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Thoughts of a Broken Family, Chapter 28

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Ino Shikamaru: Toshi, now 13 (almost 14). Satoru, now 6 and a half years old.

Sakura Sasuke: Saeko, now 14 and a half

Kiba Temari: Kiyoshi, 15.

Hinata Naruto: Kohana (F), and Atsuhiro (M), 11 and a half. Twins.

Tenten Neji: Hikari, 17. Hiroshi, almost 12 years old.

Kakashi Kurenai: Ayami, now 17 and a half.

Gaara and Crazy Lady (Grace/GaaraCutie): Hajime (M) and Mamoru (M), 8 months old. Twins.

Now all we had to do was get home as soon as possible, before everyone started waking up. With all the early birds in our village, though, my own mom included, I began to worry. We were cutting it awfully close.

"Don't worry," Kiyoshi said, as he looked over me and saw the obvious feelings on my face. "We'll make it."

But we sped up anyway.

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"It'll take at least a week for us to get a reply," Takeshi said, as we sped along through the forest. "Kira's supposed to meet us halfway between here and Tsukimano next Saturday, at midnight."

I nodded, and, realizing my palm was growing sweaty, stole my hand back from Kiyoshi, rubbing the palm against the thigh of my pants. His arm fell to his side, and his eyes stayed locked dead ahead of us.

The towering, dark outline of the wall came in to view. Judging by the color of the sky (a lighter navy color that was threatening to give away to light gray at any moment), it was somewhere around five in the morning. My mom usually woke up at five forty five to leave for work at the hospital.

Frowning, I closed my eyes, letting the cool breeze, a product of our high speed, whip at my face, my hair buffeted my cheeks and eyes. As we drew closer, my suspense grew higher. Surely, I should have been getting calmer as we approached, but, as a lot of things are in my life, it was backwards. I was worried, my heart pounding in my ears. If anyone had discovered our absence in the middle of the night, and if Toshi hadn't been able to think of anything to tell them, we'd be in trouble. And not just trouble as in 'you're grounded' trouble. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even begin to think of what would happen if we were discovered.

Another bad habit of mine kicked it: I began to fear the worst, tranquil as everything around me seemed.

By the time we were within measuring distance of the walls, I began to wonder if this was what it must be like to have a panic attack. I tried desperately to control myself, seeing as Kiyoshi and Takeshi were so close to me… I didn't want them to think that I couldn't handle this.

Could I, though?

Would I really be able to live like this for so long, sneaking out after everyone else was asleep, fearing that we'd be discovered. No, no, no! I argued with myself. I was fine. This was nothing, absolutely nothing. I'd handled worse before. Far, far worse. Nothing, I told myself again.

We weren't going to be discovered, and even if we were, we'd think of some way to get out of it. Though, I wondered, if my parents figured out, if I'd be able to sneak around the bars that I knew would be placed over my window. Or maybe there wouldn't be guards. Maybe they'd hire the ANBU to stand around outside my bedroom window, waiting for me to take a shot and sneaking out. I giggled to myself at the thought, and the laughter helped me relax.

"What are you giggling about?" Kiyoshi asked, looking over at me.

I shrugged. "Nothing. Just can't wait for next Friday, is all."

He rolled his eyes, and Takeshi continued a few yards ahead of us. "Amazing. You were panicking all night, and now you're gonna throw out that excited crap? You're a little behind, Sae."

"I was not panicking!" I protested.

When he didn't answer, I knew that he didn't believe me. About being panicked, anyway. He seemed to buy that I had enjoyed the night's activities. And then, with a sharp intake of breath, I realized that we were ascending. A few more branches, a few more jumps, and then we were hopping the wall, being extremely careful not to make a single noise as we landed.

Toshi was still sitting there against the wall, only this time, his eyes were closed, his mouth hanging open slightly.

I growled. He'd fallen asleep. "Oi, Toshi!" I hissed. When he didn't reply, I clenched my fists, and I could practically hear Kiyoshi roll his eyes. I walked over and nudged Toshi in the side with the toe of my sandal. "Wake up, Toshi!" It took a few more tries, a few more nudges before he sat bolt straight, looking around in confusion. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kiyoshi and Takeshi shaking their heads sympathetically, and then, ever so slowly, Toshi turned around to face me.

By the time I'd finished a few minutes later, I had my fingers clenched around the neck of Toshi's shirt. "What the hell is the matter with you? Someone could have i seen /i you. I thought you were gonna move somewhere less obvious!!! And what were you thinking, falling asleep like that?!? Some guard you are!"

As I let him go, he sank back onto his feet, perplexed. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes. "Geez, you remind me of my mom!"

"Guys," Kiyoshi started, pulling me away before I could lose it. "Time to go."

Gasping, I realized that he was right. The sky was growing lighter with every passing second. I threw one final glare at Toshi, and then we were off, spreading out as we reached the nearest intersection. Takeshi and Toshi went to the right, in the general direction of their house. Toshi muttered something, probably a goodbye of some sort, and took off to the left. I went straight, never slowing. I didn't look back.

Everything was still, dull and noiseless. The darkness was slowly beginning to ebb, and I knew that, within minutes, the village would begin to come to life. I realized how peaceful it was, and, at the same time, how much I loved mornings in Konoha.

Sneaking back in was almost as easy as sneaking out. I crept into the alley between our house and the neighbor's, and hopped up to the sill of my second-story bedroom window, grabbing the removed screen from the way up. Silently, I slid the window open, then pulled the screen back into place and closed the window once more.

Hastily, I tore the rubber band from my hair, and the locks fell all over the place, a raven mess. I looked toward the door, and glanced over at my bed, changing into my pajamas before crawling under the covers.

I didn't know how long I was laying there, curled up on one side, my back facing the door. I stared over at my window, my mind racing.

The only thing I hadn't thought about was time. I was afraid to close my eyes, because I knew that, as soon as I did, I would fade into a state of unconsciousness, too deep to be broken. I'd be out of it for hours. The exhaustion part was going to be hard to deal with, especially if I had to go through as much training as I had the previous day: training with my dad, followed by training with my team. At least tonight I wouldn't have to worry about staying up late.

A few more minutes passed, and I drew out the day's outline in my mind. To wake myself up, I decided, I would go work. Either help out at the hospital, as I had often done as a child, when my mom came in to my room to find that I was wide awake, unable to sleep. She'd take me with me, and I'd get to help her all day. First, when I was younger, I'd get to do the less important things, like carry papers to Tsunade, or show people to their desired rooms. As the years progressed, and I became more capable, I'd been allowed to help out with minor cases, mostly kids with bleeding, self-inflicted gashes. Slowly, I began to help on the more advanced cases.

Now that I thought about it, though, I hadn't done any work at the hospital for almost a year. It was probably a good idea, and it would give me something to blow my mom's mind off of me not sleeping. Nothing suspicious going on there.

I'd have to make it look convincing, though.

So I sat up, ruffling my hair until it was even messier than before. I kept my eyes wide, giving them the slightest of weary touches along the rim. I laid back down, staring up at the ceiling, and waited.

Finally, just as my eyelids were beginning to grow heavy again, and just as I was starting to fear unconsciousness, I heard someone going down the stairs, and then a series of clinking noises. I gave it a few seconds for the sake of staying conspicuous, and then I got up, trudging down to the kitchen.

Mom's back was turned when I entered the kitchen. She was rummaging around in the cupboard above the sink, her hair a frantic bubble gum mess.

Keeping my footsteps soft, I walked over and leaned against the counter beside her, and she all but freaked. I managed to catch the fallen cup before it shattered on the counter, and, in one lithe movement, I had it back in the cupboard. She gave me a critical look, and I tilted my head to one side, smiling nervously.

She smiled back, rolling her eyes. "You're up early."

Immediately, I was flooded with memories of my childhood. I'd stood like this before, beside her, a sheepish grin on my face. But I remembered them a different way, this time. The memories weren't my own, I knew now. They were altered by some woman that my parents had paid off… "Yeah. Couldn't sleep," I whispered, staring at the counter, unseeing.

"Hmmm…" She went about making herself a cup of coffee, and I poured myself a cup, pouring in two teaspoons of sugar, which was, due to my low tolerance of sweats, extraordinarily out of character for me, when she wasn't looking.

We took our seats at the table silently, and I thought about how it must have been for me when I was younger, when, (even though I didn't remember it now), my dad was still asleep upstairs. Then I decided that it was probably just normal. Before my mind was sucked empty of my memories, when I didn't even know that he was going to leave, when I must have thought that my life was perfect… Him being here had just been normal.

"So… I was wondering…" I started, remembering that I hadn't asked this question since I was little, before I knew anything about the Akatsuki. "Can I tag along with you this morning?"

She seemed thrilled. Then again, I suppose most parents do when they're reminded of their children being younger. Either happy or weepy-eyed, and I was glad for the first. "Of course, honey," she said, sipping from her coffee.

I took a gulp from my own, turning my head and biting my tongue to stop myself from gagging. Too sweet. Blegh.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Hot," I lied. She seemed content with my answer, and it gave me an excuse to get up and pour myself a glass of water, which I took a gulp from after every sip of coffee.

After I was done with my coffee, I still wasn't wide awake. But I put my dishes in the sink and darted back up the stairs, creeping past the closed door to my parents' bedroom silently, and then pushing my door closed behind me. I ditched my pajamas and slipped into my normal outfit, which consisted of a not-too-short-not-too-long black skort, and fishnet leg warmers, and a dark gray tank top over a short-sleeved fishnet shirt. I avoided puling my hair up in pigtails, which I did frequently, because it looked good on me, so it wouldn't be too nostalgic on my mom. Though I didn't think she would do it, I didn't want to chance an awkward parent-child growing-up-too-fast talk. I grabbed my ninja pouch, strapped it onto my thigh, and pulled my hair into a high ponytail. I headed down the stairs, and she was already ready to go.

As far as mornings at the hospital went, it was relatively slow. I spent a good half hour in the lobby, uninterestedly flipping through a pile of magazines, fighting back the fatigue. We had a few patients, mostly, as they usually were, minor injuries. A deep gash on a little girl's shoulder, an elderly man with a high fever… Nothing major at all.

When noon rolled around, mom and I were sitting in the lobby again, snacking from a plate of fruit on the table in front of us. I popped a slice of apple into my mouth, glanced at the clock, and hopped up. "All right, I gotta go meet dad. Bye!" I was surprised at how much easier it was to say that aloud after that one talk before we'd returned to the village.

She smiled more warmly than I'd seen her do in a long time, and I was relieved. "Bye honey, good luck."

I waved over my shoulder and dashed into the street.

The training with my father progressed a little better than the previous day. I managed to almost perfect the fireball jutsu, and then we had to skip to speed, which, luckily, I was pretty good in, anyway. So it was easy enough. We managed a few minutes in accuracy, which also went fairly well, and then it was time for me to meet with my squad again.

We continued with the walk on water technique, and it was just a little easier than the previous day, though my exhaustion didn't help much. By the end of the two hours, I could completely cross the narrow stretch of water and return without breaking stride.

That night, I crashed as soon as I hit the pillow, and made a big deal before then about all the training that was going on. If the Akatsuki reappeared again, I decided, I'd already by twice as skilled as I was just days ago.