Rinn let out a surprised peep as she was met by several masked Anbu ninja after entering Sasuke's hospital room. They immediately drew their weapons in an attempt to block her entry and movement towards Sasuke, to which she jumped and held her hands up in mock surrender.

"Who are you! What is your business here!" One of them threateningly shouted, pacing forward and holding his sword ever closer to her neck.

"I'm Sasuke's friend! I mean no harm! Honestly I'm just here to make sure he's OK!" Rinn said desperately, waving her arms around frantically.

"She could be an imposter using a transformation jutsu..." One of the other Anbu chimed in, also closing in on Rinn.

"I'm not I promise! I've just come from the arena! I'm taking the chunin exams too! Sasuke and I live next door to each other!" Rinn continued to reel off reasons why she wasn't an imposter, and how she was here to help the medical corps but wanted to see her friend first, frantically trying to get to Sasuke.

Eventually, they grew tired of her talking and realised that if she was here to harm the young Uchiha, she would have done so by now. One by one, they cleared a path so that she could get to the hospital bed.

When she saw him, her chest grew tight. His eyes and forehead were bandaged, and he was hooked up to all sorts of machines, also wearing an oxygen mask. The beeping of the heart monitor was deafening.

"S-Sasuke...?" Rinn said quietly, as she knelt down beside his bed. She delicately brushed his bangs away from his face, taking one of his hands in hers. She had no idea he was this bad! He had seemed reasonably OK when she had last seen him in the arena – what on earth had happened to him?!

Rinn quickly activated her eyes, and scanned Sasuke's body top to bottom looking for any fractures or anything else to be worried about.

Nothing.

Hoping to help him, and wake him up, Rinn began using her medical ninjutsu on him before she was suddenly wrenched away from him and thrown outside the hospital room.

"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" One of the Anbu yelled from above her as she lay sprawled out on the floor in the corridor.

"I was healing him you jerk!" Rinn replied indignantly, now growing tired of being accused all the time.

The Anbu was just about to continue yelling at her, when one of the nurses came running down the corridor looking very anxious, desperately looking for the ninja with the orange hair. She came to a stop at Rinn's crumpled form, relief washing over her expression.

"Firinne? Are you Firinne?" The nurse asked, offering her an arm to help her up.

"I prefer Rinn..." She mumbled in response, dusting herself off.

The Anbu was about to reach to grab Rinn again, when he was halted by the strict glare of the nurse. After he dropped his arm back down, the nurse looked back to Rinn to explain her intrusion.

"Rinn, you skills are urgently needed," she began, "One of the genin is terribly injured..."

Rinn gasped. She hoped it wasn't Tatsuo... he still hadn't fought when she had left. Rinn gave Sasuke one final glance, before glaring at the Anbu and giving the nurse a curt nod, running off after her down the corridor.

Little did she know a certain spectacled ninja was waiting not far from Sasuke's room, waiting for the perfect moment to make his move...

- X -

Rushing corridor to corridor, Rinn and the nurse finally made it to the casualty. She was a tiny little thing, with short purple hair, and she did not look well at all.

Rinn looked up to the hospital staff questioningly.

"Her name's Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga. She's suffered from multiple hits from the gentle fist technique..." a staff member explained.

Rinn's face was a picture of confusion. She always thought the gentle fist technique was from the Hyuuga clan. She didn't understand how someone would be unable to defend themselves from their own clan's technique, unless she had gotten her facts wrong. She never did pay much attention to their history sessions whilst she was away training – that was more Shichiro's forte.

Realising that this was no time for her to be worrying about her history lessons, Rinn quickly came back to her senses and kneeled down to get to work on Hinata, along with two other medical ninja. She took the torso of the girl, whilst the others were working at the head and feet end.

Within a couple of minutes, Rinn noticed the other two ninja were strangely leaning away from Hinata, looking at her in shock. She had been concentrating so hard up until this point that she didn't notice them earlier, yet now the genin's condition was rapidly improving she was able to take in her surroundings once again.

"Is something wrong...?" Rinn asked, perplexed, glancing casually around to the other medical ninja present, hands still glowing green healing the Hyuuga girl.

"W-Where did you learn to heal like that?!" One of them stuttered.

"What do you mean?" Rinn asked, still bewildered.

"The rate at which you are healing her made all of our efforts negligible in comparison... that's why we stopped..." another one of them explained timidly.

"Tell us! Where did you learn that technique?!" One of the younger nurses exclaimed excitedly, keen to improve her skills.

"Well... Uh... I..." Rinn began, still performing her medical justu on Hinata, "I don't know really... I've been able to heal ever since I can remember. In fact, when I was a little girl, Sasuke and I – "

She stopped herself mid sentence.

Sasuke!

I should get back. This girl will be fine now.

Rinn double-checked Hinata's body with her visual jutsu for any more damage (which only made the hospital staff ogle at her even more...) before getting to her feet and heading for the door.

"I'm sorry. I have to check on my friend," Rinn said as she passed the doorframe, "If there's anybody else that urgently needs my help, please come and fetch me," she added.

All in the room muttered their expressions of gratitude as she headed back down the corridor towards Sasuke...

"Now... Which way did we come from..." Rinn mumbled to herself, scratching her head in confusion.

- X -

Rinn let out a dramatic sigh as her feet began to drag. She must've been walking around the hospital for at least half an hour now, and she was no closer to finding the whereabouts of Sasuke's room.

Gahh! I wish I'd paid more attention where we were going when I was following that nurse earlier! But I was so grateful to get away from those temperamental Anbu guys, I didn't take any notice.

She scowled at the floor and folded her arms as she continued trudging up and down the corridor. At this rate, she'd have to try and find her way back to reception to see if they would help. Although, to be honest she wasn't 100% sure she was even allowed to be in Sasuke's room. Maybe she could even go back to the arena and see if Shichiro would come and help with his sensory jutsu.

Tsk. As if. He didn't even want me to come here in the first place...

*CRASH!*

Rinn's trail of thought was interrupted in an instant, and she jumped a little at the sound of smashing glass. Immediately concerned that someone may have been hurt, Rinn went tearing down the corridor towards the source of the sound.

Her feet began to slow down as she arrived closer and closer, slowly beginning to recognise the area.

This looks like...

No.

Not Sasuke's room!

Rinn's heartbeat sped up as she deliberately quietened her footsteps, unsure of what she might find on the other side of the door. Standing with her back pressed against the wall just next to the doorframe, she looked through the slightly open door to try and see in. Unfortunately, she couldn't see much at all, so, taking a deep breath, she placed her palm onto the door and slowly pushed it open, already summoning her red chakra into her palm ready to attack. Silently diving around the doorframe to enter the room, she was about to launch a kunai at the figure standing nearby to Sasuke's bed when she recognised the spiky grey hair.

"K-Kakashi?!"

"Rinn?! What're you..."

Rinn let out a sigh of relief and lowered her guard, as Kakashi looked at her questioningly.

"I heard a smash so I came to see if anybody needed help – " she began to explain, before looking down by her feet at the tiled hospital floor.

Rinn gulped. There were limp bodies all across the floor. They were the bodies of the Anbu ninja who had been guarding Sasuke when she had tried to visit him earlier.

Now it was her turn to look at Kakashi questioningly.

Kakashi studied her for a moment. Should he tell her about Kabuto's attempt on Sasuke's life, and his ties to Orochimaru? But if he opened up that old can of worms he was sure the questions would then be never ending.

Perhaps he could tell her only a select amount of information?

No. There's no way she would accept that. It's either all or nothing with this one.

Kakashi stood in thought for another short moment before beginning to walk to the corner of the room.

"Sensei...?" Rinn asked curiously, still waiting for an answer.

Kakashi picked up the chair from the corner of the hospital room, and placed it next to Sasuke's bed. He gestured for Rinn to come and sit down, which she obliged with no qualms, after which he placed a comforting gloved hand firmly on her shoulder. He turned around and left the two there alone, shutting the door to the room with a quiet click.

Rinn glared at the door where Kakashi had just been, most displeased at the fact that she had not gotten any sort of explanation from the older ninja. He'd also left her in the room with a number of unconscious or dead Anbu – she wasn't sure yet.

Huffing a little, she gently took Sasuke's hand in hers for a moment, wondering what on earth was going on with him, and what the strange comma marks on his neck were. It was only when she looked up that she noticed the gaping hole in the glass window ahead of her.

- X -

Rinn went in every day to see Sasuke. Even though any other visitors were refused entry, the hospital staff hadn't forgotten the help she had given them during the chunin exams and turned a blind eye to the many hours that Rinn spent in the hospital. In return, she helped out where she could, particularly with difficult cases that the medical corps struggled to heal on their own – as a way of saying thank you.

Sasuke still had not regained his consciousness, so Rinn would tell him stories of her time away from the village training, keeping her hand in his the whole time. She even sneakily healed him as much as she could, although the hospital staff weren't keen on her doing this due to the strange and poorly understood nature of Sasuke's ill health. Some of them even thought that medical intervention might make him worse and were relying on his own will and strength to pull him through.

As the days added up, Sasuke began to look better and better. The colour returned to his cheeks, his eyes were uncovered, and the oxygen mask was no longer required.

It was an overcast Thursday when things finally began to pick up. Rinn was slightly later visiting Sasuke than usual as she had been (voluntarily) giving quick tutorials to some medical corps students out in the hospital grounds. Due to how passionate she was about certain techniques, she had gotten carried away and overran. She carefully jogged up the steps to the hospital entrance, and was about to quickly pass the reception desk when she noticed a flash of pink from the corner of her eye.

Her emerald eyes widened.

Sakura?

Shit!

Rinn kept her head down. She was well aware that Saukra had been trying to get in to visit Sasuke for some time now, and also knew that each day she came the hospital staff turned her away.

"I'm sorry, but Sasuke Uchiha still cannot receive any visitors," Rinn heard the nurse say apologetically, as she carried on making her way past the desk, now walking slowly as to not draw attention to herself. What would Sakura say if she saw her walk in after she was told no just seconds earlier?

Rinn had the corridor she was aiming for in sight, and was foolish enough to relax thinking she'd made it when –

"Rinn? Rinn is that you?!" Sakura called.

Rinn stopped, and thought for a moment about quickly running off before Sakura could catch up to her.

Argh I can't be that cruel...

Sighing, and mentally preparing herself for an angry onslaught from Sakura, Rinn waited for the sound of Sakura's feet to arrive behind her before she turned around.

"Umm... Hey Rinn..." Sakura mumbled awkwardly, unable to keep eye contact with her for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Hey Sakura... What's up?" Rinn replied, equally as awkwardly, but she had no issues looking Sakura dead in the eye, waiting to see where this was going.

"So... they let you through, huh?"

"Yeah... I uh... I've been helping out a bit here in the hospital. Y'know, with the healing and stuff."

"I heard what you did for Hinata. That was really cool," Sakura said quietly, at last holding eye contact with Rinn, who couldn't hide her shock at this compliment, and the person's mouth it had come from.

"Listen, Rinn..." Sakura continued, "I'm not here to fight with you. To be honest, it would be a waste anyway. After seeing your skills in the chunin exams so far, we all know you're one of the strongest female ninjas in the competition..."

Rinn raised an eyebrow.

Another compliment huh... What's gotten into her?

"I just wanted to know, how is Sasuke doing?"

Rinn looked down, feeling a little guilty. For a second she thought she might get away with convincing Sakura that she really was only here to provide medical assistance, but Sakura had a sharp mind.

"Please Rinn, nobody will tell us anything. Not even Kakashi-sensei," she pushed, looking at Rinn hopefully.

"He's doing well. Every day he's making good progress; he hasn't woken up yet but I don't think it will be long now before he does. He gets stronger every day," Rinn replied, smiling slightly to try and be nice.

Sakura smiled back, and continued to hover uncomfortably next to Rinn.

"Look Sakura... I can't get you in to the room or anything," Rinn began, assuming that was why she hadn't left yet.

"No no, I know," Sakura replied, "Thank you for taking the time to talk to me."

Sakura bowed slightly before swiftly turning around and making her way to the exit of the hospital, stopping to turn around and wave at Rinn slightly before stepping outside, leaving her completely stumped.

Weird. What was all that about?!

She was rooted to the spot for a few moments, disbelief evident across her face as she continued to stare absentmindedly at the exit Sakura just went through. Shaking her head, Rinn brought herself back to her senses and carried on up the corridor to Sasuke's room.

As always, she lightly knocked on the door, just in case he had regained consciousness since she had last been to visit him. She didn't want to burst in and catch him in any... compromising positions.

No answer.

Sighing to herself, Rinn gently opened the door with a quiet squeak, and made her way to the chair beside his bed that she was now very familiar with. It was an uncomfortable old thing: a metal fold-down chair with the thinnest red cushioning imaginable. Rinn had spent so long sitting on this delightful piece of furniture that she was beginning to wonder if her behind was becoming just as flat as the chair itself, and she winced a little as she tried to get comfortable on it before taking Sasuke's hand in hers once again.

"Hey Sasuke," she began as per usual, still not sure whether he could hear her or not, "It's a miserable day outside today. The annoying thing is, I think it would be really nice and sunny if the clouds weren't there – it's so warm, you'd probably hate it!" Rinn chuckled to herself, remembering how much Sasuke hates the hot weather. In fact, he hated being warm in general. As the months had gotten warmer Rinn had still wanted to keep the quilt over herself at night – it was more of a security blanket for her, yet Sasuke would be melting. Every night he tried to cuddle up to her under the quilt for as long as he could stand, but eventually he'd have to admit defeat and lie on top of the quilt instead!

Remembering this fondly, Rinn was reminded how much she was missing his company at home. They did everything together. Cooking, cleaning, eating, sleeping - she felt lonely at home by herself. Of course, her teammates and some of the other leaf ninja would pay her a visit every now and again (particularly Shichiro...), and she certainly had her training for the next round of the chunin exams to be busying herself with. But, in the evenings when all was quiet, all she wanted was to have her best friend close by.

Rinn let out another elongated sigh, and delicately brushed some of Sasuke's hair away from his face. For a moment, she became lost in his features. Worryingly, she was finding herself increasingly aware of just how handsome Sasuke was, and she hated herself for it.

I'm his best friend for Christ's sake! I refuse to be another one of those pathetic fan girls!

Rinn scowled to herself, annoyed with her brain for how it had been behaving since Sasuke had been in the hospital.

"Ridiculous," she muttered to herself, looking away from him with her arms folded, as if it was somehow his fault how she was acting. Realising how foolish this concept was, she laughed a little before turning back to face Sasuke and taking his hand once again, trying to think of a way to distract herself from her thoughts.

Resorting to her normal itinerary when she visited him, Rinn started telling him more stories from her time away training. This particular tale was another from when she and her teammates had been tracking, with a view to capture, a rogue ninja who had been causing all sorts of grief in a local village. She started from where she left off the day before, describing the ferocious battle with extraordinary detail (and that included Shichiro and Tatsuo's skill set – something she would surely be chastised for if they were ever to find out...) before recollecting the small celebration herself and her team had enjoyed the night they had defeated and handed over their target. She was just describing Tatsuo's terrible singing from inside their tent whilst they were trying to sleep when she felt a twitch from underneath her hand.

"You know..." Sasuke croaked out in the quietest of whispers, eyes barely open, "If there's anything I've learned from all of your crazy stories, it's that you spend way too much time in tents with people of the opposite sex," he flashed his famous smirk at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. His gaze at this moment held only joy and compassion as he looked up at Rinn's face, which was an absolute picture.

She didn't know whether to be shocked, happy, or give him a clout.

"Sasuke Uchiha! You've been unconscious for weeks and I have been in here to visit you every day! And the first thing you say to me-" she was stopped mid-sentence by Sasuke's arms weakly raising up to her body, one behind her head and one midway down her back. He gently pulled her down into a gentle embrace, before lightly kissing her cheek and pulling her closer still.

"Thank you," he murmured in her ear, his hand shakily trying to caress her hair as he held her. Rinn's mild irritation dissipated immediately, and instead she was overcome with happiness that he was finally awake.

"I've missed you," Rinn said, causing Sasuke to tuck his head into her neck and hold her tighter.