Beep. Beep. Beep.

I was sitting in the girl's room, listening to her heart monitor. It was two days after we found her in the woods. When we rushed her to the hospital, the nurse said that she was dehydrated, starved, and suffering from lack of sleep. On top of that, she had burns along her arms and up her back, and a stab wound in her thigh. It was a miracle she was still breathing.

The girl still hadn't woken up yet. But we know why she left her village.

A few days ago, a couple ninja had left our village for a joint mission with two of the vine ninja. When our ninja came back, they had bad news.

The Vine Village was gone.

The entire village was slaughtered and burned to the ground. There was no trace of who did it or what happened.

Except for this girl. She was obviously from the Vine Village.

That must be where she was running from.

There were so many mysteries surrounding this girl. All we could do is wait for her to wake up.

I jerked awake. For a second I couldn't figure out where I was. Then I remembered. I was still in the girl's hospital room. I must have dozed off.

I looked at the girl. She was curled up on her side with tears streaming down her face. As I watched, I could see her eyes moving back and forth underneath her eyelids. Was she dreaming about whatever happened to her village?

Suddenly, her eyes flew open. We stayed like that for a second, each staring into the other's eyes.

"Where am I?" she asked me.

"You're in the Leaf Village hospital," I answered.

She looked around. "How long have I been out?"

"A few days." I hesitated. "My name's Sasuke."

"I'm Kawai." She looked at me. "You're from the Uchiha clan, aren't you?"

"Yes. And you're from the Vine Village, right?"

She looked up at the ceiling. "Yes," she whispered.

I was almost afraid to mention her village. If anyone knows what it's like to see a massacre, it's me.

"There is no Village Hidden in the Vines anymore," Kawai said. "They're gone."

"We know," I told her, "Two of our ninja got there just after the incident. They rushed back here to tell us."

She just stared at the ceiling. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I shouldn't be alive," Kawai said.

I looked down at the floor. "I know how you feel," I told her. "My whole clan was wiped out a few years ago. But I guess you already know that."

"Yeah. The Uchiha clan."

Silence. Then she asked me, "Can you help me sit up?"

"Yeah." I went to go help her, but when she moved her left leg, she cried out in pain. Her face turned white.

"I forgot about that," Kawai said. "Someone stabbed me during the attack."

She looked around. "Where's my ribbon?"

"It's in the other room. Want me to go get it?"

Kawai smiled. "No, I've got it."

A bright purple streak shot out from under the door and flew into her hand. It was her ribbon.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"I control it," she said simply.

"Do you use chakra?"

"Not really. It's tied to my life force."

Okay then. I tried to play it off like I knew what she was talking about.

"When do I get out of the hospital?" Kawai asked.

"I don't know."

Just then, Kakashi walked in.

"Ah. I see you've woken up," he said. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke's Sensai. And you are?"

"Kawai Mojiretsu," Kawai answered. She looked more uncofortable with Kakashi in the room.

"Well then. Now that you're awake, I need to ask you some questions, Kawai," Kakashi began.

Kawai shrank against the pillows she was leaning on. "What kind of questions?" she asked in a small voice.

"I need to ask you about what happened to your village," Kakashi replied gently.

I could see tears welling up in Kawai's eyes. "No! I can't," she choked out. "Leave me alone."

Unfortunately, I knew what she felt like. The same thing had been said to me when I woke up after that day.

"We need to find out who did this, Kawai," Kakashi continued. "It's for the safety of our village."

"I don't know who did it!" She was practically shouting now. "I couldn't see their faces, okay?!"

Kakashi paused. Then he bowed his head. "Very well then," he said. "I will report to the Hokage that you don't know anything about the attackers." He began to leave the room.

"Wait!" Kawai said. Kakashi turned around.

"I do know one thing," Kawai whispered. "They kept saying the same thing. They told us all it was a test. They were testing us, for something bigger than our village."

Kakashi nodded. "Thank you, Kawai. I'll tell the Hokage immediately." With that he walked out, closing the door behind him.

When I looked back at Kawai, she had her face buried in her arms. She was crying.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to review and recommend your favorite character for my next story!