Recap: "Err, you can sleep in my room with me tonight," Ryuu pulls me in, towards his bed. "Eh heh"

"Thanks," I laugh nervously with him, knowing he was not only feeling his fear of the puppets still in the back of his mind, but also the feeling of longing from the threads I had given to Sasori. We huddle together in his bed, acting just as decent siblings do when they're smaller. I loved my brother just as much as he loved me.

But one thing troubled me. Where had Sasori, no the cloak gone?

A woman with long, waist length light blue hair harshly orders, trying to stop the bleeding of the kunoichi on the medic's table, both wearing doctors' masks over their mouths and noses. "A yard of bandaging, stat, that means now not later damn it!"

"That's not enough to stop the bleeding's thou-"

"NOW!" The nurse beside her hands her a roll of white bandages

"I said a yard! Not foot! Get it right! Hurry it up!"

The woman apologizes pathetically, handing her a thicker roll. The woman from before wraps the girl quickly and tightly, and then makes a swift number of hand signs, slamming her palms down onto the kunoichi's stomach, soaking her hands in blood. The bandages pulsate, glowing silver, sliding over each and every major wound, sewing it back up with an invisible needle. The Medical Ninja grins, the blood flow had stopped. She walks out of the room, removing her mask and trashing it and the latex gloves. Pale blue eyes peer out beneath long, elegant lashes.

"Well that was a job well done," I smile, pulling my hair down to let it flow about my waist, two braids in it on the underneath of my ears, gold links holding the braids together. "But next time, be more competent! I can't have someone fumbling around when someone's life is at stake! Another minute of bleeding like that and we wouldn't have to worry about her! You dunce."

"I-I'm sorry, Aya-sama," she bows repeatedly. I walk off, not paying attention. "I'll work harder next time."

"Work better! You working 'harder' would be the death of every patient with whom you tend," I hiss, turning a corner and hanging up my stuff in my office. I snatch up my bag, leaving towards the outer doors of the hospital.

"Done for the day, Aya-sama?" a medic-in-training asks with a grin.

"Yes, I am, Hiro," I nod. "Be a darling and sign me out?"

"Sure thing!" he eagerly goes to do so, a laugh coming out of my pale pink lips.

As soon as I walk out of the hospital, my feet take the normal path to the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. Like always, Squad Seven's training ended just as I got off work. Ryuu always met his best bud, Hatake Kakashi, there everyday he didn't have a mission.

Did I fail to mention we had moved to Konoha about fifteen years earlier? Oops.

"Hello everyone" I cheerfully flop between Ryuu and Sakura.

"Hi Aya-sensei" Naruto gobbles his ramen down, speaking at the same time as Sakura.

"Hey," Sasuke gives a curt nod, nothing more.

"Anything good happen today Sis?" Ryuu inhales his food just like Naruto was doing.

I snort. "Some incompetent new nurse nearly killed off one of the Chuunin kunoichi."

"And you set her straight?" Kakashi questions

I smirk "she'll never work with me again, I can promise you that much."

"Evil," Ryuu laughs, now full just as I finish off a bowl. "Let's get headed home. I swear the days keep getting shorter."

"I'd agree to that," I nod. "Later kids, see you Kakashi."

"Don't be strangers in my house, Aya," he smiles well at least I knew he did by his eye.

"I won't," I roll my eyes. "Pakkun probably misses me."

"He does."

Ryuu and I start walking towards our home, the one where only the two of us lived. Our parents had died seven years ago; they were raided by Jounin of Kumogakure while trying to sell their products there.

Twenty years had gone by fast, I was twenty-six, almost twenty-seven and my brother twenty-nine. It had been an interesting two decades, he was a high ranked Jounin along with Gai and Kakashi, but I had become a powerful Medical Ninja, just as I wished. I had met Tsunade-hime, my dream, and been complimented and even trained a bit by her. I was said to be the second strongest medic to ever work in Konoha, my works respected in every nation, especially my home nation of Sunagakure.

Sasori, frankly I hadn't really missed him. I admit, I did when I felt like throwing insults at someone, I hadn't found a worthy person to despise since he'd left. Ryuu had been down the year Sasori had left, but soon made friends with someone three years his younger, Kakashi, when we moved to Konoha. They were a strong team, and both completely perverted friends. Ryuu, well he had grown, A LOT! He was a handsome man now, one that rivaled even the mysterious ways of Hatake.

"Twenty years," my brother randomly says, walking through the gates of our beautiful estate.

"Twenty years?" I quirk an eyebrow "Oh, since Puppet Boy left, it was twenty last month, love."

"I know," he shakes his head. "I do miss him though. I mean, I don't even know if he's dead or not."

"No telling," I shrug, "so doesn't think about it. It only troubles the brain."

"I know you're right, as always," he scowls. "You should have been a kunoichi instead of a Medical Nin."

"I wanted to be a medic, and I am, so I'm okay," I smile sweetly at him. "Besides, they still let me help out on some missions with the ANBU Black Ops."

"Mainly because you're good at fixing up nasty wounds" he snorts "and britches"

I whack him over the head. "Ugh! Street urchin"

"That I am, dearest, that I am!" he kisses my cheek, skipping into his room.

I roll my eyes at my brother. "Get to sleep, you have a mission tomorrow. I'll make a big breakfast in the morning."

"Just because you're making me a big breakfast, I will," he yawns loudly. "Night babe"

"Night sweets" I laugh quietly, randomly thinking of how funny it was that our family had a reputation of using pet names for everyone like 'babe', 'sugar', 'sweets', 'darling', 'love', or others.

I eat a quick apple, and then take a nice, relaxing bubble bath. In my room, I change into a pair of pajama pants and a low-cut tank top that came barely to the top of my pants. That means it showed about a centimeter of skin if I kept my arms flat beside me. Not likely... Crawling under my blankets, I slowly drift off to sleep.

"He misses you." Darkness weaves a mask over my eyes, only allowing me to hear the gentle calls whispering all around me.

"He misses you."

'Who, Who misses me?' I subconsciously murmur.

"Hate is such a strong word. He misses you."

'Who, who misses me?! Tell me!' I was screaming in my mind, clawing at my eyes, trying to rub away the veil to see who was talking to me. I recognized the pulsating whispers of whomever or whatever it was.

"Wake up. Your brother is in trouble. Wake up. He's going to die."

"Wake up," the voice continues to chant before something throws me high into the air, plunging me out of my mind.

"WHO" I shriek, sitting up in my bed, sweating a cold one, my body was shaking; freezing no matter the air was hot in my room. "Ryuu, something's wrong." I could feel it to my very bones; something wasn't right in this house. I run, faster than I've ever run in my life, and into the order's room.

He was in bed, like before, but something was different. He was pale, his dark blue hair didn't hold that familiar sheen right at the moment, and it was dull, eerily brittle looking. His lips were turning blue, the same color as his hair, and his breaths were short and ragged.

"Ryuu"

I grab him, throwing him on my back and darting away, using ninja speeds. Before I knew it, I was in the ever-alive hospital, panting harshly.

"Aya-sama?" some of more senior medics ask, eyes wide. They scurry over, grabbing Ryuu. "Stretcher, we need a stretcher!"

"Have a room set up in a hurry! Find an open private room!" I call as well, still sweating profusely. We rush into a new room, checking my brother along with the other doctors. I couldn't understand what was wrong with him. This illness was something new.

"I know what it is," a medic visiting from Iwagakure mumbles. "It's the same outbreak they had in my village. He needs to be quarantined immediately, and no person that came in contact with him since yesterday will need to be as well. Including whomever they came in contact with. This is extremely deadly, more die than live."

"Oh how reassuring," I scoff unhappily, getting serious to hide my emotions. "What do I do? Do we have the necessary medicines?!"

"No, you don't I'm sorry," he looked genuinely sorry, so I nod. "I know how to make a vaccine capable of preventing it from happening to give to all contacts he was near, but he doesn't have the necessary medicines to stop it from taking over him. They barely discovered a plausible cure in Iwagakure."

"So you're saying they have one there though," my eyes widen. "How long is the trip to Iwagakure?"

"About four days," the guy shakes his head. "He'll be dead before you get back."

My throat tightens painfully. I turn to one of the useless medics. "Get me Hatake Kakashi! NOW"

"Yes, Aya-sama!" the man runs off swiftly.

"Is there anything you can do to prolong it? Anything at all" I plead. "Please! Tell me there's something!"

"The disease, nameless still, attacks the immune system, the blood, the heart rate, and circulation of breathing."

"It's not hopeless," I narrow my eyes, knowing such things easily. My threads couldn't help thanks to the heart thing and the breathing.

"You're a medic, I can tell by how these people regard you as Aya-sama," he stares me down, "so you know there is a way to keep him alive. You," he points to two medics near me, "I want a tube running into each lung and a blood packet attached to him! And you, I want an IV hooked up immediately, along with a heart monitor. What blood type is he?"

"He's O, positive," I answer. "You, be careful with that tube! He can still feel whatever you do to him!" I turn back to the man. "How long can you keep him alive?"

"A month, if even that long, but that's it," he shakes his head.

Kakashi walks in. "I heard Ryuu was in here."

"I'm going to go to Iwagakure to get a cure," I stiffly tell him. "Kakashi, will you make sure my brother is treated respectably? I know you will, so don't bother answering. I'm going to the Hokage right now."

"Be back before the end of a full month, when the moon is a waning crescent again," the medic instructs. "Go, now! Every minute here is a wasted one for him!" The guy quickly gives me a shot, that way I won't get the illness.

"Yes," I push open the window, using it to run through the night. "Hokage... to the Hokage"

I arrive in his office immediately. He was up, it was early in the morning hours and he was obligated to be alive by now. I find him sipping coffee, eyes fully brightened and alive. Oh how I wish Ryuu's were like this right now.

"Hokage-sama," I wheeze, breathless, "I... I need... passes... passes to... Iwagakure, Ryuu, he's sick! The only cure is there!"

"Calm yourself Aya," he puffs out a bout of smoke. "Give me details."

I describe to him the situation quickly, not skipping any details. He nods, pulling out a passport for me and a squad of ANBU to come along with me. I thank him, running towards the door.

"You have two hours to be at the gates. The ANBU will be waiting for you," he orders.

"Thank you, Sarutobi-sama!" I formally call him by his first name, earning a smile from him.

I go home, showering swiftly and changing into a purple dress with slits up to my waist on each side, wearing black skintight shorts under the dress and slip on black shoes, heelless. I put skintight purple arm warmers with metal on the back of each hand on, and put my earrings in. I slide a large cloak over me, the two colors of the majestic piece being green and purple, the hood part green, and a gold brooch holding it together in the front. I was ready to go.