Chapter 11…is here! Everyone, Gather around!!
FACT: Did you know that 11 is my -lucky/unlucky/whatsoever- number?
It's 5:48am where I am and I'm starting this chapter and I feel really hyper.
Anyways, Chapter 11 is now here so I hope y'all happy.
Please remember, Chapter 11
Knock, Knock, Knock…
A loud knock woke Gaara up from his short, discontinuous sleep. He sat up and looked at the clock next to him.
'06:40' the clock read 'the meeting with Hokage' he thought. Gaara rubbed the sleep of his eyes and got out of bed, walking slowly towards the bathroom, letting whoever knocking on the door wait.
A few minutes later
Gaara was dressed in black cargo pants and a black shirt; he wore a red sash instead of the white one. He took a look in the mirror, ruffling his hair a bit and walking towards the door.
"Whoever that is, they're pretty persistent" he said, talking about the one that was still knocking on the door, he slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) opened the door.
"What?" he calmly said, Kankurou was there, jokingly blowing on his hand. "You have a serious hearing issue, bro. I've been knocking for hours…" he stopped, and then continued. "Well, Hours is exaggeration. But I've been knocking for a pretty long time" Gaara had the 'I don't care' expression on his face, which was ALWAYS on his face. He walked past his older brother.
"Yeah, and I've been ignoring you for hours" Gaara said, Kankurou followed. "Hahaha, very funny." He said. Both were walking towards the Hokage's office, although Kankurou's presence is not needed in the meeting. The silent was awkward so Kankurou decided to break it.
"Oi, did you manage to get some sleep last night?" Kankurou simply asked, he was breaking the silence AND making sure everything's going well with his little brother (Good ol' Kankurou)
Gaara was silent, until he finally replied. "yes." Was his only answer. Kankurou sighed and kept walking, taking a quick pace to get to his brother's side.
"Where's Temari?" Gaara asked, Kankurou snickered. "Where do you think she is? Asleep, of course. I don't understand women. They think that the more they sleep, the prettier they get. I think the more they sleep, the fatter they get and the stronger we become, how about that?" he said, laughing. Gaara simply ignored him.
Kankurou frowned 'man, I sure wish he'd laugh someday. He's being serious and all. It's cool but it's kinda boring' he thought. Gaara and Kankurou reached the Hokage's office. They both stopped, Kankurou turned to his brother.
"Well, you're exactly 45 minutes early." Kankurou said, Gaara remained silent. Kankurou sighed. "Ok, then. I'm going out for fresh air. See ya later…" Kankurou turned around and walked away, then stopped and looked back, "…Kazekage-sama" he said, smiling and walking off.
Gaara smiled, Kankurou never acknowledged Gaara as a Kazekage nor he ever called him that. 'Thanks, Onii-chan' he thought. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in" a female voice said, Tsunade's. Gaara turned the handle and pushed the door. He walked in. "Hello, Gaara. I see you're early." Tsunade said, Getting off her chair. Gaara closed the door and walked towards her desk. "Well, I couldn't sleep and I realized that I might not get any sleep at all…so here I am" he said, a small smile on his face.
Tsunade smiled and motioned to Gaara to sit down and he did.
"Then let's start this meeting, shall we?"
-Author note: I don't know a damn thing about –kage's meetings so I'll skip a couple of hours-
Yamanaka Flower shop, 10:15 am
"NANIIIIII????" Shikamaru yelled. The young lady behind the counter, Sasame, jumped in fear. "What do you mean by they're at the hospital? Is everything alright?" Shikamaru asked, 'of course it's not, baka. They're at the hospital and someone else is in Charge of the shop today' Shikamaru thought.
Sasame said, "Well, Shikamaru-kun. Asuka called and asked me this morning to be in charge of the shop today because they're staying over in the hospital, she said there was an extra key under one of the flower pots outside." she said, smiling. Shikamaru waited for her to tell him why.
"Well…Why?" he asked, she had a puzzled look on her face, "Why what?" she asked, Shikamaru felt like going in a corner and crying like a baby because of this unreasonably idiotic woman. He slammed his hands on the counter and said each word carefully.
"Why...are…they…at...the...hospital?" He said, Sasame was wondering why he is speaking that slowly. "Well, Because… Ino…is in the Hospital." She said. Again he waited for a reason why Ino's in the hospital.
He sighed and gave up, "Why are they at the hospital?" he asked. She frowned. "You know? You could've asked the questions all at once. I'm not dumb, you know." She said, smiling again. Shikamaru wanted to jump and rip this smile off her face.
"Fine, I'll make sure to do that the next time I ask you…" he said, 'Hopefully, there won't be a next time'. Shikamaru thought then he continued.
"Now, TELL ME…WHY INO'S IN THE HOSPITAL?" Shikamaru was frustratingly asking. She sighed and leaned on the counter.
"Well, Asuka didn't give me the details, she only told me that Ino's at the hospital since last night. I didn't ask why." She said, smiling. Shikamaru sighed, Big time.
"Fine. Thanks for the information." He said, storming off. "WAIT…" she said. He stopped in his tracks.
"What?" he said, 'if she acted stupidly again, I'm going to kill myself.'
"Aren't you going to take some flowers to her?" she said, he looked at the ground. 'She's right…' he thought '…but taking flowers to a flower shop keeper is like giving honey to the bees. Like giving Ramen to a certain blonde haired Naruto'
He picked a small, bluish flower and paid for it. Then he stormed off.
"Thanks for buying from Yamanaka flower shop. Please come again" she yelled to Shikamaru.
'Man, if she's in charge then I'm not coming back at all…' he sighed, "…Women, too troublesome" he said, running towards the hospital. On his way, he found Tenten, Neji, Hanabi and Hinata buying juice from a stand.
"Yo, Shika. What's the rush?" Neji asked, Shikamaru stopped and greeted them, "well, I'm on my way to the hospital." Neji's face grimaced upon hearing that. Tenten gasped. "What happened? I hope no one's hurt" she said, Hinata and Hanabi had a concerned look on their faces.
"Unfortunately, Ino's been hurt last night and I'm going to check on her." He said, Hanabi, Hinata and Tenten gasped. Neji's expression changed into a worried one.
"Well, count us in. C'mon guys, we've got to go check on her as well." Neji said, all three girls nodded and they all ran towards the hospital.
Room #121
Ino was still unconscious, her mother sat next to her bed. Asuka was half asleep; she heard some footsteps then the door was opened. She looked in its direction to see two guys, both looking alike, shiny bowl hair, green jump suits & bushy brows, she smiled to them.
"Hello, Asuka-san." She got up to welcome the visitors. "Hello Guy-san. Lee, I hope you're doing fine." she said in a low voice, lee was using a crutch to walk. He nodded and pointed to his leg.
"The doctors said that it would heal in no time…" he said, giving Asuka his 'cool guy' pose complete with the shiny grin, she smiled but quickly frowned again. "How is she?" Guy-sensei asked, looking at Ino. Asuka looked at her as well.
Ino was sleeping to what it seemed like forever, her hair was untied, head bandaged, blood transfusion was needed so an IV was inserted in her left hand. Asuka sat down and held her hand. "Despite these equipments, she looks like an angel, doesn't she?" Asuka said. She was on the verge of tears.
Guy-sensei walked towards her and put his hand on her shoulder, she closed her eyes. Lee walked to the other side of the bed, "Is she going to be Ok?" he asked, Asuka looked at him and smiled. "They said that she'll be fine, that she's going to be unconscious for a while…" Lee's eyes widened, "she's in a coma?" he said, Asuka nodded in negation.
"No, she's just…sleeping" she said, a sad smile appeared on her face while looking at her daughter's almost lifeless figure. A single tear strolled down her cheek, she wiped it away. The three remained silent for sometime, each was secretly praying for Ino.
Reception, a few minutes later.
Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, Hanabi and Tenten all ran towards the reception, the receptionist welcomed them, "How can I help you?" she said, Neji started. "We're looking for Yamanaka Ino, she came in…last night, I guess" He said, Shikamaru nodded. "Is she alright?" he asked, the receptionist was looking through the patients' log.
"Yamanaka Ino, room #121. It's on the second floor. You should ask her doctor about her condition." She said, smiling. They thanked her and went to the second floor. Several rooms were on this floor as well. Hanabi started counting the rooms.
"118, 119, 120…Aha, 121. This is it, guys" she said, pointing at the room, at the same moment, Guy-sensei and Lee got out with Asuka, Ino's Mom. She smiled when she saw them.
"Hello, Asuka-san. Is Ino alright?" Hinata said, fidgeting with her hands, Asuka Nodded. "Yes, she is fine. You can see her but don't make a lot of noise. I'm going home to rest for a bit, please inform me if anything happens" she said, they nodded. Neji took a good look at her. She looks like she hasn't slept overnight. 'I really hope Ino's alright' he thought as the rest of the group walked in. Shikamaru was first to see Ino. He never saw her like that. She was never severely hurt; it was always minor injuries; little cuts and scrapes, broken nails. But not this...
"Ino…" Shikamaru whispered, apparently shocked. Hinata's and Tenten's eyes were already filled with tears. Hanabi held on to Neji's arm, both worried about Ino. Hanabi looked up to Ino in so many ways…
Sometimes Ino would visit the Hyuuga family along with the rest of the Chuunins, Ino always complemented Hanabi's sense of fashion which was something she always loved.
Tears went down from Hanabi's eyes as she walked towards the bed, looking at Ino. She doesn't look bad; she looks like she's just sleeping. Hanabi turned to the others.
"Is she really fine?" she asked, Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, that's Ino. She doesn't give up easily." He said, nervously laughing, Neji looked at him 'he's worried, really worried'
"C'mon guys, you're acting like she's dying… she's not." Tenten exclaimed. They all looked at her, "do you think Ino wants us to believe that something bad is really going to happen to her? If she saw your faces she'd probably laugh." She laughed, but they all knew that her laugh wasn't real, it was a distraction from her sense of fear; they all knew Tenten. Their attention was diverted to the bed when Ino groaned, titling her head a bit, grimaced in pain.
"Ino?" Shikamaru said, walking to the side of the bed, they all got closer to the bed. Ino was slowly regaining consciousness and slowly opened her eyes but was still looking at the ceiling. Shikamaru carefully sat down on the bed next to her, "Ino, can you hear me?" she slowly turned her head towards him, groaning in the process "Shi-Shikamaru" she said, he smiled. 'That's great, she's fine'. He said. Putting the flower he brought in a vase that was next to the bed, Ino smiled when she noticed he brought her a flower.
Neji walked to Shikamaru's side, "how do you feel? You got us all worried about you, especially him" he said, patting on Shikamaru's shoulder. She smiled then grimaced again, touching her head, it was bandaged. "What… happened?" Ino asked, Shikamaru replied "we don't know. Don't you remember anything?" Ino shook her head. The door was opened and the doctor was there.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Sato. You must be Ino's friends, right?" he said, he was a plain looking guy, dark brown hair, brown eyes. He was wearing round glasses (like Kabuto's).
They all nodded, he walked closer to the bed, "Ino, I see you've already woken up." He said. Ino smiled. He turned to the others. "I'm sorry, but I have to check on Ino's condition so I must ask you to leave the room for a while." He politely said, they all nodded and walked out of the room.
Waiting hall
Shikamaru sat down on one of the chairs; Hinata sat a couple of chairs away. Tenten was next to her, Neji was leaning on the wall and Hanabi was with him. A couple of minutes later the doctor walked out with a smile on his face. "Is she alright? Will she get better?" Hanabi asked, the doctor laughed. "Yes, she's doing great. Tsunade-sama treated her last night and the effects are starting to show, I'm sure we're all glad Tsunade-sama is here." They all nodded in agreement. "Can we go see her?" Tenten asked. The doctor nodded. "Yes, but she needs to rest now, so you'll have to be quite in there" he smiled, "Thank you, doctor" she said. He nodded and walked away after excusing himself.
"Well, now we all know that she's alright, right?" Neji said. They were all happy to hear that Tsunade is the one who treated her.
Neji was still leaning on the wall when Hanabi nudged him a bit, he looked to her. "What is it?" Neji asked. She smiled. "I have to go home. Father wants to train me…again" she said, grinning. Neji nodded and walked to the guys. "I'm going to take Hanabi home now, I'll be back later. "He said. Hinata stood up. "I'll go with you." Neji nodded. They all waved to Shikamaru and Tenten and walked off.
Tenten looked at Shikamaru, who was spaced out and being as fidgety as always, fidgeting with his hands.
"There's no reason to be nervous, Shikamaru. She's alright. You've heard the doctor." Tenten said, Shikamaru snapped out of his trance and looked at Tenten.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just wonder how did this happen to her?" Tenten's lips formed a thin line and then smiled. "Accidents happen, Shikamaru" she said, her hand on his shoulder to reassure him, he just nodded.
"Shikamaru…" both Tenten and Shikamaru looked up to see Asuma, standing a few feet away from them. "...Tsunade wants to see you in her office." Shikamaru's eyebrows twitched and he sighed. 'Why can't I have a day off?' Shikamaru lazily walked off with Asuma to the Hokage building. Tenten was alone in the waiting room. 'I guess I'm going to stay with Ino for a while' she said, standing up and going into room #121.
B.R.E.A.K…L.I.N.E.
-Sigh-… 11th Chapter, Mission accomplished.
Yeah, though Tsunade treated Ino, she still has some side effects of the pots that fell on her head. Shikamaru being as cool and sweet as always –hugs him-. And Neji being NEJI…I just love this group.
And yeah, Sasame is the one from the NARUTO show. I didn't think she was annoying but I had to put her there. LOL
Why does Tsunade want to see Shikamaru? And where the hell is Gaara? What happened to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura? Why is this chapter too short? Why am I writing these questions at 5:30am in the morning on the next day of the starting of this Chapter??
How the hell should I know?? XP
Please review