Iruka shook me gently. "Keiko, wake up."

I groaned and opened my eyes. I didn't have enough energy to fight him.

"Come on, I'm going to take you home."

"Home?" I was suddenly wide awake. "You're taking me there?"

"Yes. Because you live there. And Kakashi's probably worried sick."

"Let him worry." I nodded, folding my arms.

"Keiko." Iruka gave me a look.

"Oh, fine!" I kicked the covers off of me and stood up.

"Uh. Do you want to borrow some sandals?"

"No! I'll walk just like this."

Iruka nodded and we headed out the front door. About halfway to my house I wished I had taken the sandal offer, but there was nothing I could do about that now. I trudged along in silence. I didn't want to go home..Ever.

"Stupid idiot old man." I muttered under my breath as we walked up the steps.

Iruka walked me inside.

"Keiko!" Kakashi nearly shouted, standing up when I walked in.

I stomped off to my room, wishing I had a door to slam. So I walked into my closet and slammed that door. A few minutes later I heard someone in the room, but it didn't sound like Kakashi. I opened the door and peeked out at Gaara, the stupid imbocile who had gotten me in trouble in the first place. Even though I was mad at him, I needed to know why he was back. I pushed the door open quietly.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"I came to get you."

"Get me?" I could feel the confusion cloud my eyes.

"Yeah, take you back to my village."

"Oh." I stood there thinking for a moment.

"But Gaara, I can't."

"No, you're just too scared."

"What if I get caught again?"

"You won't. Come on. We have to go now."

I heard footsteps coming towards my room. Gaara looked nervous suddenly. I slipped on my sandals and stepped over to him. And poof! We were gone.

Sunagakure, Village Hidden in Sand

My eyes widened as I looked around. I had never been so far away from my home before, let alone another village. I grabbed onto Gaara's hand so that I wouldn't get lost. People were looking at me strangely, so I kept my eyes down. Gaara led me until we came to a rather large house that made my eyes widen again. I'm too simple, in my opinion.

We walked into the house, and I was surprised that Gaara lived there. For some reason looking around that house made me miss home somewhat, but I didn't show it. Sitting the couch were a boy and a girl who looked like Gaara. He'd never mentioned any siblings, so I didn't know about them. He looked past them and led me into the kitchen, where, I'm assuming it was his father, was sitting.

"Hello, Father. Look what I brought home!" His dad turned to face me.

"Oh..And she's not dead."

"Uh.." I raised an eyebrow. "No, last time I checked my vital signs were A-OK."

His dad laughed a bit, but the look Gaara gave him made him stop. It was one of those looks that made me fear Gaara all over again. And here I was defenseless in his home...Maybe Mizuki was right about him. His dad looked me up and down for a moment.

"You must not be from around here."

"No..I'm from the Hidden Leaf village." I mumbled.

Suddenly I felt trapped. These weren't the people I knew. These weren't the people that truly accepted me. Maybe that was the reason Kakashi had been talking about...But it was too late to listen to him now.