A Safe Return . . . Maybe [Open]

[Okibi]

Did sand always hurt her feet so much? Was the sun always so bright?

Okibi could hardly remember anymore. It had been such a long time - years it seemed - since she had seen the outside. So long had she been locked away in that room . . . that horrible room, with only those men to visit her. Her empty belly heaved at the memory of those men, and what they took joy in doing to her. Shaking her head wildly, Okibi tried to dispel the memories of the long, wretched year she spent in the hands of enemies she didnt know she had. Pain, every day all she knew was pain, and in the few fleeting days where she was left alone, the sheer darkness and isolation they left her in nearly drove her mad. Or did. She wasn't sure.

What was that noise!?

The sound of shuffling sand behind her drew Okibi from the mire of her thoughts. She whirled around on her weak, skinny legs, searching the desert around her with frantic, blood red eyes. The blood vessels in her eyes burst a long time ago and never healed. Her limbs began to shake as her searching eyes failed to find the source of the shuffling that she could still hear. Were they coming for her? Did they find her already? A gust of dry, hot wind blew her stringy white hair into her face, blocking her vision. It, like her eyes, had changed long ago, the color and curl shocked right out of it. She clawed and batted at the limp strands wildly, pulling free a good few of them, though she hardly noticed the pain in her panic.

Seven. She wished Seven were there.

But Seven wasn't anywhere anymore.

Okibi turned back around again, so quickly that she almost fell on her face. As weak as she was, malnourished and suffering from severe muscle atrophy, it was a miracle that she didn't. She hurried on as best she could, clutching the hastily seared flesh of the stump that used to be her right arm, biting her dry and cracked lips so hard that they bled. She had to move faster, or they were going to catch her again!

Her weak heart, now so broken and feeble, beat wildly in her bony chest and somehow she continued on.

-- A few hours later --

The mouth of the familiar, giant skeleton of the sandworm known as Barnyx yawned in front of her. Okibi looked up, blinking tiredly in the bright sunlight, measuring its height. Was it always so big?

Finally, she was home.

Finally, she could rest.

What was that!?

Just out of the corner of her eye, Okibi saw a shadow dart from left to right. Her neck cracked audibly as she snapped her head in that direction, her wide eyes shaking with renewed fright. The momentary joy she felt in finally being home, finally being safe, was overshadowed by the ever present paranoia that was now her constant companion. The darting shadows, the bodiless noises; they sapped any relief she had felt in the mouth of that giant sandworm.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to run.

But she could do neither. All she could do was shake, and shake, and shake.

Finally, after what seemed like hours (though in truth it was only a few moments) her legs gave out and she fell to the dry, hard packed soil. The dirty cloak she'd pilfered to hide her naked and scarred body flapped around her as she landed face down in the dirt, barely able to breathe. Her skin felt so tight, and it hurt when she fell. Warm liquid pooled under her cheek and she was pretty sure one of the blisters on her face had split open.

But she was used to pain - she hated it, but she was used to it. It, like the shadows and the noises, was a constant companion.

[MFT]
(Anyone is welcome to join and attempt to interact with Okibi/administer aid. Just try to give yourself a plausible reason for being at the gates at this time yah? :3 Oh, and just a note, if you knew Okibi before this drastic change, try not to make it so your character recognizes her right off the bat yah? She looks nothing like what she used to, aside from her pink irises. )

 

[Uri]

The ride up the lift to the surface always felt so somber to Uri. Besides the whir of the gears raising the lift, there was a calm silence that allowed the minds of travelers to settle into a state of mind proper for their undertaking. Ever since his return to the village the officials had seen it fit to keep him busy with numerous missions. Soon's Haven was calling for a shinobi to come to their aid as their trading ships were being reportedly attacked by a creature with massive tentacles, the ships never reaching their destination. This wasn't an investigation, this wasn't gathering intelligence, this was a mission where it had only one real outcome. Uri wasn't the ruthless type, and in fact avoided killing anyone if he could help it. A sweet treat was always a better option than a sharp knife. Since Uri had to ride this ship all the way to landfall and back, he would be gone for at least a week's time. Hefting the pack on his back, he was reminded of the first time he had left the village with only minimal clothes and food supplies before setting out on his transformative journey.

Once his body jerked as the braking mechanisms stopped the metal disc he was on, he stepped out into the enclosed maw, be greeted by a handful of the same gate guards that had let him in upon his arrival. Since then he had made a point of bringing them some donuts and strong black tea every other day. This was his off day so they weren't expecting him. Once they saw the mission transcripts they knew that no more treats would be coming for a good while earning a few frowns from the guards.

Wrapping up his head and placing his goggles in place he approached the gate and gave a wave of his hand. The immense mechanism responsible for the gates groaned in protest as it slowly edged the massive doors apart just enough for Uri to pass through the portal. Another trip into the sands to see the great blue ocean, Uri's body shivered with anticipation of tasting salt on the air again. As he pushed against the wind and made his way out, he paused and gazed out into the sand. There was a form slumped before him. Instinct kicked in and he immediately moved next to the collapsed figure. Turning over the stranger he saw the visage of a malnourished female. Gently lifting her up, he turned back towards the still open maw and slid back in as they started to close.

The guards rushed over to see what was going on, Uri was setting down the fragile frame of the girl. Medicine hadn't ever been his thing, there was a reason why he wasn't a doctor, but he did know enough to help the first med-nin who arrived. Reaching a hand out, he looked to the nearest guard, "Give me your headset,"<i></i> He stood there, unsure of himself, "Your headset."<i></i> This time it so firm that it took no less than a second for it to be dropped into his hand. Placing it against his ear, he keyed up the emergency medical channel, "Attention, this is Chuunin Kuroda Uri, I need emergency medical staff at the Maw immediately."<i></i>

Tossing the piece of tech back to its owner, Uri looked down at the girl he supported. Honestly, if Uri had a daughter, this stranger would probably be what she'd look like.

"Hey, I'm Uri. Just take it easy, don't try to move too much."<i></i>

Hand vanishing into his satchel he retrieved a small plastic container, inside was a light green cream, something he had learned how to make while working underneath an alchemist a year years ago in Fire Country. Carefully moving her hand away, he applied the balm to the stump of her arm and then covered it with the whole of his hand. A gentle glow emanated from it and all the dust particles and grains of sand were removed. He took a moment to apply some of the balm to her terribly cracked lips, smiling down at her while he worked swiftly, but with a soft hand. Quickly, he switched out the small container for his canteen and held it up to her lips, "Take small sips or else you'll choke. Help'll be here soon."<i></i> All he could do was keep his smile bright and make sure to not let her do anything dramatic.

[MFT]

 

[Toraono Michino]

[Kiyah~]

The door of a building out in the slums suddenly exploded off of its hinges and crashed into the wall of the next building. A man with short cropped blonde hair, a brown trench coat, and bi-colored eyes stepped out into the street and turned to face the direction of the maw. He placed his hands together into a tiger seal and began to focus large amounts of chakra to explode from his core as quickly he could muster as he aligned it his Seikon chakra coil. Reality itself would appear to bend and warp around the scientist as the expanding invisible chakra began to push against the walls of the buildings until they appeared to be folded inwards.

Tama released the seal and focused the chakra towards the Maw.

Instantaneously the chakra became very focused into a small point that shot towards the Maw with the speed that caused a destructive after-force that exploded the walls of the buildings into sheer rubble and then grains of sand as his atom level destructive chakra was forced down into a glowing ball of light that shot like a bullet towards the gates. The unimaginable speeds that it shot through the caverns with should of shaken the air and caused at least a minor air quake, but the effect of focusing all that chakra that could break down the bonds between reality and the other side simply ripped through time and space as it sped towards the direction the master sent it to.
It stopped suddenly right before Uri and the mystery girl and ‘popped’ to drop Tama onto the ground very unceremoniously. He coughed a few times causing blood to splatter from his mouth to the ground. His flesh and clothing looked like they had been thrown into a blender for a good half minute. He slowly rolled onto his arm as blood poured from his wounds onto the ground in an attempt to get his body to stand up only to have a violent shake cause him to drop back into the packed dirt.
“Damn, miscalculated a little. Hold on, nobody help me. I promise I’m okay.”

It had only taken him thirty seconds to get there after kicking down the door though.

He brought his two shaky hands together to form a dragon seal followed by two rat seals that forced his Seikon chakra back into the fold and drew forth the stolen chakra coil of an amazing doctor that could perform literal miracles. One unfolded right before the eyes of Uri and the two guards as the man whose flesh looked like the victim of a piranha pack began to fold back onto itself and sizzle away into pristine flesh. A glimmering mint green light in the middle of his chest blinked twice before spreading out and rushing over his flesh to heal him in a matter of seconds; his clothing, however, was just misfortunate.
"Sorry about that, happens sometimes on your trial run. Yah know? No time for introductions, work."

Tama walked over towards the trio and knelt down before the girl. He reached into his coat to pull out a pair of glassed that shattered the moment he tried to open them up. With a huff the scientist reached down and pulled back a bit of the brown cloak withholding her flesh from view to look at her chest from the sternum up, not even caring for anyone’s privacy. He placed his hands together to form a duo rotation of rat, goat, rat before creating a large green ball of chakra that gathered around the final seal. His bi-colored eyes looked over the wounds that he could see as he scanned over the entire body. He shifted the last rat seal into a dog seal and shifted the color of the orb to blue. Carefully he moved his hand out until the palm of his hand touched the outer circumference of the orb and lifted it away from his other hand. Gently with the hand of a practiced professional he began to gently push inside of Okibi the blue healing chakra that rush through her body and began to repair and energize not the body, but the chakra coil.

[MFT]

 

[Okibi]

Colors and shapes blurred in her vision as Okibi winked in and out of consciousness. The shadows were still there, and although she felt the fear and panic that always came with their appearance, she was just too tired to show it physically. The sounds were there too, shuffling all around her, mocking her prone and broken form.

And then, all at once, it became blissfully silent.

Until the voices started.

'You failed him.' One said. 'You let him die.' Said another. 'What good are you?' Came yet one more. Voices that were both familiar and yet not buzzed around her, seemingly both outside and inside of her head. She wanted to swat at them, but her arm wouldnt listen to her. She wanted to yell at them, but she couldnt make her mouth work.

Then, as quickly as they came, the voices left again. There then came a loud grinding, crunching sound, like metal being dragged over sand. Should this new sound worry her? She wasnt sure; she couldnt summon the strength to look up and see what it was. She breathed in slow, shallow breaths as the sound stopped and she was suddenly made weightless. She was turned over and lifted from the ground, as though by magic, leaving a pool of her blood behind her. As her head lulled back, Okibi watched in a daze as the sky disappeared and was replaced by darkness.

The longer she stayed in that darkness, the more her senses came back to her. Where was she? Where had the sky gone? Her limbs began to shake again as that familiar fear slowly set in. Was it them? Did they find her and take her back to that room? Please, please no!

Slowly Okibi registered the feel of arms underneath her. At once, her entire body stiffened, though it continued to shake. Someone was holding her. Touching her. No, she didn't like it. She didn't like being touched!

Even as the pain in her armless right shoulder and cracked lips slowly receded, Okibi didnt noticed the relief beyond the panic. Someone was touching her, and she couldnt stand being touched! Not anymore . . . touching only lead to pain. And she didnt like pain.

Someone was talking to her now; a voice she didn't recognize. She knew the voices of her tormentors; this was not one of them. Was he knew? Did they bring in a new 'friend' to cause her more pain? Okibi didn't hear his words as the stranger greeted her and instructed her not to move too much. All she heard were the tones of his voice, his deep male voice, and the sound of her blood rushing in her ears. She started to squirm and fight his hold, even though she knew it would do her no good. She'd tried fighting them for a year, and it had never worked; it only made them mad, and when they got mad, they hurt her more.

She felt something press against her lips again, something hard. Okibi sucked in a breath and nearly choked on the trickle of cool water that slid down her throat. Even as the miraculous liquid soothed her parched tongue, she couldn't bring herself to want it. Too great was her fear of the man making her drink it. It was probably laced with one of those scentless drugs. Oh, how she hated it when they used those.

Now coughing and hacking, Okibi tried to push away from the stranger. "Please stop." She begged, her weak arm straining against him as she tried to roll out of his grasp. Her voice was dry and raspy, as though it was made ragged from overuse; and it was - ragged with a year's worth of screaming. "Please stop touching me." She croaked again, nearly a whisper.

And then, out of nowhere, there was another stranger, another man. Okibi could barely make out his form - her vision was so blurry - but it looked like he was covered in red; blood? Was it her blood? Seven's? Was this some kind of new, sick game? Taunting her by wearing the blood of her fallen friend, like some morbid body paint . . .

This new stranger was talking too, but just the same Okibi could not make out the words. The red slowly disappeared from his skin, and for a moment, Okibi was gripped by curiosity. Why did he do that?

But then he was kneeling beside her, much closer now, and trying to touch her. The curiosity vanished and her fear kicked into overdrive. Two of them, there were two of them trying to touch her. No . . . no!

"Stop . . ." She wheezed again, trying to get away as the new man pulled open her cloak, revealing her bony chest and numerous scars. She began to shake uncontrollably and her resistance renewed as she dug deep for a strength that she wasnt sure she had. The new man's hands were glowing now and he was bringing them down, as though he were going to put them on her chest. Her red rimmed eyes flew open, widening to the size of dinner plates, and she brought up her single remaining arm, flinging it at him

"Stop touching me!" She screamed, for just a moment sounding like her old self. Anger bubbled up in her chest, old and dusty, and she curled her left hand into a claw, arcing it at the new man's arms. She probably wouldnt make contact, she never did, but that didnt matter. She couldnt stand their touch!

And then the anger was gone, and the courage that it fueled along with it. Okibi pulled her arm back with a gasp and used it to clutch her cloak closed so the new man couldnt touch her anymore. She didnt want his glowing hands anywhere near her. But by the sands, what were they going to do to her now? She'd just tried to attack one of them . . . Just the thought of what they might do now made her feel sick.

Gasping for breath, Okibi pushed and kicked and tried to roll away from them. She attempted to get up on her feet, but they wobbled and she only ended up on her face again. Tears of blood started to leak from her eyes - she didn't know when that had happened, or where her normal tears had gone - and dipped into the corners of her quivering, grimacing mouth. It tasted like metal.

Okibi curled up into a ball and covered her head with her single arm. "Please," she begged, "Please don't hurt me." She weeped, and in her fear never noticed that the new man . . . well he should have smelled familiar.

(Woo! Wall of text, GO! Sorry to burst your bubble Doc, but like I said, none of that ;D.)

 

[Sagasu Yume]

By Mother Suna, what in going on here?

Yume arrived just in time to see Uri receive a backhanded flailing fist to his face. She was expecting to see him upon making her entrance as it was the urgency in his normally jovial voice that prompted her to take the call. Doing rounds amongst the workers in the farm lands only held so much excitement. What she wasn't expecting was there to be another shinobi already there, trying to help the wounded girl out.

Watching the blonde shinobi trying to heal the wounded girl was frightening in its own right. The amount of chakra that was pooling in his hands was enough to completely heal all over her wounds and probably re-grow her limb in record time… not to mention give her chakra poisoning that would land her in the hospital for double the time that she would require healing, or perhaps just send her straight to the morgue. Having seen enough, the MedNin steps closer and takes charge, first by addressing the one she didn’t know.

YOU! What exactly do you think you’re doing? I don’t recognize you as an MiT or a MedNin. This call was specifically requesting a member of the medical team. Secondly, who are you? What is your name and rank or position in the village?

The turquoise haired MedNin was usually more amiable with strangers however when it came to fulfilling her duties she was all business. She had no time for those who wanted to be a hero or simply just wanted to help. 'Help' is a band-aid: It only will take a wounded person so far until they require proper medical attention. Moving into the feisty woman’s line of sight, she tries to get closer, speaking in a soft voice to the now fetal individual.

Hey there Miss… My name is Sagasu Yume. I’m a trained Medical shinobi of Sunagakure. May I come closer? I don’t want to hurt you. I want to make you feel better. You look like you’ve been… mistreated… in the desert for a long time.

Snapping on a pair of light green gloves, Yume would don her mask and kneel down a small distance away from her patient, slowly inching closer to lay a tentative hand on her ankle. She was fully expecting a swift kick or similar reaction. The immediate feedback would establish just how averse to touch the stranger was, and potentially render her attempt at finding a pulse in her ankle useless. The feeling of bone beneath her fingertips spoke volumes on how this woman had survived. She would have once been a healthy individual in order to be in such a frail state and still to have made it through the barren wastelands without succumbing to dehydration and the Sun’s unforgiving rays.

Not daring to venture further until given express permission, Yume does a visual inspection of the injuries and assess which were critical and which could wait until they were safely in the hospital. There was a familiar scent that was buried under months of excrement, bodily fluids, and sweat that the Inuzuka couldn’t place her finger one. It was recognizable only to the extent of having smelt it once… maybe twice… but it had been a long time ago and she couldn’t place it. Had CuRua been there, he would have picked up that it was Okibi almost immediately even though she looked nothing like herself. Yume however was trying to place what she was seeing and compare it with what she smelled and the two didn’t add up. Per haps once her fox showed up from below he would be able to help her figure it out.

 

[Toraono Michino]

[I’m going to go ahead and post because otherwise ya’ll will be waiting 8 hours for me to get back from work. T_T]

Well that escalated quickly.

One second Tama is trying to help out someone that looked far more injured than they apparently really were, then the next he was being clawed and accused. He was starting to wonder if Uzu’s bad luck was starting to rub off on him.
“I’m Ryuu Tama, Genin and chakra coil specialist. You fools in the medical field would know exactly who I was if someone would just stop and read my thesis on chakra coil replacement surgery just once,” he huffed at the med-nin who appeared to steal his thunder. The blue chakra faded into the air as the scientist continued to stay kneeled down low to the ground, trying to figure out mentally who this girl was. He looked down at the mild scratches in his skin and chuckled a little to himself; if she had remained in contact with his skin for just a few more seconds he would have known. A small part of the natural chakra that floats through the flesh would have been absorbed into Tama’s artificial chakra coil and turned him into an Inuzuka for a few seconds. The power of a super recognition through smell combined with a genius mind would of gave him the ability to puzzle the mystery together rather fast.
Sadly that would not be the case today.

The scientist flopped back on his rear and huffed again as he watched in mild jealousy as an actual med-nin did her job. He wanted to actually start working for the medical field but didn’t want to go through the blasted training. He already knew everything that there was to know, save for bed-side manners, about working in a hospital. He could easily heal with the greats in the medical field. That chakra he was planning to use would of reawakened the chakra coil, filled in a neuteral chakra to which he could use that would keep Okibi’s precious remaining chakra from being use to heal those wounds. It was a rather simple process when one knew how to manipulate the coil as well as he did; instead he was just sadly sitting there watching Yume try to tend to the wild child from outside.

Heh, Tama thought to himself. He once had a friend he called “the Wild Child”…with purple hair and pink irises that he had accidentally chemically altered when they were kids. Good times.

 

[Uri]

Help arrived soon, and in a most disturbing fashion. There was a level of extreme to the entrance that Uri was downright uncomfortable with. If the girl in question was even remotely lucid she may have thought she was under attack or panicked. Antics like that weren't necessary unless someone was within inches of their life. Judging by her soft whimpers and pleas, whoever had her last hadn't treated her very well. While Uri thought she was being unusually calm, she soon began to struggle more and eventually lashed out, catching the most recent addition to the group in his arm, fending off the glowing hands and flailing backwards, catching Uri in the face. He unceremoniously fell backwards surprised by the power behind the blow. Panic and fear was a funny thing.

He did hear Yume's voice however and he was put a bit at ease. Pushing himself up from his prone position, one hand supporting him, the other covering the eye that had been struck.

"Oi, she packs a wallop."<i></i> Uri proceeded to observe through one eye at the events unfolding in front of him. It seemed that Yume didn't take well to people showing up and trying to do the jobs of Med-nin. To Uri's surprise this Ryuu fellow was only a genin, and an arrogant one at that opening up with a reply that called all medical personnel 'fools'. Certainly not the most affable of people he'd ever had the pleasure of bumping into. Lowering his hand from his face he revealed the slowly developing swelling and bruise. He raised up the goggles dangling around his neck to look at his reflection to confirm the throbbing. Yup. A nice bright shiner.

Keeping seated, he looked between the people there, but let his eyes settle on the Tama character, "Y'know, calling people fools isn't a good way to make friends,"<i></i> He said with a meaningful grin, "And secondly, can you blame them for not reading a thesis by a genin? Rank does hold weight to a lot of people. It also speaks towards ambition!"<i></i> There was a short laugh that followed, and he undid some of the garb wrapping around his torso and tugged at the hefty chuunin's vest he had just acquired not all that long ago, "That's why I'm just a chuunin. I could run around and play superhero, but there are just some places where a pecking order exists, y'know? And to be honest, anything higher up and it becomes all about leadership and responsibilities. See? Ambition, something I have only enough of to be able to avoid some of the more constraining travel rules.."<i></i> And this was all coming from someone who had been traveling and living by his own rules for the last ten years. Getting used to following village regulation again and taking orders was an old habit he was relearning.

Sitting up at last, he sorted himself, putting his odds and ends back into his pack. Now cross-egged he watched as Yume did her exam, blinking a bit more than he would have liked due to his eye, "And besides, it's good to heal naturally if it can be helped. Too much forced chakra is bad for the soul. This guy,"<i></i> He jutted a thumb to his blackening eye, "Will be good to go in a few days, and act as a great conversation piece in the mean time!"<i></i> One of the medicine men he had lived under had talked to him extensively about the adverse effects of chakra healing on the body and why traditional medicine was still the most important. Forcing the body to regenerate skin, muscle, and cells conditions it to stop producing the bodily reactions to do it normally. The older one got, the more this became prevalent. Wounds would take longer to heal, bones wouldn't mend, regenerative processes would slow down until they came to a standstill and at that point the person dies. Medical jutsu were wondrous for field combat or life or death situations, but otherwise it was only harming the patient further. While Uri couldn't claim to be anything as fancy as a 'specialist' of any sort and was probably simple by comparison, he knew what was good for a person and their longevity.

Speaking of which, he scrounged through his pack again and pulled out a small white box and popped off the lid. Inside were more than two dozen small cake balls dipped in various forms of chocolate and coated in numerous sprinkles, shavings of other sweet things, and decorate to be as appealing as they were yummy. Sticking one into his mouth, he chewed witha satisfied zeal, sticking the box out towards Tama, "Wan won?"<i></i> He asked, mouth full.

He would have offered to Yume, but her hands seemed to be full.

 

[Okibi]

(Bahaha! Swirly eyes!)

It was getting hard to breathe. Her chest and head were starting to hurt, pounding like the beat of a drum only she could hear. At the same time, it was getting very cold. Wasn't she in the desert? Deserts weren't supposed to be chilly during the day . . .

Wait, where was she again?

Okibi lowered her arm and forced her eyes open. Her vision was still blurry, but she could make out the dirt under her nose as well as the small drop of blood that fell from her eyes. The more she thought about it the more her mind cleared. Oh, sweet clarity. That's right, she was home, or almost at least. She was at the village gates and . . . someone had tried to touch her. A shudder thundered through her body and he chill overtook her, feeding the fear.

No, wait, stop. She had to think.

Okibi shook her head slightly, and even the small movement made her head spin. Still, she forced the quaking cogs in her mind to turn, to work things out. If she was still at the gates, that meant she hadn't been captured again. If she had been, surely they would have taken her away by now, those evil men. Yet here she was, lying a mere lift ride away from safety, security, and home.

Then why was she so scared?

Ah, right, because they'd tried to touch her.

And the shadows were still following her.

Okibi shut her eyes quickly and covered herself. She tried to get her shaking under control as yet another stranger made themselves known, only this time, it wasn't a man. No, the voice was too high pitched, too delicate. That didnt sound like any of her tormentors . . . and now that she thought about it - really thought about it - neither did the other men who tried to touch her. Then, who were they? People from the village?

She listened as this new person, a female, spoke to her in soothing tones. Something about it struck a chord in her, a memory perhaps, especially when the stranger gave her name. Sagasu Yume. Why was that so familiar?

Then she felt a touch on her ankle, and the question fled her mind, chased out by fear. She recoiled from the females touch, but before she did, Yume would have noticed something odd if she were really paying attention to what she felt. Okibi's pulse was erratic and weak, hinting at her lack of blood. Her heart was working in over time to get blood through her body, but there wasnt much left to pump. It made sense, when one thought about it. You didnt lose a limb without losing a good deal of blood too. If she looked closer, Yume would also notice that although she was burnt from the desert sun, Okibi's skin was unusually pale, and her veins almost impossible to see. Another hint at severe anemia. If something wasnt done soon she very well could go into shock. Or have a heart attack. Maybe both.

Okibi's breaths came quick and shallow, and the spike of fear at another touch - small though it was - didnt help. Curling up again, Okibi tried to think. She had to think dammit. She was home, being talked to by people, men and a woman, one of which was somehow familiar. Why was she familiar? Closing her mouth, Okibi tried desperately to take a slow, deep breath through her nose. It had been so long since she'd last truly tried to use her sense of smell. Having such acute olfactory intake made living in that room impossible. The smells . . . all those horrible smells.

It didnt work very well, trying to take a deep breath like that. Okibi just ended up coughing and hacking again, but she at least was able to take in a lot of the smells around her. One of which was the scent of the female. They say that the sense of smell plays a large part in memory creation and recall, and in this case, that was definitely true. She realized it almost immediately, who this Sagasu Yume was.

Slowly, inch by inch, she lowered her arm again, and peered over it with bloody, blurry pink eyes at the blue haired kunoichi. Yes, there was no doubt about it now; she'd never met anyone else with that kind of hair before.

"Yoomay?" She croaked, over pronouncing the sounds in the womans name. It had become the nickname that Okibi had made for Yume, as she did with everybody back then. How carefree she was a mere year ago.

Her eyes then trailed past Yume and fixated on the two seated men who tried to touch her. Did she know them too? Try as she might, she couldnt make out any of their features from that distance, at least no more than the blobs of color that she assumed was their hair. White and yellow, common colors, they could have been anybody.

But then she took another deep breath that sent her hacking up a lung again. Like before, there was another familiar scent. One of those men was familiar to her, but which, and why?

She wracked her brain for a memory; something white or yellow to match that scent. It smelled like . . . musk and parchment . . . chemicals and lab instruments. And genius. For a few minutes, it wouldnt come to her, but then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

And literally, that was the memory, a wall of bricks falling on her. Outside Tama's home.

Okibi drew in another gasp, and her bloody eyes fixed on the blob of white. In her memory, Tama had white hair, not blonde, so that meant the white haired man was Tama. Her friend. "Tami?" she wheezed, trying to sit up. Her arm shook with the effort it took, but eventually she was able to get herself up, bracing herself against the hard packed earth. The nickname rolled off her tongue as easily as it had the first time she'd used it. "Is that you, Tami?"

[MFT]

 

[Sagasu Yume]

The way the woman recoiled sent pain through Yume’s heart. What could have been so traumatic that she couldn’t stand even being touched? Unless she had some form of nervous disorder… however the implications of that would have made it unbearable to be out in the desert for as long as it appeared she had. No, this appeared to stem from psychological or physical torture. Her brain began to sort through scenarios that could lead to such suffering but couldn’t get passed being called out by the blonde shinobi who sounded like he knew the entire materia medica. She listened quietly to the banter between the men before interjecting her own.

I’ve read it. It doesn’t have your picture on it, so to me, you’re just a name… and I’m not a fool. I’ve been studying medicine since before entering the academy. We’ve probably studied the same literature and dissertations. I simply know my place in the village in both title and rank.

Further more, knowing how to transplant chakra coils does not dismiss the potential ill effects that rapid healing has on an already fragile patient. Why do you think the hospital exists? If a patient cannot produce their own chakra and are infused with it from another source, be it organic or artificial, the administering physician runs the risk of either a) producing massive scar tissue on vital organs which would inhibit their ability to perform normal functions, leading to a diminished existence or death; b) destroying the patients own chakra coil, leading to death; or c) miscalculating and over loading what the body can handle, leading to system shock and most likely full system failure, ergo death.

Now if you don't mind, we can have stimulating discussions about our research when someone's life is not on the line.

As the woman tries to get up, she looks towards the men and calling for ‘Tami’ as she beckons to Uri. Was she confusing him for someone else? The age difference between the two didn’t add up unless they had made their acquaintance outside of the village. Taking out her stethoscope, she puts the tubes into her ears and places the bell in between her index and middle fingers. Gliding a hand up the female’s back, she would listen to her rattled breathing and spastic heartbeat. That was all she needed. There was no point doing triage at the gates. There was no apparent wound that was spilling blood nor bruising to indicate extensive internal bleeding. Her stomach was distended but that could simply be from starvation. No. They had to move.

We need to get her to the hospital, NOW. I need a clone to transport her. Miss… I don’t want to alarm you, but I’m going to move you into the village. We need to get you to the hospital and fix you up.

Looking to Uri, she pauses and blinks a couple of times, not really prepared for what she was seeing. His left eye was becoming swollen and purple, a testament to the power of adrenaline and the 'fight-or-flight' reaction of a victim. Glancing down to the box of sweets and back up to his smirky munching grin, all she can do is shake her head. Pulling a self-contained ice-pack from her med kit, she breaks the seal inside and shakes the contents together, feeling the temperature change from moderate freezing cold. Wrapping it in a cloth that was normally used to splint broken bones for transport, she hands it over.

Here. Keep your eye closed and put this on it. I don't care how good of a story it will make, this will help reduce the swelling.... Do you always have sweets with you?

 

[Toraono Michino]

“Pfffft, He said to Uri and Yume who were trying to reprimand him, “Ranks are meh. It’s all about that brain power, don’tcha know!? Besides, I really thought she was in a serious condition otherwise I wouldn’t have even attempted such a treatment. I would have figured it out before any serious damage had been done but she was in perfectly safe hands.”

Tama was seriously surprised that someone had actually read the thesis. It was an amazing concept to think that there was someone in there who actually gave a damn about the things that came in and out of the Suggestion Box in the hospital common room; but here he was looking at her.
His hand reached into the box full of sweets and he tossed one in his mouth as he stretched himself out on the ground as he munched away on his little sweet treat. He didn’t care much for what happened to the girl now since she was obviously under much better care. What concern did she mean to him when he had ruined a good suit for nothing? Yume seemed to have a handle on the situation.

Slowly the scientist began to stand, and grab another sweet roll as he did so, and pop it into his mouth when he heard that name echo into his ears.
“Tami? Is that you Tami?”

His heart sank. No, it couldn’t be.

Slowly his bi-colored irises turned towards the wounded girl who was mentioning his name. Her flesh was so wounded, her fame so small and beaten; nothing like that force of nature he had known a year ago. Cracks in her face, hair shocked white from purple, there was just no way she could be that girl from yesteryear that had been his only source of entertainment in those dark times.
Slowly Tama took a step forward as his eyes focused in deeper at her face and saw the pink irises beyond the broken bloody eyes and felt his heart shock him once again in pain. No…please, no, was all Tama could think as he fell down to his knees before the girl, blocking her vision of Uri but placing his two colored eyes before her.
“O…Okibi…?” Tama nearly whimpered at the broken girl as a small pool of tears began to form in the corner of his eyes. Who would do this to such a girl? Who would do this to anyone?!

His hands slowly raised up as if to hug her but shook at the memory of her last reaction and dropped them back down to his sides as he knelt down before the injured girl with a look of sheer shock.
How many time had he braved the desert winds to go and place markers up for her to see? How many different charka detectors had he created and set up to collect and record anyone and everyone who came within ten miles of the village, just to see if she was close? This was his lost childhood friend, a person he missed severly but never gave up hope of getting to see her at least one more time.

This wasn’t what he wanted. This is not how he imagined it would be.
He thought of her returning one day and sharing her adventures with Tama and Sousuke while having a nice cup of tea because she had becoming a little more cultured in her time away from their crazy cave society. He imagined her and Seven would return together stronger and looking all kinds of bad-ass with new clothing, new martial styles…just, new stuff! Good stuff! Not this poor broken husk of Okibi that wearily shook as she teetered on the edge of life and death. Yume’s words of needing to get her to the hospital quickly and needing a clone to do it barely reached Tama as he remained frozen on his knees staring at the memories of the girl he knew.

“I…I got it,” Tama said as he slowly got back on his feet, formed three seals, and pulled down a gentle breeze of wind that swirled in tight against one spot and created a copy of himself to stand next to Yume in preparation for transport.
“If you want to begin setting up IVs my clone can carry her while I’ll hand you supplies.”

His bi-colored eyes looked down at the girl sadly, tormented to know if she really was the girl that had disappeared from his life, like everything else he had loved at that time.

 

[Uri]

For Uri this was mostly a chance to sit and observe. And eat. He liked to eat things.

"Knawidge ish on-ly as gud as-"<i></i> He stopped to chew what he had in his mouth, stopping himself from spitting out anymore crumbs, and restarted, "Knowledge is only as good as the intent and usage behind it. Can know a whole lotta stuff, but if the world doesn't change because of it, what good are ya, right?"<i></i> Ceremoniously he stuffed another cakeball into his mouth and chewed, a slight smile on his face as he indulged in his treat. The other two had a brief moment of tension that was evaporated by the girl in need of help.

Can't always rush into a situation willing to throw everything you have at it. Inspection is always good. Can't act without knowing what you're dealing with. Yume-chan knows what she's doing.<i></i>

Uri continued to chew quietly, nodding to himself in satisfaction that this young lady was in good hands. Then she spoke, and names began to slip from her lips. At the second mention, he waved a hand and pointed to the other person, who had a name closer to 'Tami' than Uri did. Maybe if Uri fused with Tama. Tami could work. Or Tamuri-

Moving on. There seemed to be a much more sudden burst of importance added to the situation. This was a friend, a person whom they knew and was apparently a villager. Yume continued about her medical routine at a professional pace and eventually surmised that any further work care would need to take place at what was left of the hospital. Then her attention turned briefly to Uri who was in the process of sticking another confection into his mouth. What was that now? His eighth or ninth? She handed him an icepack, looked at it briefly and slid it beneath the box of chocolate-covered treats. This way they wouldn't melt and become a mess. A much better use of the icepack. Before Yume could say anything more, he chewed and swallowed before answering her question.

"Do you always have a....-"<i></i> He paused and reached just past the side of her head, fingertips brushing over her ear before he retracted his hand. In his grasp was a giant cookie about the size of a dinner plate, "Enormous cookies growing out of your ears? Might wanna have that checked out, Missy Med-nin."<i></i> Their was a mirth-filled smile that couldn't be denied and a childish light in his eyes that made him seem much younger than he really was.

When he saw they were likely to move, he got up and shouldered his pack once again. He was the one who first saw this, he figured it would be important to be there to go through all the proper processes for the incident. Taking a comically large bite from the cookie, cheeks now bulging, he held out the box to Yume with the cakeballs, "Aftah ooo."<i></i>.

[Following Yume upon exit]

 

[Okibi]

Oh, if Okibi were lucid enough and possessing the right mind to really process everything that was going on around her, she would have some choice words to share with the lot surrounding her. Here she was, three inches from death, and they were all arguing, stuffing their faces and flirting? Did anybody know an urgent situation when they saw one?

But, luckily, she was neither aware enough or herself enough to catch any of that, and thus they were all saved from one of Okibi's legendary tongue lashings.

Besides which, Yume seemed to understand just what kind of state the girl was in. There was a small flurry of activity around her as Okibi's head lolled forward and her vision winked in and out. The yellow haired man, the one she thought wasnt Tama, was suddenly kneeling in front of her. She heard him choke out her name, and the sound slammed right through her. How long had it been since someone last said her name? She'd almost forgotten the sound of it. He reached for her, and Okibi recoiled out of instinct. Honestly, now that she knew who he was, she wished she could have stomached a touch; a hug would have felt wonderful she believed. But, no matter how much she wished she could, the thought inspire more fear than it did comfort.

Okibi tried to smile at her friend then, feeling just the smallest bit of joy kindle in her chest; but then the pain in her mouth reminded her that she was currently fangless - the bad men had pulled them out some time ago after she'd tried to bite one of them - and her smile ended up looking more like a grimace.

"Okibi is Okibi." She murmured, reverting to her old manner of speech for just a moment. She didnt like talking like that anymore. The old Okibi talked like that, and she didnt know how to be that Okibi anymore. She was too afraid to try. But Tama seemed to need reassurance of who she was, so she gave it to him. She knew how different she looked now; there was no need for a mirror. "Sogay . . . where is he? I want . . . to see him." She rasped.

Suddenly, her pulse started hammering harder than it was before, and Okibi cringed as the sound pounded in her ears. She clutched her head with her single hand and fell over with a whimper. Her breathing was going out of control; why was it getting so hard to breathe?

Was she dying?

And that was the last thought she had before the lights went out completely.

[Topic Left when somebody drags Okibis unconscious body out ]
(Ok so! Im gonna make the topic at the hospital and skip all that hard saving her life stuff and get to the after party 8D. You guys are welcome to join it of course, there will be feels flying all over the place. If someone could just send out one of those IC notices for Sousuke telling him that Okibi is back and at the hospital, that'd be faaaaantastic! Continuity and all that ya know. Thanks people! <3)

 

[Toraono Michino]

A bit of shock and fear entered Tama's heart when he saw his friend drop to the ground in a near unconcious state.

"Okibi!" he screamed as he and the clone both rushed over to her side. He turned his head back up towards Uri and Yume, "We need to go now," he demanded no longer caring for the antics between the two. He did, somewhere deep in his panicking mind, find it interesting that Uri would use the icepack for anything but his eye, but there was no time for that!
Easily the wounded girl's frame was lifted up onto the wind clone's back as he signaled to Yume once more that they needed to scoot!

Quickly, but carefully, the wind clone and Tama moved towards the elevator in hopes that whoever the guy was doing matienence on the elevator had been keeping up with it. The last thing he wanted was for the damn bucket to get stuck half way up.

[topic left with Yume and Okibi]

 

[Sagasu Yume]

A blush took hold of Yume’s face, not used to being touched by any one of the male gender who wasn’t family. As comfortable as she was with Sousuke, he still got her flustered so it went without saying that the brief contact from Uri did the same. About to reply she hears Tama mumble a name that made her stop and stare wide-eyed at the woman.

That’s impossible. No… She had spirit… I can’t… No…

Regardless of whether Yume wished to believe it or not, it was critical to get the woman to the hospital, even if it was a city of tents at the moment. The clone scooped up Okibi and Yume shouldered her medical bag, keeping pace with the clone to the elevator shaft. Quickly scribbling a note during their decent, she tucks it into CuRua’s harness upon seeing him at the bottom.

Get this to Sousuke. An urgent message has already been broadcast but just in case, you have to make sure he gets to the tent of this woman. NOW.

The fox understood that the situation was critical. Even during normal medical scenarios Yume always smiled. She was not smiling. This was urgent.

[Topic Left]