Chapter 94: Kurenai Yūhi's Heartwarming Rescue
The living room was strewn with messy clothes and wet puddles. Every corner seemed to bear the traces of a struggle. The torn fragments of clothing, in particular, spoke to the intensity of the "battle."
Even Kurenai Yūhi, a mature woman, felt her head spin as she took in the devastating scene.
The culprit behind all this... one glance was all it took to identify her: Anko Mitarashi, who was currently using the boy's head as a pillow, pressing it into her chest. She herself was fast asleep, a happy smile seemingly playing on her lips. It was impossible to know if, in her dreams, she was eating sweet red bean dango or drinking red bean soup.
Kurenai resisted the urge to strike her immediately. She tiptoed through the obstacles and arrived in front of the two.
Just one look at Akiyama Makoto's condition, and her blood ran cold.
He was completely motionless, his skin devoid of all color, and his chest seemed to have stopped rising and falling.
Kurenai quickly grabbed Anko's disheveled hair, pulled her up, and threw her across the room. Anko was slammed directly against the ceiling, then crashed face-first onto the floor, bouncing several times. The intense pain caused her to let out a sharp cry as she woke up.
She rubbed her swollen eyes and, seeing Kurenai busy with something, grumbled, "It's barely dawn and you're already being so violent. No wonder you still don't have a boyfriend."
Normally when she made this joke, Kurenai's strongest reaction would be to just mock her with an annoyed retort. Furthermore, since Kurenai had struck first, Anko felt she was the one in the right. Her entire body ached all over, and she had no idea how Kurenai had even brought her back last night after she got drunk. Had she just dragged her by the leg, letting her bump against the ground hundreds of times?
But wait, why was Kurenai's house such a mess? Had she gone on a drunken rampage yesterday?
Feeling guilty, Anko was just about to say something when she saw Kurenai turn her head. Kurenai shot her a look that was practically murderous, which scared Anko so badly she froze. She was naturally no match for Kurenai, and this was the first time she had ever sensed killing intent from her friend.
What on earth had happened? Why was she so furious?
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry! I'll clean it all up, I promise! And anything that's damaged, I'll pay for... no, I'll pay double!"
"Shut up!"
Kurenai didn't have time to deal with her. She had to solve the immediate problem: the boy's heart had stopped!
As a ninja with a Hand Seal stat of 9, Kurenai naturally understood medical knowledge and even knew some medical ninjutsu. She knew what she had to do.
She laid Makoto flat on the floor and began to give him artificial respiration.
Anko stared at Makoto in a daze, a hundred questions running through her mind.
Why was he in Kurenai's house? Why was he stark naked? Why did he look dead, his limbs already cold? Who would be so bold as to sneak into Kurenai's house to attack and kill him while she and Kurenai were both there?
Anko remembered his request from yesterday, that he sensed danger. It seemed it was true! No, she had to help...
Just as she tried to stand, Anko sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. The pain seemed to make her remember something.
Flashes of images returned. The true culprit behind all this... seemed to be her.
She could almost hear her own triumphant laughter, hear his helpless cries, and even see his pale face in his final struggle...
In that instant, Anko's own blood ran completely cold.
She lost the strength to stand and slumped back to the floor. Her mind buzzed, and she didn't even hear Kurenai's shouts.
"Get over here and help me with chest compressions!"
Seeing the motionless Anko, Kurenai shot her a look of utter disappointment. She was just about to pick Makoto up and take him to the hospital, when she saw his chest begin to rise and fall.
A look of surprise appeared on her face. It seemed he had passed the most dangerous stage.
What now? Sending him to the hospital was clearly the most logical solution, but... Although she was furious about what Anko had done, she still didn't want to send her to a Konoha prison and let her be disgraced for life.
It sounded somewhat immoral, but to a ninja, the bonds between comrades were second only to loyalty to the village, far more important than the life of a person she barely knew. Besides, the ninja world was still a world at war. Where was this universal morality that held human life above all else?
Since she couldn't send him to the hospital, she would have to handle it herself.
It was the dead of winter. His problem was hypothermia; she had to get his body temperature back up. She absolutely could not use hot water to raise his temperature directly, otherwise the returning cold blood would overload his heart, very likely causing cardiac arrest and death.
The best way was to wrap him up and use passive rewarming from a person with a normal body temperature, allowing his temperature to slowly rise.
At this thought, Kurenai picked up the blanket from the sofa, wrapped it around him, and then looked at Anko. "Are you going to get over here and save him or not?"
Only then did Anko snap out of her daze. She stumbled over, intending to crawl into the blanket and use her own body heat to revive him.
But just then, Makoto opened his eyes. The moment he saw Anko, he cried out in terror, "Don't come near me!"
Anko froze in place, looking helplessly at Kurenai.
Kurenai sighed. This was the final step of the rescue; she couldn't just give up now.
She picked Makoto up. "You," she said to Anko, "clean everything up. I'm going to get him stabilized. We'll talk about what happened after he's recovered."
With that, Kurenai took two steps at a time up the stairs, went into her own bedroom, and placed him on her bed.
Her hand gently stroked his face. A soft smile curved her lips. "It's alright," she said. "That was all a nightmare. It's over now."
She then lightly chopped the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. She herself then slipped into the blanket, embraced him, and took on the role of the rescuer.
Although he was unconscious, his body still trembled instinctively, and from time to time, he would make pushing motions. Kurenai wasn't angry at this, only at Anko. She assumed this was all part of the psychological trauma Anko had inflicted on him.
Slowly, he quieted down, and his heartbeat gradually grew stronger.
Only then did Kurenai completely relax. She reached out and stroked his hair. Seeing what looked like tear stains at the corners of his eyes, her heart ached slightly. She slipped her hand behind his back and patted him gently, as if he were a crying infant.
He also seemed to have found the warmth of a mother's embrace and snuggled into her arms. The scene was harmonious and heartwarming.
...At least, it was for Kurenai.