"The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool." – Stephen King

I awoke in the hospital with two pairs of eyes staring down at me. One pair belonged to my mother and the other belonged to Temari. In less than a second, my mother's filled with tears.

"She's awake!" she cried, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and hugging me close. "Haketa, you had me so worried! Why did you run off on your own like that?!"

I winced in pain. Mother must not have realized that what she thought was loving hugs were actually binds of pain. Luckily, Temari put a hand between us to separate her from me. A small cough came from my lips, sending my lungs into spasms of sharp pains.

"I…I don't know," I finally replied. "I thought I could stop the people who hurt Kyan, but I couldn't."

I managed to scoot back and sit against the headboard of the bed. After intertwining my fingers together in my lap, I shook my head, trying to blink back the tears that were forming in my eyes. I tried my very hardest to keep myself from crying, but when the liquid slid down my cheeks, I couldn't stop.

"I-I just thought that…that if I was able to kill whoever attacked her, that we would both be safe," I explained. "But I didn't realize that the men who attacked her…well, us…were part of a bigger plan than I expected."

My mother sat on the edge of the bed and stroked my hair. "Were you able to find out their names?" she asked softly as Temari sat on the other side of the bed.

I nodded slowly. "One of the people who hurt me was Serisu and their boss was named Noja."

Temari's head turned to glance at my mother. "Serisu has been a long-time enemy of us, but I've never heard of this Noja person."

"I have," my mother replied. "Before you were born, your father had a gambling addiction. He racked up more debt than we could ever pay off. That's why we started the restaurant business, in hopes that someday we could pay it off."

"What does Noja have to do with all of this?" I asked, wiping my cheeks with the backs of my hands.

"Noja owns a chain of casinos. Unfortunately, your father decided that this were his favorite spots. We'd met Noja on many occasions and those two even became good friends over the years. I would never have imagined that he would have turned into such a ruthless man." Mother shook her head. "All over money."

"I don't think he is ruthless," I replied quickly. "When he found me and realized how badly Serisu and the other had beaten me, he was very mad at them and even hit her. Then, he carried me outside and told me the deed is done. I wasn't sure what that meant until now."

The three of us fell quiet then. I stared at my bandaged hands and wondered how long it would take me to completely heal. I couldn't stay out of work too long. But then again, if Noja decided that the debt was no longer an interest of him, then would my family have to continue with the restaurant business? If not, then what would I do? Find another job? Take up a life of painting? Painting wouldn't pay the bills…

The silence was broken with the opening of the door. Kankuro walked in and shut the door behind him, then looked at me. He looked as if sleep hadn't overtaken him in days. His hair seemed even messier than usual and light purple rings shadowed the bottom of his eyes.

"I'm glad you're finally awake," he muttered. I expected him to walk to me and kiss my forehead, but he remained by the door, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, kind of a miracle, huh?" I answered awkwardly, trying to figure out why there was such a tense feeling in the air.

"Haketa," my mother said, brining my attention back to her. She placed her hands on top of mine and gave me a small smile. "Temari, Kankuro, and I have been discussing something and we've come to the decision that maybe it would be best if you and your sister came back home."

My gaze flew from her eyes, to Temari's, to Kankuro's, then back to hers. "But…I don't understand. This is my home."

"Back to Konohagakure," Kankuro said firmly. "Once you're fully recovered, you should leave. We've already packed your things."

My heart felt as if it had shattered and fell into my stomach. I didn't know what to say. My lower lip trembled with unspoken words. I just didn't understand. They didn't want us here anymore?

"Why?" I was finally able to ask.

"We just feel that you both will be safer back home," Mother replied.

"But I don't want to leave," I said defensively. "I like it here! I like the heat and I like all the sand and I like drinking my own body weight in water! I don't want to leave anyone and I especially don't want to leave…," pausing for a moment, I looked at Kankuro, "you. I don't want to leave you, ever. I love you."

Nothing was happening as I expected. Kankuro only shook his head and whispered, "You need to go home," before walking back out the door.

I grabbed at the blankets and buried my face in them. I didn't care if my mother and Temari were still in the room. I just cried and didn't stop until I was asleep.

()()()

Kankuro didn't come back to see me until the sixth day of my stay in the hospital. Luckily, if the nurses were correct, I would only have to stay for another week before I was healed enough to leave. But that meant I would also be leaving Sunagakure.

"Hey," he mumbled, closing the door behind him. He looked a lot better than his last visit. The purple rings had disappeared and his hair returned to the original state of messy.

"Hi," I replied, sitting up from my lying position to watch him take a seat on a chair next to the bed.

"How do you feel?"

The question was so normal that I began to giggle. "Oh, I feel fucking fantastic," I answered, lying back down and covering my head with the blanket. "You made your appearance to look like a good person. Everyone gets it. You can go now."

Kankuro was quiet for so long that eventually, I thought he had silently left. But then, he said, "You think that's why I came here? To look like a good person to everyone else? Hakata, I don't care what everyone else thinks. I wanted to see you."

I didn't move or reply. I just stared at the small beam of light coming from a crack in the blanket shell I had made for myself. My stomach tied into knots. I just wanted him to leave.

"I'm sorry," he finally muttered. "I was just pissed that you left on your own. You didn't say anything to me about it. What would have happened if we never found you, or if they had killed you? I just wished you would have mentioned to me about your plan instead of just telling Temari and keeping the rest of us in the dark."

"It was nobody's business but mine," I defended.

"I thought I meant more to you than that."

I shot up in a rush of…of…There were too many emotions to put it into one word. Hurt, anger, regret. Before I could say anything, however, Kankuro was already gone, the door being shut behind him.

And that was it. Being done with the day, I returned to my blanket shell, hoping to shut out the rest of the world forever.