Suzume woke up to see Gaara reading a book beside her. He looked over at her, noticed she was awake, and closed the book. "Suzume."

"Gaara-sama..." She realized there was a strain on her hand and lifted it to see it in a death grip on Gaara's. She swiftly let go. "I'm sorry! Did it hurt? Does it still hurt?"

"No. It numbed over an hour ago."

Suzume panicked and seized his hand to massage the feeling back into it. After she calmed down, Suzume saw the cast around her leg.

"The doctors said it was a small fracture and they'd healed most of it and your external wounds. The cast is only for precaution," Gaara told her.

Suzume nodded and her lips pursed. "Konata baa-sama...?"

"She's fine. Her head injury was minor but they're worried about how much smoke she took into her lungs."

Suzume inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly.

"They said we can discharge you once you wake up. I'll wait downstairs while you visit Konata-san in room 405."

Suzume looked up at him in surprise as he gathered up his things. "I thought you'd want to see her before we left," he answered her unasked question.

He was at the door before she knew it. "Your crutches are over there." He gestured to the said crutches leaning against the wall armslength from her.

"Thank you, Gaara-nii," Suzume said.

Gaara was facing away from her so she couldn't see what expression he was wearing, "I'll be waiting downstairs."

Konata was sleeping when Suzume arrived. The girl hopped over to the side of the bed.

The woman was old, but age didn't disturb her peace. Her skin sagged and her hair grayed and that was fine, because she could sleep peacefully. Suzume was almost taller than the old woman now when a year ago she was able to be smothered in the folds of Konata's clothes and feel how small she was.

Now Konata was small under the cover of blankets.

Konata's chakra... Suzume couldn't feel it then but when she first woke up to find herself open to the world, Konata's chakra was small. It was a small, Suzume thought, that knew it was big.

It was young.

Suzume changed the water out of the vase of flowers by the bedside and then slipped back out of the room.

She didn't feel anything wrong with her foot so she took the cast off and placed it neatly, along with the crutches, near the receptionist area.

She met up with Gaara in the lobby and, after signing her out of the hospital, they went home.

"That wasn't an ordinary house fire, Gaara-sama," Suzume said as they walked along the path. "Somebody started it."

A coldness possessed Suzume's tone and gaze and an uncomfortable weight twisted in Gaara's chest.

"Why do you think so?" he asked simply.

Suzume was too wrapped up in her thoughts to answer him and Gaara didn't pursue the topic further. He convinced himself that Suzume would cool down once she was given more time and this bad premonition he was feeling wasn't worth acknowledging.

Later on, Gaara would wish he'd said something more.

_ _ _

Suzume burst past a double team and smoothly tossed the basketball into the hoop. The blow of a whistle called the end of the game with a result of 75-5 and curses from the losing team replaced the usual cheering.

Toru, the boy with the scarf, marched up to Suzume and grasped the front of her shirt. "What the fuck?!"

"Toru!" some of his friends warned.

"Ever heard of teamwork?!" Toru spat at her face and pointed at one of their teammates. "Shinta was open! And why would you steal the ball from your own team?!"

"I don't see the problem," Suzume said, confused by his outburst. "We won."

Toru pushed her away from him. "You mean, you won!" He began to stomp to the changing room. "I wouldn't want to risk my life on the battlefield with you watching my back!"

The rest of the shinobi followed after him with the same repulsed expressions and Suzume suddenly met gazes with Shiro. The girl gave her a scathing look and soon ripped her eyes away and went to join the others.

Suzume's hands curled into fists and she spun herself around, heading the opposite way from the others.

Something inside the girl was frothing and boiling over until it seeped into her veins and melded into her skin, gradually and horribly feeding on her. Something outside was clinging to her like chains, the heat of the desert was beginning to churn into something heavier, like a tumultuous flood washing over her again and again until she was trapped under weight too heavy for her to move.

A soft buzzing vibrated in the back of her mind.

"Suzume?"

Suzume jumped back into herself and saw a man looking over her worriedly. She dredged up the name that was connected to the face. "Sakyu-sama."

He smiled, satisfied. "I was losing you there for a moment. Did you hear what I said?"

Suzume shook her head but Sakyu didn't look surprised. "I asked about your preparations for the graduation examination."

"I finished."

"Good." He laced up thin fingers. "Now, I'd like to hear what's in your mind. Something, I'd give a gander, to do with the arson crime in the old district."

Suzume's entire body zapped alive and her large eyes were on Sakyu. "Arson? It was arson?"

"Yes..." he said, gauging her reaction carefully. "I thought, since your friend was a victim of it, it would've been troubling you."

"Do you have any suspects?" Suzume asked.

"Not at the moment."

"Would you believe me if I thought—knew it was a student at the Institute?"

Sakyu's shrewd eyes narrowed. "Then that's a very, serious, serious matter. We cannot let such a student become a shinobi who represents our village. I actually have inclination to believe it must've been a student."

"You do?"

"Yes..." he said again in that cold, calculating chill of a voice, his eyes seeing far away. "But, Suzume," those eyes ensnared her in place, "you shall leave this to me and the authorities. This is not something you should meddle in."

Suzume opened her mouth to argue but Sakyu smiled. "I know you're worried about your friend, however, we can't have a vigilante running around and interfering with investigation. I'd like you to give me a bit of your faith and find something more appropriate to invest yourself in."

Suzume took his words to heart- which meant she did the exact opposite of what he said. Once she got home, she called for Saya until the dog came racing over to her. She spent the next hours of the day training her.

Two mornings later, Suzume was walking the streets of the village with Saya by her side heading for the hospital where Konata was staying. After filling out some paperwork, she went up to the fourth floor and stopped in front of room 405. She bent down on one knee and Saya followed suit by sitting. Suzume sent a hand down the dog's head, combing through her fur.

"I'm trusting her with you, Saya," Suzume whispered. "Be good."

The newly trained service dog licked her face and wagged its tail. Suzume pulled out a letter from her pocket and tucked it into the pouch attached to Saya's harness, and after a quick whistle she opened the door and the dog slipped inside the room.

When Konata woke up that day, she saw the dog laying dutifully along the side of her bed. Saya noticed she was awake and sniffed her hand once before turning about and directing the pouch toward her. Konata found the letter inside.

She let out a hoarse chuckle and looked over at the dog. "I can't read a word of this."

On the paper, was Suzume's illegible scrawl.

"But I suppose," Konata smiled sadly, "I won't be expecting a visit from her anytime soon."

Saya whined.

_ _ _

Kankuro knew this couldn't go on. Suzume was out of control. From reports he was getting from his kids, she was... interrogating them. There hasn't been any violence involved, but apparently, she was freaking them out by appearing out of nowhere, chasing them down when they ran then asking creepy questions.

In class, she wasn't cooperating with the students at all. Temari told him and Gaara about how Suzume's expressed her dislike for all of the Institute's population, but she's been doing well to try and work with them despite it up until now. What changed?

The shinobi in training were glancing nervously at their usually easygoing teacher's grim face and the person he was directing it to who was absolutely devastating them all in flag tag. Most of them wouldn't blame their Kankuro-sen if he didn't confront Suzume about her behavior, after all, he doted on her so much he even bragged about his little sister during class, much to their annoyance. All of them didn't expect him to do what he did next.

Kankuro halted the game. "Suzume." Suzume let the flag she'd just swiped drop to the ground as she turned to face him. Everybody was ogling at the pair of them now. "I need to talk to you in my office."

The door was closed on the pair of them and Kankuro spared a moment to really take in the situation. He never thought they'd end up where they were now.

As he scrutinized Suzume, he wondered who he should be: a supportive brother or a disappointed teacher. He decided, based on equality and environment, he'd have to opt for the disappointed teacher.

"You're being antagonistic to the other students and showing poor sportsmanship. What's going on?"

"I can't work with them."

"That's going to be a problem, since teamwork is fifty percent of your grade," he quipped. "You gonna tell me why you can't work with them?"

Suzume's face was empty. "They tried to kill Konata baa-sama."

Kankuro forgot all about professionalism. "What?"

"They tried to kill Konata baa-sama," she repeated.

Her words still couldn't sink in. Whether because of how she was delivering them- monotoned and blunt- or because of the plain fact it was coming out of her mouth at all.

One of his students could be an attempted murderer.

"What makes you think that? Did-did you see someone do it, or-or did someone admit it to you?"

"A banner attached to an arrow had a message saying they'll kill her was shot at me."

Kankuro felt himself relax. "That's it? Suzume, you had me worried there."

Suzume frowned. "You should still be worried."

A trickle of cold crawled along his neck. "Huh?"

"They tried to kill her."

He was so stupid. Suzume doesn't joke. She takes everything and everyone seriously. She was the type of person who couldn't even lie to a little kid because it was so against her character. If she believed a student was responsible for the razing of the old district, she'd believe it until the sun came crashing down. Unless he did something about it.

"Do you hear yourself?" he said. "A banner. Is that all you have to go on?"

She appeared lost and confused at his reaction. "But... the banner said..."

"You don't even know who wrote the message. It could've been anyone."

"No," Suzume tried to shake away Kankuro's words. "I know it was them."

"So, you're acting like this on an assumption? Do you have the banner with you? Let me see it."

"I... don't. It wasn't where I dropped it when I went back for it."

"Okay, forget about the banner then. If that was all the evidence you had then your suspicions don't have any basis."

Suzume stiffened. "I know what I know."

"This is a serious allegation, Suzume. We can't trust such a flimsy theory."

"You don't... trust me?"

"No!" Kankuro sighed, running a hand down his face. "It's not that-"

"I want to find the person who hurt Konata baa-sama." Suzume's eyebrows arched downward, her hurt garnered frustration. "Why don't you like that?"

"You're going about it wrong and you know it."

"How is it wrong?!"

"Because this isn't like you!"

Suzume recoiled and took a step back like Kankuro had struck her physically. He took a calming breath and stepped up to Suzume and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This isn't like you... Suzu...."

She bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

"I think... you should do over a year." Suzume's eyes flew open. "You can use it to study and—"

She knocked Kankuro's hand off. He stood in shock.

"Suzu—"

The look in her eyes, one of utter betrayal, silenced him and he couldn't do anything as she ran out of the room.

_ _ _

The day after the fire, Otaki was walking through the halls of the Institute when an arm shot out of a classroom he was passing, grabbed him, and reeled him in.

Caught off guard, he was off balance and spun around a few times until he stopped with his back to the wall.

"You attacked an invalid veteran, with arson on top of it!"

Otaki found his bearings, saw purple eyes, realized the horrible shrieking was coming from his dear friend Shiro (with Yuudai standing in the background).

Shiro was pulling at her hair. "I know you're a bit radical but this is too fucking much even for you! Oh my gosh, I can't be related to juvenile delinquent drama!"

Otaki gave her a weird look. "What're you going on about?"

But Shiro was on a roll. "I mean, sure, Konata-san is close with Suzume but, as I mentioned before, she's a fucking veteran with honors! And she's also the grandma of the Genin top dog! Ritsu-senpai is going to kill you!"

He gawked at her, finally realizing what she was implying, "You think... I did that?"

"No shit! Do you even use that brain?! You take everything too far and HA what do you know, now you're a goddamn criminal!"

"It wasn't me!" Otaki bellowed, successfully shutting her up. "I was the one who was behind the ambush but not the fire!"

Yuudai placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder, "I believe him."

Shiro threw his hand off. "Fuck you."

"Listen." Otaki gagged like even trying to say the next words would make him sick. "I'm gonna stop this shit. It was getting pretty fucking old."

The other two students were shocked as all hell.

"Really?" Yuudai said in disbelief.

"Yes, you fucker!" Otaki cleared his throat and recollected himself. "I just—I just think it's time I tried out this 'decent person' shit."

Shiro's mouth was hanging open. "Really?"

Otaki fidgeted in his place. "Yeah..." The pair of them were gawking at him and he took the chance to dart away.

The remaining two turned to each other. "Really?"

Later on, Shiro was walking past Kankuro's classroom and had to backtrack to process what she saw through the crack in the doorway.

Shiro's jaw dropped. "Kankuro-sen's a miracle worker..."

Otaki looked as giddy as a schoolgirl, grinning down at the floor like an idiot while Kankuro praised him and clapped his hand on the student's shoulder proudly for something he'd done. Katsuo was next to Otaki and he said something that made the ace punch him playfully on the arm. It looked like they'd been friends for years.