Dangers of the Desert

[Kazumi]

It was like a mummy had been brought into the emergency care wing of the hospital. No one knew who the stranger was, and the shinobi at the gate who brought her in was not able to provide any details. It was not unheard of for the hospital to receive such cases, though few were as extreme as this stranger's. The medical staff who performed the intake were surprised that she was even still alive, with her skin looking as if she had been laid out in the desert for a week. Her skin had been covered with scars both short and long that looked like a knife had been repeatedly raked across her skin only to be repalced by two more as soon as the first had healed. The faint silvery scar tissue served as a stark contrast to the faintly bleeding fissures of cracked skin.

According to the intake reports, her body temperature was lower than expected as well, a trait that was matched by the only noteworthy possession the shinobi found with her. It had been confiscated, of course and a shinobi was posted at the entrance to the room for the village's protection. The shinobi were not heartless enough to deny her treatment, but there was always the possibility that this was a very creative ruse by one of the village's many enemies. The nurse who was wrapping the young woman's skin in thick salved bandages had successfully thrown the guard into the hallway for her proceedings, and was working to make sure that the girl's condition would not worsen until the medical doctor currently on staff, Higaraki Takeshi, would be able to arrive and give her his own inspection and treatment.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Except, the good Higaraki Takeshi would never even get the notification that someone was waiting on his medical care. A small silver-haired man with a Cheshire grin was flicking through the clipboards behind the nurses desk after catching her in a simple Genjutsu that replayed a loop of the area around her. He was swapping certain pages with others and assigning patients to doctors with limited knowledge of their conditions, keeping sure to stick to the ER and not expose himself through documented appointments. Twice he had to stop messing with the boards so the nurse he currently had tricked could walk over and post up a new one, and after the second time the doctor who was originally just trying to shake up some chaos in his community actually came across a curious case.
Mummified corpses were not uncommon in the desert, but looking at the conditions the girl came in with he was surprised the vitals said stable. It also appeared something was confiscated, probably a weapon from the lightly checked marks on the lists, and the scientist couldn’t help but be curious to a few things. How was this person alive? Where had they come from? What power did they have and could he use it for his own projects? Raising up a hand with a bit of chakra, the mad man grabbed time and space between his fingers with a little chakra before snapping. A bubble of chakra rotated with the bit of dimension he pinched and froze time around him for a few seconds. Lifting the board from Dr. Higaraki’s In Box, Tama took key notes from the original check up and placed the board into his own In Box before quickly making his way down to the ER. As he rounded the corner the bubble of frozen time popped and the nurse jolted as the Genjutsu was lifted. She looked around, confused, but unharmed.

Tama’s coat lifted off his legs as he powered walk down the halls and turned to see a frustrated looking guard waiting outside of the door he was supposed to go into. Walking up to the man, Tama suddenly leaned in and whispered something before the youth could react. The soldier’s eyes quickly rolled his eyes back into his skull before falling over asleep. The scientist stepped over and into the room where a nurse was wrapping the terribly burned person. She looked up at the sudden opening of the door to scold the guard but found only emptiness before Tama’s index fingers were suddenly pressing against the woman’s temples from behind; she too fell over unconscious almost instantly. Humming a little victory tune the mad scientist skipped over to close the door first and then to the sink as he started to wash his hands.
Flicking his hands dry the scientist started to talk to the unconscious woman lying on the bed, half wrapped,
“You know, only 1 out of…I think 2000? Walk in and out of the desert without protection and make it back alive. Oh yes, we have…” Tama dried his hands and edged over to the girl’s bed side as he leaned in close to examine both the silver scars and cracked, bleeding flesh that the wraps were just barely absorbing.
“…Sandworms, bandits, heat which exceeds most baker’s ovens…truly, it is a miracle to see you in one piece. Lets fix that!”

Out of thin air the scientist produced a scalpel and quickly sliced off a piece of the burnt flesh and a small section of silvered scarring before placing them within bags with big bio-hazard warning labels that vanished as quickly as they were produced into only the Kami knew where. Having collected his sample, the doctor placed his hands together to form the seals for a powerful healing jutsu. Most power in the medical field was based around how well you could use the Mystic Hand without drawing too much from someone’s life force, but the ones who lead the medical teams both on the field and within the alcohol swabbed walls of the hospital were those who had the ability to submit their own life to heal instead; Tama was of these few. Instead of a green aura the glow around the mad scientist’s hand was golden and carefully did he move it first to hide the evidence of his taken samples before moving to a small overall healing of the girl’s body. She would survive, he felt, and he made sure to heal her vital organs more than flesh as that could be fixed through cheaper and less draining procedures. However, as he healed with his life force the doctor noticed through his chakra that her insides were…cold. Almost corpsey. Stopping the jutsu his index and middle finger reached up to the mysterious girl’s throat to check for a pulse.

 

[Kazumi]

Less than a second later his touch was rewarded with a faint pulse of her heart, though it would take almost two seconds before another beat came. It was not rare for shinobi at their physical peak to have slower heart rates, or for victims of severe blood loss to have their heart working at such low capacity, but neither appeared to be the case for the stranger. Yet another curiosity for the good doctor to add to his growing list. Thankfully for both his patient and himself, the extracted samples regrew themselves at the urging of his chakra, knitting together in a manner that likely would not have left a scar, but should it do so, it would have gone unnoticed; one amongst hundreds.

As he lifted his finger away from checking her pulse, there was a slight shift on the bed as she began to move, the only part of her face that was unbandaged, her eyes, twitched faintly but did not yet open. His rejuvenation seemed to have provided enough prodding for the girl to be slowly roused from her unconscious state. She made a few unintelligible words, muttered nonsensically through barely mobile lips and a layer of thick bandage. A few seconds would pass before her eyes slowly opened, one before the other, though they had a glassy look to them, as if she were not yet registering her surroundings. The drain on her body could explain away her slow stirrings, but it did also did not speak well for the girl's training. Any shinobi that lives into their thirties would have had their lives depend on the ability to instantly awaken during any possible threat. Whether that meant she was no foreign shinobi spy, that she was not so adeptly trained or that she was simply an exceptionally good spy was difficult to discern.

 

[Toraono Michino]

The scientist paused for just a brief moment staring down at the patient on the table. Her eyes flickered open to reveal glassy eyes of struggle beneath. Tama had his sample, and it was really all he wanted so he could study the curiosity and just know…but as she settled back down onto the bed with such faint heartbeats the Hybrid could feel his human side pleading with himself. The metaphorical ice on his heart cracked a little as the side of the Solar Ancient that was human continued to remind him of his bonds, particularly that of his daughter. The doctor’s face scrunched up in mild agony as the duality of his nature conflicted with each other, but, in the end the golden aura returned. This time, at his touch, a large swath of the Ancient Energy blanketed Kazumi that began to repair the damage done to her flesh. Unlike last time where the energy just helped stitched back her failing organs, this one was twisted with his rude control over time. The damage was half healed and half reversed all while slowly seeping into her body through pores to mimic healthy red blood cells and to help slowly push her blood and pumped her heart with a mild shock . Tama stepped back a few feet as the golden orb expanded before popping like his last as the control over time collapsed and shifted back together with reality; or Fate Controlled Timespace, as he liked to think of it.
Moments after the bubble popped the scientist could feel a weakness in his knees. His pride refused to show any signs of the powers draining his stamina, but shifting time to reverse damage to aid in healing was incredibly hard. For a moment the scientist looked on in wild bewilderment as if struggling to understand what mad thought had possessed him to do such a thing. This patient, this Jane Doe, was no one…yet he exerted himself so hard just because she reminded him of a loved one? Tama placed a palm to his head to check for fever, his neck for pulse, and breathed in deep to test his circulatory. It all seemed to run fine.

Then why?

 

[Kazumi]

Messing with the fabric of reality was a touchy business. It was akin to trying to separate the salt from a small cube of water from a mile under the ocean. Working all of its components in just the right was was taxing enough, but the interwoven weight of all of reality around it pressed had enough on any imperfections that even the slightest slip could have dramatic consequences. Thankfully for both parties, the hand that worked this weave was an adept one and taxing though it was, they both survived the risky venture intact.

Kazumi was certainly the one to benefit the most, and by the time the bubble ceased its existence, the reddened bandages across her body were the only traces of the damage that the past days had brought upon her. Even with her wounds miraculously gone, consciousness was not so immediate in its return. Her body shifted slightly in its bed, a soft groan escaping her as her body appeared to twitch in its sleep. The young woman's eyes opened with obvious difficulty, but as a moment passed with her eyes coming to focus on her surroundings, the bed erupted into movement. She grabbed the edge of the bed away from where the good doctor stood in a momentary daze from his efforts, and jerked herself off that side of the bed. The motion caused the bed to jerk and tip over as it crashed onto its side on the floor, the girl smacking to the floor on the other side.

Her mind raced with possibility as she felt at her side for a sword. Finding herself disarmed, she looked around the room for a suitable alternative. Standing on the side of the bed that she landed upon, the metal rolling stand with a bag of fluid attached near its top. The clear tube connected down into her arm, and with a swift pull she tipped the stand over and sent it crashing to the ground. As it fell she seized hold of the bag and with her back still pressed against the metal bottom of her bed, focused on the water. Unfortunately for her, the solution was saline and while it began to freeze in her hand its freezing point had been so drastically reduced that it was quickly becoming apparent that it was a fruitless endeavor.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Tama’s hand moved to cradle his eyes as the light suddenly started to pierce his mind beyond. He could feel the duality of his Ancient side buck against the common sense of not using his powers so much. Skipping seconds, moving really fast, speeding up things by a minute tops; these were all things Tama could use Time to manipulate without cost. Dragging a person who was nearly a corpse back to almost full working health, something that would of taken at least a decade, caused a thin sheet of cold sweat to cover his body as his stomach twisted. An icy finger stroked the back of the scientist’s neck and he turned to look at the flaming skull of Fate that glared him down. He had seen it before. He cracked red eyes, the melting flesh still just clinging to the humanoid skull, and the wild black hair streaking into the sky like a mass of tentacles. The angry god of time and space that only Tama knew of, one he had tricked more than possibly any other living mortal. Just as quick as she came, though, a sudden crashing sound broke the connection and drew his soul completely back to his body and into the current time line.

His hands gently lifted off his eyes, palms wet from sweat, to look down now at the girl who was backed against the turned over medical bed like a terrified possum. She held the bag of saline meant to help her receive fluids freezing over like she was trying to do something with it once it fully became ice, but due to the unbalanced nature of a plastic bag, it was really more a slush than anything. The doctor noted that the needle still appeared to be in Kazumi’s arm and with a sigh he went to remove it. Of course, he knew combat instinct when he saw it. Uzu was one of his more…expensive patients, and the man had trained his muscles to attack on reflex when he was put under; and the amount of anesthesia needed was almost enough to kill normal people. Tama’s control over time made him one of three people who could operate on Toushin, and he constantly used it to help people with combat PTSD. Reaching into a pocket on his coat he pulled out a cotton ball and approached the terrified girl. As he leaned down, Tama made a clicking sound with his tongue that slowed time once more to a standstill. He could feel Fate behind his back, glaring daggers, but he ignored the specter and removed the needled from Kazumi’s vein before putting the cotton ball on the wound and folding her arm so that it would naturally hold it in place. The mad scientist then stood back up and took a step back before allowing himself back into the timestream. Time was a funny thing once you found a way to control it. Most people used chakra to bend things but that tended to leave a trace for certain gods to find; Tama was just a natural. He supposed that was to be given considering the hell he had taken part of for the better part of a hundred years…he guessed anyways. There was no real telling just how long Fate tortured him.

“As impressed as I am that you can make saline slush,” his voice spoke up suddenly, …without any real effort despite this being a desert, it’s really bad for your veins. I hope you can drink water, because I’m not starting an IV today. Fixing your wounds was annoying enough, let alone finding a vein in a mildly dehydrated person’s arm. I’m shocked they found a good vein at all given the condition you were in when they discovered you at the gates.”

 

[Kazumi]

One moment the girls hands were pressing on the bag with a desperate determination, and the next she found her left arm curled upwards with the tube suddenly missing. It took her a second to notice, and another second to make a guess as to what happened. They must have been pumping some sort of drug into her that was causing her to momentarily lapse. She didn't know how or what could be used for it, but it made sense. Her Master had spoken often about the ways the shinobi used to interrogate prisoners and screwing with her brain was certainly on the list, she just wished she had some way to deal with it.

Silently the girl listened, keeping her back pressed to the bed so that she could not see, a small bit of movement from the corner of her eye alerted her that the man who was in the room was standing just a few feet away, the bed no longer offering any protection. Even as he began to talk, she hurled the partly frozen bag at him as hard as she could and hurried to stand. There didn't seem to be anything bladed she could use, but she had to arm herself. Scrambling upwards, she grabbed for the metal iv stand, pulling it between them as she lifted it like a very awkward staff. As she held it wardingly between them, ready to defend herself at a moment's notice, she took quick glanced at her body and took note of her inures as he spoke. Remarkably, she felt fine, her head was a little woozy, but the adrenaline that surged through her always made things feel just that little bit unreal.

"Who are you!?" she demanded, taking short glances away from him as she tried to slowly edge herself towards the door, making sure to keep a distance between her and her guard. "Where's my stuff!?" She made a small shoving motion of her improvised weapon towards him, as if to imply she was serious. As her eyes continued to dart and her feet took slow careful steps, she recalled the last memories she could recall, practically dying of dehydration in the middle of the desert, her skin feeling like it was blistering and flaking away in the heat. Most of it was still a blur, but given how it felt, perhaps it was all just a really bad dream?

 

[Toraono Michino]

Tama turned his back to Kazumi and walked towards the counter/cabinet/sink combo that took up of all about three feet in length. The doctor pulled out and opened the little medical file the doctors had on her from its resting place in a plastic bin bolted to the wall. Drawing a pen from his coat he began to write down some notes on the girl, no longer caring that he intruded on another doctor’s work anymore. He’d be called before the board, they’d chew him out, and nothing would happen; maybe a pay cut. In the chart the mad scientist stressed the words “hostile” and “confused”, before finishing the charting off with his signature and closing the little folder. About that time a half-frozen bag of saline slapped the back of his head.

The scientist sighed. He turned to face the girl again as she had grabbed the metal pole, with her feet ever inching towards the door. His studied eyes watched her muscle groups move, with his focus more on her feet and how delicate they stepped despite the recent healing. Someone who was good with weapons, was his first guess, but if that was the case then what was the freezing ability she was using? He didn’t see handseals, but then again he had come across people who could weave them either really fast or with one hand…perhaps she fell into one of those two categories. Kazumi also didn’t seem to give off the “Ancient Pulse”, as Tama called it, that drew Ancients and Hybrids to each other, so he scratched that right off the list. Yet before he could continue guesstimating he felt the end of an IV pole collide with his face.

Tama stumbled back three steps. He had completely underestimated how energetic the girl would be after experiencing such a massive healing and found his back slamming against the counter top. His lower back cried out in discomfort and with an angry sigh the scientist put his hands together and formed a single seal. It was a seal that opened up his pores and released chakra from them in a sudden burst. His eyes were closed from the sudden jab of pole to his face, and he kept them closed to throw off the patient. The very moment he heard feet padding towards the exit, the large amount of chakra in the air would immediately shift elemental properties and become a giant ball of wind that would push the patient back. After, the scientist would snap the fingers of his right hand, freeze moving time, and shift behind her so that his face was right next to hers before unfreezing it again,
“I really don’t appreciate the violence,” was all he said.

The mad scientist wasn’t a people person. Of all the Sunans Kazumi had the chance of running across in her first real interaction with the village, Tama was probably the least welcoming. He had a need to subjugate mortals. His Ancient blood ran stronger now than his Human, and with it came hubris from the latter. Seeking a way to thwart time itself came at a cost, and his was the ever shrinking bit of “Human Tama” that people once knew. The deadly creature Mikaboshi had awakened, had all but consumed what humanity the mad man had left, save a very small sliver. It was that sliver Kazumi owed her life too right now, but it was the Ancient she was dealing with.

 

[Kazumi]

The air between her and the door suddenly shifted and and then exploded, forcing her to slide backwards on the cloth bandages that wrapped them. Even as her feet slid a few feet across the floor, her balance was firm and steady, and the moment she had enough grip, she pushed forward to bolt once again towards the door, only to come face to face with the man who held her captive. Her body moved on instinct, her momentum carrying her forward as she suddenly dropped to the ground, looking as if she going to crash into his legs.

Just before she impacted either the ground or the man's shins, she contorted her body, narrowing herself so that she barely fit between the man's legs, her one free hand pressing and sliding on the ground with ease as she seemed to melt through his legs like a rodent through a crack in a door. As soon as she made it through, she twisted the metal bar horizontally in her hand and let it smack into his shins, leaving her without a weapon but hopefully disorienting him long enough for her to make it through the door before he pieced together what happened.

With a hard shove and another spin of her body, she spring up to her feet and reached for the door and towards the next set of unknown dangers. Her plan was clear, she needed to escape this room, figure out where her stuff was, grab it, and leave. Simple as can be, she would just have to improvise the little details between them.

 

[Toraono Michino]

A cat. It was the closest thing Tama could come to in describing what he was dealing with right now. He swore she just shouted words in a common tongue, so there didn’t appear to be a language barrier…and yet, here she was squirming between his legs. Before he could reach down to grab the bandaged girl, the clang of metal against his shins made the scientist cry out and fall over, providing more than enough time for Kazumi to escape. Not that, even with his chronological stopping ability, Tama couldn’t do much to stop her at this point. As the doctor dropped to the ground he felt the icy fingers of Fate tickling the back hairs of his neck the very moment he even thought to grab Time again; She was onto him. With a sigh, the doctor decided to just laid there for a moment while he waited for his time to realign fully and the throbbing in his shins to subside.

Outside the patient room was a long wide corridor. On either side of the hall were a number of wooden doors with brass numbers, most of which had a polish that you wouldn’t expect in the desert. If there was one thing that everyone agreed on, was that the hospital had to look nice. After being blown up…twice? At least twice, had lizard people invade, a mad scientist running loose, and all sorts of unsavory things constantly constantly occurring; it was the least the staff could do. The air was conditioned to be comforting against the heat of the day and warm against the night’s icy chill. The air smelled of cinnamon and apples, covering up just barely the medical twang of sterilization. As Kazumi busted out of the office and into the large welcoming hallway, she’d see a number of things. A few people in wheelchairs sitting just outside rooms, waiting. People in uniforms not unlike the doctor behind her pushing beds with other people. Some groaned from medical problems that were easily handled, others cried over ones that held the potential of being fatal. There was a sense of controlled chaos as the orderlies and nurses moved about quickly between each patient.

One of those said nurses would notice the girl and try to carefully approach her from behind, not realizing that her last treating physician had been that mad scientist that was bent on ruining their reputation. She placed a gentle hand on Kazumui’s shoulder and spoke in a soft, kind tone,
“Are you okay? Do you need help finding your clothes?” the nurse asked in full concern that the girl was outside of her room wrapped in heavily soiled bandages. She was honestly deeply confused as to how the girl before her could even stand with the deep blood stains soaked into the wraps. She wasn’t even entirely concerned with getting Kazumi into clothes as she was getting her back into a sterile room and out of the hallway full of floating disease and bacteria. The nurse was also checking off a mental list of things she’d need to change those bandages and check the wounds, having just gotten on shift, and already everything had been a bit of a tizzy. There was an incident at the local bakery where a chakra crystal overloaded and exploded, but at the moment the patient with clearly deep wounds moving around was a bit of an immediate concern. Hopefully the girl wasn’t a combative patient.

 

[Kazumi]

Her first thought was to run, to dash down whatever hallways she saw could find and simply escape. There were just two problems with the otherwise clearly and carefully thought out plan. She had no idea where she was and how to get out and, more importantly, she could not leave without her Master's sword. A part of her still thought that this was just another of his elaborate tests, and she was pretty sure if she lost his sword he would suddenly appear two steps in front of her and ensure she regretted the failure. There were also the sentimental reasons, but she couldn't think about those right now.

As soon as she slipped out the door, she grabbed the exterior handle and smacked the door shut, the sudden sound drawing more than a few eyes of the scattered staff and patients. Her hand lingered on the handle as she gripped it tightly, a nearly invisible mist of condensation flowing from the metal handle as all of the heat rapidly fled from the latch. Within two seconds, the handle, latch and lock were frozen solid, hopefully trapping the man inside. He could still break down the door, of course, but it would slow his pursuit unless he defrosted the internal mechanisms first.

She may have been disarmed, but she was not without her own resources.

Suddenly a voice to her side spoke up in that concerned frustration that she was very accustomed to. “Are you okay? Do you need help finding your clothes?” Kazumi looked to her, trying to wipe the urgency and panic from her expression as she kept her handle on the door, willing as much heat from the door as she could in such a short period of time. A moment passed before she removed her hands and shook her head, giving the nurse an awkward smile. By now there was a thin and almost invisible haze around the metal, whomever touched the handle next would be lucky if their skin did not immediately freeze and stick to the metal.

"No no, I am quite alright. Much better, never been better." She did not sound very convincing, but the fact that she was not doubled over in pain or bleeding heavily from freshly reopened wounds kept the woman from immediately urging her back inside. "Oh, yes, actually can you take me to my things? I erm... I just can't rest until I know my stuff is still prim and proper. You know how it is." Another poor imitation of a winning smile came and went as she stepped from the door, trying to urge the nurse to lead her on as quickly as possible. This poorly thought out plan was going to end much quicker if the man kicked the door down behind her before she even made it out of earshot.

 

[Toraono Michino]

The nurse smiled down at the girl. She knew Kazumi was lying just based off her features and weak stance - the fact that the door was making the area around them colder was also a bit of a giveaway. The nurse, while not a strong shinobi, was at least Genin level of training before she took the medical field seriously. The first instincts was to reach for the pouch at her side and get fingers around a capped needle that had a muscle relaxant filled within. Before she could draw it though, the familiar cry and swearing of the doctor on the other side of the door told the nurse everything; or at least all she needed to hear.

Tama, was on the other side. Whatever the patient was having problems with was no doubt due to the maniac who had just grabbed a frozen door handle and ripped off skin on the other side. Looking Kazumi in the eyes, the nurse put a finger to her lips and withdrew from the belt pouch not the needle, but a sheet of rice paper that had a seal inked onto it. Placing the paper against sheet of ice, the paper melted and the seal extended across the entire frame. This seal blocked the hall sounds as well as ensured that the Hybrid Scientist would be stuck for at least another twenty minutes - the seal was created by Kasen, after all. Since her promotion to Chief, she learned the hard way that Tama was a creature that took special consideration to deal with. Fear would only work so much on a man who believed himself immortal. Once the seal was set and she felt safe, the Nurse walked gently to Kazumi’s side and took her hand.

“Follow me,” she said in a calm voice. Once they were about a full five yards from the door, the nurse finally spoke again, “You’re lucky. Not very many patients actually manage to get away from Dr. Ryuu when he gets to terrorizing someone. Usually it’s not something we find out about until months later and there’s nothing that can be done or proven. Still can’t believe the Hospital just blatantly keeps a mad scientist on board. I guess the rumors about his ability to heal anything are true, though. Why else would he still be here and not rotting away in the Obsidian?”

It only took five minutes and two elevator rides, but the nurse had the patient before a set of pods that all contained the personal items people came in with.
“Now, what’s your name?”

 

[Kazumi]

To say that the young woman was skeptical would have been an understatement. She sensed the initial movement of the woman's hands and mentally prepared herself to react to whatever hidden weapon she was readying, but the attack never came. She kept a close eye on her as she stepped past Kazumi and placed the seal onto the door. Her attention was drawn away as she watched the black marking crawl across the surface of the door until it looked as if the black ink was burnt into the door itself. Was the woman trying to keep the other man inside?

Momentarily stunned from the turn of events, the woman managed to take hold of Kazumi's hand without difficulty. She half-listened as she was guided away from the room, stealing a look back at the still closed door as they rounded the first corner. From what she was able to piece together, fortune has either given her a big gift or she had narrowly avoided it stabbing her in the back. If she had not awoke when she had and made it outside, it sounded like the man might have dissected her for fun. "Yeah, much obliged. Sure got some weirdos around here, that's the truth."

The rest of the trip felt as if it took days of her life, as she expected each rounded corner or open door to have someone ready to jump out at her. The man had seemed polite enough, for a shinobi, so who knew if her supposed savior lady here was any better. What better way to lay a trap than to rustle some false hope together and wrap it around a nasty surprise for whomever got duped by the charade.

When they arrived, her skepticism did not fade until her eyes caught sight of the sheathed blade leaning against the wall near the ret of her tattered clothing. A quick step brought her within arm's reach of her Master's weapon ,but he hesitated before taking hold of it. For all she knew this might be the twig holding up the trap, so she instead turned around to the woman who awaited the answer. "Yeah, name's Kazumi. Just uh... passing through. You'll have to excuse me if I'm still a little jump after Mr. Mad Science back there." She glanced back to her stuff that sat there, inviting and unattended. "That's my stuff there so... am I jut free to take it and leave or you gonna try and keep me around?"

 

[Toraono Michino]

The nurse raised her board of lists and names up and looked down. A pen slipped out of her jacket sleeve and into her hand with unnerving speed as she scrolled down the list of names, thinking quietly to herself as she waited for the girl to collect her things. There would be a few procedures that she’d still need to go through, most of which was basic procedure before releasing a patient. Blood pressure, pulse, a precursory look over the places the bandages seemed most bloodied, and a final check through the system. After that, Kazumi would be free to leave the hospital and explore Suna as she pleased.

Of course, that was, if the nurse could find her name. There was a listing for a “michi no josei”, an unknown woman, but nothing in the charts for Kazumi. The nurse recalled a medical chart in the plastic basket outside the door, which meant she had been admitted and first aid administered at the very least. Out of curiosity she fanned through the pages pinned beneath a metal clip until she came across the quick file for the Jane Doe. The file claimed that the woman administered was one who had been deeply burned by the desert’s relentless scorching. The last couple of weeks had been especially hot as they were right before the winter settled, meaning that the girl in the chart should be next to dead, yet, the girl edging closer to her weapon as if it might be wild animal seemed positively healthy. Things were starting to add up in a way that didn’t bode well for her position.

Yet, before the nurse could further question Kazumi’s mysterious identity, and explosion rocked the corridor followed by a few screams. Tama had tried to tamper with the seal on the door again, which of course, caused the chakra to backfire and turn into a pin-point explosion. The scientist would be down for another three minutes, maybe more depending on how much chakra he had used in the day. The Sunagakure Hospital staff had learned quickly after Kasen’s lead that Tama was nothing to be feared. There was, rumored, to be an entire handwritten book on every single scenario Kasen could come up with to counter anything Tama would potentially do; supposedly some 200 pages. In the event of Tama tampering with that seal, staff is to escort whatever patient he’s obsessed with directly to the lobby to have a quick scan and then released into Suna with a Main Branch escort. Without wasting a second after the explosion, the nurse rushed over to Kazumi and gently grabbed her wrist to get the girl’s attention before looking her directly in the eyes,

“We need to leave, now. Dress as quickly as you can, I’ll take you to the hospital’s entrance so we can run a quick vitals check. Then you’ll leave with one of our Jounin level shinobi to escort you to a safe place until Dr. Ryuu regains his wits, or until Chief Kasen beats it back into him. Hurry, we only have about three minutes!”