Chapter 21
The Hospital
When I woke up, I found myself in the hospital of the Sand Village, in one of its special care units. Three shinobi were in the room, making sure that I didn't do anything stupid. I sat there in silence, watching over the guards until I felt a large presence come to the door. It was then that Gaara walked in with two more guards at his side. He signaled for the guards to wait outside and he then sat on a stool next to my bed.
I looked straight ahead at the wall and clenched my teeth. "What was that stuff you gave me?" I asked emotionlessly.
He looked down and took out a vial from his shirt, with a glowing white liquid. "I made it special for you." He paused for a reaction he didn't receive, so he went on. "When you left, you seemed so hurt and sad that I knew it would be easy to change you. It was only a precaution, but I made a fairly good amount of it with a bit of your DNA. Sadly, it didn't work as well as I had hoped, we had to inject you a few more times before it was safe to check you."
"Check me?" I growled in anger letting my eyes dart onto his.
He stared at me silently with his green eyes and I did the same. He looked down with his eyes and asked with his raspy voice, "What happened?"
"A lot has changed in the past few years, Gaara." I said sharply while still looking at him. "And a lot of things have happened in that time, so you're gonna have to be a little more specific."
He sighed and took my hand, he then turned it around into the light and there flashed my curse mark from Charaku. They had taken all of my bandages off. "They are all over your body." He looked at my arm as if he had caused all of this and felt guilty about it.
I started laughing quietly to myself, and began to talk. "Yes, Gaara! I have more than two now, actually I have a lot more! You've caught me, Gaara! Years and years of running and hiding and pretending go down the drain all because I had a speck of weakness and felt that I needed to see you again! HA! How ironic. I left this place for fear of getting caught and when I do come back, I actually get caught!"
He looked off to the side and closed his eyes.
"How many people know?" His calm demeanor and his simplified tome made me relax a bit as I said, "Only you. No one else even knows I have one curse mark, let alone this many. And the only people who actually know about my demon is this Village."
"Can you control everything? Your demon? Your curse marks? Your strength?" on this last one he turned to look at me again and behind his eyes I saw a double meaning.
"Yes." I said soundly. He nodded as if it didn't make a difference to him, but I saw that he was relieved. We sat there like that for a few more minutes, until he gave an awkward cough and said, "Korin, I'm glad you're back. I know you probably don't want to stay, but stay a little longer." He gave a slight smile and turned towards the door. "Your clothes are under the bed." He finished and he walked out.