Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
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Every inch of her body ached as Soraoi lay on the stiff bed. It smelled of bleach and ammonia; a scent that could only mean one thing: she was in the hospital. Soraoi began to blink her eyes open. She wasn't tired anymore, but they still felt heavy, as if she'd been asleep for months. She faintly heard whispers outside the door, people walking down the hall ways, as was expected of a busy hospital.
She felt something warm next to her; someone sitting by her side. Her senses had not yet returned to her, no doubt due to the fact that recovering from her injuries drained her chakra considerably. As a result, Soraoi was unsure as to who was sitting at her bedside. She gently turned her head to the left to see who was there, but her eyes were still adjusting to the light, and all she could see was a lot of blurriness. As she was turning, her gaze stopped in front of the door, where she could make out faint voices agitatedly talking; about what, she could not be sure, but she suspected it might have something to do with her. As she returned to trying to catch a glimpse of the person next to her, she noticed a shadowed blur next to the door. It was another person, but still she could not see who. This presence, however, she could feel. It was stronger than the one next to her, and she could clearly sense the strength and darkness of that chakra, and the subtle pulse of loneliness.
"Gaara…" Soraoi's fragile whisper caught the attention of both those present in the room with her.
"Soraoi!" Shikamaru stood from his seat to look down and her. He motioned for Gaara to come closer; Gaara, of course, obliged. "Stay with her, I'll get Tsunade-sama." Shikamaru instructed, before running out of the room to find help.
"Gaara-kun." Soraoi looked up at the face of the man who had rescued her. His face appeared as impassive as ever, but there was a glimmer in his eyes that showed his inner joy at seeing the girl reawaken.
"How do you feel?" came the raspy voice of the Kazekage.
"I feel horrible." Soraoi truthfully answered, "But I want to thank you." Soraoi extended her left hand out to where Gaara had placed his hand beside her on the bed. "Thank you for saving me." She weakly smiled as she said this.
Gaara politely bowed his head in acknowledgement, watching as her fingers brushed against his hand. He had felt an urge to quickly remove his hand from its current location, feeling somewhat uneasy at the contact, and the feelings that were threatening to surface, but he remained as he was. A surge of energy rushed from the tips of his fingers up to his face, as the warmth of her skin touched his own; he fought back a blush that would, no doubt, have rivaled the color of his hair.
"Soraoi!" Shikaku rushed to his daughter's side, hardly registering that Gaara still stood next to her bedside. "You're awake! How are you feeling sweetheart?"
"Otousan." Soraoi smiled back at her father. "It hurts. But I can't complain, at least I'm alive." She looked over at Gaara, who had stepped aside to allow Shikaku and Yoshino to be next to their daughter, and smiled. (A/N: Otousan means father).
"Arigato, Kazekage-sama" Yoshino thanked Gaara. Shikaku nodded towards Gaara in silent gratitude.
"Everyone, step aside." Tsunade commanded as she entered the spacious hospital room and approached to check up on Soraoi. "So you're finally awake." Tsunade looked down at the girl, and remarked on how much better she looked.
"How long was I out?" Soraoi asked curiously.
"Not too long, about three days." Tsunade checked the girl's vitals, "It was touch and go for a while. You sustained a lot of damage from that fight with Tatsuo; a concussion, a few cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, some minor cuts and bruises; the worst of it was some internal injuries from when he tried to his 'Bone Crushers Embrace' on you the second time, but we managed to heal most of it. You'll still need to go through at least a month of recovery, but you should be fine in no time." Tsunade informed her.
"A month." Soraoi disappointedly repeated.
"You should be glad it's not more. If Gaara hadn't gotten to you in time, it could have been a lot worst." Tsunade pointed out.
"Yeah…" Soraoi nodded.
"Oi." Shikamaru spoke up to get Soraoi's attention. "There's someone here too see you."
"That's right." Shikaku excitedly exclaimed, "An old friend who helped us out during the attack."
No sooner had Soraoi begun to wonder who this 'old friend' could possibly be, when none other than Tomoe walked through the door of her hospital room. (A/N: If I were mean, I would so have ended this chapter right here, but I'm not… lol… most of the time).
"Tomoe-sensei…" Soraoi was stunned, "how-how is this possible? I- I thought-"
"That I was dead?" Tomoe finished for her.
"Hai." Soraoi replied, in disbelief.
"I thought the same thing." Tomoe walked over to Soraoi's right.
"How?" Soraoi asked again.
"After you fell, I rushed to your side, but my every attempt to reach you was blocked. I kept trying to fight off the remaining dozen or so missing-nin, until finally Hotaru used his Fire Dragon technique and the whole clearing was consumed in fire. I barely managed to dodge it. The fight ended there, and when I went back to the clearing, all that was left were ashes. I couldn't find you; I was afraid you'd been caught in the jutsu and perished." Tomoe explained.
"But that was months ago…" Soraoi stated. "Why didn't come to Konoha sooner? If you believed me to be dead, why hadn't you come to inform my family?" she questioned.
"Because in my heart, I didn't believe you could have died so easily." Tomoe replied, "I felt you were still alive, and so I searched for the group of missing-nin. Unfortunately I was unable to track their whereabouts. There movements were erratic, and I learned that they were planning something, though I had been unsure as to what."
"Yes, we heard rumors the day before the festival, but hadn't thought that they would be foolish enough to attempt a full scale attack. We won't be making those kinds of assumptions anymore." Tsunade added.
"Yes, it was a rather desperate move." Tomoe agreed, "But these were not low ranked shinobi that launched this attack; they were intelligent and talented ninja. You should be cautious not to classify this as a mere desperate attempt by ill-prepared shinobi. There is no question that man is a fearful beast. This group of missing-nin's goal may have simply been to put the seed of fear and doubt into the hearts of the masses. Peace is often destroyed, not by the outside influences of others, but the inner turmoil of the people's hearts."
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A/N: I end chapters when they just feel right. And this chapter just feels like it's done… no worries though, I still have plenty of daylight to write more, so I'm going to start on the next chapter right after I finish posting this one
Did you all see my surprise coming? I think I worked so hard on creating this Tomoe character that it seemed a pity not to use her. So yeah… I see the end coming soon…
Thanks again to everyone reading and reviewing.
NEXT UP: More of the fluff I promised… wonder who I'm referring to. (lol) :D