Samurai Showdown With Kakashi

(Roderick's perspective)

My eyes were closed, my mind was asleep, and yet no nightmares came to creep. One more perfect rest, but there was something off about it. I couldn't recall ever closing my eyes.

I went to the edges of my memory to find the answer. I was fighting a possessed Renji and tried to hold him down, and in an attempt to get me off him, he...

- My arm! - I shouted as I woke up in a hospital room.

Around me were several people, medics, friends, ninjas, but at the front was a beautiful bountiful woman with blonde hair and an odd square on her forehead. She screamed:

- Hold him down! I can't properly restitch it while he's moving sporadically like this! Shisui! I thought you said you could keep him asleep with your genjutsu! - Shisui who was further away said in a resentful tone.

- I can only give him a good night's sleep. He seems to have some genjutsu resistance. I can't do much more than that.

I looked below me and saw several wires sticking off of my cut arm.

- My arm! - Was the only thing I could speak at the moment.

The woman let out an annoyed sigh as she got to a conclusion:

- I'll try not to give you a concussion.

- What are you... - I tried asking before she hit my head with a mighty chop, knocking me out again.

After what seemed like mere instants, I woke up in another room, this time a lot cozier. I was laying on a futon, above wooden floors. Beside me on one side were sliding doors, while on the other was a beautiful garden. I must be in a living room of some household. The sliding door beside me opened, as the beautiful woman showed up. She seemed to be wearing nothing, and had purely a towel around her curvaceous body. She didn't notice me being awake, as she left to another room. I saw on the other side of that door what seemed to be the baths, which would explain the towel, but not what came afterwards. The sliding door opened once more and this time it was Lai who showed up. He also seemed to be using only a towel and not much else. His white hair flowed on his shoulders, as his noticeable mustache was now noticeably cut. It was an odd sight, especially with the expression of pure annoyance he gave as he saw me awake.

- Did... Did you seriously wake up right now?

- Yeah, where... - Lai quickly got close to me and put his hand on my mouth.

- Don't say another word. Keep resting. It's... humm... better for you that way. I have something else to take care of.

- Oh Lai. - The woman called. - I don't see my feet getting massaged.

- I'm coming right away, Tsu-Tsu. - Lai answered with an oddly cute voice. He looked at me once more. - Don't ruin this for me. Just stay quiet. - He ordered, as if it was an life-risking assignment, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure it was.

He headed for the door Tsu-Tsu had gone through, and went to give the proper foot massage. I laid in my place in utter confusion as I tried to piece it all together, but as I started thinking about what was surrounding me, I felt an itch on my elbow. I attempted to scratch it my left arm, and felt my fingers getting stuck on something. Have I grown long hairs on my arm? How long was I out? But, of course, that wasn't. I took a look at it, and saw several lines of stitches around the elbow. I screamed.

- My arm! - I looked at where it had been cut off, and thankfully it was there, however it was clear that Renji had truly cut it.

Several stitches covered the part where the cut happened, as well as a few bandages. I wonder if this was even my arm, or if they got someone else's. I'm starting to creep myself out. Before I could delve deeper in my own thoughts the door where Lai had gone to opened in a hurry. The blonde woman seemed worried as she looked at me:

- You're awake? - She was holding the towel covering her tightly against her own c.h.e.s.t, as if she was about to unravel moments before. How far did Lai go? He appeared behind her shortly after, faking a worried expression, so I presume he didn't get too far. - I need to go get dressed. Lai, stay with him for now. - The blonde woman left in a hurry, while Lai stayed.

He came closer to me as his face contorted into several expressions. I felt a blood thirst in the air, and, like an idiot, got worried that there was an enemy around me. But it was only Lai, and it seemed like all of his dreams had been crushed in front of h... What have I done? OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?

- I'm so sorry, Lai. - I apologized with all my heart. I felt like getting emotional. - I didn't mean to ruin that for you.

- It's fine, kid. - A tear came running down from one of his eyes, as he looked to the side to hide it from me. - I'll be with her at a latter time. I will... - Lai suddenly looked at me with his hard-boiled face completely wet in tears and snot. - Why did you have to do this? I told you to stay quiet!

- I'm so so sorry! - I pleaded for my life.

- You know how hard it is to find a woman like that in the Land of Iron? It's simply impossible.

- May.. - I started stuttering. - Maybe you just haven't looked hard enough. They could be closer than you think.

- Do you think there are woman for a man of my age? - Lai was nearing his forties, so if he were to hang out with girls like Inoue, who is around my age, he would easily be considered a pervert, and since all the women commanders were taken, he really didn't have much choice back in our land. My heart started aching for him. - That was my best chance with Tsunade. I will rip you apart once we leave this village, I'm telling you, I'll... - The door slid open, as Lai was about to hold my neck. He quickly avoided that movement and instead put his hand on my forehead, as he adopted a more responsible attitude to not worry Tsunade. She was wearing now a green robe above her white clothes. - He seems to be doing fine. No fevers, and he doesn't seem to be in any major pain. - A desperate man truly is capable of anything.

- Good. - She kneeled beside me, and started speaking. - I'm going to apply some pressure on your arm. Tell me how you fell. - She began to press my wrist and hand.

I had to say that it was an odd sensation. It felt like I wasn't feeling the touch in its entirety, but it wasn't painful either. I explained:

- I can feel your hand, and it's definitely not painful, but I'm really curious as to how you did this.

- It wasn't easy. When Yamato brought you here, you weren't in a good state. You had already lost a lot of blood and you were close to passing out forever. Thankfully, Yamato offered to transfuse some blood. He said it was to pay back for a misconception, and if it wasn't for that you would probably be dead.

- He has the same blood type as me?

- Close enough. Your body initially tried to refuse his blood, but thankfully it seems you have trained yourself to endure inner strain. I've only known two ninja who put themselves through similar things, so I was surprised to see how well your body adapted. And after that, since your arm was also recovered, it wasn't too difficult to stitch your arm back with some chakra and wire. Even there you got lucky. If your arm hadn't been cut out in a perfect slice, the process might have been more difficult. It would have taken simply a punch on your cut arm, to make the restitching impossible. - I didn't know what to say, except...

- You really are amazing. You're saying that as if it's easy. I can't believe how competent and beautiful the women of this land are. - Tsunade seemed to almost blush a little, as a vein popped on Lai's forehead. I decided not to give any more compliments, and thus, keep myself alive. There's just one more thing in my mind:

- What about Renji? Is he okay?

Tsunade didn't answer as she looked at Lai. Neither of them seemed to want to answer, which truly worried me.

- He didn't destroy anything else, did he?

- No, but not due to himself. - Lai said in a regretful. - Look... Renji had gotten himself into too much trouble, there was nothing we could do.

- What the hell happened with him?

- He's being taken into custody for now. - Tsunade said. - The Hokage is still deciding if he's going to keep his life.