Chapter 33

"What did'ja wanna see me for, Tsunade?" I inquire, swinging my hips side to side slowly while standing on the spot in front of her desk. She didn't bother looking up from the text book un front of her.
"It's about Lee's operation, Setsuki. I figure, as his girlfriend, you might want to know about this." She says. My cheeks heat up slightly.
"O-oh, n-no Tsunade, I'm not.. his.. girl..friend.." I imply, moving my hands behind my back, fiddling my fingers.
Tsunade lifts her eyes and stares at me without blinking for about 5 seconds before looking back at her text book. She then blinks. "Well this certainly changes things. Erm.." She sits up straight and rubs the back of her neck.
"... But carry on~" I chime, giving a small smile. Tsunade gives a look to Shizune standing beside her desk. Shizune nods, then Tsunade looks back at me, seriousness in her eyes. 'This better not be an hour long lecture..'
"Well.. I just want you to know, that even if I do succeed.. there is still a chance Lee might not make it.. he still has a chance of dying." Tsunade says. I tense up. Tsunade lowers her eyes and leans over her desk again, looking at her text book. "It is a 58% chance this operation will succeed. If it were to fail. He will die."
'58 PERCENT? THAT'S BARELY OVER 50-50!'
"The rest of Team Gai have been informed of this information. You seemed to be a close friend of his too, so that is why I have told you this." Tsunade says.
"I understand..." I reply, hiding my great shock.
"I know it's hard. It's hard for me as well. His operation will commence in 40 minutes. That is all." She says. I give a nod and turn around and begin walking toward the door.

Knowing this earlier would have been nice.. but I guess, it's none of my business, right?
"Hey! Hey Setsuki-chan!"
"Not now Daisuke." I groan, continuing to walk.
"It's gotten pretty windy hasn't it..?" He says.
"... Huh?" I look up and notice it is rather windy. I just shrug.
"What's wrong? You don't seem your peppy self." Daisuke says, poking my cheek. I pout and hit his arm softly.
"Don't." I grumble. He blinks, then gets a small smirk.
"Naww. Are you cranky?" He teases, poking my cheek again. I frown at him.
"Yeah.. because I'm totally gonna rip your head off and all that." I say. Daisuke gasps.
"YOU USED SARCASM!" He exclaims.
"No.. I was serious." I say. Daisuke sweatdrops. Just then I heard a crashing sound, like metal crashing against concrete. Daisuke looks around frantically. "Did you hear that?" I question.
"Yes! Where did it come from?" Daisuke inquires. I look up at the closest building to us – the hospital. I saw a white.. thing held up against the mesh, and being punched repeatedly.
"Daisuke! I think someone's in trouble!" I exclaim, pointing to it. Daisuke looks up.
"Come on!" He says, then starts running toward the building, I follow closely behind.
We run up the stairs, straight to the top floor, where I saw Sakura-chan standing with her toes pointed inwards, and her hands close to her chest. I know that stance as fear.
"Sakura-chan! What's wrong?" I question, looking at her full of concern. Sakura looks at me nibbling on her lower lip.
"It's.. Sasuke-kun and Naruto..." She says, then turns her head back towards that same white sheet I saw just before. Sasuke was punching it violently.
"And Naruto..?" I inquire, then realize that has to be Naruto getting punched. I go to run out when Sakura grabs my wrist.
"No don't! You'll get hurt!" She says. Just then Naruto kicks Sasuke backwards.
"Cut it out already!" Naruto shouts at him. They both then jump toward each other.
"What the hells gotten into them?" I question.
"This isn't a fight to the death is it?" Daisuke inquires.
"I hope not.." Sakura replies unsurely, making me anxious.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto calls, then before I knew it, Sasuke was surrounded completely. They all charge at once, Sasuke fended most of them off. "U.. zu.. ma..ki.." Four clones kick Sasuke into the air. Then one appears behind him and goes to kick. "BARRAGE!" Sasuke manages to turn around and block just in time.
"BLAZING FIREBALL JUTSU!" Sasuke shouts, blowing out a large fireball. It surrounded basically the entire roof, we were forced to stand back. All the sheets and anything else burned to a crisp.
"Naruto!" I call. As soon as the flames died down, I could see Naruto and a clone standing beside each other, one creating some sort of blue orb in his hand. "What is that?"
"I don't know.. but I'm really worried now guys.." Sakura says.
"By the looks of that bloody Uchiha, things here are gonna have a devastating ending.." Daisuke says. We both look at Sasuke, his Chidori forming in his hand. "Guys we gotta get back."
"But.." I breathe out, staring wide eyed at the duo.
"CHIDORI!"
"Stop it.." Sakura mumbles. Daisuke grabs my arm and drags me to the top of an air vent on the roof.
"I will win!" Naruto calls.
"Don't get so cocky!" Sasuke shouts. As they get closer to each other, my heartbeat rose.
"Sakura!" I call. But she was in a daze.
"Stop it!" Sakura screams, then runs out to them. My eyes widen.
"Sakura!" I call, Daisuke traps me, holding me back. I could only watch.
Just as they were about to collide, suddenly Kakashi-sensei came out of no where, grabbed them both, and threw them off in separate ways. Two loud bangs came from their collusion with the water tanks.
"What do you think you two are doing on top of the hospital?" Kakashi-sensei inquires. "Isn't this a little bit too much for a sparring match?"
Sasuke pulls his arm out of the tank, water gushes everywhere, and grins smugly at the tiny stream of water pouring out of the small hole Naruto made in the other tank.
"Sasuke, were you planning to kill Naruto?" Kakashi inquires. "Why must you insist on being superior? Chidori is not a move to use against someone from the same village."
As Kakashi-sensei was talking I notice just how tightly Daisuke was holding me.
"You can let go now.." I groan.
"Huh? Oh right." Daisuke lets go of me and I stand up straight. "But seriously what the hell was all that about?"
"How would I know?" I reply, looking at him with a shrug.
"Well... that was fast." Daisuke says. I blink and turn around, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and Sakura were gone. "... So what were you doing before..?"
"I want to go find Naruto-kun.. he looked upset." I reply, staring at the water tank Naruto hit. Daisuke puts a hand on my shoulder, I turn to him.
"Look, it's between him and that Uchiha. They'll sort it out." He says. I thought about it for a moment, then decided he was probably right. "Come on, lets go home or something." He says. I tense up and stare at the ground. "What?"
"Ohhhhhhh craaaaaaaaaap..." I whine, then pout. "Uncle Takashi is going to murder me.."
"Why?"
"GOTTA GO!" I exclaim, jumping off the roof. I head home, hoping, just hoping I will remain alive for the rest of the week.

I get home and I carefully open the partially open front door and sneak through it, I seemed to be having a stroke of luck, the door didn't creak as usual. I tip-toe past the archway leading into the living room, but unfortunately I was quickly noticed.
"Hey look mum! It's Setsuki!" Hiromasa exclaims in that high pitched tone that I hate. I freeze on the spot, put on a fake smile to hide my growling and face the trio in the loungeroom.
"Oh my God! Setsuki is that you!" Mrs. Saitou questions, standing up. If there's one thing I hate about her, it's her boob hugs.. She runs over and throws her arms around me, burying my head between her boobs. I grimace from disgust.
I began gasping for air because of how tight she was squeezing me. "L-let go.. please.." I breathe.
"Ohhh it's been years since I last saw you! You've grown so much!" She exclaims, then finally lets go. I inhale deeply and hold my stomach, feeling nauseous from the disgusting perfume she wears – it's like she bathes in it or something. "And your chest has grown out too! Look how big they ar-"
"Yes! I know! Remarkable isn't it!" I shout over the top of her to hide my embarrassment. Hiromasa cracks up laughing. And after looking at him, I had to hold back a laugh, he's bigger, and now has stubble down his jawline and under his nose. His black wavy hair was long and wild, obviously he hasn't paid attention to it at all.
I then felt a presence behind me. I turn my head back slowly, seeing Uncle Takashi standing behind me with his hands on his hips. "And where have you been..?"
"... Um.. I.. was.. er.."
"She was trying to avoid us!" Hiromasa exclaims with a snigger.
"I was not!" I exclaim.
"Were too!" He shouts back.
"Oh nonsense Hiromasa! Setsuki would never do such a thing, right honey?" Mrs. Saitou says, putting her arm around my shoulders, holding me toward her.
"No.. of course not.." I groan.
"Ohh look Iku! She has a Konoha headband!" She exclaims to her husband. Iku stands up and walks over to me and leans down with his eyes squinted at my headband, making me feel awkward.
"Ep, it's real alright." Iku says, giving it a flick. My eye twitches.
"Of course it's real!" I exclaim. By now Hiromasa found his way to his feet and stood in the center of the living room smirking.
"Come on dear, lets go give little Hiromasa a hug! I'm sure the two of you have missed each other dearly!" Mrs. Saitou exclaims.
I face Hiromasa with a groan, and he just remained smirking and spread his arms out. I saw the big sweat patches on the arm pits of his shirt and shiver.
"I-I disagree." I say.
"Oh nonsense!" Mrs. Saitou says, pushing me toward him.
"UNCLE TAKASHI!" I whine. I just heard him chuckle behind me. This is pure torture! Mrs. Saitou (Chikaze is her name, but she prefers Mrs. Saitou) pushes me onto Hiromasa and he immediately snaps his arms around me tightly.
"Eugh! Get off!" I whine, trying to push him off.
"Aww I bet you did miss me Setsuki!" He says, hugging me tighter – I swear he's trying to crush me.
"Nnnggh!" I manage to squeeze out of his grip and take a few steps backwards. I felt this icky stuff running down my arms and shiver. 'This is disgusting.'
"And mum told my you're gonna train me to be a ninja!" He says. My eye twitches.
"Yeeaaahh... suuure..." I reply, mentally complaining at Mrs. Saitou.
"Yeah! I'm gonna be a real ninja!" Hiromasa exclaims. I scoff quietly.

"Setsuki~ you can come out of your room now, dinner's ready." Takashi calls.
"Easier said than done." I grumble quietly, watching Hiromasa with a kunai making sure he doesn't hurt himself. He has 4 suitcases – large ones in my room, all open and his stuff scattered all over my floor, anyone would think he's moving in.
"DINNER!" Hiromasa exclaims, jumping to his feet. He drops the kunai, the tip of it falling, aimed straight at his foot. I quickly lunge forward and grab the handle, it only just poked his foot. "Ow!" He squawks, looking down at me. I frown up at him.
"It could be a lot worse." I mention, then put it in my ninja pouch.
"MUM SETSUKI HURT ME!" Hiromasa cries, running out of the room.
"Ugghhh." I groan and manoeuvre around the stuff on the floor to get to the door, then head out to the kitchen where Mrs. Saitou was petting Hiromasa's head repeatedly.
"Setsuki! You should be ashamed!" She scowls.
"He dropped a kunai on his foot, I caught it." I say.
"Oh, then why did you say she tried to stab you darling?"
"... I still want that chocolate you said I could have!" Hiromasa exclaims. I give a slight glare. 'That's my chocolate!'.
"Oh hah hah I think Setsuki should have it, because she saved you from that, what was it called dear?"
"A kunai..?" I reply.
"Yes that thing. Don't you agree?"
"No." Hiromasa groans. I grin smugly and poke my tongue out at him.
"Oh don't be like that. She deserves it for saving my baby wabey." She says, ruffling his hair. Hiromasa had slight pink cheeks and the biggest look of embarrassment ever. I found it hilarious, I had to hold back a laugh. I then look past them to the table, a roast! I smile and sit down beside Takashi and begin eating.

Then it was bed time. Hiromasa laid down on the futon beside my bed, and it seemed like he instantly fell asleep... and he snores loud. Louder than Uncle Takashi.
There I am, laying in bed, holding my pillow tightly to my ears, staring at the ceiling tiredly. But as bad as all this is, there was one horrifying thought I could not get out of my head. I kept asking the same questions. 'Did the operation succeed? Is Lee-san alright?'

I roll over ready to pass out at any moment, the alarm clock glows through the dark room, showing 3:44 am. I close my eyes. 'I know it succeeded.. I know it.. did...' With that, I black out.