Silver Feathers

By: Black Dragon Diva

Rating: PG-13

Anime: Naruto

Spoilers: Up to Episode 144

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto Characters

Summary: Sasuke comes home after four years away from Kohona. He struggles to return to his former position on Kohona, but its clearly not as easy as it seems. To make things worse,he doesn't return alone and everyone's pointing fingers. There's something wrong with the young man he finds outside the borders of the hidden Sound village, and its not just because he can't remember who he is. Is he an Orochimaru spy, Sasuke as well, or is everything just a massive misunderstanding?

Chapter Three: The Morning After

Dawn was there, on the other side of his eyelids. He could sense it. Of course he could, it was a ninja's job to be fully aware of one's environment at all times, so it was obvious he would know the time of day without the help of a clock or even looking at the horizon. But it was also true that he knew, even before his eyes were open, that something was… different. Not to say that was a bad thing. Actually, this was quite a good type of different.

However, it was dawn. Worse than that, he was awake. It could be passed off as force of habit. He had always been an early riser since childhood, and it only grew worse as he grew older and dark, haunting thoughts plagued both his sleep and his conscious. Getting up before dawn to visit the graves of fallen comrades could prove to be reason enough for this early rising. His students would never say he was an early riser, although they had their suspicions, no doubt, but complaining about his ability to become lost on the 'path of life' was much more amusing for them.

But, once more, it was dawn, and he was still awake. He had been on night watch for his squad until the wee morning hours, and had just gone to bed no more than four hours before. Then again, shinobi were trained to run on less than twelve hours of sleep a week, should the need arise.

He opened both eyes, his right blinking against the wan light as the other stayed in the depths of darkness. Soft, dark cloth rested over said eye, rubbing gently over the rough scar that slashed over his Sharingan as he blinked.

Kakashi yawned in a lazy, carefree way. Dawn was, indeed, breaking over the far eastern horizon, pinks and purples blushing over leafy clouds.

"Something wrong Kakashi?"

The silver-haired jounin sat up, rubbing his uncovered, blue-gray eye as a child might. Genma, being watch, was the only one currently awake at that time of morning, having replaced Kakashi a few hours before.

The mission they had been sent on had been completed days before, but there was always a chance of a revenge-stricken ninja following them, so they kept up defenses as to not lead them to their village where things could get messy.

They were camped a few miles outside of Sand, enough distance between them and their allies that would provide them with cover and help should they become outnumbered and overpowered, but far enough away to be respectful of the other village's boundaries.

Kakashi, more from habit than for any other reason, looked around the small clearing they were camped in. He slicked a hand through his sleep-tussled hair.

"No," he replied quietly. He turned to Genma, the curl of his smiling eye expressing the truth of the statement. Genma mirrored it faintly as the Sharingan user turned back to the eastern sky.

"Today will be a nice day," he said thoughtfully. Genma nodded in agreement, glancing at the sky himself.

"We'll be home by dark, I think," Genma said. He began to restoke the smokeless fire to cook a small breakfast, as the rest of the camp would be awake soon.

"Hmm," Kakashi replied throatily. He stood, grabbing the lightweight, weatherproof sleeping back that was often standard for missions over two days long that did not allow them to use hotels, and shook it out soundlessly. It reminded him of why he had started to request these missions, instead of taking what was handed to him.

Since Sasuke's departure nearly four years before, Kakshi had begun to request (more like demand) A- and S-class missions. His hope was, of course, to find Sasuke. As it turned out, it was his team that had been the first to find the subtle clues concerning Orochimaru's whereabouts, and Sasuke's as well. It was the information he had helped gather that had sent Kohona to war with Sound. The war that had begun with Orochimaru's cruel murder of Uchiha Itachi(1). Of course, after that, Kakashi had seen little. Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama had been there to take care of Orochimaru, with Naruto trying to fight through Kabuto to get to a horror-struck Sasuke, who stood frozen in his personal agony. With the Mange Sharingan manifesting within him and dealing with the death of his elder brother, he was useless to Orochimaru, much to the fiend's fury.

Kakashi shook the thoughts away. Gods, that was about a month ago, but it struck him like a fresh knife every time. He had been forced into the back seat to fight the minions, and had no chance to retrieve his fallen student.

Thus, he still had work to do. It was his job to care for his students until they graduated from being his students to being his comrades. Even then, abandoning them was unacceptable, if not more so. Saving Sasuke, the boy with whom he shared so much of the same fate, was his goal, and he was enslaved by the guilt. He had been unable to recover the young man when the opportunity had settled itself in his lap. His hands had been too busy with kunai and hand seals, making him unable to take advantage of the opportunity. It knawed at him without mercy.

However, thinking of it on this particular morning, it didn't encourage that knot in his stomach to twist painfully in anxiety and determination and fear.

Maybe it was just the promise of a beautiful day.

Naruto had been too excited, and too happy, to sleep when he had returned to the hospital from the remainder of his watch duty at midnight. Sasuke had been asleep, unfortunately. The blonde was hoping to squeeze and wheedle the details of the past three years of Sasuke's life from the Uchiha. Of course, he couldn't do that now. Hell, he probably wouldn't have been able to do it anyway with Baa-san there to hush them and demand they get some sleep. Then again, the other teen had probably gone to sleep for the main perk of not having to answer any questions right away. But Naruto wasn't rude. There was little doubt that even if Sasuke had been awake, he wouldn't have asked anything, as a show of his utter acceptance of Sasuke's return and respect for his privacy. But it didn't hurt to imagine annoying the Uchiha with questions!

But either way, Sasuke was asleep when Naruto got back, warding away Naruto and his own deep exhaustion. So, to keep himself busy as his friend slept, Naruto helped the Hokage with Sasuke's 'guest'. She hadn't minded the help, and Naruto was grateful to have something to do.

By morning Naruto's stomach was muttering about his hunger, of which he had ignored all night. Normally, he would have stopped for something to eat before going home, plus breakfast early that morning. But he was reluctant to leave the hospital, in case something happened. And he was still worried. He was worried this all might be a dream. That he would wake up if he left Sasuke's room and have that guilty twist in his gut for weeks on end. It had happened before, and the memory of those times made him twitch in agitation.

Tsunade had heard his stomach growl. She had finished wrapping clean white cloth around the injured boy's upper arm and was searching the dresser for another set of clothing for the boy when she looked up, observing the drawn, serious face and intense gaze that settled on Sasuke. She had told him about an hour before that she would finish up alone, and he had uneasily settled in the hard chair in the corner of the room, moving it to face both Sasuke and the curtains behind which she worked. She sighed. She knew what it was like to worry about a comrade.

It took a few minutes, but she finally convinced Naruto to go downstairs to the hospital kitchen to pick up some food for himself. He protested at first, but when she ordered him, he did as she said, sulking slightly, but leaving.

Of course, he rushed in trying to get some food from the kitchen so he could return to the room faster. But that was impossible. From past experience in the hospital, he knew the food was awful, and picking out the least horrible proved very difficult.

When Naruto returned to the room, he set the tray down on a small table by the window to use the bathroom. Upon passing, he noticed Baa-san(0) had finished dressing the boy on the bed through the half-open curtain. She was currently glancing at the bag by the bed as she pulled the covers over the lean body. She smoothed the wrinkles of the blanket and Naruto walked on. After flushing the toilet, Naruto happened to glance in the mirror as he washed his hands. It was no wonder why the women in the kitchen were giving him funny looks. His face was dirty and his clothes rumpled slightly from being worn for so long. His hair was drooping boredly. He washed his face, pulling his wet hands through his unruly hair. It had grown out a bit and lay flat and smooth at the back of his neck and he smiled at the thought that he could practically be forced into a small pony-tail. The top was less spiky and silkier, but still just as exuberant and determined to remain upright. As Naruto thrashed his hands through it a few times, pulling it backwards, it stood upright as it normally did, bright and alert. Pleased, he gave himself a grin and left.

He sat down at the table that held the tray, glancing over the overloaded tray with the chalky hospital food.

"Water."

Sasuke's gentle croak gave Naruto enough of a start to make him jump. He managed not to knock the table and looked up to the bed. Sunlight was starting to inch into the room, spilling over the blue blankets and Sasuke's pale face. Black eyes were half-lidded as the teen shifted and struggled to sit upright. Naruto quickly rushed to help him, sitting him up against the metal headboard. The other boy grunted, shrugging away the help as he leaned against a smashed pillow and the hard metal frame, looking pointedly at the tall, cool glass of water Naruto had brought up that sat on the tray.

Taking the hint, the shinobi went over and grabbed the glass and brought it to Sasuke. The Uchiha took it with a shaky arm, but a firm grip, and drained it quickly.

"Thanks," Sasuke said quietly, handing back the empty glass.

"Want anything else? I brought up breakfast." Naruto grinned at him warmly.

Sasuke nodded. He turned to his left to look at the thick, dark blue curtains. He jerked his chin towards them in question.

"How's the ton of bricks?" he asked sarcastically. Naruto smirked as he lifted the tray from the table. Same old Sasuke.

"He'll be okay, Baa-san said. He wont be awake until at least tomorrow, if not later." He sat down on the chair he had dragged over and set it between Sasuke's gaze and the curtains. "She told me we just have to wait and see what happens." He smiled at his friend as Sasuke looked at him. "But we'll figure that out later. For now-" He put the tray on Sasuke's lap. "-just get you're strength up. If you don't, you wont be able to pry Sakura-chan(2) off you when she finds out you're home."

Sasuke grunted irritably but nodded, turning his attention to the meal before him. His eyes strayed to the apple at the corner of the tray and he eyed it with shame and disgust. He picked it up and tossed it to Naruto, who caught it easily. He shook away the thoughts of all the apples Sakura had peeled for him and he had never eaten.

Naruto stowed it away to eat after Sasuke had fallen back asleep.

Shizune was worried. Of course she was worried! She had every right to be! Tsunade-sama wasn't at her home, wasn't at her desk, wasn't at the bar! She was running out of places to look and the Hokage had sent no word to Shizune concerning her whereabouts.

So Shizune was looking at the last place she could think of, and cursing herself for not thinking of it at seven this morning, when she had really needed the older woman's attention… er.. signature. After all, Tsunade-sama(3) was a medical-nin. Of course the hospital would be an obvious place for her to be. Of course, Shizune had an explanation as to why she shouldn't need to be at the hospital. One, there had been no battles, and the next group of ninja's due to arrive that day was Kakashi's, and that wasn't until much later that day. Although something could have gone wrong and they were back early.

Shizune walked faster, her feet kicking up small breath's of dust as she went. Two, she knew that if such a thing had happened Tsunade-sama would have called for her assistance. After all, she was the Hokage's leading disciple and an excellent doctor herself. Either way, she would have sent word.

The nurse at the front desk of the hospital didn't seem surprised, or even curious as to Shizune's visit, and the woman knew that she had found the right spot. To think, she had spent the early morning hours trying to find the woman and she was at the first place she should have looked! Sometimes the flippancy of her own mind amazed her.

"Can you tell me where Tsunade-sama is?" she asked.

The nurse smiled and nodded to her, already shuffling around her desk. She pulled out a large laminated paper that was emblazed with the hospital's blue prints. All the rooms were marred with three lines and three characters. Name, condition, doctor. Many were blank, but a few were filled in with carefully printed information in erasable green marker.

"We had a new patient last night that she's probably still with. His condition is listed as serious, so she isn't allowing visitors," the nurse explained. She held her finger to the room on the paper and smiled. "But I can give you the room number so you can speak with her." Shizune smiled and thanked her. She let her eyes stray to patient name on the map near where the attendant's finger rested. The space was blank.

209... 210... 211... 212... There it was, 213.

Shizune knocked politely on the door, listening to the eerie silence on the other side.

"Who is it? I said no visitors!"

The black-haired woman on the other side of the door sighed in relief. Good, Tsunade-sama was here.

"Its me, Tsunade-sama," she replied. "May I come in?"

There was a pause inside of the room, then a gentle fire of hushed whispers. An exasperated sigh, Shizune was sure it was from the Hokage, answered more heated whispers. Finally, a set of footsteps approached the door.

Shizune was very surprised when Naruto opened the door. It was past nine in the morning and he was usually out on missions by seven or eight.

"Naruto-kun(4). What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" she asked in surprise. But Naruto looked perfectly healthy, if a little hungry. There was a half-eaten apple in his left hand and he seemed to be sulking concerning the fact that it wasn't ramen.

"Hello, Shizune-san," he replied, offering a small smile. "C'mon in, Baa-san's just finishing up. And yeah, everything's going great."

He looked far too happy to be on a normal hospital visit, especially since he was in the 'Critical and Emergency' wing. The 'Recovery and Non-Emergency' wing that was used for mundane things like physicals and prescriptions and annoying pink-haired adolescent females, was downstairs.

"Good, you're here just in time to clean up this mess." Tsunade pulled a curtain aside, stepping from the make-shift private room they made. The window to her right caught her eye. Or rather, the sunlight that poured into it.

"Morning already? Well then, Naruto, help me move these curtain's and we'll see if this guy has problems with a little sunlight."

"Tsunade-sama! How long have you been here? Why didn't you send someone to tell me!" To say Shizune was flustered was an understatement. She was very close to pissed off.

"We had a few… guests visit us last night," Tsunade said evasively. She helped Naruto remove the curtains and set them against the wall between the two beds.

"Guests? Who?"

"Well, I only know half of them, the other half is a bit… distant at the moment." The Hokage gave her former lover's niece a mischievous smile. Naruto steadied the curtains against the wall to ensure they did not fall as Shizune shook her head. She turned to look at the person on the bed that the curtains had been obscuring. She gaped.

The boy on the bed was covered in bandages. Or, at least the parts of him she could see, taking into consideration the ugly grayish hospital pajamas and the warm blanket that rested over his sleeping form. His head was swathed in bandages, band-aids and gauze held in place with tape covering his cheeks. His throat was bandaged, as well as the juncture from his neck to his shoulder, which was visible courtesy of the skewed collar of the hospital gown. His hands, resting by his side above the blanket, were also wrapped.

Soiled linen and bloody clothing lay behind Shizune as she quickly turned to face the unconscious boy. Sunlight nestled on a finely chiseled face and dark, blackish hair. The skin was pale from blood loss, but looked firm and warm in the light. Even still, it was nicked and sickly.

"What happened to him?" Shizune squeaked. She stared at him a moment as Tsunade sighed, moving to stand next to her.

"We don't know yet. Its possible he was caught in the crossfire of the battle with Orochimaru, or got in the way of some fleeing Sound shinobi who took him for the enemy, or maybe just the result of a very fucked up, and probably failed, shinobi mission. We wont know until he wakes up." The Hokage was using a damp, white rag to clean her hands of some stubborn bits of blood. It still gave her a chill sometimes.

"What about his companions?" Shizune asked. She moved around the bed, putting her back to the window as she leaned over the injured man. She felt his forehead for fever and checked his pulse for irregular beat.

"He was escorted here by a ninja returning home. The shinobi didn't see what happened," Tsunade replied, straightening the metal cart that had held her supplies that she had used the night before. Its abuse could easily be measured by its obtuse disorganization and mess of soiled utensils. Hadn't she told Shizune to do this? Oh well.

Shizune turned to her teacher, raising an eyebrow. She straightened from her lean over the teen as she watched Tsunade.

"Who brought him here?" Her voice was not accusing, but merely curious. The Hokage made a vague gesture toward the window behind her deshi.

The woman turned around curiously, Naruto's name on her lips in question. Wasn't he supposed to have been on watch last night? The name died in her throat at the sight of yet another black-haired young man in the room, on the other bed.

"Sasuke-kun," she breathed. She scrambled to turn around, hurrying to the other boy's side, checking temperature and pulse and looking over the few scraps and scratches on his sleeping face. She glanced up at Naruto, who stood with a proud, 'I-told-you-he'd-come-back' lift to his chin and smile on his lips. He thrust his hands into the pockets of his black pants and grinned. Shizune just smiled in a 'I-don't-believe-it-but-you-did-it!' way.

Sakura took a break at noon for lunch. She had worked from eight that morning until her break without pause. The worst part was that she hadn't even seen Tsunade-sama and couldn't ask about the justu she had found troublesome the night before. Apparently, an unknown man had shown up outside of the village in a very serious state and she had been with him since late the night before, tending his wounds. By mid-morning the Hokage had returned to her home, probably to catch up on lost sleep, but Sakura wasn't rude enough to bother her at home.

The young woman sighed as she walked down the main street of Kohona village to return to her home for lunch. She passed Ichiraku, Naruto's favorite ramen house. She was surprised at the disappointment she suddenly felt at not seeing Naruto sitting on one of the stools, slurping ramen. She walked on, her pace falling slack.

What did she do to make this? To make her life this way? She had no friends, no boyfriend, no annoying stalker. The boy she had once crushed on so fiercely and struggled to valiantly to befriend was gone, and no one even knew where he had gone after the death of Itachi and the defeat of Orochimaru. Her stalker, the one who crushed on her as badly as she had crushed on Sasuke, who had become a great friend, if a little annoying, barely even stuck around the village long enough to exchange greetings with her, much less any semblance of conversation. He was either on missions or training all the time. She couldn't even ask him about any possible leads on Sasuke's whereabouts. And perhaps that's why he avoided her. Perhaps hurt that she still liked Sasuke more than him, childish though it was, or ashamed that he had yet to fulfill his promise of bringing him back to her.

Kakashi-sensei(5) was different. He visited her time to time, but briefly, with long stretches of loneliness in between. After all, he did have missions to complete and everything. Plus, she knew he had been trying so hard to find Sasuke. He had been the one to find Sasuke and Orochimaru's hiding place three months before. One month afterward, war had broken loose between Kohona, allies by its side, and Sound, consisting mostly of passing missing-nin who needed a place to stay. Being a new village, and probably because Orochimaru didn't care as long as they might possibly protect the village for their own sake, missing-nin had taken to Sound as a type of base, where they could do what they pleased.

Sakura had been to the village specifically as a medic-nin and had seen the carnage wrought by the outlaws and Orochimaru's own shinobi. Many had died.

Sakura stopped in the street, balling a fist to keep its trembling at bay.

Was Sasuke in one of the simple graves dug for the dead of the enemy? The graves with no names; forgotten casualties of war. Or had he been caught in one of the vicious fires that devoured Sound, left with no body to place in a grave, unmarked or not. Or had he been so mutilated that no one had recognized him and left him to rot in a secluded knack in the forest?

Sakura forced her feet forward and started to walk, albeit, shakily, but walking, toward her home. The past month had brought these thoughts into manifestation, and as time passed they only grew more vivid. She didn't know what she had done to cause all of this, but she still had hope, although its light was flickering sickly, it was there.

...
A/N: For the most part, I'm going by the manga up to the first six books (cuz that's all that's out). In the second book Kakashi shows his students a map of… well, all the hidden villages and the land they protect. If you notice, Sand is next to Kohona, with a few small countries with no Hidden Ninja villages between them. So if you say Kohona Village is in the middle of their territory, and Kakashi's group is in one of those countries with no hidden village, I would say it would take half a day or so to get there after covering their tracks and everything.

(0)Baa-san: equivalent to 'old hag' or 'granny'. when Naruto found out Tsunade was really an old lady using Chakra to appear young, he refused to call her anything but Baa-san.

(1) remember, in Japan, the family name comes before the given name.

(2)-chan: an honorific normally given to girls, pets, etc., as a sign of cuteness. Naruto's always called Sakura -chan because he liked her so much, it was a compliment. Calling a Japanese stranger -chan can be considered insulting, as I've known it. Granted, I'm not Japanese, so I'm no expert. u

(3)-sama: the equivalent to 'lord' or 'lady'. someone of importance.

(4)-kun: Tsunade calls Neji with this too in my little Naruto-world. I put it there as a sign that she's trying to be nice. It's mostly used on males, mostly younger boys, as a sign of familiarity. I'm pretty sure Shizune regularly calls Naruto with the -kun.

(5)-sensei: meaning teacher, professor, etc. meant to be used on anyone you want to brown-nose, mostly teachers and doctors and the like :P

----In the first chapter Sasuke calls Naruto 'dobe' which is a 'nickname' he gave him when they graduated. It means 'dead last' (anime translation) or 'dunce' (manga translation). Naruto, in response, calls him Sasuke-teme, or Sasuke-bastard. :P cute boys.

Thank you wonderful reviewers!