"She's crazy!" Someone hissed. "We can't keep her here. You saw what she did last night. Captain, she sat in glass and didn't want to be moved. Even after she fainted, she struggled against us."

"There is a lot we do not know about that girl."

"Exactly!" The other man argued. "Which is precisely why we need to get rid of her as soon as possible."

A new voice spoke. "There is much we can learn from her."

"Know your place, Uchiha! Don't speak out of turn!"

"Be quiet, Lieutenant. Let him speak his piece," the captain said calmly. "Go on. I am listening."

The unknown voice hesitated. "When she was captured, she made no resistance. But now she's showing signs of instability. It's not difficult to believe that whatever has been keeping her calm is losing influence over her. We still know nothing about her, but what we know is that she was trained very well. Her pain tolerance is remarkable, and her strength—"

"Ha ha! Strength! Do you mean busting out of house arrest with a wooden chair? Like that hasn't been done before—"

"Lieutenant! You will hold your tongue in the presence of your superiors."

"Yes, sir," the man grumbled. "My apologies, sir. It won't happen again, sir."

"Very good. Now, please continue Uchiha-san."

There was a tense silence. "I believe the girl should be spared. She obviously requires stability in her life, if she cannot remember the first thing about her past."

Another awkward silence. "And how do you propose we do that?"

Their voices dropped into an inaudible whisper. Maybe they knew I was awake and didn't want me to hear the rest of what they were saying. Or maybe it wasn't because they knew I was awake, but was a precautionary measure they always took around people like me. It was understandable, seeing as how I was a prisoner, but if they were talking about me, I still wanted to know. The atmosphere was heavy; it pressed down on me and made it difficult to breathe. I couldn't remember much of what happened last night. I knew I had broken that door—and the chair for that matter—but everything else was a sort of blur. I could remember lots of blood, but I couldn't remember who it had come from.

The hissing voices stopped suddenly. It was then that I chose to officially wake up.

"Lieutenant, inform the nurses she has woken."

A door opened and closed. More silence.

"Naoko," said the captain's voice. "How are you feeling?"

I thought about that. "Thirsty."

A faucet turned on and glasses clinked. "Uchiha, sit her up for me."

Gentle hands pulled me into a sitting position and held me there as the captain held the glass to my lips, making me drink. The water was gone in a matter of seconds. I glanced down at my hands which were heavily bandaged. When I moved my legs, they throbbed.

"I'm very sorry." I whispered. The captain chuckled.

"For what?"

"I acted bad. Please forgive me."

The boy I had never seen before and the captain exchanged uneasy glances.

"You should kill me."

"No," the unknown boy said.

I rounded on him. "That is not your choice! It is my life!"

"We can't kill you," the captain said, "and while you're correct, it's not your choice either."

"But it's the best thing." I looked away from them and closed my eyes. "For the village, I mean."

"How do you figure?" The boy asked.

I didn't answer at first. It was a good question. How could I think that killing me off and forgetting about me would be better for their village? It was a simple answer, and one that I thought that they should have known. Even the lieutenant had known it and had wanted it from the start. There was no way they didn't know what I was talking about.

"Even the lieutenant said it. I'm crazy. I do not belong. I am your enemy."

The captain sighed, almost as though he were silently apologizing for his subordinate's rudeness. "We haven't proven that yet."

"Yet," I said quietly. "But you haven't said I was wrong. That's what I'm waiting the hear; that is the answer I want. Tell me, Captain, do I belong here?"

They were silent, which was the only answer I needed. It was then that the nurse chose to make her appearance. I was asked trivial questions, such as, "Are you nauseous?" or "Does it feel too hot or too cold?" or my favorite, "Do you remember anything?" When the questionnaire was over, she moved on to changing my bandages out for new, less bloody ones.

"Her wounds!" The nurse gasped. "Why, they're gone!"

The captain was by my bed in that instant. "How is that possible?"

"I—I don't know!" The nurse flipped my hands over and over again, checking for the gaping wounds that were no longer there. I sighed and stared at the ceiling, waiting for everything to be over with. I wanted to sleep now. As though remembering that there was more than one area with damage, she emitted another horrified gasp. She yanked away my blanket, shamelessly lifted my hospital gown, and tore at the gauze covering my thighs and feet. I kept my expression as neutral as possible, ignoring them.

"They're gone! They're all gone!"

I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes. She looked ready to pass out. Her skin was pale and she was shaking. I didn't know if she was new to this job, but she shouldn't be so upset over a few missing scrapes. This was nothing new to me.

"Is this not a good thing?" I asked her, returning my gaze to the ceiling. I didn't know if she had the capability to answer at that point, because I didn't get an answer. "Should I continue to bleed? Would this be a normal thing?"

I allowed myself a small, and what I hoped to be imperceptible, smile. I still hadn't gotten an answer. Not to my questions for the nurse or for the captain. "As you wish."

The nurse fainted.