"Fuck you!" Nayamae screamed, straining against the cuffs around her wrists that held her to the hospital bed. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!"
"Nayamae, please!" cried the nurse as she attempted to stop her from moving. "You'll reopen your wounds!" She turned her head towards the door. "I need some help in here!"
"Fuck that sharingan user! He tricked me!" She continued to thrash around on the bed. More people rushed into the room, moving to grab at any thrashing limb. "He tricked me! He's tricked me!" She continued to scream as the nurse grabbed a sedative and attempted to put it into Nayamae's vein. "NO!" she yelled, trying to yank her arm away in a panic. She felt warmth rising to her eyes, a burning sensation in her chest. Immediately, all the nurses and doctors touching her bare skin released her, their skin singed from the sudden heat. Everyone stared at her in shock as she laid back, eyes closed, and chest heaving as she caught her breath. "Don't… Don't you dare fucking touch me with that thing…" She felt the sudden heat leaving her body as she continued to catch her breath. "Don't fucking touch me…"
"You need to let them treat you, Nayamae," a voice said from the foot of her bed.
She didn't have to open her eyes to know who it was. "Get out of here before I kick your ass, Hatake," she threatened.
"You have no reason to do so anyway. I've done nothing but help you."
Nayamae sat up, glaring daggers directly at Kakashi. "Oh yeah? Then why the hell am I chained to a damn hospital bed? Some help you've been."
He crossed his arms. "You would have bled to death last night if I hadn't done anything. You're welcome." The hospital staff stood awkwardly off to the side as they uncomfortably watched the scene. He turned to them. "Leave." They immediately obeyed.
Nayamae didn't break her eyes from his face once as they filed out. "I was coming off of a high. It would have been better if you hadn't helped me."
"I thought you were being Orochimaru's science project?" Kakashi said coldly. "That's where you've been these last few years, right? Just needed a bit of extra help after an experiment gone wrong. Maybe spy a little bit while you're at it."
"I will cut your tongue out of your mouth," Nayamae hissed.
"Ooh, touchy." Kakashi was unsure why he felt like egging her on. He figured she would accidentally blurt something out of anger, telling him about any of her criminal activities. He had no reason to keep her as a friendly ally, especially when her eyes held such hatred for him. She reminded him of a trapped animal. "Alright, so if you weren't playing guinea pig with Orochimaru, what have you been doing?"
"Fuck off," she spat, attempting a kick to his chest, her foot barely reaching him.
Kakashi didn't flinch. "Try that again and see me put cuffs on your ankles too, fox."
She continued to glare at him, baring her teeth. "For the record," she said, "Orochimaru has something of mine that I would like to get back. Get that for me and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."
He narrowed his eyes. "So you do or don't want help? You're sending mixed signals." He did consider her offer though. On one hand, she has valuable information that ANBU had been trying to get for years. On the other hand, she could be lying and only trying to get out of an arrest.
"You'll get nothing from me if I don't have it back," Nayamae continued.
Curiosity got the best of him. "What did he steal from you?"
She was reluctant. "My kitsunebi." She wasn't sure if he would believe her, but without it, even with only a portion of it gone, she would eventually die. "You remember what that is, don't you?"
He leaned forward, balancing on his hands and shaking his head in disbelief. "You just burned those people who were trying to help you a few minutes ago. What do you mean he's stolen your fox fire?"
She was quiet for a moment. "Well, not all of it," she admitted, "but I still need it back!"
He straightened up. "I'll make sure your request is considered," he told her plainly, turning to leave.
"Hey!" she yelled after him. He didn't turn back.
"Hello!" a bright woman said as she entered Nayamae's hospital room, jolting Nayamae awake. She had peppery black hair tied into a bun on the top of her head. She wore red circular glasses over her yellow eyes. In her hands she held a brown briefcase. "I'm Kyrie! I'm a friend of Kakashi's." She sat down on the right side of her bed, holding the briefcase in her lap. "I'm here to help you!" She smiled widely, exposing white teeth.
Nayamae shifted uncomfortably, not liking Kyrie's too friendly introduction.
"Your name's Nayamae, right? Mind if I call you Naya, for short? It'll make things much easier." Kyrie didn't give her a chance to reply. "Let's take a look at your arm, Naya," Kyrie continued, reaching for her bandaged arm.
Nayamae pulled her arm away as far as the restraints would allow her to, which wasn't very far. "Don't touch me!" she warned, baring her teeth.
"Ooh, Kakashi warned me about this." Kyrie sighed, unclasping the locks on her briefcase. "That's why I brought these with me," she said, pulling out a pair of black gloves and slipping them over her hands. "Can't burn me with these!" She smiled again and wriggled her fingers. Nayamae stared dumbly at the older woman, unsure of how to react around her. Gently, Kyrie took Nayamae's arm and began to unwrap the bandage. "Just gonna take a looksie here," she assured her. Kyrie blinked, staring at the pale skin of Nayamae's arm. "What the?" She continued to unwrap the rest of the bandage, finding her whole arm had healed. She set her arm down, took off the gloves, and stood. "I'll be right back!" she said, practically running out of the room.
Kyrie ran down the hall where she found Kakashi talking with some fellow ANBU members. "I need to speak with you," she said urgently, pulling him aside.
"Kyrie, I was just about to leave. What do you need?" he asked, feeling annoyed.
"You just called me out here last night," she replied.
He nodded. "Yeah, I did. What's your point?"
"Her arm is totally healed. There's nothing for me to look at. Other than being a little thin, she doesn't look totally unhealthy either. But, still," Kyrie crossed her arms, "whatever drug addiction she may have, she doesn't show it." She shook her head. "What's going on with that young woman? What aren't you telling me about her?"
Kakashi sighed and brought his voice down to a whisper. "Listen, she's a kitsune, part fox, part woman. She's also been working for Orochimaru as a labrat for the last couple of years. The extent of her health is questionable. As for her ability to heal herself so quickly, I think that's something Orochimaru gave her, but it's hard to tell given what she is."
She nodded. "I see."
Kakashi continued. "Right now we're trying to figure out what exactly she's up to. We think maybe-"
"She needs help, Kakashi. Not an arrest warrant," Kyrie interrupted, looking at him sternly. "She wouldn't have shown up banging on people's doors if she wasn't looking for someone to legitimately help her. Where's your compassion?"
He exhaled, looking away from her. "You're not allowing me to do my job, Kyrie."
She threw her hands up. "Why don't you find some other way to do your investigation for a little bit? Maybe find someone else who knows her? Let her rest and then try talking to her."
He turned back to face her. "She's our only solid connection to finding Orochimaru right now," Kakashi argued, unintentionally raising his voice then quickly going back to a harsh whisper. "We can use her to find him and stop him from doing any more experiments on people. Including her." Kyrie was quiet. "But, at the same time, she's not entirely innocent either. I've told you this before."
"Fine. If you won't do something, then I will," she said sharply, turning on her heels and marching back to Nayamae's room.
"Hey-! What are you going to do?" Kakashi asked, following her.
"I'm gonna undo what shouldn't have been done in the first place!" She stormed into Nayamae's room, pulling back the white curtain. She jumped back in surprise, causing Kakashi to run into her. "She's gone…?" The bed was empty, the bed sheets pushed away and the strangely unopened handcuffs lay vacant. The window was open widely, the curtains moving gently in the breeze.
Kakashi moved Kyrie aside. "Dammit! You've got to be kidding me," he muttered, leaning out the open window. "She's turned herself into a fox. We've got to find her."
"You're going to go look for a fox? Good luck with that." Kyrie said sarcastically, examining the still locked handcuffs.
"She's a criminal," Kakashi stated. He ran outside the room where the other ANBU officers stood.
"Kakashi, wait!" Kyrie called, running after him. "You're really going to go after a fox when there's probably thousands of similar looking foxes outside of the village?"
"She can't have gotten far." Kakashi replied, leading the other officers out of the hospital, Kyrie trailing behind them. "Whenever she used her kitsunebi she got extremely tired. It may be the same thing when she changes to her fox."
"I can't go with you then," Kyrie said, stopping in the middle of the street and watching them run down the road towards the outskirts of the village.
Nayamae couldn't believe her luck when that woman had left the room. It was good to know she could still recover so quickly. She was still worried she had used too much energy to burn the doctors and nurses, but sleeping helped her gain some of that energy back. She decided now was her time to move and to leave the hospital. If she stayed any longer, she was sure to be arrested for real.
Changing into an animal was always an uncomfortable transition, but it was now or never. She watched her hands shrink and felt her bones tensing and relaxing as she changed form. When it was over, she paused a moment, assessing how she felt. She felt freer in this form, no one would recognize her. She didn't feel as tired as she thought she might, which was good. Orochimaru hadn't taken this away from her too.
The window had already been cracked open, all Nayamae had to do was nudge it open and push herself out onto the awning. She followed the awning towards the alleyway where she could safely jump onto a dumpster and then onto the ground. The rest of the trip would be her running to the woods where she would hide and sleep as much as she could. People jumped whenever they saw the fox run by their feet, startled at the animal being the middle of the village. Nayamae paused and looked back for a moment at a yellow haired boy with green goggles on his head. They regarded each other, both feeling a strange connection, but she soon turned around and continued to make her way out of the village.
As she ran, her heart burned with anger every time she thought of Kakashi and what he had done to her. A little voice in the back of her head told her she should have been grateful to him for the night before, but she ignored it. He was persistent at trying to get her in trouble. The voice in her head said it was because she had broken the law and deserved the consequences. She ignored this too.
She continued to run until she was way out of the village and away from prying eyes.
Let's see what happens to Nayamae next! Thanks for reading!