The weather was already cold, but on this particular day, it seemed to be twice as cold. She didn't dare put the radiators on, knowing that the heating bill was way overpriced. Having connections with the Hokage meant nothing when you still have to pay the bills, which slightly annoyed her. Wrapped up in multiple blankets, she curled up into a ball on the couch, silently watching Naruto struggle to keep the blanket on while eating instant ramen.
"Why don't we just put the heating on?!" He shouted, annoyance laced with his words.
"We don't have the money for it," Was Mina's bland answer, staring blankly at the blonde. She eventually sighed, keeping one hand on her stomach and using the other to throw at least two more blankets over to her brother. She winced slightly at the sudden movement.
Naruto glanced worriedly at her, catching the blankets and instantly wrapping himself in them. "Are you okay?" He questioned, sitting next to her after he finished his ramen. Mina only nodded, her messy blonde and red hair bobbing with her movements. "You've been in that position for the last hour and a half, ya know."
"I know, and as soon as the pain stops, I'll bake what I've been meaning to make since last month." She answered, voice barely above a whisper.
"Pain?" Naruto repeated in question, tilting his head to the side making it squish against the mound of blankets.
"Woman problems," She answered simply, grinning when she saw the disgusted 'oh' face form of his whiskered face. "Naruto, bro," She said, grin widening, "word of advice, when you get a girlfriend, don't make period jokes," Mina told, grin falling into a flat line when there was a sudden burst of pain. "No matter how nice and shy Hinata may be, all women can become monsters in a second as soon as a 'joke' of bleeding for a whole freaking week is said."
Naruto nodded vigorously, remembering a time back in October when he accidentally let a period joke slip out of his mouth when Mina seemed to be in a worse mood than usual. And when he saw Mina's multicoloured hair rise in a way it had not risen in a long time, he knew she was angry, a lot, but he knew that is wasn't to the extent of being 'pissed', she was defiantly angry.
"Um, Naruto?" Mina called, looking away from meeting Naruto's gaze and rubbing the back of her neck with nerves.
"Ya?" He responded from the kitchen, having moved there to make another cup of ramen.
"Can you quickly run to the shop and buy," Mina cleared her throat, locking eyes with her brother.
"A-ah..." he nodded awkwardly, letting the flappy lid fall onto the plastic cup. "Do you need the blankets while I'm out? It's colder in here then out there, ya know?"
Mina shook her head, smiling while watching him zip his orange coat on, shoving a knit scarf into the coat and sliding gloves into his fingers. "No, I somewhat learnt how to heat up my chakra and water within my body. It's good practice to see how long I can last heating the two." She answered, standing up slowly and walking over to Naruto to fix his hat. Once she did so, she shooed him off with a smile and shouting which ones to buy.
She closed the door behind her and walked into the kitchen as quickly as she could, making the most out of the time she had without cramps. Grabbing the ingredients, she started on baking.
~~~~
"Mina?" Naruto's voice called out from the front door. She heard the door being closed and some shuffling near the door, but soon enough, the blonde popped his head into the kitchen. The grin on Mina's face was evident as she watched Naruto's blue eyes widen once he saw what was on the kitchen table.
"I know it's late, but," She said, lighting the candles on the cake with a click of her fingers, "Happy Birthday, Naruto!" Mina congratulated waving her hands at the side of her in a jazzy way.
"WOAH!" The boy exclaimed, throwing the plastic back to the side, a grin overtaking his surprised expression. "It feels like it's been ages since we had your special birthday cake!"
Mina laughed, a genuine laugh.
*-*
Mina's favourite parts of the classes in the Ninja Academy would be the ones they went outside. With a small smile on her whiskered face, she stood next to her brother. Fingers nervously twidling together, blue-violet eyes on the ground. She listened silently to what Iruka was explaining, once in a while looking up from the floor to gaze around the area.
The whole class was standing in a distorted semi-circle around the teacher, some people chatting quietly, others staring blankly at the sky, while some actually listened to what Iruka was saying. There were times she would accidentally make eye contact with students, but she would look away almost instantly, recognising the look they gave her.
Mina could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest, blood rushing to her ears making it a deafening sound she could only hear. She didn't know why, but the palms of her hands became really sweaty and clammy. One hand restlessly rubbing the back of her neck for an unknown reason.
Her name was called, but she didn't hear, the beat of her heart drowning out every sound. A little nudge from her brother finally brought her out of the thoughts, "It's your turn. " Naruto whispered, grinning from ear to ear making his eyes crinkle closed. Mina returned his smile and eventually turned to look at Iruka.
"Looks like we have a miss day-dreamer here," Iruka said, the unimpressed, annoyed and slightly disappointed frown on his face made Mina even more nervous. She smiled sheepishly, eyes almost closing fully but she was still able to see his brown eyes narrow.
She looked forward, noticing a blue haired female standing at the side of the white circle in the back training area of the academy. Mina gulped, staring into the fierce red eyes of the quite tall seven-year-old.
"If you were listening to me, you'd know that you're sparing with her," Iruka said blandly, looking at his clipboard and not stopping the kids from laughing.
They laughed while Mina hesitantly glanced at them, then back at her opponent. She slowly jogged into the circle, clenching a fist at her side in frustration. Mina and the blue haired girl were forced to shake hands before the match could begin.
Once the match started, Mina was instantly blocking punches and kicks. Placing a sturdy hand in front of her she blocked a punch to the face. Her blue-violet eyes were wide in surprise, unexpecting the hard attacks from the girl.
Doubt flooded her mind as she continued to be pushed back by the relentless attacks from the girl. And eventually, Mina coughed out the air in her lungs, experiencing being winded but the girl. Losing footing, Mina tripped over her own feet, falling flat on her back. Blue-violet eyes wide when feeling the pressure on her stomach, she locked eyes with the blazing red ones.
"You've got so much potential," The blue haired girl sneered, raising a fist, "Yet you waste it doubting yourself," Her fist came flying towards Mina's cheek, "I hate that."
Feeling the stinging in her cheek and the tasting the metal, Mina turned her head back to stare at the blue-haired girl. She narrowed her eyes, Mina shoved the girl off her, glaring intensely at her. "I get no help from others, ya know." Mina growled quietly, "Of course I waste my potential."
*-*
Her leg was shaking as she stayed seated on the plain hospital bed. Her violet eyes flickered from item to item, eyeing the things in the room. It was silent in the room apart from the noise from the outside. As soon as the door slid open her eyes shot to watch as the lady walked in, "Sakura!" Mina explained, smiling slightly.
Though when Sakura's green eyes landed on Mina, they couldn't help but widen in horror, a gasp leaving her lips. "M-Mina?" The pink-haired girl stammered, shocked. Gaining a nod from the Uzumaki, Sakura continued, "I didn't know you were the patient that needed immediate treatment." She whispered, unable to get over the shock.
"Yeah," Mina responded, voice not reaching it's usual fake happiness. "I can trust you right?"
"O-of course," Sakura responded to the random question with a nod, rushing towards the terrible looking girl. Lifting Mina's hand and inspecting the boniness and then moving on to inspect the extremely thin arm, looking in horror at the scars. "Why didn't you just go to Lady Tsunade?" The pink haired girl questioned, narrowing her eyes, examine the extent of Mina's condition.
"I didn't want her to worry," Came Mina's response, looking to the ground, "With everything that's happening with the Akatsuki, I didn't want to trouble her any more than she already is."
"Lady Tsunade cares for you like her own child, you would be troubling her more if you didn't tell her." Mina smiled at Sakura's statement, a warm feeling in her chest rising. And somehow, Sakura's words seemed to mend a part of Mina's cracked glass heart. "When you were back in the village, I could physically tell that a lot of stress and worry was lifted off her shoulders, you should've seen her when you were gone." She laughed lightly, "I had to force her to get some sleep!"
Mina laughed along this time, though it didn't reach her eyes. "That's why I came to you."
Sakura's expression changed into a serious but sad one, "can I ask what happened when you were with Orochimaru?"
At the question, Mina stayed silent for a moment and just when Sakura was about to apologise for asking such a question, Mina grinned suddenly. Laughing slightly, Mina answered with lightheartedness and a shrug of her shoulders, "Being tortured, experimented on, not being fed, ya know, the usual for a psycho like Orochimaru."
Sakura stared in shock at Mina, mouth open, Sakura was about to reply but her words were washed out of her mouth when noticing the determination crossing her features. "I want to get healthy again, but I'm pretty sure that there is something physically wrong with me."
"Maybe one of Orochimaru's experiments," Sakura mumbled, a thought in her mind.
"Exactly." Mina grinned, more of a genuine one this time.
"I'm thinking it's something to do with the stomach, that's why you're not absorbing the nutrients of all the food you eat an-" Before Sakura could finish the sentence, Mina butted in, correcting her on something.
"I'm vomiting up all the food I eat."
"....I see," Came Sakura's response as she grabbed a pair of rubber gloves from an area of the room, "I'll get to work as soon as I can, but I may need to call in Chiyumi for assistance."
"Chiyumi?" Mina repeated the name, tilting her head to the side in question.
"Yeah, she's a medical ninja now, on par with me actually. Are you okay with her helping?"
"As long as you fix me," Mina responded, staring at Sakura with certainty in her violet eyes, a glow in her eyes. "But make sure you don't tell anyone about my condition. Wouldn't want word to get out, ya know." She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head.
"Okay."
"How long will it take?" Mina asked.
"A couple of hours, but I'm guessing you want to return to a healthy looking teen right away."
"Is it possible?"
"Yes, it will take longer but Chiyumi and I can pull it off. You'll be back to being a normal teen by the end of today."
"Thanks, Sakura." Mina smiled, a more genuine smile, showing her gratitude towards the pink haired teen.
*-*
"You have a goal now right?" He questioned when taking a break from the gruelling training.
"Yeah!" Mina had responded, grinning and taking gulps of water. Refreshing her dehydrated form. "And I know what I need to do!"
"Good," Gon laughed, "Then nothing can stop you from completing your goal?" He asked, although, it sounded more like a statement.
"I know exactly what I need to do when I get home," Mina said, placing the water bottle down and rubbing a hand on her fake healthy looking thigh.
"What is it?" Killua asked, stretching his hands above his head, hearing a satisfying pop from his joints.
"I need to see a friend, hopefully, she can fix me up physically," Mina informed with a small smile, prepared for the but-load of questions. But when they didn't come, she glanced at the two young boys in confusion.
They were grinning at her, "I'm glad you found your reason." Gon said, eyes crinkling closed when the abnormally large grin overtook his features.
"I know it can be hard to live without a real purpose, and with people telling you're this and that," Killua spoke, smiling sadly at the ground, "but this dork is weird." He muttered pointing a thumb next to him, at Gon.
"Oi! Who're you calling a dork?" Gon asked in frustration, glaring at his friend.
Mina smiled when the two started bickering.
*-*
At the thought of returning back to a normal healthy teen brought a smile to Mina's face. It was one less thing to worry about. And when she has her healthy body back, she'll look after it, while being able to train properly and without much worry of passing out as soon as training started. She was finally able to start recovering from the things that happened in the past, and that gave her all the more reason to get back to normal.
But when there is a voice that will speak to her at unknown times, memories of the traumas she had witnessed, and the horrible thought of failing, it set a small doubt in her mind. One that would ruin and destroy her from the inside if nothing was done to stop it.
At least she was trying to become normal again.
And hopefully, it wasn't too late.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/
So... Double update today. Feel honoured, I'm ditching the studying I'm supposed to do for the test tomorrow.
Anyway, thank you guys for reading my book. As I have warned before (I think) Updates will become slow as the REAL exams are coming closer.
Gosh, I really don't want to grow up.
I have been lazy with my writing and studying lately, and I apologise if I'm not able to update as much as I want to. When writing this I came to the realisation that there is a lot -A POOP TONNE- of content I need to revise. I'll try my best to get chapters written and posted, although they may be shorter.
I hope you guys can understand the struggle of life and thanks a bunch for the support.
Barry-The-Berry
unedited, 11/02/18