Shizune's Will of Fire:

Shizune slowly ambled into Kakashi's hospital room with a small bouquet of vibrant, blue forget-me-nots tucked into the inside of her elbow. Sighing, she eyed a vase with a few old, wilting red roses inside of it, and pulled them out of the water, discarding them into a trash can and placing her own fresher flowers inside.

She sat down on a chair next to his bed, catching sight of the countless cards on the side table, and the unopened "get well soon" baskets on the floor. It had been around 3 weeks since Kakashi had woken up, and as more and more days passed by, his comrades only grew more fearful and hopeless.

They'd been constantly asking Lady Tsunade for reasons as to why he wasn't waking up, and when he was going to, but in the end, she wasn't able to tell them enough to keep their questions at bay.

Being a doctor, Shizune knew the truth—while some people take longer to wake up from brain surgery, she knew that this may not be that. Kakashi was in a coma, that much was obvious; maybe because of the sheer trauma of the operation, and the brain swelling that came with it. The longer he slept, the less likely it became that he would ever wake up.

Even if he did wake up, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't get sick again. After the surgery, they had scanned him several times, and had come to the conclusion that he was cancer free. However, once he started to produce new chakra again, it was very likely that new tumors would form, as the original mutation that had caused his illness was still there.

To prevent him from forming new chakra, they had blocked off his chakra pathways, and essentially shut them down, giving Shizune time to find a solution to the complex problem. Lately, she had been working on a vector delivery system, in which she would use an inactivated HIV virus to transport the missing protein into his cells, and integrate it into his DNA.

It was definitely much easier said than done, and also pretty risky, given Kakashi's compromised immune system. She'd been working day and night to find a way to fix his mutation, or at least manage it, and was practically always at the hospital.

Sighing again, she looked up and gazed at his face, smiling lightly at how he was wearing a familiar black face covering underneath his oxygen mask. His eyes were closed peacefully, and there was no longer any swelling or discoloration present on his visage from the operation. Matching the color of his silver eyelashes, his hair shone in the daylight and hung over his forehead, slightly damp, as it had been recently washed by a nurse.

His chest rose and fell steadily, unlike the shaky, uneven way it had moved when he'd been very ill, and wasn't able to take a proper breath.

Gazing at his relaxed, serene expression, Shizune reached for his limp hand and grasped it tenderly, noticing how thin and long his fingers were, and how sorely his bony knuckles stood out. Without really thinking, she brought his slender hand to her cheek, holding it in place, and gently nuzzling up against it. She closed her eyes and stayed like that for a while, thinking back to the times that they had spent together.

It was rather pathetic to her that she still had feelings for him, but she just couldn't help it. She knew her "silly crush" was rather irrelevant and childish in the grand scheme of things, however it was kind of impossible not to like him; he was Kakashi Hatake after all.

Exhaling deeply, she opened her eyes and placed his hand back at his side, almost wincing at how flaccid and pendulous his arm was. Shizune massaged her aching temples, desperately wanting him to wake up—she knew that even if she fixed his chakra abnormality, there would be no point if he didn't come out of his coma.

"Hi, Kakashi. It's day 20 since you were last awake," she started awkwardly, her voice seeming haggard and unfamiliar to her ears, "If you can hear me…I just wanted to say that…you need to pull through this. You will be okay."

Pausing, she ran a hand through her tangled, unruly hair, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with talking aloud to an unconscious man. However, Shizune felt guilty for not continuing, so she pinched the bridge of her nose and made herself keep talking. It was important to keep motivating him.

"You always pull through…You're strong…there has to be a reason that you've survived through so many odds, so you can't give up now," she told him softly, not sure if she believed what she was saying, as he'd had way too many close encounters with death.

No one was invincible.

"Just hurry, okay? Please…"

The rhythmic, unchanging beeping of the heart monitor replaced his response. Shizune's eyes glossed over as she stared at his frail, lifeless form, and in that moment, she felt exceptionally alone.

Sniffling quietly, she looked away from the bed, feeling the urge to do something. Working in her research lab seemed like a better idea than just sitting there and moping.

She got up abruptly with an unblinking, zoned out gaze, deciding on leaving. Pushing her hair behind her ear, she looked at the ashen, visible part of his face once more, feeling a surge of motivation to find a solution.

Shizune had always been like that, being the type to not be able to put down a puzzle until she finished it—Kakashi was no different.

Although she obviously felt scared and frustrated at his prolonged unconsciousness, she also knew that this was not the end for him. There had to be a way, and she was going to try her hardest to find it, even if that meant that she would have to sleep at the hospital.

Shizune looked at the lump of gooey, white chakra in front of her with a curious, but frustrated expression on her face. She had been able to isolate the mutated portion of the DNA, and incorporate that mutation into healthy chakra, which had resulted in the chakra losing its shape, color and texture as it began to take the form of Kakashi's tumor.

It had been a few days since she was successful, and ever since, she had been trying to find a jutsu that would be able to destroy the mutated chakra. The only problem was, she had to be able to only destroy the "tumor" and no other matter other than it; it was definitely a feat to overcome.

The first few times she had tried to destroy it, she'd nearly burned the top of the grey laboratory table, a charred, black stain left behind as a reminder. After countless attempts, she had been able to focus on the chakra cells and only destroy them, however it took a lot of her energy, making it a very slow, and arduous process.

With a sigh, she raised her hands over the mass again and closed her eyes as she concentrated, an interesting teal light emanating from her open palms–the glow was concentrated, to the point where the light only shone on the small area. Shizune grunted lightly at the pressure that was being placed on her body as she performed the complicated, original jutsu, her sweaty brow furrowing as she tried to maintain her incredibly precise chakra control.

The mass of tumor cells began to melt and shrink, a white, rancid smoke slowly drifting off them. Upon smelling the distinct scent of burning tumor, Shizune opened her eyes, watching fiercely as she looked for any signs of a fire. When she saw that she was practically in the clear, she readjusted her hands and continued with more determination and focus.

She also had to make sure that in focusing her chakra cells on the tumor, she didn't release too much heat– if she had to use the same jutsu on Kakashi's head, and it was too hot, then it would quite literally boil his brains and render him dead in an instant.

Although she felt that she had pushed past her limit a while ago, she couldn't bring herself to give up, her teeth gritting as she felt like she had run out of chakra, her hands hurting intensely. Crying out frustratedly as she succumbed to her pain, she stopped, panting profusely. Looking down at her trembling hands, she found that they were raw and red, covered in burns.

"I'm never going to be able to do this in time," Shizune thought to herself, still gasping for breath, "I physically don't have the chakra capacity to fully destroy a tumor, let alone multiple…I'm using high concentrations of chakra in much less times–with my calculations, that would mean I would run out completely in 3 or 4 minutes…"

Doing this could kill me…unless…

Shizune's eyes widened as she realized that nearly all of Kakashi's tumors had been retracted, and all that was left, if anything at all, were small amounts of chakra cells that may replicate if given time. If she could destroy them all before they had a chance to replicate, and kept doing that in the future, then theoretically, Kakashi could comfortably live with the mutation for the rest of his life.

It could work as a long term solution, if I figured out how often the procedure would need to be given…that's only if it works though. It's a long shot, but it could give me time to figure out how to "fix" his mutation, which could take years…

If it does work, it would be minimally invasive, and have less risk than performing continual chakra centrifugations. But Kakashi's tumor is highly replicative and aggressive, which means that I would need to act quickly, before the tumor threshold is too much for me to handle. It's already been more than 3 weeks since his surgery…

Shizune looked up at the ceiling with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted as her mind worked through the problem. Adrenaline surged through her, and she could hardly feel the strain on her body, or the pain in her hands anymore. She came to the fearful conclusion that she needed to act as soon as possible, if not right now, then definitely at night.

She didn't even know if he had left over tumor cells, but if he did, then he could die.

Seeing firsthand how quickly the chakra had begun to replicate after she'd mutated it, Shizune realized that her and Lady Tsunade had been somewhat blindsided in terms of how fast the tumor was able to spread.

It was very possible that the hokage was not aware of this, and that they had just performed an extremely risky surgery that would end up being useless, because Kakashi's cancer could literally just come back within a few weeks. Shizune exhaled shakily, resting her head in her hands. What if his cancer was already back?

She knew that even though she had been working on it for several weeks, the jutsu was still not perfect. But if she waited to perfect it, then Kakashi definitely wouldn't make it.

I need to do this immediately…If I die, then I die.

With that thought, she frantically continued to practice, fully understanding the time crunch that she was on, but not feeling ready.

It was around 2 in the morning, and Shizune was walking down a hallway in the hospital, a bottle of apple juice brought up to her lips. She hadn't had much time to eat that day, so when she felt her sugar finally drop, she convinced herself that the juice from the vending machine would suffice—she still had so much to do.

Shizune sighed heavily and twisted the cap back onto the plastic bottle, her injured hands wrapped in bandages. The deep shadows underneath her eyes demonstrated just how little sleep she'd gotten over the past few weeks, due to how engrossed she'd been in her research.

At that moment, she was heading to Kakashi's room, having been preparing for the jutsu the whole day. After her last bit of practice, she transfused some chakra into herself, as she had no chance at successfully performing the procedure without doing so.

Although her chakra had returned, she still felt exhausted.

Holding her breath, she turned the knob to Kakashi's door, peeking inside the dark room, before cautiously entering. Upon coming closer to the bed, she almost gasped out loud when she saw that Gai was sleeping in a chair next to the Hatake.

With wide eyes and a hand clasped over her mouth, she inched towards Kakashi's bedside, really hoping that Gai didn't wake up—if he found out, then that would mean that Lady Tsunade would find out, which she definitely didn't want. The hokage would never grant her permission to use the risky jutsu.

Exhaling, she glanced at the light switch, wondering if she should turn it on. Looking back at Kakashi's face, however, she found that the moonlight and the street lamps from outside did a decent job of illuminating his visage.

She gazed at his closed eyes, and the unruly hair sticking out from underneath the bandages on his head, feeling an unexplainable burst of warmness in her chest.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she brought her bandaged palms above his chest, her hands beginning to glow with a green light. She was initially using a diagnostic jutsu that would allow her to visualize the tumor cells, and gauge how much was left in his body.

Shizune scanned his torso, and then his head, a serious look set on her face. After finishing, she pulled back her hands, crossing her arms as she decided what the best choice was.

While Kakashi didn't have full-on tumors, she was definitely able to detect some white chakra cells. He didn't have an impossible amount, but it was still more than what would be ideal for her chakra capacity. Even so, she needed to continue.

I can do this.

Glancing at Gai, she was relieved to see that he was still fast asleep, his obnoxious snores filling the silent room.

Nodding to herself, she brought her arms back up to his chest, breathing deeply, before closing her eyes and fully focusing on destroying his tumor cells. Her eyebrows knit together in concentration, a concentrated, teal beam emanating from her quivering palms.

Since her new jutsu had some of the diagnostic qualities of green chakra, she felt the white chakra begin to disintegrate inside of him, almost able to visualize it inside of her mind. Having the ability to detect the health of the tissues underneath her hands would be especially useful when she focused on his head.

Sensing the bright light, and the presence of someone else in the room, Gai got up with a stifled yawn, rubbing his crusty eyes.

"Shizune?" he said confusedly, squinting his eyes to make out who she was, "Why are you here this late?"

At this, Shizune's eyes snapped open, and she almost lost control of her precise jutsu, a bead of sweat rolling down her face as she increased her chakra flow to maintain the pressure. It felt like she was driving an extremely fast car, and if she crashed it, there would be a massive explosion.

But she still had to talk to Gai.

"O-oh…well, I couldn't get much sleep, so I decided to…do some healing that I forgot during the day," she nervously managed to bring out, struggling to maintain her breathing.

Gai eyed her pallor and her visibly clammy face, in addition to the bandages on her shaky hands. His gaze then focused on the interesting light; it certainly didn't look like healing chakra, nor sound like it, for that matter. The humming of this jutsu was louder somehow, and more forceful.

"That…doesn't look like healing chakra…" he started hesitantly, his brows furrowing in concern when he noticed how Shizune had started to breathe hard, "Are you alright, Shizune?"

He wasn't one to talk—Gai had his own fair share of eye bags, and itchy, red eyes. However, Shizune looked different; Her visage had lost a lot of its color and there was a thin sheen of sweat going all the way down her neck. Even her lips looked pale, a chalky-pink color that was only pronounced by how chapped they were.

Shizune grunted in acknowledgment, quickly moving her hands from his torso, and repositioning herself so that they were held over his head. She had already used basically half of her chakra, and she knew she would be cutting it close, as she needed much more for the brain.

Gai watched curiously as she paused to blink the exhaustion out of her eyes, and slowly stretched out her fingers, cracking sounds becoming apparent with the action. Breathing out shakily, she clenched her hands into tight fists, and then slowly opened them again; they were now much more steady than before.

Although he couldn't really tell what was going on, Gai got the foreboding sense that something big was at stake.

Inhaling, Shizune opened her eyes, a familiarly strong, blue-green light emerging from her palms. She couldn't help but feel her blood drain to her legs as her energy began to leave her. Using the technique on the brain meant that she had to be at least ten times as precise, which took up both more time and more chakra.

Gasping, she shifted her hands down his head, moving to the other areas that needed her attention.

Almost done…I just need to push through!

She clenched her teeth, pushing far past when it stopped feeling comfortable. Her head had started to pound, and everything in front of her began to blur, a high pitched ringing plaguing her ears.

"You need to stop…I understand your passion, but you really don't look so—"

"Just wait!" she cried out sharply, her brows furrowing in deep concentration. It was almost impossible to talk to Gai at the same time, without losing control.

After finishing with Kakashi's head, she quickly shone a green light all over the concerning tumor areas that she'd detected earlier, sighing in relief when she didn't find any cancer cells.

"I'm…done," she said through pants, leaning against the wall for support, "I-I…f-finished."

With one hand on the wall, she brought the other to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose, struggling to catch her breath.

Her legs suddenly felt like jello, and she wobbled on her feet as she struggled to maintain her balance, feeling horribly light-headed. Before she could adjust her footing to feel more steady, she felt her limbs give out, hearing a muffled thud as she hit the ground.

Gai's eyes widened when he saw Shizune collapse, and he rushed towards her immediately, sliding a pillow under her head. Her eyes were wide, and staring upward, her breaths coming in quick, pained gasps.

"Shizune?…Are you okay? Is your head okay?" she heard him say, his voice muffled due to the incessant ringing in her ears, and the sound of her own breathing.

Her eyes began to flutter closed as she struggled to remain conscious, her skin incredibly pale.

"—zune? Shizune?! Wake up!"

Everything faded to black.