2. Concentrated cluelessness

It was night and the sky had this really weird colour, more like purple than blue as you should think… It actually looked nice, kind of impressive and mysterious, simply because of its unusualness, but it was oppressive all the same and somehow sinister… There was a soft melody in the air, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was marked by these low doomsday-like tones traversed by a quick, but faint sequence of high, bell-like tones and the interaction of these two components conveyed an impression of suspense, as if it would build up to some kind of climax or already the catastrophe…

She kept walking through the dark streets and the initially soft and barely audible melody slowly built up to a crescendo and she couldn't help but to feel nervous about this and searched for a reason for this change… It was like wandering through a labyrinth – neither knowing where one was, nor where one was supposed to go to… So she just kept on straying through the dark alleys, her steps becoming faster and faster as she was overcome by a sudden sense of paranoia. She was all alone, there was no sound but that of her hollow steps and the rising music and yet she somehow felt as if the shadows surrounding her were moving, even though there was nothing that could have stirred this motion in them…

Her head turned from side to side and she walked in a run, but couldn't see anything but the high looming walls on either side of her. The music became louder and faster and was booming through the alley, while her racing heartbeat added the right bass to it. She was sure that she was being followed, the shadows seemed to close in on her and a mixture of paranoia and claustrophobia took over her senses and took her breath away and now she was running for real… She didn't know what there was behind her but she didn't feel like checking, but kept her eyes fixed on what was in front of her, until she reached a blind alley. It felt as if her heart would explode with excitement or dread, as she found herself trapped. It took her a second look to see that there was a door in the wall, even though she had been sure that it hadn't been there a second before… It looked more like a richly ornamented black iron gate than a simple door, but in spite of its pompous appearance, it didn't really look inviting, but neither did the prospect of turning back and facing whatever there was behind her. Her thoughts were racing and she knew that if she couldn't decide fast enough, the decision would be taken from her… A pounding noise appeared; as if someone had put her head inside a drum and was beating it heavily.

Desperately she buried her hands in her hair and squeezed her eyes tightly shut…

… when she opened them again they were focussed on her patched ceiling.

A confused frown appeared on her face, before she laid a hand over her eyes and started messaging her temples, when she perceived that pounding sound again and needed a couple of seconds to figure out what it was… Her heart was still beating at a furious pace and eventually she realized that someone was at her door and the sound of the knocking must have invaded her dream and finally succeeded in waking her up… and no second too early… she didn't know what would have come next, but she was sure that it was better this way…

Still feeling more asleep than awake, Sayuri wrapped her blanket around herself and shuffled to the door, which seemed to vibrate with all the knocks it had to take, where she stroked her dog in passing, who was already standing with wagging tail in front of the wooden door, which she then pulled open.

"Finally – are you deaf or something?!" Naruto appeared in the doorway and walked inside without waiting for an invitation. Slightly caught off guard by Naruto's entrance, which had hit her like some kind of wave of concentrated energy and vigour, Sayuri stood there in the doorway and stared with a startled expression at the gravel walk in front of her, as if she hadn't quite noticed that her visitor had already entered, before she closed the door again and stared at Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you ready?" He stood in the middle of the sparsely furnished room and looked with an impatient expression at the blanket, inside which his team-mate was hidden.

"Ready for what?" She frowned, feeling a bit uneasy about the look on the blonde's face.

"Well, for training, of course!" He exclaimed as if it was the most natural thing to do at eight o'clock in the morning.

"Haha… good one…" Sayuri grimaced and dropped onto her bed again, vanishing entirely under the huge blanket pile.

"That wasn't a joke – I want to try something new and I need some help for it, so get going!" The blonde incited her in a volume and pitch that gave her the shivers.

"But why me? Look… I'm really sorry for yesterday; I didn't mean it this way…" She mumbled from underneath her blanket-fortress.

"Pfft… this isn't some kind of payback – I need your help so come on…" He whined and pulled at her blanket, finally succeeding in at least getting Sayuri to sit up, but she still didn't really look keen on following his request…

"But why me…?" She whined, even though her thin voice hardly made it through the thick layer of covers surrounding her.

"Well, just because! So get up!" The Uzumaki crossed his arms in front of his chest and rolled his eyes, even though Sayuri couldn't really see that.

"Really no… I got really crappy sleep last night and I have to work later so I –"

"No."

"No? What do you mean 'no'?" Sayuri's head peeped out of the cocoon of her thick, red and white blanket and she gazed at her team-mate with a dumbfounded look in her drowsy, half-shut eyes.

"Well, no." The Uzumaki nodded decisively. "It's the least you can do after hurting my feelings so much; that deeply affected me you know… I don't know if I'll ever be the same from now on…" Naruto tried it by arousing her pity and he seemed to be successful – after a few seconds of meditative silence, Sayuri tossed the blanket to the side and mumbled something like "Give me five minutes", before she vanished in the small bathroom and left the Uzumaki with a wide grin and a feeling of triumph.

Half an hour later, they were already on their way to Naruto's favourite training ground, which happened to be close by. Sayuri had convinced him to at least wait till after breakfast, before taking on his rushed plan and fortunately he had agreed, so now they were walking with filled stomachs and in a more or less enthusiastic mood to the great field, where Naruto had used to train his nature-manipulation techniques…

The sun shone right at the large mountain in the western part of Konoha, with all the Hokage faces carved into them and bathed them in a soft golden glow, even though they were for the most part obscured by tarps and scaffolds and a chilly but refreshing breeze whirled numerous tiny pink and white cherry petals through the air and across their path.

"So what is it you need my help with?" Sayuri asked once they had reached the middle of this large meadow, while she picked some sweet-scented cherry blossoms out of her dark hair and let her grey-blue eyes roam over the various pale pink trees surrounding them, while a soft smile flitted over her face.

"Oh well, you know I've been training with that pervy sage lately and he told me that I relied too much on my eyes when fighting, so I should expand my horizon or something and try using my other senses as well… " Naruto explained and already started stretching his shoulders and arms.

"So why again do you need me of all people to help you?" Sayuri eyed him with a frown on her face, but the Uzumaki didn't interrupt his warm-up and just shot a surreptitious glance at her.

"Well – why not? I've been on a mission for nearly a whole week, so we haven't seen each other lately…" The blonde scratched the back of his head and then added: "And you're pretty good at it, right? So I figured you might give me some tips…"

"I don't know… it's just something I can do, it's not like I learned it…" Sayuri explained, already in an apologizing tone, but the Uzumaki just shrugged her off and pulled his forehead protector over his eyes, before he went into a fighting stance and nodded at the girl in front of him. "Attack me… and don't go easy on me, okay?"

The violet-haired girl still observed him with a frown on her face, but not for long, as the blonde Genin suddenly stormed forwards and attacked her himself. Caught off guard by this far too fast movement at this early time of day, Sayuri nearly got hit by her team-mate, if she hadn't let herself fall to the ground in the nick of time and landed rather roughly on the hard soil, before she rolled to the side, as her fairly noisy fall had given the Uzumaki her exact position and so he was after her again just a second later.

She could already see his clenched fist right in front of her, so she leaped upwards and as his punch didn't hit anything but air, he lost his balance and stumbled forwards, before he crashed onto his chin, as Sayuri used the back of his head as a springboard for her landing.

"Hey!" Naruto groused and spat out a bunch of grass, he must have inadvertently bitten into. Pulling back his forehead protector, he turned around and kept his hands clutched in front of his mouth and Sayuri could see a tiny runlet of blood drip down his fingers.

"I'm sorry – you told me not to go easy on you!" Sayuri clutched a hand in front of her mouth as well, but rather in shock, before she rushed to her team-mate, trying to find out what had happened.

"I bit on my tongue…" Naruto explained in a barely understandable voice, before he lowered his hand to let the present medic-nin have a look at it.

After rolling her eyes, because she had really been worried about him, Sayuri started healing his wound, even though she wasn't so sure about how to do it at first and was just about to propose postponing this whole training-thing, when Naruto had already pulled his leaf-headband over his eyes again and prepared himself to fight.

"Phew…" Sayuri sighed before she went into a fighting stance as well and this time didn't wait for the Uzumaki to take her by surprise again…

They trained for hardly two hours, when Naruto, who looked fairly battered already and not to forget frustrated, as things hadn't quite worked out the way he had wanted them to, suggested to take a break and Sayuri who was probably only a little less exhausted than her team-mate, agreed at once. They just dropped down on the grass, letting the early sunbeams warm them, while they both waited for their breathing and pulse to slow down again…

Sayuri crossed her arms underneath her head and watched the lazily moving clouds - at this moment really understanding what Shikamaru liked about that so much… It was really a calming sight… In fact the numerous cotton-wool clouds looked so cosy and inviting that Sayuri would have really liked to dive into them, but then she would have had to get up and that was completely out of the question right now…

"That was really bad, right?" Naruto eventually snapped her out of her reverie, so she slightly tilted her head to the side to look at him. He had his eyes fixed on the sky as well and there was an uncannily pensive expression on his face…

"Well, it was your first try, but considering how quickly you improve you'll have it mastered in no time…" Sayuri tried to encourag him, but he just pressed his lips into a thin line, in what was probably supposed to be a smile but never quite made it that far…

"You have a present for Sakura already?" His deep blue eyes were finally focussed on her and she didn't miss the alert expression on his face.

"No, not really… You?" She watched him closely, but he just shook his head lightly, before he again scrutinized her with a piercing stare.

"Is everything okay between the two of you…?" He uttered the words very carefully, as if he was afraid that he would drop them and they'd break.

"… What makes you think it wasn't…?" Sayuri enquired after a couple of seconds, sounding at least as careful with her choice of words as the Uzumaki had and she no longer looked directly into his eyes, but at the leaf symbol on his forehead-protector instead…

"It's pretty obvious… you used to be really close and now…" He glanced to the side for a second, before he sighed and added: "So, what happened?"

"It's nothing really…" She murmured in a low voice and added in her mind 'not yet, at least…'

"Oh come on… don't tell me you just woke up one day and decided not to talk to each other anymore… so what's going on?" The blonde frowned at her and still stared at her through his clear, piercing eyes.

"It's really complicated…" She sighed and focused her gaze on the clouds again.

"I have plenty of time…" The blonde rose up from the ground and seated himself cross-legged beside his team-mate, not giving her the chance to escape his gaze, again.

"I wouldn't even know where to start…" Sayuri shook her head and started ripping at some grass with her hand.

"Well - start at the beginning…" The Uzumaki advised her and caused at least a tiny smile to appear on her lips, even though it didn't stay there for long. It was really easy to tell from her face that she was engaged in an inner turmoil right now… it had to be something really big, she was hardly able to keep back any longer, so it made Naruto only all the more curious…

"I'm sorry… I can't tell you… " She eventually murmured, but didn't look too happy about her own words herself…

"I won't tell anyone – you know me; I keep my promises…" He tried to convince her and again she had this troubled expression on her face, so he figured it might work…

She really did want to tell him… she was keeping so many secrets at the moment – starting from the day she had seen Sasuke again – at times it really felt as if she would burst. She would have never thought that secrets could be such a burden… It was as if she always had to watch what she was saying… At the moment there was actually just one person she could (theoretically) talk to, without having to mind her words and that was Sasuke… however she didn't really feel like talking about her feelings in his presence so much – being the emotional wasteland he was, he really didn't seem to be the right person to do so with… And what's more, she really felt guilty for lying to her friends… She had at some point decided that lying to them was better than hurting them with the truth and now it seemed too late for her to go back and it was really eating at her… She hated lying… she really did, just as much as she hated hurting someone else's feelings and yet she had done so… otherwise she wouldn't be in trouble with Sakura now and she'd probably hurt even more people, once they found out that she'd been lying to every single one of them… It had worked out for now – you should think that everything had ended up just fine – in fact far better than anyone would have thought possible, so she really shouldn't complain here about some stupid pangs of conscience… It was for the greater good… kind of… it didn't really concern so many people anyway and only few in a negative way, so it should be all right… she really doubted that this secret was actually as big as it felt like to her – it was probably just a side-effect of carrying it around day in and day out… maybe, if her perception wasn't so tainted by her conscience, she'd realize that it was actually a trifle and that she had worried and felt terribly guilty for nothing…

"I don't know…" She sighed helplessly, as she noticed that the blonde still had his expectant eyes fixed on her, waiting for an answer…

"Then let's do it like this, I'll ask questions and you just say yes or no, or nod your head or shake it – however you like…" Naruto suggested, hardly able to hide his curiosity about what was disrupting his team…

"Okay…" Sayuri finally acquiesced, even though she didn't seem too enthusiastic about it…

"So… Sakura is mad at you…" He made his first guess and earned an assenting and yet hesitant nod right away.

"Because of something you did?" Now he didn't get a clear answer, Sayuri didn't seem to know herself or just wasn't sure if it was really fitting…

"Because of something you said?"

"Yes…" – This was the weird part; actually there wasn't really a reason for Sakura to be mad at her yet, from how much she knew, nothing had really happened yet… Actually 'mad' wasn't really the right word anyway – she didn't seem angry or anything it was more like she was disappointed and somehow that felt even worse… It was just this 'you should know better than that' part, which was like a stitch into her conscience…

"Did you insult her?!" Naruto exclaimed with a deeply shocked expression on his face – this was about as far as his guessing got him…

"Of course not…I-"

"Hey guys."

"No!" Naruto yelled and threw his hands in the air. He had been so close and now they got interrupted… With a killer look in his eyes he turned around to see, who could seriously have the nerves to disturb them and could only advise that person to start running already….

"Neji?!" He scrutinized the Hyuga, who looked rather confused about this cold welcoming with a likewise confused expression. "What are you doing here?"

"Training of course… am I interrupting you?" He looked at them with a raised eyebrow, but otherwise blank expression.

"Oh no – not at all!" Sayuri exclaimed in a relieved tone – seeing this interruption as a hint of fate for her to shut up and now she finally sat up as well, before she turned her head to Naruto, as he raised his voice.

"But what are you doing here… I mean – aren't you usually training at the Hyuga grounds?" The Uzumaki enquired and looked through clueless blue eyes at the brown-haired man.

"Usually… but there is hardly anything left of them anymore so I had to search for another place…" He explained and now an aghast expression appeared on Naruto's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry – I forgot…" He really had the ability to put his foot in his mouth whenever there was an occasion for it, but that was probably the price of having a loose tongue…

"Hm…" Neji nodded, before he asked: "And what are you doing here?"

"What a question – we're training here!" The Uzumaki frowned and eyed the Hyuga with a sceptical expression.

"Yeah… I see that…" Neji muttered and now Naruto realized what he was driving at… their break was really lasting quite some time now…

"We're just taking a breather, but we have been training all morning…" He didn't really know why, but he felt the need to justify himself in front of the Hyuga, maybe it was something about the way he had come up here on his high horse and indirectly accused them of being lazy – even though that wasn't even wrong at the moment…

"Mmm-hmm…" The violet-haired girl nodded with a grim expression on her face, as she recalled the not so pleasant awakening…

"It's really good you came." Sayuri rose to her feet and smiled at Neji, whose face took on a strange, indefinable expression after that. "Naruto needs a training partner and I've got to go to the hospital now."

"Oh…" He looked a bit disappointed, but then glanced to the side, as Naruto jumped to his feet as well, clearly having far too much energy for his taste…

"Goodbye, Sayuri-chan and thank you for your help!" The Uzumaki grinned, before he turned towards Neji, not in the least disappointed about this change of partners.

"You're welcome. Bye Neji." She waved at the Hyuga, who just nodded in turn, before she took off and left him at the mercy of the hyperactive knucklehead ninja, who still had a lot of plans for the day…

Later that day a black-haired man walked with his hands in his pockets and his bored gaze fixed on the path ahead of him, over the full market-place of Konoha-Gakure. Something about his posture gave him an air of calm confidence and indifference; he didn't seem in the least impressed or unsettled by the numerous pairs of eyes that were following him, most of them resting on the small Uchiha crest on his back, which still sent a feeling of awe but also intimidation through most of the people.

Most of the people in Konoha-Gakure still felt a little uneasy about him and his team being allowed to return again… It was the same as back then; they were afraid of having them here, but wouldn't have wanted them anywhere else either – after all they were very powerful and could become a great advantage to the village – or they could become its downfall, in case their intentions weren't as sincere and pure as they tried to make believe…

If it had just been for the Uchiha, it would have been a bit different – he was only a single person and he had been born in the village and had spent most of his life here… Whereas those other three were complete strangers and the fact that they had all been associated with Orochimaru in some way, didn't really serve as a good basis for trusting them…

But they had all been there and helped out when the village had been attacked and they really did owe them quite a lot – however allowing them to stay here was a bit much… There have been quite a lot of doubts and at times even open protests against the Hokage's hasty decision, but she stuck to her word and reaffirmed over and over again that her decision was final. Over the weeks the protests had died down though, as the villagers had seen how much effort these ex-nuke-nins put into helping out – even though it wasn't in all cases voluntary… But they had far more things to worry about anyway – all the restoration works really demanded a lot of attention and then there was also the festival in just about ten days, which was something like a beacon of hope in these tough times…

Without looking left or right, the young Uchiha pulled open the heavy wooden door of the Hokage residence and entered the carpeted corridor without paying any attention to the boldly staring people, who walked past him. A few seconds later he stood in front of Tsunade's office and entered without bothering to knock.

Once he was inside the room, he let his blank black eyes wander over the four people inside who cast rather disapproving glances at him, which he could only return at the sight of them.

"You insolent brat – you knock before you enter a room!" Homura, a member of the village's council barked and received an assenting nod from the elderly woman, Koharu, next to him, whereas Danzô, who stood a bit in the background didn't react in any noticeable way to the bold entrance of the Uchiha-heir, but kept his narrowed eyes fixed on him.

"You demanded to see me." He ignored the council member's remark and turned towards Tsunade, who looked fairly stressed and had rolled her eyes after Homura's grousing.

"'You demanded to see me – Hokage-sama!'" The elderly man corrected him again, but received only a cold glare in return.

"I did." Same as Sasuke, Tsunade decided not to pay any attention to the elder and he didn't seem to be happy about this, but after that look the Uchiha had given him, he rather kept quiet - at least for the time being…

"We need to talk about your duties as a citizen of Konoha-Gakure and not to forget representative of the Uchiha-clan." Tsunade explained in a firm voice, before she rested her elbows on her scroll- and paper-covered oak desk and folded her hands under her chin.

Something about the already strained mood in the round office changed and became even worse after the mentioning of his clan's name and Sasuke peered through watchful eyes at the three people, standing to his right, who looked noticeably grim, but they had done so before, too, so that wasn't really new…

After waiting a couple of seconds for the raven-haired man to react in any kind, Tsunade merely sighed and then carried on, hoping that he was at least listening to her… "After you failed to attend the last public meeting, I think I have to remind you again that your position within the village entails a certain amount of social commitment – especially considering your temporary situation…"

She narrowed her honey-brown eyes meaningfully and scrutinized the Uchiha closely, who stood right in front of her desk, his hands in the pockets of his dark blue trousers and his blank face turned into her direction, whereas his charcoal eyes seemed to see through her – everything about his posture screamed indifference and even though Tsunade knew that this was simply the way he was, she couldn't help but to feel frustrated about his lacking interest and gratefulness in everything they had done for them – and the council-members seemed to feel this way, too.

"You answer when you are spoken to." This time it was Koharu to lecture him and even though she did it in a low voice, she seemed at least as irritated as the other council-member.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes into slits and glowered at the elderly woman, before he turned his face back to Tsunade and asked in a blank voice: "Is that it?"

"Phew…" Tsunade sighed in frustration and would have best liked to drop her head onto her table, but instead she just closed her eyes and took a deep breath in: "Basically…" Her voice trailed off, as if she wasn't so sure if this was really it or if she had forgotten anything.

"Hn." The Uchiha merely nodded after a couple of second in which she couldn't think of anything else to say and turned around, without wasting another glance at the council members. Once again the blonde woman sighed in frustration and clapped a hand to her forehead, while her eyes rested on the back of the raven-haired man, who just opened the door that very moment.

"And Sasuke…" She addressed him again and caused the Uchiha-heir to freeze in his movement, but he didn't turn back to her again.

"You should really work on your attitude…" She said in a tired voice and watched how the black-haired man walked out of her office, without reacting to her advice.

Once he was outside, he heard how many voices arose on the other side of the door, apparently the council-members were complaining about his behaviour, now that he was gone and apparently out of earshot…

This had really been a waste of time… Instead of ordering him here, she could have also told the messenger, who had informed him of this meeting, what she had just said… A bit too late now, though…

Lost in thoughts he wandered through the corridor, when the door in front of him flew open and in rushed a well-known blonde Genin, who stopped in his tracks though, as he caught sight of him and exclaimed in a surprised tone: "Sasuke?! What are you doing here, teme?"

The Uchiha just rolled his eyes about this not so very nice, but apparently well-meant nickname and came to a stop as well, while his coal black eyes wandered up and down the dust-covered and grass-stained clothes of the Uzumaki with a questioning look in them.

"Long time no see – how's it going?!" The blonde carried on, after receiving no answer to his first question, before he added: "I just need to see Tsunade, but how about some ramen afterwards? – We didn't really do anything apart form missions together since you're back, sooo – what do you say?"

Before Sasuke could even say anything, if he had meant to do so at all, they heard a loud rustle, coming from somewhere further back in the corridor, but as it was rounded, they couldn't really see what had happened. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, waiting for the person to show up and glad for something that distracted the Uzumaki again, who was now standing on tiptoe to peer over Sasuke's shoulder, but as nothing happened in nearly a minute and he could clearly feel that there was someone the blonde called out: "Hello?!"

Only about five metres away from the two men, stood Hinata, pressed against a wall amidst a pile of scattered papers and files. Her heart was beating violently and she was sure that her face was bright red – just as always when she saw, or right now only heard Naruto… She had really hoped they would go away, so she wouldn't have to face the two of them, even though she had only waited for an occasion to see the Uzumaki – but alone and prepared and not like this… Now that he had called out, she knew that he knew she was there, so she couldn't hide any longer…

Completely ignoring the without a doubt important documents covering her path, the blue-haired girl stepped over them and walked around the bend with her hands folded in front of her stomach.

"N-Naruto-kun… Sasuke-kun, good afternoon…" She bowed down slightly as soon as she saw them, not least to hide the fresh or maybe still old blush on her cheeks.

"Hinata-chan! How's it going?!" The Uzumaki greeted her enthusiastically, same as always catching her off guard with his openness.

"G-good… Naruto-kun…" She nodded but kept her head down and clasped her hands almost frantically in front of her chest… Actually she had promised herself to ask Naruto out to the festival… She had wanted to get this over with as quick as possible, before someone else could do so and more importantly before the festival would be so close that she'd become too nervous – which meant even more nervous than right now… She had even practised in front of the mirror what she would say and had memorized every single word of it – forwards and backwards – however now her mind was entirely empty or just clouded by his presence…

"Eh… Hinata-chan?" The blonde frowned at the apparently paralysed Hyuga and scratched the back of his head – however his words had succeeded in bringing her back to reality and she twitched in shock, before looking straight into Naruto's deep blue eyes. That didn't seem to have been a good idea, she could already feel how her face stated burning and she also felt a little dizzy, but she tried to stay strong and fixed her pale eyes on the ground to her feet.

"Uhm… I wondered… I mean…" She stuttered in a barely audible voice and began shifting her weight from one foot to the other in a nervous manner.

"What? You need to speak louder if you want someone to hear you!" The Uzumaki advised her and cast a questioning side-glance at Sasuke, who looked as if he was just about to walk off, before he looked at the blue-haired girl again, who was still murmuring something to herself. The next second he was right in front of her, with his hand cupped around his ear, right in front of her mouth.

That did it.

He was just way too close… Before she could even do anything about it, the room and everything in it faded away as if it had been sucked up by a huge vacuum cleaner and left her in complete blackness.

"Woah, Hinata!" The blonde threw his hands into the air, before he knelt down to the unconscious girl, who had only just hit the ground with a rather loud bang and fanned some air into her face, really not knowing what else to do.

"Hey – do something!" The blonde cast a helpless look at the Uchiha before he placed a hand under Hinata's back to lift her upper body up and leaned her against his knee.

"What is wrong with her? She needs a doctor!" The Uzumaki stared through anxious blue eyes at the girl in his arms and now tried to wake her up by lightly slapping her face, before he went back to fanning again.

"Don't just stand there – maybe she's seriously ill!" Naruto exclaimed; looking a little lost the way he held her there with her head hanging over his knee and nearly hitting the ground again; however his statement merely caused the clan-heir to shake his head in bewilderment.

"You're so clueless…" He sighed and stared through his coal black eyes at the Uzumaki, who apparently didn't get the hint, but stared with his confused, blue saucer eyes at the Uchiha, which then also filled with dread as that one walked out of the corridor and left him alone with his problem.