Chapter 9.

"So, how is your training going? You know, for the chunin exams" Hana asked as she took her water bottle and drowned its contents.

We were both sweating buckets after being exposed to fire jutsu for too long. We had been going at it for a while now, and keeping Tume-sama at bay took a whole lot of effort. One did not want to engage the Inuzuka alpha on close combat, and so we had been forced to use any long range combat skills we possessed. To attempt otherwise would have been considered suicidal, even for a jonin.

"Our teamwork and coordinated attacks are going well enough. Hotaka just needs to get over himself a little…" I sighed, taking the drink from her hands and gulping half its contents.

"How about your team? They giving you or the brothers any grief?" Hana had been introduced to her three littermates a while ago, but they hadn't been old enough to start training up until now.

The three Haimaru brothers had retreated to the shade of a nearby bush. They had been aiding Hana and me in our spar against Tsume-sama for about forty minutes and apparently had decided to call it a day. Even without her companion, Hana's mom was a force to be reckoned with and it took all five of us and almost an hour to land a solid hit on her.

"Nah, they tried to at first but when Tobio thought he was bleeding to death and I refused to stitch him up, they kind of eased up." I chuckled at the merciless nature of my friend. She might have been the calmest of the Inuzuka, but by no means was she to be messed with.

We took our turns in splashing our heads and necks with the hose in her garden and stretched a bit before giving Tsume-sama the all clear. We had agreed to hold a weekly training session at the Inuzuka's and every now and then Hana's mom offered to be our opponent. It was those days that we had the most fun, and at the end of it all, the most pain. But that was exactly what we both wanted; the ache of the muscles and bones at the end of training was the best thing we could ask for. Those nights I slept like a log and Shisui would have to come wake me himself.

I flew through the signs of the great fireball for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, and as I exhaled the biggest flame I had managed until then, I realized my hands were getting thoroughly burnt. I let go of the jutsu to assess the damage, but before I could do anything about it, Tsume's foot was digging into my ribcage and sending me flying over the field.

Time seemed to slow down as the air was forcibly taken from my lungs and I found myself suspended in mid air for a moment before landing hard on the floor and rolling a few feet. I couldn't breathe. I struggled to get air back into my lungs but it suddenly seemed a lot harder that it should have. Wheezing, I hugged my chest in an attempt to force my ribcage to move, to do something. Once I managed to get a single breath in, the rest followed suit.

Okay, now my hands.

I kneeled slowly and turned my hands to see the damage. They were a ruin. Entire pieces of skin had been burnt off, and some of the cloth that belonged to my gloves had melted onto what was left of it.

"Akane-chan!" I looked up to see Tsume's worried face.

Hana was beside me, with one hand on my left shoulder, trying to figure out if I was okay.

"I think I need to go to the hospital." I said quietly, trying not to show how much pain I really was in.

My ribcage was okay as far as I could tell, but my hands were a mess and I didn't think any amount of ointment would help. Hana nodded and looked up at her mother. The head of the Inuzuka clan didn't hesitate to take me in her arms and without a word shunshined us both to the hospital.

"I apologize for this, Akane-chan. I should have realized you were hurt before continuing the attack."

I looked up at Tsume and realized just how bad she felt. It made me feel uneasy. It wasn't every day that one got an Inuzuka to apologize, least of all the clan's Alpha. But I could see genuine regret in her eyes, and the fact that the mistake had been mine made me feel even worse.

"Please don't worry about it Tsume-sama. I stopped paying attention to the fight when I realize I'd been burnt, and there is no way you could have seen that with the fireball blocking your vision. The mistake was my own, please do not blame yourself." Saying all of that with a straight face was very hard considering how badly I had burnt my hands and how much they hurt. But hopefully, Tsume had realized she didn't have to apologize at all.

We were met at the ER by a medic-nin on call. Tsume explained what happened as quickly and accurately as she could before handing me over to the man. I was guided to another room and he made me sit on a bed as he run a diagnosis on my chest to see if there was any internal damage. As I had thought, I'd only suffer from a big ass bruise, but it wasn't anything a couple day's rest wouldn't fix.

Next, he moved to my hands. He sat on a chair in front of me and after doing the hand seals for some jutsu or other, he brought his glowing hands to mine. It didn't feel good, In fact it stung a lot. I could feel my hands burning still as he separated the pieces of cloth that had clung to my skin, and when he moved to the actual healing, I felt like I was roasting my hands all over again. Tissue replacement hurt.

Once the treatment was over, the medic put some calming ointment on my new skin and bandaged them. He advised me not to train for at least a week, and if I really wanted to use fire Style ninjutsu, then I'd have to invest on a good pair of gloves.

"Kids these days don't take their own health seriously, using hand-me-down gloves when using fire style!" Let's just say the man was not very happy with me.

….

I watched as my brother undid the bandages that covered my hands and wrists, and got rid of them. Once he got back from his mission and had been told I'd been hurt, he rushed home. From what he had told me, he expected the injuries to be much worse and the relief in his eyes was clear as day. I'd told him it had been a training accident and how worried the Inuzukas had been, but all he seemed to care was the state of my hands. He took it upon himself to help me with my healing, taking over all chores for the week as well as changing my bandages twice a day.

"Nii-san, it isn't necessary for you to do this. I still can help you out." I said after the first two days, but Shisui would have none of it.

"You were hurt, Akane-chan. You need to heal properly so you can go back to training for the upcoming chunin exams. I can do the chores for a week."

That is how I realized, my brother felt guilty.

He was aware of his absence, and he knew he could do nothing about it. He knew he wasn't home much and that I was used to doing everything by myself, that I had grown to be such an independent child because there was nobody that would do things for me. He knew he wasn't home much and he knew I didn't mind it. And that was what made him feel the worst. So now he had gone full big-brother-mode on me and wouldn't let me do a thing, because for once he had an excuse to be home and take care of me.

I smiled to myself. Calling him out on it wouldn't do him any good, so instead I let myself be coddled. I let Shisui be the brother he wanted to be, and I enjoyed every second of it knowing that this was his way of showing me how much he cared.

"Thanks, Nii-san."

…

"Here" said Akira-sensei as he slid a flat box across the table towards me. "It's a get well gift from the team."

I looked at the three of them over the rim of my cup and then narrowed my eyes.

"It better not be another of Taka-kun's experimental traps, sensei. Or I'm gonna be pissed." I warned shooting the boy in question a glare as well.

They had all come to visit halfway through the week, and I had been genuinely surprised when I opened the door and seen Hotaka was there as well. Shisui, being the prefect host he always is, prepared tea and some snacks for both of us before leaving for the market.

Sensei had given me a quick summary of what they had been doing in my absence and what he would be expecting of me once I went back. Once he was done with his little briefing, he had pulled out the box and handed it to me with a proud smile on his face.

"Actually, it's not. And the Idea wasn't mine either, Hotaka said it would be proper of us to bring you something. It was his idea." The smirk Sensei shot the Hyuuga boy held some hidden meaning I couldn't quite grasp, but it couldn't have been good if it made Hotaka cross his arms and look away.

Hmm.

"No thanks, knowing him it's worse than a trap from Taka-kun." As I said this, I thanked Kami my brother wasn't there to witness me being rude. He would have ended me.

"Idiot! Just open the damn thing!" burst out the boy as his face turned scarlet. "You know what? Never mind the gift, give it back."

He made to grab the box, but before he could make it, I snatched it from the table top and held it close. Sensei and Taka smirked at my response and ushered me to open the damn thing already.

Inside the box, there lay flat a pair of black gloves and matching armguards. They were both made of the same thick, rough material and as I looked closer, I realized they were meant to be fireproof. The smell of new gear invaded the room and I couldn't bring myself to look my team in the eyes. Someone must have been dusting recently because my nose was getting a bit runny and my eyes watery.

What was this? I'd been made gifts before, what was so special about this one?

"This is-" I tried to bring my voice to stop quivering but it didn't seem to want to obey me. "Thank you, you three. I love it." I said finally looking at them suppressing my tears as much as I could to try and conserve what was left of my pride.

Sensei smiled softly and Hotaka blushed. Taka instead went pale, asking me if I had hated it so much it made me cry. The team spent the afternoon at my place, talking arguing, laughing and making plans and possible strategies for the upcoming exams. It was rather late when Shisui came back, and since they were still there, they stayed to dinner too.

Once they were gone, I showed my brother what they had given me and he couldn't help but smile.

"Those aren't just your comrades, Akane. Take good care of them because one day they will be family too."

That night I slept with a smile on my face and my gift beside the futon. I was lucky, and I knew it. I would protect my team with all of my might and we would become chunin together, and maybe jonin after that. They were my friends, and I couldn't be any happier.