"My Patient"

By Quick-n-Popular

Disclaimer: "Naruto", "Negima", and their characters are not mine. I take credit for only this story I've created and the original characters created for it.

Chapter Seven: Changes

What felt like hours to the two, came to an end as Ako parted the accidental kiss they made as she slowly started to tremble and blush.

Naruto blinked and slowly asked, "...Are you okay, Ako-san?"

The girl nodded, slowly, before she quickly got off of him. "I'm so sorry!" She then immediately ran to the exit of the room and left.

Shizuna sighed to herself before looking at the teen boy, who still was lying on his back on the track mat with a dazed expression on his face and touched his lips with his fingers.

"Was that your first kiss, Naruto-san?"

Naruto closed his eyes before sighing, "Yeah, more or less."

Shizuna knew there was a story there, that he was withholding, but decided not to pry into it. She walked over and assisted him getting up off the floor and soon he was back in his wheelchair, looking at the doorway, which Ako had left.

"Is she mad at me?" He asked the part-time doctor of the school.

Shizuna shook her head, "No, I don't think so. More like surprised and confused."

Ako was standing on shaking legs as she was now in front of her dorm building. She tried to steady her breathing and still felt her heart beating loudly inside of her. She touched her lips with her fingers and tried to piece together what had actually happened.

"Ako? Are you alright?"

The silver-haired girl turned her head and saw that it was Akira behind her, just having come back from her club meeting.

Akira rushed to her as Ako fell to her knees, releasing the pent-up adrenaline she had from running from the Infirmary to here. Her friend embraced her as she tried to mellow out her breathing.

"What happened?" Akira asked.

It took some almost a minute before Ako told one of her best friends what had transpired. The professional swimmer listened patiently and when Ako had finished, simply smiled.

"Sounds like quite the accident. Are you unhappy that it ended out like that?"

Ako blinked, thinking on what she had said and a red tint came to her face and she looked away.

"I...It's not that I didn't like it, or anything...It's just..." Ako sighed, "I just, never had anything like this happen to me. I'm worried that he didn't want to kiss me..."

Akira nodded, understandingly.

Ako's eyes then soon widened, "Oh no! I left Naruto-san there!" She stood up but almost fell down again if not for Akira steadying her.

"It's alright, Miss Izumi. Uzumaki-san is resting right now."

Both girls turned to see Shizuna-sensei approaching them. Ako immediately started to apologize for her behavior earlier but, once again, was halted by the woman raising her hand to stall her.

"It's alright. I understand how that accident surprised and overwhelmed you. However, we will be doing more physical therapy sessions, like this, with Uzumaki-san over the next week. I need you to not take off like you did if he falls again."

Ako nodded quickly, "Yes, Shizuna-sensei."

Shizuna nodded and then smiled, "I believe this was a first for both of you, so try and talk it out tomorrow with Uzumaki-san, Miss Izumi."

The beginning of the next school day was a hard one for Ako as she couldn't keep her mind together. Thankfully, both Shizuna-snesei and Akira kept the matter of Naruto and her accidentally kissing to themselves, thus she was free from Yuna and Makie's questioning. The school day dragged on until the final bell.

Dreading a tiny bit on where she now needed to go and what was going to be eventually discussed between them, Ako slowly got out of her seat but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was Akira who was looking at her with a concerned smile, "Do you want someone there?"

Ako sighed and smiled, "It...might make it harder. Thank you, Akira-chan."

The tall girl nodded as she too gathered her things, "Tell me about it later?"

Ako nodded and soon was on her way to the Infirmary. Along the way and as she was dressing for her visit, she suddenly felt very nervous as to what the blond haired boy's response might be. Although Shizuna-sensei assured her that he was almost in the same mind-frame as Ako was when it happened, she still felt...afraid.

She liked Naruto a lot. Seeming him and interacting with him was so much fun. He also made her feel safe. The compliments he had given her had never felt like that they were patronizing in any way, they felt genuine.

She stopped from exiting the bathroom as a thought came into her head, or rather a question. If she had to choose, would she prefer to remain friends or go in the other direction?

Ako knew she would not have the answer to this or any of the other things she was worried about by staying in the girl's bathroom pondering it.

Taking a deep breath, she proceeded out.

Naruto was lost in his thoughts as he heard Ako come inside. He shifted nervously as he saw her enter, looking down at the floor.

'Crap, she does hate me...Does she?'

Silence encroached them both but then Ako suddenly brought her head up and closed her eyes as she slapped the sides of her face twice before looking determinedly at Naruto.

"Naruto-San! Do you, uh, need anything, right now?"

Naruto brushed off his brief startle by her action and simply shook his head, "Not at the moment but, hey, can we talk?"

That caused the girl to shyly look away before she nodded and went to get a chair, bringing it close, but not too close to his bedside.

"I want to say I'm sorry, Naruto-san. I'm sorry I left you like that after you fell down..."

Naruto chuckled, "I have been hurt worse by worse than that, so no worries."

Ako's mood lightened by hearing him laugh like that. Her trepidation returned, slightly, as she posed her next and most delicate question.

"Uh, Naruto-san?"

The teenage boy nodded, "Yes, Ako-san?"

The girl gulped and looked down at her lap, "H-How did you feel when we...uh...k-kiss..."

Naruto looked to his lap as well, "I'm not sure. That was the first time I... was kissed."

Ako nodded, "Me too."

Silence engulfed the room but then Naruto spoke again.

"I like that it was you that I kissed, though."

Ako's head flew up as she looked at him in surprise which soon morphed a smile on her face as she looked away and nodded, "I feel the same. Because I really like you."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise which soon became a bit fearful as her memories came back to the time when she had confessed her liking to an older boy who then rejected her. Ako was about try to retrieve what she had said and try to avoid another heartbreak like that, when she saw Naruto looking at her smiling.

"I really like you too, Ako-san."

The girl felt a rush of warmth enter her face and body as she continued to process what he had said until the realization set in that this was both not a daydream and she was actually here, hearing this.

She felt like crying out of joy but was stopped by doing any such thing as Naruto's hand was on hers and she was brought out of her inner world to look into his eyes as he turned away, scratching his head, sheepishly.

"I have absolutely no idea what to say or do now."

Ako blinked, blinked again, and then she started giggling which soon morphed into laughter, which Naruto joined in on. When the tension was all released from both of them, Naruto looked at his legs and sighed.

"I got to tell ya, I don't have any real experience in this area."

Ako nodded, "I don't either."

Naruto smiled and then looked out the window, "I'd like to have you show me more of this place. Once I'm back on my feet, we can do other stuff?"

The silver-haired teen girl smiled, "That would be fun. Let's do that."

The two of them carried on the conversation towards the school and what Ako's class day was like. All the while Ako was smiling more than she had before.

Once again the morning rush of students trying to get to their classes bustled. Ako, Akira, Yuna, and Makie were among them. The girls chatted as they made their way up the steps and as soon as they had put away their shoes, they made their way to class.

As soon as they were near the door, a person bumped into Ako, causing her to shift and bang into her friends.

"Hey, you, watch where you're..." Yuna's lecture died as she and the others looked at the person who bumped into them.

It was a rather tall boy, who looked to be a high schooler. He wore what looked like a butler's uniform and had a yellow rose in his lapel. The most striking thing about his appearance, though, was the half red and half black color of his hair which was made into punk-like spikes.

He looked them over before bowing, apologetically.

"I'm terribly sorry. I was lost in thought and wasn't looking where I was going."

The bell soon rang and all thoughts of continuing the conversation ended as the girls made a dash for the classroom. Ako looked back at the strange individual and was surprised that he was no longer there.

"Uh, Ako? You got something in your hair." Makie said as they went to their seats.

Ako felt around on her head until she found the foreign object, which turned out to be a folded paper. Opening it up, she found a message:

"On the path to follow the sun, you may lose your sight of the stars."

Akira, reading it, looked towards the direction where they had run into that guy, which Yuna caught on.

"Did that weirdo give that to you?" She scratched her head, "What does it even mean?"

Ako had no clue.

Naruto had found himself being taken to Dean Konoe's office once more and judging by how quick Shizuna was leading them to there, it seemed something was up. He asked her about it but only got that the Dean had told her to come quickly.

As soon as they reached the doors, they had started to open and Naruto was brought inside. Once there, he noticed that besides the Dean and Takahata, there was a person he had not yet met. It was a man in some sort of suit and had red and black hair.

The man was talking with Takahata but stopped as soon as he noticed Naruto.

"We're all here, it seems." Dean Konoe said and he then gestured to the person Naruto didn't know. "Uzumaki-kun, this is Dmitri and he has wished to meet with you."

The blond teen cocked his head in confusion, "Why do you want to meet with me?"

The man bowed, courteously, "I come to extend an invitation to you from my master, Josiah Kahn, Uzumaki-san."

"Josiah is an old friend and a Seer, Uzumaki-kun," The Dean said, stroking his beard, "He has the ability to foretell future events."

Naruto nodded and then shrugged his shoulders, "Okay. But why does he want to see me, though?"

Takahata blew out some smoke from his cigarette, "Kahn-sama may have found a way to send you back, Naruto-san."

To be continued...

A/N: Apologies for the delay. A lot has happened. I hope I can get into 2018 with more writing under my belt. In the meantime, please review, if you can.

Q-n-P