I wake up in a hospital room. I recognize it before I even open my eyes, from the smell and the constant beeping noise from the monitors. I wish I could go back to sleep; this is not where I want to be.

Instead I open my eyes. The room is dark. I look around and see that I don't have a private room; there's a bed next to mine, half hidden behind a curtain.

I sit up stiffly, my body protesting at every move I make. I ignore it though. I don't need to be in the hospital, just in bed. I just spent too much chakra; I just need to rest and recover my strength a bit. I don't need a hospital.

I get out of bed, and do a few stretches, despite the pain in my body. I tell myself that once I'm done my body will feel much better anyway. And it does feel a little better. Enough for me to stand and move to the window.

The curtains are drawn shut, but a little light comes through the cracks between them. It's probably daylight outside, but someone has drawn the curtains. I pull them open to let the sun shine in, and let out a small gasp.

Sand swirls around violently just outside the window, battering against the window as if it intends to get inside. I can't see anything past the window, except sand. I shut the curtains again and walk back to my bed.

Once I get to it I don't lie down again. Instead I stand for a little while, considering the storm outside. I've never seen a sandstorm before, and now, to be inside of one...

How can the city deal with a sandstorm? Won't it be destroyed?

I shake my head at myself. Obviously Suna must have some way of dealing with sandstorms, or it wouldn't be here anymore. They're probably used to storms like this.

I walk past my bed to the other side of the room. I'm not eager to get back into that thing.

I never make it to the other side of the room, as I see who it is in the bed next to mine.

Luo.

He's laying on the bed, unconscious, but that's to be expected. It takes a lot out of me to heal a person, but it takes a lot out of them too. The materials needed to heal someone have to come from their body.

"Oh Luo! I'm glad you made it here!" I say, a bit too loudly. I pull a chair over and sit beside him, and talk in quieter tones. "It was stupid of you to nearly get yourself killed for me like you did. I was about to wake up anyway…"

My voice trails off into silence, as my throat closes on me and I can't go on. I try not to cry, but it's never been a strong point of mine, and I end up breaking done anyway. "I'm so sorry." I tell him, sobbing. "If it weren't for me… I wish you would just mind your own business. And I'm sorry for yelling at you. I don't really mind if you lie to me, not too much. I'm just glad you're alive. If I had lost you too… I couldn't do it, not again."

"Sensei!"

I wake up slowly, lifting my head up from my arms. I blink groggily, getting my bearings, and realize with embarrassment that I've fallen asleep leaning on Luo's bed. When I turn around Junko and Kenta are watching me from the door.

"Are you ok now?" Kenta asks.

I nod, and Junko rushes forward to hug me. I return her hug gratefully.

"We came by before, but you were unconscious." Kenta says, still standing behind Junko, a little awkwardly.

"I was so scared sensei." Junko whispers to me. I see with a pang that she has tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "I didn't want you to die."

I smile and give her another squeeze. "I'm fine. I was just really tired, that's all."

"You must have been tired!" she exclaims, "You slept for two whole days nearly!"

I blink at her for a while. Then I look over her shoulder at Kenta. "Is this true?" I ask him.

He nods. "But it's ok, because the storm started soon after you were brought here, and there's nothing much to do when a storm hits the city."

Junko peeks around my shoulder at Luo. "What about him? Shouldn't he be awake by now too?"

I shrug and look at Luo with her. I hate seeing him just lying there. "It's difficult to tell how long it will take someone to wake up after a serious injury like he had. Everyone needs to recover in their own time."

I look back at Junko to see her gazing up at me adoringly. Kenta is staring at me too.

"You healed him didn't you sensei?" Junko asks. Without waiting for an answer she goes on. "I can't believe you can actually do that! It's so neat! And yet, with your skills you can do with your will what we could never do with all of our science."

I'm not sure what I should tell her, or how to take this. Should I tell her not to give up? Or maybe just thank her for the praise?

Fortunately she doesn't seem to need an answer. She plops herself down on a chair and sighs loudly, then smiles at me, mouthing the word 'cool'. I smile back at her.

"Mai and Asuka came by with us last time to see you, but they couldn't come today. Asuka made you a card." Kenta says, and holds out the card to me.

It's blank on the outside, but inside she's drawn me a little picture of myself, and a flower. 'I'm sorry I'm not good at drawing, but I promise to work hard when you get better sensei. I hope it's soon.' she wrote on the inside, in neat writing. Her writing is really quite pretty.

"Will you thank her for me next time you see her?" I ask, and Kenta nods.

I spend the afternoon with the two of them. A nurse comes in and brings me lunch, and I share it with them. Moments later the same nurse appeared with more food for Junko and Kenta and we laughed. It felt good to laugh, even though it hurt my still sore body.

Once they leave my mood grows somber. I look over at Luo in his bed. Why did this happen?

There isn't much for me to do, so I go back to sleep, or at least, I try to. I just can't get it to work though, and I lay there with my eyes closed for what feels like hours, trying to sleep.

I sit up when I hear the door open and close, and look to see who it is. Seri walks in with my dinner.

"Oh goody. More cafeteria food." I mutter as she comes toward me.

"I got you the good stuff." she says, setting it down on my lap. "Or at least, the less awful stuff."

I thank her and dig in. Despite having not done much of anything all day I'm still very hungry. "So what brings you to my room?" I ask between mouthfuls.

"I just came to see how you were doing." she says. When I eye her skeptically she sighs and shrugs helplessly. "Oh how suspicious you are. I'm hurt, really."

"Spill it." I order her.

She grins. "And can you believe that I used to think I was the one in charge around here?" She asks. I just wait for her to talk. I know she will. She sighs again at last. "Alright, you got me. I do have other motives for coming here. I just want you to know before I start that I would have come to see you anyway."

"Gee thanks."

She shakes her head at me, and then she grows serious. "We're still sorting things out but… Do you want to hear about the attack?"

I nod. "Please. I can hardly remember it now actually. My memory is all fuzzy and when I try to think of it just sort of… slips away."

"We discovered the identity of the three who tried to kill you." she tells me. "You remember those three shinobi you brought here after they were ambushed? Well it was them, except for Takeo of course, because he was still in his hospital bed, unable to act. They first broke out their friend, the man Gaara captured just recently and then went to kill you, as far as we can tell."

I can feel a chill spreading up my spine. I remember everything so clearly now. The attack, Luo, that woman, the smoke bomb, and afterwards being there with Gaara and Temari, and that broken body, and the blood, through all of it, I remember now.

"Is she still alive?" I ask quietly, not sure of the answer I want to hear.

When Seri nods I'm filled with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, regret and anger, wishing that she was dead, knowing that she deserved it. But another part of me is almost relieved to know that she's alive, that I didn't kill her. The calculating part of my brain tells she'll be much more useful now, and that it is better this way, for judicial reasons.

"So what's being done?"

"Right now the woman is here in the hospital, in a coma, but still under surveillance. Takeo is being held as well. Once she regains consciousness there will be a trial to decide their punishment. The Kazekage is planning to try them with utmost severity."

I look down at my hands, lying on my lap. It is the right thing; the right way to go about this thing. So then why do I still have this sick feeling in my gut?