Chapter 74

I felt something wet dripping down my upper lip, so I used my hand to wipe it off. Glancing down at my hand, I saw red. My eyes widened at the sight of the red liquid, and my lip beneath my nose still felt wet. Blood dripped down onto my shirt and onto the blanket.
I searched the room for a box of tissues, but I couldn't find any. What kind of a hospital doesn't have tissues.

"Help!" I called, hoping to attract some attention. My plea was granted by that same medical nin who had tended to me earlier.
"Ah! Your nose is bleeding!" She stated.
"I know! Help!" I whined, holding my hand under my nose. My arm felt heavy though, I couldn't explain it. My muscles were starting to feel tingly, which caused my arm to shake.
The woman took out a cloth and held it beneath my nose. "Hold that there until your nose stops bleeding." She said.
I didn't really respond as she walked out. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, thats when I remembered everything that had taken place prior to me fainting.
"Daisuke! Susumu! Gaara!"

I ran around the room, searching for them. Though my muscles were still tingly, I ignored the feeling until I found them. Two doors down from the room I was placed in, was Daisuke, sitting up in his bed, nagging at a medical nin, and beside him, was Susumu, still sleeping.
"Daisuke!" I chirped, gliding to his bed.
"Setsuki-chan! There you are! I was- wait, your nose is bleeding!" He said.
"I know." I replied. The medical nin he was with, looked at me.
"You shouldn't be running around." He said. He forced me down onto the chair, then left the room. I immediately stood up again.
"Setsuki.. you look rather red in the face.." He mentioned. I tilted my head, still holding the cloth beneath my nose. "You were dreaming about me, right?" He smirked.
"No.. I don't remember what I was dreaming about." I said.
"Don't try to hide it.. I know you were. Look at me, I'm irresistable, right?" He flashed a grin at me. It looked really.. attractive.
"Okay." I said, sitting down. Daisuke coughed.
"Okay? Okay!? Setsuki! Love me!" He pleaded.
"I do." I said.
"You do?! Really!?"
"Uh huh. You're one of my bestest friends, Daisuke-kun~" I chimed.
"... this... again.." He mumbled, sulking pitifully.

Susumu finally woke up, by then I was feeling lightheaded and dizzy, so I was leaning against the wall with my eyes shut. Daisuke kept sulking to himself the entire time, pressing his fingers together while pouting.
"Ngh..." Susumu groaned, waking up.
"Its about time you woke up.." Daisuke huffed.
"Princess..?"
Daisuke glared.
I heard shuffling, I assumed Susumu was sitting up.
"Yeah, and- woah! Setsuki!" I opened an eye to look at him. "Y-Your skin is turning red! Are you sunburnt?!"
"I.. could be.." I said. Though, I've never been sunburnt before, so I wouldn't know. The desert sun was highly likely to give us all sunburn I think.
"Gaara was taken! He was taken by that Akatsuki!" A voice called from outside. We all sat up straight, shocked.
"Taken by the Akatsuki!?" Susumu questioned.
"Oh damn.." Daisuke grumbled. "Such a shame.. oh well.."
"We have to go save him!" I said, not thinking.
"Now now, wait just a minute, Setsuki." Daisuke said, looking at me. "I thought you didn't like him!"
"I don't! But We still have to save him!"
"Aren't you scared of the guy?" Susumu mentioned.
"N-No!"
"Don't you think we should contact home, first? Before we go rushing into anything.."
"I hate to admit it, but you do have a point, pine." Daisuke grumbled. Pine was Susumu's new nickname, its short for Pineapple.
"Stop it. Just.. just stop it." Susumu grumbled, I'm pretty sure he was getting fed up with all the nicknames over the years.
"What'cha gonna do about it? Pine?"
Susumu shot a glare to Daisuke. I cleared my throat. "We need to save Gaara!" I repeated.
"We will, but we need to contact Konoha first!" Susumu said.
"Why? That'll take forever!" I exclaimed.
"We might need back up!"
"But what about Suna? Don't we have them as back up?" I asked.
"Well.. we could, but.."
Some shouting was heard outside of the room. I stood up to investigate, my entire body felt tingly, so walking and even moving, felt awkward. I opened the door half way, and stared out. Some Suna ninja came running, wheeling a stretcher with a body on it to the emergency room.
"What is it, Setsuki?" Susumu asked. My eyes widened as I recognised the Kabuki facepaint.
"I-Its Kuro-kun!" I exclaimed. I hadn't seen the puppeteer for three years, but I still recognised him.
"Kuro..?"
"I think she means Kunkuto..." Daisuke corrected.
"Kankuro." I said, facing them.
"S-Setsuki, your eyes are red.."
"They are? Well.. they do kind of sting a little, its probably the sand." I said, rubbing my eyes.
"Setsuki, come and lay on the bed." Susumu said.
"No."
"This one, you fool. Not mine." Susumu huffed. I turned to him, and saw an unoccupied bed between them. I considered it for a fraction of a second.
"No." I repeated.
"Stupid Pine! If Setsuki lays on any bed, its mine!" Daisuke roared.
"Idiot." Susumu grumbled.
"Doll face."
"Bird brain."
"Cat fish."
"Sloth."
"Hey!" Daisuke growled.
"Fish lips." I said. To the both of them. They looked at me. I looked at them. Silence befell.

Next thing I knew, I was chained to the unoccupied bed between them. I tried to break out of the chains using force, I tried melting them with the hot water bottle, I tried even gnawing through them. But I did not prevail.
"Let me out!" I pleaded.
"No!" Susumu grumbled. He was now out of bed, pacing back and forth very slowly from the window to the end of his bed.
"Setsuki! Of course I'll let you out!" Daisuke grinned.
"You will!?" My eyes glistened.
"As long as you kiss me first!"
"What kind of ridiculous-"
"Okay!" I said, cutting Susumu off. They both looked at me, staring full of shock. I didn't think about what I said.. did I..
Daisuke immediately lunged out of his bed, but quickly stumbled onto the ground, whimpering because of his leg.
Susumu burst out laughing, and I kept a straight face. "You're never gonna lose your virg-"
"No! Shut it Pine!" Daisuke squeaked, as he pulled himself up.
"Or have you already..?" Susumu smirked.
"What? NO! I'm saving myself for Setsuki!"
"Yeaaah whatever."

The day seemed to last forever. The three of us remained locked in the room, for almost three days. On the third day, early in the morning, the village was rather silent. I wondered constantly about what happened to Gaara, and whether Kankuro was okay.
I felt completely immobilised, my chest and stomach felt so heavy, and I found it hard to breathe, and I didn't know why. Daisuke kept mentioning that my skin was red, but we continued thinking it was sunburn.
Susumu's forehead was now just a small line, and was starting to scab. Daisuke's leg was still just as bad, he keeps accusing the medics of not treating it properly.
We heard some shouting outside. Susumu opened the door and peeked outside. The voices were a muffle. They seemed to be coming from another room.
"All we can do is kill the pain.."
"Mhm.. all we can do is put our hope in the Konoha shinobi who are on their way right now. If there's a poison specialist among them... Of course, it wont matter if Kankuro can't hold out until then."
Then a familiar, deep voice spoke. "Right now, the Konoha group is unable to proceed due to a violent sand storm. In the worst, they'll be a few days late." It sounded like that Baki guy..
"Then it's hopeless.."
"How pathetic.. I never thought there'd be a day when all I could do was wait for help from Konoha.."

Susumu turned to us. "An old couple just came out of that room over there, they're sitting in the hallway." He remarked.
Daisuke sat up. "Who's in that room?"
"I dunno, but it seems like someone's been poisoned, and they're waiting on a group from Konoha to save them, but they're trapped in a sand storm.. so they could be a few days late. That's what I heard."
"There's another group already coming?" Daisuke asked.
"Kankuro!" A woman screamed. Loud footsteps came running down the hall, a group of people were running. Susumu immediately turned his attention back outside. He gasped slightly.
"What is it?" Daisuke asked.
"Its Naruto! Him, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei and Temari just ran past!" Susumu exclaimed. I wanted to sit up, I really did. But I couldn't, and I was getting worked up, I wanted to move, but the more I tried, the harder it was to breathe. Susumu ran out, and Daisuke stood up, grabbing a crutch.

Inside the room, Kakashi immediately paused, when that old lady came charging at him. "Curse you..!" She cried, lunging at him. "Prepare to die!"
Naruto quickly created clones and blocked the old lady's attack.
"Why the hell are you attacking Kakashi-sensei, you wrinkly old bitch?!" Naruto gushed.
"Konoha's White Fang! How dare you, you wretched scum..?" The old lady growled. "How I've longed to avenge my son! This is for him!"
"Um, I'm not..."
"No excuses!"
"Take a closer look, Nee-chan..." An elderly man stepped in front of her. "He does resemble the White Fang, but that's not him."
The old lady stared at Kakashi for a moment, confused.
"Hello!" Kakashi chirped, waving.
"Besides, Konoha's White Fang died a long time ago." The old man said. "Remember? When you heard, you got really angry and started screaming about how you hadn't avenged your son yet. Isn't that right, Nee-chan?"
"Just kidding!" She laughed. "I was just pretending to be senile!"
Suddenly the silence was broken by a painful wail, Kankuro arched his back off the bed, grabbing at his throat.
"I'll take a look at him!" Sakura exclaimed. I think that was the last I heard, until I passed out.