Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Curative Career of Kaori the Ninja Nurse ❯ Green ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Green

Green, everything was green, a mono-tonal lime green that extended as far as her eye could see. The green miasma surrounded her and gradually closed in on her. When it touched her skin it felt cool and sticky, just like the cafeteria's Jell-o. She pushed against it, but her arms disappeared into its semi-solid mass. Soon her whole body was enveloped in the green blob and all that was exposed was just her head. She tried to scream for help, but it oozed into her orifices and she could no longer breathe…

Kaori woke from her dream, of being enveloped and suffocated by green Jell-o, screaming into her pillow. The man was everywhere - even in her dreams she could not escape him.

It was still dark. She tried futilely to go back to sleep, but her thoughts still dwelled on last night's events.

When Kaori finally left her parents' place to return home, Gai of course insisted on escorting her. She did her best to bring up the topic of how she wasn't interested in him, but Gai purposely avoided actually talking about their non-existent relationship. Instead he rambled on about the history of the medic-nin, how they served a vital function, and how wonderful everything would be when Tsunade returned. Kaori was terrified that he would expect a good-night kiss, but luckily Gai just dropped her off, saying he'd see her tomorrow. Before Kaori could protest, he was gone again.

Dawn came with a banging at her door. Kaori was just about to fall asleep again, but she gave up and got up instead. `Who could it be at this hour?' she thought in irritation. `I hope it's not an emergency at the hospital. Oh no, I hope something didn't happen to Kakashi!'

She quickly grabbed her robe and wrapped it tightly around her body. But who should she find standing in her doorway, but the man responsible for her nightmares, with a gift wrapped box in his arms.

“Good morning! I have a special surprise present for you,” he announced, oblivious of her bleary eyes and unkempt hair.

“Thanks, but isn't this kind of early for visits? And I can't possibly accept any more gifts from you. It's not appropriate,” Kaori protested, trying hard to keep her temper.

“The early bird gets the worm, you know, and this will help you defeat all other birds!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Open it, you'll see,” he shiny-smiled at her.

What woman could resist opening a gift box? Kaori just had to open it despite her misgivings and the alarm going off in her head.

She dropped the box as soon as she saw what was in it. What was in it was green. The same green as Gai's jumpsuit.

Nonplussed, Gai picked up the box and took out a miniature green jumpsuit for a petite size 2-4.

`No way! No way! No way!' Kaori screamed in her head. But all she could do was stare at it, dumbfounded.

“I noticed yesterday that you don't eat enough. I've decided to help you get healthier and fitter. First you need to get up early and do morning exercises.”

“I already do!” protested Kaori futilely.

“Not my regiment. You see, the reason why you failed to become a shinobi is because of the poor training you received at the hands of some mediocre Academy teacher. I can improve your stamina in 30 days. Look what I did for Lee.”

“But I…”

“Wearing this jumpsuit is the first step. Then my exercise regiment, followed by a large nutritionally balanced breakfast, the most important meal of the day…”

“No! I like being just a nurse. I don't want to be a shinobi.”

“But think of what you can do as a shinobi medic!”

That made Kaori stop and think. If she could be like Tsunade, she'd be able to heal Kakashi by herself. So with that thought she tentatively accepted the hideous green fashion-faux-pas.

-…-…-…-…-

“Ugh! No more, no more, I can't take any more!” Kaori screamed after just twenty minutes of working out with Gai. She lay on the damp forest ground, dirty and panting. Every muscle, ligament, and tendon ached with the build up of lactic acid. Gai had made her run three miles, plus two more with chakra, and do a hundred sit-ups and a hundred pushups. She collapsed at push-up 55.

`Kakashi can just stay in that coma till Tsunade gets back! I'm fine with the man in my life being in a coma. After all, the only time a man is perfect is when he's sleeping. That way he can't do or say something stupid,' Kaori muttered to herself.

Gai looked at her in profound disappointment. She was weaker than he expected (and for some reason she did not look as cute in the green jumpsuit as his dear Lee). While she was a bit taller and heavier than Tenten, she did not have even one tenth her stamina or determination. Pathetic. But not to worry, as Gai had further plans for improvement.

“Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and you're not close to being dead yet,” Gai insisted seriously.

Kaori glared at him. `The only thing that motivates me right now is killing him!' she thought angrily. But she took a more reasonable approach. “I think I needed to stretch more. I just pulled a muscle. (Actually all of them!) And I have to get to work soon…”

“But according to your schedule, you don't start work for another two hours…”

“Well, I have to shower and change, and fix my hair and apply makeup, and have breakfast and check the news for the weather report and…” Kaori desperately tried to think of more excuses.

But it was enough to convince Gai to stop training for the morning. “All right. We can stop now and continue after work.”

“After work?”

“Oh, and you may bring your dog.”

“My dog?”

“I know you planned to have dinner with your dog today, but the training may go past your usual dinner time. And having a partner might make training more enjoyable. You know of the Inuzuka clan, don't you? It'll be good exercise for your dog as well. By the way, what kind of dog do you have?”

“Uh, well, actually,” Kaori desperately thought of another lie to cover her original lie. `Who knew this fool would actually remember something like that?' “My pet beagle is …uh…visiting his sick mother and won't be back for a while.” `There's no way someone would believe something like that. He must know I've been lying to him. Then maybe he'll give up on me. I hope!'

But Gai was moved to tears. “Ah, visiting his sick mother - filial piety exists even among animals.” *sniff* How inspirational! Sets an example for us humans, don't you think?”

“Er…yes,” Kaori sighed. There just seemed to be no easy indirect way to get rid of the odd man in green.

-…-…-…-

That morning, Otoha arrived early to cover for her predecessor, though she was fifteen minutes late. She noticed that her coworker was not her usual immaculate self. Kaori looked more like Otoha after a sleepless night of drinking and dancing. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair was not in a perfect bun. So Otoha just had to ask, “Are you okay? You look like hell. Too much fun on your day off?”

“Not even close,” Kaori sighed, too tired for verbal sparring.

Otoha's curiosity was piqued. “Anything I can help you with?” she asked sympathetically. Not that she particularly cared about Kaori, she just had to know what was going on.

Kaori had to talk to someone, even if it was her rival, so she replied, “How do you get rid of a guy you're not interested in without hurting his feelings? And I mean a really dense guy who just doesn't get it.”

“Easy. Just tell him thanks for the attention but you're not interested because you're dating someone else.”

“But I'm not.”

“So what? Make it up.”

“What if he decides to confront the nonexistent guy? He's very, very persistent.” Kaori sighed again.

“You mean Gai sensei, don't you?” Otoha had heard rumors about how Gai pursued women with great persistence and intensity. “What has he done?” she asked, hoping to get some juicy tidbits.

“The other day he showed up at my apartment, uninvited, and filled up my entire refrigerator with groceries!”

“That doesn't sound like a bad thing,” Otoha noted jealously.

“And yesterday he showed up at my parent's house for our family dinner, uninvited again!”

“Did he bring something?”

“I think he sent my mom a large floral arrangement and he brought a turkey…”

“That was nice of him.”

“But the turkey was mutated and everyone ate it but me, and ended up gobbling like idiots!”

“Well, at least he brought something. Most guys won't bring anything but their stomachs,” Otoha reflected.

“And this morning he woke me up at dawn and insisted I work out with him, in a green jumpsuit!”

“Well…green goes nicely with the color of your hair,” Otoha offered.

“It's just too much! I give him all these hints that I'm not interested and when I try to bring up the subject directly, he somehow avoids it.”

“Ah, I see…he's smarter than he looks. He's using the old avoidance trick so you can't dump him. He's hoping you'll start to like him after a while.”

“Not a chance in hell!”

Otoha shrugged. “At least he's attentive. Like I said, they're all pretty much the same in bed with the lights out.” Her sympathy disappeared and she started to giggle uncontrollably.

Kaori turned dark red. She stood up and left the giggling git to do her morning rounds. As usual she left Lee for last in the pediatrics wing.

Lee's appetite was no longer a problem, Kaori deduced from the empty tray. Lee beamed at her happily as he paused his stretching exercises (even he knew strenuous exercise after eating was not a good idea). “Good morning nurse Kaori-san! I hope you had a pleasant day off.”

Kaori glared at him. She wanted to pick him up and shake him but she knew even with his injuries she was no match for him. “I'm afraid your sensei has the wrong idea. I'm not romantically inclined at the moment,” she managed to say diplomatically.

Lee looked at her quizzically. Kaori tried again as she went through the usual medical checkup routine. “Your sensei is a nice guy but…”

“Yes! Gai sensei is the nicest and the greatest man in existence!”

“Well…it's just that I'm not interested in having a relationship right now…”

“Then later? Next week? Next month?”

`Never!' “Umm…I don't know. I…”

“Gai sensei will wait however long it takes for his destined one.”

“Destined?”

“Since you saved my life, it is obvious the two of you were meant to come together because of me.”

“I save lots of lives…”

“Oh…” Lee frowned as he considered the ramifications. “But you two are perfect together.”

“I'm sorry, but he's not my type,” Kaori said bluntly.

“How could you not like Gai sensei? He's the greatest man to walk this earth!”

“Please have a talk with your sensei. Get him to realize that there's someone out there for him, but it's just not me.”

“Gai sensei will be heart broken,” Lee was the heart broken one right now as tears started to form in his oddly circular eyes.

“Well it's better to let him know sooner rather than later.”

Lee nodded mutely. Kaori tried hard not to smile. She tried to look sympathetic, but she felt much, much better. It was as if a ton of training weights had been lifted from her shoulders. `Using Lee to dump Gai was a great idea!' she thought proudly. `Much better than Otoha's silly ideas.'

Kaori continued her rounds and finished up with Kakashi. “Good morning Kakashi-san,” she smiled. “I've had a crazy 24 hours. Your rival Gai sensei is stalking me and my family approves! I'm not that desperate for a man. I mean, sure he's nice, but he's crazy! He practically killed me this morning with his so called low key warm up exercise routine! Ugh! But I think I finally took care of it.”

Kaori went through her regular routine of checking the monitors then settled down on the chair next to Kakashi's bed with a book. “Let's read something else you're familiar with. I have a copy of the teachings of the First Hokage.” Kaori flipped to the first page and started reading. Her voice drifted into a lecturing monotone. She was practically putting herself to sleep but she stubbornly read on. After all, it was either this or the Icha Icha books and the last time was just too embarrassing.

“Shinobi rule number 25 - A shinobi must keep emotions on the inside, no matter what the situation you must make the mission top priority, and you must possess a heart that never shows tears.' That's really sad, isn't it? I remember first reading that in the Academy and I wondered if it's really possible to control your emotions like that.” She looked over at her perfect man. “Can you? Have you ever told a woman that you loved her?” `Or guy, I suppose that's possible…but…no way!' “I know it refers to missions, not your personal life, but there's a fine line, isn't there? How can you act one way on a mission and another way the rest of the time? Sigh, I suppose I'm not really cut out to be a shinobi. But then again I've never told a man…”

Kaori read a while longer then stopped to check the brainwave monitor. Flat, no peaks at all. If anything, it looked like the baseline dropped! “I guess this was too boring. You really want me to go back to Icha Icha Para…” Kaori barely finished her sentence when a blip appeared. She sighed. “All right, I'll try again later.”

-…-…-…