Ink's Notes:

...

I really have no excuse for being so late.

I'm so, so sorry that it took so long.

I'll talk a little about my reasons after the chapter, but I don't want to delay you any longer than I already have.

Please enjoy.

Chapter Sixteen

"Vivi!" Marco exclaimed, opening his arms wide. "It's been ages! I haven't seen you for at least a year!"

Gaara and Sakura both blinked, looking back and forth between Marco and the rather confused looking Vivi. "You know her?" Gaara asked, arms folded across his chest.

"Well, we're more like acquaintances," Marco elaborated, scratching behind his ear. "She was a client once. My crew and I escorted her across the sea for business."

"Oh-!" Vivi gasped, nodding quickly. "Yes, now I remember! Not much, but I do remember Edward-San's kindness, and the sea…"

Something clicked in Sakura's mind. Marco was saying he knew her, and her him… if that was the case, it was likely that Vivi was also-

Her musings were interrupted when Marco spoke up again. "Vivi, Gaara asked if you'd like to come to Konoha with us in order to help you regain your memories."

Vivi frowned and looked to Gaara. "Gaara-San, are you sure that's okay? Plus, I don't think I have repaid you properly for all of your kindness." Carue quacked in agreement.

"It's fine, Vivi. You've already done plenty," Gaara gently smiled. "I wouldn't want to keep you from anyone you may have waiting for you at home, wherever that is."

Vivi nodded, holding her hands at chest level, before giving Gaara a large hug. "Thank you. For everything." She released him, smiling gently before walking over to Sakura and Marco. "Edward-San, perhaps you can tell me more about our travels together on the way to retrieve my things?"

Carue quacked as the group walked out of the office, and Sakura pet his feathers. "So," Sakura began once she was certain they were out of earshot from anyone who might notice. "Do you two really know each other?"

"Know of each other," Marco corrected. "I gathered she was from the same place as me when I saw Carue." Sakura figured he was using vague terms in case someone was listening in.

"Why?" Sakura asked, and Carue quacked in agreement.

"Carue is a spotted-billed duck," Vivi explained. "They're a kind of duck only found on Sandy Island, more specifically Alabasta."

Sakura nodded. "And you said you knew of each other? Marco is pretty famous, from what he's told me…" Vivi nodded and Carue quacked in confirmation. "But what about you?"

"Well, she is a princess. When you travel as often as I do, you hear about important figures like her," Marco said, and Sakura stopped dead in her tracks as her three companions kept walking. When they realized she had stopped walking, they turned back to look at her.

"Sakura-San?" Vivi frowned, and Carue quacked in concern. When she didn't respond, Vivi walked up and waved a hand in front of her face. "Sakura-San, are you all right?"

Sakura's legs proceeded to fail her, and she collapsed under her own weight. Marco moved quickly, catching her before she could hit the ground, before picking her up bridal style.

"I think she just had a mental overload," he smirked, turning to face Carue. "Carue, do you mind carrying her back to our hotel room?" Carue quacked and shook his head, so Marco placed Sakura on his back, adjusting her position so she was riding comfortably.

"Marco-San," Vivi piped up, "Are you sure this is okay? That Sakura-San knows where we're from."

Marco began leading Vivi and Carue down the streets towards the hotel they were staying at, turning his head to look at her. "It's fine. Sakura is my nakama," he smiled. Vivi unconsciously wrapped her hand around her left wrist, and smiled back at him. "She's helping me find a way back home." Something seemed to dawn on him at that moment. "Speaking of which… how did you wind up here?"

Vivi's smile faded. "There was this devil's fruit user…"

When Sakura regained her senses, she found herself in her hotel room in the early evening, Vivi sitting on her bed and talking to TenTen, showing her some sort of sharp jewels attached to a wire.

"Oh- Sakura!" TenTen greeted with a wave. "Look at this! Vivi uses Peacock Slashers as a weapon! Peacock Slashers! How cool is that?"

Sakura missed the appeal of the strange weapon, and just sat up and adjusted herself so she was sitting next to Vivi on the bed. "Um, how long was I out for?"

"About two hours, Sakura-San," Vivi laughed nervously. "Edward-San, Carue and I brought you back here to recover, and then Edward-San and I discussed our time together to help me regain some of my memories." Sakura had pieced together that Vivi was faking amnesia as a cover story, so she just nodded. "TenTen-San returned about half an hour ago and we explained the situation, so the two of us were getting to know one another."

Sakura nodded. "Where are Edward and Carue?" she asked.

"They're in the other room with Lee-San," Vivi answered.

"Lee wanted to use Carue as a weight for his pushups," TenTen sighed. "We were going to go and pick up Vivi's things, but she was worried about you, and now that Lee's got Edward and Carue occupied…"

"So, tomorrow before we leave, then?" Sakura sighed, and TenTen nodded in response. She felt her stomach complain, and brought a hand to it. "…Is anyone else hungry?"

Vivi smiled. "Actually, we were planning on going to get dinner once you woke up. Shall we go?"

TenTen smiled. "If it's your last night in Suna, we should get a big meal to commemorate the occasion! Bid the city farewell with a happy memory, you know?"

Vivi gripped her left wrist with a smile, and nodded. "That sounds like a great idea, TenTen-San. Let's get Lee-San, Edward-San and Carue so they can join us."

The three got up and went to the room next door, knocking. "Lee, Edward!" TenTen called. "We're going to get dinner, do you want to join us?"

A loud quack from the other side of the door, followed by what Sakura swore was Lee voicing a complaint and Marco sighing, and the door opened so the three could exit the room. Carue quacked and hugged TenTen, before going over to Vivi, who gently pet his feathers.

"Lee was going a bit overboard with the workout," Marco said when Sakura looked at him for an explanation. Sakura quickly caught on, and nodded to Carue with a sympathetic look. The duck in question attempted to hide behind Vivi when Lee trudged out of the room.

"I wasn't finished!" he complained. "I still had 50 handstand pushups to go!"

Vivi muttered under her breath, and Sakura caught something about a Mr. Bushido, which she decided to ask about later. Instead, she brought her hands together with a clap. "Come on! Let's go eat!"

All right... as promised, I'll talk about why it took so long to get this out. If you don't want to read it, I don't mind - that's why I'm warning you here.

Really... the main thing is that I haven't been feeling as well as I could be. I've started something of a summer job - helping out my aunt and uncle at their pharmacy - and it's leaving me really tired because I'm not used to doing stuff like that. Plus, I've been feeling unwell - not really in a sick way, but more in a just... kind of depressed way, I guess? I've been sick and sad and just generally in a sour mood on something of a short fuse. Things that shouldn't annoy me have been annoying me, things that don't usually set me off have been setting me off... I've also been less motivated to do all the things I normally do. Writing, drawing, heck, even sticking to the right sorts of food choices have been harder for me lately. I've been downright depressed and I don't know why and that just makes it worse and I don't really know who to talk to it about, I guess, and that means I've been keeping it bottled up. Heck, it's helping a little just to type it out... I guess this is more for my sake than for anyone else's that this is all going here? I don't really want to bother you all with it, but I do kinda need a way to vent now and again. And when I can get myself motivated to do things, it's mostly been on the 'drawing' and 'comic making' side of things, as opposed to the 'writing' side. Sorry about that. u_u

The other thing is that... well, video games. I got Bravely Default: Where The Fairy Flies. As I type this, I'm having my party run around while set to Auto to grind for money and levels. So that's also been taking up a lot of my time.

So, um, if you're still here, thanks for reading through all of that. I'd say I'll try and be faster with the next chapter... but I'm not very good at holding myself to those sorts of promises.

Until next time!

-Ink