Chapter 14

I followed her to where she and only Katsu now were standing.

"Woah, Tsukiko, that was, was," I stammered.

"Scary," finished Katsu.

I looked at him, "Well, yeah. It was kinda scary. You do realize that you just killed a guy, right?"

Tsukiko blinked. "Of course I know that. It was incredibly easy to do. By the way, who gave the answer.?"

"Well, Katsu did," I said, shifting my eyes.

"Why do you look so jumpy? What's so bad about Katsu talking?"

"Well," I said, "Whenever Katsu talks a lot, even if it's just one word every two hours, then that's bad.

"Bad? How?"

"Our guess is that it means something bad's going to happen. Last time he did that, We badly failed our mission, and Aika barely got out alive."

No, I wasn't exaggerating. Katsu had talked way too much for one day, and our mission went all wrong that day.

- - -

The jonins pulled us winners into a separate room, and showed us a chart showing us who we were going to fight. I didn't hear any of what the ninjas were telling us in between entering and seeing the chart because I kept giving Tsukiko strange looks.

But I glanced at the chart, and had to give it a second one, too. I was fighting Narashi Kyoko, the boy who had easily defeated Hikara. I grinned, and saw that Katsu was fighting Hakuchi Chijin, who defeated Ryota, and Tsukiko, Juro Finyer.

I ground my teeth at that name.

We were dismissed, and I walked to the hospital with Tsukiko. We didn't talk to each other at all.

We separated at the lobby, because Hikara, who Tsukiko was visiting, and Aika, who I was, were in different parts of the hospital.

I headed down the hallway, looking for her room. When I finally found it, I saw her sitting up on the bed, legs stretched out, and staring at the wall in front of her.

I leaned my torso in, and knocked on the stretch of wall beside me.

She slowly turned her head toward me, and I got a good look at her.

Her eyes were red, and her reddish-brown hair that she had always been proud of was mussed and greasy. Her white long-sleeved shirt with the white straps was soaked with sweat, but wasn't see-through. Her face was white, and her forehead was creased with worry.

I walked into the room, and sat down on the edge of her bed. I wrapped my arms around her, and let her cry into my bare shoulder. We sat there for about ten minutes, until Aika pulled away.

"Thanks," she sniffled, "I needed that."

I patted her shoulder, and said, "No problem. Would you be willing to tell me what happened?"

"He forehead creased again, and she said, "Well, when he shot those eyes at me, I froze. Like I said, he showed me horrible images. They weren't my memories or anything. It's not like he probed my mind. It was just ghastly scene after terrifying scene. I didn't feel anything when he hit me. Just relief that the images had gone. Who'd have thought that such a pretty boy like him could be so powerful?"

"It's not just him who can do that," I said, "It's his whole clan!"

She leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes, "I thought so."

"Well, Tsukiko's fighting him, so he's a good as dead," I said.

She gave a short laugh, and said, "Good."

I was about to say something else, but I saw a group of healing ninja run past me.

I looked at them, and quickly turned back to Aika.

"Aika, do you…?" I said, but then she shook her head.

"No, I don't. Go ahead and figure out what's happening."

I nodded, and took off after the doctors.

I followed them past the lobby, and into the direction that Tsukiko went into.

We ended up, of course, right in front of an almost-fainted Tsukiko.

Jeez, trouble practically follows that girl everywhere she goes.

But I couldn't help but ask a few questions.

"Tsukiko? What happened? Why are all those doctors running-why are you on the floor?"

"Too many questions!" she groaned.

I snorted, but bent down to lift her onto my shoulder. Then I said to the nurse who had been bending down beside her, "She'll be fine. Let me take her to my farmhouse. She only doest this when she gets weak, so I'm sure that bed rest will work like a charm."

She nodded, and I took off, trying to get out of the hospital.

Once outside the doors, I shrugged a fainted Tsukiko higher onto my shoulder. Then I teleported home.

I walked into the front door with Tsukiko almost falling off my shoulder.

"Mom! I'm home! And I brought, well, um, someone home!"

My mother walked into the room, and gasped when she saw Tsukiko.

"What happened?" she asked, "why is she like that?"

I let her take Tsukiko from me, and said, "I don't know what happened. All I know is that she fainted in the hallway of the hospital."

Mom examined her, then said, "Well, let's just let her sleep, then, shall we?"

My mother was an expert when it came to simple healing. Whenever our animals on our farm got sick, she could get them to get better without having to work hard. She had wanted to work on a human, and I figured that somebody who had just fainted was the best way to start.

She carried Tsukiko up to my room, and took off the jean jacket to reveal a silver tank top.

Tsukiko lay there peacefully as I gazed at her thin body. Her white hair was soaked through with blood and water, and I wondered what this girl had been up to.

"Amaya!" called my mother, "come down here and tell me what happened today."

I sighed. Man, the ninja from other villages were lucky; they didn't have a mom here who wanted to know everything as it happens.

But I walked downstairs to tell her about the exams, and she was a very good audience. Then she sent me outside to do me chores.