Chapter 12 part 2
Sasuko woke up. Stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to figure out where she was. What was happening.
"Umph!" A wrong move — stabbing pain shot through her body. And with it — the memories. Zabuza... the fog... the boy in the hunter-nin mask... needles...
"Already awake?" A voice. Kaoru — appearing in her vision — smiled gently.
"Wh—?.. Kh-kh!!.." She tried to talk — broke into coughs as pain ripped through her throat.
"Easy, easy. Everything's fine — no need to jump up." The boy hurried over, steadying her.
"Yh.." Another try — cut off by his palm covering her lips.
"Oh — and you'd better not strain your throat yet. I pulled five senbon out of your neck. One nicked your vocal cords. Until those heal up — don't push your voice, Sasuko-chan."
"!!!" She glared daggers at him. Stayed silent. Turned sharply away, yanking her lips from his fingers — and immediately grimaced at the fresh stab of pain.
"Sorry about this — my Mystical Palm's not good enough to fix this kind of damage on the fly. And I don't have much experience..." He suddenly sounded apologetic. "Didn't have much time, either. Gonna have to heal in stages."
"Khh?.." Uchiha coughed, looked at him — and somehow, he understood.
"Wondering what happened? We won. Though — calling it a 'victory'..." Kaoru frowned. "You were already out by then, so you don't know — but right at the end, Gato showed up with all his thugs. Tried to kill everyone."
"Gh?!" Her eyes widened — something like a grimace crossing her face.
"Yeah... By then Akashi-san was completely drained from fighting Zabuza — and Momochi herself was one foot in the grave... You were unconscious. That fake hunter-nin was out of action too."
"?!"
"Naruko did that," he answered the silent question.
"That IDIOT?! HOW?!" Sasuko's mind reeled. No matter how you looked at it — the loud, noisy, careless, annoying blonde was nothing like someone who could beat an opponent like that ice-wielding boy.
"Well... there you have it." As if reading her thoughts, Nagisa shrugged. "Now — Sasuko-chan, lift your chin a bit. Need access to your throat."
"Kh..." Wincing, Uchiha obeyed. His hands settled gently on her bandaged throat — and she felt a tender warmth spreading through her.
"Gh?! What's he... doing?!" she inwardly shrieked, feeling careful fingers stroking through the bandages. It was... pretty gentle.
Sasuko frowned.
"Ah — right, the story! Sorry, got distracted." Kaoru completely misread her frown — kept up the light massage, combined with the Mystical Palm. "So — the situation was pretty ugly... Exhausted shinobi on one side, a mob of thugs on the other. Lots of them, at least. We fought them off, though — so everything's fine! Gato's dead, his gang's scattered, and Zabuza and that boy ran off once they figured out nobody was paying."
Sasuko's eyes narrowed. That ending came way too fast. Anyone could hear the forced cheer in Nagisa's voice — he was leaving something out. She didn't like it. She pushed his hands off her throat and tried to sit up, bracing on her elbows.
"Oh — no, no, Sasuko-chan, you'd better stay down!" Kaoru pressed her shoulders gently. But she kept rising — stubborn — ignoring the soft resistance. "You're still way too exhausted, and—"
"Ah??" Sasuko gasped — finally upright. As she sat up, the light blanket slid down — exposing bandaged skin.
The wounds weren't fatal — true. But there were a lot of them. And not all had closed after the quick medical-chakra treatment — so they'd needed bandaging, painkillers, antiseptics. Even now — stabbing pain echoed with every motion, too many pain points and nerve clusters hit. But right now — that was the least of her concerns.
Still not fully processing — Uchiha stared at the white strips binding her body everywhere.
"Oh — well... I told you — I can't fully heal your wounds yet, so..." Kaoru started talking fast — faster the more awareness crept into her eyes. As the full picture got clearer — somewhere deep in that tightly bandaged chest — the first embers of a coming inferno started to glow.
Because as far as "clothing" went — Sasuko was wearing nothing but bandages.
She could posture all she wanted. Act however she wanted around other people. Show the world she didn't care. But Sasuko was — and always would be — a young girl. And no girl, ever, under any circumstances — would let a stranger see her naked.
And now. He. Had Dared. To. Undress. Her.
Slowly — so slowly — her pale, exhausted face flooded with red. Black-coal eyes blazed with primordial fury, throwing lightning bolts — promising Nagisa the worst torments of all nine hells.
"You!!.." she hissed — ignoring the fresh stab in her throat.
"Calm down, calm down!" Under that annihilating glare, the boy started babbling, hands up in front of him. "I had to treat your wounds somehow! I did what I could! Seriously, Sasuko-chan! As a medic — I swear — I didn't do anything beyond what was needed to help you. Your clothes were ruined — I got rid of them. Except the underwear. Gh — well... the lower part, at least. Your wounds needed care, and—"
"Gh! GET OUT!!" She yanked the fallen blanket back over herself. Hand groping — found the pillow she'd been lying on — and hurled it straight at his head.
Kaoru twisted — the pillow flew past.
"Sasuko-san — you mustn't get so worked up! Nothing happened! And besides — I'm just a clone. You disperse me — the original treating Akashi-san's gonna collapse from the strain!.."
"OUT!!!" Ignoring the clone's logic entirely, she was already searching for the next projectile. The clone wisely vanished behind the door. "Grrh!.."
Fingers clenched on the blanket's edge — Sasuko fired an incinerating glare at the slammed door. Right now she wanted — unbearably, desperately wanted — to kill one specific boy. Insolent. Brazen. Shameless. PERVERTED!!..
With one furious motion — she covered herself completely. Head and all.
So even the light couldn't see her face — burning with rage and shame.
***
"MMaa... The original's done for," Kaoru-Number-Two murmured, back pressed to the door. "Well — that's his problem now..."