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''He was poisoned.''

Kaira clenched her jaw and turned her gaze from Tsunade to her brother, who was lying on a hospital bed. After Daichi had found him, he immediately alerted his team mates and together they've brought him to the hospital.

''We were able to pump out most of the poison.'' Tsunade continues, writing something down on the board which she was holding, her eyebrows furrowed. ''But the rest is up to Izuna.''

''He isn't recovering?" Suki asked softly, giving Izuna's hand a squeeze. 

Tsunade pursed her lips and slowly shook her head. '' I've never seen anything like it before. We've already notified Sakura. She's immediately coming back after the operation.'' She explained. ''In the meanwhile, we're trying to make a medicine to counteract the poison, but I don't know how long it'll take. I'm sorry.''

Kaira dug her nails into the palms of her hands as she blinked away the tears that were pooling in her eyes. ''There's no need to be sorry.'' She murmured, looking away from all the people in the room. ''We're already grateful for your help.''

Tsunade gave a thankful nod. ''I'll come back when I have more information.''

Suki breathed shakily after Tsunade had left the room and she pressed Izuna's hands against her forehead. ''Who in the world who do such a horrible thing?" She whimpers quietly, hiccups leaving her lips. 

Kaira swallowed a lump in her throat and took the seat next to her sister, wrapping one arm around her shoulder. ''You know very well that we have enemies, even in this village.'' She mumbled softly, finding it hard to hold back the tears as she heard Suki cry beside her. ''But to actually try to kill one of us..''

''W-We're lucky that Daichi was there in time.'' Suki sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. ''A few minutes later could have meant h-his death.''

Kaira raised her hand, and she hesitated when she noticed it shake a little. Slowly she let her fingers brush over the pale and sweaty skin of her brother's face. To see him so weak, so vulnerable frightened her. This wasn't the Izuna she knew, and it scared her to see the strongest of them lying on a bed, fighting for his life. ''We were incredibly lucky..'' She whispered.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

''Daichi!'' Arata hissed, firmly taking his wrist to stop him from throwing anything else around the room. ''Stop it, now.''

Daichi violently pulled his arm back and sent his team mate a hateful glare. ''My uncle and our leader was nearly killed!'' He yelled, rage clearly visible on his face. ''And the Hokage has the nerve to inactivate out unit! We can't do anything now, not investigate, not track down the one that even dared to think of laying a hand on Izuna with the intention of murdering him!''

''We are also upset, Daichi.'' Kai spoke up, trying to help Arata with calming down the furious Uchiha. ''But we'll just have to trust the people that were assigned to investigating this case. There's nothing we can do. And walking around angrily, yelling like a kid won't help a bit.''

Daichi ground his teeth and turned his back to the both of them. He knew very well that they were right, but it was still incredibly frustrating. He wanted to help. He wanted to solve this case. Izuna was their leader. The three of them are supposed to be chasing after the culprit, not some squad that didn't know the first thing about Izuna.

There was no way he was going to sit back and let others' do what was supposed to be his job.

  .~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~. 

It was supposed to be a cozy lunch, but with Izuna in the hospital, the usual conviviality was nowhere to be found. They still decided to gather at Suki's place, despite the dreary circumstances.

''At least try to eat something.'' Kiba urged, placing some bread on their plates. ''All of you.''

Suki shook her head and shoved the plate away from her. ''I'm not hungry.'' She whispered hoarsely, letting everyone at the table know she had just cried.

Kiba sighed and rubbed Suki's arm. ''I know you're aghast, and believe me, you aren't the only one.'' He started, pushing the plate back to the edge of the table. ''You need to be strong for your brother now, which means that you have to eat.''

Kaira's eyes flicked to Sayuri, who also hadn't touched her food yet. She was surprised that she even showed up. Sayuri was Izuna's wife and they had always been inseparable when they are together. Kaira expected her to stay at Izuna's side, but Sayuri must have realized her powerlessness. There wasn't anything she could do, and coming here was definitely better than sitting in an empty house while her children were away from the village. Kaira wondered just how difficult it'd be for her to tell Yoshiko and Yuzuki that their father was poisoned and that his life was in danger.

Kaira just hoped that Sakura would come back soon. She had to go to another village to help out with an important operation. The timing was definitely inconvenient, but Kaira knew that Sakura would be able to cure Izuna completely even if they had to wait for her return for a few days.

She had absolute faith in the medical-nin's abilities.

''I'm going to the bathroom.'' Kiba sighed as he got up from his seat. Without waiting for a reaction, he left the room.

Suki pursed his lips before she stood up as well, taking the empty bottle from the table. ''I'm going to get some more.'' She murmured quietly, and she left the room as well.

Kaira crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into the chair. The mystery surrounding Izuna's poisoning bothered her to no end. So many questions, yet almost no answers. Why was he targeted? When did it happen? And most importantly, who was it?

News of the attempted murder had already spread through the whole village, so the perpetrator must know by now that Izuna survived. Would the culprit go after him, while Izuna was lying in the hospital, totally defenseless? Kaira clenched her fists and breathed shakily. Just the thought of her brother being in even more danger than he already was made he feel incredibly uneasy, and she felt a sudden need to sprint to the hospital, hoping to find him there exactly the way she left him.

Kaira snapped out of her thoughts when Suki entered the room again with an unopened bottle of sparkling water in her hand. ''Who wants a refill?''

Sayuri merely nodded, indicating that she'd like to have another drink.

When Kaira saw Suki look at her with a questioning look in her green eyes, she shook her head. ''I'm fine.''

''Alright.'' Suki started pouring the water into Sayuri's glass first, filling her own glass after that. She put the lid back on the bottle and took her drink into her hand, slowly bringing it to her lips. She was about to take a sip when a kunai flew through the air, striking the glass. Suki yelped and jumped back, almost stumbling in surprise. 

Kaira immediately stood up and reached for her pouch out of instinct, but let her hand fall to her side when she saw Kiba standing in the doorway, his eyes wide in shock and realization.

''Kiba!'' Suki shrieked. ''What are you doing!?''

Kiba shushed her and walked closer. When Suki repeated her question, Kiba simply walked past her and took Sayuri's glass. Holding it under his nose, he sniffed a few times before a grimace appeared on his face. ''Suki,'' He started, holding the glass out to her. ''What do you smell?''

Suki furrowed her eyebrows before she hesitantly reached for the glass, still not sure what was going on. After smelling it for a few times, she looked back at Kiba and shrugged. ''Am I supposed to smell something?" She asked. ''It's sparkling water.''

Kiba's expression hardened. ''It's poisoned sparkling water.''