As the kids headed back, Neji had an arm resting over Sasuke's slightly lowered shoulders. Gaara stood beside Sasuke, holding his opposite hand gently. The girls were behind them while Naruto lead the way. The blonde wanted to help his brother. He truely did. He just wasn't ever any good at comforting. He wasn't a comforting friend. He was the friend you called when you need help dumping a body.
When they reached the back porch, just before they went in, Sasuke gripped Gaara's hand a bit harder and halted a bit. The others gave him a questioning look, the raven looking away a bit. "Don't tell mom or the others. I've had more than enough of their pity," he grumbled. Neji nodded in understanding, the others following soon after. They headed inside to find Sasori finishing up his puppet and Deidara cursing out loud at the stovetop.
Sasori glanced up at them, quirking a brow, Gaara only shrugging a bit as he held onto Sasuke's hand. It only took a moment for Sasuke to realize, his cheeks going a deep red, pulling his hand away from the red-haired ninja. Gaara didn't seem to take offense, the younger heading over to sit beside Sasori and watch him.
Naruto headed over to babble with Deidara while he cooked, the two blondes being close despite their constant bickering. Neji glanced over at Sasuke and Hinata, suggesting, "Why don't us three practice learning some herbal medicine from Karin while we wait for dinner? It'll be relaxing." figuring it would be best to start with the easier of the two medical practices.
Hinata and Sasuke nodded, Karin, noting, "I'll go get the herbs from my room." the redhead being gone in a flash.
Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata made quick work of gathering around the half of the table that Sasori wasn't using. Karin came down soon enough, holding bunches of different herbs. She sat in front of them, beginning to explain. "There are lots of different herbs in the world, but they can usually be placed in a box with others based on their main purposes. It's best to know the main purposes before learning how to mix them. This way you'll have at least a basic understanding of it in case of emergencies."
As she explained, Kakuzu headed in alongside Hidan. It looked like they were back from their mission. Hidan happily headed up to his room, buzzing with pride due to his latest sacrifices to his lord. Kakuzu sat down between Sasori and the group of children, moody as ever. He worked on sewing up his arm while occasionally listening in on the kid's conversation.
"The main types of herbs are numbing, enhancing, healing, poison, cleaning, and wrapping," Karin explained, showing a plant from each. "The numbing helps with lowering the pain or poison's effect. The enhancing usually help either improve natural abilities such as healing or increase the use of poison. The healing is pretty self-explanatory, it helps quicken recovery time. Poison, of course, does the opposite, slowing recovery time and messing with the natural balancing in your body to make you ill. Cleansing herbs are mostly used to disinfect the wound before you apply others. You'd normally clean it, then put on one of the others, followed by a wrapping herb. The wrapping herbs are thick but flexible, usually used to keep the others in place."
Gaara was listening in on the lesson, only half paying attention to Sasori now. Not that the older ninja was saying anything anyway. Naruto, on the other hand, wasn't paying the least bit of attention. He was too busy arguing with Deidara. "That's not what dad said! Dad said-" he blabbered on, the older blond growing annoyed.
Deidara lightly waved the spatula at the boy, cheeks puffing up in annoyance. "I don't care what Nagato said. He isn't my father, so what he saids doesn't matter to me-" he bickered. It was a pretty common occurrence, the two bickering and fighting. No one thought anything of it. Even as Deidara began chasing around the younger in warning, it was no big deal. He'd probably forget about the food and burn dinner by accident. It happened all the time.
The only difference this time was Sasuke's reaction to the sudden fire burning on the stove. The teen stiffened as the fire rose quickly, only a few feet away. His lesson forgotten, Sasuke bounded out of the chair and towards his bedroom. He could hear his siblings yelp at his sudden movement since normally he would only roll his eyes. He could also hear Sasori sending scoldings at Deidara, but he ignored this. He quickly entered his room, nearly slamming the door behind him.
He took a few steps back, heading over to his bathroom and shutting himself in. He headed over to the window, sitting down beside it. He gently rubbed the back of his neck, where the largest burn mark beside his ankles was clear. He took deep breaths, but it felt like none of them were going through. It was like he was breathing in, but no air was entering his lungs. His hands moved from the back of his neck to the front, gripping it tightly.
Sasuke knew he was panicking, but he had no idea what else to do. He couldn't breathe, why couldn't he breathe!? It was just a little fire, he reasoned. He needed to calm down. Despite this, he couldn't force himself to no matter how much he tried. He heard a grunt from somewhere and glanced up to see Hidan standing over him, still bloodied synth in hand. It looked like he had just been in the middle of one of his rituals. Sasuke's breathing only deepened as he eyed the bloodied blade, his hands finally lowering from his throat only to grip at his sewn up legs.
He felt like he was loosing even more air now, his mouth hanging open and snapping closed occasionally. He gripped his legs tightly, eyes widened and Sharingan flaring. Hidan knelt in front of Sasuke, lifting his chin with furrowed brows. Sasuke felt his vision blur a bit, trying to jerk away from the other but unable to. "Hey, hey. Calm the hell down. What's with all the damn running through the halls and slamming doors?"
Sasuke could only let out large breaths, wheezing as he looked over at the elder ninja. He wanted to answer, but no words left his mouth as no air entered his lungs. Hidan moved to open his mouth once more but was interrupted as Kakuzu entered in a rush. Sasuke shrank back at the sudden movements, Kakuzu slowing as he noticed the panicked state the younger was in. "Hidan, back up," he spoke gruffly, squatting down beside them.
The teen buried his head in his knees, trying to hide from the view of the two elders. He felt Kakuzu resting both his large hands on his shoulder, making him freeze up for a moment. Kakuzu lightly rubbed at his shoulders, speaking as gently as his naturally grumpy voice would allow. "Take a deep breath in and hold it for three seconds."
Sasuke hicked on the first few tries but slowly was able to inhale and hold it. "Now let it out, slowly."
When he did, the breath came out shaky and full of shivers, completely unfocused. "Now take another deep breath in. Hold it for three seconds."
Sasuke did as he was told, slowly feeling his lungs fill with air once more. He could hear Hidan's praising from beside him, "Fucking fantastic. You're doing fucking great." reflexively following the next step and slowly letting it out. This breath was much smoother, not nearly as strangled as the previous. "Good, good. You breathin' now?" Hidan asked. Sasuke nodded a bit as he repeated the steps, slowly returning his breathing to normal.
The raven-haired boy reflexively side-eyed the synth but quickly returned his gaze to a grinning Hidan and relieved Kakuzu. Hidan must have noticed his side-glance at the weapon as he set it out of the room, closing the door behind them to block the view. Hidan moved from his kneeling position to lean against the wall with Sasuke while Kakuzu moved to sit cross-legged in front of them. Hidan asked, "What was all this about, anyway? You're a tough kid, you wouldn't be running like hell for no reason."
Sasuke shrank back a bit, looking embarrassed. He bit his lip, finally admitting after a moment, "Deidara lit the food on fire."
"So? That's nothing new?" Hidan quirked a brow. Sasuke felt his shame intensify. He knew it was the truth, but at least Hidan didn't seem to be judging him for his reaction. He seemed genuinely confused more than anything.
Kakuzu sent his partner a warning look at his blockhead attitude, glancing over at Sasuke. "I'm guessing it's because of the injuries on your ankles and neck, right?" eyeing the way the teen was subconsciously grabbing at his ankles.
Hidan had a look of realization, Sasuke hiding his face further into his knees. "Mhm.," he muttered, wishing he was anywhere but there at the moment. He heard Hidan give a heavy sigh, the older man running his fingers through his grey hair.
The Jashin worshipper gave a stretch in his spot, hands behind his head as he looked up boredly. "Shit happens. It's natural to be freaked out after your first big incident. Happens to everyone." he shrugged. Seeing Sasuke's doubtful look, Hidan quirked a brow back at him. "What, you think I wasn't nervous the first time I impaled myself?" lightly elbowing him.
Sasuke flustered a bit, "No, I-" his excuse being cut off as he saw Hidan get closer to his face, the man smirking.
"Oh, you didn't? You assumed I was unsure? Thought I was nervous to do it? You're right, but damn that's cold." the silver-haired man smirked in the younger's face.
The teen scooted back a bit, "Don't put words in my mouth, you ass-" his words being cut off once more as he felt Hidan yank him closer and into a nuggie, locking his head under his arm.
He squirmed as he heard Hidan's clearly amused voice, "Assume things then call me an ass, I ought to tell your mother about such disrespect."
Sasuke reached up to hit against Hidan's arm, squirming under his hold and as far away from the nuggie as possible. "You bastard! You're the one who started it! It's you're fault!" he growled, but his hair being as puffy and messy as it was now only made him look like an angry poodle. The barely hidden smile on his lips didn't help either.
Hidan finally calmed down a bit but kept the boy snuggly under his arm. "Idiot child, thinking he's too good to be scared sometimes." the man tsked.
Kakuzu reached out to pinch at Sasuke's hip, the teen giving a whine and scowl at the older. "Little brat, thinking you're all grown up. As if you weren't just running into Itachi and Kisame's room for nightmare comfort not too long ago."
Sasuke blushed a bit at that, scowling, "I haven't done that for years, jerk." his ears tinting red at the thought.
Hidan mockingly pinched at Sasuke's cheeks as he spoke, "No, you haven't, but that doesn't change the fact you're still only fourteen." lightly tapping his cheek between each word as if to punctuate it. "You. Are. Allowed. To. Be. Scared." he worded out slowly. "Everyone. Starts. Somewhere." finally releasing the boy's cheek as he finished, Sasuke rubbing at it with a scowl and blush. Idiot zombie duo, making him feel better. Dumb bastards.