Chapter 5

A Forgotten Message

I was hoping to get this out sooner than this, but oh well. I apologize for any typos or mistakes that might have snaked their way in.

I'd like to thank the people who are still reading and if there are any new readers, I'd like to mention that Part 3 will make much better sense if you first read part 1 and 2. Part 1 is sappy and cutesy, but there are references made to it. Part 2 lets you see Arashi grow up a bit.

Summary: Family dialogue, a class in the hospital, and a forgotten message.

Chapter 5

Despite the embarrassment Arashi experienced with Kakashi, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. She kept her senses honed in on Naruto's location throughout the day, but went about her own business with more peace than she had experienced since before the beginning of her mission. Even when she lost track of him for periods of time, she brushed it off and was sure to check in on him again after a short period of time. Concerns that the Jounin hated her faded along with her fear that he saw her as an obnoxious kid. If anything, his comical statement about the lotion indicated to her that his mental image of her had already shifted and that his teasing was likely a way to get a better gauge on her.

At least, that is what she hoped.

It was an effective tactic – he was able to pull her out of her comfort zone and effectively take control of the conversation each time they spoke, even when she did the majority of speaking.

There was a spring in her step as she got ready. She would be hosting a class for nurses that evening and she was eager for it. Most of her time seemed to be engulfed by paperwork when she was not training, but hands on exercises like this afforded a break of sorts. Additionally, it let her get a feel of the staff and what their strengths and weaknesses were. Her father managed the personnel in the hospital and had ingrained in her the importance of keeping everyone well trained. Konoha benefitted not only from medical shinobi, but from the rest of the medical staff, as well.

Arashi made it to the kitchen before anyone else was up and started making breakfast. This was not her normal practice, but she was feeling charitable.

Before long, Kazika was at the table, wiping the sleep from his eyes, waiting to be fed. Ookami joined them and sat across from him, sipping on tea. Naomi stared at her daughter like she had grown a second head. The kunoichi typically raced out of the door, paying little attention to food in the morning, let alone cooking.

"What's this?" The woman demanded, hands on her hips.

"Breakfast." Kazika replied for his sister.

Naomi pursed her lips and ignored him. "Do you have news to give us? Is it bad? Trying to soften a blow?"

"No, Mom. I just felt like being nice."

Suspicion lit up her eyes. "You've been awfully cheerful, recently. No reason for that?"

"Nope. Just—"

"That's going to burn, sweetie."

"Woops!" She removed a pan from heat and nursed it for a moment.

"Maybe you should make breakfast a little more often." Her mother crinkled her nose at the faint smoke in the air.

"Uh, yeah." Arashi fanned it toward a window. "Anyway, I've just been in a good mood."

"Oh? Why's that? Could it be that you've finally found a man or is this just more ninja stuff?"

"Ninja stuff," Arashi replied in a sing-song voice. "Also, stop manipulating my friends. Why does my relationship status even really matter?"

"Well, Kazika mentioned you've been following someone around."

Kazika conveniently found an excuse to leave the room. Although he was not the brightest, he knew to remove himself from sketchy situations. Their mother inquiring about his sister's romantic life fell into that category – especially when he was pulled into it. Since the inquiries happened on a weekly basis, the boy now had an internal clock that let him know when to leave and when it was safe to come back.

"I just want you to not end up a spinster with nothing but books and cats to keep you company."

Ookami snorted, "Leave her alone. She's still young. There's no point in fussing over it. I was older than her when I met you."

The truth was that he was perfectly fine with his daughter not entering into the questionable dating pool that he had seen around the village. He realized he was biased and was not ashamed.

Naomi fluttered her eyelashes at him, "You're still handsome, you know."

He winked at his wife.

Arashi felt a pang of longing – her parents operated off each other well. They had different personalities, but they were compatible, fueling each other's quirks and maintaining a good team. The kunoichi doubted she would ever have that. She let them make eyes at each other as she set food on the table.

"Thanks, Dad. The person I'm following is involved in a research I'm currently doing for the Academy. That's really all there is to it. Trust me."

"I never doubted you," He replied, tamely, as he turned his attention to the plate in front of him.

Her mother, however, sighed, "Kakashi-san's gotten quite tall, hasn't he? I remember when he was just a little thing. Even with the mask, he looks so much like his father."

Arashi blinked, "Wait. How did you know that he's one of the people I'm working with?"

"He stopped by my shop a couple days ago and we talked for a while. I was busy at the time, but he asked about you."

An uncomfortable feeling settled in her stomach. If she was going to be honest, she had lost track of Naruto's signature. The last time she was able to locate him was early the day before.

"Must be work related. What did he say?"

"Hmm." She twirled a lock of hair around her finger as she thought. "He asked where you were and there was something else that I can't remember for the life of me."

"Did he mention anything about a mission or training?"

"He bought some lotion."

Oh, kami.

That alone was enough to drive her away from that subject.

Kazika slid back into his seat, drawn back by the smell of food.

"What's that expression for?" Her mother scowled. "It's a good product!"

"I'm sure it is," she replied, innocently.

"You should let mom cook next." Her brother interjected, paying no mind to the current conversation.

She glanced at him as her mother pretended her laugh was a cough.

"Be grateful you have food to eat," Ookami scolded him. "It's impolite to belittle kind acts."

"Sorry," the boy mumbled.

Arashi and Ookami quickly finished their food and left for the hospital. Kazika walked with them part of the way until he split form their path to go to the Academy. Ookami reminded the boy to not get in trouble – which was a daily ritual at this point.

Naomi stayed home, washing dishes. Her eyebrows were knit together, perplexed as she tried to remember her exchange with Kakashi. For some reason, she could not shake the feeling that she needed to tell her daughter something.

It was not uncommon for Ookami and Arashi to host training sessions in the hospital. Much of the staff had gotten to watch him rear his daughter into the medic she was, never complaining as she followed after his shadow. All of the nurses answered to doctors and medical shinobi, doing all of the less prestigious work while those in more revered positions got the credit. The retired Jounin went out of his way to let everyone know that they were needed and that their continued training and education was important. Their medical system prospered from the efforts.

Even new faces grew accustomed to the father and daughter, being introduced to them within their first weeks on the job. It was due to that familiarity that a new nurse, her nametag identifying her as Airi, stood in shock over the kunoichi. They had never spoken to each other, but she knew without any doubt that this was her boss's daughter.

Arashi was sprawled on the floor, her eyes shut, and her body motionless. The nurse felt for a pulse but could not find one. Her skin was cold to the touch and it caused the woman to pull her hand back, as if burned.

"Hey!" She yelled, jumping to her feet and running to the door to reach the hallway. "I need help! We have a medical shinobi in here – unresponsive! No pulse!"

Without waiting for a response, she darted back to the girl on the floor. First, she checked to make sure that her airway was clear before she started chest compressions. As she counted to thirty, several more nurses rushed into the room.

Airi tilted Arashi's head back, pinched her nose and blew into her mouth twice before going right back into the compressions.

The room became a hive of activity and mingled voices as they tried to piece together what happened. There was paperwork scattered on the floor where she had collapsed. They could find no injuries – no cuts, bruises, or proof of a blow to the head. All they could determine was that there was a lack of oxygen as her lips were blue.

After several minutes of trying to get some sort of response, she was out of breath.

"The girl's cold," another nurse commented, shaking her head. "She's been this way for a while."

This was the last thing that Airi expected to deal with. The guarded look in the kunoichi's father's eyes as he entered the office was all that was needed to make her heart drop into her stomach.

Ookami wasted no time getting to her side. He settled a hand over his daughter's chest and channeled his chakra to probe for a heartbeat. The search traveled from her heart to her head and after several moments, his arm dropped and his shoulders slouched.

The nurses watched in a stunned silence – most of the people present were scheduled to join in the training scheduled that evening.

"She's dead." He announced, his voice hollow.

"I tried," Airi started but lost her words for a moment. "We tried, but it was too late."

His body bowed under the weight of the situation. One of the nurses closed the door to give them more privacy while another picked up the scattered items on the floor.

"Well," Ookami glanced at the clock. "This may prove to be problematic for our hands-on session, no?"

Confused whispers traveled through the room.

He channeled chakra back into his hand and placed it on her forehead, "Perhaps this will help?"

Arashi's body convulsed and she gasped awake. Her eyes were wide – crazed – as she looked around at all of the faces gathered in the room. The confused whispers turned to awe.

Before she could say anything, the kunoichi scrambled over to a trashcan and vomited. Airi tried to hold her hair out of the way, grimacing at how violent the wretches were.

"As you can see, resuscitation, when successful, is not a pretty sight. Vomiting is a common side effect. You did well, by the way." Ookami leaned to the side and peered at her nametag. "Airi, is it?"

"Th-thank you, Ookami-san. I'm just glad your daughter is alright."

He waved it off, "This was planned, although it did show that at least one of you has a good reaction time. Working that hard on a body that's already cold is good dedication. It's appreciated from my end."

Arashi grunted and tried to clean herself up, "Yeah, thanks."

"Y-you're welcome?"

"While she regains her composure, we'll talk." He continued. "Another thing that could have been tried was a defibrillator. Going straight to CPR was the correct first action to take, though, especially since her skin had a blue tint to it, indicative of a lack of oxygen."

"I'm sorry, but," Airi interrupted him. "Did you just kill your daughter for a lesson?"

"Of course not." He replied, appalled. "It was her own jutsu."

"You taught it to me," his daughter interjected.

"Oh shush. It only temporarily puts the body in a near death state. She would have woken up on her own, likely already by this point even without my help. It's not as serious as it looked. Even though you couldn't find a pulse by feeling or listening for it, if you had gotten a stethoscope and been patient, you would have heard a faint beating."

Airi and the other nurses collectively swallowed over lumps in their throats.

"Is there any specific reason why? Just for 'training' purposes or do you like nearly scaring us to death?" Another nurse asked.

"It's good for missions, as well." He grinned, warmly. "Now, we should really move out of this cramped office and into a better room, shouldn't we?"

Across the village, Naomi was busy in her salon.

It had been a busy day – week, actually – and she could not shake the bad feeling from that morning. On her lunch break she had went home to make sure the stove was off, all the windows were closed, and the door was locked. The feeling persisted. In between the hair appointments and selling her products, she checked her inventory and recounted her till. All was well, but something still nagged at the back of her mind.

She tried humming along with the songs on the radio and getting in on all of the gossip that her clients brought in. Nothing helped. It was nothing so ominous that she felt the need to check on her children or her husband.

"Do you have more of that lotion in stock?" Her current client, Machi, asked. "It just does wonders for my skin!"

Naomi looked over at the shelf where she kept that product. It all came back to her in a flash – Kakashi had asked her to relay a message to her daughter. They were leaving on a mission to the Land of Waves and he wanted her to catch up to them to join their group. The resurgence of the memory caused her to haphazardly cut an uneven layer into her client's hair. All she had wanted was a trim.

She immediately broke into a full-bodied sweat as she took in how awful the woman's hair now looked. It would take shortening the length and adding several more layers to make it look decent. Her pride as a hair stylist burned.

"What is it, dear?" Machi inquired, turning her head to catch a glimpse of what happened in a mirror. "Oh, the last time you got that bold with a cut, all my friends couldn't stop talking about it and how good it looked on me! Do keep going!"

Naomi remembered that time very well. Four years prior, Machi had made a snotty remark about Arashi's friendship with Itachi, questioning Naomi's judgment in ever letting the girl near such a creature. She went to such an extent to talk about why it was only a matter of time before it happened and that the clan should have seen it coming. All of this was said within hearing range of her daughter, perhaps a week after the event.

The woman added another terrible layer into the woman's hair, just for good measure. If she was ever prone to holding grudges, it was over her children.

She might have made a terrible mistake in forgetting to tell Arashi about the mission, but she resolved to send Kazika to fill her in on it when he got home.

A group of ten women were lined up in a bay that had been cleared out for their use. All of the beds that had previously been there were moved out and lining the walls of the hallway around. A few tables were lined up with supplies on them – sutures, bandages, antiseptics, and various tools. Everyone in attendance knew how to use everything laid out for them and that brought a sense of comfort after the fiasco that the two medical shinobi put them through.

"All of you have been here a month or two at this point, so you should have a good idea of your role. Think of this as a refresher. When things are slow, we hold these classes to gauge how everyone's doing." Arashi addressed the nurses. "As a team, we rely on each other. If you think of it as a chain, then we're only as strong as the weakest link – if that breaks, then the chain comes undone. I know that the medical shinobi here get most of the attention and credit from our patients, but the truth is that people in your roles keep this place running. Frankly, most civilians will never be treated by a medical ninja. They will, however, receive treatment from all of you."

"What is the function of the medical shinobi here?" One of the nurses ventured to ask. "Do they only focus on shinobi?"

Ookami answered, "Not quite. It's true that they primarily find themselves treating our military, but that is not where their services end. Due to our capability with medical ninjutsu, we are able to treat severe and life threatening injuries. More often than not, those injuries are sustained by shinobi taking missions, but I have treated my fair share of farmers over the years, as well."

"I see." The nurse nodded her head. "I assume that the less severe cases and patients in recovery are our responsibility?"

"Basically, yes." Arashi replied. "Most injuries can be treated by some anesthetic, sutures, and time. Other things like broken bones have to be set and given time – in some cases, medic nins step in, but most patients are simply told to relax until it sorts itself out. Burns are also easily treatable, as long as the severity is not critical. Thanks to nurses such as yourself and the doctors you work with, more medical shinobi are free to join missions and increase success rates while lowering the mortality rates."

"However," Ookami picked up, "There will be times when you'll have to treat wounds outside of your scope, without the guidance of a doctor or medic nin. When that happens, we want you to be familiar and prepared. That is why we have you here today."

The nurses paid close attention. From the beginning, they were advised to do as the retired Jounin instructed them. He had seen war and spent most of his life treating the people of the Land of Fire.

"So, we're going to begin with the basics – different kinds of injuries you are most likely to encounter. Behind me, there is a board with many listed, with some information included with each entry. As I call them off, Arashi will use a henge jutsu to show you what each looks like."

The kunoichi took a deep breath and waited for her father's queue.

"Laceration—" a long cut appeared on her arm with a poof, "Stab wounds—" a series of puncture wounds appeared on her other arm with a poof, "Burns—" a large, unsightly burn appeared across her face, "Skeletal—" with another poof her leg was bent in a way that indicated a break. "And the list goes on. There are quite a few things that aren't so obvious, such as hyper extensions, and torn tendons and muscles. With shinobi, it's also not uncommon to see them coming in, suffering from the after effects of chakra depletion. Medical nin can flush their chakra systems, but it usually falls back on letting the body heal on its own."

Arashi adjusted her stance so that all of the nurses could see the injuries.

"Alright," Ookami motioned toward the supplies. "Get to treating her wounds. Show me that you know how to properly address the four types that she's presenting to you."

Before long, she was being poked and prodded by the class. She had someone on each side, cleaning her fake wounds, while other prepared bandages, gauze to pack the punctures, and antibiotic cream for the burns.

"The broken let may need to be attended." Ookami reminded them.

Airi helped Arashi onto one of the tables, voiding her bosses' eyes like a scolded child, "Do we need to actually set it? This is just a transformation jutsu, right?"

"You're right. We won't be setting a bone or setting sutures on her, as the wounds aren't actually real." He replied. "We'll find actual patients for that. Just show me the supplies that would be needed for it."

While the nurses gathered everything, and spoke to the man about the procedures, her thoughts wandered. For the life of her, she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Skimming through signatures failed to turn up anyone on Team 7. She hoped that they were mixed into a crowd or training somewhere that was hard for her to pinpoint. The only issue with that was that she had never went this long without detecting at least one of them. Naruto's signature was the closest thing to a beacon in the village.

Wait a moment.

As she scanned through the signatures around, she came across one that belonged to a certain Aburame she had not seen in a while, due to him staying busy with missions. Her eyebrows knit together – he was close. In fact, when she turned her head, Akio was standing on the other side of one of the windows, staring into the room.

Her father followed her gaze and his eyebrows rose, "Looks like we have a volunteer."

The Aburame's coat was open, revealing his ANBU gear. There was dirt and blood spackled across his face and sunglasses. His clothing had several rips and tears, most stained red. His arm braced his side and he appeared to be favoring one of his legs. It was not his best look.

The kunoichi released her transformation and went to the window to let him in. With a soft thud, he dropped into the room and grimaced at the small crowd the gathered around them.

"Let me take a look at you," she whispered, tugging at his coat.

He shrugged out of it and he left it on the floor.

After a quick search, she found a considerable wound on his left side and proof that he had sustained other injuries – the Fuin Shugotenshi had managed to heal those before using all of the stored chakra and dispersing. While she knew that it had clear limitations, her stomach clenched at the idea of how much damage he had taken. The idea of creating a way to fuel the medical ninjutsu sealed away, in order to make it a self-replenishing jutsu was one that she had studied and worked on a lot. At this point, it was merely an idea on paper that had not been forged into a working jutsu.

"How did you manage this?"

He grunted.

"Missions, huh?"

She focused chakra into her hands and began taking care of the laceration on his side – it started at his hip and extended to midway up his ribcage where it tapered away.

"Don't tell me you're taking the experience away from our class, dear," Ookami inquired, tentatively, from across the room. "At least give them a chance to clean the boy up."

Akio grunted and peered at the retired Jounin from the side of his sunglasses.

She shrugged, "Alright. Just let me finish sealing the gaping hole in his side before."

"Thanks," the Aburame spoke for the first time since turning up.

Airi and another nurse approached and began cleaning grime off his face. Once Arashi was done with his side, they peeled the ANBU gear away from his body to get a better look at him. There was a line of sutures on his other side.

"Well done on those, Akio." Arashi pointed at them. "But, I'd say it would have been better to have not gotten hurt like that."

"Easier said than done." Was his reply.

Airi removed his glasses and squealed as bugs scurried inside of his eyes to hide. A horrified shriek passed through each of the women. The kunoichi and the Aburame exchanged a look.

"Come now, ladies. You'll have to see and deal with far worse than a few bugs." Her father chuckled. "Members of his clan really aren't that bad. Their insects won't do anything out of the way."

Ten sets of dubious eyes settled on him.

"But Mom, she'll get mad at me."

"Oh, no she won't. She'll know it's my fault."

Kazika squinted at his mother. "Why can't you do it?"

"I'm far too busy. Booked the rest of the evening!"

The boy considered his options. He could agree to the task and then spend the evening training instead of telling his sister. That would make his mother mad. The second option was to tell his dad and ask him to tell her – but then he would still push it back on him due to being too busy to leave whatever he was doing in the hospital. If Arashi was not in plain sight, he'd just tell the boy to go find his sister, anyway.

What his mother said held merit – Arashi would blame their mother – but he knew what would happen. The Ran family was a career driven collection of people. Ookami had the staff of the hospital to manage, Naomi had her salon, and Arashi had her duties as a shinobi. The moment he let her know she was two days late for a mission, she would implode. Even if it was not directed at him, he knew it would not be a pretty sight.

"Fine." He crossed his arms. "But I get to train for a week instead of helping at the salon."

Naomi pursed her lips and considered it.

The boy's gaze did not falter.

"Fine."

"We have a deal." Kazika turned and started toward the hospital to look for his sister.

"Sorry that you had to put up with everyone, earlier."

Akio grunted.

They were currently sitting on a bench outside of the hospital. Her father lead the women off to find other patients once her old teammate was deemed healthy and she chose to take advantage of the opportunity. It was not often that he ever sought her out – he could have found any other medical shinobi around. She knew there were some in ANBU's ranks, as well.

"Any reason why you came looking for me?"

"Nostalgia. Blood loss does that to me."

The kunoichi laughed, but it was hollow. She was reminded of when he got himself stabbed on their way back from their first C ranked mission.

"I'm honored."

He snorted in amusement as the sarcasm in her voice.

"We'll have to wait a few days before I try to set the Fuin Shugotenshi in your body again. When it expires like that, it takes a toll on your system."

"Hurts when you put it back, too."

"Unfortunately, fuinjutsu isn't as gentle as it is delicate." She shrugged. "I'm still looking into a way to better support and feed the Shugotenshi. Weaving the seals through muscles, tissue, and sinew is tricky. If anything overlaps even just a little, that could be disastrous. Now, imagine adding a new set into your body that does not cancel or override the first and is able to work in tandem, feeding the medical ninjutsu without producing further complications?"

"I'd rather not imagine it."

"I guess it's pretty boring to think about."

In the distance, she felt her brother's signature. Her first assumption was that he was looking for her to ask her to train with him. More often than not, he was stuck with their mother, helping her do different odds and ends in the evenings. When he managed to wriggle his way out of chores, his first inclination was to train with his tanto.

Even though she made a point to give into him more, she was not in the mood to entertain him. There was still the issue that she had not located Naruto that day and had no idea where he was. It was starting to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

I guess I'll at least let him know I don't have time this evening. He'll pout.

As soon as her brother came into sight, their gazes met and he froze. The boy started to turn around to walk away, but decided against it a few steps in. He readjusted his course toward her, but stopped several yards away.

"What's up, Kazika?"

He scratched at his cheek, "Well, uh."

"I don't have time to train with you this evening."

"It's not that." He insisted. "It's just that, well, Mom forgot to tell you about a mission."

Arashi's blood turned to ice in her veins. "What."

"Something about Kakashi-san asking you to meet him on a mission to the Land of Waves. They're escorting someone."

Just as the boy expected, the girl started to implode. It was nothing that would have caught the attention of most people passing by. In fact, if he had not known her, he would never have realized something was wrong. However, to the boy, it was obvious. He could clearly see her having a mental breakdown – like a bull crashing through a shop full of fine glassware.

Then, she came back to herself.

"What was his name?" She asked through her teeth.

"Uh, Tazuna?"

"How long ago?!"

"He told her two days ago."

He watched in horror as his sister bit her finger until it bled and then punched the ground – just for the boy, Akio, and the bench that he had been sitting on to be blown back by the ensuing wave of air that came from Sukai being summoned.

Arashi scaled onto the bird's back – not in a graceful manner by any definition of the word – and pointed in the general direction of their home, "Fly, you damn bird!"

Sukai shrieked in annoyance back at her.

Kazika knew it was going to be an ugly sight.

And that's it for now. The Land of Waves arc gets to begin next chapter. Arashi's running a bit late, but she won't miss out on everything.

If anyone has any suggestions, criticisms or comments, please share it in either a review or a message. I appreciate all forms of feedback!

Castielshumanheart: Thank you for the review!

Arashi's much more aware of her shortcomings now. She's had a lot of time to meditate on her flaws, but that doesn't mean she's always going to be pessimistic. Currently, she's a bit jaded, but with time she'll start to come out of it.

I'm still testing the waters a bit with her growing friendship with Kakashi. He's complicated and likes to keep people at a distance. She's stubborn and pushy and doesn't like to be kept out of the loop. At the very least, it should be interesting. I honestly wasn't sure how anyone would react to the masturbation reference.

I hope that you enjoy this chapter – and thank you again for sticking around.

Windschatten: I'm glad you didn't mind how much Arashi fretted over everything. First and foremost, I want to keep her human. I want her to have faults, to assume the wrong things, and to be vulnerable at times, even though I've worked on making her a tough kunoichi.

You always make me feel so flattered in your reviews. Thank you so much for that. Haha It helps to alleviate certain fears and insecurities that would otherwise hover around as I piece together their dialogue and the scenes they're in.

I hope that this chapter doesn't prove to be boring and that you enjoy it.