With each step Sanosuke took, the pain in his leg intensified to mind numbing levels of pain raced rapidly from his leg to the rest of his body. It usually left him feeling disorientated and seeing spots once a spasm of pain has passed. After making their report, most of Sanosuke group disbanded to take care of their own schedules that they had. Although the group was only assembled in one day, Sanosuke felt rather fond of their make shift team. With a sigh that left him alone to get back home so he can train, but the pain was beginning to get unbearable. It didn't subside even after Sanosuke ate the Durian fruit, which Sanosuke usually ate to get rid of any pains. If the Durian fruit couldn't heal the pain in his leg, then that blow he took from Baki must be something serious.

As Sanosuke took a step, he missed his footing due to the pain that flashed through his leg. The pain was so intense that it made him miss his step up a mountain trail causing him to fall towards the ground. Damn it! Sanosuke bellowed mentally.

A figure seemed to come up right behind Sano completely unnoticed. Putting one arm around Sano's waist and making Sano's arm go over his own shoulder, he picked Sano off the ground. The whole action went incredibly fast. And since Sano was pretty dazed, it would have looked as if someone was now picking Sano up completely off the ground. With a very familiar voice, it was now obvious that Skye had come along to help his friend along. "You know if you just waited a few more minutes, I would've helped you walk from way back there." Skye began to walk forward, almost carrying Sano along. He wasn't sure what reaction his friend would give him. There was many possible responses, but Skye would only receive one. All he could really do at the moment is wait for Sano to realize who was with him.

Upon getting back caught by his fellow Kumo shinobi Skye, Sanosuke felt himself getting his position adjusted by Skye so that his arm was slung over his friend's shoulder so that way he won't be putting too much weight on his wounded left leg. Almost immediately, the pain died away from his leg since Sanosuke was no longer walking on it. "Thanks Skye,I guess I pushed myself a bit too far" Sanosuke thanked as they walked.

While they walked up the trail, Sanosuke made sure that he hopped over to the hospital on his strong leg so he wouldn't put too much strain on Skye. It was nice for his friend to talk him over the hospital after their mission. Finally, they reached the hospital door and was opened by the receptionist of the hospital. With a smile, the woman let the two boys into Kumogakure Hospital.

Skye laughed once more. "That you did. Just be glad that your injury isn't too bad. It could have been a lot worse." Looking up, he saw that the hospital was closer than he first expected. It actually surprised him that he knew where he was going. Guess his little goal of learning Kumo's layout was working.

Skye grinned as the woman in the hospital brought them to a room. As soon as he got sight of the bed, he brought Sano over and set him down on it. He let out a loud sigh. Though he didn't show it while carrying his friend, he was getting a bit restless when carrying him. Searching the room for a quick second, he finally spotted a chair and sat down in it. He wasn't about to leave his friend till he was in a better condition. "I'll stay with you until someone comes to patch you up. Alright?"

As the two Kumo shinobi waited in the hospital bed, Sanosuke looked at his leg. The injured leg wasn't as swollen as it used to be, it actually went down a significant number of sizes to say the least. It must have been the work of the Durian tree Sanosuke concluded. He would attempt to try walking again, but he was still reeling from his last attempts at walking right. The wound on his leg made him think of Baki, the thug that caused him this wound; it was sad someone like him had to resort to a life of crime and yet he did it for admirable reasons.

"Hey Skye, do you think I made the right call letting those Tank and Baki live?" Sanosuke abrundantly asked. The question was killing him. All his teammates have killed in this mission, and for some of them it was their first kill. But Sanosuke didn't do it.

"For that situation, yeah, I'd say letting them live was the right thing to do... They weren't too dangerous, and we all left there alive..." Skye exhaled some when he finished his sentence. It was a hard question, and one Skye had to ask him self a few times before. "But if it's absolutely necessary, then yeah, you would need to kill. For our little situation, we had things covered and no one's lives were at stake." Adjusting his position in the seat, he crossed his arms and leaned his head back slightly. "Why do you ask Sano? You think we should have gone through with it...?" He sounded a little concerned for his friend. Usually when people talked about death or killing, they would get stressed out about right and wrong. Then they might carry in their hearts when faced with a similar situation.

-----

Sanosuke saw as Skye looked at him with concern. He saw that it was the same look Hiromasa gave Hikaru after Hikaru was still reeling from taking his first life. "It's not like that, it wasn't as though I had a choice. It's just something inside me was telling me not to kill them" Sanosuke tried his best to explain though he was doing a bad job at explaining his thoughts properly. "I don't know, just the thought of me taking a life, has me almost choke out. That's why I made that technique Sensui so I won't have to worry about taking a life in combat and I can fight to my hearts content."

It was then that Sanosuke realized that he was gripping the covers on his bed sheets hard. Seeing this, Sanosuke slackened his grip and let the sheets return to normal. "I've made the promise after what I did to my father by accident, the first and hopefully only time I will take someone's life. "

Skye immediately leaned forward to show that he was being absolutely serious. "What you chose was right Sano. I know that and you know that too." He went back to his previous position and sighed. The question was causing him to delve a little deeper into what he thought about death and killing. "I know taking life is considered bad in the eyes of many... Hell, I've never killed, but I know when I would need to. I hope that I would never need to..." It took him a second to reflect on what he said, but he snapped his head up and looked at Sano when he was done. His eyes drifted as Sano gripped the bed. It was somewhat obvious Sano was being a bit troubled by the matter. "Listen... Just remember that you still have friends around that can help you if something like that comes up... I was there for you. And I'm positive Hiro and Hikaru will be there for you too."

Sanosuke smiled as he thought about Skye's words. He was right, Sanosuke had friends that was actually close enough to him that if he could bet on would definitely be there for him when he eventually takes his first life. Being a shinobi , he was destined to face death; most likely him taking a life. But he hoped that day didn't come anytime soon. The words that Skye told Sanosuke really touched him, "Thanks man, that really did help sort some things out" Sanosuke thanked.

The doctor came in and had a discussion with Sanosuke about his injuries. Doing the best he could, he recounted the events that led to his leg injury. The doctor made small nods as he listened to his story. Once he had heard enough, the doctor inspected Sanosuke's leg himself and scribbled things down on a clipboard. He got out bandages and bandaged up Sanosuke's leg but only got as far as the knee before stopping. The bandages were relatively tight; probably so the muscles can be bind together. After he was done, the doctors gave Sanosuke some pain killers in pills for Sanosuke to take regularly.

"If you rest and take it easy on that leg of yours for a week, then you'll be as good as new" the doctor said before leaving.

Skye gave a thumbs up to Sano before the doctor came in to give him the results. Once he doctor was finished, Skye nodded at the doctor as he left to show his thanks. The news about Sano's leg wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He was there when that sword was stuck into his leg. So he had a fair guess on how it would end up. "Pfft... You're lucky, you know that. The injury I got from the Chuunin exam took me a good week to heal from, and another week to adjust to. And here you get one week and you'll be all better." Skye gave an obvious fake voice to act funny and lighten the mood. He laughed right afterwards just by impulse.

(sorry Saga glitched)

Learning that his leg would eventually heal and Sanosuke could return to his normal routine of kenjutsu training, it made him glad. Sanosuke was already missing the feelings he experienced from training with his sword. He laughed at Skye's words "Hey in my defense that Baki guy could really swing a hammer. I swear the second he hit me with that hammer, I thought every bone in my body shatter." Sanosuke chuckled "For a civilian he's crazy strong. You should try getting hit with that hammer of his." Jokingly Sanosuke got a newspaper that was found on a counter that was right next to Sanosuke's bed and rolled it up. Once it was rolled into a bat, Sanosuke gave Skye's leg a good whack

Skye jumped back once the rolled newspaper hit him. "Guess it would be like that, but twenty times harder..." He laughed slightly, but quickly shook his head right after. Looking out the window, he could see a few storm clouds rolling in. "Oh no... not more rain... I'm still not used to that stuff..." Being used to Suna's dry air and sandy layout, he still had trouble dealing with rain. To him, it was a rather odd thing to see. But for everyone else, it was normal. Grimacing, he turned his attention back to Sano and thought of a quick question. "Have you ever been to Suna?"

Storm clouds slowly began to wrap Kumo in a shroud of shaded darkness, the darkness was laced in with rumbles of thunder. In Sanosuke's opinion, he loved how the thunder clapped in the air causing a loud boom to be heard throughout the sky. Whenever Sanosuke was outside to experience the storm himself, the combination of the thunder claps and the flash of lightning would cause the lightning in his chakra to be excited to the point where Sanosuke's sharp control on his chakra system will slightly be shaken. That's when Sanosuke heard what Skye said.

"Actually no I haven't. Now that I think about it, I've never left the village before" Sanosuke said laughing while scratching the back of his head in embarassment. "I've lived in Kumogakure all my life, so I'm used to the lightning and thunder claps of the village. In fact I actually like the lightning in this village, kind of ties the whole village together, ya know?"

Skye flinched when a loud boom of thunder echoed in the distance. He turned his head and looked out the window. That storm was approaching rather quickly now. It seemed like it was almost in a rush to get here."Anyway... The only reason I'm asking about Suna... Is because I'm starting to forget..." The incoming storm clouds seemed to remind him that he was in Kumo and not in his original home. Skye flopped back down in his seat and rubbed his eyes. He was a bit tired, but not really sure why. "I'm a little homesick I guess... It's been a few months since I left... And I'm starting to replace the memories I have of Suna with the ones I have here in Kumo... It's kind of freaking me out..." Skye sighed and looked up at his friend for a response.

"I didn't know you were from Suna" Sanosuke said as he looked out into the window of the hospital window. He wanted to get closer to the window so he can get a better view of the thunder. Sanosuke thought it was sad, to slowly lose the memories of where you were born and the good memories. In Sanosuke's case, losing memories of where he was was born had to be done since he was banished from his home town. "Well maybe when I get healed up and Hiro wants to then I guess we can head to Suna for a visit if you want."

The thought of going to another village interested Sanosuke greatly, he had read some things about Suna about how it rarely got any rain and was the hottest place in the shinobi villages. Going to a place like that would be a great change to the Kumogakure environment that he grew up around. Sanosuke guessed that feeling homesick was natural.

"Oh man... I can't travel back there... One, my dad wouldn't allow it, and two, my clan defected from there... You can't just go back and act like nothing is wrong. The only way I'd be able to go back is in a disguise." Skye lifts his index fingers on both of his hands and points at the markings under his eye. "If I could go back, the best thing I could do would be get rid of this. That might make it a little better. I don't think anyone in Suna ever saw me without it." He put his hands down and shook his head. "And even if that IS the case, I still think of a way to get into there... Yui, the Kazekage, would kill me..." It looked like he really wanted to see Suna again, but was too afraid to go back. Though something was incorrect about his information. Skye hadn't heard of Suna's Kage change.

No words escaped Sanosuke mouth as he got up from the bed and walked towards his friend and put his hand on Skye's shoulder. The pain in Sanosuke's leg was flashing up again but he ignored it, being there for his friend was the most important thing right now. "Fuck it man, just join go to Suna anyways. You want to visit your home right, then go" Sanosuke said abrudtly. "I'll be there for you man I'm your friend after all and friends stick together no matter what right?"

Wit his speech done, he left his fist up in front of Skye's face. His hand was outstretched in means of a fist bump. It was the oldest way in Kumogakure to consecrate a friendship in his village. He learned it from his foster father that you should do that in order to confirm you and your friend have each others' back.

Skye sighed and his head slumped down. He remained there for a while before he lifted his head back up and had a smile on his face. With one quick motion, he lifted his fist and lightly bumped it against Sano's hand. "Alright. This might be the dumbest thing I'll ever do in the history of my whole life... But you know what? Screw it." Skye sat up and laughed slightly. "What's the worst that can happen? Other than my father giving me an anger filled speech." Shaking his head, he then stood up and started to walk for the door. "I'll let you know if I'm going to chicken out or not... and make sure you keep me updated on your leg. I'll see you later, alright?" With that last word, he left the room and started to head home.