Shizi fluttered open her stormy eyes and shifted her gaze around the room of white. Where is she? This isn't home. Where's Kika?! Shizi shot upright, flinging off the blankets and snapping her head around until she spotted someone in the chair next to her bed.
His silvery hair stood upended as always as he slept in a sitting position, chin rested against his sternum. Shizi crouched on the edge of the bed, intending to reach out to him. Instead she wobbled from weakness and bloodloss and tumbled forward, closing her eyes to brace for the pain of hitting the tile floor.
"You really shouldn't be up and around yet, Shizi. You could rip a stitch open." His deep voice sounded right next to her ear, and his arms caught her from falling to the floor as expected.
"I was just checking if you were awake or not." Kakashi chuckled at her words and lifted the tiny brunette back onto her hospital bed.
"You had a lot of people really worried after that fight with Yasei. Doctors say it's a miracle you lived at all." Shizi glanced down at the tile floor in sad embarrassment. Her face was lifted by a finger under her chin and she gazed into the kind onyx eye of Kakashi.
"I'm sorry for scaring you all." Shizi says while reluctantly sitting back on the bed she recently vacated. That's when the wooden door slammed open to reveal her friends and teammates. Naruto was the head of them, big blue eyes wide with concern.
"Shizi! About time you woke up!" He cries as he gets pushed into the room by Sasuke. He spared himself of embarrassment by using the momentum to jump up onto the hospital bed to sit at the foot of it, smiling over at the slightly blushing Shizi.
"It's nice to see you all. How did the rest of the exams go?" Sasuke informed her of all the wins and people moving on to the finals.
"You're fighting a Sound Shinobi named Dosu." Shizi nods and leans back against the headboard of the bed, eyes locked on the colorless sheets covering her legs.
"I'm really sorry for scaring you all." They happily waved her away and she smiled shyly at them.
"Oh, Naruto, you're to see the Hokage about a special mission." The blonde boy smiled happily and vanished in an instant. Shizi starts to stand to follow after the boy, stopped when Kakashi held his arm out to restrain her. She looked over at him in surprise.
"Shizi, you shouldn't be moving." The brunette shrugged off his arm and forced into a stand on the mattress. It took a long moment, but she gained her balance and slowly made her way off the bed, the trio around her wary for any falter. She successfully was able to walk around the small hospital room, and so she slid open the door and started her trek to the check-out desk, the others following in mad pursuit.
"Shizi, where are you going?!" Cries out Sakura as Shizi once again shrugged off Kakashi's hand and walked out of the hospital, sides beginning to twinge with pain but she refused to slow down. Sasuke appeared in front of her with his usual stoic expression cracked by a smug smirk.
"Where are you going, Shizi? You're injured enough as it is, do you want to bleed out?" Shizi snarled at the boy and shifted to move around the Genin, baring teeth when he shadowed her movements.
"Sasuke Uchiha, move. Now." In spite of the icy tone of her voice, the boy didn't move an inch. She has half tempted to summon Jingxiao to force him to move, but they've never seen her transform so she knew she shouldn't.
"I'll move when you can make me." A deep growl freed from her throat and she shoved him to the side, but failed when the skin around her injuries stretched and pain stabbed through her abdomen, making her cringe and end up only moving him a few inches. This result only made Sasuke smirk even more and return to his place as her barricade.
"What's got you bound and determined to do things you very well know you can't at this moment?" Shizi glared but gave in, plopping down into the grass while gently gripping her front to try and ease her pain.
"Fine. While I was out, I traveled inside my mind. I'm split down the middle, half me and half Gomon."
"Who's Gomon?" Asks Sakura while joining the brunette neko on the grass.
"That's the real name of the Hell's Wildcat. I spent some time with him, learned a little about how he came around and why he's trying to kill me all the time. He used to be a good spirit on the other side, but Orochimaru twisted his essence and forced him to live as a weapon of mass destruction over here. He hates himself and the only way he knows how to cope is to make everyone he ever meets feel the same devastation he does. I promised to go back so he can tell me about his life on the other side, but I can't if I'm this weak, so I want to start training immediately to get back to full strength and see Gomon again."
"Do you think he's really going to tell you about the other side instead of just rip you to shreds inside your own mind?" Wonders Sasuke with a raised brow of disbelief.
"I don't think he will, and even if he wanted to he can't. He's stuck in his half until the seal breaks. Plus, I think he's just lonely and needs someone who will listen instead of just try to kill him all the time." Shizi pushed up into a stand again, the three around her keeping a close eye on her. She wobbled but kept on her feet, then once again began making her way to a nearby training area, vacated and quiet.
"I'll make you a deal, Shizi. You beat Kakashi and I in a competition then we won't question you training so quickly. You lose, and you follow the Medical Shinobi and Kakashi-Sensei's advice to the letter until you get better. Deal?" Shizi nodded and their quest began. The first task was easy and simple, hit all the targets with the appointed amount of Kunai. The result was that they all hit every target dead center. Next, they were to perform the graduation exam: Clone Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu. Perfect score all around. Finally was the physical fighting. This one was between Sasuke and Shizi only, the taller and older Jonin had an unfair advantage over them both and so left his place to the ravenette Uchiha boy.
They circle each other cautiously, waiting for a break in the other's form. Finding it, Sasuke wasted no time in diving right for her chink in her barrier. He knew leaning too far either way caused pain, so he lunged to her left before shooting back to the right as she mirrored his moves, features pinched with pain as she stretched the irritated skin. Using her weak moment, Sasuke kicked away both her arms and his fist races in for the winning punch, stopped when her knee intercepted. He smirks and jumps a few feet back, calculating a new plan to beat her and get her to rest up.
He finally figured out his plan and immediately went into action, vanishing in a smear of grey clothes and black hair. Her cat ears flipped and pricked at every little noise as she searched for his hiding place. The whistling wind to her right told her a Kunai was flying her way, and she caught it with ease before launching the blade back the way it came, triumphant smirk turning into anticipation as the Clone poofs into white smoke. A dark Kunai pressed against her throat and she froze in anger. She lost.
"I win, Shizi. A deal is a deal. Now, Kakashi-Sensei I leave her with you." Sasuke turned to leave, and that's when Shizi saw it. A hint of sadness flashing across his fine features. As soon as it appeared, it vanished, replaced by his blank mask he hides behind, though tainted by envy and simmering anger. But what exactly is he upset about. She knew all the stories about his clan being murdered by his brother, but that isn't the same look she saw on his face in that second of vulnerability.
What are you up to, Sasuke? Why are you so distant these days? Ever since that Orochimaru left his Curse Mark, you haven't been the same. I might not love you like Sakura or Ino do, but I still care, you're my family. And family always sticks together.
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Monsters
Fanfic"The true measure of a Shinobi is not how he lives, but how he dies..." Shizi Yemao's pretty smile hides her secrets and her pretty eyes have cried too many tears. It's scary what her smile has come to hide, and she has gotten better at hiding the...
