Wish Upon a Lost Wing
Chapter Nine: Awaken, Frozen One

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"Sometimes it just gets hot and the weather affects your mind and then you get confused and sick and life gets crazy and everything starts spinning and you seem to have no time for anything and all of your daily activities become grey and the lines become less defined until what is happening on one day becomes the next and the day becomes the night and back and forth and then you wake up or go to sleep and you realize you are in the future and are not quite sure how you got there."

-SillyGoth(dot)com

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Tsunade looked over the file that Anko had left on her desk.There was something that was bothering her. Age didn't really matter. Some who were born were placed in stasis for years, for reasons that no one could think of. It was a technique that both Demons and Angels knew, but Humans did not and she was thankful for that. It was a technique that she hated using, though she had only once before.

The age didn't matter. Sasuke was older than he appeared to be, but he had only really awakened nineteen years ago. It was probably the work of his older brother. It could also explain why the Uchiha line had mysteriously disappeared for many years before coming back to the surface. It was known that Itachi had spent most of those years in Hell, so he had probably taken his little brother, his father and his step-mother down there with him, in the form of Time Freeze, so that he could finalize his plans.

That part she had figured out.

Sasuke's powers were still a mystery to her, but she knew that with time, they would be revealed as well.

It was the entire Sasuke and Neji issue that she could not believe, would not believe.

Hyuuga Neji had been dying when she had found him and Naruto. Afraid for his life, Tsunade had put his body into stasis. He still lived. But only Tsunade and Jiraiya knew of that. They released the news that he had died under her care because his injuries were too much. This was to prevent anyone from knowing the truth. It had worked.

Still, the false information was disconcerting, at best. She would have to look into that matter later. Someone was definitely making up false information and as a Kage, she could not let that go unattended. Still, there were things that needed to be done right now.

Tsunade walked to her clinic. Even though she was Hokage, she specialized in medicine, which was strange. It was usually the Mizukage that was the doctor and the Hokage just focused on being the Judge. This generation of Kages was strange though. More so than all of history's stories. The Mizukage didn't even know how to heal a cut, let alone be a doctor, but Tsunade had a gift with such things.

She made her way to the back of the clinic, where only she had access to and opened a locked steel door. Inside, on a bed, lay Hyuuga Neji, now three hundred and twenty-two years old.

"Sorry for keeping you under so long, Neji," she whispered to him as she moved forward. "It was for your own safety. But I need you once again to protect Naruto."

Tsunade quickly cast the spell that would release Neji from his sleep.

The boy woke up slowly, his pearly-white eyes staring at the ceiling in confusion. He turned his head to the side.

"Tsunade-san?" he asked softly.

"Hello, Neji. We have a lot to talk about. For starters, you've been asleep for nearly three hundred years."

It was going to be a long night. Tsunade knew that, but she also knew that she had to explain everything to Neji. And that would take some time. For his part, Neji didn't seem to be exhibiting any aggressive tendencies for being put to sleep for three hundred years without being asked.

Sasuke awoke the next day with a stiff neck. He groggily opened his eyes, looking around, before he realized that he had fallen asleep sitting up on his couch.

Note to self, he sighed mentally. Never do that again.

He tried to move, only to find a weight pressed firmly against his side.

He looked down, subconsciously fearing the worst, when he saw Naruto.

"That can't be comfortable," he grunted before shaking the boy awake. Today, he really needed to get back to classes.

"Naruto, wake up, we have to eat and then classes."

The blonde merely moaned in his sleep and snuggled further into Sasuke's leg. Sasuke decided to take the initiative and just stood up, wrenching Naruto awake in the process. The blonde tumbled to the floor.

"Ow," he groaned, rubbing his head. "Why'd you wake me up like that?" He pouted, looking entirely adorable for Sasuke.

Backtrack. Sasuke didn't call Naruto adorable. He meant something like… annoying, or irritating. Never adorable. Stupid Angels. They were confusing him.

"Come on, Naruto. We have to get to class today. Change your clothes."

Naruto yawned and nodded as Sasuke moved to the kitchen area of his rooms in order to cook some type of breakfast. He found that he wasn't hungry and he didn't have the energy to make anything more than toast.

Naruto came out of his room a little bit later. Sasuke had to commend him. He was a fast learner, even though he still needed to learn how to put on a shirt. So, the black-haired college student walked over to the blonde and pointed out the point of the tag and how it always went in the back. Naruto nodded and they went over to the table.

Breakfast passed without any incidents, luckily. Sasuke found that he couldn't deal with the blonde's antics when he did something wrong right now. He needed to focus on classes. He needed to maintain a high grade point average for his scholarship.

"Come on, it's time for class," he bid to Naruto. He grabbed his bag and walked out into the hallway to find Shikamaru and Kiba waiting for him.

"So, class?" Kiba asked with a grin.

Shikamaru sighed. "So bothersome," he let out.

Sasuke had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes. He couldn't believe that these people could be considered his friends. He really couldn't.

"So how does this work out?" Sasuke asked as they exited their building.

Kiba looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you guys have to be introduced to the class or something?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Too troublesome. Three transfers from the same place at the same time. Too suspicious. There could be Demon activity here. At least we can assume so because Gaara was here."

"So how does this all work out."

"The Kages altered the memories of everyone on this campus who was non… well, non-us."

"They can do that?"

Kiba nodded. "Aren't they awesome?" he practically bounced.

Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, sure. Awesome."

Naruto chewed his lips. "We're in all the same classes, right?" he asked nervously.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah. Thank Tsunade for that."

Naruto looked relieved. "Thank Sarutobi."

They arrived at their class, History of Western Civilization, fairly quickly. All four of them took seats in the back to watch the students pour in. Sasuke was accustomed to sitting in the back, and the other three could pretty much do whatever. He wasn't sure how so many people's memories could be altered in order to make room for Kiba, Shikamaru and Naruto in their lives, but he figured that he would get a headache by just thinking about it.

All four of them noticed when one figure walked in, flanked by two others. Sasuke blinked, trying to place that person.

"Gaara," Shikamaru whispered. "What's he doing here?"

Sasuke nodded. Now he recognized the redhead.

"And that's Temari and Kankarou," Kiba put in.

"Who are they?" Sasuke wanted to know.

"They're his siblings," Shikamaru explained softly, so as to not attract the attention of any of the humans that were steadily filling up the room.

Gaara turned towards them, his mouth curving into a smirk. Sasuke chanced to look at Naruto. The boy had been uncharacteristically silent during the entire exchange since Gaara and his siblings entered the room.

Naruto was staring straight ahead, doing his best to not look at the three Demons. Sasuke sighed. He was never good at comforting other people or anything, so he cast a helpless look at Shikamaru and Kiba. Kiba wasn't even trying to hide his amusement at the look on Sasuke's face. He was chuckling. That was until Shikamaru smacked him and gestured to the front.

Sasuke turned and was surprised to see a familiar face – who wasn't his teacher before.

"Shikamaru?" Sasuke asked in a strangled tone.

"Hmm?" the Scout replied.

"Could you please tell me why the fuck that angel lady is now my professor for History!" Sasuke growled menacingly, gesturing at Tsunade.

Shikamaru took no effect to the tone of Sasuke's voice as he shrugged. "Don't know."

Sasuke groaned, burying his face in his hands. Why did it feel like everything was spiraling out of control?

"Hello class, today we will be…" Tsunade began, and the class paid attention as though they had had no other professor.

At the end of the lesson, Tsunade asked the four of them to stay behind. The class, including the Demons, filed out, though Gaara and his crew shot a nasty look as the four of them walked forward to meet the Hokage.

"Is there a reason why you're teaching my class, Tsunade-san?" Sasuke asked immediately, looking at her suspiciously. "What happened to Professor Kurasawa?"

"She's away," Tsunade answered shortly. "Believe me, it's for the best that I and the other Kages take over the teaching positions for your classes for the time being."

"Don't you have, y'know, jobs to do in Heaven or whatever it's called?" he snapped.

Tsunade sighed. "This is more important. We're looking at a war starting between Heaven and Hell at the drop of a dime again," she warned them. "Tensions are high. There's false information being spread around Heaven, and we can only hope that the culprit will be caught soon. As it is…" She turned specifically to Naruto. "I'm reinstating your old Guardian."

"But… but… he's dead," Naruto stammered. "I saw him die!"

"No. You didn't. You saw him slip unconscious. He'll report to your and Sasuke's apartment later tonight."

"Wait a second!" Sasuke yelled. "I'm not having anyone else move into my apartment. You want him to watch over Naruto? Fine. I understand that. But he's rooming with Kiba and Shikamaru!"

Tsunade looked at him, narrowing her eyes. Sasuke wasn't backing down. His personal space had already been encroached upon and he would not allow anyone else inside his apartment. He would fight her for that. He didn't care if he would be beaten in five seconds. He would fight her for that. He was sure of it.

After a few moments of the staring contest they were sharing, Tsunade grunted, "Fine. Remember, no one is to speak his name around Gaara and his siblings. Hell cannot know he survived. It's why I placed him in stasis all those years ago."

"Then what do we call him?" Kiba asked.

"Figure it out." There was a pause as she rubbed the bridge of her nose before she continued. "Kiba, Shikamaru? It appears that Naruto's Guardian is staying with you."

"All right," Kiba answered.

"So bothersome," Shikamaru grumbled but was silenced by a glare from Tsunade.

Sasuke looked at Tsunade, this time a curious look crossed his features. "What is a Guardian?" he asked.

"A Guardian is a human that had inhuman powers," Tsunade answered automatically. "Because they have these powers, they can be scouted and some are assigned to certain Angels in order to protect them. Special Angels and such, they need someone to look out for them. They have a longer lifespan than the normal human and also look younger for longer. Once they reach the age of about eighteen to twenty-four, they're growth slows down. This enables some to live for hundreds of years. They started the myths of vampires and such."

Sasuke nodded and sighed. He wasn't sorry that he asked, but he would have to wait until later to digest the information about what a Guardian was. They just didn't have the time right now.

"We need to get to our next class," he let out. Naruto grabbed his arm. The black-haired boy sighed again but allowed the blonde to hang off him. He really should stop Naruto before the boy got the wrong idea.

But he didn't want to.

It was late when the Kages could meet again. Tsunade looked around at them gravely, wondering if she would be able to trust all of these people. She knew she should. The five of them were a step below Sarutobi, the ruler of all of Heaven. She should be able to trust them.

So why was her gut telling her that someone in this room was a traitor? Still, she knew that she had to get this out.

"The information that Anko gave yesterday was wrong. Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji, while having some relation, are not the same spirit," she blurted out, looking at each of them in turn.

Anko slammed her hands on the desk. "That can't be!" she growled. "My Scouts dug it up!"

"And you were misinformed. Believe me when I say that. However, this brings up a very large problem that we have here. Someone has been spreading lies through our ranks. We need to figure out who this is as soon as possible."

"What's the worst-case scenario?" Ibiki asked slowly.

"Full-scale war, the likes of which we have never seen before in Heaven or Hell. Not even when the Fox attacked."

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!

Well, I actually like how this one turned out. I hope I cleared up a few things. Originally, there was going to be more, but I just kept writing and I decided to split the chapter in half. The next one should be available soon.