This chapter was actually going to end somewhere else, but I figured it had been delayed enough… At least I can say I'm not rushing this story… (Ha ha… Sorry… Awful puns…) Anyway, two chapters and a prologue in and I'm still really just setting up the main idea… Still having fun writing it, though.
There's just one note I'd like to leave on the spelling of her name. You'll see it a few times in this chapter, 'Connie' is spelled differently depending on who's speaking to her. (How they envision her name being spelled.)
Thank you Guest, Callian31, and Rookie-Cat for reviewing chapter one! And thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited this story so far!
Chapter Two
Waking up in the hospital was something I was distressingly familiar with. And I'd gotten into the habit of masking my awakening for as long as was reasonably possible. I knew from past experience that as soon as someone—my parents, the hospital staff—saw me stirring, I'd be surrounded by people asking questions and rushing around to check charts and monitors. Those moments were always the worst part of the experience. During that time, everything was too fast, too bright, and too loud.
So I didn't open my eyes and tried to keep my breathing even, listening to all the activity around me. There certainly were a lot of people buzzing around for just one patient—failing heart or not—but they all seemed kind of distant. I figured I was in a private room on a busy floor.
Speaking of… What had brought on this latest visit to the hospital? I couldn't seem to remember what I'd been doing before I collapsed. I tried not to get too frustrated with my memory. Sometimes it took a few minutes.
But when it did start filtering back to me, it left me more confused than I'd been before. I remembered waking up alone in a dark forest, speaking with Angie the cherub-angel about my own botched reincarnation. I was clinging to the only plausible explanation—that it had been a crazy dream brought on by oxygen deprivation. But panic was rising up inside of me. I could now remember dying so clearly…
I was vaguely aware that the movement around me had quieted down. Whatever emergency that had been afoot must have been taken care of. I could now hear individual voices drifting my way, discussing something very intently.
"Right." A man's voice, clear and attentive.
The response was softer but undeniably female. I couldn't make out her words yet, but they were moving closer.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't found more. The war left a lot of refugees with nowhere to go. I know many of them have grouped together as bands of nomads or bandits and are still out there today, roaming."
There was something about that voice… I felt like I should recognize the speaker, but it wasn't quite coming to me.
"Sir…" The woman—a nurse?—faltered. "There's something else you should know…"
"What is it?" The two had stopped beside my bed, and I did my best to keep up my sleeping charade, though my mind was racing. What the hell were they talking about? What war?
"There were others. The scouting team that brought her in found her amongst at least two dozen other men, women, and children. They were slaughtered, the entire party. By who or what, no one is sure. Like you said, we assumed they were nomads."
"And this girl was the only survivor?" I could practically hear the man's eyebrows raise. I'd gotten pretty good at interpreting the silent parts of conversations when I couldn't see the people talking. This wasn't the first time I'd listened to a discussion revolving around my own wellbeing while I feigned sleep. Except now I wasn't so sure. They couldn't possibly be talking about me.
"Yes. She was surrounded by bodies and covered in blood, but once we'd cleaned her up, we didn't find a scratch on her. Whoever attacked her group must have overlooked her. It's rare to see that kind of luck. Reminds me that miracles can happen…"
There was silence for one long minute. At last, the man answered, "I'm not sure I'd call it luck… Let me know when she wakes up. We can make further arrangements from there."
"Of course." The woman came closer, hovering over me. I heard her clothing shift and was willing to bet she was pulling out a stethoscope. "Oh, but Lord Hokage—"
The woman gasped when my eyes snapped open. What? No. This was a dream. It had to be. But all facts pointed elsewhere. I stared into her wide, silver-white eyes and only one thought crossed my mind—a Hyuga.
My eyes searched my surroundings frantically, trying to take everything in at once. The nurse saw my panic and moved closer, gently laying a hand on my shoulder. When this apparently didn't have the desired effect, she frowned. The nurse glanced down at her own fingers, which were still probing my shoulder, before our eyes locked.
"How are you feeling?" the man asked, probably to break the tension growing between us. Nurses weren't my favorite people to start with. I didn't like the way this one was scrutinizing me.
I turned my head to finally identify the other voice and had to catch my breath. I took in the kind blue eyes, spiky blond hair, his outfit as a whole… "You're…"
Minato Namikaze smiled gently when I couldn't get the words out. He looked patient and humble. Ironically, it was the nurse who was nearly bursting with pride.
"Yes, the Fourth Hokage is known all over the world for his accomplishments!"
Not just your world, lady, I thought to myself, still trying to process all this. Unless I was hallucinating—which I wasn't totally ready to rule out just yet—this meant that the other dream, the one in the forest with Angie, had actually happened. I really was dead. At least… I had been. And now I was in Konoha. That probably should have excited me more than it did.
"You're in a hospital inside the Leaf Village right now," he explained, effectively skipping over any talk of those accomplishments. "Do you remember what happened?"
I hoped my expression looked blank and not even more panicked. Angie hadn't given me any time to prepare a story before she'd worked her magic and knocked me unconscious. What the hell was I supposed to say? I'd worried about surviving out in the wilderness, but being a part of civilization might be more dangerous. I wasn't a great liar, and the truth was likely to get me locked up and interrogated somewhere.
When "Uh…" was the best I could come up with, Minato just smiled again. The nurse, however, seemed to be getting more suspicious by the second. I was going to have to play dumb a little more convincingly.
"All right," Minato tried again. "Amnesia after a trauma isn't so uncommon. It might come back to you if we give it some time. For now, can you remember your name?"
That one seemed safe enough. "I'm Connie."
The nurse scrutinized me again, her straight dark hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned forward. "Really. That's usually a boy's name."
I mentally ran through everything I knew about the Japanese language… which was almost nothing. But as best as I could figure, they were probably picturing 'Connie' spelled something like this—Kani. And there wasn't much I could do about that, so I just shrugged.
"Sometimes parents make some pretty unorthodox decisions when it comes to naming their kids," Minato tried to appease. I glanced up at the Fourth Hokage, starting to get a little suspicious myself. I always knew Minato was nice, but he was starting to seem a little too understanding. The man had a village to take care of. He had to have better things to do than visit random patients in the hospital. Was I already being interrogated and I just hadn't noticed?
A look passed between the two adults that I felt confirmed my suspicions. They hadn't been on the same page a second ago… I could feel the shift almost immediately.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Kani," Minato said, the conversation over. "Nurse Miyako wants to keep you overnight to make sure nothing unexpected happens, so we'll hold off on making any major decisions about where we go from here until tomorrow."
The Hyuga woman—Miyako—was preparing a bag of something to hook up to my IV line. I hadn't seen her move to go get anything, but that was hardly the weirdest thing about this day. Minato left the room as Miyako hooked up the bag of fluid, but I saw him stop just outside. Waiting for Miyako, I was sure.
There was something else I was suddenly sure of. I glanced up at the liquid that was now dripping into my veins. A sedative. Whatever Miyako had given me was strong. I could already feel myself drifting off.
Which is why I ripped it out the second she was also out of the room. I winced and cradled my arm a little closer to my body, feeling the blood bead up from the tiny puncture wound. I shook my head, powering through the effects of the drug that had already taken root. If Minato and Miyako planned to discuss me, I planned to hear it.
"Lord Hokage," she began. "There's something that's… strange about that girl."
The door had been left ever so slightly ajar. They were both standing out of sight, and Miyako was too short to see through the little window built into the door, but I could see Minato's blond spikes bob as he nodded.
"How so? I noticed that your technique didn't seem to work."
"No…" Miyako sounded a little nervous. "I'm not sure how extensive your medical knowledge is, Sir, but, um… The main idea is, when a person's emotions rise, their chakra spikes with it. Sometimes people call it adrenaline, and of course, the strength and intensity of a person's chakra depends on the extent to which they've developed their chakra network. The healers here all learn how to use their own chakra to manipulate another person's. I, of course, had already had a background in that art. Anyway, the point is… That skill can be used for something as major as healing what would otherwise be a fatal wound or something as small as subduing a patient's chakra ever so slightly, just enough to calm them down."
"I understand," Minato prompted after her long speech. "But?"
"But it didn't work today!" Miyako replied, frustrated. "No matter how much chakra I applied, there was no response. I've never felt anything like it. I'll have to do some more tests, but if I had to guess… I'd say she has no chakra network at all."
"How is that possible?" Minato sounded puzzled. "All living things have chakra, whether they can use it or not. Chakra is the world's most basic life force."
Maybe in this world, I mused, wondering if this was why Miyako had wanted to keep me overnight and if my anatomical anomalies would cause me any trouble here. Although… To be honest, I felt better than I could ever remember feeling. Granted, I was lying in a hospital bed, but there had been no shortness of breath, and the ever-present ache in my chest had disappeared. I pushed those thoughts aside for now. An idea was forming in my mind… But I didn't want to get my hopes up just yet.
"Let me know what you find," Minato requested. "I'll check in again tomorrow."
"Of course." I deduced that Minato had left and was just about to delve deeper into my thoughts when the nurse poked her head back into the room and I froze.
We stared at each other silently for a few moments before Miyako walked back inside, closing the door behind her. I expected the woman to be frustrated, but she was smiling.
"I should've figured," she said, good-naturedly amused. "You were too quiet before. Usually when we get street kids, they cause a scene. Always so stubborn…"
"Was I a street kid?" I kind of wished I could wipe the challenge from my tone. It was too deeply embedded in me. Everything I said had a defiant edge to it—daring anyone to deny me something or doubt me. As a result, I tended to bring out the worst in people. But Miyako didn't seem to mind. In fact, my ingrained bratty attitude only seemed to reinforce the idea that I was a little wild, hadn't been raised in a civil setting.
"No," she conceded. "We found you outside the village walls. Kani, right?"
"Yeah."
"You got a last name, Kani?"
"No." I was deciding that I liked Nurse Miyako a lot better when she didn't feel pressured to be professional.
"Well, our last introduction could have been better. It's nice to meet you, Kani. My name is Miyako Hyuga. Perhaps you've heard of my family?"
I nodded thickly. For an IV, that drug worked fast… I'd absorbed more of the sedative than I'd accounted for. I hadn't had time to come up with a real story. I would have to stick with vague, technical truths and play this amnesia thing for all it was worth.
"I've heard a lot about this village…"
Miyako nodded, dabbing a cotton swab with antiseptic and carefully cleaning the dried blood from the crook of my arm. "So you've retained some facts, your sense of logic… That's good. What else do you remember?"
"…My parents," I answered carefully. They sounded like a safe enough thing to admit to. "But I don't understand how I got here…"
That was true enough. I still wasn't sure I totally believed I really was here. Miyako didn't seem to suspect anything. She grabbed the IV line again and steadied my arm.
"Well, Kani, the Hokage was right. I wouldn't be surprised if your memory comes back over time, little by little. For now, it's best if you get some sleep. I'll check on you again in the morning."
She hooked me up with the IV line again, and I made no move to stop her. The logical part of my brain was reminding me that I hadn't been awake for very long, but I was so tired… This time, I welcomed the nap.
…
When I awoke in Konoha for the third time in my new life, it was to someone's horridly annoying screaming.
"Connie!"
"What?!" I snapped back as my eyes flew open. I shut them again and groaned. Angie was one of the last things I'd wanted to see hovering over my bed before the sun was even in the sky.
"Shhh!" she scolded. Loudly, I might add. "If you bring those pesky nurses running, we won't be able to talk!"
"They're not the pests…" I grumbled. "What do you want?"
Angie huffed indignantly. "This is the thanks I get? I got you out of the forest, didn't I?"
"Angie, I'm really not in the mood…" I hadn't quite shaken off the grogginess yet.
"Wait!" Angie exclaimed, fearing I'd drift off again. "I came with news! I talked to my boss about your… situation."
There were so many snide remarks I could have made right then, but I took the high road. I also chose not to question Angie on the hierarchy of angels, though the idea intrigued me. My life was confusing enough right now without being immersed in the workings of the Great Beyond, and I got the feeling Angie didn't really need to be persuaded to talk.
"And?"
I watched her falter the same way she had in the forest, her excitement over having news to share giving way to the reality that it wasn't good news.
"And… Boss said no redoes… That would be against the laws of nature."
I closed my eyes at that, staying very quiet. I wasn't sure if I was more furious at Angie or myself. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that Angie would be able to work some kind of miracle. It was her fault I was in this mess, after all.
"Oh! But he did say the rules could be bent a little bit. Due to the… uniqueness of your situation, I'll be able to check in with you personally. Usually, guardian angels are supposed to do their work from afar, but I'm allowed to help you up close! Isn't that great?"
Great. Right. What did I ever do to deserve this? I was starting to get the feeling the other angels just didn't want Angie around any more than I did.
I opened my eyes again when I heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
"I've gotta go for now, but I'll be back later," Angie assured me. "Don't worry, Connie. It'll all work out. I promise!"
Faster than I could have clicked my tongue, she was gone, and a second later, Miyako entered the room. She didn't look to be in any better of a mood than I was.
"Oh, good, you're awake." Her words felt flat, and she moved to unhook the IV line from my arm. I tensed reflexively. Hell hath no fury like a nurse scorned… And it was usually the patients who suffered. If Miyako noticed my apprehension, she didn't comment on it.
"What's going on?"
The woman sighed. "The hospital director just has no people skills, that's all. I swear, she went into the wrong field of work…"
"Oh?" I could hear voices getting closer as Miyako taped a small square of gauze to my arm.
"I don't think she accounted for you being conscious already."
She was right. The two stopped just outside the door, where we could both hear them.
"And you really think it's wise to just let her out into the world?" A woman's voice. She sounded high-strung. The hospital director, no doubt. "We don't know who she really is, where she came from. Do you really believe this amnesia excuse? She could be someone's spy."
"I have considered that, yes." This time I recognized Minato's voice right away. He sounded like he was trying hard to hold on to his patience. "And I believe full-heartedly in being cautious, but the war is over, and I'd like to see this village escape that wartime mindset. That means taking some chances, extending trust. And I'm not saying she should be released with no supervision or guidance. She has nowhere to go."
"And what kind of 'supervision' do you propose? The war left enough orphans. Do you have any idea how many village kids we couldn't find homes for? What chances do you think an outsider would have?"
Miyako and I both stilled, focusing all our attention on eavesdropping. I saw her mouth set in a thin line and could tell she didn't like anyone questioning the Hokage's authority.
"I've thought of that, too. Which is why I talked to Kushina, and we'd be happy to take her in until we can come up with some more permanent living arrangements."
Miyako turned to me with wide eyes. Clearly, I wasn't the only one he'd taken by surprise. I tried to keep my own expression as blank as possible, unsure how to react. Miyako and I turned back to the door as the hospital director found her voice.
"You can't be serious… With your wife in the condition she is—"
"Exactly," Minato interrupted, purposely misinterpreting her words. "Kushina insists on being independent right now, but I'm sure in a few more months, she'll appreciate a little extra help around the house."
So that was the trade-off, then. I would earn my keep my essentially being their maid. There were worse exchanges… And this was certainly better than the possible scenarios I'd been picturing the night before. It was still a little hard to imagine, though.
Not waiting for another argument to pop up, Minato finally opened the door to my room and smiled in at us. "Good morning, Miyako, Kani. It's nice to see you again. I know it's a little early for any life-changing decisions, but there's an idea I'd like to run by you…"
Review please! (Seriously, thoughts? I'm not totally confident in my writing of Minato or Kushina… But at least I didn't get the chance to mess them both up in one chapter… We'll see how well it goes next time.)
I don't own Naruto.
