Chapter 6- Angry Divas And Calming Wind
Masaru was annoyed and bored out of his mind. It has been several hours since Tsunade had visited him, and since then there had been nothing he could do. His body was still in a great deal of pain, too much so to try and move around at all. Because of this, he couldn't find any activities he could really do except count the dots on the tiles of the ceiling.
Normally, if he had been bored he would find something to do like practice his kenjutsu, or play a tune on his flute, however neither of these options was viable if he couldn't move his arms.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the squeaking of the nearby doorknob, and entering the room had been a girl, about the age of fifteen, with long blond hair that would reach down to near to her waist, were purple outfit seemed like it would blend in perfectly with the nighttime sky.
"Hello. My name is Ino Yamanaka. I'm the nurse that will be taking care of you for the duration of your stay." She said. Ino mentally sighed. She hated giving this speech to the patients. It seemed so bland, which contrasted with the image she tried to create for herself.
"You just got here now? I kind of figured you would have been here hours ago." Masaru said, trying to get a rise out of the new girl, partly because of his own boredom, and partly because he didn't like her for an unplaced reason.
It worked. "Who are you to complain? I may not be quick, but remember that you're not the only person in this hospital. If you weren't a patient, I'd throttle you for that remark." The blonde girl said, whose face was still red with anger.
"Ok. Sorry. You seemed more like a person that would care more about your appearance than your skills as a shinobi." He said. It was fun to piss off this girl. He could literally see the steam coming out of her ears.
She would have said something, but remember what Tsunade had said, in how he was an old friend of hers, and dare not invoke the wrath of her superior. Instead she just calmed a bit and headed for the door.
"If you'll be needing anything, just ring the buzzer." Ino said slamming the door behind her. Masaru simply smirked a bit. Oh well, there's still more time for fun. Even though he didn't necessarily like the Yamanaka for some reason, it was fun to torment them.
The next week had been both fun and hell for Masaru. Several rises out of Ino, and he been slapped with a genjutsu that made him think he was naked in front of a window, beyond which was a bunch of female doctors. They continued to subtly torment each other until it was time for Masaru to check out of the hospital.
"Finally I can do something. It's been way to boring in that place." He said, wearing his gear, and not that tacky hospital gown he was forced to wear.
He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was kind of glad to at least be staying here in the village, if at least for a little while. It gave him a sense of security he hasn't felt in years. Not since his mother…
He was pulled from those thoughts when he remembered he was to go see Tsunade at her office. Even though he had never been to the Leaf Village before, he would have to be blind to not know where to go. He made his way towards the red building near the Hokage monument.
Along the way he saw the blonde boy, Naruto, whom he had met a week ago. He didn't really pay any heed until he heard a shout. "Masaru-san!" Yelled Naruto as he caught up with Masaru. "Don't you want to take that tour around the village like you said you would?"
"Damn! I forgot about that!" He thought, cursing himself mildly. "I didn't forget Naruto, but it'll have to wait a bit. Tsunade-chan had asked me to see her at her office when I got out."
"Tsunade-baa-chan wants to see you?" The elder boy nodded. "Alright I guess, do you want to meet up after your meeting?
"Okay. I guess just meet me by the hospital, it's the only other place I really know here." Masaru said, at least looking forward to seeing the village, but not seeing it with Naruto.
"Okay, see you later." Naruto said, before just vanishing.
"What a weird kid." Masaru thought, before making his way into to the Hokage mansion, but not without noticing the glares that seemed plastered on the people's faces. "Now that is even weirder." He thought curiously before departing. It took him a good five minutes before his arrival.
What he saw definitely surprised him. It was about five stories tall, and seemed to take a semi-spherical shape, along with what seemed like spikes protruding out of the top of it. If Masaru didn't know better, he would've sworn that it was the lair of an incredibly wicked person. Emblazoned on the front of the mansion was the kanji for fire, indicating the land in which they live.
He made his way into the mansion, noting the ANBU that had been standing guard inside. None of them made a move to stop him, probably because they had been informed of his arrival. He made his way without stop to Tsunade's office… to find the older woman sleeping.
"Damn it. I thought she would have gotten over that habit by now." It was true. He remembered during their trek in his younger years, he often found her asleep at the desks in the rooms they stayed in. He unfortunately tried to wake her up one of those times, only to meet the end of Tsunade's fist.
"Oh well. At least I got the perfect fix to this." He pulled out of his bag a flute. It had a simple, sleek wooden design, ran about the length of his forearm, and had been polished to perfection. It seemed to radiate a peculiar aura of tranquility, to go along with the music it could produce.
He remembered when he had made this, which he had named the Kazechinsei flute, back when he had been traveling with Tsunade and Shizune. In one of the forests that had made up the forest country, they came across a very peculiar tree, one that seemed different from the others. Not in that it was any bigger, but kind of like a pine tree in a forest of maple trees.
One thing that he noted that when he was near the tree was that as the wind rustled through the leaves, they seemed to emit a very calm music. A kind of calming song that would soothe the minds of any who listened to it, like feeling a very calm breeze against the landscape. He and the others had been entranced by the music for several hours when he noticed something.
A branch had broken off the tree, probably from a stray bolt of lightning. It looked like it the wood was very durable, and the leaves on the branch were still fresh.
He had an idea. The leaves on the tree could produce music, and with a way to control how wind reaches them, he could play the song anytime.
It had taken him many hours of work, but he managed to construct a flute from the tree branch and the leaves. Carving the design had been easy, but the difficult part was setting the use of the leaves so they would play different notes. When he had tried it out, it turned out better than he thought it would. Both Tsunade and Shizune loved to hear him play his flute. Also, another thing that it did was wake those sleeping nearby just so they could listen in. Even the sleeping blonde woman right in front of him.
He began to play the flute. It had let out a soothing tune, not unlike the tune he had heard that day in the woods. And he could see the effect it was having on Tsunade. Her head began to unconsciously rise, a smile crossing her face as she looked at peace with the world around her. And slowly, but ever so surely, her eyelids began to lift as she was awaken by the melodious tune. The only thing she saw before her was Masaru playing the flute in front of her.
When he noticed that she was awake, he slowed down the song of the flute until it came to a complete stop. "Well, that's something I haven't heard in a long time. You've definitely gotten better playing that thing." Tsunade commented, with a small smile on her face.
"Well, I've had years of practice with it. Don't think I've spent the last six years honing just my shinobi skills. Besides, it a great way to put your own mind at ease." The flute holder said, before he took on a slightly more serious expression. "I believe you called me hear because you wanted to speak to me about something.
Tsunade then took on her persona as the Hokage, by plastering a similar expression to her own face. "Indeed I did, Masaru. There is much we need to discuss."
Author's Note: Well, Chapter 6 is out now. As it looks, I'll aim to get a new chapter out once a week. For those that may be curious about how Masaru is behaving towards Ino, his inherent dislike of her is having him act that way. As for why he dislikes her, that's my little secret. But it'll be revealed in time.
As always, reviews, comments and criticisms are all appreciated.