Sorry fellow fanfictioners. I am opening a new store in my current district which means major time constraints until I get them up and running. 14 hour days have not been missed :/
I don't own Naruto
"Lady Hokage calm down!" Kakashi tried to settle her down.
"SHIZUNE GET IN HERE!" She bellowed
Shizune ran in the room. "Yes Tsunade!"
"Shizune I need you to get that little rat bastard to my office so I can skin him alive!" Tsunade slammed her fist down on the desk and all the paperwork she was working on scattered.
Shizune's brow furrowed in a bit of confusion. She was unsure what 'little rat bastard' Tsunade was talking about. She turned to look at Kakashi for maybe a hint.
"Shizune, don't go anywhere yet." Kakashi said in a calm tone. "We need to figure out if that is in fact what happened first, and why he did it before we skin anyone."
"I'LL KILL HIM FOR HURTING SAKURA LIKE THAT! I DON'T CARE WHY HE DID IT!" Tsunade yelled.
"We need to come up with a plan first Lady Hokage." Kakashi insisted.
"PLAN MY ASS! I'LL BEAT HIM TO A PULP!" Tsunade yelled some more.
Kakashi squeezed the bridge of his nose, showing a bit of frustration. "Lady Hokage, I think Shizune will agree with me when I say that we need to find out what Sasuke wanted with Sakura. If we fail to do that, we may miss what he might be planning against Konoha." He said in disbelief that he had to explain this to his own Hokage.
'She's acting like an unreasonable child…no I take that back, an unreasonable mother.' He thought to himself.
Tsunade finally sat down. "What do you propose we do Kakashi?" She said in a gruff voice.
Kakashi sighed deeply. "Well, for now keep him away from Sakura until she recovers a little bit mentally. I think the easiest thing would be to talk her into helping us since he seems to want nothing to do with anything but her."
Tsunade nodded, tapping her finger on the desk. "I'll agree on the part of waiting until she recovers a bit. We'll discuss the rest later. You are dismissed for now. Please let Ino know I will set up the tests she requested."
"Thank you Lady Hokage." Kakashi said standing and walking towards the door.
"Shizune" Tsunade said sitting back in her seat and sighing deeply.
"Yes Tsunade-sama." Shizune moved towards the desk.
"Sasuke requested that we inform him of Sakura's condition. So far we have kept him in the dark. I want you to inform him that she has awoken from her coma and is currently recovering in segregation. If he asks about her or if she has asked for him, simply tell him that only the Hokage herself and Ibiki is allowed access at this time due to the nature of the coma still being unknown and that no other contact with Sakura has been approved at this time." Tsunade paused for a moment. "That should ruffle his feathers enough for now." She went back to doing her paperwork. "Dismissed"
Shizune didn't need to be told twice. She made her way over to where Sasuke was currently being held.
Sakura woke up in her bed. Unsure of how she got there. She decided to lie in bed got a bit, wondering what she was going to do now. This life she knows nothing about. She felt embarrassed that she broke down in front of Kakashi like that, but it was so hard to see him and not be able to hold him or kiss him….
Sakura sighed loudly to herself "I guess the only thing to do is to move on." She said to no one in particular. She reached up above her head and pressed the button Ami set out for her.
'First thing I need to do is pick my therapy plan' she thought.
Ami walked in the room a few moments later. "Why hello Sakura. What can I do for you?"
"Could you get my chair and help me up. I need to look at that list of therapists." She asked quietly.
"Sure thing!" Ami said very energetically. "It's almost dinner time. Do you want anything special?" Ami asked, leaving the room for a moment to get Sakura's wheelchair.
"Um….I think I'd actually like beef ramen from Ichiraku." Sakura said quietly as she was lifted from the bed and placed in her chair.
"Alright. Can you get yourself into the other room? Or do you need my help?" Ami asked.
'Someone must have told her how much I hate people assuming I need help.' Sakura thought to herself as she reached down to the wheels and tried to get herself moving, but the weight of herself and the chair combined proved too much for her fragile arms. She tried putting chakra into her arms when she felt Ami give her a small push.
"Oh no you don't. You aren't allowed to be using chakra for that kind of stuff yet until we get your reserves built back up. I gave you a small push, and you can take it from there." Ami walked past her out the doorway.
"Sorry" Sakura muttered and gave it her all to push the chair while she had the forward momentum from Ami's push. She got the chair moving…slowly. But at least it was moving and it was progress.
She got most of the way to the table where she wanted to be, but it was finally too much work for her poor little arms to take. "Ami?" Sakura left the question unasked.
Ami could see the girl only had a few more feet to go but looked exhausted. She knew Sakura tried her best. "Oh! I didn't think you'd make it out here that fast. Let me get you positioned close to the table so you don't hit your legs doing it yourself."
Ami got Sakura positioned against the table and slid the folder with all Sakura's records over to her. "You want to look at the packet that is paper clipped together. It is in order of what Lady Hokage wants accomplished. First order of business is picking your therapist." Ami paused for a moment as Sakura picked up the packet. Sakura's brow furrowed in irritation. "Both kinds of therapists." Ami finished.
"I'll go grab your food while you look over everyone's credentials." Ami stated as she got up from the table. Sakura simply nodded without saying a word.
'Why didn't I look here first?' Ino thought to herself as she arrived at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. She had gone to his apartment where there was no Naruto in site. She went to Team 7's training grounds where there was no Naruto. She went to the Hokage monument and yet again, no Naruto. So she decided to go to the Hokage tower where she ran into Kakashi just as he was leaving. He told Ino to try the ramen stand. She rolled her eyes at herself. She invited Kakashi to grab some lunch with dinner with her but he declined. Saying something about formulating a plan.
She walked in, spotting the blonde she was looking for. "Good afternoon Ayame, Teuchi." Ino said as she entered and sat down next to Naruto who was currently shoving his face full of ramen.
"Hello Ino-san!" Ayame greeted her graciously, Teuchi nodded in greeting as he kept at his cooking. "What can we get you today?"
"Um, just a small bowl of pork ramen please." Ino said with a smile and Ayame went to prepare her order.
"Hey Ino! What are you doing here? I never thought you like ramen." Naruto stopped shoving his face for a moment to question her.
"I never hated it, but I don't want to end up looking like Choji either." Ino responded. Naruto looked at her dumbfounded that anyone could say anything bad about ramen.
"Ugh, never mind. Anyway, I came here looking for you. I have some news about Sakura." Ino couldn't finish her sentence because she was promptly interrupted by the loudmouth.
"IS SHE OK? DID SHE WAKE UP YET? PLEASE TELL ME SHE'S OK! OUCH!" Naruto was quieted by Ino hitting him on the head.
"Baka, stop shouting. I was just about to tell you that it is top secret. But being as you're a member of her team, I need your help. But you need to be quiet about it. I'll take you there once I'm done eating. Ok?" Ino questioned as Ayame placed a bowl of ramen in front of her. "Thank you Ayame" Ino said smiling at the girl.
"Good afternoon Ayame!" a female voice behind them said.
"Oh hello Ami-san, I haven't seen you in a while. What can I get for you?" Ayame asked.
"I'd like 2 bowls of beef ramen to go please. I am taking them back to the hospital for my patient." Ami said.
"Of course, have a seat and they'll be right up." Ayame said turning to prepare the meal.
Ino turned to see Sakura's nurse sitting beside them.
"Hello Ino, Naruto. How are you both doing?" Ami asked them.
"Hi Ami. We were just about to go to visit Sakura. I won't go into the details right now, because of it being top secret, but I will brief you on mine and Kakashi's visit when we get back to Sakura's room. Kakashi should be meeting us there in a little bit." Ino informed Ami.
"I actually saw him on my way over here. He's going to wait for us outside the hospital. Would you two like to walk me back?" Ami said as Ayame was setting a bag on the counter for her.
"Here let me get that for you." Naruto said with a smile, carrying the bag for Ami.
"Thank you very much. Just put all 3 dinners on the hospital tab Ayame." Ami said bowing slightly in thanks.
All 3 turned and walked towards the hospital.
They all walked in once they picked up Kakashi from the front of the hospital.
"Go ahead in Naruto, we'll be in in a sec once Kakashi fills us in on the meeting with Lady Hokage." Ino said to Naruto as she shooed him into the room.
Naruto walked in to see Sakura resting her head on her arms on top of a table with papers strewn everywhere. He smiled to himself 'She's actually ok' he thought until he got closer to the table and saw she was in a wheelchair, then he was very concerned.
"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" He asked. Sakura's head shot up from the table with wide eyes.
"Naruto…." She said just above a whisper.
"Sakura-chan, are you ok? What happened?" He took a few steps closer.
She saw him looking at her legs, almost forgetting she was in a wheelchair.
"Oh, um, I was in a genjutsu induced coma type of thing and all of my muscles are weak right now. But don't worry, I'll be able to walk soon." She said, looking down at her legs in defeat.
"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed as he wrapped his arms around his friend tightly.
Sakura squeezed him just as tightly.
The other 3 entered the room now to see this sight. And they all smiled.
Ami cleared her throat "Naruto, please do be careful with Sakura, she's not healed completely yet." Naruto let go of Sakura quickly, thinking he may break her. "And Sakura, I promised to leave you alone without a 'babysitter' as you put it, if you could pick your therapists by the time I got back. So let's have it, who are you picking?" Ami sat down next to her.
"I don't want anyone from this list." Sakura said plainly.
"Now come on Sakura, we had a deal. You have to pick." Ami said sternly.
"I did pick, I just don't want anyone from this list." Sakura said just as sternly back.
Ami sighed deeply, rolling her eyes "Ok then, who did you pick that's not on the list."
"Choji, and Gai-sensei." Sakura said matter-of-factly.
"You can't pick them. They aren't certified to help you in the ways you need help." Ami argued.
Sakura had had enough of this game. She was losing her temper and Kakashi could see it coming.
"Maybe you should lay off for a little bit Ami." Kakashi suggested.
"No, we had an agreement. Stop acting like a spoiled child Sakura." Ami demanded
That pushed Sakura over the edge. You could feel the buzz of chakra in the air.
"I DO NOT NEED A SHRINK. I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE OK? I KNOW THAT LIFE WASN'T REAL, AS MUCH AS I WANT IT TO BE! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR? I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO WHO ISNT GOING TO JUDGE ME. AND THAT SOMEONE IS CHOJI!" Sakura screamed, slamming her chakra infused fist down on the table, splintering it.
Sakura took a deep breath to cool down. "And Gai-sensei knows better than anyone how to get an injured shinobi back to their best. Look at what he did for Lee. I will not accept no for an answer here."
There was a long moment of silence. Finally Ami spoke up, "Fine. You stubborn mule."
Ending it here. It's getting a bit long. Next chapter soon!