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

Chapter 38

The next two weeks flowed in a monotonous pattern. Wake up, use the restroom, eat whatever rations the guards gave out, taijutsu until she practically dropped with the occasional sparring, a game with the others every now and then. Repeat.

The guards were generally condescending or ignored the prisoners outright. It made Minoko almost long for the annoyance that had haunted the cells for a week. The highlight of the week now was the 'bath' that consisted of a rag and a bucket of water.

Ganjou had talked Koumi into singing for them and her melodic voice drifted through the cells and had a calming effect on those present. It was a song of love and loss and pulled on the heartstrings of those listening. Even Hotoka and Mai stopped their bickering to listen.

Minoko never really thought about love in the romantic sense, but the more often Koumi sang about it, the more often her thoughts drifted to Gaara. She may have loved him. More than a friend at least. Or she was sure it was heading in that direction when they were too young to really understand what romantic love was. She wondered what he looked like now. What his voice sounded like. She wondered if he still thought about her at all.

Muni plopped down next to her in an almost trancelike state as they listened to the singing together. Seriously, how did Koumi do this without some kind of auditory genjustu? She was so captivating.

"You know," Muni whispered, afraid to disrupt the performance, "This reminds me of my fiancé."

Minoko looked up at him and waited for him to continue. He rarely talked about his family. He said it hurt too much.

"She was a bright light in my life. She was like the desert sun. Blinding at the best of times and could burn you with a look if you stepped out of place." Muni smiled sadly as he continued watching Koumi with a faraway look, "When we found out she was pregnant, we were so nervous. We weren't supposed to be together for various reasons, but we loved each other. We made it work. She wasn't fired from her job, miraculously, and she stayed healthy throughout the pregnancy. It really suited her, being pregnant. Like she was born for motherhood." Muni paused as his eyes took on a shimmer. His voice cracked a bit as he continued, "When our baby was born…I never felt so much love. For my fiancé, for my daughter. It was the happiest moment of my life. I left their side for just a moment to get her something to eat when I was arrested. I never knew what our daughter was named. Just that she looked like her mother with my purple eyes. I knew a great love and lost it in the span of moments because of a mission I abandoned. But I can't find it in me to regret being there for Kana when she needed me. I only regret I couldn't be there for her longer."

Minoko now fully faced Muni and placed a hand on his shoulder, seemingly snapping him out of his reminiscing. Kana. She knew a woman named Kana. One with a child with bright purple eyes that match the ones she was staring at, "Yuri," Minoko said in a calm tone, full of certainty, "Your fiancé was a miko right? At the Inari shrine in the center of the village?" With Muni's wide-eyed nodding, Minoko continued, "I met them several times. Kana was so kind to me and my friend. She had a beautiful little girl named Yuri that had orange hair like her mom and purple eyes like yours. I'm sorry I dodn't make the connection earlier."

He jerked slightly then got a faraway look, "Yuri. Beautiful. My little lily." Minoko saw him hastily wipe a tear and pull himself together before he turned his attention back to her, "You know, seeing you here, I think about my child a lot. If this is what it would feel like to raise a child. Thank you for letting me dote on you from time to time. It helps ease the ache."

Minoko took her hand back and inclined her head, her own eyes growing misty, "I think of you like a second dad too, you know? I will always love my biological dad, but you were the one that was there for me the past several years when he couldn't be. Thank you for being part of my family."

Muni cleared his throat and shifted slightly. He ruffled her hair and went back to watching Koumi transition into a new song.

Yeah, love was difficult. No matter what kind it was.

...

Two days later Minoko was shaken from her bored daydreams and looked to the doorway when she heard the familiar pattern of footsteps indicating a guard shift. She sat up straighter when the new guard came into view. A hood, facepaint, and a familiar smirk.

No way.

Once the evening guard left the cells, Kankuro turned toward her and raised a hand, "Hey Kai-kun, what's up?"

"Don't call me –kun. And what are you doing back here?" she asked while shifting to stand and make her way closer to the bars.

"Told you I'd be back."

"Didn't believe you. But…why?"

He shrugged halfheartedly, "You never answered all my questions. Call me curious."

Minoko smirked, "You know what they say: Curiosity killed the cat."

Kankuro dropped his head into his hands, "Still with that name? Seriously?"

Minoko shrugged nonchalantly, "You call me '–kun', I call you Kitty-chan. That simple. Besides, it suits you."

Kankuro lifted his head and rolled his eyes, "Whatever," he said with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "Anyway, brought you something."

Minoko raised a brow and had to stop herself from gasping when he pulled out a book. Then another. Then two more.

Minoko looked at the offered books which ranged from fantasy to scientific biology and glanced at him with a serious expression, "I think I might love you right now."

Snickers came from behind her as the others woke up to find out what was happening. Hotoka sauntered over and looked at the books with a spark in his eyes, "I might love you a bit too kid," he said as he reached through the bars and practically snatched the tomes from the boy's hands.

Kankuro rubbed the back of his head in awkward silence at the confessions as he gazed after Hotoka. The man had already plopped down in a corner with one of the books open on his lap.

"Welp, I'm not reading any of those for a while," Minoko said. At Kankuro's confused look she smiled lightly, "He gets possessive of books more than I do. He probably won't let me read any until he finishes them."

"Guess I'll just have to bring more later." Kankuro said with a teasing grin.

…

Time after that went fairly quickly. Every two weeks, Kankuro would come back for his shift. And every two weeks, Minoko was surprised to see him back. During his time in the underground jail, Kankuro kept his word and brought new books or card games for each of the cells that lined the floor. If he slipped a few extra to her cell, well, no one claimed he wasn't biased.

He even brought a small training koto for Koumi to play on while she sang. Minoko didn't know who was more pleased with the new instrument: Koumi or Ganjou. Both showed their appreciation to an embarrassed Kankuro. Others were appreciative as well since the music really added to Koumi's performance. It took her a couple days to get the hang of the instrument after so long without one, but it was easy to see that she was skilled with it. It made the days more enjoyable. Minoko was even taught a few songs when she showed interest.

While Kankuro was gone, he would learn as much as he could from the outside world then would come to teach Minoko different techniques that he picked up.

Things went on like that for nearly six months before he did something incredibly stupid.

"Are you sure you should be doing this, Kitty-chan? I mean, I'm not complaining, but I'm sure your supervisors would."

Minoko was stretching outside of her cell in the hallway of the floor. The other prisoners were watching from behind the bars as the two youngest people there got ready to spar.

"What, are you scared Kai-kun? I'll take it easy on you, don't worry."

Minoko narrowed her eyes and stood, falling into a standard combat form, "Let's see if you'll keep that attitude after a few minutes."

What followed was something that could be considered a spar…of sorts…more like a beat down. Kankuro winced as he held his bruised jaw, "Are you really younger than me?"

"How old are you again?"

"Ten."

"Then yes, by two years," Minoko replied with a smirk.

Kankuro mumbled under his breath, "What is it with eight-year olds these days, seriously! First Gaara, now Kai, geez."

Minoko's head snapped up, "What did you just say?"

Kankuro shook his head and stood up from his prone position on the floor, "Nothing. Just that I need to find someone that isn't stronger than me so that I can finally beat someone."

"Ooooor you could keep fighting stronger opponents and increase your skills."

He gave a slow nod, "True…but I think I'll stick with sparring you. Temari and my brother are just scary," he said with a shudder.

"Who's Temari?" she asked as she stood over by her cell doors. Kankuro walked over and unlocked it after the others moved back a bit. She entered and internally sighed as the lock clicked closed again.

"My sister. Freaking barbaric woman," he said with another shudder.

"Barbaric?"

"She's strong! If I didn't know better, I'd say she was a guy. And she's starting to use a giant fan…" he said, paling slightly.

"And a fan is scary because…?"

"She hits me with it!" he rubbed the top of head, probably from a painful memory.

"So just dodge it."

"Tried that, learned quickly not to. The more I dodge, the harder the hit is whenever she gets it to land."

"Ah."

"Trust me Kai-kun. Women are scary. Can't live with them, can't escape their wrath. Don't go near them."

I am one though. "Don't really have much of a choice here Kankuro," she said, gesturing to the cell with a few women in it.

"Oh…right…"

"And how much knowledge could you possibly possess on women to make that overall assumption that they're all scary?"

A mischievous grin lit up his face that instantly made her regret asking. What followed was an hours long speech about the different girls in the village. Their names, their hobbies, likes and dislikes, and of course, what made them scary. What went unsaid was what Kankuro did to make them take their anger out on him in the first place.

This was going to be a long day.

…

Time passed and almost before she knew it, she was eleven. Kankuro had been a genin for the last year, which made his time in the cells stagger a bit because of his missions. He always made up for a lengthier absence by bringing extra goodies for everyone either in the form of entertainment or food.

As they got older, Kankuro continued to teach Minoko as much as he could, but she was easily catching up with his taijutsu knowledge. He finally convinced her to learn the ninjutsu that he knew even if she'd never be able to use them. It was something new, so she finally agreed. It took some time to get used to using hand signs again, so she started off simply practicing sign speed for the longest time before she was satisfied.

She would copy the hand signs he showed her and studied how the chakra flowed in his pathways. Sometimes one of the others would cut in and correct him if he said something completely wrong, but for the most part they just let him teach at his own pace.

Over the years, they had gotten to know each other pretty well. They sparred almost every day and he slowly improved enough to give her a bit of a challenge. He still tried to get her to talk about her past, but she would avoid the topic as much as possible and talk about her likes and dislikes from before being incarcerated instead.

He talked about his missions. He barely talked about his team. Just that his sister was on it and he had a sensei named Baki that was a hardass. He never mentioned his other teammate, even in passing. She asked one time, but seeing him pale that quickly made her rethink asking again.

He loved talking about how much of a playboy he was. If one were to believe him, every girl in his age range was in love with him. Minoko couldn't help but roll her eyes and gag when he went on about his various 'exploits' around the village. It mostly consisted of first dates that never lead to a second and the occasional handholding. One time he actually got a kiss, which had Minoko wondering what was wrong with that girl.

One day, Kankuro came rushing down the stairs with a wide grin on his face. After he checked in with the night shift guard and he took over, he turned to her, "I'm going to the chunin exams!"

Minoko raised an eyebrow, "Already? Didn't you just become a genin?"

"Real nice coming from you," Kankuro said with his tongue out, "Mr. Chunin at age five."

"Fair. When're you leaving?"

"Next week. I'll be gone for about two months. Try not to miss me too much, ok Kai-kun?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll miss you like I miss a splinter."

Kankuro flicked a pebble in her direction that she easily dodged, "Good luck out there."

"Thanks! Konoha will have no idea what hit them!"

A/N: I noticed that I keep switching Hotoka's name to Hotaka. I'll try to keep it more consistent from now on. Anyways, as always, please review!