Disclaimer: I hope everyone realises that the original cast of Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 24

One and a half months later...

After what had felt like an eternity, I had finally pulled myself out of my denial. I really was stuck in my own head. I had resorted myself to sitting watching the window to the outside world like a TV, the Yondaime sat next to me keeping me company. I didn't feel tired, apparently I wouldn't feel so either, since the Yondaime – or Minato as he asked me to call him now – said I couldn't get tired in my own head. So I was just stuck watching the outside world.

And what a lot of the world I was missing. Maybe it was Fate's way of telling me to stop interfering with the storyline, but that just made me sound like Neji. I couldn't even see the horrible attack on the village by Orochimaru, or the Sandaime's death, or the stand-off between Naruto and Gaara, or return of Itachi, or Tsunade taking over the role of Hokage, or Sasuke's defecting from Konoha. I could only hear second hand reports from Azami, who was still the only one that knew of my condition of all my loved ones. And even then, as a civilian, I knew she wasn't going to hear the full stories. But at least as a nurse in the hospital, she was the first and one of the most informed when it came to finding out the well-being of the injured.

No doubt Naruto was feeling quite put down at the loss of his best friend and rival. I so wanted to escape this mind of mine if only to comfort him a little.

Not that I didn't appreciate spending time with Minato. He was great company. But there was all that worry I still harboured about my loved ones. At least Azami was still there for me...

"... and you wouldn't believe it, but he wore it! I never thought I'd see the day, but Lee-kun said that since I had spent so much thought on that present for him, he would put aside his green suit of Youth for a day. Gai-kun didn't even mind, he said he understood. But Lee-kun looked so sweet in that little tux I got him. I haven't seen him in one since my wedding. There wasn't even a bit of green on it." Azami said, fluttering about my unresponsive body and patting my hand every now and then. Every time the focus of the window shifted away from her, Azami just waved her hands and I was looking at her again. She smiled at me, before a sad look crossed her face. "I hope you wake up soon Natsuki-chan, it's not the same telling you all this when I don't get a single response from you. You're not even blinking..."

I reached out and brushed her face on the window, "Oh Azami-chan..."

Minato pulled me into a half-hug, watching Azami with me. "I'm doing everything I can Natsuki-chan, you'll be out of here as soon as possible."

I nodded, sending him a small smile before turning back to look out of the window.

"I would be more freaked too out if I wasn't so worried about you. This can't be good for me either, all this stress and worry. I know one of these days the stress will get to me. And the lying! I think Kakashi's starting to suspect that I'm lying, you know how I can't lie for long periods of time. And Naruto's sad face makes me want to tell him everything."

"She worries about you a lot, doesn't she?" Minato said from beside me.

I nodded my head, "Sometimes more than she should."

"I-I still think that we should tell Kakashi and Naruto about your condition, but Hokage Tsunade-sama said it wasn't the right time yet. But I mean, the chunnin exams are over, it should be fine, right? Well, I'm sure she knows what she's doing. I'm just happy she let you stay in my care, I don't think I'd be comfortable leaving you in anyone else's care. Like she could make me leave you anyway. When you wake up from this, thing, we're going out for a girl's day out, and you are treating me to anything I want. It's the least I deserve I think, ne Natsuki-chan?"

I continued to listen to her half-mindless chatter before she reluctantly left me to get a quick dinner, the dark sky outside of the window indicating it was quite late. It was silent everywhere now, Minato even staying unusually quiet. When I turned to look at him, I found he was gone. Not unusual, he was most likely trying another plan of his to get me out of here. I was in for another long, lonely evening.

At least, I had thought so.

Only a few minutes later though, there was movement in my hospital room, and the window I was boredly staring at spun towards the hospital window. A shadow of a figure was crouched on the open window sill, which I knew Azami had closed and locked before she left. Even though I couldn't do anything to stop any harm coming to my physical body, I still tensed anxiously. The shadow shifted, and moved closer towards the bed. I watched them carefully, almost gasping when they finally fell into the small circle of light cast by the night light on my nightstand.

"Kakashi."

"Natsuki. I knew you weren't on a mission, at least not for this long nor at this time." I was already smiling just hearing Kakashi's deep voice again. "Plus, Azami-san is a pretty poor liar, I just couldn't work out why."

I had to agree, I was surprised she had kept in this secret for so long successfully.

"Natsuki? Are you ignoring me?"

Oh no, he didn't know. Of course he didn't know, Azami hadn't told him.

"Natsuki? Answer me!" Kakashi growled, and I could see the anger even in one dark eye, "You've been hiding from me for over a month, the least I deserve is an answer as to why! Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry if I did, but just tell me what I did wrong."

"Nothing," I said, stroking his face on the window screen, "It's not you Kakashi."

"Natsuki?" a frown was beginning to dig into Kakashi's face, and I saw his eye flicker all over my face, and he waved a hand in front of me. A look of understanding flashed through his eye. "You aren't... you aren't really here, are you?"

"Yes I am!" I cried, "I'm right here!"

"What happened? When did this happen? Was it since that day?..." a sudden look of hatred passed through his eye, "WHO did this to you?"

I was congratulating myself on being able to read Kakashi so well, even after more than a month away from him, and with only one eye to see. But I was also becoming more frustrated by my lack of power to do anything. "Who do you think did this to me, Kakashi? Madara! Well, okay he didn't actually trap me inside my head, but he triggered it to happen. So it's basically his fault still."

Kakashi didn't say anything else. Instead he just sat down in the seat beside my bed, and I watched as he picked up my limp hand in his. His face fell a little when he got no response from me, when I would usually intertwine our fingers, or grin at him at the small gesture. Nonetheless, Kakashi slipped his fingers between my own, and held my hand like always, turning to look up at me again. "Well, I'm here now Natsuki, I'll fix this somehow."

He didn't talk much, just the occasional snippet of speech, but it was enough to raise my spirits a little. When Minato had returned to find his former student through the window, he had been surprised but happy. Kakashi never once let go of my hand. Soon though, much too soon, the door to my private hospital room opened, and Azami walked in and looked shocked at my visitor.

"Kakashi-san! You- you- what are you doing here?"

I watched as Kakashi leapt to his feet, no doubt glaring at Azami as he growled her, "Were you ever going to tell me that Natsuki was here?"

Azami was scowling too now, hands on hips as she snapped back, "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone! Believe me, had I the chance, I would have told both you and Naruto in an instant. Natsuki-chan is important to me too, don't forget that."

Kakashi sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm sorry, I just, I've been worried. At first I thought it was just a long mission, and then when she was still gone after three weeks, I thought something bad had happened to her..."

"Well, it's not something that happened on a mission that did this."

"What exactly happened to her?"

"Hokage Tsunade-sama had a Hyuuga come to have a look at her. Apparently almost all of Natsuki-chan's chakra is circulating around her head, like a protective barrier. They tried unblocking the chakra using the chakra points, and it helped a little, but Natsuki-chan still isn't responding to us." Kakashi nodded, taking my hand in his again. Azami bit her lip hesitantly, "Kakashi-san, I hate to do this, but I don't think you should be here. If someone else comes to check on her..."

"Alright, I'll go."

"What?" I cried, slamming my fists on the window, "No! Don't go Kakashi!"

"Natsuki-chan! Stop!" Minato said, trying to grab my fists, "You'll hurt yourself!"

Kakashi lifted my hand and kissed it through his mask, before placing it back on the bed and turning to Azami. "She really isn't aware of us?"

"Not according to the doctors."

"I AM aware damnit, I'm right here!" I shouted, throwing myself at the window now.

A crack appeared on the window, making Minato try harder to stop me. "Natsuki-chan, please don't do this to yourself."

"I'm right here! KAKASHI!" I shouted, fighting Minato's hold on me, "KAKASHI!"

"..shi..."

Kakashi and Azami's heads snapped towards me, wide-eyed with surprise splashed across their faces. "Did you hear that?"

"I thought I heard Natsuki-chan say something."

Now Minato and I were staring wide-eyed at the window. Our eyes locked for a second before we simultaneously threw ourselves at the window, trying to make the crack larger. Minato chuckled as he threw himself again, "Of all the ways out of here, I never even considered this way. I thought it was nothing more than a TV screen to the outside world." I grinned back, renewed hope and vigour driving me to slam harder into the solid surface, ignoring the pain jarring through me as a result. "Keep shouting Natsuki-chan, let them hear you." I nodded, taking a deep breath and loudly shouting out both Kakashi and Azami's names.

"...kashi...mi... ka...zami..."

Kakashi leapt in front of me, grabbing my shoulders while I saw Azami race out of the room shouting for the doctors or the Hokage. Kakashi was looking at me with a determined look in his eye, "Come on Natsuki, come back to me. I know you can do it."

Minato and I had managed to make a large hole in the window, through it a place as dark and bleak as the rest of my mind. But slowly a light in the distance broke through, gentle at first, until it intensified, filling the darkness around us, and I saw colours jump up at long last. I knew any second now that I would hopefully be out of here, and so I turned to Minato for our goodbye, who was wearing a gentle smile on his face. "I'm sorry I kept you here for so long."

I rolled my eyes at him, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly, "It wasn't like you intended for it to happen. It was nice meeting you anyway, I had always wanted to." Minato hugged me back just as tightly. "Any last words of wisdom for me?"

"Keep safe. Keep Naruto safe. Eat your vegetables."

"Anything I don't already know?"

"You were brought here against your will Natsuki-chan, I hope you don't leave the same way again."

My head snapped up to look at him, "... You know something."

"Yes... but I can't tell you, at least not yet."

"And how will you tell me when it is the right time?"

"Don't worry Natalie," I froze at the name, so familiar and yet so foreign to me now, "I'll keep an eye on you."

"I'll miss you." Minato didn't say anything else, just leant down to drop a kiss on my forehead, before pushing me lightly to the hopeful exit from my own mind. I grinned at him, waving one last time before stepping through the hole in the window and into the light. So bright, I was almost as blind as I had been in the dark, and let Kakashi's frantic voice guide me, until at last I felt like a part of me that had been missing had returned.

"-suki? Natsuki!"

I could feel my eyes open, but I wasn't seeing anything. It still felt like I was blinded by the light. I blinked.

"Yes! You blinked! Come on Natsuki, look at me."

I blinked again, trying to focus my sight on anything. All I could really see was a dark blurred blob. I kept blinking, and I tried to reach up to wipe at my eyes, but my hand felt too heavy. So I was left simply to blink to wet my dry eyes and clear my fuzzy vision. Outlines soon appeared, and definition, and soon I saw an all too familiar half-masked face. I focused on the face, and smiled weakly at it, "Kakashi."

"You're back!" Kakashi cried, just as Azami and Tsunade came into the room, along with several other medics. Kakashi cupped my face though, so I was looking only at him, "Are you okay?"

"Tired... weak..."

"That's perfectly normal Natsuki-chan," Azami said, coming to stand beside Kakashi, "You've been bedridden for over a month. It'll take a couple of days for your muscles to feel strong again."

I nodded to her, before Tsunade quickly introduced herself to me and proceeded to give me a check up. Once she declared me as well as I could be – given my circumstances – she left the room again, leaving me with Kakashi and Azami. Even then, Azami noticed the not-so-subtle looks to leave that Kakashi was sending her, and left after giving me a tight hug. Then it was only Kakashi and me. He was lightly brushing my face with one hand, the other hand holding tightly to my own. Now at least I was able to squeeze his hand a little back.

When he was sure no one was going to interrupt us, Kakashi pulled down his mask and kissed me, quickly but deeply on the lips, before pulling back and sitting down again. "I've missed you Natsuki."

"Missed you too," I said, yawning as I looked at him.

He grinned at me, before pulling his mask up again, "Go to sleep Natsuki, I'll be right here when you wake up."

I grinned sleepily at him, eager for the first proper night's sleep in over a month. Still, I gripped his hand as tightly as I could, even though Kakashi had practically promised that he wouldn't leave, it was a just-in-case measure. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Natsuki-chan."

I closed my eyes and was quickly drifting into the land of sleep, all my worries and anger dropping from me on the journey, a simple sense of calm filling me. I was home again, I was safe, and so was everyone else. Things could be much worse.