Sakura was startled. It was shocking for her. "Could somebody really be able to pass such a difficult exam at the age of only 14?... It's unbelievable. If it was true the media would haveexplodedaboutsomethinglike that outstanding long time ago and rumorswould never settle down. Is he bluffing?...No, it does not make any sense. Why would he do that? I am nobody for him. Just a pawn. So...". Kabuto looked amused. He uncrossed his arms and stepped towards her. "I am not doing this to show off or anything, Sakura-san." It seemed like he knew everything she had been thinking about. "My original intention was just to give you the medication Tsunade-sama requested my sensei to provide her with. However, I changed my mind when I saw you. It was obvious it was your first time being used as a delivery-boy. It was also clear that you did not know the reason why the meeting had to happen immediately and why it could not be postponed at least until the morning. So it made sense to me to make this meeting more friendly by introducing myself. We have the same experience, right? We both took the same exam." He stopped 2-3 steps away from her. " I believed it would make you feel easier but... as I can see now... I was wrong." Pushing his glasses up again his right hand appeared in front of her eyes. There was a brown paper bag in the hand. It was not big but not small either. He did not stop to surprise her as she was sure there had not been any bag in his hands before. "He must have kept it hidden in his pocket or under his clothes. I remember he said that he figured out that I was unaware of what was happening. So, if I saw it right in the beginning he would not be able to tease me since I would have figured out the purpose of this meeting i.e. to collect the bag before our conversation even started...He really is not stupid." She smiled and slowly stretched out her hand to reach the desired object but as soon as she'd grabbed it Kabuto suddenly pulled his hand and her on himself. Loosing her balance Sakura smashed into his chest. Her hand as well as Kabuto's were still on the medicine. He leaned towards her shoulder a bit. Before she could say anything Kabuto whispered "There is something Orochimaru-san would like Tsunade-sama to do for him when he asks to... Just to return the favor." The shock had numbed Sakura's senses. She now was utterly confused. The boy gently let her petite hand out of his grip and moved slightly away. Sakura felt scared. All of this was happening to her for the first time in her life. Her teacher called for her and asked to rush to that place. She needed to meet somebody. That's all what was said by the shisou. Nobody said to her that some strange guy would be doing with her whatever he wanted. Sakura was not a weak girl but she was still a female and if something happened she hardly believed she would be able to fight back for long. She hated feeling helpless but right now she did not care about her image. Her eyes were clenched. It was more of a natural reaction than an action done on purpose. Still feeling the close presence of the person she was most frightened of at that moment she desperately prayed:"I want to go home... please...". With a smirk on his face Kabuto was observing her own. He had not been so amused for quite a while. Seeing her still wincing with her emerald eyes closed his eyes softened. "She has been left untouched...by this cruel world" he concluded turning around and walking in the direction he had come from. "Lucky..."
4:09 am. The celebration seemed to be almost finished. Only few voices could be heard. Sakura was standing in the middle of the alley still feeling the aftereffect of that strange meeting. Eyelids half closed. Her eyes stared at the ground. The streets were unusually dirty. Cans, bags from fast food and other litter were scattered everywhere on the streets. Those celebrations... "5:00am... that's when the town is being cleaned..." the pink haired girl remembered out of blue. "People who clean them... they need to wake up really early...right?...but don't they celebrate as well... seeing all these people littering in front of them must be hard... since you know you will be cleaning all this rubbish after them later... inthe early morning... would I be able to enjoy thecelebrationif I was them?..." Sakura's thoughts trailed off on that note and on her way to the hospital she did not contemplate about anything at all. She wanted to go home. That was all.
7:00am. Nurses were standing around his bad. Or were they students? He couldn't care less. His black hair were slightly messed up after not a really good sleep. The white colour the only colour the room was painted in irritated his sensitive eyes. The moody boy looked up at the girls around him feeling already bored even though nothing had even started yet. His eyes were then concentrated at the blond haired woman who was also wearing a white medical coat. Damn it. He winced cursing the colour. Tsunade finally stopped reading his health history form and asked the boy a question that he had failed to hear clearly. Everyone was now looking at him awaiting his answer. The doctor seemed to be especially worried at that morning judging by her unusually soft voice. The dark haired boy rubbed his forehead. Droplets of sweat had appeared on it long ago. "The temperature must have risen again" he confirmed it to himself but without saying it aloud. The boy hoped the answer for the question the woman had asked would not be demanded from him as he saw people in the room whispering something to each other and the main medic becoming even more serious than before. " You again had problems with breathing while you were sleeping, did not you? You had been sleeping well except for this last night, right? You said the medications were helping. Did you drink your medicine yesterday before going to sleep?" Tsunade tried to get at least anything from the always silent patient. "I did." was his only answer. The medic could hardly restrain her sigh and did her best to not to show her disappointment. The medicine they developed was not working. It was useless. It helped in short-term but as soon as patients got used to it it did not make any progress in curing the disease. She tried to understand what the boy was thinking about. He was stoic and his face did not convey any emotions. "So young..." she thought "but so strong and wise...why it should have been you...". The boy averted his eyes now exploring the view outside the only window of the room. His red puffy hand again touched his forehead wiping out a new appeared droplet of sweat. Tsunade decided to inform him about a new medication and then to leave him alone. "There is another medication. It is new and not really tested. If you and your parents agree we might give it a try. " The boy did not seem to be bothered by the fact that the pills he was going to take were somewhat not safe. Everybody studied his reaction but all it was in vain. He lived in his own world. His emotions were closed for them... His eyes were still focused on the window. The birds were singing their songs quietly. A small ray of light seemed to finally find its way into the dim room. "If they are not safe... ", the boy closed his eyes trying to catch each musical note of the birds' song," does it mean there is a chance...", the birds quietened down for a second,"...I might die?..." his face split into a sincere smile and the song were sung again but louder.
9:00am. "Naruto-kun… I don't think it's a good idea..." a girl's small voice could hardly be heard but the blond walking in front of her immediately reacted. White eyes were looking down at her feet. Her cheeks were blushing cutely. Naruto was holding her hand tightly not wanting to let her go. They had not known each other for long but he thought he was already infatuated with her. The boy in an orange-blackish jersey slowed down his pace and turned around. It seemed to make her even more embarrassed as her cheeks blushed with an even darker colour tone of pink. It did not go unnoticed by the boy. Naruto felt like if he was slowly loosing his mind. The longer he looked at her the harder it was for him to restrain himself from kissing the black haired girl senseless. Her hesitance was perceived by the blond as one of her peculiar traits that he found very cute. He moved a little bit closer to her still holding her hand and asked "What's wrong, Hinata? Don't be so worried. I know you might think it is too rushed but what's the point of waiting?". The other hand of the mysterious young lady was clenching to the end of her light lilac t-shirt. She did not dare to look up at him being scared of meeting his ocean blue eyes. When their eyes met her heart started pounding…fast... so fast she sometimes needed to avert her eyes and stand looking anywhere but not at him to calm herself down. However, feeling his close presence did not really help to that process. Naruto thinking the pause had taken too long addressed the girl "Hinata, if you don't want it so much...that's alright. I understand". His voice sounded soft but serious. Hinata realizing that the sunny boy had misunderstood her behavior quickly grabbed his hand by her free one and shook her head signaling that he got it all wrong. "I want it, Naruto-kun! I...I am just afraid you will not like my family..." Naruto's face that looked worried and serious before relaxed. He exhaled feeling relieved as for a second he had thought Hinata did not really like him. Pulling her closer he hugged her tightly. "Hinata, you are the one dattebayo…" he whispered softly making sure the girl in his lap felt comfortable whereas Hinata overwhelmed with emotions tried her best to not to break in tears.
Sakura pushed the handle of a door down. It opened with a creaking sound. The hospital was big and consisted of 2 blocks. One of them was quite old and had not undergone trough any construction works for quite a long time. Sakura was there at that moment. The other block was a very modern and high-tech building. That was the place where most serious operations were going on. It took approximately 7 minutes to get from one building to another. Not long somebody would say. However, when it comes to emergencies medics need to start help patients immediately. They need to be in the right place at the right moment which means that even a second must not be wasted. She entered a changing room for medic students. Approaching a cupboard for everybody she dropped her bag on the bench next to it. Sakura opened it and pulled out a medic coat with her name. She then changed her pink ballet flats with a black bow on each of them to white trainers. She could not care less about how she looked right now. It was 9am and she had slept only 3 hours in her bad at home. She lazily put her coat on and fiercely shoved in her bag into the cupboard. As soon as the girl finished Sakura decided to check her phone. She did not expect anyone to write her. It was just the beginning of the day and if there was an emergency other nurses would be called since Sakura had worked more hours than she was ever supposed to. So, she was checking her phone from force of habit..."Shit!" she hissed darting from the room.
10:00am. Shizune fidgeted on her seat. The 2 young men sitting next to her but on a sofa made her very nervous. They both were wearing suits and did not utter a word since they had come. One of them was sleeping whereas the other one was eating without making a break even once. As soon as one pack of chips was finished he would grab the next portion of snacks and continue eating like he had never eaten before. Shizune did not know where this food appeared from since the man did not have any bag with him. Neither did his friend or a colleague. She could not know who they were to each other. They did not really introduce themselves. The only thing they had said about themselves was "Good morning. We are from police and we have some questions we want to ask one of your students...Haruno Sakura." Glancing at them again she hoped they would become really bored of waiting and hence would decide to leave. However, seeing the boy with his hair tied in spiky ponytail still sleeping discouraged her. He seemed to be in control, not the other one. So, while he was having his nap there was no chance for Shizune to get rid of them. She decided to give it a try anyway. "Ano...", she started getting immediately attention of the big boy but not of the sleepyhead, "I don't think Sakura-chan will be coming anytime soon. As I have said before she is helping with a very important and difficult operation so…" she was interrupted. "Shikamaru!...Shikamaru! Wake up!" the boy with snacks was pushing his friend until he finally woke up. "Alright, alright...I am up", he replied irritated, "jeez...how troublesome..." was his last phrase before he directed his gaze at Shizune. She was slightly taken aback and forgot what she was going to say. The boy scratched his forehead and continued "Well, we will come later since the operation does not seem to end soon...". "How … Was he faking it?" the black haired woman felt confused. Shikamaru stood up pulling something out from one of his pockets. "Finish up, Chouji. We are leaving...", the said boy nodded rushing to finish the pack of chips, "Well, here is my business card. My telephone number is on it. Could you please tell Sakura-san to call me as soon as she is out of the operation room.". The black haired woman took the card from his hand ans nodded. "Well, jana!" was all she heard before the sound of the closing door. She sat like that for some more time. "Tsunade-sama, what have you done?...", she sighed and reclined in her chair trying to make sense of the whole situation.
Naruto and Hinata exchanged looks. Hinata nodded. Still keeping the eye contact with the blond she pushed the door. Naruto swallowed. He tried to look calm but in reality he was feeling nervous. "Will they like me? What about her father? Is he nice? She said he is often harsh with her...Shit! What should I say? I forgot! Completely forgot!…Well. My name is Naruto...Naruto Uzumaki. I am an entrepreneur. We have met with Hinata not long ago but I thought it would be nice to meet you as I have serious plans on your daughter. So, I asked Hinata to introduce me to you...", he tried to quickly come up with his speech. The door was already opened. Hinata was looking at Naruto trying to understand what he was thinking about. She was confused. "Had he changed his mind?" she touched his hand gently in order to return him back to reality. Naruto reacted right away feeling embarrassed for his sudden fear of meeting her parents. He himself was an orphan and knew nothing about a parent-child relationship. Naruto noticing that the door was already wide open snapped out of his weird condition and thought "Shit! How long have I been thinking? Fuck! Don't fuck up!...Dattebayo!". Hinata understanding he was alright let go off his hand and entered the room. Naruto followed her unconsciously keeping his eyes concentrated on the floor. That was like that until the moment he saw her in front of him walking confidently. "Hinata… you" he stared at her with his mouth agape. He is so big and she is so small but he was the one blenching. "Common!..." he shook his head slightly "Get it together!" and straightened up. The room was big. The mansion Hinata lived in was gorgeous. Naruto knew she was from a rich family but she did not like talking about it due to her difficult relationship with her father and her only little sister. Of course, Naruto was curious but he did not push since he understood her unwillingness to discuss something she did not really want to even mention. Hinata was also aware about his situation. She knew he did not have parents. He told her they tragically died in a car accident long time ago. Naruto did not really remember them and rarely talked about his parents. Neither did she push. So, they had never really touched upon the topic. However, Naruto had insisted many times on Hinata to introduce him to her family in order to make their relationship more serious. Naruto wanted to be seen by his family not as a boy going out with their daughter for some suspicious reasons but as a man wanting to marry the girl one day. He also wanted to have her father's approval. It was important for him. Naruto was this type of people who did not like complicated things. He liked when everything was clear. It did not matter whether it was a relationship with a person or a topic somebody was explaining to him. It had to be clear.
The girl burst into the room. She did not know what to expect. The message she got was "Room 301. Now.". It was from one of the girls Sakura was supervising. Even though she was a student herself and was supervised as well there was this obligatory work every medic student had to do. The main idea of it was for more successful students to help less experienced ones in working with patients. It was a great idea but there were drawbacks. One of them was the fact that students like Sakura were still learning and they rarely could cope with something serious. The students like the girl that Sakura was supervising believed that if something happened they always needed to call to their supervisors. That was wrong. In case of emergencies they had to contact the main doctors not students. Sakura's supervisee made a mistake. Yes. A mistake based on psychological factors such as inability to think rationally in case of emergency. Unfortunately, that was what happened. Crossing the threshold into the hospital ward Sakura froze. The newbie was panicking. She stood up in the middle of the room covering her face with her hands. The boy on the medical bed curled up. His body was shaking whereas face was twisted with pain. Sakura quickly overcame the distance between them and tried to understand what was happening. "Call Tsunade! Shizune! Any main doctor!" Sakura cried out observing the boy in front of her. The boy was coughing blood continuously. His throat was burning and because of that he could not explain to the pink haired girl anything. "Familial Disautonomia" was written in the paper attached to his bad and there were no records of blood coughing. She was desperately trying to find any hint of what she had to give him to stop his torture. The blood was flowing down from his palms that had been covering his mouth for all this time. He clenched his eyes. Tears falling down his face. She fell down on her knees not knowing what to do. She reached for his shoulder unconsciously hoping for a miracle to happen… and then it dawned on her. "Did you take new medicine?" she leaned towards him still standing on her knees. The boy's eyes immediately opened wide. They were full of tears. He wanted to shake his head, to nod, to signalize somehow that she was right but his convulsions did not stop resulting in him not being able to control his own body. Nevertheless Sakura understood everything. "The medication given by Kabuto is a poison", she stood up simultaneously moving his hospital bad towards the door, "Tsunade-sama asked me to collect it in the middle of the night because she had been afraid for this boy and wanted to cure him as soon as possible...". "Did you call them?" she glanced at the newbie. The girl quickly nodded joining her in moving the hospital bad. "Tsunade-sama is performing a surgery right now. Shizune is coming." she spoke in a brittle voice. Sakura winced and added "We are going to an operating room.". Her supervisee let go of the bed and pulled out her phone to inform Shizune. Seeing the boy in pain Sakura run faster. Pushing the whole bed alone was hard even if it was on wheels. The fact that she had slept only three hours also had its effect on her. However, at that moment Sakura did not care."Onegai...hold on!"
10:00am. Naruto and Hinata were having a great time with her mother. She was very kind and friendly. When Hinata blushed while introducing Naruto to her she immediately understood everything. Without letting her daughter to finish she offered them to have a breakfast together. Hinata resembled her mother in almost everything. Their personalities and appearances were so much alike. Naruto somewhat felt relieved. Hinata never talked about her mother but always said that her family was harsh. "By saying this did she mean her mother is harsh as well?", he thought inadvertently, "If that's the case I should not have worried so much...". Naruto was sipping a cup of tea when Hinata's mother asked him where he was working. Naruto taken aback by the sudden change of topic mumbled at the beginning and then said normally, "Ano… I am an entrepreneur. I and my colleagues who are my friends at the same time are working together. We sell whatever is popular in the market." Hinata's mother smiled in reply. Naruto felt relieved. Everything turned out to be nicer than he thought it would be. Finishing the last mouthful of tea in his cup he put it on the wooden table. Still holding the cup he heard a gravelly voice the boy could not confuse with anyone's else. Feeling petrified he turned around slowly and then froze. "Hizashi Hyuga".
"So, you say you and your friends sell whatever is popular in the market."
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