When Sasuke arrived two hours later, the sun had set completely and the stars were beginning to show themselves. Sakura was sprawled on the pallet and unconscious, holding something in her hand.

It was a part of a bread loaf, crushed into dough by. her hand. Sasuke tugged it out of her hand and realized there were crumbs on her blouse and in her hair. Also there were crumbs on the pillow and the sheets. He sighed and whisked some of the crumbs away.

Sakura was dead to the world. Sasuke realized he could leave the supplies he brought, pack his things and run. But he didn't want to. Not yet, he thought.

Sasuke regarded his former teammate quietly. There was a softness around Sakura's eyes that wasn't there when she was awake. Color had come back to her cheeks. Her breath was steady, indicating she was not in pain. He rearranged her long limbs and put the blanket back in place over her.

He admitted to himself, she was a fine looking woman. Lean but very pretty. No doubt there were other girls who ended up better endowed, but Sakura must have been turning heads back in Konoha. He idly wondered if she had a boyfriend.

Sasuke pulled in a long breath and let the thought go. It had nothing to do with him. He turned to the supplies and began to unpack them. He had far more important things to think about.

He contemplated what he had observed in the village:

Sasuke had been as curt and to the point as possible. The first thing he had done was pay a visit to Kouki. He found him hanging out with his buddies outside the gambling hall. He invited the younger man into a dark corner and then shoved him against the wall, telling him that under no uncertain terms would Sasuke forget his actions. Kouki had protested of course. All he knew was that a lunatic with a sword was out by the river, how was he to know it was ploy to capture Sasuke?

This had made Sasuke even more angry and he caught Kouki's hand in a joint lock. As the young man gasped in pain, Sasuke asserted that Kouki was having a fine time gambling with the money he had been paid to send Sasuke out in the first place. Sasuke practically threw Kouki back to his friends and warned them to spend their money more wisely. Hard days were coming to their village.

The young men hurried away from him, half-hearted curses echoing down the street. Sasuke made an annoyed sound. They would never understand until they saw for themselves what a nasty business it was to get involved with ninja.

The young folk their age didn't understand how badly ninja had hurt their village, or had hurt the world beyond, for that matter. The guys just old enough to have some strength in their arms and backs had no perspective. No idea of the misery that followed ninja around like a long, bleak shadow.

Sasuke had then gone to see Genmei. He had to steel himself. The old healer woman was exactly the opposite of Kouki. She only knew of the tragedies ninja visited on the common people. She despised ninja, and with very good reason.

He had hoped with enough coin and a hefty dose of flattery she would come to his cottage and help Sakura. But as soon as he began explaining her wounds to the healer, the old woman blanched and remarked that it sounded like a ninja who had lost a fight. Sasuke tried to reassure Genmei that Sakura was a medic and not the usual brash ninja, but Genmei wouldn't hear of it.

The old woman had reminded him that Sasuke himself was only tolerated in the village because of his help in returning the Mimasaka children to their parents. Sakura was a stranger and a ninja, and if she was injured then she must have deserved it. Sasuke wasn't eager to make a bad situation worse by mentioning that he was the one who hurt her, and on accident. Let her think it was other shinobi who injured Sakura.

So he then decided to lay his cards on the table. He told Genmei that more ninja may be coming to the village soon. He told her of Kouki coming to him to tell him of a madman raving near a field by the south bend in the river. Supposedly the madman was ranting and waving a sword, causing a spectacle. Sasuke had gone, meaning to keep everyone safe, but it had turned out to be an ambush by Iwa shinobi. And that, he concluded, was how Sakura, a passing shinobi from Konoha had gotten hurt.

Genmei had been shocked, she clearly didn't want to believe it. But she had no choice, and she told him why. She had heard of shinobi on the road outside of town. Their hitaiate bore the symbol of Iwa. And Genmei knew Kouki well enough to know that betraying a village outsider for money was perfectly in character for him.

Sasuke then swore to Genmei that he would do everything in his ability to keep the village free of any trouble. But, he insisted, he had to see that this medic was healthy enough to return to her team. She could see to it that any Konoha ninja stayed away from the village.

The old woman sniffed. Wasn't Sasuke from Konoha? Why didn't he inform them of what the Iwa were doing there? And what did the Iwa want with him, for that matter?

Sasuke stared back at the old woman silently. Genmei was nobody's fool and she would instantly see through any attempt to leave out crucial information.

Finally he had told her the conclusion he had reached ever since he had carried Sakura from the battlefield: He would be leaving very soon. Perhaps to the west this time.

It hadn't answered any questions but it allayed her fears. He had brought trouble to the village; he would see that it left with him.

Genmei hemmed and finally accepted his money. She still wouldn't go tend Sakura, but she pulled an extensive variety of herbs, jars of liquids, wraps soaked in chemicals and so on and filled two sacks for him. She said if Sakura were a proper medic she would know what to do with them.

Sasuke thanked the old woman quietly. He didn't imagine that Sakura would need all of the medicines. A substantial amount was a farewell gift for him.

Lastly he had stopped at the market for food. He was as efficient as he could be. Sasuke had gotten the distinct impression that the fewer people who saw him the better. He could feel eyes on him and he wondered if Kouki had told others about the shinobi strangers who offered money to get Sasuke alone.

Sasuke had started making comments about the weather in the west and road conditions. The provisions he bought would give the clear impression of someone who needed to take food on the road.

Finally, loaded down, he had returned to his cottage by a back road.

Now, as night deepened, he prepared a dinner and periodically looked over to Sakura's sleeping form. It would likely be at least two days before she could care for herself.

He needed to take precautions until then. A genjutsu to hide the cottage, to begin with. Let anyone else who looked for him get lost in the woods and come away thinking the rumors in the village of him heading west were true.

He pared his vegetables with irritated, jerky motions. He had come to like the cottage and the village.

-傷-

A calm before the storm...

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