(Author's Note: If you're reading, please remember to review! Warnings and disclaimers apply to all chapters. Special thanks to Ruby Love, who originally beta'ed this chapter.)

And the Beat Goes On
Chapter 38: Extracurricular

If there was one thing Sasuke was good at (and he was good at everything), it was athletics. He really didn't like them though. He'd rather curl up with a good book but people kept dragging him out to these sporting events. He was thankful they never asked him to try out for football or rugby. He would have died.

Still, Naruto had dragged him to the wrestling club (which had ended with some rather compromising positions and several flustered boys). Sakura had dragged him to the gymnastics club (the fuck?) and Ino wanted him to join the yoga club (like hell!). One of his teachers had made him try out for the basketball team, but he'd been too short to be much good at that (thankfully).

Naruto was currently waving a flyer in his face. "We should play," he was saying.

Sasuke frowned, and scoffed. "Badminton? Are you any good? And what happened to not piggybacking on my stardom?"

Naruto waggled a finger in his face. "Hey! Hey! I said I wasn't going to piggyback on your social status! I never said anything about not piggybacking on you athletic ability."

"So, you're saying you're not any good."

Naruto huffed. "I can play badminton! And we're gonna play doubles, like it or not, bastard!"

Naruto shoved another flyer in Sasuke's face. "And you're joining the soccer team, jerk."

"No," Sasuke replied.

He was not joining the soccer team. That was Naruto's terrain. The blond would just get mad at him if he joined and outdid him. Sasuke wasn't sure if he could cope with a cuddling withdrawal (not that he would ever admit to being addicted to cuddling with Naruto).

"C'mon," Naruto whined, putting his puppy-dog-eyes on display.

Sasuke turned away in a huff. "No."

"Please, Sasuke. I'm begging you! We need you! We've lost most-"
"All," Sasuke corrected.

Naruto grumped. "All of our games for the past two years! We need your help. . ."

Sasuke didn't bat an eyelash. "No."

"I need you. . ,"Naruto whined.

Sasuke grumbled. Naruto grinned. "Great! Practice starts today after school! See ya there!"

Sasuke glared at the blond's retreating back, and then at the flyer Naruto had left in his care. He sighed. Itachi had been the star player of the school team, until he'd moved up in the grades and joined the senior team instead. The junior team didn't have a hope.

Nevertheless, he trudged out to the soccer field at 3:30 pm, frowning and hating Naruto. The blond had conveniently mentioned to Ino (who had mentioned to Sakura, who had mentioned to so-and-so. . .) that Sasuke was joining the soccer team. Ino and the rest of his fan club had come out to cheer him on.

Naruto was already on the field, with his uniform and his lucky number nine on his back. "Sasuke!" he screeched and glared.

Sasuke shrugged. He wasn't going to change. Who knew if the bloody uniforms were ever washed?

The soccer coach was Genma-sensei, one of the other gym teachers. He seemed calm and composed now, but Sasuke wondered what he'd been like a few weeks back. Even this couldn't be easy. Kakashi was supposed to coach the soccer team. A couple of other teachers were talking with Genma-sensei. Hayate-sensei kept coughing.

Sasuke went to stand beside Naruto. He closed his eyes. "I don't know how you talked me into this -"

"With my charm and sex appeal," Naruto sniggered.

Sasuke grit his teeth and resisted the urge to deck the blond. "I think this is a good opportunity to try and nail you in the balls with the soccer ball," he said, as Genma-sensei blew the whistle and signalled the start of the warm up.

Naruto stared at him, then growled.

They spent most of the practice trying to outdo each other. Sasuke was a natural and could easily outdo most of the team. Naruto was surprisingly agile and fleet, from practice no doubt. Sasuke nearly obtained his goal, however, but missed by about three inches, much to Naruto's relief.
The day had been hot and everyone was sticky and sweaty by the end of practice. Naruto smacked Sasuke in the face with a towel. "Bastard," he growled, then stalked back toward the school.

Sasuke followed, mopping his face with the towel. That was probably Naruto's way of saying, "Good practice."

Sasuke had always hated the school showers. They seemed gross and grungy, but he couldn't imagine the walk home reeking like he did. The only time he could stand sweating was - Well, it was best not to go there, he thought, pulling his shirt over his head.

He had no qualms about stripping himself nude in front of fifteen other guys. He had nothing to be ashamed of. He was, however, a little apprehensive about stripping in front of Naruto. What would the blond do? Hopefully, nothing crude, but one could never predict Naruto. He glanced around now, and found that Naruto wasn't in the room.

He frowned and tugged his shirt back over his head. He went into the gym and found Naruto, helping the coach put away the equipment. Genma-sensei was actually just giving Naruto a speed-talk about where everything went and how to lock up when he was done, because he had a meeting to attend. With that, he left, with all the speed he could muster.

Naruto was struggling with the equipment. "Oy!" he called to Sasuke upon spotting him. "Give me a hand with this, bastard!"

Sasuke watched the blond for a moment or two, then crossed the floor and helped him. "Idiot," he muttered.

They finished up, but Naruto decided to drop something. So, they put that away. Naruto dropped something else. Sasuke began to get annoyed with him. He half-thought that the blond moron was doing it on purpose. Before he could drop anything else, he slammed the door to the storage shut, and locked it.

They walked into the change room, which was now eerily empty. Sasuke glared at the other teen. "You planned this, didn't you?" he growled.

Naruto grinned cheekily. "On the side, Sasuke, on the side, and this is definitely on the side."

The blond's voice was muffled, as he was tugging his shirt over his head. "You know," he said, "this might sound a little stupid, or cliche, or whatever, but this is one of my screwball fantasies."

"You are a screwball," Sasuke retorted tartly, deciding it was probably better to cooperate with Naruto than to try and retaliate. He wanted his clothes to stay somewhat dry.
He was only halfway through getting his pants off when Naruto attacked him. "You're so utterly fuckable," Naruto growled into his neck.

"That's not a word," Sasuke pointed out helpfully, fumbling with his pants.

"Thank you, English Teacher Sasuke."

"Call me sensei," Sasuke retorted with a smug smirk.

"Like hell I'll call you that," Naruto snarled and tugged Sasuke toward the shower stalls. Sasuke kicked his pants away from his ankles.

They were in the shower less than a minute when the door to the change room squealed open. They froze. They waited for someone to speak. Surely, whoever it was could hear the water running.

Very slowly, that damn devious moron Naruto gave Sasuke a good, hard squeeze and pulled his hand back slowly. Sasuke bit down on his lip fiercely.

"Naruto?" Genma-sensei called. "You still here?"

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who looked back at him dully with fright. If they were caught. . .

"Yeah," Naruto called, hoping his voice didn't give anything away, "I'm still here, Genma-sensei!"

The teacher's shoes clicked toward them. Naruto's touch was gone altogether. "Hurry up, okay?" Genma-sensei called, the frown evident in his voice.

"Sure thing," Naruto replied, and he let his hand slide onto the cold water knob on the faucet.

Icy cold water extinguished them both rapidly. He hastily turned off the water and crept out of the shower. Seeing that Genma-sensei was in his office, with the door closed, he motioned to Sasuke. They were dressed and gone in a flash. Once they were outside, Sasuke decked Naruto as hard as he could. "You stupid horny bastard," he growled, and stalked off angrily.

- - - - - - - - -

Genma wasn't the coach for badminton. Hayate-sensei was. He was a sickly man.

Naruto was a crappy player. It was very clear to Sasuke that he'd never played in his life. It was even more painfully clear when they were matched against the district champions from the prior year - Orochimaru and Itachi. Itachi and Orochimaru, unfortunately, worked well as a team, and were both highly experienced. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto had a chance.
They lost sorely: thirty-eight-love. Sasuke shrugged it off, but Naruto fumed and fumed and he wasn't even up for a quickie in the shower. They left with Orochimaru and Itachi, but parted ways with them, and he followed Naruto home instead. Naruto apparently had news for him.

He kept up with Naruto easily, no matter how much the blond stomped and stormed. "What's the news?" he asked at last.

Naruto growled. "Sakura's blackmailing us," he snarled.

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. "How?" he asked.

Naruto swore loudly. "That fucking sonuvabitch Genma had a camera in the change room, and somehow, Sakura got her hands on the tape."

"What. . ," Sasuke said, feeling his heart pick up speed in his chest. He felt sick. "What's she want us to do?"

"Remember Tsunade's play?" Naruto sneered.

"Romeo and Juliet?"

Naruto nodded. "The leads quit. She wants us to take over."

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. "What?" he choked. "Gods, no!"

Naruto grit his teeth. "We have to. Or she'll make copies."

Sasuke kicked a stone at his feet. "So much for on the side," he grumbled.

Naruto said nothing in reply to that. "It's either that or have her make copies - and she wants to watch."

Sasuke stopped. "Eh? Watch?"

Naruto nodded, looking as if he'd just smelled something foul. "Watch what?" Sasuke asked, cautiously, holding a funny sinking feeling in his stomach, as if he really didn't want to know what Sakura wanted to watch.

"Us," was his reply. He closed his eyes.

"Us? How? What do you mean?" He felt very, very sick. The sky was falling, from below him, coming up and swallowing him whole, forcing him upward, into the stratosphere. He was going to fall.

"Are you that stupid!" Naruto hollered. "Do I have to spell it out for you! She wants to watch us have sex!"

Sasuke made a face and stumbled away from Naruto. The sky was still falling up. "Gods, what's wrong with her!"

"I don't know," Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms. "She sure is strange."

They started to walk again. "She can't watch," Sasuke said at length.

Naruto glanced at him. "It's wrong," he replied, answering the question the blond asked him without words.

Naruto frowned. "I would have thought you'd be more of an exhibitionist, you egotistical bastard."

Sasuke glared at him. "I have my morals," he said, in a low, shaking voice. Why on earth would anybody ever want to. . .watch?

He shuddered.

- - - - - -

That was how Sasuke and Naruto ended up at the drama club's meeting on Friday afternoon. Neither of them wanted to be there, but Sakura had been waving an ominous black tape around. Cowed, they had showed up to the drama club.

Tsunade had been less than thrilled to see her least favourite student, but she was absolutely thrilled that Sasuke had decided to show up. "Now," she had cackled, "I can put 'starring Uchiha Sasuke' on the posters, and the show will be sold out before we know it!"

Sasuke got the distinct feeling that this had been planned. Who would have guessed that Sakura and Tsunade were in cahoots?

The first thing they did was have a fight. Naruto didn't want to be Juliet. Sasuke didn't want to be Juliet. Most of the girls were on Sasuke's side. Scratch that, everyone was on Sasuke's side. Naruto was always on a side all by himself.

As always, the fighting became a childish argument between the two of them. "You've got rounder hips!" Naruto accused, jabbing a finger at Sasuke.

"I do not," Sasuke snorted, glowering. "Besides, you have bigger, girly eyes."

Naruto was horrified by that statement. "Y-You take that back, you asshole!"

"It's the truth," Sasuke replied, giving the blond a very cold glance.
Naruto screwed up his face in determination and anger. "You look like a bloody girl, you twat!"

"I do not!" Sasuke shouted back, finally losing his cool.

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"I do not look like a woman, Naruto!"

"You do so! You even scream like a girl!"

"Naruto -"

Now, Naruto was one of those people was incredibly prone to dragging his emotions into everything. Consequently, he decided to drag his emotions through the mud-puddle that was the public, and air his sex-dirtied laundry over the mud-puddle without a clothes line. Nobody ever said the blond was too brilliant, and without thinking, he launched himself into a fairly poor rendition of Sasuke.

"You're the one always screaming, 'Oh, oh! More, more! Harder, Naruto, gods! Harder!'"

Sasuke went an unsightly shade of scarlet, which scrawled across his face from ear to ear. "Naruto," he growled.

"Uh," Naruto said, glancing about at the staring eyes.

Sakura giggled somewhere in the back. Naruto supposed she really didn't need that tape now. He felt a blush rising to his cheeks. "Uh. . .what I meant to say was. . .uh. . ."

"We understand what you were trying to say, Naruto," Tsunade cut in, her voice tart and angry. "And now, I'm going to settle this dispute. Sasuke, you'll be Juliet."

"What!" cried the girls that were surrounding them.

Sasuke just stared blankly at the teacher. She smiled, and winked. "Naruto's right. You do have rounder hips."

She turned about, and flounced off, barking orders to the stage directors. Sasuke grit his teeth and clenched his fists. He did not have 'round' hips, goddamnit! Naruto was snickering at him, and as he was, Sasuke turned about and decked him. Hard.
Naruto spent the next half-hour lying comatose on the floor, while Sasuke refrained - barely - from hitting Tsunade, who had proclaimed herself costume director as well. He could only be glad it was Friday, and he'd have two whole days of reprieve before this madness started all over again on Monday.

- - - - - - -

Itachi watched Orochimaru, completely bemused, annoyed and amused all at once by the older teen's frantic, last-minute 'packing'. How Orochimaru had logically reasoned he was going to need all of the stuff he was stuffing into a variety of backpacks and suitcases, Itachi did not know. He guessed that Orochimaru hadn't reasoned at all.

Another question that was plaguing him happened to be, 'how the hell do you plan to get all this stuff on the back of a motorcycle, without burying me alive?' He raised an eyebrow, when Orochimaru decided he needed another pair of socks, and frantically started looking for a place to put them in an already overstuffed backpack.

"Would you give up?" Itachi asked, just plain annoyed now.

"Give what up?"

"Packing all that. . .crap. Travel light, you moron."

"You sound like your brother," Orochimaru retorted, grinning gleefully and stuffing the socks into the bag, tearing a rather large hole in it. He frowned.

"I don't care who I sound like. I just want you to use your brain for once."

Orochimaru whipped about, frowning. "And just what it that supposed to mean, Uchiha?"

Itachi pointed at the mound of stuff Orochimaru was planning on taking with them. "How do you expect to get all of that on the motorcycle? You're not being rational."

Orochimaru stuck his nose up into the air. "Pfft! And you're too rational! This is supposed to be a fun trip -"

"You're being rather neurotic. How is that fun?"

"You have a stick up your ass. You figure out how that's fun, and I'll let you know why neurosis is the most amusing state possible."

Itachi shook his head, and rolled over on the bed. "You. . .drive me insane."

"With desire?" Orochimaru asked, his voice muffled by the backpack his head was currently being swallowed by.
"No," Itachi spat, sitting up. "Insane with rage. As in, I'm going to beat your bloody head against the nearest wall if you don't start thinking!"

"I am thinking, thank you."

"Get your head out of that backpack," Itachi grumbled with a sigh.

"Why?"

"Do you need a reason?"

Orochimaru thought about that for a moment. "Yes," he replied.

Itachi growled, and pulled on Orochimaru's hair angrily. "Don't be an ass."

The older teen stuck his tongue out, and the Uchiha heir couldn't help but sigh heavily and shake his head. "You are so immature."

"You're so mature it makes me sick."

"Let's just go" the younger teen said at last, crossing his arms and turning away from his boyfriend.

"Sure thing, suga-pie."

"Don't start with the names."

Orochimaru gave his boyfriend a whimsical look. "And why, pray tell, not? I've got so many good ones."

Itachi glared at him, picking up his pack from the floor and leaving. "Hurry up. And don't forget your wallet."

"Yes, mother-dearest," Orochimaru sighed, zipping shut the pack he was holding.

"Don't call me that, either!" Itachi yelled at him from the hall. "I'm no crack-whore!"

Orochimaru winced, and glared at the door at that. He hated it when people referred to his mother that way. It wasn't that he felt any compassion for the woman, nor that he felt she had any sort of honour to uphold, but her blood, watered down though it might be, was in his veins. In essence, he felt that calling his mother a crack-whore was calling him a crack-whore. Which he wasn't.

He trudged downstairs, lugging only one pack. He went outside, keys in hand, his wallet in his pocket. He hoped he'd have enough money to buy gas. Itachi was sitting on the bike - an ancient thing, though he'd polished it to hell and back. Itachi looked utterly unimpressed.

"That's all you're taking?" he asked, his voice subdued back to the dead monotone he wore too often.

"Yes."

He tossed their luggage on the back of the motorcycle and tied it down, as quickly as he could. His boyfriend watched impassively. "You could help, you know."

Itachi said nothing. Orochimaru climbed on the bike. He was used to the younger boy's silences by now. They shouldn't have bothered him so much. Somehow, Itachi being silent made him nervous today, as if something bad was brewing in the smaller teen's mind. Anything that lurked in the shadows of Itachi's head had to be dangerous.

He ignored the feeling of foreboding that swirled around in his stomach, twisting it into complicated, untying knots, and he roiled with them. He ignited the engine, and the motorcycle roared to life. Itachi jumped.

He glanced back at his boyfriend, pulling his goggles up from where they'd been hanging about his neck. He settled them over his eyes, knowing that in an hour or two, he'd have red marks about them. He didn't really care. He revved the engine, then looked back at Itachi, who had latched onto the sides of the seat. His fingernails dug into the leather. "Hang on tight," he taunted, and with a devilish grin, kicked the bike into gear.

Itachi did as he was told, and clung to the fabric, slowly squeezing all the life force out of it with his fingers as they tore out of the driveway. Whoever had given Orochimaru his license was a maniac.

They tore down the road, swerving between the parked cars that lined the street, and dodging potholes and such. Once or twice, they hit bumps, and Itachi clung to the seat harder, closing his eyes and praying to whatever higher spirit existed that he would not lose his grip and fall off.

They turned a corner, dangerously fast, and it was all Itachi could do to force his rigid self to lean into that turn, and he had to admire Orochimaru for a moment. He was so fluid, and, as cliched as it might have been, so at peace and at oneness with that motorcycle that it scared him.

They hit a rough patch in the road, and then, the brakes were slammed on. Itachi went tumbling forward, smashing his nose against Orochimaru's back, nearly gouging out his eye on the other teen's shoulder blade. His fingers fumbled, coming loose from their hold, but scrambling, desperate to keep hold. The second he couldn't feel that leather, flimsy between his fingers any longer, he let go altogether and flung his grip forward, wrapping his arms tightly about the nearest, solid thing he could find.
His head was pressed firmly against his boyfriend's back, and he closed his eyes. "Goddamn squirrels," Orochimaru muttered, and Itachi felt his voice resonating inside him, like the growl of a great beast resonates and echoes in a large, empty cave.

He shifted, and tried to find a better position. As it was, his arms were crushed right against the older boy's ribs, and that wasn't comfortable at all. He slid his arms down, and he pulled himself closer to the other.

Orochimaru really didn't like Itachi's squirming, but he bore in mind that the younger teen didn't move unless he absolutely had to. Though Itachi was upsetting the balance of the bike, Orochimaru let him, knowing that if he didn't, he risked upsetting the delicate balance that was Itachi. The Uchiha heir lived more on the edge of insanity than even himself, and he did everything in his power to keep him grounded in reality, holding onto the physical world that he woke to every morning.

The bike continued down the road, and he glanced back at Itachi now, noting that the other boy had rested his head in the crook of his shoulder. Itachi was looking up at him, as if to say, "Don't read into this too much," and he smiled. He wanted to say something, but it would be lost on the wind now, so he'd wait.

The sky was clear, and the weather was warm when they stopped. They hadn't hit heavy traffic yet, but the road to Kiri was less travelled than the one to Suna. At this time of year, Suna was buzzing with tourists, all who sought the beach. Kiri was a retreat for those who like the rain and the cloud, and liked to stay inside. Orochimaru wasn't exactly one of those people, but he didn't mind being locked up, alone, with Itachi.

Orochimaru stopped at a gas bar, and he filled the tank on the bike. Itachi walked about a bit, stretching his back, discreetly of course. The weasel was never very obvious. Such a sneaky derisive creature it was.

They were back on the bike in a matter of moments, back on the open road. The trees along the roadside were in full leaf, the wind making them wave their leafy branches, as if in greeting. The fields that rolled by were seas of green now, and the sky was very blue overhead. The sun made all the colours vivid and bright.

The journey wore on and on, and as they went, the sky turned grey, and the first threats of a storm came to be apparent. Itachi held on tighter, even as the roader became rougher, and less maintained.

It became apparent that they were lost, only when it started to rain. Orochimaru pulled over to the side of the road, and he looked at the map, trying not to get it wet. The water kept soaking through, no matter what he did.

Itachi got off the bike, and he crouched by the side of the road, watching the rain form eddies and rivers in the sand and gravel. Leaves, twigs and small rocks were borne away on the swift flowing water. Water, always moving, falling, and then, rushing away from its landing place, looking for the lowest valley, in which to gather its scattered self, and rise again.

A dead beetle floated by on its back, and Itachi grabbed a twig and poked at the corpse, watching with grim fascination when it did nothing. It just went on, on top of the rushing waters, in its death, never to lie down and rest. Away, and away and away it went, forever.

He stood up and threw the stick away. He walked back to the bike. "Any idea where we're going now, genius?" he asked.

Orochimaru tossed his hair out of his eyes. "No," he growled irritably.

Itachi sat down on the wet seat, the water soaking into his pants immediately. He sighed. He held out his hand. "Here. Let me see."

The older teen huffed and handed over the map. The water had marred the ink now, and it was almost illegible, but somehow, Itachi figured out where they were and where they needed to go. He folded up the map and straddled the bike again. He said nothing to Orochimaru, but he gave the driver a nod, and the bike roared to life again.

The rain sloshed up from the road, hopping over them, and springing into their eyes. Itachi tried to hide in the shelter of Orochimaru's shoulder, but the older teen's wet hair kept slapping him in the face. There was no reprieve. Orochimaru had to keep wiping his goggles off, and even that wasn't helping as they started to fog up.

"We might have to pull over and wait out the storm," he hollered back to Itachi.

Itachi said nothing. They rode for sometime longer, until Orochimaru could barely see the road anymore. He shook his head and pulled off the road. Itachi didn't complain. If there was one nice thing about Itachi's silences, it was that they were neither hostile, nor accepting.

- - - - - - -

Sakura frowned when she saw Ino after the play practice. Ino tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked away. They were standing in the parking lot together. Sakura didn't know who Ino was waiting for. She herself was waiting for her mother to pick her up. She had a doctor's appointment now.

They were ignoring each other, for a little while at least. Sakura shifted nervously, several times. The hostile silence bore down on her. She glanced at Ino from time to time, and finally, she worked up her nerve, and said, "This is stupid."

Ino shot her a death glare, but she wouldn't dare be bowed by that. "Temari screwed us both over," she said, meeting Ino's gaze evenly. "She's lied to both of us. We should be working together to get back at her."
Ino sneered, her lip curling up. "Why would I work with a little rat like you?" she growled.

Sakura hunched her shoulders up and pushed back the urge to yell. Why were blondes always so bullheaded? "Temari's trying to keep us separated! I don't know why, but she is!"

Ino shook her head. "Oh, right. And why would she do that?"

"I told you, I don't know!"

"Then why do you figure she is?"

Their voices were growing shrill. They were getting closer, drawn to each other in their rage. A catfight was looming on the not-so-distant horizon. "She was the one who told!" Sakura screamed, her pink hair flying into her face, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"What's her motive!" Ino roared back, her hair controlled, but her facial features contorting with unrestrained rage.

"She wanted you!" the older girl hollered, and Ino slapped her.

"Don't lie to me," she hissed, her eyes narrowing, in a bid to keep tears from springing to her eyes.

She knew she shouldn't be screaming at her former best friend. Somehow, it felt so wrong to be defending Temari, after they'd both been hurt by her. Why did she feel the need to defend her torturer? There was no honour in it, and had she any morals left, she would have sided with Sakura and planned revenge with her.

They snarled at each other, ready to dive in for the kill, but at that particular moment, Sakura's mother drove up, and stopped the car. Sakura turned away from Ino as quick as she could, and got in the car, slamming the door. The lady looked at her daughter. "Did Ino want a ride home?" she asked, and Sakura shook her head violently.

"Oh. All right then," she replied, and took off.

Ino glared after them, but turned away, and headed for home, just as quick as she could.

- - - - - - -

It had happened so suddenly. After months of speculatively waiting, and knowing about the impending event, TenTen was finally having a baby. The fact was driven home by the pain she was currently in, a pain that had driven over her swiftly and engulfed her, drowned her in its sea of agony.
She had lost track of time very quickly. Every second felt like an eternity, and there wasn't a long enough space for breathing between her contractions. Pain screamed its way up and down her body, and she was rapt with it. It seemed odd to her that she was going to love so fiercely this that caused her so much agony. What an oft abused creature the mother was.

It seemed forever, and a second all at once, but the baby was not coming. For whatever reason, she was stuck there, in labour, for the rest of her life. She wanted to scream, but she already was and her vocal chords were in tatters.

The nurses and the doctor were talking, all about her - the doctor had just arrived to find her stuck in this position. They were going to do something about it. She just didn't know what. Neji was nowhere to be seen. It made her nervous. He had been there earlier, hadn't he? But now, he was gone.

Where was her reassurance in his hand, clutching hers? They had taken her lifeline and left her to drown now, just when she had found she needed that lifeline because she couldn't swim. The doctor was saying something to her, but she was confused by his words.

And then, they were moving, blurred and the places they went by were a whirlwind of letters and things that she could not comprehend. And slowly, they stopped, and they were out of the halls, and she was in a strange room. There was something over her face and she couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe at all! And then, slowly, descending sweetly, came the darkness, lulling her back to sleep, security and a trust in all things. Slowly, the darkness crept over her, drawing her, luring her with its mysterious shadows, back to the well that everything began in.

She was asleep, and all was well with the world.

- - - - - - -