Feral Dreams

I'm really sorry it took so long for this chapter, between life and work I had almost no time to work on the story in the first week. Still, I hope you all enjoy the story, please read and review.

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With the impact of every landing, they were jarred back an forth and even though Gamabunta's jumps cleared roughly half a mile each, there were still far to many of them for the critically injured among them.

Before leaving, Sasuke had set Sakura's legs so that they'd be straight, but considering the substantial damage combined with the rush job and lack of useful materials, it wasn't that great a job. After leaving, Sasuke had taken up a seat beside Sakura's prone form and several times since they had left, he had force fed her some soldier pills to keep her heart beating and to replenish blood, but he had already passed the maximum safe dose and they were starting to lose effect.

Hinata sat near KIba as she held Sair's sleeping form, watching him and praying that he continued to breath until they got back to Konoha so that he could receive proper care. Kiba had a collapsed lung and neither she nor Sasuke had any idea on how to treat it, she just stayed nearby in case he needed resuscitation.

It had only been a little over two hours since they had left, but she didn't feel that their return to Konoha could be fast enough. If they had travelled on foot, it would have taken at least two days and without a doubt Sakura would have died, likely Kiba would have as well.

Part of her wished she was still back at the facility, not wanting to leave Naruto and Ten Ten behind, but she knew it would have been impossible to save them. At least in the end she had been able to in some way express how she felt about him, she hoped that he was happy in the end. Again she felt the tears welling and wanting to be released, but she held strong against it and was able to resist.

Sair stirred in her arms, obviously awoken by the multiple harsh landings and rolled around to look up at Hinata, when she did, her eyes lit up as she saw the bright sky overhead.

"Mommy, the nice man didn't lie to Sair." She threw herself into Hinata's chest, happily wrapping her arms around, "Can Sair hug the nice man too mommy?" She looked up expectantly at Hinata.

Hinata's eyes began to water, "Shit" she said, her throat choking it off slightly changing Sair's look from expectant to worried. Hinata tried to wipe away the tears, but they continued to flow no matter how much she removed them.

"Mommy?"

"Stop... please Sair, stop." What little composure she had left was scrounging to control her emotions. Sair stood up, distracting Hinata from her own self pity and amazing her that the little girl had perfect balance on a giant toad leaping through the air, but it was her next question that surprised her more.

"Where's Sair's mommy?" She stared at Hinata accusingly, her blood red eyes seeming to burrow in.

Hinata watched Sair a moment, hoping that the little girl was just confused, but she knew that wasn't the case. With a deep sigh, she wiped away some residual tears and thanked god that even though it was a bad subject, she was being distracted from Naruto for the moment. "Can I ask how you figured out Sair?"

Sair eyed her warily a moment before deciding that she could explain herself, "Mommy never calls Sair, Sair. She only calls Sair, baby or Sa-chan."

Hinata thought back to when she first met Sair and her justification made sense, just before had been the first time she had called Sair by her name. With a small nod of understanding to the little girl, she decided it was time to explain herself, at least a little bit, "Sair, my name is Hyuga Hinata. There are a lot of things I'm going to need to explain to you, but I don't think we should deal with that right now. Can we talk about it after we arrive in Konoha? I promise you we're not trying to hurt you or do anything bad to you." She prayed that the girl would understand the urgency of this. She had no problem explaining the scenario to Sair, it would be difficult, but there shouldn't be too many major problems. However discussing with a distressed child while rushing back to town for urgent medical attention while on the back of a giant toad, wasn't on her to do list.

Sair pursed her lips, apparently thinking on what Hinata had asked her, it only took her a moment before she smiled over at Hinata, "Okay. Sair doesn't like having to wait, but Hinata was nice to Sair the whole time so Sair will trust Hinata to tell her later." Hinata couldn't help but smile a little bit as Sair moved back and curled up in Hinata's lap. "How long does Sair need to wait?" Her voice echoed from the confines of Hinata's coat.

"Probably another hour or two, can you wait that long? We should at least be back in Konoha in the next half hour to an hour."

As expected, this was not enough to sate the young girl as her voice chimed up again, "If we get there in half an hour why does Sair need to wait two hours?"

Hinata wrapped her arms tighter around the little girl, laughing to herself at the simplicity of a child's logic, "Because after we get back, the first thing that we need to do is get these two to the hospital, then have someone take a look at you to make sure your healthy, then we will need to see the Hokage." Sair scrunched her face in discontent, but let the subject drop.

"Hinata?" Came the girls voice again after several seconds of silence.

"Yes?"

"Why are we flying?" Hinata choked on a laugh, this was going to be interesting to explain.

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The grass was still green, the afternoon air was crisp, the trees gracefully shed their leaves, and not a single person had walked past all day, this was looking up to be a great day for slacking off. At the moment, Shikimaru was laying down in the grass staring up at the sky with a stick of grass hanging from his lower lip. A contented sigh left his lips as a light wind played over him, gracefully pushing the clouds across the sky.

"Hey pineapple head, can you actually do something for once? Like maybe, stand up, or take a watch? You know, things that you're supposed to be doing?" Barked Ino's commanding voice from beside the gate, shattering his calm and peacful world for the third time in the last hour.

"Well, it was nice until you started to talk." He thought to himself, being careful not to left those thoughts reach the surface, since if they did he'd be likely to experience a very unpleasant awakening one of these days.

"Relax Ino." He spoke in a bored tone, not really caring that she was getting more annoyed with him by the moment, "There are no expected caravans and nobody of any import is supposed to be arriving for another two days. Just come and sit down with me, relax for a while and everything will seem better."

Ino walked the several feet around and glared down at him, Shikimaru just smiled up at her, her long ponytail draping over one shoulder and hanging down practically to the ground. He bat the length of hair lightly with his hand making it sway like a pendulum, drawing an irritated snort from his blonde companion.

He was expecting her to yell at him a bit, then probably kick him in the ribs before storming off, but much to his amusement she just sighed dejectedly and plopped down so that she was lying against him with her head on his stomach. He placed his arm down across her chest in an affectionate manner, enjoying the physical contact and calm silence.

She reached up and took his hand, seeming content to just lay there despite their responsibilities, "It really is boring today, isn't it?" she sighed to herself once again as she realized more and more that she was becoming just as lazy as him.

"At least you have somewhat pleasant company." Even though she wasn't facing him, she could tell he was smiling smugly at his own cockiness.

She bit her lip to prevent herself from retorting as she wanted, instead she squeezed his hand lightly and rolled herself over so she could look at him, "You really are an idiot some days, even denser than Naruto I'd say." Shikimaru arched his eyebrow disbelievingly at her comment, seeing this she continued, "Well lately he's been really stoic and fairly mature... okay, well I've heard stories of people saying he can act mature. Around us he still acts like the same old dumb blonde. And if I hear you even begin to mutter something about dumb blonde, then it's very likely that you wont live to regret it." She said with a combined glare and pout.

Looking at her odd expression, he let out a deep laugh before bringing up his free hand to run across her hair, "Don't worry about that, anyone who knows you wouldn't be that stupid... after all, I know what you can do better than anyone."

She giggled, covering her mouth so that hopefully he wouldn't notice, "We really should get back to work, sure we can see from here, but if someone comes by we could get in trouble."

He snorted as he tried to suppress his own laughter, "Come on, nobody is even anywhere near the gate and we could likely sense them coming a mile away." A long shadow gradually stretched across the field and over the two of them. Looking up, he thought to himself that maybe there'd be some nice clouds passing over, however he had not ben expecting what he saw.

Ino saw his eyes widen in surprise as he rolled to his feet, scooping her up in the process and jumped back against the wall. She turned her head to face the way he was looking and saw a massive object falling out of the sky.

The sounds of splintering treed and shattering stone echoed as the massive form of Gamabunta landed less than 50 feet from the entrance. Ino slipped out of Shikimaru's grip and back to the ground, all the while staring up at the massive form of the toad.

"Ummm," She spoke up to the giant creature since Shikimaru appeared to still be stunned, "why are you here... Sir?"

One giant yellow eye looked down at her, taking in her attire and appearance, then muttered one word as though he was dismissing her entirely, "Passengers."

As if in response to his statement, Hinata and Sasuke jumped from it's back each one supporting the shoulder of a very pale looking Kiba. Sasuke unceremoniously dropped him and leapt back on top of the toad, leaving Hinata to support Kiba's bulk herself.

"A little help here?" Came Hinata's strained voice as the supported body threatened to pull her to the ground.

Shikimaru, snapped from his utter confusion, rushed over to take his other shoulder, looking at her pale and tired looking face, he decided to ask, "What happened, where are the others?" Her reaction was unexpected as her face set into a hardened emotionless expression.

"Later, first we need to get these two to the hospital." Continuing to surprise to the onlookers, she looked up to Ino and in a commanding voice that defied her normal quiet demeanor, "Ino, get the Hokage now! Tell her to meet us at the hospital immediately." She had wanted to say it was Sakura that was injured, but she realized that if she had said that, the girl would have probably panicked and not wanted to leave them.

Ino's brain had stopped processing for a moment, the meek little Hinata had grown a backbone and was using it, "What ha..."

Hinata cut in angrily, "Just shut up and go! The longer you wait the more likely they are to die, now GO!" Pushed back from her words, Ino quickly turned and disappeared into the gate. Hinata sighed, her hardened look melting back into a very distressed one.

Shikimaru noticed her change in appearance and took in the oddities of it, she was wearing Naruto's coat and had a massive bulge over her stomach as though she were six months overdue on a pregnancy.

She turned and saw him watching her intently, then in realization that he was examining her over-large coat, she laughed and looked down into her coat, "Sair, could you move to my back? I need to support him with both hands."

Continuing to confuse the genius, a voice replied, "Sure mommy." as a dirty little girl slid out of the bottom of Hinata's jacket, moved around behind her and hopped up onto her back.

Hinata brought her now free arm around so that she could support Kiba a little better, then looking up to Shikimaru, she urged him forward, "Come on, we need to get him to the hospital fast, Sasuke will be by with Sakura once he can move her safely."

Shikimaru was confused and simply nodded as they entered the gate and began to move through town in the direction of the hospital.

He kept looking behind Kiba's slumped head at the little girl, happily clinging to the back of Hinata's neck, her feet dangling playfully. The two looked like mother and daughter save for the girls rather surprising red eyes, but even those in a weird way seemed to match Hinata's pale lavender ones.

She was glad that he seemed to be too stunned to ask questions, she was going to be answering far more than she wanted to over the next several hours anyway and she wasn't looking to start before Sakura and Kiba's lives were in the clear.

They set a quick pace, moving with little effort through the crowded streets of the city. People knew them so it was rare that they needed to speak to have the crowds part to let them through with their obviously wounded team member. Things like this were in fact not an uncommon occurrence, though many a people did look oddly at the small child hanging from Hinata's neck.

Several minutes later they walked in through the slate grey double doors of Konoha hospital, several patients sat at chairs in the waiting room with various states of simple injuries. After a quick scan, she thanked god that there were no Hyuga present, she wanted to have to deal with clan politics even less than answer the Hokage's questions.

She leaned Kiba over to be supported by Shikimaru to which he understood her movements and set himself to support the brutish wild man better as she slipped off of him and made her way to the desk.

The nurse looked up at Hinata, readying to ask her well practiced "What's wrong with you" question when she was stopped by the intensity of Hinata's eyes.

"You need two open operating rooms now, the Hokage should be here soon." Hinata left no room for argument as the woman could only nod as she stood and issued several orders to a few of the nurses behind her before moving around the desk to Hinata. After seeing them start getting ready, Hinata turned away from the desk and walked back to Kiba, closely followed by the young nurse.

"What happened to him?" She asked Hinata as Shikimaru set him into a chair and she began checking his vitals.

She sighed, this was unfortunately a question that needed to be answered now, "He has a collapsed lung and heavy blood loss, something hit him in the chest a pierced straight through but I don't know if there is any further collateral damage, unfortunately he's the least of your worries." The nurse looked at her uncertainly, this man was seriously injured and it wasn't a good idea to just brush off his injuries as something to not worry about.

"Where's the second one?"

"She'll be here soon. Shikimaru," He perked up a bit as he was called on, "Help the nurse get him onto a bed, I need to find Sasuke." She walked straight past the two confused people back out the door. Once outside, she activated her blood limit and began to scour the area from a birds eye view, it took a minute, but eventually she caught sight of Sasuke and Shino, who were quickly moving over the building tops on a small cloud of Shino's destruction bugs that were supporting Sakura in a stable position. She sighed in relief as she changed the target of her search and began to check the path between the hospital and the Hokage tower, she found her target much faster this time as she caught site of two blonde women b-lining it for the hospital.

The first to arrive were Shino and Sasuke who both hopped off the small insect cloud as it swooped low to the ground, "I ran into him near the gate so I helped, tell me the rest later." Shino said calmly as he nodded to her. She couldn't tell what his reaction was at the moment due to his damned full hood, but was thankful that he had run into Sasuke and decided to help him.

Sasuke looked to her intently, "Is she here yet?"

Hinata shook her head lightly, "She's coming now, she'll be here within the minute."

He sighed in relief as he unconsciously placed a hand protectively over Sakura's stomach, "Good," He turned and leaned down so that his head was right next to her ear and whispered something, Hinata strained her ears to hear what he said, but his voice had been quiet enough to elude her.

Seconds later all three of them looked to the north as they saw a heavily distressed looking Ino followed by a rather disgruntled looking Tsunade sprinting around the corner. "Damn it, what the hell is the bloody emergency?!" Tsunade yelled at them as she stepped within sight of the cloud.

Ino being a step ahead of Tsunade, saw the clouds occupant and condition first, and in conjunction with Hinata's sigh, her reaction was exactly as expected. She panicked.

"Sakura!" She ran forward trying to get to her friend, but Shino's firm arm hooked around her waist from the side, stopping her movement. "What are you doing you idiot, let me go?"

"If you touch her in her current situation, you may kill her." Shino spoke flatly, but the desired effect happened as she immediately stopped trying to get away and just broke down into tears.

Ignoring the overly dramatic girl, Tsunade stepped around so that she could see what was going on, she had already ascertained that the wounded was Sakura by Ino's reactions, but she still didn't know the extent of the actual damages. She didn't take more than a glance at the prone pink haired girl before she rounded on the three coherent ninja in front of her, "Shino, take her to any prepared operating room, do either you two know the extents of her injuries?" Sasuke raised his hand in a casual manner indicating that he did. She grabbed the back of his neck and dragged his face close to hers, "You have two minutes to tell me everything while I prep for surgery, don't forget anything." Flustered and surprised at being dragged in such a manner, he nodded fervently as the two of them marched through the front door.

Shino released Ino so that she could kneel on the ground and turned to Hinata, "Take care of her." he said as he followed shortly behind the other two, his cloud of insects supporting the critical Sakura just behind him.

Several minutes passed in silence where Hinata simply sat in the courtyard cradling Ino's head in her lap, Sair decided it was best to stay out of the way for the moment so she remained quiet and out of sight, playing in the dirt in Hinata's shadow. Eventually, Shikimaru exited the building and upon seeing the three of them, walked over to the small group sitting in the cold dirt of the hospital courtyard.

Leaning down, he spoke in a reassuring tone as he slid his arms beneath Ino and picked her up to his chest, "I'll take her home... good luck Hinata, I'm not seeing an overly restful next few days in your future." Looking down at the tear streaked woman huddled up against him he sighed to himself, "I get the feeling I'm not going to be able to leave her side for the next few days, so I'll talk to you later on. Also, you should give him back his coat at some point, he'll probably be feeling pretty naked without it."

Shikimaru was confused and surprised by Hinata's actions as she pulled her hands forward around the opening of her jacket and hugged it to herself without saying a word. He decided it was definitely not something to ask now and with no more than a slight nod, wandered off in the direction of Ino's apartment.

After the two were gone from sight, Sair walked around in front of Hinata and watched her curiously as she huddled her jacket against herself. Thinking nothing of it, she poked Hinata in the shoulder, making her presence known, and said flatly, "I'm hungry."

The panic she was feeling disappeared in a wash of momentary confusion as Hinata watched the little girl in front of her. After a moment, she quirked of a smile and leaned forward, picking Sair up and putting her back around her shoulders. "Fine, but before that, let's get you something to actually wear. Your smock stinks." She could practically feel the frown on the girls face, but she continued, "Don't worry, I only plan on getting you something simple so we can throw that rag out, after that we'll grab something to eat then come back here."

Sair was still displeased that food would need to wait, but decided that it would come soon enough, "Deal." she replied from Hinata's back.

Hinata distracted herself from the days events by explaining to Sair, various things about the city as they moved to the trade district, closer to the center of town. When they got there, they entered an old clothing shop that was run by stooped old grey haired woman and a young red haired boy, probably no more than fourteen.

"Ah, Hyuga-sama, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today?" The young man smiled as he stepped forward to greet her.

Sair looked at the man oddly from over Hinata's shoulder, "Sair don't understand, why does he know you mommy?"

At Sair's statement, the boy stopped, noticing the girl for the first time and opened his mouth to ask something, but was silenced when Hinata raised her hand to halt him, "It's not whatever you're thinking, but don't worry about it." She reached around and pulled Sair off her shoulders, placing her, sitting on the floor in front of herself, "These people supply all the traditional clothing for my families compound, though they only sell yukatas and kimonos, so anyone on active duty tends to get their own things for outside of home." She looked back up at the man in front of her, "All I need today is a simple child's yukata for her until I'm able to get her normal clothing, it's to much of a hassle to try and find something to fit her right now."

"Is that all?" The old woman exclaimed from behind her counter, "Tenchi, go grab a spare one from the back, and don't worry about the cost Hyuga-sama," Her voice stopped Hinata as she reached for her wallet. "Just bring it back once you've gotten what you need."

"Thank you Haruka-san." Hinata spoke as she bowed respectfully to the older woman. The young man, obviously thinking nothing particular about this sequence of events, wandered off into a back room.

Sair amused herself with a large spool of thread of which she repeatedly wound and unwound, while Hinata stood around listening to the old woman continuously speak of the poor state of her health. Wistfully she looked down at Sair amusing herself so effortlessly with a bit of string, what she wouldn't give to have no worries again.

A few minutes later, Tenchi came out of the back with a light blue folded yukata under his arm. He handed it to Hinata, smiling cheerfully, "Are you sure there wont be anything else Hyuga-sama?"

She really wished he'd drop the honorific, or at least call her Hinata, but she smiled and accepted the item thankfully, "No, just the use of your changing room so I can help her put it on."

"Of course, of course, go right ahead." Haruka exclaimed, gesturing somewhat wildly in the direction of the stores two curtain covered changing rooms.

Hinata swept Sair up under her arm and walked off towards the changing rooms in the back as Sair struggled slightly to drop back down and return to the spool of thread that she had mournfully left on the ground.

After entering the small side room and closing the curtain, Hinata gracefully plopped Sair down on the ground, "Arms up Sair." She said as she placed the diminutive yukata on a small stool that stood off to the side.

Unconsciously Sair raised her arms, uncertain about the odd order, but came to understand quickly as with a quick flourish she found that Hinata had divested her of her smock. Embarrassment didn't have time to take hold however, since in the brief moment that she was surprised and looking down at herself without garb, Hinata flourished a piece of blue cloth past her eyes and when finished, she was wrapped in a yukata. She looked up in confusion, but Hinata just smiled and pulled her to her feet so that the belt could be properly tied. After several quick tugs to adjust the garment properly, Hinata stepped back to view her work, then with a nod she patted Sair on the head. "Looks good on you."

Sair held out her arms to examine the light blue smooth fabric dangling from her arms, "How'd Hinata do that so fast?"

"I've been wearing traditional clothing since before I could walk, putting it on someone else is a cinch." She ruffled Sair's unkempt hair and opened the curtain, guiding her back into the store.

Hinata waved to the other two as she walked towards the door, "Thank you Haruka, Tenchi, we'll be going now."

"Come back any time." Tenchi waved energetically at the two as they closed the door behind them.

Hinata sighed to herself, Tenchi's evident schoolboy crush really irritated her sometimes. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Sair, "Let's grab something to eat," She had planned on continuing to explain something, but Sair's reaction was instantaneous as she started to cheer and wrapped herself around Hinata's leg. She sighed, "I'll let you choose where we eat Sair, but on one condition." Sair looked up at her wide eyed but silent, allowing Hinata to continue, "You have to walk with me and not hang off of me, okay?"

Sair released her leg and took half a step back smiling, "Sair is agreed." Hinata was confused as her wording was even odder than normal, but didn't have much time to think on it as Sair grabbed her hand and began running in a random direction screaming, "This way, this way!"

The duo navigated several streets, seemingly following the nose of a child until she came to a halt in a more open area with only a few shops around, "Here." shouted Sair, gesturing towards a shack like restaurant.

Hinata looked up where the girl was pointing and bit her lip, why was it that everyone seemed to hate her so much today? It hadn't even been 6 hours since they left Naruto and here she was standing in front of Ichirakous. She felt a wash of bile rise in her throat but she swallowed it back, praying that she could hold it until they were finished here.

Sair dragged the reluctant Hinata through the draping cloth and to the seats where Ayame stood tending to the orders of two other occupants. Sair hopped up onto the stool at the end of the counter as Hinata begrudgingly took the seat beside her, after a minute or so, Ayame finished dealing with her other clients and walked over to the two at the other end.

"Hey Hinata, been a while since we've seen you in here," Ayame greeted her with a smile, "So what'll you two be having?"

Sair bounced on her stool hollering, "Ramen!" Ayame just grinned, being oddly reminded of someone she had known for years as she jotted down a little note on her order pad.

"I'm not feeling that well, so I'll just take some dumplings." Hinata ordered, veiling her discomfort with a warm smile. "Where's your father?"

Ayame laughed at her question, waiving to dismiss it, "The idiot stayed out late to close the store without a jacket, so he's at home with a cold."

Hinata nodded in understanding as Ayame turned and went into the back to start up their orders. She turned and watched Sair as she innocently played with her chopsticks, deftly twirling them around and between her fingers in a rather entertaining display.

Several minutes later, Ayame returned from the back with a large tray laden with bowls and a plate. After a quick stop at her first two customers where she left behind two of the bowls, she walked up to them and placed a large bowl in front of Sair and a plate covered with dumplings in front of Hinata.

Sair, not sparring any kind of thanks, snapped her chopsticks and started eating as soon as the food was placed in front of her. Ayame arched an eyebrow at the girl and looked to Hinata who simply shrugged, it had occurred to Hinata that the girl probably hadn't eaten anything in days, so her ravenous appetite wasn't that out of the ordinary. Two bowls and an amused Ayame later, and the two left the welcoming seats of the ramen stand for the likely unpleasant silence of the hospital.

Sair walked along beside Hinata, happily humming and holding onto her hand as though nothing had happened to her at all in the last week. Hinata felt a twinge of remorse that the girl would likely need to relive everything that had happened to her so that she could recount it all for the Hokage, but there was nothing that could be done. The mission had gone horribly wrong and there was nothing else that could be done about it.

Onlookers thought very little of the small display of holding the girls hand, giving no more than a cursory glance or a greeting before looking away and going about their business. Hinata was glad for this, since it meant she was not likely to become the target of gossip or for her father to find out before she discussed the matter of Sair with him.

Eventually, the two women walked through the front door of the hospital ward that they had been in about an hour and change prior, little seemed to have changed save for a shuffling in of new patients waiting to be admitted. Hinata walked to the nurse at the desk, clearing her throat somewhat to gain her attention.

When the woman looked up and recognized who was standing in front of her, she calmly said, "Go and wait in exam room 6, Hokage-sama should be finished in the next little while."

"Oh, thank you." Was all she could think of to say as she turned down the hallway beside her and headed off towards the location she was told.

She found it after wandering for a little while and walked in with Sair in toe and closing the door behind her, inside there was a small desk with a chair up against the wall and an examination table on the opposite wall.

Time dragged by as Hinata stood around, counting the seconds as they slogged past, Sair however seemed unaffected by the tension as she curiously roamed about the small room. After twenty minutes of standing about, the door opened revealing an exhausted looking Hokage, her hair and stature were frazzled with stress.

"Hokage-sama, how are they?" Hinata leapt forward, not having realized that the tension had been winding up in her since she left.

Tsunade took a step back from the excited Hyuga, somewhat surprised by her uncommon reaction, "Sit." she pointed at the examination table and like a scolded puppy, Hinata hopped up onto the table and faced her. Tsunade approached her and spread her hands in front, activating an analysis jutsu, then gradually began to move over Hinata's entire body.

Hinata was in no mood for this, but she didn't posses the nerve to hurry the Hokage along. After around twenty seconds, she pulled back her hands and looked Hinata directly in the eye.

"Have you even noticed that your wrist is broken Hinata?" Tsunade said bluntly as she grabbed Hinata's wrist, causing her to wince, and pulled back her sleeve to reveal a swelling purple mass just below her left hand. She looked down at her wrist with a bit of amazement, the injury must have been from when she reached out for Kiba and had her hand swatted aside by their ranged weapon.

"Mommy, does that hurt?" Was heard as Sair's head popped up beside the table, she was standing on her toes, staring at the painful looking discoloration on her arm.

Tsunade looked to the little girl the back to Hinata, "Mommy? I'm figuring you'll be enlightening me to this with your report." Hinata shuddered, trying to pull away from the Hokage's intense gaze.

"Of course Hokage-sama, but first... could you please tell me how the others are doing?" Hinata did not like to beg, but she needed to know, she couldn't stand it if anyone else had died.

She felt a bit of pity for the young Hyuga, but at least her news wasn't all bad. She spoke calmly as she slowly began to press her chakra into Hinata's swollen wrist, "They're alive and out of immediate danger, but there will be a lot of recovery." She looked up to gauge her reaction and was pleased to see the sigh of relief, "There is bad news though, Kiba is in a coma, but I expect he will be conscious within the week. Then there's the matter of Sakura, she wont be able to walk for at least another year, and even with continuous treatment, there will be permanent effects. On the plus side however, for the moment she is conscious and aware of what's going on. I don't know fore how long though, she has been slipping in and out since we got her stable."

By the time Tsunade had finished explaining, the swelling in Hinata's wrist had reduced to almost nothing. "Wow! What'd you do?" Came Sair's dumbfounded voice as she had been watching the receding swelling.

Hinata smiled down at Sair, "It's her speciality. Come up here Sair, I said I'd tell you about what happened and I need to tell everything to Hokage-sama, so I should kill two birds with one stone." Sair happily scurried up onto the long cushioned table and took a seat in Hinata's lap, Tsunade laughed to herself and pulled out the chair from the desk to take a seat for herself.

"Is this going to be a long or short story?" Asked Tsunade as she kicked the door shut with her foot.

"A little on the long side I'm afraid. I may have difficulties telling some parts..." She trailed off into silence, thinking about the events that she didn't want to recount. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing, "Please be patient with me Hokage-sama." Tsunade simply nodded to her, having already been briefed by Sasuke, she was already aware of the worse factors that would be in Hinata's report. Hinata looked down at Sair, whose wide red eyes were looking up expectantly, "Sair, I know there will be some things you wont like about this story, but please don't interrupt me until the end, okay?"

A simple, "Okay." was all she answered.

Hinata couldn't put it off anymore, so she began to explain everything.

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I hope you all enjoyed the latest update of Feral Dreams, once again, sorry about the late update, I really wanted to have this chapter out in one week. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy my story and if you have any questions, then feel free to ask.

The_Keeper