Electra Rose
patreon
Great Lakes & Expectations chp 20
🕑 Added 2019-12-09 15:16:53 +0000 UTC
While her first Hokage meeting was nothing but nightmare fuel, the rest were tedious. Nara Shikaku actually noted her presence at one point during his briefing- evidently the Jounin were all up and at ‘em and stressed as hell.
That was less of what he said and more of an interpretation.
She took notes as directed about how many Jounin needed to be brought in for debriefings, as well as a personal note about how few Jounin there were, as compared to Genin. It seemed like there was a really bad clog there somewhere. Genin were basically the lowest level of real shinobi, apparently. (Academy students not included.) Was there just that wide of a skill gap in between the levels?
Tsunade had informed her that as she was, she was basically a really crappy genin. That was with Tsunade’s personal attention, but only for about a month and developmentally about twenty years too late. There was no way that these numbers made sense.
What was the barrier keeping so many from promotion?
It was an interesting question. They had too much work for the Jounin they had, and so any even vaguely qualified Chuunin was getting bumped up to Tokubetsu Jounin in the face of their massive personnel shortage. But they weren’t able to increase the Chuunin promotions by a significant enough number.
Then she started doodling questions about infrastructure and education in general. She had a lot of thoughts.
There was another debriefing meeting with a series of genin teams- evidently some had been increased in class in the field, and therefore a written report wouldn’t do. Mostly they were boring things about bandits, only notable by the fact that they had definitely killed all those bandits and burned the corpses.
She shuddered, but tried to keep it to a minimum. Regina was sure she’d get inured to that sort of thing, which was galling. But she’d need to to stay in this job.
After her working hours were over, the Hokage bid her to provide her notes to the rest of the staff for action. She thought maybe, just maybe, he looked at her approvingly.
So she did as he asked, and also sent off his suggested two full ANBU teams to find Hatake-san and bring him in for a terrible meeting that she thankfully would not be attending. The first terrible one had been more than enough excitement for the day.
Regina tried to keep the glee she felt at escaping off of her face, and fled to the Academy a block away to pick up her new son.
Naruto screeched like a little banshee when she saw her, and ran at her and into her arms. Her chest made a sickening whumph noise when he smacked into it.
‘Ouch, damn.’
“Hey, nee-chan!” He chirped, all happy and somehow also frantic. “Mizuki-sensei said you wouldn’t be back for me, but he was wrong, huh?”
“Which one is Mizuki sensei?” She asked, feeling mildly affronted on Naruto’s behalf.
Naruto looked exasperated, and then pointed. She followed the grubby little hand to the one with the really ugly hat that she’d met earlier.
“Who’s your other teacher?” She asked, asking because she was a responsible parent and guardian and not a horny twenty-something.
“Iruka-sensei.” Naruto scowled. “He’s really strict, though.”
‘That’s kinda hot, no lie.’
“Can I meet him?” She asked, ruffling his hair. He squawked, but he was grinning.
He led her in past the other children, whose parents were also picking them up from school. Naruto seemed happy to hold her hand and lord it over the other children.
One woman gave him a nasty look, and Regina stared at her until she decided that her laceless shoes needed examining.
‘Love to see it. Mind your own business.’
Iruka-sensei was as cute as he’d been last week. He was grading papers and abusing a pen with his teeth when she knocked on the door, child in tow.
“Iruka-sensei!” Nauto ran in, dragging her up to the desk. “This is my new mom,” he looked at her and blushed, “or nee-chan.”
His teacher flushed and shot straight up to his feet.
“Jiraiya-hime.” He bowed deeply and precisely. If he’d gone much farther he would have smacked his head on his own desk. She waited until he came back up.
“Rejina, please.” She smiled at him, and tucked her hair behind her right ear. Naruto was clutching her left hand. “Jiraiya is my father’s name. Quite literally.”
He blinked with some amusement, but recovered quickly.
“My name is Umino Iruka.” He enunciated, looking at Naruto with slightly narrowed eyes.
Ah. Naruto was being inappropriate again. Regina was glad she hadn’t said his name. That was presuming a lot.
“Thank you for teaching Naruto-kun.” She bowed, more deeply than she had yesterday. “I wanted to meet you to talk with you about him and about the other student I’ve taken into my care.”
“Oh?” He was definitely blindsided.
“I have assumed guardianship for Uchiha-kun.” She confided, a bit quieter.
Naruto gripped her tighter. Poor thing probably didn’t want to share.
She didn’t want to say that no one knew if Sasuke would ever even wake up. Umino-sensei seemed to be somewhat aware, because he flinched.
“I might need any assignments he missed, after he recovers.” Naruto was getting fidgety, so she picked him up and balanced him on her hip. If he ran off, she wasn’t fast enough to catch him. And apparently he liked to get into trouble.
He clung to her like plastic wrap.
Umino-sensei seemed a lot less unbalanced. His face softened.
“Of course.” He flipped through some folders on his desk, and started putting some sheets together in a hurry.
“I’m sure you’re busy, we don’t have to do this today.” She reassured him, readjusting Naruto so that he was digging into her ribs less. Such a bony kid. “But I’d like to schedule a meeting with you and their other teacher, Mizuki-sensei, to talk about their educations. Unfortunately, I have a lot to catch up on.” She smiled apologetically.
His nose twitched. It was very cute.
“Is there a time that would work best for you, Ji- Rejina-hime?” His voice hitched a bit.
What was the nervousness about? It was odd.
“Unfortunately, you and I have similar scheduled hours. Would after four pm be workable for you?” That was literally the earliest she could do. She was sure that he couldn’t exactly just tell his little monster students to behave themselves for an hour while he was in a meeting.
God, that was ridiculous. He probably couldn’t really take vacation or sick leave, either.
He agreed, so they made a meeting for the next day at five. That would give her time to stow Naruto somewhere with an activity or something.
“Thank you, I appreciate your time.” She bowed again, and he snapped down fast to bow as well. She couldn’t bow terribly deeply anyway, with an 8 year old hanging off of her neck.
They left, and she brought him back to his apartment.
It was cute (but also terrifying) that he didn’t notice that she didn’t need any directions.
He showed her around his apartment with pride. It was even bleaker inside- some of the food was definitely expired. There was no furniture. He lived in a box with his cute little walrus hat and no one to make sure that he even bathed properly.
“Okay. So, I think you’ve been doing good at taking care of yourself,” (and her initial suspicion that he was severely craving compliments proved true when he puffed up in pride), “but I want to take care of you. You’re not supposed to have to do this alone. Would you like to live with me?”
The question seemed to break him a little bit.
His eyes teared up, and he breathed out shakily.
Naruto gulped, and some tears leaked out.
“That a yes?” Regina leaned down and brushed his hair back from his face, lightly rubbing at his scalp with her fingers.
He sniffed. “Yes, dattebayo!” he fist pumped. “ And when I get big I’m gonna be a great shinobi and take care of you and keep you safe because you’re a princess and I’ll be really cool and blast people like pow pow pow!!!”
“I look forward to it.” she smiled, and tried not to wince at the sheer volume of enthusiasm. He didn’t need or deserve that. It wasn’t his fault she wasn’t great at feelings.
“Right now I live in a temporary house, and in about a month, we would move to our new house.” Regina watched his face for emotions.
He was an open book. And not a hard book. He was one of her father’s exceptionally trashy romance novels.
She missed that weirdo. Things seemed simpler with Jiraiya around to murder-punch any problems.
Also, he had feelings. So many. He might have been useful right now.
But Jiraiya wasn’t here. She was.
Regina had a bleak sort of feeling that that was going to be a recurring theme in her life here.
“Well, get anything you need to take today.” She looked around. “Clothes, pajamas, your toothbrush…”
He rushed around and chucked everything into a bag. Some of it was obviously dirty, and none of it was folded.
Regina politely stared at the plants in the window. There were some cute little ferns, much like baby versions of the one to which she owed a debt of gratitude in the Hokage’s office. There was also an orchid, which evidently needed less watering.
Orchids were a pain in the ass. It was admirable that he was trying.
“Do you have a box to carry your plants?” She asked, pointing.
He squeaked.
“I can’t leave them behind, I almost forgot!” He picked one up in his arms. “Um…”
“We can also come and get them tomorrow. Or later tonight.” She told him. “You don’t have to bring them right now. This apartment is still yours until next month.”
He seemed less panicked then, petting the plant’s leaves and putting it back on the sill.
They gathered up his duffel bag and she carried his favorite fern, reasoning that the orchid might benefit from some time apart from his watering can and attention. They walked down the streets side by side, and when they got home he screamed “Tadaima”.
She blinked.
Oh. That was probably… different for him.
“I don’t live with anyone else.” She advised him. “But on days that you walk home yourself I’ll be here.”
“Until we and Sasuke-teme move into a castle, dattebayo!” He asserted, taking off his grimy little shoes and scrambling into the house.
He wasn’t wrong. She distinctly remembered designing a small castle.
“Yes, but you can’t keep calling him that.” She chided. “It’s a rude word. You’re going to be living together, and I expect you both to try and get along.”
He crinkled up his cute little nose.
“You’re a good boy, I know I can trust you to be nice. Sasuke-kun is going through a lot right now.” Regina went through his bag and put all of it in the washer. It wasn’t worth messing with. Especially because she was going to buy him new clothes.
Actually, it was only 4:30....
“He’s not even awake.” He grouched.
She just looked at him.
“...Okay, I’ll be nice.” Naruto relented.
“I think you and I need new clothes.” She pushed out her lips and thought. “What do you think about that?”
He screeched in excitement- he evidently liked clothes. It was a good start to their relationship.
So they put his plant in the windowsill and left again, walking past store after store until Naruto saw one he liked. They went in, and he tried to buy the shop down. He did need new shoes, for sure. His socks had also been worn.
She bought him seven outfits and two pairs of pajamas, and a truly heinous amount of underwear and socks. They were a bit big on him- luckily that was Japanese, and would keep her from having to replace them too soon.
She also needed to get him the few things her father had recommended, but they were shinobi equipment. Things that wouldn’t wear and tear, protective gear, and a baby’s first murder weapon kit.
It seemed that she had been wrong about not needing a blacksmith.
After Naruto received his fancy clothes, they went shopping for her. She tried on outfit after outfit- reasoning that she didn’t need any more kimono. Jiraiya had her covered on that front. What she needed was professional wear for a princess. It was an odd balance.
“I don’t like that outfit.” He said, sticking out his tongue. “Too boring.”
Regina liked black clothes. They were flattering and, when cut well, were visually pleasing.
But plain black was boring. He was right. And she was never going to fit in.
So there was no point in blending.
Regina knew there were a couple of options for princesses in general. She could go the traditional route, which would be uncomfortable and unsustainable for someone with a real job. Or she could go fashionable and forward-looking.
She put in several custom orders and tolerated the seamstress measuring every aspect of her body, while Naruto got some pens out of her purse and started drawing on the back of her receipts.
Afterwards, she went to a cobbler and did the same damn thing with her feet. She’d have boots and heels for days.
It wasn’t very Japanese. Fuck ‘em anyway.
Then she took her sticky little son to the shinobi outfitting store, and got him everything off Jiraiya’s list.
If Sasuke woke up, she’d get a second set picked up. If some of it wasn’t already at the Uchiha family complex.
She was up to her neck in what they’d left behind, anyway. She might as well go look.
They dropped off their loot in their genkan, and then swung by the flower shop.
Evidently it was run by the Yamanaka clan- pretty blondes without pupils were everywhere. She let Naruto pick out the balloons, and took the flower recommendation of the gorgeous woman behind the counter.
A little girl ran out from the house behind the counter and accosted her with a glare and a pointed finger.
“You said you’re getting flowers for Sasuke-kun. Where is he?”
Regina looked at the woman who was apparently this little girl’s mother, who just smiled tightly.
Ok, then.
“He’s in the hospital, he’s not feeling well right now.” Regina watched the little girl’s face screw up, trying to intimidate her into providing more information or something.
“Would you like me to bring him a message?” Regina asked. The girl’s face was red with concentration.
She evidently gave up on whatever she was trying to do, because she blew out a bunch of air and then huffed.
“Yes.” She stomped back behind the counter, and brought something in an envelope back within a few minutes. “Here. Tell him I miss him.” Then she disappeared again.
“Will do.” Regina promised, tucking it in her purse carefully. She had a soft spot for bossy little girls.
No idea why. Not worth examining.
“Thank you, Yamanaka-san.” Regina directed at the woman behind the counter, who smiled at her much more genuinely than she had earlier.
They left. Naruto was grumpy. She couldn’t exactly blame him- that little girl was far from the first person who had chased her down today to give Sasuke something, or to ask how he was.
“Why does everyone like Sasuke so much?” he asked her. “If I was sick, no one would care.”
“I would care.” She informed him. “And so would your teacher, and Hokage-sama, and Jiraiya..”
“Who’s Jiraiya?” He groused. “I don’t know him.”
“My dad- your grandfather, sort of.”
He made a little ‘hmmm’ sound reached out to grab onto her shirt, but lightly. Her hands were occupied with all the flowers.
“And Sasuke probably doesn’t want all that attention.” She admitted. “Nobody ever wants so much attention. You don’t get enough, and he gets too much. I promise you nobody is happy.”
He seemed skeptical.
“Just wait. Someday you’ll get attention that you don’t like. There’s good attention and bad attention, and you’ll learn to know the difference.”
Sasuke’s hospital room was just as depressing as before when they showed up with decor.
They set about distributing it immediately, placing bouquets on all available horizontal surfaces. The various letters and presents were arranged on a table next to the bed.
While Naruto carefully arranged the pre-sorted flowers, Regina called for a nurse.
“Any change?” She asked, trying to keep her voice low. There was no need to scare Naruto with the seriousness of Sasuke’s condition. He was little and she doubted it would help.
“None.” The nurse confided. Regina noted that her family name was Okada, from her nametag. “His vitals are strong, but his pupils are reacting to something. They’ve determined that it’s a very strong genjutsu- his mind is fully awake.”
“He’s been awake for a week at this point?” Regina was horrified.
“A little more.” Okada-san nodded. “And we don’t know how long he was in this state before he was brought here.”
Everything about this was a horror show.
“Genjutsu ends, right?” She asked, whispering. “At some point he has to wake up.”
The nurse shook her head, slowly. “It should have ended long before now, if it was a regular genjutsu. We can’t dispel it. Uchiha Itachi is… very skilled in genjutsu. He might never wake up. Or the shock to his body might just kill him.” Okada-san swallowed heavily.
“Is there anything we can do?” Regina couldn’t stand just watching him shudder in that bed. It wasn’t necessary or kind to let anyone suffer like that.
“We’d need a very, very skilled medic nin.” Okada-san seemed to examine Regina’s face. “There isn’t anyone good enough here. It’s just such delicate work.”
“You mean Tsunade-sama.”
There was nothing for it. She’d have to beg. Hopefully Tsunade would be up for it. At least Sasuke wasn’t bleeding- that didn’t seem to be as much of the source of her discomfort so much as the fact that he was in Konoha.
Or at least, that’s what she’d been gleaning from Shizune’s letters.
She might have to appeal to a higher power to get what Sasuke needed. Or several.
“Okay.” Regina nodded, lining out her path before her. She knew what to do. If it didn’t work… well. She’d try something else.
“Naruto, say goodbye to Sasuke. I need to stop by the Hokage’s office.”
“I get to see Ojii-chan?!” He bounced. It made Sasuke’s bed shake.
She couldn’t restrain the flinch. “Please, Naruto, be careful. Sasuke is sick.”
He calmed down, looking guilty.
“Bye, Sasuke. You’re sick, so I won’t call you teme anymore, dattebayo.” Naruto poked Sasuke’s cheek. “I hope you wake up soon, so I don’t get too far ahead of you at everything and you have to tell me I’m the best ninja in the world.”
He waited for a reaction that never came. Naruto wilted a little bit, and walked back to her with slumped shoulders.
That may have been his attempt to make Sasuke wake up due to sheer rage. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
She rubbed her knuckles on Naruto’s back, and hoped that the Hokage’s meeting with Hatake had ended. She didn’t want to be anywhere near that.
Evidently it had- but the Hokage was worse for wear. He looked ancient and worn, like an old shoe left out in the rain.
“Hi, Hokage-sama.” She called quietly, leading Naruto in by his grubby little fingers. When he obviously attempted to make a break to jump on the man’s lap, she picked him up by the torso and snuggled him again.
She didn’t know who was training who. But she did know that he responded positively to the touch, and was much more tractable if he was filling up his love tank.
“Jiraiya-hime.” The Sandaime croaked.
He’d definitely been smoking.
“That bad?” She asked, looking around the room. There was no obvious physical damage.
When she looked back at him, he huffed. “Hatake-san is not a violent man.” He corrected her prior misconception. “He will be spiting me in other ways, probably until the end of my life.”
“And possibly beyond the grave.” he muttered.
She pretended not to hear that part.
“I’m very sorry to bother you,” her face screwed up in stress. She bit her lip. She disliked that she was stressed enough that she couldn’t control her own face.
He relaxed somewhat.
“I need to take Sasuke-kun out of the village, I think.” She admitted, juggling Naruto a bit so she could brush her long hair out of her face. “And I need help convincing Tsunade-hime to help him.”
“Ah.” He blinked. “I have not been successful in my efforts in persuading her. Do you think you might have better success?”
Regina winced.
“I don’t know. But…” she eyed Naruto, knowing he was absorbing everything with wide, blue eyes. “I think she’s the only one who can help him.”
He looked at Naruto as well. Something in his eyes flickered.
“I don’t think she’ll come back to the village, at least not right now.” She made eye contact. “My messages with Shizune-san lead me to believe that she’s at least considering helping, because she hasn’t left Tea Country yet. And there’s no blood involved, so I’m hoping…”
“That if you take him out there, she would try.” The Hokage asserted. “I can understand.”
“But I’d to contact her quickly to ask. And I can’t carry him myself for that long.” She was adult enough to admit that. “I’d also worry that it wouldn’t be safe without a shinobi escort.”
He nodded. “For you, and for him.”
She jerked her chin down at Naruto. “I can’t exactly leave my responsibilities behind, either.”
His mouth set in a line, but his eyes just looked sad. “No, you can’t.” He sighed.
“Can I buy an appropriately-ranked mission?” Regina asked. “Escort, to a non-shinobi country and back? I know it’s personal and I have to take care of it myself.”
He nodded silently, and took out his pipe. Then he looked at Naruto, blinked, and put it back into his desk.
“Tonight?” The Hokage asked. “It’s more expensive to do these at the last minute.”
“I hate to ask, but yes.” Regina swallowed bile. Damn, this entire chapter of her life was unending stress. “I’m worried about the state of his mind, the longer this goes on. Trauma in children…”
The Hokage nodded quickly. “Yes. I know. That’s why I raised the age for Academy graduation, years ago.”
He was a fairly good dude, all things considered. Regina decided to table that thought for later consideration. At least he wasn’t a homicidal creep.
“...Do you have any shinobi you’d prefer? I’m sure that you aren’t familiar with many.”
Regina thought about it. She trusted…. basically none of them. She’d met Hatake, who it seemed might be in the middle of a psychotic break somewhere and had been odd before that anyway, the Hokage’s jerk son, the woman with him, and…
“Might Gai?” She asked, quirking her head to the side. “He was nice.”
“He is.” The Hokage actually smiled. “And a good choice.”
She got Naruto to bathe, brush his teeth, and put on pajamas before she heard a knock on the door about half an hour later.
An ANBU handed her a note and stood there.
Apparently this one wasn’t going to fuck off until she read it. So she opened it with her nail and scanned the written notice.
“Ah. ANBU Cat.” she addressed the person in front of her. “My son is in the other room. Thank you.”
They followed her into the house, carefully taking off their shoes. It had to be weird to do that- if someone attacked them in their house, did they take the fight outside barefoot?
“Naruto, honey.” She called. He poked his little head out from the door suspiciously. “This is ANBU Cat. They will be watching you while I go help Sasuke get medical treatment.”
“Can we bring the flowers back here after he gets better?” He asked, which kind of threw her for a loop.
“Sure.” She mussed his hair, and he gave her a sleepy grin. “You didn’t do all that flower arranging for nothing.”
“I’ll be back as soon as possible.” She promised, and then tucked a bill into his hand. “If I’m not back by morning, have someone take you to the cafe I promised you. Buy them what they want, ok?”
She kissed his forehead. He smelled like her shampoo.
“Go get in bed.” She directed quietly. “I don’t want to hear back that you stayed up all night.” He nodded, and closed the door.
Maybe she did kinda get the appeal of kids. She wanted to smother him in love.
“Take care of him for me, yeah?” She asked the ANBU. They nodded, quick and authoritative. “I know it’s well below your pay grade, but he’s kind of important to me.”
She heard a sleepy little sniffle behind the closed fusuma.
Then she went to change her clothes into something more appropriate, and left.
She met Might Gai by the hospital.
He was still wearing workout clothes- she’d figured that he only wore the jumpsuit for running or something. But it was basically athleisure, so she didn’t honestly have any right to judge. If she had any choice at all, she would be wearing nothing but form-fitting yoga pants and sports bras for the rest of her natural life.
At least it looked less weird to her than the literal bags everyone else here wore. It was very Japanese to dress as an ambiguous, gender-less entity. But to her it still looked weird as shit.
“Hello, beautiful flower of Konoha!” He didn’t shout, probably because it was pretty late. He still gave her a megawatt smile and a thumbs up. “I have heard that you have contracted me for a most noble mission!” He handed her the paperwork, so that they could leave the gates and then Fire Country.
“Mmm.” She agreed, tucking them into her pocket. “You’re saving a little boy from potential brain death. Did the Hokage tell you if Tsunade-hime agreed?”
“She did.” He advised. He looked a little worried. “Do you feel that you’ve taken on too much responsibility? Uchiha-kun and Uzumaki-kun at once.”
“Thank you for your concern.” She smiled. This guy was actually nice. She liked him. “I probably have, you’re right. But no one else was going to do it. I thought it would be worse not to try.”
He seemed to decide something. He gave her a toothy grin again. “Then, off we go.”
The nurses carefully unhooked Sasuke from his various machines. The beeps faded one by one. It was a grim kind of scene.
This was either going to save him, or kill him. She hoped to God she’d made the right choice in asking.
The nurses dressed Sasuke in a loose pair of shorts and shirt. They didn’t bother putting shoes on him, just nice thick socks.
Might-san picked him up gently, and cradled him in his arms.
Regina peeked at his face.
Sasuke looked distressed, and his breathing was fast and shallow. It didn’t look good.
“It is a two hour run to Tea Country, Jiraiya-hime.” Might-san said, very gently. “We should leave now.”
She gulped and nodded. “I’m afraid that I’ll be slowing you down quite a bit.”
He just blinked.
They left the gates without incident- though the shinobi at the gate were obviously intrigued. They were nosy, and she normally would have appreciated that.
But not now. She was far too stressed.
Regina ran her hands through her hair and then tied it up. She didn’t have time to fiddle with it.
Then they started running.
Might-san was obviously slowing down quite a bit for her, but Regina thanked Shizune’s awful, soul-shredding training and her nutso magic for making her able to run with chakra. It made her quite a bit faster than a regular civilian, even if she had absolutely no hope of keeping up with him or even a good genin.
They made the border in two hours, running quietly through the dead of the night. Once, she saw a weasel run from them and disappear into a hidey hole off in the bushes.
At the border, she showed the guards her papers, and checked on Sasuke. He was doing about the same. Might-san was obviously making every effort to not shake him too much.
The hotel she’d left from was only about twenty minutes from the border. She knocked on the door.
Tsunade was leaning against the doorway with a glass of alcohol in her hand. The ice clinked against the glass as she swirled it around in her hand.
“Rejina.” She said warmly. “Good to see you immediately ruined at least five other peoples’ day, as well as brow-beating me. I trust you aren’t bringing Gai-kun and this small child to defect with you?”
Regina blinked. “No. Technically I adopted a second one at the same time, probably couldn’t leave him behind.”
“Have him shipped with your luggage.” Tsunade suggested. “Well, come on in. Bring the kid with you.” Then she disappeared into the rooms.
Regina led Might-san into her old room, where Shizune had laid out a futon. He put Sasuke on it, then returned to her side. Shizune covered the boy with the thick blanket.
The boy’s breathing was shallow. His skin pallor was bad.
It made Regina feel uncomfortable. Her natural reaction when she encountered a problem was to fix it. But she’d done what she could. She wasn’t a doctor. And if anyone could fix it, Tsunade could.
It still made her tense up with stress.
Tsunade walked in on her bare feet a few minutes later and sat herself down on the floor, legs gracefully folding under her, straight into seiza.
She lit up her hand with medical chakra and scanned the boy’s head, obviously concentrating.
Then she checked his chest, and opened his eyelids. “Uchiha.” She said, sounding mildly grumpy.
Tsunade sat back and sighed. She made meaningful eye contact with Shizune.
“That’s one hell of a genjutsu.” She removed her jacket, revealing her shoulders. Then she leaned over, bringing more medical chakra in her hand to Sasuke’s temple.
It was a long and horribly stressful thing to watch- and probably more so on Tsunade’s end. Shizune seemed to be reaching up to stabilize his heart rate and check her other vitals.
Regina felt bad for asking them. She knew that Tsunade didn’t practice medicine anymore, and probably for a really good reason. She just hadn’t had anyone else.
After a good hour, Tsunade seemed to be done.
“Good thing you brought him.” She remarked offhandedly. “That would have fried his brain like an egg. As is, he’s going to need consistent monitoring and check-ups.” She gave Regina an eye. “I suppose that’s your responsibility.”
“Hai.” Regina felt more than one pair of eyes on her.
Tsunade snorted. “I’m sure that pissed more than one person off.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“No.” Tsunade sounded amused. “I’m sure you’ll find out in the future, in very unpleasant ways. In any case, I deserve a drink.”
She draped her jacket on Sasuke’s little body and left the room.
“He’s going to need to sleep for a few weeks. If he wants to sleep, let him.” Regina heard from the other room.
He was deep in sleep now, already.
Shizune gave him a sedative, delicately inserting the needle into the crook of his elbow.
“He’ll need to be in the hospital for a bit.” Shizune advised. “I assume you can’t be with him all the time.”
“No.” Regina admitted. “Probably not.”
“He should be ready to come home after a week or so, but he might not be ready to go back to school. It’s up to him.” Shizune rubbed her hand up and down Sasuke’s arm. It looked very maternal. “I’d let him do what he says he wants to, within reason.”
“All right.” Regina wasn’t in a position to reject informed medical opinions.
Then Shizune pulled the covers back over him and stood up. “Come with me, we should let him rest.”
Might-san followed her into the main room, where Tsunade was relaxing on a fluffy zabuton.
“Reji, come here.” Tsunade commanded imperiously, sloshing a little bit of sake onto her hand. She obviously considered licking it up, but seemed to remember that Might-san was there. She primly dabbed at it with her shirt.
Regina obediently sat next to Tsunade, who pulled her practically into her lap.
“You’re stressed.” Tsunade whispered. “What are they doing to you there?”
Regina made a face that communicated ‘horrible things’. Tsunade sighed.
Tsunade’s nails began to scratch her back.
“Gai-kun, how have you been doing?” She asked gamely, with a smile. “I can’t imagine you’re only on medical emergency runs.”
He regaled them with tales of taijutsu fights and his Eternal Rival, while Regina nearly passed out.
Eventually, they all crawled into futons and fell asleep.
They woke up so early in the morning that it was still dark out. Normally, Regina would not acknowledge that this hour existed.
But Sasuke seemed much better. His breathing was normal and he didn’t look like a tiny zombie.
“We should let him wake up.” Tsunade said, stretching her arms and leaning over his bed. “He should know he’s safe as soon as possible.”
That made sense- the last thing he remembered, he was being attacked. No one knew if he’d actually seen his whole family dead or dying. Regardless, whatever he’d seen had been traumatizing and scary.
Tsunade ran her green hands over his chest, running diagnostics. She evidently tuned up a bone crack in his ribs before moving up his neck and to his brain.
“Hold onto your butts.” She said grimly.
The little boy was fast and obviously overexerted- the instant his eyes shot open he sat up and tried to claw Tsunade’s eyes out.
Shizune had to hold him down, which had to be a delicate balance.
Then he seemed to realize Tsunade was not attacking him, stopped, and started bawling immediately. The tears ran down his face, making his tiny chest shudder.
Regina sat down next to him, watching Tsunade run more chakra over his body. She reached out slowly to touch his back, trying to telegraph her movements so that he didn’t freak out and hit her. She wasn’t as fast as Tsunade.
He actually leaned into it, hiccuping and crying. He was evidently exhausted from being in a genjutsu coma for more than a week, because he tired himself out pretty fast, leaning over and passing out on her lap, clawed hand in her hair.
Tsunade-sama huffed, evidently satisfied with a job well-done, and walked out of the room for another drink.
“That went about as well as could be expected.” Shizune said uncomfortably. She leaned back to sit on the floor.
This was the second time in a week a tiny child was attempting to rip Regina’s hair out. She did not care for this particular experience. Was this parenthood?
She slowly and carefully massaged the tiny hand open and re-oriented him so that he was pressed up against her torso, sitting on her lap.
The tiny hands immediately shot back up and around her neck, tangling in her hair.
She felt her lips disappear into a line.
At least he wasn’t pulling this time. Her hair would probably survive.
A silvery-white strand of her hair fell into her lap. She tried to think positive thoughts. Like how hot she’d look bald.
Shizune crawled across the empty futon, behind her, and then brushed her hair out of the child’s grasp, up into a high but messy bun.
“Thank you, Shizune.” She said, gratefully.
They let Sasuke cry himself out, told him reassuring things, and Regina introduced herself. She doubted he’d remember, but it was worth a shot.
Then Shizune sedated him again, so that he’d sleep for the rest of the day.
Might-san picked him up again, bundling him close to his chest.
Might-san was a real bro. She was going to make him her friend. Regina had decided.
“I love you, I’ll miss you.” She told Tsunade and Shizune, giving them hugs. Tsunade’s hug was a little on the painful side, but Regina decided that was just feelings.
“Be good.” Tsunade gave her a big, wet forehead kiss. “I love you, come flee the state with me when you can.”
“I’ll… try?” Regina looked over at Might-san, who didn’t seem that concerned with her proposed defection. “Thank you for helping him. I know it was really hard for you, I’m sorry that I had to ask.”
“You were helping someone who needed it.” Tsunade said brusquely, obviously not interested or able to continue that line of conversation. “I’m glad that I could help.”
Regina gave Shizune another hug, noting that her pocket suddenly became a bit heavier. She was so sneaky.
“We should get back, I need to get Sasuke-kun back to the hospital as soon as I can.”
They nodded. Tsunade, who did not like feelings, went back into the ryokan.
Shizune waved. Regina noticed that if she turned around, she could see her waving in the lantern light until she couldn’t see her at all anymore.
The run was quiet again, but the forest was waking up. When they returned to the village, the birds were starting to sing.
“Anou, Rejina-hime, what will you be doing today?” Might-san asked, conversationally. Sasuke was being reattached to his many tubes. She didn’t look.
She shrugged. “Probably paperwork. Then I have to meet with their Academy teachers. The worst part is tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?” He seemed genuinely interested.
“The beginning of one of my classes.” She admitted. “I have to start taking tea ceremony and ikebana classes, and shodo… tomorrow is tea ceremony, and I’m really nervous. I don’t know anyone and I always want to be good at everything I do. Knowing I’m going to fail at first is hard.”
He nodded in acknowledgement. “That is quite difficult. I admit that I know know very little about the noble art of tea ceremony.”
“Would you like to?” She asked, pretty sure he was gonna turn her down. “I’d love to have a friend there.” She looked down at the ground. “You remind me of my dad… except the part where he’s a pervert who stares at women in onsen.”
Might-san seemed to process all of that with remarkable speed.
“You wish for me to come?” He asked, slowly. Like this was a mild surprise.
“Is there a reason I shouldn’t? I’ve heard you’re really competitive. I’m very competitive but…” she looked out the window. “I can’t really compete with people here on what they consider worth doing. I want to be the best. Would you help me?”
His eyes SHONE. It was almost a little disturbing.
“Rejina-hime, I will help you!” He exclaimed. He wasn’t moving, but he was basically vibrating. The world seemed to distort around him oddly.
“Okay, then. Do I need to tell you where the class is?” She asked.
Evidently not, because he was suddenly gone.
“Huh.” she said out loud. Sasuke’s monitor beeped. “Look at us, Sasuke, doing good and doing well.”
Comments
Omirao
EEEEEEEE GUY!!! He is my favorite, I am so happy to see him T.T Regina is so competent. I aspire to be more like her.
ElectricMaehem
yeah, he's winning. When Kakashi finally stops putting legos all over the Hokage mansion, he may feel some mild regret.
sionnachsSkulk
aaaaaaaaah what a cute chapter. Regina is much better with children than I am. Gai friendship is best friendship. Also, unless I was mistaken, wasn't it supposed to be Kakashi's job to befriend Regina? Tsk Tsk, this puts Gai TWO WHOLE POINTS ahead of him. Also, Gai bby of course Regina wants you around, who wouldn't??? Poor great beast. ...that sad sleepy sniffle killed me, btw.
