Wow…it's been so long since I've really had the chance to sit down and write without life deciding that every other minute is a great time to interrupt. Life's been…utterly insane for a while now, but I've been wanting to get back into my regular writing, so I'm going to give it my best shot to slide back into this one first. But I really am tremendously sorry for the delay.

The second point of view in this chapter was supposed to be small, but it kind of grew and mutated out of control because when I dive into the psychology of a character, it gets…extensive. I hope that you all appreciate the complex analysis of psychology that went into the development of her pov. And the third one ended up a last minute pick, but one that I've been thinking about doing for this particular encounter. I just never thought I'd end up actually picking him. I've tried to do him justice, so...have some dumbass Suigetsu!

Enjoy!

Ciara's P.O.V.

I roll out my shoulders and rub the now bare skin of my wrists as I kneel on a soft cushion in front of my medical supplies. There's been a foreboding feeling nagging at the back of my mind, telling me that there is a battle ahead that I need to be properly prepared for. And despite not having access to the full array of medicinal herbs that I do in the shops back in the village, this overgrown volcanic caldera is filled with precious life, rare plants, and a number of medicinal herbs that will work just as well as the ones I'm used to.

"Lady Myojo." Aimi, one of the apprentices, steps into the room with a large basket filled with medicinal herbs. "Will these be enough?"

"Yes, of course." I set four small pots to warm over a tray of coals and pour freshly drawn water from a pitcher. This will serve as a base for extracting the oils and juices needed for my antiseptics and antidotes. Antibiotics are a little more difficult for me to make with the selection of herbs, but I'll just have to make do until I can get my hands on a larger range of supplies.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, My Lady?" Aimi sits beside me, her eyes bright and watching me closely. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? Would you like me to polish your weapons for you?"

Her eagerness makes me smile. I don't really want to put her to work like a servant, but she's so eager to help…it feels like it would be cruel to stop her by insisting that I can do everything alone. "Is there a store of incense here that is appropriate for lighting in honor of the ancestors?"

She tilts her head, then her eyes widen and she nods eagerly. "Oh, yes! Of course! We have lots of kinds of incense, I'll go find it for you." The skirt of her yukata whirls around as she flies out of the room to eagerly set out on her new mission.

It's cute really it is, but I guess that I'm still not really used to be treated with so much respect. My friends respect me, and then sometimes they don't, but that's a whole other matter entirely. But this feeling of being treated as something…more is a bit unnerving. I suppose it's something that I should have seen coming, but after so long being "normal" inside my own home, it's just hard to remember that I'm still something very different.

Then again, what is normal anyway?

A flash of red hair swings around the open door and a glasses-adorned face pokes inside to see me. "Hey, you got a minute?"

"Sure." Though I would have thought that Karin would be yelling at Suigetsu somewhere. Maybe our host got tired of it and told them to knock it off. "Was there something that you wanted to talk about? Or are you just here to stay away from the idiot?"

"Pfft, as if. I can get away from that idiot whenever I want. It's not like he can stop me." Surprisingly, Karin fidgets as she sits across from me and she eyes the silk kimono almost…enviously for a second. "So how…" Already, it occurs to me that I know what she wants to ask. "How's Sasuke doing, really?" Off the topic of Suigetsu already? She must really be worried…

It's a difficult question, especially since there's very little that he'll actually tell me about how his current blindness is affecting him. "He's stubborn and probably in pain, the muscles around his eyes are showing signs of fading inflammation, and he's probably not getting as much rest as he should be. But none of that is really new when it comes to Sasuke, as I'm sure you of all people know."

She snorts softly and relaxes a little. "Yeah, I guess so. He's so stubborn…"

"He's an Uchiha." Honestly, no one should be expecting any less of him. I don't, as much as I wish I could expect otherwise. I've tried and that didn't work out so well. "Some of them can be reasonable and flexible when it suits them, but when they want to dig their heels in, they'll dig them in hard. That's about when you'd have better luck moving a mountain. I would know, I've known a few."

Despite the slight against Sasuke, Karin actually laughs quietly. "Yeah, you're right. It's like he's determined to do everything on his own."

"I think we're all a bit like that." To some degree, anyway. I'm not sure if I could be called a rival to people like Sasuke and Naruto and Sakura when it comes to digging the heels in and stubbornly standing your ground. But I will admit that sometimes I give it my best shot. "We've all got something that we're willing to fight for." I did when I defended Neji to his clan. And speaking of Neji, I should probably look into making him that offer again. Maybe I should include a request for the sealing scrolls from the clan library in my next letter home.

"…Yeah, you're right." The way she peers at me now is a bit strange, like there's something she can't quite place. "What are you willing to fight for, anyway? Is it just Sasuke's revenge?"

"No, it's not Sasuke's revenge." Though I certainly got dragged into the fighting over that revenge, that was never my primary intention. "In my house, a dragon has always been the clan's protector, the one that watches over the family and defends the ones they care for against outside threats. So, doing all of this was the best way to protect the people I care about. They are what I'm willing to fight for." I glance at her and shoot her a smile. "You guys are what I'm willing to fight for too."

Karin stares at me for a few seconds, then huffs out a laugh. "You're so weird."

"I know." It's not like that's news to me. Naruto's been telling me that for years now. "But I'm fine with that. I was never meant to be normal anyway." No matter how much I wanted to be when I was younger. How things have changed…

"Lady Myojo!" Aimi comes racing back into the room, a panicked expression all over her face. "Hurry! There's going to be a battle outside!"

"A battle?" I can't think of any reason why there would be a battle in a place like this. "Are Jugo and Suigetsu sparring out there?"

Aimi shakes her head. "No, they're about to fight three visitors. They said that they were here to see you, but your friends said they've never seen them before, so-"

"Alright, then I'll handle this." There's no sense in sending Karin alone to break up a fight. She's just not the fighting type unless it involves her play-fighting with Suigetsu. Besides, I could do with an opportunity to stretch my legs.

Sakura's P.O.V.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead and set aside the latest batch of freshly compressed chakra pills. In the absence of anything else to do now that missions have stopped and no one is getting injured out there, it feels like every medic and extra available hand is working to create and stockpile supplies. The approach of war is hanging thickly in the air. I've never felt anything like this before.

The village still isn't nearly rebuilt, even now when it's been a month since Pain attacked. Though I guess that wanting it to be rebuilt so quickly is wishful thinking. It will be months, at least, maybe years…even with all of the help we've brought in. It makes gathering supplies hard when so many of them are going into rebuilding the infrastructure of the village.

Naruto did amazingly well when he defeated the last Pain, and Ciara did her best to restore the geography of the village, but we can't go relying on those two for everything. Especially now that both of them are gone. As far as I know, they're safe. For now.

I stack the pills into a box and wrap it, then place it on the counter with the dozens of other boxes that I've been busy preparing. Then I look into the box of supplies and sigh. There's not much left…and we've run out of three ingredients.

Without the ingredients I need to make the pills, there's nothing more that can be done here. The clock tells me that I've been sitting here for almost twelve hours now. Usually my shifts are only eight hours, but I'm not the only one working overtime right now.

"Sakura?" Ino pokes her head around the door, one clear blue eye staring at me from around her blonde bangs. "You're still here? Lady Tsunade gave the order for everyone to go home already."

"I know." One of the nurses came in earlier to tell me that and I told her that I was nearly done. That was three hours ago. I glance at the pile of boxes, then turn to stare at Ino. "Everyone has to do their part now. Making sure that the hospital is fully stocked with battle supplies and medicines is my job." As one of the medical coordinators, I have to do my best, no matter how many hours I have to sink into making the preparations for battle.

"Because there's going to be a war." Ino sighs and steps inside to lean against the wall. "…It doesn't feel real, you know? Every day we come down here to help get the hospital ready to move, but then we just…go back up to the house and it's like…"

"It's like they're both still there, like they're going to just pop around a corner any minute." But the truth is that they're not, and everyone is feeling it. It's so strange. To feel their presence so strongly in that house, and then to be greeted with silence whenever we open the door to either of their rooms.

"Yeah." Ino gets really quiet. It's funny, I've never really seen her quiet before. Ever since I first met her, she's always been loud and proud about stating her opinion, no matter the situation. But now…

I take a deep breath and stand up. This is part of my job too. I take three steps towards her and put my hand on her shoulder with a smile. I have to look after everyone while they're gone. "Come on. I'm done for the day and need to file the report about needing more supplies to be brought in. I can do that while we pick up Tenten and the guys." Hinata has been holed up with her clan, but most of our classmates have been using the house as our home base. With so little housing in the village, the fact that she let us open the lower levels of the estate as temporary housing has really helped. But the upper tier…she left that just for us.

Ino blinks, then her lips curve into a soft smile. "Yeah. Let's grab everybody and head home. We're going to have another long day tomorrow, so we've got to make sure that everyone is rested and fed before then."

I nod and walk past her through the door of my office. My office…it's such a strange thing to think about. A year ago, I would never have dreamed that I would be more than a field medic. But now…things have definitely changed. "By the way, have you seen Hiro and Akito anywhere?"

"Hm…" Ino taps her lip as she follows close behind me. "Let me think…I know that I saw them yesterday morning, but I don't remember them coming back last night. Maybe they're on a mission for Lady Hokage."

"Maybe…" But if it's those two…something tells me that if they are on a mission, then it's got to do with Ciara. They're two of the most loyal people I've ever seen. I'd even go so far as to say that if someone ordered them to assassinate her, they would probably kill whoever gave the order instead. The fact that they didn't disappear the moment that we got back to the village made me wonder just what they've been playing at.

Now, I think I know. They've gone to her, haven't they? Which means that they've gone to Sasuke too. Part of me wants to go to them, to him. But I don't even know what I would say.

Would I tell him that I don't regret loving him? That I don't blame him for being more focused on revenge than on being happy? That I understand where I went wrong and why he always brushed me off like I disgusted him?

I've been spending a lot of time in Ciara's meditation hall, where all of those old words are carved into the wall. Now I see where she get some of the things that she says from. The familiarity of those words makes it easy to sit in there and just…think. And I've thought about a lot of things in there.

I thought about how I didn't understand how much pain he was going through. I still don't. He never showed it to me. He never showed me the darkness that he held inside of him. So how could I possibly understand. Naruto…Naruto showed me everything that Sasuke never did. Sometimes, I wish that Naruto hadn't shown me just how much darkness he's been trying to deal with for all of these years. And sometimes, I want to protect him from it all.

I'll admit that for a while, I was jealous of Ciara. She seemed to be able to get close to Sasuke when no one else could. I thought if I just tried harder that I could do it instead of her. But the truth is that Sasuke never trusted me like he did her, not even when we were genin. Every time, even when he was running away from all of us, it's always been her who managed to get closest. If I had been the one captured by the Akatsuki…would he have bothered to save me like he did her?

"Sakura?" Ino waves a hand in front of my face, breaking me from the trance I'd wound my own head into. "Hey, are you okay? You're totally spacing out on me."

I shake my head and blink the scenery outside the hospital back into focus as I glance at her. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

Her eyes search my face and she closes them as she sighs. "You were thinking about Sasuke again, weren't you? You got that look on your face that you always do when you're thinking about him."

So now I have a look that tells her when I'm thinking about him. Great… "It's…" I want to tell her that it's nothing. But Naruto told me not to just smile and say that it's nothing when something really is bothering me. He knew…somehow he knew when I was doing it. "Yeah, I am. I'm just…remembering where I went wrong." It twinges a little to say that, but it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it used to.

Ino opens her eyes and smiles sympathetically. "Honestly, I think that we all went wrong at some point with him. We never did figure out how much he hated all of the attention while he was still here." She even has the nerve to giggle for a second. "It's funny though, isn't it? Sasuke went for the only girl in our class who didn't have a crush on anyone and who was too busy running around with Naruto or her teammates to really do anything girly like the rest of us."

Now that she mentions it…she's right. And it's actually enough to make me laugh. "And here we thought that being good girlfriend material was what he would want. Ciara was practically one of the boys back then." And…that's probably why he didn't run away from her like he did the rest of us. What a fool I had been. He criticized me for not practicing enough so many times. He was right, I really didn't train enough back then.

I've solved that problem now. I've ended up solving a lot of problems over the last few years. But he's made it pretty clear that he's not my problem to solve. And I have to wonder…is that all he was to me? A basket of problems that I could miraculously solve by showering him with a girl's inexperienced and starry-eyed love? He…doesn't deserve that, he never did. And I'm sure that Naruto would say that I don't deserve that either. Pining away after someone who can't see me the way I wanted him to when we were kids.

I don't feel as bad as I thought I would. I thought that when it hit me, my heart would break, just like it nearly did when we'd started hearing about the things Sasuke had done. I feel…not fine, but not empty inside. It's hard to when thoughts of that goofy, smiling, whiskered face come back to remind me that I've never been alone in this. And despite everything that's happened, Sasuke's not as changed as people think. Because I saw the way he was with her. It was the way I wished he would be with me.

But he's not, and somehow…I can accept that. It's not easy, but…I can do it. Still…it makes me wonder…was that really how it felt to be in love? What's the difference between loving someone, being in love, and being infatuated with the ideal image of someone? Maybe someday I'll have an answer to that.

I stretch my arms over my head and shoot Ino a grin. "Alright, now that I'm done thinking, how about we go and see how many of the others we can round up for a late dinner? I bet they're all starving after running around all day."

Ino laughs and relaxes. "Yeah, and Chouji is going to be unbearable. We'll need to make three times as much food if he's coming back with us tonight."

"Then it's a good thing that Ciara left us with a fully stocked pantry." We'd never be able to feed everyone regularly for so long if it weren't for the fact that her house is stocked as if she were preparing for a siege. We get fresh foods regularly, but the stores of dry food seem endless sometimes. The pantries make it impossible to doubt that once upon a time, the house's food stores fully supported a full head family. "Maybe today you can try another recipe to see if Sai likes it."

Ino's cheeks flush pink and I resist the urge to smirk. She's been dancing around the Sai issue for a while now, and I know she's interested in him. Though…I'm not sure how her exuberance and his cluelessness are going to work, I'll be happy if something comes out of it. After all, we could use a little more awkwardly funny affection going on at home.

Home. Even when they're not there, it feels like home.

Suigetsu's P.O.V.

I tap Zabuza's old cleaving knife against my shoulder as my teeth poke out over my lips. "We're not expecting anybody, which makes you a liar. So, you wanna try that again, dumbass?"

"And we weren't expecting to be stopped at the door by a guy with a shark for a mother." The brown-eyed guy's lips twitch like he thinks this is some kinda joke. But he won't be smiling when I carve him and his buddies up. "I told you, we're from the Leaf." He points at the headband again. It could be stolen for all I know. And even if it's true, the last thing we need is people getting close to Sasuke like this.

"So what? You're not getting in." I point the sword at him and his buddy, the quiet one. "Hey Jugo, you think you can handle the chick up there?"

"…Yes." Jugo shifts behind me, and man does it feel weird to have him at my back. Not too long ago he'd have been just as likely to rip my head off as back me up in a fight. "But shouldn't we hear them out first?"

"No way." That'll just give them time to stall and get back-up. It's definitely best that we just kill them all right now. But the quiet one pulls a blade and that sets my blood pumping. I snicker and imagine the blood as I tear him to shreds. "You think that little knife can handle my sword skills?"

There's a gleam in those stormy gray eyes that…I almost kinda like. "If it has to. You're with Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you?"

"Boys…" The chick up on the tree branch stares at us like she's our mother. "Would you all knock it off and try to get along? Listen to your friend. Hear us out and we can avoid a fight."

"Screw that. Why do you think I'd talk to any of you cept to gloat when I dance over your chopped up bodies?" Forget it, I hate these dumbasses.

Whoever the chick is, she's got him rattled, but he looks at me like I'm some kinda idiot or something for not listening to her. "Because we were asked to come her by our teammate. She's traveling with Sasuke and we're here with information for her."

"Yeah right. Try again." It doesn't matter how much this guy keeps yapping, I never heard a thing about any visitors. And the last guys from the Leaf that I didn't recognize ended up trying to kill us. Yeah right is that happening again.

The brown-eyed one shakes his head and makes a fist. "Can we not do this? I don't feel like kicking your ass today."

"Oh you're asking for it." I lunge forward with the urge to spill their blood pounding through me. Sasuke would always go on about how we're not supposed to kill anybody. But they're asking for it, so who am I to refuse?

Grey Eyes hangs back for a second, but Brown Eyes lunges right back at me. His whole arm turns almost black, like it's made of rock of something. Oh…this is gonna be fun.

But two seconds before I get to find out what's stronger, his arm or my sword, some genius tries to blind me with a flash of bright white…something. "Hey! What're you-" They must be cray, because anything that gets between my sword and whoever I'm killing is getting chopped in half first.

"Suigetsu! Hiro! Would you two knock it off already!?" My sword stops dead in the air, a small, tanned hand gripping the sharp edge like it's nothing more than a ball in her hand. And her other hand's got his black arm locked in a vice grip.

Oh…shit.

Ciara's eyes flash with that annoyance that usually means it's time to book it out of the room. Sheesh, she must have been taking lessons from Karin. "What do you two think you're doing?"

Jugo grunts softly behind me. "…Suigetsu dragged me out here. Said that Sasuke was in danger and that there were strangers here." Traitor...

She rolls her eyes and flicks her wrists, tossing my sword and that other guy, Hiro's, arm away from each other. "And you couldn't have left investigating 'visitors' to our host?"

Oh come on, what does she think she's playing at? I was just out here doing my job to protect Sasuke's ass. And hers! "Hey! I wanted to make sure it wasn't some Akatsuki dregs or some spies from the Leaf." Though they could still be spies from Sasuke's old village.

"Then I can promise you that they're neither." She crosses her arms and sighs, then glances back over her shoulder as her lips twitch into that weird smile that she sometimes uses when she looks at Sasuke. Well, one of the weird smiles anyway. "Suigetsu, Jugo, I'd like to introduce you to Hiro Kazaki and Akito Takara, my teammates from our genin days. I wasn't sure if they were going to send a messenger hawk with the information I wanted or come to deliver it themselves." Then she looks up into the tree and smiles really bright. Like…that Naruto guy kind of bright. "Though I didn't expect that you would ever come with them, Yuki-Sensei."

The chick, Yuki, jumps down from the tree and lands like a damn ghost. "Anything for my youngest student when she's gotten herself in over her head."

I've should probably keep myself from laughing when that makes Ciara look pretty sour. But I don't. "I'm not in over my head, Sensei. I just needed some adequate research materials before diving into an impossible request made by the one and only person who would ever think that this is a good idea."

"I don't know, I think that he's got the right idea." Grey Eyes, Akito, waltzes up to her and wraps her right up in a hug. "After all, short of Lady Tsunade herself, you're probably one of his best options. Not everyone's got the extra help that you do."

"Alright, I get it." She holds her hand out and beckons with her fingers. "Now, are you going to give me what you came to deliver? Or are we going to stay out here until everyone and their mother has been introduced?"

"Oh, I don't know, I could do with learning a bit more about who's been protecting our lady for us." That Akito's eyes glitter like some sort of interrogator when he looks at us. "Even if Hozuki's judgment is off, it's good to see that they're rather zealous about protecting you. But I thought you'd prefer it if we brought some pieces of home to you."

"Thanks…but if you want protective, you haven't seen the half of it." She grumbles quietly and gives the guy a good whack on the arm. "Besides, that's the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? You and Hiro are worse than these two are."

"Hmph." Jeez, way to go for making me look like an idiot. "Ya know, the next time that you want to invite some of your pals over, you should at least warn us. I coulda taken your pal's head off before you got here."

Ciara glances at me and does that sizing up thing she did the last time we were in a fight. Then she huffs and smiles like she knows something I don't. "Suigetsu, I never worried for a moment that you would kill Hiro. I was worried for a second that it could have been the other way around."

She takes that Akito guy by the hand and starts walking back towards the front doors of the temple. But damn it does that make my blood burn.

What the hell does she think she's talking about, anyway? I would never lose to that guy!

"Suigetsu!" She waves her hand in the air. You should come inside before it starts raining!"

"Oh come on!" I glare sideways at Jugo. "Why didn't you do anything? We could have taken them! How were we supposed to know they were her pals?" He's quiet, just like he usually it. That gets on my nerves too. Karin talks too much and Jugo never talks enough. "Am I the only normal person here!?"

He blinks one then grunts again. "Suigetsu…you're an idiot."