Paths Unforseen

At the end of the night Naoki was exhausted. She was tempted to just fall asleep at her desk but then remembered that the last time she'd done that Diachi had walked in and woken her up in a not very pleasant way. Shaking her head Mai stripped herself of her scrubs and was about to change when someone just walked into her office. 'Damn I forgot to lock the door' was all Naoki could think before she recognized Kankuro's form and she blanched. Of course he would have to be the one to walk in on her changing out of her slightly bloodied scrubs and into a new pair. Not even thinking of covering herself (even though she only had a breast band and her bottoms on) Naoki pushed the puppeteer back outside and slammed the door in his face and locked it. "Please give me a few moments and I'll help you." Naoki called through the door while she mentally berated herself. Why did she have to have the worst luck on the planet? Who else would have the older brother of the Kazekage walk in on them changing in their office?

Resigning herself to her fate Naoki finished getting ready and then opened the door. Kankuro was just staring at it dumbly and opening and closing his mouth like a fish. "What did you need help with?" Naoki asked, trying to get Kankuro to respond to something besides his obvious memory of her half naked in her office. "Uhhh, I was wondering if there was something that a person could take for restless sleep." Kankuro said his face still red from what had just happened. "Well there are some calming teas but nothing really solid that wouldn't just knock them out completely. Why do you ask?" Naoki asked, focusing on the problem at hand. "Well Gaara doesn't seem to be sleeping well and we just wanted him to get a good night's rest…" Kankuro trailed off embarrassed. Naoki quirked her lips up into a smile, "You know there's one sure way to get rid of a troubled mind while sleeping." Kankuro perked up, "Family. Comfort him, people can still hear while they're sleeping so talk to him about something that he'd remember fondly. Hopefully that will turn his dreams to something more peaceful." Kankuro nodded gratefully and smirked, "Thanks, Naoki but maybe you should get some rest you looked about as exhausted as Gaara and he died recently." Naoki's eyes widened. She was surprised that Kankuro could joke about something so serious so soon. "Too soon?", he asked his face full of mischief. "I'm just surprised that you are so casual about it." Naoki said her eyes inspecting his face for any sign of negative emotions. Kankuro smirked and grit his teeth. In all honesty it hurt him every time he mentioned it. It pained him to admit he couldn't save his little brother and Gaara had truly died. However shinobi were not allowed to show emotion, so it was better to throw salt in his own wound so it would heal faster; regardless of whether it scarred or not. Kankuro had to force himself to bleed off the poison from the emotional wound that dwelled within him. He couldn't show any weakness because any weakness he showed would be traced back to Gaara and that could never be allowed to happen.

Naoki watched as Kankuro tried to come up with a response. He shrugged and smirked, an emotional mask falling onto his face, "It doesn't bother me." He lied. Naoki solemnly watched as the cocky shinobi walked out of the hospital. Cursing herself Naoki ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He tensed, as if ready for an attack. "Kankuro," Naoki started, "I'm sorry for your loss." Kankuro stiffened even further. What was she talking about, loss? Then it dawned on him. She was offering her condolences for Gaara because even if it was just for a moment his little brother had died. As much as he didn't want to admit it, that fact took a heavy toll on him. Kankuro nodded, muttered thanks, and then disappeared back to his brother's side.

Running her hand through her hair Naoki retreated to the greenhouse. She really should have gone home and collapsed onto her bed but she felt so comforted by the plants and her mind was whirling. Pulling out a cot she kept in there for when she was seeding plants and needed to keep an eye on them Naoki fell into a restless sleep.

It was a funeral. Rain that so seldom came to the Land of Wind, poured into the desert and soaked the top layer of sand. The headstone was quickly put into the ground and everyone walked away but a young girl and her two parents. Her mother was collapsed onto the ground before the newly set headstone and her father was standing stiffly by her mother's sobbing form. They had spread the ashes earlier, but with the rain they fell in clumps that stuck to their hands rather than being carried away on a breeze. Naoki held out her hand and let the rain wash away her brother. Why, why did her little brother have to die? Father had been yelling, mother was crying about how she just needed silence when she shook Naoki's little brother until his crying had stopped. Realizing what she had done Naoki's mother went into hysterics. The funeral was given and the smallest urn Naoki had ever seen was put into her hands and her brother was sent to wander the dessert in sodden clumps. When they got home everything was too quiet. Mother had gone upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom while father sat at the kitchen table and stared at nothing. After a few hours Naoki had to use the restroom but she had to get her mother to come out. Hearing no response she grabbed two of her hairpins and opened the door herself. She had learned how to do this so her little brother couldn't accidentally lock himself in his room and she wouldn't be able to get to him. Opening the door Naoki froze at the sight of her mother hanging from the shower curtain rail that was embedded in their wall. Taking a breath she screamed, and screamed, and screamed…. and…

Waking up Naoki shuddered at the memory. No one had attended her mother's funeral. She had been the only one to scatter her mother's ashes. Her father had forbidden it, but every anniversary of her death Naoki went and put flowers on her mother's headstone. Naoki became a shinobi to get out of her house, to get away from her memories, to get away from her father and his old belt. It wasn't often that he beat her but it was enough that Naoki had to make her own ointments and creams to heal the bruises and cover them up. Naoki pushed herself until she was in the torture and interrogation squad. It took her a while to realize that despite her great skill in her field she couldn't stay. She started to like the interrogations too much and it wasn't long before she started seeing glimmers of her father's eyes in her own gaze. She ended up going to the hospital after an incredibly violet interrogation that left her knuckles broken. She didn't know if Diachi remembered her from when she was much younger and she had volunteered at the hospital to stay out of the house or he recognized the sadistic glimmer in her eyes. Either way he confronted her and convinced her to move to the medical field. Through his training Naoki became one of the best in the village at medical ninjutsu. However her past would always haunt her and she would never forget the enemies of Suna she had brutally tortured.

To prevent any further conflict Naoki had moved out of her father's house as soon as she could afford it. She still went and checked on her ailing father but she knew she didn't do it as often as she could. It was hard to go back to that place… to go back to those memories… And despite the time that had passed from when she was T.I she could still see her father's eye when she looked in the mirror.

Looking up Naoki realized that her two assistants were staring at her. Apparently she had slept until nine; which was when they came in to fertilize and water the plants. Mumblings an apology Naoki made her way back to the hospital. In her hurry to get to the green house and get a few hours rest she had forgotten the paperwork that she needed to take home and finish before her next shift. On her way back out of her office she ran into the Kazekage or at least she would have if his sand defense hadn't knocked her on her butt.

"My apologies," Naoki started. Gaara waved her away and then looked at her as if recognizing her. "You were my medic, yes?" He asked deadpan. "Yes." Naoki replied uncertainly, "Is there something I can help you with?" "I was told the second in command's office was near here. I need to find them so I can get some information on a patient of theirs." Naoki's eyes widened in astonishment, "That would be me Lord Kazekage. Who do you need information on?" Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow and looked at her in a new light. She looked tired, her hair was ruffled and her clothed wrinkled but her eyes were bright and clear despite the dark circles beneath them. He had heard that the second in command of the hospital was young but he wasn't expecting her to only be a few years older than him. Not one to judge someone for their age Gaara smiled inwardly. Considering that he was the Kazekage he should have expected someone of high status to be sent to treat him. Nodding he responded, "I need an update on the status of an informant known only as Mai." Naoki looked at Gaara and smiled, "Of course. I can do you one better though sir. I'll take you to her." Naoki quickly set off toward Mai's room and filled the Kazekage in as they walked. "When I was first sent to treat her, her wounds had been given minimal healing but there were still a few serious issues that needed to be addressed. She had a chest wound with debris and several deep cuts throughout her body. We cleaned and had to stitch almost all of them…" Gaara listened carefully as Naoki gave a concise summary of Mai's condition. He was glad to hear that Mai had been taken care of by this woman. She was good at her job and didn't spare any skill when treating someone.

When they got to the room Naoki grabbed a chair for Gaara so that he could sit by Mai's bed. "If you need something Kazekage please let me know, I'll just be in my office." Naoki said. She had wanted to go to her apartment and get some rest but she would stay until she knew the Kazekage wouldn't need her. Just as she was about to leave Gaara spoke up. "No, if I need help I will call for someone else. I suggest you get some sleep." Naoki looked up surprised and nodded. "Thank you Kazekagesama, I will." Naoki smiled wearily as she walked out of the hospital. Her nap in the greenhouse had helped but she was still exhausted. She drug herself home, into bed and set an alarm so she would get up for her night shift in time. Finally, she would get some real sleep…

It was noon when Kankuro woke up as he rolled off his bed. He had been dreaming of Naoki. He was still embarrassed about walking in on her and if Temari ever found out she would pummel him into next week. Getting up Kankuro showered and got dressed. It was then that he realized he was in his room… when he had fallen asleep in Gaara's room. Confused Kankuro looked around and saw a note on the floor from Gaara. 'Damn' his brother had given him the day off. Deciding to go to the hospital and try to find Gaara and Mai, Kankuro thought of Naoki. Maybe he would see her while he was there. Smiling Kankuro headed toward the hospital…

- Earlier in the Night…-

At around 6pm Naoki got up, dressed, showered, and ate. Heading to work she looked up at the sky. It was going to be a beautiful night… She had been at work for quite a while and it was nearing the middle of her shift when she saw a certain red head making a beeline for Mai's hospital room. She nodded to him and smiled. Mai had been a little restless but Naoki suspected that once Gaara was there she would settle down. She could see the love that was ever present between the two but she knew that they had not yet realized it themselves. Thinking of a certain puppeteer joinin Naoki shook her head and went back to work.

That morning Naoki was tired, it had stayed quiet all night at the hospital and she hated to admit it but those nights were the worst. With few cases to break up the monotony of the night the hours dragged by and it made it seem like morning would never come. When Naoki saw Gaara leave while it was still cool that morning she decided to go and check on Mai before she finished with her shift. An hour or two later she grabbed Mai's chart and went to go check on the girl. She certainly didn't expect the younger kunoichi to be trying to get out of bed already. She marched over and eyed the dark haired girl. "You weren't going to try and walk by yourself were you?" "No of course not." Mai lied. Naoki rolled her eyes. Why was it that people were so impatient when they were healing? If they would just let their bodies rest they would return to their full health sooner than if they forced themselves. Naoki shook her head and set Mai's chart down on the bed next to the girl. "If you wanted to stretch your legs all you had to do was ask." She said, not realizing that she was smiling. Naoki let Mai walk around for a bit with her help and wasn't surprised by the girl's plea to be discharged. Naoki decided that there wasn't much she could do to keep the girl in the hospital short of tying her down, so she let Mai get settled back in and started the paperwork.

Naoki began to realize that it was way past her normal shift time when she started to fall asleep on Mai's discharge paperwork. Finishing up she left the rest of it to someone else. What good was it to be second in command if you couldn't delegate the more coma inducing aspects to someone else? After clocking out Naoki headed home. She had to work the night shift again that day and she wasn't about to do it on little to no sleep…

The next night was anything but uneventful. One of the more critical patient's conditions worsened and they were forced to put them in an ice bath repeatedly to try and bring down their temperature. The patient was a traveling merchant that had come to visit family before leaving again. He had come in with simple flu like symptoms but as their condition worsened they started to vomit blood and their skin became mottled with dark purplish bruises. When their temperature rose above 106 degrees Fahrenheit even while they were in an ice bath Naoki knew they there was almost nothing left she could do. Despite almost draining all of her chakra into the patient she couldn't get the symptoms of the disease to lessen and every antibiotic she tried had no effect on their condition. In the early hours of the morning the merchant died and Naoki was left to go tell the family. They were all in the waiting room after having been informed the seriousness of their relative's ailment. Naoki hated days like this and after trying to comfort the family as best as she could she left, knowing words were insufficient to alleviate such a heavy grief.

Slowly she packed up her things and started back toward her apartment. She just wanted to sleep the day away. Tomorrow was her day off but she knew she had to get the results from the autopsy as soon as possible. If the disease had the chance to spread while the merchant was in Suna she needed to make a potent antibiotic that would get rid of it as soon as possible. Lost in thought she didn't even realize she had run into somebody until she fell onto the ground. Slowly she pushed herself up apologizing profusely. "Gomen, Gomen." She said and finally looked up when she heard what she thought was Kankuro's voice mumbling the same thing. When Naoki heard someone ask her to join them for lunch it took her a second to recognize that it was Mai. "Sure if it's not too much trouble." Naoki really just wanted to go to her apartment and collapse into bed but she could take a second to eat lunch. She knew if she didn't do it now then she wouldn't get to it until she had slept for at least 6 hours if not longer.

Walking next to Kankuro forced her to walk faster considering his strides were so much longer than hers. "Did you just get done with your shift?" Kankuro asked, finally noticing the impressive dark circles under her eyes. She stumbled slightly and then hurried to catch up again. "Yeah" Naoki said becoming solemn after remembering how her shift had ended. "Do I look that tired?" She asked a smile of chagrin crossing her weary face. Kankuro smirked "You look like you just got out of a 6 hour meeting with the council." Naoki laughed despite herself and gasped in mock shock, "Surely not that bad." Kankuro chuckled proud of himself that he got her to laugh. "So, why so tired? The night shift can't be that exciting." Naoki closed her eyes briefly and tried to block her emotions, "I lost a patient last night and had to inform the family." Kankuro looked at her in astonishment as she smiled sadly. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean-" He started when Naoki interrupted. "It's okay… it's a part of my job. It's just not easy." She said quietly.

Kankuro looked at her, stopped, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He said. Naoki just smiled and nodded. When they got to the restaurant everybody ordered and made small talk while they waited. Kankuro kept an eye on Naoki as they talked, looking for any signs of her previous sorrow but she simply smiled and talked. At one point she brought up Gaara's and Mai's health and made sure the two were taking care of themselves. Amazed Kankuro turned back to the conversation. Naoki showed no signs of distress and despite her obvious exhaustion she kept engaged in what everyone was saying while simultaneously making sure they were all okay. Kankuro was just starting to see how selfless she was when Mai was interrupted by a rather loud girlish giggle. Looking over Kankuro saw the current reason why he and Gaara hated going out to eat at all. In fact if Mai hadn't suggested going out and if Kankuro had succeeded in getting Gaara out of his office for lunch they would have just gone down to the small kitchen in the tower and fixed something up for themselves.

Naoki looked over confused at who had uttered such a ridiculous sound and hid a smile behind her hand when she realized who it was. A group of teenage girls had gathered near the stall and were giggling to each other. Looking at Gaara and Kankuro, Naoki quickly guessed what the girls were whispering about. Kankuro ground his teeth in frustration. He just wanted to eat in peace with his little brother and friends. Did these girls have to follow Gaara everywhere outside of the tower? It was seriously creepy. Suddenly Mai gave the girls a glare that promised violence if they didn't scram. The girls squealed and then ran away. When Kankuro said he had almost thrown rocks before to get the girls to go away Naoki choked on her spit laughing. The whole situation was ridiculous and her lack of sleep wasn't helping. Finally when she had calmed herself down food came and they all ate in peace.

When everyone had finished and they got up to leave Naoki stumbled. She really needed to get some sleep. Kankuro grabbed her arm to steady her and looked at her with concern. "I'll walk with you back to your apartment." Naoki was about to protest when she saw the slight glint of worry in Gaara's and Mai's eyes. Smiling she swallowed what was left of her pride and let Kankuro start to walk with her to her home after she had said her goodbyes to the other two. Soon the energy from eating and being around the others started to fade and the bone deep exhaustion came back. Naoki hadn't even realized her pace had slowed considerably until Kankuro shook her shoulder. "Are you even awake or are you sleep walking?" He asked jokingly. Naoki rolled her eyes and straightened her posture. "I'm fine, I just slowed down so you could keep up." Kankuro snorted, "Yeah because it would be hard for me since you're so tall and I'm so short." He said while indicating to their difference in height. Naoki rolled her eyes again and started walking more quickly in lieu of her painstakingly slow walk. Their quick bout of banter gave her just enough pseudo-energy to make it to the steps of her apartment. It was above another that housed a family of 6 and often times she was woken up from her daytime slumbers by the sound of the children squabbling or playing. She didn't mind it but it was hard to work night shifts at the hospital when she couldn't really get any sleep the day before.

Just as she said goodbye to Kankuro and had started the long journey that she considered the flight of stairs that led to her apartment room she ran into someone for the second time that day. "Sorry she said quickly as she picked herself up off the ground. She didn't realize it was Matsuri until she looked up and Kankuro had caught the young girl before she could race off again. "Hey, what's wrong, why'd you just run into Naoki?" Kankuro asked in a gruff voice. Matsuri started sobbing. Kankuro put his hands up and backed away. "I didn't mean anything by it kid." He said with a confused look on his face. Naoki shook her head and started comforting the girl. Obviously something else was going on and Matsuri stumbling into her was simply a product of the girl's stress.

Between hiccupping sobs Matsuri said, "Grandmother's died and I don't know what to do. Grandfather won't say anything and Mai ran off and I don't know what to do!" Naoki assessed the situation as quickly as her sleep deprived brain could and decided she should go and check on the small family. "Kankuro, maybe you should go find Gaara and see if he knows where Mai is at. It's not uncommon for people to… undergo stress after seeing someone close to them pass away." "What about you?" Kankuro asked as he took in Naoki's fatigued figure. "I'll be checking on Matsuri's family and making sure Fumio is alright." "You sure about that?" "Positive." Naoki said with the best smile she could muster up. "While you're locating Gaara could you also go to the hospital and tell them I need a small medical team to come to the home and take care of Akarisama." Matsuri was too preoccupied sobbing to really understand but Kankuro nodded gravely. "Of course." He said and quickly ran off to find his younger brother.