─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄, 𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐈𝐓?"
"Inari?"
Her eyes slowly opened, she was in a white room, Inari sat up slowly and looked around, it was clear she was in a hospital room. Both of her arms were wrapped up in bandages with small spots of blood and her legs felt sore, the blinds were closed all the way so the daylight barely reached inside which she was glad about.
Inari put her hand on her head and winced at the throbbing pain up there, on the small bed stand, out of all the bouquets of flowers, she noticed a small vase and a pretty purple flower in it, Inari tilted her head and picked up the vase to examine it, there was no name or any tags on it, it was just there. She looked at her lap, her brother was sleeping on her legs, snoring softly. Inari couldn't help but smile a bit.
The doorknob clicked, Inari jumped a little bit and it was Hayase and Hoshi with a bag of takeout and Hayase with celebratory balloons.
Inari moved her leg and made Kiyoko wake up, he muttered and wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, "The queen has arisen."He mumbled and sat back in his seat.
"You're awake." Hayase pointed out after setting the bags on the small table next to the bed, Hoshi smiled widely and went in for a hug, Inari was a bit stunned and awkwardly patted his back, "Thank goodness you're okay." He sat down and took a deep sigh, "Congrats on your advancement to the third exams!" Hoshi said with a closed eye smile, Hayase handed Inari the balloons and Inari smiled, "Thank you."
Hoshi leaned forward, "And guess what? I made it to the third exam too. So did your brother. Ain't that exiting?"
Inari laughed a bit, "It kind of is." Kiyoko sat up, "It really is! The Akashi Twins are going into the final Exams, we'll come out of this changed people!"
"You know. My dad is super proud of me. He gave me a super expensive watch as a gift, you know." He fed Inari a spoonful of soup, "Hayase, did you not make it in?" She swallowed the soup and turned to him, he nodded and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand, "Nah, I was beat. It's embarrassing."
"It's not good to beat yourself up, Hayase's opponent was a Sound Ninja and he was no joke! I wouldn't have beat him either." Inari looked at Kiyoko who shivered slightly, "Who was it?"
Before he could answer there was a soft knock on the door, they all looked at the door and a doctor appeared with a clipboard in one hand, she greeted her with a bow. "Good afternoon Lady Inari, I can see you're awake." She examined Inari's arms and legs and started scribbling stuff down, "You were out for 24 hours but you seem to be healing up pretty fast. Tomorrow is the day you'll be discharged and it'll just be a few tests and screenings then you'll be good to go."
Inari nodded, "You lost quite an amount of blood but your twin naturally has the same blood type as you so you were given a transfusion."
Kiyoko rolled up his sleeve and flexed muscle and his bandage with a proud grin, "We both have O Negative and I even gave an extra amount for those in need!" The doctor smiled a bit, "And we appreciate your thoughtful donation
"Are you in any pain?" She asked as she listened to her heart and checked her ears and eyes, "No."
"Are your legs and arms feeling a bit sore?"
"No."
"Do you feel any signs of dizziness and fatigue?"
"Uh, no."
The doctor rolled her eyes and began to talk while sighing, "Alright, I'll come to check on you in a few hours. Uh, you two." She snapped her fingers at three boys, "Make sure that Lady Inari has plenty of liquids. Thanks." She walked out of the room and Kiyoko slumped in his seat, "I should fill you in on what you missed."
Hayase and Kiyoko went on to explain the fights and the winners, they told her about Neji and Hinata's fight and how Neji almost killed Hinata and how Naruto made it to the Third Exam after farting in Kiba's face and how Ino and Sakura lost a fight to each other while Hoshi just nodded along
despite forgetting everyone else's fights.
Inari shook her head, "Wait, what? Neji almost killed Hinata? Is she okay?" She shot up from her bed, Kiyoko nodded, "She's in the same hospital as us but she's doing better now."
Her pupils shrank as she got out of her bed and grabbed the IV pole that was putting fluids into her arm and was about to open the door before Hoshi stopped her, "Inari's wait. You supposed to be in bed." He had his hand on her shoulder and turned her over to look at him, Inari's head was down and she slowly looked up.
Her eyes more redder than before, she gave him a evil glare and removed his hand from her shoulder, "I will kill you." Inari's voice was cold and deep, "If you don't let go."
Kiyoko appeared behind Hayase and smiled nervously, "That's a great idea. Let's go find Hinata's room." He laughed awkwardly, a small snake wrapped itself around Hayase's arm, the purple eyed sweat dropped and lowered his hand and the snake made its way back up Inari's arm.
She opened the door and stormed her way over to Hinata's room, barefoot and all.
The boys followed behind her speed-walking, "Her room is 248 by the way." Kiyoko squeaked as Inari basically kicked the door down.
Instead of seeing Hinata it was a random man laying their lifeless surrounded by his crying wife and children, they all turned to look with teary eyes. Inari stood there awkwardly until her brother came to the rescue, he chuckled awkwardly and while slowly closing the door he said, "Very sorry for your loss, have a good day!"
Moments passed and they were back in Inari's room eating, "We should ditch this place. Inari you seem pretty healed now." Hayase said while slurping his noodles, Inari nodded and ripped the tubes from her arms and got up and made the bed, "Yeah, let's go."
She began to climb up the table between the two boys and opened the window and observed the view down, "Not that high up." Kiyoko set the food down on the floor and wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, "It was getting crowded in here anyways." He agreed while standing up, Inari slipped through the window and landed on the ground.
Then she signaled for the boys to come down, it was Kiyoko first, and then Hayase following shortly after with the balloons in one hand.
Team Six looked at each other and then laughed before running off, "Hey Hayase, let's go to your place." Kiyoko suggested, the spiky haired boy sighed and shrugged, "My siblings will probably eat you alive." He answered while frowning.
The red eyed boy rolled his eyes, "You don't seem like the type of person to have siblings. And if you did, you probably bored them to death with your gloominess." Kiyoko replied with a sly smirk, Hoshi laughed, "It's like you have a dark cloud over your head all the time!"
Hayase narrowed his eyes and glared daggers at him, "I'm not gloomy!" He whined.
Inari smiled a bit, "You two can go I'm gonna go back home so I can change my clothes, I don't like this gown." She explained, the boys nodded, "I can come if you want." Hayase offered, Kiyoko pulled his ear, "If you embarrassed I'll best you just say it!" The boy took off in a flash, Hayase growled and ran after him.
She watched them run off with a soft small smile. The cool Konoha breeze made her close her eyes and her smile grew even wider.
As she began to head back home, she heard a voice calling for her, "Lady Inari!" The voice made her turn her head, her eyebrow twitched a bit at irritation from the name, the only person who called her that was Ayumu. He stopped in front of her out of breath and his hands on his knees, "Ayumu?" Inari looked at him with surprised eyes, he had a small stick in one of his hands that looked beat up, "I just wanted to say congratulations on your advancement to the Third Exam! Everyone is so glad that you're the first Pure Daughter to make it this far!" He said while bowing.
Inari's face then softened and she smiled with closed eyes, "I'm glad." She responded with a soft voice. A small blush crept across the young boys cheek and he diverted eye contact from her, "A-And also- I really look up to you and I want to be an amazing swordsman as you when I grow up so please accept this staff from me!" He shouted without taking any pauses or breaths and held the stick out for her.
She gracefully accepted the stick with a smile and motioned for him to follow her, Inari reached her hand out for him to hold and he did.
The two walked into the complex, Inari was greeted with many bows from her many fellow clan-members . They walked into her room and Inari saw her clothes laid out on her bed, the same with her sword. Letting go of his hand, she walked over to her closet and revealed a small sword.
Turning around, she noticed Ayumu's eyes growing wider and wider with his jaw dropped. "To pay you back, you can have this sword. You've earned it." Inari said while tilting her head slightly.
He jumped around giddily and his smile seemed to never stop growing, he took the sword and swung it around like he was slicing others up, "It was my old one. I grew out of it so I think it's best if it falls into the right hands."
Ayumu smiled widely and nodded with confidence, the katana's case had a handle so he put it on his back.
Inari told him to wait outside as she changed and when she walked back out he was gone, she was a bit surprised but didn't care where he was, as long as he was happy she was fine.
"Inari?" Someone called out, she stopped walking and turned around. It was her mother.
Her body tensed up as Hanami got closer to her, the smile on her face slowly growing wider.
Hanami bent down to Inari's level and pulled her into a tight hug, "I'm so glad you're safe! This is such a big step for our clan, you know. You're the first Pure Daughter who made it to the third exam."
"Thank you, mother." She replied quietly, her eyes never leaving the ground.
Hanami's smile quickly vanished, "You need to stop."
Inari looked up, Hanami frowned deeply at her, "Stop what?"
"Stop digging into things you have no business in." She threw the many articles Inari received from that news guy, her eyes widened, "How did you—"
Hanami tilted her head, "A mother knows everything."
Inari gulped.
"If you really are smart, you should stop sticking your nose in things bigger than what you know." She stated as she began to walk away. Inari quickly picked up the papers and held them close to her chest, "I'm not just going to stop. I will find out what happened to her." She responded with a determined look.
Hanami looked back at her with sad eyes,
"If you care about this clan...you will stop."
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───