Annie gasped. She felt the pain shudder away and release her. Her whole body relaxed. Naruto held her tightly as she laid on the floor, sheet-white and limp.
"Is it over?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Annie, you're sweating." He said. "You've never sweat after an attack before. Do you think this could actually start becoming lethal?"
"I wouldn't doubt it. It's getting worse every week." She muttered. "But I've been feeling a little hot all day."
Naruto's eyebrows knit together in concern. He traced her forehead.
"You're really warm." He said.
"I'm fine, you adorable worry-wart." She said. "It's just warm today, and I really worked hard at the hospital this morning."
"In that nurse outfit of yours?" Naruto smirked.
"You know you like it." Annie replied slyly. Someone knocked on her log cabin door. She stood up waveringly and opened the door. Sakura stood there with Lee, their eyes growing absurdly wide as they noticed that Naruto was sitting on her floor.
"The heck were you guys doing in here?" Sakura asked with raised eyebrows.
Annie grinned. "Just kissing. Jeez. You guys are always telling us to get a room, and then we do, and you guys are like, EW!"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "We were wondering if you guys wanted to hang out at the training place. Throw some knives, kick some butt, you know? It's been a while since we've trained together."
Naruto stood up and wrapped his arms around Annie's shoulders. "Well, we were just in the middle of having fun, but..." He grinned and went along with the kissing story.
Annie shrugged. "I suppose we could continue this later, right, Naru-Kun?"
"Of course." He said. They laughed as Sakura started to gag dramatically. Lee stared at them with clueless innocence.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Sakura patted on his shoulder. "Gai-Sensei will probably tell you when your older."
Annie laughed. "Okay, okay. Let's just go."
They walked down the forest path that led away from Annie's log home. The sun shined through the green leaves and Annie casually swooped around their heads and watched birds fly in v-formations. She spotted a white paper with a kunai pinning it to a tree. She flew down to get it.
It was another Missing advertisement. She frowned.
"There's been a lot of missing people lately, but no missions for it."
Sakura looked back and met Annie's eyes. "Weird, huh? I think it's because a lot of people that have missing friends or family can't afford to put it on a mission. All they can hope for is some kind and lucky soul seeing their loved one and calling in tips."
"If I lost someone I cared about, I'd want it to be an A-rank mission immediately." Annie muttered sadly.
Sasuke...
"Yeah. Come on, Annie."
As they walked through the village and found the old training field, the sun beat down on Annie. She felt hot, and a little lightheaded. She'd quit flying and started walking as they'd continued down the path. Flying suddenly seemed like a heavy burden. Her feet felt like bricks.
"Here we are, guys! This brings back memories. Lookâthat's where Kakashi always read his perv-books while we ran miles!" Sakura grinned.
Annie's stomach had been feeling sick all day, but now throwing up actually seemed possible.
"Ha, look at these little kunais! Some ninja academy students must've been playing here! Remember those days, Annie-Chan, Sakura-Chan, Lee-San?"
Dizziness threw her lightheaded mind for a spin. She couldn't stand to move, let alone try to remember three years ago.
What was this? This wasn't like an attack. If an attack was coming on, she could feel nothing but horrible, horrible dread, and then sudden, awful pain. Now, she felt sick. Horribly sick.
Fatally sick.
"Oi, Annie-Chan, how many of these cute widdle kunais do you think you can throw at the same time?" Naruto asked her with his back turned while he scooped up dozens of lost kiddie kunais.
"Uh..." She tried to answer with, That depends on whether I throw them while I'm puking or after, but nothing came out. Her own voice sounded tinny. The light around her burned into her eyes and she heard a high whining sound that came from nowhere. Everything was blurry and dream-like.
"Annie?" A voice echoed. "Annie? Annie, what's wrong?"
She tried to say something, but only a yelp came out as her legs gave. She saw blurry images. She felt and saw grass. She saw bright sky-blue eyes watching her and calling her name.
And then there was nothing.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. What's happening? What's wrong?" Naruto scooped up his passed-out girlfriend and begged Sakura for answers.
"Run with me to the infirmary while I scan her. It could be something as simple as dehydration, or heat stroke, and we can fix that faster than going to the hospital can."
Naruto ran, and Sakura ran beside him, her hands glowing green and pressed on Annie's head as she tried to figure out what was wrong.
"It's not...not natural, that's for sure...nothing like a heatstroke..." She strained as she tried to figure out more, then her hands quit glowing as she said, "Naruto, run as fast as you can. Poison."
Naruto finally burst into the running speed he'd wanted to go from the beginning. He jumped on the roofs of the village, ran over water towers, and exploded into the strangely inactive hospital. The lethargic nurses all winced in surprise as he walked up to them in a flurry.
"Please help. Annie-Chan, something's wrong with her. Sakura says it's poison."
The nurses fluttered around them. Annie ended up snatched away from Naruto's arms. He didn't want to let go, but he knew he would only get in the way of Annie's treatment.
"Get Tsunade-Sama! I've never seen anything like this!" One of the oldest nurses replied as they took her to the hospital room. Naruto's fear for Annie's life spiked.
"Please, Naruto Uzumaki, go to the waiting room. Anything you hear from this point on will only make you uneasy." A nurse told him. He didn't move. If he couldn't be with Annie in there, he'd try to be as close as possible.
The nurse shrugged. "Suit yourself." She turned and ran back into the room with jugs of water.
He heard doors slam open. He watched as Tsunade and her green cloak billowed by.
"Thank goodness." He said.
Tsunade met his eyes and said,"One of my finest healers are poisoned. Do you have any idea how this could have happened?"
"I don't know, Tsunade. I don't know why anyone would do this, except for maybe an enemy, but she doesn't really have enemies around Konoha."
She furrowed her brow. "Right. Go to the waiting room, Naruto. PREP THE PATIENT FOR SURGERY!" She shouted at the door. Naruto didn't want to argue with Tsunade, so he left.
47 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY