AN: I don't know how old Kushina was when she was kidnapped so I'm going to make it up.
Ryu, with his mask pulled down, and Kushina sat next to each other at a small ramen stand that Kushina had proclaimed "Sold the best ramen in the world." Ryu thought Kushina had an addiction to the small stand's food. But, being the enabling boyfriend that he is, he let her indulge her addiction. Kushina had large bowl of steaming miso ramen mixed with an excessive amount of meat sitting in front of her and was shoveling huge amounts into her mouth. Ryu watched her in amusement with his own large bowl of miso ramen, his had much less meat in it though. "Slow down, Kushi-chan. Your food isn't going to run away." he chuckled.
Kushina froze, noodle laden chopsticks halfway to her mouth. "Sorry." she mumbled, a blush painting her cheeks a bright red. "I just love this food you know?"
"You've said." Ryu laughed. "This food is good, I won't lie."
Kushina beamed. "Aha! I've turned another onto the path of Enlightenment." she exclaimed around a large mouthful of noodles. Ryu chuckled and shook his head.
"I swear, you like this stuff way too much, Kushi-chan."
"What blasphemy does my boyfriend spew!?" Kushina recoiled in shock. Ryu rolled his eyes.
"I'm just glad you don't eat this everyday. That would be bad for your health. Although, I'm not sure how much better eating this for every lunch is in comparison."
"I'm sure it's not much, but I don't care."
"Of course you don't."
"Are you gonna finish your ramen?"
"No. I'm full."
"Awesome!"
"Don't force yourself to eat everything. I mean it, Kushina. We're training right after remember?"
"Oh, right. Maybe I should stop then."
"That's probably best." Ryu nodded, pulling up his mask. "Ichiraku-san, how much do I owe you for our lunch?"
"Five ryo for each of your bowls." the gruff voiced chef replied. Ryu handed the man the money and walked out with Kushina. "Come again!" the man called after them.
"That was a nice date. Thank you, Ryu." Kushina said, sighing happily and leaning into Ryu's chest.
"You're welcome. I would have preferred something more formal." Ryu replied, wrapping an arm around her waist and squeezing lightly.
"Maybe next time we can do a formal dinner date."
"I'd like that, but in all honesty, I don't' care where we eat as long as I'm with you."
"Awww. That's so sweet." Kushina kissed his masked cheek.
The two entered training field four to find their teammate, Suzuka Kurosawa, waiting patiently for them. Suzuka was a girl with brown hair and purple eyes and roughly the same height as Kushina. She was dressed in a tan tank top with fishnet sleeves ending at her elbows, green tight shorts that ended at the knee overtop of calf length black tights, and blue shinobi sandals. She wasn't known for being the most fashion conscious. "You guys are right on time. Riko-sensei was here but forgot the scrolls she bought for us." she chirped.
"Alright. Thanks for letting us know." Ryu said.
"I can't wait to learn a cool new jutsu! I'm going to kick so much ass!" Kushina cheered.
"How do you know it's a jutsu scroll and not something else?" Ryu asked.
"What else could it be?" Kushina asked.
"Detailed instructions on how to manipulate chakra to different parts of your body. An in depth description of the types of jutsu and their strengths and weaknesses. Anything really." Ryu drawled.
"Look, Mister." Kushina said, getting into Ryu's face. "Just because you're cute and my boyfriend doesn't mean I won't hit you for being negative. Cause I will. I will hit you."
"Good morning my cute little genin." a cheerful feminine voice said from behind Ryu. The three kids turned to see their red haired sensei, dressed in the standard jounin outfit, holding three scrolls in each hand. "I have your scrolls!"
"Are they jutsu?" Ryu asked. "Kushi-chan has been dying to know if they're jutsu. She wants to be able to, and I quote, 'Kick so much ass.'"
"Yup! They're jutsu alright!" Riko-sensei replied.
"Alright!" Kushina cheered. "Let's see 'em, Sensei!"
Handing two scrolls to each kid, she said. "Kushina, here's your water and air scrolls. Ryu, your air and lightning scrolls. And Suzuka, your earth and air scrolls." She clapped her hands together and said, "You can practice those next time. Today we're going to practice taijutsu! Ryu, you're with Kushina today!" Ryu groaned. Kushina could hit hard. It sucked.
"Great." he deadpanned. "I'm going to have so many bruises after this."
"Don't worry, Ryu-kun." Kushina grinned, getting into a taijutsu stance. "I'll go easy on you."
"Please do." Ryu gulped, getting into his own stance. As Kushina charged, he said, "I'm going to die."
XXX
That evening, after training was over, Ryu lay on his back in the middle of training field four with his mask pulled down and Kushina sitting his thighs. Large dark bruises covered his arms and face. Unseen from either of them, were the equally large and dark bruises that covered the front and back of his torso and abdomen. Kushina was relatively unscathed. Although Ryu had hit her as much as she had him, he had not used the same amount of force she did. "Why do you have to hit me so hard, Kushi-chan?" Ryu whined.
"Shut up. You won. You shouldn't be complaining." Kushina pouted and crossed her arms.
"I'm sorry." Ryu said as he sat up and hugged her. "Would it help if I let you win next time?"
"No! I want to win for real! Not because you let me win!" Kushina shouted.
"Maybe you should focus on your taijutsu more than your ninjutsu."
"Are you saying that I suck at taijutsu!?"
"No, but you spend far more time on your ninjutsu than you do taijutsu. It's important to focus on training everything equally until you decide to specialize on one aspect."
"Yes, Ryu-sensei."
"I'm just looking out for you. Hokage's have to be strong in everything you know."
"I know but-" Kushina stopped short at the sound of a snapping twig. "What was that?"
"It was probably just an animal." Ryu said as they stood up. "Anyway, it's getting late. I should take you home. You ready?"
"Yeah. Let's go." Kushina yawned and took his hand in hers. Just as they left the training field, something whizzed through the air behind them and Ryu, screaming in pain, fell to the ground. "Ryu!" Kushina shouted. Looking down at his body, she saw two shuriken protruding from his shoulder blades. "Oh my god! Ryu, we need to get you to the hospital!"
"No! Run!" Ryu shouted as he pushed himself up and tackled someone who was running up on Kushina. "Don't touch her!" he slammed a fist into the downed figure's throat. In response, the downed man punched him in the jaw. The two quickly began sending and receiving devastating punches to each other. Seeing Kushina, standing frozen in shock he yelled again. "Run! Get help!" Kushina turned to do just that, but a second figure grabbed her from behind.
"Let me go!" she screamed, fear evident in her voice.
"Idiot!" the new figure said to the one Ryu was currently assaulting, covering Kushina's mouth to silence her screaming. "Stop messing around! We need to get out of here. We got what we came for." The man underneath Ryu smashed his head into Ryu's nose, breaking it with an audible crunch. Ryu screamed but kept assaulting his victim. Growling, the man slid a kunai in between Ryu's ribs and headbutted him again, sending Ryu backwards several feet.
"I'm coming." the man groaned. "Damn brat. I'm going to kill him."
"No!" his friend shouted. "We need to leave. Now. Or all of this will be for nothing. And you know what that means."
"Y-Yeah. You're right." the man said fearfully. "Let's go." The two men took off.
"Damn. It." Ryu growled. "Damn. It. Dammit. Dammit! DAMMIT!" He wrenched the kunai out from between his ribs and pushed himself to his feet. "I need to tell the Hokage." Holding a hand to the bleeding wound, he ran as fast as he could to the Hokage Tower. Ignoring the shocked look of those in the tower, he sprinted up the stairs to the top. Level after level he climbed. "There's way too many stairs." he hissed, clenching his teeth in pain. Upon reaching the top, he burst through the doors leading to the Hokage's office. "Hokage-sama!"
"Ryu! What happened to you!?" Aiko gasped.
"Not now, Mom." Ryu grunted. "Hokage-sama! Kushina's been kidnapped!"
"What!?" came the Hokage and Aiko's shocked shouts. "When!?"
"Just now! At training ground four! Two guys attacked us and took her! I came straight here!" Ryu replied hurriedly. "We need to do something right now! If we don't, who knows what they'll do to her!"
"Aiko!" the Hokage shouted. "Find a tracker, go to training ground four, and find Kushina!"
"Right!" Aiko acknowledged and body flickered out of the office.
"Ryu, I need you to go to the hospital to get your injury looked at. I know you want to find Kushina, but your injury comes first."
"Okay. I'll go to the hospital right now." Ryu nodded and ran out of the room. Sprinting down the stairs two at a time he said, "Screw that. Kushina needs my help. I'll die before I let something happen to her." As he ran to the training ground, he pulled his tank top off and tied it tightly over the wound to stop the bleeding. The coldness of the night caused him to shiver slightly.
A flash of red in the moonlight caught his attention as he ran onto the training field and he moved closer to get a better look at it. 'Is that Kushi-chan's hair?' He brought the object closer to his nose. Pulling his mask down, he sniffed at the strand. Smelling Kushina's shampoo he grinned. Pulling up his mask, he shouted, "Mom! Over here!"
"Ryu?" Aiko asked as she and an Inuzuka woman and her, rather old looking, dog arrived. "What are you doing here? Where's your shirt?"
"That doesn't matter." he said. "I found a strand of Kushina's hair. We can use it to track her." He bent down and shoved said strand of hair in front of the dog's nose.
"How did you know it was Kushina's hair?" Aiko asked in surprise.
"One, it's the prettiest hair I've ever seen, I'd be able to recognize it anywhere. And two, I smelled her shampoo off of it. We need to move! Now!"
"Let's go! Inuzuka-san, come on!" Aiko ordered. The three ninja took off through the trees and let the ninja dog lead them.
They traveled for several miles non stop, Ryu was unwilling to admit his lungs were burning or that the travel was making his injury worse, before the dog stopped.
"What's wrong?" Ryu asked, struggling to hide his panting. "Did he lose the scent?"
"I think so." The Inuzuka woman replied. "Can you find it again, boy?"
The dog barked. It sniffed around a few more times before taking off in a different direction. "Let's go!" Ryu shouted and ran after the dog.
"Hold up!" Aiko said after a few minutes. "I sense six different chakra signatures. One of which is Kushina's. They aren't moving."
"They must be planning their next course of action. We have to be fast." Ryu said seriously. "They don't know we're here. They might not even know if someone is coming. We can use that to our advantage. One of us can engage them, distract them, another can grab Kushina and go back to Konoha, and the other can assist the first in capturing or eliminating the kidnappers."
"I don't exactly think it'll work, but it's the only thing we got and we don't know how long until they start moving again, so we don't exactly have time to think of anything else." Aiko said. "Who's going to distract them?"
"I will." Ryu said quickly. When he saw his mother about to protest, he said, "We don't have time to argue, Mom. Inuzuka-san, I assume your dog is combat trained?" At the Inuzuka's nod, he continued. "You'll assist me in capturing or eliminating them. Mom, you'll grab Kushina and book it as fast as you can back to Konoha. Got it? Good. Let's go." Ryu dropped down to the ground below silently. Growling, he ran towards the kidnappers. He quickly noted three men, two women, and Kushina. Diving at a woman's knees he screamed, "Give me back, Kushi-chan, you bastards!" The woman yelped and collapsed on top of Ryu's back. The other's turned to the disturbance.
"Hey, Ikoma, isn't that the brat who broke your jaw?" One of the men asked.
"It is!" Another gasped. "Come here you little brat!" He advanced on Ryu and pulled him from underneath the woman. Ryu grabbed the man's face and pressed his thumbs into the man's eyes. Screaming, the man dropped Ryu who punched him in the crotch and advanced on the other three. Several barks distracted their attention as a dog flew through the air and collided with the other woman. The Inuzuka woman came up behind them and, attacking a pressure point, knocked them out. They directed their attention to the remaining woman before engaging them, backed up by her dog.
Ryu felt a something collide with his back and sent him flying towards a tree. He hit the tree with a sharp crack and immediately knew something was broken, and judging by how much more it hurt to breathe, he assumed it was a rib or two. As he struggled to his feet, a huge fist smashed into his temple and sandwiched his head between it and the tree. The fist disappeared suddenly only for a hang to grab onto his leg. Drawing a kunai, he slammed it down into the offending hand. The owner, the man Ryu had fought twice before, roared in pain, but Ryu grabbed a handful of shuriken and punched him in the crotch. Screeching in agony, the man collapsed to his knees holding his crotch, and Ryu roundhouse kicked him under the jaw. The force of the kick snapped the man's head back, allowing Ryu the opportunity to grab onto the man's head and smash it into a tree and then the ground, sending the man into the sweet depths of unconsciousness.
Ryu sat down with an exhausted huff. "Damn, kid." The Inuzuka woman whistled. "That wasn't the cleanest fight I've seen, but pretty well done for someone as outclassed as yourself. Especially with that stab wound you got bleeding pretty heavily too."
"Thanks." Ryu replied breathlessly. "How are we going to get these guys back to Konoha?"
"I'll stay here. Gurren here will lead you back home. That okay with you?"
"Yeah." Ryu nodded. "Let's go big guy. We've got a ways to go."
The dog barked and took off towards Konoha, Ryu not far behind.
Each mile they traveled fueled the burning fire that was eating at Ryu's lungs and thighs. He could feel a warm sensation seeping through his tied up shirt and running down his side. The broken rib, or was it ribs?, jabbed his lungs with each step he took. "Konoha!" Ryu exclaimed when he could see the gates of the village through the trees. "Take me to Kushina please." he gasped out. The ninja dog looked skeptical but complied nonetheless.
The hospital drew within sight and Ryu shivered. He hated the hospital. It was always way too clean, not a spec of dust anywhere, and smelled too much like antiseptic. Plus, it was too white. Shaking his head, he followed the dog through the halls until they reached a hospital room marked with a sign that read Room 243 on the wall. Inside the room was Kushina sitting in the bed in a hospital gown and she was talking to Aiko who was sitting in a chair next to the bed. "Kushina!" Ryu said, more like wheezed. "You're okay!"
Kushina glanced up at him and paled. "Oh my god! Ryu, what happened?" she gasped. Aiko turned around and turned equally pale.
"I got into a fight. No big deal. I'm just glad you're okay." Ryu smiled. "I'm going to take a nap now. With that, he passed out, head bouncing off the white tiled floor as he collapsed.
XXX
Ryu groaned as he opened his eyes. He noted that he was wearing a hospital gown and in a hospital bed. He also took note of the bandages where he was stabbed, and the ice packs on his head and ribs. He saw his mother and Kushina, now in street clothes, sitting by the side of his bed with a worried look on their faces. "I regret nothing." he coughed.
"He's awake." Kushina gasped.
Aiko hit him over the head. "You idiot! You were injured and you only made it worse by doing what you did! I told you you should have gone to the hospital."
"Kushi-chan was more important than my health at the time." Ryu said defensively.
"You shouldn't have needlessly risked your life like that!" Kushina cried. "Aiko-san and Inuzuka-san would have had everything covered."
"Can I have some water?" Ryu asked. Aiko handed him a glass from a table next to the bed.
"How's our hero looking?" their Inuzuka friend asked as she entered, Gurren right beside her.
"Looking? Pretty bad I'm sure." Ryu drawled. "Feeling? Really thirsty." He then proceeded to chug the entire glass of water he was given. "How long was I out?"
"Til morning." The Inuzuka woman replied. "Can't leave til the Doc clears you."
"I'm here." a voice said from behind the Inuzuka woman. A blonde haired woman in a doctors uniform hurried into the room. "You can go, but I need to give you a corticosteroid injection first. I recommend taking an aspirin every day for a week and then once every two days. I also recommend sleeping on your back and eating lots of minerals and vitamins to promote the healing process. Ready for your shot? Okay." The doctor drew a needle from a pocket of her doctors coat and injected its contents into the area of Ryu's broken ribs. "You're good to go! Bye!" The doctor quickly left the room, leaving the rest of it's occupants stunned by her abrupt actions.
Ryu sighed. "Get me out of here. Now."
An: Chapter 2 is done. I wasn't sure if I wanted to end the chapter before or after Ryu is hospitalized. Like I said earlier, I wasn't sure when Kushina was kidnapped, so I just made it up and made it the year of her graduation from the Academy. I need to come up with some original plotlines to fill chapters until the second World War. Wish me luck. If you have any ideas for plotlines, feel free to leave it with your review or in a PM. Well, I'm done writing this chapter. Don't forget to favorite the story, review the story, and follow to see chapters similar to this one. See ya.