No Author's Note.
Disclaimer: I don't own anybody but my OCs.
Chapter 14
How troublesome. I walked down the hospital hallway with a scowl. Yumi kicked me out. What a drag. I wasn't paying attention and I bumped into someone. I mumbled an apology and started to walk away when they grabbed my arm.
"Shikamaru, where've you been?" Ino asked. She let go of my arm.
"Hey, Ino. I've been with Yumi," I told her. I saw Hinata, Tenten, Sakura and The 5th Hokage standing behind her. I nodded to them.
"Didn't you go home last night?" Tsunade asked. I shook my head.
"No, Tsunade-sama. I haven't left until now. She told me to go eat," I replied. Tsunade nodded.
"Th-thank y-you for st-staying with her," Hinata stuttered. I nodded.
"We better get going if we're gonna have some time to talk. Tsunade-sama is also using this visit as an excuse to get out of the office," Sakura said.
"Oh, zip it," Tsunade scowled. The girls giggled and the five of them left. I stopped a medic ninja with a tray full of medicine.
"Who's room are you taking that to?" I asked him.
"I'm taking this medication to Yumiko Tagawa," he informed me. My eyes widened at how much medicine there was.
"Will you tell her that I'll bring her lunch?"
"Of course, Shikamaru." He bowed and started to walk away when a hysterical brown-haired woman ran past. A man with short, graying, blood-red hair walked behind her smirking.
"Where is she?" the woman screamed.
"Calm down, Kiko. They said she's fine," the man said. She didn't pay any attention to him. I shook my head and walked into the village. I was walking past Ichiraku Ramen when Choji called out to me.
"Hey, Shikamaru! Come here!" he yelled. I pulled one of my hands out of my pocket to push aside the curtain.
"Hey, Choji. What'd you find out?" I asked walking in and taking a seat. "I ran into Lady Tsunade at the hospital but we didn't talk long."
"The attack was completely random. He was a rogue ninja form the mountains in the Land of Waves. The group was trying to send a message to the village. We just happened to be there," he explained.
"You're telling me….that Yumi got hurt just because she was closest to him?" I asked. He nodded.
"Who're you boys talking about?" Mr. Ichiraku asked as he placed a bowl in front of Choji.
"Yumiko Tagawa," Choji said around a mouthful of noodles.
"Oh? What happened to Yumi? Is she alright?" he asked.
"She's fine, Mr. Ichiraku. We got back form a mission last night. A few miles outside the village, she was stabbed in the stomach with a poison-tipped kunai," I explained.
"Well, I'm glad she's fine. She's such a sweet girl. She's helping my daughters with their shuriken jutsu. Those girls love her to death. Not to mention my wife thinks she's amazing, too," he said relieved. "Are you hungry, Shikamaru?" Before I could answer, my stomach growled. Mr. Ichiraku laughed. "I'll get you a bowl. In fact, I'll get you two on the house so you can take one to Yumi."
"Thanks," I said as he walked into the kitchen.
"Lucky. I never get free ramen," Choji mumbled.
"Are you gonna go see Yumi later?"
"Yeah. I was going to get the other guys and all of us could visit at once." Mr. Ichiraku brought out two bowls of ramen. I ate mine there. I thanked him and said good-bye to Choji. I started to walk back to the hospital so I could give Yumi her food when a little boy and girl ran up to me.
"Hey, mister, do you know where one-chan is?" the girl asked.
"What'd you do with her?" the boy asked holding a wooden kunai out in front of him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I told them.
"Stop, Hiro. Sure you do, mister. We've seen you and one-chan sitting together in the meadow, looking at the sky," the girl said. I realized that they were talking about Yumi.
"Oh. Now I know. Uh…she's in the hospital," I said, nervously scratching the back of my head. The little girl started to tear up.
"Oh, no…" she said. She wrapped her arms around Hiro and cried.
"Is Yumi your older sister?" I asked. Hiro shook his head.
"She's not mine or Kimi's older sister, but she watches out for us and helps us like and older sister would. We're part of the same clan, too."
"If your parents will take you to the hospital, you can go see her," I told them.
"R-r-really ? Kimi asked wiping her eyes. I nodded. She hugged my leg. "Thank you, nii-san!"
"What?" I asked. Kimi smiled up at me.
"Every time we've seen you, you've been with one-chan! I figured if you're with her a lot, that I should just call you nii-san," she explained. I ruffled her hair.
"You two should get home now," I told them. Kimi smiled at me again and grabbed Hiro's hand. He blushed.
"Thanks again, nii-san! Bye!" I waved and continued walking. I passed the man and woman as I was walking to Yumi's room. I didn't know who they were, but the man nodded to me as I passed. I got to Yumi's room and slid the door open. She opened her eyes and I thought I woke her up.
"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" I asked. I sat down. She shook her head.
"What'd you bring me?" she asked. I held out the ramen.
"Ramen. I told Mr. Ichiraku what happened and he gave me two free bowls," I told her.
"Why'd you get a free bowl?" she asked with a smile.
"Doesn't the delivery boy get payment?"
"I don't think that's the right kind of payment. Come here." She smiled slyly. I set the ramen on the bedside table and moved my chair closer to the bed. "Over here. I can't reach." I leaned closer and she wrapped her arms around my neck. She pulled me into a kiss and at first I didn't do anything. She started to pull away, but then I deepened the kiss. I felt the tip of her tongue on my lips when someone cleared their throat. When we pulled apart, I could tell she wasn't happy. She slid her arms from my neck and I straightened up. Choji, Lee, Kiba, and Shino were standing in the doorway. We blushed and I scratched the back of my head. "Hey, guys! Come in!" she told them. They crowded around her bed and I sat back down.
"How ya feelin', Yumi?" Kiba asked.
"A lot better since I took my medicine. Shikamaru, can you hand me my ramen?" she replied. I took the plastic off and handed her the bowl and chopsticks. "I don't mean to be rude by eating in front of you, but I'm starving.
"So that's what that smell is," Choji commented. I rolled my eyes when Yumi held the bowl out.
"Want a bite?" she asked. She'd gotten a lot more outgoing in the past day or so. Choji shook his head and she shrugged. She started eating and we all laughed. "What?" She had noodles hanging out of her mouth.
"You look….like….Naruto!" Lee said between laughs. She slurped up the noodles and smiled. The door slid open and I turned to see who it was.
"Miroki! Kokuru!" she exclaimed. I smiled a little at how happy she was to see her teammates. Plus, Miroki and Kokuru are cool guys. Heh, the two of them, Naruto, Kiba, Choji, and I got into a lot of trouble together in the Academy. In fact, I was kind of jealous when they got put with Yumi and I ended up being part of the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho because of my dad.
"Don't forget me," said a deep voice at the door.
"Jishiru-sensei!"
"I just hope she doesn't get too excited and make her wound worse," I thought. Her sensei walked over and she shoved a bunch of noodles in his mouth. After that, we all talked and laughed for a while. Eventually, the other guys and I ended up getting told to leave.
"Please, be quiet! There are other patients that need rest. I think that you gentlemen should leave because Miss Yumiko needs her rest as well," a nurse told us. We mumbled out good-byes and walked out.
"So how've ya been, Shikamaru?" Miroki asked.
"Uh, um, c-can Shikamaru stay?" I heard Yumi ask the nurse. The guys laughed and the nurse smiled.
"Better go, Shikamaru," Kokuru said. I nodded and walked back into the room.
"As long as he lets you rest," she said and closed the door. I moved the chair closer to the bed and sat down. I felt her fingers in my hair and she yawned.
"What're you doing?" I asked. She only smiled. "Although I like it, that's not really an answer," I smirked.
"I'm playing with your hair, Shika." There it was again.
"Why?"
"Because I like your hair." She pulled the string out of my hair. It fell into my eyes and I sighed.
"Why'd you do that?" I asked brushing it out of my face.
"Because you look even better with your hair down." She was about to fall asleep. Suddenly, she patted the empty spot on her pillow. "Put your head here. Take a nap." A nap sounded really nice, but I wasn't going to sleep. She tied he hair back with my string. She lay down and I put my head on the pillow facing her. She kissed the tip of my nose and was out like a light. I pulled the string out of her hair and tied mine back as I sat up. I sat in the chair and started a game of shogi in my head. After a while, I fell asleep.