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

Chapter 33

"Alright you guys, you know the drill. Line up if you want a shave or haircut."

Minoko watched Muni, Hotoka, Ganjou, and Saki move to stand at the door. It was the time of month for the highly supervised cuts. She noticed that there were two extra guards this time. Probably from the mini riot earlier that week. She was actually surprised to see they still allowed her cell to have shaving privileges.

She watched as Muni got a quick shave with a razor. He definitely looked better without facial hair. The clean shaven look complimented his playful childish side too well. Hotoka just had his beard trimmed down and then had his hair cut short so it wasn't tickling his ears or getting into his eyes as he read. Ganjou had his beard completely shaved off and didn't bother with a haircut. He seemed to like it at his shoulders.

As Saki started to get her hair trimmed into a somewhat choppy bob, Muni walked over to Minoko and pulled her over to the door too. She had no idea why and looked at him strangely. He didn't explain, but kept a hold of her arm like she would try to run away.

Once Saki was finished, Muni pulled her to the door, "This one needs a cut. Short enough not to stick to their neck when they work out."

Minoko jerked in surprise, but couldn't move with the firm grip on her arm. Muni looked down at her and had tried to communicate to her to go with it. She hesitated for a moment. She loved her long hair. Daddy and Gaara always complimented it and it was one thing that her mommy was proud of before she left.

But they weren't there anymore. They couldn't see her hair anyway and it did stick uncomfortably since she didn't have a hair tie.

She straightened and took a step forward, just nodding to the female guard with the scissors. The lady shrugged and had her turn around. She watched Muni as she heard the scissors snipping the long black strands and felt the hair fall from her head. She would be getting an explanation. She didn't for one second think it was just about training.

Soon enough she was finished and gently pushed back into the cell. It closed with a clang and the guards moved onto the next cell. She still didn't know any of their names. She had decided against it after Shisha was taken. She didn't want to get close to more people just for them to disappear. Even after that jonin, Iwamoto, said it wouldn't happen, there was no guarantee.

Muni grabbed her softly and led her over to the guys that started to pass out cards for a game and she was pulled in to her usual space. Her eyes shifted from one man to the next, but none of them were looking at her. They were focused on their cards like they were the most interesting thing in the world. For the next several minutes, they didn't talk much beyond saying they raised, called, or folded. Minoko figured they were waiting for the shinobi to finish up their level and leave before saying anything.

She played through two rounds before the shinobi left, then she stared at Muni and waited for an explanation

The guy sighed and put down his cards, rubbing the back of his neck, "Look, I know that it was sudden and I didn't give you a warning about it ahead of time, but it was for the best."

Minoko raised an eyebrow and touched her suddenly short hair. It barely touched her ears and she could feel cool air against her neck for the first time in months, "How exactly was cutting my hair for the best? No way you did it just because of training. You didn't have the other girls do it."

Muni chuckled uncomfortably and sighed. His hand dropped from his neck and he glanced away.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Do I have to do everything here?" sighed Hotoka from his sitting position across from her. He placed both hands on his knees and looked Minoko directly in the eye, "Look, you were almost taken a few days ago and it probably wouldn't have happened if you were a boy. So we cut your hair, change your name and act like you're a bratty boy instead of a prissy girl. Problem solved."

"Are you implying that girls are prissy by nature Hotoka?" came the saccharine sweet voice of Koumi, her lashes fluttering sarcastically.

"Yeah," Mia huffed, "You wanna go and see how 'prissy' we can be?"

Minoko blocked out the bickering and looked at Muni again. He was looking at her out of the corner of his eye, probably to get a reading on her reaction. She didn't know how to react honestly. How did you act like a boy? Her mommy always taught her how to act like a young lady should and Yashamaru taught her how to act like a kunoichi. Sure he had her do infiltration exercises to blend in to just about any environment, but none of those times were as a boy. Now she was expected to basically do a long term undercover mission with no end date.

"How exactly is this going to work? I mean, the guards know I'm a girl. They're warned about me when they come down so they don't let me out. And what about when I'm older and don't grow facial hair or get a deep voice?"

"We'll deal with the puberty stuff later on when it becomes relevant," Ganjou said with a calm smile, "The guards don't really care enough to take stock of us and really pay attention. I've heard them just reference you as 'the kid' instead of a girl specifically. We just need to refer to you in masculine terms and we should be good."

Saki walked over and hugged her from behind, "You don't have to act much different. Just spend more time with the guys then us girls when you can and act like a shinobi. You're a chunin right? Should be simple enough for you."

Minoko leaned into the hug and took a deep breath. It felt strange for her hair not to be pulled uncomfortably in the hug. Usually it'd get stuck between their bodies and she'd have to adjust it to get more comfortable. This was really happening. She was going to change her entire identity.

"So" she said after a breath, "What's my name going to be?"

Muni finally turned to look at her fully, a mischievous grin on his face, "Well your name is Kai Minoko right?"

He waited for her to nod before waving his hand in a vague gesture, "So we'll just call you Kai. Easy to remember and a common enough given name for boys."

Minoko nodded slowly. It could work.

She touched her hair again. It'll take some getting used to but, "I guess I'm Kai now."

…

Gaara breathed heavily under the full moon, blood dripping from his sand that had risen to protect him again. They should know by now that the full moon was the worst time to try and kill him. He had a harder time with Mother and it was more difficult to reign in the violent surge of anger. He usually ended up killing instead of just knocking out his assailants during this time.

He took a ragged breath in to calm down. The headache started to recede as his nose filled with the stench of blood. He really hated killing. But he also hated the fact that so many people thought it was ok to kill him. It was getting old. It was getting harder and harder to hold back. Minoko used to ground him. Used to be there to calm him and quiet Mother. Taru was kind and a nice distraction, as were Kana and Yuri, but they didn't have the same effect as his first friend.

He read his journal about her every day and looked at her picture to sear her image in his mind. Taru gave him Sugar as a memento and he kept it right next to Cinnamon on his pointless bed in his room. Sometimes he would hug the bear and try to find her scent on the fluffy toy. It was fading quickly and his heart hurt to realize it would be gone soon. Just like her.

He lowered his sand and looked impassively at the bloody lump of flesh that was left on the roof of the building he had taken refuge on that night. He couldn't make out any features on the mangled body. Just bones breaking through skin that was rubbed raw from the sand and blood forming a pool beneath the exposed organs littering the once pristine rooftop. Some patrol or another would find and deal with the corpse. It unfortunately was becoming more of a routine. Hopefully the Kazekage would stop sending people after him soon. It couldn't be good for their numbers.

He turned away from the scene and jumped to the next roof over. He better find a new place to relax. He was getting too comfortable with the scent of blood in the air and it disgusted him. He wasn't a monster. He wasn't. He didn't want to be.

But the village wasn't making it easy for him to keep the beast at bay. Pretty soon, he was sure he would stop holding back. Even when the moon wasn't full and Mother wasn't so vengeful. He wasn't a monster.

Yet.

A/N: Please review!