The Wishful Thinker

by S.F.Acronym

The strange older looking girl that had just appeared when he was polishing this bottle was named Miyako Kurosawa. She stared down at him unafraid, and almost bored, waiting for her question to be answered, and instantly Gaara knew what he wanted. OCxGaara

12. Lasting First Impressions

Hello my friends, welcome to chapter 12! It's another filler-ish chapter yay! I do want you to know that even though I call these "fillers" like, read them, lol. It just means that it takes place between major arcs in the actual Naruto series.

I love you readers, favoriters, followers and reviewers as always :D

Thoughts are in italics

Memories/flashbacks are in bold italics

Bold if not for emphasis, is for my beginning/endnotes.

Fair warning, Miyako will be referred to as Raccoon a lot in the coming chapters, don't get confused

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, but do you know what I do own? Miyako, sorry girl.

Lasting First Impressions

Miyako had been a lot of things in her nearly 200 years of living—chef, maid, genie, diplomat, assassin, bounty hunter, the list goes on. Hairdresser was apparently another thing to add to that list.

She hadn't realized how much hair she had until she'd had to cut ¾'s of it off. In her fist was enough hair that, if manipulated the right way, looked like the size of a small dog. She bundled up the dark curls and tied them with a thin rope, placing it in a nearby backpack. She self-consciously ran her fingers through her now chin-length tresses, the curl pattern shifting as it dried into something looser and wavier looking. "At least it will be easier to wash it now." She grumbled to herself.

While cutting her hair had to be done the old fashion way, magic was needed for her eyes. After washing her hands she placed her fingertips near the corners of both eyes and concentrated in the mirror, watching as the purple slowly darkened into a chocolate brown. She blinked rapidly as she removed her fingers from her face, turning every which way in the mirror to ensure no speck of purple was left.

She'd have to check tomorrow morning again before she headed out to begin her plan; she didn't fully trust herself after having exhausted a lot of magic in only a few hours. She wasn't audacious enough to attempt to "shapeshift" as it were in the Kage mansion, even if no one currently resided in it, the siblings having been moved out weeks prior half of their own volition but chiefly because the Council didn't want it to seem like they were receiving special treatment while the consideration for the next Kage was being made.

Obviously everyone was aware that out of all in the village the most logical choice as far as strongest ninja, would be Gaara. Discounting that he had a Biju sealed inside of him, Gaara's manipulation of sand had been unheard of since the 3rd Kazekage, so perhaps it made the Council feel nostalgic. Still, they weren't just going to hand him the seat, they'd drag on the decision as long as possible in the name of deliberation, but what was really a fruitless effort.

Instead of pushing her luck, Miyako had chosen an abandoned apartment building on the outskirts of the village, sprucing up only a unit, and only just enough that it was habitable. The outside still looked entirely uninviting and showed no signs of life. The only decoration she had to speak of was her Old Lady cactus, Lion, which despite her almost gross neglect was flourishing. She was glad one of them was.

Thankfully she hadn't had to manipulate her skin tone with magic, Gaara's sustained disbelief doing wonders in paling her as her health took a steady decline. She grunted and moved on, wrapping her fingers loosely around her throat and pitching her voice to be slightly higher and breathier, minute changes that were enough to leave people more familiar with her unsuspecting. As an added measure, she practiced a different cadence and elevated her vocabulary, and after enough times in the mirror she could convince herself that the person staring back at her was a complete stranger she'd never met before.

She plucked the chosen mask from the backpack, three dark rings around the eyes marking her as her chosen alias "Raccoon". She dropped the mask onto her skin and sighed, before mechanically going about washing up for bed, even though by the time she dropped into it, the sun was starting to peak from the clouds. She huffed, but hoped that she would get just a little more sleep tomorrow instead.

G/M

If someone were to later ask her why she decided to disguise herself as an ANBU black ops, thus plunging herself into even more trouble if she were ever to be caught, Miyako would answer that it was because she knew Gaara was going to be Kazekage. Was that a bold claim? She didn't think so. Nonetheless, if Gaara was to be Kazekage, she needed to be able to be as close to him as possible, and short of just telling Gaara the truth, this was the best way.

Because they had no Kazekage, momentarily, the Council, along with their two elders, were giving out missions and making the majority of the decisions for the village, which meant that if Gaara wanted to be Kazekage he would have to play by their rules. Now, Miyako hadn't ever encountered this particular council, but she had been around political types long enough to know that if Gaara wanted to be able to win the title of Kazekage and affect actual change, he needed an ally on the inside. Baki helped, of course, but in the process of convincing the council that Gaara was good enough to be Kazekage, he would most likely be viewed as biased. Every assessment Baki or the siblings could possibly give in Gaara's favor would be shot down, and, consequently, whoever they appointed to assess Gaara instead would be biased in the complete opposite direction.

So really, it was a good thing Miyako was stepping into mediate, even if she was a tiny bit biased towards Gaara. That being said, she wouldn't be entirely untruthful in her assessments, if Gaara really hadn't changed, Miyako would be able to see right through him and there was no way she would hand Sand over to him with a guilt-free conscience.

Miyako kept to the abandoned pathways of Suna as she slinked her way to the Kage mansion, donned in standard all black from head to toe with beige colored breastplate on top—the standard ANBU black ops uniform. She knew that she needed to hurry it along a little, the siblings were supposed to hold audience with the Council today to formalize Gaara's intent on becoming Kazekage, and she kind of wanted to catch a little bit of it if she could. But she was also sooooo lethargic from lack of sleep that exerting energy sounded unnecessary and exhausting.

Still, before she knew it she was taking the same entrance into the ANBU facility she discovered last night while planting false memories of "Raccoon" that would populate in the operatives and Jounin council members heads when they made contact with equipment. For ANBU members she had laced the whole facility to be on the safe side, as well as sparring equipment and spare uniforms, for the council she'd tampered with every office space and supply that they had, and even the round table they sat at just to be on the safe side. To her favor, the remaining ANBU Suna had had been called from missions to help rebuild the village, so they were all present and being utilized for village needs, which meant they were more likely to pass in and out of the facility and spread "Raccoon's" identity to others.

Now would be where she found out if the fruits of her labor had been successful. It was late enough in the morning that the majority of ANBU who were going to come in for the day had already made it there, and that the night-shift should've already been influenced and left by now. Any stragglers that had missed her spell she would just have to hope wouldn't encounter her before they had the memories implanted.

She made her way through the darkened corridors, avoiding the traps as if second nature by now and appeared in the bunker that was mostly silent save for the shuffling of a few operatives who hadn't been assigned any duties as of yet. She silently waved at the two operatives who looked up at her and gave a slight tilt of the head in acknowledgement before they went back to their thus far mundane tasks.

There wasn't much to the underground bunker ANBU used for their missions, chiefly because there wasn't supposed to be much. One wall was a row of locker like doors that were connected to the Jounin Council room and the Kazekage's office above and where ANBU received sensitive orders. They weren't marked for a specific person, because that would be too obvious, rather they were sectioned off by status. Trainee ANBU received messages at the bottom, new ANBU received messages in the middle, squadron leaders at the second from the top, and at the very top was a box that led directly to the Kazekage's office for the "Right Hand" ANBU, though that was rarely used considering Right Hand's were supposed to be with the Kazekage nearly at all times if they could.

Considering that there hadn't been a Right Hand since Yashamaru, the box looked pretty dusty. Raccoon ran her fingers along the 6 boxes that made up the top row, detecting a scroll for herself in the second to last box. She could freely smirk behind her mask—so the spell had definitely worked.

She quietly released the seal and opened the box to find a small scroll. She grabbed it and re-sealed the door shut before turning back to the two still too quiet ANBU. Raccoon took another good look at them, their names coming to her slowly—after all she'd had to really hunt to find the identities of every single Suna ANBU still alive— in commission or out, she was being that careful, after all no one person aside from the Kazekage was supposed to know something like that and, well, he was dead.

She waved the two men closer to her, deactivating the trap on the scroll and unfurling it to read the contents. Lynx and Nightingale, two fairly towering men of varying builds, one being lean yet packed with muscle and the other being a bit stockier but no less intimidating, stood still in front of her as she finished the contents.

Raccoon didn't particularly like bragging, at least not as the character she was playing now, but she was squadron leader—well, she had made herself squadron leader. The Council knew her as an ANBU they could entrust with their internal affairs, which would help when they were likely to squabble after Gaara's official proposal in making a decision.

The scroll in her hand was fairly straight forward, Raccoon, Lynx and Nightingale were to attend the proposal meeting in—she checked her internal clock, 30 minutes glad she'd made it on time— and act as hidden security. It didn't need to be said that the Council feared for their lives if Gaara was in the room. Raccoon looked to the two larger men and thought to herself that assigning 3 ANBU for guard duty was overkill, but who was she to argue with her superiors? She rolled her eyes and held back a snort at that thought, knowing full well she'd be doing just that, probably frequently.

"We are to guard the Council in their upcoming meeting with Sabaku no Gaara and his siblings in 27 minutes." She passed along easily, activating the seal that sent the scroll up in flames. By the time she dropped it to the ground it was nothing but ashes.

"You're cutting it a little close, aren't you Raccoon?" Lynx ribbed, biceps flexing as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't start, you know I was on a mission last night, the Council are becoming slave drivers." She huffed back, sliding her left hand up her back to check to ensure she had her twin crescent blades still attached to herself.

"Slept in?" Nightingale's tone spoke of understanding if she had, he was apparently more subdued than his counterpart.

"Hardly." She sighed, dropping her hands back to her sides. "Do you have your weapons on you?" She straightened her posture, the correct form helping her snap back into work mode.

They affirmed. "Alright, I'll go meet with Goro, see if he has any further instructions. Lynx, you're at the entrance, Nightingale you have the corner with the best vantage, understood?"

With their nods, Raccoon scattered them with a "go".

G/M

Raccoon appeared before the Council, kneeling on one knee and fist to the ground with 20 minutes to spare.

"Raccoon, there you are!" Himura, one of the chattier and more opinionated of the Council scurried before her, encouraging her to rise with fluttering of his fingers.

She met Goro's eyes as he marched before her, looking put off, though she couldn't tell if that was because of the meeting that was to take place or because he felt like she was late.

"Are your men in place?" He asked immediately, eyes shooting every which way, though Raccoon knew he'd never find out where Lynx and Nightingale were hiding.

"Yes." She droned. He grunted out a "very good" and Himura took over.

"As you know the Demon of Suna—"Raccoon cleared her throat before she could stop herself, luckily she didn't have to explain when Baki hissed at Himura to address Gaara properly.

"Erm, sorry, Sabaku no Gaara is going to be…gracing us with his presence today, as will his siblings, to lodge a proposal that Gaara become…Kazekage." He scoffed the last word and Raccoon forced herself to remain neutral even though her palm twitched to connect with this audacious man's face.

He recovered from his momentary disgusted look. "You will remain in the room, visible, while we hear out the proposal, and of course, the other two will be present just in case the demon gets, well, violent—" he stage whispered, but Baki's grunt tearing across the room made him flinch and snap his mouth closed.

"That's enough Himura, Raccoon understands her mission." Himura rolled his eyes conspiratorially, as if he and Raccoon would ever be allies, and pranced off back to his seat.

Raccoon turned her gaze back to Goro. "I will take a place behind you Goro-sama, if you won't protest." When the man shook his head, Raccoon bowed and strode forward to plant herself in view of the door, and having to viciously tell her heart to calm down as it beat rapidly at the thought of being in a confined space with Gaara once more after weeks.

The 15 minute wait passed by in a blur, and on the dot a knock sounded at the door. Baki called them in to enter, and the siblings strode in like they owned the place. Raccoon had obviously seen them around the village when she was not stalking them, and had noticed the clothing change, which she took as them rebranding in a sense. Raccoon silently applauded their confidence as they stared down each Councilmember in turn, Gaara practically burning holes, but calm ones, into Goro across from him.

Of course, Temari noticed her immediately and glared, which wasn't any different to how she treated her before, so this was to be expected. Kankuro also regarded her briefly, but didn't give her anything more than a cursory once over before nudging Temari into calming down.

'Did Kankuro just brush me off? My how the tables have turned.' She was a little offended to be honest, it was a weird 180 to have someone go from expecting and liking her presence, to treating her like a fly just because they couldn't recognize you. But then again, Kankuro had never thought she was much to sniff at as far as skill when he did know who she was, so…

Temari, obviously, couldn't leave well enough alone though as she stared down Raccoon, sniffing haughtily. "And who is this?" She demanded.

Himura was delighted to answer, gesturing happily to Raccoon who refused to move one way another to show she was even paying attention. "Why this is Raccoon, ANBU Captain." He cooed. Raccoon was glad no one could see her wrinkle her nose in revulsion.

Kankuro elbowed Temari again before she could open her mouth to, likely, protest Raccoon's presence. Raccoon tried to send her understanding vibes, because honestly, she was sure she didn't need to be here either.

Before anyone could continue this farce of introductions, Baki cleared his throat and gestured for the siblings to take a seat in the chairs provided at the table. They lowered themselves into the chairs, Gaara looking the princeliest in Raccoon's totally unbiased opinion. Gaara of course folded his hands in front of him, already looking like a leader flanked by his two siblings who eyed every Councilmember down into submission.

Goro cleared his throat. "We welcome you, Sabaku no Gaara, Kankuro, Temari. The Council would like to thank you for sitting down with us today." All of this was said with a polite, but clipped tone, clearly just fluff they served on a platter to everyone.

Gaara nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't move to entertain the man's words, something Himura didn't seem to appreciate if his loud scoff was anything to go by.

Gaara went straight to the heart of the matter, ignoring the staring match his siblings were having with the council. "I, Sabaku no Gaara, am here to formally propose my intent to obtain the office of Kazekage."

Himura pulled his glower from Kankuro to instead glower straight at Gaara. "And why should we acknowledge your intent?" He scoffed. Raccoon shifted lightly behind Goro, which drew Temari to shoot a wary gaze at her.

"Himura-san!" Baki chastised quietly.

"Let's not beat around the bush here, Baki-san." The man dismissed Baki with a wave of his hand, still staring down his nose at the siblings. "The majority of this council is not comfortable with…Gaara," Raccoon twitched at the venomous way the name was spit, "taking the office of Kazekage given his history."

"I understand the weight of my previous actions." Gaara countered, completely unruffled at Himura's obvious distaste of him. "And I am prepared to work long and hard to prove that I can and have changed." He blinked slowly, meeting the eyes of each councilmember in turn. "I am going to protect this village. I am going to bring Sunagakure into an era of prosperity." He said it with such cool, assured confidence, that it sounded like it couldn't be questioned.

It was silent after his declaration, Raccoon wasn't sure if everyone else was reeling from the impact of those words like she was, but man was it doing things to her insides. She held herself still against the temptation to loosen her collar, it was suddenly so hot in here.

Himura tore through the atmosphere with a snort. "Protect Suna, who is going to protect Suna from you?"

"Himura-san!" Baki snapped, once again. "This is not the time or place to air out your grievances." He hissed.

"Well," Goro interrupted as the two councilmembers leaned over the table, looking ready to give each other a verbal lashing, "Baki-san, if not here and now, than when?"

Baki scoffed, but another councilmember, Asuka she believed, carried on Goro's sentiment with a kinder voice. "I think Goro-san means to only encourage the Council to discuss the…drawbacks to Gaara-san's candidacy."

'He spun that really well.' Raccoon steadied her gaze on him, taking in the middle-aged man's demeanor with a critical eye. While his voice was deceptively soft and calm, it seemed to contradict everything else about him. His posture was rigid, all angles and pointed straight at his target of choice under the veil of full attention, but what was really telling was his focused, sharp gaze scanning for any weakness, any mistake.

'And I thought Goro was going to be my main adversary here.' This Asuka was going to have to be watched carefully.

"And while Gaara's previous…behavior," Baki grunted as delicately as possible, "is call for some hesitancy, it is just that. Behavior can be changed and I'm sure he'll show us improvement as we deliberate on our decision." Baki advocated. Himura scoffed once again, Raccoon rolled her eyes.

"Deliberation? If it were up to you, Baki-san," Himura tutted, "no need to try and mask your favoritism, if it were up to you we'd be filling the Kazekage seat with this murderous boy this very moment."

Temari and Kankuro twitched making Raccoon twitch in return, though she couldn't blame them, clearly they were being pushed to their limits, while Gaara remained perfectly composed.

"That's enough Himura-san." Goro groused. "You're putting the ANBU Captain on edge, riling up the Sabaku siblings like that." He admonished. Raccoon loosened at this statement, rolling her neck slightly, but made no other movement.

"Well, we shall see won't we Baki-san." Asuka jumped in, before Himura could get in another retort Raccoon guessed. "Behavior can very well be changed, I'm really more worried about age and experience as opposed to temperament." He threw in lazily.

This was a fair point to Asuka's credit. Gaara would be the youngest Kazekage in Suna history, if not throughout the history of all 5 great nations. However, age didn't matter much in terms of strength, plenty of people had proven they could make greater strides than even the most experienced of Shinobi. If Gai was to be believed, Hatake Kakashi was one of those few.

Discarding the fact that Gaara had a demon sealed inside of him, he was still exceptionally strong for his age. However, to Asuka's credit, Gaara didn't have much varied battle experience. This was partially because of the demon, but also in part because the Sand was in a poor position military-wise. Raccoon had never taken her eye off of the Land of Wind, even though she'd spent nearly a century away, and she could see that they were behind in nearly every avenue. They were the last nation of the 5 to become a Hidden Village, but even before that, their Daimyos had progressively gotten worse as the years went by. And if the relationship between Daimyo and Kage was as bad as the last between Rasa and the current Daimyo, than she could see why they suffered so.

Suffice to say, all of these factors together created fewer opportunities for Sand to receive missions. Though Gaara and his siblings were exceptional, their combat skills suffered in variety due to the lack of missions in farther countries, and thusly, they were less likely to have faced potentially stronger foes and broaden their arsenal.

Still, it wasn't like the Council was going to appoint Gaara today he had time to improve himself. Asuka knew as much as well, this paired with the silly notion of the "Kazekage bloodline" and it was obvious that Gaara would be able to overcome these obstacles, given enough time. But…

"Asuka-san, speak plainly." Yura, who had thus far been calculatingly quiet, suddenly demanded.

"You don't think this could be a potential obstacle?" Asuka challenged.

"I think you should elaborate." Yura countered. Asuka sighed, as if bothered, haughty asshole.

"Well, Gaara-san is obviously…young." He gestured vaguely to the redhead, who showed no reaction as per usual, he could be a statue at this rate. "Aside from this potentially being a problem for our military, to take orders from someone much younger I mean, there is also the issue of how this will appear to other villages."

Brows rose across the table, all curious at this line of thought. Asuka sighed, but continued his explanation, as if he was an exasperated teacher to a crowd of toddlers.

"Think about it, the majority of Kages appointed are at least in their 20s and well-rounded in their career. They've made Jounin level by the time they're even considered. If we appoint Gaara-san, a teenager, who hasn't even made Chuunin, we might be taken less seriously by the other villages. This perception could affect everything in the village—trade, mission requests, military strength. Worse case," he breathed out heavily, holding a hand to his head dramatically, "we could be sending the message to other nations to attack and weaken our military perception even further."

Temari, who Raccoon seriously believed had been grinding his teeth just waiting for there to be a pause in conversation, snapped at the sudden silence taken for consideration.

"But what you're not taking into account is your former point." When everyone turned their attention to her, she sat up, chin held high. "You've forgotten that Gaara is well-known throughout the lands as being the container for the Ichibi, and in some cases, his former," Raccoon wasn't sure she could stress the word any more than she already was, "bloodthirsty nature might even further deter military action from other lands."

Asuka grunted in slight admission. "This doesn't come without its own set of drawbacks." He warned, one finger in the air.

Kankuro took this opportunity to butt in with a snort. "As with every other change in regime, those problems can be handled when the time comes. You're acting as if there isn't some slight uproar every time a new Kage is selected."

"But Asuka-san still makes a valid point in his assessment of Gaara's experience. He doesn't possess the military know-how to be able to confidently run a village, he doesn't have enough combat experience leading a squadron, or even enough mission experience to know who or how to assign our shinobi properly."

"That can be supplemented with enough time and a knowledgeable Right Hand." Yura objected, sending the other Councilmembers into a confused blinking match with him. Raccoon was surprised as well, not expecting the sudden show of support from anyone but Baki.

"I didn't know you were so…open to the idea." Goro stated carefully.

"We could go back and forth about this all day." Yura grunted, rolling his shoulders. "Picking and picking at Gaara-san's shortcomings." He stared straight at Himura for his next sentence, freezing the man in acute fear. "However, we must admit that Gaara-san is the best choice. He's the strongest Shinobi we have in the village, he has the Kazekage bloodline, he has the support of his siblings, and I believe he has more willing supporters among the villagers than we believe." Yura's gaze traveled to Raccoon briefly, giving her a wink that had her muscles bunching up suddenly.

Metal clanged and sparks flew, Raccoon muffled out the gasps of the remainder of the Council and the falling of chairs as the siblings darted away from the commotion, Gaara firmly in their grasp. She grunted as Yura pushed on her curved blade and quickly made to disarm him, before pressing her right blade lightly to his throat. They stood panting, Yura with his palms up in surrender and a grin on his face and Raccoon with expressionless ringed mask crouched on the table still tensed for further battle.

"See?" Yura chuckled, not seeming to mind that the ANBU still had him at a disadvantage.

"Yura-san, for God's sake!" Himura huffed from the other side of the room where he'd fled, coward.

"Stand down, Raccoon." Goro grunted from the opposite side of the table. Raccoon put herself at ease and backed away from Yura, though she still kept a wary eye on him.

"Now, I don't believe Raccoon had any orders to protect Gaara-san, and yet…" Yura let his sentence trail off as he nonchalantly sat back down. Raccoon looked to Goro for instructions and he simply waved her back to his spot, grunting as the other Councilmembers slowly made their way to their seats.

The siblings stiffly sat back down, with Gaara a little more fluid but no less vigilant.

"Sorry, but I had to prove a point." Yura directed to Gaara, who only gave a short nod.

Himura and Asuka were eyeing her in interest now, but she refused to acknowledge them, too busy internally freaking out in her head over how Yura could've possibly figured out she would react that way.

'Does he know something? Should we get rid of him? But how can he, I've never met him in my life, I'm sure of it.' Still, she darted her eyes to each of the councilmembers in turn, even the silent ones, there were 7 after all, in suspicion. She knew she'd be questioned within an inch of her life for that stunt, but at least maybe Yura would be too.

Himura rubbed his head in exasperation. "As I was saying before Yura-san instigated…that—" He scoffed, though Yura looked too pleased with himself to pay any mind to his attitude.

"We cannot simply give Gaara-san all the time in the world, we need a Kazekage." He grumbled.

"And we're certainly not proposing that." Temari shot. "But we're confident Gaara can learn what he needs to be a successful Kazekage without putting the village in a rough spot."

Kankuro reclined slightly, a sneer on his face. "We're merely waiting on a timeline from you."

Himura gasped, but Asuka stepped in before he could snap. "That's awfully presumptuous of you when the Council hasn't even considered your request."

"Well then," Kankuro snorted, bracing his arm on the table and now grinning slyly, "I'd like to see you find someone better."

Half of the Council bristled at the challenge, Gaara giving his brother a sidelong glance that spoke volumes, though he didn't speak up to counter or disagree.

'His delivery needs work.' Though, as she surveyed the various red faces of the Council, she was more than sure this was Kankuro's aim.

Goro held up his hand when several members of the Council opened their mouths to speak. "That's enough." He folded his hands together once again when it was silent in the room. "We have heard enough. The Council will now consider your proposal and have an answer in two day's time, you will be summoned to reconvene here when the decision has been made. Are there any further questions?" When silence was met with a polite shake of heads from the siblings, Goro continued. "You are then dismissed, Raccoon will be your designated escort the day of."

Everyone rose and bowed to one another respectfully, Raccoon stiffly returning Gaara's bow to her half in surprise, as ANBU were normally to be ignored in most settings unless specifically pointed out or addressed. She watched the siblings exit in a daze, only snapping back to reality when Goro called out to her and then subsequently Lynx and Nightingale who appeared from their spots and kneeled flanking Raccoon.

"What was that all about?" Himura huffed once he was sure the siblings were gone, his head whipping back and forth between a totally relaxed Yura and Raccoon still at attention. Raccoon's mind raced with potential excuses, eyes darting between Yura, who still looked far too relaxed for the circumstances, and the rest of the Council who looked too curious for comfort, eyes gleaming like predator who'd cornered a prey.

Just as she'd opened her mouth to give an answer, Yura saw fit to interrupt.

"Calm down Himura-san." Yura waved his hand dismissively. "It was just a little game between Raccoon and I, that's all." Raccoon was incredulous, along with the rest of the Council who murmured amongst themselves.

"Game?" Goro scoffed.

"Yes, I wanted to encourage Gaara-san, so I arranged a little game between Raccoon and I." He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal to pull an ANBU black ops into his "fun" despite their orders saying the exact opposite.

"Encourage Gaara how exactly?" Baki questioned warily.

"Well, if what you claim is true Baki-san, and Gaara really is trying to change for the better, he'll need all the encouragement he can get from villagers outside of his siblings and himself." He hummed. "It can be pretty discouraging reaching to reach a goal without outside support, so I figured I'd show Gaara-san that his efforts aren't fruitless." He turned to regard the three ANBU, grinning slightly at Raccoon in apology. "Sorry to drag you into my fun without getting your thoughts on it first Raccoon, but you did a very good job."

Raccoon, seeing as she could do nothing else at this point, gave a short nod of dismissal. Himura still scoffed from his seat. "Encouragement! As if we need to be encouraging that little beast that we want him to be Kazekage, how incredibly biased of you Yura-san."

"Is it?" Yura shot back, glaring at the other council member. "Even if Gaara-san doesn't take the seat of Kazekage, it would be better for us all in the long run if he didn't continue his violent tendencies, would it not?" The others clammed up in the face of logic. "It does us no good to shun Gaara-san when he's making an effort, my actions weren't to solely encourage him to pursue the seat of Kazekage, but that he should continue down this path of reformation."

'I suppose Yura isn't…that bad entirely.' While Raccoon would've preferred a warning, she also understood that it was a last minute plan Yura threw together. For what reason Raccoon didn't know, because she was hard pressed to believe that Yura cared about Gaara enough to want to see him changed, but she'd buy his explanation of wanting to preserve their troops, for now.

Goro cleared his throat before Himura could, again, continue on an unnecessary tirade. "Let's get back onto the topic at hand, if we could." When the table quieted he proceeded. "What do we think of Gaara-san's proposal?"

Baki put in his two cents before the others could begin. "I believe that Gaara is capable of being Kazekage, should he show us proper change and with the right training." He ignored the rolls of eyes that met his statement, sitting back in his seat. Raccoon could tell he was mentally preparing himself for the bullshit that was about to be thrown around the room.

"I concur." Yura put in, also seeming to brace himself for what was coming.

"That's two in agreement then." Goro tallied on a nearby scroll.

"Well I do not!" Himura dissented quickly. Raccoon felt like her eyes were going to roll out of her skull by the time this was all over.

"Before you go into your reasons," Goro cut as Himura took a breath, "let's hear everyone else's thoughts."

Asuka spoke up next, tapping his finger lightly on the table. "I have…reservations." He pointedly ignored the snort from Himura. "But I have doubts we can find someone else as suitable. So I will agree to his proposal with stipulations."

Himura gaped at Asuka, but the remaining two councilmembers took his attention quickly. The one to Goro's right, still unnamed to Raccoon, agreed with Himura's dissent, being of the opinion that Gaara would need too much work, not only in how to be a Kazekage, but in controlling the Ichibi.

"I am also of the same thought." Goro added after the man finished. "We are in need of a Kazekage in a relatively short time span, and I am not confident that Gaara can accomplish all the training needed as well as reigning in control of the Shukaku."

All eyes landed on the remaining Councilmember, a particularly mousy man who hadn't spoken a word the whole time and who didn't appreciate being in the spotlight it seemed.

"I…" he hesitated at Himura's glare. "I'm split it seems. While I cannot wholly agree to making Gaara-san Kazekage due to his…nature." He cleared his throat slightly to dispel some of his nerves. "I also cannot see an alternative to office."

Himura seemed like he was going to tear out of his skin if he had to keep quiet any longer, but Goro seemed to be taking his sweet time with looking over at each Councilmember.

"So aside, from Chihiro, we're split down the middle it seems." Goro announced.

"Well, we'll just have to convince Chihiro won't we?" Himura squared his shoulders at the timid looking man, who was certainly not looking forward to what was coming.

Raccoon didn't understand it much, but apparently the Suna Jounin Council operated on a majority vote. Sure it made sense in some instances, but not for this one. They were deciding the Kazekage, and the most viable candidate they had might be disqualified because the village feared him after they ruined his life by implanting a monster inside of him.

"Since you're so eager Himura-san, please go ahead." Goro sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"I won't state the obvious," Raccoon joined the others in biting back her groan, "but I do agree with Katsuo-san's assessment, though Gaara-san might be attempting to reform himself, can we really leave the village in his hands if he doesn't know how to control the Shukaku?"

Baki leaned forward to dismantle this conclusion. "What makes you think Gaara can't control the Shukaku? The demon hasn't broken Gaara's will since he was a child, every time he's manifested was because Gaara allowed him to."

"And once he starts denying the Shukaku you believe he'll still be able to maintain control over the demon?" Goro countered calmly.

"Unlike what you seem to believe, Gaara is not killing people 24/7." Baki scoffed. "It may be an adjustment, but it's not impossible."

"Still, we don't have time to wait for him to make that adjustment, and train to be Kazekage!" Himura protested, slamming his fist on the table.

"Himura-san, that's enough. There's no reason to get so worked up." Goro droned.

Himura flushed, teeth grinding at the flippant behavior of the others. Asuka lightly cleared his throat before leaning forward to speak.

"I have something…unconventional to propose." He started, seeming to grin behind his laced hands when he had the full attention of his fellows.

"Perhaps, in making Gaara the Kazekage, we will be able to have more control over the Shukaku ourselves." At the rapid blinking of the others and the hard-set faces of Goro and Himura, Asuka went on to explain. "Think of it this way, while as Kazekage it's true that Gaara-san's main priority is to protect the village should we face an attack of massive caliber, which is the biggest issue we're all having, but the likelihood of such an attack happening is slim. However, as Yura-san pointed out, Gaara-san will be under our direction and watch." He smiled in satisfaction as the direction of his statement seemed to dawn on the others.

"Meaning he'd be under constant supervision, so it would be almost impossible for him to release the Shukaku without one of us or his Right Hand knowing." Goro finished, humming as Asuka nodded.

"Additionally, he wouldn't be out of the country much, if at all." Katsuo chimed in, a pensive look on his face.

Himura grumbled to himself, but offered no further argument on this front.

"Well if we're settled on that particular matter and there are no further arguments?" Yura urged, looking to the still undecided Chihiro for his vote.

"That does alleviate my fears…some, but should we still so readily agree to this?"

All he needed, was one good push to get him to change his vote in Gaara's favor, and it seemed Asuka and Yura were working to make it happen.

"Well I do think there needs to be stipulations as I said, unless Himura can offer an alternative to office, since he seems so against the proposal?" Asuka jabbed. Himura flushed in fury once again, but only silently fumed, knowing he had no other person to offer in Gaara's stead.

"Now then." Asuka turned to Yura and Baki. "How should we do this? I have my ideas, but I am eager to hear someone else's opinion."

Yura briefly looked at Asuka and Baki and sighed. "Well, as Baki-san says, if we're going to be putting our trust in Gaara-san than he'll need to show us a change. So, I think he needs to be monitored by ANBU black ops."

Raccoon kept herself from tilting her head in interest, glad she didn't have to…persuade the council to let ANBU help them out here.

Baki tsked. "That isn't showing we have much faith in Gaara, giving him an ANBU tail."

Yura shrugged. "He has to earn trust."

"So what, a 24/7 surveillance unit on him at all times until we've finished deliberating? That could hurt Gaara's chances to make a good impression on Suna shinobi—they'll think they can't trust him because we don't trust him."

"Well we simply can't allow Gaara to run around without monitoring his progress Baki-san, so an ANBU tail is the best option!" Himura insisted.

Goro suddenly turned his head just slightly to the side, one eye locking onto Raccoon, who stood at attention under his gaze. "Raccoon, come closer." The woman obeyed, walking until she stood just behind and to the right of Goro, in between he and Katsuo.

"I would like to hear your thoughts Raccoon, you are an ANBU captain after all, and poised to be Right Hand potential." He turned his body to face her and the others followed suit, angling themselves to study Raccoon's flat masked face.

She nodded once. "Permission to speak freely then, Goro-sama?" Her voice came out just as lilting as she had practiced, she mentally sighed in relief at having one less thing to worry about.

"Granted." He said shortly.

"I find that I agree with both the sentiments that Gaara-san needs to be monitored, but also should not be constantly tailed or under surveillance. It would cause strife in the exchange of power, as Kankuro-san pointed out, if the villagers and shinobi of the sand were to catch wind of ANBU interference, and make it harder for Gaara-san to gain the trust of the public."

Asuka tapped his finger on the table twice, drawing attention to himself once more. "The ANBU Captain speaks true. We need a happy middle ground."

"And what would that be? But remember, it has to satisfy us all!" Himura smirked, crossing his arms. The other councilmembers seemed to muse over this, Baki and Yura looking troubled. Raccoon was more than happy to help.

"It's about how you spin it." She offered to the mulling men, who looked at her curiously. She put up one finger. "The siblings obviously won't stand for Gaara-san being followed 24/7, and in my opinion it would be a waste of Suna resources. However, if you have one devoted ANBU placed with Gaara-san and call it something other than "tailing" it will establish a better perception to both Gaara-san and the public."

Yura lit up like a lightbulb. "No wonder Raccoon is a captain, Goro-san." He smacked his fist in his palm. "As she says, we assign one ANBU to Gaara-san, preferably of higher rank, but we tell Gaara-san and the siblings that they are being assigned to them for protection while they campaign."

Asuka nodded. "This takes care of the public's perception of Gaara-san during the exchange of power, allows us to keep an eye on him, and still "encourages" him, as Yura-san put it, to continue down his path of reformation."

"If the public even accepts this!" Himura continued to protest.

"That's up to Gaara-san to prove, Himura-san, but you have to at least let him try." Baki grunted. Himura huffed and threw himself back into his chair, much like a child, arms crossed petulantly.

Goro turned his attention back to the ANBU Captain. "And say we went with this plan, who would you suggest?"

Raccoon shifted, biting her lip beneath her mask to keep herself from eagerly volunteering. She was doing well so far, no need to break character.

"As Yura-san says, it would be best if we employed an ANBU of higher rank to oversee Gaara-san, but we'd have to choose someone…unbiased." They couldn't see her expression beneath the mask, but she was looking at the dissenters meaningfully.

There, Raccoon knew for a fact that Suna only less than 10 ANBU captains, and she'd be willing to bet many of them would be highly uncomfortable potentially being in the same breathing space as Gaara, much less having to protect him. If they didn't come to the conclusion on their own that she was the best choice, than they were seriously blind.

"Done, I recommend Raccoon." Yura smirked teasingly at her and winked again. This mask was her best friend, seriously, or else they would've immediately known how ridiculous she thought they all were.

"I second." Baki threw in.

"Now wait just a minute!" Himura interrupted huffily before Asuka could throw in his vote. "You all talk as if we've decided to go through with this course of action! As far as I recall, Chihiro-san hasn't yet made his vote known!"

Yura got to roll his eyes freely, lucky bastard, but sat back and entertained Himura's nonsense, though Raccoon couldn't fathom why.

Chihiro shrunk under the sudden eyes on him and nervously shifted. "Well, ehem, seeing as we have no comparable alternatives to Gaara-san to put in office, and since the stipulations seem both well-thought out and sound, I'd have to say…" He trailed off and Asuka snorted. "Please Chihiro-san, sometime today." Yura shot Asuka a reproachful look, they did need Chihiro's vote after all, no need to offend the man.

Said man huffed. "I give my agreement to Gaara-san's proposal, stipulations in line." Himura groaned aloud while Asuka, Baki and Yura silently celebrated.

"So it's decided then, does everyone else agree that Raccoon is a good choice?" Asuka darted his eyes around to the remaining men who hadn't given their vote. Katsuo, Goro and Chihiro all mumbled their agreement. Himura, ever the difficult one, was the only one who had anything to say.

"But how long will we entertain this farce! Raccoon did make a point in that it would be a waste of Suna resources to have an ANBU tailing-"

"We're not calling it tailing." Asuka corrected smoothly.

""Tailing"," Himura made air quotations with a snarl, "Sabaku no Gaara for the foreseeable future."

"Despite your immature approach," Asuka sniffed, speaking over Himura's stuttering, "You do have a point. What is a reasonable timeline for us to assess if Gaara-san is fit for office?" He threw out to the council.

"While I want to be realistic, I also am unsure how long we can maintain control without a Kazekage." Katsuo murmured. Himura shuddered, frowning at all of the headache and potential paperwork that came with both their duties and Kazekage duties.

"May I speak freely once more?" Raccoon addressed to Goro who nodded once, eyes curious.

"I would like to add that now that we have re-established treaty with Konoha, we can afford a bit more time on a decision with their aid behind us. Very few of the remaining nations want a fight with Konoha just to get to Suna."

The other councilmembers hummed in thought. Baki tapped his fingers in thought, before carefully looking around the table. "I propose a year." He finally said and the air immediately became heavy with hesitancy.

"Can we afford to go a whole year without a Kazekage?" Chihiro mumbled, worried.

"Well if Gaara-san is going to be training, then it should be alright." Asuka thought aloud.

Himura, surprisingly didn't have anything to protest, though his lips were thinned.

"It's the best suggestion we have, and if Gaara-san happens to improve beyond our expectations, we can always move up the date." Goro nodded along with his words, so self-assured that no one opposed him. When no one had anything to add further, he went on.

"So, we accept Gaara-san's proposal to take the office as Fifth Kazekage on the stipulations that he can meet overall Council approval on improvement in skill and behavior in one year or less as determined by the reports of his guard ANBU Raccoon, which he must have with him at all times while in and about the village. All in favor?"

Varying degrees of "I"s rang out around the table, some obviously much less enthusiastic than others.

"Then it's settled. Raccoon, you will receive a mission scroll detailing your parameters tomorrow, with a date and time to retrieve Gaara-san and his siblings to announce the decision while we draw up paperwork. Understood?"

At Raccoon's curt nod, Goro went on. "Then you and your team are dismissed."

With simultaneous bows the ANBU dissipated from the room, smoke curls the only evidence they had even been there at all.

G/M

Raccoon was very nervous to meet Gaara again. She had a day to prepare herself, and still that wasn't enough. She was debating between telling him now, and waiting when the likely stress of his campaign was over and he became Kazekage. She didn't want to distract him, but she also didn't want to put it off too long; she couldn't keep making excuses.

There was no point in stressing about this now though, she knew without a doubt that she wasn't going to tell Gaara now, at all.

The one pro to being in this situation was that no matter how wired up she was the night before she was set to meet Gaara and the siblings for the decision, her body forced her to sleep because she needed it.

She appeared before the siblings 15 minutes before the scheduled time in a nearby training ground. Temari and Kankuro tensed just slightly, but Gaara, ever the odd one out, only blinked and then bowed in greeting. Raccoon mimicked him with the siblings mirroring his actions, reluctantly.

"Please follow me to the Council chambers." She requested and when the three nodded their assent she took off for the rooftops.

It was a quick trip to the Council chambers, the siblings permitted to enter after Raccoon announced herself. She made herself take a position beside Goro, though she was reluctant to leave Gaara's side. The session began promptly, with some further fluff jargon Raccoon didn't care to pay attention to, before the main event began.

"After much consideration, the Council has decided to accept your proposal." Baki announced, smiling slightly when his students seemed to light up with delight.

"With stipulations." Himura cut before anyone could get too happy.

Goro nodded and took over from here. "The Council is encouraging Gaara-san to gain more experience and will be monitoring his progress throughout this training program and regiment with a dedicated ANBU escort in place."

"You're going to have Gaara tailed like a criminal?" Temari immediately huffed, stance shifting to something defensive as she eyed down the jounin council.

"Tailed isn't the word we would use." Asuka tried to sooth, though without much success if Temari and Kankuro's twin scowls were anything to go by.

"This isn't a stipulation that is up for debate." Goro added when it looked as if Kankuro and Temari were gearing up to argue. "And I think you'll find Raccoon to be most useful to you if you choose to work with the Council on this matter."

Temari looked as if she wanted to argue this matter until she was blue in the face, but Kankuro interrupted her oncoming rant.

"And how long would this…assessment period last?"

"We are hoping to see satisfactory results from Gaara-san in a year or less." Kankuro gaped a little, along with Temari, who looked a cross between furious and frustrated.

"Fine, I accept your terms." Gaara, who had thus far been quietly listening, straightened up and regarded Raccoon with a brief look before looking back to Goro. "Where do I sign?"

G/M

The siblings and Raccoon were gathered a little ways away from the Kage mansion, with Raccoon observing them from a nearby rooftop to give them the illusion of privacy after Temari had shot her a look that let her know she was not included in the upcoming conversation.

"Gaara what are you thinking?" Temari hissed, arms crossed as she occasionally shot glances at the unruffled ANBU patiently waiting on a rooftop above them.

"You heard them Temari, they weren't going to budge on their terms, and frankly I don't want to go back and forth with the Council about stipulations to my becoming Kazekage when it was probably hard enough to get them to agree to the idea of it at all."

Temari and Kankuro, still not so used to their brother talking so much, paused to absorb all those words, before bringing themselves back to the present.

"But still, and ANBU tail! I don't care what they call it, it's obvious what Raccoon is here to do and it's not going to look very good for you to be under constant surveillance when you're trying to get the villagers to trust you!"

Gaara sighed heavily and looked up at the ANBU Captain who was lightly kicking her feet whilst staring off into the distance. "But if I don't have someone they trust to watch me, then they'll never trust me."

"There has to be a better way." Kankuro scratched at his chin thoughtfully. Gaara kept his gaze up on the ANBU black ops, well aware that she probably knew she was being talked about, but not bothering to acknowledge them at all.

"Raccoon?" Gaara suddenly called up to her. She instantly snapped to attention, her limbs stilling and her mask tilting down to regard Gaara fully.

"What are you doing?" Kankuro hissed, shuffling closer to his brother automatically and narrowing his eyes at Raccoon.

"Could you come down here?" He continued, ignoring his siblings' hissed questions. In mere moments Raccoon was in front of them, hands clasped together in front of her and masked head titled sideways in question.

"Please explain to my siblings and I the full scope of your mission." He requested calmly, to which the siblings gaped but looked curiously to the masked woman.

"Very well." She agreed amicably. "I was tasked by the Jounin Council to act as both guard to Gaara-san against potential threat as well as intervene should Gaara-san be a potential threat to the villagers-" She paused as Kankuro invaded her space, snarling.

"Kankuro!" Temari yanked him back, though she didn't do much better, scowl on her face at this revelation.

After a beat, in which Gaara nodded his head for her to continue. "As well as monitor Gaara-san whenever he is about the village and give reports to the Council." She took in the siblings' tensed jaws and Gaara's contemplative look and knew that she had to diffuse the situation somehow. Even though it didn't make sense for Temari and Kankuro to take their frustration out on Raccoon, because she was simply a Shinobi following orders, they didn't have anyone else to point a finger at and well, they didn't trust her, so she'd be their target unless she made a good impression.

"If I may speak personally?" She concentrated on Gaara, who hadn't seemed at all offended by her speech. He motioned her to continue.

"While having an ANBU black ops monitor Gaara-san was the Council's idea, it was my suggestion to limit surveillance on you and to include in the orders that the protection be for both Gaara-san and the villagers." She shifted under the intense scrutiny of all three siblings, but her voice remained even.

"I don't believe that Gaara-san will be of any threat to the villagers. I have seen your efforts these past weeks and I believe you are sincere in your wish to protect this village, but formalities are formalities and not everyone is as, I guess I'll go with, forgiving as I am?"

Gaara grunted, but the tone and his emotions didn't falter, so it was probably in acknowledgement. Temari scoffed in disbelief while Kankuro eyed her skeptically, but they didn't say anything further.

"Thank you." Gaara said quietly, and Raccoon bowed once.

"With this being said," She continued after a pregnant silence, "I will be as discreet as possible as to have as minimal effect on your efforts as possible." She shifted into a straighter stance once the siblings trained their eyes on her. "Should you possibly need something from me we can work out a possible signal." She mostly focused on Gaara, who seemed the most receptive to this idea. Since he wasn't prone to too much fidgeting with his body, he quickly relayed to her an appropriate signal that she readily agreed upon.

Since they proved to need nothing further from her and they'd finished their conversation, in public at least, they agreed to go home, with Raccoon taking to the rooftops again.

G/M

Kankuro and Temari were obviously disgruntled about this turn of events, but Gaara took them in stride, pointing out to the two that Raccoon seemed to bear no ill will against him as of yet, and, if they managed to get on Raccoon's good side, they could use her to their advantage in convincing the Council to appoint him faster.

Still, it takes some time to adjust to her presence and they know that at this point every Jounin has leaked the news of Gaara's bid for the Kazekage seat to nearly every high-ranking Shinobi. The only reason the whole village wasn't aware was because the Council had strictly forbidden it, allowing Gaara the freedom to announce it himself at his leisure, another courtesy they were sure Baki or one of the few Jounin Council had argued for them.

What bothers Temari and Kankuro the most about Raccoon is that she was actually incredibly good at disguising her presence. They knew by only the occasional sharp looks they'd received when about the village that only a few Special Jounin had sensed Raccoon stalking their every move. Sometimes if they got caught up in a particular errand or in conversation, they even forgot she was there. Once after they'd retired home, Raccoon had popped by the window to wave goodbye to Gaara and scared the daylights out of both Temari and Kankuro who had been discussing strategy. Gaara, however, was entirely unfazed and had only given her a languid wave goodbye before diving right back into the conversation like they'd never been interrupted. In fact, out of them all, Gaara seemed to be the most attuned to Raccoon's presence.

Now, Temari and Kankuro were already surprised enough at Gaara's rapid change in character over the last month, but it seemed the he was determined to leave them flabbergasted as often as possible. The second week of Raccoon's stalking monitoring, Gaara offered Raccoon to join their early morning training.

At first, Temari and Kankuro had been wary—despite trying their best to be supportive and understanding, they were still wary of any setbacks that could occur with Gaara's, ahem, mental state. But when it seemed Gaara's motives didn't go beyond merely assessing their ANBU guard, they relaxed, though were still highly perplexed.

It was hard for the siblings to spar amongst each other. They were all mid to long range types, so landing a hit was near impossible. Add to that the fact that the older siblings had nothing in their arsenal to defeat Gaara's sand, and their morning training usually consisted of working separately with occasional input from each other.

Raccoon, as it turned out, was a close range type, information she easily offered up when Gaara asked. The siblings weren't all too fond of her ready agreement to training at first, thinking that she'd wanted to spar with Gaara, but Raccoon had quickly assured them that she had no intention of fighting "Gaara-san", even in a no-stakes situation. Gaara pouted, like actually pouted, but acquiesced.

Kankuro's brain recovered quicker than Temari's, which she was convinced had full on short-circuited. And he challenged the ANBU instead, sniffing something haughtily about wanting to see if she was worthy to be guarding the siblings.

Raccoon easily acquiesced, ambling over to the other side of the sandy field while Kankuro decided on which puppet to use, or if he should use them both considering they were all tipped with poison.

"Use whatever puppets you see fit Kankuro-san." Raccoon called casually as she reached both hands behind her and carefully slid out two hooked blades that vaguely resembled crescent moons. "You won't hit me, so don't worry about it."

The boy stopped his mumbling to chuckle under his breath, cocking an eyebrow at his two siblings who looked just as dubious, yet somehow excited, as he was.

"Oh ho ho, in that case, let's dance Raccoon." He ripped the bandages off of both Karasu and a fatter puppet, the clattering echoing in the empty expanse of desert around them.

She flipped the blades once, and then again, a silent challenge in her stance if there ever was one.

"Call it Temari." Kankuro encouraged, fingers already twitching. His sister let them sit in suspense for a moment before letting out a firm "go!"

Karasu launched forward, blade already ready to strike. The ANBU captain sat there calmly until the very last second, seeming to dance out of the puppet's range with ease. Kankuro snorted but went in once more for the assault, this time attempting to use Karasu's elongated limbs to his advantage to catch her. She just ducked and dodged around these as well, all the while those ringed eyes seemingly never moving from him. He retracted Karasu momentarily, eyes narrowing as her gaze remained unwavering.

Is she…reading my movements based on my finger combinations?

"You seem stumped?" She shifted on her feet, flicking her right blade nimbly between her fingers.

Nothing else to do but to test it.

He swept his hand forward and Karasu lunged once more, zig zagging on his path, but no weapons visible as of yet. Raccoon titled her head and shifted her posture into a defensive stance just as Kankuro twitched her finger, so minutely, to engage the blade in Karasu's mouth.

Kankuro balked when Raccoon only leaned forward and slightly to the left, missing Karasu's blade and sliced the air inward. Kankuro realized a moment too late, after his finger had already went lax, that she'd severed his chakra string, and by then, she knocked Karasu's head off, thankfully not breaking anything, and had chucked it at him, blade and all.

The puppet master had just enough time to throw his body out of the way, Karasu's head embedding itself into the wall some 5 feet behind him.

Fuck, that took some strength, no part of Karasu is light. He refrained from looking behind him to see just how much damage she'd done and instead threw Karasu, headless and all, back into the fight. Engaging several of Karasu's blades at once and beginning a fast-paced dance of strikes and dodges, only this time Raccoon was twisting and jabbing just as fast as he was. The switch between defense and offense between them was dizzying.

Raccoon jumped back after a few minutes of this back and forth, quite some distance. Before Kankuro could even think on how to proceed, she lunged right back forward, somehow faster and twisted her body to the right and down between Karasu, and jabbed both her blades forward. Kankuro yanked the puppet backward as he felt two more of his chakra strings pop, but Raccoon took Karasu's right leg as collateral, and his right arm fell off from the force of Kankuro's yank.

He growled when she kicked the appendage behind her, somehow being able to tell she was smirking just by her stance. He also got the faint impression that she was holding back, as evidenced by her increase in speed earlier, and relaxed posture. Obviously Kankuro wasn't fighting as if this was life or death, but he was certainly trying.

She also can not only read my next moves simply by finger combinations, but she can also see where the chakra strings are attached. He scoffed, shifting his hands slightly so his fatter puppet, Black Ant was at the ready, and just in time, because the ANBU Captain launched herself at him the very next second. She swept Karasu's arm up and threw it like a javelin, Kankuro barely having time to use Black Ant's body to shield his own before she was at his left and delivering a swift, strong kick to his side. His siblings had to dart out of the way as he slid across the sand, the hit already making the muscles in his side sing in protest. Still, she hadn't hit him so hard that he couldn't feel his chakra strings being systematically snapped, Raccoon managing to sever Black Ant from his left hand completely.

He scrambled up, right hand moving violently as she sped towards him once more, Karasu hot on her trail, just when the puppet was ready to strike, she dropped to the ground, lunging back up when Karasu soared over her head. Kankuro knew what she was aiming for, but unfortunately he could only save Karasu's remaining arm from her assault.

Despite the situation, Kankuro smirked, which may have been too much of a giveaway that Karasu's head was rocketing towards her, because she simply spun out of the way and swiped the head out of the sky with her blade mid-spin. Raccoon wasn't one to miss a beat, and barely recovered from her evasive maneuver before tossing her blade at Kankuro this time. With the speed and force it was thrown, the boy was lucky to only feel the blade skim his cheek, creating a thin line of red over the purple face paint.

Kankuro heard the blade thud as it embedded itself in a wall nearby and the two stood still, Raccoon's arm still extended in a throwing motion, and her foot now planted on Karasu's head.

"Oh, Kankuro-san, are we going until first blood or…?"

The tension broke just like this, with Kankuro snorting and falling into the sand. While he really wanted to keep going, he'd been stealthily reattaching his chakra strings while they were fighting after all, he figured he'd save it for another time. He doubted he could beat the ANBU, even with her clearly holding back.

"I concede." He grumbled from the ground. Raccoon removed her foot from the puppet head and bowed. "It was a good match." She acknowledged and then proceeded to pick up the head and hold it out for the puppet master. He grumbled, but hauled himself up and took it with a thank you.

"Sure enough, you're an ANBU." Temari hummed, watching as Kankuro picked up the rest of Karasu's body from various parts of the sandy arena. Gaara made a hum of agreement beside his sister, seeming to study Raccoon, who let him do as he pleased without objection, staring back at him just as steadily.

"Kankuro hurry up and pick up your puppet! We still have things to do in town." Temari called out, breaking the two out of their trance. Kankuro called out to just go without him, after all he had to put Karasu back together, glaring playfully at Raccoon as he said it. The ANBU made a show of looking around as if she had no idea who he was talking about, she caught Gaara's quiet snort of amusement.

Temari ushered the other two away, mumbling something about Kankuro just wanting to get out of helping her shop.

G/M

Training with Raccoon became an early morning ritual, the siblings kept telling themselves it was so they could assess the ANBU just in case they had to take her down one day, but internally they had to admit they enjoyed getting to actually practice with someone. Well, Temari and Kankuro enjoyed it, Raccoon still staunchly refused to spar with Gaara despite his best attempts at puppy eyes (which, side note, needed work).

It was after Raccoon had yet again beaten Temari and Kankuro on their 3rd try—by the third day they figured if they couldn't beat her separately then they could work on teamwork and practice their skills by taking her on together—that they brought up their political strategy, in front of her.

"Gaara." Temari called after she'd caught her breath, and the remaining, non-winded sibling popped one eye open to acknowledge his sister. He was meditating, he said it helped him to center himself in the mornings so he could be reminded of his goals, cross-legged a few feet from the battle. The siblings were confused as to why he wanted to be so close to the sparring when he couldn't participate, but he said the background noise actually somewhat helped him concentrate and also let him know how his siblings were doing. Temari had cooed at this admission of sibling care for a full five minutes while Kankuro had snickered, Raccoon was silent but was internally squealing at Gaara's blush of embarrassment as Temari cuddled him.

Temari waved him over to the group and he obediently rose and wandered over to them as the group stretched out their muscles, Kankuro groaning when Raccoon effortlessly fell into the splits. He received a chuckle of derision from the ANBU captain in response.

Temari motioned for him to sit down and then angled herself to be able to see everyone in the circle.

"So, it's been two months since your…change in character." She started and when Gaara continued to give her a steadfast look she continued. "And Kankuro and I have been discussing when would be right time to announce your desire to be Kazekage to the village."

Kankuro crossed his arms and scratched along his cheek. "I think it's too early." He put in quickly, causing his sister to roll her eyes.

"I think," she followed, glaring at an unfazed Kankuro, "that you shouldn't keep it from the village for longer than necessary."

Raccoon ping-ponged between the debating siblings, Kankuro arguing that it might be too soon for Gaara to announce to wondering if he should even announce at all considering how against the idea the village was going to be, to Temari arguing that Gaara needed to tell them now or else they would distrust his motives and that the sooner they could work on gaining the village's trust the better. After about ten minutes of the round and round conversation, with the two silent parties making meaningful eye contact that translated loosely to: 'Well, are you going to stop them, or should I?' 'What do you mean? You're their brother, you say something.' 'What if I don't know what to say?' 'Well what do you want me to say?' 'You're smart, you'll figure it out.'

"Ehem." The ANBU coughed, and the feuding siblings immediately whipped their heads to survey the stiff looking ANBU.

"If I may input my opinion?" Raccoon offered, extending her hand innocently.

The two narrowed their eyes, but grunted in acknowledgement.

"While yes, the villagers won't take too kindly to the idea-"

"You think it's too soon too!" Temari complained before she could finish. Raccoon held up a hand before she could continue.

"No, I was going to say that they're not going to be open to the idea no matter when you announce, but you might as well get it over with." Temari deflated in relief while Kankuro wound up in defense.

"But it could put Gaara in danger to announce at all." Kankuro huffed. "Do we have to?"

Technically, by law anyway, they didn't. Citizens of a hidden village had no say so in deciding who their Kage was, that was what Councils, advisors and elders were for. However, since the majority of the Council was so against Gaara being Kazekage in the first place, they put this additional stipulation of winning the majority approval from the villagers on top of his other requirements.

"Gaara-san has to gain the trust of the village before the Council will give their seal of approval, in their words, it is proof that Gaara-san has "mended his ways"." Raccoon recited robotically over Kankuro's groan of disapproval.

"Which is why we should do it soon!" Temari also raised her voice to be heard over her brother's bellyaching.

"I agree." Gaara said simply, mouth twitching into an almost smile when Raccoon's mask whipped to him in a 'really, now you speak?' expression. Don't ask how he knew that's what she was thinking when she was wearing an expressionless mask.

"If it makes you feel any better," Raccoon continued, softly now that Kankuro had stopped whining, though he was spread-eagle on the ground like a kid. "Although the villagers may react negatively to this news, if Gaara-san has been exhibiting a more charitable disposition for the last 2 months, the villagers subconsciously will continue to expect this behavior from him and will be less likely to react with hostility as time goes on with continued behavior. It's basic psychology."

The siblings regarded the ANBU with curiosity. "Really? After only two months?" Temari murmured skeptically.

"It takes 21 days to build a habit, and the villagers have been habitually seeing you act kinder and more service-oriented for nearly 60 days, so the reactions to this news might vary more than you believe they will. In any case, this could be leveraged to show what Gaara-san is capable of if nothing else."

Kankuro was still skeptical, but nevertheless they decided to inform the Council of their plan—a gathering in front of the Kazekage mansion in 3 days to announce Gaara's campaign for Kazekage.

G/M

The Kazekage "plaza" where several roads from residential and market areas intersect, was packed as far as Raccoon's eye could see from her perch on an adjacent rooftop. She diverted her gaze down to the siblings, who stood on the veranda of the Kazekage mansion that jutted out just far enough for ANBU to have visual of the figures speaking and was usually used for just such occasions. Raccoon skipped her eyes to the Sand shinobi who dotted the rooftops facing the siblings. Due to the sheer amount of people that were to gathered, an entire team of ANBU had to be employed for this occasion—with Raccoon being the nearest obviously, but Lynx and Nightingale being dispersed amongst the shadows with the villagers to ensure no threat came to Gaara.

Everyone in the crowd was abuzz, some already scowling in suspicion of what this announcement was about; why else would the Kazekage's treasured monster be standing on the veranda addressing them all, right?

Raccoon obviously couldn't hear what they were saying down there, but after what seemed to be agitated chatter amongst the siblings, save for Gaara of course because he didn't get agitated over anything anymore it seemed, Gaara cleared his throat and the dull roar of the crowd went silent.

Raccoon was ashamed to admit that she hadn't been really listening to Gaara's carefully planned out speech, only watching his mouth move, because hormones. It's not her fault! He kind of commanded a crowd and that was really sexy. Plus his voice had been getting deeper, why fates why, and if she had to listen to him speak for a prolonged amount of time her brain would turn whatever innocent thing he said into a waking wet-dream material. She thanked God every day that he couldn't see her face, because boy was she obvious.

She did however, hear when the actual announcement was made, because a roar resounded throughout the plaza, ninja were immediately up in arms on the rooftops, in the crowds, even civilian men and some braver women were shouting their dissatisfaction.

Raccoon positioned herself silently, Gaara had since stopped speaking at the mass upset from the crowd; still looking composed despite the reaction. No one had done anything outside of shouting at the moment, she could hear their clamor blending into one another, cries of not wanting a monster to rule them, of Gaara using his power to kill them all, all expected reactions that Gaara was clearly prepared for considering he didn't twitch a muscle.

The situation clearly needed to be diffused, but Raccoon couldn't interfere unless someone attacked—Gaara had to do this on his own.

While the siblings had strategized on what do if the crowd reacted violently, plans Raccoon had been involved in, they hadn't discussed, at least in front of her, what to do if no one would let Gaara speak. She urged him with her mind to think past this.

The roar got dimmer in the three minutes since Gaara had stopped speaking, but only to allow more vocal individuals to scream their vitriol in the form of questions they wouldn't even allow Gaara to answer.

"YOU WANNA PROTECT SUNA!" Someone yelled from the crowd, but Raccoon couldn't pinpoint from exactly where. "THEN GO TO THE DESERT AND DIE DEMON!" A barrage of rocks followed the loud approval, Raccoon twitched but Gaara's sand made quick work of the rocks thrown. She rocked on her heels and bit her lip beneath the mask, instincts to protect her master warring with the signal she was supposed to be waiting for from the siblings. Protecting Gaara from rocks thrown by civilians would likely look like an excessive use of power, but she also couldn't stand letting them continue to do as they pleased.

Various shouts encouraging Gaara to die had Raccoon grinding her teeth, and she had to make herself breathe evenly to tamp down her rage. She could see Temari and Kankuro getting upset for Gaara, who still hadn't moved a muscle in his face to give the villagers any reaction other than cool and collected.

Various objects were pelted at Gaara, only to either be crushed by the sand (rocks, which where the hell were these people getting rocks from in a desert), or caught and gently deposited away from Gaara by the sand.

This went on for some minutes, Raccoon watching carefully between the citizens, shinobi and the siblings until a rising figure on one of the nearby rooftops caught her attention.

"WELL DEMON, AREN'T YOU GOING TO ANSWER FOR ANY OF YOUR CRIMES AGAINST THESE PEOPLE YOU CLAIM TO WANT TO PROTECT?" He spread his arms wide, a smirk of challenge on his face as the crowd quieted down to an agreeable murmur.

She could see Kankuro twitch and Temari snarl, but Gaara didn't entertain the man, in fact he barely acknowledged him, his eyes instead straying to take in the various reactions of the citizens below him,

Raccoon knew she didn't have to leave her post for the attack, still it was a shinobi attack and if they let even one shinobi think they could get away with this behavior, they all would feel that way.

The weapons clattered uselessly around the siblings, the crowd gaping at the image of an ANBU spinning a blade so deftly to deflect the various kunai. Raccoon ignored the siblings hissing at her in question and placed herself closer to the wall, but still near Gaara. She tilted her head at Gaara's rapid blinking, and again they seemed to communicate with only their eyes. 'It's quiet, if you're going to dissolve this tension, now is the time.' 'How?'

Raccoon took pity on the slightly desperate look in her master's eyes and turned her attention to the siblings who were mumbling to each other about how to go about preventing a repeat of the last ten minutes. The crowd was starting to get over their silence, to instead whisper to themselves about the sudden presence of an ANBU, not so-subtly pointing up Raccoon in a mixture of disgust and disdain.

"Well Raccoon has exacerbated this, so now everyone is going to form their own opinions on Gaara's campaign. They probably think he's getting special treatment from the government." Temari groused, biting her lip nearly in half as she tapped her fingers on her arm in thought.

"Well we have to convince them, but we can't do that if they won't even let Gaara speak." Kankuro huffed.

The answer came to Raccoon in Kankuro's complaint. She whipped her head to the siblings.

"So you speak." She blurted out, and all three of the siblings turned to look at her curiously.

"If you step in to show your support," she gestured to the siblings, "they may be more willing to listen."

Temari's eyes widened, and wasting no more time, she stepped up beside Gaara and yelled down to the crowd.

"PEOPLE OF SUNA." When the crowd settled some more, eyes intent on her, she sucked a deep breath and plowed on. "I know that you're scared, and angry and you feel hopeless. You've just lost your leader, many of you have lost loved ones and some of you have lost someone to my very own brother." Temari gripped the railing, and leaned forward, strengthening her voice. "I know how all of this feels because I've felt it too—the fear, the hopelessness, the anger, all because of Gaara." She closed her eyes momentarily. "But then I remember that Gaara is just as much a victim to these emotions as the rest of us. What my father did was what he thought was best for the village, but it wasn't best for our family. My brother has been damaged by my father's intentions, has been all alone wrestling with a demon his whole life. All of this because we as a family failed him, because this country, in some ways failed him."

Kankuro joined his siblings at the railing, flanking Gaara's right with a determined expression on his face. "I used to be afraid of Gaara. Afraid." He let out a self-depreciating laugh. "Can you believe that? My own brother. But do you know what that fear was steeped in? Misunderstanding." He paused to let the crowd digest his words.

"We didn't know how to deal with the fact that our brother was a monster, so he turned into one. Our actions encouraged his actions, and slowly, we gave up on him, much like you." He turned to his brother, who had been surveying both of his siblings while they spoke with big eyes. Kankuro put a gentle hand on Gaara's head, whose nose wrinkled when he ruffled it with a grin. "But then he showed us what happens when someone works to understand you. He changed, for the better." He turned back to the crowd, hand still in the flabbergasted Gaara's hair. "He's shown us that he's capable of being more than the weapon Sand created him to be, more than a monster." He finished and the crowd was so silent Raccoon swore she could hear a pin drop.

Gaara reaches up with both hands, grasping Kankuro's hand out of his hair and Temari's in his other, before starting his speech once more, though this time Raccoon made sure to really pay attention.

"I was shown what love looks like recently, from a friend. I never thought I would have one, but I realized all around me I had support, in my siblings, in my comrades. I want to show you as I've shown them, and others, these past months, how much I appreciate their continued support, how much I want to support this village, and how much more I could do as Kazekage." Raccoon watched fondly as Gaara squeezed his siblings' hands, an attempt to dispel the nerves he wasn't showing on his face. His delivery wasn't all that great yet, but she had no doubt by the time he was approved to become Kazekage he'd be flourishing in that area.

"AND WHAT ABOUT THE ANBU?" The same man from before accused, pointing at Raccoon with a sneer. "ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THAT YOU'RE PROTECTING US WHEN YOU HAVE ANBU AT YOUR BECK AND CALL?"

Gaara turned to Raccoon, who met his stare with one of her own, interested to say the least at how he was going to dissolve the tension this time. She truly didn't know what to say to him to help convince the villagers she wasn't a threat, besides the truth, and she doubted they wanted to go into that.

He motioned her over with his head and she approached slowly, her body language screaming curiosity. He addressed the crowd, which had built back up to a dull murmur at the outburst.

"The Council has been generous to assign Raccoon to us as a sign of good faith and collaboration." He started, untangling his hand from his brother's to gesture to the captain in her signature "at attention" pose.

"Will you open your hearts, as the Council has opened theirs in giving me this opportunity to prove myself, knowing that Raccoon protects not only me, but you?" The four observed how a large chunk of the crowd's demeanor's shifted, their eyes now appraising the ANBU with a certain interest instead of trepidation.

At Gaara's bow, the signal that he has ended his speech, was received with scattered applause and many backs as several people, shinobi and civilian alike, walked off without any reaction whatsoever. Still, it was a sight, for everyone, when Gaara practically beamed (really it was more like a small smile, but he might as well have been beaming).

"You did it." Raccoon was the first to breathe, breaking the others out of their trance, who really (actually) beamed in pride at their brother.

"We did." He amended, squeezing his sister's hand.

G/M

The trip back to the sibling's more secluded apartment was uneventful. Everyone was, understandably, too tired and too surprised at the day's events to comment as of yet. After the announcement, Gaara had mingled with a few stragglers to answer their questions as best he could, and judging by the still lingering slight (very minute) upturn of his lips, it had all gone decently.

While Gaara was probably lost in thoughts over how to proceed forward, the siblings were on another wavelength. A wavelength that involved Raccoon, specifically—

"Why are you helping us?"

The ANBU Captain perched on the windowsill jolted and titled her head in question at Kankuro's sudden blunt inquiry. Temari glared at Kankuro's lack of finesse, but nonetheless looked on in interest as Raccoon pulled herself to stand fully in the room. Gaara tried his hardest not to look eager for whatever she had to say.

"Gaara-san is the logical choice, there's no one else fit to take this position." She stated simply, gauging the various reactions of the room.

'Temari doesn't look all that convinced, Kankuro looks mildly bothered, but Gaara—' she darted her eyes to Gaara's neutral face, though that wasn't what she was latched on. 'Is that disappointment?'

Never one to want to disappoint her master, Raccoon shifted and decided to expand on her answer.

"But if I may speak freely?" She inquired softly, mostly directed at Gaara. He nodded brusquely, arms crossed now and Raccoon held back a wince—that disappointment was more potent than she'd thought.

"In this life we are given, we do the best we can with it, but still people make mistakes. And unfortunately, as fallible beings, we hold the mistakes of others over their heads to make ourselves feel better about our own choices, while trying our hardest to hide those choices. The best people are the ones who can admit their mistakes, face them head on, and do their damnedest not to repeat them. I think Gaara-san is brave for looking at the people who want the worst for him, who won't look at their own mistakes and the parts they played in this tragedy, in the face and wanting to love them, to protect them. It takes a strong person, a strong leader to do that, and that's the type of Kazekage we need." Raccoon then stands and dusts off her clothing to the gaped looks of the siblings and the thoughtful look of Gaara.

When no one makes a move to say anything any time soon, Raccoon turns to Gaara, head tilted. "Is that all you'll be needing of me?" Gaara cocks an eyebrow at his still shell-shocked siblings and decides they're broken.

"No, that will be all, thank you for your hard work today Raccoon." The two exchange bows, something Raccoon has finally gotten used to despite it being so left-field as far as etiquette went, and Raccoon gives a little wave goodbye to them all before hopping out the window.

"What was that all about?" Gaara mumbled under his breath once the siblings recovered.

"Ah, well," Kankuro coughed lightly. "We're just looking out for you." He excused, Temari nodding frantically in agreement.

Gaara didn't buy it for one second, but he let it go with an eye roll. "Fine." And then he shooed them away with a deadpan, eager to meditate after that tiring day.

With the door closed behind them the siblings sighed in relief, though they looked at each other with pinched expressions, their eyes doing all the talking now.

'We have to make sure Raccoon doesn't end up being anything like Miyako, understand?' 'We'll definitely be keeping an eye on her.'

AHHHHHH why did this take me so long to write *insert upside down smiley emoji here*

But yeah, the world we live in right now is a lot. But I hope you enjoyed, reviews are appreciated and will definitely motivate me though *hint* *hint* *nudge* *nudge*

See you in the next one lovelies

.Acronym