I was growing quite concerned, now.
Yoshino's sickness still stuck around, albeit it wasn't quite as bad now as it was before. That wasn't what concerned me, even if it had stuck around longer than was normal for a ninja of her caliber.
What was concerning me was her Heart.
It seemed... duller than was usual. Less intense, if that made sense. Like it was drained.
Concerning, no?
Which was why I was currently trying to convince her to head to the hospital.
"It'll fade." She stated. "It's not a problem, anyway."
The woman was stubborn, part of the reason that Shikaku had married her.
I wasn't dissuaded, all but shoving a book opened to the page of Konoha General Hospital at her.
"I'm fine, I don't need to head to the hospital!"
I disagreed.
I corrupted the book a second later, infusing it with a part of myself. A small bit of focus forced a change in color, big bold red letters etching on the blackened pages.
'You're not winning this argument.'
She snorted. "Why are you so eager about this, anyway."
'Because I'm concerned.'
Surprise stretched across her face, then concern. "About what?"
I didn't answer, merely pulling my Darkness out of the book, returning it to its normal form, then pointing as the picture of the hospital.
She looked annoyed, then sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you."
It wasn't a question. I shook my head anyway.
"Hello Yoshino-sama."
The doctor, a tall, lithe kunoichi with bright white hair, was a friend of the Nara family. I wouldn't go quite as far as to call her their personal doctor, but she was the go-to doctor for most of the Nara's checkups. I'd seen her a couple times before, actually.
"Kaze-san." Yoshino greeted. "How are you?"
"Oh I'm doing quite well," She said, cheerfully. "You, on the other hand, don't look so great."
"No..." Yoshino grudgingly admitted. "I've been sick the past week."
"Week?" Kaze blinked, before stepping towards Yoshino and placing her hand on forehead. "That's not normal."
"No. It's fading, though, the only reason I'm here is because someone" She threw a glare in my direction. "Forced me to go for a checkup."
Kaze blinked. "No fever." She stepped backwards, before patting me on the head. "And good sense, little one."
Yoshino glared at Kaze, who responded with a very slight grin.
Kaze grabbed a few tools and implements out of her drawer, before checking up on Yoshino again.
"Have you been keeping your fluids up?"
Yoshino rolled her eyes. "Of course."
"Good." She sucked in a breath through her teeth, before her hand lit up in green medical Chakra.
Yoshino didn't even struggle as Kaze placed her hand on Yoshino's head again. "Fever's good."
It traced down to her throat. "Been coughing?"
"Yes."
Kaze tutted, her hand sliding down to Yoshino's chest. "Heartbeat's good."
Her hand moved to Yoshino's stomach.
"Oh!" The medic's eyes widened, surprise taking over the previous boredom. "Well, ahem. Congratulations, Yoshino-san."
"What?" Yoshino asked, confusion in her voice.
"You're pregnant." The medic stated.
"WHAT?!"
Man, Yoshino had the best 'deer in the headlights' expression.
"WHAT?!"
I take that back, Shikaku had the best 'deer in the headlights' expression.
"How?" He seemed almost on the verge of panic "We were-"
"No normal protection is 100 percent effective, Shikaku-sama." Kaze cut in. "The odds are extremely low, but not non-existent."
Kaze, much like myself, was incredibly amused.
"Well, yes-"
"Shikaku." This time, it was Yoshino that cut in. "I'm pregnant."
She looked up, the few strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face not nearly enough to hide the somewhat goofy grin already spreading across it.
"Yeah. You are." He said, that exact same grin stretching on his face.
Fire.
I thought of heat; excesses of temperature. Of flames, immense warmth that burned.
I felt the Darkness in my hands change, take on a property that reflected my thoughts.
I flung it.
It collided with the boulder, then burst.
The firestorm was much larger than I had expected, consuming not just the boulder, but also a fairly large part of the clearing that I'd been testing in.
Including, to my irritation, me.
The firestorm failed to disperse me, but it was nevertheless irritating.
Thick, acrid smoke lingered for quite some time after the fire itself had vanished, but that didn't prevent me from seeing the damage to the clearing. The grass was burnt, the boulder was much blacker than it had originally been, and more than a few trees were on fire.
Ice.
I threw balls of Darkness at each, carefully regulating just how much Darkness I was actually using this time. Even still, the resulting chunks of ice were larger than they normally should have been.
Looks like I was going to have to train a little bit until I figured it out again. Damn.
Oh well. It's not like I actually had anything better to do when everybody else was sleeping.
Slowly, I slipped through the hospital.
Once again, I ignored the ANBU stationed around, heading directly towards my target.
Target, I say, as if I was hunting them.
I wasn't.
I briefly fell into the shadows to slide under a door, before sliding out of them on the other side.
My glowing golden eyes raked over my target- the awakened form of one Sasuke Uchiha, currently staring at the ceiling.
He didn't seem to notice me.
He didn't seem to notice anything, actually. It wasn't hard to see one, his Heart was a storm of turmoil and Darkness, a raging twister that had alerted me to the very second he had awoke.
I slunk closer, deliberately making noise, pressing against the floor a bit harder than was absolutely necessary, producing audible creaks. He didn't react, continuing to stare off into space.
I settled into a chair beside his bed, but, again, he didn't notice.
Hate spiked in his Heart, alongside his Chakra, and I decided then and there that enough was enough.
I grasped his hand- and the immense hate cut for a second as a dull surprise surged. His head turned, his eyes tracing down to meet mine. The surprise grew a little bit, though Sasuke himself didn't really react.
I let go of his hand, reaching to his bedside and picking up a small piece of paper that I immediately corrupted.
A twist, and softly glowing yellow lettering appeared, bright enough for him to make out in the early darkness of 3 AM, but not quite bright enough for the sudden change in illumination to hurt him.
'You've been asleep for some time, Sasuke.'
His mouth opened, but all that came out was a rasp. Wordlessly, I opened a Corridor of Darkness and withdrew a cup of water from it, handing it to him. I'd anticipated he'd be a bit parched, after all.
He took it and quickly gulped it down, releasing a relieved sigh when he finished. I took the cup from him and quickly dumped it into the Corridor.
"Thank you." He said, softly, his voice still a bit rough.
'You're welcome.' I flashed, before quickly changing it. 'After what happened, it's the least I could do.'
He flinched back, the hate boiling up again. "Mom and Dad... Itachi-" For a moment, despair joined the hatred. For a moment. "The entire clan is d-dead." Only a slight stutter.
I bopped him over the head. 'Not quite. Severely depleted, but not entirely dead.'
"Wh-what?"
Hope joined in, the despair fading away a little.
'20 others survived. You were placed in the genjutsu recovery ward, while the rest of them were placed in the physical recovery. As far as i am aware, you were the only one who was attacked with Genjutsu.'
Or, at least, the only one who suffered enough to be put in the Genjutsu Recovery Ward. Tsukuyomi isn't a joke, after all.
"Can... can I see them?" He asked, more than a little desperation colouring his voice.
...
The doctors are not going to be happy with what I'm going to do next, but fuck 'em. Sasuke needs to see what remains of his family.
I moved slightly, pulling the blanket off of him. He was dressed -good- and didn't have anything sticking into or out of him -also good-, so I moved to other side of the bed and began to pull him out of it.
He'd been in bed for some time, but he only stumbled a little bit before getting his feet under him.
I gave a slight nod to the ANBU on the inside of the room as we passed her.
Carefully, I slid the door open, admitting us into the ward where the other 20 Uchiha were currently contained. There had been a lock on the door, but it only took half a second to corrupt it and force it open.
Sasuke stepped into the room silently, almost reverently, beholding the other 20 Uchiha in the room. Most were asleep, though one Kuroko Uchiha was still awake, gently cradling her daughters.
She looked up as we walked in, the Sharingan briefly appearing in her eyes before she saw Sasuke and I.
I nodded to her, but Sasuke barely even noted her presence, looking over Uchiha as a whole.
Gently, Kuroko tucked her daughters into bed, before standing up and moving over to us.
Now Sasuke noticed her, giving her a look that I couldn't quite decipher. His emotions fluctuated quickly, many many things going through his head that I couldn't even begin to guess at.
"Good to see you're awake, Sasuke-kun." Kuroko spoke, softly so as to not awaken the other Uchiha. This early in the morning, that didn't surprise me at all.
Sasuke didn't speak, merely giving a silent nod.
Kuroko drew him in for a quick hug, to which Sasuke hesitantly returned, before letting go and moving back over to her daughters.
Sasuke watched her go, his emotions still spiralling chaotically, though less so than before. Abruptly, hatred once again spiked, and I couldn't help but notice his hands clench into fists.
With a mental sigh, I grabbed Sasuke's wrists and gently pulled him out of the room, silently shutting the door behind us.
'That's not healthy, you know?'
"What?" He asked. The hatred hadn't diminished, which was more than a little concerning.
'Those thoughts you're having. You're thinking of your clan's murderer, and you're hating him.'
"And so what?!" He said, forcefully pulling his hand out of my grip. "Who cares if I hate Itachi!"
I gave another mental sigh.
'Me. What you're thinking, Sasuke, what you're feeling? What you have goes a bit beyond hatred. You want to kill him, don't you?'
"He killed mama and papa!"
Interesting slip there, Sasuke. Mama and papa, not mom and dad.
'I'm not telling you not to hate him, Sasuke. I'm not even telling you not to take revenge, after what happened to you, both desires are perfectly natural. I've seen this happen before, Sasuke. What starts as a desire grows into an obsession, then grows further and takes over your life until you simply stop caring about anything else.'
Sasuke said nothing.
'It grows and grows until it becomes the first thought that enters your mind when you wake up, and the last to leave it when you sleep. That is what I'm telling you not to do, Sasuke; do not let it grow into obsession. There are other things to live for than to waste your life on your brother. The best way to spite your brother is to live a long and happy life, not to focus on their destruction.'
He still didn't say anything, but I could see some of the hate inside fade away.
For now, I considered that a victory.
'Come on. Let's get you back to bed, the doctors are not going to be pleased that I took you out.'
It happened in an instant. One moment I had been looking up at the stars.
The next, I felt something from the piece of myself I'd left with Sayaka and Kyubey