Miki entered Gai's room quietly, so that she wouldn't wake him if he was still sleeping. It was still early, the sun wasn't up yet. She wanted to get to the hospital early so that she could spend time with him before her day started. She tip toed through the dark room and settled into the chair next to his bed.
Gai was sleeping peacefully, Miki watched his steady breathing as she leaned back in the chair. Her eyes felt heavy, she wasn't sure if she just blinked or if she dozed off for a moment.
"Miki?" Gai sat up.
She leaned forward and rubbed her eyes. "Hey."
"Did you stay here all night?" Gai squinted as his eyes adjusted. The sun was starting to come up, bringing more light into the room.
"No. I went home for awhile to sleep. I just got here a few minutes ago." She smiled at her brother. "How are you feeling?"
"Never better." Gai winced, his ribs still hurt. "All I need is rigorous training."
"Well, I think you should wait to see what your doctor says." Miki's voice sounded strained from lack of sleep.
"Are you alright?" Gai tilted his head to look at his sister. She didn't look her usual put-together self. He could see bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess. Was she losing sleep because she was worried about him?
"I'm fine. I had a long day yesterday, didn't sleep well." She brushed her bangs from her eyes with her bandaged hand.
"What happened to your hand?" He asked.
"Uh," Miki shifted in her chair. "I cut it on something. How's your head? Any blurred vision? Headaches?"
Gai forgot about the bandages wrapped around his head, he reached up and pulled them off. "It was never that bad. I don't know why they even put bandages on it."
"Just listen to your doctor and try not to cause another scene." Miki sighed as she stood. She picked up her bag and added. "I know you're eager to get out of here, but just listen to your doctor...for me. Ok?"
Gai was touched by her request. He gave her his signature smile, tears in his eyes and a thumbs up. "Anything for you, little Miki! And stop losing sleep worrying about me, ok?"
"Ok." Miki turned away, hiding her smile. One of the things she could always count on was her brother being annoyingly upbeat and a quick healer.
"Hey, Miki?" Gai called to her retreating back.
She turned around to see him smiling with out stretched arms. She dropped her bag to the floor and dashed over to him. She carefully placed herself in his arms, trying not to put pressure on his ribs. Gai squeezed his sister in a bear hug, ignoring the pain to show her he was fine. He didn't want his little sister to worry about him anymore. She sighed as she felt the tension of last night ease up.
"Do you want to talk about it, Miki?" He patted her back.
"You always know when I need one of your hugs." Miki smiled with her eyes closed. "I'm fine, just had a rough day yesterday. I'm glad you're ok."
"You never have to worry about me!" He squeezed her tighter, ignoring the pain. "You can always count on your big brother to prevail in any obstacle. I will always be there for you."
"And I will always be there for you." Miki pulled away. "I'll come back to see you on my break, ok? We can have lunch together."
"Sounds great!" Gai cheered.
"Later." Miki grabbed her bag and waved bye before closing the door behind her. She felt more ready to take the day on, her brother had that effect on people. Its what made him a great teacher, he could revitalize and inspire almost anyone with his positive attitude.
She made her way down the halls and found her way into her small office. She sat down at her desk after turning on the coffee maker and began sifting through the file left on her desk. The patient who claimed to be the Second Hokage was actually named Ryo. Things were so chaotic when he woke up, he had a complete melt down. Miki had put in a request for his file earlier yesterday, it must have been delivered sometime yesterday evening while she was out.
She turned the pages to find out what his last mission was that left him in a coma, only that information was restricted. She threw the file down on the desk. Miki understood that there was a need for secrecy, but when it came to her patients she needed full disclosure in order to help them.
She reached over for the pot of coffee and filled her mug. It was going to be a long day trying to untangle the mess of Ryo's mind and help him recover. She sipped at the coffee as she stared off thoughtfully.
The scroll she had picked up while she was in the mind of the man they were questioning yesterday rolled across her desk. Miki's body went rigid as she dropped her coffee. The mug fell to the floor and shattered, splattering all over the front of her shirt. She reached for the scroll and it was gone.
"I need to get more sleep." Miki thought aloud as she blinked hard. She reached over for a tissue and mopped the coffee off her shirt. She slid her chair back and knelt on the floor to pick up the pieces of the smashed mug.
"Hey, you alright in here?" Dr. Usagi stuck her head in my door. Her bright red hair was tied back in a pony tail and thick dark rimmed glasses set on her petite face.
"Yeah." Miki glanced up at her before going back to cleaning up. "You know how it is in early in the morning. Sorry for the commotion."
"No problem." She waved before ducking back out into the hall.
Miki sank back into her chair. What was that all about? She'd never hallucinated like that before. Now that she thought about it, she left the interrogation in such a hurry she didn't bother to find what exactly was on that scroll. What kind of forbidden jutsu was he trying to steal? She needed to find out who that man was, who he was working for, and what kind of jutsu he was trying to steal.
It was late in the morning, and Gai was bored. He paced around the room impatiently, looking out his window from time to time. He was too young and in his prime to be stuck inside of a hospital, he thought to himself. Every minute he stayed here, he wasted precious time he could be training his students. But he would do anything for his little sister, even if it meant hanging around here a little longer. She was the only family he had left and that made her most precious to him.
He remembered Miki sitting in the chair earlier this morning, half asleep. She had seen him in worse condition than he was currently in, so why did she seem so disturbed? She had grown more quiet over the past few years and more withdrawn, but she was always open with him. So why did it feel like she was hiding something from him now?
He was going to find out what it was or who it was that was troubling her so much. They would go days even weeks without talking sometimes, depending on his missions. He had been pretty preoccupied lately, maybe he missed a major change in her life. Maybe some punk had broken her heart! Gai's hands fisted at the thought, no one would ever hurt his sister.
Kakashi strolled into the room casually with a book in his hand, "Hey Gai."
Gai smiled, his eternal rival had come to see him. "Well hello, Kakashi!"
"Thought you might be bored. I've spent enough time in here to know that it gets boring." He shrugged. "So what has you so worked up?"
Gai relaxed his posture, "Something is bothering little Miki and I'm going to cheer her up!" He flashed his nice guy smile.
"Oh." Kakashi's eye closed happily. "That's nice."
"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation, she is very depressed." Gai looked out the window, brooding.
"Well, Gai, sometimes people get down. That's just how things are, but that's really nice you want to cheer her up. I think you may be exaggerating, though. I went out with her last night and she was just fine." Kakashi flipped through his book casually.
Gai's eye twitched. "You went out with MY sister?"
Kakashi closed the book and looked over at Gai. "Yeah, I bumped into her on the way out of here and she looked stressed. So I offered to get a drink with her."
The vein in Gai's forehead began to bulge. "You went out for a drink with her?" It annoyed him how cool Kakashi played everything, like nothing was a big deal.
"Well, yeah that's what I just said." Kakashi leaned against the wall.
Gai knew that Kakashi and Miki spent time together as friends and he had convinced himself he was ok with that, but he still didn't have to like it. Kakashi and her got along well and seemed to enjoy each other's company.
"Well, she wasn't ok this morning. She was asleep in the chair when I woke up." Gai pointed at the chair by his bed.
"That reminds me, shouldn't you be in bed?" Kakashi's eye squinted at him.
Gai ignored him and continued. "She looked like absolute hell and tried to play it off. Have any idea what that could be all about?"
"I don't." Kakashi was being truthful and Gai knew that. "I didn't notice anything strange about her."
"Something is wrong. And as her big brother, I will get to the bottom of it!" Gai vowed with a closed fist.
He continued to go on a rant as Kakashi's shoulders sagged with a sigh, when Gai vowed to do something... come hell or high water he stuck to it. It was a noble and sometimes stupid quality about him. Still, his dedication to his sister and friends was one of the things he respected about Gai.
"Right, Kakashi?" Gai smile broadly.
"I'm sorry, what?" Kakashi smiled with a closed eye politely.
Gai's vein on his forehead almost popped.
The door opened, Gai and Kakashi turned to see who was here. Miki glided through the door, her eyes tired.
"Hey Gai-" She stopped, noticing Kakashi was with him. "Good afternoon, Kakashi-san. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."
Kakashi nodded politely and watched her carefully. Maybe Gai was actually right about something. He noticed her bandaged hand first, it was the same hand that brushed his last night when they both touched her door knob. Her eyes didn't have their usually twinkle, they seemed more preoccupied than usual. The skin beneath her eyes almost looked bruised from lack of sleep.
"You're not intruding at all." Gai smiled.
"Well, I pulled some strings and I can get you discharged now, BUT..." She emphasized to keep him listening. "They are releasing you to my care...so if you want to get out of here...I'll leave work for the day-"
Gai didn't even wait for her to finished before he started pulling IV's out and shouting, "About time!"
Gai was a fast healer, maybe it was mind over matter with him, or maybe it was the advanced healing jutsu of the medic ninjas. Miki smiled with a shrug, she knew of all people the power of the human mind is limitless.
"Well, let's get out of here. Go change." Miki pointed at the bathroom. "We'll grab lunch on the way home."
Gai left the room quickly to go the bathroom to change, he didn't need to be asked twice.
Miki looked up at Kakashi. "Would you like to join us?"
"Uh..." Kakashi hesitated on answering.
"Of course he would!" Gai was back in the room, fully dressed in his usually green suit and vest.
"How did you-" Miki was going to ask how he changed so quickly but decided it wasn't important enough and shrugged. "Nevermind."
"Come on, Kakashi! I'll race you!" Gai wound back to run, but was halted by Miki.
"Oh no you don't!" She chastised him. "Remember? You're in my care. No racing!"
"Lucky for you." Gai smiled at Kakashi.
The three of them sat together in a booth. Miki didn't mind that her brother was talkative, it kept her from having to speak. She only had to politely nod from time to time.
As her brother went on about his training with Lee to Kakashi, who was probably listening about as much as she was, Miki thought about the scroll again. What type of forbidden jutsu was the spy trying to steal? She regretted breaking the jutsu so quickly during the interrogation. She should have opened it. If the spy had know what type of jutsu he was stealing, it would have revealed itself. But, since they were in his mind and could only know what he knew, if he didn't know what it was it wouldn't have shown.
She knew she would be denied any request for further information on the prisoner she interrogated. She had aided with questioning criminals many times, but this is the first time she was left with questions. That scroll just wouldn't leave her mind, she had to know what it was. She found herself wondering if she could sneak into the Hokage's office to search for it. She shook her head and took a sip of water, that could be considered treason. She would be crazy for even considering it.
"So you two went out on a date last night?" Gai asked loudly.
Miki almost spit her water. She swallowed it quickly instead, choking.
"Oh, no." Kakashi waved his hands half panicked. "We just went out, but not on a date."
Miki was still coughing as she sat next to Gai and unable to answer.
"Oh, so you're too cool for her?" Gai gave Kakashi a death stare from across the table.
Miki composed herself quickly as she smiled coolly. "So what if it was a date, Gai-chan? Then what do you have to say?"
Kakashi leaned back, smiling beneath his mask. He admired how Miki really knew how to push Gai's buttons.
Gai's eye twitched visibly, and he had no verbal response. It was a rarity that Miki had witnessed very few times. She watched her brother fumble mentally for a response with a blank expression until she couldn't stop herself from giggling. Kakashi joined in on the laughter.
"Oh..." Gai sighed in relief. "You're kidding."
She was about to laugh some more at her brother's expense, but then the scroll from earlier rolled across the table. It came to a stop in front of her, then it was gone.
"Miki-chan?" Kakashi tilted his head.
"Excuse me for just a moment." She stood quickly and left before either of them could stop her.
"Wonder what that was all about?" Kakashi stared at her empty seat.
"You probably offended her by not admitting last night was a date!" Gai cut his eyes toward Kakashi.
"Some how, I really doubt its about that." Kakashi shifted his gaze to Gai. "I'll admit I think you're right. Something is definitely going on."
"I'll talk to her." Gai nodded.
Kakashi sat back thoughtfully, recalling yesterday to try to remember anything that might be a clue.
"I should probably talk to her." Kakashi concluded aloud.
"You think you'll get it out of her before her brother does?" Gai's competitive nature with him answered.
Miki returned and sat down quietly next to Gai, all the color drained from her face.
"I hate to ask this, but can you make sure my brother gets home and rests, Kakashi? I have to go back to work. Something came up." Miki rubbed her bandaged hand.
"I can get home, I don't need a babysitter." Gai responded.
Kakashi's body went rigid as he studied her carefully. "I can. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah." Miki replied just above a whisper, not looking at either of them. "They just need me to take a look at a patient that was just admitted." She turned in her seat to Gai and continued. "I'll come by to see you when I'm done."
"Ok." Gai looked at down at his little sister's face. She was afraid of something, he could tell by her paled skin and they way she rubbed her bandaged hand. She wore her blank expression, but Gai knew her well enough to know that she was afraid. She stood back up quickly, faltering for a moment before gaining her balance.
"Ok, see you later. And sorry I had to leave so sudden." Miki turned quickly to leave.
"Miki-chan." Gai stopped her.
"I'll see you soon...love you." She smiled over her shoulder at her brother. She hurried through the crowded restaurant, gathering her strength. She set her jaw in determination as she stepped outside and began walking down the sidewalk.
A man with chestnut colored hair appeared next to her and they continued to walk together.
"This one is a real piece of work from what I know." He kept his eyes forward.
"Aren't they always?" Miki sucked in a deep breath, steeling herself for whatever was waiting for her in the interrogation room.
"Even so, I think this one will surprise you." He replied as they turned down a different path.
"Let's just get this over with." Miki sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon.