DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, any characters affiliated, a bloodline limit, a medical obi, antiseptic, 'I need some sleep' by the Eels (it's stuck in my head...), unauthorized medical items, or the chicken vs. egg question.

Itachi: Nobody appears to be reading this story any more. ...heads will roll tonight...

When Kurenai, Michiko and Hinata got back to the cave, all of the travelling party was already assembled there. Michiko couldn't help but notice that Inel and Korii weren't looking straight at her, and that Deniizu seemed to be silently laughing. The three Chatora were still sitting at the back of the cave, and Kiba, Deniizu and Korii were all sitting on their sleeping mats. The cats were all pointedly avoiding the Four Musketeers, and Michiko could see why; the dogs were all slightly bigger, and much more fierce than usual, due to eating soldier pills. Especially Athos; he was the largest and heaviest pup to begin with. But the cats didn't need to worry; all four dogs were sitting around Akamaru protectively; the slightly older dog was lying on a blanket beside Kiba, obviously hurt. As Kurenai joined Inel by the cave mouth to act as sentry, she replaced Shino's post, and Shino joined Hinata and Michiko as they entered the cave.

"Do you need any help?" Hinata asked, looking at the ninjas on their mats, and Shino looked as if he wanted to be of assistance too.

Michiko glanced over each person where she stood, and suddenly felt overwhelmed; she'd never needed to heal so many serious wounds at such short notice. And she was tired; she had been walking all day, and though turning into fire was easiest, maintaining her fire-form literally burned chakra. Michiko walked to the back of the cave, retrieved her obi, and with Pooriin's help, she fastened it around her waist again. Reaching into one of the pockets, Michiko got a bottle of antiseptic, which she rubbed thoroughly onto her hands. Once she was done, she passed the bottle to Hinata and searched in another pocket.

"Use that on your hands to get rid of any bacteria that might be there," Michiko instructed, talking to both Hinata and Shino, "After, I want you to wash any open wounds, no matter how small, with warm water and this soap," Michiko handed a plastic container with a bar of soap to Hinata when Hinata handed the antiseptic to Shino, "If the wound is literally only a scratch, bandage it securely. Otherwise, move on to the next person or wait for me."

Shino and Hinata nodded to show they understood, and after getting her antiseptic back from Shino, Michiko turned to the three Chatora.

"Are any of you three hurt?" Michiko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Pooriin answered, as the twins shook their heads.

"Ok," Michiko nodded, "Unless you want to help, I need you to stay out of the way as much as possible. And your cats."

"I'll help," Pooriin offered, and Goudon put his hand out for the antiseptic.

"No thanks. I need some sleep," Bikto shrugged, moving towards his sleeping mat.

Just stay out of the way, Michiko thought, annoyed, as she passed the bottle to Goudon and activated her healing jutsu, I have people to take care of, and you can't mess it up.

Back off, Michiko's in healing-mode.

An hour after midnight, most of the cave was asleep; Kiba and Deniizu, who were now both fully healed, were the ones on sentry duty at the cave entrance, while Shino was helping Michiko with healing Korii, who was already asleep. As the blue aura around Michiko's hands faded away, Shino did what little help he could in putting away Michiko's supplies; though there were pills and bottles in Michiko's 'obi', she still had a full-sized medical kit in her bag filled with bandages and equipment.

"How did you manage to buy these things?" Shino asked, looking dubiously at a pack of syringes.

"Who says I bought them?" Michiko mumbled, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead.

Michiko felt Shino's glare and grinned.

"Of course I bought them. I always go to the hospital, usually with Inel-sensei, for at least two hours and watch any operations that I can so I can learn. Most of the doctors there recognize me, and some of them give me small lessons during their breaks. When we got this mission, I asked some of the doctors what I should bring; that's where I got my idea for this obi. And one of the doctors gave me her extra travelling medical kit; I guess she didn't realize all the extra stuff was in there."

Shino nodded as he zipped up the kit.

"That's everyone," he said, getting up.

"I guess can we call it a day," Michiko said, yawning and stretching before she grabbed the medical kit and stood up.

She turned to Shino, and was surprised when she didn't see him. Looking down, she saw that Shino was keeled over, stifling his coughs so that she couldn't hear them.

"How long have you been doing that?" Michiko exclaimed, dropping her kit and helping Shino to his sleeping mat, thinking, I thought he was ok...ugh, how could I not notice?

"It just started," Shino lied, coughing openly now as he lay on his mat.

Michiko looked at the inside of the collar, and saw multiple blood spatters; most were dry, and some were new.

"Liar," Michiko growled, undoing his coat, "You've been bleeding for hours."

Putting her ear against his chest, she heard a lot of liquid moving as Shino coughed; he had been bleeding for a long time. She also checked his heart and lungs; his heartbeat was fast but steady, and his lungs weren't punctured.

"Ahou. I should smack you," Michiko growled, eating half of a soldier pill; she was running out of chakra.

"I thought it would go away," Shino mumbled, before coughing again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Michiko shook her head, irritated, and activated her healing jutsu and started healing him.

The two were silent for a little while; only the slight buzz of Michiko's blue medical jutsu was heard. When Shino was healed completely on the inside, Michiko spoke again while helping him sit up.

"What happened?" Michiko asked, "Did the girl throw some kind of technique at you?"

"No," Shino shook his head, "She was stronger than I anticipated; she kicked me."

"Wow."

Michiko thought for a moment, then said, "I'm going to try to induce some of that blood out of your lungs; you're going to cough really badly, and it'll hurt, but it's better than leaving liquid inside your lungs."

Shino nodded, and after putting paper towels on his front and moving so that she knelt behind him, Michiko used her medical jutsu to push the blood out of his breathing system. Shino winced and began hacking up his blood; she was right; it hurt, and he was coughing badly. After a few minutes, she was done, but it had seemed longer.

She wasn't kidding, Shino thought, panting to get his breath back while Michiko cleaned him up.

"I wouldn't have needed to do that if you'd just told me in the beginning," Michiko scolded lightly, wiping a bit of blood and bile off of his face, "No need to act all herioc; we're a team, we need to know all of each other's weaknesses so that they can be taken care of."

Michiko smiled at Shino, then winced and her eyes went out of focus. She started swaying where she sat, and Shino reached out and steadied her by the shoulders.

"Who's acting herioc now?" Shino asked wryly, getting up as Michiko covered her eyes with one hand.

"Shut up," Michiko said, not unkindly, as Shino helped her to her own sleeping mat.

"You overdid it; why did you tell us that you needed help earlier?" Shino teased.

"I said, 'shut up'," Michiko smiled, swatting weakly at Shino with her right arm.

Shino easily caught her arm at the wrist; feeling something under his thumb, he looked and saw that it was the scar hole. Both stared at it for a second, then looked down, suddenly shy.

"Get some sleep, ok?" Michiko said quietly, staring at her lap.

Shino traced the hole gently with one finger before letting her go and getting up.

"Goodnight, Michiko."

"Well, I think the egg came first," Deniizu argued, as Shino returned to his sleeping mat.

"I think it was the chicken," Kiba protested.

"No way, it was the egg!"

"Ok, Kamisama did not create a whole bunch of eggs to hatch magically on their own. The chicken came first!"

"Oh, so a complete adult chicken just randomly happened on earth? The egg came first, Kiba!"

"Chicken!"

"Egg!"

"Chicken!"

"Egg!"

Korii tiredly rubbed the bridge of his nose as he lay on his sleeping mat; it was going to be a long night.

A/N: Mm...medical jutsu...it makes the world go round...(gets distracted) OO! Hot Gimmick!

Itachi: You and your foolish shojo manga...just post the next chapter.

A/N: I will! Just...hang on...(walks away reading 'Hot Gimmick')

Itachi: ...you can assume she wants you to review now.