Sickness.

She hated it, hated it with a passion. Thankfully, it wasn’t something she had to experience all that often. However, she was the type of person who, when she finally did get sick, got sick. This latest episode had hit her hard and fast. She had woken up one morning (God, how many weeks ago had it been? Or was it months at this point?) feeling overly exhausted and just lackluster, but had decided to force herself to do some training anyway (Really, what kind of ninja would she be if she let a little sickness stop her from training?!). She hadn’t been an hour into training in the forest when she had dropped like a stone, unconscious, and barely breathing. Thankfully, she had been found by a medic gathering special herbs that they had planted nearby. Amaya Uchiha had saved her life that day: and had been one of her main care providers during her sickness and stay in the hospital (Really, how long had it been now?).

The first few days of her sickness had been rough, and very touch and go. She had been nearly dead when Amaya had found her, and she fought tooth and nail against the Grim Reaper for days until she finally won. She had gone from being on the brink of death and puking up blood as this sickness ravaged her lungs to where she was at now… which was close to being discharged. She had thought about just up and leaving from time to time – she hated hospitals, the way they smelled, the fact that people died in them in a fight they couldn’t win – but it seemed like each time she had thought about it someone had shown up and kept watch to make sure she didn’t.

Now though, she was going to be free to go and the first thing she wanted to do was get a nice hot meal that didn’t taste well… tasteless. The lack of salt and pepper or any seasoning really had been killing her – hospital food just plain sucked. She wasn’t a food critic by any means, or picky really, but even she had her limits and she had long since reached them.

As Kaia’s thoughts turned to the food she would possibly be eating within the next hour she looked around her hospital room – a private one at that – to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. She had packed up her stuff the day before when Amaya had told her she’d be going home soon, but she wanted to make sure she didn’t accidentally lose anything. Not that she had much on her: Demi had snatched her out of Kumo and rushed her off to Konoha before heading back to Kiri, and she hadn’t gone to Kiri with all that much on her person to begin with. Kaia had wanted to stay for a while in Konoha, and Demi had agreed that that was alright before she disappeared back home.

While thinking about the few possessions she did have – her violin, and clothing mainly – and satisfied that nothing was left behind, she looked down at herself and realized how thin she was; thinner than before she had got sick. Her knee length white dress underneath which she wore tan colored leggings was baggier on her than normal. She wasn’t as bad as she had been when Mitsuo had first found her all those years ago and rescued her from the horrible place she had been in, but her weight still wasn’t good and brought back memories she would rather forever leave forgotten. It was going to be a little while before she could get back on the training fields or so she assumed: she was going to have to do this carefully or else she was going to end up worse than she had been before.

Sighing softly to herself as those thoughts crossed her mind she sat back down on her bed which she had rather annoyed the nurses with by insisting she make it herself and took to staring at the door. She was silently willing the nurse to come back in with her paperwork so she could go, and hoped that if she concentrated hard enough on it it would actually happen. A girl had to hope. Absently she picked at a loose thread of the bag of her belongings sitting on the bed next to her: anything, anything at all to distract her and make the time go by faster.

Word Count: 754

Mitsuo's time back in the village of Konoha had been somewhat bittersweet, as he hadn't actually been able to go into the village. The one time he had, he had to do so extremely carefully and ensure that nobody saw him who could possibly recognize him, which of course ended up happening anyway. He had gone into the village to visit the graves of his family members and of Kimaru, his former lover and Tsuyo Hyuga's brother. He hadn't been back to the village in nearly six years, and he was far overdue for a visit with his family. The man whom had recognized Mitsuo was Akako Kimura, his sensei from when he was a fresh out of the academy genin in the squad with his brother and Kimaru, and fortunately for Mitsuo he seemed to have no intention on telling anyone about where he was. Mitsuo made use of this fact, and asked Akako to keep in touch with him about his family, which would eventually yield some fascinating results. He learned that Strafe had not made his way to town, but that two of Mitsuo's children were indeed around. Mitsuo looked perplexed when Akako had told him that, as he had only one child, but the old Jounin shook his head and told Mitsuo that his daughter Kaia-Mai, and his son, Takezo, were both in the village. Mitsuo had been quite shocked to hear about the son, and he would have to get to the bottom of that eventually, but in the meantime, he was going to try his best to get in to see Kaia.

Akako told him that his daughter had fallen ill, and that she was being taken care of in the Konoha Hospital. She had been taken in by Amaya Uchiha, who was a woman that Mitsuo had dealt with during his tenure as the Hokage. She was the village's top medical ninja, so it was no wonder that he had run into her once or twice. When Akako filled him in on what he knew, Mitsuo thanked the older jounin and decided that no matter what, he was going to go and see his daughter. His resolve was so great, in fact, that he nearly forgot the fact that there was no way in hell he could do such a thing, as he was a wanted man in this village, and it was important for him to not be in the village right now. He didn't particularly care, however, as there were always ways to get around certain things. He, for example, had developed a seal that could completely seal off his chakra for as long as he needed it too, and he would be able to disable that seal at any time he needed too, which would be perfect to help him avoid detection. The biggest issue he would run into was the fact that he stil looked almost exactly the same way he had when they carved his giant ugly mug into the side of the Hokage mountain.

Mitsuo frowned, pacing around his cabin that he was renting for the first bit of their trip until they had their meeting with the Hokage. He sighed and put the forehead protector into the top drawer, removing his regular headband as well and placing it there as well. He was always well kept when he was the Kage, so he would allow his now longer hair to be more wild. He took out the old glasses that he had stopped wearing the first time he had left the village and put them back on to add a little bit to making him look different. Before he adorned anything else, he made sure that the seal that held his weapons was still on his abdomen, which it was, and he created a second seal, his signature Sword Saint's Gamble seal, and placed his hand to his chest, cutting off all of his chakra. This seal would also ensure that if he had too, he would be able to fight in a more precision matter. He put his tanto into his boot and then put on a blood red shirt and a long black trench coat with the collars flipped up. He wore a pair of black gloves as well, and his transformation was complete. Even though it was possible someone may recognize him, it was highly unlikely and he should be able to get away with being in the village now.

He quickly made his way into the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the guard at the gate asking his business as he told them he was visiting friends, which wasn't necessarily a lie. The guard accepted this as an acceptable answer and allowed him to pass, where he would then move as quickly as he could to get to the hospital. He went through the winding streets with such a familiarity that it was as though he had walked them that morning, and not six years in the past. His legs took him directly to the door of the hospital where he would walk into the door and right up to the counter where there was a woman sitting there looking at a clipboard. She looked up when Mitsuo walked up, gave him a once over, and asked him, "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Kaia-Mai Sarutobi. Could you tell me where she is?" The woman looked at him again, a quizzical look on her face before looking back at the chart in her hand.

"Kaia-Mai Sarutobi...Ah yes. She is being discharged. She seems to be in good health. Are you here to pick her up?"

"I am. Can you tell me where her room is?" The woman gave one more look over the strange looking man in front of her before she sighed and then smiled.

"Of course, follow me." Mitsuo followed her down the corridors of the hospital, through the familiar hallways until the two of them came up to a closed door. Mitsuo looked at the number on the door and couldn't help but to smile. He remembered coming to this very same room to meet a man whom he had loved once, Oshiki Uchiha. He had been gravely wounded, and Mitsuo was afraid he was going to die. That, of course, was foolish as Oshiki ended up being fine, and Mitsuo learned that the feelings he had for him were not what he thought they were. There was a fine line between love and lust, and Mitsuo would find that out a few times in his life. The orderly walked back towards the front of the hospital as Mitsuo opened the door, looking inside to see his daughter sitting on the bed. Tears welled up in his eyes as he saw her for only the second time in almost six years, and she was even more beautiful than he remembered. He would enter the room, closing the door behind him and trying not to cry in front of his daughter, who at this moment might not have even recognized him in the state that he was in.

"K-Kaia..." He would walk up to her, slowly at first but quickly not able to contain himself as he would quickly close the gap and wrap his arms around her, embracing her in a tight hug. "I've missed you so much my girl...I'm so happy to see you again..." His voice was warm and soft, the voice that only she ever got to hear. She was his daughter, and that meant that she was the center of his world. With her in his arms, he felt complete once more...

1297

Chakra 395/420:

Open…. Open… Come on… Give me my papers, the thought repeated itself over and over again in her young mind, so much so that when the door actually opened she jumped, startled. While her heart raced momentarily, and she felt like laughing at herself, she focused her attention fully on whoever was coming through the door and not on the chant that she had been repeating in her mind. The person who entered was not one whom she expected: the individual who was supposed to be getting her discharge papers together was an elderly female nurse who looked roughly sixty five, and whom was at least a foot and a half shorter than the male who had just walked in. No, this was not the person she had been expecting at all.

Given the way the individual was dressed she was easily able to assume he wasn’t from the hospital: even Amaya in all of her authority (honestly, the other staff seemed terrified of pissing her off, though Amaya had been angel to Kaia the entire time) wore appropriate attire when working her shifts. So this guy? Not from the hospital. He seemed familiar, and yet as he currently was she couldn’t place him at first. Not until she heard his voice, and then she was all but mentally kicking herself and all of her tiredness for not realizing who this man was. His voice was a dead give away: it was a voice she had never heard him use with anyone else, a tone reserved specifically for her.

A grin broke across her tired face as her father came over, and as he reached for her she automatically mimicked him: wrapping her arms around him as much as she could and hugging him as tightly as possible – which wasn’t all that much considering what this bought of sickness had done to her. ”Daddy! I missed you! How did you find me here?”, she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper. She didn’t bother letting go of him, in fact she was quite content to just hug him for the next few hours – even a good solid meal which she had been looking forward to for days had been wiped from her mind in the presence of her father. She missed him terribly, and cherished the moments she had with him. If she had the strength she would have probably cried from the sheer joy of seeing him again: being in the hospital was bad enough, but it was worse being alone. But, she didn’t have that strength, and so instead she focused on keeping her grip on him.

”Are you here to take me…. out of here?”, she had almost said home, but that wasn’t a place she really wanted to go – not unless he was going to be there too. No, she had no intentions of going back to Kiri without Mitsuo: though she wasn’t exactly sure how much say she would have over such things. ”I don’t like hospitals… they smell funny.” And there was death here… so much death: the woman in the room next to hers had died sometime early in the morning as she had witnessed the body being taken out when the nurse had come in to check on her. But, she wasn’t really focusing on that… she was just trying to hedge around the idea of going home: she didn’t think she could stand being told she had to go back to Kiri without Mitsuo. She had lost him once already, and she had no intentions of letting them be separated again. In her mind Strafe was home with Demi: they were safe and sound and had each other – as safe as any ninja with enemies could be that is. Mitsuo was… alone. She didn’t like that, didn’t want it for him.

Then, a thought hit her out of nowhere, and caused a shot of fear to go up her spine. Was her father supposed to be in Konoha? ”Daddy… are you allowed to be here?” Was he going to be in trouble? Had anyone noticed him? She had been given a pass so to speak even though technically she had left the village for Kiri without permission… but what about her father? Her tiredness kept her from outright panicking, well that and enough training that kept her from freaking out and causing someone to notice them.

She opened her mouth, prepared to say something else though she wasn’t even entirely sure what, when the door opened and the elderly nurse Kaia had been expecting came in. The woman paused a moment, looking at Kaia and Mitsuo, before a genuinely gentle and kind smile formed across the old woman’s face: she had been told already that Kaia had a visitor who had come to take her home. ”You’re good to go sweetheart. These are your papers… you need to take it easy for a while – and Doctor Amaya does not want to hear about you doing any kind of training until you’re back to full strength.” Kaia nodded automatically to this information: Amaya had already gone over all of this with her. ”Sir, if you’ll be taking care of her then you might want to read this packet of information...”, at this the woman would hand over a small folded packet of papers. ”If she begins to cough profusely, or shows any of the other signs on here including high fever, she’ll need to be taken back to the hospital immediately. Genuine tiredness is to be expected though.” The woman opened her mouth to speak again when a bell from another room went off and she smiled again. ”I’m needed elsewhere… unless you have questions you’re free to go...” If no questions were asked of her the woman would turn, heading out the door which she would now leave open for them to leave through.

Kaia waved automatically, but her mind was definitely elsewhere: she was chewing on her lip, a habit she had done almost her entire life when in deep thought or worried about something. She was worried about Mitsuo being in the village, and unsure of how to approach the fact that she wanted to stay with him… these things trumped whatever instructions the woman had been giving her.

Word Count: 1,053 + 754 = 1,807

When Mitsuo felt his daughter hugging him back, it meant everything in the world to him. He wished that he could just freeze that moment in time and never have it go away. She asked him how he found her, and he told her "I have a lot of friends in this village, I had one of them check up to make sure you were okay. He told me you were here, so I came as quickly as I could." Her next question was if he was there to take her out of this place, though he caught the hesitation. He assumed he knew what she meant, but unfortunately that wasn't currently in the cards for them. Mitsuo had important business in Konoha after all, and he had to see it through to completion. "I am going to take you out of here, yes darling. I'll take you to the lovely cabin I'm staying in for the time being, until I get back into our old home. I've been told it's still just the way I left it..." His voice trailed off. He had seen the compound with his own eyes, not a single thing about it having changed since the last itme he had been there...except that his family no longer lived there.

"I'm not a fan of hospitals either generally, though I did meet your dad in one. He fixed up my eye for me when I caught a stray kunai in it." He chuckled, remembering the look on Strafe's face when he had told him what had happened. He also remembered the surprise when he handed him a pair of dojutsu and told him you keep the second one, I only need one. He ran his fingers through Kaia's hair and kissed the top of her head, sighing contently and happily. He had missed this, the simple quality time that he had been able to spend with his daughter for that brief period of time after he had retired from being the Hokage. He hoped that the two of them would have many more chances to share in such moments in the future, but he also knew that he would have to take her back to the bloody mist village eventually, and he certainly wasn't looking forward to that moment. He was still unfairly upset about Strafe having moved on, which to be honest wasn't something he had any right to be upset about, but of course he was upset anyway. He felt a shift in his daughter's demeanor as she asked her next question, questioning whether or not he was allowed to be there. He let out another sigh and chuckled softly.

"Don't worry about that Kaia. Nobody will recognize me, I've taken a lot of precautions to ensure that would be the case. You didn't even recognize me when I walked into the room, how would anyone who hasn't seen me in six years figure out who I am?" He could hear someone approaching the door and his eyes quickly moved there, looking to see an elderly woman enter the room. She had a smile on her face which Mitsuo returned with a smile of his own and a nod as she began to speak. ”You’re good to go sweetheart. These are your papers… you need to take it easy for a while – and Doctor Amaya does not want to hear about you doing any kind of training until you’re back to full strength.” Doctor Amaya eh? Mitsuo was glad to hear that Amaya was taking care of Kaia, as he knew that she was the best in the village. He watched as the woman would walk up to him and hand him a package of papers, which he took without question.

”Sir, if you’ll be taking care of her then you might want to read this packet of information...If she begins to cough profusely, or shows any of the other signs on here including high fever, she’ll need to be taken back to the hospital immediately. Genuine tiredness is to be expected though.” It looked as though the woman wasn't finished speaking, but a bell rang in another room and she smiled once again. ”I’m needed elsewhere… unless you have questions you’re free to go...”

"No questions mam, but thank you for looking after Kaia. I'll make sure to go over all of this and I'll take good care of her." The woman turned out the door and Mitsuo noticed that she had left it opened for the two of them to leave out of. He would look towards Kaia, who looked a little bit worried. Mitsuo would gently stroke her cheek with his finger and smile softly at her once more. "Don't worry, I'll show you where I'm staying. It's nice there...but first, I'm really hungry. I don't know if you've eaten yet today, but I haven't. I've been working all day defending the village from all kinds of bandits and trying to gather information." He smiled and picked her up, noting that she definitely wasn't as small as she used to be. She was growing up and he had missed most of it, causing a wave of sadness to over take him, but only for a brief moment. It was essentially impossible for him to be sad when he had Kaia with him, so it wasn't able to last very long. "What do you say we go and get some Ramen? The place in the village here has the best in the entire world...trust me, I've traveled all of it." He would take her out of the hospital and carry her along (if she chose to allow him to do so, otherwise he would walk beside her,) leading her through the streets of Konoha towards Ichirou Ramen.

"So Kaia, have you been enjoying your time in Konoha here? How did you get sick? What have you been eating? What have you been doing to keep busy?" He stopped talking, realizing that he was probably asking too many questions at once, but he wanted to know everything that his little girl had been doing. He chuckled and simply listened as they made their way towards one of his favorite places in the entire world...

2378

Hearing that she wasn’t about to be sent back to Kiri lifted her spirits and took away the sadness she had been unaware she had been feeling. She knew deep down she was playing favorites, surely Strafe and Demi were worried about her too, but in the here and now Mitsuo was who she was worried about: she just simply couldn’t bare the thought of him being lonely. She knew he had been devastated when he had had to make the choice to leave her all those years ago, and perhaps that was what drove Kaia to becoming as strong as she was as quickly as she had: subconsciously she wanted to become as strong as possible so that the next time her father had to leave – if there was a next time – she perhaps would be able to come with as an asset instead of a burden. Yeah… she was definitely being selfish and playing favorites: she had no cares to give about it though. Strafe had taken her in, yes, and had cared for her and had raised her a bit… but Mitsuo would always be her daddy no matter how old she got.

When the woman got called away, neither of them seeming to have any questions for her that would require her to stay, Mitsuo picked her up which was perfectly fine with her. She was still tired, exhausted, and (though she would probably never admit it out loud) quite weak feeling. She still had no idea how long she had spent in the hospital but she bit her tongue on that question and kept herself from asking: worried she might not want to hear the answer after all. Her mind was already doing all kinds of highly educated guesswork as it tormented itself over the fact that she was once again skinny as a rail – something her brain told her took time to accomplish.

Her father mentioned showing her where he was staying, but indicated that food was a must first. He hadn’t eaten today and the thought made Kaia realize she hadn’t either: her breakfast the hospital had provided had not looked or smelled all that appetizing so she had passed on it. ”I haven’t eaten either… the hospital food is nasty.”, she would respond, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she remembered it all too vividly. Ramen sounded perfectly fine to her: easy enough on her stomach after so much bland food not to make her sick, too, which was always a good thing. ”Mmm… ramen sounds like a delicious idea!”

Absently she reached out, snagging her light bag off of the bed before her father carried her out of the room. His questions he asked her caused her to smile: there were so many, but she didn’t mind in the slightest. The first was if she had been enjoying her time in the visit and she had to think back to the first few days she had been here: they had been fun, actually. She had met up with some old friends, ones that herself and Demi strangely shared. Actually, as she thought about it, she realized that was likely the reason Amaya had taken such an interest in her when she had been sick – one of her friends was Amaya’s niece and the other was her own daughter. ”It was alright before I got sick… Demi seems to have the same friends as me – that’s a little weird, but then again Demi’s a bit off her rocker. I think that’s why Doctor Amaya took such good care of me: I’m friends with her daughter and her niece.”

Her father’s next question of how she had got sick caused her brow to furrow in thought, and her to spend a moment biting her bottom lip as she mentally went back to the day she had woke up feeling strange. ”I’m not sure how I got sick. It was strange. I went to bed feeling okay, planning on doing training the next day. When I woke up I was… exhausted. I had slept for nearly eight hours, but it felt like I hadn’t slept at all. I didn’t let it stop me though, so I headed out to the forest anyway. I can’t remember much after that…. I started training and then the world just began to spin. Next thing I remember was briefly waking up to Amaya standing over me – she had been gathering herbs she had planted. I must have passed out after that because when I woke up again….” she hesitated here in her story because it was gruesome, and not something her father would likely want to hear simply because it was something horrific Kaia had gone through, though something she knew she couldn’t and shouldn’t keep from him regardless, ”… I was covered in the blood I was coughing up.” She shook her head a bit, more to clear the images out of her head subconsciously than for any other reason. ”I don’t remember a lot of it after that, not until recently. Doctor Amaya said it was bad though… “ She didn’t even know if she knew the reason behind her own sickness now that she thought about it – but surely it would be listed in the discharge papers: she didn’t want to know or look though, as it scared her a bit but the cause nonetheless was being called a form of a long term illness with a fairly complicated name which had hit so slowly Kaia hadn’t even realized she was sick until it was too late.

Not wanting to dwell on it though she thought about the third question her father had asked her and stuck her tongue out. ”Hospital food...that’s what I’ve been eating, and it’s gross. I don’t know how they expect people to get better eating that stuff.” She stuck her tongue out in mock disgust, giggling at herself. ”No flavor whatsoever.”, she complained dramatically: she might have been tired, but she was back to being her usual playful self.

Finally, she thought about her father’s final question, and tilted her head a bit while smiling as she remembered. ”Before I got sick Jinx, Mittens, and I went swimming. They found this awesome area in the woods where no one else goes, its all hidden by vines and stuff. There’s this deep pond there that’s filled by an underground spring high up in some rocks: it makes an awesome looking waterfall. It’s fun to jump off of too. Mittens, Amaya’s daughter, is always sick so we could only go in the evenings when she was free from the hospital but it was fun all the same. I also bought a new violin! It’s very pretty: it’s this bluish gray color. I even started showing Jinx and Mittens how to play.” Ah yes, she had had fun before getting sick. A chance to still be young and innocent for a while in a world that wouldn’t allow her to remain such for much longer. She had already known such violence and death, and had gone on missions most wouldn’t have even dared praying to survive. Yet… there was something within her that kept her innocent and young, that allowed her to be a child and not a hardened soldier.

”What have you been up to?”, she asked, the question holding so much more than just those simple six words she had strung together. It hadn’t escaped her notice that he was here without Strafe: that they were either traveling separately or not traveling together at all. Their meeting had been an emotional one, and she had no idea how far things had progressed in Kumo since Demi had taken her away so soon into her being there. She did know that Demi was still a constant presence, and that Strafe had replaced Mitsuo with the Malkavia woman. It was perhaps one of the reasons she was playing favorites so hard: wanting to stay with Mitsuo instead of rushing home to Kiri. She wanted Mitsuo home, but knew that would be a highly complicated thing. She had deluded herself for a while into thinking it might work out, that they could just be a rather large and slightly awkward family (definitely awkward with a Malkavia in the house!) but she was wise enough to know that likely wasn’t going to be the case.

Word Count: 1,402 + 1,807 = 3,209

Mitsuo listened to his daughter answer each of his questions in turn, enjoying the sound of her voice as the two of them made their way back to his compound. He hadn't been back in the village long yet, but he was trying to make sure that he wouldn't have to leave again. She had made friends here, and Mitsuo was proud of her. He was hoping she would stay here with him, but he knew that were she to choose not to he would support her. Life on the road and away from home had taught Mitsuo that the only things important to him were his home and his family. He had been fighting for those things for years, and now he finally had a chance to have them so he wouldn't let it slip through his fingers. When she asked what he had been up to Mitsuo bit the inside of his cheek, trying to figure out what exactly to say. His time away from her had mostly been spent killing people and in meetings, and then there was the point where he had almost been hanged for the murder of the Raikage, which was an act that he had nothing to do with. He came around the corner to his home, opening the door and making his way inside and putting his daughter down on the couch as he took a seat beside her.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer outside, since a lot of this isn't stuff I should really be saying. When I was in Kumogakure with the Aoi Bara we were working towards two goals. The first of which was the removal of the current Raikage for his crimes against mankind, which didn't go quite as planned, though I am told that that issue has taken care of itself according to my recent intel from our information network. While we were there we were also trying to gather intelligence on the group that killed my parents and my brother, something that we managed to do over time, though not without some difficulties. I had to fight my way through scores of people and it is something that weighs heavily on me. I imagine the majority of them didn't know what they were signing up for, and they likely had no idea who I was when I entered their camp. I found their leaders, and learned the identity of the man behind all of the atrocities that had been committed in the village, but it didn't go as smoothly as I'd have liked. I was taken captive and turned into the authorities of Kumogakure, who had wanted the Aoi Bara for the murder of the previous Raikage, Reika Misora. They didn't know that it had nothing to do with us, and they were out for blood. I was to be executed, and even ended up on the hangman's noose, prepared for death...but it was not to be. I was saved and made my way back here, meeting an odd young girl who seemed to hero worship me, and saving her from freezing to death."

He sighed and made his way into the kitchen, using his fire chakra to quickly boil some water and making two bowls of ramen for the two of them, bringing them out so that they could share them together. "That is what has happened while I was away. I shouldn't go to much further into the details, but I have come here to destroy that man who leads that group. I need to speak to Kenta and get permission to do so unopposed, though if it comes down to it I will destroy as many ANBU agents as I need to in order to achieve my goal. I am not above being an outcast, and even though it is not what I want, it will happen if need be." He sighed and ate some of his noodles, looking towards his daughter. "Ideally I will not have to leave, but whether I have to or not, I figured it would be a good time to talk to you about certain things...Kaia...you're a young woman now...and that means you will begin...uh..." Mitsuo didn't know how to have a conversation about dating or more adult themes with anyone. He wasn't really good with these types of things to begin with, and he didn't like the idea of his kids dating anyone, his paternal instincts causing him to wish harm on anyone who went near his daughter. He bit his cheek once more, taking a sip of his tea and looking around the room, pictures of himself, Strafe and Kaia around everywhere. It was a reminder of what he had in the past, and it was something he really didn't want to give up. He had already lost Strafe...he didn't want to lose Kaia too...

3212

Once out of the hospital Kaia visibly relaxed: the hospital was definitely going to be a place she avoided for a while, not so much because the doctors and nurses who had taken care of her had done anything wrong, but more because she had died several times before they had finally won the fight, and those were memories that wouldn’t settle for a while. Even having to go back for a check-up with Doctor Amaya or one of the various other doctors she had dealt with was going to prove to be a pain in the arse.

To distract herself Kaia focused on her father, noticing her father’s silence as they made their way home, but she showed patience nonetheless and didn’t badger him about it. Considering what had been brought up during their reunion she could only imagine that whatever it was he had been doing had been something he didn’t want others to overhear – and she couldn’t blame him for that in the least as secrecy was important after all. Once on the couch she shifted and got comfortable; chances were she wasn’t moving from the spot for a while – the doctors had said take it easy, and she had no intention of doing anything but: ending up back in the hospital was not part of her overall game plan. She wanted to get healthy again so she could return to training and busting her butt as was her norm.

When her father finally began speaking she paid close attention, listening carefully, and still understanding as to why he hadn’t spoken until they got home. She listened as he explained about the two goals he had had in Kumogakure: the removal of the Raikage for crimes against mankind which apparently hadn’t gone as planned but which had resolved itself all the same, and gathering information on those whom had killed Mitsuo’s parents and brother, which had had its own difficulties. Her father went on to mention the people whom he had to fight through, and how it affected him: something she was not familiar with as she had never taken a life before – the idea of her being capable of something like that being one which disgusted her and even scared her a little, though she knew it was a necessary evil nonetheless at times. When her father went on to mention being captured and nearly executed she gasped, concern filling her naturally gentle and kind blue eyes, as her brows furrowed together and a frown appeared on her face. Her father mentioned having been prepared to die and this caused her frown to deepen slightly: she had a sort of immortality thought when it came to her father, she knew death would come for everyone at one point or another, and yet at the same time she had never really thought about him dying or being able to die. A childish mindset she had apparently had since she was younger, and which continued to follow her even now. Still, she wouldn’t interrupt even as he went on to explain how he had been saved, and then how he had saved another from nearly freezing to death.

As her father paused and went into the kitchen to make the ramen Kaia leaned back into the couch, letting it envelop her small form as much as possible as she simply sighed and thought about everything her father had told her so far. As she looked around at the pictures which marked their happy past she couldn’t help but yearn to go back to those simple days of laughter and sunshine. Her thoughts lasted her through until her father returned with two bowls of ramen, one of which she took while her stomach roared to life: even something so simple was like a banquet for a king compared to the hospital food, more so because her father had made it for her. She ate slowly, and silently, as she went back to listening to him speak, though he didn’t seem to have much more to say, outside of his overall goal of destroying the man who leads the group he had mentioned. He brought up speaking to Kenta, which caused her to think back to her own meeting with the Dogkage as she had rather lovingly gone to call him. Her father seemed determined to remain in the village, yet he was not above being cast out if it came to it so that he could accomplish his goals… and she couldn’t hold that against him. So, she nodded in understanding, pausing between bites of food as she listened to what he began to say next – the awkwardness in the room increasing drastically.

Biting her bottom lip she listened as her father trailed off, meanwhile thinking of what exactly she had been up to lately and who with: she had to come clean to her father, and perhaps now was as good a time as any, though she was slightly weary of how he would handle it: she wasn’t a little girl anymore, though she assumed in her father’s eyes that’s probably what she would always be.

Kaia placed her half empty bowl into her lap, and looked at her father, trying hard not to blush even though her freckled cheeks naturally tinted pink despite the effort. ”Um, actually… there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about...” Kaia had to pause there, taking a deep steadying breath not because she was having trouble breathing but more because she was not entirely sure how to approach what she had been up to. She had always been worried about disappointing her father, he was one of the reasons she pushed herself so hard, and she had no idea exactly how he was going to take the news she was about to bring up. ”See… Doctor Amaya Uchiha wasn’t the only one who saved my life the day I got sick… If it wasn’t for another doctor as well I probably wouldn’t have made it… “ She paused there, took a deep breath, and exhaled. ”Anyway um… well, him and I, the other doctor that is, we’ve kind of been seeing each other for a while: seriously.” A smile, despite her nervousness, spread across her face as she thought about Daremo. He made her happy in ways she couldn’t begin to understand. ”I love him with all of my heart, and he makes me happier than I can even begin to describe – it’s like… the he’s my own personal force of gravity.” She paused there, her smile growing even more: she wasn’t exaggerating, it was exactly how she was feeling, something she hoped her father would understand.

”And.. he loves me, too. More than just words… he’s helped me to become a better person: he's helped me to believe more in myself, and become stronger.” She paused there, staring down at her bowl and frowning; concerned over what truth she wanted to bring to the proverbial table. ”I’m afraid you won’t approve though… because of his age; he’s in his thirties.” She stopped there, continuing to stare down at her bowl of half eaten food while her ears turned red, her cheeks and face as well, waiting for what her father would say to this. She was hoping for the best, while prepared for the worst, and aiming for something in between at least: she knew no father liked hearing their little girl was dating, and her father was more protective than most – the fact that she had admitted Daremo’s age likely wouldn’t help things either, but she wanted to keep as little secret about this whole thing as possible.

Word Count: 1,281 | 4,490

Final WC: 4,490

Medical Ninjutsu C-Rank -> B-Rank: 4,490 - 4,000 = 490
Remaining: 490