Ghosts

Minxie Takeda

"Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes, and it takes, and it takes. And we keep living anyway, we rise and we fall and we break and we make our mistakes. And if there's a reason I'm still alive when everyone who loves me has died, then I'm willing to wait for it."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

KONOHA::

Ryuu spent most of his morning in the hospital. Usually, after his daily therapy session with Sakura, he would take her out for lunch, partially as a way to say thank you for all her help and partially as a way to make sure she actually took the time to eat. Hardworking by nature, the medic was prone to losing herself in her hospital duties and often neglected to have a proper meal, despite being constantly scolded by everyone around her –namely Ino– for doing so. It was no surprise, then, that Ryuu had taken it upon himself to intervene.

The pinkette had tried to protest at first, insisting that it was her job to take care of him and not the other way around, but in the end, his stubbornness had triumphed over hers, and now, having lunch together had become part of their routine.

Today, however, they were doing something different. Yesterday, Josh had finished work early and ended up making an even bigger dinner than usual, resulting in plenty of leftovers. Knowing just how much Sakura loved Josh's cooking, Ryuu decided to bring some of the leftover food with him to share with her.

After all, it was no secret that out of their entire friend group, Josh was the best cook, hands down. It was rare that they were all free at the same time with how busy everyone's schedules had become after the war, but whenever they did get together for dinner and opted to stay in, the task of making the food was always left in Josh's more than capable hands.

After their session, Ryuu and Sakura stayed in her office for the next hour or so to enjoy their lunch. The pinkette, as expected, provided most of the conversation, while the Takeda listened and nodded along when necessary. She gushed about her students' progress and complained about Naruto, who was long overdue for a check-up but refused to come in for one, claiming very matter-of-factly that there was, in his words, "no way the Jinchuriki of all nine tailed beasts could ever get sick, ya know!"

That, of course, was a complete lie. Being a Jinchuriki may have given him advanced healing abilities, but it didn't make him immune to all illness. Sure, the Uzumaki didn't really get sick often, but that didn't mean it was impossible, either. And on those rare occasions when he did get sick, well...it was usually just a huge mess for everyone involved.

The worst time, Sakura explained to Ryuu, had been back when they were all still genin. Naruto had gotten a terrible flu and stubbornly refused to take any medicine for it, insisting he would get over it quickly. He hadn't, of course, so, after recruiting the help of a reluctant Sasuke, Minxie and Sakura had spent the entire day chasing him around the village, trying to get him to do so.

The girls had practically driven themselves crazy over it. They'd tried lecturing him, tricking him, even bribing him, but none of it had worked, until eventually, per Sasuke's casual suggestion, they'd just settled for using force.

They had cornered him at the training grounds. Naruto had tried his best to evade them, but it was hopeless, considering how sick he had been.

In the end, it was Minxie who had ended up tackling the Uzumaki to the ground. She and Sasuke had kept him in place by sitting on him and ignored his protests so that Sakura could make him drink the medicine, while Kakashi, who, as expected, had done absolutely nothing to help, peered up from his infamous book long enough to sigh and shake his head in a judging manner, announcing casually that "none of this would've happened if you had just eaten your vegetables, Naruto."