"Chakra? Are you sure?" Shimo mumbled out in a confused voice. This whole deal with Mana's chakra control was incredibly odd, at that moment the Yuki regretted not talking to Mana about it in more detail: what exactly happened, when exactly did she notice losing her gift etc.
"As sure as I can be, there was no way she'd have redirected my punch with human senses and agility, she even went as far as to counterattack and bring me to my knees, only someone with chakra augmentation could have done that" Meiko nodded examining her bruised fist that got wrist deep into the ripped apart soil.
"This is quite major, we may need to examine her and see if she's actually regained her chakra manipulation or if it was just a freak accident but… This puts the possibility of Mana-chan's gift returning back on the table and that's wonderful" the swordsman smiled looking at the light in the inn room.
After helping Meiko get up the duo headed towards the room. Both of them were quite confused and didn't know what to think of it. Once they entered the sight of tired and sad Kouta treating Mana's injuries he met their eyes. Mana really did look miserable from a third person's point of view, her body looked like she had just escaped captivity and endless sessions of torture, she was pale making her blunt force traumas contrast that much more horribly in comparison.
The magician's hair was messy and sticky, it probably had plenty of blood in it but washing it must've been on the lower end of the magician's priorities. She looked as close to being beaten to death as a person could have been. Kouta slipped off of the bed and rubbed his tired eyes while sitting on the floor.
"Shit, I… I can't… I'm tired, this week was crazy…" he complained as black circles not unlike those of Mana's appeared around the boy's eyes. No one could've blamed him, he spent the whole week healing Mana's injuries that often times came multiple times a day. His healing prowess improved daily just due to the extensive amount of repetition that the boy did saving Mana from dying from her injuries. Mana was reckless and stupid for falling to such state all the time but Kouta felt like it was his own personal responsibility to bring her back to perfect state each time and now he was paying the price.
"It's fine, rest up today, you can pick up tomorrow or in the worst case the day after, we'll move out in two days at noon. You've been pushing yourself quite a lot, give yourself some credit and rest up, if there's anything we can do, please tell us" Shimo replied placing his hand onto Kouta's shoulder.
"But Mana-chan is… Still in pain…" Kouta complained.
"I'll be fine…" Mana's voice ringed in the boy's ear weakly and softly. "Pain is what we need to get used to, I'm just glad I didn't get killed, thanks for giving me a shot Meiko…" the magician tried to smile but aching body made the girl clutch up and then fall asleep. As bad as the fatigue and the pain was it didn't seem to bother Mana's sleep for the first time in a while.
"Good, she's asleep, she could use some, this week was really horrible for her" Meiko looked at Mana's battered sleeping body with some pity in her eyes.
"And for you? I saw you suffer plenty too, for some reason you also don't look like you've slept well and plenty…" Shimo asked Meiko, the blacksmith lowered her head and closed her eyes.
"Yeah, this wasn't the best for me either. It's just that… Every time Mana got hurt it felt like it was my fault, that I failed her somehow as a teacher" Meiko scratched the back of her head making her short hair stay messed up in a goofy manner, it reminded a lot of bed hair perfectly reflecting the tired state which the blacksmith felt herself staying in.
"Don't blame yourself, what you tried to teach Mana-chan is almost impossible. People don't contend with ninja, it just never happens, the progress you two have made having that in mind is astonishing, you should pat yourself on the back, really" Shimo yawned.
"If you two aren't too busy, Mana-chan's injuries need treatment, I can't heal her right now but it might be quite useful to buy some herbs for her. Shukuba town has amazing herb shops" Kouta stood up and stretched out sitting close to where Mana was sleeping and resuming to examine her injuries.
Shimo and Meiko disappeared for a good half an hour, after they returned with the several bags of herbs that were described in a small list Kouta had made the medical ninja rushed up and started preparing the herbs to apply onto the bandages and wrap around the most gruesome of Mana's injuries.
"She looks… Better, did you try to heal her again?" Meiko squinted comically looking at Mana's sleeping body who was now sleeping with much more peace and serenity in her eyes.
"No, I just gave her a couple of specialized food pills, some of them were sleep pills and some of them were special pills to treat bone fractures. I used a small portion of my pill supply but it's for good measure, even if I won't be ready to heal Mana tomorrow, it'll help her a great deal" Kouta smiled proudly, even managing to smile through the black circles and bags around his eyes that appeared out of his chakra shortage and overall exhaustion.
"Good, she'll need to be in moving condition in the morning, we've spent a lot of ryo on these herbs so we'll need to leave one day earlier" Shimo lowered his head. "Also… There's one more thing me and Meiko discussed, "Could you use your Diagnosis Jutsu on Mana-chan? Just to see if her chakra network is still torn up?"
"Wait, what? No! Mana-chan said she doesn't want it! She doesn't want to know for sure because she's afraid of that knowledge, she's afraid of knowing that her chakra network is broken permanently! It's probably for the best medically to do some tests but… She's traumatized by the experience, we can't just poke inside of her even if we won't actually get inside her. The last thing you want to do to someone traumatized like this is to force the experience onto them…"
"We don't have to tell her, we just need to know" Shimo didn't relent.
"You don't get it, if we know, she'll know that we know! We'll eventually slip up and when she'll realize we went against her wishes and found out she'll… She'll hate us…" Kouta still opposed the idea and his agreement was integral to Shimo and Meiko's plan being pulled off.
"But imagine if it's all just in Mana's mind, what if the only thing keeping her from being how she was before is some mental block she herself placed!?" Shimo was starting to get really loud, Mana almost woke up, restlessly rolling around the bed and burrowing deeper into the sheets.
"Even more reasons not to do it, you do realize that there's no positive outcome in this, right? If we find out the network really is damaged beyond repair all four of us will be crushed, if we find out that it's all in Mana's mind, imagine her own inner pain when she finds out. When she is told that all of her identity problems are because of her and that she's just not wishing hard enough" Kouta snapped back which wasn't very common for the boy to do. He was usually quite silent and non-confrontational type, he wasn't quite yet shy but he was overly polite and to see him openly arguing like this was a new sight.
"I thought you liked her, guess you really don't give a rat's ass…" Shimo rudely and abruptly tore the thread of the conversation off, for a moment a total silence took over in the room, the Yuki turned around and walked towards the exit declaring that he needed some fresh air when Meiko saw something snap in Kouta's eyes, his fist lit up blue and at that moment she knew this wasn't going to end well.
Without saying a word Kouta lunged at Shimo, just because she predicted the assault did Meiko manage to get in the way of the two blocking the medical ninja's chakra enhanced punch at the elbow where the force wasn't as focused and destructive slightly tilting the elbow to punish the medical ninja's aggression with some helpful pressure pain. She felt sharp pain in her back and when her glance reached it she saw Shimo's Audra blade having left a shallow cut on her back, intending to slice right at the medical ninja. Clearly he had predicted the attack as well but he didn't quite predict Meiko's interruption.
"Shit, I'm sorry! I need to walk this shit off!" Shimo declared quietly apologizing to Meiko like he really meant it and angrily dashing away from the room.
Kouta stayed silent for a moment, anger in his eyes got changed by depression and sadness, since his blue glow around the fist dissipated and the arm relaxed itself Meiko let go and the boy slid down on his bottom sitting down on the floor. "Am I doing the wrong thing? Am I hurting Mana-chan?" he whined out, he wasn't crying but he was visibly distressed.
"Nah, I don't know her for too long but one thing I know is that no one but she herself can truly hurt her. No amount of pain or injury or threat of imminent demise would scare her but whatever she tells herself cripples her effortlessly. I think the way where she has the least to brood about is the best one but I still can't decide which way that is…" Meiko lowered her head and then looked at the peaceful friend just sleeping her injuries off.
After the bandaging was finished and Mana looked, for the first time in a while, like a pretty young teenage girl Shimo returned. He looked a little tipsy but he crept up to his bed and just fell down as if he just died at that moment.
"Let's do it…" Kouta's voice echoed in the darkness, filled with disappointment and sadness. Just like that life returned to Shimo's body and he jumped up on his feet. The three rushed to Mana's sleeping body and the medical ninja raised his hands above Mana's body, he straightened and relaxed his palms, softly he placed them on Mana's body and powerful yet silent and painless impulses of blue light started emanating through Mana's body
"Diagnosis Jutsu" Kouta mumbled to himself just to set in stone the horrible mistake he was about to do. Mana would probably never forgive him…
The next morning finally came and Mana looked incredibly vital and energetic for someone wrapped in almost excessive amount of bandages. At least this set of bandages wasn't soaked in her blood like many that were changed before. Kouta examined the girl's injuries.
"It looks okay, I can completely heal everything if you want, not even a scar will remain, these herbs did wonders…" he concluded.
Mana vibrantly shook her head, "No, conserve your chakra. I'm already really grateful to all of you. I don't deserve such devoted and wonderful friends. You've agreed to look for the box still, despite my revelation that I always intended for this mission to fail. Meiko did so much to teach me to fight without my chakra manipulation and Kouta overexerted himself to heal me every time, all of you wasted our inn money on herbs just to make my recovery faster and less painful… Almost brings a tear to my eye, you guys…" she smiled.
"Well, you're the client, your well-being is the only one worth a damn in this line of work. If it'd make you feel better I'd massage your feet even…" Shimo joked.
"I'll consider it, you said it so there's no going back if I take you up on your offer" Mana gave him a thumb up and smiled. She felt really great and she had some reasons to feel that way – after all she successfully redirected Meiko's attack and even threw some of her own in return after a week of trying, she's in so little pain that it may not even be pain at all and they'll be moving out one day earlier which makes it one day closer to them getting to the box… Things were finally looking not too bad.
"Well, if everyone has everything we can go then, let's hope that we'll never need to stop anywhere in such a hurry as we did coming in here" Kouta laughed out, it was a little strange as to the magician his laughter felt a bit faked. The medical ninja was just as bad as faking words and emotions as she was and so even a naïve teen like Mana could pick up that something wasn't alright with him.
"Are you OK, Kouta-kun?" she asked trying to sound careful and not too imposing. "You sound a little disappointed or sad or…"
"Just tired, Mana-chan" he faked a smile again, Meiko butt into the conversation with her large behind and pointed at the Shukuba gate which lead to the road which circled to Tanzaku.
The trio didn't quite travel efficiently, they wasted a lot of time in the Roiyaru road and only stopped at Shukuba because of Mana's injury, ideally they probably would've stood the best chance at success if they changed from Roiyaru to Rooibos road and went to Tanzaku town which lead to the Land of Rivers and then crossed to the Wind Country. Now they may have wasted at least six or even eight hours of journey but luckily Rooibos road was made for just that sort of scenario – easy travelling from Shukuba pleasure town to Tanzaku town. It took the quartet less than twelve hours to get to Tanzaku because of Mana's slower pace of traveling, a ninja may have made the distance in four if they were rushing.
Tanzaku town was a little larger and looked a bit more industrialized and modernized when compared to the small Shukuba town. Shukuba was a small town of classical architecture which contained many classical pleasures a ninja or a traveler may have enjoyed like hot springs, tea houses and inns, Tanzaku town was much more commercial in that aspect, filled with various small businesses, countless bright advertisement boards and gambling houses. There was still a problem of the four having no more money left but in Tanzaku money was everywhere.
"Mana-chan, you're patient and you can focus incredibly well, go win some money at Kingyo Sukui" Meiko suggested, Mana nodded.
"Those goldfishes won't know what hit them!" she declared and rushed off to look for the goldfish scooping vendor offering money for a successful game. The trick there was to catch a bunch of goldfish into small nets, the problem was that the payout for a fish wasn't that great and so to actually make profit one had to be pretty skilled at the game. She was just glad to finally be helpful at something since being just a normal client really depressed her to no end, feeling like one wasn't a part of the team often did…
"Okay, Shimo, you can toss some killer balls at those bottles, right?" Meiko looked to be quite happy ordering everyone around.
"I probably could but I don't think the inn owner will take plush toys as payment, I saw a shuriken target practice game somewhere that pays in ryo, also, weren't you the skilled one with projectile weapons? I'm more of a swordsman-type…" the Yuki tried to object.
"Nah, it'll be fine, me and Kouta will go slam some hammers, we'll be eating lobster dinner and sleeping in the inn in no time!" the blacksmith redhead energetically declared pointing at the sky with the largest hype grin this world had ever seen.
After a sigh Shimo headed out to find the shuriken practice vendor, they would all start out betting some of their possessions since they didn't have any money but eventually they'd make the money they needed. Tanzaku was a town of opportunity where decent money could've been made gambling and playing those small vendor games. They really weren't that fair since ninja easily dominated at them but there were just about enough homeless people or petty gamblers with no skill to make the vendor stands enough profit to pay the ninja out and still have some left. Plus it kept the more ill intent having ninja from just bullying the vendor owners out of their money encouraging to win it legally.
As expected, two hours later, Mana returned with a fairly decent payout of a wallet filled with ryo, Shimo returned with a moderately smaller sized loot since as he complained shuriken wasn't his thing entirely and it was only because of his "mad skills of concentration" that he even won as much as he did win. Kouta and Meiko actually looked like they made a whole fortune. Mana really looked surprised.
"Well initially we were hitting a slump, Kouta gambled half of his ninja kit away when he bet on the hammer slamming thing but his chakra enhanced strength turned the hammer into dust while the zinger only rose halfway, I had to bail him out and so some time was spent making up for what he had lost. Then there was this large guy who kept betting against me and we kept competing for hours on end and he lost everything so I guess I kind of hammer'd him out of his underwear, which in perspective, we didn't really need but we felt in a gambling mood…" Meiko smiled showing the completely surprised team a pair of white underwear with teddy bears all over it.
Kouta's cheeks were completely blushed from embarrassment and couldn't hide his eyes away from the passers-by enough. "Please… Please don't let Meiko-san gamble again…" he almost begged the rest of the group. With a playful laughter the four headed for the nearest inn.
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +