Once in Konoha, Raya was taken to the hospital. Since I had taken care not to cut too deeply in my self-inflicted injuries, I insisted on coming back to headquarters with the others. After some discussion, Tenzo agreed. Of course only on the condition that, once he arrived there, he himself makes sure that the injuries were as harmless as I said.

»Are you going to tell us how you got Raya out of there?« asked Ame, after lecturing me on a sermon on how unreasonable it had been to pull him into a genjutsu just to get into the enemy's hideout. »I went with Orochimaru. He then took me to the room where Raya was located. I tried to pull him into a Genjutsu whereupon he attacked me. When I made it I grabbed the keys and freed Raya,« I said with a shrug. »That was a great achievement. Although I have to agree with Ame, it was really unreasonable and dangerous to do it alone,« Taku said. If they knew.

»Everything's gone well. Are we done now? I'd like to go home now, I'm tired,« I said. »I'll accompany you just to make sure you arrive safely,« Ame said, looking a little worried. Since I currently preferred him as Haru, I agreed silently nodding. The way home was quiet. »I didn't know you were living in the Uchiha-District,« he mumbled and looked around as we reached the said District.

My right arm was still pulsating with pain and I was glad when I got home. »You live here all alone?« he asked in surprise as we stopped in front of my home. I just nodded. »Do you need any help or are you fine on your own?« he asked, eyeing me. »I'll be fine. Thanks for bringing,« I said. »You should first cure yourself before you go back to training. You look a little pale,« he said. »It'll be find. See you tomorrow,« I said and disappeared into the interior of my house. When I closed the door, I slid down on it until I reached the bottom.

I pulled up my gauntlet and looked at the black mark that the snake had missed me. The skin around it was red and burned like fire. Orochimaru would definitely get that back. I scrambled back up and changed my clothes before I took care of my injuries. Tired, I flopped onto the veranda and looked at nothing specific.

»Oi.«

I jumped out of my thoughts and looked into the onyx-colored eyes of Sasuke. »What do you want?« I asked. He sat down and looked at me. I unobtrusively adjusted my gauntlets to make sure that the mark wasn't visible. »What happened?« he asked, ignoring my question. »Nothing special. I had a little altercation with a kunai,« I replied. He frowned. »You shouldn't do that. You'll screw up your flawless face. Did you know that wrinkle ...«

I didn't get any further because the Uchiha pushed my pony away with his hand and put his forehead against mine. Every muscle in my body tensed up and got an oppressive feeling from that closeness. »That's to close. Way too close,« I said when I caught myself and pushed him back. He blinked a few times until he realized what he had just done. He turned his head to the side and I could be was wrong, but I swear I saw a light blush around his nose. Fine. That should be uncomfortable for him. He couldn't just approach me like that. He knew that I didn't like it.

»You seem to get a fever,« he mumbled. I put my hand to my forehead. In fact, I had some temperature, but not so much that it worried me. One night rest and it would be gone again. »I'm fine, just a little tired,« I said, leaning my back against the wooden floor of the veranda. »Do you got that from training or a mission?« asked he. »Doesn't matter,« I mumbled, closing my eyes. He apparently understood that the conversation was over for me.

I gripped my throbbing wrist and rubbed it lightly over and over, as if I could rub away the pain. Somehow I had to be able to distract myself from it. »How was the mission,« I asked, looking into Sasuke's surprised face. It took him a while to answer. »It turned out that the C-ranked mission isn't really one. We had to fight a guy named Zabuza.«

»Momochi Zabuza?« I checked. He nodded. »The Demon of the Hidden Mist. You can be glad you came out of it,« I said. Zabuza was strong and merciless. Kisame had once told me about him. Like himself, Zabuza was one of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and owned, like the Hoshigaki, a special sword. »Did you know him?« asked Itachi's brother. »You hear a lot about the world when you travel across the country,« I replied.

»I got my Sharingan under control in the fight.« I looked at him. »Congratulations. Now it's getting really hard. Training the Sharingan on his perfection is everything, but not easy,« I said, knowing what I was talking about. He nodded. »How many Tomoe do you have?« I asked. He activated it. »Two different stages. Just like me back then,« I muttered. »Which stages?« the boy asked. »One and two. You should use the Sharingan more now to improve it,« I replied. »How many Tomoe did you start with?« »Two and three. While my left eye was already fully developed, my right eye had two,« I answered.

He seemed to struggle with himself. I knew what he wanted to ask and amused myself a little about his pride. »Could you ... could you show me some how to perfect it?« he finally asked. His expression told me he didn't really like it. Either that or he believed in a drain on my part and was annoyed that he had even asked.

»I can,« I replied. »But?« he checked. »Not today. I'm tired and I'm going to bed now. Morning is training again,« I said, getting up. If I went with him to Orochimaru, at least he had to be able to do something. I preferred an opponent with a perfected Sharingan. I didn't want to be bored in the long run. »I see how I'm doing tomorrow, then I decide when we start,« I said. »Thank you Shizuka,« he said, getting up too. »I believe you're not as cold as you always act,« he said, cheekily grinning, and vanished.

»Dear Sasuke ... look forward to the training,« I mumbled, before I went back in where I immediately went into my soft bed due to lack of appetite.