::
Sasori didn't look too happy today, Gaara noted curiously. The corners of the man's lips were pulled down into a huge frown and his finger had been incessantly tapping his knee for the past ten minutes. A scorpion had come saying something like 'she'll be dispatched in a few days, so you don't have to keep worrying' or another thing along those lines.
"Did something happen, Sasori?"
"It's just..." he grumbled. Then, he sighed. "Remember when I told you about the girl I knew? The one whose heart is sick?"
Gaara nodded.
"She was admitted to the hospital a couple of weeks ago after nearly sacrificing her life for the people she loved. I'm not complaining that she cares so much about other people, but it wouldn't hurt for her to care about herself every once in a while."
The boy leaned into his arm. "She must really love those people she saved, huh?" he asked. Sasori threaded a hand through Gaara's hair and looked up at the setting sun.
"They're her family, but she should learn how to not risk her life so much."
Gaara shifted so that his eyes were downcast. He didn't know why Sasori was so against such a thing, if the sick girl was willingly to die for those she loved, wasn't that a good thing? It showed how much those people meant to her and what she was willing to do to make sure they stayed alive no matter the cost.
There was such pure intent behind the gesture.
"I would do the same thing for you," the boy murmured into the cloth of Sasori's cloak sleeve. The man slumped forward and pretended not to hear.
::
Going south to tell the dying man there is no cause for fear
::
The monk stood in the middle of the recently completed bridge that connected Wave Country to the mainland. He passed by numerous dark spots that stained the concrete on his walk over, the workers saying that it was merely a paint spill accident, but those who had been there a month ago knowing very well that it was a loosely-crafted lie.
A little boy, he saw, hurried to two people standing along the railing of the bridge. The monk recognized them as the team that accompanied the team that left on harrowing circumstances.
"Haku-san..." the boy said, clinging onto the teenager's sleeve. "Haku-san, do you know what happened to Sakura-san yet? Is she still hurt?"
Haku bit his bottom lip. "We received a letter saying she's recovering well. She's okay now, Inari-kun," he answered. He tried to give up his best smile, but the monk knew it was anything but. Forced smiles were never the easiest to see, but the way it fit so uncomfortably on the Kiri-nin's face made it more than apparent. He kept it on until Inari reluctantly returned to his now-safe town before facing his companion, the bandaged swordsman.
"We have to return to the village," the man said before his apprentice could utter a word. "They said she was fine and Yagura-sama won't allow delay."
"I have to tell her I'm sorry!"
"Haku—"
The boy started to cry. "I need to tell her that she didn't need to do that! I need to tell her, Zabuza-sensei! I need to tell her that she shouldn't have thrown her life away!"
The monk turned forward.
He'd been one of the few not in the safe houses and watched the entirety of the fallout. He saw the bandits, the explosions, the crane falling, and the anguished screams and malevolent chakra that followed soon after that. Haruno Sakura, if he remembered correctly, had nearly died when he watched her be carried away by her teacher.
