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

This chapter is long overdue. I'm so sorry about the late update, but work got in the way of writing this month T.T

Thank you for the review Carvaiine and BatmanForPresident! I'm glad that I could make you laugh :D

On to the chapter!

Chapter 21

Minoko took one last glance around the room that she had come to see as her own. She had taken the seals off the wall and burned them to remove the evidence, threw away whatever garbage had accumulated over the last two months, and packed up all of her clothes and supplies.

She was currently wearing the outfit that she had arrived to Kiri in. The black overalls with flowers and ladybugs stitched onto the pockets with her red shirt. The red and black ribbons fell in gentle waves from her pigtails. The outfit Mei-nee-chan gave her was tucked safely in the bottom of her pack in a waterproof bag to keep out the bugs and dirt and wet.

Spotting a splash of color on the dark wooden dresser, she walked over and saw the locket that was left around her neck two nights ago. The red of the wave against the dark tungsten metal stood out beautifully. The detail in the cresting water was immaculate.

She still didn't have the courage to open it and see what was inside.

She picked it up with shaking hands, her fingers fiddling with the clasp of the locket for a moment. Her breath caught in her throat before she let out a shuttering sigh.

Later. I can't-

Minoko closed her eyes to regain control of her emotions. Deep breath in…deep breath out…In…out…

She opened her eyes a moment later and unclasped the chain of the necklace instead of the locket itself and clipped it around her neck, letting the charm hang against her collarbone. The weight of the cool metal was comforting in a way.

Minoko sighed once more as she looked around. With a final nod, she turned, shouldered her pack, and walked out the door.

It was time to go home.

…

Minoko walked to the front gate in a daze. She took in the sights of Kiri one last time, somehow knowing that she would never come back. Two months ago, she would have been fine with that. The air was too humid, the colors too blue, the people too dodgy…

But now, Kiri held a type of beauty that she never appreciated before. Yes, the air was humid, but that meant that her skin didn't feel dry and chapped after a long day outdoors. Yes, it was too blue, but it held a vibrancy that the neutral colors of Suna couldn't compete with. The people were dodgy, but there were those that made living here worthwhile. That made you smile and feel warm inside just from knowing them.

She would miss that.

She would miss Mei-nee-chan with her graceful beauty and kind smiles and warm hugs. The faint scent of sulfur that seemed to hang off of her that should have been unsettling, but simply felt like home and love.

She would miss Takuto-oji-san. The open expressions on his face and teasing inflection in his voice. The kami-awful nicknames that he came up with and ridiculous jokes that were so horrid that you just had to laugh anyway. The acceptance in his mannerisms that told her without words that she was welcome in his home, at his table, in his family. She would miss seeing the life that shone from his emerald eyes as they crinkled into a good-natured smile.

Her heart panged in grief while she did her best to keep her features smooth and pleasant.

Approaching the gate, she spotted two more people that she wished she didn't have to say goodbye to. Yanagi and Suji were goofy and amusing and their banter was priceless in the way only longtime friends could achieve. They went out of their way to make her smile since their first meeting and endeared themselves to her in a way she never expected during an infiltration mission.

She found friends here. She found family.

And now, she was going to have to disappear.

They would never see Tanaka Kimi again, because once she crossed back into Kaze no Kuni, Kimi would die.

And Minoko would be all that was left.

The young kunoichi that purposefully deceived kind people and took advantage of their misconceptions of her. That manipulated situations and conversations in order to gain information that could potentially change the course of their political climate if used correctly. The girl that did nothing to protect someone innocent and allowed them to die because she put a mission before a life.

She didn't deserve them.

So, she would smile for them one more time and act as though nothing was wrong. She owed them that much at least.

…

Suji rolled his shoulders in an effort to loosen the muscles there that had tightened over the last several hours of immobility. He honestly hated gate guard duty. He would do it without complaining, but he still wished that he could go out on missions again soon. The only reason he was stuck there was because of the twig-like imbecile next to him.

Yanagi had had the bright idea of trying to steal (or, as Yanagi claimed, 'borrow') one of the seven swords of the mist. And of course, Suji just happened to have been dragged into the whole debacle despite his protests. He still didn't know why he eventually caved into Yanagi's begging. He blamed it on a mixture of momentary insanity combined with the use of surprisingly effective puppy dog eyes. Seriously…how could a male teenager with limbs the size of his thumb pull those off that effortlessly? It shouldn't be possible!

Suji remembered how about four months ago they snuck through the Hozuki compound, which only consisted of about two dozen houses, and broke into a home on the edge of the property. The two boys had only just entered through the window when they were instantaneously pinned to the wall with senbon and had a blade poised at their necks. Sure, Hiramekarei belonged to Yanagi's cousin, but that didn't stop Mangetsu from punishing them. If they had been almost anyone else, they would have been dead instead.

Now they only had about more six more months of guard duty to make up for the catastrophic error in judgement.

Suji roughly ran a hand down his face in frustration. Why did he put up with this shit?

He glanced over to his partner and watched as the smaller chunin attempting to balance senbon needles in complicated shapes on top of the table. His tongue was poking through a gap between razor teeth to stick out of his mouth in concentration.

Suji bumped the table, making the tower of needles fall with a clang and a purple glare that promised murder soon landed on him. He smirked.

He and Yanagi had been friends even before they started the Academy. They grew up together since their parents were good friends, something that was hard to come by in this village.

Suji was always large for his age while Yanagi had been too small. Suji had originally thought that the smaller boy wouldn't live long enough in this cut-throat village, but Yanagi had surprised him with his speed and agility. Yes, Suji could flatten him like a pancake, but that would require catching the guy first. Something that had been growing steadily more difficult to do as they got older.

The two of them had acquired several bullies in the Academy, but they had each other, so they were able to ignore them and rank highly in each class. They both had breathed a sigh of relief when they weren't chosen to face each other in the graduation exam. Suji didn't know if they would have been able to kill each other.

They got on each other's nerves more often than not, but that's what brothers did. It didn't mean that they wanted to hurt each other. At least, not to that extent.

With that last thought going through his head, Suji ducked as Yanagi went flying over his head in an attempt at retaliation for the collapsed needle tower.

"Oi, Hozuki, were you trying to aim for something? Or were you just practicing your acrobatics?" Suji said gruffly with a smirk still plastered on his face.

Yanagi growled deep in his throat and crouched to launch another attack… when he was once again tackled by a flying pipsqueak.

"Yanagi-nii-san! Are you playing leap frog? You went flying over Suji-nii-san, so you have to wait 'til he goes over your head next! You need to take turns! It's only fair, ne?"

Suji had to stifle a chuckle at the crestfallen resignation on his long-time friend's face.

"Hello Kimi-chan," Suji greeted, "What're you up to today?"

The chatterbox went silent and slowly slid off of Yanagi's back, which caused both chunin's eyes to sharpen on her.

"Kimi-chan?" Yanagi prodded "What's wrong?"

Suji winced slightly. That was probably the wrong question to ask. He had heard about Mei and Takuto's disappearance. It was a fairly open secret the Takuto was dead and Mei was considered a traitor. Kimi probably didn't know anything about that, but she would have noticed their absence the last couple days.

Kimi scuffed her toes in the dirt as she looked down, her lower lip trembling slightly, "I…I'm going away," came her barely audible answer.

Now that wasn't what he expected. Suji looked over her shoulder and noticed the full pack sitting a few feet away that she must have quickly discarded when she jumped on Yanagi.

"Why're you leaving?" he asked, not wanting to draw any conclusions without more information.

Kimi kept her eyes down and sniffled lightly, "Papa…papa isn't here. He mighta lied to mama…or mama mighta lied to me…but no one knows papa," she shrugged her shoulders a bit forlornly "And I told my oji-san that I'd go live with him if I couldn't find papa. I don't wanna leave, but I promised."

Yanagi stood and patted her on the head, "You sure you can't stay? I've finally gotten used to randomly falling on my face."

Kimi giggled a bit and looked up at the Hozuki with a small smile, "No, I promised. Mama told me to always keep my promises or no one would trust me ever!" she stated with all the conviction of a five year old.

Suji couldn't help the small smile that escaped at that. "Did you say all your goodbyes then?"

Kimi's eyebrows scrunched a bit, "Kinda. I'm saying bye to you two now, but I couldn't find Takuto-oji-san or Mei-nee-chan for a couple days. I tried to find them, but no one knows where they are," confusion was evident in her features as her eyes unconsciously scanned the streets for them, "I wanted to say goodbye, but I need to get to Kaze no Kuni by the end of next month. I'm not very fast, so I need to leave today."

"I'm sure that they'll understand," Suji said.

The young girl looked up at him with large crimson eyes, "Can you tell them if you see them? I don't want them to think I left without looking for them."

"We'll tell them kid," Yanagi said reassuringly, "Promise!"

Kimi smiled widely and nodded. She turned around and hopped over to her backpack. After putting it on, she turned and rushed back over, colliding with his knees in a hug. "Bye-bye nii-san."

Suji pushed her back a bit and crouched down to give her a proper hug, "See ya, kid. Take care."

She squeezed him once before repeating the process with Yanagi.

"Bye Kimi-chan. Don't forget us and make sure to watch out for killer squirrels."

A wet laugh escaped from Kimi as she leaned back to look at him, "Especially ones that can use swords, right?"

"Right!" he said with a serious nod.

Kimi stepped back and looked at them in silence for a moment.

"I'm going to miss you guys."

"Yeah, yeah," Suji said as he shifted slightly, starting to get uncomfortable with the mushy exchange, "You better get going."

Kimi nodded and waved before turning and walking out of the gates.

After a few minutes, her silhouette disappeared into the mist and the two chunin returned to their posts.

"I'm going to miss her," Yanagi sighed.

"Uhuh."

"She was pretty entertaining, don't you think?"

"Yep."

"Almost like a real sister, huh?"

"Yeah."

"You're a real conversationalist, aren't you?"

"…Sure."

Yanagi smacked his forehead as Suji's eyes danced with hidden mirth. Instead of a loud or violent retaliation though, Yanagi became uncommonly serious.

"You didn't tell her about Takuto and Mei."

"…Why put that on a kid when we don't need to?"

"We made her a promise," said Yanagi casually after a moment.

Suji's eyes cut over to him quickly, quietly assessing the silver-haired man, "Indeed we did…"

Yanagi leaned back in his chair to balance on the back two legs and stared contemplatively at the sky, "You know," he said quietly, "my clan has a kekkei genkai."

Suji froze a bit and glanced about. No one was within listening distance, "Ah."

"And we did promise to tell Mei that Kimi said goodbye," Yanagi continued nonchalantly.

"We did… It would be a shame to break a promise to a five year old," he replied.

Yanagi's eyes glanced at him from the corner of his eye, "Tonight?"

Suji forced a calm countenance, "Tonight."

There was no way he'd let his friend become a rebel by himself. He'd get killed within the first week.

He'd have to keep an eye on him.

…

When Minoko first left Suna, it had been early July. It was now early October as she finally made her way through the familiar dunes of Kaze no Kuni.

The journey back had thankfully been uneventful. She bypassed Watanabe Miyu's village, not wanting to have to put on a happy mask while pretending she didn't see the old woman's cousin get murdered. Instead, she camped out in a small grove of trees off the path before going to the docks.

There, she had been lucky and found the same captain from her previous trip. She didn't need the waterworks to get aboard this time and she made sure that she kept to herself for the most part…Except for when she needed to throw up…

Yeah, she still hated boats. They were evil.

Hi no Kuni was still humid, but not nearly as much as it had been in Kiri. She almost didn't notice it this time around.

Yeah, it was an extremely uneventful journey.

And now, she was almost home. As bittersweet as she felt about leaving Kiri, she was going home. After being away for about three months, she felt relieved to see the never-ending expanses of sand and feel the heat of the sun on her skin.

She took a deep breath of overheated air and smiled her first truly genuine smile in months. Home meant daddy. Home meant Gaara. She couldn't wait to see them again! Just one more day, and she'd walk through the gates. Just one more day!

…

Three months without his baby girl was more painful than he would ever admit. Kai Taru was a fairly independent person. Or, at least he was before he got married and had a child with the woman he adored.

He never imagined that Mizuno would be the type of person to leave at the drop of a hat. Sure, she wanted her daughter to have a peaceful life. He did too. But to walk out on their family just because Minoko chose a different path in life…he didn't know what to think about that, even after all this time.

It just wasn't like her.

They were childhood sweethearts, meeting at age nine, dating by age thirteen, and married by eighteen... On second thought, maybe he hadn't been all that independent.

But that didn't matter. Because the two of them had weathered through so many tough times together. The loss of their families over the course of a single year because of a combination of sickness and bandits. The miscarriage of three children before they were blessed with Minoko after five years of trying to have a kid. Being forced from their home in the middle of the night.

But they had been happy.

Mizuno had always been so vocal about the importance of family. They both knew loss. They both knew grief. They both agreed that even if the world was against them, they would make it through as long as they had each other. They had been in each other's life for almost twenty years...and now she was gone.

It didn't make sense.

He had looked for Mizuno whenever Minoko had gone out on missions. After the letter telling him where to bring her things, he hadn't seen or heard from her. He had even gone to that apartment where he had brought her things after Minoko had been admitted to the hospital. He told Minoko that Mizuno didn't want to come, but the truth was that the landlord said that she had only been there for a week before some genin were sent to move everything once more. He didn't want his little girl to worry. Better to have a clean break than to be left wondering…like he was now.

He had no leads on his wife.

"Well, ex-wife" he supposed. He cringed at the thought.

He still loved her. Kami, did he still love her. He'd give almost anything to hold Mizuno again. Anything but his relationship with his little miracle child.

The child who had been gone for three months.

Taru let out a weary sigh as he rested his head against his workbench.

Minoko used to come and get him after he worked himself into oblivion. When she was busy or exhausted from training, Gaara would do so in her place. But Taru hadn't seen the sweet red-head in about a month. He had heard stories though. Bloody, crazed stories that stopped him from seeking the boy out.

He missed seeing the shy smile the child would make and the gentle reprimand Gaara would give him for working so much. Taru shouldn't look forward to a five year old treating him like a child, but it was endearing.

What was happening to the people around him?

He missed seeing his daughter's little friend. He missed seeing his wife when he came home from a long day.

Most of all, though, he missed Minoko. Her coal black hair and sparkling ruby eyes and a smile that lit up the room. The late night discussions the two of them would share over hot chocolate and tea that were far too mature, but were entirely normal from his little girl.

Taru smiled gently at the thought. Hopefully she would come home soon. He missed her so much.

…

Gaara sat on the roof of his house and stared up at the moon. The ethereal glow was oddly soothing to his normally chaotic thoughts.

The last few weeks had been relatively peaceful for him. Only two more assassins had tried to kill him. They died instead.

Mother was quite pleased with that.

There hadn't been another attempt in a while. Surprisingly, he was able to push Mother's voice back now that the danger had receded. He was still on edge, but he no longer had to listen to the screaming and demands for blood every minute of every day. He'd enjoy it while he could.

Yashamaru-oji-san was around less frequently. He was probably scared. Everyone was scared of him. His uncle, his father, his siblings, even random strangers on the street that he'd never met.

Why couldn't just one person accept him? Just one. That's all he needed. He wasn't greedy.

A sudden pain tore through his mind as a blurred image of a girl his age came into focus. Red eyes a shade darker than his hair. Black hair pulled into a neat bun. A kind smile. A person that gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek without hesitation.

Who was she?

He felt a vague familiarity dancing at the edge of his thoughts, just out of reach. He knew her somehow.

Where was she?

He hadn't seen her recently, he knew that much. But he felt like she was important.

But if she was that important, if she was that special...why wasn't she there? With him?

If she was scared of him too, then he didn't need her. A slow, resigned smile spread across across his features.

She will prove my existence.

A/N: And there's chapter 21! Probably not as long as you'd hoped considering my lack of updates…I'm sorry! I hope you like it though. Review and let me know :D