- 7 - A New Beginning -
- 7 - A New Beginning -
-Minaru-
Very slowly Naru fought her way back to consciousness, the fog of the deep sleep she had fallen into after the tank had opened had a tight grip on her.
The first change she noticed slipping through was sounds, that definitely didn’t belong here in the white nothingness of the fog. A low repetitive beeping noise that seemed to come from her left. After she was finally able to block that one out she could hear more. Doors opening and closing and conversations in low voices. It took her some time to notice that one of the conversations seemed to be a male night shift nurse updating a female day shift nurse on Naru’s status. Another one was a report to a superior, she guessed it was a doctor by the terms they used when talking to that person.
After she had heard the report three times - she didn’t seem to be making any progress in the eyes of the medics but she was , she was fighting to wake up - she noticed the next change. A soft breeze caressed her cheeks and ruffled her hair. She was able to smell spring flowers in the air.
“The fresh air will surely do you good, Minaru-chan. You’ve been locked up in this rathole of a lab for way too long.”, the voice of the woman she had come to know as her daily companion said. Early on Naru had figured out that there was only one person responsible for her during the nights and one during the days.
Tears welled up in her closed eyes when she was able to place some of the flowers she smelled - thanks to Ino and her insistence that Naruto learn at least something about a few of the more ordinary flowers around Konoha in their past life. She was freed from the laboratory but she sensed that it would take her quite some time to get back in shape. Automatically she clenched her hand to a fist.
Since she hadn’t been able to move a single muscle in the days since she regained some sort of consciousness she was quite surprised to hear her fingernails rake over the fabric of the duvet.
She heard the nurse hold her breath. Then the woman took two steps and Minaru felt her hand on her wrist, softly checking her pulse. She was pretty sure it was racing at that point. “Minaru-chan? Can you hear me?”
She attempted a nod but only barely managed to do so one time until her head hurt like Kurama had chewed on it and then left her to pick up the pieces. She hissed lowly and the nurse brushed some hair from her face to calm her down. “That’s so good to hear. The boys they found with you are still sleeping so deeply we don’t even know if they will wake up. But I don’t want to overexert you. But could you tell me if you are in pain right now? Tap your fingers once for yes, twice for no.”
Minaru tapped twice. Once she had stopped moving her head the pain had subsided again and now she felt like someone had put her whole body in cotton. Not the best feeling either for a trained ninja - even if just in mind.
“Are you feeling up to me asking a few more questions? If you’re too tired that’s okay.”
She tapped once. Maybe she could get some information in the process. Raya was still sleeping soundly in her mindscape, she guessed that it took the phenix quite a bit of strength to heal her.
“Do you remember how you were brought here to the hospital?”
She tapped twice. The last thing she remembered was that Anko had wrapped her up in her coat once they had freed her from the glass container. And she had thanked Shikaku for coming to save her. After that it was only darkness.
“Nara-sama and Mitarashi-san brought you here. They were very concerned for your wellbeing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mitarashi-san visit a patient as often as she comes here to see how you are doing, Minaru-chan.”, the woman said with deep amusement sounding in her voice.
Right when the nurse had finished speaking Minaru could hear the door to her room open and two people entered, they were talking about her it seemed. “-ever they got injected it gradually destroyed their muscles. We were lucky that we caught it before it got too bad.”, a female voice that Minaru recognized from her life as Naruto said. She just had no idea why she was in Konoha… was this reality really that different from Naruto’s last one that she was in the village?
“Is that the reason she’s still sleeping? It’s been over two weeks. I would have thought they would wake up by now.” She recognized Anko’s voice, too. The Snake-Summoner was a character that was hard to forget.
“Their whole neural system was damaged, Mitarashi-san. It’s entirely possible that they won’t wake up at all. We will have to decide what we will do then!”, The other woman said.
“I don’t appreciate you talking about stuff like that in front of a patient that just woke up, medic or not.”, Minaru’s nurse said with a slight snarl in her voice.
The silence following that statement was so absolute, Minaru could hear the other two women breathe from all across the room.
“Woke up?!”, Anko bellowed then.
“Yes. She’s awake, at least she was right before you two came in. She can’t talk or open her eyes yet but she’s moving her fingers.”
She heard someone approaching her bed and then her hand was placed in two warm ones. “Hey, Minaru-chan. I.. I don’t know if you remember me but I was a part of the squad that went into this lab for you. I’m Anko, Anko Mitarashi.” Anko said.
Minaru tapped her fingers on the woman’s hands once. “Yes? So, you do remember her, Minaru-chan?” Her nurse asked and she repeated the motion.
“So one tap for Yes and two for No, I guess?”, Anko asked. Minaru tapped once. She could hear the Snake-Summoner chuckle softly. “That’s handy for us to communicate with you even if just a little bit.”
Another hand was placed on Minaru’s forehead. “Good, you don’t have a fever anymore. Hello, Minaru-chan. My name is Shizune Katou, I’m a medic, my Shishou and myself were called back to Konoha by Sandaime-sama to help you and the two boys that were rescued with you.” Oh, so she hadn’t been in Konoha from the beginning. That was a little bit relieving. But it was good to hear that Tsunade was in the Village now. She would have missed the Sannin, she was one of the only people Naruto had fully trusted in his last life. “Our main concern was to find an antidote for whatever was given to you that destroyed your muscles. I’m honestly surprised that you healed enough by yourself to wake up. Your self-healing must be pretty good.”
She tapped once. She had asked Raya in the time they both spent inside of her mindscape if it would have any effects on Minaru that she had sealed the Phenix in herself. And Raya had told her that apart from a very high natural self-healing rate it would be almost impossible to place a Genjutsu on her.
“So you really have a higher self-healing?”, Anko asked. She tapped once. “Why? Is that a Clan-ability?”
She thought of that. Was having Raya sealed inside oneself a Clan-ability? Not really, even if the Phenix had hinted that she at least knew the Rayani and Minaru doubted strongly that it was a coincidence that the Clan’s name sounded so close to the name of the Phenix. But she tapped twice. She wouldn’t call her an ability. Not only because Raya would probably make her life a living hell if she ever found out. The Phenix was quite proud if nothing else. She was suddenly overwhelmed by a yawn.
“You must be tired, Minaru-chan. No more questions today, from any of you. It’s a small wonder she was even able to stay awake for so long!”, Shizune said in a decisive tone. It didn’t take Minaru more than a few minutes after that to fall back asleep.
When she next came to she wasn’t able to smell or hear either of her nurses nearby. But she could hear someone breathing in the room and she smelled a person she couldn’t identify. She frowned and tried to open her eyes. The light made her close them again and after a few seconds of calming herself she opened them again, more slowly this time. Sunlight shone through the window and when she carefully turned her head she could see an Anbu, he was standing in the corner of her room, napping.
“Huh…”, she said and was surprised that she was able to make a sound at all.
The word startled the Anbu awake and he shot to awareness, going stiff. She could tell he blinked a few times before scanning the room, probably looking for the source of the sound. Then his eyes fell onto her and Kami, she recognized the coalblack eyes behind the mask.
He made a step towards her before catching himself and lifting his hands in a clear sign that he wouldn’t try to hurt her. “You’re awake. Anko said you were getting better but I didn’t believe her at first.”
She tilted her head and looked at him in askance. “You were there, too. Right?”, she asked, her voice so rough she had to suppress a cough. She was pretty sure she had seen Tenzo in the lab.
He approached her and poured a cup of water for her. Then he supported her back and helped her drink. “What do you mean?”, he asked lowly.
“In the room. You were there when Nara-sama came to get me.”, Minaru explained.
Tenzo shot her a surprised look but nodded when he had placed her in the bed again. He took a small step away from her. “How can you tell?”
“Your smell. I recognized it from there.” It was a small lie but she had noticed that her sense of smell had increased a lot in comparison to Naruto’s. So she wasn’t lying about the fact that she should be able to tell who approached her by scent from now on.
He stiffened. “My… smell?”, he asked clearly surprised.
She nodded. “Uh huh.”
“That’s a unique way to recognize somebody.” She could practically hear the soft smile in his voice. Damn the mask that he wore. She wanted to see him clearly.
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s a Rayani-thing? I don’t remember very much about myself or my Clan… I will need to find a way to contact Akane-oba. She should know.”, she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
Tenzo laid a hand on her shoulder. “I will try to help you if I can.”, he said.
She looked up at him in surprise. Then she shot him a bright smile. “Thank you.” She looked around her room. “Where is anybody else?”, she asked.
“There was an emergency with the two boys that we found in the same room as you. I think one of them stopped breathing.”, Tenzo said.
Minaru’s eyes widened in concern. “Is… is he okay?”
Tenzo shook his head. “I don’t know. We fear that there are still those out there who would want to bring you three back in. That’s why I was ordered to stay here to guard you. We will need to wait for Shizune or Naira-san to come back. They will be able to tell us what happened.”, he explained.
Minaru tilted her head a little bit. “Who is Naira-san?”, she asked.
Tenzo scoffed. “Did she never introduce herself? Typical, this woman has her head in the clouds sometimes. She’s the nurse that’s with you during the days. Her elder brother Katun takes over for the nights. They are from the Kurama, your father’s old Clan.”
Minaru blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know Tou-san was from a Konoha-Clan.”, she whispered
“He was. Yui-sama, the current Clan-Head, told us that he was banished from the Clan by the last Elder-council. Something about your mother not being the woman they wanted him to marry, I think. You will have to ask her if you want to know the whole story.”
Minaru hummed. “I… I would like to meet her once I’m feeling a bit better.”
Tenzo smiled softly. “I think she would like that, too. She seemed to be very concerned about you.”