Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Curative Career of Kaori the Ninja Nurse ❯ Rooftop Rivals ( Chapter 27 )

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

Rooftop Rivals

Another sunny morning in Konoha, with laundry hanging outside on clotheslines, drying naturally by the wind's gentle breath. Things were quiet at the hospital. There were few rooms occupied and few staff members around. It was a nice quiet morning - soon to be disrupted.

One room was occupied by a boy and a girl, both physically on the verge of adulthood, but their experience was years more advanced. They had both seen people die, people killed - especially the boy.

Sakura sat by Sasuke's bed, cutting and peeling an apple for the apple of her eye. But Sasuke was in a foul, foul, bitter mood. He had spent a sleepless night at the hospital brooding over Naruto's power. How was it that that fool was able to defeat Gaara of the Desert and Aoi the missing-nin while he, Uchiha Sasuke, promising prodigy, sharingan wielder, turned out to be nothing but an impotent child. His efforts were futile. He was swatted away like a fly both times. And that moron Naruto reaped the glory. The humiliation was unbearable.

But what made it even worse was the presence of Sakura. The girl who idolized him, who saw only his positive aspects, none of his flaws. The way she doted on him sickened him because there was no basis for her devotion. He could not protect her against Gaara; he could not complete his mission against Aoi. How could he hold his head up in front of her or anybody else?

Naruto got strong, very strong. Training with who? Not Kakashi. Naruto was training with one of the legendary sannin, Jiraiya. Someone better than Kakashi. He should have been the one to train with someone like that. Someone worthy of his potential. Not Kakashi. Not Kakashi with his insipid lectures on teamwork and friendship.

Kakashi had taught him how to increase his speed to utilize his sharingan effectively, some taijutsu moves, and the chidori. But Kakashi's sole original jutsu was not as special as it seemed. It failed to take down Gaara. It failed against Itachi. It failed again against Aoi. He needed more power.

What was he doing in Konoha? Spinning his wheels going nowhere, while Itachi was out there free, roaming around, doing whatever he wanted, going wherever he wanted, wreaking whatever havoc he wanted. He had to catch up with Itachi. As fast as possible or he might never be able to reach him at all.

“Here Sasuke-kun, I peeled and sliced an apple for you. Just the way you like it,” Sakura held out a pieced for him with the knife.

Sasuke knocked it out of her hand. His reaction surprised her so much she dropped the bowl and the other slices on the floor. He did not bother to apologize. Instead, he glared at his other visitor.

Naruto had just opened the door, prompting Sasuke's angry reaction to the offered apple. The sight of the dumb blonde set off the time bomb building within Sasuke. Why him? Why did Itachi want Naruto? Itachi had ignored him as if he were nothing but a nuisance. Instead, he was interested in Naruto. What was so special about this incompetent idiot?

“Hey, you okay Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked as the knife, bowl and cut fruit clattered to the floor.

“I'm fine. My hand slipped,” Sakura said, trying to excuse Sasuke's outrageous behavior.

“No, it didn't. I saw it. Sasuke did it. Say sorry to Sakura-chan!” Naruto ordered.

“Go to hell, bastard,” Sasuke growled back.

Naruto had expected a not too pleasant, but somewhat friendly visit with his teammate/rival, but all he got for his concern was a glare from the somber dark-haired dark-eyed boy. He was hoping to have some fun rubbing in the fact that Sasuke was injured while he was fine. But it seemed Sasuke was even more pissy than usual.

“Fight me,” Sasuke said abruptly.

Naruto was taken aback for a second, but he slowly smiled and nodded. “Right, I was thinking the same thing.”

“Wait, what are you two doing?” Sakura tried to block the door, but Sasuke pushed her roughly aside.

“Stay out of this Sakura-chan,” Naruto said seriously.

“No, stop you two, please…” Sakura begged futilely, but she could do nothing but watch in despair as her two teammates climbed the stairs to the roof of the hospital. She didn't know to do. All she knew was she couldn't stop them

-…-…-…-

Kaori was the only nurse on duty today since she had, in her dazed state after learning the truth about Kakashi, unknowingly granted leave to everyone who had asked her yesterday. She had completed the morning rounds by herself and now sat at her desk slowly shuffling papers from one pile to another, not really doing any work at all.

She was trying not to think about Kakashi but to concentrate on Raidou instead. They had a nice night out. The movie was good, but it reminded her of how she read the original novel to Kakashi and that made her cry even more than usual. Raidou took her to the best restaurant in town which was impressive, but she had little appetite so all they had were drinks and appetizers. Such a wasted dinner, she sighed, maybe he'll take her there again. It seemed that he genuinely liked her. She liked him well enough, but there were no bells or music in the air, or the scent of roses, or stars in her eyes. She liked him about as much as she liked most people who were nice to her. But she had sworn to herself to give him a chance. Even if she wasn't in love with him, it didn't mean she couldn't love him, in time. As long as he was a good person, that was all that should matter, shouldn't it?

Yet thoughts of Kakashi kept diminishing her resolve. Was it just because of his looks that she fell in love with him? Was she that shallow? Wasn't there something more to him that she loved? She tried to think back to what attracted her beside his looks, maybe Raidou had the same aspects.

Physique, both were quite tall, both well built, no - that counted as looks, what else… Background, both were orphaned at a young age, so were most shinobi their age who had shinobi parents, thanks to the Great Ninja Wars. Talent, both were jounin, but Kakashi was more well known and respected and probably wealthier, but success shouldn't matter that much. Personality, that was most important. Kakashi had an aloof air, a cool detached nonchalance, but undercut with mischievousness. There was something exciting about him and he could be charming and amusing when he wanted to be and there was always warmth in his voice when he spoke of his genin. Raidou failed in comparison. He was serious, too serious, lackluster, but he seemed like the faithful type, conservative and considerate. Interests, Kakashi liked romantic adult novels, but Raidou preferred educational material. She liked a mix of both but had to admit she leaned toward Kakashi's tastes. But couples didn't necessary need to have the same interests or personalities. In fact, personalities and interests should be complementary, she reasoned, stretching to give Raidou extra points.

At her age, she could no longer pick and choose. She needed someone who would make a good father. Raidou seemed like the stern disciplinarian while Kakashi seemed more like the fun dad who gave horseback rides. Raidou would keep the kids in line which would be less stressful for her. Kakashi looked like the type to join the kids' hi-jinks and give her more headaches. Raidou was really the better choice, she reasoned.

After some time together, Raidou was sure to loosen up. She could spend the rest of her life with him, couldn't she? She tried to imagine them being permanently together, but couldn't. She tried to imagine the two of them in bed, but she couldn't. Still she stubbornly ignored her instincts and desperately fixated on Raidou being Mr. Right. After all, what other choice did she have?

Kaori's obsessive musings were interrupted by a hysterical voicing screaming, “Fight! Fight! Please you have to stop the fight!”

She broke out of her reverie and saw Sakura running toward her. She calmly asked the genin to explain herself, while she took out a brush and scroll, prepared to write an emergency message.

“Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun are fighting on top of the roof. Someone has to stop them or they'll kill each other!”

“I'll send out an emergency message to Kakashi-sensei while you try to stall them,” Kaori immediately decided. “He should still be on guard duty at the museum.”

Sakura nodded and ran off to the roof, thankful there was hope that Kakashi would arrive in time.

Kaori took out an emergency summoning scroll from her desk to summon the fastest of the hospital's messenger birds. She quickly performed the activation seal and a peregrine falcon appeared as the smoke dissipated. “Fly as fast as you can to Kakashi-sensei. He should be at the museum." She decided to dispense with the note. "Tell him to come to the hospital immediately, Naruto and Sasuke are fighting. If he's not there, fly around the village. He might see it or someone who knows where he is will see it,” Kaori said. The bird nodded and quickly flew off.

Then she tried to page the medics, but no one answered her calls. There should have been two medics on duty according to the roster. Where were they? Men's room? At the same time? She groaned at the coincidence and decided to go up to the roof herself to see if there was anything she could do at all. Maybe the presence of an authoritative adult figure like herself would induce them to stop.

Even before she reached the roof she felt the pulsing of chakra in the air. This was a serious fight, with near killing intent. She quickly ran the rest of the way.

But she arrived too late to do anything. When she arrived, all she saw was Sakura crying pathetically like a little twelve year old girl instead of a tough kunoichi, and her sensei trying futilely to comfort her. The two boys were nowhere in sight.

“Don't worry,” she heard Kakashi say, “everything will be all right.” He smiled reassuring from under his mask.

Kakashi noticed Kaori's presence and looked in her direction. He gave her a nod of appreciation, realizing she was the one who had sent the messenger bird. Then he cocked his head in Sakura's direction, as if instructing Kaori to watch over his little kunoichi while he pursued his other genin.

That look, that look he gave Sakura, that look he gave her. A comforting warm look, full of sincerity and confidence, a look that made her skin tingle all over. Even though most of his face was covered, she could see it in his eye, hear it in his voice, feel it from his words. Kaori finally admitted to herself that she was still in love with Kakashi. She realized at this moment she was likely to love him forever, whether she could have him or not, whether he could love her or not. There was no one else who had ever made her feel that way.

Kaori nodded back and place her arm comfortingly around Sakura's shoulders. “That's the way boys and men are,” Kaori said. “They're competitive and aggressive even with their own friends. And you know, you guys are at that age when hormones take over any reason. I'm sure things will go back to normal once Kakashi-sensei has a talk with them.”

Sakura sighed and shook her head. “They never listen to Kakashi-sensei. It's been over a year since we've been a team and it's just like day one. Those two are just too stubborn. Sigh, none of the other genin teams has this problem.”

“I'm sure all teams have their own problems. Don't worry too much. It'll give you wrinkles prematurely.” Kaori smiled to show she still had no wrinkles.

“Really?” Sakura stopped crying as she considered the validity of this beauty tip. `Sasuke-kun wouldn't like me with wrinkles.'

“Of course. Look at me, guess how old I am.”

“Umm…thirty two?”

“WHAT?!”

“Oh, I meant that since you're now the Head Nurse you must have been here a long time. But you don't look older than twenty,” Sakura quickly explained. But she really thought Kaori was at least 25.

“That's better. Look, see, no wrinkles.” It was actually thanks to her mother's beauty treatment once a month. Kaori actually worried a lot, especially about her love life. “Anyway, why don't you help me clean up the mess.”

Kaori surveyed the roof and sighed. It was a mess with water everywhere. The sheets that had been hanging out to dry were all dirty, ripped or scorched. Most of the sheets were damaged beyond repair. The two water tanks had gaping holes and no water. They would have to call in shinobi who specialized in metal and wood jutsu to repair the water tanks, and another specializing in water to fill them.

Poor Kakashi-sensei, to have two such troublesome charges. Kaori shook her head sadly. Who would have thought that Sasuke would be such trouble. Naruto was well known throughout Konoha not only for being the nine-tail fox container, but also for being a mischievous brat. Since he became a genin, he seemed to be more responsible and there were no longer weekly complaints about his pranks, but now this. Tsunade-sama was not going to be happy about this at all.

Then she sighed again. She had to break up with Raidou. She had to tell him the truth - that she loved Kakashi and no other. Raidou was not going to be happy about that at all.

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