In addition to the usual general responses, there is one note following the chapter I would appreciate anyone who intends to review to read (it is the first paragraph following the last page break).
Chapter Twelve: Mutual Agendas
When she first sat up, Hinata couldn't help but yawn. Yesterday had been tiring, and in an unusual way. She had been given first watch, so she had slept very soundly until morning. But now she felt rested enough to do whatever they had to do today.
Getting up, she padded to the door of her room soundlessly. It was an extremely small place, a single story inn with only a few rooms. But for their purposes, it was good enough, though the four of them took up every bed available. At the moment it was quite early, so no one else seemed to be awake.
The back door opened noiselessly, and Hinata discovered that the building had a small back yard. Not very common, in the city. There were a few trees and a swing that looked as though it had been heavily used. Somehow, she just couldn't see this place offering a serious threat. Everything had been completely and totally normal, expect for their encounter with Doctor Matthew. She wasn't willing to believe he was evil, though; something about him seemed trustworthy.
She moved to one of the trees, the dewy grass very cold on her feet. They were at the very northern edges of Fire Country, she realized. If they went much further they would be in another nation, and there could actually be snow. Before she could continue that line of thought much further her stomach growled.
An apple fell down beside her, startling her enough that she barely caught it. Puzzled, she glanced up. This wasn't an apple tree... but Sasuke was sitting on a higher branch of it, levitating a group of leaves in a strange spherical pattern. He didn't look at her even slightly, but she knew it had been him. Smiling timidly, she took her first bite of the apple.
"Today we're going back to the hospital," Sasuke told her. "That doctor has a few more questions to answer. If all goes well, we might not have to be here long."
"Why is that?" Hinata asked.
"Originally I suspected that there was a troop focal point here because they had one of their organizational axes in the town. Now, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. But there is some reason why there are so many opponents here, and I need to find out why that is before we go."
"Hmm." Hinata merely continued to enjoy the apple, having nothing to add.
"It's a beautiful morning, Hinata-san," Sasuke commented. She nearly choked on her apple, but managed to hide the reaction. That sort of comment was completely unlike him... something wasn't right. Her eyes narrowed unconsciously. "I like just watching everything. What do you think?"
"It's v-very beautiful," Hinata answered, activating her Byukagen noiselessly. "Everything is just so quiet. I think I see two birds on the tree by the house that will start singing soon, though."
There was a momentary pause, then a clash of metal upon metal. Two massive shuriken went hurtling from the tree toward Hinata. Fully suspecting something of the sort, she wove to the left of the first one and put her hand through the hole in the middle of the second. It spun to a halt harmlessly.
Tightening her grip on it, Hinata prepared to throw it herself if a secondary attack was launched. Nothing happened, however, and she focused her vision through the leaves of the tree by the house. Sasuke was balanced on one of the branches, holding one body by the neck and the other by the leg. Moments later he vanished, to appear directly beside her.
"Poison capsules," he explained darkly. "Both died before I could knock them out."
"Do... do you think they attacked the Sakura-chan and Ino-chan, too?"
"Probably. These assassins don't seem to be worth much after a few seconds, so we won't be much help, but we can see what we can do." Lowering his hands, Sasuke aimed them at the two bodies. There was a surge of chakra, and both dissolved without a trace. Without comment he moved back toward the small hotel.
Sighing heavily, Sakura ran the brush through her hair one more time. All this travel was beginning to wear down on it, and it wasn't shining as properly as it should. Curse Ino for having naturally blond hair, it had so much more natural shine than hers ever would. One of these times, she had to take a complete bath.
She jerked the brush before her face just in time for a kunai to bury itself in midway through the plastic. Turning, she saw a black-clad man in the corner of her room and another kunai flying toward her. Knocking it aside with her other hand, she hurled her brush across the room. It carried enough momentum that her opponent was knocked over backward.
Before she could attack further, though, he bit down on something and slumped the next second. Sighing, Sakura picked up her ruined hairbrush and glanced around the room. How was she going to explain this one?
Still half asleep, Ino rolled over in bed and put her pillow over her head. She didn't want to wake up, not yet. The next instant she heard a whistling and jolted into action, though not fast enough.
Two needles slicing at her barely bit through the edge of her shoulder. She winced in pain and turned, trying to pull a kunai. Immediately she remembered that she had left her pack by the side of the bed, but she had more immediate problems, such as the katana point flying toward her forehead, as a dark-clad warrior thrust the blade toward her.
Before it reached her, a hand clamped down on the warrior's wrist with a crunching noise. Sasuke jerked the assassin off his feet and immediately struck for a pressure point on his neck. As he did so, however, the warrior smirked and bit down hard on something. By the time he hit the ground he was dead.
"Very fanatical," Sasuke murmured, still looking down at the body. "How strange..."
He glanced to Ino and discovered that she was still on the bed. His eyes narrowed the next moment, as he realized that she was slumped unnaturally. Walking to the bed he grabbed her collar and pulled her up. Instantly his gaze shifted to the wound at her shoulder, on which was a lavender liquid. Ino's eyes were closed and she was barely breathing.
"P-poison?" Hinata asked from behind him; she was shocked at Ino's almost lifeless appearance. He nodded grimly, examining the surface wound. At that point, the doorknob shifted, and both of them immediately glanced to it. Sakura entered the next instant and discovered Sasuke holding Ino. She nearly yelped, but recovered just before she did so.
"You were attacked as well, I presume?" Sasuke asked. Sakura nodded.
"Is Ino-chan alright?" she asked immediately. Her eyes actually seemed frantic, almost desperate.
"She was grazed by a poisoned weapon. I think it's endsbane, but I can't be certain..."
"It is," Sakura assured him instantly. Nodding curtly, Sasuke shifted Ino. With vicious efficiency he sucked the poison from her shoulder and then spat out a red and lavender liquid. Raising one hand to her shoulder, he closed his eyes and focused. Chakra flickered, nearly visible, and Ino gave a slight cry of pain while unconscious. When Sasuke removed his hand, however, her wound no longer had a strange color to it. Gently Sasuke set her on the bed, then he straightened.
"It was spreading very slowly, so I hope the wound was cleansed by my chakra," Sasuke told them. "First, clean up all evidence of our battles. Make sure you destroy all the attacker's weapons, unless you can get some information from them. We won't stay here again; it is no longer safe."
"What about Ino?" Sakura asked.
"Wait for her to wake up. As soon as she does, we're going. I need to check something. Stay here and don't make anyone suspicious." With that he opened the door, stepped into the hallway and vanished entirely. There was a nervous pause in his absence; Hinata found a chair and sat down, putting her hands in her lap quietly, still trying to come to grips with how close to death they had been. Sakura was standing beside Ino, watching her carefully.
"The nerve of that girl," Sakura was muttering. "I'll bet she let herself be injured just so she could get Sasuke to... ugh! Not a bad idea, though..."
Watching her, Hinata couldn't help but smile just slightly. For now, things were going to be alright.
Not a sound was made when Sasuke entered. He edged the door open just far enough for the slightly squeaky hinge to not make any noise, then slipped inside with superhuman speed. His feet touched the soft carpet noiselessly, sandals barely pushing it down. Both his aura and scent were neutralized.
"Hello, Mr. Shinobi."
"Hello, Matthew-san," Sasuke said after a slight pause. The doctor still hadn't looked up, shuffling through a folder of papers absent-mindedly. After a moment he had to ask. "How did you know?"
"Whenever that door moves it creates a slight draft. There wasn't any noise made, which is unusual, so I knew it must be someone with shinobi training. Because there wasn't an immediate attack, I knew it had to be one of you four. In terms of the gender of my respective prefix… well, perhaps I should not explain everything."
"I see." Sasuke paused, folding his arms. The waiting room was empty, which was fortuitous. By this point he was suspicious of anyone, and the last thing he needed was information leaking elsewhere.
"You have questions for me, I trust?" Matthew sighed and set down his pen. When he glanced up it was obvious he wasn't looking for an answer.
"You have a connection to someone," Sasuke stated flatly. "No ordinary person can speak about shinobi like you do. What is it?"
"For some time, there have been assassins coming after me. I moved to this small town in an effort to evade them."
"Why?"
Sighing once more, Matthew pushed his glasses up his face. "I do not know."
After raising an eyebrow, Sasuke let the question go. There were more important things to be dealt with. "Have you been attacked in this town?"
"No. There have been shinobi following me, but they have been unsuccessful... as should be fairly obvious." It seemed as though Matthew was about to say more, but he paused instead. "Were you attacked? I take it you are drawing fire as well."
"We were," Sasuke answered cautiously. This conversation was making him nervous, and he really didn't like to be nervous. In a battle of information, he wasn't sure he'd come out the victor if Matthew was his opponent. Of course, he wasn't even certain who his opponent really was. Nothing he said could be trusted.
"I realize that you have no reason to trust me," Matthew admitted the next moment. "But I think both of us realize that we do not need to trust each other."
"Then why did you give us advice earlier?" Sasuke demanded. It would be interesting to see how this question as answered. He was making an intellectual attack, as the doctor surely knew.
"To be frank, I'd like the four of you out of my life as soon as possible. Ideally I'd like to remain here, but the longer opposing forces remain in this town the more concentrated assassins will become. I cannot escape them indefinitely."
"Presuming that is your true goal, would you be willing to do anything to facilitate our leaving?"
"If possible, yes." Matthew paused. "I take it you are looking for some manner of information. This could not be gathered from this assassins of this morning, correct?"
"They killed themselves."
"As is to be expected. I would suggest that you make yourselves conspicuous and wait to neutralize the first assassin that attempts to strike you. A counter-ambush, if you will. A non-fatal area technique would probably serve your purpose nicely. However, I would hope you would do so some distance from my practice: if I can avoid undue notice I would appreciate it."
For a moment Sasuke brooded over the advice, gaze unreadable in the shadow of his hair. Unperturbed, Matthew began filling out a prescription. A moment passed, then Sasuke nodded.
"Very well. Outside of unusual circumstances, I will return here."
"Use my office," Matthew told him. "There is a window in the back that should serve your purpose much better." Acknowledging the statement slightly, Sasuke swept toward the door. He stopped with the door half open, glancing over his shoulder.
"Why a doctor?"
"It's my training," Matthew answered simply. Then he smiled slightly. "But if you want a more philosophical answer... there are enough killers in the world. What we need is healers."
"True." With that stark word Sasuke vanished entirely.
There was an uncomfortable silence when Sasuke returned and announced that they would be doing basically nothing that day. Sakura's first thought was that he was being nice, Ino began to wonder why they would spend a day relaxing and Hinata got nervous about the possible consequences of such. As usual.
"There is a good reason," Sasuke sighed, interrupting them. "Today we are trying to cause another attack on us. This time, make sure they don't have time to kill themselves. We need information more than anything at this point. Make sure this day isn't wasted; keep as alert as possible while making yourself a target."
"So we get an entire day around the town?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed just slightly. "Yes, if you insist. We're leaving in ten minutes. Do anything you want to do before then."
As soon as Sasuke was out the door, off to some unknown business, as usual, Sakura and Ino flew into action around Hinata, who carefully backed to a wall to avoid being injured. Nothing was going to get between them and getting ready for an entire day relaxing with Sasuke.
Sitting down on the bed, Hinata just stared at the carpet for a moment. She wasn't looking forward to this. Ino and Sakura would be present all day. They were more serious than they pretended to be; if there was an actual threat, they would be alert and ready to face it. But if they were not in a dangerous situation, they would probably spend even more time nagging Sasuke. That would annoy him, which would just depress her, even if she didn't accidentally get in their way.
She forced herself to move, slowly removing her weaponry and forehead protector. Personally, she doubted that their attackers would be more likely to attack due to it, but she might as well contribute what she could. Her jacket contained pouches up the sleeves that could hold a few kunai that could be pulled out at will. She loaded both of these and left the rest of her weapons with her pack. It was a lot easier for her to go incognito, because her primary weapon was her hands in any case.
"I know that it's just a tactical decision," Sakura was commenting, "but we're still getting an entire day off."
"Yeah! I really hope that they don't decide to attack until later, so we get the full day. Whenever they do though, I'll be really ticked at them for interrupting my time with Sasuke."
"Your time?"
Ino merely stuck her tongue out, and Sakura glared. Sighing, Hinata started to get to her feet, realized that she had nowhere to go, and just rested back on the bed. Her presence had already been nearly forgotten by the other two, and she just listened to their conversation with her eyes lightly closed.
"I warn you, Ino-pig, keep away from Sasuke-kun today!"
"You're worried about me? I'll be with you every second!"
"Humph. It isn't like you even really like him?"
"Like him? I love Sasuke-kun!" Ino crossed her arms. "You just think you like him. More of a school girl crush than anything."
"Did you really say love?" Sakura shot back. "Can you really even understand what that means?"
"More than you!"
Hinata stopped listening to their conversation, completely adrift in her own thoughts. Both of them were so focused, so driven. They knew exactly what they thought about Sasuke, and wouldn't be driven from it for anything; both of them said they loved him. Sighing again, Hinata wondered what position she was in. She certainly hoped she was Sasuke's friend. But what did she really think? It had been so long since she had even thought in those terms... after she realized how she really felt about Naruto, she had only had friends, people who made her uncomfortable and enemies.
It felt like only a few moments before Sasuke returned, but when Hinata opened her eyes she realized that Sakura and Ino were ready. She was in a strange mood and knew it, but couldn't shake herself out of it. As they left she followed in a slight daze. For all of her training, a day off was one thing she wasn't prepared for.
A request for my reviewers: the issue of Sakura and Ino's maturity (or lack thereof) has been discussed before, and in some venues for pages. I am aware of this, I regret it to a certain degree, and it will not remain constant. If you have something new to say, such as advice or a specific criticism, feel free to mention it, but otherwise I would appreciate this element being largely unmentioned.
Laundry Detergent: Your comments were appreciated, as I hope this update will be.
As I said before, it will be quite some time before Rock Lee's appearance. However, it will be somewhat extensive when it does occur. Naruto isn't done in this story either.
Regarding criticism of my Sasuke: I can't say that I agree with your impression of the original Sasuke or of my own character, at least as I understood what you wrote. He isn't cold hearted, merely far more serious due to what has happened to him in the years following the Naruto series.
Matthew's nationality at this point is intentionally an unknown. If you are just curious about his appearance, think vaguely Indian facial construction with a slightly pale skin tint.