Chapter 15 Physical Reminder.

"Ouch!" I cried as Hiko tugged the bandage around my hand snug and tied it shut.

"It's not that bad." She said.

"No, but it still smarts."

Ekima was seated on a chair, watching the whole operation. Orochimaru had forgotten that Kabuto had a mission to carry out, so my medical attention wasn't the most efficient. Yesterdays bandages were worn and Hiko had offered to change them for me.

"Yosh, now for the stomach." She said. "Take of your shirt."

I did so and turned around. Hiko's small, but delicate looking, hands worked skillfully. The movement stopped suddenly and Ekima gasped.

"What?" I asked but the moment the words came out, I realized what it was.

A cool finger traced down my back in a diagonal direction. I felt Ekima's long fingers examine my back as well.

"How did you get that?!" Ekima asked, her voice horrified.

I had seen it in the mirror a couple time. The clean, jagged in some areas, scar that started around my left shoulder blade and traveled across my skin down to my lower back. It marked me in a dark, sickly brown color and wasn't the most pleasant sight.

"Just a little accident." I lied.

"Why didn't you get it healed?" Ekima's voice was filled with pity.

"There was no one around." I shrugged. "This stuff happens, it's life."

There was silence filled the room as Hiko removed the old bandage and began to replace it with the new one. It was an uncomfortable silence. Silence has no shape or form but is has mass and weight. When you're surrounded by silence you can feel it settle above you, on your shoulders, in your mind. Sometimes it's even suffocating.

"There you go." Hiko said and patted her handy work.

She had hit it just enough (and right on my stomach wound too) to make me cry out sharply, sucking in my breath sharply. But Hiko just gave me a mischievous smile and didn't apologize.

"He beat you up pretty bad didn't he?" She teased.

"Yeah, but his growth is abnormal." I complained.

"I saw him walking earlier today, he's grown so much." Hiko had the look of a older sister who was fondly talking about a little brother. "You should've seen him as a kid! He was the cutest little-" She stopped abruptly.

I stared at her. "How do you-"

Hiko's face hardened quickly. "None of your business!"

I stood. "Well, you obviously know Itachi-san! Now your talking about how Sasuke-sama was as a kid!? Who are you exactly?!?!"

Hiko looked away, then turned a determined face towards me. "I'm a former Konoha shinobi." She said, her voice confident. "Itachi-kun was in my team."

With that she stood and left the room, slamming the door behind her. Ekima and I looked at one another awkwardly.

"You shouldn't ask her about such things, Karasu-chan" Ekima said in a hushed tone.

"But why?" I didn't want to pry but…I wanted to know.

Ekima seemed to debate whether or not to tell me something.

"Promise you won't tell Hiko-chan I told you."

I nodded.

Ekima sighed deeply. "She's in love with him."

*~~*

Sasuke stared up at the ceiling. Cracks had begun to form and a spider had already spun it's master piece in far corner. The room was boring and uncreative. A bed, a chair, a table, and a showerless bathroom. But all the underground hideouts were dull. The ones above ground were much more comfortable. This wasn't nearly as nice as his house in the Uchiha community, hell, his apartment had been better that this.

He wondered if…no! The Uchiha turned onto his side, the bed springs creaking under him. No, he wouldn't think about Konoha or anyone there. Sasuke forced his mind to focus on yesterdays battle. When he had first fought Karasu and lost, he decided when he fought her again, and won, he would gloat. But when it actually happened, when he stared into those two golden eyes, wide with disbelief, he just couldn't do it. The need to brag dissolved and left nothing. All he could do was turn and leave, he couldn't even say anything to her.

When he had first met Karasu the thing that stood out the most was how frail she was. She was small and skinny, like she had been living without the proper nourishment for a long time. With the exception of her tank top, her clothes fit her loosely. When they entered the dojo he was able to get a better look at the female Uchiha. Her hair was a sandy blonde that reached down to her shoulders and her bangs were parted down the middle. Her eyes were like liquid gold with a friendly demeanor, but Sasuke recognized hidden pain and cruelty in them. Eyes that had seen suffering and death; it was something only another person with such eyes could recognize. Aside from that, Sasuke found her average. Sure she was a bit easy on the eyes but nothing that would stand out in a large crowd. Even so, Karasu's fighting ability caught him off guard and he had to admit losing to a girl was a bit embarrassing.

For the past year Sasuke had been so busy he hardly saw her but from what Orochimaru said she was stubborn, independent minded and foul mouthed. He didn't find it too hard to believe after what she had said to him. He get did get to see Karasu again, when Orochimaru told him to find her. He found her in one of the hallways being harassed by two guys Sasuke hadn't aquatinted himself with, not that he cared to anyway. Sasuke wasn't big on chivalry but it still didn't change the fact that he didn't like guys that let themselves get distracted by such things. After chasing them off, he offered to show Karasu the way back, since she was obviously lost, but she became angry with him. Sasuke wasn't used to getting resistance from girls and he found this admirable. Eventually she gave in though and she even began to stare at him, claiming only to be observing his change.

Karasu hadn't changed much. Her hair was a bit longer and she wasn't as thin as before. She hadn't grown much either, the top of Karasu's head barley reached his chin. She wasn't pleased with him when he brought her to Orochimaru, she shot him a dirty look. When the two of them had battle, Sasuke was aware he had gotten stronger that her but she had changed to. She wasn't as fast and she didn't react as quickly anymore. Karasu was out of shape. He could tell she was beyond humiliated when he defeated her. She didn't say anything; neither of them did. But when Karasu had stared up at him in shock, Sasuke got that strange sense of déjà vu again. He had seen her before, even her name sounded familiar.

Then there was her friend, Hiko. Sasuke remembered her alright. The bouncy girl on his brother's old team. She was always the one sent to get Itachi for a mission. Hiko hadn't grown at all since then, not an inch. But now her hair was short and she didn't smile as much. Sasuke recalled the time in the winter when she came over, greeting Itachi with a snowball to the face. Itachi hadn't taken it to kindly and threw a snowball at the tree above her. Hiko laughed at this, teasing that Itachi was supposed to have better aim. But she realized to late his motive when the snow that had settled on the branch above came crashing down on her. Sasuke had burst into the case of giggles at this and Hiko responded with another snowball in his face. This broke out into an all out war until his mom came out and called the three in for tea. Sasuke begged to stay a little long but Hiko scooped him up in her arms and carried him inside, all the while telling him a young boy should listen to his mother or a youkai would come and eat him! Then they would sit, bundled in blankets, drinking their tea while Itachi and Hiko would tell the young Uchiha stories about their missions. He desperately missed days like-! Again Sasuke forced himself to push the unfinished out of his mind. That very same brother had killed everyone and now Sasuke would kill him! All that had been an act, a ruse preformed by Itachi as he hid behind a friendly mask. But, it was strange. Now that Sasuke thought about it, even though Hiko had told him to listen to his mother, Hiko herself had no parents.

*~~*

Ekima refused to tell me more about Itachi and Hiko. She was in love with him? Itachi had never mentioned Hiko at all, or anyone from his team. Oddly, this information almost made me feel as though my relationship with Itachi had been violated. Not that I harbored the same feelings Hiko had with him, I did love Itachi but in a brotherly sense. I paced around my room a little longer, telling myself that it was fine, nothing I need to pry into but what if learning Hiko's story could tell me more about Itachi. In the end I decided to let Hiko calm down and slowly pry the story out of her. I opened my door to go get some munchies, all this thinking had made me hungry, but the moment my door cracked open an arm reached in grabbed my collar and slammed me into a near by wall.

"Motherf-" I glared up into two pale eyes. "The hell, Yoshimitsu-san?!"

Yoshimitsu glared down at me, the veins of the byakugan popping out of the skin around his eyes.

"What did you do to Ekima?!" He demanded.

"What are you talking about?! I haven't done anything!!"

"You were the one last with her! And now she's depressed and started crying!!" He pulled me away from the wall and slammed me into it again. "What did you do!?!?"

"Yoshimitsu-kun!!" Ekima cried out from behind the Hyuuga. Yoshimitsu turned, his eyes wide with surprise. The byakugan faded. Ekima's face was horrified.

"What are you doing?!"

"I was just-" He began.

"I heard what you said!" Ekima said as she trudged forward and tore Yoshimitsu's hand from my shoulder. She pulled me into an, almost protective, embrace, which was weird 'cause she was taller that me.

"Karasu-chan had nothing to do with it!" She said sternly. "I was depressed because Hiko-chan is too! You know how the two of us work!!"

Yoshimitsu looked away. "I see."

He left the room silently. Ekima hugged me tightly.

"Ooh! Thank goodness!" She said. "Please forgive Yoshimitsu-kun, he can be overly protective sometimes."

"Funny," I said, dazed. "He doesn't seem the type."

Author notes: Kind of a short chapter. Yes, Fulcon. I know you don't like having two perspectives in a chapter but I do that (sorry). Anyways, we learned quite a bit about Hiko in this chap and a little about Yoshi-kun too! First time writing from Sasuke's perspective too! Fun, fun, fun!