"There are only so many lives I can value. And...I decided who those people were six years ago. So...You shouldn't try to ask for my pity. Because right now, I don't have...Time to spare or room in my heart." ~Attack on Titan

.27

The following morning, when the sun had just barely begun to crest the sky, far earlier than either one of us would have appreciated being awake. After we were half rested and in decent appearance, Shikamaru in his normal chunin wear and myself in a skirt/short combo and off shoulder crop top minus a jonin vest, only then did we go to our meeting with the Kazekage. When Temari had said first thing in the morning, I hadn't realized she'd been so literal.

Because of course when I was finally tired enough to maybe fall in a pit of dreamless sleep, it was cut short.

It was easy to tell by the look on both our faces that we really didn't want to be here. Well at least to me it was. There were so many other things that I'd rather be doing right now.

As in there was about a million and two other things I could be extending more energy over, plans to be made, gardens to be watered. They were more important to me than having to play diplomat in a village that's own leader had tried to kill my brother. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that though, but if Naruto hadn't beaten Gaara then he would have been seriously hurt or killed.

That didn't sit well with me. It wasn't something I could just easily forget even though the forgiveness had already be given. Naruto was a far better person than I was.

So with all of that in mind, you can possibly see why I didn't want to be here. To make matters worse my own person had been attacked yesterday upon our arrival. Only an idiot would believe it to be a mistake or accident.

I wasn't an idiot.

Even if the attack hadn't been meant to kill me, I knew when someone was trying to settle a score. Kankuro really was an idiot. He was a worse diplomat than myself it seemed. That said something since most of my 'diplomatic' mission ended up with me killing someone. Maybe diplomatic mission weren't the right word for them.

I tilt my head sideways to peer up at Shikamaru, he had been unusually quiet since arriving at the hotel last night. He shouldn't still be feeling side effects from exposure to hairishin use. Those should long be worn out.

No this silence had been methodical. It reminded me of someone trying to figure out a complicated puzzle that pieces had been missing from for years. But when he looked at me I felt like I was the pieces missing from whatever puzzle he was trying to put together. I don't know how I feel about that.

In the sake of preserving what little sanity I have left I ignore this feeling and get back to the matter at hand. The reason I had been called the Suna so promptly, what exactly I was supposed to be doing here. Let me tell you, I didn't like it, not only was it going to take time, it was also going to take a great deal of patience. Considering I was going to have to work closely with these three idiots.

Mainly just the Kazakage, but I had this feeling that his older siblings would be hovering obsessively. Of all the times to start actually caring for your sibling. Idiots.

Man, I really just wanted to go back to the leaf village. Instead since that obviously wasn't going to happen any time soon I take a deep breath. This was going to be such a nuisance, I give a small sigh.

Everyone was waiting on me to say something, if there expressions where any indication. I'd let them revel in silence long enough while I considered my options. Regardless of the fact there really wasn't a choice in the matter for myself. I was going to have to do as asked no matter my own personal feelings.

"Before this goes any further, before I agree to do what you are asking of me. You and I need to have a conversation. Alone." From one jinchuriki to another. Words I don't say but I know he can hear. My eyes meet the fellow red head, they've iced over I'm not playing games.

Both of his siblings are giving off the vibe of either disapproval or distrust but I don't focus on them, my eyes still on his. I have to know his personal agenda for this, all the cards need to be on the table. With them in here, with anyone in here but us I don't expect him to be honest with me.

I couldn't work with that.

I needed to know the entire situation, I needed to know everything. I needed his honesty.

So while I had a good idea as to why he wanted this, I liked verbal confirmation from time to time. It usually proved me right. I liked being right.

There was my narcissism rearing its ugly head again. Joy.

"That is acceptable." He gives a nod to his siblings, they leave with slight reluctance.

"Yes Lord Gaara." Temari responds. But she doesn't appear too thrilled by it and which doesn't surprise me. In a very older sibling manner adds this. "We will be right outside." I'd have to place a privacy seal then, stronger than the ones currently in this office. This conversation wasn't privy to anyone else.

Shikamaru gives me a slight inclination of his head before he follows them out of the room. Well at least he's still trusting my judgement despite what puzzles he was trying to piece to back together. While probably not the smartest decision he's made, it was a nice notion.

I slap one of my strongest privacy seal down on the Kazekage's desk, leaning over it slightly. Yes I carried stronger than probably necessary privacy seals on my person all the time. No I wasn't paranoid. Just realistic. Some conversations were only meant for specific ears. I knew when I needed it and when it was over kill.

This was one of those times. We would be discussing tailed beast and jinchuriki seals after all. I didn't think that information needed to be out in the open for everyone else. That was dangerous, this information was dangerous. So because of our status we were realistically the only ones who needed to know.

I want to say that he raised his brow, but considering the boy Kazekage didn't really have them that wouldn't be the right phrasing. His eye rose? No that sounds weird, just know he made a face at the seal or at me. I wasn't sure.

I'd leaned in rather close. I apparently had no concept of personal space for other people.

"I'm going to be blunt. What are your intentions here?" This was something I had to know. He wanted me to modify his seal. I had to certain of the why before I agreed to anything.

I have no Idea what happened in canon after they left the village from the chunin exams. No Idea what happened to the sand siblings between then and the start of Shippuden but I knew that at some point Gaara had gained either a better understanding of his own seal and was controlling it better or someone had fixed it.

The Ichibi seal was a really messed up sealing job, it's why Suna should never be allowed near fuinjutsu in the first place. It just wasn't there forte.

Also I needed to make sure that doing this would not hurt my careful laid plans. If I did this, it could come back to bite me in the ass. I had to make sure that it wouldn't. I couldn't afford to lose pieces, the sand siblings well at the moment that's all they were to me.

Pieces on a board to be moved.

A lie, or a partial one.

He took a deep breath and in a quiet but very genuine voice he admitted this. "I miss dreaming." My resolve softened just a small bit, my expression as well. I understood that. I knew how that felt.

Because while our seals were very different, by sheer level of skill of the person who placed them, location, and the fact that his was bleeding more into his conscious mind than ours ever had. Dreaming was something that people like us, broken people like the Kazekage and I didn't get to do. People like us, we rarely got restful enough sleep to even allow that in the first place. The unfortunate fact of how his seal was done didn't help him either.

"I see." Truly I did. This was something that I could be willing to help with then.

Not because I wanted to, because really I didn't. It wasn't even because I related to the situation, to him. No I could never do something like that, not if it only benefited me. I just couldn't. Because that was a selfishness I could not afford to allow its existence; that kind of feeling couldn't exist within my own person. It was dangerous. The things I did they had to better the cause, to add to the bigger picture, it was the only way for me.

This luckily had that possibility. Also I knew that doing that allowing this would make Naruto happy. Gaara was someone he had extended his care to. He had included the red headed Kazekage on his list of precious people, people he would fight for.

No matter how annoying that made this for me. As I mentioned before, I really could be other things, more beneficial things. Things that didn't involve me being surrounded by sand.

But here I was, about to offer my assistance extending my time trapped here. Knowing that it would take away my ability to leave, and that would be a complete nuisance. All because I knew there was chance to could Naruto happy.

Somethings never really changed.

"So you will help?" His expression is curious, as if my motives weren't clear to him. As they shouldn't be. I take second to reply as if to think about it when i already know what my answer would be. Build suspense, it's more dramatic that way.

"Yes. I will. But there will be rules, there are precautions that have to be taken and followed exactly as I lay them. Jinchuriki sealing, and all the fuinjustu that is required is very precocious." It's a warning, a simple one.

He'd have to follow my rules, he'd have to. Or else this wouldn't work. It was his life in the balance here and if he didn't listen he'd lose it. Tailed beast and all. Jinchuriki based seal work was dangerous, there were repercussion, some that could and couldn't be avoided. Two different lives were in the balance. And because they weren't on good terms it made it all the more dangerous, at every turn if I made any mistake even the smallest thing there was a chance the Ichibi could escape.

Maybe I could convince him to try and talk to the one tails, it would help. They needed to be on the same page. The host and its monster needed to work together, to communicate. This is what I'd been dreading, having to explain this to him. He'd never understand. Gaara had been conditioned to believe the Ichibi was a monster and he was his guard.

When that wasn't the case, not all of it. But how was I going to explain this to him when I had barely done anything but the minimum to get along with Yin Karuma. Up until six months ago we weren't even on good talking terms. In light of what happened, with my loss of control, a lot of that had changed.

But still, it was hypocritical of me. I was asking too much. This world had been conditioned to hate tailed beast and their own host included. I push the though away, we will deal with it when we get there. At the moment we weren't even close to there.

"Thank you." I give a half nod, only slightly paying attention now. There is so much work to be done.

"Don't thank me yet." I mutter, removing the seal and pushing myself away from the desk. At his startled expression I take pity on him.

"It's a process, a long one. This is going to take time." I give another warning. Because he needs to know. He nods his head in acceptance of this fact, he takes it a bit further then.

"I am willing to do whatever it takes." He sounds serious, everything about him is serious in feel. My own brow rose, perhaps in surprise. I want to believe him really I do.

But I couldn't not fully, those were big words. Fighting words. And I wanted him to mean them, truly. I hoped they weren't empty because to change anything then he really needed to mean them. Most people didn't.

There is a look in his eye. A fierce one, and I have the tiniest pit of what you might consider to be hope. Perhaps he wasn't most people. "Very well." I had already started to head to the door, there was no more to be said now.

Temari and Kankuro step in just as I am beginning to leave I give them a slight nod and I glance once more over my shoulder to look at the Kazekage. The determined look still there. I give a slight nod to him before shutting the door behind me and heading into the hall in search of Shikamaru.

I think it was time for lunch.

I'd drop the news that the mission had been extended to him then. He probably wouldn't be happy. I knew I wasn't and it was because of me that it just got extended.

As I approach he looks up, a bored expression across his face. But there is something else there. Something that I can't really discern at that time, not surrounded like this, in the open. I put a pin in it.

"Lunch? I know there's a decent barbeque place here." He nods his head. I accept his silence, he falls into step behind me. This would probably going to be the last peaceful meal I had while here.

Something about his expression made me think he shared that sentiment. Which was interesting since beside the bureaucratic bullshit he really wouldn't be doing much. We'd probably only be here a month at max, and other then the glare I caught from Temari on my way out I didn't really see a problem.

You know what I take that back, he was probably going to have to deal with her, which was worse than anything I had to do. There was something about the blonde that I didn't like. She really rubbed me the wrong way. It probably had something to do with what I'd remember from the show. But I couldn't place what it was other than maybe the fact of how two faced she'd been.

A sigh escapes me, something else to think about.

This was going to be so tedious, I was already dreading it.

XOXOX

I finally have a new charger for my computer and while it was not working I wrote this chapter in a note book. I didn't think it was going to be this long. Anyway I hope you guys like it. As always I love hearing from you all.

Warning: Not proof read, posted quickly before work. Thanks for your understanding.

So please keep letting me know what you think!

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely, LaRae