Inochi crept up behind a branch as slowly as possible. She removed the leaves hindering her sight and listened carefully to what the six miscreants were talking about.

- "Do we really need to threaten all the members of the council? Why can't they just give into the threats quickly" A guy with brown hair whined.

- "The Damiyo is more stubborn than I thought. Is he underestimating us?" A girl with green hair said as she sharpened her knife.

- "Well the three lackeys were scared as hell when we beat the shit out of them." A guy with huge built jumped off from a boulder. "I say we target the other lackeys next. We will get more asses to beat" He clapped, being amused by his own idea idea.

-"Ugh, shut up Yugo and let us sleep" Two girls who seemed to be twins said in unison."We need to wake up early tomorrow"

-"Why are you two even sleeping then!!" Yugo jumped over beside the twins and started annoying them.

The sixth member, who seemed to be too deep in thought, was the one wearing the scarf. Inochi deduced that he might as well be the tactician if not the leader of the group. After some moments he spoke to the brown haired guy and the green haired girl.

- "We don't have much time. Akatsuki sama said they will pay us only after the Damiyo stops outsourcing the resources to the leaf and it could take months if we go against the council members one by one. We are in dire state of money plus we need to bring our village to justice"

-"We may go against the Damiyo himself, but it is rumored that he has the most elite group of shinobi protecting him" The green haired girl pointed out as the brown haired guy agreed with her.

- "We then need to either kill them, or persuade them. They are sand shinobi, hopefully they will understand the situation" The guy said as his eyes gleamed with determination.

Inochi who was overhearing all of this sighed. "This is politics isn't it. These guys are no different than leaf shinobi who just want to do good for their village" Inochi had faced such controversial situations a lot of times in her missions during which she had only one thought in her mind; just get over the mission. However, spending two months in the sand village, did break her mindset to some extent." I don't want to interfere with politics. Plus what they are doing is wrong, whatever may be the reason. This should be solved through officials" Inochi tried persuading herself. "But the officials SUCK!" Inochi sat down on the branch comfortably as she saw the six 'terrorists' go to sleep. "If only the officials had some less ego, it could have been sorted out so quickly" Inochi dozed off for a few minutes.

Shaking herself up, she continued with her mission. She took out a scroll, wrote down the complete descriptions of all the six members of the groups and their discussion which she overheard. She then slowly approached the group, and planted a seal on the leader's head which would help the leaf ANBU track him and headed back to the campsite.

- "Atlast I will be free from this goddamn mission" Inochi said quite loudly as she rushed through the forest. It was daybreak and the sudden calming breeze seemed to wash away her stress and anxiety.

Inochi spent the day with Gaara, Yura and Sajin with utmost happiness as she was at last done with the assignment. The next day when they returned, Yura and Sajin bid their goodbyes to Gaara and Inochi, promising to meet again and left to report to the Kazekage. Gaara and Inochi too went back to their residence.

Inochi sent the mission report that day only, and received a letter as reply under three days. To her delight, Kenta's letter was present too. However, her smile weared off as she read what the Uchihas were up to ;

--The Uchihas are planning a coup. Number of participants unclear, hopefully no children are involved--

- "WHAT THE HELL!!??" Inochi muffled her scream out of shock. "An effing COUP!! What in the actual effing hell??" Inochi laid down on her bed, almost paralysed from the shock. She covered her eyes as she tried to take in the information. "No no no... there is not way this is happening" Inochi took the letter and continued reading the rest of the message.

--Itachi and Shisui are acting as double agents. The officials and Hokage seem to know about the coup because of them and are finding solutions to stop it--

- "Wait what?" Inochi was highly relieved. "If Itachi and Shisui san are against it, along with the officials, there is no way the coup is going to happen." Inochi laughed albeit a bit concerned. "The Uchihas are strong, but Shisui san has the mangekyo, Itachi is the child prodigy and the Hokage himself is the strongest shinobi in the village currently. I am sure they will be able to chalk out a solution" Inochi told to herself while calming her nerves down.

-"Should I try asking Danzo san to let me off the mission?" Inochi looked out of the window. She saw Gaara running around with his teddy bear as Yashamaru tried to catch him. "Should I even leave this mission?" Inochi remembered the conversation she had with Yura.

- "I am a leaf Shinobi. My village should come first!" Inochi took up her pen to write a letter asking for her release from the mission. "But Gaara is still not accepted" She stopped. "Ughhhh What should I do???" She scrunched up the paper in frustration and went downstairs. She needed a few days to ponder about her decision., although she knew on which side she was leaning on more.

In the next week, Inochi chalked out all the pros and cons about her decision.

"Konoha has Itachi, Shisui , the officials, and probably the ANBU to supress the coup. Gaara has only Yashamaru" Inochi said to herself while lying on her bed. "But Konoha is my home. The Uchiha forces are probably planning on using Naruto's nine tail fox" Inochi scratched her head. "Well if I can figure that out, the officials can too. They are more intelligent than me I hope"

Inochi digged up her nails into her skin, out of her habit, to divert her mind. Just as she started bleeding out of her skin, she loudly sighed,

- "Oh leave it Inochi. You know you would never forgive yourself if you leave Gaara under such situation. You would hate if he starts to detest you" Inochi sat up straight. "SO its decided, I won't leave here until my mission asks me too. Plus there is no way I could have gone against Danzo san's orders" Inochi chuckled in fear.

- "I am so dumb to even think I could write a letter against his orders" Inochi again lied down "I just need to have faith in my comrades. They are powerful enough to supress any danger to the village" she muttered to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Inochi spent the rest of the month trying to calm herself down from the shock she received from the letter. It was quite difficult as although she would spend most of her time with Gaara, he wasn't really a cheerful kid like Naruto.

Inochi did not want to change his environment suddenly, as she too liked calmness but realised that Gaara at least needed some friends he could talk to. However he was again restricted from going outside as just two weeks after their vacation, Gaara again got out of control.

Inochi was, by now completely habituated with such situations, but it still did not become any easier. Killing a beast and calming one were two completely different things, and Inochi knew only the former one. Moreover, seeing Gaara wake up every day in pain and agony and listening to his screams as he would gradually change into the beast distressed Inochi a lot.

Nights would pass with Gaara sleeping beside Inochi, hugging her tightly as if asking her to save him from becoming a monster. Inochi never had to face something like this with Naruto, so she too felt completely helpless. Before the mission, she thought that Gaara would be the same as him, but the reality was completely out of Inochi's bounds of imagination.

As the next month arrived, Gaara started stabilizing again so Inochi thought of taking him with her everytime she would go out. It wasn't allowed by the Kazekage as he did not believe that Gaara should be going out at all until he got complete control over the beast, so Inochi just sneaked him out by bribing the guards. Inochi kept a firm hold of Gaara's hand everytime they walked down the market street. She could see everyone scamper away as they approached, some in fear while others in disgust.

One day, just after a week of sneaking him outside, Inochi stopped in front of a shop, and asked for whatever vegetables she needed. She looked over to Gaara, who had his head hanging low, so as to avert his eyes from the glares. He squeezed Inochi's hands to tell her to hurry up, in response to which Inochi told the shopkeeper,

- "Ojisan, I brought Gaara sama with me today!" Gaara looked at her in shock and betrayal. Inochi just gave him an assuring look while looking back at the shopkeeper. As the shopkeeper came out, Inochi took her bag from him and crouched down to Gaara's eye level.

- "Gaara, this is Kuro Ojisan" Inochi pointed at the shopkeeper's face as if to guide Gaara to look at him. As he looked upwards, he saw a blind man, almost in his fifties smiling back at him.

- "Is this our Gaara sama? Nice to meet you atlast" The uncle bowed. Gaara was still in shock but Inochi tapped at his shoulder to remind him to reply.

- "Yes sir, nice to meet you too." Gaara said in a low tone so as to not attract any attention.

The shopkeeper gave Gaara a candy from his pocket, tousled his hair and bid him goodbye. Gaara was shocked and confused so he looked up to Inochi for explanation.

-"I go to him mostly, for vegetables and stuff. I told him about myself and you, and he asked me if he could meet you. He said he was good friends with your mother, as she shopped from there too, and he had wanted to meet you since you were born" Inochi said as she kept walking towards a children's park." I thought it would be a good idea to acquaint you with some nice villagers Gaara sama"

Gaara did not say anything in reply, just squeezed the wrapped candy in his hand.

As Inochi and Gaara reached the playground, Inochi sat down on one of the benches.

- "Gaara sama, I will rest here for sometime okay? Don't go too far"

- "Ok Umi neechan" Gaara walked to the empty slide. As he played, more children entered the playground.

Gaara watched them playing with a football although after just a few moments, the ball got kicked in the wrong way and reached the top of a huge boulder.

- "Oh no, my ball~" one of the boys whined.

Gaara saw it, and tried to help them. He used his sand to bring down the ball, and held it in his hands.

- "Th- The demon" the boy gasped. All the children suddenly got scared and started backing off as they realised that Gaara had been present there the whole time.

- "No wait-" Gaara tried to stop them so as to return the ball but they started running away. However, the sand, without his knowledge, started to slowly slither towards one of the boys which made all the children scream for help.

- "He is going to kill us!"

- "Stop! STOP you demon!"

All the children started panicking as the sand slowly rose up as if to attack them.

- "No stop!" Gaara shouted, but the children did not seem to listen to him "Why are you running away... WHY ARE YOU ALL RUNNING AWAY!!" He snapped. His sand rushed to catch one of the boy's leg just when Inochi dashed towards him and pushed him out of the spot.

The sand, which was now way out of Gaara's control, missed it target, but started creeping up Inochi's leg.

- "Gaara sama!! Please calm down!!" Inochi said as she tried to brush away the sand just when she heard a crack.

The sand broke Inochi's leg.

"ARGHhh--" Inochi muffled her scream. "Shit shit" Inochi had no option left. She used her own earth style jutsu and made Gaara loose his balance which diverted the sand too. Seeing an opening, Inochi dashed towards Gaara and hugged him.

- "Gaara sama, its me. Umi neechan. Everything is alright. Everything is alright..." Inochi kept calming Gaara. This was one of the few ways Gaara ever stabilized from panic attacks at night, and as Inochi couldn't use any visible jutsu as people were starting to gather, this was her only option left.

The sand did not stop moving. It took the form of a spear, and just in a blink of an eye, stabbed Inochi through her back.

Inochi fell down, still not letting go of Gaara's hand, and let out a bloody scream, which at last made Gaara snap back into reality.

Gaara slowly turned his gaze sideways, at his bloodied babysitter sprawled on the ground, barely holding his hand. He kneeled beside her and touched her face with his shivering fingers,

- "No NO NO..." Gaara sobbed and let out a scream as he felt her blood on his hands. The spear dissociated, leaving a gaping hole on Inochi's back which would have killed a normal villager at an instant.

-"Gaara sama, don't cry" Inochi gasped, trying to hide the excruciating pain radiating from the injury. She had high tolerance to pain, but such an injury was not to be overlooked, especially as the blood loss posed a major problem. Inochi got up promptly, and tightened a scarf around her wound. "Right now I need you to just keep up with my pace" Inochi looked at Gaara seriously. "I am going to walk pretty quickly to the hospital and I want you to take a turn and reach the residence as quickly as possible and call Yashamaru san. Just tell him I am injured." Inochi gave Gaara instructions as she stood up. "Is everything clear to you?"

Gaara was too scared and in pain to fathom each sentence, but he got it that he needed to go home and call Yashamaru. He nodded, just when Inochi rushed to the hospital, limping and grunting with each step. Gaara too ran to the residence as fast as he could. Inochi quickly produced a mud clone just as she went out of sight of the villagers and made it secretly guard Gaara back to his home.

Inochi reached the hospital in no time and just before entering, she let herself collapse, in order to reduce any suspicions about her alias. Panic ensued, as a group of workers pulled her onto a stretcher and led it into a room.

- "Its too packed up right now, and she is heavily wounded. What should we do?" Inochi heard a man talk over her.

-" Granny Chiyo this is the perfect time to see if the jutsu works or not." Another worker spoke, having a cheery tone in her voice despite the situation.

Inochi overheard the discussion about some forbidden new jutsu, but her body was slowly getting colder and she couldn't help but whine in pain.

- "What are these shit heads doing, I am in pain for lord's sake" Inochi grunted to herself.

- "FINE let's see if the seal works or not" an older woman said in annoyance. Inochi heard some rustling beside her, just when she felt a seal being put on her leg.

"What is it?" Inochi opened her eyes, to see two doctors and Granny Chiyo standing around her broken leg. "Are they doing something to me?" Inochi activated her sharingan. The last thing she wanted was to get experimented upon.

Inochi noted that Granny Chiyo did some intense hand signs which activated the seal. However, just as the seal activated Inochi felt an excruciating pain

- "ARRRRGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Inochi screamed.

- "Oh you are awake! Its nothing, just your bones are getting reattached." Granny Chiyo said in amusement.

-"Getting attached my ass, this hurts like hell!!" Inochi said as she unactivated her sharingan before anyone could notice it. Even though it hurt bad, Inochi could perfectly feel that her legs were back to normal under a minute.

- "Now let's start with the gaping wound" The doctors repeated the process as Inochi braced herself for another pang of pain. But to her surprise, it did not hurt much.

- "Hmm, it seems bones realigning is more painful than re-growing cells" Granny Chiyo said while being clearly disappointed that it did not hurt the same way.

- "Did you want it to hurt Granny CHiyo?" Inochi asked while squinting her eyes.

Granny Chiyo hated kids but the main reason Granny Chiyo hated Inochi was because she was doubtful of her. As a former spy herself, she was suspicious of the way Inochi was gaining favour of everyone around her, like any normal spy usually did. Inochi knew this, but could not really do anything to make Chiyo be friendly to her, so she just reciprocated the hostility.

- "Yes" Granny Chiyo was very blunt. She never hid her true intentions, which was one of the only two things Inochi admired about her, the other being her shinobi skills. "However, may I ask how you got your injuries Kumimono san?" Granny Chiyo was gravely curious about the deep wounds Inochi had suffered.

- "No" Inochi matched her level of sass. If anything, they were both equally matched in their level of spitefulness.

- "Hmph, the kids nowadays. No one seems to respect the elders" Granny Chiyo turned back and started to leave.

- "And elders don't seem to respect death" Inochi wanted to mock Granny Chiyo's tremendously old age just when Gaara peaked out from the corridor into the room. "Gaara sama?" Inochi sat up on the hospital bed. Granny Chiyo and her subordinates stopped midway seeing Gaara, just when Yashamaru too appeared behind him.

- "Sorry Chiyo sama, but Gaara sama wanted to meet Kumimono san as soon as possible" Yashamaru apologised for the interruption.

- "She is all good now so it shouldn't be a problem" Granny Chiyo and her subordinates left without saying another word. Yashamaru stayed in his place while nudging Gaara to go to Inochi.

"I get the feeling Gaara, I was at the same place as you a few years back" Inochi remembered how she too hurt Kakashi out of anger and frustration. "But atleast you did not have any intent to kill, unlike me." Inochi felt guilty. She looked over to Gaara who was squirming in embarrassment and had redness under his eyes. Inochi, who was fully recovered because of Granny Chiyo's jutsu got up and hugged him.

- "Its okay Gaara sama. I am completely fine. Don't blame yourself." Inochi said while tightly hugging Gaara.

Gaara started blubbering and between his sobs apologised to Inochi, who after a few moments let go of the embrace and cupped Gaara's cheeks.

- "Gaara sama I am not weak, and I promise you I will not leave your side until you learn how to contain the one tails" Inochi had firm determination in her eyes which amazed Yashamaru. Gaara on the other hand, was dumfounded. It was the first time someone had motivated him that way. Yashamaru would usually tell Gaara that he believes in him which was nothing but a filmsy promise, but Inochi was different. She was willing to take the risk, to tell Gaara to his face that he needed to learn how to control the beast and that she would support him through it, inspite of being heavily wounded by the same.

- "Gaara sama do you understand?" Inochi repeated herself after not receiving any reply from Gaara. "I have complete faith in you, but I want YOU to have faith in me and all of those around you, who love you and cherish you. I NEED YOU, to know that there are people like me and Yashamaru san who will be there for you" Inochi peered into Gaara eyes, as if to encourage some kind of answer.

- "Hmmph" Gaara nooded as he wiped off his tears. He hugged Inochi back and whispered "I have faith in you Umi neechan"

Inochi grinned as she heard this sentence. "I know I am a leaf shinobi and that my loved ones are waiting for me back there. But nothing feels more right to me right now, than to provide you with the love and care you have been forbidden for so long, Gaara sama"