DPML- Ch5: Doctors Visit

“Talking”
‘Shukaku talking’</i>
‘thinking’

The Devil in the Pale Moonlight

Chapter 5: Doctors Visit

Katsura woke early the next morning when the light hit her eyes at just the right angle, slowly she cracked open her eyes. She panicked slightly when she noticed she wasn’t in her house but recalled the events of yesterday, she sighed and rolled over holding the pillow above her head to try and get more sleep knowing it was futile. She remembered that yesterday Temari said a doctor would be visiting today, Katsura groaned at the thought. She grew up with doctors constantly trying to help but none could, save for Tsuande-sama who came up with a medicine that could suppress the symptoms but it would cause too much harm to her body to be worth taking. Katsura hated being stuffed up in the room, if she were back home then she would probably be training, not as much as she normal does but she wouldn’t let anyone tell her otherwise.

Reluctantly she sat up in the bed and looked once more out the window seeing the sun just barely rising over the horizon. She coughed roughly and continued her gaze out the window, now she really felt like Shikamaru when he was watching the clouds. She groaned when the sun reached a little bit higher and hit her eyes blinding her once more. She decided to get up and get ready for the day. Once she stood could really feel how tired she was for her lack of sleep because she couldn’t move any faster then molasses as she made her way to the second door in her room, which was a bathroom. She figured that out late at night when she was pacing in her room to tire herself out to sleep. After brushing her hair and teeth and getting ready she noticed that about a half hour had passed. There was a knock on the door then someone entered just as Katsura was walking out of the bathroom.

“Hey Kat-” Kankuro started but was cut off.

“Don’t call me that” Katsura scolded

“Well I brought you breakfast” Kankuro replied holding up a tray Katsura had failed to notice. He placed the tray on the night stand and smirked at her “Temari and Shikamaru left to get something to eat so I made you something seeing is how you can’t leave, Oh and Gaara left for work already”

Katsura eyed him suspiciously for his smirk had turned from playful to devilish. “Ok... He is the Kazekage, I would expect him to be at work, why are you telling me this?” She ask confused before she coughed.

“Just thought I would let you know” He shrugged “Well I’m off I have a mission so I wont be back till later, sorry I can’t bug you today”

“That’s Ok. Somehow you are always able to annoy me even if your gone” She coughed and laughed at the cat ninja when he pouted from her comment. Kankuro grumbled before leaving the room making Katsura laugh once more at him. She reached for the tray he brought in picking up a piece of fruit that lay on the tray, the rest of the food was a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, something that Katsura could make but she wasn’t going to complain about it, it wasn’t too often Kankuro would help out of kindness. She leaned back on the head board and grabbed her book, she had some time to kill before the doctor was to arrive.

XXXXX

Temari had just finish eating and was now sitting in a booth at a local restaurant. She was waiting for Shikamaru to finish so they can head back to her house before the doctor arrived. She slowly looked over him, he wasn’t in a real rush which explained why she was finished so much faster then him. For some reason she kept her eyes on him while he wasn’t paying attention, she noticed every detail in his face, the way his eyes would roll when she would talk, the way his nose scrunched up when he was annoyed. Shikamaru looked up from his meal to see the fan mistress staring at him, she promptly cast her eyes in the other direction. Now it was Shikamaru’s turn to stare at his companion, she crossed her arms and continue to look away, more like glared away. He watched her sit there and smirked when he noted she was avoiding eye contact. Temari slowly looked at the lazy boy and glared even more when she saw him smirking at her.

“What are you looking at Nara?” She asked extremely annoyed.

“Nothing, why are you starring at me?” The boy drawled still smirking.

“I wasn’t! Who would want to look at you?” She fired back harshly. Shikamaru said nothing in return but his smirk left his face only to be replaced by a scowl. The waitress walked over and placed the check on the table, Temari reached for her coin purse to pay for her half when she saw Shikamaru reach for the check.

“What are you doing” She asked raising an eyebrow

“Paying” He simply said

Temari was a bit taken back by him, why would some one who she had been fighting with the entire time she saw him want to pay for her. “I’ll pay for my half” She informed him

“No, don’t worry about it. I got it” He spoke slowly eyes never leaving the check held in his hand.

“No, I’ll pay for my half. “ She re-enforced the idea

“You took in my friend, this is the least I could do” he looked at her and smiled

“Thats all right” She said again this time more annoyed at him “You don’t have to pay for me”

“Why? It’s not like it a date or anything” Shikamaru said but quickly stop talking and looked at Temari embarrassed, the older girl didn’t say anything but looked at him incredulously. Silence stretched between  the two until Temari thought to change the subject.

“We should probably get back to the house, Katsura is waiting.” She said not looking at the shadow user he nodded in agreement as the stood up to leave. Shikamaru placed enough money on the table to cover the bill and tip, they left and headed toward the house in an awkward silence.

XXXXX

Katsura signed once again being very bored cooped up in the room with nothing else to do then read her book. She read for a while after Kankuro left before she become tired and placed her book down then proceeded to try and get more rest knowing it was completely hopeless. She perked up when she heard the door open and close indicating that people have arrived. She waited until she heard footsteps climbing the stairs before she reached for her book to make it look like she was doing something. The door opened and Katsura saw a glimpse of blonde, she smiled and looked over her book. The elder girl walked into the room with Shikamaru in tow, neither had spoken to each other since they left the restaurant.

“Hey Katsura, how are you feeling?” Temari asked

“I’m fine” She smiled at her before she coughed a little bit. Katsura was beginning to get annoyed at how everyone thought she was a little child who couldn’t do anything for her self. She cast her eyes down on her book.

“What are you reading?” Temari asked when she saw Katsura look away

“Huh? oh” She look up to meet the gaze of the blonde “it’s a book called ‘Angel of Death’ it about how the grim reaper comes to collect the soul of a person only to fall in love with the guys daughter, it’s pretty funny” Katsura smiled with a chuckle but quickly coughed.

“Yeah sounds hilarious” Temari said sarcastically, a soft knock came from the bedroom door make all the occupants turn in that direction, there was no one else in the house, who would be knocking on a bedroom door? The opened to reveal a young man with black hair slicked back into a long pony tail, he wore matching tan pants with a tan shirt and a doctors coat over it.

“Hey Temari-chan,  hope you don’t mind I let myself in”  He said walking into the room

“Yeah thats fine Shiro” She waved off the man and turned to Katsura

“Ah, you must be Katsura-san” He walked over to the bed and placed a bag on it “I’m Dr. Shiro”

Katsura nodded towards the man to show she had her him but gave no effort to look at him she just went back to reading her book. She never felt conferrable around doctors and this one was no exception. Shikamaru looked over the doctor, already he didn’t like him for no explainable reason. There was something about him that made Shikamaru want to punch his lights out but he knew he couldn’t that would cause a lot of trouble.

“Shiro” Temari said “ This is Shikamaru, he is also from Konaha” He pointed at the boy who had a bored expression plastered on his face. The doctor walked over to him and extended his arm for a hand shake, reluctantly Shikamaru grasped on hand shook but fairly rough to convey his point of dislike, the doctor raised an eyebrow at him but ignored it.

“Now if you would all leave, I can conduct the check up on miss Katsura-san” He announced walking back to the bed. After the two exited leaving Katsura and the doctor alone he turned to her and softly smiled, he could feel the tenseness radiating off of her. “I just have a few questions before we start” He pulled out a clip board and a pen form his bag.

“I have a few questions first” Katsura put her book down and looked him dead in the eye, no trace of happiness was present on her face, instead she looked serious.  “What I say here will not be told to anyone else right?”

“That is right, I cannot give any information to anyone else unless given permission by you”

“Not even to the Kazekage?” She looked at him, her eyes narrowing waiting for the right answer.

“Not even to him unless it could threaten the village, now may I continue with my procedure?”

“Fine” Katsura pouted and crossed her arms looking away from him

“Alright, is there a history of sickness in your family?” He put the pen to the paper and waited for a reply.

“Yes” Katsura looked down, now finding the bed sheets to be far more interesting “On my fathers side” she elaborated then sighed and coughed, she had no choice but to explain what was going on exactly.

XXXXX

Temari sat on the couch on one side while Shikamaru sat on the other side as far way as he could. Neither spoke nor even looked t each other while they sat there, the only sound was the clock ticking, counting every excruciating second that passed in utter silence. Shikamaru was upset but he wasn’t really sure why but he knew he was mad. Finally he thought to break the silence that had followed since the restaurant.

“So how do you know doctor whats his face?” Shikamaru asked annoyed

“We’ve been on a few mission together” Temari smirked when she noticed he was upset “He’s taken a special liking to me, I’m the only one he calls chan ya know” she pointed out trying to get him to take the bait.

“So?” He yawned seemingly uninterested in what she was saying now. Temari found that extremely irritating that a guy would be pissed one second but bored the next. Shikamaru laid down on the couch with his legs hanging off the arm and his hand tucked behind his head. He closed his eyes and hoped he would forget about what happened today. Just as he was beginning to relax he heard the girl next to him get up and walk away, he peeked one eye open to see she had walked to across the room and sat on the chair across from him, she had her arms crossed and looked away from him annoyed. Just as he was about to make a snide comment to get her riled up he heard the front door open and close as well as foot steps getting closer, he picked him self up to see the youngest of the Sabuku walk into the house with a blank expression on.

“How is our guest?” He asked referring to Katsura

“The doctor is with her now, what are you doing home so early, Gaara?”  Temari asked confused, since her brother didn’t sleep he was often at the tower working into the late hours of the night, why he would be home mid-afternoon was beyond her.

“I insisted he take the day off to make sure our guests from Kohona were alright” Another voice spoke up just as a tall man walked into the room, he had half his face covered from a cloth that hung over it.

“Baki-sensei” Temari called smiling at her former teacher

“The council thought it would be best to make sure the visitors were doing well during there stay, that and…” He reached into his robes and pulled out a scroll “We also received a letter from the Hokage” Shikamaru actually got up from the couch to accept the scroll that Baki held out for him. He quickly opened it and looked over the contents, he read over the words and nodded when he finished, it was nothing more then a response to the letter Suna’s council sent informing Tsuande-sama that Katsura had fallen ill and she and Shikamaru would be staying here. The letter merely said that Katsura was in trouble for disobeying a direct command and that she would be punished upon return, also they are not to travel until a doctor has given her clearance. Shikamaru knew this was coming, he told Katsura not to run while in the desert but she wouldn’t listen just, she was way too troublesome for him to be around yet he always hangs around her.

XXXXX

Shiro had finished his exam and was writing down a few last minute notes on his clipboard. Katsura was sitting at the edge of the bed waiting for the doctor to finish what he was doing. The procedure was shorter then he originally thought it was going to be since she knew exactly what was wrong with her.

“You do know what you are then, right?” He said peering over his papers to look at the girl who was starring at the ground.

“Hai, and I know the dangers” she said not removing her eyes from the ground.

“Then you should know there is nothing I can do”

This time Katsura looked up and smiled at the doctor “Thats exactly what I told Temari but she wouldn't listen”

The doctor chuckled knowing how she could be “Yeah, so just get some rest and wait for it to pass” Shiro collected his things and turned to walk down stairs only to see Katsura stand up off the bed, he was amazed at how much determination she had to try and act normal while she was sick. She smiled at him and walked over indicating she would walk with him down stairs. The two started talking while they walked down the stairs. When they reached the bottom they saw that Gaara had made it home.

“Ah, Gaara-sama I’m glad you are here, Katsura is fine. It’s just a family illness, there is nothing I can do just make sure she get rest and doesn’t push herself too hard.” Shiro told the group as if Katsura was not standing right next to him, she glared at the doctor ‘this is exactly why I hate doctors’ Katsura thought, they always made her feel like a child who needed to be taken care of.

“The Hokage said she needed doctors approval before she traveled…”Baki started but was interrupted by the doctor

“She is not well enough but I will be back in a few days to check up and let you know”

“Thank you Shiro” Temari said, Shikamaru glared at the doctor who turn to acknowledge the wind girl, the doctor caught his eye and smirked at him making Shikamaru really angry.

“I will be off now, It was nice meeting you Katsura” He turned and smirked at the other boy “You too Shikamaru” Said boy glared even harder when he said his name. The doctor turned to leave but stopped in front of the door. “Temari-chan can I speak to for a second” He walked out side and Temari followed suit a little confused as to why he wanted to talk to her privately.

“Hello, Katsura-san.” The elder man spoke to the young girl. Of course Katsura recognized him from the chuunin exams, he was the sand siblings sensei at the time. She had met him maybe once or twice at the time. “I should be leaving as well” He nodded at the group and left passing Temari who had just walked in with a grin on her face.

“So we are stuck here until Katsura gets better?” Shikamaru asked trying his best to ignore the grinning woman.

“Hai, you will be welcome to stay here” Gaara spoke monotone then left the room. Katsura could see the hostility coming off of Shikamaru, she scratched the back of her head and chuckled. She was hoping to spend some time with her friend but now decided against it.

“Well I’m off to rest. I’ll be upstairs” She said and walked away leaving Temari and Shikamaru staring at each other.

“What was that about?” Shikamaru asked trying to sound bored but failing miserably.

“Nothing” She said smirking, Shikamaru rolled his eyes and followed his friend. Temari glared at his retreating back, how can he act like nothing effects him. She had spent a lot of time with him during the different chuunin exams and when she traveled to Konoha, and that has always irritated her to no end how he would remain clam and uncaring the entire time she was with him. With out realizing it Temari balled her hand into fists, how was he able to get under her skin without having to say anything.

Kankuro walked into the house, the mission wasn’t that hard so he was able to finish fairly early and wanted to relax. He walked into the house and placed his puppet down on the ground. He saw his sister standing there on the middle of the room. He just walked passed her.

“Hey Temari”

“SHUT UP!” She yelled and stormed off to her room. Kankuro blinked ‘what the hell?’ He thought confused before he shrugged and left to his work shop.