Strike of Lightning (Naruto fanfic)

Chapter 16

Everyone, quotes are taken directly from the manga, so it's not my fault if some of them don't make any sense or have the correct punctuation or something. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only Shuurai and some other stuff.

Flashbacks/dreams (not necessarily in chronological order):

"Sasuke." Shuurai stared directly into Sasuke's eyes. They were a little way away from the other two, who were fighting over the last fish. "Do you feel it?"

Shivering in spite of himself, Sasuke nodded. "Orochimaru's chakra."

"We are NOT going to mess with him. Promise me that you'll run."

Sasuke's Uchiha blood protested. "Rai-"

"No." Shuurai ordered. "You..." She corrected herself. "We. Will run away. You need to defeat Itachi. But to do that, you shouldn't stoop lower than him. We will not receive curse marks from a man who was supposed to be dead. Understand."

"Yes ma'am." Sasuke murmured.

***

"SHUURAI!" A guttural scream erupted from Sasuke's mouth. He fell to his knees, feeling his blood rush through him. There was no way he was going to let Shuurai be captured by Orochimaru. Then again, he didn't know how he could make a difference as both his legs were severely injured and he was about to succumb to the effects of the curse mark.

But he had to try. And so, with an almighty effort, he stood. Only to go down again in shock as he realised that Shuurai was gone.

***

Shuurai gasped with pain as she stood up. She had just used her full strength against her fight with Orochimaru and although he didn't even use half of his capability, Shuurai was drained. Both mentally and physically. All she knew was to get up and find some shelter for the night.

After a long sleep, she woke up feeling quite refreshed. Shuurai looked around and realised that someone had tended to her injuries. And that someone was healing her right now.

"Eh?" Shuurai noticed the white coat the person was wearing. We're in the forest... how did he keep his coat so clean?

"Ma'am, you're awake. That's good to see. In a day, you'll be fit to be released from the hospital. Just in time too. The Chuunin Exam finals are in a week." The medic-nin smiled at her.

"Eh?" A thought struck her. " I'm not in the forest... I'm in a hospital. Umm... why am I in a hospital again?"

The medic-nin looked at his clipboard. "You don't seem to have a mild case of amnesia. I think it must be because you just woke up. Oh, were you asking about the Chuunin Exams? Apparently the Hokage said you'd be strong enough to skip the preliminaries and put you straight through to the finals. Well, not that you were awake during the time the prelims were held."

"Wait!" Shuurai's yell startled the medic-nin. She began a half-hearted cheer. "Oh, yay, I'm in the finals... but what I really wanted to ask is, how's Sasuke? Where is he? Did he let the hospital staff treat him? He's always really picky about that. I usually have to go with him. I remember one time when we were little, he got a scrape on his knee that got infected. He was crying so loudly but he refused to go to the hospital, even when nii-san tried to pick him up. Finally what happened is that I had to go with him! Ever since then, he's always adamant about me going with him each time he has to come to the hospital. Oh, but why am I telling you this? You don't even care. On that note, you don't even know who Sasuke is, do you? Well, I was wondering, did you see a boy with around chin-length black hair come into the hospital?"

The poor medic-nin blinked his eyes rapidly. "I-I um.. yes, he was asking for you about an hour ago. We had a no-visitor policy for you but he threatened to knock down not only the door, but this whole wing of the hospital if we didn't let him in."

Shuurai snickered. "That's funny, didn't know Sasuke could be like that. Oh, but then again, sometimes he can be really protective. When we were in the Academy, one day this boy came up to me and started calling me names. Then-!"

Shuurai was cut off by a frantic medic-nin. "Did I say tomorrow? I meant you're free to go, right now! Good luck for the Chuunun Exams! I heard you're fighting the Hyuuga prodigy. I'll be rooting for you!"

Shuurai blinked in amazement as the doors of the hospital were shut right in her face. Neji, huh? Shuurai mused. Wait a minute! I hate that guy! Arrogant little jerk, whining about destiny and never trying to change anything himself. He expects us to wait on him hand and foot...

***

"And the next match will be..."

The names flashed on the screen.

"Shuurai vs. Neji Hyuuga."

OK, so for some reason, bold isn't working . Anyway, I just wanted to thank anybody who has commented, voted, or even read my story. I honestly did not think I would make it this far. SOL has over 3000 reads and near 120 votes. You guys have no idea how much this means to me, unless, of course, you've written a story and had people ( random strangers, nonetheless) appreciate it. I'm feeling déjà vu right now, for some reason.

Anyway, I still remember how proud I was when I first uploaded a chapter, first vote, first comment, 100-read mark, and all the other moments there are. OK, so that sentence didn't really make sense, but you get what I mean. So I'd like to tell you all, stick with me! Through thick and thin, fire and... Actually, I forgot the rest of the quote.