Chapter Two-

That night Sasumi dreamed of the future, not the past. She sat up straight in bed biting back a scream. She wrapped her right arm around her chest in a weak attempt to steady her breathing. Images flashed through her mind, and she shook her head to block them out. It was almost funny that she feared the future more than the past, considering her past. Instead of her breathing calming down it sped up. She was hyperventilating and she knew it.

"Got to get out of here," she thought as she pulled on her bandages, gloves, and neck warmer. She stumbled out of her apartment as quietly as she could, afraid she would wake up the landlord. She practically ran out of the area, thanking the gods that she didn't make any noise in her sleep. She didn't know where she was going, but she wasn't all that surprised when she found herself at the base of the tallest tree in Konoha, the one right outside her former academy. She was about to reach for the lowest branch when she heard a sound behind her.

Uchiha Sasuke's yell echoed around his empty neighborhood. He sat up, resting his head in his hands, cursing himself for being so weak. Rubbing the tears off his face, he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror at his face which looked so much like his brother's. He looked away from the mirror, turning on the sink he scrubbed his face clean, remembering:

Foolish, little brother.

Stop it!

I've lost all hope in this pathetic clan.

Shut up!

If you wish to kill me, yo-

Stop it! STOP IT!

How weak, crying like a baby.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, his voice echoing off the tile walls. Suddenly, the room seemed to small, he had get out. He half ran out of the house, only stopping to grab his shoes.

Uzumaki Naruto woke up with a crash. He found himself on the hard floor of his apartment. Shivering, he stood up, waiting for the sounds of the other people in the complex to start pounding on his door or yell at him. When none came, he gave a sigh of relief, grabbed his orange jacket, and quietly tip-toed out of the complex. When ever he had nightmares he would go to that old wooden swing. He knew it didn't really make sense, as the swing itself was a reminder of his childhood, but he felt safe there all the same. He hadn't has the best of childhoods, with everyone hating him. The word 'Monster' came to his mind but he shook his head to get rid of it.

Especially if the economy was bad or something, he would get beat up a lot. He hated it and wondered why the villagers hated him so much, but never understood why until Mizuki told him about the Kyuubi. He even thought it was normal before he was enrolled in the academy and noticed that no one picked on the kids there. Then he thought he must have done something horribly wrong to deserve it. How stupid he was then. His face contorted in self-disgust, but quickly stopped that line of thought, he wasn't going to spend his life wallowing in self-pity. The past was the past and there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to move forward and not dwell on things he couldn't change. If, no, when he became Hokage he would show them all. He would-

Naruto froze, he had just turned a corner and was facing the academy. The building looked normal enough. Moonlight glinted off the sign that read 'Shinobi Academy,' which was swaying in a gentle breeze. No, Naruto was not looking at the building, he was looking at the people who stood on the two different paths that led to other neighborhoods. Sasumi was dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and black flannel pants. Her eyebrows were raised in surprise, but besides this she looked quite as she usually did. Sasuke wore a simple navy blue tee-shirt and white shorts. His eyes were so wide the looked like they were going to pop out and Naruto was aware that his mouth was wide open.

"What the hell are they doing here?!"

Sasuke stared, not completely sure if he was seeing things or not. Naruto's mouth was wide open in shock and he had never seen Sasumi's eyebrows so high on her forehead before. Sasuke quickly assessed that none of them had expected any one else here. There was an awkward silence which lasted about thirty seconds.

"Well…uh…this is…interesting," Naruto said after a while, "Ano…"

There was another awkward silence as he trailed off, obviously not knowing what to say. It was Sasumi who made the first move. Ignoring them completely, she gripped the lowest branch and pulled herself into the trees branches. Using chakra, she walked all the way to the top and sat on the highest branch. She stared off into the horizon and didn't look like she was going to come down anytime soon. Quickly Sasuke made his decision, he walked approximately a quarter way up the tall trunk and mimicked Sasumi and sat on the branch, leaning his back against the thick trunk. A wave of calm swept over him and the breeze tickled his face as he relaxed against the tree. He heard a clambering noise below and then a creak as Naruto presumably seated himself on the old swing below and scrambled around trying to make himself comfortable. Sasuke felt more peaceful than he ever had in his life, just sitting on a tree branch outside of the academy he once attended. He didn't think of anything in particular, as he simply watched the same breeze that was tickling his chin, cause leaves to rustle of in the distance. In the past whenever he had felt depressed or lonely he would go sit on a bridge on the outskirts of the village. The bridge that he had proved to his father that he had the same potential as his brother, that he would become a great ninja and that he would make him proud. That same bridge where he had sat, staring into the water, tears coursing down his face to fall into the water below him. That same bridge where he swore that he would do anything to kill Itachi. The tree felt different than the bridge where he had sat remembering his past. He felt alone there, drowning in his loneliness and depression. But now he didn't feel alone. It was a feeling he couldn't describe. He felt his teammates presence and suddenly he didn't feel alone anymore. Smiling slightly he drifted off to sleep. He was so tired he didn't even stop to think of why they were here in the first place.

He woke the next morning, feeling slightly disoriented.

"What the hell is this? A tree? Wait, what-" he lost his balance and slipped off the branch.

Oh, shit.

He hit the ground with a crash, cursing himself for picking a branch so high.

"Sa-Sasuke?"

He turned around to see the sleepy face of Naruto. Naruto rubbed his eyes, yawning, and slid off the swing.

"Are you okay?"

He glared at him and said nothing.

"Geez, I was just asking," the blond said, yawning again, "What time is it?"

"About 6:30," said a quiet voice from behind him.

Sasuke turned around slowly, rubbing his side and holding back a grimace of pain. Sasumi stood at the base of the tree and as Sasuke looked closer he noticed that she looked tenser than usual.

"6:30!" yelped Naruto, glaring at Sasuke, "You bastard, you woke me up!"

Sasuke suppressed to urge to roll his eyes, "You moron. You think I fell ten feet out of a tree just to wake youup?!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, now completely awake and was about to make a retort when Sasumi's quiet voice cut in, "What time do we have to meet Hatake-sensei today?" she asked. Sasuke was sure that she knew and had only asked to stop him and Naruto from fighting. The blond scratched his head, trying to remember, "Hmm…I think it was about…" his eyes widened in realization, "7:00," he finished. Then he brightened, "Hey, I got a good idea, since Kakashi-sensei is going to be late anyway, how about we go out for ramen!

Sasuke groaned audibly, "Moron, don't talk about ramen this early in the morning, you're going to give me a headache."

When he looked at Naruto again, he was wearing that smug smile of his that annoyed him so much.

"Not a morning person, eh, bastard."

He glared at Naruto, but said nothing. There was an awkward silence.

"Alright," he said, looking anywhere but Naruto's eyes, "Let's just get out of here."

"Wait," said Naruto, a completive look on his face, "Shouldn't we get our stuff first?"

Sasuke really didn't care that he was wearing his pajamas and he doubted either of his teammates did.

"We never use any of that stuff anyway," he said, "Let's just go."

The three of them walked in silence over to the ramen shop. The topic of last night immediately became taboo and as Sasuke sat down he realized that none of them had any money.

"Oi, moron, how are we going to pay for this?" he asked.

Naruto didn't even look up as he looked over the menu idly. Sasumi tensed slightly.

"I have an account here," he explained, "Since I come here so often, I just pay them once a month an they just take money out of my account every time I eat here. I suppose I'll cover you for today. However," he narrowed his eyes and glared at him, "Don't think this is going to happen again."

Sasuke was not in the least surprised and he glared right back, but didn't say anything. It was seriously too early in the morning. Why would Kakashi want them so early? After they ordered, Sasuke glanced over at Sasumi and he thought that she looked slightly uncomfortable. His suspicions were confirmed when, after they ate, she told Naruto that he needn't pay for her.

"Nah, It's fine," he told her, "It's not that expensive."

She still looked uncomfortable, but let it go. Naruto ordered another and asked them if they wanted seconds. Sasumi declined and Sasuke decided that if the blond was paying, why not? Naruto was in the middle of his third bowl when Kakashi walked in.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the bridge, looking at his watch, which read 7:30. It was pretty good for him and he was slightly annoyed as to why his team wasn't there. He could understand if Naruto wasn't there, but Sasuke and Sasumi? He summoned Pakkun and found that they were north of the bridge, which was downtown Konoha. He heard them before he saw them and was surprised to hear Sasuke's voice from inside Ichiriku's. What the hell?

"Okay, moron that's enough. You're going to make yourself sick!" Sasuke's clipped voice rang out. Kakashi was even more surprised as he heard Sasumi.

"I think you should listen to Uchiha-san, Uzumaki-san. We should be leaving soon," her monotone voice sounded a little more like a normal person's voice.

"Okay, okay. Just give me a second," came Naruto's voice, "I just need to finish this bowl."

Kakashi walked in and barely succeeded in willing his jaw not to drop. His entire team, which included Sasuke and Sasumi, was sitting in what appeared to be their pajamas, eating ramen. He blinked and raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done to my team?"

Naruto snorted in laughter, which resulted in a coughing fit. Sasuke scowled and blushed lightly, while Sasumi didn't even quirk an eyebrow, as usual.

"Team Seven was supposed to meet half an hour ago, where were you? And why are you wearing your pajamas?"

A perverted thought came to mind, but he ignored it, waiting for one of them to answer.

"We decided… to go out to…eat, because you're…always late," said Naruto, in-between bites.

"You didn't answer my second question," Kakashi said, wondering how in the hell Naruto convinced them to do all this. Naruto merely shrugged and swallowed the rest of the noodles.

"Thanks, oji-san," he said to the man behind the counter and handed her bowl to him with one hand and wiped his mouth with the other.

"We felt like it," he said and would say no more on the subject.

Kakashi inwardly sighed, and decided it was hopeless.

"So," said the blond, as they exited the ramen shop, "What are we doing today?"

Sasumi walked, exhausted, to her apartment after a long day of chasing someone's pet mice across an abandoned barn and scrubbing the floors at her other job. Seriously, what kind of person wanted mice that badly? When she reached her building, she was about to walk up the stairs when a voice stopped her.

"Yamaki," he said, leering at her slightly, "The price per week has just gone up. Starting now. I'll need twice as much as you usually pay."

She froze. Twice as much! Was he insane? She turned slowly to face him, intent on finding what caused this.

"Why-" she started evenly but never finished.

"Now," he growled dangerously, "Before I throw your ungrateful ass out."

She walked calmly upstairs and scooped her entire savings from her wallet and gave it to him.

"Thank you," he said smiling evilly, "Now that wasn't that hard, was it?"

She refused to answer him and walked upstairs and collapsed in her bed. She was in deep trouble. She had no money left now which meant she wouldn't be eating in a while. She quickly did the calculations in her head and found that combining her paychecks she would have just enough money for the rent. But only for the rent. This was not good.

Suddenly she gasped and wrapped her arm around her thin body. She often got phantom pains like this, but thankfully they were mostly at night when she was alone. Sasumi hated to think what would happen if they happened during a mission. She gritted her teeth and screwed her eyes shut against the pain. As another wave of pain came over her, she slipped into unconsciousness.

When she awoke it was still dark and her body ached all over. She felt a strange metallic liquid in her mouth, and she spat the blood out onto the floor. Her head ached as she automatically reached for her pajamas, right after she had finished pulling them on she realized that she hadn't planned on staying here in the first place and dumped her clothes in a bag and snuck down the stairs and out into the night. When she got to the tree, she was surprised to see that Naruto was already there. His head lay against his hands which gripped the rope tightly and he swung slightly in the breeze. He was in his pajamas, but a bag lay beside his feet. She quickly climbed the tree and fell fast asleep before Sasuke even arrived.

It when on like this for a few weeks, they would meet every night by the tree and only then would they be able to fall asleep. Sasuke had taken to tying his hand to a kunai, which he stuck in the tree, for fear of falling again. They never talked about it and each morning they would go change and then meet wherever Kakashi wanted them to or if they didn't have a mission they would go there separate ways. Sasumi knew they had nightmares, and she wondered if they knew she had them too.

But the fact that she was working twelve hours a day and not eating was beginning to take its toll. She was forced to warp extra bandages around her arms to make them look larger because if she didn't they looked like sticks. Despite the fact that she was getting more sleep than she had had for seven years, she had huge circles under her eyes and her ribs were beginning to stick through her shirt, which resulted in her having to slouch making her look even smaller. Sometimes she felt so sick that she would barely make it too her bed before passing out, only to wake up hours alter after another nightmare or flashback. But she refused to ask for help or stop working the long hours after her missions. If she didn't she would be thrown out of her apartment, then she would have no address which would result in her not getting any money at all. She thanked any gods that were out there that she had endurance for this kind of thing and was able to stay on her feet twice as long as a normal starving twelve year-old her age. Because she wore so many clothes and showed no skin besides her face, it was easy to fool her teammates into believing she was perfectly fine. They only thing they asked about was the fact that her face seemed a lot paler than usual, she brushed it off and insisted she was fine, leaving them no chance to argue. She was also noticing that not eating was having strange effects on her mind, she found it difficult to pay attention whenever Kakashi started describing a mission and often felt strange craving which involved doing things she never even thought of before. Along with her body she was slowly losing her mind. However, the only thing she had left, her pride, refused to tell any one or ask for help. About two weeks after her rent when up, she found she no longer could use her chakra, which made it impossible to climb the tall branches of the tree. Two days later she stopped coming to the tree, in fact she stopped waking up in the middle of the night all together. She would come home and collapse on her bed and fall into a dreamless sleep. Every morning was torture as she pulled herself out of bed and haphazardly stumbled out the door as she had stopped wearing her pajamas and just stayed in her day clothes. Her body hardly collected any moisture so she didn't sweat at all, therefore, she didn't have to wash her clothes. Her teammates looked at her strangely after she stopped coming to the tree, but made no comment. Almost a month after she stopped eating it happened.

They had just finished a mission which involved escorting an old lady from one end of the village to another. They were walking back to the center of the village when Sasumi's stomach clenched tightly. She automatically wrapped her arm around it, biting her lip in an effort to stop herself from making any noise. Her teammates, who were slightly ahead of her didn't notice anything. Blood trickled down her chin as she fought to stay conscious. Every nerve in her body burned and all she could think of was how she wanted it to stop. At this point she didn't care if she died. She heard Naruto's questioning voice and then coughed out a mouthful of blood. She heard him yell and then she saw a flash of light and then it all went black.

Naruto stared in horror as his teammate crumpled to the ground. Sasuke and Kakashi whirled around at his yell. He fell to his knees and shook her in a weak attempt to wake her up.

"Sasumi! Sasumi! Oi, Sasumi!"

Kakashi knelt down beside him started to pick her up.

"Naruto, calm down," he said, "Listen, you need to tell me wh-" he froze, holding Sasumi in a half-way seated position, "-at happened," he said slowly. His eyes went wide and he stared down at her limp form.

"Oh, hell," he breathed.

"What happened?" Sasuke said, "Oi, what-"

Kakashi cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"We need to get her to the hospital," he said softly, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, "Come on."

Naruto would have questioned, but the strange closed look on his sensei's face stopped him. He and Sasuke exchanged a glance and off they went. While they waited for the doctor, Sasuke asked Kakashi what was going on, but he didn't answer. Finally, a woman with short black hair and a doctor's uniform walked in. She had glasses on and was barely taller than Sasuke.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked looking curiously at Sasumi. When Kakashi didn't answer, Naruto found himself answering her.

"We were on our way back from a mission and she fainted," he explained, aware that he was talking faster than normal.

"Hmm," said the doctor, "Has she been acting unusual lately? Like quieter than usual or something?"

He and Sasuke exchanged a glance, but said nothing. The doctor sighed.

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with her?" she said.

"I think you'd better see for yourself," said Kakashi quietly and handed Sasumi's limp form over to the doctor. The doctor looked puzzled, but when she had Sasumi completely in her arms, her eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my God," she said quietly, turning to face Kakashi, "How old is she?"

"About twelve or thirteen."

Naruto was annoyed and by the look on Sasuke's face, he was too.

"Will someone tell us what the hell is going on here?" he said loudly.

The doctor didn't answer, but asked him a question instead, "When was the last time you saw her eat?" she asked him.

Naruto was confused. What kind of question was that? He scratched his, head trying to remember, "Well, Sasumi never brings a lunch and on most missions we don't eat breakfast or dinner so…" he trailed off realizing what the doctor was getting at, "Holy shit. I haven't seen her eat in about a month!"

"Yes," said the doctor, quietly, "She weighs...very little."

Naruto felt sick. Why hadn't Sasumi been eating? The doctor headed out the door.

"I need to take her to a room, wait here until I'm done."

She left them in a horrified silence. Sasuke glanced at him and Naruto shook his head slightly.

"What the hell is going on here?" was the only thought that ran through Naruto's mind. About half and hour later the doctor returned to the room. Naruto stared at her, was it just his imagination or did she look paler than she did before?

"You may see her now," she said, her voice slightly quieter than usual. She led them to a white room on the second floor. Sasumi lay in a large white bed which made her look smaller than usual. She was wearing a hospital gown, but was still wearing the strange bandages around her arms, her gloves, and that weird thing around her neck. Naruto looked questioningly at the doctor but decided to say nothing.

Suddenly he realized that he had never seen Sasumi asleep before. Even on their trip in the Wave Country, when they all shared the same room, she always went to sleep after him and woke up before he was up.

"She's very lucky that you brought her here now," she said suddenly, "A few more days and she would have been dead."

Naruto's eyes widened as he turned toward her, "Seriously?"

The doctor nodded, "It takes about a month of not eating to kill a person, she hasn't eaten in about three and a half weeks. Also," she looked uncomfortable, "has anything like this happened before? Like her not eating or…uh…maybe something else?"

Naruto blinked, "Err…Well, she never brings a lunch," he said lamely.

Sasuke shook his head and Kakashi narrowed his eyes

"What are you getting at?" their sensei said.

The doctor scratched the back of her neck nervously, "Okay, by the state of her body she hasn't eaten in three and a half weeks right? And you said you hadn't noticed anything different until now?" She hesitated, "Well, that's…not normal. Adolescents, especially, need extra food and nutrients because they grow so fast. And while most people don't die until a month has gone by, they usually collapse within a few days. And those are adults. Adolescents would succumb faster. You see what I'm saying?"

When they all looked blankly at her she sighed, "Okay what I'm saying is that…something like this has happened before. What I'm saying is that she is probably used to not eating a lot and that is why she was able to last so long. Understand?"

"So you mean that Sasumi is used to being starving?" he asked slowly

"Yes, exactly," she said, "I suggest you speak to her parents, as they obviously haven't been taking care of her," she said this with a look of complete disgust on her face.

"Parents?" he thought, and he looked at Kakashi, "Ano…does Sasumi even have any parents?" He had always assumed Sasumi didn't have any parents, though now that he thought about it that didn't really make sense.

Kakashi scratched his chin, "I don't think so, on her application to the academy, I believe she put that she didn't have any."

The doctor, looked at him strangely, "Wait, if this girl doesn't have any parents then why isn't she on the list of orphans under the care of Konoha?"

"List?" Sasuke asked, looking confused, "What list?

The doctor sighed again, "The village has a list of orphans that they pay the finances of until they become of age. Konoha pays the rent, food costs, and clothes cost of children who don't have parents or a guardian," she paused and dug a piece of paper out of her pocket, "Here's a copy of it."

She handed it to Kakashi and Naruto stood on his toes to see. He saw about twenty names on the list his and Sasuke's included. But no Sasumi.

"Well," said the doctor, "She probably didn't have enough money to buy food, or something like that," she paused, "But wouldn't she tell you?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I can't imagine her saying anything," he said, his eyes traveling to the hospital bed.

"Are you sure nothing like this has happened before?" the doctor asked again.

They all shook their heads, "Alright, she should wake up in a few days but it will take about a month for her to recover. I'll contact you when she wakes up," she motioned for them to leave and Naruto walked out half in a daze.

"Why didn't she say anything?" he thought, but could not find an answer.

A/N: Yeah, I mean to my characters, it's a problem, I know. Next chapter you'll find a bit more about Sasumi and the doctor, so if you review,I'll post. Chapter Four will probably be the start of the Chuunin Exam, but don't worry, eventually the fic will go off in a totally different direction.