Rai gained her post by lying on the right side floor next to Sasuke's recovering body. She'd monitor him closely as one nurse walked in and changed the IVs. Rai wouldn't let anything happen to her master's student. The nurse felt eyes boring into her, so she tried to be quick and get out of there before the dog decided to do something to her. When the daytime hospital staff went home for the night and less commotion was going on, Rai would tend to Sasuke herself. She unwrapped his wounds and examined them, before she cleaned them, properly with herbs she'd brought, and she'd bite her thumb and traced her blood over his wounds, healing them. She tended to the severe wounds first: his chest, vital organs, and vital veins and arteries. She did this every several days, not all at once, or else the hospital staff would go off on a tangent and go crazy with how quickly he was healing. The next few weeks the nurse changed the bandage less and less often, not really noting how fast he was healing, especially where some wounds should have left scars. 'Wow, how dumb can humans be?' Rai asked herself, a sweat drop forming on her temple as the nurse walked out of the room. When the few weeks had passed and Sasuke was off oxygen, Rai got worried. Kakashi hadn't returned as he'd promised. Rai got very antsy because of how vulnerable of a state he was in. The nurse had walked out not even ten minutes ago when a figure came up to the door. This caught Rai's attention; she aligned herself with the door. She lay crouched, ready to pounce on the person, her ears up and listening, and her body tense. She was ready when the person would open the door, she would leap onto them.
She heard the lock click and the door slid open. Rai's ears went back and she sprang from her crouched position and soundlessly lunged at the unsuspecting figure. It was Kakashi; he let out a slight gasp as he saw Rai's form lunge for him. Rai landed on his chest and sent him flying across the hall, smashing into the other wall, and slid down to the floor, with Rai on top of him. The nurses and doctors jumped, some dropping the items they were carrying, and stared in shock. "Rai…" Kakashi whispered harshly.
Rai gave her doggy smile, more embarrassed than happy, ears back and tail down, "Heh, heh…" She giggled nervously. "Oops…" She gave a small shrug, before she jumped off him. Kakashi stood up and brushed himself off. He gave a mocking glance to Rai; she'd give him a nervous doggy smile with her ears back.
"Listen," Kakashi stated as they walked into Sasuke's room, closing the door. "We need Sasuke to heal quickly…" Kakashi walked over to Sasuke. "Can you do that for me?"
"Already on it," Rai smiled.
For the next month before the Chunin Exam, Kakashi and Sasuke trained hard, while Rai napped and randomly joined in. Rai was sprawled out in the shade of the boulder she lay next to. It was so hot and dry up here, she cursed to herself for not bringing enough water. How she hated the heat, well it wasn't so much the heat at it was the humidity she hated. There was an explosion. Rai opened her eyes a little to see what was going on. Sasuke stood there panting heavily, while Kakashi stood there as if nothing happened. "Come at me again, this time, don't hold back." Rai went to close her eyes when something, like a dust particle went up her nose and caused her to sneeze. She shook her head side to side after she sneezed. She went to lay her head down when something caught her senses. She lay her head down and acted as if she didn't notice, but she was intently watching the large boulder on her left. Something felt off, and something sounded off, almost like running water? Rai cocked an eyebrow and perked one ear up to listen closer when dull smell of earth hit her nose, with a hint of a pungent odor. Rai stretched her front paws out in front of her, bringing her head up high and staring at the landmark. A low rumble emitted from her throat. Kakashi noted this and glanced at the rock.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked them. Rai stood up and began to walk in between them and the rock.
"I know you're there, come out!" Kakashi demanded. The red haired sand ninja walked out from behind the rock. Rai growled, head low, hair bristling, and teeth bared. "What do you want?" Kakashi asked, turning square to the boy. The boy just sneered as sand poured itself back into the gourd upon his back. Rai snarled, tossing her head and glaring at the boy. Sasuke glared at the boy. The boy had this glint in his eye that Rai found eerily familiar and didn't like. He chuckled to himself. Rai had seen this boy in action and wasn't going to take any chances with him, but if she had to she would protect Sasuke and Kakashi with her life. She made the first move, she lunged at him and the sand came up like a hand, grabbing her and throwing her back. Rai crashed into a boulder behind Kakashi. Kakashi blocked his face with one hand and squinted through the dust and debris. Sasuke watched Rai in horror and wide eyed. The sand slithered back from her form and she stood up. She rolled her head and moved her body, creating sick popping sounds of bone. She stood and glared to her left at the boy.
The boy smirked at Rai, "So, I see you own a demon." He stated to Kakashi. Rai snarled viciously at him, she hated being called the race of her father. She charged and the sand lunged. She dodged the sands attacks several times before it finally caught her. It held her flailing body up as it crushed her. CRACK! Blood spilt from her mouth and dripped onto the sand. It shrieked as the crimson liquid hit, the blood of its own kind. The boy held his head and yelled out in pain. The sand threw Rai's body away and quickly slipped back into the gourd. The boy's scream turned into a grunt and heavy breathing. Once he regained his breath, he retreated as quickly as the sand did.
Once the boy was gone, Sasuke dashed over to Rai's body, "Rai-sama, are you alright?" He asked the wolf.
Rai groaned as her body began to mend itself. "Ignore me…" Rai took in a slightly painful breath, "Get back to training…" Rai closed her eyes and let her body heal itself. Sasuke nodded and continued training with Kakashi. Rai went home once the moon was high in the sky, to prepare for an upcoming mission the Hokage assigned to her specially. This mission would take her away from her home for about two weeks, the only two weeks before the exams.