Somehow, someway, Fugaku convinced Mikoto to leave the hospital with him in a peaceful manner, now they were at home, and he and Itachi were telling their accounts of the story, when she heard about the piles of little bones and skulls, and how the live ones were kept in horrid conditions, tears came to her eyes, finally she couldn't take it anymore and rose to her feet.

"Where are you going?" her husband asked.

"To go for a walk, I just need to get out for awhile" she muttered, slipping on her jacket, that's when she noticed something was missing.

"Where's Ammy?" The woman asked, glaring at her husband when Itachi turned away, knowing what had been done. The clan leader reached into one of his uniform pockets and pulled out a thick stack of money, resting it on the table.

"Easiest $800 I ever made" he answered, quite satisfied with himself, his wife on the other hand was taken back, a look of shock in her eyes quickly turned to rage as she balled her fists, and without a word, left the house.

Itachi could only shake his head as he looked back to his father, man, someone sure screwed up………..

[Elsewhere in the Village

Mrs.Uchiha walked up and down the many streets and roads of Kohona, not really sure of where she was going, her anger still fuming. How could he? How dare he? Her nails were digging into the flesh of her palms when she heard a familiar noise, the sound of many children ………..

[Kohona Hospital

Sasuke reopened his eyes to see nothing but white, white walls, white ceiling, white bed sheets, at first it reminded him of when he was being dragged through the snow by Akuma, only thing different was that this was slightly warmer, his body still felt cold on the inside, and no matter how many blankets you threw on him nothing would change that.

He found the strength to shift his neck form left to right very slowly, looking to one side was an empty visitor's chair, and a window he could only see the sky from. On the other side was a plain wall with the door leading in and out.

Feeling tired from all this movement his eyelids became heavy once more and he rested his head on a more comfy position on the pillow and slipped back into a light nap……..

[Kohona Town Center

Mikoto's eyes were wide as she looked around, children, many many children, everywhere! She saw how some were so thin you could plainly see their bones, some had scabs and scrapes from who knows where, and others just plain looked sickly.

"Shika-" she started, grabbing the officer's arm as he walked by with a bowl of warm water in hand.

"Where-…….How-……..Why-"

"These little ones are from those slave camps your husband and son destroyed, I know it was pretty bad from the reports Itachi's teammates gave me, but this……this is……"

"Is despicable!" She had to control her voice and temper, why would anyone ever want to hurt a child? Her maternal instincts kicked in as she saw them all, sitting wherever there was room, most of them in chains.

"Mrs.Uchiha please- your crushing my arm" Shika piped up, he was loosing feeling in his fingers from the lack of blood flow.

"Anything, is there anything I can do to help them?" she asked, still in shock at the scene.

"You're not the only one here who asked the same thing, I know that some of the other women have been taking one or two at a time and tending to their wounds or giving them much needed baths at the springs while we wait for a decision from the Third."

She didn't need to be told twice, she immediately found one of the volunteers and found out how to get started, if she couldn't be with her baby then at least she would help someone else's.

[Uchiha District

"I still don't see why she would get so upset……" Fugaku wondered aloud, the only person there to hear him was Itachi, who was absentmindedly stirring his soup around, his mind elsewhere.

"I mean, come on, it was just a stupid dog…."

That's when the clan prodigy stood to his feet and left the room, he was trying to think and his father's ignorant jabberings were only making him frustrated, he wanted to just go ahead and tell him why mother would get so mad, but he didn't expect the clan leader to comprehend even then the ways of the female mind.

Slipping into more casual clothing he left home and made his way to the hospital, he would go check on Sasuke himself, one way or another.

[ The Bathing Houses

"Owww" the red haired child muttered as Mikoto gently went over an infected scrape on his arm, the soaps stinging it.

"I'm sorry, but it has to be cleaned…." She tried to comfort him, but still shaky from his past experiences with adults, he wanted no part of this 'help', and this torturous thing called a 'bath'.

Struggle as he might have wanted to, the kid calmed down, something about this woman was so peaceful, so comforting, he couldn't help but start enjoying it after awhile………….

[Kohona Hospital

Itachi landed on the fire escape right outside the window leading into Sasuke's room, soundlessly slipping under the lifted glass barrier he silently made his way next to the hospital bed, moving a few stray hairs from his outoto's face, pulling away when he saw a tiny black slit open and look straight at him.

"Nii-san?"