Chapter Eleven: The Snake's Return

I don't own Naruto

Alli was currently in the hospital listening to all the gossip that is traveling the hospital walls. It really was antagonizing to hear all the bad language that was spoken about Gaara. No one understood any of the pain and feelings Gaara took. Alli did, and she hoped that she finally got through to Gaara that he wasn't alone and that she would be here for him. On the other hand, everyone else was pretty upset and joyful for what Alli did. She did after all took on the one-tailed demon by herself with no help whatsoever. Her family came to visit her and so did Sasuke's family. Currently, she was all alone though just staring at the blue sky through the window.

"You honestly scared the shit out of me Alli," Sasuke spoke to his girl as he walked into her room that day. Alli turned her head towards the door to see Sasuke standing in front of her bed.

"I had to do something," Alli stated. She tried to sit up, but Sasuke just put her back down.

"You can't be sitting up yet," Sasuke said, as he sat down net to her. "You're body is still healing and it's going to take awhile from all the damage you took."

"So, I'm assuming the reason why you're here is because you want to know why I went after Garage in the first place?" Alli questioned the man next to her. Sasuke stayed silent as a signal to let her keep talking. "You know the icy eyes that everyone gave me back in my world? He got those same exact eyes. He felt loneliness that I have felt, except he never got the friends like I did to help overcome that. He was fear by his people which created that appearance he held until I got to him. I broke his shell."

Sasuke listened very intently to what she said. Then he got up and left the room. Alli watched the whole time and she honestly was really hurt on what he did, but at the same time she knew she probably deserved it because she probably hurt him too.

Sakura and Tsunade came in and did regular check ups on Alli throughout the day. She was healing at a steady rate and should be out tomorrow. Kushina came in after the last check up for the day.

"Where's Sasuke, I thought he would be here, with you?" Kushina asked her daughter.

"Well, he's upset. Not that I blame him. I did after all, do stupid things, but I was only trying to protect the village." Alli explained as best as she could. Kushina sat down her stuff in the corner and sat in the nearby chair.

"Sweetie, he's obviously worried about your safety," Kushina simply stated. "He cares about you and probably was devastated that you were injured and beaten up so badly. He probably wanted to be in your place instead of you in the hospital bed for probably like the 3rd time you've been in this world honey."

Alli looked at her mom, "But I saved the village and stopped probably a fourth ninja war and made a friendship establishment between Leaf and Sand. The only thing that worries me was, that Leaf and Sand had a pact before from what I've read during my study sessions. There had to be a study change or a new Kazekage change for this to happen right?"

"According from the report your father told me was that, someone impersonated the old Kazekage the who time and fooled everyone in the Sand Village. He has intentions but we don't know who is behind it because he disappeared after Gaara and his siblings left the arena. Everyone just has to be on guard a lot more." Kushina gave Alli some food she brought that was in the corner and then left.

"I wouldn't worry about Sasuke, dear. He'll come back after he has processed everything. Besides, I don't think he can stay away from you very long."

Sasuke was out in the training grounds using about every justu he could think of to let his anger out. He was angry at Alli and angry at himself for not being able to protect her properly. Itachi eventually came out to the fields to let his little brother know it was lunch time.

"Sasuke, it's lunch time. Mom made her specialty again."

Sasuke stopped training to look at his older brother. "Is that the only reason you're here? You usually never come over here to tell me when lunch or dinner is even ready."

Itachi sighed, "Mom actually sent me out here to check up on you. You seemed really upset and angry. I was a bit worried too." Itachi sat down on the grass and patted the spot right next to him to encourage Sasuke to sit. "Tell me about your problems."

Sasuke walked over and sat down next to his brother. "Alli got injured while fighting Gaara of the Desert. She's fine and in the hospital."

"Alli did after all gain a new found friendship between the Leaf and Sand. You got to give her some credit," Itachi remarked.

"I know, it's just it worried me deeply. She isn't that strong enough yet. She just got here to this world and now she's being thrown into this way of life ninja's live and honestly I don't know how well she will take it! Damn, I don't know what I would do if I lost her."

"She's not going down without I fight. I already see the Will of Fire within her Sasuke. Don't discourage yet. She may have a long way to go, and I know she's one of your best friends but give her some credit. She's succeeding at a fast pace, we are very lucky to have her and she's alive. I think that is the most important part," Itachi explained. "She also agreed to be a ninja. You know very well that ninja's get hurt all the time, but they don't give up at the first shock of pain. She's part of that life now and she has to learn like the rest of us."

Sasuke just stayed quiet while his brother was talking. He soaked in all the information Itachi spoke about Alli and everything that has happened. Alli did after all gained a new political friend for the Leaf and that is a great asset. He really shouldn't be mad at her but he couldn't help it. Love does the strangest things. He decided that after lunch that he was going to visit her and apologize.

On the other side of the village, two figures were standing in the shadows discussing their next move.

"The girl is back. That's good news."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama, she's actually in the hospital now recovering from our little war. Which to report has failed. The Sand Village knows about what happened. Be grateful they don't know who was behind the killing of their late Kazekage."

"Oh Kabuto, don't make me laugh. We covered our tracks. Those little brats don't know what hit them."

"We do have a problem though. It seems the girl has made some powerful friends. Apparently Sasuke Uchiha and the girl are an item. Due to their clan's history, they tend to be very protective of the ones' they love. Along with being the daughter of the 4th Hokage. It's going to be highly difficult.

"Don't worry, we will hit them when they least expect it."

Alli was currently listening to music in her hospital room. Her mom left after their little talk and Naruto and her father haven't had a chance to stop by yet. Naruto promoted to chuunin so he has been hammered with missions lately and her father has been stuck in the hokage's office lately helping Tsunade out. After the attack, they definitely needed both of them.

Everyone once in a while, Sakura would come in and check on Alli. She'd be damned if anything happened to the girl. Sasuke would never forgive her. Sakura did eventually got rid of her silly little crush on Sasuke. She saw the way they looked at each other and depended on each other. It was like a match made in heaven, ones that only happen rarely. The only problem is that she had barely saw Sasuke today. Every time Alli was in the hospital, Sasuke was always there at her bedside. Not today though.

"There could be many reasons on why Sasuke isn't here today, don't be silly." Sakura spoke to herself. She secretly hoped it wasn't because she was working today. She did care for Alli, but she always had that nagging tingling in her head that Sasuke just plain out hated her.

Alli was awake, maybe she could tell her.

Sakura walked into her room to do a routine check up.

"Hey Alli, how's everything today?"

"Same old, same old, like usual. Thanks for asking Sakura."

"Where is Sasuke?"

"He's currently upset with me," Alli admitted. "But it''s totally okay. I probably deserved it anyway."

"No, that can't be true," Sakura spoke out loud. She totally deserved it, putting Sasuke through that!

"I just keep putting myself in stupid dangerous situations but I'm also a ninja, not a strong experienced one yet, but I know a problem when I see one. Gaara was suffering and I had to end that suffering. He gets to finally live life like he wants to. He doesn't have to be under control and he finally has his sibling's support. He's changed for the better. I know," Alli explained.

"I got to go and check up on my other patients, will you be okay?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Alli spoke softly and looked out the window. Sakura left the room and ran into no other than Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly.

Alli heard the exclaim from her room but didn't think any of it. He probably honestly came here to make her feel even worse.

"I came to visit Alli," Sasuke told Sakura. Sakura just pointed to her room and walked away. Sasuke just ignored her and walked to the place he wanted to be in the first place. He walked in there to see Alli's eyes closed and her breathing was relaxed. This confirmed to him that she was dead asleep. He just sat in the chair near by her bed. He closed his eyes to relax. He knew this was gonna be a while, and he might as well take a nap to pass the time. Who doesn't like a good nap anyways?

Alli woke up a good two hours later to see Sasuke sleeping in the chair next to her bed.

"Awe he looks so innocent when he's sleeping," Alli whispered to herself. She turned to her side to get a good look at him. Alli had a true smile on her face. Sasuke always brought one to her face, whether he knew it or not. Alli looked at the clock.

"A few more minutes until I get out of here. I wish mom or dad could have came to pick me up," Alli sighed. She really didn't want to walk home alone, especially this late at night. Yes, it was nightfall and Alli was fully healed but the nurses just had to do last minute checks, then she would be free to go home. Her machine that she was hooked up to let out it's one last beep to let the nurses know but that also woke up Sasuke from his nap.

"Did you have a good nap?" Alli asked him. Sasuke looked over to her and his expression wasn't even that mad.

"I came to apologize about earlier today," Sasuke admitted. He was going to say more, but then the nurse came in and started to do all the routine checks and he didn't want the nurse to know about the conversation they were having.

"You're free to go Alli," the nurse said and then walked out of the room. Alli slowly got out of the laying position to finally sit up after a long while. She was still in her hospital gown and slowly put her feet to the ground to try to get to her clothes. After all, she wasn't leaving the hospital naked!

Sasuke watched her the whole time. He decided to wait until they left the hospital to continue their conversation. Alli slowly started walking towards the dresser that patients could keep their clothes and tripped but never met the ground. She looked up to see that Sasuke had caught her before she could hit the cold hard ground.

"You need to be more careful," Sasuke sighed.

"Sorry for not being active for the past twenty four hours," Alli's sarcasm at an all time high.

"I'll help you," Sasuke said and put Alli back on the bed and he grabbed her clothes. "Do you need help putting on your clothes?"

"NO!" Alli voiced, "Just go wait outside." Sasuke just laughed and left the room. Alli got changed as fast as she could and walked out of the room to meet Sasuke who was waiting by the door.

"I'm all ready to go, I'm assuming we have to talk don't we?" Alli asked him and he just nodded and walked hand in hand out of the hospital.

Tsunade and Minato were looking through files in the Hokage's office. They looked at all the reports that happened in the Sand Village. They promised to help each other out and the first one was to figure out who was behind the attack. They decided to look at all the reports and to see if any pattern was noticeable or if any pattern was reduced from the change in power.

"I really hope we aren't just wasting time," Tsunade sighed as she took another sip of sake. They have been going at it for hours.

"There has to be a reason their attack was here. It wouldn't have been random. If they wanted to destroy any village, they could have started from the lesser to the most populated, but no it was just this village Tsunade. There has to be a reason," Minato explained.

"You're right Minato," Tsunade agreed. "Let's start back at the beginning and if we can't find anything let's call it a day and get Shikamaru to have a look through. He's the genius after all."

Alli and Sasuke were walking through the village on their way to get some decent food. There was still some restaurants open late at night. The ramen shop was closed, so they had to settle for some sushi. The walk there was sort of silent but the streets were still busy even though it was late. It would have been useless to even start a conversation from the beginning.

Alli and Sasuke ended up walking side by side. They stopped holding hands because it got difficult at times to walk through the crowds. It just seemed easier that way. After a few minutes Alli ended up bumping into someone and fell to the ground.

"Ouch," Alli said as she fell. She looked to who she bumped into and it was a grey haired guy with glasses who didn't look as old. Alli got up and held out her hand, "I'm so sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking."

The grey hair dude just smiled, "Nah, I think it was my fault, I just haven't been in here a long time and it was a sight to see."

Sasuke noticed that Alli wasn't following him and saw that she was talking to a grey haired dude he didn't recongized. He walked over to her.

"Alli, come on, we don't have all night," Sasuke grabbed her hand and walked away with her.

"Sasuke! I never got his name to fully apologize!" Alli complained.

"I don't trust him, his aura was off. I'd stay away from him if I were you."

What they didn't know was that the grey hair dude had a longing smirk on his face and walked off to find his partner.

Sasuke and Alli eventually arrived at the sushi restaurant and order their food.

"What I was saying earlier at the hospital was that I'm sorry Alli," Sasuke admitted.

"What gave you the thought to say sorry? You seemed really upset," Alli asked. She was utterly confused.

"I was," Sasuke said. "Then Itachi talked some sense into me earlier."

"Oh, so I have to thank your brother for you to be speaking to me again?" Alli asked him. Sasuke laughed, the sarcastic Alli was always a nice sign.

"I just worry about you a lot Alli," Sasuke admitted, "I usually don't do this whole dating/relationship thing because every other girl was just there. You're very special to me Alli and I just don't want to see you get hurt. When you do, it makes me feel like I've failed at being there for you."

Alli just laughed, "You're so silly."

Sasuke looked shocked. "What's so funny?"

Alli took a sip of her tea, "I'm always going to get hurt. I'm a ninja remember? Name one ninja that couldn't get a scratch on him, emotionally or physically."

Sasuke was silent.

"Exactly, Sasuke it's always the thought that counts and you just being there for me and being by my side, that's all that matters," Alli explained. Sasuke sighed in relief.

"Come on, let's eat our food," Sasuke gestured towards the food that just got to their table.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Alli exclaimed. Sasuke and Alli ended their night on a good note and that's what both of them wanted. No one wants to end their night upset or mad, especially with all the events that happened recently. It's a whirlwind of a ride and Alli will take each day at a time.

I finally got around to posting a new chapter after how many years? I've been busy, lost inspiration for a while and everything. I'm actually surprised I've gotten this up. The next chapter though, will probably not be up for a while. If I get inspiration then it may go up sooner, it all depends. Rememer to review!

-Shifuni