As I woke up slowly, the sun was warming my face and a cool misty breeze flowed. My body still hurt but I felt happy for once in a while. I let a small smile come over my face from the pleasantness, the pain wasn't as intense, and I tried to go over what happened.

Let's see, I heard the man say kill, Sand wrapped around me, I started hurting, I asked something, Kankuro and Temari looked confused or surprised, I passed out, and now I'm here.

I rolled my head gently to the other side and it stopped because something was there, I opened my eyes to see that the breeze was there because I was moving; I looked up painfully to see who was carrying me.

To my surprise, it was Gaara, I was really confused, and I tried to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say, other than why? But I decided to not have woken and closed my eyes, but Gaara said, "You woke up; finally, it's been what? 2 days?" I opened my eyes quickly, TWO DAYS?!

That's not possible, I'm not that weak, and I usually wake up within the hour, what happened? I blinked silently and finally said, "You're kidding right?" He didn't respond, but he still had that same eerie expression of mixed emotions, but something about it made it slightly more pleasant, but still disturbing.

I looked ahead and I could see the gate to Konoha, where is he taking me? I sighed, I still felt tired and I needed someone to look at my injuries, I didn't know how bad it was, but it's not to late to find out.

I looked around, no sign of Temari or Kankuro, "Hey Gaara, Where's Temari and Kankuro?" he paused for a moment then said, "They are covering for me while I find a hospital." I was so confused; first he wants to destroy me, now he is looking for a hospital.

What did I say or do to change him? I thought about that for a while until we reached the gate. The two guards from before were sitting there, when they saw us coming, they stood up and blocked our way, "Do you have permission to be here?" one of them asked, I recognized them from when I brought Konohomaru back.

"I brought the child back, remember?" I asked quietly, hoping that Gaara would put me down soon; it was a little embarrassing to have him carry me.

"Do you know who that child is?" Asked the other one, I shook my head. "He is the Hokage's grandson," he explained, I smiled slightly, "Then I guess you owe me one," I said slowly and clearly.

The guards looked shocked, "But . . . No one is allowed . . . in without permission . . ." I sighed, "That didn't seem to matter when . . ." I took a deep breath in and waited until one of the guards asked impatiently, "When what?"

I smiled again, "When I returned the boy." The guard looked shocked and dumbfounded. I heard a soft, short laugh, but I wasn't sure where it came from. Someone was obviously amused at what was happening.

The guards stepped aside and grumbled a little as we walked past them silently. Soon I saw more people and felt even more ridiculous that a ninja from the hidden sand and a ninja from the hidden mist were together. I saw many people buying and selling tasty and occasionally strange looking foods.

I looked around, someone caught my eyes, it was Shikamaru Nara, he was walking lazily down the road with his hands in his pockets, and next to him was Neji Hyuga.

I feel ridiculous, I thought miserably, every time I have been here, I need to be in the hospital. Luckily, I didn't think they saw me, yet.

"Um . . . I think I can walk the rest of the way now," I said, he didn't say anything, just dropped me. Luckily I was fast enough to catch myself before I got hurt, I gave Gaara a nasty look, and he gave one right back.

Shikamaru walked up to me right after I stood up painfully, and turned to face him forcing a smile on my face. He sighed and was about to say something when Neji spoke instead, "What are you doing here this time?" he asked me sharply.

I was about to answer but it hurt to talk, so I just shrugged, trying to hide the fact that I was hurt. He glared at me, and then at Gaara, I stood there uncomfortably waiting for something to happen.

Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome," He started to walk away, or my vision started to blur and I swayed a little, someone grabbed my arm.

I blinked to keep my eyes open, it hurt to stand and move still, I think it was Neji, but I wasn't sure. I sighed heavily as my knees buckled, Neji caught me easily, I could hardly stand now.

I heard talking, then it went dark, when I woke up, Neji, and Shikamaru were next to my bed, in the hospital. De JA Vou, I thought looking around, I started to sit up, but stopped and fell back.

"Where's . . ." I didn't finish, it didn't matter anyway. It was like Neji could read my thoughts, "Gaara left," his voice was flat, and he sounded like he could care less.

I looked around; it looked almost identical from the one before. "Do you know where to?" I asked Neji, he shook his head, probably back to the sand village, I thought to myself.

I sat up, my head was spinning, I was almost afraid to ask the question, "How long was I out?" Neji looked at the clock on the white wall, "About 2 hours," I got up, glad it wasn't that long, but my legs were still in pain, and I quickly fell back onto the bed.

I looked around, there were 2 chairs, one Shikamaru was sitting in, the other Neji was standing by, and a bed, a wardrobe, a side-table, and a pair of crutches. I smiled a little, Well this will be fun, I thought miserably as I propped myself up with the crutches.

I went slowly across the room, it was talking way too long, and then Neji walked over and stood in front of the door. I gave him an annoyed look, "What now?" he just looked at me, "Where are you going?" I motioned my head out the window, "To the . . . um . . . outside to get some air." I lied.

It must have been pretty obvious, because Neji didn't move. "So can you move?" I asked as politely as I could. He motioned towards the small side-table by the bed, it had my headband on it, "Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked. I looked at the table, it looked far away, and would take a while to get to, but I did anyway.

I sat on the bed and tied my headband onto my head, but I didn't feel like getting up. I laid back, looking around the room; Shikamaru looked like he was falling asleep. I looked out the window, it was so quiet, and I shivered a little. A chill and slight bit of pain rang throughout my body.