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Reunion of Shadows	By : Lisea18 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Kakashi/Sasuke Views: 1902 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Title: Reunion of Shadows

Author: Lisea18

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I'm making no money
from writing this
A big thank you to HSBS who
stepped in to be my beta (hugs)
Author's
note: English is not my first language, so please forgive my mistakes.�

Reunion of Shadows 18
Suigetsu cursed as he lapped the last drop
of water he had. Standing watch was so damn boring but he just couldn't leave Kakashi's house without surveillance. He trusted the two of
them to be able to kick whoever's ass might attack but... he didn't want them
to be disturbed. Mumbling to himself as he shook the
empty bottle, putting it above his mouth in a desperate attempt to gain at
least a little tiny drop of water.
Frustrated he threw it far
from him, pissed with it and took the other one, empty too and started his
antics all over again, his tongue darting inside the bottle, as far as it could
reach. A snort made him stop and swirl his head around to see Sasuke. He had just gotten out of the house and the first
bottle lay under his feet, where he had stopped its course.
Suigetsu grinned, scratching his cheek
before jumping on his feet, strolling to his leader. He gave Sasuke a once over, smiling cockily as he noticed the
hickeys barely concealed by bandages. He took the blow to his face without
flinching or turning into water. After a long gaze between the two of them Sasuke tossed him a bottle of water and walked away, the
water nin falling into step
behind him, grinning with a tooth poking out. �
"Whatcha doing?" asked Suigetsu,
gulping his water like a man who had been thirsty for days.
"We aren't allowed to
see Karin nor go near the trial room," Sasuke started
explaining before a familiar voice stopped him, heels clicking on the floor
behind them as someone ran to them.
"Sasuke!"
The latter stopped, trying
to suppress a roll of his eyes. Sakura calling and running to him like that
just reminded him of her old bothering self. He turned to her, tilting his head
and raising an eyebrow. Suigetsu snickered next to
him but didn't comment.
"Kakashi
asked me to tell you that the guards who beat you up," she glared at him,
eyeing him suspiciously for any wounds he could have hidden, "have been
put under arrest and locked in a cell waiting for a judgment. It was the best
way to keep them quiet about your evasion until the ordeal with Karin was
settled."
Sasuke nodded and mockingly turned on
himself to let Sakura examine him. She rolled her eyes at him and he smirked.
"Kakashi
also asked me to keep an eye on you," she sweetly added, chuckling as Sasuke snorted, "where were you going?" she
wondered.
Suigetsu and Sasuke
glanced at each other, the water nin
grinning like crazy. He had understood Sasuke's plan
even if he hadn't had the chance to finish his sentence. Sakura raised an
eyebrow at them, before tapping her foot.
"What are you thinking
of doing?" she inquired, ready to put her gloves and beat the truth out of
them. �
Sasuke eyed her for a bit then lowered to
her ear. Suigetsu was already trotting away, smiling
like a maniac.
"It's been a while
since I last saw Shino and Neji and since I'm stuck
here and can't go see Karin I thought I would change my mind with a little get
together," explained Sasuke, smirking and
walking, hands in his pocket.
Sakura stared dumbly at Sasuke's retreating back. Since when was he one to want to pass time with people? Even if, she had
to admit it, he had created himself a nice circle of people ready to help him, Naruto happily giving his network. She hurried behind him,
still pondering. Neji was quiet and since he was
training with him they had gotten pretty close, especially since they seemed to
be plotting something.
But
Shino? Quiet
too, so certainly more appreciated by Sasuke but�
they didn't know each other! The bug lover was� and that's when it hit her, her
eyes widening in understanding. The little! They were totally going to spy on the
trial! A well placed bug to know what was being said, the Byakugan
to have detailed information on what was happening. All of it under the cover
of a tea party, clever as usual.
Maybe she should stop them�
but she wasn't going to. Technically they weren't betraying their promise. The
spying couldn't influence Karin or anyone. And if it helped alleviate the
tension in Sasuke, the way his stance screamed worry
to someone as practiced as her to read him� then she wouldn't oppose it. Better
that than him going berserk, right?
ooooooooooooo
Kakashi flopped down on his seat, late, as
usual. Good thing Obito couldn't protest to him
visiting his grave all the damn time, otherwise he would be bitching about Kakashi whining a little too much in his ears. He ignored
the glare some of the council members sent his way. He even smiled at them as
he pulled out his favourite book, slouching a bit more in his seat as he did
so. Now he was ready for anything.
Of course, he pretended he
didn't notice at all the bugs that were hidden in the room. He was fairly certain
the council hadn't noticed since he had been looking for them. He just knew Sasuke wouldn't stay with his arm crossed, sometimes he was
worse than Naruto, and that was saying something. However
he deserved to know what was going on.
He was pulled out of his
reverie when Hiashi cleared his throat before
checking everyone was here: the scientists and medics, ready to present the evidence.
Kaigo had been interrogated again, and was actually
in an adjacent room, ready to be called on if necessary. Karin's deposition had
been taken too but for obvious reasons she couldn't be present. Both of them
had then heard about the other's testimony and their reaction had been noted.
The ones who had taken their deposition were going to be their representative.
"Let's start,"
ordered Kakashi, nose buried in porn, attention focussed
on the trial.
"Kaigo
is maintaining to his version," started the one representing him, he then
reminded everyone of the man's recollection of the facts.
Once done, he turned to
Karin's spokesperson, nodding to the other man that he could start.
The latter took some paper,
obviously Karin's deposition. Kakashi inwardly winced.
They had had to make her write it... he wondered if the woman would ever be
able to speak again. She hadn't brought back her tongue, nor had Kaigo, they couldn't transplant it.
"According to Karin
they indeed attacked the rescue team. They all got injured but her, since she
stayed behind as her role as medic asks. Karin offered to heal them but Kaigo, having some medic supplies, offered to heal everyone
to avoid tiring Karin out."
Until now the two versions
were exactly the same. Turning a page, the man continued.
"She let it be, since
she was already quite drained and Kaigo treated
everyone. One hour later they all collapsed, being the medic nin, she rushed to them to see
what was going on. While she was establishing their death by poisoning Kaigo attacked her. She managed to defend herself a bit,
tried to escape, but in the end was caught. Kaigo
forced her to bite off her own tongue so she wouldn't be able to speak. She
believes he hoped she would die before they reached Konoha."
Ushered whispers could be
heard as people spoke of the two versions. Kaigo had
said Karin had healed the teams, not him. In his saying she had been the one to
attack when he had gone to check on the collapsed members. Kaigo's
spokesperson rose from his chair, taking Karin's place.
"About that, Kaigo replied that he hadn't treated her well because he
considered her a traitor and was still under shock to have seen his team mates
murdered under his very eyes."
Shizune rose from her seat, asking for
permission to speak since she had a relevant observation to make.
"As I told the Hokage and Alraune-sama, Karin's
tongue was bitten off. According to Kaigo, she did it
to herself, when in fact the evidence shows it's not possible, someone pulled
her tongue out and forced her to bite it off," to prove her point, she
went to the board and showed a picture of Karin's wound, then a schema of it,
and how it should have looked had she been the one doing it to herself.
Kaigo's representative shuffled threw his
papers a bit before finding what he wanted and replying.
"According to Kaigo, she tried to kill herself when she was overpowered.
He thought she tried to break something between her teeth that would poison
her. To prevent her from doing that, he grabbed her tongue and pulled, that's
when she bit it off, another well known way to kill oneself."
Kakashi frowned; it was her word against
his. Everything had been well planned out. He wasn't sure they would be able to
pull this one off. The council would rather believe a Konoha
Anbu rather than a person from another village, who
had entered following a missing nin.
"What is Karin's
answer to the allegation she had her blood poisoned?" asked Hiashi, being in charge of the trial.
A scientist stepped up,
showing on a screen the test results of Karin's blood.
"It is proven she's
immune to most poison. Her blood is also laced with the substances that caused
all those people to die," he tapped a number on the screen to empathise his
point.
Karin's representative
stood up again, nodding to the man leaving the front.
"She was rendered
immune to poison by Orochimaru's doing. She indeed
poisoned her blood, so that, if she were caught by the enemy, she could poison
them. That doesn't stop her healing power, she can choose to save or poison.
It's a technique she learnt under Orochimaru too. She
also insisted that I tell you that she has been poisoning her blood ever since
she was allowed to join Anbu, she thought it would be useful. Neither Sasuke nor Suigetsu knew about
it."
Alraune snorted at that, rolling his eyes
to empathise how he didn't trust the fact the poison was for protection, nor that Sasuke hadn't known about
it. Kakashi flipped a page, crossing his legs under
the table. This was getting bad. He hoped Sasuke
wasn't going to barge in... he doubted he would,
despite the passion inside him he was rather cool headed. But he could imagine
how all this was getting on the moody teen's nerves.
"Has everything been
told? Can we proceed with the deliberations?"
demanded Hyuuga, looking around the room.
A young scientist cleared
his throat, standing up nervously, tearing a piece of paper in his sweating
hands.
"Hum er no," he mumbled.
"Yes?" urged Hyuuga, tapping his fingers impatiently.
"Kaigo
brought back blood sample from the deceased," mentioned the young man,
pushing large glasses up his nose.
"For proof against
Karin," added Kaigo's spokesman, nodding in
agreement.
"We analysed them
under Shizune-sama's order. The results show a very
high concentration of poison in the blood. We then analysed Karin's blood which
is less concentrated. According to those tests, that we did twice, with
different teams, the poison can't come from Karin's blood, it wouldn't have been
that concentrated if it did," ended the man, sitting back on his chair,
eyes rivet to his papers.
"Nonsense! She could have diluted when she was
dragged back to Konoha to destroy the evidence! She's
a medic it must be easy for her to dilute the poison she put in her
blood!" argued Alraune, slamming his hand on the
table before him.
"Calm down,"
ordered Kakashi, tilting his book slightly to glance
at the man, then he turned his gaze to Shizune and
the medics, "is what Alraune-san saying
possible?"
Shizune rose, smiling confidently.
"No, it's not. Usually
what Alraune-sama is saying is totally possible, but
in this case this particular poison attaches itself to the red cells and the
chakra flow. To dilute it, you would have to destroy your red cells while
simultaneously regenerate them, but to do so you use chakra or chakra in this
case is full of poison too so the regenerate blood would be too. It's one of
the hardest poisons to cure because of that. However it's not poison for the
carrier, since it has to be activated to work, I will spare you the details on
that. All that matters is, she can't have diluted it," conclude Shizune, triumphant.
"She knew that! She
must have given them in another way knowing you would conclude that and
innocent her!" argued Alraune, standing up.�
"You seem really
adamant for her to be guilty, Alraune-san, is Kaigo one of your friend?" wondered Kakashi, distractedly flipping a page, his visible eye
smiling.
"Not at all, Hokage-sama, I am just tired of some favouritism being
shown to former students," he hissed, adjusting his collar.
"How dare you! We just
analysed all the proof!" shrieked Shizune,
pissed beyond belief.
She doesn't even care for Sasuke that much. She knew he was important to Naruto, Sakura and certainly Kakashi.
He was a genius from a very famous clan that was unjustly said haughty, and had been destroyed in the most
horrible of ways. She remembered the broken kid and then the revenge oriented
one that killed Danzo. She doesn't know him and
doesn't give a damn; she's just looking for justice, for Konoha's
beliefs, ethics. �
"You can speak, you're
thankful because he protected your Tsunade,"
spat Alraune before turning to Kakashi.
"This has nothing to
do with the current matter, Alraune-san, the fact Uchiha-san protected Tsunade-sama
and his Hokage-sama's former student is irrelevant in
the current matter," pointed out Hiashi.
Alraune laughed at that, raising his arms
to the sky in mockery.
"She's his friend, of
course his former sensei is going to want to protect her, especially since it
seems they aren't sensei and student anymore but more," he remarked, voice dripping poisoned honey.
This accusation caused a
commotion, all eyes turning on Kakashi who hadn't
even twitched, nose still buried in his dirty book, eye curved in a smile. The
council was chattering non-stop people unconsciously taking sides, getting
closer to whom they believed and wished to follow. It was fairly clear Hiashi was on the Hokage's side
and Alraune against.
Turning down the corner of his
page, Kakashi slipped his book back into its pouch.
He stretched a bit but stayed slouched in his seat. He had known this would
come one day, with the ROOT stalking Sasuke has they
did, it was a wonder they hadn't used the fact Kakashi
was his lover sooner. ��
"Keep your friends
close and your enemies' closer?" purred Kakashi,
scratching his head in fake embarrassment.
"You're his
lover?" asked Shizune, flabbergasted.
"Na we're just having casual relations," joked Kakashi,
hurriedly adding, "I'm kidding", when Shizune's
eyes turned murderous.
"I was right! You're
biased since the beginning!" chortled Alraune,
looking at the council members for support.
Kakashi shrugged, standing up to face all
of them.
"You've always thought
that, since he was my student, even before he became
my companion. Shall I remind you I put the seal on him? That I let Anbu drag him to prison and suffer through all this �nice�
stuff? I never used my Hokage position to soften
things on him, except when his life depended on it... like for a certain
necklace one of you dear council members provided," sweetly pointed out Kakashi, looking at Alraune in a
matter that left no doubt at whom he thought responsible. "Until now I
would say that Konoha is the guilty party. It hasn't
exactly been nice to him, he got an awful trial even if we already knew about
the part Konoha played in the murder of his family,
his friend Juugo got killed and that's only the tip
of the iceberg."
Once again arguments broke
out everywhere. It was incredible how messy a few people could be. Kakashi pulled his book out again, lazily turning the pages
until he reached his mark. Then he tilted it slightly to the side, speaking,
his voice easily cutting threw the chaos.
"By the way Alraune-san, how come you know that? Did you have someone
follow Sasuke or me? Since when is this one of your functions?
But now that I think about it, I heard you and Danzo
knew each other and by the way you just talked about Tsunade-sama...
�Should I assume you were close to Danzo, shared his ideals? Oh and maybe even knew about the Uchiha clan? Making you an accomplice of genocide?"
This time it was silence
that followed, worried glances that spoke volumes. Kakashi
smiled, seeming greatly amused. He walked to the door, not looking back and
opened it.
"I will let you vote
for Karin's judgment; I trust you do so based on proven
facts and nothing else. It's so easy to make assumption based on rumours, isn't
it?" he purred.
Kakashi left, the door clicking shut behind
him, but then he reopened it and poked his head out, grinning at how people
jumped at that.
"By the way I'm taking
the morning off, send me a bird when you're done," he announced, waving
them goodbye before shutting the door again.
ooooooooooooo
As Kakashi
walked into the little coffee shop not far away from the trial room, he
wondered if he wasn't going to collapse from laughter. It wasn't every day you
saw Sasuke drinking sake with other people. They
looked as serious as if it was a tea ceremony from a very aristocratic family,
all poised and solemn.
The only relatively normal
persons where Suigetsu and Sakura, even if the first
was too busy mimicking Sasuke in an exaggerated way
to look normal while Sakura tried to keep countenance, looking very much like
the perfect student doing something bad, knowing it, and afraid of being caught
red handed.
Kakashi waved to the proprietor, silently
ordering a drink and grabbed a chair to sit at the small table.�
"Keep your friends
close and your enemies' closer, hn?" greeted Sasuke, raising an eyebrow, moving to the side to allow Kakashi some room.
"Is my humour sucking
that much?" Kakashi chuckled, discreetly laying
a hand on Sasuke's knee.
Relief washed through him
as a slightly smaller one settled on his, lacing their fingers. He hadn't
thought of the impact of his words when he had uttered them. Good thing Sasuke, as well as the council for
sure, had perfectly understood it was his poor attempt at dark humour.
It was tiring to be the sitting ass between two
chairs. Now that people
knew about his relationship with Sasuke, things were
going to get even more tiresome. Kakashi just
couldn't wait to have Naruto take over as Hokage, even if he knew it would take a few years.
"Shino is the plan in
place?" wondered Sasuke, looking pointedly at
the silent man.
"Yes," he stopped
as if he was done before turning to Kakashi and
seeming to take the decision to continue as to include the Hokage,
"as you requested I marked Alraune and Kaigo. That should lead us to all involved parties."
Kakashi nodded. This was part of Sasuke's plan, but it was supposed to be postponed to after
Sai's mission. Sai couldn't
talk to them about ROOT, nor tell them the names of people in their
organisation. The seal on his mouth prevented it. However, he had let them know
he was going to an important mission this time, which meant a ROOT would
accompany him. Sasuke had asked Shino to use his
bugs. A male bug had marked Sai, and Sai had passed on the scent on the
ROOT member, this way, Sai and he would pass the
scent to all the ROOT they would meet, who would pass the scent too and so on.
Each male had a different scent and only a female bug could smell this scent, they
had checked with Kiba that even a dog trained
perfectly wouldn't discern it.
Of course ROOT didn't only
meet ROOT members. For the moment Kaigo, Alraune were highly suspected, however Sai's
contact was one of them for sure. Furthermore Sai had
been given a female bug too, to put a scent on all the
ROOT member he was sure of, which meant those carrying this scent were ROOT for
sure. So if they crossed all the scents, they would be able to suspect more and
more people: the one with lots of scent could almost be pinned at ROOT for
sure. Not to mention this technique would also show them who helped them in the
village without necessarily being a ROOT. And they still had Elder Cat's list
to help them along.
"This is really
cunning," praised Kakashi, nodding his thanks.
Neji suddenly turned his head to the
door, moments before Hiashi made his entrance,
greeting them with a small nod. He stiffly walked to them before standing next
to Neji, his hand on his shoulder in a gentle manner,
his eyes on Sasuke.
"Hokage-sama,"
he said, wanting the man to focus on him, "Karin was found not-guilty and
is free to return to her duty as soon as she's healed."
Sasuke smirked, pleased with the decision.
Sakura grabbed Suigetsu in a tight hug in her
happiness, bouncing on her chair.
"Uchiha
is free to go see her if he wishes," added Hiashi,
continuing his report, "the council also deliberated about your
relationship with Uchiha," went on the man,
glancing to Kakashi before setting his gaze back on Sasuke, "they wanted to take control of the Uchiha's seals since you're evidently biased for such
judgement."
Sasuke bristled at that, his cup
shattering between his fingers, blood dripping on the table. Sakura gasped and
reached for him but Suigetsu grabbed her waist to
prevent her from doing so. Kakashi's fingers, still
on Sasuke's knee, had clamped down, digging into the
flesh. It was a sign of tension and concerns as much as a warning for Sasuke not to let his temper get the better of him.
"Wanted?" asked Kakashi, his voice tense.
"Yes but it was
decided against it at the majority plus one vote. Looking upon your acts until
now it was agreed that your decisions were always as much in favour of Konoha as Uchiha. I also believe
the fact Karin had been trapped motivated the council to show a bit of leniency
toward you both," explained Hiashi, before
smiling slightly and adding "Especially since Uchiha
seems full of good will and you are one of the sole person in Konoha able to keep him in check."
Sasuke snorted, obediently letting Sakura
fuss over his hand. Kakashi was grinning, eyes curved
but still weary. They got lucky. It was a very powerful ally to have Hiashi on their side, without him, things would have got out
of hand. Now Kakashi had to prove the council they
had made the right choice, which meant he couldn't get lenient with Sasuke.
"It's ok Kakashi, when Anbu unfairly
arrested and bound me and you let them drag me to prison and beat me up, I will
remember it's for my own good," snickered Sasuke,
stealing his lover's cup as his own was destroyed.
"Brat," replied Kakashi, rolling his eyes.
Hiashi looked amused before his expression
went blank again and he turned to Neji, silently
asking him to follow him. That seemed the cue everyone was waiting for to separate and go their own way. Kakashi
pinched Sasuke's ass as he and Suigetsu
left to see Karin. Under the dark glare he received for such behaviour in
public, Kakashi simply explained he needed strength
to go back to his boring office.
In truth he
had wanted to ascertain things were right between Sasuke
and him. Slouching, he dragged his mentally exhausted body to an old familiar
place: the memorial stone. There he snatched off his Hokage
robe, stuffed it in a pouch and stood there, hands in his front pockets.
Finally after minutes of staring at the engraved names, he raked a hand through
his hair and sighed.

"Obito... I think I'm drifting away from what you taught
me... I'm trash aren't I? Not leave your friends behind... whatever the
circumstances, right? I let them drag Sasuke away,
accusing him falsely," Kakashi fisted his hands,
closing in his eyes to fight the anger, at himself, at his own helplessness,
"fuck... I'm not made for that Hokage stuff... it's
tying me down. I would have stopped them and taken Sasuke
under my wing. I wouldn't have let them lay a finger on him... but because of
that title I... it was the best course of action for Sasuke
and Konoha, the more logical one, the reasonable
one... but... fuck... how many times will I have to let him down? Because it
was just that wasn't it?"

"You're
too harsh on yourself my youthful friend," commented a voice from behind
him.

Kakashi had been so engrossed in
self-loathing and blame he hadn't even felt another�s presence. He jumped,
startled.

"Gai! For Hokage's
sake!"

"Well
for Hokage's sake, which currently means your
sake, you shouldn't munch your mind so much you don't even feel me get
near," pointed out Gai, shaking a disapproving
finger toward his rival, "you should totally do 2000 laps on your hands
around Konoha!"

"Gai..." sighed Kakashi,
shaking his head, "I was having a serious conversation here," he
mumbled.

Gai
stared at the cold grey stone standing there and shook his head. Grabbing Kakashi's shoulders he looked at him right in the
eyes."Well I came to reply instead of Obito."

Kakashi's
visible eye widened slightly, but Gai's hands only
tightened on his shoulders, "because right now you're just blaming
yourself on your own."

Kakashi
shrugged, taking this opportunity to release himself from Gai's
hold, putting distance between them. Gai knew what he
was doing, closing himself behind his walls, ready to listen but letting all advice
slide from him as water on a window. He was certainly expecting Gai to reassure him, to lie so he would feel better. But of
course, this wasn't at all what Gai had planned
because he was for youthful truth and empty lies wouldn't help Kakashi.

"You
let him down," he said seeing how that goaded Kakashi
to truly listen to him, "you let the Anbu take
him to prison, he was beaten because of it and then you sealed him when he
escaped. Before indeed you wouldn't have let them touch Sasuke."

Kakashi
gave a fleeting look toward the stone, where Obito's
name seemed to conspicuous, years maybe managing to weather the stone but never
erasing it from his mind.

He
remembered his father's smile, love... then the emptiness, the despair and
finally the bowels on his fingers as he tried to save what was already a corpse
and had been ever since that mission where he had chosen friends over
orders...

"You
did what was needed not what was right, but in the end it did more good than
doing the right thing would ever have done. Konoha is
torn with suspicion, after the Uchiha affair was
revealed they now know they aren't such a nice and peaceful village. Some don't
believe in Sasuke, some do. The council is being
horribly cautious because of that� and they are also manipulated. To protect Sasuke you have to be Hokage."

Gai
pulled out the Hokage robe from the pouch, draping it
on Kakashi's shoulders. "You have not only your loved ones on
your shoulders but Konoha as a whole. You're not free
anymore, but this role suits you, because even if it's for the "greater
good", you will never be trash and leave people behind. If you had acted
as you wanted to from the beginning, Sasuke wouldn't
have proved his worth and his faithfulness to people as he did. Sasuke will be accepted back in the village on his own.
Furthermore, you might not be Hokage anymore; they
could have demoted you because you're biased. Sasuke
would be still in prison or maybe even dead. He's alive and you are still Hokage even now that they know you're his lover, it proves
you were fair."

"But I
let-" started Kakashi but he was cut off, Gai intending to drill his point home.

"You
did the best you could with the little freedom you have. You're sitting the ass
between two chairs. He understands that perfectly, otherwise he would leave
you, wouldn't he?"

Kakashi
had to smile at that. It was true, Sasuke wasn't one
to take betrayal lightly and if Kakashi did they
would be done. They weren�t which meant he hadn't messed up as much as he had
thought. He hadn't been at his side as well as he wished, but he had saved the
day in the end. They both knew it had been the best course of action.

"You have a small
network of people on your side; let them take care of matters you can't deal
with. You're doing your best already and now that the council knows about you
two, you will be freer. And if you suddenly lose sight of your
"trash" philosophy, I will beat it back into you Kakashi,"
assured Gai, giving his friend his nice guy pose,
white teeth shining.

"Thank
you Gai"

Gai
slapped his back a few time, a way to dismiss it all and have them start
walking.

"I told him that
even if I'm against revenge I won't stop him and will still help him get
stronger," admitted Kakashi, rethinking their
discussion, remembering he hadn't been able to tell Sasuke
he was sorry for letting Anbu drag him away... for
not being able to save Juugo and protect Karin.

"I'm
sure you did the right thing Kakashi," assured Gai, "and you're only human, you can't prevent some
people from having dangerous ideas and hurting others... but you will help make
things right and clean that mess," he added as an after though, flashing
another bright confident smile.

"How are you going to turn that into a contest?" wondered Kakashi idly, teasing.
ooooooooooooo
A week had passed since
Karin's trial and things had started to move. They had pinpointed many ROOT
members and they were closing in the Hyuuga traitor. Neji was now in danger since he was clearly Sasuke's ally. This mission just proved it even truer. The traitor
had tried to murder him. They had been ambushed and their adversary had known Neji's blind spot, aiming straight there.
Sasuke nodded to Sai
as he dashed to the Hokage tower while Sasuke carried an injured Neji to
the hospital. Gently he lowered Neji's body on the
stretcher, people rushing around him to stop his haemorrhaging, record his
vitals and bring him to a surgical room. Sasuke surveyed them even as his eyes glanced around to
find either Sakura or Shizune. He wasn't going to leave
Neji alone in the hospital without someone trust
worthy to watch over him.
"I will be fine,"
assured Neji, his face wet with perspiration but
otherwise perfectly composed.
"Hn,"
replied Sasuke, not moving an inch.
As one of the medic tried
using a scalpel to cut open Neji's injury and pull
the certainly poisoned arrow out, Sasuke gripped her
wrist.
"It's ok Sasuke," assured Shizune as
she entered the room, nodding to the medics to keep going, "you should go
catch some sleep, you look tired. Let a medic patch you up before if
needed," she advised.
Knowing he wasn't welcome
anymore, Sasuke nodded and left. For a moment he
contemplated going to Kakashi to have some minor injuries
tended to but decided against it. A good shower, some sleep and he would be ok,
if it still needed some healing tomorrow he would see to them himself.
It was early morning when
he felt someone in his room. At first he didn't stir, he knew the person, but then
warning bells went off in his head and he grabbed the kunai under his pillow
just in time to prevent one from slitting his throat. Wide awake now he dodged
some other blows and kicked his assailant away, using that small time to snatch
the blinds and let light pour in the room. His eyes narrowed. Sai.
He was wearing a different
mask, but the cut and clothes were the same, not to mention the way he moved. Now
was the moment he had to choose just how much he trusted that man and Naruto's judgement.
They were eying each other,
well aware that even if Sasuke was stronger he lacked
some of Sai's experience. This was going to be a
tough fight. Even mentally it would, because it was hard for Sasuke to trust people after all he had dealt with. Too
much betrayal and deception tended to make you a very wary person. Itachi, Madara...� Konoha.
He launched, in favour of
grabbing his sword Sasuke let his shoulder be gashed
on the top. But retaliating the moment his hand closed on the handle, Sasuke slashed at Sai, not
worried about the blood splashing on his bed. A bit more than
planned. Sai hadn't seriously evaded the hit.
"They will cut your
tree before he's too sturdy," murmured Sai, so
low Sasuke almost didn't catch it.
Sasuke lowered his guard just a bit and an
ink blade found its way to his heart, piercing his body from part to part and
pinning him to his wall. It disappeared seconds later, letting Sasuke collapse on the cold hard floor warmed by his own blood. Sai stumbled
backward, a deep gash from shoulder to hip. Not losing time used a fire jutsu, erasing all traces and jumped out, his injury
compressed by ink bandages so he wouldn't leave his blood behind.
"Sasuke!"
screamed Suigetsu from the corridor, he had certainly
felt the fight and rushed there.
Everything had happened too
fast for anyone to arrive on time. Water soon flooded the room, efficiently
stopping the fire and Sasuke felt hands on his chest,
trying to stop the flow of blood. He could hear cursing too, he smirked. He had
been right to trust Naruto's socially inept and
perverted friend. He could feel Sakura's chakra getting closer by the seconds. He
had known Suigetsu would put out the fire and Sakura
would be nearby enough to catch on her old crush being severely injured. Not to
mention that wound to the heart was a real work of art, a few inches more and
he would have died.
Sasuke blacked out with a smirk on his
lips. This could become home, if he was able to voluntarily lower his guard and
almost die out of shear trust, this could totally be home. A bit of spring
cleaning was all it needed.
ooooooooooooooooo To be continued oooooooooooooo
Reviews would be really
appreciated.
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Reunion of Shadows