When a stranger is rescued and brought back to Konohagakure, how will her presence change the lives of our favorite heroes?
A STRANGER AMONG FRIENDS
Chapter 1: Better Than Before
Why does my head feel so fuzzy? I tried to open my eyes toward the brightness that seemed to come from nowhere, but to no avail. What's wrong with me? I tried to cover my closed eyes with my palm, but my hands wouldn't move. Okay, don't panic. Breathe. Focus. As I tried to relax and focus on each individual breath, the sounds of the world around me began to make themselves known.
Voices in the distance, indistinct at first, but present, seemed to come closer and slowly become clearer to my ears. Damn, this annoying. What is going on? Why can't I move? Why can't I open my eyes? Hey! Why can't I speak!?! I lay…somewhere…trying to force sound from my mouth, a mouth that does not seem to want to open. With some effort I manage to push out a low moan in the hopes that someone is nearby.
"Go get Sakura-chan, she's awake!" I heard a voice yell.
He sounds young, like a teenager. With some effort, I eeked out another moan. Words, damnit! Why won't they come? Please, someone tell me what's going on. As if on cue, I heard a swish of a swinging door and could feel the cool breeze of someone rushing by. Warm hands grasped mine, and seemed to check my pulse.
"Welcome back. I'm Haruno Sakura, the medic-nin in charge of your care."
Medic-nin? I'm in a ninja village, then. I opened my mouth again but this time nothing came out.
"Just relax, your voice will return soon. You are undoubtedly feeling the effects of the treatment. You presented with severe burns and smoke inhalation, but you're fine now. You're safe."
Burns? Smoke inhalation? Slowly the disjointed memories began to come back to me. Flickers of fire appeared to my mind's eye. The unbearable heat that, at some point, caused my will to fade. A feeling of suffocation overtook me. My eyes popped open of their own accord, now taking in the hospital room. Hazel eyes darted about, in hopes of confirming this "safe" statement the medic-nin made. Upon seeing the words were, in fact, true I tried to make myself relax. Forcing myself to calm the beating of my heart proved easier said than done, especially with the presence of so many people in the room.
My eyes continued to dart about, resting first on a pale, dark haired male who smiled rather eerily at me. Wow, I didn't know there were completely flaming ninjas! He'd be right at home back in Boys Town. Next, my gaze fell to a suspicious looking white haired man with half a ski mask over his face. I instantly begin to distrust him and want him to leave. Isn't it the middle of summer, what's with the ski mask, anyway? Then I noticed a blue eyed blond kid that was grinning like an idiot. As jumbled as my mind was, I couldn't hold back the smile that lifted the corners of my mouth. Strange, no one has had that effect on me since, well, my husband. Finally my eyes focused in on the hand holding mine. Before me stood a pink haired teenager, with wide green eyes. She can't be a medic. She's still a kid. What is this, Doogie Houser, MD?
"You're safe now. There's no need to worry. I know that bunch of guys is pretty rag tag looking…"
"Sakura-chan, are you insulting us?"
The medic-nin sighed before continuing. "But they are the ones that rescued you and brought you here for treatment."
Damn, okay…no more snap decisions about these guys. I took the time to look back at the group, this time finding Mr. Ski Mask eyeballing a small yellow book with an 'over 18' stamp on the cover. Perverted bastard…and in public no less. The blond was now rubbing the hair off the back of his head, but the pale gay kid was smiling that eerie fake smile of his. Okay. I'm not doing too well with the snap decisions, am I?
I turned back to face the medic, her brilliant green eyes seemingly appraising my wounds. Wait a minute. Why don't I feel any pain? What kind of drugs do these people have? And how long can I keep getting them! Yeah, baby! Just then a sharp knock sounded against the door followed by the clicking of heels.
"Ah, it seems our patient is awake. I am Senju Tsunade, Hokage of Konohagakure, a commanding blonde said.
I would not mess with her, she seems pretty intimidating. A female kage, huh. And so young. I think I like this place.
"I hope you don't mind the room full of riff raff, but they sweet talked me into letting them stay until you awakened."
"See, I told you the sake would work," the blond kid attempted to whisper. He failed, and the blonde woman punched him out of my view. "Baa-chan!"
Damn, she's his grandmother? She looks so young. I guess that explains that much. What kind of drugs do these people have?
"Oh, keep quiet Naruto."
"How…bad?" Yes, finally, the words were coming. Though my voice sounded raspy and toad-like.
"Shh, don't try to talk yet. You inhaled quite a bit of smoke and your throat and lungs will need another day to recover. I'm pleased to say that my apprentice, here," she waved in the young medic's direction. "…has done a fine job healing all of your injuries. In a day or two, you will be better than before the fire."
Better…than before? How is that possible?
At the look of my perplexed face, the Hokage's eyes went soft, almost motherly. She appeared to begin telling me what happened when she glanced back at the fruit, the perv, and the goof, and thought better of it.
"Shouldn't you be filing your mission report, Kakashi? I expect all three of you to be in my office in 20 minutes for debriefing."
"Hai, Hokage-sama," said the dark haired one, the fake smile replaced with…blankness.
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," said the one called Kakashi, before giving a two-fingered salute.
"Hai, hai, Baa-chan," said the challenged one before running out of the room like a bad little kid avoiding a much deserved spanking.
Once again, I could not hide my smile. What is it with this, this Naruto, she called him?
"Anyway, Sakura has healed all of your wounds, even the old injuries from before the fire. In a couple of days you will feel better than you have in several years, I would presume."
Mm-hmm, that's the 'what' but it still doesn't explain the 'how'. I could feel my gaze become expectant as I glanced from blonde to pinkette.
"I see you must not be familiar with shinobi medicine and treatment. I am not surprised considering you are a civilian from nowhere near a ninja village. Our medicine is quite…advanced."
Advanced? Is she joking? I could feel one eyebrow arch.
"Sakura, describe the extent of your treatment to our patient. I need to get back to the office." With that, Tsunada-sama was quickly out of sight.
"Well, I'm sorry I don't know your name. Don't speak, but if you can, please write it out for me," she said handing me her clipboard. I took the clipboard with little difficulty which surprised me considering I couldn't move just minutes before. Grasped the pen connected by a beaded metal chain and wrote my name as legibly as possible.
Sakura looked down at the clipboard and blinked a few times before her head snapped back up at me. "Japanese is not your first language, is it?"
Oh crap. That's right, I can't write kanji. I shook my head to confirm her statement.
"Well, that's okay. You'll be able to speak soon enough." The young medic smiled brightly as she recounted the strange treatments that have mended me to mint condition. A condition I haven't been in, in over a decade.
As she went about describing chakra treatments and non-invasive surgeries that not only healed burns but also mended ligaments and internal organs, all I could think was, if only my husband's squad had medics like these. But all we had was a civilian volunteer battalion. What a shame. So many lives could have been spared. Perhaps he would have come to me last year as expected. But alas, here I am; alone, not sure if he's alive or dead. Who am I kidding, it's been a year. If he were alive, he would have met me with the rest of the militia's wives.
I stopped my inner musings just in time to see Sakura frown. "Gomen, Sakura. My mind wanders sometimes," I say in a slightly less froggy voice.
"Hmm, that seemed like more than a little mind wandering. You should rest. I'll be by at the end of my shift to check on you. No more talking, okay?"
I nodded my head in agreement.