Chapter 129-130

.

.

It's midnight when Shikamaru wakes, shaking off the uneasy remnants of some kind of nightmare. There's a feeling of helplessness that grips his chest, an unfathomable desire to be home.

He is home.

He gets up, restless. He wants to see Shikako but, of course, she's gone on a mission. So is dad, thanks to whatever Cloud is getting up to at the border. There's still baby Kino-chan, though, and Shikamaru hovers in the nursery doorway for a while to watch him sleep.

The feeling from the nightmare fades, eventually.

.

.

Kakashi isn't asleep. He probably should be, but it's his fucked-up sleep cycle and he'll sleep when he wants to.

In this case, it's why he's aware when Obito's eye starts to burn.

He hisses, pressing his hand over his forehead protector. The pressure helps a little, and the feeling fades fast, leaving behind only a lingering ache.

"That was not great," he says out loud, because he's only just finished with mysterious Sharingan related health problems and doesn't really want any more.

The sharingan doesn't appear to be damaged – just reddened and soaking his mask with excess fluid – or even overly active.

Come to me immediately if anything unusual happens, Tsunade had told him when she'd released him from the hospital.

This probably counted as unusual. She wouldn't be that mad if- No. No, she really would.

Kakashi gave his reflection a rueful look and went.

.

.

Gaara is still in his office when midnight hits – he likes to be thorough with his work as Kazekage and that means spending a lot of time looking into what is being asked of him, of his people, of how the village operates and how it could operate if things were changed. Sometimes that means paperwork and sometimes it means visiting the different departments and people in Suna and sometimes that means running things past Temari and Kankurou and the experts and occasionally whichever ninja happens to be passing by at the time.

And then something-

His sand churns, rises. But there is no attack to defend against.

Shukaku stirs from its bored slumber in the back of his head. It hisses, something wordless, causes pain to pulse through his temple.

He raises a fist to press against it, then lowers it, muscles shaking. It doesn't help and it makes him look crazy. That's something he tries to avoid, now.

"What?" he asks, sharp and terse. There's nobody around, anyway.

He can feel the moment Shukaku considers, but it passes like sand blown on the breeze. The bijuu laughs. Oh, yes. You felt her beg, didn't you? Who is caged now?

It's no answer.

Gaara rises, leaving his work behind. There has only been one time he has ever felt anything like this before – one time something reached through him to Shukaku.

The knowledge does not exactly set him at ease.

He makes his way to the Kazekage's house – Temari and Kankurou's house, his house – where his siblings are sharp eyed and awake. They should be sleeping, but they aren't.

"You felt it," he states.

Kankurou mutters words that aren't exactly polite. "Guess we can't pretend it was just a dream then."

Temari smacks him on the shoulder, but absently and without much force. "I told you-"

"-yeah, yeah, you're too good for bad dreams, I know."

"We need to send someone to the Garden," Gaara interrupts, now that his suspicions have been confirmed. "If something has happened there…"

"I'll go," Temari volunteers. "Better one of us than have to try and explain what we're even looking for."

Kankurou doesn't disagree. "What if it's not the Garden?" He asks, more subdued than usual. "What do we do then?"

Gaara considers, feels the strange tightness around his heart, the … apprehension.

"Hope," he says.

.

.

"Ero-sennin, wake up!"

Jiraiya groans and ineffectually swats at the brat as Naruto shakes his shoulder. But he pries his bleary eyes open because the kid does, actually, sound upset.

There is no threat – immediate, potential or past – in the area though, so he doesn't actually move. "What?" he snaps.

"It's Shikako-chan!" the brat says, which makes no actual sense. Or. Well, he'd given the boy Icha Icha to read and hope that took care of it, but given his terrible taste in literature, maybe he hadn't read it at all. Damn, but Jiraiya really doesn't want to deal with this.

He groans. "You're just dreaming, brat. It'll make sense someday."

"She's hurt! Kurama says she's going to die!"

"… Who's Kurama?" Jiraiya asks, skipping over the rest of that statement.

Naruto gives him an exasperated look that is completely unwarranted and makes a gesture at his stomach. "You know. Kurama."

Deep, deep inside, Jiraiya blanches. He's been talking to it? "And you trusted it? Geeze, brat. I oughta send you back to the Academy! What kind of biased source of intel is that?"

Naruto shifts back and huffs. "Well," he says doubtfully. "He was wrong last time. Yeah! Yeah, I bet she's going to be just fine! Hah. Stupid fox. Shikako-chan can kick anyone's ass."

And then the stupid brat just curls up and goes back to sleep and Jiraiya is left wide awake and staring out into the night with a whole new set of troubles to ponder.

.

.

If Shikaku turns towards the border seconds before the horizon is engulfed in fire, no one will ever know.

Not even himself.

.

.

The call rips through the herd.

Heijomaru stands and screams defiance into the hills, the air ripped apart with the force of his voice. It's a pure, instinctual move, triggered fast and deep by the agony of desperation.

I want- home! -please help- I need-

She calls, but she does not summon him to her side.

She is young, this new summoner of the Sika Clan. But she is good and kind and her chakra is given freely, blending into the air of their lands, mixing with that from Sembei and Hitomura and Tenba and all the summoners that came before. Already they have grown stronger, more secure, from it.

"What shall we do?" Gemmei asks, when it becomes clear that the Summoner will not call.

The air still shivers with her desperation. The river echoes it, a fading, repeating lullaby. Please, please, please.

Heijomaru has no wish to lose any of his clan.

He stamps his hoof and pulls.

.

.

So – chakra connections. The Gelel group, obviously. Kakashi's recent Sharingan poking left a bit of a mark. Nara clan spiritual training. And the summons.