Inverted Halcyon Days[Kaji-Osu, PM]

[Kagetsu Yuii]

With quick, silent strides, Yuii stepped outside through the Aesculapius's main doors into the brisk night air of the courtyard. She paused to swung a black felt jacket over the shoulders of her soft knit grey sweater and fumbled her green scarf from its pocket and onto her neck. It was getting colder, that's what her secretary Megumi had insisted when she'd brought the coat with the first of many sets of clean clothing to the hospital. Yuii hadn't seen the sense in it, she had no plan or reason to leave the hospital, but had taken it to make her bespeckled friend happy. Now, as the frosty evening threatened to reach her bones, she was thankful for the thoughtfulness. Summer was already an afterthought in the land of ice and storms.

They say that when your sight is inverted, it takes a mere three days to adjust to your whole world being on its head. That the challenged brain will force you to see the new, overturned world as normal in order to cope. It could be true, Yuii mused as she buried her cheeks into green wool warmth and squinted up at the half moon. Somehow, without noticing, she had adjusted to the difficult and beautiful parts of life. Marriage, motherhood and even her role as Sennin to the village were regular parts of her story which she could never have imagined before. Being happy and fulfilled was her normal.

But now, life had been reversed by a single horrible event and Yuii was walking blindly into walls while trying to get through the worst days of her life. Every right turn took her left, every step up made her tumble, every happy moment made her sad. Even now, as she positioned herself beneath a street lamp and watched for eagerly for the first signs of her Husband's arrival which had been radioed ahead to her, Yuii was struggling. The typical joy and relief she wanted to, and should, feel with his homecoming felt wrong, selfish, guilt-ridden. Anticipation was anxiety.

And so she wasn't very animated when she raised one arm at Caerroth's great star swallowing shadow as he and his passengers flew closer. She lacked her normal vibrancy and energy as she shoved her hands in her pockets and trudged a dozen steps to the safest place the lizard could land. No illusions were used to hide the dark shadows beneath her eyes or the purple bruising that decontamination had caused. Even her normal shades of blue seemed diminished.

"Welcome Home," she would greet simply with a melancholic smile.

 

[Okada Kaji]

The image of Caerroth bearing the chilling winter wind came into view for Yuii after a bit of waiting. Well, she could have easily heard the sound of their approach long before the leather-winged creature penetrated the darkness of the night sky. It was an awkward descent for Caerroth, much less graceful or poetic than the moment deserved; for the reunion of two partners in destiny. Riding upon the spindly spine of Caerroth was none other than Kaji Okada, Yuii's lover, long lost to the call of the road for several long months that felt like an eternity. Kaji was leaning over Caerroth’s shoulder, eagerly trying to lock his gaze onto his beloved, painfully pining to see the comforting shades of blue so familiar to him. But Caerroth’s descent was full of turbulence, and Kaji’s face bounced against the long-winged lizard’s flexing shoulder— he impacted against muscle-toned scales that might as well been made of steel. The beast hit the cold ground, landing with a deep thoom. He uncurled his tail to unhand the poor soul who’d been taken along for the ride, Osuteno, who frankly deserved better treatment from Caerroth and his master.
“We have arrived at your destination, filthy two-leggers” spat Caerroth with venom his words. His disgusted gaze was turned to look down upon Osu, not particularly spiteful towards him, rather the beast’s nostrils flared. “I can’t stand humans but there’s something about you I like” admitted Caerroth uncharacteristically. He smells like blood — Caerroth’s lasting memoir of the night as he shook the sleet off of his wings and released himself from service for the night.

Meanwhile, Kaji’s landing in the descent was unlike himself. He had jumped from the flying lizard’s back and hardly stuck the landing— failing to poise an acrobatic stance and instead tumbling into the fall while Caerroth was still over a dozen feet off the ground. Kaji shrugged it off though, desperately clawing and propelling himself back onto his feet and in a dash for his true beloved. At first, he had no words, just worry, passion, and reaching arms which took Yuii into him. His embrace was nearly crushing, but the sudden warmth between them at that moment could have even defeated the worst nights on the snow caps of Momento Deo.
She let the cold into her lungs just to welcome him, but Kaji had to skip the formality. There was an ache in his heart from months of longing to confess— he said “Blue, I’ve missed you so much!
Never again. I’ll never leave you behind, that’s the last time… All this time, the thought of you has consumed me.” And he could have gone on and on, but something stopped him.
He peppered her face with kisses, first without aim, awkwardly over her forehead through a barrier of height differences, but then he pressed himself into her cold lips hard. But then he let off of her, perhaps feeling a hint of apprehension or coming to his senses of where they were and why. His fit of romance quickly fell aware once he got a good look at the state Yuii was in, clearly unwell and emotionally exhausted. Kaji’s vice grip let up, but he did not release his hold on her entirely— after losing her for so long that was simply something he could not do.
“I’m sorry” he cooed through a worsening frown. His emerald orbs took on a glassy sheen under the glow of moonlight and street lamps. “I’m sorry… where is she?”

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

Yuii had dreamed of this moment a thousand times over; the reunion of love. From their first parting, her mind would place him in every scenario of her life. It demanded he be there so completely that it forced his appearance. Every pause in a conversation, every lull in her day, every hushed evening when reverie tugged at her consciousness she would imagine Kaji emerging from around corners, through doors, behind trees. At first, the scenes played out the same; fervent kisses, a huge for Umeko, an apology for being late, a casual explanation, and she always forgave him. But as weeks passed into months, and the desire to see him deepened, her flashes of fancy turned melancholic and angry. Some days he was under pursuit, fleeing for his life, in disguise, battered, near death or already a ghostly spirit and the sadness that followed made her sick with worry. Others he strolled in casually with another woman, another child, demanded freedom from Cloud, requested for divorce and the anger and jealousy from it made her want to break everything on site. Sometimes the original dreams repeated, but the apologies and embraces no longer brought her any comfort; Umeko no longer recognized her father and wailed. Those were the dreams she hated the most; the ones that felt too real.

And now here she was, pulled into a crushing embrace she felt too brittle for, enveloped in the scent of citrus, wood smoke, leather, and horse; warm. All those dreams should have prepared her for the real moment, given her some hint of how to react or what to say, but her emotions were as tangled as her tongue as he vowed to never leave her again. Silently she submitting to a flurry of pecks that ended in one, sweet kiss that she readily accepted because part of her soul thirsted for the moment. Yuii wanted more affection. She wanted a dark room alone; she wanted to lay with him and devour cheesy foods and than each other until dually sated. She wanted to tell him stories about Umeko and tales about her travels he had missed until they fell asleep. She wanted pancakes in the morning, and Umeko's excited squeals as she realised Kaji was home.

The single ribbon of rationality holding her together snapped, and her emotions inverted again. She was angry; she wanted to scream until hoarse; make him bleed, make him understand how she had suffered. It would be so simple too- just one little jutsu. The thought terrified her.

Kaji noticed as the emotion drained from her face and the fleeting exchange of affection ended. She met his eye, still wrapped in his tight squeeze, but was like hugging an animate statue as her one hand took firm hold of his arm, and the other found his chin.

"First, do I look like a pet? Like a child?" she asked in an even voice and staring up at him with stormy blue orbs. "I am your wife. Your partner. Your equal. If you ever leave me like that again. If you ever insult me by deciding my involvement and deliberately tell me nothing to force me to powerlessly worry again; I will make you regret the force that drew us together and the vow that binds us." Her hand clenched tighter, digging into his arm, while the other stroked his cheek. "Do you understand me, Okada Kaji?"

As if something had whispered in her ear, Yuii's head snapped suddenly to Osu's direction. Her teeth bared in an angry snarl as she realised the blood doctor had been there for such an intimate moment. All the anger and frustration she felt towards Kaji snapped to this new, Yukata donning interloper she had no affections for.

"Shouldn't you be doing something more useful?" she snarled at Osu. Then with a frustrated sigh, she phased out of Kaji's arms and stalked towards the hospital, "Come. Both of you. Yukata can explain." Yuii still couldn't find the words, after all.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu wasn’t what one would have been called thrilled when he was being carried through the air by some reptilian creature’s tail but decided against resisting simply for the fact he was unsure if the creature would think him breaking down into a mass of tendrils and repositioning himself on its back to be an attack and thus distract them from the current issue. Though being tossed about in the natural balancing movements of a flying creature’s tail removed all notions of actually explaining the situation on the way to the hospital as Osu was focused on not losing any body parts from this high up since it would take a while for any to find their way back to him on their own. Still, Osu was currently sure this creature was a solid candidate for the one he had observed earlier that had set him to go to the gates to start with.

The landing was, remarkably, even rougher than the flight had been. Given how displaced Osu’s clothing and overall appearance was as he was placed on the ground, he wasn’t exactly cutting a very reliable figure, though some teenaged members of the hospital staff were gawking and gulping awkwardly at his disheveled appearance.

Osu wasn’t quite sure what to make of apparently making a good first impression to the flying reptile and just gave a polite nod at its words before it flew off.

Being an outsider to the reunion that followed was an awkward situation, but as he stood outside their little reunion world, Osu’s husband senses began tingling, noting a disturbance. At first he started to look around for his own wife, expecting to see her tearfully swinging her halberd at him, but then he heard Yuii’s voice and saw how stiff she was. Ahhh, it wasn’t him he realized, but Takaji who had upset their wife.

Thus the type of awkwardness of being an outsider to the situation changed as Yuii verbally cut into an icy steel tone and threatened to run Takaji in with it. Channeling his husband energies, Osu attempted to telepathically channel the age old reply of husbandly wisdom, ‘Yes mam’ to… Wait, Okada Kaji was it? Given Yuii was the mother of his child and very angry, that was more likely the fellow’s real name. The passport earlier could easily have been made by Yuii as the Main Branch Sennin which only begs the question of why he didn’t simply use the legitimate fake to enter the village without issue rather than attempt to break in. That was a question for another time though, as right now it was him who had become the target of Yuii’s anger.

However he was quite used to Yuii’s attitude towards him, and he had no relationship to try and navigate with her, so he wasn’t simply going to say yes mam and quietly follow her.

“Something more useful… As I have said before, I will say for at least the dozenth time now Kagetsu Yuii, we have done all in our power and technology to do regarding your daughter’s case. We are testing new solutions and examining the compound, but we can’t just throw some insane solution together and immediately try it out on the child.” To be honest it was a rather demoralizing case given how stumped the branch as a whole, and Osu himself as a doctor was. He had hardly been gone from the hospital even an hour, heading home to see his own family before coming right on back. He had been looking over the case but it was even a miracle that they got the child’s condition as stable as they had.

“Takaj- Okada Kaji, several days ago Umeko-Chan opened a beverage container and was poisoned by a rather serious compound intended to take Yuii’s life… It is a bit difficult to explain the substance without getting pretty deep into chemistry but… are you familiar with dimeritium? Chakra absorption stone is the more common term, we use it for special cells and such to house shinobi prisoners. On its own it isn’t particularly dangerous for most, and the most common alloys are safe to be around if exhausting due to how much we tend to take chakra usage for granted as shinobi. Well someone knows a lot more than most should about the substance as they knew how to process it into a more dangerous compound. Rather the only reason we managed to save your daughter’s life from immediate danger is due to the creator being competent enough to… well go about making the poison in about the same fashion I would…”

That was probably the most concerning part to Osu. He had a rather unhealthy amount of knowledge of things he shouldn’t know for reasons only known to less than a handful of people including the Raikage, and someone was at least as knowledgeable if not more so on the experimental aspects of the substance as he was.

“To put it simply… Energy cannot be destroyed or created. It can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. That is why it is called chakra absorption stone rather than chakra destroying stone. In our alloys the substance converts chakra into heat, creating a hot, but not scalding heat at first and going to a bit above body temperature on the higher end of the chakra production scale for those individuals who convert chakra rapidly. In ore form it is rather fascinating in that it absorbs if not as quickly in the same amounts, more efficiently converts chakra to a variety of non-ionizing waves and particles all across the scale including particle, electromagnetic, acoustic, and even gravitational radiation though in such small quantities it isn’t really dangerous… I think I should emphasize that our alloy we employ only radiates heat in significant quantities and inefficiently at that. This is a purposeful and desirable aspect of dimeritium, though previously this was all classified to not give people dangerous ideas, but now that has proved to be costly in the sense we aren’t prepared for what to do when someone is being intentionally malicious with it. Dimeritium can be bonded or alloyed with other materials to focus on converting chakra into one of the particular forms of energies it naturally converts chakra to. The quantities of diverse particles and waves can be focused to a single form and the previously non-ionizing outputs can be made ionizing… as is the case here. Along with mercury to make the metallic toxin extremely capable of seeping into the skin and evaporate into a deadly gas at room temperature, various other elements and rare earth minerals were carefully chemically bonded to focus the dimeritium to convert chakra into dangerous emissions. It isn’t something one could hope to do in an average lab and honestly overkill in that the Lightning government could put down a down payment on a mid class naval vessel with as costly as the amount we found on site would be to make. Umeko has survived this long solely because she is so young and her body hasn’t even begun developing its chakra pathways. If Yuii had been the one to open the container she would have been dead in minutes from her cells and organs malfunctioning and her body cooking itself from the inside with radiation burns. Umeko was on the verge just being near stronger chakra users. She almost died anyway from the mercury poisoning among other things. Thankfully, chelation therapy has been mostly successful in removing the heavy metals from her system, though long term it has been devastating on her body and will significantly affect her development… that is if we still didn’t still have to worry about the dimeritium itself.”

They had been walking long enough that they were standing back in the lobby of the chakra allergy ward. The lights dim beyond the entrance as the children of the ward had long been tucked in for the night.

“We don’t have anything for it,” Osu said solemnly staring past the desk with two non chakra sensitive nurses squirming a bit nervously with the appearance of Yuii and their boss.

“We don’t have viable chelation agents for dimeritium, particularly this form, and we have no way to stop the conversion. We can put dimeritium cuffs on everyone who comes near her like we do for the other children of this ward to prevent her body from drawing chakra from them and converting it, but we can’t do anything about what little her body produces naturally. We have dimeritium of the same variety as in the cuffs as little bracelets on her but it doesn’t draw most of it away before that inside her body does. It is in her heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, etcetera, just trapped as fine but numerous particles throughout her body. Her entire physical constitution is in a fearfully delicate condition. Even brushing her skin too hard may bruise her and her cells are repairing much more slowly than they should. Even placing her ivs was a daunting task that required the delicate hands of our best surgeons to place without causing serious injury. Handling her has most everyone on edge due to there is hardly a thing we can do if she starts bleeding or such since even the most basic of healing jutsu would kill her now before repairs would even begin… I am deeply sorry to say that we have no solutions. We can be very careful with her and keep her comfortable and stable, but as of now I would say we can only give her about 16 months. Maybe 2-3 years if she is a low end outlier in how weak her chakra source is. If she turns out not to be chakra sensitive at all we might be able to keep her going somewhat indefinitely on life support, but it would be a painful and bedridden life… and one as far from chakra users as physically possible. I have already explained to Yuii, but Umeko is far too young and weak of spirit to transfer to another body and her current one would die immediately from the amount of chakra necessary to even begin the process. There is a reason we won’t let shinobi weaker than a certain point even contemplate a kinjutsu surgery since their spirits aren’t strong enough yet to handle a kinjutsu. Umeko’s soul would likely be completely annihilated if we tried. As for removing her chakra source…”

Osu looked through the window next to the desk into what seemed to be a large playroom for children. “In the past that was tested as a method for treating the poor children we keep here. They lived and were technically cured of their allergy in the sense their own bodies weren’t slowly destroying themselves, but they were basically the living dead at that point. No emotion or drive left in them, just painfully empty, lost of something that made them people… Currently our best hope is finding a way to destroy the metal without harming Umeko too much in the process… As hard as we are working though, I cannot say I am confident in our success…”

Raiden help, this was a horribly miserable thing to have to explain again and again these last few days. Osu ached more to get back home to check on his own children that had also been tucked in without him another night. He could see in the reports laid across his desk and in he eyes of the doctors he had on this case that they were fighting an impossible battle. It might only be the beginning and it may sound like they had plenty of time but the truth of the matter was this was like being asked to treat someone with tumors plaguing most of a person’s body. At least they would have more options in such a case. Even the most similar condition, the chakra allergy the ward was dedicated to, had been studied for decades now and they only had managed to start buying a couple more years before the children would die.

“... I can’t go any further due to some limitations of my anatomy, but I would encourage you to borrow some dimeritium cuffs from the desk and wait until you are completely drained to go see your daughter. It’ll be two, maybe three weeks before we have her condition back to where she can stay awake and aware for very long, but you should still take every opportunity you have to see her… Though I might ask that you pull Yuii out of here as she has barely left the room or slept in days and hasn’t removed the cuffs on her arm since she first put them on, at least from what I have heard from my staff. An adult shinobi who has been using chakra constantly since they first touched can’t function properly keeping themselves drained for days. The bruising that still looks this bad after a few days is a good sign that her body is slow to heal because of it. Please, for her own health, and admittedly to also get the entirety of the main branch command out of my hallways, take her home, get her to take a day at least to recharge her reserves, get her to eat a few hefty meals, and get a full night of sleep following that so her body has the proper resources for basic health. I have told her this already of course and she has and is probably about to tell me to mind my own business or some sort of expression suggesting a location where I can place some object or attitude of mine.”

Osu really wasn’t joking about the main branch being an issue. The whole lot of them suddenly began filling up a hall of his hospital as a temporary command center as Yuii’s office didn’t even have the drywall left of it and they came here to have better access to her since she hadn’t left. The lot of them would not remain in the hall Osu loaned to them trying to come see Yuii directly and were blocking up busy hallways in a workplace where that endangered people. After a case yesterday where they had slowed up a patient's transport to surgery by forty seconds according to the staff on site, half the mednin in the branch were ready to remove them from the hospital by force if Osu hadn’t stepped in and tore into both groups verbally. His blood pressure was a mess just thinking about it.

“Would one of you see them in? And if Kiyo-Sama is still here, ask her if she will come have a word with me.” Osu said in the direction of the nurses.

“Yes Osuteno-Sensei,” one of the scantily clad nurses said, quickly standing up.

“Here put this on for a couple minutes and I can lead you in, please keep quiet though, the children are all asleep,” she said to Kaji presenting a pair of handcuffs.

“Sorry, we never had many bracelets and all of those are currently in use. We have the key chained here to the desk, don’t worry.”

Osu stepped away to the other side of the waiting room as he became the most useless lifeform in the village when exposed to dimeritium, simply becoming a mound of blood vessels with no method of action or communication after a minute or two. He actually wasn’t able to enter the ward because of this and couldn’t directly check the child’s condition for himself, another very frustrating setback as a doctor.

 

[Okada Kaji]

Ice cold, slender fingers sifted through the furry stubble of Kaji’s cheek, nearly uninviting to the touch. They were accompanying words that struck like acid spit. Who was this woman my wife had become— a thought perplexing Kaji as Yuii commenced an outpour of pent-up rage. In their years of friendship and love, Kaji had never seen this side of her. Never did he earn her anger so completely. Initially, it struck him like a called shot to the heart, or a hidden blade plunged into his side. He nearly pushed her away and might have in an attempt to cast a genjutsu canceling motion, but her pinching grip on his bicep insisted that she was real. The moment of their reunion had become such a painful thing, sinisterly corrupting the purest instance of love with something dark through those threatening words. His desire to be back with her had not waned in the slightest, no, her angry resistance only made him want her more with a desire to prove something… but what? The tender and gentle way Kaji always had with Yuii felt abused, even insulted when she turned on him. He wanted to grab her by the sea of wavy blue strands on her head and be firm; to show her how tormented he was for those months of his reluctant absence. To exact revenge through passion over pain, and show her harsh love that countered her own sudden change. Pouring out vows of “I love you” would not do. Kaji’s mind spiraled with ideas of a vengeful love vow like they had never shared before, leaving him silent in his reply but a look upon his face that Yuii had seen before. She’d know she had eaten away at him with those scathing words, but that look insisted a confusing reaction from Kaji. His cheeks and ears were flushed red, and he was as still as a brick wall when Yuii phased out his grasp.

The words and impending action swarming within Kaji’s intentions had to take a backseat to the matter at hand though. Umeko was in dire straights, and Kaji had brought along Osuteno for good reason, to help explain what had happened to his daughter. So the medic cut into the heating exchange between Kaji and Yuii, pouring a heap of ice on the flames of passions colder than the Hidden Cloud night, and began delivering a series of grim facts. He went on to explain the nature of the attack— a complex poisoning attempt meant for Yuii, using a chemical agent with demeterium at its core. Kaji had heard a little about the material before, but mostly in how it something of an opposite to the arcadianite compound mined in his homeland, the Earth Country. And as Osuteno explained, the trio walked, leaving behind the sleet and snow in favor of the controlled environment within the hospital.

While he wasn’t dull by any means, medicine was not a proficiency for Kaji Okada. He was left listening along with his wife. Occasionally he’d glance to her awkwardly to gauge her reaction, but wouldn’t watch for long as the red tint would seep back into his face and he’d become distracted by their new tension. He found himself avoiding her, treating her like a distant friend while Osu’s deep explanation demanded their attention. It was a necessity if he wanted to learn of their daughter’s problem, and have any hope of helping to resolve it. As Osuteno explained what he had on the nature of demetrius and the poisoning, Kaji’s wheels were turning and he was building a list of suspects and motives based on past conflicts.

“I understand Osuteno,” said Kaji in a summary response to a wealth of information. “The Aesculapium has the most renowned experts in the known world— I’m confident that if anyone can find a cure to our girl’s dilemma, it will be the people in this clinic.” Kaji was taking the moment in stride, defaulting to a professional attitude in lieu of the panic he was experiencing within. Decades of training left him capable in the moment, thinking critically in search of solutions and problem solving rather than breaking in the face of crisis.
“You’ve done your best thus far, but you’re not done finding results. If there are any other experts worth consulting that we haven’t sought, tell me and I will have them brought with haste— no matter the distance to travel. Any resources— you name it. Any cost— I will pay in spades.” He knew he was crossing the line into a desperation, but he had to place the lack of limitations on the table.
“My wife and I— we're not doctors but we’ll do anything for our girl. Without question, know that I’m ready to turn this mountain upside down tonight if it means we’ll find a cure… or the culprit.”

By the time they were directed to the children’s ward Kaji was glowering, insistently theorizing that Yui's Kagetsu kin might have some explaining to do. He was ready to ask about the scene of the crime, wishing to know everything either his wife or the medic could tell about the incident of Umeko’s poisoning. However, Kaji was stumped to a silence a second time when Osuteno revealed insights into Yuii's behavior since their daughter was admitted into the Aesculapium. It certainly sounded like something Yuii would do— nearly taking over the hospital— it earned a sympathetic beam from Kaji to her. His grim visage had softened as he considered what she had endured without him. She had a free pass to exact all the anger she wished, as it was all she could do with no real solution in sight.

Heeding Osuteno’s suggestion, Kaji took the pair of cuffs, but went a further length and began stripping himself of unique belongings in his possession. Kaji Okada was like a walking treasure chest as he commenced to disrobe in the hall outside of Umeko’s room. Off came his jacket, which had the scabbard of Eelspine attached to its back via tight canvas loops. The sword was rich with chakra to the extreme, several souls, in fact. He set the jacket and sword down, draped of his backpack. Then Kaji rolled up a sleeve and removed a bracelet with several opal stones that shimmed under the ceiling light panel. He untied an orange lantern hanging from his hip and set it down by the stack, causing it to react by letting a butterfly composed of pure light fly astray. The fluttering creature fled down the hall before wasting away at the end of the lantern’s innate proximity. By the time he was stripped of magical things the cuffs had done their work and he was ready to enter.
“I’ll be sure to care for my wife better than I have in the last few, months” Kaji said to Osuteno, practically whispering, though he didn’t expect to avoid Yuii's hearing. “We will be out of your hair tonight if I can manage it.” He was merely being diplomatic for the time being, unsure if he’d bother to try dragging Yuii out of the hospital if she refused to leave. It was unlikely that she’d want to leave, but they had no chance of solving Umeko’s condition just wasting away at bedside. He felt the cuff’s effect on his strength already, and couldn’t imagine how Yuii managed to pinch him moments ago, not after days under the draining effects of the demeterium.

He slid towards Yuii and grabbed for her hands into his, revealing her bracelet opposite from his cuffs meant for a scoundrel. Even in an awkward phase, he’d have to be with her through it all. “I would like to see our daughter now” he admitted to the new nurse, thought it was more like a command with how he emphatically said so. But then his attention returned to Yuii, and he attended to her with soft sounds that discarded the passionate fire formerly roiling within him. “I know this has been tough but I’m here with you now… we’re going to figure this out together. Umeko will survive this, unlike whoever thought trying to hurt either of you was a good idea.” His words turned low to a whisper. “I promise, someone will pay for this. To the ends of the world, we won’t stop until Umeko is avenged and your suffering is paid back thrice.”

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

Yuii flicked her wrist dismissively at Osu, her hand forming a less than ladylike gesture for his attention. She did not otherwise turn or engage again as the walked and he parroted the same information that had already been repeated verbatim at her every time they crossed paths. Every exchange it was the same dissatisfying answer and every time she felt the heavy weight of patience keeping her frustration chained lighten. He was lying. They were holding back. They had to be failing because the alternative was not an option.

There was nothing comforting about what Kaji was being told by the womanly man the entire world professed to be the very best medical ninja of his field. She could guess at his exact emotions he would be holding below the professional front that was a trained fallback in tragic moments like this. As his wife, Yuii should have offered some comforting gesture at that moment, but the truth was she couldn't even bring herself to look in his direction. Her aversion wasn't rooted in anger or a lack of desire; she was already hyper-aware of the magnetic pull that existed whenever they were close, but fear. Fear she would see her own emotions reflected in her lover's face; the grief that pulled all joy from the world, the despair at having no way to help her, the self-loathing over failing to protect her. Fear that she would lash out again as her feelings became and tangled mess. Fear that the brittle hold she had on herself could not withstand.

There was plenty to distract her as they picked their way through the hospital, though, as a half-dozen shinobi practically leapt to their feet at the sight of them. Their focus was Yuii as each clamoured forward with documents and rambling expositions on why they absolutely needed to see her. These were just the remaining few braving the wrath of the nursing staff to see her ."This goes to Kogami, those two to Kiyo-sama, the others can be handled by Megumi." she said clearly, emphasising each word as she glanced over the documents, "I know your subbranch managers keep sending you to me, but there are emergency procedures in place. Emergency correspondence and the northern conflict goes to the Raikage, non-emergency goes to Megumi, southern investigations to Kiyo. The only thing I want to be contacted about is when the task team finds who did this to my daughter. I don't care if you can't find them or if the wait is long- the Aesculapium is not a place of business." She left them to sort themselves out from there and trailed after Kaji and Osu who had already made it to the children’s allergy ward. Osu was still rattling on, though the talk had turned from Umeko’s needs to their perception of her own.

“You’re coming to understand me so well. Perhaps you should put that energy into helping my- our daughter instead,” she snapped back waspishly in a steady voice. She breezed past them to remove and deposit her jacket and scarf on a chair then busied herself with washing her hands and face. The bruises Osu had mentioned were visible now; trailing down her neck chest where her soft grey sweater dipped and covering the visible flesh of her arms below her rolled sleeves. "The bruising is just from decontamination," she explained without prompting, "They used a high powered hose on anyone with a chance of contact. Even Kogami was purple for a day or two. It's one of the few pains I can share with her right now."

She turned at Kaji's affirmation that he was ready and found her hands captured up in his own the moment they were close enough to touch. “I know.” she countered back to his promise for revenge with her own low tone, "When they are found, I plan to personally make them suffer an existence that will extend far beyond mortal death. I will draw all of her suffering out of their flesh. Make sure you bring them to me alive." Kaji had yet to see Umeko's condition, so perhaps her desire to see someone suffer would seem uncharacteristic, but he would understand soon. Yuii turned towards the nurse, who was suitably pale for what she had overheard and hesitating in front of the ward's door. Her eyes trailed her line of sight to their hands and Yuii understood at once what the problem was.

"Your hands," she tugged Kaji towards the sink, not missing the nurses relief. The staff here seemed to think she was a ticking bomb, but she only yelled when they made stupid requests. "You need to wash them and your face too. I have a comb and tie around here somewhere for your hair. You might scare her looking so wild and gloomy." Yuii left him to wash up long enough to retrieve said comb and band. Standing on her toes to reach, she gently attacked his wind-tangled hair until they behaved enough for her pull it back in a messy tail. "She's sensitive right now." she explained around the hair tie held in her teeth, "Her lungs were damaged the worst before we understood what was happening to her. Wood smoke, animal hair, even dust makes her cough horribly." As if her words were prophetic, the nurse returned with a sweatshirt in roughly Kaji's size for him to change into.

There would be no more hurdles once Kaji changed, and the nurse would quickly see them into the colourful main playroom of the children's ward, filled with toys, games and books to entertain the children here who called this place home, down a short row of rooms and into the last with Umeko's name written neatly on the door. The door was shut and, as the nurse blocked their sight and punched in a keycode above the handle, locked from outsiders. Yuii had found Kaji's hand again as they travelled and now gave it a tight squeeze as Umeko's room was opened to them.

The chakra allergy ward of the Aesculapium was designed with the expectation that the children living there would spend the rest of their short lives there. Care had been put into every aspect of their rooms that went beyond any other ward. The walls of the surprisingly spacious room they stepped into had been decorated with murals of nature and animals; deer and rabbits in a field, dolphins and otter in an ocean, wild cats in a jungle. The furniture laid out could have been mistaken for a child's bedroom with toy shelves, a desk and a dresser, if it were not for the medical machinery aligning the small, railed bed at its centre.

The bed was small, but Umeko made it feel comically large. She was tiny, barely visible beneath small comforter tucked up to her chest. A stuffed tiger was curled against her side almost looked bigger than her. Wires and lines trailed from her, nose purpled arms from beneath her blankets. Under the light bruising she was unnaturally pale except the flush in her cheeks from the exhausting effort that was breathing.

Surprisingly she was awake, her head turned to listen to a woman with a cloud of red hair, formal kimono, unfocused eyes and features that could have made her Yuii's younger sister who sat next to her bedside finishing what sounded like a story about a hedgehog but ended prematurely as they stepped in. "Ah, mama is back." she sang pleasantly, "finally some good tidings, I see." Ume turned to smile at them sleepily.

"Kiyo-sama, Osuteno-Sensei wants to speak with you." the nurse chimed softly, moving ahead of them to check the IV and softly humming infusion machine, adjusting the round pads hooked to her chest.

Kiyo nodded in return and stood, "Of course. I'll tell you the rest of the story later, Little plum. You have an important visitor." she addressed first, then to Kaji, "It's about time too." She slipped past them quickly, certain to be unimpeded in that moment. The nurse followed seconds behind, leaving just their little family.

Yuii hovered back by the door and nodded for Kaji to go forward without her.

"Dada" Umeko rasped sweetly

 

[Okada Kaji]

It takes a special kind of couple to bond over plans for revenge against those who’d done them wrong. Alone they had weakened spirits, drowning in the guilt of their apparent failures as parents— both feeling responsible for what had happened to Umeko. But together they found support in one another, and an apparent straightening they lacked from their time apart. Kaji may have arrived late, but good would come from his appearance in time. Only the medical staff would feel the immediate benefit as Yuii's ire fell away with the distraction her beau provided. Barely being able to comfort Umeko must have taken a dire toll on Yuii, that much was obvious and put a crushing weight on the heart of anyone who hung around long enough to notice. She had become a splendid mother, a fact that Kaji was reminded of when Yuii began grooming the wilderness back out of him.

Only foolish, single men refused to let a good woman care for them. The porcelain white sink became dingy as layers of dirt were shed by the warm water and a bit of lathered soap. Kaji washed up in the small washroom corner with his sleeves rolled back, suddenly looking ten years younger when the road was washed off his face. He made a soft, pearly smile when Yuii returned beside him in the mirror’s view. They were perfect together, despite that being perfectly miserable for the time being— they had to know this trial would pass.
With a comb in hand, Yuii went to the task of trying to tame Kaji’s unruly hair. The wavy raven hair, seasoned with more than a few infiltrating strands of silver had a lot of fight in it, revealing knots that made Kaji’s head jerk backward in painful resistance. “Ahh,” he winced, but otherwise hushed the rest of those awkward reactions. Rather than fussing he was listening intently as Yuii briefed him on how to handle meeting Umeko. By the time the nurse had come with the sweater, Kaji was compliant enough to start unbuttoning his collared shirt. He peeled off the garment, revealed himself with the same toned, corded physique, assortment of scars, and tattoos noting his varied allegiances from other the years. The last journey had left him slightly leaner with his muscle more pronounced, totally working off the few pounds of comfortable weight he had gained from the sweets life at home. As he slipped on the sweater, the last tattoo to be covered was the most important one: the matrimonial seal that signified his bond to Yuii as husband and wife.

Once Kaji was deemed acceptable for the visit— something he’d soon to figure had a few extra reasons, he departed down a few corridors, keeping pace with Yuii, who knew the place by heart at that point. The atmosphere had a conflicting energy that visually promoted the theme of a place meant for a child, yet the overpowering scent of sterilizing cleaners hinted at the amount of grim truth always present in hospitals. Kaji’s nervousness was increasing; his heart rate climbed and his perception of the moment slowed. The hallway with a door at the end that read Umeko seemed to stretch as Kaji Okada began to lament at what was to come. He wanted to see his daughter, of course… but not like this. Just knowing she was admitted here was hard enough, but he knew the image would haunt him. Another scar to burn into memory, another failure. He was supposed to protect her from the world… She was never supposed to have to see a place like this, to hurt, to be miserable and on death’s verge. Kaji wanted to slow down, to stop, to run away and fight something, to do anything. All the years of looking into death’s eyes, years of pain and finding the courage to persevere— every challenge, they all felt trivial at that moment. All for nothing… He, they, had failed their daughter, and now it was time to look her in the eyes and issue some useless apology.

Umeko’s room seemed more like a prison cell or vault with how secure it was. While a vacuum seal decompressing on the door insisted that it was for sterilization purposes, Kaji considered how useful it was to limit the access of strangers to his daughter. After an unearned attack, the entire village seemed full of suspects; anyone could get a cautious glare from Kaji that night. But as the parents were ushered into their darling girl’s room, an unfamiliar form sat bed-side. Kaji was scanning her at once, one suspicious clue away from charging uncharacteristically, yet the sound of a sweet voice speaking offset Kaji’s concern. He had never seen hair so red, vibrant curls that resembled the brush strokes of a fire in an oil painting. Her form was lithe and hidden mostly behind a floral print kimono; elegant and unexpected.
Kiyo— Kiyo Kagetsu— the name snapped in place for Kaji just a few seconds after the nurse spoke it, just as she arose and turned to toss a few cutting words at him. Three years of marriage and this had to be the first time he met another Kagetsu, that is if he left that one fateful night off the record the way they did. The night that most-likely earned a permanent scorn from Yuii's family, though the appearance of Kiyo suggested that maybe she didn’t know. Kaji certainly didn’t though. While he knew her by name, nothing else Yuii told him really prepared him for the moment where she swept by him. This woman had stolen his wife’s face— it was as if the deity who designed the Kagetsu women liked the first one and made a newer model every few years. Little tweaks like some different colors, a new cuter nose, or a perkier set of ears. Kaji searched Kiyo’s vivid purple eyes, quickly noticing how empty her attention with them was, blankly staring, with soft lines that supported her smart remarks.

“Aww, going so soon?” Kaji’s sarcasm was obvious enough for anyone, but Kiyo would have caught it exceptionally if only from the inflections he used. He watched her glide around him, seemingly absorbing his attention completely, at least until she no longer blocked his view of the little girl, dear sweet Umeko.
“There she is,” he said with an unusually shaky voice, feigning excitement over feelings of utter panic and shame.
“My princess plum, shinobi savior,” he said as he drifted towards the bedside, spoken like the common vernacular between him and her. He defeated his instinctual desire to take her into a hug the way he did Yuii before. The desire to pick her up and swing her about the way he told her battle princess flew to war. Not this time— little Umeko was in no condition for their usual games, even lacking the energy to request them in her typical gibberish. The poisoning had left her drained and fragile, visibly ready to break at the slightest mishandling like a cracked vase.
“I have searched the land for you princess, high and low,” he said, building his narrative while forcing a smile. Below the surface, it felt like his heart was being ripped out. “But now I’ve found you— just making a little recovery from your latest battle, my highness. The village will be so relieved… and I’ve missed you so much.” He turned quiet for a second as he fought to see the energetic little girl instead of the sickly one in front of him. It wasn’t like Kaji to see anything but the truth, but he desired to see her as okay. He then wiped one of his emerald eyes to lessen the sheen. “You’ve been so brave, Ume,” he said as he took the stuffed tiger toy in hand, observing it. “Nice digs too, look at how big this bed is— a big girl bed— bigger than mommy and daddy... I’m jealous.” He pressed the doll against his chest, hugging it, trying to push back that sensation of his insides falling out. It all hurt so much. “You’re so brave” he repeated, looking at the little girl. “You’re a fighter, my little princess plum… we’re going to spoil you so much when you get home,” and he smiled, genuinely wanting to believe that day would come, and soon. Knowing he couldn’t peck her forehead with a kiss he improvised, instead of kissing the head of the doll lightly and tickling the girl with it in a light brush before setting it beside her to cuddle with it if she could. “I love you,” he said before his voice faded away to silence and a moving mouth. “We won’t let you down again— I promise.”

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

As Kaji moved forward to greet Umeko, Yuii hung back to watch. Quiet as a cat, she circled the bed to slide into a padded glider at its end that looked to have been Yuii's main place of stay. Stacks of thickly packed manilla folders took up every available space without blocking pathways. She tried to busy herself with a pile of papers left stacked on a bright yellow side table but ultimately found herself watching her family. Umeko's eyes were bright and alert for the first time since she had woken up, watching Kaji's face as he spun a small story for her imagination. No doubt in response to seeing her father again; she had been asking for him, after all.

The truth was, to Umeko, Kaji had never been gone for long. Yuii had first created a copy of her husband one evening when, after a long day of travel, Ume had dissolved into inconsolable sobbing and screamed for 'Dada'. Sennin, Shinobi, budding capable leader and panicking mother; Yuii had fallen back on what she knew best to solve the problem. One jutsu and a mirror image Kaji appeared from the trees, joined them in their camp and comforting their daughter to sleep. Yuii knew her lover better than anyone. From scent to smell to mannerisms and speak patterns, you could call her a Kaji expert. And while her clone might not have stood up to an adult's scrupulous eye; Umeko has accepted him and the story that 'Daddy is very busy during the day' without question. A simple but emotionally painful solution that haunted her the next night, and the night after until it had become a routine that Umeko would not accept having broken and Yuii was too weak to break her heart. At least one of them could be happy, she thought.

Until Umeko had woken properly for the first time, in a hospital bed, struggling to pull her next breath had asked for the very thing Yuii could no longer give her. She didn't cry, she didn't have the energy for that, but Yuii could feel her frustration and disappointment each brief window of consciousness.

With a pleased wheeze as the tiger tickled her face, Umeko struggled to lift her hand free of wires made a weak peace sign then squeezed it into a little fist under her chin. Breathing heavily from the effort, she managed a simple, "Kuh Bah Prehn," before her throat turned dry and nothing more came out. The sounds were important, that much could be seen as her ashen face pinched with frustration. She made a nasal grunt and tried to lift her arm again, but it only twitched.

All at once Yuii realised what she was trying to say.

"Kunoichi Battle Princess Umeko now, isn't it Umecchun? Like that shoujo children's manga. Blood bag's daughters told her about it, and she's decided to be one." Yuii interjected gently on Umeko's behalf. Their daughter nodded weakly, smiling she her eyelids began to droop. It seemed like such a silly thing to waste all her energy on saying, but Yuii remembered how she had babbled energetically and jumped from every available piece of furniture for hours. To her, trapped in short cycles of wakefulness, it must have felt like yesterday and was the most important new choice and experience in her life. She would want to share that with her father.

Content she had gotten the message across, Umeko's breathing evened as she slipped back to sleep.

"They keep telling me to sleep." Yuii sighed, tossing her reading aside standing to move to Umeko's bedside, "But when I close my eyes I repeat that day over and over again and I can't bear to watch it anymore. I wish I had opened it myself" There were others. Dreams of Kaji's disgust with her, dreams where Osuteno's sixteen months came to pass, dreams were Umeko was fine and she had to wake up to reality. None of them was worth the rest.

Carefully she used a single finger to hook the sleeve of Umeko's medical gown and eased her arm back down to her side. A puff of breath moved an errant black curl from her forehead. With that, she turned her attention to Kaji. Slipping her arm around his shoulders and leaning her head on his. "I don't need to rest. Seeing her like this is my sleep. It's my chakra and my strength. I'll sleep to the lullaby of whoever did this screaming as every part of them is ripped apart." Stone-faced, jaw set in a grim smile that was so unlike her, Yuii turned her head to her husband and kissed his cheek. "Right?"

"So tell me, my love, who else do I need to add to the growing list of people who would benefit from my death? Any enemies in Fire or Earth with means to have done this? Naturally, I'll be paying my blood a visit very soon as well."

 

[Osuteno]

Osu gazed through the door leading back into the chakra allergy ward, a bit of a sore spot in his career. At one point in time he would spend more time here than the doctors assigned to the place. Now he couldn’t enter even when he really wished to. Unlike others whose chakra paths were stationary and very internal to their bodies, Osu’s chakra paths went the same way as most of his body, in other words, they ran the entirety of his blood vessels, and that was basically all he was. While others could wear those bracelets and cuffs to drain themselves, for Osu it had much the same impact as removing the liquid from a hydraulics based machine, he would stop working. It was a fresh memory now due to when the incident occurred where he became a near thoughtless pile of mush inside his hazmat suit, a fresh embarrassment.

He stared back into a place that was off limits to him now, despite having many memories of sitting beside patients for games, birthdays, holidays, stories, sleepovers, and their final moments. The children he used to sit with were long gone at this point, as most were gone within two years of their chakra paths starting to develop. The last one he knew personally died but he still felt responsible to those couple dozen kids who would reside in the ward at any given time.

While he was bitterly reminiscing, much to the confusion and nervousness of the newer ward nurse who was wondering if she had done something wrong for her boss to be staring so disapprovingly in her direction, Osu noted the sight of Kiyo making her way towards the ward entrance and the room he was standing in.

He didn’t bother fixing the glum look on his face since the woman wouldn’t see it anyway and focused more on adjusting his tone with a bit of Morse Code humming, “-.-. .- .-. . ..-. ..- .-.. / --- ..-. / - .... . / -.. --- --- .-. / -. --- .-- --..-- / .. - / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / --- -. .-.. -.-- / -... . / ... .-.. .. --. .... - .-.. -.-- / ... .- - .. ... ..-. -.-- .. -. --. / - --- / .-- .- - -.-. .... / -.-- --- ..- / .... .. - / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .-.. .. - - .-.. . / -. --- ... . / .- --. .- .. -. ... - / - .... . / --. .-.. .- ... ... .-.-.-“

There was Braille in the standard areas of course, but it would only be a small amusement to watch this young old woman who made fun of him so much do something as unlikely as push on a pull door. Plus it wasn’t like he had to him loud enough for Kiyo to… how good was her hearing without chakra enhancement, Osu suddenly wondered.

When she did approach him, Osu mostly sighed, then spoke softly in Classical, “Η κατάστασή της θα πρέπει να έχει κάπως σταθεροποιηθεί για το μεγαλύτερο μέρος, αν και το ανοσοποιητικό της σύστημα είναι μάλλον πυροβολημένο, και θα έχει αναπνευστικά προβλήματα εκτός αν ... μέχρι να το βγάλουμε από εκείνο το μέταλλο. Λυπάμαι που τα λόγια μου από την πρώτη συνάντησή μας έγιναν προφητικά. Μήπως τυχαίνει να διαβάζετε την έκθεση που έκανα για τον Ayumu, εκτός από την αναφορά που δεν έλαβε; Δεν μπορώ να εντοπίσω πώς κατάφεραν να το πάρουν μέσα στο χωριό, ούτε τι είχαν εναντίον της ανιψιάς σας. Καμια ιδεα?

Επίσης ... οι πιθανότητες είναι αυτό σημαίνει ότι οι Tenouzans έχουν ένα ουσιαστικό εργαστήριο κρυμμένο στην εν λόγω ιερή πόλη τους. Τουλάχιστον στην ίδια κλίμακα λειτουργιών όπως το Navy Lightning ή ίσως και η δική μας, ο Raiden απαγορεύει.”

 

[Okada Kaji]

All of the comforting words usually spewed at such miserable moments were gone from Kaji then, seemingly erased from his lexicon as he listened to Yuii. She was giving him a sample of all the terrible thoughts on her mind, playing on repeat as she went through the moments of helplessness. She was beyond sleep deprivation and saying absurd things… wishing it was her to take the dose of poison as if deserting Umeko was better than watching her suffer. He thought it was absurd, but was perhaps more disturbed that he did not feel the same. The shock had left him detached from the gut-wrenching feelings. The grief of Kaji was being stuffed into a little box, never to be seen again. Despite knowing he would have said the same if it were Yuii there in place of Umeko, he had to be an anchor with Yuii so distraught. In this meantime, his presence was the best he could offer, but what good was he? They were now a pair of sad sacks starring at the dying child. Well, as they say, “misery loves company”.

“There shouldn’t be a living person outside of the Land of Lightning aware of our family, and I’ve taken care of my last enemies in the Land of Earth,” Kaji said, answering Yuii's inquiry about any foreign entities he may have known with an interest in such a personal attack. “I spent the last several months going off the grid— I think whoever accosted you either had a personal grudge or political gain in the Hidden Cloud.” Of course, Kaji was thinking of the Kagetsu— they would have had the motive, and it had been long enough that members of the family may have uncovered what happened the night one of their clansmen died in pursuit of Yuii. However, it was the nature of the attack that seemed distinctly unlike the Kagetsu…
“The Kagetsu will deny involvement” he realized, “but that won’t free them of suspicion by a long shot.” Without knowing them, he could expect how a conversation between Yuii and her clan matriarch to go. She might have gotten too old for them to marry off to an ideal husband from another noble house, but she brought influence and renown to the Kagetsu as a Sennin. If it were really the Kagetsu, Umeko or Kaji would have made much better targets for ruining her happy home than Yuii herself.
“Consider forcing them to cooperate by insisting that this was a play from an opponent against the clan, not out for you and stopping there. If there is a possibility that more Kagetsu will be targeted, your elders will comply, maybe even some secure shelter while the bungalow is compromised.” The mention of making allies, even seeking the protection of the Kagetsu family sounded ridiculous coming from Kaji’s mouth, but that was pragmatism at work. Good shinobi knew the old adage well: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. “But you know your family well enough without my blathering, so I’ll leave you to them.”

In truth, Kaji didn’t want to leave anything to Yuii until she had some modicum of rest. He had made some sort of agreement to pry her loose from the hospital wing, though he was unsure how much luck he’d have without dragging her out of the ward. “But tell me, are you going to demand all of your clan elders to come down here so you chew them out? Osuteno said you haven’t left the hospital since Umeko was admitted.” He stood then, wanted to have some distance from beside incase Yuii's reaction went in an unpredictable direction; he expected her to be upset at his coming suggestion, to say the least. “We’re not going to change anything from bedside Blue, and you need some real rest in case whoever came after you tries to finish the job. Why don’t you come home, just for the night… you look like you’re ready to keel over at any second. We have to trust our shinobi to keep Umeko safe and lead the investigation from the front if we hope to find the culprit. If anyone has a cure to Ume’s sickness, the culprit is likely to at least have a lead.”

-- Kaji Casts Raise Thread at 5th Level.

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The muscles in Yuii's jaw tightened and the brief moment of tenderness and sharing ended as it shattered against Kaji's stony exterior. Her smile turned distinctly self-mocking as her tired mind puzzled through his words or lack thereof and picked up what she considered their meaning to be. The quiet look of betrayal looked out of place as she put some distance between them by returning to her paperwork surrounded chair.

It wasn't that she had expected sympathy, or even love at that moment. She had just slapped her husband minutes before and he was entitled to be wary of her manic appearing shows of affection. Yuii couldn't love herself enough to think others should, anyway, not after her catastrophic failure. All the conditioning and training from her childhood reminded her that failures didn't deserve love. He could wish she had been in Umeko's place just as much as she did and it wouldn't bother her at all.

"None, huh..." she muttered in a dreamy, bitter tone in delayed response as Kaji had danced to the subject of her clan, "I should have known."

She started gnawing on the interior of her cheek while she considered why she felt so angry. Part of it was the loss the loving meeting they should have had, the animal like desire and frustration that had been building for months into manic longing that didn't care about the tragedy that had happened. Wanting him felt like a betrayal to Umeko, though, whose wellness and avenging should have been the only things on her mind. The compromise had been to try and pull Kaji into the hunt, to share the burden and be close while concentrating on the only thing she had the right to think about. She was mad because he wasn't diving into the hunt. It wasn't really fair though.

But just as Yuii came around to apologizing, he invoked a name that never failed to turn Yuii's blood cold. Osu had said!? OSU had said!!? The rest of his reasonable pleas went barely heard over the thudding of her own heartbeat as she fought to keep exactly what she thought of anything Osu said under control. Umeko and the other children in the ward didn't deserve to be woken by her screaming obscenities and she had no chakra to make sure only Kaji heard her.

"I just said I don't need rest," she snapped coldly, her voice wavering as she controlled the intense wave emotion behind her statement. "I have a lot to do. You can leave."

----
*I'll post separately for Kiyo's response for Osu later.

 

[Okada Kaji]

</FONTFACE>

<FONTFACE fontface="georgia">When she spoke those definitive words “you can leave” it hit Kaji like a shuriken to the chest, impacting with a painful thud. They registered in his mind as “you should go”, perhaps they were more truthful as such. An invisible force of grief was pushing him away from his wife and daughter. She wanted him gone.
“So this is how it's going to be” he countered, words cold and stinging like the winter chill. Recognition and resignation were in his response. Just a few feet of space between them suddenly seemed like miles on the tundra of the Land of Lightning. It was cold and dark, biting down to the bone. It was the first time that love— a love that was supposed to be like a blazing hearth between Yuii and Kaji— was dousing, being reduced to smoldering coals. All Kaji could do was turn and walk out the door then, yet he did not, frozen in hesitation. He tried to convince Yuii but she was determined to stay. He usually loved her for that determined stubbornness, yet she was using it to defy logic and even turn Kaji away. From desperation was born a thought that felt malicious, and his eyes narrowed, jowls dropped into a frown as he considered that remaining option: to forcefully take her away. His imagination created the scenario in a flash, the way it would whenever he stared down an opponent. He could do it, he knew; easily in her weakened state. Just glide forward— she’s not expecting it... She’d never expect it from her husband, and that was just it: Kaji would never harm Yuii. But he was thinking… Wait until she turned to focus in lamenting over Umeko, and deliver a swift open-hand strike to her neck: her carotid artery. A place he had only ever touched tenderly, and never dreamed of harming. Why did she have to bring him to this stage, of contemplating a betrayal so sickening to imagine? Yes, she needed this, decided Kaji, fighting pangs of guilt with a building determination to do what was necessary. No one would question it— he’d knock her out and carry her home… “like a fucking caveman” he countered, mentally in a tug of war, but felt his foot move in a step towards her.

“You know I’d never do anything to hurt you, right?” The conflicted man addressed his wife with a guilty tone. He had already hurt her immeasurably in his absence and now was ready to carry that weight. Perhaps he’d atone, but putting a hand on her was certainly not the way. Kaji was frozen still— not yet ready to give in, but a better man than to betray Yuii’s trust.
“I’m going through this with you too, you’re not alone. ‘We are better together but…” If Yuii would not see the logic then Kaji would have to accept her folly. This resolve of hers was born from his dereliction as her husband. To come back and make demands was to be disgusting and unthoughtful… No, Kaji had to make this right first or at least try. He had made up his mind and that footstep was taken back, trailing in the opposite direction.
“But I’m trying to understand. I don’t know— is it love that won’t let me compromise? ‘It’s not my right to pry you away from Umeko… I can’t. But I cannot idly stand by like this, just watching you both wither away.”

Then he turned his back to them, mustering the determination that there was good to be found in what merely felt like more desertion. “I’m going to report to the Sileo tonight and see what the ANBU have to offer so far. I’m pretty sure I can scrounge up something useful with enough digging. Maybe. Someone in our records has to have the M.O. for this, or lead us on the right track… I’ll return soon, I promise.”

In the end, we are all just people, vulnerable despite how much we try to don armor or stuff our feelings into little boxes. As Kaji went for the door and removed himself quietly, it hurt more than any blade cut, or any shock of lightning could ripple through him. It was a pain he had to harness into motivation if it meant possibly finding a solution to his family’s dilemma. To save his daughter’s life, restored the faith of his wife, and bring justice to those who acted against them so lethally. Emotional availability and apologies were a stretch for Kaji Okada, challenging him to grow as a person. The time for him to be a family man had woeful past; that Kaji was useless to them now. Who they needed was the Kaji Okada with the willpower to abandon those feelings and hunt ruthlessly; for him to be the man he left behind under rubble at the bottom of Arcadia. The Disciple of Master Iwakura; a stone-faced killer. And so he closed the door slowly, looking in on Yuii and Umeko with an emerald orb spying until the crease in the doorway eclipsed him. He was like a ghost in his retreat, silent and reclusive as he donned his things and hurried away. Deep in his thoughts, Kaji avoided contact with the night staff as he vanished from the Hospital. It seemed as if he no longer existed to anyone within sight except for that ever watching emerald in the pommel of his sword. Kaji could feel the sentience of his sword Eelspine the Soul Thief, it was practically vibrating with excitement, emanating warmth at the prospect of more blood to shed, and souls to feed upon.

-- Kaji Okada has left the thread unless stopped.​

​

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

Yuii's back straightened and her blue, red-rimmed eyes adopted a cold gaze that challenged Kaji to the battle that his careless words made her blood sing for. She wanted him to hit her, she reflected in a moment of anger coloured clarity, as she watched him struggle with himself. She wanted him to make the first move towards a physical conflict that would see her body as bruised and bleeding as her soul was. She wanted him to be human for once, to show some sign that the distress their daughter was was hurting him as much as it hurt her. She needed to see that he understood and shared in the dystopic, warped world that wouldn't let her feelings manifest properly. She wanted equal guilt for lashing out in this time of stress. She wanted a direction for all the anger and pain she was holding in. She wanted to be held accountable and forced to share the pain she had inflicted on Umeko. She wanted out of the hospitable, but the only way she would do that was kicking and biting. It was a laundry list that did not take her husband's feelings into account but she was beyond being able to understand him anymore.

Any hope of what she wanted was dashed though, as Kaji found his words. In another time and place his assurance he would never hurt her would have melted Yuii's heart, but then and there it felt like a calculated stab at what she had already done. Her chin lowered as the challenge gave way to a burning outrage whose internal fires would have put Kaen to shame. "Wither," she mouthed, outraged that the word was even being applied to her. Like some kind of unwatered houseplant? Was that all he thought she was? So useless she would die after a few weeks in a hospital? So unreliable he had to leave to investigate the very information she had on hand? Like he could find more information minutes after he'd arrived home.

"Go," she snarled once more, teeth flashing as her lip curled. As if he needed her permission. She kept the same steady stare until the door locked shut behind him.

He was lizard, she was cat, and in this as in most things the nature of their contract beasts imprinted on their reactions. Kaji felt the danger in the air on his tongue and fled while Yuii, claws already out and tail lashing at the air, was left with the desire to sink her teeth into the next person to move but could not. The unmet appetite made her skin itch and only mad her angrier.

"Coward," she hissed to herself.

Kiyo would find her in the same spot an hour later, returned from having spoken to Osuteno. Yuii had picked up a report and stared at it unseeing while muttering under her breath. Insightfully, her red-haired aunt didn't ask where her husband had gone or what had gotten her so angry. This irritated Yuii, as it skillfully avoided making her aunt the outlet she needed. Instead, a cup of coffee was wordlessly put into her hands and after that, well, it all became a blur.

She would wake up hours later from a dreamless sleep in her aunt's home, the bracelets that blocked her chakra removed, and a headache that made her eyes hurt. A cold breakfast was left on the side table along with a note that clearly stated she would not be allowed back into the hospital until she ate every crumb, showered, and spent some small amount of time in daylight.

The anger was still there, but it felt cheap and flimsy with a little rest. In its place came guilt, self-hatred and the overwhelming sense that she had damaged the family she had fought and sacrificed to have. Dangerously, the erratic feelings that had caused her angry outbursts were still there, lurking in wait. She couldn't face or speak to Kaji again without the chance that she would irrevocably destroy everything.

And so began the long months of avoidance, where Yuii conveniently found herself leaving any place Kaji looked to enter. The last year apart had taught Yuii that she could survive, with great suffering, being away from her husband, That was much more preferable than the possible final confrontation that frightened her almost as much as Umeko's failing health.

[Topic Fini]