Chapter 4: Uchiha found!
"Looks like we found you guys!"
Omoi looked at the scene in front of him. The front of Sakura's shirt was covered in blood. In fact he saw blood all over the place. His mind started to race on what could have happened here. And where was Karui? Then it all became clear. They had killed Karui. This must be Karui's blood! And the body, where's the body? They ate her? That's it they must have eaten her. They probably got hungry for food during the trek over…and….and…oh he couldn't even think on it.
"Can someone tell me where Karui might be? And the answer better be …. Alive!"
The two Konoha shinobi looked at him blankly.
"You ate her, didn't you?! This is her blood and what's this," as he looked at the bowl of boiling water, "soup? Karui soup! I knew it!" Omoi howled in anguish.
Sakura was the first to react. She had fought along Omoi in the war and knew that he had a tendency to overdramatize things.
She elbowed Kiba as she started to feel him begin to shake with laughter.
"Omoi," Sakura said as she stood up and put her hands out to stop him from his further wild notions. "We don't know where Karui is." Which was the truth. "Last time we saw her was on the ship when we were boarding." Another truth. She wasn't lying, she just wasn't telling the whole truth.
Omoi looked over at Kiba who was trying to contain his laughter, "She was last seen with you, dog boy. What did you do with her? Did your dog eat her?" Even Akamaru had the good grace to put his head to one side in an utter sign of doggie confusion.
Finally Kiba burst out with a laugh, "Are you nuts?! No of course we wouldn't eat Karui. Sorry buddy eating fellow shinobi just isn't me and Akamaru's thing!"
It was now Omoi's turn to look confused. "Then where is she?"
Kiba looked slyly over at Sakura putting his hand to his chin as if pondering hard and said, "Well she did help me take Akamaru for a potty break right before the ship sailed. She might not have been able to get off the ship in time."
"Are you saying that she's unharmed and sailing on the ship to Konoha?" Omoi questioned.
This time both Sakura and Kiba nodded. Even Akamaru was getting into the act by nodding along with the other two. "It's a real possibility. I bet she's just fine." Sakura said with a convincing smile.
Omoi suddenly looked relieved. But then his face tightened up and he thought about all the dangers of ocean travel. What if the Raikage sent him to retrieve her and a bevy of mermaids attacked the ship. He wouldn't be able to fight them all off….
His thoughts were interrupted by a moan in the cot off in a darkened corner of the cavern.
"Who's that?" Omoi asked suddenly alert again.
Sakura jumped up to run over to the cot, "It's Sasuke. We found him injured by an arrow and near death."
"Uchiha, taken out by an arrow? No way. I'm just not buying it!" Omoi said as he and his men walked closer to get a better view of the cot where Sakura was at. Sasuke turned his face towards the men. "No way!" Said Omoi when he saw Sasuke's pale face looking paler than ever with a sheen of sweat covering it. He then noticed the blood stained clothes and realized that what they said was true.
"We have to get him to a hospital as quickly as possible. He's in bad shape. He's lost a lot of blood, as well as being dehydrated and chakra drained."
Omoi shook his head. "There's a storm moving in tonight. We just beat it here. It should pass by in the morning and then we can leave. There's a short cut to the village through the tunnels but it will still take us 2 days. Do you think he will make it?"
Sakura nodded. "He'll make it! I'll make sure of it!" Sasuke is not going to die on my watch, she thought. Inner concurred with a resounding "Cha!"
::
Sakura tended Sasuke through the night. When the others had settled down to sleep, she took the opportunity to clean up. The only modest spot away from prying eyes was where she had thrown the arrow earlier. She gathered her things and the water and made her way over to the back of the cave. She spied the arrow laying exactly as she left it. Funny the thing looked more like a dart now. How strange, she thought. She took off her blood stained shirt and started to use it to wash the rest of the blood off her body. As she washed off the caked blood, she felt fresh blood, her blood, flowing from a spot on her chest. When did that happen? She wondered and healed it automatically. Ah yes, she thought again, when I pulled the arrow out of Sasuke. The force when she was slammed into the back of the cave must have also caused the arrow to nick her. Oh well, she shrugged.
She finished getting dressed and started to go back to Sasuke when she heard a sort of mewing sound. She stopped and listened. Was there an injured animal in here, she thought. She started following the sound and it led her back to the back of the cave and to the small dart like looking arrow. Was this her imagination? Was the arrow crying? She wondered. Inner answered, "No, it's not your imagination! The thing is giving me a headache. Shut it up!"
Sakura was startled by the ferocity of her Inner self. She started to pick it up but then stopped herself from touching it with her bare hands. The only thing she had on her was her bloodied shirt. She reached down and wrapped her shirt around the small arrow. The arrow seemed to nestle in like a baby and she swore that she heard it coo. Oh I'm ready for the loony bin now, she thought, I'm thinking that a weapon is alive and like a baby. I don't care what it is, Inner said, as long as it stays quiet!
::
Choji was holding Karui's hand. They were sitting top deck looking out towards the approaching dot of land in the distance. They had enjoyed each other's company during the last part of the trip. Karui and Choji had started a morning workout routine to stay fit during the mainly sedentary voyage. They even had gotten the crew and other passengers involved. They had also helped reel in several large mackerel when the ship sailed through a giant school of the fish. Karui had also surprised the ship's cook by asking if she could make a meal for everyone on board. Turns out that she was an excellent cook.
Even though only a few days had actually past, Choji knew that he was in love. It was the first time that he ever felt such emotion for anyone outside his family. He was so proud to be sitting next to her and completely in awe of how she seemed to reciprocate his feelings. He looked back at that dot of land as it started to get bigger. He wanted this bit of isolated paradise that the two of them had built to go on forever. However reality was quickly approaching.
He squeezed her hand to get her attention and turned on the bench to face her.
"Look it's my fault that you are here. When we get to Konoha, tell them that I made you come with me. I wouldn't let you get off the ship." He added in a joking manner which didn't seem so funny after he had said it. He looked away embarrassed. Karui grabbed his chin to bring his face back around to hers. Her golden eyes held his entranced.
"That's called kidnapping, Choji. The Land of Lightning may ask for recompense. Worse case scenario they may ask for a trial. Kidnapping of a Cloud shinobi onto foreign soil is not looked upon favorably, alliance or not." Karui said.
Choji suddenly pulled her backwards so that her back was resting against his chest. His chin rested on her shoulder, "No matter what happens, you are not getting rid of me that easily."
The ship landed onto the docks and passengers began to disembark. Choji, Ino, and Karui hung back until the last possible moment. When they finally made their way off ship, they were surprised to see Shikamaru waiting to greet them.
"Hey" Shikamaru said as he raised his arm up to rub the back of his neck, What a drag, he thought for the umpteenth time.
He eyed Karui and noted that Choji was holding her hand and looking sort of fierce.
"We got word that a certain Cloud ninja went missing and was last seen on a ship going to Konoha. I was sent here to investigate." Shikamaru said as he stared at Karui.
Choji took a step in front of Karui as if to shield her from Shikamaru's gaze, "Look here, Shikamaru," Choji began but then Karui let go of his hand and stepped to the side of him.
"I was so silly! It's totally my mistake! You see I went to check that the psych machinery was loaded on board and properly secured. I totally didn't hear the last foghorn. By the time I made it top deck, we were sailing out to sea. The ship's captain was trying to beat a storm that was coming in so he wouldn't turn the ship around for just me. Ino and Choji were nice enough to allow me to bunk with them."
Shikamaru eyed Karui silently for a moment, then he shrugged. "If you say so. I've been ordered to bring you back to the village if you were on board. Let's go." Shikamaru did an about face and started to walk away from the dock.
Choji grabbed Karui's hand and said with a smile, "I can't wait until you meet my family."
Ino smiled as she passed the two lovebirds. She ran to catch up with Shikamaru.
"Hey Shikamaru, wait up!" Shikamaru slowed until he was in step with Ino.
"Is Sai back from his mission? I didn't miss him, did I?" Ino inquired a bit breathlessly from jogging to catch up with him.
Shikamaru looked at her in surprise, "Sai? No he's still out on mission. Come to think of it, we should be getting his report soon." Ino couldn't help but give a little sigh of regret.
Shikamaru looked back to make sure that Choji and Karui were indeed following, "What gives with those two?"
Ino couldn't help but giggle, "It's obvious isn't it? Choji's found him a girlfriend!"
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow then smiled, "Who knew that he had it in him?!"
Shikamaru risked another backwards glance at his friend. He seemed so relaxed and happy. Then he looked at Karui with a new eye. Is she really good enough for Choji, he wondered. He looked forward once again and resumed his casual but assertive pace. What a drag, that girl better not break his heart, he thought suddenly and grimaced.
"Hey Ino I'm expecting a report as soon as we get back to the village. Kakashi-sama is expecting us. We heard that you had proof that Sasuke was set up. He wants to see the footage."
Ino looked at Shikamaru with a worried frown. Something still bothered her about what she felt when she entered those guards' minds. It was the kind of thing that didn't show up on film. The chakra that emanated from the Sasuke "look alike" in those men's memories was unmistakably Sasuke's.
::
They left the cave the following day. However unlike the 2 day trek through the snow that Sakura and Kiba made, Omoi showed them to the entrance of another cave a mere 100 yards away.
"This should get us back to the village in about 2 days."Omoi said. He had insisted on carrying Sasuke. "Stay close and follow me. You don't want to get lost in here. You may never get out."
Sakura and Kiba stayed close to the Cloud ninjas as they made their way through the stone maze. True to his word, about 2 days later they arrived at the village. During the journey, Sasuke remained unconscious yet stable. Sakura had asked what would happen to her and Kiba once they got back.
Omoi had just shrugged, "If what you said about Karui is true and she's really unharmed then you will probably be asked to go back to Konoha. The Raikage had a suspicion that you would try something like this. I had orders to bring you back safely so that he could yell some sense into you. His words, not mine." He said.
Omoi gestured to Sasuke who he was carrying like a sack of flour over his shoulder, "This complicates matters." He handed Sasuke over to his comrades with strict orders to get him to the hospital. He asked them to order more guards too in case Sasuke awoke. He then turned to Sakura as she started to follow Sasuke. He grabbed hold of her arm.
"No, no, you are coming with me. My orders are to take you and Kiba to the Raikage." Sakura sighed as she looked after Sasuke. She still didn't know what all this was about. The arrow was nestled in her bag and seemed quite content. She hadn't heard a peep from it all journey.
They made their way through the village and up to the tower of the Raikage's office. When they were led in, Sakura was surprised but happy to see Bee there as well.
"Sakura, don't look so glum, Brother and Bee are your chums". Sakura gave out a wan smile Bee's way. He had such an interesting way of speaking, you couldn't help but smile while in his company. The Raikage, however, was not smiling. He came and stood over her and Kiba producing a large shadow over both of them. Akamaru whined and hid behind Kiba's legs.
"What do you think you were doing?!" He bellowed so loudly that Sakura thought that her eardrum was going to rupture. "I expressly told you that we could handle it!"
"Ah the youths of the day, think they know the best way." Bee said wisely leaning back onto his brother's desk with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Can it Bee! I'm being serious here! You could have been killed! And did you really think that you could leave my village without me knowing about it!" The Raikage continued to yell some more at the two Konoha shinobi.
Once his tirade had ended, Sakura bowed deeply. With one hand she forced Kiba to bow his head as well.
"We are both humbly sorry, Raikage-sama." They stayed that way for a long time. The silence stretched. Finally Sakura peeked up a bit to see the reaction on the Raikage's face. He had gone to sit behind the desk.
"Fine. Apology accepted. Now report! What happened out there? How were you able to find Uchiha and what put him in the shape he's in? I hear that he's been unconscious for at least 2 days."
Sakura and Kiba both looked up as the Raikage spoke. Sakura looked over at Kiba. They knew that the Raikage would be keen to know how they tracked Sasuke so quickly. They couldn't divulge their secret.
"You see sir, um, Raikage-sama sir, um you see." Kiba couldn't maintain eye contact with the Raikage. His stare was so intense. Sakura took over. She was used to the intense chakra stares of the Kages since she worked so closely to Lady Tsunade.
"What Kiba is trying to tell you is that he and Akamaru are unique trackers. They both know Sasuke's scent so well that they could find him anywhere."
The Raikage remained silent for a while eyeing Kiba and Akamaru. Finally he addressed Kiba, "You are telling me that you and your dog were able to detect Uchiha's scent from the village and over a snow packed valley?"
Kiba gulped loudly, "Um yeah. Uh what she said, I'm a, uh, unique tracker."
The Raikage raised an eyebrow at this but commented no further. He made it clear by his silence that he believed not a word they were saying.
"Well, nonetheless, thank you for delivering him to us." Sakura startled when she heard this which did not escape the Raikage's notice. He put up his hands to halt her potential tirade.
"As I told you before, we need to see what he knows. Yes I know that he didn't attack the daimyo but he's a part of this just the same. We need to find who orchestrated these events and put a stop to any other plans these people have. Then you, Kiba, and that mutt of his will take Uchiha back to Konoha before my good nature runs out. Now both of you get out of my sight!" The Raikage ended with a roar.
"Hai" they both said in unison.
"Whoa, brother! We're not done here, what happened to your boy to land him on his rear?" Bee questioned calmly.
On this part, Sakura had told Kiba that they should tell the truth. She summarized the events of that evening when they had found Sasuke lying in a pool of blood close to death.
The Raikage and Bee listened carefully.
"Do you have the weapon still?" The Raikage asked.
"Yes" Sakura replied and reached into her knapsack for the bloodied shirt. She pulled out the wrapped weapon and placed it on the Raikage's desk. She unwrapped it carefully, making sure to not touch it with her bare hands.
The Raikage looked at the small arrow which now seemed more like a dart. It was only about 6 inches long.
"This little thing brought down, Uchiha?" Then he started to laugh in earnest. "Okay I've played along with all your lies until then. This,"he pointed scathingly at the small weapon, "could not bring down Uchiha! What really happened?"
Sakura looked him squarely in the eye, unflinching and very serious. "With all due respect, sir, I'm being perfectly honest when I say that yes, this little thing here, put Sasuke in the shape that he is in right now. If we had not gotten there in time, this little thing, would have been the death of him."
The Raikage suddenly grew serious. He started to reach out to touch and examine it when Bee stopped his hand.
"Samehada says something not right, it says hang tight."
Sakura looked over at Bee and then over to the weapon tied to Bee's back, the Great Sword of the Mist, Samehada.
"Does Samehada recognize this arrow from somewhere?" Sakura asked curiously.
"It not like that." Bee replied, "Samehada says "we're the same, we brothers from different mothers"
Bee laughed, "Hehe. Hey cat, I like that!" He said as he looked back at his sword and took out a notebook where he started jotting down the rhyme that the sword apparently uttered.
"Brothers from a different mother?" Sakura repeated. "As in, they are the same. That explains why this arrow looked so different when it was feeding off of Sasuke's chakra. This is its normal size. Then how does one shoot it? It's so small."
The Raikage studied it, "Must have a special crossbow that's used to fire it. Once it's embedded into its victim, it feeds off the chakra and blood until its victim is dead." The Raikage couldn't help himself he reached out to pick it up. The moment his hand made contact with the weapon, it flared a bright angry red and with a yelp the Raikage dropped it, sucking on his fingers.
Bee laughed at his brother's mishap, "See I told you, fool, to not mess with the tool!"
The Raikage scowled at Bee, "Leave this here. I will find someone to analyze it."
Sakura found herself loath to leave the weapon. Oh please, Inner cried, Leave it! Sakura had no choice to comply. She backed up a step from the desk and started to leave the room with Kiba. She got as far as the door when a piercing wail assaulted everyone's ears but no more than Inner's. Make it stop, Inner screamed.
Sakura turned back to walk towards the arrow on the desk, and the wail abated.
Bee laughed, "Yo check it out, the baby was screaming cause Mama was leaving!"
Sakura went towards the desk with her eyes wavering between the arrow and the Raikage.
"What does this mean?" She said quietly.
The Raikage sighed and said, "Looks like Bee's right. The arrow seems to have bonded to you. The same thing happens when we try to take Samehada away from Bee. It screams. That's why Bee is always carrying it."
Bee reached up a hand to his sword and started to pet it, "I don't mind my friend. I'll stick by you until the end." The sword seemed to purr and sink into his hand.
The Raikage looked at Sakura curiously, "It's strange though that it should bond to you. I mean no offense Sakura but Samehada is drawn to Bee cause of his massive chakra and because of Gyuki inside of him, it can't really control him. That's what makes them a good pairing."
Bee intervened, "Who knows the bonds between a weapon and a man, it likes what it likes and in this case it's a wo-man!"
The Raikage gave Bee a withering look at this last rhyme.
Bee came over and took Sakura by the hand. He brought her up to the table. He started to guide her hand to pick up the arrow, she started to flinch away.
"No worries little girl, this arrow wants you to give it a twirl." He released her hand and gestured for her to pick up the arrow. She took a deep breath and picked it up expecting full well that she would be burned like the Raikage. The metal of the arrow was cool to the touch and strangely she could hear it start to make almost a purring sound.
"Yep your its Mama" Bee said simply.
"What, no rhyme." The Raikage said in confusion as he looked at his younger brother.
"Couldn't find the rhyme to fit the time." Bee said with a smile.
Sakura barely heard their banter. She was in awe of the weapon that was in her hand. That weapon had chosen her to wield it, Her, Sakura Haruno. Not even the Raikage could touch it. Yeah, yeah! So what?, Inner sniffed, it doesn't look that special. You can't even shoot it!
The weapon seemed to give out a little hiss of disapproval at Inner's scorn before settling back down again. Sakura wrapped it back up into her shirt and put it back in her backpack.
"So does this mean, I can keep it?" She asked for clarification.
"Well it's not leaving us much choice. I still would like to examine it though. Let me get a team together and I will call you back here in an hour," He said, nodding to Omoi and then excused them all.
Sakura and Kiba left. Sakura still had so many unanswered questions about it as well. First thing first though she really wanted to go check up on Sasuke. Kiba went to the aviary to send a coded report to Konoha. Sakura headed to the hospital.
As she entered, Sasuke's room her breath caught at the sight of him. He looked so peaceful and young when he slept. He reminded her of the boy she had first fallen so hard for. Inner snorted, Don't fool yourself, that boy is long gone. She walked over and sat on the side of his bed. Her hand reached out to brush the hair off his forehead. His hair had grown so long since she had last seen him. When was that, she thought, about 6 months ago.
Suddenly she felt the weapon in her backpack give what could only be called a lovesick sigh, "yummy", Sakura thought it said. She got up quickly. She had forgotten the arrow was in her bag. She got up to put the chakra draining weapon away from Sasuke. She didn't quite understand her new weapon. She felt no draining of her own chakra when she held it. It was more like a warm shared experience if that made any sense. If it fed off her chakra, it was very subtle. It's more like it craved her closeness. Then she smiled and couldn't help but echo Bee's words, "Like a baby"
"What! You want a baby?" She turned to see Junichi standing next to her with a large grin plastered on his face. "Well I know that we just met, but I'd be honored to be the baby daddy!"
Sakura gave him a playful punch which issued an "Ow" from its victim. Junichi rubbed his shoulder where she hit him. She couldn't help but laugh.
"I heard you were back already. Just couldn't stay away from me could you?" He joked.
Sakura smiled. "You know it." She joked back.
"Seriously I heard that Uchiha was in bad shape. What happened?" Sakura motioned him out the door and into the hall to talk more. It just felt weird having the two guys in the same room together even though one was unconscious.
::
Sasuke heard the door slide closed and opened his eyes to survey the room he was at. Was this Konoha? How long had he been out? The last thing he remembered was his trek from his hideout near the Hidden Frost Village. He could sense through the movement of the twin emerald he had given Sakura that she was moving towards the Land of Lightning, probably via ship. He had sent a few messenger hawks to Konoha to keep Kakashi informed. However, none had been returned. This surprised him that Kakashi didn't answer him right away so he sent out a decoy hawk and wasn't too shocked when he realized that it was shot down. Obviously someone had caught on to his messaging system.
He left his hideout with the intention of rendezvousing with Sakura in Kumogature when a day out he was ambushed by several arrows that hailed down on him at once. He used his chakra to teleport him closer to the Cloud Village and away from his attackers. He didn't realize that he was hit until he materialized in the middle of a snowstorm. He managed to make it to a near by cave for shelter. It was obviously some kind of winter hideout for someone. He started towards the cot in the corner when he fell flat on his face and everything went black.
He had started to surface from his dream world when he felt a cool hand on his forehead.
"Sakura," he sighed, "You came." He would know her touch anywhere. However then he felt such searing pain and he felt some part of him being pulled out. He screamed, it screamed, Sakura screamed then all went black once again.
Her touch brought him out of his dream state once more. It was so light yet comforting at the same time. He started to open his eyes but then he felt her get off the bed and stand up. When he looked at her she had her back to him. He drank in the sight of her. He wanted to call out to her but just then he heard the door open and someone entered. He feigned sleep and heard their entire conversation.
He couldn't believe it. Sakura had a boyfriend. He felt a stirring in his chest that he belatedly realized was pain. Well what did he expect, he thought. Sakura was a beautiful girl. It only was a matter of time before someone else noticed too. He should be relieved. She had finally moved on, he could let go of some of his guilt.
For years, looking at her, reminded him of the weak little boy who was tempted for a moment to turn his back on his plans of revenge. Just that moment's weakness was enough to turn that small ember of love he held for her into a black stone of hate. He even tried to kill her several times to erase that moment's weakness from his mind. Luckily he hadn't succeeded. When he had gotten another chance to right the wrongs that he had done her, he was relieved. He tried to give her the Sasuke of her dreams. On a particular lonely night, he had thought of the chakra linked emeralds. He didn't want her to feel alone again. At first the emerald idea was solely for Sakura's benefit. But night after lonely night he would stare into it for a long time thinking of her and knowing in his heart that she was thinking of him. His mouth couldn't help to twist into a grimace. So much for wishful thinking he thought.
He tried to ignore the pain that he felt in his chest. He was happy for her even though the guy seemed a bit annoying. I mean those lines were so cheesy, was she really falling for all that, he groaned.
She entered back into the room and found Sasuke wide awake.
She smiled and went to the side of the bed, "Hey, you're finally awake." She said softly.
Sasuke found that he couldn't meet that emerald gaze of hers. He found that the pain in his chest had started to become sharper. He moved to sit up and found her leaning across him.
"Hey, you shouldn't try to move. You are still chakra depleted." Sakura said and smiled into his eyes. He suddenly couldn't breathe. He struggled under her which just made her wiggle even closer.
"Sasuke calm down. You are fine. We are in Kumogature. At the hospital. You suffered an injury to your thigh. I've healed you but you need to let the IV do its work. You were severely dehydrated." Sasuke looked over and saw the IV stand and realized why Sakura was holding him down. He exhaled slowly and tried to regain that inner calm that he had developed so well under the tutelage of Orochimaru. He succeeded a little too well. Even Sakura felt the chill from him and she moved back as if frost bit.
She remained sitting on the bed next to him. "I see you've resumed a little of your renown restraint."
"How did I get here?" Sasuke asked in his usual stiff fashion.
"Well you were in luck that Kiba and I happened to be in your vicinity in your time of need or you would have been toast." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. There was no mention of the emerald and why she had brought it with her. She must have been sent by Kakashi to track him down, he surmised. Which probably means that none of his hawks made it to Konoha.
Sakura leaned closer and whispered in his ear. Her breath on his neck sent a wave of tingles throughout his body, "The real question is what happened to you." She continued to fill him in on all the events of the past few weeks.
For a moment, Sasuke forgot his sudden attraction to Sakura and concentrated on the Intel she was providing him, he ground out through a clinched mouth, "I'm being framed" and then his narrowed eyes met Sakura, "But by who?"
Sakura exhaled and leaned back, "We were hoping that you'd be able to fill in that blank."
Sasuke stared at her blankly. He had been following a rumor of a white man who suddenly appeared out of the ground and had scared some farmers. At first, he thought, that White Zetsu must have survived but why would be show up at the border of the Land of Lightning. Sasuke had spent the last 3 months trailing after one false lead after another. He was just about to call the whole incident with the farmers a case of too much sake when his hawks started going missing and then he had sensed Sakura was on the move towards his location.
"Well," she said " the Raikage wanted to question you as soon as you awoke. You can understand how sensitive the issue is with the daimyo being involved and all, so watch what you say. The Raikage is itching to have your head one way or another. He hasn't forgotten how he lost his arm to you in battle."
Sakura started to rise from the bed but Sasuke was faster he caught her hand to hold her still. She looked from her held hand to his face in question. Sasuke looked deep into her eyes.
"Are you happy?" His gaze was very intense.
She looked at him and smiled, "Of course I am" she said.
Both Sasuke and Inner knew she was lying.
"Look you need to rest and I promised the Raikage that I'd let him know when you woke up. We will talk later." With that she squeezed his hand and let it go.
Sasuke had the sense that he was taking a long backwards fall, with just the drop of his hand.
::
Hello everyone! This was a super quick update. The next one might take me a bit though. Thank you for your reviews/follows. If you enjoyed it, then send me a quick word or two. Thanks for the encouragement that keeps me writing!