Fire: Chapter Four already! Wow that was fast.

Sasuke: (unimpressed) That's what everyone says…

Fire: Gomen nasai to anyone who was looking forward to my usual chapter upload on Monday. I posted a notice on my user profile but to anyone who didn't hasn't gone to my user profile or who just didn't get the message, gomen nasai again. As promised in my notice, I'm loading the fourth chapter at the same time as the third chapter, so I'm not going to be addressing any general concerns.

Sasuke: Finally, we can shut you up!

Fire: You just go away, Sasuke! I don't remember you being so mean!

Sasuke: I was always mean. You're just blind.

Fire: I'm not blind! (sighs) Just go on with the chapter.

Kakashi: (holding the Big Bag of Reviews) What? I'm not needed? (sinks back into the background)

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Disclaimer: I own Samehada's personality! I do! Don't even try to copy it! If you want to use it, send me an email and I'll give you a personality profile.

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Chapter 4: Facets of Blood

In the darkened hospital room, the shadowy mask that covered a lone visitor's face only served to make his entire person darker. Kakashi was in deep thought as he looked down at his blond pupil. It was hard for him to believe that this silent comatose patient could be the same shinobi who yelled and shouted at every opponent that they have come across in their missions.

'No... I can't believe it...' His mind was in denial, even as it knew that this was the truth.

This was definitely Naruto.

The door opened silently and for a moment, Kakashi thought that it was a nurse coming to make her rounds before he realized that it wasn't anyone like that. He relaxed a little as he recognized the chakra. He didn't have to leave yet.

"And I thought that I would be the only one here." Tsunade's voice was sarcastic as she closed the wardroom door behind her, and set herself down into an oversized chair in a corner of the room. The chair wasn't mean to be comfortable, but it certainly was big.

Kakashi didn't say anything in return. What was there to say? He wasn't going to explain why he was here.

"What are you thinking, Kakashi?" Tsunade could see that there was something ticking beneath that mass of weird grey hair. His strange activities haven't been unnoticed. She had known that he would be here. This wasn't the first time that he has snuck into Naruto's hospital room in the middle of the night. "You must have other, more important things to do other than watch Naruto all night." 'Like sleep...'

"I'm fine." He was silent once more.

And the entire room filled with a suffocating silence.

Tsunade couldn't help but feel as if she had to do something. It wasn't normal to just stand in a hospital room all day, then sneak in to stare at the patient all night. That wasn't right! That was against regulations! Not even Gai had done that when Lee was sent to the hospital after his fight with Gaara.

"I'm going to assign you a mission tomorrow," Tsunade said slowly as her mind tried to think of what to make him do. Anything below an A-ranked mission would be too easy, wouldn't be able to take the mind of Copy Ninja Kakashi off his problems. "It's going to be an A-ranked mission, so you can't refuse." Even though she really hadn't thought of what it would be yet.

A slight sigh came from Kakashi's direction, and for a moment, she thought that he was going to object. A depressed man was in no condition to go on a high ranking mission...but then, a shinobi never shows emotion, either. Which would win?

"Tomorrow?" Kakashi pried himself from the boy's bedside and turned toward Tsunade. "In that case, I'll need sleep." He walked to the window. "I'll see you in the morning, Hokage-sama."

There was such resolve in Kakashi's voice that Tsunade felt shivers run through her body. There were some strange thoughts going through Kakashi's mind, and she didn't want to know what it was.

Kisame walked for a long time in that one direction that Samehada insisted he go before he shunshin-ed. There was no way around it. They were taking up so much time. It was getting dark, and Samehada was being so stubborn. Even after a long while–even after Kisame insisted repeatedly that they turn back since they have been gone for so long–the sword refused to turn back. It had felt a powerful, large chakra, and it wanted to eat it.

In truth, the blue-skinned man had expected nothing there. He had thought that Samehada was hallucinating about a large chakra. A large chakra might be good for its hunger, but Kisame was also looking for a good opponent, for a good fight. It wasn't that he couldn't just fight Itachi, but...the blue man wasn't in much of a mood to get beaten to a bloody pulp.

So, Kisame was more than a little surprised when he walked by a dark-haired boy who was almost the splitting image of Itachi.

That's him! That's the big chakra! Samehada would have jumped up and down if it had a body to do it. Kill him! Eat him!

Kisame cringed a little at the image. "Eat him...? Did I look like Zetsu to you?" He whispered furiously to the sword.

What kind of a shark are you!

"I'm not a shark! I'm a shark man!" Kisame shouted at the sword.

Sasuke stared at the man. 'He's insane...' And Sasuke began walking quickly away.

"Hey! Who told you that you can go?"

The dark-haired boy heard the blue man's call, but ignored him. Sasuke dodged a swing at his head and continued walking away. There was never any doubt in the boy's mind that he could get away. This man wasn't nearly as strong as Itachi, and at that moment, the young Uchiha thought that he really was strong enough to defeat his brother...until...

...Kisame appeared right in front of Sasuke.

"Stop, dammit!"

And Sasuke had to dodge another, more difficult swing to his head.

As the dark-haired boy looked back at the attack, his eyes filled momentarily with a strange vision. He had seen this man before. This blue-skinned man with gill-like slits on either side of his face... He had seen him with his brother at that unknown village–whose name was actually Otafuku Gai but the name had been long forgotten by Sasuke–not far from Konoha.

His hand falling back for a moment to grab three shuriken from the black pouch on his leg, he threw it forward at his opponent. He wasn't in the mood to fight before, but he was now. Now, he was interested in this man. If he could defeat him now, he could definitely defeat Itachi.

On the other side of the tree, atop a swaying branch, the blue-skinned man stared forward at the shuriken flying toward him. 'Does this stupid boy actually think that he can hit me with one of those?' He had a huge sword! He could deflect those three tiny shuriken with one swing of Samehada. Just...like...

...that.

The bandaged sword flew forwards, knocking the three stars away. Just as Kisame had thought, the boy was nothing.

Nothing! Can't you feel that chakra! Samehada had other thoughts on its mind though.

But, the smirk that radiated from the blue-skinned man's opponent was still beaming at him. He could see that the boy wasn't done yet.

'Sharingan sofuushasen sannotachi!'

Samehada froze in midair as practically invisible wire slung around it. Kisame couldn't even flex his hands.

'Just as I thought...members of Akatsuki are nothing.' Sasuke walked up to nudge the blue man with his foot. He was a little disappointed though. He had thought that they would be more of a cha–

Kisame burst through his bindings with a single shout of effort, a shower of white bandage and long wires raining down onto their heads. In the midst of his victory, Sasuke hadn't even noticed the sword's gnawing through the wires.

'Kuso!' Sasuke jumped back to narrowly avoid a swing of the large sword...but it felt as if it had hit.

And it had.

He had avoided the main blow, but Samehada had caught him, had caught his side for a moment before shaving through his shirt. And in that moment, Samehada had tasted his chakra.

Kisame was charging at Sasuke again, urged on by the sword in his hand. He could hear the mad ravings of the hunger-driven sword shouting in his ear. Kisame couldn't stop now. If he did, the sword was bound to eat him, and no amount of bandages would be able to keep the sword off his back.

The black-haired boy threw his arm up to cover his face, but if he didn't do something...he was going to die.

However, Sasuke was never someone to sit around and do nothing.

He pushed himself from the ground and flew away before Samehada could hit him. The sword smashed into the ground, throwing dirt into the air as Kisame pulled it out to hurl in the boy's direction again.

Sasuke fell back, his hands pressed together in a reluctant seal. He didn't have enough chakra for an attack. Doubtful thoughts were racing through his mind even as his body acted with strange clarity. He didn't have enough chakra! But he had to try. If he didn't...

Sasuke didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't try.

'Chakra no mesu!'

Sasuke was about to finish his technique when a flash of silver and glowing blue fell across his field of vision. The dark-haired boy stared forward for a moment before the image registered. "Kabuto!"

And he had thought that he was in trouble! Kabuto was here.

"Sasuke-sama!" He fell back as Samehada tore through the chakra scalpels around Kabuto's arms. The grey-haired man clutched his wrists for a moment, smearing the blood–and the wound–away. But, he was already weakened. He couldn't feel his arms. At least...not that well. "Daijoubu?"

"..." Sasuke wasn't focussed on Kabuto at that moment. He was more worried about the man with the large shaving sword.

Slowly, the spectacled man turned his face toward the blue man. He had pushed the sword back for a moment, but now...he was coming at them again.

With lightning speed, the grey-haired man grabbed the boy. And they vanished before Kisame could get close enough to hit them again. Even Kabuto could see that it was a losing battle.

Kuso! Baka! Samehada was yelling at Kisame for his stupidity. After all that work...nothing! Not even a... Samehada licked its non-existent lips. He couldn't say that he didn't even get a taste. He had a part of that dark-haired boy's chakra. He just wasn't satisfied. Arrgh!

Kisame gathered the bandages from the ground and wrapped them around the sword once more before slinging it onto his back. He patted it reassuringly and began his way back to Itachi again. He had taken quite a while getting all the way here. He did come all this way from the Hi no Kuni/Taki no Kuni border to the Hi no Kuni/Kome no Kuni border, which took no more than a day. And it was going to take another day before he could return.

Naruto was staring into the distance again. In fact, he was concentrating so much that he barely heard his name in the wind. "Naruto, didn't you hear me?" Sasuke's face filled the blond chuunin's vision momentarily before it moved back, allowing the blond some breathing room.

Naruto blinked. "Sasuke?" He hadn't heard a thing that Sasuke had said.

The dark-haired boy was frowning at the blond. "I was looking for you," he said with the same annoyed air that always hung around his head. "Are you cloud watching again?"

The blond Konoha-nin frowned at Sasuke. All these questions were so unlike him. "No," he lied even though cloud watching seemed to be the only thing he could remember doing.

Then, silence.

The wind picked up across the hill and swirled around Naruto, making the blond boy shiver even though he was wearing his blazing orange jacket. The dark-haired boy at his side refused to register even a single shiver.

"We should go back inside," Sasuke said with all the sense of Sakura. Somehow, it wouldn't get pass Naruto's mind that his house-mate was acting normally, even though a part of his mind insisted that he was.

"I want to watch the–" Naruto stopped, his mouth pressed together in sudden silence. He just said that he wasn't watching the clouds. "I want to sit here a little longer."

Sasuke's face contorted into a larger frown. "We really should go back inside," the boy said as the sky darkened... "It's getting dark." ...conveniently.

Naruto stared up at the suddenly dark sky and shrugged. "I have a..." Shiver. "...jacket on." Although it really wasn't keeping him warm.

That shiver hadn't escaped the dark eyes that watched Naruto. "And it's getting cold." More than anything, he had to get the blond inside...before it was too late.

"I'm–" Naruto sneezed. "–f–" then he sneezed again. And again. And again.

Naruto sneezed a long series of sneezes, his hands covering his face, his eyes squinted tight as his hair bounced with every vibration.

When he finally stopped, he looked down at his hands, then to Sasuke shakily. "Sasuke...?" He held his hands out for the dark-haired boy to see. "Is there something..." There was the unmistakable tint and texture of blood all across the blond boy's hands. "...wrong with me?"

Sasuke frowned down at the bloody hands before taking them by the wrist and pulling out a mysterious handkerchief. Naruto could only watch as the dark-haired boy continued to wipe the blood from his hands; however, no matter how much blood Sasuke took away, the feeling of blood refused to leave Naruto's hands.

Somehow, the handkerchief refused to dirty.

"Sasuke...you didn't answer my question," the blond complained as Sasuke dropped the now clean hand he was working on and grabbed the other one.

"No. Nothing's wrong with you," the Uchiha said, and Naruto couldn't tell if he was lying or not. "Now, we really should go back inside."

The wardroom was silent, especially after the blond's two visitors had gone, which was a good thing since the nurses were making their rounds and neither visitor wanted to be caught. That would cause some problems. They were supposed to represent the Law of Konoha, and it certainly wouldn't look good if either one of them were seen bending the rules.

But as the woman walked into Naruto's room, her entire body froze. There was the unmistakable scent of blood in the air, and as her eyes trailed to the sickbed with the only patient in the room, her eyes caught onto a mass of red oozing out of his mouth.

Naruto was coughing. He was choking, and blood was gushing out of his throat.

The woman turned back to the hall before looking back. She had never been faced with something like this before. She didn't know what to do. "Sensei! Sensei!" She called out for a medic-nin. Any medic-nin! "We have an emergency in Uzumaki-san's room!" And almost bumped into the medic-nin. "Sensei! It's Uzumaki-san!"

The woman was hysterical and Kitou was beginning to regret taking the night shift.

End Chapter 4

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Okay. I know that this might have been annoying people for some time now, so I'm going to address it. It looks like I don't pluralize words in Japanese. I write words like "nin" or "shuriken" or "kunai" and there's no plural! No. This is not a misprint. In Asian languages like Japanese, there is no plural form. There is only the one form and it's the same whether there is one or many. Personally, I like to be true to the language and use the form that they have in that language. So the plural of "kunai" is "kunai" and the plural of "shuriken" is "shuriken." An interesting note would be "ninja." The word is in the English dictionary and does have an English plural form, so it is correct to use the Japanese "ninja" for plural or the English "ninjas" for plural.

Fire's babbling:

Kitou: I don't think people know who I am.

Fire: Really? (looks at the audience) You know who this is, don't you?

Kitou: (hangs his head) No. You should have used someone more well-known, like Shizune-senpai.

Fire: This medic-nin is one of the people who helped save Neji after his defeat by Kidoumaru. He was the one who worked for three straight hours and got tired so he had to have Mogusa replace him.

Kitou: I don't think that's helping. They just look more confused.

Kidoumaru: I don't think they know who I am.

Fire: Kidoumaru is one of the sound four, the guy with the four arms!

Kidoumaru: I have six arms. See? (holds up his four extra arms and the two arms attached to his shoulders) Six arms.

Fire: (sweats) Enough about that. Let's talk about something else now.

Sasuke: Aahh! Naruto's bleeding! You baka! (hitting Fire) How dare you do that to Naruto!

Fire: Waah! It's not me! (cringes against the barrage of hits) Don't talk to me! Talk to the Dream Sasuke!

Sasuke: (sighs) Fine. (looks around but doesn't see the Dream Sasuke)

Kakashi: I'll find him. (walks away)

Sasuke: (turns to Fire) Are you being stupid or are you just trying to be annoying?

Fire: (confused) What do you mean, Sasuke?

Kakashi: (walks back) I can't find him.

Sasuke: That's fine. I'm talking to this baka now!

Fire: I'm a baka? How am I a baka?

Sasuke: Arrgh! I want to be with Naruto, not fighting some blue-skinned freak!

Kisame: What? I'm not a freak!

Fire: But I like Kisame. (hugs Kisame)

Kakashi: That is so wrong.

Fire: But lots of other people like Kisame too!

Sasuke: Can you stop hugging him? It's making us sick.

Itachi: (nods in agreement) …

Sasuke: (grabs Itachi by the collar) And you! Give Naruto back to me! (shakes Itachi furiously) Give him back! Give him back! Give him back!

Itachi: (throws Sasuke aside and shunshins away) …

Fire: Bye Kisame! (waves at Kisame as he vanishes after Itachi)

silence

Sasuke: So that guy in Naruto's dream isn't really me…

Kakashi: And he isn't Naruto's Sasuke apparition…

Sasuke: And he certainly isn't a new apparition. That's just too stupid for one of your storylines, Fire.

Kakashi: It has to be a real person! Who is it? Who is it!

Fire: (stares at Sasuke and Kakashi) It took you this long to notice that the Sasuke in the dream is out of character? I'm sure the readers have noticed by now.

Sasuke: Arrgh! Just tell us!

Fire: Think for a while. It'll come to you. (turning back to the audience) Tune in next time as I reveal who this mysterious other Sasuke is.

Kakashi: Sounds like a soap opera.

Fire: Really? I'm just writing what I see happening.

Kakashi: You're spying on us?

Fire: What? No! That's not what I mean!

Kakashi: Yeah…right…

Fire: (sighs and turns back to the audience) Review, even if you don't have an account with I welcome anonymous reviewers as well, although I would prefer if I can reply to your reviews. Signed in reviews are preferred although I respect your decision to remain anonymous. So REVIEW!

Sasuke: Review freak.

Fire: I'm going to mess you up if you keep up that attitude.

Sasuke: Not as long as I'm the co-writer.

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