Twozume [Suzume]

[Suzuki Suzume]

Hospitals were usually a depressing place to be in. If you weren't in there for your own injury, you were likely sensitive to someone else's, and even with those reasons there was always the lingering feeling that there were people inside that were much, much worse off than you currently were. For this hospital, that atmosphere of sadness was lined with a layer of hope, because it was likely that those inside were the ones that had survived something too terrible to picture.

Suzume saw almost none of this. As she entered into the waiting room for her examination there were certainly other soon-to-be patients, but this girl just sat down on a chair that was a little too high for her and swung her legs without much of a care in the world. After all she wasn't sick, this was just another routine exam, so there was no reason to worry, right?

"Hum hum hum..." The minutes went by pretty slowly as Suzume dug in her pockets for a quick snack-- though in what was a rare occurrence there was no sweet treat to entertain her stomach until dinner time. She pouted, then looked around the room until her eyes landed on a vending machine being a vending machine. With a spring in her step, the genin hopped off her seat and walked over to it...

...or she would have, if a grey-haired lady hadn't approached it first. Suzume stopped close by and watched what the woman was doing, every slow action she took, every mild shake of her hands as she inserted a coin... she didn't look crippled or incapable, naturally, and actually seemed fairly healthy for someone of her apparent age. Once she was done, she noticed Suzume's interest in her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh? Did you want one too, dear? I'm sorry, I'll move out now." Her raspy but calm voice snapped the genin out of her focus and had her nod with a big smile. The woman moved out of the way, but she stuck around to observe for some reason or another. "My my, you're a spry young woman. Are you visiting someone?"

"Nnnnope, just a checkup." Suzume reached down to retrieve an energy bar from the deposit, then quickly opened it up and took a bit.

"Aha, I see, I see." She nodded slowly as if satisfied.

"What about you, ma'am?" The genin paused for another bite, then asked with her mouth full. "Whata hee fou?" The old woman's reaction was just to chuckle and shake her head. Anyone else might have seen a bit of a wryness in her smile, but Suzume just tilted her head.

"Aaah... it's nothing bad, don't worry. I'm just visiting someone." Both of them nodded, the woman before Suzume, before she spoke again. "Now now, I suppose I must be going. Visiting hours are nearly over, after all. Take care, little one." With that, she patted the genin's shoulder and began turning away.

"Yokay, I will! Bye bye, granny!" The old woman chuckled a bit, then walked off towards the back rooms. Suzume for her part just returned to her seat and resumed her leg-swinging, this time with a proper snack. "That was a nice lady." She took another bite, and waited to be called in...

 

[Kazumi]

"Suzuki Suzume" Called a distracted nurse from behind the large main desk. The middle aged woman continued to read from a large document as she awaited the girl to approach. If she promptly approached the woman would continue, "your examination will begin shortly. Please proceed up to the third floor through the elevators on your right. Room 314, just follow the signs." She continued to recite the words, though if Suzume peered over the counter top she could see that whatever it was that the woman was reading had nothing to do with the instructions she was providing. She must have given these same instructions thousands of times before, and her brain was running on autopilot.

She continued, "once you arrive, please remove all your clothing and place it in the plastic bag provided for you on the bed." The nurse paused a moment and took a moment to glance up, adding, "that includes your shoes." She looked back down to read and continued, "then put on the medical gown that you will find on the bed there and wait patiently in the room. A female medical staff will arrive shortly after to begin the examination." She took a long slow breath before continuing even further, "I remind you to answer all questions truthfully and to the best of your ability. All answers and test results will be entered into your shinobi records to measure your health, fitness, capabilities and over all well being. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action from village administration."

Without any further instruction, she stopped talking and continued to stare down at the long document, flipping to the next page, her interest in the conversation completely vanished, if there was any to begin with. Any questions Suzume would ask would be met with disinterest and dismissal, before she would eventually call out another person's name to encourage the girl to leave.

Finding the room would not be difficult, and she would find the plastic bag and the open backed hospital gown laying neatly folded on the modestly sized room. It appeared large enough for two patient beds, but instead only had the single, as well as a small assortment of other devices for testing everything from vitals to a treadmill along with other oddities that Suzume likely couldn't identify. Regardless of if she followed instructions or not, it would be nearly ten minutes before anyone would arrive at the room.

 

[Suzuki Suzume]

"Hup!" Suzume hopped off the seat as soon as her name was called, naturally, and walked over towards the nurse. As she moved, she passed by a trash can where she paused for a second and mouthed the rest of her candy bar before tossing the wrapper inside. The ensuing speech was... boring. Routine exams were a lot more common when you were still young, after all, so having been a student for a while this spiel wasn't anything new for Suzume-- probably anyway. No matter the case she didn't seem too interested, as her eyes darted between the notebook and the nurse's face. Once it was done, though, she just blurted out a "Yokay!", and moved on where she was directed.

Room 311, 312. 313... yep, there it was, no biggie. The genin opened the door, entered, then closed it again behind her. Buuuut... for a medical room this sure had a lot of neat things in it. Suzume's interest immediately turned towards the treadmill, as she ignored anything else she didn't understand.

"Hmmm... a run would be pretty nice later. Mhm, that sounds good..." She mused idly as she just removed her light clothing. Not that there was much to remove besides a baggy shirt and a pair of short shorts, but that only meant it was quick for her to change into the gown. A normal person might wait patiently on the bed for the doctor to arrive, but, nope, not Suzume. She instead started poking around the treadmill, seeing what each button did, what it might be useful for... of course she had likely used one before in the academy for idle practice but it was always useful to check for differences between models, or, something. She just needed something to focus on for now. "...oh, yeah, shoes." And like a coin flip she turned away from the device and slipped off her sandals to drop them in the bag again.

With her interests satisfied, the genin hopped onto the bed, most likely after a fair few minutes had already passed, and took the time to stuff her clothing properly into the bag.

 

[Kazumi]

At first she thought it was a joke that some of the other staff were playing on here when she picked up the chart and began walking her way towards the examination room, her long medical robe untied as it softly fluttered behind her. "Suzuki Suzume..." she read aloud as she quickly made her way down the somewhat crowded main hallway. After a few moments of reading over the chart she shrugged, apparently it was not a joke after all. She doubted that it was a conscious effort on someone's part to assign this examination to her, but it didn't make any difference.

"Hey, Oushi-Ouja-san," a man a few years Suzume's elder called from a few steps behind her, causing the young woman to turn and look back inquisitively. "You can still cover my shift tomorrow right? Anniversary and all?" The man looked hopeful, and with a resigned sigh she nodded and the man gave her an enthusiastic gesture of victory. "You're the best. I'll make it up to you, I promise!" With that the man turned back and hurried his way on, leaving Suzume to do the same as she approached room 314, knowing that she likely just took a hit for the man with him having little intention of ever paying back that 'debt'.

She placed her hand on the door, took a deep breath and gave a quick knock. After waiting a moment to give the patient a chance to either cover up or make themselves modest she swung the door open and easily slid inside, closing the door back behind her. This Suzume looked to be perhaps sixteen years of age or so, something about her made it difficult to place. Her longer black hair looked a little out of place as it draped over the back of her medic-in-training uniform, which bore the large seal of the hospital on its back. "Good morning, my name is Oushi-Ouja Suzume. It is a pleasure to meet you Suzuki-chan." Suzume looked back down to her clipboard, clicking a pen that was attached by a long string as she read over the details once again.

She waited a moment for the other Suzume to give her own greetings before she continued. "Says here you are here for your enlistment examination. Congratulations on passing your graduation exams by the way. Are you excited to begin your professional career for the village as a full blown shinobi?" She kept a pleasant smile and a tone full of friendly enthusiasm as she stepped past the genin, walking over to a scale as she gestured for her to follow. "Go ahead and step on and we will get your weight and height measured." She patiently would wait a few moments, and presuming the girl complied she would quickly take the necessary measurements. "Do not worry, this should all not take too long. I just need to get a few baseline measurements for your records. You don't have anything against needles do you?"

 

[Suzuki Suzume]

By the time she heard the knock on the door, Suzume was busy looking under the bed for, some reason. She reacted pretty quickly, but by the time the doctor came in she would still be getting up from her knees and dusting herself off. The genin blinked a couple times as the other girl entered the room, and she didn't seem to react very much to her appearance. Mednin weren't super unusual, right? When the older Suzume said her name, though, the younger one's eyes lit up very slightly.

"...Suzume?" The genin pointed at herself, then smiled a childlike smile. "Hey, I'm Suzume too! Nice to meetcha!" It was a coincidence, naturally, but those small things are ultimately what brightened this younger Suzume's days... She folded her hands together behind her back and began lightly swinging her upper body from side to side, letting her loose peach hair flow with the rhythm as she stared at the older girl.

Oh, but the subject of her graduation... it might have been a sore spot, but the genin reacted appropriately and let out a small "hehe~" at the praise.

"Thanks! It's all thanks to my great sensei, though!" That was true enough, she only managed to pass thanks to the help of a dedicated teacher. It might not have been the best grade ever, but she had certainly made up for her failure the year before; at least, that's what she thought. "I dunno what I'm gonna do yet, though. D'you choose this job right away, Oushi-Ouja-san?" By 'job', she likely meant becoming a mednin. It was definitely something for her to be curious about, especially since this Suzume was technically her senpai by a few years. Learning from your superiors was always valuable, or at least that's what the caretakers always said.

Either way, the younger Suzume didn't really have any trouble cooperating with what she was told to do. For all her seeming curiosity and absentmindedness, the genin was good at following orders. As for her measurements, she was naturally still a growing girl; she likely had some muscle definition to her, but overall she was pretty athletic and slender. Though, at the mention of needles, she paused and looked at the older Suzume.

"...will it sting?" She tilted her head, and just stood still while waiting for the answer.