Chapter 8 - Bad News

(Word Count: 2,254)

A couple of days have passed since then. One thing to note is that I had actually managed to finish one of the two books. I had been studying out of both of them so I was nearly finished with the other one as well. The first book was on the body’s bone structure, muscle system, and organs. The second one was a lot harder as it covered the nervous system, the immune system, and the chakra pathways and how everything interacts.

It was all very complicated stuff. There would have been no way that I would have been able to learn all of this if I was a regular kid. I had no idea why Tsunade gave me all of this to study, as I'm fairly confident that she never gave any of this stuff to Sakura or Ino. Then again, it wasn't very clear on their training so maybe she did?

I still haven't encountered anything remotely close to a medical jutsu though. This was all purely biology so far.

Now, It was Kakashi’s birthday. He’s turning 3 years Old! It's hard to imagine that next year, he'll be joining the academy.

Grandma and I are walking to the Hatake’s. I'm holding the two gifts from the both of us, and Grandma’s using her cane. Kakashi has come over so often to our house that Grandma considers him one of her own grandkids.

When we arrived, I just entered without knocking. Our families were close enough to where I felt comfortable enough to do that. "Hey Kakashi, Aunty! I'm here!" I yell, announcing our arrival. From within, Mrs. Hatake, or Aunty, appears.

"Rika! Sakai! Welcome! We're all set up in the backyard!" She says, give both of us a hug.

She leads us through the house to the backyard, where we see the Hatakes, and the Might duo. Apparently, aside from me, Guy is Kakashi’s only friend at the moment. 'Should I have invited my friends along?'

The backyard wasn't set up with any extravagant decorations for a birthday party, but there was a table set up for cake and food.

"Bro!" Both Kakashi and Guy shouted, seeing me, at the same time. They both came running over. "Let's fight!"

I sighed inwardly. "Not right now. Maybe after lunch?" They were both disappointed. "Anyway, here. Grandma and I got you some gifts, Kakashi." I said, handing him the two bags. 

Kakashi took the bags, curiously. He wasn't one to get super excited about much. So far he's only shown excitement over training with me. Kakashi looked back at me. "Can I open them now?"

"Of course you can." Grandma said beside me.

Kakashi eagerly opens up grandma’s gift first. Grandma had sewed several different masks for him. She knew that he liked the darker tones, so all the masks were deep dark blue, purple, red, greens. Then they were embroidered subtly with patterns using the same color, so you could only tell there was a pattern by examining the masks closely. I thought they were really cool, and I could see  Kakashi was smiling underneath. He came over and gave grandma a hug. "Thanks, Grandma. I love them." 

"Hohoho, you're welcome dear." She said, rubbing his back. 

Then Kakashi stepped away, trying to play it cool, and opened my present. As a kid with no money, I couldn't really afford any of the stuff that I wanted to get so I gave him the chakra nature book that I had received from the Hokage. I was done with it anyway, and I knew Kakashi was a genius when it comes to ninja stuff, so he would make good use of it. 

He was shocked, and gave me a big hug as well. "Thanks bro! I'll be kicking your butt in no time now!"

I laughed. "Hahaha! You’re a bit too early to be saying stuff like that!"

Guy piped up. "Yeah, you have to wait in line! I'll be the one to beat bro first!"

I smiled wryly. 'Since when did I become their punching bag?' 

I cracked my knuckles in mock anger. "Alright! You two are asking for it! I'll knock some sense into both of you! Come on!" I grabbed both of them by the collar and dragged them out into the more open yard.

"YOSH, BIG BRO, LET'S FIGHT!" Guy yelled, a little too excitedly.

Kakashi was calm as a cucumber and pulled out his brand new sword that he just got from his dad. "I've been waiting to test out my new blade."

I pulled out my own tanto that I got from Sakumo as well. I've gotten into the habit of always carrying around my ninja pack now, so I was ready. 

Guy was left with a basic kunai. 

Right before we launched into the fight, Mrs. Hatake  chimed in. "Hey! I don't want any blood drawn, you hear?"

Kakashi looked at her. "But Mom! I wanted to test my sword!" He said in an almost whiny tone.

"Nuh uh! I said no. I don’t want blood anywhere near the food." She said, laying down the law.

Begrudgingly, we all put away our blades.

"OUR FISTS THEN!" Guy shouts and he rushes at me. We both use the same Strong Fist Style, so it's easy for the both of us to predict each other's moves. We end up just trading blows, blocking everything we sent at each other. Since this was a spar against Guy and Kakashi, I wasn't using my Chakra-Ryu technique for offense, only defense. I only use offense when against Dai or Sakumo.

Though, I had to say that even though I’ve been practicing taijutsu for at least 2 more years than Guy, it was amazing that he was already even with me. He truly did deserve his spot as a taijutsu genius.

Kakashi darted in to attack my right, breaking my train of thought. Being pressured by Guy, I couldn’t dodge. So, I needed to block. A mischievous idea came instantly.

Instead of going for the obvious grab at Guy, I used my chakra to stick his punch to my forearm and pulled him into Kakashi’s way to block his attack.

They quickly recovered though and before I could follow through, Guy used the forward momentum of my pull to his advantage to kick at me. I pushed them away but I couldn't avoid the kick entirely. The kick connected with my side, before it deformed unnaturally and the "Sakai" they saw burst into smoke, leaving a stick. I had used substitution jutsu, and now I was behind them, having used a fallen branch as the substitute.

I charged back in, grinning, to attack the one now closest to me, Kakashi. I got in a hit before he could defend himself, and we began exchanging blows. But then, I pulled on one of the chakra strings that I had attached to Guy unnoticed during our last exchange. Guy, who was coming around to attack me left, suddenly jerked and punched Kakashi instead.

Kakashi was hit in the face, having not expected an attack from Guy. "Ahh! Guy! What the heck? You're supposed to attack Sakai, not me!"

Guy seemed flustered. "That wasn't me!" 

I started laughing. You see, other people's chakra wasn't visible unless you were a sensor. So chakra strings were invisible. "You like that? It's a new jutsu I learned called Chakra strings! I can attach them to anything I want!" And with that, I yanked both of them forward, and decked them both in the face.

I stood over both of them as they laid on the ground. "Pretty nifty, huh?"

Kakashi glowered. “That was a cheap shot.”

“Hmph. If you aren’t being cheap in a fight, you aren’t trying hard enough. We’re going to be ninja, not samurai.” I say, smugly. Then I help them both up.

"THAT WAS A GOOD FIGHT, BIG BRO! IT SEEMS I STILL HAVE MUCH TO LEARN." Guy shouted, still in his excited voice. 

I clapped him on the shoulder. "We both do. But we'll learn together!" Guy's eyes shone in admiration. 

"Alright, enough with the mushy talk. Let's go eat. We were waiting on you, you know?" Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head, avoiding eye contact. Heh, the little tsundere was probably blushing beneath his mask.

Mrs. Hatake called them over. "Come on now, boys! Come get some food before it gets cold!"

Sakumo and Dai were sitting at the table already, talking about whatever. Grandma was sitting at the other end, crocheting. Mrs. Hatake was carrying a platter of fried chicken, and was just setting it down at the center of the table. In front of me we're two of my best friends, Guy and Kakashi.

It was very picturesque. A happy family with friends over. The scene played out in almost slow motion, as Mrs. Hatake stood up from setting the platter down, then wobbled and fell backwards, failing to grasp anything to steady her.

Then everything seemed to snap back to regular time with Sakumo’s cry. "Aiko!" And Sakumo caught her before she hit the ground. He held her gently, caressing her cheek as he looked into her eyes. "Aiko, what's wrong? What happened?"

She seemed to be conscious, but she was breathless and unfocused. "I'm fine. I'm fine, I just… had a dizzy spell." She tried to push herself back up but Sakumo held her fast.

"Hey, hey, let's take things slowly. Okay?" Sakumo gently began helping her to her feet, but it was obvious that she was still too dizzy and weak to stand. So, he scooped her up into his arms. "I'll take you to the hospital."

Mrs. Hatake seemed to not like that. "What, no… it's Kakashi’s birthday, I…. Don't…" and she passed out, head lolling back boneless. Sakumo then immediately flickered and was gone.

I could only watch helplessly, along with everyone else. Kakashi was shocked still, and only after they were gone did he react. "What just happened? Is mom going to be okay?"

Both Kakashi and I hugged the legs of Grandma, who had dropped her crochet needles in fright of the situation. I felt a lump of dread sitting horribly in my stomach. The same dread I felt seeing my family off to war. It was like I was back at that moment, watching them leave. Seeing their dead faces lying in the hospital. I held back tears that came unbidden, shaking, holding Grandma’s leg.

Someone just passing out like that was never a good sign. Grandma was my only source of comfort, and she looked just as worried. She bent down and hugged the two of us.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened. But why don't we head over to the hospital to see what's going on? I'm sure the doctors will have everything well in hand."

Dai comes forward, Guy in his arms. It seemed like it had unnerved Guy as well. "I'll come with you."

We all leave for the hospital, all thoughts of the birthday party forgotten.

When they arrived at the hospital some time later, they moved slowly with Grandma walking, they found Sakumo pacing back and forth in the waiting room. Usually, Sakumo is calm and collected, but when it comes to his wife, he can't help but to worry like this.

"Sakumo!" Grandma called. "What news so far?"

Sakumo looked up at them. "Nothing yet. They're doing some tests, but they haven't gotten back to me yet."

About 10 minutes later, a nurse appears. "The Hatakes? Please come with me. I'm afraid the rest of you will have to wait out here."

Sakumo and Kakashi followed into the back after the nurse.

Another 30 minutes go by before Sakumo and Kakashi come back out with a doctor. I could see the red eyes and wet streaks on their cheeks. They've been crying, and both look to be dead inside.

The doctor came up to Grandma and Dai. The man looked at both of them sadly. "I'm afraid that Mrs. Hatake has developed a large tumor in the cerebellum part of her brain. With our current medical techniques, anything within the brain is usually healed with our healing palm technique. But with the issue being a tumor, I'm afraid that the healing palm will only accelerate the tumor's growth instead of treating it. I'm afraid that she only has 3 to 4 weeks left to live. I'm sorry."

Horror filled me. Yet another family member is being taken away from me. Mrs. Hatake, Aiko, was my Aunt in all but blood.

That demon’s malicious grin filled my mind again, and I was angry. At that demon, and at myself. Was this all because of me? Was I somehow cursed to destroy everything around me?

I shook myself out of it and tried to think. "Wait, but isn't the cerebellum located at the back of the skull? Can't you reach the tumor from there? Also, is Tsunade here? I'm her apprentice!"

The doctor raided his eyebrows in surprise. "You actually know what the cerebellum is?" He coughed. "Well, to answer your questions, the tumor is located right in the center of the brain, pushing against the cerebellum and the temporal lobe. I'm afraid it's inaccessible from the outside. Lady Tsunade is currently out on the front lines. I think defending against Suna. She’s not scheduled to come back for another 2 months. I'm sorry. And even if she were here, there’s nothing we can do for her, except ease her pain."