Turning point: Chapter 4

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Temari didn't return to the hospital the rest of the day, Tayuya wondered if she might have changed her mind and decided to leave her to the interrogation corps. She spent her afternoon flicking through a book from a small pile one of the nurses had brought in for her. She didn't know much of what was going on but it had something to do with a young ninja and his first mission, finding the love of a beautiful girl along the way.

After casually flipping through it's pages a few times, she eventually stopped on a scene where the ninja stood above his defeated opponent and gave a speech about how he admired the other's spirit. As far as Tayuya was concerned, it just looked cheesy. After an hour or two of idly reading, she set the book down on her bedside table which had been moved back next to her bed and decided to try and sleep for a while. She closed her eyes and let her body relax.

Her nap time was cut short however, by the sound of her door opening and the well endowed doctor from yesterday stepping in. Tayuya looked over as she approached the bed and checked over her body, the doctor then carefully pulled the bed covers away and placed her palms on the redhead's midsection. Being the first treatment she was awake for, Tayuya watched curiously as the doctor's hands glowed green with chakra. She could feel the effects as it happened. The painful spots in her abdomen faded away, her bruised limbs felt like new and it no longer hurt to move her legs. Once the treatment was over, the doctor pulled the covers back up and looked over her patient. Tayuya looked right back at her as the woman spoke.

"That was your last major treatment, can you sit up for me?"

She moved back a little as if not to get in the way as Tayuya slowly pulled her arms back to push her upper body off the mattress. After laying down for several days it was a slight struggle to lift herself, but she managed to bring herself to a sitting position with no pain and looked up at the doctor with a faint smile.

"Ahh yeah, this is much better. Thanks doc, I feel great."

The doctor gave her a smile back and nodded in response.

"That's good to hear, your recovery looks to be successful. You should be alright to leave tomorrow."

With that the doctor left and shut the door.

Tayuya stretched her arms above her head and sighed with relief as she let them drop again, now that she was sitting up she could see the street outside her window. It wasn't very busy but there were several people walking back and forth on their way to wherever they were going. She watched the people passing by for a few minutes before looking up to see one of the most beautiful sunsets she had ever seen. The sun was disappearing behind the mountain with what she assumed were the previous Hokage's faces carved into it. The orange sky made the buildings below give off a warm glow and as the sky grew darker the many lights of the leaf village started flicking on one by one. Tayuya couldn't help the smirk that curled her lips upward and her eyes darted all over the scene in front of her, for the first time since before she could remember she actually felt somewhat content.

"Who knows, maybe I can put up with this place after all".

The next morning Tayuya woke to the sounds of a pair of birds outside her window, she sat up in bed and yawned loudly as she got to stretch properly for the first time in days. She looked out her window to see the leaf village waking up at the same time, there were a bunch of kids running up the street and the stores in the area were opening up. A few of them had people sweeping the entrance before customers would start to arrive. Tayuya yawned again and scratched her head as she looked back at her room, everything was the same as last night with one exception. Perched upon her bedside table was a thin glass vase with a single red rose in it. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Tayuya leaned over and found a note under the vase. She tilted the flower slightly to slide the note out and unfolded it, the note had no name or message; just an address. She flipped it over to make sure she wasn't missing anything but there was nothing to miss, she simply shrugged and put the note back on her table before sliding out of bed and stretching again.

It felt good to be up and about again after so much time on her back and after making a quick visit to the bathroom across the hall, Tayuya decided to take a walk. With no one outside her door she set off to look around. Thirty minutes later she returned to her room with a good idea of the building, she did a few stretches in the middle of her floor before slipping into the bathroom again to take a shower. Once she was finished she returned to her room again holding a towel around herself and found her clothes in the drawer of her bedside table. She laid her clothes out on the bed and shut her curtains.

Tayuya looked at her outfit. They were the clothes that Orochimaru had given her when she was brought to the sound village, they bore the purple rope around the waist that all his underlings wore with the exception of his number one. Tayuya stared down at the outfit for a few moments before she dropped her towel and dressed herself, she pulled her old clothes on and brushed her hair from her eyes before taking the note on the table and leaving her room. Behind her she left two objects, a red rose and a large purple rope.