Disclaimer: Mia is so mine. That's about it. Plot, too, I guess.

Warning: Fluff & gasp?! Romance?! if you squint.

First Beta: featherstofly

Second Beta: Lavendor Queen

Editor: Sansho

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

"And that's why I'm covered with red dots," I finished explaining my training sessions to Obito, about four days after I had started training. I was thankfully comfortable enough with my chakra that I could start my manipulation training next time. Getting to that point though, would probably forever be a scarring experience to me.

It didn't help that every time I was helpless, Jiraiya ran off to go giggle at the girls at the hot springs. Yeah, thanks man. I felt real safe. Not that I had a choice, anyway; I had to learn to control this, as soon as possible. It might have been horrendous and I might have hated it, but it had to be done.

Obito gave me a comforting one-armed hug. When he had seen all the dots that the surprisingly big needle left behind, he was more than a little worried. Or morbidly curious. Who could say?

"I don't think I could handle that kind of training," Obito confessed.

"I must have nerves of steel then," I snorted. "How's Akatsuki running?"

"It's running," Obito replied. "I think after we have Itachi and after Orochimaru leaves, I can introduce your plan. I quite like it."

"Why not now?"

"Then Itachi wouldn't join us because we wouldn't be evil enough to need supervision. And there's no way in hell Orochimaru would stoop to it, narcissistic bastard."

"Orochimaru's pretty cool," I defended, feeling obligated. Even if he was a strange little child creeper, he was a good scientist. And the engineering side of me could definitely appreciate his devotion and fascination to jutsus. Hell, if I could, I'd probably devout myself to research like him. Minus all the dead kids. Minus all the kids, period.

And dissections.

Probably.

"Yet you don't like Kabuto."

"He's a wanna-be ass," I sniffed. "He couldn't even manage to be his own separate little baddie. He wanted to live up to being Orochimaru Jr. Talk about unoriginal and boring."

"Of course," Obito placated me. "I've mentioned you to Konan and Nagato and only that you have an idea to bring a greater benefit to the Akatsuki as well as minimize the lives needed to be taken."

"Do lives need to be taken at all? Do you have to kill the bijū hosts?"

"If you figure out how to spare them and we still extract the bijū, we can spare them," Obito consoled.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Awesome. I'll start studying Fūinjutsu. Always wanted to, anyway. Definitely curious to see how chakra reacts to simple drawings that trigger a chain reaction down to the molecular level and even more curious to see how they would react to my chakra that's already volatile on a molecular level. Hell, it'd probably be like adding Uranium when you only need Phosphorus or Neon—" I stopped myself. "Sorry."

Obito stared at me. "You geek."

"You love me anyway," I said automatically.

Obito was quiet for a moment before he murmured, almost as an afterthought, "Yes. I do."

I grinned, leaning forward and kissing his cheek in a friendly manner. "'Cause I'm so amazing like that. Anyway, I should probably get going. See you next time, buddy."

I stood up from my bed, stretching my body for a moment before pausing. "Ah, before I forget, what surname should I take?"

"Surname?" Obito repeated.

"Mm-hmm."

Obito mulled over his response for a while before he replied, "A-ho."

"Dork," I echoed. "No. My last name is not going to mean dork."

Obito smiled slyly. "Shizen-Mesuinu."

"Nature's bitch," I laughed. "Really? Really?"

"It fits you for the moment," Obito said smugly.

I snorted with laughter. "That's so mean. I'm serious. What surname should I take?"

"Fine, fine. I'll think about it," Obito snickered. "But I'm serious about Shizen-Mesuinu."

"Maybe," I allowed, grinning wickedly. "It'd be a fun inside joke. But I'd like a name my son can say proudly without getting scolded. I'd settle for that as a middle name, though."

"I suppose that's better than nothing."

"A middle name that will stay between the two of us," I clarified. "And I guess my doctor whenever you stop being paranoid and let me have one. And hell, I'm sure Jiraiya-sensei would get a kick out of it too."

Obito grinned. "Probably."

I shook my head. "Ja ne, Obito."

"Ja ne, Mia."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

After Obito had left, not a minute afterwards there a quiet knock on my front door. Curiously, I frowned and opened it.

Standing before me was a red-eyed Sakura. She sniffled.

"Hello again," I greeted, a bit surprised at seeing her there in such a state.

Sakura opened her mouth once before she closed it, giving another sniffle.

I opened my door wider. "Come on, little one."

Sakura nodded once before she stepped into the apartment. Naruto was currently out, off causing mayhem among the Chūnins. My little havoc. Sakura looked around the apartment, taking it in before she bit her lip.

After closing the door, I kneeled down before her, tilting my head. "Do you want me to make you anything? Dinner? Sweets? Comfort food?"

Sakura gave a sort of watery-smile before shrugging. Her eyes trailed down and she shifted her stance to something of sheepishness. She hiccupped before blushing brightly.

"Comfort food it is," I said, moving towards the kitchen. "I've got ice-cream and some brownies. Which do you want?"

"B-Brownies?"

"Brownies with milk, then," I said, grabbing the plate of brownies as well as the plates. "You're welcome to sit on the couch. Make yourself at home."

I couldn't see Sakura's reaction, but I did hear her quiet footsteps as she moved towards the couch. By the time I managed to balance everything and turn towards her, I could see her sitting quietly on the couch, still sniffling. I headed towards her, offering her a plate and a glass which she accepted with a quiet thank you.

"So how can I help you?" I asked after she had taken a rather large bite of her brownie. Sakura gave me a sheepish-shy look, staring down at her plate.

"Mommy gave me permission."

Surprise momentarily colored my features. I had to pause and consider this carefully. In my world there would have been no question in allowing a small child—a small girl—with a complete stranger. Granted, I did meet her parents when I escorted Sakura home. They were very nice people and had attempted to have me over for dinner (but I had explained to them that I had my own child back home waiting for me so they relented), but they didn't know me.

Then again, this was a shinobi village. Children ran about all over the place and the parents gave little worry. Obito had admitted that his childhood wasn't anywhere near as sheltered as mine, as the ANBU and the police were all over the place. Not to mention, citizenship in Konoha was something earned by everyone. Even if you were born in Konoha, you had to earn Konoha's trust. If you took the shinobi (or kunoichi) path, then you earned Konoha's trust through your blood, sweat and tears. If you took the civilian path, at a certain age (seventeen, last Obito checked), you were forced to take a test and pass it.

It wasn't a test of solving problems or memorization. It was a psych and loyalty test. It was ingenious in its own way. I would be taking it myself after Jiraiya's test, so I didn't know yet what it consisted of. But it was one of the reasons Konoha was known as the Loyal Village. It was this test that ensured the loyalty, the rights everyone held. And it was through this process that Naruto's jinchūriki status remained hidden to the other villages. Even if Konoha treated him like a scapegoat, it was still a Konoha secret and as such Konoha would protect it and hold tight to it with every fiber of its being.

It was touching, in a way.

Back to my point, though. It was rare, extremely rare, that someone of ill-intent passed the test. The only way someone of ill-intent could really make it into Konoha was through the shinobi path, and even then it was rare. It was amazing in and of itself that Kabuto managed to deceive Konoha for so long, that he remained disloyal.

It was different than my world. Very different, in numerous ways.

"I see," I replied. "Do you want to talk about something?"

"Can you listen? P-Please?"

"Of course," I said, curling up on the couch and giving her what I hoped to be a comforting smile.

"Okay." Sakura took a deep breath before she began to unfurl her story.

As I listened, I felt this sort of bubbling anger in me.

I wanted Sakura to become the strong kunoichi I envisioned her as. I knew while her childhood wasn't the worst compared to the others, that didn't make it better. Children reacted differently to different things and bullying, no matter how petty it seemed in the eyes of an adult or adolescent, was painful. Being constantly bullied at a young age was painful. And Sakura was going through that.

I found myself disliking Ami more than what I would have expected. I knew she was only a child and technically she didn't fully grasp how wrongful she was behaving but still, If I wanted Sakura to gain more confidence in herself, I needed Ami out of the picture.

That, or I had to somehow teach Sakura to ignore her.

Not to mention from the looks of things, I had managed to meet Sakura before Ino. If Sakura could scrounge up more courage before her friendship with Ino, she might not feel like she has to rely on Ino and eventually break it off. Hell, if I could somehow influence her enough to focus on herself, rather than Sasuke or Naruto, or some other silly infatuation, that would be even better.

I knew Sakura was smart. I knew it. I knew she had the potential to do great things and at that moment I wanted to push her towards that potential.

Why stop at her, though?

I had to pause at that. I could only work with what I had. The other Rookie Nine were Clan children and I definitely didn't have the status or trust to influence them. But Sakura was a civilian girl. She was already here.

"Sakura," I said when she was finished. "Why do you want to become a kunoichi?"

Sakura blushed slightly, shifting. "I-I want to be strong!"

"Why?" I persisted.

"I want-I want to be a-able to take care of myself and m-my loved ones," Sakura said quietly.

"Then you will," I told her. "I'm sure of it. In fact,"

If she was strong wouldn't she gain the confidence needed?

"In fact, I'm going to help you. I'm not a kunoichi myself, but I know I can point you in the right direction. What do you say?"

Sakura blushed brightly before she nodded her head shyly. "Yes. Yes, please, Mia-san."

"Now, now. Mia will do."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

A week faded by. Then another one. And another one.

My training was slow, as expected. But after a month of training, I could finally control the chakra long enough and efficiently enough that I wasn't considered a hazard any more. My next training session would start with actually seeing if I could use my strange chakra.

Naruto's classes at the academy seemed to vary. On some days they were spectacular and on others he was a little flounced at being dead-last. I've taken it upon myself to start tutoring and helping him study but he doesn't take to the books like I have been with Fūinjutsu (not that I could use it, not yet, at least). Then again he is still a little kid. Not to mention I couldn't help him with his taijutsu training as I only know the basic self-defense Obito's teaching me. He was too young for weights and I wasn't familiar enough with chakra to help him mold his own. I didn't even know how normal chakra felt. Jiraiya insisted molding human chakra and nature chakra were two extremely different things. I didn't want to give the same instructions I had on chakra to Naruto, in fear of getting him stuck in a bad habit of molding his chakra.

However, through my tutelage, he had gotten a better grasp of his studies, and his reading and writing skills have definitely taken a turn for the better.

Now if only I could find him a proper tutor for his taijutsu and chakra training.

Sakura was progressing rather nicely. I had introduced her to Naruto briefly and the two remained a bit unsure about each other. I had prodded and poked about the library with her, working her through some of the more difficult scrolls and assisting her whenever she had questions I could answer. From a little nudging on my part, Sakura was taking to the poison and medical field like a duck to water.

I was still looking for another kunoichi I could find to assist her in more of her training.

Anyway, back to my training. In celebration of making it to the No-Hazard stage, I invited Jiraiya over for dinner with me and Naruto. The two of us were currently on our way to pick him up.

It would be the first time Jiraiya met Naruto since his infant days. I hadn't told Jiraiya a thing about my son except how much I adore him and how amazing he is.

This was mostly because I wanted to see his reaction when he met him.

The two of us walked along the small dirty path to the academy.

"Class is still in session," I said, next to Jiraiya. "But I bet they'll let us kidnap him early."

Jiraiya snorted, giving me a smile of amusement. "And somehow I get the feeling he won't mind that a bit."

"You'd be feeling right, my good Sensei," I chirped.

We stood in front of Naruto's classroom door. I opened it, peeking inside only to find an entire classroom's worth of eyes set upon me. I spotted Naruto in no time, his eyes lit up when he saw me.

I looked over at Iurka, giving him a small wave. Iruka smiled at me, his cheeks taking on a slight reddish hue, before he noticed Jiraiya who stood behind me and away from the classroom's prying eyes. Immediately, Iruka straightened and gave a deep bow of respect.

"We're here to pick up Naruto-chan," I said. "You don't mind, do you, Iruka-san?"

"Not at all, Mia-san," Iruka assured me. He motioned to Naruto, who already had his things packed and was racing towards me. He slammed into me, wrapping his tiny arms around my waist. I patted his head.

"Ja ne, Iruka-san," I said, exiting the classroom and closing the door.

I then turned around to face Jiraiya's wide, wide eyes as he stared down at his godson for the first time in years.

"Naruto-chan," I said, gently tugging him away from me to face Jiraiya. "This is my Sensei, Jiraiya-sama. He's one of the legendary Sannin, known as the great Toad Sage. But he's also a raging pervert who prefers to spend his time peeping on girls at the hot springs during our training sessions. Jiraiya-sensei, this is my adopted son, Naruto."

Naruto snickered at the raging pervert comment and gave Jiraiya a foxy grin. "Eh? Really? Nice to meetcha', Pervy-Sage."

Jiraiya immediately bristled. "I'll have you know I am a world-renowned shinobi, and not only that but I'm an even more renowned writer!"

"That's right," I chuckled, kneeling down to Naruto's level and whispering in his ear. "He's the writer of our favorite bedtime story, The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja."

Naruto's eyes widened comically. "What? Him?! No way, Kaa-chan! He can't be!"

Jiraiya, who had heard the not-so-quiet whisper, had his eyes widen even more. "You know that story?"

"Kaa-chan reads it to me every week," Naruto declared, scrutinizing Jiraiya. "Are you really the author?"

"Of course I am," Jiraiya retorted.

"Then I guess you can't be so bad," Naruto decided grudgingly.

I laughed at Naruto's adorable face as he tried his best to hide his own idolism at seeing the author of the only book he's ever liked in real life. I kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Well then boys, let's head home so I can start dinner, alright? And I'm sure if you ask nicely, Naruto-chan, Jiraiya-sensei might even sign our book."

Naruto's eyes lit up and he turned to Jiraiya expectantly. "Eh? Really? Will you, Pervy-Sage?"

"Don't call me Pervy-Sage," Jiraiya snapped without any real malice behind his words. His tone boarded on affectionate.

I hid my smile, choosing instead to take Naruto's hand and start the walk home.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

It was a nice dinner. Naruto and Jiraiya had hit it off immediately, much to my relief and amusement. Jiraiya was actually the dead-last in his class as well so he was able to relate to Naruto's current problems. He even went so far as to offer him a bit of help.

When dinner was done, Jiraiya stayed with us to watch the movie after we insisted. Then I tucked Naruto into bed and Jiraiya and I stayed up, idly talking about nothing important.

But really, I could tell that he was dying to ask me questions. To interrogate me.

After all, I was essentially taking care of his own godson, and he didn't even know about it until now. But he wanted to know. He wanted to know why and so much more.

So after a while of pointless chatter, I decided enough was enough and went straight to the point.

"You want to know some things," I said, abruptly changing the topic away from travels. "You want to know if I know Naruto is a jinchūriki, for one thing."

"And I'm guessing you do," Jiraiya said slowly, leaning forward on our table, his cup of tea long since cold and forgotten.

"I do," I answered. "I've known for a while. It's truly the worst kept secret in Konoha, next to the blatant prejudice the Second Hokage had against the Uchihas."

"That's not really a secret though," Jiraiya pointed out.

"Because it was so terribly kept," I retorted. "Let's see, you also want to know how Naruto and I met, and how we became so close."

"Maybe."

I gave Jiraiya a smile, locking eyes with him. "I'm not a threat to Konoha or him. Especially not him."

I paused, shifting and tugging down at my shirt.

Jiraiya peered towards me, his eyes resting on my chest a moment longer. I raised an eyebrow and he responded, "Interesting shirt."

I glanced down, unsure of what he was getting at—

—Oh.

It was my Akatsuki shirt.

Idiotic Mia strikes again.

I suppressed a sigh, choosing instead to weigh my options. Odds are Jiraiya knew about the Akatsuki—at the very least about the peace-organization Akatsuki. It would be simple to lie off on that, claiming the shirt was for them, but then...

I toyed with the idea a bit in my mind.

"You're good at manipulating people," I mused aloud, not minding Jiraiya's sharpened gaze. "Very good. I'm not very good at it myself. Would be awesome if I was, but I'm not. You wanted to know about my connection with Danzō, yes? Well, what if I told you it wasn't a very nice connection?"

Jiraiya's eyes took on a hardened glint, but he morphed his face into that of a more relaxed one. "I'd want to know what your purpose was in Konoha. Then I would want to know if the Hokage knows."

"I'm sure Hokage-sama knows that my connection isn't entirely a good one, but it's not directly bad either. At this moment it's entirely neutral. My purpose? To receive training from you. That was my original purpose, at least."

"Original? As in it has changed?"

"I never meant to run into Naruto," I elaborated. "But I did. Definitely didn't mean to include Sakura. But I have. What if I told you that I was playing a game?"

"What's stopping me from taking you to T&I right now?" Jiraiya mused.

I held up one finger. "I'm immune to any Yamanaka interrogation, no chakra system to influence." I held up another finger. "And my connection wouldn't tolerate any harm on my behalf. Harm me, and it goes from neutral to ill-intent."

"And you think a threat could stop Konoha?" Jiraiya countered.

"This friend of mine is powerful and influential enough that Danzō wouldn't cross," I retorted.

Jiraiya sat back, a frown marring his face.

"And this friend of mine may or may not eventually want to harm Konoha, or the world at large," I said slowly.

Jiraiya remained impassive.

"And I may or may not know how to stop him. It depends on whether I'm able to scrounge up enough support, and if I'm able to outsmart him," I finished, watching Jiraiya's expression.

"You're playing it risky, telling all of this to me."

"No, I'm not," I said plainly. "The only thing you learned is that a man who is powerful enough that Danzō won't cross may or may not come for Konoha. You don't know how, you don't know when, and you sure as hell don't know who. The worst scenario for myself at the moment is not returning to Konoha, and really, that's worse for everyone."

"I see. So why are you telling me this? Why are you betraying this friend of yours?"

"Because he's my friend and I love him," I admitted. "I don't want him to get hurt and I've grown very fond of Naruto and definitely don't want him to be hurt either. I have some idea on what to do to make sure everyone is safe and happy, but I don't think I can do it on my own."

"You want my help."

"Yes."

"What do I get in return?"

"What do you want?"

"Information."

"I can't promise to tell you anything until I know I can trust you. And even then, there are some things I won't reveal."

"Fine. Then I want time to think about this."

"Alright. When you say yes-"

"If."

I only shrugged in response. "When you say yes, I know the first way you can help me."

Jiraiya gave me a bland look.

"Take Naruto on as an apprentice before he graduates."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I let out a shaky breath after Jiraiya left. My legs had turned to jelly and my throat was dry, my head was spinning and I felt my heart hammering loudly in my chest.

It was a huge risk, dragging him in so soon. But I knew I wouldn't have been able to keep us a secret for long. If I wanted Naruto in my life, I had to have Jiraiya in it as well. And I needed Jiraiya on my side one-hundred percent and lying to him would have strained our relationship. Especially considering no normal person could lie to a Sannin and pull it off.

I needed to be upfront with Jiraiya to not only hopefully form an honest bond with him, but because I would need his help. Desperately so, in the future concerning Obito and the Akatsuki. If I wanted to keep Obito safe, to keep him happy, I would do about everything I could.

Even if it meant taking risks with a murderer.

I closed my eyes, letting out a slow breath in a vain attempt to calm myself down.

He would accept. The risk of not accepting would be too great. He would earn my trust, of that I had no doubt, and he would keep this between us. He knew damn well how dangerous of a man Danzō was, and how senile and soft Hiruzen was when it came to the ROOT leader. And if I was friends with someone that Danzō wouldn't cross...

Jiraiya would help me. Of that, I had no doubt.

Now it was a matter of being able to use his help.

Immediately after I was done cleaning up, I heard the tentative voice of Naruto.

"K-Kaa-chan?"

I turned around, away from the sink, and wiped my hands dry as I stared at the groggy, shy and anxious-looking Naruto. He shuffled his feet nervously, his head ducked down.

I moved to crouch down in front of him. "Something wrong sweetie? Why aren't you in bed?"

"I had a nightmare," Naruto muttered, shifting his weight.

At this revelation, I thought back to my childhood, trying to understand what exactly he was getting at. It took a few moments before I realized and gave him a comforting smile. "Ah. Does Naruto-chan want Kaa-chan to sleep with him tonight?"

"Hai," Naruto mumbled, his cheeks turning a cute red from embarrassment.

"Well then," I murmured, straightening up and guiding him to his bed. I lifted him up onto the bed before pulling the covers back. Naruto curled up tightly against the wall on the bed and I climbed in after him, opening my arms. Naruto stared a moment before he smiled shyly and entered them.

I patted his head soothingly before pulling the blankets back up around us and kissing the top of his head.

"Sweet dreams, Naruto-chan."

"Night, Kaa-chan."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

"Are you ready to try using nature chakra for the first time now?" Fukasaku asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I answered. "What do I do?"

"Nature chakra is a strong and powerful thing," Shima began. "And you are a very unique person. What you do and how you do it will be drastically different than what we would do. The only thing can say for certain is that it will be no small thing."

"Okay," I said slowly, not quite getting it.

"You won't be able to mold it a bit," Jiraiya clarified. "No academy-level jutsus. Actually, nothing below Jounin. Maybe even ANBU. It's hard to say. But you very clearly have an affinity for nature chakra and as such I expect the outcome will be interesting to say the least."

"So what do I do?" I asked again.

"Nature chakra runs on different rules than human chakra. You don't need hand seals to mold it. You will it."

"Will it to do anything?" I asked hesitantly.

"Something like that," Jiraiya mused. "It's different for everyone. It'll be drastically different for you, I'd imagine."

"Okay," I murmured. "Then I'll try. And-"

I groped my mind for a moment, trying to think of what I could start with.

"-Make a breeze," I decided.

"A breeze?" Shima repeated.

"A breeze, a gentle one. I know you can manipulate the wind with chakra, so I thought I'd start off with something like that," I elaborated. "Difficult enough to do, but simple enough to not overdo it, right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Jiraiya said.

"Alright. Here it goes."

I took a deep breath, stilling my body as best as I could. I didn't need to still my body to draw on chakra nature anymore. I only had to do that in the beginning to get used to it. To get comfortable. But now I was fairly comfortable with the chakra, especially considering it still liked to cling to me while I slept and tried to cling to me during the day. All I had to do was relax my push against it and let it come to me.

Once I felt as if I had enough, I pushed it to the ground, envisioning a small sakura tree in my head.

But then I felt a tug. It didn't want a breeze. It hated something so simple. It wanted to create something more, something bigger. It wanted... I could feel this sort of pressure all around my body. I couldn't even begin to explain how I knew what it wanted. It became a tug of war. What it wanted and what I wanted. Something I did not anticipate, so when the tug first came, I lost the majority of my concentration from startlement.

I was afraid. I hadn't trained for this but I knew I couldn't let it control me. I resisted.

That was when the most horrible pain burned through me and a keening wail sound trilled through the air around me.

It took me a moment to realize that sound came from me.

Only a moment of course, because in the next, I was enveloped into darkness.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

When I came to, the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer in the clearing. I was in a hospital room. The second thing I noticed was that it was sunset, so I had been out for at least half a day. The third and final thing I realized was that I was not alone and I had an oxygen tube and IV plugged into me.

I looked at the familiar blonde bundle that rested at my bedside, leaning down on my bed, fast asleep.

I felt my lips turn up in a bemused smile and began to move my hand towards Naruto.

Fatigue crashed over me, causing my body to shudder and a sharp pain burned through my chest. I inhaled sharply, exhaling only when the pain subsided.

Well that couldn't be good.

So no moving my body. Got it. I'd try voice then.

"N... N... aru... to," I croaked out after a few tries, my brow furrowed at how difficult I found the simple task of talking to be.

what the hell happened?

A second passed before bright blue eyes fluttered open and stared into my own. Naruto's face lit up as relief washed over it. His bottom lip quivered and the next thing I knew he had lurched into my lap, tears pooling down his cheeks.

"Kaa-chan," Naruto cried, huddling close.

What? Why was he crying? I was only out of it for a few hours. It couldn't have been that bad, could it?

Lifting my arm up again and gritting through the fatigue, I draped it over his back.

"Shhhh," I hushed. "Shh.. shh... Don.. Don't be... sad... sweetie."

"I thought you were dead," he sniffled, gripping me tightly.

"I'm... too st... stubborn... to die."

Naruto only nodded his head.

It was then that the door to my room opened and Jiraiya stepped in, relief clear on his face. "You had us worried."

I only cocked my head.

"You've been in a coma for almost a week."

My mouth dropped open. I gaped. "Wh-What?!"

"Mia, I need to know. Did you really try to make one tree?"

I nodded my head, shock momentarily stealing my voice.

"It seems we either underestimated your affinity for nature chakra, or overestimated the control you have over it. I'm going to be nice and guess the former," Jiraiya said grimly. "You didn't make a breeze."

"What'd-"

"You made a mini tornado," Jiraiya said, his face carefully neutral. "It didn't touch and there was no lasting damage, it vanished as soon as you passed out, in fact. But it sure as hell scared the shit outta everyone."

I whimpered. "Trouble?"

"You're not in trouble," Jiraiya assured me. "That was... Well it was a bit of a surprise for everyone. No one was hurt."

"What's wron... wrong with... me?"

Naruto tightened his grip on me, I moved my other hand onto his back as well, hugging him as best as I could.

"Your body was pushed beyond its limits," Jiraiya explained carefully. "Far too much and far too fast, that sort of thing. It not only shot your immune system but scrambled your nervous system and nearly destroyed your cardiac system. It's amazing your heart didn't implode instantly. Or your brain for that matter."

I blinked, processing things.

I could have died.

Horrible fear pushed inside of me, and my body chilled in more ways than one.

I could have died.

Poof. From one simple thought. One simple action. I would have died and who knows what would have happened? Naruto would have been heartbroken, Obito would have been distraught (probably).

I could have actually died.

It wasn't even a high adrenaline situation. An accident. A mishap.

Oh my God. I could have died.

"You lived, of course. Our guess being that it was, ironically, nature chakra that saved you. Right after you passed out it started clinging to you again and you stopped screaming soon afterwards. The way your body has been regenerating since being in contact with the chakra has been exponential, I would imagine it would rival even a jinchūriki," Jiraiya trailed off, his eyes lingering on the back of Naruto.

I blinked again, processing this. I remembered that when I first came into this world I was covered in gashes and marks and bruises. But by the time I had met up with Obito, most, if not all of them, were healed. Could it have really been the nature chakra?

"I shouldn't be surprised," Jiraiya said. "Sage mode does give unlimited energy and an exponential healing rate."

I only nodded, some distant part of me still processing how I could have died. "Any... Anything else?"

Jiraiya pursed his lips. "Nothing you need to worry about. We'll be doing some more training when you're better, but I don't want a repeat of this."

"A...greed."

I looked down at Naruto, worry creasing my brow. "W... ere you... okay? Did you... eat? Sleep?"

"I was fine Kaa-chan," Naruto croaked. "I took care of myself before, remember?"

"I'm your... Kaa-chan... my duty... to take care of... y... you," I whispered, having trouble staying conscious. The fatigue was getting harder to fight.

Naruto sniffled.

"Naruto," Jiraiya said gently. "Mia's tired at the moment. Visiting hours are over anyway. Come on, I'll walk you home."

"He... can stay... sleep with me... if that's o... kay," I murmured.

I didn't want to be alone. Not after hearing news like that. But it was more than that. Naruto needed me. He needed me to be strong and okay and for the night I could be strong and I could be okay. Naruto first. He was my priority.

I could deal with my issues later.

Naruto turned a pleading look to Jiraiya. Jiraiya stared at him for a moment before relenting. "Fine. I'll talk to the nurses."

Naruto nodded his head as Jiraiya left.

I smiled and patted his head. "Have you... eaten... yet?"

Naruto nodded his head.

"Then let's... go to... bed..."

Jiraiya returned. "Alright Naruto, you can stay the night. But tomorrow you have to leave when visiting hours are over, understand?"

Naruto nodded his head vigorously.

Jiraiya gave me a small smile. "Good night, Mia."

"Sensei..."

Naruto curled under the blankets with me, snuggling close. I patted his head before finally closing my eyes and allowing oblivion to take me again.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

The next day Naruto left and went to the academy, only to come back right after and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with me until Jiraiya came and escorted him back. I stayed put in that hospital room, fighting a horrible sense of fear and acceptance at what had happened.

Some part of me acknowledged what I needed, some sort of distant subconscious part. But consciously I couldn't understand what I really needed at that moment.

When night came, I stayed awake in my bed, staring up at the ceiling unable to fall asleep for reasons I couldn't fathom at the moment.

It was then that Obito came.

He didn't say a word at first. He stared at me for a moment before I wordlessly moved over in my bed. He crawled into bed with me and we laid side by side as we had so many nights before.

"I almost... died."

"I know," Obito said softly. "Are you okay?"

A funny question.

Was I okay?

"I don't know," I said. "What... was it like for you?"

What was your first brush with death like?

"Different. Can I help you?"

I closed my eyes, turning over on my side to face him. He turned his head, black eyes meeting green. I curled into his side, closing my eyes.

"Don't leave... please. Only for tonight."

Obito shifted before I could feel his long arms snake around me, pulling me in. I curled into his warmth. For the first time since waking up from my coma, I allowed my façade to break. I was scared. I was hurt. I was worried. I was in pain. I was so many things I didn't want to be at that moment.

I needed... At that moment I needed...

I wasn't strong. I wasn't brave. I wasn't clever or witty. I was a girl who got lucky (or unlucky, really, depends on perspective) and lived.

I wasn't able to take comfort and express my feelings before. I couldn't bring myself to worry Naruto needlessly or even think about myself by myself. I was too afraid to allow the fear to take me. I was too wary of how I would react. At that moment I needed...

"I won't leave," Obito promised.

My body relaxed, sort of sagging into his arms and I buried my face against his chest. "Thank you."

He didn't say anything. Not a word. He held me tighter and didn't let go.

At that moment, he was exactly what I needed.

And for the first time, I felt my heart flutter at that.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Answer: Villain. I want Madara & Obito.

Question: How do you deal with stress/anger?

Reviews are love!