Naruto frowned at Iruka. "Were are we going?" he asked. Iruka didn't answer him. He just looked worried. "Iruka-sensei?"
"There's someone who wants to see you," he said. Naruto's nerves rose. Iruka's voice was shaking.
"Who?"
"My sister. She wanted to ask you something," he walked up to a house and pushed open the door. "Onee-chan!" he called, shutting it behind the two of them.
"In here nii-chan!" she shouted from somewhere in the house. "Did you bring him?"
"Yes."
"Good. Dinner's almost ready. Hey! No snitching!"
"Hey. I was not snitching, lady."
Naruto ran into the kitchen. "Sensei?!" he found him cornered by an annoyed-looking woman.
"Either stop snitching or I won't feed you!" she turned icy blue eyes on the boy in the doorway. "You must be Naruto," she beamed at him, then stuck her head out into the hallway. "Dinner's almost ready!"
"What is it tonight?" Naruto froze at the voice filtering down the stairs. He knew that Kakashi-sensei had told him that Sasuke had been brought home and was staying with a friend of his, but he hadn't really believed him.
"Ramen! We've got a visitor!"
"Are you counting Kakashi-sensei again?" Sasuke's voice was getting closer.
"No. I never count Kakashi-chan as a guest," she replied. "He's just a pest."
"Hey!" Kakashi glared at her, and she stuck out her tongue in return.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Masami turned to Naruto with a glare so fierce that he took a step back.
"No yelling," she said calmly, suddenly behind him. He let out a yelp and whipped around.
A strange sound met his ears and he turned to look at Sasuke to find him. . . laughing?
"Hey!" he pointed a finger in Sasuke's face. "Who are you and what've you done with Sasuke?!"
He stopped laughing and knocked Naruto's hand away, scowling. "It's me you idiot," He said, glaring at the other boy.
"HEY! WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT?!"
"You."
Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the back of his jacket and shoved him back toward the table. "Sit down. Masami-chan made ramen."
"RAMEN!"
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YELLING?!" Masami was suddenly in front of Naruto. The boy screamed and stumbled backward into Iruka. He blinked a few times as she turned back around.
Kakashi out a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, meet Umino Masami, Sasuke's new teacher," Naruto stared at the woman laying out chopsticks on the table and scowled.
"She doesn't look like much," he muttered.
"I heard that," Naruto let out another yelp as he turned to face Masami who was suddenly behind him again.
"How'd you DO THAT?!"
"Years and years of arduous practice." She grinned. "I used to scare nii-chan and Kakashi-chan when we were younger."
"And now I can scare you." Naruto reeled around and crashed into the wall as Sasuke appeared behind him.
"HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!"
Iruka sighed and pinned Naruto to him, a hand over the boy's mouth. "If you don't be quiet, she's going to throw you out of here and chop off your head with her katana," he muttered. Naruto eyed the woman who was glaring at Kakashi, and only doubted it for about three seconds. He relaxed, and Iruka let him go.
The rest of the meal passed in relative peace. When they had all finished, Masami cleared her throat. Everyone turned to look at her as she lifted a scroll up in her hand.
"Sasuke, do you really want to get away from Orochimaru?" she asked. She met his dark eyes from across the table.
Without a second's hesitation, Sasuke nodded. "Good. Because this is your last chance to back out. I'm giving you a chance to get rid of that curse seal completely."
"WHAT?!" Naruto choked.
"Shut up," Sasuke said. He held her gaze. "How do you know you can remove it?"
"It's been done successfully only once before." She replied. "But, there is considerable risk to those performing it. The last time this jutsu was performed, one of the ninja came very close to dying."
"If I remember correctly, so did the subject," Kakashi added darkly. Masami shot him a silencing glance, then looked back as Sasuke.
"The pain will be intense," she said. "You won't be able to move very much for at the very least a week afterward, and you risk your life and those performing it." She held his eyes. "We are willing to risk it if you are."
"What's going on?" Naruto asked. No one answered him.
"This is your one chance to get that seal off," she said.
"How do I know it will work?" Sasuke asked. "Can we talk to the pople who performed it before? Maybe--" He cut himself off as Masami yanked the collar of her shirt aside, revealing a scar in the shape of the curse mark.
"This is how I know," The room was suddenly so still and so silent that Sasuke was sure that everyone could hear his heart beating. "He marked me just after I chose not to kill him," Her voice was shaking. "The only way this jutsu can work is if three people perform it. Two of them actually do the jutsu, and the third is the anchor. All the third person has to do is keep the subject anchored in this world."
"What does that mean?" Iruka asked.
Masami's face darkened, and she looked so serious that Naruto found himself speechless. "When the jutsu is performed, the subject's soul is literally ripped from the body as the jutsu scours the energy of the curse seal from the subject's body."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Iruka stared at her in horror. "You-you went through that?" Iruka stammered.
She nodded. "I wanted every piece of my sensei gone from me," she said bitterly. "The one catch about this jutsu is that you have to have someone close enough to your heart to keep your soul here," she broke eye contact with Sasuke, and looked down at her hands. "Essentially, someone you love must be your anchor."
"But--"
"Sasuke, the only person who can anchor you is Naruto."
"WHAT?!" The two boys leapt up at the same time. "You've got to be kidding me!" They turned and glared at each other.
"Wait. Who was your anchor then?" Iruka asked. "I mean, since it wasn't me." He sounded a little hurt by that fact.
The two boys fell silent. "I. . ." she sighed heavily. "Nii-chan, you were too young."
"But--"
"I was the anchor," Kakashi said, almost lightly. "They wanted to use you, but I couldn't let them risk you." Everybody stared at him. Suddenly Masami got to her feet and left the room.
"Iruka, understand that this was right after you stopped her from killing him. You saw her. She had to be tied down to keep her from trying to tear her own skin off," Naruto just stared at Kakashi, completely clueless. "By the time that the Third decided to try the jutsu, she barely knew who anybody was. She just kept trying to tear the mark off her neck."
"But--"
"The only way I could keep her sane and anchored was to take her through every shared memory we had." He went on. "When the jutsu is performed, the anchor and the subject essentially meld their minds together," a small smile creased the skin around his one visible eye. "The first memory that started bringing her back to reality was the one of the first time she saw you, Iruka."
Kakashi paused for a minute, fighting back the swell of memories before going on. "Naruto, the only way this jutsu can work is if you agree to anchor Sasuke. You're the only one who can do it."
Naruto sighed, folding his arms over his chest. "I don't really understand all this, but I'll do it!"
"What?" Sasuke whipped around to face the boy sitting next to him. "You-you--"
"It's settled then." Masami walked back in and sat down like Kakashi hadn't said anything. "I just talked with Jiraiya-sama. He agreed to help."
"Wait. I thought--"
"You've already done this Kakashi." She said quietly, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. "I put you through enough then. I'm not doing it again."
"It's my choice, my life I put at risk for my student."
She raised her eyes to his face, not moving her head. "He's not your student anymore."
"Will you all just SHUT UP!" Sasuke leapt to his feet. "Don't fight like this!" Naruto froze, staring at his friend.
"Sasuke-kun, please." Masami rose slowly to her feet. "This is a dangerous jutsu that--"
"If Kakashi-sensei wants to do it, let him." Sasuke said. "And the same goes for you and Naruto. I can't take all this shouting!" He turned and stalked out of the room.
"He's. . . different." Naruto said, staring after his friend. Before Sasuke had left, none of that would have bothered him that much, or at least he wouldn't have shown it. Naruto eyed Masami. Did she have some sort of magical pwoers that none of them knew about? Maybe she was using mind control or something.
No, he decided. She was Iruka's sister, so she had to be a pretty cool person. She woudn't be trying to control Sasuke. Yet, there was an undeniable difference in Sasuke.
Maybe, just maybe she had opened the older boy's eyes to just how many people he had in his life who cared about him enough to put their lives on the line for him.
Kakashi stood to go after him, but Masami pushed him out of the way and left the room.
She found Sasuke leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. He was soaked completely through from the rain pouring down. When did that start? She wondered. He spun to face her.
"I don't--" He broke off, and she grabbed his hands. As she'd thought, his knuckles were bruised and bloodied from punching the tree. "I don't understand why you're all--"
"Because we love you," she said. His eyes widened as he turned to look at her. "How could we not?" he blinked the rain out of his eyes. She dropped his hands and smoothed his hair back out of his face. "I know what you're going through," she said quietly. "Never forget that. I know that you're used to shoving all your feelings aside, and when they all come flooding through like this, it scares you," he blinked, tears mixing with the rain trailing down his face.
"I. . ."
"You don't have to go through his alone," she said, pulling him into a hug. Hesitantly, he slid his arms around her too, burying his face in her shoulder. She just held onto him tighter. "You're never alone. Not anymore. No one should ever be alone."
"Get it off! Let me take it off!" She screamed, writhing in pain. "Let me get the fucking thing off of me! I reek of him!" She pulled against the restraints, but to no avail. She couldn't get loose. The mark felt like it was burning straight through her flesh and right into her very soul. She screamed, thrashing as she tried to reach it.
"Masami-chan!" strong hands pressed down on her shoulders. "You're going to hurt yourself!" She could hear the panic in his voice, but it seemed to be coming from so far away.
"Just get it off!" she screamed, trying to get loose.
"Hokage-sama!" she heard the shout. "We have to do it!"
"Kakashi, I cannot allow it."
"But--"
"Sarutobi-Sensei, if we're to do this, we must do it now!"
"Hokage-sama, please!"
That last voice. "Kakashi-chan!" she couldn't see. She couldn't see anything anymore. It was all black. Everything was black. "Get it off of me! It. . . It hurts!"
"Masami-chan," the voice was choked with pain, strangled.
"Okay," the deeper, older voice rasped. "We'll perform it. We just need an anchor. Jiraiya, fetch her brother."
"No!" the hands grabbed her shoulders again. "I'll anchor her! Don't bring him into this!"
"Kakashi, she needs someone--"
"I know! We're best friends! We've been best friends since we were two! I can do it! Her brother doesn't need to see her like this!"
She let out another scream. She could still feel him in every pore of her body. He was under her skin. He was everywhere, just waiting to strike.
"Hokage-sama, please!"
"All right."
Masami padded into the kitchen and froze. "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing?"
"Making breakfast," he replied. "What's it look like?"
"Like . . . the kitchen exploded . . . " he turned around and surveyed all the items spread out over the counters.
"Oh. Well, I couldn't exactly decide what to make. . ." he looked down. "I don't really know what went on between Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei last night, but I know I started it."
"No," she said, moving over to stand next to him. "It wasn't you. These things have been simmering for a long time. The heat just kind of got turned up on us," she raised an eyebrow, leaning over the pot.
"Now what were you trying to make?" he scowled at her.
"I don't think I know anymore," he muttered. She giggled, and he stared at her in surprise. Such a girly sound coming from Masami?
"Sorry," she said, her grin twitching. "It's just, that was too. . ." she broke down in a helpless fit of giggles, dropping to the floor. "I used to. . ." she dissolved into giggles again.
"She used to try to make breakfast every Saturday morning and ended up turning the kitchen into a war zone," Iruka said from the doorway. "It used to be my job to pick up after her."
"Shut up," she muttered, shooting her brother a glare.
"We need to talk," Iruka said. Masami sighed heavily and ruffled Sasuke's hair.
"I think the kitchen needs to be cleaned," she teased, and then followed Iruka out. Sasuke watched them. He couldn't help but feel a little left out. He knew that the two of them were siblings, and he was just there as a guest, but somehow--
"Sasuke-kun, don't start thinking like that," his head jerked up and he blinked at her. She had come back to the doorway. "Nii-chan." She stuck her tongue out at him and headed down the hall again.
Brother. He stared at the wall where her head had been seconds before. She called me brother.
Iruka turned to her as she slid the door shut behind her. "Why wasn't I your anchor?" he asked. Masami looked at the ground.
"It wasn't my decision," she replied. "I wasn't exactly. . . In a position to make any decisions at that point."
"Onee-chan--"
"Iruka, you weren't there. I felt like he was inside me, in every pore of my skin. Under my skin. They had to strap me down to a table." She pulled off her gloves, and Iruka bit back a gasp. There were scars along the top of each wrist. "These are from the restraints," she said. "I was covered in my own blood from fighting so hard," Iruka looked like he might faint. "Kakashi didn't want you to see me like that. He was right. You wouldn't have been able to anchor me properly. Not after seeing that."
She turned away, and Iruka caught her shoulder. "I had no idea it was that bad," She turned to him, a small smile on her face.
"That's because I didn't want you to know," she said. "When you were younger, you blamed yourself for Mom and Dad's death. If you'd seen me like that at your age, you would have blamed yourself then too." When he started to protest, she gripped his shoulder.
"Remember who I am nii-chan," she said. "I'm your sister, and I know you better than anyone."
Suddenly tired of the tense mood, she made a face at him. He blinked in surprise as she skipped out of the room.
As she slid the door shut behind her, he grinned. Kakashi asking her to go after Sasuke had been the best thing that could have happened to both the boy and his sister.
Some cosmic, divine logic had plucked the two of them from the entirety of the human race and showed them the spark of recognition that can only exist between two like souls.
Two souls that were lost to themselves had found each other and were clinging to each other for dear life.
He smiled as he headed to the training yards. He needed to get some training in sometime.
Sasuke raced down the street. He was late. Masami would kill him. Everyone had been tense for the weeks leading up to this, and now he was late.
Damn it! He felt the attack coming and threw himself to the side. He spun around to face Rock Lee.
"Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "I heard you've gotten better since last I saw you," Sasuke picked himself up off the ground.
"What do you want?" he asked. She's definitely going to kill me now!
"I, Rock Lee, challenge you!" he pointed a finger in Sasuke's face.
"I don't have time for this." he muttered, shoving Lee's hand away. "Maybe some other time."
Lee's face dropped and he stared at Sasuke. "But--"
"He said some other time, kid," Lee let out a cry of surprise as he whirled around to face the woman behind him.
"Where did you come from?" he asked, pointing a finger at her. She knocked his hand out of the way, eyeing him suspiciously.
"You must be Gai's student," she murmured.
"Yes!" Lee clenched his fist, slapping it to his chest. "I am indeed the most humble student of the greatest sensei in the Hidden Leaf Village!"
She glanced first right, then left. "Great. That means that he'll be--"
"And that must make you Umino Masami!" he exclaimed. She yelped and leapt back away from him, flailing. He must have moved when I was looking for Gai."Oh, I have heard Gai-sensei talk of you! And all those things he spoke were true!"
Sasuke watched as a change passed over Masami's face. Was she. . . nervous?
"Uh--" A muscle under her eyes twitched.
"You are indeed the most fair, beautiful flower in Konoha! Gai-sensei was correct!"
"Of course I was correct Lee!" Masami squealed and leapt up into the air, landing behind Sasuke. "I would never lie about the beauty of a woman!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"In fact, I now think that I may have under-spoken!" Sasuke glanced back at Masami and frowned.
"Sorry Gai, but we've got to go!" Sasuke jumped as she grabbed his arm and started pulling him down the street. "Bye!" She turned away and added, "you stupid bowl-headed freak" under her breath. Sasuke smirked.
She pulled him into a building behind her and shut the door. They walked up a flight of stairs to a room, where she let him go. As she moved out of the doorway, Sasuke froze. In the center of the huge room two spirals of words were printed on the floor, swirling out in graceful lines to the edges of the room. Kakashi was already standing on the end of one of them, and Masami stepped over to stand on the other one. Tsunade and Jiraiya were standing in opposite corners, faces set and grim.
"What kept you?" Kakashi asked, sitting down on the end of the spiral. Masami scowled at him.
"Gai and his student," she said darkly. Kakashi chuckled.
"Is he still stuck on you?" Kakashi asked, still chortling. Masami glared across the room at him.
"It's not funny," she shot back.
"Both of you, stop it," Tsunade ordered. "This is an incredibly complicated jutsu. If you the two of you don't keep your heads clear of any stray thoughts, then this could really go wrong!"
"Sorry Tsunade-sama," Masami said, sitting down on her own end of the spiral.
Naruto skidded into the room. "Sorry. Gai-sensei was blocking traffic. I had to take the long way around," he stared at Masami as she hit her head on the wall several times. "What? What'd I say?"
"What is it with you people?!" Tsunade shouted. Everyone turned to look at her. "All of you could die and all you can do is joke! I don't know why I'm letting the two of you perform this!" In the other corner, Jiraiya sighed.
"Tsunade, let them be. Masami is more than capable of performing this jutsu." The Hokage turned to face her old teammate, then sighed and stepped back, though she was scowling.
"Naruto," she said, pointing to the center of the spiral Kakashi sat on the outer edge of. "Sit there," for once, the boy was serious and silent as he walked over and sat down. The entire line between himself and Kakashi shot up a brilliant burst of light. He yelped and started to get up, but Masami's shout stopped him.
"Don't move!" she exclaimed. "Sasuke, sit," the boy sat on the inside of her spiral and their line gave of a brilliant burst of light too. "Now. If any one of us gets up before the jutsu is completed, we will all die," She looked around at everyone. "Got it?" There were nods all around. "Good. So don't move."
She let out a shaky breath and looked over at Kakashi. He had taken off his headband and placed it on the ground beside him. He met her with both eyes, and nodded once. She reached up and pulled off her own headband, pulling the tie out of her hair. It cascaded over her shoulders and covered her face.
Her hands flew in a succession of seals too fast for anyone in the room to follow. She began chanting under her breath, and the air in the room stirred gently. As her hands flew in a blur, the air spun faster and faster, whipping around the room. The whirlwind began to shrink. It grew smaller and smaller until it surrounded only Masami. Her hair whipped around her head, until she shouted out a final seal. Her voice was stolen in the wind as it vanished.
Breathing hard, Masami held her hands tightly in the final seal. Slowly, a light grew around her until her body was bathed entirely in a brilliant white light. Sasuke had to shield his eyes.
What? What. . . is she? There's no way any normal person could look like that!
Across the room, Kakashi moved his hands into his first seal position, his eyes not leaving Masami. Suddenly her head snapped up, and her hair flew out in all directions away from her face, a dark halo against the brilliant white light. I always knew she was an angel, he thought with a smile.
Her eyes opened, black spheres against translucent skin.
He looked down at his hands, concentrating. His hands flew in the seals and the wind swirled around him. It wasn't a whirlwind, but the air was moving. It was becoming thicker, heavier, stronger. They were suddenly a part of the world, heartbeats slowing until they matched the steady beat of the Earth.
His part was not the most powerful, but it was still important. He provided the link between Naruto and Sasuke, kept them connected.
Masami was the real power behind the jutsu. She was the fire that was going to scour that mark from Sasuke's body.
He finished his seals. "Sasuke!" The boy's eyes lifted to Masami, who was glowing even more brightly. Her voice didn't even sound like her anymore. It was a thought thousands of other voices were speaking with her. "Sasuke, grab Naruto's hands!" He nodded, and reached out to the younger boy. The two clasped hands, and an invisible force blew out away from the two of them, flattening the two sannin against the wall. Tsunade's eyes widened.
The raw power from this jutsu, She squinted against the light coming from the young woman and focused on the two boys in the center. Where is it all coming from?
Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt every molecule of his body being squeezed together and apart at the same time. His mouth opened in a scream that echoed horribly in the room.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, panicking.
"Naruto, don't move!" Masami shouted over Sasuke's scream. Her voice sounded even less like her own now. There were so many more layers to her voice, the other voices stronger now. "If you move, we're all dead!" they were all forced to close their eyes against the brilliant white light. Kakashi managed to watch with his sharingan, but even that was painful. Brilliant white wings made of light unfolded from Masami's back. He bit back a gasp. That wasn't part of the jutsu.
Sasuke's scream suddenly died in his throat, and he went limp, falling over sideways. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, as his body went rigid.
"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted. "Whatever you do, don't loose him! Keep him with you! Don't--"
Naruto didn't hear the rest of Kakashi's words as the brilliant light dissolved his senses.
Naruto looked around the shadowy room. "What? Where am I?"
"Why are you doing this?" He whipped around at the sound of the voice and froze, staring at the dark haired boy in front of him. "Why brother?"
The tall figure looked down at the little boy with calm red eyes. Naruto gasped. He'd seen that man before. Uchiha Itachi. "Mom and Dad. Why?"
"Sasuke?"
"What are we doing here?" Naruto yelped and whipped around to face the Sasuke he knew, who was standing right next to him.
"HEY! If you're here, then -- ahh!"
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered. "Why this memory?"
"Don't know." Naruto said, turning to stare at the frozen scene in front of him. "Maybe it's your strongest one or something." Sasuke turned to stare at the boy.
"That was almost. . . smart." It took a second to sink in.
"Hey! Don't you insult me!"
"Took you long enough, idiot."
"You moron!"
"Watch it!"
"Hey! Get off of me!"
"I'll teach you to call me a--" The two of them froze as the scene switched again.
"Hey, he's the only one who failed."
"Chiyoko!" the girl's friend scolded her.
"What? It's true. He's such an idiot."
"Yeah, he kind of is."
Sasuke let go of Naruto's shirt and watched the younger version of the boy on the swing, by himself.
"He's so weird," younger Naruto got up off the swing and left the school yard. He slid his hands into his pockets as he walked down the street through the people. All of them ignored him.
"Is this what it was like?" Sasuke asked. Naruto didn't answer. He just watched himself walking down the road.
"Hey! Dad wait for me!" the two boys watched a little girl run across the street.
Her father scooped her up into his arms and swung her around and around as she laughed. Naruto's hands clenched into fists, and he took off down the street, just running as fast as he could.
"That's really what it was like." Naruto said. Sasuke stared at the boy, and the scene shifted again.
Sasuke spun, letting out a cry as the bag flew off the chain and crashed into a tree nearby. Panting, he dropped to the ground. The dirt under his hands was soon stained a wet red from the blood seeping out of his split knuckles.
"I won't be weak!" he suddenly shouted, his shoulders shaking. "The next time I see him, I will kill him!" He pounded a fist into the ground. "I swear, I will kill him!"
The scene shifted again. "If you touch my sensei again." Naruto looked up. "I'll kill you!" the scene kept shifting, running through memories from both their lives.
When Itachi forced Sasuke to watch him kill the clan, Naruto put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're not going anywhere," he said.
Kakashi stared across the room at Masami. She was still glowing, but the light had faded enough that he could see her outline now. Her eyes were wide and unseeing, and her mouth was open in a silent scream, but still she held her hands together.
Panting, she slid her hands into the final seal position and mouthed the last words. With a brilliant flash of light, the words that had been carefully printed on the floor shrank and slithered up Sasuke's body like snakes. The boy's form went rigid and suddenly began to glow with a soft white light, an intangible wind blowing his hair away from his face.
Masami's anguished scream finally reached Kakashi's ears. His mind screamed for him to move, to run to her, but he forced himself to stay put. Suddenly, her cry stopped, and the light vanished. Blinking in the sudden darkness, he heard a soft thud as she hit the ground. The words faded off Saskue's body, and the light faded completely from the boy's body. He and Naruto were both still unconscious. He waited just long enough to know that the jutsu was over.
"Masami!" he leapt to his feet, racing across the room. "Masami-chan!" he pressed his fingers to her throat to check for a pulse, but Tsunade shoved him aside.
After a few moments, she sighed heavily. "She's alive."
"No kidding," Masami murmured. Tsunade found herself pushed aside, and was about to shout at Kakashi when Jiraiya put a hand on her shoulder.
Masami's eyes fluttered open. "Kakashi," he pressed a hand to her face. "S-s--" She paused, then tried again. "Sasuke?"
"He's alive," Tsunade reported. "So is Naruto."
Masami smiled, her eyes sliding closed. "It worked then," she murmured, going slack in Kakashi's arms. "It worked. . ."
"Masami!"
Iruka burst into the room. "What happened?" he grabbed the nearest person by the shirt. When he realized it was Kakashi, he shoved the jounin back into the wall.
"Let go," he said. Iruka was shaking. The jounin grabbed the younger man's wrists and pulled his hands off.
"What happened?"
"Iruka," the chunnin looked up at the Hokage as she walked into the room, her face set. "Your sister is fine," the man deflated rapidly. Kakashi gripped his shoulder, as though doing so would keep Iruka on his feet. "And you should be very proud," she said. "The last person who attempted this jutsu was a Hokage, and he was unconscious for almost a week," her eyes narrowed slightly. "Your sister managed to wake up in just a few hours."
"Can I see her?"
"Room seven," Iruka dashed out of the room.
Kakashi turned to Tsunade. She watched him, frowning. "I've never seen the like," she said. "This jutsu should have knocked her out for at least a month, and she shouldn't be able to move at all. It should have drained the both of you of chakra. Yet you're moving, and she's awake."
"Is it any wonder that Orochimaru wanted her?" Kakashi asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.
The Hokage's eyes narrowed. "You knew."
"I did."
"She doesn't seem human."
"No, she doesn't." He smiled. "She's an angel. At least, that's what Sasuke's going to think."
It was annoying, being awake and not being able to do anything.
The only thing that made it worth it was no longer being able to feel the curse mark. It was gone. Of that he was sure.
"Hey," the door slid open. "You're awake," Naruto pulled the chair over to the bed and sat down backward. "How're you feeling?"
Sasuke blinked. "I -- what are you doing here?"
The younger boy blinked at him. "Well, I just thought that I should make sure you're okay," he said with a shrug. "Make sure you're not alone."
"I'm not going to take off again," Sasuke muttered.
"I know," Sasuke looked back at Naruto in surprise. He sounded so positive.
"How can you know that?"
"I was inside your head, remember?" the younger boy poked him in the head. "I saw what you were thinking when we got to the more recent memories," Sasuke stared at him.
Is this. . . really Naruto?
"Like the ones about Masami-sensei, what she said to you in the forest and stuff," Naruto laced his fingers behind his head. "She's really important to you now, isn't she?" he suddenly grinned at the older boy. "Like a sister."
Sasuke looked away. "Yeah. . . I guess she is."
"There you go again, pretending like you don't care!" Sasuke turned his head to look at Naruto in surprise. "Man. You're an idiot."
"What'd you call me?!"
"Hey! Lemme go!" Naruto hadn't expected Sasuke to be able to move.
"Don't you call me an idiot, idiot!"
"That was an idiotic response!"
"Moron!"
"Come here!"
"Hey! You two, stop it!" They looked over at Masami, who was leaning against the doorway. "You're both moronic idiots, how about that?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"You're not supposed to be out of bed yet!" Sasuke sat up, ignoring the glare Masami shot him.
"I'm fine," she said. "And you've got training to do yet."
"But you're--" Naruto started.
"Are you questioning me?" he whipped around to face her. When did she move? He blinked, staring at the furious face in front of him.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, a grin broke over her face as she put her hands on her hips. "Good."
"WHAT?! YOU SCARE US LIKE THAT AND THEN JUST--"
"Shut up," she glared at him, and he held up his hands in surrender. "If you want to come, too, then come on."
"ME?!"
"AND STOP SHOUTING!"
"OKAY!"
"I SAID TO STOP! THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU KEEP DOING IT!"
"OKAY!"
"WHY YOU LITTLE--!"
"AHH! GET AWAY FROM ME!! SASUKE, HELP!!" the older boy just grinned as Naruto took off down the hall, Masami racing after him.