Hibari knew she had to act quickly. She might not get a chance like this again for days, even weeks! Who knew if she would last that long? She had managed to infiltrate Hebijo, much to her own shock and awe, and not only had they seemingly accepted her right into their fold as one of their own, but they had no problems with what had likely motivated her to do so. It was like they welcomed it, if anything.

It had only been going on for a short time, this "mission" of hers, but already... The experience had been one shock after another, to say the least.

Training with the Hebijo... Learning with the Hebijo... Talking with the Hebijo... Just spending time with the Hebijo... It was all so eye opening, which in turn was just so confusing for Hibari!

These people were supposed to be evil. These people were supposed to be heartless. All her life, this was what Hibari had always been thought.

And it wasn't true at all, was it?

The Hebijo shinobi were just like the Hanzo shinobi. A little on the more extreme side when it came to training, maybe, and certainly more jaded, that much was true without a doubt, but... They weren't that different. Hibari could see that so clearly now. She couldn't even imagine having ever thought otherwise, and part of her truly did long to be able to be friends — truly friends — with these girls.

It was so confusing!

The idea of betraying them didn't sit right with her as easily as it had before. Infiltrating their school and stealing back the Super Secret Ninja Scroll had been her mission from the beginning, yet now... She realized she might feel genuine guilt if she managed to pull it off, which in itself would be a miracle for someone like her.

But more than that, she couldn't let herself betray Hanzo and all the friends waiting for her. That was a feeling beyond simply "not sitting right with her," that much was certain. She had to do this.

Yagyu had nearly died because of her.

The scroll had been stolen in the first place because of her!

So many horrible things had happened, and so many horrible things were going to happen, all because of her!

She had to make up for that.

Even if it killed her, she would fix things.

After all, this was her fault.

"I have to fix this..." The pink haired shinobi whispered to herself, nodding in a way that initially looked like it was meant to be a confident gesture — in reality, it was anything but. Hibari was a bundle of emotions right now. Her heart was pounding, her palms were sweating, and with the clock ticking, she knew she had to go fast if she wanted to escape without raising suspicion — if this all hadn't been a set up to begin with. "I have to... Because..."

It was all her fault.

Just like everything was.

As she looked up at the ceiling, where she knew the oh so important scroll was hidden... Going over the words in her head again, Hibari found herself pausing, thiking over her motivations, recalling what incidents had led her to this point... And so she found herself hesitating.

It was her fault.

It was her fault.

If she went back... How many other things would be her fault? How many other traps would she walk right into? How much more would her friends need to suffer before she cost them something so much more than just a scroll?

How many more times would Yagyu get hurt because of her...?

... Would Yagyu even live through the next time for there to be a time after that...?

Full of indecision, Hibari bit her lip. She bit it so hard she was sure it would start to bleed if she didn't let go soon.

Yagyu was so important to her. Could she accept being responsible for causing her important friend so much hurt? Could she allow herself to be the cause of it any longer?

Her heart was pounding. She knew she was taking too long. Someone would come back and find her. Someone would take her only chance to do this... If she was going to do it at all... If she could do it at all.

She shouldn't hesitate here.

Maybe... It was time to stop hesitating.

Haruka really had thought Hibari was starting to show a little promise. She had joined Hebijo's ranks, she had started to get along with the rest of the elite students... If Hibari dawdled around for too long, surely she would get labeled as a traitor anyway, regardless of her intent, and the choice to leave would be taken away from her no matter what — even if she did, by some miracle, retrieve Hanzo's Super Secret Ninja Scroll, she wouldn't be forgiven if she returned to Hanzo after much longer.

Haruka understood that Hibari might take some time, some... polishing, if you will, before she was all settled, but little Mirai had as well, hadn't she? If it meant wearing the traitor in the girl down, then so be it. Who knew? It was starting to seem like Hibari had been serious about staying. Perhaps Hibari was going to really go through with this and leave Hanzo for good? How marvelous that would be...

Or so Haruka had started to think.

After all, now...

Here they were.

Here Hibari was.

Haruka supposed it was to be expected. Hibari barely knew the Hebijo girls. She had been given the golden goose, as far as she knew. A chance to take back the oh so precious scroll that she had been oh so foolish to lose and get away without any of her new friends even knowing. What a sweet, naive little dream. Just like Hibari.

It was just another thing Haruka liked about the girl. Oh, Hibari was impossibly ignorant if she thought she would even get down a single hallway if she actually did manage to take it, but at the same time, it was just terribly sweet that she truly seemed to think that it was possible.

If only Hibari had just looked for the bag she had been sent to find and left. If only she had peeked into the room and seen it wasn't there and turned right back around. Certainly, Haruka didn't dislike this loyalty of Hibari's at all, but didn't the girl realize she was never getting that scroll back?

Why was this girl being so difficult? Didn't she realize that she would be welcome here no matter what?

Not that Haruka could find it in herself to hate that... No, it was to be expected. This was how Hebijo worked. Perhaps, if anything, she should hate herself for becoming so invested?

Haruka shook away those thoughts. She was hesitating. Hibari had already been alone for far too long in there. She should have struck already. She was giving Hibari time to mull things over, time to plot. That would do neither of them any good. It was unbecoming of a Hebijo shinobi.

She, Haruka, really was the one being difficult here, wasn't she?

No more of that. It was shameful of her, and it spoke poorly of her training that she had wasted this much time already.

Preparing to send in one of her puppets, Haruka's insides tightened as...

... Hibari left the room, quietly murmuring to herself that she had been unable to find Haruka's bag as she left through another one of the room's sliding doors.

Haruka was stunned. She could still vaguely sense Hibari's presence — it was getting fainter and fainter. The girl was making no attempt to flee or to hide. If she had somehow stolen the scroll without Haruka's realizing, she had gotten incredibly cocky about herself in the span of just a few moments, and something told Haruka that the possibility of that happening was rather unlikely, if not impossible.

"Could it be...?"

Haruka dared not believe it, she knew better than to chance such a thing as that, but... If Hibari wasn't even attempting to take back the scroll...

What could this mean?

Perhaps... This was worth... observing.

Maybe... It was time to stop hesitating.

Maybe it was time to face reality.

The reality that she was a failure — a failure of a shinobi and of a human being.

The reality that she would bring nothing but despair and pain to the people around her as the person she was now.

The reality that she would be betraying Hanzo more by going back to them, by making them have to put up with her once again, than she would be by staying here.

Maybe this... was a blessing.

Maybe she could start over.

And in that moment, Hibari said goodbye. To her friends, to her family, to her dreams... To everything.

She would embrace the Hebijo.

She could do that, couldn't she?

At least her new friends would be strong enough that a failure like her wouldn't bring them down...