Yay for half term!

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It was with the hope that her mission would take long enough so she would miss the show that Max walked to Suna at a civilians pace. She had a feeling that Tsunade had planed for that, but Max was willing to find out what.

Max was approaching the Wind-fire border when she felt someone familiar approaching. She knew she had many people to catch up with so her mission would probably take longer than anticipated. Tsunade would understand.

"Maxie!" Max allowed herself to be enveloped in a hug. She knew she would end up getting more as she found more people.

"Hey Dei-chan, where's your cloak?" The lack of Akatsuki cloak was puzzling, she hadn't seen him without it.

"It's my day off, what brings you here, un?"

"Mission to Suna"

"I meant what brings you back here, you disappeared for a good couple of months, un"

"I was exploring, I only had the opportunity to return yesterday"

"Have you met Shiba then?" Deidara asked, he had no idea how she would react so was ready to run.

"I know her, she was supposed to be on my team once upon a time, I also know about her and Itachi if that's what you meant"

"I also heard she's going to be performing in the festival. They say she has quite the voice, un"

"Deidara, you suck at being subtle, I'm not going to fall for that poor attempt at manipulation"

"How about blackmail?"

"I beat you at that too"

"How about a challenge, you win I do something for you, I win you do your best act for the show, un"

"What challenge?" Deidara grinned, Max wasn't completely immune to manipulation like this. She never could resist a good challenge. Max was just considering what she could do if-when she won. It had been a while since she had last been challenged fully.

"Pin ten leaves to that tree using only nine sebon, I'll create an explosion to get some leaves to fall for you, un"

"You really thought about this. So shake the tree," Max urged, her fingers reaching for her sebon pouch. Deidara smirked, he had thought about this a lot more that she would ever assume. He had been contacted by Tsunade after Max had returned to set this up for her. Max would always find a way around direct orders, but she would never go back on a challenge.

Deidara exploded some pre-planted clay and watched as Max worked. Just as the last two were pinned, Deidara exploded some more clay, no thicker than a spiders thread, on the leaves. The shredded remains fell to the ground. Max looked at it puzzling over it for a few seconds.

"You set this up." It wasn't a question.

"I want to see you perform at the festival, un," Deidara shrugged, it was partially the truth. He was curious about what Max would do.

"I have a mission to attend to, I suppose I'll see you at the festival," Max grumbled before leaving.

"I really hope this works, un," Deidara said to himself after he was sure she had gone.

Travelling through the desert was a good time for thinking. Many great minds had thought up revolutionary ideas when wandering through a desert. Unfortunately most died, were presumed dead or went insane. Max was weary of the desert, she knew of its tricks, mirages and dangers. What she hadn't expected was an ambush about an hours travel from Suna. The second the sand had grabbed her she could tell who was attacking.

"Long time no see Gaara," she choked out, Gaara really needed to learn not to put that much pressure on her, breathing was being a bit difficult. The red head silently headed to Suna with Max in tow still encased mostly in sand. "I'm heading that way anyway, I can walk"

Gaara remained silent, Max was left wondering how he would react when they got to Suna, assuming her ribs held out. She could tell he was thinking, when he had an angry thought, the sand contracted, and when he relaxed, the sand loosened.

"Jeez, more mood swings than a girl. I do like my ribs intact, so stop crushing them," Max complained. The sand squeezed tighter as if to spite her before loosening a bit. "I don't suppose you could put me down please?" Max added sweetly. The sand moved her to right in front of Gaara.

"Why did you leave?" He asked, the eye contact was a bit unnerving but Max held steady.

"I needed to get away"

"You could have come to Suna," Gaara pointed out. Max had thought about that before but she still would have encountered people who would have noticed her depression.

"It was to close, I didn't want the Hokage to fake something just to get me back, so I needed to be out of contact. I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I took it"

"You could have told me you were going"

"I could have also been intercepted and then I would have had to kiss good bye my plans. Gaara, I'm really sorry I left without telling you, I couldn't tell anyone. How about I tell you about my travels over lunch, to make up for it." Maybe he would also put her down. She watched him think it over, he was one of the only people who looked for an alternative motive when she suggested something. He obviously couldn't think of anything as he nodded and continued to walk to Suna, still holding onto Max using the sand.

"I don't suppose you could put me down and let me walk"

"No"

"I suppose it was worth a try," Max said, trying to shrug before remembering the sand limited her movement.

It was only after lunch Max remembered about the scroll. She had handed it over despite the feeling of impending doom. Gaara had read it with no expression which Max wasn't sure whether that was good or bad.

"I expect you'll be wearing something nice at the festival for your performance," Gaara said looking at her with a critical eye. Max tried to grab the scroll out of his hand but he encased it in sand. "You might want to know that your mission suspension will be lifted after the show, if you don't turn up then you're supposed to go back to the hospital for a check up, so you may leave and do as you wish as long as you attend. Tsunade also says that you will thank her one day for this"

"Are you going to the festival?" Max asked.

"I heard one of my friends would be performing so I will be there for moral support. I have one request before we return. It's too late to start out tonight, so stargazing? Like old times" Gaara asked, the dark circles around his eyes made her feel so helpless she couldn't help but agree. He was about the only person who could use the innocent eyes on her and succeed. The dark circles around his eyes just made him look cuter.

It was strange to look at a familiar set of stars after spending so much time without the chance. Atlantis, because it was in the Pegasus galaxy, had an almost complete different sky and so did Earth because it was at a different point in the Milky Way.

Max slept through most of the day, she had given up using caffeine to stay up, the effects were getting less and less effective so she was only using it when needed. Gaara still had something's to sort out before he could go on his 'diplomatic mission' to Konoha. Max didn't mind, she had time to sleep and time to figure out what she would be doing.

She dismissed her first idea, while she was a good actor she doubted anyone would be impressed if she turned up acting as if she had almost died in an ambush. No matter how realistic she got it.

Many of the girls would probably be singing or dancing, Tenten would probably be showing off with weapons, it didn't leave many original ideas that could be shown. Max never did things by half, if she was going to take part then she was going to do something good.

She would get them back after the show, just to remind them that she didn't like being manipulated.

By the time Max, Gaara and his guards headed off, the festival was half way done. It was a week long in total, with the talent show followed by fireworks on the last day. Only then did Max remember she was supposed to be helping with the fireworks as well.

She would definitely be going 'travelling' after this. Maybe she would go to wave. Max shook her head, not after her last visit, that had gone badly and she would rather avoid being yelled at. Spring country sounded good, she could visit Princess Yukie. Last Max heard Yukie was going to be acting in the film adaptation of Jiraiya's book, and she had heard that a while before she left.

Gaara wasn't sure whether Max knew that she was mumbling. He wouldn't tell the others her plans unless she was in danger or something bad happened in the village. He understood Max needed some space, she was fiercely independent and he respected that.

The festival was noticeable as they approached the giant gates, Max felt sorry for Izumo and Kotetsu, they were on guard duty so had to stay sober.

"Heya Max, Kazekage-sama, you two here for the festival?"

"Is there any other reason we would be here?" Max asked, she got the passes back and they entered the village not giving the two guards a chance to say anything more. She would make it up to them later but for now she needed to get home and plan. She escorted Gaara to Tsunade's office first, escaping before Tsunade could corner her and add to the list of what she needed to do.

She sat in room for once, lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. The trees would be filled with couples seeking somewhere private. She glanced around the room, it was pretty plain, she hadn't really spent that much time in here for a while, even when she was younger it was there as a place to sleep when she wasn't on mission or training. There were no personalised touches to be seen. Max felt someone walking down the hallway towards her room but ignored it, she knew who it was. There was a click as the previously locked door opened. The person stood there for a bit, not saying a word.

"What are you thinking about now?" Itachi asked, finally.

"Just wondering if having my door locked was enough of a hint that I didn't want to be disturbed." Max replied, not looking over to him, she was content with staring at the ceiling.

"If you really didn't want to be disturbed you would have left the traps in the hall way activated"

"No, I should have reset them, they were triggered but someone tried to reset them so I wouldn't know, they almost got it right but I have a safety on them, if anyone but me resets them then they won't activate," Max explained.

"You put a lot of thought into that despite not being here much"

"When I am here I tend to be at my weakest so need the extra protection it would give, there is a lot more to the traps than meets the eye"

"There's a lot more to you than meet the eye"

"Is there a reason you're here?" Max asked.

"I was curious as to who was here, you've rarely been in this room unless you were tired"

"Now you know," Max said, she had just noticed a number on one of her ceiling tiles in tiny script. She didn't remember writing it and wanted to know who wrote it and what it meant. Unfortunately it was in the most generic handwriting possible. To get any clues she would need a closer look which she wasn't going to do with Itachi around.

"It's the number of ceiling tiles," Itachi informed her. Max sat up and looked at him questioningly.

"Naruto sat in here waiting for you to come back, he was really hurt when you left. He wasn't the only one."

Max felt guilty about her plans to leave again, especially so soon after finally returning. She was only now realising how isolated she had become in Atlantis. Only talking to a few people and not often at that. She sighed and lay across her bed, legs dangling over the side. She felt the mattress dip slightly as Itachi sat on the bed next to her.

"Need to talk about it?"

"I wouldn't know where to start"

"I do." Max saw a bottle being held over her head and recognised it and smiled. Booze was probably the best place to start.

The next morning Laura glanced in Max's room, over the time Max had been away it had become habit, just in case she had returned. Laura hadn't expected the scene in front of her. She could guess the situation that had lead to the scene laid out before her, the numerous bottles scattered around the room were a big hint. Max was curled up on her bed fast asleep.

What Laura found really funny, was the fact Itachi was curled around Max. She took a photo, a smirk on her face, Max was going to be eighteen in a few months. All the blackmail/embarrassing photos or written up memories would be put in an album for her. Max would be doing the same for her and they both would join up for one for Naruto.

Rather than disturb the two, Laura left silently. She was glad to have seen that, despite Itachi officially being in a relationship with Shiba, she had noticed Itachi had been avoiding the SedSec chunin where ever possible. That wasn't the sign of a relationship.

Max was the first of the two to wake, her internal clock was still skewed. Her first reaction was to get away but she suppressed it, she was warm and felt safe, there was no reason to move. She fell asleep again not long later but not before changing here after-talent-show-and-fireworks plan.

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