Hi All, once more sorry for the delay! I will finish this story! Hopefully I will have more time and inspiration to write. I just had a little tiny writers block but hopefully it's over now!
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, liked, followed this story and me :) and I hope you will enjoy this chapter!
When the morning came around Sakura cracked open her eyes and squinted at the light coming into the room. Closing them again she listened to her surroundings. She had a feeling something woke her up, but she couldn't hear anything except rustling of leaves and chirping of birds outside the room. That alone wouldn't have stirred her from her sleep in a safe surrounding. Moving her hand to a space beside her she could feel the warmth of another person, but no body to which the warmth could belong to.
Him leaving the room must have been what brought her back from the nice, warm and comfortable dreamland. I should really find out where they bought the mattress, one hour sleep on them felt like hours of rest. That could really come in handy with the night shifts.
From outside the room one could hear a sigh of pleasure when Sakura leisurely stretched her body in the bed, ridding herself of the last signs of sleep from her mind and body. A thought of following Kakashi and helping him with this mission crossed her mind, but the bed was most inviting. Of course she was intrigued, as any ninja would be, and she wanted to see this case solved, but as this was supposed to be her time off, she took out her notebook instead.
Thanks to her little frustration issue solved she could finally concentrate more on her work, or better said hobby. Thanks to the influence of Shizune and her shishou she was currently doing a little research for the Toxicology department on different kinds of cures and drugs that can be used on field effectively. She was currently working not only on the wide-spectrum antidote she field tested on Kakashi but also on a special soldier pill for medics. One kind of side effects of common soldier pill is involuntary muscle spasms, which for a medic is unacceptable risk when another's life is in his hands. Also the soldier pills are said to work for three days and nights, which is an exaggeration. It's full effect comes almost instantaneously and last for about 8 hours. After that the effects dwindle 10% every 2 hours which gives you around 28 hours at best, depending of your usage of your chakra and stamina. The criteria for a good medic ninja are not only above average chakra control but also big reserves. Medic ninja needs to be able to hold his ground in the fight so his team members are not busy protecting him and he still needs enough chakra left after the fight to take care of any injured comrades. Sakura was therefore looking for a stronger and more stable pill that would deliver steady supply of chakra and stamina, rather than boosting it for only 8 hours and then dwindling off. And of course she needed to eliminate the muscle spasm side effect. That is the main reason why ninja medics take soldier pills only in very dire situations.
Scribbling away for almost half a day in the bed she realized she hadn't eaten anything so she made her way to the table and helped herself to the fruit bowl and sat down on the sunny porch overlooking the garden outside.
Sakura had already a plant in mind that would help with the steady delivery of the charka and a herb that would diminish the side effect of muscle spasms, the only problem was that ironically these two plants combined together were poisonous. She was thinking of combining the antidote with the soldier pill but that would be too complicated and the side effects were too severe at the moment to work efficiently. She was stuck on this problem for over a month, trying to somehow bypass the toxicity of those two plants but after weighing the options for the last time she came to one conclusion. She put big brackets over the notes of the two plants and decided to look for a different plant that would do the trick. This was not the first time she thought of using other plants, but she was just too stubborn to let her mind fully drift that way. Eating the last apple she stood up and resolved to look for the nearest botanical book.
Dressed in her lighter ninja gear foregoing her high boots and bindings, with just her hip pouch stuffed with her notebook and light sandals on her feet she stepped out of the room and set on her way. Her head was already miles away when she accidentally bumped into a startled Kotone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Sakura hurriedly picked the maid up from the ground and started picking the load of towels she was carrying.
"I should be the one apologizing Sakura-san." Kotone managed to bow and apologize while also picking up the towels.
Once the picking and apologizing was finished Kotone bowed once more and apologized.
"Is there anything I can help you with Sakura-san?" Kotone asked politely.
"Actually, you might be able to point me into the right direction at least. I'm looking for a library?"
"Are you looking for something particular?"
"Preferably botanical encyclopedia or maybe some medical journals related to botany?" Sakura asked with a very little hope that Kotone would help her with this kind of specific inquiry.
"There should be an older botanical almanac in the ryokan library but if I may, there is something better than the old almanac if you are searching for something related to botany." Kotone gave her an impish smile and told Sakura to wait on the bench right by the gardens.
Sakura didn't mind the wait, the sun and the light breeze were a welcome company and the view of the gardens breath taking. She could not take her eyes of off the colors and shapes surrounding her and her mood turned quickly tranquil, almost lulling her into a multicolored daydream about nothing. Therefore it was no surprise that she was startled when Kotone called her name right next to her.
"I'm sorry we surprised you Sakura-san." Kotone apologized with a little bow. "Let me introduce you to your guide for the day. This is Midori." She pushed the blushing little girl in front of Sakura and nudged her to bow.
"Hello Sakura-san. Onee-san told me you were asking about plants?"
Slightly confused and speechless Sakura nodded at the little girl's question.
"Is there something you are looking for?" asked the little green eyed girl.
"Um.. ehh…" still a speechless Sakura stammered and failed to put together a coherent sentence before Kotone explained the situation.
"Midori-chan here is our little genius. Can you tell Sakura-san what is the name of that plant?" Kotone asked the little girl and pointed to a little maple tree.
"That is the Amur Maple, Acer ginnala, the most cold-tolerant maple."
"Does it have any uses, medical or such?" inquired Sakura.
"Mostly used as a decorative tree in gardens, can be also grown as a bonsai. No other uses known." repeated Midori as if reading from an encyclopedia.
"Plants seem to be the only thing she is interested in. She remembers them better than anything. She is our little walking encyclopedia."
"That is just amazing Midori-chan." Sakura smiled at the little blushing girl.
"I need to excuse myself as I have still some work to do. Please let me know if you need anything else Sakura-san." Kotone bowed and waited for Sakura to answer.
"Thank you Kotone-san for your help. I think I am in good hands here with Midori-chan." Kotone once more bowed and left them alone in the gardens.
"Your father must be very proud of you. Him being a gardener you must be a big help."
Midori's face light up like a Christmas tree when she said that and enthusiastically nodded her head so her dark green hair just flew around her face.
"I help my okasan with her vegetable and herb garden also." Midori exclaimed happily.
"If you could remember other things half as good as this …." Kotone turned her eyes and nudged the little girl. Midori just blushed adorably.
"If you will excuse me I have some work to finish." Kotone left them with a little bow.
Sakura looked at the little girl, still only half believing she could help her.
"So how does this work? Can you tell me about plants with certain properties?" Sakura questioned Midori.
Midori wrinkled her little brow and answered. "Hm, it works better if you point to a plant and I can tell you all about it."
Sakura took a look around and tried to imagine how long it would take to name all the plants around them.
"I noticed a herb garden near that shack. Why don't we start there?" Suggested Sakura and took the little smiling girl by the hand.
After hours spent walking from one plant to another neither Sakura nor Midori felt tired or hungry. They were so engrossed in their little worlds that the rest of the world vanished. Sakura had now more knowledge about the medicinal effects of plants that would last for decades of testing and infusing with other plants to get different effects. The little girl was amazing. The knowledge she had about the local flora was astounding. She hesitated only few times not sure of all the possibilities of the plant but once she took a closer look, a little touch and sniff she nodded her head with a certainty and made a whole report about it. Sakura had trouble keeping up with her and decided to take notes so she wouldn't forget anything.
Their plant hunt led them to the forest just outside of the ryokan. Sakura was scribbling away in her notebook and sketching one particularly interesting plant that was indigenous to this part of Fire Country when she looked around and noticed Midori wasn't near her.
"Midori-chan?" Sakura called the girl and stood up. Looking around her, she wasn't in sight.
Heightening her senses she searched for her as there was no answer even though she called her name few times, each time louder. Sensing her not far away she ran to her location. Stopping in a small clearing she found her sitting on a small log with her head downcast.
"Midori-chan?" Sakura called to her but received no response from her. Looking around to make sure no one else was there that could have hurt her. "Midori-chan? Are you alright?" Sakura went closer to her but the girl wasn't reacting to her voice. She crouched down by her and touched her knee trying to see her face.
"Midori-chan? Is something wrong?" She tried again to get some response from her when Midori suddenly flung herself at Sakura circling her arms around Sakura and burying her face in Sakura's neck. It took Sakura by surprise and she almost fell over with the little girl in her arms.
"What's wrong Midori-chan?" Sakura tried again to get something from her. All she got was a little more squeezing of her neck. "Alright let me take you home." Confused, she stood up and headed back to the Ryokan. When she entered the grounds she saw Shokubutsu-san and called out to him.
"Shokubutsu –san. Midori-chan was helping me and she was suddenly gone and when I found her she was like this. She is not talking back." Sakura tried to explain what happened.
Looking worried he went around Sakura so he could look his daughter in the face. "Midori-chan? " Sakura felt her move her head, probably looking at her father. They were quiet for some time and Sakura was about to ask what is going on when she felt a yank at her hair as Midori untangled herself from her and stretched her arms to her father. It felt like she took a bunch of her hair with her but she didn't want Midori to feel worse so she put a smile on her face when she looked at them.
"Is she alright?" She asked the gardener.
"She gets scared sometimes. It happened few times. I'm sorry she caused you this trouble Sakura-san."
"Oh no, Shokubutsu-san. Not at all. I should be the one apologizing. I was so engrossed in my research.. I should have paid more attention to her. I'm sorry that she got scared. She was an incredible help." Sakura wasn't even sure what the girl was scared off but she felt like it was her fault. She should have looked out for her and not her notes.
"Thank you Sakura-san, but it's really alright. She is just that way sometimes. I'll take her to her mother, she will calm her down. Have a nice day Sakura-san." The gardener turned around and headed for the herb garden where they started looking for Nana-san, Midori's mother. As he turned around she glimpsed Midori-chan's face for a split second. She didn't look scared at all. She looked vacant. Her light green eyes without any emotion at all, there was no trace of the smiling vibrant girl that was with her these past few hours.
This has left her speechless, she wanted to go after them to make sure she was alright but stopped herself. Her father has seen her, he said this has happened before, and maybe there is something else behind this that Shokubutsu-san didn't tell her. She felt as if this wasn't something she should intrude in unless they ask her to. It's probably nothing serious; he didn't look alarmed at all. She made a note to herself to check on Midori-chan later today, or tomorrow morning to make sure she is feeling better.
Sakura went back to her room and took some fruits from the table before she sat down on the porch overlooking the little private garden and took out her notebook. Nibbling at the fruits she looked over her notes and her mind went into override thinking of million different ways how and where to use these plants.
After quite some time she realized that her hand started to get cramps from writing and her legs and butt fell asleep from sitting in the same position for such a long time. She looked up from her notes and saw that the sun has almost set for the day. Even thought the lack of light was visible it felt to her like someone was piercing her eyes and head. That's when she realized her that her head was twice it's normal weight and her whole body felt heavy and that it wasn't just from sitting too long in one spot. She stood up and winced at the pain in her muscles. She dragged herself into the bathroom and splashed some water at her face and drank some of it.
When she looked at the mirror she noticed how pale she has gotten. "Great. Flu? Really?" She asked her looking-like-crap-reflection. Taking a glass of water she went to the bedroom and fell asleep almost immediately as her pounding head hit the pillow. Even though she was a medic, flu and cold was something that could not be cured just by little burst of chakra into the right place. She tried this once in the past, it just gets worse as one depletes the chakra reserves. It just needs plenty of sleep and steady intake of fluids.
She just felt all beaten up but there was no high temperature so that was good. She just needed to sleep it off and she would be alright in the morning. She vaguely remembered that Kakashi coming into the room and trying to waking her up. She sent him away after he felt her brow and made sure her temperature was not rising and promised to check on her after the dinner. Even though she was feeling as she was she managed to shoot a pillow at his person to shut him up. He was just being too loud for her senses right now.
Taking the slight innuendo Kakashi understood and left the room quietly, leaving her alone and making a note to himself to never approach sick Sakura carelessly, as the 'pillow' she threw at him was actually the vase that was sitting at her bed table.
Thanks again to all who read and enjoyed this story! I promise there will be a lot of action in the next chapter! Some secrets and big revelations! Can't wait for you to read it!
Don't forget to R&R :)