my one in million

chapter 10

"It's white and smooth and creamy." She said, peering down with a slight knot of the brow. "There's really no other way to describe it…"

"Taste it."

She blinked, confused. "B-But it's yours."

"They don't care as long as it disappears."

She glanced down at the object of interest in her palm. "The nutritionist probably put it here on purpose; rice pudding is a good source of energy." Dipping her small finger in the narrow container anyway, she gave her input on the taste. "Hmm… It's not too sweet. It almost tastes like rose water."

He was slightly annoyed. "I don't even know what rose water is." Convinced that it was safe, Sasuke reached over and accepted the small cup, pushed it into the handicapped fingers of his left hand and grabbed a plastic spoon with the other. "If I don't like it, you'll have to eat it all." At her timid consent, he shoveled a spoonful into his mouth and evaluated the taste.

It wasn't good, but it wasn't too bad, either.

She smiled after his third spoonful. "It should help with the nausea, ne?"

Whatever, he wasn't exactly fond of puddings. She convinced him that it would calm the urge to throw up between meals, and that's the only reason he would touch anything with 'fluffy' as the slogan on the label.

He'd been struggling for a few days with the unbearable pain in his stomach and chest, it didn't help that he kept tossing back whatever food he would put in almost right away. The doctors gave him medicine for that but it only made it worse. He had been cringing in pain when the Hyuuga walked in, learned of his situation and instantly proposed he take the small package from the discarded breakfast tray, saying that milk and rice made good stomach padding.

Halfway through the pudding his stomach finally registered the cool, calming contents and he could actually notice the relief. He would never admit it, but the pudding actually started tasting good when the bitterness in the back of his throat thinned out. "Why are you here so early?"

The girl had been busy changing the flowers, the crinkling of plastic would stop every time she spoke as if she couldn't focus on both at the same time. "I'm off for a while. The students finished their exams yesterday so there's not much to do at the academy until they are back."

"Summer vacation?"

"Just a break in the semester, summer vacation isn't until later." She sounded like she was smiling.

"Why aren't you spending your vacation with your family, then?" At her silence, he added. "Hanabi still out of it?"

A quiet sigh. "Yes… I had hoped…"

She had hoped that since he had awakened, her sister would, too. Well, if they both had the same illness, then the only thing the girl needed was to replenish her chakra. He had probably gone under because he had gotten dangerously low, low enough to skim the core, maybe. Hmm… maybe if someone gave her sister a kick-start, she would wake up. "Did you try giving her a chakra boost?"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone could give her some of his own chakra, you know… like a blood transfer."

The crumbling of plastic wrapping stopped momentarily. "Yes, I believe the medic-nin tried to do that but it never worked. They tried Blood transfers, too, and mind reading, spirit summoning and even some forbidden jutsu to exchange bodies, but none of that helped, so…"

All this for a little teenager? Why was, the great Uchiha Sasuke, was left to die in a spare bed in some corner of a hospital, then?

Let Hanabi try this heartburn, she'll wake up for sure.