CHAPTER 3

Sasuke woke up a dozen times. Each time pain and drugs launched her back to darkness where she waded through muddy nightmares.

At last she came to and discovered she was staring into a plain white pillowcase and breathing through it with difficulty. She closed her eyes for a moment, assembling her thoughts, groggily realizing that she did not know how she had come to be wherever she was. As she tried to turn over the pain in her shoulders and down her back was so intense she screamed weakly. She buried her face in the pillow again.

She raised her head and glanced at the window several feet away; the outside was almost pure black. Easing herself into a sitting position, she breathed deeply, willing herself to ignore the pulsing ache in her back and the searing agony of three slash marks. For a moment a vague memory entered her mind, of demonic tails and blazing red chakra, ending with a terrible blow on her back. Slowly, carefully, she placed her feet over the side of the bed as the sheets tumbled off her half on the bed, half on the floor. She waited for the next pulse of pain.

She was only wearing her trousers, and except for the bandages that covered her torso, she was naked. A robe hung on the coat rack by the door. Somehow she managed to stand up and inch her way to the door, grabbing the clothing on the way.

There were no footsteps in the hallway. She opened the door and as she hurried out a new pain assaulted her back and slowly she slid down the wall and collapsed, darkness consuming her once more.

Awareness came slowly. Darkness tugged at Sasuke trying to lure her back toward slumber. Although earlier pain had hauled her to unconsciousness, it now prodded her awake. Every inch of her body ached, but the pain in her back was intense as she tried to move. She noted her face was on the pillow again. The door opened suddenly and came with voices conversing quietly. At her moan, the murmurs in the room stopped. She wondered if the painful walk down the hallway had been a dream.

"She was found outside of town over day ago and they sent for me." Sasuke heard a male voice say. "Unconscious and all bloody. We did all we could with our limited resources. It's a good thing you passed by."

"The medic on my team will be here soon." Said a deeper voice as it approached. She was able to open her eyes slightly to see blurry images between the gaps of the hair covering her face. She gave up and clenched them shut as another wave of pain came. A hand moved her hair away from her face briefly before moving away.

"Would you like to see her wounds? I was about to change her bandages." Before he could answer, the person Sasuke assumed was a doctor rushed to her and lifted the covers from her back. She groaned involuntarily.

"What creature could have caused these wounds, I wonder."

The other did not answer. But he knew she was going to have this pain for a long time, and the slash marks forever.

"Keep her here. My team and I will come for her later."

"Yes, shinobi-sama."

Konohamaru stared at the still face coldly. He scrutinized with amazement that the girl he'd been searching for had finally turned up after seven years, and in a small town just inside the border of Fire Country. Who would have thought she was hiding nearby? Though, oddly enough, heavily injured as if she'd been through a great battle. The area surrounding the chain of small town and villages has historically been mostly peaceful, except for the occasional local thievery and rare heavy crime. Even bandits seldom pass through since shinobi regularly patrolled the region.

In a small township such as this that didn't even have a healer she was lucky that his team had decided to survey the area when they did and that they'd decided to split up between two nearby towns. Her high fever alone could kill her, not to mention the infection she could contract with the particular wounds on her back. The civilian doctor from the nearest village did not have the medicine nor the capacity to nurse her back to health, but he'd done a good job of keeping her alive for a few days.

Communication from other patrol teams in the area confirmed that there has been no disturbance of any kind in the area, which brought more questions at the strangeness of her condition. Battle wounds all over her body, and those marks their medic couldn't heal completely… He knew what kind of beast could make that damage, but the specific beast on his mind couldn't have caused it…? He assessed and analyzed his speculations and concluded the impossibility of every one of them.

He couldn't have done it.

Konohamaru shook his head just as his captain called to assemble. He kept his mouth sealed. Hadn't revealed to anyone on the team that he knew exactly who she was. He hadn't decided when he should dispose of her, but already he was having regrets that he didn't do so the moment he'd realized it was her. Perhaps it was better to bring her home first. Perhaps Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakuro, and Hatake Kakashi would finally get some peace. There was finally an end to all the searching, the days and nights of wondering, and to floundering in regrets.

Tomorrow they would transport her by carriage and hopefully reach the village by nightfall where she'd soon be placed behind bars within the confines of Konohagakure as she rightly should.

If I don't get to her first, that is.

How troublesome.

A sigh left Nara Shikamaru's lips as he realized Naruto was no longer listening to the report that he had rushed (in his opinion anyway) to bring over. It had been by the young Rokudaime's order, and yet only a few sentences from his lips and the blonde was too far gone to even see Shikamaru's hand waving right in front of him. It was during that moment one of the secretaries entered the office, met his eyes, and shared a sigh with him.

"Shikamaru-san, I'll handle this. I know how to get him back to his usual self, so just stand back." And Shikamaru did, because it would be too troublesome to argue and or to do so himself. He thought of leaving, but it would be too troublesome if Naruto gets into one of his moods and orders him back immediately to finish the task with a deduction to his salary. It happened to someone else once, although Naruto had rescinded his own order after he finally couldn't carry the bulk of his guilt.

Little things have been upsetting Naruto's mood, but Shikamaru could not blame him. No one in the village would blame him, or at least most wouldn't anyway, for everything that he'd been through and had done for the entire population of their home. He was allowed some degree of outlet. But Shikamaru was worried if such behavior becomes worse. He'd seen it before, such as the flash of dark rage when the council wouldn't agree with him, or that brief moment of cruel regard when Sai made an offhand comment about a certain dark-haired runaway's likely death.

He was one of the Hokage's most trusted personnel since Naruto was appointed and he'd seen some scary stuff the past two years. Those unpleasant gazes and intense outbursts of anger were nothing like the boy he once knew. Sometimes he could feel a certain darkness that had never been there, and he'd spoken to Sakuro about it once and he'd dismissed it but could not hide from him that he knew exactly what he was talking about, that he'd seen a shifting character in their friend.

"What is it!"

Realizing he snapped at his subordinate, Naruto took a composing breath. The dark look he had ebbed away from his face as he gave an apologetic smile to the other two in the room. "What is it," he asked more calmly, directing his gaze first at Shikamaru then to his secretary.

The secretary hesitated, unsure which of them should speak first. He was lower by rank to Shikamaru-san and later by arrival, although he was at least five years older.

"Go ahead," Shikamaru offered nonchalantly followed by a long yawn.

"Hai. Well then, Hokage-sama, we have received two messages from the border. One from a village hospital." He flipped a folder open. "There was a suspicious female found critically wounded and is currently being cared for in one of the towns. It says she might be a fugitive but there is no indication of where she might be from."

"It could be a bandit," Naruto commented absentmindedly as he signed some papers.

"Hai. That is why they requested for some of our men to take a look, although action is no longer necessary. From the second missive sent by one of the patrol teams they'd already made their rounds in said town and confirmed her to be a shinobi. They've secured transport and are on their way home."

Naruto and Shikamaru shared a look. They didn't know why, but they sensed trouble coming. And it was a big one.

The team medic, Tatsu-san, injected drugs into her every few hours. It wasn't healthy but he deemed it necessary in her condition. Even in a state of unconsciousness she would scream in pain despite of the painkillers and other medications. She needed to undergo more thorough examinations only a great hospital could provide and probably the treatment of a more experienced healer with the aptitude to analyze the wound and establish the most proper measures to recovery. Thankfully, Tastu-san commented, that their village had a few of those. In fact, the most brilliant medic-nin in the world was in Konohagakure. Tatsu-san couldn't shut up about his idol, Senju Tsunade, and was very excited to get home and present his report directly to the former village leader.

Konohamaru turned away and watched the scenery outside the carriage. They usually didn't travel in one, but Sasuke's condition required careful but quick delivery. They'd hired a particularly expensive one with a more advanced mechanism that rode smoothly despite passing through rough and uneven terrain. It was also large enough to fit a cot so their prisoner could lie down. He refused to look at her but couldn't ignore her presence. His irritation from listening to his teammates take care of her as if she wasn't a criminal only increased his impatience to get home and augmented his resentment towards her. He regretted not volunteering to go ahead to report their situation, although it wasn't necessary since the team captain had already sent a message via messenger pigeon. It was good, though, that he could keep his eye on her. He'd make sure she wouldn't disappear again.

In the early afternoon, Tatsu-san asked for his help in changing her bandages. He didn't want to, but couldn't refuse his senpai. She groaned as he lifted her so that they could remove the wrappings then rebind her torso. The gashes were still raw, but they no longer bled as heavily. The medicinal salve they had applied must be working to some degree. It consisted of a combination of herbs that had a subdued stink to it, but most medics carried it in their kits. If Konohamaru wasn't mistaken, the salve was based on a formulation concocted by Sakuro-san.

How lucky she was, he thought with deep frown. Once again she was being saved by the people she'd turned her back to. Despite his aversion, he maneuvered her back on the cot gently but withdrew his hands from her immediately.

There was a hand-sized bowl half-filled with a pasty-looking liquid that Tatsu-san raised to her lips. The healer carefully angled her head so he could feed her the watery extracts of herbs and some pulverized vitamins.

"Should we turn her back around," Konohamaru asked, although it was without concern.

"Not just yet. Let me wash her face first, then cool her down a bit with a wet cloth."

Tatsu wiped off the sweat from her face and neck, brushing away the dark tendrils of hair away and tucking them behind her ears. "She looks like a beauty, don't you think, Konohamaru-kun?"

Konohamaru said nothing and pretended not to hear.

"I can't wait to see what she looks like when she's all better," he wondered aloud, then said to him: "I wonder who she is though? She looks quite familiar."

Again he didn't answer and looked away. He felt bad for not divulging what he knew, but they'd find out soon enough.

Just a few more hours and they'd be home. Once there, finally, he would have fulfilled not only a promise he'd made to himself but also the one Naruto dedicated his life to. That knowledge reassured him.

I can't believe it has been nearly nine years since the last chapter. This chapter was mostly written that long ago. I thought I lost the file, but I found an old external hard drive and lo and behold! Any old readers here?

I see that the Konohamaru X fem Sasuke still isn't a popular pairing even after all these years, but then again, fem Sasuke is only popular with mostly Naruto as her partner.

I seem to recall Konohamaru addressing Sakura as 'nee-chan' when he was younger but it doesn't feel quite right to me for him to call him 'nii-san' so I decided on Sakuro-san. In Boruto he does call her Sakura-san, I think? Maybe it's all in my head. Do correct me if you know.

Thank you for reading. Comments are highly appreciated. : )