You were heading back towards Tazuna's house, he was carrying Kakashi as he was the only big enough, you were still travelling at a normal human pace, and on the floor. Naruto was running ahead amongst the tree tops to make sure there were no more oncoming dangers.
As the forest was thinning, and more light was allowed through the branches Sasuke turned to look at the bridge builder & Kakashi, but saw something else.
'Kyouri?' he asked, you turned to look at him
'What?'
'When did you get that cut on your neck? It's bleeding'
'Damn it!' you thought to yourself, hand instantly moving to cover it up, 'Urh, I dunno, must have got it during the fight, it's nothing to worry about.' you said finally, Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
'But you didn't get cut during the fight' he pointed out, you struggled for a cover story, in the end you settled for one not unlike the truth.
'It must have been a cut from a few days ago, and the scab just got knocked off during the fight, probably when Zabuzza was holding me by the neck.' which was true; it probably did get knocked off during the fight, you lowered your hand, hoping it would make him forget about it, instead it just provoked more questions seeing as you had removed most of the blood.
'It's a very strangely shaped cut, It looks almost like a cloud' he noted, now able to see the outline.
'Erh yeh, I fell on a biscuit cutter' you lied lamely, well, you might as well stick with the same cover story, he gave a disbelieving 'Hn' and dropped the subject, you continued the rest of the journey in silence, save the occasional direction from Tazuna or Naruto checking you were still following.
Once you reached the house you were immediately greeted by a worried looking woman with long black hair,
'Oh my god! What happened?' she asked as she saw the unconscious figure of Kakashi.
'We ran into one of Gato's jounin men' Tazuna explained
She gasped, 'Did they hurt him?' she asked, indicating Kakashi
'Ha! Hardly, more like the other way round, I don't know how this guy did it but he beat the shit out of that Zabuzza guy'
'Then why is he unconscious?'
'He just over exerted himself that's all'
'Well get him inside quickly' with that she helped Tazuna bring Kakashi inside the house, you followed behind them as they walked into a room, there was a bed on the floor which they then started to lay Kakashi down on. As the woman stood up she looked at you.
'Hello, I take it from your headbands that you are also ninja?'
'Yes, that is correct' Sasuke answered
'Well, if you have helped save my father's life we are eternally grateful and you of course are all welcome to stay here.'
'Thank you. That is much appreciated' Sasuke replied, you smiled at her, trying to hide the fact that her thoughts were leaking out, you could sense the doubt behind her words, she doubted you'd be able to stop Gato, but more painful for you was the slight motherly worry she felt towards you, Sasuke, Sakura & Naruto, which was perfectly understandable seeing as you were all only 13; still pretty young to be putting your lives on the line & trying to save an entire land from one of the world's richest men. Unfortunately for you, who hadn't had a mother for so long, the sudden return of that motherly protectiveness was almost overwhelming, but you stayed there, keeping your face polite but impassive, this wasn't the first time you'd cursed your "gift" and, you guessed, it wouldn't be your last.
'Oh well, you know what they say' you thought to yourself, 'With great power comes great problems'
She showed you to your rooms, you & Sakura were in one room & Naruto & Sasuke in the other, after she'd gone back downstairs to see to Kakashi Sasuke sighed.
'Argh, sleeping in the same room as him is going to be a nightmare' he complained, turning to Naruto when he continued, 'You better not snore!'
'Me snore? More like you Sasuke!' Naruto retorted
'Shut up Naruto! Sasuke would never do anything like that!' Sakura said hitting Naruto then proceeding to stare dreamily at Sasuke, 'Then again, we could switch if you want?' she suggested hopefully, Sasuke looked worried
'No-way am I sharing with Naruto! Or Sasuke for that matter.' you announced, Sakura turned to glare at you.
