In the Care of the Debilitated

[Michi]

They day they were born, I sent such hopes and dreams to Heaven. This is how it ends--in flames and decay. They deserved a better mother than I could ever hope to be. My incompetence and disinterest allowed my home and my family to fall into such disrepair. I refuse to make amends, I refuse to yield to the fates but time has diminished me from heights incomprehensible by man and made me their peer. How long must I wallow in the mire? Would a blood sacrifice satisfy her craving? No... she only yearned for what once was, not what is or what will be.

Each attempt was met with failure. She tried to force her way out of the village only to have her passage blocked by Uri. She was rather thankful for his interference, the Sennin broke past them in a provincially timed rush. The explosion initiated a chain of events that would bury Sunagakure within the day. She tried to disarm one of the bombs she had discovered but again she was met with failure, her injured body did nothing but stain the floor and cost an old woman her life. She reaped the benefits of the elderly woman's sacrifice, a new, younger form as well as a gift she forgot long ago: sight.

Colors and shades, the seemingly endless possibilities she had forgotten. Aesthetics and the convention of beauty was lost on her, everything was lovely. She was gazing intently at the wonder that was an intravenous drip, the liquid was clear but it warped the view beyond the plastic. Her eye was pressed against the bag as she watched the world wheel and hobble by. What the darkness has denied her all these years.

The hospital was blinding white and carried with it the stench of alcohol and bleach. The seemingly sterile setting was offset by the patients housed, many simply people with no place to go as their homes had been demolished in the war with the Cabal. Many of the garments worn by the patients were their only, many stiff with grime a stark contrast to the candy-colored scrubs worn by the medical staff or the bleached white coats and dresses worn by the traditionalists. It was the brightly colored men and women Shiori enjoyed watching the most,the eggplant and hunter green danced about the crimson and teal. The Omni Prime was not a calm setting to watch, rather quite the contrary. The injured and the displaced gathered here, they had no other place to go and an already stretched staff was pulled past their limit.

Her wonder ceased abruptly, a man she recognized was being carried in on a gurney. His pale visage was unlike any other but it was not her sight that she knew him by but his sound. "Let me see him," Shiori announced as she pulled her looking bag from her eye and allowed it to continue hydrating the elderly man it hung above. She stumbled as she approached the unconscious man, the man who intended to take a student and kill a boy. He was dangerous and he was insane yet somehow divine superintendence was in her favor this day.

 

[Sand Council]

Shouki​

The floor broke away, sand and stone fell and the world became bleak. The earth clogged my lungs, consciousness was stolen from me in the most mundane of ways. How I was liberated from the rubble is a mystery to even me. How I came to this place, could only be assumed.

While some fear pain, it is not pain that I fear. It is abject silence within me. It had pervaded my senses my entire life. It was through pain I felt something, my game was my respite.

My broken form lay there on that gurney. When on a cold steel table such as this everything is exposed. Your secrets, your lies, your shortcomings and your insecurities. They can be traced in your scars, the discoloration of your flesh. How hunger stunted your growth and how deep a lashing can scar. Vanity was not an interest to me, my red unruly hair was not even basically groomed, cut or cleaned. My hair ran free! The dark cowl neck shirt I wore was not even stained with my blood, but rather my great many victims. Were the superficial wounds sufficient? I did not even care!

I could not hear the yelling, the shrill cry of the monitor attached to my exposed chest nor did I know the fate that awaited me. There was no bright light at the end of my tunnel, it was only darkness and cold. I expected a greater fanfare at the end of my reign. Even hell would refuse me. I knew I was not going anywhere!

 

[Michi]

This was a place to care for the debilitated, those in need. It was the nature of the medic to heal. To suffer through adversity and to take gain pains themselves for the sake of others. Many Medics were martyrs. Shiori, on the other end, was never a saint. She took such a harrowing vocation because she knew no other. Unsuited for combat in her previous state, she took the role given to her.

"Sorry mam, you can identify your kin if he is such after we stabilize him."</COLOR><i></i> one of the Medics apologized. They did not recognize her, how could they. She did not even resemble her former vessel, her dark brown hair was replaced with fiery locks and her jade eyes now resembled sapphires. She was at least ten years younger as well. She could not make claim to her previous title, nor could she drop her cousin's name and gain their favor.

She let out a huff. What could she do but sit back and watch them work. She seemed to prefer the submissive role in respect to her peers. On rare occasion she took dominance through the borrowed strength of her 'kin' but it was never her own. "No, I can handle this."<i></i> Shiori answered matter of factly. She took up a brisk pace alongside the rushing gurney and pressed her hand against Shouki's breast. It took on a verdant glow, it was healing as proficiently as any other Medic's jutsu would have but that was not her purpose as she followed the team down the corridor. With the gift of sight, her song was not lost. She could hear his beating heart and she could see the round reverberate against his ribs and soft tissue. Their efforts would fail, his lung had been punctured by a fractured rib. He would die soon, but if his breath or heart ceased and they were to perform compressions, his fate would be sealed. <COLOR color="red">"He has a pneumo, his rib punctured his lung... better hope your ninja magics are enough. Shiori announced as her hands ran through a series of seals. A medic can heal fractures and breaks if they know that they are there, all the healing in the world would do him no good if he continually deteriorated back to this state. Her art was not the act of a benevolent, rather the act of someone who was just learning how to play the game.

"We don't have time for your interference man, the waiting room is just down the hall," the second medic stated as he continued to rush his patient down the hall.

Shiori did not heed his instructions as she continued to follow the team down the hall. She was right, as his bone mended the healing hands of her cohorts was effective in reviving him. It was visually noted by a change in the diameter of his chest. Shouki was a slight man, but he had greater girth than they had accounted for. Shiori looked to the second medic and raised an arched red brow. She did not say anything about being right, the state of being correct was a perpetual plight of being a woman. "We need to stop his bleeding," Shiori injected. His lungs were fine and externally it was not apparent that he was bleeding, but her ears told her more than theirs eyes would.

"He is not bleeding," the first medic replied.

Shiori let out a half-snort. She had them, with her eyes she could do so much more. She could even look somewhat intelligent. She continued to maintain their brisk pace as she pulled Shouki to the side and ripped his cowl-neck shirt over his flank. A deep purple bruise was located there. While she had never seen one, she had heard about it. "Grey Turner's sign, indicative of... a retroperitoneal hemorrhage." Shiori explained. He needed to coagulate and re-hydrate or he would go into hypovolemic shock. It was medicine 101, but most of them probably never even bothered to learn actual medicine, anatomy and physiology, jutsus can treat every pathology if you brainlessly cast enough techniques one would eventually counteract whatever ailed.

The pair of medics were wordless at this point, as they should have been. Her actions were a demonstration intended to do as much. "Trust me, I am a doctor," Shiori announced as she pulled they gurney down a divergent path. "I can handle this one, take on another case and I will be with you shortly," Shiori offered as she made her way to the foot of the gurney. "I need to take him in for surgery, you have done everything you could for him. He also has a subarachnoid hemorrhage and will need burr holes. Stopping the bleed won;t save his brain, so please stop debating me." Shiori lied. She did in fact show two medical facts and demonstrated proficiency healing him but he did not have a bleed in his brain. She was looking for an excuse to pull him away, an operating room was the perfect excuse. A specialty that would isolate him from the trauma medics that were now in charge of his care.

"Here is his chart," the second medic muttered as he plopped a clipboard on Shouki's belly.

Thank You, Shiori mouthed as she picked up the pace and broke away from the pair. She had no intention of operating, she had another, very special place intended for Shouki.

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[Sand Council]

Shouki​

I must be dying, here in this sick slumber where I wait in limbo for my fate. A time for the mind to remember days distantly passed. I remember the day my fate was sealed, fitting this memory would come to me now. I was 3 when the storms came. I do not remember what happened to my parents, I was told that I was found holed up with their rotting remains when the Diamyo's men found me. Some say I was changed, that I lost my ability to feel remorse. They were correct I would suppose. I do not ever remember feeling something for another, be it love, hate or regret. Perhaps if I was not huddled in my dead mother's arm's for warmth as an impressionable youth I would have become a different, weaker man.

This was a game. Everything was a game. I had my fun. Last thing I remember was leaving the gates, I did not anticipate the breadth of the explosion or that I would somehow be swallowed when the floor opened up. Oh what fun...

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