The first thing Neji Hyuuga saw when he entered the hospital was the Godaime.
The second thing was the girl in the hospital bed.
She was sitting up, knees pulled to her chest. Her blue eyes gazed blankly at the wall in front of her. It was a hospital wall, white and not all that interesting.
Not that Neji would know this interesting tidbit due to an intimate knowledge of hospitals, generally after failed missions. Oh, no, certainly not.
But it showed that there was either something wrong with the girl, or she was just that bored.
As he walked in, she looked up hopefully. "Sasuke-sama?"
But , when she saw Neji, her face fell, and she went back to staring at the Wall-of-Immense-Boredom-Slash-Hopelessness. (As so dubbed by Naruto Uzumaki, after an extended stay in this very hospital.)
Neji bowed to Tsunade. "Godaime-sama." he said respectfully.
Tsunade glanced over at him. "Hyuuga-san. I want you to use your Byakugan on this girl. The gaki thinks she's some sort of summon. Check her for any irregular chakra." She waved a hand at him to proceed.
"Byakugan!" Neji looked over the girl, before disabling his Kekkai Gekkai.
"Well?" Tsunade asked impatiently.
"Tsunade-sama…this girl, her chakra seems to about as developed as a civilian's would be. The only abnormality is coming from that choker around her neck. That has impressive amounts of chakra, but I do not believe it is hers."
"So, she's not a summon?" Tsunade asked.
Neji shook his head. "She's just a normal girl." he clarified.
The Godaime pumped the air with her fist. "YES!!! Naruto owes me fifty ryo! I told him she wasn't a summon! I finally won a bet!" She stopped. "Wait. That's not a good thing."
As if on cue, the girl began coughing violently. Her arms went around her waist, as if she was in pain, and she grit her teeth against crying out. Unbidden, tears sprang to her eyes, and she fought to keep them from falling.
Tsunade hurried over and put a hand on the girl's forehead. She gasped. "She's burning up! But she was perfectly fine a moment ago…" Tsunade's hand began to glow greenish, as she passed it over the girl. Her face tightened. "Snake poison. I suppose we know who did this to her." She turned to Neji. "Well? What are you just standing there for? Go get every available medi-nin." she barked.
As Neji headed out the door, he heard the girl inhale sharply, and Tsunade's voice.
"Tell them to hurry."
***~~~***
Ceasing his search for Kagome, for the night, Sasuke looked up at the sky. Everything seemed to remind him of her; the black sky was her hair, the bright stars were her eyes.
Wait.
Stars. Black sky.
Night.
Sasuke's hand shot to his pocket.
The vial of antidote was still there.
Of course it was.
The problem was, that Kagome wasn't there.
Sasuke swore, leaping back into his search.
He had to find Kagome.
The faster, the better.
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