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Chapter 31 – The Trouble with Icha Icha

Opening the unlocked door to Kakashi's apartment, Amaya quickly stepped aside before Sasuke ran into her. She grabbed the Genin's arm, stopping him from running off. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Let go! I have to get to him before he disappears again!" Sasuke twisted in her grip but couldn't break her hold.

"What'll you do once you find him?"

The raven-haired Genin didn't answer, only struggling harder. She knew she wouldn't get anything else out of him, so she released her hold. He took the nearby stairs two at a time as he left. Amaya sighed; as long as he thought before acting and didn't attack his brother, she couldn't justify going after him.

The auburn-haired woman closed the door behind her and made her way to Kakashi's room. Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai sat around the room, all casting worried glances at each other and at Kakashi. The silver-haired Jonin lay in bed, breathing evenly if slowly. She leaned against the doorframe. "Is he okay?"

Kurenai shook her head. "We don't know what Itachi did to him. We thought he would've woken up by now. Or that at least we'd be able to wake him up."

"That's why you didn't take him straight to the hospital?" Amaya asked as she walked across the room and sat on the edge of the Copy-nin's bed.

"Yeah," Asuma answered, "he doesn't have any injuries that we can find. Kurenai even checked his head. But he's not waking up, so we were going to call some medics to come get him."

"You guys should go home, get some rest. I'll stay with him, and if he doesn't wake up by tomorrow morning, I'll inform the hospital and they can take it from there." The tattooed Jonin got up and herded the other Jonin out. Asuma and Kurenai asked her to keep them updated as they left, but Gai stuck around for a moment. The green-jumpsuit-clad shinobi couldn't meet Amaya's gaze. "If I'd gotten there sooner, he'd still be conscious."

"Don't blame yourself. Who knows what Itachi did to him. Now, go on home and get some sleep," she said as she shooed him to his own apartment a few doors down. He gave her a smile, a real smile, so unlike his good-guy grin, and headed inside.

Once back in Kakashi's apartment, Amaya locked the door. She glanced around the room on the off chance he'd changed anything, but everything was just as it had been since she met him: the couch was still against the wall, the bookshelves were still overflowing, and the kitchen was still clean as ever. The only hint of disorder in his whole home was his spiky hair and even that wasn't an accident.

But she could see the chaos underneath the shiny coat of control. His Icha Icha books were out of order on the bookshelf beside his bed. The plant Naruto had given him, which sat in the window above his bed, was wilting slightly. The picture of Team 7 was crooked, as if he'd turned it so he could look at it before he went to sleep. She knew these small things signaled something amiss. What, though, she didn't have a clue.

She pulled the chair Gai had been sitting in closer to the bed. Touching Kakashi's forehead, she thought he might have a slight fever, so she decided to get water for both him and his plant. Amaya retrieved a washcloth from the bathroom (as meticulously kept as the kitchen) and a bowl of cool water from the kitchen (she was confident she could eat off the floor). Half the water went to the plant, the rest soaking into the washcloth. She hoped she hadn't given Naruto's gift too much; she'd managed to kill hers inside of a week. Wringing the excess liquid from the cloth, she draped it across Kakashi's forehead. His hitai-ate sat beside the photo above his bed and the auburn-haired shinobi couldn't help but wonder where his other photo was. She knew he had a picture of Team Minato but had only ever caught glimpses of it as he would put it away. The memory was apparently still too painful to have such a reminder out in the open.

As much as she wanted to, she wasn't about to go snooping. If he was like most of the Jonin she knew, he'd have traps set up to protect the things most important to him, traps she didn't feel like disarming. Or getting caught in. Instead, she grabbed one of his Icha Icha books, curious about what made them so interesting.

She couldn't move fast enough; the needle pricked her the second she tried to take the book from the shelf. Her muscles tensed, locking into place.

"Damn you," Amaya said as her face tensed up as well. She couldn't believe him. A paralyzing poison to protect some stupid books. There was going to be ass-kicking as soon as he woke up.

What the hell was she supposed to do? Wait until it wore off? That would take a few hours and she wasn't willing to stay frozen that long. But what options did she have? The only one she could think of was Mamoru. He knew about poisons, a little anyway. She rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to summon him without hand seals? She'd done it once out of absolute life-and-death desperation, but this wasn't life or death. Just unpleasant. Oh, she was going to beat Kakashi senseless.


Four hours. Four hours had seen her through wanting to kick Kakashi's ass, finding it mildly amusing that he chose his books of all things to trap, and into thinking that maybe he should've been taken to the hospital in the first place. The prolonged sleep didn't worry her as much as the twitching. He could be knocked out for days after over-using his Sharingan, but she'd never seen him twitch like he was. They were fast, small movements of a hand or foot or the tensing of muscles. It almost looked like he was in pain.

Frustration drove her to willing any part of her body to move, and she managed to shift her foot a little. Next was her whole leg, straightening for a moment then freezing in place. She groaned; she was starting to want to beat Kakashi senseless again. Another hour saw the sun sink below the window.

Knocking interrupted her attempts to move her hands. The auburn-haired shinobi froze, straining to hear. Someone was definitely at Kakashi's door. She tried to call out, but her cry passed no farther than her lips. Hopefully, whoever it was would be persistent and pick the lock. Five minutes later, Haku appeared in the doorway.

After taking in the scene, a smile quirked up one side of his mouth. "So that's what Kakashi-sensei wanted that poison for." She glared at the dark-haired nin, and he held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry. I'll have you moving in no time."

He sat the pack he'd brought with him and rummaged inside for his medic-nin supplies. Finding those, he took out a small vial and tipped a drop or two into her mouth. She almost gagged on the bitter taste but could move by the time Haku was checking on Kakashi. Amaya rose from her chair and stretched, luxuriating in the feeling of control. Watching the young medic-nin frown over Kakashi made her worry even more, though. A frowning medic was rarely a good sign. She held her question until he was done. "So?"

"There's no reason he shouldn't be waking up. I'll inform my sensei while you pack."

"Pack? Is there a mission?" Her gaze shifted from Haku to the unconscious Jonin. She didn't want to leave, didn't want him to wake up alone.

The ex-missing-nin nodded. "We're going to River Country along with Kazuma and Raido to—"

"Tell me why on the way. We'll be expected to leave soon, I'm sure."

"We were expected to leave half an hour ago, but I couldn't find you. The others should be waiting by the gate."

Casting one more glance at Kakashi, she said a silent prayer for him. She didn't know what she'd do if he didn't wake, but there was a mission to concentrate on. A distracted ninja was a dead ninja and she wasn't willing to die anytime soon. She'd put her trust in the gods and the talents of Konoha's medic-nin. Hopefully, that would be enough.