Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

27. Nurse

Kakashi is sprawled on the floor beside his chair.

"KAKASHI!" I rush over to him and pull him up slightly, pressing my hand to his forehead. Crap, he's burning up!

"Stupid, why didn't you tell me it was so bad?!" I scold him, already hefting him up off the floor and struggling to my feet. It is not easy trying to lift a man much taller and twice your age. In the end, the only way to get him mostly off the floor is to dangle the entire upper half of his body over my shoulder while his heels drag along the floor.

Next problem: getting upstairs.

"Stupid... Jōnin..." I pant as I edge - backwards - up Kakashi's tiny stairs. Kakashi groans softly in what sounds like pain.

"I am so getting you back for this."

I'm sweating bullets by the time we make it to the top of the stairs. Now then, where's his bedroom? I have to use my elbow to try and coax the doors open, and after a linen cupboard and a bathroom, I finally find what looks like a bedroom. I mean, it has a bed, but my room has a bed, and it's still storage space.

Standing beside his bed, I encounter my third problem:

How to get this stupid jōnin into bed.

Without killing him.

I decide to fold him in, first draping his upper body over the bed, then dragging his legs on and shifting and twisting until I have him on his back under the covers. I have a new respect for nurses - this is exhausting.

"Do us both a favour," I say, "and just stay here for a while." He doesn't reply, obviously, and that's enough for me.

Back downstairs, I tend to the soup. It still needs to simmer for a while, which is perfect. It gives me enough time to go shopping and start making up a few easy lunches, because Kakashi's fridge and pantry are both completely empty.

The shop Yūgao took me to is only about 5 minutes away from Kakashi's house.

"Back already, miss?" The shopkeeper smiles at me as I step through the door.

"Yeah." I rub the back of my neck and smile awkwardly at them.

"Didn't buy enough last time?" The shop's empty, and the owner must be bored.

"For one meal, yeah, but he doesn't have anything fresh in, so I thought I'd get him enough for a few days lunch."

"How thoughtful. It must be nice to have such a helpful daughter."

"I'm not his daughter." I correct him quickly. Do we really give off that impression? No, there's no way.

"Really? My mistake." He doesn't really sound like he believes me. That's going to come back to bite me later, I just know it. As I search the vegetable aisles, he calls out to me;

"Bento lunches are half off today."

"Thanks." I say, but don't move towards them. I'm pretty sure he lives off these things already.

"He buys them a lot." The owner adds.

"Who?" I ask, distracted by a bundle of baby sweetcorn. Maybe I could get him some stuff for fried rice, too...

"Kakashi." I startle, and turn quickly to stare at him. How...?

"How do you know I'm buying this for him?" I ask with a frown.

"You came in with Yūgao earlier. She always buys him stuff like that." He shrugs.

"Huh." I go back to looking over the vegetables.

"Meat's 20% off too."

"Yeah?" I move towards the meat aisle. Chilled would be better this time - anything fresh could go off before he gets to it. The fish looks cheap... Oh!

"This is from Lake Sakana, right?" I ask, picking it up, "when did it come in?"

"Just yesterday, fresh from the lake. It's really quite fresh." He says, and I chuckle, and drop it into my basket with the vegetables.

"I'll take all of this." I say when I finally reach the counter. The basket's full again, and I can only hope Kakashi will eat all of this. Maybe I shouldn't have bought it...

Too late now, the shopkeeper's already written up the price and is asking for the money. I hand him the cash, a little depressed at the dent this has made in my hard-earned funds. That's 2 evenings worth of folding towels gone...

By the time I get back, it's been 20 minutes, and the soup is finished, on the edge of burning.

"You shouldn't leave the stove on when you go out." Someone says softly and I jump and spin around.

"Kakashi, you're up." I sigh and press a hand to my chest. He surprised me.

"I thought you'd left."

"No, I just went out to grab some groceries. You know your fridge and cupboards are totally empty?" I open the fridge and put the fish and vegetables inside.

"I buy readymade meals."

"That's not good for you. You need proper food. If you can't cook, I can do it for you." I say as I put the food away.

"Why?"

"I'm your assistant, aren't I? It's my job to help out."

"This is going above and beyond."

"So? It's my choice. Now dish yourself up some of that soup and then take the cold medicine on the table." I instruct, and to my surprise he shuffles over to the stove and ladles some soup into an old bowl.

"Good. Now eat up, you need to get better soon or your students are going to get antsy." To make sure he eats, maybe I should make him something for dinner? I could use the fish...

"What happened to the rabbit?" Kakashi asks suddenly.

"Huh?" I ask distractedly. No, I should let him rest. I can always come back later to cook.

"The rabbit you had with you when you first came here. What happened to it?" He asks again.

"Oh! Yoko kind of fell in love with it, so she takes care of it now. It's name's Hana."

"Hm."

"Do you still read porn in public?"

"It's a romance novel."

"It's porn. Doesn't it get embarrassing?" I ask.

"No." Is that it? Just 'no'?

"Oh-kay then."

"If I leave you alone, will you be alright?" I ask, turning to face him.

"Yes."

"Right." I nod, and gather my things.

"Maya?" Kakashi calls before I leave. I wait, looking at him expectantly.

"Thank you." He says finally, and it makes something warm spread through my chest. I tilt my head to the side slightly and smile brightly at him.

"You're welcome."

A/N: sorry about the lack of updates, I've got coursework due in 2 weeks and I'm woefully unprepared. But here's the newest instalment! Now that this is up, I'm going to unpublish the ones after and re-write it in the Land of Waves. Note - I'm going for it being noticeably different, and I will try not to repeat any lines from the manga/anime. Thank you to @eagle01081 for all your help, and to everyone else who has read and voted for my story!
Ta-ta~