Hitomi could've cried with relief when she saw Sasuke, overcoming the fear that had paralysed him up to that point, straighten up and rush to her side. She wouldn't have to fight a fucking Sannin alone, thanks the Hermit's bollocks, and even if they had no chance in hell, the fact she didn't have to rely only on herself there was an unending relief. Her brother's eyes stopped on her cheek, then the black irises turned red, with two black tomoe each. He unsheathed Shingi to Giri and stepped next to her.
They attacked in the same movement, fear forgotten in the fury of seeing their brother down, their deadly, instinctive dance more harmonious than it had ever been. Hitomi knew what the Uchiha had in mind and took it upon herself to create the openings he needed to throw his shuriken, watching him deploy metres upon metres of ninja wire to set his trap in the middle of an active fight, her whip snapping each time Orochimaru attempted to approach him. The voice under her skin insisted, haunted her movements, skinned her alive, but she was terrified of the idea of listening to it, of opening herself to its promises of devastation.
"Fire Style: The Dragon Fire!"
The ninja wire immediately went ablaze, running to the deserter to trap him in their infernal embrace. Hitomi was just as breathless as Sasuke was, her fingers turned icy cold by all the chakra she had to spend to move with such strength, such speed.
"Such a mastery of the Sharingan despite your young age," the deserter whispered almost lovingly in the middle of the flames. "You're worthy of your illustrious name, no one can deny it… It only confirms what I thought: I want you."
Hitomi wanted to yell that he wouldn't have him, ever, to spit to his slowly melting face, but she knew… she knew she couldn't stop him. She was too weak, too powerless, not even a prey to that man who coveted her brother so dearly. Tears started to roll on her cheeks, lighting a new fire of salt and agony on her wound, and she ran to the deserter with a feral scream, her tantō raised in an attack that was as stupid as it was suicidal.
She didn't even have the time to take five steps before she was stopped mid-charge by Orochimaru's petrifying technique, incanted without hand seals nor enunciation. The difference in power was terrifying, his grip on her so heavy she could barely breathe, the only movement she could manage focused on the short intakes of air on her lips. She made her chakra burn high, tried to push against the limits that hurt her limbs and slowly choked her. In vain.
"No need to envy your brother, Sasuke-kun. I see in your eyes a power even greater than Itachi's."
Despite the technique that petrified him as well, Sasuke's features went hard. "Who the fuck are you?" he yelled, his voice so full of fury and vulnerability it made Hitomi want to throw up in terror.
"My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again, and trust me, you will, give your very best during this exam. Now, my parting gift to you…"
Suddenly, the deserter's head seemed to unhook from his shoulders and fly, fly to Sasuke's vulnerable neck, sticking like a leech to the delicate, fragile skin. Hitomi felt a brutal spike in chakra, perhaps as morbid and foul as the Kyūbi's, then the head went back to its body, leaving Sasuke to fall on his knees, moaning in pain. The deserter wiped his lips and smiled like he had just had the most pleasant talk. Hitomi had never hated someone so much.
"You'll come to me seeking more power, Sasuke-kun. I know you will." He disappeared, his last words still clinging to the air.
His hold over her broken, Hitomi rushed to Sasuke and pushed the neckline of his battle coat aside with a brush of her fingers. She had to suppress a sob when she saw the Cursed Seal on his neck. Kneeling, his whole body clenching with pain, her brother was moaning, the sound rising and rising until it turned to a scream, as if fire ran in his veins and devastated everything in its wake.
Behind the trees, the sun was setting, stealing all light away from the forest. Hitomi suddenly remembered, like a punch to the gut, that her trouble was far from over. Her fingertips found one of the vital points along Sasuke's neck and she pressed it, forcing him into unconsciousness, where pain couldn't reach him. In her arms, he fell like a broken doll, his forehead already burning with fever.
Her legs shaking, exhausted and hurting like she had never hurt before, Hitomi left him there for a moment and went to pick Naruto from his tree. His skin was so cold that, for a moment, the girl thought he had died. Supporting his weight with one arm, she touched his throat with her other hand and sighed with relief when she felt his pulse, slow but steady under her fingers. One step after the other, she took him to Sasuke's inert body and laid the two brothers side by side.
Only then did she decide to take care of herself. She unfolded a storage seal and freed its content, finding a gourd of water and, in one of her pockets, a little mirror. She had to reduce one of her changes of clothes to rags in order to clean the wound on her cheek, trying not to vomit in pain. When she managed to clean most of the blood, she raised the mirror to her face and observed her reflection.
A big part of her cheek was no more than blood, flesh and… something else. If she had to guess, she'd say it was the venom of the snake that had wounded her. According to the shape of its fangs, the wound should have been thin and straight, but if that venom was an acid, it explained the way it had spread. Hitomi had to stop the process before it totally pierced her cheek.
Her hands shaking, she drew a seal directly to the ground, creating a half-impervious barrier that could contain a little fire without liberating its smoke for around twenty minutes. It would be enough. Her movements were jerky, rough, but she quickly managed to set a little pile of wood aflame. When the fire had taken, she took one of her kunai and offered the blade to the flames. The metal got hotter and hotter, until even handling it became complicated. She gripped its handle harder, forcing herself to act with more determination than she truly had in her. She couldn't fail, and this wound needed to be stopped before it became serious.
She had to grab her own wrist with her other hand, leaving the mirror on her knees, to force the scorching blade near her face. When the steel touched her wound and started sizzling, she lost consciousness for a few seconds, her will keeping her sitting straight and the kunai on her cheek. She had to repeat the process twice, gnawing on the intact skin she still had to make sure she had burned all the acid. Little noises, akin to ones a wounded animal would make, escaped her pinched lips from time to time – she wouldn't have been able to keep silent if her life had depended upon it.
When she was done, she stood up. She had to shelter Sasuke and Naruto. She had no idea of the time: the bit of sky she could see through the hole Orochimaru had dug into the forest wasn't enough to give her that information. She didn't know when the Otojin team would attack, but she had to be ready by then, she had no other choice. Her eyes had gotten used to the darkness, allowing her to notice a Hashirama Oak, titan-like and proud, its roots two meters thick above the ground in some places. It would do, with a bit of luck.
She had never missed Kakashi more than she missed him now. He would have known what to do. Maybe he would even have been able to protect Naruto and Sasuke from Orochimaru. He had the necessary power and talent, and hundreds of techniques the deserter didn't know thanks to his Sharingan. And even if it hadn't been the case, he would have handled himself better than she was right now, her cheek badly burned and her hands shaking with exhaustion and terror. Everything she had done, all her plans and preparations, none of it had been enough.
When her brothers were hidden from sight and potential rain, she sat for a moment, drank a long gulp of water from her gourd, then stood back up. She had neither time nor any right to rest. Rest was for deserving shinobis, the ones who had finished their mission and succeeded at it. Not for her.
The whole night, she trapped the hell out of her little spot in the Forest of Death. She didn't have Naruto's imagination nor Sasuke's natural agility with wire, but her heart was crushed by hatred, a feeling that stimulated a vicious, cruel part of her mind. Those people were going to come, to try to harm her brothers; they didn't deserve the tiniest spark of pity, only the pain and destruction she'd offer them without any reservation. Deep inside her, the voice that hadn't gone silent even one moment since Orochimaru had left whispered its approval and tender, comforting nonsense.
They arrived at dawn, three silhouettes against the light of a rising sun, threatening and proud as if the insignia on their forehead hadn't been forged in innocent blood and tears. She felt them before she saw them, noticed the squirrel they sent her carrying an explosive tag on its back. She chased it away with a kunai, praying for… praying… she didn't even know what for anymore. Slowly, she rose and faced her new opponents.
"Aw, standing watch instead of sleeping?" said the one to the right – Zaku, his name was Zaku, he was the one with the holes in his hands. "Your watch has ended, little girl. Wake up Sasuke."
"Well, well, Orochimaru's puppets," she drawled, hiding her pain and exhaustion as well as she could. "Did you know he paid us a visit last night? Thanks to him, my two little brothers are injured and unconscious. Do I really have to put into words how pissed I am right now?"
She saw the surprise on their faces and took advantage of it, slamming her hand on the ground in a violent shot of chakra. A whole tree exploded to their left, weapons started flying in all directions – they couldn't dodge them all. The girl, Kin, ended up with two crossed slices under her left shoulder. She hadn't stepped aside quickly enough, and those shinobi didn't fight as a team. If they disturbed each other in their manoeuvres, the weakest had to take it.
"You bitch," Kin hissed.
"Why, yes, I know, thank you," Hitomi smiled, almost snarled in return. She was in a pitiful state, beyond any concept that her body could even have of pain, body and mind aflame, but she would get revenge from them. She had promised it to herself. Without incantation or hand seals, the Water Whip appeared in her right hand, her chakra shaped by sheer will as she unsheathed her tantō with the left. "If you want Sasuke so much, you'll have to come and get him."
"Like that's going to be a problem," Dosu smiled. As if she was a midge. Insignificant.
She strengthened her will and activated another trap with her foot. The ground between her opponents and herself opened up, roaring blue flames appearing in the hole. Hitomi had never been more thankful for the chemistry knowledge Ensui had offered her. If she survived, she had to find a way to thank him.
Kin hurled herself at her first. She was stronger, faster, probably too skilled for a mere Chūnin exam, but it was what Orochimaru had intended, Hitomi knew that. Through light touches of her shadow against the other girl's, Hitomi started to modify her posture and tried to gain an advantage. She brushed against her in a dark whisper, raised her arms slightly then let go, the whole thing done in less than a second, before she tried to pierce her guard through the flaw in her stance she had created. She might have succeeded if her opponent had been closer to her level, but Kin simply corrected her posture again and again, parrying sword and whip like they were mere toys.
Hitomi had to roll backwards to dodge the sonic impulse Zaku sent her way, the move so close a strand of her hair was cut in the attack. She couldn't have cared less. If shaving her head had allowed her to survive… She pushed Kin away when she noticed the girl had followed her, snarling in exultation when her kick landed. A dark and secret part of her almost cooed when she saw the grimace of pain on her opponent's face. Let her pay.
"Kin, Zaku, stop toying with the girl," Dosu drawled. As if answering a signal, the three ninjas regrouped then rushed towards her again. One in front of her, one on the left and one on the right – she could only stop two of them, and allow the third to land a hit. Resolved, she turned her back to Kin, raised her sword and whip, and…
"Konoha Senpū!"
Hitomi would have never thought she'd be so stupidly happy to hear those words one day, and yet there she was, her widening eyes devouring Lee's silhouette as he slammed his feet against her opponents, forcing them back before they could hurt her. He stood in front of her, his legs sturdy, and aura of sweet, sweet anger forming around him.
"You have no business here, kid," Dosu warned.
"I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast, Rock Lee, and you won't land a hand on my friend again!"
Hitomi fell to her knees, a sob of sheer gratitude bursting in her throat. She had consumed so much chakra during her fight against Orochimaru that shivers, the first warning before a real state of chakra exhaustion, were running along her limbs. "Thanks, Lee," she half-whispered, half-choked, "thanks…"
"I'll always be there to help you when you're in danger, Hitomi-san."
She wiped her tears away with the sleeve that Orochimaru's first attack hadn't torn to shreds, attempting to clear her vision. And to say that, in another universe, between the pages of a multitude of books, this devotion had been offered to another girl… She didn't know which god or entity or whatever had looked out after her so that Lee would beam at her like that, with a sweetness she couldn't quite qualify with words, but she was thankful for it.
In front of them, the Otojin shinobi got ready to attack once more, Dosu stepping towards them after throwing their scroll to Zaku.
"B-be careful," she told Lee in a hoarse voice. "The two boys use sound-related techniques, and the girl uses senbon. They are far stronger than any Genin of my generation."
Dosu jumped in their direction and Hitomi found in herself the strength to stand back up, a strength she could have sworn she didn't have anymore. She threw kunai, shuriken and senbon in a persistent rain, one salvo after the other, forcing their opponents to step back to try attacking them from another angle. Zaku sent her a sonic wave again, forcing her to dive to the ground, and Dosu took advantage of the pause in her rain of steel to attack, his arm equipped with the sound amplifier ready for use. With his bare hands, Lee tore one of the thickest roots of the Hashirama Oak and used it as a shield.
"Your attacks hide a peculiar technique, don't they?" the boy said with a grin. "No way I'm gonna parry them with my bare hands, especially since I saw what they could do before the first test!"
A brutal flame of chakra tore through the air – the opening move for the Front Lotus. Kin took advantage of the confusion to throw herself at Hitomi again, the impact hard enough to send another kind of fire in her wounded cheek. She wrapped her whip around her attacker's wrist and pulled, taking a bit of her skin and blood away. Her other arm raised her tantō and hit towards the kunoichi's throat, in hope of taking her out quickly. Unfortunately, Kin was too fast, and kept Hitomi too busy dodging and parrying to place any decisive hit.
As Lee trapped Dosu in the bandages that had been wrapped around his wrists just a moment earlier and started falling with his opponent headfirst, she perceived Zaku's movement in the corner of her vision. Allowing Kin to stab her shoulder with one of her needles, she grabbed her arm to make her stop moving and stretched her shadow backwards… Too late. The boy had just knelt, his hands deep in the ground for a technique that turned it to sponge. The heavy impact Lee's attack was supposed to cause Dosu was nullified.
The voice became more pressing in her ear, a kiss of tenderness and agony that hypnotised her for a second. In the time it took her to reaffirm her will against the voice, Lee fell to his knees and threw up, bleeding from the ear she could see. He couldn't fight anymore, not without his balance, and Hitomi… Hitomi had already proved she wasn't strong enough against those damned Otojin. She threw Kin towards Zaku and tore the needle away from her shoulder, panting.
Dosu and Zaku were focusing on Lee, boasting about how powerful their techniques were, giving away so much information on them Hitomi wanted to mock them. If she had been their sensei, she would have sealed their tongues, just to give them a lesson – oh maybe so she would never have to hear their voices again. Another attack hit Lee full force – the voice screamed under Hitomi's skin, begging for her to let go.
And she did. Chakra exploded in scorching waves around her as she stood back up as if her wounds didn't exist anymore. Under her skin, the complex web of meridian suddenly appeared, shining in pure blue light. Blue Rasengan, blue infinite, the true colour of chakra. Faster than she had ever been, she slammed against Dosu, her silhouette no more than a whirl of colours and exaltation. When she finally went still, she was strapping on the shoulders of the Otojin, her eyes deep in his only visible orbit red with blood.
Under the voice's advice, she started to pull, pull, and an amazing, terrifying strength invaded her limbs, forcing her meridians to absorb it all. The pain was beyond words, far worse than what she had felt while burning her cheek away, and yet Hitomi welcomed it like an old friend, accepting it openly. She threw her head back in a laugh that was barely human and rather chakra turned into sound, then sent the power back into the man's body. He convulsed and screamed under her, his cries mixed with the laughter cascading out of her lips like a waterfall.
When she stood up, the two other Otojin stepped back. They weren't bleeding, neither of them, but the voice promised it wasn't a problem, that she could still make them suffer and die, that she had power, all the power she wanted – hers, only hers. She attacked Zaku first, the boy with the perverse gleam in his eyes, her nails drawing blood on his skin. It was enough for the voice, who showed her how to pull to steal all his strength and send the fire back where it didn't have any place to be, until his blood started boiling. He, too, died screaming and convulsing.
After all that, the girl, the weakest, was easy prey. She died quickly, begging for her life before the Yūhi heir ended it like she had done with her teammates. Hitomi stood then in front of this carnage, her body more saturated with chakra than it had ever been, her eyes veiled by the power the voice held over her. She listened to her meridians, seeking more prey, no matter what kind. The hunt wasn't done, enemies were still standing.
He appeared in front of her like a mirage. Shikamaru. With a messy ponytail and eyes filled with terror and nervousness. Hitomi fought against the hold the voice had over her. Her cousin wasn't prey. She loved him. She scratched, hissed inside her mind, battling for control. Outside, her body had started raising its arm and Shikamaru didn't do anything to protect himself, to dodge or step aside. Hitomi's bloody nails brushed against his skin, ready to draw his blood because the voice demanded it.
A wall of sand suddenly formed between them. She spun around. Gaara. Another beloved face. She didn't want, didn't want… She took a step towards him, then another. The sand became a dome that closed over her, immersing her in darkness. The voice screamed, furious, and Hitomi took over immediately, like a rubber band snapping after suffering too much tension. She collapsed on the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, breathless.
She burst into exhausted tears then, her body seething with pain from hair to toes, her Gates so full of chakra each movement made her feel like they were going to explode. Waves of chakra were still radiating off of her, giving her the impression that her skin was turning to smoke. The sand collapsed around her and, before she could react, Gaara was kneeling by her side, his fresh, soft hand brushing against her neck. She felt her own pulse beating against his fingers, quick and messy. She met his eyes then closed hers, the massacre she had just committed dancing behind her eyelids. It was… It was her. She had done this.
"Shh… It's okay, Hitomi. It's over now."
She almost laughed, a sound between distress and hilarity, confronted with the absurdity of his words. No, it wasn't okay. Nothing was okay. She had a monster under her skin and couldn't resist it when under enough pressure, and Sasuke… And Naruto… She jumped back up, ignoring the pain blazing through her body. She took hesitating steps towards her brothers, almost falling down again. Gaara wrapped an arm around her shoulders and supported most of her weight, helping her move.
"You look at the end of your rope," he remarked with worry. "You should rest, we'll stand watch for you, my team and Shikamaru's."
"How…"
"When we saw they were the closest from our position, we decided to find them and help them collect their scrolls. It was easy. Then we started looking for your team, but none of us had any tracking skill. I'm sorry we took so long, Hitomi-nee."
"Y-you're here now. It's the only thing that matters. Can you help me go to Sasuke and Naruto, please? They need me."
Probably hearing the urgency in her tone, the boy nodded and, one step after the other, led her there, until he could help her sit next to her brothers. Shikamaru was there too, his face a mask of gravity and worry. Around them, Temari, Kankurō, Ino and Chōji stood watch, each at a cardinal point.
"Hitomi," her cousin started, his voice hoarse, "what happened here?"
As she cut through Sasuke's steel fishnet shirt, she explained, busying her hands so as to not think too much. "Orochimaru of the fucking Sannin, here's what happened. The bastard attacked us out of nowhere, disguised as one of the Kusajin. We were… we were wiped out. He toyed with us, Shika. I couldn't do anything to stop him from marking Sasuke, which looked to be his main objective. I-I have to see what I can do against the seal he put on him."
The Nara boy, aghast, lowered his eyes to the unconscious body of the last Uchiha. Surviving an encounter with the traitor of the Sannin, it was… It was either dumb luck or the sign one absolutely deserved the Chūnin promotion. Oh, Shikamaru didn't doubt for a moment that his cousin deserved it, but she looked so thoroughly exhausted, with that hideous mass of burned flesh where her cheek had been smooth and perfect the day before, and in her eyes a haunted gleam that made shivers run down his spine… He was sure it was dumb luck, just because of that look.
"And the three bodies over there?" he asked gently.
"Orochimaru's subordinates. Otogakure… I think it's him, his village. They were ordered to kill us, our whole team. For Sasuke, it might have been planned as a test, but for Naruto and I… Lee stepped in when I was almost ready to give up because they were too many, too strong, but the one with the weird thing on his arm, there, broke his eardrums and then he was powerless. I'll see if I can help him after I'm done with Naruto and Sasuke. They need me the most."
Her voice was hard, distant, cold, as if what she had just been through had happened to someone else and she had just watched – she wanted to collapse and cry, wanted to disappear where no one could find her ever again. Finally, she sliced through Sasuke's whole shirt and saw the place where Orochimaru had bitten him. The place was red, inflamed and burning under her hand, like an infection. The seal was a shock of absolute black on his pale skin, far above Hitomi's fūinjutsu skills.
And yet there was something she could do. It wouldn't hold long, but maybe… Maybe it would stop the Cursed Seal from extending its influence in Sasuke's mind, maybe it would be enough to stop her brother from following in Orochimaru's steps. She took a moment to calm the tremors in her hands then drew a brush and a little bottle of ink from one of her seals.
Drawing a seal on skin was no harder than drawing it on paper. What separated a simple drawing from the true corporal seals was the way it influenced the body: a corporal seal took power in its wielder's chakra system. Here, it would be Hitomi's chakra maintaining the seal in place rather than Sasuke's like it was the case for the Cursed Seal. Half-lost in her Library to keep her wits about her, the girl drew strokes after strokes on her brother's skin, slow, steady and careful. When she was done, she allowed herself a moment of rest, closing her eyes to strengthen her will.
Her hand slammed against the spot where the Cursed Seal rested, a shock of chakra activating the seal she had traced. Without waking up, Sasuke started screaming and struggling under her hand, his bucking so violent Gaara had to step in and keep him pinned to the ground. It lasted for long, long minutes, his cries so full of pain and anguish that tears came back to Hitomi's eyes, rolling down her cheeks and falling on the sick boy's hair to lose themselves there, finally.
When he calmed down, she could inspect her work. It was done and would hold at least until the end of the exam, if she gave it chakra regularly. She inhaled deeply, held her breath for a few seconds then slowly exhaled before going to Naruto's side. The boy hadn't moved in the slightest since Orochimaru had disturbed his jinchūriki seal. With Shikamaru's help, she took off his battle coat decorated with flames and the Uzumaki emblem, then his steel fishnet shirt. The seal on his belly was visible, a true masterpiece. Over Hokage the Fourth's work, Orochimaru's alterations appeared, vicious and painful looking. Hitomi weighed her options, then got to work.
It took her long, anxiety-filled minutes of perfect silence to reduce the influence of the alterations over the seal with little touches of her brush on each of the five impacts left by the Sannin's hand. Gaara was staring at the seal without a word. Hitomi knew he had a similar one, and that he understood what he was seeing. Maybe… Maybe the two boys could talk, before the selection phase began. Maybe Gaara would have answers Hitomi couldn't give to Naruto.
The activation of the seal had immediate effects on the boy as well, but they weren't as hard on her nerves. He opened blurry eyes, then seemed to recognise his sister over him. He raised a hand that was still a bit too cold, brushed it against the wound on her cheek then let it fall back on the ground. She allowed a little smile to appear on her lips. It was fake, but what harm could a smile do? Slowly, she helped him to sit up, addressing thousands of thankful prayers Ensui's way. Wherever he was, the knowledge he had given her had saved her brothers.
"Hitomi… Where's the snake?"
"It's gone, Naruto. Everything will be okay now. We just have to wait for Sasuke to wake up and then we'll be able to go to the tower. Can you stay with Shikamaru and Gaara for a moment, please? I still have one person to check on."
She kissed his forehead then, as he nodded. Still so obviously, painfully weak, she stood up. She didn't stagger as much this time, despite the ordeal she had just been through her body was already recovering. Lee was still lying where he had fallen unconscious. She knelt next to him and took his pulse. Just passed out. She allowed herself to sigh in relief then started cleaning the blood that had dried around his ear, on the lookout for a sign that he was ready to wake up.
"Let me help," Ino offered in a soft voice.
Dumbfounded, Hitomi watched her kneel and extend a hand coated with minty chakra to Lee's ear. She was treating his internal injury with a gentleness and delicateness the young Yūhi would probably never have in her. The fact Ino and Sakura were spending a lot of time together suddenly hit her. That was probably how her blonde friend was learning medical ninjutsu. A useful, life-saving skill.
Since Lee was in better hands than hers, Hitomi stepped back and looked around. Shikamaru was standing watch where Ino had been just a second earlier, his shoulders tense. Naruto and Gaara were whispering together, the blonde's expression grave and distressed. She would have to talk to him, later, to tell him that it didn't change anything for her, that he was still her brother, that she still loved him just as much.
She was the first to feel Tenten and Neji approach and to spot them, their silhouettes easy to notice against the tree they had just gotten down from. Chōji let them in, because it was their teammate laying there, unconscious. Distractedly, Hitomi put a hand on Lee's shoulder, smothering a fold on his dark green jumpsuit. He had saved her life, without expecting anything in return, just because he thought she was kind of pretty. And now… She touched her injured cheek. It still hurt, despite the cauterisation, but at least the acid had stopped devouring her flesh.
"What happened to him?" Tenten asked.
"He came to my rescue against the Otojin team. They're dead."
"Lee… Lee killed them?"
"No, I did."
The two Genin watched her for a few moments, evaluating the threat she represented. At that moment, it was very clear: none. She was as fragile and exhausted as a day-old kitten. "I see," Neji said. "We're gonna wait until he wakes up and then take him with us. We still don't have our second scroll, but I spotted a team."
"Very well," she whispered, looking away from him.
Barely a minute later, Lee started to stir and ended up opening his eyes. He took a moment to realise where he was but, as soon as he could, he jumped on his feet, searching for a threat. Only when he didn't find one did he take Hitomi's face in his hands, mindful of her injury. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"I'm okay, Lee-kun. I'm okay." She felt numb, as if the adrenaline that had forced her to keep going until then had started to wear out. Her limbs felt heavy – she wanted to curl into a ball under a tree and sleep until next spring. If only she could afford such a luxury…
"Hitomi! Sasuke is waking up!"
Immediately, the girl forgot her tiredness and jumped to the Uchiha's side, thanking Naruto with a nod.
"W-what happened?" the dark-haired boy moaned as he regained consciousness.
"Orochimaru. He left a seal where he bit you. I-I added a barrier to stop it from accessing your chakra, but it's only a temporary measure. You'll have to see Kakashi-sensei and Ensui-shishou as soon as you can. They will be able to help you, far better than I can."
She saw her brother slowly overcome his panic and assert the scene around them, from their friends surrounding them to the three bodies he could distinguish from where he was laying. Slowly, Hitomi helped him sit, her hands supporting his back to give him the strength his muscles seemed to have forgotten they had.
"W-we have to go to the tower. That bastard can't attack us there."
She could have told him that the man wouldn't attack them for now, but how was she supposed to know that? Besides, she had to admit she, too, wanted to reach the end of this test. At least, in the tower, she wouldn't have to fight for her life and could rest a little – or even consult a medic if she could find one. She doubted it, but one could dream. "We're going to go, as soon as Naruto and you can walk."
"What about you?"
"I… I can still go on for a bit longer."
"And we'll go with you," Gaara assured, "to make sure nothing happens to you."
"So will we," Chōji added. "After all, we're allies. We have to watch out for each other."
"Thanks," Hitomi whispered, unable to hide the relief in her voice.
If they travelled through the forest in such numbers, no one would dare oppose or attack them. And even if someone was that desperate, Gaara was, without a doubt, the strongest Genin in their alliance – which didn't mean his siblings or Team Ten were weak, by any means. With them around, she was allowed to feel safe.
They left at the end of the afternoon. Team Gai had taken off soon after Lee had woken up, guided by Neji towards the victims that would allow them to pass the test. Sasuke and Naruto felt well enough to travel again, but the recent ordeals were making them slow. Their faces were a mask of determination, so similar they could have been brothers by blood. In front of them, with the two teams escorting them, predators, prey and enemy teams alike were fleeing like frightened birds. For the first time, they could advance in a straight line, without any precaution, and they were soon under the shade of the tower, in front of its north entrance.
There they were. They had survived, after all. Her hand on the tower's door, Hitomi lowered her head and took the time to pray, no matter who listened up there. Her whole body hurt, she felt like some parts of her were slowly dying, but her brothers were alive and so was she. As long as they lived, she still had hope, hope for better days and a happy end to her own story. She could cling to that hope, use it as fuel to keep going. Yes, she could work with that.