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

Chapter 36

The next day Kankuro was oddly quiet. He just observed Minoko and averted his eyes whenever she looked at him. She was a little creeped out, but tried to remain unbothered by his silent watching.

She started stretching and doing warm ups for taijutsu practice. She knew that she would be on her own for a while since Ganjou and the others just started a game of cards. That could last hours honestly.

As she moved into her first kata, her mind wandered a bit. She still felt the drain of her chakra reserves from the cuffs on her wrists. She had gotten used to the fatigue that was a constant in her life and worked through the mental and physical fog. The area under the bands had formed callouses over the last two years after being rubbed raw for the first several months. They still itched now and then, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She was just glad that they seemed to have a seal on them that allowed them to expand slightly as she grew. They had the same amount of slack as when she first arrived even with her gradual growth and muscle mass.

Her thoughts shifted to her daddy and she tried to remember his face. His smile. His hugs. She never wanted to forget anything about him, so she tried to think about him every day so that her memories wouldn't fade over time. Though she was starting to forget what his voice sounded like. She knew it made her feel warm and safe. It was deep, but light in tone, but she couldn't remember the exact sound of it. It hurt.

Then there was Gaara. Her first friend. Her best friend. Even now after all this time, she still thought of him the same. He was dear to her and would never be replaced in her heart. She wondered how he was doing. She heard the night shift guard talk about him sometimes. Though he was always referred to as 'the demon' when brought up. She knew it was him though and she mourned for her friend's lost innocence. The attacks apparently kept happening and he was becoming more violent in retaliation. She couldn't really blame him. Everyone had a breaking point.

She moved her arm up in a blocking motion when she finally heard her spectator speak for the first time in hours, "You're doing that wrong."

Minoko dropped her arm and looked over at him, "What?"

"Your form. It's supposed to be like this," Kankuro stood and went through the familiar movements with ease. Minoko could feel herself turn red. She should know that. She went through these katas so often with Ganjou correcting any mistake. She shouldn't have let her mind wander so much.

She nodded in acknowledgement and redid her kata without any wasted movements. "Thanks," she grumbled out reluctantly.

"Hey, Kai-kun?"

Minoko firmly ignored him, brow twitching at the use of that blasted honorific.

"Kai-kun?"

She moved in a half turn and dropped into a crouch with one leg extended before launching out of the stance with a punch. She heard a frustrated grunt before the semi-familiar sensation of losing control of her limbs took over and she was suddenly facing a disgruntled Kankuro forcing her to walk forward to the cell bars.

"What's this Kitty-chan? I thought only dogs were taught to sit, stay, and come."

"Well if I'm a cat, maybe you're a dog, so stay boy."

Minoko tried to move her legs and found they were firmly stuck in place. She heard the others in the cell quiet down and felt their eyes on her back, ready to jump in if necessary. It calmed her a bit to have them at her back. She humfed and shot him an annoyed glare, "And? What kind of trick is this supposed to be? I'd like to have control over my own body thanks."

"Chakra strings, smart one. I'm training to be a puppeteer, remember?"

Minoko grunted and recalled Ganjou telling her just that the day before. She wouldn't admit to forgetting that tidbit in her moment of surprise.

Looking him up and down she knew she wasn't escaping without talking to the annoyance, "Well, what else can you do?"

"Why," he asked with a devious smirk, "Wanna learn?"

Minoko internally paused. Did she? Ganjou and the others knew a lot of shinobi arts. Between the six of them, she had learned a lot. But she was always down to learn more. Her brain was like a sponge that was slowly drying up without the constant influx of new information. She read the few books in the cell enough times that she had memorized them and she asked enough questions to render a person nearly comatose with the headache.

Minoko averted her eyes and grumbled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," Kankuro said with his annoying grin.

"Yes."

"Ask nicely" he said in a sing song voice that grated on every nerve in her body. She was going to regret this, she just knew it.

She looked him in the eyes and smiled as sincerely and sweetly as she could, "Kankuro, would you please teach me some new techniques?"

Seemingly surprised that she actually said it, he dropped chakra strings. "Uh…sure."

She heard the others go back to their game once she could move again. She flexed her fingers a few times, then looked to the boy in front of her, "Well?"

He blinked and rubbed the back of his head a bit, "Well, I could teach you some ninjutsu techniques that my sister's been learning. I can't do them well, but I memorized the hand signs for them. They're really cool wind jutsu!"

Minoko placed her face in her hand and sighed deeply. Seriously? Did this guy never think before opening his mouth?

"Kitty-chan, where are we?"

"What?"

"Where are we?"

"Uh…a prison?"

"Right. And what happens to shinobi prisoners when they're put here?"

"Um…they're locked up?"

"Aaaaaaaand?"

"And what?" he asks frustrated.

Minoko lifts her face out of her hand and jiggled her wrist in front of his face, "And we have chakra restraints placed on us. I can't learn ninjutsu idiot."

Kankuro stuttered over his word for a moment, his face reddening under the purple face paint, "Well, uh, I can't use them either, but you could still learn the hand signs, right?"

"Sure, and I'll never be able to use them a day in my life."

"You could once you get out of here."

Minoko looked at him in disbelief. "When I get out of here? Kitty-chan, you seem to misunderstand a lot of very basic things. I'm in here for life. We all are. We can only leave in a body bag or if the Kazekage needs a sacrifice for something."

Kankuro went from red to drastically pale in an instant as he looked at her in incredulity, "What?" he whispered.

"Like I said, basic knowledge. Another example," Minoko moved as fast as she could and stuck her hand through the bars, catching him by the neck of his bodysuit and pulled him in close, "never get too close to the cells. You never know when a prisoner is going to snap and try something." Before he could react she shoved him back and crossed her arms as he recovered.

He took a shakey breath, "Right," he looked at her in a scrutinizing manner and let out a sigh, "Well, ninjutsu's out. How about taijutsu forms? I'm learning a new one in the academy now."

Minoko raised an eyebrow, mildly shocked that he was still willing to teach her something. On the other hand, the academy taijutsu stances were something that seemed a bit underwhelming. Sure she never learned them as she never went to the academy, but still. It sounded underwhelming. Then again, it was something new.

"Sure. Show me."

Kankuro gave a wobbly smile and settled into a basic stance that was surprisingly unfamiliar to her. Maybe this wouldn't be such a waste of time.

She moved to copy him and fell into a familiar rhythm of practice. New moves were slowly brought to life and a pleasant warmth began to settle into her muscles. She couldn't help the grin that came to her face. She loved learning. Even if it was from a purple striped kitty.

A/N: Please review!