'My whole body feels sore...what the hell happened.' Slowly I open my eyes and look around. 'A hospital room...but where.' I take a deep and push myself to sit up. My muscles feel strained and weak. I examine the machines around me, the heart monitor and pain medication seem to be the only ones actually hooked up to me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, my organs feel okay, the pain feels manageable. I debate taking the sensors off of myself, but decide to ring for a nurse instead. 'Mind as well since if I take the sensors off a nurse will come anyways.' A few moments pass and then the door slides open. A nurse, doctor, and a blonde woman walk in.
"Well we're glad to see you awake finally." The nurse smiles kindly at me. I examine them closely, none of them have a symbol of what village I'm in. The blonde woman appears to see the question in my eyes.
"You are in Konohagakure. The Hidden Leaf Village. I am Tsunade, the Hokage." The nurse begins to examine me, assessing my injuries and how they've healed. She detaches the machines sensors from me. The Hokage watches closely. "Well, you seem to have healed. What is your name? How are you feeling?" I move around a bit, assessing myself. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up stretching.
"I am Kodama, Akari. I feel okay, sore from the injuries and from not moving much, but it's manageable. How long was I out? And... what exactly happened... I can't remember much..." I continue to stretch, trying to loosen my muscles up.
"Let's go to my office, we can go over everything there." The Hokage turns to the doctor, "she is cleared to leave, correct?"
"Yes ma'am, I just need to get her discharge papers. The nurse will bring in your belongings and your discharge papers. Do you have any questions for me before we let you go?" the doctor waits a moment, giving me time to think. I shake my head.
"No, I feel alright, I'm not concerned. Thank you very much for your care during my time here." The doctor nods to me and turns bowing to the Hokage before leaving. I turn my attention to the Hokage. "So I know you said we would talk when we got to your office, but can I just ask how I got here?" Tsunade looks me over and walks to the window staring off into the distance.
"We're really not sure. We didn't even know who you were. My shinobi were incredibly lucky that you were headed here, no matter the reason. You saved a few lives." I let what she says sink in for a moment, and slowly it all starts to come back to me.
"I came upon a team of your ninja that were in pursuit of enemies who had taken one of your own, i was on my way to you to deliver a message." The Hokage turns to me and nods. "Your shinobi were in rough shape...they were trying to get back a guy name...Uchiha?" The Hokage nods again. "It appears that I was in rough shape by the end of everything as well...I hope your people made it out okay."
"I'm glad that your memories have begun to come back. All of our ninja made it back. The Leaf Village owes you a great debt. Sand ninja showed up as well to help, between the four of you, our team was kept alive." I smile at the Hokage, at that moment the nurse comes in with my belongings.
"Here you are dear, and here are your discharge papers as well." She smiles and places everything on the bed. The Hokage and the nurse both turn to leave so I can get dressed. I open the bag and sift through my things. 'I guess a few of my things got lost and some torn apart...' I hold up my black tank top and examine the many holes. 'I can't even tell what kinds of tools made these holes. Guess I'll have to do some shopping.' I let out a heavy sigh as I get ready to change when there is a knock on the door. I retie my hospital gown.
"Come in." The Hokage enters the room with two men about my age. One has black hair tied into spiked ponytail, his eyes are narrow and brown, his expression is one of pure boredom. The other man has messy brown hair and sharp black eyes, but a devilish smile. "Lady Hokage, I was just about to get ready…" The Hokage smiles kindly.
"I know, I'm sorry for interrupting, but these are two of the young men you helped save, and they brought you some things." I look at the two men curiously. "This is Nara, Shikamaru," she introduces the black haired man first who steps forward and bows, "And this is Inuzuka, Kiba." The brown haired man steps forward and bows.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both." I look them both over carefully. "You both look to have recovered well from the battle, I'm glad." Kiba's smile falters.
"We both owe you our lives…I'm sorry that helping us took so much out of you and caused so much pain to you." He stares at the ground as he speaks. Shikamaru steps forward offering me a bag, I stare at it for a moment before taking it from him.
"When we heard you were awake we wanted to come and thank you, and offer you this…we know that your clothes were torn quite a bit during the battle, we thought that you might need something to wear." Shikamaru takes a step back. I take the clothes out of the bag.
"You…you really didn't have to…but thank you. That was very kind of you." Kiba smiles at me and puts his hands up as if to stop me.
"It's the least that we could do, honestly. We're also going to be escorting you and Lady Hokage to her office, and we'll be your guides while you're in Konohagakure, if you'd like." I smile softly at him and nod.
"Thank you, both of you." I shift my gaze to Shikamaru, but he won't make eye contact with me. 'Hmm…wonder what his problem is…'0
"Alright, we'll be right outside Ms. Kodama, you get ready and then we'll go." The Hokage smiles and leads Shikamaru and Kiba out of the room. I look through the clothes that the two men brought me. 'Well...they either have good taste or they had help.' I decide on a long sleeve black fishnet undershirt with a grey turtle neck sleeveless shirt over it, and calf length fishnet stockings with black shorts over them. I go through my belongings and find my ninja tools, I tuck them into the holsters and attach one to my right thigh, hooking the other onto my waistband. I glance in the mirror and release my waist length black hair from the braid that kept it tame. I smile at my appearance, finally starting to feel like myself again. I slip my black shoes on and pack everything into my backpack before heading for the door.
"I have to say…you guys did a great job picking out clothes, I would have picked the same things honestly." Kiba looks me up and down his jaw dropping slightly.
"Wow…you look…amazing. My sister helped to pick some stuff out. I'm glad you like it." He smiles that devilish smile again. Shikamaru looks at me, I notice his cheeks grow a faint pink color as he looks me over. Kiba turns to the Hokage, "Alright, Lady Hokage, if you're ready?" The Hoksge nods and begins walking down the hall. Kiba gestures for me to go before him and Shikamaru. I follow closely behind the Hokage as we head out of the hospital and towards the her office. I glance around the village as we walk.
"Wow, your village is beautiful." I smile softly as I observe all the shops and people. It's a short walk to the Hokages office. I glance up at the vast building, and then at the mountain with the Hokages faces carved into it. "It's quite remarkable. An honorable tribute." The others look at the mountain and I see nostalgia in all of their eyes for a moment.
"I suppose it is a nice tribute." The Hokage smiles up at the faces. I look back at the mountain. Her face hasn't been added yet. "My face will be up there by the end of next month, if that's what you were just wondering about." She smirks at me. I let out a soft laugh and nod.
"I was wondering about it, yes. You have quite a gift for knowing what questions are on my mind." She shrugs her shoulders a smile playing on her lips as she waves for me to follow her up the stairs. Kiba and Shikamaru continue behind me as the four of us head up towards the Hokages office. As we rise to the top I continue to take in the view of the Hidden Leaf Village. 'It really is beautiful here. What a lovely place to live.' My mind wanders to my home, my family. I wonder if they know where I am…if they checked on me at all… it's then that I realize I still don't know how long I was in the hospital. But that was part of the point of coming here, to discover what happened. We reach the top of the staircase and head into the Hokages office.
"Alright now, let's see…" The Hokage sits at her desk and sifts through some files. "Ah, here it is. Alright, so from the looks of it Ms. Kodama you were in the hospital for three weeks." I stare at her blankly.
"Well…I guess that explains why I was so sore. Three weeks is a long time to be bed ridden." I stare at my hands in my lap, afraid to ask if my family has inquired about me. It wouldn't be the first time that they just ignored someone disappearing.
"By the looks of it we never found the message that you were supposed to deliver. Do you remember what it was now that some of your memory has returned?" The Hokage watches me closely. I take a deep breath.
"It was about Orochimaru. The location of his hide out. But three weeks is a long time it may be out dated information now." The Hokage grabs a map and places it in front of me with a pen.
"Can you mark it down anyways? We'll take any lead we can get at this point." I see a faint sign of hope in her eyes. I mark the spot that I last knew as Orochimaru's hide out. The Hogake takes the map and looks it over. "I'll get a team together to check it out. Thank you Ms. Kodama."
"I would be glad to show them the way and help determine if your missing ninja is there." My voice is stronger than my body feels. 'I would definitely need to test my strength before going though.' Tsunade looks at me and opens her mouth to respond when a voice behind me cuts her off.
"Absolutely not. I mean no disrespect Lady Hokage, but she isn't from our village and has already almost lost her life helping us. We can't intentionally put her in danger." Shikamaru is standing in front of me now while he addresses the Hokage. There is a seriousness on his face and in his voice.
"Shikamaru, I respect your opinion, and understand your concern. I will not make this decision lightly, I assure you of that. I'm also not going to make the decision now. It will take a little time to get the right team assembled anyways. You and Kiba may go wait downstairs, there are things that Ms. Kodama and I need to discuss privately." Shikamaru glances at me, his eyes soften for a moment before he heads for the door with Kiba. They shut the door behind them and I turn to the Hokage.
"Lady Hokage…" my voices falters, I stare at my hands again letting out a sigh. "I…I assume that my family has not inquired about me at all. If they had, you would have been able to receive the message from them and would not have had to wait for me to awaken…" I look up at her, gauging her reaction.
"Your assessment is correct Ms. Kodama." I raise my hand slightly.
"Lady Hokage, call me Akari please, Ms. Kodama is just…too formal, if you don't mind." The Hokage offers me a soft smile and nods.
"Very well, Akari. You are correct, we have not had any contact from your family. I'm sorry." I smile at the Hokage and shake my head slightly.
"It's not out of character for them. I didn't expect any different. They're not the most…bonded family." I stand and walk to the window looking out over the village. "You have a beautiful village. One of the things I remember most from that day is the comradery I saw. Every one of your shinobi were ready to lay their life on the line for the mission, for their comrade, for their village. That's not something I've seen before. Hell, even now, with Kiba and Shikamaru bringing me clothes because mine were torn…that was incredibly unexpected. I'm not even from here, and they went out of their way to help me. Its truly remarkable." The Hokage moves to stand beside me and places a hand on my shoulder.
"You know Akari…if you're looking for a place that offers comradery, you could make this your home as well." Her words take a moment to sink in. 'Is she really offering to take me into her village…'
"Lady Hokage…that's…that's quite an offer." I look at her out of the corner of my eye. She turns me to face her.
"Akari, you've done a great deal for this village already, you didn't know any of those shinobi, but you still jumped in to help and protect them. That's incredibly selfless. And you're clearly a strong shinobi, I heard a little about how you were handle our enemies. You would be an asset to us. It's your choice. Take a few days. See the village. Get to know the people. Then come see me when you've made up your mind." She smiles kindly at me.
"Alright Lady Hokage, I will consider your offer. Thank you." I bow to the Hokage before heading for the door. I shut the door behind me and stop for a moment in the hallway. 'I can't believe that they would be willing to let me be a part of the village…but can I really just leave my family like that.' I scoff to myself. 'My family that hasn't checked on me in almost a month…some family that is. But what if I don't fit in here.' I take a deep breath as doubt begins to creep into my mind. I head down the stairs slowly and start weighing my options. 'Joining the Leaf Village...hmm.'