A/N: I posted this to AO3 before christmas, but ffnet's formatting is so annyoing to deal with for me that i kept putting off posting it, but finally found the brains! i also wrote a crack oneshot for thanksgiving that i should probably upload here too while i'm at it...

and considering all the issues ffnet has had with email notifications and such, for anyone who does use AO3 i'm clenastia over there. i dont think any of my stories are guest-locked tho to get email notifs you do have to have an account of course.

as always, thanks for reading! hope you enjoy!

Sasuke drags himself to awareness, exhaustion clinging to his limbs as he stares blearily at the ceiling tiles of the hospital. His throat itches, a persistent irritation, and as much as he doesn't want to deal with his idiot teammates while hung up in a hospital bed, he wants to call a nurse even less.

He coughs once, trying to clear the itch, and his chest starbursts in agony.

Of course, he thinks, blearily stringing together realizations, in an invasion, the med nin won't be healing things all the way through if it's not fatal.

Sitting up will probably be hellish.

Sasuke grits his teeth, inching himself slowly up, half wishing he had an extra pillow or three to brace on except no.

He's not calling the nurse.

It feels like an age before he finally makes it, sitting with his legs dangling off the side of the bed.

Some irritated part of him spares a moment to glare at the floor, inches away from his feet.

They should make beds lower to the ground, he thinks, before turning his glare to the wider room to look for water.

He slides off the bed before he can think twice on it, swaying and clinging to the bedrail as his ribs jar.

"Why are all of my brats so stubborn?"

A hand catches Sasuke, holding him carefully before he can spin towards the voice, and Sasuke's pretty sure he should be grateful because he can already feel twinges from the aborted movement.

He glares at Kakashi-sensei anyway.

"Says you."

Sensei sighs, vaguely amused, as he drops a cup and straw in Sasuke's lax hands.

Only years of trained reflexes let him keep hold of it, and he still has to take a moment before he can raise it up to drink.

Slow, careful sips - coughing hurts.

"Not going to demand I go back to bed?" He grumbles, once he feels less likely to cough over his words and send himself sprawling.

Sensei snorts, ruffling his hair, and Sasuke would bat his hand aside if he had any way of knowing whether he could lift his arm that high without pain yet.

"Please. I'm running myself ragged here just keeping Naruto out of trouble and Ibiki from making me into a liar, surely I can trust at least one of my genin to not kill themselves without direct supervision, ne~?"

Sasuke squints, suspicious, and Kakashi chuckles. "Naruto's been moving between your and Natsu's rooms, when he isn't glaring down the poor Hyuuga heiress. Natsu hasn't woke up yet, and though the medics themselves aren't certain why, Inoichi-san says it probably isn't anything to worry about, though he's too busy to come take a look himself at the moment. While the medics will try to tell you you're in no shape to be moving around, they're worked off their feet at the moment, so as long as you're careful you can probably avoid them. Just try not to trip and knock your bones out of alignment again, they haven't been mended at all, just settled in place until the fuss dies down and someone can take more time with them. Though…" he pauses for a moment, clearly smiling under the mask, "as hypocritical as it is of me to say, I'd recommend you get at least another day or so of rest before you start trying to walk around. Your lungs had quite the strain, being punctured through like that, and while that at least has been mended, it might be best to not push yourself just yet. Ne~?"

He's probably right, Sasuke acknowledges, hands tightening around the cup.

There's no way he can hop back into the bed though. So-

That is not a good face. "Wait, sensei-!"

Hinata's come by the hospital room six times since Natsu was finally moved in. Sasuke's still not sure why it took finding a half-collapsed civilian bunker for the hospital staff to make him share his room, though in this case he's not complaining. Politics, probably. Or maybe someone actually suspects something about Natsu, and wanted him alone, but Kakashi-sensei's hovering dissuaded them and they gave up.

Sasuke will figure it out later, when he isn't in pain.

He probably shouldn't have stopped taking the painkillers this soon but he's on a mission.

Naruto hasn't noticed anything off with the Hyuuga, though Sasuke's pretty sure that's because Hinata flinches and runs away before he can catch a glimpse of her. Sasuke... needs to know exactly what's going on.

...he shouldn't be leaving his own hospital bed at this time, probably, according to the medics. But no one's here to stop him, and it's not like Kakashi-sensei ever listens to them. And his lungs are fine. Really.

Perhaps he'll remember to appreciate Kakashi-sensei's timing for dragging Naruto out by the hair later, though for now…

He's got an heiress to catch.

Breathing deeply still sends bursts of pain throughout his chest, and breathing quickly is worse. A hundred snapshots of pain with every rapid breath, lungs expanding and contracting too fast and pulling everything into a whiplash of agony. So Sasuke eases himself off the bed with slow, measured movements, breaths steady and even as he takes careful steps towards the door.

Broken ribs... are not worth it. Next time, someone else is breaking their ribs. Sasuke refuses.

He grits his teeth as he carefully opens the door, slipping out after a furtive glance through the hall.

Naruto may not want to understand why Hinata attacked Natsu. May not care about why, or why Natsu hasn't woken up since.

But Sasuke knows her -weak, shy, unwilling to commit harm even in spars- and so he knows there's something more there. Something that he's going to get to the bottom of, because the Hinata he's known would never attack a teammate, has even been punished and still refused to commit to her spars before, in the Academy.

She's lost more fights than any clan heir ever should, and he knows it's because she's always been scared to try. Scared to even come close to hurting someone, despite being a shinobi.

If she wasn't a clan heiress, of the Hyuuga specifically, Sasuke's pretty sure she'd have gone off and become a civilian already.

Sasuke makes his way down the hall, eases around the corner and slips into a mostly-empty room. The occupant's sedated, they won't care.

He leaves the door cracked open, just enough to see out, and settles in to wait.

Naruto should be out for a while, Kakashi-sensei said something about food and a bath, and Hinata is likely to come by again. She'll pass this hall before stopping at their door, peering in, and then running away when Sasuke looks at her.

So, he won't give her the chance. Unless she wants to go through the emergency exit, the hall dead-ends shortly after their room. He'll corner her, easy as that.

Sasuke drags over a chair with his feet, and settles in to wait.

He doesn't mean to fall asleep, can't quite say when he drifted off. He wakes to footsteps, a sound of scuffling as though whoever it is drags their feet, and sits up too sharply, biting his tongue to keep the groan back as he struggles to regulate his breathing again.

The footsteps stop, clearly hearing him despite his efforts, and the voice that follows is almost too quiet to make out through the door.

"I- I-m sorry I didn't mean to- I'll just go-"

It takes Sasuke a long moment, through the haze of pain, to recognize the words and voice.

He scrambles, tripping into the door and then pushing it open -muscles pulling, constricting, ow- and he just barely catches her as she passes him.

"Wait!" He leans against the doorframe, counting breaths as he pushes down the pain. "I wanted to talk to you."

Hinata hesitates, fingers coming up in a nervous gesture, and she hunches into herself.

"I- I'm not-"

"Please." Sasuke grits out, straightening up as he gets his breathing under control. "I know you, Hinata. And I know how you fight. I just want to understand." She glances up, then down the hall, curling deeper into herself.

Sasuke sighs. "Naruto's been forced to take a bath and eat something, he's not allowed back for a while. We have time."

When she nods, it's less agreement and more defeat, her entire body sagging into it as she turns around and trudges back towards their room.

Sasuke grimaces.

Naruto should really be the one having this conversation, he's the nice one, the friendly one, but no. He's decided he'd rather be angry than figure out why his long-time classmate acted the way she did, so now it's Sasuke's job to be the nice one.

...if she starts crying he's done.

Hinata edges into the room like she expects something to bite her, as Sasuke follows, sits down, and tries not to glare.

...he's not sure he succeeds. Though, Hinata would probably be just as nervous regardless of whether he glares at her or not. He sighs. "Hinata. You cried the first time you accidentally struck one of Ino's tenketsu points in a spar. She wasn't even hurt, literally laughed it off and played with her numb fingers, and you couldn't look at her without bursting into tears. So I know that whatever made you strike out against Natsu, must have been something important. You're too much of a coward to have done it without a good reason. I just want to know what happened to my teammate." Oh no. Shit he's messing this up, she's getting even more distressed, this is why Sasuke leaves the talking to the idiots but no, one of them's unconscious and the other's being stupid and now he has to salvage this before she either starts sobbing or running or both- "Naruto's angry, but- we're a team. I know he just wants to understand too. If you could just explain, you know how he is. He'll laugh it off and forget about it all in a week or so, he's never been one to hold grudges. I just need to know what you saw with those eyes of yours, that made you feel like attacking Natsu was the only way to save him. Natsu waking up or not waking up, that doesn't have anything to do with you, he honestly spends more time unconscious than anyone rightly should. So don't worry about that. Just tell me what went wrong, so I know why to yell at the idiot later, since he clearly failed at something important."

Hinata stares at the bed, eyes focused on Natsu's long pink hair, still singed at the edges and splaying over the sides. For a second as he follows her gaze Sasuke's confused, because the hospital should have tied it back, but then he remembers Naruto talking about Sakura's parents coming over, and her mom wondering if they should trim off the burned edges, so maybe they just didn't pull it back after.

Hinata stares, and stares, trembling, and-

Oh fuck no.

No.

Nope.

Sasuke's done. He didn't agree to crying girls. He braces, about to stand, when-

"It looked. Like she was going to die."

Half-tensed muscles freeze at the words, and Sasuke hisses sharply as he eases back into the chair. That... that's a concerning thing to say.

Figures the idiot would kill himself even when he's winning.

"How so?" He asks, when the cramping fades and he feels ready to hear the answer speak again.

Though by the grimace on Hinata's face, present even as she struggles to wipe the tears off her cheeks, she might not be.

"I don't- I don't know how to explain it. There was- I don't really understand, Natsu and Sakura, I thought they were different people but then there was only Sakura except she acted different but that's not- that's not what I saw." Her breath shudders out, and she wipes her eyes again. "I... the Byakugan can see chakra... not the s-same way as Sasuke-kun's eyes can, I know, but- i-it looked like. Like how I imagined t-the stories of the Sh-Shodaime. Like the chakra was... was too much- I don't- I d-don't know how to explain it..."

She sniffles, wiping at her nose, eyes pointed to Natsu's hospital bed but Sasuke doesn't think she's seeing it. Not really.

Likely, trying to picture what she saw back then, during the fight.

Sasuke' knows the Hyuuga don't have perfect photographic memory, their dojutsu doesn't grant them that crystal-clear recollection that Sasuke and all his kin possess. It's never annoyed him so much to know, though, as it does now, watching her struggle to remember, struggle to find words to describe what she should just be able to picture, and explain.

"What stories?" he asks, when it looks like Hinata has no idea where to even begin.

She startles, eyes cutting to him, then quickly away. "T-the ones about h-how he risked turning into a tree, if he used his mokuton too much... i-it looked like... like Sakura-chan— or Natsu-chan? W-was being -I don't- um- not eaten but- like- like Natsu-chan's chakra was being changed or- or something. Twisted up. I-it felt like if it didn't stop, they'd burn up into something else, maybe- maybe not dead but... changed. Different. Like they'd lose something forever, and never be the same again. I just- I had to stop it. I didn't- Natsu or Sakura, they were going to lose something, forever, something they couldn't get back, so I had to stop it before that happened, because... it felt like death-? Something wrong… I d-don't... I don't know. It just... it looked so wrong, and I just..."

"So you cut off the chakra, to stop whatever you were seeing?"

She nods, flinching. "I-I don't know why they aren't waking up..."

"Like I said. This is normal for the idiot, probably cleaning up whatever mess he's made in their mind. Inoichi's been overworked with the cleanup crews and T&I, so he hasn't been able to come by, but honestly that's not a big deal, even if Naruto's being a dobe getting all stressed out over it. That's not your fault though. It's-"

Sasuke cuts off, gritting his teeth against the pain that flares as he stands. He glares at the light playing across the floor.

Hinata turns, looking at him properly for the first time.

"S-Sasuke-kun. Should you even b-be out of bed yourself...?"

Sasuke waves away the question. "It's fine. Getting answers was more important."

"So that means you'll be quite happy to return to your bed and let the cute nurse look you over, ne~?"

Kakashi-sensei's shadow looms over them, and Sasuke does not flinch.

He doesn't.

The political clusterfuck in the aftermath of the invasion is enough to make Jiraiya want to scream.

Run off into the hills and eschew all responsibility.

The damage isn't bad, all things considered, and thank the kami for that. The competitors were kept from the worst of it, safe in their cordoned off sector, and none of the daimyo's court were killed.

But the weakness, the condescension, that they look at Konoha with, the feel of carrion birds circling overhead, waiting to swoop down and pick at their bleeding carcass. That lingers regardless of how well they weathered the storm.

Konoha won, but the foreigners in the village stare like vultures, waiting for their turn at a chunk.

They're a simmering pot and someone's looked away and now everything's just about ready to boil over.

Jiraiya hates agreeing with Danzo on anything, just on principle, out of personal distaste for a man whose political stances could be brutal even in peacetime, nevermind the decisions he made in the height of the war.

Minato never trusted him.

It's- well. Minato was always a good judge of character, so Jiraiya doesn't question the dislike, really. It's never been a problem before, outside the village, running his networks and only distantly hearing of the things he tries to pull.

But he just. Hates agreeing with the man. Hates that Konoha's position is weak enough that he feels like he has to.

And yet agree they do. Konoha's in trouble if they don't make some sort of show, and fast.

Twice, now, Danzo's asked pointed questions about the forest, about where Jiraiya's been and what's up with Team 7. Probably wanting someone to make an example with, but, well.

At least there, he can be back to the normal, comfortable territory of disagreeing with the man.

For all the good it feels like it does.

Jiraiya can admit to being a bit surprised, though. He wouldn't have thought sensei had it in him, to keep something like this from his 'dear friend'.

And yet, it's clear as day that Danzo doesn't know about Natsu. Jiraiya gets the feeling it needs to stay that way.

But Natsu's unconscious, and sooner or later someone's going to mention it to Danzo, say just the right words to get that warhawk's feathers ruffled, and they're going to have a mess on their hands.

...Jiraiya should wait for Inoichi. While the man's busy, working with T&I on the captured prisoners, on that girl Kakashi brought back with him, worked off his feet and to the bone, Jiraiya should still wait on the man, maybe hang around the village and stall Danzo for all he's worth. Keep him from putting the pieces together for as long as possible.

...but he knows Tsunade is close. Caught her trail back when they were getting the brat treated for the poison, and he knows where she's headed. A day, at speed, maybe less if he pushed it. He could get her to take a look. Sure, the kid's probably just stuck in his own head, dealing with whatever mess is going on up there this time. But Inoichi's busy. And Danzo's asking questions. And maybe...

Maybe Jiraiya just misses his teammate, in the wake of Orochimaru's invasion.

In the wake of sensei's death.

...would she even want to be there, for the funeral?

He grits his teeth, hums, haws.

...could he even convince her to come back, if he went looking? Would she even hear him out?

"I am this close to just drugging Naruto. Surely someone in ANBU has a tranq powerful enough to put him down." Kakashi grumbles, dropping off another collection of reports and rolling his eye at Jiraiya, whole posture sharp and teetering on deadly.

...now there's an idea... kid like that wants to do something, not just sit around, and maybe if he played his cards right, could be of some help...

It'd slow down his trip a bit, but not by much. And maybe throwing a brat at Tsunade will keep her from beating his face in with the ground.

And it'll be a better excuse to get away from Danzo for a bit, considering the rather pointed argument he's already had with the man regarding one jinchurikki. No one will even think twice if he absconds with the other for a bit.

Three birds with one kunai, and all that nonsense.

Everything aches. If he had a body right now, that'd make sense, but Natsu's in their mindscape, and he just wants to sleep for a week.

He's not quite sure how a mental avatar feels bone-deep exhaustion, but he's managing it.

Sakuni tries to talk to him, and he groans, rolling over to bury his face in the flowers.

Someone chuffs, and he remembers that he's still mad at Igneel.

"What hit me?" he finally groans, anger evaporating as he ponders whether his full-body ache is just what happens when you get a headache as a possessing spirit. Is it even a headache at that point? Since he's in the head and all… hmm…

Igneel sounds Unfairly Annoyed as he answers, "I have quite literally just spoken to you at length regarding my decision to seal myself within your body to prevent you from mutating into a dragon through overusing your power, and now you ask me, after overusing your power in a body that is not your own, what happened?"

"You're still here though!" Natsu sits up, glaring. "Or is Sakura-chan's body not good enough for you to help?!" Oh wow, sitting up did not make the ache go away.

It's weird- like being sore from too much exercise, except not. Natsu could almost get distracted pondering the weird sensation, if he were alone.

But Igneel's sigh is Truly Exasperated. "The reason you must come all the way out here to speak with me, why I cannot step into that so-called Bridge you often inhabit with the older spirit of the girl, is because I - and my magic - are still in your body. I do not have much influence here, with the girl and her mind, because I am still with you. And currently your body is trapped in some form of stasis, frozen in time. It makes it very difficult to want to do more than sleep, and I was not at first even aware of your departure from your mind until the girl's spirit awoke me while poking around your own Heart. I cannot protect you from mutating her body, if you call too deeply upon the dragon-fire."

"Huh? Whaddya mean I got frozen in time?"

"...is that really what's important right now, Natsu?"

"I mean kinda? The last thing I remember before ending up with you guys was being attacked by that big dragon, dunno how that turns into getting frozen in time though…"

Igneel's exasperation sears at the edges of his awareness. "I am no master of your Fairy Arts, and cannot be entirely certain how that spell you used in that final stand has resulted in this, though I do have my theories. If you are truly so curious, we can discuss them later. It hardly matters at the moment. You are quite lucky to have been interrupted when you were. The damage to this girl's body should be reversible given time to heal, though I cannot say it would be wise for you to use your magic until you have fully recovered. If you don't want to worsen it, that is."

"Did you really drag me in here just to tell me that? Sakura-chan could have just said it, there's no need for all this. I haven't even been able to make sure everyone's alright!" He stands up, not quite glaring at Igneel, but-

The last thing he remembers, he and Naruto were going to fight that other jinchurikki kid, and Sasuke was still coughing up blood. He needs to at least make sure everything worked out!

Weight, as a giant dragon rests his head atop Natsu's, bearing him down with a huff. "Natsu. You need to understand. The girl's body is not your own. With time and care, you may be able to strengthen it, adapt it to your magic. But even then, you will never be able wield your power as easily as in your own. You can't push your limits the same way. You will kill her. And only her. Your soul will return to your own body, while hers passes on or remains trapped in inhuman form, lost to the pain of the transformation. If you push yourself too hard, she will be the one to pay the price."

He flails. "But- I don't understand why! A-and I didn't push too hard! Sure, there was a lot of fire, but that was it I didn't even try any of the secret techniques-!"

A sigh, as Igneel sags over him, and Natsu falls to sit criss-cross, looking up through his bangs at the dragon's chin. "Natsu. Humans burn when exposed to flame."

"Yeah? I know that, I'm not stupid."

"A Dragon Slayer's fire is powerful indeed, and more than that, infused with the mage's very will. You push a piece of yourself into your flames, controlling them, sometimes even a ways away from yourself to fight your foes. But Natsu. Even in all your battles before, you have never kept that piece of yourself in the flames after you threw them out. Your attempts to make certain only your enemies burned meant that you constantly poured more and more of yourself into your fire, more of your will, more of your soul.

You did not leave enough of it to protect yourself."

Natsu opens his mouth, halfway to snapping, when it processes. A large part of why Dragon Slayers lose themselves to dragon form is because when they push too far, they forget themselves. Too deep into the power, they lose themselves to the battle and in turn lose their humanity. That's why practice is so important, to carefully hone their ability to use their powerful magic even in the heat of battle without losing themselves.

By the end, even Natsu can admit that he can't actually recall what kind of condition he was in. He was the forest. He was the fire, burning higher and higher, searing his enemies and hiding his friends-

In all honesty, Natsu doesn't even remember whatever hit knocked him out.

He thought, as long as he avoided the more powerful spells, the ones that could take a lot of concentration or required a lot of focused magic, that Sakura would be fine. But… the danger was never really in the power of any given spell.

It's the magic itself.

Natsu knew that. He knew it.

And yet-

"Is- You said we'd be alright? I didn't permanently mess up Sakura's body, right?"

"I cannot feel her body as I feel yours - I'm not connected to it, truly, and even coming this close to the Bridge is difficult for me. You will have to be the final judge of her condition for yourself, and I do recommend you go speak to her before waking. However, I believe that as long as you refrain from using your magic until you have fully recovered, that everything should recover well. Whatever interrupted you struck so deeply that even I could feel it, and should have done as well to break up the wild magic tearing through you. But Natsu. You must be more careful. Spreading yourself so thin - I do understand why you may have felt the need, but it cannot happen again."

Yeah. He'll have to apologize to Sakura-chan for forgetting, for sure. "I get it. I didn't mean to get carried away, but I guess it's true I don't usually fight in forests much, and even when I do Gray's always there putting out all the fires anyway… Or Lucy and Aquarias. Or Erza.

...do I light things on fire too much?"

Natsu pauses, then shakes his head, Igneel allowing himself to be dislodged as Natsu stands. "No way! No such thing as too much fire! Right! So, first we'll get better, and then we'll practice more! That's all there is to it!"

Igneel groans, muttering something about brats, and Natsu drowns him out as he hops to Sakuni. "So, should we go back to your cabin? I wanna make sure Sakura-chan's okay too!"

He ignores the aches and exhaustion, shoving aside the strangeness of it, as Sakuni sighs in exasperation alongside Igneel. Victory!

He waves to Igneel as they leave.

Maybe he's not that angry at him, really.

Somehow, his body hurts even more than his spirit did in the mindscape.

…maybe Igneel really did have a point about taking it down a notch…