Life-less Dolls

Chapter 9

Everything was quiet and still. The late morning sunlight streamed through the window of the hospital room, giving the stark white walls a yellowish glow. Kankuro lay unconscious on the bed. I sat next to him in a chair, listening to his breathing and finding it to be at a normal pace again. Gaara had left me to care for him not half an hour ago, saying that he had a lot of paperwork to catch up on. He’d stayed until he knew for sure that his brother would be alright. He said he was leaving his brother in “capable hands” now. I stared at the tiled floor in front of me, turning Colossus’s small figure over and over in my hands. I had to do something when we first returned in the time we waited to see how Kankuro was doing, so I’d retrieved all of my puppets pieces and reassembled him perfectly again.

Now, I just waited for Kankuro to wake up. For what the medics had said, he suffered a few broken ribs, a bruised shoulder and a small concussion. They’d given him some medication and put him on the IV and heart monitor just in case before they finally left us alone. The constant beeping from it had long since faded from my ears long ago as I had gotten used to it. Glancing out the window, I looked out over the beautiful desert city of Suna. I could only see the buildings from here, but I imagined the streets bellow bustling with people. It was too nice of a day to be inside. I sighed and returned my gaze to the little puppet again.

“You know, if you bored, you don’t have to stay in here with me.” The sound of his voice shocked me into turning my gaze to look over at him and met his soft smile, “Hi.”

I sighed again, quietly, “How long have you been awake?”

            “Not long.” His voice was soft and quiet.

“How are you feeling?”

“Well…” He shifted and grimaced at the pain in his side, “Heh, I’ve certainly been better…but I’ve been worse too.”

I frowned, looking away from him, “I’m sorry…”

“Maiko.” I glanced over at him, “You know as well as I do that it wasn’t your fault. It’s mine…”

I didn’t answer and just moved to sit beside him and snuggled into his uninjured side. His arm wrapped around me and he rested his head against mine. He saw Colossus and took him from me, “Hey, you fixed him. When we were able to have time for this?”

“This morning when they were examining you.” I murmured quietly, watching him turn the figure over again and again as I had, “I was really worried about you.”

She felt him smirk, “Aw, that’s sweet.” He looked down at me and gave me a warm smile, “Not as much as I was about you though.” Silence followed that and I was unsure what that meant. Of course he was worried about me, but I couldn’t help but think he meant something more by that. He spoke again after a few moments, “So, where’s the Zero Tails. It he still around to give you nightmares?” His smile had faded and was replaced with a clenched jaw.

“Well, actually-”

“-Cause it’s about time I give that sack of a demon a piece of my-”

“I destroyed him. He’s gone.” Silence. I had no idea why I said that. I felt that I needed to take credit for what I had achieved and state that I had in fact taken Zero down. Kankuro was quiet for a moment before he looked down to meet my eyes, a look of surprise in his, “What? You…”

“After he knocked you out, he tried to kill you and Gaara, finish you off, but I intercepted and vanquished him before he got the chance.” I looked over at the bedside table, moving out of his embrace to pick up Sho’s lantern and the scroll Kankuro had given me that contained Salamander before moving back into, handling him the scroll, “I brought him back in one piece, just like I promised.” Then I looked to the lantern in my lap, “After Zero was gone, Sho sealed himself inside his lantern where he’ll remain until the time comes when Zero will return.”