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

Chapter 41

Kankuro paced in front of his brother's office, hands wringing nervously. It should be fine. His request wasn't outrageous. He didn't know why he was so jittery. Probably because there was a lot on the line here.

"Kankuro, stop pacing and just come in. Your fidgeting is getting tiresome."

Kankuro stopped abruptly at the sound of his brother's voice and opened the door a bit sheepishly, "Hey, little bro. Do you have a moment?"

Gaara finished filling out the paper in front of him, then folded his hands and looked at Kankuro, "For you, any time."

Kankuro couldn't help the fond smile that flittered across his face. A few years ago, he never would have believed this level of closeness with Gaara was possible. It was nice to feel the now familiar bond with his younger sibling.

Kankuro cleared his throat and took a breath, "You know how I guard the prisons every other week?"

Gaara nodded, "It always came as surprise when you disappeared for weeks at a time when we were younger. I reviewed your mission logs after I was appointed and saw you regularly volunteered for a position down there. Most people don't do so unless ordered. Do you want to stop?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Kankuro said hastily, "It's just…I want to talk to you about the prisoners there."

Gaara inclined his head and Kankuro continued, "The last Kazekage stuck most of them in there on loose accusations with no chance of freedom. A lot of the people in the area I work in should have been released years ago, but they're stuck there. There's even a guy our age that's been there since they were a kid cause he rejected an order from the fucker."

Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow at the form of address of the former Kazekage, but didn't move to correct Kankuro's language. Instead, his sand started to lazily rotate around the room, causing the intern that popped in to drop off papers to squeak and bolt out the door. He was definitely angry about this. He hid it well now, but losing his iron control over his sand like that and the gleam in his eye definitely confirmed what he was thinking about the situation, "I see. So you want me to review the files of those in custody."

"Yeah. Please. I've gotten close with the people there and Kai's been my friend for ages now. I'd like them to have a chance of seeing the sun again before they die."

Gaara blinked slowly and his sand settled around the room. He nodded as though nothing just happened, "I'll see what I can do. It'll take a while to go through all of the files. If I'm doing this, it'll be for every prisoner currently incarcerated, not just your area."

Kankuro smiled widely, "Thank you, Gaara. You have no idea how much this means to me."

He waved to his new leader and turned to rush to get to the prison. He didn't have any shifts this week, but he had a lot of people to give good news to.

…

Kankuro practically flew down the stairs, startling the current guard and everyone else.

"KAI! Kai, where are you, pretty-boy?"

"Kitty-chan, if you keep yelling like that, I think everyone in a three mile radius will become deaf," Minoko snarked as she moved to get closer to the bars to see what the fuss was about. Kankuro never came during other guards' shifts.

"Never mind that! I've got some news!"

The current guard tried to interrupt him, but Kankuro just waved him off, "Oh, go take a bathroom break or something."

The guard looked insulted, but stormed off anyway muttering curses.

"So, what's this 'great news' you keep going on about?"

The older boy's face brightened significantly, "I may have just scored you a ticket out of here."

Her heart dropped into her stomach before it started racing, "What?" she asked quietly in disbelief.

"Yeah! And not just you. I talked with Gaara about the prison cells and how some of you ended up here. He was irritated when he found out what the previous Kazekage did. Scared the shit out of some poor intern passing by when his sand started whipping around the office."

Minoko could hardly hear him anymore, while the other prisoners were listening aptly to every word.

"He's going to dig up the files of every prisoner in the system and visit every cell to evaluate who should and should not be released!"

Minoko snapped to attention and paled slightly, "He's going to visit?"

"Yep! You could be a free man before you know it! Kai? Hey, you ok man? You're not looking so good."

Minoko swayed slightly in a daze, "…Yeah…yeah…just a lot to take in…I'm…going to go lie down."

"…Ok," Kankuro said uncertainly. The others asked Kankuro a lot of questions about when and how evaluations would be done. He elaborated as much as he could and told them that he would get as much information about it as possible and help Gaara with the politics and paperwork surrounding the overhaul so it would go a bit faster. Minoko was lost in her own thoughts, one repeating over and over again.

Gaara's coming here.

…

Once Kankuro left an hour later, Minoko got up from her prone position on the ground and caught the attention of the others in the cell.

"So," Muni started, walking over and plopping down next to her, "You going to tell us what's got you so freaked out?"

"Yeah," Mia said in a pinched tone, "You'd think you'd be thrilled to get out of here, but you look like you've been sentenced to death or something."

Minoko shifted slightly under the curious stares of the people that became like family to her.

"Are you alright sweetheart?" Koumi asked, blue eyes gentle as she ran a hand over Minoko's short hair, "You really don't look good."

Minoko swallowed and nodded jerkily.

"Yeah, that's really convincing kid," Hotoka grouched, earning him a jab to the ribs from Mia that he returned in equal measure.

"I…I knew Gaara…from before."

That quieted the others and Saki leaned forward a bit, "Did he hurt you at all? We've all heard the stories."

Minoko quickly shook her head, "No, no he would never hurt me. We were best friends. He…" Her voice grew soft, "he was the one I was supposed to kill."

The others straightened up in surprise and she saw Ganjou run a meaty hand down his face in disbelief.

"That fucker of a Kazekage," Muni growled, causing Minoko to jerk in shock. He almost never cursed. She saw a few others nod in agreement and felt Koumi start to add nails to scratch her scalp in comfort.

"Is that why you're nervous? You think he'll blame you or something?" asked Mia.

Minoko nodded shallowly, "He either thinks I'm dead or that I betrayed him. Either way, I don't know how to face him."

"Wait," Hotoka said in a dry tone, "Didn't you tell puppet boy that you were in love with the guy that put you in here?"

Minoko could feel her cheeks burst into flames and hid her face in her hands. She managed to get a squeak out, but not much else.

"Shut it Hotoka, let the kid love. They deserve whatever happiness they want!" Mia said in a brisk tone.

"What! I wasn't saying anything against it! Kai can do whatever the fuck he wants. I don't give a shit. I was just curious."

"Oooooh, curious about love are we?" Mia jibed back while batting her eyelashes.

"Fuck off," Hotoka ground out between clenched teeth as he glared at the auburn haired woman.

"Kai," Koumi said softly, still running a calming hand over her head, "What'll you do when he gets here? It probably won't be more than a month before he comes by."

Minoko lifted her head and glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, "I was wondering if you all would hide me when he gets here. If he doesn't see me, he never has to learn about what actually happened."

"You sure about that kid?" Muni asked in concern, "If he was really your friend, I don't think he'd like to be left in the dark."

Minoko took a breath and nodded. The others looked at each other in silence for a moment before Saki spoke up, "If you're sure. But just so you know, this probably won't work."

"I'll take my chances."

A/N: Please review!