A/N: Thanks everyone for reviewing this fic. I'm still grasping on how to continue on with the story. There are too many possibilities to it. So, I'm still trying to find the best one to make sure that I keep close to the characters' personalities and that none of them are too OOC. ^_^ Thanks to XxxblackpearlxxX for all the ideas you've given me. It certainly helped alot.
Chapter 3: The Verdict
Tsunade sat down in her armchair as she watched the group walked into her office in the hospital and stood in front of her silently. Shizune moved to stand beside her.
"Who was in the room when he first woke up?" Tsunade asked quietly. Iruka looked up.
"I was." He said in a quivering voice. "And Naruto, Sakura and Sai."
Tsunade nodded. "Iruka, tell me everything from how he reacted when he first woke up until the time I enter the room. Leave out no details."
"I was beside him when he woke up. And the first thing he did was push me away and he swept everything off the bedside table, perhaps in an attempt to find a weapon that he can defend himself with." Iruka took a deep breath as he tried to calm his shaking voice. "After a while, we managed to calm him down and it took a while to convince him that he is back in Konoha."
"He looked confused, and didn't seem to trust any of us. We thought that perhaps he had just woken up and hasn't quite process his mind to adapt to his surroundings. Sakura gave him a glass of water, which he took. And after that, the first thing that he asked was who we were. He doesn't recognize us at all."
"Sai went to get Asuma-san and Yamato-san to come over. And somehow, word spread and everyone else just turned up."
Iruka paused as he swallowed the lump in his throat. "He…… He didn't recognize any one of them either, except for Asuma, Yamato and Genma. And, I guess after that, you came in."
Kurenai placed a comforting hand on Iruka's shoulder. Tsunade look at them grimly.
"Seems like our worst fears are confirmed."
Everyone turned to look at the Hokage.
"What do you mean, Tsunade-sama?" Asuma was surprised. It seems to him that his superior had anticipated that.
"Kakashi has lost his memory." Tsunade started, suddenly feeling old and tired.
There was silence in the room as everyone tried to process what had just been told to them.
"How…." Genma gasped.
"He came in contact with a foreign substance during his mission. The substance contained a type of drug which can wipe out the memories of those who are affected and Kakashi inhaled enough of it to have part of his memory wiped out." Tsunade sighed.
"Isn't there any cure for it?" Anko asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Not that we know of at the moment. Ibiki and I are trying to figure out something." Tsunade rubbed her temple and looked up when a knock came to her door.
"Come in."
The door slid open and Ibiki stepped in.
"How is it?" Tsunade asked.
"Bad. He doesn't seem to recall much. Pretty much seems like he only remember up till his ANBU days."
"And his condition?"
Ibiki frowned. "I was going to ask you that. What did you give him? He was acting so edgy and irritated throughout the questioning session. I never knew him to be so bad-tempered."
"It's a drug to stable his nerves and reduce his pain. He has so many injuries that I have to resort to numbing it, so that he doesn't have to suffer the pain." She turned to her assistant. "Shizune, take note of the side effects and change the dosage. If necessary, switch the type of drugs."
Shizune nodded. Tsunade stood from her seat and walked over to Iruka.
"Be patient. Let me work out something and see if we can counter the drug in his body. Leave him alone for now. I think he needs some time to orientate himself, having just woken up with part of his memory gone. Let him be by himself for at least two days before you visit him again."
Iruka face faltered. "Two days?"
Tsunade sighed. "Yes. I don't want him to be agitated now. It might just aggravate his condition. Come and see me first if you want to visit him and I will let you know if it's alright to."
Iruka stared on the ground. "Alright. Thank you, Tsunade-sama. If there's nothing else, we will take our leave."
Tsunade nodded and watched as the group walked out of the room. She frowned.
The situation doesn't seem to bode well.
=-=-=-=
The group watched the older woman nervously as she flipped through another page in her file. It had been two days since Tsunade had denied all visitations to the jounin. They were all getting edgy from being kept out of bounds. But none of them dared to ask for the access, so all they could do was to find out his current condition.
Iruka is dying to know how the jounin is progressing. The others wanted to know if there is anything that they can do to help.
Finally, Tsunade looked up from her file and glanced at her group of anxious subordinates. She sighed deeply in exasperation and annoyance at being disturbed.
"Tsunade-sama, so how is he?" Genma rolled the senbon in his mouth.
"His injuries are recovering well. He should be able to go home tomorrow. But, regarding his memory loss, this is tricky."
Iruka looked away. Kurenai held his shoulder in a comforting grip.
"So he won't remember us?" Iruka bit out. 'He won't remember me?'
"I don't know. From what we have observed and found out these two days, it seems he only remembered his life up till his age of twenty-two. And that is during the time when he is serving as an ANBU squad captain. The eight years after that, he has no recollection at all."
"Is there anything we can do?" Kurenai asked.
Tsunade pondered for a minute. "Perhaps. You can treat this as an amnesia case and try to help him remember by bringing him to familiar places, re-enact memorable scenes and such. It could help to stimulate the brain cells that have been affected by the drug and bring back some of those repressed memories. I don't know if that will really work, but it's worth a try."
"Well, at least we have something we can work on, instead of having to sit down and wait for a miracle to happen." Raidou commented. The rest nodded in agreement.
"Alright! I'm going to get Sakura-chan, Shikamaru and the rest to plan for something. We will make Kakashi-sensei remember." Naruto clenched his fist in conviction. Iruka smiled. At least that brought him a little hope.
"Fine, now that all of you have something to do, can you leave me alone? I want to finish reading up these documents and try to come up with a cure for Kakashi." The lady lowered her head back to read the notes in her file.
"One more question, Tsunade-sama." Anko grinned.
"What?" Tsunade snapped. They were really getting on her nerves now.
"Can we visit Kakashi?" Anko asked hopefully. Iruka smiled at the purple-haired kunoichi gratefully.
Tsunade felt a headache coming up. "Yes. But don't stay for too long. And I'm warning you. He may have sudden mood change. So try to read his reactions and leave the moment he starts showing signs of discomfort. And, he just woke up not too long ago. He's still adjusting, so try not to force too many information into him."
"We will take note. Thank you and have a good day, Hokage-sama." Anko burst out of the room, followed by the others.
Tsunade watched the group left her office and a small smile formed on her face.
It felt nice to know that her shinobi care for one another.
=-=-=-=
