It came to the next school week. It had been three weeks now since we had left the Naruto world. It seemed like longer though. This week was also the week a new girl came to school. I really didn't notice her until lunch time came around. I had been irritable lately. I had finally realized I wouldn't be going back, and I knew that. I just didn't like the idea of it.

Anyway, the new girl wasn't in our grade; she was in tenth. Our lunch period had ninth and tenth graders, so… yeah. The girl, who I found to have beautiful, vibrant, medium-length brown hair, was smiling and asking politely if there was room at any of the tables she passed. She, of course, started with the tenth graders. Unfortunately for her, all of the tables seemed to be full. Probably because half the cafeteria was under construction. She eventually came to our table, still smiling, seeming to not mind the fact she couldn't sit at any of the other tables.

"Hi," she said kindly. Her voice was sweet; I don't see how the other tables couldn't let her in…. In fact, my irritability was slightly lightened. I was happy enough to smile back. "I'm Apple. Can I sit here?"

"Sure!" Sarah answered.

"You can sit right over here," Nadia said, gesturing to the empty chair where Mackenzie usually sat. She was absent today…. She had gotten sick from her little brother, and her mom wouldn't let her go. Of course, Nadia had said, "Lucky…," in response to this; well, that would be Nadia. Mackenzie's seat was between Nadia and I, so that's where she sat. "I'm Nadia."

"Hey, I'm Alexis!" Alexis greeted, holding out her hand. Apple shook it.

"Natalie," I smiled, and shook her hand.

Sam stayed silent. I nudged her, which got a response. "Sam," she muttered.

"So… do you guys like to dance?" she asked, maybe trying to start a conversation.

Alexis and Nadia grinned. "Hell yeah!"

"I take hip-hop," Nadia added.

"Really?" Apple asked. "Me too! I also take ballet."

"Cool," Nadia replied.

"Do you like Naruto?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, of course!" Apple said, grinning and nodding.

"Oh, who's your favorite character?"

"Gaara. Who's yours?"

"Hidan, of course!"

"You're an Akatsuki fan?"

"Hell yeah! The Akatsuki's freakin' awesome!"

I smiled at their conversation. "How about you guys? Are you into Naruto?" Apple asked, looking around the table.

"We're into Naruto," I grinned, putting my arm around Sam's shoulders. Sam, of course, shoved my arm away.

"Who are your favorite characters?"

My smile faltered. It hurt to think about my "favorite character." How dare she ask us that? She doesn't know, I thought. She doesn't know. "…Mine is Deidara, and Sam, here, has Itachi as her favorite."

"How about you two?" she asked Nadia and Alexis.

Alexis just shrugged, and Nadia thought. "Um… how about the puppet guy?"

"Which one, Kankuro or Sasori?"

"I don't know; the one with the red hair!"

"Oh, okay." She looked at Sam. "You don't talk much, huh?"

"She's usually more lively; she's just bein' a Mr. Grumpy-Pants today," Sarah said.

Apple laughed. "Oh, alright!"

The next school week came. Why did the weekends have to go so fast? Sam and Natalie were acting all grumpy and stuff lately, but I still talked to them. It wasn't like they weren't my friends anymore, even though they were missing for two years. Apple had come to sitting with us at lunch every day. I thought she was nice; a lot like Sam, before she got grumpified. I grinned as Mackenzie ran into the lunchroom. She hadn't met Apple yet. I waved.

She waved back. "Hi Sarah!" She ran up to our table. "Hey guys! I'm back!"

"Hey Mackenzie," we all answered, except for Apple.

"Oh, hi Mackenzie, I'm Apple," Apple smiled.

"Apple's into Naruto too! Can you believe it?"

"Cool!" Mackenzie said, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

"Oh, you're into it too? Who's your favorite character?"

"Kakashi! You?"

"Gaara." And so, lunch began. "Ugh," Apple said eventually. "I had to run the mile today. I hate doing that."

"Yeah, me too," Nadia said. "It's a pain in the butt, especially for Courtney. She can barely breathe by the end!"

"I don't mind it so much," Alexis came in. "I love to run."

"Aw, we have to do the mile? I hate that! By the end I feel like I'm about to die," someone else said; I can't for the life of me remember who.

There were nods of agreement, but when I looked at Natalie, I found her shoulders were shaking with laughter. My first thought was simple; she was crazy. But I already knew that, and I was crazy too. "Ha! You think that's hard? I nearly died! Three times!" She picked up her tray and walked to another table briskly, to cool off her anger. This was the first time I had actually seen her lose her temper though….

"I'll be right back," Sam said in a low voice.

My only thought was, She nearly died? What the hell happened while she was gone?

"What does she mean? Was she in an accident?" Apple asked. Oh, right. She had no idea those two had been missing for two years.

"Well, I'm not quite sure what happened, but…," I said, and went on to explain.

I sat down at the empty table, smoldering with anger. My thoughts weren't entirely clear. My mind soon was able to make sense of things, somewhat. It wasn't Apple's fault…. But who, or what, is the cause to Sam and my suffering? We don't deserve this! Who is to blame?

Sam walked over to me. "Was it really three times?"

"I don't know. Something around there," I muttered.

"Mad much?"

I nodded, then sighed. "Sorry." She raised her eyebrows. I sighed again, then walked with her over to the table. "Sorry, I haven't been myself lately," I said to Apple.

"Oh, don't worry. That's alright," she answered with a closed-eye smile.

That Friday, on the bus ride home from school, the kid behind me tapped his pen against the window in an irregular pattern. I was still irritable, so it annoyed me extremely. When I was angry enough, I mustered up my will, turned to look at him, and said very politely, "Please stop tapping your pen against the window." Fortunately, after that, he stopped.

When I got home, I immediately packed, then went to Sam's house. I was having a sleepover tonight. "Hey Natalie," she greeted at the door.

The sleepover wasn't very significant, however. There was, though, something that happened during the sleepover that was somewhat important. "So what happened during lunch? When you lost your temper?" she asked me that night.

"I'm just…. Well…. I really don't know. I just want to make it back. To at least tell them why we're not coming…."

"You'll just have to deal with it, I guess," she said sadly.

This sparked my anger. "At least you got to say goodbye! I never even got to say goodbye to Deidara! At least you-!"

"I left Itachi to die." That got me to stop talking. "Natalie. I promised Itachi I'd come back for him. I told him to wait for me. And now, he's just holding on to a hope that's all in vain, if he's even still alive."

I looked down. "No more anger now. I'm sorry…. We both have it hard. All of us do. And think: it's been only four weeks here. How long has gone by in the Naruto world?"

"You're right…."

I smiled and spread my arms wide. "Hug?"

"No."

"Oh, come on! Please?"

"No. I don't like hugs."

"You hugged me when you saw me again, even in an Akatsuki cloak."

She looked away. "That was different."

I crossed my arms and put a pouty face on. "Well then, poo you."

I was in darkness. I saw nothing. I tried looking around, and I found something. There were eyes, staring at me in the dark. Suddenly I was able to hear laughter, hysterical laughter, as the eyes looked at me. Some of the eyes were sad, some angry. I tried to run away. I tried; and failed. I fell to what had to be the ground, and began backing away from the eyes, away from the laughter. I bumped into something, and looked up, to find a single, sinister, Sharingan eye, glaring down at me. I opened my mouth to scream….

I sat up in bed in a cold sweat. That nightmare was creepy….

My mind was fuzzy and confused. It became harder and harder just to think. Sasuke sat in the chair to my right, the chair to my left remained empty. And it would stay empty, until Sam came back…. She had to come back. She promised me. And, through the thick fog in my mind, I was able to grasp that single hope. "Do you really think she's coming back?" Sasuke asked absently. I looked at him slowly; it hurt to move my eyes. Everything hurt. Still, though, I sat leaning against the back of the bed, arms hanging limp at my sides.

"Yes. I know she will." It was difficult just to say that, but I still answered.

"It's been four months…."

Four months? I thought in the back of my mind. Has it been that long? All the days had blended together. All I could really remember was pain. I had lost track of time.

A doctor came into the blank hospital room, and set a table of food in front of me. I forced a light smile. "Thank you." Sasuke got to his feet, and he and the doctor began a conversation. Meanwhile, I slowly lifted my arm to grab the chopsticks. I was silently glad they were already broken apart. I took them lightly and took small bites of my rice. It hurt to swallow, and I really wasn't hungry, but I knew I needed to eat to stay alive.

"What's exactly happening?" Sasuke asked.

"We've found that his insides are slowly deteriorating. At some point, they won't work anymore." The doctor looked at me. "All we can do is ease the pain, and slow the process of deterioration with healing." He handed me a pill, and I gladly took it. Anything to help the pain….

That night, the pain was just unbearable though. I never could get to sleep, or I couldn't sleep well, since last month. But this…. I clutched the sheets tight, curling into a ball in agony. I couldn't take the pain anymore….

I watched with dull eyes as Itachi bolted upright, eyes bloodshot and an insane look in his eye. That woke me up. What he did next I couldn't believe. He started laughing. He was in hysterics. Tears were streaming down his face in sheer agony, yet he laughed. It made no sense to me. Then it was just sad. Sad that he was really so sick that he was that hysterical. The doctor came then, to see what was going on….

The next day, I had nothing really to do. There were no missions, and one of the only people who accepted me, was gone. There was Team Hebi, but I wasn't really in the mood to hear Karin and Suigetsu fight. Being around Itachi made me sad…. He had tried to eat today, but his stomach couldn't keep it down. He threw his breakfast back up, along with a considerable amount of blood. Then the nurse had to put an IV in his arm so he'd get the vitamins he needed to live. Although, he was already deathly ill….

That night I found myself sitting on a lonely bench. "Sasuke…," I looked up to see Sakura giving me a sad look.

"Hey," I said simply, then looked back to the ground.

For a while, we sat in silence. "…I know about what happened." Her voice almost surprised me after the silence. "About how you liked Samantha…."

"Hmph," I replied.

"I just want to say that I'm sorry, and let you know… that I'm here to comfort you, if you need it." I thought she'd say more, but she stayed silent.

I looked at her to find her staring at the ground as I had, with sad eyes. "Thank you…. And… thanks for still being here for me even after all I've done…." I had to say that, though I didn't like it.

She looked at me, and gave a sort of lopsided smile.

I sat at my desk, hand pressed against my forehead. I needed to think. I pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. I was tired. I had stayed up all night thinking, plotting. They went to their home dimension, right? Then why aren't they coming back? Natalie is a key…. She has vast knowledge about our world. Of its present, past, and even future. That was the whole reason I had told Pain to give that deal to her. All I wanted was her knowledge. Then, once she gave it to us, she'd be extracted. It was as simple as that. I had no intention to spare her life.

But that plan obviously didn't work. Damn you Deidara…. I thought bitterly. Then I went back to what I had thought of before. If they had gone to the real world, shouldn't they be back by now? Have they changed their plans? Have they betrayed their allies, their "friends?" Why don't they come back? It's been four months. Is Natalie okay? My eyes widened and I loosened the grip on my nose. What did I just think? Was I really just worrying about someone's well-being? And Natalie, of all people. She's an enemy! I want her dead! I grabbed my mask, irritated with myself, and headed to my room.

I needed some sleep.

Well... I hope you like it! And yes, Sam finally found a way to get back at me for making Sasuke like her. If you figure it out, COOKIES FOR YOU! If not, COOKIES ANYWAYS! :D Everybody deserves a cookie.