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

Chapter 25

It had been a little over three months since Minoko returned from her solo mission to Kiri. She was slowly but surely able to put the incidents of that village from her mind with the help of her suddenly-very-attentive daddy and her unusually clingy best friend.

Gaara came over the morning after her return to apologize for his reaction the night before. It took a while, but he had eventually pulled her into the privacy of her room and sat her down to tell her what had happened in the village when she was gone.

To say she was furious would have been an understatement. A very severe understatement. Assassins? Really!? How could the Kazekage sanction the assassination of a five year old child!? When they were first attacked in the village, she had thought it was an outsider that had infiltrated her village…but now…

She started pacing as Gaara continued to outline the events of the past few months. He hesitated over certain details (his gradual loss of memory, initially just defending himself from attackers, and finally, his brutal retaliation when many of his memories of her had been suppressed). She had paused in her pacing when she heard his breath hitch on the last detail and turned to see his face twisted in self-loathing and guilt.

She immediately went to hug him, reassuring him that he wasn't at fault and that he was just defending himself. She could still see the look on his face and hear the words he spoke in quivering disbelief.

…

"How!?" he nearly yelled, pushing her away to glare at her. She could easily see that there was no heat in the look, merely cautious skepticism, "How could you possibly be ok with this? Didn't you hear what I said? I killed them! I made them suffer! I-I used my sand and squeezed the life out of them and laughed when their blood pooled under my feet. I laughed!" he took a shuddering breath, hand clenched into fists at his side, and breathed out, "I'm a monster."

"And now you feel guilty about it," she said in a calm tone, looking right into his tear-filled eyes, "Like I said last night, a monster wouldn't feel guilty."

Gaara's eyes widened and a single tear slipped down his cheek. Minoko wiped it away with a small smile. She took his hands and placed them around her waist, then threw her arms around his neck, "You're my best friend, I love you bunches and bunches, and no matter what you do, we'll be together forever!"

…

They had eventually gone back to a relatively normal routine after that night. Gaara would either come to her house in the mornings or meet her at the training grounds. They would train for a while in earth manipulation and taijutsu, eat lunch, then meet up with Yashamaru-sensei (when he was in town) in the afternoon to learn and practice a new kata or technique of some kind until sunset. Then Gaara would walk her home, she'd initiate their hug ritual, and she'd go to bed just to do it all over again the next day.

One week after she had returned, she had been called into the Kazekage's office. The Kazekage told her that, because of the results of her last mission, she was being promoted to chunin. He made a speech about obedience and doing what's right in order to benefit the village, no matter the cost.

It took everything in her to remain respectful and not yell at him like she so wanted to.

A couple months later, in the third week of January, they celebrated Gaara's sixth birthday. Minoko, Taru, Yashamaru, and Gaara had all gathered together for a small party for the blushing birthday boy. He had seemed surprised for some odd reason. Which was silly. There was no way that Minoko wouldn't throw him a party, especially when she had missed his fifth birthday do to hospitalization last year.

She had given him a cactus from Kiri that she had been keeping safe in a storage scroll. It was unique in the fact that it thrived in a humid environment. It would be a challenge to keep it alive in the desert, but it was something that Gaara was eager to work at.

Minoko couldn't remember the last time he had smiled so much. She grinned as she shared in his excitement and kissed his cheek. His blush was so cute! Though, for some reason, her daddy ended up glaring at the red-head for the rest of the party...

...

Minoko and Gaara had just finished their morning training session and were eating at his favorite restaurant.

"Yashamaru-oji-san told me that he had a mission today, so he won't be able to train us after lunch," Gaara said as he took a bite of his salted tongue dish. How he could eat so much of the organ, she'd never know.

"Huh, so what do you wanna do?"

"I was planning to go to the greenhouse. Do you want to come, too?" he asked, trying to conceal a slight hopeful note.

Minoko grinned around her bite of mitarashi dango, "Sure! I haven't been there in a while. You'll have to show me your new cactu-"

Gaara looked up at her sudden cut off and watched as Minoko's eyes grew unfocused. Less than thirty seconds passed when she blinked herself into the present, her eyebrows scrunched in annoyance.

"Or maybe not," she said with a sigh. She looked around to make sure no one was paying attention and leaned closer to him, lowering her voice to a barely audible whisper, "Kazekage-sama is going to have someone get me in a few minutes. Probably a mission of some kind."

"Just you?" he asked, pursing his lips together.

She nodded and looked outside at the position of the sun, "I should have enough time to at least walk with you partway to the greenhouse."

Gaara nodded and stood, leaving enough money on the table to cover both of their meals. It was part of their deal. Whoever chose the restaurant also had to pay the bill. They always made sure to alternate so that it stayed relatively even cost-wise. The fact that they didn't have to deal with the scared waitress having to split the check that way was a large factor as well.

She and Gaara walked up and down different streets, taking their time and talking about day-to-day nonsense. There was a peace about them that was only slightly strained by the knowledge that she'd have to leave soon. Gaara was always nervous when she had to go somewhere without him. It was surprisingly endearing rather than annoying. Minoko was just glad that he cared about her enough to make sure that she was ok. It always made her heart feel fuzzy and her face warm whenever he would do something to show it.

As they rounded another corner, Minoko and Gaara came to a stop, seeing the temple with the red-haired miko that they had seen over a year ago. She was sitting near the entrance of the tori and holding a small bundle in her arms.

Minoko and Gaara glanced at one another and slowly snuck forward to take a closer look. The miko was smiling down at it and making a gentle, bouncing, rocking motion. As they got closer, they could faintly hear soft humming.

The two children were almost entranced by the tender display and didn't notice how close they had gotten nor did they hear the humming stop. All they saw was the tiny cherub-like face of the baby staring up at them with wide, purple eyes.

"Well, hello there."

Both kids' heads jerked up to look at kind eyes staring back at them.

"Hello," Minoko said softly. Gaara inclined his head in greeting as he took a small, shy step behind Minoko.

"Do you kids need anything?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head in genuine curiosity.

The two friends glanced at each other, communicating to each other without words their surprise. She wasn't afraid of them...or rather, of Gaara. Or if she was, she was very good at hiding it.

Minoko knew Gaara wouldn't talk, so she quickly turned back to the woman, "Um…sorry for bothering you. We were just…curious. About the baby," she said in a hesitant tone.

The miko laughed softly, "Well, she's almost a toddler at this point," she said fondly, "It's kind of hard to tell though since she's so tiny, but she's about eighteen months old now."

The miko looked up and chuckled at the awed expression on the young children's faces, "Do you want to hold her?"

Two sets of wide, panicked eyes shot up to hers as the two rapidly shook their heads. She tried to hide her amusement as best as she could, "I'm Kiku Kana, and this is Yuri."

Minoko blinked rapidly and a dusting of red spread across her cheeks, "I'm Kai Minoko. This is my best friend, Gaara," she said as she stepped to the side to fully reveal the red-head. Gaara shuffled his feet a bit and lightly bowed his head again, his eyes continually flickering to the child.

Kana opened her mouth to respond but was beaten by a squeal of joy from the toddler in her arms. Yuri smiled a large smile with a couple small teeth lining her gums. The little girl tugged her arm out of the blanket and reached for the closest thing in front of her…which just happened to be Gaara's finger. When had he gotten that close?

Gaara froze as he glanced between the tiny hand gripping his finger to Kana, trying to figure out what to do in this type of situation. He didn't want to accidently hurt the baby, but he also really wasn't used to people other than Minoko touching him. He was vaguely surprised that his sand hadn't reacted to Yuri or Kana in any way…he was more surprised to find that Kana just smiled a bit wider.

"I think that she likes you Gaara-kun."

He blinked and slowly nodded his head, careful not to make any sudden movements. He tried to take his finger back, but the tiny little thing had a firm grip. Yuri giggled when he started to gently tug his hand, but she wouldn't relinquish the appendage.

Her gentle giggle made him pause and his eyes softened a bit as he looked at the innocent face before him.

While this was going on, Minoko glanced around behind Kana towards the temple, "Where's her daddy?" she asked, not really thinking her question through.

Kana's eyes lost some of their amusement and turned a bit melancholy, "I'm afraid she doesn't have one."

Minoko furrowed her brows in confusion, "But…but she has to! A baby is made with a boy dancer and a girl dancer together. You can't dance by yourself to get one."

Kana choked on a bubble of laughter, "Dancer, huh?"

Minoko nodded sagely, "Uh-huh, adults have a really weird dance that they do when they love someone most in the world! And sometimes a baby comes after the dance."

The miko covered her mouth with one hand, disguising her laughter with a cough, "I see. Well, Yuri did come about because of…a dance… He and I did love each other very much, but he unfortunately disappeared just after Yuri was born."

Minoko lowered her head a bit, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring back sad memories."

"It's fine, dear," Kana said with a wave of her hand, "You were just curious."

"Minoko," came the slightly gravelly voice of her quiet best friend. She looked over to him to find that he was still somewhat mesmerized by the infant, "do you think we'll have a baby one day, too?"

Kana tried to discretely bite her fist to keep in her disbelieving snort of laughter.

"Well," Minoko said, crossing her arms in serious contemplation, "You are the person that I love the most in the whole wide world. And we did say we would dance when we got older. Sooo…probably."

Gaara nodded, "Yeah."

Kana's shoulders were shaking as she choked out, "How old are you two?"

Minoko looked back to her and uncrossed her arms, lightly bouncing in place, "Gaara just turned six! I'm turning six soon, too. Just two more months!" she stated with a grin while holding up two fingers.

"I see. Well, then you two are well on your way to becoming adults aren't you? But you should probably wait a long time until you…dance. I think you'd be quite the cute couple when you get older, though. Maybe you could get married here at the temple?"

Minoko had a small smile on her face and pink blooming on her cheeks that she hoped would be misinterpreted as warmth from the desert's noon-day sun.

Before she could respond, an Anbu member appeared next to them, causing her response to die in her throat. The man glanced sharply at Gaara, still being held captive by a deceptively strong grip, with unhidden trepidation and surprise. All was quiet for a few seconds before Kana cleared her throat, "Can I help you Anbu-san?"

The man blinked at her, probably perplexed as to why she was so calm in the given situation. He seemed to dismiss the confusion a moment later, though, as he turned to Minoko, "The Kazekage has requested your presence for a solo-mission, Kai-san. You are to go to the tower immediately."

Minoko sighed and bobbed her head, "I can be there within the next five minutes."

The masked man nodded curtly and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

Minoko turned to the now-freed Gaara and smiled softly at him with a shrug, "Duty calls."

Gaara pursed his lips again, "Be careful."

She took his hands and placed them around her waist and threw her arms around his shoulders, "You're my best friend, I love you bunches and bunches, and we'll be together forever."

His arms tightened a bit before he released her. A smile was shared between the two shinobi before he was left alone with the mother and daughter. He shifted awkwardly and quickly excused himself, stating that he needed to go to the greenhouse.

Kana smiled in understanding, "Of course. And you're more than welcome to stop by again and say hi to Yuri. I'm sure she'd love to see you again, Gaara-kun."

He bowed and turned to leave, a strange warmth growing in his chest at her words. Even though Minoko had left for a mission, he couldn't remember a time when he had felt so content with his life. Maybe things were finally looking up.

A/N: My brain said that the story needed some more fluff...and then decided to get carried away with another plot bunny T.T My original outline will need to wait one or two more chapters *sigh* Ah well. Let me know what you think!