Ojos Asi [[private -- nyrax]]

Tsunade shrugged her shoulders. "You're too emotionally invested in this Kiba. You care a lot about her, but the fact that they don't speaks volumes." She said, continuing to heal him. "Nearly killing her is an accomplishment. Next time, you'll be able to win and kill him." Winking, she stood up. Turning her head some of the nurses came out of the room. One came over to Tsunade and whispered something in her ear about Akiko's condition; she said mostly technical stuff, but the one thing that was in plain language was - 'she'll survive.'

Turning to face Kiba, Tsunade bit her lip. "Do you want to go see her?" She asked, going towards the room Akiko was being kept in.

Kiba just listened as Tsunade spoke, telling him that he was too emotionally put into all of this. She had no idea; very few knew what Kiba had actually done with Akiko and how he felt. If she knew, she probably wouldn’t sing him so much praise after all. He gave a small sigh. “I guess you’re right, but from my memory the other siblings are much stronger than him. I’ll have to continue to train, if I want to make a difference in this coming battle”, he remarked mainly to himself. Kiba tilted his head as he heard the nurse whispering to Tsunade, he heard that Akiko would survive. He frowned but gave a slow nod as she asked Kiba if he wanted to see her. He needed this. He slowly got up and followed Tsunade. Kiba couldn’t say why, but the last few months had made him respect his leaders more and more.

When they walked into the room, Akiko was hooked up to a machine that had wires running to most of her body. Her eyes were closed, and along her forehead where little wires which suction cups that showed a machine with strange lines that moved in a random motion. She had an IV in each arm, one of which was transfusing blood, the other seemed to be fluids. Contrary to before, she was now in hospital clothing, a pale green robe that clung loosely to her body. Hearing footsteps, her eyes opened, and head moved to the side. A bit of blood remained on her neck and arm from whatever they had done, but it was just something small they missed when cleaning her up. A warm smile spread across her face when she saw him. "Hey..." Her hand reached out to him as he got closer, wanting him to be in contact with her in one way or another.

The site was enough to break Kiba’s heart, watching Akiko lay down and hooked up to so many machines. It had been because of him, he had no idea that his attack could do that much. He hung his head as he walked in, feeling as if he was unworthy to look at her practically. He just hoped that she wouldn’t be mad, he knew she wouldn’t. She was never mad at him, even though she should be. Kiba walked in, gazed at her as she looked at him and extended her arm. He leaned down and cupped her hand with both of his, not knowing what he should do. He just leaned down and whispered to her. “I’m sorry”, before giving a weak smile. “Hey Akiko”

As his hand circled around hers, a sweet smile appeared on her lips. Her other hand started to pull some of the wires from her head and other parts of her body, they made her itchy. As she took them off, one machine stopped forming lines, made a single beep and then stopped.

Attempting to lean upwards, Tsunade caught her by the shoulder, making her lay back down. She turned off the machine, removed the rest of the wires for this particular one, but made her keep all the others on. "Keep these on, ok? And stay out of trouble." Tsunade moved from of her long brown hair from her face and walked out of the room.

Akiko nodded and turned to face Kiba and blinked a few times. "Why are you sorry? This wasn't your fault. Sani did this." Shifting across the bed to get closer to him, a small smile returned, showing she was hiding that she was in pain. Her long brown hair swirled around her body, making her seem as though her body had gotten smaller. "I'm not mad at you, I could never be mad at you."

Kiba just watched from the side as Tsunade removed several of the devices from Akiko and set them aside, but overall she seemed to not be too worried with Akiko’s health. That was a good sign. He smiled and turned to Akiko. “You’re brother may have thrown you in the way but I still hit you”, he remarked as he looked down at her. “I just wish I hadn’t have let my rage consume me, I wanted to kill him so badly for what he said, what he did, what he wanted”, he remarked softly with a shake of his head. He turned, leaned down, and kissed Akiko lightly on the forehead. “You’re okay though…….how do you feel?”

Akiko watched him closely; he seemed really upset. She understood though, if she hurt him, she'd never ever forgive herself for letting herself cause him injury. Was that how he felt? It... had to be. Closing her eyes, she seemed unsure of what to do. "Well..." She whispered. Opening her eyes slowly, she smiled. "My stomach hurts, but I'll be fine." Looking up at him, she held her waist as she forced herself to sit up; visible wincing as she did so. "But you're here! That makes it better!" There was a pause as she looked up at him. "Do you want to lay down with me?"

Kiba smiled as she said that only her stomach hurt. Akiko would do anything to make him feel better, but she would never just plain lie to Kiba. He smiled, knowing that she would really be okay, and that she wasn’t mad at him. “I’m so glad, watching you bleed and the color of your skin…….I’ve never been more scared”, he admitted before he reached up and wiped his eyes clean. He gave a small smile as Akiko asked if he would lay down with her. “Well, I’ll stay with ya”, he offered as he leaned his head on her pillow but sat down in a chair near her. “How’s this?”, he asked with a smile.

Akiko blinked a few times. What... happened to her skin? Did she get pale? "There was no need for you to be scared, Kiba-kun. I promised never to leave you remember?" She asked, holding his hand within her own. Then, she shook her head. "No... come here." She pulled his arm so he'd get into the bed with her. "I always feel safer when you hold me. Please?" She asked, her eyes shiny as she begged him wordlessly. "I want to know that I'll be safe."

Kiba gave a slow nod. “Yeah, I remember that. But…..it all just seemed so scary, like you weren’t going to leave but….”, he didn’t know how to explain it. He was surprised as Akiko still had the strength to pull him into the bed so that he’d be next to her. After a face and a cry for help like that there was no way that Kiba would ever say no, especially since he still felt responsible. “Alright Akiko”, he said as he lay with her and held her in a soft hug. “Just rest”

Akiko turned her body onto it's side to move close to him. Closing her eyes, she smiled, content that they were together. She felt so warm in his arms, and having him hold her made what happened okay. Being in his arms was the only thing that she wanted all the time. He loved her. He cared for her. He was strong, he loved her. His body encircled hers, making her feel so much safer than she could any other way or with anyone else. "I can't believe Sani did that..." She whispered.

Kiba held onto Akiko softly, not wanting to reopen any of the wounds that he had already caused. HE felt guilty enough as it was. He gave a sigh of content as he suddenly felt like he hadn’t slept in years. He was glad that he had chosen to help Akiko instead of chasing that guy, this was more important. Kiba still couldn’t help but wonder what this was going to meant for them now, he would have to talk to Aaliyah to find that out. “I didn’t think he would either Akiko…….it was the last thing I expected”

Akiko buried her head into his chest. "Sani thinks I'm spoiled..." She whispered, holding onto his arms. he still wasn't wearing a shirt, but she wasn't objective to this fact. He was still there for her, and she liked the way his body felt against her own. It was teh bond they shared, and she never questioned it more than that. "I didn't expect him to let me get hurt, but... he was really mad so... I guess it makes sense. He wanted to win and you're stronger than him. Sani is pretty slow when it comes to battle, but he's quick minded."

Kiba gave a slow nod as Akiko held onto him, hearing how Sani thought that Akiko was spoiled and not that great of a fighter. “For a while I didn’t think I was going to win, is he the weakest of your siblings?”, Kiba asked curiously. He let out a small yawn and shook his head. “You’re his family though, he never should have even though about doing something like that, he crossed the line”, he whispered softly as he looked at Akiko’s eyes. He slowly leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

Akiko shook her head. "It depends. Sani is really good at spying and turning into other people. He's smart, but... I don't think he's the weakest of us. I sorta think that Ai is. She hates fighting, but she's pretty good at making others do it for her." Her eyes slowly closed. "But I have a lot of siblings and they all have strengths and weaknesses. Xerion can't do taijutsu, but no one can beat his genjutsu. Kaliegh is amazing with taijutsu, but she can't do genjutsu at all. Her and Xerion usually fight together. They balance one another out, and... well... what they went through together as kids..."

Kiba gave a small nod, trying to remember all of this incase it became important. A fight was coming, especially now that Sani had gotten away. He would report about this, and Kiba had a feeling that things were going to get very ugly. He raised an eyebrow as she brought up Xerion and Kaleigh, the team up. She drifted off at the mention of their childhood. Were they close? Kiba couldn’t help but wonder since Xerion was on their side……right? “What happened to them?”, he asked curiously.

There was a pause before she answered. "Kaliegh was diagnosed with Aplastic anemia when she was eight. Xerion was her matching donor. He was seven when they started the transfusions and stuff. They kept taking his bone marrow and putting it into her. The only reason Kaliegh lived is because of Xerion." She whispered softly. "They're really close. They were always together in the hospital and Xerion is good with pain because they couldn't sedate him when they did the operation twice for some reason."

Kiba didn’t exactly know what that disease was, but he could imagine that it was pretty bad. Akiko sounded serious about it, so it was probably something that she didn’t enjoy speaking about. So Xerion had saved her life by giving her his bone marrow? That made things interesting, Kiba hadn’t heard anything about this girl being on their side. Would she turn once she learned Xerion was on their side? Or was Xerion playing them all? Kiba didn’t know. “They must be great friends, to do that sounds like it would be scary. I hear those operations are dangerous”, he admitted.

Akiko nodded. "Xerion told me about it once. They drilled into the bones in his legs and hips to get the bone marrow out because it's made in the long bones. Like the legs and stuff. He said that he still has holes in his bones. He showed an xray once. It was cool. It's like swiss cheese in some parts, and that's why he doesn't like fighting. He says he'll survive though." She shrugged. "They are really close though. It's strange not seeing them together, but Youki doesn't like them together. he thinks that they're planning something. I'm not sure what but..."

Kiba gave a slow nod. That really did sound painful, and he heard that those transplants didn’t always go so well. He might have died, but that’s what he was willing to do for his sister. No wonder they were so close. Kaliegh literally owed Xerion her lift. At the mention of them planning something Kiba couldn’t help but smile. He suddenly had a feeling that both siblings were going to be on their side. “You know, you really should be sleeping”, he pointed out with a smile.

Akiko smiled weakly. Her eyes were already closed and his natural furnace like body, she nodded. "I know... but i don't want to leave you." She whispered, how tired she was starting to show in her voice. "I think you'd like Kaliegh though. She likes to argue with Aaliyah." She whispered, laughing very softly. "She's cocky and loud. I love spending time with her though. She's sorta like you in a lot of ways. She can only sit still and be in once place for a short period of time."

Kiba couldn’t help but give a small chuckle. “You won’t be leaving me Akiko, you’d help me to feel better”, he said softly. Kaleigh was apparently someone that he would get along with , apparently neither of them liked Aaliyah that greatly. Kiba just grinned at that comment. “Well she sounds like someone that I could maybe be friends with”, he remarked with a nod. He let out a yawn of his own and closed his eyes. “But honestly Akiko, you need your rest”

Akiko smiled and nodded. "I bet you'd like her." She said quietly. "And, if you promise to be here when I wake up." she said, the weak smile fading as she grew more content. As hard as she tried, her eyes were too heavy to open and she was just too exhausted to do much else. Her body was stiff, paralyzed, as she started to drift off to sleep.

"Shino..." Aaliyah found him in the hospital and grabbed his arm. "W-What happened?" She asked, panting hard, bending forward, resting her hands on her bent knees, trying to get her breathing back to normal.

Kiba just gave a nod and smiled at Akiko. “I promise that I will, but you’ll feel better after napping. I promise”, he assured her as he squeezed her hand. Kiba waited a few more minutes till he was certain that Akiko was drifting off to sleep. Not wanting to cause any more panic, Kiba slowly slipped out of the bed and back into his chair. He wasn’t going to leave her. He slowly leaned his head into Akiko’s pillow and began to drift off himself.

Shino turned slowly as he recognized the exhausted voice of Aaliyah. She looked tired. “What happened to you?”, he asked curiously. Shino shook his head. “Sani used Akiko as a shield last second against Kiba’s attack, because of that she was hurt. Kiba brought her and Hana here although I helped him. I tried chasing after Sani but Suki popped out of nowhere and teleported him away”, he said. “I’m sorry, I almost had him……….but where have you been?”

Aaliyah waved her hand, showing she wanted him to continue and not worry about her. Her eyes widened when he explained. "S-Sani... was r-running from Kiba?" She asked, holding chest as she panted. Needless to say, it didn't really surprise her that they were in the hospital. Aaliyah grabbed a bottle of water from a vending machine not too far from them. Drinking half of it in a pass, her panting slowed. "It's ok..." she said, closing her eyes for a moment. sitting down in a chair, she looked up at him. "I went to see my sensei. She was pissed off that I've been gone but I talked to her. Youki knows what happened..." She said, a worried look on her face.

Walking down the hallways, it didn't take her long to find where Kiba and Akiko where. Grabbing Kiba by the hair because of the lack of any upper clothing, she forced him into a standing position she dragged him out of the room. "Kiba..." She pushed him into the wall. "Youki knows that Akiko is hurt... What Sani's done.." She paused, biting her lip. "And that she was in Konoha with you.."