The Fox Plushy Moved?!

Aki carried her to the hospital and got her checked in. The medical-nin didn't ask any questions and got to work immediately. He found that she had broken bones and would need surgery, however he also discovered that parts of her anatomy were different from a normal human's. Although it was something he could still work with, it still made it take a slightly longer amount of time.

He patched her up and told Aki, "Now, it's just a matter of time for her to heal."

Aki noticed the doctor looked doubtful about something.

"Did the surgery go well?"

The doctor looked towards him and admitted, "It seems some of her anatomy was slightly different from a normal human's. It was something I could still work with, but I just found it odd."

He looked towards Ryuji with curiosity, "I know it's rude for me to ask her family, but why is it so different?"

He had a look of wonder on his face, "Ah. So her anatomy is different, huh. How weird, I don't actually know why."

The doctor looked dispirited, "Oh. I was hopeful you knew, but oh well."

He walked away, leaving Aki to think by himself.

He looked dazedly towards Rin as she slept soundly, "So her anatomy is different, huh..."

---

Some time later...

Slowly opening her eyes, she slowly started to wake up.

"Mhm..."

Blinking her eyes several times, she slowly sat up in an upright position.

Looking down at her hands, she realized she is bigger and skinnier than she was just the day before.

She also realized there is a weight on her legs. Who is laying on her legs?

She slowly looked down towards her legs. Covering them was a blue blanket that you would normally see in hospitals, and a white fox plushy that was curled up in a sleeping position.

'Hospital?'

She felt confused but knew she should not question what she could not understand.

She stared at the fox plush toy lying on her legs in a daze, 'It looks so realistic. I had no idea they were made this realistic nowadays.'

It has silky white fur that reflected in the bright sunlight shining through the windows, and it's face looked just like a real fox's. Even the whiskers looked real, almost as if it was not the slightest bit fake. Were it not for it being unable to move you would think it was a real fox. It was in a sleeping position, and it's tail is extremely fluffy looking. Especially with it curled all the way around it's body, almost as if it was hugging itself. With how the sun accentuated it's beautiful shiny white fur, you would think it was an almost heavenly white fox sent from the heavens. What a pure white, beautiful fox plushy.

She slowly extended her finger outwards to touch it, 'It's so beautiful... I want to touch it.'

Her finger slowly approached it's face. But as her finger slowly got closer, the plush toy seemed to move, as it's whiskers twitched.

She quickly withdrew her finger, 'The plush toy moved?'

She rubbed her eyes.

'Did I see correctly?'

She looked at it once again and saw that it didn't seem to move again.

'Was it just my imagination?'

Dismissing her conjectures, she reached out once more, wanting to touch the plush toy's fur.

"It's so beautiful..."

The fox plushy slowly opened it's azure eyes, and it stared at her finger that was slowly approaching it.

Rin, seeing it's azure eyes look at her, jumped and retracted her hand quickly while looking elsewhere.

'Was it a robotic fox plush toy?'

She looked towards it again and stared into it's eyes that seemed to see into her soul.

"So beautiful..."

A majestic and deep voice resounded in her head, [This one knows.]

She jumped and her mouth and eyes widened upon hearing the voice resound in her head. She looked around her, but did not see anyone. However as she was looking around, she seemed to sense some small movements on her lap. She looked back down, but the only thing there on her lap, was the fox plushy.

As her eyes scrutinized the plush toy in her lap, it started to slowly move. Getting up, it stretched it's legs out for awhile. Oddly enough, it's simple movements looked elegant and carried a certain air of majesty about them. It then slowly and elegantly walked towards her, it's long and fluffy tail swishing side to side beautifully.

She felt awe struck. Something so beautiful, yet so simple...

Seeing the supposed 'plush toy' walking towards her, Rin's mouth dropped to the floor.

She immediately seemed to come to a realization, 'It wasn't a plush toy...'

As he walked on her, she fell down to a lying position on the bed. She brought her head up and met face to face with him, their noses almost touching. It was certainly an uncomfortable position to be in.

He looked her in the eye. In Rin's head sounded the same majestic and husky voice from earlier, [Human, you have awakened?] (1)

Rin startled, looking at the fox with her mouth agape and her eyes widened, "Who... Are you?"

[I am the one who kept you alive, just as you were about to die.]

Just as she opened her mouth, the fox interrupted and admonished her, [You were too reckless. If it weren't for myself, you would have long ago been dead.]

"I still don't understand. How can an animal talk?"

He shook his head at her, [I'm not an animal. That's why.]

"Then what are you?"

He turned his body away from her and started to slowly walk away from her.

[...In due time perhaps.]

His body dissipated into small blue floating dust, and came to rest on her neck, consolidating into a ivory white necklace with a white fox head on it's end.

She picked up the necklace in her hand and looked down at it, "What was that?"

She didn't understand. Nothing that just happened made sense, and no matter how much she thought of it she couldn't comprehend it.

*Creak*

The door to her roomed opened.

"You're awake?"

A nurse in a white Konoha medical outfit stepped into the room, she seemed to be surprised.

The nurse walked up to her.

"What do you mean?"

Rin wasn't sure wasn't sure what she was talking about. Of course she was awake. Is that so weird? ...However, even if she did feel doubtful, she had a sneaking idea of what may have happened.

"How long was I asleep for?"

The nursed answered with hesitation and her eyes darted to the side, "...For about two years."

Rin jumped at this mention of it, and fell down from her bed. Her mouth dropped wide open, and her eyes became so wide that it looked like they would fall out from her eye sockets.

She shouted with alarm, "Two years?!"

The nurse came forward, trying to grab her arm and help her up, "You've been in a vegetative state for so long, so for you to suddenly wake up, is a pleasant surprise. Your family will be happy to know."

She rejected her offer to help her and got up by herself.

She ignored the last part of the nurse's sentence, 'My family? Well, whatever...'

She thought slowly to herself. However, even if she was doubtful and felt denial, she realized she couldn't change what had already occurred. She quickly accepted what happened. Thinking about it, she wasn't too surprised that her young body couldn't handle the injuries and went into a coma.

The nurse looked surprised at her getting up, seemingly expecting her to fall back down, "For someone who has been in a vegetative state for two years, you sure do seem strong."

Rin nodded, "Yeah, it does seem that I don't have any trouble getting up..."

She looked down at her emaciated and small body.

She was confused, 'Shouldn't someone in comatose for two years have some latent issues, especially after two years of no activity?'

She got back on the bed, and the nurse said, "The doctor did say that your physique was special. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Even when we first got you, your body did heal abnormally quick."

She looked out the window and down at Konoha, "I see..."

Every one of the people of Konoha seemed to be happy. People were all out and about, playing with their friends or going places. Kids ran about while playing tag on a nearby playground, and their parent's were nearby, watching them play.

'Hopefully, I'll be able to find out what happened to my parents... Speaking of which, when can I even go back outside?'

"When will I get discharged?"

"After I run the news by the medical-nin, she will run a quick checkup on you to confirm if you are ready to be discharged. If you have no more need for the hospital, then you'll be discharged as soon as your family comes."

"Okay, thanks."

The nurse smiled at me, "No problem. The medical-nin will be here shortly."

The nurse walked out of the room, closing the door.

*Click*

Now she just had to wait to get discharged. Then she could see Asuya and Jun again. She laid on her bed, idling till the medical-nin would come in and checked up on her.

'Now I just have to wait...' She laid back and got comfortable, as it'll probably be awhile.

...

.....

...

The medical-nin came in shortly after she started to get comfortable. The medical-nin performed a quick checkup and finished soon after. Her friends walked in as she was leaving.

Ryuji opened the door and stepped into her white hospital room. "You've finally awakened... You sure kept us waiting." He admonished jokingly.

Asuya and Jun step into the room teary eyes, their eyes red and puffy.

Asuya upon seeing Rin up and awake in her hospital bed, ran up to her and hugged her while crying.

She said in between her sobs, "I t-thought you would n-n-never wake u-up."

I hugged and patted her back, "I'm awake now, aren't I?"

Her sobbing sounded next to my ears. I could feel the tears of my friend slowly fall down onto my shoulders.

'I'm sorry. I kept you waiting so long, Asuya...'

Jun stepped forward while rubbing his red and teary eyes sorrowfully.

"I'm so glad you are a-awake. I thought... N-never mind. T-Thank you for saving me."

He blushed and looked away from my prying eyes.

It seems he had been plagued by guilt for awhile now. His eyes were puffy and red, and he had obviously been crying.

He blush harder and turned his body away from me, seemingly embarrassed at how I was scrutinizing him.

I directed a smile towards all three of them, my eyes narrowing happily into crescents, "I'm back, you guys..."

Jun mumbled with a hint of joy, "Yeah..."

Ryuji came forwards, "Well we are all glad to have you back, Rin. A lot happened while you were asleep."

I nodded, "I see."

A nurse opened the door, "We have settled all of the procedures for your discharge."

Asuya released me and I jumped off the bed, tumbling slightly, it seems it would still take a while for me to recover completely from laying around all day for the past two years.

Ryuji looked at me worriedly, "You okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. Don't worry."

We went out of the hospital jovially. When we got outside, I looked around Konoha curiously.

'Two years, it's been two years...'

As she looked all around her, she saw every villager pass by happily living their lives. Mothers were holding their children's hands, children were playing together and running around. All is peaceful and happy.

The breeze blew against her emaciated small but skinny figure, and her long red hair floated in the wind. The sun shined down brightly on the village of Konoha, lighting everything up. The day was bright, and her life right now could only be described as brighter.

'This peace... It won't last forever.'

I'll need to train, as hard as I can. So I can preserve the peace of Konoha, and find my mother and father and what happened to them. Remembering this, while it strengthened my heart's resolve, it also reminded me of my weakness. Had two years not been wasted, where would I be right now?

I shook my head and dissipated the thought, regret is not an option. The only way is forward.

Ryuji looked at me as I stared at the village in a daze, "Are you ready to go? This won't be the only time you see Konoha. Come on!"

Ryuji, Asuya, and Jun all ran forwards, beckoning me to follow to go back to their home.

I smiled, 'It's nice to have people who care for you.'

I ran after them while laughing and went ahead of them, "Let's go!"

Ryuji laughed at me, "It's not that direction. Here, let me lead."

Ryuji took the lead, and lead the way back to his family's house.

...

We arrived right in front of his house, it was all still the same. It is a white two story house just as it was two years ago. The only thing that was different, is that it looked slightly more taken care of. The house looked clean, and the weeds in their yard was now absent. Flowers are in bloom along the house and the scent of roses could be smelled in the air, the assortment of which was beautiful and orderly; pruned and proper.

It was saddening to know they had waited two years, but it was also good to know I am cared for. Even though we only met for a short while. They seemed to be taking care of themselves, at the least.

The trio in front of me looked towards each other in acknowledgement.

Ryuji took the lead and looked firmly into my eyes, "We discussed something together while you were asleep."

I turned around to face them, "Oh? What's this?"

"We thought, that if you woke up, it'd be good to give you a place to stay. How about you stay with us?"

I looked at them excitedly, "Really?! Would that be okay? Wouldn't I just trouble you?"

"No, you wouldn't be troubling us. We thought this through, and we'd like it if you stayed with us. After all, where else would you go? Thus, we decided that you could just stay with us."

I felt unsure, was it really okay? Paying for so many people's food and everything?

"Are you really okay with it?"

"Yes, no need to be humble. You've been a great friend to our daughter, and she herself expressed that she wanted you to stay. Also, Jun has been staying with us these two years as well. So he will be living with us, and we have adopted him into the family."

"I see, thanks. I really appreciate it, I'll pay you back eventually."

He hastily denied, "There is no need for that. We wouldn't want that anyway, at least not from my daughter's good friend."

My mouth slightly curved upwards, and my eyes narrowed into crescents happily.

'Say, why did they allow Jun into their family?'

I felt very curious. Although I knew it is rude, I couldn't help but ask.

"Was it because I told Jun I'd take care of him that he stayed?"

Ryuji thought back to when he first met Jun, "In the beginning, we asked him to tell us what happened to you. He went over all the details of your conversation at that time. Since you said you'd take care of him and just so happened to have gone into a coma, we decided to care of him in your stead."

"I see..."

"However, as of now, it is no longer that way. We sincerely welcome him here, and he has shown us that he is a good person. So it's not entirely because of you that we adopted him."

I looked towards Jun, and congratulated him, "Great! That's good isn't it Jun?"

Jun eyes darted to the side, and he blushed with his mouth tightly together, mumbling, "Yeah..."

"Alright now that's settled let's go in. I'm sure Shinko will be glad to see that you're finally awake."

We went into the house.

---

(1) From now on, whenever that mysterious fox speaks in her head, I will be using "[ ]." This will be how you know he's talking to her.