A long way from Kumogakure no Sato, a family sat at their dinner table staring at a nice television resting upon a decorated stand. The surroundings as a whole were middle class. Niyogi, Hanza’s father was a man with grey hair and a gentle silver beard. His facial features were strong and rugged. He was nothing like Hanza, for the most part. Rikatsu, on the other hand, was Hanza’s mother. She had the same beautiful snowy colored hair as Hanza and shared the more delicate, gentle features he had. They were both glued intently to the fight that their only son was participating in.

They watched primarily in silence, only looking over at each other periodically when anything relevant or jolting occurred. It wasn’t until the latter half of the mere 60 second battle that a spoon dropped and Rikatsu burst into tears. Two parents would remain entirely unaware of the status of their only son for some time. Immediately they would pool the funds necessary to venture to Kumogakure. They would likely arrive to disappointment as Hanza lay in his hospital bed, completely comatose.

There had been a huge fracture to Hanza’s skull. He was put into this coma from the impact, but the shock of the lightning rod had also caused further and potentially irreversible damage. The medics responsible for whisking him off of the battlefield and to the hospital had to resuscitate him twice en route. The young man was thought to be a lost cause. Upon arrival to the hospital, the staff couldn’t be sure if his vitals would remain steady through the night so he was administered a breathing tube. They would deny visitation for three days before they would declare Hanza comatose and slow for free visitation in and out of his hospital room.

Internally, there was a lot going on for Hanza. A cold drop of water brought him to, but this was all taking place within his mind. His actual body lay still on the hospital bed. His surroundings were pitch black, but with every step he took, a ripple of white would expand throughout the ground and the walls, briefly lighting his surroundings up. He clenched his hand in a futile effort to grasp reality. The back of his head still aches tremendously but to be frank Hanza believed he was dead in this moment.

A woman’s voice echoed as some strange aetherial tone. “Hello there Hanza.”

When Hanza would reply in a normal tone within his subconscious, his vital signs would effect the steady beeping of the heart monitor just slightly. Just enough that one would notice. It would return to normal when he went quiet.

“H..hello. Who are you?”

WC: 457

A drop of water fell. It would make the slightest dripping noise as it traveled down from the IV bag, flowing down into one of the many translucent tubes that were attached to the fallen male. The entire situation had a certain beauty to it. The serenity and peacefulness the room might have had was destroyed the repeated beeping. All of the machines that had been brought in and hooked up were each making their own variety of subtle sounds, overpowering the subtler noises that originated from within the room. The sound of the patient's breathing was completely obscured by it.  

Looking in from the outside of the room, Chigetsu desperately wished he could have heard some of those sounds. The sound that this boy made when he breathed. The sound of his heartbeat. It was all covered up by that annoying beeping that repeated every other moment, matching with the strange lines that appeared on the monitor beside the bed. Perhaps it might have done Chigetsu some good to get closer if he wanted to hear any sort of heartbeat, but the room was not exactly the most inviting. The room had finally been officially cleared for visitation, but it remained with an aura of being uncomfortably sterile.  

Chigetsu willed himself forward. The strange smell that this hospital was coated in seemed amplified as he skittered into the room. They had cleared him for weaponry before he came into the hospital, and so he didn't have the wisdom of his kunai to drive him any longer. It left Chigetsu feeling naked. Unprepared. It didn't seem as if there were any stray scalpels that had been left for him in this room either, unless they were just deciding to keep quiet.  

He cleared his throat. The prepared envelope was presented. It had Hanza's name written on it, prepared in Chigetsu's best penmanship. The formality in officially addressing it to him and getting a stamp had been unnecessary. Even with all his snooping Chigetsu was unable to discern Hanza's address, so it wasn't as if he could send it. Or as if it would ever get read by who it was addressed to. It was why he hadn't sealed it. The flap would be opened carefully, and a folded letter would be removed from the interior. It would be unfolded, and again Chigetsu would clear his throat. "… I wrote this for you." He would pause. There was no response. "I saw how you did in the exams... Uh" His voice was small. Even though there wasn't anybody listening it was still difficult to speak. "I thought that. I thought that there wouldn't be anyone to read anything to you here, since we're... I'll read it now. It's a poem for you. I wrote it myself, but I'm not very good at writing poems so I hope you don't mind...- A-Ah, I'll read it for real now."

Chigetsu would clear his throat. "It's titled, 'Spring Will Come Again'."

"He struck a knife against the stone, hard;"
"Unwilling to let a dull blade go -- or unable."
"Every time it becomes a little sharper,"
"The well-used metal whittled down,"
"Until good as new."

"The shaved steel is brushed away;"
"Now a mess left on the floor."
"Never for the last time,"
"Because spring will come again."
"But not for you."

[590]

[EXIT, since it seems as this won't be completed]

Kisei found these hospitals rather pointless. Only having a roughly 90% “save” rate for preventable deaths. While he waited for his ointment he wondered if he could bring that number up to a hundred if he decided to enter the medical field. As interesting as that might be the Ushinatta had no desire to become a doctor. It was a much to depressing field of work- Like being a ninja isn’t? At least there was some solace in being a doctor, being able to save lives, maybe not all of them, but enough that you didn't wake up shrieking from a nightmare every other night.

"Kisei Ushinatta?" A nurse called.

Quietly the teen picked up his umbrella and walked over to the stand to retrieve the burn medicine prescribed to him. While they had healed up nicely for the most part there was still the concern of scarring and deeper tissue damage. The nurse handed over his prescription and wit ha smile asked if there was anything else they could help with. He was about to tell them no but the thought of burns brought to mind a certain someone. They probably had already finished their second battle. Lucky. his mind seethed in rage, knowing that he had been defeated so easily, despite his hard efforts, advanced technology and jutsu combinations.

He wasn't the only victim either.

A little after his match with that red headed demon he watched the next battle that Izumi had taken part in from his bed room. The little demon had sent someone into a comatose state! Freaking brutal. It was a match between two genin from opposing villages, and she treated it like a game of predator and prey. Though... perhaps there was something more between the two of them. She did try to- No. That doesn't make up for the facts. It doesn’t forgive what she had done. Well, better go check on him, maybe they’d let him in this time. Two victims of Izumi Karisuma meeting together, even if it was one sided, might provide him with some comfort.

“Actually could you tell me where Hanza, the boy from the Chuunin Exams that that got struck with a bolt of lightning, is located?” The nurse gave an understanding smile as she picked up the phone and started dialing. Within moments he was being lead on by a green eyed doctor down the various maze like hallways until finally he was brought to a singular door, identical to every other room in the hospital. He nodded to the doctor, thanking him for his patience. "Just don't take too long, we may need to run a few more tests later on and we'd rather not have to kick you out." The doctor reminded. Kisei nodded as he slipped inside.

The Ushinatta boy was perplexed to find another boy in the room, reading a rather.... questionable poem. "Its a bad omen to wish death to those at the edge." Was all he said, taking his seat on one of the visitor's chairs. Leaning his umbrella against the wall. Just as he did so another woman opened the door. Appearing much older than any of those currently present in the room. Kisei didn't bother to get up, even as she congratulated the other genin for their hard work or revealed her job as one of the judges. He scoffed scornfully a bit at her bit about 'doing our countries' proud'. "For those who have one." He whispered bitterly.

Despite the poor choice of words he did listen the most of what she had to say. Not particularly caring for it at the moment but slowly digesting it in the back of his mind. He watched carefully as they moved to the prone Hanza on the bed, stopping at the foot. His hand immediately turned to his umbrella. Readying it in case things turned sour. Immediately relaxing his grip as the mystery woman spread the good news. Though it equally quickly tightened when they said he wouldn't he probably wouldn't be the same once he woke up.

At this he shot up out of his chair. Wide eyed he looked again at the boy sleeping soundly in the bed. He looked so much like an angel. Could the lightning have damaged his brain? Its plausible. While electricity tends to ground itself into the earth, chakra doesn't function in exactly the same manner. The energy Izumi blasted him with must have still been present, even if minutely, when the lightning struck him. The conditions all pointed to this end result. Damnit!

He gripped his umbrella tighter. This was but a boy, one that had barely lived his life, and depending on how bad the changes were he might have lost all of that. In his wrath almost he didn't notice the woman as she bent down to Hanza, leaving a gentle peck across his pale cheek. The heart warming gesture brought him back to his senses. While he didn't understand it at the time, he did care what happened to this boy. This wasn't about villages, or revenge, or even about being a ninja. He saw a boy who was about to lose everything if luck decided to give him a bad roll. Kisei looked up and saw him again, his first love from his home world. Gentle features of fair skin and brilliant hair that his mind retained but eyes could not quite make out.

His hallucination reached down to brush aside a strand of hair. "Don't!" He yelled. Forgetting for a moment that they couldn't actually harm Hanza. The boy unseen to all others gave him a pitiful look, slowly shaking his head with tearful eyes as he ran out the door. The teen lowered his head to the ground.

Kisei steeled himself to not out after him. Inside he knew that his love was dead and his visions of him were nothing but conjurations of a desperate heart. Though it still hurt. "Please, don't die, Hanza." He whispered once more before slinking down into one of the chairs pressed against the wall.


1036
[Exit]