Atsuko's POV
UGH! I'm hurting so much! Damn, Dai. Sakura said she can heal it with her medical ninjutsu, but I said I'll wait until it stops hurting a little.
I was laying on my back on the ground in the middle of the field. Everyone left for a lunch break and won't be back for another hour. Nii-san went back to the house and went to go eat with Kaa-san. Sakura, I believe went to go join them, too. Well, after she declined three times, when Akira-onii asked her a couple of times. I didn't want to go, yet. Maybe I won't. I'll probably go eat lunch with Tou-san in his office.
I sighed and closed my eyes, hopping to shut out the pain. I wasn't feeling consicous, though I wasn't feeling unconsious, either.
I reopened my eyes to see the sun's rays peeking out from the dark clouds.
I closed my eyes again, only seeing black. The wind blew making my injuries worse. I shivered and rolled on my left side. I put my left arm under my head to support it.
I stayed like that what felt like forever.
Then, I felt something on my face and I shivered a little. I opened my eyes and turned my head backwards slightly. Sakura was healing my face.
"Sakura-chan...," I started.
"The swelling will go down soon. And you'll be able to see out of your eye in a week," she told me.
"Thank you."
I turned back around. When she finished healing my bruised face, I got up slowly.
"Are you coming to eat lunch with us, Atsuko?"
"No. I think I'll head over to The Hokage Tower and stayed there for a while. I may come to see Kaa-san and tell her how my match was."
"Okay, I'll tell them where you are."
"Thank you."
I hopped into a tree and started running towards the village. I grabbed a branch and swung on to the next tree. When I was running, I skinned my left side against a tree.
"Tch!"
I thought I saw that tree before I came near it. I got to be more careful, since I can't see out of my left eye.
When I got to Tou-san's office, I knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Jeez, why is he yelling so? He must be in a good mood. I walked in and closed the door. I searched my left side to make sure nobody else was in here. I turned around and checked with my working eye.
Tou-san looked at me.
Naruto's POV
Boy, am I in a good mood! Seeing Gaara again was great. I'm still curious about how he was brought back to life, though. Maybe the Rassurection Jutsu.? But Lady Chiyo was the only one who knew that jutsu. Unless...
'Knock Knock'
"Come in!"
Maybe that was too loud.
Atsuko came in smiling. I tilted my head to the side. She brought her eyebrows together. She looks different.
"What's wrong, Tou-san?"
"You look...different."
"How?"
I shrugged.
"I...don't know...exactly."
I continued to stare at her. Then, I figured it out! Bingo.
"What happened to your eye? Your left eye is a lighter color than your right."
She thought for a moment before realizing something.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm blind in that eye."
My eyes widen. Were they trying to kill each other in that tournament?! I should have a speak with Lee about the tournament.
"How did you get blind in that eye?"
I stood up from my chair and walked over to stand in front of her. She looked down from my gaze.
"Well?"
"Okay, I'll tell you what happened."
"The truth."
"Fine. I got punched in the eye."
"...Th..."
"Repeatly."
I looked at her. I put my hands to her cheeks. She looked up at me and smiled. A smile crept on my face. A very small smile.
"Is it temporary?"
"Mhm. Just for a week, according to Sakura-chan."
I sighed in relief.
I dropped my hands and walked back to my desk. I sat down and she looked at me curiously. It was my turn to be confused.
"What?"
"Is Gaara-sama actually alive?"
I looked at her curious.
"Yes."
"That's good."
I raised my eyebrow in confusion.
She giggled.
"You're probably thinking 'why do I care so much', right?"
I nodded.
"Because I don't like the Akatsuki killing all the Jinjuriki," she told me.
She lowered her head.
My mouth opened a little. I felt the tingly feeling in my chest.
"Come on, Atsuko, calm down."
If anything, the pain in my chest increased.
I walked over to her and kneeled down to her level. I put my hands on her cheeks again.
"Its okay. They're not going to get to you. I promise."
"I'm not worried about that. If they attempt to kill you, I'm going after them!"
She was serious. She didn't care about herself.
"Or anyone else! If anymore Jinjuriki die, I WILL kill them!"
She cared about others and there well-being.
But...
"If another one of us died tomorrow, you would go after the Akatsuki?"
"Yes!"
She was walking into death him self. Something I would always tell her, when she thinks about doing something reckless. Something I would do.
I sighed and got up.
The pain in my chest went away slowly. At least she was calming down. Don't have to worry about Kyuubi.
"So, did you win."
"Of course!"
"Say that, when you beat him untouched."
"Grrrr..."
"I'm teasing. I'm guessing you had to use Kyuubi's power?"
"Yeah. Didn't you feel it?"
"Yeah, I had to keep it down."
"Oh."
"Well, why did you come?"
"Hmm?"
"There must be a reason why you came to my office. Why didn't you go home?"
She shrugged.
"I kind of didn't want to explain to Kaa-san when I knock over something."
I nodded.
"Did you have something to tell me?"
She shook her head no.
"Did you want to go to lunch?"
She smiled and nodded.
"Okay, we can go."
"Yay!"
I chuckled. We can go to Ichiraku's. He forgave her 3 years ago about that inccident. Now, it seems like it didn't even happen.
"Ichiraku?," I asked.
She nodded.
When we got there, we were greeted by the old man.
"Oi, Hokage-sama," he greeted. "Oh and Atsuko!"
"Hey, Old Man," she smiled.
"Hey," I greeted back.
"Its so good for you two to stop by," he said smiling.
"Yeah. Atsuko and I wanted to come eat here," I said.
"That's great! Oh, Atsuko how is the tournament going?," he asked Atsuko.
I turned to look at her. She didn't know I was looking at her because I was on her left side.
"Its going good. I'm actually going to the third round," she said hitting the center of her chest.
"That's good. Have you been showing them who's in control?," he asked laughing.
"Hahahaha, short of," she laughed.
"How did the first two rounds go?," he asked her.
"Well, the first battle was easy. All I had to do was use strategy and hit my opponent with the Rasengan. The second battle, was only taijutsu, and I'm not so good at that. A boy, who used to be my friend, was a great taijutsu user. He beat me up pretty bad, making me blind in one eye. But I pulled through at the end," she said smiling a little at the end.
"Why isn't he your friend anymore?," he asked
"Kyuubi," she simply said.
"Oh," he said getting it.
"I fight a girl name Koaru next round. She's really smart and probably will figure out all my strategies. Though, she's not a very good taijutsu user. But that doesn't matter if I can't hit her. I don't know how I'm going to beat her in the next round," Atsuko sighed.
I got up and went to go sit on her right side. She looked up at me.
"Tou-san?"
"Think about this, you can't look left and right at the same time," I told her smiling.
"Huh?," she asked confused.
I smiled.
"Here's your order!," old man put our orders in front of us.
"But we didn't even order," said Atsuko confused.
"Its okay. I knew what you two wanted. Miso Ramen!," he said.
"Ah, my favorite! Thanks, Old Man!," She thanked.
We began eating, so we could get back to the tournament.
After we got done eating, I was about to put the money on the counter, when he held his hand out stopping me.
"Its on the house!"
"Thanks, Old Man."
"Now, go, before Atsuko's late."
"Oh yeah, thanks!"
We ran off to the front of the village. We got there just in time, when they called Atsuko's name.
"Okay, Suko. Just remember what I told you."
"Okay. Are you going to have time to watch?"
"Yeah, I'll just send a Kage Bunshin to do the work."
She giggle before she walked to the middle of the field.
Good luck, Atsuko.