Tsubaki Nara didn't know why things happened, only that they did. Thrust in the middle of political power struggles, agonizing conflictions of the heart, and discovery of world-shattering revelations, Tsubaki must learn for herself where she belongs...
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THIRD POINT OF VIEW
"Go away..." Tsubaki groaned beneath her pillow, wishing for the incessant knocking to go away. After Hizashi had visited, all of Tsubaki's earlier exhaustion came like a crashing wheelbarrow. She wanted to be dead to the world right now. Her body remained as still as possible beneath the comfy covers, trying to drown the person out.
'It's late at night! What a drag.' But no matter how much she pretended they didn't exist nothing was going to stop their persistence.
She shot out of bed, ignoring the soreness all over her body. "Who-!...Naruto?"
The blonde was perched outside the window sill, waving excitedly. He almost lost his grip from the exaggerated greeting. "Gah! You idiot! This is the third floor!" Tsubaki rushed over to let him in before he could plummet to his death. The second he was safely inside the building he wrapped her up in a strong hug, nearly carrying her off the floor.
"You're alive dattebayo! Thank goodness." His sobbing could have woken up the entire ward. Tsubaki struggled out of his grip to quieten him before the nurses on duty heard.
"Be quiet!" She removed her hand from his mouth, cringing at the ugly sight of his snot dripping from his red nose. "You're not supposed to be in here. Visiting hours are over already. Why didn't you just come to visit me tomorrow? What if you fell from the window and broke something. And your face is all red from crying. Jeez, take better care of yourself, would you? Or at least have better judgment. Come here."
She pulled him over to the private bathroom. She started wetting the small face towel her mother brought over for the morning and ran it under warm water. Once it was thoroughly soaked she gently rubbed his face.
"Why the heck are you crying," she muttered quietly, continuing her work without meeting his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to make the patient feel better, not worse?"
"...But I heard you were seriously hurt." Naruto looked down at his feet. "The adults wouldn't let any of us come you see you when they brought you back. I went to your house to ask Shikamaru but he was crying."
Tsubaki thought back to earlier this evening. If her twin heard that someone else had seen him crying, she wondered how harsh of a blow his stoic pride as a man would take. "Everyone at school was worried too. Iruka-sensei wouldn't tell us no matter how much we asked about you. Then I heard the nurses kept saying you were in cri...criq..."
"Critical."
His cheeks burned. "Y-Yeah. They said you were in critical condition...I thought that if I came during the day then the nurses wouldn't let me come in so I waited. I told myself I wasn't going to cry when I came, but...when I saw you, I couldn't help thinking that if you died...I would've been all alone again. You're my only friend. I don't want you to die."
