While Suzume sat staring at the note Akira had given her on her bed, she tried to jog the memory of the tree in the black market.

She was alone in the house. Her siblings and Baki had gotten even busier after the trial, tying loose ends and securing their victories. They had even asked her to do some paperwork for them which she'd already finished and had waiting for them in neat piles in each of their rooms.

After three hours of concentrating with no results, Suzume got up from her bed to try out a theory she had. Leaving her room and entering the hall, she headed to the backyard. The sun was rising? No, it was setting, and quickly. By the time she got to the tree, the sun was gone, only a couple of its rays struggling to stay afloat in the sky. She saw Hisoka's grave had been cleaned, the grass trimmed, the gravestone polished.

With the note still gripped tight in her hand, she stared up at her tree, gigantic and comforting. Akira had said the tree in the black market had popped up out of nowhere and grew big enough to fill multiple buildings in its trunk. He'd said it reminded him of her tree. She stepped closer, and lifted a deliberate hand to its trunk.

For a second nothing happened.

And then, like a burst, everything flooded back to her.

The tree appearing and saving them from the rogues. That day when she'd overheard her siblings and Baki calling her a weakness, she ran away, but then she couldn't remember what happened after. Then when Sakyu had told her her siblings were using her, she realized that she had tails on her... Both times she had collapsed, waking up without these realizations.

Her senses expanded. Those same shadowy tails she'd recognized that day were just beyond the tree's boundary once again. Chakra filled humans, not unidentifiable energy that she had been convinced were ghosts.

She remembered. Finally. But it still wasn't everything.

She slowly turned, suddenly not feeling as alone as she had felt in the empty house, and more than ever wanting her siblings home.

She was being watched. She was being followed. And from what she knew now, it had been this way ever since she started living with the Sand Siblings.

There were a dozen of them from what she could tell. Were they the cause of her missing memory?

In one hand was Akira's note, while the other hand stayed on the tree like a lifeline. She slowly shifted herself so that her shoulder and hand were touching the tree so that one part of her was touching it at all times until she managed to have her back leaned against it and her hands free. She pulled out her brush set and started to write more on the paper, everything she had just managed to discover. They weren't going to have her forget any of this again. Not anymore.

Her writing stopped abruptly. Something else had clicked.

Just that evening she had attended a demonstration of the different fighting styles between the shinobi villages and watched intently as each one was shown.

Her mouth gaped as she watched the demonstration in her mind's eye.

The Konoha style demonstrator had moved similarly to her. Immensely similar.

But she had not made the connection then. No... actually she had, but it was then swiftly buried in her mind. Like her thoughts were going through a sifter.

That must be why she's being tailed! The anbu thinks she's a Konoha shinobi because of her fighting style. They would definitely consider her a spy.

"But I'm not...?" Suzume said aloud and hearing the dubiousness of her own voice made her repeat it defiantly. "I'm not."

She started to doubt herself. All of the evidence was there. She was an orphan, a good way to hide the fact that she had no relatives in the village, her chakra had been suppressed so that no suspicion could fall on her, her fighting style had always focused on agility and never stamina like the Sand, her memory was being monitored, there were gaps in it in which she could've been doing anything in. Not to mention she had found a way to the very center of the Sand's operations, the heirs to the Kazekage title. If she intended on targeting them as they were the best way to acquire information about the intricacies of the Sand, she was a damn good spy. Just by being alive... she could be their deaths.

Her breaths picked up until they couldn't function normally, her heart responded, picking up its pace, her thoughts... the thoughts, the thoughts, the thoughts that go through her head made her feel like she was going crazy. They went by too quickly until it turned physical.

She clutched onto Akira's note and staggered back into the house, spilling ink all over her and abandoning her brush in the grass.

She didn't know what to do with herself and the empty house. She needed to do something before someone could erase her memory again. She folded up Akira's note, now smudged with her writing and ripped her headband off her forehead to pull out her good luck charm and shoved the note inside. When she had just finished tucking the charm back behind the metal of the forehead protector, she froze. The Sand insignia stared back at her. She shook.

After all this time, all this effort to prove that she belonged, it had all been pointless. She didn't belong here, and she never will.

What was she doing clinging onto the note? If she was a spy, there was just one thing to do, wasn't there?

Nobody was around to stop her. It was perfect.

She grabbed her kunai.

She plunged it toward her stomach.

But the tip never found her skin.

Her hands shook as they stopped her from going any further.

This time, tears filled her eyes.

What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she do it?!

"Do it...!" she gritted out. Her hands shook even more. "Do it!"

Was another jutsu cast on her, stopping her, like the one on her memories? It had to be. Why else wouldn't she kill herself to protect them? She was betraying her family and now her own body was betraying her?

No. She was scared.

She didn't want to die.

Anger seized her.

Weak. Coward. This is the least you could do after what you've done, and knowing what you could do. Don't you realize it was all a lie? Everything, everything about you was a lie! Everybody was right! You don't deserve to be around them!

Next she came to herself, she was panting and there was blood.

The sound of the door opening made her jump. She looked at herself, and then toward the hallway. She tripped as she ran and ducked into the bathroom and locked the door.

What was she going to do? What was she going to do?

She knew who had come home, she heard them walk into the living room and pause.

She gulped, looking desperately around at the bathroom for something that can help her. Her gaze landed on the cabinet. She opened it and pulled out a first aid kit.

She fumbled with it, her shaking and slippery hands uncooperative.

They were approaching the bathroom. Their knock made her jump again. The first aid kit fell to the floor, scattering rolls of bandages and ointments.

"Suzume," it was Baki's voice, "let me in."

She bit her bottom lip, too jumbled in her head, but ended up slowly opening the door for him, not daring to make eye contact.

He already knew what was happening. He had seen the blood on the living room floor and the discarded kunai. He'd panicked at first, thinking someone had attacked while everyone had gone, but he soon felt Suzume's chakra in the bathroom, fluctuating and out of control, and figured it out.

How many times has he done the same, how many times has he caught his peers in the same situation.

Baki's eyes saw the wounds, then looked over at the mess of first aid supplies on the floor.

"Sit down," he said with no room for argument.

Suzume sat down on top of the toilet lid and watched as Baki scooped up the mess and picked out bandages and disinfectant. He bent down in front of Suzume, held out a hand for hers and started cleaning and wrapping her wounds.

Suzume watched quietly. She wondered what would happen if she told him. She had gotten close to him. They had had their disagreements but he had tried to accept her into their family and she was more than willing to accept him after knowing for sure that he meant it. She didn't blame him now. She knew he was only trying to protect his kids, because it was his job and because he cared for them. But now, after trying to prove to him that she wasn't a weakness, it turned out he was right, in the worst possible way.

If she told him, would the fondness she'd learned to expect from him disappear? Would he kill her?

"Baki-sensei."

Baki grunted to indicate he was listening as he continued to work on the wrappings.

"Baki-sensei, I think you were right. I think I might hurt them if I stay here," her voice got higher and faster, "you were right, I might be the reason they die, I shouldn't be here, I'm--"

"You're not a weakness," he interjected, getting back onto his feet, "You're their strength. So," he put away the first aid kit, cast a soft look down at her and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. He handed her the forehead protector he had picked up from the living room. She took it, numbly, "make sure not to do something like this again."

Suzume looked desperately after her teacher as he left. She should blurt it out. She should tell them the truth and have every Suna shinobi come down on her with a weapon in hand to kill her.

She stared at the Sand insignia, stained with her blood, and felt yet again all of those eyes on the mansion, no doubt waiting for her to exit the building to do just that.

Wait. Why haven't they killed her? If they knew she was a threat enough to set tails on her, why haven't they taken care of her already? It could've been so easy when her chakra hadn't been with her and still easy enough since she was only genin level. She'd been alone so often, so it wasn't the fear of her siblings.

She rose slowly onto her feet, still staring at the insignia.

Maybe there was more to this, and she knew where she could find her answers. She'd just have to talk to one of her tails. As soon as possible.

Decided, Suzume left the bathroom and managed to get as far as the hallway leading to the front door when the room started to spin. She steadied herself with a hand on the door jamb leading into the kitchen, but the weight of the vertigo forced her to slide down to her knees.

A fever had struck her.

Her entire face from the tips of her ears down to her neck was red.

This came out of nowhere, she managed to acknowledge as she forced herself back up. She stumbled into the kitchen and managed to swallow a couple of pills and gulp down water into her parched throat before collapsing into a dining room chair. The sickly heat of her fever forced her asleep. The last thing she saw was the blurry outline of the insignia, the forehead protector still clutched in her hand.

Miles away, deep underground, a man in the middle of a large seal collapsed and the blinding light from the seal extinguished. Another man rushed toward him and helped him upright.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," Toya said. "I can't restrain her as well anymore."

He had been scared shitless when his connection had been severed and the past few minutes had been spent rushing to reconnect. When he finally did, he experienced yet another jolt of fear when he found that she had figured out everything in the few minutes he had been gone. She was getting too strong. It didn't help that she had a power source so nearby.

He managed to shut her down before any more damage was done, containing the right memories in her unconsciousness. Luckily, the earlier memories hadn't had time to break out and other parts hadn't either. The note was hidden too, which he was grateful for, though its continued existence meant there was still a risk that all of his could happen again.

His partner lifted him up to his feet and started to walk off the seal with him.

"He said that we would be retrieving her in a few more weeks, you have no choice but to keep it up until then," his partner said mercilessly. "Unless you want to argue with him, I suggest you do what you need to do."

Toya wanted to stab.

Team Baki was trekking across the desert toward the border of River Country. It was finally time for them to have some field training in a forest environment. They left in the middle of the night, intending to arrive at daybreak, completely skirting the heat. Even then, Suzume's breaths clouded the air the most, and her steps were the heaviest.

An hour into their journey, she tripped over her feet, and Baki's hand reached out to hold her steady.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded, breathing heavily. He handed her a flask for her to guzzle down the water. "Don't push yourself."

She nodded again, and pushed on with a staggering gait. Baki pocketed the flask before going after his students. The boys were ignoring Suzume's difficulty, respecting her boundaries by pushing ahead as they normally would be. But Baki refused to ignore her, to hell with her pride, he's her overbearing uncle, he does what he wants overbearingly. Although, she looked too unaware to really have any strong feelings towards any of their considerations, respectful or otherwise.

Suzume knew she wasn't in the best condition. The world was now just heat waves. Everywhere. She was a heat wave.

Another hour or so and Baki knew they were getting close. "Alright, once we get there, we're going to do our stretches and warmup. Then we're going to do some light parkour to see how each of you have a lay of the land. Afterwards, we'll go into more..."

Before she saw it, she sensed it. Baki's voice faded away and the clear ringing came. It came from above the dunes. She needed to hurry.

She broke away from her team, running desperately toward it.

"Suzume-san?"

"Oi, freak!"

When green foliage appeared in the distance, Suzume thought she could cry, and when she reached it, she actually did. She stood in front of the edge of the forest and thought she heard whispering.

It was beautiful.

She took in a deep breath of cool air.

Her hands curled in and out of themselves slowly and she suddenly felt really relaxed. The trees were growing bigger, the noise was swelling.

Something was calling.

Her foot lifted and she stepped into the forest.

A wave of clarity crashed over her. Air sweeter and fresher than anything she's inhaled flooded her lungs. A layer of something unexplainable fell, like everything around her was magnified in existence. Then the trees spoke, but not in the way humans did, their voices didn't slip into her ears, they sunk into her skin.

She herself changed, it was similar to when her chakra came to her. When it had come to her, her body had become lighter, the haze in her mind dissipated. This time, she felt as if a sense had come back to her, as if a blindfold had been untied and her eyes allowed to see the world again.

It was too much for her to handle. She fainted on the spot.

Ritsu couldn't believe this. Just when he thought she had finally calmed down, she goes and acts all crazy again. They caught up to her to see her lying face down in the forest, fainted from what? Excitement? Her own overwhelming stupidity?

Baki didn't look as deterred by this as Ritsu and Akira were, instead he picked Suzume up and leaned her against a tree.

"Looks like we'll have to start without her," he said. "She'll just have to catch up when she wakes up."

Ha! Take that. You're gonna fall behind, freak.

Taking glee from this, Ritsu threw himself into the day's training, prepared to rub it into Suzume's face once she woke up in a few minutes.

But Suzume didn't wake up even as an hour passed, and another, and another, until the sun began to set.

"Is she dead?" Ritsu asked as Baki and Akira were crouched on either side of the girl. They had paused their training as their collective worry became too much.

"I'll carry her back," Baki said, scooping the girl up. Ritsu didn't know if he was more surprised at how large Baki was or how small Suzume was as she looked way too tiny in his arms.

It was late by the time they got back to the village. Baki dropped off Akira and then Ritsu at their homes. Konata opened the door for Ritsu when they got to the front door. After looking from Suzume to Baki with a meaningful look, Konata told Ritsu to go ahead inside.

"I want to talk with your sensei for a few minutes," she said.

Ritsu gave them a weird look, but obliged.

In a low voice, Konata whispered, "It worked then."

"Maybe a bit too much."

"It must've been a huge shock to her body. Make sure to place her under the tree. That way she'll heal faster."

"You're sure she's fine?"

"Don't worry, dear," Konata assured. "When she wakes up, she'll be good as new."

Once Baki turned into the backyard, he saw his kids waiting for him on the doorstep. They rushed up to him, roving their eyes in concern over their sister.

"How is she?" Temari asked.

"Sleeping like a log," Baki said. "Konata-san instructed me to place her under the tree."

"Hand her over," Kankuro said, holding out his arms. Baki handed Suzume to him and watched with the other two as Kankuro carried her over to the tree. He gently leaned her against the trunk, then stepped back and away to join the others again.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait," Gaara said.

The family decided that they would sleep outside that night and brought out musky smelling sleeping bags from the basement Suzume had recently organized. They didn't end up sleeping though, keeping Gaara company and talking through the night.

When morning broke and the deep blue sky softened, a rustling caught their attention.

They watched as a green glow wrapped around Suzume and little buds grew from the ground and through the tree's bark. The plants danced as Suzume sat up and opened her eyes. Her eyes were disconcertingly golden and they seemed to be seeing everything and nothing at the same time.

Then the glow faded away and the plants stilled and Suzume came back to herself.

She blinked, and looked around in confusion. At last she looked to her family. "How did I get here?"

The shinobi were lost for words as they saw the golden color in her eyes getting swallowed by Suzume's normal black.

"Suzu! You're awake!" Kankuro, ever the quickest to get a hold of himself, jumped to his feet.

Suzume tried to stand but her legs were too shaky. Kankuro caught her before she fell and helped her onto his back. "What happened...?" she whispered weakly into his ear.

"You fainted from overexerting yourself," Temari explained as they all headed back into the house. "How do you feel?"

"Cold..."

Suzume broke into a cold sweat caused by the shock of her changing body. She started hyperventilating and came in and out of consciousness. The early morning was spent nursing her until she fell back asleep.

When Suzume woke up, she felt rejuvenated and energetic. She saw her siblings and Baki all sprawled around her room. Gaara was sitting in her chair with his head in his hands.

"Gaara-sama."

He looked up. "You're awake. Good."

"What happened?"

"You got a bad fever, we were all worried." He stood up and walked over to place a hand over her forehead. "You're a lot better."

"I feel great," she told him earnestly.

He nodded. "Just make sure to take care of yourself so you don't get sick again."

While Suzume gulped down the water on her nightstand, Gaara analyzed her.

She used to have potential barely skimming over Ritsu's and now it might just be up to Temari and Kankuro's. Her whole chakra system seemed to be thrumming with an odd energy.

When Suzume got up from bed and started to lift up Temari, Gaara broke out of his thoughts.

"You shouldn't be overexerting yourself like that. I can handle it."

"No, it's really okay. I'm completely fine. I feel like I can lift a mountain," she said in her overly honest way. "You're probably tired too, Gaara-sama. Let me help."

The two sleepless siblings tucked everyone into their beds.

The team returned to the forest as soon as they heard that Suzume was alright. To Ritsu's dismay, Suzume did not struggle at all to catch up with them. In fact, she was way ahead of them. It was like she had been raised in the forest, maneuvering gracefully and skillfully through the branches, not making a sound or disturbing a single leaf.

"You," Ritsu said during their lunch break, pointing a sandwich at her, "you piss me off."

"Why?" Suzume asked, startled.

Ritsu didn't answer, but ripped off another chunk out of his sandwich.

"Suzume-san," Akira said then, "you said you attended that demonstration a few days ago, right? About the different shinobi fighting styles."

Suzume nodded. "It was interesting. There was one about performing martial arts. Like dancing."

"It's too bad we couldn't go with you. It would've been good to see the differences and similarities."

"If not Suna's style I would go for Stone's," Ritsu said conversationally. "Of course, we still need to study them more to be able to pick out differences, but if I had to pick based on their priority, I think I would suit balance the best after endurance."

Suzume sat lost in thought while the two of them talked for the rest of lunch. When she returned home the next night, a letter was waiting for her.

Suzume, if you have the time, I would like to meet with you to discuss a few things. Please stop by anytime.

Sincerely,

Councilman Sakyu

Sakyu hadn't changed. When you got to be his age, change doesn't come easily. Once a person reached a certain age, they were stuck with the same face, voice, characteristics with no surprises. He was still neat and proper, he still stuck to his long, grayed hair, he still stood tall, he still thought the same things. It was the kids who grew up and changed so drastically every few weeks.

The last he saw Suzume before she started to avoid him was back when he stepped over boundaries around Suzume's promotion from student to genin. These past few months, he hadn't seen her at all. He remembered her eyebrows. They had been up over her eyes in constant, innocent confusion. Now they were arched downwards, more careful, more aware. She had a shadow over her face, her body was held stiffly, but now she was more sure of her movements.

She was a completely different person.

Suzume bowed and greeted him. "Councilman."

"Suzume, it's so nice to see you again." Sakyu cut to the chase, aware of her discomfort. "I contacted you because we've confirmed that the perpetrator of the Razing of the Old District is Toru, grand nephew to Councilman Koyo, a Genin from your year, on Special Operations team 63."

Suzume didn't show any sign of being surprised, instead she continued to listen silently.

"I wanted to get your opinion before doing anything more. I have all the evidence prepared, even if he is related to one of the councilmembers it'll be hard to get out of being incriminated. What do you think?"

"I'm not the person you should be asking, Councilman."

Sakyu didn't become stunned as easily anymore these days, but Suzume definitely had a talent for it. He considered her. "What do you mean?"

Suzume escorted the Councilman to the civilian district and arrived at an apartment building. It was a full five stories. There was a wooden staircase along the wall leading into the different apartments. From the look of it, it was built in the Third's era, based on the effort to transition from Konoha architecture into the Sand's current standards. The apartment building was a victim of the changing times, with its mix of wood and adobe, probably had been assigned to be rebuilt but abandoned once the Sand got too impoverished.

Children's toys, bruised but lively, were scattered across the area, laundry hung over balconies taking a break from the winds of the desert while they had the chance, and a half a dozen bikes were tied up against the bottom railing next to the staircase all clumped over each other.

Sakyu blinked up at the place and had to catch up to Suzume as she was already up the stairs.

"Suzume, you never explained what we're doing? Where are we?"

"Aah..." Suzume paused in her step and looked around at him. "We're at Konata baa-san's family's apartment, Councilman-dono. She's the person you should be asking."

"I see," Sakyu said as they continued to climb the steps. He recognized the name. Suzume had mentioned the woman many times before and was the reason why the girl had been so caught up in finding the person responsible for the fire.

They stopped in front of a door with a windchime and dreamcatcher hanging on the door light box. A number plate with the apartment number 34 etched into it was placed on the right side of the door.

Sakyu saw Suzume hesitate for a fraction of a second as she reached out to press the doorbell. The muffled sound of the chiming from inside was quickly followed by loud, booming barks.

"Calm down, Saya. Dear, don't jump on our guests, last time you did, you almost dislocated their hip."

The door opened and a snout poked and an eye peered out from the crack of the door.

"Hello, Konata-baa."

The eye widened and the door flew open. "My, Suzume-chan!"

Before Konata could get her in her clutches, a huge blur swept by and tackled Suzume to the ground. Sakyu stood out of the way as Suzume was bombarded by licks from a happily whining Saya.

"Wha--- wait, Saya!" Suzume managed to sit back up. "That's not proper for a guard dog, Saya."

Saya fidgeted into a sitting position and then barked at her in response.

Suzume sighed in relief and made to stand, "Good gir--oof!"

Saya had tackled her again.

Konata was laughing heartily in the doorway, "That's what you get for neglecting her for so long, Suzume-chan."

The group somehow collected themselves enough to get inside Konata's apartment. Ritsu wasn't there.

"Now, who would this gentlemen be?" Konata asked, looking over at the Councilman.

"This is Councilman Sakyu-dono, Konata-baa. Sakyu-sama, this is Konata-baa."

"It's nice to meet your acquaintance," Sakyu said as he shook hands with the woman.

She smiled and directed them into the dining room. "Please, sit."

While Konata prepared some tea, Suzume sat with Saya's head on her lap, petting the dog absentmindedly.

"Now what is the reason that the avoidant Suzume finally showed herself?" Konata said after serving the tea and cookies then sitting herself down from across the two of them.

"Konata-baa," Suzume started, "it's about the fire you went through. Sakyu-sama said he found out who had started it. It was Toru, an old classmate of mine."

"Ah, I see," Konata said with wide eyes.

"I asked Suzume for her opinion on what to do and she said that I should be asking the question to you."

"I'm not too bothered," Konata answered without hesitation. "I'm alive and well. As long as this boy doesn't continue to target my life I'm fine with leaving him be. I heard from the others he's beginning to turn a new leaf. I don't want to get in the way of that. If he wants to turn himself in, that's all for the better, but otherwise I don't want to punish him."

Suzume removed her hand from Saya and stood. "Thank you, Konata-baa."

"You're leaving so soon?" Both Konata and Saya were upset at the sudden departure. Saya whined as Suzume and Sakyu headed to the door.

"We just came to take care of that business," Suzume said.

Konata pulled Suzume in for a hug that wasn't returned, but she didn't care. She rubbed Suzume's back before releasing her. "Visit again soon."

Suzume didn't say anything. As soon as the pair left, Konata phoned Gaara to tell him who had been with his sister.

The pair were walking back to Sakyu's office in silence when Sakyu asked, "Are you satisfied by this, Suzume?"

"No," she said, "I'm angry. I want justice. But if Konata-baa is fine with it I don't see why we have to go through with it. It'll cause too many problems anyway. And Konata-baa is right. If Toru is trying to change, that's what matters."

Suzume knew Sakyu was staring at her. She wished he wouldn't. Even walking with him like this made her upset.

"It would be a very comforting thing to have you by the new Kazekage's side, Suzume," Sakyu told her suddenly.

Suzume looked at him. "I heard that you didn't accept Gaara-sama as Kazekage."

"Opinions can change. And I'm not one to stick stubbornly to mine. I'm proud of our people, they are an enduring race. I would do anything to protect the core spirit of the Sand even if it brings about change, as long as we do not forget who we are, I believe, change is welcome."

Sakyu met her gaze.

Suzume looked away.

"You've become wary of me, I can see that," he said. "I apologize profusely for my actions against you, Suzume. I admire your loyalty to your family. And, if you are fine with it, I would like to be your mentor for however long you are able."

Suzume stopped walking, and Sakyu followed her lead, waiting.

"Why are you treating me like this, Sakyu-sama?" she asked carefully.

"Because I am fond of you. I think you're capable of amazing feats and I want to help guide you."

Suzume didn't say anything to that. Sakyu accepted her silence.

"You can give me your answer anytime. I will be waiting."