A Shinobi from the Shadows: Kakashi x OC

8. Bloody Waters

I had spent the following few months as a medic in the Hidden Mist. Their civil war was just beginning. Reformations were being made and the village was expanding, however, others in the Land of Water did not want to change their ways. So many more shinobi were to die if this continued. Industry still boomed, it was as if those who were not shinobi had no care that their ninja continued to die day in and day out. Their beaches became vacation destinations for the wealthy and feudal lords lined their pockets by building condos and vacation homes, expanding trade and buying cruise lines. Some sought peace while others sought to kill, which led me to save as many lives as I could.

Over the weeks, I felt my chakra levels depleting. I became skinnier from 18 hour days of healing with only one small meal. My patients are before I did. I barely got a good night's rest, most nights were filled with attacks and new patients did me to heal. It was at dawn when I finally got a few hours sleep if I was lucky.

Days became harder when children came in injured... or in worse states than I could handle. Surgery after surgery harmed my mental health. My dreams were vivid. I could see children of my own village fall victim on my table. Some nights seemed worse than the genjutsu training Itachi put me through while in the ANBU.

One night, some went as far to even attack the medical base camp. I was in the middle of surgery and had to protect my patient with needle jizo, one of the few jutsu Jiraiya taught me. Once my patient was stable, I then went to protect the others. In order to protect everyone in the camp, I went out alone and knocked out each attacking shinobi, sending my final blow to the ground, just as Tsunade would. I covered the medical base in a mud wall and nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

****

Tsunade caught word I was here and that I was beginning to no longer be myself. She conveniently showed up with Shizune without my knowledge that she would be coming.

"Mom?" I asked confused. I must have felt comfortable enough to stop fighting for my conscious, as I began to pass out from exhaustion at the sight of them.

I awoke in a Konoha hospital maybe four or five days later, confused and light headed. Not long after the door to my room slid open.

"Erizabesu, you're awake now!" Sakura smiled, "I have so many questions for you, it seems like I haven't seen you in years." She wrapped me in a gentle hug.

"You too, Sakura. Ask away," I slowly sat up with a groan.

"Well for starters, when we're you going to tell me about your whatever you have going on with Kakashi-sensei?!" She pressed.

"Sakura, what on earth are you talking about? I've met him maybe twice and both times haven't been recent..." I felt my cheeks blush but I tried to hide it the best that I could.

"Are you sure? He's come to visit you every day since you got here... he's even slept in your visitor's chair a couple of times." She smiled.

"Oh come on, Sakura, I know you're joking... we are friends at best, he even said it himself," I nervously said as I held my neck.

"I don't think people who are friends wait for you at night while you're in the hospital, I guess I'd do the same for Naruto... but he was my teammate after all...," she began to explain.

"Where's Tsunade and Shizune?" I asked.

"Running some of your tests, we knew you'd wake up soon. You were pretty much out of chakra and your body was giving out from malnourishment and exhaustion. Your chakra reserve seems to be ok, we knew you'd be too smart to touch that but what happened there? How did it get this bad?" She asked.

"I went on a journey to find my purpose and walked into another war zone. My instinct was to help others, I put them before myself... they were children, Sakura... genin dying, fresh out of their academy...," my eyes began to tear up, "I thought about you as a child, and Naruto... These children had families and people who loved them. I knew my parents wouldn't have left them like that, it felt like my duty to help."

Sakura comforted me in a gentle hug. "It reminded you of the fourth war, didn't it?" She'd asked.

I nodded my head and wiped my tears. "I've been unsure of my path ever since then. I don't know who I am, if not a shinobi..."

"Join us here, conduct research with your mom. We could all use your skill," she smiled.

"Says the girl who mastered the hundred healings at 17," I giggled.

"We could always use a third," she winked, "Get some rest. I'll be back to check on you later."

Talking to Sakura remind me of everything I loved about Konoha. But bring here reminded me of the life I chose not to live. I wondered where Kakashi was now and if he really came to visit me so many times. The thought of seeing him made me heart skip, though I knew it was essentially for nothing.