I can't leave you like that
Takara's Fade
A flurry of activity overtook the recovery room as Tsunade and Sakura tried to determine what was wrong with Takara.
"An infection?"
"No, her open wounds where cleaned."
"The seal?"
"No, it wouldn't cause this!" the shouting went back and forth, Hinata was sitting on her bed biting her thumb, how she got there she didn't know, but she felt so helpless.
"Sakura, what's that by your foot?" Tsunade asked, the pink haired bent picked up the piece of white plastic.
"A syringe cap." Tsunade snapped it off the girl and examined it closely it wasn't the type they used in the hospital it was too long. There was a small blob of liquid in the cap, sniffing it she pulled away, it stank awfully. Tsunade was sure she'd smelt that before. Setting it aside to look at later.
They worked to try and lower Takara's fever but nothing seemed to work, they ended up having to resort to bags of ice piled around her. By this time they had figured out it was a poison so anti-venoms where administered. This, at least, stopped the fitting and brought the fever down enough so they could do away with the ice bags.
"Get Hebi." Tsunade instructed Shiori who'd been in the hospital carting around files.
"Hai, Tsunade-hime." the girl squeaked from her spot just out side the door, there was nothing she could do to aid in this situation, her clumsiness would only be a hindrance. Shiori scapered down the hall.
"Hebi?" Sakura asked pulling off her latex gloves, Takara was stable for now.
"The Royki's are experts on poisons and antidotes," Tsunade explained and picked up the plastic cap again.
"You think she was poisoned?" Hinata demanded from across the room, her eyes where welling up.
"I'm certain of it." She held the cap up to look at the evil looking purple substance at the bottom. "Sakura check her arms, neck, legs, everywhere find the injection area."
"Hai!" Sakura started to search Takara's skin for the tell tale marks of a needle prick.
"What's going on!?" Hebi demanded running into the room, he looked like he had gotten dressed in a hurry his shirt was buttoned up incorrectly and his dark hair was bed messed. "Takara!" he strode right to the bed, behind him and red faced and puffing Shiori slid to the ground.
"Hebi, do you recognise this?" she handed him the cap, he turned it over in his three fingered hand and sniffed the blob of liquid, wrinkling his nose at the smell. His face twisted in anger.
"Yes, this is the poison that killed Mistress Yuly. The Royki Killer." he spat handing the cap back. Hinata was taken aback on how the gentle faced man could suddenly look and sound so dangerous.
"Where is the sample we recovered?" Tsunade asked.
"Why, do you think that's what's happened?" he shouted sounding suddenly defensive.
"We can't dismiss that. Where is it kept Hebi." Tsunade said sternly.
"The clan may dislike Takara but there is no way one of them would stoop so low as to poison her in her sleep!" Hebi shot back
"Where is it Hebi?" Tsunade repeated again.
"It's in the poison works, safely locked away in the workhouse safe. Only our top researchers had access to it." He replied.
"Tsunade-sama, I found it" Sakura called, she pulled away a bandage half way up Takara's left bicep, the injection mark was hidden in the faded tattoo of Takara's panther and would have been undetectable if the skin hadn't swollen.
"That proves it, Takara has been poisoned." Tsunade said, glancing over Sakura's shoulder.
"Wait, I thought she was immune to poisons!" Hinata snapped up a crutch and limped over to the bed now that the nurses had been shooed she wanted to know what was going on.
"We used to think she was, but in truth Takara's resistance to toxins is exceptional, even among the Royki's, for example, you know the Fugu poison."
"Yes it's a common poison used in weapons." Sakura said.
"that can kill a man in a day by wearing away their heart muscles until it eventually implodes with the pressure, the average Royki can resist this with only a mild fever as an effect, Takara on the other hand was able to resist it entirely, no fever, no cramps nothing. The same for many other toxins, she even needs a higher dose of sedatives." Hebi tried to smile weakly at this but only managed a twitch at the side of his mouth.
"The point is a poison has to be extremely potent to affect a Royki in general for Takara to be this bad…" Tsunade started.
"It had to have been created for the sole purpose of killing Royki's a normal person wouldn't stand a chance with this in their system"
"Hebi, we're going to check that sample" Hebi opened his mouth to argue back the stern look on Tsunade's face meant that 'no' was not an acceptable answer. Tsunade practically frog marched Hebi out of the room despite his reluctance to leave his sister.
"Hinata?" Sakura asked the jounin standing beside Takara's bed. The girl looked up at her friend, the sudden head movement loosened a tear and it rolled down her face.
"She'll be alright… won't she?" she asked, there was fear in her eyes and trembling voice. Sakura couldn't answer her and looked away.
Hebi led the way through the clan village to the poison works on the hill side. There was a series of green houses where they grew a large variety of herbs and toxic plants, as well as a live animal area where they milked snakes and scorpions for their venoms using these the Royki clan created the villages range of weapon and assassin poisons as well as developing antidotes to any new ones an enemy created. He walked on past the guards protecting the door to the development area with a brief nod at each. To the rear of the workhouse there was a room that was kept under lock and key only three keys existed. Hebi had one, the head researcher and one for the head of security for the facility. Stored in this room was samples of the most dangerous poisons they or an enemy have developed as well as records of antidotes developed and if they had worked for failed, it also stored the makeup of their most successful creations. As Hebi got to the door and pulled out his key he started to think, what if the sample was missing, was anyone in the clan capable of such an underhanded act? He pushed the door open and let the hokage enter before him then closed the door behind them. Lifting the manifest he tried to locate the Royki Killer on the list.
"It should be in cold storage." he muttered and pulled out another key for the locked fridge. Hebi fumbled with the lock and slid the door open fully expecting the vial to be gone. It wasn't, the vial with the wicked looking purple liquid was still in its place, not touched for months.
"So it wasn't this… what could have caused such a strong toxic shock then?" Tsunade said to herself.
"I don't know, but if this stuff is still here, then where did that other stuff come from."
"there was a injection mark on her arm, Hinata said she didn't notice anything but that doesn't mean it wasn't a outside job."
"We need to get a sample of this stuff." Hebi said locking the fridge again.
"agreed, I'll do the extraction myself" Tsunade said, but before she could safely extract a sample she would need to determine what kind of poison it was, venom, heavy metal, neural toxin. There were so many possibilities.
"I'll get one of the experts to accompany you." Tsunade agreed and Hebi called one of the researchers as they were leaving.
"We have a poisoning case in the hospital." he nodded and gathered a kit filled with different tests for each type of poison, then he followed the hokage and clan leader to the main village.
Back in the hospital Hinata sat in the armchair next to Takara's bed and refused to move, that was until Tsunade said gently that they needed room to examine her thoroughly. The girl was manoeuvred from the chair, which was quickly pulled out of the way, and instead she stood at the end of the bed, out of the way but still nearby. Once the distraught Hinata was moved Tsunade returned to her usual stern self and turned on Sakura.
"Has there been any change?"
"Her temperature is still way too high, muscle spasms are causing twitches all over her body, her eyes are in constant movement, and these lines are spreading." Sakura indicated the cursed seal marks that were now half way across her face, which was scrunched up in pain and her jaw was still clenched. The other Royki in the room took one look at Takara's face and stiffened. A look of disgust passed over his face as he left the testing kit behind and walked from the room, he wasn't going to help. Hebi muttered curses under his breath after the Royki left.
Tsunade carried on without him and examined Takara more closely. Checking her eyes showed Sakura was right, they where in constant motion under her lids, her slit-like irises where razor thin. Takara's breathing was extremely shallow and her right hand didn't relinquish its tight grip on the bed sheets. Sweat beaded her skin which was a unsightly shade of red.
"It's difficult to say what type of poison it is… we'll just have to forcibly extract a sample." Sakura nodded and darted out of the room to fetch the supplies. While Sakura was away Tsunade focused her chakra and passed her hands along Takara's chest and stomach, with her eyes closed she concentrated on the rebounding chakra for anything that shouldn't be there. What ever this stuff was it was spread through out the sannin's body but not in big enough quantities to be extracted safely. On her third pass she found a build up of the toxin in her liver. Takara's body was trying to break down the poison but at this rate it would completely saturate her liver and shut it down. Sakura returned with a basin filled with a yellowish liquid that smelt like antiseptic. She pulled a small treatment table on wheels over from the corner and sat the basin on it within reach of Tsunade. Hinata watched anxiously from the end of the bed, ignoring the pain in her leg she wrung her hands around the handle on the end of the bed. She was more concerned for Takara right now and bore the brunt of the nagging wound. She watched as Tsunade rolled up her sleeve and placed her hand just on the surface of the liquid in the basin. Sakura asked Hebi to step back and closed the curtains, then she tossed the blankets back and rolled up Takara's top to expose her stomach, this was also covered in the web of dark lines. Tsunade took a slow deep breath as she tried to concentrate, after a seconds pause she drew her hand from the basin taking with it the liquid in an orb dangling from her finger tips. The hokage placed her free hand on the other side of Takara's stomach, and gritted her teeth as she felt the involuntary muscle spasms under her skin, the orb in her hand rippled slightly as she channelled chakra into it. Tsunade took another slow breath then lowered the orb to touch Takara's skin.
Instead of breaking its shape once it touched her flesh, the liquid seemed to be instantly absorbed into the skin. Tsunade pushed down until the orb had sunk into Takara's stomach and pressed her hand flat against the skin.
Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched the progress of the chakra charged liquid through Takara's body. It reached her liver and swirled around an invisible target, the toxin, once that was done Tsunade began the delicate task of extracting the toxin. She couldn't let her contact with Takara break as it was taking both hands to control the movement of the liquid. If she lost it now the toxin would be released back into Takara's body as well as the medium liquid which in itself was not a good thing to have flowing free in a persons body. But this was where it always got difficult because…
"AAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Takara's eyes snapped open and she let out a loud agonized scream. She began to twist her body trying to get away from the pain. Her free arm grabbed blindly at Tsunade's arm and clutched it tightly and her legs kicked out, knocking the small treatment table over and sending the empty basin clattering to the ground.
"Hold her still!" Tsunade found hard to keep her hands planted on Takaras skin as the woman's back arched stiffly. Sakura knelt on the bed and pushed Takara's shoulders back onto the bed, Hinata grabbed Takara's ankles and tried to hold her still enough for Tsunade to finish what she was doing. Hebi nearly tore the curtain off the rail in his rush to see what was happening . The veins around Takara's forehead and neck where so prominent they looked ready to burst, her face turning slowly purple. He understood what it was Tsunade was trying to do and stepped forward, gripping either side of Takara's stomach he pushed her firmly back on to the bed, and tried to hold her steady enough for the hokage to safely extract the poison. Takara let out another shout as Tsunade resumed the movement of the liquid within her. Tsunade let out a grunt as the woman's grip on her arm tightened. The others were able to hold her still enough for Tsunade to complete the procedure and Hinata watched as she pulled her other hand away from Takara's burning skin, with it came the orb that she'd inserted a few minutes ago except within the core of it was floating an evil looking purple liquid. Tsunade pulled her hand away taking the orb with her, once it the liquid was clear Takara fell limp on the bed again, eyes closed, breathing shallow and the lines hand spread further, now covering two thirds of her face and starting down her right arm. Tsunade retrieved the bucket from the floor and let the orb flow into it. Sakura pulled Takara's top back down to cover her chest and stomach again.
"If she knew you seen that she'd kill you." Tsunade said wiping the sweat from her brow.
"She's my sister, she'll forgive me" Hebi said staring at her face with a grim expression. "We'd better get this sample up to the works to work on an antidote." he added plainly and scooped a generous sample of the toxin into a vial.
"Go, and keep me updated." Hebi nodded stiffly, turned on his heel and strode from the room. He was angry, even after all these years they harboured hatred of his sister, enough was enough, it was time to sort this out once and for all.
"Sakura!"
"Hai!"
"I want either you, Shizune or Ino watching Takara at all times, she is not to be left alone."
"Hai"
"This was obviously an attack on her, the assailant must still be in the area. It's time to mobilise the ANBU, this will not go unpunished!" Tsunade slammed her fist on the treatment table, smashing the wood to pieces. She was pissed off as well, the hospital of all places was meant to be a safe place. Where were the ANBU guards, where was Gai for that matter he was practically glued to the bedside chair the day before. Tsunade matched out of the room heading right for the ANBU HQ, the village was going to be searched from top to bottom they'd find the culprit.
Sakura replaced the IV in Takara's arm, it had been ripped out during the seizure earlier, and she'd need liquids in her system now. Hinata still stood at the end of the bed she was again gripping the bed frame tightly, staring dead ahead at Takara. Sakura wanted to say something to comfort her but nothing came to mind, she cast her eyes downward.
"Hinata! Your wounds opened" Hinata glanced down and saw a growing red stain on her left pyjama leg. Sakura ushered the girl back to the bed to patch up her leg again, the fragile scar tissue tore while she was holding Takara's ankles.
Hebi stormed into the poison works, he tracked down the Royki researcher who'd walked out, grabbed his jacket and pushed him against a wall.
"What do you think you're doing!" the man shouted.
"What makes you think you can leave her there to die" Hebi hissed dangerously at him, his eyes swirled to red.
"Why should I help 'her', she's brought nothing but disaster for the clan." By now the rest of the people working in the area had noticed the commotion. Hebi bared his teeth and punched him, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"I've had enough of this!" he rose his voice so the others could hear. "My sister has had nothing to do with Orochimaru and doesn't deserve this segregation, It's because she tried to clear the clans name by killing the bastard that she's now laying dying in the hospital. Here's what's killing her, find something to stop it!" He pulled out the vial and set it on a workbench, the other Royki's looked at each other nervously unable to meet Hebi's eyes, the non-Royki's in the room just looked at each other and shrugged, they didn't know what was going on. "Well!?" Hebi demanded.
"But… the elders"
"The elders aren't about to rip your arm off if you refuse" Hebi said threateningly, the Royki that spoke up backed down. Another looked between Hebi, the group and the Royki dabbing his split lip on the ground, after a moments pause he stepped forward and lifted the vial.
"I knew her before all this nonsense, she doesn't deserve to die like this." he said, ignoring the cold glare from some of the others. He took the vial to his work station and started work, a few others joined him agreeing with his sentiment. Hebi walked past the small group on his way out.
"Thank you" they nodded in response then got stuck in.
Outside the poison works Hebi sighed and rubbed his forehead, he'd stepped over the line. He'd been trying for years to persuade the elders to lift the exile on Takara, a few of them wanted to ban her from the Royki village completely but that was something Hebi wouldn't stand for and managed to convince just enough of the council that it was a bit harsh. But now, he had forced the hand of the clan to get them to work on the deadly poison. He would have to face the elders soon. Taking a deep breath he pushed himself off the wall and headed into the village, he was still fired up after the refusal in the works. It was time to settle the matter of Takara's exile once and for all.
"What was all that noise at the works Hebi?" the white haired woman asked as he took his seat in the elders meeting room.
"A vital shinobi was poisoned, our expertise are needed to find an antidote quickly." Hebi said coldly back to the woman. She was the most spiteful of the lot and had wanted Takara imprisoned for her association with Orochimaru. "We believe it's the same type of poison that was created to kill Royki's." Hebi continued.
"So the victim is a Royki, then why haven't we heard of it yet?" another elder asked.
"Yes it is a Royki, and you probably haven't heard about it because it's Takara" that name got a reaction from each of the council members, all of them were old enough to know what Orochimaru was and that Takara was his apprentice for many years. All of them had a reason to hate that man and since he was no longer here, they allowed their blind rage fall on the child next to the target. None of the elders wanted to break the silence.
"Takara is dying…" Hebi said plainly.
"Then let her, it will remove a stain from our clan." the white haired woman spat.
"You vile old hag.."
"Hebi!" one of the elders stopped him, after a moments pause he continued, his blind eyes stared aimlessly into the centre of the room. "You say she's dying…"
"She is…" Hebi said sadly, looking at his hands that where clenched in his lap.
"Tell me what happened." he said. Hebi explained Takara's mission and what happened, once he mentioned Orochimaru each Royki hissed.
"Orochimaru crushed her arms and left her to die…again." Hebi explained how she was in the hospital and then poisoned, with a similar poison they knew was created by Orochimaru. When he finished the elders were silent.
"Don't you see, my sister has been as much of a victim of Orochimaru's schemes as the rest of the clan" the elders were silent for a while as they considered Hebi's words.
"Takara is only a dark reminder of a painful time for us." one elder said.
"A reminder to us yes, but to the youth of the clan…" the blind man said more to himself than the others.
"What are you saying?" said the white haired woman, the man rose his blind white eyes in the woman's direction.
"Considering we never spoke of Takara's exile none of the youth know of it, and therefore have never asked about it. To them she is a sannin, one the elite ninja in the village. Many of them look up to her, including my own grandson, I believe your great grand daughter also feels that way." his mouth spilt into a gummy grin at the white haired woman.
"What's your point?" she snapped.
"To be honest he does have a point, if Takara was really an agent of Orochimaru, surely she would have went to join him long ago, and there is that interview after he fled." another elder muttered.
"That proved nothing!" another quipped sharply. "except she's a gifted liar."
"Can't we let the past be past, what has she done to insult or harm the clan since then except exist?" Hebi said glaring at the elders who disagreed.
"You have a point Hebi, but we can't make this choice lightly." another added.
"So your just going to let her die" Hebi said through his gritted teeth.
"We didn't say that…" the blind man interjected again. "but in this old mans opinion, it's a sin to allow such a proud shinobi to die in such an undignified way. The work on the antidote will continue." he said.
"What!?" the others against Takara started talking all at one.
"Enough!" the blind man demanded, the others quieted.
"We can continue the debate on her exile later but their will be no point to it if she dies. How would it look to our young ones if we allow one of the strongest Royki warriors die in a hospital bed." the other elders grudgingly agreed.
"What's all the noise about Hinata? Whoa hey….Hinata what's wrong!?" Naruto peaked his head around the door frame in his usual high sprits, that was until her saw Hinata's face. He took no time getting to her side. Hinata threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his jacket.
"It's Nee-chan…" Hinata sobbed, Naruto looked over his shoulder at the other bed, Takara was laying flat, dark lines covered her skin which was red, her right hand clutched at the bed tightly, her skin seemed to crawl as her muscles underneath twitched rapidly. A heart monitor bleeped out a quick but steady beat beside the bed.
"What happened!?"
"They say it's poison…Naruto…I'm scared…" Hinata hiccupped into his shoulder and she gripped the material of his jacket.
"Why Hinata? I'm sure Onee-san will be alright." he said with a soft smile trying to comfort her.
"No she won't be!" Hinata snapped and pulled her head back to look at Naruto's face. Her own face was streaked with tears. "I heard Tsunade talk to Hebi, Nee-chan is dying Naruto!" she let loose a choked sob and pressed her face back into his shoulder. "Nee-chan can't die, not now… not like this…"
'dying?' Naruto thought and looked over his shoulder.
"Takara can't die!" Hinata shouted into the material of his coat. Naruto wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"She's the strongest person I know, she won't be beaten by something as lame as poison." Naruto said into her ear.
"But… what if she does … she's the closest thing I've ever had to a mother, to a real family, Takara's all I have." Hinata's crying started again. "She's all I have" Hinata repeated holding Naruto tighter as if he was going to disappear.
"D…Don't …cr..y"
"Nee-chan!!" Hinata dived off the bed and across the room, Takara's eyes where open but unfocused and sweat was beaded about her skin, she tried to give one of her usual smirks but it only became a twitch at the corner of her mouth, the tears in Hinata's eyes rolled down her cheeks.
"I ssaid… don…t…cryyy…" Takara said weakly as the tears dripped from the girls chin. The woman's hand twitched and Hinata gripped it in her own. Naruto came to Hinata's shoulder and Takara's wavering eyes turned on him. In the background the heart monitors bleeping became more rapid.
"You lo…ok …aft..r h..err." Takara struggled to talk. Naruto nodded.
"Stop trying to speak Nee-chan you need save you strength." Hinata choked through her sobs. "Takara?" the sannin's eyes stopped moving and the lids slid slowly closed, the monitor let out a long loud drone.
"NEE-CHAAAANNNNN!!"
End of Chapter
(LMD is zapped with a tazer by skip for being cruel and is forced to post the remainder of the chapter)
Tsunade sat in her office, she'd just dismissed Gai after finding out he'd been sent on an non-existent mission. On her desk was a report from Jiraiya, the village was in lock down, with all walls, gates and other exits being watched carefully in an attempt to catch the assassin leaving the village. Pushing the paper work aside she looked at the hand shaped deep purple bruise on her forearm. Takara had a stronger grip than she thought. Rubbing her arm she pushed herself out of the chair and looked out over the village. It was quiet for this time of day. Turning her back on the window she reached for her mug of tea, just before she touched it the cup cracked. Tsunade's hand recoiled,
"Shiori!"
"Hai!" the mousy girl ran into the room.
"I'm going to the hospital."
"Oh okay…" Tsunade strode from the room leaving the small girl to clear up the mess on her desk as well as the paper work.
"Pupils non responsive."
"Still no pulse"
"It's no good we'll have to intabate" Ino ordered, she was on duty at the time of the flat line and now she, along with the nursing team worked to revive Takara. A nurse inserted the tube down Takara's throat into her lungs, another connected it to a pump bag to force Takara to breathe, keeping a steady pace he pumped air into her lungs. Ino worked on Takara's chest pressing down trying to get her heart beating again. Naruto watched with a scowl on his face while he held Hinata who was crying into his shoulder, she couldn't bare to look.
"It's not working, where's that defibulater!?"
"It's here" the machine was pulled to the side of the bed.
"Charge it!" the machine was turned on and light plastic pads where put on Takara's skin to avoid painful contact burns, a conductor gel was put on the paddles and once the machine was charged the paddles were placed on the pads and Takara was shocked. Her muscles tensed as the electric current ran through her body.
"Still no pulse" the nurse resumed pumping on her chest while the machine recharged.
"Charge it again" the machine hummed loudly as it completed its charge. Again it was placed on Takara's chest and discharged its electric current. The long drone, broke into an erratic beat again.
"She's back!"
"Get an oxygen mask over that intabator tube." the mask was pressed on Takara's face to keep a supply of pure oxygen going into her system. "How's she doing?" Ino asked, the nurse who was previously working the pump bag, called out Takara's vitals to Ino.
"Alright, she's stable." Ino pulled her gloves off while the nurses cleared up the mess.
"Hinata are you okay?" Naruto asked, Hinata shook her head and her shoulders heaved with poorly suppressed sobs. Naruto shook his head at Ino who came over to talk to them, she nodded and left the room. In the hall she bumped into Tsunade.
"What happened?" the hokage asked.
"Takara flat lined"
"WHAT!?" the shout was so loud it caused everyone in the hall to jump.
"We managed to stabilize her but if we don't get some sort of antidote soon… I don't think we could revive her again." Tsunade nodded.
"I'm going to the Royki village." she spun on her heels and strode out of the hospital again. She headed up the hill to the clan village and right on through it to the poison works. Just inside she found Hebi pacing up and down a gang way between workstations.
"Hebi?"
"They're working on it now, it's the same as the sample we had stored except for a few minor differences which there trying to adjust for."
"Hebi, we need this as soon as possible. Takara had a heart attack, we were able to stabilise her" she added quickly as his face dropped. Hebi growled in frustration, he felt so helpless. "how about we check on how they're getting on?" Tsunade suggested, the men didn't answer he just trudged behind her as she went over to the group.
"How's it going?" she asked, her tone told them she had little patience to spare at the moment.
"We've managed to find out the differences between the new and old samples." one said.
"Yes, this newer sample has higher levels of neurotoxins, so we've had to compensate for that but so far our attempts have been unstable, we're still working on it." Tsunade lifted a clipboard full of the chemical structure of the poison and what antidotes they had tried as well as notes on the similarities between the two poisons.
"Work faster" Hebi muttered.
Hinata sat in the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, she was staring at the other bed. It was late at night now, Naruto was sleeping in the armchair again next to her bed, Gai was in a similar position across the room, his head rested on the bed and his hand held Takara's in a loose grasp. Hinata sat there feeling numb at this point. Takara had died, admittedly she was revived but for that brief moment Hinata's world had cracked. She owed this woman a lot, her rank, her skills, her life. Hinata had seen death before, even killed, but watching Takara like that…
She had meant what she said, for a long time Takara had been the only person in her life that seemed to care for her. She couldn't lose Takara, she wasn't ready to be on her own just yet… she still needed the woman's help. She stared at Takara's chest to reassure herself that she was still breathing, in the pale moonlight it was rising and falling at a regular pace, due to the oxygen mask. Hinata's eyes started to droop, she was exhausted but in her mind she had convinced herself if she slept, Takara would slip away. As she hovered on the edge of sleep, the lights suddenly flashed on in the room, Hinata jerked awake as did Gai and Naruto. Tsunade and Hebi strode into the room both seemed out of breath from running.
"What!?" Gai jumped up.
"We got it! This neutralized the sample." Hebi held up an IV bag with a strange blue liquid. He handed the bag to Tsunade who switched it with the existing IV.
"Will…will that cure her?" Hinata asked crawling off the bed.
"It should."
"Should?"
"It will" Hebi corrected himself. Tsunade squeezed the IV bag to deliver the anti-toxin into her system faster. Hinata had been hoping for an instant result but she seriously doubted that would happen.
"How long will it take?" Gai asked.
"As long as it takes" sighed Hebi,
"We'll give it until the morning, then we'll see if its made any difference." Tsunade said then looked down at Hinata. "Will you get off that leg!" she scolded the teen.
"huh, oh" Hinata was suddenly aware of the pain in her leg and leant her weight on her right leg.
"I meant get back in bed." Tsunade spun the girl around to face the bed.
"Alright…" Hinata limped back to the bed leaning her weight on Naruto's shoulder.
"I'm guessing you three will be staying here too" Tsunade asked the three men, they nodded.
"okay then, I'll be back in the morning." Tsunade gave Takara's prone form a last glance then left the room, she needed to get some sleep but she doubted it would come easily.
The men got themselves comfortable, Naruto yawned widely and lay out in one of two spare beds in the ward room, Hebi claimed the other one and Gai settled back down into the arm chair. Hebi rolled off the bed to turn off the lights then returned to try and sleep.
Once her eyes adjusted to the dark Hinata resumed her watch over Takara, making sure she was still breathing. She wanted to believe Hebi about the anti-toxin but there was that nagging doubt, what if it didn't work? Hinata couldn't recall falling asleep but next thing she knew it was morning and Gai, Hebi and Naruto where being chased from the room so they could carry out a proper examination of Takara. Hinata shuffled to the edge of her bed and reached for the crutch, she'd done some damage to her leg yesterday and if was stiff and sore now.
"Has there been any change?" Hinata asked hopping across the room. Tsunade nodded.
"Her temperature has gone down greatly, and she's able to breathe without struggling anymore, we can take out the intabater tube."
"The twitching stopped" Hinata observed.
"You're right." Tsunade stood back and allowed the nurse to remove the plastic tube from Takara's throat.
"Well that's just disgusting…" Hinata said as the tube came out with a fine film of gook.
"Her body tied to remove what it saw as an obstruction." Tsunade explained.
"So Takara's gonna be okay now?"
"She's past the worst of it now" Tsunade said with relief evident in her tone.
"Tsunade-sama…"
"Hmm?"
"What are those marks?" Hinata traced the lines on Takara's face with her eyes.
"I'm not sure." Tsunade said
"it's a cursed seal." Both women looked up Hebi was standing in the doorway behind him was Gai, Naruto had wandered off for food.
"A cursed seal?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, just one more indignity inflicted on her by Orochimaru." Hebi said with spite in his voice. "It's designed to limit her chakra, but with that poison in her system she wasn't able to halt its spread. Its completely cut off her chakra pathways now, it will take a while for it to recede this time."
"This time?"
"The last time Takara challagened Orochimaru he activated that seal to allow his escape, I was on the team sent to get her, she wasn't able to move for a while and it took a day or so for her to form any chakra." Gai explained, "But then, the seal had receded by then. I've never seen it fully activated before."
"He's right, Takara has no chakra flow…" Hinata added, she'd activated her byakugan to check, there was no flow at all, it was as if she was a normal person.
"Well now that she doesn't have to fight off that poison it should fade again in time." Tsunade said. "Now, lets leave her to rest, you two, go home and get some sleep." she pointed at the men, both opened their mouths to argue but Tsunade glared them down. "It's an order, go, Takara will be fine, you however won't be if you don't get some sleep." The men muttered in reluctant agreement and shuffled out of the room, Tsunade looked down at Hinata. "The same applies to you, you know" she added in a softer tone.
"Yeah, okay."
What happened? The pain… in my chest is gone, why does my throat hurt? My eyes feel… feel so heavy. she became more aware of other sensations now, there was something under her nose and there was something on her chest, it itched. She tried to move her hand to scratch it but it was too heavy, she'd sleep for just a little longer, I can try again later.
She had no idea how long she slept for but when awareness returned her chest was still itchy. She tried to move her hand again, but it nudged something soft. Slowly she opened her eyes, for a moment she stared fuzzily at the florescent light over head. After a pause she turned her head to the side and looked towards her hand. She blinked lazily and tried to figure out what the indigo blur was next to her hand, it was in the corner of her vision, she reached for the button on the side of the bed to raise herself into a sitting position. Once raised she glanced back at the blur after a moment her scattered mind pieced together a recollection and her mouth twitched into a smile.
"Hinata" she called softly, the head stirred as the girl was roused from her sleep, she looked up with drooped eyes.
"Nee-chan!" she was instantly awake.
"Easy… not so loud" Takara said quietly, it was as if any more volume was eat up more energy. Hinata smiled widely and her eyes welled up. "What's with the tears?" Takara spoke slowly.
"It's nothing" Hinata hastily wiped away the tears. "You're alright" it was more a statement than a question.
"Yeah…I'm…huh?" Takara was cut off as Hinata leant forward and wrapped her arms around Takara's neck and buried her face into Takara's shoulder. "This is new"
"I'm just glad you're okay" came the muffed voice, after getting over the shock of the sudden affectionate display she wrapped her own arm around Hinata.
"I heard what you said to Naruto."
"You heard that…" Hinata pulled back suddenly embarrassed.
"I did, and as cheesy as it may sound, you're pretty much all I have too. I'm glad your alright as well." Hinata's eyes started to water as she smiled and she pressed her head back into Takara's shoulder. "I asked you not to cry…" she said letting her chin rest on Hinata's head.
"I can't help it right now" the teen said apologetically.
"I know, Kit, I know" Hinata felt Takara's grip tighten and a warm droplet on the top of her head. Almost a mother to the girl? Takara liked the sound of that, Hinata was the only person who truly needed Takara since no one else would ever trust her. Takara held her surrogate daughter and neither woman tried to hide the tears trickling down their faces.
End chapter 24
Takara lives!!
Does anyone smell cheese?
No….(nervous cough) also I don't pretend to know anything about medical procedures so if the terminology above is wrong let me know and I'll fix it
anyway I would like to draw your attention to a review posted by Toxicmanipulator, and I would also like you to join me in my hatred for this Hypocritical bastard. To see the reply posted to this and the following conversation visit my profile page and you will see why I have a hatred for him. No one insults me or my fan base on no grounds!