Night without Day

by depressedchildren

Sasuke never expected to have the children he dreamed of as a genin, nor would he have expected the peace he felt. Yet all good things must come to an end. Hardship after hardship and the family he built in Middle Earth is quickly sucked into the struggles between the free peoples and the Eye in the East. It will be a long Night without Day. Sequel to "The Tale of Day and Night"

5. Chapter 5: The Council of Elrond

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or Naruto; both works belong to their respective creators and publishers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experiences from this fanfic.

Full Summary: Sasuke never expected to have the children he had dreamed of as a genin, nor would he have expected the peace he felt, with her of all people. But there they were; the happy, "perfect" family. Yet all good things must come to an end. Hardship after hardship befell them, and the family he built in Middle Earth was breaking apart. At his wit's end, Sasuke has no choice but to be sucked into the struggles of the free peoples against the Power in the East. The sun has set, and night has taken over indefinitely. Warnings: OC's, gender-bending.

A/N: I am so sorry for the very long wait. If I haven't updated in three months, please feel free to shoot me a PM because chances are I'm just having writer's block and need to be pressured to get over it; especially if I am continually updating my other projects. (However, if all my updates stop, chances are it's school that's getting in the way, plus writer's block.) Of course, these fanfics will be slow to update regardless because I tend to do long chapters and I'm editing two at a time, which is time consuming and exhausting, but if an update doesn't come out in five months again that's just not acceptable. Anyways, I do appreciate everyone's reviews, and if you're still reading thank you and again I apologize for the wait. Also, thank you to those who have either put this on alert or favorite ~ with love and apologies, depressedchildren

P.S. I'm not hating on Boromir or anything, but just following the book's portrayal and matching it with how the characters would react to him.

---

Chapter 5: The Council of Elrond

---

3017, October 18

Dawn looked out over the terraces leading down into the mist of the valley. She was sitting on the railing with her knees folded under her as she rested on the side of her hip. She was braced against one of the pillars that went up to make an arch over the terrace, and her arms tried to wrap around the stone pillar. The side of her face was pressed against the cool stone, and it felt like a relief.

After Tousan had…had revealed what he had been thinking of their disappearance, the crushing guilt pressing down on her had increased. The room had been stifling and a headache had begun to form. She had had to leave, and Tousan had let her slip out of the room—his attention had only strayed to her for a moment before it had been drawn back to Minuial.

Dawn closed her eyes tightly as the autumn wind came rushing through the valley to stir the leaves littering the stone terraces, and to whip her skirts about for a moment. She slowly opened her eyes and stared down into the valley as the pale sunlight slowly rose over the misty mountain peaks and filtered down into the valley. The mists in the valley shimmered with oranges and pinks while the world slowly woke.

If only Minuial would wake up…

She should have done her duties as eldest sister better. She should have protected her sisters! She should have been stronger, faster, cleverer... She should have done her duty as the eldest daughter, she should have…she should have done so many things… Now her family was so hurt, so damaged.

She wished Haldarad was here. She needed him and his presence, his counsel, but he was on duty around the Shire. She closed her eyes as the wind kicked up the mists below her, and a few of the cool droplets of water hit her face. If she just stayed like this, with the wind blowing her hair back, she could pretend she was elsewhere and in another time.

She could pretend she was running through the trees in the early morning with her ranger running on the ground. They would be hunting breakfast for her family. Haldarad would ask her how things were in Bree, and perhaps he would lament about a tear in his traveling cloak or his want for a home cooked meal. She would welcome him to come on a supplies' run in Bree, where Tousan would give Haldarad cold looks and he would shift uncomfortably in response to them. But he would agree, Haldarad always agreed because she would sew the tear in his cloak and Tousan would cook dinner for all of them…and they could be together for a little longer. It would be worth her mother and sisters' teasing, and whenever she and Haldarad could, they would slink off and sit beneath the stars…he would hold her close and she would feel…happy and safe.

But life wouldn't be that way anymore. Things were changing and not just in her family. The wind was growing colder but part of her felt that it was more than just the coming winter, it was something worse. Something foul was crawling closer and closer with each rise of the sun and it felt as if things were never going to be the same.

Her family was falling apart and it was her fault, her selfish actions and her inability to bring her sisters back home. And she hurt Tousan, made him worry so much.

Her arms pressed tighter against the pillar and she closed her eyes tightly as she tried to push back the scary, terrible feeling bubbling up. Because growing up she had always been amazed at how strong her parents were, how fast and skilled, but they had fallen apart and became fallible. And it wasn't a battle that tore them down, that made their features become sunken, and their eyes so sad and weary... It was sadness and their family falling apart that brought such a look into their eyes and thinness to their faces…and it was terrifying to behold.

Her strong, proud, wonderful parents had been reduced by deaths and near-deaths in their family. She loved her parents, she did, and seeing them both thin and hollow like this terrified her, but if anyone else was lost in their family, would that not increase? Wouldn't it only grow worse?!

She had to be strong, like her parents were and Tousan was trying so hard to remain.

"It's a beautiful view." Dawn didn't start at the stranger's voice; she had heard him coming and felt his presence. Dawn didn't acknowledge the male speaking behind her, "You could almost forget darkness is on the horizon and war close to spilling over here."

Dawn turned then and saw a very tall man dressed in muddied traveling robes. He looked tired and his shorn, shoulder-length hair was a tangled mess, but his face showed the sternness of a warrior and a strange sort of regality. He reminded her of Ojisan, what with the proud way he held himself with the air of a hardened warrior—there were also his gray eyes, they looked similar to Aragorn but they were not as old. She found herself relaxing, even though it was clear he was no ranger; in fact, his crest was the white mark of the steward of Gondor. Gondorian not Dúnedain…

"What do you mean?" Dawn questioned softly as she turned back to the valley. Ojisan did not discuss his business in the east or any of the news from Gondor. He only taught Dawn and her sisters vague family trees and what the various house crests looked like. Mostly it was maps and history but never current news—Bree didn't get much in the way of that, especially from out east.

The proud man looked at her in surprise, "The war Gondor fights against the Shadow in the East." At her bewildered look, the man stepped back appalled, "Surely you've heard the rumors…" he whispered, as he looked at the sky like it might fall upon them. She recalled the Enemy in the East who had betrayed peoples of Middle Earth, but at the Last Alliance the Enemy fell and his power was wiped from Middle Earth—or so the Lay went and Aragorn lectured.

The peculiar man looked at her closely, "You are not from Dale, are you?" he asked slowly.

"No," Dawn shook her head and looked back out over the valley as she chewed her lip. One piece of information played in her mind, there was a war out east that this gentleman, from said direction, was afraid would spill over to the far west. She still was not sure who the enemy was, but to many of the eastern villages and countries, this war was pressing in on them.

Could the Nazgûl be part of this war? The thought made her tense, and her blood pump in her ears.

"I had assumed that if the lords under the Mountain would come out to seek counsel with their longtime rivals a human ambassador would have come a long to ensure peaceful negotiations," the man was probably saying all of this to get her to talk about where she came from, she wouldn't play his game.

"You haven't explained what you meant," Dawn pointed out as she glared down into the valley with her slightly decreased vision, normally she would have been able to see every detail in the valley, count ever nest in the trees below, but now…they were blurs that far out. She wrapped her arms tighter around the pillar and glared down into the mist; things would never be the same.

"The tower in the black land has risen again," the man said softly and Dawn wondered if this was supposed to mean anything to her? The man frowned, "You don't know what I speak of?" Dawn shook her head and the man stared at her dumbfounded.

"A peasant…I would not have…in Rivendell no less," the man was mumbling this under his breath and Dawn did her best to control herself.

"You are from Gondor, and the white crest means that the steward is acting in place of the king. I can name all the kings and their successors, as well as many branches of the men of númenor." The man stepped back in slight alarm and began to blush, but Dawn continued and leveled the presumptuous man with cold stare, "I speak sindarin fluently, and I know the old lays as well as much of elvish history," something clicked then for her as she recalled one of the many stanzas in Fall of Gilgalad in which a black tower was mentioned, "but…this black land…do you mean to speak of the fall of Gilgalad and Mordor?"

The man paled and gave a curt nod as he looked out at the mist, "The great evil that fell that day has risen again, and we fear he is building an army once more behind his Black Gates," the man sneered off into the distance before shaking his head and turning to her.

He was looking at her curiously, "I was not aware human children were raised by elves."

"I wasn't." Dawn stood up promptly on the thin railing; her side was numb and cold.

The man looked at her in surprise and seemed prepared to haul her off the banister. She looked down at the valley, and for an impulsive moment—up here with her skirts swishing around her legs in the wind—she wanted jump from the banister and soar down through the air until she caught herself in a recovery roll, but now was not the time for aerials.

She needed to train because a war was coming and no more of her family could be lost. She turned to the stunned man, "Tell me, sir, are the Nazgûl under this power's rule?" She had a feeling they were, but the man stared at her without recognition on his face, so she tired another name, "Black riders who madden those near them."

The man had paled as if his worst fear had been mentioned, "How do you know of such evil but not their master or the war they lead," he hissed as he moved slightly away from her.

Dawn glared at the man, she was only slightly taller than him now that she was standing on the railing, "They tried to kill my sisters," she stated coldly with her hands clenched at her sides, "and I'll make them pay for that." And she would, she would find a way to make them pay for hurting her family. She would become strong and make sure no one else in her family was hurt by them. The Nazgûl could die, and if she ever saw one again she would kill it.

Dawn promptly turned back to the valley before dropping down onto the terrace below. The chakra she pushed through her legs absorbed the landing blow and she stood up to hear the man above her choking in surprise at her action. She then turned toward the healing corridor in search of her bow. She needed to practice and get used to her damaged sight. Perhaps she would start working more on her hand-to-hand.

…

Aragorn looked down at the archery range, which was located at the back innermost part of Rivendell. He was leaning against the railing of an overlooking terrace with a hand covering his mouth as his elbows rested on the railing. A pipe was in his mouth, and honestly this was the only place he could find that he was guaranteed to smoke in peace—Sasuke and the elves in this place would either give him grief or pointed looks for smoking in their presence.

He stared down at the rather elaborate archery range which consisted of swinging targets that moved in the wind, as well as targets in a trench that required higher ground to hit. Although this was the last homely house, the sentries and scouts needed some way to hone their skills, and thus an archery range was created in a secluded section to at least keep appearances of this place being peaceful. Not that his friend had seen a peaceful entry into the valley.

Aragorn watched his niece move about the range below him. Dawn was letting loose round after round of arrows with an angry determination he had never seen before. She fitted the bows quickly, so quickly his eyes could barely keep up, and then she let them fly with such speed and accuracy it was almost frightening. She could match the elusive Mirkwood archers for quick draws and swift movements. She even managed to do rolling shots in her dress without tripping herself during or after the roll.

Aragorn watched as new arrows entered the fray, and he looked down and off to the side to see the Prince of Mirkwood himself with his bow drawn. It was then a race to cover the center of every target with their own arrows. They moved to obstruct each other's view of targets, and Aragorn could not help but smile behind his hand. However, he was disconcerted to see that his niece was more often than not missing the long distance targets; those were normally her best shots…

However, Aragorn was distracted from such thoughts as both archers ran for the trees so as to get the targets that could only reached from higher ground. Legolas was a quick and nimble climber, but Dawn had her abilities and only had to race at the tree to run up it. He saw Legolas look at Dawn in surprise and lose his footing for a second, but he was not such a young being as to let his surprise completely distract him.

While Dawn was racing higher into the tree, he continued to climb to find a better perch, but Dawn propelled herself in a flip off the tree and shot upside down at the previously inaccessible, entrenched targets. She had all three before she landed on her feet. If not for the leather breeches she had been wearing under her dress, that might have been much more scandalous of a shot, and he would not have been feeling such pride for his niece. Legolas sat blinking for a moment in his tree with an arrow still notched in his bow.

Dawn was panting slightly in her place before she moved to retrieve her arrows and start her practice all over again. However, after collecting a handful of arrows, Legolas approached her. He could see the elf prince's lips move but he could not read what was being said.

"I'm surprised there are so many men in Rivendell," Aragorn turned to see a tall man of Gondor. He wore muddied travel clothes, though undoubtedly he would be given clothes to change into by the servants soon.

"Lord Elrond welcomes all free peoples to his home," Aragorn answered simply before he turned to see Legolas draw his bow demonstratively and Dawn mimic. Likely the prince was showing his niece ways to improve her archery and drawing proficiency; after all, there was only so much he could have taught her, and it would take a master archer to improve her skills further.

There was an almost awkward silence for a moment as they both watched the archers, but the newcomer broke the silence, "Boromir, son of Denethor, lord of Minas Tirith," the man greeted with his arm out held. Aragorn turned and grabbed the proffered arm below the elbow.

He hesitated a moment before returning the introduction, "Aragorn, son of Arathorn," he had decided to give his proper name; after all, the man likely did not know the significance of his name for he was simply a lord of Minas Tirith and was likely more involved in the safety of the guard tower than lineage. In addition, he feared he would no longer be allowed to hide behind the guise of Strider¸ and would soon have to come out into the world as Isildur's Heir.

Aragorn looked back at the archers in an attempt to push away such thoughts, however Boromir spoke up again.

"Is she your daughter by chance?" the man asked and Aragorn stiffened before began to choke on his pipe.

Coughing, he pulled his pipe from his mouth and slowly shook his head. The man nodded as if he had known that, "She had the air of a ranger but not the look, and her feats of acrobatics are quite impressive, almost unbelievable."

Aragorn looked away from the man and watched as Legolas instructed some maneuver or another and his niece was able to mimic the move perfectly. Dawn asked something after that and the elf pulled out his knives and did several quick movements as if he was fending off an attacker from close range. Dawn tried to follow his movements, pantomiming the motions of Legolas' long, curved knives.

Aragorn couldn't help but frown, why was his niece asking for close-range advice? Why did she suddenly want to be able to fight opponents at close range?

"She is quite the impressive warrior," Boromir murmured, "for a young woman of course," he added with a displeased frown. Aragorn ignored the man's comment, though he spoke again as if not deterred by Aragorn's lack of response, "You know the girl though," and refraining from sighing, Aragorn nodded his head slowly.

The other man nodded and observed as the two archers went through the motions of defending themselves at close range. "Who taught her then? Surely not her parents? Who would want their daughter to be able to fight? What need would there be for it?"

Aragorn felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards slightly, "You would be surprised at what some people believe there is a need for," Aragorn shook his head slightly as he placed his pipe back in his mouth and inhaled slightly.

Boromir looked at him curiously, "What exactly does that mean. Did her father…" he looked down at the girl in horror, "he wanted her to learn to fight? A woman?"

Aragorn gave a grim smile and shook his head, "Both parents wanted her to be able to fight, although almost being killed by a wolf may have influenced their choice," in reality it only influenced his choice to teach his nieces how to fight and hunt. Even an amnesic Arad had been enthusiastic about her daughters learning to fight—he shuddered at the memory of what she told the twins to aim for with their kunai on male targets. Still…the blonde had been so vivacious and happy, and it was suiting if not horrifying that she would encourage such behavior in her daughters.

Arad… Sasuke… Minuial… He closed his eyes heavily and exhaled the smoke that had accumulated in his lungs. Why was he up here smoking when they were suffering, when his friend's family was suffering—and hadn't his friend told him many a time that smoking was dangerous to not only his health but the health of those around him?

Boromir was frowning down at the training ground as Legolas almost enthusiastically—as enthusiastically as any elf could be about anything—taught Dawn another maneuver. "Why encourage such behavior? It will only get her killed," the man seemed to be talking to himself, but it felt like a statement directed at Aragorn all the same.

He should have known teaching his nieces would lead to them putting themselves in danger. They had no real combat experience and it would get them killed. But then, his friends were adamant about their daughters knowing their heritage, and living it despite the comparatively repressive culture—some of the stories Arad would tell about the women in their village were…a shock to say the least and left him very uncomfortable at the impropriety of it all.

"It's their culture," Aragorn murmured with depressing realization. They would have always known how to fight, but without him they would not know how to navigate the land and hunt. They would not have learned the warrior code he tried to drill into them because the effective but underhanded way their ancestors fought—even though he knew it was at war with their parents' teachings.

Boromir turned to look at him in surprise and Aragorn found himself speaking more to himself than the other man, "It makes them who they are, just as the men of Gondor bravely hold the front and scare their enemies with the war cry of Gondor," he held his sarcasm back as his gaze shifted to the finely crafted and silver ornamented war horn hanging from Boromir's belt—it was true that he war horn did frighten enemies, but the men of Gondor were not the only ones fighting against the Enemy.

Aragorn shook his head and dumped out the ashes in the pipe bowl next to a pile that had already been started—likely Gandalf had been visiting this area, and perhaps Bilbo too.

"She comes from a warrior people?" Boromir asked in amazement and looked at the girl with new interest, though he still looked appalled at the fact that a woman was fighting when she should be married and raising children. "And she has chosen the path of a warrior then, no husband or home." He shook his head gravely and Aragorn flinched slightly at the words.

"She has chosen that path but she seems to believe there can be marriage and family."

"What man would want her?" Boromir asked repulsed and Aragorn reared back like he had been struck.

He glared at the man, "She has a suitor, a young ranger in fact." He had always feared his nieces would never know the joy of children and a family. He had even lamented their preferences for the unwomanly arts quite frequently, but to hear it from this man…it was like a slap in the face. If no men saw the promise and potential in his nieces then they were fools, for who would not want such confident, intelligent young women to spend the rest of their lives with—conversations would not be dull that was for certain. His nieces would be strong, fearless, brave…although saying those adjectives when contributed to a woman did seem a bit odd.

"Ah…Uncle?" he turned to see Tinnu standing at the end of the hall as she took in the tense mood around the two men. "Father asked if you had any more athelas for Minuial." She looked down at the ground slightly, and he wondered if he had heard the other man's callous words. He moved toward her, not even bothering to say good bye to the other man who would so insult his nieces.

"I am afraid I do not," he stated as they began to walk back toward the healing quarters. "I will have to search for more outside of Rivendell."

"Neh, Ojisan?" she asked softly, fidgeting slightly—she was always the quieter of the two twins, and now without Minuial… "could I go with you?"

"You will have to ask your father," and since the man had just now been reunited with his daughters, he was unlikely to allow them to leave the valley.

She nodded dejectedly at his response before perking up, "Could I spar with you?"

Aragorn frowned and patted the girl, who really should be considered a young woman, on the back, "I am afraid I will have to travel to find more Athelas; after all, it becomes sparse out here and grew more prominently in lands the men of númenor settled in, thus it may take a few days travel and I will need to leave shortly." Probably with the next scouting party, he supposed.

"Yes Uncle." She sighed slightly and they continued on their way to the room Minuial lay in. It would only be a few more days until the council of Elrond met.

…

Elladan sighed as he waited for the Mirkwood prince to approach him. The blonde elf finally left the girl to continue practicing her skills, which were truly quite impressive.

Elladan recalled meeting, perhaps five or six years ago, a small human child colored much the same as the child currently shooting arrows at a target. He and Elrohir had met up with the Grey Company outside of the shire, and with them was a very small human child using a bow. She spoke sindarin with them with slight hesitation, and he had thought she was perhaps adopted by the Dúnedain, or was to be wed to one of them and had gone on hunting trips to learn her future husband's lifestyle. But now he wondered if that small child was this child shooting arrows with impressive speed and accuracy—he recalled the child from those five or so years ago did not have such skill.

Elladan nodded to the elf prince who came up beside him. He would perhaps question his surrogate brother about the child he had met those five or six years ago and the child that was here now.

Legolas began walking with him away from the training area. Elrohir was preparing another scouting party and undoubtedly was arranging their archers and pike men. They were angry at their brother, for how could Aragorn hide such a gift against the enemy—though perhaps he had not so much as hid but omitted his niece's talents? These girls had powers, skills, no other middle-earthling had. Yet their young brother hid their talent in Bree and once it was revealed, along with its full potential, he refused to let these human girls become involved. Though perhaps that was fault in it all, they were girls instead of young women to their brother; they were nieces, kin.

Dúnadan had watched these young humans grow up from babies into young women, yet he refused to see them as such. They were not gifted warriors in his eyes but children. Though had not he and his twin felt the very same so often about the princely Dúnedain they had watched grow up. Sometimes they could not help but view him as a child despite his nearly eighty-seven years, which was a far greater number than many humans lived to.

They climbed the stairs to reach the terrace that over looked the archery range. Dúnadan had left already, and the only other soul on the terrace was some Gondorian man. "What is your assessment?" he asked the younger prince.

"Her speed and accuracy made up for her flawed form, but I have given the human child corrections, and if she does not fall into bad habits, her abilities will only increase. She has astounding stamina and speed as you very well witnessed when she ran up the tree. However it seems that her eye-sight has been damaged in some way, she was disappointed with herself each time she missed the further away targets."

Elladan nodded and looked at the blonde elf expectantly. What else had he found out? What was it about these girls that allowed such a small human to kill a Nazgûl.

Legolas sighed and looked down at the girl who continued to loose arrows at the targets with a frightening determination. "She truly thinks she can best the black riders of Mordor…" Elladan and Legolas turned to look at the amazed yet incredulous mumble of the man a few yards from them.

"Pardon?" Elladan spoke as he and Legolas both moved closer to the human with interest.

He turned to them and blinked, though he quickly frowned at Legolas disapprovingly, "The young maiden there," he gestured with his head to the human child—because to Elladan all humans seemed like children until they grew a beard or bore a child. The older human continued speaking, "She is determined to go into battle against the black riders," he shook his head, "for vengeance it seems," he was still shaking his head though a hard look came to his eyes when he looked at Legolas, "and yet some people seem to think it is perfectly fine for a young woman to have such ambitions."

Legolas narrowed his gaze at the human, "The child was already skilled, she could rival my kin," he confessed as he looked down at the human girl. "It would be a waste for such potential to continue using flawed forms."

"It will get her killed. She should not even know how to use a bow—"

"And yet because of her sister's ability to fight, there is one less rider to worry about," Elladan hissed out. Who was this human to judge his surrogate brother's actions or the actions of an elven prince?

The man reared back with his eyes wide, "They can be killed?" The man quickly turned to the girl as if he saw her in a new light.

Elladan pressed his lips into a tight line, he should not have spoken out in anger, and Legolas looked at him almost appalled. Yes, he had betrayed his brother's wishes, but…he was angry at both men; one for hiding such talent from the war, and the other for his ignorance and brash words.

"They can be killed…" the man repeated and he gripped the railing below him tightly, "I only sought counsel, but now…" the man shook his head, "The generals of the black army could be killed, and killed by this woman and her sisters…"

Elladan stared at the human, was that what he and his brother sounded like, looked like? It was clear the man did not fully see the child below as that, a child. She was a weapon to this man now, the upper hand, a tide turner. There was a desperate yet hopeful look in the man's eyes and it was sickening, but were not he and his twin guilty of that as well?

Elladan swallowed and Legolas looked down at the girl in the range below worriedly. "She is a child," the Mirkwood prince spoke up, "and I knew not of her intention in training so spiritedly."

"She is a gift to all the free peoples of the world, a being capable of such great feats." The man did not look away from the human child, and the insistent edge to his words spoke of many years of desperate, fruitless battle. Much like the fruitless battles he and his twin went on whenever they went scouting, searching the land for goblins and orcs to kill, to kill for the pain and hurt their mother had been dealt for so long.

Elladan turned on his heel and left the terrace; Legolas looked slightly surprised at his hasty exit but began following him. "She is a skilled archer," Legolas murmured as Elladan made as direct a line to the healing corridor.

"She is…" he felt sick for some reason. "But she is also family to Dúnadan."

Legolas nodded minutely, "And just a child." He added as well, though he turned to look at Elladan with a hard look, "I had thought you only wanted to know her skills, but your intention had been much the same as his?" there was accusation in the other prince's words.

Elladan did not respond, but only bowed his head. After a long moment he spoke again in a low, almost ashamed voice, "I had wondered if it was just some oddity about these human children that made them capable inherently at defeating the Nazgûl or…" they were approaching the healing corridor now, and his words faltered. He saw the partially open door the human family stayed in most of the night before.

Legolas walked with him quietly down the hall, and Elladan paused at the partially opened door. The sleeping human child was pale on the bed and her father was gently pressing a soaked rag to her head. The scent of athelas drifted over to them.

The man glanced over at them with deep bags under his unfathomably dark eyes. Elladan repressed the urge to shudder, and quickly moved on when the man's gaze narrowed at them angrily.

They came to the bend in the hallway and continued moving, when Elladan finished his thought, "Or I wonder if it was a simple matter of that child trying what we had all feared to do, what we all believed could not be done…" He shook his head and looked back at the way they had come.

He was not sure, for there was certainly something about these human children and their father that was peculiar. Yet their father was unable to kill a Nazgûl when his child had been able to. What was it? What was the secret here, what allowed that pale young human to best one of the foulest and most fearsome creatures? If they knew the answer to this riddle, they would have one less thing to fear helpless.

Elladan moved quietly with the younger prince, and all the while he thought of how little difference there had been between him and that human. They were just human children, not weapons. They had so much left to experience in life, and should not be trying to fight such terrible creatures. They should be married and starting families like young humans are supposed to. They were not dúnedain; they were humans, some special kind of human, but still human.

…

Sasuke rested his head in his hand as head as he looked at his daughter lying so stilly on the bed. Dawn had gone off to practice her archery, and Tinnu had been fidgeting incessantly so he had sent her on an errand. He knew it was hard for the girls to stay in here, to just watch their sister sleep unmoving.

He wondered if he could try to enter Minuial's mind somehow, perhaps with his sharingan as he had once done to the dobe, though perhaps that had only been possible because of the fox…

It was quiet in this section, particularly now that the hobbit had woken up and was now walking the "last homely house" with Bilbo. The roar of the Bruinen and the waterfall were a background noise, and the few birds remaining in the valley could also be pushed to the background. The quiet instead came from the lack of traffic now visiting this section. It was just his family that came down this corridor, and the occasional elf servant.

It was so quiet…it felt like it was pressing in on him. If the dobe was here, she would have found something to smile about. She would have told him Minuial would not want them just sitting around her and doing nothing. They should train, and she would spar with him outside of the valley, and when they would come back to the room she would brush their baby girl's hair and she would tell a story. It wouldn't be quiet here if the dobe was with them. She would be humming and the girls would join in, or she would tell them stories about Konoha or Crick Hollow.

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. He would never talk to the girls about Konoha, never, but he had caught the dobe murmur vague, happy stories about the people they had left behind. He closed his eyes tighter and pushed back the tightness in his throat…because, of course the dobe missed that wretched place and of course she had always wanted to go back, but…now that she was back there would she rather stay there?

"You know…"Sasuke began, if only to break the suffocating, overwhelming silence in the room, "Your mother and I just appeared the Old Forest only able to understand each other…" He shook his head, "We didn't know who we were or where we came from, and we just sort of…gravitated toward each other while Tom Bombidil taught us westron.

"Your mother always knew what to say to annoy me, and I knew what to say to piss her off. But we still…" he bit his bottom lip as he thought back to that year in the forest. They would argue and fight, and then would make up…and make love. He scoffed and shook his head, they had the most dysfunctional relationship, and yet…it felt natural and…and she understood him in a way that he hadn't even been able to until he regained his memories. And the dobe…he knew her better than she knew herself for so long, and they just understood each other, so well.

"When we moved to the Shire…" he whispered, his eyes closed as he thought back to that time, "she fell in love with it. The gardens, the food, the hobbits…" they had been so happy there, up until that mid-wife came in on the dobe giving birth to Dawn. The room likely looked like some demonic transaction was taken place, what with the wax seal painted on the floor and Sasuke standing above her with his hands held together in concentration while the demon's energy whirled around her because neither of them really knew what was going on.

"We apprenticed there, did you girls know that?" It was so quiet so he kept talking because the dobe wasn't here to do that, and she might never be again…damn it. "Both of us, it was quite the scandal," he laughed a little, but it sounded desperate to his own ears, "We repaired skillets and kettles mostly, and then we made hoes or shoes for the ponies."

Sasuke scoffed at a memory of them trying to find work at other places. The Green Dragon was a no go and they weren't very fond of that section of the Shire, it was too…too proper. They preferred being close to the Brandywine and the Old Forest. "We tried to find work at so many different places there, but it was only smithing that felt natural to us and that we were any good at."

He smiled wistfully as he thought about the dobe and their Crick Hollow home. "She made this amazing garden; it was twice the size of the one in Bree." She had found flowers and bushes to plant in it, and she named each of them these cutesy little names that he had found sickening but fitting of her. Some days, when she was pregnant and couldn't work in the smith, she would just stay outside weeding and digging just to get her hands into the dirt. "She could spend all day in that garden…"

Damn it dobe! He ran a hand through his hair and pulled slightly.

"Sasuke?" he turned to see Arwen standing in the door way. Tinnu was standing beside her but she looked close to tears, how much had they heard, he wondered.

The thirteen-year-old then ran into the room and into his arms, just like when she was younger, "What was Kaasan's garden like, where was it?"

"In Crick Hollow," he responded to the last question before he smiled sadly, "And she had so many flowers in it along with vegetables."

Tinnu nodded and Arwen looked at them nervously but he gestured with his head for her to come in. She did as Tinnu asked him what kind of flowers she had. Arwen still seemed uncomfortable and he sighed slightly.

"My wife and I used to live in the Shire," she looked at him in surprise before nodding, "it was only for a year though."

"Arad?" she asked softly, "Aragorn has told me a little about her," she blushed slightly and looked amused.

Sasuke laughed wryly, as his only good hand brushed back some of Tinnu's loose hair, "Probably not enough," he shook his head, "Her real name is Naruto." The elf frowned, perhaps finding the name strange and perhaps too masculine.

"Kaasan used to be a man," Tinnu stated simply, and Sasuke looked at the girl sharply.

Arwen looked at them in clear shock and disbelief, "I am afraid I misheard you, Tinnu." The girl had her mouth open to repeat what she had said but Sasuke beat her to the punch.

"You did not, and frankly she has accepted her life as a woman. She's lived as such for half her life," Arwen looked about uncomfortably but nodded to his words.

Sasuke shook his head and looked at Tinnu with a frown, the woman did not need to know they were from another world, though perhaps Aragorn already had told her such. "Anyways, my wife had a garden in the Shire, just behind our house."

Arwen nodded, though she still seemed slightly thrown after what she had learned about the dobe, so Sasuke continued, and it was nice that it was no longer so quiet. "She planted vegetables but also flowers and bushes. I don't know the names of all the plants, but she had some pink flowers that grew on a vine like stem and they were shaped like hearts."

"Bleeding Hearts," Arwen informed, likely using the common name, and Sasuke nodded his head. That made sense; after all, the flowers had a teardrop like shape at the bottom of the heart shape.

"There were many orange flowers in her garden as well and plenty of yellow ones too; I think they were mostly lilies," he exhaled in amusement, it was so like the dobe to have bright flowers in her garden, even when she was amnesic. "Orange had always been her favorite color."

Arwen smiled lightly, "I suppose that matches her personality then," the elf said almost hesitantly and Sasuke laughed a little.

"She was always loud."

"Kaasan will come back," Tinnu murmured and pressed her face closer to his chest. Sasuke looked down at his daughter and pressed a kiss against her hair. He hoped so.

Arwen smiled lightly at the display they made, "Is there anything I should be warned about? Aragorn seemed afraid of me meeting her," she laughed lightly at some memory, "Does she really tease my ranger?"

"Relentlessly," Sasuke responded and the corner of his mouth tugged upward. "She isn't like the women here, and she doesn't necessarily follow what is proper to do or say." And it likely had nothing to do with her original sex; if the dobe had been a woman her whole life she would have been equally as inappropriate.

Arwen blushed lightly and laughed, "Surely you are exaggerating."

Sasuke gave her a wry smile and proceeded to describe his rather volatile relationship with the dobe; anything to keep the silence and the thoughts of her never coming home at bay.

…

Dawn drew her bow back, the string brushed against her cheek as she glared at a target nearly fifty-yards away. If she took her time and focused, she would hit it dead on. Normally this took no concentration at such a short range. Even up to two-hundred yards she could hit a the center of a target if she gave herself a few moments to focus, but now she doubted she could that with all the time in the world given to her. Maybe one-hundred yards would be more doable for her now if she was given a few minutes, but it was saddening how poor her sight had gotten.

Dawn paused in the motion of fitting another arrow to her string, when she heard someone approaching her. She turned slightly to acknowledge the Gondorian man. She knew he had been watching her for most of the day; really, ever since he had rediscovered her at the archery range.

She pressed her lips into a tight line and glared back at another target as she raised her bow. A second or two later than Dawn would have preferred, she let the arrow loose and it flew straight to the heart of the target. She heard the man to her side hum as if impressed. She ignored him and fitted another arrow.

"My brother can hit a scout a hundred yards out," the man commented with pride in his voice, but it didn't seem like he was talking to her. "He was always much better at archery than I ever was," he laughed a little, but out of the corner of her eye she saw his smile morph into a frown—she loosed the arrow and it hit dead on.

"Father always admired swordsmanship over other skills," the man said with a sigh of disapproval as he looked at a quiver set up by stand containing practice bows. "Although," the man continued, "Faramir is quite a good swordsman—not as good as me I'm afraid," he gave a lopsided smile, and Dawn relaxed her arms as she turned to glare at the man disrupting her practice; he didn't catch the look because he was examining an arrow he had pulled from the quiver. "He is also a good leader, he inspires loyalty in his men," the man was saying with that frown marring his expression—yet still he did not take note of her annoyance with his presence! "Father would say that is all he can inspire in people, but I disagree," he was fidgeting with the arrowhead now, testing its sharpness, and Dawn was half tempted to leave the range if she didn't already know he would follow her again. The man turned to her then and smiled sadly, "I would say Faramir is a better man than me, wiser than his years."

Dawn folded her arms over her chest, "Are you mistaking me with someone else sir?" she gritted out and he blinked before flashing her a bright smile.

"No, young maiden, but we have not introduced ourselves properly, have we?" he asked with a laugh and Dawn pressed her lips together in annoyance. "Boromir son of Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith," the man bowed his head slightly in formal greeting and Dawn turned away from him.

"Dawn," she said curtly before raising her bow into position again and fitting another arrow into it. She set her sights on another target some fifty-yards out.

"And where do you hail from?" the man asked conversationally.

"Bree," Dawn gritted out before she loosed the arrow. It hit its mark dead on again.

The man was frowning as he ran his fingers through the feathers at the end of the arrow in his hand, "I am not familiar with the name, where is it located?"

"West of here," her reply seemed to surprise him. She would rather not answer him but she was already being far to rude to him and she did not want to be lectured later by Ojisan because she was taking too much after her father—he had done so in the past after having overheard some incident or another in Bree that involved her or her sisters, and she feared some passerby might gossip about her rudeness and Ojisan would find out.

"Really?" Boromir was frowning again, but this time the arrow as limp in his hand, "And so far out west there is a village of warriors?"

Dawn couldn't help but scoff at the thought, "The closest thing to warriors Bree has are traveling mercenaries coming up the Green Way, and the supposed town guard can't even handle the wolves baying at the walls," she scoffed again and shook her head, "They have to call my father for that or we scare the wolves away on our own."

The man blinked in surprise, "Yet being a warrior is in your culture?" he asked hesitantly and Dawn turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised. What did he mean by that? He blushed slightly and looked away from her, "Surely the only reason a woman would be raised as a warrior is because of some unique culture."

"You don't think women can be warriors?" she asked lowly and was half tempted to stalk up to the man like Kaasan often would when Tousan had made her angry. Boromir stilled, but that was all the answer Dawn needed and she huffed, "I could kill you a hundred different ways, and most of them would look like an accident."

He took a step back and glanced about slightly, as if looking for guards. "I do not doubt you," he tried to placate and she just glared at him with her arms once more folded over her chest. Boromir continued speaking, "Your agility and archery skills demonstrate you are a capable warrior, even if you have not seen much battle. I simply wondered what place or culture would raise women to be warriors. "

She glared at him harder, "I will not be locked in a cage like some pretty bird to be looked at. Yes I was trained to be a warrior, but in my culture women are often the deadliest because so often men like you underestimate them and are killed for it."

Boromir paled again and stepped back with his hands held up, though the arrow nearly poked him in the eye. "Very well," he said nervously and Dawn glared at him for a moment longer before turning away and fitting a new arrow into her bow.

She could see him relax marginally out of the corner of her eye and begin to fidget around. "Well, warrior maiden," he said carefully. She was focusing now on her next target but she heard him picking up a bow from the stand. "I had started this conversation with you because I know all too well what you are feeling at the moment."

She furrowed her brow slightly, the man talked about his brother in the present tense so this Faramir was not dead, and they had otherwise discussed her origins and status as a warrior and woman. Yet Boromir claimed he knew what she felt; however, as if sensing her confusion, he clarified his previous statement, "My brother is very dear to me," but he was not dead—not that Minuial was dead but it felt like she was. Dawn loosed the arrow even as she heard the man drawing back the practice bow, he seemed a little more comfortable now.

"Each day," he began to say as he concentrated on a target not very far away, "as he fights the battles I should be fighting, I fear for his life," Boromir's voice was soft with concentration, and fear for his brother, "I wonder, will this be the day my little brother is taken from be by the Nazgûl and the black army they lead for their master?"

She had fitted another bow into her arrow, and even though she had set her sights on the next target and had accounted for the wind, she had not loosed it. She heard Boromir sigh as he relaxed the bow and let if fall by his side, "But we are both warriors," he said in resignation, "We have trained ourselves and agreed to die for our country, to protect it with our last breath, for we are sons of Gondor." There was pride in his last words but there was still a sad sort of resignation in his voice as he had spoken the earlier words.

Dawn swallowed and she knew that was what warriors did, what ninja do. They die protecting their country and loved ones. They take that oath the moment they don their forehead protectors and show their village affiliation, yet she and her sisters had no real village affiliation, only affiliation to their family, and she supposed the whole of Middle-Earth.

She looked over at Boromir and his proud yet grim face, "Do you and your brother often face the black riders?" she asked softly and Boromir looked to the ground.

"We were fortunate that they had turned their sights inward for months and then they had left on a race to the west, about the same time I had." Dawn nodded in vague understanding. She had never truly pressed what the riders following them were after exactly, but she knew their target was Frodo.

Boromir shook his head and drew back the bow again as he fixed his sights on another target, "Gondor is the first and last defense against the armies of Mordor. Should they break through our ever thinning guard, Rohan will not have time to respond or be prepared to stop them." He was glaring at the target now, his jaw was tight, and then he loosed the arrow. "When the wraiths do join the fray though…" he said as he dropped his bow and stared coldly ahead of him "It means we retreat and hope enough of us survive the long run back to Minas Tirith."

Dawn looked down at the ground in contemplation. In Gondor they fought for the whole of Middle Earth. They kept enemies that would hurt her family at bay; enemies that had already hurt her family. She glared down at the ground and accidently began pushing chakra into her eyes, but she realized this fact when the ground came into startling clarity and the world slowed down.

Calming down, Dawn stopped the flow of chakra to her eyes and looked up at the tall man before her. "Tell me more."

---

3017, October 19

Arwen and Tinnu had made him leave Minuial's room to get food, initially. Afterwards, Tinnu had asked Sasuke if he could help her with her katas, and despite his desire to wait at Minuial's side until she woke, he could not deny his daughter this wish—how much longer would she ask him to help her with her swordsmanship, when would she grow out of asking for his advice and help? If he would no longer be able to teach Minuial…he had to cherish any such moments with his daughters, especially since Dawn had stopped asking for his advice in the last few months.

It was hard to think that they were no longer his little girls who came running to him and the dobe with their fears and nightmares. They were not the little girls he had tried his best to raise and comfort when the dobe had gone to sort herself out after regaining her memories. They were young women in this world and would have been chuunin at least by now if they were in that cursed world still.

They were not his little girls anymore, but young women who had suitors after them and would be starting a family in a few short years. That thought made it hard to breathe and made him want to hold onto the remnants of their childhood while he could. They still needed him for some things, for advice and comfort and he would never deny a chance to do either…because eventually his little girls would be leaving him to start families of their own…

Shaking such terrifying thoughts away, Sasuke opened the door to Minuial's room to find Dawn brushing her sister's hair from her face and speaking in their mélange of languages. He heard "I love you" and "hope you wake up" in the odd mix of westron and sindarin with Japanese syntax—how they could do that still baffled him and made it nearly impossible to know what they were saying but for a few snatches here and there.

"She'll wake up" he murmured as he entered the room, but he did not sound convincing even to his own ears. Dawn just smiled sadly and nodded her head before turning to him.

"I know," she sounded a little more convinced than him, but only a little.

Sasuke approached his daughter, his first child. He could still remember the walk he took with her after he had regained his memories. He might have left them all, the dobe heavily pregnant with the twins and their little toddler, if not for holding Dawn that day… His little cherub faced girl with her gummy mouth smiling at him so innocently. She was perfect, all of his daughters were perfect and he could never imagine…never, ever imagine leaving them.

Dawn kept him in Bree that day unwittingly with her smile and demands for him to identify the things around Bree. She was so small and yet had such power over him, all of his children did. But now Dawn was nearly as tall as him and hadn't been small enough to rest against his hip since she was ten, though she had stopped demanding to be lifted up well before that.

He brushed the hair that had escaped her braid back and smiled at her. His daughters were growing up so quickly. She closed her eyes, as if soaking up his presence. "When did you three get so old?"

Dawn opened her eyes and laughed, it was a short surprised burst of noise, "I guess it was when you weren't looking."

Sasuke laughed weakly, "It does feel that way." He pulled his daughter into a one armed hug and set his cheek against her head.

"Does this mean you'll let us help you?" Dawn whispered as she returned the hug. He wasn't sure what exactly she was talking about, but she elaborated, "You'll let us take care of you too?"

"I'm not old yet," he tried to sound teasing or even offended, but his voice was soft as he began swaying slightly with her.

"True," Dawn consented softly before hugging him tighter and hiding her face in his chest, "But you're too worried about us to take care of yourself," she almost choked the words out and Sasuke winced. Hadn't Gandalf said something similar not too long ago? And it was true, wasn't it? He was scaring his daughters with the lack of care he was giving for his own person.

"I know…" he somehow forced out past the tightness in his throat. "I'm trying—"

Dawn pulled away and gave him a watery glare, "No you're not!" she bowed her head as she tried to regain her composure, "You don't have to worry about us so much." She looked up then with a determined look in her eyes, "We can take care of ourselves; you don't have to hold our hands or do everything for us."

Sasuke straightened, although it felt like he had just been stabbed. He nodded stiffly and moved to sit numbly in the chair beside Minuial's bed. Dawn was right after all, she wasn't a little girl any more, she didn't need him anymore…she hadn't really needed him for at least a year now, maybe for the occasional reassurance but…

He heard her skirts rustle and felt her kneel beside him, "Tousan, it's not like that," she started, and he wondered what she was referring too; it wasn't like she knew what he was thinking, "I'll always need you and Kaasan" or perhaps he had been broadcasting what he was thinking on his face, "but I can make my own choices and I can look after myself."

She set her hand on his shoulder and he could vaguely feel the warmth of it over the numbness he felt in the lame limb. "And you can't fall apart in worry over that," she continued, almost imploringly.

Sasuke closed his eyes heavily, she was right after all. He did fall apart when his daughters weren't near him; he just ended up worrying too much about them because he didn't know if they were safe or not. But they weren't little girls anymore and they would be leaving home soon. They had their own lives to live.

"I'll always worry about you three," he murmured and Dawn squeezed her hand on his shoulder.

"But you've trained us," she replied softly, "We can defend ourselves, we can fight, and you've taught us common sense, for the most part."

He laughed wryly, "I have, but it's not that kind of thing I'm worried about the most…" he did worry about their safety but when he thought of them getting married, he worried about their husbands—would they hurt them emotionally? If their hearts were ever broken, he wanted to either first hang the bastard up by his entrails or comfort his daughter; he wasn't sure which he would do first.

"You can't protect us from everything," Dawn whispered, "we need to live a little too, to learn and grow." He nodded, he and the dobe had had no one there to shelter them and they had certainly aged beyond their years but they hadn't turned out too bad.

"Wait until you have children, you'll realize what a tall order you're giving." He tried to smile but it fell short.

Dawn smiled slightly as well, "I can just imagine, but Tousan, please. We're practically adults" by this world's definition, yes, "and you'll always be my father, but you can't worry about me or the twins so much." She had a determined look in her eye again, "You've made us strong, you and Kaasan have made us strong, so let us be strong and take care of you too. Like you and Kaasan have for us."

Sasuke swallowed, how could she say that when Minuial was still in a coma? But then…wasn't that what Tinnu had been doing earlier? She was trying to get him out of this oppressive room to move around and to eat without the stifling silence and guilt—although the guilt only abated a little when he had left the room.

He gave short amused exhale, his daughters were already trying to take care of him, "You'll want to retract that when I'm old and decrepit."

Dawn laughed a little and shook her head, "Channeling Kaasan?" Perhaps his joke had been something the dobe would say, he laughed a weakly at that and wished for the nth time that she was here and healthy.

"Perhaps a little."

They sobered and Dawn moved to hug him, he returned it with a one arm. When Dawn pulled back, she looked down at her sister and straightened out the covers, before looking back at him,"Let me take care of you for once, please, Tousan? I don't want our family falling apart any further," she said the last part almost to herself, and Sasuke nodded slowly.

"Your mother will come back and Minuial will wake up." He sounded desperate in his own ears.

"I know," Dawn said, her voice wavered this time, "So please let me do what I must to protect the rest of us?"

Sasuke stood up slowly and smiled sadly at his daughter, "I don't need protection, not from myself." Not anymore, perhaps before he had married the dobe and had had such wonderful children, but now all he needed to save himself from was worrying excessively like he had before.

Sasuke pressed a kiss to Dawn's forehead and she smiled up at him with tears at the corners of her eyes.

"I love you Tousan, so much!" and when she hugged him tightly, he just wrapped his arm around her shoulder and swayed in place as she cried in sadness or frustration, he wasn't sure, but he just swayed there and hummed a tune the dobe used to sing them when they were babies.

…

It had taken Boromir one-hundred and ten days to reach Imladris, Dawn thought as she looked down at the maps before her. He had moved along the road hugging the northern side of the White Mountains, or Ered Nimrais. He then had likely taken the Green Way north through the Gap of Rohan, though perhaps after that he had followed the Bruien up to Rivendell, or perhaps he had hugged the mountain range as he traveled north, for he knew Rivendell was in the valley of the mountain range. Boromir did not know the ranger paths, but Dawn did.

She poured over old maps in the dead of night, and used her sharingan to memorize them while reading them in the dark. If she followed the same path or paths as Boromir, presuming she could run faster than a horse, it would take perhaps fifty-days. Far too long in her opinion.

Traveling by river would be faster, plus save her energy, and although the ranger paths sometimes were short cuts, many of them were winding and took more time and care to follow. The simplest and most direct path would be to make for the High Pass over the Misty Mountains. From there she would follow the path to Mirkwood, but at the Old Pass begin down the Anduin. Boromir warned her that the Great River could be tricky and dangerous, plus there were ever increasing numbers of goblins and orcs patrolling the eastern bank the closer to Osgilith she got.

She could also travel down the Bruinen and take up the Greenway at Tharbad and travel south. But on that path she would begin running in the open through the Gap of Rohan, and there was little protection. She could potentially follow the ranger paths off of the North-South Road, which she would always think of as the Greenway, and cut across Dunland before crossing the Misty Mountains into Fangorn forest where she could pick up the Entwash and follow it to the Anduin. Otherwise she could follow the Glanduin from where it met the Bruinen, but she would be traveling up stream, for it flowed out of the Misty Mountains. However, if she followed it to the mountains, she could pass them and reach the Nimrodel and follow that river down into the Anduin.

There were too many options before her and she had little time to consider each one in depth. Compared to following the Anduin, the path down the Burinen before taking up the Greenway would be best, safest even, but it would be a slow journey with little cover. She would rather have cover and speed—she did not want to be caught traveling across Dunland or Westfold in winter when shelter was far away. It would take a month to follow the Anduin, if she picked it up at the High Pass and if she stopped to sleep a fair amount. It would also be very dangerous for her as the only traveler in the boat. However, she could do it, but it would be exhausting. She supposed she didn't have to travel in the river the whole time, and surely there were rocky embankments and trees that ran along the river that she could find shelter in? When the river ran too slowly she could run alongside it, or she could run in snatches and relax on the boat while ever traveling south.

In either case she needed to find a boat and she needed to get supplies for the travel. She could sneak the supplies out tonight and she could take one of Tinnu's storage scrolls. She would have to be quick and quiet. Tomorrow would be the counsel and the scouting party Ojisan had left with would be returning at sunrise. She would say her final goodbyes, and leave a note for Tousan. She had to protect her family, and be a warrior.

---

3017, October 20

Sasuke woke early and went to Minuial's room. The servants had been leaving plates of food and water which he would then mash together to make a thin soupy paste for his daughter to eat, but this could not go on any longer. He couldn't keep hoping she would wake up the next day, and although the jutsu left the patient weak and unable to eat solid food for several weeks after prolonged use, it was the best shot he had at keeping Minuial healthy in her comatose state. There were other, more dangerous complications that came with the jutsu but he hoped they would be avoided. He would teach Dawn the jutsu today, he decided.

Sasuke ate a little food off the plates that he hadn't mashed up and then began to steep some of the few athelas leaves he had left. As the sweet and invigorating scent permeated the air, Sasuke began to soak a rag in the hot water and wring it out. He then gently set the rag against his daughter's forehead and neck. Once he had done so for several minutes, he put the rag away and just let the sweet smell fill the room. Sasuke then began massaging Minuial's arm and leg muscles before moving the limbs this way and that.

He was considering bathing Minuial, since he had only done so once since they arrived, when someone knocked. Aragorn entered after a moment and titled his head to the side as he watched Sasuke knead Minuial's calf muscles with one hand. "Her muscles will atrophy and her circulation will decrease if her muscles are not stimulated," he replied clinically with the information Kabuto had drilled into him, figuratively.

Aragorn just nodded after a moment, and looked off the side, "The Council of Elrond will begin shortly."

Sasuke looked at his friend blankly, why did he care about that? Why should he care about that?

Aragorn spoke slowly as he stared at a dresser across from the bed, "They will discuss what happened along the Hobbits' way to Rivendell," which meant Minuial's actions against the Nazgûl. Sasuke's hands stilled and he paled.

Aragorn looked over at him tentatively and Sasuke somehow managed to remain calm, "My daughters are going home to Bree as soon as Minuial is better. We are not going to be involved in this war any further." He was much calmer than he had ever thought possible.

"Which is why I asked that you would be present at the council and to speak for your daughters," Aragorn replied just as evenly and Sasuke nodded his head slowly. He then moved to cover Minuial in the sheets again and follow his friend out of the room.

He had to remain calm, clam. No one was demanding his daughters go off and fight the Nazgûl or lead these people's armies. He just had to remain calm as he entered the ranger's domain, the domain of talkative Middle-Earthlings and diplomacy—he had always preferred killing over all this talking. The dobe was better at diplomacy than him, and she would be able to say what she needed to without any of them feeling slighted or deprived. She probably would have made a disgustingly fine Hokage with her persuasiveness.

He hoped Konoha had fallen into war after the dobe and he had left. Sasuke just could not imagine the peace the dobe had fought for would stay without her enforcing it and influencing people with her nauseatingly heroic speeches.

He shook his head as he remembered the impassioned speech the dobe had given him and the imploring tone in her voice—because in his mind the dobe was always the dobe, it just so happened that she was now his wife and it no longer mattered what her sex had been before. He had only switched sides because he was tired of being a pawn, he would never renounce his actions even though he had been blinded by his anger for so long… He would never be as forgiving as the dobe.

Though, when he thought about it, it wasn't until he came to Middle Earth without memories that he had been able to let go of his anger, the anger that had consumed so many years of his life. And then he had had his daughters and his past ambitions no longer mattered, for they were his life now and his legacy. The thought of their home world would always boil his blood, but then seeing his daughters living so peacefully in this world would dissipate the anger.

Sasuke stopped when Aragorn did inside of some sort of great hall. On a rather broad terrace, perhaps it could be considered a porch, were several stone benches set about along with wooden chairs that made a partial ring around a table. On one end sat three elves with a look of distinction. Sasuke could only recognize two of them: Elrond and the blonde elf that had been traveling with his girls.

Just as he was sitting down with Aragorn in a secluded corner, a loud clear bell rang through the terraced…palace—if this place could be called such. Not long after, a tall grim-faced man came onto the porch but moved to a far corner opposite them. Sasuke glared at the man for a moment and wondered what business he had here? Then there were those hairy-not-hobbits, and extremely belatedly he realized these must be dwarves, perhaps even some of the very dwarves that had gone with Bilbo on his journey. Another two elves entered and sat down demurely.

Sasuke examined each being and noted the weapons that hung from belts or quivers. The blonde elf in green and brown had two knives in his boots, for instance, and he was giving the dwarfs a look contempt restrained by propriety. The red haired younger dwarf was ready to return the look, and although the older dwarf sitting next to him had a sour look on his face, he did not share in the younger one's sport.

Sasuke turned when he heard four pairs of feet approaching them, three sets slapped against the stone with bare skin, and the other set of feet was accompanied by the thud of wood on stone. Three hobbits and Gandalf he deduced, and was not surprised when that was so, although the stout hobbit, Sam, stayed back slightly to watch them apprehensively and almost hide from their gazes. Gandalf ushered Bilbo and Frodo forward toward Elrond, as if unaware of their tag-along.

Sasuke noted with slight unease at the amazement the man in the corner was giving the hobbits, especially since regret flashed over his face for a moment before he schooled his expression.

Elrond rose then and gestured to the younger of the two hobbits, "Here, my friends," he addressed all of them, and Sasuke scoffed slightly which earned him a look courtesy of Aragorn, "is Frodo, son of Drogo. Few have ever come hither through greater peril or on an errand more urgent." Meaning the great evil ring with a corrupting influence and the wraiths that had nearly killed his daughter, Sasuke glared at the hobbit's waistcoat pocket where the ring resided.

However, Sasuke was surprised they were going to discuss the ring. How did the elf lord know who among them was trust worthy? Surely this was not a wise move? Sasuke glanced around at the surprised faces of those seeking counsel with a critical eye while Elrond introduced those around them.

He half listened to the elf as he catalogued the name and relation of each being on the porch, excluding Sam still hiding in the corner—someone else must have noticed him?

First were the Dwarves, Glóin and his son Gimli. Glóin, if Sasuke recalled correctly, had been in the company Bilbo had traveled with East toward the Lonely Mountain. They had Bilbo's trust, that much was certain; however, by the way they kept their hands close to their belts, on which hung sharpened hand axes, he doubted they trusted all those present. Sasuke wasn't sure what to make of them, but he supposed if there was any antagonizing they would be the first to draw weapons and thus had to be watched carefully.

Next the elves were introduced. Erastor was one of Elrond's house and he sat beside the Elrond and Glorfindel with distinction. He was high up in the elf lord's trust it seemed, though in the long sleeves of his robes he did hide a long, thin knife. He must not trust all the beings present, and if Sasuke was to pick up on the young blonde elf's resentment toward the dwarves well…he could guess who the knife was for.

An elf named Galdor sat closely beside Erastor but he was not with Elrond's people, but instead he served someone named Círdan from the Grey Havens. He seemed to really only be present to share news and messages. There were also a few more elves on Elrond's council but they did not look as important and he hadn't bothered to try to remember them.

Sasuke did however pay attention to Elrond introducing the brown and green clad blonde elf. Legolas from Mirkwood, and as soon as Elrond had said Thranduil, Gimli looked ready to spit fire. Hmm…if he recalled Bilbo's stories correctly, it was the King of Mirkwood, and consequently this elf's father, that had broken the trust of the dwarves and had abandoned their people to a fiery doom. Hostility and resentment still passed between the peoples and Sasuke just watched as the two glared at each other as subtly as they could. At least that would be interesting to watch as the Middle-Earthlings talked for far too long.

Sasuke was glad the elf lord passed over greeting him. Sasuke could practically feel Aragorn relax slightly as he was overlooked as well, but the other man on the porch was not. "Here is Boromir," Elrond introduced to those assembled, "a man from the South. He arrived in the pale evening two nights before, and seeks counsel. I have bidden him to be present, for here his questions shall be answered," and at the elf lord's explanation of his presence, many of those present relaxed, yet they neither seemed to notice or care that there was a hobbit listening in on them?

Sasuke glanced over at Aragorn before shifting his gaze toward Sam's hunched form hidden behind a pillar. Aragorn followed his movement and exhaled amusedly while shaking his head, but he did not address the council's attention or get up to shoo the hobbit. So perhaps the council did not care who listened in, or perhaps Aragorn thought it best for the stout hobbit to be present.

Sasuke half listened as messengers of different lands related news from the South. Black armies were marching once more, the black riders had been spotted beyond the reaches of Mordor, and there was news of mercenaries traveling north into to Bree. Some of this he had heard, other bits of information he could not bring himself to care about; however, he was reminded of his dream weeks ago. A war was coming it had said, and a war had come to the south, which according to the dream he had no choice but to flee or fight. He gritted his teeth at the reminder as Glóin began to speak of a messenger coming to the Lonely Mountain to speak with Dáin, whom Sasuke recalled led the expedition to reclaim the Lonely Mountain.

Sasuke outright scoffed when the dwarf related the messengers insurances that his master only wanted a ring, "the least of rings," that had been stolen and it would be a "token of friendship" for them to hand over the thief hobbit's whereabouts. Aragorn looked at him sharply and he just raised an eyebrow because really, how obvious could this messenger be that this "least of rings" was anything but. Plus the threats were so thinly veiled that they would not have flown in the Elemental Lands, which was ironic for a world that is so fond of talk. Surely Middle-Earthlings would be better and subtler at verbal threats than any one from his home world?

Aragorn looked like he was tempted to take Sasuke out this hearing, so he turned to listen fully to the rest of the old dwarf's words, "And so I have been sent at last by Dáin to warn Bilbo that he is sought by the Enemy, and to learn, if may be, why he desires this ring, this least of rings." So at least they found that suspicious.

"Also we crave the advice of Elrond. For the Shadow grows and draws nearer. We discover that messengers have come also to King Brand in Dale, and that he is afraid. We fear that he may yield. Already war is gathering on his eastern borders. If we make no answer, the Enemy may move Men of his rule to assail King Brand, and Dáin also," Glóin finished with a deep inhale as he waited for a response.

"You have done well to come," said the elf lord solemnly, "You will hear today all that you need in order to understand the purposes of the Enemy. There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone," Sasuke supposed this was meant to pick up the dwarf's morale, "You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the western world."

Was that supposed to be encouraging? It was refreshing to see a leader who did not give false hope or pretty, meaningless words, but this elf lord was not exactly inspiring much in any of them but perhaps fear—he would have excluded himself from those in fear but his dream replayed fresh in his mind and his youngest daughter was in a coma.

The elf lord turned to the assembled persons and held out his arms in question, "The Ring! What shall we to do with the ring, the least of rings, the trifle that Sauron fancies?" Nothing, avoid its temptation, destroy it; were just a few of the immediate and sarcastic thoughts running through his mind, "That is the doom we must deem," Elrond announced.

Then the elf lord launched into a monologue about the rise and fall of this Sauron, and how the human prince, technically king since his father died, had cut the ring of power from Sauron's hands and taken the ring for his own—likely a fatal mistake. Sasuke had known elves were centuries old but just like Frodo, he was amazed that the elf lord remembered an event from literally thousands of years before.

The secluded human spoke up then and in Sasuke's opinion made a fool of himself. Clearly the corrupting ring was not "glad tidings," it was likely the end of this Isildur's life. And not a moment after the man sat himself down then did Elrond relate how the ring literally led to the human king's death, but when Sasuke turned to look at the man smugly, Sasuke noted the soldier still seemed to be in awe of the ring—didn't he get that it was deceptive and-and well…evil? He felt like the dobe when he put things into black and white like that, but clearly this ring was no good yet the human was in awe of it.

Elrond proceeded to discuss the passing centuries as the Ring was forgotten and men died. Sasuke supposed the elf lord's words would instigate the Gondor man into refuting some of his claims that all the valor and old blood had died in the kingdom, and surprise, surprise, just that did happen.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as the man described how his country's armies were all that held the Enemy at bay, as if the whole world would be overrun if they failed to hold some position over a river. Aragorn was glaring at Sasuke now, and even hissed his alias under his breath as the Gondor man went on some heroic tale of holding a bridge against what was likely a Nazgûl. Middle-Earthlings talked far too much than was necessary. Why describe in detail what happened and just say point-blank the details. Mission reports were supposed to be concise, but apparently no one had given this soldier that lesson.

"Dû," Aragorn hissed again before the man launched into an unnecessarily wordy explanation of why he was here; however, when the man explained that he and his brother had had a dream, the exact same dream, he perked up. He had had a disturbing dream himself and he had wondered if he should believe it. This world was different, and words held so much more power than they had in his world. There was magic here too, and so who was to say that what Sasuke had dreamt was not…prophetic in some way?

"In that dream I thought the eastern sky grew dark and there was a growing thunder, but in the west a pale light lingered, and out of it I heard a voice, remote but clear, crying:

Seek the Sword that was broken:

In Imladris it dwells;

There shall be counsels taken

Stronger than Morgul-spells.

There shall be shown a token

That Doom is near at hand,

For Isildur"s Bane shall waken,

And the Halfling forth shall stand…."

The human continued to speak about how he then journeyed here after making inquiries, but Sasuke was more interested in the reactions of those around him, particularly a certain ranger. Aragorn had tensed slightly at the first line of the poem and his hand had shifted to the hilt of the sword he never removed. Sasuke looked him with his brow slightly furrowed, he knew what such a tell meant, and knowing this world's preference toward giving things multiple names, he began to think back to the history lesson Elrond had given them.

"The Sword that was broken" could very well refer to the sword that human prince had used to cut of Sauron's ring, and given Aragorn's nervous tell of checking on a sword he had never once let Sasuke see, could very well imply…well, it implied that the sword was the very same one Isildur had used.

Aragorn tensed slightly at his scrutiny and when Sasuke glanced down at the hilt of his friend's second sword, the ranger looked away far too quickly. However, as Boromir was finishing up his speech, it seemed as if Aragorn was preparing himself, and Sasuke quickly realized what for.

"And in the House of Elrond more shall be made clear to you," his friend stood up as he said this and threw his second sword onto the table. Sasuke could now see that it was broken in two pieces, for his friend had replaced the scabbard with a stiff, leather knotted sheath instead of a full sheath as he had always had before. "Here is the Sword that was Broken!" Sasuke saw his friend was tensed as if preparing for an attack.

Boromir jerked back slightly like he had been struck, "What is a ranger to do with Minas Tirith?" he asked quite honestly as he began to examine Aragorn's face more closely in wonder.

Aragorn was stiff under the scrutiny and Sasuke could almost feel that the man wished to slide into the shadows as he was prone to doing as Strider. He had only become fonder of shadows after Sasuke had taught him how to use them like a ninja.

"He is Aragorn son of Arathorn," elf lord stated, "and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur, Elendil's son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dúnedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk."

Aragorn now truly looked like he wanted to hide in the shadows, especially when Boromir looked at him in a mixture of shock and respect, and Frodo shot to his feet clutching his waist coat pocket, "Then it belongs to you, and not to me at all!"

Aragorn backed away and shook his head as he sat down once more, "It does not belong to either of us, but it has been ordained that you should hold it for a while." The majority of those present looked between them in confusion and Sasuke just turned to his "brother like friend." He knew the man was the chief of the Dúnedain—Dawn traveling with them made it hard to keep such a fact quiet—but he now knew the full significance of his friend's name and title.

It wasn't so much that he was surprised his friend was basically daimyo, but more that he had chosen to spend so much of his time with Sasuke's family. Although, this certainly explained why he was secretive and was hesitant to disclose his true name, likely he had had assassins after him as long as he could remember. But it all made him wonder, was Aragorn just shirking his responsibilities as a leader by hiding in Bree wit them? He knew the ranger was uncomfortable with leadership roles, even though he often performed them well, so it could very well be the case.

However, Gandalf grimly gestured the hobbit to stay standing, "Bring out the Ring, Frodo. The time has come. Hold it up, and then Boromir will understand the remainder of his riddle."

Sasuke could literally feel the silence fall over all present on the porch as the younger hobbit dug in his waistcoat pocket and reluctantly pulled out the foul ring. The implication had been clear to everyone in the room, but to clear up any lingering doubts, the elf lord spoke, "Behold Isildur's Bane!"

Sasuke did not care for the way Boromir's eyes alighted upon the ring, and he could hear the man mutter "the Halfling" under his breath before confusion won over, "Is then the doom of Minas Tirith come at last? But why then should we seek a broken sword?" Did the man seriously not understand any of the implications?! Sasuke wasn't from this world and it was clear to him! It was all a sign of this dark enemy rising back into power and Aragorn getting over his reluctance and fear of leading!

Thankfully the ranger shared his frustration with the man, and even made a noise at the back of his throat before speaking up, "The words were not the 'doom of Minas Tirith'" he said almost exasperatedly. For people who could memorize long lays, and repeat almost verbatim verbal exchanges, Sasuke wondered how the man had twisted his riddle to mean that.

Aragorn continued before the man could be offend, though Sasuke shook his head at the ranger's consideration, "But doom and great deeds are indeed at hand. For the Sword that was Broken is the Sword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell." For the only man not raised in the lore of this world, Sasuke seemed to have caught that much sooner than the damn Gondorian, "It has been treasured by his heirs when all other heirlooms were lost; the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found. Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what do you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?"

In other words, Sasuke thought with a smirk playing on his lips, the heir to the Gondor throne was asking one of its lords if they would like him to come and reclaim the throne. Perhaps he was taking away the various nuances, and was being too crude, but that was certainly what it looked and sounded like. Sasuke could feel Aragorn's frustration with the man, though it was disguised by the overrated politeness demanded in this place.

Boromir held his head up almost defensively, "I was not sent to beg any boon, but to seek only the meaning of a riddle," he was such a proud man, and Sasuke scoffed only to receive a reprimanding look from the ranger. Boromir, however, did not see or hear the exchange and sighed as he continued on, "Yet we are hard pressed, and the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope—if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past." The doubtful look Boromir then gave Aragorn made Sasuke wish the dobe was here and there was such a thing as popcorn.

She would have found this just as amusing, although she would likely do or say something to ease the tension between the two men. Sasuke smirked up at the ranger who held his head up higher even though he probably did want to slink back into the shadows, perhaps someone should have been embracing his leadership roles with more enthusiasm…the dobe could have also helped him with that.

However, it was the old hobbit that spoke up, and he looked quite offended as he burst out into a rhyme, that Sasuke actually found himself drawn to listening to.

"All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken:

The crownless again shall be king.

"Not very good perhaps, but to the point—if you need more beyond the word of Elrond. If that was worth a journey of a hundred and ten days to hear, you had best listen to it." The old hobbit then sat down with a snort and Sasuke gazed at the wizened creature slightly surprised; however, Bilbo then told Frodo he had written the lines, though Sasuke supposed he was the only one to see the exchange—he hadn't heard it but read their lips. However, Sasuke was a little annoyed the ranger had disclosed his heritage to the hobbit and not to him. But then…Sasuke probably wouldn't have understood the significance anyway and thus would have been annoyed with Aragorn for being unnecessarily wordy.

Aragorn smiled at Bilbo before he turned back to Boromir, "For my part I forgive your doubt," and Sasuke refrained from wincing at his friends honesty and niceness—back on Taka he would not have accepted insubordination, though back then he had been a different man and this world was different from the Elemental Lands. "Little do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in the halls of Denethor. I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself," this seemed more like a statement the ranger told himself often but now told Boromir for an altered reason—clearly the man admired the long dead kings whereas Aragorn perhaps feared to become like them.

"I have had a hard and long life; and the leagues that lie between here and Gondor are a small part in the count of my journeys. I have crossed many mountains and many rivers, and trodden many plains, even into the far countries of Rhûn and Harad where the stars are strange.

"But my home, such as I have, is in the North. For here the heirs of Valandil have ever dwelt in a long line unbroken from father unto son for many generations. Our days have darkened, and we have dwindled; but ever the sword has passed to a new keeper. And this I will say to you, Boromir, ere I end. Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters—but hunters ever of the servants of the enemy; for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only."

At least the man was finally standing up for himself and showing his credibility, but of course it was in far too many words. However, as Aragorn described the rangers, Sasuke thought of the life Dawn wanted to enter into with Haldarad. She would someday become part of that long line of the Dúnedain, and bear more children into that world which hunted this dark enemy in the various wilds. Haldarad was young still and had been kept on campaigns that spanned a small area, and as Dawn began to join the small group of rangers guarding the Shire, he continued to stay close when he might have otherwise gone on father campaigns.

Sasuke was satisfied for his far too proper friend at the slightly taken aback expression on Boromir's face. The soldier almost looked like he regretted insulting Aragorn, and was perhaps even a touch ashamed, but likely only because of this dressing down he received on all fronts.

"If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part," Aragorn continued and Sasuke felt a smirk tugging at his lips. Despite the long talks, he was enjoying this exchange and power play. "Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say?"

Sasuke smirked as he watched the ranger undress the proud man's argument that his countryman were un-thanked and defending the land. Yet even so, Aragorn sounded like he was simply lecturing the man instead of completely putting him in his place. He listened as his friend discussed the perils in the Northern lands and even addressed Butterburr who called him the unsavory name of "Strider" but it was the Dúnedain that kept mercenaries from storming the village…Sasuke recalled the winter the after they had moved to Bree. The rangers had had their hands full with other things and wolves had begun to bay at the gates, but they only did so because of a threat marching up the Greenway in search of resources. He had killed the wolves in his amnesic state and had stopped the advancing party of mercenaries who wished to pillage Bree just before the Rangers arrived.

Sasuke looked away from his friend, his family could watch Bree for the Dúnedain, but then Haldarad would be moved to some other location and that would likely devastate Dawn.

Aragorn then finished his speech with his head held high with forced conviction, "But now the world is changing once again. A new hour comes. Isildur's Bane is found. Battle is at hand. The Sword shall be reforged. I will come to Minas Tirith." There was a minute shaking to his friend's arms, but then he clenched his fist in resolve and Sasuke gave the man an appraising look. Perhaps he was done battling with himself, perhaps the ranger was ready to leave the shadows and become a leader out in the open world?

Boromir, perhaps attempting to regain some upper hand or pride, asked perhaps the most idiotic question Sasuke had ever heard, "Isildur's Bane is found, you say," he practically sneered the words, "I have seen a bright ring in the Halfling's hand; but Isildur perished ere this age of the world began, they say. How do the Wise know that this ring is his?—"

"Shut the fuck up," Sasuke growled out, he couldn't take this man doubting every single thing they said.

"Dû!" Aragorn hissed and looked at him appalled while those assembled at the council just stared slack jawed.

"E-excuse me?!" Boromir stood up affronted and Sasuke stared at him blankly with his arms folded over his chest.

"Were you not paying attention to anything Elrond," he almost called elf lord, elf lord out loud, "said? I don't know your lore but it was clear after that history lesson what the broken sword in dream meant what it meant of the person carrying it, and we could have been saved from more talking." He heard Aragorn sigh heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"As for the Ring," Sasuke ignored the ranger's actions and jerked his head toward Frodo who shrank back. "It is filled with foul, corrupting energy, and I bet it's reaching out toward all of us with its influence."

"Dû is correct, the ring was forged out of Sauron's power, and thus it holds that power and ever works to be reunited with its master," Gandalf intoned, "However, I am afraid this does not dismiss another 'history lesson' as you so eloquently put it." Sasuke glared at the old wizard who almost smiled at him in amusement or perhaps payback.

Boromir was about to cut in again and perhaps retort, but Sasuke spoke up, "It's practically noon and none of you have even begun to discuss the possible ways to destroy that thing," he glared at Frodo's waistcoat pocket and wished it had been set on the table so he could use ameteratsu on it, perhaps the flames would melt it? Though it probably needed some sort of magical incantation to destroy it or some other magical means. "And frankly I don't see what I'm needed here for."

Most of the assembled beings bristled at his tone and he almost smiled at that, but Aragorn was giving him another reproachful look.

"I'll make this easy, if anyone wants to involve my family in your conflicts, the answer is no, and if you persist I'll set you on fire." He was preparing to get up as both Gandalf and Aragorn looked at him in disbelief.

"Dû!"

"It's true, and if I find out anyone has tried to guilt my daughters into doing something reckless," he was looking at Frodo this time because undoubtedly the hobbits had been part of the reason his daughters had been involved in flight to Rivendell, "well," Sasuke smiled maliciously, "I'll be a little more creative."

Elrond stood up then, even as those assembled paled at his threats, "I will not tolerate such threats being made in my home," Sasuke stared back at the elf lord, "and you were not asked to attend for your daughters. Gandalf and Aragorn said you would have knowledge in stealthy operations, and we had hoped for your input on ways to potentially destroy the ring."

"Set it on the floor and we can try one right now,"

"It can only be destroyed in the fires from which it had been forged," Gandalf intoned and Sasuke nodded, he had figured as much.

"Humor me,"

Gandalf and Elrond exchanged looks before shifting their gazes to Frodo and then back to Sasuke, "If this fails you will sit down for and wait out the rest of the talks, and you will not make any more threats," Elrond's voice was hard and his gaze tried to be intimidating. Sasuke nodded firmly and Frodo hesitantly set the ring down on the floor, though he didn't move very far away from it.

Sasuke would have asked to do this in private, but he knew that would not have flown, not with the ring's corrupting influence on the hobbit and the more weak-minded members, he thought of Boromir when he said this, simply because the man seemed incapable of understanding things that were spelled out before him.

Actually, he was surprised the man wasn't protesting this course of action, though perhaps he doubted this was really Sauron's ring? Either way, Sasuke activated his eternal sharingan and quickly used his blaze release on the ring. Frodo and Bilbo cried out in horror as the black flames circled around the ring. He continued to concentrate on it while Frodo and Bilbo stared anxiously at the small circle of black flames. There were murmurs from each of the beings present about his ability but he continued to concentrate.

The power inside the ring was starting to act up, as if annoyed. And then, Sasuke wasn't sure what happened. One minute the flames were burning around the ring, and then a burst of its energy shot up into the air. The next thing he was aware of, Sasuke was on stone floor, his ears, nose, and eyes bleeding. Frodo was clutching the ring tightly and Elrond had moved to Sasuke's side. Sasuke's head was spinning and his vision blotted out for a moment. He managed to roll onto his side before he started to retch, he was vaguely aware that there was blood in the bile.

"Frodo, hold out the ring, the writing is on it again, is it not?" the hobbit nodded weakly and opened his fist. Before Sasuke's vision swam and he began coughing up blood, he saw a strange slanted script glowing on the band.

Elrond was muttering something under his breath, and Sasuke's pounding headache began to subside; however, he was still coughing up blood. Gandalf was saying something, perhaps what the scrawl on the band meant? It was hard to concentrate.

Aragorn was beside him then and was helping Sasuke stand up. If he could just use his hands he might be able to heal whatever internal damage he had been dealt. Likely whatever that energy the ring had shot at him was a defense mechanism, and not its usual one. Based on the way the hobbit held onto the ring, he had a feeling the ring normally twisted the bearer's mind so that the bearer formed an attachment to it, which would then strengthen when they were about to destroy it. A genjutsu sort of defense mechanism, but since Sasuke had no connection to the ring, it had to try something else, hence the attack.

"If that is truly Isildur's Bane, how did it come into the hands of this Halfling? How can it have such power?" Boromir was standing again and Sasuke just wished the man would shut the fuck up!

Sasuke listened in a sort of injured haze as Bilbo stood up and began to recount how he had come to acquire the ring. Then ideas were bounced back and forth as to what to do with the ring, especially since the enemy knew it had been found and was now looking for it. Of course Boromir had suggested actually using the ring to battle their enemy, and although that was typically a solid strategy for when the enemy had a powerful weapon, it would not work in this situation. This "weapon" had a mind of its own and it wanted its creator; they would just be harmed or corrupted if they were to use it.

He thought that had been made abundantly clear by now, but apparently that was not the case. Sasuke gritted his teeth in annoyance at the idiot's remark, but he started coughing up more blood so someone else was tasked with driving home how fucking dangerous that piece of demonic jewelry was.

Once they moved away from using the ring, they had discussed hiding it, and Sasuke agreed with Frodo's suggestion of leaving it with Bombadil if they were afraid of it resurfacing and the enemy finding it—as might be the case in tossing back into a river or the ocean. Sasuke was only partially surprised that Bombadil was unaffected by the ring; after all, the man was peculiar and had a strange inexplicable power about him. However, Sasuke could see Gandalf's point: Bombadil was quite spacy and was more interested in Goldberry than trivial things—sometimes, back when he and the dobe lived with them, Bombadil would forget about them and have his home disappear from the hill for a week at a time. Gandalf was right, he might forget about it and then one day throw it out by accident, and the enemy might pick it up again.

"Can you do an aerial attack on the place it was forged?" Sasuke asked tiredly once they had circled back to its destruction, which apparently could only be done from the volcano the ring was forged in.

"It would be far more open as a way of attack and I do not put it past Sauron to have winged creatures to combat the eagles," Gandalf sighed and Sasuke rubbed his head tiredly—he didn't even know who the eagles…unless they were the same ones that saved Bilbo and the dwarves from the wrags. Damn, his head still ached a bit.

"Then you need a small group, two or three tops to infiltrate Mordor" Sasuke saw Boromir open his mouth with a retort ready, "and I mean infiltrate not storm the fucking gates." There were grumbles of disapproval at his language, well fuck them! "Find a secret way in, climb the mountains around it, whatever," he threw his hands up in the air, without knowledge of the terrain or maps he couldn't help much, "just make it secret.

"Be disguised as the enemy's grunts. Learn their language, walk, mannerisms, and slowly work your way toward the mountain. Find ways to get patrol closer and closer to it. Be unremarkable and hide your scent in their blood and sweat."

There was a resounding silence and Sasuke looked over at the now setting sun…these people talked for way to fucking long. "That is your best bet when it comes to stealth. Perhaps on the travel there you'll want a larger group to help with scouting and to make sure that you always have someone on watch, but once you infiltrate, smaller numbers are better."

Sasuke slowly stood up, and his head spun again, "If I am no longer needed?" he looked to Elrond and Gandalf who shook their heads. Sasuke nodded and made to leave while the rest of them figured out what they would do for certain. He had given them advice on the matter and they knew his stance about his daughters being involved; he had nothing else to contribute.

His head was still spinning at times but at least he wasn't coughing up blood anymore. He slowly reached Minuial's room and blinked when he saw Tinnu sitting there fidgeting with a piece of paper in her hand. She looked torn somehow, and when he came in, she grimaced.

"What is it?" he tried to hurry over, but he felt like he had been rolled over by an Akemichi.

Tinnu didn't say anything; instead, she just held out the paper. He recognized the handwriting and paled. Why did Dawn write a letter?

Tousan,

Before you do anything rash, please think about taking care of yourself and the twins. You promised you would start looking after yourself better, and you would let us help take care of you too. Please let me do that.

And just what did she think leaving some note would do? Make him calm down, not worry? He had been trying to sense out where she was Rivendell since he saw the note, and to his growing horror and understanding, he couldn't feel her anywhere. No…

I don't want our family hurt any more, I can't stand to see that happen, so I am going to aid in the battles in the south—

No! He tried to run out of the room with the letter clutched tightly in his hand. His sharingan had flared to life but something felt off, and his headache had increased. He closed his eyes, but like a sunspot, an eye filled with fire appeared against the darkness of his eyelids. His shoulder slammed against a wall, and he tried to calm down.

Once he had his breathing under control and he had stopped the flow of chakra to his eyes, he slowly opened them and stared back down at the letter.

—the south, so that I can protect our family from more of this pain. Because if Gondor falls the war will spread out to our lands, and I know I can help them while you and the twins take care of each other. Let me be the ninja you've raised me to be, let me protect my loved one's and the world I've been raised in.

Sasuke clenched his hand tightly as he gritted his teeth. He pushed on toward the terrace because he just knew who had planted such an idea into his daughter's head; how similar a tune had Dawn sung as one arrogant and idiotic soldier had! Once on the porch, he noted the soldier standing with the four hobbits his daughters had nearly died to protect, the wizard, Legolas the elf prince, Gimili the dwarf, and Aragorn.

Sasuke felt torn between cutting the soldier in half or just wailing on him until his face caved in. Well, his fist was already clenched, so why not.

Aragorn was the first to notice Sasuke stalking toward Boromir and glaring at the soldier with an anger he hadn't felt since he was in the Elemental Lands. But before the ranger could cry out a warning or intervene, Sasuke let loose a restrained punch; after all, he didn't want the soldier to die just yet. The tall soldier fell to the right, and Sasuke immediately began straddling his chest with his knees pinning the soldier's arms down.

"What the fuck did you say to my daughter!?" He screamed with his fist raised, the note was crumpled and getting torn in his hand, but it felt so satisfying to punch this bastard.

"Dû," he felt Aragorn trying to pry him off of Boromir, but he anchored the soles of his feet to ground with chakra, and he used charka to enhance his strength and pull out of the restraining hold.

He punched the struggling soldier one more time, again restrained lest he kill him too quickly, "Dawn seems to think she needs to fight in Gondor," he growled out and the hands holding him left his arms, perhaps in surprise. Sasuke punched again, and again until he found his body immobilized somehow.

"That is enough of that!" Gandalf's voice boomed but Sasuke couldn't turn to look at him, it was as if some force was holding him still. Underneath the surprised and terrified murmurs of the various beings on the porch, he heard the elf lord's voice chanting; then he felt it, the foreign energy at the base of his skull, but it was too strong for him to overthrow and he couldn't move himself to inflict pain, and something told him his sharingan wouldn't break the genjutsu.

Without his mind's volition, he began to rise off of Boromir and take stiff steps to Gandalf's side; he noted the wizard had his staff trained on him and where it moved he went, so it was a combined effort then. He glared venomously at the two beings moving him about like a puppet.

Aragorn moved to Sasuke's side and held out his hand for the paper. "It's in Japanese," he gritted out and Aragorn turned away stiffly.

"What did it say."

"Some tripe about protecting us from war because if Gondor falls the rest of the world falls with it," he sneered the words and glared at Boromir. "It was fine for her to hunt with your rangers, but I doubt the soldiers there are as well trained."

Boromir sat up holding his unhinged jaw carefully and glared at Sasuke, but the former nuke-nin was glad he had thought to knock the man's jaw out of alignment to save himself from the soldier's stupid talking and heroic bullshit. "I warned what I would do if any of my daughters were guilted into helping your war," he would have looked at all of those on the porch, but the two beings were restraining him still.

"I'll gather a search party—" Sasuke scoffed, thus halting Aragorn's well-meaning words.

He glared down at Boromir, "Dawn runs faster than your horses, and she'll have run as quickly as she could to get a decent head start. She likely left the moment this council started," he put all his loathing into the word this long-winded meeting was supposed to stand for, "and I can't sense where she went so who knows which direction she had gone to get there." He also physically wasn't in any condition go frantically searching around the woods, thanks to the attack the ring had delivered.

He wanted to turn to the elf lord, but couldn't so he continued to glare at the soldier glaring back at him, "I'll need a list of any missing supplies for your stores, Elrond," he said the name slowly to keep himself from say the wrong name, like elf lord—which might come off as derogatory.

"And what will you do then, once you gained this list?" the elf lord responded and he felt the control on him slip a little, but when Elrond had ceased his chanting Gandalf had picked it up, and thus it was not weak enough for him to break out of the hold. "Will you chase after your daughter? You have one unconscious and another in need of some guidance or she may follow her sister's footsteps."

Sasuke glared at Boromir for nothing better to do, "I'm aware of that, but knowing what supplies she took will narrow down the possible paths."

"And will you follow her then?" the elf lord pressed while the other beings looked on. Aragorn for his part was in deep thought and also looked tempted to punch Boromir a few times.

"It will just set my mind at ease to know which path she took," he felt the pointed silence directed at him and even Aragorn turned to him as if doubting the truth of that statement, "Fine, I will follow her once Minuial is more stable…" he hoped she would wake up soon, she needed to. Each day they waited was another day Dawn moved further ahead and was placed in more danger. If he could also follow her same path, he could see signs of her, at least where she would have set up camp or used too much chakra to launch off of a tree branch; any sign that she had been alive.

"Then for now our scouts will search for trail in the near—"

"She would not have left any trail," Sasuke was not surprised Aragorn said this at the same time he had. The ranger sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sat down heavily in a nearby chair.

"You can let me go now," he was calm enough to not kill the soldier in front of witnesses now.

"I am afraid we cannot allow that, Dû," Elrond sighed, "Boromir has agreed to accompany Frodo and the ring South," which meant he had a role to play yet…

Sasuke smirked at the soldier who had managed to seat himself, though no one had helped him off the floor. He was glaring at Sasuke, though he held his body warily like he was afraid Sasuke might attack again; he smirked a little broader at that. "I won't kill him, or harm him anymore because he's going to die protecting that ring from the enemy, do you hear me Soldier?" he saw the man swallow nervously before he nodded slightly.

"Good because destroying that," and he wished he could have used his hand to point at the clever hobbit's waistcoat pocket, "is how you end the war, not holding your position over the river. Destroying the ring will save your fucking country and the rest of this world, so you better die protecting it like you've convinced my daughter to die for a country she has no allegiance to."

Boromir bowed his head and nodded slowly. "Good, and make sure you do die protecting it because if I ever see you again and my daughter has been hurt or worse, you'll wish you had died at the hands of the enemy."

He wanted to leave now, and he tried to stop the flow of chakra to his brain, but it wasn't enough. Aragorn was at his side now, "I'll escort Dû to his room and keep watch until we leave. He can help us plan secluded travel as well." Sasuke felt the control on him lift and then he felt his body be moved to the side; however, when he looked down, he realized Aragorn was guiding him by the elbow of his useless arm.

He walked with the ranger and could see the tension in his body, "I'm sure you might get away with punching him, the bruises need to be evened out."

Aragorn gave a short wry laugh, "I'll be traveling with him indefinitely. Attacking Boromir may put a strain on our working relationship."

"I think it's already strained." The ranger laughed grimly again.

---

3017, October 25

Because Sasuke was on house arrest indefinitely the Fellowship members, excluding Boromir of course, were often in his or Minuial's room pouring over maps with Aragorn. It was usually just Frodo and Gandalf, but occasionally the elf and dwarf joined though they came in at different times.

Some of the hobbits had begun to sit around Minuial's bed and tell her and Tinnu stories from the Shire, and often Bilbo would begin a tale if he was among them. Tinnu had also begun to show the hobbits how to use these knives, which frankly were like swords to the hobbits, they had found in the Borrow Downs. Sasuke had taken a look at them and they were very finely crafted.

Sasuke had also been working with Tinnu on her chakra control and had finally taught her the nutrients transference jutsu, which she did twice a day on Minuial. The longer Minuial was being fed this way, the more dangerous side-effects there could be, but he had to hope for the best.

One day, perhaps in an attempt on Aragorn's behalf to keep them both from going stir-crazy, the ranger took him down into the homely house's forge. He had watched, genuinely fascinated, as the elven blacksmiths pieced back together the sword of Elendil, Narsil. As the principal blacksmith worked, the apprentice—at Aragorn's behest—discussed how they forged their steel, which Sasuke found to be surprisingly light but strong.

And finally, five days after the council, Sasuke was allowed to relax with his family, and by extension Arwen and Aragorn. Tinnu had bathed her sister earlier in the day and now she was combing and braiding Minuial's hair with Arwen. They had washed her hair with water that had had athelas steeped in it, and now were singing some song in sindarin that Arwen had taught Tinnu.

Around the time Aragorn joined in, Sasuke spoke up and asked what the song meant. Aragorn and Tinnu thought about it for a moment before responding. Arwen just seemed lost and uncertain how she would translate it. Aragorn finally said the rough translation and disclaimed that it flowed more smoothly in sindarin, but even so, after Arwen had left and Aragorn had stepped outside to smoke. Sasuke found himself whispering the words as Tinnu slept beside her sister.

"Sleep now, sleep long

but please, please wake with the dawn.

The battle was hard and bravely you fought

but now you may rest yet wake in our thoughts.

A healing sleep you now take

but in the dawn awake, awake.

For we love you and wait with hope

but linger not long in sleep's hold.

So sleep now, and sleep long,

but please, please wake with the dawn.

A healing sleep you may now take,

but in the dawn awake, awake."

---

A suivre

---

Naruto swung her feet over the bed. The past several days she had felt stronger and had become rather restless. She had pleaded with Tsunade to be allowed to walk around the room and go to the bathroom with out at catheter—the horror and mortification of being hooked up to one made her want to be sick, she wasn't a man even if her sex may have switched back—and surprisingly the old woman agreed, but she had to use a cane for walking support.

The paranoid man that had replaced her sensei had not visited since the seventeenth, so she had had three days of only have Tsunade to visit with, and Naruto was becoming less and less fond of their talks.

Naruto cautiously set her feet against the ground and gripped the IV stand tightly for support. She wobbled for a moment on her thin legs and grimaced at how far her body had deteriorated. Her muscles had atrophied a great deal, and she winced as she thought what she must have looked like to her husband and children—just a skeletal wraith of a woman.

She took one careful step forward and then another. Her grip was still tight on the damn IV drip and she was half tempted to pull the needles out of her hand and arm, but then she would be tied back down to the bed and the force feeding would begin again like during the first few days she was back in Konoha. She may have begun eating more, but it still tasted heavy in her mouth and she really had no appetite, so now they just made sure she had vitamin bags hooked up to her so even if she didn't eat much she was at least getting nutrients.

She continued her careful plodding and thought back to yesterday's conversation with Tsunade and shuddered. She had asked her about the stillbirth and miscarriage, and Naruto had answered much more calmly than she would have every thought herself capable of, but what was hard for Naruto was the fact that she could not tell anyone how the teme had acted toward her. Neither Tsunade nor the hokage—because she couldn't consider that mean, paranoid man Kaka-sensei—would care to hear about how the teme had held her and cried with her as she held the fetus in her hands. They wouldn't care to hear about how he lifted her up gently and made a bath for her, or how their children were so concerned for her. They would think she was lying if she told him how he gently had scrubbed away the blood from her thighs and then comforted her and reassured her with such sweet words. They wouldn't have cared or wanted to know, and she felt like she had no one she could talk to about how different the teme was there.

Naruto moved over to the window and looked out at the familiar village, but it had changed somehow and it didn't feel like home anymore…not really. Home was with the teme and the girls, they were the ones she missed to an almost crippling degree.

She caught her reflection in the window and winced. Her jaw was broader than she remembered, and her face was very gaunt. Was this what she had looked like to the teme? She closed her eyes tiredly and bowed her head, she felt her long and lanky hair slip past her shoulders and curtain her face.

Opening her eyes tiredly, Naruto made her way back to the bed and sat down heavily. The walk had felt good but she was tired again, emotionally tired more than physically. Naruto brought her hands behind her head and gathered the hair at the sides of her head, she then began to braid it, slowly adding more hair as she went. Eventually she moved the thick long locks over her shoulder and worked at finishing the braid. All the while she hummed a tune she used to sing to her babies. She had overheard a hobbit singing it to her baby and Naruto had been so taken with the tune she had asked to learn it—she had been pregnant at the time so the older mother had happily taught her.

She missed the Shire and Crick Hollow, but she also missed Bree so much. It was so peaceful there, and in Bree there were no ninja flitting by the windows…. It used to be a comfort to her when she was younger, a reminder that she was always safe inside of Konoha, but…after what the hokage had said and implied…she didn't feel that safe. She had fraternized with the enemy in the hokage's book; she had had the enemy's children and could just be a pawn in the enemy's plans. Now those shinobi flitting by the windows felt like threats and guards patrol her sterile prison…they were no longer a comfort.

"Hush my little baby," Naruto was singing softly as she swayed slightly in place. She held the ends of her hair together in one hand as she realized she had nothing to tie the braid off with. "The blue jays sing their song for you," she mumbled the next line and just stared at the perfectly crafted glass; she missed the bubbles and imperfections found in Bree windowpanes.

"The willow's little leaves laugh and sway for you," she murmured and recalled a summer day with the teme in the Old Forest. They were dangling their feet in a small river that ran through forest, and they were beneath an old willow tree that curtained them from the rest of the forest while casting them in a pale greenish yellow light. She could remember the hum of the willow's energy as its curtaining leaves swayed in the wind, and she could recall the warm damp earth beneath her fingers. The teme had held her hand and they had sat in a companionable silence. Those were the early days of their courting, when they could only understand each other.

"And sweetly, oh baby, tickles the wind lady. So hush, hush my little baby" Naruto finished the stanza's last two lines, and was about to sing the next one when a voice spoke up.

"Is that a lullaby?" Naruto turned sharply at the deep and vaguely familiar voice. When she turned her mouth fell open.

"Garra-kun?!" a laugh was in her voice and she truly felt so happy to see her old friend. He looked older though and so stressed. He had lines around his mouth like the teme.

Her old friend entered the room; his magnetic release still activated like it always was, and thus produced black rings around his eyes, though she imagined the man hadn't been sleeping much lately either. He wore the actual kazekage robes now, and it was odd seeing him in them, he sort of looked…a lot like his father, though at least he didn't hide his face.

"I didn't think anyone would be allowed to visit me," she stated with a smile, though she let it go unsaid that she knew she was still under suspicion and not trusted.

"Hokage-sama had no choice," Garra stated easily as he sat down in a chair while Naruto maneuvered the IV drip back to its original position so that she could sit comfortably in the bed while talking with Garra. "I spied your argument with him the other day." He covered one eye to indicate he had watched with a sand eye.

The smile fell from her face and she nodded, "Of course," Naruto nodded her head slightly again and turned to look away from him, "And I suppose you think the teme's using me too? Or that some army of sharingan users are being made over there." She scoffed and shook her head. Garra didn't say anything in response and Naruto shook her head in disgust.

The silence that passed between them was heavy and uncomfortable. Sighing, Naruto turned to her friend, "Are you married?" she asked, hoping to get her friend to see how ridiculous those concerns were, and maybe, just maybe he could convince the hokage of his stupidity.

She hoped her friend was married now because she knew the hokage and Tsunade weren't; granted, Kaka-sensei had never seemed like the relationship type and she still believed he was asexual—although his porn collection did try to derail those suspicions. Tsunade wasn't married for tragic but obvious reasons, and after Jiraiya died, she highly doubted the old woman would ever get married even if she was able to cope better with her lover and brother's deaths.

Garra shifted uncomfortably but nodded slowly, and Naruto smiled. She was genuinely happy for her friend. "Well, what's she like?" Garra blushed slightly and looked away. "Oooh!" it was like teasing Ranger-san about his lady friend he was always sighing about. "Come on, spill," she needled and Garra gave her a weak glare.

"She's the daughter of one of the civilian council members," Like Jiijii's wife had been, Naruto reasoned, so it was likely a political marriage. Garra was blushing slightly, though to the untrained eye it would have been indiscernible, "It was a political arrangement and she as quite afraid of me still."

Was, so she must have gotten over that, and Naruto gave her friend a sly smile, "So how'd you woo her?" Naruto asked. Her eyes flashed with amusement, and just like Ranger-san, Garra blushed brightly and coughed in discomfort. She bit her cheeks to keep from laughing, which would have silenced the man from speaking any further on the matter.

"We went on a few dates during our engagement and well…" he fidgeted in his seat and looked away from her, clearly he wasn't going to spill any more juicy details.

"Oh come on! What did you screw her or something because even the teme did some romancing before we got intimate and I got all sappy for him." She was blushing a little because she was talking about her former sworn enemy whom had hated her with every fiber of his being, and she was talking about them being all lovey-dovey in front of someone who was very much aware of their history.

Garra was caught between embarrassment at Naruto's crude language, and interest at Naruto volunteering information about Sasuke. He settled on a stoic expression and shrugged, "We found we had several common interest and I had protected her from an assassination attempt, although," he blushed brightly and looked down at the bed, "we weren't intimate until we were married and well…"he had been scared because she was a civilian and he was afraid he might hurt her—she just knew him that well.

Naruto nodded and smiled softly at her friend; however the smile morphed into a mischievous grin, "Well can't say the teme and I were so good about waiting until marriage," she laughed and shook her head, "Though we were, like, seventeen and who can stop those hormones at that age, right?" Naruto laughed lightly and Garra choked on a laugh, though he looked a little horrified.

"When did you two get married?"

"Eighteen, and I'll tell you what," Naruto leaned in a little toward her friend like she was about to divulge a secret, "We did have a few scares since we were using pretty primitive contraceptives, but we didn't having any bastards so…" she pulled back smiling lightly and happily.

Garra just shook his head, "But you have had children with him." It was a statement, not a question.

Naruto sobered and nodded slightly as she looked away, "Three girls, a miscarriage, and a stillbirth," she shook her head and swallowed at the tightness in her throat. She then turned to Garra and smiled lightly, though she felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, "Did you and civilian-chan have any children?"

Garra blushed a little and nodded, "A son and daughter, however she inherited the magnetic release."

Naruto nodded softly and found herself smiling with a little more ease. She was so happy that her fellow, former jinchuuriki had a happy family in this world, though perhaps the fact that he was no longer a jinchuuriki had allowed for it to happen. She pushed those bitter thoughts aside, "How old are they, what are they like?"

Garra was frowning slightly but she gave him an imploring look and he indulged her, "Twelve and eight…we're thinking about having another while we can," he blushed a little bit and looked off to the side.

Naruto smiled a little broader, "My twins are thirteen, almost fourteen." For a moment she imagined the twins playing with Garra's oldest child, but she quickly shook the thought away.

"It's crazy how fast they grow, huh? Pretty soon they'll be accepting suitors and having their own babies…" she shook her head and sighed a little. She wondered if the teme was fighting of suitors with a stick, though then she frowned and furrowed her brow…what about that dream? Was Minuial really sick? Was a war truly coming?

"I should hope my kids don't get married soon," Garra said with a slight incredulous laugh in his voice that also boarded on horrified.

Naruto blinked and looked back at her friend, she knew he had caught her moment of seriousness, but he wasn't commenting, and instead was fishing for information about the world she had gone to. She smiled and decided to indulge him slightly, "Oh yes, people don't live past thirty there, usually; so people are married really quite young."

Garra nodded and settled a little into the chair, "What are your twins like? Are they the oldest?"

She looked at her friend with a knowing look—he was fishing for information—but what harm would it do? Besides, it was every parent's joy to brag about his or her children. "The twins are terrors when they're together and the teme says they act a lot like me, but one of them is quieter like him. Our eldest, she's…" Naruto shook her own head, "She's stubborn like us, but she's her own person." She left it vague enough but she still provided Garra with the information he wanted.

However, this was a perfect transition to the second part of her plan to change Garra's thinking of Sasuke. Naruto smiled fondly, "You should see the teme with them and when I was pregnant," she swallowed slightly at the thought of being pregnant and their recent failures, but she pushed past it; she had to.

Garra gestured for her to elaborate, and she did so happily. "He is completely at their mercy," Naruto stated simply as her smile started to return. The red head laughed lightly; he probably knew what she was talking about since he had a daughter of his own, "I swear, he would do anything for them if it would make them happy; except if it involves boys," Naruto smiled almost teasingly and Garra outright laughed, "Familiar?" she asked and her friend instantly paled.

"I'd rather not think of it, she's only eight." Though it was clear he had been thinking about it and was just as overprotective of his daughter as the teme was of their girls.

Naruto hummed with a knowing smile in place, "Sure…just wait until the red sister comes or the seduction unit happens in the academy," Garra's eyes widened further and he became white as a corpse. Naruto started to outright laugh, it was so like the teme! Who knew the stoic ones were so over protective of their little girls?

"I think I almost gave the teme a heart attack when I lectured the girls on sex after our oldest got her first visit from the red sister."

Garra's eyes were wide, "Why would you do that?!"

Naruto cocked her head to one side and pursed her lips, "You know, he asked me the same question, but then he joined me in discussing our sex life, but I think that was just to scare the girls from ever wanting to have sex; you know, 'cause what kid wants to hear about their parents doin' it." Naruto gave her friend a cheeky smile and Garra just shook his head.

He sobered though and looked at Naruto seriously, "So you really love him? And he loves you?"

Naruto looked down at her lap, "He would die for the girls," she replied after a moment. It was always hard to consider their relationship and the winding path that it had taken, "and I think because I gave him them, I've earned his affection, but then things started to change, ya know?" Naruto asked her friend because she truly lacked the words to express the change, but the moment Garra's expression darkened, she knew he took it the wrong way.

Shaking her head quickly, Naruto waved her hands back and forth. "It's not like that, Garra-kun…I meant we kind of…" she faltered and furrowed her brow. Did she love the teme? Did he love her? She bit her lip and curled her hands into the sheets, "Sometimes I wonder if we love each other and I think we do but there's been so much, ya know?" and this time Garra did understand. Sasuke and Naruto had fought each other and betrayed each other, there was no way her relationship with the teme would ever be simple or sweet.

"We're…tender," Naruto thought that was a good word, "towards each other, and…" she laughed weakly and shook her head, "When we were having another baby, he would bring me breakfast in bed, and then when I had the miscarriage" Naruto closed her eyes and choked a little on the word, "He hugged me and cried with me…he was so…" Naruto shook her head, "And then when he was helping me clean up all the blood, he said we could bury the baby and try again sometime, and ya know he waited for me to initiate it…and over there he's so not teme-like," she looked over at Garra as tears slid down her face.

"He really didn't want me to come back here, but I know it was hurting him to see me like this," she gestured to her skeletal person, "and he couldn't do anything, no matter what he tried, so he suggested it, and I know it took so much for him to," Naruto wrung the sheets in her hands as she tried to fight back the tears in her eyes, "He's my husband for better or worse, and toward the end there we had really started acting like that…"

"And you miss him?" Garra asked in a monotone. Naruto looked up and nodded slightly, "And you miss your children too." More tears slipped down her face and she cried into her hands as she nodded.

"Gods yes, I miss them with my whole being, and I just want to go home, but I know I'm not healthy enough, and I don't think they'll let me," Naruto made a high pitched noise at the back of her throat and cried harder into her hands. "And there's a war there and I don't know if they're safe and-and—"

"Shh…Naruto-kun," she felt Garra tentatively reach out his hand and set it on her shoulder before she pulled him into a hug. She missed her teme and children. She missed the safety and peace they had lived under, and she just wanted someone to understand that all.

As her tears subsided, Naruto pulled back from her friend, "You know Garra-kun," the man looked at her and nodded for her to continue, "It was peaceful there, we had peace," and Naruto wasn't sure what had passed over the red head's face, but she hoped he understood how wonderful that had been. "The teme's even at peace there 'cause all that matters are our girls." She looked at Garra imploringly, "Why can't they see that?"

Garra swallowed thickly and sat down in his chair again. He laced his hands together, "He's done so many terrible things," Garra began and the look he directed at Naruto was pointed, as if to say that Sasuke had done many terrible things to her in particular.

"But he's not that man anymore, not while we live there," Naruto's voice rose into a desperate pitch and cracked. "Gods he let me wail on him and didn't even try to put up a fight. He's different there. All that matters is our family, and if I wasn't so close to dying he never would have suggested coming back here!"

Garra's expression was hard to read, even for Naruto who was so well versed at reading stoics. She looked away from her friend, the one whom she had hoped would understand how having children could so completely change a person, but he didn't, or at least she didn't think he did.

"The hokage says you no longer want to become a kage, is it because of your children?"

Naruto winced but slowly nodded. She turned toward Garra slowly and saw the contemplative look on his face, and a little hope bloomed in her chest. "When I regained my memories I left them," she felt sick remembering that time, "I missed two years of their lives, Garra-kun, two years; can you imagine that?" he winced and shook his head. "I promised to never abandon them again, and—" Her words caught in her throat, how could she explain the years of agonizing mental debate until she finally decided her family won out over the hokage title?

Naruto swallowed thickly "You wouldn't understand, but if you ask your wife…" Naruto shook her head, "They grew inside of me, Garra-kun, they lived because of me and I love them more than I ever thought possible," Tears were coming to her eyes again as she smiled softly at her friend. "They loved me unconditionally from their first breaths and the teme…"she shook her head, "They're my family…I finally have a family, and I've never felt as loved as when I'm with them."

Garra closed his eyes slowly and nodded his head. He slouched in the chair like a weight had fallen on him and he sighed heavily. "I named them after my parents," Garra said randomly and it took a moment for Naruto to realize he was talking about his children. "My boy will be graduating with his cousin, and I'm debating putting them on a team together."

Naruto smiled warmly and nodded her head, "So like a revamped version of the sand siblings?" Garra chuckled slightly and nodded a little, but Naruto pushed gently for more information, "So you're an uncle?"

Garra laughed a little, "Temari had a daughter around the same time as my son was born."

Naruto grinned broadly "Did she marry Shikamaru-kun?"

Garra choked on air for a moment before he began to chuckle as he shook his head, "No, it was political again. She actually married one of the daimyo's sons."

"What?!" Temari was practically royalty, it would be like if one of her daughters married like a prince or like a chief. Crazy!

"She was initially a bodyguard for the guy, but," Garra shook his head in amusement, "Apparently Temari struck his fancy and he asked his father to prepare a marriage contract."

"No way," Naruto laughed a little, "Well my oldest is probably going to marry this ranger she's been friends with since she could hold a bow," Naruto shook her head in amusement, "So far, he's the only suitor the teme hasn't tried to set on fire." Garra gave a short wry laugh and Naruto smiled a little more broadly, "But whatever, I mean he may be in his thirties now—"

"What?!"

Naruto realized what she had just said and blushed a little, oops. "Ah, well he comes from a clan that has longevity like my clan." Garra looked at her incredulously, "Like the teme's best friend there is getting toward his nineties but he looks like he's in his mid-thirties or early forties with just a little bit of gray hair, and he's from the ranger's clan." Naruto frowned a little, actually he was the chief of their people if she remembered correctly.

"I thought you said people didn't live that long there."

Naruto winced, "Peasants don't, and most wealthy human's maybe live to their eighties, but not that clan, I think they live for a few hundred years if they're lucky."

Garra just stared at her or a long moment before he nodded slowly, "Next you'll tell me that world's comprised of more than just humans." He shook his head and Naruto froze for a moment before asking about Kankuro, who apparently was living the bachelor life according to Garra. So the day passed with the two friends catching up, but both being conscious of just what they were disclosing.

…

Five days after the Kazekage had given Kakashi his assessment of Naruto, he decided to test the validity of it. According to Garra, the skeletal blonde had given up all of his dreams for family and love, and apparently Sasuke loved Naruto. He highly doubted all of this, and disagreed with the Kazekage's opinion that Naruto should be sent back to that world once healthy.

Kakashi went into the room and saw the blonde doing a little circuit around the room. He had his long hair braided, and Kakashi was tempted to offer cutting it again. He coughed and Naruto just nodded his head while he continued walking the room slowly.

"What, Hokage-sama?" he asked without turning, and Kakashi winced at the formality.

"Why don't you lay down, Naruto-kun," he suggested.

The blonde, a near spitting image of his sensei, turned to him with an eyebrow raised, "We can talk while I'm walking." Kakashi's eye twitched at the feminine form in the man's sentence.

"I didn't plan to talk," at his Kakashi's reply,the blonde's face became hard and his hand curled tightly around the IV drip. Perhaps he was thinking the worst? Kakashi slid up his head band to reveal his three-tomoe sharingan; however this did not result in the blonde relaxing.

"I'd like to converse with Kurama," he stated curtly and Naruto sighed loudly as he moved to sit at the edge of the bed. Kakashi followed the man and soon he was staring into his student's bright blue eyes.

Quite suddenly, Kakashi found himself standing in a wooded clearing in which the Kyuubi laid about soaking up the imaginary sun. Kakashi looked about him and noted that on one side of the clearing, through the trees, was a very short house. It was barely taller than six feet, and it was an odd looking house too with circular windows. Then he noticed a blacksmith forge protruding up from the earth in the center of the clearing with weapons scattered about along with toys.

"What do you want?" Kakashi looked over at the giant bijuu.

"Try to be nice, Kurama,"

Kakashi turned around at the soft feminine voice and stared with wide eyes at the woman who should have been his student. She looked very much like Naruto but she was more feminine and her eyes were like when Naruto went into sage mode. The woman was dressed in a rough spun dress with some sort of leather vest, corset.

"This is your mindscape?" he asked in surprise; he had thought it was a sewer tunnel, why was it suddenly this happy forest? Though the answer was there, staring at him, wasn't it? Naruto was happy in his other world, wasn't he?

He looked up at the bright blue sky and saw no evidence of sharingan tampering. "Trust me, you would know if the Uchiha had done anything in here." The fox grinned wickedly at Kakashi, as if knowing what Kakashi had been looking for "In fact, about the only damage he's done to your student is breaking her hymen."

"Kurama!" He was choosing to ignore that exchange.

Kakashi looked about the area and exhaled slowly. He was about to ask the fox to verify some of Garra's findings when the creature beat him to the punch "Look, I have never been a fan of the Uchiha, least of all the one that's nearly killed my host several times, but her Uchiha's a changed man there. Get a Yamanka yourself and look at the memories."

He heard "Naruto" huff behind him, "He's a good husband and listens to the more dominant mate," the fox grinned, "plus he's fertile—"

"Can you not think about trying to escape for one minute?" Naruto groused and Kakashi wanted to be out of this place before they devolved into arguing, "All you talk about is me screwing him so I'll get preg—"

"No, I also talk about that delicious evil there," the fox purred the words and Kakashi watched as the host and his tenant glared at each other, "I bet you'll go back to find them all dead," the fox sang maliciously and Kakashi looked between the two again and felt like he had missed something.

"Why don't you get out my head now," Naruto said calmly with his hands folded under—Kakashi just quickly retracted himself because his student was a man damn it, even if in his own mind he wasn't!

Naruto had his arms folded over his flat chest when they found themselves back in the hospital, "Satisfied? The teme hasn't tampered with my head. He doesn't even care about this place, honest." The blonde gestured out the window to suggest what exactly the psychopathic Uchiha didn't care about.

"I'll have a Yamanaka verify that statement." He had wanted to avoid involving anyone else because then there would be no way to keep it secret any longer and…he didn't want to think about all the precarious lives that would be disrupted by Naruto's return, especially since the man didn't want to stay. He still wasn't sure how the blonde had come here, and he knew pressing Naruto for answers would get him nowhere… The man didn't trust him now and was angry with him—perhaps the first day he could have gotten those answers, but not now.

"Fine, and I hope you'll consider allowing me to go home when I'm better."

Kakashi dropped his head band back over his eye "You'll be defecting," he replied calmly.

"Then I retire," the blonde tersely replied.

"You haven't been a ninja long enough—"

"I fought that war, I saved this world!" Naruto suddenly shouted before quieting, "I should be allowed to live in peace now."

"I still don't trust Sasuke's intentions, he could be hiding them from you and clearly the Kyuubi is only interested in breaking out of you." Kakashi turned and began heading toward the door as he spoke. If it was a matter of fighting in the fourth shinobi war, then all of them should be allowed to retire. He didn't wait for a rebuttal and promptly left.

---

A/N: I apologize for how OC centric that chapter was, I honestly dislike reading about OCs unless they are in a more support role, but Dawn's decision was part of the plot and needed to be explored-I also apologize for the attempt at poetry. On a more serious note though; I frankly am out of ideas of what to do about the Kyuubi because there is no way in hell Naruto will be coming back to Middle Earth unless there is some plan of what to do with the Kyuubi, excluding Konoha invading.

I originally thought of Naruto sealing the Kyuubi in a jar when she's ready to die and then having it sealed in a vault with fancy seals and protections for all eternity, but Kakashi would argue that there's always the off chance that some descendant would stumble upon it or purposefully unleash the Kyuubi to destroy Konoha somehow (he's paranoid, and the logistics would be figured out later, though Middle Earth would be in more danger than Konoha at that). The other option was the shinigami idea, and frankly only Kakashi and Garra would be aware of the plan, thus who would think to cut open the shinigami's (and their own) stomach to take it out—and Orochimaru really only did that for his arms and the souls inside the shinigami, right? The last option is for Naruto to find a new host in her descendants, but there's that fear that a descendant would want to finish what Sasuke started.

I started this fanfic before a lot of the recent chapters came out and I've tried to accommodate for them, but frankly I feel like this fanfic has to be labeled at least slightly AU at this point. The end of the war was left vague for a reason in this fanfic, and Sasuke did not have a complete change of heart because of Naruto's friendship speech (because seriously?!). So I would appreciate feedback as to how to eliminate the Kyuubi problem, if anyone has any opinions on it because I'm out of my depth here with trying to keep it consistent with the series.