Inside the Mind [Private|Asami&Kahako]

[Senju Shizuka]

==>

On her way out she still wasn’t sure if the hospital would be the right place for her. Knowing that the other two branches she could pick from in the near future had their own mysteries to offer she couldn’t make up her mind about whether she wanted to specialize in anything at all. Because when she thought about it they already were specialized in so many things people outside of the village knew nothing about. Perhaps being the way she was now was enough to live a relatively comfortable life and help out the ones around her.

The thought had her stop in the middle of the road. The place wasn’t too crowded out here because she was already outside of the building, though she hadn’t left the hospital grounds just yet. With her hands hidden in the side pockets of her jacket, she took in her surroundings with bright green eyes.

An older couple sat on the bench not too far on her right. Three kids were playing tag a small distance behind the bench. Shizuka doubted that they were in any way related to the older people. Otherwise one of them might have pointed out that the reckless pushing might turn into one of them getting hospitalized. The thought was a bit mean, but she couldn’t help but laugh at it because there was no wish in it to harm.

She might have stayed there for a while longer, aimlessly staring at the most common things, if it wasn’t for the sudden commotion. Someone was being brought to the hospital. From the side, she could see that everything was happening in the emergency gate. Even from here she could see the blood-soaked bandages and clothes of whoever had just arrived. It looked bad. Shizuka felt something akin to fear stir in her guts.

Of course, she was aware of various types of injuries being treated in the hospital. Seeing one that could turn out deadly was something else entirely. Unaware of her own actions she was being pulled into the scene with feet carrying her forward. Before she knew she was running through the emergency room with eyes looking for the victim. Medical personnel swarmed the place like it always did - she assumed. Nobody really paid attention to the seemingly lost student whose eyes drank in the rather chaotic atmosphere.

Every time she saw the insides of the Aesculapium she couldn’t help but feel amazed at how clean everything was. Even the air was different here. She wondered if that was only her mind playing tricks on her, but her nose stubbornly refused to agree with that idea.

Led forward by her curiosity than anything else, she passed the room the injured person she had previously seen had just been rolled into. A brief look at the face had her stop in shock. Something about the jawline was familiar. The hair which was soaked with blood and sticking out from the bondages clung to the face of - Asami!

Bumping into a nearby medical she rushed past them with a trembling heart. Her mind was blank of any feelings or thoughts. Acting instinctively she tried to get to her friend in order to somehow help her. Perhaps her eyes had made a mistake, perhaps this was only someone who looked like the girl.

“P-please, be okay!” she mumbled while shakingly taking a pale hand in her own, cradling it. There was no medical jutsu she knew, nothing that she could do for the unconscious girl. Even the energy she could share with her to heal the wounds wasn’t working because in her panic (which was written all over her face) Shizuka couldn’t properly connect.


**

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Medical staff flooded the entryway to the emergency room as the patient was rushed in from the outside field crew. “Singular wound to the back of the skull. Entry cleanly punctured base of skull, but it is unknown if what created the puncture wound is still embedded.”

Medical staff rushed around the chief as she approached the gurney carrying a red-haired gennin at a slight jog. Despite the chaos that ensued around her, there was a strange aura of calmness within Kahako. It was a given, seeing as how she was in the middle of her element in this level of insanity. “Prep for a head scan immediately and operating room three just in case.” she ordered. The female staff member who reported under her nodded and separate from the group that was doing the damndest to keep the patient in their care alive.

Yes, Medical emergencies were typical for the leader of the Sentou Henkan. She was always doing some shoddy patchwork job on some ANBU who came back from some mission so secret, he couldn’t be released to the hospital for proper care immediately.

But that was neither here nor there.

As she examined the literal patch job one Saotome Asami received in the field, Kahako hummed. This girl was lucky the mednin had the entire resource of the hospital at her disposal on this day. This was a very serious wound. If it didn’t kill her, she could be blind or paralyzed for life.

“Prep for emergency cranial extraction as well. Initial first aid applied suggests there may be something still in there.” The doors to a part of the building marked ‘surgery’ and ‘staff only’ swung forward.

“Sorry dear,” came the call of a male nurse, grabbing Shizuka by the shoulder and pulling her completely from the grasp of her friend. “Only qualified staff is allowed past this point, but I can show you to a waiting room.” The last thing she saw before the door swung fully was a lock of red hair caked in drying blood swinging softly on the edge of the gurney.

---

[hour 1]
“…scan confirmed… we need to increase her blood pressure before beginning…”

[hour 2]

“...One patient confirmed as genin, Saotome Asami, based on medical records archived. Scans confirmed foreign spherical object lodged in her occipital lobe three centimeters from her medulla. Swelling of the brain has begun to occur, performing immediate medical surgery to reduce swelling enough to remove the foreign object…”

[hour 4]

“...Shinrya-sama, patient’s heart rate has dropped below normal…” “...Administer 50 CCs of… We will have to get it back to normal before attempting removal…”

[hour 7]

“Beginning extraction…”

[hour 8]

“...We’re losing her!...”

[hour 10]

“...object appears to be a metal ball, almost bullet sized. Removal has been successful, but the extent of the damage done will only be recognized through recovery. Beginning closure of the...”

[hour 13]

“...Shinrya-sama, patient signs are showing stable.” “good, begin transfer to ICU…”

---

Finally stripped of her operation scrubs, Kahako stepped out of the room leading to ICU and breathed a deep sigh before sinking into the bench just outside the door. Thankfully, it appeared that whoever attacked the girl didn’t use any poisons on the what she could only call a metal bullet.

Leaning back, Kahako began to ponder what happened to have caused such a serious accident. While training accidents were about as common as the cold, they usually didn’t end with an immediate trip into surgery. The most likely occurrence was a bout of foul play. The lack of witnesses to have come forward after 14 hours of surgery also lead the medical chief to that conclusion. But nothing could be confirmed until the girl woke up.

If she woke up.

She looked over her shoulder and through the window of the ICU. Right now, large white bandages wrapped Asami's head. The back so swollen, a brace propped her up to keep the girl from laying on her wound. Kahako sighed, stretching once more before looking at a medical chart. Despite her best efforts, there was still a chance that the genin would not make it out of this one alive. The hole was still there, and slow to heal. Hell, even everything went as well as to be expected.

The only other person she knew even remotely capable of doing a better job than she would have been Junko, the actual head of surgery. And even then, the common idiom of doctors and miracle workers rang through the back of her head. Now, it was up to the girl on whether or not she would survive. At this rate, it would take weeks, if not months to know what happened to her.

Spoiler

Medical Specializations:
Experienced: Trauma, Emergency Surgery
Mastered: First aid

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Reluctantly she allowed the nurse to lead her to the waiting room. There, in silence, she took a seat to wait for her friend to be patched up. The sight of blood running down the sides of Asami’s head was vividly etched in Shizuka’s mind. She blindly stared at the wall on the opposite side of the room while trying to understand why this was happening. Asami was so kind and gentle, so who in the world would have done something like this? Had the girl come from a mission outside of the village?

The bit of shiny forehead protector had winked at the young Senju as she had gotten a hold of Asami’s hand. It appeared that her former classmate of sorts had graduated before her. Not that it mattered at the moment. Shizuka felt no competition, only worry about her friend’s condition. From the sight of it, things were bad. Pretty bad.

Angrily curling her fingers into tight fists she got up to take a look outside of the room. She wasn’t sure how long she had been staring at the wall, but her hands were cold from the lack of moment. Little needles played around her feet when she walked outside. Unfortunately, the door of the operating room was still closed. Standing next to it for a while she then decided to find something to drink.

In the maze of sterile walls and white jackets she finally got her hands on a hot cup of tea. Sipping at it in the refectory of sorts, she took a coffee with her to wait. It wasn’t as if she truly liked the bitterly liquid. It smelled very nice, the aroma carried her to the kitchen table in the mornings when her mother brewed her daily portion of coffee. Unsure why she had grabbed one with no milk or sugar she found herself back in the waiting room. Alone.

By the time there was a sort of commotion outside she had fallen asleep on the bench with the cold, half-empty cup of coffee on the ground. Groggy and a little sore from the wood she had been lying on, Shizuka rubbed her eyes and shuffled outside. After a bit of looking she found the one she had been searching for. A quick look outside of the room confirmed that whoever was there didn’t care whether she went inside Asami’s room or not. So, without any hesitation, she slipped through the door opening.

There, on the bed, her friend covered in pristine white looked like some sacrifice about to be made. The bandages wrapped around her head were no longer crimson, but that didn’t make them any less gruesome. Carefully, quietly, she crept closer until her hand could hold onto Asami’s once again. From this close, she could see the peaceful motion of her chest as she breathed. That was good. She was alive. That meant she would be fine, right?

Shizuka bit her lower lip as it started to shake a little. She didn’t want to cry. Perhaps that’s why she ended up glaring at the blanket covering her friend as if it was the cause of all of this. Holding the girl’s hand a bit tighter she then tried to share her chakra with her friend. Maybe, with some luck, it would help her to fight the injury. For Shizuka, the healing always worked, slowly, but it worked, so she really hoped that it would do the same for Asami. Pumping the purest energy she possessed into the one in front of her she crouched a little, placed her head on the side of the bed, and left the chakra flowing through her hand.

As angry as she was right now, at least she could concentrate enough to make the connection necessary for the healing to take place. No seals, no movements. Only a refreshing, soft flow of energy. And so Shizuka closed her eyes with her cheek pressed against the blanket that was spilled over the side of the bed.


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

By all accounts, it should have taken days for the girl to stir from her slumber – which was still a small miracle, considering her circumstances. It was a testament to the skill of her village’s healers that she was breathing at all, and the aid of one well-meaning friend to bring her a little closer to reality. Slowly but surely, she stirred from her long slumber. Her eyes slowly focused on an unfamiliar ceiling, and the sluggish sensation that often came with oversleeping. She squinted her eyes, trying to focus her sight and mind. Where was she, and how did she get there? An attempt to sit up drew her attention to her head. It hurt, and it felt weighted, which was more than enough reason for her to start worrying. She moved her hand to try and feel the problem, which came with its own pieces of enlightenment. Her hand had formerly been held under a girl’s. No, she knew that girl. Why was Shizuka by her bedside, sleeping? Why was she in a bed to begin with? Why had her clothes been swapped for a hospital gow-

She blinked. The hospital. Knowing where she was brought her a little comfort, but she had no idea why. Her hands found metal against her head. Some sort of contraption. Was she the injured one? Reaching to the back of her bandaged head confirmed that, and also that she probably shouldn’t touch it again, since that came with lip-biting levels of pain. If not for her friend beside her, she might have felt the urge to start panicking, but if they were safe enough for her to be there with her guard down…

“Shizuka-chan?” She placed a hand on the girl’s head. “Sorry to wake you up… But what’s going on? What… happened?” Her memories were a bit of a haze, but she hoped she only had a heavy sleep to blame for that.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Something warm gently pressed on top of her head. It didn’t take long for Shizuka’s sleepy brain to realize that she was feeling fingers on her hair. About to complain to her mother that it was too early to wake up she suddenly remembered that she wasn’t at home. The numbness in her left leg from the awkward position she had been sitting in helped her to put together the picture.

Asami!

Jade-green eyes shot wide open as she jerked lightly from the bed. There was a wrinkle in her cheek where the blanket had been pressed into during her sleep. Having been groggy from the waiting room, and with the sharing of her chakra, it appeared that Shizuka had fallen asleep without even noticing it. However, a new way of energy surged through her when she noticed that the hand of the one who had woken her up belonged to Asami.

“You’re awake!” she gasped while almost jumping from her ‘seat’. Feeling the stingy sensation at the corner of her eyes she dove as carefully as she could and half-hugged her friend. Now the tears came. After all the tension she felt so incredibly relieved that the older girl was awake and talking. She even knew her name!

“I eh,” the Senju shivered, pulled back into a standing position and wiped her eyes dry. There was some lingering embarrassment about the tears but she laughed nervously regardless. Asami wouldn’t laugh at her, she hoped.

“I don’t know.” Lightly sniffing, she gathered herself. Some empty gestures tried to help her find the right words, but she had no idea what to tell Asami aside from what she knew. Which was very little.

“You- you came in,” Shizuka breathed out, it was hard to describe the scene she had witnessed. The blood running down Asami’s head. Her lifeless limbs hanging on the side of the bed. “with a wound, your head, someone has hurt you there. I don’t know what they did exactly, the nurse didn’t let me in. The surgery took.. a while.”

With her green eyes still a bit moist from the emotional display, she frowned. Her fists tightened again. Whoever had done this should pay for it! Every fiber of Shizuka’s body wanted revenge. There was a sharpness to her gaze. The anger boiled right beneath her skin. She wanted to crush the ones who were guilty of this madness with her own hands.

“Is there anything you remember?” she wanted to know with a tight voice and gritted teeth. It was all she could do as not to cry again. Even while her rational side was pointing out that the worst was behind them, she still felt her heart tremble at the sight of the bandages around Asami’s head.


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

The girl jolted upright, and so did Asami! Her free hand moved to her head as a wave of disorientation washed over her. No sudden movements, it told her. She returned the hug nonetheless, wrapping both arms around her friend. She narrowed her eyes, trying to piece together the scene. She was awake, but how bad had things been for there to be any doubt that she would be? She felt well enough. The shooting pain in her head had dulled to a constant but manageable throb, and as far as she could tell all her limbs were still attached. Were the injuries noticeable? Did they scar her face? She half-reached to check her cheeks for scars, only to hear breaks in her friend’s voice. Shizuka was more important than her vanity – for the time being.

“Oh- Hey, it’s alright…! There’s nothing to be upset about. I’m fine, see?” ‘Fine’ was a relative term, but she had to say something to put her at ease. “Alive. Moving.” She furrowed her brow for a moment, giving her legs and toes a little wiggle to be sure. Still working. As her friend soon confirmed, her head seemed to be the only cause for concern. Her eyes widened, and a hand moved to her brace again. She knew better than to mess with it, but its presence worried her all the same. Surgery implied that the worst was over, but the amount of questions left unanswered made it difficult to feel comforted. Shizuka brought up another, but it was hard for her to keep the concern out of her voice.

“I… got home from my mission. No, that was… a few days ago. In the morning, I… I had a class to go to.” She nodded to herself. “Yeah. I don’t have to go to them anymore, but I thought it would be a good idea to… learn how to survive.” She paused for much too long, considering she only had to remember the day’s events. A look of defeat mixed with worry creeped its way onto her face. “I think I made it there alright, but… Sorry, it’s a bit hard to focus on it right now,” she muttered, hoping that it was only temporary. She couldn’t tell whether the pain, sleep or an invisible injury was to blame.

“Is it even the same day? Wait, what about you?” She gave the girl the once over with her eyes. No visible injuries, and definitely no headgear. “What are you doing here? You’re not hurt, are you? Why do you look to frustrated?”

 

[Senju Shizuka]

In theory, there was nothing to be upset about, Asami was right. Still, turning off her feelings didn’t work as well as it usually did. This wasn’t about something minor and silly, this was about having almost lost a friend. A normal surgery didn’t take half a day. Shizuka wasn’t stupid, she knew that the situation had been dire. It’s why the frown didn’t go away.

“No,” she relaxed, but only a little. “it’s eh tomorrow.”

Damn, her parents were probably slightly upset by now. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to have let them know about Asami and then return to the hospital. Well, it was too late for that. She would have to deal with the storm that was her mother sometime later on. Though, with the situation being as it was, she didn’t really worry about getting into much more trouble than a rough and maybe even emotional scolding.

“Well, I didn’t know it was you until I rushed inside. It was just this.. feeling that had me going inside the emergency area when I saw someone so-” she stopped unsure if Asami needed to hear what she was about to say. Green eyes softened ever so slightly when looking at the braces around the girl’s head. “injured. I’m glad that I’ve gone inside. Since then I’ve just,” waving her arms a little in a funny way, she hoped to comfort Asami in her own odd way and keep herself from getting mad. Her friend didn’t need to see that. “been around, waiting a bit. I’m glad you’re already up. Everything here is so boring and .. white.”

“So, no, I’m not hurt.”

Throwing in a wide smile she turned around as if she was dancing to show Asami that there were no bandages or anything anywhere on her. “All good, though,” pausing, she gave her friend a serious look. “I might be poisoned by the coffee I drank here last night!”

Pretending to be wobbling now she chuckled lightly. The anger fell back a little, she didn’t want to bother Asami with that now. All of the girl’s attention had to go to recovering first. Then they could figure out what had happened. Hopefully, there would be others who’ve been around and seen who or what has caused this disaster.

“Not frustrated, not really, just worried, I guess.” Nodding she noticed that she was being quite talkative. Most of the time her answers didn’t come as quickly, and certainly not in a tone so excited.

“Can I get you something to - well, I don’t think you’ll be able to eat yet, but eh to drink?” With a straw, that should work.


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

Out of action for a whole day. Again, much better than the alternative of not waking up at all, but she couldn’t help but feel a little concerned just thinking about it. Had her family noticed yet? It wouldn’t be the first time she hadn’t come home overnight thanks to training complications, but if the hospital had gotten in touch with them, wouldn’t they have come to visit? Maybe they already had? She pursed her lips for a second, but decided not to worry too much about it. It was probably for the best that she didn’t have to console her mother without any answers to offer.

She put her focus back on her friend, who had apparently had the ‘fortune’ of seeing her being sent in. From the sounds of it, nobody of note had been with her, so who had made the call for medics in the first place? Too much wasn’t adding up, and thinking too hard about it was only adding to her headache. “You were here? The whole time?” She stared at the girl. “Why?” She knew the answer. Shizuka wasn’t the kind to let a friend go without help, as far as she knew, but that usually stopped at making sure a certain somebody didn’t hurt themselves too much, or being moral support. Short but notable incidences. To wait on standby for at least half a day…

“You shouldn’t have. I mean, not that I don’t appreciate it! It’s… actually very kind of you…” Her voice trailed into a rare sheepish tone. She didn’t have many friends amongst the shinobi, but knowing that she had at least one dependable young lady in her circle was both heart-warming and oddly embarrassing. With a clearing of her throat, she pulled herself together. “Still. You should be resting too… But I guess I can’t just send you away after all of that. …Thank you, by the way. You didn’t have to, but you did anyway.” Her eyes briefly fixed themselves to the bed. She must have caused her friend a fair bit of distress to make her stick around for that long, but mentioning that wasn’t going to help much.

Instead, she realised the girl had another good point. She’d been out for a while but had no appetite, and she had no idea why. “Er… Maybe, if you’re not feeling too tired. I guess I’ll be up for a bit – at least until I can ask somebody what’s going on. I don’t really know what they have here, but some green or milk tea would be wonderful right now. I, er…” She scanned her surroundings, pointing to a plastic bag of clothes in the corner. “There. I think that’s my stuff. There should be some yen in my shirt’s-“ She squinted. The shirt was missing – presumably taken away to remove the blood stains. “Well… My purse should be in there somewhere, or I can give you the money after. Thank you, again.”

 

[Senju Shizuka]

After a brief moment of thinking, Shizuka found herself answering in all honesty because there was no reason not to. “Don’t worry about it, I just wanted to know that you were okay.” It was the truth and she didn’t feel embarrassed about it now that she had thought it through. Friends were there to care for each other whenever it was necessary, even if only by falling asleep on a bench in the next room.

“I think that I can function for a couple more hours, and I should have enough yen for two teas. Don’t worry about that either.” Laughing softly she patted her pocket as if to show where the money was at. “Can’t promise it to be delicious, though. It’s odd, you know,” Looking down the bed to the wall and then through the window where sunrays tried to sneak past the curtains, she continued. “when this place isn’t all chaotic it has a certain blandness.”

Then she was off with a soft “be right back”. By now she knew where to find the tea. It wasn’t a far walk, so she would be back quickly unless there would turn out to be a queue, and she doubted that would be the case.

One green tea. One milk tea. One straw. She liked both types of tea, so Asami could pick which one she wanted more and then Shizuka would take the other. Carefully as not to spill she shuffled back through the sterile halls. Here and there she saw nurses and other patients. There was no trace of yesterday’s panic. Or perhaps that’s just how Shizuka had felt once she had realized who the injured shinobi was. Doctors probably didn’t have the same reaction as she did. After all, they were professionals.

“Guess who’s back?” Shizuka’s voice came floating in as she still fumbled with the door. Awkwardly pushing it open with her elbow then continuing to do so with her foot, she finally got inside. Closing the door hadn’t been a smart move on her part.

Putting both cups on the little nightstand next to the bed she then drifted toward the window. “Mind if I open it up a bit?” The sun would make it cozy, she knew, but if Asami had a headache from the wound then it was probably better to leave the curtains where they were.

“I’ve brought both, you can pick first.” Settling next to her friend she picked up the tea Asami had chosen and wondered if drinking it already would be a good idea. “Hmm.. be careful, it’s kind of hot and with the straw.. well, we don’t want you to burn yourself, right?” Joking a little she offered the other a disarming smile.

“If it’s better, I can hold it.” Drinking while being in a horizontal position wasn’t handy, but Shizuka didn’t want risk moving Asami. The doctors would probably do it when the time was ripe for it.

“Oh, by the way, if you want to hold onto my elbow, I can set up a connection, I think that my chakra levels are all fine after that nap I took.” Holding her own cup in her other hand, she pushed the chair she had found in the room a little closer to the bed with the help of her foot. Now, this was better than sitting on the floor.


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

“From the sounds of it, I could be much worse.” Asami let out a nervous laugh, only realising how true the words were after she’d said them. She made a (mostly successful) effort to keep the worry off her face – at least until her friend had turned her back. “Better to try than assume the worst and give up, right? …I’ll just have to pay you back for it some time later.” She waved the girl off and found herself left with her own thoughts. And a pounding headache. It was hard to forget that part.

She scanned the room again. It was no surprise that a patient’s room held nothing but the bare necessities, but the lack of a mirror had her miffed. Had she injured her face too? Shizuka hadn’t looked appalled at the sight of her, but then, she’s had time to adjust to it. She ran her fingers over her face, and very gently along the bandages atop her head. She couldn’t feel any bumps – besides the obvious – and it at least felt like her hair had been spared. That, or the swelling was ridiculous. She’d have to find a way to ask casually in a conversation. Just another question that needed answering, though she prioritized it much higher than most would.

She knew Shizuka didn’t have the answers she was after. She knew that there was somebody outside their room that did, but they would come to her in time. She knew that even if her legs felt fine, trying to venture out and find them wouldn’t be her best idea. She knew there was nothing to gain from worrying about it in the meantime. And yet, emotions could be fickle, and she quickly found herself fretting what had already happened, and what was yet to come. It was probably best that the girl returned in short order, forcing her to put on a brave face.

“Welcome back – and thanks. Again. I think the light shouldn’t be too bad.” Indeed, the sun’s rays were welcome, but not harsh enough to add to her pain. She eyed the teas with a glint in her eye. It was a simple pleasure, but it was the best she’d had in a while. With a shake of her head, she slowly moved herself into a sitting position. Her eyes narrowed as she moved – her back and neck were fine, but her mind fought against every effort at moving her head. It would have been better if she kept lying down, but she hadn’t been raised to do nothing all day.

She reached for a cup of milk tea, allowing herself a small smile before she tried blowing on the cup. “I’ve got it. For now, anyway.” Her body wasn’t injured, but it was oddly drained for what had been a full night’s rest. Soon enough, she’d need to stop and rest, but admitting weakness meant shaving off a little more of her pride. “Really, Shizuka-chan. I don’t want to spend my whole time here lying down and relying on everybody else. Besides, if I don’t give myself a bit of exercise, the rest of my body will start getting worse in the meantime, right?” It sounded half-right, and she hoped that would be enough.

She reached for the straw and placed it in her cup. “What ‘connection’ are you talking about? More importantly… What were you doing here, if you weren’t with me? Are you a med-nin now?” She gave her a look of approval. Being a healer suited Shizuka well, though she realised she might have been biased.

[MFT]

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Sitting there with her cup, Shizuka wondered for the first time if things had looked worse than they turned out to be. Of course, the surgery had taken a long time, but Asami was already up and moving, even if only a little. Speaking of. “Please, Asami, it’s not like I think you can’t do things, it’s just better that you.. hmm, you know, don’t push yourself, alright?” Feeling slightly too serious she curled her lips into a grin. “That head of yours has to heal, you know.”

“No, no,” Shizuka shook her head to emphasize that she was certainly not a med-nin. “I’m still just a student. Don’t have a cool forehead protector like you do.” Eyeing the piece of metal in the heap of Asami’s clothes, she pouted slightly. While it wasn’t as if she felt jealous about the matter, it stung a little to know that she was limping behind a bit.

“But maybe I soon will. In any case, we’ve been allowed to take looks in the different areas of expertise again. So I had been in the main building before I ran into, well, you.” Taking a sip of her tea she let her arm rest on the bed. It was far enough from Asami to not make her uncomfortable but near enough for her to hold onto if she would choose to do so.

For a moment she turned her attention to her tea. Unsure of how to help her friend without causing her to feel dependent. Not that Shizuka would have felt that way if she was the one in bed. Honestly, she didn’t know why Asami worried about relying on others while being at the hospital. Being taken care of while you were sick or injured appeared like the most normal thing in the world to the young Senju. Still, she wanted to take Asami’s worry into account, it’s why she silently drank from her tea while putting together an explanation regarding the healing.

“The connection is just me pouring chakra into you.. ehm, but not like the jutsu to give you energy, though, I think I could do that, too. With seals.” Knowing that she was diverging she slightly shook her head as if to clear her mind. “Unlike the case with ‘chakra transferring’,” she used her free hand to make one of the two quotation marks in the air. “it’s very pure chakra that allows one to heal. It’s a Senju technique I’ve learned from my father. Remember the cuts you had on your hands during that class in the woods? Well, this is the same, I’m not sure if it really helps with the wound, but I think it might boost your strength a bit so your body can use heal itself of its own accord.”

There, that should work. Now the explanation was there Asami would know that Shizuka wasn’t doing anything important. It was just a nudge in the right direction. The ‘get out of the hospital’-one to be more precise.

“By the way, what class was it? I mean, you’ve said something about surviving. Does that mean it took place outside of the village?”


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

The girl saw right through her. Trying to seem strong and independent was an admirable goal, but in a hospital bed it did a bit more harm than good. She put on a meek smile, masking the pang of frustration that came with having to swallow her pride for a little longer. She set the cup back down on the table. “…Alright. For now, anyway.” Outright admitting she was right wouldn’t do, but she was taking baby steps in the right direction. “Just… lying down is hard. I should be moving, getting work done or at least exercising, and instead…” Her voice trailed off as she eyed the plate. Her shinobi badge faced her from across the room; she couldn’t help but feel it was mocking her somehow.

She pursed her lips. They almost settled into a frown at the mention of her ‘cool’ trinket, but for her friend’s sake, she kept herself calm. “I didn’t ask for it, you know.” She didn’t ask for anything that had happened to her in the past few months, but that was a train of thought that rarely led anywhere good. “I got put on a surprise mission halfway across the country, and when it was all over, the lady I was with gave it to me. She never really said why, other than that she thought I was capable.” The doubt in her voice was hard to miss. After all, a capable shinobi wouldn’t be nursing a near-lethal head wound, right? “If I could give it to you, I would. It’d probably save me a lot of headache too…” She paused, and then chuckled; an unintentional pun was always good for easing her mood.

“Either way, I guess I just got lucky. With you being here, I mean. Not the headband.” She slowly lowered herself back into lying on the bed, seeing as Shizuka had all but given her permission to rest her body. As soon as the pillow took the weight off her bones, her face relaxed a little more. Thankfully, all she needed to do for that moment was listen. “…That does explain a lot, actually. I tried, for a little bit. I thought maybe if I could do the jutsu too, it might come in handy… But I guess it's a tough family secret.” Trying to replicate a technique she’d seen exactly once while distracted by the pain of injury probably played a part too. “Still, it’s good that one of us knows how to fix these things. I’m not too excited about having to spend weeks in here either, so… Go for it. Please.” She extended an arm to the edge of the bed; if her friend was offering, she was in no position to complain.

She put on her thinking face as she was questioned. “No, it was in the village… The one I signed up to wasn’t far from here. There’s an open field a few minutes away. We were learning defence. Or endurance. Something like that.” She pursed her lips for a moment. Theorizing wasn’t going to do much for either of them, and she knew it, but the thoughts lingered regardless. If nothing else, voicing her thoughts might stop them from bothering her for a little longer. “Something could have happened there. It would make the most sense, except… It’s only my head that feels hurt and looks bandaged. The med-nin might have just fixed everything else up, but either way… Who was throwing headshots in a class? Why?”

“The only other thing I can think of is… Well, I may have upset a few very powerful people on that mission. They could have… taken revenge.” Her gaze lowered again, but she pushed herself to continue regardless. “They have a reason, I guess… And the resources. But if one of them actually wanted me dead…” She wouldn’t be awake to explain her thoughts. It was hard to justify the nobles going out of their way for the mere chance of making her a cripple or a vegetable. “Besides that, this is Kumogakure. I know I’m just a stude- Genin, but… People trying to attack shinobi in the open is supposed to be risky, right? It’d put a lot of attention on whoever tried, and that’s a lot of trouble for anybody, even if they have sacks of money to back them up.” Neither possibility sounded particularly pleasant to her, if her new grimace was any indication.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Intrigued by the way Asami had gotten to graduate Shizuka smiled when her friend joked about handing her the headband. There was some similarity between the way Asami handled the admiration now and how Siu’s dealt with it months ago. All of a sudden it had Shizuka wonder if Asami had been pushed into the Shinobi life just like Siu had been. Maybe that’s why she had frequently appeared a bit different from her other classmates.

“Well, there are plenty of medical jutsu, I am sure that you’ll be able to learn them if you pick that path. Maybe you could teach me then how to heal one properly!” Nodding she turned a little so she could reach for Asami’s wrist a bit better. Her hand slid across the blanket and softly curled around its target.

Feeling really glad that Asami was allowing her to try to help, she wondered if it would be better to give her some energy first. That way the pure one following up might be received even better - could that make the whole healing process quicker? Shizuka didn’t know. She hesitated, put the cup on the nightstand and turned to face Asami head on.

“Allow me to boost your chakra first, I’m not sure if you’ve been fighting.. but.. I mean, with the injury and the endurance thing, you might have been.” Offering her friend a puppy look, she hoped that she could remember the seals and form them all correctly. So far she hadn’t performed the jutsu for real, only poured some chakra into a rabbit.. That’s been a very odd scenario because transferring wasn’t the same as healing. Obviously, she had learned that much on that day. Her father had thought it to be quite amusing, her mother less so.

“I’ll be honest,” she said, forming the first seal with vibrant green eyes. “this is the first time, so if you don’t feel any energy coming your way, please don’t laugh.”

Now that the warning part was out of the way she concentrated on the other seals. Going through them one by one she reached out toward the pool of energy inside. A bright orb which soon turned into liquid she could drag toward the surface. A mixture of yellow and green started to slowly dance around her body. Then, with the other seals done, it spread itself across the older girl lying on the bed. The energy was fresh, yet warm. It gave one the feeling of sitting outside in the sun during a windy Spring day.

“Think that’s done.” She smiled, placing her hand back on Asami’s wrist to let the purer chakra flow. This didn’t really have much of a feeling or scent to it. A very gentle white glow, if you looked closely, but even that wasn’t there all the time.

“Sorry, I was a bit distracted, what do you mean that you’ve angered some powerful people? What did you do on the mission?” Shifting, she forgot all about her tea and was now frowning at the idea of anyone wanting Asami dead. It sounded quite insane that someone would go as far as assassinating a Shinobi. Well, it did, at first, and then she froze when the pieces fell together. Maybe it wasn’t all that odd. The Shinobi took care of things others couldn’t, but there could always be others out there who did the same. Perhaps with less skill, or entirely illegal.. Still, they could be out there hiding and killing for whatever reason they saw it fit.

The mess of a situation reminded her a little of Kyo and his direwolf. During their first meeting, they had been attacked by someone else. Someone who had skills better than those of an Academy student - she had been proof of that but didn’t dare to face Kyo in the open field.

All of this angered Shizuka. She felt her eyebrows sink. “Guess this means I’ll stick around until you’re allowed to check out. Then we’ll have to put together if your former mission has been haunting you. I mean, if this was done with the intention to kill you, or even scare you, then whoever they are, they have to be arrested.”

Ending with a firm nod, she was not to be argued with. The unusual hardness in her voice spoke of determination.


**
MFT

Spoiler

Chakra transfer for about 3.9k and 552 HP ~

 

[Senju Shizuka]

In the end, she couldn’t stay true to her word. That was, in her opinion, to blame on both the doctors, her parents, and the instructors at the Academy. To summarize it seemed that Asami wouldn’t get to check out later that day. It was quite unfortunate and gave Shizuka the foundation to build a plan on. One of extraction. She wouldn’t have Asami perish between those white walls. Of course, that’s not how the doctors thought about it. So, in the end, she had to go home, and think over her plan of how to get her friend out of that awful place once she was a bit better.

[Topic Exit]