Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Curative Career of Kaori the Ninja Nurse ❯ The Awakening ( Chapter 13 )

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

The Awakening

Alone in a dark void for days uncountable - no sight nor sound, nothing to touch or smell or taste, not even an enemy to torment him. Most would have gone mad from the endless solitude, but he was used to it. Nearly all of his life he was alone, first by circumstance and then by choice.

It could have been days or months or years, or just mere minutes. The effects of Itachi's attack distorted time. All he could do was wait. Wait for something to happen. Either for his existence to be extinguished or to be somehow saved from this darkness.

But there were short periods of time when there did seem to be something or someone out there trying to reach him. It was as if the darkness grew lighter and his mind cleared from its fog. That helped save his sanity. And now he felt a new presence.

Somewhere in the distance he saw a pinpoint of light. It was dim but grew stronger and larger and gradually became a green beacon. He instinctively walked toward the light and it soon encompassed him with a feeling of comforting warmth. It grew too bright for either of his eyes to withstand and he had to close his eyes tightly against the blinding radiance.

When he felt the heat and the brightness of the light dissipate, he slowly opened his eyes and found a buxom blond hovering over him. At first he wondered if he were truly dead and had gone to Icha Icha Heaven, then his eyes finally focused and he recognized one of legendary sannin.

“Hmmph, I heard you lost to just two traitors. I thought you were a genius,” Tsunade berated Kakashi for all to hear.

Kakashi hung his head.

Any respect Kaori had for the legendary healer vanished in that instant. For Tsunade to say something so cruel to a man who had nearly sacrificed himself to protect the village, was unforgivable. It took all the will power Kaori had to not jump on the pretentious old hag's back and pull out her hair. Knowing how futile that would be, all Kaori could do was grit her teeth and hang back with the rest of the group. Kaori knew Tsunade could kill her with a flick of a finger and she didn't want to be the subject of gossip. She could already hear Otoha yelling "catfight!"

Just then, Gai arrived, almost out of breath. He was concerned about his protégé, and barely acknowledged Kaori, despite his claim that they were meant to be. Instead, he focused all his attention on Tsunade. Kaori found herself unreasonably miffed at this sudden lack of attention.

“Forget about that idiot! Please take a look at my student Lee!” said Gai impatiently.

Shizune and Iashi followed Gai and Tsunade, but Kaori decided to stay. Naruto had left earlier to meet with Iruka. He didn't bother to stay to see how his sensei was faring. Sakura was still with Sasuke. It seemed no one cared about poor Kakashi at all.

Someone should be with him, she reasoned, after all, Sasuke had Sakura to look after him. "Good morning, Kakashi-sensei. I'm Kuchiki Kaori, your nurse." She paused, uncertain what to say next. "I'm sorry, but I just have to say...that wasn't fair of Tsunade-sama to say what she did. No one should shoulder such a burden. You can't be responsible for the whole village.”

He shrugged as if it hadn't bothered him at all.

"Now that Tsunade-sama has healed you, I'm sure you're fine now, but one of the medics will be by to give you a thorough checkup. Would you like anything in the meantime?"

He just shook his weary head.

"Well, you're probably hungry. How about I bring you something to eat?'

He nodded.

"Anything in particular?"

Kakashi shook his head again.

"I took the liberty of stocking your bathroom with a few toiletries. I figured you'd want to freshen up when you woke."

"Thank you," he finally said.

His awakening did not go as Kaori had hoped or imagined, but at least she got her thank you and there seemed little chance of Kakashi falling for Tsunade. Still she was bothered by Tsunade's terrible bedside manner. Why would she say something like that? Was there something between her and Kakashi? Did something happen in the past? Tsunade left over ten years ago, but Kakashi had been a full fledged shinobi long before that, so there was a chance that they knew each other well. Maybe he had served under her. Still, to be greeted like that as soon as you were out of a coma must have been distressing. So unfair that the Uchiha boy received tears and hugs for doing something as stupid as trying to take revenge on his much more powerful brother, while Kakashi received criticism for saving two of his comrades.

`Kakashi deserves better,' she thought, `someone like myself who would take good care of him.'

On her way to the cafeteria she asked one of the medic nin on duty to check on Kakashi. She didn't know what Kakashi liked to eat, but since he had not eaten in months she thought something easily digestible would be best. She decided on a bowl of chicken soup and Jello, nice red, not green Jello, and a pint of apple juice. By the time Kaori returned to Kakashi's room, the medic was done with his exam. Kakashi was in the middle of pulling down his shirt when she arrived so she got a nice glimpse of his sculpted torso and cursed herself for stupidly not assisting during the exam. She wondered if Kakashi had taken off his mask during the exam since he still had it on.

"Everything seems to be in order," Kanpou said. "You can probably go home today, but I recommend staying overnight for observation."

"I'd like to go home."

"Well, it's up to you, but wait a few more hours, just in case. Maybe late afternoon. Kaori-san will check your vitals before you go to make sure," the medic said on his way out.

Kakashi nodded and glanced over at the nurse who started to set up his meal on a little side table by the bed. She was a very pretty petite woman in her mid-twenties, he estimated, with large hazel eyes and reddish brown hair with a luxurious sheen.

"I thought something easy on the stomach would be best after so long," she said as she moved the table in place.

"How long has it been?" her patient asked.

"Ten weeks, two days," Kaori automatically answered.

"That long, huh. What's been going on in the village?"

"Well, as you saw, Tsunade-sama just arrived yesterday. She's probably going to be the Fifth Hokage. I don't know why it took Naruto-san and Jiraiya-sama so long to bring her back. Anyway, nothing's much has changed. There's been no sign of Sasuke's brother or his friend. Oh, I'm sorry you probably don't know about Sasuke..."

"What happened to Sasuke?" A note of urgency crept into his voice. He was finally showing some emotion.

"Sigh, after you were admitted, Sasuke-san was brought in by Gai-sensei. He was trying to warn Naruto-san about his brother. Sasuke-san was apparently subjected to the same jutsu as you, so he's been in a coma all this time, too. But he's fine now, Sakura-san is with him," Kaori smiled reassuringly.

Kakashi nodded in relief.

"I brought a few newspapers I've been saving. I figured you would want to catch up," Kaori offered. “Some light reading and rest is best. If you need anything, anything at all, please don't hesitate to press the call button." She pointed to the side of the bed.

"Thank you.” After experiencing the cold solitude for months, Kakashi would have preferred some company, any company, but how would it look for him to ask the pretty nurse to stay? For a veteran shinobi to make a request based on such a cowardly emotion as loneliness, was unmanly at best, so he said nothing else.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Kaori turned back and took a book from a bag on the bottom shelf of the cart. "Umm, maybe you'd like to borrow this - in case you finish with the papers." She blushed as she handed over her copy of “Icha Icha Violence Volume 3.”

That definitely sparked a response. Both of Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise and excitement. He grasped the book in both hands as though he had found a long buried treasure. Embarrassed by the contents of the book, Kaori quickly left before Kakashi could thank her.

When he looked back up, all he saw was her retreating form. He hadn't thought much about who had been attending to him during his coma. Something about her seemed very familiar. He had undoubtedly seen her before, when Sasuke was admitted to the hospital after he sealed Orochimaru's curse, but there seemed to be something more than that. He glanced down at the book and wondered what she was doing with it and why she had given it to him. But he just shrugged to himself, put aside the book, lowered his mask, and dug into his soup, trying to finish all his food before anyone could see him without his mask.

On the way back to her desk, Kaori heard the bad news about Lee from Shizune. Multiple bone fragments were embedded deep within Lee's nervous system. Even with an operation there was only a fifty percent chance of succeeding and if it failed, he'd die. Despite all the trouble Lee and his sensei put her through, her heart went out to them.

Lee was alone when Kaori entered his room since Gai had run off to talk with Tsunade again. As experienced as she was in consoling people and delivering bad news, it was still difficult. How many times had she had to tell a patient who had just woken up from surgery that they had to remove a limb, or that his comrades didn't make it. Bad news really should have come from the medics, but they always convinced her that it was better coming from a nurse who could not be held responsible and who would not be the target of the patients' anger.

"I'm sorry, I heard the prognosis from Shizune-san," Kaori said to the unusually quiet boy.

Lee sat on a chair in his room with his head lowered and staring down at nothing but his bandaged hands. He nodded mutely. "I do not know what to do," Lee finally said. "A fifty percent chance is not very good, is it?"

Kaori sighed, "No, it's not. I don't want to influence your decision, but maybe fate has its reasons." She gave him a consoling smile. "Not being a shinobi is not the end of the world. It's not so bad. I mean look at me - I couldn't make genin after several tries. Now I'm just as happy being a nurse. I get to help people. It's a satisfying job..."

"I do not want to be a nurse."

"I'm just saying there are other things you can do."

"Proving that I can be a shinobi with hard work is my dream," the boy said defiantly.

"You've already proven yourself to everyone. Gai sensei is already very proud of you." Kaori placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"This is just as hard on Gai-sensei. He had such hopes for me. I do not want to let him down." Lee sniffed.

How touching, he was as concerned about his sensei as himself. Why weren't Kakashi's genin like Lee? "I'm sure the two of you will pull through this together. Either way he's proud of you and will always be."

Lee managed a smile for the nurse, which made both of them feel better.

Kaori completed the rest of her morning rounds with a visit to Sasuke's room. She found Sakura feeding Sasuke and decided to leave the two potential lovebirds alone. `How romantic,' she sighed, and wished very badly she could do the same for Kakashi. That way she'd get to see his face again. But adults were different from children. Adults did not wear their hearts on their sleeves. They hid the emotions that could embarrass them. That was the case for most adults. There were some carefree souls like Otoha who did not care what people thought, who said and did whatever they wanted, like a child who didn't care about possible punishment. In that respect, Kaori envied her rival.

When Kaori finally returned to her desk, it was already time for lunch. In her excitement she hadn't brought anything so she had to make another trip to the cafeteria. There she found Shizune, puzzling over what to order. She raised her head and smiled when Kaori greeted her.

"So where's your aunt? I thought you'd be with her. You two are practically chained together," Kaori teased. She knew Tsunade was not Shizune's real aunt but had adopted her after the deaths of her parents and uncle, another orphan. Kaori guiltily thought how she took her own family for granted.

"Tsunade-sama likes to...umm...have lunch in places that serve alcohol. I don't really drink so I thought I'd just grab some lunch here and later see if there's been any changes since we left."

"Well, we've updated the computer system fairly recently and all the old records have been scanned and archived. They've also improved the food. Before, the food was little better than the shinobi rations." Kaori grabbed a low calorie chicken breast sandwich that came with lettuce and tomato, and a diet soda.

Shizune decided to go for the special - pork katsu over rice, a side salad with tamarind dressing, and a couple of gyoza. She also ordered milk tea with double sugar. Kaori calculated that Shizune was consuming twice the number of calories as she was. Then again, Shizune was several inches taller, stronger, and probably needed the extra energy for jutsu, or maybe she was going to feed some of her food to that little pig that she carried around. No, maybe not, since she did order pork katsu.

"So how have you been? Married? Children?" asked Shizune as the two women placed their trays on a little table.

"No, neither. You?"

"Like Tsunade-sama would let anyone get close," Shizune sighed. "But I'm surprised you're not. Are you seeing anyone special?" Shizune was actually interested in who was still available, as she did not want to accidentally trespass on someone else's property. She remembered Kaori was the jealous type.

"Well...sort of... it's complicated," Kaori said evasively, wondering how much of Gai's crazy antics and her crush on Kakashi she should mention.

Shizune was surprised her old friend was not hooked up. Kaori had always been one of the prettiest girls. She somehow kept every hair in place even during strenuous training. Although her dress was usually understated, it was always fashionable and Kaori held herself with a confident ease. But Shizune always looked a bit strung out and unkempt. It was a complete surprise to both of them when Shizune's talent for jutsu blossomed in their second year of classes at the Academy.

"Umm, Gai sensei seems very nice. You don't see many sensei so concerned about their students," Shizune started to say.

A little lightbulb switched on in Kaori's head.

-...-...-...-...-