~Am I wasting my time... waiting for you?~
The message was sent. She knew MSN was not the greatest way to voice the question that had been plaguing her mind for the past few days but it seemed as though her fingers typed without her consent. As the moments after she hit enter ticked by she could feel the pressure and anxiety building behind her eyes. She knew what the reply would be before she read it on the screen.
~I'm sorry, I only see you as a friend~
Even knowing it was coming something that had clung to some piece of hope was shattered. The pressure behind her eyes exploded creating a massive migraine that contributed as much to the tears as the pain in her heart. Still she replied even as her fingers trembled. Great thing about MSN, the person can't see you.
~Oh, okay.~
The phone rang only moments later. She knew it was him but there was no way she was going to sob on the phone while he apologized for something that wasn't even really his fault.
"No one can control their emotions." she said to herself, "you can't force yourself to love me anymore then I can stop loving you."
She collapsed then into a heap of sobs. No amount of logic could stop the pain that was searing through her every nerve. She felt as though she was going to puke but held on to that last shred of dignity. Sure, no one was there to see her but she would always know how pathetic she was in that moment.
The phone rang again. If she didn't talk to him soon there was a possibility he would come to check on her and she absolutely would not allow that. Tears continued to pour down her cheeks but she was collected enough to look at the computer. Whether it was logic, panic of him seeing her, or her unnatural pride that drove her she would never truly know. She read the multiple lines of text that came after her reply that she didn't realize had come.
~I'm so sorry...~
~Are you ok?~
~Are you there?~
~You're not picking up the phone...~
~Please answer me, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...~
His worry made her more concerned for the pain she could be causing him with her silence then with her own in that moment and she managed a reply, though an outright lie.
~Sorry, had to pee. Yeah I'm fine, I had already guessed the answer. I'm going out now though so I'll ttyl~
A part of her knew he wouldn't completely buy it but it was better then him ever knowing the truth. Her body still trembling she logged out of MSN and did exactly what she said she was going to do, go out. She grabbed her jacket and wiped her face before walking out the door. She never had any direction, just started walking. Her mind had now gone blissfully blank and her emotions were thrust behind a wall in her mind. There was nothing in her at that moment. No thought, no emotion, her eyes didn't see where she was going but somehow she was following the sidewalk. All her senses were dampened as though a giant black cloth had been thrown over her. She never saw the truck coming when she started crossing the intersection, never even looked up when a horn blasted at her or when the sound of breaks screeching and locking up broke through the normal silence of the neighborhood. There was nothing but black.
The first thing to register was the light. It was very bright and was aggravating her migraine. She wanted to growl at whoever turned it on to get out of her room and turn off the light but then they would know she was awake and pester her more. It wasn't until many moments later that noise started to register. Voices that she wasn't familiar with. At least three different people from the sounds of it and they were arguing in whispers.
'If they were trying not to wake me up then why is the blasted light on?' she wondered.
Not caring enough to open her eyes she started to drift back into unconsciousness when she felt a big wet nose under the palm of her hand. Having had dogs all her life she knew instantly that it was a dog's nose and wasn't shocked. She smiled groggily and started to scratch the top of the dog's head and that's when she finally decided to open her eyes as she could tell from one touch that this dog wasn't one of hers.
The light hurt her eyes and she didn't have her glasses on so she couldn't see who was around her but they really didn't matter at that moment, only the dog did. She turned her head to the side to see the dog when pain suddenly exploded all around her. Her head pounded, her abdomen and shoulder opposite the dog were in agony and more pain seemed to be building in the rest of her body. Her groan of pain silenced any whispering that had been going on around her and she heard one person shuffle over next to her and inject her with something. All she could think of was how she hopped it was pain killers.
It was a few agonizing minutes before a soft 'woof' brought her attention back to the dog. She cracked her eyes open and again tried to see the unfamiliar animal. He definitely wasn't a dog she was familiar with. He was way too big. More like a small horse the a dog.
"Yeah, I know she smells like dogs." a boy's voice seemed to answer the dog. Some people might find that strange but since she's always talked to her dogs it didn't faze her even a bit.
She tried to speak but ended up coughing instead. A glass of water with a straw was suddenly right in front of her face. It's sudden appearance in her field of vision made her dizzy but she drank without complaint. When she was done she was able to mutter out a "Thank you" to whoever had given her the water.
"You're welcome!" was the quick reply in the same boy's voice.
She attempted a smile in his direction before letting her attention drift back to the dog. She always had gotten along better with dogs then people. They just made more sense to her.
"You scared me." she directed her soft voice at the dog, "I thought you were one of my dogs at first." her expression softened as she could feel pain receding from her body, being replaced by a heavy numbness. "but you're much too big." she chuckled lightly before drifting back into unconsciousness.
Kiba watched the girl quietly talk to Akamaru before drifting back to sleep. She was injured pretty badly when they found her and it would be a while before she was able to talk to them coherently.
Akamaru 'woofed again quietly, wagging his tail and looking up at Kiba.
"Well, I'm not surprised you like her," he answered automatically, " She gave you the most attention."
Another 'woof' and a slight cock of the head was the reply.
"Dunno yet. I don't wanna like her if we're going to have to kill her."
A soft whine and a sigh was his reply.
"Don't worry. She's not a ninja, obviously, so odds are good that we won't have to."
The clearing of a throat had him looking up a the two women that were watching over the girl with him. His team mate, Hinata, looked as worried as Akamaru at the prospect of having to kill the girl but the other one, Sakura just looked annoyed as she glared at him.
"Will you be quiet, " she whispered harshly at him, " the girl needs to heal up so that she can be questioned." She glared at him questioningly , "Why are you here anyway?"
"I tried to tell you before you got all mad cuz of Akamaru being in the hospital, " he glared back at her, "We've been assigned to watch her so that who or whatever attacked her doesn't finish what it started before we get to question her."
"Hinata too?" Sakura questioned quickly.
"Yup, " he answered before sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "Incase we are too scary for the girl when she wakes up." He chuckled lightly.
Sakura rolled her eyes at him before finishing up with checking over all the girl's vitals and mumbled sarcastically, "Can't imagine why someone might think you'd scare girls away."
"Hey!" he replied indignantly while Hinata chuckled softly from the corner.
"You keep quiet, " Sakura scolded, "She'll be going into surgery for the heavy abdominal injuries in an hour and needs her rest."
"Sakura?" Hinata's soft voice called from the corner. "How long until she'll be ready for questioning?"
"There is no damage to the internal organs, so likely 24 hours after the surgery, should everything go well."
Hinata nodded her head and took a seat beside the girl's bed. Kiba sighed and took a seat on the other side of the bed, Akamaru lying contently on the floor beside him.
The blasted light was irritating her again. She didn't feel the migraine like she did last time and her thoughts were less clouded then before. Her thoughts were clear enough for her to panic internally. She didn't know where she was. The last time she woke up she didn't know the people around her and it was unlikely she was in a hospital because they wouldn't let a dog, especially one of that size, in.
All she did know was she was in physical pain and she couldn't remember how that happened. In fact, as she thought back the last thing she remembered before summoning the 'blessed black', as she called it, was the emotional pain. She cringed as she felt it well up inside her again before she shoved it away. He was going to be so mad at her for going out in that state... She figured that she had two options for what happened to her; a) she was hit by something and was actually in a hospital or b) (and she found this more likely due to the dog) she had been jumped/mugged and kidnapped.
In an attempt to figure out the extent of the damage she wiggled her fingers and then her toes without opening her eyes in hopes that if anyone was around her they wouldn't notice she was awake.
"She's waking up." came the soft female voice from beside her. Well, no luck on not being found out.
"Yeah, I know. I can smell fear and adrenaline coming off her." Came the reply from a male voice on her other side.
She instantly interpreted what he said as an implied threat and curled her hands into fists before opening her eyes. She knew she couldn't fight. While the pain was nothing like it was last time she knew she was at their mercy and she internally cried out in dismay. Her fear of the situation only intensified when she realized she didn't have her glasses on and so she was practically blind as well.
A soft hand was placed in her's and squeezed in a gentle comforting way just as a tear of fear and frustration leaked out the side of her eye.
"It's okay, " the soft female voice told her, "We are protecting you."
"Yeah, " the male followed up, "but we do have some questions for you."
Questions? she though internally. Just what is going on...?
"Are..." she stammered, "Are you cops?"
"Cops?" they questioned.
"uh..." she stopped confused, "never mind...." she said softly, "Ask away."
"Okay I'll just go get the Hokage. I'll leave Akamaru with you." He said before leaving quickly.
"Hokage?" She repeated alarmed, "Akamaru?" As in from Naruto? she questioned internally.
Not catching on to what her alarm is from Hinata answered her.
"The Hokage is the leader of our village and Akamaru is the dog that you met last time you woke." She giggled softly, "If you even remember waking up. You were pretty out of it."
Confusion only cemented itself on the girls features. Was she dreaming? and if she was dreaming why couldn't she have 20/20 vision?
"And..." the girl hesitated, not out of fear but out of shock and confusion, " what is your name?" she questioned.
"Oh, of course, my name is Hinata."
Slowly the girl brought her uninjured arm up to her head. The world was spinning out of control at that moment and she was trying to ground herself.
"but you're not real...." she whispered softly. "This isn't real...."
At that moment the door flew open and bunch of people came into the room. She desperately wished she could see properly in that moment.
Hinata stood up from her seat and she could just make out the movement of a formal bow. Focusing her eyes on the jumbled group of colours in front of her guessed that there were perhaps 5 more people. One she was sure was Kiba as Akamaru was still next to her.
"She's only said that this isn't real." came the soft voice from beside her, Hinata's voice. But she's not stuttering, came the additionally confusing thought.
"Not real?" Came the confused reply from the doorway, "How troublesome..."
"Well that's alright," came the immediate and cheerful response from another person. "Tell me," the voice continued, " what is your name?"
Shaking her head slowly in a daze she lowered her eyes to her lap before replying, "It's Karmen."
"Well Karmen, we need to know what hurt you and why." He stated more then asked.
"I don't remember" she replied. "I had just suffered a bit of an emotional blow and went for a walk. I tuned out everything. All I remember is blackness until that light annoyed me awake."
"Hmm" Came the unconvinced reply, "and where are you from?"
"No where you'll have heard of...." was her soft reply.
He laughed at that one. "Well try me."
"Canada." was her instant reply. At this point she was certain her mind had snapped and she was either is some sort of deluded coma or she was dead.
"What a strange name... never heard of it.... what country is it in?" Was his reply. His words loosing some of their humor and a cautious hint added to them.
She smiled softly, "That is the country..." Her mind thought of nothing as she looked up at the man who was addressing her. "I've gone crazy I'm sure as you are not real, just characters from a book."
"From a book?" came the reply from a different man. "What kind of book?"
That man sounded dangerous and short tempered next to the original speaker.
"A book that follows the life of a young Ninja who wants nothing more then to become hokage. And if my guess is correct, in this delusion that I'm currently having, he achieved his goal. Am I right Naruto?" she addressed the original speaker again.
Her mind snapped out of it's daze when she felt cold sharp metal against her throat. And that dangerous sounding voice was right at her ear. "If you know so much then tell me who I am?"
In an instant it dawned on her that she may know too much information to be anything more then a threat to security. She hadn't seen him clearly and couldn't be sure but she had a good guess.
"I... I'm not sure." she stammered.
"Really? Turn and look me in the eyes to be sure." He challenged.
She slammed her eyes closed and shook her head in the negative knowing in that instant that she was right.
"Hn." he grunted, "She knows. Lie again or try to hide anything and I won't hesitate to kill you"
"Sorry,... Sasuke." she mumbled softly.
"Hn." he grunted again before the metal was gone from her throat.
"Tell me all the characters mentioned in this book." Naruto ordered.
She grimaced slightly at the prospect and grinned sheepishly, "as Shikamaru would say, troublesome." she saw the figure of a person shift uncomfortable.
"Naruto, I know many people as you yourself have met and fought with them. All the rookie 9, the sanin, Gai's team and Akatsuki just to name some of the main groups," she stopped for a moment then added, "and Gaara and his siblings too of course." a small smile make it way briefly onto her feature before she hear a snicker across the room.
"Gaara, huh? Looks like we know you're favorite character." She could practically see his foxy smirk from across the room which of course was ridiculous as she couldn't even make out any more then skin and hair colour as far as any of their faces were concerned.
"H...How!?" she stammered in surprised before looking down gloomily, "right... ninja..." she sighed in mild envy. "but you're supposed to be dense..." she whined comically causing quite a few snickers from the others around her.
"Hey!" he shouted defensively.
"Well, " came another female voice, "sounds like she knows you pretty well."
"Sakura!" He whined.
From her bed Karmen giggled. Joking around and making other people laugh was the way she dealt with stress and she was certainly stressed out.
"Um Naruto?" Karmen voiced out quietly, "The story I was reading about you. I never got to read the ending. So, while I do know who a lot of people are and even some of their area's of specialty I don't know what is going on currently or any current strengths or weaknesses. I'm... " she hesitated, " I'm not a threat..." The room seemed to go quiet around her obvious worries.
"Karmen, I cannot guarantee anything. We need a full written report on everything you can remember about this story, no matter how... troublesome." Naruto replied seriously.
Karmen nodded her head remaining quiet.
"But I'll tell you what, you can pick two people to be your guards while your here." Naruto smiled happily, trying to cheer her back up.
Karmen nodded her head again thoughtfully. "Well, she started. Since I'm working on that report for you I'd like Hinata and Sasuke."
"Oooh, Sasuke huh?" Naruto teased.
Karmen laughed and shook her head, "No no, it's nothing like that. It's just that Sasuke is very quiet and will keep to himself and not distract me while I'm writing. He was never one of my favorite characters... er... no offence Sasuke..." she grinned sheepishly not wanting to be on his bad side. A grunt was her only reply.
Naruto almost doubled over in laughter at Sasuke's expense. "Guess you're not as popular as you think." he got out between laughs. Everyone else in the room, Karmen included, rolled their eyes but smiled indulgently at the blonde.
"Oh, and one more thing!" Naruto straightened himself and stopped laughing at his best friend. "I want a list of your top five favorite characters."
Karmen's blush almost rivaled one of Hinata's old blushes as she stammered over her reply before finally getting out, "Can I ask why?"
"Nope! Perks of being Hokage!" He laughed as he left, the others, except Sasuke and Hinata, following him.
Akamaru gave her hand a last little nudge before he left with Kiba, making her smile happily.
A big pile of paper and a couple black pens were dropped on a table that was attached to the hospital bed then swiveled into place in front of her.
Glaring down at the huge pile in front of her she mumbled, "I'm going to get such a hand cramp." and earned a giggle from Hinata that made her smile before started to write out every detail she could remember from her favorite manga.
It was a week later that Karmen finally put the final touches on her paperwork. She had used every last stitch of paper and Sasuke even had to go and get her some more to finish up. All she had left to do was to write down her five favorite characters. She didn't know why it embarrassed her so much to write it but she could feel her cheeks start to heat up just thinking about it. The good thing about this assignment was that it left her little time to think on her life before the accident. At night before she went to sleep she could feel the remnants of the emotional pain build and combine with home sickness to form an emotional monster that tore at her mind. Nightmares became common and she knew that she would wake her watchers with her whimpers and sometimes even screams as the monster tried to release itself.
She got used to her vision being impaired on a constant basis and used her other senses to tell who came to visit her. The click of Akamaru's claws on the polished hospital floors was a dead give-a-way when he and Kiba came to visit. Sakura's footsteps were light but quick as she moved from place to place and came by to check on her. Sometimes she would feel a breeze come from the window and suspected that someone would come and go with messages for one or both of her watchers. She never said anything and neither did they. Often one or both of them would read over her shoulder as she wrote. She would sometimes hear a hitch in breathing if she was at a particularly personal part but still they never said anything and let her work. Now she could hear them getting restless as they knew she was at the end of her project yet she hesitated with her favorite characters. With a sigh she let go of her worries, pushing them aside with the rest of her ridiculous emotions and began writing.
1. Gaara
2. Kakashi
3. Hinata
4. Temari
5. Kiba
Hinata must have been reading over her shoulder at the time as she heard her hitch in breathing and smiled.
"Yup," Karmen said, "you're my third favorite. I can't tell you how hard it's been not asking you questions about what's happened after the last part that I read."
Karmen could make out the colour red next to her and knew that Hinata was blushing which made her smile.
"Hn," Sasuke scoffed over her opposite side, "the mutt makes the list and I don't?"
Smiling softly Karmen kept her gaze on the paper in front of her. "Sorry Sasuke, but I always found you to be annoyingly proud and arrogant." she laughed after that, "funny thing is I would sometimes take personality tests just for fun to see which character I was most like and I'd almost always get you."
"Ridiculous." he scoffed.
"Agreed." she smiled up at him causing him to turn away from her. Hinata giggled lightly from beside them.
"So, what now?" Karmen looked up at them for answers,"Do I go to see Naruto? er, I mean the Hokage?"
"This information will need to be reviewed by both the Hokage and the Kazekage before they decide what to do with you." Sasuke answered before grabbing the pile of papers off the table and walking though the door.
"Oh." Karmen replied after he had already walked out the door. "Hinata?" She called over to the shy girl getting her attention, "what am i supposed to do now?"
Hinata looked at the girl as she lay on the bed. Her faced was twisted into a grimace and her eyes held such a deep sadness it was hard to picture her every being compared to Sasuke.
"How about we get you out of that bed first." Lending her arm for Karmen to grab onto she waited as the girl grimaced but suffered her pain quietly as she made her way up onto unsteady legs. Slowly the started walking, Karmen still holding Hinata's arm for balance and stability. They walked out of the room and down the hospital hallways. They had made a full circle around the hospital before Sasuke met up with them again. Without a word he fell into step on Karmen's other side as they started another circle around the hospital. Most of Karmen's injuries were healed up it was just stiffness and muscle strength that she worked on now. After the third circle she felt much better physically though her legs were exhausted from the walking for the first time in a long time.
They went back into her hospital room and Karmen sat down with a content sigh just as Sakura walked in.
"Oh good, I see that you got up and walked around a bit." She came and gave Karmen a quick once over to make sure everything was as it should be before continuing. "Well you're all healed up, just have to work some of that strength back into your muscles. I'm going to get the paperwork ready for you to be discharged."
"Sakura, " Karmen interrupted before she could leave the room. "Where am I supposed to go if I'm not here?"
Sakura looked at here quietly for a moment before her gaze shifted over to Sasuke. "It looks like Sasuke has the answer to that one. I'll leave you guys to sort it out." And with that she briskly walked out of the room to attend to others.
Karmen shifted her gaze to Sasuke and waited patiently for him to tell her the answer to the question. He seemed to be looking at Hinata and not down at her when he finally decided to answer.
"The Hokage has decided that you may choose to say either at the Uchiha or Hyuga compounds. Once there you may not leave until the decision has been made on what to do with you."
"Oh." She said quietly thinking, "May I ask you both a few questions to help decided?"
"You may ask though we may not be able to answer." Hinata answered quietly.
Karmen nodded in understanding before asking her first question. "How many people, roughly, are at each compound?"
Both were quiet for a quite a while, for a moment Karmen thought that they would not answer.
"There are over a hundred residents at the Hyuga compound and exactly two at the Uchiha compound." Was the eventual reply from Hinata who seemed to the the okay from Sasuke.
"Hinata, are you the leader of the Hyuga?" she asked next.
"Yes" was the quick and simple reply. It made Karmen smile happily for the girl.
"Who is the other resident of the Uchiha compound?" was the next question.
The silence this time seemed to last even longer then the other time and Karmen opened her mouth to ask a different question when the reply finally came.
"Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke replied.
"But he, " Karmen started before she was interrupted.
"The story was incomplete as you already knew." he said.
"Oh, of course." Still confused and with curiosity buzzing though her and making it hard to focus she asked another question.
"Are either of you married, engaged or have kids?" It was the final question and the one she most needed to know as she did not want to see any couples for the time being.
"Hinata is married to the Hokage, they don't have any kids yet. I am neither married or engaged and thus also do not have children." Sasuke replied again seemingly annoyed at the question.
Karmen nodded her head in understand before what he said clicked and a brilliant smile lit up her face.
"Oh Hinata! I knew it! I'm so happy for you! congratulations!" She exclaimed as she reached over and embraced the giggling girl. She could almost feel Sasuke rolling his eyes at her.
"Your decision?" he prompted.
"Oh, of course. I would like to stay at the Uchiha compound as there are fewer people." Was her instant reply.
Sakura chose that moment to walk in through the door with her release papers in hand. "I thought you didn't like Sasuke." She stated a bit suspiciously.
"Oh I don't, you don't have to worry." She smiled at the obviously aggravated girl. "I've been having nightmares and it should be much easier to avoid annoying two people then a hundred."
She could feel all three sets of eyes on her. It seemed not one of them believed her. "fuckin ninja's and their super lie sensors..." she mumbled and heard Sasuke chuckle slightly.
"Alright alright, " she admitted, "I just don't want to be around any couples, okay? As happy as I am for Hinata I just couldn't take it at this point in time."
"Oh okay." Sakura said, her voice chipper again. "Sign here please."
After signing the papers Sakura returned her clothes to her so she could change out of the hospital pants and gown. It looked as though they had tried to clean them but some blood stains still remained from the accident.
Hinata helped her get to her feet again and led her to the bathroom so she could change. "If you ever want to tell me what happened you can." Hinata said in a soft voice, barely above a whisper. "Think it over and I'll come to drop off some more clothes for you. We can talk then if you'd like."
"Thank you Hinata." Karmen smiled at her. "It's nice to have that option if I choose to use it."
After she was dressed the three walked out of the hospital together. Karmen still held onto Hinata's arm for support and when they got outside Sasuke switch positions with Hinata to become her support.
"I'll stop by soon to drop off some essentials for you." Hinata waved her good byes as she headed for home.
Sasuke and Karmen made their way slowly through the streets leading to the Uchiha compound. Though she tired quickly she never complained at the long walk instead very grateful that Sasuke was being so patient with her pace. Her whole attention was on placing one foot in front of the next so when they finally stopped she sighed happily, thankful that it was almost over for today. It was at that moment that she felt a prickling up her spine and the feeling of being watched consumed her.
She almost laughed out loud but kept it as a small chuckle before expressing her sudden Epiphany, "I have a feeling that after our walk though town I should be more concerned about death by fangirl then death by Uchiha."
To her surprise she heard Sasuke chuckle in response as he helped her up the step and into the house. "That makes you smarter then I would have given you credit for." he replied.
"Hey!" she replied with a half hearted attempt at sounding offended before laughing lightly.
"You brought a girl home?" questioned a deep voice from the other room, "And made her laugh? What's happened to you little brother?" She heard the teasing tone in his voice and felt strangely relieved and happy the itachi was alive and here. It just felt right.
Sasuke scoffed from beside her but didn't leave her side until she was seated on a couch next to Itachi.
Her eyes must have been huge as she looked at Itachi. She wanted to lean in closer so she could actually see him properly but she was sure that it would be misinterpreted. She heard both the boys chuckle at her obvious awe before she pulled herself together.
"Hello." She said finally.
He nodded at her in reply before turning his attention back to Sasuke.
"Protection assignment." he stated before walking out of the room.
"Ah, you must be the information breech I've heard about." He said shifting his attention back to her.
"Don't misunderstand." he ordered a bit roughly before reaching out and holding her face still before leaning in towards her. She was very confused but only for a second before she realized he was doing what she had wanted to do.
"Itachi," she said, "can't they fix your eyes?" he was close enough now that she could see him clearly just as he could see her.
"I'm certain they could but they feel more at ease with me at what they would assume as a disadvantage." He replied as he pulled away from her.
"Yours on the other hand should be an easy fix should they decide not to eliminate you." He stated before settling into the book he was previously reading.
She nodded her head secretly hoping they would keep her around and fix her eyes. It would be a dream come true to her. She sat silently for a while, her thoughts slowly spiraling downwards into her depression before she could take it no long.
"Itachi, I'm sorry to interrupt but would you happen to have any other books I could read?" She looked at him hopefully, her eyes almost pleading for something to consume her excess time.
Silently he got up and went to a bookshelf she hadn't realized was in the room. He scanned it for a moment before pulling out what looked like a textbook and bringing it over to her.
"Read it. Study it. Practice it. It will keep you occupied until the decision is made and longer should you still be here." With that he settled back into his book.
Glancing down at the book he gave her she saw that it was a book on chalkra control. Flipping through it she saw that it showed her all the handsigns that would be used in various jutsu and had a detailed look at how chalkra worked could be utilized and it's effects on the body.
"Thank you Itachi," she said softly, a smile gracing her lips. It would indeed keep her very busy.
