"Are you ready to begin now?" Sakura asked when she had finally sobered up from laughing at Naruto's panick stricken face after Gaara had left after promising to make him eat vegetables later on for dinner. The blond looked up at her and for a moment she saw a flicker of something in his eyes that she had rarely seen since his academy days.
Uncertainty? From mister I-defy-all-odds-and-laugh-in-the-face-of-fate?
How odd. Sakura thought to herself as he seemed to mentally shake himself free of whatever worries, doubts and concerns that had momentarily plagued him as he muttered with a slight frown, "Was that a rhetorical question?"
Sakura said nothing as she fixed a syringe and carefully injected the contents into Yuki's IV before reaching out and then unhooked one of the bags of partially gone fluid that had been attached to the young woman and then stood back. "The drug should take effect within a few minutes to an hour. Give or take a little bit. Let's see, it's about five now. So she should wake up around six or six thirty."
Rubbing his face with his hands, Naruto sighed and then sat down and made himself comfortable as Sakura told him that she had to leave for the time being but she'd return as soon as she could and then left him alone.
Naruto looked over at Yuki, his azure blue eyes studying her almost skeletal features with an unreadable expression on his face as anger welled up in his chest.
Damn hospital. He inwardly seethed. Thanks to the medically induced coma Yuki had been placed in, her physical heath had deteriorated to almost the point of no return.
Sitting forward slightly in his seat, he rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together in front of his mouth and tried to think of a way to help Yuki out so that she healed that much sooner. He was casually going over things in his mind before he finally realized the answer to helping her.
Sakura had mentioned that she and Ino had been giving her some of their chakra in an attempt to stave off the deterioration of her body as she healed. But apparently their chakra was too weak, or simply not enough to sustain her physically.
Could I? He wondered as he looked down at his own hands before narrowing his blue eyes to slits. Should I try? He wondered as it occurred to him all of the terrible things that could go wrong if he gave her too much of his chakra. He could fry her insides. Rupture organs. Cause severe internal bleeding.
Even death.
Fuck that. She's dead if she continues to deteriorate anyways.
At least with his chakra pumping through her she would stand a little bit of a better chance of surviving long enough to get better. It would also create a more concrete bond between them that would allow him to keep tabs on her even over a distance.
Which would make knowing when she was in trouble or danger much easier. But he worried that there may be adverse affects to having his chakra pumping through her system as well. He simply wasn't sure what they might be. But so far the pros far outweighed the cons.
Getting up out of his chair, he moved as close as he could to the bed and very gently reached out and lay his hands on her and began to focus his chakra as he started to speak to her in a soft almost coaxing tone. Telling her what he was doing and why.
Letting her know that he was going to take care of her, and that she was going to be alright.
He refused to admit even to himself that he may very well fail in his endeavor to help her. Especially after the hell she had gone through. And yet her mind had seemed strangely intact when he had had contact with her before in his mindscape before. Something that he hadn't expected, but was secretly pleased about nevertheless.
Focusing his mind, he reached out to hers and found what he was looking for easily enough.
The trail leading to her mindscape wasn't like anything akin to his own. Her mind didn't consist of pipes and dripping water. No, her mind was a filled with different places and depths that confused him as he navigated his way through it until he found her.
Yuki was laying on her back on the ground under what looked like a large tree covered in red, yellow and vivid orange leaves. Her strange clothing looked old and dirty and were ripped and torn in various places. Her long dark hair was fanned out around her head and she appeared to be sleeping.
A rarity to be sure, especially since most people didn't feel the need to rest in their mindscape.
Kneeling down next to her, Naruto reached out and brushed some of her dark hair back away from her face causing her to twitch and stir slightly. A soft groan escaping her sot pink lips.
"What?"
"Wake up." He said softly as she opened her eyes slightly and stared at him with a small frown.
"Naruto? What are you doing here?" She asked curiously despite how tired she appeared to be to him.
"I need you to wake up." He said again as she looked as if she were on the verge of falling back asleep. She closed her eyes again and Naruto sighed as he reached out again and this time pinched her sharply causing her to bolt upright with a startled yelp.
"Ouch! You son of a bit-" Naruto silenced her easily enough by laying his fingers against her lips and glowering at her for a moment to show his displeasure at being cursed at.
"I don't have a lot of time and I need you to listen to me carefully," He began before he started talking again. "Your body is on the verge of death and I'm trying to help you, but I can't do it if you're asleep and unreceptive to my actions."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, just give me your hands and don't let go until I say so." Naruto said quickly as he held his hands out to her and patiently waited for her to take them so that he could well and truly begin to heal her.
