When Gaara returned to the twins' apartment, Xin's bed was empty. For a moment, he panicked and assumed the worst, that she was gone again. But before he could fly into a rage, he checked Hinata's room.

Of course she was there. She, Naruto and Hinata somehow managed to fit comfortably in Hinata's bed. Gaara only stared down at the sight, not sure if he should just leave it be. Naruto rolled over then, one blue eye visible in the dark. "You alright, man?"

"I'm fine," Gaara grunted, leaning against the door.

"Good," Naruto said around a yawn. "Now climb in, Xin missed you."

"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."

"Aww, come on. I'm on one side, you're on the other," Naruto grinned sleepily. He pulled Hinata closer to his chest. "I think it'd make her feel better. She's been having nightmares on and off for the past couple of hours."

Gaara glared at the blond, knowing damn well he couldn't resist. He sighed angrily and conceded, stepping into Hinata's room and rounding the bed. He pulled back the blankets and slid in, shifting Xin around until she was laying on top of him, cheek squished against his chest. "Nightmares about Kuraim?" Gaara asked after a silent pause.

"More or less," Naruto answered. Xin muttered in her sleep, coiling up on Gaara's chest, hands twisting in his shirt. "Mostly the illusions. She says she stabbed Kuraim in the eye."

Gaara let out a small laugh. "That's my girl," he patted her hip though she remained sleeping. "She talked to you about Kuraim?"

"Little bit. More so about those illusions, she didn't go into a lot of detail but from the sound of it, they were bad."

"I would think so since she tried to attack us," Gaara sighed, lacing his fingers together to rest his joined hands on her hip. "Those illusions must've really fucked with her head," he muttered softly.

"They did." Naruto's voice was rough, causing Gaara to look over at him. "Gaara, if that fucker gets his hands on her again, I don't think we'll be so lucky. He's going to kill her—both of them. We can't let that happen."

Gaara shifted until he was stretched out fully on his back, cradling Xin with his hips. She muttered in her sleep, mouth falling open and would no doubt end up drooling on his chest. Normally that would've been disgusting and he'd roll her ass right out of bed and onto the floor. Instead he shifted his fingers through her hair, gently cradling her skull.

He refused to let that happen.

"It's been days, I think I should go back to work."

Gaara was silent as Xin faced off against their friends. Hinata and Naruto were absent, Hinata busy with her classes and Naruto most likely keeping an eye out for her. It left Gaara to watch after Xin but they were eventually joined by everyone else. Their morning was amicable until Xin revealed that she was going back to work. It was, of course, met with joined disapproval.

"What part of no don't you understand?" Neji's scowl was harsh as he glared down at his younger cousin. Sometimes, he wondered why Hiashi was always so irritated with her growing up but he could understand now. Xin was terribly stubborn to the point of bullheadedness. "It's dangerous."

Gaara watched as Xin obsessively rearranged her spice cabinet. Usually he wouldn't think much of her urge to clean but it was the fifth time she rearranged it. "I get that you guys are worried but I can't stay in here day in and day out!" she snapped, climbing the counter to get to the back of the cabinet. He leaned against the counter, arms folded and ready to catch her if she slipped and fell.

"Xin," Tenten massaged her temples from the kitchen table. "Kuraim had no problem walking right into the bakery and threatening you. He can't do that here with the safety wards put up."

Xin sent a scathing look over her shoulder, wobbling on her knees from the jerky motion. Gaara reached up to steady her, the only one that wasn't completely agitated. "I'm going to go insane here!"

"I'm sorry, did you like almost dying?" Karin scathingly snapped. "Because we sure as hell didn't like watching Xiourang, Hinata and Gaara drag your ass back from the dead!"

"It wasn't particularly fun, no."

Gaara squeezed the back of her thigh in warning, something that was not lost on the rest of them. "You were missin' for a week," Suigetsu said slowly, eyes squinting. "And then ya turn up half-dead and delirious."

"Like I said, it wasn't fun."

"Then why put yourself back in danger?"

Xin climbed down from the counter, eyes blazing. "You guys think I'm so incapable of taking care of myself but I'm not. Who saved me from Kuraim? It wasn't any of you and it wasn't Gaara and Naruto. I'd be dead waiting on the rest of you!"

Now that was just a low blow and she almost regretted even saying it. Despite her harshness, her statement did the job of rendering them all speechless. "I outsmarted Rasa, I burnt half a demon's face off and knocked another demon's jaw off his face. I healed Karura when no one else could and I stabbed Kuraim in the eye. I'm not helpless."

"But you're human," Neji said first, eyes just as hard as hers. "You've done that but at what cost? Look at yourself, look at your scars and your trauma."

That was fair, she supposed. She was riddled with scars and she could hardly sleep through the night, experiencing nightmares on top of nightmares that often had her taking refuge in Hinata's bed. Still, it wasn't going to trap her within her own mind. Her encounter with Kuraim was still fresh but she'd overcome it. She always did, that was her thing.

"You guys are just talking in circles," Gaara finally spoke up. He was still relatively calm despite the tense atmosphere.

"Oh, here we go with you. You're just going to take her side," Karin sneered in agitation.

"I never said I was," Gaara replied evenly.

Xin made a disgruntled noise. "Oi," she glared at him. "Excuse me? So who's side are you taking? Theirs?"

He glanced down at her, unimpressed with her attitude. "I'm not taking anyone's side. You've both made good points. We shouldn't keep you locked up here but we also shouldn't release you back into the wild like a Pokemon."

"Did you…" Tenten squinted at the taller redhead. "Did you seriously just make an anime reference?"

"She's been binging anime again."

"Can you believe Satoshi is still ten? He's been ten since 1997!"

"Xin, you're still ten if you're watching Pokemon," Neji pointed out dryly.

"Oh, if only I could…oh, I don't know, get out more."

Suigetsu laughed. "Walked right into that one," he guffawed, grinning back when Xin inevitably grinned at him. He continued to snicker, even when Karin's sharp elbow roughly made contact with his ribs.

"Jokes aside," Tenten chuckled weakly. "It's not like we want to keep you trapped in here, Xin. I know it sucks but Kuraim is confident enough to walk straight up to you. Do you really think he'd give you another opportunity to escape if he takes you again?"

"Well—"

"There is no opportunity," Karin cut her off. "If you stabbed him in the eye and ran, he's probably not looking to play any more games with you. He wants to kill you."

"Excuse me but are we also forgetting that I have bills to pay? Rent? This apartment that you guys find yourselves barging into frequently isn't free," Xin argued, tapping her foot irritably. "Gai and Anko are pretty easy going but come on, I'm going to get fired at this point!"

"You aren't completely out of money, Xin. Plus, Hinata also works," Karin pointed out.

"Yeah, speaking of that, how come you aren't holding her hostage? Kuraim straight up said he would kill Hinata but I don't see her being holed up in here like some refugee."

"He's clearly focused on you and not Hinata right now."

"Oh, please. You just think I'm more reckless than her so she gets outside privileges."

"No one thinks that, Xin. We know it!"

Gaara sighed loudly and drew his finger in a circular motion. "Circles." He ignored the scathing looks thrown at him, indifferent to their obvious irritation.

"I'm going to lose my fuckin' mind!" Xin snapped, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Quit being so dramatic," Neji sighed. Having grown up with her, he was all too used to Xin's temper tantrums. "You're too old for this bratty behavior." He'd learned by now not to give in so easily to her but their friends usually fell right into her hands.

She glared at him, baring her dull teeth like a caged animal. Gaara eyed her while simultaneously nudging the knife block out of reach. He wasn't exactly sure if the miko would pull a knife on her cousin but hell, he thought once upon a time that she wouldn't actually stab him. That's how he ended up with that goddamn scar.

Ever the peacekeeper, Tenten sighed softly. "Okay, listen. We're going up to your grandparents' house to scout the area, see if we can track down Masuyo's cabin and find them. Can you last just a little bit longer until we figure things out?"

Xin continued to scowl though she wasn't baring her teeth anymore, which was a good sign. "Fine. I'll stay put for the weekend but I'm going to work on Monday." She was drawing the line at that point. Dangerous or not, she wasn't about to have an eviction notice slapped on her door.

"Xin—" Suigetsu began but she stubbornly shook her head.

"I couldn't give a fuck less, Sui! Monday morning, my ass will be at the bakery!" She stormed out of the kitchen, not giving them the chance to argue with her. They watched in exasperation as she ended the argument, hiding away in her bedroom.

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose. He loved her, he really did but sometimes he just wanted to strangle her. "Keep an eye on her while we're gone, Gaara," he said after a silent pause.

Gaara snorted, "Obviously."

Karin made a face. "Can we really trust him to do that?"

"Don't start your shit, Uzumaki."

"I'll fuckin' start my shit," Karin hissed, red eyes blaring dangerously. "We need to trust that she won't get snatched again."

"Are you implying that it was my fault Kuraim got to her?"

"I never specifically said that but if the shoe fits…"

"Okay, Uzumaki. Sure. Blame it on me but where the fuck were you again? Where are you ever when shit goes down?"

Karin's face flushed. "I said it once and I'll say it again, everything was fine until you showed up! We were handling everything."

"And I said it once and I'll say it again. If things went the way you planned, that foolish priestess would be devoured without even knowing why."

Suigetsu, Tenten and Neji watched the two redheads verbally spar. They should probably break it up before it escalated into violence but what good would that do? They'd just argue some more. Maybe if they just let them go at it, get all the anger and annoyance out in the open…

"We would never be so careless."

"Yeah, right. Sure. That's why she's been consistently chased and maimed by several demons before she and I even started a relationship."

"Your own father fuckin' kidnapped her!"

"And like she said, she outsmarted the fucker and made a fool out of him. She's not completely helpless."

It was like a tennis match. They kept looking back and forth between the two gingers. At that point, they were sure the two would never find common ground and get along. It was getting ridiculous that after all this time, the animosity between them just seemed to grow.

"I don't give a fuck what you say. I know this is just some twisted game of yours and I'm not buying it."

Gaara sighed, they were back to that? What did their relationship even have to do with Xin's safety? And besides that, who really cared if he wanted the psychotic miko? What difference would it really make?

"If this was just about a itch that needed scratching, I'd have already fucked her."

Neji narrowed his eyes at him. "Watch it."

"So, what's it about?" Suigetsu prompted, arms folded across his chest as he eyed Gaara. "Clearly ya want to, right? But that's not just it?"

Gaara glanced at him, eyeing him thoughtfully. He was, as he confessed to Rasa and Kushina, definitely in love with that pint-sized nightmare. He wasn't really embarrassed by it, unnerved maybe but not embarrassed. He knew telling the four of them wouldn't bode so well.

"Gaara…?" Tenten coaxed gently. Her chocolate brown eyes were soft, comforting even. With a start, he suspected that the Chinese Enchantress might already knew. Goddammit, she knew.

With a casual drawl, he simply admitted, "I love her."

Karin's head twitched on her neck. "You what?"

"You're not deaf, Uzumaki."

"You—You're not…you're a demon! You aren't even capable of love."

Tenten cringed and harshly elbowed Karin in the side. "You know that isn't even true, being a demon has nothing to do with love," she lightly scolded the demoness. "Explain Kushina and Minato or even you and Sui."

"Don't tell me you're falling for this bullshit," Karin scowled and waved the Enchantress off. She rounded back on Gaara, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "The last time a demon like you 'loved' a miko like her, it ended in death."

Gaara regarded her with a blank expression. "You're seriously comparing me to Kuraim?" he questioned, clearly unimpressed. He leaned closer to her and despite his casual demeanor, his eyes bled away into gold.

Suigetsu reached for Karin, arm circling her waist. He wasn't sure what was going through Gaara's mind at that moment. He knew as well as the rest of them that seeing his eyes shift to gold wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Listen to me carefully when I say this, Karin," Gaara's tone didn't change but she stiffened at the sound of her given name. "You need to let go of the past. Jun and Junko are dead. Xin and Hinata aren't their replacements. Kuraim will be dead when this is said and done. Let that shit go and focus on yourself. There's a difference between keeping them safe and completely trying to run their lives. You're trying to control something you have no right over and doing that won't atone for whatever mistakes you're festering over."

It was the most any of them ever heard him say at once. What's more, while his words were blunt and straightforward, they weren't scathing. It almost seemed like…he cared for the friendship and whether it would sour or not.

Gaara rolled his shoulders, irritated that they were all just staring at him. "Don't you morons have somewhere to be?"

It shattered the silence that fell over them. Karin huffed, face as red as her hair, and quickly left the kitchen. Suigetsu sighed and followed her, pausing long enough to knock his fist against Gaara's shoulder.

Tenten directed a slow smile at him. "I knew it," she said simply before leaving the kitchen.

All that remained was Neji. He blatantly stared at the demon with an unreadable look on his face. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. "Keep an eye on my cousin. We'll be back Sunday night, hopefully with some good news."

Gaara waited until he was completely sure they were all gone before leaving the kitchen. "Nosy motherfuckers," he grumbled irritably as he journeyed towards Xin's bedroom. He didn't bother knocking, simply letting himself in.

Xin was stretched out on her bed, engrossed in manga. He shook his head at the sight but carefully stretched out next to her. His added weight forced her to roll into him, soft body curling immediately into his. "What's this manga about?"

She peeked up from it, hardly bothered that she rolled into him. "It's Urusei Yatsura. It's about an alien Oni girl who falls for the dumbass boy. It was pretty popular in the 80s." She flipped the manga to the cover to show him the characters.

She began to explain the manga to him but he hardly paid attention to what she was actually saying. He folded his arms behind his head, relaxing as she babbled along about her nonsensical manga. She wriggled and writhed until she was halfway on top of him, one leg hitched across his waist to settle at his hip, her manga resting on his chest.

"…and honestly, sometimes it drags on but it's pretty funny. I like it anyway. A lot of fans prefer InuYasha and Ranma 1/2, I think. I like all of them, really…."

It felt awfully…homey. Domestic. Warm. Nice.

He hadn't really felt like this, not since he was a child and before his mother fell sick due to that goddamn curse. It felt…it was comforting and it was almost alarming he enjoyed the very simple existence.

"…you think they'll find Masuyo and Kuraim?"

He hadn't noticed that her babbles of Oni-alien girls and lecherous teenage boys had died off until she spoke in a more subdued tone. The manga she'd been so engrossed in lay abandoned near her pillows. She was resting on top of him, chin on her folded hands.

"I'm sure between the four of them, they have enough brain cells to find something," he replied after a brief pause, almost hypnotized by her gaze.

That got her to laugh, a sound he was grateful to hear. She hadn't been laughing much lately, not that he really blamed her because there wasn't a damn thing funny lately. And he hated that because Xin was made to laugh, she was made to be happy.

"I'm sorry, you know, for threatening you with the shard of glass."

Gaara snorted. "It's not the first time you pulled a weapon on me," he reminded her. The snarl of a scar left behind by her knife still ached every now and then. It didn't bother him really, still impressed that the only being able to ever leave him with a scar was a miko that barely cleared five feet even.

"That was different," she muttered in disdain. And she wasn't sorry for that first time, he'd been an absolute menace to her. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know if Masuyo was on my ass again and I was tired of getting hurt."

"You don't have to apologize, Xin. You didn't even hurt me." He didn't want her apologies, not when he still had the image of her battered and bloodied body tattooed to the insides of his eyelids. He could feel the natural warmth of her body heat but he swore up and down she was cold as ice sometimes.

"You sure? You're not lying, are you?" Xin pressed.

"What would I gain from lying?" Again, he snorted. "You were waving it around in my face, yeah but you didn't actually attack me. I snatched it from you and actually made your hand bleed even more. So, really, I'm sorry."

She sat up a little on her knees, straddling him in order to look at the palm of her hand. There was indeed a scar that cut diagonally across her hand. She'd been clenching so hard onto that shard, she'd cut deep into the meat of her hand. Regardless if Gaara snatched it from her or not, it would scar.

"S'not bad. It's not the worst one," she amended evenly after a moment.

"The worst one?"

"Yeah, um, I think the worst one is this one." She held up her arm and motioned to her foreman. The scar she received from the Wolfman reject had admittedly healed strangely. It probably had something to do with the poison that invaded her blood that she inevitably vomited. It was both jagged and puffy and remained slightly pink instead of fading into white. "It's ugly as fuck."

Gaara silently traced the jagged scar with two of his fingers, his touch surprisingly gentle. She visibly shuddered. "It's not bad, Xin."

"You don't think so? Well, I guess it was worth it. It was either my arm or Hinata's face."

"You know she hates it when you do that."

She pressed her lips together and for a moment that lasted too long for him, they were blue. "I can't help it," she finally said, breaking the strange spell. Her lips were back to their usual petal-pink. Normal. "If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of a fuck-up anyway so the least I can do is keep her safe."

Gaara scrunched his face up and immediately, she leaned down to kiss the wrinkles out of his forehead. "A fuck-up? How?"

"Oh, well you know. There's always that one family member that's always in some sort of trouble or seems like they're a little lost." She smiled woodenly and raised her hand, wriggling her fingers. "Hi. That's me."

He squinted up at her, thoroughly confused. Maybe he wasn't too keen on human society but to him, it looked like she was doing pretty well for herself. All things considered. If he and the rest of the merry band of demonic idiots hadn't fucked it up, she'd be living a near perfect lifestyle. What about her was reasons enough to be a fuck-up?

"I mean, why do you think Neji treats me like such a kid? I'm reckless, I'm not dumb. I know what they think of me and well, they aren't wrong."

He didn't immediately reply, eyes still narrowed as he recalled the bits and pieces he'd learned about her the past few months.

She had an Associate's Degree, which meant she was at least smart enough. She had two unreasonably well-paying jobs, even more impressive that she actually enjoyed those jobs. She had a car, though it was now balled up in a junkyard somewhere but he still counted that and even had her own apartment.

"You're…twenty-one, aren't you?"

"Yeah, twenty-two in a couple of days though."

Gaara grunted and filed that away for later. "Correct me if I'm wrong but your sister moved in with you, not the other way around?"

"Yes?"

"And most twenty-one year olds haven't accomplished what you have just yet, have they?"

"Well, statistically speaking, probably not."

"And your parents are wealthy by human standards."

"Ridiculously so."

"Did they help you with…any of this?"

"Well, I mean they paid for my college tuition but other than that…not really. They didn't—uh—approve. I was kind of..cut off."

"You managed all this shit and yet you think you're a fuck-up…" Gaara drawled.

"Well, of course you disagree. You just wanna fuck and agreeing would probably lose some brownie points."

He could immediately tell that his straightforwardness of her accomplishments were making her uncomfortable. Which meant she wasn't used to sincere compliments. That was just disappointing.

He untucked his hands from behind his head, slinging a heavy arm around her middle. "S'not the only thing I wanna do." The heaviness of his arm weighed down on her, forcing her against him until her stomach was resting fully on his. It probably put a strain on her hips but she was far too busy with the very golden gaze of a demon.

"What do you wanna do?" Xin asked carefully, feeling as if she was willingly stepping into the belly of the beast.

Truthfully he wanted to tell her that he loved her. It was on the tip of his tongue but he resisted. It was probably far too soon and perhaps even far-fetched. They weren't Kuraim and Jun but they were demon and miko. And this…this sort of story never turned out well.

"I want to be with you." It's safer, he decided. It was better this way, more than a fling but less than love. Besides, she'd probably freak out anyway if he told her the truth.

Again, she smiled but it was less wooden, less forced. "Wow, that was a pretty vulnerable thing to admit to. Here I thought this was all about the sexual tension between us."

He wrapped his other arm around her waist, hands fully anchoring her to him. "The tension is an added bonus."

She flushed terribly and let out a nervous laugh. "Good to know." She dipped down and pressed a shy kiss to his mouth. Several chaste kisses followed the initial kiss, tasting of melting sugar and warm honey. He appreciated the gentle touch, it wasn't something he was used to, that he experienced with any of his past relationships.

That was probably his fault though, always so unwilling to take a relationship slowly, to carefully build upon it.

She lifted her hand, fingers curling around his jaw as if to hold him still. He wanted to pull her down completely on top of him, to roll her over underneath and take control. But there was something about handing that control over to Xin that felt…addictive. He liked it and it unnerved him.

Xin moved carefully, gently cradling his face as if she had the absurd idea that he was made of glass. Like maybe she was fully aware that he'd never been handled so gently and didn't want to spook him. Soft and tender, her lips moved sensuously against his. She pressed closer and closer, kiss growing in intensity but never to the point he was familiar with.

Gaara felt like she was slowly dragging his soul out, cutting it from his wretched ribcage, dragging his soul over his organs, taking his blood with it. He realized that she was more than just a human or miko. She was a witch, a siren, and a seductress. Something fae-like, not of any of the realms but of the Earth, the sky and ocean. Something of the moon.

And that's when he smelled it. Moon dust and snow, something so sweet and pure that it only made him wrinkle his nose. But then there was something more, something that hadn't been there before. It smelled of death and rot and rancid soil.

Gaara's eyes snapped open and he jerked backwards. He had only seconds to dodge to the side when Xin's hand, long fingernails glowing bright with spiritual energy, surged forward. He caught her by her wrist, careful of her thin wrist. Xin's eyes were glowing brightly like her nails but they were so off. Empty, dead.

Jun.

Jun's gaze through Xin's eyes were blank, there was no emotional attachment as she stared down at Gaara. "Karin's right." Her mouth didn't move but he could hear Jun just fine. Her voice was startlingly different from Xin's voice, far more deeper than hers. "There's no such thing as a demon capable of love."

It was strange that Jun knew of his earlier confession but Xin didn't. He wondered how that worked, if Jun was capable of freely haunting whoever she wanted, despite the fact that her soul was chained to Xin.

"Jun," he scowled and squeezed her wrist once in a silent warning. He wouldn't break it though, mindful that it was Xin who would suffer. "This isn't your body. Go back to whatever dark, fucked up corner of Xin's mind you crawled out of."

"I intend to protect her. The rest of you cannot be trusted, you, most of all."

"Fuck off," he sneered back, unconvinced. "I know what your fuckin' angle is. You're doing this to protect her body, not her. That's what you want, isn't it? To be alive."

"She's far too ignorant to wield this sort of power. It's better this way."

"Better for who? Not for her, last I checked. What happens if you get your way?"

The spirit didn't immediately answer. This was wild as fuck, he thought. Threatened by a long dead miko haunting the other miko he loved. Fuckin' wild. "One of two things." The fact that her mouth wasn't moving was unnerving. "She may reside in me, hidden away or she ceases to exist."

"Take your place in death, you mean."

"It's better this way." Her repeated statement fell flat to his ears. They both knew she was full of shit. It wouldn't be better if the roles were reversed, if Xin was the spirit. If Xin was dead.

"Jun." His voice was calm. "You're insane and you need to crawl back into your fuckin' grave."

Apparently that set the dead miko off because her other hand was barreling straight toward his face. He was positive that it would only take the faintest brush of her hand to purify him. Xin wasn't as strong as Jun, not spiritually. One hit from Jun was likely a one hit KO.

The problem was that she wasn't as coordinated as Xin. Graceful in her movements, yes but it was obvious that she was used to having weapons at her disposal. A bow and quiver of arrows, a heavy bō, a blessed dagger. Xin, on the other hand, had some experience with a bow and arrows but her experience was invested in hand to hand combat.

He jerked hard on her wrist and rolled from underneath her. Luckily for her, she crashed into the pillows and not the floor, like she deserved. Gaara moved quickly and grabbed her arms, wrenching them painfully away and pinned them to her back. She struggled beneath him but she was far weaker than him.

"Jun," he tried again though there was a warning in his tone this time around. "I have no time for dead miko. Give her back." It was a little pathetic, how easy it was to pin her down. Xin would've fought, wriggled and writhed and maybe even used her hips to somehow fight him off.

Though to be fair, miko weren't known to throw hands. Xin was just the exception because she was batshit.

Jun laughed and it was horrible because it almost, almost sounded like Xin. "You think yourself to be her hero, demon? You may resist the urge to devour her now but it'll prove to be too much for you. You may think you love her but the urge to consume her will be stronger. Eventually."

He leaned his weight down on her arms, pleased by her cry of pain. That would come back to bite him in the ass, when Xin would complain that her joints hurt for some odd reason.

"Miko and demons were never meant to live in harmony. I do not wish for her to suffer the way I did. My way will be peaceful."

"You and Kuraim won't be the death of her."

She laughed again, though it was breathless and weak. She was losing her grip on Xin. Good, he pressed a little harder on her arms. Her laughter was almost mocking, like she knew something he didn't.

"Oh, of course we won't be the death of her. Xin's death will be your doing."

And then she finally let go of Xin.

The car ride was awkwardly quiet.

Tenten sat up in the front with Neji, trying her best to ignore the silence hanging over them. She wondered why Karin and Suigetsu opted to take the drive up the countryside when they could have summoned a portal between the two of them.

Maybe the long drive would be good for Karin, to help clear her head. She was clearly angry with what just happened, not that Tenten was all that surprised. She wasn't sure how Neji and Suigetsu felt about the matter, they hadn't reacted much either way.

She wasn't angry, maybe a little unnerved but not angry. It was unexpected that Gaara was supposedly in love with Xin. She knew he had strong feelings for the miko but not the extent of love.

Karin was right about Jun and Kuraim, they were doomed from the start. A human miko and a demon…well…it was a little far-fetched. But as Gaara said, he and Xin weren't Jun and Kuraim. Far-fetched but not impossible.

Besides, Karin had to be completely blind if she tried to deny what was so clear. Gaara's affection for Xin was undeniable. He wasn't running around, waxing poetry and spilling his guts to anyone who'd listen about Xin but his feelings were very obvious.

The car ride remained uncomfortably silent the entire drive but maybe that was for the best. Karin was clearly agitated and all it would take was one comment for her to lose her temper.

Luckily it wasn't snowing heavily once they arrived. Tsubame, for once, didn't have a snide comment for Neji. She did eye his friends warily, eyes lingering on Karin and Suigetsu for a long moment. They followed her inside, Neji and Tenten pausing long enough to greet Kazuma. Like his wife, he eyed them all warily.

"Is Xin okay?" Kazuma asked in a gruff voice. The two never really got along, clashing for the entirety of Xin's childhood. Their arguments didn't necessarily stem from hatred, it was more pettiness because of their clashing views in life.

Neji blinked at him, a little surprised with his grandfather's concern. "She's…" he trailed off, thinking of Xin. She tried to be okay, she wanted to be okay but he knew her a little better than to just believe her. "She's alive."

Kazuma and Tsubame seemed to understand exactly what he meant. She wasn't okay but she was alive and that was good enough, given the circumstances.

"I think she hid out in the woods for some time before coming down to the kitchen door," Tsubame explained as she led them into their kitchen. "We thought she was a ghost, standing there in all that blood." She motioned towards the sliding glass door.

For one long moment, she was convinced that it wasn't just any ghost but Jun. Dressed in sodden robes, stained with mud and blood, she just knew that the miko had somehow escaped from her grave. What a dead miko would want with the elderly couple was beyond her at that moment, far too shocked to think straight.

But then she realized that it wasn't a dead ancestor and instead, her half-dead granddaughter. Kazuma was the one who slid the door open, yanking her in by her torn kosode. Things quickly went left after that, with a deluded Xin waving around a glass shard as a weapon.

"There was no one else? No one chasin' her?" Suigetsu asked after the couple finished their story.

"There was no one, just Xin. She was more than enough, giving us both a damn heart attack," Kazuma replied gruffly.

"Did she say anything?" Karin asked next. The couple had done their best to clean the blood from the sliding door but Karin could still smell it. All over the glass, from both sides. And then the frame, she could smell blood all over the frame, most likely when Kazuma pulled her half dead body inside.

Kazuma leveled her with a flat look. "She was delusional and scared. She was saying a whole bunch of shit that was utter nonsense."

Tsubame threw him a dirty look. "Kazuma…"

Maybe Xin had gotten her foul mouth from their grandfather, Neji thought in amusement.

"She was going on and on about a Masuyo and Kuraim. That she wouldn't fall for Masuyo's bullshit again and if Kuraim got any closer, she'd stab his other eye out," Kazuma explained. "We tried reasoning with her but it's as if she wasn't even here. She wouldn't let us near either, just bled all over the place."

"So she really did stab his eye out," Tenten muttered in amusement. She wasn't sure how since Xin hadn't gone into detail but the fact that she'd done while at a severe disadvantage was impressive. Still, it wasn't enough. It hadn't been enough.

"I called Hinata then. We couldn't reason with her. She showed up with…"

"Naruto and Gaara."

"Yes. Them. They came and the redheaded one—"

"Gaara."

"Yes. Him. He calmed her down."

They were getting the feeling that Tsubame didn't necessarily approve of the company their granddaughters kept. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the two men were demons. Besides, they ripped a fuckin' portal open in the middle of their kitchen. They were obviously otherworldly.

As Tsubame continued to talk to Tenten and sort of ignore Karin and Suigetsu, Kazuma approached Neji. He eyed him for a long time, his gaze steady and firm. "You promised your father and Hiashi that you would look over them."

Ah. This conversation.

"I'm doing the best I can," Neji replied evenly.

"Then why would a demon come to Xin's aide and not you?"

"You didn't call me. You called Hinata."

"Why weren't you with Hinata?"

Was this what it was like to be scolded? He'd never been scolded much growing up. Xin was the one always in the hot seat, for mouthing off, cursing or punching some bully in the face, it was always something with her. And each time she'd be scolded by their grandparents or her parents.

He did not like being scolded. It sucked and he was a grown ass man.

"This problem is not something I can handle on my own," Neji pushed back. Demons, dead miko, scorned mystics, a fuckin' zombie-demon. This shit was absolutely bananas and they expected him and him alone to somehow keep his boneheaded ass cousin and her sister safe 24/7. The fuck did he look like?

"It's bad enough these two demons have been involved," Kazuma grumbled, motioning to Suigetsu and Karin. He clearly did not give two fucks that they could hear him.

"If you want someone to be angry with, be angry with Jun and Junko. It's their fault. We're doing our best."

"You didn't see her the way we did, Neji. She wasn't here. Whatever those demons did to her was torture."

The truth was that he didn't want to see her like that. A small part of him was grateful that he hadn't been called. Seeing the aftermath was enough, he didn't need to see her delusional and hysterical.

"Neji," Kazuma's voice was quiet but still firm. "They're going to die at this rate."

Neji didn't even argue.

Tenten noticed that Neji was being awfully quiet. The foursome left his grandparents' house, splitting up to search the woods. Neji was always quiet but there was something strange about this sort of quiet.

"Does it bother you?" Lóngyǎn floated idly by her head, serving as their lantern. The forest was eerily quiet but it was rather late.

"Does what?"

"Gaara and Xin, their relationship. Does it bother you that he's in love with her?"

He guessed that they all might suspect that it did. It should bother him and it did, he supposed. But well, it didn't bother him because it was Gaara. It just bothered him because it was a man in general that was interested in Xin.

"Not particularly."

That surprised Tenten. "Really? I thought you'd have a fit about their relationship."

Neji's eyes busily searched the area but found no disturbances. "What's the point?" He shot back. "Xin's so fuckin' bullheaded and Gaara's just as bad. We're wasting our time arguing about it."

The brunette squinted at him. She'd known Neji long enough to know when he was keeping something to himself. She stopped her searching and blatantly stared at him. "You know something I don't?"

He ignored her staring. "Gaara and I may have had a conversation about their relationship some time ago," he admitted after a long pause. "I didn't know it was love but he made it clear it was deep."

"And you trusted him?"

Neji ducked around a large tree, the only noise coming from their crunching footsteps. "I've never known him to be a liar, despite what Karin might think." And it was true. Gaara was a lot of things but he never lied. He was a fuckin' menace but he was no liar. He made it very clear to Neji that his affections for his idioctic cousin were strong.

Tenten smiled slowly but it went unbeknownst to him. "Besides, I'm tired of Xin and her big ass mouth. The more we try to dissuade her of him, the harder she fights. If he fucks her up, it's a lesson she has to learn."

Tenten's smile dropped and she tilted her head in disapproval. "Maybe he won't fuck her up," she suggested with a hopeful lilt to her voice. "Maybe she's exactly what he needs and he knows that."

"Maybe," Neji agreed, eyes searching but finding nothing. "She's more than my cousin, they both are. I don't want her or Hinata to get hurt by those idiots."

Xin, Hinata and Neji. Always a trio. Always the three of them, together. Tenten wondered if Xin and Hinata's newfound dependence on Gaara and Naruto wore on Neji. He was no longer their sole protector, the one they went running to.

Perhaps that's where his frustrations lie.

"I don't think Gaara and Naruto want to hurt them," she replied in a soothing tone. Karin could act like she was blind to it but Tenten saw the obvious affection the two demons held for Neji's cousins.

They were so far gone for those girls, it was almost comedic.

"I don't think they want to hurt them either," Neji agreed before Karin's alarmed shouting drew their attention away.

When they meet back up with Karin and Suigetsu, they were in front of an old cabin. Even with their dulled senses, Tenten and Neji could smell the rot fumigating inside. It was evil, insidious and it bled into the wood of the cabin.

On the inside it was much worse. There was blood everywhere, dried into the wood, splashed against a window, streaking across furniture.

"It's Xin's," Karin said shortly, her voice dull. "The blood. It's Xin's blood."

The back room was even worse, blood everywhere, sharp shards of a broken window, strips of clothes. There was a big patch of dried blood, no doubt where Xin laid bleeding and realizing no one would save her this time.

Clearly this was Masuyo's cabin.

"It's safe to say Masuyo or Kuraim haven't been back since Xin escaped," Suigetsu said. There's a canopy of different smells in that little room. Cold air wafting in through the broken window, the evil rot of Masuyo's magic, the pure scent of miko blood and something different. Something rancid.

Kuraim.

"Good," Tenten decided, her usual kind eyes hard and serious. "We'll set a trap, put up wards that will go off the minute someone does come back. We'll know immediately."

"Won't they pick up on our scents?" Neji asked, his own gaze blank as he studied the room. If he listened hard enough, he could probably hear the tortured screams that were no doubt trapped in the wood.

"Maybe but hopefully they won't notice since Xin's scent is so overwhelming," Karin answered. The scent of miko blood would intoxicate a demon but it only turned her stomach.

"They're goin' to die for this," Suigetsu said, surprisingly solemn and stone-faced.

And for once, no one argued.

Xin was unconscious when Hinata and Naruto returned. Gaara refused to leave her alone, watching her obsessively. He was waiting for Jun's inevitable return so he could choke the life out of that damned miko.

"Xin? Gaara?" Hinata called from the front door. The apartment was strangely quiet.

Gaara emerged from Xin's bedroom when the two stepped into the living room. Naruto eyed him strangely, taking immediate notice of his tense shoulders. "What happened this time?" he asked tiredly, hoping and praying that Xin was in her bedroom.

"We need to get Jun the fuck out of her," Gaara replied immediately. His answer only served to confuse them. While they were concerned with Jun's influence on Xin's soul, the dead priestess had been quiet lately. They weren't even sure if she had anything to do with Xin's narrow escape from death this time around.

"What's wrong?" Hinata reached for Naruto's hand and squeezed it, fear seizing her.

"The crazy bitch took over and tried to purify me by stabbing me in the fuckin' eyeballs with her fingers." He wasn't exactly sure if that's what she was planning but she had been aiming her fingers at his face. He shuddered at the thought of being purified through his goddamn eyes.

Hinata gaped at him in confusion. "What? Took over? Where is she now?"

He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Xin's bedroom. "She's sleeping now, unconscious is more like it." He stepped out of the way and let Hinata rush into the room.

"Stabbing you in the eyes, eh? I knew that woman was hardcore as fuck," Naruto commented wryly, following Hinata's path while patting Gaara on his shoulder.

Hinata was leaning over Xin, checking her body temperature and pulse. She looked peaceful but none of them were willing to take any chances. Naruto gently nudged her aside, reaching down to cup Xin's face. She didn't stir, even as he rolled her head to and fro. "How long has she been out?"

"A couple hours."

Hinata spun around, eyes wide as she regarded the redhead. "A couple hours?" Her voice strained in panic.

Gaara nodded and stared down at the slumbering woman. "Her breathing and heart rate are fine so I wasn't worried that something was particularly wrong."

"Did Jun say anything or did she just go for the eyes?"

Gaara's expression went tight. "She definitely wants to take over Xin's body, she's convinced it's for the best." He folded his arms across his chest, clearly irritated. "Hinata, how have you been feeling? Anything strange?"

She still looked disturbed, her eyes on her sister. Just once, she'd like to have an uneventful day, one day where nothing went wrong. She wondered which God her sister must have pissed off.

"No, not really."

"How do we even kick Jun out? Get an exorcist?" Naruto sighed and sat down with a heavy thump on Xin's bed. The motion jostled her and she mumbled irritably, rolling onto her side and curling into Naruto's warmth. The three of them paused, watching to see if Jun would spring up in her body to gouge Naruto's eyes out next.

She didn't and they all released a sigh of relief.

"Wouldn't Hinata be able to perform an exorcism?" Gaara asked, paying attention to Xin.

"Theoretically."

"But I've never done that before and can Jun be exorcized in the first place? She's a miko."

"But she's also a spirit."

"And a strong one too."

Xin twitched in her sleep before her eyes cracked open. She squinted at the sight of all three of them gathered in her room, clearly confused. Her eyes darted between the three of them before she exhaled heavily. "What happened this time?"

Gaara explained the strange occurrence, this time in better detail as Xin got her bearings. She was sitting up by the time he was finished, perched next to Naruto with an annoyed expression. "God, that woman is such a cock-block."

Hinata blushed and ignored Naruto's loud cackle, clearing her throat instead. "Xin, be mature about this."

"I am being mature about this," Xin ironically whined. "I mean, come on, she was around during the Sengoku period, does she really think she'll adapt to today's age? Is she going to keep pulling these hostile takeovers every time I want a kiss from him?"

"I hope the fuck not," Gaara grumbled and sat down on Xin's other side, boxing her in between him and Naruto. He mindlessly picked up her hand. "That woman is fast as fuck."

"Don't tell me a dead miko scares you," Xin grinned.

"She was aiming for my eyes."

He really didn't want to admit, at least not in front of Hinata and Naruto, that what scared him was the thought of not getting her back. Xin huffed irritably. "Look what she did, now he won't want to kiss me anymore."

"Probably why she did it," Naruto snorted. "Imagine bumping uglies and she takes over—"

"Naruto," Hinata sighed.

"She'd definitely succeed in killing me then."

"Gaara," Hinata groaned.

Despite the complicated situation, Xin found herself laughing. Truthfully, it wasn't funny but she was glad that between the four of them, they could make light of a bad situation.

When Naruto and Hinata decided that Xin was okay enough, they filtered out of her room to figure out what to do for dinner. Gaara got up to follow but Xin quickly caught him by the hand, using him to pull herself up as well.

"You…um…aren't actually scared to kiss me now, are you?"

Gaara looked down at her, gaze dropping to her mouth. The thought of Jun trying to purify him through his eyes was disturbing but it wasn't enough to sway him. He was a glutton for punishment and Xin was the crux of his desires. Some dead miko wouldn't be enough to stop him. He was stubborn and he was greedy and worst of all, he thought, he was in love.

Again, he thought of telling her that but ultimately decided against it. Now wasn't the time and all she wanted to know is if he'd kiss her again. She probably wasn't even considering the notion of love.

Instead he cupped her face in his hands, the sharp tips of his nails gently tracing just under her eyes. He tried to be gentle with her, like she'd been earlier. He pressed his lips against her forehead and drew her into him.

Despite the massive baggage she toted along behind her, the demons vying for her soul, the dead miko for her body, none of it would be enough to sway him from her. They'd have to pry her from his cold, dead hands and he had no plans of dying anytime soon.

Gaara kissed her. Softly, he ran his lips over hers and felt her practically melt against him. He thumbs carassed her cheekbones and she sighed, looping her arms around him.

They didn't have to be human and demon, he thought idly, tongue sliding into her mouth.

"Gaara," Xin managed around his tongue. "The door. The door is still open."

He didn't give much of a shit what Karin or Jun or any of them said about the risks of a human and demon relationship. It didn't have to be about that, he thought as he pulled away. She was blushing and breathing heavy before ultimately smiling up at him. His heart fluttered.

They could just be Xin and Gaara and maybe that's all that mattered.