Paths Unforseen

After an almost catastrophic incident with Gaara almost walking in on Naoki in the guest shower, Kankuro went down to the kitchen to fix up food for everyone. It was convenient sometimes to have the cooks bring them something but it was nice to make your own food. Pulling out a few eggs he started to cook them when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, "Hey Gaara, I'm just going to make something for us real quick and then we can be on our way." Looking over Kankuro saw it wasn't Gaara but Naoki. Her green hair was wet and not pulled up into its normal high messy bun style.

Pushing her hair back Naoki smiled. She hadn't been served breakfast in a very long time but she was surprised to see that Kankuro seemed to know how to cook. "Sorry, I'm not Gaara." She joked.

Kankuro snorted and laughed. "No of course not, well do you still want to eat?" Naoki nodded and watched as Kankuro cooked. She'd been living on her own long enough that she knew how to cook well enough but Kankuro looked like he did it for the pure enjoyment of it.

After eating they all finished getting ready and when Mai finally came out Naoki smiled. The younger girl wasn't wearing her mask. Silently rejoicing she followed the others out of the tower and into the streets. The wake was exhausting and Naoki could tell all the stares were really getting to Mai. She was glad when finally they had finished paying their respects and were able to leave and get food. Mai wasn't too surprised when a distraught Matsuri showed up while they were eating. She was concerned for both women as they fought but afterwards it looked like neither Mai nor Matsuri were injured too terribly. Once everyone had parted ways Kankuro and Naoki stayed in the foyer.

"Well that couldn't have gone much worse." Kankuro said as he snorted slightly in contempt.

Naoki gave a small smile, "For the current situation that everyone was put in I think it ended rather well."

"Seriously?" Kankuro questioned.

Looking more carefully at Naoki's features he noticed an old sorrow swelling up in her expression. He waited for her to respond, knowing that she was reliving past hurts. Naoki looked up and saw Kankuro waiting. "My mother and younger brother died when I was very young. It was hard, on both me and my father."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Naoki shook her head, "It took me a long time to get things sorted out but I'm not sorry about it anymore. Don't get me wrong. I miss them both dearly but I'm not... angry about it anymore."

"How did they…?" Kankuro questioned.

Naoki smiled sadly this time, her sorrow completely covering her features. "My mother was… unbalanced but none of us really knew. I believe my father suspected but she only had a few 'episodes' a month so he… we all thought we could take care of it and eventually they would pass."

"They didn't?"

"No, if anything they worsened with time. Once my mother had my little brother her good days were few and far between. When Jurama fussed my mother couldn't keep her head. One day she was so upset she shook him, just to get him to quiet…" Kankuro grit his teeth knowing what came next. "It was too much for him. He died before she even stopped shaking. After the funeral mother was even worse than she had been. She no longer smiled or got angry, she was just numb from the inside out. Father was so shocked from Jurama's death he just didn't know what to do. It wasn't long after that I found her in the bathroom. She had hanged herself."

Kankuro's fists clenched; no child should ever have to find their parent dead. "What happened after?" He asked quietly.

"Father became distant and his anger grew with each day. After a bit I was the same way. His outbursts were violent and it was all I could do to find enough missions to get out of the house. Fortunately I excelled at interrogation. Before I knew it I was a skilled shinobi taking on A class torture missions while I was still a child."

"So how did you become a medic nin?"

Naoki grinned, "Diachi sensei knocked some sense into me. I'd started to like interrogation too much and got violent with a prisoner. I was sent to a medic to fix my busted knuckles and get a psych evaluation. I think he saw a bit of himself in me. I was on leave for a bit because of the results of my evaluation so he had me helping him in the hospital. I eventually fell in love with being a medic nin. It was something I was good at that didn't feed the violent side of my personality. Healing others helped me heal myself and I will forever be indebted to Diachi sensei for helping me find my way."

"What ever happened to your father?"

"I visit him every once in a while. I try to go often but sometimes I can't bring myself to do it. He was a great ninja of the village and now he's just a spent bitter old man. He still blames himself for my mother and brother's death… I blame him for their death." Kankuro stilled. "Why didn't he say anything about mother's illness to anyone? Why didn't he stop her?"

"Don't give up on him." Naoki looked up. "I used to think Gaara would never become anything more than the dangerous killer he used to be… but now… I can't be more happy to have been wrong."

Naoki smiled widely. "It is easy to see how much you all love each other. The bond between siblings is a special one."

Kankuro gave a small smile as well. "It didn't used to be this way. We had to work really hard at it but I would never trade it for anything in the world."

Still smiling Naoki got up. "I think I'll head home now. I have to work tomorrow and it would be nice to get some sleep."

Kankuro laughed, "Just maybe," he joked. "Hold on, I'll walk you back."

"Thank you." As the two walked back they chatted warmly. It was easy for others passing by to see the bond forming between the two ninja. When they got to Naoki's house the green haired ninja invited Kankuro in.

Kankuro shrugged, "Why not."

"It's not much." Naoki said as they put down the bag that Kankuro had packed for her the night before.

Kankuro chuckled, "It doesn't look very lived in."

Naoki laughed with him. "With the amount of time I spend at the hospital and the green house I don't get much time to spend here beside the essentials. I don't want to decorate much but I would like to put a few more pictures up."

Kankuro walked down the hallway, looking over the pictures he had already seen the night before. "You look happier in these later ones." He said quietly.

"I know." Naoki said as she appeared next to him. "It's taken a bit but I can truly smile now."

"And it's beautiful." Kankuro replied without thinking and then promptly turned bright red. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so forward."

Naoki laughed, "Well then you probably shouldn't have walked into my office while I was changing." They both turned red at the memory and then laughed.

Kankuro scratched his head, "I haven't exactly been able to get the memory out of my head."

Naoki chuckled nervously, "I was so startled I didn't even know what to do."

Kankuro snorted in chagrin, "Well I should probably be getting back."

Naoki caught his hand as he turned toward the door. "You don't have to go…" Kankuro paused, "I mean if you don't want to." She said, almost whispering.

Kankuro turned, slight surprise and an unidentifiable look in his eyes. "Are you sure you even know what you're asking?" He asked softly.

Naoki smiled, "I'm sure." She said as she stepped closer. Kankuro turned toward her fully and stepped closer to her until they were only a hair away from each other.

He reached up and touched the green hair that had caught his attention so long ago. He sighed, "I've wanted to do that since we've met."

"And I this," Naoki said as she stretched up and kissed the older shinobi…

Naoki woke up to her alarm ringing in her ears. "ughhhh" She moaned. Shifting she froze. There was a hand… no an arm that was tightening around her waist and a face buried in her back. Attached to all that there was a body that was snuggled up behind her. Memories of the night before bombarded her and she smiled. Carefully she untangled herself from the brown haired shinobi that she had spent the night with.

Unfortunately said shinobi woke up and opened one eye to look at her. "Why on earth do you have an alarm set for this early?"

Naoki chuckled softly, "Go back to sleep. I've got to go to work." Kankuro sighed and nodded, quickly falling back to sleep. Naoki got dressed and grabbed a piece of fruit on her way out of the door.

Once she had left Kankuro sat up fully and scratched his head. "Well what are we supposed to do now?"

When Naoki got to the hospital she immediately got to work and checked in with all the supervisors on each floor. She had ordered bed rest for Mia but she had serious doubts that the nomad would follow her orders. There was another patient with the strange disease that left those afflicted with dark purplish bruises and weak limbs, so far the strong antibiotics that she treated them with worked. Sometimes a patient would come in after the disease had progressed to far to be treated but Naoki always tried to make them as comfortable as possible.

She was surprised when Baki entered her office late a few days after the funeral. "Naoki" He nodded politely after she had let him in.

"Baki, I'm guessing you're not here for a routine physical."

He nodded again, his expression serious. "I wanted to ask you about Mai's physical condition."

Naoki raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip. "That's confidential, especially since she's not technically a citizen."

Baki furrowed his brow. "I just need a general assessment. When do you think she would be ready to travel?"

Naoki's expression grew stony. "What are you and the council scheming?"

"Naoki, it's important. When would Mai be able to travel?"

"You idiot. Do you and the council even know what you're doing? This is an adolescent woman and you want to throw her back into the field. She just went to one of her few friends funeral and started recovering from her wounds. Whatever it is you want her to do it can wait at least two weeks!"

Baki set his jaw, "As a respected member of the jonin council of Suna you will give me an honest and objective answer. When is the soonest Mai, of Suna's Wandering Squad, will be ready to go back to her duties? Need I remind you that we are preparing for war and the intel she is gathering will be crucial to the fate of Suna."

Naoki grit her teeth, "Two weeks. No sooner. The damage to her torso is extensive and she's ripped her stitched once already. Now if that will be all I have patients to treat. I'm sure you can let yourself out." The medic said as she motioned to the door. Baki nodded curtly and walked out quickly, feeling Naoki's anger follow him. Once the older man had left Naoki slumped against her desk, picturing Mai in her mind. "You just can't catch a break, can ya kid."

It was a few days after Mai had left that Naoki realized that the girl was gone and that Baki had disregarded her medical opinion. The medic had been swamped in the hospital the past few days and hadn't been able to leave except for a few short hours of rest in the greenhouse. When Kankuro finally caught up with her he could tell she was angry. "What's wrong?" He asked while he was fixing lunch and Naoki was sitting tiredly at the table.

"I could strangle Baki right now." Naoki said honestly.

Kankuro chuckled and the green haired woman looked up sharply. "First of all I doubt Baki would let you do that and second of all why would you want to strangle him."

"He ignored my professional opinion and put someone in the field who was not physically fit." Kankuro frowned. "That doesn't sound like him, he's always the one hounding us when we try to go on missions while we're sick. Why wouldn't he send someone else?"

Naoki sighed, "It was Mai, and I told him she wouldn't be ready for two weeks… He gave her one."

Kankuro focused on the rice as it cooked, "Look, I've known Baki for a long time and he wouldn't have sent Mai if he didn't think she was ready or didn't want to go. So you can be mad at him if it makes you feel better but ultimately it was Mai's decision to leave. She would still be here if she wanted to be."

Naoki's shoulders slumped, "I know. I guess I'm just mad at him for giving her the option. You know how she is. She'd drive herself into the ground if she thought it would help Suna. It's like she can't help herself and Baki knew that when he offered her the option."

Kankuro nodded, "Yeah." He looked up at the exhausted form of the medic. He could see the worried look in her eyes and the exhaustion pulling at her expression. He finished preparing their lunches and brought them to her. "She'll be okay. Honestly sometimes I think she could whip all our asses if she really wanted to."

Naoki snorted and smiled at the puppeteer. "I think she could just whip yours."

Kankuro pulled back in mock indignation. "Hey, I take offense to that." Naoki smiled and turned to her food.

The next few weeks passed in a strained rush. News of a war was growing and it wasn't long before everyone in the village knew what was coming. The exact reason was unknown but still the villagers were anxious. Despite the tenseness in the air Naoki and Kankuro tried to make a point of seeing each other everyday… or night… It was hard for Naoki to get a night away from the hospital but when she did they were usually spent with the puppeteer. What they had was new and unfamiliar but they were both willing to keep seeing each other. It was during one of these nights that Kankuro told her about the summit.

The younger woman looked at Kankuro in surprise after he told her and she propped herself up on her elbow. "I didn't know it was already that serious." She replied.

Kankuro sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It wasn't, until a few things happened in the Cloud and Leaf that sped the process along. It doesn't help that we haven't gotten any intel from Mai lately."

Naoki's eyes widened, "You don't think that she…"

Kankuro's expression turned even more grim. "It's either she got caught or her letters are being intercepted. Neither option is all that reassuring."

Naoki smiled and lightly kissed the brunette. "I'm sure she's fine. The bird she was using might have just been caught by a predator."

"Let's hope." Kankuro sighed.

"When do you leave?"

"Two days. Gaara wants to head out a little early. It's winter in the Land of the Samurai and we might have a bit of a hard time getting through. He'd rather us be early than late. It's the first time a meeting between kage has been called since he became Kazekage."

"Do you think the other kage will respect him?" Naoki asked.

Kankuro snorted, "They'd better. He could probably kick their asses even without Shukaku."

Naoki laughed, "Well I don't think you all should try and find out. The summit is being held to try and prevent a war, not start one." Kankuro shrugged grumpily. "Well don't go without saying goodbye."

Kankuro smiled mischievously. "What do think I'm doing now?" He said as he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer.

"Kankuro!" Naoki laughed in mock outrage.

Naoki hadn't received any news since the Sand Siblings had left for the summit and she was starting to get worried. Diachi had started war preparations just in case and she was trying to oversee stocking medical equipment while keeping an eye on the hospital. She didn't get many chances to return to her apartment but she found she didn't much care for being there while Kankuro was gone. It was on one of these nights that she found herself heading toward her father's house. She had the rest of the evening off and didn't go back to work until morning. She hadn't visited her father since she'd started seeing Kankuro and she knew she needed to at least try. Naoki picked up a few things for dinner at the market and then went to the familiar house that she had lived in until she had become a shinobi. Hesitantly she knocked and waited for her father to respond.

"Who's there?" She heard faintly from the door.

Naoki swallowed hard, "It's me dad, I brought dinner." She heard the door unlock and slowly it opened.

"Come in." She heard a solemn voice say. She looked up and saw her bedraggled father standing a few feet from the doorway. Naoki nodded and stepped in, closing the door behind her. The smell of sake was overpowering and she knew her father had been drinking again. The medic kept her face neutral as she took in the overall state of the house. It wasn't dirty, just unkept. Blankets were thrown everywhere and clothes littered the floor but all the beer cans and trash were in the garbage can.

"Do you mind if I open the blinds? It'll make it easier to cook." Naoki said while she looked anywhere but her father.

"Sure," he grunted and turned toward the kitchen. Naoki quickly opened the blinds and cracked the windows to let some of the stale air out.

When she started unloading her groceries her father got up to help. "It's okay, I've got it dad." She said as she continued laying out food and wiping down counters.

"I'm not an invalid! I can help!" He growled in an angry tone. Naoki simply nodded and turned toward the sink to let her father finish unpacking and started washing the few dished in the sink. After she had gotten the counters clean she quickly cooked a small meal and set two places at the small kitchen table.

"Do want anything to drink?" Naoki asked politely, waiting for her father to motion toward the jug of sake on the counter. He nodded and surprisingly got a glass of water. Naoki quickly got her own and they sat down to eat. "How've you been?" Naoki asked politely her gaze focused on her food.

Her father snorted and glared at her. "Let's not pretend. You haven't stopped by in a month and that's all you have to say. How've you been?!"

"I'm sorry I've been busy at the hospital-"

Her father interrupted with a snort, "It wouldn't matter if you were busy at the hospital or not, you wouldn't have come anyway. You hate visiting me."

Naoki chewed her mouthful of food slowly and tried to calm herself. "And whose fault is that?" She asked, looking her father squarely in the eye. "Every time I come here you're either too drunk to remember or too angry to care. Why do you think I moved out in the first place?"

"If you hate me so much why come back?" Her father sneered.

"I come back because I love you despite all we've lost!"

Her father froze at her confession, "Get out." He said quietly and then yelled, "Get out!" Naoki nodded and grabbed her things calmly before leaving and heading toward the green house. Going home to an empty apartment would only make the aching wound inside her bleed faster. It was better to be with the plants than alone.

Naoki knew she would have nightmares when she eventually went to sleep but it would only get worse the longer she put it off. So around midnight she finished up her gardening and went to sleep, dreading the moment her dreams came to her.

She was 10 again. Her father was drunk, like always but this time he was calling for her mother… in a sad broken voice that was usually hidden by his loud drunken slurring. She almost preferred his painful fists or his belt to this broken tone that seemed to echo her own thoughts. She looked toward the back hallway and then forward only to see the scene had changed. It was dark and a light rain fell. Naoki ran silently away from the voices that called for her to stop. She ran away from the woman she had just killed, if she ran fast enough she could almost feel her tears slip away before they fell… like she wasn't even crying… At the next tree Naoki lost her footing and fell until she ended up kneeling in one of the Suna interrogation rooms, the same young woman lying on the ground beneath her. "Please Rakakshi, I love-" The woman was cut off as Naoki violently punched her. She had been assigned the task of interrogating a civilian who was thought to know the location of Sasori of the Red Sand. After casting a strong genjutsu she convinced the younger girl they were lovers. However the young woman still wouldn't give up Sasori's location. In a violent fit of rage Naoki punched her until she was a bloody pulp. Still under the effects of the genjutsu the girl's last words were "I love you." Suddenly Naoki was falling, rolling down a hill, faces rushing past her. Sensations long buried dragging their way to the surface of her consciousness and pulling old scars apart. Suddenly one of the faces grabbed at her and –

Naoki woke up, a hand on her shoulder. She quickly threw the person attached to the hand and looked over wildly. One of her assistants looked at her worriedly. "I'm sorry." She said, quickly scanning them for injuries.

"I'm fine. I just thought I'd wake you up. You looked like you were having a nightmare."

Naoki nodded and smiled thinly, "Thanks." She said and got up, looking at the time. It was five and time for the plants to be watered. She left the watering to her assistant and went up to the hospital. There was no point in trying to sleep when she knew she had to get up for work in an hour anyway.