The journey home was hard in a lot of ways. It had been almost three weeks before she had convinced her friends and the sand nurses that she was ready to go home. She had to be carried, whether it was because she grew tired or because her leg still was healing, she had to be carried.

When Asuma carried her, she could joke and laugh and talk about the things they always had. When Gai carried her, he talked and joked and tried not to mention Kakashi.

Hiro though, Hiro was another story altogether.

All Hiro wanted to do was scold her for her life choices, tell her how if she had stayed in the compound and followed their traditions she wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. Shoko ignored him, pretending to sleep or just straight up not looking at him. Or rather, looking towards him.

There was an empty, sinking feeling inside her, Hinata's birthday had gone. She hadn't been there. Her brother still died. She wanted to change it, and if she couldn't change it then she had wanted to be there. She hadn't seen her brothers in almost six months, and now she would never get to see him again.

They were slowing; the sun was getting low on the horizon, so she knew they were going to set up camp for another night. She found that she could tell when the sun was setting by the chill in the air, how she no longer felt its heat on her back as they traveled. It had been a slow journey and she hated it. She hated needing all that help just to walk, Yashamaru had given her a walking stick as a parting present and she'd given the sand siblings tight hugs.

She wouldn't see Gaara again for a long time; she hoped he'd remember her.

She had just drifted off to sleep beside the fire in her cosy camping bag when she heard an argument. There were two voices, then three and then four. Four? Someone new? Her eyelids were heavy, but she forced them open and stiffly pushed herself up into a seated position. Even sitting up was hard.

The voices changed, and she felt Gai's chakra come padding over to her. He crouched beside her.

"Are you alright Shoko?" His voice was soft; he could see she was tired.

"Who's here?"

Whoever it was had silver-white chakra, and Hiro was trying his best to quietly cuss whoever it was out. She rolled onto her knees, and Gai helped her to her feet. If Shoko wanted to get up, she'd get up whether she had help or not so it was best to just help her.

He placed her walking stick in her hand and led her around the fire, an arm wrapped in his to keep her steady. She couldn't walk far, but exercising her legs would help over time to get her back on her feet. They joined Hiro, Asuma and the new comer. She gazed over in the direction she could feel their chakra, it was strong and it was pissed.

"You shouldn't even be here." Hiro hissed furiously, trying to step between the newcomer and Shoko.

Shoko smacked the side of his shin with her stick, and he stepped back again still grumbling. She didn't even know who this person was yet.

"Hiro, he's already shown you the Hokage's seal. He's doing as he's told."

Unbeknown to her, Kakashi was staring darkly at her face, eyes tracing the scars across her eyes and the cautious way she walked. It had taken him all of three seconds to clock that she was blind, and even less time to see how badly hurt she was. It ached, in a dull part inside of him that he had hidden away, it ached.

"Who is it for kami's sake?"

Hiro (wary of Shoko's walking stick) stood in front of Kakashi and in front of Shoko, fists clenched angrily.

"Nobody you need to worry about, you should be in bed resting." He reached out to take hold of her arm from Gai, to take her back to bed, but Kakashi's hand snapped around his wrist.

Hiro winced, Kakashi's grip was iron tight. He kept his face bland and neutral, but Hiro knew better than to try and fight against the copy-ninja. He had no power out here, and he was outnumbered.

"Then why are you arguing?" Shoko demanded, unaware of the stare off in front of her.

"Shoko," Asuma intervened, pushing both the boys aside "Kakashi is here-" Her heart skipped a beat "-with a message from the village. We didn't want to wake you," He glared at Hiro "but if you want you can hear the message now."

She looked over towards the silver-white chakra she now knew was Kakashi, and committed the signature to memory as she had with Gai and Asuma and Hiro.

"I want to know."

Asuma moved aside so Kakashi could come forwards, Hiro was fuming; he was going to have to report this to Lord Hyuuga once they got home. After what the Hokage and Kakashi had done they didn't deserve to be interfering with Shoko's life anymore. Once they got home, she would be assigned babysitting duty and that would be it. She'd be safe within the compound and out of the way of outsiders.

After all, what would they care about her now she was blind and defenseless?

"During Hinata's birthday there was an attempted kidnap," Kakashi told her, his voice was soft and smooth like water "the Lord Hokage dispatched of the kidnapper appropriately."

She nodded, letting the numbness spread out from her stomach. She knew this; she already knew all of this.

"But the kidnapper was there for the treaty with the lightning, he was their leader and Lord Hyuuga had killed him."

Even Hiro was listening in now, desperate to know what had happened to his clan.

"They demanded his head," Kakashi told her, he stepped forward a little closer, gently placing his hand on hers on top of her walking stick.

"So they gave him his brothers."

She'd been too late. She'd failed. She didn't realise she was crying until Kakashi had stepped forward to wrap her into a hug. She'd had been surprised if she wasn't so distraught. How was she supposed to save the world when she couldn't even save her brother? Couldn't even stop one small event?

She could hear something, faintly on the edge of her hearing. It was soft, but it grew and it made her heart thunder like it wanted to explode.

Kaguya's song drifted into her ears, and her knees went from underneath her. Kakashi had her though, held her against him so she wouldn't fall. His voice was soft in her ear, soothing, reassuring. Kaguya's singing filled her mind and she couldn't escape it.

She could feel she was slipping, her body wasn't strong enough to hold her together anymore. She hated being weak, but she feared Kaguya more.

Asuma was surprised at how soft Kakashi was when Shoko fell into him, surprised to see how soft he could be when someone needed him. He scooped her up when it was clear she was gone, carrying her back over to the sleeping bag she had woken from. Hiro was too stunned to even argue.

Hiashi and Hizashi. You couldn't have one without the other but…but now they had to.

Kakashi settled against a tree trunk just behind where Shoko was now sleeping, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. They had known she was close to Lord Hyuuga and his twin, but perhaps they had never truly known how close. She always called them brother; they had heard them call her sister.

Asuma knew she had lost one older brother already, now she had to lose another.

It was going to be a long night and an even longer journey home.