Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Chapter 5

Minoko dragged Gaara into her room. The owners of the complex said that they weren't allowed to paint, so her walls were light beige. Her bed, however, had an explosion of color. Her comforter was a light teal. Her pillows were a mixture of soft pink, sea foam green, and purple. Her pajamas that were tossed on top without a care were a deep red. And in the center of all the chaos was a spot of white.

Minoko made a beeline for the object. She picked it up and turned to present it to the still-captive Gaara, "This is Sugar. She was my only friend before I met you. She's really good at keeping secrets, too!"

Gaara slowly accepted the bear with his free hand and noted that while it was clean, it wasn't as soft as he thought it would be. His friend had probably had the stuffed animal for a while for it to be this worn. But he could see the love for it as well since it was still almost pure white. There was one spot of dirt that near its left eye that seemed to be a permanent characteristic.

He looked from bear to owner, wondering what he was supposed to do with it. Seeing the hesitation in his face, Minoko giggled lightly, "You're supposed to talk to her. Like I said, she's good at keeping secrets."

Gaara still hesitated, then asked Minoko, "What secrets did you tell her?"

Minoko stilled, gaining a pensive look on her face, and released Gaara's hand. She looked away and sat on her bed. Gaara, sensing that the mood changed, sat in the chair next to the desk by her bed. He held Sugar in his lap and waited for the raven-haired girl to speak.

"I want to tell you…I really do," she said in a soft voice, "My parents don't want me to talk about it, but you told me your secret earlier, so I think I should tell you mine."

Gaara saw her fidget with her hair that had become unbound at some point during the day. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but if you do, I promise not to tell."

Minoko smiled gratefully then looked down as she played with the ends of her hair. "I…I have a kekkei genkai," she said quietly, "I have dream bubbles that show me stuff that will happen in real life."

Gaara's eyes widened, "You see the future?"

Minoko bobbed her head, "I can't control what I see or when, but it happens sometimes. That's why I space out and don't hear you. I either have to pop it or wait for it to end by itself."

"What kind of stuff do you see?"

A fleeting smile went across her face, "All kinds of things. I saw us becoming friends. I saw my old village burning. I saw the loud bang earlier above us-"

"So that's how you knew about that!"

She nodded, "I also see silly stuff. One time I saw that we'd have okonomiyaki for dinner. In the market I saw that one couple would get in a fight a few minutes before it happened. I know that that one miko with the orange hair is going to have a baby soon-"

"That can't be right. The miko in Suna don't have babies," Gaara said with a scrunched up nose.

Minoko laughed, "You'll see in a few months. Her tummy is going to be really big!"

Gaara thought for a moment, "This morning you were talking about a weird dance."

Minoko nodded her head sagely, "I saw it before and asked mommy and daddy. They said it's a dance that only adults can do and they can only do it with the person they love the most."

Gaara tilted his head, "How is that weird?"

Minoko pointed one finger up and closed her eyes seriously, mimicking her mother when she was trying to teach her something new, "The weird part is that they weren't wearing any clothes and there was no music."

Gaara made a face, "That's strange. Why would they do that?"

Minoko shrugged, "No idea." She then stared at Gaara with narrowed eyes for a while, "Hmmm…"

"What?" he asked, feeling a bit anxious from her look.

"Well," she started, "Right now, other than mommy and daddy, you're the person that I love the most. So when we get older, we should dance!" she said with a wide grin.

Gaara thought about it for a moment, "I think you're the person I love the most, too. So it should be ok."

"What in the world are you two talking about!?"

Both kids whipped their heads around to see that the door was open.

"Hi daddy! We're talking about dancing!"

Gaara had a very bad feeling in his stomach when Taru-san smacked his own face then turned to stare a hole straight through him.

A/N: Hey all! Sorry the chapter's shorter than usual, but it seemed like a good ending point. The next one will be a bit longer, I promise!

Please review and tell me what you think :)