It felt strange… like she was floating. Though it wasn't floating, for someone who found herself thrown up in the air often she did that a lot and this wasn't it. Everything was hazy and she was warm. She took a deep breath and groaned at the sterile smell of a hospital, a smell she could have spent the rest of her life without having to smell that again.
Karan opened her eyes and looked up at the white ceiling.
"Uh…" Karan groaned trying to sit up but she was extremely sore She looked down and saw her right hand was bandaged.
'Backlash from the bolt.' She thought.
"You should stay in bed." Someone said.
"Ah!" Karan jumped out of bed in surprise falling down.
"Ouch that looked like it hurt." They said.
"Oh it did." Karan said looking up at the ceiling. "You're uh… you're Kakashi's summons. Pakkun right?"
"And you're Karan." Pakkun said. "You might want to get up."
"Yeah…" Karan said trying to pulling herself up. "I am never sparing with my chakra blocked against a dragon again."
After a few tries Karan finally managed to swing herself up onto the bed and as soon as she did the door opened and in came the blonde hokage.
"Oh you're up, thought you'd be out for a few more hours." Tsunade said.
"How long was I out for?" Karan said.
"A few hours." She said. "You came in with severe chakra exhaustion and strained muscles. It looked like you took a beating. We thought your sternum might have been fractured but it was just a bruise."
"Taijutsu training." Karan said.
"And the chakra exhaustion?" She asked
"I may have gotten a bit carried away?" Karan said.
"You really did. Training to the point of knocking yourself out is counter productive…" Tsunade started ranting. Karan just sat there watching as she went off on her yelling calling her every possible synonym of reckless and then yelling some more.
Karan couldn't remember the last time it was someone else doing the yelling in this situation.
"I expected this to happen at some point with the team you're on but not during training." She ended.
"It won't happen again. My sparring partner knows how to rile me up and he did it a little too well this time. I should've kept a level head and I'll remember that next time." Karan said. "Also I'm feeling way better so I can…"
"Don't even think about it." Tsunade said. "You need rest and a few sessions ease the strain on your muscles…"
"Which I can…" She argued.
"You don't have any chakra." She snapped. "You're staying and don't even think about leaving before you get discharged. That's an order."
"Yes Ma'am." She said.
"Good I'll be by to check on you tomorrow." Tsunade said before walking out of the room.
"Great." Karan said laying back.
"It's not that bad." Pakkun said.
"I hate hospitals." She said.
"I'm also trained as a therapy dog." Pakkun said as he bent his head down subtly getting her scent casually.
"Is this your way of asking to be pet?" Karan asked arching an eyebrow.
"My paw is really soft." Pakkun said offering it to her making Karan chuckle.
"So you're here for emotional support." She asked with a smirk.
"And to make sure you don't leave." Pakkun said.
"Don't think you have to worry about that." She said softly petting him gently and she laid back in bed. Karan kept petting him as she slowly dozed off.
A While Later…
"Yo." Kakashi said jumping into Karan's room through the window hoping to avoid getting reprimanded by the hokage. He looked around expecting to see Pakkun but was surprised to see Karan asleep with her hand on Pakkun's back who was also asleep.
Kakashi just watched the sight in front of him. When he asked Pakkun to keep an eye on her this was not what he had in mind.
Pakkun's nose twitched and he opened one eye.
"Kakashi!" He said perking up.
"Have a nice nap?" Kakashi teased.
"Yeah." Pakkun said slowly slipping out from under Karan's hand.
"Everything go okay?" Kakashi asked.
"The usual. Don't think you have to worry about her going anywhere. She can barely move." Pakkun said.
"Wouldn't be the first time." Kakashi said. "You can go, I think the nurse's have it handled."
"All right. She's really something." Pakkun said before he disappeared.
"Hn…" Kakashi said eying the bandaged hand before leaving through the window.
The Following Morning…
Karan woke up feeling a lot better than the day before. She was still sore but she could sit up a lot more comfortably.
The nurses came in and brought her something to eat which was just bland soup and bread with some fruit.
It was an hour of just staring at the four walls around her before she finally had enough. She got up and grabbed her clothes from where someone had left them in the cabinet and quickly got dressed slipping her necklace back on and slipping on her kunai and shuriken patches leaving her headband in one of them.
Karan had just opened the window and hopped onto the windowsill when the door opened.
"Going somewhere?" Kakashi said.
"So close." Karan said to herself. "You know I woke up feeling a lot better this morning."
"I'm sure you do but Lady Tsunade has a habit of tying up patients who try to leave before they're fully recovered." Kakashi said.
"That's a joke right?" Karan said and Kakashi just gave her a look. "Not a joke."
"Oh Kakashi, I was wondering when… What are you doing out of bed!" Tsunade yelled when she saw Karan.
"Well it's a beautiful day and I thought some air might do me some good." Karan said. "But maybe I can just leave the window open and enjoy the air from here."
"Sit." Tsunade said.
"Yes ma'am." Karan said moving to sit on her bed. Tsunade started checking Karan over and looking over her hand.
"Must've been a big blast." Tsunade said as she started healing it while she glanced at the dragon mark on her other hand. She could tell it was burn but the pattern was unusual. "It didn't cause any permanent damage, just superficial. I'd look into wearing gloves resistant to lightning attacks or wrap your hands if you're going to keep practicing that jutsu."
"I'll look into it." Karan said.
"And change back into your hospital gown you're not going anywhere." Tsunade said.
"Are you sure…" She started.
"I'll make sure she stays." Kakashi cut in quickly before Tsunade snapped. Karan still had no idea how terrifying she could be.
"Good." Tsunade said walking off.
"Guess I'm changing before she sends a nurse in here to do it." Karan said getting up to change in the ensuite. Karan quickly changed and sat back down in bed. "So how's training going?"
Kakashi was sitting on the windowsill reading his book.
"Hm… The usual. Naruto's still trying to cut the waterfall. Sent him to go ask another Wind user for advice yesterday, that seemed to help a bit." Kakashi said before it was quiet for a minute. "You got carried away yesterday."
"I know." Karan said.
"You and Sora normally go all out against each other but yesterday was… a bit much." He said.
"That was the point." Karan said. "Sora and Kaien don't always agree but the one thing they both agree on is that I need to use my Sharingan more and that's exactly what he was trying to get me to do yesterday."
"You do use your Sharingan." Kakashi said.
"Not the Mangekyo Sharingan." She said. "It's not something I like to rely on too much. Sora thinks of it like a kunai I refuse to throw even when there's an opening for it."
"It's a bit more than a kunai." Kakashi said.
"It's a lot more than a kunai." Karan said. "And the aftereffects are well you know…"
"You can handle things pretty well without it." He said.
"Years of practice." She answered with a shrug. "How long are you planning on keeping Naruto and Yamato waiting today?"
"Oh I'm already there." He said reaching behind into his Kunai pouch and pulling out two books. "Just came here to drop off some entertainment."
"Thanks." Karan said.
"Listen to the nurses, you'll get out of here faster." He said. "Later."
With that he was gone in a puff of smoke.
"Shadow Clone." Karan said before reaching over and picking up one of the books.
The rest of the day was spent with just the her reading the book which made the nurses give her a strange look but it did make it easier to ignore that she was in the last place she wanted to be.
By the second day Tsunade had cleared Karan to go home and only resume training responsibly. As soon as she heard the words 'cleared for duty' she was out the door.
She ran home to take a nice long shower to get rid of the hospital smell she was sure was lingering on her but as soon as she stepped through the door she knew something was off. Karan looked around and noticed the door to her bathroom was open. Karan always left doors in her living spaces closed. She activated her Sharingan to make sure there wasn't anyone else in the apartment. It was empty. She walked towards the bathroom door. It wasn't open all the way but the knob had a bit of a trick to it when you had to hold it until the door clicked to make sure it closed or else it would open by itself later.
It was a small mistake but it was enough to know someone had been there. He looked around and noticed that the stack of books on her coffee table were a half inch to the right from where she had left them.
Sora was right… we really had gotten sloppy. As far as she could tell there wasn't anything missing. Not that there was anything to take anyway.
She got in the shower and got dressed before going to get something to eat only to realize that her refrigerator was almost empty and everything that was in there she had to throw out. She headed out and bought groceries. After dropping off everything at home she headed to the field.
While Naruto still hadn't completely cut the waterfall the bottom half did seem to be thinner.
"He's getting close." Karan said.
"Karan." Yamato greeted.
"Did you sneak out of the hospital?" Kakashi asked.
"I was cleared. At least that's what I heard before I shunshined out of there." Karan said as they all looked at Naruto who kept at it. "So just to make sure I'm not being paranoid… neither of you stopped by my apartment while I was in the hospital right?"
"Someone was in your apartment?" Yamato asked turning to her while holding his arm up towards Naruto.
"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked.
"Bathroom door was open and a few of my things were moved. They did a pretty good job of covering their tracks but they slipped up on a few things." She said rubbing her wrist as she felt it start to pulse before reaching behind her to take out the book Kakashi lent to her. "Anyway I also came to return this to you. I'm halfway through the third. That second book though with that twist…"
"Mhm. Keep rea…" Kakashi said before reaching over and gently leading Karan to take two steps back. Karan looked at him confused before…
"Dynamic Entry!" Guy shouted as he crashed into the spot Kakashi was previously standing in. "Kakashi!"
"Hn…" Kakashi said not looking up from his book.
"Karan! It's so good… Your hand!" Guy said noticing the bandage.
"Minor training mishap." Karan said.
"Minor." Yamato chuckled before they all looked and saw the damage from her sparring match two days earlier was still slightly visible.
"Got a bit carried away. Nothing to worry about though." Karan said brushing it off.
"It is amazing, the power of youth is so strong and your determination will blossom…" He said continuing his rant completely oblivious to his surrounding.
Karan just nodded along as Guy complemented her give it all mentality and then turned it into an attempt to get the three of them to go out with the other jonin when she heard the familiar pop of shadow clones. She glanced over and saw all of Naruto's shadow clones be undone and him about to collapse and fall over the edge of the platform. Without thinking Karan teleported and caught Naruto before he fell.
"Woah!" Guy said blinking and not seeing Karan before turning around and seeing she had caught Naruto before turning to Kakashi. "How did she…" He asked in a whisper.
"It's either a shunshin or she teleported." Kakashi said.
"I think it might be time for a break." Karan called over. "He's really out this time."
"Finally!" Yamato said relieved as he fell back letting his arm down as Karan teleported over and put Naruto down against a tree. "I mean I can do this all day."
"Well if you're on a break we're all going to a bar later…" Guy said. "A break would do you all some good."
"Did you say bar?" Karan said perking up.
"Didn't you just get out of the hospital?" Yamato reminded her.
"Lady Tsunade didn't say anything about having to abstain from anything." Karan said.
"What did she say?" Kakashi retorted.
"I heard cleared for duty and I left before she changed her mind." Karan said honestly. "But I'm sure as a medical ninja she would agree relaxing night out is exactly what we all need."
"Or for other reasons…" Yamato added while Guy just nodded with a grin and two thumbs up.
Kakashi sighed giving in with a shrug "I guess team building is important." He said "Though one of us should drop off Naruto at home first…"
"I'll do it!" Guy said running to grab Naruto throwing him over his shoulder before running of and yelling over his shoulder. "See you at the usual spot!"