Mine to Take (A Boruto Love Story)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The persistent beep was like a fly that wouldn't go away. She frowned, searching for the strength to make it stop. She was cold. She didn't know this place. Everything was blurry, but the room was brightly lit, lights buzzing a quiet hum above her.

Slowly and with great effort, she brought more things into focus. The rough texture of the white blanket covering her. The hard tubing invading her nostrils. A soft rustling sound beside her.

Then Boruto's face filled the widening frame of her vision. She wanted to reach for him, but a needling pain shot through her hand as she went to move it. She winced. He caught it between his palms, stroking softly and warming it at the same time.

"Boruto." Her voice cracked when she spoke. Her throat was dry, but suddenly grew moist with the tears and emotion. Seeing Boruto overwhelmed her. They'd been apart for too long, yet she couldn't explain why. "What happened?"

"There was an ambush."

She closed her eyes and reached for the memories. Everything was so blurry, but slowly, like the room, the last memories of her conscious mind came into focus.

The mission. The brainwashed bandits. Yūhei. The dead ANBU. Ataru. The assassination attempt. Blood. God, there'd been so much blood. And Ryōgi...he was with her. He could be hurt...or worse.

"Ryōgi...is Ryōgi okay?"

He nodded his head. "He's fine."

Relief spiraled through her body. Thank God, thank God, thank God he's okay.

Boruto tucked a hair behind her ear, moving a tube that blew cold unwelcome oxygen into her nostrils. She wrinkled her nose and went to pull them out.

Boruto stopped her, replacing its position. "No, keep that."

"I don't want them."

"Christ, Yuna. You've been stabbed twice. Can you please leave it? At least until the doctor comes."

She relaxed back into the pillow, giving up the fight and feeling the small surge of energy that had woken her vanish. She was exhausted, but she didn't want to leave Boruto yet.

"Sorry," she muttered.

He sighed softly. "Are you in pain? I can call the nurse."

She did a mental scan of her body. Her head hurt, her shoulder ached where the shinobi stabbed her, and the pain in her abdomen was more localized than she remembered.

"Ataru was there. Did you..."

"He got away."

Her eyes flew open. "What?"

"I used your blood to summon Tama and the others, but the trail went cold."

Then suddenly she remembered. The other two shinobi accompanying Ataru. She touched her trembling fingertips to her mouth. "There were two others with him. I recognized one of them, a woman."

She looked to Boruto's concerned expression.

"I saw her outside Ichiraku after your dad and I parted ways the night you came home from your mission. She had this weird feeling about her, but I thought I was just being paranoid and didn't think much of it at the time."

He glanced at her anxiously. "Did she say anything?

"She said..." She frowned, trying to remember their conversation. "'What do you have that I don't have?' and when I asked who she was, she said, 'Nobody.'"