A Rough Night [Medical Thread - Higa Kahako]

[Kogami Ayumu]

It took a bit of convincing from various sources that night, but Ayumu finally gave in and decided to visit the hospital for his injuries. Actually, all it really took was somebody reminding him that he had a crossbow bolt in his shoulder. Even he couldn't deny that it was probably something he needed to have looked at. It smarted slightly, but it was surprisingly not as painful as he would have thought by looking at it. Approaching the large hospital, Ayumu sighed at the thought of spending the rest of his night here. He walked over to the emergency entrance which was currently a bit crowded with injured shinobi like him walking up and others being rushed inside on gurneys.

'Right... we weren't the only ones there,' Ayumu thought as he recalled the ground forces whom had also been fighting Makoro's men even as Ayumu and the gang climbed the tower. The hospital was likely quite busy with the numerous injuries sustained in the ground fight at the base of the tower. Ayumu walked up to the emergency entrance, sidestepping gurneys as they were pushed inside and trying to stay out of the more urgent patients. An employee of the hospital spotted Ayumu and stopped him, giving him a quick once over to assess his immediately obvious injuries.

What he would find most prominent was a crossbow bolt in his shoulder, something they were seeing a lot of on this particular night. Secondly, a torn sleeve soaked in fresh blood was wrapped crudely around his forehead over a minor cut. He quickly led Ayumu inside and took him to an empty room, pointing him to the patient bed, and instructing him to take a seat and wait.

Ayumu hopped up on the end of the bed, resting his hands on either side of him and looking around. It was loud outside the room with a lot of shouting of instructions and barking orders. For a moment Ayumu thought about coming back tomorrow, but decided that he was probably better off staying put. It wouldn't be long before someone came to check him out. In the meantime, he started to inspect the bolt protruding from his armor. He touched it lightly, testing to see if moving it would hurt. "Itai!" he winced. It did.

[OoC: This is a medical thread for Higa Kahako! Patch me up, Jr. Dr.]

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

The sound of hurried footsteps and beeping machines had been a constant sound to Kahako for the past few hours. It was early evening when she was paged to assist in the emergency ward. Since then it had been non-stop assistance from anything as simple to as a few stitches to healing melted flesh. Kahako wasn’t allowed to touch the men that came in with life threatening injuries. Instead, they were immediately sent off to more experienced staff, and for that Kahako was grateful. But as the night wore on, and the injured continued to enter, Kahako’s uplifting spirit was starting to slow. She has spent the entire day in the hospital, and now it looked like she was going to spend the night there too.

“I need coffee.” She said to herself while rubbing an eye. She slid back the curtain that separated her last patient from the rest of the busy world. Somehow, his arm had been twisted backwards and he suffered an ugly gash to his head, but he’d survive. Months of therapy for his arm, but he was another one that would live.

Kahako turned a corner and looked up and down the hallway full of mednin, nurses, and patients. Whatever happened earlier tonight, it finally seemed like it was starting to dwindle. There were still many men and women waiting needing to be seen, but the amount was nowhere near what it had been about an hour ago when she was given her latest patient. Maybe she’d make it home before her aunt went to sleep after all.

“Higa-san, can you come here for a second?”

‘So much for that thought,’ Kahako said hope of sweet, sweet sleep disappearing as fast as it appeared. “Coming!” she said, her expression serious. Had it been earlier and she a little less tired, she would have put on a smile at the attendant that called out to her.

“Are you with a patient?” the attendant asked not looking up when she approached. He focused his attention on the many files in front of him, trying to make sure the many patients that entered tonight weren’t forgotten. “Just finished my last patient.” She responded simply. “Good,” the he said, flipping a manila file over the counter and at her while looking up. “Room 603. Kogami Ayumu. From initial appearance, he suffered a bolter shot to the shoulder and a gash to his forehead. He’s conscious, but he appears to be bleeding still.” She took the file and walked immediately to his room. Dodging passing nurses and doctors, she quickly scanned over Kogami’s files, making her way promptly to the designated room.

Opening the door, she was welcomed to the sound of a protest of pain. “Kogami Ayumu-san?” she called out quietly. She was greeted by a young man pulling his hand away from the protruding bolt in his shoulder. ‘He looks to be only a little older than me….’ Kahako thought as she placed her usual small smile on her face.

“My name is Higa Kahako, and I’ll be your doctor this evening.” She said in a calm, quiet voice, analyzing his injuries. She opened his file again and slowly began scanning it. “It says here that you’ve suffered that bolt to your shoulder and an additional scratch to the head.” Looking up to him, she paused. ‘Well, duh.’ She said, her face faltering a bit. “I’ll give you blood pill to slow bleeding and a pain killer as well. Then we can start working on removing that bolter from your shoulder.” She said as she walked over to a counter filled neatly with cups, blood pills, and basic first aid equipment. Grabbing two cups, she took one of the pill bottles and popped the two pills into one cup, and moved to the sink to fill the other with water.

She turned around and, with a smile on her face, walked over and held out the cups for her new patient to take. “We’ll have to wait a second before the pills will start taking affect, so let’s get some basic paper work out of the way, okay?” Opening his file again, she pulled a pen out of the pocket of her doctor’s coat and clicked it open. Moving to fiddle with her necklace with the pen between her fingers, she flipped to the general section. “The person who signed you in was unable to get all the basic information, so can you please tell me your age, any pre-existing conditions, and allergies?”

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

'Stupid bolt. Stupid crossbolt. Stupid Makoro!" Ayumu thought in irritation as he reeled from the pain of trying to dislodged the bolt from his shoulder. He looked up when his name was spoken and met the gaze of the young Med-nin in Training who had just entered the room in time to hear his mistake. Still wincing from his unfortunate decision, he nodded. "Yep, that's me. Hi," he said in a strained tone. He straightened up as she started to look him over, feeling a bit self-conscious as if he was being sized up. She proceeded to open his file and read the little information the man who had looked him over before had collected. Of course, all of this was quite obvious just from looking at him.

Kahako quickly decided what she needed to do and told him as well, which put him a little bit more at ease. He sighed with a bit of relief at the idea of a pain killer and watched as she collected two cups, one for water and the other for pills, then returned to him with them. Ayumu took them and tilted his head up to drop the pills in his mouth, followed by the water to wash them down. As he looked down he noticed she had produced a pen and the file once more which she opened and prepared to write in. She asked him a few questions he was used to hearing when he came to the hospital.

"I'm eighteen, no, and no- well, unless you count a little nearsightedness," he said, adjusting his glasses which were cracked in one lens. The movement of his arm caused a slight tinge of pain to emanate from his wound, but a bit less than last time. The pain pills were very fast acting. The blood pill was also doing its job as the cut on his head was beginning to clot, the bleeding slowing.

"I'm really not sure what that file was talking about, though, I'm pretty sure I just have a cold," he said with a straight face before glancing at the bolt, then doing a double take. "Oh my God, there's a bolt in my shoulder! How did that get there?!" he said, sounding panicked. "Getitoutgetitoutgetitoutgetitout!" he spoke rapidly as he fanned his face. It was possible this was a joke about how she had stated the obvious from his file a few moments ago.

[MFT]

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako marked everything off appropriately as Ayumu answered her questions. She was just about to go into another span of general questions when he caught her off guard. “…Cold?” was all she got out in confusion before he began to freak out.

Kahako jumped slightly at Ayumu’s outbreak. Worry was written all over her face, and she took a few steps towards him in concern. 'Is he having a reaction to the medication?!' she thought worriedly. It took a few more before she processed his words and not his tone. He.... he was teasing her! Kahako donned a small frown, and a small blush grew on her face. “Please, Kogami-san, calm down. You’ll only injure yourself more that way.” She chastised trying to stifle the pout rising to her lips. She really didn't know how to react to teasing. He almost had her believing she accidentally poisoned him or worse.

She sighed a little and put the file on the table beside the bed. Despite his teasing, it was obvious that he didn’t need the usual questionnaire right then and there. She was just... so used to following the rules. “Take your coat off and lay down, so I can get a better look,” she said as she walked over to put on a pair of gloves and pulled a rolling stool up to the bedside. "Now, about how far do you think you can feel the arrow pierced into your skin, and what type of bolter were you shot with?" she asked, waited for him to do as he was told before she continued. She needed to know in order to guess how deep the arrow actually was. This task was a little more difficult to handle than the usual since she had to work around chest armor. Hopefully she didn't have to destroy the thing completely in the process. You are lucky that the armor was there. If it wasn't, the bolt could have rendered your arm useless."

[MFT 300+ words]

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Her initial response told him immediately that she was falling for it. Perhaps it was a little mean to worry her- clearly she was a new trainee, but it was too amusing to stop. When realizing spread over her face, he grinned and laughed as the blush appeared. "Ahaha, sorry I couldn't resist," he said, stopping his acting as she told him to calm down. She set the file on a table, which Ayumu was glad to see. The questions were boring, and he just wanted to get this bolt out already. She told him to take his coast off and lie down so she could get a look at his wound, but there was really no doing that with his armor in the way. He took off his coat but didn't lie down. "I don't know... judging by the length of the bolt and how thick this armor is.... a couple- maybe a few inches? It was small bolter, capable of being held in one hand," he said, making his best guess.

He nodded at her comment about his armor and knocked on it as if to show it was sturdy. "Yep, armor like this saves lives and limbs," he agreed, admiring it for a moment. "It's kinda in the way right now though, huh?" he said, moving his hands to the two straps, one on each shoulder, that held the armor on him. As long as the bolt was pierced through it, the armor was pinned to his body. "I should just pull this out," he said, moving his hand to the end of the bolt protruding from his armor. For a moment, he seemed to be serious about it and looked like he was about to yank it out. He stopped and grinned. "Just kidding."

He leaned back and propped himself up on his hands. "The armor's too thick to cut, though. I don't know how else to do this but to pull it out then take the armor off... got a plan, doc?" he asked, looking to Kahako to see what she'd say The other option was to try to pull the armor off over the bolt, he guessed. They'd need to cut the bolt or something. He didn't know, he wasn't a doctor! Or a Med-nin!

[MFT: 381]

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Again, Kahako felt foolish. She really needed to stop derp-ing around and get this bolt out of the poor boy. …But how to get around the armor? She couldn’t cut through it, and cutting the bolter would only make it harder to remove the part trapped in the flesh. She pondered for a second as she listened and watched Ayumu joke around again.

For the second time, Kahako watch Ayumu do something potentially dangerous to his ligaments. There was a small flash of panic in her eyes, but this time around she wasn’t as easily as fooled. At least… she was better able to hide her panic. ‘There are a plethora of ligaments there that could be destroyed and render his arm completely useless, and still he touches it? …However…’

“Actually, Kogami-san, based on how deep you say the bolter is, that sounds like a good idea.” She stood up from the stool and positioned herself to grab and yank the bolter out in one clean motion. Since he was already propped back, it was easy to lean over him with one hand and grab the bolter firmly without jarring it. Placing the other on his chest, she spoke softly, but assuredly. “Okay. On the count of three, I’m going to pull out the bolter. Hopefully it will come out in one pull, and if we’re lucky nothing broke off of the tip upon impact. When I get it out, I’ll help you take off your armor. We’ll have to do it quickly to ensure that you don’t bleed more than you have to. The blood pills slow bleeding, but they by no means stop it. Did you get all that?”

She waited for his response and any other re-positioning needed before she braced herself. Slowly, she began letting chakra flow through the arm that was holding onto the bolter. The faster she could pull it out, the less pain would be there. It would probably still be pretty painful. Anything short of morphine was going to make this hurt like hell regardless. “Okay, on the count of three.” She looked at him in the eyes one more time to make sure he was ready. She felt a little bad at how much this was going to hurt. “One… Two…THREE!“ She pulled hard on the bolter.

[MFT: 300+]

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu blinked a few times after she agreed with him. "Wait, seriously?" he asked, wondering if she was just getting back at him for his teasing. "You really wanna just yank it out?" he asked with a look of slight fear. His eyes widened slightly as she began explaining the plan, if it could be called that. She really was serious. 'Well it can't hurt as much coming out as it did going in, right?' he thought, looking down at the bolt protruding from his armor. She asked if he understood her "plan" and he nodded slowly in confirmation. "Let's just get it over with," he said in a defeated tone. He winced as she held on to the bolt, preparing to pull it out. "One..." she said as he bit his lip, enduring the slight weight she was putting on it. 'Enough waiting!' he thought, his hands shooting to the bolt and clasping it over her hands. "THREE!" he shouted, skipping two entirely and pulling the bolt out in an instant.

"ITAAAAAAAAAI!" he shouted as he tossed the bolt aside. He had been wrong, the bolt coming out was worse. He tossed it aside and grasped the bedsheets for a moment as he gritted his teeth through the pain. "Oh right... the damn armor," he said, reaching to the straps on his shoulders and pulling them off then yanking the vest away and tossing it aside as well. Of course, his shirt was still in the way so he pulled that off quickly as well. His mind was too focused on pain to care about being embarrassed for the moment. "There you go, full access, doc," he said exasperatedly. He fell back on to the bed and let his arms hang down on either side.

"Do what you must," he said, waiting for her to patch him up. Now that he was without shirt, she would be able to see a few slight burns from being a bit too close to some explosions, but the most pressing matter was still the puncture wound and the cut on his head. "Man, what a rough night..." he groaned. He was used to getting injured, of course, being as reckless as he was. That was probably why he was able to joke so much about it. This part was much less fun than the actual fight, however. When he was fighting he could ignore the pain and enjoy the adrenaline. It was just painful here. 'Damn Makoto... I hope you rot in a cell...' he thought. "So what's first?" he asked, though he assumed she was going to initiate glowy hands protocol.

[MFT]

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako almost didn’t have enough time to move her hand away as Ayumu grabbed the bolt and yanked it out. She just stared at him for a good long second, flabbergasted that the boy would do that. Okay… maybe it was longer than a second, because by the time her attention returned to the situation at hand, the enigma before her was already shirtless.

“There you go doc, full access.”

“o-okay…” She mentally snapped back into action as she performed the correct signs to activate her mystical hand technique. Soon her hand began to glow with the soft light of chakra, and she placed it gently over his shoulder wound. She concentrated deeply as she used her chakra to coax Ayumu’s cells to accelerate their natural function of healing. “Please don’t move, Ayumu-kun,” she commanded softly. Most of her focus was on the wound in front of her instead of the words that just came out of her mouth. ‘First mend the muscle tissue that was penetrated… strengthen these cells so they don’t tear again… however, I’m not experienced enough to heal it fully, but as long as it’s almost closed, it’s will heal the rest of the way naturally.’

Kahako was so engrossed, she didn’t notice she laid her other hand delicately on Ayumu’s stomach. It stayed there until she saw the final bit of skin seal somewhat over the wound. “There,” As she moved her hand away (her other hand also moved away from his stomach as well). What looked like angry, red flesh replaced the bleeding hole that was there before. “It’s healed for the most part, but no sudden movements or else it will reopen again. It will also be sore for a few days, so I suggest being careful with your next mission. I actually advise staying out of missions for a while, just to make sure it heals more.”

She looked up to his face, “Now, let’s get that cut taken care of, shall we?” She gave him a small smile. She truly did love the field she went into. There was nothing more calming, more self-fulfilling than helping someone with her hands. “I’ll take your glasses now.” She said as she grabbed them.

Slipping them off, Kahako set them on the table beside the bed and looked back to Ayumu to get started on his forehead… only to stop her movements. The color of his eyes caught her off-guard. He looked… really nice without glasses on.

Like a train derailing, all thought screeched to a halt. ‘What are you THINKING, Kahako!’ she said as she tried to fight back the rising blush. She could feel herself fail miserably. There were so many levels of NOT APPROPRIATE she traversed with that thought. Hopefully his near-sightedness was bad enough that he wouldn’t see the light blush on her cheeks as she laid her hand over his forehead, looking intently at his gash more so she didn’t get… lost in his eyes.

She wanted to slap herself for that thought too.

[=,= edited to MFT 500+ words]

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu angled his head up to watch as the old familiar glow enveloped Kahako's hands while she prepared to heal him. Her hand moved over his shoulder wound which wasn't bleeding profusely thanks to the medicine she had administered. She instructed him not to move, so he nodded and then realized that was moving. Something else had caught his attention, though. 'Ayumu-kun? Wasn't she calling me Kogami-san a moment ago?' he thought, wondering why the sudden change. He didn't mind, of course, and wouldn't bother saying anything, it was just interesting. That thought was completely obliterated when Kahako's hand suddenly came to rest on his stomach. There was no wound there, no burn, just his skin which she was touching without a second thought. Ayumu's face turned slightly red as he watched it, barely paying attention to the miraculous healing taking place on his shoulder now. He froze up, even holding his breath. Her touch was delicate and tickled a little- it was also extraordinarily distracting. By the time he glanced back at his wound, it was healed.

Kahako moved both of her hands away and Ayumu finally exhaled, relaxing once again. As she advised him to be careful with his wound, he poked it lightly feeling the skin that had healed over the wound. It had a strange red look to it at the moment, but he knew it would return to a normal color soon enough. The thought of having to take it easy for a few days was the worst part. He preferred to be on the move rather than sit at home, so it would be torture for him. He sighed, giving up. "Okay, I'll just get a doctor's note before I leave," he said, knowing he would probably end up going on another mission soon enough anyway. She then turned her attention to the cut on his head. "Oh right, I forgot about that one," he said as she approached once more. He was caught off guard as she took his glasses directly off of his face, which was a little embarrassing. Here he was shirtless, laying on a bed, and she was taking his glasses off.

Suddenly, Kahako just stopped. She looked at him, directly in the eyes and just stared without a word or movement. His glasses might have been gone, but he could tell a slight rosy hue was overtaking her cheeks. There was little doubt where her mind had gone. Her embarrassment only furthered his own, but he tended to cover his embarrassment with humor. Averting his gaze off to the side slightly, he moved a hand just over his face and glanced away then back shyly at Kahako. "P-please don't stare, Kahako-chan, you're embarrassing me~" he said in a soft, timid voice while she moved her hand over his gash in preparation for healing the cut.

"Tee-hee, your hand tickles," he added, for extra teasing power. There may have been a little bit of sadism in him somewhere. There was also probably a hint of masochism, as even though he was teasing his own words embarrassed him. Oh well, this was a kind of adrenaline rush too.

[OoC: I added color!]
[MFT: 527]

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Not matter how hard she tried, Kahako knew this was a losing battle on keeping her emotions in check. Once Ayumu was done teasing her (AGAIN) the pinkish hue on her cheeks changed into a full blown cherry-red tomato. “I-I-I-I am NOT STARING, Kogami-san!” She said while trying to bring down her raising voice. As she did this, Kahako gave a swift push with the hand on his forehead. The chakra in her hand became unbalanced and gave Kahako a little more push than they both were probably expecting. She immediately let go of him and stared in mild horror for a second at what she did.

“Oh-No- I-I’m sorry! Are you okay?!” She asked. She was ashamed that she could have injured her patient because of her unprofessional responses. She looked at the gash on his forehead. Fortunately, the rush of chakra healed the wound for the most part. Unfortunately, Kahako had forced the cells to regenerate too quickly. There was a high chance that the gash would scar.

She looked away from Ayumu’s face. ‘All of this happened because I let my emotions get the better of me!’ She thought, frustrated with herself. She was silent for a second before realizing that her patient wasn’t completely healed. She just wanted to leave the room, and never hear the name Kogami Ayumu ever again!

But… she had a job to do, and it would be malpractice for her to leave him in the state he was all because she couldn’t be professional. “I’m going to heal these burns next Kogami-san.” She said quietly as she made her hand signs once more.

Kahako couldn’t hide it anymore. Between the fatigue of the day and the unnecessary scaring she just gave to Ayumu, Kahako’s happier mood was completely squashed. She viewed her professional mask with pride, and only in the matter of a few words did this boy break through it completely. To her, it was worse than being defeated.

Healing the last of the burns on his chest, Kahako let the charkra dissipate from her fingers. “I’ll have a doctor come in and check to see if you have any burn marks on your lower thighs or legs.” She said. She knew this was the better call to make than to continue to heal him. She had been inappropriate to Ayumu, and she felt horrible about it.

Standing up, she walked around the hospital bed and grabbed his paperwork to update his condition and what she did. “I think it will be best for you to stay the night here, Kogami-san. The morning shift will release you, but because of the medication and recently healed wounds you are in no state to travel tonight.” She looked at him again, “Also…” she grabbed the clipboard a little tighter. She had to let him know what she did to him. “Because I… rushed the healing of the gash on your forehead, odds are it will end up scaring.” Kahako looked away from Ayumu, ashamed.

It was at this moment that everything that happened tonight came rushing back to her. ‘I need to get out of this room!’ She bowed to him. “But for the most part, you’re healed Kogami-san. I’ll notify the correct people to make sure your stay is as comfortable as possible.” With that she turned and left the room.

As soon as the door closed, Kahako took a couple of steps down the hall before she was stopped by the flashing memory of Ayumu’s eyes. The blush returned in full force but just as quickly as it appeared, she shut down the picture in her head. ‘NO! This isn’t some stupid shoujo romance! You know what really happens, Kahako, don’t be stupid!’

Kahako breathed deeply and stood taller. After tonight she would transfer Ayumu over to another doctor. (‘Male doctor!’ A small voice in the back of her head protested. Kahako imagined beating the traitorous voice to a bloody pulp with her bare hands.) If she was lucky, she would only see Ayumu around and in the hospital. She had been in the village for years, and hadn’t seen him around before. So she would probably never see him again, right?

[MFT 650+ words]
[Topic Left]

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

It seemed Ayumu had struck a chord. She blushed even more and gave a sudden outburst refuting that she had been staring. The way her voice raised and how flustered she became spoke otherwise, but Ayumu realized that he was probably pushing the poor girl too far. He was planning to dial it back down, but unfortunately it was too late. Suddenly she pushed his head back and it knocked back into the bed. The bed was soft enough, but the sudden knock jarred his brain a little and dazed him slightly. Kahako apologized profusely, the anger in his voice seemingly gone.

"Uh... yeah, I'm fine, it's alright," he said, realizing that it was pretty much his fault for teasing her. His forehead tingled a little though, which was odd. He dismissed the thought as she moved on to healing the few burns on his chest. She had gone silent, and he wasn't really sure what to say at this point. 'Well, this is awkward,' he thought quietly as he averted his gaze. Despite his teasing, having her hands touching his chest, even for healing, was a little embarrassing.

Kahako quickly worked her magic, healing the light burns up until not one was left. Then the chakra disappeared from her hands. She was finished, so it was time for him to go home, or so he thought. She said she would have another doctor come to do the rest. Actually, he was fairly sure there weren't anymore, but why wasn't she going to do it? Wasn't she a Med-nin?

Kahako quickly proceeded to explain to him that she thought he should stay for the night- something he would probably end up not heeding, or so he thought. She continued to explain that the cut on his head would possibly scar, not that he really cared. In his line of work, scars were badges of honor after all. He didn't realize how deeply it would affect her, unfortunately, or else he would have reassured her. And then, suddenly, she was leaving.

"Oh! Uh, than-" he started, but the door closed before he could finish. She was in a hurry to get out of there. Did she hate him? Had he teased her too much? He sighed, shaking his head. "Really screwed that one up, eh Ayumu..." he mumbled to himself. Suddenly, he was feeling tired. Perhaps the fatigue the mission had put on him was catching up now, but he felt like he might stay the night after all. Maybe he'd see Kahako again and get to apologize.

Sadly that wasn't the case. The other doctor came and left when he assured him that he was fine. Ayumu slept for the night and looked for Kahako in the morning but couldn't locate her much to his disappointment. He would leave the hospital the next day healed, but feeling guilty.

[MFT: 478]
[Topic Left]