Hey, I'm so sleepy that I won't even gonna go over this chapter for grammar/spelling. Just accept it for what it is, or don't. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 22 - To fall.

Kiyoshi woke up in a hospital - the hospital. It was the first time he'd woken up so quietly and so easily. His eyes simply opened and that was it.

A nurse came into his room half an hour later and approached the clipboard neatly positioned on the bars at his feet. Kiyoshi was restrained with belts, which was oddly surprising to the new nurse.

She picked up the clipboard and started skimming pages to see what the patient was in for. She expected such a tied up person to act violently when waking up, so she assumed he was still asleep.

Five minutes had gone by until she finally looked up at him, finding his eyes lightly observing her. She gasped and stepped back from the startling encounter, then calmed down and put the clipboard back in its rightful place. She looked at him again, finding the same dead eyes as before.

"You're awake," she stated quietly. Then there was a silence. She interrupted it with "Do you want me to get you anyth..." but Kiyoshi spoke.

"Don't despair," he interrupted, "Keep them close."

Then the brief set of interruptions was interrupted by another silence. The nurse decided that it would be best to leave Kiyoshi to his mindless babbling and go to some place where she was needed. As she left the room, Kiyoshi said one final word, "Family."

The girl passed by Ino and said, "I think he's insane."

Ino walked into the room and looked at Kiyoshi. He was physically a ragdoll, but spiritually he was a shipwreck that had once been an unstoppable fleet of warships. She sat down and put her hand on his forehead. "We're still here. We're your family too. Come back."

Kiyoshi looked at her. He wasn't sad, nor was he happy. He had lost his emotions along with everything of his past and spirit. "You're vulnerable, as am I. The only thing I can do to protect you is give up my own life."

"That won't protect us," replied Ino. "That'll weaken us."

Kiyoshi smiled. He turned his head to the window and whispered, "I can't sense her anymore."

Ino didn't follow along. "Who?"

Tears formed in his eyes, rolled across his cheek and down his neck. "Hikari."

"What do you mean?" asked Ino, "Isn't she here now?"

"I don't know. My spirit is too broken to feel her."

Ino gave Kiyoshi a moment of silence. "Kiyoshi, please tell me what's going on."

Kiyoshi looked up at the ceiling. There was a dark stain. "My clan was once legendary and feared throughout the world," said Kiyoshi, "As well as isolated and independant."

Naruto walked in, not interrupting Kiyoshi because he needed to know the story too.

"We were feared not because of what we were, but because of the potential we had to become something deadly."

"How deadly?" asked Naruto.

"Deadly enough that we'd have no more than a single casualty for every city we's conquer over," replied Kiyoshi. "We were only potentually dangerous. We were good people with strong morals and unnatural peace."

Naruto took a moment to close the door. The conversation was going in a direction that's bad for public knowledge.

Kiyoshi continued, "Then history stopped."

There was a long pause. Naruto and Ino were waiting for Kiyoshi to continue, but he just lay there. "What do you mean 'history stopped'?" asked Naruto.

"They were wiped off the face of the earth," explained Kiyoshi. "I don't know what happened. The records stopped when they died, and nobody knew how it happened or who killed them."

"But you have a theory?" asked Naruto.

"Yes."

"And what is the theory?"

Kiyoshi halted. He waited, then decided. "I can only tell you, Naruto. Ino, you have to leave."

Something twisted inside the girl. She let out a small whimper, then nodded. Stepping out the door, Ino gave Kiyoshi a look as if she'd never see him again. She walked down the hallway, strong and steady and without shedding a single tear, and yet feeling a crack somewhere deep down.

"I don't think she's over you," said Naruto.

Kiyoshi didn't move, "On the contrary, she just broke all ties with me."

Naruto turned back to Kiyoshi, "Why'd you tell her to leave?"

"My clan is still alive," said Kiyoshi.

"What?"

"My clan has been stalking me for some time now."

"Your clan is dead, Kiyoshi."

"Then why am I in this condition?" asked Kiyoshi, "Why is Hikari dead?"

Naruto tried to grasp what Kiyoshi had been telling him. "Are you saying that the spirits of your clan are haunting you?"

"No," replied Kiyoshi, "Worse than that. I'm being hunted by those of my clan that went renegade."

"Renegade?"

"Were my clan alive right now, these renegades would be called exiles."

"What did they do?"

"They started practicing the forbidden techniques of my clan. They gained tremendous power."

"What kind of power?"

Kiyoshi paused for a moment, considering the possibility of his theory being wrong. He reconsidered. He put much time and blood into researching his clan. "Naruto, in your texts, what creature was known as 'the master of time'?"

Naruto paused, "The dragon." he replied, "Are you saying that they gained the power to become dragons?"

"Not completely. Not quite." corrected Kiyoshi, "They failed. Now they're some pathetic creatures slightly resembling dragons."

"So they only resemble dragons?"

"As I said, not quite dragons, but still too powerful for everyone's sake. They are able to turn ethereal, getting all kinds of spiritual powers."

"Why are they following you around?"

Kiyoshi turned to Naruto and squinted his eyes, "For shits and giggles."

"Seriously, why?"

Kiyoshi closed his eyes, preparing to go to sleep. "I don't know. They're trying to use me for something."

"How would they go about doing that?"

"They'd have to possess my body, but in order to do that they need to crush my spirit."

Naruto blinked, "You feel pretty dead to me, your voice is cold, and you'd normally rip through those belts to go and visit graves and such. It seems to me they've already crushed your spirits. Why haven't they taken over you?"

Kiyoshi shrugged, "I was wondering about that too. Perhaps Hikari is fighting them off somehow."

"Can't you tell if she is? I thought you could see ghosts."

"Spirits," corrected Kiyoshi, "and you've already answered your own question. I am broken in body, but also spirit, therefore I can't see anything so close to god as spirits."

Naruto was about to say something, but Kiyoshi cut him off.

"And I don't want to talk right now... I... want..." he yawned, and ended the sentence in a fading whisper, "sleep."

Naruto peered at Kiyoshi for a while. He sat down and started thinking. He realized that he was unprepared to face an invasion of semi-dragons. Then he wondered about the pore-breathing technique that allowed Kiyoshi to breathe. He looked back at Kiyoshi and felt uncomfortable thinking any further about means of defense. His battered and destroyed friend was sleeping in a critical condition next to him, and any attention that isn't directed at him should be paid outside.

He gave Kiyoshi one last glance before leaving. "How many times are you going to die?"

Kiyoshi whispered in his sleep, "As many as it takes to stay dead."

Hinata came up to Naruto as he walked out. She took his arm and wrapped it around herself, then walked him down the hallway. Naruto was very lost in thought. The boy yawned, being infected by Kiyoshi's yawn. The yawn then affected Hinata, and then everyone was very sleepy.

Naruto thought about Kiyoshi's earlier words. He wondered what a Hokage truly was, and whether he'd ever become one.

He then realized that Hinata had managed to sneak up on him and nest herself in his arm. He kissed her and nearly fell down a set of stairs.

Ino was a long way away from the hospital. Not because a lot of time had passed, but because she was running. The crack she had felt when she left Kiyoshi was eroding from salty tears, spreding, allowing more tears to leak through.

She punched a tree, bark and pulp shattering through the air. She punched it again to make sure that her tears were due to physical pain and not emotional. Ino kept punching it until Kakashi's face softened the blow on both, tree and fist.

She stepped back apologetically, then apologized with words, "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sama."

Kakashi shook off the blow to the head and looked at Ino. She was blurry. He shook his head again. She was now blurry, and standing next to an equally blurry twin. "Nice punch there."

"What were you doing?" she exclaimed, being irritated by Kakashi's light-headed wit at the worst possible time. "How old are you?" she screamed.

"I was just wondering," said Kakashi, finally coming around from the blow, but still walking in circles, "What happened to you. I mean," he continued using the same tone, "You were so arrogant and ruthless at one time. What happened to you?"

Ino thought about it, but found Kakashi's wobbling walk a bit distracting. She turned away from him. "I don't know." she said, "I mean, when someone tells you not to love them because they'd already found someone else, you find little sense in those words. But I respected those words. I respected his wish and still loved him in paradox." she whimpered, "I'm so confused."

"Love makes very little sense," said Kakashi and finally fell down.