A/N: So really long time since I posted sorry to keep you waiting but I got lazy and also had work and school to deal with anyway without further ado chapter 2 of Flowerfox

The bright morning sun is what had finally awoken Ino from her restless sleep she honestly had never felt more exhausted, and was seriously wondering why she had placed her bed in front of her window that was at least until she remembered the nights events. Her exhaustion was quickly forgotten she began to look around her surroundings trying to figure out where she was. The first thing that she noticed was that all the walls around her where a sterile white intensifying the light in the room. She then noticed the smell of antiseptic and realized that she was in a hospital, where she didn't know but she knew that she was in a hospital none the less. Now that she knew where she was, the next item on her agenda would be to check on Naruto to make sure that he was fine. Looking around the room she quickly found the door and opened it. The sight that awaited her on the other side of the door however she was not prepared for. There standing in front of her was Kakashi Hatake NOT reading his regular orange book instead he was just staring at her.

"Ohiyo Yamanaka-san, I hope that you slept well in your hospital bed." Said the cyclopean jounin in a fake cheerful tone

"Um yeah I guess it was fine, but uh… do you think I could ask you a question though?" asked Ino

"Well I guess you could ask but whether or not I answer will depend on your question I suppose."

This however was not the response Ino was expecting and with a slight slumping of her shoulders asked "Oh well do you think that you could tell me how Naruto is at least?"

"Oh so there was more that you wanted to ask me then?" asked Kakashi with a slight teasing tone

"Well that was the main thing that I wanted to know but there are several other things that I would like to know, but I that is the most important one I can wait to ask those till later, so how is he?" asked Ino who was growing impatient

"Oh well as much as I would like to answer that question I just really can't" Kakashi began to say before he was cut off by an irate Ino

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? WHY CAN'T YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION?" she yelled

"Well like I was saying I would love to tell you however the simply answer is that I just simply do not know how he is…" he began again

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW HOW YOUR OWN STUDENT IS DOING? WHAT KIND OF SENSEI ARE YOU? DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT HIM?" Screeched a livid Ino once again cutting off Kakashi again

"WILL YOU STOP INTERUPTING ME!" yelled Kakashi dropping his normally lazy and impassive tone and unconsciously leaking a little killer intent. Taking a calming breath he began again "now as I was saying before someone so rudely interrupted me" he stopped to glare at Ino "I simply do not know because Tsunade-sama asked me to look after you and when you finally awoke we could go find out how the knuckle head was doing. Now would you like to go and find out or should I just go without you?" asked Kakashi with a slightly annoyed tone

Now Ino was not normally one to apologize for her actions but even she had the decency to be embarrassed at her actions. Unconsciously her hand went to scratch the back of her head and she replied sheepishly "Oh sorry I guess I got a little ahead of myself if you could take me to see him that great though."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Replied Kakashi giving Ino one of his eye-smiles. Then with a motion of his hand they walked off in companionable silence to the I.C.U's nurse station

"Do you know where I could find Uzumaki Naruto's room?" Kakashi asked one of the many nurses at the nurse's station in the ICU

"I'm sorry Hatake-san but I don't know where It is." Replied the thirty something year old nurse with an unmistakable hint of venom in her voice

Before Kakashi could say anything he had his ear drum ruptured by a blonde haired purple blur who shouted "WHAT? What. Do. You. Mean. 'You don't know where he is.'" Growling out the last part of her Question as she slammed said nurse against the wall of the nurse's station

"Ino, why is it that I'm not surprised that you are the one that is make all this ruckus in my I.C.U." came the stern voice of the village leader

"Uh…um… Tsunade-sama I can explain honestly. You see this nurse over here wouldn't tell us where Naruto was." Ino shakily replied as she released her grip on the nurse

"Yes that would easily be explained you see Naruto just got out of surgery and assigned a room I was merely coming over to chart what room he was in. So imagine my surprise when I see you here harassing one of my nurses."

"Uh yeah sorry about that I guess that I got a little carried away." Said Ino while sheepishly scratching the back of her head in a very Naruto-ish fashion an act that did not go unnoticed by the other two shinobi

"Yes well I suppose there is no real harm done come along then I'll show you where his room is then" said Tsunade as she started walking away

Falling in step quickly Kakashi and Ino followed Tsunade. "Um Tsunade-sama" Ino began garnering her the attention of her village's leader "uh if it's not too much trouble do you think you could… uh… tell me how… uh … Naruto is" she finished quietly

Despite this being the question being expected the blonde Hokage could not help the grimace that marred her features. "Well he's stable and medically he should survive but there was some extensive damage done to his body and honestly I don't know how much work his condition will do to repair said damage." She said grimly looking at the two sad faces "However, with a little bit of luck he should live." She finished with hope filled eyes

Upon hearing the village leader's response Kakashi could not help the sigh of relief that escaped his lips "Well if it's a matter of luck then I'm confident that Naruto will be fine. Since having him on my team one of the first things that I learnt was to never bet against Naruto 'cause you'll lose and badly at that." Said the Cyclops

While the adults in the room were conversing about the status of the resident Jinchuriki was a supremely confused blonde girl deciding to try rectify this situation "Ano Tsunade-sama you said that you didn't know how much Naruto's condition would help in keeping him alive so does that mean that he has a kekei genkai or something?"

"Yeah 'or something'…" Tsunade replied mumbling the last part under her breath 'ugh of all the things that she could have picked up on it had to be that one phrase.' she thought before continuing to answer the Yamanaka's heir "you see Naruto has an accelerated healing rate that we believe is an emerging bloodline. It's our thought that this is what has led to his abundance of energy and near limitless stamina."

"So does that mean that he has a clan somewhere in the village then?" Ino asked hopeful for her fellow blonde whom she knew had wanted such a thing for his entire life

"Well… no he is the only Uzumaki probably in the entire elemental countries, but definitely in the village there is no other Uzumaki." replied Tsunade a little dejectedly

"Oh… well would I be able to see him then?" asked a hopeful Ino

"Well the Gaki needs all the rest that he can get…" began the Hokage deciding to torment the girl who had suddenly become very interested in her little brother

"Oh… I see I wouldn't want to…" began a significantly more depressed sixteen year old blonde girl before the Hokage cut her off "But I supposeeeee" she began drawing out the last word just to grate the nerves of the girl "it would be fine for you to see him"

Tsunade had barely gotten those words out of her mouth before she was tackled to the ground by a flying purple blur who was nearly crushing her in a hug

"Ma, ma Ino-san I think you should let Hokage-sama up before the ANBU get the wrong idea and think that this hug is an attempt her life." Said Kakashi teasingly with one of his patented eye-smiles

Realizing exactly what she was doing a beet red Ino did the first thing that she could think of, she turned her head and buried her face deep into the mountainous cleavage of her Hokage

"Come On! You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that, and here this girl not only gets to but she isn't even going to be beaten up for it." Exclaimed Jiraiya crying anime tears

Gently rolling Ino off of her Tsunade took Jiraiya's outstretched hand to helping her up to her feet. Maintaining her grip on said hand she used her monstrous strength to throw the toad-sage into the nearby wall.

Dusting off her hands Tsunade leveled a glare a Jiraiya "Well if you weren't such a pervert maybe you wouldn't get beat up all of the time or even better maybe a woman would let you do that to her without you having to pay her"

"Aw be kind Hime you know I only pay for it 'cause I can't have you right?" replied Jiraiya before getting a chakra enhanced punch to the face

After delivering her justice to the village's self-proclaimed super pervert Tsunade lead the remaining two members of her party down the hall before stopping at a room in the back corner of the hospital wing. Opening the door the two ninja could only gape at the state of the village's most energetic shinobi currently wrapped head to toe in bandages with multiple machines wired to him serving a multitude of purposes ranging from keeping him alive to monitoring status incase things went south

The sight was so shocking that the cycloptic jounin lost his mask of impassiveness his face opting for a look of gloom and depression. The youngest present however couldn't hold her emotions in check however and openly broke down and began weeping.

Pulling her emotions together just enough to ask a question Ino turned to her village leader and asked "Sniff…Sniff.. What's wrong wi-with him? Sniff"

"Well he suffered a Chidori through his stomach…" Kakashi visibly flinched "which when removed took his left arm and multiple organs with it. There were also signs that he was tortured mentally before that took place those were the injuries that he sustained prior to our arrival which while they sound bad, and they are, would not be enough to the knuckle head down; the injuries he received from the fireball were the icing on the proverbial cake though the organs that already sustained damage from the Chidori nearly stopped working as it is they are only working about 35 percent their normal capacity three quarters of his blood either evaporated or burst through his veins, he had fourth degree burns on eighty percent of his body, and finally all the fluid in his eyes flash boiled which forced them to explode." Replied the Hokage hiding her pain behind a mask of professionalism

With the information on her fellow blonde sunk in she could no longer hold in the emotional turmoil and she began wailing for her comrade "It's all my fault" she wailed over and over again followed by some incoherent mumbling in between her body wracking sobs

Feeling the pain of the young Yamanaka Tsunade wrapped her up in a gentle hug "Shh Why would you even think that it was your fault?" she asked softly stroking Ino's golden locks

Ino in between her sobs mumbled her answer into the busty Hokage's bosom "I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that" Tsunade said with a small smile gracing her lips

Pulling away and wiping her tears from her eyes Ino took a deep breath trying to regain control over her emotions before she replied "If it wasn't for me freezing up when Itachi launched his jutsu Naruto never would have had to jump in front of it to protect me then at least he would be slightly better off. So yes it is all my fault."

The words had barely left her mouth when a feminine hand struck her across the face. The slap itself didn't really hurt but it managed to do what the owner of said had intended it to do it shut the blonde up

Looking down at Ino who was holding her face where she had just been struck Tsunade began "If that is what you think then stop it. If the brat was awake right now he would tell you even if it meant his death he would gladly give anything for you or anyone else in this village just to make sure they were safe."

"And if that wasn't enough to sway your thoughts away from such an untrue topic the speed in which Itachi performed his jutsu was astounding if it wasn't for the Sharingan and years of battlefield experience none of the jounin present would have seen it coming." Interjected an unusually quiet Kakashi finishing with his patented eye-smile to try and alleviate the atmosphere in the room

Sniffling a few more times before Ino wiped her eyes dry before pulling up one of the chairs in the room and setting it next to the bed she sat down hugging her knees into her chest before looking over her shoulder at the other two occupants of the room "Thank you Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei I feel a little better now." Turning her attention to the beds occupant and gently grabbing the boys bandaged hand

Gently smiling at the scene in front of her Tsunade thought 'I really hope you pull through this gaki it looks like you just earned yourself a little fan club' before she motioned for Kakashi to follow her. When they opened the door they saw Jiraiya with his head down one hand up as if he was reaching for the doorknob. Passing by him quickly before Tsunade looks back saying "Come along pervert we have a lot to discuss." With that said all three vanished in a Shunshin to the Hokage tower.

xxx

Now that she was left alone in the room with her savior Ino took this time to gently examine her fellow blonde the few patches of skin that she could easily see were a mix between a reddish pink usually with blackened edges when she found some spots that hadn't suffered burns were a ghastly white color due to his lack of blood and despite being heavily medicated the blonde hero seemed to be having some kind of fit if his minor twitches were any indication. Without thinking about it in an effort to sooth him Ino began to gently stroke the few tufts of hair sticking out from the top of his bandages. 'Wow I never would have thought that his would be this soft or smooth… I wonder what kind of product he uses?' she idly mused. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she failed to notice that he had stopped his fussing, and so the pair remained until the sun set over the village. Ino had lost all track of time as she sat next to the blonde and her eyes began to droop shut and she nodded off still gently holding his hand.

xxx

the sound of dripping water is what had finally roused the sleeping beauty blinking the sleep out of her eyes the young Yamanaka took in her surroundings I appeared that she was in a sewer crinkling her nose in disgust she brought back her last memory of the waking world 'How the hell did I end up here the last thing I remember I was in Naruto-kun's room….NARUTO-KUN! When the hell did that baka become that?' she thought deeply disturbed by her thoughts deciding that she no longer desired to be in a sewer Ino decided to head down a random corridor. Examining the sewer around her to try and gauge where she was she noticed that the walls were severely damaged some had huge holes missing in them others were cracked so bad that she thought that the wall may collapse at any moment the pipes running along the roof and walls weren't in much better condition most were rusted and leaking untold amounts of water some pipes were obstructed by kinks in their line due to falling debris all in all Ino was thoroughly disturbed by the condition of not only the sewer she was in but also the fact that she had awoken here. Nearing the end of the corridor she noticed a doorway with a faint red glow to it assuming that it was someone who could help her out she rushes right into the doorway only to fall flat on her butt in horror.

Staring at her is a lone red silted pupil of a humongous crimson fox with nine swishing tails standing above one Naruto Uzumaki

Ino being the bright young woman that she is then does what any rational person in her shoes would do she screamed.

A/N: so it has definitely been a while since I wrote anything and would greatly appreciate your opinions so please review and let me know what you think this is my unbeta'd version I'm going to send it to the two writers who usually beta for me unfortunately like I said it has been a long time so I don't know if they could still do it so if anyone wants the job please let me know