Restoration: Book 1/3

Chapter 21

Sasori cautiously stepped away so Obito could kneel next to his patient and start preparing a cold press. I believed his words even if I didn't want to. Each time I ran into him, he seemed incredibly uncomfortable with what he was doing, almost like he was being forced.

"Then why are you here?"

His oddly colored eyes met mine as I came back down to his level, watching what he was doing very carefully to ensure he didn't intend to hurt our peer.

The man hesitated, but eventually replied in a quieter voice as though he was worried someone might overhear our conversation, "They have my wife and daughter."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. I opened my mouth to ask why Madara would do this to his family, his own nephew, but then I remembered what a twisted and unstable person he was. After an awkward and silent moment, he continued as he placed the cold press on Deidara's sweaty forehead, "I know it doesn't make up for the terrible things I've done and I don't need your pity, but I want you to know that I take no joy in any of this."

My heart wrenched in my chest at his confession. I tried to put myself in his shoes and realized I'd probably end up doing the same thing he's done.

Gingerly, I reached over and placed a hand atop his, making Ino and Sasori look at me in disbelief, but I ignored them, "Maybe we can help one another. If we have someone like you out there, maybe we can come up with a plan to escape and save your family."

His eyes narrowed and he pulled his hand out from under mine. The voice he replied with was almost angry, "If they found out they'd kill them. It's too risky, I'm sorry."

He placed the basket of first aid products near Deidara's body before rising to his feet and wordlessly vacating the room. Ino and I shared a look before focusing on tending to the boy before us.

We were in the early hours of the morning when everyone had successfully been relocated to the new facility.

Sakura was still feverish when her group arrived, and we were all stunned to see Sasuke carrying her with an uncomfortable look across his face. Since the other two members in their travel group were female, he'd most likely been the only one strong enough to carry her with ease.

His bandages had also been removed, and I was surprised to see that both of his eyes were a similar red and black as one of Obito's. Briefly, I wondered if they'd given him a similar treatment because he was also an Uchiha, but then I couldn't figure out why they left Sai alone. Instead of giving myself a headache trying to figure it out, I put the question on the back burner and focused on trying to fall asleep.

After the final group arrived, Orochimaru came and told us that training would resume normally in the morning, so we all tried to get in a couple of hours of rest. Our sleeping assignments hadn't been addressed, but it seemed like everyone had grown used to their sleeping arrangements and naturally went near their usual bunkmates.

After briefly checking to make sure Hidan wasn't under the weather again, I rolled onto my back and sighed as I stared up at the ceiling. Just what did I do earlier that let me see through Deidara's bandages?

I tried to recall how I'd activated whatever trait my eyes had taken on, but couldn't get it to happen again. After a few more minutes of trying and failing, I gave up and let myself fall asleep.

Naturally, almost everyone was dead tired at breakfast. The new facility was virtually identical to the layout of the one back under the basement at home. The only noticeable differences were the lack of stairs leading to the thick iron door and the fact that both the bunk room and bathroom areas also had the thick doors instead of just an open archway.