The Boy in the Park
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The hospital was neat and smelled of disinfectant as he walked through the white corridors. He had the unsettling feeling of being under watch, and it didn't seem as if it was fading. Slowly, he reached the intended door.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD HAG, YOU BRAT!?" that was Anko's voice all right.
"I DID, YOU SAGGY BREASTED HAG!" Naruko's voice screamed right back.
"Please…calm down," the he heard from within, coming from the nurse probably.
"Anko, stop harassing the Genin," another female voice said.
"But Kurenai!" Anko whined. "She started it!"
"You're a Jounin, act like one."
"I'm a Tokubetsu Jounin! I'm special, my rank says so!" Anko cheerfully exclaimed. "My specialty is harassing Genin after all!"
"YOUR SPECIALTY IS HAVING SAGGY TITS, OLD HAG!" Naruko screamed once more.
"NARUKO!" this time it was Sakura screaming. "Stop calling the perverted thirty years old cradle robber an old hag: it's unbecoming of a young and fresh woman in the prime of her youth and beauty!"
"I feel more pissed off at plank-board over there now," Anko's voice became a low growl. "And did nobody teach you of the 'half plus seven rule'? I'm twenty-four, he's twenty. It's not cradle robbing!"
"Anko, please stop," Kurenai sighed.
He stood frozen behind the door. He didn't want to enter all of a sudden.
"Wait, I'm…thirteen," there went Naruko's voice. "So…when I'm…" he could actually imagine the girl counting with her fingers. "When I'm twenty, Aniki will be twenty-seven. So…thirteen plus seven makes twenty!"
"Twenty-one and half to nit-pick, Naruko," Sakura corrected her. Why did he have the feeling Sakura had made that calculation with years of advance?
"Oh? And why would he go with a flat-chested girl like you?"
"BECAUSE MY TITS DON'T SAG, OLD HAG!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE THEM TO BEGIN WITH!"
He was actually half-embarrassed and half-torn between the desire to run and hide or just go in and feign ignorance of the entire ordeal. He had thought catfights happened only in the Icha-Icha series, not in reality.
He exhaled and then slid the door, entering just before they could start another round of insults. He saw a raven-haired woman with red eyes sitting on a chair near Anko, while the woman in question was growling and throwing daggers with her eyes to Naruko, who was extremely close to her and actually 'batting' foreheads.
Sakura was also throwing glares towards Anko, while Sasuke stood in a corner with a look that was a mixture between shock and amusement.
There actually was the start of a grin on the boy's face.
There was silence the moment he entered. Anko assumed a sedated position in the next instant, placing herself beneath the sheets of the hospital bed and actually starting to moan and sweat slightly, as if she was grievously injured.
"Ah…I'm so, so sick…"
"W-WHAT!?" Naruko spluttered out looking from her to him, before widening her eyes at the implication. She exaggeratedly brought her hand to her forehead and rolled her eyes backwards, before muttering. "I feel so weak, Anikiiii…"
"Onii-sama," Sakura said between sudden wracks of cough, "I'm horribly…" she seemed lost on what 'horrible' thing had befallen her, and so her voice trailed off as she continued to cough.
He sighed and then began to walk closer.
The next instant, that is the next second, all three 'fakers' realized he actually had a broken arm in a cast.
The change was instantaneous.
"ANIKI! WHO DID THIS!?" Naruko was the first to yell and jump ahead, stopping short of barrelling against his broken arm.
"Onii-sama! What happened!?" Sakura was next, worry etched on her face. He nervously chuckled as he took a step back.
Anko simply stopped faking being harmed, and merely asked with a bright smile. "Was it Ibiki?"
"No," he said quickly.
"Aw," Anko pouted. "Someone I know?"
Ibiki suddenly exhaled in relief, as if he had just avoided some horrible fate.
"No one," he sighed back. "Really, I just slipped and fell," he added carefully. "Should have fallen head first," he chuckled.
Sakura seemed satisfied by the answer, assuming a thoughtful gaze before muttering to herself something that went like 'Nurse outfit', 'bed', 'medications', 'bedpan' and that had the pink haired girl turn red.
Naruko just seemed torn for a moment, scanning his cast. He sighed and used his free hand to ruffle the girl's head. "So," Naruko began to purr as he kept on gently patting her, "I'd like to thank you, Anko," he added then with a small smile.
Anko blinked once. "What."
She actually squawked that out.
"The Hokage told me you intervened against Orochimaru," he softly added. "If it weren't for you, I don't know what would have happened to Naruko or Sakura so…thank you."
He made a small bow in her direction.
Anko's face was describable in simply one word.
Priceless.
The purple haired Kunoichi actually blushed scarlet to the tip of her hair as she coughed awkwardly and averted her gaze.
"Ah…Ah that's…Really…I…" she stammered out, before starting to fidget with her fingers. "I mean…It was…"
"Hey!" Naruko pouted. "I fought Orochimaru too! He had this really giant snake, you know? And he ate me with it! However I was all 'hell no!' and so I used Kage Bunshin to get out of there! The snake exploded and it was glorious and—"
"I did my part too!" Sakura said then, pushing with her shoulder Naruko aside. He actually raised an eyebrow: Sakura's hair was short now, as if she had roughly cut it. "When both Naruko and Sasuke fainted, I had to protect them Onii-sama! So I created a lot of traps and used them to stave off the enemies! There was this Oto team who wanted to fight Sasuke, but he was knocked out and so…"
"She was about to die when I intervened," Sasuke butted in then, his teeth gritted. He stepped out from his corner, and locked eyes with him.
"Then I owe you my thanks too," he remarked. "Thanks for looking over these two brats for me," he smiled, and was rewarded with a gruff grunt of acknowledgement.
"That's Duckbutt-speech for 'I'm glad you're the most awesome Aniki ever'." Naruko quipped in, earning herself a heated glare from Sasuke.
He chuckled at that, but as he did, his gaze lingered towards the woman who had remained quiet until that moment.
Kurenai Yuhi's face was like that of someone who had swallowed a bitter pill, as her own red eyes locked with his. There was an awkward moment of silence, before the Jounin in question coughed and stood up.
"Well, Anko…I have to go," she left quickly after that, not bothering to spare another glance back. She left just as another woman entered the room, one that made his hair rise even more.
The two women in question looked at one another for a second, one nervously making a bow gesture —Kurenai— to the other who merely snorted —Mebuki— and then they left it at that.
He just looked at them for a moment more, before slowly turning to leave too.
"Aniki! Wait, I'm coming with you!" Naruko exclaimed behind him as he was already walking away. "Aniki! Wait!"
She followed him as he firmly left the hospital, walking silently towards his apartment.
"Aniki?" Naruko asked, this time actually worried. "Ehi…Aniki?"
Naruko looked at the face her brother in all but blood sported, and words died in her mouth.
Her Aniki was crying silently.
Whoever had done that, her mind decided…
Was going to pay.