A beeping. That was the only noise that filled the room, despite there being six people in the room. Granted one was unconscious. Aoi had been in the hospital room for three days, and so far had shown no signs of improvement. It seems the woman had been extrememly advanced in manipulating her mind and forcing her will onto people. She had tortured Aoi continuously for over four hours, until his mind no longer had control over his body and his hand had fallen away to break the connection.

The only ones who knew of Aoi's current condition were Ibiki, Inoichi, the Hokage, a handful of anbu, and team seven. Sakura stopped in daily, just to see how Aoi was faring, but always left disappointed. Five anbu stood constant guard over Aoi, just in case Orochimaru were to find out and try to make a move.

For the first day, several different people tried to help Aoi, but he seemed locked in his mind. Inoichi himself had tried to dive in and pull the boy from his comatose state. At the end of the day, the medical ninja's had told everyone that he would simply have to find a way out himself. Now, at midnight of the third day, that was just what was happening.

One of the anbu, who was watching Aoi intensely, almost believed it was her imagination when Aoi's finger twitched slightly. The movement was small, and she soon convinced herself she had imagined it when there was nothing else.

"Michi, you're supposed to be watching outside the room, not the patient." One of the anbu commented, rousing the girl from her stare.

"I know, it's just a little sad." She was turning to the window when she saw a movement again. Just the slightest feathering twitch of Aoi's fingers.

"Michi yo-" Michi held up a finger, and the man stopped. She pointed down at Aoi.

"I think he might be waking up!" Everyone turned to face the boy who lay still on the bed.

When nothing happened, a man walked over and placed a hand on Michi's shoulder. "Listen, Michi, I know that you're close with the kid. You rescued him from what I've heard, but things happen. If you can't focus I'm going to have to-" The man was cut off by another member of his squad though.

"He moved! It was just his fingers, but he did move." He turned to his captain. "What should we do?"

"Go get the nurse, then depending on what's happening we will inform the Hokage." The man nodded, disappearing from sight. Moments later, he returned, a bleary eyed nurse in tow.

She yawned slightly before speaking. "You say that the patient moved?" The anbu, all having seen some slight movement by now, all nodded. The nurse walked over and placed a glowing green hand on Aoi's forehead. "Let me see..." She mumbled slightly. There was a tense silence as all eyes were on the two in the center of the room.

The nurse removed her hand and Michi was practically shaking her once she had. "What's happening? Is he getting better? Will he be alright?" The nurse held up her hands in surrender at the frantic anbu.

"He's much closer to the edge of his mind now. If it keeps going at the pace it is, he should be waking up sometime in the morning." Michi backed off, sighing in relief. "I think that he can hear you now, as well as feel things when they touch him. Talking to him might be a good thing, it might help lead him out."

"Coma patients can't hear, can they?" One of the anbu said, a dubious tone layering his words.

The nurse nodded. "Most believe they can't yes. Aoi here isn't a normal case however, he's more trapped than anything. Now that he's trying to get out, it's possible that he has some sense of what's happening around him." The nurse touched his forehead again. "He's making steady progress, he'll be fine."

The nurse left, a yawn escaping her lips. When the door closed, the captian turned to his team. "Go and inform the Hokage of the situation. For now we will do as the nurse says and... talk to him..." He seemed unsure of the last part, but there were nods of agreement from the team. A man opened the window and disappeared out of it. "Well then, since we don't really know you... Aoi, was it?" Michi nodded at the man. "I guess I'll let Michi talk to you."

There was a faint twitch of his fingers, as if signifying that he understood. Michi glanced down at Aoi then back at her captian and team. They all looked at her expectantly. "I don't really know what to say..." She shrugged.

"Well his fingers twitch, do you think that he can respond to us?" One person piped up. They all looked down at him curiously now.

"Aoi, if you can respond, move your fingers." Michi felt slightly stupid talking to someone she believed couldn't hear her, but to everyone's surprise the fingers curled slightly. "Umm... why not talk for a while then? I'll ask yes or no questions, and you can twitch your fingers if the answer is yes." Aoi's fingers moved slightly. Michi smiled a little, and began talking. The other three turned away, pretending to ignore the slightly one side conversation that was taking place.

_+_

Aoi was alone. Just as he had been from his earliest memories. He realized now that he was alone, though back then there was no knowledge of the fact. Floating. That was the only sensation that Aoi could notice, and he didn't really mind. It was an odd feeling, something he had never felt before.

The memories from before still burned vividly in Aoi's mind. There was a dull ache that filled Aoi at the thought, and he curled into a ball. He couldn't understand this pain. There was no physical injury, and though he tried to find some way to get rid of it, the thought would bring it back. Sitting there, Aoi contemplated this pain, wondering if he was sick. His insides hurt, like Michi had long ago told him they would. 

For a long while, Aoi just sat there, floating in the darkness. He wasn't in any hurry, and there was no reason for him to go anywhere. He hadn't been told that he needed to train, or that he had a mission, or anything else for that matter. So he floated, curled into a ball, going through his memories. Most of them were from that one room, underground. Endless training, now that he realized that was what he had been doing for his entire life.

More recent memories came to him though. The academy. Though he had only been there a year, he still remembered everyone from his class. Choji, who ate like him, and just constantly ate period. Shikamaru, who regarded him lazily most times, but would sit next to him nonetheless. Sakura and Ino, who seemed to always be near him. Shino, who sat on one side of him, that would sometimes play with his bugs in the middle of class. Hinata, who would glance not at him, but at Naruto who sat next to him. Naruto.

The name reverberated through his mind. Naruto was the one who gave him a home, Aoi remembered. He constantly ate ramen, something that Aoi couldn't fathom. After years of eating nothing but bread and whatever else was thrown down a chute to him, Aoi loved to try every new food he could find. Naruto was his first friend, though Aoi still wasn't sure what that all meant. The thought of Naruto brought another thing to his mind. An order.

Aoi stopped floating, and started to fall. He opened his eyes, now realizing it had been dark because they were closed. He realized he was in a vast room, a soaring ceiling held by pillars reaching far over his head. The floor zoomed closer, and Aoi realized he had no way of slowing himself. The second where he would have crashed into it however, he stopped. Then landed relatively softly on the marble floor of the room.

Gazing around, Aoi noted that the room was the sky. The vast ceiling and curving walls weren't solid, and the sky instead was draped like a curtain all around him. The pillars that reached to support the so-called ceiling were still there, but Aoi now saw writing on them.Taking a step, Aoi stopped when he felt grass beneath his feet. He missed the feeling, as Naruto had always made him wear sandles. Walking over to the pillar, Aoi examined it.

He couldn't read it. The writing was something he had never seen before, the letters weren't letters at all, more like images that depicted what was trying to be said. It was a story, he realized. Looking at the shapes, Aoi somehow made out the story of people as they worshipped a god. The god soon betrayed them however, and the pictures showed that the people starved and soon died.

Walking to another pillar, Aoi became confused. This one was covered in neither letters nor pictures. Aoi tried to decifer what it said, but to no avail. He moved on. Pillar to pillar, Aoi stopped at each. Some held pictures like the first, and others letters, though they were jumbled into unfamiliar words. He kept walking, and soon he reached the edge of the room. The curtained sky met the floor he stood on. Reaching out a hand, he touched the sky, and it rippled beneath his fingers. A star lit up, and before him a scene unfolded. It was one of the stories he had come across, a picture story that he had been able to decifer.

There was a man, standing in front of a bear. Neither moved, but it was obvious the bear was angry. The man held out a hand, no weapons visible, and the bear cocked it head. It sniffed the hand, and roared angrily at the man. The man nodded, and though his lips moved, no sound was heard. A woman appeared then, and the man turned to talk to her. Her face was flushed when she arrived, but as the man continued to talk, she paled and sank to her knees. She gazed at the bear, her eyes full of regret. The bear bowed his head, then leaned down and licked the man on his head. Then red covered the scene. A spear was lodged into the bear's side, a good hit. The spear penetrated the heart, and the bear lay there dead on the ground. Turning from the dead bear, the man turned and faced the men, at the same time facing Aoi. The men, invisible, must have been afraid however. The man was angry, and as he turned a blue light glowed in his palm. Ice began to rain towards Aoi, but the image vanished.

A little hole was left in the sky then, and a green light filtered through, opposing the white color of the stars in the sky. A faint voice could be heard through the hole. "It's just a little sad." Aoi thought he remembered that voice, and after a moment, he placed it. Michi Kidoairaku. The woman who had found him in that room a year and a half ago.

Aoi reached out and touched the cloth again, fingering the small hole in the fabric that resembled the sky. Another scene played, but Aoi ignored it. There was a deep voice, but it was cut off by an excited shout. "I think he might be waking up!" Waking up? Aoi considered this. If he had been locked inside his mind like Inoichi had warned so long ago, then he was probably asleep. The only question was how long. A bigger hole was in the fabric now, so Aoi touched it, trying to tear it and make it larger. It was to no avail however, because though it was just fabric, it didn't appear he could tear it.

He heard something mentioned about a nurse, and touched the fabric yet again. A scene popped up directly in front of the hole he had been steadily making larger, and now he had no choice but to pay attention and watch it.

In the image, there was a man clutching his head in his hands. He was on his knees, a woman standing above him with her hands fluttering uselessly over his body. Falling to his side, the man started to convulse, and his expression was full of nothing but pain. The wide eyes of the man were disturbingly bloodshot, and through the severity of it you could still make out vauge green irises. The woman recoiled when she saw this, and began backing away. Then his face cleared of pain, but it was replaced with a sadistic look as the man stood and looked as if he were laughing. Pulling out a knife, the woman stood a few feet from the man. When he turned, she lunged forward, trying to stab the man in the heart. They stood there a moment, the lunge appearing to have gotten through, but a moment later, the man had stabbed through the woman's body. The knife's hilt fell from her grasp, the blade itself having shattered and disintegrated for no apparent reason. A sadness was etched into the woman's face, but the man only held a sadistic smile on his. Like dust, the body that was impaled on his arm started to fly away, like the ashes of a fire in a sudden gust of wind. When the woman was finally gone, the man held out a hand. A red beam shot forward and engulfed the entire land in a fiery explosion.

The image disappeared, and faint words came through. "I'll let Michi talk to you." Aoi didn't recognize the voice, but he knew it still came from the other side of the curtain. The hole was big enough to fit his arm through now, so he figured that as it got bigger he would become more aware of things out there. Reaching out, he touched the curtain that was styled like the sky, and another image popped up to the side. It seemed to be a man fishing on a boat, but Aoi ignored it, looking at the hole.

A voice echoed from the hole again. "Well his fingers twitch, do you think that he can respond to us?" Unconscious of the motion, Aoi tilted his head to the side. If touching the curtain made his real body move, then maybe this was a good way to get out of here. Glancing behind him at the plain full of pillars, no other ideas came to mind. He shrugged slightly, then faced the curtain again.

Michi's voice entered through the hole again, "Aoi, if you can respond, move your fingers." Reaching out, Aoi brushed the fabric. Another scene appeared as another star lit up. Aoi didn't even glance at it as Michi's voice sounded, "Umm... why not talk for a while then? I'll ask yes or no questions, and you can twitch your fingers if the answer is yes." Considering that he would be touching the fabric in an attempt to get out anyways, Aoi brushed the fabric again. Each time his fingers danced across the silky fabric that spread before him, a star would become brighter. From that star, another scene would play. When the scene ended, a chunk would disintegrate and the hole would become bigger.

Sometimes Aoi would watch the scenes that played before his eyes, just for entertainment. Other times he would have no choice, as it would completely block the shroud of what Aoi now considered the sky.

One depicted a fight between two brothers, as they fought to become king. One was born with unimaginable power, while the other worked his way up from nothing. The powerful one ultimately became king, but soon realized he had sacrificed all friendship to get there. The hard worker helped his brother, and though they didn't meet again after the powerful one rose to power, they built a bond that was always absent. The world fell into an age of darkness, but both brothers were able to pull it from that eventually.

Another showed a boy fighting against a giant of a man. Though nothing was said, it could be seen that they were father and son. The son was brutally beaten down, and tossed out. After a week, the son felt he was being followed, only to meet his father again. The father apologized, but still full of anger, the son grabbed a weapon and impaled his father with it. His eyes held no remorse as he stared at the corpse of his father, and he went on to build an empire. Any who crossed him were killed.

As time went on, Aoi didn't know how much, Michi's voice began to grow weary. Knowing the woman had probably been up for hours, Aoi stopped touching the curtain. The hole was large enough for Aoi's torso to fit through by now, but though he had tried he couldn't jump through it. It seemed he would have to walk through, and if that didn't work he suspected that he might have to get rid of the entire sky.

"Aoi, are you still there?" Michi's voice was strained, as if surpressing a yawn. Reaching out, Aoi danced his fingers across the fabric. He lay on his back now, and an image hovered over his head. He ignored it. "Is everything alright?" Aoi didn't do anything. "Are you alright?" Aoi's fingers carressed the fabric. Another scene.

"Michi, perhaps he's tired." a man's voice spoke, and though he wasn't able to before Aoi could hear it clearly. "Aoi is it?" A touch, a scene. "Are you tired?" Nothing. "Are you concerned about something?" A flick of his fingers. Glancing, he noticed that the hole was missing three more baseball sized chunks. "Inside?" Nothing. "Out here?" Again a flick of his fingers.

There was silence for a while as everyone in the room considered this. For a moment he wondered if they would talk again. "Does it concern Michi?" Flick. "Do you want her to sleep?" Touch. Aoi was growing used to this means of communtication. It was simpler than speaking, though Aoi hadn't tried to yet. He saw no point.

"Aoi, if I sleep do you promise to continue trying to come back?" Michi interrupted. Looking up at the hole, Aoi saw multicolored light spilling from it. It was almost blinding. He touched the fabric, and watched as ripples soared across the sky. It was becoming a loose cloth the more that he chipped away at it. By now it seemed like a sheet in the wind with one corner free. There was a scrape of what Aoi assumed was a chair.

"Michi is going home to sleep now, Aoi. Remember your promise."

As Aoi continued to touch the cloth, he paid attention to the scenes now. It seems the more focused he was, the more the hole expanded. Each touch seemed to create more ripples in the sky, as if it was losing more and more connection. A dull curiousity flitted across Aoi's mind. If the sky continued to become less attatched as it seemed to be doing, would there be a time where it would collapse, covering the entire area in an inescapable blanket of the dark blue fabric?

_+_

Alright, so I felt bad because my chapters seemed to be getting shorter, so here is a longer one for ya. I don't know how you guys will like it, because it's sorta weird if you ask me. I actually creeped myself out a little, but I'm not one for horror or scary things, so maybe I'm a whimp. I seriously want to know what you guys are thinking though, because I'm not very confident in this chapter... great thing to hear, right?

This is a rant, so read it if you wish. I absolutely hate everything foreign language right now. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of languages, and they always fascinate me, but learning them is a pain. Especially if you learn two. I know I kinda did this to myself, but still. Spanish is dang easy, at least for me. For a while, Latin was as well. Then I get to this stupid interrogative pronoun crap and get completely lost. I can't complain, because I think I know more about Latin from one year than I learned about Spanish in three. Anyways, I think this is the first time I cried a little in frustration from a school assignment. Though I hate to admit it... In all? Screw Latin. At least for right now. It's still pretty fun though.

Rant over. So here's your random question, which nobody answers anymore but I'm stubborn so I'll keep doing it.

If you could make a decent living off of any job, what would your job be? (Financial issues with the job are no problem basically)

That's all. Song to the side, because why not. Let me know how you like the chapter with a comment or message. Vote if you liked it. Fan if you like me (which would be interesting because nobody does [kidding]). That's all I guess, see you next chapter, whenever I upload it. I'll try to upload either Wednesday or over the weekend. If it's a Thursday for you, just remember all the time zone stuff. Sorry for ranting...

-Nicky~