Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp. 21 The Art of Being Shisui {Part-2}

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After Kakashi's brief stay with her in her room, the nurses had found him and directed him back to bed and said No, Hatake-san. You can't stay in her room. Why? Because you haven't healed yet. You haven't even been cleared to leave your bed so you shouldn't be here at all. We're still trying to make sure your concussion has healed properly, and we don't want to risk anything. It had been rather amusing to see him get scolded, although he hadn't seemed remorseful in the slightest. Now, Minato wheeled her out of her room (she would like to make it known that she in no way had needed that wheelchair) and into Rin's, her mother already waiting by their bedside along with Kushina.

Rin's mother was a fragile looking young woman with tawny brown hair that was a shade or two lighter than her daughter's. Purple marks lined her under eyes that matched Rin's, and her irises twinkled, a sad sort of smile on her face that realistically had everything to do with her daughter in the bed next to her.

Naruto had never met her before, but clearly Minato had if the way he reached his hand out for a shake was any indication. "Nohora-san!" Minato greeted as cheerful as ever. "So lovely to see you again. How's Hugo doing?" Naruto could only assume that Hugo was Rin's father, but she wasn't entirely sure because the way they spoke about him was rather... odd.

"Please! Call me, Ami. And Hugo darling is doing great! We had to take him to the doctors the other day. He was rather frightened of the needles, poor thing, but he was due for some shots. It did help that I gave him extra head rubs that night." Naruto tried not to let her nose wrinkle too much. Extra head rubs?

She didn't judge people but what grown man still needed head rubs? And who was afraid of small needles in the day and age of Shinobi?

Rin was not smiling from her position in her bed, so Hugo, no matter how loved he was in their family, was clearly not a topic to be bringing up at this point. The blonde could sympathize. Having spent your whole life as a normal ninja and then suddenly getting thrust into the role of jinchuuriki and all that it entailed was no easy feat. It wasn't something as simple as buying a new plant and remembering to water it every other day. Bijuus were a lot of responsibility, and the social handicaps that came with them were especially disencouraging. Rin herself was a kind and friendly girl, and while Naruto doubted the fact that Rin now held Isobu in her was going to be released as public knowledge, it didn't stop the fact that those who did know were going to be... avoidant. That was just how it rolled, and at the end of the day, people either bowed to the fear of power or they rebelled against it.

Naruto almost felt bad because Rin had become the very thing she had been so wary about when her own status had been revealed to the team not too long ago. It was possible Rin was afraid of herself. Internally, the blonde sighed. They had a long road ahead of them. She had vowed to herself that she was going to teach her female teammate how to properly communicate with Isobu, so that the jinchuuriki-bijuu relationship wouldn't be as strained as past ones had. Though, it would only work if Rin was willing to understand the Sanbi's hatred. Kushina would be there too, probably.

But, Naruto didn't think any actual training was going to get started until after they were released from the hospital, and not for the first time, she understood her teammates' frustration at being cooped up with the white walls and sterile beds.

In between their chatter about Hugo, Naruto interrupted, "What will you do when I go on my training trip with Jiraiya?"

It was a legitimate question - she was going to be leaving in about a month, and if she was gone for the estimated years that they thought she would be, there was no way Kushina could coach Rin through it all as sufficiently as she could. Minato and Ami ceased their idle chatter and turned to her.