[44] Awake

Kagami is quiet at first. She woke up a few minutes ago and doesn't know what to do. She is pretty much pinned to her bed by her brother's sleeping figure. He is sitting in the chair beside her bed and is leaning his arms over onto her with his head leaning against them.

'Big-headed.'

She opens her mouth and coughs lightly, trying to get his attention. She glances down at him, noticing the slow rise and fall of his breaths not wavering. She coughs again, a little louder than the last. But still, he doesn't wake up.

'I could wait.' She glances at the clock on the wall across the room from her. 'No.'

'Kagami, don't be so impatient he has been by your bed this entire time, let the man sleep.'

'Yua, how are you?'

'Huh , what do you mean how am I? I'm perfectly fine.'

'How are your roommates?'

'What? What do you mean? I don't ha-oh.'

Silence rings out between the two as Yua thinks of what to say.

'Could you have not just let the old man do it?'

Kagami almost laughs at her answer, she had predicted something similar.

'Are they good roommates?'

'The white-haired one tried to kill me before, but the other one talked him out of it.'

'So good first impressions.'

'Can you two stop bickering?'

Kagami stops out a sheer surprise. Masaru's voice came through the connection cold and reserved, seemingly more upset than she had ever heard him.

'Masaru, what happened to you?'

'Fuck off.'

Kagami's eyes widen and she jerks slightly in shock, his words seemingly burning the inside of her skull.

'Don't mind him,' Yua mumbles once his presence leaves them, 'Yusi . . . didn't make it through the fight. She got in the way of an attack against a kid.'

Kagami's eyes grow dull and grey, she knew something had to have gone wrong while she was away. She surses to herself as she mulls over the information, cutting Yua off.

"Kagami," she turns to look to her side, her brother has his eyes open, still resting against his arms.

She nods and brings her good hand up to him, grabbing his arm. He sits up and holds her hand in his, hoping she doesn't lull back into unconsciousness. He is happy she is awake, but he can tell that something is on her mind.

"Kagami, what are you thinking about?"

"Emotions are annoying."

"Heh?"

s.h.o.u.t.

"We come bearing gifts and shogi!"

Kagami turns to the door in shock, not expecting any visitors. Kakashi had left a little over an hour ago to get some well earned rest before he is sent on any missions. Kagami stares stonily at the group of people at the door, her gaze cold as ever.

Though her visitors take no mind to her bad mood, they shuffle in and greet her cheerfully. Kagami watches as the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi family set up camp in her room, though there is an absence of the latter two mothers she is still surprised with the amount of people who have taken the time out of their day to visit her.

"Kagami! I brought more flowers because I thought these ones might wilt quickly because of the heating." Ino makes quick work of cleaning out the old flowers and putting the new ones in.

"We come bearing food!" Choza Akimichi suddenly whips out a fold out table and places it over Kagami's bed, showing a spread of enough food to feed a small family of 18.

Kagami nods her head to everyone, "Thank you."

"NO!" Kagami jumps at the loud shout of Shikaku.

He slams a shogi board onto Kagami's lap and sits down directly next to her and placing all the pieces down in a flash.

"We shall now decide whether you are worthy of the Nara family name."

Silence falls over the room for a second, Kagami's eyes widening to saucers as she slowly cranes her next to look at Shikamaru who has his mouth hanging open and a hand supporting his mother.

Yoshino walks over and smacks her husband over the head multiple times with a saucepan.

"The girl is in hospital Shikaku, do you want to give her a heart attack," Yoshino then turns to Kagami, "It's okay darling, he's just pulling your leg."

Kagami nods slowly as Inoichi chuckles lightly, smacking Shikamaru on the back as he starts to watch the room spin. Ino holds up a hand to her mouth lightly as she giggles into it.

Kagami, trying to diffuse the situation, grabs a piece of meat and shoves it into her mouth, only a flash of her face being seen.

The room sweat drops.

'So fast!'

"So have you had many visitors, Kagami?" Shikaku asks as he makes the first move on the board.

She nods, "Kakashi, Sakura, Ino."

The room stays quiet.

'So little!'

"Hm? Your turn," Shikaku gestures towards the board and she stares at it incredulously.

"I am unaware of the game."

Shikaku gasps loudly, his entire body seemingly turning grey in an instance as he stares at the girl. His face drops and he clenches his heart.

"You poor soul," he looks at his shogi board in sorrow.

"Dad, you're being a drag."

"Sh, Shikamaru," he holds up a hand to his son before turning to Kagami, "Today is the day, your life will change."

He then proceeds to explain each and every rule and strategy to the game, making sure she is keeping up with all of them.

The rest of the room sighs and continues on eating and chatting with each other quietly about their work. Choza and Inoichi have been over flown with work but requested the day off to spend it with their kids and visit Kagami.

"I believe I understand." Kagami stares dangerously at the board before making a move.

Shikaku stares down at the board as well, secretly hoping that she is some sort of wiz and can pick it up easily. He hasn't been able to play a good game of it with Shikamaru lately, he has always been distracted.

"YOU WILL SEE HER AND MAKE SURE SHE IS OKAY! SHANNARO!"

Everyone stops what they are doing and turns towards the door, watching as its yanked open and a dead looking Sasuke and Naruto are tossed into the room by a fuming Saukra. She has flames dancing in her eyes and her teeth bared. But as soon as she sees the families sitting with Kagami she immediately calms down and holds her arms behind her back.

"Oh, hello Mr and Ms Nara, Mr Akimichi, Mr Yamanaka, I didn't know you were coming. We will come back another time." She smiles at them sweetly as she picks up her two teammates by the collar and drags them out of the room, closing the door quietly.

"I'm starting to think that Kagami may have influenced some people too much." Inoichi pops a grape in his mouth as he stares at the door, "Oh well, maybe it's for the better."

He turns back to his friends to see that Shikaku and Kagami hadn't even turned away from the board game in front of them, they are so focused that they hadn't noticed the intrusion.

"Well, I think she'll fit right in, what do you think Choza?" The Yamanaka leans towards his friend who is also staring at the two with his arms crossed.

"Mhm," he nods, "I think we know where the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho will start."

This seems to knock Kagami out of her trance because she drops the shogi piece and slowly turns her neck towards the two men, who shrink back behind their unexpecting children.

"I do not plan on carrying a baby any time soon." She then turns back to the game and picks up the shogi piece again, placing it down delicately and knocking one of Shikaku's off the board.

He mutters under his breath and shakes his head. Yoshino smiles lightly at the two, liking the fact that they are getting along.

'Scary!'

Inoichi wipes a bead of sweat off his forehead.

"Choza, I may have worked with her for many years, but I'm still scared she will kill me."

The said man nods back, stealing more olives off the platter and popping them into his mouth.

"Maybe you should treat her like a kid, not a trained murderer."

Choji whispers it so quietly that the two men almost missed it.

"I think that was the turning point. Kagami started opening up and speaking more when we treated her more like a kid then a trained Anbu, especially when you go out of your way for her." Choza stares down at his son, proud of the fact that he had picked up on the little things around him and not just the broader picture like they have all been taught.

Ino nods along with her friend, "Kagami is a two-way street kinda person. Though she likes to be cold and more straight forward, she has her moments."

Inoichi smiles and ruffles her hair, earning loud protest from the girl as she tries to place it back neatly into a bun. He laughs and does it again just to annoy her.

"I win," Kagami's voice cuts off the arguing and chatter around the room.

They look towards the board to see that she has in fact one the game. Shikaku grasps his heart again, looking away from the board ashamed, but seemingly proud at the same time.

"I have taught you well."

"You let me win."

"Yes."

"Let's play again. I will beat you."

s.h.o.u.t.

The families spent the rest of the day gathering around the girl and telling her little stories of what has happened while she has been bed-ridden. The best one being Yoshino trying to send dresses to the Hatake household only to find no one home.

Kagami secretly prays to the gods that she won't be home the next time she tries. She may owe a lot to the woman, but another dress might cause Kagami's heart to spontaneously combust.

They waved goodbye as the sun started to set, telling her to get rest and get well soon. They left a little bit of food for her to finish off and Shikaku even wrote out an entire shogi scroll for her to read so she could pass time. She sighs lightly as she lays back into her bed, she enjoyed their company, but also enjoys her time to herself.

She looks out the window tiredly, watching the sun spray colours across the horizon beautifully. She rolls over onto her back and closes her eyes.

Peace and quiet.

"Kagami."

Shattered.

She snaps her eyes open and looks over to the door, immensely annoyed with whoever it is.

Shikamaru leans against the door frame lightly, his frame relaxed. She nods to him, telling him to continue.

"Ah, this is so troublesome." The boy walks forward and places a lasting kiss to her forehead, just next to her wound. "Get better you troublesome woman."

The boy turns around and walks out, leaving the girl a flushed mess. Her face turns bright red as she stares at the door. She looks away and covers her face with her hands.

"Oh, kami! Have you got a temperature?!" A nurse comes running in and places a hand on Kagami's head, trying to determine if she has fallen sick.

Kagami internally rolls her eyes and leans back into her pillows.

So much for peace and quiet.

s.h.o.u.t.

6th update in two days, not bad, not bad.

~shadow