As it turned out, Itachi had remembered the incident Aimi had dreamed about. When Aimi asked him to tell her how it ended, he stood up in turned in a circle for her, sat back down, took her hand and put it over his heart. "I look alive, don't I? Is my heart beating?" Aimi sighed and nodded. "But… what happened?" she asked. Itachi smiled at her. "You'll dream it tonight, I'm sure," he said, standing back up. "It was so scary," Aimi said quietly. Itachi sat back down again. Aimi scooted closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her. "Its ok, Aimi. You're ok, I'm ok, Chika's ok, he's ok… there's nothing to worry about, sister," he said. "You're one of my favorite brothers, you know that?" Aimi replied. "Well of course," he said. Aimi smiled and put her arms around him. "I love my brothers so much."
()()()
"Day by day, this gets harder for the kids to ignore. Maybe we should ignore their odd rule they obviously made up and go get her now," Kakashi said to Tsunade. She sighed and looked out the window of her office. "You think I haven't already thought of that? I have tried to mention it to them, but Miko gets… desperate. Normally I'd ignore that and go get that poor girl anyway, but this is her best friend and there's something about the way she panics that stops me from doing anything. Lets wait for the 3 more months to be over and then we ask for someone to go get her," she replied. "We've got that one finished and done. We know who's going. Theirs no way we're going to change their minds," Kakashi said. Tsunade sighed. "Alright. Who is it, then?" Kakashi listed the names off: "Naruto, Sasuke, Chika, Sakura, and Ichirou." Tsunade shook her head. "Do we really need five? Can't we just send out team 7 alone?" she asked. "Ohhhh, no. That boy needs to come. And the sister needs to come, of course. If only you'd see-" Kakashi began. Tsunade cut him off. "I've seen it very well. It was just a suggestion. But if you're going to be a stubborn mule about it, ok, he can go." Kakashi nodded, stood up, bowed, and began to leave. Tsunade sounded: "--and Kakashi?" Kakashi stopped. "Yes, ma'am?" He could almost hear the smile in her voice when she said, "You do know you're going, too?" Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Of course." Tsunade smiled as he walked away and shut the door.
()()()
Naruto kicked the leaves. He missed Aimi. She was so fun. Around her, he could joke about things he normally couldn't joke about, he could complain about Miko, and things like that. Now she was gone and he had to wait 3 more months to go and save her.
Miko ran up behind him and jumped on his back. "Ak!" he yelped as he fell to the ground. "Hi, Naruto," she said as soon as she stopped cracking up. "Hi," he replied. She got serious again. "Missing Aimi?" she asked. "Oh yah, you know what I'm thinking about all the time, don't you?" Naruto said. Miko shrugged. "You don't usually look depressed," she replied. Naruto nodded and kicked more leaves. Miko stayed and joined him in leaf-kicking. "When are these 3 months gonna end?!" Naruto asked. Miko shook her head. "Soon. Don't give up hope. If you need any help with that, go see Ichirou. He'll give you a speech about it," she said. Naruto smiled.
"How's Sasuke?" Naruto asked out of the blue. Miko sighed. "Haven't you seen him at all?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "Thought maybe he could think differently after the span of 5 hours…" he glanced at Miko while saying this. She was shaking her head. "Hm," he said. "Lets go talk to him. Maybe he needs some friends," she said. "Uhhh… he doesn't exactly think of me as a-"
"Oh, you're coming, chicken!"
()()()
Ichirou sat alone and stared at the ground. It was dark and cloudy. It looked like it was going to rain… Aimi's favorite weather. Ichirou said out loud, "Enjoy your rain, Aimi." No one was there, so he didn't receive weird looks. He usually didn't, anyway. Everyone understood and was very respectful. He wondered what it was like, wherever she was. A dark cell, a tree, a field, a house, behind a rock, under a bridge- he didn't care, he just hoped she was ok.
He stood up and went to find Naruto and Miko.
()()()
They crossed paths with each other at the ramen shop. They joined up together and talked as they went to find Sasuke. They planned what they were going to do, what they were going to pack, how the fight plan would work, who would speak first, things like that. They talked about how Sasuke was, how he must feel. They talked about how Aimi was. They talked about how evil and mean the Akatsuki were. They covered pretty much everything they could talk about in that subject's area.
They never found Sasuke, no matter where they looked.
()()()
--SASUKE'S POV--
Sasuke sat alone in the forest, at the lake, thinking about Aimi. He hated himself for it. Could he think about anything- ANYTHING- else? Everywhere he turned, something would remind him of her and he'd feel terrible the rest of the day. Today it had been the rain that was going to come.
He had been thinking all night if living life was really worth it. He wanted to just walk into the lake, and the last thing he wanted to feel was the water surrounding him before he drowned. But for some reason, he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself even to touch the water. So he just stared at his reflection, wondering if that boy in the reflection was really him or not. He gave up ant one point and stuck his hand in the water as fast as he could without letting himself think. It felt good. He moved his hand through the water slowly, letting himself feel the water. How long had it been since he let himself enjoy this?
--AIMI'S POV--
Aimi spied on Sasuke from the leaves of a tree. She had gone into the forest for her free time after talking to Itachi and saw Sasuke coming through the forest, so she had followed him here. She watched him sadly. She wanted to go out there, she wanted to tell him she was okay, she wanted to tell him the truth, she wanted to hug him and give him a kiss. But she couldn't. She just watched him.
--SASUKE'S POV--
He thought for a few minutes and then pulled his hand out of the water. He was going to do what he wanted to do. He was going to go into that lake and feel that feeling he wanted to feel. He stepped into the water and swam out to the middle of the lake. Then he stopped swimming and began to let himself sink.
--AIMI'S POV--
She saw what he was doing and panicked. "SASUKE, NO!!" she yelled. She heard some splashing. He was coming back up.
--SASUKE'S POV--
He heard Aimi's voice- yes, he swore it was Aimi's- yell 'no' at him. He splashed and pulled himself back up. "Aimi?" he called into the forest. No answer. It was his mind playing with him.
--AIMI'S POV--
She pulled her hood down over her face and stared through it at the lake. He was looking around for her, even called her name into the forest. It really hurt. She saw him give up and begin to sink again.
--SASUKE'S POV--
Now he really needed to sink. He just let go and sunk below the water. He thought he heard a splash. Then someone grabbed his arm harshly and moved his arm over their shoulders. They swam upward, taking him with them.
--AIMI'S POV--
She jumped into the water and desperately swam to the spot where he was sinking. She didn't waste any time. She grabbed his arm, threw it over her shoulder, and held onto it as she pulled him up above the water. She pulled him to the shore and let go. He looked at him, laying there, his eyes closed. She couldn't leave now. She ran to the tree and grabbed her cloak. She threw the hood over her face after she put it on. She ran back to him and kneeled over him. She pushed her hands on his chest, trying to get any water out of him. After 2 hard pushes, he began to cough and wake up. Aimi made sure her hood was over her face far enough. It was. He opened his eyes and looked at her. He began to get his guard up, ready to fight. Aimi held up her hands. "I just saved your life, don't expect me to kill you," she said. "I had it covered," Sasuke grunted. Aimi rolled her eyes. "Sure. I saw the whole thing. You were going to let yourself drown. That's having it covered, all right."
He glared at her. "Why'd you save me anyway?" he asked. "Because I wanted to. I guess I was making up for our bad meeting in the forest last time," she said simply. "Hn," he sounded. "Nice comeback," she said. He grabbed her wrist without warning. "Ow! Let go!" she growled. "Nice comeback," Sasuke taunted. "LET. GO," she growled. "Not until I see what is under that hood," Sasuke said. He reached up for her hood with his other hand. With her free hand, Aimi grabbed his wrist. With clawlike fingernails, she dug into his skin. "Try harder," Sasuke said. Aimi let go of his hand and hugged him suddenly, catching him off guard. Then she bit his neck like a vampire (except she's not a vampire, just pulling a vampire type move). She let go of him and recovered, brushing herself off. "Don't try to kill yourself again."
With that, she went back to the hideout.
()()()
Once she got back to the hideout, she went back to sleep. She wanted to finish that memory before morning came.
--DREAM/MEMORY--
The kids ran out and rushed to the hospital. They waited in the waiting room for what seemed like hours. On either side of Sasuke, there was a scared sister cuddling with him and snuggling into his neck. They kept on asking Sasuke questions, and he kept on reassuring them, telling them it was ok, telling them that yes, Itachi was going to live. A nurse came out to the family (the rest of the family was there, too) and told them Itachi was doing well, he had been stabbed but was recovering. She said something about a family of soldiers then turned and left. "They're getting him," Sasuke's father said. The 3 kids were relieved beyond words. Itachi came out with a few bandages. Suddenly, he was caught in a 3 -way hug attack by Sasuke, Aimi, and Chika. Sasuke was looking at him with such loyalty and respect Itachi couldn't look down to long. Chika kept on saying a lot of things, chattering away about how happy she was. "We love you, Itachi," Aimi said quietly, hugging his leg. "I love you too," he whispered back. Way to much for him to handle at the moment. "Come on, lets go home."
--END--
Aimi awoke slowly.
That was a good dream.
()()()()()()
"SAVED you?!" Kakashi asked in disbelief. Sasuke nodded. "There is something very odd going on here," Kakashi said. "Was it the same girl you ran into before?" he asked. "Yes, it was," Sasuke said. "Do you have any idea what could be going on?" he added. Kakashi shook his head. "Not a clue." This certainly wasn't a trick the Akatsuki would pull. So what were they- or she, alone- up to?
()()()
"Oh, Dei-dar-a!! I have a kunei!! And you have long hair!! Guess what I'M gonna do?" Aimi asked mischievously. Deidara snapped his eyes open to see Aimi holding a handful of his hair in one hand and the kunei in the other, ready to slice through it. "If you dare-" he began. Aimi grinned and let go. "Good morning to you, too!" she said as she put the kunei away. "…Don't wake people up that way, hmm. Do you want us to have heart-attacks or something, hmm?" he said. Aimi just smiled. "It worked, didn't it?" she said, tossing him his cloak. "So what are you waking me up so early for, hmm?" he asked as he caught it and slid it on. "Because I wanna torture you," Aimi said without skipping a beat. "Well don't I feel special, hmm," Deidara sighed. "Oh it isn't just you," Aimi said, walking to Itachi's sleeping area. Deidara crossed his arms as he watched Aimi leap on Itachi's bed and yank his ponytail. "AIMI!" Itachi yelled, getting up. "Good mor-ning!" Aimi chorused happily. "Well aren't you cheerful this morning," Itachi said, catching his cloak that Aimi tossed. "No fair, hmm. He just got his ponytail yanked, hmm!I got threatened!" Deidara piped up. Aimi laughed. Itachi looked at Deidara questioningly. "She woke ME up by holding a kunei to my hair and yelling in my ear, hmm," he answered. "I was yelling?" Aimi asked from behind a screen where she was changing. "Yah, yelling," Deidara said. "So what do we owe this inconvenience?" Itachi asked. "You have to be stuck with me all day… together," Aimi said, walking out in her cloak. "What did we do to deserve this?!" Itachi asked. "You've been teaching me good and painful lessons, now its time for me to teach you two one. And here it is: you cant be in the same evil organization and hate each other at the same time," Aimi said. "But the others do it, hmm!" Deidara piped up. "Well they aren't my teachers AND brothers AND best friends, are they? No, they aren't. They're just my brothers," Aimi said, marching out. "Best friends?" Itachi asked, staring after her.
"COME ON, SLOW POKES!"