~20~

Sai woke up feeling like a ton of bricks was holding him down. The numbness on his left shoulder had given way to excruciating pain that vibrated throughout his body. He took his mask off realizing he still had it on when he passed out earlier in the day. He tried to check the wound but the cloth bandage was stuck to his skin and it ripped at his flesh when he tried to peel it. He took off the glove from his left hand and bit at it to keep from uttering even a single groan.

He was lying on his back against the clay roof tiles. The heat of the high noon sun penetrated through the oversized eaves and into his skin. It was not good to stay there any longer. He tried to get up but his body was far too heavy to raise. He rolled over and belly-crawled his way out using his right arm to move forward. He peeked at the back road while keeping his head low. The sound of activity from vendors and pedestrians could be heard from the other side where the main street was but not from the row he was facing.

He decided to take the risk and craned his neck further down and saw that the inn's rear balcony was open. He must first get down to the part of the balcony where he would not be visible from the inside. From there, he would make his way down.

With his right arm, he grabbed hold of the roof's gutter from the inside. He took a deep breath and with a large heave, quickly did a crash dive somersault using his right arm as a means to propel himself almost three-quarter of the way from the roof down to the edge of the balcony's surface. He landed with a loud thud on the left side, his back slamming hard against the wall. It was loud enough to be heard if anyone was inside the room from where the balcony protruded.

Sai kept still and held his breath. A few seconds, no one came out. He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down to his left and gauged the height of his next descent. But when he turned his face again, a girl was standing in the middle of the balcony, staring at him with surprise. By instinct, Sai reached for his tanto (short sword) prepared to strike, his left-hand glove still wedged between his teeth.

The girl's eyes strayed toward his limp and bloody shoulder. She pointed at it. "You're hurt," were the words that came out of her mouth. She motioned for him to come inside. Sai hesitated. He looked down to his left trying to decide if he should jump.

"You could die from that, you know?" she boldly declared pointing at his shoulder again. "This is my room. No one will see you," She assured.

Still battling his own logic, Sai reluctantly followed.

~21~

Danzo stood in the middle of his chamber with his eyes closed. Things had not gone the way he wanted at all. He received an advanced report that Lord Hisamegoro had been eliminated. That was well and good, Sai's team accomplished its task. But then yesterday morning, one of his own was reportedly brought wounded to the main gate by Sai's beast imitation. There was no word on what became of Sai.

He had planned to declare the young shinobi officially dead as a means to shield him from the village's intrusions. Was the effort to bring him back only good for a couple of missions? What's worse, Sai made another impulsive decision causing Danzo much inconvenience. He wouldn't be able to easily fool Tsunade the way he did the orphanage officials long ago. The best he could do was to claim his stake on the Anbu in the hospital to keep the Hokage and her underlings away from him. That is, if the Anbu dies. Fortunately, his chances of surviving were high. If that was really the case, Danzo did not have anything to worry about. The cursed seal on his tongue would ensure his silence.

What in the world was Sai thinking bringing someone back? And for everyone to see? "Come to think of it," he thought, "he made his first unpredictable decision to disobey me when he failed to assassinate Uchiha Sasuke."

This time should have been different. All memory of his association with Uzumaki Naruto was supposed to be gone. Was Ikioku's technique a failure? He made a mental note to get back the amount he paid the old man. "Just before I kill the braggart," he muttered. Still, Danzo mourned for Sai, in his own way.

Meanwhile, the Anbu who wore the cat mask woke up attached to an IV at Konoha Hospital. "The Hokage herself came to heal your leg," was what the nurse said to him early in the day. He remembered everything that happened-the mission, the barrage of icy shards, the pain when he was hit, the masked Anbu who came back for him. He recalled the bumpy ride on the lion's back. He remembered the resentment he felt toward that Anbu who stole his desire to die when he fell. And yet he felt contrary to his own resolve because he held on - held on tight onto the beast's black and white mane for dear life. He unexpectedly made it back and was right then lying on a hospital bed, alive and safe. His resentment was gone, replaced by relief that he would live to see another day.

He knew what that Anbu looked like without a mask. Eleven years older, he himself was one of those assigned to oversee Sai's early training from the time he entered The Foundation. "He adapted faster than the others," he recalled, noting that the child was naturally reclusive in the first place. He had an innate gift as an artist and Danzo-sama made sure he channeled that talent to good use. "Danzo-sama had a real eye for talent," he thought with sincere admiration.

Danzo-sama. He believed in his master's cause. Believe. Did he really know what he believed in? He was not trained to form an opinion on anything, not to believe but to obey, just like that young Anbu who saved him. Obedience meant everything. But he knew his life was saved as a direct result of disobedience. Was Danzo-sama, in all his wisdom, wrong about the policy of leaving the wounded behind? After all, the fact that he was alive meant he could go on more missions to serve the cause. Dead, he was useless. "If Danzo-sama was wrong about this then...;"

Going further with the idea troubled him so he let his mind stray off to his rescuer instead. "What made him do it?" He certainly would have not done the same thing if their fates were reversed. He knew the young Anbu was assigned to act as a regular shinobi some time ago and only recently recalled to Root. And all of a sudden, he developed the nerve to act on his own.

He was getting tired from all the thinking. He had time to do more of that later. He was alive, and he cherished every second of it. He looked out the window and stared at the clouds.

Continue to Part 22