Temari and her brothers walked down the narrow street and maneuvered their way around decorative pots and low hanging wind chimes. Kankuro hit his head on a beam once or twice and Temari got tangled in a giant dreamcatcher. By the time they arrived at the shop, Temari and Kankuro were a disheveled, grumpy mess.

"I don't remember it being so cramped down this way," Temari grumbled as she glared at her reflection in the window and pulling fingers through the tangles in her hair.

"This is an older district of the village, jan." Kankuro rubbed at the purpling bruises on his forehead (which Gaara thought matched perfectly with the hue of his brother's kabuki makeup). "They were trying to use up as little amount of space possible back then."

Being an older district meant the houses were built out of wood instead of adobe. Back during the beginnings of the village, many of the people wanted to mimic the strength and prosperity of Konoha, which also meant their architecture. However, it was quickly shut down as nonsensical since the wood buildings trapped in heat whereas the adobe didn't cook their occupants alive.

Now with the air conditioners and fans, some people have elected to occupy the wood houses again until they have a good reason to move out. Many wanted to preserve such districts as a relic of a foolish past where their ancestors would sacrifice their own traditions to appear as strong as another Hidden Village. Many more simply want to flatten it and build more high-end businesses there.

"But when I was here a while ago, it wasn't this claustrophobic. It feels like it shrunk."

"That's because you've grown, Temari-san," was the opening statement Konata made when she opened the door. She smiled in welcome. "Have you come to do some reconnaissance? I do hope I pass the inspection."

"Konata baa-san," the kunoichi grinned toothily. "It's nothing like that. We came here to give our proper respects and apologies for involving you in our familial problems." 

The old lady chortled and pinched Temari's cheek dotingly. "Don't be silly. Being involved in your family's problems is like I have my own private drama novel. I'm having the time of my life."

Konata released her cheek and Temari rubbed it while chuckling awkwardly. "Uh, that's great."

"Come in, come in." Konata waved the siblings inside and once they were, she tightly locked the front entrance and flipped the sign so the 'closed' side was facing outward. "It's good to take a day off once in a while."

She led them through the store and into the living quarters where she left them to take off their shoes.

"Konata-baa," Kankuro called, kicking off his shoes and in practiced form, pushing them neatly to the side with an absentminded shove of his foot. "Is Suzume here?"

"Ah, no," was the reply and the three of them shared looks. "Suzume-chan is so adorable. You know what she did first thing in the morning? Of course I had a hard time waking her up first of all, but it's nothing a little tough love can't handle, but I digress." The shinobi followed the sound of the woman's rambling through the hallway. "The first words out of her mouth were 'I gotta tell Shiro' and she raced out of the house, well, more like tripped out of the house.

"And even after the conversation we had yesterday afternoon about not giving up, she was still stubborn about finding another way and raced to the archives to bring back an aisle's worth of books." The siblings sweatdropped at what was the aftermath of Suzume's research, the living room was strewn with a landscape of books, the books were covered inside and out by bookmarks and post it's, and notes were taped to the walls until the wood underneath was completely obscured. "She's really something."

"There we are," Konata said happily, setting a tray of tea cups down on the table. "How does Gaara-kun like his tea?"

Gaara was caught by surprise and he answered before thinking. "Two sugars."

The old lady chuckled at the way the three of them were still standing politely near the doorway. "I must say, never in my years have I ever seen a more handsome family."

The three of them looked shocked at her sincere comment and couldn't move until Konata told them to sit. The old lady had a way of making them feel like children again or as Gaara abruptly remembered, their age again. It was the same coddling and pampering he's seen parents and grandparents act around their children.

"Oh!" Konata looked pleasantly surprised at the information they let slip in their conversation and she turned to look proudly at him. "Gaara-kun wants to be Kazekage! I can see it, I can see it!"

"Though it won't be easy," Temari said. "There's going to be a lot of haggling involved. Those advisors have sticks up their asses."

"Aaaah," she nodded gravely. "I can relate. I knew them when they were just your age too, grew up with them. If I told them back then they'd act like this in the future, they'd tell me I was high off of food pills."

"You can get high off of food pills?" Kankuro asked.

Konata smiled mischievously. "Yes, but it has to be done just right if you want the best result, otherwise you'll wake up with less hair and more organs than you remembered and a very painful death afterwards."

The puppeteer's eyes lit up. "Can't you use that for sabotage?"

"That's precisely why they banned the use of the ingredient that caused such effects. But I think if you play your cards right you can still get some—"

"No," Temari cut in. "Not happening."

"Aw, come on, Temari." Kankuro rolled his eyes. "Who has a stick up their ass now?"

"Kankuro, you and Gaara need to keep up appearances and if you get caught smuggling in illegal drugs, we can kiss Gaara's chances of being Kazekage goodbye."

Kankuro pouted. "But I'm not going to get caught, jan."

"Look, I'm not against the whole smuggling idea," Temari admitted conspiratorially. "Since I need a stain on my perfectly, perfect Kazekage eligibility record, I'll get the drugs and we can share the ingredients."

"Now you're talking," he beamed and they shook on it.

"Such bad influences Suzume-chan has around her," Konata said innocently.

Weren't you the one who brought up the subject? Gaara asked in his head.

"Speaking of such." Konata separated from her chair and shuffled over to dig through a drawer. "Has Suzume-chan ever been admitted to the general hospital?"

"Yes," Kankuro answered, looking at the other two for confirmation. "When she collapsed that one day, yeah?"

"Well, my great niece works there and she came by to tell me about meeting a strange girl who's bewitched the Kazekage's kids." Konata found what she was searching for and went back to the table with an envelope. "And since I knew one of them, meaning Temari-san, she told me to show you three this."

Gaara accepted the envelope and pulled out what looked to be a pile of newspaper clippings. Gaara's eyes registered recognition right away and the other two had similar reactions. The clippings were all minor headlines following after the story of a feral girl found on the streets. The first few had legitimate speculations and theories while the ones coming after them morphed into conspiracies and crazy tall tales. Gaara quickly slipped them back into the envelope and looked over at Konata who was peacefully sipping her tea.

"My relatives aren't a very friendly group but just because they like to keep to their own doesn't mean they don't care. I worry about them sometimes, especially my granddau-son. He's the first after myself to become a shinobi. He's around Suzume-chan's age. My great niece is close to him and I think she has a soft spot for kids," Konata told them. "She must've been extraordinarily worried to gather these articles for you."  

The paper rustled as Gaara's grip on it tightened. "I think you're too obsessed over this drama, ma'am."

Konata tittered and the ambiance around her turned stiff. "You can't stop me, Gaara-kun. I'm already too invested in the story's characters. Once you're in, you can never get out."

They shared a silent battle and it only ended when Temari spoke up. "Do you know what you're getting into, Konata baa-san?"

A little bit of her age showed in her smile. "I may have been forced to retire because of a back injury but I think this old lady can handle one last mission."

Temari sized the old woman up and decided, "Then I'm going to need to get some more protection seals."

_ _ _

Suzume first stopped by Shiro's house and when she found no one home she headed to the Institute. A grin was stretched permanently on her face and she didn't notice the heavy breaths she was exerting because of her run.

Butterflies were tickling her insides and she felt elated.

From here on out it was going to get better.

The animals all curiously poked their heads out from their homes to look at the girl dashing past. Her footsteps left behind patches of wildflowers which quickly died away as soon as they came. An unsettling shadow stirred and the animals all ducked back inside.

Suzume halted in the courtyard of the school, looking from side to side, deciding where she should head first. She settled on going right and bolted to the side of the main building.

The girl's feet came to a standstill and a chill slithered up her spine. She spun around to see nothing behind her and raised her eyes to look above her at the rooftops.

Nothing was there.

Wavering for a second, Suzume gulped and continued to run with a more nervous gait.

"She's finally going to leave the school."

Identifying the voice, Suzume's mouth split into a relieved smile and picked up the pace to round the corner from where it came. "Shiro—"

Eyes widening, she swiftly backtracked and froze there out of sight. She'd glimpsed Shiro with a group of her classmates.

"It took half a year but it worked."

"Are you really going to be her friend after she leaves?"

"Are you kidding me? Why in Kami's name would I do that?" Shiro growled. "I was picked from a lottery to be the 'friend'. I would've had a lot more fun being the aggressors."

"Yeah, yeah. We agreed to give you as much junk food as you wanted if you took on the job, remember?"

"Which I still haven't gotten."

They came into sight guffawing and roughhousing when they spotted Suzume. Shiro's smile fell off her face at the sight of her.

Suzume's eyes were pleading and her hands shook. "Shiro..."

Shiro glanced back at her group of classmates, who were smirking and urging her on, and then back at Suzume. "Well, what did you expect? You were a freak and hanging out with you only confirmed it."

"But—"

"What? Did you think I actually liked you?!" Shiro laughed without humor. "That we were friends?! We weren't friends! You just began to use me like you use the Sand Siblings! You relied on me to protect you! Admit it! That's the only reason why you stuck to me like a leech!"

All Suzume managed to do was shake her head numbly. 

"So, just do everyone a favor and get out of our sight already, Charity Event!" Shiro pushed past Suzume, shoving hard against her shoulder.

The rest of the students sniggered and did the same until their voices and laughter retreated away from where Suzume was standing.

Suzume hung her head and she stood there until the minutes stacked up and the sun was high in the sky.

"You said," Suzume's voice hitched, "you said, you'd stand by me no matter what."

_ _ _

A dog was digging through garbage in a ghastly alleyway. A shadow of a girl fell onto it and once it noticed her, it began to cower and growl warningly.

She carefully approached it and carefully crouched down to the dog's level. It barked and pulled back its lip to gnash its teeth at her.

"Hi," she greeted nervously.

The dog continued to snarl.

"This is my offering for forgiveness." Suzume presented a bowl of water. "And I'll gradually feed you until you're healthy again and then I can help you find an owner."

The dog still stood wary.

"I'm sorry I took out my anger on you. It was wrong of me."

The dog never took its eyes off of her. Suzume scooted back a few inches away from the water to give it space. The dog took a tentative step forward and lowered its head to dip its tongue into the bowl. It finally lowered its eyes and gulped down every drop of water. When it was done, it looked back up at her.

Suzume stayed still as it sniffed at her carefully and cagily and it wasn't long before it licked her cheek and began to wag its tail.

Suzume petted it and the dog eventually found its way into her lap.

"I guess you forgave me," Suzume said. "Thank you." 

The dog shifted into a more comfortable position and nuzzled its head into her stomach.