Anko brought a new rat over, and they completed the procedure again. Hinata thought that the last rat had probably had an infection, so she resolved to clean the wound and use her Healer's Palm on the rat every three hours. She wasn't going to have enough time to take the pins out of the rat and watch for infection before Deidara came, but the pins should be the easiest part of the operation. Most medic nin knew how to remove objects buried deep within one's body, and Hinata had studied up on that, too.

Sakura was right, though. Hinata could feel the exhaustion that was building inside of her. If it hadn't been for Anko, pulling her away for training and dango and hot chocolate- even sleep- she was sure she would have collapsed already.

Still, Hinata kept studying and using her Healer's Palm on the new rat until the day of Deidara's arrival.

Hinata made a new wound in the rat's shoulder above where the arm had been attached. She held her breath as she pulled out the pins in the shoulder one by one and resealed the wound. She also took out the thread and healed the puncture from the thread. "It worked!" she said, a grin spreading on her face.

"Yatta!" Anko cheered. "Now, let's go take a breather." They started walking around the village, sucking on an popsicle.

"You'd better get a pretty decent nap in today," Anko said. "You'll want to be at your most rested and most alert state for such a tricky thing." Hinata agreed.

"I really hope this works," Hinata said. "I don't know that I'll get a second try at it."

"You're good," Anko told her, "and you have me. I'll be right beside you for the whole thing." Hinata nodded.

The evening came much too quickly. Hinata had all of the supplies laid out on the table. She was reading through her notes when Deidara jumped in. "Yo! You ready for this?"

Hinata glanced at the rat. It was nibbling on a sunflower seed with both paws. "Yes," she replied, "I am. Do you have the arms?" Deidara turned to his clay bird and pulled them out.

"I'll take them," Anko volunteered, and Hinata sent her a grateful look.

"Don't worry about it," Deidara said, "I took them off a dead body."

"Did you keep them cold?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, I did everything I was supposed to. They should be in good condition Same blood type, same length, the whole bit." Hinata nodded. She was almost surprised that he was so sensible, but then, Deidara had always been very intelligent. He just had something of a hot head to go with it.

She had Deidara sit down and took a look at his shoulder. She hissed when she saw the puss. "I'm going to need to clean it," she told him. "This is going to hurt." Hinata took a kunai and started digging in to his shoulder, cutting out the signs of infection. She sent Anko to get a hot, wet cloth.

Deidara hissed through his teeth as she cut, but he didn't say a word. Hinata worked until she couldn't find more puss and then wiped down the area. His blood was seeping from the wound, and she blotted at it until she could see the bone in the arm. She bit her lip. His blood now stained her hands and kunai. The smell was unpleasant.

Hinata had Anko warm the arm up to body temperature and hand it over to her. Hinata massaged the arm to stimulated the blood and then blotted the blood and pulled back the skin until she saw the bone.

It didn't match up to Deidara's shoulder correctly. A shard of Deidara's arm was still in the socket. "I'm going to cut out some more bone," she told him, and he gave her a tight nod, his eyes squeezing shut.

Hinata dug the shard out and made sure the socket was clean. She pulled the arm up and shoved it into the socket. Deidara gasped. Hinata held her modified Healer's Palm to it and held it there until it started to seal together. The tricky thing about joints was that they had to be able to swivel and move without a problem, but had to be connected enough that it wouldn't come apart. Hinata rotated the arm in the socket. There was a small grinding sound for a moment, and then the arm started to move. She had overdone it a bit, but the movement was normal enough now.

Hinata pinned the arm and then stitched up the skin. She used her Healer's Palm on it again, and used a warm towel to massage the arm and stimulate the blood flow again. Hinata sliced open a finger and let it drip out. While the blood leaked out through his finger, Hinata worked on the other arm, moving more smoothly this time.

Anko stood next to her and while Hinata didn't need her for anything, she put a reassuring hand on Deidara's back and asked him distracting questions. "What's this 'art' of yours I hear about?" she asked, and Deidara launched into a rant of the beauty of explosions.

"I... think I'm done," Hinata said after a moment, standing back. His fingers need to bleed more before she sealed it up. "How do you feel, Deidara-senpai?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"It hurts all over, but it's better than being armless," he replied.

"Open your mouth," Hinata said, and tossed a few pills into his mouth. "You need antibodies and some iron pills to make up for all of the blood you've lost." Hinata's arms were stained with his blood almost up to her elbows.

"You'll need to rest here for a couple of days, to make sure you don't get infected and because I need to take out those pins." Deidara nodded.

"I'll get an extra futon for him from my house," Anko said. "You get some sleep, Hinata. You look like the dead walking." Hinata nodded. She slipped into bed while Anko dashed out, and fell asleep before Anko's return.

Hinata snapped awake. "What time is it?" she asked. Deidara and Anko were conversing together over in the corner.

"Uh, like, eight o' clock," Anko said. Hinata scrambled out of the futon and nearly stumbled on her way over to Deidara.

"I need to do my Healer's Palm every three hours to keep major artery ways active and to stimulate blood flow, or they'll stop and it will get infected." She held her hands up to his shoulders.

"Eh, really?" Deidara asked.

"Wait, you mean you did this on the rat, too? No wonder Sakura-san said you were going to collapse!" Anko chided.

"Well, if I didn't, it would've died," Hinata said. "Go bring me the antibody pills and have a look at the rat. Is it still alive?"

"Yeah, it's still with us," Anko said.

"How's the paw?" Hinata asked.

"Fully functional." Hinata sighed in relief.

"Ano, sorry Hinata-chan. For making you go through the trouble of all this, un," Deidara said. Hinata shook her head.

"I'm glad you came to see me," she told him. "I... don't want to be cut off from everyone. I miss it, sometimes. The Akatsuki. Although I had a run-in with my least favorite pair: Kakuzu and Hidan."

"Oh, you were there for that?" Deidara asked.

"Yeah. Hidan really lost it, and Kakuzu wasn't there to pull him back. Hidan was facing Konoha's most intelligent shinobi, Shikamaru Nara."

"Wish I'd been able to see him get his butt handed to him," Deidara said.

"Not as satisfying as you'd think," Hinata replied. Deidara shrugged.

"How'd he die?"

"He exploded." Deidara gave Hinata a look. "Okay, yeah, you'd have been pretty stoked about it," she admitted.

Deidara smirked. "Teach him to laugh at my explosions, un!" Hinata switched arms and started up her Healer's Palm again.

"So, what were you two talking about so early in the morning?" she asked.

"We were trading stories from the T&I corps to Akatsuki missions," Anko replied.

"And? What do you think?" Hinata asked.

"Both are pretty messed up," Anko said. "But seriously, the Akatsuki sounds fun."

"Wanna join?" Deidara asked.

Anko laughed. "I'd die first," she smiled. "Want to join Konoha?"

Deidara shook his head. "I follow my own rules, un," he said.

"Don't you mean you follow Leader's rules?" Hinata asked.

Deidara rubbed the back of his head. "Point taken," he said. Hinata finished and stood up. She stretched and yawned. Anko watched her.

"Do you need to go back to sleep?" Anko asked.

"No, we have to keep up our morning workout," Hinata said. "I don't want anyone to get suspicious and come check up on me."

"Alright, but take it easy. When we get back here, catch up on some sleep." Anko turned to Deidara. "And you! Go to sleep, too. I want you out of my village."

"Hai, Anko-taichou," he saluted.

"Shut it or I'll make you," she said.

"Of course, Anko-sama."

"That's better." She and Hinata left.

After a grueling workout (Hinata did not have the energy for it) the two got dango and sat outside together.

"So, you ever feel conflicted about your choice?" Anko asked. "To stay in Konoha?"

"All the time," Hinata said. She looked up at the blue sky. "But... I think there's enough for me in Konoha. Enough I want to protect, enough I want to see." She and Anko laid out in the shade for a while.

"Okay, you need to sleep, and I need to torture some poor souls at T&I," Anko said.

"Oh? Feeling murderous?" Hinata asked.

"It's actually how I relax," Anko said, and it didn't surprise Hinata.

Another three days passed. Anko would force Hinata to go lie down and sleep if she caught her awake. Deidara, for his part, was a perfect guest, despite his complaints that everything was boring. He was also frustrated with the slow recovery of his arms. He could move them, but he had poor coordination in the fingers.

He and Anko got along surprisingly well when she was over, at least from what Hinata could see before Anko threw a pillow at her face. Hinata was so glad she had trusted Anko with her secret; Hinata probably would've hacked Deidara's arms off on accident in the midst of the surgery without her.

Hinata awoke and found that, for the first time in what felt like forever, she had pent up energy inside her. The light was fading outside. Anko would be getting back from T&I soon. Hinata shuffled into the kitchen and stuck a pan onto the stove. She wanted to cook something.

Anko walked in just as Hinata finished the stir-fry. "Go wake Deidara up for dinner," Hinata told her. Anko took off her shoes and kicked Deidara's futon.

"Get up or your face is next," she told him. He yawned.

"What's up?"

"Food." He looked to the kitchen.

"You cooked? You're the best, Hinata-chan! The food you make is amazing, un!" Hinata grinned. "Just because everyone else was too lazy to make it..."

"You aren't tired?" Anko asked.

"Nope! I think my body's finally hit a consistent level of energy. You and me are sparring again tomorrow." Hinata brought the food over to the table and the three began to eat. Dinner was nice, and afterwards, as they sat down, an idea came to Hinata. She stepped into her room and brought out her nail polish.

"Hey, Deidara-senpai." He looked up at her. "Since you still don't have the coordination, let Anko-chan and me paint your nails."

"Go ahead," he said. "Just don't make them pink. Make them pink and I swear I'll-"

"Relax," Anko told him. "There's plenty of purples to use here, too." Anko probably thought that would get a reaction out of Deidara, but he only shrugged and held out a hand.

"Purple is a very respectable color, Anko-chan. It's the universal color of poison," Hinata told her. Sasori had said the exact same thing once, and she knew that Deidara must've had that same conversation at some point.

"Yeah..." Deidara murmured. He looked at Hinata. "Is it weak of me, if I say I preferred him as my partner?" It was a very protective, very uncertain way of saying 'I miss him'. In the Akatsuki, it would be weakness to admit you had feelings. Hinata frowned at the thought.

"No, it's not weak. I wish I'd been able to watch your surgery instead of performing it myself." Hinata pulled her necklace out of her shirt. "I made this out of one of his puppets," she said, showing him the tan bead. He reached out and stroked it, deliberate but not hard.

"It's beautiful, Hinata-chan." He looked into her eyes and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Okay, now it's time for the glitter," Anko said.

"What? Glitter?!" Deidara snatched his hand away from her. "I'm not letting you touch me, un!"

"You said anything but pink was okay!" Anko argued.

"I am not letting you-" Anko threw the glitter into his face. He scratched it off like he had ants crawling over him. Anko made to swipe at him again with the glitter. Deidara jumped back and hid in the kitchen. Hinata resigned herself to vacuuming up sparkles later as she watched the fight unfold.

Eventually, Anko gave up and flopped onto his futon. Deidara decided not to argue about it and unfolded himself on the floor.

A knock came at the door. Hinata didn't feel like answering it, so she activated her Byakugan instead. It was a member of ANBU.

Why would they be at her door? Now that Hinata's Byakugan was activated, she could see them on the roof, on the stairs, by the window- this was not good. They'd found Deidara.

"One minute!" she called out. She grabbed the antibody pills and gave them to Deidara. "Someone else will need to take the pins out," she told him. He and Anko sat up in alarm.

"Shoot!" Anko whispered. "They hid their presence!"

Hinata should have been keeping a better watch out for them. This was her fault.

Deidara was up on his feet and stepped up to the window. As soon as Anko opened the door, he would be flying out of there.

"Hello? ANBU-san, what can I-" Crash! Deidara was flying out on his clay bird.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan! Catch you later, un! Katsu!" Deidara exploded a few smaller birds around the ANBU that had started tracking him.

"Don't hit civilians!" Hinata yelled back. That would be the last thing she needed at the moment.

Two ANBU entered the house from the window Deidara had broken out of. Hinata opened her mouth to call for Anko's help, but two ANBU had cornered her as well.

Hinata couldn't do any of her large jutsu while trapped in such a small space. She fought against the ANBU, but when a third one joined them, Hinata was caught.

They brought her and Anko bound before Tsunade in the Hokage tower. "The others were right, Hokage-sama," an ANBU said. "They were found harboring a member of Akatsuki inside the apartment."

Tsunade glared at Hinata and Anko. Before Anko could speak, Tsunade told the ANBU to take her and Hinata to a cell. They'd run out of free passes.

Here, have some glitter. *throws sparkles at you* Free vampire cosplay! For the sappy romantics at heart! We're actually most of the way through the story, things will pick up quickly from here until the end. *If* I manage to update. And I'll probably end up re-working this story. A lot of people were unhappy that Tobi died and Hinata rejoined Konoha. Stick with me! *plot twist coming*