"I'm sorry, sir, we haven't received a letter from Konoha for you."

The man's eyes hardened as he leaned forward against the counter separating him from the mailman. There was a good buzz in the building as mailmen came in and out with outgoing and received posts and people waited in line to pick up their mail from other countries or large packages that couldn't fit in their mailboxes.

"But I sent it a month ago, with your best hawk."

"The hawk returned without the letter, so it must've been delivered. Perhaps the receiver didn't send a response."

He sighed and closed his eyes shut momentarily. "Then I will send another. Please give me the same hawk."

"We have been expressly told not to send any outgoing mail to Konoha for the time being."

Dark shadows were cast across the man's face and the mailman at his service recoiled.

"Fine, thank you for your time," the man said briskly before leaving the desk. As he was leaving, a familiar face entered through another door and he stopped in his step to watch the old lady and her dog approach a different queue.

"Good day, Haita-san," the old lady said in greeting to the friendly old mailman.

"Good to see you, Konata-san! How's the family?"

"We've been good."

The old man bent forward to see over the counter. "And who's this fella?"

"Saya, up." The dog got up on its hind legs and rested its front paws on the edge of the service window.

"What a good dog!" He chuckled as he petted Saya. "You got a service dog!"

"She was gift from a friend."

"So, how can I help you today, Konata-san, Saya-chan?"

Konata rummaged around in her purse and pulled out a handful of papers. "I have a letter from Konoha, Haita-san, and here's my I.D."

The mailman took the envelope with their postal signa stamp on it and pulled out the letter to see the transaction information. "Ah yes. You're lucky Konata-san, your letter was one of the last to be received before they started processing through them. Now let's see... Nine, two, zero..." He headed deeper inside the office until he was out of sight and his voice faded off.

Konata leaned into the service window, and shouted after him, "Why are they doing that?"

"In all my years of service I can never tell what the shinobi are thinking. Usually it's because there's some sort of threat. But don't worry about it, it's always just some false calls." As he returned, Konata pulled her head away, deep in thought. Haita placed the letter down, along with a form on a clipboard, and then slid both over to her. "Here's your letter! And please sign here."

She signed her name and pulled out her seal to stamp. Once she was finished, Haita pulled the clipboard away as she placed everything back into her purse. "Thank you, Haita-san. Take care."

"Take care, ma'am," he said genially, tipping his hat.

"Let's go, Saya."

Konata exited the post office and headed down the stairs to the street. A call for her name turned her around again.

Baki was going down the stairs to approach her. Soon enough they were standing face to face with each other.

"Baki-san. Fancy seeing you here."

"It's nice to you again, ma'am." He bowed respectfully. "Could we talk over some tea?"

Konata scanned him and put on a careful smile. "What do we have to talk about?"

"I have a couple of interesting stories to tell about my time in Konoha, I thought you'd have some as well."

"I don't think I'm in the mood for that, perhaps another time."

"I noticed you got a letter from Konoha, I haven't gotten a response from mine, however, probably didn't put the address on right. And I can't send another one because they've been shut down for the time being."

"I managed to send mine a while back," Konata relented. "Perhaps I had a bit of luck with foresight."

"I would love to learn from you and obtain such experienced foresight."

Konata saw the controlled desperation, an uncompromising need in his eyes. "I heard... you have our Ritsu, Akira, and Suzume on your new genin team."

"Yes, ma'am. They're all promising individuals."

"Hm." Konata started down the road. "We'll talk over tea at my place."

"Yes, ma'am!" Baki caught up to her in two long strides.

The arguments Suzume had had with her brothers were uncontrollably forgotten over time. The family was too busy to even sit down and have dinner together. But that morning, Suzume and Temari bumped into each other.

Temari had a day off and had taken a 3 a.m. shower. She smelled clean, felt clean, and had on crisp, clean clothes. She loved the optimal feeling of clean and crisp. She went down the stairs and met Suzume at the base on the first floor.

Suzume, as always, had a massive bed-head, this time around with swirls like a lollipop. When she saw Temari, her eyes lightened and she waved happily at her.

"Gonna take a shower?"

Suzume nodded.

"Join me for breakfast?"

She nodded enthusiastically again.

"See you after, then, lollipop."

Temari entered the kitchen and pulled on her apron. Her name embroidered by Suzume on the right cuff.

She tied her hair back and cleaned her hands. She may not be a good cook like Kankuro and Suzume but she could at least prepare the rice. She washed the rice and then placed the bowl aside to sit. She also went about washing the vegetables and preparing to make egg omelette, following the instructions in Suzume's handwritten cookbook.

By the time Temari poured the rice in a pot and placed it on the stovetop to cook, Suzume came to join her. After putting on her own apron and washing her hands, she took the washed vegetables and chopped them up. She pickled the cucumbers and seasoned the beansprouts. Temari watched her work with a smile on her face before focusing on her egg omelette cooking next to the rice.

When the rice was finished, they served themselves breakfast, at that point Suzume finished making miso soup she'd prepared the night before and bento to deliver to the boys later.

"This looks great, Suzume."

"You're getting better at cooking, Temari ne-san. The omelettes came out well."

"Thanks," Temari grinned.

The two seated themselves down at the table and dug right in.

"I can't wait to get back onto the field again. I've been stuck here for months, doing paperwork, making phone calls, dealing with idiots-- see, that's what Gaara's life is going to be like after he becomes Kazekage." Temari shuddered. "Glad I got out of that."

"You want a mission?"

"I want some energy! I want some action. I want to feel powerful again. I want to actually use my head instead of mindlessly going through papers, I want to be somewhere that's not the desert or the office or my room."

"I want that too," Suzume agreed. "I want to see mountains and forests."

"We'll show them to you," Temari promised. "Next time we travel to Konoha."

Suzume nodded, finishing off the last bit of her meal. "Do you want to feed the sheep with me?"

"Sure!" The two of them went into the kitchen with their dirty dishes and cleaned them off before heading to the backyard. "Why do we have sheep again?"

Suzume shrugged. "I'm looking after them for a friend."

Temari's heard that response many times and no matter what they do or say, Suzume would never disclose any information more than that. Baki's told them that she suffered a loss on the mission and the friend she was talking about must be the same person.

She knew better than anyone that Suzume just needs time to open up. But she's also learned that if things are left for too long, then it will just be buried up in time and memory. She's been a victim of it, her brothers, her comrades. Never to talk about their feelings, keeping them in, until it kills them.

To top it all off, Suzume was more sensitive than most. Young. She's the type who needs to rely on someone, to talk to someone, that much Temari's learned.

"We can't keep these sheep forever, Suzume."

Suzume seized up. One of the sheep gnawing gently on her hand.

"The owner of these animals is gone. Right?"

"Yes."

"Who were they? You were friends I heard."

"His name was Jabari." She wouldn't look at her. "And I failed him."

"Suzume."

"Don't worry, Temari, I've already looked up a place for the sheep to go."

Temari's eyebrows creased. "Have you?"

"They'll be gone soon. Along with the goats and Isamu."

"Suzume, talk to me."

"I don't want to."

"Suzume," Temari insisted bracingly.

"Temari, please. I don't want to talk."

Temari was dissatisfied with this, but she reigned herself in and sighed. "Alright. But I'm here, remember that okay?"

"Okay, thank you."

Temari entered the emptying conference room and spotted Gaara across from her. As she approached him, another man got to him before she did and she overhears their conversation, dragging her feet a small bit.

"It's nice to see you here, Gaara-sama."

"Same to you, Mira-san. Anything I need to address?"

"No, no! Everything is running efficiently!"

Gaara nodded. "That's good to hear, I'll stop by again soon. Have a good rest of your day."

"You as well, Gaara-sama!"

Temari took this moment to sidle up to Gaara's side and he looked over to see a grin on her face.

"You're good at this."

"I learned from the best."

"Here," Temari handed him a bundle of files. "Information for the upcoming mission, and," she held out a bento, "from our little one."

Gaara accepted the bento and opened one of the files to pull out the profiles on the missing nin. He caught something and pointed it out to Temari. "The drug addiction? Yeah, it's been going around ever since Father passed away."

"Perhaps we should inspect our hospital system and update it."

"Gaara, it's more than the hospital system, it's largely the underground businesses as well."

"I do remember reading about how we have the third largest black market among the Five Great Nations." Gaara slid the papers back into their file. "I'm done here. Should we head back together?"

The two returned to the office and spent the rest of the day there doing their work.

After arriving back home, the two showered off their long night and warmed up some leftovers to eat. They were both at the dining table, their meal on one side and paperwork on the other. Gaara was still looking over the files and Temari was reading over some reports.

"Anything interesting?" Temari said while taking a moment for a bite of food.

Gaara straightened out his papers on the table. "There are some things I'd like to go over with you and Kankuro once he returns, other than that, nothing much."

A loud baa from outside drew their attention to their backyard where the sheep were huddled underneath the tree, which has grown twice it's original size, its crown brushing against the mansion and casting most of the yard in shadow. There is now a makeshift watering hole to the side where the animals can drink out of. Some of the cacti that Gaara had been cultivating in the greenhouse were moved out and standing by in pots, waiting to be placed in the ground. The bells rang.

"...The tree is strange" Gaara said softly, almost unconsciously.

"Of course it's weird," Temari replies, chewing slowly. "It just sprang back alive one day and it hasn't just grown, it's thriving in the desert. We've had scientists and journalists hounding at us for access to it." She poured herself more water. "I know we decided not to, but I'd like someone in the expertise to try to explain it."

"I wanted to ask Shukaku about it, because he's lived longer than any human, I knew he would be knowledgeable about it."

Temari looked surprised. "I can't imagine him telling you much."

Gaara shook his head. "We had a back and forth that resulted in nothing but more deception."

"Doesn't change much, does he?"

"That's how I found out about Suzume learning mithridatism." Gaara's eyes were out of focus. "I also managed to find out that Suzume is connected with Shukaku somehow."

"How?"

"Did you know that Suzume had a reason she didn't perform the transformation jutsu, but instead performed a nature affinity jutsu?"

"I thought it was her way of telling people not to underestimate her."

"No, she literally is unable to perform the transformation jutsu, so she found a loophole to the graduation exam and it ended up being a nature affinity jutsu."

"So, she has a hard time with a basic jutsu?"

"No, she can't do the jutsu. She is incapable of transforming. And Shukaku can't transform into her."

"What...?" Temari's eyebrows creased. "The beast we derive the transformation jutsu from can't transform into a little girl?"

"Odd, isn't it?"

Temari stared hard at her food for a long while, not taking another bite or moving at all. She lifted her head and her piercing gaze met Gaara's. She placed her chopsticks down onto the table and stood, heading to the front door.

"Come with me."

They rushed to the village archives and once there, Gaara stuck close to Temari as she went through the aisles of bookcases and pulling down books from shelves. She tossed them for Gaara to hold. Afterwards, they went to a table and dropped the books down. Temari sorted through them, flipping to the right pages, setting the book down, then moving on to the next. Her eyes were focused and sharp, dexterously picking out the right words and fragments.

"Gaara." The next second those same eyes were on him and Gaara had to collect himself again. He walked around the table to join her side and she slid a finger under a line of a book to show him.

"It says here, the transformation jutsu is used to transform into humans, and here it says," Temari pulls a scroll toward them so Gaara could see. "Shukaku can transform into any object, animal, and human."

"So, if Shukaku can't transform into Suzume, that would mean she's not an object, animal, or a human? Then--"

"What is she?" Gaara finished for her, wide eyed and breathless.

"Shinobi have only been able to transform into fellow humans and have never been able to turn into other species or objects," Temari continued, reading something they already knew.

The two siblings looked at each other, understanding what they had to do, static seeming to run through them in suspense.

Both of their hands folded into a seal, "Henge!"

"Thanks so much, mom!" Ritsu lifted up the book in excitement. "I completely forgot it was coming out!"

"No problem, sweetie," his kind faced mother said. "We've been wanting to get you something for your hard work. So if you want to quit that dangerous shinobi job, don't hesitate--"

"Asami!" Ritsu's rather small father walked in. "Don't try to change the kid's mind!"

"But, Noya, it's so dangerous. And every time Ri-chan goes out on a mission, I can't calm down until she's back home again!"

"The kid can live the way he wants to. How many times do we have to have this conversation?"

"Mom, I'm not going to quit," Ritsu said seriously. "I'll come home safe each time. I'm the best in my rank, remember?"

His mother sighed. "Alright... Alright, dear. I just..."

Ritsu reached over to grab his mother's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I know, kaa-san. Thank you for being so accepting of everything."

As he rose to leave, his father went over and placed his hands on his mother's shoulders supportively.

Ritsu glanced at the clock and went to pull on his shoes. "I'm visiting the hospital today."

"Oh!" His mother rose from the table, becoming a good head taller than his father. "I'll get some food ready."

"It's okay, okaa-san. I'm picking out a cactus for them on the way there."

Ritsu slid down the stairwell and then jumped into a casual stroll on the streets. He was glad his mother's insisting had died down over the year. She'd almost been completely stubborn that he don't return to his duties after the first incident. It had taken a lot of convincing from both him, his father, and his grandmother to get permission again.

That was when his mom had lost her daughter after all.

Ritsu stopped by a nursery and browsed through the cacti and some misplaced, pricier bouquets of flowers. He wondered when he'd stop buying plants only for them to die. He became lost in thought as he stared at an already withering chrysanthemum. Anything that doesn't belong in the desert end up dying. The plants, the animals, the humans.

He took the flower in his palm and lets the soft petals glide over his skin. Everything that doesn't belong in the desert is gentle.

Ritsu points at the bouquet of chrysanthemums. "I'd like this one please."

He could take the route to the hospital with his eyes closed. He would pass by the convenience store and enter the more business area of the village where law firms, banks, and some shinobi offices for the lower-tier of the profession were located. Past the hospital was the Kazekage residence and the main shinobi headquarters, the T&I, the research facility, and other office buildings.

Sandwiched in the middle was the building he was heading for. There were smaller infirmaries and clinics scattered throughout the village as well as a hospital strictly for civilians only, which was the one his cousin worked at, but this one was the largest hospital for shinobi. Here was where they stayed after a particularly dangerous mission, where serious surgeries were done, and where they went for mental health checkups.

It was one of the largest buildings in the village and one of the most renovated ones as medical knowledge and technology advanced. He entered the hospital and went up to check in at the visitor's desk.

"Hello again, Ritsu," the nice receptionist greeted him. "Come for another visit?"

"Yeah, could you check me in?"

"Of course. Go right on up."

"Thanks." Ritsu took the elevator up to the topmost floor where he gets off.

From his experience, this was one of the most quiet floors of the entire hospital, save for an occasional yell or scream. It was also the most lived in, with a wide area in the likeness of a living room with pillows scattered on the sofas or the floor, coloring books left open with crayons in a mess beside them, a person's knitting abandoned on one of the rocking chairs, most of the windows pushed open letting in warm air.

He passed by the room as well as a few nurses who recognized and said hi to him, and headed toward room 509 and knocked. A familiar face opened the door and the nurse with heavy eye bags looks down at him.

The nurse smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Ritsu," and she stepped aside to let him in.

The room was long and open. There were five beds lined up against the wall with their own curtains. Two of the beds were hidden by them and their occupants were sleeping from their loud snores.

Notebooks were stacked on a space on the floor and he had to step over them, a blanket was spread out on the floor like a picnic and toys were spread out on it, pictures were hung on the walls and some clothes were hanging off the foot of the beds.

The rest of the beds were the ones Ritsu had come for. Their occupants were sitting in a huddle on the picnic blanket and absorbed in their own activities. One of these people was a full grown woman and the other two were girls Ritsu's age.

He sat down amongst them and completed the circle.

"Hey, guys," he said as he made himself comfortable. "How've you been doing?"

He got no answer. The women all continued to remain in their own world. The adult woman who had her black hair in a pretty braid and had a pointy nose was drawing a circle again and again on a piece of paper. One of the girls was dainty and had dark blue eyes shining out of her dark complexion and was preoccupied in setting up the tea set over and over again in different ways. The last girl had short hair and a rounder figure and was just sitting there vacantly, staring at nothing.

"I brought you all some more flowers." He presented them the blue chrysanthemums. 

"I'll go get a vase for them," the nurse left them all alone.

Ritsu waited. He wanted someone to start the conversation first, even look him in the eye. Maybe smile at him. But he knew he waited in vain. He plucked three flowers from the bouquet and placed each of them in their hair. There was no reaction.

Settling himself in and resigning to the silence, he started, "You won't believe what I've been through since the last time I was here. Remember that freak I told you about? She's on my team now."

When Ritsu came back to the house, he felt a chakra signature inside and after his initial thought of his grandma coming to visit, he realizes it wasn't hers as the door closed behind him.

There were voices coming from the kitchen, and he catches his father's voice.

"What are your intentions with our child?" he was asking with a stern tone. "Coming by the house unannounced implies a close relationship. Ritsu is too young to marry."

Ritsu rushed into the kitchen, "Tou-san!"

He was met with the sight of Suzume sitting at his dining table with his parents across from her, all with tea steaming in front of them.

Suzume stood and bowed in greeting, but he paid her no mind, stomping over to his parents.

"This is my teammate and junior, Suzume. And she's a girl. It's the same deal with Akira looking like a girl when he's a guy."

"We just thought maybe you were interested-"

Ritsu sighed. "She's also the girl baa-san's looked after in the past, the one Tomo-ne's been talking about-"

"As well as the little sister of the honorable Sand Siblings you fuss over?" His mother giggled. The woman ignored her child's annoyed 'okaa-san!' and turned to Suzume. "You've been a topic of conversation in our family for a while. It's nice to match a face to a name."

"Sorry about the way I treated you," his father said bluntly but sincerely. "Thank you for working with our kid."

Suzume ducked her head in more than a humble answer.

"We'll leave you alone then. We're going to the gym with the team," Ritsu's mom said, both of the adults rising from the table. "I'm sure you have shinobi business you need to do or something of the sort. "

"They're going to hang like teenagers normally do. They're just acting cool by being so uptight to show off."

"That last comment was unnecessary, tou-san!"

After they were gone, Ritsu sighed and collapsed into a chair, pulling a hand down his face. "Sit down already."

Suzume, as a sign of respect, had been standing until told otherwise. She pulled up a chair and looked at Ritsu curiously.

"What? Do you have something to say?"

"You were at the hospital."

"Yeah, but it's none of your business, is it?" Ritsu reached over to grab a tin of cookies and slid it over to himself. He opened the top. "You're really annoying, and persistently annoying, which is worse. Who just goes over to a senior's house uninvited and unannounced. How did you even know where I live?"

"Baki-sensei," was the answer.

"Right," he said around a mouthful of cookies, sending her a cursory glance. "Are you avoiding my grandma or something?"

Suzume bristled up.

"Looks like I was right." He chewed thoughtfully, then dug around in the cookies again. "You're so easy to read. Well, whatever."

Ritsu discarded the tin and dusted off the crumbs from his hands. "You wanted to learn from me or some other shit right? What do you want to learn? I already wrote you up a training menu."

"How to speak well."

"Yeah, you pretty much have no filter, but what you say is just crap. So that sucks."

Suzume frowned, coming to terms with his short summation of her speaking habits.

Ritsu chewed thoughtfully. "You just have to believe that you're equal to everyone, or even better. You also have to be confident in yourself. Which means what?" he held out a hand for an answer.

"...Being mean?"

He wiggles the fingers of his outstretched hand, considering her answer, "Yes..." he accepted, "but most people call it assertion."

"So I need to say what needs to be said when it needs to be said."

"Basically. And then expand your vocabulary, use words that are suitable for the situation. Nothing too fancy or pompous, but not too basic either. Learn to be eloquent."

"How?"

"Learn from examples and try to copy people you want to talk like. And then experience. Experience is important."

"Okay." She got up from her seat and bowed. "Thank you for your advice."

She started to walk away, but Ritsu grabbed her wrist abruptly.

Suzume stared at his lowered head. "Ritsu-senpai?"

He let go of her wrist and stood awkwardly in front of her. "... Do you think you can get Temari-senpai and Gaara-sama to sign their book for me?"

When his guest had left and the place was left to himself alone, Ritsu poured himself a glass of cold milk and sat criss-crossed on the sofa.

"She looked horrible..." He shrugged, chugging the rest of his milk. He hopped up from his seat and washed out his cup. Oh well.