The recovery was grueling and long. There were times Hisako questioned her strength and her ability to endure the pain. But, she somehow did. With the help of Neji and her close friends, she was able to pull through.
"This will be your first day returning to duty since the Chuunin Exams," Neji said quietly.
He held her close, her head resting on his shoulder as she sighed in relief.
"I finally feel okay again. I know this isn't over, but, for the first time in a long time, I finally feel like I'm going to make it," Hisako whispered, her hand resting over the faded scar over her chest. "I'm excited to be returning to duty."
Neji's arm tightened around her for just a moment. "Promise me you won't push yourself too hard. Your heart is still fragile. Just stay back and offer us support. You're a specialist in Ninjutsu. Use that to your advantage,"
Hisako nodded. "I'll relent this time."
Neji stood up, helping Hisako stand up with him. "Until you get a new heart, you'll only act as support on missions."
Hisako couldn't resist sticking her tongue out at Neji, resting her hands on her hips. Neji frowned, but there was a light in his eyes: joy that Hisako hadn't seen in a long time.
"Come on, it's time to report to Lady Hokage's office for our mission assignment." Neji said.
Hisako and Neji jumped down from the hill they were on, Hisako following close behind Neji.
"It's still kinda crazy," Hisako began, "Lady Tsunade, the legendary healer, Sannin of the Leaf, granddaughter to the legendary First Hokage, is now the Fifth Hokage. It's crazy how everything just kinda came full circle, you know? And, even though I've only known her from the interactions I've had with her in regard to my medical state, I can already tell she'll be good for this village. I'm excited to serve her."
Neji looked at her over his shoulder. "And you're able to tell all of that just by the brief interactions you've had with her?"
Hisako nodded, smiling. "She has a kind heart. She cares for the wellbeing of people. She has the blood of the First Hokage running through her veins. She'll be perfect."
Neji shook his head. "Let's just see how she does first."
"What? You doubt my ability to read people?" Hisako teased as they landed in front of the Hokage's Estate.
"I'll admit, you can read people well, but, you can't just rely on your gut feelings all the time."
Hisako shrugged as she followed Neji through the halls of the estate. They entered Lady Hokage's office and found Guy Sensei and Naruto already present.
Lee was another patient that Lady Tsunade was seeing. However, Lee's condition was more complicated than Hisako's. Lady Tsunade had to create a brand new procedure that could be fatal to Lee in order to allow him to heal and return to active duty as a Shinobi. So, for the moment, Lee was still out of commission. But, Hisako had faith that he would pull through with Lady Tsunade to aid in his healing.
"Good, you're all here," Lady Tsunade said by way of greeting.
She looked so casual, so at ease, as she sat at the Hokage's chair at the Hokage's desk. A pang of grief washed through Hisako at the sight. To know that Lord Hokage the Third would never sit in that chair again. But, she couldn't grieve forever. She had to look towards the future. And the future was here. Sitting in this chair. The future was the children of this village. And Hisako had to protect it.
Lady Tsunade's honey brown eyes drifted from one shinobi to the other, and there was a pause of silence before she finally rose from her seat coming to stand in front of the team. Tonton, her pig, oinked from Lady Shizune's arms.
"I have assigned Team Guy, with Naruto replacing Lee, to go after a legendary weapon known as the Elemental Staff."
Hisako choked on her surprise.
"What?" Guy Sensei screamed, his hands flying into his hair. "What do you mean? We already got that thing back! This is deja vu!"
Lady Tsunade's voice was stern as she looked directly at him "That is exactly why I have chosen this team. You are the most logical team to go on this mission given your previous experience with this weapon."
"How did it go missing this time? Do we have any reports in regards to that?" Hisako asked.
"Elemental staff? What is that?" Naruto asked, his blue eyes squinting in confusion.
"The Elemental Staff is a weapon that gives the wielder the ability to use all chakra natures," Neji explained.
Naruto's face lit up, and he got his stupid grin again as he perked up "Oh! That sounds so cool! Once we get it can I—?"
"No! I don't care what you were going to say, the answer is no!" Hisako scolded, placing her hands on her hips.
"Aw, I wanted to breathe fire from my mouth."
Hisako groaned, hiding her face in her hand.
"The staff isn't a toy, Naruto," Lady Tsunade scolded, walking back behind her desk. "Team Guy is to leave immediately."
"Understood."
They all followed Guy out of Lady Hokage's office and towards the gates of the village. It took two whole days of traveling to get to the small town where the staff was stolen from. Again. It was the same as last time, just… Newer buildings. But, the lowlives that creeped Hisako out last time still inhabited this town.
"Some things never change," Hisako muttered as she watched the leering drunkards from the alleyways warily.
She felt a tug on her backpack and stiffened as she turned to see a man smelling heavily of booze and body odor with a firm grasp on her bag's strap.
"Some money for a poor homeless man?" he asked, giving Hisako a broken-toothed smile, tilting his head to the side, letting his long gray hair fall into his face.
Neji was there instantly. Hisako couldn't hold back a surprised gasp. Since when did he get so fast? She knew he still kept up his training, but he was far faster than Hisako now! Neji's hand grabbed the older man's wrist and tightened to the point where the old man recoiled, hissing at Neji like an animal.
"Keep your hands off." Neji's voice was so calm, so deadly, it sent shivers up Hisako's spine.
"Some things really don't change, do they?" Guy Sensei grumbled.
He stepped up to the three of them, clapping his hands to grab everyone's attention, "Alright! That's enough. You're not getting any money from us, so shoo! Get outta here!"
He waved his hands forward. Neji hesitated for a moment but released the man's wrist. Angry welts were on his sickly pale skin from how hard Neji had grasped it. The old man cradled his wrist to his chest before scurrying away from the group like a sewer rat.
"Yeah! That's right! Run!" Naruto yelled, throwing a fist in the air.
Hisako spared Naruto a small smile. He was really a lot like Lee, wasn't he?
"Alright, let's get going. Let's not waste more time here!" Guy Sensei barked, marching forward like nothing had happened.
Neji stayed close to Hisako after that as they navigated the town. They finally got to a shrine, where the staff was supposed to be kept safe. But, the same rock with the same staff-sized indent they saw a year ago sat in the middle of the shrine, empty.
"How much do you wanna bet it's the same guy as before?" Hisako grumbled, her hand running along the polished marble.
"It was," the same monk from their last mission there confirmed as he stepped into the shrine with them. "He escaped from his prison a few months ago. We increased our guard around the staff. But obviously, it wasn't enough. He got through, murdered the ninja we hired to protect the staff, and took off with it."
"What are his plans this time? He can't be out for revenge against this town again, what's his goal?" Hisako asked.
They all turned to face the monk and he let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging in defeat, "I don't know. According to the rumors, he's traveled north."
"North? Why north?" Guy Sensei asked.
"According to an eyewitness report, he's at the Valley of the Winds."
"Valley of the Winds? But that's such a secluded place!" Hisako exclaimed.
"Why would he go to the Valley of the Winds?" Neji asked.
"Who cares? If we know where he is, then let's just go there and take the staff back!" Naruto yelled.
"Naruto has a point. We should just head there, and play it by ear," Hisako replied.
"Then let's get a move on team!" Guy yelled, throwing his hand forward and pointing in the direction of the Valley of Winds.
A few hours later, the scene changed. The trees stopped growing, and the land became barren. The temperature dropped, and their breath hung low in the air as they approached a large cliffside that led down to the Valley of the Winds below. An icy, deadly, river flowed at the bottom of the valley, and mountain peaks soared high into the sky all around them.
They all slowed to a stop, Neji and Hisako's eye abilities were activated. Neji saw the man before Hisako could.
"He's over there, on top of that rock formation."
Their gazes were all directed to a large rock formation that loomed over the cliff. And sure enough, Hisako recognized the same man with crazy gray eyes, like storm clouds living in his very soul. His spiky silver hair stood up on end like he always had an electrical charge running through his body. Hisako didn't realize it last time, but maybe that was why he was so inclined to use electricity attacks: that was his natural chakra element.
But, there was a weight to the man as he sat on the rock, his head downcast as he stared at the looming abyss below him.
"Well, this was easier than I thought it would be," Guy Sensei mused.
He was the first one to break from the group to walk over to the man. The Elemental staff sat in his lap, the lion's eyes staring at nothing and an eerie aura surrounded not just the staff but the man too. The man slowly lifted his gaze, a grief-stricken look in his eyes.
"It's the Leaf Village Shinobi again," he mused, his voice quiet.
He straightened up where he sat, his head tilting to the side as an amused smirk crossed his face, the crazed look returning to his eyes.
"Why can't you pests just leave me alone? I don't have any issues with you."
"I don't get it. Why here?" Hisako asked, stepping up beside her Sensei.
The man with the staff stood up, slamming the staff on the ground. The ground trembled with power, and the eyes on the lion seemed to glow in anticipation of battle.
"Because I want peace! I just want to be left alone!"
"We can't do that. As long as you have the staff, you're a threat—"
"The staff has called to me! I am to be its owner! It's wielder!"
"You may not know this, but the staff is slowly killing you!" Neji retorted. "Because you don't have all chakra natures naturally, the chakra natures that are not your natural state are slowly eating away at your body like a poison! The staff didn't call to you."
"What would you know? For years, I've slept dreaming of this staff, of the day I could reunite with it. Ever since that first time I wielded this staff, it has become mine and mine alone! Now I wish only to be left alone with this staff."
"This is getting ridiculous! You really wanna die over a stupid stick?" Naruto yelled.
"It's not a stupid stick! And you will not take this staff from me! She is mine!"
"She?" they all muttered in confusion.
Okay. This man officially lost it. Hisako wasn't sure why he had such an unnatural obsession with this staff, but something about it had poisoned his head. There were dark bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept in months.
But, that was all he needed for his rage to boil over. He jumped from the rock he was on, charging the group of Shinobi.
"If you will not leave me alone, then I will end your lives!"
"Now he's mad!" Naruto screamed as the man with the staff lunged from the rock he was sitting on, charging the team of Shinobi.
Hisako took a few steps back, the three men all stepping up to surround Hisako. She bared her teeth. That's right. She was cleared for missions, but for the moment, Lady Tsunade wanted her to play more of a support role than an actual fighting role. She was supposed to support her teammates with her Ninjutsu and what limited medical ninjutsu knowledge she had. She felt so useless!
"Just out of curiosity, do we even know this guy's name yet? I don't think we got it last time we fought him either," Hisako asked, dropping down into a fighting stance anyway.
Even if they didn't want her to fight directly, in fear of straining her heart, that didn't mean that she couldn't use long range jutsus to provide backup where needed. She refused to be useless!
"Nope, I don't know his name, what about you Neji?" Guy Sensei asked.
A moment later, Guy Sensei lunged, shouting Leaf Hurricane as he threw a powerful kick in their opponent's direction.
"He never told us his name last time!" Neji shouted back, stepping forward and throwing his palm forward. "Air Palm!"
The man swung the staff forward, and it seemed like he had disappeared in a ball of wind.
"That's new," Hisako grumbled, her Sharingan trying to track where he had disappeared to.
"He's not getting away that easily!" Naruto yelled, he made a few hand signs and dozens of Narutos appeared out of puffs of clouds surrounding the team.
The team of Narutos yelled as they all scattered to find their opponent.
"There's a reason why you're staying behind. I think I'll just take care of you now."
Hisako's eyes widened as she turned around bringing her arms up for protection. He had appeared right behind her! How did he get into her defenses so quickly? She heard her teammates scream her name and felt gale force winds slamming into her. Her scream was lost in the wind as she was thrown back. She somersaulted in the dirt a few feet, inching closer to the ravine that sat right at their backs.
Naruto was on him a moment later though, all dozens of his clones attacking the man at once. Hisako got to her feet, wiping the blood on her sleeve from her split lip puffs of clouds popped up from Naruto's clones being destroyed, but it offered the distraction everyone needed. Neji dropped down into his Gentle Fist stance, the Eight Trigrams 64 Palms. Hisako even decided she'd pitch in. Pay him back for sideswiping her like that.
She formed a few hand signs and shot both of her arms out to the side. Her chakra concentrated in the air around them, and the temperature dropped rapidly as ice formed along the ground at their feet. Ice spears slowly began to form in the air around her, all of them pointed and deadly. Even if Neji failed, which Hisako doubted he would, she would be right there to back him up. All of the ice spears stood on standby.
She watched Neji lunge for their opponent and was relieved to see his hits land. Their opponent screamed in pain, landing in the dirt a few feet away and struggling to get to his feet. But, Hisako noticed something peculiar. Even though he was severely injured, and in no condition to fight, his hand still grasped the staff. And the staff still radiated with power. For some reason, even though the man was defeated, Hisako couldn't help but feel like the battle wasn't over.
"This battle is over," Neji announced, standing up, turning his back to his opponent, deactivating his Byakugan.
The man struggled to sit up, but when he did, he let out a horrible laugh. Hisako took a half step forward.
"No! It's not over!" Hisako shouted right as the man swung the staff forward and disappeared into a whirlwind again.
"How?" Neji yelled, reactivating his Byakugan.
"I don't know!" Hisako shouted.
Her Sharingan caught the man's movements right before he rematerialized above her. Hisako threw her hands forward, the ice spears reacting to her command.
"Dance of a Thousand Ice Spears!" Hisako shouted.
Her spears rained down on their opponent, but he just laughed.
"This shouldn't be possible! I blocked all of his chakra points!"
"I already told you! The staff and I are one!"
As soon as the man yelled that, a wave of fire immediately melted Hisako's ice spears. Hisako brought her hands up, performing the Fire Ball Jutsu. Her fire met his, and there was a giant explosion in the air.
"I get it," Guy Sensei muttered, his black eyes contemplative as he rested his finger and thumb on his chin in thought. "That staff is controlling him. It's using him as its puppet!"
"What? So what you're saying, Guy Sensei, is we're fighting the staff, not the man?" Naruto shouted, his hands digging into his blonde hair.
Guy Sensei snapped his fingers. "That's exactly what I'm saying! I've heard of sacred objects controlling their wielders before, but have yet to see one in person till now. But it's the only thing that can explain why he's still able to fight despite Neji blocking off all his chakra points!"
"I've heard of that too, but that type of control would eventually kill the wielder!" Neji yelled, taking up a protective stance in front of Hisako again.
Hisako's gaze turned behind her, and she grimaced. They were dancing way too close to the ravine for comfort. Her mind went back to another ravine many many years ago and her heart clenched. She was in a similar position. But, back then, it was her and Takun. Now, Takun was dead. She turned her attention back to the fight. She didn't have time to think about that now. She didn't have time to mourn.
"And my staff is telling me to kill the girl first! She's physically the weakest here, so if I kill her first, the rest will be easy!"
Hisako's eyebrow twitched as she threw her hands down at her sides, "I am not weak!"
Their opponent had disappeared again, and even though they couldn't see him, she could guess where he would appear next. She felt an electrical buzz through the air and knew she had just a fraction of a second to react. She threw her hand down, concentrating her chakra in the palm of her hand.
"Chidori!" she shouted as her chakra danced in her hand, forming her own lightning.
She threw her hand upright as a lightning bolt struck Hisako. Chidori is also called Lightning Blade for a reason right? Might as well put it to the test. Hisako thought as she felt the jarring impact of his lightning and her Chidori collide. It was a horrible, intense feeling. She felt her Chidori almost absorb the lightning, but the two energies colliding so close to her hand felt like it was going to rip her arm off. She gritted her teeth. She wasn't sure how much longer her body would hold up against this.
She was able to block one lightning bolt, but was jolted from her spot when Neji grabbed her around the waist, tackling her as a second bolt landed just inches away. The ground beneath them shook, and a deafening boom echoed through the mountains and down the ravine. The ground was charred where the lightning bolts struck.
Neji refused to let Hisako go as they rolled across the ground. They skidded to a stop just a breath away from the edge of the ravine. Hisako's arm was badly burned and bloodied. They both struggled to sit up. Naruto and Guy Sensei had engaged their enemy. Naruto was thrown back into a rock formation. His blue eyes grew hazy. Before he could regain composure, the rocks behind him moved, like they were coming to life, and engulfed him.
"Naruto!" Hisako yelled, reaching her injured hand toward him.
The moment they went to stand, however, the ground gave out under them. Hisako let out a scream as they both fell, falling into the ravine. Neji's hand shot out and thankfully he found a rock to grab onto. His other hand reached for Hisako's and he managed to grab her wrist, tightening his grip to keep her from falling too.
Hisako's eyes shot open and she turned her gaze up to Neji in relief, grabbing onto his wrist in return. Neji gritted his teeth as he hoisted Hisako up to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he grabbed onto her waist.
"Let's get out of here," Neji told Hisako.
He concentrated chakra into his feet to get a foothold on the rock wall, and that was when his eyes widened in horror. He watched chakra infuse into the rocks he was holding onto, and Hisako knew it too.
"No!" Hisako shouted, her gaze went up and the man with the Elemental Staff floated above them, a horrible smile on his face as he swung the staff around.
Hisako moved, her hands pressing to the wall. She infused her own chakra in the wall to counter the Earth style ability that was about to send them off the wall, but it wouldn't work. She didn't have an affinity for Earth chakra. Pillars of earth flew out from the wall. Neji couldn't stop them, all he could do was lessen the blow by using his chakra as a shield. He didn't need to use his rotation to block an attack. The rotation just gave him the ultimate defense.
Hisako, however, didn't have the same type of protection as Neji did.
They both lost their grip on the wall and during their free fall, Neji noticed that Hisako had been knocked unconscious by one of the pillars. He painfully grunted. One of the pillars had broken a few of his ribs and it took a lot more effort to move his body, but he had to get to Hisako. If she hit the water the wrong way, she could die.
His arms wrapped around her waist and he brought her to him, one hand pressing her head to his chest to brace her neck as they both fell into the water with a large splash. Pain surged through Neji's rib cage with the impact, but he didn't have the luxury of addressing his injuries at that moment. The cold water engulfed them both, and the currents threatened to drag them both deeper into the water. But, Neji refused to let go of Hisako. He tightened his grip on her and pushed them both up to the surface of the water.
He gasped for breath, pushing his lung into his broken ribs making him regret that decision immediately. He concentrated on calming his breathing as he took in their situation. The rapids were quickly pulling them both downstream. And while he could walk on water using his chakra, it would be incredibly difficult on waters this rough. Especially while carrying Hisako. But he had to do it, even if just for a second to give him the chance to jump out of the river, to get them to the riverbed.
He concentrated his chakra onto his feet and the hand that wasn't holding onto Hisako and pushed himself out of the water. Once cleared, he scooped Hisako up in his arms and jumped off of the bumpy surface of the water. A rapid hit his foot, causing him to lose his balance. He landed on the riverbank and stumbled. He turned his body to protect Hisako from the fall, his ribs groaning in protest as he landed on the hard rock.
Above them, further upstream, he could still see the battle going on. Explosions of debris and rocks fell into the river, creating ripples in the already turbulent rapids. But, they were too far away for him to see whether Guy Sensei and Naruto were holding their own or not.
His gaze dropped to Hisako who was showing signs of regaining consciousness. He had to wait. They both had to recover and figure out what their next move was. Neji wasn't sure how much help he could be with broken ribs.
Hisako's eyes fluttered open and she moaned in pain. It felt like she was just hit by a boulder—Oh yeah. That's kinda what happened. Her memories started coming back to her as she processed the state her body was in. She definitely had broken ribs, a concussion, her right arm was aching terribly and her entire body was wet. At first, she thought it was blood. But, as she heard the rushing water just at her feet, she realized it wasn't blood. It was water.
She felt the steady rise and fall of Neji's chest under her cheek and sighed in relief. Both of them were safe. They had fallen into the water, they were alive.
"I cannot believe the luck we just had," Hisako muttered as she peeled herself off Neji's chest, she felt a little light headed, and the world spun for a moment but she was able to fight through the disorientation.
Both of them sat up with a grimace and Hisako noticed Neji's arm wrapped around his torso, supporting his ribs. So he had broken ribs too.
"Another meter in either direction and we would have landed on solid rock," Neji agreed, his lavender eyes glued to the river.
"Let me take a look at your ribs," Hisako said as a way to direct the conversation to something more productive.
She raised her hands to his side, her hands glowing blue as a healing chakra spread around his injured ribs. Neji's expression didn't falter, didn't show any signs of pain, or relief from the pain he was in as he quietly stared at Hisako.
"You're injured too, you need to tend to your wounds first,"
Hisako shook her head, her eyes narrowed in concentration, "I'm okay. I've been slowly trying to heal my wounds with my own chakra. There's not much more I can do for myself. I'm not the best at medical Ninjutsu yet. But, I can at least help you."
It was a small lie. She wasn't completely okay, but with what limited medical ninjutsu she knew, she was able to alleviate some of her symptoms. Enough so she could be of use.
A few moments of silence later, and Guy Sensei and Naruto jumped down into the bottom of the ravine. A chilled breeze blew through the Valley of the Wind biting at Hisako's exposed, wet skin causing a shiver to go through her.
"Did we win?" Hisako asked, looking up at the two.
Guy Sensei seemed to be in one piece, more or less, with that same cocky grin on his face as he gave them a thumbs up. But, Naruto, well, he was a little worse for wear. Bloodied and bruised, Hisako could already see swelling from at least a broken wrist. She would have to tend to his injuries after she was done stabilizing Neji's ribs.
"We did!" Guy Sensei yelled, throwing a fist in the air.
"Did we ever figure out his name?" Hisako added on.
Both Naruto and Guy gave them sheepish grins, Naruto rubbing the back of his head.
"Well… No. Right before we did, Naruto knocked the guy out with his Rasengan."
Hisako let out a groan in exasperation. "Naruto!"
She shook her head but had a small smile on her face anyway. That was just like Naruto. And it was just like the saying went 'All is well that ends well.'
Hours later, the man who had stolen the staff again had been locked up behind bars once more, the staff was safe and sound back with the monk, and all of their injuries had been tended to so that they could travel back to the Leaf the next day.
Hisako sat on the edge of their hotel room porch, mindlessly staring up at the stars. Neji quietly approached her, sitting down beside her.
Hisako turned to give him a sidelong look. "Well, that was intense today."
Neji nodded in agreement. She saw him activate his Byakugan, and he went to grab her left arm. His thumbs ran hot lava through her veins as he continued the Chakra Point Therapy on her wrist. They usually did this once a week. They took a break while Hisako was recovering from the surgery, it still didn't hurt any less, but Hisako was starting to grow accustomed to the discomfort that Chakra Point Therapy brought.
"It was very intense," Neji agreed, his gaze concentrating on her arm, "and you need to be more careful on missions until you can get your heart replaced. You know Lady Tsunade said that your heart is going to still be weak right now. The only reason she even cleared you to go on missions is because you have medical Ninjutsu training. You can support us. But, it'll be difficult to support us if you're being attacked."
Hisako couldn't help but notice the exasperation in Neji's voice. Like he was angry he couldn't protect her better. He had saved her life today! Hisako's gaze softened and she rested her bandaged right hand over his, pausing his work for a moment. He deactivated his Byakugan to look up at her.
"It's the life of a Shinobi, Neji. You told me that yourself. I chose this life because it's the path I want to follow. I'll be safe, as safe as I can be. But, there will always be risks on missions. You saved my life today, and put yourself at risk to do it."
Hisako's gaze dropped to the purple and blue wildflowers that were growing at their feet and she bit her bottom lip to keep the tears at bay. She was still useless. Sure, her heart may have been stabilized for now, but it didn't help in battles where all she was good for was support. They found out today that by her hanging out behind the team, she put a target on her back in a battle anyway! That strategy wasn't a good one.
Neji reached his hand towards her, cupping her cheek and bringing her attention back to him. His lavender eyes were so intense, so full of passion and love that it took Hisako's breath away.
"You know why I saved you today. It's the same reason I'll save you a hundred times if I have to."
Hisako's eyes grew teary and her lips turned up into a smile. "Because you love me. And… and I love you too."
Neji gave her one of his rare smiles as he leaned down to her. Their eyes closed, and Hisako could smell the mint on Neji's breath. Her entire body stilled. This would be their first time kissing since that day on the hill… When Hisako fainted. Her cheeks flushed at just the memory of that.
Their lips met, and this time, there was no question, no hesitation.
"Hey! Dinner is-uh?" Guy Sensei shouted, his voice booming.
This interrupted the beautiful moment between the two. Hisako let out a shriek of surprise, both Neji and Hisako shooting away from each other. They both groaned in pain as the movement aggravated their broken ribs, doubling over bracing their waists.
"Am I interrupting something?" Guy Sensei asked, his dark gaze darting between the two of them. "I just wanted to let you know we have dinner."
Naruto suddenly appeared behind Guy Sensei, for some reason wearing the green jumpsuit that Lee normally wore. And it did not look flattering on him in the least. Hisako's eyes grew wide as she saw Naruto in the gross get up.
"N-Naruto! What are you-"
"Oh! I get it! You two were-"
"No! No we weren't!" Hisako shouted, standing up from where she was.
Her injuries be damned! Hisako lunged for Naruto and both of them screamed as they fell to the floor of the hotel.
"Hisako and Neji kiss-"
"Just shut up and stay out of it!" Hisako interrupted, placing a firm hand over Naruto's mouth. "And you look horrible in that jumpsuit, by the way!"
Naruto let out a muffled scream in protest as he struggled to get out of Hisako's iron grasp.