Hola, people! What's up? Ready for THE END? 

Ok, that was cruel. I'll move on! DID YOU SEE THE NEW COVER? IT IS AWESOME, IS IT NOT? The amazing 7Panda7 made it for me, and I absolutely LOVE it! Thank you so much, Panda-san! This chapter is dedicated to you!

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Violet's POV

The hospital was so booooring. 

What made it like a bajillion times worse was that Scar said, in no uncertain terms, that we were forbidden to escape early, all cause she thought we might be suffering from "psychological trauma".

Here was Ari's response:

"Pfft. Psychological trauma? You're kidding, right? We went way past the crazy tipping point ages ago, Scar. I mean, we're not, like, Akashi-level unstable, but you gotta admit we've never really been normal either. So whatever tests they do on us are just gonna be kinda pointless. Cause, ya know, we're kinda like mini Steins sometimes, infected with madness and all that. But cuter."

And Scar opened her mouth, looking like she really wanted to retort, but then closed it a moment later, her eyes hooded, gold flecks glinting dangerously. She didn't like being wrong, especially when it was Ari who was right. Eheh, our sissy had pride issues!

Anyway, we'd been here for days. Days. That's pretty much a thousand years in fangirl time, like when you're waiting for the next chappy of your favorite manga to be updated, or a new episode of Naruto to be released. But, seeing as how we were living Naruto now, maybe that one wasn't so relevant.

We'd sorta passed out after the whole Obito affair, and the Kiri Ninja that Hibiki had been traveling with finally showed up. They, along with Sensei, helped bring us back to the Village, where I guess Hibiki Sensei explained everything to Mei and Ao, because when we came to (groggy as all get-out), they were looking at us like our puppy had died. Mei promised Sensei that the treaty could come at a later date and she assigned a few ANBU to assist him in carrying us back to Suna, as Sensei insisted we'd want to recuperate surrounded by the sand we called our home.

We all broke out into wicked smiles, because he was just so right.

I think Kankuro, Temari and Gaara were here when we were first brought in, maybe Baki, too, but everything was hazy and distored at that point and I don't think we responded to anything they said, which probably made them worry more than they shoulda. 

Hibiki visited us daily, bringing with him stuff about the goings-on of the Village, candidates for the next Kazekage, who divorced who, how Kitty-chan was doing (Scar shot me a suspicious look while Ari just rolled her eyes, mumbling under her breath). It was nice, still being connected to the outside world even though we couldn't go beyond these four white walls. 

I pouted, arms crossed under my chest, my squint-y eyes focused on the wall directly across from my fluffy, bouncy bed. Bor-ing. No colors, no anime posters, no fanart depicting SasoDei whatsoever! It was just plain ugly. I wanted to just--

"Gah, dammit. How long are we gonna be cooped up in here, huh?! I'm ready to go now. I'm fine! Fine, I tell you! For Kami's sake, it's not like I'm bleeding out here or whatever! They've wrapped up anything and everything that was even remotely scratched, so why can't I just get the hell outta--"

The pillow Scar had thrown with pin-point accuracy smacked into Ari (face-first) and she was knocked clean off the bed, making a heavy-sounding thud on the ground below.

"Hush," Scarlette ordered, waving a dismissive hand at her, "it's too early in the morning for your antics." She sighed, huffing her feathery (and ever-growing) bangs from her eyes. "Honestly, it hasn't been the hell you've described it as. They're only keeping us here for observation, since you've somehow passed your psych evalutations. It won't be long until we're declared healthy and allowed to leave, I assure you."

She may have said that, said it like she firmly believed it, but the fatigue of monotony was beginning to show on even her inexpressive face, her lips quirked down into a too-deep frown, eye set on the verge of twitching whenever a Medic Nin walked in to go over our charts and change our bandages. Scar didn't like being here anymore than we did. And she even liked the dreary white walls!

"Ugh, whatever," Ari groaned, crawling her way back onto the bed, under her thin layer of covers, holing herself up until she looked like a cuddly blue-furred bear peeking out of its hibernation-vacation, snuggly and warm. "I'm just pissed, ok? Pissed. We go through all that shit, and we can't even see the Sand Siblings? Where the hell are they, anyway? I know they were here a while ago, but they haven't come back since!"

"You have a point," Scar agreed in a tired sigh, falling back against her pillow. "It seems odd they've yet to visit. Sensei comes all the time, but I have a thought that he might be feeling guilty, and he's here to relieve himself of the feeling."

"But Sensei loves us!" I protested, scrabbling to the edge of my bed and hopping over to Scar's so that I could cling to her arm, my wide eyes sparkling with dismay. "He'd come here even if he wasn't feeling guilty!"

Scar's stiff, thoughtful expression softened, her glacial eyes melting into their usual windows into the night sky. She patted my head, ruffling up my desperately-in-need-of-a-brush hair. "I didn't mean it that way, Violet," she soothed, her lips curving into a pleasant smile. "You're right; Sensei visits because it's what he wants to do."

"Totally!" Ari added, flinging herself across her bed, throwing back her blanket in the process, and laying spread-eagle on her stomach, legs kicked back into the air and swinging. "Everyone loves us. Well, 'cept Tobi, I guess. But he's dead, so it's cool!"

I flinched, unable to stop myself, at Ari's hardened, uncaring tone. But the lost, sparking look in her eyes told me she was only covering up all the stress and turmoil that had been thrown at us by Tobi-kun. She sighed, long and broken, dropping her face into her balled up sheets, muffling her next words:

"Sometimes, I miss Aunt and Uncle..."

Scar and I straightened at that, sharing a concerned look. Ari never talked about our home back in reality, not really, not anymore. She was the one who talked nonstop about the Ninja world, about Kiba and Temari and Tenten and everyone, who looked right at home among the insanity (I did too!). To hear her getting all wishy-washy about something that couldn't be changed...

Obito must have shaken her up worst then we'd thought.

Ari, sensing our unease, peeked her above the railing at the end of her bed and winked. "No worries, no worries!" she chanted, pulling a complete one-eighty that Scar and I didn't believe for a second. "I just... realized that... maybe we're not supposed to be here--"

The door slammed open, effectively shutting up Ari. And causing her to roll off the bed again in surprise.

I giggled.

"Ah, they're awake!" a familiar cat-eared Kitty-chan's husky voice called. My ears pricked, my head automatically swiveling towards the door. Kitty-chan! I cheered mentally, once again not wanting to scare him away with my (admittedly) spastic personality. I'd had enough of people keeping their distance from me, from us, and after everything, I just wanted to be one big, happy family again with the Sand Siblings. 

Kankuro was shoved aside, before he could call a greeting, by his grinning sister, who strut in, her strides purposeful, her expressing ecstatic. "You're up!" she said, her voice betraying the slight relief she tried to hide in her twitchy smile.

"We've been up," Ari grumbled from where she was clawing her way up the side of her bed.

Temari sweat dropped, clearly ashamed. "Yeah, we're sorry about that." She crossed the room and, one-handed, hauled Ari to her feet and helped her settle down again on the rumpled bedspread. "We couldn't get away from our missions. Otherwise, we would've been the first to come and see you guys."

Ari looked unconvinced, but shrugged off her discomfort in the end, like she always did.

I smiled a bit wider. Having Temari around always cheered her up!

"Hey, where'd Gaara go?"

Kankuro was peering out into the hallway, scratching his head in confusions. "He was right here, the little brat. Where the hell'd he--"

"Right here, Kitty-san," Scar smiled, wider than anything I'd seen in days, gesturing at the boy who, in a swirl of gritty sand, had appeared at her bedside, arms held loosely across his chest, a mask of indifference sliding over his features.

Ha! He cared about our wittle Scarlette! 

Giggling to myself, I slipped off the bed, wanting to give them a little privacy, and skipped over to Kankuro. He eyed me warily as I blinked up at him, arms held behind my back, flighty smile on my lips. "Were you worried?" I chirped, catching him off guard.

"I, uh, was..." He groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead. I cocked my head to the side. His fingers slid apart, allowing him to see my bemused expression, and they quickly snapped together again.

I pouted. "Kitty-chan!" I whined, tugging pitifully at his arm, trying to drag it down from his face. "Did I do something wrong? Did I? Did I? Cause if I did, I am so, so, so, soooo sorry, I swear to Kami! Please just tell me!"

I finally succeeded in un-gluing his hand from his eyes, forcing him to look at me, pouty lips and all. A haze of red crept over his cheeks and what I could see of his neck. He looked away, towards where Ari was mock-fighting with Temari, towards where Scar and Gaara were chatting like old buddies, then at the ceiling, the floor, and then - finally! - back at me. It kinda reminded me of the way Ari said Scar acted after she'd been kissed by Gaara (There was a lot of fangirling after that, even though she properly explained to us that they were just friends and that Gaara had confused friendship with love because of me - oops?).

Weird.

"Kankuro...?" I questioned curiously, a hint of worry pitching my voice higher.

His eyes narrowed. "Hey, what happened to Kitty-chan?" he growled, snagging me by the arm and yanking me closer, nearly against his chest.

My eyes lit up with glee. "I thought you hated that nickname, Kitty," I giggled, beaming. Another round of scarlet claimed his usually pale cheeks. 

"Y-Yeah, but... I dunno... i-it's your nickname, I guess, so..."

His stutter was absolutely adorable, oh my Kami!

"Alright, Kitty-chan it is!" I cheered, throwing my arms skywards for emphasis. I snuck my arms around his neck and glomped him in a spectacular hug, the likes of which Scarlette would have scoffed at. But I didn't care; he'd made me happy.

Kankuro suddenly pushed me away, making me stumble backwards. I caught myself before I lost my balance and fell, but the pang in my heart grew fiercer without the aided pain od hitting the floor. I sniffled, running the back of my hand under my nose, wiping at my eyes. Did I bother him that much? Aw, and I'd really been trying to keep myself in check around him. Lee-kun didn't mind my hugs, but I didn't...

"Geeze, what the hell are you crying for, you little pain in the ass?"

"N-Nothing," I mumbled, refusing to look at him. And that's when I felt his rough puppeteer fingers ruffle up my hair as he leaned down, brushing his nose against mine.

"You're too damn cute for you own good, brat," he groaned, and, before I could react, pressed his lips to mine.

I could hear Ari shouting in the background: "About damn time, Kitty-chan! What the hell have you waiting for?!"

"Really," Temari agreed in a sigh, "you've just been too scared to do it, haven't you? You were afraid of a little girl!"

"What.... just happened?" Gaara sounded bewildered, and I could imagine the blank look on his face with perfect clarity.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Scar promised, and I could hear the smirk in her voice.

As Kankuro pulled away, a rush of heat spread across my cheeks. But it was alright, cause he was redder than I was by a mile! He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, avoiding eye contact. "Uh, I didn't... you weren't.... I just... got caught up..."

That stutter. Too cute!

"It's fine!" I trilled, hooking my arms around his neck again, burying my face in his chest. "You're much better than Tobi-kun anyway, Kitty-chan!"

"Who the f*ck is Tobi-kun?!"

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The sun was just beginning to set, casting flaming tri-colored shadows on the rare puffy clouds that settled below it on the horizon. The air was warm, perfect Suna heat, but the breeze that threaded its way through the Village was cool enough to keep everyone's sweating to a minimum, which was nice, because sweating was just plain gross.

Ari lay on her back beside me, arms folded behind her head, legs splayed out in front of her. Her eyes were half-closed, her nonexistent chest rising and falling every so often with deep, soothing breaths. Scar was on her other side, legs pulled up to her chest, chin atop her knees. She stared, almost unblinking, at the distance, a thoughtful look clouding her gaze.

A little after Kankuro had kissed me, and I'd dodged the question about Obito, Hibiki Sensei had arrived some amazing news: We were being discharged!

After filling out all the paperwork and business-y stuff, the Siblings had taken us home, back to the Kazekage's mansion. They'd surprised us just before going inside, though, saying that we may have to move, considering a new Kazekage would be chosen soon and the house wouldn't be theirs anymore.

Ari, Scar and I had exhanged mischievous glances. We knew just what would happen to this dusty old mansion, but we couldn't tell anyone, which kinda sucked, but oh well. We knew the rules by now, and we would stick to them. 

We'd rested for a few hours, but none of us felt like staying indoors for long after our stay in the hospital, so, when the Siblings were busy, we snuck out into the streets and made our way to our "beloved" training grounds. Though, after being with Sensei for a while, our affection for the place wasn't really as sarcastic.

Ari, of course, had made it a game: Whoever climbed the wall first got to kiss Sensei! 

Scar had shoved her into the sand.

In any case, we still came up here, a place where we could look out over the Village and feel peaceful for the first time in a long time. 

Home. This Village was our home. That's what I thought, sitting up here, watching the stars begin to blossom across the darkening sky. 

I really do love it here...

"Ya know," Ari piped up, cutting short the soft silence around us, "I just realized. With Obito gone, we don't have to worry so much anymore. Sure, we'll still go on tough missions and all that, but he was the only guy dead-set on killing us. So for a while, we'll be safe." She grinned suddenly, a glowing crescent of white on the growing dark. "The world's our Cloyster!"

Silence.

Some more silence.

Ari's smile grew sheepish as Scar's eye twitched dangerously. 

"I'm going to push you off this wall, Arianna, in two extremely short seconds, so I suggest you..." She trailed off, seeing Ari jump to her feet and take off down the wall, yelping about how mean Scar was and how she couldn't take a joke.

I just laughed, watching her go.

Scar smiled and dropped her chin onto her knees again.

"It is good to be home," she murmured.

I looked back out at the dying sun, and a firecracker of warmth spread through me. "Yuppy!" I agreed, leaning back on my palms. "Suna's the best!"

the end