One morning, Suzume's nose was attacked by smell. Her hand slapped onto her nose in a pathetic attempt to cover it.

They weren't all bad smells, but they were all strong and mixed together strangely like bread and paint and trash.

She jumped out of bed and grabbed a clothespin from her laundry basket to squeeze her nostrils closed.

The smells were dulled and she was able to breathe again. Suzume sighed.

She held out her hands and started to count on her fingers while mumbling nasally under her breath, "Weird heat sensitivity, weird sleeping patterns, weird animal attractor, weird chakra, weird oasis finder, weird nose..."

She looked down at her six fingers. She wondered if she would be able to get to ten someday. She had hoped it would stop at oasis finder but she just kept getting weirder, and at this point she wasn't even surprised anymore.

Suzume lowered her hands, shook her head out of its haziness, and decided that she should start her day to forget about it all.

She made it all the way to the front door in her uniform ready for work when she put on her shoes only to dislike the feeling completely. It was tight and obstructing. She kicked them off without thinking and sat there for a second.

Rationalizing with herself that without shoes she would burn the skin off her feet on the sun-cooked sand of the desert, she put on the shoes again. She rotated her ankles and wiggled her toes experimentally. Still felt weird.

Suzume lifted her six fingers up again to add another finger, making seven.

"Weird feet..."

Suzume stood up aggressively, ripped the clothespin from her nose-- leaving behind angry red marks where it had pinched-- and with determination, left the house in her shoes.

After a day of training, she came back home and opted to skip wearing house slippers after a long day of bothered feet. She tried to get used to her heightened nose but ended up asking Akira for some tissue to shove into her nostrils. Ritsu didn't look her in the eye for the entire training session while Baki and Akira laughed at and teased her.

Suzume noticed Temari's and Kankuro's chakra in the kitchen so she made sure to take out the tissue and throw it away in the bin before entering the room. She was glad they smelled good enough today, both smelled like their natural smell, meaning they hadn't trained yet. Temari smelled more minty while Kankuro smelled more fruity. 

Kankuro was sitting at the dining table with Temari standing over his shoulder, both considering a blueprint and bouncing ideas back and forth from each other.

"Good evening," she greeted.

"Hey, Suzume," Temari said, looking up at her.

"What're you guys doing?"

"Temari had an idea on how to use the winds to make energy." Kankuro waved her over to see the blueprint. "It's ingenious! It could change everything. Look."

Suzume looked at the blueprint over Kankuro's other shoulder to see a pinwheel drawing in his handiwork with notes to the side.

"The blades work as rotors and as the wind turns them they spin a generator and then we store it as energy to be used for later. No man power needed! Just the wind, and buddha knows how much of that we have around here."

"That's amazing!" Suzume looked at Temari with stars in her eyes.

"I know," Temari said pompously but broke and laughed when Kankuro shoved her playfully. "We need to figure out the specifics before it can be a thing though. Gotta hand the idea over to the engineers and it might be a few more years before they're even built."

"I can't wait to see one in person." Suzume went over to the fridge to see what there is to eat as she imagined standing next to a giant pinwheel.

"Are you barefoot? Suzume?" Kankuro said incredulously after noticing her feet. "This is a slipper household."

"They feel uncomfortable for some reason."

"Alright then..."

Suzume's eyes narrowed, and she closed the fridge door a little more harshly than usual. "I don't want to hear anything from someone who pours cereal into their mouth and then pours milk in after and calls it the new trend, Kankuro-nii."

"You should really stop that, Kankuro," Temari agreed.

"It saves time on washing dishes!"

After, the family split up to attend to their separate duties. Suzume was in her room finishing up paperwork, Kankuro went to help Gaara in the office, and Temari was researching more into her new energy idea at the archives.

Near midnight, a knock at her door broke Suzume out of her concentration and she looked up from her report to see Temari at her door.

"Come out to the garden after you're finished, Suzume, I've got something to show you," Temari said.

"Hai," she answered as Temari closed the door.

Suzume finished up her report in the next fifteen minutes, cleaned her ink brushes, and went to join her sister outside.

Temari was in the middle of practicing forms when Suzume came out of the house. She wrapped up her practice as her sister walked over and let out a deep, calming breath as a close. Suzume handed her a towel.

"What did you want to show me?"

Temari left the towel hanging around her neck. She made hand seals then slammed her hand down to the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Seals crawled across the surface and Suzume's lips parted as a summoning appeared before them.

She smelled before she saw him. It was the smell of dirt, grass, wood, and steel with a hint of blood. As the smoke from the summon dissipated away, she had a better look at him. The weasel wore a black vest lined with red with a green eyepatch covered his left eye. His white fur gleamed in the moonlight.

Temari had informed him beforehand that he would be meeting her sister so he had left his scythe behind. Temari noticed that he had groomed for the occasion as his fur was untangled and shining.

"Yo, Kamatari," she welcomed, "thanks for coming."

"Not at al--," he stopped. Then turned to stare wide eyed at Suzume.

"This is my sister, and Suzume, this is my summon, Kamatari." Temari faced Suzume. "I thought this would be right up your alley. What do you think of creating a contract with a summon?"

"No," Suzume said, frowning.

Temari blinked in surprise. "No? Why? I thought you'd be thrilled."

Suzume shook her head. "I'll fight on my own."

This statement could have insulted both parties, prideful as they were. Thankfully, they both knew that she didn't mean it in that way. Temari saw how uncomfortable her little sister looked. She supposed she should've expected this, with how Hisoka ended up. Seeing how adament Suzume was, Temari didn't think there was any need to continue.

"Alright, that's fine. You don't have to." She turned to her summon. "Kamatari, thank you, you can go now."

"I'm sorry for the trouble. It was amazing to meet you." Suzume bowed in farewell.

Her summoning didn't move, he only stared at Suzume. Temari lifted an eyebrow. "Kamatari."

"Ah," he finally looked at Temari, "hai." After a cloud of smoke, he vanished.

"I'm sorry," Suzume told her.

"Don't sweat it," Temari said, waving away her apology. "I was just suggesting something. It's not for everybody. Come on." She jumped her little sister and trapped her in a choke hold. "You wanna spar? It's the perfect night for it."

Suzume scrunched up her nose. "You smell, Temari."

"Oh, yeah?" Temari managed to get a giggle out of Suzume when she ruffled up her hair as retribution. "Get a good whiff!"

Later, when Suzume was in bed, dead as a log, Temari would summon Kamatari again.

The moment he arrived, he seemed to be lost in thought, as he stared down at the ground without a sound. From the three years she's known him, this is the first time Kamatari was not focused.

"What was your reaction from earlier about, Kamatari?"

He didn't speak.

Temari took a step forward, her heart beating loudly. "You know something, don't you? Answer me."

Nothing.

"What do you know about my sister?" This time, her voice betrayed more hunger and desire than she would've liked to show. But after all this time of unsure answers and people and beasts who wouldn't give her what she wanted, here was yet another who knew what she needed to know, right in front of her.

An agonizing moment in silence makes her lose her patience.

"Kamatari!"

He finally meets her gaze.

"I cannot say."

Ritsu couldn't believe the words coming out of Suzume's mouth.

"Me?" He pointed at himself. "They chose... me?"

Akira grabbed his shoulders from behind and shook him excitedly. "That's amazing, Ri-chan!"

Ritsu's face split into a gleeful smile and he turned it to his friend who was jumping up and down to join him in the leaps.

"Five Stripe Genin Ritsu," Suzume recited, and her superior snapped to attention, his lips quivered from the strain of keeping his smile down, "from now on, you will be under the tutelage of Gaara-sama, second son of the late third Kazekage, Councilman, and third ranking Jonin, along with any other personages he deems worthy to instruct you."

She handed him the official scroll to which he accepted with a bowed head. "You are now an apprentice of the Kazekage."

Ritsu and Akira looked up at Suzume in shock. "The... Kazekage?"

Announcing Ritsu as an apprentice under the Kazekage's tutelage was synonymous with declaring that Gaara was already or was eventually going to be the Kazekage. The jonins were the first to hear about this and their attempt to keep it under wraps was doomed from the moment the genins heard of it. Soon enough, the entire village buzzed with the rumor.

"I'm surprised," Katsuo expressed while his team was hanging out at a restaurant, "I thought for sure they would pick Suzume to be their first apprentice."

"That would be stupid," Toru said while he stabbed into his pork cutlet. "It would be a show of nepotism if they had and nobody would sympathize with that, especially with that bitch's reputation. But, Ritsu? The Genin Top Dog who is respected by peers and recognized by superiors with a sob story and a recognized war veteran as a grandmother? The honored siblings really know what they're doing."

"Stop acting all smart," Otaki said, shoving at his teammate.

After almost choking on his water, Toru gave Otaki a glare and grabbed a napkin to wipe the water off of the front of his shirt. "But people are going to criticize her for what she is though. They're going to latch onto that irregularity like leeches."

"It shouldn't matter what a person is, especially if they've been that successful," Katsuo huffed. "It's just so stupid."

"Ritsu-senpai is fucking cool though. I have no complaints," Otaki said, smiling happily as he layered meat onto his rice bowl.

With the announcement that Gaara was going to be the next Kazekage came many anonymous letters of dissent, particularly from what appeared to be relatives of people Gaara's killed before. Many believed that Temari should be given the title, which would follow tradition. Thus, more than ever, people were supportive of Temari and actively advocating it. She wondered where all of these supporters were before. Despite the people Gaara has convinced in both the lower ranks and the regular troops, the common people of Sunagakure has only ever heard of Gaara's supposed change and remained unconvinced.

"They sure don't hold back any punches," Kankuro said as he read through the newspaper they were handing around. He whistled under his breath. "'Brats who don't know what the bleep they're doing they said'."

"Kankuro, you don't have to censor swear words for me," Suzume said. "You are all potty mouths. I've heard everything."

Gaara looked over at that, "Me too?"

"I'd like to see them do better," Temari said as she took in a deep breath of her tea. "Wouldn't know what to do with themselves with our responsibilities."

"Let them talk," Baki said lowly. "You'll be able to make them eat their words eventually."

As Suzume got her turn with the newspaper, the family enjoyed a moment's peace as they sipped on their refreshments. The rustling of the newspaper as Suzume turned the pages, the small sips and gulps of tea or coffee or alcohol, the crackling of ice as more beverages were poured, and the smell of fire and smoke from the fireplace amplified around them. It had been weeks since they've all been together.

Kankuro suddenly stood and ran out. "Just remembered something!"

Suzume finished reading and folded up the newspaper as they heard the squeaking of wheels coming closer, followed by the scraping of furniture being pushed aside.

"Guys, come out here!" Kankuro called.

They all filed into the living room where the fire was casting a warm, fickle glow around the area, and now with open space as the sofa and table were stacked to one side. Kankuro was standing in front of something they couldn't see properly.

"Look what Suzume dug up." He stepped to the side to present the object with jazz hands.

It was a dusty, refined gramophone that had its head held high despite its years in the basement, the fire's light making its gold casting shimmer. It sat on a table with wheels on its legs, the surface a square just the right size for the gramophone to fit, and the lower shelf contained a box made of wood filled with a collection of records.

"Whoa," Temari said as everybody went up to the record player. "Since when did we have a gramophone?"

"Does it still work?" Gaara asked.

What the young shinobi don't realize as they huddled around the gramophone was that Baki was looking on at the scene with an unacceptable amount of nostalgia and sentiment for his age and rank. As his kids selected a record to play and the music skipped then settled into being, he could see Rasa and Karura dancing around the living room. Rasa with his eyebrows creased as he tried his best to turn one of his two left feet right again as he clumsily guided a giggling Karura. Baki had become used to being the third wheel despite their insistence that he wouldn't be, though he hadn't really minded back then. He could admit that he had enjoyed himself considerably more when Yashamaru would join them. Out of the shadows of the Kazekage's guard, he would be the light of the party, teasing his sister and her husband and making Baki laugh.

This was the song they had danced to. Baki still remembered how small Yashamaru's waist had been and how rough and reassuring his hands were. Baki would always miss his eyes, and his hair, and his voice, and his sass... always miss him so much.

Kankuro had grabbed Temari and the pair of them switched their lead and follow roles expertly, throwing in unnecessary aerials.

Meanwhile, Gaara and Suzume were giggling as they messed up and fell over each other.

Baki stood up to join them.

He and Kankuro did an entrancing waltz.

Special Operations escorted a town of people across the desert as they were relocating away from their dried up oasis. Arrived safely, no problems to report, the team is promptly returning.

Gaara sighed out a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. It was now an expectation that something would go wrong on missions, and he was relieved that at least this one had no mishaps.

Councilman Tanu had requested that he help with one of his towns. It was hard keeping everyone's favors, especially since he didn't have many people he could trust with them, and he himself couldn't go out on the field as much anymore.

He couldn't rely on Baki's team to do everything for him, it doesn't matter how efficient they are when there's so much to do. They couldn't be several places at once.

Another migraine started to creep up on him.

"I wish I could have eight more teams like yours with infinite chakra and energy so I can work you all to the bone until the day I die," Gaara said with a scary gleam in his eyes from behind his office table.

Baki's team had arrived to make their report and stood in a line in front of him and his desk. Ritsu looked ready to split his very existence into eight. 

"Gaara-sama, that's against the labor law you made yourself," Suzume said, mercilessly.

He closed his eyes and sat back into his chair, his agitation calming some. "It is. You're all dismissed. Thank you for your hard work."

As the kids left, Baki lingered and closed the door after his team. He walked over to stand next to Gaara who was pinching the bridge of his nose. He wondered what Rasa would think if he saw his son now. Baki always knew his friend wouldn't be an amazing father, because he was too preoccupied with his position. Rasa had been an all or nothing sort of person, and his all had been given to the village. Yashamaru was always angry that Rasa would neglect Karura, even if she wasn't too bothered by his absence (something that she would tease her husband with often). But there had always been a concern for his family in the back of the Kazekage's mind.

"Not enough," Yashamaru had thrown at Baki once when the man had tried to defend his brother-in-law. "I wish he'd never married ne-san. Then ne-san wouldn't be lonely. Then we would still be good friends."

A year later, Baki was standing in front of Rasa who was collapsed in a chair in the hospital waiting room. Karura had just been declared dead an hour ago. They could hear Rasa's newborn crying in the separate nursery.

"I can only trust you and Yashamaru now, Baki," Rasa had told him with his head in his hands. "I don't know what I'll do if I lost the two of you as well."

Now that same screaming newborn was sitting in Rasa's chair. His father had been so stretched thin with so much opposition with only a dwindling amount of people he could trust. Baki was grateful that Gaara wasn't as alone. However, it was far from secured. Should they die out in the field, there would be nobody to support him.

"Perhaps you should find some more people you can trust, Gaara," he said.

Gaara looked up at him, considering his advice.

"You're right, Baki. I should," Gaara's eyes turned calculating, "and I will."

Gaara visited Mitra-sensei that day as well as some other teachers he had met and thought were reasonable people, as well as the teammates he had been assigned to during his time in the regular troops. He asked them if they could help him. Mitra and his troop teammates readily accepted his request and only a couple of others agreed outside of them.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

There weren't many other shinobi he knew well enough. Because he made people uncomfortable, he hadn't wanted to force his company onto them. Or rather, had he just been too cowardly to interact with them?

Once he was Kazekage, they would have no choice but to follow his orders, but he didn't want professional obligation to force them to.

This wouldn't do.

Something has to be done before he officially becomes Kazekage.

"Huh?!" Ritsu fit to burst. "Gaara-sama is giving that highly sensitive, highly important, highly classified mission to other shinobi?!"

"Yes, that's what he told me," Suzume said.

"Why all of a sudden?!"

"He wants to have more shinobi he can trust and that means they need to trust him first." Suzume said, reciting her brother's words. "And the members of that team are very accomplished and reliable--"

"We should go with them, who knows what they might do? Sabotage is what they'll do."

"Gaara-sama explicitly said that we're not allowed to be on these missions," Suzume said with lingering disappointment that only Akira managed to catch.

"Missionsssss?! There's more than one?!"

Suzume stood from her seat so suddenly it startled Ritsu into silence. "Ritsu-senpai," she said in a barely controlled way, "if you're upset I think you should yell at Gaara-sama instead of me. I'm not the one who told him to decide something like that."

She stomped out.

"Ooooooo," Akira teased.

"Oh, shut up." Ritsu looked to the direction Suzume had left in, then ruffled his hair roughly in frustration at himself.

Suzume was jealous. The apprenticeship decision hit her harder than she'd like to admit to. Of course she knew the reasoning behind it, how it wouldn't have helped her siblings any if she had been chosen. But why did she have to be the one to deliver the news to Ritsu? Did they not think about how it might upset her?

And now Gaara didn't want her team to go on important missions for him.

She wanted to be helpful. She wanted to be needed. She wanted to be a symbol of pride and power for them, too.

Suzume stopped in her tracks when she reached the backyard. Her hands flew to her red face and she crouched down, groaning in embarrassment. She'd just realized how she had talked to Ritsu.

To shake it off, Suzume headed with great purpose to collect the mail.

She opened the mailbox only for dozens of scrolls to clatter out of the cramped space. She caught them swiftly, blinking at the unexpected haul.

After gathering all of them in her arms, she went inside and into the dining room where she dumped them all on the table. She took one of them and was surprised to see her name written there. After unrolling it and reading through, her eyes went wide. She quickly opened the others as well. They were all for her from a majority of the Councilmembers with a recruiting offer for an apprenticeship with them.

A frown sank over her confusion. Suzume understood. As soon as they heard that Ritsu had been chosen to be a Kazekage's apprentice, they pounced on the chance to bring her over to their side.

She may not have had control over her emotions to hold back from bursting out at Ritsu, but she had enough control over her emotions to keep from doing something as stupid as that. What did they make of her loyalty?

She saw another letter underneath the pile. She picked it up. Again it was addressed to her, but this time she was pleasantly surprised to see that it was from Neha.

Neha was bored.

They weren't treating her horribly. But she wished something would happen. She's learned that being bored is almost on par with light torture. The only rooms she's been in have been dull, practically empty squares with one flat beige color. The two shinobi who had been assigned to babysit her didn't respond to any of her conversation starters or proddings, didn't even give up their names, but that may have been a mistake on their part since she started to call them whatever nicknames came to mind. Some examples would be prickles and needles, stickler and stingy, and gel head and tumbleweed face.

She'd sent letters to every shinobi she knew, asking them if they could visit her, since they were keeping her and everybody else from the rebellion separated from each other so she had nobody to talk to except her stuffy, uptight guards. Five Stripe had sent a short, ruthless letter back saying he was too busy and not to bother Massage either. She'd just sent a letter to Starry Eyes and then another to Gaara though he was probably going to visit again sooner or later whether she wanted him to or not to talk more politics.

After being a witness for the Sand Siblings at the trial, and their subsequent victory, Neha was promised that she and none of her subordinates would be killed for their rebellion, however she would have to spend the rest of her life under careful supervision in the Sand Village while her subordinates could be released based on behavior. That much was written and recorded in the shinobi files, but off record was her deal with Gaara of serving as his advisor when he ascended to his position of Kazekage in the future. Of course, Neha knew that even when he was Kazekage, it may take a few more years for him to gain enough power and recognition to use her effectively.

Neha thought she would die of boredom before then.

The door of her cell opened for tumbleweed face to walk in.

"You have a visitor."

Neha popped up on her feet. "Really?!"

The guard made way for her visitor to come through. The kid walked through, with her large black eyes and tanned skin.

"Starry Eyes! I could kiss you!"

"You're not allowed to touch visitors," her guard reminded her.

"Alright, alright," Neha waved him away, "I'm happy enough already that you've come. Sit down!" Neha sat back down herself as Suzume took the chair opposite her. "How has everything been going, eh?"

"Ukai-sensei and the shinobi are being well taken care of. Gaara-sama made sure they are getting everything they need. I visited Shun-san and the others and they have taken over their local prison by befriending all of the prisoners and guards. Temari told me that they could stand to be a little unhappy for appearances sake."

Neha felt the knot in her throat unravel. The tears that spilled from her eyes seemed to startle the kid. Neha sniffed messily, and took a moment to completely sob into her prison shirt. "You're a thoughtful soul, eh, starry eyes?!"

Suzume handed her a handkerchief and Neha wiped her tears. "They are healthy and safe."

Neha nodded as she calmed herself then handed the handkerchief back to Suzume. "Thank you for telling me. Is there anything else going on? I want to hear about everything."

"Gaara-sama is preparing to take the position of Kazekage. He's made Ritsu-senpai into his apprentice."

"Whoa, Five-stripe? He must be jazzed."

Suzume nodded, looking away and down at her hands. "He's busy now with apprentice work. Temari is training with him on how to be a representative of the Kazekage clan."

"He certainly deserves it."

"I'm wondering if I should be an apprentice for someone too."

"Wait," Neha blinked. "Aren't you already a part of the Kazekagae clan? You're their sister aren't you?"

"Not by blood."

Oof. Neha hadn't known that, though she had been curious as to why the little girl didn't look like the rest of her family. But that still didn't make sense.

"And they didn't pick you to be their first apprentice???"

"Ritsu-senpai was the best choice," the little girl said blandly.

"Ooooooh...." Fuuuuuuuuck... Neha realized the huge mistake she just made as a cloud seemed to form over the girl. "Ah! But! I'm sure you'll be next, starry eyes. Bet on it!"

"No, they've already picked someone else to be next."

"WHAT?!"

Suzume stiffened like a cat, her eyes dilating as a reaction to the unexpected outburst as she took in the angry expression on Neha's face.

"Aren't they going too far?!" The woman swelled with outrage. "Isn't it obvious that they should've picked you to be their apprentice in the first place? The nerve!"

"But it's because I wouldn't have added anything to their power if they had chosen me..."

"They told you that?!"

"No! But it's true!"

"Even if it was true, if they really cared about you they should have made you their first apprentice!"

Suzume's eyes narrowed and she rose to her feet, her chair clattered to the floor. "That would be stupid, Neha-san!"

Neha examined Starry Eyes closely as the girl glared down at her. Still just a child. A relief.

"If you know that then why are you upset?"

Suzume's eyes flashed with confusion. "What?"

"Starry Eyes, you shouldn't put too much store on titles and politics. Did they choose five stripe to be their apprentice because they cared about him more than you?"

"No... but," she tightened her fists, "I hate that I'm not able to add to their power."

Neha sighed and crossed her arms. "Shinobi sure are obsessed with power. I didn't think you were like that too. I guess you're all the same."

"Because...!" Suzume looked up again, letting Neha have a glimpse of the humanity she took a liking to. But, this part of the girl was suffering and hurt thrust upon her by others until she started to torment herself as well even when alone.

There weren't any tears.

It must hurt to hold them in. After all, she was so busy keeping them in, she didn't realize how much the rest of her was trembling from the effort.

Neha couldn't help thinking that the kid didn't look like she had any power at all, not that she would ever tell her that. Why do shinobi waste their energy maintaining meaningless shows of strength?

"Kid, there are dozens of good people who lose themselves to power, it's not always a good thing to have. It's enough to just have a good heart and..."

Neha's words faded away as Suzume stood to bow to her.

"Thank you for your advice, Neha-san. But I won't be listening to it." She straightened and started to leave. 

Neha bolted to her feet. "Wait!"

She let out a breath when Suzume listened. But the girl didn't face her.

"I'm sorry, I overstepped the boundaries. It wasn't my place," Neha said. "Please. Stay."

She watched as the kid decided to listen, turn, then plop down into her seat once again.

Neha slowly picked up her chair to sit as well.

"What do we talk about now?" Suzume asked, indelicately breaking the tension.

Neha sighed, then leaned an arm on the table to point at her. "Y'know, you're not cute at all."

Suzume blushed. "Neither are you, Neha-san!"

"Don't be silly. I'm a cutie~" Neha winked, making Suzume twist her face in a really funny way.

Neha managed to calm Starry Eyes down enough before the girl had to go. Even though she couldn't get down to the deeper issues, it was better to make sure she wasn't distressed when she left.

After guilting Suzume into promising to visit more often, they said their farewells, and Neha started to prepare herself for more of nothing. 

It was then that her bearded guard spoke to her for the first time.

"You don't understand what shinobi go through. I don't think you had the right to lecture her on power," he said, focusing his eyes forward.

Neha, however, made sure to look straight at him, seeing pride in the absence of weakness. "Maybe. But shinobi aren't the only ones with power. You lot are just wielding it in a mighty strange way."

Her guard didn't respond this time, and Neha resolved herself to the silence. She couldn't wait until Starry Eyes's next visit.