Part 11
Everyone looked at Tsunade and Mizuki with wide eyes.
Tsunade slapped Mizuki on the face, and Mizuki landed next to the wall, almost five yards away. "You're not going." Tsunade said, and she walked back into the village. Mizuki stood up, with her hand on her left cheek, and her head down. She walked and stood next to Lee. "Are you okay, Mizuki?" Lee asked. Mizuki nodded her head.
"Okay, this is the plan." Shikamaru said, planning how everything will be during the mission. "Wait." Everyone turned around to see Sakura. "Sorry, Sakura, you can't come, Tsunade-sama already told me. You even tried, and he couldn't bring him back. Now we have to bring him back by force."
Naruto looked curious, 'She saw Sasuke before he left?' "Please, please bring Sasuke back. I've tried with everything, and I couldn't keep him. Please bring Sasuke back to me." Sakura started crying. Mizuki walked over to Sakura and comforted her. "Don't worry, Sakura, I'll bring him back." He gave her his thumbs-up. "Everything will be fine, Sakura-chan." Mizuki whispered into Sakura.
"Let's go!" Naruto said. Lee, Mizuki, and Sakura watched the five guys who will bring back Sasuke walked away from them. Mizuki couldn't keep her eyes off of Neji. ' Neji-san, please be careful. Please come back safely.' "Sakura-san, Naruto gave you the thumbs up, that means he's going to keep his promise!" Lee said. Sakura smiled.
"Come on, Lee. I'll help you go back to the hospital." Mizuki said. He swung his left arm around her neck, and she placed her right hand around his waist. Sakura followed along. "Lee, when are you doing the surgery?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, Tsunade-sama said tomorrow morning." Lee said, feeling a bit worried about how the surgery will turn out to be. Mizuki felt his worry and said, "Don't worry, Lee-san. Everything will be fine." Lee and Sakura looked at Mizuki and Mizuki gave them her smile.
"Mizuki! Where did you get that handprint of your left cheek?" Sakura asked. "Oh ... um ..." "She wanted to come along with them to find Sasuke, but the Hokage stopped her. Both of them argued and the Hokage slapped her." Sakura looked at Mizuki with wide eyes, "Are you okay?" Sakura asked, concerned. "I'm okay." Mizuki smiled again.
The three talked casually until Sakura had to go home. Lee and Mizuki talked about everything they could think of.
"Lee-san, do you know why Tenten doesn't like me?" Mizuki asked. They were in the hospital already. Lee sitting on the bed, and Mizuki sitting on the chair, piling orange for Lee. "I don't know, but I have a feeling it's because you and Neji will be around each other alot." Mizuki concentrated on what she was doing. "Oh." "Ah, don't worry, Mizuki, Tenten doesn't hate people for no reason." Mizuki nodded and said, "Yeah, I hope so. I don't want any of my teammates hate me."
"So, I was wondering." Lee asked, trailing away. Mizuki placed the oranges on the table, cleaned up, sat back down, and gave Lee her full attention. "Um." Lee hesitated for awhile. "You can ask me anything." Lee looked around, wondering if he should ask her. "Remember, when Neji said you were, um, raped? Is that true?" Mizuki looked at him for awhile and said, "Teammates have to tell the truth to each other."
She smiled and said, "I wasn't raped. I was just... well. How to say it? One night, after the trial matches of the Chuunin Exams, I went inside my room to see my sister, Azuki, and a guy. He wanted to rape me, and my sister helped him. He, um, took off my clothes, but nothing else happened, because I managed to run." Mizuki looked back up at Lee. "Oh, well. It's okay if you were raped. I wouldn't mind, you're still my comrade." Mizuki smiled.
"Sorry, young lady. No more visitors after eight." A nurse said. "Are you serious? It's already eight?" Mizuki asked. The nurse nodded and walked out of the room. "Bye, Lee. I'll see you tomorrow! I wish you well!" Mizuki smiled and bowed. Before she left , she cleaned up the room for alittle bit.
On the way to the Hyuuga house, she saw Tenten walking. "Tenten-chan!" Mizuki yelled. Tenten turned around, saw Mizuki, and walked towards her. "Mizuki." Tenten said. "Hey, let's go eat somewhere. I took care of Lee the whole day and I haven't eaten. I also have something to say about Neji." Tenten's eyes lid up when Mizuki said the word 'Neji'. Tenten nodded and followed Mizuki.
"Order anything you want, my treat." Mizuki said when they arrived at the ramen store. Tenten nodded and ordered shrimp ramen. "So, what did you want to tell me about Neji?" Tenten asked. "This morning, Neji and I went to visit Lee at the hospital. Ten minutes later, Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, and Chouji came and told Neji something." Tenten looked curious. "Really?" Mizuki nodded and said, "Sasuke left the village last night to look for Orochimaru. Their mission is to look for Sasuke and bring him back, but the thing I'm scared of is that... "
"Continue." Tenten demanded. "Well, there's a chance one of them will die, or even worst, most of them." Tenten's chocolate eyes grew wide. "What?! Are you serious? Why didn't you go? Aren't you a medical ninja? How can that be possible, they're just getting Sasuke back! Why is Neji in this? He doesn't like Uchiha Sasuke!"
Mizuki drank some water and said, "Tenten, calm down. I wanted to go too, but Tsunade didn't let me. They have a chance of dying because they're dealing with Orochimaru. He sent his four best subordinate to escort Sasuke. They all are strong ninjas, but I don't think they could deal with Orochimaru's men without a scratch." Tenten looked down. "Tenten, you can't be negative about this. Everything will be back the way they will be. Neji will come back fine. All we can do is do what Tsunade-sama tell us to do. Let's eat, everything will be fine."
Both of them eat in silence.
When they both finished eating their food, the stood up and left the store. "Bye, Tenten. Be careful walking home." Mizuki said, but Tenten was too busy playing with her mind to listen to Mizuki. Tenten walked home without a single word. Mizuki shrugged and walked back to the Hyuuga house.
The next morning, Lee's surgery started. Mizuki sat in front of the emergency room for a long time, wondering when Lee's surgery is going to be done. Gai-sensei couldn't come, he had to go to a mission.
"Miss, Lee's surgery is going to take awhile." The nurse said. Mizuki bowed and thanked her.
Mizuki walked around the village. She ended up being at the entrance of Konoha. Mizuki jumped up a tree and sat on the branch, wondering when Lee's surgery will be finished, and when Neji's going to come back. She glanced over at the road every minute, hoping the five will come back with Sasuke. She felt disappointed each time. She sighed and placed her back towards the trunk, and closed her eyes.
"Mizuki?" A sweet voice said from the ground. Mizuki opened her eyes and looked down. "What are you doing here?" The sweet voice said. "Oh, Tenten. Hello." Mizuki said. Tenten looked up at Mizuki with curious eyes. "Tenten, what are you doing here?" Mizuki asked, totally forgotten the fact that Tenten asked her that just ten seconds ago. "I asked you first." Mizuki sighed and said, "Well, the nurse at the hospital said that Lee's surgery will take a long time, and that I shouldn't wait. I walked, and I ended up here. What are you doing here?"
"I'm waiting." Tenten said, looking down. "I'm waiting for what you're waiting too." Mizuki said, sadly. Tenten looked up. Mizuki leaned away from the trunk and swung her legs over the branch to let it hang and patted the space next to her. Tenten sighed and jumped onto the tree. She stood there for awhile before sitting next to Mizuki.
"Here." Tenten handed Mizuki some rice buns. Mizuki looked at Tenten for awhile and said, "What?" Tenten shrugged, "Since we're waiting for the same thing, and we'll be here for awhile, I'll just let you have some." Mizuki shook her head. "No, Tenten. It's okay." Tenten shrugged again and placed the rice bun in the bag and placed the bag on her lap. She sighed the longest sigh someone could ever sighed.
They both fell asleep. Mizuki had her head against the trunk while Tenten slept with her back towrds teh branch, and her hands behind her head.
Mizuki woke up, knowing that the sun was setting. "Tenten..." Mizuki shook Tenten for awhile. Tenten woke up, and sat up. She forgot that she was on a tree, and she fell off the tree. Mizuki caught Tenten's arm on time before Tenten could hit the ground. "Damn, I had to pick a tall tree to sit on." Mizuki said. Tenten looked down and tried to get up, but she was to weak and tired to do so.
Mizuki did a one hand sign. She groaned. She's about to slip off the tree because of her weight and Tenten's. She redid the sign and at that moment, water from the ground rose.
"Tenten, I'm going to let you fall." Tenten looked at Mizuki with wide chocolate eyes, she closed her eyes and gulped. She then opened her eyes, and looked down. "Three, two, one." Mizuki letted go, and Tenten fell. When Tenten was inches away from the ground, the water caught her. Mizuki sighed and looked down. As she did, a headache formed and she slid off the branch.
"Mizuki!" Tenten yelled. Mizuki's left hand caught onto the branch of the tree. She tried to grab the branch with her right hand, but it kept on slipping. Her headache wouldn't go away. "Damn..." She mumbled. Tenten got off the soft water and said, "Just let go, and maybe the water will catch you like how it did to me." Mizuki nodded. Mizuki did another kind of one-handed sign and the water formed into a hand a grabbed Mizuki. She letted go of the branch, and the water led her down onto the ground.
When her feet touched the ground, Mizuki sat down, her head on her knees, one hand around her legs, and the other on her forehead. Tenten ran over to Mizuki and asked, "Are you alright?" Mizuki nodded and looked at the sky. "I think Lee's surgery is done." Tenten shook her head and said, "You should rest for awhile." Mizuki stumbled up and said, "I'm worried more about Lee than a headache."
Both of them walked in silence toward the hospital. Tenten broke the silence, "Thank you, Mizuki." Mizuki looked at Tenten, who was looking at the ground. "What for?" Mizuki asked. Tenten kicked a pebble and said, "For saving me back there." Mizuki looked forward and said, "It's okay."
"Sorry ladies, Tsunade said that Lee can not have any vistiors until tomorrow morning." The lady from the front office at the hospital said. "Thank you." Tenten said. Mizuki bowed to the nurse.
Days passed, Tenten and Mizuki felt that months were passing. They both would wait outside of Konoha for Neji's return, not talking to each other.
One night, after Mizuki came home from waiting, Hinata ran up to her and said, "Tsunade-sama wants to see you tomorrow morning at four. Mizuki nodded and went to her room.
The next morning, Mizuki walked into Tsunade's office and said, "Did you call me?" Tsunade nodded and said, "I have an important mission for you, Mizuki."