Chapter 11
Iruka was feeling anxious. It had been a couple of days since he had found his way back home, and he had been spending his time exploring the neighbourhood with Kakashi and finding everything around his apartment; but he had just arrived at the hospital after a surprise visit from two ANBU officers delivering a message about Tsunade wanting to see him, and he didn't know what to expect.
He and Kakashi were greeted by a teenage girl with pink hair whom he recognised and associated with sakura trees; and she happily led them through the mess of people. Then a hallway and a few rooms later, they came to a halt; and the girl knocked on the door of a closed off area and slid it open, inviting them in. Iruka stepped through and saw that she had led them to a private setup, and that Tsunade was there, talking to someone he couldn't quite see. The girl led him and Kakashi along; and as they approached, Tsunade turned around to see who entered.
"Oh good, you're here." She said. "Take a seat on the bed."
Iruka hesitantly hoisted himself onto the edge, settling towards the centre of the bed, and Kakashi joined him on his right, next to the pillow. There were seats around that he could have sat at, but he had sensed Iruka's tension and wanted to be by his side.
"Thank you, Sakura. You can go back to what you were doing."
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" she asked. Kakashi could tell it wasn't out of concern, and that she just wanted to stay to see him and Iruka together; which didn't surprise him in the least.
"I'm positive. I've got everything sorted."
"Okay, then. I'll leave you to it…" she answered, trying to hide her disappointment; and as she disappeared, Tsunade turned her attention back to Iruka and Kakashi.
"Iruka, I have some news regarding the information you shared the other day."
"Oh? Was I able to help in some way?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes. Your hunch was mostly accurate." she said. "We found a group of missing nin associated with the man who attacked you, lurking around the outskirts of the village; and they were brought in to T&I for questioning. They wouldn't speak to begin with; but they all caved in very quickly once Ibiki got involved, as expected; so that's one threat out of the way."
Iruka didn't know who this Ibiki person was, but the unease in his stomach was telling him he was particularly intimidating; and he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to get on his bad side. He hoped he had never done anything to warrant this person's wrath.
"In regards to the tip about the scroll, the team I sent out couldn't find it; so that was a false alarm."
"Oh…" Iruka said a little dejectedly.
"But the good news is, I know how to cure your amnesia now; so you will be able to figure out what happened with that scroll, yourself."
"For real? You can get my memories back?!" Iruka asked, grinning excitedly.
"Yep, that's why I summoned you here." she said. "But it could take a couple of days until your amnesia completely disappears, because you still need to heal once the poison leaves your system."
"What? I've still got poison in my system? Wasn't it taken away while I was at the hospital the first time?"
"No. I was able to neutralise it and stop it from killing you, but I wasn't able to extract it all."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"We learnt from the missing nin we caught, that there were two strains of poison in your system; a simple one designed to kill within twenty four hours, which is what I treated you for; and a very complex one that affects and slowly destroys the brain as it takes over. I was never able to find the second strain because it's a type of poison that imitates the cells of the person it's in, and usually takes on the form of chakra; which I obviously didn't want to touch, especially when you were so low."
"I've never heard of a poison that imitates cells before… How did a missing nin get hold of something like that?"
"Orochimaru, probably." Tsunade sighed.
Iruka didn't like that name, either; but in a different way to hearing Ibiki's. Rather than feeling a sense of intimidation, it was more of a fear of the sinister; like where there was Orochimaru, there was always calamity. And he felt that this was a person that he definitely never wanted to cross paths with.
"Anyway, now that I know what I'm supposed to be looking for, all I have to do is draw the poison out with medical chakra."
"How will you be able to tell the difference between my chakra and the poison?" Iruka asked in concern.
"Neji is going to help me." she said simply. "He will be able to tell me where it is."
A teenage boy with dark long hair and pale eyes stepped forward - the person he had seen Tsunade talking to before; and a small ball of fondness squirmed in Iruka's chest.
"Sensei." he nodded to him and then Kakashi.
"Neji-san…" Iruka said thoughtfully, studying him. "Did I teach you at the academy?"
"A few years ago, yes." he nodded.
"Thought so…"
"If you're ready, I'm going to get Neji to find the poison for me." Tsunade said, coming around to the side of the hospital bed.
"Okay." he said. Tsunade glanced at Neji and nodded.
"Byakugan!"
Iruka watched with interest as veins suddenly appeared around Neji's eyes and his expression turned even more serious. He was very focused on what he was doing; and Iruka was beginning to feel self-conscious being studied so thoroughly. Even though barely ten seconds had gone by, time seemed to pass slowly, and Iruka's self-consciousness was transitioning into worry. Was it even possible for Neji to find the poison? How would he be able to tell the difference between chakra and fake chakra?
"The poison has taken on the form of chakra, as you suspected." Neji suddenly said, still studying him with his piercing gaze. "But instead of being in Iruka-sensei's chakra pathway, it is flowing through his bloodstream. It doesn't look like anything else unusual is going on in his system, so I think we've gotten to it in time."
"Hmm…" Tsunade pursed her lips, staring intently at Iruka as though she was looking right through him. "I think the best procedure will be to cut into your arm and draw the poison out through the wound, which I can heal right after. It's going to be quick, and painless. I'm going to numb the area first, so I won't have to put you under; but I would advise you not to watch what I'm doing if you think it will make you squeamish. Is that okay?"
"There isn't a better way to draw it out?" Kakashi interjected. "Nothing less… surgical?"
"No. Because it's poison, and not chakra, it has to come from an opening; and because it's in Iruka's bloodstream, I have to make him bleed." she explained.
"Oh, okay…"
"Don't give me that look - it's really not as bad as it sounds." she scolded lightly. "Anyway, if there are no objections, I'd like to begin - I don't have all day. Are you ready, Iruka?"
"I… guess so." Iruka said hesitantly.
Kakashi grabbed his hand, sensing his apprehension; and ignored Tsunade's smirk and the pink tinge across Neji's face as he gently caressed Iruka's skin with his thumb. For the first time since dating Iruka, Kakashi wasn't embarrassed to be seen holding his hand, or doing anything affectionate publicly. In that moment, he didn't care what anyone else thought - he just wanted to support Iruka, to make him feel safe and secure, like he's not alone; and if holding his hand, or even kissing him was what it took, then that's what he was going to do. Iruka's comfort was more important than anything else.
"I'm gonna need that table, just in case." Tsunade murmured to herself, wheeling a lined stainless steel tray over from the foot of the bed, fitting it over Iruka's legs.
She grabbed his free arm, and slid his uniform sleeve up until his forearm was completely visible, then laid it on the table, palm up; and when she was satisfied with the setup, Tsunade hovered her hands over the area, and began. Her hands had an unfamiliar purple aura illuminating a small orb around her, and the edge of the glow that had reached Iruka's skin was lightly pricking at it, like something small and sharp was poking him. He tensed slightly as the strong pins and needles sensation jabbed at him and started to become more intense; but as the seconds ticked by, all the sensation in his arm began to fade away, and soon he couldn't feel anything at all.
"Wiggle your fingers." Tsunade instructed, stopping her numbing technique. Iruka tried, but no matter how much he forced it to move, his arm wouldn't respond to any of his commands.
"I… can't. My arm is dead."
"Good. Now, don't look if you get sick easily." she commented absently, focusing solely on what she was doing.
A bright blue glow radiated around Tsunade's right hand, and she dragged a finger along Iruka's forearm, from his wrist to about a third of the way up his arm, slicing a thin, inch long line into his skin as she moved. Iruka had a morbid curiosity about what she was doing, and watched as Tsunade pressed two fingers against the incision, where blood had started to pool; finding it strange that he wasn't feeling anything at all.
The blue glow Tsunade had produced transitioned into the familiar green of medical chakra; and she frowned, deeply concentrating as it trickled into Iruka's bloodstream. The tension had thickened in the room as time slowly ticked away; and Iruka was beginning to wonder if she was even doing anything at all - he couldn't detect any differences.
Then Tsunade suddenly began to draw her fingers away, slowly and steadily; and Iruka saw that she had attached her medical chakra to what looked like a string of chakra, and was pulling it out of his blood, completely clean. He watched in horrified fascination as it snaked through the cut like it was a ball of wool being unravelled through his arm; and was even more surprised when it started to sizzle as it came into contact with air and dissolved right before his very eyes - he had never seen anything like it before. But as Tsunade kept pulling more and more out, he suddenly paled and looked away, tightening his grip on Kakashi's hand.
"What's wrong, Iruka?" Kakashi asked in alarm.
"I'm not in pain, but," he winced, closing his eyes tightly, "I can feel it being pulled out of me, like it's one big string sliding right under my skin. I don't know if I can handle this."
"I'm nearly done, Iruka." Tsunade said empathetically. "Just bear with it a little longer."
"I'll… try." he swallowed, trying not to squirm in place.
The sensation became increasingly uncomfortable and sickening, almost painful but not quite; and a light tremor set in Iruka's body as he tried to ignore the ickiness of the procedure. He refused to think about how much had been pulled out of him already and how much he could feel was left to go - it would only make him more nauseated; and he leaned his head into Kakashi, trying to calm himself with his scent as he rode out the rest. He never wanted to experience anything like this again.
Then finally, after what felt like hours of torture, everything stopped, and Iruka started getting feeling back in his arm again. He lifted his head from Kakashi and braved a peek at his arm, and saw that besides a little bit of dried up blood, there was no evidence that he had been cut into at all, nor of the endless stream of poison that had coagulated into a thread; and he relaxed a little. He was still a little queasy, but now that the worst of it was over, he was sure it would go away.
"Wiggle your fingers. You should be able to move your arm now." Tsunade said.
This time when Iruka followed her instructions, he found that she was right, and that he had full movement of his arm again; and when Tsunade wheeled the small table out of the way, he finally released Kakashi's hand, and jumped off the bed, eager to escape the hospital and get some fresh air.
"Well, Iruka, you are now poison-free. Your memory should return within the next couple of days and everything should be back to normal; but if you have any concerns or something doesn't feel right, please come and see me."
"Of course. Thank you, Tsunade-sama!" Iruka grinned.
"You may go."
As they left the building, Iruka couldn't stop smiling. Despite feeling so sick, he was ecstatic - he was finally going to get his memories back; and he couldn't wait to see what he was missing. There was so much he wanted to know, so many people he wanted to remember, and so many moments he wanted to relive; and he couldn't contain his excitement.
Just a couple more days, and he would know everything.