He awoke several times in the middle of the night to scrambling noises. Doors being thrown open, the seat of the toilet clanging open, retching emptying into the bowl. And now, just as it was time for them to leave, he had already waited several minutes for her to finish emptying her guts into the toilet.

"Maybe you should call in sick." He suggested through the door. A soft gasp came from the girl inside, and the door opened slightly to reveal a wide-eyed girl.

"No." the word came out as a snap, and his eyebrows raised a bit at her tone. She seemed to realize her mistake as her cheeks flushed slightly.

"Give me a few minutes, please."

He retreated to his position at the door. A few minutes later, she arrived, and they left.

"Sasuke!" a voice called across the room. He tensed in his seat. TenTen next to him and Neji across from him raised their heads to look for the source of the voice. It was unmistakable who it was, but she could be anywhere.

Soon, she was right next to him, her hands clasped under her chin as she bent down to be level with his face, a twinkle in her blue eyes. Behind her, Sakura shifted nervously. Ino didn't seem to notice her friend's fidgeting, however, and continued on her tirade.

"Did you end up finding Hinata?" she asked, eyes scanning his intently. The beast was hungry for gossip.

"No." he provided simply, but Sakura coughed from behind her friend.

"But, didn't you get her things for Naruto?" Sakura peered past Ino, searching Sasuke's face. Her gaze was disarmingly vulnerable.

"You told us that you didn't find Hinata." Neji quirked an eyebrow at the freshman, crossing his arms over his chest. Sasuke met his gaze firmly.

"I didn't." he shifted his attention to Sakura. "You're mistaken."

She would have argued with any other person. She would have asserted herself and proved her value. But, when faced with Sasuke's hard glare, she relented. Ino, however, pressed Sasuke for more.

"So, tell me all about where you've been!" she pulled the remaining chair out for herself, sitting comfortably with her elbows resting on the table and her chin resting on her hands. Sakura hovered, left without a chair at the edge of the table.

"I didn't realize you still went here." Sasuke changed the subject.

"Of course! Pharmaceuticals is a serious business." Ino clapped her hands together, pleased to be talking about herself, as always. She wagged a finger at him as she continued, explaining the ins and outs of the business. He packed up as she continued deeper into her life, glancing at his watch.

"I have to go to class." He told her, fleeing the scene. She barely acknowledged him leaving, instead turning to Neji and TenTen to continue her rant. Sakura's eyes followed his back as he exited the hall. He tried to ignore her.

She said nothing as she climbed into the car. He barely registered that anything was wrong until she sniffled halfway through their drive. Chancing a glance in her direction, he noticed her puffy eyes and slumped posture. She rubbed offhandedly at one of her eyes, before letting the hand drop back into her lap.

"What happened?" he asked, oddly disturbed by her crying face. His stomach was unsettled, his chest bubbled with something hot. He was angry.

"It's nothing." She muttered, hugging her arms close to her body. The answer was unsatisfactory to him. He gripped the steering wheel harder.

"Who made you cry?" he bit out angrily. Her gaze darted quickly to his face. A frown tugged at her lips.

"No one made me cry." She said. "I just feel bad."

She locked herself in her room when they got home. He sat on the couch, but found that he couldn't concentrate on anything. After about an hour of restless studying, his phone buzzed. Picking it up, he found that he had a text from an old friend.

"I'm surprised you agreed to see me." Kakashi smiled from underneath his mask as he opened his door. Sasuke grunted as he shouldered past the man, into his small apartment. Kakashi didn't seem like a dog man, but there were at least nine dogs lounging in the tiny living space. The whole room smelled like pee. He opted against sitting on the plump couch, instead leaning against a wall to regard the white-haired man.

"I don't feel like being in my apartment right now." Sasuke answered, his eyes following a small dog as it sniffed the behind of another. Maybe he was better off with the girl.

"Is everything okay?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, mimicking Sasuke's stance on an adjacent wall. Sasuke only shrugged in reply, his harsh glance trained at a pee stain in the carpet. The great Kakashi had pee stains in his apartment. "Do you want to tell me where you've been?"

He had nothing else to do, so he recounted his journey for Kakashi. After he had helped extinguish the terror group that called themselves the Akatsuki, after he had helped overthrow the existential threat of the woman named Kaguya, he had disappeared. There had been too much grief in his life that he needed to sort out. His brother's secret life and death, the cut-throat politics of the city he had once called home, the continued existence of the escaped convict he had thought that he killed.

His journey had a purpose. He travelled to each of the other cities of the country: Suna, Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa, as well as a host of smaller cities and towns. His travels had exposed him to knowledge he had never hoped to acquire. There was speculation among some in Kumo that Kaguya had not come from a foreign country as was the well-known fact, but was actually an alien.

That was ridiculous, of course. But as he explored more about Kaguya, he found that she was an expert on other dimensions. He found himself drawn to that idea, and explored all he could given his limited education and knowledge. But as resources ran out, he was faced with a horrible reality. In order to pursue this knowledge, he would have to come home.

If he had known what was waiting for him, perhaps he would have stayed in Kumo and risked the deranged mayor finding him there.

"Well, I'm glad you're not committing anymore crimes." Kakashi smiled. Sasuke scoffed and looked away, irritated with the response.

"I might have to if people keep annoying me."

"Who's annoying you?"

"Sakura. Naruto. Ino. Neji. TenTen."

He almost said Hinata but caught himself just in time.

"It's good that you have so many friends." Kakashi pushed off the wall, lifting the cushions on his couch to reveal a collection of books.

"If you're that tense, you might want to read one of these."

"Absolutely not."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched at the thought. The mere suggestion that he would do something so pathetic was irritating. Kakashi laughed at his misery before replacing the cushion.

"Unfortunately, I have to hide these. I can't let my students see them." Kakashi mourned, dropping back onto the couch.

"I thought you were the mayor?" Sasuke had to choose between that question and bringing up that Kakashi hadn't minded reading those books in plain sight when Sasuke had him as a teacher. In fact, he could remember a few times when Kakashi had forgotten to teach, being too wrapped up in his fantasies.

"I was, for a term. Shizune actually took office. Neither Tsunade nor I wanted to rerun, and the alternative was Naruto or Kiba, so it was only natural. The people love Naruto, but he's not ready quite yet." Kakashi began to flip through a small book with a bright orange cover. "I split my time between answering Naruto's questions and tutoring high school brats. I'm living the dream."

Sasuke stayed until dinnertime. He was hungry, so he left without thinking, assuming automatically that Hinata would cook them dinner. Unfortunately, he realized too late that she was probably still locked in her room.

He stopped in a drive-through, trying to remember what she liked but ordering her a plain hamburger in the end.