A/N: Augh... I am SO so so sorry that I took forever with this chapter, but I've been really busy, and when I finally did get to work on it, I forgot to send it to my email, so I couldn't finish it... :( Then, when I DID, I got stuck on this really really REALLY slow laptop (that I am on right now). I was afraid to download this chapter, that's how slow this thing is. I honestly thought that it would... I dunno, implode and create a black hole in space and time or something.

:D Enjoy the chapter and ignore my ongoing paranoia. And my current Treasure Planet fixation. I FINALLY SAW IT!

Disclaimer: Genma, Shizune, and all related and mentioned characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Not me. Damn. I SHALL OWN THEM ONE DAY!! --waves fist- Lyrics belong to Chad Kroeger and Nickleback.

When's this fever gonna break?
I think I've handled more than any man can take.
I'm like a love-sick puppy chasin' you around...
O-oh, and it's alright.

"Okay, get ready," Shizune spoke around the syringe in her mouth, tying the rubber on my arm. I grimanced.

"Dammit, I hate needles."

"Just grit your teeth and bare it, you big baby," she said, taking the plastic out of her mouth. She filled it with an ominous blue liquid, choose her spot, placed the needle to my skin, and prodded me, pushing the end.

Maybe there was something in that stuff that made me slightly more literate. Gai would've claimed that I'd've said "pointy thing" somewhere in that last sentence.

Jeez.

"So, are you going to tell me what this stuff does, or am I going to bust my brain in an attempt to figure it out myself?" I growled as I pricked my tongue with my senbon (again. I'm starting to think that might be an omen or something).

"I told you," said Shizune patiently; how she could be patient with me was a mystery, "it's to keep your chakra in check, make sure we don't have a reinnactment of the festival, things like that. Your chakra is still slightly unbalanced after all."

"So, there's no... intelligence booster or something in there?"

"Obviously not," she answered dryly, packing up her things. It took me a moment, then I said, "Well, my dignity dropped a few notches, thank you, Shizune."

"Proud to be of assistance." She stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Did Kotetsu give you the report?"

"Yeah, and he was a wiseass about it too," I answered, rolling my eyes and shifting a bit. Damn arm. For some reason, that part of my body hurts more than anything else. Go figure.

"How was Kotetsu a wiseass?"

"Pft. He wouldn't stop hinting about how much I apparently am missing by being confined to the hospital. Did Tsunade-sama really throw a chair out the window?"

She laughed at that. "Yes, and I witnessed that one. It hit Izumo right on the forehead, too." She laughed harder. "He was grumbling the whole time I was patching him up. Something about Tsunade-sama knowing better. He keeps trying to hide the bandage under his headband, but that just irrates the wound, and he ended up annoying Tsunade-sama so much she smacked him again."

I was laughing by then, too. "That sounds more like Kotetsu, if anything."

"Oh dearest me, someone's using my name in vein," Kotetsu drawled, pushing the door open with his back as he inched his way in, carrying a small box that nonetheless took up both his hands.. Izumo followed, and the bandage on his forehead was evident. The lack of headband definetely made it obvious. He glared at me as I snickered.

"Oi, Izumo, nice forehead."

"Shut it and I won't chuck a kunai at you."

"Bring it, bandage-boy."

Cue in angry red vein.

Kotetsu intervened just in time. "Alrighty, then, Genma, this is for you." He dumped the box on my lap.

I raised an eyebrow. "What for?" I ripped the tape off and opened the box. Kotetsu and Izumo disappeared. Damn little... I realized why they ran in a second.

A kimono.

A midnight blue kimono with ivory clouds sat folded neatly in the box.

Pranksters. They're fucking worse than Naruto.

I am going to find them and throttle them within an inch of their miserable lives.

Aggravation is at it's maximum.

"ARGH!! LITTLE ASSHOLES!!! WAIT 'TIL I GET A HOLD OF 'EM!! I WILL FUCKIN--"

"Genma... calm down. Seriously." Shizune placed a hand on my shoulder, and my killing intent dropped down a notch, especially when she said, "Huh. The design looked different in the store. I guess someone else bought the one I saw before and they made a new one."

Well.

That's a... surprise.

"W-wait. What?"

She smiled at me again. "Izumo and Kotetsu didn't buy that as a joke, silly. I gave them some money and they bought it on their last mission. I saw that kimono on my way back with Tsunade-sama, and your old one is a bit in bad shape, and this one... reminded me... of you..." she faltered at the look on my face.

No, it wasn't disgust, or disbelief, or pleasure.

It was more like complete and utter dumbfoundedness.

I am an idiot.

"Ge-enma. Hellooo." She waved a hand in front of my face. I blinked. My mind had been racing out of control, mostly around the words "reminded" me" and "you".

Damn.

"I-I... um... Shizune... I-I..."

Thank you. Why can't I say that? Am I verbally challenged? Am I from a dysfunctional family that cannot allow me to express graditude? Or am I just a romance-challenged, semi-dysfunctional, emotional twit?

She bought me a new kimono because my other one is basically crap, and she probably suspects that I'm going to stuff it in the back of my closet to avoid any more shame.

She smiled at me again, and that didn't help much.

"I... I guess... tha-"

The next thing that occurred happened almost simultaneously.

"SHANNARO, NARUTO!!" -a whistling noise like a fist whirling through the air- "WAH!! SAKURA-CH-CHAN, W-WAIT!" -Naruto flying past the window like a bullet, blood flowing from his nose, cheek rosy- "Duck, Shikamaru." "...mendokusei." "Damnit." -a sound of another punch, followed by a cry of pain- "OW! Temari, what was that for?!" "DUCK, Shikamaru." "Oh." "Yes. 'Oh.'" -Naruto letting out a similar cry of pain that came from Shikamaru as he hit the ground- "YOU MORON, NARUTO." -Sakura breathing heavily- "N-Naruto-kun, are you okay?" "Pft. I'm sure he heals easy." "K-Kiba-kun... I dunno..." "Oh, c'mon, Hinata, he'll be fine, right Akamaru, Shino?" -a barking noise, and the loudest silence you will ever hear- "What is going on here?" "G-GAH! Tsunade-baachan!" "Naruto..."

Shizune and I looked at each other, mouths open.

"H-holy shit."

"I... um, I should go heal some of them... they'll need it..." she said, her eyes still wide in shock. You'd think we'd be used to this by now, but nope.

"Right."

She was already out the door, and I stared back down at the kimono.

Damnit.

I still need to say 'thank you'.

I banged my head against the box.

A/N: laughs I've had that whole 'Naruto flying past' scene in my head for months now, and I'm glad I finally got to use it! And you can expect poor Genma to finally get out of the hospital and say thank you to Shizune. I HAVE SOMETHING TO WORK WITH!!!

Ja ne, all!