Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Reading Totems ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Author's Note: Shino entrance countdown: Shino will appear in 2 more chapters! But he's actually mentioned in this one!

 

Title: Reading Totems

By: GrizzlyTeddyBear

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and this makes me sad. I do own Paige Stone, my OC! All information regarding totems was taken from Dancing the Wheel by Sun Bear and Animal Speak by Ted Andrews

Main Pairings: Eventual ShinoxOC, NaruxHina, SasuxSaku

Rating: M for mentioned adult themes

Warning: AU, Post-series start time. Rookie 9 is 23-24 years old. Fic mentions pagan religions, if you can't handle it, don't read! Also is OC-centric. Hold your pants, all will be revealed as the story progresses.

 

Chapter Summary: Sakura discovers Paige's medical secret. Paige discovers she has friends willing to help her.

 

***Chapter 6***

 

She tried to take a deep and calming breath when they reached the streets of Konoha once more. It didn't work too well. Paige noticed her hands were still shaking. She was more than a little rattled after the meeting. She was beginning to dread the council meeting already!

 

A hand landed on her left shoulder. “Ba-chan likes you! Otherwise she wouldn't have assigned one of us to keep an eye on you,” Naruto declared with utter certainty.

 

“How do you know that?”

 

“She knows she can trust us,” Naruto replied.

 

“It's more than that,” interrupted Kakashi. “She can trust us to keep an eye on you, but she can also trust us to `lose' you if you need to be alone.”

 

“Huh?” Paige was a little `lost' already, and everyone was still standing next to her!

 

Sakura tried to explain it a little better, “She realizes meditation isn't always a group activity, but she needs to know you're not a threat. So she assigns people who already know more about you than she does, who she trusts the judgment of. And well, if we happen to look the other way while you go to meditate…”

 

“Plausible deniability. She can plead ignorance to the council, but still trust that you didn't do any harm since we were the ones who let you go,” Sasuke finished.

 

Naruto's hand squeezed her shoulder slightly before letting go, “You'll be fine Paige. But I need to get home to Hinata, or maybe some ramen with Iruka-sensei.”

 

“Naruto, you better go see to your wife first. Then you can take her out to ramen too, and you'll have everything you ever wanted,” Sakura advised.

 

Paige smiled at the interaction, glad for the break in the tension.

 

“You're right! Bye Paige!” And with that, he was an orange blur on a mission.

 

“Wife?” she questioned to anyone willing to answer.

 

“Yup, he didn't want to reveal too much about her before he knew he could trust you,” Sakura explained.

 

Paige thought Hinata was only his girlfriend!

 

“Well, I'm off to go home. Paige, I'm giving the team the next few days off from training. We'll help you settle in. One of the team will come by and pick you up.” Kakashi made it more of a statement than a question if she had wanted the help, but she understood.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Alright, then if you follow me to the hospital we can get this physical over with and I can hopefully enjoy those days off before my real shifts at the hospital begin.” Sakura announced while walking presumably towards the mentioned hospital.

 

“I'm sorry to spoil your day off,” Paige apologized.

 

“Don't worry about it. I can understand you wanting me to do the physical.” Sakura waved her hand at her to emphasize her point. “It's no problem at all. It'll only take about an hour after we find an empty room.”

 

Paige noticed Sasuke keeping pace and decided to see if she could make Sakura blush, “So if Naruto and Hinata are married…are you still known as Haruno Sakura or Uchiha Sakura?” Success! Sakura was blushing.

 

“Both actually. Sasuke doesn't mind me keeping my maiden name, but I use Uchiha when formality calls for it.”

 

The group of three continued their walk to the hospital while Paige took in the new sites of Konoha and asked questions about different things in the village which caught her eye. She learned about the Hokage Monument, and how Naruto once repainted it as a prank when they were kids. Paige smiled at the thought. Before she knew it, they had arrived at the hospital and were winding their way through more hallways looking for an empty exam room.

 

“I hope you aren't going to follow us into the room, Sasuke,” Paige joked.

 

He smirked and shrugged, “The dobe said you might be competition.”

 

“Hey, as your wife don't I get to defend myself?” Sakura joined in with a teasing smile.

 

“Nope!” and with a wink at Sasuke, Paige dragged Sakura into the exam room they had finally found.

 

After the door had shut on the still smirking Sasuke, and the girls had had their laughs, Paige saw Sakura shift into what she figured was `business-mode.' “Right. We'll get started with the eye exam first. I'll give the prescription to Sasuke to run down to the lab for me. Hopefully we can pick up your glasses after we're done with the rest of the physical.”

 

“Sounds good to me. It'd be nice to view the world in focus again.” Paige added the after-thought, “and maybe it'll help with my headaches.” The eye exam was routine and Sakura wrote down her prescription on a small piece of paper. Suddenly Paige thought of something, “Hey, Sakura, do you think Sasuke would mind me asking you about what Sharingan is? While we're on the topic of eyes. I know they change colors.”

 

Waving Paige's prescription Sakura replied, “I'll ask right now,” and walked out the door. After a moment she returned. “He doesn't mind. Sharingan is the Uchiha family's kekkei genkai, or bloodline limit. It's a special ability passed down from generation to generation that lets them perceive movement more accurately to the point of being able to copy other ninja's jutsus and predict another ninja's movement It even has the ability to do hypnosis.

 

Paige's eyes widened. “His clan must be powerful.”

 

Sakura smiled sadly, “It was, there was a great tragedy many years ago and many of the Uchiha were killed. Sasuke has the burden of rebuilding the clan.” Sakura looked so upset.

 

Paige didn't want to press the issue. She'd ask more questions later. Right now, she wanted to lighten the mood. “Well, there is an up-side to rebuilding an entire clan,” she said while waggling her eyebrows at Sakura comically. It worked, Sakura laughed, and it was on with the physical.

 

“I want to take some pictures of your tattoos if you don't mind.” Sakura paused, she looked unsure how to phrase what she wanted to say next. “Um…it's for…identification purposes”

 

Paige nodded, “I don't mind.” Lifting her borrowed shirt up, she let Sakura take some pictures of her individual tattoos and then one big one of her whole back.

 

The eye exam and the first part of the physical were familiar to Paige, even those horrid gowns that she had to put on after the pictures seemed to be a universal evil. The questions about her family history were pretty routine, but what came after was new and she wanted to learn.

 

“I'd like you to lie back now. I'm going to run my hands over your body with chakra in them to do an internal exam,” Sakura announced.

 

“That's kind of cool. Where I'm from, doctors had to rely on huge expensive machines to see inside the body. And even then, they sometimes get it wrong.”

 

“You don't have chakra where you came from?”

 

Paige thought about how to answer. “Not like you do. It's not an every day skill like it is here. Some spiritualists believe in chakra points and chakra energy, but mainstream science basically calls them nuts.”

 

“That's sad.”

 

“Yeah, it is,” Paige sighed, “They'd think I was nuts too…If they can't poke it with a stick to see if it's real, then they don't think it exists.”

 

“Well, for the record, none of us think you're nuts.” Sympathy. Friendship. Calm. Sakura smiled down at Paige who was now obediently lying down. “Stay as still as you can to help me concentrate please.”

 

Paige obeyed, but peeked whenever Sakura's glowing hands came into view. This time she wanted to pay attention since she was conscious and hadn't just run for her life. The sensation was odd, kind of warm and tingling, but not uncomfortable. Sakura moved in an odd pattern too, Paige figured she would move top down or bottom up, but she started in the center and appeared to follow some wandering pattern that radiated out of near her heart.

 

“I'm following your chakra network,” Sakura announced. “I figured you'd want to know what I was doing.”

 

Paige didn't reply since she was told to be still and talking was moving, but she silently appreciated the thoughtfulness.

 

Sakura started listing off the different medical conditions she already was aware that she possessed, “Asthma, rhinitis, tendonitis, arthritis, plus all of the damage from the bandits—you certainly have enough joint and tissue damage that you could be mistaken for shinobi. I think I understand why you had so much trouble with running. I can help ease the swelling and inflammation if you'd like me to. I can't get rid of it completely, but I can ease some of the partially blocked chakra paths and encourage blood flow.”

 

“Please, whatever you can do to keep down on the stuff I used to take for everything to function normally would be awesome,” Paige broke her silence. “I kinda didn't follow doctors' orders and decided to get into sports anyway when I was younger. I'm paying for it now.” She then felt the warm and tingling feelings intensify as Sakura did whatever it was that she does to heal people. After a few minutes she resumed the internal exam.

 

Suddenly Sakura gasped, pulled her hands away, and looked at Paige with tears in her eyes, “Oh…I'm so sorry.”

 

“About what?”

 

“You….you can't have children. The scar tissue is too severe,” Sakura looked down.

 

She sighed, and figured she should explain…at least some of it. She hated that kind of reaction from people. “Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. I've known since I was 16. I had a very bad infection, but it went unnoticed for too long. By the time the doctors figured out I was sick, the damage was already done,” Paige explained. She reached out and took Sakura's hand in her own. “I've come to terms with it. I see my other abilities as my gift to the world instead of having children. Please don't feel sorry for me, and please don't tell anyone else that isn't medically necessary…including the council if I can keep it from them. I hate pity. I don't like being treated like I'm less of a woman because I can't have children.”

 

Sakura had tears running down her eyes as Paige spoke. “I'm sorry I reacted badly. I'll honor you're wishes about the records. I don't think Tsunade will mind.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

The rest of the exam was finished silently between the two women. Afterwards Paige redressed back into her borrowed clothes. “Not that I don't find blue flattering, it is my favorite color, but think you'd like to accompany me on some shopping before we find where I'm staying?”

 

Sakura opened the door and replied, “Sure. I know some good places for bargains.”

 

“Great, I don't need much right now. I figure buy for the week or so, and then after the council meeting I can do more thorough shopping. I need all the time I can to prepare and meditate.” As Paige followed Sakura out the door to join the waiting Sasuke; a pair of glasses appeared in front of her.

 

“I picked them up for you.”

 

“Thank you, Sasuke!” Paige couldn't contain the quick hug she gave him after she put them on and took an experimental look at a world in focus. “I even like the frames too! It's so great to be able to see again!”

 

“I heard you wanted to go shopping.”

 

“Yeah, I'd love some clothes of my own plus I need to probably buy some food. I definitely need to buy some meditation supplies too.”

 

“It should wait until tomorrow, it's late. I brought you more clothes.” He held up a bag filled with another of what Paige figured was a jounin uniform.

 

She accepted the bag. “Um, thanks.” She peeked inside. It also contained some showering supplies along with a towel. Sasuke was just full of thoughtful surprises. “What time is it?”

 

“6:00PM. We should find dinner and then walk you to your new place.”

 

Paige shared a shocked look with Sakura. It took that long? Where did the time go? Paige shrugged, “Is it still light?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Can we find my place first?” She offered as an explanation for her previous question, “I do better with directions when it's light.”

 

Sakura smiled and answered, “Let's eat first. I took a peek at the address and it's near Naruto's old apartment. And speaking of Naruto, I bet we can find him at Ichiraku Ramen Bar which is also near his old apartment.”

 

Paige shrugged, “Sounds good to me. I'm hungry.”

 

***

 

She blinked at the sight in front of her. Was it humanly possible to eat that much and not explode? Naruto must have had 10 empty bowls in front of him! He also had a dejected looking Iruka sitting next to him. She guessed he was stuck with the bill.

 

“Naruto, where's Hinata?” Sakura asked as she, Sasuke, and Paige found stools near the two already eating.

 

After hurriedly finishing a mouthful he replied, “Mission. She got called out only a day after we left for her medic abilities. She's on a team with Shino and Kiba, so she'll be fine.

 

Paige felt eyes watching her, and when she turned to figure out who, she was met with the quizzical gaze of Iruka. She wondered if Naruto told him details and which details they were—the meeting with the Hokage? Knowledge of his totem?

 

“Hello again, Paige. Naruto was telling me more about you in between mouthfuls. How do you think you're meeting with Hokage-sama went?” Iruka turned to his own ramen while waiting for her to respond.

 

She figured she'd have a little fun while finding out how much he knew about her. “Swimmingly,” was her simple answer.

 

Iruka nearly choked on his ramen.

 

Paige figured he knew about his totem, at least.

 

Naruto got up from his stool to pat Iruka on the back and keep him from asphyxiation. “That wasn't necessary. I told you he was safe.” Naruto looked a little hurt.

 

She didn't mean to hurt his feelings.Paige sighed and figured she should explain a little more about herself. “I didn't mean any harm. I just wanted to know what he knew about me. It's a habit. Remember when I told you I got used to being an outcast?” Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto nodded while Iruka just watched the conversation with a knowing look in his eyes. “It's more than that. My own family threw me out and told me to never come back. All of the friends who I thought I could trust with my secrets slowly disappeared. I ended up splitting my life in half so that other people would even talk to me. My public self, and who I was in private with my abilities.” She looked Naruto in the eyes as she said, “Because of running in to Team Kakashi, I've made four true friends in the past 8 years. I'm not used to trusting people with my secrets.” Paige looked at Iruka when his hands grasped her fingers which had been rapidly tearing up a defenseless napkin in her nervousness.

 

“Now you have five friends,” was all he said. Suddenly he beamed and turned to the cook behind the counter. “Add this lovely lady's bill to mine! She has something to celebrate!” He turned back to Paige, “I'll try to help however I can.”

 

“We all will,” echoed Sasuke.

 

Paige smiled in return. She then proceeded to eat her own ramen while listening to stories of Team Kakashi when they were younger and known as Team 7.

 

After the meal Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and even Iruka walked her to the apartment she would be staying in. It wasn't anything big, but that suited Paige. She wasn't a person who needed much. The front door lead into a small living area with a couch and two chairs arranged around a low table. No television, but Paige preferred the company of books anyway. Off to the left was a small kitchenette with modern appliances, a few pots and pans, and dishes. Between the living area and the kitchenette, was the dining area with a table with four chairs. There was one full bathroom also to the left, but further down, past the kitchenette. And through the doorway in the rear of the living area was the bedroom complete with single bed, night table with lamp and alarm clock on it, chest of drawers, and a closet. Paige sighed at the lack of personality, but resolved to fix that after she was done with the council. `One thing at a time,' she thought as she closed her eyes for the night.

 

***

 

Author's Note: Please read and review! Thank you to those who have reviewed and given feedback (otakutron, TheForsakenOne, DragonTamer94) and feel free to review again!