Chapter Twenty Six: Simple and Clean Part II

A/N: Finally… closer… to…-falls over-

Sachiko: Uh Author-sama? Should I write the story this time?

Author-sama: Please do… -twitches on the floor-

The next morning I woke up to find that crazy blonde boy from yesterday staring at me. He nearly gave me a heart attack. He was grinning when I woke up. He was practically breathing all over my face and leaning over me. I would have called him a pervert but then I remembered he was supposed to be a good friend of mine or something so he was probably used to invading my bubble.

"Can I serve her breakfast," he asked the nurse excitedly.

I was praying she would say no but I wrong I was. "That's a great idea," she said to him and then left the room. She just left me in there with that hyperactive whiskered boy.

I moaned inwardly thinking, "Don't encourage him…"

Naruto smiled as the nurse closed the door behind her. I wasn't sure if I should be afraid or not. Maybe he was always like that? I didn't know because I couldn't remember me. What a hopeless case I was!

"Baa-chan said not to tell you too many things about yourself because it would be too much for you to handle or something stupid like that," Naruto told me as he poured some tea into a cup, "I bet you want me to tell you anyway, huh?" He closed his eyes slightly so it looked like he was squinting at me.

I nodded. Was he some kind of idiot? Of course I wanted to know everything about me that he knew! I gave him a look as if to say, 'Are you kidding me?' because that's exactly what I thought he was doing; kidding me.

"I don't know if I should tell you," he replied as he blew on the tea to cool it down.

This is when I got terribly annoyed with him. He just dangled my sweet memories in my face and then said, 'I don't know if I should tell you.' What kind of nonsense was that?! When I got out of that hospital bed I was going to make him sorry! "Why not," I asked, miraculously keeping my cool.

"Because of what Baa-chan said… Duh," he told me and then started laughing at me as if I were stupid.

I was ready to smack that tea he had right out of his hand and on to his face but I restrained myself. You're a nice person. I kept repeating that to myself but there was no way to know if I really was or not. I tried to change the subject with him, "So when do I get to meet the other people you say I know?"

"Baa-chan said not to spring them on you so suddenly," Naruto said to me as he pushed the tea in my face, trying to make me drink it.

I slurped it up as sloppy as I could but he just some to laugh. It was as if he liked my rude manners!

"Sachiko-chan was always polite," Naruto told me, "You are cranky…"

That shot me down. How was I to know how to behave like myself if I didn't know anything about myself?! When if I turned into some utterly different person and completely forgot who I used to be?! Would that be a bad thing? I had no idea. "Please tell me something about myself… Please… just describe the old Sachiko you used to know or tell me how you and I met… Do you know if I had a sister named Chihoko?"

He thought it over his head a minute and then nodded. "Sachiko-chan was running around Konoha and I was walking around minding my own business trying to go to Ichiraku Ramen 'ttebayo. Then Sachiko-chan bumped into me. She did some weird jutsu and landed on a cloud but she went flying backwards anyway. I chased after her and grabbed the cloud she was sitting on. I guess my strength was too much for the cloud because I ripped it apart and then you fell on Sasuke… And Sachiko-chan never mentioned a sister or anyone named Chihoko."

Somehow I think he was making some of it up but I had no other choice but to believe him. The thing I hated most was how he referred to 'Sachiko' as a completely different person than me. It made me feel even worse to know I was so different than the way I used to be and he kept reminding me of that each time he said, 'Sachiko-chan was doing this and then she did that'. I sighed. "Who is Sasuke?"

"Sasuke is some guy who thinks he is super cool and better than me but he is not! You liked me better than you liked Sasuke 'ttebayo! And he was trying to make me compete with him for you," Naruto said vigorously, "Which reminds me… I have to go visit that jerk after I'm done with you. Believe it."

You. He said, 'you' and not 'Sachiko-chan'. That made me feel a lot better. "Is he in the hospital too," I asked Naruto who nodded. "Why?"

"Long story," he said, "And Baa-chan said it wasn't a good idea to tell you about him…"

"Oh," I said stupidly. I mean, what else could I say to that? I was being given limited information here and it was unfair! "You should probably go visit him," I said to Naruto, "I'm very tired and I want to rest."

Naruto didn't seem insulted by what I said even though I had kind of hoped that he would. He nodded and smiled at me. He had me drink the last of the tea and then put everything away on a table next to my bed. Naruto got up and said, "Goodbye Sachiko-chan… See you tomorrow." Then he left me to my solitude.

About thirty minutes after Naruto left I heard so much noise above my head and I guessed that someone was scuffling on the roof. I called the nurse to ask her what was going on up there after I heard no more noise. She told me that my little blonde friend and a patient got into a fight. She said the patient started it. I guessed it was Sasuke that Naruto had fought up on the roof. The way Naruto spoke about him didn't sound like he liked him much so it seemed reasonable.

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The next day Naruto didn't visit me in the morning. I thought maybe he would come later but I couldn't help but feel upset with myself. I should have been nicer to him and he might have come back to visit me! But no, I was being mean because he was annoying me a little… I should have had more patience with the poor guy. He was just trying to be nice and help me. Just when I had given up on visitors a pink haired girl stepped into my room. She had pretty green eyes and seemed like a nice person.

"Hi Sachiko-san," she said to me, "I know you don't remember me… It's Sakura." Sakura was her name. It seemed to suit her perfectly. She did have pink hair after all. "Naruto asked me to tell you why he's not here today… You see… Sasuke ran away… oh wait you don't remember who that is…"

"Naruto said he was my friend," I said to encourage her to keep speaking. I was so bored in the damn hospital. I wanted to hear any kind of gossip or story that I could!

"Well he ran away and some of the ninjas went after him… I wish I could have gone," she said sadly, "I'd only slow them down though…"

"You like Sasuke," I asked her but I guess she took it as a statement.

"You remember," she said, eyes sparkling.

"No… Just the way you talk about him," I replied, "Sorry to burst your bubble."

"Oh… don't worry about it." She then changed the subject, "Tsunade-sama is supposed to be dropping by… I can wait in here with you until she does if you'd like? I bet you're awfully bored and lonely in here." I nodded. I liked Sakura. She seemed to understand me and how I felt all locked up in here. "I thought so," she said with a smile.

"Sakura," I said, "Can you tell me how we met?"

"Sure," she said, still smiling at me, "Well, I guess you and Naruto had a thing for each other because you were all he would talk about… He used to have a crush on me you see… So I was relieved to hear that he liked someone new… not that he's not a good guy just not my type… Well, we were at the Ninja academy to take the written portion of the Chunin Exams… That's when we met. You were terribly nice and polite."

"You and I weren't best friends or anything? Did I have any best friends? Where am I from? Is it here in Konoha? Am I from another village?" I had so many questions for her and she seemed to have the answers to them but she didn't say anything for a while. "Well," I persisted, "Don't you know any of those?"

"Tsunade-sama said to take it slow with you Sachiko-san. She said not to tell you too much information. It's not good for you right now. She said your memory is in critical condition and if you are given too much information your mind might just erase all of it… forever."

I sighed deeply. This whole, 'let's keep certain things from Sachiko' was really beginning to get on my nerves. All was forgotten as soon as a knock sounded. Sakura went to go answer the door and speak of the devil; it was Tsunade. Another woman with short black hair carrying a small pig also came into the room.

I blinked a couple times and said, "Ohayo Tsunade-sama."

"Ohayo Sachiko-san," she replied back. She motioned to the black haired girl and said, "This is my assistant Shizune… Shizune, Sachiko."

"Nice to meet you," said Shizune with a bow. I returned the favor with the same words and a similar bow. Her pig seemed to be staring at me. It was a cute pink, round thing but it was creeping me out by staring at me like that.

Tsunade looked at Sakura and asked, "Any progress?" But she shook her head no. Tsunade turned to me and spoke, "Listen Sachiko-san… Naruto told me you were from another village… we could send you to the hospital there and maybe you'd have better luck with regaining your memory… would you like to go?"

"I don't want to go," I told her, "I don't think I liked my old village very much… I have… nightmares… I don't want to go back… Can't I stay here?"

"Here's the thing," said Tsunade as she gave him a sad look, "We gave them your name and they don't have you on file either even though Naruto said you were from that village. He said he met you right before the Chunin Exams… My guess would be is that you're not really from Suna and you're from another village that we're not allies with. How you ended up in Sand, I don't know… You don't want to go back to Sand and we can't really give you back into enemy hands… We can either keep you here or in Sand… maybe we can send you to Sand and you can see how you like it over there…"

"No," I said, so sure of myself, "I don't want to go to Sand… I want to stay here with Naruto."

"With Naruto," asked Tsunade taken a back. She gave me another weird look and then went to go feel my head.

"I'm not feverish," I yelled to her, "I'm not!"

She nodded but kept her hand on my forehead. She finally pulled it back after she was satisfied. "Why would you want to stay here if you belong somewhere else?"

"I want Konoha to be my new home… even if it wasn't originally," I said, my eyes were getting puffy. I knew I was about to cry but it was true. All I wanted to have was fresh start on a new life.

"Well maybe we can place you on Team 7 since it has a sudden opening…Even if Sasuke returns… he's going to be in a lot of trouble and would be kicked off Team 7 temporarily," Tsunade suggested to me, "I'm sure Sakura is willing to find Kakashi and bring him here immediately." Sakura nodded and left to get whoever Kakashi was.

Less than five minutes later a knock came at my door. Tsunade opened it up and Sakura entered. A handsome silver haired man entered directly after her. He had a mask that covered half of his face and one of his eyes. It was so mysteriously handsome. I felt giddy suddenly but I think I was more excited than I would usually be because of all the medication they put me on.

"Kakashi," said Tsunade, taking charge, "This girl… Sachiko. Do you know her?"

The silver haired dream walked over to the side of the bed and looked me over. I wondered why he covered one of his eyes. Maybe it was missing? It was rude to ask… I'm sure I'd find out eventually anyway.

"She was in the Chunin Exams with the Sand Village," he said quietly as he stepped back. The Sand Village… again. I didn't want to go there. I wanted to stay in Konoha. I scowled, I'd kick and I'd scream before they sent me elsewhere. "During Sachiko's match in the preliminaries she didn't use Sand Village type attacks. I remember her finishing move was a lightning speed, full throttle assault. Before that though it was like she was a different person…"

"What do you mean Kakashi," asked Tsunade, rather demanded, "Keep going."

"She faced a Sound Village girl named Yagami Sayuri. At the beginning of the match Sayuri put her to sleep with an instrument called an ocarina. It was supposed to make Sachiko fall asleep and lose the match. But Sachiko woke up. When she did wake up she growled like an animal and attacked Sayuri the same way a tiger would attack its prey. I used my Sharingan to watch her match but I couldn't copy any of her moves. It had to have been her kekkai genkai for me to not be able to copy it," Kakashi informed Tsunade, "She wasn't a normal ninja."

"I see," said Tsunade. She started to look at me as if she was judging if I could be a good shinobi or not. "I want her to join Team 7 temporarily and if Sasuke is not brought back, permanently."

Kakashi nodded. "I don't mind… I was thinking the same thing. What about her living arrangements?"

"Actually Kakashi I was hoping you could adopt her in a sense," said Tsunade, "She could live with you… You can teach her all you know and see that she doesn't cause any more trouble."

"I could," Kakashi said wistfully, "But I'm not sure my lifestyle would rub off on her in a good way… She'd be better off living with you, Hokage-sama." He was tricky and smart. Somehow I felt like I had the bad end of the stick. Neither of them really wanted to take me in. So they were just going to argue on who was better suited to handle me.

"I am the Hokage. Don't you think I'm busy enough? I have just agreed to take Sakura under my wing to train her and I have to go perform surgery on Rock Lee in an hour! Now you expect me to adopt this girl that could very well be the daughter of the Raikage for all we know?!" I was only right there. Thanks for associating me with the enemy.

"You're taking Sakura as your pupil," asked Kakashi. The Hokage nodded. Kakashi seemed to be thinking it over in his head. I put on my best puppy dog eyes, though for some reason, I felt more like a cat person. That's when he spoke, "Well I guess I could take this one in for now… But I can only take her in for a year. I have some business of my own to take care of."

"Deal," said the Hokage, "I will take her in after a year…" She looked at me as if I were a four year old. "Kakashi will pick you up once you are allowed to leave this hospital. You will live with him and train under him for a year. After that year is up you will live and train under me. You must promise to be obedient to the both of us and not make yourself difficult to deal with. You will take what we give you."

"I promise," I said to her, smiling so much it had to have been from ear to ear. It was almost like I had parents. Well divorced parents almost because I'd be living with Kakashi for a year and then Tsunade. But it was good enough for me. My life was going to be great once I got out of the hospital. I had a home.

Tsunade looked me over one last time and then said, "I have to prepare for Rock Lee's surgery now… Sakura you can meet me in the emergency surgery room after you're done visiting with Sachiko." Tsunade left the room and Shizune followed her. The nurse, who had been eavesdropping as she changed my bandages, gave me a wink and then also left. She probably had nice, fuzzy tickles all over.

"Sachiko-san," Sakura said excitedly, "You and I are going to be on the same team. You will train under Kakashi-sensei and then under Tsunade-sama. You don't know how lucky that is… Naruto will be excited to hear the news… He'll be so happy for you… Sachiko you're going to have a new life!" She smiled at me fondly as she brushed some hair out of my face. "Well I have to go meet with Tsunade-sama… This is the first surgery I'll get to watch… I'm excited!"

"Sakura-san," I said before she took off, "What happened to Rock Lee?"

She had a puzzled look on her face for a moment. I'm pretty sure she was debating whether she should tell me or not. "He got injured very badly in the Chunin Exams…"

"By who," I asked curiously. I might have known them. Well, it's not like I'd remember them.

"A Sand Village ninja," she replied, "He was a monster to Lee… but later… Naruto changed him for good, or so we all have hoped."

"Really? Naruto did that," I asked as I felt a guilty twinge in my heart. I really should have been nicer to him…

"Yes… Naruto can be very annoying and a pervert at times," Sakura began, "But he always sees the good in anyone… It's a gift of his, you could say."

I nodded and smiled at her. "Well you better hurry," I said, "I don't want you to miss out on your opportunity to watch Tsunade-sama perform surgery… It's a great chance to learn something." She nodded and left me. Since no one else would probably visit, I decided to go to sleep.

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My days in the hospital had all gone the same for about a month. Tsunade promised me that during my second month in the hospital, Naruto would bring more people to visit. I already met Rock Lee because he was a patient too. He was always walking around on his crutches trying to get stronger. He was someone to admire. I often looked out my window and saw him trying to do push ups or crunches. He had great fighting spirit and made me want to be a ninja. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock that came at my door and I knew it was Naruto. For some reason, his knocking was louder than everyone else's. "Come in," I said.

The blonde boy poked his head through the door and grinned. "Guess who I brought to see you!"

"No clue," I said, grinning back. He knew I had no clue but he just liked to win so I didn't put up a fight.

"Didn't think so," he breathed excitedly. Someone was grumbling at him from behind him but I couldn't see because Naruto was doing a good job blocking my view. Finally Naruto let the person in. It was another boy. He had a cute little puppy even though I told myself that for some reason I liked cats better.

"Hey Sachiko-san," he said to me with a cute grin, "I'm Kiba and this is Akamaru."

The little dog barked a few times, leapt out of the boy's jacket and climbed up on the bed with me. He curled up next to me, begging for me to pet him. Of course I had to pet him. He was such a cute little doggie!

"Looks like Akamaru remembers you," said Kiba, still grinning. I couldn't get over how cute he was. He had a wolfish look to him and it was just so… attracting.

"Okay Kiba times up," said Naruto quickly as he tried to shove Kiba out of the room.

"Hold it Naruto," barked Kiba, "Simmer down." Naruto backed off and allowed Kiba to continue. "Tsunade-sama gave me certain instructions so I can't tell you too much… but you can ask me a few things and I'll try to answer him," he said.

Kuso! It seems Tsunade got to everyone in the village and warned them not to tell me certain things. That sucked big time! "You can tell me how we met," I said to Kiba.

"Let's see… You were running around a corner and bumped right into me," said Kiba with a laugh.

"Lately that's how I've been meeting a lot of people," I said to Kiba. Was I constantly on the move or something?

"You were always running around places," Kiba replied. Hmm, so I guess so. "Anyway, you bumped into me… We introduced ourselves and I asked you if anyone in the village had asked you on a date."

"Pervert," Naruto mumbled, but Kiba ignored him and kept going.

"You said no but then you said you were meeting someone and that you were late. You told me you'd see me later and took off. About thirty minutes later I saw you again. I guess you met your friend for whatever reason but you hadn't had lunch yet. That's when you and I went to Ichiraku Ramen and had lunch," said Kiba as he took a seat next to my bed.

"Ichiraku Ramen sounds great… I'd like to go there sometime," I said to him sweetly. I hope I wasn't too obvious.

"I'd like to take you there," Kiba offered with a smile. Akamaru began to wag his tail excitedly; it thumped against my hand as I pet him.

"I introduced you to Ichiraku Ramen," cried out Naruto, upset that he had been ignored.

"Yeah and then you interrupted us there too, remember? We were eating lunch there when you just barged in," growled Kiba angrily. I began to worry that Naruto didn't just get on my nerves sometimes.

I tried to change the subject quickly. "So, does either of you guys know what friend I went to go meet?"

"No clue," both said. I frowned and then I sighed. This was no good. They could barely tell me anything as it was and apparently they had no idea about this other friend. It might have been Chihoko for all I knew. Maybe she was a friend I had made and just didn't speak about. Maybe she was a secret and I didn't want to get her in trouble by speaking about her. There were so many things she could be to me and nobody knew!

Tsunade poked her head through the room. "Alright Naruto, that's enough visiting… You and Kiba may come back another time."

"Baa-chan," asked Naruto, "Is it true you're adopting Sachiko-chan in a year?"

"Yes, it is… Now leave her to rest," said Tsunade. I couldn't help but smile. I almost, sort of, had some parents. I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital and start living my new life. My mind was a clean slate. I was ready to soak up information like a sponge. I knew I would make Kakashi and Tsunade proud.

Naruto and Kiba said their goodbyes and left. Akamaru even gave me a few face licks as goodbye. He barked a few times before he left and I saw Kiba blush. I wish I spoke Akamaru.

"Alright Sachiko," said Tsunade, "I'm going to have Sakura practice some minor healing techniques on you. We'll work on the wound on your stomach."

I nodded and Tsunade opened the door all the way. Sakura stepped in with a bright smile. She had such a fire burning in her eyes to learn. It made me want to get out of the hospital even more but I knew I had to be patient. Tsunade stepped over me and explained to Sakura what to do. I watched and listened intently as they both worked on my wounds. If I did so, I might be able to keep up when I got to stay with her in a year. The body was made up of a network of chakra. Many of my chakra points had been sealed for some reason, especially in my abdomen and my hands. Tsunade said she wasn't sure what had happened to me but it was probably a good thing that I couldn't remember it. This made me wonder just exactly what I was before I lost my memory. Who was I and why would someone do this to me? Naruto had sworn that I was a nice person and so did Sakura. I trusted what they said but something at the back of my mind was nagging me and trying to tell me that there was far more to it. It just wasn't my time to find out.

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I was in the third month of my time at the hospital. Naruto had brought in many of my 'old friends' but I still didn't remember anything. At this time, however, I had stopped caring so much about who I used to be. I was caring more about who I was going to become once I got out of the hospital. Since Kakashi and the Fifth Hokage would be informally adopting me, a lot of options were open to me. Sakura and I were expected to succeed Tsunade in the medical field. Naruto told me that I was a good ninja when I had entered in the Chunin Exams and I would be even better under Kakashi's training. It was sad that I couldn't remember anything I knew as a ninja then but I was okay with starting from scratch with a new sensei.

Today Naruto and Kiba had promised to sneak me something real to eat; something real being ramen. I heard a tapping at my window and knew it was them. I got up, being able to walk now, and opened the window. A bowl of ramen came through the window first. I took the bowl and set it down on the table. Two other bowls came through the window and I guessed that they had wanted to eat lunch with me here. Next thing to come through the window were my two good friends, Kiba and Naruto. Oh, and I best not forget Akamaru!

Naruto was the first to finish his ramen. He slurped it down like an animal. He grinned like a little kid would. He rubbed any ramen off with his sleeve and laughed. "You guys," he said to us, "Ichiraku has the best ramen ever 'ttebayo!"

"You're such a dork Naruto," Kiba said as he slurped some of his ramen. Naruto stuck his tongue at him and then folded his arm. Naruto looked so adorable and funny when he was trying to rebellious. "Sachiko-san," said Kiba to me, "Are you excited about getting out soon?"

"You bet I am," I replied, "I'm finally going to live the life that I want… even though I don't remember if I was doing that before I got here… heh."

"Well, that's okay," said Kiba as Akamaru poked his head out of his jacket to bark, "I remember you did tell me one time that you wished you could live here instead of your old village…"

"Yeah," Naruto added, not wanting to be left out, "You didn't seem to like Sand too much… and the people you were with weren't nice to you."

"Naruto," Kiba growled, "We're not supposed to talk about them… Tsunade-sama said to keep taking it slow with her."

"Gomen, gomen 'ttebayo," Naruto cried out as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, "Forget I said anything Sachiko-chan."

I really wish they would just tell me everything. They would just give me little teasers, and then I would take the bait, and get hooked. It seemed like Tsunade wanted me to forget my life back at Sand. She was right. If I wanted this new life I would have to forget about trying to remember certain things. A new life was a new life. Simple and clean, simple and clean, simple and clean... I had to keep repeating those words to myself until I got the point.

A/N: Yay! So what do you guys think of Sachiko telling the story from her point of view? Like it? Yes? No? Maybe? I'm going to return to third person now that the Simple and Clean parts finish up. What do you guys think of Sachiko's new life?

Sachiko: I want my memory back Author-sama!

Author-sama: QUIET! You'll get it back when I say you will!

Sachiko: Dictator!

Author-sama: Maybe so… but do the thing before we say goodbye!

Sachiko: -Sigh- Fine… REEEE VIIIIEEWWWWW!!

Author-sama: -Squints eyes-Gooooood…