[The next morning...]
Ayuda's P.O.V
After having my breakfast at home, I set off for the hospital. There were two people I wanted to visit most – Kazuki and Sasuke. I tried visiting them yesterday with Naruto and Kaito, but the nurse told me that they were not in good shapes to have visitors, so we weren't allowed to see them. Kaito and I returned to our own houses while Naruto stayed to search for Kakashi.
"Excuse me..." I spoke to the nurse who looked to be a little preoccupied with the paperwork at the counter. Despite her busyness, she raised her brown eyes to mine and stretched her lips into a smile. I was about to continue speaking when a mousy, feminine voice called me.
"Ayuda-san...?"
I spun around to see Hinata Hyuuga standing two meters away from me. She was in her ninja attire and she looked perfectly fine. No blood, no scratches, no injuries. My rosy lips twitched into a soft smile and I made my way closer to her.
We talked for a while and I found out from her that she has fully recuperated and was discharged from the hospital. She said she had to go since she wanted to watch Shino training with Kurenai and Kiba. She wished me good luck for the Third Exam before she left.
I walked back to the nurse who returned back to her work. When I reached the counter, she once again looked up to me and without any delay, I spoke up, "I want to visit my friends. They are Kazuki Takeda and Sasuke Uchiha."
"Hmm..." the nurse grabbed a notepad with lists of many names and she traced her eyes over them, "it seems like we have to check on Sasuke Uchiha first to know whether he is available for visitors or not. Why don't you visit Kazuki-kun first while I go check on Sasuke? Once you've finished with him, you may come back here and I will tell you if you can visit Sasuke-kun or not."
"That's a good idea," I replied with a smile while in my mind I was thinking, 'I hope Sasuke is in a good shape so I can visit him...'
The nurse then told me the directions to Kazuki's room and I followed the given routes. I pushed open the door to his room and scanned the whole room. There were only wardrobe cabinet, one table, and one bed. The said bed was occupied by one figure that was in sedentary position and it was undoubtedly my blonde-haired teammate, Kazuki. His red eyes locked on mine as his pale lips curved into a smile.
I pulled a chair to sit next to Kazuki's bed and we began our conversation. He informed me that Kaito had visited him quite early in the morning like around 6 a.m. The reason why he's up that early was to spend most of his time practicing his skills for the Third Exam. Kazuki also told me that all of his wounds were now healing at a steady pace and he may be released a week later. Just like Hinata, he wished me good luck for the Third Exam before I left the room.
I exited the room and closed the door gently when I heard loud squeals and hurried footsteps getting louder in each second. Oh shit... it's them!
Without a second thought, I quickly dashed to a different hallway, avoiding the fangirls which were undoubtedly visiting Kazuki. It's not that I was afraid of them. They knew I am Kazuki's teammate and they hated me because of it. They sent me dirty looks whenever they saw me. I'm not in the mood for their shits and I don't want to cause chaos in the hospital.
After making sure that I was safe, I headed back to the counter and I was a little glad to see the same nurse sitting on the counter. If she weren't there, then I had to wait for her. I don't want to waste my time with waiting. I have better things to do like sharpening my archery skills.
"Ah! You're back," the nurse caught sight of me inching closer to her; "You may be able to visit Sasuke-kun since he is in a good condition. However, you are only given five minutes because he is still convalescing. He still needs to stay in bed."
"I see..."
I closed the door behind me with my purple eyes locked on Sasuke's sleeping figure. I stepped forward; my footsteps reverberated across the room until I reached his bed.
The white blanket had covered all of his body, except for his head and half of his neck. His closed eyes weren't tense and his lips parted mildly, showing only his white pearly teeth. The serene look on his face told me that he was having a good sleep without a nightmare, unlike that one time when he passed out after being ambushed by Orochimaru.
I mused, "Hmm... he is still asleep. I guess I have to leave then since there is nothing for me to do here when he is sleeping."
I whipped around and walked away. I had just taken one step forward when I felt something long and firm grasping my left hand so quickly. This thingy pulled me back forcefully, bringing me closer to the bed where the Uchiha's sleeping figure lied down. The force was so strong that I tumbled over his bed.
The next thing I knew, I was staring deep into this shiny black abyss. The weird thing was... this black abyss had a perfect reflection of my face. It's like I was staring back into a black mirror. That's when I felt warm, soothing air fanned my entire face. I backed away from it and I finally realized that my face was so close to Sasuke's which had his onyx eyes wide opened. The tips of our noses were barely touching. My chest was pressed against his firm, muscular chest since my body tripped over his.
So... the black abyss just now... was his eye?! And that warm air... was his breath?!
I yanked away and took a few steps backward until I had a good distance from the boy who shifted his body into sedentary position. Heat bloomed across my cheeks as I pointed an accusing finger at him and raised my voice, "W-w-why did you do that?!"
Sasuke gave me an annoyed look, "You're too loud."
I ignored his statement, "And I thought you were sleeping!"
"I was faking it," he elucidated, "I woke up when a nurse analyzed my condition and informed me I have a visitor. I thought it was Naruto or Sakura, and I'm not in the mood to listen to them so I pretended to sleep. I would have never expected it was you."
"That won't explain why you made me trip over you!" I pointed out. The red glow on my face could be on par with fresh tomato, judging from the strong heat I felt on my face.
Sasuke remained indifferent as if the stunt he pulled just now was not a problem to him.
"Sorry," he simply said. I could discern from the tone of his voice that he was not sorry at all. He changed the subject with a serious expression, "Now that you're here, tell me. What happened after I left the preliminary match?"
I dropped my arm to my side and blinked my eyes at him in confusion, "Kakashi didn't tell you?"
"No. You're the first person to visit me after he sealed this mark."
So that's why Kakashi took him out of the room. He wanted to seal that sinister-looking mark. And that could be the reason why Sasuke passed out and here he is.
"I'm going to tell you as quickly as possible," I responded as I pulled a chair and brought it to his bed's side. I plumped myself down in the seat and added, "The nurse gave me only five minutes to be with you."
"Then tell me now."
It took around two minutes to explain to him about everything – from who versus who, who won, what their abilities are, and who will be fighting who in the Third Exam. A satisfied smirk quirked his lips when I told him he will be fighting Gaara in the next exam.
When I have finished telling him everything he needed to know, he suddenly got up to his feet and walked towards the closet. I took that moment to eye him up and down. He was wearing the patient's clothing – light green, long-sleeved shirt and light green pants.
I was brought back to reality when he tossed his navy blue shirt, white shorts and a pair of white arm warmers onto the bed. He stood next to me and since I was still seated on the chair, I had to look up to him and gave him a questioning glance.
"A nurse knows that you are here, so unless you want to get in trouble, you have to help me," his voice was calm and matter-of-fact.
I knew what he was going to say. The signs were so obvious. He suddenly got up from the bed, took his clothes out and put it on the bed as if he is intending to wear it, and then asked me for help. He wants to escape from the hospital.
"Oh no," I breathed out as I stood up from the chair, staring at him with incredulity gleaming in my purple orbs.
"Yes," Sasuke said in response, "I can flee right now without your help, but that will only get you in trouble because they will think that you either kidnap me or allow me to escape."
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I had to admit that he was right. The nurse had probably saved the record of me dropping by. If he flees right now, the nurse will think that I am a bad guy that kidnaps him, or she will think that I am his subordinate and help him to escape. Either way, they will report about this to those who are in charge and they will search high and low for me.
"But, Sasuke, you still haven't fully healed yet," I reasoned, "Just rest for a few days. And then you can train as hard as you can."
"No," he replied with a slight frown, "I don't want to waste my time with lying in the bed all day. I don't want to waste even one minute. I will definitely lose to Gaara if I misspend my time like this."
I respired loudly while shutting my eyes close in the process. There is no way for me to convince him. His persistence is too strong to change his mind. I can't blame him, though. His opponent is Gaara who is utterly hard to defeat.
Seeing the submissive look on my face, Sasuke told, "Alright. First of all, survey me thoroughly. Once you have glued my image into your mind, transform yourself into me. I will wear my clothes and then transform into you. When the nurse comes back here, you lie on the bed and act like me and I will exit this room with the nurse. And then you can escape from this room through that window. After that, you can go back to whatever you want to do. Understand?"
"And where are you going after that?" I queried.
Sasuke replied almost instantly, "I will distract the nurse, and then meet up with Kakashi. He has agreed to help me in training. So, do we have a deal?"
I responded with nodding my head silently. Without further ado, I produced a few hand seals and as soon as I came to the last hand sign, a puff of smoke erupted below me. Due to the smoke that surrounded me, my eyesight was completely blocked and I could not see Sasuke and his reaction. It took around two seconds for the smoke to diminish into thin air, no longer blocking my vision.
As soon as I caught sight of the Uchiha who stood a few feet away from me, I finally became cognizant of his charcoal orbs moving up and down over my body, studying me with closed lips.
I looked down on my form as well, curious of what he was eyeing at. I became conscious of myself wearing the patient's clothing. Something was lightly tickling my cheeks and I shifted my eyes to it to see raven locks brushing against the sides of my face every once in a while. I knew from this moment that I had succeeded in transforming myself into a perfect replica of Sasuke in his patient's clothes.
I was also aware of the fact that my chest was now straight; no curves, and no 'mountains' like a female's chest. My bust is missing...
I was about to lift my hands up to feel up my chest (or Sasuke's chest in this case) when the ravenette's voice halted me, "You will get 'them' soon enough. And don't grope my chest. Now turn around. I am going to change clothes."
His words brought a tint of roseate to my cheeks and I quickly turned away from him; my back facing him. I crossed my masculine arms over my chest and waited for him to finish his business. I could hear the noises of rustling fabric behind me and I tried not to imagine what he would look like if he's naked. I swear, why do I have such dirty mind at times like this?!
"I'm done."
I steadily spun around and glanced at him. He was now dressed in his usual clothes. I made my way to bed to sit on it. Then I watched him forming three hand seals before smoke erupted on the floor beneath his feet. Smoke quickly enclosed him until two seconds later did it vanish into thin air, revealing a perfect replica of myself. His Transformation Jutsu is as perfect as ever.
I observed him as he grabbed a strand of my long black lock into his hand and gazed down at it. He let go of it three seconds later and shifted his attention to one particular thing – the two small 'mountains' on his chest. My right eye twitched.
Sasuke, who transformed into a replica of me, is goggling at the tiny bust on his chest. And wait, scratch that. My bust. He transformed into me so yes, that's my 'mountains' he is looking at!
"I'm gonna rip your eyes out and feed them to cockroaches if you look at them any longer!" I snarled; my voice (which was actually Sasuke's voice because I've transformed into him) was clearly full of venom.
His cheeks scorched with embarrassment as if he finally snapped back to reality and realized what he had been doing. Since he was disguised as me, I was literally looking at my blushful face. So that's how I look like if I blush...
He quickly averted his gaze, looking anywhere but me and his 'transformed' body. I could faintly hear him talked under his breath using my voice, "It's not that big, though."
I froze. Did he just say... what I think he was saying...? I have to say that I am seriously offended. He insulted me. How dare he...!
Knock! Knock!
"Ayuda-san, your time is up!"
Sasuke and I whipped our heads to the direction of the door. Sasuke (still disguised in my form) quickly pushed me on the bed and brought the blanket up to my chest when the door was slid open and came in the same nurse whom I talked to before.
"Ayuda-san, your five minutes is up," the nurse flashed a kind smile to Sasuke (who had actually transformed into me), "you may go now. You can visit him tomorrow."
"Hai (Yes)..." Sasuke nodded his head before he took a glance at me with my pair of purple eyes. He sauntered towards the nurse. The two of them stepped out of the room and Sasuke gave me another glance before he closed the door.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Now I can exit this room.
I stood up from the bed and undid the Transformation Jutsu with no sweat. I looked down on my chest, somehow relieved to see my bust there. I turned my head to the window which was just across the bed. I gently slid open the window effortlessly. I looked around the room, checking that there was no evidence left in the room regarding this escape plan. Once I was certain about it, I leapt away.
***
Third Person's P.O.V
[Two hours later...]
"Have you heard any news about Kazuki?"
"Not at all, Sakura. Why?"
"Oh. Nothing..."
Ino Yamanaka directed her blue eyes to the pink-haired girl next to her. Sakura's downcast eyes told the blue-eyed girl that she was recollecting an unpleasant memory. She was holding three daffodils that were neatly placed altogether inside one transparent plastic while Ino held two roses.
They decided to visit the boys – Sasuke, Kazuki, and Rock Lee in the hospital. Sakura bought three daffodils and each one of them was for each boy while Ino picked two roses, one for Sasuke, and another one for Kazuki.
"I feel really bad..." murmured Sakura, the downhearted look on her face was quite evident, that even a naïve kid could tell that she felt sad about something.
"Why?" Ino asked.
Sakura sighed, "Because of me, Kazuki lost his match in the preliminary exam. When the Sound ninjas attacked us... every time one of them would try to attack me, Kazuki would get in the way in between us and in the end, he was the one who was injured. If he didn't protect me that much, then he would've won that match... but because of me, he was..."
Her voice trailed away and Ino remained silent. The blonde-haired girl saw almost everything when that transpired. She witnessed how Kazuki was badly beaten by the Sound team. She thought that he couldn't stand up anymore because of the horrible wounds they inflicted on him. But when Zaku tried to reach Sakura, his ankle was grasped by Kazuki, stopping him from getting closer to the pinkette. He even volunteered to be their punching bag as long as they didn't touch Sakura.
"I can see that..." Ino spoke up, "...that he truly loves you, Sakura."
Sakura's emerald eyes widened considerably as she snapped her head around to gawk at Ino. The blue-eyed girl continued, "He may be quite the playboy, but I've never seen him that protective to anyone but you. He deeply cares about you."
The pinkette pursed her lips tightly as her eyes glistened with tears. All she could say was, "Thank you for telling me that, Ino. I'll give him more of my attention from now on... and maybe..."
The words never finished since they have finally arrived at the Konoha Hospital.
A nurse took them to Sasuke's room and just like Ayuda, she gave them only five minutes to be with the boy. They were dumbstruck when they found out that the room was unoccupied. The nurse checked the closet and noted that Sasuke's clothes were gone. She ran out to report to the doctor.
After a while, the same nurse escorted them to Rock Lee's room. They were taken aback once again when Lee was not in his bed. They finally took notice of Lee doing push-ups outside of the room. On his 200th push-up, he collapsed and was taken back to his room. Sakura put one of her daffodils into the vase that stood on a table beside Lee's bed.
This time, the same nurse led the two girls to Kazuki's room. They were hoping that Kazuki didn't run off like Sasuke and Rock Lee did. Once they have reached the door, the nurse took a peek inside and turned back to look at the pink-haired girl and the blonde-haired girl.
"He is in there," the nurse stated, "You may spend your time with him for as long as you like, but please return to your homes before 7 p.m."
"Hai (Yes)!" the two teenage girls responded exuberantly.
The nurse walked off and the two girls slid open the door. They closed their eyes (you know, that eye smiling anime style) and grinned widely as they stepped further into the room. Before they could say anything, they heard the sound of lecherous giggles in the room.
They finally became aware of the fact that Kazuki's bed – where he lied down – was surrounded by girls around their teenage ages. Some look younger, some look older. One girl was lying down on the bed next to him and seemed to have made herself comfortable in that tight space. Her hand was rubbing circles on his chest.
"Kazuki-kun, once you're discharged from this hospital, do you want to go on a date with me?" the girl who lied down next to him asked with that fake high-pitched voice.
"I don't know if I can because I told my teammate that I will help him with his training," answered Kazuki, smirking alluringly at the girl.
"Kazuki..."
The girls and the red-eyed boy cast their gazes to the source of the filled-with-venom voices. Kazuki was honestly thunderstruck to see the two girls he knew so well standing in front of the door. The smirk on his face instantly dropped. His face was instantly replaced by that one look like he was caught cheating on his wife. On top of that, the looks on Sakura's and Ino's faces told him that they were enraged.
"Sa-Sakura! Ino!" Kazuki called out as he sat straight up on the bed. He literally ignored all the other girls and paid his full attention to the pinkette and blonde-haired girls. He stammered, panicking, "I-i-it's not what it looks like! Le-let me explain!"
Oh, they need no explanation now. As soon as their eyes fell on this scene, they instantly remembered that Kazuki was called playboy and ladies' man by many people for some reasons. And this scene was one of those reasons.
"Grrrrrrrrrr!" Sakura and Ino dropped their flowers and growled furiously, cracking their knuckles loud enough to give a sign that something horrendous is about to go down.
"SHAAANNAAAROOO!!!" the two girls screamed at the top of their lungs, followed by the sounds of loud, sickening punches and also sounds of bones cracking. They just didn't care about the other girls who may not know what was happening or the fact that they were in the hospital. All they cared about was to teach Kazuki a lesson for messing with girls' feelings.
***
Ayuda's P.O.V
That Sasuke... he did not even bother to thank me after our escape incident. He only gave me a few glances before he left me. Pfft. What kind of glances were those? Are you thanking me through your eyes? No, I want to hear it from your own mouth. A simple thank you is actually quite easy to say!
"You must be Ayuda Makino, right?"
I put a sudden halt to my stroll and spun my head slightly to the side, where the voice came from. I ended up tilting my head skyward because the person who called me was surprisingly tall. This person was a man around his 40's. He had shoulder length hair which was dark red; almost black on the top half of his head and silver gray lower down, his hair was spiky on top with a samurai topknot at the back but with leftover hair that was kept loose.
He gave me a cold glare and I was disconcerted. How does he know my name?