Starting Physical Therapy (Shira) (PM first)

[Hoshirei]

Kimi was back in the tower and in a much better mood than the last time she had been here. Things had been frustrating, but she was better now. Her father had her touch up on her emotion control, and things were better now. She had been assigned to the physical therapy area and was looking forward to her first patient. She approached the check in desk and smiled at the nurse there.
"Hello, MiT Kimi reporting. Who's my first patient?"
The nurse smiled and handed her the chart. As Kimi flipped it open, the nurse told her who it was, not that she couldn't see the name or anything.
"The girl who woke up from that coma is your patient, Nekozuka-san. She should be here any minute. Would you like to wait here for her or shall I send her to you?"
"I'll go ahead and wait for her. Thank you though."
She studied the chart and read the snippit that gave a round about answer as to where the white haired girl was currently. She wasn't too surprised, but she would have to see for herself once Shira arrived.

 

[Mienai]

Shira managed to get herself to the tower with her wheelchair, where she would be starting her physical therapy, by herself. She felt quite accomplished with the task since she refused help from others. She wasn't sure who she would end up having to work with, but she hoped it would be someone tolerable. She was already frustrated enough with her lack of ability to walk without having someone mostly hold her up the entire time and the lack of memories she seemed to have. At least her arms were getting a nice workout.

Shira finally made it to the check in area where she saw the girl from before. She still had no idea what her name was. When she rolled herself forward, she had a nearly blank expression and nodded at the girl, recalling that she was part of the doctoral staff. "Hello again. I didn't get to say thank you for the last time we met. Are you working with other patients today or are you the one I was supposed to see about this whole therapy thing?" Shira sat patiently, considering that's all she could really do, as she waited for the purple haired girl to respond.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi was so intent on Shira's chart that she didn't notice Shira coming up until her smell was right beside her. She turned just before Shira started speaking, which might be a little odd, but it was nothing of seriousness. She smiled at her and closed the chart with a slight snap.
"Eh, it's alright. And, I'm working with you today, Shira-chan. I'll remind you of my name. Nekozuka Kimi. You can call me just about anything that includes my name or a part of it."
She smiled brightly and moved so that she was standing beside the wheel chair.
"You probably wheeled your way over here from the Sietch Zensunna. Would you like me to push you over to the area we will be taking over or do you want to move yourself?"
If Shira was anything like Kimi was, she'd be wheeling herself over there, but Kimi still had to give her the chance to be pushed.

 

[Mienai]

Shira gave a light smile, one she could partially manage, and listened to Kimi. She was determined to remember any and all names she came across until her memories fully surfaced. "Alright, Kimi, I'll be sure to remember that." Shira lightly rested her arm on the arm of her wheelchair and rested her cheek on her folded up fist. She wasn't looking forward to this at all. It made her feel weak and weakness was not something she particularly enjoyed. When she heard they would be moving to a different area to begin, she almost refused to be pushed. The thing that stopped her from doing so was the fact that she had pushed herself all the way over here and while her arms were not overly sore, it would probably do well to give them a little rest for the moment. Not to mention if she allowed herself to wheel herself over, she might feel the urge to turn and leave. She did not want to meet a task she could not fulfill immediately, but it was necessary that she regain this ability. Shira sighed and nodded. " You would be correct in your assumption. Regardless of what I would like to do, I am not looking forward to this and would not like to give myself the opportunity to leave. If it's not too much trouble, would you push me over there?" She swallowed a bit of distaste from giving up part of her pride.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi could tell she was waring with herself a bit over if she could be pushed and be okay about it. The sigh indicated that she wasn't all too happy about her decision, but understood why it must be done. Without even speaking, Kimi moved behind the chair and guided it gently into a secluded room. She shut the door behind them and maneuvered Shira into about the middle of the room. There were a few different things that would be useful. One was a walk way with handle bars on either side. another thing was a walker. There were multiple things that would help strengthen muscles and others that were meant for gentle stretches.
"Alright, the first thing I want you to do is squeeze my hands, and then I want you to kick them, alright? Don't worry, if even if you kick real hard, I can heal myself." She held out her hands for Shira to grasp with a smile. Once she let go, Kimi would move her left hand in front of each leg.

 

[Mienai]

Shira waited patiently as she was moved into the secluded room. Well, at least she wouldn't humiliate herself in from of everyone and Kimi seemed friendly enough. Shira took the time to take in the room, looking at all the different possible techniques to better her walking. The walkway looked rather promising and perhaps the walker. She had no experience with these sort of things though so she would just follow Kimi's instruction. She hoped this would be rather quick. Maybe chakra could speed up this process? Shira kept that in mind for later.

When Kimi explained what she wanted Shira to do, all she could do was give a simple nod. She sighed and took Kimi's hands within her own, giving a light squeeze. It was slightly tentative, putting more faith into this girl by the minute. When Kimi's hands were positioned in front of her feet and concentrated hard on the feeling that was left there, it's not like she couldn't use them it was just that they were stiff and unaccustomed to suppoting the weight of her body. "Alright, here goes nothing." Shira moved her legs a little bit, seeing them move just a little. It was difficult in itself but she would not give up. Focusing on her chakra, she centered it in her legs and felt more power there. She gave a smirk as she lightly managed to get one to hit Kimi's hand, then tried the other. It seemed the chakra did actually help and it was familiar to her, granted the movements were still a bit stiff. She wasn't sure how much she could stress herself without inflicting high damage, but she focused just a little bit more chakra in one leg, hopefully adding some medium force as she went to kick the hand with a bit rougher force. "This feels familiar, like my body knows how to do this without my knowledge."

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi was happy that Shira could move her legs at all, but that last kick was certainly something. She had sensed chakra being added to her legs, and understood that she was probably impatient. She smiled at the girl and moved back. She quickly made sure the chair's brakes were engaged before giving Shira a determined look.
"Alright. I know that you've tried this a few times, but this time it will be a little different. I want you to try it first without and then with chakra concentrated in your legs. I'm going to pull you up. Just concentrating on remaining standing, okay?"
If Shira allowed her, she would lift the girl with ease and set her on her feet. She would help her steady before relaxing her grip a little.
"I want you to put your hands on my shoulders, and if you feel like you're going to fall, squeeze them. As you stand there, I want you to try to roll on your feet. Roll first onto your toes and then slowly back on your heels. Try to use your legs as much as possible, but don't feel bad if you can't quite do it yet without a concentration of chakra. Once you're done, focus chakra into your legs and then try it again."

 

[Mienai]

Shira removed the chakra centered in her legs as soon as she felt Kimi's pick her up and set up down on her feet. She knew she wasn't ready for this at all, but progression is not made without first making attempts. She placed her hands on the other girls shoulder, instantly noting that she was the taller of the two, and her grip increased to nearly a headlock as she felt her knees buckle. She wasn't sure whether to growl or yelp so a slightly gasp left instead. "Don't let go." She didn't want to fall again after that exerience of falling from the bed. At least Kimi would make sure she didn't fall.

Shira still didn't want to give into her urge to use chakra though. It seemed that Kimi wanted this to be more of a slow healing process than quicker but done wrong. Shira kept her grip nearly iron as she forced herself to try to hold herself up. It wasn't working though so she had to lean more on Kimi than anything. She didn't believe she was succumbing to this weakness again but she surged a small bit of chakra into her legs, hardly anything really. "This is a bit harder than I expected." Shira still didn't feel any stability and she knew that if Kimi wasn't there she would still be on the ground no matter how much chakra was there. Still, it provided enough stability for her to barely get her foot to roll. One did manage slowly and she felt a stretch of muscles. When she went to try the other though, she slowly started to feel a cramp. She squeezed Kimi's shoulders to let her know and went back to simply trying to stay up. "Stupid cramp." Shira grumbled.

 

[Hoshirei]

She felt Shira's grip tighten around her shoulders and neck, but did not show any outward show of any extra strain as there really wasn't. To reassure the girl clinging to her, she held onto her waist with a light grip, but enough to reassure that she wasn't going anywhere.
"Don't worry, I won't let you fall." Shira might be taller than her, but there was no way she couldn't lift the girl easily. Kimi was just too strong. She could lift both of her tigers at once for kami's sake.
Kimi held tight as Shira tried to move. Toward the last few times Shira performed the exercise, with chakra, she lifted her up slightly so that about half of her body weight was off of her legs. She tried not to giggle as the taller girl complained of a cramp. Kimi closed her eyes and sent a small amount of chakra through her hands into Shira's body. It moved along until it came to the cramp. She went into it and loosened the knotted muscles. Once it was loose again, she allowed the chakra to dissipate.
"Cramp should be gone now." she said with a smile before scooping her up easily and moving her over to a leg press machine.
"This should be an interesting exercise. I'll help you get your body into the correct placement and then I want you to try to push until your legs are completely straight. It might seem odd that I'm having you do this, but it is the quickest way to restrengthen your legs. We'll start at the lowest setting and work our way up."
Kimi set her down in the seat of the machine and helped her move her legs to rest her feet against the metal back plate. She would move the seat forward until her legs were in a modified sitting position.
"Ready?"

 

[Mienai]

Shira gave a thankful smile when she felt her muscles relax again. Nothing like a taut muscle to make you grumpy. "Much better, thank you." Shira had time to mutter before feeling herself get picked up. She felt like such a helpless child when it came to people picking her up, but she supposed it was the easiest action in terms of her movement. As she was set down in the chair, she allowed Kimi to adjust her legs. What kind of infernal contraption is this? As Kimi explained what she was to do, Shira gave a slight glare. I hate therapy...

Shira started immediately in on the task though. She decided to pace herself on this one. Trying for immediate results was obviously not the way to go. Shira tried to concentrate on the movement of her muscles and forced as much strength out of them as possible without overdueing herself. She felt her knees folding down, just slightly, as she felt the foot plate move back. She managed to get it flat with relative ease as she went at a slow pace, repeating the process again and again. This was just the lowest setting though. Shira decided that maybe some conversation would help during all of this. "So, something I was wondering before. Have we met before? You knew my name when you came in after I woke up and I didn't know if it was from my records or if you actually know me. Ko's been working with my memory, but he hasn't made mention of you." Shira waited patiently as she kept up the task. As the setting would go up in difficulty, Shira would find it getting gradually harder, yet she still would try to get them flat. Ultimately though after a while using the machine, Shira would come to the point where she couldn't go any further. "That seemed far more productive than I expected. What's next? I think I'm ready for something different."

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi almost chuckled when she saw a brief flash of a "what the heck" look in Shira's eyes. She watched with an ever growing smile as Shira powered through the exercise. When Shira spoke, she had to force herself not to roll her eyes. Instead, she sighed softly.
"He probably wouldn't mention me. He didn't know we had met, and let's just say that we don't get along. At all." Kimi paused for a moment to take a soothing breath before continuing. "We met a few months before your coma. I only saw you once. I hoped then what I still hope now, that we can become friends."
She smiled brightly and noticed that she was doing exceptionally well since she was taking her time.
"It looks like you have more strength in those legs than previously thought. Let's see how you'll do standing now since you've gotten the trick, then we'll try the stationary bike. Sound good?"

 

[Mienai]

Shira took in that information and stored it away. So they had met before. "I didn't realize you and Ko had such conflicting interaction. Well, you seem friendly enough. I suppose we can be friends. I don't have many anyway." Shira gave a slight shrug, but turned her mind back to her therapy. It wasn't like she really cared about friendships too much. Apparently she had been that way before as well.

Shira reached a hand out to Kimi in order to have a little bit of assistance getting up. She was going to try standing again, but needed a little bit of a push getting started, so to speak. If her hand was taken and she was helped, she would make sure that Kimi wouldn't let go as she attempted to stand. Her legs wouldn't want to buckle this time but she would wobble a bit. It would at least be a positive sign that she wasn't crumbling like before, even if her footing wasn't fantastic. She would smirk and look at Kimi with her red slit eyes. "Stationary bike you say? Bring it on." At least some of her personality was maintained after her memory lapse.

 

[Hoshirei]

The cat girl smiled and took Shira's out stretched hand. She allowed the girl to stand by her own power, but placed enough pressure in her grip to make sure she wouldn't fall over or back onto her butt. Kimi returned Shira's confident smirk and guided her over to the bike. She would help the girl as little as possible getting onto the bike, though getting her leg over to the other side might be a little rough at first.
"Alright, just like with the leg press, we'll have you start at little resistance and work up to until you're too tired to move your legs. Don't hesitate to ask for a break if you get a little tired. But be warned, you'll have to start at a lower resistance than you ended with."

 

[Mienai]

Shira moved slowly as Kimi helped her over to the bike, making sure to put all her focus into not falling like an idiot. It really helped her confidence level though when she was able to do it with minor difficulties. When they reached the bike, Shira let go of Kimi's hands an placed them on the seat. This would be a little problematic. Letting out a slight sigh as her eyebrows drew together, Shira decided to put her built up arm strength to use. She turned and placed her hands on the seat and lifted herself up backwards. It was a little difficult considering the lack of useable surface area, but Shira managed to get herself seated securely on the bike. Then she turned herself to face the front, allowing each leg to drift to their respective side. Shira smirked again and chuckled. "Not half bad."

Shira placed her feet on the pedals and her hands on the handles as Kimi explained the task again. It seemed to be just like the other one. Well, it wouldn't be hard then would it? Shira started at the easy pace, still used to the harder level of the leg press. She wasn't rushing this one though so she hoped to sustain a little longer. Maybe I should ask more questions. Shira though for a moment. She wasn't sure what to talk about...guess the basics would be a good choice. "So, what do you do for fun when you aren't working?" This was a simple enough question.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi was pleased with how Shira was able to more or less walk over to the bike without putting too much weight on her hands. Not to mention that the girl's plan of how to get on the bike with limited leg mobility was ingenious.
"I know this one seems similar to the last one, but this one is more for range of movement than strength."
She would watch her go, gradually increasing the amount of resistance. Once or twice, she bumped it up two notches instead of one. She was proud of her patient, and friend. She was so engrossed in Shira's progress that she almost didn't notice Shira asking a question. What does she do in her free time?
"Well, I train with my twin tigers Kora and Katsu. You met them before as well, though they were cubs at the time. I think they'll be waiting for me once we're done. Would you like to meet them again? Oh, and they speak common, so don't freak when they talk."
Kimi flashed her a wary smile.

 

[Mienai]

Shira thought for a moment about what Kimi had just said. Tigers. Do I even like tigers? I don't know. And talking ones at that. Shira kept up her excecise though she could start to feel the strain every time Kimi uped the diffficulty. She would keep up the activity a little longer if she could. She was at least enjoying the decent conversation. "That sounds interesting, I guess. If they're here I wouldn't mind meeting them." Shira gave a light shrug as she spoke. She was being exposed to so many new things that she should remember that it was becoming trivial. Hopefully her memories would come back in time.

Shira felt a twinge in her legs as they strained harder against the bike. Though, that being a last attempt, she sat back and removed her feet from the pedals. They had gotten good use today. She would be up and walking like normal in no time. Shira turned in her seat and looked at Kimi. "I think I'm done for today if you don't mind. I don't want to stress them too much. So should we head out?" Shira gave a little smile, a glimpse of her fangs showing. She then easily slid off the bike and carefully walked back over to her wheelchair, using a little bit of chakra as reinforcement just in case. She still didn't trust herself to be fully recovered after just one session.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi couldn't help but smile brightly when Shira said she wanted to meet the girls.
"You'll like them. They're really sweet for being such big cats. Their names are Katsu and Kora. If you're not sure which is which, their collars say their names. And, they always meet me after work and drop me off. Makes me wonder what they do while I'm gone." she finished with a chuckle.
When Shira was finished, Kimi was happy to see that she could more or less walk by herself. If she practiced on her own and had a couple more sessions, then she should be good as new. Kimi would lead Shira out of the room and to where Katsu and Kora were. Introductions would be made and the girls would reacquaint themselves with Shira's scent. The trio would offer for Shira to come by her clan home anytime she needed to get away from the house or needed something to beat up. The dummies in the practice field were wonderful for that.

[topic closed]