One Last Conversation

Miyo

When I woke up the next morning, I was disturbed to find that Little Sasuke had been on the move. He was just lying there face-down on the floor.

I sighted along his body, staring in the direction he was going.

The results gave me shivers: his head was pointing straight for my locked box.

"No. No, no, no! You are not going anywhere near that box, do you hear me Sasuke?" I grabbed the doll off the floor, carried him over to the Teacher Shelf, and plunked him down between Kakashi and Lady Tsunade.

Then I studied him for a minute, thinking. Making up my mind and picking up the doll, I opened Kai's closet.

I threw together my prep work, pulled on one button-armband and then activated my jutsu.

Sasuke, evidently, was doing weapons work. Fortunately, Kai goes unarmed, so he was throwing imaginary weapons.

I waited until he looked like he was taking a break. Then I took three steps over and punched his shoulder. "All right, Sasuke, we need to talk."

His double-take was hilarious; he spun around to face me, brandishing a fist, and then stopped. I'd never seen him look so confused. "Miyo?" he said, turning his head this way and that.

"Give it a rest, Sasuke, you can't see me because I'm not actually there. You know, I hadn't been sure that would work; I mean, with the curse mark and the distance and all." I hadn't been sure that would work at all, to be completely honest.

His eyes finally drifted back to me again. He might not have been able to see me, but Kai's ears had told him about where I was standing. "So what do you want, anyway?" he asked, reaching around towards his back.

"Well, for one thing, don't bother trying to pull the thread out this time. I'm wise up to that move, and won't let you do so until I consider this conversation done." Besides, you won't find it; the thread's in a different spot than the last time. "Second, my opening remark was 'we need to talk,' I believe."

Sasuke's hands fell back to his sides. The look he was giving me was pure frustration. "So…what's your question?"

"Why'd you leave the village? Kakashi and everyone else had such high hopes for you as a shinobi!" Guesswork, but it was fairly obvious.

He stood quietly for so long that for a minute I thought he wouldn't answer. Then he apparently figured out that I wasn't going to release him until he said something. "This jutsu of yours: can I use my own ninjutsu to escape it?"

"No." No idea, that is.

"And if I tried to leave by conventional means…"

"I'll give you odds on walking into my bedroom wall."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine. I'll answer your question. The reason I left was because I wasn't getting stronger fast enough. Lord Orochimaru has promised me power beyond even Naruto's wildest dreams."

"Let me see if I got this: you don't think you're getting strong enough to best your traitorous brother quickly enough, so you decided to join the biggest disgrace to the ninja way in history?"

Sasuke glared at me.

Knock it off, Miyo, you know he can't see you. The most he can do is glare in my direction. It was still unnerving, though.

"Oh, don't give me that look, you know Orochimaru's a big liar. He says freedom and gives death instead. Has he told you anything about me or my brother Koga?"

I confused him; that was plain on his face. "You? Your brother?"

"Next time you and Orochi talk, ask him about Koga Diatra. Ask him what happened. I guarantee you won't get a straight answer, or if you do, it'll be that he butchered him like a trapped pig!"

"Are you done?"

I sighed. "Obviously, you've chosen to ignore every word I said."

A minute was spent in silence. I think Sasuke could tell I'd looked away in disdain; my energy isn't that hard to read even if I'm not technically in the same room.

"Miyo."

I deigned to glance in his direction.

"I'll ask about your brother, if only to bring you closure. I can't imagine…spending life not knowing what happened to someone…that you cared about."

I studied him for a minute. His expression was sincere, or at least as close to sincere as the guy ever got. So I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him, the first time I'd ever attempted to hug him.

He froze for a second, but apparently figured out that this was how I was going to say goodbye and hugged me back.

"I'm not going to contact you again in this manner, Sasuke. You find out about Koga, you need to find a way to contact me...you Sharingan Killer Squirrel." Then I moved my hands, found Kai's zipper-pouch, and tugged the zippers apart without ending the jutsu.

Sasuke's hands gripped my nightgown and he let out a grunt of pain.

Then I decided that I'd taken enough revenge for the pinpricks he'd given me and ended the jutsu.

Once no longer controlled by Sasuke's actions, Kai's hands loosened their grip on my nightgown, and I put the dolls away, tying up Little Sasuke first. I gave a reflective thought towards Kai's closet. "I should use that technique to talk to Naruto while he's out."

Finding out that I had that particular technique helped me feel less lonely.

Sasuke

My arm circle collapsed as Miyo's form left, and I staggered without the invisible support. Rubbing my back, I glared at where I'd perceived her. She just had to get some of her own back for what I did, didn't she? "Sharingan Killer Squirrel, huh?" I repeated, and I couldn't help but smile. "Well, doll-master, I'll still ask Lord Orochimaru what happened. And who knows, maybe I will manage to get to you in order to give you the information. We'll see."

Miyo

I barely finished getting dressed when I heard a knock at the door. It was a weak knock, which could have been anywhere from someone hesitant or someone weak.

Opening the door, I saw Neji standing there. He looked like he'd played hookey from the hospital, and frankly looked just worn enough to where he clearly shouldn't have left yet. "Miyo, I..." He barely got that out before he started tipping forward, his eyelids flickering shut.

My hands hit his shoulders, keeping him from falling on me. "Steady there, Neji! Whatever it is, you shouldn't be up yet!"

Then Neji's hands slipped through my sleeves, and the next thing I knew, Neji was hugging me - actually hugging me and not my sweatshirt!

It was just dawning on me that Neji had been faking how bad off he was when he said into my ear, "I've been meaning to thank you for healing me. And not so you'd notice, but your ultimate defense has a weakness."

No kidding! But who cared? I hugged him back. "You're welcome. And thanks for pointing out my weak spot; I'll be sure to make allowances."