It's a new story and a Naruto one at that! Hope you enjoy it. Oh, and by the way… I do not own Naruto at all. If I did, then I wouldn't be creating stories on

Chapter 1 – Waking Up One Day

Warmth.

That was the first thing that I woke up to that day, besides the roughness on my back and the loose and earthy feeling below me. There was also some painful stinging on various parts of my body and some sort of stickiness all over, but I ignored that feeling.

The second sense was sound. Those sounds around me consisted of chirping birds, chattering squirrels, croaking frogs, buzzing bugs, and the hissing snakes.

The third was the smell. The scent of pine, the decaying leaves, even the (though I didn't enjoy it) faint smell of the waste of animals.

There was an odd taste of something metallic in my mouth. Was it blood? I don't recall ever tasting blood before, but it couldn't have been anything else with the added bitterness.

Then came my sight. The lighting that came through my eyelids was proof of that. At first I tried to open my eyes straight away, but that seemed impossible when I felt searing pain shoot through my head. I settled for opening my eyes a fraction at a time so I wouldn't deal with the pain all at once.

At the first sliver, I saw a blurred mixture of greens and browns. At the second, those colors became more defined shapes. I opened my eyes the rest of the way to realize that the shapes were of trees and bushes and that my eyes were caked with something sticky on which I presumed it to be blood. Luckily it seemed dark from where I laid so my eyes adjusted to the lighting fairly quick.

I tried moving my limbs next, but they felt very numb as if they had carried something too heavy for a long while. I glanced down and saw that my arms and legs were cut up very badly and there was dried blood on them. I let them relax and sighed. It was obvious that I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Suddenly I noticed a new scent among the other smells: the scent of strawberries. Why would I be smelling strawberries only now? I thought to myself in confusion. A flash of color appeared in the corner of my left eye and an audible gasp sounded.

"What on earth happened?" I heard the figure mutter. It was then that I realized that the voice sounded feminine.

I turned my neck slightly to get a better look a the person who was leaning closer to me, but that proved to be a mistake; my neck gave off waves of pain and I started coughing up more of the metallic tasting blood, and that in turn threatened to knock me out.

"Careful!" You're in bad shape now and moving will only make it worse!" The person cried out as her hand reached out towards me. She paused and looked around frantically. "Stay right there for a moment. I'm going to get help." The figure fled from my darkening vision.

I stared at the spot where the person had last been at. As if I had a choice in the first place. I mused to myself as I closed my eyes once more.

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Huh… that sound… that is that?

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Almost… sounds like… a heart monitor…

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Am… I in… a hospital?

Beep… Beep… Beep…

………

Beep… Beep… Beep…

My eyes snapped open, but then instantly regretted that for I gotten a major headache from the bright lights that seared into my eyes. I shut my eyes tightly and moved one of my arms in front of them for further protection. Then I discovered that my arm felt strangely heavy. I opened my eyes once more (slowly this time) and saw that there were bandages wrapped around my arm. I also felt noticeably cleaner.

I sighed and slowly sat up in the bed (that I just now realized I was in) and looked around the room. It was mostly a white room with the exception of the vase of the brightly colored flowers that rested on the windowsill to the right of the bed, and the heart monitor on the left side of my head.

That was when I became aware of the scents around me. They all varied from flowers, to fruit, to even earthy scents, and many more kinds. One scent in particular caught my attention: strawberries. Why do I smell all these weird scents in a hospital? I thought to myself.

That was when I heard voices outside the door.

"Why are we here again Kushina?" A young male voice whined.

Another voice (a girl, I thought idly) answered "I told you already Minato. I'm just checking on the girl that I found. You do realize that you didn't have to come with, right?" The first voice muttered something incomprehensible and the second bursted out laughing. "You just wanted to get out of work didn't you?"

I quickly lied down in the bed once more and closed my eyes when I saw the door handle turn. I wasn't comfortable enough to speak with them at this point so I decided to just listen and observe the people who came in. Turns out, there were four of them, judging from the sound of the feet walking in. Some of the strange scents that I could smell got stronger as the footsteps stopped near my bed. Strawberry, coconut, and pine is what I could tell, but the fourth was impossible to tell.

There was silence in the room aside from the birds chirping outside, people chattering in the distance, and of course, the heart monitor.

Finally, another male voice spoke out from near the foot of the bed. "Well, looks like she isn't awake yet, Kushina."

A soft sigh was heard from my right. "I figured as much. After all, she did lose a lot of blood. I wouldn't be surprised if she was asleep for another week."

I froze at this slightly. Another week? Just how long was I out of it really? I thought, trying to think back on how I got those wounds in the first place. I stopped suddenly as I realized the truth: I couldn't remember anything beyond from waking up in the forest; not even my name.

"At least she is stabilized enough to be out of danger of death." A fourth voice spoke up near the heart monitor. I presumed the owner of the voice to be a doctor. "It's a good thing that you found her when you did Kushina-san."

The voice at the foot of the bed grunted in approval. "The girl is strong if she is still alive."

I nearly flinched when I felt a hand grip my left arm lightly. Another hand started unwinding the bandages. When I first felt the cool air on the freshly revealed arm, the hand unwinding froze. "Now this is unusual…" The doctor's voice muttered as he lifted the arm and twisted it a little.

"What is it?" The person to my right shifted slightly towards my direction.

A shadow drifted over me as my other arm was revealed. "The wounds… not even a scar left…"

"What? Are you sure?"

Silence followed when my legs and neck was clear of bandages as well.

"… This is unexpected." Was all that the person at the foot of my bed said.

"… I'll be right back." The doctor said as I heard footsteps leave the room and close the door.

"… What do you think we should Jiraiya?"

"I guess we'll have to wait for the girl to wake up to see if she has the answer."

Unfortunately, I didn't but I wasn't just going to wake up and tell them that. But now that I think about it… wasn't there- A soft snore broke the silence. Well, that answered that question.

"Poor Minato… looks like he's been working hard since he became the Fourth Hokage." A couple pairs of footsteps started walking towards the door and the creaking sound of the door opening sounded again. A pause and, "Let him rest here for now. He needs it."

When the door closed and the footsteps faded away, I dared myself to sneak a peek of the room. Sure enough, a man was asleep in a chair that was pulled up by the window, his head leaning in my direction.

I sat up in the bed and took off the cords that I found that were connected to my body. I watched in amazement as the hole where the IV was before sealed up without a trace. Weird… I experimentally moved my body around. It still felt stiff, but at least it wasn't painful anymore.

I slid off the bed while wearing a hospital gown, and moved closer to the sleeping figure that I now knew as Minato. He wore an open white cloak that had red flames decorating the bottom edges. The sleeves of the cloak were cut short, revealing the black sleeves of the shirt underneath. Over the black shirt and under the white cloak was a thick, green vest with black pants and sandals on his feet. Underneath the man's shaggy yellow hair was a headband that had a metal plate on it. Engraved into the metal plate was a symbol that resembled a leaf with a spiral in the center.

I leaned in even closer to the face to examine Minato further. He was quite young alright: most likely in his 20's. I must have disturbed him somehow because he closed his mouth and was breathing through his nose.

I stared at him for a little longer before I looked at the windowsill. There, the flowers rested in a glass vase. I reached over and touched a petal. It looked like some placed newer flowers in there. I guess was that it was Kushina. I picked up a violet colored one. I frowned as I tried to recall the name of it. Lavender… Iowa… Iris! That's what it's called! Iris!

I looked back at the sleeping Minato. I grinned as I thought of how cute he was in that position. I reached down and placed the Iris flower in one of his vest pockets before examining the view. Feeling suddenly tired, I slipped back into the bed and fell asleep.

Minato woke up feeling confused. This wasn't his room. Then he remembered the recent events and realized that no one else was here besides the girl and himself. He shifted in the chair and got up.

His gaze moved over the sleeping form and spotted something odd. Where were the bandages? He leaned closer and saw that they were gone and in its stead… was nothing but flawless skin. Minato frowned in confusion. He didn't see the wounds of course since he was still working in his office. But from the description that Kushina that gave, it seemed very strange that there were no deep wounds, much less any scars to prove that she received them in the first place.

Minato leaned closer for further inspection when something else caught his eye. He looked down at himself and saw a single Iris flower tucked into one of his vest pockets. Curious, he touched the flower as he examined it. Now why is that there? He thought. When he looked back at the girl, he noticed that the IV wasn't in her arm anymore. He placed the two together and formed a sneaking suspicion that it was the girl that placed the flower in his vest.

Minato chuckled as he walked towards the door. When he reached it, he pulled it open and sighed. It was good that he gotten some rest, but now he had to get back to his job. He stepped forward and out of the room. It was time to get back to work as the Hokage.

Well, that's it for the first chapter. Now please review and tell me if you like it.