For everyone who hasn't read the prequel to this - Crimson Snow - please go ahead and check it (just two chapters). It is important for this story.

Amara - the old lady healer that Sasuke found in the above mentioned story.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open. He stared at the ceiling for a brief moment, then sat up on the bed, his crimson eyes fixed on the door. Silence. Only the wind could be heard, flowing evenly through the thick forest that surrounded the hut.

A palm was gently pressed to his bare back.

"Are you having nightmares again?"

His red eyes turned to stare at a set of white ones. Hinata gave the man a worried look and moved her palm to his cheek. In return he blinked, his eyes returning to their usual onyx color.

"Maybe. I don't know any more."

She forced on a smile. "Come on, you need to sleep."

Letting his back hit the lumpy mattress, Sasuke took onto staring at the ceiling again. He finally managed to close his eyes and felt as Hinata shifted next to him, letting her head rest on his chest. Her skin was cool. They had to find a warmer place, winter was near.

Screams. He could feel the blood on his hands, he could smell its metallic scent. Fire. He entered a building. Blood. Three bodies lay before him. Footsteps.

Shooting up, the man shook his head to cast his dreams away. His Sharingan shimmered in the darkness.

"Sasu-"

"There is someone outside."

He jumped off the bed and grabbed his shirt, putting it on quickly. Standing before the door, he adjusted the Sword of Kusanagi behind his back. "Stay here," he ordered to the woman, then opened the door as quiet as he could and went outside.

There was only darkness. A few clouds traveled through the night sky. His kekkei genkai roamed the small clearing outside the hut they were hiding in. He couldn't see anyone. But felt the energy flow of someone. Someone near.

"Come out," he called. His voice was rough and dry. The unlucky bastard was going to pay for daring to come so close.

Suddenly, a yellow flash appeared a few feet away from him and Sasuke took a step back, carefully tracing the light as it moved forward. The trees were on his way of seeing his target. But it didn't matter. He already knew who it was. As much as he could not believe it.

"Hello again, Sasuke."

Naruto Uzumaki left the cover of the forest and stepped in the clearing, watching his ex-teammate with a smile. His Kyuubi mode was lighting the darkness. The man could finally see his long-lost friend clearly. His smile faded.

The Uchiha's hair was quite longer then before and his bangs were hiding his eyes, probably something done intentionally in order to conceal his features from the foreign people in these lands. And even like this, Naruto could not miss the burning crimson of his gaze.

He took a step back only to freeze, raising his hands up, demonstrating his intentions. "I don't want to fight."

Sasuke had taken out his sword and held it firmly, pointing it at the newcomer. "Leave."

"I need to speak to you. To both of you," the blond noted. His face had become serious and the Uchiha did not miss this, but decided to ignore it.

"I have nothing to discuss with you."

"This is serious, Sasuke."

"You can't possibly say anything that could interest or concern me."

"Naruto-kun?"

The attention of both men was immediately directed at the entrance of the hut. Hinata Hyuuga stood there for a moment, seemingly shocked. The woman then closed the door behind her, her white eyes stuck to the blue ones some feet away.

The Jinchuuriki smiled at her. "Hello, Hinata-chan," he greeted, but did not miss the painful veins he could see on her temples.

"I thought I told you to stay inside," Sasuke spoke. He clenched his jaw and hurried to return his eyes to the intruder.

The woman did not pay any attention to his words. She took a step forward, but did not reach the Uchiha. "Why are you here, Naruto-kun?"

"I need to speak to you two."

"I already told you we have nothing to discuss with you," Sasuke spoke, his teeth grit.

"How… How did you find us?"

Naruto couldn't help but smile. "I've been tracking you ever since the two of you left Konoha. I must admit, your skills of concealing your chakra are incredible. But I have Kurama. As long as I know where to look at, I can find you."

"So what, have you finally decided to drag us back and be claimed a hero?"

The Uzumaki stared at the crimson eyes and gave his old friend a bad stare. "Do you really think I went through all the trouble to make sure no one will find you so that four years later I can ruin that?"

Silence fell into the clearing. Seeing their doubts, Naruto decided to get a bit closer, hoping that this way he would be able to convince them to hear him out. And yet, to his utter astonishment this did not happen.

Sasuke grasped his sword with two hands as electricity flowed through its blade, buzzing in the darkness. Hinata had her hands raised before her and both her palms were engulfed in the bright Hyuuga chakra. The man blinked, parting his lips. He expected this from the teme, but not from her.

"Come any closer and I will rip you apart."

The blond narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Uchiha. What had he done with the poor girl? Were they living into such fear that…

"Mommy, why is this man glowing?"

The door to the small hut had opened silently. A child, not older than four, took a step but remained half hidden by the door.

The situation changed drastically. Hinata flew back, hiding the child with her body, staring at Naruto with panic. Sasuke on the other hand ran ahead, slashing with his sword through the air. The blade sliced Naruto's arm and dug into his torso, only for him to turn into a puff of smoke.

Jumping up, Sasuke spun to see that he was too late. The Uzumaki had used a Shadow Clone to conceal his real self. And now he stood before Hinata, a blank expression on his face. His eyes were wide. He watched as the child moved behind its mother, seemingly frustrated of the situation.

The blond knelled down. This was incredible. How had he not noticed the child's chakra? But then it hit him. He had been able to trace the two so easily exactly because they were giving all their energy in concealing the kid. He could hear Sasuke run towards him, but didn't care too much. Hinata was as shocked as she could be, but this did not bother him. Smiling, the man tilted his head so he could see the kid better.

"Hello there. I am Naruto, what's your name?"

He saw as the child opened its mouth to speak, but couldn't hear what it answered. Picked up by his shirt, he was slammed at the wall of the hut. He tried standing up but was grabbed by the collar and pinned to the wall again. The buzzing light of Sasuke's sword pierced the silence of the night. The blond could feel the blade pressed to his neck.

"And I thought I wouldn't need to murder you," Sasuke hissed, his crimson eyes were deadly.

But it appeared that the Uzumaki did not care what was happening to him at all. His blue eyes were still fixed on the child. A smile had curled his lips. He then moved his gaze to Hinata.

"Dobe!" Finally getting his attention, Sasuke pressed the blade harder and watched as Naruto's blood colored the collar of his shirt.

"Oh cut the… nonsense, Sasuke," the blond noted, happy that he had found a proper word to use in front of the child.

"I'd rather cut your head off."

"Sasuke." The red eyes slowly turned to Hinata. She was standing before the open door, preventing the child from being able to get out any further. The two exchanged looks. "Let him speak," she finally explained.

It took him some time to consider her plea. "Why?"

"Because, for him to come here himself, this might really be important."

Clenching his jaw, Sasuke looked back at the blond, who seemed not to notice the blade on his throat at all. His eyes were still fixed on the child, the little of it he could see.

"Does it have anything to do with Hanabi?" the Uchiha asked.

Naruto blinked. "No but-"

"Then I don't care."

Hinata watched as the man gathered a huge amount of electric power in his sword. "Stop!"

But before she could decide whether to help or to keep close to her child, she watched as an extra pair of monsterly hands appeared from Naruto's yellow light and pushed the Uchiha off of him. Sasuke flew back but landed on his feet like a cat.

"You are close in your assumptions, Sasuke. But you've got the wrong sibling on your mind."

The woman blinked. Wrong sibling? She was confused for a moment, but soon realized exactly what the Uzumaki meant.

"Itachi." Sasuke's voice was only a whisper, but his eyes were still fierce.

"I would have never bothered you if it was not something serious."

Silence again. Painful and long silence. And in the end it was broken by a small voice that sounded a little confused.

"Itaru," the child spoke and stared at the glowing man. "My name is Itaru."

"That's a good choice of a name."

Completely ignoring Sasuke, the blond moved ahead, closing in on the child. He stood before Hinata and couldn't help giving her a smile. Raising his hand, he rested it upon her shoulder.

"I know," the kid spoke again, looking up to face the newcomer. "My daddy chose it for me."

The Uzumaki smiled. Lighted by his Kyuubi mode he could now see the kid better. The boy was a spitting image of its father – dark hair and dark eyes. Only the softness in its face reminded him of its mother. Finally managing to move his gaze away, he turned to stare at Sasuke with the corner of his blue eyes.

"I only wish to speak to you. You deserve to know what's happening. What you decide to do after that is completely up to you."

Sasuke parted his lips. Seeing the Uzumaki again was confusing him. If there was someone that would find them, the Uchiha preferred it to be the dobe. But still, he could not trust him. Not at all. And yet, it appeared Hinata was on a different opinion. Before he could protest in any way, she stepped away from the door and opened it, letting the damn blond bastard inside.

"Hinata," he called, but her white eyes looked at him for only a moment. She quickly entered the hut as well. Sasuke was mad. Why was he here all of a sudden? And why was she on his side? Letting him inside was madness!

He closed the door behind him with a thud, noticing that there was absolutely no use in keeping quiet any more. At least the blond was frozen in his pathetic shock again. Passing by him and Hinata, the Uchiha went to the bed at the far end of the room and took his soon in his hands, picking him up, letting the child sleepily rest its head on his chest. Slowly, he returned his attention to the intruder, who was still dully staring at him. At least he was not glowing any more.

"You…" he appeared out of words. His blue eyes moved from the child that was holding Hinata's hand to the other one in Sasuke's grasp. "You have two children?"

"Twins," the woman noted, smiling lightly. "It kind of runs in my family."

Naruto blinked, but quickly gave her his usual heartwarming smile. "This is amazing!"

"Speak." Sasuke had walked up to Hinata and was staring at her angrily. He then walked to the small table on the side of the room and sat on one of the chairs, the sleeping child still in his arms. The woman joined him and Naruto hurried to follow.

"So," the blond finally spoke, leaning back on his chair and folding his arms on his chest. "Twins, huh? How cool is that?"

"You are playing with my patience."

The Uzumaki raised a blond eyebrow. "I am astonished to find that you finally have acquired any patience whatsoever, Sasuke. Fine, I'll speak. I'm not here to waste anyone's time anyway."

Itaru had climbed into Hinata's lap and absently plaid with his mother's hair. Hinata's eyes were still kind, compassionate, but now seemed tired. There were dark circles below them and he did not need light to see them.

As for Sasuke, he seemed tired as well, though not as bad as he was when Naruto met him four years ago, back in that rocky canyon where the bastard abducted Hinata. But there was something different about him. His skin was pale and his cheekbones were so well-defined that he looked sick. Maybe he was sick…

"It's Itachi," the blond finally spoke.

"Itachi's dead."

"Well…" The Jinchuuriki hesitated. He absently stared at the boy in Hinta's lap as it had risen up and was leaning towards him across the table.

"Doesn't it burn you when you glow like that?"

Naruto smiled. "It feels warm, but it doesn't burn me."

"Awesome," the kid noted and returned to playing with his mother's hair.

To be so easily astonished by his Kyuubi mode, the child was probably not very accustomed to jutsu, chakra uses and different forms of spiritual energy. It had probably neither seen Susanoo, nor laid eyes on its parents' special techniques. And it was better this way.

"Well what?" Sasuke was trying his best to stay calm, he did not wish to wake up his son. This was the third night and its fever was not going away.

"Well, remember Kabuto?" Naruto watched as his ex-teammate rolled his eyes, so he continued. "He is back. We couldn't find him after the war so we decided that you had either killed him or that he was hiding somewhere far. But he isn't anymore."

"And you expect me to care for someone of his likes?"

"No. But… Sasuke, he is using the Edo Tensei again."

Silence fell into the room for a moment. In the end Sasuke stood up and looked at Hinata, who seemed to understand him perfectly. She followed him to the bed of the children. Sasuke left the sleeping boy down and the woman helped Itaru climb onto the bed as well. The child laid on his back as his mother stroke his cheek, then made sure his brother was tucked in well and closed his eyes. Naruto was astonished at how obedient he was. Of only Mirai was like that…

The two quietly walked back to the table. Hinata appeared uncomfortable. She stared at Sasuke, but he did not return the attention. Instead, he leaned in, placing his elbows on the table.

"Itachi. He has been revived again, hasn't he?"

Naruto nodded.

The Uchiha grit his teeth and looked away. "How many times will I need to kill him, damn it."

"Your brother is not the only one revived." The crimson eyes returned back to the Uzumaki. Naruto took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, then exhaled. "Your father as well. In fact, I have never seen so many Uchihas in my life."

Hinata's eyes were wide open. However, Sasuke appeared completely uninterested.

"So," he started. "You already know how to deal with this technique. Seal them away, find Kabuto and murder him."

"If only it was that simple… Sasuke, you should well know what our chances are against fighting an army of Uchihas. Our people are dying with every second-"

"And yet you are here wasting time."

"I am not wasting time. Believe me, if I had another option, I would have never come to you."

"I couldn't care less."

"Sasuke, the resurrected men and women are from the strongest Uchihas to have ever lived. And not only that. Kabuto seems to have found that stash of Sharingan eyes that Obito had been keeping. All that are brought back to life are with real eyes. Eyes that once belonged to someone else. You should understand how strong this makes them."

"Serves you right. You were the ones that caused this. If my clan wasn't dead-"

"You killed the ones that were responsible for the Uchiha Massacre, Sasuke."

"Then what do you expect me to do? I am flattered, but do you honestly think I can appear there like nothing ever happened and defeat a pack of zombified kin? How many are they anyway? Twenty? Forty?

"They are more than a hundred."

Sasuke fell silent for a moment. "I will not risk my life for you or your peoples' sake. Deal with this on your own."

"Kabuto is after you, damn it!" Naruto then hurried to cover his mouth with his hand and looked at the kids, happy that they were asleep. "He has done this all so he could get your attention. He seeks vengeance. Apparently because you ruined his plans during the war. We are doing what we can, but they are just too many."

The Uchiha laughed. A quiet, muffled laugh, but it was so creepy that Naruto felt shivers run down his spine. "Itachi managed to get out of the mind-binding spell last time. He will get to that eventually."

"He won't." Naruto's voice was worryingly serious. "He used Shisui's eye and its Mangekyo Sharingan. He then destroyed it. Besides, the revived people… They are not like before. They are completely mindless."

"Deal with this on your own."

Sasuke had just gotten up and was about to leave but Hinata grabbed his hand. He stared at her with anger. "Sasuke…"

"No."

"Listen to me." The woman stood up as well and stared at the man, immense worry in her eyes. "Innocent people are dying."

"Why would that make me care?"

"Because… In such cases people can be desperate. If you… If we can help… Then maybe we could provide a better future for our children. You know well enough that we cannot hide them here forever."

"So you want to go back there and expect that people will accept our boys, just like that?"

"No. But… Sasuke, Hayato needs a medic. And Amara… She is dead. No one can help us now."

"Hinata-"

"Please…" the woman took a step forward and hid her face in his chest. "We need to find a medic," she spoke, her voice muffled by his shirt and by her tears.

Sasuke's face was blank, any expression was completely erased from it. He stared at the top of her head for some time, then turned to look at the sleeping children. And that was when Naruto noticed it. The uneven breathing, the sense of the disrupted charka. One of those boys was really ill. Raising up, he pushed the chair away and headed for the door, staring through the small window near it.

"Sasuke," he spoke, his voice hoarse. "If you decide to come, I will guarantee your children's safety with my life. I will also guarantee their future. Konoha will be glad to accept them. There are a lot of people worried for you and even more that are worried for Hinata. However, if you prefer not to get involved in this, I will understand you. I already understand you. I will go and wait for outside now. If you change your mind, let me know. The sun will rise soon. If I don't see you by then, I will leave and will not bother you ever again."

Before any of them could reply, the blond opened the door and went outside, hiding within the darkness.

Hinata finally fixed her white eyes back to Sasuke. "Sasu-"

"I will not risk everything that we managed to achieve so that I can save people I do not give a summoned rat's ass about."

"And I would never let you risk your life ever again. But Sasuke…" the woman looked at the bed in the far end and sighed. There were tears in her eyes. "Hayato is very ill and I have no idea what else I can do to help him. If we don't find him a medic…" She did not finish, she couldn't.

The man stared at her, then cupped her face with his palm, letting her tears wet his fingers. What if this madness could really give him the chance to save his boy? But this was all too risky. If Kabuto had resurrected his entire clan to get him mad, he would be even happier to get his filthy hands on his children and use them against him.

"This is too dangerous."

The woman's eyes changed from sad to angry. She took a step back, pushing his extended hand away from her. "If you don't want to go, then I will take the children and leave with Naruto."

"And you think you can escape me?" A smirk plaid on his lips, as much as he did not find any of this funny.

Hinata straightened her composure. "I already escaped from you once," she noted, remembering the time when she had knocked him out only to fall into the hands of the rapist stranger. "I can do it again."

There was so much anger written on his face that she involuntarily took a step back. She had not seen so much emotion in him in a long time.

And yet, Sasuke exhaled, going back to his stoic self and ran his fingers through his hair. Somehow the thought of leaving Hinata alone with Naruto made him sick. He clenched his fists, grit his teeth and turned his back to her.

Before she could say anything else to him, he had left the hut.

Note:

Finally! I am so happy to have started the sequel to MEO! I am sorry for this chapter being so long, I just needed a lot to be cleared out here. And more is to be revealed soon. Let me know what you think!