The Dream Makers

by S.F.Acronym

(Sequel to the Wishful Thinker) Genies can't grant their own wishes, if it were so then Kurosawa Miyako would be marrying the love of her long existence Sabaku No Gaara and living happily ever after. Instead she had to resign herself to this: "Miyako-chan, I wish for the deaths of every single person you've ever cared about. Especially Sabaku No Gaara."

3. Cat Chases Mouse

Welcome to Chapter 3! (Confetti) Prepare for nail biting suspense! Drama! Obito being a giant asshole . I hope you enjoy.

Thanks to the followers, reviewers, favoriters, and all my readers. Y'all give me liiiiiife.

The bolded separators indicate that there are somewhat graphic and violent descriptions, so if you would not like to read it, skip ahead.

Thoughts are in italics

Memories/flashbacks are in bold italics

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

Disclaimer: I put out a whole campaign on social media lobbying for Kishimoto to give me the rights to Naruto, but his team kindly informed me that I was not allowed to tape up flyers around the premises due to the restraining order. :/

Cat Chases Mouse

This is a nightmare.

Everywhere she attempted to wipe the red followed. She could feel it sliding down her face, pooling on her collarbone, sickly sticking her clothes to her body and squishing with every step she took. No matter where she'd attempted to go she couldn't escape it—it created rivers that steadily grew to oceans around her, glugging from the bodies of people she cared about, and still she couldn't look them in the eye and face the truth.

Only a small circle of brown dirt around her was free from the dark liquid—she acting as the center of a lonely island surrounded on all sides to the steadily creeping red threatening to overtake her. She wants to twist her fingers through her hair and banish the images—physically pull out the deaths that will forever be imprinted on her brain.

In the background of this horror show she can hear faint crackles and popping accompanied by wet slurping sounds. Despite herself and common sense screaming at her not to, she follows the symphony, eyes flitting over the litter of familiar faces, only to find Zetsu covered in blood and chunks of raw flesh just swallowing a large bite of a tanned arm he had clutched in his grasp.

She wants to be sick—it would be a welcome new color amidst all the shades of red, but there's nothing in her stomach to expel except the heavy weight of guilt. She slowly looks away, wondering where else to settle her gaze that isn't her circle of dirt, when her eyes catch bright red pupils slowly fading to maroon, hand extended out to her direction, the other wrapped protectively about her very pregnant stomach. There was no pool of blood about her, one of Obito's far more merciful kills—if you could call crushing a woman's windpipes merciful.

"Do you want the baby?"

The voice that always seemed to accompany her nightmares echoed and vibrated the air about her. Her eyes zeroed in on the woman's stomach, her sight refusing to outline her features for her own sanity.

'The baby?' But the baby was…then the stomach moved, and even from some distance she could see the shape of a tiny hand pressing desperately against the stomach, and she followed it's path until it disappeared. But it was back, clawing for help again, and then again, and then a foot pressed beside it—and she wanted to be sick all over again.

Even if she didn't have a voice to say so—would she even want Miyako to? After all, those were her handprints around Kurenai's neck.

O/M

The gasp Miyako let out as she pulled herself from what she hoped wasn't the future was wholly undignified and she had to pause before attempting to worm herself out of the bed. Once she figured Obito's breathing hadn't changed and he was dead asleep to the world, she slid herself smoothly from his arm/shackle and made her way unseeingly into the kitchen, trying to force the nightmare from her mind every step she took.

Glass of water blindly in hand, it only took a few sips before the waterworks began. Her free hand barely held back her sobs, the other shaking so badly water sloshed over it, wetting her fingers and sliding down to her wrist and she panicked. The dark was replaced for a split second by the sickening sight of the blood coated appendage of her dreams—even if the moisture wasn't nearly thick enough.

She couldn't decide if it was lucky or unlucky that she had no idea how many bodies on that ground she was responsible for.

Another hand, warm with long fingers and a quiet strength, placed itself atop her own holding the glass and steadied her trembling—but sent her heart in a gallop even worse than her shaking. The presence wrapped itself around her, serpentine in fashion and sent a weird conflicting feeling of comfort and threat settling into her body.

She whirled around, pulling herself simultaneously free of the grip and managing to nearly drop the glass as her eyes clashed with yet another pair of red. For a second she swore it was Kurenai, come to bemoan how little she'd done for her husband—how she'd robber her unborn child of a father, but the dual black pattern had her relaxing, slightly.

"I-" She started, quietly, voice colored in confusion, before the world suddenly bled into a red background with a black moon.

"We don't have much time." Having never heard Itachi speak, she was momentarily floored by soothing his voice was. If it weren't for her sensory abilities recognizing his presence as the lingering living present she'd sensed in the barren Uchiha district, she would swear that he couldn't be the killer.

"What are you doing?" She breathed, still unsure if she was scared or curious. This was clearly a Genjutsu—she'd never had the displeasure of being in one of the Uchiha's genjutsu's before but she was well aware how notoriously taxing they were on the brain and body. So far nothing was happening to indicate Itachi meant her any harm, they were simply standing in a forest painted in Sharingan colors.

"I'm going to show you something." He answered easily, with no further explanation—which wasn't exactly comforting to Miyako, but then Itachi separated into what seemed to be thousands of crows, so naturally Miyako shielded herself as they flew all around her, and when she opened her eyes it was to a dark room, empty, save for a kneeling figure in a weasel mask—a younger Itachi it seemed.

Miyako knew how Tsukiyomi worked in theory, the passage of time in the jutsu did not match the outside world; one could watch what felt like a thousand lifetimes in front of them and have mere minutes pass in the real world. And typically, Tsukiyomi was used to torture the opponent—make them relive a horror over and over to exacerbate trauma. And despite the easygoing way in which Itachi had approached Miyako, she was still expecting to be met with horrors or some form of endless torture.

But instead of her pain flashing before her eyes, or experiencing the worst her imagination could conjure, scenes of Itachi wove before her like a movie out of order. Many of a young Itachi cradling a much cuter baby Sasuke to his chest in upmost protection, or of a much too young Itachi in ANBU Black Ops facing the wrath of his father, or of regretful looks of sorrow melting an uncaring visage when a younger Sasuke would turn his back or be too preoccupied with sulking when Itachi would deny them time spent together.

She found herself cringing at the death of Shisui; teeth clenched in anger as the other members of the clan attacked Itachi; hand curled to mouth as Itachi was ordered to rid the world of the Uchihas; and lips trembling as he sat in the silence that came after murdering his own parents last—the moments between their deaths and waiting for Sasuke's arrival agonizing. She could not even find it in herself to rejoice despite getting to see firsthand her twisted dream come to fruition—not after bearing witness to the tears he never shed in that singular moment of weakness.

"Run and hate me Sasuke. Cling onto that hate, and come before me when you have these eyes."

And now, in between the Uchiha brothers, one barely Academy age and the other only a young blossoming teen himself, an unfamiliar feeling in regards to the Uchiha began to creep into her. Never in all her clashes with the power-hungry clan had she felt…empathy. For a brief moment it extended to young Sasuke, seeing Gaara mirrored in that horrified visage much like he was the night Yashamaru crushed his entire belief system. She could understand now having witnessed it firsthand like this how they connected as kindred spirits upon meeting.

Still, the pity she felt for Sasuke was a drop in the puddle in comparison for the intense unrest that shook her soul for Itachi.

"And you should know, that you can only face me with this Sharingan when you have killed your best friend."

Fleetingly the idea of Sasuke killing Naruto passed through her brain—he'd had the chance to do it three years ago and hadn't managed despite clearing outmatching Naruto in the Valley of the End. He may have managed to completely harden his heart at this point when he couldn't then, but the feat of killing Naruto would not be as easy this time—with Naruto's sheer willpower, she doubted all the jutsu in the world could stop him from dragging Sasuke back to Konoha by his annoyingly style hair.

'It's not him.' The answer was too easy—too plain, and even though Miyako had no idea where Sasuke was or what he was doing, she doubted he'd managed to kill Naruto yet.

No, it wasn't Naruto; that much was obvious from Sasuke's further widening eyes.

"He doesn't know it's you." She breathed, her words a catalyst—bringing about an abrupt end, Itachi appearing before her misty eyes calmly, despite having turned her world upside down. Upon brief inspection she was back where she started, a red-tinted wood dotted with inky creatures moving about in the darkness.

Itachi didn't have to confirm her statement was true, at least not verbally. They sat in silence for a few beats, Miyako absorbing Itachi's history with a befuddled frown while Itachi himself gazed on her with the same neutrality that had never seemed to waver in his lifetime despite all of this.

'This isn't just a tactic to unnerve people, it's a wall—the same one Obito has erected for me in order to keep others from finding out the truth. Because for Itachi the truth is…'

"Why have you shown me this when nothing I say will dissuade you from choosing death by your own brother's hands?" And she really had given it some thought several times during the course of the angsty little history lesson—that maybe she would save Itachi if given the chance. The realization was a shock.

Itachi closes his eyes slowly with a sigh and then pins her again with a softer gaze though his expression remained unchanging.

"I'm sorry."

She didn't mean to flinch, but the surprise was too large of a beast to ignore. An Uchiha was apologizing to her, perhaps it was best not to relax after all, because a feat such as this must be a prelude to death.

"I don't know the extent of what my family has done to you—but I know that they are responsible for what you are now." He blinked, unfairly long eyelashes kissing his cheek briefly as he trailed his gaze thoughtfully to the floor. "So I am sure what I am about to request of you now will only perpetuate that hate you may have in your heart, but I fear you may be the only one who can."

Miyako hitched an eyebrow dubiously at Itachi. Though outwardly he gave no signs in his steady gaze and lax posture, the way he was skirting around the topic at hand gave her reason to be wary. She may not know Itachi, but in what she'd seen of his character in these visions—it was not his way to be anything but straightforward with his intentions. Even in the manipulative nature of his relationship with Sasuke, though he was technically lying, his lie was clear and there was no mistaking his intentions in Sasuke's mind.

"I need you to protect Sasuke from your master—from any of my remaining relatives."

Miyako was surprised that Itachi didn't know the true identity of her master, but he apparently knew enough to doubt that it was Madara. Still, it was unnerving for Itachi to indicate that he had more than one relative "alive" that could harm Sasuke in some way. He clearly knew or suspected something she was missing, and would probably not know until it was too late.

Then she focused on the actual request and at understanding what he was asking she let out a rather undignified snort her mother would be horrified to hear had she been alive.

"If you are aware enough to know that I am not acting of my own free will, then you should understand how useless a request that is."

"Hn." Miyako's eye twitched, and she was reminded that no matter how much she could empathize with Itachi, he was still an Uchiha and she still hated that goddamn mono-syllabic not-a-word.

"I know enough to know that your free will isn't totally bound, even with someone as constrictive as…Madara."

Miyako glowered, wondering why Itachi was being so brazen as to ask her to potentially risk her life for his brother. Sure she felt a little bad for the kid, she hadn't been on the other side of manipulation in quite some time, but she knew the feeling wasn't great. Still, Sasuke chose to walk along this path and there was only so far sympathy was going to stretch for someone she suspected of being a cold-blooded killer.

"I can't protect Sasuke if…Madara—" she only let Itachi's little "hmph" of amusement de-rail her for a moment when she copied his exact skeptical tone. "Puts him in danger or asks me to endanger him." She crossed her arms defensively when it didn't seem like Itachi was going to continue to persuade her, and she was reminded of the real reason they were here.

"You don't have to do this you know," she rotated the word around in her mouth sourly, "die by his hand. You could stay alive, tell him the truth, protect him yourself—" She grunted out her last sentiment to Itachi slowly shaking his head. "You don't need me."

"Unlike you, I have not been both blessed and cursed with time and immortality, Miyako. I'm sick, and frankly tired." He smiled wanly. Disbelieving, she probed his aura with furrowed brows and they promptly shot up to her hairline when she felt, only after she looked past the grandeur of the sleeping dragon, the haze of a miasma that seemed to overtake the entire space—sliding over the brilliant reds and golds of the dragon's scales, curling towards the soft glow radiating from the skin and dissipating just as quickly.

"Tired?" She decided to venture instead, not needing to question whether or not this illness was curable, she already felt like crying over Itachi's life enough already, no need to add to the misery.

"I love Sasuke more than anything, but I want to be at peace, free of this violent ninja world."

She could understand that, even if she didn't entirely agree with the way he was going about it, but she couldn't deny she envied him—he got to die while also sticking her with his biggest headache.

Still. "Why did you decide to show me this? To get me to empathize with Sasuke?

He hummed again, seeming content even though Miyako had in no way agreed to protect Sasuke, still firmly believing that this wasn't possible.

"I chose you, because you and I seem to share a drive to do what we think is necessary for the ones we love—even if they never fully understand it."

They let that declaration sit between them for a moment, studying each other as if affirming that, yes, they did seem to have such a thing in common. Although, Miyako wasn't sure being skilled in manipulation was something to necessarily be proud of in this case, but there, in the red calm of the Uchiha's famed Genjutsu, Miyako could say in that 11th hour they'd formed a bond. She could say that the roiling in her insides; stones sinking in her gut and knots tied in her throat were because she was, strangely, regretful that she would not know Itachi.

"I understand, I may not agree with your decision, but I respect it as someone who also wants to be at peace." She finally relented through a cough, hoping to hide the thickness in her voice.

His smile was lighter now, still small but more genuine, she didn't think she'd ever seen an Uchiha smile so much in her life—Itachi was a rarity indeed.

"I'm glad one of us will get to see it—perhaps through you I will get to see it."

With the wavering of the jutsu, the image of Itachi disseminating into crows once more, Miyako was distracted midway through opening her mouth to question what exactly he meant by that—which left her gaping like an idiot as the world snapped back to the darkness of the Akatsuki hideout.

By the time she had her bearings enough to orient herself back into reality, Itachi was gone, leaving her with an untouched glass of water and the feeling that this would be the last time she'd see him alive—and this was his goodbye?

G/K/T

The information Konoha had sent back on their request was enlightening as well as long. When coupled with Suna's own thick report of information, Gaara found himself faced with a novel's worth of facts and figures on his elusive childhood friend. That he was still struggling to remember. But, may have been having dreams about for the past several weeks since her departure. All of which were certainly not helping him "maintain a level-head" as Temari saw fit to call his unwillingness to believe Miyako was working with the Akatsuki.

It wasn't as if Gaara didn't understand that Miyako had betrayed them. He fully understood and intended to punish her for her crimes against Suna when they captured her—he was more than willing to admit she was a rogue. It was conflating her with darker powers that Gaara was reluctant to do, and he had been just as adamant about his beliefs when Miyako had been accused of working with Orochimaru, though now he understood why he felt so strongly.

If the memories of Miyako he'd been having in his sleep were anything to go by, coupled with her behavior up until her departure, than working with the Akatsuki just wasn't a plausible explanation. Miyako was, for lack of a better word, nice. At least as a child anyway. In all the dreams he'd had thus far, and only a handful of about 4 or 5 that he could remember in detail, they'd been just as the reports had described them, inseparable. Miyako seemed especially doting towards Gaara, when she wasn't being overprotective that is.

He was aware that people changed, he had after all shortly after she went missing, and that the Miyako who returned to him could've been acting all this time—playing upon a character Gaara didn't even remember to establish trust. And while he'd been puzzled as to her motives—wondering if perhaps her disappearance had something to do with it, if it was somehow Gaara himself that had driven her away with his sudden shift in character after Yashamaru betrayed him—the lingering feeling of those tender tiny hands cupping his face, or gentle fingers threading through his hair, or the way they would press their noses together when they shared secrets in whispers assaulted him. His mind kept providing parallels to her adult mannerisms. He would suddenly recall vividly, only when he was trying to keep the two identities separate, the few times he was in her hold while injured and the way she would use that same gentle touch to cradle his face into her neck. He would remember the small touches, usually correcting his posture, or coaxing him to put down his pen, a foot playfully nudged into his own as they shared tea. And all the shifting she would do to be just a centimeter closer if she sensed even a hint of distress, no matter where she stood—in front, behind, beside—and always she felt like a balm to his soul, even without his notice.

With thoughts like these cluttering his mind, it was no wonder he couldn't get himself into the right headspace. Well it wasn't just his mind that was arguing against this accusation, he just couldn't get himself to believe that Miyako intended him harm, even if he desperately wanted to join everyone else on the side of logic. It was lonely believing in something he couldn't entirely understand himself and had no way to back up, but the more he seemed to learn from these dreams, the surer he felt that Miyako wasn't the person everyone claimed she was.

"What do you think, Kazekage-sama?"

Ninjas don't show surprise, even if Gaara was abruptly pulled from a trance. His vision focused back in to find that he still had his hand pose to thumb through pages, with his chin resting on his fist in a seemingly contemplative pose. He hoped that he hadn't been making a stupid far off face, better still that he was glaring so maybe the Council would be intimidated enough not to question his absentmindedness.

He looked out of the corner of his eye at Temari to his left, who seemed to also be studying him with rapt attention. He cleared his throat, slowly looking up under his fringe at the nervous looking elder men around him, biting back a smirk of satisfaction at their subtle squirming. Good to know he had been glaring before.

'You know you're not to bend over like that, you're going to damage your spine.' Phantom hands on his shoulder seemed to guide him into sitting properly, and clearing his throat lightly once more, hidden behind his hand this time to anchor himself back into the present and banish Miyako's soft lilt from his ears, he regarded the Council, entirely changing the subject if their displeased faces were enough to go by.

"We need to reach out to the other countries once more." He proposed, lacing his fingers together on the tabletop in preparation for the protests.

"Kazekage-sama," Goro started in his usual barely concealed belittling way, how such a rough looking man could even pretend to be simpering was beyond him. "While I concede that this group is a…threat, especially with that wretched creature having now been confirmed as a member—" Gaara couldn't stop the thunderous look even if he wanted to, but it was luckily misinterpreted. "But Konoha has thus far managed to kill 4 of its members while they have only managed to take 3 Biju."

"That we are aware of." Gaara argued flatly, scoffing under his breath at the dismissive wave of this Council member.

"We are unaware of just how many members this organization has, and I don't think I have to remind you that we only have 3 bodies to account for and are unaware if Iwa's Deidara is actually dead."

"Still." Asuka interjected, much calmer, though that didn't put Gaara at ease in the slightest. "Contacting the other villages would be prove to be a waste, Kazekage-sama. You recall how your last missives were met by the other villages." Gaara did not attempt to hide the ugly scowl marring his face, though he couldn't say it was entirely for the other Kages dismissing his attempt. It was frustration for the older generation at large and the pigheadedness they seem to exude despite the fact that death was on their doorstep.

"How many more lives will have to be lost before the Akatsuki is taken seriously? Need I remind you that Deidara alone nearly leveled our village?" Gaara was almost pleased when his gruff statement was met with eyes that wouldn't meet his own, save for his former teacher.

"That may be so Gaara, but Deidara also had inside help."

Though not explicitly said, the implications were heavy and Gaara found himself working harder than he imagined to hold back his tongue from its automatic defense of his former ANBU.

Silence met his efforts, everyone at the table seemed to mutually agree to peruse the documents before them while Gaara massaged the tension in his forehead away. His mind tried to work at dredging up counter arguments, but honestly what was the point when it was more than likely the Kages would take the same stance as his ancient Jounin Council? Gaara wasn't the greatest at being convincing, but something had to be done before—

"Gaara?" A light touch to his right. He looked askance at Kankuro who was burning holes through a particular section of their document.

"What?" He grumbled in confusion. The least Kankuro could do was look at him if he wanted his attention.

Finally he seemed to drag his eyes away to aim his intensity to his brother. "Can I go through your toybox in your childhood room?" He whispered, though Gaara wasn't sure what he was attempting to be mindful of. His request was strange, but why was he trying to keep it a secret?

There was no reason to say no, he trusted his brother even with his suspicious behavior.

"Why?" That didn't mean he wasn't curious.

Kankuro's thinned lips were enough of an answer, so with a barely detectable sigh and an eyeroll preluding it, he was given a grunt of approval. Approval he apparently wanted to act on at that very moment.

"Kankuro-san, where are you going?" Chihiro questioned immediately, mousy eyes following him as he rounded up his materials in haste.

"He is going to collect more information to aid in our capture of Miyako." Gaara's guess was a smooth lie. Though with that fleeting little smirk Kankuro shot him before he exited the room, he suspected he was closer to the truth than he may realize.

O/M

While Itachi and Kisame had the fairly easy task of hunting down Four Tails Jinchuriki Roshi, who was known for being somewhat of a nomad, they at least had a description and something of an idea of where Roshi could be in the few places he frequented. Deidara, Tobi, and now Miyako as an extension had to find the 3 tails, a Biju currently without a Jinchuriki, who could be anywhere, and Miyako was currently being tasked by Obito to find it.

Apparently her displeasure at this task couldn't be hidden very well even at her desperate attempt to fight back the twist of her lips to pinch.

"Have more faith in yourself." He purred in derision. "The Sanbi is an armored turtle, so it will most likely be in a fairly large body of water. Begin your search in the Land of Fire and work outwards. Deidara and I will head to the outer villages bordering the land of Fire and work inwards—between these two efforts I have no doubt in my mind that we'll find the Sanbi quickly."

Miyako gave a noncommittal hum to his no nonsense assessment of her skills, but bowed her head jerkily and gave a robotic "yes, master" at his searching look.

"Report back to me immediately once you've located it. I want to know everything about the status of the Biju."

Another short nod and drone of "yes, master" was met with silence, but she didn't dare raise her eyes from where she had them placed on his feet, nor rise from her one-knee kneel in the assumption that he had dismissed her.

To say she was walking on thin ice was something of an understatement. She understood fully that after her grievous mistake that led to a woman and her unborn baby's death she would have to do some groveling and boot licking to get Obito to ease up on his threat to "fix her". However, she was severely out of practice having not had to placate a power hungry man in many years. Old tricks seemed to be trickling back in and while it was to her favor now she couldn't fight off the thick feeling clogging her throat that it would maybe come to her too easy.

"Good, then prepare to leave as soon as possible." He instructed, smoothly pushing himself upright from the wall her leaned on, that one damned eye still surveying her as she rose, head still prostrate.

He stepped forward silently and she couldn't fight off the minute wince. He may have caught it but he chose to say nothing as he cupped the side of her face, bringing her eyes up to level with his own.

"The sooner we capture all 9 biju, the sooner I can give you what you deserve." It was one of those soft, tender promises—promises men seemed to love to whisper to women they claimed to love. She wanted to doubt it, to question, to sneer at this form of manipulation. In that one eye however she saw sincerity, and somehow that was even more chilling than staring down an outright liar.

Because—she watched his back as he exited the room, not giving her a single thought even after such a rare moment of what seemed to be vulnerability—the question she was left with was disquieting: what did he think she deserved?

O/M

'What happens to Biju who don't have Jinchuriki or aren't sealed?'

That was Miyako's dilemma now, since the Sanbi was jinchuriki-less and apparently wasn't sealed anywhere, for if that were the case Zetsu likely would've been able to track it by now, that left the question of where it could have possible gone. Was it still on this plane? And if it was, wouldn't someone have located it by now?

Regardless of the ability of the ninja, Biju chakra was easily detectable, especially in full form. Unless the area in which the Sanbi ended up was completely deserted for several hundreds of kilometers, someone would've tracked it already.

Huffing, she leaned back against the trunk of the tree she was currently camped out in, her skull making a dull thump as she craned her head back to look up at the sky.

'So at the end of the day here we only have two possibilities, with one far more likely than the other. A: The Sanbi is still here, somewhere, but in a body of water so remote that the surrounding area is abandoned, therefore making it undetectable. Or, Biju could work like summons, and when they are without a host, they retreat to a place beyond this dimension—a pocket dimension possibly?'

The borders of the Land of Fire were lush with trees, as well as bodies of water that ranged from creeks, brooks and a river that wound along the edge in a serpentine pattern. After having played connect the dots the past 2 days to find every sizeable body of water in Fire Country—she had now made it to the Southwest border, the trees here thinning as the open sea leading to Whirlpool Country faced her. She was just beginning to wonder if she'd have to go to sea to find the Biju—and if she did that would make finding the creature ten times harder.

'Okay, think like a turtle.' She blinked rapidly, coming up blank. 'But what kind of turtle? Aquatic, half-aquatic? Sea turtle? Snapping turtle? What if he was a hybrid turtle? Is he even a he?'

With a pinch to the bridge of her nose she pulled herself from her going-nowhere-fast thoughts on turtles and their environments—and no she would not go down the path of wondering about Sanbi's temperament and how that played into his environmental choices, assuming he had one at all.

'New plan.' She forced herself to sit back to bark on the tree, for the magic she was about to use she needed a grounding point.

'The fastest and most efficient way to search using magic is the Ether, although how long I can hold it is questionable.'

If Sanbi was still in this realm, and more importantly in the Fire Country, the Ether would help her detect it. However, she was wary at using it—the strength of the magic coupled with the weak connection she had with Obito determined that the price she would pay would likely be steep.

She reconsidered a dozen times even as she prepared—taking deep meditative breaths to separate herself from her physical body, holding out her hands palms down to the ground. 'Maybe I should just go back and tell him that Sanbi isn't here. But what if he finds Sanbi himself? Still I don't have to do this, Obito won't know the difference. I could just say I searched everywhere. I could say Sanbi is in another country. I could send him on a wild goose chase. But what if this is a trap? What if Zetsu is watching? I could just say that Sanbi hasn't reappeared here. I could say that there's no way to track him if he's not in this dimension. But what if, but what if, but what if—'

In the Ether it is quiet, so Miyako's thoughts pop like a bubble the moment her consciousness drips down into the lapping dark waves of the Primordial, raw, substance. She's twisted painfully for a second, caught in the grip of shapeless appendages that probe her mind. The Ether tugs her nearly past the line between discomfort and agony before releasing her altogether. The Ether seems to calm beneath her for only a moment, before she slips seamlessly in, as if swallowed in one happy gulp.

Then she's everywhere at once, too far and it hurts. She gasps and is nearly forced back as her corporeal back rubs raw against the bark. Focus what are you here to do?

It's very difficult not to get lost in the currents, to separate herself from the overwhelming sensation of feeling the power of every blade of grass tickling her, to stop herself from plucking out the negative emotions poisoning the air, to ignore the endless loop of death and decay to life and back again throughout the land.

She pulled, just doing this seemed to take all of her strength—as if she were trying to use one arm each to two stars together, or sew two halves of the world back whole. Somehow she managed to collect herself to a smaller area—to quiet the screaming of the entire universe to simply the country she's sitting in.

Still the pressure of every living creature sits on her skull, and that isn't what she seeks—she wants one, even though she knows it's impossible to tell the Ether to only give her one. So she feeds the Ether her memories of her encounters with Naruto and Gaara. She threads the impressions of that massive chakra into the Ether, adding along her physical body's reactions and feelings at the time she felt each in close proximity. Like a hungry beast, the Ether snatches these encounters clean from her, and it takes but a few moments for everything else to be background noise and dulled sensations.

At the edge of her own boundaries, the Ether is pushing at her consciousness, urging her to push the radius out just a little more. Miyako can't know how far the Ether wants her to go, she could risk going a little wider – but there's no telling if the Ether has even found the right Biju. After all, this is Naruto's home country, and it could very well be him the Ether is chasing.

She could simply move her consciousness entirely with the Ether's coaxing, but there's a possibility that she could lose track of her location as well as the awareness of her own physical body, leaving her open to attacks. That isn't factoring in the time limit—there's only so long so can remain coherent in the Ether before it starts attempting to merge with her, and she doesn't know what will happen if she manages to pull herself out while taking some of the Ether with her. That is if she can manage to escape it's pull at all.

She tries nudging it just a taste farther, still the Ether pushes and she reluctantly follows until it is content, and she's relieved to know that she doesn't float too far into the next country. She can't put a physical map on where this powerful energy is, because the Ether doesn't care for man-made borders, but by the direction, along the western border, she would guess the Hot Water Country, known for their onsens.

Miyako is draped so heavily atop the chakra she can't think for a second. Her consciousness slows to a crawl as it takes in the bright colors, the overwhelming warmth, and the way the air seems charged all around. The environment itself curls toward the power, she's practically drunk. Belatedly she notices the water nearby, the droplets seeming to sing, but this Biju doesn't seem to be…in the water—

She jolts, back sliding up the tree to reopen the healing little scabs she'd already made, momentarily back in awareness. 'Drunk, not in water—this isn't the Sanbi, it's Naruto.'

She goes plunging back in and all but rips herself away to a respectable distance, although that's pretty hard to do when you're a fragmented consciousness floating in a primordial power and so you have to touch everything.

Still, she does her best to ignore what she now knows is Naruto. But unluckily, even with some coaxing on her part to move the Ether slightly away, there isn't anything else coming anywhere close to the One or Nine Tails anywhere around.

This is where she should really withdraw. It's definitive proof that Sanbi isn't here—at least not in Fire Country. But something holds her there, for what seems like seconds but she will later come to realize was hours. And then she feels it, a flare that the Ether latches onto. She can't even properly put focus onto the phenomenon before it's over, only leaving behind a thick cloud of negative energy that makes all other life curl and whimper, so potent it chokes her. But through that haze-like plume is her homing beacon, weak though it is, submerged in deep, wide waters. The Sanbi.

She tears herself free with a gasp and nearly falls out the tree with the violence of her retching. It is sundown, nearly six hours after she'd sat down to enter the Ether. She passes a hand along the top of her head to the soles of her boots, fingers tightening minutely around the chains connecting her neck manacle to her hair cuff, the neck to the wrists, the neck to the waist and then the waist to the thighs. No part of her is her own. It was why she'd just spent six hours searching for a monster—for another monster no less.

When her legs feel strong enough to support her, only a slight wobble in her step, she scales down the tree slowly, making a mental map in her head of where the Sanbi is.

Northwest of here, just skirting the borders of Fire Country. Ironically, not too far from Uzumaki Naruto himself.

Hopefully she could make it there by nightfall.

O/M

In a forest at the edge of the Hidden Grass village, the moon, round and heavy, gleamed down brightly through a canopy of leaves. It only kissed the edge of a dark cloak of one resident who was rolled in a bedroll tightly, for he chose to take refuge in the darkest part of the thicket—in part to avoid the light of the full moon, but it also may be attributed to the heavy snoring some kilometers away from him that had sent even the most unbothered of creatures scuttling away.

Undeterred by the moon's shine, one "Tobi" slept heavily right in its gaze—limbs splayed spread-eagle and occasionally twitching as the man would let out a "senpai" "no, please senpai"—he would flail and then settle right back down again.

A disturbance so soft that not even the most acute animals—were there any left—would have sensed it, shook a tree nearby to the opening in the canopy. For a beat, it seemed there would be no reaction, but then the masked Tobi gave a soft little groan and abruptly rolled onto his side and clamored up with am exaggerated yawn.

"Gotta pee~, gotta pee~." He droned/sang softly to himself, his dark outfit blending in with the shade of the trees.

Once far enough in, he stopped abruptly in front of a tree, perhaps the very same of the soft disturbance. "And?" He called huskily, though he never looked up.

In the next moment dulled amethyst eyes were gazing sidelong at him as Miyako settled herself beside the tree.

"Don't tell me you're actually going to pee during this conversation?" She murmured and decided that from his amused laugh he may just.

"I've detected chakra I believe to be the Sanbi's in a lake nearby that seems to straddle the Hot Water County and the Land of Fire."

"You believe?" He turned his mask face to finally look at her, and she knew she'd have to choose her words carefully.

"I have not laid eyes on the Sanbi myself, but the chakra is too similar to a Biju's to ignore. There also appears to be some sort of dimensional rip at the bottom of the lake where the chakra is the strongest."

"Excellent, keep watch over it until Deidara and I arrive. With consistent pestering from Tobi it should take no more than 2 days." He sounded far too pleased, and Miyako was torn between letting him bask in his delusional victory, or the glee she would derive from bursting his bubble.

It wasn't as hard to choose as it should have been.

"There's bad news." She delivered dully.

"Oh?" His amusement shattered her fleeting glee before it could even settle.

"Orochimaru has people stationed in the forest surrounding the lake. 5 by my account. They could be after the Biju, but none of the signatures I felt match the two I felt on the lake itself. One of them was Kabuto."

"The snake has to know that the Biju is there then, he's sent these 5 as watchdogs until he can assure it's capture." The man scratched at his chin, contemplating it seemed. Miyako tried not to shift uncomfortably as she waited.

"Keep watch of the situation for now. If Orochimaru intends to do some of the work for us, then let him, but interfere as quietly as possible if it seems they are getting too close to capture." She gave a short nod, internally breathing a sigh of relief. Orochimaru may not value the lives of his experiments, but she certainly didn't want to pick too much of a fight with a Sannin if she didn't have to.

"I want a nightly report, and as soon as you verify that it is the Sanbi you are to come straight to me—understood?"

"Yes, master." It was silent between them for a few beats, Obito having thrown away the premise long ago that he was just another mentally unstable masked man taking a piss in the middle of the night to stare straight at her as she divulged her findings.

She lost her composure for a moment as he casually reached his right arm up to cup her cheek with his right hand, but despite the unguarded distrust she was sure was clear in her eyes, he didn't do anything more than cradle her face as that forever Sharingan eye observed her.

"You've done well." The drag of his gloved thumb right along the swell of her cheek was slow, and while firm it wasn't meant to be intimidating—at least she didn't think so, that is if she was interpreting the tender look in his eye correctly.

He bent and brought their foreheads together, and seemed to ignore the tension ratcheting through her whole body as he spoke in that same fervent whisper he'd used on her two days ago.

"You don't understand just how valuable you are Miyako." His fingers laced under the chains dangling on the back of her head to the strands of straight black silk, she shuddered, refusing to meet his eye for long. "Everything, everything can finally come together. They couldn't see it, they didn't know what you were capable of." He pulled back slightly, still too close; still breathing her air. A pinkie trailed along her hairline had her locking eyes with his one.

"You'll see it soon too, what I see." He breathed so feather light Miyako wondered if this was reality. Maybe he had caught her in another Tsukiyomi? This was too emotionally confusing and intense to be an actual conversation they were having.

When he backed away from her, and finally released his hold altogether, it was entirely too slowly.

"Go." He commanded once a good few feet from her, body turned to re-enter the circlet of moonlight.

Unconsciously, she bowed her head and they turned their backs to each other simultaneously. Miyako was so tired she had no idea what kind of face she was making anymore, but if she had seen it mirrored in Obito's eye, she would've seen someone she didn't even recognize.

O/M

Her dreams that night were filled with swirling Sharingan eyes with deadly lilting voices in the background, with saccharine dipped promises and flattery stuffing her ears. Ghost-like fingers running along her body, tugging on her chains in increasing pressure. Pressure so great actually that she folded in on herself, creeping into a little ball so tightly, that one phrase ringing in her head: "you're the missing piece".

She woke up with a jolt to beady black eyes looking at her from the partial darkness. It took a few moments to understand why she was still dead tired and what a…bat was doing looking at her.

"Ah, Rinji." She groaned, pressing her arm across her eye so hard she saw bursts of white. Sighing she slowly pushed herself up until she stood at full height in the cave. She stretched with difficulty, the ceiling being only half a foot taller than she, and it only sloped down into a small opening where morning light seemed to be streaming in.

"Shoo." She grumbled, waving away the bat who startled and flew from the cave.

She lumbered her way out of the cave entrance, working out the kinks that bunched up her back with a sigh. The sun was merciless against her eyes and it took several harsh blinks and squinting for her to adjust.

'It's nearly noon most likely.' Late, in other words. All things considering as far as what she'd accomplished yesterday before she'd passed out in this cave, she deserved it.

Speaking of, she looked out to the shoreline, brow furrowed at the lack of activity. Last night when she was diving to investigate, she'd practically had to get on top of the dimensional rip to feel any sort of aura. What wafted from it was a parasitic rage that tried to grasp ahold of her fiercely despite how weak it was. Deciding not to tempt fate she'd resurfaced, fighting the chill of Kabuto's soft, Orochimaru-tinged aura and the gentle hum of the unknown aura that hung over the lake.

As she'd told Obito, none of the auras stationed some kilometers away matched either aura from the lake. In fact, she wouldn't consider any of the goons Orochimaru had "guarding" the lake a threat to their objective in capturing the Biju, but still they must've been there for a reason, so she'd slunk to their little hideout to observe.

The party was made up of 5 men, the other three were inconsequential to Miyako, but the two she found outside, Rinji and Gozu, proved to be slightly more intelligent. They seemed to be at odds with each other on their motives, as far as she could tell, and at first she considered using Rinji's own bats to track them, but thought better of it once she realized he would be chiefly using them to patrol and there was no knowing when they would return to him or even if they would be able to keep track of all five at once even if they were numerous.

Gozu, however, would likely be in proximity with the 4 to work together in a team effort, so when the two men split up to patrol—she cast the golem spell, the man being none the wiser as he smacked the bug used as her vehicle to death.

While there didn't seem to be any movement on the lake, Miyako didn't put it past them to be planning or preparing, besides who knew when Kabuto would be back with that potent humming aura.

So, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she steadied herself and then with a slow breath out opened her eyes once more.

'Is that…' The image wavered a moment with her shock, but she quickly forced it back into her focus to verify. Sure enough, beneath Gozu was Hatake Kakashi, who was rapidly weaving his head in order to avoid punches to the face.

'No, if Kakashi is here then that means…'

She withdrew, desperately reaching out with her senses for that potent field of roses she knew she well, but no matter how far she extended her reach across the lake and the radius of the forest, the aura never came to her. She did however catch the fleeting scrape of claws, the scent of fresh linen and somewhat further out, the feeling of a thousand eyes—team 8. Additionally, the humming aura seemed to be back, and a new aura that felt like cool glass against her skin.

Her panic dialed down a bit, though this new information brought up more questions than answers. Was Konoha here to also attempt to capture the Sanbi? But if that were the case, this was the wrong team to do so, unless they were merely here to track and take reconnaissance. Regardless of their motives they'd made this task she was given ten times harder. She had no problem disposing of Orochimaru's men if they got to close to success. As long as the Sannin himself didn't show up, she was positive she could kill all seven, including Kabuto, quietly.

An extra four people to kill discreetly was pushing it, especially considering she had somewhat of an emotional connection left for them. Putting down Naruto's friends and sensei would grant her a one-way ticket onto his shit list, not accounting for her uncertainty that she could even kill Kakashi at all—barring her reluctance of course.

However, if they didn't abandon their mission she had no doubt Obito would strongly consider asking her to kill or incapacitate them. Maybe if she played up the difficulty of taking on all of those people he would reconsider? Or emphasized that they could reveal the Sanbi for them at the very least before they considered murder?

Regardless, she didn't have to report to Obito until nightfall, more than enough time to figure out their true motive, and whether or not she could somehow "convince" them to leave.

O/M

Miyako trekked through the sudden fog with a grumble, eyes darting about suspiciously as she tried to steer clear of the sudden surplus of people near this small lake.

As if to get revenge, Naruto's aura was blanketing her, perfuming her every step with the smell of roses. It would've been pleasant, had she not desperately wanted him to leave this place.

Along with him was only one familiar aura, the spicy cinnamon of Sakura, the others were a writhing mass of colors and an aura that kept constantly tricking her into believing it was Hashirama Senju, before muting into a calming waterfall.

If having 16 people running around this small space wasn't bad enough, all with varying degrees of tracking abilities and threat levels, Kabuto decided to make a reappearance as well—and now Miyako was trapped between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand, Naruto—the host of the nine-tails jinchuriki and more importantly her friend, at least she would like to think, was facing off against a crystal style user who was much more powerful than Miyako had originally anticipated. Did she believe she was strong enough to counter all 8 of the Leaf ninja present and capture them? No, but it was also possible she had no idea Naruto was a Jinchuriki and could potentially kill him if she got in a good enough shot with nasty jutsu of hers.

Miyako briefly thought of meddling, she was good at it after all, but then Kabuto had flickered on her radar, in close proximity to the humming aura, and now she was beginning to wonder if Guren was merely meant to be a distraction, a heavy hitter meant to drive away any foe while he and the other aura attempted to steal the Sanbi out from under Konoha's nose.

Duty had driven her to the lake to keep watch, to make sure Kabuto didn't somehow seal this beast before her, because they would all be in deep shit if Orochimaru somehow managed to get his hands on a tailed beast. Although, maybe if Kabuto accomplished it Obito's head would explode, maybe she'd still be able to see it and laugh in hell.

Thus far though, nothing much had been happening. Kabuto was still skulking in the forest with the humming aura and the other five henchmen, and Naruto and company were currently trading blows with the crystal style user. And Miyako was just sitting there, waiting, making her decidedly antsy.

She could attempt to Golem a bird or some other creature to see inside Guren's massive pink dome, but the last thing she wanted to do is possibly alert the woman of her presence. She could send a creature inside the hole Naruto blew into the side, but she was wary to do so with two seemingly skilled Jonin and three whole trackers inside. So even though she was plenty worried about something happening to Naruto, she had to trust that a whole group of 8 could take on one woman, and it wasn't likely Kakashi or this Hashirama-esque man would just let Naruto die.

Slightly safer option, use Gozu to see what the group of lackies were doing and maybe find out exactly what their plan was. If there was anything more frustrating for Miyako than possibly putting people she cared about in danger, it was the amount of question marks floating above her head.

Mind made up, she plopped down onto the shoreline and pressed her palms harshly into her eyes, blocking out all of the outside sensations, especially Naruto's aura consistently prodding at her skin, and with a quick breath in and out, she was suddenly looking at a displeased Kabuto.

Ick, he was so unpleasant.

They were back in the little shack the 5 had been using as a makeshift base. On each wall one of the other 3 nameless henchmen were leaning, with Kabuto lingering near the door. Near the couch was Guren and on that couch, babbling away to the group was…a child.

'No way…the aura I felt all over the lake…was this kid?'

In the next second, Kabuto purposefully stepped further into the room, sneering. "We should be lucky they didn't decide to take Yuukimaru." He shot Guren a meaningful look that had her scowling in contempt and then moved closer to Yuukimaru. "In that case we should move quickly." He reached forward to pull Yuukimaru up and in a split second the boy looked up to Guren in panic so unconcealed, Miyako was worried Kabuto would lash out if he saw. However, a soft smile and even softer reassurance had him weakly grinning back and willingly following Kabuto outside.

They charted their course for the lake, which meant Miyako had to snap herself out of the spell and find a more discreet place to hide.

Since the shore was too obvious and the forest too crowded with Konoha ninja running around, Miyako settled for a cliffside overlooking the lake, but shielded enough from the forest to offer her relief that Konoha wouldn't immediately spot her.

Feeling that the coast was clear, at least for now, she dove back into the Golem spell and Gozu's sight to find them now in the thick of the fog, only bleary shapes of Guren, Kabuto and Yuukimaru discernable. After a few more minutes of careful rowing, the forward motions cease and they start drifting.

"Here is fine." Kabuto grunts, fishing in his pocket with one hand and adjusting his glasses in that snooty way of his that only exists to irk people with the other.

"Hurry and erect the pillars, Guren." He commands, finally succeeding in pulling out a bottle, and though it is obscured by his hand, it rattles with the familiar sound of medicine.

"So bossy." She sneers, but complies anyway.

'Medicine? For the boy? Does this somehow allow him to call forth the Sanbi?'

The lake shifts as she completes her jutsu, and Gozu practically has to crane his neck as several pillars shoot from the water in front of him, all spaced fairly far from their boat. And thought Miyako will admit they are grand feats of majesty, she isn't as easily amused as Gozu seems to be. It takes everything in her to coax him into looking back down to the scene on the boat.

Yuukimaru has a strange apparatus on his head now and his hand is open with dozens of small pills stacked in his palm. Miyako's no doctor, but she knows potential overdose when she sees it. Kabuto clearly intends to reveal the Sanbi by any means necessary, but it begs the question of why Orochimaru only now finds it in his best interests to possess a tailed beast? Could he inadvertently be trying to foil the Akatsuki's own plans, or was he attempting to elevate his own nation into a symbol of power?

'But even if this child is able to call forth the beast, how does Kabuto intend to capture it?' There was no doubt that Kabuto, while not without impeccable chakra control, didn't have the juice to be able to wrangle a tailed beast.

'This could be the possible reason he's using Guren—she may be acting as a heavy hitter to potentially weaken the beast so he can capture it. But between she and Gozu they'd hardly prove to be strong enough to subdue a tailed beast.'

Kabuto was just as slippery as his master, Miyako was positive he must have something else up his sleeve he wasn't quite ready to reveal. But at this rate, if he truly believed this boy could call forth the Sanbi, why wasn't he playing his hand?

Miyako missed Yuukimaru swallowing his pills, but she did not miss his aura going from a gentle hum to a raging scream that ripped through Gozu so poignantly she was forced out of his body just as swiftly as the breath was forced from her.

She tried to fight her way back in, but every time she was met with his yells endlessly ricocheting all around him and determined she had to stay out, for now.

From her vantage point she could see the eerie glow of the pillars as they shone, acting as tuning forks for Yuukimaru's agonized cry, but the fog was growing thicker every moment and all but obscured the little boat being tossed in the churning waters.

Miyako cursed, wondering idly what she could do to keep track of the events—the last thing she wanted was for Sanbi to be revealed and somehow Kabuto was able to seal it with her none the wiser.

Her thinking came to an abrupt halt at the touch of thorns against her skin, and she whipped her head to find Naruto plunging head first into the mist, rose thorns scratching with his mounting distress.

'So they are here for the Sanbi then?' But Miyako didn't detect anyone else in Naruto's party anywhere near him, and if they had been able to break Guren's trap, shouldn't they have headed straight for the lake?

At the same moment that the thorns seemed to dig into her flesh and its petals clog her throat, 'betrayal' she remembered fleetingly from his battle at the Valley of the End, a rage so bright red blinded her sight as a roar echoed across the lake, shaking even the cliffs she stood at over 100 kilometers away.

'The Sanbi, that kid, he really called forth the Sanbi.'

O/M

'Just breathe. In and out, in and out.'

Even though she wasn't visibly before Obito—having instead used an astral projection so she wouldn't miss anything important happening near the lake—maintaining a blank façade was still important. She couldn't afford to have her concentration waver while performing the spell, the last thing she wanted was Obito thinking she couldn't handle this mission, not only because of the consequences, but because he didn't need to know that she had a slight affliction when it came to tailed beasts.

"So the child can control the Sanbi—Orochimaru is more impressive than I give him credit for." He drawled, fingers stroking his chin.

"There seems to be a limit to his power, which must be why Kabuto brought along the Crystal style user." She finished.

"And the Sanbi? How did it fair against these attacks?" He leaned back to observe the flickering purple image before him.

"Only seemed to become irate. If I had to hazard a guess, it seems Kabuto was not appropriately prepared to capture the Sanbi, appearing to rely too heavily on the child's ability to control it and the Crystal style to potentially weaken it."

Obito scoffed, arms folded across his chest in pensive thought. "Arrogant. I suppose it makes sense because they believe they are the only ones who know the Sanbi's location, so they'll take their time attempting trial and error."

Miyako had thought long and hard on whether it was be beneficial to tell Obito about the Konoha ninja's presence. While being purposefully deceitful spelled trouble for herself and possible said ninja in the future should Obito find out, she wasn't entirely comfortable ratting them out to her master when she didn't know why they were there in the first place. In the end, Naruto had been the only one to witness the Sanbi appear from the lake, none of the others had taken any action whatsoever. Because of this, she wasn't convinced they'd been there for the Sanbi at all. Meaning, she'd need to craft her words carefully.

"About that—Orochimaru's people are not the only ones at the lake. 8 Konoha ninja have also shown up, though I do not believe they were aware of the Sanbi until the child called it from the lake."

Recently, Miyako had gotten better at reading Obito's body language—a skill that was both useful and an awful reminder of her reality—so she could immediately tell when he'd shifted from intense thought to barely concealed amusement.

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" Even with the mocking lilt to his tone, Miyako felt the shimmer of threat underneath. However, unlike the safe route she usually took—cow-towing to his ego and endless alleviations, she barely held back the sudden need to rip him limb from limb for implying any guilt on her part. It was difficult to swallow past the anger burning her throat like bile, but she barely managed with a shaky breath.

"Only one of them reacted to the Sanbi being revealed, and they had avoided the lake altogether until today."

Obito's stance of clear amusement only seemed to drive her further into a tizzy—which undeniably must've have been due to the Sanbi's influence, but she had to keep cool and convince Obito it wasn't a good idea to interfere at this point.

"You're being very secretive of the identities of these people—don't tell me they're your friends." He sneered, clearly challenging her.

Knowing she couldn't continue to omit any further information, yet still unwilling to immediately name Naruto in case it caused Obito to get any ideas, she revealed who she knew…carefully.

"Hatake Kakashi," she didn't miss the way he seemed to tense, even if for a moment, "Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, two unknown ANBU-level ninja… and Uzumaki Naruto."

"I see." Meaning he understood exactly why she was so reluctant to tell her. "But if 4 ninja adept at tracking and several high ranking shinobi were not dispatched to potentially capture the Sanbi, then for what other purpose?"

She didn't bother to hesitate, the simmering rage that itched just underneath her skin would not allow her to show any form of weakness from this point on.

"They have thus far only been intent on engaging in skirmishes with Orochimaru's men. Even while the Sanbi was being summoned, they largely seemed only to care about the tracking down Orochimaru's men. I believe that they are attempting to locate Sasuke once more by capturing and interrogating his men."

Obito, despite his long pause, couldn't argue with such logic. Especially considering Naruto was in the equation. He knew very well how hung up the boy seemed to be on his relative and was largely amused by the whole thing.

"Very well," she didn't have time to be relieved, not yet, "but, you said one of them saw the Sanbi—this could be potentially detrimental to us if Konoha decides to get involved."

"Or it could be beneficial." 'Pessimistic asshole.' She needed to wrap up this conversation, like now.

"Do tell." Miyako wondered if Obito was really that interested in dragging her and Deidara in a fight to outmaneuver 15 people, despite how horrible of a strategy that sounded.

"If they take enough of each other out and weaken the Sanbi in the process then it will make capturing it all the more easy for us."

"Assuming one of them doesn't succeed first."

"I won't let that happen." She promised, her projection looking up at Obito in the eye for the first time the entire conversation.

They had a stare down, which only seemed to make Miyako's blood boil the longer she was forced to stare at that one eye. Finally, Obito seemed to unravel, uncrossing his arms and letting Miyako know that he'd most likely come to a decision. She hoped it was a smart one in which he stayed away until both parties disappeared.

"What will you do if Konoha manages to beat Kabuto and his goons soundly?"

"It's unlikely to happen, the crystal style user is formidable—and Kabuto—" oh how she hated to give that slimy creep praise, but, "Kabuto always has some ace up his sleeve."

"Naruto also seems to have some weakness for the child." Which she could more than relate to. "An opinion he's hasn't been shy in expressing to anyone who will listen. The Crystal Style user has evidently been tasked with keeping him safe, making him an easy point of exploitation between the two groups. Naruto will stray off mission if it means he can stick to his morals, leaving the others no choice but to follow, while this woman will seemingly do anything to be considered valuable by Orochimaru."

Obito hummed, and his clear relaxed stance of satisfaction only served to tip her even further over the edge. She whipped the projection's head back down to the ground in a false show of fealty, but in truth to hide the obvious clenching in her jaw and the tick in her brow.

"Very well, and if worse comes to worse, we can always use the child ourselves." He purred, knowing full well Miyako would hate the idea of actually exploiting an innocent to further their agenda, but in his mind, he was simply preparing her for the lengths she would have to go through in the near future to reach his goals.

"If it looks to you that either group is getting too close to capturing the biju and you've exhausted all other options, then you must take the child yourself. With your extra amplification, he should be able to achieve a level of control unparalleled."

Her heart picked up in tempo as she tried not to curl her fists into the ground, her whole being shaking as the rage curling through her coalesced into a monster that was tearing through her insides, fighting to get out.

'You're disgusting, everything you are is poison. If I tore my fingernails into that soft underbelly of yours would you even bleed? If I sunk my teeth into your throat and ripped it clean out would you still laugh?'

"Miyako, do you understand?"

If he had been speaking any more after declaring a backup plan she hadn't heard it, ears too clogged with the white noise of what his screams would sound like to listen.

"Yes, I do…master." If he noticed the words were said through painfully gritted teeth, he had no chance to comment when Deidara's voice rang through the forest.

"Oi, Tobi! Where the hell did that annoying little jackass go, hm?"

When Obito traced his eyes back to dismiss the projection, she was already gone. In the silence left behind, he mulled over whether he should really keep his word about staying away.

"Senpai?" He finally called back, voice pitched up high for his disguise as usual.

"Tobi! Where are you, hm?"

A moment later the masked man ran smack dab into the blonde bomber, who glared at him with undisguised hatred.

Ignoring the irate man as usual, the other begged his senpai to stop and take a break, claiming he'd seen a dango stand not too far down the road.

Y/M

Two svelte figures darted off into the mist—one heading for the higher hills away from the lake and the other sneaking the opposite direction, fearlessly throwing itself into the thick of it.

Just in time, the woman guarding the child snuck away, orb in her hand. To be safe, the figure circled around the boy once before approaching, being wary of any crystal-like objects that may be guarding him in the woman's absence.

Despite the heaviness of the mist, the figure could see the pink staining the boy's cheeks, and feel the faint buzzing to his aura—he was obviously sick. It frowned, remembering all of the medicine he was forced to take.

She knelt next to the boy just as he cracked his eyes open. Blinking the sleep out of them, his vision finally cleared enough to find a pair of purple eyes, framed by soft, dark coils, looking at him wondrously.

He sat up suddenly, and despite the bout of dizziness, he looked around him in acute panic.

"Hey, hey, are you okay? You shouldn't move so fast." He turned back to the purple-eyed girl who, now that he had a better look at her, was of a deep bronze complexion and a radiating soft smile. She gently laid a hand on his forehead and hummed.

"You have a fever." She murmured, and then reaching into a pack at her waist he'd just come to notice through blurry vision, she produced a medium sized canister and an end of bread.

"Eat slowly." She encouraged, offering them with a fretful look to the boy who shakily took the items with a wary grin.

"Thank you, nee-san." When he struggled to get the canister open on the first try, the girl took it back briefly to help him and left him to chew on the bread slowly.

"What is your name?" She asked softly, offering him the now open canister.

"Yuukimaru." He responded sleepily, sipping the canister tentatively at first, but ravenously once tasting the delicious blend of spices in the broth that included delicate chunks of vegetables that he chewed easily to a softness.

"Slow down." She cautioned once more, sternly, and with an added hand to his back. He obeyed, though somewhat reluctantly, having not known how hungry he was until this precise moment.

"What are you doing out here all alone, Yuukimaru?" The girl shifted to sit with her legs folded beneath her.

With the sudden reminder, the child yanked back the canister from his mouth, eyes wide and alert. "Guren-san!" He rushed to stand, staggering on his feet from head-rush.

"Wait a moment." The girl was beside him, holding him steady. "You're still too weak to be moving so fast." She chastised.

"Where did she go, Guren-san? I have to find her." He babbled, gripping the can tightly as he lurched forward despite the grip on his arm and shoulder.

"Yuukimaru, do you truly believe you can find this Guren-san in such a state—you will pass out before you can even find her and she will be worried if she returns here and you have gone."

At this he seemed to settle down, sinking back into the soft grass of the hill with the strange, but logical, girl. At her encouragement once more, he chewed on his bread, though every bite felt like a rock in his stomach as he worried at Guren-san's absence.

"Who is this Guren-san to you?" She questioned lightly, tapping the bottom of the canister, and he obediently drank more of the soup.

"She is my home—the place that I return to!" He smiled wanly, not seeming to have enough strength to do more than this as he dug around in his shirt to produce a pink crystal that the girl soon discovered housed a white camellia. "And that's because she is always thinking of me!" He coughed lightly, body shaking as the girl patted his back firmly to help him through his fit.

"Hmm? What an interesting sentiment." She mused, and the boy smiled at her lightly again.

"A man in all bright colors taught me that."

The girl gave something of a smirk. "Was he blond with blue eyes?"

Yuukimaru nodded in astonishment. "Say, nee-chan, is he the place that you return to?"

The expression fell off of her face in an instant, replaced with a far-away look instead as she swallowed. "No, I'm afraid not."

Mirroring her look, Yuukimaru touched her arm gently. She turned her head to rest of the shelf her arms had created on top of her knees to give the boy a reassuring smile, but he didn't seem that convinced.

She put a hand a top the boy's hair and ruffled it. "Don't worry about me, I'm sure one day I will find a place to return to." She trailed her gaze down to the crystal he'd been clutching in his fingers, determined to change to subject.

She brought her finger to the crystal and tapped it twice. "What is this? Something from Guren-san?"

He bobbed his head. "It tells me that she is okay." He explained, rubbing his own thumb over the face.

"You know," the dark-haired girl placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a squeeze. "There's a magic between two people who really care about each other." She whispered. "Since she gave this to you, if you ever feel like Guren-san is in danger, make a wish on this crystal—I'm sure she'll come back to you."

He beamed. Despite the sickness dulling the shine in his eyes, the girl was sure he couldn't be happier.

When Yuukimaru had sucked up the last dredges of the soup and offered it back to the girl with a "thank you", she rose languidly, brushing off a long purple skirt of remnants of grass and dirt.

"Well, I'll let you go off and find her now, Yuukimaru. Just be careful, okay?" She gave him another small smile, helping him from the ground with a steady hand. She set off the opposite direction only when he gave a nod.

"Wait, nee-chan! What's your name?" He called to her back, shuffling forward a bit as she looked over her shoulder.

"What do you mean? I'm nee-chan, obviously." And with a cheeky wink, she disappeared into the mist, leaving Yuukimaru with no choice but to go after Guren-san. He felt much better, and obviously that's what nee-san wanted, right?

N/M

The mist/fog whatever-it-was had been pissing Naruto off. Not only was it incredibly difficult to see through, it also had the added benefit of causing hallucinations. To top it off, it was giving him some not so pleasant memories of his very first mission that he didn't need when his mind was already on Sasuke, thank-you-very-much.

"Cute story you told Yuukimaru." A feminine voice, drenched in amusement called from inside the thick mist.

The ninja tensed, kunai already reflexively in his grip as he looked around suspiciously. The voice didn't sound like Guren's, but he wasn't easing up—after all this was the perfect environment to spring a trap, the mist already made you paranoid enough about what was reality and what wasn't.

He whirled around to face his adversary just as she stepped out—someone so unexpected he nearly dropped his kunai in shock.

Clad in all black, with hair in a high ponytail that barely held back that long mane of curls, Miyako surveyed the stunned ninja with unbridled mirth in those famed purple eyes. However, the most shocking thing to be graced with was the uncovered lower half of her face stretched in an almost feral grin—the backlight to those expressive eyes of hers.

"Nothing to say? Most strange for you." She mused, edging just that much closer.

When he still didn't react, obviously still reeling from the fact that she was even here and he could see her face. This was nearly as monumental as Kakashi-sensei revealing his face.

"However, your theory—when someone thinks of you, that's the place to return to?" When he nodded, dumbly, she continued, closing another chunk of distance between them in one smooth, nearly undetectable move.

"Did you ever take into account, oh I don't know, negative thoughts?"

Finally seeming to blink out of his stupor, Naruto backed up slightly, narrowing his eyes at her in study.

"What do you mean?" He questioned quietly.

"What if all someone thinks about you is negative thoughts, is that really a place to return to?"

Despite his uncertainty around if the Miyako standing before him was a hallucination or not, he immediately understood what she was referring to, his wary stance immediately morphing into a determined one.

"Not everyone is thinking negatively about you, Miyako." He slapped a hand into his own chest and leaned forward to bridge some of the distance between himself and that face with a thoughtful looking frown.

"Gaara and I, we'll hold those positive thoughts about you because we know what you're capable of." He promised lowly, open hand turning into a fist on his chest. "So you know that you can always return home to us." He declared.

She pitched an eyebrow, mouth thinning slightly. "Oh? How do you know that Gaara holds those positive thoughts about me?"

"I believe that Gaara and I see the best in you because we have seen you at your best."

She sighs, combing one hand through her long ponytail before looking off. "You and your sweet words." She mumbled so lowly he couldn't quite catch them. As he took a step forward she now retreated, putting a hand up to stop him.

"I didn't come here for that, regardless, I came here to tell you that you cannot be Yuukimaru's home."

He blinks, astonished, before taking a giant step forward, eyes alight with passion.

"The alternative is Orochimaru—"

"No." She shakes her head. "He cares for Guren and only Guren, you know that."

He let out a strangled "hmph". "She works for Orochimaru, how is that not the same?"

"Do you remember what I told you after the Chuunin exams?" She trilled lightly, letting him furrow his brows frustrated thought for a moment before coming to his rescue.

"Your words have the power to change people, Naruto. It is more powerful than any jutsu you possess." She gives him a minute to digest, but plows on soon after, knowing full well time was ticking.

"If you take the time to look you will see it—Guren loves Yuukimaru something fierce, so much she will abandon Orochimaru to be with him. All you need to do is make her see what is already so apparent."

Naruto shakes his head. "I can't know that she'll do that right thing! What if Orochimaru has poisoned her so much that she drags Yuukimaru with her? If we take him, he can come back to Konoha, he'll be cared for—"

"And miserable." She interrupted, hands on hips and the look of "you-know-its-true" painted on her face.

"Just as you never stop searching for Sasuke, Yuukimaru will never be content to just sit in Konoha if Guren is still alive, he will run to her."

With Naruto's painful scowl, Miyako decides she's overstayed her welcome, plus she doesn't want to give Naruto any ideas about trying to bring her "home" either.

"Just think about it, okay? If you can convince Guren to run away with Yuukimaru, then Kabuto will have no way of capturing the 3 tails, and you will be free to pursue him and be that much closer to finding Sasuke."

At this realization, Naruto's eyes widen, staring through her unseeingly for a moment, jaw slightly agape, until a noise from his left jolts him out of his thoughts.

Squinting, he can just barely make out the outline of someone, someone decidedly feminine, and makes to go towards it, stealthily of course because he's a ninja, until he remembers Miyako.

When he turns back to address her however, she's gone, further cementing in Naruto's mind that maybe the entire conversation was a hallucination after all.

O/M

Miyako is pacing just outside of the sensory ninja's ranges near their neat little wooden clubhouse, practically chewing her nails off.

Minutes ago, a woman leading Tenten, Lee and Ino had arrived at their base. It takes a second for her to work out the equation of why 4 extra people needed to be included on this already overcrowded mission, when she spotted the oversized scroll on Tenten's back.

'I hate when this fucker is right.'

The scroll was massive, and the only reason they would need something of that size would be to seal a tailed beast. She massaged her temples, knowing that now, out of the two groups, Konoha had just become so much more of a threat to the Akatsuki.

'So, they've abandoned whatever Orochimaru-driven mission they have to instead seal the 3 tails. More than likely to ensure it doesn't end up in Orochimaru's hands—but out of all of those present, that I know of at least, who would have good enough chakra control to manage this?'

She didn't know anyone in this particular group to be known for their sealing, but all sealing essentially took was fantastic chakra control. Sakura was a medical ninja, so that required amazing chakra control. Hinata was a Hyuga, best known for their abilities to manipulate the flow of chakra, so that was a no-brainer. The woman they sent must've been particularly chosen for this since that was their aim at this point, but who else?

Miyako scrabbled at the bark of the tree she had clawed up earlier to steadfastly watch the Konoha Clubhouse. Her fingertips bit so hard into the bark that she could feel cuts forming on her fingertips.

Quickly she calmed herself, only barely remembering that Kiba and Akamaru would smell her if she kept this up. But she couldn't help it! She was so frustrated that she couldn't get any closer and hear what plans they were making. Didn't they understand she was trying to save their asses? Why were they so adamant on putting themselves in danger? Why couldn't Naruto just take her advice so he could run after Kabuto instead? Didn't they want to get that prick Uchiha "home" after all?

She sucked in a deep breath, her throat suddenly feel constricted as her head swelled with furious thoughts. She squeezed her eyes shut, searching for her rational mind to get her out of this haze that she knew the Sanbi was inflicting upon her.

When she opened them again she was in a darker part of the forest, the trees were thick here and the canopies blocked out nearly any light that could come from the moon.

'How did I get here?' Her skin prickled, hot and tight like a sunburn as that anger simmering just beneath her blood went into a full boil. She reached out a hand to brace herself against a tree as she broke out into a sweat and started shaking.

'Oh yeah, it's the Uchiha's fault. It's always those fucking trauma-loving red-eyed demons' faults.'

A sudden high-pitched ringing became apparent in Miyako's ears, whereas before she felt like a kid in a pool with water in their ears, now she felt the whole pressure of the ocean on her skull.

'Wish I would've killed them all when I had the chance. So stupid, so forgiving. It would've been so easy to split their skulls open and watch the blood drip like a fountain. Since they loved that damned color red so much, she could've painted them in it. What a waste. And look what they'd done—the last of them were just varying ranges of monsters.'

She distantly could hear her breaths come out in ragged snarls, the air fighting through the still steady tightening in her throat.

'Obito, the lying piece of shit—thinks he can fix me by spying and manipulation and dirty tricks. He would be nothing without the rest of the organization doing his dirty work. I wonder how much he'd have to say if I stuck my fingernail into that last eye and plucked it right out of the socket. Fucking bastard. I'll get him, I'll get him, and when I drag him down to hell with me we'll see who has the last laugh.'

Her fingertips itched again, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to care enough. Something made a cracking noise far off in the distorted underwater haze she was in.

'It's those eyes, those damnable eyes. They follow me everywhere, why can't they just die? I hate them, I hate them. Sasuke, emotionless prick, never ceasing to drag me into his nonsense, turning the entire world upside down because he's selfish. I hope Naruto runs him through with a rasengan. Fuck him! And fuck Itachi, why couldn't he just tell the goddamn truth? Why couldn't he have come up with a better lie? Why does he get to die and escape his responsibilities? And asking me, me! To watch after the mistake he made?'

Something wet was on her chin and metal was in her mouth between gasps and she was so hot it felt like her skin was going to melt off. A louder 'thud' managed to sound through once more.

'How could he? How could he sit here and participate in this wretched game they play for sport? Hunting down humans and further robbing them of dignity, sick are the lot of them. I hope they each end up in shallow graves to be spit upon by the ninja villages. And so far as them—'

A grunt flowed through her lips and a crash she didn't hear, but that nearly rocked her off her feet, not that she had time for any other emotions besides the red in her vision.

'Power hungry fools. If only I could've put Rasa in the grave myself. If Yashamaru wanted to blow himself up so much I would've happily obliged, strapped the two together so I could make them artwork on the side of the walls. Hang their heads as a display. Offer them to the Council as a personal commission. Yes, I could make plenty of shinobi fall in line, couldn't I? I could, and I could force Konoha to take me back—protect me from Obito.'

Her jaw hurt, her throat was raw, every nerve ending was alive though. Singing, hissing for vengeance.

'But then they'd die. I'd have to start with Kakashi, because how dare he? To hate me as Miyako and yet have so much pity as Raccoon. He didn't even give me a chance—asshole. I should rip his facemask off and punch him in his more than likely ugly mug. And Gai, that annoying honorable prick! All that posturing and for what? And Kurenai, that bitch—I saved her students, all of their students at some point, and what do I get? Traitor slapped on my back? Place to return to my ass, they'd never take me back—that's what Naruto loves to do, make me false promises. '

A rhythmic throbbing like bass at a nightclub pulsed through her. Her head was so jumbled up with thoughts and briefly, through the breaks in her haze, she could faintly make out dark strands between her fingers.

'I know who rushed to label me as traitor. Those Sabaku siblings, those two elder ones that want to pretend to play the parts of doting big brother and sister. I should've tormented those snot nosed brats in our childhood. Cut off all of Kankuro's stupid action figure's heads and tore through all of Temari's clothes. I know what they're thinking, "Miyako was the one who got our brother killed, she's always been working for the Akatsuki! I never trusted her from the beginning. She's probably the one who also killed father." Ha! Without me Gaara wouldn't have been able to run a country. Without me they wouldn't have a brother to dote on at all. They'd have no one to cook them dinners, or help them pick dresses, or make sure Gaara doesn't get himself killed in some self-sacrificial move to save his loved ones.'

Shafts of moonlight seemed to be dotting the once dark part of this forest, but Miyako wasn't keen on questioning it, just in inspecting her hands that seemed to be covered in the color of Gaara's hair, and why her heartbeat was echoing through her skull, and why the earth seemed to be speaking violence into her ears.

'Maybe I should just kill him. Yeah, Obito can't take the nine-tails and succeed in whatever his plan is if I just kill Naruto. It would be easy—I just lure him alone with the temptation of finding Sasuke. He trusts me, he'd give in so easily—and I could be quick, I'd just snap his neck, he wouldn't even know. He's so stubborn, so willing to rush into battle or to save someone that he would get himself killed anyway. This way he can die by the hands of someone who actually cares about him. Not Sasuke who throws away bonds or Obito who only cares about his own pain or on a mission for no reason other than death is the only thing everyone else is assured but me. Or maybe I could trick them into killing me? Maybe Obito won't notice, maybe Zetsu isn't watching. Maybe, maybe, maybe so many maybes.'

She rose back up in a frenzy, wondering if she could escape. She could imagine Naruto's corpse in front of her and it was making her physically ill, even through the fury still rattling her whole frame. What was she mad at again? Why was she mad in the first place?

'No, wait, it's all Gaara's fault. All his fault. I told him I loved him, the only person to do so and he trapped me. He put me inside a lamp even though I was so scared. He left me and I hate him. All I wanted was to give him the whole entire world and he didn't even want that. And then he forgot! He forgot, did it mean nothing to him? Was I just a distraction? The same to him as I was to every master before? A weapon, a means to an end, a way to fulfill all of their wildest dreams?'

The spiral snapped at the sound of a tree branch groaning from extra weight. As if cold water had been dumped on her skin she sat frozen, eyes trained over her shoulder to cautiously approaching footsteps. In the dead of the wee hours of the morning, sight was limited, but still she repeated in her head like a mantra:

'You can't see me. You can't see me. I'm not here.'

Several minutes passed of the aura passing around her perimeter in curiosity, before finally taking off back into an entirely different direction.

Once she felt the coast was clear, she skittered off, feeling all the while like the wildest animal.

K/M

In the early hours of dawn, each team set out to the lake, intent on beating Orochimaru to sealing the Sanbi.

It was a fairly no nonsense morning, Kakashi divided them into squadrons as follows: Shizune would lead the sealing team comprised of Sakura, Hinata and Ino, Yamato would lead the team meant to protect them made up of Kiba, Lee and Tenten, and the final team would find and take out the Crystal style user, Kakashi, Naruto, Shino and Sai. There was a small bit of bickering at first on how the teams were set up (chiefly from Lee who wanted more than anything to fight the Crystal Style user) but in the end everyone fell in line as they were meant to.

Aside from slight nerves, after all no one in this twelve man formation had ever sealed anything more than a few weapons, the teams set out fairly confident that they could complete their mission and thought they would be ready for anything.

Until Yamato passed by a felled tree.

"It might be nothing, but…" The others nodded, following him to inspect the damage. The large spruce was shoved over and barely hanging by a few roots that miraculously hadn't been ripped up, but there was no mistaking it.

"This was done by human hands." Yamato confirmed. "Kakashi-senpai did relay to us that one of Guren's men could max out his muscles to their full potential at whim, but the question is why they would topple a tree?"

Kiba, on the back of Akamaru, directed his canine to sniff around the area. The Chuunin looked up to Yamato curiously. "Maybe this is meant to be a distraction, to slow us down?"

"What a dirty trick!" Lee agreed with a shout and an impassioned fist to the sky.

"Ugh, Lee, it's too early for this." Tenten grumbled beside him.

"Wait, Akamaru has something." Kiba barely got out, before the dog bounded further into the thicket, barking rapidly. The others followed hot on his heels only to stop and gape.

All around them was pure chaos, trees split in half and barely hanging on by splinters, others uprooted completely, and still more in various states of disarray formed a ring around a grouping of trees that, upon closer inspection, appeared to be carved into.

Kiba nearly tripped as he dismounted Akamaru, eyes fixated on the tree at the front of the scene. In it was carved a circle containing a swirl that led to another smaller circle on the right and a pair of eyes stamped with the petals of nearby violets.

Kiba didn't have to, because Akamaru had pretty much confirmed it, but he leaned in close to the tree to take a deep whiff, nearly disturbing the petals hanging onto the bark.

"Lee, don't touch the evidence!" Tenten barked, and the dog ninja looked over to find the green-clad Chuunin was inspecting every tree with mouth wide open and palms splayed to touch.

The images varied, behind the tree that formed what looked to be a diamond from afar, was a crudely drawn stick figure with hair colored in blood sitting next to a stick figure with curly hair, the dark wood below them having been carved down to the lighter inside, with dots hanging above their heads. Farther back, a whole tiny army of stick figures were drawn with blood colored eyes. Still the most disturbing image was the farthest to the left, the culprit having hewn out one stick figure with bright red eyes standing above a small item while the other stick figure lied on the sanded wood beneath him stained red with bloody handprints that seemed to overlap one another, over and over and over again.

"It's so fascinating, so sad." Lee murmured, his hand hovering over one of the drawings that depicted a cluster of people aiming swords at the curly haired stick figure and a shorter hunched stick figure. "Who could have done this?"

They all turned their attention to Kiba, who swallowed the lump in his throat to stutter out the name.

"Miyako."

N/M

Naruto may not know Shino as well as Shino would like, but he could tell when he was annoyed, that much was sure.

When Kakashi got a call from Yamato that he needed to get to their location to check something out, immediately, Shino had made the smallest grunt when they'd abruptly had to switch course—he was apparently eager to find Guren and test if his bugs were ripe for the challenge.

Naruto couldn't say he was much better, he was itching to find Yuukimaru before something potentially irreversible happened to him. He would not let the boy become another Sasuke. "This better be worth it." He'd grumbled under his breath.

Then he'd lost his breath at the scene.

"What happened?" Kakashi cautiously approached the four, who were reluctant to move any closer to the drawings, but still fixated enough to look.

Shino, for once in all the time Naruto knew him, perked up. "This energy, don't tell me—"

"It's Miyako." Kiba confirmed, to the surprise of the newly informed team, Naruto's breath particularly stuttering as it worked its way out of his suddenly clogged throat.

"Shit." Kakashi cursed, stalking forward carefully to narrow one eye at the carvings.

"Sai." He droned, and gave the barest hint of a smile at seeing the man already hard at work sketching everything he saw.

"I'll be sure to document them all." He promised, before continuing too casually. "This Miyako is the same one who is believed to be working with the Akatsuki, yes?"

Naruto's jaw ticked, but only for a moment, too concerned with drinking in every detail of the second row of trees. Sai, came up beside him, pencil working rapidly across his scroll to sketch the stick figure with blood hair seemingly weeping into his hands as a figure with menacing teeth grew from its back.

"Do you know what these mean, dickless?" Naruto ignored that annoying nickname to give an empty smile.

"I'm pretty sure these are of Gaara." He answered flatly, not daring to touch either, but still seemingly trying to be as close as he could get with disturbing anything.

"This is too sloppy to be Miyako." Kakashi crossed his arms, brow pinched. "There's no way she would take the time to do this unless this was some kind of trap."

"That's true, from what you've told me senpai, she seems to highly-ranked to leave this much evidence lying about unless it was some sort of ambush." The man gestured to the blood splattered in arcs across the forest floor.

"But what doesn't make much sense to me is that I was sure I came by this area when I patrolled early this morning, and I didn't see any of this." Yamato mumbled, hand cupping his chin in thought. "So when would she have had time?"

Kakashi sighed and called out evenly. "Kiba, Shino." The two Chuunin came bounding over to him easily.

"Have you been able to catch a trail?" To his dismay, both trackers shook their heads.

"It's like a bubble." The dog ninja groused, crossing his arms petulantly. "Her scent is everywhere within a 3 kilometer radius, but after that it just," he made a dramatic show of waving his hands, "disappears."

"And nothing is fresh?" To this, Shino just slowly shakes his head. "The energy is old, hours old, and the kikaichu haven't felt anything similar since being here."

Kakashi nodded and the two went back to attempting to spread out their search areas in the opposite directions.

"Do you think she could've brought another member of the Akatsuki?" Yamato cocked his head to his superior, who still refused to look away from the front image, the circle within a swirling circle and the purple eyes.

"Possibly, but whatever she's here for—to gather reconnaissance or to actually capture the Biju, our objective stays the same, we have to seal it first."

Yamato gave a tense nod, and after Sai confirmed he had sketched all the tree carvings, Kakashi dismissed the teams to go back to their original tasks.

"What about Miyako?" Naruto immediately protested, brow folded in determination.

"Naruto, stay on objective, if she is here, it's likely she wants the Sanbi, meaning we have to do whatever we can to make sure she doesn't complete that mission. Right now we can't track her, she's erased her presence too well, so we complete our own objective—sealing the beast. It may be possible that in doing so it will draw her out and we will have a chance to take her down then—so stay on your guard."

Tense nods were exchanged, Lee barely containing himself to uphold the seriousness of the situation—but no one looked more somber than Naruto.

After all, if all one had about you were negative thoughts, was that really a place to return to?

O/M

Miyako knew she'd done something stupid the moment she woke up.

Groaning, she blinked past the flittering images in her mind of bleeding fingers in the dark, trees toppled all around, lines etched in bark…

'Oh fuck.' She paled, the memories dancing in her head mockingly as she stumbled upright and out of the cave she'd taken refuge in. The Sanbi's ever-present rage hit her like a cloud of smog and suffocated her lungs, but thankfully it was a little less potent today—maybe because of exposure—and she managed to power through it and dart in the direction she vaguely remembered heading last night.

'Shit, shit, shit.' She faltered at the screech of the beast that seemed to shake the whole lakeside, whipping her head quickly to have an uninterrupted view of the culprit of her late-night shenanigans as it thrashed walls of water into existence. At the water's edge, she barely managed to spot several shapes of people, Guren, Gozu, Naruto, Kakashi and Shino being just some of them. She had a feeling she'd missed something monumental, but as long as the Sanbi hadn't been captured it didn't really matter at this precise moment.

She sped off again after checking that the coast was clear in the general direction of her mess. She needed to clean, and fast, before something happened with the Sanbi or worse, Obito found her drunken rage-fueled mistake.

She carefully approached the site, traipsing easily over trees blocking the path to the memorial of her life she'd decided to immortalize in trees, cursing all the while as the lingering presences tickled her senses. Save for the jounin, Sakura, Hinata and Ino, everyone else had seen her artwork, and most likely notated it down as evidence. The only upside was that the Sanbi was taking priority, and she'd clearly done enough to erase her presence afterwards despite how out of it she was last night, or else she had no doubt Shino or Kiba would've hunted her down by now.

It took a few minutes, but the evidence of her poor decisions was cleaned up without a trace left behind. She'd ensured there were no bloodstains in the grass, no tree with a remaining blemish, and no scent to come by. If they came back to this spot they'd more than likely believe they were crazy at seeing the state it was in now. Still, they'd seen and there was nothing at this point that Miyako could do about it, not that she wanted to.

She whirled back to face the lake, and with a poor attempt to massage the headache out of her temples, marched closer to survey the scene and determine what the fuck was happening now.

G/K/T

"So…you were apparently a fan of purple?

Kankuro doesn't sound convinced, and obviously Gaara isn't either, but from the state of these toys—well-used, with tiny scratches in the paint and little dents, nicks and other imperfections, it's safe to say these were used pretty frequently. Not that Gaara can remember.

The biggest is a stuffed bear with a gauzy purple ribbon about its neck, it's almost too pristine and soft looking; he could imagine himself cuddling with this easily. There also is a purple snowglobe, which is astonishing in and of itself because Suna doesn't even sell these, a small collection of purple wax figurines, a golden with purple rimmed spindle top, a purple bouncy ball and various other small items. Nothing jogs his memory as he examines them, though he knows one thing for certain.

"All of these are from Miyako." The question was—where had she gotten such strange items from?

"Where the hell did she find a snowglobe?"

Gaara briefly thinks of telling them about the snow day dream—how everything was also strangely tinted a soft purple, even the snow, but he knows revealing that information will only open up a can of worms he isn't sure he's ready to discuss with his siblings. He's not yet sure of the validity of these dreams, certain elements of them seem fantastical—suggesting the Miyako could perform such high level jutsu at a young age was still a lot to wrap his brain around, hell he was still trying to get over the fact that she had taken out 15 assassins without his knowledge. Still, despite the fact that she had been rumored to have done far worse, he knows his siblings, and he knows they will write them off as nothing more than what they seem—dreams. They might even suggest that Gaara is frustrated at he and Miyako's complicated history and his lost memories, so his psyche is making up these scenarios to make him feel better—he really didn't feel like being analyzed today.

After a while, Gaara sighs and shakes his head, ordering a Chuunin that had been standing by to put everything in separate bags for evidence. Kankuro muttering that Bisuke's lead had been a dead end after all as the chest was hauled away.

O/M

It happened way to fast. One moment she was increasing Ino's feelings of insecurity, thus messing up her chakra control and snapping the seal for the Sanbi, causing the biju to go absolutely nuts. The next, Yuukimaru was opening up a wormhole in the sky, sans medication. Obito—who had shown up while she was working dammit—had seen fit to remind her before he took off that if she didn't succeed in her original plot, the alternative was to "take care of" the members of the sealing team instead until they reached their objective, though Miyako seriously doubted they would want to stay if one of their own mysteriously died. He'd taken off after this cheerful reminder, and just like that the universe righted itself and everything leveled out into a much calmer scenario.

Well, I mean if you could call two crazy strong people fighting a literal tortoise demon calm, but at least there were no wormholes in the goddamned sky or children to worry about being kidnapped.

Yes, Obito was chaos walking, she'd thought, mentally cheering when the two had managed to force Sanbi to retreat using combined offensive force.

And then the thing had swallowed them.

Again, it had happened way too fast. For what was supposed to be the purportedly slower animals, it had seemed to take only seconds for the Sanbi to get from his high jump in the air to crashing down on top of both Guren and Naruto.

At first she was sure, as she blocked her face futilely from the fine mist that had managed to reach her even several tens of kilometers away, that the beast had crushed them. She'd worriedly starting probing the air for their auras—only to find that Naruto's, because of course she found Naruto first, was muted almost as if…

'No fucking way, it ate them!' She confirmed this when the auras seemed to get weaker and weaker as the Sanbi sunk under the water, following his path to the bottom.

Absentmindedly, she noted that she could think clearer, marked by the fact that the word "absentmindedly" even came up in her thoughts. She would've preferred if it hadn't come because Naruto's chakra was being subdued by the belly of a Biju though, speaking of.

'This is bad.' An understatement. 'He could die in there. I have no idea how demon's digestive systems work—what if everything is lava inside? What if there's geysers that spew out acid? What if some microscopic organism sharing a symbiotic relationship with the beast manages to slowly suck out all the protein from their bodies until they just wither away?'

Apparently Naruto being eaten hadn't stopped her paranoid and irritated thoughts though, only stopped her from acting on them. Great?

'Okay think, what are our options here? What do we know?' She forcibly blocked out the frenzied buzz in her head to a dull roar and tried to center herself in a Shikamaru-esque way.

'Obviously his comrades didn't see it happen, because if they had I have no doubt they would've swam to the bottom of the lake to punch Naruto out of the Sanbi like the fearless little idiots they are. I can't go in there because potentially fighting Naruto and Guren doesn't sound smart while also trying to find a way to get them out. Also, being inside a Biju sounds like I'm begging to rage out, and Naruto will be there—we don't need a repeat of last night.'

Obviously it wouldn't be smart to try to find a way out from the inside, however, it may be plausible from the outside. The Leaf ninja seemed to be more focused on taking Yuukimaru and retreating for now to lick their wounds, so it may be possible for her to dive into the lake before they realized Naruto was gone.

Damn it all to hell.

S/Y

Kakashi was in the middle of writing a report to Tsunade when Naruto was confirmed missing.

"We should look." He immediately abandoned the scroll to stand, tension in his shoulders as the possibilities warred in his head. Which was worse, Orochimaru managing to get ahold of him, or Miyako taking advantage of his student once more and literally "killing him with kindness"?

"Senpai, you should finish your report to Hokage-sama, we still need instruction." Yamato laid a hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. "He's been trained by many amazing ninja, including yourself senpai, he's strong enough to hold his own. He probably just wandered off by himself again."

Kakashi gave a wry grin and tried to loosen the set of his shoulders, but it was a perpetual issue upon discovering that Miyako was at the lake leaving cryptic messages in trees for them. Quickly scribbling down the remainder of what needed to be sent to Tsunade, including several lines dedicated to informing her of Miyako's masochistic little art project.

"Shino, Lee, Tenten, you look after Sakura, Ino and Yuukimaru—the crystal style user could be looking for him as we speak with her sensory type." A shadow passes over the Jounin's face momentarily. "There's also Miyako to look out for, but if you are attacked by Miyako, send out a signal immediately for back up. Do not engage her on your own."

Lee looked ready to disagree, in fact he was halfway to opening his mouth when Tenten shook her head at him imperceptibly.

"Understood, sensei." Sakura piped up easily. With that the group of trackers were off, leaving behind a still sleeping Yuukimaru with the medical ninja and the three guards to split up, though just outside on the balcony Shino seemed restless.

"Shino?" Ino called curiously at his wrinkled brow as he surveyed the beetles crawling in odd patterns on his skin.

"I left some Kikaichu behind at Miyako's scene of destruction, but they haven't reported back in quite some time." He murmured.

The sealing team of kunoichi had heard from the others on the way back to the cabin about their discovery that Miyako or even the rest of the Akatsuki could be at the lake. Needless to say they had been thoroughly worried at the tracking team being unable to pinpoint her location—it was as if they were playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek and no place to hide.

Shino straightened up, seeming to have made up his mind. In a flurry of handsigns moments later there stood another Shino, a bug clone that silently took off.

Time seemed to stretch on as the kunoichi tended to the weak boy and pretended as if they weren't awaiting news from the bug clone.

Yuukimaru woke some time shortly after, frantically looking for what turned out to be a crystallized camellia. The girls checked over him and after ensuring he had no lasting ailments aside from fatigue as he babbled on about Guren, bade him to lay back down and get more rest.

An alarmed noise from Shino had the two girls jumping—Shino didn't make noises like that for no reason.

"Impossible." He said to his clenched fist.

"What is it?" Ino clambered up, unease immediately affecting the boy who could only be so soothed by Sakura, an essential stranger despite being kind.

"The bugs I left behind are nowhere to be found." He grunted softly. "But more than that, the carvings Miyako made in the trees, the blood, the destroyed section of forest—all of it is gone, righted as if it never happened."

The blonde gaped at the bug user, Sakura immediately getting up beside her with a disbelieving look on her face. "Surely they must be mistaken? It has to be a genjutsu—there's no way someone could fix the damage you described without leaving behind a trace!"

Shino shook his head slowly. "I can't be sure, but this doesn't feel like genjutsu."

Ino pulled her hands shakily through her hair, collapsing next to Yuukimaru unsteadily. "W-what if she really has Naruto? Can we really get him back from someone like that?"

Sakura quickly schooled her face and whirled back to Ino. She kneeled before her with a determined look. "Ino, don't think that way—wherever Naruto is or whomever Naruto is with, it doesn't matter, he never gives up so we shouldn't either!"

Ino gasped, face paling. "But Sakura—!" She choked.

"Wait!"

The three Chuunin jolted at the sound of the child's voice, having all but forgotten he was there in their onslaught of worry.

"Oh, Yuukimaru, we're sorry—" Sakura started, gently grasping onto the child's shoulder. "We didn't mean to worry you—"

The long-haired boy shook his head, thrusting out the camellia to the girls with something of a hopeful smile. "Don't worry, Naruto is alive, and I know exactly where he is!"

The occupants of the room blinked in interest, eyes straying between the crystal and the boy.

"Where?" Sakura finally managed to question.

"Inside the Sanbi's tummy!"

O/M

Miyako slogged her way out of the water and to the opposite side of the lake from the Naruto rescue team, hoping that Hinata's vision wouldn't span too far and that Shino's bugs wouldn't be able to sense her.

Waterlogged, she took a moment to regain her breath, chiefly exhausted from having to use so much magic in such a short span of time.

'Stopping time to catch Pakkun and change the writing in Kakashi's report to Tsunade, golem-ing a fish and then a tiny Sanbi itself to understand the inside of the Sanbi to ensure neither Guren or Naruto was dead, plus keeping track of the Leaf ninja's movements to ensure I'm not caught.'

She sighed and rubbed her temples, taking respite for a moment, and then brought a hand over her mouth to whisper.

"get camellias, lots and lots of camellias so Naruto and Guren-san can find their way out."

With something of a groan, Miyako hauled herself up to the edge of the woods and buried herself under a bed of leaves and twigs for camouflage—the Sanbi and overtaxing her magic taking more of a toll on her than she anticipated. It wouldn't hurt to close her eyes for a second right?

Except the next time she opened her eyes waves were crashing once more, the sealing team was attempting to seal the Sanbi once again, except with additional help it seemed, and the defense team were taking on Orochimaru's pesky lackeys once more, sans Gozu and Rinji.

Fatigue from her increased use in magic these past days, irritation from the ever-mounting influence of the Sanbi and relief that she could taste Naruto's rose aura on her tongue mixed into a heady cocktail that told her to let the situation play out as it would. Her shenanigans last night and cleaning it up this morning out top of everything else wore her out more than she anticipated, and frankly speaking she was tired of running around in circles meddling—let them fail on their own.

So she smushed her cheek against the now-warm grass pillowed beneath her and waited, and she was not disappointed. It passed like some type of half-lucid dream that if she told other people they would not believe. The three henchmen molded together into some sort of gelatinous ball and then got eaten, Naruto burned the Sanbi on the back of an oversized toad, Guren and an undead Rinji turned to crystal and plummeted to the bottom of the lake.

That last part had Miyako blinking awake, mind working to try to come up with a solution to this new obstacle. Was it really okay to let Konoha take Yuukimaru? Would Kabuto be back for him?

Technically these weren't her concerns—she doubted that Konoha would further exploit the child in order to capture the Sanbi, and—she reached out for his humming aura, only to find that it had dimmed quite a bit and have wavered to a different note than that of the fortissimo of the Sanbi. It stood to reason that Kabuto had fucked Yuukimaru up so bad that he and the Sanbi were no longer in sync.

The smart thing to do would be to leave it—Kabuto no longer had a way to capture the Sanbi, which meant he had no choice but to retreat, and Konoha would be smart to make a tactical retreat while they could. She didn't know the extent of their injuries, but she doubted they could attempt a seal for a third try, not with the threat of the Akatsuki hanging in their faces. So she should let them take the child, no matter how miserable he'd be without Guren.

And she'd tried to avoid going to the bottom of the lake as the sunset—attempting to stalk as close to the cabin as she could to hear what their plans were moving forward, and retreating with a grumble when she'd noticed one too many beetles scuttling amongst the trees. She'd scoured the area to ensure Kabuto had actually retreated, but had had to dart off in the opposite direction when the Konoha ninja had stalked off into the forest to confirm Shino's intel on her artistic masterpiece disappearing. And in between every attempt to occupy herself she'd ended up back at the lake, scowling at the surface of the water in contemplation before stalking off again.

She'd even decided to visit Obito with updates, early. At first he hadn't been too happy at seeing her up in the trees, stalking with the grace of a panther among the branches and urging him to come to her with steadfast eyes drilled into the back of his head, but upon hearing her news he'd perked up considerably.

"Kabuto's retreat and loss of his asset is good news indeed—but you must get rid of Konoha by tomorrow morning, I cannot stall Deidara any longer, even he can feel the Sanbi's pull." Obito, for his part, didn't sound too bothered or insistent that she follow through with this suggestion—no doubt he was prepared to put her to a test she certainly didn't want to take.

"I will ensure their departure before you arrive." She promises in the most blasé voice she can muster, but what isn't said is obvious: 'I won't give you the satisfaction of watching me fight people I care about, not now at least.'

It isn't until she's back at the lake and it's twilight fading into the night hours that she hears Yuukimaru's desperate voice in her head, 'Please bring Guren-san back to me, please nee-chan' that she realizes one last way she can meddle.

K/M

Kakashi growls, struggling against the claws digging into his arms despite the fact that the pain feels real. He's attempted to escape the genjustu several times with as many different techniques as he could recall, but Miyako is still sitting before him on a plush red chair, leisurely twirling a curl of hair in amusement in all of her purple bikini and long-skirt wearing glory.

"You're persistent." She sounds more impressed than anything else as she continues to observe him sat sideways in the chair.

"What do you want?" He grunts out, forcing himself to still and analyze the situation even though he hasn't made sense of what she's trapped him in.

"Do you like it?" She gestures around to the study they sit in, waving her hand dramatically to the fire crackling behind her and the books piled high on grand bookcases. "I thought that touch was especially fitting." She chuckles and cocks her head to his particular predicament, trapped between the talons and teeth of a wolf's skin rug that forced him into an awkward sitting position.

He keeps his face neutral, unwilling to give her the satisfaction of treating this situation with anything but the gravitas it deserved.

"Fine." She rolls her eyes good-naturedly, swiveling to plant her feet firmly on the floor and look Kakashi in the eye.

"I heard about your plans to stay to help guard the lake. All I'm here to do is encourage you to go home with the others."

He sneers even if she doesn't get the full effect his face would provide. "What are you planning?"

"It's not what I'm planning." She answers easily, sighing dramatically as she leans on the arm of the chair with her chin propped up by a fist. "It's what I'm promising will happen."

When the man doesn't budge Miyako groans and rises from the chair, cracking her back in the process.

"Kakashi, you couldn't defeat one Akatsuki by yourself, do you really think you'll be able to take on who is coming next? Even if you weren't exhausted from the last several days." She muses, pulling out a book from the shelf in absentminded interest before tossing it in his direction. He barely ducked, the title "Secrets of the Genie' soaring over his head before landing with a thud on the opposite side of him.

"The way I see it," she continued, pulling another book, 'Resurrection of Old Friends' from the shelf and carelessly dropping it to the floor beside her. "You have two options," this book, thin, read in flowing gold script on a dark satiny background 'You'll Have to Kill Me' she left open, thumb resting between pages. "One, you could stay here, and risk your own life in a futile attempt to capture me while you send the others home thinking Naruto will be safe under the protection of two ANBU, a jounin and seven Chuunin, ten exhausted people really. But—" she gave a wry grin, letting the book dangle from her fingers. "You'll be risking their lives as well, because there's no way of truly being able to tell what I'll do next, ne?"

The book lands on the floor with a soft plop, and Miyako carelessly flits back to Kakashi. "Or, you could go with them, thereby ensuring Naruto's safety—after all, out of everyone present, you have the most experience with the Akatsuki, so the likelihood of you being able to outmaneuver them is a greater."

"Thereby leaving the Sanbi wide open and yours for the taking." He droned, eyes narrowing at her controlled little laugh as she squatted before him.

"He's not their target, and they won't take the risk with you around, not now." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she leaned conspiratorially forwards, a little twinkle in her eye, as if she was trying to sell him on a new kunai set rather than convince him of a lose-lose situation.

"I have no good reason to believe you won't do both." He groused, pulling against his bonds once more, wincing only minutely when the teeth bit into his skin again.

"I could've spirited Naruto away hours or days ago and I didn't." Their eye contact had been strong this entire time, but something in the way she conveyed those words made everything ten times more intense. Kakashi shook his head, refusing to believe what he saw there—he couldn't afford to hold out hope for her as Naruto did.

"Come now, what matters more to you?" She chided, bringing her hand to lightly touch her fingertips just below his visible eye, ignoring the way his nose scrunched in barely veiled distaste.

"Your precious student, or a literal monster? Choose wisely."

O/M

Miyako felt as though she was finally recovering from the worst killer hangover in the history of hangovers when Deidara arrived and sent that straight to hell.

"Miyako-chan~!" Her master greeted boisterously with a big hug, smearing some of the blood he'd gotten on his cloak into her bare skin.

"Tobi-sama." She intoned back dully, patting him on the back lightly until he was satisfied enough to let go.

"Oi, Miyako!" The man huffed as he came upon them, the mouth on his hand already making a meal of clay. "If you were scouting this area, why did Tobi claim both Orochimaru's people and Konoha were at the lake, hm? All we've encountered is Konoha ANBU."

"I just arrived here myself after an extensive investigation this morning and did not detect anyone outside of the ANBU you speak of." She lied smoothly. "But if Tobi-sama led you here, then the situation could have been previously much different than we are seeing now."

Miyako ignored Tobi's triumphant "see, see, told you senpai!" in the background to instead look out over the lake. The Sanbi was docile for now, more than likely content at the decrease in company, having just wanted to be left in peace. She felt that.

Deidara sped past her on one of his birds, throwing behind him at the two left on the shore that he would pull it to the surface.

Once a good distance away, Obito sidled up beside her, arms behind his head as he surveyed his "partner" throw his explosives into the water.

"You've worked hard." He commented offhandedly, and Miyako barely held back a snort. Just last night she'd not only freed Guren from the bottom of the lake, she'd also trapped Kakashi in a dream to convince him to go home and then had to suppress the memories in the morning so it was all a blur, with only the lingering feeling of urgency to travel home with the group to keep Naruto safe. All under Obito's nose no less.

"I have one last task for you." He pulled her into a side hug, which on the outside appeared as if he was only excitedly whispering a childish secret to her, what with his hand over his mouth and occasional wiggling.

"You need only to seal up the Sanbi after it's capture so we can transport it to the hideout."

Miyako knew good and well that Obito's Kamui could make short work of the Sanbi, but he wasn't keen on sharing his prowess with Deidara, sensible. However, why he thought flaunting her power in front of the others was better, when he after all commanded her, was a mystery to her. But she wasn't there to question.

"Yes, master." She droned, just as the Sanbi appeared from the lake, splashing them with a high wave of water.

"Wah!" Tobi waved his arms wildly in admiration. "So cool, Deidara-senpai!"

"Oi Tobi! I leave the rest up to you, let's see if you're worthy of being in the Akatsuki after all." The blond bomber grinned smugly down at the one-eyed fool, who saluted him before calling Miyako to come play as he dove into the water.

She calmly followed after, walking on the water despite the energy of the waves and annoyance from the Sanbi washing over her skin anew. In the time it took for her to make it to the center of the lake at an easy pace, her master was pretending to flounder, stuck in the armored teeth covering the Sanbi's eye, really putting on a show for Deidara as he called out for him to stop messing around.

Deidara gave her a pointed look and with an eyebrow raise back she let herself sink into the water some kilometers away just as Sanbi splashed back into the depths. She let the dance go on for a while longer before closing in invisible walls of water on the Sanbi that he crashed into with vigor. The blow dislodged her master from its grip, and he spiraled in a gleeful stupid dance for a moment, still hamming up his part despite the fact Miyako was his only audience at the moment.

He swam up to the front of the Sanbi in determination, making a big show of creating a handsign while Miyako closed in the walls until the beast was thrashing in its makeshift prison with barely a meter of room around left to move. He shifted and just as suddenly as the Sanbi was fighting and expending energy to release itself, it was calm—Sharingan pattern visible in its eye as it turned over uselessly onto its belly.

Miyako released the prison holding the Sanbi in, watching it and Obito float up, much to Deidara's astonishment.

"YATTA!" He cheered obnoxiously, clambering onto the turtle's stomach with a triumphant fist in the air. "Did you see that senpai, all I needed was one jutsu, and bam!" He swept his arm in a wide arc to the defeated creature.

The bomber rolled his eyes atop his bird, shooting Miyako a meaningful look as she surfaced. "Hmm, I have a feeling Miyako and I did most of the work, yeah."

"Whaaaaaat?" He cried outraged, plopping onto the turtle in a huff. "You're just jealous because you're not as cool as me, senpai!" He grumbled under his breath.

"What was that, Tobi, HM?" The man demanded, a clay spider in his hand raised threateningly in Tobi's direction.

"Ah, ha, nothing, nothing!" He only relaxed when Deidara lowered his arm, mouth on hands working to pop out birds instead that he called for Tobi to help him tie.

Once completed, Miyako joined Tobi atop the turtle at his insistence, sitting snuggled beside him with a standard bored look as he lay down.

Thankful for the reprieve, at least for now, Miyako looked out to the sun steadily falling in the sky, pensive and wondering if Guren and Yuukimaru would ever find a literal place to return to, or if they were simply content to be that intangible place for each other forever, maybe even wandering endlessly. The thought of it either way made her crack a little smile.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"But the sand is dangerous Miyako-chan, I don't want it to hurt you."

Stood at something of a distance to one another in one of Suna's more unused training fields, Gaara stared down a determinedly beaming little Miyako warily.

"Don't worry Gaa-chan! Even if it does, I won't be hurt for long. Asides, how can you get stronger if you don't practice?" She preached wisely, nodding to herself as Gaara scratched his head in the face of her logic.

Since no one in the academy could or would seriously spar with Gaara, he felt a little lacking in a combative sense. All he'd needed was to complain to Miyako about his lack of improvement once and she was instantly there with a solution.

"I'll spar with you!" She'd said, and he should've been happy, except an immediate feeling of dread had taken root in his stomach once she dragged them off to training fields.

Miyako was his friend, his first real friend. Sure their meeting and relationship was unorthodox, but after only a month he could say that he'd never felt like a relationship was more natural to him than this one. And even though Miyako was aware of the Shukaku, he didn't want to jeopardize what they'd come build by scaring her off with a fraction of what he could do without even a thought. It was one thing to see it, and she'd only seen the sand attack at this point once or twice which was a feat, but another thing entirely to experience it. The last thing Gaara wanted was for Miyako to leave him too—he didn't know if he could take it at this point.

Sensing his hesitance, she offered him a reassuring smile. "How about this, why don't I show you that it won't affect me much? Maybe you'll feel better once you see how the damage won't last."

That wasn't what he was worried about—didn't she understand that he didn't care if she would heal from it, he didn't want to hurt her at all! Just the thought of it, the images in his head—no.

"Gaara, what's wrong, I thought you wanted to practice?" Her hand came to clutch at his chubby one as he sniffled, avoiding her eyes because he knew he was acting like…like a baby. He was supposed to be a shinobi for crying out loud, a strong big boy! He didn't want her to have to keep comforting him because he was whiny crybaby.

"I don't want to hurt you." He repeated to the sand, still refusing to look at anything other than their pale and tan hands contrasting against the golden sands.

"I promise you won't hurt me Gaara." She squeezed their hands and laced the fingers, wiggling them playfully to try and coax a smile out of him, but he only frowned harder. Why did she have to be so understanding?

"You'll leave." He whispered shakily, clutching her hand too tight in sudden desperation, mimicking the tightness gripping his throat.

"Hey, hey." Her other hand came up to comb through the strands of his hair, fingers nudging against the back of his neck until he looked through wet eyes at her calm smile.

"Breathe." She brought his forehead to her own, eyes on his. She didn't speak again until his breaths were less strangled and his tears only pooled at his waterline.

"Gaara, nothing you do will want to make me leave, okay?" She caught his remaining tears softly with her finger.

"Promise?" He breathed shakily.

"Always." They linked their free pinkies and stamped thumbs with small grins. Once Miyako felt like Gaara had calmed enough she pulled away, a few of her errant curls refusing to separate from his bright red fringe.

She giggled as she untangled them, Gaara looking on in silent fascination as she concentrated, tongue lightly poking from her mouth and eyes sparkling like amethyst jewels.

"Do you want to try again?" She finally asked, having successfully separated their hair.

"Okay." He agreed, still hesitant, but slightly less put off by the confidence his friend seemed to radiate.

She put herself at a distance again, arms spread and chest puffed out in a silly way that made Gaara snicker.

"Come at me!" She crowed, staring down at him in challenge. He gave her an answering holler and mentally called the sand to do his bidding. And of course, it rushed forward, quick as a viper it shot towards Miyako who didn't waver even for a moment.

He thought momentarily about pulling back, images of red dotting the sand dancing before his eyes again. But he had to do this, he trusted Miyako, and if he wanted to be a shinobi he had to overcome his fears.

With an outward yell, he fought past his reluctance, pushing the sand forward even harder, but eyes squeezed shut to avoid calling forth those images into reality.

He felt it make impact, and tensed, but there was nothing—no yell, no scream, no sound from Miyako at all. Terrified, he ripped his eyes open, mind immediately going into the possibilities that he could've, oh God—

"Um, you told it to attack right?"

He blinked rapidly, trying to assess the situation, but he supposed he would just have to break it down, because the picture before him was incomprehensible.

Miyako still stood, spread out in a stance as if prepared for a flying hug instead of an attack from deadly sand, but instead of the sand…well attacking, it was draped across her torso and arms, slithering slowly, but clearly not causing anything near the normal damage it should be, if at all.

"Yes." He answered after blinking out of his stupor. She seemed unconvinced, looking back down at the blanket of sand crawling along her body inconsequently as if it had nowhere else to be and nothing to do.

"Maybe try again?" She called, and all Gaara could do was nod. He called back the sand to withdraw a few meters, not quite all the way back to him, but far enough to get a good striking force.

'Okay, you can do this!' He shut his eyes once more, silently encouraging himself to just go for it, like ripping off a bandage.

'Go!'

He kept his eyes open, determinedly glaring at his target this time, so he saw the transformation happen as if in slow motion. One moment it was acting as an unstoppable force, lethal and ready to drill into his opponents, and then the moment before it hit Miyako's skin, it was as if the killing intent all but disappeared and the edges, not that the sand had any, but metaphorically seemed to soften.

Again the sand was moving about her skin like a pleased cat purring in satisfaction.

"Gaara—" Miyako started, in somewhat amused accusation.

"No, I swear it wasn't me!" He denied before she could even finish the sentence.

She clicked her tongue, but nonetheless waved at him to call back the sand. He thought they were going to try again, and this time he was ready, practically bouncing at the chance to prove he wasn't behind this and actually hit her—even if the thought still worried him. But she held up one hand in a stop motion while the other she cupped in front of her. Dark purple smoke danced in her palm for a few moments to reveal small purple figurines of some sort.

Gaara looked on curiously as she turned her hand over and snapped her fingers, the figures tripling to their size before Gaara's eyes.

"Cooooooool." And he ran over to inspect them, sand hovering beside him.

Up close they were really just purple versions of the ninja action figures he'd seen. One had long hair out of the three, with long robes and a serene expression. Another had a determined expression as he sat frozen in a fighting stance. The last had an evil look, with nothing but pants on and scars to decorate his chest.

"If you are attacking at full force as you say, try attacking one of these." She instructed, standing back a little ways to observe. Gaara went back to his original position and again commanded the sands mentally to attack, and this time they followed through. The sand slammed into the statue of the evil looking man so hard it knocked him over, putting yet another scratch on his chest.

Miyako hummed and bade him to attack another, this time the gentle looking man. She repeated this with the last figurine with the same overall result—the sand attacked as it should, relentlessly.

She gestured for him to try again, this time on her. "Don't think." Is all she said and Gaara didn't, just as he was with the plastic figures, but the results were the same as before—it was as if the sand refused to attack her.

Puzzled, she had Gaara run through as many possibilities as they could. She tried taking on the stance of the figures, she tried hiding behind one of them after making Gaara close his eyes; she tried moving closer for a point blank range attack—nothing worked.

"It doesn't make sense." She mused, finger to chin as Gaara groaned on the ground in the sand.

"Can we stop for today?" He mumbled, the only thing he could say he accomplished was getting over his fear of hitting Miyako—he'd wanted to at some point just to get this torture to stop. Though not hard. Never that hard.

"Once more and then we'll be done, I promise." She sighed, ambling back over to the figures and standing right beside them.

He picked himself up halfheartedly, but still commanded the sands with his usual determination as Miyako told him to hit one of the figures once more.

He sent the sands flying towards the middle man, the one with the gentler expression, putting as much power and force behind it as he could. In his vision he saw the figurine, in all of its gaudy purple glory, and in a split second, just before the sands hit, it switched to Miyako before he could even comprehend.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed. "How did you do that?!" He yelled, eyes darting between her former position, where now the figure stood, and Miyako, now in place of where the figurine should've been.

She gave him a "really?" look, slowly approaching with her sand blanket as per usual—the same result as all the other times.

"I just don't understand it." She sighed, the sand shifting with her as she folded her arms, though she looked no less comfortable.

"It doesn't hurt at all?" He questioned and she shook her head with a shrug. "It just feels like a gritty blanket." Causing him to let out a peal of laughter.

So tired of all of the exercise he never normally got, and the heat of the sun to boot, Gaara didn't think about his next words too hard. "Maybe mama just likes you."

She blinked, confused, and Gaara blushed lightly feeling stupid all of the sudden, but—

"Yashamaru always told me that the sand is my mama, that's why it always protects me." Under her curiously thoughtful gaze he was afflicted with sudden tongue-tiedness, tripping over his next words.

"S-so maybe, I mean, it sounds silly but—maybe mama knows you wouldn't hurt me, that I don't need protecting from you, so—"

Getting a hug from someone who was essentially wearing Gaara's sand felt weird, as she had described it, a gritty blanket slightly itching his skin, but he didn't mind it—it was warm all the same.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

It's not lightning style, it's something else—mother do you really like her?

She's too fast too track, and can complete complex jutsu with just a snap of her fingers.

She promised nothing I could do would ever make her leave and yet she left, twice.

GMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGMGM

Omg, it's been a month. Ya'll, I'm SO SORRY. What is life. This chapter was so difficult. And it's probably riddled with mistakes, but I said to myself—I have to get this done, they've been waiting far too long.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed, time to finally go to bed. :/

Catch you in the next one! (Hopefully sooner than a month from now, jeez)

Super. Flex. Acronym