AN: As promised, another chaapter! Not sure when the next one will be, but probably soon-ish. I offically finished Fall semester today. I may just sleep for the next week. ^^

Thank you for all the great encouragement! These next few chapters were difficult to write for some reason, so let me know if anything feels awkward.

Sakura hadn't gotten far. It wasn't long before Sasuke and Naruto were coming up on them. But the short walk gave Sasuke enough time to get his breathing under control, and more importantly, to get his eyes to stop leaking. The burning remained, but dulled to the level that he could stand to have them open.

There didn't seem to be any permanent damage. The feeling that that knowledge invoked went beyond relief. The alternative didn't bare thinking about.

And for once, he'd been able to do more than just survive yet another encounter with his brother – he'd managed to prevent him from succeeding in his self-imposed mission. The victory of that made his very limbs tingle.

Once Sasuke's sight stabilized, they picked up speed. Sakura was traveling with a civilian (his cousin!) so she ought to be easy to overtake. Sasuke leaped lightly up into the next tree, Naruto by his side without a moment of hesitation. Several trees later and they could see Sakura's pink hair. A few leaps later and they landed in a tree just ahead of her.

Sakura glanced up at them, clearly knowing exactly where they were, and smiled at them. Naruto waved back. Sasuke took the moment to study his cousin once more.

He was alive. That was nice start. There was something about his face that was at least vaguely familiar, despite all the differences. The hair was obvious. There was a reason most Uchiha kept their hair long. It had a tendency when short to stick out in every direction. The eyes were a little jarring, however. Not even Sakura had eyes so green. No Uchiha had had such eyes before. It was doubtful that he would ever develop the sharrigan.

It would be a blessing if it would keep Itachi away from him, but that was unlikely.

It took only a second for Sasuke to absorb all of that before he stepped off the branch beneath him. He landed on the ground silently. It took Potter a moment to react, the kind of delay that would get a ninja killed but that was typical of a civilian. Potter stumbled back and Sakura moved instantly to stabilize him.

Sasuke frowned. "What's wrong?"

Sakura checked Potter over quickly before stepping away. She turned to Sasuke with her calm professional expression in place. "He's fine. The chakra overflow of the scroll seems to be affecting him badly, but it will go away. What's wrong with your eyes?" she asked quickly, her own eyes narrowing as she studied his face.

Sasuke waved her off. "It's fine. We'll discuss it later. What happened with the scroll?"

Sakura sighed and glanced at Naruto. Neither of them was subtle about their silent conversation concerning his eyes. Sasuke wasn't a fool. He understood that whatever had happened back there needed to be discussed – later.

Potter was standing up straighter now, staring at them from behind thick blocky glasses. His face was pale and pinched in discomfort. It gave Sasuke an idea of how he himself must look. Potter didn't seem incapacitated, however, simply queasy. There was nothing dull in his eyes, just confusion as he glanced back and forth between the three of them.

It made Sasuke feel a little queasy thinking of how they were going to explain everything. The topics involved were not issues he enjoyed discussing, but there would be no way to avoid it. He shouldn't be weak enough to let it bother him.

Naruto and Sakura seemed to have finished their assessment of Sasuke's condition. Naruto came sliding over next to Sasuke, grinning like an idiot. "Oi! Oi! Harry-kun, you wanna get ramen right? Tell Sasuke-teme – I mean – Sasuke here that we ought to get ramen."

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he watched Potter's confused expression. "In English, dobe," he reminded his teammate.

Naruto blinked. "Eh?"

Sakura thwapped him upside the head good naturedly – which for her meant the other ninja only stumbled to the ground instead of going flying into a tree. "Switch back to English, Naruto! Potter-san can't understand you yet." She turned to Potter with a bright smile and bowed slightly. "I apologize for that, Potter-san," she continued in English. "It's still much easier for us to communicate in our own language, but we'll try to use English for now."

Potter nodded very slowly in response. "What happened?" he asked hesitantly before glancing cautiously at Sasuke. "Are you all alright?"

Naruto bounced back immediately, with a laugh and a bright smile. "Yeah! We're just fine! We're just really glad you're okay!"

Potter managed a small smile for Naruto, his eyes still shifting nervously from one of them to another. "Thanks, I guess." Potter sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "Look, what the hell is going on here? I think I deserve an explanation. Now."

Sasuke glanced over at Sakura carefully. She shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't my place to tell him. I thought it was the kind of thing that would be better covered once we were all back in Konoha," she explained to Sasuke, sticking with English like she's promised Potter.

"I don't think I can put up with waiting any longer," Potter snapped back. "You all show up at my Aunt's house out of no where, demanding I go with you and blowing up Aunt Petunia's entire lawn! Do you realize how much trouble I'm going to be in for this? And who the hell was that?" Potter sucked in another breath before glaring at each of them. He still looked sickly, but he stood up straight, one hand clenching spastically in his pocket.

"We had to come and get you!" Naruto immediately exclaimed.

"Naruto!' Sasuke snapped sharply. He didn't need the dobe sticking his foot in this. It was Sasuke's mission, he'd handle explaining this to his cousin. "That man," he started slowly, managing not to stick on those simple words more than he should. "That man is a criminal, responsible for the murder of an entire clan from our village. He has targeted you, for reasons that are too complicated to explain out here. I am afraid you have no choice, Potter-san. That man will not stop until you are dead. Bringing you here was the only option."

"For how long?" Potter demanded.

Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean?"

"How long?" Potter replied slowly. "I need to go home! Do you have any idea how much they're going to freak out after that? You blew up the whole yard!"

"Itachi did some of that!" Naruto yelled back before Sasuke could silence him. Sakura helpfully punched him for Sasuke.

"Itachi?" Potter repeated.

Sasuke grimaced. "That man."

"Oh." Potter stared at Sasuke and Sasuke carefully kept his eyes directed just over the other teen's shoulder. After a moment, Potter sighed. "Can I go back now?"

"No," Sasuke answered.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably beside him as they both watched Potter's expression darken. "We would return you, Potter-san, if it was safe. Please understand, Itachi will just come after you again if you go back."

"So what am I supposed to do now? Stay here forever?" Potter exclaimed.

"Sure!" Naruto chimed in. Sakura swung at him again and he ducked away.

Sasuke ignored both of them and hoped Potter would as well. "Just until I kill that man."

Potter stared at him. "This is bloody insane," he muttered after a long moment.

"I promise I will protect you from that man," Sasuke replied immediately, clenching his fists and swearing it completely within himself.

For once, Naruto stayed quiet. Sakura hovered close near by. And Potter slowly nodded. "Promise you'll explain what the hell's going on – fully explain everything. If you do that, then I guess we can figure out something, right? I mean, I am glad I wasn't blown to little bits back there, and I get how that's thanks to all of you. But I do need to go home. I can't stay here. You know that, right?"

"Why not?" Naruto whined. "We want you to stay!"

Potter blinked, then smiled suddenly. His face relaxed. "Again, thanks, I think. But I really, really, really need to go back home."

"After Itachi is dead," Sasuke insisted. "It would be suicide to return before then."

Potter sighed. "I'm not to sure about that or any of this. I think you need to explain some things. A lot of things."

Sasuke nodded sharply. That was good enough for him. He had no intention of letting his cousin out of his sight, even if he had to hold the other young man against his will. He had no qualms about doing anything necessary. "Not here," he continued. "It's too open out here. We'll wait till we're back within the village walls, agreed?"

"And we can ask Tsunade-sama about what went wrong with the scroll!" Sakura added.

"And I bet ero-sensei can do something to teach you how to talk!" Naruto cheered. "I mean, how to talk like us! It'll be great!"

Potter winced and Sasuke felt sorry for him. Exposure to the #1 loudest ninja in Konoha could be a trying experience for anyone. "Come on, before the idiot says something else stupid."

"Teme!"

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke snapped back, turning away and starting to make his way back home.

"Are they always like this?" he could hear Potter whisper to Sakura.