Time Spents

Friends Indeed

No one has been able to contact Chiyo.

If all attempts to reach the old Witch before Sakura's disappearance had been met with limited success, then all of those following were met with utter failure.

That means one of two things.

1) She isn't speaking with Princess Tsunade (again)

2) Something has happened to her.

Since Tsunade swears on the River that she hasn't so much as breathed in the wrong direction toward Lady Chiyo in well over a decade, it is assumed that something or someone else is keeping Chiyo from either receiving their messages or responding to them.

Ino, taking it upon herself to broaden the search, finds herself in Naruto's home, warily watching the Light and Dark Guardians through the curling steam of untouched tea.

"So, no one has seen Chiyo in the River?" Naruto watches his guest carefully, digesting all that she has told them.

"Chiyo wasn't in the River to begin with," Ino adjusts herself in the unfamiliar seat. "Her home is on the largest of the islands hidden in the river."

Naruto's face screws up in confusion, and it would have amused her if she wasn't so heartweary.

How do you hide islands in a river? Like how do you even - why would you even bother to keep that a secret?"

It's a long story," she half smiles, half sighs, "but I think it boils down to Chiyo's never being particularly friendly with Princess Tsunade." Something wistful and rueful and fond twists her lips. "When Sakura first told me she was determined to find her, I tried to stop her. But once she gets an idea behind that forehead of hers," she shrugs. "There is no arguing."

"And this Chiyo, she does stuff with poisons?"

Ino tilts her head to the side and considers him. "I suppose you could say that. We Healers mend the damage done to souls during their mortal lives so they can enter the next realm intact. Unfortunately, souls can accumulate damage over time. Sometimes they become heavy with hate or loss or vengeance - things that can remain hidden travel with the soul through several cycles before manifesting. Purging a soul of that kind of damage takes time - those souls need to be removed from the River to heal where they can recover and not affect the others. If they aren't-"

"They can poison the River. And that is where Chiyo figures in," Naruto ventures. "So how do you get the souls to her?"

"We use this," she holds up her wrist, the engraved cuff glinting in the light. She motions to Naruto. "I hear one of your people's magic is what that lets us send the souls. They don't all go to Chiyo, per se," she leans back in her chair. "She is like Princess Tsunade in a way - she has others that work under her. As I understand it, each island has a Keeper who serves as both Gatekeeper and Guardian."

"So, Sakura could've sent the souls to Chiyo and never had any actual contact with her," Naruto sighs, deflating.

"Now you see why we've had such a hard time even beginning to track her."

Sasuke's voice surprises her, as he hasn't offered more than monosyllabic utterances since her arrival.

"No. She told me she was working with Chiyo. She must have found her. Therefore, we can reasonably assume that Chiyo was the last person to see her."

"Hey wait, the Keepers can get to Chiyo, right?" Naruto looks between them. "So, let's just follow the seal on your bracelet-thingy and get to one of the Keepers who can take us to the big island to talk to Chiyo!"

Ino shakes her head.

"It is not that straightforward. The seal isn't designed to work that way, and I've never even met a Keeper, much less heard of anyone speaking Lady Chiyo directly."

Sasuke silences Naruto's next interruption with a look and asks:

"When was the last time you heard from Sakura?"

Ino considers him shrewdly, and they size one another up.

"Officially? A year ago – with her last report to the Princess."

"And unofficially?"

"Unofficially, I still hear from her." And when Naruto rushes to interject, she quickly adds "I hear from her, but I can't communicate with her."

Her frustration is as evident as her concern, and here, too, Sasuke thinks, is someone not used to feeling powerless.

My clan – we can Mindspeak and Dreamwalk. I don't remember a time before Sakura and I were friends – even as children I could always find her. Now I occasionally catch glimpses of her mind – but I can never pinpoint exactly where she is, or maintain contact for long. I was hoping if I could be somewhere she had been more recently, I might be able to establish a connection with her."

Come," Sasuke stands, leaving Naruto to scramble to his feet.

"Hey, yeah! – if you could sense her anywhere, it would be at tem-er-Sasuke's place."

Ino follows, hope sliding under her skin.

She gasps as she enters Sasuke's home, a familiar warmth washing over her.

"She was here," she murmurs incredulously.

Ino closes her eyes and reaches out with her mind, finding where Sakura's presence is strongest.

"There," she points blindly, before registering the comfortable chair in front of the fire and the bookshelves. "Of course," the familiarity of it all pains her heart. "Sakura has always liked her books."

She pauses and looks to Sasuke hesitantly. "May I?"

He nods.

She sits in the chair, and folds her legs into a lotus position, before closing her eyes and extending her focus.

Naruto and Sasuke hardly dare to breathe as she works.

"She's alive," Ino breathes. "I can feel her – she's…" Ino's features crumple in confusion. "She's not in the River…but…but that is impossible, isn't it?"

"For her to not be in the River?" Naruto looks at Sasuke and then back to Ino. "Unusual, but not impossible, right?"

"No… she's… she's beyond it," Ino whispers.

Suddenly her eyes fly open and she shoots to her feet.

"So, there you are," she growls, eyes flashing fire.

"You found her?" Naruto jumps up.

"Don't you 'Hey, Ino,' me," she plants her hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea how worried Chōji and I have been –" she blinks twice. "What do you mean hold on?"

"Um...Ino?" Naruto points to the inky pool forming under her feet.

She looks down, wide eyed and then holds her hands out to them. "Hurry!"

But instead of allowing them to pull her away, she grabs each of their outstretched arms and pulls them in closely, and they become a disoriented jumble of darkness.

It is over as soon as it begins, and they are soon standing on the shores of a beach.

They all blink into the sunlight, the breeze gentle on their skin, the sound of the River lapping at the shore.

"I might literally murder him," Ino mutters, narrowing her eyes and stalking toward the tight cluster of palms and their small pool of shade.

"Ino, any time you want to tell us what's up, that'd be great," Naruto rubs the back of his neck.

But she is too busy fisting her hands on her hips and glaring into nothing to answer.

"What the hell is going on, Shikamaru?" she demands.

Sasuke and Naruto look at one another.

Naruto mouths 'She's crazy!'

Sasuke tries for a more direct approach.

"Ino, there's no one - "

"If you don't show your lazy a*s in the next three seconds, I'm going right back into that River, and I am getting Yoshino, do you understand me? One! Two! Th-

"Fine, fine," an exasperated voice sighs in surrender as the shadows under the trees reverse sublimate into something human. "Ino," a man nods to her, "I see you are troublesome as ever."

"And you are just as infuriating," she snaps, crossing her arms tightly around herself. "Do you know how worried Chōji and I have been about you? You were supposed to come back from your mission two weeks ago - where have you been? Where are we?"

"It's kind of a long story," he rubs the back of his neck. "You'd better come with me."

"After the stunt you just pulled I'm not going anywhere with anyone," she snorts. "And if you think I'm just going to let you-

"Shikamaru? Who are these people?"

Ino snaps her head at the sound of another voice – another female voice – and is startled by the piercing teal gaze that meets her own.

"This is my friend Ino. I have no idea who he people behind her are, but they look like Guardians. If I had to guess they are here about Sakura. This is Temari," he motions to the woman. "She and her siblings are Keepers."

"They are friends of Sakura?" Temari asks, looking them over. "The one who helped Lady Chiyo?"

"Well Ino is," Shikamaru shrugs. "Can't tell you anything about the other two."

"We're her friends," Naruto pipes up. "Believe it!"

"So, you know what happened to Sakura?" Ino blinks widely - her anger banked by confusion.

"I know what didn't happen to Sakura," he clarifies, "but in this case, that might actually be more helpful."

He and Temari share a silent exchange and she gives a sharp nod.

"You'd better come with me, then." She pulls out a large fan and whips it across the beach, creating a vortex glinting with sand.

"Is that a Gate?" Ino blinks.

"Lady Chiyo is waiting," Temari leans on her closed fan. "I wouldn't test her patience if I were you."

Shikamaru shrugs again and turns for the gate, motioning for them to follow (or not – it doesn't appear as if he is bothered either way, much to Ino's annoyance and exasperation).

Ino darts a look between the open Gateway and her friend before grasping him tightly in a hug.

"I can't lose another friend, you jerk," she mutters into his neck. "Don't do that to us ever again."

"Alright, Ino" he returns the hug with a greater care than his attitude would've suggested was possible. "I won't." He steps back, a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. It's troublesome," he nods to the gate, "but it is safe."

She nods, and steps into the gateway, Naruto close on her heels. Sasuke follows, leaving Shikamaru to linger.

"I'd say ladies first...," he looks Temari over, and she narrows her eyes at the expected barb

"...but I can't close the gate."

He steps through, pausing for her to follow.

"i***t," she mutters, and in the whirl of sand hides the pink of her cheeks and the twist of her smile.

They step out of the vortex somewhere less desolate and more green.

"Is this Chiyō's island?" Naruto takes in the curve of the trees and the wide, flat leaves.

"One of them," Temari tucks away her fan as the gate fades away behind them. She doesn't pause to encourage questions – she keeps walking up a narrow path to a small, wooden home. A man in black - skin pale and worn under streaks of purple paint - steps out and looks over them all.

There is a tension coiled in his arms and back until Temari offers (in a tone gentler than they've yet heard her use):

"It's alright, Kankurō. I brought them."

The tension subsides, sliding off of his bulky frame, leaving only restless fatigue. He steps to the side, and they filter past, one-by-one into the small dwelling.

There, in a rocking chair in front of the fire, sits an old woman nursing a cup of tea.

"Ah," she looks up at them wearily. "I see Sakura's friends have come."

"Lady Chiyō?" Ino asks tentatively. The old woman nods her head, and Ino takes a hesitant step forward before deciding to stay where she is, breathless and brimming with fragile hope. "Please...Do you know where Sakura is?"

"No, child," she puts down her cup. "I wish that I did."

But you did see her, didn't you?" Naruto steps forward involuntarily.

"I did indeed," she looks him over. "Sakura was a great help in gathering and tending many, many souls. It is a good thing she came - I was quite overwhelmed."

"Please," Ino sinks gracefully into the seat at Chiyō's side, putting her at a level deferential to the temperamental Witch "Please, tell me what happened to her?"

"You must be Ino," her wrinkled face bunches into a smile. "She spoke of you. I thought your Princess would send you looking for her rather than your friend there, but I suppose it made more sense to send a Shadow Weaver to the islands than a Waterborn – even if they are a Mind Walker. He can rejuvenate in our shade, you know, and can survive even if the water is tainted. She always was a clever witch," Chiyō mutters into her mug while Ino turns to Shikamaru.

There is some communication between them - some exchange of ideas and explanations and apologies reduced to the silence and sum of a few minute gestures.

When Ino speaks, it is a statement, not a question:

"You're here to look for Sakura."

He lifts one shoulder noncommittally. She takes in the gesture, not only has her answer, but intuitively knows that he was the one that realized his magic would afford him protection, and had taken the mission out of concern for both Sakura and herself.

She turns back to Chiyō.

"You said there were more souls being poisoned. What happened?"

"Ah," she sighs, reaching for her mug again, suddenly full and warm. "That. It began with individual souls – sometimes there is an influx of damaged souls if there has been great strife in a realm. Mass famine, war – all of those things can cause it, so there wasn't immediate cause for alarm. But Sakura noticed a pattern to the poisons that transcended those circumstances. Something or someone was tainting the river. That was what drove her to seek me out."

She takes a long draw off of her tea, before continuing.

"Unfortunately, I recognized the poison," she studies her reflection in the murky drink. "Sakura and I confronted the enemy and brought him down. His very heart – the core of his being was so badly polluted, it actually began to poison the island – something that has never happened before." She shakes her head. "It was beyond my ability to heal, and I was badly wounded in the fight. We managed to seal the heart between us, but it still needs to be purged. She healed herself, and healed me as best she could, and left the island, taking the heart with her."

"Taking it with her?!" Naruto blinks. "Taking it where?"

"Beyond the Headwaters."

"There isn't anything beyond the Headwaters," Ino frowns.

"You yourself said she was beyond the River," Sasuke glanced at Ino, but kept Chiyō in his field of vision. "Where else could she be and be so wholly concealed from so many skilled trackers."

Chiyō considers Sasuke.

"An Uchiha," her surprise is faint. "It has been quite some time since I saw one of your clan."

"Am I correct?"

"Yes," she regards him with growing curiosity. "At least that is where she was intending to go. No one now living has ever traveled past the Headwaters.

"Then why would Sakura even try to go there?" Naruto looks to Shikamaru.

"Legend tells of a tree that can heal any ill. It is said to be in the Garden hidden at the origin of the Headwaters."

"Then that is easy, right?" Naruto says hopefully. "We just go past the Headwaters and find the Garden and get to Sakura. So how do we get there?"

"The gate to the Garden is hidden," Chiyō shakes her head. "No one knows where it is."

Naruto blinks. "And no one knows where this gate is? So, she could be literally anywhere?"

"Now you're catching on," Kankurō mutters from his place against the wall, arms crossed, eyes hard.

"But she fought here, right?" Naruto counters. "Can't we track her from here?"

"She didn't fight here," Kankurō snorts. "We brought Lady Chiyō here to recuperate. Gaara is guarding the main island while she is here."

"Then we need to track from there," Sasuke says, Chiyō affirming his thoughts with the barest of nods.

"Gaara was the last to see her," Kankurō pushes away from the wall. "Get your things. I will take you to him."

"Finally!"

They look at Shikamaru.

"What?" he shrugs. "I've been asking you to take me to him for weeks."

"And we would've sent you," Chiyō gives him a small smile, "Except Temari was rather particular about you remaining alive and intact."

Temari flushes and Shikamaru blinks.

"Eh? Why wouldn't I come back intact?"

"Give my best to Gaara," Chiyō ignores the question. "I'm sure that the Sand Demon has been subdued, and he will be far more approachable now. Stay together - If he appears on the verge of a blood frenzy, get to safety."

"Wait, what?" Naruto gaped. "You can't be serious, we just-"

"Ta!" she waves, her grin wicked and amused as the floor lights up beneath them all and they disappear from sight.

She chuckles to herself and pours another cup of tea.

Sasuke finds himself on the edge of another dreamscape, eyes blazing red against black as he searches for her. He almost moves on to the next hint of her when a gentle breeze sways the heavy drape of the willow tree.

He enters, then, crossing with quick strides and ducking under the canopy of green to find her sleeping, cradled in the curve of the tree, a book dangling loosely in her fingers.

He hesitates for a moment, thinking perhaps this is one more Echo – one more false trail generated by the hidden Gate. He has chased so many lately – across dreamscapes and in the waking world – only to have them vanish like witch's water when he draws too near.

It had been Hinata that had figured out that part of the mystery.

"Gates generate their own magic," she explained when they returned to his home, fresh (or not-so-fresh) from their encounter with Gaara. "As Gatekeepers, we learn to bend and meld their magic with ours, but a gate can stand alone."

"But for it to remain hidden for so long?" Sasuke leaned forward, arms on his knees. "Is such a thing possible?"

"If the old stories are to be believed, then yes," she said slowly. "Hidden Gates are said to generate powerful distortion magic – things to prevent anyone from identifying and following it's magical signature. One of the forms is to create Echoes of the trail, duplicating not only the surroundings but any magical signatures and scattering them – projecting them, if you will. If Sakura got near enough to the gate, it could've created Echoes to disorient her."

And these Echoes," Naruto crossed his arms. "Would they just affect her?"

No," Hinata shakes her head. "The gate would broadcast them - It could've even temporarily forced her to another plane."

Sasuke sat up at this, but Naruto spoke before he could.

"Could it have sent her here?"

"Yes," she blinked. "I suppose it could."

"But then why did she think she'd been in a mortal life?"

"She had been handling mortal souls from those waters," Hinata shrugged. "The Gate could've overlaid the memories to disorient her. The best illusions are part truth, after all."

"So…" Naruto ventured, "the Sakura that came here might've been an illusion. It might not have been her at all.'

"No," Hinata shakes her head. "It was always her; just with her memories bent. Distortion magic has to make sense to the person for it to truly work. The Gate borrowed from her own reality as well as one that neutralized her as a threat - "

"By making her think she was mortal and not Waterborn," Sasuke finished. "To keep her from looking."

"But she did," Naruto reasoned, "or she wouldn't have kept disappearing and showing up here."

"You said that Gaara was helping to anchor her when she searched?"

They both nodded.

"Then…then I suppose that even in her disoriented state, she found an anchor here – something that helped tether her, so that when she was displaced she always returned to the same location." she flicked a meaningful glance to Sasuke before shrugging, "...But I can't be sure."

Sakura shifts and sighs in her sleep and the slant of sunbeam slides across the pale diamond in the center of her forehead – the marking that Ino described but Sasuke had not yet seen on Sakura.

This, then, wasn't an echo or an illusion.

Something is strange and tight in his chest as his Sharingan fades and he debates waking her.

Before he can arrive at a decision, her eyes flutter open, wide and unfocused, even deeper green than he remembers.

Jade captures onyx for an eternity marked in heartbeats, as Sasuke's world stutters to a stop.

"Sasuke?" her voice is thick with sleep. "What are you doing here?"

The relief that sluices over him is marrow deep; Sakura - the real Sakura - knows him.

"What else?" he asks, his voice far more even than he feels. "I am looking for you."

She peers at him curiously, and tentatively reaches a hand out to the hem of his cloak.

"You're real," she murmurs, and he wonders if the same fears that lingered in the corners of his heart had touched hers as well.

There might be amusement in his tone as he sits by her, leaning against the tree.

"Didn't you know that Death can walk in dreams?"

"So…so I didn't bring you here?" she shifts to face him. "This isn't just a dream?"

"It is a dream," he allows, "but I am here. I came to find you. We found Lady Chiyō."

Sakura straightens up, suddenly more alert, her book slipping from her lap with a small 'thud' on the thick grass.

"Is she?"

"She is fine," he assures her.

"And Kankurō?"

"Fully recovered."

She breathes her relief.

"Tsunade can't sense you in the River," he watches her closely. "Gaara says you made several trips to find a Gateway before you left to travel beyond the Headwaters to find the Garden. Did you ever get there?"

She nods slowly.

"I... I found the Gateway."

"Is this the Garden?" he looks around.

"Difficult to say," she shrugs. "My thoughts are jumbled. It's been so long, now, I don't know what are dreams and what are memories."

She looks out over the garden with him.

"Willow trees have deep, deep roots," her gaze travels beyond the canopy of green to the sunlit grass and blue skies. "They are always in touch with the water. They can be rejuvenating for the Waterborn. I think that is why I am here…wherever here is."

"Is this place real outside of your dreams?"

"I think I read about it somewhere," she muses, eyes unfocused.

"In your book?" he picks up the worn leather from the grass between them

"I recognize this," he studies the cover. "You left a copy by your chair."

She blinks. "My chair?"

He doesn't comment.

She turns to him, studying the sharp angles and gentle curves of his profile.

"How did you find me?"

"I followed the shifting furniture."

Her laugh is clear, and honest, washing over him with the rejuvenating bliss of spring rain.

"My home is not the same without you."

The admission is quiet and frank and hangs between them.

"From what I gather it wasn't the same with me, either," she says gently.

No," he agrees. "It is better when you are there."

Her smile is soft.

"I have a feeling I was more at home with you than I've been anywhere else," she flushes and is flustered. "Then again, I've never taken the liberty of making myself quite as home anywhere as I did in your home –"

He rests his hand over hers, and her words fade into breath.

"I will find you Sakura," his eyes to drift up and catch hers, "I will bring you home."

The unspoken 'with me' pulses in the press of their fingers winding together.

"It will be good to go home," she curls into him with a smile. "I do have some more rearranging to do."

"I'm sure you do," he smiles into her hair. "Ino seems to think that we will need to add a wing for all of your books."

"Don't listen to her," Sakura snorts inelegantly, "she's always loved to tease me about...Sasuke!" she sits bolt upright. "The books!"

"It's fine, Sakura," his smile is dry and teasing. "We'll make the room."

"No, no, that's not it," she shakes her head vehemently, glancing to the side, nervously. For the first time, he notices the far edges of the garden beginning to gray – the dream is ending.

"There isn't much time," she takes up the book she had been reading and hugs it to her chest. "You have to go now."

"No," he sits up, all senses alert. "I can follow dream trails – if I wait-"

Her kiss is sudden and insistent and warm and overwhelming, and he holds her as tightly to himself as he dares.

"Come find me, Sasuke," she whispers against his lips, their foreheads pressed together. "Find me and bring me home."

Before he can even think to assure her, he snaps awake in his own home.

He isn't in his room, but then he hadn't been to bed yet.

He is in the large chair – her chair – in front of a cheerful fire that had not been burning when he willed himself into a dream state to search for her.

He rakes a hand down his face, his fingers lingering near his mouth where the feel of her lips against his is still humming.

"Tea," he murmurs to no one in particular. "Tea, and then I'll start again."

He looks to the side-table to gather up his mug, and is surprised to see it is full, steaming, and sitting on a coaster next to a large book.

He brushes his fingers over the cover, instantly recognizing it as the one she had been reading – and that had been shelved only hours before.

Thinking perhaps that there might be something in the old stories to help in his search, he opens it to the page marked with a faded red ribbon.

The poison in these souls is like nothing I've ever seen before, and I don't think that it is natural. Something or someone is infusing these souls subtly - sometimes after death. One realm in the group seems to be unaffected; I suspect it has something to do with the warmth I sense from the Light Guardian; it appears to deter the darkness seeping into the victims. I have scanned the souls as they leave - Death is vigilant here, but also kind. They were carefully returned to the river. I haven't met this Uchiha (because of course the death is an Uchiha) - but I heard the name of the Light Guardian - his name is Naruto.

It appears the combined force of these two guardians has protected the souls in their realm - what a team they must be.

Sasuke sits straight up and rereads the entry before turning to another, random page.

Sasori's poison has severely weakened Lady Chiyō. I've neutralized what I can, but it will take time for her to fully recuperate. Gaara brought us both back to a smaller island untouched by the poisons - the one they call the Oasis. I need time to find my way, and it is too dangerous for the others to follow. I've asked the siblings to keep communications from Chiyō until she recovers, and to buy myself some time.

Her heart is going to be what hurts the most - Sasori was her grandson. He'd built himself into a shell of a person, and all that is left is the core with his heart. I've sealed it for now, but it is far too dangerous to leave to the smaller islands. To be safe, Gaara and I are the only beings on the large island; all other souls have been relocated. Kankurō is still weakened; I've put him in charge of Lady Chiyo's care, and asked Temari to serve as the only one opening the gates. Gaara is bound to a powerful being named Shukaku. He alone can withstand the effects with the poison, and keep the island safe.

But the island will not be able to purify Sasori's being - not fully - and I am the only one that can handle, contain, and regenerate. I have to find the Garden."

He pages through the book, his eyes growing wide.

It isn't a story book.

It is her mission journal.

Every detail (and she is extremely detailed) is there, including a summary of what she actually sent in her reports.

She used the last moments of their connection and the strength of her presence in that one place to force an object to appear, intact, and in his home.

"Clever, Sakura," his smile is proud and sharp. He is instantly awake and summons Garuda.

"Master," the hawk dips his head. "Any news?"

"Summon the others," his eyes snap black lighting and fire. "It is time to bring her home."