Chapter 14

Sasuke woke to the smell of wood smoke. His eyes opened slowly, blinking. A canopy of green leaves dappled in sunlight filled his vision.

Memories flashed in his head and he sat up quickly. Eyes darted everywhere to locate the giant snake, expecting to find a woman's corpse.

He was in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. There was a camp fire nearby, a covered pot over it, and what looked like rabbit meat skewered on sticks slowly roasting.

No river, no snake, no dead woman.

"How…?"

"Oh good, you're awake."

Sasuke looked up to see Hari crossing the clearing, a small pile of berries in her hands. Her face was still covered by her ridiculously large hood, but the smile on her lips was visible. "I saw a raspberry bush not too far from here. Thought it would make for a nice dessert." She settled down opposite Sasuke, the campfire between them. "How are you feeling?"

Sasuke considered the question. "I'm fine," he answered after a moment, inwardly surprised. He felt…good. Amazing, even. Lighter than he'd felt in what seemed like forever. Confused, he looked at Hari with a frown. "How did I end up here?"

Hari shrugged, opening the covered pot and stirring the contents with a wooden spoon. "You were unconscious. I was hunting for rabbit when I saw you." She tilted her head. "Did you run into some sort of trouble?"

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I'm…not sure," he admitted. "Is there a river nearby?"

"There's one about half a day's walk in that direction," Hari said, pointing west. "But I found you just a couple of steps away from here."

That was impossible. Sasuke looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am."

"If you're lying—"

Hari snorted, cutting him off. "What would I get for lying to you?" She picked up one of the skewered rabbit legs by the fire and offered it to him. "Here. You're probably hungry."

Sasuke realized she was right; he was starving. It was a testament to his hunger that he sat up without any complaint and took the offered food. Hari unrolled a pack by the fire Sasuke had not noticed earlier and took out two wooden bowls and two more spoons, and ladled the stew into two portions before offering Sasuke one. He took it with a nod of thanks and took a small taste.

"Hn. This is good."

Hari beamed. "There's more in the pot if you want. Help yourself."

She gave him one of her water canteens to drink. Sasuke took it and mumbled a thanks before taking a sip.

"Huh. You don't suspect I poisoned it?"

"If you wanted me dead you've had several opportunities before," Sasuke reasoned out. "Plus I can kill you with a kunai to the throat before that even happens."

"You always have such cheery thoughts, don't you Broody?"

"…"

Hari stopped midbite of her rabbit. "What?"

"It's Sasuke."

"What?"

"My name," Sasuke said, looking away. "It's Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ah. Yeah, I thought so." Hari chuckled at the look on Sasuke's face. "I mean, your face and your sword are pretty much dead giveaways as to who you are, you know." She offered her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke shook her hand briefly. "Hn." He sat back down, and saw a scroll beside Kusanagi lying beside him. He picked it up and saw the Uzumaki seal on the wax.

"That came for you by toad. I haven't opened it."

"Good choice; this scroll is rigged to prevent anyone else aside from me reading it." Sasuke allowed a small trickle of chakra to touch the wax. It grew warm under his hand, then with a pop of white smoke it unrolled and landed on his lap. Naruto's sloppy handwriting made him frown, but at least it was readable and, more importantly, in code. Good. He was learning from Kakashi.

Hari quietly ate her rabbit and stew, watching Sasuke's eyes run through the message in the scroll. His face remained impassive. Finally he rolled the scroll back up and tucked it inside a hip pouch. "Good news?" she asked.

"Just stories from the village."

"Your home?"

"Konoha," Sasuke corrected.

Hari was silent for a moment. "That's good," she commented after a while.

"How about you? Aren't you from Lightning Country?"

"Oh no, I'm not really," Hari answered, throwing the now-empty stick into the fire. "I'm quite new. Been to all sorts of places."

"You're a drifter?"

Hari pulled down her hood lower to hide her smirk. "I guess you can call me a drifter?"

"Don't you have family?"

"My parents have been dead for a very long time. And no, I don't have siblings."

"Oh. Sorry."

Hari shrugged. "You don't have to be. It happened a long time ago, and besides, I got the bastard who killed them." She grinned, all teeth.

Sasuke sat back and chuckled. "That makes two of us."

Hari laughed. "Good for you then."

"Hn."

Hari downed the rest of her stew and stood up, stretching her arms.

Sasuke watched her. "Why do you keep your face hidden?"

Hari turned to him. "Aren't you all chatty today, Broody. You must have had a pretty good night's sleep."

"Actually I did," Sasuke answered honestly. "So why the hood?"

"Habit," Hari answered.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You're hiding something."

Hari sighed. "Everyone has secrets. Even me." She gestured with a hand, towards the forest. "I'm going out to hunt some more. You can rest here. You can also leave whenever—up to you. And eat the rest of the stew if you're still hungry." She gave him a short wave. "Be back in a few hours!"

"Wait! Have you seen the snake?"

"Snake? Oh, you mean the giant snake. Nope. Haven't seen it anywhere near here." Hari turned and walked towards the trees.

Sasuke watched her leave, perplexed by her personality and her carefree attitude. She can be just as bright as Naruto, but she was not loud. She loved to tease and be friendly, but she never asked him questions. He was actually a bit surprised to realize that he had been the one asking all the questions today.

He felt…strangely alright with that.

Kindness and compassion is something you have in spades, sweetheart. Share it.

A smile touched the corner of Sasuke's lips, remembering his mother's words.

There was a poof of white smoke. The smile disappeared. His hand automatically reached for a kunai.

"Hey—ack!"

Kousuke the messenger toad jumped out of the way of the incoming kunai, but tripped on his own webbed feet and ended up in a clumsy half-roll, half-dive into the grass. He turned large gold eyes at Sasuke. "What the hell's wrong with you?!"

"You're Naruto's toad."

"No duh." Kousuke straightened the googles hanging down his neck and glared at Sasuke. "That was not cool, man."

Sasuke frowned. "Didn't Naruto ever tell you not to take a shinobi by surprise?"

"I thought you would still be sleeping!" Kousuke flailed his arms around. "And I'm not an enemy you kill on sight!"

"Hn."

The toad tsked. "I'm here for your response. You did read the scroll I delivered yeah?"

Sasuke nodded.

Kousuke felt relief. "Oh good. I left it for you, since you were out like a light. I gotta thank that woman…uh…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You mean Hari?"

"O-oh! Is that her name?" Kousuke forced a laugh. "So…uh…how was it?"

"How was what?"

"You know!"

"Know what?" Sasuke watched, curious about the way the toad's face turned bright pink. Was this Kousuke a poisonous type of toad?

"C'mon, you don't need me to say it," Kousuke sounded exasperated and embarrassed at the same time. He whispered conspiratorially. "Gimme the juicy details."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sasuke could feel a nerve twitch in his temple. This toad was beginning to annoy him.

"Oh…ooooh, so that's how it is. Alright, alright, I won't pressure you." Kousuke chuckled. A sly smile lifted his lips. "But did you…sleep well?"

Sasuke had no idea why this stupid toad wanted to learn about something so ridiculous. He shrugged anyway, and because he was in a good mood, said, "It was the best sleep I've had in a while."

"Oh!" Kousuke's eyes went wide.

Sasuke frowned at the toad, who was now an even brighter shade of red all over. "You good?"

"I-I'm fine." Kousuke cleared his throat. "So…about that reply?"

Sasuke sent the toad one last narrow-eyed glare before writing a quick reply to Naruto (Dobe, you don't need to tell me everything that goes on in the village. And I'm not yet coming back! Take care. – S) and giving the toad the sealed scroll.

"Give that to Naruto. No one else," Sasuke instructed the toad.

"So…where are you going now?"

"Hn. Hunting a snake."

For some reason, Kousuke felt a cold shiver run down his spine at the mention of a snake. "Er…alright. See you when I see you, Uchiha." There was a pop of white smoke, and Kousuke was gone.

Sasuke stared at the spot where the toad messenger disappeared, then shook his head. "Why does Naruto have such weird summons?"#