Finding Myself [Rewrite]

ch. 30: Little Lotus

"One more time, Lee. You can do it."

"I can do it... I can do it! HAAA! Three hundred!"

Minaki happily clapped her hands as Lee did his final single handed push up with her sitting on his back. It had been three weeks since he had been admitted to the hospital, and he was recovering as well as anyone could've hoped. His friend had poured everything into aiding in his recovery, and managed to reassemble the bone in his arm... She didn't have that much luck with his leg though.

To keep himself occupied, Lee had been exercising almost every day with Mina's permission, and close inspection. He loved that Mina was focusing on him, but he hated that it was because he got hurt. He felt so pathetic being stuck in the hospital, but was grateful that his friends cared.

"Ugh... So... Tired..."

The girl hopped up as her friend fell, flat on his stomach, the entire world spinning as he slowly shut his eyes.

"Oh no!" A nurse shouted as she ran to the boy's aid. The staff had warned him about pushing himself so much so soon after being put under. Mina might have been a great medical ninja, but she was till only a child with very little experience doing such a complicated surgery.

The fact that she was able to fix his arm was miraculous, but he still had a mostly shattered leg, broken ribs, and several other injuries that she hadn't even begun to treat due to the focus she placed on the most damaged parts of him.

One of the onlookers walked up behind the girl with butterflies flying overhead and stopped. "Mina, should you really be letting him do all this now?"

Mina placed a hand on her hip, watching the nurses take Lee away. "It's alright, Ino... Honestly, I don't think he should be exercising at all. I'm not even sure if I fixed his arm properly but... You should see him, how determined he is to keep going... I can't stop him, I can't discourage him. It just wouldn't be right."

Ino sighed, folding her arms and shaking her head. "You really are hopeless when it comes to your friends, huh."

Mina shrugged her shoulders, holding her hand out to allow a butterfly to land in her palm. "That may be true, but it's not like I can help it. You try looking him in the eye and telling him he can't do something."

Ino folded her arms, tilting her head to the side. "You know what... You're right. I don't think I'd be able to do that either..." She said with a soft laugh, then turned to face her. "Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"What's up?" Mina asked, placing the butterfly on her head so they could crawl into her hair.

The blonde looked around to make sure the company she was with had gone already. "It's about that 'thing' I gave you two weeks ago."

Mina narrowed her pale eyes, anxiously rubbing the back of her neck. "Um... Should I be worried?"

Ino gasped, "What? No. I was just gonna ask if you wanted any more." She gave her friend a reassuring smile.

Mina raised an eyebrow. "How much of that stuff do you have, Ino?"

"So worried about the wrong things, geeze, girly, loosen up." Ino giggled, reading the expression on her friend's face as one of pure curiosity. "You have your secrets, I have mine. So, did you want some more?"

Minaki let out a deep sigh, then wrapped her arms around Ino's waist. "You know, that stuff can be highly addictive, right?"

Ino shrugged, taking a small bag out of her pouch and slipping it into Mina's pocket. "Mhm, that's why I only take so much whenever I'm stressed. Just don't abuse it, and you'll be fine."