Meiko was laying in the hospital bed for the fifth week straight, and she was furious. She was so tired of having to have held from everyone, she hadn't even been able to get out of bed one time successfully on her own, and she typically had to be rolled around in a wheelchair everyday.

No one but Meiko was currently in her hospital room, and she adored the silence instead of the constant 'Are you okay?' 'Do you need anything?' 'How are you feeling?' 'I'm so sorry.' she would get on a daily basis from everyone around her. Meiko sat up in her bed and glance down at the stump that was now laying along the bed.

She was ashamed of the fact that she lost her leg. It wasn't exactly something to be proud of, for obvious reasons. Her brother and father were probably ashamed to call her their family anymore, since she could no longer be a proper ninja. The girl sighed as she reached out and touched the stump lightly, her fingers caressing the bandages slightly. Her fingers moved over her knee cap, and finally down to where the actual leg ended.

She felt so useless, what could she possibly do now with only one leg? She couldn't be a ninja, she would constantly need help if they put her on crutches, and if they put her in a wheelchair, she would need helps doing everyday little tasks. And Meiko hated getting help from others.

The door opened and Meiko glanced over at it to see her main doctor coming in the room with a rather large box in his hands, a proud smile on his face. Meiko tilted her head slightly at the box, but waited for her doctor to explain to her what it was.

The doctor placed the box down on the chair beside her bed, and opened it slowly. Once it was opened, he plunged his hand in the box and pulled out something that had been bought for Meiko. Inside the box, was a wooden prostatic leg that would act as her real leg, and even allow her to walk somewhat.

Meiko's eyes widened slightly as she stared at the leg, before a few tears streamed down her face. The doctor chuckled slightly at her reaction. "Now, don't get super emotional. This isn't your permanent one, that one has been ordered yet, but this is one we had this one brought in from Suna for now." He said, as he started to strap the puppet looking leg to her stump.

Once the leg was on, the doctor helped Meiko sling her legs over onto the side of the bed. He slowly helped her level herself on the floor, and very shakily she stood up, leaning on the doctor for support. A surprised gasp escaped Meiko's lips as the doctor began to help her walk along the floor, her prostatic leg doing its job of helping her keep her balance.

"I-I'm walking!" Meiko exclaimed happily as she leaned on the doctor for support, still having slight trouble picking up her leg and placing it down correctly since it was slightly heavier than her real leg, but she was doing it.

"Yes you are, Meiko." The doctor said happily, as he sat her down in a chair and they both put her shoes on. Meiko placed the shoe on her real foot, while the doctor slid the shoe on her fake foot. "I figured we could go out, since you really haven't got to yet." The doctor said, and Meiko nodded her excitedly.

The doctor chuckled slightly as he helped Meiko back up to her feet, and they walked out of her room. A lot of the nurses had become slightly familiar with Meiko, and if they didn't know her, they knew what happened. So as Meiko walked down the hall way, she got some smiles, and a few claps from curtain nurses that really knew her. Meiko was surprisingly proud of herself at the moment.

When they opened the door that lead outside, Meiko let out a very loud gasps as the sunlight kissed her pale skin. "Oh my god it's the sun!" She said excitedly as she began trying to speed out from the doctors grasp to go see everything, but the doctor chuckled and held her close to him.

"Now I know you're excited about getting out, but you need to take it slow. Let me help you for now." He said, and reluctantly Meiko agreed. "Where do you want to go?" He asked.

"To seem my dad!" She said excitedly, and he nodded slightly with a chuckle as they began their way to the Hokage's building. Meiko was super excited, her fake leg shaking slightly from the weight on it, and the fact that this was the first time that Meiko had walked in over a month.

"Can I try walking by myself? I wanna be able to walk in my dads office!" She said with a smile, and the doctor thought about it for a moment before nodding his head slightly.

"That should be fine." He said with a chuckle, before he unwrapped his arm around her waist and watched as she evened herself out. With her right leg, she took one step, the step shaky and small, but it but as a step. The second step was more sturdy as it was with her good leg. Meiko giggled quietly as she began to take more and more steps on her own, still shaky, but nonetheless, steps.

The doctor chuckled quietly as he watched Meiko happily move up and down the streets of Konoha slowly to get to her dad's office, obviously excited to see her dad and show him the leg that he didn't know about. None of them did, the only leg they knew about was the second one she would get, and still the Hokage didn't know about that one.

Meiko arrived at the front of the Hokage's Building, and she shakily opened the door. When the door was opened, the few workers glanced over and smiled slightly at the girl, excitement in their eyes.

"Look at you!" One of them said happily, and Meiko nodded her head quickly.

"I know!" She said proudly as she glanced at all of the stairs and took a deep breath. She slowly moved over to the stairs and brought her right leg up, attempting to bend her knee to make her way up, but she ended up having to scale the stairs with one completely stiff leg, the other moving correctly. She was offered help, but she made sure to deny it. She didn't want anyone's help.

Finally she arrived at the top of the stair case and at the front of the hallway that her fathers office was down. She took a deep breath, fairly exhausted from her travel up the stairs. She began to walk, very slow, very shaky, down to her fathers office, and she knocked on it three times when she arrived.

"Come in." Her fathers gruff voice called out, and Meiko slowly opened the door to reveal her father, her brother, and Rin. Meiko slowly walked in, and her fathers eyes widened.

"M-Meiko." He mumbled quietly, watching as the doctor stood in the door way, watching the girl slowly move across the room, still getting used to using her new leg. Tears welled up in Rin's eyes, and Asuma couldn't fight the smile on his lips.

"Look! I'm walking!" Meiko exclaimed excited, right before she tripped and fell to the ground, her hands slamming along the ground as she caught herself, stopping her face from hitting the ground.

"Meiko!" Her father called out, but Meiko slowly sat up and waved her hand at her father, dismissing his worry.

"I'm okay. I hadn't fallen until now, so it was bound to happen." She said with a small laugh before slowly struggling to get herself up. She extended her false leg out completely, and with her left leg she slowly hopped up to her feet, glaring at her brother every time he tried to help her.

"I did it!" Meiko exclaimed as she slowly hobbled over to her dad, and threw her arms around him tightly. The Hokage chuckled slightly as he hugged her back, pulling his daughter close to him.

"I'm so proud of you." He said, and Meiko shot him a large smile that had honestly never seemed to leave her face. She then glanced over at her brother, and she hobbled over to him, tossing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Asuma let out a gruff laugh as he held his sister close.

"I'm glad you're doing so well." He said, and Meiko nodded slightly before glancing over at Rin, and smiling at the girl with tears in her eyes. She hobbled over to Rin, and slowly wiped the tears out of her eyes with her thumbs.

"Hey, don't cry! I'm happy!" Meiko said, and Rin nodded, smiling through her tears.

"I am too, I'm crying because I'm so happy to see you walking again." She said with a laugh, and Meiko shot her the same smug smile she had shown everyone.

"I want to go see Izumo and Kotetsu, and then Kakashi!" She said smiling, and the doctor nodded his head slightly. Over the pass month, Kakashi made sure to visit Meiko every day and have a meal with her. Though it was completely out of his character, he felt like he had to because he blamed himself for the entire thing, even now.

After an argument in the middle of the hallway that lasted about ten minutes, the doctor finally got his way and carried Meiko down the staircase since he knew she wouldn't make it all the way down. The entire way down, Meiko complained with her arms crossed about how she could do it on her own, only gaining a chuckle from the doctor as he had gotten used to the girls snarky sarcastic attitude.

At the bottom of the stairs, he placed Meiko on her feet and placed his hands on her hips to help steady her, and once she was steady he let go. The girl triumphantly smiled and walked out the Hokage's office, towards the front desk of Konoha, very slowly, very wobbly, but getting their. Every trip took a lot out of her, but she wasn't going to give out until she saw everyone on her list.

In the crowd of people, she managed to lose the doctor. Now, she was stumbling down the town of Konoha with people shoving her out of their way from how slow she was walking. Meiko whimpered quietly as she attempted to move through the crowd at their speed, but it was impossible. She hadn't walked in a month, so she needed to start slowly. Apparently people in Konoha didn't know that.

"Oh my god! She's part puppet!" A little kid screamed as he ran past Meiko, stopping to gaze at her leg for longer than Meiko was comfortable with.

"I heard she was the reason Obito Uchiha died!" A boy called out, and Meiko clenched her fist slightly, attempting to walk faster to get away from the children.

"Apparently she used to be as fast as the yellow flash, but now she'll never be a ninja again, because she lost her leg. She should have been able to get out of the way if she was so fast, right?" A little girl asked, and fresh tears formed in her eyes as she started to limp faster out of the streets of Konoha, pushing past people as she moved as fast as she possibly could, the tears streaming even further down her face, at a faster pace.

Meiko moved through the crowd of people, before she was accidentally knocked her down. As Meiko closed her eyes, ready to hit the ground, her face hit a hard chest and strong arms wrapped around her.

"Meiko, what's wrong?" A voice said, and Meiko looked up at the person who had caught her with a sad look on her face, tears streaming down her face.

"Kakashi..." She mumbled quietly as she buried her face back in his chest.

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