Unbreakable (Book 1) #Wattys2015

Home Is Where the Heart Is- Katsu

Katsu's sore eyes slowly opened, squinting immediately in result to the harsh light of day as it flashed across her unprepared pupils. "Ow," she murmured, laying an arm over her face. She was being carried by someone, she registered. Someone strong.

"Nice timing," murmured a familiar voice. Kakashi Hatake. Katsu heard a door open in front of her and then close behind her. Several other pairs of footsteps were audible before her. "Where... Where am I?" she dazedly asked, opening her eyes again. Once her vision gradually adjusted, she realized she failed to recognize the house Kakashi had carried her into.

Kakashi peered his head into a random room in one hallway before answering her. "Well," he started, carrying her into it along with him. "After we escaped the prison Sasuke had taken us to, I wrote to Tsunade to inform her of everything that has happened thus far."

Katsu tried to focus on his words but it took a great deal of her effort. The room he had taken her into was a bedroom, she registered sluggishly. A large bookcase covered one wall and another possessed a large rectangular window, the dark drapes pulled to cover the glass.

Kakashi carried her over to the large bed on the opposite end of the room and pulled the covers back before continuing his recount on the events that had recently taken place during Katsu's unconsciousness. Kakashi gently laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her.

He stood back up to lean against the wall, his arms crossed casually. Once he had finished explaining everything, Katsu was sitting straight up in the bed. He had described that they were in the Village of Bamboo Stalks. Her immediate thoughts were that she had to be delirious. "You bought this house?" she asked in a rushed, bewildered manner. "We were assigned to train those children? Those children are going to live here with us? We may not return to the Leaf Village for several years?"

"Shh," Kakashi said gently, pushing her shoulders back so that she was lying down again. "Take it easy, Katsu. Your body endured more than it could handle when you used that kekkei genkai."

Suddenly the image of Naruto's face flashed behind Katsu's eyelids. Her kekkei genkai had not been enough to save him. She had failed one of her comrades.

"But to answer your questions," Kakashi went on contemplatively, as if completely oblivious to her thoughts. "Yes, yes, yes, and, hmm. Yes." His face was unsurprisingly expressionless. Did the letter from Tsunade not faze him as much as it did her, she wondered? Not in the slightest? If it did, he was a wonderful shinobi at masking it.

Katsu pushed his hands off her and sat up again, defiantly. "I'm fine," she snapped, uncharacteristically. Immediately, a wave of nausea rolled over Katsu causing her to sway. She groaned and almost vomited, her body retching but nothing coming up.

"No, you're not," Kakashi replied gently, pushing her back down again. This time she didn't resist him.

"It's the burns on my skin," she informed him, tugging off her Jonin vest with his help. "They're causing me to feel this way. "I'm going to need you to make me a poultice." The burnt skin of her arms and legs was both itchy and painful, causing her to freeze as not to irritate it.

"A poultice?" he asked in response, bewildered.

"Yes," she answered impatiently with another groan. "A poultice. Go to the village's market. Gather plantain leaves, slippery elm powder, comfrey leaves, chickweed leaves, aloe leaves, and flour. When you return with those ingredients, you will need to mix them according to my instructions." She took several ragged breaths before continuing. "Please," she whispered, weakly. These were no ordinary burns. A layer of sweat already coated her frail skin simply from the pain.