My Brother's a Jinchūriki!

Chapter Fifty-Four- Crumbling to Dust

*Warning- this chapter and the next contain dark, mature, and emotionally difficult themes*

"Wakey, wakey." Kiri prodded Natsumi's cheek until her eyes opened slowly. She grinned. "Ah, there you are."

Natsumi's eyes fluttered open and light blinded her briefly until her eyes adjusted and she recognized her surroundings.

I'm in the hospital again... She slowly moved her hands and feet and exhaled slowly. No pain, either. Just soreness...

Her eyes fell on Kiri, who crossed her arms and looked down at the girl.

"Hey." Natsumi murmured.

"Hey,' she says." Kiri shook her head slightly. "You just love scaring all of us, don't you?"

Natsumi's mouth twitched slightly in a smile. "Sorry."

"Sorry." Kiri scoffed. "You don't even know how dangerous that was! Transferring Chakra like that without training in Medical Ninjutsu... you could have killed yourself! What were you thinking?"

Natsumi grunted and forced herself to sit up, rubbing her eyes as she did. Then, she looked at Kiri.

"Did it work?"

Kiri stopped, her mouth open as she went to reply, then shut it again with a sigh. "Natsumi—"

She narrowed her eyes. "Did it work?"

Kiri let out a breath. "...it seems... the wound has recovered and the damage that the poison did was gone."

Natsumi's eyes widened and Kiri held up her hands, shaking her head slowly.

"But... Sena hasn't regained consciousness. They don't know why. They also don't know how you did it, but they're conducting blood tests as we speak to make sure that all traces of the poison are gone."

Natsumi's body relaxed and she stared down at her lap.

So... it still didn't work.

"You've bought her more time, at least." Kiri smiled softly and ruffled Natsumi's head. "She'd be proud of you.... right after scolding you for being so reckless."

At least I did something... Natsumi sighed and she smiled faintly to herself.

"Oh, and... you have visitors."

Natsumi looked up at her. "Huh? Visitors?"

"Yeah, and they've been surprisingly quiet." Kiri nodded and motioned to the back wall, where several chairs were occupied.

Natsumi's eyes widened again as she looked and discovered Team Seven there— Naruto sitting in quiet, pre-explosive anticipation; Sakura, sitting in the center, with her hands resting neatly on her knees as she watched Natsumi; Sasuke, who sat with his face turned away and his arms crossed, with his standard faint scowl on his face. Beside them, standing with his back against the wall as he read a book, was Kakashi. He lowered the book and smiled, crinkling his eyes as he held up a hand in a wave.

"Hey."

Naruto's body trembled as the pressure built up, and then he suddenly jumped to his feet and ran to his sister's side, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

"I get back and the first thing you do is try to get yourself killed!"

Natsumi opened her mouth, then closed it again as she met his eyes, which watered slightly as he stared at her. Natsumi's eyes watered and she threw her arms around him tightly, giving him a squeeze.