"What is this?" Temari traced a finger along the black veins on Kankuro's neck.

The medical ninja that was checking Kankuro's pulse responded, "It's a toxin in the blood stream. I haven't been able to identify it, but I have seen it before." the medic looked to me to reveal their Kirigakure forehead protector before turning their attention back to Temari and Gaara. "I'm sorry to say, but even if I did know what the toxin was I wouldn't have enough time to study it and create an antidote" the medic touched the black veins on Kankuro's exposed chest, "Once the toxin reaches his heart it will be the end of his life."

"That's it then? There's nothing you can do?" Temari asked. Her shoulders fell in defeat.

"No, like I said, if I did know what it was I wouldn't have the time to create an antidote." the Mist ninja said. "However, it may be possible that the creator may know a cure?" he looked to me again with a brow raised.

Temari also turned to look at me expectantly. "Ketto, were you the one that poisoned him? Do you have the antidote?"

"I'm sorry, but it's not necessarily something that I made with herbs and other ingredients. I don't think there is an antidote." I said. I wouldn't even know what to try for an antidote.

I watched Temari's face fall. Jiro stepped up to her, "You and Gaara will have the chance to say goodbye. When this happened to my brother we were only allowed to see his body after he was already dead. You should be grateful that you have this chance."

"Please Ketto, is there really nothing you can do?" tears fell down Temari's face as she talks. I really wanted to help her, but I've never had to save someone from my Kukushibyo before, I have no clue about what to do.

Gaara, after being quiet up until now speaks."Can you really not spare my brothers life for the sake of my sister?"

I thought his question was quite admirable considering he was the one who claimed to only care about himself. The fact that he actually cared even a little bit about his sisters happiness touched me a bit. "I truly don't know how to save him." I said. "Like the medic said, Kankuro will die once the toxin gets to his vital organs, it doesn't look like it will be too much longer. You should be with him."

"I'll leave you to say your goodbye's." the medic said. He left the room so that it was the six of us.

I was about to turn to leave the siblings alone when there was a vice grip on my left arm. "Ketto! There must be something you can do?!" Temari pleads. "Even if it won't work, you must have some idea of how to save him!"

"Temari, let go of Lady Ketto." Mitsuru said softly. "She already said that there wasn't anything she could do." He gently pried her hand off of my arm as she began to sob. "We'll leave you to say goodbye."

I didn't look back at her, I didn't want to see her cry, I could already hear her. Instead I focused on uncle Yagura who just appeared in the doorway. He hasn't said anything yet, he was just watching us. His Mizukage robes were gone along with his veil, he must have discarded them during his fight. He wasn't left completely unmarked from his fight with the imposter of the Kazekage and the Hokage. Cuts littered his body, but I couldn't see anything too serious. Not that he would get himself treated anyway.

"Who are you?" I heard Jiro ask confused. Then I heard a smack. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't you recognize him? That's the Mizukage. Remember, we had an audience with him before we were placed on a team with lady Ketto." Mitsuru ground out. "He was just kidding lord Mizukage."

"Y-yeah, sorry, hehe." Jiro awkwardly chuckled to try and diffuse some of the tension.

"Jiro Matsuo and Mitsuru Onishi correct?" uncle asked. I was surprised that uncle Yagura remembered them, but he seems to remember everyone.

"That's us." Mitsuru responded.

"The Hokage didn't survive our battle. I need the two of you to go and report to a Leaf ninja and offer your assistance." uncle said.

"Understood lord Mizukage." I looked and saw Mitsuru pulling on Jiro's arm and then they walked out of the hospital room together.

"As for the two of you." uncle was now talking to Temari and Gaara. "I'm sorry about having to put you through this, Ketto was only acting under my orders and neither of us knew all of the Sand ninja were being used by Orochimaru. I'm going to borrow Ketto for a moment, I'll bring her back before it's too late." he motioned me out of the room without waiting for a response from either of them. I walked out of the room and waited for him to shut the door and join me.

"What is this about?" I ask curiously. Uncle Yagura stood across from me in the hallway.

"It's about Kankuro. Ketto, if you allow him to die then there is no hope of creating new ties with the land of Wind. We will forever be enemies unless you can save that boys life. You must save him." he said. I stayed quiet. I really didn't know how to save Kankuro or if there even was a way to save him. It's not like black coral is a common material and there is already an existing antidote. Black coral is rare, I really doubt if anyone has ever attempted to create a cure. So what could I do about it? "Should I order you to save him? This would be the first time I asked you to save someone instead of kill them."

I looked away from him, "Then this will be the first time that I fail you. I really don't know how to stop the progression of the poison."

"Ask him." he said simply. "He knows more about you than you know about yourself."

I looked to both ends of the hallway noting the medical ninja's that came through and went about their own business. "Right now?"

"Yes, right now." he said. "It doesn't look like that boy has too much time left." Uncle Yagura gestured for me to follow him down the hallway a bit. The first few doors we came to he opened and glanced in. Once we reached an empty room we stopped. "This should do. Go on, I'll keep watch out here in the hallway while you talk to him."

I nodded and entered the room. It was just a small supply closet. I'm sure all of the hospital rooms are taken by injured ninja's and civilians of the Leaf village. I couldn't see much of what was in this closet before uncle Yagura closed the door behind me, but there were shelves of cleaning products and a few mops and brooms along one of the walls.

I crossed my legs as I sat on the floor. Taking a deep breath the smell of bleach invaded my nose. I couldn't block out the smell, instead of focusing on ridding myself of the smell I tried to relax. It was difficult, this is the first time I've ever been ordered to save a life. The first time I've ever felt like I failed my uncle. I tried to push those thoughts from my head and instead thought about saving Kankuro. If I save his life it would be different than when I spared Kimimaro. Kankuro is already dying and by my own hand. I chose not to kill Kimimaro because of the way his own family treated him.

You will save a life Ketto. You will save Kankuro's life from impending death. Uncle believes there's a way, so there must be something you can do to reverse the effects of the poison. My muscles relaxed with each positive thought and my consciousness slowly drifted to my place with Isobu.

"I can smell blood on you, a lot of it." Isobu's deep voice said.

I looked up at him from my meditative position and replied, "There was a battle. The lands of Water and Fire were betrayed at the chunin finals. The people from the land of Wind were tricked into participating, it was the Sound ninja that were behind it all."

Isobu's good eye observed me for a moment. "Some of your own blood is on your face."

My hand raised to rub my cheek. I thought I had got it all off earlier. "I summoned Kofuku to help me break up a fight between two other jinchuriki's."

"You broke up a fight?" he questioned. "That doesn't sound like something you would normally do. Usually you end the fight by killing one of those involved."

"I suppose so." I said. "This time I was ordered to protect. Except I received those orders too late and I poisoned someone with my Kukushibyo."

"The blade made of black coral. Their life is coming to an end I'm sure." he said.

"It is, but I can't let him die." I got up from my seated position to get closer to Isobu's cage. "Uncle Yagura says that if I allow Kankuro to die then there is no hope of creating new ties with the land of Wind. I understand his view on this, Kankuro is one of the sons of the Kazekage, if he were to die by the hand of the Mizukage's niece then it would be a declaration of war. Neither country would be able to fix the ties that once existed if I don't save him."

"I'm proud of you for realizing that on your own." Isobu said.

"I was wondering if you knew of a way I could counter the poison of the black coral?" I asked. Isobu was quiet so I continued, "I don't know much about the properties of the black coral. All I really know is that it's toxic to everyone except me."

"Why do you think it has no effect on you?" he questioned.

This wasn't really what I wanted to talk about, I just wanted to know the cure for Kankuro so I could save him before it was too late. Instead of getting impatient I decided to answer Isobu. "Because my skin is your shell. It's impenetrable."

"It's not completely impenetrable." he said. "But that's not the reason the poison of the black coral has no effect on you."

"Then what is the reason?" I asked confused.

"You are it's creator." he said. "It's your chakra that's saturated into making the substance. It's a part of you."

"What does that mean in terms of a cure?" I wondered.

"As it's creator you have immunity of its properties." he said. "Your blood should counter the effects of the toxin."

I looked at Isobu curiously, "Are you saying that I just have to inject Kankuro with some of my blood and he'll heal? My blood will counter the toxin and he'll fully recover?"

"Right now it's his only chance." he said. "Even if a skilled researcher or chemist can break down the chemical properties of the black coral they wouldn't have the time to make a cure or administer it. Injecting him with your blood is the only thing keeping him from death."

It didn't seem like there was any other way to save Kankuro, I would have to give him some of my blood and the only way to do that was to take blood from my eyes. I suppose I could always take a syringe and take the blood from a vein in my eye socket, but that didn't seem too appealing. Yet, it was the only solution right now. My eyes are the only place on my body that isn't fully protected by Isobu's shell. That's why when I summoned Kofuku I had to cut myself near my tear ducts, it's the only place I could actually get blood.

I voiced another concern to Isobu, "What if I lose my sight in that eye?"

"From when you first appeared that seems to be the least of your worries." he said. "If it will calm you, I don't think taking a some blood out of your eye will take away your sight. That's not nearly as big of a concern when the other option is a potential enemy in an impending war. However, if you are worried about losing your sight then I understand."

"No, I won't chicken out." I stated. "I came here looking for a cure for Kankuro because if I don't fix the mistake I made then the land of Wind will surely be an enemy of both the lands of Fire and Water." I was quiet a moment before continuing, "And it's highly unlikely as of right now, but I would like to be friends with them. If I can save Kankuro then maybe they can someday forgive me for what I've done, if I can't then that will never be a possibility."

"I'm proud of you for deciding to save someone. You've only ever killed and you've respected that I didn't want to hear about it. I'm touched that you would come to me for help on saving someone." Isobu said. "You should go before time runs out."

"I should, thank you for your help Isobu." I smiled up towards his good eye so that he would know I was grateful of him.

"Any time child, now go save that boy."

I nodded and then I exited our space. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the supply closet with uncle Yagura's chakra on the other side of the door. I pushed myself off the floor to open the door. Uncle Yagura was waiting patiently, when I opened the door he looked to me expectantly.

"I think I know what I have to do." I said. I left the supply closet completely and shut the door.

"Good, now we should hurry back." uncle said. "I think Kankuro is reaching the end, the poison should have worked its way to his inner organs or at least should have started working its way through his inner organs." He put a hand on my shoulder to walk me back to Kankuro's room.

We passed by hurried medical ninja's on our way back. It just seemed that as time passed more and more people were ending up in the hospital. There must have been more people who were unable to bring themselves to the hospital earlier that are here now.

I hesitated outside of Kankuro's room when I saw his body seizing on the bed.

"Kankuro hold on!" Temari shouted. She tried calming him as his body shook.

Gaara watched with wide eyes from his place at Kankuro's bedside.

Kankuro's body had black veins trailing across his exposed skin. From the glimpses I could get of his face I could see black blood trailing from his eyes, nose and mouth. I could feel uncle Yagura gently push me forward into the room and that's all the encouragement I needed. I don't know how much time I spent talking to Isobu or if the toxin from the black coral spread faster, but I knew I could possibly save Kankuro's life and that's what got me moving.

I was half way into the room when Gaara spotted me. "Ketto, what's happening?" I barely had time to register the look of worry on his face as I continued to move.

"It's the end." I said. I frantically searched through the medical instruments before finding a syringe with a decent sized needle. "Once the poison fully consumes his heart everything will stop and he will be dead. I would give it a couple more seconds." I flicked the needle to make sure it was secure before bringing it up to my eye. I tilted my head back and used both hands to steady the needles entry right below my eye ball and above the tear line. I pulled on the plunger to collect the blood.

"What are you doing?!" Gaara yelled.

I couldn't see Temari look to me, but I could sense that she did. "Ketto, stop! Why are you doing that?!" I didn't know how much blood would be enough, so I took some more before being satisfied. "Stop, I don't understand why you're doing this!" I felt Temari's hand slightly shaking me.

That's when I withdrew the syringe, without acknowledging Temari or Gaara who was trying to stand I went straight to Kankuro who was still convulsing on the bed. I held his torso down as I plunged the syringe into his heart and released my blood. I had managed to collect more blood than I thought I could in the short amount of time given to me. When all of my blood was injected into his body I removed the syringe and waited for Kankuro's convulsing to stop.

I didn't know what would happen, all I knew was that my blood was supposed to cure him. Maybe I was already too late? I kept my head down and held Kankuro down even as Temari tried to push me away from him. Slowly, Kankuro stopped moving, but I didn't know if it was because my blood was working or if I was already too late. Temari tried even harder to move me when she saw Kankuro stop moving.

"What did you do!?" she yelled. Tears were streaming down her face at the sight of Kankuro's motionless body. She stopped trying to move me and stepped away. "He's dead."

"Wait." I could still feel a heartbeat, it was really faint and each beat was slow, but I felt it. I also noticed the black veins surrounding his heart were changing. They were no longer black, which I knew had to mean something. Whenever I kill someone with my black coral their veins stay black even in death. At least I know the poison in his body is being countered, but I still don't know if I was in time or not. He still hasn't moved, not even to breathe.

"What do you mean wait?!" Temari yelled. She brought her hands up to cup her face as she continued to cry. "He's dead, there's nothing we can do now."

The black veins on Kankuro's body continued to change. His chest was clear along with his arms and neck. The veins on his face turned back to normal and he no longer looked like a corpse. Yet other than his slightly more stable heartbeat, he still wasn't moving.

"Ketto, what exactly are we waiting for?" Gaara asked softly.

I didn't look to him as I replied, "His heartbeat has gotten stronger."

"What did you just say?" Temari questioned. She wiped the tears away and pulled her hands away from her face. "Repeat that?" she said with more force.

"His heartbeat has gotten stronger." I repeated. I looked back to Kankuro. The blood on his face was now red instead of black, suddenly Kankuro's body jerked as he gasped for breath.

He still appeared to be unconscious as he regained his breath. He looked to be fine, so I stepped away from him. Temari rushed forward towards him and cried some more, but I could tell these were a different kind of tears, these were tears of happiness.

I looked to the doorway to see uncle Yagura still watching. "Good job Ketto. It seems you have yet to fail me." he smiled slightly before it vanished. "I'll go and get the medic. You should stay here and watch over them." I nodded and he turned to leave.

"Will Kankuro be okay now?" Temari asked.

"He should be just fine." I said. I took my swords off of my belt and leaned them against one of the far walls. Then I grabbed an empty chair and pulled it up for Temari to sit in, after that I grabbed a chair for myself to put at the end of Kankuro's bed.

Once I settled myself in my chair Gaara looked to me expectantly. "How could you have made a poison and not have a cure? Wouldn't you be worried about poisoning the wrong person?"

"I've never had that problem, until now." I admitted. "The poison is the blade of my Kukushibyo, it's made of black coral. It's not toxic unless if you cut yourself, then the poison is released."

"How was it that your blood was able to heal Kankuro?"

"Because, I made the black coral by condensing and forming my chakra." I said. "It's a form of the Karatachi families rare coral palm jutsu. My uncle can touch a person and have coral appear and spread in that place on their body to hinder them in a battle. I have been working more with creating objects like my Kukushibyo, the kunai that hit Kankuro and this." I pointed down to my feet to show the black coral that I first used as gauntlets, then a helmet and now shin guards. "To wear it in an arable form like this takes up more chakra than creating a solid object would."

"Mizukage-sama you're right." I looked to the Mist medic ninja who was standing in the doorway with uncle Yagura. "How is this possible?" He walked into the room with a shocked look on his face and slowly made his way to Kankuro. He took out a stethoscope and listened to Kankuro's heartbeat.

"Ketto thought of using her own blood to cure the boy being that she was the one that physically created it." uncle said. Uncle walked to stand beside my chair and put a hand on the backrest. "It looks as if it worked, but I'm sure there are some tests you would like to do."

"Of course." the medic said. "There was just a great change in his body with the intrusion of the poison and Lady Ketto's blood could have just caused another change. I won't know for sure until I've done some tests."

"Do as many tests as you can. This is the first time anyone has ever survived Ketto's blade before. I'm sure you have many questions." uncle said.
The medic removed his stethoscope from Kankuro's chest. "His heartbeat is more regular." he mumbled to himself. He took a small flashlight from one of his pockets and lifted one of Kankuro's eyelids to test his pupils with the light, then he checked the other eye. He clicked the light off and put it away. "So far everything seems to be back to normal. I'll still run some blood tests just to see if he will have any long term effects." the medic turned to me, "I'm sorry Lady Ketto, but would it be possible to get a blood sample from you? I want to see if any of the properties from your blood will affect Kankuro's recovery."

I took a moment to think about it, what could a little bit of blood do? I shouldn't have to worry about someone using that small amount of blood to break the seals on my body, much more Karatachi blood is needed for that. I really can't think of a reason not to give him some blood. "You could have some." I said.

The medic took a clean syringe and came towards me, uncle stepped in front of me and held out his hand. "I'll get a sample of her blood for you. I suggest that you collect another blood sample from Kankuro to compare."

"You're right, Mizukage-sama." the medic nodded his head and handed over the syringe. He turned away from us to go back over to Kankuro.

Uncle Yagura stood in front of me blocking my view of what was happening beyond him. He faced me putting a hand under my chin and tilting my head up. "Look up." he said quietly.

I did as he said and looked upward while he gently held open the opposite eye that I took blood out of earlier. He inserted the needle, I couldn't see him pull on the plunger but I could feel the blood being pulled out. I didn't feel it the first time I took out some blood to save Kankuro because of the seriousness of the situation. I was more focused on saving him than anything, now that I actually have the time to feel the rush of blood I realize that I don't like it. This uncomfortable feeling is something that I don't want to experience again.

Uncle Yagura pulled the needle out of my eye but stayed close. He brushed his fingers over my cheek as he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"A little light headed and I have a bit of a dull ache from earlier when I fell and hit my head." I touched the back of my head where it connected to the ground when I fell. "My armor protected me from harm on the outside but on the inside I feel a bit rattled."

"You're a bit light headed from withdrawing blood, as soon as your circulation is back to normal you should feel better." he said. His hand trailed up to my hair and rested on the top of my head. He smiled at me, the kind of smile that reached his pink purple eyes. "You did well Ketto. I knew you could save Kankuro, you just didn't know it was possible until you were pressured into having to come to a solution." I blinked, he believed in me the whole time. He didn't once doubt me. He continued to smile, "Now, I have to go help the ninja of the Leaf village maintain order or at least try to establish some kind of order. You are to stay here and guard these three. Don't let anything happen to them. We still need to come to some kind of peace agreement with Sunagakure."

"I understand." I said.

Uncle Yagura pulled away from me as he ruffled my blue hair. "Good, someone from your team will switch with you later so you can get cleaned up."

I looked down at myself and remembered all the blood that covered my body. The blood on my skin already dried while the blood on my clothes and bandages only started to harden. I felt as if I should change, but it wasn't that important at the moment, I could wait a while. "Alright, I'll stay. I'm not in a hurry."

"I'll see what I can do to help the village. When it settles down I'll have someone come here." he turned away from me and talked to the medical ninja. "When the results come in I would like to see them." Uncle Yagura handed the vial of my blood to the medic.

"I should have results by tomorrow."

"That's reasonable." uncle said. "I'll be going now." he walked out of the room leaving me with the siblings and the medic.

The medic labeled the vials, one was mine and two of them were from Kankuro. "For now Kankuro is recovering normally. If there are any changes let another medic know so they can inform me." he gathered the vials of blood and continued, "I'm going to start the blood tests and will be back as soon as I can."

Then it was just me, Temari, Gaara and an unconscious Kankuro. Temari finally sat down and relaxed a bit. "What now?" she sighed.

"You'll be brought back to Sunagakure after Kankuro wakes up." I said. "Whichever squad brings you back will attempt to make a new peace agreement, or at least I assume that's what would happen." It was quiet for a while before I spoke again. "This is why I rejected your offer of friendship earlier, I didn't think Kankuro would live."

"I guess I understand that, but instead of killing Kankuro you saved him so what do you say, want to be friends?" Temari asked. She looked to me from her side of Kankuro's bed. I didn't quite understand, it shouldn't matter that I saved Kankuro, I still had the intent to kill him earlier. She shouldn't want to be my friend at all. Is this what all Suna ninja are like? Maybe I shouldn't talk.

I could feel my brow furrowing as I frowned. This moment kind of reminded me of the past with the seven ninja swordsmen. On a daily basis we tried to kill each other, but it was only so that we could get stronger in our abilities. We never really considered each other friends, we just acknowledged that to some extent we liked each other and we didn't care that we tried to take each others lives all the time. Something tells me that this is a different situation from back then, yet it's still similar.

"What is it?" Gaara asked.

"I was just remembering something." I said. "Before Naruto befriended me the closest thing I had to friends were the seven ninja swordsmen before they defected from the village. We were constantly trying to kill each other, it was a part of our training. I was always told that I should fight with the intent to kill because it was the best way to prepare for a real battle. That way when you are in the kind of situation where you would need to kill someone you wouldn't hesitate to do it." I looked to Temari. "The fact that you still want to befriend me after I nearly killed your brother reminds me of them."

Temari blushed, "Well, would you like to be friends?"

"Yeah, I guess we could be friends." I said. I really would have liked to have been her friend sooner, but with all of the secrets and the Sand siding with the Sound it wouldn't have worked out earlier. Now that everything is mostly resolved there shouldn't be any problems between the nations of Water, Fire and Wind. Maybe I shouldn't be so optimistic and wait until after the new peace treaty is made with the land of Wind. Then I can be satisfied that we've actually gained an ally.

"Ketto?" Gaara questioned. I turned to look at him curiously. "Is your offer of friendship still open to me as well? I know that I tried to kill you more than once, but that doesn't seem to bother you." He was looking at the floor with a slight blush on his cheeks almost as if he's afraid of what I would say.

"Sure." I said it without hesitation causing Gaara to quickly look up. His teal eyes connected with my grey. "Your eyes tell me that you haven't had someone to care about you in a long time. No one should feel that lonely, everyone should have someone."

"Before I gave myself this mark I had my uncle Yashamaru." he touched the symbol for love above his left eye. "But then he also tried to kill me."

"In Kirigakure we are taught at a young age to not trust anyone. Parents are emotionally distant from their children. Siblings are wary of each other. Everyone mostly keeps to themselves." I said. "Those are remnants of the Bloody Mist and I think it will last several more generations."

"What exactly is the Bloody Mist?" Temari asked.

"You mean you've never heard of it?" I wondered.

"Only a few times and that whenever it is mentioned everyone is wary." she said.

"The Bloody Mist is thought to be the best era for the perfect ninja." I started. "The academy graduation ceremony is the first test to weed out all of the candidates that are less likely to succeed as ninja. Someone without emotion was seem to be less likely to make a mistake while on a mission. Because of that test everyone's thoughts and emotions were blocked off even to their families."

"Is that why your uncle allowed the Mizukage to have you graduate at such a young age?" she asked. Temari must have gotten confused or maybe forgot that my uncle was a jinchuriki. Then again, I never explicitly said that they were the same person.

"The fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi is my uncle." as I said this Temari looked shocked. "I think it's because I'm from the Karatachi family that he has put me through the tests that he did. At seven I graduated from the academy. When I was eight I was paired with the six tails in an anbu squad of two. At nine, I was going on missions solo."

"But the Mizukage seems to care about you a lot, how could he truly be fine with putting you through that?" she asked.

"It's his pride as the Mizukage. His goal is to produce strong ninja in the land of Water. What better place to start than his own family?" I questioned.

"What about your parents? Your mom and dad were okay with this?" she demanded.

"If they were alive, I'm sure they would encourage it." I said. "Uncle tells me that my father was part of the cypher division, it was his job to gather intel on other villages. His squad was captured and they commited suicide to protect the villages secrets. He died months before I was born. As for my mother, she died moments after I was born from some complications. I was told that she was one of the best hunter nins Kirigakure had. She was uncle Yagura's older sister so he thought he would take care of me and my brother as sort of a favor to her."

"I didn't realize you were an orphan." Temari said. "At least you have your brother."

"Actually, Zabuza defected from the village a few years ago. He disagreed with uncle Yagura on some things so he left. Uncle says that Zabuza wanted to take me with him, but I wasn't where I was supposed to be so I was left behind." I stood up from my chair and walked over to my swords. I grabbed the executioner's blade and went back to my spot. "I recently went to the land of Waves to reclaim this."

"That's the second sword you have." Temari said. "You suddenly had it when you came back."

"This is Kubikiribōchō, otherwise known as the executioner's blade and one of the seven swords of the Mist." I said. I casually tried to rub some of the dried blood off of it with my already soaked bandages. "It was my brothers blade. He died a couple of months ago and I went to make arrangements to bring his body back to the land of Water. Being that he has no need for the sword anymore, it would pass to me."

"One of the seven swords of the Mist? I've heard of them." Gaara said. "It's an organization made up of the best blade wielders in the land of Water. Together, the seven swordsmen are capable of bringing down an entire nation, and are regarded as being the strongest shinobi in the village behind the Mizukage."

"That's right." I replied. "Ever since I was little I have been compatible with all seven of the swords and that's why I trained with each of their wielders. The swords have all disappeared in the last five years except for Hiramekarei, Chojuro still has that one in his possession and now I'm bringing the executioner's blade back."

The more I talked the more I could feel the dryness of my lips. They were very chapped and starting to flake. They didn't hurt, but they made talking awkward. Temari must have seen me making faces while I was playing with my lips.

"Are you okay Ketto?"she asked worriedly. She squinted a bit to get a better look. "How did your lips get so dry? They weren't like that when you passed me when you entered the clearing earlier." she focused more on me as she talked. "Now that I'm looking, you seem more pale almost as if you powdered your skin and your hair is dull. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." I said. I tried to brush her off but she wasn't having any of that.

"Really though, you look sick. Should I call a medic? Should I get the Mizukage? I don't know what to do, but you are not fine." she said.

"I'm only suffering from dehydration." I said.

"How is that possible? You were fine in the forest." she demanded.

"When Gaara held me with his sand I got out by pulling as much water as I could out of the cells in my body and using that as a shield to break away from his hold." I explained. "I'll be fine when I wash off the blood later. I can try to reabsorb water into my body."

A few hours passed, every once in a while a nurse would come in to check on Kankuro but he still hasn't woken up yet. They say he might wake up later tonight or sometime tomorrow. Gaara was quiet for the most part while Temari would chat with me occasionally about little things.

No one tried coming into our hospital room and Gaara and Temari didn't try to leave. I don't think they would try with Kankuro still being unconscious. I honestly don't think they are going to try anything when he wakes up either.

I was relaxing in my chair trying to ignore the feeling of dried blood on my clothes and bandages the best I could when there was a soft knock on the door. I looked over to see it gently pushed open revealing Shozouki's head of light brown hair and his lavender eyes. He looked to be fine without many cuts on his body while his clothes were sporting some cuts in critical places. He must have used his hydrification technique to survive those attacks. With him was a man from the Sand. The turban he wore covered most of his head and the left side of his face leaving the right side exposed. He had two red marks on his cheek that appeared thicker on the side of his face and went into a point near his eyes.

"Shozouki, who is this?" I asked. I was now sitting up straighter and my body was tensed just enough to fight if needed.

"This is Baki, he's their sensei." Shozouki said. He gestured over to Baki. "He stayed behind because he had orders from the Kazekage to protect his children. He is now aware of Orochimaru taking the place of the Kazekage. As part of Suna's council he understands their position and he has agreed to help us come to some kind of peace agreement."

"I see." I watched Baki as he watched me. He didn't seem to be intimidated by me, which I like. He probably doesn't know about me. Unless if he had heard of the Demon of the Mist and he doesn't care.

"I'll stay here with them, you should go wash off that blood." Shozouki suggested. I looked down at myself and knew I would have to get new leggings, they were a dark olive color but the blood was going to stain them for sure. Unless if someone knew how to get blood stains out.

"Right, it has been starting to feel uncomfortable." I said. I stood from my chair and went to the back wall to collect my swords. I attached them to my belt and started to walk to the doorway.

"Lady Ketto, one more thing." Shozouki said. I stopped by him and waited for him to continue. "The Hokage's grandson has ran off, the Mizukage would like you to find him. He said the boy was more likely to talk to you instead of some other ninja he didn't know. Mitsuru also said that the boy respects you."

"I'll find him." I said. Then I started walking again.

Shozouki called after me, "You better wash that blood off first! The last thing we need is for the boy to think you're out to kill him!" I just threw a leisurely wave over my shoulder and continued walking. "I mean it Lady Ketto, go wash up!"

I casually left the hospital avoiding running into any of the medics or being stopped by anyone. Outside the sun was just starting to set. It made it look like the sky was on fire, I've never seen a sunset this full of color before. In Kirigakure the sunsets consist of pinks and purples, never oranges and yellows this intense.

On my walk to the apartment I took in all of the destruction. Some areas had it worse than others and had to completely be rebuilt. There wasn't much left of the buildings foundations so it would probably be best to tear down the rest of the building and make a new one. There was smoke wafting up into the sky, but it wasn't dark so whatever fire it was from must have been put out already. I briefly wondered if our apartment building was hit. Then where would I go to get cleaned up?

I continued to walk through the village, the villagers didn't seem to pay much attention to me. Though some smiled and waved, I would wave back to them out of courtesy and continue on.

Outside of the apartment building it looked to be untouched, which I was grateful for. Now I can get cleaned up and head out to find Konohamaru sooner. I entered the building and went straight to our apartment. The door was left unlocked but no one else was here. I wasn't all that worried about it, I was never given a key anyway.

I went straight to my room and took my swords off of my belt leaving them beside the bed. Then I grabbed some clean clothes and bandages before I went to the shower. Normally I wouldn't care about the temperature of the water but tonight I decided to turn the water up to the highest temperature, I thought that would be best to wash the blood away. As I waited for the water to heat up I took off my sandals and started to cut away the bandages starting with the ones on my arms and moving to the ones on my shins before lifting up my shirt to cut the bandages covering my stomach.

Steam was coming from the shower, so I thought it would be hot enough to get in already. With my clothes still on I stepped into the shower. I thought that this would be a better way to try and get the blood out of my clothes than leaving it for a few days. I grabbed a bar of soap and tried scrubbing the blood out of my clothes the best I could. At some point I decided I tried my best and took them off. I left them on the floor of the shower as I took my long blue hair out of its ponytail and started to wash it. Before I rinsed my hair out and scrubbed my body again, I covered the drain to the shower so that my clothes could soak after I got out. Once my hair and body were clean I tried to absorb some of the water back into my body. It was a bit harder to do then taking it out and it took me awhile before my lips felt smooth enough for me to get out of the shower. Turning off the water, I wrung some of the water out of my hair and then grabbed a nearby towel.

I dried myself off the best I could before getting dressed and reapplying my bandages. I also took the time to brush my hair before leaving the bathroom. I passed through my room to grab my kunai pouch. I don't think I'll need it, I would just like to have something on the off chance there are some enemy Sound ninja still in the area. I left my hair down as I left my room and made to leave the apartment.

The door opened while I was halfway across the room to show Jiro and Mitsuru just getting back. Jiro noticed me first, "Oh Lady Ketto, you're back."

"Just to get cleaned up." I said. "The Hokage's grandson ran away and uncle Yagura wants me to find him."

"Do you want us to help you?" he asked.

"No, it's fine. I'll probably have better luck without you there." I thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I have an idea on where he could be."

"Where is that?" Mitsuru asked.

"I won't say. I'll see you later." I passed the two of them and left the apartment.

Outside on the street I thought about where Konohamaru might be. When I thought of Konohamaru I thought of the third Hokage and if I wanted to remember the third Hokage right now I would go to the Hokage monument.

I started on my way there to search for Konohamaru. I wasn't sure where to look first. Maybe on the top? He could look out at the whole village to remind himself of his grandfather's legacy. I thought it was a good place to start, so I found the path that Naruto showed us last night and followed it up.

At the top there was no sign of the academy student. I was patient, I know that I'll find him. I grabbed all of my hair and put it up into a messy bun so I could sit down at the edge of the monument. The view reminded me of last night when I thought it would be my last night here.

I relaxed and enjoyed the view while the sun continued to set. I also proceeded to look around for Konohamaru. I was so certain that he would be here yet he's not.

Suddenly, I didn't want to sit here anymore. My arms pushed me off the ground and to my feet. If uncle Yagura was the one to die and he had something for people to remember him by like the Hokage monument then I would want to see it. I would hardly care about anything that he did for the village, I would only care about what he did for me. I would want to see his face. I followed the path back down to ground level and looked around down there for him.

The area was open and seemed to be some kind of training ground. There wasn't anyone around but I kept looking. In front of the Hokage monument yet some distance away there was a small gathering of trees and underneath one of those trees was a child, Konohamaru.

I walked slowly over to him and sat down to his right. He was leaning against the tree as he sat there. At first he didn't acknowledge that I was here, so I didn't say or do anything. I didn't want to startle him or want him to think I was sent here to coax him into going home when I didn't intend to do that.

It was just as the last of the sun's rays disappeared over the horizon that Konohamaru showed that he knew I was with him. Up until now the sunset was what was illuminating the monument and it looked beautiful.

"Ketto, what are you doing here?" he asked. He had tears slowly falling from his eyes. He covered a fist with his sleeve and then rubbed his eye.

"There are people that are worried about you." I said. I leaned back against the tree and had my arms crossed under my head.

"Who sent you?" he tilted his head toward me.

"The Mizukage, I've recently lost someone close to me too." I said. "Or at least that's why I think he asked me to find you. I would be the best one to understand what you're going through."

"You've lost someone? Who was it?" he questioned.

"My older brother, we weren't really that close but I still miss him." I said. Konohamaru doesn't need to know the specifics of the complicated relationship between me and Zabuza. "I think about him sometimes and what it would be like if he was still here."

"I've been thinking that too, what it would be like if the old man was still here." he said. "He was an amazing Hokage. I wanted to become Hokage because of him. I used to always challenge him with a series of surprise attacks, but then I stopped and got serious about my ninja training. If I wanted to become Hokage then I had to stop acting like a child."

"I suppose you're right." I agreed. "We have similar dreams, I want to become Mizukage someday. All because I want to prove to the people of the land of Water that I'm not what they expected. Someday, we will both have reached our goal."

"Do you think so?" he turned to me so I looked to him.

"Of course, if you truly want to be Hokage I believe you can make it happen." I said.

"Thanks Ketto." we both looked back at the monument before the last of the sun's rays disappeared. "I believe you can be Mizukage too. You're strong, if the chunin exams would have continued you would have given everyone a run for their money no doubt about it."

"Konohamaru won't your parents be worried if you don't go home?" I asked him.

"No, my parents have been dead for a long time. That's why I was so close with the old man. He took care of me, and now he's gone." he said. He was quiet for a bit. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I don't think I could live by myself."

"You have no other relatives?" I wondered. "I've never known my parents. They've been dead since I was born and I don't think I have any living grandparents. That's why my uncle took me in."

"There's my uncle Asuma, but I don't want to be a bother to him." he said.

That seemed to be Konohamaru's only option at this point. Though I didn't want him to worry about that right now. "Don't worry about it. We can figure it out in the morning, I assume we'll be here all night?"

"You mean you're not going to make me go back to the village?" he asked confused. "I thought you were sent to bring me back?"

"My uncles orders were to find you, he didn't say anything about bringing you back." I said. I moved my arms from behind my head and wrapped one around Konohamaru's shoulders to pull him closer to me. "Tell me about Hiruzen Sarutobi."

Konohamaru relaxed against me and then started to talk. "Once he told me that rainbows were the sign of an evil presence. I didn't fully believe him until today. When I saw the rainbow in the sky I didn't feel right. I can't really describe the feeling, I just knew something really bad was going to happen. I was uneasy all day and when I saw that piece of the old man's carving crack and break away I knew something had happened to him. I believed he died at that moment."

"I've heard that a rainbow is considered a bad luck omen because they are reminiscent of snakes and that snakes are considered evil." I said.

"That's what the old man said." Konohamaru nestled into my side.

"That isn't the only thing I've heard about rainbows." I continued. "I've also heard that a rainbow is actually a full circle and that at any given time you can only see half of it. The rainbow is believed to be a gateway between the heavens and the world of the living. Maybe, the rainbow appeared alongside the manifestation of death so that the parted souls could continue into heaven."

"Do you think that's true?" he asked. "Do you think the old man is in heaven?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure if such a place exists. I've never really thought of life after death before." I said. I really haven't thought of life after death even after Zabuza died. I just accepted that he was dead, I never thought of what would happen to his spirit after. "But your grandpa was a good man, I'm sure if such a place does exist he would be there."

"He believed in protecting those that were precious to him." he said. "One day while he was visiting the academy he said that everyone in the village was precious to him and that I was also precious to him, that's why he named me after the village. Do you have someone that's precious to you?"

"I do, uncle Yagura is precious to me." I said. "I do whatever he asks of me in the name of the village. He's the only family I have left and I'm all he has. I've done many missions for him, I'm sure I'll do many more. I'll do whatever I have to in order to protect my uncle and in turn the land of Water. I take it that the person most precious to you was your grandpa?"

"Yeah, it's just been the two of us for a long time." he sniffled and I realized that he was crying again.

Konohamaru continued to cry against me, I've never had to comfort someone before so I didn't know if I was doing this right. The only thing I can think of doing is holding him while he cries. What would someone with more experience in this kind of thing do? Let him cry it out? If I told him to stop crying I doubt he would anyway. When I cried about Zabuza in the land of Waves I couldn't stop. At first I didn't even know I was crying, it was nearly impossible to stop. Maybe I should just let Konohamaru exhaust himself with his crying. Then he might be easier to convince into meeting uncle Yagura or at least present himself to the ninja of the Leaf so that they know he is alright.

Konohamaru's crying got louder and my plans of just letting him cry it out vanished. I didn't like hearing his cries, they made me uncomfortable. I racked my brain for what I could do, and could only seem to think of one thing. I think I might know a lullaby that I could sing to him. It's been so long since Kisame sang it for me, so I might not remember all of the words to it.

I remember the first time I ever killed someone. I was so affected that I didn't go straight back to the Mizukage's tower. Zabuza was out looking for me and he had the other six swordsmen help him. Kisame was the one to find me, he wasn't Zabuza and for that I was grateful. Zabuza would probably tried to tell me that death was a part of being a ninja. You were either the one to die or the one to do the killing. While that may be true, I know it was something my younger self didn't need to hear at the time.

When Kisame found me he didn't try to get me to talk about what happened. Honestly, he probably had an idea of what actually happened and why I was so emotional. He did what I did for Konohamaru, he just let me know he was there. He didn't try to distract me with something irrelevant. Instead he asked me about what I believed the life of a ninja was about. Even though I had seen and heard from my uncle and brother the kind of things that happen to a ninja I disregarded all of the negative things. Kisame was the one to remind me of the duties of a Kiri ninja.

He told me about one of the missions he was on where he was assigned to protect a squad of ninja's from the cypher division. He told me about how they were cornered by ninja from Konohagakure and that the members of the cypher division refused to commit suicide to protect the villages secrets, so Kisame killed them instead. He said that he didn't believe he could get any of them out alive but he was certain he could get himself back to the village. He knew he would be severely injured and close to death, yet he was willing to take those chances. He revealed that he was conflicted about his choices but he made his decision in a way that seemed the most logical, the way he was trained to.

I remember his words that night, "To kill a Kiri ninja as a Kiri ninja. What does that make me? Am I a friend or foe? What is my purpose and my position? The answer to these questions is that I am a Kiri ninja. That makes me a protector of the village. I am both friend and foe. My purpose is to protect the village and it's secrets even if another Kiri ninja gets in the way because in the end the village will always be there yet the ninja will not. They will live and die on their own time, but the village will remain strong and that's only if we as Kiri ninja maintain that strength. Do you understand Ketto?"

It was those words that convinced me I was going to be okay even though I've taken a life. I still cried off an on that night because it was still hard to grasp that I was suddenly a killer and that's when Kisame silently sang to me. But what were the words again? I hummed a bit trying to find the words that sounded right. When I was sure I've gotten close to getting it right I slowly began to sing for Konohamaru, I didn't even care if I could actually sing or not. All I know is that Konohamaru needs something soothing right now. "Natsuhiboshi naze akai? Yuube kanashii yume wo miita, naite hanashita, akai me yo." the more I sang the more right the words seemed. Konohamaru was quieted by my singing so I continued, "Natsuhiboshi naze mayou? Kieta warashi wo sagashiteru, dakara kanashii yume wo miru."

When I finished the song I noticed that Konohamaru's breathing was now even and his breaths deep, he had fallen asleep. I moved slowly to bring my hands together and make the hand signs for the water clone jutsu. Once the clone appeared I put my arms back to how they were in a more relaxing position. "Go report to uncle Yagura about this. Let him know that Konohamaru is safe and that I'll be with him for the night."

"Understood, anything else to report?" the clone of me asked. She stood tall and looked exactly as I was currently. Blue hair up, forehead protector missing. She looked down at me with my grey eyes that didn't seem to hold any emotion.

"Tell him to have the Leaf ninja stop looking for Konohamaru. I don't want anyone to be bothering us. They'll only want to drag him back to the Hokage tower and I don't think he's ready for that yet." I said.

She nodded and then disappeared with the transportation jutsu in a flurry of black coral dust. I didn't have any plans on moving for the night so I adjusted myself and Konohamaru in a way that wouldn't be bothersome for the rest of the night. I didn't plan on sleeping, I would be content with watching over Konohamaru and making sure he's safe.

I really wonder what would happen to Konohamaru tomorrow once everything is settled. He's a good kid, I hope everything works out for him and if it doesn't I know he'll be able to make the most of the new life given to him. He seems like a strong willed child, I know he'll be fine.

I managed to get a kunai out of my pouch just incase if I would need it. Though I hope I wouldn't, still I have to be prepared for anything. There could still be enemy ninja lurking about. Like I said, I hope that's not the case. I settled myself for the night ready for anything.

Thoughts of Kisame manifested again, I wonder if I'll ever get to see him again. I'm certain that he's still alive, I would have heard otherwise if that wasn't true. Would we ever cross paths again?