Truth: He had abandoned her.

Sayuri was just clearing away the dinner dishes when the knock sounded on the door.

"I've got it," Satoru said, moving away from the sink and heading for the door. He opened it and blinked in shock at who he saw on the stoop. "Ibiki?"

"I'm here for Sayuri," the interrogator said bluntly.

"Me?" Sayuri asked in surprise, moving towards the door and wishing she was wearing something more appropriate than the ratty old t-shirt of Satoru's and a pair of too-small shorts that served as her pajamas. "Has something happened?" Her hand grasped the doorframe tightly. "Has something happened with Kimimaro?" she asked worriedly.

"His week of peace is up," Ibiki said callously. "Tsunade wants me to interrogate him. If he talks, we won't have to try the rough stuff to get the information we need. If he doesn't…" He let the threat hang and Sayuri's knuckles went white as her grip tightened. "He'll probably be more cooperative with you there."

Sayuri nodded weakly. Kimimaro's safety hinged on this. If he spoke, he might be freed, maybe even allowed to join Konoha somewhere down the road, due to their desperate need for shinobi. Otherwise… A trip to the headquarters of the Interrogation was basically a sentence to a long and painful death.

"Give me a moment to put on something more appropriate," Sayuri said faintly. She went to her room and quickly stripped, yanking on her civilian clothes as fast as possible, rushing back to the doorway. Ibiki was waiting.

"Sayuri, you don't have to-" Satoru began.

"He needs me," Sayuri said sharply. Satoru closed his mouth abruptly and just nodded.

"Alright."

Sayuri followed Ibiki to the hospital, aware of but too worried to care about the stares she got in the shadow of such a respected and feared man. The path to Kimimaro's room now seemed longer and almost painfully familiar. Ibiki opened the door and stepped inside, moving purposefully towards the bed, towering over its occupant. Sayuri filed in after him, hands wringing like Miyako's, face strained and white. Kimimaro looked from her to Ibiki and he nodded, as if confirming something to himself.

"So it's to be torture," he said aloud. "You will have to try very hard, I have become accustomed to large amounts of pain."

"A little eager, aren't you?" Ibiki pointed out. "Who said anything about torture?"

"You are Ibiki Morino," Kimimaro said bluntly. "That's what you do, is it not?"

"Not always," Ibiki disagreed. "Sometimes people just talk. Sometimes they realize what Konoha can do for them. Sometimes they realize their loyalty was misplaced."

Kimimaro opened his mouth to retort, but it was a reflex by now. He glanced at Sayuri, who looked incredibly concerned for him. He looked back up at Ibiki. "You want to know about Lord Orochimaru." It wasn't a question, nor did Ibiki treat it as such.

"You have two options. Keep quiet, and you're right, it's torture for you," Ibiki said with all the subtlety of Naruto. A strained sound came from the back of Sayuri's throat. Kimimaro's eyes flicked to her. She looked agonized at the very idea of him enduring torture, as if she herself were on the rack. "But if you tell us what we want to know, Tsunade is prepared to offer you asylum from Sound and you'll be allowed to wander around the village under an ANBU guard. If you display good behavior, more freedoms may be discussed at a later date.

"This offer won't last forever," Ibiki continued. "It's the best deal we've offered to a criminal in a while, and that should say something. You could help save innocent lives." He pointed to Sayuri. "You could help save her life."

Sayuri could have snarled. So this was why Ibiki had wanted her along. Not to help him interrogate, or at least, not in the way she'd thought. She was there to be a pawn, Kimimaro's weak spot, to be exploited in order to get what Konoha wanted. Still, she prayed he took Tsunade's deal. The thought of him being tortured was enough to make her physically ill and she wondered vaguely where the nearest trash can was.

Kimimaro looked at the pair across from him. The interrogator, and Sayuri at his side, pleading with him, an impossible decision looming in the air in front of him. If he said nothing, he would die. If he betrayed Lord Orochimaru, he had a life with Nigate… Sayuri in front of him. It was Orochimaru who had picked up the pieces of him after everyone was gone, but Sayuri would have happily done the same had she been there.

The option of running away presented itself, and was almost immediately discarded. What was there to go back to really? Lord Orochimaru now had the coveted Uchiha. Even if Kimimaro returned in full health, he was no longer wanted, and he had only ever been wanted. He served no more purpose to Lord Orochimaru. Here he was needed by someone, by Sayuri, the girl who cared for him when no one else did, even before Lord Orochimaru.

He knew very well that he was a tool to Lord Orochimaru. He was not stupid, he knew it wasn't healthy to be quite so devoted to a man who only cared for him as something to use. He'd simply shoved that aside in a desire to serve the man who so awed him, who had given him purpose.

But did someone like Orochimaru really deserve his loyalty? The life of a shinobi was hard, yes, but he'd been forced to do some hellish things, and hellish things had been done to him, the pain of receiving the curse mark coming to mind. It still burned on his chest as a reminder of what he was potentially giving up. Did a man who would inflict such things on him really deserve such loyalty as Kimimaro gave him?

It wasn't healthy, and though it killed him, he knew it needed to end, or he would end up driving himself mad with obsessive devotion, and if there was one thing Kimimaro prized, it was control over his body and the mind inside it.

Sayuri could give him the purpose he craved as well: discovering what it was here that made her so happy. She had offered her life up to him, her friends, her family; all his if only he would reach out and take it. A life, a real life, the kind they'd dreamed about as children, with all the little things that everyone else would take for granted but seemed like miracles to children like them. The ability to pick what they ate, to go wherever they wanted, to say what they wanted.

To say what they wanted…

He started speaking. At first it was painful, a hollow ache inside his chest as he betrayed what he knew of Lord Orochimaru to Konoha, but it slowly became easier. Then Sayuri smiled at him, and he was confident he'd made the right choice.

Sayuri sat by Kimimaro's bed the next day when the door opened and in swept the Hokage. She looked between the two teens and nodded, as if confirming something to herself.

"So you cooperated," was all she said. "I guess that means I have my end of the deal to keep." She reached out, healing chakra glowing on her hands, and placed them on Kimimaro's chest over his lungs. She closed her eyes, scanning through his body for prevailing signs of sickness. Kimimaro tensed, only relaxing when Sayuri began to stroke his hair.

"Much better," Tsunade said in satisfaction as she pulled her hands back.

"Kabuto could never make a definitive change," Kimimaro mused. Tsunade made a noise of disdain in the back of her throat.

"Kabuto Yakushi is hardly on my level as a med-nin," she said smugly. "Besides, I had information from Sayuri's file to reference at when it came to your kekkei genkai.

"I think you're fit to leave the hospital, but I want you back every week for a checkup," she added. She pulled a key out of her jacket and grabbed the cuffs holding him to the bed, unlocking them. The chains fell away and Sayuri smiled at the sound. Kimimaro rubbed his slightly chafed wrists and raised the chakra-smothering bracelets to her questioningly.

"Uh uh, those stay," Tsunade said firmly. She placed a hand on one and performed a quick series of hand signs before repeating the process with the other. "You'll have enough chakra to get a bit of a workout, but beyond that, you'll be contained for the moment. Maybe later on we'll talk about lessening the restrictions, and depending on if you're a good boy, removing them entirely." She smirked slightly. "For now, that's all you get."

Kimimaro nodded, pushing a bone from his palm experimentally, pleased that he was at least able to manipulate his skeleton, though with more difficulty than usual. Tsunade's eyes lit with interest, but she said nothing on the subject.

"I'm guessing I can trust him in your custody?" she said to Sayuri, who nodded eagerly. "Good. I want him out of here by the end of the day."

With that Tsunade swept from the room, leaving Sayuri clutching Kimimaro's hand between her own.

"You can come home with me," she beamed. He stared at her, a sort of hesitance on his face, almost as if he couldn't believe that this was really happening to him.

"You don't have to do this," Kimimaro said slowly, offering her a chance to back out. "I don't need to intrude on your life…"

"I want you in my life, you fool," Sayuri said, the sting taken from the insult with a smile. She raised the back of his hand to her cheek, nodding to the neatly-folded clothes on a nearby chair. "If you get dressed, we can go right now and get you settled."

Kimimaro nodded, eager to get upright for the first time in a week. His body rebelled at stagnation and he'd been twitchy for the past four days in the uncomfortable robe they'd put him in. He threw back the sheets and braced his hands on the bed, pushing himself upright with a grunt as stiff muscles stretched. Sayuri sat and smiled as he reached for his clothes, stripping and dressing with not a hint of shame. After all, she couldn't see him, and she was busy rewrapping the carved flowers in silk.

Kimimaro paused when he reached the purple bow, the symbol of Sound. His allegiance no longer lay with them. He had no right to wear it, even if a part of him still desired to. He'd made his bed, and now he had to lie in it, even if a part of him was screaming for betraying Lord Orochimaru. He only had to glance to the side at Sayuri's soft, smiling face to recall why he'd done it.

The purple bow was tossed into the trashcan by the door as they left his hospital room.

The nurses were slightly wary of Kimimaro as he walked through the hall at Sayuri's side, particularly when they glanced down and saw he wasn't chained. Kimimaro, for his part, was glad that his long sleeves hid the cuffs limiting his chakra. This was the only part of his deal that he could really complain about. He didn't like being chained at all, not having easy access to all of his skill, here in the belly of the beast...

"Sayuri!"

"Miyako," Sayuri greeted, turning to face her friend as she emerged from one of the offices. A tall man with long red hair pulled back in a high ponytail emerged behind her, leaning on the doorframe. He had the same black eyes as Miyako. He looked like an average shinobi, but Kimimaro noticed a spot of color on top of his foot.

"Mamoru Hasekura," Sayuri greeted Miyako's father, bowing slightly to the head of the Hasekura clan. Kimimaro followed her lead, bowing slightly as well. Mamoru raised an eyebrow.

"It's nice to see you Sayuri, and I've told you, you don't need to be formal. That young man next to you doesn't need to be either. I'm going to assume that's the Kimimaro this place has been in an uproar over the past few days, and that would make him head of his own clan, as the eldest remaining Kaguya. He is my equal."

Kimimaro blinked in surprise as the man bowed slightly to him in turn. This man was obviously important, as demonstrated by the deference Sayuri showed him, and yet he was bowing to him?

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better, Kimimaro," Miyako said with a small smile. "I know that Sayuri was very concerned."

"… Thank you," Kimimaro said slowly, surprised by how honest she seemed. She barely knew him, why would she care how he felt?

"What brought you here?" Sayuri asked Miyako.

"I was bringing father lunch," Miyako said, gesturing to the bento balanced on her father's hand. She gave him a reproachful look. "He hasn't been eating enough."

Ever since Miyako's mother died in childbirth she'd been very close to her father, and it showed in the way she doted on him.

"And to try to bargain," Mamoru said, looking at her pointedly.

"Bargain?" Sayuri pressed. Miyako sighed.

"He's trying to get back into field work."

"It's been too long since I was in the field," Mamoru replied to his daughter. "I'm getting soft sitting around the hospital. And besides, with Lady Tsunade and Shizune here, I'm not as necessary to keep the place from bursting into flames."

"I just want you to stay safe," Miyako insisted.

Mamoru stared at his daughter. "I could have sworn I was the parent here."

Miyako smiled slightly. "Only technically."

"Oh, well then." He threw an arm around her shoulders and pulled Miyako into his chest, kissing her forehead. "The clan is meeting tonight, but I'll be home for dinner. Now go, spend time with your friends." He nodded at Sayuri and Kimimaro, the latter of whom was watching the bond in front of him with some degree of awe.

"I will," Miyako nodded, going up on her toes and kissing her father's cheek, squeezing him in a quick hug. "Love you."

"Love you too," Mamoru nodded to her before striding off down the hall, ponytail bobbing and doctor's coat swishing.

"Are you taking Kimimaro home?" Miyako asked curiously. Sayuri nodded. "May I come?"

Sayuri gave her a shrewd look. "You just want to get at the cookies I made last night." Miyako flushed.

"You're a good cook."

"I've had years of practice."

Together the three of them set off through Konoha. Kimimaro got a few odd looks, but once they saw him beside Miyako and Sayuri, he was instantly accepted. Kimimaro was vaguely dizzied by the fact that he was wandering through the village he'd seen as the enemy for years completely unhindered.

"Your father," he said to Miyako. "He leads your clan."

Miyako looked up at him from the other side of Sayuri. He read curiosity and surprise on her face, but no fear. "Yes," Miyako nodded. "One day I'll take his place."

"And… what was on his foot?"

Miyako laughed slightly. "Akaryu. The red dragon, the symbol of our clan. It's tradition for the leader to have it tattooed on them. It covers the entire body." She turned to Sayuri. "Maybe Kimimaro could come with us for training tomorrow and meet Kiyomi?" Miyako suggested. "I'm sure she's anxious to get to know him. She's the only one who hasn't seen him yet."

Sayuri's eyes widened slightly. "I completely forgot Kiyomi hadn't met him yet!"

"Your long-lost relative came back from the dead. I think you're allowed to be a bit scatter-brained," Miyako assured her.

"I would like to meet your other teammate," Kimimaro added his opinion. Sayuri looked up at him.

"Really? To be honest, I wasn't sure if you were interested in meeting any more of my friends."

"I am still adjusting to the idea that you have friends," Kimimaro said, absently reaching out to touch her hair as they walked. Sayuri replied by stepping slightly closer so that their shoulders brushed. Miyako found it entertaining and sweet to watch the two interact. They were clearly going to be inseparable despite the years apart. She could see traces of their childhood in the way they both sought physical contact from each other.

"Get back!"

"Naruto?!" Miyako exclaimed incredulously as the blonde limped towards them, covered in bandages.

"You bastard!" he shouted hoarsely at Kimimaro, who just blinked in response. "You took Sasuke! You took him away from us!"

"Naruto!" Sayuri roared, drawing all eyes to her. She rarely raised her voice, but when she did, it was effective. For the first time, Naruto seemed to realize Sayuri and Miyako were there.

"S-Sayuri? Why're you with this guy? Do you know what he did?" he demanded.

"I do," she nodded. "I know he assisted Sasuke in leaving Konoha. I also know he's given us information on Orochimaru. I know he's been granted asylum, and I know that he is very important to me, and if you attack him, I will not hesitate to gut you like a pig." The last bit was a threatening snarl and Naruto blinked.

"H-He's… on our side now?"

"Yes."

"And you… you're vouching for him?"

"I am." Sayuri nodded. Naruto looked between Sayuri's unflinching face, then Miyako's worried one, and finally to Kimimaro's blank one. He took a couple steps forwards until he was standing in front of Kimimaro. He looked the older boy up and down. Even he was not unobservant enough to miss the obvious resemblance between Kimimaro and Sayuri. He quickly figured out why she was vouching for him.

That didn't change everything though.

"I don't like you, believe it," he concluded. Kimimaro's eyebrow rose ever so slightly.

"The feeling is mutual."

"But if Sayuri says you're okay, then you've gotta be," Naruto finished. "So I'm not gonna pound you. But if you screw up, then I'm gonna take you out, believe it."

"You're welcome to try," Kimimaro said patronizingly. Naruto opened his mouth angrily.

"Naruto?"

"Sakura!" he exclaimed, spinning to face his teammate and wincing slightly as he pulled a few of the myriad of stitches covering his body.

"You're not supposed to be out of the hospital!" Sakura berated him. Sakura looked like hell. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair was slightly greasy, sticking out in all directions. It wasn't hard to guess what was bothering her. Her heartbroken expression said it all.

"Heh, sorry," Naruto apologized sheepishly. "Just wanted some Ichiraku, you know me!"

"Ramen?" Sakura said incredulously. "Naruto, you're not supposed to be eating stuff like that yet. What were you thinking? I swear, you and Kakashi, never thinking of your own health! One of these days you two are going to get yourselves killed and Sasuke and I w-won't-" She froze, seeming to choke on her own tongue. Her eyes filled with tears and her chin began to tremble. With a small wail Sakura buried her face in her hands and broke down into sobs.

"Sakura," Miyako crooned, stepping forwards and wrapping her arms around the pinkette while Naruto watched helplessly and Sayuri looked on grimly. "Shh, shh, it'll be alright. I know it doesn't seem like that now, but…" She looked around helplessly for something to distract the girl with.

"Would you be utterly and completely offended if I punched Sasuke the next time I saw him?" Sayuri murmured to Naruto, listening to Sakura's sobs.

"Get in line. Kakashi's pissed too."

"He went willingly," Kimimaro said suddenly. Sakura looked up at him, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"W-Who are you?" she stuttered. "H-How do you know?"

"He used to be one of Orochimaru's goons," Naruto explained.

Sakura paled. "O-Orochimaru? You're one of his?" she hissed. She lunged forwards at Kimimaro, punching at him weakly. "Do you know what he did to Sasuke? Sasuke was fine until that bastard showed up! He was h-happy with us! He was h-h-happy!"

"Sakura!" Sayuri exclaimed, grabbing the girl and pulling her away from Kimimaro, who had done nothing but sidestep her attacks.

"Let me go Sayuri!" Sakura shrieked.

"Sakura," Naruto murmured, gaping at his furious teammate and the stoic object of her ire.

"You're making a scene," Sayuri hissed, hearing the whispers around them and sensing people stopping. "He used to be with Orochimaru. Focus Sakura, and take in the details! He's under the protection of Konoha now!"

"B-But why? Why would they set you to guard him?" Sakura asked, confusion taking over rage now.

"I'm not his guard, I'm his friend," Sayuri said shortly. Sakura pulled free and spun, looking between Kimimaro and Sayuri. Before she hadn't noticed, but now the resemblance smacked her in the face. Same sea-green eyes, same red marks, same pale skin, same grey hair. They even dressed similarly and had similar hairstyles.

"You look alike," she said slowly.

"Kimimaro Kaguya," Sayuri said, gesturing to him. "I'd thought him dead before I found him about to fight Gaara and Lee."

"Come on, you should get home," Miyako said, wrapping an arm around Sakura and pulling the distraught girl into her shoulder. "I know it's hard, but you'll be alright. It just may take a while."

"Will I?" Sakura asked mournfully, and Naruto winced, looking away with a pained expression on his face.

Miyako and Sayuri locked eyes and Kimimaro had the oddest sensation that he was being left out of a conversation as the two girls communicated with tilts of their heads and flickers of expressions.

"I'll take you home," Miyako said, pulling Sakura down the street.

"I'll come with," Naruto interjected.

"You will go back to the hospital," Miyako said with startling authority, giving him a stern look over Sakura's head. "Before you rip out any stitches, and if you don't, I will personally hunt you down and walk you back there like one of Kankuro's puppets."

Naruto gulped. "Yes ma'am." He limped off towards the hospital.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Sayuri said to Miyako as she staggered down the sidewalk, half-supporting half-dragging Sakura.

"I do not understand," Kimimaro said slowly.

"What?" Sayuri asked in surprise.

"If the Uchiha had such loyal friends… why did he leave them?"

Sayuri stared at him. "Sometimes power trumps love for some people. Those people are fools," she hissed. "I was never particularly fond of Sasuke, but this… I didn't believe him capable of doing this, and to Naruto and Sakura, the first people he actually spoke to."

They started walking again in silence, Kimimaro's thoughts spinning. In Sakura he saw a flash of how Sayuri must have felt when she believed him dead. Had she sobbed? Had she lashed out? And she'd had no one to cluck their tongue at her soothingly and take her home where she could curl up with her misery and slowly begin to heal. The truth was, he had abandoned her.

"I am so sorry," Kimimaro said, voice slightly choked with emotion as he laced his fingers with hers, hoping she understood and wouldn't make him say anymore. He was no good at expressing himself, he'd never learned how.

Sayuri smiled sadly and squeezed his hand in understanding.

The next morning Kimimaro woke up to an oddly familiar sight. Sayuri was wearing overlarge clothes, probably clothes taken from Satoru to wear as pajamas, and kneeling by the couch. He had taken the couch after an argument where she offered him her bed and he determinedly refused. In her arms was a tray of breakfast.

"Good morning," she greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

It was so much like back when they were children that for a moment he saw her eight-years-old again, kneeling outside his cell in patched clothes and offering him a scant, bland breakfast. A blink later and he saw her as she was, with a breakfast the kind of which he'd only dreamed of back then, with flavorful and plentiful food.

"Fine," Kimimaro said slowly, sitting upright and reaching for his shirt. Sayuri had taken it to wash last night while he showered and now it was waiting, folded over the arm of the couch.

"We can go shopping to find you some more clothes after training, or you can have Satoru take you," Sayuri said as she placed the breakfast on the coffee table next to the couch. Kimimaro reached for the food as she took his sheets and began folding them deftly. As he ate, she darted around the room, obviously at ease in her home, doing minor tidying.

"You know, you don't have to do that," Satoru grunted, dragging himself from down the hallway, still wearing a pair of pajama pants. "I've told you that."

"If I didn't do it we'd be living in a pig sty," Sayuri said, producing a cup of coffee from seemingly nowhere and placing it on the kitchen table. Satoru sat down and took it greedily.

"Never mind, keep it up," Satoru said with marginally more energy after a few gulps. Sayuri smirked slightly. Kimimaro watched what was clearly a morning routine, feeling very much like an outsider. He and Satoru sat in awkward silence as Sayuri returned to her room to dress for the day. When she returned, she approached him and sat down.

"I'd like to see your training," Kimimaro said. "I've yet to see you fight."

"I'd imagine it won't be that impressive to you," Sayuri admitted, face falling slightly. "You've been spending your time with strong opponents."

"But compared to the girl who knew nothing…," Kimimaro let the sentence hang and was gratified to see her perk up slightly. "I'm finished."

"Let me just wash this, and we can go," Sayuri said, gesturing to the dishes.

"I'll do it," Satoru said, standing up and waving his hands at her. "Go on, out."

"Satoru…"

"Ayano will tie you to a pole again if you're late," Satoru insisted sternly. "Off with you!"