Chapter 3

The next morning, Sasuke woke up out of a deep, deep sleep. He blinked a few times against the light in his room. He felt like he had been KO all night, he hadn't heard a thing. He had just been gone. But he could vaguely remember hearing fighting. And he wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. When he looked aside, he saw Neji was already up. Sasuke took his chance to ask.

"Did anything happen?"

Neji looked at Sasuke as he was combing his hair.

"..No." He then said. "Nothing happened tonight. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. I thought I heard people fighting tonight. You'd better not be lying to me." Sasuke said as he got up.

"I'm not lying to you." Neji said. "I told you that it would be fine to stay here."

"Are you sure nothing happened?" Sasuke asked as he looked in the mirror and saw his torn clothes. He was sure he had looked better.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Neji asked, as he stood from the chair he had been sitting on. "As you can see, I'm not wounded or hurt in any way. The only thing I feel now is that I'm hungry and I recall that our host said something about that we could get something to eat this morning as well."

"Well sorry. I felt like I passed out last night, so I wouldn't know if anything had happened." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "Did he say anything about clothes?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but I'll ask him." Neji replied, and then walked out of the room, towards the living room. He saw the owner of the house sitting in his living room while eating some bread, and walked over him.

"I want to thank you for your hospitality, it's very kind of you to take us inside this night." He then said.

Sasuke followed Neji, rubbing his hair to make it look presentable and then looked at the owner of the house. He still didn't trust this guy one bit.

"Of course, you're welcome. Breakfast is on the table, if you are hungry, you can eat." The owner said and gave Neji a weird smile.

"Thank you so much." Neji said, giving the other a slight bow. "Do you know by any chance where to get a set of clothes? As you can see, Sasuke's clothes are torn and he rather won't go out in public like this."

"I have some old clothes of my son. He grew out of them, but your friend seems to be able to fit in them." The owner said. Sasuke glared at him. That was an indirect comment saying he was short and Sasuke didn't like it one bit.

"Sir, you are too kind." Neji said, as he shook his head once. "We can't accept all these things without paying you for it."

"It's fine. Now I need to go to work soon, so I would appreciate it if you would hurry up." The man, called Iyuka, said.

"Don't worry, we can't wait to leave." Sasuke mumbled.

"We will." Neji said, as he walked over to the table and took Sasuke with him. He then started eating. He was starving.

Sasuke sat down at the table and started eating as well.

"He called me short." He said, still offended about it.

Neji send Sasuke a look and then let out a short chuckle.

"Compared to him, you are short." He said.

"I am not short." Sasuke hissed. Obviously he had problems with his own height. But he wasn't short.

"Just stop talking." Neji said as he continued eating. He knew the guy wanted them to hurry.

"Pfft. Fine." Sasuke said and then ate as fast as he could. Which was fast. He finished his breakfast before Neji was halfway through it.

After some time, Neji was done as well, as he stood from the table.

"Another time, thank you for your hospitality." He then said. "We will be taking our leave now."

"Alright. I put the clothes by the door, you can change there." Iyuka told Sasuke. "Good luck with finding a new place."

"Thanks a lot." Neji said, nodding to Iyuka. "Have a good day." As they walked towards the door and they passed Iyuka, Neji blew out some breath. Thank god the man didn't try something again. He knew Sasuke would have set up a fight right away.

Sasuke gave Iyuka a last glare and then followed Neji. He quickly changed into his new clothes, which fitted him perfectly and that in turn pissed him off. Both he and Neji then went outside.

"So. Next city?" He asked.

Neji gave Sasuke a slight smile now.

"Yes." He then said. "Next city."

Neji let out a moan as he slowly opened his eyes. He didn't recall ever feeling as bad as he did now. He was burning, he was feeling sick, his head hurt, his body felt like every muscle had ripped and he was sweating. What had happened to him? As he opened his eyes fully he noticed that something cold had and wet had been laid onto his head. Was it Sasuke who had done that?

"Hey." A voice from beside Neji said and when Neji looked where it come from, he saw Sasuke, making some food.

"Don't move your head." Sasuke said, pushing Neji's head back so the cold piece of clothing wouldn't fall off Neji's head.

Neji kept looking at Sasuke now.

"...What happened?" He then asked. He could barely remember what had happened that could have let him end up like this.

"You just collapsed while we were walking." Sasuke answered. "I took you with me to find a place to stay. You've been sleeping for a day now."

Neji looked away now, not liking to hear something like this. Sure, he had felt bad for some days, but he wasn't one to complain about things like these. To actually think he had fainted like he was some kind of weak girl.

"Right.." He then said. He then realised that Sasuke had actually taken care of him, a side he didn't know of Sasuke.

"Do you need anything?" Sasuke asked as Neji was silent for a while. "I have water, berries and meat."

"Some water and a few berries would be good." Neji said, admitting that he was pretty thirsty. He also felt like he should eat every vitamin he could get and also something light, so the berries would be great. However, when his nose suddenly picked up the smell of the meat, his stomach reacted heavily by growling loudly. In a second, Neji's face was redder then it already was from the fever he was having.

Sasuke smirked a little at Neji and then picked up some of the berries. He pushed Neji up carefully and placed him against the tree that was near before handing the berries to him.

"You can have some meat as well if you want. I don't think those berries will make you any less hungry." Sasuke said.

Neji leaned against the tree as he ate some of the berries, silently enjoying them to the maximum.

"I'll first eat the berries." He then replied.

"That's fine." Sasuke said and then put the small bowl of water beside Neji. "If you need more, I'll go and get it."

"Thank you." Neji replied and was silent for some time, while eating his berries and sometimes drinking some water for the bowl. He then spoke up again. "...I never expected you to be able to take care of others."

"Well that's very nice of you." Sasuke said, immediately offended.

"Don't be offended so quickly Sasuke." Neji said. "You are the one who keeps on playing the tough guy."

"I'm not playing anything." Sasuke said. "Besides, if I won't take care of you, we'll be stuck here forever."

"You could also let me die in here." Neji said, shrugging slightly.

Sasuke looked at Neji now.

"... You're really sick aren't you?" He said. He hadn't expected Neji to feel so bad.

Neji looked at Sasuke for a moment before looking away once again.

"It's not that bad, but I don't feel good." He then said.

"It's fine if you're sick Neji." Sasuke said. "Don't act like a 'tough guy'." He smirked at Neji.

Neji gave Sasuke a slight glare, before taking a sip of his water. Which only lead him to choke on it and burst out into coughing. Embarrassed, he tried to wave it away, but once again his cheeks were coloured with a blush of shame.

"You should calm down." Sasuke said. "It really is fine if you're sick. Do you need anything? More berries?"

"I g-guess some meat w-would do after.. *cough* a-all.." Neji gasped, trying to get his breath back. Damn it.

Sasuke nodded as he grabbed some of the roasted meat and gave it to Neji.

"I found out I like it better raw." Sasuke said. "Drink some water."

"You l-like raw meat?" Neji asked, and lifted the bowl to his lips again and drank some of it. As he leaned down to put the bowl back, he suddenly started to see some black dots in front of his face. Within a few seconds it was fully black in front of his eyes and he let out a moan as he nearly fell down on the ground again. He caught himself with his left arm in time, gripping his head with his right hand in the mean time.

Sasuke was by Neji's side in a second and pulled him back up. He sat Neji up against the tree again and looked at him, slight worry on his face.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he took the bowl from Neji's lap and put it away. Sadly, Neji's pants were now wet.

Neji swallowed as he blinked to get his vision back, before nodding a little.

"Yeah.. I just have to watch out." He then said, leaning his head back against the tree and closing his eyes to try to calm down his body.

"Yeah you do. I have to take off your pants." Sasuke said and his hands were already on the hem of Neji's pants, pulling it down slightly.

"Why?" Neji asked with a groan, as he opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke.

"Because you spilled water over your pants." Sasuke said and pulled the pants off, hanging them over a branch.

Neji pulled his now naked legs up a little, not liking how cold he felt now.

"..Is the meat still warm?" He then asked.

"Yeah, I just roasted it, right before you woke up. Eat it fast and it will be warm." Sasuke said. "And to answer your question, yes I like raw meat."

Neji nodded as he took the meat and started eating some of it in silence. He had to admit it felt really good to eat something now.

Sasuke watched Neji eat like that. He didn't want to admit it, but he found Neji looking rather... cute this way. Stupid too, but cute. And so he stared.

After a while, Neji caught Sasuke staring at him. Cursing himself to hell, he once more blushed.

"..What?" He asked.

Sasuke looked away quickly now.

"... Nothing." He said, feeling like an idiot. He quickly ate some of his own, raw meat.

Neji focussed his attention back on his meat, but had to admit he was a little weirded out by how Sasuke was acting. It didn't make sense to him.

"I want to find that man." Sasuke said, to break the silence. Although he really did want to find that man. Because that man knew who he was.

"...The man with the glasses?" Neji asked.

"Yes." Sasuke said nodding. "I need to know who I am."

"I don't think this guy meant any good." Neji commented.

"I don't care, he knows who I am." Sasuke said.

"Perhaps we will meet others who know more." Neji said. "I hope we will."

"In the mean time, I will be keeping my eyes open for that guy." Sasuke said. "Do you want more meat to be roasted?"

"It's fine like this." Neji said, nodding gratefully to Sasuke.

"Ok." Sasuke said nodding. "Anything else?"

Neji shook his head.

"No thanks." He then said. "Thank you for helping me like this."

"You're welcome. Now you owe me." Sasuke said.

Neji smiled slightly now.

"I guess so." He then said.

"So how long do you think it will take before you can start walking again?" Sasuke asked.

"I have no idea, especially since only bowing forward is too much already." Neji said, frowning a little. He looked up when he suddenly heard a sound from not too far away from them. It was a wolf howling.

Sasuke turned into the direction from the howl and then looked at Neji, his face dead serious as he took the knife he had used to cut the meat.

"It's coming this way." He said. How come he hadn't heard this creature before?

Neji frowned even more deeply as another howl sounded through the forest, and this time even closer. Then even footsteps were being heard and they came closer in rapid speed. With a loud growl the wolf suddenly jumped out of the bushes and stopped right in front of Sasuke, growling to him and showing his teeth.

Sasuke grabbed the knife tightly and held it before him. He was lucky Neji was so close behind him, otherwise he had more to worry about.

The wolf walked closer now, giving Sasuke a threatening bark.

"...Sasuke, perhaps we have to get out of here." Neji said, as he saw the wolf getting ready to attack Sasuke.

"That wolf runs a lot faster then me, especially when I have to carry you as well." Sasuke said and took a step back. If that wolf would attack, he would just have to counter it.

Neji looked at the wolf again, who seemed to follow their interaction. He furrowed his browns as the wolf suddenly did something he hadn't expected.

"Get out of my forest." The wolf suddenly growled. It was very rare for animals like wolfs to talk. Of course there were some that could talk without being half human, but they were really rare. So it was a wonder they had stumbled onto one now.

Sasuke looked at the wolf a little flabbergasted but then recovered from that again.

"What?" He asked. "'Your' forest?"

"It's forbidden to sleep in this forest without my or my family's permission." The wolf growled now. "This is Inuzuka ownage. You're not supposed to be here."

"... Well how am I supposed to know that?" Sasuke asked. He felt like an idiot, talking to a wolf. "Besides, I can't leave, my friend is sick."

"Are you travellers?" The wolf now asked, narrowing his eyes. It was obvious that the wolf didn't like strangers.

"I guess we are. Our city was attacked and now we need a new one." Sasuke said. Why was he answering questions of a wolf?

The wolf was silent for some time, before he nodded.

"You should head towards the east." He then said. "I see you don't mean any harm to the forest, nor to me and my family."

"No I don't. Is there a city to the east?" Sasuke asked. This wolf was strange. Now he was suddenly friendly?

"Yes, very close." The wolf answered. "I should introduce myself." Suddenly, the wolf stood on his back paws and his skin started changing colour, as well was the form of his body. It started transforming, and before they could blink, there was a boy with a cheeky grin standing in front of them. He put his hand forwards.

"Hey." He then said. "I'm Kiba."

Sasuke looked at the boy, Kiba, with big eyes before slowly shaking his hand.

"..That was weird." He said. "I'm Sasuke."

"Heya." Kiba said, nodding to Sasuke. He then walked to Neji and stuck out his hand again, and Neji introduced himself to Kiba as well. Kiba then cleared his throat. "So should we get you to our dorm and ask my mom to give you some medicines?"

"Is your family a pack of wolfs?" Sasuke asked, still staring at Kiba. This was weird. Really, really weird.

"We're humans, but we have wolf blood in us." Kiba explained. "We can transform in our wolf form any time. But around other humans we mostly prefer our human form, to not scare them away."

"And you don't think changing from wolf to human in front of them will scare 'em off?" Sasuke asked. "Where is this dorm of yours?"

"Chill out dude." Kiba said, while pulling up his eyebrows. "The dorm is a little further from here, deeper into the forest."

"Ok. Well if he has medicines, we should go with him Neji." Sasuke said and before Neji could do anything, or protest, Sasuke had pulled him up in his arms.

Neji groaned a little now, but decided to not tell Sasuke about the spots that were in front of his eyes again.

"Don't... forget my pants." He grumbled, obviously not liking being carried. Kiba grinned at noticing this.

"Do you want to take his pants?" Sasuke asked Kiba. "And tell me, what's it like to change into something else?" It felt familiar to him, changing into another creature. But he had no clue why.

Kiba walked towards Neji's pants and then tossed them over his shoulder, and started walking.

"What it's like?" He then asked. "..I have no idea how to describe that. When I was a baby, I could already change into a pup."

Sasuke followed Kiba and looked at him while he was talking.

"So do you have more powers when you change into a wolf?" He asked. Why did he ask something like that?

"Not magical powers no." Kiba said. "I'm not a magical creature. Not at all. Are you?"

"Not that I know." Sasuke said, shaking his head. He wanted to find out what his powers were really badly.

"You don't know if you posses some powers?" Kiba asked, now looking surprised.

"I lost my memory." Sasuke answered. "And I can tell you, it's very annoying."

"Wow." Kiba said, lifting his eyebrows as he pushed some plants out of his way. "I can imagine. That's very frustrating. So your city was burned down right? Were you sure you lived there? It could even be the case you were a traveller then, right?"

Sasuke looked at Kiba now.

".. I know." He said. "But until I know that for sure, I'd like to think I came from somewhere."

"I can understand." Kiba said. "Are you a good jumper? The dorm lies surrounded by a big river, so not a lot of people can go there. We wolves can easily jump there, but humans have it less easy. I could also carry you on my back while we jump over the river."

"I'm not sitting on your back. I'll be fine." Sasuke said. "I'm sure I can just walk through it."

"Do you honestly think that if we could walk through the river we would do the effort of jumping over it?" Kiba asked. "It's a wild river, and pretty deep as well. If you step into it, Neji won't make it alive."

"Fine. You take Neji then, I'll walk through it." Sasuke said. He was sure he could handle a little river.

"Idiot, if I say this river is strong, I mean it." Kiba said, a little annoyed now. He pushed some bushes aside and then pointed at what laid beneath their feet. "Do you want to walk through 'that'?" He asked. Beneath them laid a deep river with a heavy stream. Although the river laid at least four metres beneath them, they still got wet because of the heavy waves that splashed onto them. "Good luck buddy." Kiba said as he changed into a wolf again.

Sasuke looked at the river and then sighed.

"Fine, we'll sit on your back then." He said, slightly annoyed. He felt annoyed because he needed someone else's help.

"I'll bring Neji to the other side first, and then you." Kiba now growled, as he walked back a little so he could run towards the river and jump. "Can you put him on my back?"

Sasuke nodded and put Neji on Kiba's back.

"Hold on tight. I don't wanna have to jump in that river after you if you fall off." He said to Neji.

Neji nodded as he slightly laid down onto Kiba's back and held onto him tightly.

"Ready?" Kiba asked and when Neji secured Kiba it was fine, Kiba started running like mad towards the river. When he was on the edge he jumped, and jumped right over the river and reached the other end. As Neji slid off of Kiba's back and sat down on the ground, Kiba jumped back to the other side and made ready for the next jump

Sasuke sat down on Kiba's back and held onto him as well.

"You can jump." He said.

Kiba nodded and once again started jumping. Effortless he jumped over the river once more.

"There." He then said. "We're almost there now."

Sasuke quickly got off Kiba's back and pulled Neji up again.

"And you're sure your family won't eat us?" He asked Kiba.

Kiba snorted now.

"We're no cannibals Sasuke." He then said. "We eat the same as normal people, but we prefer it raw."

"Well so do I." Sasuke said. "You seemed like you were about to eat me before you turned friendly." He gave Kiba a slight grin.

"Tear you apart is more like it." Kiba joked, as he continued walking towards their destination.

"Very funny." Sasuke said. "How are you feeling Neji?"

"A little sore." Neji muttered. "I feel like sleeping.. a lot."

"Well then do it." Sasuke said. "Is it far from here?" He asked Kiba.

"Within fifteen minutes of walking we will be there I guess." Kiba said, while Neji snuggled a little closer into Sasuke's chest. "If you can carry him around for so long he could easily take a nap. Is he heavy?"

"He weighs nothing. Don't snuggle." Sasuke told Neji. "I'll be fine with carrying him fifteen more minutes."

"Good." Kiba said and slightly smiled as he saw Neji closing his eyes immediately, but ignoring Sasuke's comment, because he snuggled even closer to the warmth of Sasuke's chest.

"Neji." Sasuke said stern, but he knew Neji was gonna ignore him anyway. He didn't like someone like Neji being so close to him.

" So how did he get this ill anyway?" Kiba asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I have no idea." Sasuke said. "One moment he was fine, the next he had passed out on the floor."

"Tough guy hm?" Kiba asked, smirking a little.

"No he acts like that. And then he has the nerves to tell me I act like a tough guy." Sasuke said.

Kiba just chuckled and shook his head. It was obvious that there was some jealousy in the air.

"So what do you already know about yourself?" He then asked.

"That I have good hearing, my name, my age and that some weird guy with glasses knows me but doesn't want to tell me who I am." Sasuke answered.

" That's weird." Kiba said, pulling up an eyebrow. " Well, you'll probably find out more about yourself soon. Let's hope your memory returns quickly."

"Yeah." Sasuke said. "So are we there yet? Neji's suddenly a lot heavier now that he's sleeping."

"Is he sleeping or did he pass out again?" Kiba asked, as he send a look into Neji's direction. "He looks ghostly pale. We're almost there."

"I don't know. We'll have to find out when we're in your dorm." Sasuke said, shaking his head.

Kiba nodded. After they walked a little further, they arrived at an open place that was covered in high hills with doors and windows in them. They were remarkable houses, but obviously, Kiba's family loved houses like these. Kiba immediately ran up to his mom, who changed into a human when she saw there were other humans.

"Mom!" Kiba said. "I met some guys, and one of them is ill. Can you please look at him?"

Kiba's mother looked at him and then nodded as she had inspected Sasuke and Neji.

"Lead them into the house and put that boy on the couch." She said. "But next time, don't just take them here pup, you know what can happen." Sasuke snorted a little at hearing Kiba's mother call him pup.

"Yes mom, sorry." Kiba said, as he took Sasuke and thus Neji with him inside. "They just looked trustable." He said to his mom, who was following them both inside. When Sasuke put Neji on the couch, Kiba was taken back a little when he saw that Neji's face had turned white by now. Not a tough boy, sure. This guy didn't give any hint that he had pain and he looked this bad. There obviously was something going on with this guy.

"He doesn't look good for sure." Kiba's mother said. Sasuke frowned a little when he saw Neji lying on the couch. How come Neji hadn't just told him he was feeling this bad? Kiba's mother, Tsume, was inspecting Neji now.

"Sasuke told me that Neji collapsed out of nothing, and was dizzy a lot." Kiba explained to his mom.

Tsume stopped inspecting for a while when her hands were on Neji's stomach. She pushed down on it a little and earned a moan from him.

".. His stomach is swollen. What did he eat?" She asked Sasuke.

"Err, some berries and meat." Sasuke answered and when Tsume pulled up Neji's shirt, they saw just how much his stomach was swollen. It looked horrible.

Kiba frowned a little now.

"Where did you get those berries?" He then asked. "A lot of berries in this area are poisonous. It could be that he got poisoned. Did you eat from them?"

"No I apparently don't like berries." Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I tasted one just to be sure and nothing happened."

"Well he is poisoned alright. And he has a high fever as well. I think we need a healer to get him back on his feet." Tsume said and Sasuke frowned. Great. He had poisoned Neji.

"Do you think that it's deadly?" Kiba asked while frowning. "..I could bring them to Tsunade mom."

"If we don't do anything, it could rupture his stomach." Tsume said. "I think Tsunade should see him. You will go with them Kiba."

Kiba nodded now, as he immediately changed into a wolf.

"I will go there as soon as possible." He then said. "Sasuke, can you put Neji down on my back and sit down behind him and keep him straight?

"..Sure." Sasuke said as he picked up Neji. "Shouldn't we go outside first?"

"Just hurry it up. And pup, don't get yourself in trouble." Tsume said.

"I won't mom." Kiba said. "And it's fine Sasuke, I have a strong back. We need to hurry."

"Ok. Thank you miss." Sasuke said and he sat down on Kiba's back, holding Neji in place.

"You're welcome. Now off you go pup." Tsume said and waved at her son.

Kiba immediately started wagging his tail and then started running. He warmed up his muscles before his speed increased and within only a minute they were at the river and he jumped right over it.

"Don't worry Sasuke, within two hours, we'll be there." Kiba said.

"We'd better. Neji looks horrible." Sasuke said. Neji'd better survive this.

"Check regularly if he's still breathing, ok?" Kiba asked.

"I am." Sasuke said. His hand was constantly before Neji's mouth. "Who is this Tsunade woman?"

"She's a friend of my mom, the best healer in the country." Kiba said. "She can heal Neji for sure."

"Ok good." Sasuke said. He felt awkward. Knowing that it was guilt made it easier to place, but it felt like something he rarely felt.