Chapter two

The next morning marked the beginning of a picture perfect summer day in the village of Konohagakure. The sun shone bright over the land and smothered everything from the architecture to the flora in its warmth. Its enthusiasm was such that it might have proved suffocating if it weren't for the refreshing breeze touring through the village, ruffling leaves and cooling bodies without muscling in where it was unwanted.

Sakura couldn't help but smile as she opened her balcony door and stepped out into the world, basking in its magnificence.

'Perfect weather. Today is going to be a great day!'

Today was a good day to be Haruno Sakura, all things considered. It was Team Seven's day off and she couldn't be happier. Getting away from stupid, stupid clients and their asinine requests was more than enough to put a smile on her face.

A beautiful day lay ahead of her, full of fun activities and opportunities, but even that didn't make this good day into a great one. There was still something missing. Or really, someone. Male companionship was something every young kunoichi in Konoha wanted, and there was only one young man in her age group who was good enough to chase after. Luckily for her, this young man happened to be a member of her three-man cell.

To make things even better, Kakashi had expressly forbidden them from doing any sort of training on their day off! Yesterday she'd had to deal with Naruto's disgruntled complaints and Sasuke's silent rage, but today promised to be a much better day. Even if Sasuke disagreed with their sensei's decision, he wasn't stupid enough to actually disobey, unlike their other teammate, and that meant that his social agenda was freed for the first time in years.

Now, she just needed to find him and relieve him of his boredom. If he just gave her a chance, then she was sure that he would have a good time, which would certainly improve his disposition considering future outings. She had it all planned out, and convincing him to go along with her plan wouldn't take too much time. He was unlikely to just ignore her because of their affiliation and he really didn't have anything better to do.

Uchiha Sasuke was a loner. The only person in his life that could be called a friend in any sense of the word was Naruto, and they didn't exactly spend time together outside of work. Probably because the time they spent together during work wasn't always pleasant. In fact, it wasn't even usually pleasant. One could even say that the time they spent together was rarely ever pleasant.

In any case, she didn't think Sasuke really knew how to entertain himself outside of training and he likely wouldn't spend any time around people he didn't know very well. So for the next several hours he was going to be alone with nothing to do, obsessing over the time he was wasting.

All she had to do was push him a little and he would take the path of least resistance.

For this occasion, she had chosen among her deadliest weapons: a pair of stylish sunglasses, a pair of decorative sandals and a knee length white sundress under a wide-rimmed straw sunhat. And to top it all off, a subtle, delicate smile.

"Hehe. Sasuke-kun, you don't stand a chance."

"No."

"But—"

"No."

The finality of his decision was unmistakable. He would not be accompanying her today.

"But why?" she pleaded.

"There is something I need to take care of today."

He did not even bother to look at her. The slight, intentional or not, scorched her insides. She itched to grab at his handsome face and force him to acknowledge her, before the feeling passed and she was left feeling nauseous.

But she couldn't give up. Not without a reason.

"But— but Kakashi-sensei said—"

"I'm not going to train."

"Then what?" Her composure was beginning to slip. She'd almost raised her voice at him.

Maybe he sensed the beginnings of hysterical mania inside of her, but Sasuke finally looked away from his backpack and towards her. His gaze was cold and pitiless, but it was an improvement nonetheless.

"I'm going to visit my clan's resting place. I need to pay my respects. I'm not going to have time to do anything else."

Her eyes seemed to slide off him as she prepared to ask another question. "Why not?"

"There are a lot of graves."

She remained silent as he grabbed and packaged his supplies. In return, he ignored her presence until the very last moment.

"Don't forget to close the door on your way out."

And so, with no perceivable hesitation, the sum of her hopes and dreams strolled out of his apartment, leaving her behind once again, without looking back even once.

And this newest failure would basically set the tone for the rest of her morning. Like always, Sakura had set aside a large portion of herself and put it into an investment that never seemed to pay off. Like always, she would spend the following hours drifting along the waves of depression and inadequacy, and like always, a good day turned out to be just average, rather than spectacular.

Her hand moved to wipe off a stray tear, and she quietly made her way outside her teammate's apartment, making sure to close the door behind her.

'There are a lot of graves…'

Her mind rolled over his words as she wandered underneath the midday sun, away from anyone that might wish to speak to her.

She had never given much thought to the idea that Sasuke was the only Uchiha left. It was… disquieting, to say the least. She knew that his clan had been murdered a little over four years ago, because everyone knew it. The Uchiha clan had fostered a significant portion of the village's work force. The loss of so many competent ninja had been a blow to Konoha's reputation, a blow that could not be glossed over in such a short time.

Her teammate didn't exactly talk about his past, or even his present. He was always alone, but she often had the feeling that this was by design rather than by circumstance.

"Maybe I should have asked if he wanted some help?" she murmured, before sighing despondently. "This wouldn't be so hard if he would just talk to me…"

She could never tell what he was thinking, and in all honesty, that was part of what had attracted her to him in the first place. Only now his mysterious nature only served to keep them apart. It was disheartening, depressing and more than a little frustrating. It was little wonder her plans kept failing when she wasn't fully aware of all the variables, it was like trying to predict the weather using a picture of the sky!

Her feet abruptly ceased their steady progression as she was touched by an anxious feeling. Her diaphragm stiffened under the uncomfortable weight of another being's presence.

There was someone near. She was no longer alone.

Looking up front, she searched her surroundings for a few moments before suddenly noticing a streak of black hair. Someone was kneeling in the undergrowth away from the beaten path. Someone familiar.

Her brows bunched together as her lips quietly mouthed the name of a young woman who, in her experience, seemed to embody the concept of demure silence. The eldest daughter of the Hyuuga main family.

"Hyuuga Hinata?"

A seed of suspicion was planted in fertile ground. Hyuuga Hinata was about as close to nobility as people got in her village. What was she doing here, of all places? A quick look around searching for landmarks assured Sakura that she was effectively in the middle of nowhere.

Slowly, she pulled the large sunhat off of her head and sat it down beside her, still watching her target. No reaction. Hinata seemed to be completely engrossed in whatever she was doing, which allowed Sakura to carefully step forward, making full use of the sneaking techniques she had been taught. Even so, she only managed to take a few steps before being spotted.

Her fifth step was interrupted by a sharp, startled squeak. Sakura's eyes narrowed and her mood was tinged with irritation, but she grudgingly relaxed when she realized how she'd been spotted. Still slightly disgruntled, she moved to pick up the hat she had discarded.

Hinata came rustling out of the bushes, blushing red as she struggled to find something to say. Her head tipped down and her right hand passed nervously through her short hair, revealing fading swollen blood vessels leading to her pale lavender eyes. The Hyuuga family's most precious possession, the byakugan eye. Hinata finally settled on something to say, but found difficulty in actually saying it. The words were stuttered and the delivery was much louder than was required.

"S-Sakura-san! W-what are you doing here?"

Oh yeah. The girl was definitely guilty.

Sakura smiled charmingly and calmly closed the distance between them. "Good afternoon, Hinata-san," she greeted, bowing slightly. "How are you today?"

The flush that graced Hinata's cheeks grew deeper as she realized that her manners had been sacrificed at the altar of her embarrassment. She immediately bowed back, unmistakably taking a position of inferiority. When she spoke, her voice was back to its usual soft tones.

"Um… Good afternoon, Sakura-san. I am well."

"Is this also Team 8's day off?"

She nodded. "Hokage-sama sent all of our teachers on an assignment. She said that we should take the opportunity to relax and socialize."

Sakura's right eye began to twitch involuntarily as the day's frustrations reached a peak. 'Damn it, sensei! This is your fault!'

Maybe she wouldn't even be in this situation if her teacher had taken the time to tell his students what they were actually supposed to be doing today! But her anger did not last, as her reality cast a shadow large enough to force it into obscurity. She sighed softly, having lost the urge to question the young woman in front of her. Still, she had a conversation to finish and so chose to offer the girl an easy way out.

"So, Hinata-san, did you lose something here or something?"

The girl's reaction was very telling. Her complexion, which had been drawing close to its usual fairness, began burning so quickly that she started to sway on her feet. Sakura quickly reached out to help support her, but missed as Hinata stumbled out of her reach. Blinking, Sakura stared at her hand and wondered if Hinata had dodged intentionally. She looked up to see the girl leaning lightly against a tree, her face still as bright as a bonfire.

"Sakura-san, I don't think… I don't feel very well," she said, her voice as steady as Sakura had ever heard it. Her pale eyes started to edge up, only to veer off course and end up fixed on an errant root yards away from where Sakura was standing. "I think I'm going to head home now. Goodbye," Hinata said, before hurrying out of the area.

Jade eyes followed her every step of the way. For a second, Sakura thought about chasing after her or asking if she wanted help, but then thought better of it. Politeness only went so far, especially if it was only a veneer. Besides, she was sure Hinata wanted to be left alone.

With Hinata gone, Sakura no longer had any reason to remain in this isolated corner of the village. While she still didn't know what had brought her old classmate here in the first place, it probably wasn't any of her business.

Weird didn't even begin to describe it, but she had other things to do.

'It's not like I have nothing else to do, or anything. I'm just… trying to get to know my coworker better. Yeah, that sounds about right.'

The idea broke through that the fact that she felt the need to justify her actions to her own conscience spoke heavily of her parents' indoctrination. Going over that thought for any length of time felt awkward, so she ended up shoving it all out of her mind, grimacing all the while. Pointless rebellion was not her style.

"Sakura-chan?"

Thud. Bamf!

Her fist reacted before her eyes. As it was, she only managed to catch a glimpse of surprise and blue eyes before everything burst into white smoke.

She pressed her hand over her heart as she tried to catch her startled breath. Eying her surroundings with a wary eye, she reflected over the question of how. Specifically, how the hell did he do it? Digging through layer after layer of dense foliage in relative silence was not an easy task, so she could easily accept the idea that she had gotten sloppy. That still didn't explain how he'd managed to come within three feet of her without being detected. Sakura resolved to ask him to elucidate this mystery when she found him again, and set off once her breath was safely recovered. Maybe he would also know what Hinata had been doing in the area.

It didn't take long for her to run into him again, since she stopped caring about making noise and increased her rate of travel accordingly. As she often did, she heard his exuberance long before she sat eyes upon his form.

Her path brought her to a large clearing edged against a shallow creek where rushing water followed a winding road surrounded on all sides by smooth rocks and vibrant, short grass. She stopped a moment to take in the scenery.

The moment passed and was followed by another.

And another.

"Um… Sakura-chan?"

This time, her surprise was dulled by anticipation, so her reflexes were outpaced by recognition and short-circuited. She glanced at the boy and turned back to the scene, taking note of the space between them. He stood half a pace beyond her attack range, which was about a full pace farther than his preferred distance.

"Naruto… what are you doing?" she asked, her voice drenched in unease.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him reach behind his head, presumably so that he could attempt to scratch the confusion out of his thick skull. When he realized that she wasn't going to elaborate, he hesitatingly turned so that he stood parallel to her and joined her in staring.

Those clueless eyes of his were doubtlessly seeing the same thing she was. Populating the entire clearing were a number of boys visibly engaging in recreation. Their number surpassed what she could easily count and every single boy was an exact twin of the one standing beside her, give or take a few articles of clothing.

Her eyes detected three clear groupings. A rough third of the blond heads were frolicking in the creek, all of them stripped down to their underwear. Without looking too closely, she managed to discern that this group seemed to be mostly wrestling and water fighting.

The next group was both larger and fully clothed and was therefore much safer to observe. This group seemed to be entangled in a team game revolving around a football, pitting the orange jackets versus the black T-shirts. She would have said that they were playing the actual game of football if any of the identical players had behaved in any manner resembling football players. As it was, they were just screwing around pointlessly, making enough noise to drown out a hurricane.

The last group was the smallest and consisted entirely of scattered pairs of blue eyes alternating between staring at one another and staring at her.

Finally, after a minute of silent contemplation, the blond standing at her side gave up. He turned his head towards her. "Sakura-chan, I don't know what you mean. Is something wrong? You sound kind of weird."

Instead of giving him an answer, she turned to him and asked him a question. "Naruto, is it just you here?"

He nodded unwaveringly, taking no time to think. "Yep."

"Isn't there anyone you can play with?"

"No, not today. Konohamaru has school."

Her brows furrowed. There was something odd about this. "Isn't there anyone else?"

"Nope."

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she kind of got the feeling that Naruto wasn't acting correctly. Her eyes flitted over his features and found nothing of immediate import, so she prodded him with a suggestion. "What about Kiba? Hokage-sama gave everyone in our graduating class the day off."

His eyes suddenly focused on a point behind her and the muscles around his mouth seemed to stiffen so slightly that she almost discarded the motion as a figment of her imagination. "I don't want him to get in trouble," he said.

She blinked in surprise. That didn't make sense. "Why would he get in trouble?"

He shrugged. "His mom doesn't like me."

His tone was so pragmatic and he seemed so untroubled by this fact that she accepted this allegation immediately and moved on. "Well, what about… Shikamaru and Chouji?"

"Their parents don't like me either, especially Chouji's dad."

She frowned in disapproval and asked the obvious question. "What did you do to him?"

"I was born."

The words were delivered so flippantly that she couldn't really take them seriously. "But… but… didn't you always play with them back at the academy?"

"Nah, that was just work. They would have gotten in trouble if they hung out with me."

He was making less and less sense every time he opened his mouth. "How was that work?"

His eyes closed and he nodded solemnly. "We were comrades," he said emphatically. "We had to cooperate if we wanted to escape our evil, tyrannical teachers, so we did. Sometimes we celebrated our more spectacular victories, but we never really played together."

"Well, who did you usually spend time with?"

This time, it took him a few moments to answer. "The old man, before he died."

The silence that followed was somewhat awkward, and she found herself pussyfooting around their conversation. A few moments were enough for her to swallow the emptiness in her mouth and replace it with meaningful sound. "What about now?"

"Um… Ero-sennin, baa-chan, Iruka-sensei, Shizune-neechan—"

She quickly stopped him. "People your own age, Naruto."

"Oh, well that's you, Sakura-chan!" he said with a great, big smile on his face. "Oh, and the bastard, I guess," he added, mumbling quietly.

A moment passed unimpeded.

"No one else?"

He shook his head. "Not really. We don't work with the other genin very often, so I don't get to see them much." He shrugged then, as if to say: What can I do about it?

"Why don't you visit them then?"

A wry smile slipped onto his features. "I don't want them to get in trouble."

Speech eluded her for a short time. "Their parents can't all dislike you, Naruto."

The blond reached around the back of his head and scratched idly. "Why not?"

She tried to find an answer for him. She really did.

"Is that why you never tried to visit me? Do my parents…"

She looked at him and found that she couldn't see his eyes, covered as they were by folds of tanned skin.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan. Your parents are good people."

His smile sent tendrils of reassurance through her. She almost found herself smiling back until the realization hit that he hadn't answered her question.

Her line of sight latched onto the grass beneath her sandals. She tried to bring it up to meet his eyes but her resolve ran out of steam somewhere around his jaw line. This conversation sure turned out to be unexpectedly personal. If he had been the one to interrogate her in such a way, she definitely would have told him that it was none of his business. That made her curious. "Hey, Naruto. Why do you answer my questions?"

Naruto scratched at his forehead. "Um… I wasn't supposed to? No one's ever asked me anything like this before."

It was like an invasive weight pressing against her chest, both discomforting and awkward. Her face twisted like her tongue bathed in cough syrup and suddenly she couldn't even look in his general vicinity. But, she couldn't leave it at that. She had to make sure.

"Really? Never?"

"Well, no. The old man didn't have to ask, he just knew. Maybe it's because he was the Hokage… or because he was old. One or the other."

A moment filled with silence stretched between them.

"Wait a second…" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. That didn't make sense.

She looked up into the clearing and found it entirely devoid of the activity that had captured her attention earlier. The contingent of copies that had populated it all seemed to have dissolved into nothing. All save for one.

She stepped closer to the youth standing at her side, a little unnerved despite herself. "Naruto, your clone. He's… staring at us."

"Hmm?" He stared at his identical twin for a second. "Oh, that's not my clone."

"What!"

Why the hell was he so nonchalant?

"What the hell is it then?"

"He's a clone of the Original," he answered.

Her expression's temperature dropped swiftly. "Stop kidding around," she growled.

"Huh? I'm not kidding."

"Are you stupid? If that's a clone of the original and you're the original—"

He shook his head. "But I'm not the original."

Pause.

"What?"

"I'm not the original."

Pause.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not the—"

"I heard you the first time!" she yelled. Sighing, she moved a hand up to massage her forehead. "If neither of you is the original, then where is he?"

"No idea," he said. She turned to the other one, looking for something more but he simply shrugged his ignorance.

"Naruto, if you're playing a prank on me…"

The clone at her side brought his hands up in surrender. "I'm not, I swear!"

She advanced on him. "I don't believe you. Stand still."

Thud.

"Oof!" Her fist buried itself in his gut.

Bamf!

His form dissolved into a cloud of floating particles.

She whirled towards the last remaining blond. "Naruto! I can't believe you let me have an intimate conversation with one of your stupid kage bunshin!"

"Wait!"

Thud! Bamf!

"W-what?" She turned to her empty surroundings and started yelling. "Naruto! This isn't funny. Where are you?"

Quiet.

A rumbling noise escaped the back of her throat to express her frustration. "Damn it Naruto, when I find you, you'll be sorry."

Sakura stalked out of the clearing, intent on finding her wayward teammate and equally intent on ignoring the uneasy feeling that settled in her navel.

She never found him.

Sakura sacrificed the remainder of her day off in her efforts to find her lost teammate. She found no tracks leading from the clearing, despite the number of kage bunshin it had contained. She had tried looking for him all over the village, but he hadn't been in any of his favorite places. She'd even tried going to his apartment, but no one had answered the door.

When the sun dropped past the horizon she resigned herself to failure, knowing that she would never find him in the darkness.

So, she never found him.

This fact rumbled in the far-off corners of her mind like a hibernating mammal. She couldn't quite ignore it, but she could tune it out.

This willful disregard is what allowed her to greet her approaching teammate without showering him with furious spittle or disturbing his hairstyle through the force of her screams. This boy hadn't done anything to deserve her ire.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned his head halfway towards her and nodded. He continued past her and walked towards one of the larger trees, where he settled in to wait for their teacher.

For once, she didn't try to make conversation with him, preoccupied as she was with visions of retribution and punishment. Anticipation built up on the inside her chest, putting pressure on her lungs and forcing her to take deeper breaths. She was vexed and she did little to diminish the feeling. She couldn't wait for the moment where she would be able to give Naruto a piece of her mind.

A spindly man crept into her field of vision without warning, almost startling her with his proximity. She didn't cry out though, or even react in any obvious manner. In this place, at least, she knew to expect the unexpected.

Beyond him, she noticed Sasuke stepping onto the grass towards their position while the man crossed his arms and looked about their meeting place like he couldn't quite believe the scene placed before his uncovered eye.

"Hmm? What's this? Where's the third duckling?"

Sakura opened her mouth to answer, but stalled as her mind was overcome by the incongruity of the situation. In effect, her mouth hung open as Sasuke jerked to a stop, clearly coming to the same realization as her.

The man looked between the two of them repeatedly while she regained control over her tongue. She closed her mouth, almost shakily, and gulped. "Kakashi-sensei? You're… early."

The awe in her voice was palpable. Even Sasuke looked a little gobsmacked.

Kakashi eyed her for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I'm actually fifteen minutes late."

"That's early for you, sensei."

He looked away, passing over the surroundings again. "So, where is your teammate?"

"Naruto? He probably overslept."

Her tone of voice had been clearly dismissive, but her teacher latched on to something she couldn't detect and his gaze snapped onto her frowning face. "What makes you say that? Did you run into him yesterday?"

Tough question. "Not really."

"Where did you see him?"

It was like he hadn't heard her. "I didn't," she found herself denying.

He took a step towards her, and all of a sudden she found herself thinking that Hatake Kakashi was a very scary man. His expression was just as laid back as always and his posture was relaxed, but she found that she was unnerved by him in spite of that. She caught her hand before it began to move towards her weapons pouch.

"Why did you say 'not really' then, instead of no?" Kakashi asked.

She avoided meeting his eye. Her breath was beginning to accelerate and she decided to quit while she was ahead. "Well… I ran into a few clones of his, but he wasn't with them."

"What were they doing?"

She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, lots of things."

"What kind of things, Sakura?"

It was the undercurrent of steel beneath his voice that broke the camel's back. She brought her eyes up to meet his and almost began to shout. "Sensei, you're interrogating me. What's going on? Is Naruto in trouble?"

He was silent for just a beat. "No. He didn't do anything wrong." He turned towards Sasuke and motioned for them both to follow. "Come on, let's go wake him up." He set a brisk pace as he walked off, but neither of his students moved to follow him.

Sakura turned and caught Sasuke's eye. Her teammate held it for a second and turned away to follow after his teacher. She watched them both go for a long moment.

The caverns in the back of her mind grew hot, and the furry mammal woke up with a fierce bellow.

"He didn't do anything wrong… right, sensei?" Sakura whispered, eying his back as he stalked away. "But, that doesn't mean he isn't in trouble, does it?"

The feeling was like a thousand tiny eggs breaking apart to release a swarm of creepy-crawlies in the middle of her intestines. She swallowed bile and bitterness and wondered where her anger had gone. She missed it. It had done such a marvelous job covering up the anxiety.

She took another moment to gather herself, and hurried off in pursuit.

Kakashi's swift pace screeched to a halt so abruptly that it was almost as if he'd walked into a wall. Sakura and Sasuke continued past him for a couple of strides before turning back, eying him perplexedly. The trio stood about a dozen paces away from the entrance to Naruto's apartment. The hallway that enclosed them was clean and clearly lit, and neither of them could see anything that should occupy their teacher's attention to such a degree.

The teacher looked to his students and reminded them that ninja should always look for information beyond what is provided by the eyes. "I smell blood."

Anxiety was replaced with uncomprehending disbelief. She could say nothing in the face of something so inconceivable.

Sasuke flinched as if he'd lost control of his entire body for an instant, and spoke for the first time that morning. "Naruto?" he asked, his voice filled with dreadful expectation.

"Yes."

"How much?"

"More than enough."

Disbelief was replaced by fear and confusion. The usual questions popped up and rooted themselves into her consciousness. What, who, how, when?

Why?

They found themselves before his door in the space between two heartbeats. Sasuke reached to open the door rather forcefully but was pulled back by Kakashi. Their teacher paid no attention to the boy's furious, outraged face and quickly cut his left thumb with a knife she never saw him reach for. He pushed the wound against his other fingertips, spreading his blood so that all ten gleamed red. Sakura and Sasuke watched as if in a daze as Kakashi pressed his bloody fingers on either side of Naruto's door, eyes closed in concentration.

It happened with no warning, no spread, no growth. One moment there was nothing and the other saw the wall covered in black symbols that seemed like language, only not. She saw Sasuke step back in surprise and knew that she would have as well had she not been so fascinated. It was the largest sealing array that she had ever seen in her entire life. It was clearly focused around Naruto's door and spread out through the entire hallway. It didn't extend across the floor or ceiling, except directly above and under the entrance to his apartment. It was magnificent.

It was absurd. She didn't know its purpose, but she knew that Naruto couldn't possibly have need of it. Maybe it was something left behind by the previous owner?

Sasuke approached the seal work, his hand kept less than an inch away and his eyes blazing red. "An illusion? This is—"

A rough hand crashed onto his shoulder, interrupting him. "A state secret," Kakashi said. "Neither of you shall speak of this, especially not to Naruto." He turned to her and made sure that she had heard him, made sure that she had detected the warning in his tone.

She could only nod breathlessly. Before either of them could think up appropriate words, Kakashi turned to the opened door and walked in. They followed without prompt, remembering what it was that they were here to do.

Naruto's apartment was small as it was only meant to put up one person. It had exactly three rooms. The outside hallway door led directly to the kitchen, which, like the rest of the apartment, was built on a wooden floor. To the right of the entrance was an empty doorframe that led to a short hallway and two closed doors. One of those doors led to his bathroom and the other led to his bedroom. The arch was so close to the apartment entrance that one would have to close the front door to continue on to the rest of the apartment.

The front door was still open, but it didn't obstruct any of them from seeing the stained shards of glass floating in a pool of day old blood. Now that she was in the apartment proper, she wondered how she could have missed smelling it. Her hand moved in front of her mouth, to hold in a gasp and to block out the sickening stench.

Sasuke stood in front of her, his body shivering. His eyes were fixed onto the blood stain, but his mind was clearly somewhere else.

She knew what he was thinking about. She'd heard the rumors, same as everyone else. Sasuke walked home to find his entire clan murdered, slaughtered even. She imagined that the sight and smell of this apartment brought back awful memories.

She tried to muster up the desire, the need to comfort and failed. She couldn't do anything for him, she wasn't strong enough. She couldn't take his pain without doubling hers, and she felt as if doing so would break her apart.

'I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. Naruto…'

Her eyes closed tightly. The fingers held over her face dug into the skin.

When her eyes opened themselves to the world, Kakashi was kneeling over the extensive blood stain, examining it carefully. Seconds later, his head jerked to the side, just before the sound of an opening door reached their ears.

By the time the approaching footsteps reached the obstructing door, Sakura was waiting with Sasuke outside of the apartment, on either side of the doorway. Looking into his eyes was painful, so her eyes drifted down until she noticed one of his hands clutching at one of his kunai like he was trying to squeeze water out of it.

The door was pushed into swinging towards them, blocking their view of the room. They heard the rustling of clothing, a body hitting the floor, a short scream. And then, uncertainty.

"Naruto?"

"Kakashi-sensei?" The voice was garbled and indistinct, but still easily recognizable.

The look on Sasuke's face was one she'd never really seen before. She didn't have much time to observe it before he went rushing into the apartment, but it was definitely one of the only times she'd ever seen him smile. At the very least, she could tell that he was glad, happy even.

That should have made her happy too, if nothing else. It was definitive proof that he cared. It was proof that all her effort wasn't in vain, that he could learn to love her like she loved him, if only she didn't give up. It should have given her hope. But the worry was still there. The fear still cut at her composure, like it was trimming off her rationality. She didn't wonder why.

"Fool me once…" Sakura whispered. No one heard her, alone as she was in the hallway.

She had to know. She just had to make sure.

Inside of the apartment, the atmosphere was almost choking with relief. Kakashi stood over him, arms crossed dangerously. He wasn't leaning on either foot and he seemed to loom over his most surprising student. It was all an act though. Her teacher lacked that oppressive edge he'd displayed only minutes earlier. She heard structured noise in the air and assumed that the man was asking questions. She wasn't really listening.

Sasuke stood on the other side, leaning against the refrigerator. A smirk was plastered on his face and it almost seemed as though he was making fun of his friend's predicament. She could almost hear the question on the tip of his tongue: 'What have you gotten into this time, dead last?'

Naruto sat on floor, his legs crossed with his hand buried into the tangled nest of blond roots attached to his scalp. His face was scrunched up in a practiced manner, and she couldn't tell if his eyes were closed or if he was merely squinting. Either way, he didn't react to her entrance. He was wearing that orange getup of his with his forehead protector tied securely around his forehead. His equipment pouches were attached around his waist and thigh and seemed fully stocked. He looked ready.

She watched him carefully, trying to discern some clue, some flaw that would unmask it, and kept her silence until she could no longer restrain herself.

"Are you the real one?"

Silence. She ignored the other two. She had to know.

The wrinkles on his face smoothed out and his eyelids moved out of the way. He looked to her. He looked away.

He shook his head. It reminded her of the way he'd looked back at the Academy, when Hokage-sama came to their class and scolded him in front of everybody. She remembered, because it was the only time she'd ever seen him show regret. She remembered… that everyone had laughed and cheered, because it meant that his disruptive behavior would come to an end. Naruto hadn't said a word, but she remembered a look in his eyes, and the tension in his shoulders.

The next day he'd started up again, worse than before. Everyone waited for him, but Hokage-sama never came to scold Naruto again.

She controlled her breathing consciously now. "Do you know where he is?"

She saw Kakashi hold his hand up, to stop Sasuke from speaking up. The clone took the opportunity to climb to his feet and silently pointed towards the door. She moved out of the way as it softly closed the front door, and followed it as it stepped inside the bedroom.

There he was, stretched out on his mattress.

'He looks ill,' she thought.

He wore a pair of blood stained pajamas, torn and shredded along one side. The skin revealed by the damaged garment seemed perfectly healthy, but she couldn't say the same about the body as a whole. His tan seemed a few shades lighter than his counterpart's, and the sweat that permeated his skin and clothing glistened as it encountered the morning light. His hair drooped lifelessly and stuck to his forehead, like wet grass stomped into the ground. Beneath his eyelids, his eyes were motionless.

The clone looked at her worryingly, with his right hand holding onto Naruto's forearm.

"He won't wake up."

P.S.

By the way, you guys really shouldn't get used to the update schedule I've used up to this point. Those of you who have read my other works know that I am a notoriously slow writer, and I haven't gotten any faster over the years. I've pretty much used up my stockpile of pre-written material, so you should expect a return to norm soon.

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who reviewed. Sometimes it seems that the only reason I keep writing these things is to watch that little number get bigger. I mean, I'm not getting any money from this, and I put a lot of effort into it, especially since I'm my own editor.

But that's enough complaining from me. Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you think. If I've gotten any better at this, it's thanks to you, the reviewers. I guess I should give a shout-out to everyone over at the Fanfiction Forum too. They've certainly helped, at least when we aren't arguing enough to derail the thread.