She could hear a voice— sweet and old— singing the same words over and over. As if the woman didn't know the other lyrics to the song. If there were other lyrics at all. Miho couldn't remember them either, the other words. Just "You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." Over and over and over.

It was her grandmother's voice. From another life, the most recent one. Miho could remember her now, her kind smile and soothing presence. Whenever she would cry, Miho could remember her grandmother wrapping her up in her arms, singing as she rocked. Even as an adult, Miho looked to that woman for comfort. "You are my sunshine. My only sunshine…"

"You make me happy when skies are gray." Miho held onto Tetsuya's hand, tilting her head to rest more fully on his shoulder. He didn't move, didn't react to her sudden singing. He just lay there next to her, listening. "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

It was quiet then, like it had been for a while. Miho was comfortable with it. The quiet was reassuring…because Tetsuya was there. Awake. Alive. Present. She'd climbed into bed with him as soon as Genma-sensei left. Their teacher promised to return with fresh clothes and books and hospital-forbidden snacks. Tetsuya only had to move a bit to accommodate her now-small body. He had grimaced when he raised his arm for her to lean into his shoulder.

"Feels weird."

Miho only nodded. Everything felt weird. Off. Strange.

"You still sing off-pitch."

"They still haven't told them."

Tetsuya scoffed. "Unspecific much?"

"The adults. They still haven't told Naruto, Lee…Ino, Chōji, and Shikamaru… that I'm alive and you're awake."

"That's why it's so quiet." Tetsuya said. His voice was full of awe. Like he'd just realized how quiet it really was in that hospital room. "Genma-sensei said Ino brought me flowers every week." Miho nodded, looking to the wilted daises. "And that Naruto guarded me. Lee visited, read to me." He paused and she could see his curiosity building. "What happened, Miho?"

Miho should've expected the question. When Genma-sensei omitted her situation as something to discuss later, she knew Tetsuya would only wait until their teacher left.

"I—"

"If it's something you can't talk about, I-I understand."

Miho turned her face further into the nape of his neck, trying to control her breathing. She owed it to him, an explanation. She knew their room was secured since she'd been moved into it. Secured by ANBU that Genma-sensei trusted. Secured by Akimichi privacy seals. Secured by Akimichi guards, who stood at the doorway with their bō at the ready. She owed him this.

She should have told him sooner.

She should've told them both.

"I know the future. A future."

Tetsuya didn't react for a long moment and her words seemed to linger in the stale hospital air. She shivered as they brushed against her skin, like the film of dirt, a sense that she couldn't quite shake. "Is that what you couldn't tell us before? Why you kept lying?"

Miho nodded. "It's easier to show than it is to explain."

He sat with that. "Ino." It was quiet again for a moment. "Can you… try to explain?"

"Before…Before it was just Images, like a cartoon on a screen. I could see things. Like a movie. I lived before this life. Multiple lives. In my past life, this place was a…setting. A setting for a story. I knew the story, watched it. I saw things that happened before we were born. Things that were or are going to happen. I saw the invasion, the things that led to it."

She didn't see Koji dying. She didn't see a lot. Tetsuya didn't call that out.

"All of it centered on Naruto."

"Uzumaki Naruto? Why?"

Miho swallowed. "It's his story." Tetsuya shifted. She wondered if he remembered pushing Naruto on the playground. She could feel the muscles shift in his arm and she looked down to see his hand fisted where it lay on his stomach. "He's…the main character. The title character. He's…He deserves so much. So much better than what he got. I didn't do anything for so long…and then I did."

"Made me eat dirt, from what I remember." Tetsuya sighed, raising a hand to press it flat against his forehead. He'd picked up that habit from Koji. Miho tried not to flinch at the reminder. "So, what? Is he gonna save the world or something?"

Miho felt the Images seep in from the back of her mind, where she had hidden them for so long.

Explosions. A red moon.

The war was coming. An explosion on the horizon. Headquarters. So many people… And golden chakra.

Golden cloaks. Gold chakra. Like the sun. Like the sun rising on a world torn apart.

"Yeah," Miho whispered. Her hand sought out Tetsuya's, gripping it like it might keep her stable. "Yeah, he saves everyone. Everyone, Tetsuya." She shifted. "That's not why I want to protect him. He's…just…He's good. He's such a good person. I want to protect him. Somehow. In all of this."

He didn't laugh at her.

He didn't scoff.

He didn't tell her she was crazy or that she was lying.

He tightened his grip on her hand in return. As if holding her hand tighter might keep her there. "I bullied him." Miho's mouth opened, but his head shook. She felt a rush of gratefulness. He took her words as truth and didn't question it. "My grandmother hated— hates him. I thought that if I…then I stopped caring what she thought." He pulled in a big breath and held it for a moment.

And the silence in the room felt deafening and comforting at the same time.

"Don't really care that he's some kinda savior." Tetsuya said after a minute. He shifted, turning to look at her. Miho mirrored the action, looking back at him.

She realized then that they were both shells. Their former selves had been ripped away. She was a dehydrated husk. He was her reflection. The same onyx eyes that had once been alight with antagonism were now steady, sure, and caring. He'd sacrificed himself for Neji. His skin was healed, but scars littered his face. One gash cut up his left cheek to a jagged end around his eye. Miho refocused on his eyes, not feeling guilty for looking at the scars.

"It'll take some getting used to." He tried to smile, but it petered out too quickly. "Was gonna joke about being ruggedly handsome."

Miho nodded. "You'll grow into it."

Tetsuya's eyes rolled. "He's your brother."

Miho nodded again.

"Savior or not, he matters to you, so he matters to me."

It was said with such certainty. A matter of fact. A simple truth.

"Thank you, Tetsuya."

They settled into silence for a while. He didn't pepper her with questions, not like she'd come to expect. She'd expected to be grilled, quizzed, chastised. Like always. She…expected him to hate her for keeping her knowledge of secret. Instead, he focused on something else.

"They were trying to get at what's in your head, weren't they?"

Miho chewed on her lip, desperately wishing that it was a steamed bun or cookies or anything more substantial than the pureed diet they had her on. Genma-sensei was bringing her some soba noodles and some mochi. He'd promised. "Ino put traps in my head. They never got what they wanted."

He hummed. "The thing about traps is that they usually leave a mark." He reached up a pulled idly at the skin of his cheek, making the scar look tight and uncomfortable. Miho grimaced. He'd gotten caught in a trap. Tetsuya looked at her. "What d'your scars look like?"

Tears sprung up in Miho's eyes without warning and she immediately looked away, trying to get a handle on the way her eyes were watering. She couldn't tell it was hurt or love or anger or missing Koji so damn much that had her crying again. So, she told him— about Chōji's actions, about her father's report to the Hokage, about the past lives. The flashes and the fear.

The way she couldn't close her eyes anymore without seeing things.

"I—I can get my weight back. I can train. We can train. I can get fast again. Faster. I can hit harder. I can do a lot. I'm not done." Tetsuya nodded, agreeing to the unstated fact that they were still going to be a team without Koji. "But I can't trust my father. And—And I can't— I can't really…I don't want to go back to—"

"Funny…" He chuckled a bit, raising his right arm. She could see it shaking with the effort as he made a finger gun and grinned. It was more hollow than usual, but—somewhere behind the grief and the pain— it was genuine. "I was getting real tired of living at the Utatane Estate. It's boring and old and not my style. Besides, the old bird can't wait to be rid of me. A roommate would be pretty cool."

Miho leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. It didn't feel normal and it probably wouldn't for a while. She was too thin and he was too thin. They were both too weak. But with the way Tetsuya held to her shoulder and pressed his chin into her neck, Miho resolved to never hide her thoughts from her teammate again.

"Koji…Koji died because— because they were after me. They wanted—They wanted what was in my head. He died— He died because—"

Tetsuya pushed her back and Miho felt her stomach sink. His head shook. Then, it shook some more. "Koji…Koji died…" He swallowed and then narrowed his eyes in determination and resolution. "Koji died because he was a good person trying to protect someone he loved. Don't…Miho, don't give them that kind of power over his memory."

"Tetsuya's right, Miho."

Miho jolted, looking over to see Genma-sensei climbing through the window. Tetsuya smiled a bit and let his head settle back into the pillow as she sat up. "Eavesdropping on teenagers, sensei?" It was an empty joke and Miho could sense it fall onto the floor. Genma-sensei leveled her a cool look, moving the senbon to the corner of his lips as he raised a plastic bag.

"You wanna keep diverting or should I just take this back?" Miho closed her mouth. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You told him then? Your knowledge didn't kill Koji. Root and Danzō did." Miho looked at him, knowing that he also blamed her father to some degree for Koji's death. He didn't say it and neither did she. His eyes tracked to Tetsuya. "You ok?"

"Very not okay, but— Oh you mean with Miho's—" He wiggled his fingers. Their teacher gave him a dull stare in answer. Tetsuya shrugged. "It'd be pretty cool if it wasn't so scary, and, you know, actively threatening her life."

Genma-sensei nodded. "Yeah…Wait until you see it." He pierced the top of a convenience store drink.

Tetsuya shook his head, taking the proffered banana milk. His hands shook with the weight of it, but he managed. Miho took hers and waited for her teammate to speak, sipping on it as she looked between Genma-sensei and Tetsuya. It was almost peaceful, though certainly not normal. Koji would be fretting over them. Her parents would be…Miho gulped down the drink, raising her brows at Tetsuya shaking his head again.

"Don't wanna see it. You can explain it, sure. I don't wanna see it."

Relief.

Their teacher settled into the chair under the window, sliding down into it to rest his shoulders against the sun-warmed pleather. "Not a bad call, Tetsuya."

"Does Hayate-sensei know?"

"About you and her or just her?"

"Both, I guess."

"He knows you're awake and that she's back. Doesn't know about the other stuff. Not— " Genma-sensei wiggled his fingers. "He would've died before the invasion though without—" He wiggled his fingers again and rolled his eyes at Tetsuya's stricken expression. "Kid, you're offending me with this star-struck puppy routine."

"He's awesome." Tetsuya retorted. "He's like— one of the best swordsmen out there."

"You haven't been 'out there.'" Genma-sensei drawled, shrugging his shoulders a little in the sunlight. He reminded Miho of a cat curling up in a sunbeam. Tetsuya scoffed, taking another sip of his contraband banana milk. "He'll visit soon, I think. You're still his student, after all." Miho studiously ignored the way Tetsuya looked down at his thinner arms.

Her team was together again, and it was the safest she'd felt since Koji had been with her in the streets of Konoha, fighting shinobi from Oto. Safer than she felt with just her father and mother in the room. Her mother never pushed and her father never knew what to say. There wasn't really anything he could say. Their visits became awkward silences. And those tore at her more than the pitiful sighs of her mother.

"Hand me that book, Genma-sensei. I'll read for a little while."

Her teacher stood and passed her the book before falling back into his chair.

The Empire Falls. Miho looked to Genma-sensei, but he'd already closed his eyes and leaned back to get more comfortable. She could sense Tetsuya's eyes on the book cover and she chewed on the inside of her cheek. Her favorite book in the series. The series that brought them all together. The origin of the "Book Club." Miho looked at Tetsuya and met his eyes.

He smiled, but the smile didn't quite seem genuine. He gestured for her to settle back again next to him, making room. Miho opened the book as she pulled the old knitted blanket Genma-sensei had brought over her and her teammate's legs.

She could see that Genma-sensei had opened an eye, pulling the senbon from his teeth.

Clearing her throat, Miho swallowed down the strangest sense. The strangest feeling that she'd ever felt before. That Koji was there, even though he wasn't. Like he'd be okay with this. If this was how they coped. If they kept it together, hibernating until they could deal with more or until the world made them emerge. Koji would have accepted anything if it meant they would heal.

Miho started on the first page.

"The town on the edge of the river raised up Tigers as deities. The southern tribes praised fire birds. The Great Turtle ruled the north. What more could a man with the convictions of a dragon do? The Fifth Prince…"

Miho continued to read until Tetsuya and Genma-sensei were asleep, letting herself fall into a dreamlike story.

"You should go see her."

Chōji didn't move, rotating his hand back and forth. The skin felt strange on his arm, tighter. Weird. It didn't feel right. It felt like there should still be blood there. His hand felt hot and the skin felt tight. And Chōji's chest hadn't felt right in months. He'd— He'd— He looked up at Shikamaru, trying not to see the worry in his best friend's eyes. Shikamaru knew him better than anyone, after all. He could still feel the snap of bone under his fist.

And he didn't even have to take the third pill.

It made him sick.

He knew that feeling would never wash off. The blood would never go away. His hand would always feel…dirty. He wasn't ashamed of it. Not really. No, he would do it again if he had to. He'd punch his hand through any chest if it meant protecting his friends.

He couldn't lose Shikamaru.

Not after losing Miho.

So, Chōji punched the giant through the chest.

He could be strong like that. So strong that he could break boulders one day. Maybe he could move mountains. Move them out of the way for people who needed water. Like the old stories. The man who worked for the Sage of Six Paths. Maybe he could help build houses and move rubble. Help people. He could face down a giant and yank his heart out.

But Chōji couldn't face his sister.

"What a…" Shikamaru didn't say 'drag,' but he wanted to. Chōji could feel the word hanging in the unfinished sentence. "She doesn't even blame you, Chōji." Shikamaru sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "She knows the real ones at fault were Danzō and Root."

"How— Did she tell you that she doesn't blame me?"

"Ino. She told Ino." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Ino told me, with Miho's permission." His friend grunted as he pushed off the doorframe and moved further into the room. His splayed his hands open. Chōji glared at the broken finger. "Look, I get—"

"No. No, you don't 'get it.'" Chōji was on his feet. He didn't remember standing. "If I hadn't— If I didn't tell our father— I trusted him to do what was right. To help me protect her!" Chōji didn't realize how fast he was breathing until Shikamaru stepped forward and sat a hand on his shoulder. The tightness of his skin pulled and pulled and pulled. "If I hadn't said anything—"

"If you didn't say anything, everything could have gone perfectly. We could have saved the Hokage, saved the village damage, saved lives. Miho would've died. If you didn't say anything, our plan could have failed. The village could have fallen. We all could have died. Miho could have lived." Shikamaru held onto his shoulder with his uninjured hand. His head shook, eyes so tired. "You were trying to protect her."

Chōji felt tears piling up in his eyes and he dropped his head, not wanting to let anyone in the hallway see. "How— How is she?" He knew how small his voice sounded. How weak.

And he swore after Miho was taken that he would never be weak again.

He'd be strong enough to protect her whenever she returned.

Strong enough to protect Ino and Shikamaru.

He'd be strong enough to protect Naruto if she wasn't there to do it.

"She's a mess, but she's keeping it together." Shikamaru stepped back, giving Chōji the room to wipe his eyes on his sleeves. "Ino put traps in her head to protect her knowledge of the future. They never got anything out of her—"

"I don't care about that!"

"Neither do I, Chōji." Shikamaru sighed, palming his forehead. Chōji felt guilty. Of course Shikamaru didn't care about that. "They messed with her head. Tortured her. You can see it, Chōji. She's…not okay. It'll be a long time for her to recover. Even then…"

His friend was beating around the bush and that wasn't like him. Chōji leveled him a patient stare, chewing at the inside of his cheek. With Nara Sigh, Shikamaru relented.

"She's a husk, Chōji. Just…prepare yourself for it."

The sound of heels on the linoleum made Chōji's stomach drop. The Hokage stopped and stared at them for a long moment, a tick starting in her cheek. "Akimichi, I thought you'd be with your sister already." Chōji went to respond, but the Hokage jerked her head. "I'm on my way to that room now. I wanted to check on them before heading back to the Tower."

Chōji couldn't refuse the Hokage.

And she knew it.

Shikamaru raised a brow and tucked his hands into his pockets, following the Hokage with a feigned put-upon shuffle. Chōji's heart fell to the floor. He took two steps into the dimly lit hallway and stopped.

He vaguely heard the Hokage and Shikamaru stop.

Miho hated him. She had to.

"I— I can't—"

"You will. She's been asking about you since she returned. You and Uzumaki are the only ones she hasn't seen. And the latter is only because he doesn't know yet."

When Chōji didn't move, she called out to him.

"Hey, kid!" Chōji felt himself turn. The Hokage's eyes were hard. Unforgiving. Unrelenting. "Look, you wanna blame yourself for what happened? You go right ahead. Dial up the drama a notch. Go for it. This girl deserves support. If you're going to make this about you and your self-pity, then get out of my hospital and lick your wounds somewhere else."

The Hokage scoffed and walked down the hallway. Chōji's attention flickered to Shikamaru, who was half-turned to him in a beam of light from the open door of a room.

"Come on, Chōji."

The way his heart was beating, it felt like indigestion. Like the bubbling pain that came with acid reflux. Chōji felt like he couldn't breath as he forced himself to follow Shikamaru to the 200 hallway.

"What the hell did I say, Akimichi?" Chōji stopped, looking into the room Shikamaru had entered, watching as the Hokage waved her hands in the air. He could see Ino propped on the end of a bed beyond a curtain. Past them, he could see Tetsuya— face scarred and gaunt— grinning from ear to ear. Genma-sensei sat in the corner, huddled over a book with a senbon dangling from his lips. The Hokage whipped around to the jōnin. "If you bring them any more snacks, I'm putting you on gate duty!"

He could hear Miho's light laugh at Genma-sensei's scandalized expression.

"Troublesome…What did you smuggle in now?"

"Mochi." Tetsuya cheered. His voice sounded weak and tired, but happy.

The Hokage moved a bit as Chōji stepped into the room.

He was supposed to protect her.

He was supposed to shield her from the world, keep her safe. He was supposed to be the one that fought off the threats. He was supposed to be the one that supported her in everything. He was supposed to be there for her.

Her eyes met his instantly.

She— She couldn't be his sister.

His sister was bigger than him. She was broader and larger and he caught up to her, but she was always… And now….He could feel everyone looking at him, waiting for him to do something. She was waiting for him to do something.

He could see her eyes soften. "Chōji…"

Her eyes were the same. They were set into a narrow, ashen face, but they were the same. And they weren't filled with hate. Or anger. Or— There it was though. Her shoulders rose and rolled back. They were prominent under the heavy vest she wore. Chōji faltered, the bubbling in his chest becoming painful. How could she still love him after what happened?

"I'll protect you. I – I promise."

Chōji couldn't. He couldn't.

He saw Ino's mouth start to open. He saw Miho say his name, but he couldn't hear it.

He just ran.

Miho lowered her hand, which shook so prominently that she felt a shiver go up her spine. Blinking away tears, she shoved the hurt and rejection to a far corner of her mind. Chōji just…Chōji needed time. She fiddled with the edge of the sheets, looking at the ridges on her nails as they regrew. The tension in the air was electric, stifling. She didn't chance looking up at Ino or Shikamaru. Instead, she glanced to Tetsuya.

His expression was thunderous. He held her stare for a long moment before scoffing, tossing both hands behind his head. Miho felt the tension building between her shoulder blades when Genma-sensei stood.

"Go handle your teammate, Ino, Shikamaru."

Ino sighed, pushing herself off the end of Miho's bed. Don't let it bother you.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Of course it's going to bother her. "What a drag…" Miho was surprised when the Nara came up to grasp her hand, nodding his head to her before he left. Ino stayed for a moment longer.

"It's not your responsibility to make him feel better about all this, Miho."

Miho opened her mouth to respond when the Hokage stepped up between the beds, drawing her attention away from Ino so that her friend could make a clean exit.

"What do you say to a field trip?"

"Both of us?" Tetsuya questioned, sitting up a bit more in his bed. He'd been itching for an escape for hours. Hours. The Hokage nodded and Tetsuya whooped. Two wheelchairs were brought in by medics. "Where to, Lady Hokage-ma'am?"

"Genma here is taking you to see an absolutely annoying kenjutsu mast—"

"Hayate-sensei?"

Miho felt the earlier hurt melting away at Genma-sensei's comically hurt expression. He held a hand over his heart, looking down at her teammate. "What did I say about—"

Her view of her team was blocked by the Hokage, who easily slipped one arm under her shoulders and her knees to draw her up. Miho shuddered a bit at the warmth, feeling colder than she had with her weight. She was deposited in a too-large wheelchair. "thank you, Lady Hokage." The woman smiled a bit, dragging the blanket from the bed and setting it over her legs.

"That vest doesn't really go with your ensemble here." Miho looked down at the gray hospital gown. Fingers trailed through her hair and Miho jerked in surprise, finding that the Hokage was straightening her wild, but limp, hair. "Genma— Did you seriously not bring the girl a brush?"

"Her parents did. It's in the bag over there."

The Hokage scoffed, shaking her head as she stood back. "I am sure that your mother would help you to get straightened up a bit more now that you're stable."

Miho nodded absently, raising both hands to drag over her hair.

"Doesn't matter where we're going."

They parted ways with Genma-sensei and Tetsuya, with the latter rattling off every awesome thing about Hayate-sensei with a surreptitious wink at Miho over his shoulder. He was obviously weak, settled heavy into the chair, but his eyes were more alive than they'd been since she'd seen him for the first time after his awakening and her return. Tetsuya was alive again.

"Where're we going, Lady Hokage?"

"Not too far. Figured we'd make a stop on the way to the gardens."

The Hokage turned a corner and opened a door.

Miho's eyes adjusted to the light, which was bright from the open window. The world seemed to focus and center. A million and one realities crashing into one another in her head, echoes of possibilities and futures and chaos. The past and the future. Gold and red and Miho felt sick. Sick and so ecstatically happy. All mapped into one person. He turned.

"Naruto."

He stared back. "Miho?"

She wanted to stand up, to scramble up to her feet the same way he was. "Careful, Naruto." The Hokage tried to caution, but Naruto continued to fight with the blankets until he was free, throwing himself off the bed. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when he started to fall face-forward into the linoleum.

Someone appeared at the last second, grabbing his arm to keep him upright.

"Idiot."

Miho's voice caught in her throat.

Before she could think about his presence, Naruto's arms were around her shoulders. And he was crying. He was crying and Miho reached up to hold into his shoulders as they shook. He didn't hold her too tight, but tight enough. Enough that she felt secure. The only place she could look was the ceiling, which made the tears fall back into her hair. She gripped him tighter. Because he was steady.

"Naruto… I'm—"

"I'm so glad— I'm so glad you're—" He pulled back and smiled. Smiled as big and as bright and as warm as she had ever seen. It was a watery smile, with water under his eyes and nose, but it was so bright. "I'm so glad you're home!"

Miho nodded as she was pulled into another hug with the Hokage's laughter and Uchiha Sasuke's scoff in the background.

For a moment, it didn't matter. None of it. The terror that rattled her brain was silenced. The image of Chōji's face as he turned and ran away was blotted out. Her father's shame vanished. She couldn't see the nightmares or hear screams or explosions or any of the cacophony. She could just hear Naruto's laughter. His joyful laughter as he cried and his tears soaked the fabric of her vest.

"I'm— I'm home, Naruto. I'm home."

A/N:

The semester is finally over!

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's one of my favorites. Thank you for your kind words in reviews! Thank you for taking the time to review. Thank you for favorites and follows! Please let me know your thoughts on this most recent chapter! Thank you for reading!