After we had taken all the supplies we could from the ruined village, and dressed any more substantial wounds, Hinata, Itsuki and I all left. A short prayer at the edge of the ruined town was made to the unfortunate souls who lost their lives. Then we were off on a dust-barren road in hopes of reaching the next town faster. Itsuki was still very weak from all the blood loss, and I wasn't completely certain that he wouldn't be able to move his right arm anymore. It was quickly decided that Hinata and I would have to carry him to the next town ourselves. For all intents and purposes, we made rather good time towards the next town, and I questioned my previous ideas that roads were plagued with nasty bandits. We encountered only the odd deer or roaming animal. It was a let down, really. After all that had happened, I had half expected to get jumped by another random Shinobi who somehow had a vendetta against us, or were simply being evil assholes who wanted to stop us on our journey for some obscure reason. I think it really said something of my developing mental state to expect an attack for no reason at all. Still, I could barely worry about that now. I had been making sure Itsuki was well fed or drank water on our trek for each rest we made. We had only stopped a total of four times on the five days that we had been traveling, and it really said something when Hinata of all people complained about being tired. Well, not really complained, more like passed out from exhaustion on the way to the next town. It was her form of complaining, I'm sure. So that brought me to where I was at right now. Carrying my only friends in this world on my small toddler back with some slipshod harnesses of coarse, hemp rope to keep them secure as I ran. It really brought me more understanding to the sheer endurance that I had, especially at my age. Though, a healthy dose of good ol' orange beastie's Chakra kept me awake and with plenty of energy to spare for the menial task of being a carriage. My breath was coming out in short gasps as I finally reached the next town on the seventh day. I had severely overestimated the efficiency of the Kyūbi's Chakra without being angry or in a combat scenario. Apparently my accelerated healing came with the bonus of making me very, very hungry to replace the quick use of my cells. I figured that I earned a nice bowl of everything when I finally entered the bustling town. The place was similar in make to most of the ones I had already seen, and, most importantly, it was populated with people. The only problem was the rather unnerving stares and wary glances that I found on my way through it. "Hey!" I called to one of the surrounding people, a rather nice looking older man. "Do you know where we can find some healer or hospital?" The man chose to walk away faster while staring everywhere but me. I was a little put off by the attitude, but I found that I couldn't care less about that right now. Finding another random person, I asked the same question. It really was starting to piss me off when I received the same answer. My motions were growing more frantic as I charged through the streets with my two companions. No one was answering my questions, and I beginning to think that drawing on the Kyūbi's Chakra might help motivate some other people to help. However, I stopped myself on that line of thought. I would not resort to anything that drastic just yet. Eventually, I found a small shop that sold some bowls of rice and meat. What kind of meat? I had no idea, but I was hungry enough to not bother with asking. The parse amount of money that I appropriated from the ruined town and Itsuki would require me to go to cheaper stores like this very one. "Hello," I started, showing a more demure front just in case I was being too forceful with the others. "Could I get a couple bowls of rice and your… chicken? I have enough ryo to pay." The man behind the counter looked over me for a second, eyes glancing to Hinata and Itsuki who I had set down close to the entrance. He slowly turned his attention back to me. "They dead, kid?" He asked suddenly. I blinked at the words, frowning incredulously at the accusation. Their hearts were still beating just fine, I checked. "Yes…" Still scowling, I turned back to my friends, and realized that we all were coated in an unhealthy amount of dried blood. "Did they… look dead?" "Kid, you have enough blood on you that I wonder what bloodbath you had just waded through." The man deadpanned, face falling into a stern frown. "I don't want to know what you Shinobi want, but we normal folk don't want to get involved with your business." A short of quiet rage was building up in me at his words. What did he mean that they didn't want to get involved? I had expected that civilians would be more understanding of Shinobi matter, and would at least help a kid carrying a severely wounded man, Shinobi or not. Was there prejudice on both sides? Still, none of that mattered as I addressed the man again. "And if I have business that is yours instead of mine? Would that change anything?" The shop owner quirked an eyebrow as he shifted four steaming bowls of fluffy, white rice and cooked meat to me. It smelled divine. "Depends, kid, how much you got?" "How about if I appeal to your natural morals to help a child in need?" "Those morals died when I lost my friends to Shinobi, kid. Nice try, though." The man said with a slight turn of his mouth. Sighing, I relented to him. Mainly because I was a sucker for a sob story, and because I was horribly hungry. I passed him the required ryo while digging into the bowls of food in front of me. After my third bowl, I returned my eyes back to the shop worker. There was no one else in the small stall he called his own, but I think that was partly the two bloodied bodies unconscious outside scaring off his customers. However, I don't think the rough man paid much attention to that. "So," I started, drawing out the word. "You don't happen to know of any hospitals here?" He looked at me for a second, glancing at my companions, and then back to me. "No, sorry. There are no hospitals that I know of anywhere close, either. Small towns like ours that are next to Kirigakure's stomping grounds don't really have them. You might be able to find someone if you head further into Fire Country, but that's a good week or so of travel by caravan." "Then…" My lips were becoming dry, and my tongue felt heavy. "Is there anyone in town who can help? Or maybe a store that sells some medicine and gauze?" It seemed my desperation was finally getting through to the man, and I found him sighing like he had just received the saddest story of his life. His eyes were a gentle brown. "I don't know of anyone personally, but I would try the east side of town first. They have some stores with medicine and the like there." I nodded, finishing my bowls faster than I had before. Standing, gathering my friends and securing them to my back I stood to leave, but not before pausing in the exit. I shot my brief company a slight smile. "Thank you." Then I was off to look for the whatever supplies that was here. I arrived at the at the area a couple of minutes of lugging bodies later, much harder than I make it. The people here were also unnecessarily passive with me and my questions. However, I was able to precure enough medicine and gauze, mainly with liberal use of the Transformation Jutsu to hide all the blood, to hopefully last us to Fire Country. If I wasn't slightly apprehensive about getting lost on my way then I would've already left yet, but I still needed to know the lay of where I was. After shambling through unhelpful civilians, and passive-aggressive bystanders I found enough to begin to worry about my situation. We were much further than just a few weeks of travel from the Fire Country so long as we stuck to trade routes on foot, especially two children on foot. If we cut through the forests then we could easily reach our destination in a month or so, but, again, I was completely confident that I would get us lost again. The money I had had been spent of medicine and gauze, but I was fearful that it would barely last two weeks. Itsuki's condition wasn't getting any better from all the rest he had been taking, and Hinata was slowly recovering, waking up from her exhaustion a couple minutes ago. Though, she woke up to a bleak situation that was devolving into something that wasn't getting better anytime soon. "Hello, are you three in need of help?" A voice spoke behind me, and I nearly jumped from how silently they had snuck up behind me. Turning to see who it was, I found myself face to face with an older child, maybe seven years old. He had sharper features for kids our age, and a head full of long, silvery-grey hair that was tied into a ponytail with a strip of red string. Calm, green eyes were turned towards us with clear concern dotting their gaze. Oddly, he had two dots of crimson just above his eyebrows. The boy was thin, too. Like he had been without food for awhile, but only started putting on weight till now. His skin was very pale as if he had been stuck inside all the time as well. If it wasn't for the relaxed posture of the child, and his slight smile of reassurance, I would have thought that he were a Shinobi. He looked just like a gentle child that just wanted to help. "Oh, uh, sorry." I stuttered, realizing that I had been sizing him up as a possible threat for awhile. "I don't want to bother you, but we are in need of some help." "It's no problem for me." The white-haired child spoke soothingly. "I simply saw that you were in need of help, and these civilians were rudely ignoring you." I noted that he called the townspeople 'civilians', making another entry to the my 'This is definitely a Shinobi' list. Still, I hid my reaction as Hinata hid behind me. I knew she was reaching for one of the swords that we still had, as well as Nuibari that I had appropriated form Katsura earlier. Like hell would I not take the obvious awesome weapon as recompense for my struggles. However, I didn't want this to devolve into another unnecessary fight. As such, I put on the best smile I could. "Then I'm sorry to impose on you. Do you have any experience in medical procedures?" Expectedly, the boy shook his head in denial. "No, I personally do not. But I do know someone who does. I think he would help you if I asked." "Oh," I enunciated, feeling a little more apprehensive now. "And where is he?" Internally, I knew that I should have just made a run for it now. We weren't fit to fight anytime soon, and if there was a fight that broke out after the enemy lead us to somewhere that favored them, we would be sitting ducks. While I am fairly sure that the boy had the best intentions in his heart, the same couldn't be said for whoever we were about to be led to. I was one who didn't like unnecessary risks. If I didn't have at least three escape routes then I would rather not even consider talking to the boy, but our situation would only deteriorate till something or someone broke. I may have been more robust than the normal child, but my companions were not. Help was needed. "Well, my mas- er, he doesn't like going into the towns, but he does leave a lot of medicine around. You can probably use them to help your friend." The boy said, and I flinched as he wasn't fast enough to hide his verbal tic of saying something that sounded suspiciously of 'master'. Luckily, it didn't seem that he wanted to drag us somewhere and experiment on us, and the fact that he wasn't offering anything other than medicine was great, too. A plan began to form in my head as I looked to the silent Hinata who was still watching our company with a gaze that promised pain so long as he twitched wrong. She was getting scary good at those glares. "How about I go with you and get the medicine?" I suggested naturally, swinging a hand to Itsuki's prone form. "My friend cannot really move as well, and I would rather not agitate his wounds by moving him." I motioned to Hinata, giving her a small, barely perceivable wink. "Kyoka-chan here can watch over him while you and I go and do the hard work, sound alright?" The white-haired boy didn't even flinch at the change, and smiled happily as if he had no idea of my inner turmoil. All I saw from him was a kind smile that I felt I was unworthy for. "That's great! We can go and be back in a day or less… the, uh, hideout is a little ways from this town." My smile was getting better at hiding my thoughts as I happily agreed. "Then let's get a move on; the faster the better." I turned to Hinata, our eyes meeting in a knowing gaze if trust. She passed me a sword. "Can you and Sensei go find an inn nearby. I'll leaf you to know to leave a message for where you'll be, okay?" Whether Hinata caught my rather blatant code, she made no mention of it and just nodded with all seriousness. We weren't smart enough to actually make a code that would fool a trained Shinobi, but the odds of him figuring out the code on the spot were slim. I turned back to the smiling boy with a smile of my own. Now that all my bases were covered, all I needed to do was to make sure I had ten more escape routes. We were running out of the town at a pace that proved we were no longer normal children. A couple of minutes later we reached a large section of forest, and I began to grow rather apprehensive. When my companion slowed down a little to navigate through the growing brush, I took the time to split, and readied myself to bolt at any second. Oddly, the boy smelt of spolied milk and hard earth to my specter's senses. I really needed to started logging all these different smells, and see if there was a correlation. "Say," I started through the awkward silence. "What was your name exactly?" "Huh? Oh, I'm Kimimaro." The silver-haired boy said easily as well as not tacking on his last name. "What about you?" "Sasuke." I replied with a smile. Then we reached a fairly bulbous tree that looked only slightly larger than the ones in the surrounding forest. Kimimaro tapped around the trunk, echoing dull thuds into the thick back. When he found something, I noticed that his hands pulled a door that was otherwise seamlessly hidden on the side of the trunk. A dark, musty abyss stretched below the ground, and I was beginning to have second thoughts on how desperate I was about our situation. I could've stolen what we needed as well… I wasn't given the option of refusal after going so far now. Especially when I realized that my caution and reason had been stupidly forgotten by my worry over fixing Itsuki. Kimimaro motioned for me to follow, a smile on his face. I stepped into the abyss, feeling oddly at home in the dark.