Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This story is purely a work of fanfiction.

Chapter 22

"We aren't too far from the inn and I won't be able to heal your injuries here, we're too exposed from further attacks." Nina tore the front of her skirt and knelt down to Kakashi who was slumped against a tree trunk to fit a makeshift sling.

"I'm not entirely sure pummelling me like you did is-"

"I'm not giving you 5,000 Ryo for an accident. I had completely forgotten we were holding hands until you were, well…" "Your breathing is off, we need to move so I can do a more thorough assessment." She slung both packs onto her back and dipped under his free arm to support him, he let out a groan.

"I don't think there'll be any more coming but let's get going. I think I have a few broken ribs."

"How is it that you made it into anyone's bingo book?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. You aren't a floundering mess when you're in medic-mode."

"Mph." He took the squeeze on his tender ribs as a warning and carried on walking with no further banter.

"Right, stay here and I'll go sort out rooms for the night."

"Room."

"Huh?"

"One room Nina." He held his hand to his ribs as he sat hunched over on the bench seat.

"But…" She let out a resigning sigh, not wanting to elongate his pain any further. "Fine, one room."

He watched her make her way to the reception desk and noted her ragged appearance from their recent attack. The front piece of her skirt overlay was missing exposing her harem pants, and she was covered in dust. He recognised a darkening patch of fabric on the right side of her torso. He couldn't hold the position any longer and he dropped his head towards his knees.

"Come on old man, let's get you sorted out."

She seemed agitated but was still remarkably gentle as she grappled to support his frame, mindful not to inflict any further damage. "Is there a problem with our room?"

They made their way along a corridor on the bottom floor, to the very end and stopped in front of the door on the left.

"That's a matter of perspective."

Nina's dexterity prevailed between the packs, and the weight of his body, she still managed to unlock the door. She sat him on the edge of the bed and he watched her drop the packs against the wall closest to the door and began rifling through hers for some medical supplies.

She was sure she probably wouldn't need any of the supplies for him but it was better to be prepared just in case. Despite being an honest mistake Kakashi had sustained substantial damage when she had inadvertently launched him at their attackers; having forgotten they were still linked. Under Tsunade's tutelage she had perfected the mammoth fetes of strength using her chakra control expertise. Kakashi let out another groan and Nina dumped the supplies on the bed before running her hands over his right shoulder to assess the damage; she had not only dislocated it but the momentum had torn some of his muscles, ligaments and tendons. She unrolled her bed roll and threw the pillow to the side.

"Nina…"

"Stop complaining." She undid the sling, then unzipped his jacket and tossed it behind him onto the bed. He was still wearing his long sleeved shirt and probably his undervest too but they presented a problem as she would likely inflict further damage if she was to remove the garments over his head.

"Do you have spare clothes?"

He nodded and Nina reached around his back creating a blade with her chakra along her hands and cut the back and front of his shirts to so that she had direct contact to his upper body, leaving his mask in place.

"Now who's the pervert?"

"Stop talking I think your lung may be punctured. I need to help you to lay down on the floor."

He allowed her to manoeuvre his body as she required and he mused over her current fluidity despite his lack of clothing.

"Just as I thought, three broken ribs and a small puncture to your lung plus a very badly dislocated shoulder. I'm sorry." He closed his eye as he felt the warmth of her chakra penetrate into his rib area.

A wave of guilt washed over her as a steady stream of chakra flowed from her hands into his chest to remedy the puncture and reconstruct the broken ribs. This was the easy part, his shoulder was going to be a bit more of a challenge, as she would normally request a second set of hands to supply an anaesthetic chakra to make the ordeal a little less painful.

She could see his breathing had returned to normal and the bruising had reduced dramatically too. It wasn't ideal but it was the best option given the state of his injuries. She lifted his right hand and set his arm into a right angle with his body, his hand in line with his head, and gently wedged her left hand under his shoulder whilst releasing some chakra to alleviate some of the pain.

"This isn't going to be pleasant and I can heal and anaesthetise at the same time but I can't gauge your pain as effectively."

She straddled Kakashi, immobilising him with her right knee on his left bicep, and locked his other side in by twisting herself so her shin and ankle pinned his right thigh. She directed his left hand to the blood sodden patch on her right side above her hip.

"Indicate by adding pressure to there so I know when you're-" She seen his eye pull into a frown. "Kakashi, I will heal it after but right now I need to get you healed. Just do as you're told, please."

He kept focussed on her face as her chakra filled his shoulder, netting the intricate layers of his shoulder back together. His fingers dug into her side, eliciting a slight wince from Nina's mouth before his pain was immediately dealt with. He could feel her body tensing combatting his body's uncontrolled responses whilst she worked on resetting his shoulder.

"Breathe in."

He inhaled lifting her weight, and once again his grasp imbedded into her fresh wound causing the blood to cling to his fingers.

"And out." Slowly he exhaled before the familiar clunk sounded from his shoulder. "There. Try that."

She sat back a little allowing him to sit up so he could rotate and stretch his shoulder out. He rolled it back and forth a few times before she reached up to the edge of the bed for a fresh sling.

"It's just for the night. You can take it off tomorrow."

He bent forward into her so she could reach around his neck to fasten the straps. He arched back, using his left hand pulled up her shirt to inspect her wound. It was sticky from the fresh blood where he had used it as a pain meter at her request.

"Here."

Nina had reached for a wipe to hand him in exchange she held her shirt up. He could see her muscles tense under the coolness of each wipe and the sting of the alcohol into the apparent deep cut. Their hands swapped again and she made short work of healing herself whilst he held her shirt out of the way.

Medically their position wasn't unusual. Nina was accustomed to the human anatomy and she had found herself in all sorts of poses, particularly on missions.

"I probably should have let you get dressed before putting that on, huh?"

"Perhaps."

Her thighs tightened as she felt his hand slide from her left knee up over her thigh but she kept herself in place. She was determined to push past the urge to leap from her current position, so she reciprocated by gliding her hand from his wrist up to the top of his shoulder, letting her fingers meld around the contours of his muscles.

"Two." Neither moved. "The answer to your earlier question is two, excluding missions of course." Her stomach let out a very loud rumble.

"Let's go do something about that empty stomach of yours."

She knew he had heard her but they had skipped breakfast so a decent feed was overdue.

"Do you need a hand getting dressed?"

"No, I should be right thank you. I'll wait for you to have a shower."

She unfastened the sling so he could get changed and she went about collecting the things she needed for a shower.