Shikamaru looked down at the note's Ino had handed him. He creased his brows together, the patient would definably need a scan as the sudden change in personality worried him. How bothersome, the neuro surgeon thought. Ino flicked her fringe out of her face and crossed her arms. He handed the notes back to her without a word and went to walk off. Ino grabbed his arm quickly. "Should I send him or not?"
"Yes" he replied, a lazy drawl in his tone. He went to walk away again but was pushed backwards by someone running into him. Shoving him to the floor. Ino yelled at the person and leant down, offering him her hand. "How annoying" Shikamaru stood up and brushed himself off. He looked towards the direction the person had come from, noticing more people moving quickly, their faces masked with fear and horror.
"What the hell is going on?" Ino snapped. Irritated already by her workload today. Shikamaru grabbed her arm as she went to step forward to check out what the commotion was about "Shika?"
"Look at their faces Ino, their scared, all of them" The irritable blonde scanned the faces of the diminishing crowd, taking note of how people were migrating to rooms quickly as if they were trying to hide. "We need to move" he pulled her behind him, grabbing door handles frantically until he found one that would open and pulled her inside. Ino went to talk again but he held up his finger to his lips, making a sign signalling her to be quiet.
Shikamaru peered out the small window on the door to get a better look at the situation. Two men appeared at the end of the hall way draped in black robes; one covered in blood the other remaining spotless. Shikamaru fought back the bile that rose in his throat, he had a pretty big idea where all the blood had come from. A shriek was heard and the two men reared on a quivering woman behind them. The man covered in blood took a step towards her, an excited leer on his face. Shikamaru flicked his eyes to the scythe like weapon dragging along the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind it. He grasped the door handle, his mind racing. He had to do something, he couldn't sit here and watch the man kill an innocent woman. He grasped the door handle but Ino quickly placed her hand on top of his, shaking her head.
"You don't even have a plan Shika, it's not like you to enter a fight unprepared" Shikamaru processed what she had said. She was right, if he went out there without a plan he'd be as good as dead and no help to anyone. Ino's face blanched as a gut wrenching scream rang out. The two friends looked out the small window. Ino raised her hand over her mouth to muffle her sob and Shikamaru bent over in shock, his stomach violently churning.
"Those bastards!" he whispered. He couldn't bring himself to look out the window again. His back slid down the door and he put his head between his legs to try calm himself. The picture of the girl flashed into his mind and he dry wretched. The scythe had struck right through her, pinning her to the wall behind. She was bent forward, blood pouring from out of the corner of her mouth and hands hanging limply by her sides. Shikamaru had never seen anything something so traumatic in his life, it was an act of pure bloodlust.
"We have to do something Shika…we can't let anyone else end up like that…that poor, poor girl" Ino's voice was cracking with fear and grief. Her face downturned and tears falling freely. Shikamaru noted how she had clung to his shirt, her fingers gripping it so tightly he could see it was limiting the circulation in her hand.
"Do you have your phone on you?" Ino took her phone out of her pocket and shakily handed it to him. He flicked it open, searching through the names on the list.
"Who are you going to call?" Shikamaru reached the number he was looking for, pushing the call button and raised it to his ear. He waited a few seconds before a click was heard, signifying it had been connected.
"Is everything all right, Ino?" a male's voice rang out, concern etched into the tone at the out of the blue call.
"Mr Yamanaka, its Shikamaru" he waited for his friend's father; who was also in charge of the city's police force, to reply.
"Shikamaru, is my daughter all right?" Even though he sounded like a concerned father, the man still sounded strong and intimidating through the line. His concern for his daughter not letting his job be affected.
"We've just witnessed a murder, there are two men dressed in black cloaks with a red cloud pattern. Ino and I have just witnessed them take down a young woman with a scythe like weapon and I'm certain it isn't their first victim" the line remained silent for a while, only the clicking of a keyboard could be heard. After what seemed like a few minutes to Shikamaru the man finally spoke again.
"You two need to get out of there and quickly, we've had reports of four suspicious men entering the hospital. Explosions have also been recorded from the west wing…where are you two now?" A hysterical laugh rang out down the hall way, followed by another loud scream. Shikamaru flinched, assuming the two men had taken the life of another.
"Eight floor, north wing. We're close to the fire escape" Ino's father breath out a sigh of relief.
"Use it when you get the chance, do not approach them Shikamaru. These are s-class criminals, I have unit's on route" Shikamaru tightened his grip on the phone.
"What about everyone else?" he didn't know if he could live with himself if he left those on the floor they were on to be slaughter like cattle.
"If you can help them try, but be careful, as I said before do not engage these men. Remember there are four of them, so watch out for the other two" Shikamaru handed the phone over to Ino, assuming she would wanted to talk to her father. She timidly took it, her eyes red from shedding her tears. Shikamaru forced himself to look out the window, not wanting to listen into the intimate conversation between Ino and her father.
"Do you have a plan?" Ino croaked out. Her face was hoarse but she had a new strength to her. Shikamaru nodded.
"We need to go room to room. You direct everyone to the fire door and I'll keep a look out. We need to do this as quietly as possible so this may take some time" Ino set her mouth into a firm line, determination taking over her. They were responsible for the lives of the people in the hospital and they couldn't afford to waste any more time than they had already. Shikamaru looked through the window again, seeing nothing he grabbed Ino's phone again and opened the door slightly. He stuck it out, took a photo in each direction then pulled his hand back in. The two men had disappeared but he had a sinking feeling they would be back. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be" The two of them stood up. Shikamaru went first, Ino following close behind them. He looked across the hall where he spotted a face peering out at them. Shikamaru held up his hand to stopping them from coming out.
…
A bomb. It had to be a bloody bomb strapped to the obviously insane man. Naruto held his hand's up, trying to calm the wild man down. He felt blood trickle down his right arm, his leg was burning from scorch marks that marred it and he had a deep gash on his head caused by a piece of glass that had cut him when he tackled the man to the ground. Kakashi had moved away from the man with caution as well. Naruto watched Kakashi quickly survey the room and he felt glad he was with him, if anyone could get them out of this situation it was him.
"Impressive isn't it! With one press I can blow up this entire wing! The whole world will hear of my art!" the man seemed excited at the prospect and Naruto couldn't understand how he could be happy about murdering an untold number of people.
"Didn't your leader want me alive? Want Gaara alive?" he kept his voice steady, trying to use his crisis training to calm the overly excited man. "What would blowing yourself up even achieve?"
"My leader? I couldn't give a shit about what he wants! All I care about is my art and this will be my ultimate act!" Naruto shared a quick moment with Kakashi, he was encouraging him to continue.
"If you do this no one will be able to see your art ever again, people will eventually forget" Kakashi slowly inched his way around the man as Naruto kept him busy. "Something else will happen and you'll just be yesterday's news"
"What would you know about art? Something like this will immortalise me!" The man held up his hand with the detonator in it and Naruto shook.
"I may not know a lot about art but I've seen many accident victims being brought into this hospital. Initially there are reporters everywhere but after a week or so they begin to dwindle until there is none left. They move on to report on the next big story" Naruto saw a flash of recognition as the man's finger hesitated on the trigger, what he was saying was sinking in. If Naruto could continue talking him down Kakashi could subdue him until the police arrived.
"That is true…" the blonde man looked thoughtful "I'll need to do something bigger, something that people will never forget" Naruto's breath caught in his throat as he saw a swipe of silver. Blood spurted out from the man's arm which was now left as a stump. His arm feel to the floor, still clasping the detonator. That wasn't meant to happen. Kakashi was supposed to subdue the man not turn him into an amputee. Naruto didn't even realise Kakashi had a katana on him! "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
"Grab the detonator Naruto!" Kakashi yelled, carefully grabbing the bomb clad man. Naruto bent down automatically, picking up the small silver object with a red button on top. He backed away from the arm as if it was diseased.
"My arm! Look what you've done to my arm! You will pay for that!" The man fought against Kakashi's hold, even without his arm he struggled to hold onto him. The man's blood was acting almost like grease and Kakashi was hesitant to hold onto him to tightly. The man pulled away, clasping his bleeding stump, his nostrils flaring. "You'll be seeing me again Namikaze" He sprinted down the hall way and Kakashi went to chase after him.
"Kakashi, leave him!" The silver haired mafia member reluctantly listened to Naruto's request. "He'll need to go somewhere to get his arm sorted, let the police deal with him" The smoke around them intensified and Naruto began to cough violently from inhaling it into his lungs for too long. He felt his eyes burning as the adrenaline his body had created wore off. Kakashi ran over to him as he dropped to his knees, his hand clasping at his throat.
"I need to get you out of here Naruto" Kakashi pleaded with him. Naruto began to wheeze.
"No…Gaara" He leant on Kakashi as he helped him stand and slung his arm around the taller man's shoulder for support "Please…."
"I'm getting you to ED first, you've inhaled too much smoke" Kakashi helped him stumble toward the non-damaged end of the hall.
"I can't…leave him" It was getting harder and harder for Naruto to speak. Each word he forced out causing his throat to feel constricted. Kakashi sighed.
"Naruto, there is nothing you can do. I'll take you to ED and then I'll go help Gaara" Naruto could feel his body begin to shut down from the carbon monoxide in his system. He lazily agreed to Kakashi's compromise. He knew he wouldn't go back on his word.
"Naruto! Stay awake!" Kakashi begged, his voice frantic as the blonde man faded in and out of consciousness. "Shit"
…..