"Don't you dare wake them up." a voice whispered. Slowly, I started to wake up. I didn't open my eyes yet, I was still too far in my subconscious for that. I was just starting to feel everything again, the blankets surrounding me, and the added weight pressed against my body.

"But we need to get ready." another voice whispered, this one I recognized as Mitsuru.

"Hey what's taking so long?" Kankuro asked. He was louder than the other two, it sounds like he just got here. "W-wait, what's going on here?"

"Shh! Let them sleep." Temari said. I opened my eyes to see Temari trying to shush Kankuro. Mitsuru was watching me and Gaara.

"Oh, you're awake." Mitsuru stated. Temari and Kankuro's heads snapped in my direction. Kankuro was blushing a bit while Temari looked disappointed. "That anbu, Emon, dropped off some clothes for us to wear to the Hokage's funeral. You should get changed so we can leave soon." Mitsuru was holding a pile of black clothes, I'm sure they matched the ones him and Temari were already wearing.

I nodded and looked down at Gaara. He must have rolled around while we were sleeping and now his head was on my stomach with an arm wrapped around my waist. How do I get out of his hold without waking him up?

I carefully moved my arms to try not to wake him. Before I could make another move Jiro burst into the room. "Lady Ketto are you ready?!" his loud voice caused Gaara to stir. Jiro's eyes got really wide. "What are you doing in bed yet, it's not like you to sleep in."

Kankuro stared at Jiro and Mitsuru baffled. "How can the two of you not be blushing at this? It's not right for a girl and a guy to share a bed and not be related."

"It's not like they did anything worth fussing over." Mitsuru said. "Besides, it's hard for Mist ninja to express feelings, so I highly doubt that what you're implying actually happened."

"It's not hard for me to express feelings." Jiro grinned.

"You're an abnormality." Mitsuru said.

"You're an abnormality." Jiro shot back.

"Real original." Mitsuru muttered.

Gaara pushed himself up and away from me taking all of the blankets with him. He turned to everyone else in the room. "What are you all doing in here?"

"I've come to wake lady Ketto." Mitsuru said. Mitsuru placed the pile of clothes he was holding on the edge of the bed. Then he turned to me and gave me all of his attention. "Lord Mizukage would like to see you before the funeral."

"And the rest of you?" Gaara wondered.

"Oh, um, we were just leaving." Kankuro started to push Temari and Jiro out of the room with him .

"I can't believe you woke them up. Didn't you see how cute they were?" Temari glared at Jiro.

"What are you talking about?" Jiro asked. "Lady Ketto can kill me with a single touch, how is that cute?"

"Not what I meant you idiot! Did you really not see how cute they looked together?" Temari and Jiro were pushed all of the way out of the room by a heavily blushing Kankuro.

With them gone, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up to stretch. With my arms over my head I could feel the material of my shirt rise up to expose some of my bandaged stomach, but I didn't care enough to pull it down. "Did Emon say where my uncle would be?" I asked. I moved to stand at the end of the bed and examine the outfit Emon brought. I picked it up and held it in front of me, a piece of clothing fell on the floor. The piece I was holding was a black kimono styled outfit that looked like it would go down to my knees. My brows furrowed, why did it have to be a dress? I've never worn one before and the thought of being that exposed bothered me. I picked up the piece that fell on the floor and saw that it was a pair of black shorts, at least I won't be too exposed.

"Lord Mizukage will be at the Hokage monument before the funeral begins." Mitsuru said.

"Thank you for the message." I said. I gathered my clothes and started to walk towards the adjoined bathroom, "I'll see you and Jiro at the funeral."

In the bathroom, I closed the door and locked it before starting to change. I didn't have to replace the bandages on my arms or my stomach because they weren't dirty, but I did have to change the bandages on my shins. It was the only way for me to get my leggings off and reusing bandages is sometimes difficult, so I'll just put new ones on. First, I quickly took off my top and replaced it with the black kimono styled outfit. Then, I went to work on the bandages on my shins. I didn't want to ruin my leggings and the only way to not do that would be to sit down and unravel the bandages myself instead of cutting then off with a kunai or a scissors like I normally would. I remembered that uncle Yagura was waiting for me so I unwrapped my bandages faster. As soon as the last of the bandages was off, I pulled down my dark olive leggings and replaced them with the short tight black shorts. I grabbed a fresh roll of bandages from by the sink and started to rewrap my shins from my ankles to just below my knees. While I was wrapping my legs I took notice of the black seals stained into my pale skin, now I was able to see the difference between these and the ones on my forearms.

Once I finished wrapping my shins, I stood up and examined myself in the mirror. I was wrong, the kimono didn't quite go to my knees, there was still three inches of my thigh exposed. It was kind of strange, all my life my uncle dressed me like a boy. I never had the chance to wear girly things, not that I ever showed an interest in those kinds of things anyway. I was always focused on my training and getting stronger. The thought of looking or even acting like a girl never crossed my mind. Now looking into the mirror I saw myself as attractive. The outfit itself wasn't that flattering, it's just that seeing myself in a dress made me look at myself in a different light. I have an athletic build, my skin is pale but I don't look sickly. My eyes are steel grey and seem to hold a sparkle of knowing, my time doing missions with Utakata in the anbu gave me so much experience. I believe that's what gave me the aura of authority that I seemed to possess. Then there's my hair, the royal blue tresses were mused from sleeping though it seemed to look nice enough. My hair fell to the backs of my knees, a few tresses resting in front of my shoulder to fall down my chest. The smaller pieces that I could never get to fit into my ponytail framed my face like they always did, but this time there was more hair framing my face. I've never paid much attention to my face before, it looked pleasant enough. I wonder what it looks like if I smiled? Why am I thinking about smiling to myself in a mirror?

I turned away from the mirror, I decided to keep my hair down out of respect for the Hokage, and left the bathroom. In the bedroom Gaara just finished putting on his funeral outfit and was sitting on the bed to put his sandals on. My sandals were on the other side of the room, I grabbed them and sat on the other side of the bed to put them on. When I was finished I stood, "I'll be seeing you at the funeral." I did the hand sign for the transportation jutsu and disappeared leaving black coral dust in my wake.

I reappeared in front of the Hokage monument where I found Konohamaru the other day. I didn't see uncle Yagura around, but I was able to feel his chakra so I knew he was here somewhere. He felt close and far away at the same time, which confused me a bit until I noticed a figure clad in black on top of the monument overlooking the village. The light hair helped identify them as uncle Yagura, I used the transportation jutsu one more time to appear next to him.

"It's nice to see you Ketto." he said. He was still overlooking the village and didn't turn to me. It looked like he decided to forgo his Mizukage's robes in favor of black funeral attire today. I never really thought about the respect uncle Yagura must have had for the older man until recently after he died. Instead of going back to Kirigakure after Hiruzen Sarutobi's death uncle Yagura decided to stay here in Konoha to help the people here get back on their feet. He could have left them to figure everything out on their own but he didn't. Also, choosing not to wear his Mizukage's robes to a funeral of another kage? He had no reason not too, uncle Yagura must have seen Hiruzen as a friend or mentor of some sort.

"You wanted to see me before the funeral?" I asked. With my arms at my sides the ends of my sleeves brushed against my bandaged wrists. It felt odd to have something else covering my arms other than bandages.

"Yes, I wanted to make sure I had the chance to tell you some information before you left to Suna." he said. He looked away from the view of the village to me. "Before that though let me say how beautiful you look. You've truly grown Ketto, I'm not sure when, but you're not that little girl that would constantly demand a mission from me anymore. You're not the lonely child you've always been. Now, you have friends and I don't have to worry about you anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" I didn't think uncle Yagura cared about that kind of thing. I just thought he wanted me to be strong so that I could keep doing missions for him.

"Everyone needs at least one friend Ketto." he said. A small smile appeared on his face. "Hiruzen Sarutobi was my friend. He was much older than me, but we got along and helped each other when the other needed the help. I think it's important for you to have at least one friend so that you can experience that too."

"I didn't think you cared if I had any friends." I said. "It didn't seem to be something that was all that important."

"As a Mist ninja it's not, but I want you to become better than any other Mist ninja." he said. "To do that, you need to be more comfortable doing what other Mist ninja wouldn't do while still remembering who you are."

"I think I understand." I said. I would still know the way of a Mist ninja, but I'll be able to connect with other people to bring us all together. It reminds me of uncle Yagura, he has done the same thing. I didn't know until recently that Hiruzen was actually his friend, but it's touching to know that uncle Yagura isn't who I thought he was.

"You need to hold on to these friendships for as long as you can." he placed a hand on my head. "Treasure them, like how you treasure your time with me."

I looked to him curiously, he knows how much I value my time with him? Was I that transparent? I must have looked too eager everytime he had time to do some training with me. Either way he's asking me to keep a tight hold on these new bonds.

"I will." I could promise to maintain those friendships, but I know that a promise is one thing. Putting in the effort to actually keep these ties might be more difficult. "What was that other information you had to tell me?"

"I knew you wouldn't forget about that easily." uncle Yagura sighed slightly. He withdrew his hand from my head as he continued, "I've decided to tell you the truth about the Akatsuki."

"I thought you said they weren't something I should worry about?" I asked. That's what he said when I first got back from the land of Waves and he found out that Hidan and Kakuzu wanted to kill me and take me for my bounty.

"I didn't want it to distract you from the chunin exams." he said. "Actually, for right now the only thing you have to worry about is for them wanting to take your life for a high bounty. Though, I have received information from several sources that the Akatsuki are planning on collecting all of the tailed beasts from their jinchuuriki. I'm not sure for what purpose, but it isn't something that can be avoided. We can buy time, maybe another few years, at that time someone will have discovered the truth."

"How would anyone find out?" I wondered. "We've kept this secret for almost fifteen years. I won't say anything and I know you won't say anything. No one else knows."

"Actually, more people know than you may think." uncle Yagura said. I could feel my eyes slightly widen, I didn't think anyone other than the two of us knew the truth about me being a jinchuuriki. "Ao knows, or at least I suspect him of knowing. Your seals may conceal your chakra signature, but Ao's byakugan can see the chakra in your seals. He knows that something is not right."

I remembered Ao, he was just a hunter nin. Only he has more skill than any regular hunter ninja. When he was younger, he fought on the battlefields of the third shinobi war and one of his rewards was an eye of someone from the Hyuga clan. In the years following the war, Ao was able to master the use of the Byakugan. I really shouldn't be surprised that Ao has the ability to see the chakra within the seals on my body. It's even more shocking that he hasn't said anything about it to anyone over the years. Then again, maybe he would rather keep that information to himself. I'll admit that the system of power is corrupt in Kirigakure, Ao probably kept that information to himself because of what would have happened if the wrong person found out.

"Is it possible for anyone else to know?" I asked.

"No, a few people may suspect something is strange about you, but they associate that as having something to do with the circumstances surrounding your birth." he said. "So, there really isn't anything for you to worry about. I believe Ao will keep this secret, I trust him more than I trust anyone right now."

"Is this all that you wanted to tell me? You wanted me to know I will be a target of the Akatsuki at some point in the future." I said.

"There's more." he said. He looked out to the village below us again. "It hasn't been confirmed officially yet, but a part of me knows it to be true."

"What is it?" I watched him, but he still wouldn't look to me.

"Kisame Hoshigaki is a part of the Akatsuki." he said. "You will have to come to understand that he may not have caused you any harm in the past, but you must know that he will kill you. I understand that he cared for you and that he still might to some extent. However, that doesn't mean you can let your guard down."

No one has mentioned Kisame since he left Kirigakure. I knew he was a comrade killer, everyone knew, yet that still didn't bother me. He gave me attention when nobody else bothered too. Zabuza didn't care enough to treat me like a sister, he was too focused on my training. That was also when uncle Yagura was too busy with his Mizukage duties to pay either of us any attention. Kisame was always there for me even though it was against the code of a Kiri ninja to care about anyone, especially if that person wasn't blood related. I admired Kisame because he was the big brother figure that I wished Zabuza was.

"Don't worry, I won't let Kisame catch me off guard." I said. "I know that when he was guarding a squad of the cypher division they were ambushed by Leaf ninja and Kisame decided to kill his comrades in order to protect our secrets. I also know that he killed his own master, Fuguki, when it was discovered that he was leaking intel to other villages. I promise I won't let Kisame surprise me."

"I wasn't worried about you." uncle Yagura said. He finally turned to me. "It was just a warning Ketto, no need to get all riled up. I believe in you." he smiled slightly and turned around away from his view of the village. He held out a hand to me. "Shall we get going? We don't want to be late." I almost nearly forgot about the funeral we were supposed to attend. I didn't feel as if we were late, I came here with extra time to spare, but I feel as if it's almost time to pay our respects. Instead of taking his hand, I started to walk ahead of him. I could hear him sigh, "You know Ketto, to comfort someone all it takes is a touch."

I stopped to wait for him to catch up with me. "I'll be sure to remember that next time."

Together the two of us walked to the cemetery for the funeral. We weren't late, which is good but it took us a little while to find Shozouki and the others. It wasn't too difficult to find them, in the end I just looked for Gaara's vibrant red hair. They were near the front off to the right. The sight of them was strange. Mitsuru's face held a look of indifference, but the closer I got to him, I was able to see that in his crystalline eyes there was a hint of sorrow. Jiro looked visually upset, his is the most expressive out of the three of us. It isn't a surprise that the death of people from another nation affects him in this way. It was strange watching the varying degrees of different emotions running across their faces. Especially Temari and Kankuro. I didn't think Kankuro would care much about the loss of the Hokage or of some of the Leaf villages shinobi, but he looked troubled. As for Temari, I thought she would try to put on a brave face being that she is the oldest out of their group, so it was shocking that it looked like she was about to cry.

I tried to think about this situation from their perspective and I tried to understand their strange reactions. What if their reactions weren't strange? Their village partnered up with another to try and overtake this one. They probably feel as if these deaths are all their fault even though they were just used as pawns and kept in the dark about what was really happening. I suddenly realized why Temari would shed tears for a bunch of strangers, she knows that once she gets back to Suna this same scene is waiting for her. I nearly forgot that the Kazekage was their father. It must have been hard for her to comprehend how her father, the strongest shinobi in their village was killed and someone else impersonated him. How would I feel if I found out my father was killed and I was taking orders from someone else without knowing? Maybe that's not an appropriate question, I never had any emotional ties to my father or my mother. What if someone pretended to be uncle Yagura and used me as a weapon? Would I even be able to tell the difference?

Then there's Gaara, he just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't seem to be bothered with being here, he also didn't seem affected. I wonder if he has thought about his father since he discovered his death? If he did, I can imagine that he would recall all of the devious things his father did to him like turning his own son into a weapon of war and then essentially tossing him aside.

Konohamaru was also over here. I decided to stand next to him with uncle Yagura settling on my other side. The poor kid was struggling to hold in his tears. They ran down his face, which he tried to fiercely wipe away and put on a brave face. He also tried to wipe away the snot that ran down from his nose. I may not fully understand the feeling of the emotion that Konohamaru is experiencing, but I understand through observation of other people an idea of how he is feeling. Through my own experience from when I was uncontrollably crying at Zabuza's grave, I understood that the more you tried to hold back your emotion the more powerful the emotion became.

I remembered what uncle Yagura said about a single touch being enough to comfort someone and placed a hand gently on Konohamaru's shoulder. "You will bring yourself more pain if you try to hold in your emotion."

He sniffed, the tears freely falling now. Konohamaru launched himself at me wrapping his arms around my waist. I tensed up for a moment, not expecting that kind of reaction. I looked to uncle Yagura to see him with a smirk on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him now knowing that he probably wanted to see me in an uncomfortable situation. I slowly relaxed when I realized Konohamaru wasn't going to let go. The child looked up to me, "Is this how you felt when your brother died?"

I opened my mouth to tell him the truth, before I could say anything I decided not to. Konohamaru doesn't need to hear that Zabuza and I didn't really have familial bonds of feeling towards each other. I don't want to upset Konohamaru more by having to explain our upbringing without love or any other kind of affection. Maybe, I would tell him the truth one day, but not today, not when he's mourning the loss of someone who is precious to him. "I'm not certain that I've experienced the same feeling as you are now because everyone mourns differently, but I bet it's a similar feeling." I still don't know how to explain the way I felt when I cried for Zabuza. Alone? Abandoned? Forgotten?

I looked at the faces of everyone else, they were all sorrowful too. I saw a picture of the third Hokage set out with other pictures of people who were killed. It made me wonder if that is what I would feel like if uncle Yagura died. It's hard to picture uncle Yagura dying, he's one of the strongest shinobi I know. If he were to die I think it would be on his own terms and not because someone overpowered him, but I also have to remember that he isn't invincible.

The funeral commenced and rain started to fall reminding me of Kirigakure. One of this villages elders, the man, began to speak. "We are gathered here to not only honor the third Hokage, but all those who sacrificed themselves in this battle so that our village would survive."

Slowly, one by one we all placed a white flower as an offering in front of the pictures. I'm not sure where my flower came from, someone must have gotten one for me. Throughout the funeral Konohamaru stayed close to me. Most of the time he stayed attached to my hip and I let him. He needed someone to comfort him even if it was me and I hardly knew what I was doing.

At the end of the funeral the rain stopped and the clouds cleared to show the sun. "Konohamaru, are you okay to be by yourself? I have to leave the village now." I said.

He sniffed and pulled away from me. He rubbed his eye with his hand to dry up his tears. "I should be fine now."

"Have you found new living arrangements?" I wondered. I remembered that Konohamaru lived with the third Hokage and he was worried about what he would do now that he's gone.

"My uncle Asuma is having me live with him." he said. "It'll take some getting used to, but I won't be alone anymore."

"That's good." I said. I placed my hand on top of his head like uncle Yagura does to me and said, "Until next time Konohamaru."

"Goodbye Ketto." he mustered up a smile for me and I gave him a small one back. I left him there as I saw Asuma approach and I joined my group who already started to leave the area.

"Ketto, wait." I didn't realize that uncle Yagura didn't say anything until he spoke. I walked back over to him waiting for him to say what he needed to say. He continued to stare at the altar of flowers. "We'll say our goodbye's here."

My brows furrowed a bit in confusion, we never say goodbye to each other. He usually gives me a mission and I leave, we never say goodbye because we know we'll see each other again. "Uncle Yagura what do you mean?" I asked.

"It might be some time before we see each other again. Your trip to Suna may last days, weeks, or even months. I want you to know that our ties to the Sand need to be reestablished for what is to come." he turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, "I know you can do that. It's not something you would be used to doing, but you've never failed me before."

"I can try my best." I said.

"Good." uncle Yagura leaned forward and softly pressed his lips to my forehead in a gentle kiss. "Goodbye Ketto."

My heart felt heavy, the foreboding feeling I had when he first said we'll say our goodbyes got worse. I don't understand, he never says goodbye what if- My eyes darted to his, our gazes stayed locked. His pink-purple eyes revealing more than I could handle. I could see loss and guilt, something told me that it wasn't for Hiruzen Sarutobi, but I couldn't place what it was for.

"Lady Ketto are you coming?!" I heard Jiro shout.

I blinked and bowed my head, "Until next time."

I left uncle Yagura wondering what this feeling could be about. I don't think I've ever felt something like this before. I feel like I shouldn't ignore it, but I have more important things to worry about right now like getting the Sand siblings and their sensei back to their village and talking to their council to broker some kind of peace agreement between the Sand and Mist. I pushed the feeling aside knowing that I would place what it was later when I had more time to think about it.

Jiro was the one to notice that I wasn't following them. Everyone else stopped and waited a few feet behind him when they noticed he stopped moving. When I joined them Mitsuru said, "What was that about?"

"Just some additional information on my mission, nothing to worry about." I didn't want to tell them about my feeling because I thought they would see me as weak, so I kept it to myself. "We should get going."

"Right." Shozouki said. "We should go. It takes three days to get to Sunagakure from here. We've already stayed here long enough, but that couldn't be helped. We'll head back to the apartment to change out of our mourning clothes and gather our things before we go."

"Sounds good." Kankuro said.

We all started back for the apartment. I managed to end up by Temari. "Hey Temari, are you okay?" I asked. "You cried a bit back there."

"I was just reminded that when we get back to Suna, we'll have to bury my father too once we find his body." she said. Her voice sounded weak. "It's just hard to believe that he's really gone."

"Were you close with him?" I asked.

"Not really, he was always busy with his Kazekage duties and didn't have time to be with us often." she said. "He may have been distant to me and Kankuro, and he's tried to have Gaara killed many times, but he cares more about the village than anything. It was really hard growing up without a mother and a father who is always busy. What about you? Were you close with your parents?"

"I've never met them before. I don't have any attachments to them." I said.

"What do you mean?" she wondered.

"I'm an orphan, my father died before I was born and my mother died moments after giving birth to me." I said. "Uncle Yagura raised me. When I was younger he didn't have much time for me and passed me off to other people, usually high ranking ninja of our village. They would train me and send me out on missions with Utakata."

"That seems so lonely." she said.

"I never knew anything other than that kind of upbringing." I said. "I wasn't all that lonely. I was used to it." I also had Isobu to keep me company and Zabuza when he had time for me. Otherwise, I was always kept busy after my graduation exam. There was always something from civil wars across the land of Water to the Lightning-Mist war. I've seen a lot of bloodshed and death, I was the cause of it a lot of the time. The Bloody Mist is all I've ever known.

We walked in silence back to the apartment where we went to our separate rooms to get ready. I grabbed my clothes and quickly changed in the bathroom. I couldn't be bothered to redo my bandages so I left them as they were. I tied my long blue hair up into a ponytail and put on my forehead protector, crookedly like me and Zabuza always had it. Then I grabbed anything of mine that was still in the bathroom. A single roll of bandages mostly, which I managed to fit in my kunai pouch. The bloodstained clothes that were soaking in the shower were a lost cause, so I threw those away.

I left the bathroom to see Gaara in his normal ninja attire sitting on the bed like he was this morning. "I don't understand." he said.

"What is it that you don't understand?" I asked.

"You have suffered through the same loneliness that I have, but you don't have any hatred for the one who did it." he looked up from his hands that were folded in his lap to me. "Why?"

"Because there is hardly anyone to blame." I said, I went on to explain, " My father committed suicide while on a mission to protect our villages secrets. My mother couldn't survive my birth. Uncle Yagura has an obligation to all of the land of Water as the Mizukage, it would have been selfish of me to demand more of him than he could give to me. And Zabuza never knew how to act around me, the idea of having a sister never fully settled with him, he treated me like I was his sparring partner." I paused for a moment, "Besides, this was during the time of the Bloody Mist, no one had any emotional attachments to anyone. People only had children to create a new generation of shinobi and that was it. There are no bonds established between parents and their children or between siblings. We are only just trying to break away from that time, though it's not like anything has changed significantly yet."

"Is that why your eyes are different, instead of being filled with hatred and death, they reflect wisdom and a longing for strength." he said.

"I do long to become stronger. I don't think I'll ever be strong enough." I admitted.

"How is it that you don't seem to have any hate?" he wondered.

"I have plenty of hate, but my hate is more for the state this world is in." I said. "Why can't all of the great shinobi nations see past our differences and come together as allied nations? I've seen a lot of war already in my lifetime and to think that is what awaits us is less than appealing. The tensions between nations are becoming stronger, it's best to choose our allies now to build up a front."

The Mist is currently allied with the Leaf and we also have a peace agreement with the Cloud, but that doesn't mean we are friendly with them. If we can ally ourselves with the Sand then that is at least two other nations on the Mist's side.

"You just want peace?" he questioned.

"Yes, I've grown tired of killing." I said. "There isn't a good enough purpose for it." I reached for my sword belt to pull it on and then attached each of my swords with the executioner's blade on top. "We should get going, we don't want to make them wait for too long."

Gaara stood up from the bed and grabbed his gourd. I was a bit curious about how much it weighed, but not curious enough to actually find out. I bet it's similar to the density of my Kukushibyo. Gaara followed me out into the gathering area of the apartment to meet up with everyone else. The only ones we were waiting for were Temari and Jiro. I wasn't surprised that we had to wait for Jiro, he seems to always be behind in something.

"Hey Temari, hurry up!" Kankuro yelled. "We have a long way home and I want to get as far as we can before sundown."

"Just a second, I'm almost done!" Temari called back. "Okay, ready."

She stepped out of the room without Jiro to join us. "Give me a minute." Mitsuru sighed. He walked into the room and after a few minutes a smack was heard. "Hurry up or we'll leave without you."

"Ow! Mitsuru that hurt!" Jiro yelled.

"Then let's go." Mitsuru said.

The two of them joined us again. "Sorry about the wait." Jiro smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine." Shozouki said. "Let's get going. We can make some purchases before we leave if we need to for snacks or weapons."

We left the apartment together and on the street in front of the building Baki said, "Let's split up to get what we need for our trip and meet up at the villages gates in ten minutes."

"Alright, see you soon." Mitsuru said.

Everyone went their separate ways to prepare for our journey, Gaara stayed with me. I didn't need anything, I don't eat or sleep while on missions. I'll be fine until Mitsuru or Jiro nags me to eat something or sleep. I continued to the villages gates with Gaara to wait for everyone already.

"Hey Ketto, Gaara, wait up!" I glanced over to see Naruto running after us. Gaara and I stopped walking so that Naruto could catch up. "Are the two of you leaving now?"

"Yeah, my team is going to escort Gaara's team back to the Sand to make sure no one tries to ambush them from their involvement in the attack on the Leaf." I said. "Then I'll be heading back to the Mist too."

"So this is goodbye then." Naruto said. "I wish I could visit the two of you in your villages, but it looks like we'll be pretty busy here for awhile. Do you promise that we'll see each other again?"

"I'm sure we will in the future. Until then, take care of yourself Naruto." I said.

"Gaara?" Naruto turned to Gaara who was quiet. "Do you promise that we'll see each other again?"

"I'm not sure I can make that kind of promise." he said.

"That's okay, but I'm sure we'll still meet again someday." Naruto said with a smile on his face. He turned around and started to walk away. "See ya!"

With Naruto out of sight Gaara said, "He truly wishes to meet us again someday? Even after the Sand tried to destroy his village?"

"He understands that you weren't aware of the impersonation of the Kazekage." I said. "Naruto wants to be your friend, because he sees that you don't have any and no one should be without a friend." I can hear myself starting to sound like them; Naruto, uncle Yagura, and Isobu. It's definitely a change from before when I thought I needed no one.

"You're my friend too right?" he asked.

"Sure, if you want to be." I said. I remembered several nights ago when I asked him if he wanted to be my friend while he was attacking me. The question both shocked and confused him because he couldn't understand why someone would care to be his friend. Now he seems to be accepting of the idea.

"I think I might like that." he said.

We reached the villages gates and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. It didn't take long for everyone else to appear and soon enough we were leaving the Leaf village.

We ran through the treetops and headed west. We didn't talk to each other to conserve energy, Shozouki thought we could make our trip to Suna in two days instead of three. Everything was going smoothly until we were a few hours into our journey. I noticed a familiar chakra, they were trying to suppress it, but I was very familiar with this chakra and was able to pick up the faintest trace of it. They were moving in our direction, I wasn't sure if they would engage or not, the person following us wouldn't have known the chakra of anyone in this group besides mine and mine is sealed away there's no way he could have sensed me. Maybe he knew Shozouki at some point? The two are relatively the same age so that is likely.

I made sure not to give away that I knew something was going to happen. He might not even confront us. The chakra moved faster and was about to breach our perimeter, I guess there would be a confrontation. The chakra moved towards me at a fast pace, right before I would have been hit I grabbed the executioner's blade and twisted to block Samehada from stealing any of my chakra. The force from Kisame's attack pushed me away from the others so that it was just me and Kisame.

The two of us landed on the forest floor. I was still in position to block with the handle of the executioner's blade in one hand and the blade resting against the other hand while it blocked Samehada's path.

"You're still fast." Kisame said. His smile showed his shark like teeth. His familiar features reminding me of a time before he defected. He wore a black cloak with red clouds like Hidan and Kakuzu, so he really must be a part of the Akatsuki like uncle Yagura said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I jumped back and used my momentum to dart towards Kisame again to swing my sword at his side. He jumped to the side to dodge, but I followed the blade in a rotation as I stepped forward a few more steps. Samehada stopped my movements.

"I was just in the area when I saw you." Kisame said. "It's been so long since I've last seen you, about six years I think. You were just a little shark pup then, now you've grown. It looks like you've inherited the executioner's blade. I heard that Zabuza was killed."

I looked around trying to see if anyone tried coming after us, but I couldn't find anyone.

"My partner is keeping your friends busy, so we can fight like we used to." Kisame said.

"If that's the case." I jumped away from him and used my free hand to detach my Kukushibyo to discard. Even though Kisame defected from the village, I don't think I would want to kill him, I respect him too much to actually want him dead. I stuck my Kukushibyo into the ground before taking a defensive stance again. "Let's continue."

I charged at him head on with my sword raised and a smile on my face. It's been too long since we last fought. Kisame blocked my executioner's blade again. "You're still quick to strike first." I pulled back and swung again, this time I didn't hold back my strength. This is Kisame, I won't win against him if I don't go all out. This time when my blade collided with his, he was pushed back an inch. It wasn't much, but it looks like I've improved. "You've definitely gotten stronger, I'm sure that's thanks to Jinin's training with you and Kabutowari."

"The foundations of my strength come from his training, but I carried on my strength training after he died." I said. "I'm still not strong enough, I could be stronger."

Kisame pushed me back only to launch a series of attacks on me. I quickly deflected by either blocking or moving the blade of my sword against the edge of his to change the direction of his attacks. We danced around each other for awhile, neither of us gaining an upper hand. I tried to get behind Kisame so that I could use the executioner's blade on his neck. I wasn't planning on cutting all the way through, I just wanted to get him in a position to get some answers from him.

I managed to sidestep and spin around him. While his blade was down, I brought up the executioner's blade to his neck. The blade pressed into the pale blue skin of his neck while I held it in place one hand on the handle of the blade and the other on the blade itself. Because Kisame was taller than me, I placed one of my knees on his back and then the other to get a better grip on the executioner's blade.

"Really Kisame, what do you want?" I asked.

He let go of Samehada for a moment to bring his hands up to the executioner's blade. I pressed a bit harder against his neck while he leaned forward and flung me over his shoulders to land on my back in front of him. He lifted Samehada to attack me, but I rolled to the side and jumped to my feet holding the executioner's blade in front of me.

"Kisame, that's enough." another man stepped out from behind a tree. His eyes were strange, they were red and possessed the same sharingan as Sasuke. "They've just discovered that it was my shadow clone they were battling. We must go now."

"Sorry Ketto, we'll have to resume this some other time. I should warn you that next time it will be more than just a spar. Right now we seem to be evenly matched in swordsmanship. Next time we'll have to test your ninjutsu." Kisame attached Samehada to his belt and started to walk towards his friend.

"You know you won't survive my ninjutsu, no one can." I said.

"Then it's guaranteed that the next time we meet will be our last." he looked over his shoulder at me. "Until next time, take care of yourself, little sister." Kisame disappeared with his friend, his chakra already far away from here.

Instead of pursuing him, I decided to find my group again. My current mission is more important and I can't abandon it. I walked over and picked up my Kukushibyo to reattach to my belt before attaching the executioner's blade. I felt for the chakra of those in my group and found them. They seemed to be looking for someone, probably me. Shozouki was probing for me without any luck, I wonder how desperate he was to find me if he was probing for someone whose chakra signature was sealed away?

While probing for them I found six extra chakra signatures all coming up behind Shozouki and Temari who were at the back of the group. The foreign chakra signatures were moving at a fast pace. Making me believe they were trying to move in for a killing strike. I detached the executioner's blade and used Isobu's speed to catch up to them. I abruptly cut them off forcing them to stop. From their forehead protectors they were Sound ninja.

"We've been spotted." one of the ninja said.

"You Sound ninja are not welcome here, I'll have to dispose of you before you can proceed further." I said. I readjusted my grip on the executioner's blade and shifted into a more defensive stance.

"You think you can stop us on your own? Think again brat!" another shouted.

"It looks like you might have to learn not to underestimate your opponents." I smirked at the last Sound ninja that talked, "I'll save you for last."

Then, I darted forward towards the nearest Sound ninja. I lifted my blade to strike him, he tried to jump out of the way by jumping to the right. After I completed my swing I reversed my swing as I moved towards him. My movements were so fast that he wasn't able to move out of the way fast enough. The executioner's blade sliced cleanly through his stomach. The ninja stood there frozen in his shock. Slowly, he brought his hands up to hold his stomach as blood spilled from his wound. His intestines were exposed, he tried to hold them in but he hardly had enough strength to hold himself up and he fell to the ground on his side. The intestines spilled out with more blood as he stopped moving.

"What the hell!? She just killed Masuro!" another yelled shocked. He moved his gaze to me. "I'll end you." He charged at me while making hand signs and screamed. The sound echoed at a high frequency in waves coming in my direction. I used speed to quickly get out of the blast zone, which left me behind him. His reaction time was average at best and wasn't able to stop me from getting the executioner's blade on his neck. I used my knees to brace myself against his back. Like Kisame, this man moved to try and grab the blade to throw me off of him, but he wasn't as strong as Kisame and wasn't able to stop me from decapitating him. His head fell to the forest floor, his blood gushing out of the place on his neck. The rest of his body followed his head on its trip to the ground. As he fell, I used his falling body as leverage to jump away from the other Sound ninja coming in fast.

Before I could land, someone had a hold of my ankle and yanked me down to the ground. I didn't care about the landing and instead I swiped my executioner's blade and cut off the hand of the one that had a hold of my ankle. He screamed as he stepped further away from me clutching that wrist. My body hit the ground, I tried to roll the best I could with my Kukushibyo still on my back. I got up as fast as I could and swung my sword in his direction, this time cutting off his leg just below the knee. He continued to wail as he bled out.

Another Sound ninja ran towards his friend to try and help. He knelt down by his friends side in shock not knowing what to do with his eyes wide and frantically searching for someone to help. By sensing with my chakra I was able to find one of his comrades trying to escape through the forest dodging through trees. I made a note of where he was as he seemed to be less predictable in his actions. The last Sound ninja, the one who called me a brat suddenly tried to make a break for it behind me.

The Sound ninja that was desperately trying to stop his friend from bleeding out didn't notice when I walked up to him and stabbed him in the back. I twisted the executioner's blade before pulling it out. Then, I spun around a few times to build up momentum before letting the executioner's blade soar through the air in the direction of the unpredictable ninja who managed to get the farthest away.

I broke off into a run after the one that doubted me. When I jumped onto his back I used my hands on his shoulders to push myself up to wrap my legs around his neck. My hands found themselves on either side of his face and I twisted until his neck snapped and his body fell. I slipped off of his shoulders and landed on my feet.

"Ketto?" my heart beat picked up slightly, did they just see that? I slowly turned to see Kankuro standing at the edge of the massacre looking at the scene more wide eyed than terrified. Everyone else was with him.

Shozouki didn't seem to care much about what he saw. He curiously looked around at the scene. Temari looked terrified, I would be surprised if she moved on from witnessing this quickly. Baki looked shocked. Gaara confused me, he was a bit wide eyed and looked like he could have been intimidated by me.

"Lady Ketto, you tossed aside your sword. Why would you do that?" Jiro asked. He wouldn't meet my gaze so I was certain that I must have frightened him too.

"I'll show you." I said. I turned around and started to walk off in the direction one of the Sound ninja's ran off in.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea." Shozouki said. He followed along with everyone else who was silent. We passed a few trees that had a deep cut go straight through them. That was were I knew the executioner's blade cut through them. "Kankuro, take Temari and start walking west again. We'll catch up."

"Why, we'll just grab Lady Ketto's sword really quick and we'll all be on our way." Jiro said.

"You're not a good sensor type ninja, you don't know what those of us who can know." Shozouki said.

"Temari let's go, they'll catch up." Kankuro tried directing Temari away from us, but she got out of his reach.

"How could it be any worse than what we just saw?" she asked.

"I think they're trying to protect you." Baki said. "You didn't seem to take it well back there."

"I'm fine." Temari ground out. "Let's just get Ketto's sword and get back home."

We came up on the one Sound ninja. His back was facing towards us because he was trying to run away. The executioner's blade impaled him through his back and his body slumped forward on it. Blood ran down the blade soaking into the ground.

"Oh, that's why she threw it." Jiro said.

"Why did you think she threw it?" Mitsuru asked.

"I don't know. I thought that it would have been easier for her to run after that last guy without it." Jiro said.

"You know what, this time I won't even say anything." Mitsuru sighed.

I grabbed hold of the handle of the executioner's blade and placed a foot on the back of the Sound ninja to help pull it out. There was a squelching noise as it pulled free, more blood fell as the Sound ninja's body crumpled to the ground.

"We should get going, there might be more Sound ninja in the area." I said. I suddenly swiped the executioner's blade to the side to shake some blood off. Whatever didn't fly off was either absorbed into the sword or wiped on my leggings.

Mitsuru appeared at my side and whispered lowly, "You have blood everywhere, remember what I said before? People might not want to be your friend if they see you bathing in the blood of your enemies."

"I didn't plan for it to happen." I whispered back. "How was I supposed to know we would run into Sound ninja? I sensed Kisame's chakra earlier, but I didn't sense the Sound ninja until after."

"Kisame as in Hoshigaki from the Mist?" he asked. "We were confronted by Itachi Uchiha, a former ninja of the Leaf."

"He must also be a member of the Akatsuki." I said.

"What's the Akatsuki?" Mitsuru asked curiously.

"It's nothing to worry about." at least it isn't anything to worry about right now.

"Are you going to wipe that blood off of your face?" he questioned.

"What blood?" I wondered. I didn't feel any splatter onto my face at all.

Mitsuru reached over to wipe at my face, I almost pulled away from him, but I didn't want to cause a scene in front of everyone. While we walked behind everyone Mitsuru held my head in place and used his sleeve to wipe the blood away. "It's starting to dry already."

"It's fine, just leave it." I said. I pulled away from him until I was out of his reach. He had rubbed my cheek long enough to leave a hot spot on my cheek. I could already tell that it was bright red.

We started traveling through the treetops again. This time we weren't interrupted by other ninja. The sun started to set earlier, but we kept moving to try and get as close as we could to the border of the land of Fire. At some point though, we stopped to make a camp so that we could rest for the night.

With the last rays of light we set up our small camp. We were still close enough to the land of Wind that it was warm enough to not have to make a fire.

"We should all take turns keeping watch tonight." Shozouki suggested. "We can have shifts of two that switch every two hours."

"I'll go first." I offered.

"Lady Ketto, you better get some sleep later. If this is some kind of excuse not to sleep then-" I cut off Jiro. "Don't worry about it. I'll sleep later."

Jiro narrowed his eyes at me. "Really?"

"Jiro, don't cause trouble with Lady Ketto." Mitsuru grabbed Jiro by the shoulders and turned him away from me. "If she wants to stay up then we should let her."

"I'll take first watch too." Kankuro said.

"Then I'll take the second watch." Temari said. She tossed her fan down by the rest of her things and laid down.

"I will too." Shozouki said. "Then Baki and Mitsuru can go next and last can be Gaara and Jiro. Now that that's settled, everyone should get some sleep." Shozouki laid himself down with his pack under his head.

I removed my swords from my belt and set them against a tree. I sat myself down at the base of the tree, it felt relaxing to lean back against the tree. Gaara walked over to me and stopped a few feet away. "Is it okay if you help me sleep tonight?"

Instead of replying, I scooted over to make room for him. Gaara sat down next to me, but didn't seem to know what to do after that. I placed one hand on the side of Gaara's face and directed his head to my shoulder. With my first touch I started using my chakra to settle his. By the time his head rested on my shoulder he was drifting off to sleep.

Everyone else found a spot to settle for some sleep. We were all situated into a circular shape. Kankuro was seated on the other side of our encampment, but he moved to sit in front of me after everyone fell asleep and it got darker. I continued to use my chakra on Gaara and sense for other chakra signatures.

"I was just wondering," Kankuro started, "when that kid said that your brother just died, was that true?"

"Yes, that's why I went to the land of Waves during our break from the chunin exams. That's where he was buried, I went there to arrange for him to be brought back to Kirigakure." I said.

"You know, I've never thought of dying before." he said. "But since the attempt on the Leaf village, I've been thinking about it. I know Temari would have been heartbroken. From what I remember from the times I would gain consciousness, she was always there watching over me. And Gaara, I don't think my death would have affected him in the same way, but it might have stuck with him for some time even if he doesn't think that now. What I'm trying to get at is that I know I have a lot of growing to do to get stronger, I was wondering if you could help me get stronger like you so I can protect the two of them instead of the other way around."

"You want me to help you get stronger? In what way do you want to become stronger?" I asked. This is strange to me, a little while ago we were enemies. Now, we're friends and he wants me to help him get stronger so that he can protect his siblings.

"In every way." he said. "Can you give me some of that poison you used on me? I want to build up an immunity to it, I've never seen a poison more effective than that one. The antidote would a good idea too." he added as an afterthought.

I thought about it for a moment, should I tell him the true source of the poison? I've already told Gaara and Temari after Kankuro was saved, but could I really tell another person. Would that be wise? I guess Kankuro and I already share a secret that we're going to have to keep and he seems like someone I could trust. "It's a rare ability of the Karatachi family to create coral out of their chakra. Depending on how strong your chakra is and how much you put into making the coral determines the color and density of the coral." I started to explain, "I'm not able to control how much chakra I put into making my coral, so I use more chakra and it always turns out black, which is a rare color for coral. It's almost impossible to find in nature anymore. The entirety of my Kukushibyo blade is black coral. It's not poisonous unless if it cuts you, that's when the toxin is released. There hasn't been a cure up until recently, being that it was my chakra that created it, my chakra infused blood is what cures it and being that I gave you a small transfusion of my blood you should have built up a bit of an immunity to it."

"You think so?" he asked.

"You've already gotten one of my abilities from the transfusion. I'm sure you've gotten others. It will just take some time to find out what the others are." I said. "I'm not sure about what I could actually teach you in the Sand, most of my jutsu is water based. I could help you with some strength training and taijutsu, but I think that will be about it."

"Is there any other way for you to teach me chakra control?" he asked.

I guess I could show him how to pinpoint chakra to certain areas of the body to enhance them. Like sometimes when I punch, my fist will be coated in chakra for a stronger punch. "I could teach you how to pinpoint the chakra in your body for stronger physical attacks."

"Really? We can do that?" he asked.

"Everyone can do it. They just need to practice at it." I said.

Kankuro and I continued to chat about the different things I could teach him to help him become stronger. I found it admirable that he wanted to get stronger to protect his brother and sister from harm. I believe that Temari and Gaara will also continue to grow as shinobi, they'll be one strong team in the future.

When our shift of watching out for threats was over, Kankuro woke up Temari and Shozouki for their shifts. That was when I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, I really didn't want Jiro or Mitsuru to nag me later.

At the end of Baki and Jiro's shift, I sensed Baki's chakra coming towards us. He lightly shook Gaara to wake him up, which took a little while. I slowly stopped using my own chakra to help him, I didn't want to shock him awake with nightmares Shukaku would give him. When Gaara was up Baki left us alone so that he could get some sleep. I continued to lean against the tree with my eyes closed, but I had a feeling that Gaara knew I was faking it. Still, I refused to look at him and give myself away.