I sighed, following Sakura through the halls of the Konohagakure hospital. There had been a large influx of injured shinobi returning from missions lately, and Tsunade had assigned me to help Sakura in the hospital for the next while we caught up. We had already gone through dozens of rooms of shinobi currently recovering from harsh injuries.

"Next is Raon Yasuo, she's a shinobi from the land of demons." Sakura explained, not even needing to look into a file. "She's been here for a year receiving treatment for a chronic illness." I opened my mouth to ask her a question, but she flung open the door and sauntered on in with a smile reminiscent of Naruto's. "How's my favourite patient?!" I slowly entered after Sakura into the room.

A strikingly pale girl with short cropped black hair and striking blue eyes sat in a bed, slowly writing away in an ornate notebook. The moment the door opened, she looked up and beamed, "Better today. How's my favourite medical shinobi?" Her speech was slow and meticulous.

"Great as always," Sakura beamed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me out from behind her, "this is Neji – he'll be helping me out for the next few days." The girl set her book down on the side table with her pen set neatly on top.

The girl smiled and extended a small and thin hand, "nice to meet you Neji. I'm Raon." She had been here for a year, but yet she looked as if she was just recovering from a very bad cold. How wrong that assumption was. I shook her hand. She was barely warm.

Sakura had busied herself with checking the machines that Raon was hooked up to and her fluid levels. "Neji – could you go into storage and get another bag of fluids and one of electrolytes." I nodded, exiting the room and padded down the main hall towards the storage room. It was quite easy to find a bag of simple fluids, but the small bag of extra electrolytes were much harder – they had been shoved into a corner under a box of extra gauze. I returned to the room to see Raon out of bed, walking in front of Sakura. Sakura counted her steps with outstretched arms in case she needed to catch her. But it was not needed. I stood beside the door, the two bags in one of my large hands. Once Sakura counted to twenty, she forced Raon back onto her bed. She began to check her reflexes; they were quite delayed. Then strength by getting her to push into Sakura's hands with her own or her feet or knees. "Any change in symptoms?"

Raon shook her head, "been the exact same for a while now."

"That's good," Sakura smiled, turning to write something in her chart. "Do you need anything at all?"

"You're so kind Sakura, but I'm not in need of anything." Raon smiled as Sakura helped her back into the bed. Sakura beckoned me closer as she reconnected her IV. I approached, she took the bags from my hands and hooked them up to the IV stand.

"Has that shinobi been by again," Sakura winked, allowing herself to sit on the end of the bed.

Raon laughed, "yeah, he came by yesterday after breakfast. Said he was being released tomorrow if everything went okay with his surgery last night." Sakura did not break. If it was the same shinobi – he had passed this morning from complications. Raon gave us a small knowing smile. "Ino has not been by in a while – is she out on a mission with her team?"

Sakura laughed, "yeah, they've been in the land of this for a mission regarding an eating contest!" How was she this aware of shinobi in Konoha.

"Choji is the perfect one for that mission. I don't know where he packs it all away!" The two shared a laugh. Raon frowned slightly, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow again?" Sakura reached over and gave Raon a hug before we slowly exited the room.

Sakura closed the door behind us and let out a long exhale. "Raon has spinocerebellar ataxia. There is no treatment or care." Sakura avoided eye contact as she looked back to Raon's door. "It's fatal." She did not look ill enough for her illness to be that bad.

"Why is she here instead of in the land of demons?" I questioned.

Sakura closed her eyes. "Her sensei brought her here after she collapsed on a mission. Tsunade's kept her here since." That still did not answer my question. Just what did she not want me to know.

"How does she know Ino and her team?" I asked, I needed to know more about this odd girl.

Sakura raised a bow, "Ino and I were both in charge of her care. But now, after she's been here so long – we've become friends. I've brought Naruto to spend time with her a few times, Ino's dragged Shikamaru and Choji along with her as well. She's never left the hospital grounds, so we try to get as many as we can to visit her."