Chapter five: The Return

            As Uchiha Varlene runs towards her Sound hideout, she runs into Kakashi. He instantly grabs her in a headlock. "Where is Sasuke!? Tell me now!"

            Varlene answered, "He's in my hideout. But you're not allowed in there because I don't like you. Don't worry, Kakashi. You'll get you're Sasuke back. Go home and rest."

            "I will not rest until I know my comrade is safe." He said, making the headlock tighter.

            "Fine. I'll bring him to you right now." Surprising Kakashi, she was out of the headlock in seconds, appearing in front of him. At first, her eyes were closed. Then she moved her hand towards her mask to remove it. "But first… I have something to show you…" She reveals her face, and her Sharingan eyes. She gives him a few seconds to think, then she runs towards her 'hideout'.

            Kakashi was astonished. "Uchiha? But earlier she said her name was something else…"

            "Sasuke-kun! You're finally awake!" Sasuke backed away, holding up a kunai. "No, no! It's okay now, it's me, Varlene, your sister. I know earlier I told you that I wasn't and that was an act. I had to make you think that I was you're enemy because you see…"

            "No…" Sasuke interrupted her. "I don't trust you!" He paused. "Why did you bring me to the Sound Country, where Orochimaru LIVES?"

            Varlene tried to smile. "I used Kage Bunshin and transformed my other bunshin into you, making it seem as if I was handing you over to Orochimaru. You see… I taught myself this other original jutsu that makes the Dechatinos in my body extremely contagious. With that jutsu, I can give Orochimaru the Dechatinos! There's no way he'll survive from that! And then what? The war would end! Right?"

            Sasuke was calmer. He put his kunai away and was less suspicious of his sister. "But that doesn't explain why you brought me here."

            "Sasuke… remember when we were at the concert, and then the sound ninjas attacked us. I had no other choice. I planned it all right there when we faced that sound ninja. I planned all of this… Sorry, but I really had no other choice. You're okay now, right?"

            He wasn't. He did not want to be here. "Let's go back…"

            "Oh, Kakashi is outside, waiting. He doesn't trust me because when I was acting as the enemy I had to fight him along the way. Mind helping me out?" Varlene asked.

            "Whatever…"

            'She sure is taking a long time…' Kakashi thought as he waited. As he watched Varlene approach with Sasuke behind her, he stared. They looked so much alike. "Kakashi-sensei, I'm back. Please meet my sister, Varlene-sama. I'll explain everything to you later on. Let's just get home…" Sasuke spoke.

            Kakashi looked at his watch. 1:37AM. He yawned and agreed to go home for now. But he was still confused, of course.

            "It happened…" Varlene said with a smile. "We should be going quickly now… Orochimaru has found me out. And he's not happy." They all nodded and began running.

            "You're da'm right he's not happy!"

            Varlene turned her head, knowing the voice well. "Setsuna… what are you up to?! I thought we were in all this together and now you betray us?!"

            "Mikota…"

            The girl appeared in front of the three, sadness shown in her eyes. "You're not just going to leave us, are you?!"

            "Mikota… I'm sorry, but… I must go now. Our friendship has ended. If you're going to fight me, then fight me, but you're going to die if you do so. Please don't." Varlene said to her.

            "…You traitor…" She paused at first, but then turned her back and walked away angrily. Varlene was surprised. She thought that Mikota would try to stop her from leaving. Varlene nodded back to Kakashi and Sasuke and they continued running.

            "Who was that?" Kakashi asked her curiously while running.

            "That was an old friend of mine, Nakicho Mikota. She's a Jounin sound ninja, and she helped me out a lot whenever I went to the sound, which was quite often. I haven't seen her around lately though, in fact I don't think I've seen her in a year or so since the concert in Konoha. Oh and she always liked singing with me while I played piano." Varlene answered.

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            "Orochimaru-kun! Are you okay?" Kabuto asked his master, seeing how he mysteriously started bleeding all over his face and arms and chest, and how he started screaming in pain and coughing up blood.

            "That girl… Linko Setsuna, you… must track her down… and force her to tell what she did to me..!" Orochimaru ordered, coughing through his sentence. Kabuto attempted to heal him, but all it did was clean up the blood. The wounds continued to bleed.

            "I'll go now, but I'm getting help first. She's with Hatake Kakashi." Kabuto then vanished, leaving his master in helpless pain. Within minutes, though, the pain slowly went away. Orochimaru knew, though, that it would return. He felt horrible and felt as if he seriously needed rest.

            Kabuto ordered a few medical ANBU's to go and help Orochimaru, and they did. Then he considered chasing Setsuna. But he had no clue where they were at the moment. He knew where they were going so he went ahead and started his way there. Konoha.

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            Naruto could not go to sleep. Sakura, Hinata and he had already informed Tsunade-hime about the whole situation. It was past two o'clock in the morning. He was just too excited about what would happen the next day. He tried convincing himself that he had to sleep for upcoming events, but it didn't work. He just kept on stirring.

            It was the same for Sakura, only worse. She would sleep for five minutes and wake up in a cold sweat. She decided once to get out of bed and read for a while and then try going back to sleep, but her mind was too set on Sasuke-kun. She even tried eating something and then going to bed, but that didn't work either.

            Hinata had no problems going to sleep. She was too tired to be awake. Although it did wake her up when Neji came home really late from his mission. He must have had a lot of energy on him because he was making a lot of noise in the kitchen, getting food. He tended to be hungry whenever he was hyper. But Hinata went back to sleep once all the noise quieted.

            As for Shino, he got only two hours of sleep when he got home, but then spent the rest of the night training in the woods. It was a long night indeed, and he felt as if he didn't want to waste it.

            When the hour got towards three, Kakashi, Varlene and Sasuke reached Konoha in peace.

            "You both should go on and sleep then for the night. I'll inform the Hokage about what has happened tonight. Sleep in the same building, and stay alert. You, if you're his sister, you're not going to let anything happen to him. I'm counting on you…" Kakashi said to Varlene. She nodded.

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            As time passed by, all were blessed with the worse sleep they had ever gotten. A pair of black eyes stared into the Uchiha household, as if haunting, though in wonder. The next day came by slowly…

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but eh what can I say… I'm in a writer's block. I'll continue it. Eventually.