Possible

Possible

Chapter Seven: The Mission Report

Author's Note: (: Enjoy. There's not much action or anything.

Ichiro gazed at Ino, who was on the hospital bed, with a sort of a peaceful look on her face, as if she was sleeping soundly. The more he looked at her, the more he wished she'd just wake up now. He clutched her hand tightly and brought it close to his lips. He kissed her hand softly and ran his other free hand through her long hair. She was so beautiful this way, but he knew that she'd look much better if she was awake, and constantly pestering him with questions on his life. He'd gladly answer them all, if she'd just open her eyes. Ichiro missed her lively attitude, he missed the times when she got angry with him, and how she had glared at him every time they crossed paths in Konoha. Most of all, he loved her eyes. They were pale blue, and it was a gentle shade of pale blue, that never failed to calm him down every time he looked into her eyes. How I wish… none of this ever happened.

There was a light knock on the door. "Ichiro-kun, are you in there? Tsunade requests a mission report from you," said Shizune from the outside, fearing that Ichiro might explode in anger again. He couldn't blame her though. He was quite unstable sometimes, when they asked him too many questions, or just simply tried to strike up useless conversations in the past week. He opened the door to see a surprised Shizune, who had almost gone light pink at the sight of Ichiro. "Shizune-chan," he drawled, looking at her blankly. "Tell Tsunade I'll be there before three." The Hokage's young assistant nodded and almost dashed off after hearing Ichiro's words. He turned back to Ino and went back to her side again. He leaned forward, towards her ear and whispered gently, "I have to go see Tsunade now. I'll bring you flowers… I'll bring those that you love. Those white jasmine flowers, okay? I'll be back." He hoped that she would hear his words, somewhere in her sub-consciousness, and had started to habit of whispering in her ear, in case anyone thought that he was going crazy by talking to a person in a coma.

He left the ward soon afterwards, and made his way down to the Hokage Office. Before reaching the office, however, Ichiro didn't hesitate to buy the flowers he had 'promised' Ino. After buying a few stalks of them, Ichiro quickly made his way to the Hokage Office. He reached there knowing that Tsunade would very much prefer a written report, but he decided that she would have to bear with the verbal report. As soon as he entered, he set the flowers down on the small desk next to him. He then approached Tsunade's table and saluted. "Tsunade-sama, I am here to give you the report on the mission," he said, looking down at Tsunade, who had probably figured that he didn't have the time to do up a written report, due to the amount of time he had been spending at the hospital.

Tsunade eyed him suspiciously, worried that he hadn't gotten over the fact that Ino was unconscious and lying in a hospital bed. "We headed to the Rain Village to inspect the situation there. Apparently, nothing odd had been spotted during our stay there. We found an old building in a secluded part of the village, and realized that it was the Kage's building. We entered to search for anything informative on the Akatsuki, but to no avail. We were then attacked by Deidara and Kisame…" Ichiro's voice faded away, as if he had no more will to speak on, for the scenes of the devastating battle had begun to replay in his head again. Tsunade understood what had happened from there and said, "There is no need to go any further. I just want to know if you're okay."

Ichiro blinked in surprise. "I – I'm fine," he replied, not hesitating to take back the flowers from the table. "Really," he said, looking at Tsunade's worried expression. He forced another smile and saluted. "Alright," muttered Tsunade, as she watched Ichiro leave the room. He certainly didn't hesitate to tell her not to worry, like the way he used to when he was only at the young age of eleven.

The Jinchuuriki returned to the hospital soon after, and placed the white jasmines in the vase next to Ino's bed. Soon, the smell intoxicated Ichiro deeply. Ino smelled like jasmines, sometimes, when she had chosen that sort of perfume. Ichiro didn't like the fact that he had to sit here to wait for her to wake up, but there was nothing better he could do than to be by her side, and to be the first person she sees when she awakens.

There was a light knock on the door again. Ichiro didn't bother to reply, because the person probably knew that he was inside the ward anyway. Shikamaru entered with an unreadable expression; probably something between concern and indifference. He knew Ino would wake up sooner or later, but he couldn't help but to pity Ichiro and his current state. No one he knew had ever been so worried over his teammate before, other than those two-faced assholes that Ino had called 'boyfriends'. He smirked at the thought; those guys never deserved her as much as Ichiro did.

"Hey," said Shikamaru, pulling a chair and sitting down next to Ichiro. The brunette gave him a nod. "The doctor says she looks much better. He thinks she'll wake up soon," said Shikamaru in a matter-of-fact tone. It was one of his feeble attempts at making Ichiro feel any better, though. Troublesome… thought Shikamaru with a grimace. He always sucked at comforting people, and that was probably one of the reasons why Ino hung out with Chouji more than him. He could have slapped himself for that. "I can't help but feel so overwhelmed… seeing her like this," said Ichiro, his gaze transfixed on Ino.

Shikamaru frowned. This guy was really serious about her. "Well… like the doctor said… y'know, she'll be alive and kicking in no time." Ichiro didn't hesitate to grin at that comment. "Yeah, soon," he acknowledged. "I can't stand you being here twenty-four seven, Ichiro," said Shikamaru lazily. "I don't believe I have seen you eat once since your return." Ichiro looked at Shikamaru, his grin still on his face. "I'm taking that as an invitation?"

"Troublesome… I'm not treating you to lunch or anything, though," said Shikamaru, somewhat delighted that he could finally bring the isolated shinobi out from the confines of the hospital ward.

Naruto had joined them for lunch, improving the mood at their usual place for lunch: Ichiraku Ramen. The blonde Jinchuuriki was constantly droning on and on about his sage training, while Shikamaru was suffering from a side-splitting headache due to Naruto's endless torrent of words. Ichiro, however, paid close attention to Naruto. He had never met a Toad Sage before, or any other sage for that matter. "…so then I carried the large – I mean, you should have seen the size of it! – toad statue and well, I never really felt so strong in my life!" finished Naruto, grinning with triumph.

"Yes, yes, we all know you've been the best, Naruto," said Shikamaru dryly, with a bored tone attached to his voice. "We know you want to carry Sakura more than anything in the world…"

Naruto turned a bright shade of scarlet and tried to deny it, but failed miserably. "I do not want to carry Sakura! Its fat hope, don't you think?" Shikamaru let out a loud chuckle. "It's quite easy, now that I think about it…" He smirked when Naruto immediately turned to him and asked, "Tell me, tell me!" Shikamaru shrugged and said, "Just knock her cold and carry her to the hospital. I'm sure she'll really love you then!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and folded his arms in annoyance. "I won't knock her out!" Even though the blonde had announced that loudly, something made Ichiro think that he was considering the plan that Shikamaru had so lightly put. Teuchi and Ayame were listening closely, and they were laughing along with Shikamaru and Ichiro. The brunette felt great. He hadn't laughed in such a long time, and finally felt a huge and heavy load lifted from his shoulders. Naruto was the only one who didn't laugh though. He was much too absorbed in the devious scheme to carry Sakura. "Naruto… stop being a pedophile," said Ichiro with a grin. Naruto sighed and said, "Okay, fine! I'll carry her some other time!"

"That reminds me…" started Shikamaru, glancing sideways at Ichiro. "How did you escape from Deidara and Kisame?"

Ichiro raised his eyebrows and bit his lower lips. He couldn't risk exposing his secret now. He shrugged. "Luck, probably," replied Ichiro. "I almost died out there." Naruto grinned broadly and said, "Always the strong shinobi, this Ichiro!"

He smiled gratefully at Naruto and continued eating his ramen. Shikamaru, however, didn't hesitate to look into Ichiro's eyes before looking back into his bowl of ramen. Ichiro's eyes still had those slightly dilated pupils, and his eyes were grey, slowly becoming brown again. Naruto probably never noticed a change at all, though. He was far to obsessed with his Sage training, and Haruno Sakura. Shikamaru couldn't blame him; the poor guy had been crushing on Sakura since they first met each other.

"Hey, what's say we go for a short sparring session?"

"Alright! I'm ready to test out my new skills!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly.

Ichiro merely nodded and said, "Alright."

Deep within the forests of the Grass Country, Sai emerged from the darker part of the woods to see a brighter path ahead of him. He smiled, and thought, I will be home soon, my friends.

"Kakashi," said Tsunade, putting down her cup of sake. The silver-haired Copy Ninja looked up at the Hokage from his Icha-Icha Paradise novel with a small 'Hm?' The blonde Hokage thought for a moment, as if she had to piece her words together before being able to say it out in a full sentence, before saying, "You do realize we have more than one Jinchuuriki in this village?" Kakashi nodded and drawled, "It's that new kid isn't it? Ichiro was his name, isn't it?" Tsunade nodded. "Do you know what Bijuu he holds within him?"

"I don't know. Some turtle?" asked Kakashi sheepishly. Tsunade rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Kakashi simply didn't know when to put his sarcasm to good use. She folded her arms and sighed in despair. "It's one we have all heard of," she said. The Copy Ninja looked up again from his perverted novel and gave Tsunade a questioning look. "There's always the one-tailed one… the two-tailed… three… four… five… up 'til old Kyuubi here. Which is it?" asked Kakashi, looking slightly confused. Tsunade raised her eyebrows. Hadn't Kakashi heard of the legendary one in all his life as a shinobi?

"I thought you knew… the one with the white chakra."

Kakashi seemed to have been distracted from his novel the moment Tsunade mentioned 'white chakra'. "I thought that was a myth!" he said, scratching his head. "Nothing is impossible anymore, Kakashi," said Tsunade. "The Bijuu which uses white chakra… is a not so distant relative of the Kyuubi."

"Don't tell me…" said Kakashi, wondering if he would have guessed correctly if he said it. The only animal in the world that looks close to a fox is a wolf. "Ookami? That terrifying killing machine?" he guessed. To his horror, Tsunade nodded. Kakashi felt even more lost now. "I really thought that was a myth… it seemed so fake!" he muttered under his breath. He looked at Tsunade again and asked, "You're not kidding, right?" The Godaime rolled her eyes again. "Do I look like I'm kidding?"

"Nope," replied Kakashi with a hidden smile under his mask. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

"I'm worried… that the Akatsuki may be after Ichiro now. For sixteen years, he has been out of the organization's radar… and the Ookami remained as a myth. But now, I have a feeling that he had lost control over the Ookami's chakra and had used it in battle," said Tsunade, concern evidently in her tone.

"Oh. I get it," said Kakashi. "So you want me to what?"

"Protect Ichiro… for as long as he stays here. And I will do my part and inform Shion of the Demon Country."

Kakashi sighed. "Understood."

There we go! Chapter 7! :D