Starring:
Hissori, Shuuren, Yuriko, Yuuka
Date: October 29, 2013
Summary:
The littlest Kaguya becomes ill from the effects of her transformations, so Shuuren is summoned to diagnose the source.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"A New Direction - Hissori and Yuriko, the next day"
Kaguya Village [Kirigakure]
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This area smells very strongly of blood and views of ivory, each building in this district made by the Kaguya that owns it and out of their own bone. At the far west end of the village there is one house that is double the size of any other which could presumably belong to the head of the Kaguya Clan. Among the buildings are small resturants and shops, all made of the same bone material as the other buildings, though the merchandise is not necessarily such.
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It had been some time since the last Yuuka's spoken with Shuuren in person. And never before has she ever requested him specifically. However, the letter that had been delivered to him in the Land of Tea had a serious tone to it, asking for his medical assistance without going into exact detail. She was being careful about it, he would observe.
And now he sits in her living room. Her manor was probably quaint compared to his mansions (palaces?) but it was by far the biggest house in the Kaguya district in Kirigakure. Yuuka is quiet as she serves him tea, the warm mirth in her eyes replaced with concern that can't be entirely contained. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience in coming here, Shuuren-san. I know you are very busy. Especially as of late." Yuuka had heard rumors of his marriage into the Land of Tea, though she hadn't been at the wedding. "But you being here brings a little bit of relief, I admit."
"Oh, it's my pleasure. I seem to be doing a lot of international medical work lately," Shuuren says, picking up his tea to take a sip. He's adorned in something similar to the white suit he normally wore, though this one bears a longer coat with the Tea Country symbol on the back and a fur collar. "The letter seemed rather urgent. What exactly's going on? Are you concerned over something going on with yourself or your daughter perhaps?"
Yuuka can feel her fingers quietly squeeze her own tea cup for a longer moment as she looks distantly at the surface of her drink. Hearing the bit of concern in his voice. Or perhaps that's just her imagination. "I'm not sure how much you've heard about me, about my past… but I was kidnapped from my home at a young age, I was experimented on." She shakes her snowy head to herself as she lifts her bright eyes up at Shuuren. "I'm not sure what they did to me, but when my Kekkai Genkai emerged, it was different than the others. I can sense my bone, control and shape it with my thoughts, and when I was with child with Yuriko, I was connected with her through my thoughts. And because of this… there is no one really qualified to diagnose… well, ailments, I suppose. If Yuriko-chan or myself get sick…" Yuuka exhales another soft breath, trying to gather her thoughts.
"That is why I asked you to come here. Yesterday… Yuriko came home with my latest student. He was veering on the edge of unconsciousness, and Yuriko-chan…" She forces herself to take a deeper breath, to try to remain calm, but as she explains all of this it was becoming increasingly difficult.
Shuuren listens curiously as Yuuka begins to go over bits of her past. His eyes would wince slightly at the mention of her being kidnapped as a child. While he himself has a few secret labs, the audacity to perform experiments on a child versus someone deserving… Still, he's following all that she's saying really well. "So your child caught an illness from your student?"
A fist curls tightly, barely contained and threatening to perhaps smash through the table itself. "She was covered in bones. Spines sticking out everywhere…" Yuuka snaps her bright eyes up at him, suddenly desperate and fearful. "She skipped several stages of the Shikotsumyaku! Just skipped right over them! The first stage is overwhelming enough the first time you experience it, but she's already to Larch?!" She can't drink her tea any more. It's abandoned in her distress.
"I don't know what happened yesterday at all. Hissori-kun has been mute for a full day now and I haven't gotten any answers. He won't leave Yuriko-chan's bedside. I don't know what's wrong…" A hand reaches up to cup her forehead. "She's been in bed since then with a fever. The bones won't retract and she keeps drifting in and out of consciousness. Anything I feel from her thoughts is just a confusing mess, with the foremost… rage. The familiar bloodthirsty rage that is in all of my clan."
A small hand had tempted fate to touch Yuriko on the forehead several times as he still faded in and out of sleep in that chair. Hissori had drug them both home the other day.. or did Yuriko help him under her own power? He couldn't remember. Just her screaming playing itself over and over in his head.
He stands from the chair, how long had it been since he ate?
He leans down with a hand next to Yuriko's pillow, speaking in a quiet whisper, "I'll go get us some food." And he walks groggily out of Yuriko's room, closing the door easily behind him and he turns to walk down the hallway, stopping at the threshold to the main living area, staring at Shuuren and Yuuka sitting there and Yuuka's distress makes him wince. He takes a deep breath, be strong. Small feet pad bare across the floor towards the kitchen. He knew Yuriko couldn't eat right now being unconscious. But if she were to wake up and be hungry, he would be there with food for her. He'd wordlessly move to the kitchen and begin sorting through things he knows she likes, and dislikes through the icebox, and fills up a plate that would give both of them some semblance of a light lunch.
Unless he was called upon by either of the adults. But he didn't want to talk to them right now. He didn't want to remember anything. That scream plays itself again in his head, another wince as his hand pauses to grab the last few things to put on the plate.
Covered in bones? That's not unusual for a Kaguya, but one so young? "So the illness made her Kekkei Genkai kick in suddenly and accelerate?" he asks, blinking a few times s he goes over the information she present mentally. "So I'm guessing they haven't told you what happened then?" he asks before taking a big sip to finish his tea and standing up. "Try to relax. I've dealt with a Kaguya who's Kekkei Genkai was out of control before I'm sure I can help her. Let's move along to her room if you please. We don't want her body to be in distress for too long."
Though Yuuka may not be mentally connected with the boy, she still senses when he actually leaves the bed room, his quiet feet softly padding on the bare floor as he makes his way to the Kitchen. She turns to glance in his direction, worry flickering through her expression. Hissori may be a naturally quiet boy, but he's never just not talked at all before.
She breathes slower as Yuuka returns her gaze to Shuuren across from her. "You don't understand, her kekkai genkai has never awoken before now. It should be impossible for her to suddenly accelerate so many levels." Concern flickers in Yuuka's eyes. "Shuuren… as far as I'm aware, I have the most elevated Shikotsumaku in the clan, and right now, Yuriko-chan is just one stage away from my level." It was a big deal. Huge even.
She barely closes her eyes for a moment as she tries to gather herself before nodding once, pushing herself quietly to her feet. "This way please." Departing from the living room, making their way through a hallway before Yuuka places a hand on one of the doors on the south side. Sliding open the door, she slips inside first. Its already apparent that the little girl in her bed in the middle of the room has a fever, her face reddened slightly with a cooling wash cloth folded and placed on her forehead. Yuriko's breathing is labored some, and as her mother said, there's still spines of ivory spiked from parts of her arms, legs, and torso.
It wasn't long before Kaiju had the plate ready, and he sets it on the counter at just below his eye level. The adults are getting up and heading to Yuriko's room. He wanted to hear what they had to say. Something- Something was wrong with him, too though. He reaches up to feel at the back of his neck, a flash of pain in remembrance of how that first searing shock of the bite.. a flash of light just before he lost consciousness the first time.
Her screams.
He looks down as he hears drips of water hit the top of his foot. Hissori then realizes he can barely see his own feet as he had started crying. A hand claps over his mouth as he holds back sobs with small convulsions of his chest as he leans his forehead on the edge of the countertop, crying silently in the kitchen hoping the adults didn't hear him. Even more so, so he couldn't hear himself. He has to wait a few moments.. even a couple minutes to grab the plate, so for now he fights the urge to wail and croon over how scared he still is deep down.
Through Shuuren's exceptional training, he's able to tell that something was wrong. Very wrong. Both children have seals under their hair. Powerful seals that are intended to accelerate their ages, originally until the point of death, but somehow these seals will fade out given time. This seal is booby-trapped. It is tied into the victim's chakra, which is what fuels its functions.
And if the seal is cut off from chakra, it releases a chemical into the body causing it to go into seizures in an attempt to destroy the victim's chakra core. To successfully remove the seal without this happening takes an either Chakra Network Surgery or similar, at very high levels of difficulty, or an S rank technique.
Hissori would bring the plate into the bedroom after the adults were there, and set it down on the small table in Yuriko's room. If her bed were big enough, Kaiju would lay down across the foot of the bed, outside of safe distance of her bone protrusions to watch until he fell asleep again. Or, if that wasn't possible, sit down on the floor leaning against the bed, ending up laying on the floor as close to the head of the bed as he could without getting in Shuuren or Yuuka's way.
"I understand," Shuuren says with a nod before turning to follow Yuuka into the bedroom. Anyone with the ability to detect chakra would sense his chakra reserves unlocking and pushing through as well as a series of small pulses ringing out from him as he reads the medical information of those in the area, mainly focusing on Yuriko and the boy. As they walk, he blinks a few times and then would suddenly move more quickly as if concerned. "What the…"
Quickly moving to Yuriko's side, he looks her over with his brows furrowed. "How old is she?" he asks as he looks over to Yuuka before casting a glance at Kaiju and then back up at her. "And him?"
Yuuka moves on the other side of the bed and kneels beside the little girl, her gaze looking over the small figure for a quiet moment or so while Shuuren looks over Yuriko. The sudden exclamation instinctively pulls the woman's eyes up at him, blinking with some surprise. Had he already found something? The question catches her off guard, hesitating only briefly. "Yuriko… has a birthday in only a couple of days. She will be six. And Hissori-kun don't know his birthday or how old he is, but I guess he would be the same age." Her blue green eyes look over at the boy that had crawled to the foot of the bed, close to his friend. He's already asleep. "Why do you ask?"
"Six," Shuuren repeats as he looks them both over. "Something's definitely off, but it's not viral or poisonous." With that, he moves to turn Yuriko's head slightly and move her hair aside to look at the seal. "What kind of schemer…" His voice is dark for a moment before he looks back up to Yuuka. "The good news is it's not going to be fatal, but what's been done is a rather dangerous seal experiment. Their bodies are aging at two and a half times the the normal rate. I'm pretty sure the shock of the seal's activation is what's causing her condition as far as the extreme activation of her Kekkei Genkai. Though it's painful, she'll adjust." With that, he would go to place his hand on Yuriko's neck, his fingers moving in massaging motion to cause her body to relax and sedate her in an attempt to make her bones retract with the calming.
Yuuka could feel herself almost go limp from the relief of knowing that her children aren't in any immediate danger. Though it doesn't completely dissolve her worry. The little girl breathes through her mouth as she feels her head lifted, strong hands supporting her as her head is turned and Shuuren brushes aside her snowy waves to reveal the seal. Her mother leans closer, frowning for a moment before snapping her blue green eyes up at him. 'Not fatal'. Yuuka has to repeat the words in her head to keep herself from going crazy. She had sworn that her daughter would never have to endure what she had to. "Experiments…" Was she too lax? Did she give Yuriko too much room to explore and give the opportunity for others to get to her? "Two and a half… So is she going to die before me? From old age?"
When Shuuren takes her delicate neck and begins gently massaging the flesh that doesn't have any bones sticking from it, Yuriko exhales a longer breath, "Daddy…" she mumbles, falling into a deeper sleep. It doesn't take long for the bones spines to steadily, slowly withdraw and fade away. It sends another wave of relief through her mother.
"No, it should stop long before then," Shuuren says, shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure the guy meant to kill them, but the seal isn't complete from what I can tell. It'll last a few years, but it'll eventually fade away, and they'll start aging normally again. They'll just be… older than they're supposed to be." He lets out a sigh, glancing down and removing his hand from the girl's neck once her bones finally retract. "You say you can feel her thoughts, right?" he asks as he looks back up to Yuuka, eyes narrowing. "Is there any way you can tell if she got a look at his face? With a good description and a sample of his chakra from the seal, I think I can track him down and make sure he doesn't do this to anyone else." After a light pause, he says, "It could be reversible if you want with a surgery, but the risk of the seal killing them in its breaking is enough that I would suggest you leave it to expend instead."
The murmur of words makes the boy stir, sitting up and looking at her with eyes wide open and alert. He watches Shuuren help Yuriko with what looked to Kaiju like bone. The adults said it was bone, so that's good enough for him.
But he listens as Shuuren and Yuuka talk to one another, and sometime in there, he heard Yuriko mutter a word, which made him delicately scramble up on the bed to her side, if there was room for him, and on hands and knees he'd sit back on his heels, looking down at her. He might even look like a puppy at this point for a moment, but it was just the positioning, anyway.
Hissori doesn't take his eyes off of the Kaguya child.
Yuuka is quiet as she listens, her bright eyes fastened on Shuuren as he explains what he knows about the seal that was placed on the children. Only when she realizes that she had been holding her breath does she release it, her gaze lowering to Yuriko as the small figure relaxes from Shuuren's technique. Then, Hissori catches her by surprise, the little boy suddenly alert as he scrambles onto the bed and closer to Yuriko, now that she wasn't covered with ivory spikes. The poor boy was so worried about his friend.
Yuuka reaches out gently brush back his dark emerald hair from his forehead, trying to reassure him. "It's going to be okay. She'll get better quickly, and you can get a checkup too to make sure that you'll be feeling fine too." She doesn't want to risk anything. "Hissori-kun… can you tell me what happened now? It will help us figure out what we need to do next."
"Yes, you're both going to be fine," Shuuren says with a nod to Kaiju, making a few quick handseals before he moves to place his hand on the boy's shoulder. While the technique would wash over and help him relax as well as cull the fever, the doctor doesn't sedate him since he's not suffering as Yuriko was. "Any information you give us will help me track whoever did this down to be sure he can't do this to anyone else and he doesn't come back for you two."
When both of the adults start with what he feels like targeting him with questions, he looks up at them both. Shuurens hand would only start the process, only for Hissori's eyes to begin watering, but the calming effect just makes him frustrated and sad. And even after that that frustration is nowhere to be found. Can you be frustrated that you aren't frustrated anymore, but you want to be?
He looks off to the side, avoiding eye contact before he shifts to slide slowly off the side of the bed, and he goes out of Yuriko's room at a trotting pace, getting into his own room and grabbing something from the top drawer of his dresser. Not long moments before he returns with his line brush and paper. He begins to draw the spiders that chased him, maybe three or four of them together. "Chased me," he speaks halfway through drawing them.
He draws the same thing even around Yuriko, even though they were a different type of spider possibly, he considered them all the same at that point. "Chased her."
Then he draws the big ones. "Bit her." He points at one, then another, "Bit me." He would then shove the sketch up at Shuuren's stomach, wait for him to take it and then lay down next to Yuriko before he started crying again. Don't want them to see him crying, and he buries his face into Yuri's pillow next to her head.
Yuuka is almost surprised when Hissori pushes himself up to his feet and moves across the hall to his room, getting paper and his brush, returning only then to begin drawing and tell them what had happened. She frowns at the spiders drawn. Smaller ones, then bigger spiders. "It… it sounds like the seal was activated when the spiders bit them." she murmurs. "But it couldn't be the Okumo. They wouldn't do this." Or maybe she's in denial. "Where was this even at? There is no way that spiders this big would get into the village." Hissori lays down next to Yuriko again, curling close and turning his face into the pillow, clearly upset still. "Oh sweetie…" Her hand returns to his emerald head, petting him softly. Right now, he was more than a student to her. He was one of her children.
Shuuren watches curiously as he boy starts to draw, tilting his head slightly at the sight of the spiders. So they were fighting spiders? There aren't many ways to control those creatures, so it's either an Okumo or a someone with a contract to summon spiders. Since summons usually aren't willing to be a part of such things, the former is more likely. "Okumo in the village probably wouldn't, but there is a possibility of a rogue or someone who never became a part of the village in the first place." With that, he closes his eyes, another pulse of chakra flowing out from him as he would collect medical data once again, this time attempting to delve more into the seal's build to try to determine the chakra signature of its creator. "If he's still on the island, I should be able to find him."
Hissori's heaving subsides a little. But he makes the mistake of opening his eyes. He can't hold it back any more, and lurches forward to hug at the unconscious Yuriko, "I couldn't save her.." he berates himself. "Baka baka kai-ju(referring to 'strange creature', not worth a thing! Make's me sick, makes us sick!" He quoted what was probably a chant kids used on him, but his manner of delivery was far from melodic.
"I couldn't save her, she needed me and I failed! All I could do was crawl to her after being bitten and hold her hand. I'm so sorry I left the village, but I wanted to follow her because I had a bad feeling." talking through sobs through the entire time he's talking. "I'm a terrible friend~!" The last word melts into soft crying with his forehead against Yuriko's temple. He was getting the pillow all wet.
As Yuriko is suddenly hugged, she mumbles in her sleep and small frown tugs at her delicate brow. What was shaking her asleep? She only just got to sleep and already she's being shaken awake? Yuuka smoothly reaches down to scoop up the small boy in her arms, pull him into her lap and cradling him, giving him a shoulder to cry on. "Hissori-kun, you're not allowed to say any of that ever again, you hear me?" she murmurs softly, but firmly. Her comfort never lessening. "I told you Yuriko-chan is going to be fine. And crying like this will only make her upset. Talking like that about yourself will make her upset too. You-" Yuuka puts emphasis on her words as her fingers touch under his chin to lift his eyes up at her. "Are not a monster. Neither I, nor Yuriko-chan thinks so, and that's what's important."
As this is happening, Yuriko stirs in covers, grumbling as her eyes blink open through the sleep, looking up at the ceiling. No pain. A small hand reaches up to rub at her eyes, still tired. "Hm? Why is everyone in my room?"
As the boy sort of freaks out, Shuuren narrows his eyes a bit and goes silent. He allows Yuuka to handle this part since these are her children. The medical portion is his responsibility. Emotional is hers, though he will help where needed. When Yuriko starts to wake up, he smiles and looks to Yuuka. "I believe she'll be fine now. If you notice anything else alarming, call me immediately. I'm going to go speak with the Mednin Corps. here and warn them about what's going on. They need to know how to handle this, or there could be casualties." With that, he reaches into his coat, pulling a pair of tabs and then presenting a pair of mixed candy boxes to the children. "Here. You get this for being such good patients."
Yuuka's words at least help to get him to quiet down, still hiccupping from the remnants of sobs making him sound like he's gasping for air every few moments.
When Yuriko begins to speak, he squirms in Yuuka's arms, "Yuriko-chan!" He says. Such a turmoil of child emotion as he's happy she's awake and ok, and he'd stop at the side of her bed, laying his head down by his chin on the back of his arms, wanting to pounce her and hugtackle and just give her a great big hug. But he knows some of what Shuuren and Yuuka were talking about, and he knows if someone is hurt, they don't recover instantly.
"Yuriko-.. chan..?" He says questioningly, before looking at Shuuren and accepting the treat with an 'I don't deserve this' look. He'd take the one for Yuriko, too and deliver it to the bed if she didn't take it herself.
Yuriko blinks her bright eyes up over her head at Hissori as she hears him call out her name, and quickly scurries beside her on the bed and wiggles around in such a way that reminds her of a puppy. She couldn't help but smile and giggle at his silliness. Her gaze is then pulled up to Shuuren, large aquamarine eyes curiously watching the man donned in such pale robes. Has she met him before? She doesn't remember? He must be a good guy to give her candy though, because she smiles when her free hand is given the candy.
Yuuka exhales softly with a some amount of relief as she looks to Shuuren, eternally grateful. "Thank you so much, Shuuren-kun. I will. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. It's the least I can do."
"Hissori, is it?" Shuuren asks, lifting an eyebrow at him. "You had the gall to try, and you're staying by her side. That's all one could expect of you. What you do is learn from your experience here and use it to strive forward because she and your village will need you, and one day you'll even be guarding your teacher's back when you've grown. It will happen more quickly than you think." That said, he turns his head to Yuuka, giving a nod. "Let your Kage know I'll be coming to speak with him. We don't need this to become an epidemic. I'll come do another checkup with them later. See you soon," he says before vanishing into thin air.
Hissori didn't say anything about it, but Shuuren's words, mixed with the support that Yuuka gave him while holding him just made at least one thing clear in his mind. If he were an animal, he'd be a dog. A type of loyalty you don't find much anywhere else except that one faithful companion that would follow their masters to the end of the earth happily. Snuggled up in the bed next to Yuriko, he leans his forehead against the side of her head again, closing his eyes.
