An Unexpected Friend (Book 1 of the Unexpected Series)

Summary: Tsunade returns to Konoha and Kokoro and Kakashi talk.

The next time Kokoro took a good look at her dad was a few days later as he laid in a hospital bed, occasionally shaking and screwing his face together in pain. She stared at him blankly with clenched hands and tense muscles. His usually gravity-defying silver hair was deflated and clung against his sweaty forehead. His usually calm and calculating face exuded suffering and intense emotion. His muscles were tense and every now and then would unscrew themselves from her touch. While she was hanging out with Haku, contemplating the Mizukage's offer, and pretending like the only family member she had was a cousin, her dad was fighting two S-rank missing nin, one of them Itachi Uchiha. Whatever genjutsu that bastard had put on her dad had him bed bound and helpless to what seemed like an eternal coma. No one could figure out how to free him. She supposed this was what she got for ignoring him and acting like he never existed.

She sighed and pushed herself off of the wall opposite his hospital bed. The other people in the room - Gai, Asuna, Genma, and Kurenai, to name a few - watched her move about with grim expressions on their faces. She pulled a chair over to his bedside and wiped the hair from his head. He was still hot to the touch and sweating profusely. She stood up and walked out of the room to get a cold, damp cloth to try and bring his temperature down. The nurses continuously checked in on him to take note of his vitals and refill his fluids, but did nothing else. Kokoro took it upon herself to take it a step further. With wet cloth in hand, she made her way back to her dad's room. She rounded the corner to enter the room when she was suddenly rammed into. She fell to the floor in a heap and opened her mouth to yell at whoever bumped into her without apologizing. She closed it when she saw a black-haired boy wearing the Uchiha symbol run down the hall impatiently.

She entered the room and raised an eyebrow at the sheepish jounin littered throughout the room. She shook her head silently and placed the cold rag on her dad's forehead. He seemingly sighed in relief and let go of whatever fit he was having while she was out of the room. She paid no attention to the others as she gripped her dad's hands in her own and silently prayed he would wake up soon. No matter if she was upset with him or not, she was too used to having him in her life to not feel gloomy. She stayed with him day and night until Haku had to force her home to shower, eat, and properly rest.

A day later, she caught wind that Sauke was in the same predicament as her dad. She switched between visiting the both of them as she wanted to make sure they were both taken care of. She often ran into Sakura, who found time between training with her team to give Sasuke flowers and talk to his unconscious body. Sasuke's health was just as bad as her dad's, if not worse. His face was in a constant twist of pain and his body was so tense she worried his joints would lock up and remain that way forever. She was always worried for Sasuke and his dream, his goal. Revenge was a tricky thing and if someone wasn't careful, they could get too caught up in it. She feared that would happen to Sasuke. While she by no means liked him as much as she liked Naruto and while she wouldn't really list him as one of her closest friends, he was her teammate.

A week later, Kokoro was ready to faint from fatigue. She sluggishly got up from her seat beside her dad and walked to the adjoining bathroom. She shut the door and relieved herself before flushing the toilet and washing her hands. She gripped the edges of the sink and stared into the mirror. Black circles under her eyes reminded her of a certain redhead and she had to physically shake her body to rid herself of the thoughts of him and to keep her eyes open enough to see. She turned the faucet on and cupped her hands under the steady flow of water, splashing it in her face and slapping her cheeks to force energy into her body. She sighed and righted herself. She jerked the door open with more force than she anticipated and slightly wobbled. She took one step out of the bathroom before falling face first towards the floor. Two arms caught her.