I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters. I know it didn't rain but I decided to change that.


Recovery

Ryuu groaned, cracking his eyes open and looked around slowly. He was still in the forest and could could see that he had been moved from where the brothers had been. Fu was sitting beside him, sleeping lightly. She had a large gash in her shoulder that was poorly bandaged and bleeding through. Fu was very pale but Ryuu was having trouble being able to move.

He looked down and saw that his own wounds were bandaged but the bandages had long since been soaked through. Ryuu grunted in effort as he pushed himself up to his knees and slid over to Fu. He rested his hand on her shoulder and she stirred, looking around and seeing him up.

"You shouldn't be up," Fu muttered, placing a hand over her wound and gritting her teeth, looking down at the blood on her hand.

"You've lost a lot of blood haven't you?" Ryuu questioned.

"Probably," Fu nodded looking down at her bloodstained top. "I know you're wounded but can you help me bandage mine?"

"Sure," Ryuu nodded. "How were my internal organs not punctured? Just curious."

"They were," Fu winced as Ryuu unwrapped her bandage, which was partially only not working because it was over her top, and then opened the first aid kit. "I healed what damage I could but using my chakra made my wound hurt and bleed more."

"It's alright," Ryuu smiled. "You saved my life again. I can't repay you."

"You don't need to," Fu replied, voice quiet.

"You'll have to take your top off," Ryuu stated after a moment of searching for more gauze.

Fu blushed while he turned away, but she pulled her top off, holding it in front of herself. Ryuu turned back around and gently cleaned her wound then bandaged it. Then he turned away again and she pulled her shirt back on. Once she was done, Ryuu sat against a tree pulling out his blades and beginning to clean them. After a moment, Fu took them from him giving him a sympathetic look and he sighed. He held his arms out to his sides, wincing as she unwrapped his bandages and then sighed. The major damage had been repaired but they were still bleeding heavily. Fu cleaned his wounds as much as she could with fresh blood flowing out of them. Then, she gave Ryuu an even more sympathetic look as she began to push wads of medical cloth into the wounds to keep them from bleeding through the bandages as fast and to ensure the inside could heal before the outside closed, which would result in fatal internal bleeding.

Finally she finished and wrapped his torso back up. He sighed and leaned back against the tree again, struggling to breathe steadily again as thunder rumbled overhead. Fu looked up as cold rain began to fall around them, stinging their skin. Fu carried the first aid kit through the trees to a nearby cave and Ryuu followed with his blades. When they got to the cave, They sat down across from each other and Fu decided to tell Ryuu the bad news.

"There's something you should know," Fu stated.

"What?" Ryuu questioned.

"It looked like your wounds may have been getting infected," Fu stated. "If I'm right, there's not much I can do about it because I only have very limited training in medical ninjutsu."

"I see," Ryuu nodded looking outside. "I'll be alright. Tomorrow I'll go find the scroll I need then head to the tower and finish this."

Fu nodded, unsure, then leaned her head back closing her eyes. Ryuu did the same and soon they both drifted off. A few hours later, Fu opened her eyes to see that it was dark and cold. Both her and Ryuu's bandages were in need of being changed, hers more than his, and Ryuu was pale. She slid over and unwrapped his bandages to see a spiderweb of red lines spreading from one wound to the next and around his back. His infection was spreading faster than Fu had expected, and she thought she knew why. The brother that had stabbed Ryuu was notorious for a variety of poisons. To think he had one that could aid an infection was nothing out of the ordinary.

Fu removed the bandages from his wounds and tried to heal them a bit more but again managed only to heal the wounds a tiny bit before the strain of using chakra made her wound throb painfully as blood began to run out of the bandages. She quickly added some medical patches under her gauze to slow the bleeding then cleaned and bandaged Ryuu's wounds, this time adding some anti-infection medicine to them before re-wrapping his wounds. then she carefully cleaned and redressed her own. She sat beside Ryuu, as he began to shiver and a light sheen of sweat began to develop on his forehead. She used his forehead protector to wipe the sweat away and felt his forehead. He had a fever, obviously, but it was a bit worse than she had expected.

After a couple of hours, it only got worse but he eventually woke up as she was struggling to bandage her wound again after trying to heal the infection unsuccessfully.

"You shouldn't be using your chakra," Ryuu croaked. "He probably got you with a poison."

"Most likely," Fu admitted. "You've got a bad infection. You probably got hit with a poison that aids it and it's only getting worse."

Ryuu managed to push himself up, his wounds screaming in pain and took the gauze from Fu, gently wrapping her wounds for her then laying back down and closing his eyes as she pulled her top back on. His entire upper body was screaming and his wounds felt like they had hot coals in them. Fu sat beside him, gently wiping his brow with his forehead protector and saw him grin.

"What's so funny?" Fu questioned.

"I'll have to wash that now," Ryuu complained weakly. "Thanks a lot."

Fu smiled and shook her head continuing to wipe the sweat off his brow. After a few minutes, she set the forehead protector down and sat beside Ryuu.

"Thank you," Ryuu said after a while. "Thank you for saving my life. You've saved me twice now. I feel like the only thing I can ever seem to do is rely on you for help. You, Neji, Lee, Tenten...everyone I know. I hate feeling like I need to be protected."

"You don't rely on me for protection," Fu assured him. "I saved you because I wanted to."

"You were hurt because I wasn't good enough to protect myself," Ryuu stated.

"It's not your fault," Fu stated. "I was hurt because I took a gamble and I almost lost. That's on me. You have no fault in my injuries."

"I do," Ryuu stated. "I should have tried harder."

"You couldn't have beaten them," Fu stated. "Please believe me. I know them. You couldn't have beaten them. You weren't strong enough. If it had been only one or two, even four, maybe. But they all came after you because they knew you would be beaten. I intervened and was wounded trying to protect one of the most important people in my life. My best and only friend."

Ryuu blinked in surprise then nodded and smiled.

"Help me sit up," Ryuu requested.

Fu nodded and helped him sit up against the wall of the cave then sat back on her knees and smiled. After a moment, his torso stopped burning and Ryuu smiled.

"Thanks," Ryuu smiled.

Fu smiled and nodded then sat beside him. He slipped his hand into hers, lacing their fingers together and Fu smiled gently resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're going to leave again after this aren't you?" Ryuu questioned and Fu's face fell instantly.

"Yes," she muttered.

"Please stay," Ryuu pleaded weakly. "I don't want you to leave again."

"I have to," Fu stated burying her face in his shoulder.

"No, you don't," Ryuu stated. "You can stay here. You can stay with me. I can help you with whatever it is you need to do."

"I'm sorry," Fu whispered sitting up and facing Ryuu. "I have to go."

"Please," Ryuu pleaded one last time. "Please don't leave me."

Fu stared at him for a moment before tears began rolling down her cheeks and her head fell. Ryuu understood. She couldn't stay even if she wanted to. And he couldn't leave with her.

"Okay," Ryuu smiled. "I won't try to stop you."

Fu looked up at him and he smiled.

"I trust you," Ryuu continued. "If you tell me that it's important, I'll believe you."

"It is important," Fu stated.

Ryuu nodded and smiled again. Fu smiled as well, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. Ryuu reached up and gently wiped them away and she caught his hand smiling. Ryuu silently leaned forward a bit and after a moment, Fu did the same resting her forehead against his. Then, their lips met. Ryuu's head went numb as his torso did the same. After a moment, Fu pulled away, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. Ryuu smiled and tried to lift his hand to wipe her tears away, except that he couldn't move his hand. Or any of the rest of his body. He was suddenly against the tree again, then on the ground. Fu appeared in his shrinking field of vision, panicked. Then, it went black.


Ryuu suddenly collapsed back against the tree. Fu blinked in surprise, unsure about whether he was tired or if it was something else until he fell to the side. He was blacking out. Fu scrambled over to him, checking under his bandages. His infection was progressing much more rapidly than before she had bandaged it last. He would be dead within two hours. Possibly less. Fu looked around desperately before remembering the ninjas that had been helping Ryuu. Surely they couldn't have gone too far. It had been a few days, however.

Fu quickly gathered their things then picked up Ryuu and darted out into the trees. It had stopped raining at some point but everything was still cold and wet. Every branch that slapped against Fu stung like an angry wasp. She made it back to the corpses she and the others had left and looked around.

"What was it?" Fu muttered to herself. "LEE!"

No answer.

"LEE!" Fu screamed again running through the trees now as the other names came to mind. "NEJI! TENTEN! SOMEONE!"

Suddenly, someone appeared in front of them. A Hidden Grass ninja wearing a stone mask and a green shirt.

"Oh thank God," Fu sighed. "My friend needs help."

"Bring him here," the ninja stated drawing a kunai. "I have some medicine."

"Down!" a voice shouted and Fu dropped as a hail of kunai and shuriken sailed over her, killing the ninja and the girl that had been helping Ryuu landed on one side with the boys on her other.

"Who are you?" the Hyuga, Neji, demanded.

"My name is Fu," Fu stated. "I helped Ryuu escape when he was captured and after you were all knocked out and Ryuu wounded, I saved him and killed the last two ninja. We were both wounded but he was hit with a poison that made an infection spread through his body rapidly. He'll die inside an hour if he doesn't get help. Please, you have to help him."

"Give him to me," Neji instructed and Fu complied.

Neji unsealed Ryuu's scroll then handed it and his own to Fu.

"Take Ryuu straight that way," Neji ordered pointing before handing Ryuu back. The scrolls will allow him to continue in the exams after he recovers. You will need to tell them he was poisoned, immediately upon arrival. Do not wait. Understand?"

"Yes," Fu nodded standing with Ryuu. "Thank you."

Neji nodded and motioned for Lee to go with her. The two of them took off running and reached the tower in about forty minutes. Just as they did, Lee burst through the door shouting for a medic. several ran over and took Ryuu as another healed Fu. Lee walked back outside with Fu and sighed.

"Ryuu should be okay," Lee stated. "The medics know what they're doing. They'll save him."

He turned around and blinked. Fu was gone.


Read and review.