Chapter 5: A new found friend

Back in Konoha, Naruto was sitting beside Hinata's hospital bed watching her while she slept. Her hand was bandaged where they had to break her fingers to remove the kunai from her grip. The kunai would not allow anyone to touch it. It would flare a bright red and burn anyone who dared to touch it. They finally removed the thing by bringing in a blacksmith with a pair of tongs. It was being tested down in the weapons lab. For now, it remained a mystery.

Naruto continued to watch Hinata. He put his head in his hands for the umpteenth time.

Shikamaru came in and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to get his attention. Naruto looked up displaying red rimmed sleepless eyes .

"This is all my fault." Naruto said, "I should have listened to Sakura and given her chocolates or something. Not a weapon from some guy who I can't even remember what he looked like. What have I done?"

"Hey quit beating yourself up about this. You didn't know. How could you? No one knew that a simple kunai could be used like this." Shikamaru said.

Hinata started to stir. Naruto tried to comfort her. "Where's Niishi?" She started to murmur.

Naruto quietly signaled for Shikamaru to get the nurse. Shikamaru quickly left to get her.

"Just rest, Niishi will be here soon." Naruto told her to keep her calm.

Hinata smiled softly, "Niishi misses me and I miss Niishi." Naruto nodded solemnly and wished for the nurse to hurry.

This had been an ongoing occurrence since Hinata woke up in the hospital. No one knew what she meant or who she was asking for. She would wake up in a trance like state and ask for Niishi. She would start to become agitated when no one seemed to be able to produce Niishi. The agitation would soon turn to violence. She would attack anyone in the room, screaming for Niishi.

The nurse arrived promptly with the sedative. Naruto sighed in relief when Hinata drifted off to sleep. Shikamaru came back in.

"Have they found anything about that kunai yet?" Naruto asked. He had asked the same question for the past 2 days. Shikamaru just shook his head. Naruto felt his whole body sink down within himself.

"Listen Naruto when was the last time you've eaten? Come on, she'll be out of it for awhile. Let's go get something to eat. My treat. They will find something I'm sure of it."

Naruto let Shikamaru lead him out of the room. He felt drained and dazed. Even Lady Tsunade had been in to check on Hinata.

"Hey Shikamaru, where's Sakura?" Naruto asked as they walked out of the hospital. He was sure that she would have stopped by if she was in the village.

"She had to go out on a mission for Lady Tsunade. I'm sure when she gets back, she will come visit."

All Naruto could do was nod. He was too tired and emotionally drained to ask anything further.

::

"Yo, Naruto! Long time no see. What's it been 3 days? I thought you had left the village on a mission." Ichiraku took one look at Naruto's downcast face and raised an eyebrow in question to Shikamaru. Shikamaru just gave a silent shake of his head to the old cook and they took a seat.

"Two bowls of the usual." Said Shikamaru as they sat down on the bar stools. Ichiraku hurriedly filled the bowls and sat them down in front of the two shinobi.

"Whatever ails you, Naruto, this will fix you right up. I even added extra pork." Ichiraku said with a worried smile. He'd never seen Naruto this dejected since before he had made genin, that had been years ago.

Naruto looked at the bowl but refused to eat. "It's Hinata" he said simply, "she's sick and in the hospital and it's all my fault." He put his head down on his folded arms.

Shikamaru had had enough. He brought his fist down right on the top of Naruto's head.

"Ow". Naruto howled and threw Shikamaru a dirty look, "What was that for?!"

"Your pity party ends here, Naruto! Yeah Hinata is sick and yes it may be your fault, but sitting around moaning about it isn't going to help her! Think of Hinata! Would she want you to not be eating or taking care of yourself? Hell, no! So get your act together. We will find a cure and we will find the people responsible for it. Got it!"

Naruto looked at his friend and then a spark of his old self came back. He pointed an upturned thumb Shikamaru's way. "Thanks, I guess I needed that! You're right! I got to think of Hinata! She would kill me if she knew that I wasn't taking care of myself." He broke the chopsticks in half and started to eat with unusual gusto, even for Naruto.

Shikamaru laughed and started to eat as well.

"Look man, I wanted to tell you about some Intel we just received from Kumogature. Apparently they came across a chakra draining weapon. It was an arrow. We think that it might be made from the same alloy as that kunai."

"Really!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, spewing ramen.

"Uh yeah" Shikamaru said as he wiped the ramen liquid from his face.

"That's great! Maybe they'll know how to help Hinata!"

"Yeah let's hope. We sent a letter back to them to ask for their assistance."

"That's the best news I've heard in days!" Naruto put an empty bowl up in the air and cried "Another please"

Ichiraku laughed and said, "This one's on the house! For Hinata!"

Naruto echoed Ichiraku's words, "For Hinata!"

::

The Raikage's interrogation of Sasuke was over quickly. They met in his hospital room. Sasuke gave him a recount of his current mission to track down any rumors of those who would disrupt the new found peace. He mentioned that he was on the way to rendezvous with Sakura's team in Kumogature when he got ambushed. He never saw his attackers and had no idea who they were or why they targeted him. As to why he was rendezvousing with Sakura's team, Sasuke hedged. His first priority was to his Hokage, Kakashi, and could only pass on that Intel to him. However he really didn't think that it had any bearing on the current situation in Kumogature. The Raikage gave a grunt and moved away from Sasuke and started toward the door.

He seemed satisfied and turned to Sakura, "I think we've heard enough. We will continue our investigation here. Sakura, I've arranged a ship for you and your friends departing tomorrow morning at dawn. Make sure this time that you DO get on it. There is only so much leniency that I will have in this matter." Then he turned back to Sasuke, "Uchiha, be careful if you ever find yourself in Kumogature again. Next time I might swing first and ask questions later." He turned back to Sakura, "Give Tsunade my best." With that he turned and left.

Sakura looked thoughtfully at the closed door then turned her attention to the man in the hospital bed.

"Well that went better than expected. I was worried that he would be more resourceful in his interrogation methods. I guess he figured that you were a victim as much as they were." Sakura said and made her way to sit next to him on the bed.

Sasuke grabbed her hand and said, "I haven't thanked you for saving me, have I?"

Sakura laughed and pulled her hand away, "That's a first. An Uchiha thanking someone." She fidgeted with his blankets and didn't meet his gaze.

Sasuke reached over and put his fingers on the bottom of her chin and forced her to meet his gaze, "I mean it. Thanks for saving me now and thanks for trying to save me then."

Sakura swallowed hard and closed her eyes. Don't fall for it, Inner cautioned, Words are just words with no meaning unless they are followed by actions.

She felt Sasuke's cool lips touch hers. She started to feel herself fall and then just as suddenly her head regained control and she leaned away from him, breaking the moment.

She stayed looking at him though. "You don't have to do that."

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Pretend to like me like that. I've always had feelings for you, you know that. I always will have feelings for you. However, we are two different people now." She couldn't believe that all of this was pouring out of her. She looked away from his face. She felt tears start to gather in her eyes. She was going there…she was putting it out there…all her fears and concerns. She looked back into his eyes. Part of her was hoping for a fervent denial, there was still that little girl inside that loved Sasuke and wanted to be loved in return.

When she looked back into his eyes, she found her answer. He leaned back and shrugged, "I wanted to be what you wanted me to be." Was all he said. She stared at him for a long time. She felt angry indignation start to rise up inside of her. Yeah give it to him! Inner cheered. Wail on him! She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She got off the bed and turned her back on him to collect her thoughts.

She turned back and asked quietly, "Why send me the emerald?". She wanted to know how he could give her so much control if there wasn't a shred of true love there. It was the one thing that that little girl inside held onto each night. It had become her symbol of hope.

Sasuke looked her straight in the eye and even her head could not deny the sincerity of his words, "Because I trust you completely."

"Trust?" She gave a little unhappy laugh, "Not love?" She looked at Sasuke directly.

Several heartbeats went by before he answered softly, "It's a start, isn't it?" He looked back at her almost defiantly.

Sakura just didn't know what to say in response. So instead she changed the subject.

"You told the Raikage that you were coming to meet me here before you got ambushed. How did you know that we were coming?"

He shrugged and replied, "I had a feeling."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "A feeling? Right..." Then she jokingly started patting down her body, "You didn't just turn into Shino and plant one of his female beetles on me, did you? You know how much I hate bugs."

Sasuke couldn't keep his mouth from twitching into a smile, "No I did not turn into Shino" he replied.

"Oh good. So I guess I will just have to add clairvoyance to the list of Uchiha skills." She said with a smile.

Sasuke couldn't help the smile that ensued, "Yeah something like that" he conceded.

Sakura looked into Sasuke's face seriously, "Look I'm not that little girl who follows you everywhere with puppy dog eyes and you are not the boy that I fell in love with. The boy I fell in love with had my back. I could depend on him to be there whenever I needed him. That boy is not you."

"Agreed" Sasuke said quietly and just as serious. He was not that boy anymore. Nor had he been in quite a while. However, as he looked at her in a new light, he realized that he wanted to be that boy again. He wted to prove to her that he could be someone that she could depend on.

Sakura sighed. "Look I think that we should just call a truce. Friends?"

Sasuke looked at her quite seriously, "What if I say no?"

"What?!" Sakura said incredulously.

"What if I say no?" Sasuke repeated.

"No to being friends?" Sakura said for clarification.

"I think that given time I could prove to you that I can be that boy who you once depended on."

Sakura shook her head, "You know I just can't do this. I don't know if this is your idea of a sick joke but it's not funny. I don't need your guilt or whatever it is that is making you say these things. Tomorrow morning we will board that ship for Konoha and then afterwards we can go back to being apart okay? I just don't need this in my life right now!" With that last statement and tears in her eyes, Sakura dashed out the door.

She didn't hear Sasuke's whisper, "But I think that I may need you"

::

The next morning, they were lined up to board the ship. They were waiting for the gangplank to be let down. Kiba and Akamaru didn't need a love expert to tell them that something was amiss between his two companions. They hardly looked at each other and neither had spoken a word to him since he proclaimed "Good morning". All he got was a cold stare from Sasuke and a grunt from Sakura.

"Uh oh" Kiba whispered to Akamaru, "Trouble in paradise". Sakura had given him a stern look and Sasuke just turned to look out towards the ocean.

Finally the gangplank was lowered and they started to board. Then they heard a familiar voice,

"Hold tight! Alright! Bee need a word with you herd!"

He was holding a decoded letter from Konoha, "Sakura this be for you, read it quick then I'll tell you what to do"

Sakura skimmed the letter and they relayed the message to the rest, "Looks like Hinata has been poisoned or brain washed by the kunai that Naruto gave her. She seems to be in some kind of trance."

Kiba grabbed the letter, "Not Hinata!" He said urgently and started to reread the letter.

Bee grabbed Sakura's arm to get her attention, "Could be or not, that that kunai gets hot. It needs a hand to take control or else your friend there might be null."

Sakura looked at him uncomprehendingly then it dawned on her, "Are you saying that you think that kunai is like my arrow, brothers with different mothers?"

Bee smiled broadly, "Yeah brothers with different mothers! But I would go fast, don't know if your friend will last!"

She looked at Kiba and Sasuke. The voyage by ship would take 5 days and then the journey from the coast to the village would take at least another. She was still 6-7 days away.

Sasuke stepped forward. "I can teleport us to the border of the Land of Fire. We can go by foot from there. That will cut the journey in half."

Sakura looked at Sasuke hopefully, "Are you really up to that?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Pretty sure that I can manage."

Sakura nodded. "Kiba go by ship! Get there as fast as you can! Hopefully by the time you get there. Hinata will be on the mend and back to her old self again.

Kiba nodded, "Take care of her Sakura!" Then he turned to Sasuke and said, "Thanks! I'll owe you one for this!" Kiba put out his hand towards Sasuke.

Sasuke at first looked at it, uncomprehending, then slowly brought his hand up to meet it, "No problem"

::

It took them a little over 2 days to get back to the village. Sasuke pushed himself to the limit. Even with Sakura renewing his chakra supply every few hours or so. He was drained.

It was in the middle of the night when they finally arrived at the village and checked in with the guards that seemed to be expecting them. They were both thoroughly exhausted.

"Come on" Sakura said to Sasuke and led him to her place. She led him into her apartment. He stood there not knowing what to do. She pointed to the couch and said, "You, sleep there!" Then gave a loud yawn, "I'm going to bed" and with that she closed the bedroom door. Sasuke was too tired to think as he crashed on her couch.

He was awakened early the next morning by loud pounding on Sakura's door and then an annoyingly familiar voice yelling, "Hey I know you're in there! I already checked the night log!" And then when there was no response, the annoying voice continued, "You better get dressed! I know where you keep your spare key!"

Sasuke heard the rattling of the door knob and then there standing before him was Naruto Uzamaki. Sasuke groaned.

Naruto noted Sasuke on the couch with a shocked look and this his face turned mischievous, "I thought that if you were in town, that you wouldn't be found on her couch, but in her b… Oww!"

Sakura had snuck up and smacked Naruto up the side of his head, "What were you about to say?" She said holding her fist up to his face. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and looked at her with one eye. "Nothing! Okay nothing!"

Naruto seemed to recover quickly, "So what are you doing in town?" As he looked over at Sasuke and then he stopped and moved his gaze from one to another, "Is this where you've been all this time? With him? Where'd you guys go? A hot spring? Never mind! Shikamaru says that you might have found a way to help Hinata. Come on, let's go!" Naruto started to drag Sakura out the door.

"Naruto! Stop! I can walk on my own! I don't need you dragging me!" While the two had been wrestling, Sasuke had gotten up and put on his shirt and jacket.

"I need to go speak with Kakashi anyway. I'll walk with you guys." They all left the apartment together.

While they were walking, Naruto put his hands behind his head and said, "Look team 7 back together again. Doesn't it feel good?" He said with a smile.

Sasuke and Sakura refused to comment. Sasuke left them at the hospital and made his way to seek an audience with Kakashi.

::

Naruto practically dragged Sakura up the flights of stairs to Hinata's room.

When they entered Hinata was sleeping but it seemed like she was gripped by an unknown internal struggle. Her brow was furrowed and she kept mumbling the name, Niishi.

"Well Sakura, what do you think?" Naruto asked urgently.

"I think that I need to see the kunai." She replied.

"The kunai? Okay. But I thought that you would be able to help Hinata." Naruto said sadly. He looked suddenly so dejected.

Sakura couldn't help but be moved. She turned him to face her and looked him in the eyes. "I am here to help her but first I need to see the kunai."

Naruto nodded and said that it was being help in the weapons depot but they'd need Shikamaru's help to gain access.

"Well then let's go find Shikamaru!" She said.

It took them only a few minutes to locate Shikamaru. He actually was waiting for them at the weapon's depot.

"Thought you'd come here" Shikamaru said as he led them inside. Naruto still looked quite confused.

"Uh I know the kunai started all this but Sakura your specialty is medicine not weapons. I really think that we should be back at the hospital with Hinata." Sakura and Shikamaru ignored him and kept walking,

"Hey Tenten" Shikamaru said.

"Hi guys. I have it ready for you, Shikamaru. Don't know what you can do about it though. The thing won't let anyone near it."

They walked up to a room and Tenten unlocked it. The room was bare except for one angry looking kunai that was on the middle of a table. The kunai was burning a bright red and as they approached you could feel the menacing heat coming off the blade.

Sakura approached it carefully. She could actually hear the blade seething, crying, wanting…no needing more. Sometimes it seemed to give a pitiful cry and other times it ranged up to a massive bellow. She looked over at her two companions. Neither seemed to hear the anguish.

Oh not another one!, Inner cried, I can take it! I just can't take it! Make it stop or run away from it! That's it run away!

"No" cried another voice, "It needs you! Help it! Help it!" Sakura realized that the third voice was that of her arrow. She walked up next to the blade on the table and put her backpack with the arrow next to it. The blade started to vibrate angrily.

Naruto started to move close to Sakura but Shikamaru put an arm out to stop him, "Wait Naruto. Let Sakura handle it!"

"But she could get hurt! That thing is dangerous!" Naruto shouted and started to struggle against Shikamaru.

Shikamaru puffed out, "What a drag!" As he tried to clothesline his friend to keep him from interfering.

Sakura ignored everything in the room. Her sole focus was the kunai in front of her. She reached into her backpack for her medical kit and pulled out an energy pill. She bit into it and felt the sudden heat that enclosed her body. She revved up her chakra levels until she felt her whole body on fire. She channeled the chakra from her body and into her hands.

"Here goes nothing!" She muttered as she took hold of the kunai with both hands. She felt the searing heat from the blade and then felt her blood sizzle down the carved end as she held on with all her might.

"Let go of Hinata" she thought, "Come home to me". She suddenly felt the link to Hinata snap and a new consciousness fill her brain.

"Find Niishi. We must find Niishi" the blade kept saying over and over again.

Shut up already! We heard you the first 5 times! Inner yelled.

The blade suddenly stopped its mantra and sighed. It seemed tired too from trying to get its message across.

Sakura took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. They were definitely in bad shape but she had seen worse. She quickly healed her hands and picked up the kunai.

She turned and twirled the kunai with one hand and gave Naruto and Shikamaru a cheeky grin, "Well looks like we need to go find this Niishi person."

Shikamaru grinned and Naruto looked perplexed. "Uh what do you mean?" And then he saw her twirling the kunai and his eyes started to bulge, "How did you?! I mean when did you?!" And then understanding started to register on his face, "Does this mean Hinata's okay?"

Sakura gave a him a smile and a laugh, "Yep go see your girl! I need to stay back and speak with Shikamaru."

Naruto gave a jump for joy and woohooed then ran to the hospital.

Shikamaru looked at Sakura with a new found respect, "I feel like you have a lot to report"

Sakura smiled.

Inner muttered, It's getting really crowded in here!

::

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry that I left some of you hanging. My intention was not to be mean. I honestly just felt that chapter 4 would be too long. However I sped up this Chapter just for you! So give me some feedback ok? Even just 2 words like "please continue!" Thanks again to all of you that follow. It really makes me so happy to see That someone likes my writing.