You Can Call Me Yumi

"No!"

Naoki snapped his eyes open, greeted by a white ceiling.

He froze for a moment, his consciousness sluggish, as if submerged in thick glue.

Am I... not dead?

The moment this thought surfaced, intense pain surged from every corner of his body. His ribs, abdomen, back—every inch of muscle sent agonizing signals to his nerves, tearing at his soul.

It was unclear how much time had passed before he finally recovered.

He carefully crawled up from the bed, the pain of his wounds stretching making him wince.

Looking around, he saw a nondescript wooden cabin. It contained a simple wooden table, two chairs, and an old wardrobe in the corner. The air was filled with a faint scent, like some kind of medicinal herb mixed with... a woman's perfume?

"Where is this?"

Naoki leaned against the edge of the bed and managed to stand, the tearing pain in his abdominal wound flaring up. He looked down to see that the original bandages had been replaced with fresh, neatly wrapped white ones.

He stumbled toward the window and pushed it open.

A sea breeze rushed in, carrying a salty, damp scent.

Outside the window lay a vast, azure ocean, sparkling and boundless. A few seabirds skimmed across the water, letting out crisp cries.

The scenery was beautiful, but Naoki was in no mood to appreciate it.

Who exactly had saved him?

Naoki frowned, struggling to recall the events before he lost consciousness.

Karatachi Yagura's hooked staff, the freezing cold of falling into the sea, his fading consciousness... and that massive, dark shadow.

He vaguely remembered that at the very last moment before he blacked out, something had coiled around his body...

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached.

Naoki turned, instinctively reaching for his waist, but grasped at empty air.

The door was pushed open, and a woman in a red dress with a seductive air walked into the room.

"Oh, you're awake. You sure can sleep; do you know you've been lying in that bed for over a month? I'm the one who helped wash your body during that time."

The woman said this as she walked closer to Naoki.

"Looks like your body is in pretty good shape if you can already stand."

The woman leaned in closer and closer, and Naoki could even smell the sweet, cloying fragrance on her.

"Cough... thank you."

Naoki instinctively took a half-step back to create distance, while secretly sizing the woman up.

She appeared to be in her late twenties, her long hair draped casually over her shoulders with a few strands falling across her forehead, making her skin look even fairer.

Her eyes held a lazy, alluring charm, and a faint, ambiguous smile played on her lips. The red dress clung to her slender waist and the curves of her chest, giving her the unique charm of a mature woman.

"What, are you afraid I'll eat you?" The woman laughed even more happily when she saw Naoki retreat. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in the wounded."

Naoki couldn't fathom this woman's words or actions. He didn't understand her motives, which dampened his gratitude toward his savior.

"Thank you for saving my life," Naoki said dryly.

The woman scoffed, flicked her skirt, and sat on the bed. Crossing her plump, long legs, she pointed at Naoki with a fair finger.

"Hey, I took care of you for over a month. Not to mention changing your bandages and washing you, if it weren't for my treatment, you would have gone to the Sanzu River to drink soup long ago. You wouldn't even have the chance to speak..."

The woman paused, then added, "Shouldn't you call me a respectful 'sister' and humbly say thank you?"

Naoki felt awkward after the woman's words.

He truly owed her a proper thanks. Regardless of anything else, she had saved his life and cared for him for over a month; that debt was real.

"My apologies," Naoki said, composing himself and speaking solemnly. "Thank you for saving my life. Uchiha Naoki will keep this in mind. If there is anything you need in the future, I will do my utmost to repay you."

The woman raised an eyebrow, the smile on her lips deepening.

"The future won't be necessary..." The woman smoothed her skirt, stood up, walked right up to Naoki, and tilted his chin up. "So you really are a ninja? And an Uchiha who has shaken the Shinobi World?"

Being held in such a position by a woman... even with his gratitude, Naoki felt displeased. He gave a stiff, "Mm."

"That's good. Let me introduce myself. My name is Aikawa Yumi..." As she spoke, she slowly dragged her finger downward, passing his neck and stopping on his bare chest, tapping it a few times. She parted her red lips, "You can also just call me Yumi."

This woman was excessively, perhaps even daringly, unrestrained. Naoki felt something was wrong.

He could clearly sense that there was no chakra fluctuation in her. Clearly, this woman was an ordinary person. But why did she act as if she had him completely figured out, being so bold?

"Little brother, what are you thinking about? You're spacing out at a time like this?"

"It's nothing," Naoki shook his head.

Before he figured out the situation, he decided it was best to focus on healing his wounds before considering anything else.

"Yumi, could you tell me where this is? And how did you save me?"

Aikawa Yumi withdrew her hand, turned, and walked back to the bedside to sit down. She crossed her legs, her red skirt sliding down to reveal a stretch of fair calf.

"This place? It's a small town on the coast of the Land of Hot Water called Kannazuki Town," she said languidly. "As for how I saved you... I found you while I was strolling along the beach. You were barely breathing back then. Your chest was caved in, there was a hole in your abdomen, and you'd bled out so much your face had no color left at all. You looked just like a corpse—nothing like how rosy you look now..."

"The Land of Hot Water? I must have drifted for a long time, then."

Naoki pondered to himself. The distance from the east coast of the Southern Border to the Land of Hot Water was no small feat. Given his injuries at the time, it was a miracle he had survived the drift at all. He had no idea how his body had managed to hold on, or how he still had a breath left in him when he was found.

At this, he recalled Aikawa Yumi mentioning that she had been "taking care of him for over a month." If he had been unconscious for that long, it meant the search and rescue efforts from Konoha had likely ended. It meant Zongxin and Zongye probably thought he was dead, and it meant Hideko...

He instinctively reached toward his chest, but felt nothing.

"What is the little brother looking for? Should big sister help you find it?"

"It's nothing," Naoki shook his head.

That amulet... it was gone.

He remembered clearly that before he set out, he had carefully sewn the amulet into an inner pocket, right against his heart. For over a month, no matter how many battles he had fought or how painful his wounds had been, that amulet had remained pressed against his chest.

But now, there were only rough bandages...

Perhaps it was lost, or perhaps... He glanced at Aikawa Yumi.

"Hey, little brother, why are you looking at me like that?"

Naoki asked tentatively, "I had a waist pouch with some medicine in it. I don't suppose..."

"No, I didn't see any pouch," Aikawa Yumi shook her head.

Was it lost? Perhaps it was for the best...