AN: It's been a while, and I'm sorry, between school and some medical issues I haven't been able to do any writing. I will try and get back on a schedule soon. So, with my writer's block, the problem I have been having has been the infinate tsukuyomi dream, so I'm skipping them for now. They will have a lot of information including some spoilers so they will be made but probably not until the series is over. There is still a lot to come so please stay tuned for more! PS I updated the story and some changes have been made, nothing too big though.

Chapter 33: Return to Reality

The last remnants of a good dream flowed loosely in the back of his mind, he tried to reach for it, desperately wanting to see it again, but it slipped from his grip every time. Growing dimmer and fuzzier with each failed grasp. His head ached and his body felt sore like he had just awoken from a long and oddly positioned sleep. Not wanting his headache to worsen, Suigetsu peeked through a slit in his eye, checking to see how bright the world was before he opened them fully. It was dark, but with a greenish tint overlapping the environment. He rubbed his face and tried to remember what he was just doing. The last thing he could recall was her sitting right next to him, she was blushing, and... the memory slipped away again. He reached over beside him to feel for Hibiki. When he had touched nothing but a smooth leafy surface, he felt the groggy fog of sleep strip off him as he panicked. His eyes snapped open as he felt in front of him only to be halted by the substance again. Without thinking he used his fist to burst through the substance peeling open an exit.

The sudden introduction to the bright sun forced him to squeeze his eyes shut as he sat up. Suigetsu slowly opened his eyes again, the light was blinding, burning his eyes. His head began to throb, and he suddenly became nauseous. From his sitting position, his eyes slowly adjusted, using his hand to block some of the light he looked down seeing he was sitting in some kind of organic wrap. Like a cocoon.

He slowly stood, and stepped out of the wrapping, taking a few shaky steps before stopping and scanning the area. All around him where similar cocoons, all with humans inside. Some of the shinobi were already out and helping others, some stood and looked as dumbfounded as he felt. Everyone looked just as disoriented as Suigetsu. Above him, the tree's branches shriveled away before dying. Disintegrating from existence. The trunk of the tree still stood tall in the distance, it too looked like it was quickly dying.

Turning around he found Kabuto and Karin nearby emerging from their cocoons, and a little past them was Juugo and Orochimaru. Suigetsu carefully scanned the area, searching for any sign of her but couldn't spot Hibiki. Panic reaches him as he began running around the cocoons, ripping open closed ones to try and find her.

Karin slowly stood, she felt as if the world was spinning. The bright light blinded her and made her head throb. It took a minute for her vision to adjust but once it did, she wish it had not. The first thing she saw was Suigetsu who looked distraught. Karin grimaced, and turned away. She took in the scenery and not long after seeing Orochimaru and Juugo, did she feel her stomach drop.

Hibiki

She quickly joined Suigetsu in the search, anxious to find her.

"Hibiki!" Karin called out, she waited, straining her ear listening for an answer, any answer. But nothing came. Karin began ripping open cocoons like Suigetsu, and every so often she would call out to her. Not long after the whole party was searching for Hibiki.

After a good 10 minutes of searching, Juugo spotted an unopened cocoon that lay closer to the tree's base. Suigetsu and Karin raced to it. Normally the two would have been more competitive, but with their confusion concern over Hibiki, they barely noticed each other.

Suigetsu slid in the dirt, like a baseball player slide into home plate. He grabbed the cocoon and ripped it open. He sighed, finding Hibiki was a relief but it also brought on new anxieties.

Her face was flushed from a fever and her breathing was labored. Slow and uneven. Sweat spotted her forehead as she seemingly burned from the inside. Her broken arm was black and blue, and her fingers were covered in dried blood. Suigetsu strained to remember what had happened before waking up. He had a strange dream, one that was quickly fading from his memory. Before that…

…

As soon as Sasuke turned and left, Hibiki had suddenly collapsed. As if he took all her energy from her as he rushed off to god knows where. Suigetsu caught her just before she hit the ground, and upon seeing her feverish state he called out to Kabuto. Kabuto was quick to respond, he knelt next to Hibiki who was cradled in Suigetsu's arms.

Karin was the last to notice something was wrong. Her attention focused on the direction Sasuke had run in. Her Sasuke whom she loved but hated had almost died and was now off to fight a seemingly endless battle. She wanted to run after him but, she would probably just get in the way. Karin clenched her fists and turned around, ready to get the hell out of dodge. She turned around and found Hibiki passed out in Suigetsu's arms, Kabuto fussed over her, Orochimaru and Juugo stood out of the way. With Sasuke still on her mind, she ran over to Hibiki.

"She has an incredible fever," Kabuto shook his head.

"She's dying, I can feel her chakra leaving her, what do we do?"

"Has this happened before." Kabuto asked.

"Many times." Karin and Suigetsu said in unison.

"What was the solution then?"

"Rest and some medication for her fever." Karin answered.

"Hmm" Kabuto wondered.

"Karin…"

"On it." she answered, and without hesitation or regret she helped Hibiki bite her arm. She supplied her with chakra, her live teetering on the edge. Then a bright light appeared in the sky.

...

"Is there a hideout nearby? One that has the supplies to help her?" Suigetsu asked. He carefully ripped the cocoon open exposing Hibiki more.

"There is." Orochimaru said as he approached.

"We should get her there as fast as possible." Karin agreed.

Orochimaru watched the two interact without bickering or fighting, it was… disturbing. Suigetsu and Karin had never gotten along. They fought like cats and dogs every time they were near each other. Maybe it was their young age that caused them to be such children, and maybe this was a sign of them growing up. It both impressed and interested him. Orochimaru gave Karin Directions to the secret hideout and Suigetsu gingerly picked Hibiki up. With a nod he and Karin rushed off, Juugo and Kabuto followed closely behind. Orochimaru stayed on the battlefield, he would go to the hideout later, for now, he wanted to observe.

The group ran as fast as they could. After about an hour they reached their destination. It looked like just a mound of earth, inconspicuous and would normally go unnoticed. Karin formed the signs allowing a hole to open in the earth, it was a tunnel. Karin slid in first falling deep in the earth before coming to a stop at the bottom. She formed another few signs turning the facility on. The tunnel led to a small room with very little inside, past the archway Karin could see a hall. She ran down it, passing a kitchen and a bathroom before coming across the first bedroom. Inside was nothing but a bed. She could hear the others slide down the tunnel.

"Suigetsu! Over here!" she called out. Suigetsu showed up with Hibiki still unconscious in his arms. He carefully placed her on the bed. Once she was out of his arms, Karin Shoved him out demanding a long list of supplies. He rushed off climbing back up the tunnel and taking Juugo with him to go get the supplies. Kabuto came into the room with a tray cart holding all the surgical tools they would need. They began to carefully assess her very carefully.

Hibiki had the highest fever Karin had ever seen, it seemed to upset Kabuto just as much, it was dangerously close to being hot enough to cause brain damage. She was also dehydrated. They hooked her up to some IVs with saline solution. It was all they had at the moment. Hibiki's body sucked the bag dry in a matter of minutes, they had to replace it.

That was the only other bag we have; the asshat better be back soon Karin thought.

Karin stripped Hibiki to her underwear, replacing the clothes with a hospital gown. Kabuto began to examine her many wounds. Some were close to reopening and a wound that had been seared shut, obviously in a rush job, needed to be properly examined and stitched. Who knows what organs were damaged?

After an hour and a half Suigetsu and Juugo ran into the room with two large bags full of everything Karin had asked for.

"Thanks, Juugo, Asshat." She sighed, diving into the bag and handing Kabuto different things.

"Always a bitch," Suigetsu scoffed.

"Juugo take him out and keep him away from us," Karin told him.

"Yes," He answered, picking Suigetsu up and dragging him out the door, closing it behind them.

Another few exhausting hours went by before Kabuto walked into the kitchen, Suigetsu and Juugo sat at the table. Kabuto took a seat with them, exhausted.

"Well?" Suigetsu asked.

"Well, she had a serious infection, was dehydrated, had no fingernails, a broken arm, a high fever, and multiple wounds that needed to be properly fixed. She's doing better, we did everything we could for now, some rest and periodically applied medication and antibiotics should make her just fine." Kabuto announced. "Karin is just changing her clothes," he finished.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Karin came into the room, she too took a seat resting her chin on the table.

"Is there any food? I want to eat, take a shower and go to bed." she asked.

"No, I will need to go get some, does Hibiki still have the money?" Juugo asked.

"Yes, it's in her pack." Karin confirmed.

"Why don't we just go raid a few houses for food?" Suigetsu asked.

"Well we just robbed a hospital, so I think we've stolen enough for today." Juugo answered. Suigetsu rolled his eyes.

Over the next few days, very little happened. Kabuto checked on Hibiki a few times, and once he decided he was happy with her condition, he excused himself. He left for Konoha. Orochimaru stopped by, saw Hibiki then left himself. Karin was able to get herself some new clothes, a few hot baths, and a full stomach. Suigetsu stayed by Hibiki's bedside watching over her as she slept. Her fever slowly coming down.

A week after the war was over Karin went out to get intel on what the hell happened. She came back and gave the boys a basic rundown but stopped and teared up.

"...and Sasuke is in prison now." She sobbed.

Suigetsu burst into uncontrollable laughter, falling out of his chair, Karin sobbed as she tried to beat the crap out of him, they went on for a few minutes before Juugo grabbed them by the back of their shirts, pulling them apart,

"Suigetsu, remember we are all wanted criminals right now. Karin escaped from Konoha, we escaped from the samurai. So, we should be thankful that we aren't in jail ourselves right now." He reminded him, dropping the two on their feet.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Man, what are we going to do now?" He wondered.

The three took their seats again and began to worry over what they would do. Go back to Orochimaru? Go back to their villages? Where was Juugo going to go? Does he really want to be back in captivity again? Did Karin want to try and break Sasuke out of prison? Did Suigetsu want to go back to Orochimaru? Could he even return to the mist village?

...

Hibiki's eyes slowly fluttered open. She sat up and tried to remember what was going on. She had the most beautiful dream, full of everything she ever wanted. She remembered her mother and father; did they really look like that?

Slowly she came back to the real world, she looked around, finding herself in a hospital gown, had her arm in a caste and was attached to some iv's. She was in a bed, the walls were made of earth, so was the ground. Where was she?

They she heard them, Suigetsu's voice rang in her ears. She got out of bed, taking her IV pole with her she wobbled out of the room and down the hall to Suigetsu's voice.

She found her friends all in a kitchen, they sat around a table, looking rather depressed.

"So are the last survivors living underground now or am I dead?" She asked.

The three stood up and turned to her voice, relief, and happiness on their faces.

"Hibiki what are you doing out of bed?" Karin asked rushing to her and hugging her.

"I woke up in this dirt place and followed the sound of your voices." she said hugging Karin back with her one good arm.

"This is one of Orochimaru's hideouts, we've been staying here while you recovered. But we can talk later, now let's get you back into bed." Karin smiled, gently guiding Hibiki back to bed. She checked her wounds and told Hibiki the extent of her injuries. Soon Suigetsu came in and Karin left while mumbling curse words. He pulled up the chair that was in the corner and sat next to Hibiki, he took her good hand and held it.

"So, are we mole people now?" She asked.

"No everything's fine outside. Sasuke and Naruto stopped Kaguya." He smiled at her.

"Oh, good, I would have kicked Sasuke's ass otherwise." She sighed.

"Where is he?"

Suigetsu hold his laugh, "In jail." he struggled to say. But when Hibiki burst into laughter he joined her.

"It ...hurts ...to ...laugh" She said in between giggle fits.

"You're not upset?" Suigetsu asked as they calmed down.

"No, him being in jail means he's finally reflecting, it's a good thing." She told him.

It seems that bastard Naruto has done the one thing I could never do. She thought.

A soft peaceful smile rested on her face,

"So the three of us were just thinking about what to do next, you know being fugitives and all." Suigetsu told her.

"Oh, good question." Hibiki remarked.

Before they could talk further Karin came into the room with hot food, she kicked Suigetsu out, wanting some time with her friend.

"You know about Sasuke huh, I could hear you two laughing all the way down the hall." Karin glumly said.

"Yep, don't be too down, I'm sure he won't be in there for long." Hibiki told her between bites of food. The Solid food felt good in her empty stomach.

"Do you have any ideas of what to do next?" Karin asked.

Hibiki sat back on the bed, chewing a bite carefully, she slowly swallowed,

"Yes actually, but I want to talk to Sasuke first."