(A/N: Mkay. Time for mega-climax-time! I jump around a lot in this one… and fell kinda bad about it. Hope you guys don't get too terribly confused. But, on the bright side, I have lotsa hints who all the ANBU squads are in Konoha. I had fun planning out all the teams. Maybe some time I'll post them all for u guys…. But probly not till I finish. -and yes, I'm going to finish this one; I even have the ending planned out. It's just about 20somethin' chapters away-)

Yukie sat next to Sasuke, staring intently at the door the healers had brought Neji through. Sasuke looked over at Yukie. He could see how worried she was and reached over to take her hand.

"The healer said she could help him; I'm sure he'll be fine," Sasuke said, giving Yukie's had a small squeeze.

"I know," Yukie replied quietly, "But still…"

Sasuke's eyes softened, "He'll be fine." He whispered. Yukie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

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Inside the room, two healers scrambled to find enough bandages. Another was performing a very complicated jutsu as another wrote a counter seal in black ink on Neji's side. They had been working for some time now; one performing the jutsu, one writing the seal, and the other two running errands.

Neji had been away the whole time; the cold ink in the air conditioned room made him shiver. All he was wearing were shorts, which weren't helping to keep him warm. When the healer sitting next to him had finished a stage of the jutsu, he pounded the ground in front of Neji and a sharp pain pulsed through his body. As all of this went on, Neji felt a great hate for Kabuto and a longing to kill the ninja.

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In the Hidden Leaf Village, Kabuto did as he was told. He ran back to Tsunade's office. She was sitting at her desk, and looked up when Kabuto came in.

Once she saw he was out of breath, she stood and asked, "Kabuto, what's wrong?"

"In the Hyuuga Clan," he said in a rushed breath as he took gasps of air to regain himself, "There was an attack. It was in the house where the new girl stayed. I was walking by with my guards when I heard the girl shout. A masked ninja stood in the room. The Hyuuga boy was hurt and bleeding badly; the girl was knocked out. The ninja attacked my guards then performed a masking jutsu. Once I could see again, he was gone with the girl and the boy."

Tsunade reacted immediately. "Thank you, Kabuto, you have done enough." She walked out and called to her secretary, and life-long friend, Shizune, "Get the head of the ANBU and his squad; I need to speak with them."

"Ibiki's here now, but his squad's investigating Sakura-Kun's house," Shizune informed her, "Apparently a dark jutsu was used on Yukie."

"Get Ibiki and an ANBU squad to Hyuuga Neji's house to investigate whatever happened there," Tsunade said after a moment's thought, "This could be linked to the happenings with Sakura. Get to the bottom of all this!" Soon after she gave her orders, Ibiki and Shikamaru's ANBU squad went to investigate Neji's house.

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Leon walked out of Orochimaru's home. Orochimaru had told him that Yukie had come home. She had only been gone a few weeks and the village had become extremely gloomy in that short time. Yukie truly was the gem of the Sound. She was strong, kind, and wise, not to mention Orochimaru's favorite. There was something about her that drew other people to her. Leon had been her partner for years and, although he had seen her weaknesses, she seemed almost invincible.

As Leon walked through the Hidden Sound Village, he saw how bright the village had become. There was no doubt now, Yukie really had come home.

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Neji sat up slowly; his whole left side ached and his arm and leg on that side could barely move. The front door was opened and Yukie calmly walked in. Sasuke stood next to her. Once she walked over the threshold, Sasuke fell back. All of the healers left, Yukie thanked each of them in turn as they passed. Once they had left, Sasuke closed the doors, leaving Yukie and Neji alone.

Her face of calm serenity melted and she quickly walked forward and knelt next to him, "Are you alright?" she asked earnestly. Neji just nodded. "Not in any pain?" she asked. He shook his head solemnly. Yukie's face changed into an expression Neji couldn't understand; a mixture between fear and shame and almost expectancy "Are you mad at me?" Her voice was quieter and shy.

"You betrayed my village," Neji said, his voice forced calm and level. "I took you into my home, taught you to fight, and helped you get your memory back. Once you remembered, you turned against me and the village. Tsunade did all in her power to help you, and you were willing to attack her and her home. Give me reason not to be mad at you."

Yukie became desolate, "I saved your life." Her voice was a whisper, but still deadly with a hint of anger, "Kabuto could have killed you; Orochi-Kun could have sent you to your death, I protected you. You could have just bled to death." She stood and turned her back on him, walking to the door. Before opening it, she added, "Be grateful you're alive." Then she was gone. She closed the door behind her and Neji sat in the eerie silence of the room. He began to regret being so hard on her, but everything he said was right. He knew it. But as he sat in the silence, he realized how alone he was in this strange village. Yukie had been the only friendly face here… and now not even she was on his side. But it was too late to regret.

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Leon stood beside Sasuke when Yukie came out and closed the door behind her.

She saw Leon and smiled, "It's so good to see you," she said, giving him a friendly hug.

"I'm glad you're back," Leon said, looking Yukie in the eyes, "Orochimaru-Sama should never have sent you away. A lot has changed. We could have used your help when the Akatsuki attacked."

Yukie felt a pang in her heart. "So Talah really is dead."

Leon nodded slowly, "When did you find out?"

"At Konoha. The demon attacked."

Sasuke turned to her, "And you remembered then?"

Yukie nodded; it had only happened about a week ago, but it felt like much longer. The time she had spent in the Hidden Leaf Village seemed more like a dream -or a nightmare- and she was finally awake.

Sasuke took Yukie and Leon home. In Konoha, students lived with their sensei; teams lived together. The better they knew each other, the smoother missions and battles would go. They learned to predict each other's moves. All of their movements were fluid and teamwork was higher and came more naturally.

The house wasn't cramped, but it wasn't big, either. There were four moderate-sized bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. The kitchen had all of the necessities for cooking, but nothing fancy. The living room had a small TV that was almost never one, and a comfortable couch, used mostly for rest. The front door faced the center of the village (like all of the houses there did). The back door led to the forest for training (also like all the houses).

The village was small and simple. It was based in a circular arrangement, to make traveling around it easier. There was the center of the village, where all meetings took place. Next to that was Orochimaru's home and the central office next to that. Surrounding the village's center were stores for anything the ninjas would need. Scattered in between the stores were small homes for non-ninjas. Their life wasn't much worse than the ninjas; they just didn't have the abilities Orochimaru required. Instead of holding it against them, Orochimaru thought of a way to make use of them. Each non-ninja home was assigned two or three (depending on how many lived there) ninja houses to maintain. It was the non-ninja's job to make sure the houses they were assigned to remain clean. Chores must be done at least once each week to ensure cleanliness. Trash and groceries must also be monitored.

The reason for this system was to make sure the ninjas were not sidetracked by household chores. Their job was to train; become fighting machines. Orochimaru always told them they would never be strong enough to not train. He would tell them that they could always become stronger. That was why just beyond the stores sat the ninja's homes. Behind the homes was the forest. The forest was divided by a great wall; the village's boundaries.

Down the middle of the forest on the inside of the wall was a road. This road ran from the front gate to the center of the village and to the back of the village; cutting the village in half. The road branched off to go to each of the ninja's homes and again to go to each of the stores. The makeup of the village was simple enough, and easy to move through.

Yukie walked into her home and looked around; it had barely changed at all. She walked into a hall with three doors on each side. On the right was the girl's side; on the left was the boy's side. The first door on the right was Talah's room, then the bathroom, then Yukie's room. On the left was Sasuke's room, then the boy's bathroom, then Leon's room. As she passed Talah's room, she felt a pang of guilt; she hadn't been there for Talah, and now she was dead. Yukie was tempted to go into Talah's room, but decided against it; she really didn't want to see the inside without a cheerful Talah waiting for her. So instead, Yukie walked past Talah's room and into her own.

(A/N: PS. I made up the village layout. I haven't seen anything about Otoga… so I made it up. I like how I made it up… so if it's wrong…. Pretend it isn't.)