Starring:
Date: Unknown (log received November 27, 2013)
Summary:
None given.
"The Ghost and the Medic"
Unknown location
It is in the midst of autumn and the leaves are raining down from the trees,
creating a carpet of gold, brown and red. The day is also warm, enough that Mushi
has been able to take off her cloak. Now she sits on the side of the bridge, chin
resting on the lowest railing, her bare feet soaking languidly in the stream. She's
eating a riceball that has bits of nori on it to look like a mouse. All in all, it's
a fairly peaceable day. Mushi doesn't seem like she's doing much; her pack with the
medic symbol, her cloak, and a box are folded and placed neatly by her side. Under her
breath she's humming a song that doesn't really have an end or a definite melody.
Yoshida Ayame had been scarce as of late… hiding out in various nooks and
crannies, reading to herself while she waited for someone to return to Konoha… All
things considered, she had begun to be rather… lazy, about everything. So today, she
had decided to go out on the town, which of course meant that she was going to take a
break from reading and simply wander aimlessly until she thought up something ELSE to
do.
Her footsteps were quiet… silent, even against the bridge as she stepped
up onto the edge and started moving across it, carrying a parasol over one shoulder
and wearing her usual black, frilly outfit. She didn't notice Mushi at first… Just
another person in Konoha to her, hardly anything to pay attention to… but as she was
passing, she happened to look over, and she paused, her eyes creeping toward the medic
symbol on her pack.
Ayame finally came to a halt, eying the pack, and then the person next to it
before raising her voice, "…You're a medic?" she asked simply, "Or did you just find
that bag somewhere?"
Mushi is busy cramming the rest of the riceball into her mouth. She only
half glances up when Ayame comes near. After all, it's not the first time someone has
walked across the bridge since she's been there. When Ayame addresses her, Mushi looks
her up and down to see if she has any immediate injuries. Why else would she ask if
Mushi was a medic? Maybe it's just curiousity.
She wipes some of the rice off of her chin. "I'm Nikumari Mushi," she says
with a slight smile. Though she doesn't get up from her seat on the edge of the
bridge, she does turn a little to get a better look at Ayame. "Wanderer extraordinaire
and makeshift medic. That's why you probably haven't seen me in the hospital." She
finishes off her riceball and reaches for her pack to open the flap. In it Ayame would
see it's crammed with scrolls and plants. Probably herbal remedies, some plucked from
the gardens around here. "Who are you?"
Ayame gives a small shrug, looking somewhat curious about the contents of
the pack… she imagined that she'd be needing some of those at some point in the
future… or so she'd hoped. She hadn't had a chance to do any real experimenting with
herms or anything yet. "Yoshida Ayame…" She says simply, then after a pause, "I'm
afraid I'd never have seen you in the hospital anyway, I don't ever go there…
too dangerous." She gave a short shrug, then turned to move closer to the self-
proclaimed 'makeshift medic'
"There are a few people who call me the Witch of Konoha… Not many, but I
like the name, so I've chosen to keep it." Ayame continues, then looks again at the
bag of various plants and scrolls. "…Do you ever teach others how to use those?"
She points at the bag curiously, "I've been… reading books, but I fear that they're
simply not enough…"
Mushi actually smiles when Ayame mentions being the 'Witch of Konoha.' She
doesn't see look the part. "You don't seem very witch-like to me," Mushi says. When
Ayame asks about whether she's taught people how to heal, Mushi doesn't need to ask
who wants it. "Hmm, I suppose a witch would make a pretty useful healer," Mushi says,
but then her smile fades.
She looks intently at Ayame. "Quit now," she says. "It's nice that you want
to heal people, but really it's not about healing wounds and basking in sunlight. It's
about failing to save someone, and having to live with it. Forever." She gestures to
the pack which she'd opened. "Any normal shinobi can learn how to do solid first aid.
Read books and learn about herb-lore. Many chakra-based medics don't even know those
basics."
Arisu raises a brow, "Exactly what is a witch supposed to look like, mmn?"
she tilts her head to the side curiously, then chuckles a little, her mouth curling up
into a small grin, "A healer? Well… I suppose that's part of it…" And then Mushi
tells her to quit.
"…To be honest, healing is certainly part of it. It's useful for a witch
like myself to have some knowledge of how to heal people… Unfortunately, I believe
I've learned all I can from books, and there are a lot of things out there that I
simply can't do." She stands up and looks down at Mushi, "…And if someone were
to come to me, seeking aid and all I had to give them was basic first aid… and it
wasn't enough? Wouldn't I be failing to save them then? Wouldn't I still have to live
with the fact that I couldn't save them, forever? Wouldn't it be possible to save MORE
people with proper training?" She raises her brow and adopts a neutral expression.
"I'm not any normal shinobi… I understand death more than most… I've
experienced it more than I care to share… And healing is only a part of what I wish
to do… There are other facets to having medical training, many of which apply to my
chosen profession, and none of which are possible with just basic first aid."
Mushi shifts when Ayame mentions that she does understand death a little. She
rubs her neck, it's getting a little painful to look skywards. "Seems like you'll just
find someone else if I don't help," Mushi says. It seems as though she can't scare
Ayame off with her warning—and who would want to train a medic who couldn't even
face an ugly truth? "And it's my day off." Then, she'd pat the bridge next to her,
indicating that Arisu should sit down.
"If you've read many books you'll know the human anatomy fairly well, right?
There is such a thing as healing someone incorrectly. Not lining up a wound properly.
Using too much chakra. Too little chakra. To fix a body, you need to know how it
was in the first place. Charts are helpful, but what really helps you learn is this
jutsu." And she'd place a hand on Ayame, who would feel a wave of chakra wash through
her, light as a feather. "Send a light wave of chakra through someone. It bounces
through the body and echoes back to the medic, giving an idea of what state the body
is in. Very, very light. See if you can do it. Try it on me. What other kinds of
jutsus do you know by the way?"
Ayame considers for a moment… The light wave of chakra felt a little odd,
going through the body of a ghost… but with any luck, Mushi shouldn't find anything
inherently wrong… Ayame had been rather careful to manifest everything properly
after reading through several anatomy books. It simply wouldn't do for someone to
come around and wonder why she was quite literally missing a heart or a lung, or some
obscure organ.
"Nothing that you'd be able to do, I assure you." she says simply, "My
magic works differently from most Jutsu… Similar principles, but ordinary shinobi
simply aren't capable of doing it in most cases." She raises a hand toward Mushi, and
considers trying to do what the other shinobi had just done… but using her 'magic'
instead of using her hand… but decides after a moment that she shouldn't try to
experiment yet… that could come later, after she learned the basics.
She finally places a hand on Mushi's shoulder, and attempts to push a light
wave through her, as she had been shown… It was actually fairly easy, considering
how her body worked, and actually was more like Arisu reaching in with her chakra
cloud to get a feel for everything on the inside… which she had to assume was
roughly the same thing as what a living person would be doing with their chakra.
Mushi blinks when Ayame tries to use the jutsu—actually, unless she's much
mistaken, Ayame used that successfully. Mushi chuckles, "Well, I was completely
hopeless the first time I tried. But you have the right idea. Hmm since you're going
to keep your jutsu a huge secret, I'll talk to you from a straightforward perspective.
Every person has chakra in their body, not just shinobi. Shinobi heal faster because
they have more. Their chakra flow is disrupted by wounds, and the flow of chakra works
to correct itself and heal the wound. Like a clod of dirt dropping in a stream, where
the water dissolves the dirt to resume its straight flow. That's why both adding your
chakra and encouraging that flow is vital. It's not just sticking a big glob of chakra
into someone. It's about correcting their chakra flow, and using it to mend the wound.
If you use healing enough you'll be able to sense even your own chakra flow, and get a
better idea of how to use medical techniques."
Ayame nods slowly, "I knew that… the fact that people all have chakra
in their bodies that is… Not so much how chakra healing worked. That's useful
information." She admits, "My magic involves a lot of same principles of having to
know your own chakra flow, so I suppose that shouldn't be so hard…" She pulls her
hand back and folds her hands in her lap again, as she sits down next to Mushi…
It was easier than standing there at least. "That's probably also why I managed the
technique you mentioned as well as I did… though the fact that I did it doesn't mean
I necessarially understand what I was feeling yet."
Mushi actually smiles. "That was actually very good," Mushi says. "Some
people can't use medical chakra, it either takes a natural or quite some time of
training. But even a good medic can hurt someone if she's careless. That's why
you should always practice with a trained medic—for guidance and just in case
something goes wrong." And then she proceeds to show Ayame different kinds of
healing techniques, with short explanations. And use them on Ayame so she could feel
them. "This one that feels like cool water is Medicinal Healing Technique. One I tried
to fashion after herbal remedies—it's good for colds, fevers, normal illnesses."
"This is stamina healing is a straight infusion of energy. Dynamic
Restoration, which supports the vital processes of a dying person and regenerates
organs. Light Healing Jutsu, you use to force wounds close and seal them up. Delving
Healing Technique." After a couple more Mushi says, "Well, now you've felt them.
Healing puts chakra, nutrients, and heals in short you've already healed yourself. Put
a bandage on a scratch, disinfect a cut, medical chakra just helps make that natural
healing process more powerful and quicker."
Ayame frowns a bit and nods slowly… It was hard to tell the difference
between them for her, but she thought that she was catching on at least. "I suppose…
it'll be easier to learn with practical applications… I'm clearly not injured or
anything, so it's hard to tell the difference on the surface." She falls silent for
a moment, "You don't transfer nutrients with the healing techniques, correct? Just
Chakra?" She raises a brow curiously… it was important to know for one reason only.
Ghosts didn't have nutrients to transfer! Of course, there were mundane ways to take
care of that… It seemed that being a ghost and learning to do all of the various
healing techniques was going to be complicated though.
"Nutrients too," Mushi says. "Chakra can be converted to millions of things.
Fire, lightning, shadows, and in the case of medical chakra blood, energy, and
flesh. Well, depending on the level of the technique the better your regenerative
skills become." And then she goes through an extremely precise, extremely detailed
explanation of Light Healing Jutsu. The placement of chakra. The amount of chakra. The
way medical chakra should interact with the body. On and on and on. Finally, Mushi
says, "I use seals in tandem with my medical ninjutsu."
"I place a written seal on someone made to distribute the chakra properly,
and then pour the chakra into the seal. The chakra gradually dispenses this healing
technique, removing much of the need and time it takes to refine chakra. It helps
with large techniques that takes several medics to use at the same time. But I'd
suggest…" She looks in the direction of the hospital. "Well, you have a huge
advantage. A team of medical ninjutsuists who learn the same type of healing
techniques, so they can work together wonderfully."
Ayame nods slowly, "I see… I planned to learn some seals as well… perhaps
when the Ambassador to Uzushiogakure comes back to Konoha I can start training with
her." She nods, then glances toward the hospital. "Unfortunately, it's too dangerous
for me to go into a place like the hospital. My magic has negative effects on living
things… and I fear what it might do in a room full of sick and dying people that I
can't tend to immediately. I plan to do most of my own healing from home, if it comes
to it." She nods, "Seals will be very useful in the future I imagine." She places a
hand to her forehead for a moment, "A lot of this will have to be… adapted for my
use I suspect… The nature of healing jutsu makes it rather complicated to convert
into a method that's usable by myself."
Mushi would lean over and punch Ayame on the shoulder. "Having corrosive,
life draining chakra is no reason to keep a medic out of a hospital," she
says. "Train. Learn to control it. Put a seal on it to help control it better." She
looks up and down the bridge as if making sure that the coast is clear. And then,
she'd lean close to Ayame. "You know, I have some evil chakra too. It's why I use
seals. To filter out the negative energy in my chakra by trapping it in the seal, and
letting the normal chakra go through the patient. Like a filter. Dirty water strained
into clean water." Then she kicks the water in the stream, sending up a splash. And
she asks, "So…what is this magical chakra you speak of?"
Ayame smirks a little, "I wouldn't call it evil. It's what keeps me alive.
The cost of my using magic is that I effectively steal life from everything around
me… Slowly, but my presence will accelerate decay, break down materials, and
generally reduce things around me to dust after a few months. I've noticed less of an
effect on living things… but I suspect that's because a healthy person will produce
life at a faster rate than I'm leeching from them. I've noticed that insects don't
fare very well though… except, interestingly enough, spiders. Anything larger than a
cat seems to be unaffected, but I'm not sure I want to risk it by going into a place
filled with sick people, especially not before I can turn that life-draining aura
around and use it to produce life instead."
Mushi just stares at Ayame. Not in astonishment, fear, or confusion. She's
looking hard at Ayame as if trying to discern if she's telling the truth. For a long
moment after, she'd just turn back to the stream and watch the current. Not say
anything. At last, she gives a shrug. "Every medic who really means it has experienced
death," she says quietly. "It's what drives them to heal, so there's one less death in
their future. A little fewer lives lost." She smirks. "But I think you'll find even
some bugs are fairly resilient." She stands up. "Well, I'm gonna go. I'll be in Konoha
for a few more days if you have any questions." She pauses, and then says, "Ayame-
chan. There's ways I can seal up your power. But that kind of chakra, that's not a
second reservoir of chakra, well…it'd limit how much power and healing you can
exert. If you're ever that desperate, remember. I'm here a few more days."
"…I don't want it sealed. It's who I am, and it's part of what I do." Ayame
moves to stand up, "And there's potentially an infinite number of deaths in my future.
Everyone dies after all, and even as a witch there's only so much I can do to stop
it." She shifts her parasol over to her other shoulder, "I'll be likely to look you
up again soon, if you'll be here for a few more days… There's more that I need to
do learn, after all. Perhaps some practical applications will be possible as well, I
could use some practice if I'll be doing it on a regular basis."
