"The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again."
~ Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby
...
Her name is Uzumaki Mitomi, she's sixteen and a jounin, whatever that means. She has two siblings, an uncle, and a grandfather. According to Naruto she had lots of friends, even a boyfriend. But she doesn't remember any of them, brows furrow, she rings her hands around the hospital blanket. Nothing makes sense.
She has no previous memories. A woman who introduces herself as Senju Tsunade tells her she has a serious case of retrograde amnesia. Apparently she was in a serious altercation, there was trauma of sorts. That the memories may not return. She frowns at that.
All of these people seemed nice.. She wanted to remember them. Wanted to know them how they knew her. Why couldn't she remember? She never forgets anything.
It's the price you paid.
She startles at the sudden voice inside her head. What the fuck? Why was she hearing voices now? Quite frankly that wasn't fair… the few people she'd interacted with were already treating her like she was a broken doll. She didn't need them to treat her like she was crazy too.
She's not crazy is she? There is a harsh sigh at the back of her mind. The voice seems annoyed, but she cannot see what they look like.
I am Kurama, you host me, I am a powerful chakra construct. The Kyuubi if you will. A nine tailed fox? How peculiar..
I host you?
When the blonde boy returns, ask him to explain it to you. I am still tired from healing your body.
Mitomi isn't sure what she is supposed to do with that. She lays back in the bed, a sudden wave of tiredness floats over her. Maybe she should rest like the blonde lady suggested.
She drifts off into dreamless sleep.
…
"She doesn't remember anything?" Shikaku asks carefully. Tsunade was already teetering on the edge of irritation. Especially since the kids returned, for the most part still in one piece and alive. The worst injury for out of everyone was Mitomi, the second Neji who ended up needing surgery on both of his shoulders. The only casualty was Chiyo. Naruto was still holding onto her body scroll. Asakimi had told him that Mitomi would know what she was supposed to do with the body. But that may not be the case now. Kosuke told them it was a clan thing, so the subject was dropped.
Tsunade rubs a hand over her face, as if trying to will her headache to leave. "Not a damn thing. It's like her memories are just gone. Inoichi will need to perform a mind walk to verify… but I doubt they are there, or somehow she no longer has access to them. This is the worst case of retrograde amnesia I have ever seen. Especially considering her background." She's lived three known lives, surely she would have memories from at least one of them. But no, there was nothing there.
Inoichi hums stroking his chin. Obviously thinking. The mind was his area of expertise… but there was no good explanation why she wouldn't have any previous memories. Usually amnesia patients have something to go off of. This was just bizarre. Especially since none of her injuries included head trauma.
"When you think she can handle the process we can do a mind walk to check her mindscape. It may be the memories are still there just locked away somewhere. But if they are truly gone then we need to know and prepare. She may need to be retrained, if the muscle memory is gone too." A mastery of fuinjutsu down the drain, hard learned and well deserved skills gone. Inoichi prayed the theoretical memory of those things was still there. The village hadn't had a seal master like her.
Tsunade purses her lips. "And her connection with the Kyuubi?" She wonders. Shikaku glances up.
"Will probably not change. Naruto says that she was friends with her half of the nine tails. I doubt the Kyuubi will try to take advantage of her in this state." He sighs. This was a mess. Tsunade looks as if she feels the same way.
"Inoichi, prepare to do a complete mindwalk, she should be up for it by tomorrow. I can explain to her what it is and why it has to be done." Tsunade sits on her desk and dismisses them both. She has other work to do.
"Has Shikamaru been by to see her yet?" Inoichi asks his friend as they walk down the hall. Shikaku shakes his head.
"He hasn't. I think he's afraid he'll upset her, or worse…" She won't love him anymore. Shikaku was no fool, he knew good and well how much his son loves Mitomi. He knew that if she no longer loved him back… it would hurt. Inoichi nods, he understands.
"Mitomi is strong.. I believe she'll recover. Ino wants to visit her but she doesn't want to go alone, or with Naruto. Says seeing him so upset is really heartbreaking." Shikaku rolls his eyes.
"Maybe she can convince Shikamaru to go with her, they could even take Choji. Hell at this point it's practically their tradition." Inoichi snorts, that shouldn't be funny. Really it was morbid. But he couldn't help it.
Mostly because it was true. Team 10 always visited Mitomi when she was in the hospital.
…
Mitomi has taken to absentmindedly staring out the window in her free time. Sometimes her brother comes to visit, sometimes he brings their sister. A younger girl by a year who looks a lot like her, but different… she thinks they are technically cousins. For the most part though she doesn't have too many visitors, even though she supposedly has lots of friends; but Naruto assures her it is only because they don't want to overwhelm her.
It was a nice sentiment she supposed. But she was hoping that mabe if she saw more people, someone would trigger something...
There is a soft knock on the hospital door, it pulls her from watching the clouds pass by. "Come in!"
Three teens shuffle in somewhat awkwardly. A pretty girl with pale blonde hair in a high ponytail wearing purple with seafoam pupiless eyes, a somewhat chubby boy with red swirls on his face, and another boy with deep brown eyes and spiky hair. She fights to keep the blush off her face, he's very attractive… she hoped he was the boyfriend Naruto talked abut or else that was going to be awkward as hell.
"How are you feeling today Mitomi-chan? I'm Ino, and the boys are Choji and Shikamaru." She watches as the other girl changes out the flowers in her room. The boys wave with mild uncertainty at their names. Something was familiar about this, but like usual she couldn't place it.
Ino.. Shika.. Cho…
"Hanafuda…" She trails off, why did that come to mind? Ino comes over to sit at the foot of the bed and she smiles kindly.
"Yes, like Hanafuda. The three of us are a team, an infiltration and intelligence team specifically. Team 10. We sometimes run missions with you, we're friends." She tells her and Mitomi takes that information in.
Friends. That sounds nice.
Choji takes a seat in one of the chairs he holds up a bag of take out. "Are you hungry Mitomi? Hospital food can be gross so I brought some good stuff to snack on." Shikamaru is standing by the door still, like he may try to run away, or as if he was uncomfortable being there. Mitomi will puzzle through that observation later.
"Dumplings?" She asks as if something occurs to her, dumplings are her favorite. Mitomi isn't sure it's possible but his smile grows wider. It's nice, he has a nice presence. Innocent.
"You bet! I brought ma's homemade ones too, best in all of Konoha." His cheer is infectious, she smiles back.
"Sounds amazing."
…
Shikamaru frowns as they leave the hospital room, Ino latches onto his arm and Choji seems to take cue because he throws his arm over his shoulder. That… had been hard. Painful even. Her memories are just gone, zero recognition. She doesn't know who any of them are.
"She thought you were cute." He raises his eyebrow at Ino's sudden declaration. Shikamaru slouches despite their grips on him. Choji half chuckles.
"I saw it too, when Ino was pointing us out she looked a little flustered when she looked at you. And she remembered her favorite food, that's something right?" Choji sounds hopeful, and Shikamaru is grateful for his friends really… but he just couldn't right now.
"Dad is going to do a mind walk soon to see if they can figure out why her memory is just gone. Complete retrograde amnesia is rare. We just need to stay hopeful, and if all else fails she's our friend so we will help her create new memories." Ino declares softly.
Shikamaru lets his team walk him home. Too caught up in his own thoughts when it somehow ends in a sleepover. At least he wasn't alone.
XOXOX
In which the wheel keeps turning.
Thank you for reading!
~LaRae
