Midnight Ride: A backpack Spinoff.

I don't own Naruto.

Trigger warning. Needles and mentions of previous drug use.

Madara saved Hinata from Toneri, but at what cost? He was currently on his way to the E.R. with a multitude of stab wounds to his arm, shoulder and back. They were deep enough to cause him trouble moving his arm, not that he wanted to because it hurt. He didn't know if he would ever ride again after this, and he figured that hurt more than the physical pain he was enduring. It wasn't that he was worried about being able to ride in all honesty, he was more concerned with Hinata's safety at the moment.

He looked at the man in the ambulance with him and the man was watching him intently. "What's the deal?" he asked, and the man frowned. "Not sure, you've sustained quite a bit of damage, but I've managed to stop the bleeding so that's a good thing. Looks like no internal injuries as of yet, but we have to be sure when we get to the hospital." the man said, and he frowned once more. He knew the man had questions for him.

"What happened to you, I've never seen you so banged up before. Much less in and out of consciousness like this." the man said, and he shifted on the stretcher to get more comfortable. He was face down and strapped in carefully, but he could still see the man watching over him. "I saved a friend. She had been kidnapped and I had to go find her." He said and the man frowned at him. "Why not call the police?" he asked and Madara chuckled, although pain reverberated through his being the moment he did so.

"This was personal." He said and the man sighed. "You guys are going to be the death of me." the man sighed, only for his eyes to widen slightly. "Are you talking about the girl in the other ambulance?" he asked and Madara nodded. "Yeah. How is she?" he asked, and the man frowned. "You know I can't tell you that. HIPPA man." he sighed and Madara nodded. "She should be ok though." The man reassured him, and he forced a small smile. He sure hoped she would be.

"You must love her. Taking a blade for a woman is a noble deed." the man said, and he sighed. "I care for her, but I owe a debt to her boyfriend. I can't say I love her because she will never be mine and I don't know what that honestly feels like. She's a close friend though." He said and the man frowned. "Madara..." "Don't start with me, Tenzo. It was Tobirama I owed the debt to." he said and the brown-haired man ran a hand through his hair, his black eyes slipping shut. "I see." he sighed.

The rest of the trip to the hospital was silent, but the silence was welcomed as he drifted off into the darkness once more. He was woken not long after by a woman's voice. "I need type O positive as soon as possible." the woman said, and he peered up to see a familiar face, Hashirama's cousin, Tsunade. "Hey Madara, can you hear me?" she asked, and he nodded softly. Everything hurt now that the adrenaline had finally worn off. "Good. We are going to take good care of you." She said and he nodded once more, although the pain ripping through his back made him wince.

He looked over and saw Hinata was right beside him. She was staring at him with tear filled eyes and he couldn't help but offer her a smile to try and comfort her. She reached and tucked his hair behind his ear, only to drop her hand soon after. He reached out to her weakly with his uninjured arm and she took her fingers and laced them with his gently. As soon as it had happened they disconnected, and he watched her for as long as he could before he was rolled into a bright room.

He slipped his eyes shut at the bright light and waited for the flurry of voices to stop. He listened to the Tenzo and his partner to tell them all about what had happened to him. They then carefully slid him off the stretcher and onto a more comfortable bed. It wasn't comfortable but it was more comfortable than the stretcher was. He slipped his eyes open only to close them right back as soon as he had. The light was too bright. He watched as it dimmed through his eyelids, and he managed to give a sigh of relief.

"Hi Madara, my name is Ashura. I'm going to be your nurse." A softer tone met his ears. He could tell the woman took her job seriously by the tone she used with him alone, it was kind and considerate of his sensitive ears. His head was pounding, but not as much as his wounds were throbbing in pain. He cracked his eyes open once more and he was met with the most beautiful shining silver eyes he had ever seen. They were like shimmering steel of a perfectly polished blade.

"Hello there, beautiful." he managed but he was surprised by the rasp to his tone. "Good to see you're in good spirits." she said softly, amusement littering her voice. She was doing something off to the side that he couldn't see, but he was curious about her. He took in her appearance, and he couldn't help but stare at her. In his injured state she was like an angel with her stark white hair and slightly pale skin.

She could use a bit of a tan though, not that he was complaining in any way. She looked perfectly fine the way she was. Her long white hair was pulled up into twin space buns while her short bangs spayed out over her forehead with longer side bangs framing her heart shaped face. She had a little sticker stuck to her cheek and he couldn't help but be amused by this. He wondered what that was doing there.

"What? Got something on my face?" she asked in amusement, and he nodded slightly. He managed to point at it, and she laughed loudly. "I'm a goof and forget things a lot so if it's literally right in front of my face I can't forget it now, can I?" she asked with a joyous laugh. He admittedly liked her laugh, it sounded sincere. "I'm forgetful as well sometimes." He managed to chuckle at this, but she scolded him not to move too much.

"What happened to your shirt?" she asked, and he waved a hand in the air in an iffy manner. "It's on Hinata." he said, and he noticed her full body froze as soon as he said Hinata's name. "Hinata... as in the girl who used to work here?" she asked, her tone wavering in fear. "Yeah, do you know her?" he asked, and she nodded stiffly. She folded her hands in front of her and sniffled lightly. "I knew something was wrong when I hadn't seen her in a while, I just didn't know what had happened to her." she managed, and he could tell she was trying not to cry.

"She had a stalker and he kidnapped her. My friends and I saved her though... that's what happened to me." he said, and she whirled to look at him. He was just watching her curiously. He had never seen this woman hang around Hinata and the others. "I always wanted to be her friend... I will have to go check on her when I get the chance." she said softly, and he smiled at her. "She's a wonderful woman." he said, and she nodded. "She always did light up the E.R. with her smiles. It's a shame this happened to her." the woman sighed, only to start preparing something in a syringe.

"I'm going to have to do this at an odd angle, so please don't flinch." she said and he nodded. She pulled a tray over to his bedside and he took in all the items on the tray. She was going to start an I.V. and give him some pain meds it looked like. "Hope you're a good stick, I have a past." he said, admittedly ashamed of his past all over again. He used to dabble in the syringed arts when he was younger. He was over that and had been for some time now, but it still affected him in times like this.

"Don't worry, I'm the best there is... other than Hinata that is, she's got some super sharp eyes. I started out as a phlebotomist, so veins are my forte." She said reassuringly and he nodded weakly. He could believe er until she proved she couldn't handle it. Most of them couldn't get to the vein on the first try and he was sick of getting stuck when he went to the doctor. He watched her as closely as he could. She was crouched from below and he watched as she palpated the arm and felt for a vein.

"Oh this scarring is nothing! I've seen so much worse!" she mused lightly and it made him feel slightly better about his scarring. He would have to thank her when she was finished stabbing him. She didn't even have to tear the finger off her glove to find a good spot like the others did, he noticed with a smirk. "Ok... on the count of three." she started and he nodded. "One... two..." He was waiting for three but three never came. He cracked his eyes open, expecting the usual pain he always felt when someone stuck there, but it was only a minor sting.

"See, I got you first try." she said with a cheerful tone and he couldn't help but be impressed with her skill. She was already finished wrapping the I.V. in the protective sticker and taping it down by the time he had opened his eyes. She was fast too. He raised a lone brow at her as she started twisting an empty syringe on the end of the I.V. cap. She pulled three syringes of blood from the port and wiped it off and released the tourniquet. He watched as she rotated the blood in one hand while she focused all her energy into twisting a flush onto the end of the cap.

She flushed his line and continued rotating the blood, only to remove the empty syringe and pull another one off the table. A smaller one which he knew was filled with pain meds. "Don't worry it's filled with non-narcotic pain meds, Tsunade put in an order for it the moment she found out it was you." Ashura said softly and he nodded. He watched as her tongue poked out from between her lips and she screwed the tiny syringe onto the cap. She was good at this.

He had to admit her antics while she worked were cute in a sense.

He had been worried that it was a narcotic because he knew he would not have the strength not to relapse on them all over again. He sighed in relief as the meds started to kick in and his pain dulled to a dull throbbing in his back. The pain hadn't bothered him much to begin with, he had crashed his bike before and been thrown thirty feet before. He was no stranger to pain, but he was happy he no longer felt it.

"All good?" she asked with a small smile, which made him nod with his eyes closed. "Good, I'm glad. You're a hero you know?" she muttered softly, and he cracked his eyes open not sure if he had heard her correctly. "How so?" he asked, and she smiled at him. "She's a very lucky woman for you to have gotten so injured saving her. I'm glad I met her when I did. I hope she comes back to the hospital. I miss her presence. It's not been the same since she left." She sighed and he raised a brow at her.

"Hinata is a close friend of mine. We ride bikes together." he said, and her brows shot up into her bangs. "Really, you must value those around you more than your own life if you got messed up this bad for a friend, no offense." she managed, and he chuckled. "She is quite the woman; she's dating a friend of mine, and I owed him a favor. So, I figured if I could save her from that shithead that took her, I would be repaying a debt to him." he said, and she nodded as she leaned to look him in the face.

"I'd say your debt is paid in full at this point." she said, and he got lost in her eyes all over again. "Damn." he muttered softly, which made her release a giggle. "I've heard about you. Don't think I'm going to fall for your little flirts." She mused and he rolled his eyes, he surprisingly had the energy for that. He continued to watch her as she gathered things around the room. He couldn't take his eyes off of her because she was a wonder to him.

His gaze drifted down to her hips and over her rump. He had to admit she looked good in scrubs. Scrubs always did something for him he just couldn't explain it. He frowned as he found his gaze trailing up her form to land on her chest. "You dirty dog you. Keep your eyes to yourself." she laughed lightly, and he felt his cheeks warm at having been caught by the woman. He wondered briefly what she would look like with her hair down. She was beautiful as is, but he wanted to see her in her comfort zone, not that he ever would though.

He knew more than anyone he was in no position to even remotely look at anyone that way. He had too many issues to deal with, past and present. His thoughts drifted to the last time he had gotten high, and he craved that feeling more than anything after everything he had been through. He knew he wasn't going to do it though; he couldn't afford to. He had repaired his friendship with Hashirama after his last bout of use and had even repaired his newly found friendship with Tobirama.

He couldn't afford to risk it all again.

His gaze landed back on her as she pulled a large metal tray over to his bedside. "Don't worry, you shouldn't feel a thing." she said, and he nodded gently. He didn't want to feel a single one of the stitches that he knew he was going to get. A woman entered the room after knocking, driving a large machine in with her. "Before you go about prepping the stitches, we need to get an Xray." she said, and he watched as the woman made her way over to him and slipped something that looked like a large, thick cutting board under his mattress.

He then heard mechanical whirring as the machine was brought closer to his bed. He tried to remain as still as possible as she took the images of his back and shoulder. She excused herself and made herself scarce. On to the next room he supposed. A man came in soon after and had another strange machine. "I need to look to make sure there's no bleeding internally." the man said and he nodded as he applied some kind of lubricant to his back. "Breathe normally for me, alright?" the man said, to which he complied. It didn't hurt to breathe like it had before, so he was grateful for that.

He felt pressure as the man ran the probe over his back. He winced as he drug it over his stab wounds, expecting pain to flood his being, but he could only feel the dull throbbing of his heartbeat in the wounds. When the man finished, he sighed in relief. It became a flurry of people in and out of his room before he knew it. He couldn't keep track of all the faces or names as they cycled through. He knew there had been police in and out as well, seeing as Itachi had been the one to respond in uniform. No doubt to make sure he was still alive and kicking for the rest of the crew.

He kept one face in focus the entire time he was awake though, Ashura's. She was calm and caring, a beacon of hope in his med induced haze. He slipped his eyes shut and decided to rest for a while. When his eyes opened once more, she was crouched in front of him with a smile on her lips. "Hello again sleepyhead. We have got to stop meeting like this." she said with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

"I'd rather wake up this way for the rest of my life." he said before he could stop himself. That came out wrong, so very wrong. "I'm sorry-" he started to apologize but she shook her head as she folded her arms across her knees. "Don't be, you wouldn't be the first that has wanted to wake up and see my smiling face." she said softly, her smile unwavering. He was glad she had taken it the way he had meant it rather than the way of him coming out of a drug induced haze.

"Are you ready to roll over?" she asked, and he nodded. "You have no internal bleeding. He managed to not his any vital organs or puncture too deep. You're very lucky. He could have killed you." she said, and he nodded. He was lucky. "He did however manage to knick a few bones, but nothing too serious. You most likely initially passed out from pain and blood loss more than anything." She said and he watched her carefully as she stood and gently reached to grab his arm carefully to help him turn in the bed.

Once he was on his back, he turned to face her once more. The little sticker had some kind of code written on it now. He wondered what that could be, but it was probably stuff she was going to put in his chart later. He would be able to read the information from his chart later from his home computer. He pulled his gaze from her, and she checked his bandages once more to ensure they hadn't loosened when he rolled over.

"So, there's no need to admit you, thankfully. You'll just be assigned some bed rest to heal." she said with a smile, and he nodded he really couldn't find very many words to say, he noticed. He had no idea how long he had been out, but if all the information had come back to let him know he was in good condition to leave, that meant he had been out for a while. He got lost in his head for a bit, but she was waving a hand in front of his eyes a moment later, which made him look over to her. "Yes?" he asked, which made her frown.

"You really weren't listening..." she sighed with a hand on her hip. "Your stitches are going to need to be removed, so you'll have to come back in a week for a checkup to make sure they aren't infected and in a week after that to get them removed, unless you're not healing right. Then you'll come back a week later." she said, and he nodded. Another woman came in with some paperwork about insurance stuff and Ashura left the room.

He signed all the paperwork with his non dominant arm, so it was a mess on paper. Ashura came back in a little while later and put his arm in a sling. "Try not to move too much, you'll need to let it heal.' she said, and he looked down at the sling then back up to her. A smirk crossed his lips, and he opened his mouth to speak, but she shot him a look that said, 'don't even try.' "You're injured and frankly look pitiful right now. Try again when you're looking better." she said with amusement written all over her face.

"Well, in that case... when I come back, will I have you as a nurse again?" he asked, and she laughed. "Down boy. But... perhaps. If you're lucky." she said, and he grinned at her. He liked her and her spunk. Amused chuckles came from across the room, and he looked over to see Hashirama sitting there. "How long have you been there?" he asked and Hashirama smiled at him, although the smile soon faded. "I've been here for hours. Just making sure you're ok." he said and Madara sighed.

He knew a lecture was going to come his way on the ride home. "Your flirting doesn't cease even when you are injured." the man sighed, and he smirked at him as Ashura slipped out of the room. "They called your emergency contacts, and I was at the top of the list. Why didn't they call Izuna? Not that I'm complaining, I'm in fact honored that you would put me down." Hashirama said and he frowned.

"Because... I knew you'd come no matter what." he said and flashbacks of Hashirama finding him when he was high flickered through his mind. He knew the man would come because he had always showed up for him regardless. He had seen him at his absolute worst and showed up, unlike his brother, no offence to him. Izuna didn't know how to handle seeing him drugged up the first time he had, so he wasn't going to put him through that ever again.

"Of course, I would come no matter what, you're my best friend. Even after everything we've been through you should know this." he said and Madara smiled, although inside he was grimacing. He didn't ever want anyone to see him like that again. "Ok! So, I have your discharge paperwork here. Be sure to come back and see me Madara." Ashura said, cutting through the silence in a much-needed manner. His fingertips brushed over the back of her hands, and he leaned forward with a smirk on his lips.

"Thank you beautiful. This is much appreciated. I would love to see you again." he said, a sultry tone filling his voice as he said this. A soft blush came to her cheeks and she released the paperwork in her surprise. "O-ok... take care..." she stammered softly and Hashirama waited for the woman to scurry out of the room before he laughed at her. Madara was grateful he had waited because the poor woman was probably already embarrassed enough.

He shifted off the bed and Hashirama made his way over to him to help him out of the bed fully. "Careful now, unless you want me to have to call her back in." he chuckled, only for the door to slide back open and Ashura had a wheelchair in tow. "I can walk." he said, but she shook her head. "Not a chance." she said sternly and motioned for him to plant his rear in the seat. He did as she commanded and sat down.

She grabbed the handles to the wheelchair and began to push him out of the room. "Ma'am you don't have to do that, I can take it from here." Hashirama offered, but she sent him a glance and Hashirama backed off. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at this. Hashirama was definitely one to back down when it came to the women in his life, so why should this sharp-tongued woman be any different?

She pushed him down the hallway and he looked back at her, making her blush ever so slightly and turn her head away from him. "Do you always flirt with everyone?" she huffed, and he chuckled. "Nope, he only flirts with the pretty ones." Hashirama said and the blush darkened on her cheeks, although an irritated look crossed her face. "I'm not that pretty, so why me?" she grunted, and he furrowed his brows. Did she have a low self-esteem? Was she like Hinata underneath all that bravado?

"Well, I think you are angelic." he said, and she scoffed audibly. "Ha ha... It's because of the white hair, isn't it?" she asked sarcastically, and he shook his head. "It's because you radiate beauty." he said, and she rolled her eyes. "You know angels were supposed to be terrifying right? That's why they said do not fear when they appeared to people." she muttered as she turned towards the exit to the E.R. "Ah, but you see, beauty can be terrifying too." he said in a matter-of-fact tone, which made her huff and blow her bangs out of her face.

"You're such a hopeless flirt." She groaned and he smirked. "Only for you." he said in rebuttal, making that lovely blush cross her cheeks once more. She was beautiful and he couldn't deny that fact. Why he was flirting so hard with her he didn't know, it was highly likely he would never see her again. This didn't mean he didn't want to, though. She pulled him out to the bay and waited for Hashirama to pull the car around.

"I mean it you know." he said, and she looked down at him with shock on her features. "You really are beautiful, don't let anyone tell you differently. I just flirt to take my mind off things." he sighed, and she nodded as soon as she regained her composure. "I know. It helps take your mind off what's happened to you, which is why they put me on your case. You're a known flirt and most women would get uncomfortable with that. I however don't get it enough. So, I enjoy getting flirted with, just... I've never had someone as adamant as you are before." She said and he blinked at her.

He was so confused by the fact she didn't receive the attention that he was giving her from anyone else. She truly was beautiful in his eyes. A different sort of beauty, but then again, he thought Hinata was beautiful too. He thought many women were beautiful, he just never flirted with just anyone. Only the pretty ones, as Hashirama said. "Well, you deserve every bit of attention you do get." he said, and she rolled her eyes at him as Hashirama pulled up.

"Perhaps you could show me that bar of yours sometime." she offered, and he raised a brow, he hadn't told her about the bar. Perhaps Hinata, Sakura or Ino had. "Sure thing, stop by any time. It gets loud though, just to warn you." He said with a frown, and she smirked at him, which made his eyes widen slightly. She looked even better with that crafty smirk littering her lips. Like a mischievous she-devil in disguise of an angel.

"I'm pretty sure other things can get loud too." she said, and a grin crossed his lips as Hashirama tried to usher him into the car. He was definitely interested now, not that he hadn't been before. But usually, he got a slap to the face when he flirted with women, none of them ever flirted back unless they wanted something from him. The whole ride to his house all he could think of was the smirk on her lips.

Even after he had gotten home, he couldn't sleep because all he could think about was her and that rosy blush, and of course the smirk. That damnable smirk was ingrained in his mind. "Madara, are you even listening?" Hashirama called from the doorway of his bedroom, and he sighed as he rolled to look at the man. "No, I was not." he admitted and Hashirama groaned. "Hinata is doing fine, they're going to let her go home tomorrow. They want to keep running tests to make sure she's ok." he said and Madara nodded. "Good." he said, and he was finally able to drift off to sleep, but not before he got a text from Tobirama.

'You have done more good things for me than you've hurt me... thank you... please don't think you owe me a debt anymore.'

:-:-:-:

Ashura sighed as she sat back at her computer. She was still charting on Madara even though he had already gone home. She couldn't get him out of her head. Despite the traumatizing situation he had been through he was in good spirits, which was a relief. She couldn't believe she had actually flirted back at him, what was wrong with her? She could admit the man was attractive, even in his pitiful state, but still. She had never lost her cool like that before.

He just roused something in her that she had never had issues containing. She tapped her pen on the desktop and Ino leaned to look over at her. "Fantasizing about Madara are we?" she asked slyly, which made her roll her eyes. "Why would I? He's nothing special... just another patient." she muttered under her breath, only for Ino to laugh at her. "He's more than that honestly. He's a good man. He just has some troubles." Ino said and she looked over at Ino curiously.

"How do you know him so well?" she asked and Ino grinned. "I married his little brother." she said, and Ashura's eyes went wide. That explained a lot, especially why Ino hadn't volunteered to take him. She couldn't take him because he was family. Which also explained why Sakura couldn't take him, she was family too. "I see now. You're family after all, of course you would know about him." she mused softly, only to look back at the blonde that was watching her knowingly.

"He's cute, isn't he?" The blonde asked and she sighed in exasperation. She wasn't going to be able to get away from this line of questioning. "You know I can't say anything like that out loud at work... Why?" she asked and Ino smirked. "Because you and your stubborn nature would definitely be the one to be able to handle him and his foolish nature." Ino said and Ashura rolled her eyes. She didn't think she could get through to anyone, much less that stubborn man.

She propped her head on her hand and sighed in frustration. His blaring red eyes were engrained in her mind, even though they had been weak and tired eyes. She could feel his gaze roaming her body when she was in the room with him. Normally she would be disgusted with the way he was looking at her, but something told her he was different, and it wasn't a hungry gaze. More so a curious one. She tapped her pen against her cheek and sighed. She had to get him out of her thoughts.

Perhaps he was stuck in her head because of the fact that he had saved Hinata from that creepy resident. A shiver rolled down her spine at the thought of him. She had always gotten odd vibes from him every time he looked at her. He never flirted with her or anything. In fact, he had come across as just a normal guy, but something in her told her he was dangerous. So anytime he had come into the room she had vowed to make herself scarce.

He just overall gave her an uneasy feeling. And when it had come out that Hinata had been enduring a stalker that attacked Tsunade, he was the first to come to mind as being one to do that type of thing. But she couldn't very well accuse him of doing it because she would have lost her job. She sighed once more and looked at the time, she was so ready to go home, it was almost time to go. She hoped time would speed up.

She turned to Hinata's room and the urge to go check on her was overwhelming, but she didn't because she didn't really know the other woman. She knew she was older than her and hadn't talked to her other than in passing, so she really hadn't thought about trying to be friends with her until everyone started to turn against her. She wanted her to know she was never alone, but she never got the chance to let her know that. She frowned and looked down at her watch to see a text from her older brother.

'Are you alright? I heard you've had quite the night.' he said, and she smiled at her watch. "Oh, do you have aa boyfriend? Is that why you won't pay him any mind?" Ino asked and Ashura shook her head. "No, it's just my older brother checking in on me. He's a paramedic, you know." She said and Ino looked deep in thought for a moment, before a look of realization crossed her features. "No way!!! Kakashi is your older brother?" she asked in a hushed whisper, which made Ashura groan.

"Please don't say that out loud. We try not to act like siblings at work." she said and Ino grinned at her. "I should have known. The white hair and all." Ino said and she couldn't help but roll her eyes, the woman was going to bother her for the rest of her shift it seemed. Not that she was complaining, she was relatively good friends with the blonde after all. Her Sakura and Ino had become good friends working in the E.R. together over the last few years, although she wasn't sure why she had never really spoken to Hinata. It only made sense that she would have, seeing as her friends were Hinata's friends.

She frowned once more, only to look and see Hinata peeking out of her room. "Hey Hinata, do you need something?" she called, and the inky haired woman jumped slightly in surprise. "Oh... No... thank you though, Ashura..." Hinata called, and she nodded with a smile. "Ino!" Hinata whisper yelled, and the blonde looked over at her friend with a questioning look. "I need to talk to you about something." she called and Ino jumped up and made her way over to the room, where they closed the door but didn't pull the curtain shut.

She could mildly read lips, but the only word she got off Hinata was 'Therapist.' She could understand wanting a therapist after everything she had been through. She sighed as she looked back to the clock once more. Her shift ended at five. She had just a few more minutes before she could get out of here. She started logging off of her computer after saving all her charting. She then started gathering her things up at the desk. She was a little disorganized, while Ino was a neat freak.

She knew where everything was though, so it didn't bother her in the slightest. She was organized and neat where it mattered. She tossed the remnants of her lunch in the trash and stood. She got the go ahead from Shizune, seeing as she had no more patients for the night, she didn't have to give a report to anyone. She made her way to the locker room with a smile on her lips. She gathered her things, only to frown as she tossed her backpack over her shoulder.

Her gaze landed on Hinata's old locker; it sat wide open with her name on the inside as well as the outside. A picture of her, Sakura, and Ino lay tucked in the corner of the locker door and she smiled softly at it. They were all in what appeared to be a bar, grinning as they sat on the barstools. She wanted desperately to have a friendship with the women like that, but she knew she was just a work friend to them.

She sighed as she closed her own locker and made her way out of the locker room, only to bump into Sakura as she did so. "Sorry Sakura!" she said softly, only for the pink haired woman to smile at her. "Ashura!" the woman exclaimed, "Just who I was looking for!" she said and Ashura furrowed her brows. "Me?" she asked and the Pink haired woman nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to give you mine and Ino's phone numbers. I've got Hinata's too if you want it." she said and her eyes went wide.

"Yes! Of course!" she said and pulled out her phone and handed it to her. "We meant to ask so many times before, but we've been so busy it just got hectic, and we forgot. Sorry." Sakura apologized, only to hand the phone back after she finsihed putting in their phone numbers. "We've been friends for years..." Sakura trailed off softly, embarrassment flooding her features as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "We kinda left you out of the group chat and I'm sorry." Sakura sighed and Ashura shook her head.

"Don't apologize, I know how it gets, I never even asked." she laughed lightly, only for Sakura to smile at her. "You've always been a part of our group, even if we didn't talk outside of work. Can't let a girl do it on her own..." she trailed off sadly at the end and Ashura knew she was thinking about Hinata and what had happened to her. "Right, we ladies have to stick together." she said and Sakura smiled once more.

"All that matters is that she's ok." Ashura said and Sakura looked over at her in shock. "Yeah, that's true." she sighed, only to make her way to her locker, her green eyes landing on the picture in Hinata's old locker. "I miss her too. I'm glad she's safe now." Ashura said and Sakura nodded. "I can't help but feel like she's putting on a front with us though." Sakura said and Ashura nodded. "I feel that, but you gotta understand that she will be herself soon enough. She's been through and witnessed a lot." She said and bumped the other girl with her hand.

"Thanks Ash." she said, and Ashura smiled. "But of course." she said and made her way out of the room. She slowly made her way down the hall only to get a text. She looked down at her watch and saw it was for the group chat. 'Ash is in the chat ladies, no shenanigans.' Ino said and she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. 'Hello Ash, nice to meet you. I'm Mito, Hashirama's wife.' and unknown number texted and she made a mental note to save it to her contacts.

'Feel free to text anytime, day or night, one of us will be around to respond. I'm Tenten by the way, I'm engaged to Hinata's cousin.' another number texted and she made a note to save that one as well. 'Temari here, Nice to meet you legendary Ash. We've heard a lot about you and your attitude. I think we will get along just fine.' Another number messaged and she groaned out loud. They had told everyone about her attitude? She tried to keep that in check...

A small smile crossed her lips as more numbers texted, all introducing themselves to her. "I'm Ash. Can't wait to meet all of you sometime." she said into her watch, and it dictated it into a text message for her. Joy filled her being then, she was finally able to be part of the group after two years. This is what she longed for. To belong. She made her way to her car and slipped inside. She got all the way home before a message came through that caught her eye.

'Ash flirted with Madara tonight, so we might end up with a new backpack bestie!'

"Damn you Ino!!" she yelled into her watch, only for the other girls to send back a series of 'lmaos.' she slammed her door shut to her car and made her way up to her apartment door, angrily jabbing the keys into the lock. She knew this was going to be a part of being in the group chat, because Ino was a gossip queen. She didn't mind it though, as long as they didn't make fun of her for flirting with him, she was fine.

Her phone beeped and she got a message outside of the group chat. 'I don't know you yet, but I do know Madara. Tread lightly, he has a past. He's a good man, just troubled. Heed my warning, don't break his heart. He can't take that anymore. So, don't flirt with him if you don't mean it, I'm begging you here, Ash.' her eyes slipped shut and a frown crossed her lips. She didn't know what she wanted from the man; she just knew she found him attractive and liked what she had seen of him.

The message was from Mito, Hashirama's wife. If anyone, she knew that Mito would be the one to know the most about Madara. So, she was going to take heed to the woman's words. She was going to be careful around Madara, not because she thought he would hurt her, but because she didn't want to hurt him. 'Don't worry. I have no intention of hurting him. I just want to see if we can make a go at things legitimately.' she replied to the woman and her phone was silent for a while.

'I'll hold you to that.'

She couldn't tell if that was a promise or a threat and she didn't like that in the slightest.