#m k

Saturday evening, 10:42 pm.

Glancing up from her pile of paperwork that she absentmindedly sorted, Mirai let her eyes hesitantly glance over to the clock hanging over the doorway. She winced inwardly. She promised Kankuro she would be home almost 45 minutes ago. A gust of wind blew in through the open window behind her, sending a chill down her back. Then, the lights went out.

"Shit," she mumbled, suppressing a groan as she fumbled with the drawer on the left side of her desk. She felt around inside of it, looking for her small stash of candles and matches to light up her desk during times like these.

It wasn't a particularly windy night in Suna though, but the power has gone out at random in the past so she thought not much of it. She felt the cardboard near the back, grasping the matches and felt around for her candles -- only finding one lone tealight. In a desperate attempt to hopefully light her office more, she felt around in the drawer for more to no avail. She scowled. She meant to purchase more candles the last time this happened, but it slipped her mind.

Eyes adjusting some to the darkness now, she flicked the match and brought it to the wick of the candle, bringing a dim, flickering brightness to her desk. She sighed softly. She won't get much work done in the darkness so she began piling her papers up to be ready for the next day.

Another gust of wind blew through the open window, sending her hair ruffling over her shoulders, nearly blowing her candle out. Quickly, she held a hand up to guard the flame, turning in her seat to get up and close the window when she froze suddenly. What sounded like a crash, a metal door rebounding off the wall, echoed through the building. She hesitated in closing the window, grasping the arms of her chair. An awful feeling hit her in the gut, her mind knowing danger was brewing.

Quickly, she blew out the candle she just lit and ducked under the desk as silently as possible.

Feeling around the back of the desk for the kunai that Kankuro insisted be kept hidden, she grasped it with a death grip, hearing more crashing and the sounds of footsteps pounding up the stairwell. Her heart jumped to her throat, sensitive to every movement that she made as she strained her ears to hear anything.

Mirai's eyes widened, hearing the mumbled voices of a few people managing to make it through the walls. A clash just outside her door -- the metal stairwell door slamming open. Heavy footsteps pounded into the hallway, stopping just outside her door.

"Check this hall," someone said gruffly, a man's voice. "We'll keep going up." Retreating steps and the clank of the door one last time before silence resonated the room again.

Hooking a thumb through the loop in the kunai she held firmly, she felt every muscle in her body tense as her office door squeaked open slowly, deep and heavy breathing echoing through the dark room. She silenced her labored breathing as best she could as she hoped that he would see an empty office and continue on without investigating.

The intruder sniffed the air loudly.

Fuck. Fuck! He smelled the candle Mirai blew out moments ago.

Her eyes darted left, right, back and forth as fast as they could, trying to see her threat before he saw her. She ground her teeth together.

Nails ran along the top of her desk. The sound made her blanch, feeling every muscle in her body tighten in fear. Another sniff as he plucked up the lone candle and dropped it back to the table, the clack of sandals with sand stuck in the grooves, the blood pumping in her ears.

Skinny legs stopped in front of her. Attack. Attack! Mirai couldn't get herself to do it. A head leaned down to check under the desk.

"Hello." An awful smile curled along his lips.

Tears pricked at her eyes, frozen to the spot.

"Hello." The intruder flung his head around, his mouth agape in shock. Mirai felt her heart stop. She heard a muffled gag, a quick snap, and the intruder fell to the ground. Dead.

Her breath caught in her throat as a second figure stepped into her frame of view.

"Miri," he whispered gruffly. Kankuro. She'd know that voice anywhere. He bent down, an incredibly serious look settled on his face. Anger, a hint of fear.

For me, she realized.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, bending down further to get a good look at her. She shook her head no quickly, loosening her grip on the kunai as she slid to her knees and grabbed the large hand that reached out for her.

Hazel eyes darted to the body laying on the floor. The awful smile was gone, replaced with a mouth open in a gasp that'll never occur, eyes that will never close. She couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"Look at me," he said, grabbing her chin a little too roughly and forcing her to turn towards him rather than the body beside her. "I'm going to get you somewhere safe, okay?"

"There might be--"

"I already have Baki and a couple others going through the building. I need to get you to safety before I can help." He didn't wait for a response before he picked her up abruptly and jumped through the window. He liked scaring her by entering through it sometimes. Its part of the reason why she kept it open.

She felt her stomach jump to her throat as she closed her eyes and pressed her face to his broad chest. She'd never fallen from such a height before and certainly didn't want to watch the ground race towards her. They hit the ground with barely a noise, his knees bending to absorb the extra weight. Immediately he began running through back alleys and shortcuts, heading toward the Kazekage residence.

She knew the route well, having traveled it frequently.

"Temari's still home, so she'll be with you. Gaara's still at the office - that's how I knew the power had only gone out at the museum," he trailed off, a stony look invading his eyes. "I'll try and be back as soon as I can, but it may be a few hours--"

"Don't worry about me," she mumbled, barely audible to herself. "Just focus on your job," she said meekly, bunching a handful of his shirt into a fist. She didn't want him to leave her, but she would never keep him from helping his peers and protecting the village, their home.

Two quick jumps had Mirai's stomach falling down this time, and she pulled on his shirt in a bit of fear. He landed on the balcony and shouldered his way into the ajar door and kicking it shut behind him, placing Mirai back down on her feet gently. He laid a warm hand in the middle of her back and ushered her down the hall to his bedroom.

He shoved the door open and pressed her in first, not closing the door behind him as he took her elbow gingerly and led her to his bed. Temari looked over from her position by the window.

Kankuro kneeled down in front of her, holding her lightly shaking hands in his. "You okay?" he asked, eyes boring holes into hers.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak without a wavering voice.

He didn't nod back to her, rather frowning just a little. "I'll be back as soon as I can. You're safe here." He stood quickly, cupping her cheeks and placing a quick kiss to her forehead and nodded at Temari before briskly walking out his bedroom door, closing it shut behind him.

Silence fell over the dark room.

"Hi," Temari said simply, a simple robe hanging over her nightgown. She looked like she had just woken up, her hair loose from her signature pigtails and a dreary look to her eyes.

Their eyes met for a brief moment. The streetlamp illuminating into the bedroom through the open curtain made Temari's face look regal.

"Get some rest, Mirai," she whispered, bringing her eyes back to the window to watch for threats.

It sounded like an order, but then most things sounded like an order coming from Temari, but she nodded slightly all the same, scooting further into the bed and leaning up against the rough wall. She leaned to the side, letting her body fall into the pillows as she circled on with her arms and closed her eyes.

She doesn't remember falling asleep, just closing her eyes for a moment and then opening them and glancing at the clock, but fifteen minutes seemed to have passed in that single blink.

It truly was hours before Kankuro met back up with Mirai and Temari. He managed to sneak in during one of her fitful half-naps, kneeling before Temari and whispering his gratitude and watching her leave to make it back to her own bed.

Mirai squinted at him, pushing herself up onto her elbow. She felt her head pound in her temples from the awful sleep she was getting. The sunrise was just barely poking its way through the curtains that were drawn shut, the telltale sign that hours had passed. She watched him pull his shirt off, dropping it on the the floor to deal with later.

"Are you okay?" she said hoarsely, holding out her hand for him to grab. He did so gently, letting her guide him to lay beside her. She scooted closer to him as he settled into the bed, suppressing a yawn.

"I'm okay. Just tired. Let's get some sleep, okay?" Mirai nodded after a moment, knowing he wasn't in the mood to talk about what happened overnight right now. She laid her head on his bare chest, pulling the blankets up around the both of them. She wrapped an arm around his abdomen and squeezed gently, nuzzling her face up into his neck.

"Thank you, Kanky," Mirai whispered, squeezing him a little tighter. He wrapped his arm over her shoulders, pressing her to him protectively.

He pressed a kiss to her temple in return, running his fingertips up and down her arm.

Her eyes began drooping quickly, her breathing becoming slower and deeper but Kankuro laid there staring at the ceiling, his eyebrows furrowing deeper and deeper. He stayed with her for hours, trying to get his mind to calm. He doesn't know how long it took him to finally shut off, but he only remembers hearing just the slightest rasp of a knock at his door.

He slid away from Mirai softly, trying his best to not wake her up. He grabbed a fresh shirt from the open closet, threw it on, and opened the door quietly to sneak out without waking her.

I’m scared to post this, to be honest. I dunno. Feedback? I’ve been writing about this pairing for a couple of weeks now and working on a full length fic featuring QT Kankuro and my OC Mirai, which I will hopefully begin posing in the coming weeks.