Copycat Kitsune

Ch. 4

A single blue eye slowly opened before blinking rapidly as sunlight assaulted her, sending sharp pains through her eye. An exhausted sigh exited through her nose as she slowly sat up and took in her surroundings.
 
White walls surrounded her, the floors were made up of some sort of grey polished stone and she found herself sitting up in a hospital bed. She looked down at herself and found her usual clothing replaced with a white hospital gown, dark blue dots decorated the fabric and a bunch of wire were connected to her chest. She turned her head and stared down at the I.V attached to the underside of her left wrist.

She blinked a few times, suddenly realizing that she couldn't see anything out of her left eye. A sense of panic began to well up inside her chest as she reached up towards her eye and a chill ran down her spine when her fingertips brushed roughly against a thick layer of gauze and bandages.

Memories began to bombard the young girl, the machine next to her began to beep rapidly as her heart sped up inside her chest. From being yanked out of her apartment to Itachi kneeling over her with a kunai aimed towards her face, she replayed the images over and over inside her head.

Her breathing became heavy and ragged, her blue eye was open wide as she stared down at her shaking hands. A tingling sensation began to overtake her entire body, starting at her fingertips and toes but quickly shooting up through her legs and arms. She began to feel weak, her vision began to blur and the loud, rapid beeping coming from her left became muffled by the sound of her own blood racing through her veins.

She didn't even hear the door to her room burst open and a team of doctors and nurses along with the Hokage himself, rush into the room.

"Nar....ko....he...me..."

"She's....pan...att..."

"Do som...."

Hands began to push her back into the bed and Naruto struggled against them, the blurry images of people hoarding around her, pushing her and grabbing her, she felt sick, angry, desperate, scared.

She began to push them away from her with heavy, sluggish arms. She opened her mouth to tell them to get away from her but no sound came out, just more of the ragged, heavy gasps for air and despite breathing, she felt like she was suffocating.

"La...own..."

"Naru...cal...dow..."

A sudden wave of anger washed over the young blonde and she began to swipe her hands towards anything and everything in a desperate attempt to escape whatever the hell was going on.

Hands suddenly grasped her wrists and they were yanked down to her sides, she struggled, her entire body thrashing from side to side but it was no use, she was too weak. More hands pushed against her chest and shoulders, overtaking the young girl and forcing her back down against the bed under her. She threw her head back, opened her mouth and let out an ear piercing shriek before there was a sharp prick to the side of her neck and everything began to slow down.

Her body began to feel even heavier, her eyelid slowly drooping and her terrified cry's quieted down into helpless whimpers as darkness took her.

Hiruzen watched as the doctor removed the needle from the young girls neck and waited until she was completely unconscious before removing his hand from her wrist, the dog masked ANBU standing on the other side of the bed doing the same.

"Lord Third, your arm." A nearby nurse spoke, stepping up the his side and gently grasping his left arm.

Three deep gashes marred his skin, the wounds bleeding heavily but he paid it no mind. His brown eyes were still focused on the sleeping blond; he watched as her darkened whisker marks began to fade and the claw like nails decorating her fingertips began to recede to their normal length.

"I'll be okay." He told the young woman next to him who had began to wrap his arm in a layer of gauze and securing it with a roll of bandages. He moved his attention to the doctor standing next to the silver haired ANBU. "What the hell happened?" He asked, his tense tone held a bit of worry.

"Panic attack." The doctor replied, turning away from the young blonde to face his leader. "She went through an extremely traumatic experience lord Hokage, it's not a surprise that she reacted this way. She's been unconscious for the last three days and while her bodies healed, her mind hasn't yet had time to come to terms with what happened." He explained before a hesitant look adorned his face.

"And with her... condition... it just makes her more dangerous to be around during this time. I suggest we have a Yamanaka here for when she wakes up, it might help keep her calm if she has someone with her that specializes in therapy and knows how to keep someone calm." He finished, shifting from one foot to the other, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the Third Hokages heavy gaze.

The Hokage slowly nodded his head. "I understand. I'll have Inochi here within the hour. Now, can you guys give me and dog the room please, I need to speak with him alone." It was a sudden dismissal but the doctor and the two nurses did as asked and left, closing the door behind them.

The moment they left, Hiruzens shoulders sagged and he suddenly felt twenty years older than what he actually was. He stared back down at Naruto who was now sleeping peacefully, her once ragged breathing had slowed and her heart rate had dropped back down into a normal, rhythmic beat.

"I can't help but to blame myself for this, Kakashi."

"Sir?" The dog masked anbu tilted his head slightly.

"I knew that Itachi was training her for a while now and I allowed it." The Hokage explained. "I let him get close to her and look at what happened... her life is going to get so much harder from here on out." He let out a despaired sigh, his eyes softened as he stared at the young girl lying motionless in the bed.

Seemingly understanding, Kakashi shook his head. "But we know what happened. Itachi attacked her and implanted the eye. This wasn't her fault." The Hokage nodded in agreement.

"I know Kakashi but you're not thinking like the civilian population." Hiruzen rebutted. "What do you think they're gonna see? A young girl that was brutally attacked or a jinchuriki that they all hate, suddenly gaining a sharingan the same night that the uchiha clan was killed?" He watched as the truth of his words set in and Kakashi slouched in defeat.

"What are we gonna do?" Kakashi asked solemnly. "They're gonna eat her alive." He knew how the populous would react to this and he wasn't looking forward to seeing his teachers child get hurt more than she already was.

"I'm not sure." Hiruzen answered truthfully. While he was Hokage, the leader of his village and the second most powerful man within the Land of Fires borders, he couldn't force people to like someone.

"She's going to need help with her sharingan." The Third Hokage stated, turning to look at the dog masked agent. "The clan heads wanted it taken out but I shut them down. Now I'm going to need someone to help her use it safely and properly..." he trailed off, sending Kakashi a rather obvious look.

"Of course." Kakashi nodded. "I'll help her to understand it and how to use it but what about Sasuke?" He asked, idly curious as to what the Hokage had planned for the last Uchiha.

"He's still in a coma." Hiruzen answered. "Whatever Itachi did to him really wreaked havoc inside the boys head. We won't know more until he wakes up." Kakashi nodded in understanding.

"Very well, but I advise us to move slowly." Kakashi told the elder man. "After Itachis betrayal, I doubt Naruto's gonna be ready to trust someone else right away, I'll need to get her more comfortable around me."

"The clan heads and Danzo will most likely try and pressure me to get her properly trained as soon as possible, regardless of her well being."

"Stall them, order them to shut up, execute them, hell I don't care." Kakashi replied, his voice suddenly  taking on a harsher tone. "But the moment any of them step out of line or try to harm Naruto, I'll -"

"I understand." Hiruzen cut the man off before he could finish, the silver haired ninja was letting off a bit of killing intent and Hiruzen knew exactly what he was about to say.

'He'd kill them.' Hiruzen thought idly. It wasn't often he got to see Kakashi this worked up but when he did, it reminded him as to why the man standing across from him was feared by all five major nations.