I dreamt again, a different dream from my usual hell.
I was nineteen again and there he was, Orochimaru, just stood there observing me like I was a new toy. Kakashi was there with Anko and Hiro-kun, but none of them knew what was coming like I did. They were frozen, and things went differently this time round.
"The game changer has arrived," He spoke, voice like silk "I need that knowledge. You will give me that knowledge do you understand?"
Hiro-kun fell, body torn to pieces and I screamed over at Anko and Kakashi but neither of them would move, neither of them would run like I wanted, no, like I needed them too.
"I have waited many years for you to arrive, I will take you just as I will take the Uchiha."
Anko went down, the top half of her body tumbling down as the bottom fell backwards, I could hear both halves hitting the branches as they fell and I screamed again, my body felt tight and horrible and god make it stop.
"The Uchiha will come to me I know he will, but you, you I will drag kicking and screaming. None of them will save you," He gestured to Kakashi "he certainly wont."
Then Kakashi was gone as well, Orochimaru was holding his head up by the hair as the rest of him fell away to join Anko and what was left of Hiro-kun down at the bottom of the forest. His eyes were open, staring blankly ahead but all I could do was scream.
I screamed and screamed and screamed because I could do nothing else. Orochimaru laughed and tossed his head at me, and in a made scramble to get away from Kakashi's decapitated head I fell backwards from my branch helplessly to the earth below. Except this time it wouldn't save me, wouldn't pull me in. This time, I was going to go splat.
"Shit what's wrong with her?"
I could still hear Orochimaru laughing from above me.
"She's having a nightmare, go get Kakashi-sensei!"
I fell past Anko's bottom half, caught between two branches disfigured and bent.
"Sho-chan, please it's alright!"
I was going to die, I was going to-
Something cracked against my face and I lurched upwards and off the bed, grabbing the nearest projectile and throwing it at the first sound I heard. Sumie shrieked and so did Hinata, but Kakashi was there to catch the scalpel I had grabbed and keep both of them safe. I stood and panted, my body quivering frightfully as I stared and then gasped.
"Oh no, oh shit…Hina-chan baby I'm so sorry-" I moved over to her and pulled her into a hug and she clung to me "Sumie I am so sorry…I didn't-"
Sumie moved forwards and gave me a hug of her own, and I could feel Kakashi's chakra wrapping around mine in a reassuring cocoon until I was ready to let them both go. When I did I was helped back to the bed by Sumie and I sat on the edge with shaky hands.
"You've been here almost a week," She told me as I patted the bed for Hinata to join me "a combination of chakra exhaustion and those burns have had you out for the count."
I wrapped my arm around Hinata's shoulder and muttered another apology, which she accepted and denied all at the same time. I wondered where Ji-chan was, but he must have been training for the finals in three weeks.
"When can I leave?"
Kakashi scowled at me, a flash of the nightmare across my eyes almost made me cry out again, but this was real. That was a nightmare, a nightmare that I knew was too real because I had felt Orochimaru. He'd been influencing my nightmares.
His connection to me is worrying, but I don't know what to do…
"You are still injured, they wont be letting you out just yet right Sumie?"
Sumie shuffled on her feet, and I chuckled. Sumie was a medical ninja, her Sharingan making her a fantastic surgeon as she didn't think much of fighting. Saying that, she had (very briefly) been part of Anbu so she must have been reasonably good at it.
"Actually she could leave now if she wanted to, her exhaustion is gone and those burns will just need ointment once a day for a few days before they are fully healed."
Kakashi glared at her and she withered, Hinata snuggled into my body and I pulled her in tightly, from what I could see she looked completely unharmed and recovered from her fight with Neji and this made me feel better.
I still felt kind of sick that Orochimaru could get into my head so easily.
"What do I have to sign?" I asked her but Kakashi was having none of it.
"You aren't signing anything, you are not ready to be released-"
"I am perfectly fine-"
"No. No you are not and you are not leaving."
"I need to get out of here Kakashi or I swear I will go mad I can't stay here and I refuse to I need to go home."
Kakashi looked a bit pissed, but Sumie handed me the sign out sheet and I signed it, got changed into my things and left. Kakashi was gone. Hinata chattered incessantly to me as she took me over to where Neji was training with his father.
"Greetings former family! Tis I! The mighty Shoko!" I crowed as we approached, effectively throwing Hiashi off-guard and making Hisashi laugh into his hand from where they were training.
"Sho-chan!" Hanabi cried out in delight, abandoning her training to come over and tackle me with a hug.
I laughed and hugged her back tightly, but when she let me go I was tackled again, only by a much larger Hyuuga.
"Sho-can!" Hisashi mimicked sending us both crashing into the undergrowth.
I yelled and rolled with him, laughing all the while as I knocked him off and jumped away, only to be taken down by an enthusiastic Neji. Hinata timidly joined the fray, but Hiashi stood off to the side. I smirked over at him from underneath the pile and an earth clone moved forwards and pushed him over beside us.
He landed with an 'oof' and we all laughed as we pulled ourselves off the ground.
"Sho-chan, we've been worried about you since the preliminaries, Neji and Hinata told us about your fight." Hiashi explained as he wrapped me in a tender hug, obviously still worried about the angry red patches of skin on my body.
"I was worried about myself too, but I'll be fine for the finals in…two and a half weeks." I grinned, but I was lying through my teeth.
My brothers were not fooled, and Hisashi turned to the children with a warm smile.
"Why don't you three go get something to eat, we'll be with you in a moment."
Hanabi and Hinata were happy to go get some food, but I noticed that Neji looked hesitant. I gave him a big smile before he finally followed his cousins away from the clearing and towards the town for food.
"What is troubling you?" Hiashi asked, concern on all his features, but Hisashi looked identical.
You know, cause they're twins…ha.
"You've been told about what happened in the forest?" I asked in a low voice, and their expressions turned dark so I took that as a yes.
"I'm worried he's going to do something involving the genin during the exam, I can't shake the feeling that there's more to this than any of us think." I explained, trying to drop a hint without giving away my extended knowledge.
"We all are Shoko, but you should just rest and be ready for anything. You were taken to the hospital before you could find out, but your fight will be first, the second chunin fight will be the very last." Hisashi told me and I sighed, well so much for being at full strength for the invasion.
"Who are my opponents?"
"A sound ninja called Nii." Hisashi explained and I nodded.
I had seen Nii fight, he was the one making that horrific screaming noise that almost burst Rikari's eardrums, so we both had an idea at least of the others fighting style. He did have the advantage that he would have begun training immediately in ways to counter my gentle-fist and my earth jutsu whilst I had not begun my training yet.
"We should join the children, I think food would do us all good." Hiashi decided during a silence that I hadn't realised had fallen, and as if it heard him my stomach rumbled.
"Excellent! I haven't eaten since the prelims and I am starved!"
We laughed and followed the children, my chakra sending warning spikes all the while.
Orochimaru was watching. Orochimaru was always watching.