Diving [Yumi]

[Samejima]

Naoki got all fired up thinking about Yumi possibly just accepting things as they were. If she could do better, why not try it! "We can't just leave it at that! Didn't you wanna learn how to make your way around by sound a little while ago? You wanted to hurry up and graduate right? You should at least give it a try, even if it was just a genjutsu. Besides, like I said, one of those shouldn't be able to give you abilities you don't have, so..." she trailed off, shrugging in a fashion which seemed to say 'just let me help'. Upon finishing her sentence, if Yumi didn't object too strongly, she'd turn to wherever Kaisou happened to be, beckoning him to come over.

"Are we ready to make a decision? There were a bunch of oysters, but I can let 'em slide for now." The otter slid over, this time staying in one place with his tail and flippers helping him stay upright.

Otherwise, Naoki would hear her friend out, especially if the objection was too strong to pass off as a simple nervous reaction or hesitation.

 

[Kazumi]

Her thoughts drifted back towards that dream and the stinging sensation in her side and shoulder returned causing her to flinch in discomfort. The pain quickly passed, but she still looked somewhat uneasy about the prospect. She wasn't sure which would be worse. If she could do what she did thought she did... wouldn't that be taboo? Why would Naoki encourage such things? She probably doesn't believe a bit of it and is just teasing her, but that didn't seem like something her friend would do.

"I guess so..." she eventually replied with noticable hesitation as the otter made its way over. "I don't really know what I did exactly." If I did anything at all, she thought. "Don't you think that would be... weird though? I mean it's... blood." A shudder went through her at the thought. Those two times had been the times she had ever seen more blood than a paper cut or a scraped knee. The first time felt like a hazey nightmare and the second was just an illusion...

 

[Samejima]

Not sure why it would be strange at all, since it could be controlled, the genin thought a little before giving her answer. "Controlling blood? Well... Wind and water can be controlled, even ink and something called plasma... Why not blood right?" she asked, genuinely, at that point in time not considering blood as anything more than an element. After a little more thought however, she continued, "Hmm... Controlling blood itself isn't something I've heard of before for sure... But as long as you're not acting weird, I don't think the thing you control could be weird." Ending the opinion with a grin, she conferred with Kaisou on what they would be doing for the day.

"We're going to catch fish today! Lots of 'em! And make sure they don't lose too much of their blood!"

Nodding and raising his little flipper in a mock salute, he replied, "Yessir, off I go!" And off he went, as Naoki turned to Yumi. "Leave the fishing to me and the otter, you go to shore and see if you can kinda... remember that feeling you felt when the stuff with the blood happened. The more you can feel it the better, but..." she paused, worried still that Yumi would push herself and end up worse than she currently felt. "Um... If it's too much, we could always just roast the fish. Oriza-san did ask me to bring some snacks back, so just roasting 'em would be good too if you don't wanna remember it." And with a reassuring nod, Naoki barreled off after the otter.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi absorbs everything Naoki said, looking not very sure of herself or t the situation in general. It was not until Naoki actually swam off that she came to her full senses again. She hesitated a moment as her brain processed everythig that was just said. Blood wasn't weird? Was that a Wind Country thing or a shinobi thing? Sure, shinobi delt with death, dying and blood on a nearly daily basis but wasn't blood... sacred? A taboo or something?

She looked up from her bobbing over towards Naoki as she swam off and began collecting food. Perhaps she was overthinking things... She turned herself towards the shore and began to awkwardly swim her way back, no where near as quickly as Naoki had managed. Her feet finally touched down in the sandy beach side and she walked up onto the shoreline. As she reached the very edge of the water she turned and softly sat herself down onto the ground to watch.

"The feeling?" She softly repeated herself as she sat. "Scared... helpless... well, terrified and helpless. I really don't get how..." She took in a slow deep breath and let it out even more slowly. "I can try I guess." Yumi closed her eyes, crossed her legs and tried to meditate silently as her instructors had taught her. She through back towards the hound and that... man... and shivered.

 

[Samejima]

Having originated from a household where seeing blood was really quite normal (from the fish at least) hearing that her friend may have the ability to control blood itself wasn't strange at all. "It's what keeps the fish moving," her father explained to her, the first time they went out fishing and she saw red coming from an otherwise grey fish. She didn't like seeing it flop around like that, and though she didn't like eating it either she was more than happy to watch it just... stop. It was restricted to just fish at the moment, since she really didn't wonder about that red stuff and what happens to people when they lose enough of it, and frankly does not like to think of things that may be dangerous in the least unless pushed.

There was not much to watch, as Naoki mostly operated underwater, surfacing once in a while for air while she headed for the dense populations of fish and flung any she caught at the shore, hard enough against that boulder she rested her bag against to keep them from flopping around too much. Kaisou on the other hand, bit into one, brought it to Naoki and upon receiving instructions, got closer to shore and flicked his head so as to get the fish on land.

It had been awhile since Yumi went over there to try and recall the feeling, and the two divers had already gotten enough fish to produce just about a liter of blood. That was quite a lot of fish... But not all that much blood. "Phew... Wonder if that's enough..." Naoki now approached Yumi, after getting back to shore and clearing the water out of her ears. I really need to get more used to sensing underwater... So confusing...

"Yumi, we should have just about enough fish! How are you doing?" She bent down, creating friction in her fingers before snapping them to check on the girl. "Did you um... Did you feel anything, a surge maybe, or a spark? Or maybe the blood needs to be out in the open before anything happens? She turned towards Kaisou, who seemed to be perfectly ready to rip them to shreds as he clamped his teeth down on the closest one to the body of water. Naoki on the other hand, went to procure a bottle of soldier pills, transferring the contents of the most depleted bottle into another, and grabbed her knife to slice the fish open more systematically... As soon as Yumi said anything about actually doing something with the fish blood.

 

[Kazumi]

When Naoki would make her way ashore she would find Yumi still sitting in that cross-legged position, doing her best to meditate with her right forearm resting at her side while her left laid in her lap. As soon as Naoki spoke, however, the girl's eyes popped open. It seems that her meditative state was not very well refined. "Okay I guess... nothing really." She shook her head to her inquiries about sparks or surges.

She thought on Naoki's pondering, occasionally glancing over towards the otter as it threatened to eat one of the catch. Out in the open? Maybe... "Both times was when I was bleeding really heavily... or at least I thought I was. The first was this." She lifted her right stub up and waved it a bit before resting it again. "I don't remember that very much, but the feeling was... familiar. The other was in that dream when the dog..." she paused a moment and then explained, "there was a demony dog thing that guarded the scroll. It was very vicious and fero... ferosus..." She pondered the word for a moment before dismissing it.

She then gestured towards her shoulder and side, where the beast had bitten into her. "It bit me pretty bad here... and here. It hurt immensely, but the pain went away after a minute. Couldn't really feel anything except the pounding of my own heart in my ears and.. It felt like Sora's heart beating too, but I might have been imagining it."

 

[Samejima]

This wasn't sounding like it'd be any easier with the blood than without. "So, you think maybe the trigger is... you being hurt? 'Cause, I won't really be able to help with that..." she said, smiling apologetically. Then something she said a bit later registered, and she asked, "You could hear heartbeats though? That's got something to do with blood right? If you can do that now, that means it's possible that it's all stuff you can do, y'know, if worse comes to worst..."

Naoki then stood still, and her heartbeat should quicken slightly in anticipation. "Can you... hear me? Like, when you close your eyes and stuff?" Kaisou was busy with a fish, and his heartbeat should be rather fast while he actively ripped it to shreds, as promised.

 

[Kazumi]

"I... This all is really strange sounding." She admitted, sighing and smirking all at the same time while shaking her head. She was a mess of conflicted emotions at the moment, some reational and some less so. "Maybe because it was mine, maybe because there was alot of it." Yumi looked up towards Naoki as she spoke of the heartbeats. She would receive a hesitant shake of her head. "No, I don't think so?" She couldn't really be sure, but she didn't think she did.

Her thoughts drifted over towards her bag that rested alone a dozen paces away down the shore line. Pushing herself to a quick stand, Yumi began to walk over towards it, kneeling down and rummaging through its contents before she pulled out a standard academy regulation kunai from inside. It looked quite new, polished and as keen as the day it was forged.

 

[Samejima]

A lot of... blood. That's not good, definitely not good! Naoki walked in a somewhat rushed fashion over to Yumi before pushing the kunai down and talking in a relatively calm voice about that idea that just popped into her head. "I-I got another one, another idea. If you need a bunch of blood, we can try and ask one of the people at the hospital, maybe they can take the blood out real quick and then... close up the wound?"

She was speaking in a soft tone for the next sentence, one that might offend those who thought less of her... But coming from a 13-year-old, it wasn't something an adult would listen to. "Let's put this away for now, try and get a safer way to practice... okay?"

 

[Kazumi]

Althrough Naoki easily pushed the kunai down, Yumi still kept it gripped in her hand. "I am not gonna like... gut myself or anything, but I have to try." She looked down towards the sharp edged weapon and pondered for a moment. For some reason the absurdity of her thought line did not occur to her. It made perfect sense, and for some reason she couldn't explain she wanted to try. She would try to work the bladed weapon away from Naoki's reluctant hand, though not too vigorously if Naoki still persisted her objections.

 

[Samejima]

And persist she did, this time to the point of gently taking the kunai away before putting it back in Yumi's bag and closing it up. "And you will, but you'll do it with experienced people around, making sure nothing goes wrong... Blood is the stuff that keeps you alive after all, you don't wanna mess with it without knowing what you're doing," she reasoned, and paused a bit before continuing, mulling the idea over with a mix of concern and thoughtfulness on her face. Even if we do go though, the mednin are probably really busy, and won't have time to be dealing with two kids and a theory. And it's a lot quicker here too, and there's water... I think it was freshwater, it should be okay to use to clean a wound. That's only if there's a lot though, I never go anywhere without some drinking water with me anyways. Plus... They might only allow Yumi in the room. And I kinda wanna know how this works too...

Should Yumi interject at any time during the train of thought, which lasted about 5 seconds, Naoki would snap out of it and continue with the original idea, as safety is always first, but if she were allowed to finish it she would relent, and give Yumi a nod. "Thinking about it some more, I guess the mednin are all pretty busy too, and there's not much more than memory that you can give them as proof. Just be sure you don't cut yourself too deep, and I should be able to close it up once we have... enough." She gulped, readying herself for any and all possibilities while the otter hung around, still somewhat confused by the whole thing but watching earnestly to help if he could.

Of course, being an otter... there wasn't much he could do in terms of medical help.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi was too busy with her own internal thought to do any interrupting of Naoki during the girl's own. Truthfully, she was a little bitter, for reasons she didn't understand, that the girl did not let her try the experiment... at first. As the girl suddenly relents, Yumi looked up from the ground and over toward Naoki. This sudden change of heart seemed to catch Yumi off guard and she wore quite a puzzled expression. She did not question it, however, instead she turned and knelt by the bag once more, opened it up and fetched the kunai once more.

Standing, she turned back towards Naoki and alternated between looking at her and it. Movement in the background, the otter, caught her eye for a moment and broke her from her dazed mindset. She took in a deep breath and sighed. "I... you really think this is a good idea?" She held the kunai up and its smooth black side reflected some of the light from the crystals high above. "Maybe... you should do it for me." Her voice wavered slightly, as if she was conflicted between fear and determination as she held the weapon out for Naoki to take.

 

[Samejima]

"M-Me?! I can't- I-I don't have any mednin experience either! Um..." Naoki cut herself off mid-denial, and took a deep breath.

Just calm down! If anything, since you can hear the heartbeat and stuff, you'd be able to know which bits have slower blood flow, that way it won't make her bleed out too quickly right? Wait, but she needed to bleed out a lot right? Uhh, maybe if I act fast enough... But I don't have a jutsu that'll stop bleeding. Will just closing the wound be okay? I think Mystical Hand can do that... Hmmm... I'm not used to a regular kunai though... I'm pretty bad at throwing things after all, didn't try to keep training with the ranged stuff... Should I go get my knife?

Naoki nodded then, more resolutely than before, and walked over to her own bag to get her battle knife and a roll of bandages along with her canteen of water before sitting down and motioning for Yumi to do the same in front of her. "I work better with my own knife, so..."

 

[Kazumi]

She was going to do it? Yumi felt a little surprised that Naoki was actually going to go along with this crazy idea. As her friend fetched the supplies and sat down Yumi felt herself easing a little. Surely it must be a good idea if the other girl was agreeing to do this... of course, it must be...

Before she realised she had, Yumi had already stepped over next to Naoki and sat down infront of her. The realization of this caused her to blink and glance around in momentary confusion. Her eyes noticed the glint of Naoki's knife and they transfixd themselves on it for a few seocnds. "So... now what?" She asked with obvious hesitation. Even with Naoki's new show of confidence, Yumi was no battle hardened veteran and the prospect of willingly cuttin gherself did not seem to be a good one.

Her eyes broke their gaze off from the knife and she let out a small sigh. Holding her left hand out towards Yumi, she tried to keep herself from shaking. How much would Naoki cut her? What would Kurisu think if he saw her doing something so stupid?

It wasn't stupid. It was a grand idea! If she wanted to have a chance at graduating at the academy then she had to take drastic measures. Remember what happened at the obstacle course? Special talents are what puts one above the mindless masses, you have to embrace and take hold of it in whatever manner possible.

For the past few moment's Yumi had looked a little dazed, but her focus reassrted itself and she blinked as she came back to reality. What was... "Go ahead," she said with a renewed determination as she continued to hold her left arm out for Naoki to do as she pleaased.

 

[Samejima]

"Alright, this is going to hurt, but I'm gonna cut a little bit at first... If nothing happens I'll cut someplace a little deeper but that's it okay? Need to learn the proper jutsu used to stop bleeding before trying anything too dangerous..." she said, seemingly informing the girl of her next actions but really just making the words sink into her own consciousness so she'd remember what to do and not completely freak out afterwards. The words should ease Yumi's tension a little, and just before she did anything Naoki would ask for confirmation one more time, "You sure you want me to do this...?" face creased with tension and worry.

If the answer was a positive, Naoki would take a deep breath and relax a little. Before anything else, she'd put the knife down and try to feel out Yumi's fingertips. Not many sounds were being made in the area and this was rather frustrating, but as long as she remembered the shape... The first cut made would be to a fingertip, straight down from the first knuckle of Yumi's index finger to just about a quarter of a centimeter shy of the tip, while the hand itself was held in Naoki's right. As soon as Naoki finished the cut she would put down the knife and snap her fingers a few times to sense the amount of blood coming out.

If not though, the breath taken would be a sigh of relief as shoulders sunk in a similar feeling.

 

[Kazumi]

Perhaps unfortunately for them both, Yumi would give a firm nod of approval before she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in preparation for some sort of pain. As the razor sharp edge of the blade sliced easily into her finger Yumi stifled a pained whimper. A small line of blood ran down from her finger onto the ground between them as Yumi kept her face and eyes clenched. She tried to focus on... something. She honestly did not know what she was supposed to do, but she knew she had to do something in order go get it to work.

The stinging pain tried to force a tear out of her left eye, but that too was able to be suppressed as she worked to push past that sensation. Yumi remembered back to that beast, and how the pain of that imaginary wound put what amounted to a mere paper cut to shame. Her eyes opened slowly to look at her finger, which after letting out a small amount of blood had topped bleeding as the blood congealed inside the wound. It wasn't unreasonably fast, but it was quicker than expected.

By this point her breathing had become a little labored from pain and concern, but she seemed to be doing alright all things considered. The girl looked up towards Naoki and shook her head. "I think it needs to be more. Both other times there was quite a bit more." She did feel... something, or at least she thought she might have. "Go on, I will be fine," she sounded more foreful and reassured than she had only a few moments prior.

 

[Samejima]

"M-more... got it. Um," From the last few words, Naoki did get a good feeling of where she should cut next. This is it though, no more after this... Just get this one over with, just this next one... "So the next one'll be across the palm... is that ok?" She would need a confirmation before she did anything, including change where to cut, but as soon as she got it she would try to do it as quickly as possible, minimizing pain.

Given the ok, Naoki would flick the edge of the knife cleanly across Yumi's palm or wherever else she was told to cut (unless it was somewhere which would be significantly dangerous, like the neck or wrist) and the depth should allow quite a bit of blood to well out. She'd put the knife down faster than before once it was done, and the finger snapping would be somewhat louder than it was before after failing a few times from the sweat on her fingers at that point in time.

 

[Kazumi]

Again Yumi would give the girl a firm nod of affirmation as she opened her hand up to give the girl easy access. In hindsight this likely was not the most sane of things to do. Opening a large cut on the shore of an underground lake, just after she got out of the water. Done by a blind girl a few years older than herself in the hopes of having magical powers... Thankfully they were not entirely ordinary individuals, or else one, or both, of them might find themselves in an institution!

She was unable to completely suppress her cry of pain as the blade cut across her palm, possibly a little deeper than intended. It did not sever any tendons or muscles but it did to begin to bleed rather profusely. She almost immediately pulled her hand back, clenched the hand into a tight fist as she pressed it hard against her chest. She didn't expect for it to hurt so much, but she likely should have. Tears welled up in her eyes as she gritted her teeth to try and muffle out the pain. Blood seeped out of her closed fist and onto her bathing suit and legs as she leaned over slightly to instinctively try and press harder on it.

As she leaned over she could hear her quickening heartbeat pulsing in her ears and something else a little more distant than that. Slower but still familiar...

 

[Samejima]

Too deep, cut too deep! It was all Naoki could do to try (and fail to) calm herself, much less keep Yumi's condition monitored at the same time. "Yumi! Was it too deep- it was wasn't it, I'm so sorry! Give me your hand, I'll wrap it up!" She held her right hand out, and if Yumi complied once more the contents would be poured out onto the younger girl's hand. Wait, should I wrap it up first? Use the jutsu first? Which is first?! She went with wrapping it first, if she was allowed to do so, and would try and use Mystical Hand to speed the healing process after that before sitting back a little more and asking, "Did you um... feel anything? When there was a lot of blood?"

Should the girl not agree to have that wound treated, Naoki would wait no longer than three long seconds before prompting again, "Is anything happening? We should get it done quick or..." She realized now what it meant for her friend to be controlling blood. If she was going to use it, her life would be in danger even if it was against an opponent much weaker than she, especially since the blood used was her own. Controlling... controlling blood, doesn't that mean she should be able to make it not come out so fast? "C-can you make it go slower or something like that? Does it feel like it's slowing down, the bleeding?" Naoki gave another snap of her fingers, wanting to be sure she picked up on any sign that Yumi might want some help.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi sheek her head, still cradling her hand as she refused to give it over to Naoki to treat. She had to go through with it, she had to try. "I don't know!" She called out in pained anger as she pressed her fist against her chest after Naoki asked if she could slow the bleeding down. Could she? Probably not, but she really wanted it to stop hurting. She tried to calm her breathing and focus, but that was much easier said than done.

After a few moments she relented, forcing her bloodied hand out to Naoki for her to tend to. She couldn't do it... she might as well not bleed out all over the ground. If Naoki had done as she initially intended and used the contents of the bottle to try and wash away the blood she might find something strange. As the blood was washed away and replaced by water, Naoki could feel that the cut was gone. Yumi did not seem to notice this, as she had kept her eyes pressed shut to try and ignore the pain, which must have still lingered given that she was not relenting in her attempts to ignore it.