"And he really just let you go with that?" Anko asked. This was just weird.
"Yeah. Dumbledore even told the teachers not to mention it to anyone else" Rose agreed, swinging her legs absently from her branch. "I really like the man by now"
"You're just saying that because he helped you get away with stuff" Anko accused.
"So?" Rose asked, absolutely unashamed.
"Ugg, he's going to take advantage of you someday" Anko complained. "Don't ask when, but consider yourself warned"
"Do you really think that I don't know that?" Rose asked, looking Anko in the eye. "I have every expectation that he's going to bring me around to his way of thinking, or at least as close as he can get. You're severely underestimating just how often I get that"
"Get what, exactly?" Anko asked, having a feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer.
Rolling her eyes, Rose spelled it out clearly. "You are Overestimating the Hokage's benevolence if you actually think that he or any of his advisors and councils or associates actually want me around. I appreciate Headmaster Dumbledore because I'm at least getting something out of his scheming. I love having someone else to talk to and mentor my actions, not that I don't already appreciate what you do for me, and I really think that I would have faced some consequences for my actions if he wasn't covering me."
"You really think that?" Anko asked, hurt.
"It's the truth" Rose said, shrugging. "I have sent dozens of students to the hospital wing for one thing or another, and no one has complained even once! Ron Wesley still needs to make regular visits to the wing for a checkup, and not even he has said anything about it! I literally destroyed one of Fred's ears beyond all repair, and he hasn't even stopped teasing me. Magic does make healing times much faster, but some of that is still irreversible. Without Dumbledore, I doubt that I would still be unpunished for that"
"That many incidents?" Anko said. "Sweet, the rules are there for a reason, and you do need some consequences- "before she had even finished her thought, Anko started feeling woozy.
"Don't speak such nonsense to me" Rose ordered, but still caught Anko before she fainted completely. "What to do, what to do?" Rose muttered, looking between Anko's unconscious form and the forest full of predators and hostile herbivores. "I don't really want her to die… It's common knowledge that I like to play in training ground 66, and no one has tried to stop me yet. Anko is even more famous for hanging out here than I am, so that won't be a problem either… it wouldn't raise to many heads if I deliver her to the hospital and say that I found her asleep out here… no, that would be stupid of a Join like Anko to do, even if she's only an honorary Join. If she were to have a problem of some sort, then my excuse would go to waste. Supposing that I just left her at the hospital and didn't say anything… no, the people here wouldn't indulge that. I'd need an excuse of some sort… maybe I accidently attacked her? That is almost true, no it just really is true. It might give me some bad reputation, but that's nothing new. I'm not going to let anyone else die in front of me, so I guess that not going with that isn't an option" Deciding that, Rose brought her friend to the hospital- and hid, leaving her propped against a couch when Rose spotted Kakashi. Rose didn't want him to recognize her.
"Anko?" Kakashi asked. He was just going for a walk, and Anko was his friend. Absently, Kakashi noted that she had no immediately obvious causes for her injuries. She had been with Rose, but that wasn't immediately pressing. Even though the mystery rankled him, Kakashi needed to finish the transportation of Anko to the hospital. Anko's condition was still more pressing, however mysterious the situation was.
"I just found her collapsed in front of the building" Kakashi told the receptionist, fear clouding his voice. "Do you have any idea what's wrong with her?" he asked, frantic. Anko had been his partner on more missions than he cared to remember, and seeing her like this was an unpleasant shock.
"No, in all honesty" The receptionist said, looking over Anko briefly. "Still, she needs a room, and I'll have someone in to evaluate her momentarily"
"Thanks" Kakashi breathed, relieved that something was going to be done. Anko wouldn't have been refused service, but it was hopeful to see that she was being taken seriously. That didn't always happen.
Catching a glimpse of his sensei's daughter leaving, Kakashi barely hid a wince. Rose was a terror, plain and simple. She always stirred a mired of repressed emotion, never leaving him quite stable afterwards. Kakashi felt like he could have made a difference in Rose's life if he had stepped up to be her sensei, but he had decided that he couldn't have dealt with it. If he had asked, she might not have ended up on a traitor's team, as no one on the Uchiha heir's team would have been taught by a non- Uchira, someone who had "stolen" the clan's keni gai. Kakashi might have made contact with Rose regardless, but seeing Keshena's hair on Rose was another reminder that Kushina was gone, and even though he'd never admit it, it also reminded him how pretty she had been. He had loved how happy Mino was with Kushina, and Kakashi didn't want to deal with the reminder that Mino thought that sacrificing himself for the seal was worthwhile. Still, with how shaky Rose's apparent grip on the Kubi was, Kakashi wouldn't be approaching her unless it was a last resort for something, even if he felt like someone was missing when he saw Rose.
When the nurse came, Kakashi focused back to the problem at hand. "Do you have any clue what's wrong?"
"Not right now" the nurse assistant said. "I'm taking her to a room with a qualified doctor so that she can get looked over"
"Alright" Kakashi agreed, taking idle note that a presence was fallowing them from the location that Rose just left through.
"Now, the doctor should be able to understand better if Anko were able to tell them what happened, but just from carrying her I can rule out a physical blow. There would have been at least a bruise if she was knocked out, and there is nothing of the sort on her. I would assume that it's the work of a justu, but that's just me" She stopped, having reached the room, and put Anko right down on the bed. "Don't worry too much, it just stresses out the patent" she added, leaving the room. It took another few minutes for a doctor to come, giving Kakashi to much time to stew over what might have happened to her friend.
"Alright" the iro-nin said once she got in the room. "We've already ruled out a physical injury, so I'm coming her directly to see what's wrong. Now, I'll do a full diagnostic, and then I'll tell you what's wrong"
"Please do" Kakashi said, temper growing short.
"Well, I haven't started the scans yet, so you'll have to be patent" the doctor said, patronizing.
Rolling his eyes, Kakashi waited in silence for the scans to be done. It took a while, but he noticed the unaccounted chakera signature becoming more and more upset. Whose was that?
"Alright" the iro-nin said, distracting Kakashi again. "I have narrowed down a cause, but your not going to like it"