Rigoudon3- Welcome new reviewer. This story is an AU, based in present day. Sakura is a sixteen year old girl who wants to be a doctor when she goes to college, trauma surgeon to be more specific. Explaining everyone's powers will come in time, if I give it all away now what's going to keep people coming back to read the story? Do see where I'm coming from? Thank you for reviewing and I'm pleased you like the story :)

Dagiis- Thanks for understanding :) Right now I'm preparing to take my ACT, a test for colleges to see how smart you are, and I want to get a high score on the first try so I don't have to take it again, you can take it as many times as you want. Now to the story: Will Sasuke live or die? Find out in this chapter…maybe ;)

kayla12000- I update whenever I can. And Itachi sick? No, never. He's to awesome to get sick lol Ino's okay too. Ps you get an award, it's on my profile. You are the one who kicks my butt into gear lol Sorry you've had to wait so long.

helen dl- Hi new reviewer :) Itachi's as healthy as a horse. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy the story

ephermal violet- Is there more to Itachi than meets the eye? Maybe he's a Transformer…you'll find out. I'll have to see REPO! The Genetic Opera when I get some free time, cause I'm always a busy little bee. Thanks for being another understanding person. The days aren't long enough to do everything I need to do. It's pretty cool that you're the president of your school's Anime club. I have an acquaintance and she's the prez of our Japanese Culture Club; basically the same thing as Anime Club but renamed because the school thinks anime isn't appropriate. I'm the prez of my school's Writers' club so I understand the responsibilities you must have. And getting your wisdom teeth pulled? Ahh, that must of hurt.

Tough chick- Yes, well I believe his powers match his manga/anime self. Don't you?

pirategirl3000- I update when I can. Thanks for reviewing and I'm happy you think the story is good :)

InsaneNinja- Well I think you are freaking awesome! I'm glad you think so highly of this story :)

If interested see below for this month's excuse.

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Naruto

I pace back and forth in the living room while giving Mom a brief rundown on what's happening.

I should be dealing with the situation better but I've got lost in the moment.

"And now Sasuke or you or both of you could die!"

Mom slaps me across the face, bringing me to concentrate and calm down.

"Sakura listen to me. I'm fine. If what you said about Sasuke is true then I should be sick already. Right?" She's completely composed as she says this.

Slowly nodding, I see she makes sense.

"Good. Now go downstairs, wait for Mikoto, and help her with Sasuke when she arrives."

A familiar car pulls up into the parking lot as I reach the last step.

It's Shika's beat-up, old station wagon; the heavily tinted windows give it away.

He swiftly gets out, carrying a laptop bag, and approaches me.

"He's not here yet."

He nods to acknowledge me and heads upstairs.

An awake, no complaining Shikamaru always means trouble.

Two minutes pass when a swanky, red sports car pulls up.

That must be them.

I run over to the car just as its doors open up vertically.

I don't have time to admire it.

"I'm so sorry Mikoto." I apologize to the woman who looks more frazzled than me.

"It's okay Sakura. It's not your fault." She sounds more put together than I do though.

I unload Sasuke from the passenger side. He's awake but not fully there, on top of that his breathing is very shallow and strained. It sounds completely different than it did earlier.

"Hold on Sasuke." I try to say comfortingly.

His arm gets slung around my neck to make it appear to any outsider that I'm just helping him walk, in reality I'm carrying his full weight.

Everything will be okay. It has to be.

The trip up the stairs feels like it takes longer than it should, but I finally get us to the apartment; Mikoto opens the door.

"Lay him here." Mom is up and directing me to one of the couches.

"Are you okay?" I ask, still worried about her well-being too.

"Yes. You have your Grandfather to thank for that."

I don't quite know how to take that, but I save the questions for later.

Shika is sitting on his knees, with his laptop on a coffee table in front of the couch.

"Back away from him." He orders.

I stand by Mom who is comforting Mikoto.

"He'll be fine." She tells her.

Mikoto wordlessly nods her head.

An x-ray shows up on the screen of Shika's computer; it's a look at Sasuke lungs. I know from anatomy class that lungs shouldn't look like that; they are covered in a sort of vine-looking material.

That's probably what it is exactly.

"What do we do?"

How do we deal with something like this?

"Your mom was fine because her lungs are filled with cold air,"

So that's what she meant.

"and that made it an inhospitable place for the spores to sprout; they died off. If we could do the same thing with Sasuke he should be fine."

Shika gives his attention to the slightly conscious Sasuke.

"You need to shift. The heat will kill the plants."

He doesn't seem to hear the life saving instructions. I take the initiative.

I kneel right next to Sasuke and whisper in his ear.

"Come on Sasuke, quit being a drama queen and change already or else it's just going to be that much easier for me to get my chair in fourth hour."

I'm barely able to move far enough away to prevent my hair from being singed.

The inferno lasts less than a second but that's enough. Immediately you can hear him breathing better.

"Thank God." I throw my arms around him then quickly let go.

Um…okay, sure. I hugged him. Whatever…

"Thank you so much young man." Mikoto says to Shika.

"It was nothing." He says back then looks at me.

"You're lucky I didn't need a blood sample from you to make an antidote. That would have been troublesome."

Good, he's back to normal. And no way would I poke myself again, one time was enough. I don't like thinking about my shatter point.

I move away from Sasuke and let Mikoto have my spot. She starts talking to Sasuke.

I follow Shikamaru as he leaves the room, giving the two their moment. Mom goes to the kitchen to start dinner.

I close the door to my bedroom and lay on my bed. Shika drops himself down on a chair.

"Someone's going to die." I announce melodramtically.

I don't need to see the future to know that.

He releases a sigh.

"Not one of us."

"How can you say that? Sasuke could have just now! Who's next? What's next for that matter? These people must be working together. You have no idea how it is dealing with them! You are not putting your life at risk like-"

"Sakura shut up!" The commanding voice coming from him makes me shrink back a little.

"Just give me a second to think okay?"

He begins to massage his temples.

I was a little harsh.

"Sasuke was shifted when you two confronted the vine-man?"

"Yes."

Why are you asking?

"He never came into contact with anything that could have held the spores after he became human again?"

"N-wait. What do you mean anything?"

Every positive feeling I have about myself disappears.

Oh no.

It's replaced with horror

"Clothing, a drink, food, anything."

Of God.

"Yes he did. That night I-I was freaking out and you know, things happen. He was just trying to comfort me. We-we uh…kissed. I had been wrapped up by those vines; they tried to suffocate me. I-I didn't know." I ramble a mile a minute.

That gut wrenching, horribly guilty feeling starts to overcome me.

This is all my fault.

"Okay."

I stare at him in disbelief.

"Okay? Okay? How is this okay? I'm the reason for this! This is my fault. I almost killed Sasuke. I'm no better than they are."

Saying that out loud, verbally confirming that I nearly caused the death of an innocent person, it almost breaks me.

"You said it yourself. You didn't know. Yes, it is your fault, but you wouldn't have done it if you knew what it would lead too. That is the difference between you and them."

This is the reason Shika is the smart one.

I take a deep breath.

"He's going to be okay?" I need reassurance.

He nods.

"Stay here. I'm gonna go check on him again."

Shika forces himself from the chair and leaves the room.

I stand up and go to the doorway to listen.

"He's looking good Mrs. Uchiha. If he has trouble breathing again just get him to shift and give me a call. Here's my number."

"Thank you. You have no idea how grateful I am."

Even though I can't see them I picture Mikoto giving Shika a hug.

Shika coughs a little, probably out of embarrassment.

"Anytime ma'am."

"Please call me Mikoto."

I knew she was going to say that.

Mom's voice breaks in.

"Sasuke are you feeling strong enough to walk or do you need help."

I can't hear Sasuke's voice, but I imagine he says he's fine.

After I hear Mom and Mikoto say their goodbyes the front door opens and closes.

"Are you sure you don't want me to give you an x-ray Mrs. Haruno? It's not too troublesome."

"No Shikamaru I'm okay. It wouldn't be good for my health."

Your health?

I hastily leave my room and into the livingroom.

"Your health? What's wrong? Why haven't you gotten an x-ray?"

She's a little shocked at my entrance

"I'm fine Sakura, Shikamaru listened to my breathing and took a little blood. I didn't let him take an x-ray though, well, because…I wanted to tell you later but…I'm pregnant honey."

Of all the things she could have told me I wasn't expecting that one.

My eyes grow wide; disbelief showers over me.

"Pregnant?"

"Yes, I found out a couple weeks ago."

"Wow. Holy crap. That's…wow."

"Yes, it's twins too."

I feel a bit overwhelmed.

My mouth opens and closes like a fish.

I've always wanted a sister or brother or both…wow.

"That's great." I say at a lost for words.

She hugs me.

"I'm so glad you're okay with this."

Did she think I'd be mad?

I decide to reassure her.

"Of course I'm okay. A brother or sister or both will be cool."

Oh God. What if they have powers?

"Thank you honey. Now I think Shikamaru wants to talk you."

I look over and Shika's awkwardly standing by the front door.

"I'll be back."

I walk over and open the door. He leaves and I follow.

We go to his car.

I'm still in a daze.

"Sorry for yelling at you. You take just as much a risk as the rest of us." I tell him as we get in the back.

It's pretty cliché but the back of Shika's car is tech-decked out.

"Yes, well you were freaking out so I forgive you."

You can make everything sound like it's too much work for you can't you?

"So what do you have to show me?"

That's usually the only reason we ever talk in the car.

He start typing on the computer whose hard-drive is the size of the back seat it replaced.

"I started sorting out fact from fiction about that gem, and this is what I've come up with: It's called The Seed of Set. Set was the Egyptian God of chaos."

That sounds wonderful.

"It was worshipped in ancient Egypt and only the High Priests descended from Set could control the stone. They would use it on their enemies and bring down plagues and stuff of that nature."

This just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?

"I think that the Egyptian Gods were just supers, some of the first. This stone must amplify the powers of the supers related to Set."

I don't like where this is going.

"I believe that Melanie Wood is one of these people. I pulled up some adoption papers on her; she was adopted out of Egypt and her last name was Seth, another name for Set. Her real mother died soon after she was born and her father was never known."

You have been working a lot.

"Neji's been keeping an eye for anything significant but we've come up with nothing except that vine you gave us."

I start going though my mind, trying to think of anything that might help.

Bingo!

"Plants have DNA like people do right?" I ask.

"Yes, but it's completely different."

"The guy had plants coming from him. That's got to mean that they share DNA right?"

"Similar DNA yes."

"That should mean you should be able to trace the DNA of the plant to the man-"

"and narrow down a small selection of people!" He finishes my thought enthusiastically.

Melanie here we come.

"Sakura you're a genius! I'll start running it though every data base in the world. I have to get back home and start the search."

I open the door and then have a second thought.

"Hey, could you do me a favor before you leave?"

"Anything."

He must really be grateful.

"You have access to delete messages on our phones correct? I left Sasuke a really stupid text message and-"

Shika's already on the computer typing things here and there.

"It's deleted."

"Thanks Shika."

I head back to the apartment.

Mom is flipping the couch cushions over to hid the burn marks Sasuke made.

Oh crap.

"Sakura why are there Cheetoh stains on the white couch?"

"Haha funny story."

I started writing this not long after I updated the last chapter, but things came up, meaning this past month has been hell. I've learned that even when you're a healthy, active teenager you can still come down with semi-severe heart problems, who would have guessed? Along with that I have had other tiny things here and there that have kept me occupied and away from writing. I really don't want to become one of those writers who only update once a month (or less than that) but it seems I might be heading down that path, my sincerest apologies. Thank you to the readers who have stuck with the story this far, I won't leave you hanging with an unfinished story.

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