Sasuke groaned, rubbing his head as he blinked his eyes open. Everything seemed over-bright, every color glaring at him with annoying intensity. Sasuke reached a hand up, putting against the side of his head to steady himself as sat up slowly.
"Get the doctor. He's awake." Feminine voice, soft with an undertone of timidness that signaled an intrusive personality. Sasuke swallowed around his tongue, lying thick in his mouth, trying to clear his somewhat traumatized vision. Suddenly, a brunette head was in Sasuke's line of vision, peering at him with wide, caramel brown eyes. "Sir? Sir, can you hear me?" Sasuke opened his mouth and uttered an unintelligible croak. She was clicking her fingers right next to his ear and Sasuke winced at the startling loudness of it. He blinked and cleared his throat.
"Yes."
"Can you see me clearly?" She asked him. Her voice was sweet and clear, with soft undertones that rang warmly in Sasuke's ears. Somehow, everything seemed to be too loud though, making his already aching head hurt more than it should.
Sasuke looked up at her. She was slightly fuzzy around the edges, but the brightness had lessened and her form was coming into view. He cleared his throat, deperatly wanting a drink of water, but not quite sure if it was safe. He couldn't tell which country he was in, much less which hospital. "Yes." He said after a second. A relieved look crossed her face.
"That's good to hear. Do you know where you are?"
Sasuke nearly smirked. It was almost as if she'd read his mind. "No." It didn't seem like a Fire Country hospital. Too... white .
She blinked, surprised at his plain answer. "You're at Kurai Botan (1) Hospital. You're friends are in the rooms across the hall." She said with a small smile. As she came into even clearer focus, Sasuke noticed a pair of petite wire-framed glasses perched on her small nose. He glanced around the room, taking everything into account. Definitely not a Fire country hospital.
Bright white lights were placed in the ceiling, the room painted a soft white color and the floor covered in red and cream tiles in intricate patterns. He was dressed only in his pair of black slacks, a hole still ripped in the thigh from his fight. The fabric looked strange against the stark white hospital sheets. There were bandages on his arms and one across his stomach, surrounded by blue and purple bruises. Across the room, folded on a chair were his shredded shirt and jounin jacket. The color of both was caked with dried, flaking blood. Suddenly, Sasuke touched his neck, feeling a thick bandage where a deep cut should have been.
Had… had that all been a dream?
Sasuke turned back to the woman, mouth open to ask her, but choked, the words freezing themselves in his throat. She had turned away and was scribbling on a clipboard, her chestnut hair falling over her forehead and cheeks. Sasuke's voice came out as a very undignified squeak (It had been the bed dammit. Uchiha's don't squeak). The woman looked up at him and gave him a kind but slightly concerned look.
"Is something wrong, sir?" She asked.
"Are those… Are those ears?" He asked quietly.
The woman stared at him before bursting into laughter. "What? You've never seen a mouse anima before?" She asked. She tugged on one, circular brown ear the sat atop her head. A small, sparkling pink jewel was pierced near the base of it. Sasuke stared disbelieving at it.
Seeing no change in Sasuke's expression, the woman's laughter died in her throat. "Are you okay?" She asked, worry flooding her face once again. Her clipboard went slack as Sasuke's face drained of all color and she began to step towards him when the door opened.
"How is the patient?" A man with graying salt and pepper hair said, a toothy grin on his features. On top of his head were two, pointed and triangular black ears, similar, but different from those on the nurse. Sasuke felt himself nearly stop breathing as he caught sight of a black, ruffled tail wagging slowly from side to side.
Sasuke stood up, ignoring the protests of both the doctor and the nurse, and walked over to a one-way mirror on a wall, already reaching towards his head and not caring who was on the other side. He had a hunch… but there was no way… he couldn't…
Sasuke stared disbelievingly at his reflection. Besides all the bruises and cuts scattered across his body, there were two, rounded and twitching, midnight black ears on his head, swerving at every sound and currently trying to flatten themselves to the back of Sasuke's head. He touched one corner, watching it twitch away even as the feather-light brush registered in his mind as ticklish.
"What the hell?" He murmured, tugging on one and wincing as it gave a spark of pain to his scalp and down to the base of his skull.
"HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH MY BODY?" A loud, obnoxious voice hollered. Sasuke's newfound ears immediately perked as he recognized Naruto's annoyingly loud voice, and he rushed to the door. The doctor called a warning that Sasuke missed running out, looking up and down the long white hallway.
A medical tray came flying out of a room along with several clipboards and flurries of papers. Sasuke sped towards it, knowing that wherever there were flying objects, Naruto was bound to be involved.
"Naruto!" He called and gripped the doorframe to swing himself into the room. "Naru-!" Sasuke stopped midsentence.
Before him was a furious, blonde headed dobe, thrashing around as panicked nurses and doctors tried called what they thought were calming consolations. It was obviously Naruto, but instead of his normal, muscled body, there were curves and lumps in places there shouldn't be on guys, and long, long legs. Plus two pale golden brown ears and an angrily twitching, bushy liquid gold tail.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS! SOME KIND OF SICK JOKE? I'VE GOT EARS! AND BOOBS!" She was yelling, screaming, at everyone she saw, tossing everything around the room, with a fury only Naruto could muster up on an occaision like this. "WHOEVER PUT THIS DAMN JUTSU ON ME, TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF TAKE IT OFF-"
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Naruto's head whipped up and turned around to where Sasuke was standing, watched Naruto, a partly startled, partly amused look in his face, even in his sort of panicked/confused state. Naruto's eyes lit up the minute the landed on a familiar face.
"Oh my god, you have ears too!" He- She, Sasuke corrected himself- cried and rushed at Sasuke. "Great! I'm not actually loosing my mind! Did that thing really happen? Did we actually…" Naruto trailed off. Sasuke gulped the hard lump in his throat, remembering all the blood, all the pain.
"Yeah." He said tersely.
Naruto blinked wide wide blue eyes. Her facial structure had changed too, Sasuke noticed. "Then that means that-" Naruto was cut off by a girlish scream.
"Sakura." Naruto and Sasuke said in unison. Naruto snatched her jacket off a chair and Sasuke was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that Naruto was not wearing a bra beneath her skin-tight black t-shirt. Shaking his head, they both bolted off down the hallway and leaving a room full of shell-shocked hospital employees and flying papers in the ransacked room.
"This way." Sasuke said, immediately detected the source of Sakura's screams. He and Naruto ran past the room Sasuke had woken up in, passing the nurse who was desperately trying to wave him down. Sasuke darted in, grabbing his shredded shirt and tugging it on. Better that than nothing. Fighting shirtless was not something he was fond of. He led them both to a doorway where the door stood already half ajar.
"-Miss, we need you to calm down. This is a hospital, and if you tell us the problem, we can try and help you." A calm looking male doctor said, standing in front of an assistant that cowered, terrified behind him, peering out at the girl who was centered in the room.
Sasuke and Naruto looked to where their teammate was twirling around in circles, trying to get a look at the pair of dusky brown wings on her back.
"Okay, this is officially strange." Naruto commented, watching his- her, dammit!- teammate struggle to get a good look at her new appendages.
"Considering you were wrecking the whole place, I think she's handling it quite well." Sasuke replied drily and ignored the glare that Naruto sent his way. He walked up to Sakura, gripped her shoulders and giving her a good, solid shake. The assistant was making whimpering sounds and the doctor was gapping at them, seemingly unable to form words.
When he stopped, Sakura was staring at him with wide, jade green eyes. "Sakura, calm down." Sasuke stated. Sakura nodded dumbly, eyes glassy. Sasuke eyed the half-healed scab that ran from her temple to her jaw with a wince. He turned to Naruto. "Dobe."
Naruto looked up from where... she... was inspecting some of the tools next to the bed as if to consider using them as personal tools. Or weapons. "We need to get out of here." So we can figure this out, went left unsaid.
Naruto looked up and gave him a wide, toothy grin. "Way ahead of you." She said and grabbed a handful of the potentially dangerous medical instruments before stuffing them in the pocket of her now ridiculously baggy pants that she'd been wearing last. The assistant was still quivering, but the doctor stumbled over his words in an attempt to stop Naruto. She just turned and with a shirt burst of speed, flitted out the door and from sight. The doctor turned to Sasuke and Sakura
"Sir, I'm afraid that you and your friends can't leave until you've been registered. You three were in quite a serious accident, and your friend need to give back the- hey! I'm serious! Please return t-!" Sasuke ignored whatever else the doctor was blathering on about, instead jogging down the hall with a quiet Sakura in tow behind him.
Sasuke ran into the room closest down the hall, startling a wide-eyed girl with pale blue scales that trailed down her neck and arms. He grabbed the doctors' tools on the table and shoved them at Sakura. "Here. We might need these." He darted out again to the next room.
It was his original room and upon catching sight of him, the doctor and the mouse girl jumped up. "Sir, we are going to need your blood type and your name for medical purposes." Sasuke walked past the doctor, took his shredded shirt from the chair and tugged it over his head. It was this or nothing, and Sasuke was not fond of fighting shirtless, no matter how much the blood caked at the color itched. Sakura paled slightly as she caught sight of the damaged clothing.
Sasuke ignored her and snagged more of the doctor's utensils from the counter lying against the wall. He tugged open a drawer, happy to see something that at least resembled a full on knife, even if it wasn't tempered metal.
"Wait, you can't take those!" The mouse girl protested. Sasuke shot his sharpest glare at her and her mouth snapped shut with an audible click, her soft, pretty features blanching.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, still in a stupor, even as he took her wrist in a firm grip and pulled her from the room.
"Sasuke!" Naruto called, catching up quickly. "We gotta go! They're calling for security or something!" Naruto said, running up to Sasuke, her orange jacket that she'd probably gone back to get (the idiot) firmly over her back, the pockets bulging with sterilized metal.
"We're Anbu." Sasuke replied as if those words solved all their problems. Sakura seemed to be in a post traumatic state, her vision reduced to staring blankly ahead, and her eyes glazed over. Naruto was moving, even hampered by the metal, and lagging a bit. Probably because she was… well, a girl now. Which could prove some hassles. "Maybe."
"What do you mean, maybe? We got this in the bag!" Naruto cried out, pumping her fist in the air.
Sasuke sighed. It was definitely a maybe.
A voice rang down the hallway, deep and commanding. "There!"
Sasuke reacted in no time to the exclamatory shout. He grabbed Sakura and tossed her over his shoulder and gripped the front of Naruto's jacket. He bolted in the opposite direction, dragging them both with him. There had to be an exit somewhere.
"They're on the run again!" Was the same voice.
"Why are they after us?" Naruto yelled, pulling herself away from Sasuke's grip and sprinting to keep up with his pace. Sasuke sighed.
"I don't know." Sasuke replied.
Naruto nodded. "Then why do we have ears?"
Sasuke's teeth ground together. "I don't know."
"Why the hell did that bastard do this?" Sasuke's jaw twitched. Really? Really?
"I don't know."
"Where-"
"I don't fricken know, dobe!" Sasuke snapped out. He had to get them out of there before something seriously dangerous happened and Naruto was busy pondering their circumstances?
Naruto grumbled quietly to herself, but settled for a more silent role,The only sounds being their breathing and Sakura's quite grunts as she bounced on Sasuke's shoulder. Radio sounds were echoing down the hallway, making it hard to judge how for behind their pursuers were.
They turned down a hallway lined with windows and Sasuke felt any hope he had of a quick, easy escape wither. They were on a third floor, surrounded by the parking lots and buildings of a bustling, blaring city. They couldn't jump, and Sasuke didn't know where the nearest stairs were.
He swore under his breath.
"Stairs." Sakura huffed. "Put me down, I see stairs."
"Where?" Sasuke asked, not bothering to put her down. Sakura pulled her upper body up off of his back and twisted around.
"Up on your left." She said.
"I see it." Naruto said and ran ahead, opening the door and ushering Sasuke and Sakura through.
Sasuke only had a second's hesitation when he looked down at the long flights of stairs. He dropped a less hazy Sakura from his shoulder and began to descend, taking the steps three at a time. He heard the door open again and the voices of the pursuers and he sped up. They were closer than he had anticipated.
Sakura was only lagging slightly, but caught up quickly, her previous training taking over. Sasuke could see the end, the exit tantalizingly close. Maybe they really could make it.
The exit opened and a burly guy stepped through, casting a triumphant grin at Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura. Naruto, who had run ahead again skidded to a screeching stop.
"Other way, other way!" She said, doing a three-sixty and running up the stairs.
"They're up there too." Sakura said. She came to a standstill in front of a window, looking up and down at the two staircases and the people all heading towards them.
Sasuke saw the opportunity and ran next to her, looking out the window. It was a ten-foot drop, but not as bad as it could have been. He braced his elbow by pressing his palms together and smashed the glass in three places, the shatter sounding like needles on his eardrums. Naruto and Sakura quickly caught on, and while Naruto turned around and started whipping sharp metal tools at advancing people, making them pause, the people above them hesitating a floor level up. Sasuke snorted. No training whatsoever it appeared. Sakura began smashing the other half of the window.
Finally, there was a hole wide enough and Sasuke nodded to Sakura who quickly eased herself through and dropped, the wings on her back extending so slightly it barely altered her course. Sasuke saw her roll on the pavement and give him a thumbs up before pulling himself through.
"Naruto!" He called. Naruto looked over.
"Go, I'm right behind you!" She said barely pausing in her throwing. The hospital personnel had caught on and were trying to find ways to get around Naruto's (somewhat) deadly accuracy. Sasuke didn't reply, just pushed himself through the window before her.
The feel of the wind rushing past his limbs and through his hair felt so good after the stale air of the hospital. The smell of acrid smoke and thick dust clouded his nose, and the bright nearly florescent blue of the sky was almost blinding in the patches where it shone through the clouds. The ground was rushing up at him and Sasuke bunched the muscles of his legs for impact.
Once he hit the ground, Sasuke rolled away, listening, as there was a thud and a grunt as Naruto landed in the place he had just been in.
"C'mon!" Sakura yelled, beckoning from beside a gate. "Let's go!" Sasuke and Naruto sped towards her, and took a left the minute they hit sidewalk, trying to avoid crashing into curious people as they did.
"Blending in, movement twenty seven!" Sasuke rapped out. Immediately, their paces slowed, heads ducking, bodies spreading out, but staying within sight of each other. Naruto turned her jacket inside out, stuffing her hand in her pockets, and staring down at her feet.
Sakura pulled off her pink half skirt, twisting it into a rope and tying it around her waist like a belt. She ripped the sleeves off of her shirt in two quick movements, sucked her lips between her teeth, and pulled her hair into a low ponytail, tucking her bangs tightly behind her ears.
Sasuke stripped his shirt off, trying to avoid open stares as he turned it to the white inside and put it back on (it was still ripped, but it was a change). He used a hair band to keep his hair from sticking up, keeping it low to the base of his neck and hunching his shoulders. He sent up a prayer to whatever god there was that they wouldn't get caught.
They had escaped, but that didn't mean that they were out of deep water yet.
THIS IS A REPOST.
Edited and much better. I'll be doing this to all chapters before I continue writing it. I'm not sure if FF sends out messages for this kind of stuff, but if it does, I encourage you to reread! The writing before was so old it was embarrassing. Now, hopefully its a bit more detailed.
I'm also going to put a set update date from now on so I remember. I'm thinking ever Wednesday I'll update, since that seems to be the general international update day (for those of you following Naruto and Bleach Mangas and/or Teahouse (yay, Teahouse!) you'll understand).
Song of the chapter: Heads Will Roll (A-trak Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
(1) Dark Peony.
Chapter title: Confusion
Word Count: 3,375