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Koiuta	By : dragonslover1 Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1149 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
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- 15
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. I am not profiting from this fanfiction.

Koiuta, Love Song

Unlucky Thirteen

Shino didn�t get even a glimpse of Tasha for a day. He looked for her every so often, only to conclude that she was still in her room. He asked a few people if they�d seen her about, but received negatives. Some were surprised to hear that she was back -- apparently the word of her return hadn�t spread as far as he�d thought.

He grew more worried about her with every hour that passed and she didn�t leave her room. He tried telling himself that she was recovering, that it would take a while. It did little good. He was getting paranoid from the recurring vision of her leaving without a word, at the memory of how devastated he was the last time.

Don�t think like that, he told himself. She�s not gone.

He wanted to check on her, knock on the door, at the very least. At the same time, he feared what he�d find. The two biggest of these scenarios were that she was either there and would glare at him with everything she had, or that she wouldn�t be there, but a note would be. A note that would undoubtedly read as a goodbye. He wouldn�t let himself think of the third scenario.

His heart hadn�t stopped aching since the morning of the procedure, only dulling to a hum if he were distracted. And it was getting harder to distract himself. He was counting the hours without meaning to, wondering if she would ever leave her room.

Twenty hours after putting her in her bed, he made up his mind. Knocking on her door, however, received no answer. The knife in his heart was suddenly jagged. He opened it, stepped inside, and saw her in bed. Her eyes were closed, the blanket so high it barely left her visible from the eyes up.

�Tasha?� he ventured, quietly. If she were sleeping, he didn�t want to wake her.

She looked up, the visible part of her face a grimace. It cleared after a moment. �Nice to see you again,� she greeted, her voice rough.

He was almost surprised to see her eyes hadn�t changed color. When she told him that her eyes matched the jewel because of the jewel, he�d been wondering what her eye color was before the change, if it would change back. It made sense that it hadn�t, at that; such a change would be permanent for eyes. Now he supposed he would never know, though he didn�t mind. That shade of blue was enchanting.

He shut the door and came nearer, squatting before her. Upon closer inspection, he could see sweat lining her forehead. �How do you feel?� he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. He brushed her hair back, felt that her skin was too hot.

�My everything hurts,� she told him miserably, �but I�m breathing.�

He pulled back the blanket, then stopped dead. Every last bit of skin that she showed were lined with tiny purple bruises. He knew those spots, too; those were chakra points. He glanced at her, noting that she didn�t look for herself -- she probably knew -- and then looked down again. She was curled up, holding herself. His eyes lingered on her stomach, and he felt relief that at least the scabs weren�t bleeding. It looked like her sweat must have washed most of the blood off, even.

He covered her again. �I�ll get a doctor to come see you.�

She grimaced. �Do you really have to?�

�Have you seen yourself?� he countered. He�d never seen chakra exhaustion like that before -- normally it was just that: exhaustion. But bruises? On the other hand, this was a little different from �normal� chakra exhaustion. Her jewel complicated it.

She gave a pitiful moan. �Yeah, but. . .I�m not getting worse.�

�You don�t look like you�ve been recovering, either.� He took a step back. �I�ll be back as soon as I can.�

�Shino. . .� He paused, hand on the door, and saw her smile at him. �Thanks for checking up on me.�

The pain in his heart was gone, simple as that. As though drawn by her, he came back, knelt and kissed her. �Anything you want, Tasha,� he told her. �I love you.�

Her smile widened. �I want another kiss.�

It was amazing how she could still be playful when he knew she was hurting. He kissed her again as she asked, lingering over it.

�I love you, Shino,� she told him, the proximity making their lips brush with each word.

He considered kissing her breathless, but didn�t think it would be helpful towards her health. With difficulty, he rose, promising to be back soon, again, as he left.

In the hospital, through chance or fate, he recognized Sakura right off the bat, talking with a child and his parents in the entrance. She seemed to be giving orders for a prescription; something to that effect. He waited impatiently for them to leave, glad she saw him once they had.

�Shino,� she greeted. �What are you doing here?�

�Do you make house calls?� he asked.

She rose her brows in surprise. �I go wherever I�m needed,� she agreed. �You --�

�You�re needed,� he told her. He inclined his head. �Follow me?�

She looked stunned for a moment. �Yeah, sure thing.� She informed the receptionist that she was leaving, and then she was on his tail. �You�re walking awfully fast,� she commented, slight annoyance in her tone.

�Did Tsunade-sama ever tell you about Tasha?� he started.

�A little. She left because it was dangerous to stay, right?�

He nodded. �She came back and we solved the problem. But she�s not recovering well. I�m worried.�

�Fill me in,� she ordered. �All the details.�

He spoke fast to match their pace. At one point Sakura looked horrified, as if she couldn�t believe what Tasha had to go through with the bugs. He was used to those expressions, but not enough that it didn�t sting. He led her to Tasha�s room and came in with her.

As he did so, he caught sight of his father down the hall and knew he wouldn�t need to explain a thing to him later.

�Tasha-san?� Sakura began, gently. He guessed it came in handy to speak to patients in that tone. She sat on the bed. �I�m Haruno Sakura. Have you heard of me?�

Tasha nodded, more weary than before. He wondered if she�d been fighting sleep, waiting for him to return. �I met Naruto a few times. He mentioned you once. �Super amazing doctor� were the words.�

Sakura smiled. �Let�s take a look at you.� She pulled the blanket back, traced her eyes down Tasha�s body.

�Did�ja have to practice much to get that tone down?� Tasha teased.

�Some effort went into it,� Sakura laughed. She felt Tasha�s forehead, frowned.

�That�s modest of you.�

Sakura glanced up at where he stood, silent. �Come over here,� she told him, �and hold her hand.�

He didn�t argue. But Tasha did.

�My hand?� she echoed, though she didn�t complain.

He sat on the floor, an arm braced across the pillow and over her shoulder. His other hand held hers. It was a little uncomfortable, but no more so than he imagined she was.

�It helps,� Sakura answered, beginning to trail her hands down Tasha�s body, always a centimeter above touching.

�Every time?�

�Every time. Why are you talking so much?� she asked, curious.

Tasha smiled. �It�s helping me stay awake. I figure you�re gonna need me to answer questions eventually.�

�Probably.� Sakura�s face grew serious, then concerned. �I don�t understand this jewel of yours. How did it manage to cause this much damage?�

Shino perked up, just as Tasha did. Sure, she was bruised and tired, but to say this much damage?

�What do you mean?� Tasha said.

�I mean, you have internal bleeding,� Sakura told her. �It�s not severe, but it�s probably what�s been causing your lethargy, and a lot of the pain.�

�Oh. That must have happened when they were biting.�

Shino flinched.

Sakura turned to him. �You didn�t mention biting.�

He had nothing to say to that, beyond, �I must have overlooked it.�

�That�s a hell of a thing to overlook,� she chided.

It was like being scolded by his parents. He turned his attention to Tasha, who was wearing a smirk, eyes on him. She was amused?

�It�s not funny,� he told her.

�I�m bedridden. I can laugh at whatever I want.� She stuck her tongue out at him.

He frowned.

Sakura gave a laugh. �Don�t stop her,� she said to him. �She has the right idea.�

�What, laughing?� he asked, surprised.

�It helps recovery if you�re happy. Happy people laugh.� She went back to work, folding her hands over Tasha�s chest. Little by little, she moved to cover the entire torso. At the end, she was frowning, too.

She looked up, specifically at Tasha. �I have good news and bad news. The good news is, there�s nothing permanent about your wounds. It�ll all heal. The bad news is, it�s going to take quite a while. Your chakra points are refusing to let any other chakra in, so I can�t help heal them.�

�So it�s just going to be a while,� Tasha concluded.

�My estimate is seven weeks before you�re back to tip top shape. Less if you can keep smiling,� she added with a grin.

Tasha smiled back. �I�ll give it my best shot.� She smothered a yawn.

While Sakura had been busy, Shino had kept his eyes on Tasha. And she had smothered more than a few yawns every minute, even fought to keep her eyes open.

Now he said, �Thank you, Sakura. Do you need me to show you the way out?�

Sakura rose, shaking her head. �The only thing you need to do is keep an eye on Tasha, here.� She winked. �You can manage that, right?�

�I promise,� he agreed with a nod.

�Promise her,� Sakura corrected. She waved her fingers and was out the door.

�Yes,� Tasha agreed, a cat grin on her face, �promise me.�

�I promise,� he laughed. He kissed her forehead. �You need to sleep.�

�You should get me a bell,� she said.

�A bell?� he repeated.

�Rule forty-seven: I ring the bell, you come running.�

He laughed loud. �At least I know you�ll be just fine,� he said after a moment. Then he rose to sit on the bed, bent over her. He kissed her, reveling in the fact that after all she�d been through, she still wasn�t rejecting him.

Quite the contrary; she lifted her arms around his neck, held him there. Despite how tired she was, she could kiss with fervor very well.

He kept them shallow, though. The last thing he needed -- either of them needed -- was for sexual tension to show up at a time like this. She was injured and tired, he reminded himself, with seven weeks of recovery ahead.

He drew back. �Go to sleep,� he told her.

�Do I have to?� she complained, even as her eyes closed.

�Yes. I�ll come back in a few hours.� He had to pull her arms off him, smiling at her reluctance to let him go.

It hardly took a few more seconds and she was out. He covered her and left as quietly as he could, though he doubted anything less than an earthquake would wake her up. He met his father in the corridor, not far down.

�Did you talk to Sakura?� he asked.

Shibi nodded. �She told me everything. Shino, I don�t want you to take total responsibility for her.�

�Why not? My bugs caused all this. It�s only right I help her recover.�

�What I mean is, allow Shaniko to help. She�s here more than you are. And what would you do if Tsunade-sama gave you a mission and you were gone for three days?�

Shino glanced down. �I see your point. And I wouldn�t have argued with mother helping,� he pointed out. �I just want to be there with Tasha as much as I can.�

Shibi lifted his hands in surrender. �I won�t ask for more.�

Shino paused, looking over his shoulder at Tasha�s door. In the few seconds between leaving her and meeting up with his father, several thoughts had gone through his mind, not the least of which was centered on bathing Tasha, until she was capable of doing it herself. He didn�t like the idea of having to carry her a long ways to do it.

He said now, �I was thinking of having Tasha stay in my room while she recovers.� From the looks of it, his father didn�t agree. �I�ll sleep in her room,� he promised. �I just don�t want her to be far from a bathroom.�

All at once, Shibi was convinced. �Good idea. As long as you can restrain yourself for her.�

Shino gave him an impatient look. He kept the fact that he was offended hidden. �Give me a little credit,� he said. �I�m not going to make anything harder on her.�

�I�ll talk to Shaniko if I see her first,� Shibi promised. He clapped his son on the shoulder. �Good luck.�

Shino was baffled. He needed luck?

Just shy of two hours later, he came back to see to Tasha. He found her door open, Shaniko inside, but Tasha missing. Shaniko was in the process of changing the sheets.

The smell that wafted up told him exactly why her sheets needed changing. He suddenly realized what his father meant about luck. If he was going to take care of a bedridden Tasha, then he might just need to clean up after her. His nose wrinkled.

�Mother?� he ventured, remaining in the doorway.

She glanced up. �Shino,� she smiled. Like most of the women in the clan, she never had her face covered -- other than what the sunglasses hid. �Shibi took her to your room a while ago,� she answered before he could ask. �I bathed her, put her to bed, and came back to fix up the bed.�

He glanced down the hall, though he knew his room was nowhere in sight. �She hasn�t had anything to eat in over a day,� he started. It was one thing he worried over during the last two hours.

�Then make sure she eats when she wakes up.�

He always knew his parents were polar opposites on certain things, and Tasha was one of them. While Shibi had a difficult time believing he�d come to love Tasha so much in such a short time, Shaniko was elated by that fact. He supposed it shouldn�t surprise him that they were opposing sides about her recovery, as well. Why not? They�d been butting heads -- loudly -- since Shibi first informed her of Tasha and his solution. Shaniko thought it was the worst idea to have ever come about.

Just now, she as good as told Shino to go and sit with Tasha for hours, until she woke up by herself. Shibi, on the other hand, didn�t want Shino too close for too long; that was why he�d included Shaniko into the plan.

He crossed over to her and leaned down to kiss her cheek. �Thank you, mother.�

She cooed, patting him on the arm. Though she wasn�t quite as tall as Tasha, she held herself higher, especially so when he or Shibi doted on her.

�You still surprise me,� she was saying now, a gentle smile on her face. �You know you weren�t this big when you were born?�

�I wasn�t?�

�No. In fact you were under average size for a newborn. But look at you now,� she laughed, stepping back and appraising him.

He was smiling. His mother always made him feel things in contradictions. While pointing out things like his height, she made him feel small, as though he could still fit in her arms if he wanted to.

�You must have willed me to grow very hard,� he replied, hugging her to him.

She laughed again. �Now go see to your princess.� She pushed him towards the door. �She misses you.�

Your princess. The words stuck with him. He knew Tasha liked to be viewed as one, but he didn�t know her views were infectious. She�d won over his mother.

As he entered his room, finding her asleep as expected, he had the thought that she did look like a princess from ages past. He�d seen quite a few pictures of such princesses -- paintings, tapestries, sketches, book covers -- and many of them had her exact bangs. He figured she styled it that way on purpose.

She especially resembled one now, peacefully asleep in a white robe, her hair loose along the length of the bed. She looked like she�d been covered up to the neck when she was put to bed, only to move in her sleep and push the blanket down to her waist.

He straightened it, laying it over her shoulders. She didn�t make even the slightest move.

Now he was caught. On the one hand, he didn�t want to wake her, but on the other, she was probably starving. Either way, he didn�t see a use for staying here and being idle. He pushed her hair back where it�d fallen over her shoulder before stepping out.

He came back soon after with a tray in his hand. It bore a bowl of rice and tall glass of tea. He would�ve chosen something else for her, but he�d run into a few old ladies who advised against anything more. They warned him that a girl with internal bleeding might not be able to keep much down. They also added, more quietly, that young ladies would never want to eat in front of the men they loved for fear of being seen as a glutton.

He made the decision that if she were hungry after, he�d get more.

She was still asleep. He set the tray aside, then set to waking her up. It took a while; she was protesting against consciousness, even verbally once (�Don�t need to eat in dreams, whatever you say.�)

It took even longer to help her finish everything. He acted as a back brace for her, sitting against the wall, his hands over hers because her strength wasn�t constant. She was asleep again as soon as he set the dishes aside, before he could move. He chose to remain there, with her sleeping against him. The problem that occurred to him was whether or not her body could take remaining like this. Although he was no doctor, he couldn�t imagine sitting upright while bleeding internally could be helpful.

Otherwise all the injured people would sleep standing up.

It was difficult getting out from behind her without jostling her, though she didn�t move much when he did. He just made sure she was comfortable and warm before he left with the dishes. Shaniko checked in twice, later, while he was with her and she was awake, the second time having him step outside. From the other side of the door, he heard the two talk, heard shuffling he attributed to Shaniko helping Tasha walk. Voices echoed in the bathroom, though only one line stood out:

�This is ridiculous, needing help to pee,� Tasha said.

Shaniko laughed and replied.

She was awake for most of the night. He helped her eat again, though she didn�t finish it off. And later, when she started nodding off, he put her to bed.

She caught him before he�d so much as stood up, a hand on his vest. �Kiss me,� she said.

He laughed. �You�re greedy,� he told her, even as he leaned in.

She made a noise of agreement. �But so are you,� she replied. �Taking up so much of my time like this.�

�As if you have somewhere to be,� he countered, amused. �And it�s not like I stand here and stare at you in your sleep all day. I would just. . .feel bad, leaving you awake but bored.�

She just smiled.

Things fell into routine after the first day was over. Between training with his team and taking care of Tasha, his day was filled with little time to spare. He didn�t mind, though; most of the time he spent with Tasha was relaxed. She talked with him when she was awake -- rather, she teased and laughed at her own jokes -- and he reclined against the bed while she slept. She was always wearing the necklace, a fact that was never lost on him.

She started ordering her own meals, and he started getting smaller portions when it became obvious she couldn�t finish what he normally brought. Shaniko popped her head in every two hours except during sleep, helped Tasha bathe at least once a day, and with her watchful gaze, his sheets were saved.

He was nudged out of sleep almost every night, having fallen asleep against the bed, by one of his parents. Shaniko did it for his own good; Shibi did it for propriety�s sake.

As Tasha recovered, she asked for kisses more often. He never denied her, though he did begin having suspicions about her motives. And he always kept the heat low; he�d told his father he wasn�t going to make anything harder on her, and he was going to stick to it.

No matter how hard it was on him.

The interesting thing was the change in his insects. The ones inside him seemed tougher, and he supposed the jewel�s chakra had made them stronger -- or possibly just the huge amount of chakra they�d drunk had done it. The ones he kept in cages (and rotated on occasion) all seemed different somehow, though he couldn�t pin down how or why.

After three weeks she was walking everywhere and no longer needed help reaching the bathroom. If she wanted to go anywhere beyond the door, however, she needed help. She was also sleeping less, and he caught her more than once doing stretches and exercises. She claimed it was for her own good, which he had to agree to, but he made sure she kept it limited all the same.

And her jovial attitude never let up.

. . .At first.

It fell flat the first time because desire overrode it. They were sitting side by side, talking about things that didn�t really matter, when she leaned nearer and kissed him. At first it was no big thing, until she made it obvious she wasn�t going to stop on her own.

Panic had gone through him. What was she thinking, trying to get him riled? She was injured, of all things, on a long road to recovery!

But it was hard to push her away when she employed her tongue like that. . .

Nonetheless, he stepped away for distance (which was harsh, really, when he knew she couldn�t get on her feet by herself). Then they had a long, pointless argument about passion and just how fit she really was. Her point was that she didn�t have to do much, and damn it, she was tired of waiting. His rebuttal was that he couldn�t risk accidentally making her more injured, setting back her recovery date.

Despite it being a lengthy argument, neither of them were actually making ground towards an agreement. In the end it was Shaniko who ended it, simply by intruding at her specified time.

The second time, he found her on the floor with the window wide open. She was huddled over. A wave of fear took over and he rounded on her quickly. She looked up when he was level with her and he saw the tears on her face. She was holding her flute to her -- and in two pieces. She�d snapped it in half.

For a long while she couldn�t speak intelligibly, and when she could, she explained. She had just wanted to play her flute as she�d done in the past, and had opened the window to allow insects to fly in and join her. But they hadn�t. The change had panicked her, because she had never thought it was the jewel that had been calling them -- she thought it�d been herself, the music, the flute.

Breaking the flute was an accident, but she considered it ironic. He didn�t ask why; he wasn�t sure he�d be able to hear her self-pitying words. Her tears alone had done a number on him, more so because he couldn�t think of how to cheer her up. Another cry would be totally unbearable.

She asked him to stay with her that night, so he had. He fell asleep long after she did, nestled up against him, his arms around her. He woke in the morning, surprised to find that no one made him get up. He supposed it was Shaniko who found him but left him be; he couldn�t imagine Shibi letting them sleep like this. Or maybe they decided to stop checking on him.

When he looked down at her, she�d never looked so beautiful before. He brushed her hair back to see more of her face, smiling to himself. He couldn�t believe the luck he�d struck with her. She had been through so much because of him, and yet she stayed. She was even in a good mood while bedridden.

. . .Kind of like a butterfly.
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Koiuta