Last part. So then, enjoy.

The Day After

Shiori looked out the window of her hospital room. Unfortunately, the clouds seemed to fit the current appearance of the village, and her mood, perfectly. It seemed strange that, less than twenty-four hours ago, she had seen her home in flames. That she had made it to safety. That she had found out that her knee was shattered, and that she wouldn't be able to move it for several months. That the village had been cleared, and was carried back to what was left of the hospital.

Less than twenty-four hours.

Hideko had left just a few minutes before. Shinsuke was in a bed across the hall. He had lost a lot more blood than anyone had realized. He was trying to explain to his mother that, while he was in a hospital, that it wasn't life threatening, that it was really not much more than a scratch, that he was perfectly okay, and that it was just "a little blood loss." And by the sound of it, she wasn't taking it well.

Her own parents were much more forgiving about it. Her wound had, for better or worse, made them forget entirely about the note she had left. She just hoped they wouldn't bring it up.

She turned back towards the door, since the outside was too depressing. Hinata was waiting outside her teammates room. She didn't seem to want to go in with Shinsuke's mother there. And she didn't blame her.

"No, really, I'm fine! I'll be out in a few days!" Said Shinsuke, frantic.

"Are you sure, that's a pretty bad cut and when-"

"Of course I'm sure! Why wouldn't I be! This is nothing. In fact, as a ninja, I'm expected to be injured every now and then!"

"But your training is supposed to-"

"Things happen. Sometimes you hurt yourself. You know that!"

"But this is your first time and I want you to know that I'm here and-" He didn't even hear the rest. He just leaned back into the bed in defeat. There was no use at all arguing. Then, he heard it.

"Okay, well I guess I'll leave you to rest for now."

It was by far the best thing that he could have heard. He sat back up, watching her leave, making sure he hadn't just imagined it. The woman stopped outside his door, looking off to the side. A little further away, he could see Shiori staring at something.

"Are you lost?" He had on idea who she was talking to.

"Umm. Not really. I just wanted to drop something off." Said a soft voice. He could barely hear it, which narrowed down the choices for who it could be quite a bit.

"That's so sweet! Well, he's all yours." His mother walked off, making a mental note to ask about her later. A few moments later, Hinata appeared. She looked fairly nervous.

"Was that your mother, Shinsuke?"

"Oh, yeah. Looks like you finally met it. Hope she didn't bother you too much." He said, knowing that, most likely, it did.

"I-I wanted to give you this." She held out a small container. "It should be good for cuts." He took it from her hand.

"Oh. Thanks Hinata."

Hideko was walking back to where her home had used to be. She wasn't entirely sure where she would go tonight, but she wasn't thinking about that. She had just been told, as she left the hospital, that neither of her parents had survived the invasion. The words echoed in her skull. She tried to keep her mind off of it for a little while, but couldn't. The feeling of death was all around her, amplified by the dreary sky and destroyed husks of buildings. It was as though the universe was completely against her, and she hated it. She hated Orochimaru for killing the Hokage. She hated Otogakure for the death of her parents. She hated Sunagakure for helping them do it. She hated her parents for leaving her alone. She hated Sasuke for distracting her from what had really mattered for all those years.

And she hated herself for feeling this way.

She stopped in front of where the door used to be. What was once a fairly normal home was now a charred wooden husk, completely unrecognizable. She walked in where the door had been, imagining everything as it was. She turned down the now-imaginary hallway toward where her room had been. She searched through the rubble for a little bit, hoping something had survived. But there was nothing. No matter where she looked, there was nothing but ashes that blew away when unearthed and small chunks of wood and rock that were badly charred and black. She had hoped for a picture, or something that she could associate with her parents.

There was nothing left.

She grabbed a rock and threw it in frustration. Then, she grabbed a small chunk of wood from the ground and stuffed it in her pouch. If she couldn't have something to remember them by, then she would have something to remember how she felt. In her mind, this small chunk seemed to represent her life at the moment perfectly. She walked away, looking for somewhere that she could be alone. She would come back to reality later.

"So, it looks like she'll be okay, in enough time." Said Asuma. He had been with Etsuya watching Hideko's performance from a distance. Etsuya turned his head.

"I hope so, anyway. But things won't be normal here anytime soon." Asuma nodded.

"How's the other two?"

"They should be fine. They're at the hospital, but they'll get out."

"It's only a matter of time, then?"

"Yeah."

So that's the end. Think I improved a bit throughout that. feels weird finishing it, though.

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