Starring:
Date: October 10, 2015
Summary:
Arika gets to meet all these cute animals that are injured and she practices the diagnostic jutsu on them. With poor results, but that should come with practice!
"Destructive Healer: Diagnosing Cute Animals!"
Konohagakure - Doctor’s Offices
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This section of the hospital is composed of various offices for resident Medic-Nin/doctors who spend a lot of time at the hospital. This way they can be available more readily for examinations, operations, and so on. It's essentially four hallways, each lined with offices on both sides.
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It's a sweltering summer afternoon on the day that Arika is asked to join Kenta in his office at the hospital for a lesson. With it being close to the time for the Suna delegation to head to the next village, this will probably be the last lesson that can be squeezed out before the event. Kenta sits at his desk, which is completely cleared of all paperwork and writing implements. Replacing those are four cardboard boxes of various sizes. There's a thick black cloth draped over each one, but soft scraping sounds coming from within indicates that the boxes contain something living.
Arika makes her way into Kenta's office, eager to learn. The girl barges into the office with little warning. "Ken-chan! I'm ready!" she says cheerfully, peeking around the room. The weather is actually pretty cool for the young Suna-nin, as she's used to the desert's even more oppressive heat.
The biggest box lurches on Kenta's desk. The recently promoted Jounin quickly places a hand on it to keep it in place. Then, he stands and holds a finger to his lips. "Konichiwa, Arika. No sudden loud noises please. You're going to be searching your lesson with some very twitchy individuals. Ummm… please take a seat." Kenta removes the hand on the box to sweep it towards the chairs placed on the opposite side of the desk.
Arika tilts her head a bit and nods, sitting down in one of the empty chairs. The girl continues to glance at the box every now and then, eager to start this lesson. "So, what're we doing today, Ken-chan?" She asks in a hushed tone, taking heed of his little warning. See, she /can/ listen! Especially in this case.
"Umm… well, I heard that you've been practicing the diagnostic jutsu. It's really the most important of all the medical ninjutsu that a person can learn, so that makes sense. Since we don't have much time before you leave Konoha, I have to choose what we'll go over and the diagnostic jutsu is the obvious choice." Kenta waves his hands over the boxes. "I can't really ask my patients to come sit here for an hour to have you attempt it on them, so I brought you some subjects to study instead." Kenta removes the cloth from the largest box, the one that had bucked on the desk. Inside it is a grey furred rabbit with a splint on one of its front paws.
AWWWW! It's so cute! Arika's eyes widen since she hasn't seen a bunny up close! She lives in the desert, after all. The 'cutest' thing there would be the birds, and they were largely birds of prey… Supposing scorpions were cute…? Well, regardless, Arika perks up. "So I gotta use the jutsu on this thing?" she says, peeking at it from what she hopes is a safe distance.
Kenta nods his head up and down. "Ummm… this rabbit has a broken front paw. This will give you a chance to feel what types of echoes broken bones would return when you use the diagnostic jutsu. There's also swelling, but I fixed that and dampened the pain. Now, I want you to touch the rabbit and try your best to sense the injury. Ummm… this might be more comfortable if you hold the rabbit in your arms instead of reach your hands inside the box, but you'd have to be very careful not to hurt it's paw more."
"H-hold it?" Arika squeaks, peering at this bunny. She wasn't sure she'd be good at that! Forget the diagnostic jutsu challenge, holding the rabbit was the real difficulty! Arika states at the rabbit and nods. "Okay…" she says, standing and … Well, she'd try to grab it from the cage carefully. But she's small, so Kenta may have to assist!
Kenta does assist, but only by giving advice. "Umm… make sure you tuck your entire arm under him. Rabbits are delicate and they can get damaged easily if not help right. Unless you're holding them by the ears, their belly and spine need support." The young man watches to make sure that Arika's doing it properly. "Shift him against your chest… Ummmm… ok, now you should sit back down on your chair and try to perform the jutsu."
Arika tries to follow all these different instructions, but it's hard! One, because she's ten… and ten year olds don't really have great motherly (or fatherly) instinct. Two because she is half-afraid the rabbit will bolt from her! All Gyuki's fault. The girl eventually settles the rabbit comfortably in her arms and sits down in her seat. "Phew~" she huffs out, making the handseals awkwardly because of the rabbit. Her hands glow green with chakra, and then she rests them on the bunny, sending a weak little pulse through its body.
Kenta doesn't interrupt Arika while she tries to sense the break. But performing diagnosis on the rabbit might come surprisingly easy to even a new medic in training, or at least easier than other injuries. This is mainly because it's not a subtle injury. Bones are dense and big, so a break causes a very profound disruption in the system. What should be whole is sundered by a crack that leaves a gap no matter how tightly the edges are bound together. On the other hand, being able to sense the break doesn't mean being able to sense it well.
Arika is able to detect the break, but her pulse of chakra was so weak that she didn't even get a good picture. "It doesn't look like yours did…" she says with a frown. "I dun think I'm doing it right…" She says, trying again to send the pulse and get a clearer mental image. The girl is focusing very hard on trying to get the jutsu right, so hopefully she doesn't squish or drop the bunny in the process!
Kenta nods his head up and down. "You're not going to get any clear pictures of what's going on until you're more experienced. Ummm… and that means studying the books I gave you. More importantly, it means you have to use the diagnostic jutsu a lot to build up your skill with it. This lesson is just to get you to get a glimpse of what different injuries feel like, so that you'll recognize them better in the future." The young man unveils the second box. Inside it is a guinea pig with a bandage wrapped around it's middle. "Once you're done with the rabbit, try working with this poor thing next. Ummm… her owner took her outside and a feral dog grabbed her. She has a few puncture wounds, which was treated this morning."
Arika nods quickly. "Hai!" Then she checks the rabbit one more time to make sure she has the mental image as best she can before she carefully stands to put it back in its cage. The girl moves to the guinea pig, another animal she hasn't seen all that often, and she grins. "Awww!" she says, out loud this time. "Kawaii, ne? But … oh, that's sad.." She frowns a bit, then moves to gently pick up the critter. She handles it as carefully as she can, then settles back in her seat and closes her eyes to try and send the pulse of chakra. She keeps one hand on it and one below so it won't run away (not that it's really in a state to do such).
Puncture wounds, especially ones that's already been treated, are harder to sense than broken bones. That's exactly why Kenta picked a small animal with wounds that are proportionally large compared to its own body. The guinea pig squirms a little, but the medicine it was given dulls pain enough that it doesn't try to get away from Arika when she picks it up. It snuggles up against the warmth of her body and goes still, which makes it easier for her to concentrate on feeling the punctures. There's not much to explore in such a small body, so the odd interruptions in its flesh quickly returns as vague echoes.
"Do cuts feel like this too?" Arika wonders as she pets the guinea pig softly before putting it back in its cage. Maybe she should get a guinea pig pet… They're so cute! Ping won't be happy about caring for it, but… CUTENESS! Arika peeks over at Kenta. "Is there another one?" she wonders with a tilt of her head, looking around for another covered box.
"Umm… they feel similar, but different. Cuts usually cause more muscle damage and they split the flesh more." Kenta pulls cloth back from the next box to reveal a sleepy looking squirrel. The poor thing stands up on its hind legs as soon as light hits is face. It hobbles forwards a little before it drops back on all fours. Kenta reaches in to pet it gently. "Umm… this squirrel fell off a tree. It's leg isn't broken, but it didn sprain a major joint in its paw."
Arika nods quietly to the explanation, then peeks at the squirrel. "I didn't know they fell outta trees," Arika says, reaching into the box to pet the squirrel. She decides to leave it in the box to try and see if she can do it without holding the animal. After all, if she can only hold something to diagnose it, she'd easily be crushed… The girl sends the pulse of chakra through the squirrel's body, but this particular injury is pretty hard for her to see… "There's a weird distortion near its paw, but I can't see much else," she informs.
Kenta nods his head up and down. "That's the swelling caused by fluid buildup in the sprained joint. As you get better, you should be able to tell exactly which parts of the joint is injured, whether the cartilage itself is damaged, how much of the flesh around the joint is inflamed and more." The medic-nin reaches into the box to pet the squirrel gently. Then, he finally reveals the next one.
"Ummm… this one should be both easy and a bit hard. He's a bit sick and is fighting off an infection inside his body. You might not be able to tell, but his temperature's heightened by a mild fever. You'll probably feel the way that his entire body's mobilized, but not what's causing it without more experience." Kenta carefully picks up a tiny hamster out of the box by cupping both hands under it and offers it to Arika.
Arika nods and peeks at the hamster. She tries to touch it, but it seems hot, even for normal! "I can kinda feel the fever," she says, holding out her hands to take it into her grip. She sends a pulse of chakra through its body, but.. Well, she can't feel much of anything. "I dun get how you can feel it…" she says with a frown. "It doesn't seem like much at all… Guess that's what you mean about all the experience…" She returns the hamster to Kenta (or its cage, if Kenta refuses it).
Kenta accepts the hamsters and returns it to its nest himself. "Ummm… that's right. With more experience, you'll be able to tell exactly what part of the body's affected most by the infection. Different types of disease agents also feel differently. That's important, because you have to mold chakra correctly to handle disease. Well, unless you know a very powerful healing jutsu versatile enough to make the body heal itself. The body instinctively knows what to do most of the time." Kenta smiles at Arika. "Umm… anyway, that's the last one. We probably won't be able to meet again for another lesson, so make sure to study on your own. I'll talk to you again before you leave."
"Hai!" Arika says cheerfully. "Arigatou, Ken-chan!" The girl slips out of her seat and gives a small bow to Kenta. "I'll study lots and lots!" she guarantees before she waves and disappears out the door in a flash. There's also a burst of wind in her step that has a number of the nurses nearby grumbling… She may have knocked down some stacks of important papers!
