Chapter 17: Connections

Hikari woke up as she felt the warmth she had just gotten used to slip away, leaving her to shiver slightly. Slowly she sat up, rubbing her eyes to clear them of the blurry haze hanging in front of them.

"Itachi-kun?" She called out in confusion as she spotted the shadowy silhouette of her young husband standing by the window. "Are you alright?"

Itachi glanced at Hikari for only a second before he returned his gaze to the bar covered scenery. Hikari's face scrunched up in concern and she slipped out of the futon the two shared, pulling one of the thin blankets tight around her pajama clad body to ward off the cold.

"What is it?" Hikari whispered as she stood next to Itachi and layed her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know," He answered as he rested his head on her own. "I just have a bad feeling is all."

Hikari closed her eyes for a moment as she shifted through her feelings. For a second she felt nothing out of the ordinary but when she delved deeper she caught hold of a slight feeling of unease that was centered, not on her or Itachi, but instead on the place in her heart where she held her cousin and his family.

"I feel it too," Hikari said as she opened her eyes. "But without the heartstrings I don't know if there is something really wrong or just general unease."

Itachi shrugged, shifting his wife's head slightly. "I don't know either," he said. "All we can do is hope everything is alright."

Hikari nodded as Itachi lifted his head and took her hand. "Get some sleep Hikari," He ordered as he pushed her down onto the futon. "You're going to need it."

Hikari smiled at the dark haired boy before she spread the blanket on her shoulders back onto the others and crawled under them. "Good night Itachi," she whispered before she fell back into a deep sleep.

Itachi wrapped his right arm around her waist so he could grasp her right hand with his. "I'm so sorry I can't help you Hikari," He whispered as he rested his forehead on the back of her neck. "I really, really am."

Just like every night for the past year, Itachi found that sleep did not come to him willingly or easily that night.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hanabi-chan!" Neji cried out as he tried to race back into the burning village. Kyo only just managed to grab a hold of on his collar before the Hyuuga boy ran to far.

"Neji! No!" Kyo shouted as he pulled the struggling boy back. "You can't go in there again! You'll be killed!"

"I have to go!" Neji yelled as he tried to slip out of his coat. "Hanabi-chan is my responsibility! I have to save her!"

"You also have a responsibility to help your cousin Hinata win back Konoha," Kyo reminded him. "How are you supposed to do that if you are dead?"

Neji stopped struggling and fell limp. Crystal tears forming in his now dull lavender eyes. "So I have to leave her there to die?" he asked brokenly.

"Of course not," Kyo said as he let the younger boy go and layed his feinted wife on the ground, resting her head in Tenten's lap. Neji glanced up at his teacher with hopeful eyes. "I'm going to save my son and your cousin."

Neji bit his lip in slight fear but nodded all the same, trusting Kyo to bring his little cousin back alive.

"Tenten, Temari, Ino," Kyo called as he stepped into the shallow spring they had stopped by. "I need you to take care of Kairi. Neji, Shino, Shikamaru, you three are in charge. Whatever happens, keep the group together and safe."

As the kids nodded Kyo reached out with his hands and caused the water below him to rise up above him and fall on top of his head; drenching him completely.

"Take care of each other." He said before he took of towards the blazing spirit tree.

Temari glanced at Kairi worriedly as the Ino dipped her torn off sleeve into the stream and wrung it out. Silently she handed it to Tenten who placed it on the forehead of their unconscious teacher.

"Do you think he'll make it back?" Chouji asked, breaking the tense silence.

Everybody shrugged. Logically they knew it was impossible, but then again, they had seen some pretty incredible things in their short lives as it is.

XXXXXXXXXX

Fear clenched Kyo's heart as he tried to force his way through tons upon tons of burning debris. He was nearly out of chakra but his natural control over the water element helped him slow the evaporation of the spring water he had doused himself with; still, if he didn't make it out soon he knew he wouldn't make it at all.

Kyo gritted his teeth and narrowed his emerald eyes. There was no way he was just going to give up. Not when the lives of his family hung so dangerously in the balance. Grasping all of the chakra he could spare, Kyo quickly poured it into his heartstrings; searching the specific thread he knew connected him to his son. The connection pulsed strong and Kyo let out a sigh of relief knowing that Akira was, for the moment, safe.

Tracing his son's aura Kyo was able to shift his way through the maze of burning rubble to the apartment building he and his family had shared. He grimaced as he looked at it.

Flames poured from every opening and the structure was just barely supporting itself. He almost didn't want to enter, if only because he was afraid it would collapse under his weight and take both him and the kids with it. Finally he bit his lip. He wasn't an expert, but the building seemed okay for now. Besides, what was life with out a few risks?

In this instance: Erased.

Taking a deep breath Kyo steeled himself against his doubts and pushed ahead; plunging strait into the once homely apartment.

XXXXXXXXXX

He wasn't quite sure what was happening. After all he had never been in a situation such as this before. Still, even at a very young age he was intelligent, overly intelligent according to his father, so even though he had no pre-instruction on how to act in this instance didn't mean he couldn't. After all, he had the intelligence of both his parents and his aunt running through his little head. Not to mention rather sharp instincts.

First things first. He had to find his friend. He knew she was strong but he also knew that she tended to be a bit rash at times. Always leaping into something they both knew she logically shouldn't attempt. Like trying to sneak cookies out of the jar his mom kept on the kitchen counter. They both knew that she would get caught each time without getting her craved for sweet. Still, the girl was rather stubborn and seemed to think that, so long as she kept trying, she could eventually sneak one out from under the nose of one of Konoha's most observant chunin.

These thoughts of course were rather downplayed in his head seeing as he had yet to learn what certain words like 'chunin' or 'ninja' and the like meant. He was simply, just a young boy with a rather advanced mind for one his age. Anyhow, we're veering off the subject.

Reaching inside himself he grasped onto something that lay quietly in the back of his mind. He wasn't sure what it was but he did know that whenever he wanted to find someone this thing led him strait to them. He had no real doubt that it wouldn't do the same this time. Slowly he rose to his feet and, with an agility that defied his age, he climbed over his bars and dropped lightly to the floor.

His friend didn't seem to be too far. Just in the other room according to his feelings, so he didn't have very far to walk. Wobbling a bit on his inexperienced legs, he did his best to stay up right long enough to get past the roaring tongs of orange that threatened to lick at his little body.

Thankfully, the door to his friend's room was already open, so he just walked right in to find his friend sitting on her bed against the wall. Tears threatened to fall from her frightened lavender eyes as she tried to escape the heat that had already burned her more then once. Spotting her friend her eyes glowed with relief and a soft smile made its way to her lips.

" 'Kira!" she shouted. "Hewp!"

He cocked his head slightly to the side as he tried to understand what she was doing in the corner. Finally he gave up and just decided to go to her. Her eyes widened as she watched the little boy before her shakily cross the room; the licks of flame parting to give him passage to where his friend sat trembling.

Stopping in front of the bed he looked up at her and raised his arms. Happy that he was here with her, she reached down and grabbed his hand before she tried to pull him up with her.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kyo was greatly relieved when he found not only his son, but also Hanabi sitting together on Hanabi's little toddler bed. He didn't question how his son had got there, he was always doing things like that, but he was a bit surprised to find that the flames weren't touching either child. Kyo grinned as he reached down and lifted both children into his arms. It seemed that there was another genius in the clan of Haruno.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura gasped in pain as she jerked violently awake. Her breaths were coming in short gasps and her heart felt as if it was being jabbed by a hot kunai. Sasuke, being the light sleeper he is, quickly jumped up from his own sleeping bag and raced to the aid of his friend.

"Sakura!" he whispered in concern. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Awakened by urgent whispers Hinata rolled over gently so she could face her two friends. "I-is something w-wrong Sakura-chan?"

Sakura shook her head rapidly and the tears that coated her emerald eyes flew from her face, glittering in the nearly dead fire light. "I don't know," she answered. Her eyes holding a fear filled, faraway look. "All I know is somebody is hurting terribly. But since Hikari-nee-chan blocked my heartstrings so strongly, I can't tell who!" More tears fell from her eyes as she turned to face the older raven haired boy. "It hurts so bad…"

Sasuke bit his lip, unsure of how to console the crying girl. He grunted in annoyance as he just remembered his brother's advice on learning about girl's and their tears.

'You're going to have a female teammate someday,' Itachi had said. 'It would be best to learn now about how to deal with their whimpering and sobbing, because then when it happens you can just brush it off.'

Of course considering that Hikari-nee-chan had whapped him a good one across the head for that, Sasuke decided that that advice from his nii-chan was better not to be followed. Now, though, he quite regretted it.

Finally, with a soft sigh, Sasuke decided to do something he had seen his father do with his mother when she was crying about how Itachi almost died during the chunin exams.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as she felt Sasuke shift so he could sit behind her on her sleeping bag before he wrapped his short arms around her waist and began to rock her slightly to the left and right. Resting his head on the back of her neck he whispered softly in the old runic language the four corner clans were required to learn.

Sakura smiled slightly at the gentle whispers. Before this whole escapade had begun the four corner kids had often spoken to each other in runic when they were upset. For some reason it always seemed to calm their nerves.

"Thank-you Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered with a smile. "You've made me feel so much better."

Sasuke pulled away and sat cross-legged at her left. "I'm glad I could help."

"Hey guys," Naruto whispered as he stumble over sleepily. "Eve'sing ok?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "Sakura just felt something bad."

"M-mina," Hinata stuttered as she sat up in her sleeping bag. "C-can we stay together tonight? I think it would make us all f-feel better…"

Sakura nodded swiftly. "I agree," she whispered. "It will be just like before."

The boys nodded in agreement before they wandered off to grab their sleeping bags. Together the four of them pushed their bags together to make a long line. Contented the four of them once again slipped under the covers and fell asleep.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kyo had been gone for what seemed forever before something finally occurred. Neji and Shino leapt to their feet quickly as the bushes to the group's left began to rustle. Both boys were instantly joined by the others while the girls huddled closer to Kairi, vowing silently, that no matter what happened they would keep their promise to Kyo and protect his drained wife.

For several tense seconds nobody moved until finally several figures came stumbling out of the brush. Sighs were released and stances were relaxed as the familiar figures of teams three and nine stumbled smoking into the little clearing.

"Oh man! I thought we were done for!" Mitsu shouted as she tossed her short brown hair over her smoking shoulder. "Is everyone alright?"

"Everyone but Kaemon I think," Kin answered as he gestured towards the shaking boy behind him.

"Awe, poor monkey boy," Mitsu said with an over exaggerated pout. "Awe yu scawed of a wittle fiwe?"

"Shut up Mitsu," Kaemon growled as he tried to bring his trembling under control. "At least I'm not afraid of a fish."

"Hey!" Mitsu cried indignantly. "Piranhas are scary! They eat people!"

"Uh, actually they don't," Heitsun jumped in. "They eat other fish. They only attack people if they're bleeding."

"Yeah, you would know fishy," Mitsu snapped a bit embarrassed about her fear.

"Hey fish are cool," Heitsun replied. "At least I'm not part weasel."

"Why you…" Mitsu began before her twin Jeiken stepped in.

"Cool it guys," she said her long brown braid singed lightly from the roaring flames. "We don't have time for this."

"You're only saying that so I'll stop making fun of your boyfriend," Mitsu said with a pout.

"That's right," Jeiken responded with a grin. "Besides, you have your own boyfriend to bug. You don't need to bother mine too."

"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt this lovely banter," Kin broke in. "But we're being watched."

"Eh?" the others asked as they turned to face the direction Kin indicated.

Mitsu flushed bright red as she saw the odd looks Kyo's group was sending their way. "Erm, Hi," Mitsu said. "Lovely day isn't it?"

"Yes," Kaemon sad as he rolled his eyes. "Perfectly lovely. I just love getting thrown out of bed by an attack induced earthquake before running for my life from a killer fire bent on devouring my home, don't you?"

"Yes," Kisho stated.

"You would," Heitsun murmured. "Psycho."

"So what are you guys doing here?" Kin asked with a soft smile.

"We're waiting for Kyo-sensei," Shikamaru said lazily. "He went back into the village to get Akira and Hanabi."

Ino whacked the boy on the shoulder. "Only you could be so calm about something like this."

Shikamaru glared at her as he rubbed his sore shoulder. "Troublesome woman," he muttered under his breath.

Kaliea: Hey all, it's late and I'm tired so this is the best you get. For the moment I'm working through a rough spot in the story so the chapters aren't going to be all that great for a while. Still I promise to do my best. Please review.

Review Answers:

QuatresG: Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!

Sakura Blossom91: Thank-you! I really appreciate that!

So-kun: Eh…huh?

Megward132: I'll do my best!

Itachi349: Kay!

Susakuru: It'll be awhile before they reach their full potential but things will start picking up soon I think.

NaruHinalover: Actually, I don't get it at all! When I found this stuff on Narutofan I was like 'hey summoning is cool and useful I'll put that on' Then I read the summery things and I was like 'I don't get it' It was really frustrating but I put it on anyway thinking that just because my brain was to tiny to understand doesn't mean no one else will. As for Kyuubi-chan…sure! (pulls out Kyuubi-chan and hands him over) Here ya go! Kyuubi-chan: I'm going to kill you woman. Kaliea: Nya, nya! Have fun with him NaruHinalover-san!

Danny-171984: Like I told NaruHinalover, I can't claim the credit for this scroll (as much as I would like to) I'm not smart enough to understand it. I just showed it. Still, I'm glad it helped you out! Sorry if I've disappointed you about the updates, I'm getting ready for collage.

Jays Arravan: Yes, her name is Tayuya but I didn't say that because in this fic no one knows she can do it aside from those from the sound.

Dragon Man 180: Dang, to bad I'm out of shape. I could have run longer. JK. As for the whole mosquito thing…ew. Smart and inventive but ew. Sorry, but I have a thing against mosquitoes. They seem to think I'm some kind of buffet or something…

Kaliea: Thanks to all my reviewers! Till next time, ja ne!