The Reason Behind It All

Aidelia sat on a chair next to the bed, methodically peeling the skin from an orange, like one would from an apple, with a small knife. The scent filled the room and replaced the smell of hospital. She sometimes thought that was why Aya liked them so much. The small eight year old was sitting up in the bed, wearing a summer yukatta, and watching her mom peel the fruit with a smile. Since the girl was in here so often, they allowed her to wear her own clothes during her stays.

Once she finished peeling all the skin off and throwing it in the garbage, Aidelia picked off one of the sections of orange and handed it to her daughter, picking one for herself. "Thanks momma," Aya giggled, biting half of the orange off. "I hope daddy comes home soon, so he can come eat oranges with us too," she said with a smile.

Aidelia smiled back. "He'll be home in a few days love." She admired her daughter's optimism. Even though she was in the hospital all the time, and was rarely able to play with the other children, the girl was always happy. Her father was always out on missions, only home a couple days at a time, to help pay for her medical bill. And the times he was home for more than a couple days, Aidelia was sent on a mission. It was a rare occasion when the three of them could be together. The silver haired woman always rushed through her missions to get home, but always managed a thorough job of it.

"Yay! Maybe he can take me to the park, and we can play catch!!" she giggled, throwing her arms up, only to freeze in place and begin coughing, her arms going to cover her mouth instead.

Aidelia quickly put the orange to the side and stood up, turning her daughter onto her side. "Calm down sweetie," she said, her face a mask of worry. Grabbing the oxygen mask that was always kept on hand, she held it over Aya's face until the coughing fit ceased. Putting the band around Aya's head, Aidelia held back a sigh. She hated that Aya was always sick. Why had she been born with such a weak heart, and such weak lungs? "You can play with daddy when he comes home, but you have to get better first, okay?" she asked. "You have to try not to get so excited."

Just as soon as Aidelia sat back down, a nurse came rushing into the room. "Is everything okay?"

Aidelia gave a small nod. "She just had another coughing fit, but she's fine now," the silver haired woman said. A moment later, a doctor walked in and beckoned her out. "I'll be right back sweetie. Eat your orange, okay?" she said with a small smile, slowly pulling the oxygen mask off Aya, since she seemed calm now. She waited a few seconds to make sure her daughter was okay before handing her the orange and walking out into the hallway. "What's wrong?"

The doctor closed the room door, leaving Aya in with the nurse. "Surely you've noticed. She's getting worse. Her lungs might start failing her soon..." She said, looking at the silver haired woman. The doctor was one who'd worked with Aya since the young girl had first been admitted into the hospital at the age of four. She was a tall woman with long brown hair and black glasses. She looked more like a scientist than a doctor.

Aidelia swallowed. "There has to be something we can do. Anything! I-I can't just sit here while my daughter dies, call that healer from the Crested! I hear she's a miracle worker, isn't she?" she asked, her purple eyes tearing up.

The doctor shook her head. "I wish it was that simple. She doesn't leave her village anymore." Before Aidelia spoke again, the brown haired woman held up a hand. "Money's no object to her, it doesn't matter how much you offer." She was quiet for a moment. "There's a few surgeries we could try, but they're extremely risky. There'd be more chance of her dying than living through those," she said. "But those are the only options...I'm sorry Aidelia, I really am."

The silver haired shinobi wiped her eyes, as tears had started falling. "How long..? How long does she have..?" When the doctor didn't respond, Aidelia's hand clenched. "How long??"

"Two months...maybe three, if you're lucky," she said solemnly. When Aidelia suddenly broke down into tears, the doctor moved forward to hug her. "I'm sorry Ai...I know how much your little girl means to you.."




It was several days until Yukio came home, and each one of them Aidelia had spent crying at one point or another, trying not to let her daughter see she was upset. Every time she looked at Aya she wanted to hold her and burst into tears. This was her little girl. She was only eight years old! When Yukio came into the hospital that day with a small purple teddy bear in his arms, it seemed like any other day.

The head of a stuffed bear stuck in the room, and moved as if it were looking around. "Hello. Is there a little girl named Aya in here?" The voice was clearly that of a male trying to be squeaky and sound like whatever a demented little toy animal would sound like. Yukio was one of the few things that could make Aidelia genuinely smile right now.

Aya giggled and looked at the door. "I am, I'm Aya!" She knew exactly who it was at the door, and she grinned brightly when her father walked through the door holding the teddy bear, making it dance a bit with a happy grin. "Daddy, daddy, you're back!!" She giggled, holding out her arms to him.

Smiling, Yukio went over to Aya and gave her a hug, before giving her the teddy bear. "Here ya go sweetie. This one's from the Rock. It matches your pretty eyes." When the metallic haired girl hugged the bear, Yukio turned to Aidelia and gave her a light kiss and a hug. "How are things?" When his love's gaze fell, he knew immediately something was wrong. He turned to Aya with a smile. "Me and mommy will be right back. You should think of a name for her," he smiled.

"Nuh-uh. It's a boy. He's a boy teddy bear," she giggled. "And I already thought of a name, it's Sir Queenston the Fluffy," she laughed lightly. It was funny because it was a boy and it had the word queen in its name!

Yukio gave a small laugh. "Well you play with Sir Queenston. We'll be right back." When Aya started playing, Yukio gently took Aidelia's hand and led her out of the room, blinking in surprise when he saw she'd started crying.



The next day, Aidelia had started for the store to pick up some oranges before her and Yukio went to go see Aya. She'd stayed at the hospital overnight with Aya while Yukio went home and tried to deal with what Aidelia had told him. He'd been just as stricken as when the doctor had told his wife. She was honestly glad that Aya hadn't noticed something off about her mother. She'd been too busy playing with Sir Queenston the Fluffy. Unlocking the door once she got to her home, Aidelia walked in quietly, planning on surprising Yukio. Putting the oranges down on the living room table, she crept her way into the bedroom to see him sleeping. Smiling lightly, she crawled onto the bed and laid next to him, pushing a strand of hair from him face. "Wake up," she said quietly. "Do you plan on sleeping the whole day away? You've got to come with me to see Aya. She wants to play catch with you, and I bought some oranges for us," she smiled. When Yukio neither moved nor responded, her smile faded a bit. "Yukio? Yukio, wake up, this isn't funny, you know I hate when you joke like this." That worry on her face quickly turned to panic when she realized he actually wasn't breathing. "Yukio," she said, pushing herself up to shake him. "Yukio, seriously, wake up," she said, tears forming in her eyes.

Scrambling up, Aidelia pulled out her phone, calling a friend and telling them to call the hospital and then to come over and help her, all of it in a blurred rush that to this day she couldn't quite remember. She tossed the phone away and rolled Yukio onto his back before starting on CPR and chest compressions. It didn't work. She didn't understand this, there was no fresh injuries on him, and if it was a genjutsu, he would have been breathing.



Aidelia paced the hospital floor until her friend that she'd called forced her to sit down. They were in an empty hospital room, while Yukio was off being examined. Their doctors were good, they'd find a way to revive him, they had to. All the while, the silver haired woman couldn't stop herself from crying. Why was this happening to her? Aya's health was declining, and Yukio was dying....No, he was dead. Or so the doctor clarified when he came in.

It wasn't long after that Aidelia had to force herself to calm down enough to go visit Aya. She wouldn't tell the small girl, she couldn't. It would cause her so much pain, and maybe even send her into shock. "Hi baby girl," she said quietly, wrapping Aya in a light hug. It killed her to see the child so happy, and only fueled her efforts to keep this a secret. After all, if Aya only had a few months to live, why make them a miserable few months...

"Hi mommy! Where's daddy, he said he'd come visit today," she said, tilting her head in a small pout, crossing her arms.

Aidelia had to sit down to keep from breaking down. She gave her daughter a small, yet sad, smile. "Sorry Aya, daddy got called away for a mission again. He won't be home for a while," she said. When Aya's shoulders dropped, her mother spoke up again. "Don't worry though, we'll write him a letter, and tell him to buy you a huge elephant this time, okay?"

Aya shook her head. "I want a big hippopotamus," she said, nodding.

The silver haired woman smiled lightly. "Okay honey, we'll tell him to get you a big hippopotamus." Oh god how she wanted to cry. She was a good actor, but to lie to her own daughter, about something like this...it wasn't right. It hurt so much. But knowing would hurt Aya more. She looked around the room when she realized "I forgot your oranges. Mommy'll be right back," she said with a small smile, moving to kiss her daughter on the forehead before leaving with a small wave. "Be good for the nurses, okay?"

"Okay mommy!"



A week passed and each day Aidelia lied to her daughter. 'I'm not sure when daddy will be home. Probably very soon.' 'I'm sure he'll play catch with you when he comes home.' 'Maybe if we ask him, he'll bring us both home a hippopotamus.' And each time she went home, she cried herself to sleep, then cleaned herself up the next morning and repeated the process. On the eighth day after Yukio's death, however, Aya wasn't in her room. She'd assumed at first that her daughter was in the bathroom, but the door wasn't closed.

So she pulled a nurse to the side, one she knew. "Where's Aya?"

"We tried calling you, but you didn't pick up your phone...she went into surgery just a few minutes ago."

Purple eyes widened in fear. "Why's she in surgery, what happened?!"

"We think someone came in and told her about her father. She had a panic attack and went into cardiac arrest."

Everything seemed to start moving in slow motion after she heard that. "Who...?"

"It was the ninja that came in with you when Yukio was brought in," she said. "Come with me, I'll take you to the room Aya will be in when she gets out of surgery," she said, leading Aidelia carefully. Once there, she led the woman over to the seat. "Do you want me to get you anything?" She simply nodded lightly when Aidelia shook her head.

This didn't make sense. Aidelia had figured out a long time ago that Yukio had been a double agent for the Rock, which meant that the higher ups probably knew as well. So why now? Why take Yukio now? And why Aya? Why her poor sick baby girl? Aidelia leaned forward, putting her head in her hands as she completely broke down into tears. She'd also figured out that Yukio had been killed via poison gas, which was why she'd been sleeping in a hotel the past week. The only comfort she'd had was in knowing that he'd died in his sleep. It was a painless way to go. Someone from the Sand had killed him, she was sure of it. Just like her friend had told Aya about her dad, even after Aidelia had emphasized that it shouldn't be spoken of to her. And now Aya was undergoing surgery. The girl had only a couple months to live anyways. Why were they doing this to her? Had they tried to kill her too, by poisoning her home? Was she also a target?

Several hours. That was how long Aidelia was left in that room to her torturous thoughts. In the end she kept thinking how her baby girl wasn't going to make it. How the Sand had taken both of them away from her. How they were going to come for her next. When she finally heard someone come into the room, she immediately stood up, expecting Aya to be wheeled in on a bed behind the doctor. That was not the case. No, the doctor came in alone, only it wasn't the one that Aidelia was used to seeing. This one was probably a surgeon. And then he told her the news, the news that was the very last thing she wanted to hear in this situation. "I'm sorry...your daughter didn't make it..."