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

Thank you for the review Carvaine! It's much appreciated!

Chapter 18

"Mei-nee-chan!" Kimi exclaimed as she barreled into the laughing woman that just walked into the house. It had been almost a month since the young child had come to stay with them. Mei was quite fond of the boisterous girl and tried to make a point of spending time with her when she was home. The girl was starting to feel like family. Like her younger sister or a daughter.

No, she's definitely more like a sister. Mei thought as she listened to the child jabber on about her day, Even though I'm 21, I am much too young to have a child.

Mei stubbornly refused to acknowledge the thought that if she had a husband, having a child like Kimi wouldn't be a bad thing.

"And then I went to the docks near the biiiiig lake! And there was a guy there that I tried to talk to, but he wasn't very nice. He told me to go away cause I was annoying, so I called him a meanie and left. He wouldn't even answer one question! So then I went to a different lake and found an old guy. He was nicer, but he didn't know papa either, so that didn't really help. Then I ran into Yanagi-san and Suji-san again. Yanagi-san tried to give me a squirrel, even though I don't know where he got one since they aren't native to Mizu no Kuni, but Suji-san got mad and beat him over the head, so the squirrel got away before I could take it. I don't really get it, but they're pretty funny. Then I-"

Mei nodded along as she scooped the child up and settled her on her hip as she made her way into the house. She almost always heard Kimi talk about those two buffoons. They were quite taken with the adorable chibi and used any opportunity they could to tease her or spoil her when they weren't on gate duty. It was kinda cute. If they were a few years older, she might have considered dating one of them. Alas, sixteen was much too young.

Mei internally sighed in frustration at her thoughts and walked into the dining area. Her father was already there with the food laid out on the table. She didn't know what she would have done without him.

When she was a young girl, she discovered that she held not one, but two kekkei genkai from her mother's side of the family. The family didn't help her any since they had disowned her mother for marrying someone they didn't approve of. Apparently, her mom was something of a rebel and didn't like the idea of an arranged marriage. So, she found a random civilian, got pregnant, and ended up falling in love along the way. A bit unorthodox, but Mei wasn't complaining.

Unfortunately, her mom died back when she was not much older than Kimi. Her dad stepped up and became both a father and a mother to her. He learned how to cook and clean. He made sure that she could focus on her shinobi studies after she told him that she wanted to be a kunoichi and promised that he would take care of everything else. He even allowed her to take her mother's maiden name so that she would gain more respect from her peers. Takuto had worked two jobs for several years before he opened the inn he always wanted when she was a genin. He even named it after her lava and boil release to show how proud he was of her. He followed through more than she had thought possible. Sure he had horrible nicknames for anyone he met and found entertainment through annoying others, but she wouldn't change him for the world.

Mei bent down to give him a small kiss on the cheek before plopping Kimi into her own chair, the child still talking a million miles a minute. As she looked at her little family, Mei smiled.

…

A young looking boy was watching her from across the street. His silvery hair and pink eyes were beautiful and he had a kind smile. Maybe she should talk to him next.

From what she knew, there was some kind of silent war going on. She was having a hard time keeping her cover enough while simultaneously trying to gather information. No one wanted to talk to a kid about this stuff. But he seemed to be a teenager, so maybe she could find something out from him.

She skipped over to him and called out. He turned to her with a raised brow, his shinobi companion looking at her with suspicion. She asked her question. The boy crouched down to her level and patted her on the head. She felt warm inside. He was so nice!

In an instant, his smile became sinister and his face went blank. The gentle hand on her head went to her neck and turned painful. She couldn't breathe!

Before her world went dark, she heard him order his companion to head her interrogation. The man called the boy Mizukage-sama.

Minoko sucked in a breath as her eyes went wide in panic. Well, she was definitely going to avoid pretty teenagers when she went out for information in the morning...and for the rest of her time in Kiri.

Minoko was currently in her room at the inn. She had just finished having dinner with Watanabe Takuto and his daughter. They really were kind people. She felt bad for tricking them, but it was her job.

She had just sent the Kazekage her weekly update. She found out that several families with kekkei genkai would randomly go missing. Some defected, some eventually turned up dead, and others were simply never seen or heard from again. The people here called it a silent war. The unrest was palatable, but the Mizukage hadn't made it official yet. From what she'd heard, though, it was only a matter of time. And no one seemed to know why it was happening in the first place.

Apparently, the Mizukage had been a kind person when he was first inaugurated. One day, with no warning, he just snapped. It had started with the cruel graduation exams about fifteen years ago where friends and comrades fought to the death in order to become a shinobi. At one point, a child that wasn't even in the academy managed to wipe out an entire graduating class. Somehow, that didn't stop the practice. It only made the teachers more brutal in their lessons so that it wouldn't happen again.

Not long after this, information about Kiri started leaking to rival villages. The Mizukage become paranoid and started suspecting kekkei genkai holders to be the ones behind it so that they could gain power in the village. The destruction of the Yuki clan was the first in a long line of horrors.

Mei-nee-chan was lucky that she hadn't been targeted yet, but from the whispered conversations that she overheard between her and her father, she was starting to feel the pressure. She talked about a rebellion that was forming in the ranks of the shinobi of Kiri. Her father just looked worried and said that she reminded him of her mother before pulling her into a hug. Minoko had left right after, not wanting to intrude more or get caught.

Minoko had heard a little about the Mizukage, but she never knew what he looked like. She knew his name was Yagura and that he was a Jinchuuriki like Gaara, but she never heard a physical description.

The dream bubble that she had the moment Shinji poofed out of existence provided that. He looked so young! She never would have thought that he was in his thirties! She would have thought that he was fourteen at most! At least now she knew that and could avoid him like the plague while also adding a detailed physical description to her next report.

Minoko had been having a lot more dream bubbles since she had arrived in Kirigakure. She would wander around Kiri during the day under the guise of looking for her papa. Most citizens scoffed or would tell her that he was probably dead if he hadn't come home yet. She heard bits and pieces about a war on those with bloodlines when people weren't paying attention to her. Minoko had to keep her emotions firmly in check and act like she didn't hear a thing while inwardly shuddering at the possibility of her being discovered. Not only was she a spy, but she also had a kekkei genkai.

Before approaching some people, she would have a dream bubble. Sometimes it would show her a person finding her suspicious and taking her to the Mizukage, who would be shrouded in shadows. Other times it would give her the information she needed, thus negating the real reason for the interaction. Minoko learned her lesson about ignoring her dream bubbles, so she would turn and walk down an ally to continue her search on a different street or she would talk to them about a completely unrelated and childish topic.

So far, this method worked for her. She just hoped that the Kazekage would recall her soon. She missed home.

Kiri was nice and all, but it was too wet. The air here had more moisture in it than most oases in Suna! There was so much blue, too. She missed the tans and dryness of the desert.

Her daddy was probably lonely. Since her mommy moved out, she was all he had left. When he knew she would be gone for an extended mission, he would often stay in his workshop for days on end. She sometimes came home and had to go retrieve him from the Puppetry Division where he was sleeping on a cot near his desk or working himself into an exhausted state of oblivion. Hopefully he was taking care of himself this time.

She also really missed Gaara.

She desperately wanted to send him a letter, but she knew that it would be a bad idea. That didn't stop her from thinking about red hair and seafoam eyes and a shy smile that warmed her heart. She clutched her pillow closer to her as she tried to hold back her tears. She would see him again soon. She wondered if he missed her as much as she missed him.

I hope he's ok.

…

Gaara was sitting in a corner in his room, rocking back and forth in an effort to calm himself. Cinnamon was clenched tightly in his grasp as he tried desperately to ease the pain in his skull.

Mother was shrieking at him. Demanding that he give her blood.

Sand started whipping around the room like a miniaturized sand storm as the shrill voice in his mind increased in volume.

He dropped the bear onto the floor and grabbed his head with both hands as his eyes squeezed shut. The headaches were getting worse. It was an almost constant ache now instead of an occasional occurrence.

It started becoming more consistent after the third assassin.

It had been about a month and a half since Minoko left Suna. In that time, Father had sent at least five people to kill him. He wasn't entirely sure of the number since there were a few additional attempts on his life from foreign shinobi and missing nins. For all he knew, Father could have hired them, too.

Yashamaru-oji-san was never around when the attacks happened. He was getting busier since he was accepted into Anbu, so he couldn't spend as much time with him as he used to.

This meant, however, that Gaara had to deal with his would-be killers on his own. He tried...he tried so hard to not hurt them too much. But it was getting more and more difficult to not give in to Mother's demands. He wanted to do so much more than just leave them unconscious with a few broken bones.

He wanted them to feel his fear for themselves.

When Yashamaru-oji-san was around, he felt a bit calmer, but what he really needed was the soothing presence of Minoko.

She accepted him for who he was without avoiding him or looking at him with eyes filled with hatred. He cared about her more than any other person in the village because he could just be himself around her. Even Yashamaru-oji-san had moments when he would approach him with caution. Gaara never had to see that from his best friend.

If something didn't change soon, he was worried that that would change. That he would start to see that look on her face; like he was a monster.

And she might be right. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last without some form of relief.

He missed her.

He wanted her to come back.

He wanted to feel safe again.

A/N: Tried out different perspectives this chapter. Let me know what you think!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take an extra week for the next chapter, so I'll see you all again in two weeks! I'm sorry v.v