Ojos Asi [[private -- nyrax]]

"Not long before I came to get you." Sasuke answered. "Sakura's pregnancy makes her chakra control more difficult." Sasuke showed Shino his arm, where there was a brand that looked much like a seal. "Tsunade made it so she could use my chakra when she needs it." He added, wanting Shino to understand what this was. "They started the surgery almost immediately after I got here. Tsunade dealt with the blood loss. She has an O blood type, so even though she is a universal donor, she can only receive a transfusion from another O donor. Sakura's blood type is O." Sasuke said, almost amused by that.

He sighed. "They have her half a dozen transfusions in her arms and legs all at once to help keep her heart beating and to stop her heart from becoming over strained. It seems to be working." He said, looking at the seal. "Sakura isn't using much of my chakra."

Shino just gave a nod, not saying anything as he was trying to deal with his own emotions. He didn't want to look sad or angry. Like Sasuke said, this was a time to be happy. He just wished that he could see her. The Aburame would only feel better when he saw that she was alive. There was a big difference between being told that someone was alive versus actually seeing them. He just hoped it could be soon.

"You can go if you want," Shino finally said. "I'll just wait here till they're done, I'm sure you're exhausted though. I'll be fine here."

"No." Sasuke shook his head, tightening his grip on Shino's hand. "I'll stay here with you until you can see her. Besides, if I sleep it will mess with my chakra. I need to stay awake for Aaliyah." He said, smiling, but not at Shino. He just was starting to feel a little better. He felt a little weak at the moment. it would pass though, he was sure of it. He was just scared.

After almost four hours, the door moved and opened. A person didn't come out of it, but rather a small clone of Katsuyu. She came over to Sasuke and he picked her up, placing her on his knee. "Well?"

Katsuyu turned toward Shino. "She is doing well." She said, bowing her head, or as much as she could due to the fact that she was a slug. "She is still unconscious, but My Lady expects her to survive."

"Thank you Sasuke," Shino said quietly before closing his eyes. He would not sleep or even doze off. He was just thinking, focusing on every single good moment that he ever had with Aaliyah. He was also thinking about what would come next, assuming that she survived. He had to believe that she would live, he had to.

Eventually, the famed slug of Tsunade's came out and approached them, or rather a smaller version of it. Shino sat intently, his eyes completely focused on the creature in front of him, wanting to hear every word that came next.

It seemed like good news, or at least it did right until the very end. "Expect her to survive? Are you telling me that Tsunade thinks there's a chance she could still die?"

"My Lady is not the type to be overtly optimistic. She is realistic, Aburame, and she does not wish to give you false hope. She spared a moment to speak with me and send me out here to speak with you. For her to move away from your love, then she must be quite confident in her ability to live, especially with her three best apprentices working on this young woman. She is alive and getting stronger. I feel very confident that she will live and I know My Lady feels the same way. Focus on her actions, not her words."

"Forgive me, I meant no disrespect to Lady Tsunade or to you," Shino said with a small bow of his head. He was speaking up too much, allowing his emotions to overtake him yet again. Whenever Aaliyah was in trouble it got like this, it was why he had screamed at Tsunade when they were alone just a few months ago. He let himself think too much, focus on all the negative that was taking place. It hurt him inside to do that.

"Please, tell Tsunade that I remember her promise and I know that she has fulfilled it. Tell her that no matter what happens, I will thank her from the bottom of my heart for what she has done for me."

Katsuyuu nodded her head with ease. She understood Shino's snapping out and sought to comfort him. She wanted him to feel better. Surely this was tearing him apart and Tsunade wanted to help his nerves. "I know that My Lady does not take offense to what you've said, and will understand. She wanted me to offer you comfort. It is why I'm here."

"I do appreciate that, Shino." Tsunade said with a grin on her face. She was on their side of the door, pulling off the blood covered white scrubs she was wearing. The light above the room was still on, even though she was leaving.

Shino's head snapped up as the voice of Tsunade suddenly came from the operating room. He hadn't even heard the door open, proof that Tsunade could still sneak around unnoticed. He slowly stood up and kept his eyes fixed on her before beginning to walk over to her. She was grinning, that had to be a good sign right?

"She's stable now yes?" Shino asked as he just looked up at Tsunade.

"Oh give me some credit..." Tsunade said, rolling her eyes as she walked over to Shino. She smiled at him and nodded. "Of course she's stable. She's been stable for the last two hours, but we needed to make sure that there was no internal damage. There isn't much damage that I can't fix, but I was quite surprised. It took five of us to do what we've done, but she'll live. They're finishing up and then you can see her."

"Five?" Sasuke asked. "Who's the fifth medical shinobi you found?"

Shino gave an audible sigh of relief as Tsunade spoke. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. She was alive, she was going to be okay, he would be able to see her soon. This was amazing news, and he nearly felt tears coming to his eyes because he was so happy from it. He only looked up again when Sasuke spoke. Shino thought about it for a moment too and he could only think of four people that Tsunade would use.

He looked up, curious as to who Tsunade would trust to work on Aaliyah.

Right after Sasuke asked the question, the light above the room turned off. The doors opened and Shizune walked out first. She was pulling off her own scrubs, looking significantly more exhausted than Tsunade was. Sakura moved around Shizune, her stomach now quite large and went to Sasuke. She kissed him and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back. The brand that was on his arm disappeared when she touched him. She no longer needed his chakra.

Ino pulled off her gloves and rubbed her arms, blood staining most of her arms. "Well that didn't take as long as I thought it would. The last surgery we did like this took twelve hours."

"I suppose it just goes to show how helpful one person can be." Karin answered, standing beside Ino. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail and she had already taken off the blood stained clothes she had used. She nodded in Shino's direction, as if to confirm that Aaliyah would be okay.

Shino watched as everyone came out past Tsunade. It was Shizune, Ino, Sakura, and Karin. He had heard that Karin was being trained by Tsunade, but he didn't think that she would be trusted with this level of clearance. Shino supposed that she already knew about Aaliyah though, so having extra hands would at least help to make sure that she would stay alive. Shino appreciated all of their efforts, because of it he'd be able to look in to his fiance's eyes again.

He returned Karin's nod and gave a very light smile. It was his way of thanking her. "May I go in and see her now? I want to be there for when she wakes up."

"We're going to move her to a hospital room upstairs." Sakura said, one of her arms around her husband's waist. "You can go in there now, however, we don't need to move her right away. She's heavily sedated, she won't wake up until late tomorrow at the earliest." She smiled at Shino. She couldn't read his expression well, but knew he was grateful.

However, here, Sakura paused. "Shino...?" She asked, as he moved toward the door. "Aaliyah is blind in one eye now."

"Very well, do what you need to do and you will not hear any complaints from me. Whatever you need me to do, just inform me and I'll comply," Shino said before taking a quick walk over towards the operation room in order to get in. However, he stopped as Sakura said something that made him stop for the briefest of moments before giving a small smile and turning around.

"Than she's coming back just as I remember her....perfect," Shino said before walking in to the room in order to find Aaliyah. He hoped that he would be able to handle whatever he found.

Sakura was confused by that, but felt that she should prepare Shino for what Aaliyah's face now looked like. However, she was rather surprised that he didn't mind. Then again, she didn't care how badly injured Sasuke returned as long as he returned. She smiled at Sasuke and hugged him. "Let's go home."

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. Let's go home." He said, yawning heavily, taking her hand and walking off.

Aaliyah was alive and they had cleaned most of the blood off her. She had a series of machines hooked up to her, most of which were replacing fluids that she had lost during the surgery. A bad of blood was still being transfused. The scar over her face had returned since she had no chakra in her body. All of her body's efforts were going to repairing itself rather than making chakra. She was bandaged, stitched, and stapled back together. Surprisingly, most of the damage was not sustained on her face, there were bruises and some marks, but her face, unlike her body, remained relatively untouched.

Shino had moved in to the room and didn't even see the look that Sakura had on her face after he spoke. His focus was on his fiance, just as Sasuke would do for Sakura. It was a bond of love, not one of business or lust. This love was pure and true, something he was certain of ever since he had met Aaliyah. She had changed his life so much and he was so glad that he had met her. He didn't even want to think where they would be if he had never been the one to meet Aaliyah. Who knew what might happen?

"Hey love," he whispered as he sat down next to Aaliyah in a chair. "I know that you probably can't hear me, but I'm rooting for you. I'm here, like I always told you that I'd be. I'm here, ready to take you home whenever you're ready," he whispered as he tried to stop the tears from coming. She was alive, but seeing her in this condition was still extremely hard for him to do. He wanted to touch her, but he knew that he shouldn't. They had only just finished surgery.

"I haven't forgotten what you said, that night that we first met. We were at the hotel and you read my palm. You told me that when I met my future wife that we would have a pure and true love, and that we would be married and we'd have a long marriage line with children," he uttered softly. "I've looked at my palm every day that you're gone from my side. It gives me comfort...and it's helped me so much."

Shino reached up and gently touched her cheek just once. "I love you Aaliyah," was the last thing that he said before going quiet. She was going to be out cold for the next day, but he would stay by her side for as long as he was able.

Sasuke couldn't sleep when he got home. It wasn't long after Sakura was asleep that he got up, redressed and left. He figured that Shino would appreciate it if he went home and showered off his fiance's blood before he came back to the hospital. The orderly staff for the night shift was fairly quiet this evening. Aaliyah's arrival was the biggest thing that had happened since the last attack on the village. They were a little nervous that there was no major doctor on call. Usually either Shizune, Tsunade, Sakura, or Ino were there. This was the only time in almost a year that they had been here without one of the four of them. Seeing Sasuke calmed them, however, since they assumed that meant Sakura would be back soon.

Aaliyah had finally been moved into a room on her own. She was stable and breathing more easily now. She looked peaceful.

Sasuke knocked softly on the door and came inside, pulling a chair over to Shino to sit with him. If something this like happened to him, Sasuke wouldn't want to be alone with himself to think about whatever ran through his mind. He had been alone to wonder about death before, and it wasn't something he'd wish on anyone, especially Shino. "How're you feeling?" he asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but he wasn't sure what else to say.

Shino slowly glanced up as Sasuke walked inside. In truth he hadn't heard the knock on the door, or if he had it seemed to be tuned out. Shino wasn't trying to be rude, but there was quite a bit on his plate right now and he couldn't help but think about it while he sat here by himself. Shino just gave a simple nod, acknowledging that it would be okay if Sasuke came in.

"Better," was Shino's answer when Sasuke posed the question. "It's been a few hours now and she seems to be okay. She just needs to rest and get all of her strength back, that's all," he said as he looked down at Aaliyah's form. He couldn't help but wish that she would wake up, but it was still going to be another day till that happened.

"Couldn't sleep?" Shino finally asked as his eyes remained on Aaliyah.

Sasuke nodded slowly. He watched Aaliyah too, unable to believe that a woman as strong as she was, strong enough to not only to injure him, but to surprise him was taken down so easily. But, it spoke of her strength that she survived. Sasuke sent a team to see if they could pick up her trail and find out where Youki was. Neji was leading that mission, so Sasuke felt okay about it. Neji was strong and he was confident that they would come back alive, even if they hit a dead end.

"This might not be what you want to hear, but I know what it's like to be faced with death in a manner like this and be up all night, wondering and thinking. That's not something I want for you. I thought that I could be here for you and do something to keep you from being driven insane as I was."

"Well, it doesn't exactly help that you think I'm going insane," Shino said with the slightest hint of a joking tone in his voice. He knew that Sasuke meant well, but he could have phrased himself better at times. He usually said bluntly what came to his mind, when there were other ways to say what he meant. Shino knew that he was trying though, and that was already enough to make him feel better.

"I appreciate the thought though, thank you," Shino remarked before turning to look at Sasuke. "Has anyone else been informed about Aaliyah's return?"

Sasuke managed to laugh at the joke. "You know that's not what I meant. I decided to kill Itachi because of the grief as a child. I know that you're much smarter than I was then. I'm just saying that being alone with those thoughts can kill you inside. Thinking about could have, would have, should have, wouldn't have stopped her from getting her. She's alive." He said, moving in his chair to get more comfortable.

"No. No one knows yet. Well, I suppose Suigetsu may know, because of Karin, but no one else knows besides us the girls." He said, of course referring to the ones that did the surgery. "I thought that it would be too much to wake everyone and make them come here, especially when I know you don't want a lot of people around you right now. All that will start tomorrow." He said, smirking at him. "And I'll be here to fight off the paparazzi."

"I'm just worried," Shino said as he leaned back in his seat. "The moment that I see her wake up and see that smile, all of it will go away," he said honestly. Just seeing Aaliyah this weak and helpless wasn't easy for him. She had always been so strong, and he could only imagine what Youki threw at her once he figured out what happened. He just hoped that she was okay. He didn't care about any scars that came after this, as long as she was still Aaliyah.

"That makes sense," Shino added as he listened to what Sasuke said about everyone. "I'm sure that Akiko and my father will want to see her the most," he remarked as he looked to Sasuke. "Akiko looks up to Aaliyah as a sister, I'm sure that Akiko will want to make sure that Aaliyah is okay. And my dad....well you've seen how he treats her. He'll be in pain to see her like this."

Sasuke knew how much Shibi loved Aaliyah. They had talked about it when Shino wasn't there. Not that Shibi was in love with Aaliyah, but he loved her. Sasuke supposed this was now men were supposed to love their daughters (or daughter-in-law, but the same thing). He knew the feeling that Shibi felt for Aaliyah, since he was sure that was how he felt for Shai. His own in-laws weren't to fond of him, and he couldn't really blame them for that. He didn't expect them to love him, he expected them to love Shai.

"I thought about going to get him, but I thought that would just make things worse." He said, smiling softly. The imagine of Shibi there was humorous, especially since it conquered memories of the three of them passing around a drink. considering the circumstances, he wondered if this would be the first time that Shino would consider having a drink with them.

The thought of Akiko's reaction almost made Sasuke sad. Akiko did think highly of Aaliyah, and Aaliyah took great care of Akiko. "It will be hard for them. Let's just hope that Aaliyah wakes up before they get here."

Shino gave a small nod as Sasuke explained about his actions regarding Shibi, and his reluctance to inform Akiko as to what happened. She had a right to know, but Shino also hoped that Aaliyah would be awake for when everyone came. It would be harder for him to have everyone else be worried. He knew that Akiko and Aaliyah had known each other for quite some time, but Shino was the one that had the most reason to be upset about all of this. Well, with the exception of Aaliyah of course.

"Thank you Sasuke, you have no idea how much I appreciate all of this," Shino said quietly as he went back to looking at Aaliyah. "Hopefully she'll be awake by tomorrow."

"She'll wake up, Shino. Even if it's not tomorrow, she will wake up." He said, turning his gaze to face Aaliyah. She looked world's better from when he found her and that was one of the things he loved about Sakura more than anything.S he could make everything better, no matter what was wrong.

"Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for." He leaned back in his seat, his back cracking slightly as he did so. "I think we owe Youki a bad case of broken spine."