And finally... Here we are. At long last, I have posted this chapter. I apologize profusely, per usual, for not getting this out in a timely manner. I have no real excuses other than the fact that I was a lazy slob during my winter and spring breaks and that I have been doing a lot of school work. Anyways, here it is and I hope you like it! Also, thank you to my beta, StealAlone and to everyone who has been reading and commenting! It's really encouraging to see that people like this story and continue to read it even when I take forever to update. You da best. :)

"Well, look who decided to wake up," said Kankuro as he and Temari entered my hospital room the next day. "Nice to see that you didn't die."

I shrugged at them. "It was a positive development. I'm proud."

Shikamaru, who was sitting next to me, sighed and put his hand to his head. "Don't be snide, Niwaka."

I hung my head. "He was snide first," I mumbled.

Kankuro grinned at me and then turned to Shikamaru. "How is she?"

"Hello!" I said. "I'm right here. You can ask me how I am."

"He could," said Shikamaru, "but you'll say that you're fine even if you're not and then no one will know if you're actually in bad shape. In answer to your question, Kankuro, she's doing better. She still can't move much."

"I could've told him that," I said.

Shikamaru huffed and gave me a look. Then he turned his attention to Temari. "You're back sooner than I expected. Last time I checked, it was a three day trip from here to Konoha."

"It is," said Temari as she sat on the edge of my bed. "Our messenger bird got there just as we'd hoped and the Hokage sent help right away. We met your ninjas halfway along the road."

"Our ninjas?" Shikamaru and I said at the same time.

"Who did she send?" I asked.

"No one important," I heard a voice say from the door. Kankuro and Temari turned around and between them I caught sight of Asuma standing with Kakashi and Shizune. "Well, unless you're counting us," he said.

"Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru and I managed to speak in tandem again.

Asuma stepped into the room, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. "I thought this was going to be your easiest mission yet, Niwaka. And here you are in a hospital bed."

"Yeah," I said. "I'm beginning to think that lying in the hospital is my natural state of being. Hi Kakashi-sensei, Shizune-sama. How was the trip?"

"Safer than being you, Niwaka," said Shizune with a smile.

"Can you fix her?" Shikamaru asked abruptly. "I'm assuming that's why Tsunade sent you."

"I'll see what I can do," said Shizune. "It looks like the Suna medics have done a good job with stabilizing her, but I've spoken to them already and they said they had some trouble pinpointing the source of the problem."

"But she'll be fine?" said Kankuro.

I frowned to myself and shifted the blankets around me, knowing that no matter what I said, they would not trust that I was okay. Not until Shizune gave them some good news.

"It's not serious anymore," she said, "but I need to have a look all the same." Temari pulled up a chair for her and Shizune sat down at the side of my bed. "How are you feeling right now?" she asked.

"Meh," I said as I wriggled to sit up. "I'm sore pretty much everywhere. Little tired. Little dizzy. Oh, and my left leg is asleep. Other than that, I feel kind of normal."

Shizune nodded and started examining my forehead and face.

While this was going on, Shikamaru, Kankuro and Temari were all watching as closely as they could without getting in the way. Shikamaru was leaning both elbows on the bed and following every movement. That was when Asuma and Kakashi stepped over to him. Asuma put his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder and said, "Shikamaru, I know this is fascinating, but we have a few questions to ask you about your actual mission. Just to make sure everything is on track, as the Hokage planned. We should leave so that Shizune can concentrate."

Shikamaru's eyes flicked up to Asuma and he sighed as he got to his feet. "Right, the mission. Yeah, let's go." Before he left the room, he gave me a small salute and a wry smile.

After that, Temari also rose from her chair. I figured that she had only been staying because Shikamaru was there, so now she probably felt that she didn't need to remain any longer. "I should go see Gaara," she said. "He'll want to know that we're back." She raised her brows at Kankuro, as if bidding him to follow.

Kankuro just stretched out and laced his fingers behind his head. He shrugged at his sister. "I think I'll stay and see how it goes," he said. "Someone might as well." He looked over at me lazily.

Temari glanced from Kankuro to me and back to Kankuro before she said, "Suit yourself," and left.

"I appreciate it," I said to Kankuro.

"What else am I supposed to do?" he said and sank further into his chair. "Eh, I guess I could be training, but I was just on the road so I think I'll relax for a while."

"Please keep quiet," said Shizune, not unkindly. "This will go faster if I can concentrate." She took her hand away from my head and sat back, thinking. "Niwaka, tell me exactly what happened before you passed out. Anything you think might be important."

"Well…" I screwed up my face. "I was sparring with Kankuro and Gaara in the training yard down there. I felt completely fine. I had out two of my Words—Soushi and Kusari—and three of my Warriors. And I was in the air. Everything was going fine, like I said. I pulled out my Chilling Waterfall scroll and I tried to reach for my chakra, but it just wouldn't come. I guess it was kind of like… trying to breathe underwater. You know?"

Shizune nodded, still frowning. "I see. Is there anything else you can tell me? When you passed out?"

"Yeah," I said, "as I was falling, I saw—" I almost described Kencho's eyes and how they'd burned themselves into my sight, but I felt something stop me. Shizune was waiting patiently for me to finish.

You said you would only tell Asuma! Kencho's voice reverberated through my skull and I could feel his panic seeping into my mind. You said you were going to keep things quiet about me.

She's trying to heal me, I thought back at him. I should tell her everything, Kencho. I trust her. Besides, how are you even doing this? You can talk to me when I'm awake now? Stay out of my head, because I don't like it one bit.

But what if she tries to get me out of you? he demanded, ignoring my objections. Niwaka, I don't know what will happen if I leave.

If it bothers you that much… Fine. I'll wait to tell Asuma. "I saw all these sort of sunspots as I was falling," I continued. "They just kind of took over and then I was out. I had a lot of weird dreams, but I can't really remember them." I wasn't lying in the strictest sense. I had seen spots and I'm pretty sure I had had dreams. I just didn't include where the spots came from, and by this time I didn't think of my meetings with Kencho as actual dreams—I felt faraway in them, but somehow I knew they were rooted in reality.

"And that's it?" Shizune asked. She was checking my hands and arms now; I could see the green glow of healing chakra flowing from her fingers. "Has this ever happened before?"

"During training once," I answered. "A few weeks after the Chuunin Exam. Asuma said it was probably from using the Completed Word and that I still had chakra left in my scrolls, but I reworked everything and I made absolutely sure there was nothing left in any of my scrolls or my Warriors."

"No, it doesn't look like you're missing any chakra," said Shizune. "But this is strange. Your chakra reserves have doubled."

You couldn't hide your chakra, I suppose? I thought at Kencho.

I felt him bristle inside my mind as he said, I don't know how!

I pressed down Kencho's presence so that I could concentrate on Shizune. "They what?" I said to her, acting as shocked as I knew how. Kankuro leaned forward in his chair, looking curious.

"I know it sounds strange," said Shizune. "Do you know if anyone in your village made this kind of rapid development in chakra? I've never seen anything like this in Konoha."

I shook my head. "I haven't heard anything. But besides my chakra doubling, is there anything, you know… wrong with me?"

"Other than your cuts and the leftover soreness from the episode, your body seems to be completely fine. You're not seriously injured, in any case. And you're not ill either." Shizune pursed her lips and sat back in her chair with a sigh. "Really, it looks like what you experienced was caused by your chakra growth."

"So I can get out of bed?" I asked eagerly.

"Not yet," said Shizune, her voice stern. "I'm not going to risk a relapse, especially when I'm not sure about what's going on. Give it a day or two and then we'll take you home. But if anything starts to hurt you—anything that you think might be related to this—I'm going to bring you to Tsunade-sama for a looking over."

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

I didn't want to lie to Shizune, but something about Kencho's worries struck a chord in me. Whatever was going on between the two of us in my mind wasn't medical and I could have at least explained that to her. I found myself wanting to tell her about Kencho's existence, but my tongue wouldn't move and the words died in my throat. Kencho wouldn't let me. I felt a prickle of discomfort run down my spine. If Kencho could enter into my thoughts so easily and keep me from saying certain things… How much control did he have over me? At this point I was hoping that Kencho would cause more trouble—then at least someone would insist on me seeing Tsunade. I knew—somehow—that if I tried to go to her myself, that Kencho would stop it from happening. And that was more frightening to me than anything else.

As Shizune left the room, I sank back into my pillows with a sigh. Kankuro still sat by the wall, lounging across three chairs. He glanced at me as the door closed behind Shizune. "Your chakra doubled?" he asked. "Just overnight?"

I rubbed my face with my hands. "Apparently."

"You know how incredible that is," he said. "Are you some kind of freak?"

"I would—not—know," I replied. "My life is getting just a little too exciting for me. I'm thinking about retiring and moving out to the country."

"Oh, but then I'd never get to fight you." Kankuro smiled in that lazy way of his. "Besides, if your chakra's doubled, doesn't that make you about twice the ninja you were? I bet when you get to jounin level you'll be in pretty high demand."

I shrugged and smoothed the covers around me. "I didn't have a whole lot of chakra to begin with," I said. "Even with twice as much, that's probably not much more than—say, you have. Definitely not as much as Gaara and nowhere near Naruto's capacity. Besides, it—" I felt my throat close. I had been about to say, 'It doesn't all belong to me.' But Kencho's will was clamping down on my voice like a vise and I had to cut myself off.

Kankuro sat forward, turning serious. "Niwaka, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I say, though inwardly I was deciding that the next time I dreamt of Kencho I was going to wring his scrawny neck. "My throat is just a little sore."

Kankuro got up from his seat and walked over to a table near the window where the medics had set out a pitcher of water and a few cups. He poured me a glass and brought it over, giving me a dubious look. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" he asked.

"As well as I can be." I took the glass, nodding my thanks at him and took a big gulp. The medics had been encouraging me to keep myself well hydrated, but ever since I'd woken up, I had been drinking vast amounts of water and the thirst still wasn't going away. After Kankuro sat back down, leaning his chin on the back of his hand, I eyed him over the rim of my glass. He raised his eyebrow in return. "You and Gaara have been awfully nice to me since I got here," I said. "What's the matter with you guys?"

Kankuro's expression became amused. "You're not bad, for a Konoha ninja," he said with a small shrug.

"But there are plenty of others you could be nice to," I replied. "You both seem to like Naruto well enough."

"Naruto—he's a bit of an oddball." Kankuro grimaced as he said, "I would never try to carry on a conversation with that kid, because he's a childish and ridiculous person, but…" He seemed lost in thought for a moment. "…he has the power to change the world around him. That's worth respecting."

"Yeah," I said. Somehow, I couldn't help but think that Naruto had been graced with something that other ninjas couldn't quite capture. He made long-lasting impressions on people, even those who didn't know him very well. I certainly wasn't in his close circle of friends, but he'd wormed his way into my heart regardless. I wondered suddenly whether Naruto actually had any opinion of me or if he just saw me as a piece of the scenery like poor Hinata.

"But anyway, Niwaka," said Kankuro, "you've got a little bit of the Sand in you."

I frowned. "How do you figure?"

"It's true, you're too meek to be a true Sand nin." Kankuro said it with only the barest hint of scorn. "But you've got a vicious streak when you need it. More than a lot of the Konoha genins, anyway. You're not competitive, though," he added. "Normally I wouldn't talk to someone with so little drive, but I make exceptions for people with a good sense of humor." He leaned back on his chair again, smiling.

I rolled my eyes at his self-satisfied expression, knowing that in his own way he was trying to be nice. "You know I'm not from Konoha originally, right?"

Kankuro shook his head, looking like he didn't care much. "Where, then?"

"Umou, the feathered village," I said. "Do you know it?"

"Not in the least," said Kankuro. "Why'd they let you go?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but then closed it again, thinking. Even after everything—coming to Konoha, training, seeing Gaman again, overthinking everything I had done before I left Umou—I still wasn't quite sure if I believed Okure's reasons for sending me away. "I don't know," I said.

"Does it bother you?" Kankuro asked. He still didn't sound quite interested, though I think he was trying to act like he cared—maybe because I was an invalid or maybe because he was just feeling magnanimous.

I rested my head on my pillow, turning to look out the window. "Maybe. I try not to think about it. Look, you can leave whenever you want. I'm probably not going to do anything interesting if you stay."

"Probably not," he said, crossing his arms behind his head. "But what if you actually did do something interesting and I missed it?"

I found myself grinning at him. Although Kankuro could be arrogant and persistent, I was grateful for his company. "Did you know you're secretly kind of a gentleman?" I asked.

Kankuro let out a laugh and said, "I'm no gentleman. I'm a mean old man."

"Oh yeah, so old," I scoffed.

"Older than you are," he said. "Now settle down, Niwaka, or they'll never let you out of here."

I was confined to the hospital for another two days. For the most part I lay around. Shikamaru came in often—sometimes with Temari—and Kankuro and Gaara visited me when they weren't busy with training. Shizune came to check on me as well, and each time she was satisfied that I was getting better, but she was still not quite convinced that my "chakra growth" was the only reason for my blackout. Even Kakashi decided to come keep me company and he lent me one of his racy novels to pass the time. Needless to say, I was thoroughly shocked by some of the filthy things I read.

I spent both days waiting eagerly for Asuma to come, which he did, but he was never alone. Sometimes he came with Shikamaru, sometimes with Kakashi. Sometimes I got the feeling that he did want to stay and talk to me, but he seemed to be busy finishing up what Shikamaru and I had supposed to be doing before my episode. Luckily, Kencho receded deeper into my mind and I could feel his presence only marginally. I convinced myself to keep calm about it until we all returned to Konoha, where I could safely get Asuma alone and explain to him what was going on in my head. Still, a part of me was afraid that when I told him, he would send me to a psychiatric ward. Of course, I knew that was silly. Asuma was one of the most level-headed, trustworthy people I had ever met in my life, and I knew it would take more than people popping into my subconscious to faze him. So, I tried to stay patient until the return home.

Shikamaru was with me when I got out of the bed for the first time under Shizune's watchful eye. Gingerly, I slid my legs out from under the covers, now sore only because I'd been in bed for so long. I stretched out my legs and stood shakily before bending over to do some quick loosening exercises. Knowing Asuma, he would start my training again immediately upon my return and I would need to get myself as limber as possible before that happened.

"Don't strain yourself, Niwaka," Shizune said.

"You've already set us behind by three days," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "It would be incredibly troublesome if you messed up and hurt yourself again."

I sent a flat look at Shikamaru. "I am just stretching," I said. "If I hurt myself doing this, then I don't deserve to be a kunoichi. Where are Asuma and Kakashi?"

"With Baki, tying up all the loose ends," he replied. "They want to get going in less than an hour, though, so we should get your things together."

I glanced around as I pulled one of my elbows behind my head. "Well, I think most of my stuff is here," I said. "And whatever else I had would be in the room I was—"

I stopped because a bag full of my spare clothes and extra belongings landed at the foot of my bed. When I looked up at the doorway, the Sand trio was standing there. Gaara was serious as always, Temari had a small smile and Kankuro—in his natural way—was smirking. "Whatever else you had is right there," said Kankuro, pointing to the bag. "We collected it for you, since it was cluttering up one of our good guest rooms."

"Well, look at you, being all thoughtful," I retorted, but I smiled to show them that I was thankful and began to gather the rest of my things that I had in the hospital room. I couldn't help but notice that Shikamaru gave Kankuro a certain look while I was packing—a look that I didn't quite recognize. I wondered for a moment if it had anything to do with Temari and whether Kankuro had warned Shikamaru away from his sister, but from what I knew of Kankuro, I thought he trusted Temari to make her own decisions. I figured then that Shikamaru had noticed that Kankuro was visiting me fairly often and thought of the Sand ninja as a bad influence.

I ignored them as I tied my pack closed and slung it over my shoulder. "That's everything," I said. "Should we go wait by the gates?"

Shizune nodded and said, "I'll go tell Asuma and Kakashi that you're ready. Don't dawdle, but do be careful, Niwaka."

"Hai, Shizune-sama," I said with a sigh. Really, it was as if she expected me to collapse and die any second.

After she left, Shikamaru picked up his own pack and headed to the door. "Alright, Niwaka, let's head out."

"We'll come with you to see you off," said Kankuro.

"We can't," said Temari, shaking her head. "We've got training as soon as Baki-sensei's finished with his business." She gave an apologetic look to Shikamaru, who shrugged. "Well," she continued, "it was an interesting visit."

"Very interesting," said Shikamaru with a wry smile. He nodded at Gaara and Gaara nodded back, and exchanged a glance with Kankuro. Finally, he smiled at Temari and she smiled back. I kept myself from frowning by looking away. My gaze fell on Gaara; I think he must have understood my expression, because he gave me that blank-faced stare of his—the one that looks all stoic and intimidating, but actually makes you feel kind of comforted at the same time.

From behind, I felt Kankuro lean his elbow on my head. I tried to turn to look up at him, but he ruffled my hair in an unnecessarily forceful way and nudged me over to the door. "Well, go on then," he said cheerfully. "Looks like it's goodbye for now."

Finally, I managed to swivel and face Kankuro, and I put my hands on my hips. "Well, you're certainly in a rush to get rid of me," I said, though I was grinning at him. "You know, I might talk too much, but have you ever considered that you just have a bad attitude?"

"Of course I have a bad attitude. It's one of my better qualities." Kankuro gave me a light slap on the shoulder. "Stay out of trouble, Niwaka."

"I'll try," I said, "but no promises." I was about to leave, but I stopped and met his eyes. "Thank you, Kankuro." Turning quickly, so that I wouldn't make it awkward by staying longer, I waved to Temari and Gaara, and then walked out of the room with Shikamaru at my side.

Shikamaru eyed me sidelong and said, "It'll be a relief to finally get home."

I glanced at him for a moment, thinking of him, how much I wished that he could somehow understand my feelings for him and—even more—feel the same toward me. And I didn't even know for certain whether he did care for Temari, but all the same, I was determined to keep myself from pining for him forever. I was beginning to learn, as every young girl in the world has learned at some point, that there is no cure for unrequited love other than time, patience and willingness to move on. I had no doubt in my mind that I would always love Shikamaru as my best friend and teammate, but I knew I was strong enough to be able to satisfy myself with that.

I could feel my stomach clench into knots as I imagined getting over him, but I said, "Yeah. I was starting to really miss Konoha." It was going to take time, but I could master myself.

And Kencho… That situation would also take some mastering.

And there you have it. As you can see, this Kencho situation is starting to get worrisome. Hm, it could be a major plot point. Or not. And also, it seems like Niwaka and Kankuro are hitting it off quite nicely. At least it's good to know that she has to ability to make friends as snarky as she is.

Thanks so much for reading!

See you on the flip side.