-Hinata's POV-

A day or two passed and I finally started to feel back to my old self, physically. As a result, Sakura asked me to join her in doing laundry so I wouldn't have to die of boredom in the bedroom with nothing to do but read. Normally, I love reading, but when it's all you can do for three days straight, anyone would get fed up.

The two of us, with Sasuke and Naruto, are supposed to make our first supply run tomorrow and Shikamaru wants us to do so at the asylum since everyone else already has the nearby houses covered. They said the first few floors have already been done, so we'd likely be able to finish the building within two or three days, by which time everyone will be ready for travel.

"Oh, we should ask Konohamaru if he wants to join us! The poor kid's been stuck with Kankuro and Kiba since he woke up. I'm sure he'd appreciate a break." I gave Sakura a grin as we walked downstairs.

Konohamaru's apparently the boy they'd managed to capture and remove that weird alien thing from. I was relieved to hear he woke up afterwards. If he hadn't, that would mean something terrible for humankind because who knows how many people were being inhabited like that.

"He's a little shy, but he's a sweet kid," Sakura said as we turned down the hall of the study.

We could hear the two young men she told me he's been hanging around with laughing as we approached the room. When we walked in, my pink-haired friend announced our arrival, "Good morning, guys! Can we borrow Konohamaru today?"

Before anyone could respond, the skinny teenager, that I assumed was our group's new addition, was on his feet and running at me with an angry look on his face. All of us were surprised, but luckily Kiba had quick reflexes and managed to tackle him to the ground just before he could reach me. It's not that I would've let him attack me, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stop him without causing injury.

"What the hell, kid!" Kankuro yelled as he knelt down beside the pinned down person in question.

He growled and tugged against Kiba's hold, "Let me go! She knows where Sana is!"

Sakura turned to look at me and I shrugged. I'd never seen this boy in my life or met anyone with the name "Sana". My friends pulled the boy upright and I knelt down in front of him beside Sakura, "My name is Hinata. I don't know anyone named Sana. Why did you say that?"

He glared at me with tears in his eyes, "Yes you do, you liar! We saved you from that shooter the other day."

My heart sank in my chest and I fell back onto my bottom with a hand to my mouth, "T-That was…?" I knew I hadn't imagined someone whispering before I passed out. That must've been this kid!

Konohamaru's struggling ceased and he looked at me with wide eyes, "Don't tell me…"

I tried not to let my tears fall because the girl was a stranger to me while she was clearly this boy's friend, but I couldn't stop them and frantically wiped at my cheeks as they fell, "She's…She was shot and then..T-The house, it was…"

All three of my friends gasped in realization at the same time, Kiba being the one to speak in a disbelieving tone, "The body that was burning, it must've been her!"

Konohamaru's teary eyes overflowed and he bent his head down as he started to sob. I swatted the Inuzuka boy's hands away so he'd release the boy and bowed slightly downward toward him, "I-I am so sorry. I swear I tried to save her! I owe both of you my life."

The boy, who I was sure would be beyond upset with me for being the last one to see his friend alive, placed a trembling hand on top of one of mine as he covered his face with his other arm and tried to speak through his heavy crying, "I-It's not your fault."

After everyone had a chance to calm down and collect themselves, Kiba and Kankuro headed out with Naruto and Sasuke to exercise while Konohamaru joined Sakura and I in cleaning and sorting out laundry. The room was silent for a while after my pink-haired friend explained what to do.

We all worked quietly because the aura was somber. I couldn't stop glancing over at our new friend. Konohamaru had such a defeated look on his face as he folded up the men's jeans and sorted them by what room they needed to be delivered to.

It didn't matter how close he and Sana had been because I knew her for maybe an hour and her death affected me greatly. The fact that someone so special was killed so carelessly for someone like me didn't, and never would, sit right in my book. I felt guilty and I felt responsible for what happened.

After about half an hour of silent work, I tried to break the tension, "So, you're from Konoha, too? That's my hometown."

He nodded, "My name usually gives it away." A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips at his unintended sarcasm.

"Your parents must really love our city since they named you after it."

Dark brown eyes glanced up at me for a moment and I noticed a light blush dusted his cheeks. He seemed to hesitate for a few moments before letting out a sigh and confessing, "Hiruzen Sarutobi is my grandfather."

My mouth fell open in shock and Sakura gave me a confused look. I didn't look away from Konohamaru's bashful face as I explained, "He's the grandson of the Hokage."

She looked just as stunned as me once she understood, "How did you end up all the way in Oto? Is your grandpa not somewhere safe?"

The cute expression on his face fell and he gingerly continued to confess, "I, um, I ran away from home right before everything happened. I was able to hitchhike my way here because I met a few friends online that said they'd let me stay with them for a bit."

Something dawned on me and I spoke before I could forget it, "What school do you go to?"

"KPS. Why?"

If he's sixteen and went to Konoha Private, then he's likely my little sister's classmate. "Do you know Hanabi Hyuuga?"

Immediately, the boy's face was cherry red and he struggled to stutter out a response, "Y-Y-Yes, everyone at school does. Why?"

"She's my sister!"

His mouth fell open slightly and he looked at my face for a few moments as though trying to put the pieces together, "I thought something seemed familiar about you. It's the eyes."

My face warmed as I thought about Hanabi, "Were you two friends at school?"

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes to the floor with the same red face he's had since first hearing her name, "N-Not exactly."

Sakura let out a small laugh, "You like her! Have you confessed yet?"

I gasped. Knowing my sister as well as I do, I frowned empathetically, "She turned you down hard, didn't she?"

He nodded with a sigh of defeat, "She's ruthless, but that's kinda what I like about her."

I paused in sorting out socks and undergarments, a task I'd been actively trying to mentally distance myself from so I wouldn't get embarrassed, "When we get back to Konoha, I'm going to look for her. If you don't want to return to your family, you're welcome to join me."

He gave me another bashful look, but seemed a bit more relaxed, "I-I'll think about it. Thank you."

The next day, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and I set out early in the morning to visit the asylum down the road. We each carried a large empty backpack to fill with anything we felt was worth bringing back to the house.

Once we got to the third floor, Sakura spoke up, "We should each take one floor to make sure we don't overlap and waste time. Sound like a plan?"

No one argued. So, she took the third, Sasuke took the fourth, Naruto took the fifth, and I took the top floor. A chill ran up my spine the moment I set foot on the sixth floor. It was the same floor my room was on and I wasn't exactly excited to be back, but I've been feeling like a burden for resting while everyone else worked hard so I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

My fingers shook around the grip of the taser in my hand as I slowly walked around the lobby with eyes peeled for movement. The corpses were much more decayed than when I last saw them and the smell was awful, but I quickly found a surgical mask to muffle the scent enough that I could breathe without gagging. Thinking it smart, I also pulled on a pair of latex gloves.

After shoving the remaining boxes of the masks and gloves into my backpack, I rose to my feet and got back to searching. My skin prickled when a wave of emotion from Naruto swept over me and it felt like he'd made a big discovery. Since it wasn't anything negative, I ignored it and continued walking only to freeze when my eyes lay upon the familiar corpse of the dead nurse whose keys I swiped a week or so ago.

It was my room.

My eyes slowly traveled up the white floor as I anxiously approached. Thick blood droplets from my injuries that day were dry on the linoleum and got thicker the closer I got to the doorway. My heart was beating loudly in my ears as I finally turned to look inside, feeling ice cold both inside and out. The red of the blood on the floor stood out well against the stark white of literally everything else in the room.

My legs moved on instinct and I hesitantly entered to sit on the edge of the bed with my feet on the ground, hands in my lap, and eyes dissociated out on the white wall across from me.

"Hinata! Where are you!" Naruto's voice met my ears and I heard his quick footsteps approaching before he rushed into the room and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

My chin quivered when his eyes danced from where I was sitting over to the pile of broken mirror pieces on the floor and then at the massive amount of blood on the floor between there and the doorway.

He didn't hesitate for a second and grabbed my wrist before pulling me up to my feet and out of the room, "Why didn't you say anything? One of us would've switched with you!"

I blinked back tears as I allowed him to lead me down to the fifth floor. Once there, he turned to put his hands on my shoulders, "You take this one and I'll go up there."

I nodded, feeling foolish at having been seen like that by him. He sighed and pulled my mask down to press his lips against mine, snapping me out of my stupor and making my face heat up. When he pulled back, he spoke in a softer tone, "Tell me next time, okay?" I nodded again and watched him turn and head back up the steps.

After taking a strengthening breath, I got back to work. He'll undoubtedly want to talk about this when we get back so I needed to mentally prepare myself. Time passed as I gathered items such as socks, first aid items, medicines, and hygiene products.

Then, I came upon the cafeteria where I'd camped out in the pantry. It hit me that the moment of realization I'd felt from Naruto earlier must've been him discovering this and recognizing how I'd described it. Meaning, he knew that the next floor up was where my room was. My face warmed as I put my body back in motion.

I really am a fool.