Magnetism

Chapter Thirty-Six

-Poison-

Natsumi walked down the halls of the hospital, sighing. Finally the attacks on the Stone borders had stopped. Today was her last day helping the hospital and she was excited. Not that she didn't love to help people, but she missed Akito a lot, and since they had gotten married she'd never been away from him this long. Even if it wasn't for a whole day. She couldn't do anything with him because she was so tired and she felt like he was slipping back into his stoic fashion. And there was no way she would trade her loving husband in for an irritated Uchiha. Not to mention she hadn't had sex with him in forever, well five days, but that was forever for her. She didn't know why people thought they were sex addicts, the real reason why she liked to do it with him was because when they did, they were truly one being and something about that just made her so happy.

She stopped at the supply room and opened the door. It was pretty slow today and she had decided to go ahead and restock some of the necessary items the hospital needed. She flipped on the switch to the room and it was instantly lit with a dull yellow bulb. "That's comforting…" she said lowly, looking around the poorly illuminated room. "Whatever, not my hospital…Satomi can deal with it." She said to herself, pulling down a few boxes of gloves and setting them aside. Natsumi stopped and looked back to the door, Satomi was going to stay here. She couldn't help but feel sad. She stopped her thoughts. She was being selfish to think that she was allowed to run off wherever she wanted and expect Satomi to stay in Suna where she could always see her. Natsumi leaned against the wall and pursed her lips. She really did like Kyo and he seemed really good for Satomi, even if at first he had been a really annoying jerk, who told everyone about her and Akito. Oh well, that was all in the past now.

She continued the mundane task of pulling supplies down and setting them on a small table in the supply room. She looked around the room, trying to spot the syringes. They were running low in the emergency room and she thought she could bring some down to them. She glanced up and there on the top shelf was a box labeled 'Syringes'.

She walked over to the back shelf and reached up, just barely able to grasp onto the corners of the box. She growled, if only she were a little bit taller, than this would be so much easier. She got up on her tip toes and got a somewhat better grip on the box. She shimmied it towards the edge and when it tilted, she smiled happily. She froze, hearing something roll off the box, a small vile rolled off the edge and fell towards the floor. Natsumi went wide eyed and dropped the box, trying to grab the vile before it hit the floor. Unfortunately, it smashed against the stone floor and the grey powder the was inside erupted into a cloud around her. She tried to shield her eyes, but already felt the burning effect from whatever this powder was. Then she started coughing, too late to hold her breath. Her coughing grew louder and she couldn't stop, until she felt her throat closing. Oh my God!, alarm shot through her. Poison, she thought as her vision began to go blurry as the dust cleared and began to dissipate. She had gotten almost the full dose. At least the rest of it wasn't enough to harm anyone else. She tried to move her hand to her face to heal her eyes, but when she tried to move her hand her leg moved and vice versa. Suddenly her legs gave out and she fell forward and hit the ground with a hard smack. She could feel the poison spreading slowly through her body. It hurt, her whole body burned and then everything went dark, unfortunately not because she fell unconscious.

Satomi walked down the halls checking Natsumi's normal rooms and then the break room and then the front. Where was she? She stopped a passing nurse, her eyes full of worry, "Tomo, have you seen my sister?"

The dark haired woman thought for a moment and then shook her head, "No Satomi-sama. Actually I haven't seen her for a few hours. Maybe she went home?" she shrugged and continued back down the hall, disappearing into a room to check on a patient.

The medic frowned, it was not likely that Natsumi would leave without her, no matter how badly she wanted to see Akito. She headed downstairs, towards the emergency center and stopped at the front desk. "Tanya." Satomi said sternly, not meaning to sound harsh but she was getting worried. "Have you seen my sister around lately? I can't seem to find her."

"Oh," the blonde looked up and smiled. "Yes, she went up to the supply room to get some things since we were running out…though now that I think about it she's been gone a really long time. Maybe check there?"

Satomi nodded and gave the woman a small thanks before hurrying back up the stairs and towards the supply room. It seemed odd that her princess of a sister would do such a thing as fetch supplies. But ever since she came back with the Uchiha she'd been doing more manual labor that didn't involve killing.

When the storage room came into her line of sight she picked up her pace. She grabbed the door knob and pulled it open, going wide eyed at the sight. "Natsumi!" she yelled, getting the attention of a few nurses who were working that hall. She looked back at them. "Get a bed now!" she ordered running into the room and pulling Natsumi into her arms. "Natsumi! Wake up!" she demanded, she grabbed her sister's face and examined it. There was blood coming from her eyes, which was a very bad sign, especially if she had been here long. Satomi felt her forehead, grimacing, she was clammy and frigid. Two nurses appeared in the doorway, running in then.

"What happened Satomi-sama?" one asked, helping the head medic with Natsumi and getting her onto the rolling bed that they had brought.

"I don't know." She said angrily, glaring at the woman. "Get her to the emergency room immediately." She ordered. They nodded and once the pink haired princess was secured they hurried her off with Satomi following after.

When they reached the ER, Satomi started barking orders. Natsumi was taken into a large room, one of the best equipped ones, and Satomi followed shortly. She took out some gloves and pulled them on, running her hands over her sister's body, trying to feel if anything was broken. Nothing seemed fractured or bruised but her muscles were hardening and her heart rate was soaring. There were no marks on her body, which only meant one thing. Poison.

"I need someone to send a message to Akito…" she said sharply, glancing at the group of medics who had joined her in the room.

"We will send someone immediately Satomi-sama." One nodded and left the room to send out a message.

There was a loud banging on the front door. Minako opened the door, the door and blinked, seeing one of the Iwa messengers. "Hello?"

"I have a message for Uchiha Akito."

Akito was there in an instant, having been walking through the house towards the kitchen to grab a snack. He was really excited that Natsumi was finally done with her hospital work and they could finally be together. He was thinking about taking her out on a date, maybe a picnic. That way he could cook everything for her, since she had expressed that she liked his cooking. And after that, he would give her a deep tissue massage, where he would pamper her to her heart's content. And after that, they would make sweet, sweet love. Yup, he had planned a perfect evening. Seeing the serious look on the messenger's face, he instantly became solemn. "What is it?" he asked, fearing the answer.

"Natsumi-sama has been poisoned."

His eyes widened slightly as he digested the news. "Take me to her. Now." He ordered.

Toshiro was next to Akito and grabbed his arm, disappearing in a swirl of sand. They were in the lobby of the hospital in the blink of an eye. Toshiro hurried ahead to the ER, getting past the front doors by telling them his status, after all he was a medic. Toshiro stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his sister kneeling on the ground in front of a room. She was hunched over, arms wrapped around her knees and it sounded like she was crying. "Satomi…" he frowned.

"Where's Natsumi? Is she okay?" Akito asked, his worry showing clearly on his face.

Satomi looked over slowly, her face devoid of all emotion. "Natsumi is going to die."

"What?" he yelled, startling a passing nurse. "She can't die. You're a medic, fix her." He said, slowly feeling his sanity begin to slip.

"It's not that simple Akito." She glared.

Toshiro pushed the door open and walked in, followed closely by Akito. There were three medics already in the room, monitoring the unconscious Natsumi. The room was much colder than the hallway, but Toshiro didn't seem to mind. Akito looked instantly at the frail form of his wife. She looked absolutely terrible. Her skin was pale and sickly looking, her hair was sprawled out on her pillow and it didn't seem as vibrant. Her arms lay motionless by her sides, she was hooked up to an IV and there were bandages wrapped around her head covering her eyes.

The medics looked over and the woman stepped forth shaking her head. "I'm sorry sir, but only family members can be in here right now. You'll have to leave."

"I'm her husband." Akito snapped, tearing his gaze from Natsumi and glaring hatefully at the nurse. She went wide eyed at the crimson sight and looked over to Toshiro for assurance. The red head glanced at Akito and then back to the nurse.

"He is."

She nodded slowly and went back to check on Natsumi's fluids. Toshiro looked back at Akito, he had probably just said that so he could stay in here and see Natsumi. He knew the Uchiha must be worried and the look on his face only confirmed his suspicions. "Tell me what we know so far." Toshiro ordered, holding his hand out as one of the other medics placed the chart in his hand.

"Well Toshiro-sama, her muscles are hardening and her body is freezing up. She has a fever. Satomi-sama deduced that it was poison. She had no marks on her body, but Satomi-sama herself tried removing the poison with water, heat, and other methods over and over. We have scanned her body multiple times and we cannot detect anything, so unfortunately the only thing we have on the poison is that it was a powder. But we combed through the storage room and there isn't a trace of it. The only actual poison we could get was from the corner of her eye. But the sample isn't near big enough to study and analyze, so we couldn't make an antidote even if we wanted to. If we were to get anything from the sample, only a skilled medic specializing in poison would be able to do it." He said sadly, looking back at their patient.

Toshiro flipped through the pages, reading the reports done so far. "Toshiro-sama…I don't know if it was rumor or not." The woman began, looking nervous. "But I heard rumors about there being a medic in Suna that does specialize in poisons."

"There is." Toshiro said grimly. Akito felt a glimmer of hope spark in his heart until Toshiro finished. "It's Natsumi."

"Is there anything else that can be done for her that hasn't been already?" the young Uchiha asked, looking at the nurse.

Toshiro sighed, "The only person who would even come close to dealing with unknown poison is my mother. But even if the letter reached Suna in record time and she dropped everything to rush here, it would most likely be too late. Poison is a race against time, and without even knowing the origin of the poison there is no way to begin to treat it. Plus…I'm not exactly sure what would go down after Natsumi got better, seeing as she would find out we have all been in Iwa for the past two weeks and you're not dead." He stopped on one of the labs as his brow scrunched in confusion. "This…is this correct?" he asked, holding the chart out to one of the medics. The blonde took it and read over the report. "Oh yes…Satomi-sama ran this test herself. When Natsumi-sama was found she was bleeding from the eyes. Even if we were to counter the poison…she would be blind."

"Blind?" Akito asked, his gaze trained on the unconscious form of his love. She would be devastated when she found out.

The medic nodded, "Her eyes and mouth were the main entry points for the poison. It's very unfortunate…she suffered greatly from the pain."

Toshiro took the chart back and walked over to his sister's side, looking down at her pale face. He touched her hand gently, taking her hand in his. He froze, his posture tensing. "Everyone. Leave."

"Toshiro-sama?"

"Now!" he yelled, glaring at the three. They nodded and hurriedly left the room. After all, Toshiro was a medic and if something went wrong he would be in there. Once the three left, he lifted Natsumi's hand, turned it a bit, and looked at her ring finger. He eyed the band, glaring when he saw the Uchiha crest. "What the hell is this?" he demanded, making sure Akito could see the ring.

"It is my ring. I gave it to her months ago." He said, crossing her arms.

His glare only grew icier. "Why is it on her ring finger?"

"Why else would it be on her ring finger?" he asked sarcastically. Then he sighed. "We've been married for the past month and a half." He said.

He dropped Natsumi's lifeless hand and walked over to Akito, the standoff beginning. "You married my sister and you didn't even tell me?" He was pissed and surprisingly not because it was Natsumi who kept it from him, but Akito. He had thought they had at least connected a little bit.

His glare faltered a bit. "It's not like I didn't want to tell you, or even Minako, because I did. But Natsumi and I decided that it would be best we keep it to ourselves until things blew over." He wiped his hand down his neck in exasperation. "We weren't exactly sure how you would react about the news, so we decided to wait and see how things went. Because if we can prove that Konoha isn't behind the Council Member's murders, and make an alliance between the two villages, we were going to get married again, so that everyone could be there."

There was a long silence between the two. "Look…" Toshiro held up one of his hands as if brushing away the bad mood. "You can't keep things like that to yourself…especially…" he sighed, seeming to have trouble with the next words. "If we're family."

"Yeah…" Akito trailed off, finally realizing that he was in fact related to Toshiro and Satomi, and soon Kyo. "I'm new to this whole family thing, so…I'm sorry. You know, if I upset you or something…my father wasn't really the best example as to how family members should be treated, so I'm kind of learning as I go." He admitted.

Toshiro nodded, he knew the Uchiha line was severely messed up. But he decided to leave the matter alone. It would be a learning experience for everyone. He went back to Natsumi's side, his hands began to glow green and he pressed onto his sister's body. "Hm." He examined her face and pressed his fingers to her temples. "If we can heal her, I don't think she's going to thank us…or be happy."

"Why not?" he asked, confused.

"You heard the report. And my scans have confirmed it. She's absolutely blind. Not blurry blind, as in the only thing she will ever see again is darkness." He removed his hands then and walked back to Akito. "She might kill everyone in the room."

He sighed and looked from her to Toshiro. "Yeah, she isn't going to be happy when she wakes up and can't see. But…shouldn't you do it anyways? I mean, at least then she'll be alive, right?"

The redhead laughed. "I wouldn't stop even if she told me to herself. Though, usually poison rolls in lulls. She might wake up for a moment or so. The labs say she was conscious when the powder was eroding her body. Even if she only had five minutes to analyze the poison, she knows what it is. I'm going to need you to go get Satomi, and if she needs your help just suck it up and do whatever she asks. She may irritate you, but she's an amazing medic. If we're going to find out this poison, Satomi is the closest anyone will ever come."

He nodded and left the room, finding Satomi in the same spot she had been in when he arrived. "Satomi, Toshiro needs your assistance, and…if you need me to get you anything or help in any way, just tell me." Akito said, repeating the mantra that this was all for Natsumi's benefit in his head. Before she could answer, Kyo and Minako walked up. Seeing his fiancé on the ground, he was next to her immediately.

"Satomi, are you alright?" he asked, placing his hand on her back.

"My sister is going to die…and I can't do anything about it." She said, not even moving from her curled up position.

"That's not true honey. You're one of the best, smartest medics in the world. If anyone can save Natsumi, it's you." He said, trying to make her feel better. He had never seen her so broken. She finally looked up, tears were streaming down her face and she looked as if the world was ending.

"No I can't, I don't know anything about intricate poison, I studied complex surgeries and the brain. You don't understand how difficult poison is!" she yelled, only crying more as she buried her face in her hands. "I know Toshiro wants to help but there's nothing we can do. I've already tried everything!"

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, wanting to comfort her in any way. "Maybe, you need to think outside the box for this…I'm not sure because I don't really know how medical things work, but anything is worth a try, right?"

"Toshiro said that if she wakes up again she should be able to tell us what poison is in her body, and you two could eradicate it. Even if she's blind for the rest of her life, at least she will be alive." Akito said, speaking up.

Minako gasped at the knowledge that Natsumi was blind, and put her hand over her mouth. Her heart went out to the entire family, and she prayed to whatever god was listening that everything turned out okay in the end.

Satomi frowned, moving her hands between herself and Kyo. She gripped his shirt tightly, needing some form of comfort. She felt so cold and lifeless…and useless. "I'm sorry," she apologized, but it wasn't to Kyo…it was to Akito.

Akito shook his head. "It isn't your fault, as long as you did your best, that's all I can really ask for. But…can you try Toshiro's idea? I won't push for anything else I swear, but…if she dies…" he couldn't even finish the sentence, the thought of Natsumi dying freaked him out so much. If she died, if he lost her, he was going to go crazy.

The elder twin pulled away from Kyo, the expression on her face looked contemplative and as if she were working something out in her head. She touched over Kyo's heart and started tracing something. Minako vaguely recalled the pattern she was tracing to be the circulatory system. She was in a bit of awe. These three siblings were simply amazing with their memory. She activated her byakugan, watching as Satomi's finger never left the trail of veins. "The messenger said she was poisoned by breathing it in, wouldn't you need to focus on the respiratory system?"

Satomi looked over at her, a bit distracted. "Well that's what I thought at first. Unless the poison was super absorbent and soaked into her blood stream. Which would explain why her muscles are tensing. The blood would carry the untraceable amount of poison throughout her body." She went wide eyed and stood abruptly. "I need to read." she said, making everyone get a confused look. "Kyo, please go in and help my brother. Do whatever he says." She told him, looking over at Akito and Minako. "And you two come with me." She looked back up at Kyo, a bit of hesitation in her action. She leaned up and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Thank you…" she whispered, quickly pulling away and heading down the hall before he could see her small blush.

Akito and Minako followed Satomi and Kyo stood there for a minute, touching his cheek to make sure that he had been correct in what she had done to him. He smiled dumbly, and shook his head, snapping back to reality. He went into the room and looked at Toshiro. "Satomi went to go read, and she sent me in here to help you. So, what can I do to help?" he asked, clasping his hands together.

"I need you to go get the best medics you can. Her fever is rising and we need to keep her temperature at ninety eight. Get some cold water and some ice, along with some rags." He ordered, not even sparing the blonde a second glance. Kyo nodded and left the room, off to get what the redhead requested.

After stopping at one of the labs to review the sample of the poison, Satomi, Akito, and Minako walked into a room that looked similar to a library, books lining three walls. Satomi walked over to one of the shelves and began skimming the titles. She pulled a few down, tossing them onto one of the tables and continued the action until there was a large pile. "Alright." She turned towards them. "These are all the books on poison that Iwa has to offer. Since the poison was in Iwa, we can presume that it might be in one of these. I need you to help me comb though these until you find a poison that is dust, grey, causes fever, stiff muscles, constriction of lungs, loss of eye sight, and enlarged organs. Can you two do that?"

"Yes." Akito said with a nod, getting straight to work.

Minako nodded as well. "Of course." She picked up a nook, sat down, and began to read.

Satomi picked up one of the larger ones, skimming through it quickly. She flipped the page, an action she repeated for the next few hours. They had been reading for at least four hours now. Minako fell forward a bit, her eyes were so tired of reading. She officially decided she actually hated something in the world. Medical words. They were obscenely long and made absolutely no sense. She set the book down and rested her head on the paper. "My head hurts." She groaned.

Akito grimaced, he felt like his eyes were bleeding. But, he knew that what he was doing was for Natsumi, so he persevered and continued to read. "Just keep going." He said, turning the page in the medical text book he was reading. Minako slowly sat up, rubbed her eyes, shook her head, let out a sigh, and picked her book back up. She could do this. It was for her friend, and she always went above and beyond for her friends no matter what. Suddenly Akito stopped, reread the section he had just skimmed and stood. "I think I have something." He announced. Minako looked up from her book sharply, hoping against all hope they had actually found it this time. Anything they thought could be it they ran by Satomi, and she was the deciding factor on if it was a possibility or not. So far, they had had three miscalls.

Satomi got up, she didn't look excited, because she refused to get her hopes up. She had already gone through three times as many books as Akito and Minako, but for her they were a bit easier to read. But so far they had had no luck. She took the book from Akito and scanned over the page. "Which one?"

He pointed to a spot in the middle of the page. "This one. Iocane."

She sat down and looked over the description, it seemed close enough. Her brows furrowed together and she leaned forward, trailing her finger along the words. "Oh my god." She folded the corner of the page and set the book down still leaving it open and got up. She dug through the pile that she had already been through and finally pulled out one specific one. She went back to the table and flipped through her new book. "Ah hah!" she slammed the book down and ran her finger along the ingredients. "This…" she trailed off, tapping the page excitedly. "This could be it!" she compared the two. "No wonder I didn't see this one, it was missing a description, and it only had the ingredients." She actually smiled. "Akito, grab that one." She pointed to the book he had been reading and picked up her own. "I might be able to make an antidote out of this, but it will be difficult." She mumbled on, already leaving the room.

He grabbed the aforementioned book and hurried after her. Deciding to let them be, Minako went back to Natsumi's room in order to tell Toshiro and Kyo the news. Not wanting to just walk into the room, in case they were in the middle of something, she knocked lightly on the door. The door opened and Kyo peered out at her. "It's Minako," he called over his shoulder. After getting the ok, he allowed her in and shut the door behind her. Toshiro had changed from his normal attire, into some black scrubs. He was holding two ice cubes against her neck.

"Hello Minako. What's the news?" he asked without looking up from his task.

"We believe that we figured out what the poison is that's in Natsumi-chan. Iocane, I think was what it was. Satomi-chan and Akito-kun are making the antidote as we speak." She informed them. Then she looked at her unconscious friend. "How is she doing?" she asked, voice full of concern.

He sighed with relief, though he didn't think Minako understood just how difficult making an antidote was. "Her fever has been stabilized, but that could mean nothing. We've been keeping her cold, in hopes that she will somewhat gain some consciousness."

She nodded. "Do you need me to get you anything?" she asked, wanting to be of some assistance.

"No." he said simply, he glanced up at the two and then back down. "Actually, you guys are kind of crowding the room. I'm sorry but I'll have to ask you to leave. But could you get me something to eat, I'm starving and I'm sure Satomi could use some as well."

"We'll get on that." Kyo said, ushering Minako out of the room. They split up then, each going to get one of the medics something to eat.

"What do I need to do?" Akito asked, looking around the room curiously.

Satomi tensed, looking over at him. Did he have to ask that every five minutes? "I need you to be quiet." She said, trying not to sound annoyed. She'd been measuring out the proper ingredients, following the book carefully. But it was difficult, antidotes were much more difficult than poisons. Unfortunately, she wasn't making much progress. She had already attempted one but it was a failure and now was on her second attempt and it didn't seem to be taking well.

Kyo entered the room then, carrying a deli sandwich he had picked up from one of the street vendors close to the hospital. "Here honey, I got you something to eat. You're going to need your strength." He said, setting the food down on an empty table.

She straightened and gave him a grateful look. "Thanks," she said, picking up the sandwich and taking a bit. "I'm really hungry and this is really starting to agitate me. I don't know if I'm even doing it right." She sighed. She didn't want to mention just how much she had hated antidotes and poisons when she was learning from her mother and had let her mind wander. Damn, she really wished she had paid attention now.

Kyo just gave her an encouraging smile. "Well, if anyone can figure it out, you can, I just know it." He looked over at the pacing Uchiha then and frowned. "Akito, let's go train." He said. This caused the dark haired man to pause in his actions.

"What kind of stupid idea is that? I can't go train, not when I might be needed, or Natsumi might wake up or-"

"Will you just shut up and come on? You're just getting in the way and on Satomi's nerves. Why don't we let her and Toshiro handle this on their own? If they need us or anything changes, they can send Minako to get us, since I know she won't be leaving anytime soon." The blonde explained.

Akito nodded. It would be good to take his mind off this right now anyways, since he was pretty close to snapping. "Fine, but only for a little while." He said, heading out of the room. Kyo looked at Satomi and smiled slightly.

"Better?" he asked. She nodded and gave him a small wave before turning back to her work.

The two left then, to try and take their minds off the situation. Besides, it's not like worrying would make everything go away, or help anything. They would just have to put their hopes in the two medics.