a/n OMG, this chapter was a beast to write, an absolute beast; and if it hadn't been for Uchiha.S, my fan-fucking-tastic beta, it would have been fanfic diarrhea, I swear! So you can all thank her for the fact that this chapter isn't complete poop, lol. *Bows to Uchiha.S's amazingness*

So thanks to my beta-roony, and to all my wonderful readers out there in cyber space.

Things are heating up in my private life: I have a lot of work coming my way, including house hunting. I will do my best to update every 1-2 weeks; as I find writing fanfic stress relieving (and I'm under a lot of stress!), you probably won't have to wait too much longer than that! You know me, I hate to pull myself away from this story.

Anyway, y'all are the best readers ever. Thanks. And I promise, we won't be in angst land for too long: the action resumes shortly. :P

Chapter 19: Sight

She sighed, "My home has vanished in fire and smoke,

My family is all dead;

Your death won't bring them back,

You would mark just one more among the dead."

~The Second Book of Akash, Verse VI

"You want me to what!"

"Sakura—"

"Why would you want that fucking death seal— at a time like now? Do you realize how inappropriate this is?" she barked, gesturing frantically towards Naruto, who was lurking like a shadow in the doorway.

Sasuke sighed like a man who had been wounded. "Naruto... Give us a moment?"

The Hokage stiffly nodded, then wordlessly exited the room. Sakura stalked forward and hissed, "Sasuke. Naruto is offering you a gift—"

"I never asked—"

"Don't be ungrateful—"

He shouted, "I never wanted to give up Itachi's eyes!" Sucking in a deep breath, he muttered more quietly, "But I'll do it for Naruto. Okay?" He held out his hands, palms up in defeat, silently begging her to understand.

Sakura exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry. I haven't had enough sleep and Ryuu—" she seemed to deflate at that and stopped, as if the words were too painful to say aloud. "And I..." Sakura, trailing off once more, sat down at on the desk and cradled her head in her hands. "I'm sorry."

Sasuke yawned and sat down in an empty chair across from his wife. "Me too..." He rubbed his aching head and ventured, "You knew—all along. My eyes...for years—"

"Yeah." She sat up straight and looked down at Sasuke, her eyes rimmed with red and stinging from unshed tears.

Sasuke shook his head. All those nights Sakura had massaged his broken eyes, joking that it would help relieve his tension headaches—for years now, she had secretly healed his optical nerves so that if a proper donor came... Sasuke shuddered, not wanting to complete that grotesque thought. But you knew, didn't you, Sasuke? You could feel the chakra coming off of her hands in small waves—but you didn't say anything. Sasuke mentally berated himself for being implicit in his own unraveling. And it felt heavy, to know that his former teammates had been prepping him, without his consent, for this. Sasuke didn't know what was more amazing: the fact that Sakura had healed him without his explicit knowledge, or that a they hadn't shoved new eyes into his head before today.

"Why didn't you...?"
"Why didn't I tell you? Because, it was a fucking top secret mission!" She huffed and ran a hand through her tangled pink locks, ripping out a few strands in frustration. "Listen, Sasuke-kun..." Sakura rose heavily from her desk to perch on the arm of his chair. She rubbed his back with a cold hand, and Sasuke suppressed the urge to shiver. "Is Itachi—is he the reason why you wouldn't let me fix your sight, all those years ago?"

They had never really discussed the subject—it had been taboo—but the upcoming transplant had opened Pandora's box.

Sasuke took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm. "It's one of the reasons. These broken eyes are all I have left...of my brother."

Sakura nodded slowly. "But you knew—all these years, when I worked on your eyes—"

"You said it would help my headaches," Sasuke snapped.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. But you must have suspected—"

"Damn it Sakura!" He punched the desk in front of him, causing the wood to splinter. "I never thought— Why wouldn't you be honest with me?" His voice came out as a whine, and he cursed himself for sounding like a petulant child

Sakura bit her lower lip. "I only recently completed the mending of your optical nerves. Just a few days before you left, really. And I was going to broach the subject with you, when you came back from your mission..."

Well, that would explain why some deceased ninja's eyeballs hadn't been pried out of their cold skull before now, Sasuke thought bitterly before retorting, "You should have told me at the very beginning!"

"Naruto told me to keep it a secret, until I had fully healed you! Then you could have decided if you wanted a transplant or not..."

"You do everything Naruto says?"

Sakura shook her head, her teeth clenched. "You do when it's a signed, stamped, official mission from the mother fucking Hokage!" She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing, "And besides... I wanted you to be able to see again. And you're so damned stubborn! Sasuke, I knew if I came right out and said it, you'd just say no."

So instead you went behind my back? Though in truth, she had done it all right in front of his eyes; he would have laughed at the irony if the situation hadn't been so miserable. Sasuke leaned his face into his clammy palms. On the one hand, he felt completely betrayed. On the other, Sakura was right—if asked, he never would have given his consent for the healing. Ever. He let out the breath of air he hadn't realized he had been holding, before whispering, "I don't know what to say."

"Didn't you know, Sasuke—"

He suspired sharply and replied, "I suppose I did. But I never wanted..." Ryuu's eyes... The unspoken thought rang in the silence between them. After a moment, he coughed. "How did you know I wanted to see again?"

Sakura draped an arm around him. "It was the little things: the way you'd touch the family photographs on the mantle, even though you couldn't see them. When you'd ask me to describe what the shooting stars looked like before you made a wish."

"And Naruto?"

"I could have denied the mission. He didn't really force me. But I…I wanted to heal you! And we both agreed—"

"You both agreed—without me," he breathed, the phrase lacking any acrid bite. For the second time that day, one of his former teammates had offered him an exceptionally generous gift without his consent; while it made him livid, he also felt like he had no right to complain: not after everything. He shook his head, because he knew he didn't deserve any of it, and at the same time, it made him extremely uncomfortable and irritable to accept.

"You knew, Sasuke. I know that you did." Sakura rubbed his back again as she sensed his attitude softening. "You said that originally, you didn't want your sight healed because of Itachi's eyes..."

"Hn."

"But what about the other reasons?"

Sasuke grimaced and leaned his head on his wife's stomach; he never could get anything past her acute mind. "I didn't deserve to see. I didn't trust myself with the power of sight. After everything I did...when I had the sharingan..."

They were quiet for a while; Sakura ran her hands through his soft hair, deep in thought. Finally, she ventured, "And now—you still don't—which is why you want us to place the death seal on you."

"I still don't what? You lost me." Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose; he was too tired to follow her convoluted line of reasoning.

"Hmm. You still don't think you are deserving or trustworthy."

Sasuke nodded. "Maybe so. In any event, I have a bad feeling about everything that's going on. And I never want to hurt any of you ever again. Please Sakura, just trust me on this one. I'll feel a lot better if you place the death seal on me."

Sakura snorted and replied with false mirth, "You know, most people wouldn't be reassured to have a seal o' death placed on them. You are such a weirdo."

"Hn." Her morbid sense of humor left his guts feeling cold and twisted.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well, considering that I've tried to kill you numerous times and never had the balls to do it, I guess it's a safe enough request. If it really makes you feel better..."

"Don't patronize me. And yes, it does make me feel better," he snapped.

"Gah. Insufferable man. Fine. Have it your way."

Sasuke smiled sadly and rose to kiss his wife on the cheek. "Thank you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled, but even without sight, he could tell it was forced. "Idiot. Call Naruto back in here; let's have him get this ridiculous sealing over with so I can put some eyeballs in your head," she replied, feigning amusement.

Sasuke really didn't want to continue their line of conversation, but there was one more matter of business he wanted taken care of.

"Sakura?"

"Hmm?"

"I want... I want you to put Itachi's eyes in a bag for me—after you remove them. We'll give them a proper burial; since Itachi never had one."

Sakura made a face, and making light of his comment, replied, "That's kind of weird. But sweet. Okay. Do you want paper or plastic?"

"Tch. I'm serious."

"And I'm half-delirious from no sleep."

While he knew his wife had difficulty processing too many heavy emotions at once, he wished that she could have been more supportive at that moment. Because the stench of death and coagulated blood and sorrow burned his breath, the air of the hospital was thick and nauseating, and he felt like the threads of his bones might unravel at any minute. Though his friends were foisting priceless gifts at his feet, he felt alone and broken.

He exhaled softly, knowing that she was only escaping her own grief through morbid humor as she was wont to do; he retorted in turn, "Um...is it safe to do a surgery while you're half-delirious?"

Sakura punched him playfully in the arm and intoned in the all-knowing voice of a physician, "You'll be fine, you big baby. Now get Naruto."

Sasuke nodded, not at all relieved by their routine yet forced banter, and rose to get the Hokage.

Yuki woke suddenly; she could tell from the golden light filtering in through her hospital window that it was early afternoon. Was it all a dream? Is Ryuu really dead? Did I really just tell the Hokage his son's last words? She shook her head, but the movement was painful. It seemed that her injuries were finally catching up to her, now that her rush of adrenaline had abated.

She really could have used a painkiller at that moment.

"Yuki?"

Yuki exhaled and focused her bleary eyes on the intruder in her room. "Saki. What are you doing here?"

Saki crossed her arms, as if she were cold despite the warm summer afternoon. "Someone's got to keep tabs on you!"

"Where's mom? Dad?"

Saki nibbled her lower lip before replying, "Takeo is with Aunty Ino. I got tired of being baby-sat though, and I couldn't handle being at Hoshiko's place either...so..."

Yuki would have rolled her eyes, but decided against it, since her eyes were pretty sore— just like the rest of her pathetic body. "Saki. Answer my question."

The younger Uchiha sighed; she never had been good at evading Yuki's questions. "Mom's doing surgery."

"And dad?"
"Um… Is having surgery done."

"Oh. I didn't realize he was injured. Is he...?"

Saki worried her lower lip with her teeth again. "He's fine."

Yuki narrowed her eyes and sat up in bed, her suspicions mounting. She casually reached for the plastic cup of water by her bedside and murmured, before taking a sip, "There's something you aren't telling me."

Saki bit her lip and this time drew blood. "You'll find out when he comes out of surgery."

"Saki. Tell me."

The pink-haired girl shook her head. "Mom told me to take your vitals once you woke up." Saki got out of her chair warily, as if Yuki could pounce on her at any minute—never mind that Yuki felt like complete ass and didn't have the wherewithal to swat a fly, let alone attack a ninja.

Without removing her eyes from her older sister, Saki applied chakra-enhanced hands upon Yuki's arm. She let out a low whistle. "You really fucked up your shoulder."

"Language."

"Sorry." Saki had the decency to blush before taking a cursory inspection of the rest of Yuki's body. "Looks like you had a rough time—"

"Hn."

Ignoring the curt response, Saki continued in a hushed tone, "I'm so glad that you're okay, Yuki."

One corner of Yuki's mouth turned upwards in a lopsided smile. "Thanks, Saki-chan."

Saki made a face– "You can't just tack on a 'chan' to the end of my name if I can't use it on you, too!"

Yuki grinned fully, despite herself, and pulled her sister into a short, somewhat awkward hug. "Double standards. They are a big sister's prerogative."

Saki rolled her eyes and retreated from the uncharacteristic display of sisterly affection. "You're such a dork. Like I would buy that crap."

"Hn."

Saki shook her head. "Can I get you anything? Are you hungry?"

"Sure. Anything remotely edible they have in the cafeteria will do."

Saki snorted and scurried out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. Yuki, still sitting up in bed, crossed her arms in thought. Saki is usually not one to keep secrets; Kami, she's the biggest blabbermouth I know. So it should be easy to get her to tell me what is going on. I just need to think of the right approach... But before she could contemplate further, the door opened again. "That was quick."

"Stealth and speed are the most essential tools of a ninja," Saki droned. "Hope you like peas and carrots with rice, that's all they had. Um, and apple juice and a pudding cup, but all they had left was vanilla, which I think tastes like shit—"

"Language."

Saki rolled her eyes. "Which I think tastes terrible." The younger girl set out the goods on the tray; she watched her older sister with piercing eyes as Yuki pushed her food around on her plate.

"What?"

Saki blinked. "Nothing."

"You want to ask me a question. Obviously." Yuki began chewing her dry rice studded with mushy, overcook vegetables. Man, this hospital food sucks...

"I heard—is Ryuu—really?" Saki blurted.

Yuki swallowed her food, but despite her best efforts, bits of dry rice stuck to her esophagus. She took a sip of overly sweet apple juice and winced, pushing the tray of sub-par food aside.

"Yeah. He's really...gone." Yuki closed her eyes, the euphemism doing little to soften the effect of the words. He's gone...

"Oh..." Saki nervously twiddled her thumbs.

After a moment, Yuki blew out a stream of air from the side of her mouth. "I can hear you thinking Saki. It's hurting my brain," she replied in a monotone.

"I'm—so sorry!" Saki began to sniffle. "I mean—Hoshiko-chan already told me, but you were there, and I thought maybe…" Maybe it wasn't true… The unspoken words hung in the air like cobwebs.

Yuki made a low, rumbling sound. Time to change the topic of conversation. Clearing her throat, Yuki ventured, "You want to see my sharingan?"

Saki's head snapped up at this. "Whoah, you activated it?"

Yuki nodded.

"Hell yeah I want to see," she replied, though Saki's voice lacked her usual enthusiasm.

"Tell me why it's such a big deal that dad's in surgery."

"It's—not—a—big—deal," Saki ground out.

"I can tell you're lying. Come on, it'll be like a trade."

Saki bit her lower lip, and her inner struggle was written plain as day on her face. Yuki suppressed the urge to snicker; right now, she would bet her best kunai that Saki was thinking that the only sharingan she had ever seen was Kakashi's; and since he wasn't a proper Uchiha, Saki was wondering if Yuki's official sharingan would be cooler. Saki's lips twisted in contemplation, and Yuki could practically hear her thinking:Yeah…Yuki's sharingan is probably waaaaaay cooler. Oh maaaaaaan…

Finally, Yuki offered, "Come on, we're sisters. You can tell me."

Suspiring slowly, Saki muttered, "Okay. But I want to see the sharingan first."

Smiling, Yuki closed her eyes and activated her eye's chakra network, despite the stabbing pain that ensued. When she opened them again, three dark commas danced on crimson irises.

Saki whistled. "You activated all three commas at once? Geez, what an overachiever..." But the younger Uchiha couldn't hide the awe in her voice.

"Your turn now," Yuki prodded, "what's the scoop."

Saki began chewing her lower lip again, an unsightly habit that she had never outgrown from childhood—a habit that originated from Sakura. "I overheard mom talking to Tsunade-sama. Dad's getting an eye transplant, but I wasn't supposed to know, so she told me to keep my mouth shut about it—so don't tell anyone, okay?"

Yuki blinked and deactivated her ocular jutsu. "Eye transplant?"

"Yeah. It's kind of cool I guess. But I don't know why it's such a big deal, or why I wasn't supposed to tell you—"

Yuki closed her eyes, mind whirling. Why do the transplant now? Because a pair of eyes just became available. And if I'm not mistaken, Ryuu is the only ninja who's died recently. Which would explain why mom didn't want me to know! "What. The. Fuck."

"Wha—"

"Saki. Help me get up. We're stopping this operation."

"What! What the–"

Yuki's eyes snapped open, her sharingan activated again, her hands clenched against the pain rebounding in her skull. "They're putting Ryuu eyes in his head! Ryuu's eyes!" Yuki gnashed her teeth and tried to raise herself out of bed.

"Yuki! Stop! You're going to rip your stitches again!" Saki, horrified, held Yuki's good shoulder down and scooped Yuki's legs up from the floor with her own, holding them down as well, until Yuki was pinned down on the hospital bed.

"Gah!" Wincing from Saki's strong grip, Yuki tried to squirm free but failed. While Yuki could usually beat Saki in a sparring match on a good day, this was certainly not a good day. Plus, Saki was extremely strong for her age. Yuki wouldn't expect anything less from her younger sister, but the utter frustration of having the adults going over her head was killing her, and so she continued to struggle against Saki's death grip, even though she knew it was futile.

"Dammit Yuki!" Saki shook tears out of her eyes, yelling, "You're going to get me in trouble!"

"Saki, let me go right now or I'm going to kill you!"

"Don't joke like that at a time like this!" Saki shouted, leveling her with a heated glare.

Yuki sighed at that, the fight all taken out of her quite suddenly. "Sorry." Yuki leaned back on the bed and ceased her struggling; she deactivated her doujutsu, but her pounding headache remained. Damn.

Saki let her sister go and crossed her arms. "Listen Yuki-chan—we don't even know whose eyes are being transplanted. But even if you're right about this—well, if Naruto wanted to give Ryuu's eyes to dad—that's up to him, isn't it?"

Yuki growled low in her throat, and ignoring the fact that Saki had just used an unsavory honorific after her name, replied, "Sorry. I guess I'm just kind of worked up. But I still think it's fucked!"

Saki sat down with a huff and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Yeah. It is pretty…fucked." She placed a tentative hand on Yuki's good shoulder before whispering, "I'm sorry—I'm so sorry!" The pink haired girl began crying softly, her body shuddering with each breath.

Yuki exhaled noisily before pulling her sister down on the bed in a loose hug. "Yeah. Me too. I'm sorry— I didn't mean to be such an ass, overreacting and everything."

Saki sniffled and stilled her tears. "It's okay. You've had a rough couple of days."

"Tch. I'm fine."

They sat like that for a while, Yuki staring resolutely at the wall, willing herself to remain stoic, while she held a sniffling Saki, wiping snot on her dirty, damp sleeve. Finally Yuki closed her eyes and muttered through clenched teeth, "It's going to be hard to look at dad—with those eyes..."

Saki took a shaky breath and offered, "Let's just trust our parents and Naruto and Tsunade-baachan. I'm sure they're doing the right thing."

Yuki nodded. She took a deep breath and replied softly, "Thanks, baby sis."

"Don't call me that," Saki muttered, wrinkling her nose.

Yuki grinned and teased, "But it's so adorable."

Saki punched her older sister half-heartedly on her good shoulder. "Bah!" She looked up at Yuki and continued in a softer voice, "I just hope that everything is going to be okay."

"Everything is going to be fine—stop worrying," Yuki lied. Saki must have heard the dishonesty in her voice, because the pair just sat in stunned silence for a while, watching a flight of black birds through the open window.

"I just can't believe he's gone..." Saki whispered, leaning her head on her sister's shoulder, tears welling up anew.

Yuki nodded in silence, listening to the crows cawing outside.

Choji bounced a giggling Takeo on his knee as Sora made funny faces at the toddler.

"Blaaaa!" Sora cried as she pulled her lower eyelids down in her best zombie impression.

Takeo screamed with laughter.

Choji smiled sadly and gazed down at the young boy, lost in thought.

Choji had never fully forgiven Sasuke for murdering his father, Choza, in the last ninja war; in his opinion, Sasuke was a bit of a loose canon, a mentally unstable person, one not to be trusted. But here in his arms was a cherubic Uchiha Takeo. Choji sighed, and he supposed that Sasuke couldn't be all bad if his kids were this cute. Still, he found it easier to think of Yuki, Saki, and Takeo as Sakura's children, as if Sasuke had nothing to do with it. Choji knew it was silly and immature of him, but it was the way he felt about it.

Choji was drawn out of his thoughts by the dark haired girl beside him gazing off into space and sniffling. "Oi, Hoshiko-chan, are you hungry?"

Startled, Hoshiko jumped at the question. "Um..."

Choji smiled and placed Takeo on the floor, who proceeded to pick up a piece of long-forgotten macaroni and commenced to chew. Choji did not know the middle child of Hinata and Naruto very well; she was a quiet girl who had spent most of her time with her big brother and her best friend, Uchiha Saki. She was a bit younger than his own daughter, and did not have much occasion to spend time with her—ergo the awkwardness in his kitchen. How was he supposed to comfort a youngster he hardly knew? "How about I make us all some sandwiches; then we can go to the park?"

The younger children squealed in delight while Hoshiko feigned a polite smile. Choji rose to find the peanut butter and jelly supplies, and he wished, not for the first time that day, that Ino could be here with him and the kids. Unfortunately, while it was Ino who had signed up for babysitting today, at the last minute Tsunade had ordered Ino to help question anyone connected with Gomakashi and the recently failed mission. Poor Hinata was busy with funeral arrangements, so Choji couldn't refuse. Still, he felt completely inept taking care of all the kids by himself.

Cho refused to leave her room, so Choji was left with the two younger mites and one quiet Hoshiko. The afternoon at the park was uneventful: Takeo and Sora ran laps around the playground while Hoshiko gazed sadly at the ground, her sandwich forgotten in her lap. Choji tried to speak with the girl a few times, but the effort was wasted. He was left to chew his tasteless sandwich in silence, contemplating the juxtaposition between the vivacious children careening around him and the mournful, slumped figures of himself and Hoshiko. The line between childhood and adulthood seemed thinner than ever for ninja. He wondered how much longer Sora and Takeo would be able to enjoy their blissful childhood ignorance, especially with war looming on the horizon.

A few hours later, the younger children seemed to run out of energy. Choji carried them in his arms, where they fell asleep in minutes. Hoshiko trudged behind him, feeding bits of her neglected sandwich to the pigeons in the street.

"Hey, Hoshiko."

Hoshiko threw down the last bit of bread into the gutter, where a pair of birds fought over it. The girl regarded him with pale, worn eyes. "Choji-san," she replied without inflection.

Choji ransacked his mind for words of comfort, but found none. So instead, he ventured, "Do you have a favorite flavor of ice cream?"

Hoshiko blinked. "Um..."

Choji continued gently, "I believe that a person's favorite ice cream flavor can reveal a lot about them. For example, my favorite flavor is peanut butter chocolate swirl. Can you guess what that says about me?"

The corners of Hoshiko's mouth turned up in a half grin. "I don't know..?"

"You see, chocolate makes people happy. When people are down—especially women, mind you—they turn to chocolate to cheer them up. So I'd say I'm a pretty kind and considerate person, based on my favorite ice cream flavor."

Hoshiko tapped her lips in thought. "But what about the peanut butter part?"

"Ah. You see, I also have a salty side: I don't like it when my friends are hurting, and I get mad when my friends are in danger. Together with the chocolate and the peanut butter, that makes me an especially considerate person."

Hoshiko nodded sagaciously. "Okay. Well, I like mint chocolate chip."

Choji winked. "You have a cool and calm personality. It's extremely hard to make you angry. And the chocolate, like we said, is a special sweetness that brings happiness and joy." He smiled down at the girl who blushed. Then, her features darkened again, and Choji despaired that he would ever cheer this little girl up. Kami, I'm so stupid. Here this girl's older brother dies and I start babbling on about ice cream. Gah. So stupid, Choji!

Finally, Hoshiko met his gaze and asked in barely audible voice, "Ryuu's favorite flavor was Rocky Road. So—what does that say about him?"

Choji breathed in slowly and replied, "Ah. There's nothing sweeter than Rocky Road ice cream. First of all, we have the chocolate factor, so that stands for sweetness and joy, as you already know. But then we have the crazy blend of almonds, walnuts, pecans, etcetera. This points to a kind of person who is always ready for fun; a spontaneous natured person who may also be a bit of a prankster."

At this, Hoshiko smiled. "Um...what about the marshmallows?"

"Ah! How could I forget the most important part!" Choji called in a theatrical voice, which caused Sora to stir gently on his arm. "Marshmallows are made from the marshmallow plant, an herb that soothes the throat when you're sick or the belly when you have a tummy ache. So marshmallow means that inside, the person has a soft spot—that is someone who is very good at soothing their friends when they're sad."

Hoshiko nodded. "Oh..."

They walked in amiable silence for a while, and Choji was hopeful that his puerile yet profound expostulations on the astrology of ice cream preferences had cheered the young Uzumaki. Finally, they reached the door to his house. Choji nodded for Hoshiko to open it, since his hands were full; the young one pursed her lips and asked, as she turned the doorknob, "Um...do you have any ice cream, Choji-san?"

Choji smiled. "Now that's a silly question. Of course I have ice cream."

Several minutes later, Cho came down the stairs to find two passed-out toddlers on the couch, and her father and Hoshiko eating Rocky Road ice cream straight out of the container.

"Cho-chan, you want some ice cream?" Hoshiko asked, her face smudged with chocolate.

Cho sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm...not really hungry." With jerky movements, she filled up a glass of water at the sink. She found a place at the table between Hoshiko and her father and sat down listlessly.

Choji took a spoonful and replied, quietly, "You sure Cho? It's quite good, and I'm afraid if you wait, Hoshiko and I will have finished the whole container by ourselves."

"It's okay." The older girl leaned her head in her hand and closed her eyes.

"Um...Cho-san...did you know that this was Ryuu-kun's favorite flavor?" Hoshiko offered in a soft, apprehensive voice.

Cho's eyes fluttered open. "Mmmm."

Just as tears welled up in Cho's eyes, Hoshiko smiled softly, loaded a spoon up with ice cream, and promptly shoved it in Cho's mouth. Choji guffawed, while Cho almost choked. Left with little choice, the older girl swallowed.

There was a moment of silence before Cho took the spoon out of her mouth and dug into the container for a second round.

Hoshiko giggled, "Hey, you just stole my spoon!"

"You're the one who shoved it in my mouth." She took another bite of ice cream and stuck out a chocolatey tongue at Hoshiko, who commenced to laughing hysterically. Soon, all of them were laughing and trying not to snort their ice cream. The ruckus woke up Sora and Takeo, who promptly demanded spoons of their own.

Choji smiled to himself; while his kitchen was besmirched with chocolate and the children were getting hyper from sugar, he considered this a mission well done.

Sasuke was led by his wife to the operating room, like a condemned man following his executioner to the gallows. His hospital gown was drafty in the back, and the paper chafed the skin on his chest. Sakura strapped on a pair of gloves that made a sickening, snapping rubber sound. Trying to make light of the situation, she called, "Make yourself comfortable, hon. This won't take long." It was the kind of thing she often said while she was fixing her hair in the morning and hogging the bathroom, or when she was busy making them Sunday morning brunch but her inept cooking skills made the preparations take forever. Sasuke winced. This was no casual moment to be taken so lightly; but he remained silent.

He approached the cold operating table with ginger movements and sat down; he was hunched over, his legs swinging off the end an inch from the ground. Sakura held something to his face; it felt plastic and tacky against his skin. "Just breath, this is the sleeping gas. It'll knock you right out." Sasuke tried to hold his breath, like a cranky child, before his lungs betrayed him and he took a deep breath.

Sakura laughed softly. "Don't worry, you'll be high as a kite soon and you won't feel...a...thing..."

Sakura's voice trailed off into the pink oblivion that was the anesthesia. For a moment, it felt like his body was being held in a soft vat of cotton candy. Bright light streaked his mind, and then he was flying up above his body, above the hospital, above the village, shaking hands with the circling stars and planets as if he were running for president of the universe and was pandering to his heavenly constituents. Everything was vibrating and hazy and painfully bright all at once; he felt like a fish that had been hatched in an aquarium, swimming happy laps around his tiny kingdom— plastic castle, plastic coral, plastic aquatic plants– until his owner decided to pour out his glass bowl into the vast, unknowable ocean.

He couldn't decide if the sky was like an ocean and he was a fish, or if the milky way was the air and his arms were wings. In any event, his movements were fluid as he made his way past an assortment of planets, whirling with all their moons in tow, all worshiping the sun in silent, slow revolutions. As he traveled, the distances between the heavenly bodies increased until finally, he made his way to the most remote and cold planet. Some part of his mind told him it was Pluto, while a logical voice in his head told him that Pluto was not actually a planet at all. Regardless, something compelled him to land on its surface, despite his mounting fear at this prospect.

Everything came to him in vivid details, like the old dreams with Itachi: the face of the world was pale blue and silver; the sandy dunes simultaneously sparkled on one side while deep, penetrating darkness resided in its valleys. It seemed to him that the sands swirled, even though there was no wind, and then he was sinking down beneath the sands, into the heart of darkness. The cold stole the strength from his chattering teeth and froze the hopeless pumping of blood in his veins; the beating of his heart stilled. Everything turned dark, monolithic, ultramarine, and desperate as nonsensical images and sounds flashed before him:

A man shrouded in spider webs, his facial features obscured by the gauze-like cocoon.

Sakura's carved bone comb on the vanity, a few pink strands caught in the narrow teeth; they wavered in a wind he did not feel.

A pair of eyes, sharingan spinning, only to stop dead, three commas fixed in violent precision: staring right at him.

Takeo's childish laughter ringing like tiny bells, though Takeo himself was nowhere to be seen; there was only darkness until he felt—

The cold steel of a knife held tightly in his hand, the designs of the hilt embossing themselves onto his palm.

And then were spiders, millions of miniscule arachnids scurrying and covering Sasuke's freezing body, until his flesh was obscured under their black, writhing forms. And from the dark convergence, a web was formed, and the myriad creatures morphed into one large tarantula-esque monster. Sasuke's body was gone, ensconced in a web. He understood, then: the web was a shroud, and the spiders were the keepers of his ancestral catacomb.

When his body disappeared, only the arachnid remained, her fangs glowing crimson in the cool, cobalt light.

And then he knew no more.

a/n Just a few quick questions for you guys. Are you liking the chapter length? Should I keep them this long, or should I go back to shorter chapters?

Also, what was your favorite part? Do you have any constructive criticism?

Last, for some reason the formatting has been off with the site. If you see a typo, please let me know! FF Net has been taking great pleasure in eating whole words and bits of sentences; I've gone back through this chapter with a fine tooth comb, but if you see anything amiss, please let me know. I despise typos!

Let me know via your review—it will really help me a lot!

Thanks so much! And see you soon:)