"The only one who can decide your worth.. is you. If you want to earn something, you need to reach out for it. Pro-athletes give up their teenage years to train. Business owners put up collateral to borrow money. That's how it always works. To make your ambitions come true, you have to take risks. The larger the ambition the greater the risk. That might involve time or enough work to affect your lifespan... So make your choice. Live in peace as a wannabe or risk losing it all to reach the very top. You're the one who needs to decide."~ Kakegurui
.31
When they arrive everything is literally one fire. Yamato scans the area of quickly in search of his student or her companion. Neither teen are in direct sight, not at first. It isn't until he sees it.
Mitomi is collapsed face down in the dirt, her long hair splayed around her like a halo. Then he see's Shikamaru, the Nara races over in strained steps. He's fast to race over to them, ignoring the raging flames or the million of questions he had. Kakashi is fast on his heels having followed him.
They come upon the two teens quickly. Shikamaru is checking her pulse, his eyes wide. Yamato wonders what exactly the boy has seen. What has happened? "Shikamaru report?" Kakashi is the one to speak, crouching down the their level easily taking the girl from the boy. Her skin felt like the flames around them and if you looked closing you could see the sign of healing burns.
Yamato is still in shook. He expected to find an ongoing battle not the remnants of one.
"Thank kami." The boy breathed a relieved sigh, once he realized who had spoken. Shikamaru runs his hands over his face, wiping the sweat and dirt into his untamed hair. He needed a moment.
"Akatsuki, I'm pretty sure. Two of them, one of them escaped the other is over there." He makes an indication with his thumb and sure enough in the same sort of heep she'd left Kabuto in was none other and Hoshigaki Kisame. "Mitomi placed some sort of paralytic seal on him just before you got here. She had all nine tails and it wasn't enough. The guy who escaped she called Kakuzu." Yamato's brow rose at that. He recognized that name. The man was a rouge from Taki and apparently immortal.
"Are you injured?" Kakashi asks as he passes the unconscious Mitomi over to Yamato. She needs medical attention like yesterday and the former ROOT agent knew more than he did on the subject. Yamato takes a moment to fully access her injuries before deciding there wasn't actually much he could do. His knowledge on the subject was limited and thanks to the fox her more severe injuries were being slowly healed. So there was at least one good thing about the monster.
Shikamaru gives a slight nod at the question. "But they can wait. She needs medical attention, her condition previous to the fight was pretty bad." He tells them, just as anbu, his father, and Lady Tsunade arrive on scene lead by one of Kakashi's dogs.
Tsunade dishes out orders for the anbu to work on putting the fire out before she joins their group, the Nara commander fast on her heels. Shikamaru doesn't think he's ever seen his dad move that fast. He watches as the Hokage takes command of the scene, Tsunade has the man that can only be Mitomi's teacher lay her down gently. She doesn't even spare him a glance as she goes to access the injuries of the jinchuriki. Not that he minded.
"Report. What happened here?" She does bark at him, Shikamaru takes a breath and launches into a to the point explanation. Tsunade curses under her breath.
His father grimaces at him, with tired eyes he rubs his chin thoughtfully. Shikamaru had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.
"Lady Tsunade, I think we should take all of this back to the village." The man says with an expression that's hard to read. Shikamaru couldn't help but to agree with his father, he felt exposed here. All his previous adrenaline beginning to fade. Tsunade stands from the girl looking over at them both with a pensive hard look. Her eyes narrowed.
"Yes, the anbu will take care of getting this place back in order and then delivering the prisoner to Ibiki." And that's that.
It's decided that Mitomi will be carried by Yamato, he discovers is the brunette man's name. His father offers a side for him to lean into as Tsunade tells him that he'll be looked over more thoroughly once within the village. Shikamaru didn't protest he could hold out until then. Assuming that weren't that far anyway.
x
There are two thoughts the register in my head when I come too. Everything felt like it was on fire, I felt as if I was burning from the inside out. The next is there is a huge chunk of my memory missing. What happened? How did get here? Surrounded by the familiar walls a Konoha hospital room. Because the last thing that I truly remember was drawing on all of Kurama's power. Shikamaru and I had been under attack? Why had drawn on his power like that? Nothing made sense everything was hazy, as if I was looking back through stained glass.
Beep. Beep. Beep. The soft rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor catches my attention. Just as I realize that there are several machines hooked up to my body. What had I done?
Panic, slow building and then settling on like a racing car fast and unpredictable crashes into me a full force. I claw at the different leads, pulling an IV out of my arm and ripping off what are probably heart monitor leeds. That sends the machine into a frenzy, beeping rapidly, warningly.
I can't breathe. I feel as if I am about to suffocate. The walls of my lungs are closing, the air is getting too thick to consume. What is going on?
A door slams open, just as my body starts burning in a completely different manner that before. I can feel the chakra, left over no doubt from Kurama in my system pouring out, cloaking over my skin. It burns. But it tells me that I am alive.
Suddenly a sealed covered hand is being pressed into my forehead, the kyuubi chakra subsides retreating violently back into my coils. My eyes follow up the arm of the person until I can see their face. A sense was ease settles my mind, it's shishou.
"Mitomi, I need you to calm down. You are in Konoha, you are safe." He tells me, gently pushing me back into the bed.
When he is sure that I'm calm, sure that I'm not going to lash out he takes his hand off of my forehead. Shishou takes a seat in the hospital chair next to the bed and I finally take notice of the dark circles under his eyes. Deeper than the usually were, and the tired wiry look in his dark orbs. It takes a moment to process this observation. While I make a mental note of what I do remember and take account my injuries a nurse cautiously reattaches the IV and leeds. Comparing my memories to my injuries things do not add up.
None of this added up.
"What happened? Is Shikamaru okay?" My voice is hoarse, throat dry from being under. Shishou hands me a glass of water. I drink it like it's manna from the gods and I haven't had anything to drink in days.
"What do you remember?" He asks instead, taking the empty glass from my hands. His eyes peering deeply at me searching for something. What he's looking for I can't be sure. I take another moment to think over his question.
What did I remember?
"We were outmatched, I was on my last leg. I called on the kyuubi's chakra, just four tails at first. It wasn't enough. Everything after that is sort of muddled." Shishou nods his head, a sigh falls from his lips.
"You made a full transformation, Kakuzu escaped and we have Hoshigaki in custody. Shikamaru is okay, fractured his ankle so nothing too pressing." He gets to the point, he doesn't try to paint some fancy picture. Instead he tells it to me like it is. Tells me the facts. I appreciate it. Facts I could work with, facts I could handle.
I liked facts.
Once the nurse leaves, after she asks me a few basic medical related questions and tells me not to overdo it. Shishou runs a hand through his hair before he leans forward and pulls me into the most surprising hug of my life. Wrapping both his arms around me, I return the gesture with one arm since the other was broken and in a sling. One of his hands runs through my hair the other digs tightly into the fabric of the back of my hospital dress. It was as if he was afraid, which was just a strange concept to think about.
"I'm so sorry." He mutters into the top of my head, and I'm not sure what he's apologizing for. Whatever it was couldn't have been his fault.
None of this was his fault. Only I could take the blame, it had been my choices that lead me here. Had I been in a better place, had I not thrown myself into mission after mission. Rested properly, taken a break then this wouldn't have been as bad. I wouldn't have needed to draw on Kurama's power like that.
I knew that now.
XOXOX
I hope that all my American readers have a happy Fourth. To the rest of you guys I hope that your day is just as great.
I'm just gonna leave this here for you all I hope that you enjoy, please let me know what you think and thank you for reading.
Sincerely, La'Rae