Jamie was sitting in the hospital bed, he tried to say it was not that serious as they told him not to get out of the bed unless he needed the bathroom or the toilet. For everything else he should just ring the bell that was placed next to his bed as he made a soft little sneeze. His fever was a bit high and since he was a wandering shinobi they could not just spare their important medical staff for his minor ailment. They were planning to give him a vaccination once the shipment of vaccine's arrived from the shinobi delivery person.

Jamie looked out at the closed window as he noticed his medication next to him, he was told he had to drink it fast as he wondered about it for a bit. His heart was racing as he felt a fear for this cup of strangely strong smelling herbal concoction and once he took the cup with both hands shaking slightly as he decided to go for it the moment it hit his lips he wanted to throw it away, but Jamie was a good boy and simply downed it all in one moment before crying out loudly.

"Aaaaaahhhh!!!!!!" as he may have accepted his fate, he did not want to accept this kind of medication again. Though he was bothered a lot by the taste not realizing his fever started to drop a bit and his body was stabilizing better against the disease. Either way bad taste was bad taste and while Jamie would never ever waste he was not going to drink this again with any due haste.

The nurse rushed in and realized the cause as she saw the little boy crying a bit over the horror of that drink she knew all too well. She just went over and patted his head as she ruffled his hair a bit. "Good boy, now rest up if you do not want to drink that again" as Jamie heard this he nodded and began to lean back as he took some time to rest before dosing off into a deep sleep as some people just walked past the rooms since this was the open room as Jamie did not even notice beyond his curtains were other sick wanderers as well and some ordinary civilians.

(389)

Shippo groaned as he slowly roused himself into the conscious world. His last mission had been terrible and he took some serious injuries. He wasn’t alone, as Tsume was in the bed with him with bandages wrapped around his torso. As well as one front leg and one hind leg. Shippo himself wasn’t doing much better he had a wicked scar across his back, and one up his leg. He heard the sound the boy in the next bed made which forced him into the waking world entirely. With a shout of fright, he shot up and Tsume was right there with him snarling violently.

The pair looked around not entirely sure how they got there. Shippo could only vaguely recall that he had stumbled to the hospital after he finished his last mission. Looking around he was very nervous about where he was, but soon the curtain drew back and a nurse walked into his little curtained off space looking at him with a soft smile “Oh, good you are awake. We were worried about you. You were seriously injured.” She said in a voice that was loud enough to travel over to Jamie in the curtained off stall that was next to where Shippo was resting.

The young Inuzuka groaned as he straightened up a little bit “Wait…hold on. What about Tsume? Is he going to be okay?”

The nurse nodded her head with a smile “yes, he will be just fine. The goring wasn’t terrible, but it was deep. Thankfully we could stitch him up, and he will be on the road to full health soon enough. However, I must tell you to take it easy for the next little while as your stitches and his heal. If you try to go back to ninja work before you are healed you will tear your stitches.” She warned leaving him alone.

Shippo groaned as he leaned back looking to the next set of curtains that were next to his bed as the nurse had left the curtain open on that side.

WC: 343

Jamie was a bit curious as he waited to be set free, he thought he heard someone near by as he finally managed to escape some of his restraints. One could call it shinobi training and others could call it being reckless, he just preferred to be free over being tied down as he sat up on the bed then turned to face the side as his feet dangled and swayed back and forth hanging from the bed as he looked and noticed someone looking in his direction.

He got a bit curious about his neighbor not because he was interesting, but simply because Jamie was interested in how interesting his neighbor could be. He carefully looked on and noticed how brown the strangers' hair looked. He felt like the ears looked a bit weird as he then decided to wave at the strange boy. He also thought the face tattoo's were weird, unless they were birth marks as Jamie was not sure what to make of them.

(169)
[558]

OOC Comment: Sorry for short and late reply

Shippo’s eyes closed slightly and he drifted off into a slow not quiet sleep state before he felt the eyes of someone watching him. He slowly opened his eyes again growling in pain as he straightened up to see that the person in the next bed was a kid. Tilting his head Shippo looked at the younger kid with interest on his face “What is it? I don’t have many cuts on my face, and they aren’t that serious.” He said as he brought a hand up to a slash wound that was near his chin and reached under the left fang marking of the Inuzuka clan.

He then looked down to Tsume who was also watching the younger kid with a soft growl of protest at being examined by him. Shippo weakly placed a hand on his companion’s head “Forgive him. He just gets cranky when he can’t run around like he would prefer, and when he is hurt especially.” Shippo explained as he tried to sit up a bit more. In so doing his stitches pulled on his skin and forced him to hiss his pain away. “So, what are you in here for?” he asked the youth while trying not to move too much.

WC: 207/ 550

The strange boy closed his eyes as it looked like he was going back to sleep. Jamie just looked curiously at the other patient as the boy asked Jamie what it was, that phrase had a habit of confusing Jamie quite often, and he listened as the boy said it was not that serious at all. He noticed there was a cut under the boy's chin as he wondered what happened to him, maybe someone attacked him and cut near his neck to finish him off.

Jamie then noticed the strange looking wolf beast, which may be a dog. However Jamie did not know enough to be able to tell the difference between the two. He watched as the boy petted his dog, or wolf as Jamie was still trying to figure out which one it was. Jamie did not understand what he had to forgive though he understood one thing as he listened to the explanation.

"I also can not run around much anymore too, for a while" as he looked to the side he showed the bottom of his feet which had cuts and wounds along with some bandages on them. His injury was simply from too much running around and going around without shoes on, if he had worn good quality shoes he could have probably avoided all of this as he looked down with a somber and sad look of sorrow in his eyes as he missed being free to run around. He also needed to stop spending so much time in the hospital, this bed might already have his name on it with the rate at which he keeps ending up here.

Jamie was not really good at conversation and hoped he did not make things bad by not saying more. He even forgot to introduce himself as he was not thinking about that at the time.

(313)
[871]

Shippo thought about this as he looked over the wounds that the youth had on his feet. Wounds like that were from going without shoes. This was something that he knew well because he had done so several times as well, and his feet were better able to handle such a strain. This boy would soon find that his feet would get stronger the more he worked them and the more they healed. Nodding his head in approval the young Inuzuka lay his head back on his pillow “Well, you’ll be up and running long before Tsume or I.” he said looking up at the ceiling.

Tsume glanced over at his partner and whimpered ever so softly gently pawing at Shippo’s leg. He laughed softly wincing from the action “H-hey Tsume stop it…We both got into trouble on our own accord.” Something passed over his face and he looked over to the young kid “I’m sorry. My name is Shippo, and this is my partner Tsume. We are from the Inuzuka clan here in the leaf.” He said cheerfully trying to bring some light into the rather dark and gloomy circumstances that all hospitals had.

He really couldn’t stand being in hospitals but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Presently he looked to the other kid and smiled “So, what is your name? Are you a shinobi here in the leaf?” he then looked down at the kid’s feet tilting his head to inspect the kid’s feet “Do you need shoes, or are you going through some kind of intense training to strengthen the skin of your feet?”

WC: 270/ 820

Jamie began to blush as the wolf dog and the other boy seemed to be eyeing him for a bit, though they were most likely looking at his feet he was not really sure how he was suppose to react to this as he got a bit shy and hugged his knees to his chest as he sat on the edge, his feet resting just off the bed. He wanted to pull them onto the bed, but he thought that might hurt as he was trying to continue the conversation.

Jamie was a bit lost in the conversation when he noticed the boy nodding to him as he got a bit nervous as he hugged his knees a bit tighter. He watced the boy lay back and say he would be up and running long before Tsume and I as he began to wonder what kind of weird name I was. He had not put too much thought into it as his mind was still trying to catch up to the situation, not to mention the talk they were having that did not really involve much from Jamie to begin with.

Jamie thought the wolfy dog was a bit cute, the way it pawed at the other boy's leg as he wanted to laugh as he looked down simply pouting as he was hiding his emotions without knowing why. They both got in trouble on their own which pretty much sounded like the same thing Jamie had done as well as he then calmed down a bit loosening his grip on his knees slightly. The boy then gave his name as Shippo and the dog had the name Tsume as he looked a bit more calm now having a name.

Then like daggers to his heart, Shippo asked for Jamie's name and whether he was from the leaf as he looked to the side as he was also asked about shoes as well as he pouted again before answering. "Jamie from nowhere" as he seemed rather down as he said that as he looked at his feet when told about shoes. "All my shoes keep breaking" as he turned around laying in his bed pouting as he faced his back to Shippo with the back of his facing towards Shippo there was a more clearer picture as there were also cuts on the back of Jamie's heals that could not be seen earlier. Though it was clear they could not use too much bandaging or he might end up losing too much blood flow. He was also living a rather hard life, he may have friends but he did not really have a place to stay as he remembered what happened to his box in the alleyway the other day as some guys just through a rock on top of it and laughed as they ran off.

His friend Arashi had been away for sometime and he had no idea where Airi had gone to. He wondered if Shippo would hate him for not being from the village.

(511)
[1382]

The blush that touched Jamie’s cheeks did not go unnoticed by Shippo or Tsume. He was sure that there was nothing wrong with Jamie, but perhaps he wasn’t used to being observed so much. He gently pets Tsume’s head letting him rest it on the soft blankets. The Ninken did exactly that and lay his head on his front paws with a soft huff of air resting now that he was told there was no threat to either him or Shippo in this room.

As he lay back Shippo’s eyes fell on the boy and he watched him carefully to try and figure him out. Shippo was skilled at reading body language as that was part and parcel to what he had always done. This was how he hunted with Tsume, how he had silent conversations with his partner, and how he was trained. He then noticed the stiff spike in tension coming off the boy and bit the inside of his cheek. He was not sure how he was supposed to handle this. Still, he lay there in a state of relaxation not wanting to spook the poor boy. If he thought of this as a hunt then it was just possible that he would be able to calm the boy without much trouble. Besides Shippo was a patient hunter in the right circumstances, and there was a good reason to be patient right now.

Then the piece of information that Shippo had been waiting for arrived. The boy’s name was Jamie, he was not from the village hidden in the leaves, and his shoes kept breaking. The boy faced away from him as if ashamed or perhaps he was pouting. There was nothing to really understand in these actions yet. Finally, he smiled looking to Jamie “Well Jamie, it is good to meet you. I hope you are liking your stay here in the Leaf.” He seemed to think about this and then cleared his throat “Well, I hope that things will get better for you here in the leaf. If you are a shinobi looking to join us I’m sure the Hokage will be happy to take you in. If you are just a visitor I am happy to welcome you.” He groaned softly as he moved himself to sit up even more.

The one problem that he knew how to fix was the problem with the shoes. He heard the soft steps of a nurse and got her attention silently while Jamie was facing away from him. Making gestures for shoes and feet then pointing to Jamie. The nurse seemed to get the gist of what he was saying. She eventually produced the shoes that he had come in with, but they were clean as well as a spare set of shoes. Following his silent directions, she put them near Jamie’s bed and snuck away as quiet as a mouse. When she was gone Shippo smiled at Jamie’s back “Well, in any case, if you need a guide around Konohagakure just inquire after me, and I will be happy to help you out in any way that I possibly can.”

WC: 523/1, 343

The stranger Shippo said he was happy to meet him as he was still a bit insecure right now, not sure whether to open up to someone he just met in the hospital. The wolf dog Tsume also seemed to not like him too much as he was bothered. Jamie liked his stay in the leaf and he wanted to stay, but he was not sure if he was really allowed to stay as a part of him felt he may have to leave. Jamie's heart was torn between what he knew and what he felt, as his heart felt like it could break at any moment.

Shippo said he hoped that things would get better for him, that life would improve. For him who had no where to stay, sleeping in inns when he had the money and laying in the alleyways hidden from the world when he could not afford this. He had slept in the forests so cold at night alone with just himself and whatever he could bring along as a blanket to keep him warm against the harshness of the elements. The animals that tried to eat him, the bandits who tried to kill him and the storms that ravaged the fragments of his still beating heart.

Jamie had tried to visit the Hokage once, a man so powerful he ruled an entire village. However in an attempt to meet with the man all he was told is that the man was too busy to deal with him and that he should try again at a later date. How could he ask the most important man of the village about things he did not even know as he was lost in thought he looked up and noticed that look Shippo gave him seemed friendly, as he grasped his shirt in front of his chest as his eyes began to look down to the side. He was offered a chance to be guided again, but would this be the same as Arashi.

"o...kay..." as he looked down again before blinking really slowly as he entered deep into thought as green hair seemed to flow through the air like a river of leaves as his eyes opened his emotions were busy going crazy as his heart was beating strong. Jamie did not know what it was, but he wanted to explore the world and he wanted to belong. He looked at Shippo expecting something from him

(411)
[1793]

Shippo watched Jamie and he seemed to be in a tough spot. There was nothing that he could do about it. Well, at least there was nothing much that he could do about it. He thought long and hard about what he could do and bit his lower lip. It was at that point, however, that he was saved his mother rushed in with her Canine partner. She was frantic looking him over, but very careful not to actually put her hands on him. “Shippo! What the hell were you trying to prove?! I tried to tell you to be careful! You go after a huge group of Boars! What is wrong with you?! Are you trying to give your mother a heart attack?!” Her canine sniffed at Tsume licking his face ever so gently to show that he was indeed concerned about his little pup. Suddenly, she seemed to take notice of Jamie and smiled at him “Oh my, please excuse me my dear. I’m sorry for showing up so suddenly. I am Shippo’s mother. Call me Ashi, and this is my partner Tobourne.” She whirled around on Shippo growling like her ninken would’ve “You didn’t drag this cute boy into that foolish hunt with you, did you?!

He shook his head quickly “No, no! I didn’t do that! It was only me and Tsume who got kind of hurt here.” A light pinged in his mind however and he gestured for his mother to get closer. She did so careful to not touch her son and his injured body. Tobourne, on the other hand, moved over to Jamie and sniffed at the little boy even licking just above his injured feet. Meanwhile, Shippo was whispering to his mother telling her about Jamie and what he was going through, and what he was thinking about to help the fellow person. His suggestion wasn’t all that out there. He was telling his mother that since they had a home with space available that they should offer some of that space to him. After all, she was always upset how she didn’t have more children.

When he was finished she smiled and stood up nodding her head “A fabulous idea.” Turning to Jamie she moved over to him smiling warmly at him “Well, I hear that you need a good meal, and a warm bed. I’m sure this hospital food hasn’t been all that great for you. So, when you and my idiot pup are done with your stay here. I want you to come and stay with us for a while. At least until you can.” She looked to his feet and then cleared her throat “Get things settled. Then you can go as you please. I do hope you’ll at least consider it.” She said leaning closer and kissing the top of Jamie’s head before she looked to Shippo “I’m going to see how long it’ll take before the two of you can leave. Now you stay in bed, both of you.” Nodding her head once more she moved off out of the room her much larger canine at her heels.

Looking incredibly embarrassed Shippo looks over to Jamie and gives him a terribly sheepish smile “Ah, yeah. That’s my mother. She means well, but uh, as you can guess it comes off like that. Still, she’s a really great mother. I’m just her only child, which is a little nerve wracking for her and my father.”

WC:579/1,922

Jamie was startled as some really loud lady entered the hospital, shouting out Shippo's name in such a way that he was all jittery and panicky on the inside but just looked down nervously as he was shaking. She spoke about him wanting to prove something and being careful, though it sounded familiar he was missing the old lady without completely understanding his feelings to begin with.

He heard something about a huge group of boars which seemed to remind him of something. He was not sure, but he thought he remembered wanting to take a mission some time back involving boars. This actually made him feel a bit hungry but he resisted thinking about it too much to avoid his tummy growling for no reason. The woman said she was Shippo's mother as he got a bit more scared since he overheard someone say mother's were terrible and scary creatures who took away your food and forced you to stay in a prison. The truth was that the one who spoke at the time was talking about being banned from junk food and being grounded in his room for a period of several days.

Jamie peeked just a bit noticing an even bigger looking wolf dog, though this dog looked more wolf then Tsume. Maybe it was just Jamie's imagination as he was beginning to wonder if they were here to eat him. The woman looked at him and he looked down again blushing and shivering, as he was embarrassed to look at her and also scared he did something wrong after all the shouting. The woman said her name was Ashi and her wolf dog was Tobourne, or was it Tobon as he did not hear her speak clearly since he was in a bit of shock right now.

"waah..." as he covered his mouth too keep himself from making anymore noise. The lick under his foot was too ticklish as he blushed even more not able to hear what Shippo and Ashi were talking about as his heart was racing and his mind felt dizzy. He was still blushing though only slightly now as he had a look of shock on his face as what she said did not quite register yet. He was not fully listening as Shippo was speaking about being an only child, tears simply flowed down his cheeks and he did not know why. "shi..." as he shortened Shippo's name since he was not sure what to say, but he finally let it out as he was a bit worried still. "shi...ish ish okay?" as his nervousness made him stutter as the words he meant to say were 'Shippo is it okay?' as the look in his eyes that were now watering out of control. He was probably more overwhelmed by everyone being so nice to him here and he was now being offered a place to stay.

(491)
[2284]

Shippo and Tsume could not blame Jamie for seeming to be so quiet and ready to hide from their parents. Shippo’s mother even though she was truly a woman with a heart of gold, she was indeed a very loud and energetic. She was very kindhearted to most people, but to children especially. After all, it was her motherly instincts kicking in and she was only trying to be motherly. With only one child she had plenty of extra love and motherly instincts to go around. When she left it was like a huge weight was lifted from both Shippo and Tsume’s bodies letting him heave a huge sigh of relief.

This was cut short however as he heard “Shi” from the bed next to him. He looked to see Jamie was near crying. His eyes were big and watery, but the question that had been asked was if something okay. This made him tilt his head ever so slightly looking very curious “Um…yes…it is okay. Everything is okay. We are going to get out of here soon enough. Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.” He said trying to cheer Jamie up, but he didn’t know what he was trying to cheer him up from or for. Tsume, on the other hand, seemed to know that something was up and he got to his feet struggling to do it.

Stepping back Tsume leapt across the divide between the beds and landed onto Jamie’s bed. It was not a graceful landing however as the moment he connected with the bed his legs gave out and he flattened to the bed. Giving an indignant huff, he struggled to his feet again only to move a few more feet and collapse next to Jamie placing his head in the boy’s lap. He was clearly trying to comfort the boy himself groaning in the canine way that he had.

The kindness was just too much for Shippo as he had never seen such from his partner. At least, not with strangers. Yet, for his partner to do this, something was going on. Now the pair only watched Jamie for his reactions to hopefully be ready to help. Despite neither him nor Tsume knowing how to deal with crying people.

WC: 374/2,296

Jamie was crying and Shippo said it was okay, he said everything was okay as he did not even realize how much water was flowing from his eyes at that moment. He did not know why, he did not understand, all he knew was that the river in his heart had broken through the dam walls as they began to flood his eyes.
Soon they would escape as his mind tried to clear the feelings of confusion as he was lost in emotion. He simply accepted that he was too stupid to understand as he hoped without knowing what hope really was.

He became a bit startled as he sniffed a bit as the wolf dog flew across the gap between the beds, though it was simply a normal leap. With the water in Jamie's eyes it looked like a Wolf floating through the air like a fish in water as the tears were flowing vibrantly with clear colors. Then he looked down after not knowing what had happened as he felt something furry on his lap and began rubbing it and calming down slightly while still sniffling a bit. Jamie was still sniffling a bit, however he seemed like he was feeling better as Tsume seemed to understand at the very least that it was better to be with someone then to be alone.

(226)
[2510]

OOC:

Shippo couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and he bit his bottom lip. He didn’t have any siblings or knew anyone very younger than him. He was worried to be sure, but nothing there was he could do would help. So, instead, he smiled at the boy nodding “Well, you’ll like our home. It is warm, and you’ll have your own room. My parents hoped to have more children, but that won’t happen.”

What he did not hear, however, was the sound of his mother returning and she thumped him hard on the back of his head. He groaned and held his head before his mother moved to Jamie and smiled at him “You and Shippo will be released in the hour, and we can go home at that point.” She said petting Jamie’s head as if he were any of her own children.

She stayed for the remaining time comforting both and only when the medics told them that they could be released she stood up and opened her arms for Jamie “Your feet are still too weak to be of use. I’ll carry you if you let me.” She said cheerfully to Jamie. Shippo, on the other hand, was scooped up by an exact copy of his mother much to his chagrin and was carried out of the room.

WC:221/2,517
[Shippo exits]

OOC:

Training:

Jamie heard that the home was warm and if he accepted the offer he would even get his own room as too many thoughts went inside his head driving him insane, however not the insanity of madness as this was simply the chaos of emotions running through him like a burning passion found within a lost soul. Jamie did not understand the concept of not being able to have more children, while a part of him found what Shippo said to be sad another part of him felt relieved for reasons he did not know back then.

With a thump to poor Shippo's head Jamie was startled for a moment having lost a bit of his bravery from earlier as he slowly kept himself still as he just let his hands rest on Tsume's soft furry head. Just as things were getting to be too much, this woman who invited him into her home petted his head in a way that made all his feelings calm down as he remembered someone who he could not forget, but never knew.

She watched over him as the time passed, she spoke as he just sat to listen about some story of her running wild with her wolf partner as he became a bit less nervous. Though Tsume got to feel the weight of Jamie's hands pressing down on him occasionally due to him being swept up in the mother's pace. When all was said and done as he also dozed off at some point during her story as he was found drooling on top of Tsume who did not seem to amused at the time, however Tsume definitely respected the mother enough not to show it. He later felt the tug on his sleeve as she said it was time to go, he looked down as she held her arms open and offered to carry him as he felt a bit nervous putting his close hand to his chest nervously not realizing his emotions were showing a bit. Though he was not sure what emotions they were as he finally spoke up a bit as he looked towards her and then nodded as he reached out he closed his eyes for some reason.

As he felt the weight of his small frame lifted as if he did not weigh anything at all, he held on to her as he whispered to her. The thing he whispered may have been forgotten, may have been important, however the words he whispered were ones that would weight heavily on her heart for as long as she was willing to shoulder the burden as the larger wolf dog followed closely.

A few days later he had gotten used to living with Ashi and Tobourne, though he did get spoiled occasionally as he would never voice out when things bothered him at times. However she may not have been the best mother, she at the very least understood when Jamie disliked something. Though she was not that lacking that she would allow him to avoid his vegetables, he accepted eating them however his dislike for them was clear.

When he recovered he sometimes went outside training with his small tanto cutting away at the air as Ashi or Tobourne occasionally watched them when they could. Shippo also must have seen the amount of effort Jamie put into training to get stronger, not just for himself but so he could keep up with Shippo since they had a race for fun on one occasion which lit a fire inside Jamie's heart.

Though the gap in their speeds was just a small difference, that small difference was enough to bother and make Jamie train even harder. However the one difference they had in the beginning was stamina, something that was not clear unless you looked at how much more often Jamie trained. It was clear though that meeting each other made both of them stronger.

(661)
[3171]

Training Bukijutsu B to A = 3000 Words

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