'Ha ha, enjoying yourself?' purrs a dark and ominous voice
'Who's there' Shae looks around as she's in the middle of a light surrounding darkness
'You know who it is, don't play coy' says the familiar voice sending shivers through her.
'Who are you, answer me' Shae demands looking into the darkness, a flash of white stops in front of her, a door coming into focus.
'Why don't you open it and find out?.. You're going to enjoy this considering..'
'Considering what' Shae says trying not to show any fear
'Considering you can give life, why don't you take it away!' The voice growls as the door flies open
Shae sits straight up panting and shaking. She turns the lamp on beside her bed, noticing the tray was gone.
'Damn he came by already'.
Trying to calm her nerves, she hears the sound of feet running through the hall with panicked voices.
Shae darts out of bed into the hallway, seeing only a flash of white fabric disappear down towards the entrance of the house. She runs after it, the feeling of dread still lingering as she's running outside. She looks up only to see a giant puff of black smoke coming from down the street.
"Hinata.." Is all Shae says before sprinting bare foot towards the smoke.
She hears screaming, and other voices yelling to get back, and where was the water to put out the flames.
She hears that there was still someone inside the house but it was too late to get inside without dying along with them.
Shae was still trying to get passed the crowd of people is told to step back as it was too dangerous for civilians.
"Mama!" Screamed a small voice from inside the house, everyone standing around were either covering their mouths, crying or panicking while the house was being engulfed in flames hearing the childs cry for help over riding every instinct to stay where she was taking off running into the burning home the last thing she hears is her name being called as smoke fills her lungs.
Shae runs down the front door hallway, tripping and hitting the floor hard, as she coughs trying to fill her lungs with fresh air but only in haling hot air.
"W-where are you!?" She yells smoke stinging her eyes as tears well up trying to defend themselves. She crawls through the house on her knees trying to find the small voice, she hears crying coming from down another hallway towards the back of the house. Crawling as fast as she could to the voice she reaches up for the door that the voice is coming from. She grabs on to the knob opening the door.
"Are you in here? My name is Shae, please say something" Shae says voice straining from all the smoke she's been inhaling, still on her knees looking around the room
"My mom said she'd be right back" Said the scared little voice.
"I know she's waiting outside she sent me to get you, okay? She really wants to see you honey, will you come with me?" Shae said kneeling in front of the little petite girl with dark hair that looked blue.
"o-okay" She says putting her small arms around Shae's neck as she held her close
"It'll be okay, I promise." Shae says seeing the little girl having trouble breathing.
Shae remembers she can heal using her new found power, she gently sings her a lullaby, the same warm sensation filling her entire body, hoping it will heal any damage the smoke may have done.
She hears a loud creaking sound then a groan coming from above her she darts into the hall way slamming her body against the wall as part of the ceiling collapses, still trying to keep her power going while already having a hard time breathing, she smiles at the little girl, trying as much as she could not to look frightened herself. She no longer feels the heat of the flames but only the smoke filling her lungs she continues to sing her a lullaby every breath feeling like her lungs were filled with sand paper.
'Almost there' She thinks now almost sprinting to the front door.
She stumbles down the front steps keeping her powers going till she made it to the street falling to her knees with the girl still tightly wrapped in her arms.
No longer able to keep it together she gasps for fresh air, light headed she gently puts the girl down before violently coughing ready to pass out.
"SHAE!" yells a voice, as strong arms wrap around her, pulling her close. Shae fighting to stay conscious.
"Himawari!" another familiar voice calls out
"Mama!"
'They sound…so.. familiar' She thinks keeping her eyes closed as they felt dried out from the heat and smoke.
"Stay with me… please.. Stay with me" She hears whispered in to her ear by the person holding her
A few minutes of trying to steady her breathing, she wins her fight to stay conscious, she rubs her eyes looking up to see who's holding her feeling the cool summer air brushing against her skin feeling she's being taken somewhere.
"Neji?.." His face coming into focus
"We're almost there, stay with me" He says glancing down to her.
"I'm fine put me down" her voice raspy, struggles against him to let her go.
"You're not fine, don't argue with me, we're going to the hospital to have you checked out"
"Who's we?" she looks around noticing his jumping and running along rooftops, Gaara and Naruto following behind
Suddenly remembering tiny hands holding her around her neck she panics, flailing her legs and arms around now screaming in her raspy voice for Neji to stop and put her down. He comes to a stop on a flat rooftop, putting her down gently
"The little girl!" is all she says and tries to take off running back toward where they came from
Neji wraps his arms around her to keep her from running, Gaara and Naruto standing at the edge of the roof top to stop her from going further. In his same soothing voice he says
"She's fine, there's not a scratch on her, even her lungs are fine, it's you we're worried about, your powers have limitations… It seems you can't heal yourself which is why were headed to the hospital"
Calming down, she relaxes against him
"I still want her to get checked out, I don't know the extent of what I can and can't do with this"
"Of course, Hinata should already be there with her" Naruto says giving a small smile to her
"Hinata?" She looks up at him as Neji picks her back up, she doesn't resist
"Himawari is Hinata and Narutos daughter" Gaara says
"That was Himawari?" Shae looks over Nejis shoulder at him
"You didn't know that?" Neji glances back down at her.
"No… I knew Hinata's house was around that area but she didn't say what her house looked like… All I heard was a small child scream from inside" Her voice almost giving out, swallowing trying to sooth her dry throat.
"Shh.. don't talk anymore, just rest" He says his voice still soothing
...
Sakura was already waiting for them to arrive, leading them to a prepared private room that Naruto requested. Neji places her down on the bed as if she was made of glass.
"Out all of you, now" Sakura instructs pointing her finger to the door.
'Why did they flinch or look so scared of her?..' She thinks watching them leave
'She doesn't seem that mean… just like a typical nurse..; Shae thought getting comfortable on the bed
"Okay, now you're going to have to change out of that robe and your night gown, do you need help?" She says placing down a typical hospital gown. Shae looks down, finally noticing she was wrapped in a purple robe.
"No.." she says in her now raspy voice.
'Neji must've gave it to me, now it's all dirty because of the smoke…just another thing to apologize for..' She thinks changing into the hospital gown.
She sits back down on the bed still holding on to the robe
"I don't think he cares about it" Sakura says as if reading her mind, and taking it from her
"Honestly, I've known Neji for- I don't know, forever, we were never close, but all the time I've known him I never seen him like that.." Her voice trailing off as she moves away from listening to her chest and moving to her back.
"Like what?" She manages to whisper
"..scared…" Sakura says so low she almost didn't hear her.
"He didn't look that way to me."
"Well you were sleeping when you came in, you only seemed to wake up when we were almost to the room"
"I wasn't sleeping.. my eyes .. were-are hurting me" She says rubbing them.
"Let me see" Sakura flashing a small light in her eyes.
"They're a bit red, and still reacting to the light just fine.. I'll give you eye drops to sooth them"
"Other than the minor smoke inhalation, you just have some scrapes and bruises, I'm going to heal your hand for you and keep you overnight just as a precaution"
"This is minor smoke inhalation? It feels like I have sand paper for lungs" She says clearing her dry throat.
Sakura lets out a laugh before moving to the hand Shae used to open the door Himawari was in.
"Let's see.. while you're here would you mind if we took a blood sample just as a check up, you know foreign viruses and such you might or might not carry. We've actually should have done that right when we knew you weren't from here but "
"I know, a blood test would've been far from my mind too, even if I was a nurse" Shae says as Sakura turns her hand this way and that.
"Thanks right after this we'll get too it" Sakura places her hand over the palm of hers, a blue light radiating from her hand.
As Shae watches Sakura then she suddenly feels a burning stinging sensation, in the second of the sensation it turns into a scolding white hot pain making her scream in agony, yanking her hand from her grip trying to crawl away.
Both Neji and Gaara come barreling in to the room, set in a fighting stance
"What happened?" demands Neji looking at Sakura with no ounce of fear they had previously when ordered out of the room. Using his byakugan, he looks around the room. While Gaara checked out the window sand floating next to him ready to attack.
Shae still whimpering in pain cradling her hand as pain pluses through it.
"Nothing happened, I was using my chakra to heal the burn on her palm and she started screaming" Sakura says bewildered
"Is that what happened?" Gaara says looking down at her still next to the window
"Mhm" was all she could say trying not to cry biting down on her lip.
"Let me see" Neji walks next to her bed kneeling beside her, pulling her forearm to him.
"No you're going to make it worse" She says trying to pull away from him
"I'm not going to touch it, I only want to see it" Using his soothing voice
She opened her palm, not only was it still burned but now there was what looked to be an open cut, her blood pooling in the middle on her hand.
"Was that cut always there?" He looks up at Sakura
"No it was only a minor burn.." Her voice soft and low. Sakura moves to a metal cabinet in the corner of the room, grabbing a bottle, gauze and gloves.
"Hold out your hand" She says placing an absorbing mat under her extended hand
Opening the bottle of saline she pours it over the wound making Shae flinch as the cool water runs down onto the mat. Opening a few gauze, she very gently dabs around the wound removing what's left of the blood on her palm, covering it with more gauze and wrapping with a roll.
"Has Chakra been used on her any of the time she's been in your care?"
"She's held some of my sand which is infused with chakra and it didn't affect her like this" Gaara's brows furrowing.
"None with me" Neji adds.
Sakura nods taking the clip board that's been hanging from the front of her bed and writing.
"It still hurts" Shae says now cradling her hand
"Is it getting better or worse?" Sakura says still writing
"Better I think" her hand pulsing painfully but not as prominent. She nods then looks up at the clock, then back down to the clipboard still writing.
"Are you allergic to anything?"
"Not that I know of"
"Would you be okay without medicine for now?"
"I think so, the pains going away but very slowly" Sakura nods writing down more.
"Lay down and I'll be right back" Sakura says leaving the room with the clipboard. Neji and Gaara follow after her. Before they could say anything she turns around
"This hasn't happened to anyone in the world where healing someone using chakra causes this much pain, if I was using the scalpel technique then yes but it was strictly healing. So don't ask me to give her anything, it would be a bad idea she might have the same reaction to anything we give her."
"But she'll be fine even if she's not given anything?" Neji said clearly frustrated
"Yes"
Neji still in thought walks back to the room without saying anything else. Gaara stays behind to ask her more questions.
Shae's propped herself up against the wall of the bed covering herself up with the blanket one handed. Neji takes the chair next to the metal cabinet and places it next to her bed sitting down.
"I'm sorry…" Shae whispers, making him look at her confused
"For what?"
"For what I said this afternoon, I shouldn't have said it like that, I wanted to talk to you about it back at your clans house but I fell asleep waiting and… I guess now is as good a time as any. I just wanted to say I'm sorry" She says barely able to look at him
"I understand why you said it, anyway you look at it. we've only known each other for two days and even though I've told you I wouldd protect you with my life, it still doesn't change that fact."
"I still shouldn't have said it like that.." her voice trailing off
"No, I suppose not, but when has saying something inappropriate stopped you?" Neji said leaning back on to the chair, smirking
"Oh Kokoum has jokes now, huh?" She says before having a coughing fit
"You shouldn't talk for a while. Just rest, I'll find a nurse and get you some water" He gets back up and leaves the room closing the door behind him.
Shae smiles at where Neji had just been sitting.
'He gets it…. I can't believe he just tried joking around with me..'
She looks down at her bandaged hand, pain subsiding
'Trying to be a superhero sucks…. I wonder what the dream was about… premonition?... With all the fucked up shit in this world I can't rule out anything' she thinks laying down trying to get comfortable.
...
"Could the fire have been deliberate?" Sakura asks
"It's hard to tell, where was Hinata when it happened?" Shikamaru looks to Naruto
"She was only gone for a minute to drop something important off at Ino's, her place isn't far" Naruto says crossing his arms looking at the floor
"Someone could've been watching the house" Gaara finally speaking. He continues
"The Chunin exams are in a few days"
"It wouldn't be the first time that someone tried hurting the village during the exams" Shikamaru concludes, continuing
"Where was Shae when it happened?"
"With the Hyuga Clan I believe.." Gaara answered
"What are you suggesting?" Sakura says looking defensive "She's done a lot for the village only being here for two days"
"She's still an outsider and we can't be blinded by kindness" Shikamaru replying
"She ran right into that house not knowing if she'd come out" Sakura defending her
"Hero complex maybe?" He replied
"Shikamaru, you can't be serious" She says now visibly upset, becoming angry.
"I am, we can't rule anything out until they find out what started it" Shikamaru not moving from his stance on theories.
"It's not her" Naruto finally speaking up.
"Naruto I know she saved your daughter but-"
"It's not her!" Naruto cringes rubbing his eyes.
"Kurama is convinced it's not her" Naruto hisses rubbing his temples
"Why's he so sure?"
"He didn't sense anything"
"He can't be sure, he could barely sense her when she was standing in the same room earlier today"
"Fine" Naruto says walking swiftly towards Shae's room, sliding the door open with such force it makes Shae sit straight up. Shikamaru, Gaara and Sakura following behind closely.
"What happened?" Shae's thoughts running a million miles an hour of Himawari dying. Naruto looks up at her
'It's not Naruto..' She sees the same red eyes and orange glow radiating from him, color draining from her face she backs up against the wall at the head of the bed.
Kurama bringing his face up to hers inhaling deep, the blood from her hand drawing his attention roughly grabbing her hand, stopping then slowly unwrapping the bandages. Shae doesn't move from where she is, too scared and shocked at what was happening to do anything other than watch.
"Naruto what the hell are you doing" She hears Neji yell before in the blink of an eye Neji had Naruto up against the wall on the other side of the room. The sound of the water jug and cup hitting the floor.
"I need her blood.." Kurama's low timbre coming from Naruto, bloody bandage in hand
"So they know that she didn't set that fire" Kurama's tone indicating he was losing his patiences with Neji, he let's go.
"You have it now get out" Neji angrily hisses watching Naruto closely as he leaves.
Shae begins to hyperventilate as soon as he leaves.
"Naruto" Shikamaru growls slightly
"So sorry about this" He says leaving after him
"Hey you're fine, you're okay" Sakura says trying to calm her by stroking her hair.
"This is the Sand Village" Gaara said using his sand to create a small model of the sand village in front of her but still keeping his distance.
"I have two older siblings, Temari and Kankuro, in a few day's there's something called the Chunin exams that are held every six months which is why I'm here to settle a few small matters and visit an old friend.." Gaara managing to slow Shaes breathing to a steady pace by distracting her. He nods to Sakura and she precedes to re-bandage her wounded hand.
"So chunin exams are for ninja's that are genin? Is that like leveling up?" Shae yawns
"Leveling up?" Gaara raising a brow
"Oh like steps to becoming the best or highest ranking in your field, you know step one, step two.." She says taking a sip of the cup of water, soothing her throat.
"Then yes"
"I see…" She yawns again rubbing her eyes.
"Okay, it's time for her to rest, both of you can come back in the morning, it's really late and she's had enough excitement"
"Or a life time" Shae mumbles getting under the covers.
"I'm staying with her"
"Neji you know I can't let you do that, we all have rules and protocols to follow, this is mine." Sakura says standing in front of him not moving
"You can leave or I throw you out" Sakura says more sternly, chakra now flowing through her hands
"Fine, but as soon as visiting hours are allowed I'll be back with clean clothes" Neji says crossing his arms
"I'll see you in the morning" Neji says giving her one last look over before leaving the room.
"Have a good night" Gaara says before leaving.
"What were you gonna do if he didn't leave?" Shae laughs
"Throw him through that wall over there, this is my hospital, what I say goes no matter that status you carry"
"Why is everyone so ridiculously strong?" Shae says lying her head on her pillow. Sakura smiles and laughs
"Good night, no more staying up" She says turning the light off, then closes the door behind her.
Unknown to her Shinobi were guarding the door in the hallway.
"This isn't necessary, I bet if any shinobi wanted too they could stop her easily"
"Just following orders ma'am" Says the Shinobi in masks.
"Who's orders"
"Can't say"
"Tsk. Shikamaru" She hisses leaving them in search for Naruto and Shikamaru.