Boundary between life and death

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A small entourage left Konoha for Sand in late August. Temari has expressed concern about traveling at the latter half of summer and warned of occasional monsoon storms that sometimes occurred as the cooler winds from the north started to approach the area, normally in early September. The hope was that they'd arrive prior to the storms.

Sakura was in the final month of her second trimester and her trim body was unmistakably pregnant when you looked at her profile. Sasuke was grateful that he'd convinced Kakashi and Naruto to allow him on the mission, but frankly, they couldn't stop him. The plan was for him to be the Shadow Hokage under Naruto's leadership, but Kakashi was happy to have him in the role now too. Sakura could have stopped him, but she didn't really want to, she was happy to have him on a mission where the journey there was the hardest part.

Sometimes, when Sasuke thought back to when Team Seven formed, he'd questioned Sarutobi. However, considering how they'd all inspired each other to be stronger and the fierce competition and comradely between the team members, it made sense. And honestly, Sakura and Naruto were the only people of his generation that would have put up with any of his behavior. He'd been discounted and written off by everyone else. He glanced forward, towards his wife, leading their trek alongside Sai, and felt another wave of love for her.

Sure, his childhood trauma stunted his emotional maturity, but that didn't mean he wasn't grateful to have unconditional support from someone that wasn't a lackey. No offense to Hawk, but no one in that group would have dared confront him. He'd have unquestionably had his way every time, even when his way was mired in darkness.

"Do you always stare this hard at Sakura?"' Temari asked. She stood in the rear with Sasuke, a giant fan strapped across her back. She was apparently as blunt and observant as Shikamaru.

"There's nothing else to look at in this desert," Sasuke pointed out. He gestured vaguely to the countless sand dunes. They traveled along a fairly steady road with packed sand on the sides, barriers of cacti, scrub brush, and tumble weed on either side. It has been four days since they left the last of the grasslands. He missed the Konoha forests.

"You should see it after it rains," Temari said. "Countless flowers emerge overnight! It's a beautiful landscape and an example of extremes." She pointed past the dunes on the right. "I imagine the ocean looks like this, shaped by the currents of water rather than those of the wind. This part of the land was the ocean floor many thousands of years ago."

"The world constantly changes," Sasuke agreed. He paused for a moment, an eerie sensation caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand. There was electricity in the air and a shift in the wind currents. He glanced over at Temari and her face was creased in worry. "Is this one of those storms you warned us about?"

She nodded. "It will be here in a few hours. We're still three days from the village."

The two masked Anbu that Sai selected for the trip switched places with Sakura and Sai, the latter now in the middle of the group. Sakura waited for Sasuke and Temari. The smile on her face slipped away when she saw their demeanors.

"The weather is about to turn," Sasuke explained.

"Oh, how bad will it be?" Sakura asked, dragging her gaze off Sasuke and focusing on Temari.. "Is there any kind of shelter we should take, or just put-on our rain gear and trek through it?"

"There is a canyon and a small, nomadic clan that usually lives in the area this time of year," Temari explained. "Though, the clan might have gone to the village by now. They usually seek refuge towards the end of summer. The caves aren't always the best place to be, as many are at low levels and would flood, however, there are some cliffs and there are some shelters carved within them."

"Carved by a river or by people?" Sasuke asked.

"Originally the river, but my father sent earth sensitive shinobi to carve it out more effectively. Sand's best engineers planned it," Temari stated proudly. "It's not much out of the way, but we need to head about two clicks more East and we'll be there by nightfall."

Hanging out in cliffs while the rain poured down made Sasuke think back to the cave behind the waterfall he and Sakura had explored when she'd chased after him and he'd allowed himself to be caught. This trip, he'd chased after her. "And where in relation to the river will we be?" Sasuke asked. He didn't think these cliff dwellings would be a comfortable respite.

"It will be dicey," Temari admitted. "Once we get there, it's the safest place to be. Normally, these big late summer rains only last for a day, and they are infrequent. Once it passes we'll be in Sand in two days."

"Sai!" Sakura called out. "You good with the plan to head East?"

Sai looked back at her and nodded. He gestured towards Temari. "Come up front with me, you're leading." He started to direct the Anbu to the rear but Sasuke glared at him, so he had them go to center inside.

"He's just trying to rotate everyone," Sakura pointed out, leaning close to Sasuke so that her voice didn't carry.

"I don't trust anyone else to watch my back," Sasuke answered. He glanced behind him, his hawk summons was a speck in the sky. He trusted his bird to notice anything amiss before any humans. "How do you feel? Do you need to rest?"

"I'll feel better when we reach these cliff dwellings and can watch the rarity of a rain shower in the desert," Sakura said. Her hand absently rubbed over her pregnant belly and she grimaced slightly.

"What?" Sasuke could feel his heart rate double.

"Just one of them kicked my ribs." Sakura made a concentrated effort and then smiled up at him, her jade eyes sparkled with amusement. "It's fine. I think they're excited at hearing their daddy's voice."

"Or they have a sensitivity to lightning like me and can feel the intensity of what we're about to face," Sasuke countered. He wanted to make light of things, not constantly be worried, but somber was part of his nature. His emotional spectrum ranged from rage to worry. There wasn't much in between.

Sai and Temari huddled together in deep discussion and waited for the Uchiha couple join them. The Anbu also paused, waiting for instructions. Sai took out a scroll and started his work. Three painted birds popped into existence.

"What the hell?" Sasuke muttered. He'd never actually seen the ink birds up close.

"As we can all feel the temperature dropping," Temari began. "We need to make haste. The cliff dwellings are three hours away on foot from our current position. The rain will be here within the hour."

"You can predict the weather?" Sakura asked, her voice laced with curiosity, not concern. She approached one of the ink birds, familiar with it, stroked its cheek and hopped on. "Is it the wind patterns that are helping you predict this storm's speed?"

Sasuke stared at his wife in disbelief. Of course these abstract creations were no big deal for her, Sai had been her teammate for years.

"Yes, exactly," Temari acknowledged. She tentatively approached one of the birds.

One of the Anbu started to join Sakura, but Sasuke cleared his throat. The masked figure took one look at Sasuke and backed away. Sakura didn't even seem to notice.

"We need to hurry." Sai sat on the lead bird and Temari sat behind him. "These birds will not last once the rain falls. The ink will wash away."

"Then stop explaining everything and let's go." Sasuke sat behind Sakura and banded his arm around her. She leaned forward and gripped the reigns attached to the birds face and then a seatbelt of sorts materialized and helped to hold them in place, secure in the saddle.

About thirty minutes later, the sky darkened and the first drops of ran began to fall.

"We're almost there!" Temari shouted. "Maybe five minutes more! Be careful!"

"There's the ravine," Sakura said, pointing to their right. "And I think I can see the cliff dwellings from here."

Sasuke tightened his arm around Sakura. He could feel his nervousness start to creep up to an all time high. The bird was starting to dissolve right under their bodies, just a little runny at present, but he wasn't sure five minutes would be enough. "We're going to need to land before that."

The bird seemed to sense the need to land, and all three ink creations started to make their descent heading for the far side of the ravine where the earth was more hard packed. Then the sky became almost black within a twenty second window. The safety belt holding Sasuke and Sakura onto their ink bird host dissolved completely.

And with another strong sense of regret for only having one complete arm, Sasuke's wife slipped away from him and plummeted towards the ravine.

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OoO

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Shite.

Itachi couldn't do anything.

He watched with such a strong feeling of despair as Sakura raced towards the ravine just short of safety.

The winds raged and a stone, normally harmlessly sitting on the nearby dessert landscape, was picked up on a current of strong wind and slammed into the head of the strongest kunoichi in the world, knocking her unconscious.

Sakura couldn't help herself and his little brother lost sight of her as he too was falling. Sasuke's Hawk familiar raced to his side and tried to help him get to the shore. It seemed to enlarge slightly in size and Sasuke landed safely. He was about to jump right into the ravine when Sai held him back and let the two Anbu jump in.

"They're the best swimmers in Anbu," Sai explained. "Let them do their job. She'll be fine."

Temari held her fans over them, trying to block the rain. "We can't stay here long. This bank won't last long in this rain fall."

"I'm not leaving without my wife," Sasuke said. Pushing away from Sai and starting for the ravine anyway.

Itachi left them and followed after the fading chakra sign of his sister-in-law. She'd fallen into the frigid waters, her temperature was dropping. She'd formed a protective chakra shield around her sons, but had slipped into unconsciousness and with her body temperature dropping she would die. She wasn't breathing at first as she slipped beneath the river's current, but as soon as she did take a breath, she would drown.

"Itachi?" Sakura asked.

Itachi swirled around. Next to him, Sakura's spirit still connected by a thread to her body beneath the water, stared at him in surprise. "You have to use your Strength of a Hundred Seal!" Itachi took hold of her shoulders, tried to ignore the strange sensation of actually being able to touch someone else. She felt solid to him, though this part of her was incorporeal. "You need to get out of the water, heal yourself of this hypothermia and the water damage. Or you'll die. You cannot die yet."

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked. She didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. She looked down at his hands. "Oh, you're nails aren't black anymore. That's good. I always thought that looked stupid."

"I'll explain later, but I've been watching over your family," Itachi explained. "You must go back or your sons will die."

That seemed to reach Sakura and she immediately turned towards the ravine where her spirit was connected to her body. The tether was becoming thinner. She raced towards her body and the green healing chakra lit up the muddy waters.

One of the Anbu reached Sakura at that time and began to pull her out of the water. At the shoreline, Sasuke yanked Sakura onto the ground and felt for her pulse. It was weak. He tilted back her head and breathed into her mouth twice. He used a small amount of medical jutsu training he'd learned from Sakura and encouraged her body to reject the water it had swallowed into her lungs.

Sakura started to sputter. Sasuke turned her onto her side and she coughed up brown silty water.

Itachi would have sighed with relief, if he still breathed. He watched as the group, soaking wet, hurried the last distance to the cliff dwellings to wait out the storm. The shelter was an engineering marvel and was furnished with furnaces for warmth and good circulation. There were cabinets full of spare clothing and blankets. Cupboards stocked with food and water. A storage room with cots.

Sasuke created a fire for the furnaces to warm them.

Past the flames, Sakura stared back at Itachi as she huddled against Sasuke.

She could see him.

Itachi lifted his hand and waved, feeling foolish and awkward. Sakura arched an eyebrow at him. He dropped his hand. Sakura could definitely see him.

"Are you sure you're okay? What happened?" Sasuke asked. He'd picked a thick blanket out of the stocked supplies and had it wrapped around him and Sakura. Everyone had stripped out of their wet outer clothes, borrowed thick robes from the storage cabinets and were trying to warm up.

"Hit by a rock," Sakura said. "It knocked me unconscious. I must have roused once I hit the water. The babies are fine."

"Good, but I asked if you're okay," Sasuke pointed out.

"We're fine, Sasuke." Sakura leaned her head against Sasuke's chest. "I'm just tired." She lifted her head and acknowledged the two Anbu. "Thank you, both."

They nodded, keeping to the strict Anbu protocol of not speaking so as to avoid their identity being detected.

Vaguely, Itachi wondered about their identity, not that he'd know them. It had been decades since he'd been part of Anbu and these people were from a younger generation. They did seem to know Sakura though. He'd been impressed by the intensity of their desperation to save her from the ravine. Sasuke had certainly picked a wife that was beloved by her community. Being head of the hospital and the most talented medical ninja, there was a strong possibility that Sakura had been responsible for saving their lives at one point.

"That was nerve wracking," Temari said. "We'll need to spend the night in this shelter. At first light, we should head out. But we'll have to be careful of quicksand and mud pits." She yawned and then set out a cot for herself. "Though, we're in for a lovely landscape of wildflowers. It will be quite a sight. I've not experienced a rainfall like today's storm here since I was a kid."

"We'll have two keep watch while the rest of us sleep, switch out in three hours," Sai ordered. He started assigning the watch schedule.

"Sounds good," Sakura murmured. "We sleep in 90 minute cycles, so two cycles from now I'll be up for it." Before she closed her eyes, her gaze shifted over towards Itachi again. She mouthed the words, 'Thank you.'

This was unexpected, both a nice surprise and a little concerning. Now that Sakura could also see Itachi, what did that mean for their Uchiha family? Would he be able to serve as an even bigger asset to watching over Sasuke's family?

As Sasuke fell asleep, Itachi thought about dream walking and speaking to his little brother, but he knew it would disrupt Sasuke getting restful sleep. So using a great amount of personal resolve, Itachi watched over the Konoha shinobi quietly.

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