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It makes no sense... She had not seen Sousuke since she was discharged from the hospital and perhaps for a time before. Despite this, nobody has announced an active search. If the Kazekage was in fact gone, wouldn't the village rally behind their missing leader? There were murmurs that she heard despite the the array of sounds that she continually blocks to maintain her sanity. The village was in disarray, criminals were on the loose and running a-muck. She even heard the word Cabal once or twice but she did not understand the meaning of the word or its relative significance to the events that had passed. Perhaps Sousuke was avoiding her for a transgression she did not yet understand. She desperately wanted to talk to him, she missed him but for now she would have to return to her normal activities.
She got called in for a mission:
Her efforts were a joke it seemed, she always seemed to get these odd job requests. Apparently a beautiful leggy ballerina Kurasawa Uma was injured in a freak spinning accident,she was recovering safely in the medical complex but apparently the show must go on. She did not understand why she was chosen for this task, only that she was supposed to spin around for 2 hours and entertain aristocrats.
Someone had to assist her in her choice of attire, apparently ballerina's wore spandex and tulle -- that did not seem too out of the ordinary or special. "So... what am I supposed to do?" Shiori asked one of the similarly dressed girls.
"Pfft... Just spin to the music and do not fall," she snapped. Apparently Uma's role was a coveted one among the other girls as it was the lead role and it was just given to a non-ballerina. This was something Shiori had only gathered a few minutes later when the heard the others cluck about how out of place she was. Perhaps her role as the ugly duckling was an appropriate one.
The music began to play, a dramatic array of strings and woodwinds beckoned the girls on stage. The girls pranced on stage, Shiori clumsily followed in their wake as they twirled around gracefully and in sync, she tried to mirror their movements with only minor success. Thankfully her pain was fleeting, among the spectators there was a masked man. For a moment Shiori misidentified him: "Sousuke!" Her mind cheered. Pirouette and lift... now SPIN. The masked figure was not the absent Kazekage, rather one of the dozens of criminals that broke out of the prison.
BOOM!!!
The entire space shuddered with the resounding force. The supports began to groan and streams of sand ran through the cracks in the ceiling. The screams were deafening and Shiori found herself disoriented and alone on the stage as the other girls fled to an area of perceived safety. The unknown assailant fled through the back door before part of the roof gave way, Hunks of cement and earth came crashing down on the patrons. She could hear the bones break and the whistle of air from a punctured lung. She scurried on tip toe, her feet being taped in place she that she would not return to a flat-footed pose during the show with surprising grace, perhaps this position had a better center of balance for the medic- something to address later.
There was 6 injured or so that was what she could see. Many of the other spectators had already fled the scene. She attempted to lift the cement chunks off of the fallen spectators but they were too heavy.
"HELP!"</COLOR><i></i> Shiori yelled to their backs. She grunted with effort, her face red and beaded with sweat as she made another effort to dislodge one of the injured people below.
"Such a diminutive stone... such an arduous task..."<i></i> A well-dressed gentlemen seemed to state with an air of indifference. "Chozu Hideki, respected banker and merchant of rare jewels... it seems that you are in my debt,"<i></i> he announced as he easily lifted the stone to reveal the gore beneath. He then clapped his hands to relinquish them of the dust and debris that now offended his otherwise pristine canvas and took several steps back. "I would hurry Miss Takahashi if you wish to save any of them, personally I would start with the young man to your right... He owns this establishment as well as several others," he advised as he began to walk away. [color]"Also, do not forget to tell them that I was the one that lifted the stone, I expect to hear of their praises by the end of the week."[/color] With that statement he was gone which was good because she did not have the time to find out who he was although that omission would haunt her later.
She started to heal the injured, not entirely sure of where some of them ended and others began. Quick;y teir bleeding ceased but they were not stable by any means. She could hear the rapid contractions of their heart, hear the faint whistle of the continued air leak in another with a punctured lung that muffled only slightly when she covered the wound. Chozu Hideki was one of the luckier ones, his leg was broken but his life was not in peril. Once the bleeding ceased due to Shiori's medical ninjutsu over his compound fracture he dragged himself away, his assumed lover waiting for him at the threshold. Two women were also brutalized by the debris, one had injured her face it seemed and the other appeared to have had several ribs broken. Neither were moving, she leaned down to listen for signs of life... there were none. She did not have time to mourn as she moved her attention to the man with the whistle in his chest. He was grunting with noticeable respiratory effort but his right lung couldnot expand because it had been assaulted. She touched the area surrounding his injury, a sickening crackle could be heard: crepitus. He would need a chest tube to help re-expand his lung or perhaps a one-way valve or even talc. She has none of these available, but she could seal him for now and hope that he could make it to the Omni Prime Complex in time. That is what she did, she sealed his chest closed and lifted him in her arms. He was heavier than she had expected, she staggered under his weight as she made a few steps forward. There were still two others besides the dead laying in the fallen remnants of the room, both stable enough. They would escape with some cuts and bruises, but the man in her arms might not be so lucky. She should have started with him like the stranger suggested.
"Can someone help get the last two people out of the rubble,"<i></i> Shiori pleaded as she hastily made her retreat.
<COLOR color="teal">"Give Mr. Arburabuta my thanks," the man with the broken leg called to Shiroi as she departed the gruesome scene. On her way out the door she scanned the area with latent hope that Sousuke would be there. She again saw no sign of him.
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