silently as the man finally mumbled out a thank you and turned to walk away. When he was out of sight, Temari turned to her brothers with a careful look.
"Does anyone else just feel like we've been played?"
Kankuro sighed, going back to sit in the shade and tinker more with his puppet. "Nothing we can do now Temari, it's best just to move on and do as Baki said—keep our eyes peeled to make sure she doesn't play us again."
Gaara, however, remained silent and with eyes trained on the sky. He blinked when the image of Miyako, dark curls falling over one shoulder, haloed with the sun, purple eyes crinkling at the corners when she smiled the biggest, reached for him.
Let's go home. She'd said in his ear. Why would she say that and then disappear?
His insides were warring with him, the darker part of his psyche snapping at him for even believing such foolish things—she was a criminal in the end, a confusing one, but a traitor to Suna. The newly reformed part of him yearned for understanding and refused to believe that the one person who had treated him as a human being no matter what he did could ever be his enemy.
G/M
A surprise was waiting for Baki when he arrived back to tell the Council his findings. A surprise the Council of Jounin saw fit to reveal to him in the middle of revealing his findings.
"You might find this interesting." Goro, his least favorite of the Council, started conversationally as he'd begun speculating how they could find out Miyako's true country of origin.
Baki grunted but entertained the man, knowing he wouldn't stop until he'd had his way. "What is it?"
"I had some Chuunin go digging through Academy files and birth records, and they found this." He tapped his finger on the large stack of paper next to him, the stack nearly reaching chin level.
"And what is that?" Baki barely held himself back from rolling his eyes. The man grinned, like a child who'd won a prize. "See for yourself." And slid a few files over to Baki.
He opened the first one on the top, it was an Academy teacher's overall observations and progress report of the student's in her class, and it seemed to be from Gaara's year. Baki furrowed his brow in confusion, not entirely sure why Goro would present this to the council when, in skimming it, it was merely notes the teacher had taken about, well, student progress. When he lifted his head to question Goro, as sassily as he pleased, the man motioned for him to flip the pages. He did so with a grunt, and stopped only when he'd gotten to the end page. Right below the name "Sabaku no Gaara" was "Miyako ?". Baki held back his reaction to read her assessment.
Student shows high level of maturity for her age. Despite my recommendations to move her into upper level classes or to skip the graduation ceremony, the student has not expressed interest and the guardian has sent back denials. She seems overly attached to Gaara, almost protective and they are rarely seen apart during any activity. Any attempt to separate them has led to Gaara acting out in some way, or Miyako arguing her way into being in Gaara's group or Gaara's partner. Despite her penchant for being disrespectful when challenged, they both maintain excellent grades across the board so no further disciplinary action can be taken at this time.
'Disrespectful when challenge, overly attached to Gaara, argumentative…there's no way this can't be Miyako, but just in case…' Baki moved on to the next file, and then the next, but they all said similar key attributes in the teacher's reports. This child Miyako was always seen with Gaara, she seemed far too smart for her age, and was great at talking her way out of trouble. Baki may not have known Miyako for that long, or that well, but it couldn't have been anywhere else.
"I have no doubt that this Miyako and Maki Miyako are one in the same." Baki grunted. "But then why would she forge paperwork saying she was a Suna jounin?"
"That's what we found interesting as well," Goro continued as Baki picked up yet another file, although these were a string of ANBU reports, he furrowed his brow, but was momentarily distracted by Goro's continued proud speech. "We continued our search, but found no records of Miyako graduating the Academy, in fact, the reports stop mentioning her just as abruptly as they started mentioning her."
Baki moved the ANBU files to the side and refiled through the remaining paperwork, pausing only when he got to a progress report dated somewhere around a year after she was mentioned. He only saw mention of Miyako in Gaara's assessment.
Sabaku no Gaara has started to show signs of reticence. His former character has been abruptly changed at the disappearance of Miyako. He speaks only when spoken to and hardly pays attention in class. Often he will leave if he grows "bored" and will come back sometimes covered in blood. He receives little human interaction. Some of his classmates have started to go "missing", though we are all aware that they aren't really missing. I have recommended he be accelerated up to his brother's class, the children and I cannot handle the continued stress of dealing with him on our own, he needs to be monitored by someone who knows him or I fear we will all die.
'6…this is when Gaara's assassination attempts started. But where did Miyako go?'
"There's no records of Miyako's guardian having transferred out of the village?" Goro shook his head. "No, much like this time, she just…disappeared." He waved his fingers around for dramatic affect.
Baki strayed his eyes back to the ANBU reports, too curious not to look at them while the others speculated in the background on further details of what Miyako could've wanted by appearing in the Sand twice.
VULTURE 3/1520 21:29 SABAKU NO GAARA FAILED
DOA, enemy appears to have gutted the operative before slitting the throat. Wounds appear almost as if done by a large animal, perhaps a bear. Stuffed toy bear was found on the scene, blood indicates it was involved in the assassination, but no further chakra can be linked to any individual. AMENDED: Due to overwhelming circumstantial evidence, it can be concluded that Gaara's friend, Miyako, is responsible for the murders of attempted assassins.
'That's not possible, at 5?' Baki flipped through the other attached pages, but they all said the same thing, until at some point, speculations of the killer with various stuffed animals left at the scene, until enough witness accounts, and even the observations of Yashamaru, the Kazekage's former Right Hand, confirmed that Miyako was seen interacting with the assassin or near the scene of the crime during the time of death.
Baki dropped the papers, shaking slightly. He wasn't sure what was more terrifying, having a student with a demon sealed inside of him, or having an unknown operative skilled in assassination at 5 years old right under his nose, and she was bold about it!
"So…?" Baki was forced to look back up when the room had gone quiet, the Council looking at him expectantly. He sighed, shaking his hands under the table to get the nerves out, and cleared his throat.
"While this is valuable information, it still doesn't explain what Miyako was doing here. There's a…" he eyed the two separate dates on the Academy reports briefly, "approximately 7 year gap between when Miyako was last mentioned as a child and when these forged documents appeared." He groaned. "We don't know why she left, we don't know why exactly she came back and we don't know where she went."
Goro scowled in dissatisfaction. "I've sent out word to Kumo, to request documentation of her birth." At Baki's confused look, he elaborated. "We have no record of her birth, and it's said that she moved here from Kumo in her very vague background." He tossed another folder to Baki. In it there was a grainy picture of a girl, about 5, with Miyako's signature curly man and purple eyes, but bare-faced. The background was vague, there was no information about her skills as a ninja, other than that her intellect was said to be exceptionally high, though no IQ score was given. Baki pointed out the name listed on the form as her guardian "Sato Kaede".
"And her guardian, what do we know about her?" Baki knew this was a long shot; that they'd probably already covered it, but he had to try.
Another member shook his head. "My unit already went that route, Kaede has been dead for a few years now. As it was, she was an old hermit when Miyako was a child—not much was known about her, and people rarely ever saw her."
It all sounded too perfect to Baki. Miyako appears in Suna and is fostered by a village hermit, was self-sufficient enough not to warrant guardian intervention, and then disappears, and right when she comes back the one person they can talk to is dead.
"We were hoping," Goro started, "that you could ask Gaara where she went." He gestured vaguely to the papers at Baki's brows drawing together in confusion.
Ask Gaara where she went? As far as Baki could tell, Gaara didn't seem to recognize Miyako when she'd returned. Baki was willing to bet that if asked, Gaara would hardly remember a time in his life before he'd chosen to become a killer. And he was clearly trying to…well change for the better. Would it really be a good idea to bring up a former friend of his—supposedly his only one if these reports were to be believed, and have him thinking someone else had abandoned him to? What was the likelihood he'd remember Miyako now and why she'd left? And why did that even matter? That still wouldn't tell them why she'd shown back up. All it would establish for sure was that she had left. It wasn't worth it to bring this up with Gaara, Baki was sure of it.
"That won't tell us why she reappeared in Suna. Gaara clearly doesn't remember Miyako, and Miyako didn't seem overly familiar with Gaara." Although, he had to give it to her that she was probably an excellent actress. "I'm not going to question him about this I don't want him to…relapse." He said for lack of a better word.
"Relapse?" Goro snorted to the tune of several other councilmembers pinched faces.
"Yes, despite what you may be thinking, Gaara is…trying to be better, and I don't want him spiraling into a fit of rage upon discovering he had a friend at one time that might've left him, do you?" At this they all got quiet and murmured to one another that they really couldn't handle that. Goro sighed but dropped it. "Fine, we won't mention it, but Cypher is still going to question them thoroughly Baki." He spat and Baki didn't bother holding in his eye roll.
"As long as you don't mention Miyako as a child or their former friendship, then fine."
They moved on to the topic of reestablishing peace with Konoha, the draft of the armistice terms having reached a suitable place for all councilmembers. By the time they dragged themselves out of the meeting the sun was already on it's way out of the sky, only a half circle still visible.
Baki was the last to leave, his eyes still going back to the documents that incriminated Miyako not only as Gaara's friend, but as a protective force in his life. He hadn't said this to the council, but Gaara was the only link in both of the Miyako cases. She had been his friend as a child and had shown back up and happened to pick the team Gaara was on? Was she a stalker? Was she after the Shukaku? Going down this route gave Baki another headache. So he collected all the papers and decided to take them back to his apartment. It looked like it was going to be another sleepless night for him once again.
G/M
Naruto was on a mission when he saw it, months after the last time he'd seen her. This is not what he meant by "will I see you again?"
He ran towards the purple eyes detailed in the wanted poster, he faintly thought in his head that they'd gotten the shape of her eyes wrong in the drawing, that they'd only made them sharper to make her more intimidating, and that her hair wasn't that loosely curled, and—
"Naruto?" He looked back to see Sakura looking at him strangely, the only one who'd stayed behind as Kakashi and Sasuke walked ahead.
WANTED FOR TRAITOROUS ACTS
MAKI MIYAKO
2 MILLION RYO
Naruto felt Sakura at his back, looking over his shoulder curiously. "Hey, that's…"
Abruptly, as if someone saying it to him out loud would confirm that this wasn't some fever dream, he shoved the poster harshly into his pocket and stalked ahead of Sakura again, calling out a weak sorry in the meantime.
He didn't want to talk about it, obviously, even though the poster was burning a hole in his pocket. Why would he even ask anyway? Miyako was a Suna ninja, who'd attacked his homeland, even if she did come back and say sorry for it afterwards, that didn't make it okay.
But still, she'd said that Suna and Konoha were repairing their relationship, so why would she be labelled as a traitor? Was it because she had let Gaara and Naruto fight? But that wasn't a big deal right?
"Naruto!" He whipped his head up to find Sasuke staring sidelong at him, unamused, and Kakashi with hands on hips and a cocked eyebrow. He wasn't going to ask, he wasn't going to fucking—
He yanked the wanted poster out of his pocket and waved it at Kakashi's face, who's one eye widened in surprise before settling back into it's usual mask of calm. He plucked the poster out of Naruto's hands, though still kept his focus on the boy who was biting his lip in half.
"Why?" Is all Naruto could come up with.
Kakashi pointed to "Traitorous" in Miyako's poster and then handed it back to Naruto. He looked at the boy worriedly for a split second, wondering if being caught up in Sasuke's training had caused him to miss something evolving between Miyako and Naruto. He'd clearly underestimated her abilities. He knew she had expressed an interest in Naruto's skills and still let it slip his attention.
"Naruto, you have to understand that Miyako is a master at manipulation." He held out a hand for the poster again, which Naruto hesitantly handed back. "Think on it Naruto, in comparison to how much Miyako knows about you, what can you say you know about her?"
Naruto wanted to say he knew a lot, that she genuinely believed in Naruto, that she loved Gaara, that she was incredibly perceptive—and then he realized that, though he knew her personality-wise, he knew nothing of her background. She was a Jounin spy from Suna who had a past with Gaara…and that was it.
He let Kakashi ball up the poster. "Don't let this slow down our mission Naruto." He mumbled, tossing it into the woods, before spinning around on his heel, grimacing when none of the kids could see.
G/M
Miyako's prison was the same thing that recharged her. She spent most of the month that passed by inside, trying to regain back energy, mostly fruitlessly. Unless she decided to buck up and tell Gaara the truth she feared she would continually be on the decline.
"How do I do that?" She asked the endless dark space of her lamp. "How do I tell someone I'm their genie…again?"
She guessed she could pretend that it was like Gaara finding her all over again? She could lead him to his old room in the Kazekage mansion—oh wait, but that would require that Gaara listen to her long enough to be led…well anywhere.
"Stupid lamp, why the hell can't I touch you?" She grumbled and slid down into a laying position.
She could just come out and say it. But how to phrase it? "Hey Gaara! Remember that kid you forgot from childhood after Yashamaru traumatized you? That's me! I'm actually not a 13 year old but a 100-something year old genie. Got any wishes?"
She snorted to herself. Gaara may be reformed, but no way would he buy that. He also didn't seem like he would be impressed by her fireworks trick like he was at 5 years old.
And how did she even know she could get anywhere near him? It was likely he didn't appreciate her very much after she'd disappeared on him. She obviously knew that he couldn't decide between being angry at her and being curious to know why, but neither of those emotions were really the warm fuzzy feelings she was looking for, or guaranteed forgiveness.
To keep herself from going mad in her lamp she occasionally shapeshifted into ordinary villagers and subtly stalked ran into Gaara just to see how he was doing.
Most days she did this, she wanted to break down and cry with so much pride when he would attempt to smile at the villagers who would make eye contact with him. Or when he made an effort to buy things, albeit with Temari and Kankuro flanking his sides, at vendor's stalls politely. Or when he tried to help out random children by returning their lost toys, or elderly people who needed help carrying groceries. A lot of these attempts weren't all that successful, because the people were still not used to this 180, so they'd either scream and run away or outright refuse to interact with Gaara, which would just make Temari and Kankuro scowl for him. But, some of them pushed through their prejudices, although with a tremble.
It wasn't entirely necessary for Miyako to be out of the lamp to hear Gaara make a wish, but it was odd to be away from him so long. He clearly wasn't in any danger, as proven by the fact that no one dared to threaten him in his own village after they'd suffered so great a loss, but not being beside a master 24/7 made her feel odd.
On one such day, she hobbled as an old crone after Gaara and Kankuro until they jumped up to where she and Gaara's old small alcove used to be hewn into the lip of Suna's natural ladder-like barrier. The stood on the steppe and looked out over the village as she and Gaara used to do. After a few minutes Miyako was too curious to hear the conversation to not use her magic, so she made herself invisible and teleported to the steppe below them, just far enough not to be detected, but close enough to hear everything.
"Are you sure about this Gaara? You know I support you, but the village…" She heard Kankuro say, and furrowed her brows shifting to stand so she could be that much closer.
"I know it won't be easy." Miyako's eyes naturally shifted close, noticing that somehow only after a month, though Gaara's voice was still rough, it had mellowed out, along with his aura. The red still pulsed in the background, the Shukaku constantly fighting to regain his place, but the sparkler was crackling brightly now, warmer than ever.
"I'm prepared to work hard." He continued, his voice lilting down to her. "I want to work hard to regain this village's trust in me."
Miyako fought that tears prickling in her eyes, shuffling slightly to the rounded, grainy edge of the steppe and resting the full length of her body against it, palms flat against it's surface. A hug of encouragement that Gaara couldn't feel.
"Gaara…"Kankuro's voice sounded thick as well.
"I know that it will be worth it in the end, to be able to have comrades in which I can share joy, pain, love and understanding with." Miyako nodded along with his statement, choking back little hiccups because honestly that's all she ever wanted for him. Why had it taken so long to get here?
"I'm going to become Kazekage." He said it with so much conviction Miyako knew he didn't need to wish. "So that I can protect these comrades precious to me, and those precious to them."
A long silence stretched on, just the three of them watching the ever-fading light of the sun as Gaara made his declaration over Suna. How blessed were they and did not know it.
"I want to be like him." Gaara finally said after the pause.
"Who?" Kankuro wondered, softly.
"The one who taught me that strength comes from love, that people are precious. Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara whispered back, as if he was abashed about something. Maybe that he'd had to have someone teach him something like that. Miyako thought that he shouldn't be so ashamed.
"I'll help you however I can, Gaara." Kankuro swore. "I'm glad you're prepared to work hard, because I know it will be difficult to convince the Council, much less Suna."
They let that thought fester for a while, murmuring a few more things to one another quietly, before Kankuro bid his brother goodbye and jumped down, sailing right past Miyako with no notice. Miyako stayed, chiefly because Gaara was alone now, but partially because she felt something coming.
The moon had just risen, a beautiful crescent that didn't give nearly enough light for Gaara to get home with, but still grinned at him conspiratorially enough to get him to spill his secrets.
"I just wish that they would give me a chance to show them I've changed."
Miyako felt the magic wash over her, the wish, nay, command took ahold of her. But she steeled herself, waiting until Gaara floated back down on a cloud of sand to the ground, and was out of sight, before moving herself.
Double update yaaaaay! This was so much longer than I thought it was going to be. Honestly it's because I went too long with the Jounin Council scene, and threw in that scene of Naruto finding Miyako's wanted poster. ^.^'
Let me know what you think my lovely readers~ my fingertips bleed for you so please give me a review!
Until the next one!
.Acronym