Pulled Back From The Void - Kichiru Awakens [Open]

[Maki Kichiru]

It was a beautiful day outside in Sunagakure; the first rays of sunlight penetrating Kichiru's bedroom and slowly bringing the young boy out of his slumber. It was only days after he had finally passed his exams alongside his two friends, Yanjirou and Hansame. His memory of the events, oddly enough, were a bit hazy, as if he had been recovering from a striking fist that sent him reeling. Shrugging it off as simply a symptom of morning grogginess, Kichiru jumped out of his bed, knowing that if he were to dress quickly enough he might just manage to beat his father to the first pieces of bacon. Those were always the best; the perfect balance of crispiness and tenderness. With an eager grin he pulled his shirt over his head and tied the headband he would always keep within arms reach tightly around his forehead before running out of his room toward the kitchen where his family would always eat their breakfast together before going off to complete their respective duties for the day.

"Hah! Early bird gets the wo-" His gleeful shout was cut short as he entered the kitchen only to see a far too familiar face already seated at the table, their hand reaching forward to grab that piece of bacon Kichiru so desperately craved after a good night's rest. He laughed out "Darn Kas, I thought for sure I would have beaten you and father!" as he sat down across the table from his elder sister who smiled towards him as she took the first bite of her meal. "Going to have to be fastest than that Kichi. You didn't think becoming Bashar means you can beat your big sis, huh?" She teased as Kichiru watched longingly as that first piece of bacon was quickly devoured. He let out a sigh of acceptance as he looked over towards his mother at the stove "You'll let me have the first one of the next batch, right mother!?" He pleaded half-jokingly with a puppy-dog face that had worked for as long as he could remember on his parents. The figure at the stove turned around, Kichiru's face turning a ghostly white as he was met not with his mother's face but with.. Well.. Nothing. It was as if someone had taken an eraser and erased all of his facial features, leaving only a blank soulless canvas that seemed to gaze piercingly through the young boy.

"What's.. Going on!?" He cried out, closing his eyes for a moment only to open them a second more with his mother's hand atop his shoulder. "Whatever do you mean, sweetheart?" He hesitated to look up towards the figure, however when he mustered the courage his gaze was simply met with the reassuring eyes of his mother that he knew fondly. "I.. It was nothing. I guess I didn't get enough sleep is all!" His mother continued to look down towards him with concern in her eyes "Oh, you know you don't have to exhaust yourself training every night. We're both very proud of you for passing your exams. No need to push yourself so hard!" He laughed out and rubbed the back of his head as he agreed "Yeah.. I guess you're right!" which would only be met with a confident "Mhm!" from his mother before she returned to the stove. However, as she did so she let a rolled up piece of paper fall onto the table in front of Kichiru.

"Huh..?" He looked confusedly towards his mother as he reached forward towards the note. Kasumi's voice seemed to come from nowhere, stopping Kichiru from unraveling the note, "So! How about we do that training you've been asking me about?" His confused expression quickly turned into one of happiness as he replied instantly "Yeah! For sure Kas! Right after breakfast!" whilst unraveling the note, which only read a single word that didn't seem to be written in any sort of ink. Instead, it was as if someone had burned the letters into the paper itself... Yet they were still emitting light as the flickering embers of a dying flame would. As if his brain were fighting against him, Kichiru struggled to process the word in front of him. Instead, he stuttered each letter out until he could read the strange note his mother had given him "R...Re..Rem.."

Remember

A tremor shook throughout the kitchen as the voice echoed throughout his mind, yet it seemed as if he were the only one to react to it as the shelves of their kitchen flew open, dropping plates and cups and such onto the floor, shattering them instantly. As they hit the floor they exploded into bursts of a thick black gas that quickly seemed to fill the room. As a child Kichiru likely would have been frozen in fear, unable to escape from the situation and hoping that Kasumi would save him. However, he was no longer just a child. He was a shinobi of Sunagakure, and therefore he should be able to react appropriately to any situation, no matter how strange. Just as he was about to run towards his mother he felt a grip tighter than any he had felt before pressing him down into the seat. His hands quickly moved towards where his belt pouch should have been, yet met nothing. Instead he turned his head without any weapon to defend himself against... Kas? Confused, he shouted out "Kas! Let.. let go of me! We have to save mother from..." She seemed unfazed by the words he spoken and instead tightened her grip slightly before speaking with the same voice he remembered. "No, Kichiru. We have to stay. You want to train with me, with your big sister, right? I'll protect you. You just have to stay."

Her words seemed to have an almost numbing affect on his body, his mind slowly drifting into a more clouded state as the black smoke seemed to twist and turn throughout the room, blocking out the rays of sunlight that should have been brightly illuminating the room by now. Instead, where there was once light was now masked by this twisting darkness. Kasumi's released her tight grasp of Kichiru with a smile as Kichiru seemed to slump back into his seat, not reacting in the slightest as the darkness beneath his feet coalesced into shifting tendrils that began to wrap around the young boy's legs. His entire body sat motionless as the dark tendrils slowly enveloped him. One might expect such a fate to feel cold, yet that couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, Kichiru felt warmth. As if he were being held lovingly in his mother's embrace. With a love that could only be as pure as that between a mother and her child. Kichiru accepted this. Why would he want to deal with all the pain of the world? All the evil that seemed to lurk past each and every street corner? Instead he could stay in thsi warm embrace with his family.. With his mother.. With his father.. With Kasumi.

The thought of his sister caused the letters on the note, which now sat unraveled on the table which had long been cast into darkness, to flare up brighter than before as they began to shift into a new configuration. The light from the new words pierced through the void and met Kichiru's gaze, causing the voice of his mother to enter his mind once more.

"Please.. Wake up Kichi.."

Kichiru shook abruptly, casting the dark tendrils off of his body as he stood up from the chair, his eyes locked directly on Kasumi, who stood at the other end of the table barely illuminated by the light breaking forth from the words. Fighting back the confusion that tried to force him back into submission, Kichiru choked out the words "Kas.. You're.. You're.. "

"Right here, Kichiru. See me. If you sit back down we can be together. You and me. Don't you want that?" She spoke softly towards him, yet in Kichiru's mind he now sensed a sinister undertone to the words, causing tears to well up in his eyes as he shook his head defiantly.

"You're.. You're not real. Whatever you are. You're not Kas!" Emotions welled up inside Kichiru as the figure in front of him twisted and turned, as if it were deciding upon a new form to greet the child. With a low chuckle, the darkness throughout the room instantaneously shot forward towards the figure, leaving forth not the kitchen he had spent nearly every morning of his life in, but instead a gray void that seemed to extend forward in all directions. They were surrounded by nothingness as the illusion seemed to fade, instead leaving the two face to face with only a few meters of distance between them. The figure had finally chosen a form to take, a form which left Kichiru stunned as he stared into the eyes of the man known only to Kichiru as Akashi.

“No.. That's impossible.. None of this is real. Genjutsu.. A nightmare.. Something!” He shouted out towards the figure, charging towards it with his fists reeled back, only to be met with a chuckle as the man spoke“You accepted this, child. You stared into the void; now It comes for you. He decided to show you mercy. I won't be so foolish.”<i></i> The words seemed to hold Kichiru in place as the man simply circled around the young boy as a predator might do around its prey.

“Give up and you will feel nothing. Resistance will only be met with torm-”<i></i> The figure stopped in his tracks as his eyes stared at a small light on the boy's back.“Oh? And what is this?”<i></i> That wicked voice laughed out as a clawed hand scratched at the back of Kichiru's shirt, revealing the source of the light, which seemed to be.. coming from his skin?

Sweetheart.. If you can hear me.. Wake up.

Much to the figure's shock, the light erupted into an intense blue flame which began traveling in different directions across the boy's back as if it were following a fuse. “No.. That fool!” <i></i>The figure barked out in anger as the flames met together in the shape of a star. More specifically, the shape of the seal that Akashi had placed on Kichiru in order to save him from an assassin's poison that wracked the boy with an intense pain that soon would have left him dead. This should have simply faded over the course of a few days, however, either due to error on Akashi's part or a sliver of Toyoda, the man whose body Akashi had seemingly taken over in some sort of strange ritual, the spiritual flames had left a lingering mark on Kichiru's body. They had created a seal that contained a great deal of spiritual chakra which had become a source of both power and pain for the young boy over the past few months since their encounter. Regardless of why such a seal lingered, it would now be Kichiru's savior.

“Mother..”

The figure screamed out “No!”<i></i> as he tried to tear his claws forward through the boy's chest, only for all of reality to seemingly shatter in an instant, leaving only blackness in it's wake.

“Kichiru..!? Yes, it's me! Please, wake up!”

Slowly, the boy opened his eyes to see his mother standing over him in tears. Weakly, he managed a smile as he looked around him to take in his new environment: A hospital room. His mother looked towards Kichiru, half in happiness but also in shock, before shaking to the realization and calling out “Nurse! Nurse, come in here! He's awake!”

The next few hours seemed a blur to the young child as countless doctors, nurses, and friends came in and out of the room to greet the child who had been seemingly lost for a few years in a deep coma that took Kichiru in the middle of the night only shortly after his Bashar exam. Doctors from across the country had come and tried to awaken the boy, each one of them met with failure. He was stable, however they all came to the conclusion that he would likely remain in a comatose state and that it would be best to let the boy die peacefully rather than be tormented by whatever strange machinations the mind may create in such a situation. However, even as months upon months passed, Kichiru's mother never seemed to lose hope that he would one day awaken from his slumber. And so he did.

After a few hours, Kichiru had managed to convince his mother to go back home and get some rest as he would likely be allowed to return home the following day. While he did worry about his mother, he also needed time to think over what he had experienced. Was it real? Any of it? He was back with his sister in that world. But he knew in his heart that refusing that temptation was the right thing to do. In that world he could make no difference. He would simply be living in a lie meant to tempt him into selfishly leaving his friends and family behind for happiness. Yet that thought made him anything but.

Now the boy simply had to wonder...

What did I miss.. And how the heck can I get out of here!? I've missed so much training!

[MFT]

 

[Uka]

Ah what a day. The sun was shining brightly up in the sky in the ever-present summer of the sandy desert. It really was a beautiful day and for a change Kyou had actually managed to get some rest. That entire ordeal had been far too much for everybody who worked at the hospital and she was hoping it wasn’t going to come back anytime soon. Everybody needed the rest. That much was for absolutely certain.

Unfortunately in her profession it didn’t matter whether you were dying or not you had to be at work. After all, if the doctors took days off then who would actually end up healing the patients? It was a thankless job most of the time and that was perfectly alright with her. She was better at dealing with animals after all, her long-time companion being a rather prime example.

As per usual she was making the rounds on her own due to the fact that people tended to get scared of a massive Tibetan mastiff randomly walking through the hospital. Because of that he had been left in her small corner office whilst she made her way over towards a rather interesting patient, her slightly too long white lab coat trailing behind her.

”Well this is something you don’t see often.” Kyou murmured to herself as she read the file whilst on her way. Time wasn’t exactly something that she had a lot of, forcing her to multitask quite a lot of the time and therefore it wasn’t surprising to see her reading patient files whilst she was making her way over towards their room. This was absolutely no exception and she would still be going through the file as she casually opened the door to the boy’s room, having little to no consideration with regards to what he might be doing in there on his own.

The rather petite medic was an interesting sight to see for a few reasons. The first one was her waist-length purplish hair, which was fairly rare as far as she herself knew, and her light-blue eyes were a fairly recessive trait as well. That however did make for a rather interesting picture when one considered that her standard-issue green scrubs were at least two sizes far too big and so was her lab coat.

”Maki Kichiru. Age 11. Woke up from a year and a half long coma. Can’t really say that is something you see very often. How are you feeling?” The medic asked, taking a seat on the corner of his bed, taking out a clipboard and a pen in the mean time.

 

[Maki Kichiru]

It would have to be now or never. If Kichiru wanted to escape from the hospital he would likely have to make his move soon or risk being stuck overnight and missing out on yet another opportunity to gather information on where Yanjirou had went. He had already figured out a plan involving rappelling out the hospital window using his bed-sheets as a sort of makeshift rope. He would then have to sneak into his home to retrieve the flare the Hero he encountered in the Grand Palais district had given him in order to contact in him the future. Then he was certain the Hero would know exactly what the young boy would have to do to find his friend.

Kichiru slowly moved towards the window to open it, making sure to listen for any potential footsteps that might spell the end for his masterful plan. With the window wide open, he would only need to attach the blanket to something in order to rappel downward safely. Normally he would just rely on his chakra to walk down the side of the building, though he wasn't exactly sure attempting such precise control over his chakra would be possible in his current state.

Footsteps!

With a jolt the boy pounced forward into his bed, hitting it with a thump as he crawled back under his covers just as the door opened to a surprisingly familiar face. It was very possible Kyou wouldn't recognize the boy as it had likely been nearly two years since they first met in Suna's residential district. Kichiru had been picking up groceries for his mother when he encountered Kyou and her massive canine as well as the Steward Kazekage himself, leading to quite the interesting conversation between the two.

Maybe I could visit him before I left to find Yanjirou.. If I have enough time after all my plans..

Kichiru smiled in response to Kyou's question and quickly responded “I guess I'm doing okay for someone who was asleep for so long, though I definitely don't feel quite as strong as I used to. And how are you feeling, Miss Kyou?” The question would likely come off as rather strange, though Kichiru always had a habit of extending such gestures when dealing with others. Although his mind was completely focused on doing whatever was necessary to go through with his plan, causing him to often glance over towards the open window, he still deeply and genuinely cared about other people.

 

[Uka]

”That is good to hear.” The medic would nod, seemingly ignoring his using her name, though that wasn’t really the case. She was rather good at remembering faces even if names did manage to leave her memory rather quickly. Kyou would notice that Kichiru seemed to be looking towards the window an awful lot. Without really saying a word she slowly leave her clipboard and pen on the bed before slowly making her way around the bed and over to the window. She would then close it and turn the lock. ”Let me close that for you.” The young woman would finally state as she walked back over and took her seat once again.

”I am going to need to run through some checks once more. I realise that you have probably been through these a few times already, however it is very important to see how your body is reacting. Generally, after somebody comes out of a short coma it takes them a couple of months per every single day they spent in a coma to actually recover. In your case I do believe it would normally take… oh how much was it.” She would pause, leaning forwards and resting her elbows on her knees as she rested her chin on her knuckles, the back of her pen touching her pinkish lips. ”I do believe something along the lines of say one hundred and fifty seven years or so.” Kyou would nod ever so slightly, pausing for a while to let that sink in. She was being fairly harsh, but she did want to let the thought of how serious his condition was right now. Him running around and doing something stupid was ridiculously dangerous after all. ”That being said I am sure you can realise what sort of risky state you are in now, right? Thankfully with the assistance of medicine, proper care and a lot of rest we can reduce that recovery period substantially.”

The medic would slowly stand up, reaching into her pocket, and taking out a small round piece of candy in a see-through wrapper. ”This is my own mixture or herbal stimulants. Ginger, Gynostemma, Cayenne, Ginkgo, Nutmeg and Ashwagndha. I doubt you have heard of many of those, but it will help your recovery quite a bit.” Kyou would place it on the small table next to the boy’s bed before taking out a small flashlight. ”I am going to need to see how your irises react to stimulation so just sit back and relax, alright?”

 

[Maki Kichiru]

“Oh! Is the wind bad or anything? I enjoy listening to the people outside. Sometimes you can hear them have conversations. Makes me want to just lean out the window and join in!” Kichiru laughed out at the last line. Whilst that wasn't quite why he opened the window, it certainly wasn't a lie. He really did like leaving windows open in his room so he could hear the various sounds going on right outside. It was as if opening the door created a connection between him and the rest of Sunagakure. It also helped that he had quite a keen sense of hearing. Nothing supernatural or beyond the normal ability of a Shinobi, but still rather impressive for someone not trained in reconnaissance. Simply a trait that came easily to a child that enjoyed simply listening to others as they went on about their lives, relishing in the various inflections in their voice as they got excited or passionate about something.

“A couple months per day..?” He asked confused as he started trying to count on his fingers. If Kyou were paying attention she could likely feel him perking up his toes to attempt to use them as counting instruments as well. However all he could manage to do was give himself a killer of a headache and a rather dumbfounded look on his face that only turned to sheer shock as Kyou dropped the bomb of his projected recovery time. Without thinking, he blurted out “But I can't be stuck in here! I have training to do and I have to find my best friend! I'm going to learn everything I can about being a Shinobi. I'll join the Medical Branch just like my sister and I'll have great adventures with Yanjirou that people will write stories about! You can't keep me here for that long..” And with that Kichiru looked down towards his lap as Kyou spoke, speaking of the hope that they could drastically reduce his recovery time.

But I need to leave today.. I can't stay here..

The boy didn't even really react to the candy-bar being placed at his side as his mind simply raced thinking about the possibility that he would never be able to keep up with his comrades. That others might think him a burden. No, that would never happen. There had to be another away to quicken the recovery so that he could at least gather information about Yanjirou's whereabouts and be in proper shape to embark after him once he had found his location. Without hesitating, Kichiru leaned back and looked towards the flashlight, still clearly deep in thought about what he could do.

As Kyou would begin her examination, a thought sparked in the young boy's mind.

“What if I were to learn some of the stuff they teach Shinobi that join the medical branch? Would I be able to administer treatment on the go.. So I could at least leave the hospital?”

 

[Uka]

”Right now?” Kyou would ask, pausing for a moment as she looked up at the ceiling for a couple of seconds. ”Strictly speaking I wouldn’t really leave it open for a long time. We don’t really know what sort of effect this has had on your body as a whole, let alone your immune system. It might be a bit lonely, but bear with it, alright?” She would glance back down and over towards the boy with a light smile. As harsh as it was to be telling this to a young boy he was a shinobi. He would have to deal with many things other kids his age would never even dream of. Such was the world they both lived in.

”Give it some time and things will go back to the way they were, but for now I would say that it is a very bad idea to leave the sterile environment of the hospital for your own good.” The medic would nod, hoping that was enough to make the boy relax a little bit and understand the direness of his situation right now. Then again she would be lying if she didn’t realise it wasn’t going to help at all. ”You will be able to get back to training before long, but any really harsh training won’t really be possible for a while. It is not that your body won’t be able to handle it, but we honestly don’t know what sort of effects this all has had. Until we do training is completely off the table.” Kyou would add, her expression growing neutral and even somewhat cold in order to reinforce her point.

As the boy leaned back the medic would gently place her left hand on his forehead, using her index finger to carefully pull his upper eyelids up one after the other, keeping his eyes open as she shined the handheld light into one and then the other, observing the reaction and trying to find out if the reactions are normal. After she was happy with that she would turn the light off and remove her hand, taking a step back and setting about filling in some of the forms on her clipboard.

”Generally it is good for absolutely any shinobi to know at least some very basic first aid and medical techniques, but they aren’t that easy you know.” Kyou would offer him another light smile. ”Though I am not one to stop anybody from trying out for the medical branch, because that would be stupid. Having more people around lowers the workload quite a bit after all.” The young female couldn’t help but chuckle, turning her pen off and placing the clipboard onto the bedside table. She would then pick up the candy and offer it to the boy once again. ”For now I would say take all the medication and follow what myself and the other doctors say. The more you try and rush things the slower everything will be at the end. Take this. It will help a bit.” She would nod over towards the candy on her outstretched hand.

 

[Maki Kichiru]

“Alright. I'll do whatever it takes to get better then so I can get back to training and looking for my friend.” Kichiru replied with a grin before allowing Kyou to examine the light sensitivity of his pupils, which would both react just as they should to the light she shone into them. Once she released her index finger from below his eye he would begin blinking quite rapidly, looking around the room as if his eyes were chasing the bright flashes of light that tended to linger after staring at a bright source such as a flashlight.

He nodded once again “I know they aren't easy! But I've already known for a while that I wanted to learn as much as I could from the medical branch! I've already worked on a few techniques on my own. I don't know if you had seen my dog running around at all whilst I was asleep. Her name is Kas; I found her after she had been attacked by some animal and I managed to heal her wounds! I want to be able to do that for people too. To be able to keep others safe from those that would hurt them.” He shut his eyes only for a moment as the image of Akashi flashed in his mind, just as clear as it had been whilst stuck in that comatose state.

Taking the candy without much hesitation, Kichiru shoved as much of it as he could into his mouth. If this was something that was supposed to make him feel better then he wouldn't waste a second more. Every second wasted would be one where he could be growing stronger or out gathering information. Just then an idea struck Kichiru, causing him to speak whilst still chewing on the entire bar of candy that had been shoved into his mouth in a little under three seconds.

“Alright.. So if I have to stay in the hospital. Can't I learn here? If my recovery is going to take a while I might as well pick up any knowledge that I can. Instead of training my body I can learn things about techniques beyond basic first aid. I am confident I can handle that. If we don't know exactly what happened to me then the best thing for it would be the slowly push the boundaries whilst in a safe place like the hospital, right?" His eyes glowed as he looked hopefully towards Kyou. Joining the medical branch had been something he wanted to do for years since his late sister had instilled such a sense of wonder in Kichiru regarding the good you could do for the world with such knowledge. Plus, it probably wouldn't hurt to have someone medically trained for a grand adventure across the great nations.

[MFT]

 

[Uka]

Would slowly but surely be writing away on the piece of paper held onto her clipboard as she carefully observed how the boy was reacting and moving. Generally coma was caused by some sort of brain trauma and one would expect to see some sort of side effects. Usually patients would slowly regain their motor functions properly and full cognitive ability at a much slower pace. This kid however appeared to be in tip top condition. Something excessively rare without a doubt. It was true that the state of their current medicinal practice was much better than it had ever been and chakra could be considered miracle work, it still was strange. A subject worth studying for further cases such as this one.

Her mind raged on, studying the boy as she just nodded through most of what he was saying, paying little to not attention at all. To him it would seem as if she was carefully listening, but in truth it was going in one year and in the other up until he decided to eat the hard candy, which was the size of a ball of gum, she had given him not too long ago. How it had magically grown into a candy bar was a mystery they would never honestly know the answer for. Kyou would finally begin paying attention just in time to hear his idea, stopping herself from writing she would once more bring her back of her pen up towards her mouth, touching her lower lip with it.

”Staying in a sterile environment would be the best option for the time being for certain.” The medic would nod ever so slightly. ”I have nothing against you learning if you are that interested in the medical branch, but you do need to know that this is fairly thankless work. No matter what you need to be able to get out of the hardest situations alive when on the field in order to be able to save your comrades. If you do opt for that at least. There is also the hospital route, which does involve a rather large amount of sleep deprivation really….” Kyou would nod once more, taking a deep breath as she had forgotten to actually breath whilst she was speaking. A rather common occurrence with her if she was intrigued, something the boy had yet to really learn.

”But that is beside the point really. How good are you in terms of chakra control? I would say that if we compare medical techniques to genjutsu it would be harder to actually perform medical techniques due to the sheer precision and patience required. I won’t even mention the ridiculous amount of medical knowledge and practice that you need to put in. To put it simply this isn’t really a road for people who give up easily and are not ready to devote their life to the profession.”

 

[Maki Kichiru]

“No offense Miss Kyou, but I don't plan on being stuck in the hospital for much longer than I have to. Yanji and I devised this big plan to visit all the great Shinobi Villages. He's really into libraries and reading and finding out secrets so we were going to see what the different villages had to offer. I've even heard rumors of people able to extend their life! How cool is that!?” Kichiru would seem to go on and on without taking a single breath, continuing with “And think about all the different types of people we could find! I love talking to people and learning about them the same way Yanji likes reading his books. Oh! I wonder if they have special kinds of jutsu we could learn. Do you think they wou-” At this point the young child would suddenly realize his lack of oxygen and rapidly inhale before his face could start turning various shades of colors. He grinned “Oops. Sometimes I do that when I get really excited.” If Kyou had noticed and become concerned with his state, he would continue with “Sorry about that!”

To address her question regarding his abilities, Kichiru replied rather quickly “Well. I could show you the things I've tried learning? I don't really know what they're called, but I had watched my sister perform quite a few jutsu on the days I visited her at the old hospital. My control over my chakra seems pretty solid, though it can get kind of out of hand when things get tense. I've met someone who taught me a lot about trying to keep calm in the midst of battle. So if I listen to what he said, I think I can manage whatever you have in store for me Miss Kyou! I'll push as hard as it takes to learn as much as I can.”

He looked around for a moment before adding his own observation of an earlier point Kyou had made “Though.. I don't think you're right about one thing. I don't think it's a thankless job. Maybe the people don't come to you directly and thank you in person. But you get to know that, by your actions, you allowed that person to continue their life. They can continue to love and be loved. When they are thanked for their deeds; In a way, you're being thanked too. So maybe it isn't a job where you're getting praised day in and day out.. But I think you're doing something really important Miss Kyou. When darkness tries to snuff out the light of innocent folk, you're here to make sure it continues to burn bright.” He finished his statement with a smile as he looked up towards Kyou.

 

[Uka]

”Frankly speaking for you being stuck in the hospital for as long as you have to is going to be weeks at the -very- least.” Kyou would roll her eyes, giving the boy a cold glare afterwards. As per with any shinobi, especially a kid, he really didn’t understand that him being alive right now was basically a miracle. Waking up from a coma after that long was something seen once in a million really. ”Right now you won’t really be going anywhere fast really. Not until we are sure you won’t just fall and not stand up again. I understand you are young, kiddo, but rushing this will only come back to bite you in the ass later on. That much I can absolutely guarantee you.” She would take in a deep breath, exhaling it in the form of a prolonged huff. Oh why did people never listen to medical professionals. Well there was only so much that she could really do. If they wanted to go and basically worsen their condition or if push comes to shove essentially kill themselves she couldn’t really stop them.

”I will give you the benefit of the doubt right now as I don’t want you to be using any chakra at all right now. At all. You can be sure that if you try to do something it will only increase your recovery time by months if you don’t let your body slowly get back to where it was before. Headaches and nose bleeds would be the least of your worries if you end up forcing things.” She would nod, keeping her gaze on the boy and trying to look him directly in the eyes, a move she was hoping to use to intimidate him. Well as intimidating as a woman wearing clothes two sizes bigger than they should be and standing at 4’ 9 could be. Frankly it was probably funny, the image of a young child being angry at their parents coming to mind. Ah the joys of being short.

”Oh you can fill your ego and achieve self-satisfaction all you want. The only real problem is patients who think they know better than their doctor, make unreasonable demands and then go on to argue that they are not in the condition they are actually in. It is really fun when that happens I can tell you that much for sure.” Kyou would throw him a wolfish grin, her point having been clearly made. ”What I can say is that I will talk to my superiors about getting you started as an intern, but that is not going to be for a good couple of weeks. IF you listen and do -exactly- as you are told.”

 

[Maki Kichiru]

If there was one thing that Kichiru didn't like, it was being told that he was incapable of doing something. His elder sister used to abuse that fact all the time when they were much younger by tricking him into doing things by simply making him feel as if he couldn't. Sure, he was young, and sure he was just in a coma for an extraordinarily lengthy period of time... For reasons that were likely unknown.. But he felt fine. Well, a little weak here and there, but he certainly didn't feel like the slightest exertion was going to cause him to drop dead. That was the nature of the strange “illness” that had fallen over him. The doctors might be capable of picking and choosing the symptoms in order to create their own picture of what had happened to him. But whatever it was, it certainly wasn't some strain of bacteria or viral infection. Kichiru didn't know for sure, but he had a gut feeling that it had to do with the figure he saw in his dreams. That man was responsible for all this lost time, for separating Kichiru from Yanjirou.

At this point, Kichiru had only been half-listening, as it seemed Kyou would continue on with her doctoral rhetoric, perhaps tossing in a bit of her own attempts to intimidate Kichiru into submission. Kas taught him better than to let anybody scare him into thinking he was broken or incapable. Of course, it was very likely that Kyou was absolutely right, but those pieces of logic were out of reach of the stubborn young boy's mind. Instead, he sat there, dreaming of being back outside and exploring. Seeing how the village had changed whilst gathering information on Yanjirou's wherabouts.

It had been a few moments since Kyou had stopped speaking before Kichiru spoke “Alright. I have one request. I'll stay laying right here and get some rest, but could you tell Akujin-Sama that I'm here and I'm awake? I want him to do my training.” He nodded with those final words. They weren't meant as any sort of insult towards Kyou. Yet, with Yanjirou's description of his family and their ties to otherworldly beings, Kichiru thought it possible that Akujin would be able to truly understand what had happened to him. If there was a chance Akujin could let him out earlier, or even just start their training sooner, then Kichiru was going to make sure he at least tried.

[MFT]

 

[Uka]

The medic would sigh, having done all the tests that she needed to. She would roll her eyes before taking a step back and picking up both her pen and clipboard. "Alright. I will talk to him. I will also see about getting one of the trainees to bring you a couple of textbooks to review before you start going down the path of a medical ninja. Don't think it will be easy, alright?" The woman would chuckle, turning on her heels and making her way towards the door. "Oh and don't do anything stupid." She would add just before leaving the room and letting the boy go ahead and do what he wanted to.

[Topic Left]
[MiT granted if you still want it]