First ever fanfiction, you guys! Kind of nervous, but overall proud of myself for finally being brave enough to do this. Open to constructive feedback! I haven't watched all of the Naruto anime, so if some facts are off or characters out-of-place, that is why. I do no own any characters, settings, or aspects of Naruto. I do own three original characters in this story: Natsumi, Osamu, and Dr. Ueda. I think that's it... Please enjoy! Thank you for reading!
"Oh, you know what?!" Natsumi snapped.
""WHAT?!" Kiba bellowed back.
"BITE ME!"
Kiba's eyes widened in surprise momentarily before his eyebrows furrowed once again. He clenched his fists tighter, and a low growl began to develop in his chest. A red flush slowly started creeping from his neck up toward his face. Now he was really pissed.
"Good," Natsumi thought to herself. Natsumi's glare never wavered. The two stood face-to-face, having their standoff despite the audience that had gathered.
"Uhhhh, Natsumi?" Naruto meekly interjected. Natsumi never broke her fierce eye contact with the dog nin, who was now starting to shake slightly with rage. "You really shouldn't say things like that to Kiba... He takes them very -"
"DEAL!" Without warning, Kiba rushed Natsumi, closing the gap between them. Natsumi dodged left, spun, and landed a kick in the middle of Kiba's back. Kiba caught his balance, turned, crouched low, and sprang after Natsumi, who had taken off immediately after landing her kick. The two were giving chase over the rooftops of Konoha just as Naruto finished his sentence, "...literally."
"Damn," Naruto rasped under his breath, watching the quickly receding figures rapidly making their way over the skyline. "Have you ever seen Kiba this mad, Hinata?"
The girl standing slightly behind him gave a start, gasping quietly with shock at being addressed so suddenly. She, too, had been staring after her two closest friends, now no more than black dots on the horizon. Her worried thoughts interrupted, she now directed her gaze toward her sandaled feet, feeling the familiar blush warm her face like it always did when she was around Naruto. "N-no, I don't think so... N-not...for a long t-time, anyway. I...I'm worried...about N-Natsumi." She added the last sentence at a volume just barely above a whisper.
"Huh?" Naruto turned his head in Hinata's direction. "Why is that? I know she's a medical nin and normally doesn't fight, but I've been training with her, and she can hold her own pretty well. Plus Kiba is gonna have to catch her first, and we all know she's way faster."
"Yes, but..." Hinata hesitated. She had promised her best friend that she would keep her secret, but now Hinata's concern for her friend's safety was beginning to overpower her desire to keep that promise. She shook her head slightly and decided she had to tell someone, and it might as well be Naruto, as he and Natsumi were close as well. "Sh-She hurt her ankle on our last mission. She told me... she's pretty sure it isn't broken, just a bad sprain, but asked me n-not to tell anyone," Hinata confessed. "B-but I think it's probably worse than she made it out to be. She...she always minimizes things when she's hurting. Ever since we were kids."
"Seriously? When did she hurt it?" Naruto was shocked to learn of Natsumi's injury. She hadn't slowed her pace at all during their journey to and from the Hidden Stone Village. "Even if it started off as a sprain, it's probably gotten way worse," he thought to himself. "She hasn't taken a day off training, and it's not exactly like she allows herself a lot of rest between training and working at the hospital."
"What is that girl thinking?! She should know better!" He voiced out loud. Hinata peeked up from her feet to meet Naruto's face. She immediately felt her blush worsen, but maintained eye contact despite the strong urge to look back down.
"Sh-she...she didn't want Lady Tsunade to find out. She was afraid if...if she did, she would be put on rest leave, or not allowed on any further missions. Natsumi was so happy she finally chose her to accompany a mission. I-it's what she's been w-working so hard for..."
Naruto returned his eyes toward the direction in which Kiba and Natsumi had taken off. They had now passed out of sight. His brow furrowed slightly. He knew Kiba would never hurt Natsumi on purpose, but he also knew the dog nin had a temper, and if he didn't know about Natsumi's injury, an accident was just waiting to happen.
He groaned. "Well, Kiba is pissed, and Natsumi is at a huge disadvantage. I know Kiba would never hurt her, but he has no idea she's injured. If he catches up, he may accidentally injure her further, then she will be put on rest leave to recover. C'mon, Hinata," he turned over his shoulder as her eyes widened in surprise. "We've gotta keep those two from really getting into it. I'll take Kiba, you take Natsumi, 'kay?" Hinata felt her face get hotter (she didn't realize that was even possible), but nodded once. With that, the pair sprinted off in the same direction Kiba and Natsumi had gone.
Natsumi crouched low beneath the open window she had leapt through, wincing and silently cursing as she panted as quietly as possible from the sharp pain radiating from her ankle up the lower portion of her calf and shin. As she gradually lowered herself to a sitting position, resting her back on the wall behind her, she gingerly grasped her ankle. As soon as she made contact with it, she inhaled sharply through her teeth. It was incredibly painful and she noticed it now looked swollen. She slowly unzipped her sandal. "Dammit!" she whispered to herself. Her ankle was, indeed, swollen and had a mass of blue and purple bruises. If it wasn't broken before, it sure as hell was now.
She re-zipped her sandal and her eyes darted about her current surroundings. She had ditched Kiba for now and was in some kind of storage room in a business that appeared closed for the day. It was in a sparsely populated part of the city that was not familiar to her or Kiba, as far as she knew. She hated all this running and hiding, but she knew she had no chance of fending off an angry Kiba in her current condition. And if he learned of her injury, she knew there was no way he would keep his big fat mouth shut about it. She would never be picked to go on another mission.
"Stupid Kiba," she thought to herself bitterly. Despite how she had proven herself on her first mission, he still felt obligated to protect and shelter her, like she was some kind of porcelain doll. She glared and clenched her fists tighter, just thinking about it was enough to further fuel her anger. She trained every day, never taking a day off despite her long hours at the hospital. Her fighting skills had improved significantly. Naruto always joked with her during their training sessions that she could probably kick his ass if provoked. She may not be as strong as the chunins, but she was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked, and what she lacked in brute strength she made up for in speed. "At least until now..." she thought to herself as she took another glance at her ever-swelling ankle.
She knew this wasn't good. She had to get ice on her ankle to keep the swelling down, and she really had to keep weight off it to prevent it from getting worse and possibly causing more permanent injury. But she had to keep moving or Kiba would hone in on her scent and find her. Unless...
She smirked and stood, careful to favor her right ankle as much as possible. She didn't have to make it far. She could cut through some back alleys and go in through one of the back entrances. She may not be able to mask her scent, but she felt confident in her plan to throw Dog Boy off her trail. She cautiously climbed out the window she had come through and started to make her way back towards where their altercation had first started. She had to run, as she was certain Kiba couldn't be too far behind. She hoped her ankle would make it to the hospital.
"Dammit, where is she?!" Kiba growled under his breath as he whipped his head back and forth, scanning the street for any sign of Natsumi. He stopped and sniffed the air. She had definitely been here. She had given him the slip due to her unmatched speed. But eventually she would need to stop and rest, and when she did he would find her and show her why he was right about her needing protection. He wasn't going to hurt her, but he was definitely going to prove to her she wasn't ready to go gallivanting off on her own. He would simply disarm her and do a quick take-down.
Had he not been so pissed, part of him would have felt bad about doing this. He knew she was fiercely independent and insistent on not needing anyone to protect her. But dammit, she had only been on one mission! And she hadn't even told him she was going! He was worried sick the entire time she had been gone. He had hardly slept due to the dreams he'd had in which she had been attacked while on duty and he hadn't been there... He'd been too late to save her, and she was gone, her beautiful brown eyes going lifeless as he held her in his arms...
He shook his head to clear his mind of those awful images. "Not on my watch," he mumbled to himself. He suddenly caught her scent again. He ran toward the building from which her scent was coming. It looked like the business occupying the space was closed. He tried the front door. Locked. He quickly and quietly made his way around the side of the building, working his way toward the back. He couldn't be sure, but her scent was fairly fresh. If she wasn't here now, she couldn't have left long ago. He made his way to the back of the building and saw the open window.
He crept to the window and flattened himself against the wall. Holding his breath, he listened closely for anything...breathing, shuffling movements, sometimes if he concentrated hard enough, he could even hear her heartbeat. Nothing. He quickly peeked into the window. It looked like a storage room. He jumped through the window and landed in a low crouch. "Yup," he thought to himself as he lightly sniffed the air. "She was definitely here within the last five minutes or so." He groaned out loud. She could be anywhere by now. He had to give credit where credit was due. That girl was fast. Even faster than Akamaru. The best he could do now was try to pick up her trail and hope he could catch her the next time she had to stop for a rest. He hopped back out through the window, sniffed the air, and started back toward where it had all gone downhill so fast.
Natsumi smirked to herself as she dropped her jacket that had been tied around her waist to the ground and kicked it to the side of the alley so it was pushed up against the wall. She was down to her base layer of clothing, but she had managed to create a trail she was sure would throw Kiba off. Now she had to make her way back to toward the hospital. She knew he'd eventually find her there, but she hoped by that time she'd think of a way to hide her injury from him. She just needed to get her ankle treated, and time. Which was exactly what this false trail she'd made would give her. Just as she was about to scale the wall to make her way to the hospital via the rooftops, she heard a familiar voice call her name.
"Natsumi!" Naruto called out as he and Hinata drew nearer. He didn't see Kiba anywhere nearby, and silently cheered that the dog nin hadn't found Natsumi first. As he and Hinata closed the gap between them and their friend, he vaguely thought something about her looked different. He wasn't the most observant guy in the world, but as Natsumi turned to face him and Hinata, he immediately realized what it was that was off. "W-WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES?!" He shrieked.
Natsumi crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as she stood with her weight on her left leg. Naruto's face was even redder than Hinata's as he openly pointed at her with his mouth agape. Hinata blushed furiously as well, busily staring at the crack in the wall of the building they were behind.
"Oh please, you two! I'm not naked, it's just my base layer. Most girls show more skin in their swim suits. Hinata, you are a girl! You've seen me naked in the bath house, for fuck's sake! And Naruto, don't think I haven't seen you sneaking peeks at those magazines Jiraya -"
Naruto cut off the rest of her accusation with loud, fake laughter as he waved his hand to signal her to stop. And now Hinata's face was back to being the reddest of them all. "W-why d-don't you have the rest of your clothes, Natsumi?" Hinata asked, trying to push Natsumi's last comment from her mind.
"I used them to make a false trail to distract Kiba," she replied simply. "Now if you'll excuse me, gotta keep moving." But as she crouched to take off up the wall and make her way to the roof, she suddenly cried out. She collapsed forward, breaking her fall with her hands, and landed on her left hip. She twisted her upper body to the right and brought her right knee to her chest, gently clutching her ankle. Naruto and Hinata rushed forward to help their friend.
"Natsumi!" Hinata softly scolded her friend. "Please don't move, you'll only make it worse!" Hinata gently placed her hands over Natsumi's and gave her a pleading look. Natsumi initially returned Hinata's gaze with her trademark stubborn, hard stare, but after a moment her eyes softened and she allowed her best friend to remove her hands so she could see her swollen, bruised ankle. Hinata gasped. How did she not notice earlier that Natsumi's ankle was nearly double its normal size? "You need to go to the hospital," Hinata remarked. Natsumi opened her mouth to respond. "And no, you are not walking there yourself," came Hinata's next statement in an uncharacteristically firm tone. Natsumi's eyes widened minutely before she smiled. She may have been the only person who knew this side of Hinata. When she was worried about her friends, she could be just as assertive as anyone else Natsumi had ever met.
"Well whatever you wanna do, do it quick, because Kiba can't be too far off. I'm definitely not as fast as usual with this bum ankle, so he'll probably be here any minute now." Natsumi knew there was no point in arguing with Hinata when she used her "bossy bitch voice," as Natsumi affectionately called it. Besides, she was right. Natsumi knew any further stress to her ankle would likely cause long-lasting if not permanent damage to the joint. Suddenly, a wide grin spread across her face. She had another idea to buy them some more time. "You take me, Hinata. Naruto," she turned to the blonde ninja who had crouched down on her left side. "Ever wondered how you'd look in green?"
"This is never gonna fool him," Naruto griped as he struggled to get his shoulders into Natsumi's green jacket. "I dunno if you've noticed, Natsumi, but you're kinda a midget and -" Naruto gulped, swallowing the rest of his complaint when he saw the glare Natsumi was giving him. Even hanging from Hinata's back with a broken ankle, she could give the scariest death stare he'd ever seen.
"It's not meant to fool him," she snapped. "Just to give you enough of my scent to confuse him so he follows you long enough for Hinata to get me to the hospital and give me enough time to figure out how the hell I'm gonna keep him from finding out about my stupid ankle. Plus your jacket should help mask my scent some," she said, holding up an orange-sleeved arm to point at him. "You better get going. Try and keep him busy for 30 minutes or so, 'kay? Good luck, Naruto. And thank you," she smiled, using a nicer tone to thank her friend for helping her. We'd better get going, too, Hinata." Hinata nodded and pushed off the ground, grunting lightly as she did. She went from the ground to the fire escape, then up to the rooftop and rushed as quickly as possible toward the hospital.
Naruto watched the girls retreat into the distance, then took off as quickly as he could in the opposite direction. He had tried to convince Natsumi it was stupid to try and keep her injury a secret from Kiba while they were exchanging jackets, but the girl was so damn stubborn! He couldn't figure out how someone so smart couldn't see how dumb of an idea it was to try hiding such an obvious injury. She had simply told him he was wasting their time, and asked if he was going to help her or not. Of course he had answered yes. She was one of his closest friends and had bailed his ass out plenty of times. He just hoped he could avoid being caught by Kiba long enough to give her time to realize she couldn't keep her injury a secret.
"Got you now," Kiba thought triumphantly as he closed in on Natsumi's scent. She was using back alleys to flee to parts of the city they did not frequent to try and disorient him. She was smart. But his sense of smell allowed him to keep on her trail, and he could tell he was getting closer. Her scent was becoming stronger. "She must be getting tired," he thought. He was sweating himself, and his breathing had become heavier. He felt a pang of guilt. The longer he chased her, the less keen he was on his plan to physically show her she would be no match for a trained chunin if she were attacked during a mission. At this point, he wasn't sure what he was going to do once he finally caught up with her. By now he had run off most of his anger with her. He chuckled under his breath and muttered, "I'll probably just end up apologizing to her. We should talk though. She can't go running off on missions without even telling me about it and expect me not to worry."
Something caught his eye and he suddenly stopped. It had just been a flash in the periphery of his vision, but it was enough when coupled with a sudden increase in the strength of her scent to make him double-take. He turned and looked at the bundle of black fabric shoved up against the wall. He slowly walked to it, scooped it up, and unfurled it. He furrowed his brow as he realized it was one of her arm bands. He stood and continued to follow her scent. He eventually found other articles of her clothing: another arm band, her vest, her belt. When he found her shirt, the look on his face changed from one of irritated confusion to alarmed concern.
"What the fuck?!" He growled out loud. What the hell was going on here? Had something happened to Natsumi? Right here in their hometown?! And it had happened while she was running away from him! His hands began to shake with rage, both with himself and whomever had done this. He snapped his head back in the direction he had been following her scent. He sniffed the air. He couldn't detect any unfamiliar scents. Just familiar ones such as Naruto's and Hinata's.
"Maybe they saw something?" He wondered. He didn't have time to track them down, though. He sprinted down the alley, following Natsumi's scent more fervently than before. He had to find her quickly. "If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself!"
"Thanks again, Osamu!" Natsumi smiled at the student who had set and wrapped her ankle in a brace under her direction. "You did a wonderful job. I feel better already!" She laughed and rubbed the back of her head. The student returned her smile.
"No problem, Natsumi! I had an excellent instructor," he winked.
"Nonsense. You did all the work. Take the damn compliment," Natsumi replied, returning the wink and pointing to Osamu. "Well," she swung her legs over the side of the bed, "Find me a crutch and I'll be going!" She beamed charmingly at the young medical nin, hoping she could sneak out before the actual doctor came to her room and told her she'd need to stay on bedrest.
"Nice try," came the husky voice of Dr. Uedo from the doorway. The tall man entered the room and gently placed his hands on Natsumi's shoulders. "Osamu, please find an empty room for Natsumi. She'll be staying here tonight despite her best efforts." Osamu nodded and left to find Natsumi a room. Natsumi raised an eyebrow at Dr. Uedo and he responded, "Don't give me that look. You know I can't discharge you in the shape you're in. And shame on you for using Osamu's crush on you to try and sneak in and out of here under my nose." Natsumi opened her mouth to argue, but Dr. Uedo cut her off. "You need rest, Natsumi."
After a brief pause, Natsumi asked simply, "How'd you find out I was here?" Dr. Uedo just smiled, then Natsumi saw Hinata peeking into the room from the doorway with a shy smile, blushing lightly as she gave a small wave. "Traitor," Natsumi mumbled without any real commitment.
Once in her room, Natsumi gazed out the window at the skyline. "Are you ok, Natsumi? Can I get you some water or something?" Hinata asked. Natsumi shook her head. She knew Naruto had been right, as much as it pained her to admit it. There was no way to keep her injury from Kiba now. She sighed. He would find her here and she'd probably get bitched at for being stupid, so careless, making her injury worse, blah blah blah. She could almost hear him now: See? I told you that you couldn't handle regular missions yet! Look what happened your very first time out. This wouldn't have happened if you'd listened and let me come and protect you...
Natsumi scoffed and pounded her fist into her mattress. Hinata patiently stared at her friend. She knew that if she just waited, Natsumi would tell her what was on her mind, although Hinata had a pretty good idea of what was bothering the redhead.
"He cares for you," Hinata said soothingly. Natsumi scoffed again without looking away from the window. Hinata, undeterred, continued. "I know he can be over-protective, and he says things without thinking. But he's protective because he cares about you and would be devastated of anything were to happen to you. And I know you've been training hard with Naruto and Lee, but Kiba hasn't seen that because he's been busy with missions of his own. He just doesn't realize what a strong fighter you've become because he hasn't had the chance to see it. He says stupid things when he gets angry, but you know as well as I do that he doesn't mean them." Hinata reached out and put her hand over Natsumi's, giving it a light squeeze. Natsumi finally turned her gaze towards Hinata. The violet-haired girl smiled.
"Just promise when he gets here you'll give him a chance to apologize before you try and bite his head off." After finishing her lecture she giggled at her friend's raised eyebrow. Natsumi let out an unconvincing sigh, trying to sound exasperated but failing.
"Fine, if I must," she teased. Hinata giggled again. Everyone always thought Natsumi was so intimidating when they first met her, but she knew better. She was quick to forgive despite her somewhat short temper. "Wonder where those two boneheads are?" Natsumi wondered aloud. "I thought for sure Kiba would have caught up with your boyfriend by now."
Hinata blushed furiously. "Natsumi!"
Natsumi laughed and stuck her tongue out at her friend. "Oh I'm just teasing, Hinata! But seriously, where are those idiots?"
"What the..." Kiba stopped and glanced up at the sign over the building to which he had tracked Natsumi's scent. "This doesn't make any damn sense," he muttered. "What the hell would she be doing here?" His keen nose had led him to the ramen shop. He grasped Natsumi's clothing to his side. He had bundled it up into a tight ball and carried it with him, figuring once he found her he would need it to help make her decent again. He had expected his search to take him outside the village, or at least to an abandoned part of town. He had been certain something bad had happened to her. It made no sense to him that she would willingly strip and leave her clothing abandoned in an alley, running about half-naked. "Is she just chillin' in the ramen shop in her underwear?!" He felt his cheeks burn slightly as he lightly blushed at the thought. He furrowed his brow and pushed past the curtain into the shop, mentally steeling himself to find something bizarre.
And he found it.
"Hi, Kibaaaa!" a voluptuous blonde with long pigtails sang and gave him a flirtatious wave from the bar. She was sitting on her stool with one long leg crossed over the other, leaning forward slightly. She winked and blew him a kiss, giggling. He stopped dead in his tracks, paralyzed by shock. The blonde was wearing nothing but Natsumi's jacket, which did not fit well. Kiba had never been more confused in his life.
"W-Where did you get that jacket?!" he asked, pointing to the blonde accusingly.
"Oh, you mean this old thing? Do you want me to take it off?" the vixen grinned wickedly.
"Yes! I-I mean...no! I mean..." Kiba blushed violently. Suddenly, when the blonde bombshell giggled again, he realized he'd seen her before. A long time ago, during his time at the academy...
"DAMMIT NARUTO!"
The blonde girl was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, accompanied by a poof! When the smoke cleared, she was replaced by an equally blonde goof wearing an ill-fitting green jacket, the shoulders straining across his back, the sleeves only coming halfway down his forearms. He grinned cheekily, picking up a set of chopsticks as he took a large bite of the ramen before him. "Hiya, Kiba! Did you forget about my Sexy Jutsu?"
"DID YOU FORGET I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS?!"
"Sheesh, calm down and have some ramen, will ya?" Naruto replied, motioning to the stool beside him that had a steaming bowl of ramen before it. Kiba grudgingly joined Naruto at the bar. He realized now why he had tracked Natsumi's scent here.
"Ya gonna tell me why you're wearing Natsumi's jacket?" he grumbled.
"Haven't you figured it out by now?" Naruto replied before taking a long slurp from his bowl.
"You've finally accepted that you can no longer fight the urge to become a cross-dresser?" Kiba smirked, taking a bite. Now that he knew Natsumi was in no danger, he finally relaxed. And realized he was starving.
"Har-dee-har-har."
"So I'm guessing she's got that ugly orange thing of yours to mask her scent from me?" Kiba asked after the boys had been eating for a minute or two in silence.
"Believe it."
Kiba grunted. "Guess I need to give her more credit, huh?"
"What clued you in on that one, genius?"
Kiba glared at his sardonic dining companion. "You look ridiculous, by the way," he jabbed.
"I think it really accentuates my eyes." Naruto wanted to keep the sarcastic banter going as long as possible. Kiba had finally calmed the fuck down and he wasn't looking forward to divulging Natsumi's whereabouts. Kiba still had no idea she had been injured. Naruto was clueless of what to tell Kiba when he finally asked where Natsumi was. She had neglected to include those instructions. "Thanks a lot, Natsumi," he thought bitterly.
Luckily, Kiba's appetite kept him from asking the obvious question. Once they had both finished two helpings of ramen, Kiba turned to Naruto. "Hey," he started.
"Here it comes," thought Naruto.
"How pissed is she?"
Naruto glanced over at his companion. Kiba was looking down at his hands, eyebrows knitted together. "Uhhh... I dunno. She didn't seem too bad when we exchanged jackets." Naruto couldn't get a read on Kiba. "Why? What's up?"
Kiba looked up. "Because I said some pretty stupid shit when I was mad. I kinda told her I didn't want her going on any more missions. And when she argued with me about it I told her she wasn't ready to go, and that Lady Tsunade had made a mistake sending her in the first place."
At this, Naruto turned in his stool and slammed an open hand onto the bar. "Listen here, you pushy idiot!" Kiba was taken aback, but remained silent as Naruto launched into his rant. "Natsumi has wanted to be a field medical nin since she started at the academy. With her grades and skills, she easily could have been a chunin but she wanted to serve the village differently. She didn't fall back on being a healer because she wasn't tough enough or didn't have the right skills. She's plenty tough and can handle herself just fine. I should know, I've been training with her almost every day for the last six months because she wanted to make sure she was ready for a field mission."
Kiba opened his mouth to ask about Natsumi's training, of which he had been completely unaware, but Naruto was having none of it. "Don't interrupt!" He said, holding up a hand, and continued. "She may not be as physically strong as some of the other chunin, but dammit, that doesn't matter because she is faster, has more endurance, and is way smarter, and you and I both know that physical strength is not the only trait that matters in a fight. And she has gotten stronger as she's been training. And you know what else? You weren't on that mission with her. I was. And she did just fucking great! Know why? 'CUZ SHE WAS MEANT TO BE OUT THERE AND SHE HAS JUST AS MUCH A RIGHT TO BE THERE AS YOU!"
Kiba looked back down at his hands and replied lamely, "I know. I've been a real idiot."
Naruto's eyes softened and he clapped his friend roughly on the back. "I know you know. You're not that big of an idiot. You just care about her. And that's a good thing. But you've gotta understand that she wouldn't be happy staying in the hospital the rest of her life. She wants to be in the field."
Kiba sighed. "Yeah, I know. I do want her to be happy. I want her to be safe, too."
Naruto grinned widely. "Hey, how much safer could she be than she is when she's surrounded by beefy ninjas like you 'n' me?"
Kiba rolled his eyes, but was glad to have a friend like Naruto to straighten him out and immediately cheer him up afterwards. "Point taken. Thanks, man."
Naruto clapped him on the back again. "No problem, buddy. Speaking of Natsumi being safe and sound, wanna go see her? I promise she is 100% totally safe where she is right now. Lots of people keeping an eye on her, taking care of her, you'd love it!"
"Huh?"
"She's at the hospital."
"But it's her day off..."
"I know."
"WHAT?!" Kiba leapt up from the stool, knocking it over. He grabbed Naruto's collar and pulled his face within inches of his own. "We've been sitting on our asses eating ramen while Natsumi is in the fucking hospital, and you're just now telling me?! What happened?!"
"Calm down, Dog Breath," Naruto replied, removing Kiba's hands from his shirt collar. "She's fine. Like I said, 100% totally safe. But I think she wants to be the one to tell you why she's there. Wanna head -" Before Naruto could finish his question, Kiba was out the door running toward the hospital. Naruto shook his head and turned back to the bar to pay for the ramen. When his back was turned to the front of the shop, Kiba rushed back inside, grabbed Natsumi's jacket from the hood, and jerked it off Naruto.
"Gimme that!" he grumbled before sprinting back through the exit.
Natsumi and Hinata were happily chatting over the delicious dinner Hinata had brought in from Natsumi's favorite restaurant. The girls didn't get much down time together, as Hinata was typically training or on missions, and Natsumi kept herself quite busy between long shifts at the hospital, training with Naruto (or Rock Lee when Naruto wasn't around), and helping her grandmother. The two friends were laughing heartily at something Hinata had just said. To pass the time they spent waiting for the boys to show up, Natsumi had suggested they play a game. At first, Hinata was reluctant to play such a bawdy game. But after the first couple of rounds and aggressive hounding from Natsumi, who said Hinata needed to loosen up, especially since it was "just us girls," and she knew damn well Hinata thought about these kinds of things but was just too reserved to voice them aloud, she was now a full participant in a rousing game of "Marry, Fuck, Ignore." Natsumi had given in and changed the final option from "Kill" to "Ignore" at Hinata's insistence that she wouldn't want to kill anyone they knew in Konoha.
"What the hell, Hinata?!" Natsumi managed to spurt between side-splitting cackles. "Where do you come up with these choices? Pretty perverted for someone who didn't even wanna play ten minutes ago!" She playfully shoved her friend's shoulder as Hinata hiccupped from laughing too hard, nearly doubled over as she sat pretzel-style on the bed facing Natsumi, who had her legs stretched out, one on either side of Hinata due to her braced ankle.
"You...you..." Hinata gasped for air, trying to finish the rest of her sentence, a difficult feat due to her uncontrollable laughter. "You have to answer!" she finally managed.
"Oh shit..." Natsumi snickered, wiping the corners of her eyes where tears of mirth had started to form. "Ok, ok...uh... Fuck, this is hard!" She felt the rumble of laughter building in her belly again. "I can do this, I can do this! Um... Marry... Kakashi...that's easy. Fuck... probably Guy..." at this, Hinata nearly choked on the bite of rice she had just taken. "Shut up, pervert! You're the one who gave me these options!" Natsumi cackled as she hit Hinata with her pillow. "And that would leave ignore Jiraya. There, happy?!"
"Very!" Hinata nodded as she burst into another attack of giggles. Natsumi raised her eyebrow and grinned wickedly.
"Payback time!" she announced. "You're not the only one whose mind can descend into the gutter. Marry, Fuck, Ignore? Your choices are... Lady Tsu-"
Hinata had never been more relieved than she was when the door to Natsumi's room suddenly burst open, loosening one of the hinges. They didn't need to turn their heads to see who it was for two reasons: One, they both knew such a violent and abrupt entrance could only mean Kiba had learned Natsumi was here; Two, he had crossed the room in one bound and was already looming above the bed, one hand grasping the headboard tightly while the other gripped a gorgeous bouquet of mixed flowers, elbow pinning Natsumi's bundle of clothes to his side. He was panting and sweat dripped down his temples. He had clearly sprinted all the way here from wherever he had come. "About time you joined us, Kiba," Natsumi tried to adopt a cavalier tone, but it was only halfway convincing. She wouldn't make eye contact with him, and Hinata could see the tension that had automatically started building in her shoulders.
Hinata quickly excused herself, saying she was going to get Natsumi fresh water from the nurse's station despite the fact the current jug was only about an hour old. Once they had the room to themselves, Kiba tried to slow down his breathing and took a seat on the side of the bed, facing Natsumi, his left leg tucked under him as the right stayed on the floor. Natsumi looked down at her right ankle, which was thankfully covered by the sheets. She had been distracting herself by playing that game with Hinata. She still wasn't sure how she wanted to reveal to Kiba that he had been right; she was injured on her very first mission. She decided to try avoiding the subject for the time being. "Those are really pretty," she said, nodding toward the flowers Kiba still grasped in his fist.
"Yeah, well Ino helped me pick them out and did the arranging," he said in as neutral a voice as he could muster. As he set the bouquet on her nightstand, he scanned her body but couldn't see any bruises or cuts. But he couldn't see anything from the waist down due to the sheet she had over her bottom half. He racked his brain, trying to recall if he had noticed anything before their fight or during their chase. He couldn't remember anything unusual, other than being hotter on her trail than he had expected. Initially he had thought it was because she needed to stop to rest, but now seeing how she stared at her ankle, he suspected that was where her injury was. He cringed. Had she hurt it while he was chasing her down? He felt like such a tool! "I told her it needed to have lilies, and say 'Sorry for being a monumental dumbass.'"
Natsumi redirected her gaze to the dog nin for the first time since he'd entered the room. She furrowed her brow slightly as she noticed how guilty he looked. Why did he look like that? It was her who should be apologizing for taking off on a mission without even telling him, then deceiving him about her injury. Suddenly it dawned on her.
"First of all, you aren't a dumbass...at least you weren't about this," she began, stifling a small smile. "As much as it pains me to say it, you were right," she continued more seriously. Kiba's eyes widened in mild shock to hear those words come from her mouth. Natsumi was notoriously stubborn. She went on. "So stop beating yourself up. This injury isn't a result of our little jaunt through town today." She pulled the edge of the sheet covering her ankle toward the middle of the bed, revealing her ankle. "This happened on my mission to the Hidden Stone Village."
Kiba gasped quietly and stared in shock at the state of Natsumi's swollen, discolored ankle. He didn't need to be a medical nin to know it was good and broken. Natsumi didn't pause long enough for him to formulate a response.
"Secondly, I should be the one apologizing. To you for being so stubborn, and to my team. My damn pride kept me from telling anyone about the extent of my injury, and I'm lucky I didn't jeopardize the mission and put my entire team at risk. I'm so sorry Kiba," her voice cracked slightly. Kiba's eyes snapped up from her ankle to her face. It was lowered, eyes downcast toward her fists, which were tightly clutching the hem of her sheet. "I'm sorry I'm such a stubborn idiot. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry I took off without even telling you I was going. I'm sorry -"
The rest of her apology was cut off by Kiba's lips crashing into her own. He had suddenly grasped the sides of her face, raised it to meet his own, and planted his lips firmly to hers. As he kissed her, one of his thumbs lightly brushed away the tear that had spilled over onto her cheek. They stayed that way for several moments before he pulled away to make eye contact with her, his hands still resting on the sides of her head, fingers becoming entangled in her curls.
"Now you listen here," he said in a gentle voice. "You are more than capable of handling yourself on a mission. I only regret I wasn't there. Not to protect you, but to see for myself how much you belong out in the field. Naruto told me you did just fucking great, and about how hard you've been training every day. I'm sorry it took me so long to understand that you don't need a protector. Everyone gets injured on missions. That's why there are field medical ninja to aid the fighters. I'm sorry I was so overbearing that you felt you needed to hide your injury. If I had listened better, you wouldn't have done it. It's my fault." After he finished his apology, he leaned in and lightly kissed her forehead.
Natsumi felt a small smile beginning to form on her lips. "I guess we deserve each other, huh? We can be stubborn, overbearing idiots together."
"Heh, guess so," came Kiba's reply. Her smile widened. "She's so damn beautiful," he thought to himself as he ran his fingers through her curly hair, removing his hands from her head to take her hands in his. He returned her grin with his own. "Was it always that bad?" he asked, jerking his head in the direction of her ankle. "I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier. It looks fucking terrible."
She snickered. "No, it was definitely a pretty bad sprain, probably a fracture by the time I got back. But after today I really fucked it up," she sighed. "The doctor says I need to rest, so no training for me for a while." At this she looked sad.
"Well, good. You should rest once returning from a mission, anyway," Kiba replied. "All the chunin typically get at least two or three days off between missions." He released her hands, stretching his arms high over his head. "Even the exceptionally tough, ruggedly handsome ones like me," he joked, winking. Natsumi rolled her eyes, but failed to suppress a smile as she snorted with derisive laughter. "Besides," he continued, "I'll be sticking around here for about a week anyway before I can go on another mission myself. We'll actually get to hang out for more than a minute, since you won't be training or working yourself half to death like you normally do." He suddenly leaned toward her, slamming his hands to the headboard on either side of her. "I've got you trapped now! You'll have to spend time with me. And now you can't even run from me! My master plan worked! Muahahahaa!" he finished with a toothy grin, his canines glinting mischievously.
"Shoulda' figured," came a familiar scratchy voice from the doorway. Natsumi and Kiba turned their heads to greet their friend who was leaning on the door frame. "This was all some elaborate, hare-brained scheme cooked up by a madman to keep his girlfriend from running away. Classic."
"Yo!" Natsumi gave Naruto a wave. "Nice job keeping this guy busy for so long," she said, clapping Kiba on the shoulder. "How'd you manage that?"
"I played to his weaknesses, nudity and food," Naruto replied as he pulled up a folding chair for visitors from the corner of the room. He spun it around and plopped down, one leg on each side of the seat, chin resting on his folded arms on top of the backrest.
"Huh?" Natsumi crinkled her nose in confusion, redirecting her attention to Kiba, who had moved back and now sat on the edge of the bed with his hands in his lap, blushing like mad. Naruto grinned widely.
"Nothing! Shut up, Naruto!" Kiba growled darkly at the grinning idiot in front of him. He didn't care to share how he had found Natsumi's jacket with her.
Naruto ignored his friend's threatening leer and continued. "Speaking of nudity, why'd ya take Natsumi's clothes if you weren't gonna give 'em back, huh Kiba? Just enjoying the view or what?!"
Kiba suddenly remembered the bundle of clothes he had set at the foot of Natsumi's bed. He turned toward her and openly stared at her chest, which was easily visible through her mesh base shirt. He knew he should tear his eyes from her black sports bra...her perfectly filled-out sports bra...that didn't flatten her chest in the least...
"HEY! EARTH TO PERV-O!"
Kiba's reverie was abruptly interrupted by Natsumi's hand cuffing him roughly upside the head. He shook his head violently, face on fire as a raging blush quickly worked its way up from his neck to cover all of his face, including his ears. He jumped up, grabbed the bundle of clothes from the foot of the bed, and roughly shoved them in Natsumi's direction, deliberately looking away from her. "Sorry sorry sorry!" he cried. Naruto cackled wildly from his seat. Kiba grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him backwards from the room, shouting, "NARUTO, LOOK AWAY FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" The door slammed behind them, as yet another hinge came loose.
Natsumi sighed. "Hopefully there'll be a hospital still standing by the time he leaves..."
I hope you enjoyed my story! I'm thinking about adding to it (There is a reason Akamaru wasn't in this story, and if I do add to it, that will be addressed). I know it was quite long, but didn't feel like it was long enough to break it up into chapters. If I do add to it, I will break it up. Let me know if you'd like to read more. Thanks again for reading!