FicWad

Chapter Three: The Descent

...But one that for thy crime must fall

The youngest, most beloved of all

Shall bless thee with a father's name-

That word shall wrap thy heart in flame!

(from The Giaour by Lord Byron)

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Tsunade frowned. Despite her devotion to medicine, she hated working with mental patients. She didn't hate them; she just found it frustrating. It was like trying to unravel a huge tangled wad of string with her toes. It was always two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes it was three steps back. She rubbed her forehead. It had only been three days, but it felt like much longer.

Sasuke lay staring at the wall, his head turned away from Tsunade. Having displayed violent tendencies, he had been strapped onto his bed with special seals that were strong enough to restrain an elephant. He had been catheterized, and the seals were only slightly released to check for bedsores. He was alternately quiet and violent, at times laying still and silent; other times he thrashed wildly against his seals.

Tsunade looked down at her notes: Patient has so far displayed three fairly distinct personalities:

(1) angry, violent, obsessive, very strong. Is fixated on idea of restoring his clan, specifically with Haruno Sakura, most likely due to past friendship with her. Becomes agitated when she is mentioned. Patient becomes extremely angry when either Hatake Kakashi or Hatake Aiko are mentioned.

(2) Calmer than (1),but morose and secretive. This personality will volunteer very little information and speak in obscure phrases.

(3)This personality has only made one very brief appearance and is, I believe, the real Sasuke. It is in a state of fear and despair. It is obviously being repressed, due to probable extreme mental trauma...

"All right, Sasuke," Tsunade said quietly. Sasuke's eyes flicked away from the wall to the ceiling, which was about as much acknowledgement as Tsunade could expect. "Let's get back to Orochimaru. What can you tell me about your time there?"

Sasuke lay motionless, but mumbled. "Nothing to say. Nothing to tell."

"What happened when you left there?"

"Nothing. Go look."

Tsunade sighed. She didn't really expect much, but she had to persevere. He might actually let something important slip. "Tell me about Itachi. Did you kill him and Kisame?"

The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched and he gave an thick little chuckle. "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish!" He laughed again.

"Tell me about Itachi," Tsunade repeated calmly.

"He's gone. Look here. Look there. He's everywhere." Sasuke seemed to think this was particularly funny. Tsunade recalled how Jiraiya had described the remains as having been in pieces and scattered. She could only imagine how they got that way. She was about to speak again when Sasuke went on. "He's gone. I'm left. He's gone. I'm left." His mouth twitched. "I have to restore my clan! I came back! Sakura wanted me! I came back! She's-" He writhed slightly against the seals stretched across his chest. In a growling hiss he muttered, "He touched her! He got inside her and he made her-made her-unclean and she's mine!" Growing more and more agitated, he began to thrash back and forth, his growls rising to a scream. "She's mine! She's mine! She's mine!"

Tsunade finally rose from her chair and placed her hands gently on either side of Sasuke's head, letting chakra flow through her fingers. Sasuke slowed his thrashing and lay still and relaxed, his eyes half closed. Tsunade straightened up and pressed her hands against the small of her back. Two hours was long enough for now.

"We'll try again tomorrow, Sasuke," she said wearily, patting his shoulder. She left the room, resealing the door behind her.

It was early evening. Tsunade thought about what she might want for dinner. Whatever it was, there had better be some sake on the side. After today, she was going to need it. Getting to her office, she sat wearily in her chair and glanced over all the papers and scroll on her desk. One scroll in particular held her interest once again. It was nearly an antique, one of a set of vintage medical journals that Nara Shikaku had loaned her to look over. Much of the information was quaint and outdated, but there were a few techniques and methods that could still be put into practice.

The scroll that sat on the desk before her, apart from the others, had a number of forbidden medical jutsus. She had looked them over and found that there was a fairly large spectrum of what was considered forbidden. There were some that she actually knew of that were no longer forbidden, since certain chakra techniques had improved over time, making once dangerous jutsus now fairly safe.

There was one, however, that came with all kinds of warnings, and although it had been written down for somebody's reference at one time, was considered nearly fatal. It was called The Fractured Mind Healing Jutsu. Tsunade picked up the scroll and unrolled it. Finding that particular jutsu, she read it over again. The results could not always be guaranteed, which also put a major damper on using it. It could not only possibly cause the death of the user, but in rare instances, the patient as well. Tsunade rolled the scroll back up. No, it probably wasn't worth trying. For now, she would stick with conventional methods.

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Kakashi mentally braced himself as he entered the council chamber. A number of heads turned his way, and many of the younger jonin and chunin approached him and bombarded him with questions.

"How is Sasuke doing?" "Have you seen him?" "What's up with him?" "Did he really try to kill you?" "He's been gone, like, nine years! What was he doing all that time?"

Kakashi raised his hand. "Hold on! I don't have the answer to most of those questions." He looked at the faces around him, some of them Sasuke's old classmates. "No, I haven't seen him since he was brought here. And yes, he did try to kill me, so you can pretty much assume he's on my shit list. The rest of it you'll have to ask the Hokage."

He brushed past them and dropped off the jonin recommendations he had been asked to make. He left quickly before anyone else started bothering him about Sasuke again. Not only did it irritate him that everyone thought he was suddenly the expert on Sasuke, there were those who seemed to think he should be happy that he was back. Well, maybe he would have been if the son of a bitch hadn't tried to toast his little girl. As far as he was concerned, he would be perfectly happy if he never saw him again.

After taking care of a number of other errands and responsibilities, he went home. Aiko threw herself at him and wrapped her arms tightly around him as soon as he came through the door, and the collision jarred his head painfully.

"Ow! Take it easy on your old man, okay?" Kakashi said as he set Aiko back on her feet.

She looked up at him, chagrined. "Oh! I'm sorry, Daddy." Lately, she was extremely concerned about him getting hurt

Kakashi gave a sigh. His head still hurt, and it didn't feel like something that was just going to go away. He managed a smile and patted Aiko on top of her head. "That's okay," he said, then went into the kitchen. Sakura looked up at him as she was turning on the rice steamer. Pulling his mask down, he stepped up behind her and put his arms around her, leaning his head against hers, kissing her hair lightly. She rested her hands on his forearms.

"Long day?" she asked.

"It wouldn't have felt so long if everyone and their uncle hadn't been asking me about Sasuke every time I turned around. They all seem to think I should consider him some sort of long, lost brother."

Sakura was thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Well-"

"No, Sakura!" Kakashi said emphatically. "No. Don't even go there." He drew his arms away from her and took a glass from a cupboard and filled it with water. Reaching into another cupboard for a bottle of aspirin, he opened the cap and dumped three tablets in his hand.

Sakura knit her brows. "That's kind of a lot," she commented.

"I have kind of an enormous headache," Kakashi replied, popping all three tablets in his mouth and washing them down with water. He regarded Sakura thoughtfully. "I know we've been through this, but what are your feelings-your current feelings-about Sasuke?"

Sakura looked back at him with a serious expression. "Kakashi, if you want me to hate him, I'm sorry, but even after what he did, I can't. I don't love him, if that's what you want to know. And I thought you knew better than to ask me that anymore."

"No, you're right." Kakashi shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just feeling edgy for some reason. Looking death in the face does that to me," he added dryly.

Sakura gave a sigh. He'd looked death in the face lots of times and generally strode casually away from the encounter with his nose in one of his books. Well, this situation was unique, after all. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, tilting her face up and parting her lips invitingly. "I love /you/, Kakashi. Don't forget it."

Kakashi took up her offer and pressed his lips to hers. "I won't," he replied with a smile.

-----

Kakashi stared down at his plate, leaning his head against his hand. His head was still pounding and he had no appetite.

"I can't eat anything right now," he said finally, dropping his chopsticks beside his plate with a abrupt gesture.

"You still have that headache?" Sakura looked at him with mild concern.

"Yeah. I'm going to lie down for a while." He got up from the table and went into the living room. Aiko watched him as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Is Daddy sick?" she asked Sakura quietly.

"No, I think it's just stress," Sakura replied. At least she hoped it was.

"Is that when you're worried about stuff?"

"Yeah, it can be."

"Is Daddy worried?"

"I think he might be."

"About that bad Sasuke man?"

Sakura gave a sigh and regarded her daughter. "Aiko, I know it's kind of hard to believe, but Sasuke really isn't bad. He's just really, really sick." She thought for a moment, then said, "It's like he's having a nightmare and he can't wake up."

Aiko was not entirely convinced. He had sure looked awake to her. But there were other things on her mind. In a worried little voice she asked, "Is Daddy mad at me?"

Sakura looked at her with surprise. "No, sweetie! Why do you say that?"

"'Cause of when I wandered off." Aiko played with the remaining food on her plate. "And I bumped him when he came home and he got a headache."

"Oh, sweetie, that wasn't your fault. He's not mad at you!" Sakura assured her. "He doesn't feel well and he's worried. That's all."

The next morning, Kakashi felt better and dismissed the headache as stress related, although he still felt a lingering edginess. By that evening, however, the headache returned, along with a faint buzzing sound in his ears. He ended up lying on the couch again, his eyes shut tightly and his features pinched.

"Daddy, do you feel sick again?"

He cracked open his right eye and saw Aiko standing next to the couch, holding a picture book in her hands and peering down at him. "Do you have a stress?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, his voice tight. "And I really don't want to answer questions right now. It hurts to talk. It hurts to listen, too," he added as Aiko opened her mouth to speak.

She glanced down at the book she held, then back at Kakashi. Very meekly, she asked, "Could you read to me?"

Kakashi felt a momentary surge of raw anger swell up in him, and he drew in a quick, hissing breath, struggling to fight it down. "What did I just say?" he growled. "I can't talk right now."

Aiko regarded him sadly for a few moments, wanting desperately to get him to say something nice to her, but too afraid to talk to him. Finally, she walked away.

After a while, Sakura came and stood over him. "Are you sure there isn't something I can do for you?" she asked, concerned.

Kakashi spoke slowly and with some effort. "You can leave me the hell alone."

Sakura's eyes widened and she stared at him, at a loss for words. /He must really be in a bad way/, she thought. She knew there wasn't any point suggesting he go to the hospital. He had already voiced his feelings about not wanting to go anywhere near there while Sasuke was there. He wasn't comfortable about Sakura being there, either, but that was her job, and she wasn't going to let him start dictating to her about that, or anything else, for that matter.

She couldn't help thinking that Kakashi was overreacting just a little. Yes, what Sasuke tried to do was terrible, but he was suffering from severe mental illness and could hardly be held responsible for his actions. Tsunade had been working with Sasuke for the past several days, and although he was making very little progress, Sakura felt a little better knowing he was safe and was getting some sort of help.

Kakashi fell asleep on the couch. Sakura was unhappy about this. It gave her the even stronger impression that they had had a fight, although she wasn't about to wake him up and tell him to come to bed. She put a blanket over him, kissed him very lightly on the lips and went to bed.

Early the next evening, after a fairly pain-free day, Kakashi's headache flared up again, along with the buzzing sound. He was determined to be able to function with it, rather than spend the evening on the couch, but his nerves felt like raw, shredded meat that was twisted into a long cord and pulled as tight as it could possibly get. He attempted to make dinner, although he wasn't sure how it had come out, and he certainly didn't feel like eating it. It began to prove more of a trial than he expected. Every noise set his teeth on edge and sent short, stabbing little pains through his head.

He gave Aiko a stack of bowls and pointed wordlessly to the table. She nodded, trying desperately to be helpful and not make too much noise. But on her way to the table, she tripped, and the bowls fell to the floor and shattered.

"Holy shit!" Kakashi hissed, clutching his head. The sound had sheared through his brain as though the top of his head had been taken off by a giant shuriken. "Damn it, Aiko! What the hell are you doing!"

Aiko jumped and stared at him. He had used bad language within her hearing only twice that she could remember, and neither time had it been directed at her. This was a first, and she was shaken and confused. "W-what?"

"Why are you being so clumsy?" Kakashi demanded. This brief unleashing of anger had actually taken the slightest edge off his pain, and on some baser level of consciousness it was an ecstasy of relief . He yelled at Aiko, "That's three bowls gone!"

"I-I'm sorry, Daddy!"

"Don't give me that look!" Kakashi told her darkly. "It's not going to work this time! Go to your room!"

Aiko's dark eyes widened and her mouth opened, but nothing came out. Finally she started stammering, "B-but, Daddy, I said I-"

Kakashi leaned down and grabbed her chin roughly. He pushed her face up and his fingers dug into her skin. "Why aren't you listening to me?" His voice was harsh and his eye glared at her menacingly. "I told you to go to your room. How hard is that to understand?"

Tears started forming in Aiko's eyes and she started to tremble. "Daddy, that hurts!"

Kakashi released his grip on her chin, pushing her away roughly. "If you don't get moving, I'm going to smack your butt so hard you won't be able to sit down!"

Aiko gave a terrified cry and ran out of the kitchen and into her room, sobbing. Sakura had just come home and stood in the open doorway staring at her daughter as she disappeared down the hall. Sakura slammed the door and strode into the kitchen. She found Kakashi leaning forward, his hands gripping the edge of the counter and the muscles in his forearms knotting tensely.

"Kakashi, what the hell is going on here?" she demanded.

Without turning to look at her, he growled, "Don't fucking start with me, Sakura!"

Sakura froze where she stood, dumbstruck. She could faintly hear Aiko crying in her room, and she was torn between going in to see her and trying to talk to Kakashi. Finally, she said, "What is wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Kakashi replied slowly and deliberately. "I've had it with you constantly asking me what's wrong with me!" He pushed himself away from the counter, his head jarring painfully. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

"Kakashi, you need to go to the hospital. I think you should have some tests-"

"I am not going to the hospital!" Kakashi yelled. "I told you, I am not going anywhere near that place until that fucking little murderer is out of there and in prison where he belongs!"

"Sasuke is not a murderer! He's sick, Kakashi! He's developed a-"

"I don't care what he has!" Kakashi pressed the heels of his hands against his forehead. The pain kept withdrawing by a mere fraction, then surging forward again. He was desperate to make it stop. "He's still dangerous! And I don't want you going back while he's there, either!"

Sakura gave an audible gasp. "You have no right to tell me that!" she cried, her voice starting to shake with anger. She suddenly had the idea that Kakashi might have a brain tumor, and she felt afraid. But she dismissed the thought and glared at him angrily. "I am one of the senior medics now. I have an important job to do, and you can't tell me to just blow it off because you're-you're jealous!"

Sakura's voice was digging into his brain like a senbon, but he advanced on her threateningly. "Is there any reason why I should be jealous?" he asked her, his teeth clenched.

Sakura stood her ground and glared at him. "No, of course not! But the way you're acting right now isn't exactly doing our relationship any good!"

"Fine!" Kakashi shouted. "Fine! You think you'll be better off with Sasuke, go right ahead!"

"Why are you being so stupid!" Sakura shouted back. In her own fit of rage and confusion, she pushed him hard against his chest.

Kakashi stared at her incredulously, then drew back his fist. Sakura stared back at him in complete shock, at first unable to react. Kakashi's labored breathing suddenly caught in his throat, and the look of fury on his face changed to one of horror. He abruptly clapped his hands together, forming a seal, and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

With a cry, Sakura staggered forward to the spot Kakashi had just vacated. She looked wildly around the kitchen for a moment, her fists clenched, drawing in great sobbing breaths of air. "Hatake Kakashi, you come back here!" she cried into the empty room. Then she sat on the floor and started to cry.

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Kakashi reappeared a few streets over, and he nearly staggered as the pain rushed back to his head. It was starting to get dark, and no one was on the street he had materialized in, for which he was grateful. He looked around blearily to get his bearings, then started walking.

In his darkening room, Sasuke lay still in his bed, staring inwardly, and he smiled.

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Sakura splashed water on her face and dried off with a towel. She forced herself to be calm, took a deep breath, and went into Aiko's room. She could hear the little girl's muffled sobbing, but she didn't see her at first. She dropped to her knees and looked under the bed. Aiko was curled up in a ball, her face covered, weeping.

"Aiko, sweetheart, it's okay. Come on out."

Still crying, Aiko crawled slowly out from under the bed. "Where's Daddy?" she asked, her breathing ragged.

"He-he went out somewhere," Sakura told her. She gathered her up in her arms and sat on the floor with her, rocking slowly back and forth.

"I'm sorry, Mommy!" Aiko sobbed.

"What for, sweetie?" Sakura smoothed her hair. "You didn't do anything."

"I-I dropped the bowls on the floor and they broke and Daddy got really mad!" Aiko drew in several quick, tortured gasps. "Daddy doesn't love me anymore!" She buried her face against Sakura's shoulder and sobbed, nearly hysterical.

Sakura held her tightly. Oh, God, Kakashi, what have you done? She felt her own tears returning, but she fought to hold them back. Somebody had to keep it together. "Oh, Aiko, sweetheart, that's not true!" It had better not be true.

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Genma lay on his stomach on the floor, having just completed a couple hundred push-ups. He was considering various take-out possibilities for dinner, trying to come up with the perfect meal. It would save him from having to make two trips.

A pounding on his door made him raise his head, scowling. "Son of a bitch," he muttered to himself. Getting to his feet, he stretched his arms and started for the door. The pounding started again. "I'm coming!" he called irritably. "Keep your damn shirt on!"

He opened the door and was surprised to see Kakashi standing there. Then he was surprised by how thrashed he looked. Then he was surprised by Kakashi barging into the apartment and collapsing on the couch. Genma closed the door and turned to consider this intrusion. "Um..."

"I need a place to crash," Kakashi muttered, his head leaning back against the cushions.

Genma gave a short laugh. "Um...as nostalgic as that makes me feel," he said, "I have to wonder what I owe this honor to."

"I just need to."

Genma regarded him for a moment. "You look like shit. I mean, what I can see of your face looks like shit."

"Fine. That's what I feel like pretty much everywhere." Kakashi winced at the twinges of pain.

"I still don't quite get it." Genma's eyebrows suddenly rose. "Oh! Damn! Don't tell me there's trouble in paradise! Did you and Sakura have a...um...tiff?"

Kakashi's brows pinched together. "I guess you could say that," he replied with weary reluctance.

Genma shook his head. This just wasn't right. "So why'd you pick me? How do you know I didn't have a guest?" Kakashi just sat there. "How do you know I'm not expecting one?"

"Genma, just shut the fuck up."

"Fine." Genma picked up his shirt and pulled it on. "Just come on over to Shiranui 'No Questions Asked' Genma's place," he muttered dryly. "Just like old times." He stood in front of Kakashi for a moment. "Wanna beer?"

"No. Yeah."

Genma nodded and went over to his mini fridge. Nuts. There were only two left. He shrugged and picked them both up, popping the tops off with his belt buckle. He handed one to Kakashi as he walked past him on his way to the chair next to the couch. He dropped himself into it and watched his friend as Kakashi pulled off his forehead protector and rolled the cold bottle against his forehead.

"Okay," Genma said after a while. "Call me a pest, but I'm just really curious. What happened?"

Kakashi sat silently for several moments, his eyes closed, the bottle still pressed against his head. Genma gave a shrug, figuring he might as well give up, then Kakashi said, "I almost hit her."

Genma gave a start. "Say what?"

"I almost hit Sakura" Kakashi's voice was strained. "Not by accident, not to be funny. I was going to send her across the room."

"What the hell for?" Genma asked, staring in disbelief.

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know." He sounded exhausted and a little scared. "I don't even fucking know. It was all I could do to stop myself." He took a deep breath and went on. "I've been having these killer headaches for the past couple of days and I've been ready to just completely snap. I've been getting angry at the slightest things." He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the beer bottle harder against his forehead. "God! I scared the crap out of Aiko. I got so mad at her I threatened to smack her."

Now Genma was really shocked. "Oh, dude, you didn't!" He sat forward. "You shouldn't be here. You need to go home and get this straightened out."

"I can't!" Kakashi shook his head slowly. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't trust myself. I'm going to need to stay here for a few days."

"Oh, are you?" Genma scowled. "Would any of this have anything to do with Sasuke?"

Kakashi flinched and his right eye opened and fixed Genma with a cold stare. "That is something I really don't want to talk about."

Genma shrugged. "Fine. Whatever." This was just going to be so much fun. He took a swallow of beer. "Douche bag," he muttered. He finished up his beer, brooding in his chair for another twenty minutes. Kakashi had turned and lay down on the couch, his arm resting across his eyes. Genma watched him for a few more minutes, then said, "I'm going to run out for some more beer and something to eat. You want anything?"

"No."

"Fine." He got up, stuck his senbon between his teeth, and left his apartment. He picked up another six-pack, and before he went to pick up some sushi, he stopped by Sakura's house and knocked on the door. He could hear the sound of running feet and the door was flung open. Sakura stood there, looking not a whole lot better than Kakashi did. At first, she had a look of disappointment on her face, then she looked at Genma pleadingly.

"Genma! Do you know where Kakashi is?" she demanded.

"Yeah, he's at my place." Sakura's body sagged with relief and Genma regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. "This has gone a little bit past not being any of my business, so could you explain to me what's going on?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know! I thought he was just having a bunch of tension headaches, or even migraines, but he's been so irritable. And he got so angry before! It's just not like him!" She sighed despondently. "I was so happy when I came home today, too." She looked at Genma sadly and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm pregnant."

Genma gave a little start. When a woman tells you she's pregnant and she's not crying for joy, that's not an ideal situation. "Oh! That's cool, I guess. Is it?"

"Well, it would be if all this wasn't going on." Sakura pushed her hands through her hair and gave a loud sniff. "I never even got a chance to tell him! As soon as I got through the door, Aiko was running to her room, crying her heart out. Then Kakashi just blew up at me! Genma, there's something really, really wrong! He just doesn't act like this! He refuses to let me help him. He won't go to the hospital because Sasuke's there, like that makes any difference. I mean, Sasuke's so messed up right now, he barely knows what's going on."

"Are you sure about that?" Genma asked her.

"What?" Sakura looked at him, puzzled.

"Think about it. You may be a little too close to the situation to realize it, but has it occurred to you that there might be some next level shit going on here? I mean, here's Sasuke, strapped to a bed with a tube up his johnson, which is about as helpless as a guy can get, and he is still able to screw you guys around." He looked at her intently. "Think about whose company he spent three years in, Sakura. Orochimaru's. Somebody who had the mind control jutsu down pretty damn well."

Sakura stared at him for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh, shit!" She pressed her hands to her head, trying to think. "I need to get over there," she said in a determined voice.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, no. Please go back and keep an eye on Kakashi. Can he stay with you for a while?"

"For you, I'll do it. Or at least until I get really sick of him. Then I'll just roll him out into the street, and wait for a good rainstorm to wash him down the sewer with the other turds," Genma said with a wry grin, then he grew somber. "Listen, you be careful."

"I will. Oh, God, I have to drop Aiko off somewhere!" She gave Genma a quick hug. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it."

After he left, Sakura went into Aiko's room. The little girl had been sitting on the floor near her bed, holding her stuffed raccoon. She was trying to figure out just what it was she had done that had made her father so angry. She seemed convinced that all the bad stuff started the day she wandered off in the woods. If she hadn't, maybe that bad Sasuke man wouldn't have gotten so mad, either.

"Aiko, I need you to change your clothes." Sakura went over to Aiko's closet and took a quick look inside. She grabbed a dress and a hair ribbon and put them on the bed.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" she asked as Sakura started to help her change. They must be going somewhere fairly important if she was putting on a dress.

"I need to go do something, and you need to go over to Naruto and Hinata's," Sakura told her, slipping the dress on over her head.

Aiko pulled her arms down and held them close to her chest, trying to back out of the dress. "No! Mommy, I want to stay with you! Why can't I stay with you!"

"Because I have to do something at the hospital, and I can't take you with me." Because your father isn't here to take care of you and because I have to face down a homicidal crazy person. "Honey, please put your arms in the sleeves! Don't make this harder for me."

"I'm sorry, Mommy," Aiko replied meekly. She stood still while Sakura quickly brushed her hair and tied a ribbon around her head. "Are you going to be gone a long time?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Maybe."

"Is Daddy going to be gone a long time, too?"

Sakura blinked her eyes rapidly so Aiko couldn't see the tears forming in them. "I don't think so. Don't worry about Daddy, okay? Now listen. Naruto and Hinata are going to take you with them to Hinata's father's house for dinner, so I need you to be a really, really good girl. You need to remember everything we taught you about being polite. You need to be very polite to Hiashi-san. Can you do that?"

Aiko was particularly dismayed by this news. She had only met Hiashi a couple of times, and she thought he was scary. She'd pretty much had it up to the eyeballs with scary men. But she knew that if she didn't want anything else bad to happen, she had to be as good as she could possibly be. She gave Sakura a dismal little nod. "Okay, Mommy."

"That's my baby!" Sakura gave her a tight hug, then taking her by the hand, she led her from the house and started for Naruto's place. The one problem with this plan was that Naruto was not expecting them, and they had to get there before he and Hinata left. Fortunately, they were just getting ready to leave when Sakura came to the door.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, surprised at seeing her. He scowled slightly at the look of worry on her face. "What's wrong?" he promptly asked, letting her in.

"Naruto, I have the biggest, most desperate favor to ask of you!" Sakura stepped past him and gazed somberly at him and Hinata. "I know you're going to see your father, Hinata, and I wouldn't have bothered you, but I can't ask Iruka and Ayame because Kaito has the stomach flu."

"Of course we'll help you," Hinata said. "What do you want us to do?"

"I have to go back over to the hospital, and I need to leave Aiko with you," Sakura replied, looking worriedly from one of them to the other. "I'm so sorry, but something is terribly, terribly wrong. There's something really wrong with Kakashi. I can't really explain it right now, but I think Sasuke has something to do with it."

Naruto started forward. "How? What is he doing?"

"I don't know. But I'm going over to the hospital to find out."

"You're going to see Sasuke?" Naruto's face grew stern. "I should go with you!"

Hinata gave a little gasp, and Sakura shook her head. "No, Naruto! I can't think of anyone I'd rather have with me, believe me!" She grimaced unhappily. "Except for Kakashi, but he's...not available! But you need to stay with Hinata. And please, please, please let Aiko go with you!"

"We will, Sakura-chan!" said Hinata. "We're going to be staying the night there-" Naruto rolled his eyes "-and Aiko is welcome to stay with us for as long as you need her to."

Enormously relieved, Sakura gave her as big a hug as she could give to a woman who was carrying twins. "Thank you so much, Hinata-chan!" She turned to Aiko and bent down to give her a hug and a kiss. "Everything's going to be okay, sweetie," she assured her, hoping it was true. "Be a good girl, okay?"

Aiko nodded slowly. "Okay, Mommy."

Sakura turned to Naruto, whose blue eyes were filled with concern. "Thank you! I'll let you know what happens as soon as I can!"

"Just be careful!" he warned her.

"I will." Sakura turned to the door, taking one last look at Aiko, then wishing she hadn't. The little girl looked so deeply unhappy, as though she were being abandoned. Sakura gave her a little wave and a smile she hoped didn't look fake. "I'll see you later, sweetie." Then she left, her face set with a look of cold determination.

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Kakashi was relieved that Genma had left, even for a short time. That idiot's chattering was guaranteed to completely push him over the edge. The pain in his head and the incessant, whining hum was beginning to block out his capability for rational thought. He lay motionless on the couch, feeling as though he was lying at the bottom of a black pit with only his pain for company, while somewhere just above him a primitive, animal-like rage battled with a deep despair. He was tortured with images of the faces of his wife and daughter and the look of fear and betrayal that he had put in their eyes. He gradually slipped into unconsciousness with an almost detached melancholy, thinking he would never be able to see them again.

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AN: Please don't go rating this OOC. You have to take the action in the context of the story.