Exhaustion tugged at my consciousness, and I rapidly lost that fight. Chakra depletion doing me no favors in my effort to keep awake. I drifted in and out of a dazed half-sleep until Arashi nosed up against my face. "'Rashi?" I slurred, "tha' you?"

A sandpapery tongue scratched across my cheek. Large arms wrap around my body and I groan. My entire body protesting the movement. I fall back into the darkness that's been steadily enshrouding my mind. The last thought in my mind was that I was going to get Arashi so much fish for this.

Lucidity returns in brief bursts. I remember concerned voices, the prickly sensation of healing chakra, and being piggybacked through a forest before I finally wake up in the hospital. My legs… I glance down and heave a sigh of relief. They're still there. The problem is that all I feel is slight pins and needles. No rub of the soft linen, none of the usual joint pain that comes from prolonged stays in bed, just nothing but a softer version of that static feel that happens when a limb falls asleep.

Of course, that's an improvement from before… but still. It's unnerving.

I frown in consternation. I'm not a fan of not being able to move my legs. I don't know how long I sat there staring at the blanket before Weasel opened the door. I start at the ANBU mask, then I realize that I got injured on an ANBU mission, of course I'm in the ANBU section of the hospital. Which means that my family and friends still think I'm on a mission.

The medi-min helps me sit up. "You're lucky to be alive Lynx, and even luckier you just badly misaligned your vertebrae instead of breaking them."

"What does that even mean?" My brow furrows.

Weasel sighs. "It means with time, we can reconnect the neurons because they weren't severed. You'll be on medical leave for half a year at least, but you'll be able to continue your shinobi carrier with minimal problems."

Relief fills me. Half a year is inconvenient, but it's better than never recovering. "Of course," Weasel continues on, oblivious to my internal monologue, "you're unlikely to be able to fully recover your full range of movement without outside help." And there goes that relief.

"Oh, stop scaring the poor kid," A red haired woman chastises Weasel as she walks in. "I'm the outside help, Uzumaki Kushina!"

Huh. "Uh, nice to meet you? I'm Lynx. If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by 'outside help?'"

Kushina grins in excitement. "Well, I'm working on a series of medical fuinjutsu that should fix injuries that are beyond the scope on medical ninjutsu, such as complete neuron reconnection. The seal should take the place of the neurons that aren't fully connected and be able to send and receive electrical signals. Of course, the seal will take quite a lot of chakra to run, so I'll include chakra storage seals within the matrix. Over the course of your medical leave, you should fill them up. The only thing I ask in return is free babysitting!" She pauses, and thinks for a moment. "Oh, yeah. Are you okay with being my first lab rat?"

"Wow," I breathe, "that sounds really complex. Uh, yeah. I'd love to be a lab rat." Mark that down for a phrase I never thought I say.

I get a judgemental look from Dr. Kirishima as I wheel myself through her door. "I thought I told you I didn't want to see in Physical Therapy again, Nara."

"Wow, is that the greeting I get after four years away from my favorite physical therapist?" I press my hand to my heart in mock offense.

"I'm your only physical therapist," she deadpans. I concede the argument with a laugh. It's good to see her again. The shinobi lifestyle really isn't conducive to developing any sort of relationship outside of mission teams, but it's nice to have any companionship possible. Incidentally, that's probably why so many of us fuck our teammates but whatever.

Physical therapy continues to be a pain in my ass. Literally and metaphorically, because for all that I can barely feel the lower half of my body at the moment, I definitely go home sore every time.

The progress on Kushina's seal goes relatively slowly, and every minute that I'm reliant on others chafes. I've always been mostly independent, but now I can't go anywhere without getting worried looks from my uncle, aunt, and Shikamaru. It sounds terrible, but I'm somewhat glad that Hana, Itachi, and Shisui are all on missions.

I finally lose my tenuous hold on my temper when Kurasuko dropped her homework to get me a glass of water.

"Enough," I snarled. "You don't have to treat me like I'm useless just because I can't walk without assistance." I knew I was being irrational, but I just could stop myself from snapping at her.

Kurasuko flinches back, a hurt expression flirting across her face before she quickly quashes it. Instantly, I feel remorse. "I'm sorry," I sigh heavily, "I'm just," I gesture vaguely "not coping well."

"It's fine," she says tonelessly, but I know it's not fine. Kurasuko is not very good at emotions, something that I wholeheartedly want to kill Danzo for, and I upset her and now she doesn't know how to react. Kurasuko grabs her work and disappears into her room.

Strangely enough, Obito and Kakashi's house becomes my solace. They're both too terrible at human interaction to hover worriedly and perfectly understanding on my need for independence. Obito also laughs when I use humor as a coping mechanism so that's a bonus.

Kakashi understands my hatred of being idle and helps with my jutsu theory. The only good thing about this whole situation is that I have plenty of time to rope him into helping refine my Shadow-Lighting Blades. It's strangely freeing being able to work on one of my projects. I don't need legs to be able to perfect an original jutsu.

It comes to a point where I'm so frustrated by doing nothing that I start to do the paperwork Uncle Shikaku leaves on the dining room table. I still get worried looks from my entire family, but I valiantly attempt to tamp down my rage. I don't want to snap at anyone else like I did Kurasuko.

And that's exactly how Hana finds me when she storms into my house like a woman possessed. "Yoruka!" She exclaims and does a double take. "Are you doing paperwork?" She squints at me incredulously.

"Yes, and you would too if you were as bored as me." I continue to fill out clan tax reports. Ha, I have something over my past self. I do taxes now.

She huffs disgustedly. "Yeah, no. Come on." She turns and goes towards my room.

I sigh in faux exasperation and wheel after her.

She looks at me expectantly. Defensive, I snap "what?"

"You need to talk about your emotions," she says matter of factly.

I snort. "You're not a therapist Hana," I snarl.

"No, I'm better than one. I'm your best friend and I can tell when you're hiding something. I can also tell when you're upset. So, spill."

"No," I cross my arms.

"Fine," she says nonchalantly, "I guess you don't want these." She hold up a pack of graphite pencils.

"Are you seriously bribing me with rare art supplies?"

"Yes, now spill." Hana grins in triumph.

On one hand, more pencils, but acknowledging the fact that I'm not as okay as I'm trying to pretend. On the other, I'm almost out of pencils and I won't get more, but I can maintain my facade. Ah fuck, I always knew my priorities were skewed. Besides, I can trust Hana.

"Fine," I huff. "I'm angry, I feel useless, I snapped at Kurasuko and I feel terrible, so now both her and Shikamaru are walking on eggshells around me, which is just making me angrier, and I still have to wait another two weeks before Kushina can even apply the seal. Also, physical therapy fucking sucks and I don't know if it's even going to make a difference because there's no guarantee Kushina can even fix me ." It all floods out of me one one big torrent of fear-fed rage. "I just feel so helpless!"

"Oh, Yoruka," Hana sighs and hugs me. And there it goes. The dam officially broke. Next thing I know I'm clinging to Hana's shirt, sobbing.

The end.

I hope you enjoyed this story a lot.

Thanks for reading!