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Another month passed and Hitomi still slept deeply. Her skin lost color from time to time. It seemed as if the life in her body was escaping more and more. My worries grew immeasurably every day. I could not and would not imagine a life without Hitomi. Although the world stopped for her, reality was different. For reality went on, mercilessly.
"And you know...", I began to update her like every other day, "a few days ago I had a mission and ran into Lee on the way. That was the guy with the above average taijutsu who really kicked my ass during the chunin exam.
And he was fighting some guy who takes bones out of his body and uses them as weapons. Lee wasn't really in his right mind, so I helped him out a little bit. I think he was drunk... But please don't ask me why."
I then approached her carefully and placed my hand on hers. "When are you going to wake up...? Your hands are losing more and more warmth and your skin is losing color..."
I gritted my teeth and started talking about another topic.
"I'm also trying to become a better person bit by bit. I don't want to hurt my loved ones around me anymore and I want to win the trust of the residents here for me.... It may be very difficult or even impossible, but I really want to change for the better. I want to finally be able to look ahead, but for that I also need you, Hitomi. Without you... I can't do it."
While I was talking about all this, a nurse came in and did her daily checkup on her. Every day, the same thing. Without any progress. As quickly as she was there, she left just as quickly.
"What else did I want to tell you...? Ah exactly! Don't tell anyone yet, but after Orochimaru assassinated the former kazekage, we haven't had a kage in a while, and you know that the 4th kazekage was my father, right? The village elders are discussing appointing Kankuro or me as the new Kazekage."
At that moment, I wished Hitomi had at least answered me with a slight squeeze in her hand. Unfortunately, this never happened. "Naruto is coming to visit tomorrow and wants to see you. That's because he's worried about you too, even though he hasn't known you for long. He feels partly responsible for your current condition, even though I've told him several times that's not true."
After the visiting hours passed, I went home where Temari and Kankuro were waiting for me. "Has anything changed?" asked Kankuro cautiously, and I just shook my head. "Can you do me a favor and meet Naruto at the gate tomorrow and show him the way to Hitomi? I want to stay with her..."
"I'm really starting to worry about you, Gaara." "You'd better worry more about Hitomi, Temari." "You're suffering quite a bit, too." I sighed. This side of Temari was very unfamiliar, so I didn't know how to deal with it either, and just replied curtly, "it's the least I could do after doing all this to her..."
