Obedience
-Chapter Twenty-Two-
Things might now always go as planned
but they'll always end up as they should.
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~*~
You would think that someone who had been put into a coma would have been put into some endless loop of memories. This wasn't the case for Emiko. Slowly she had awakened...but she had no memories. She had no clue who or where she was. The more she tried to piece it together the harder it was.
The sight of the IV in her vein caused her heart to race. She now felt immense fear and she couldn't find a reason why. Then, she began to choke, as there was a ventilator tube placed into her throat. It became hard to breathe as the nurses reached to her side. Finally, they'd removed it but that hadn't made it any easier to breathe.
They kept calling her "Emiko". Was that her name? How come she couldn't remember her name? Did she have parents? Siblings? Who were her best friends were....nothing. When she tried to recollect her life it all came down to nothing. And that was the scariest part of her situation.
"Emiko?" the doctor entered her room, "I'm glad to see you're awake" It was a woman, no older than 30 it seemed. She had black shoulder length hair and dark brown eyes that displayed kindness. "It looks like I have a lot of explaining to do" she took a seat before the blonde. The nurse by her side injected her IV with a sort of medicine that caused her to calm and then the doctor began.
"You have what we call a TBI or in other words, a Traumatic Brain Injury that was due to blunt force. As a result, you are suffering from Retrograde Amnesia. That is why you are experiencing memory loss. The good news is that Amnesia as itself is a temporary condition and you've had a couple visitors your stay in our hospital."
Emiko's world had slowed...Amnesia? This couldn't be real. Something inside of her found this to be such a nuisance to her. "As for your other wound..." the doctor looked her over, "I can't believe you survived it" she motioned to her chest wound. "You were nearly impaled by Zabuza Momochi's Executioner's blade." she explained, "Zabuza...? The Seven-swordsmen Zabuza?" Emiko questioned. With wide eyes, she stared down at her chest. It had been bandaged heavily.
"You've earned yourself quite the scar and your wounds are still healing." she informed, "As for your emergency contact..." she rustled through the files of the binder she was holding, "Lord...Kazekage" she looked her up and down, "Wow. You must be someone important, then."
"-Important is right" a deep voice was heard. There at the doorframe stood Gaara, his teal gaze softened and staring right at Emiko. "Well" the doctor stood to her feet, "I'll leave you to it, Kazekage-Sama."
"Thank you, doctor" he bowed his head. A blush dusted her cheeks, "Oh uh- It's no problem really. I'll be back shortly." As soon as she passed him by, Gaara persued Emiko, taking the arm-chair the doctor had once sat in. "You're awake" he stared down into her eyes.
Emiko had never been so confused and flustered in the entire course of her life. The life she didn't remember, that is. Her cheeks stained red as he continued to speak. "You... hit Sasuke's Susano during the Kage Summit. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have any recollection," he explained, placing his hand over hers. As she felt his hand over hers, the blush on her cheeks only worsened.
"Forgive me, but," she began, looking into his eyes, "Who are you?" Gaara's eyes emptied for a moment as everything inside him shattered for a moment. Every day, every minute spent with her, was gone. Footsteps were heard, and in came Temari and Kankuro with the Doctor behind them.
"Oh my god" Temari ran to her side, "I can't believe you're awake!" Kankuro sent the girl a smile, "Glad to see you're finally back with us."
"Now you may be alarmed at her condition" the doctor began, pointing to the whiteboard above the girl. There it read, 'Retrograde-Amnesia'. "Amnesia?" Kankuro questioned. "For how long?" The doctor's eyes softened in sympathy as the Sand Sibling's seemed even more distraught about Emiko's condition than she was.
"I can't imagine being in either of your places. Amnesia is something that has the ability to disappear with time. But I must inform you that it also has the potential to be permanent. Emiko will be discharged in three weeks but I would like to get her in to see a neurologist every other Friday so that we can see if she continues to display memory loss. But I need you all to prepare for the best and worst of outcomes." she explained, "For now all we can do is wait and see how she recovers. Please, offer Emiko your support. She's going to need it now more than ever."
With that said, the doctor left. "Amnesia, huh?" Kankuro looked down to her, "I guess that's better than you being in the Akatsuki." Temari smacked his arm, "Kankuro!"
"-Akatsuki...?" Emiko murmured, looking up to them. "I was...in the Akatsuki?" Gaara sighed and then nodded shortly after. "Yes..." he trailed, "Yes you were."
"But that was all orchestrated by Sasuke, alright? We know you're not a bad person." Temari put a hand on her arm. "Sasuke...Uchiha?" she asked. The group of them turned to her, their eyes full of concern. Images of a raven haired man flashed inside her brain. "I...I think I know him" her eyes lit up. Out of all the nothingness, his face was the only memory she could grasp.
Gaara froze, as he couldn't help but feel hurt at the fact that she could only remember Sasuke. It felt as though their life before the Kage Summit was now non-existant, so long as she couldn't remember him. But that didn't matter now. All that mattered was that she was safe and alive. And he couldn't be anymore content that he'd found her.
"I...I can't remember anything else. I'm-I'm so sorry you guys" she apologized, panicking as she struggled to deal with the sudden realization. The people before her were so important that she could feel it, but she just...couldn't remember a thing. Except for Sasuke. Temari looked to her heart monitor as it had picked up. "Hey" she comforted the girl, "It's going to be alright"
"We know all about you" Gaara joined in, "We'll help you remember"
