Jun: "Chapter two? Anything interesting gonna happen?"

Me: "You never know."

Sasuke: She owns nothing. But a good case of psychosis I guess.

Sasuke was slightly delirious when he awoke.

His brother was asleep on a chair next to a…Hospital bed?!...With his hair out of its custom ponytail and his torso on the bed next to him, with his head in his arms.

There was no way his brother would be here. Let alone staying. He looked blearily at the pole holding all of his medicines. Yup, he recognized that one, morphine. He must be pretty banged up.

"Sasuke, go back to sleep, it's too early, you need rest. And I need you rested for what we need to do."

"Um, in case you haven't noticed, my S-rank criminal brother is worrying over me in a hospital room, in the village he betrayed. I have heavy doses of painkillers in my system, and I have ghosts trying to kill me. I am asleep. Because I am dreaming."

Itachi rolled his eyes.

"Tsunade and Sakura will be here in a bit, to check you over and fill you in. I will go get something to eat, now that you're awake." And he stood and left.

Sasuke allowed himself to relax slightly, until he realized that he could feel his head throbbing and his chest aching, from the bathtub incident. Not dreaming. Damn.

He leaned back a bit farther using the position control on his bed. Then he allowed himself to go over what he knew so far. He had a cousin, a LIVE one, who was in an alternate dimension, with a god meant for him inside of him. Scratch that, too big of a problem to hash out under pain meds.

He had ghostly relatives trying to kill him. Bad in a strange, Sci-fi way. Not sure he liked how this was turning out.

And the cousin (Who he would not think about now, 'because it hurt his head) had close ties with the former heir of the Hyuuga clan. That boggled his mind.

"Sasuke-san? You have a few visitors. May I let them in?"

Sasuke, in his drug induced state, dubbed the nurse, random-too-happy-chick-1, or random chick #1 for short.

"Sure why not." He sighed "maybe I'll get lucky and they will say something amusing."

The nurse eyed him strangely, and left, to get his guests he assumed.

She returned with Neji, Hinata, Kakashi and Naruto. All of whom promptly sat down around the bed. The nurse left after seeing this.

"So what happened?" Kakashi seemed to be speaking for everyone but Naruto, who knew damn well what happened. "They told us you almost drowned. And it seems like you were held under, but nobody was there. Were you attacked by a rival ninja?"

His sensei was nice, he decided, it was nice to have people to worry about you.

Right, nice sensei wanted answers. Well, how about, 'oh my dead aunt knew that I found out about my super powerful cousin, so she used her super-special-awesome ghost powers to daze me so that she could drown me in my own bathtub. Only to be saved by my S-class missing nin brother, who was here a bit ago, did you see?' No, that wouldn't work.

"You should tell them Sasuke. And I asked the Hyuugas like you wanted, I have papers." He was strangely sedate. Must be the whole, almost murdered best friend -scared-out-of-his-wits thing.

"Okay, Naruto. Let's see how they take it." He said calmly "I am able to see dead people, and my house is full of them and Aunt Chiyo tried to kill me." He said in a pleasant voice "Happy?"

Kakashi's jaw was open, not that you could tell. (Stupid mask)

Hinata was looking around the room presumably for someone to indicate an inside joke or shout 'Surprise!'

Neji looked worried (Mental note, analyze later)

Naruto looked exasperated

"He is telling the truth. I know it sounds crazy, but. Yeah." Naruto verified loyally

The others knew Naruto wouldn't lie. It was far-fetched, but Neji had come across ghosts before, he was willing to bite.

"The papers, Naruto wanted, were hard to get, my uncle clammed up when this, Torike, guy was mentioned. But we got them, there's not much but we have the file for you." Neji said kindly

Sasuke cocked his head to the side in a birdlike fashion. "Okay, can I see it?"

Neji handed the file over without complaint.

Name- Torike Hyuuga (Toh-ree-kay)

Parents- Kitala Hyuuga, Edward Phoenix

Siblings-none

Nin animal associations- White wolf cub, Aniyu.(Uh-Ny-you)

Predetermined summons- Dragons, wolves, birds, etc

Assessment- Far above average nin stature, fox demon blood running strong, non-human, Will be powerful clan head.

Re-assessment 3 months later- While power is strong, heart seems fragile, very emotional, or cold at a moments notice. Cannot risk volatile nature into children, cannot be allowed to reproduce.

Arranged marriage- Fertile not an option, but has a friend in the Uchiha clan, friend is male, no risk of reproduction, also powerful, will improve standing alliance with Uchiha.

Sasuke's eyes widened. They were going to stop him from having children because he was too powerful? This was the boy Jun associated with?

"They were going to marry him off to a male Uchiha?" Naruto exclaimed "That's kind of harsh."

"Not really, Naruto, they were planning on marrying him off to a friend, not just a random guy. It could have been worse." Kakashi said, with interest

"T-t-they were going to m-marry him off to an-n-other guy?" Hinata said shocked

"It's not a big deal, Hinata. Ninja live short lives, nobody cares who you are with, and two powerful men running a clan would probably make them, the clan, more powerful" Kakashi supplied

"I-I know that, K-Kakashi. I d-don't care either, I was j-just sup-p-rised that they w-w-would do that to h-him. Arranged marriages norm-maly d-don't work like th-h-at." Hinata reiterated.

Neji leaned forward to see the paper himself "What happened? Was the contract ever made?"

"In Jun's file, it said they were keeping watch on him because he was hanging out with Torike." Naruto objected

"This file was newer" Sasuke said softly "about a month after Jun's file was updated with that entry."

Another page fell out of Sasuke's hands, another part to his file.

Sasuke picked it up gingerly and read aloud like the last time.

Names: Hyuuga, Torike-Uchiha, Jun

Marriage status- Accepted by both clans to take place their 16th year

Note: Mikoto Uchiha and Edward Phoenix, tentatively oppose the union. Views to be taken into consideration, for the two to be in love when they marry. Or at least accepting of the union. Both will be told at age 14.

Objections- Silenced, to take place at age 16

Sasuke seemed to have used up his store of lucidness and was gazing absentmindedly out a window. The others were shocked. Arranged marriages did happen, but to use it just to stop one from having children? It was cruel. And strangely both were ten when they disappeared.

"Thanks for the information, Neji." Naruto said "We should all leave him be for a while. He needs to rest before the doctors start coming in."

The others nodded their agreement and left with various parting words.

Sasuke settled back down into the bed and was about to close his eyes when the apparition of Chiyo appeared once more. Sasuke was sluggish yet, and could not fight when she grabbed his shoulders. He was able to scream as her long crooked nails cut surgical lines down both of his arms as she slid her hands from his shoulders to his wrists.

The deep gashes bled freely, and as he heard the door open to admit Tsunade and Sakura, he slipped into unconsciousness.

-Duel Academy, Bathing Springs-

Jun had been very jumpy lately, often scared for no rational reason. As his roommate, Edo knew these things. As his roommate, Edo had tried to wake him up after he collapsed in their dorm. He had resuscitated him, when he lay drowning on the floor, with no water nearby. And he was worried.

As he leaned his long pale back against the cool stone of the artificial waterfall in the bathing springs, the sharp contrast to the steaming, sweet scented water lapping at his hips, he watched his friend resting on a stone bench a few feet away.

"Creeper." Jun teased "Or perv, whichever you prefer."

Edo had always moved easily in the water, and was able to close the distance and capture the others lips in a matter of seconds.

"Honestly you two." Dragonheart teased from her perch on the side of the pool, holding a towel that covered from her underarms to her mid-thigh. "You'd think that after two years you could keep your hands off each other."

Jasmine, sitting next to her, shot her a playful glare. "Don't point it out! They stop when you do that."

The two men in question rolled their eyes and Edo took a seat next to his oldest friend. Leaning his head on the others slender, pale shoulder and beginning to tease his swanlike neck with soft kisses and light nips. Cautiously wrapping one arm around the others waist and moving him so that his head fell back and exposed his throat more.

"Sure you're alright?" He murmured against the soft skin "You should be resting."

Jun groaned softly "I'm fine, just tired."

"Are you sure you don't want to visit the infirmary Jun?" Dragonheart said softly checking her friend for fever. Virtually impossible to detect, seeing as the demon sealed within him had partially merged with his body, making him run a toasty 100 degrees at all times.

Edo and Jun shared a wicked grin as they pulled apart.

"I kind of have a ready made ice pack." Jun smirked.

The experimental blood in Edo had made him run at about sixty degrees on average, also making him closer to a fox demon than the usual test subject.

"Since he is my mate, I'm required to keep tabs on him. So far, barring the whole, drowning thing" Edo punctuated drowning with a glare at the dark haired male "He does seem to just be exhausted."

Jasmine snorted "Yes, downplay the fact that my brother figure almost drowned in his bedroom. It happens all the time."

Dragonheart playfully splashed them all. Plastering Edo and Jun's long hair around their shoulders and waists as well as their heads, Jasmines magenta hair to her back All of them fixed her with a playful glare. They weren't all technically supposed to bathe together, but, it's not like people didn't do it anyway.

Edo's hair frosted over due to his body temperature and the inner demons own personal preferences, but as he began to shiver, Jun began a careful finger comb that defrosted his long white silver hair.

"That's all folks, I don't even use the hairdryer."

The others laughed at the reference. If Vanity Fair asked Edo how he got his hair so shiny, one more time…

All four were 18 and would be here another two years in advanced placement classes. It was a way of attending college without leaving the only home the four of them knew.

As the laughter died down, they were able to hear Jun's gasp of pain. Edo smelt the blood with his heightened senses before the other two saw the long gashes, running from shoulder to wrist, bleeding freely.

Edo, with the most talent in healing, lunged and began trying to heal the scratches. They wouldn't.

"We need to get him to Fontaine." He gasped "Now!"

And they pulled Jun from the pool. Frantically threw on some clothes and rushed to the infirmary. Trying to stop the bleeding.

They were so panicked they almost didn't hear his nearly inaudible whisper of "Sasuke…hold on.."

The name stuck a bell in Edo's mind, he would see to it later.

Three hours later, Edo sat in his dorm that he and Jun usually shared. Reading over files they had stolen from Chosaku and Shoji several years ago, when they came into their powers as demons, and whatever else.

Sasuke Uchiha

Siblings: Itachi Uchiha

Parents Fugaku Uchiha, Mikoto Uchiha

Side-branch assignment: Jun Uchiha

Note: 2nd heir to the Uchiha clan.

The paper was old, Sasuke would be 16 by now. And as for Jun being an Uchiha, side-branch and ninja, they already knew that. What he wanted to know is why Jun was injured like this. He was almost positive that it was the brand on his hip that made the two, Jun and Sasuke, like stigmatic twins. The little Uchiha fan shaped burn that Edo had healed most of and concealed, but could never fully eradicate, could it cause all this? Even if that were the case, and Sasuke was hurt… What inflicted those types of wounds?

He left the room and wandered into the living room where Jasmine and Dragonheart were sitting, yet stunned on the couch. He slid in between them and let them cry on him. Their shock, panic and anger that Jun of all people was hurt, by something they couldn't see or defend him from had upset them in the deepest part of their psyches.

"Shhh." He purred softly " He'll be fine, we will see him in the morning."

'And we will need to find a way to help his cousin after that.' The Phoenix tacked on mentally, narrowing ice blue eyes.

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