Violet's POV

I was giddy beyond belief. Scar and Ari were back! They were here and with me and in the flesh and oh god Violet calm down. I giggled. My sisters were coming home, and I'd been the one to save them. Well, in all actuality, it had been Sasori who gave us the opening, delivered the final push to convince Scar it was alright to leave.

I would love that freaky puppet man for the rest of my life for what he'd done for me.

And it looked like Scar might've been thinking along the same lines... Hehe...

The sun burned and crackled above us, like those adorable little cooking fires campers like to use. You know, the ones with the little mini hotdogs shoved onto pointy sticks? We'd never been the camping types, really, but once Ari snuck the fire starter kit thingy into the house and we hid under my Powerpuff Girls blanket and told creepy ghost stories in the half-light.

Scar found us ten minutes later and thumped us both over the head for being "disarmingly charming idiots" as she put it. After Ari had Googled what she meant by that we attacked her in one of our famous hugs, all smiles and happy times.

I wanted it to be like that again.

Ari skipped along beside me, totally at ease and blissfully cheery, fingers folded together behind her head. The smile hadn't left her lips since we'd hit the desert, and she seemed to enjoy the the feeling of the sand shifting beneath her sandals. Watching her, I noticed just how grubby she - and Scar - was. I wrinkled my nose. My sisters were just plain gross!

If only I'd had some Water Style jutsu up my sleeve, cause they needed a bath ASAP!

Sad face...

"Hey, Scar!" Ari suddenly piped up. "How long do ya think it'll take to reach Suna? My feet are getting some major blisters here..." She spun around on her heel to face Scar, who'd fallen behind, and a sweat drop formed as she pulled a blank face. I looked too and nearly face-planted from the shock.

Scar lay sprawled out on the sand around twenty feet behind us. Hazy heat lines, visible as they broke free from the baked earth, made her form a little diorienting to look at. Ari and I sweat dropped again.

"She hasn't been sleeping?" I guessed.

"Not a wink."

Poor Scar, she was probably all worried about Gaara! I mean, he finally realizes he might possibly have feelings for her and she has to tell him she fell for the OTHER emo redhead?! I could never put my Lee-kun through such torture!

Ari looked pointedly at me and I smiled gleefully. My fingers came together in my absolute favorite Sign and the world gained another Lee-kun-obsessed blonde girl. She saluted me; I giggled. My Clone jogged over to Scar, hauled her up onto her back, then proceeded to follow us as we continued searching for the bestest Village in all the countries.

Ari's POV

The Village seemed unusually quiet. I mean, it was no Konoha, obviously. No hyperactive blondes he--

Ah. Right. We had Violet.

Ahem. Anyway, it's not like Naruto was there, constantly causing mayhem for Jonin and civilians alike. Even so, the streets were unusually deserted, the only real sound the often-evil wind whipping up dust storms in the middle of the roads. Windows were shuttered, doors locked up tight.

We only found that out because we couldn't get into the Sand Siblings' home. And that pissed me off because I hadn't changed my clothes in about two weeks and I reeked. I won't even lie; Scar and I stunk bad enough to kill an elephant with our noxious fumes. Of course Scar would forever deny that but I'm putting it on the record!

Vi shared my discomfort for the lack of annoying pedestrians. Her vibrant smile was dimmed despite how excited she must have been to be coming home. Her eyes were narrowed in morbid curiosity. She was antsy, hopping from foot to foot even as we walked.

I wasn't any better. I kept jumping at the slightest sounds. At one point, a cat jumped outta the nearest trashcan and I leaped straight up into the air and ended up clinging to the side of a building.

This was how I was using my epic Ninja skills, people.

My head throbbed from the silence. I just wanted some good old-fashioned noise!

What I got was a piercing wail that caused major gooseflesh to prickle across all exposed bits of my skin.

Violet didn't even need to look at each other; we knew where all the action was now.

"Town square," I said, suddenly sobered up from my fit of lazy fangirlness.

Vi (and her Clone, who still carried the unconscious Scarlette) followed close behind as I took to the roofs, following both instinct and hearing to find the source of the screams. The Sand Village had just been through so much... I was gonna kick the ass of whoever did this shit to my family!

It didn't take long, cause all the roads in Suna eventually converged on the town square. It was where they held the important stuff: Ceremonies, rituals, funerals.

Oh Kami, we totally forgot...

I was crouched in the shadows of a slanted roof, wedged between Violet and her Clone, stone-still from the breathless shock. Our vantage point was perfect. We could see straight over the crowds, all the way to the mock-stage set up to display the body at the heart of the city.

The body of the Fourth Kazekage.

"Ari..." Vi's voice trembled. She reached over and tangled my fingers with hers. I squeezed back as reassuringly as I could manage just then. I found Scar's hand too, dangling over the Clone"s shoulder, and wrapped my fingers around hers. As much as we hated the guy, we were still effected by his death.

Call us crazy (you no doubt have throughout this freaky journey at least once) but we were loyal Suna Shinobi till the end, and he was our Kage. His spirit, however twisted and vile, had kept this Village alive for years, and now the wind had died.

"...I see. No wonder my heart felt so conflicted this morning..."

"Scar's up!" the Clone chirped (more like squeaked tearfully) just before going poof and letting my sister drop clumsily onto her own feet.

I helped steady her, then jerked my chin out at the crowd of blurry-eyes mourners. "Wanna join them?"

She slowly sat back, clearly cautious from the disorienting effect of just waking up (Kami knows I'm clumsy as shit in the morning), her eyes shut tightly. I watched her hand clench around the fabric of her shorts. She was shaking again, if only a little. "No," she said at last, letting her golden-flecked gaze just flit over the scenery. "I'd rather not interfere at such a time. We'll cause too much of a spectacle, knowing you two."

Violet and I grinned sheepishly. We couldn't deny it. Like always, our brainy sissy was right on the mark.

"For now..." Scar sighed softly, gently uncurling her stiff fingers. "For now we'll watch and mourn in our own way. Perhaps I can even find something agreeable about the Kazekage that I can remember him for."

That sounded like a good plan to me. Violet, too. So we sat back and watched the Village cry to cure the sudden drought.

Scarlette's POV

I was surprised how deeply I felt the sing of the Kazekage's death, however inevitable it was. What had happened to that bitter anger I felt for him, so long ago? When had I lost the animosity he stirred inside me just at he mention of his name?

Sitting in the silent Village, alone with only my sisters to assure me, I felt nothing but a brutally overwhelming sadness.

We were human, after all. And we recognized that no one, no matter how hated, deserved a death at Orochimaru's venomous fangs. Fate really was too cruel at times.

I scanned the crowd subtly, eyes half-hooded, breathing slow and tranquil. Familiar faces. After so long apart, all I wanted was to see familiar faces. But throughout the tear-soaked scene, I only saw emptiness.

That is, until a creaking elderly woman stepped up onto the stage and addressed all those gathered.

"Is that...?"

"Yuppy, it's Lady Chiyo!"

The master puppeteer held her head high and proud, displaying the ancient Sand Village headband tied around her forehead. I realized every available Ninja, injured or not, also sported their connection to the Village.

The three of us simultaneously reached for our own headbands as Lady Chiyo spoke.

"...I'm not one to do these kindsof things..." She looked uneasy, but masked it with her booming vocals. "But I make an exception today because... the Village has lost it's leader. I knew him when he was a bratty child, who never respected his elders and ran amuck. I knew him when he was training to be a Shinobi, slowly loosening that dense head of his. I knew him when he became something the Sand could be proud of, a Ninja worthy of being called Kage."

She paused, letting her words wash over everyone. Ari's grip on my hand tightened, and I hear Violet choking back a muffled sob. Lady Chiyo took a deep breath.

"And I watched him struggle to keep the Sand alive. He did what we taught him to do: Retain the Sand's honor at any cost. He even made the ultimate sacrifice." For a moment, I thought she meant him giving up his own life, and I thought it strange. Were they not aware he'd been ambushed, that he hadn't willing died to protect the Village? Then I noticed where Chiyo had shifted her gaze to.

Gaara stood by himself, away from the crowds, arms crossed emotionlessly across his chest. His slitted eyes bore thousand-foot holes in the sand beneath his feet, until he glanced up and caught Chiyo's poignant stare. For a moment, the briefest moment, his eyes flashed with white-hot pain. Then the moment was gone and he resumed burning the sand into somberly reflective glass.

I wanted to be there for him, even if just to show him he was not alone in the world. That he wasn't only branded a monster, a device conceived by his father to make gains for the Village. But I held myself back. Not yet...

"Today, we say farewell to a man who bore all of Suna on his back. Now come and say your goodbyes." And with that, Chiyo placed a flower at the table in front of the Kazekage's body, and walked off stage to stand beside her brother.

"Reminds me of the old man's funeral," Ari murmured as people formed a line to bid their last farewell to their leader. "Except there's no rain."

"S-Stupid!" Violet chided, furiously rubbing at her eyes, trying to wipe away the evidence of her tears. "Sand Ninja don't cry! Cause we're tough, remember?! And our Village is tough too! So no raining!"

A small, agonizing smile flitted across my lips. "Sometimes even the toughest of warriors shed a tear, Vi," I reminded her gently.

Tiny droplets suddenly splashed over our noses, followed by more and more, until a downpour had taken hold of the Village and obscured it behind an impenetrable wall of roaring water.

Violet's sobs went unnoticed.

We made our way down to the funeral, confident we wouldn't be recognized in the rain. Ari slunk away and returned with three flowers, all wilting under the weight of the heavy droplets that clung to their petals. They were beautiful. Snow-white and speckled with crimson, the petals curled upwards, forming a sort of bell that was steadily collecting water. Ari turned them over and let the water splash over our already drenched sandals before we snuck up to the stage.

Violet went first, sniffling quietly, stumbling over her own feet. She spoke softly over the coffin, her eyes completely closed to the sight, then placed her flower on the table and shuffled away. Ari followed. She said nothing, only dropped her flower next to Violet's and moved on.

It seemed I was the last visitor for the Kazekage. It seemed fitting, somehow, that the Hayes sister who despised him the most was the last to give her regards. I didn't linger, as I didn't have anything worth saying. I placed my flower among the garden already there, but just as my fingers released the stem I remembered its name: the ghost flower, a desert beauty.

Even more fitting, I suppose.

Violet and Ari were waiting for me. The crowd had dispersed, leaving us practically alone in the torrent that still surrounded us. I smiled weakly to show them I was alright. They returned the smile with crooked ones of there own, though, for once, I wasn't worried about what they warned of.

The rain wasn't horrible, but that may have been because I was a little numb at the moment. I'd started shaking again and Violet has been the one to see it first. She guided Ari and I under the awning of a small shop and the pitter-patter of the rain thrummed above us as we attempted (futilely) to dry off.

Ari shook herself out like a canine, and Violet let out a giggle of pure joy, shouting that she looked like Kiba's perfect match. I chimed in with, "I'd say she's closer to AAlkamaru's perfect match."

My sister glowered at me from beneath the tangle of soaked blue hair that coated her forehead. "Yeah well!" she shot back shortly. "I'm not the one who's in love with a freaking pu--" She cut off abruptly, widening her eyes in surprise. I narrowed my own and turned around in time to feel a rush of sand brush just centimeters from my face before swirling into the form of a very troubled redhead.

I felt tears prick the back of my eyes.

"You're... back," he stated, tipping his head to the side ever-so-slightly.

"Gaara!" Before I could wrap my hands around their skinny little necks, Ari and Violet threw themselves at Gaara. I expected them to get tosses aside roughly by his sand (making me apologize profusely in their stead) but they managed to snag their arms around him. Everyone was so surprised by the first ever contact that they all crashed to the ground, in a very Hayes-sisters-like heap.

And I started laughing.

I couldn't explain it; it was just too much for me to hold back. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, kneeling over as I let out every shred of awful emotions in the form of sweet, wonderful laughter.

Gaara peeked out from beneath my sisters and, catching my teary eyes, offered the shakiest, tiniest, most awkward smile I'd yet to come across. It made me laugh with even greater force.

"Scarlette? Ari, Violet?"

My sisters were too busy squealing over being able to hug Gaara that I was the only one to turn around to greet two more familiar voices. I expected the astonished look on Temari's face (the tears caught me off guard though); what I didn't expect was Kankuro's fist thumping me on the head, accompanied by him choking out, "You damn little brats! where the hell have you been?!"

Rubbing the bump on my head, I just grinned softly as Temari barked at Kankuro to shut up, Kankuro attempted to pry my sisters off of Gaara, the redhead sighed and dropped his head back into the dirt, and my sisters attacked Kitty-chan with love.

Home had never felt so welcoming.