Kiko Maris Hatake

It isn't nice to plan people's murder

I'm so sorry about how long it's taken me!!! I've been stressing around about a ton of other stuff and uploading have ended up on the backburner, sort of, but I'm still writing! I can't really promise that I'll be any faster, but I'm sorry, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter. <3

The food was really good; Gaara was actually a good cook, unlike his brother. He even let me help with the cooking, which was fun; Otou-sensei doesn't cook much, I don't think that he knows how to, we usually eat out or order in. Otou-sensei did however offer to do the dishes, which I, of course, also did; with all the people that joined for dinner there was a lot of dishes, but it was okay as Otou-sensei and I had fun while doing them.

We joked and splashed water and soap bubbles at each other; I used some of the water to heal myself at Otou-sensei's request, and we talked a little just the two of us, I even told him exactly what I'd put Deidara through the day before, which made him laugh. It was even more fun than cooking with Gaara had been! Though Gaara and I's spar had been great fun too!

It was a short while later that we joined up with everyone else, who were all sitting outside on the balcony drinking tea and talking. They were talking about the meeting and about mine and Gaara's sparring, mostly about the sparring, though Gaara and Tsunade tried to turn the conversation towards the meeting. Their efforts were for nothing as it turned completely quiet, when Otou-sensei and I stepped out on the balcony; I just shrugged and skipped up to Gaara.

"Are you okay after our playtime?" I asked him with a soft smile, knowing that I'd impaled him with quite a few senpon, which shouldn't be too bad, unless I'd hit the wrong spots, but it'd still hurt.

"I'll be fine." Was his short reply, though he took the ice cube, that I'd brought from the kitchen and discreetly handed him, which I quickly had heal him, before letting it sink into his skin; most of the kages knew of my water healing, but it was clearly bothering Sasori that he didn't know about it, so I was mostly hiding it to tease him. "Arigato Kiko."

I just offered a grin and joined Anko and Ibiki, who were ignoring the conversations and playing cards with Temari and Kankurō, they were playing poker and Anko quickly had me join, much against Temari's objections.

Though only minutes later it was Kankurō who had a problem with it as he'd bet a lot of money and I won it all to Temari's amusement. After a few more rounds Kankurō angrily threw the cards on the ground, which signalled the end of the game as he'd placed his foot on them and refused to remove it, even when we offered to play go fish instead, though, in his defence, he'd lost a lot of money to everyone else in the game and didn't win a single game. Shrugging I left Temari and Kankurō to fight about the cards and went to Otou-sensei with my winnings so that he could hold them and I didn't have to; he didn't even blink, he just pocketed the money and pulled out a chair for me. He was sitting with Tsunade and Shikaku a little away from everyone else, though that didn't save them from getting random looks from everyone else, even if I got more looks.

The mood between the three of them was sober, sort of worried; I only had to stare with puppy eyes at Otou-sensei for a short while, just long enough for Anko and Ibiki to join us, before he caved and broke the silence that had fallen over them as I'd joined them.

"Kabuto's escaped." That was all he said and all he needed to say; Anko and Ibiki were quickly angered that their department couldn't prevent him from escaping, though I couldn't help but sweat drop.

"Awwww, but I liked Snakey thinking that I was dead..." I whined slightly, even if Kabuto had gotten word out about me being alive it didn't seem to have reached Snakey or Raven yet, but it probably would soon now; I looked back surprised when I suddenly felt Deidara leaning against the back of my chair, and saw Sasori taking a seat beside me, by the table, sitting on my right side.