Firstly, let me say sorry for how late this chapter is. My computer isn't working even when I use my mobile hot spot; I'm posting this from my phone so please let me know if something is wonky. Not only that, I've hurt myself pretty badly and have been struggling to walk, sit, bend over, and stuff like that. I hope you enjoy, and once again I'm sorry. If you like what you see and would like to see more, just know that a simple commwnt can grant you that wish!
I hope to hear from you soon! - S.S.R.
When Febe came to, a stiff groan of pain left her lips at the annoying sound of the heart monitor. Febe felt disoriented; she couldn't tell what time it was or what day, much less how long she'd been out. The only thing she was sure of was the pain behind her left eye festering at a slow, antagonizing rate, forcing another groan from her chapped lips.
Febe felt parched, but it hurt too much to move and see if any water waited for her.
Her migraine felt like hell, and that horrible sickly sweet smell of sanitation most hospitals and medical clinics sported made her want to vomit. Just scrunching up her nose to avoid as much of it as she could made her migraine irritated.
Febe hated places like these.
Being stuck in them made her feel like a caged bird.
Swallowing hard, the brunette grimaced; she could taste the bile in her throat. It took all her power to keep herself from gagging.
What happened to her?
Ever since the lightning incident, Febe became accustom to passing out and waking up in strange and unfamiliar places; she'd always wake up in some sort of pain giving her a run for her money. It wasn't normal per-say, but having happened more than once, she'd come to almost expect it.
It was because of her expectations that the teenager felt at the very least bewildered to wake up in the same place this time around, or at least what she assumed was the same place. Febe didn't have to open her eyes to tell she was still in the hospital; what other place would have a heart monitor and the smell of sanitation and bitter medicine?
There was the sound of muffled talking as two pairs of what Febe assumed were heels clacked their way into her room, bringing her out of her train of thought. They closed the door behind them, thankfully doing so quietly. Everything sounded as if it were covered with fuzzy mold, but Febe listened as her visitors shuffled around the room for a bit.
Were they her doctors?
The sounds of papers moving and what sounded like scratching against paper as things were written down next to her filled her ears for the first few moments; it made whatever was rummaging behind her eye spike angrily.
Couldn't they be quieter?
For a moment, they said and did nothing, leaving the three of them in an almost blissful silence, though it hadn't lasted much longer.
"Has there been any updates on her status?"
While it was hard to hear them, she could hear them well enough to make out what they were saying since they were so close. The sound of paper moving again made Febe want to cry, still, she did her best to keep herself from moving too much.
There was a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach; it was one of those feelings that screamed something was wrong, that something horrible would happen. While she knew she was in a hospital, that still didn't give her much information to work with.
She could be just about anywhere, and they could be just about anyone.
Keeping her breath steady, Febe did her best to relax; the last thing she needed was for her heart monitor to give her away. With her migraine being as bad as it was, moving, much less fending for her life, was nearly impossible. The risk of putting herself in an unfavorable situation like having to fight or flee in her condition left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She wasn't stupid.
"For the most part, we've had little change since you last checked in. The patient has been in and out of sleep for the past three days; the few times we could get her to eat something, she couldn't keep it down. We've been trying a liquid diet to compensate, but she's struggled to keep much of that down too. She also keeps mumbling about colored lightning, strange storms, almost drowning, and a doe with constellations on its backs in her sleep. Also woke up begging for her parents on the second night; she said their names were Rin and James, but she was delirious. She hadn't done it since then."
"Strange... And the chakra signature?"
"According to the report given to me this morning as well as what we've found here, it can't be hers. We haven't been able to find a trace of chakra in her system. Whoever left her there made sure to cover their tracks, and even went as far as to leave a signature as a decoy, but it doesn't explain why they left her in such a critical condition."
Despite all the information she was hearing, none of it was piecing together.
What did they mean by chakra signature?
She was in critical condition?
She'd been out for over three days?
She had even begged for her parents?
Thwarting her best efforts, Febe's anxiety swiftly took control over her mind and body. Her heartbeat started to increase at a dangerous rate, clouding what little sense she had left. As if a cry for help, the heart monitor shouted for attention, but it wasn't fast enough of a warning.
Febe's eyes shot open, a cry of pain being ripped from her throat as the light scorched her sensitive retinas and the loudness surrounding her had bothered her migraine for the last time; she could feel her stomach churning. On instinct, Febe shot up as her migraine shot another thick pain through her skull. Coupled with the lights, the pain was blinding; it was all too intense, Febe couldn't stop herself from vomiting what was left of what she assumed was her liquid diet.
"Not again!"
Everything seemed to move in slow motion the moment the brunette shot up; the lights were hazy, and the faces in front of her were a swirl of colors. Febe wasn't sure when she'd passed out again, but when she came too, she wondered again how long she'd been out this time. Febe felt warn out and out of energy, but thankfully the room she'd woken up in this time was dark.
While all that was left of her migraine was a weak throbbing pain, her throat still burned from her little accident earlier.
It took a lot out of her to look around the room, she didn't even have the energy to jolt in surprise at the hard honey brown-eyed woman staring at her from the chair next to her bed.
"Finally awake, huh? How do you feel?"
"Thirsty... Tired... Sore..."
Febe's mouth felt heavy, even when a cool glass of water was pressed to her lips, it took much more energy than it should have to just get it down. She'd gotten through about four cups before she was satisfied. Feeling better now that her dehydration had been fixed, Febe slumped against her pillows.
Tired brown eyes watched the blonde-haired woman take a seat again; Febe recognized her from the moment she'd laid eyes on her. In all her life, never once did Febe think she'd meet the Fifth Hokage of what was supposed to be a fictional land, she never thought she'd end up in said fictional land either.
All of this was just stressful, and all Febe wanted to do was sleep.
Tsunade wanted answers first, though.
"Do you have a name?"
Febe felt annoyed; Tsunade was interrogating her, and while she understood completely where the older woman was coming from, Febe's just wanted to rest.
Could they play twenty questions a little later?
Tsunade watched the teenager expectantly, she could only take it as no.
"Febe."
"Do you remember what village you're from?"
"Don't have one..."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Febe's response; it was obvious she didn't believe the teenager. Without this information it was more than just a little difficult to look someone up, but Febe could only offer what she had. Even if she had the information, she wouldn't have trusted it to Konoha.
While she loved Naruto and all it had done for her over the seventeen years of her life, she had no problem pointing out the flaws.
No village was completely clean or perfect the way they tried to make it seem; all of them were villains in someone else's book, and Konoha was no different.
Febe never cared much for Konoha, they had blood on their hands and often times she felt they were pretending it was all for the right reasons. She also didn't like a majority of the people that lived there; what type of person would attack a child simply because of something forced inside of him from birth?
How did it even become their business what was inside him?
What hurt the most was not even the Third Hokage gave much of a damn about Naruto. Sure, he dropped off money every now and again, but he always looked annoyed having to do so. Maybe it was just Febe's motherly nature, but the idea of leaving a child to survive on their own made her sick to her stomach. Naruto didn't let that stop him, but she never liked his reason for doing things.
He wanted to feel seen!
Feel loved!
He wanted them to just fucking acknowledged him for once!
The more he grew up, the stronger he'd become, and by proxy he became more useful. Suddenly the villagers loved him, treated him kindly, treated him like a human being for once in his life.
It wasn't just him, either.
When Sasuke lost his family, the village turned their backs on him but when he finally couldn't take it anymore and snapped, they had the audacity to point fingers and cry monster. Febe wasn't the biggest fan of the last Uchiha, she thought of some of his actions as kind of assholish, but she wasn't blind enough to ignore how he'd come to be that way.
Pain changes people.
No matter how little pain it may have been, no matter how little the pain seemed to others.
Pain makes you change into things you said you'd never, ever become.
Febe had learned that the hard way.
"Where did you live before you arrived here?"
Tsunade's voice brought Febe back to reality; slowly blinking her eyes, the brown-eyed girl shook her head before speaking.
"I'm not from here at all."
"I know that, but where did you come from?"
"I lived in a different world all together. I'm not from here at all. I don't have a village."
There was an exasperated look of annoyance on the blonde-haired woman's face; of course it didn't make sense to her. The Hokage didn't trust her, not that she had before, but now it was getting harder for her to hide. It didn't make much sense to Febe either, but even if it made little sense, it was still the truth. Feeling more awake now, much to her dismay, Febe started to explain herself.
"I'm not sure how long I've been away from home, but the last time I was there, there was a horrible storm that differed greatly from most of the storms we've had before. The clouds moved like they had a mind of their own, and the lightning was this striking blue color; the winds were much stronger than they should have been, whipping the trees around like they were nothing. The lightning struck my house, hitting the antenna that was attached to our TV; I felt the oddest need to touch it when my TV screen turned on with unusual blue static, and when I did I got struck too. When I woke up, I was in this strange place with silver trees, bluish-green grass, and these miniature ponds surrounded by pastel rocks. Overwhelmed, I started to cry, and while I did so a deer came to me, she looked like she had constellations on her back. When I followed her, she leads me to a normal-sized pond, but the rocks were warm and pastel green, another horrible storm brewed."
Sitting up a little more, Febe continued.
"The doe was on guard, there was something she didn't like about the storm. It was made of these evil looking black clouds, and again the lightning wasn't normal; instead of it being blue, this time the lighting was indigo in color. Just like the other storm, it seemed to have a mind of its own; as if it were a smoke monster. It rushed down to grab me, but the doe kicked me into the water. She followed after me not long after, but the clouds raced after her so she kicked me even farther into the water. I started to drown, but then I woke up here."
The room was silent, but Febe had little energy left to spare to explain further. Not being able to support herself like before, the teenager simply slouched in the bed, her head lulled in Tsunade's direction.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
"No, but I'd rather tell you the truth and have you not believe me than keep up a lie that could easily come to bite me in the butt later on."
Tsunade sighed again; leaning back in her chair, the blonde-haired woman did her best to relax. When she closed her eyes, Febe noticed the tiny dark circles that were forming against beautiful fair skin; the job of a Hokage was never done, she supposed.
"You've been out for a full week, and this is the same story that you keep giving every time you wake up; normally you're still out of it, so we assumed it was just delirium..."
Sitting up again, the older woman forced herself to her feet, crossing her arms over her enlarged chest.
"Ever since you've come here, Shizune and I have been having odd dreams that show the same story you told us. Sometimes it's almost as if we're your, and then other times it's as if we're the deer. It's been strange, and we assumed it was some sort cheap trick, but something just isn't adding up..."
"I'm not sure I understand..."
"Something is after you, and I think whoever sent that deer, or if it was the deer all by herself, sent you here for one reason or another."
Taking a few steps away to pick up a clipboard with Febe's information on it, Tsunade quickly wrote something down before hanging it at the edge of the bed.
"You'll be discharged in a few more days, I'll be setting up your housing. Until then, you'll stay here and rest."
She wanted to say something, to make some form of a rebuttal, but her mind drew blank. This wasn't a normal situation where she could just call for help, as much as she hated it, Tsunade and Konoha were the help. There would be no one else to lend a hand, not without wanting something in return; pursing her lips together, Febe nodded.
After that, all Febe could do was bide her time; once again, she was forced to remember why she hated places like this. She couldn't wander around like she wanted to, she wasn't allowed to eat by herself or use the bathroom by herself, hell, they even kept her drapes closed to keep out the prying eyes of others.
If not for her lack of wings, Febe would have sworn she was a bird stuck in a gilded cage.
She half expected them to give her crackers and ask her to sing, but that was just her imagination going wild. The days went by so slowly; she had time to just be inside her head, to think about the things she'd have rather kept locked away in a box.
She couldn't sleep because of it...
Her mind had filled with those beautiful green eyes that had once been her drug, it was almost as if they were haunting her now. His voice pleaded with her for forgiveness, screamed and shouted in distress at the idea of not having her anymore.
She still loved him, she knew she did...
That's what made it hurt all the more...
She pined after him for such a long time, and even came to believe that he loved her, but it was all just a big joke. Something they could laugh about for years to come; Febe wouldn't put it past one of them people Danny had in on the plan cracking jokes about it in their speeches at Danny and Genevieve's wedding.
It made her stomach churn with anger.
Angry, hot tears clouded her vision the more she thought about everything; Febe wanted so badly to punch him in his stupidly cute face. Rubbing her eyes, she let out a deep, tired sigh.
This is why she hated being alone with her thoughts...
"Febe?"
There was a soft knock on the door before the door creaked open; a pair of kind black eyes greeted her with a soft smile, a familiar pink friend hanging comfortably from their arms. Febe offered a small smile, happy to finally have some company.
"Hey Shizune, I see you brought Ton-Ton today!"
"Oink oink!"
It had been going on two weeks since the brown-eyed teenager had been cooped up in her hospital room; being that she wasn't really from this world, she never really got visitors outside of Tsunade and Shizune and the occasional visit from Ton-Ton, Shizune's animal friend. They were good company, but Febe still hoped that it would be her parents who'd walk through the door.
God, she wanted to go home...
"Yeah! I thought you might like to see her before you leave today."
"I get to leave today?"
Shizune smiled again, nodding as she entered the room with a soft click of the door closing. Ton-Ton was happy to hop into Febe's lap, flopping door without a care in the world. The teenager couldn't help but laugh. Gently petting and scratching the miniature pig, Febe let out a sigh.
"Hey, don't be so down, Lady Tsunade found a really good place for your to stay, and thanks to the person you'll be staying with, you'll be under their protection until we can figure out how to send you home!"
"Wait... I'm staying with someone?"
"You didn't think we'd let you live by yourself, did you?"
Both Febe and Shizune snapped their heads in the voice's direction, surprised to see Tsunade leaning against the door frame.
"When did you get here, M'Lady? I thought you still had some work to finish?"
"I thought it be best to get this done first; he'll be back tonight, we need to make sure she's prepared."
Closing and locking the door behind her, Tsunade showed herself in; taking her normal seat beside Febe's bed.
"As you now know, you'll be staying with someone. It was hard to choose, but I've decided to put you with Sasuke Uchiha. He's been on a mission for quite some time, so we decided that it'd be best you pose as his wife from the Village Hidden in the Stars."
"Wait, what do you mean wife?!"
Tsunade blinked in surprise, even Ton-Ton had gotten startled by the sudden loudness. The brunette offered an apologetic smile; Febe wasn't one to normally yell, but she couldn't stop herself at the mention of being a wife, much likely being the wife to someone she barely knew outside of the TV screen.
"I'm sorry for yelling, it's just that I don't feel comfortable pretending to be someone's wife..."
"I can only assume; this situation is lot more sensitive than you may be giving it credit for. All we really have to go on is your word and the dreams Shizune and I have been having. There's no telling what else is involved or even who else is involved, but what we do know is that you're a key to solving this."
"Then why can't I stay with one of you?"
Shizune stepped forward and took Ton-Ton into her hands and offered an apologetic smile, hoping that would soften the bad news.
"Sorry Febe, but like Lady Tsunade said you're the key to solving your situation. As Hokage, she won't be able to keep a close enough eye on you in case anything changes, and things can get hectic for me too. It may not be the best liked of our choices, but it is the smartest."
"What about Sasuke? There's no way he'd ever agree to something like this, right?"
"Yes, you're right he wouldn't have agreed-"
Febe's face lit up like a Christmas tree the moment those words left the blonde-haired Hokage's mouth, but her joy hadn't lasted much longer.
"See? So there's no way-"
"You didn't let me finish; normally he would have said no, but he wasn't given a choice in the matter and neither are you. We've already given him the rundown of everything; because this is so short notice, our options are limited. Just for the time being, we need you to play along."
Heaving a deep sigh, Tsunade stood from her seat and placed a hand on Febe's shoulder.
"I understand that this may not be the most appealing solution, but until we can get you back home, it's the best we have. Get some more rest, I'll be back in the evening so we can make sure our story is intact."
Febe's head dropped as her burning eyes tried to focus on her balled fist; there was a deep anger that was burning inside of her. She didn't want any of this, what had she even done to deserve such a shitty situation? All she wanted was to be home with her family happily eating home made udon and cherry cakes, playing video games with her mother, watching movies with them, healing with them!
Was that really too much to ask...?
Was asking for that greedy and selfish...?
Febe couldn't help but feel like she was being pushed off onto someone else, like an annoying pest that no one could bare to deal with anymore.
It hurt...
The two women watched the young girl as she struggled to not break down in frustrated tears; Shizune went to reach out to the young girl, but Tsunade's silent hand on her shoulder froze her. Worried black eyes met sympathetic honey brown. Tsunade shook her head, gently pulling her assistant with her, closing the door behind them with a soft click.
Tsunade and Shizune stood at the door for a moment, but when they went to move the sound of soft sobbing could be heard through the door. Both women looked at one another before glancing back at the door.
"I hate hard choices like these.."
Tsunade pinched her brow with a sigh; she hated having to do this to Febe, but she needed to keep an eye on both her and Sasuke. The blonde-haired woman couldn't think of another way that would have made sense, there'd be no other reason for Sasuke to come home with a mysterious woman.
She needed someone who wasn't close enough to anyone in the village to share any information about the situation, and she needed someone strong enough that if something were to happen or if someone were to show up uninvited that they'd have no problem protecting her.
Despite all of that, the idea of being married to a stranger, even if it were all just pretend, was never an easy one. Even now, Tsunade knew that she and Shizune both wanted to do something to fix the situation right away, to just send Febe home, but that wasn't an option.
At least not yet.
Turning away from the door, the Hokage started to walk away; she didn't like that she had to put Febe with Sasuke, but Tsunade had learned earlier in life that sometimes it was the things you disliked the most that would benefit you the most.
"Let's go Shizune, we've still got a lot of work to do."