Ojos Asi [[private -- nyrax]]

"You can say that again," Shino said simply as the idea of breaking Youki's spine brought a smile to his face. He knew that he should never take joy out of killing like Kiri was known for, but he couldn't help but imagine sinking a blade through Youki's heart. It would bring such great joy to him. Such joy.

"Sasuke?" Shino finally spoke up. "I'm really tired...would you watch her while I doze for just a minute?" he asked sincerely. "You can wake me the moment she moves...but my eyes are getting heavy."

The Uchiha nodded. "Yeah, I'll watch her." Sasuke had debating letting Shino sleep the night and waking him in the morning, but that had seemed heartless, especially since he would kill anyone that tried to do that if something happened to Sakura or Shai. He stretched and got up, walking to the door and found one of the nurses as she was walking by. He asked her to get Shino a room to sleep in and to have her tell one of the training nurses to get him something to eat.

"Thank you Sasuke," Shino said as their eyes met. He reached out and quickly grabbed Sasuke's hand before he stood up. "I don't care if all she does is twitch her nose. The moment that she moves I want you to come wake me up. Please Sasuke, I don't care how tired I am. I need to be here for her when she wakes up," he said before letting go.

After that, Shino gladly complied to move to another room before eating a light meal. Shortly thereafter, he went to sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Sasuke nodded in agreement, undersatnding Shino's desire to be there here for her. If she woke up and Sasuke was there, he could understand that she'd be a little upset. He thought that he could watch her and take a nap at the same time, since he was a rather light sleeper and any movement would easily wake him.

Suigetsu was up early that morning. By the time that Karin came in the sun was coming up and Suigetsu woke up because of the noise. Not that she was purposefully making noise, but he was trained to be a light sleeper. Upon waking up they talked about what happened and Suigetsu obtained the full story of Aaliyah and how she had barely made it. Suigetsu was glad though, he knew what kind of a mess would have taken place if Aaliyah would have died. Shino wouldn't have taken it quietly.

After their talk he got up and decided to do some morning workouts. He had gone to the edge of the village and gathered a large amount of rocks. He wanted to increase his strength and carrying weight. He had gotten a lot better at carrying his sword, but he wanted to be better with it. So he picked up a large pack and began to fill it with some of the heaviest rocks that he could. Shortly thereafter he began his run through the village, trying to go as far as he could without stopping.

Eventually though, Suigetsu got tired. He stopped on a bench and was taking a short breather when he heard a familiar voice. "Geez man, what do you have in there? Rocks?"

Suigetsu glanced up and just grinned. "Actually I do," he said before standing up and giving a bit of a stretch. "It's part of my training," he admitted before turning and looking at both Akiko and Kiba. "Good morning to the two of you. By the way, have you heard the news?"

Akiko wasn't sure why Kiba wanted to walk around the edge of the village. Last night most of the dogs had been uneasy, especially Akamaru, who kept jumping up on the bed last night and waking the two of them up. It got to the point where Kiba had to put Akamaru outside, which just made him bark until Tsume brought him back inside. She assumed that it was because Kiba wanted to patrol the boarders of the village and make sure everything was okay since they had such an uneasy night.

When they saw Suigetsu however, she smiled, glad to see him up and about. "News?" She asked, quite surprised that there was something he knew that they didn't. "what news is that?"

"Oh I see....you don't know than," Suigetsu said as he scratched the back of his head. He wasn't sure if he should really say anything, but he also knew that Akiko was really good friends with Aaliyah and looked up to her. If anyone besides Shino deserved to know, than it had to be her. Suigetsu wasn't sure how much trouble this would put him or Karin in, but he felt compelled to speak.

"They found Aaliyah last night. She was injured badly so they took her to the hospital and operated on her. She's going to live but she's still in bad shape. Shino's there now, watching over her."

So they didn't know what? Akiko blinked when Suigetsu explained what happened and her eyes widened. Immediately after, she almost disappeared, using a teleportation jutsu to cover more ground faster than she could running in order to get back to the village. Aaliyah was back... no wonder Akamaru had been so upset. What if Aaliyah was worse than Suigetsu thought? What if she wasn't going to be okay?

What was Shino feeling? Oh, she wished she'd known this last night. She moved as fast as she could through the woods around the village and once she made it back, she darted into the hospital. A nurse saw her and attempted to calm her, but wasn't doing too well with her appointed task.

"Mei," Sasuke said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder, which of course made her flush. "I don't think you'll be able to calm Akiko down this time." He took Akiko's hand and pulled her softly, starting to lead her toward the room Aaliyah was in. Shino had woken up and they'd had breakfast together about twenty minutes ago.

Shino slowly glanced up as he saw that Sasuke was coming back in to the room. He felt rested and much better, several hours of sleep and a meal would do that to you after all. He woke up on his own and Sasuke was kind enough to procure some breakfast food for them. However, it was who was with Sasuke that made Shino curious.

"Akiko, what are you doing here?" Shino asked before realizing how dumb the question must have sounded. "How did you know that Aaliyah was here?" he corrected himself. That was the more interesting question that he wanted an answer to.

"Suigetsu told me." She answered, moving away from Shino and to the bed. She stared down at Aaliyah and tears welled in her eyes. "She's okay." She said, sounding almost surprised. "She's okay." She laughed quietly and mellowed considerably. Aaliyah wold be okay. A sigh escaped her and Sasuke rested his hands on her shoulders.

"It'll be okay." Sasuke told her, giving her a soft smile. Whereas Sasuke treated everyone differently, he acted with Akiko much the way he acted with Shai, just using bigger words and treating her as less of a child. despite that, however, Sasuke did treat her much more like a child than almost anyone else. Akiko didn't seem to mind this fact, either.

"She's going to be okay Akiko, Tsunade and several others did everything they could to make sure that she would live. She needs her strength and rest, but she'll be okay," Shino said with a smile. It was good for him to tell someone else that, as it reinforced the idea in his head that she would be okay. It was comforting, and he appreciated that.

"Do you want to take a seat Akiko? I don't know how long it will be till she wakes up."

Akiko nodded and sat down, her eyes never leaving Aaliyah. "I don't understand..." She whispered. "How could this have happened? How could Youki have..." She sniffled and wiped her eyes even though she wasn't crying. "I'm glad that she's alive." Was what she finally said. It was hard for her, as it was for Shino. It almost looked like Youki had held back, but Akiko knew better. He wouldn't strike her face. Youki would never strike a woman's face. Well, he would and he had, but never Aaliyah's. He'd want to see her face when he hit her, the lights in her eyes go out when he forced the life from her.

yet she'd gotten away. And that was a blessing.

"I don't know Akiko," Shino admitted as he wrapped a single arm around her. They needed to comfort each other right now, to acknowledge to each other that everything would be okay no matter what happened. Aaliyah was going to live, and that's more than even Aaliyah thought would happen. She had once thought this mission would cost her her life. "Sasuke just said that the one thing Aaliyah said before passing out was that he found out, she didn't give any more details than that."

Akiko nodded, understanding. "I can't imagine that she'd be able to speak well, if Youki did find out." She said, wrapping both her arms around Shino's waist and leaning against him. She was so used to holding Kiba that it was almost strange for her to hold another man like this, especially one just a little bit taller than Kiba. Whereas it didn't feel wrong, it just felt off. Shino and Kiba didn't have the same body, so holding him just wasn't what she expected.

"she'll be okay." Sasuke added quietly, sitting down in one of the chairs a distance from them.

Shino held Akiko a little tighter, figuring that all she needed was someone to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay. He probably needed the same thing to be honest, not that he would ever say that out loud. While he had been more open with his emotions thanks to Aaliyah, he still wasn't used to showing it to others. "Once she wakes up Akiko, you'll get to see that smiling face that we both love so much. We just need to be patient."

Patience was normally something Akiko had, but when it came to this, she didn't think she could wait. She remembered being in the hospital and being restless the entire time because she hadn't wanted to be here at all. She remembered the uneasiness of it and how she'd wanted to be away from this place. She remembered the smell and the unpleasantness of being trapped here. She just wanted to see Aaliyah wake up.

And, on top of that, she wasn't sure what happened to trigger this kind of anger in her elder brother. Something must have happened, and it must have been serious for this sort of rage. Or, a miracle, since she survived that rage.

Shino just stayed in silence as he held Akiko close to him. They were both suffering right now, and he didn't need to say anything else. Once they talked to Aaliyah, they would be okay. They would just need to be patient, that's all.

Suddenly, the door opened and Kiba pushed his way in. He glanced from Aaliyah, to Sasuke, than to everyone else and just blinked. "So he was telling the truth," Kiba muttered as he closed the door behind him. "And to think that I was hoping he was just being an ass today," he said before looking at Akiko. She was focused on Aaliyah, and Shino and Sasuke were on either side of her. He would just stand there, slowly crossing his arms as his eyes drifted back to Aaliyah.

"Is there any guess of when she's supposed to wake up?"

"Sakura said that she should wake up around late afternoon or morning." Sasuke said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she slept a bit longer to allow her body to heal." The uchiha felt that he could say this and they would understand. "And, considering the amount of pain medication they have her on, it might be better if she slept a while, so that her injuries could heal more." What Sasuke seemed to be saying, but not saying was that it was better this way. It was better for her to sleep than to be awake and in constant pain.

"Whatever time she needs I'm sure that she'll take," Shino said softly as his eyes just kept gazing at his loved one. She seemed so peaceful, and yet at the same time that peace in his eyes made him afraid. She could be sleeping, but he couldn't help but wonder if she was dead if she would look the same or not. It was a scary thought, and he quickly tried to push it away from his mind. She wasn't dead, he had to stop thinking about that possibility.

"Aaliyah forms chakra quickly, she'll recover by the end of the day," a voice suddenly came from out of nowhere. As the group looked they would find that Shibi was in the room and leaning against a nearby wall, despite the fact that no one had even heard the door open or close. He looked over at the group and gave a nod. "Wipe those frowns away. She will be back with us shortly, and I can guarantee you the first thing she'll want to see is the people that care about her with smiles on their faces."

Akiko smiled when she saw Shibi, feeling much better than before. She moved away from Shino and went to his father, hugging him. "I'm glad you think so." Her voice sounded a little stronger and she wasn't as scared. Standing in front of Shibi, she grinned and held out her hand, fist pounding him. They'd done this before and she thought it was rather funny, so she continued to do it with him. It was their thing.

Sasuke agreed with Shibi. Aaliyah would be fine but they needed to let her rest. Whenever he was hurt, the last thing he wanted was a bunch of people in the hospital with him. The only people he really wanted around him was Sakura and Shai, and if he was badly hurt, he wouldn't want Shai there at all. he wouldn't want to scare the boy like that.

Shibi got to one knee and returned the hug that Akiko offered up to him. The girl was small, so he always made it easier on her to give hugs. Besides, he felt closer when he did stuff like this. "I don't think Akiko, I know," he responded with a smile before getting up and giving Akiko the fist bump that they usually did when they were together. "Tsunade is the best in the world for a reason. She personally fixed Aaliyah up, so she's going to make it through just fine," he said as he crossed his arms and smiled.

"Just you wait, in a few hours we're all going to be smiling and laughing."

Akiko was glad that Shibi was so optimistic about this and it honestly helped her to feel better. She hugged him again and leaned against him, despite the fact that Kiba was there. "I hope so.' She said, still a bit worried but not very. "I'm glad she's here though. It's... really good to have her in the village. And this means she can stay here with us."

The door to the room opened suddenly and a member of ANBU entered the room. He moved as he closed the door. "I did not expect there to be people in this room." The member stated, the voice male. "Why are you so many of you here?"

"That's true little one," Shibi said with a nod towards Akiko. "Every time that she's stayed she's only been able to for a week or two at a time. Not this time though, this time she'll stay here for good. We'll make sure that she's protected and safe, she's with her family again," Shibi said seriously as his gaze rested on Aaliyah as his son's did.

However, as an ANBU came in to the room Shibi's eyes quickly glanced over. ANBU? What were they doing here right now? Didn't they know that Aaliyah was still out of commission, they wouldn't be able to report anything. "We're here to make sure that Aaliyah rests well and that she isn't alone when she wakes up. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to see her." The member of ANBU answered. "It was found that she was discovered in her mission, which reflects upon ANBU as a whole. All things considered, we need to look into this, since her mission was terminated prematurely without her accomplishing it." His tone was firm, and it almost sounded as if he was threatening Shibi, as he took a step forward and spread his legs a shoulder's distance apart to stand his ground. "ANBU needs to speak with her as well."

"Is that so?" Shibi remarked before turning and facing the ANBU member directly. His tone had gotten a little lower, sounding darker with every single word that he spoke. "Well than, if you need to speak to her about the fantastic job that she did and how many countless lives she saved by placing herself in harm's way everyday....than I'm afraid that you're going to have to wait like the rest of us."