"Ms. Yamanaka? Please…you need to wake up."
Ino's eyes opened a crack. The friendly face of Doctor Kenko starred a friendly distance away from Ino's face. She blinked a couple of times before fully opening her eyes, and making the effort to sit up. Ino felt extremely groggy. The same way she felt every day since she made the couch her bed. Six days, right? Ergh. Well, a kunoichi wouldn't be very good at her job if she couldn't sleep in uncomfortable places.
"Ms. Yamanaka, Tsunade had visitors." Kenko helped Ino up to her feet. She was a real mess, despite her healthy maintenance of her hygiene. Her blonde hair was all over her face, covering both eyes. She only had two pairs of clothes, one for daytime and one for night, and she cleaned them everyday. Her pajamas were a grey T-shirt and grey sweat pants, and were about to fall off.
"Who is it?" Ino walked away, grabbing her daytime clothes and heading to the bathroom to change.
"The Sunagakure and his wife, the Mizukage." Kenko said.
Ino stopped while taking off her shirt. Since when did THAT happen? She read the news everyday…okay, not everyday since Tsunade entered the hospital.
"Gaara and Mei, right?" Ino said through the door.
"Yes." Kenko replied.
Ino opened the door, having switched to her yellow shirt and blue jeans. Kenko just left, and the smiling face of Mei popped in.
"Hello." She said, waving. She came in, wearing a simple blue casual dress. Gaara followed in slowly, his face a little emotionless. By little, I mean there was a hint of sadness, but Gaara was hiding it. He wore the same thing as always, sans gourd though. Ino noticed the same silver band on both.
"…How is she doing?" Gaara asked.
"…A little better than yesterday." Ino said, offering them the couch as she went over to get the chair that she used everyday to watch Tsunade (The couch was better for sleeping rather than sitting.) "Things are looking up."
"Good." Mei grabbed Gaara's hand once they sat down. "I guess you didn't hear the news."
"You heard me?" Ino asked.
"A little." Gaara said. "We just got married about ten days ago. The newspapers in Konoha just got the news four days ago."
"This sounds…arranged. And Gaara, aren't you little young? " Ino questioned.
"Not at all!" Mei said, a little laugh coming into her voice. " Well, to the arranged part, anyway. It's just that we decided to keep it secret…given our villages past relations."
"Yeah…" Ino replied.
"We've been dating for a year before, actually." Gaara added. "As for my age, I got permission from Ebizo."
"That's nice…did anyone from here attend?" Ino asked. She was trying to look at the couple, but her eyes just traveled to Tsunade. Tsunade was getting back a healthy skin tone, but she still needed several machines to make her live.
"No, only our near family attended." Gaara said. "The elders just found out, and we're going to have a 'talk' with them tomorrow." Mei giggled.
They remained in silence for a minute; the only noise was that of the machines. Ino honestly had nothing to say.
"Well…" Ino said, rubbing the back of her head.
"…I heard you wanted to…" Gaara started, but got stopped by Mei's hand. Ino was taken back. The only person she told about her proposal to Tsunade was Doctor Kenko; surely that fell under doctor-patient confidentiality! And Ino was usually the person to spend rumors around town. How did they know…
"I asked." Mei said, after looking into. Okay, figures. Mei would have heard the news about her and Tsunade's relationship, and when Kenko met her today, he probably gave something away in his either his posture or facial movements. All it took from there was Mei to ask…nicely.
"Yes." Ino slouched. All the fake strength she built up to have this conservation started to fall apart. "I had a…talk with Sakura a week ago. I learned something about Tsunade. She was depressed. She began to wonder if we dating was a good thing. She started to drink…I mean, drink more. She was drinking before she…"
"Okay." Gaara held a hand up. "No need to go down that path."
"No, I need to talk." Ino continued, her voice breaking up. "I went to her office that night…to propose. I talked with my parents beforehand; if Tsunade agreed, they would allow the marriage. I got dressed in my best dress, and went to her office…and found her on the floor, vomiting blood." Even the cool Gaara seemed uncomfortable. Mei's smile started to bend the other way.
"I've been here for six days, and she…hasn't made any progress." Ino felt her eyes starting to burn. Her vision started to blur. "For-r t-the-e first time in-n my life…"
"Shh."
All three, and Doctor Kenko out in the hall jumped. The voice….Tsunade?
"Ino-chan." The tubes in her mouth muffled her voice, so Doctor Kenko ran up and did the necessary to remove the tubes. "Ino-chan." Repeated Tsunade once the tubes came out. Her voice was quiet, yet audible, and weak.
"Tsunade?" Ino said with a equally quiet voice.
"Didn't…you promise…me…you wouldn't cry?" Her voice was getting fainter.
"Please, try not to talk." Doctor Kenko said, checking the various monitors. "You just came out of a near-coma."
"I'm sorry…" Ino hung her head down.
"Ino…" Tsunade whispered.
"Yes?"
"I…will."
