No Place to be Sick

[Jinan B]

Well, this was embarrassing.

Kinsue had woken with a start, pain searing excruciatingly through his body. A gaping sword wound, clearly still fresh, pierced out from his upper chest. He had been, quite literally, stabbed in the back.

By whom, and under what circumstance, were a mystery to him. His memory was in tatters, clearly overwhelmed by whatever it is that had caused his near death. Last he knew he had been sent to Pebble Country, the portion that had once been Grass, to track down a bounty target. It was supposed to be nothing more than a C-Ranked deserter; easily within the ability of a Special Jounin to handle. Something had clearly been flawed in that thinking.

The young man tried to focus on his surroundings. Someone must have moved him while he was unconscious, for he found that he was laid in a bed. The space that he was in seemed to be empty aside from himself. It was quite well put together, though certainly constrained. He could see a bare wall to his left and a raised curtain cutting off the room to his right; with whatever entrance there was presumably behind it. The only other items he could see was a set of equipment that he was wired to. Medical equipment; a hospital?

He began to feel a tension weighing down on him at the realization. A hospital meant a full settlement, and there were plenty in the region that would take poorly to a Kirigakure shinobi. Pebble Country was not particularly well disposed toward his village, and he had even been operating towards the border of Fire Country. If Konoha had found him, he was sure that he had only a lengthy interrogation and a quick death to look forward to now.

Then again; maybe he had gotten lucky. It could still be that the only thing in his future was the humiliation of being rescued in such a manner. Either way, he was hardly in any position to affect the outcome now.

[Kabu]

Yoshiko let out a sigh as she walked down the halls of the hospital, having just finished reporting in on all the details from her last mission. Of course those details had included the fact that she had come across a horribly wounded Kiri shinobi on her way back. She knew that maybe she could have just patched him up and sent him on his way rather than bringing him into Iwa but she couldn't bring herself to do it. While she had been working hard and been getting better at handling patients she was ultimately still only a medical student. She was not at all qualified to just be taking patients on the spot and she very well knew that.

With that said she had brought him to Iwa's hospital and reported to her teacher for guidance. The woman, hands off as always, had told her to take care of this herself and gone off to report on the matter to the other staff. "Who does Sensei think she's fooling with this talk of taking responsibility for my own actions? What kind of irresponsible doctor leaves a patient with a mere student? I mean... I did patch him up on the way here and then again after arrival so he shouldn't be in any immediate danger but those wounds are still pretty serious." she complained aloud as she opened the door to the room.

With another sigh she closed the door behind her and walked further into the room. Oh well, what was done was done and of course she had no intention of shirking her responsibilities.

That in mind she opened the curtain to check on her patient, a smile crossing her face at the sight. "Oh good, you're awake! You gave me a real scare, it's not often I find someone bleeding out in the middle of a forest." she spoke, suddenly frowning as a thought crossed her mind. "You umm... didn't hear any of that just now, did you?

[Jinan B]

Kinsue’s mind was starting to focus; ever so slowly. He began to properly assess the situation. The first thing to click was the equipment; of course, it wasn’t something that most all the world would have. The kind of fuuinjutsu-based technology that was the domain of shinobi. Most of the regions he might have been in were ruled out; the only real possibilities were Iwa… Or Konoha.

He began to try and sit up in his bed, leading only to another exceptional stab of pain in his chest. It was almost beyond belief, as bad as anything he had felt in his career. Trying to escape seemed hardly likely to work out for him. Even assuming he didn’t pass out from the pain, he wouldn’t be able to break through whatever defences were undoubtedly set up out of sight.

Then, he heard a distant voice. It was unintelligible at first but became clearer alongside the distinct sound of a door opening. A young woman, speaking about his wounds apparently to herself. Not that he needed to be told that they were dire.

A moment later, the curtain that split the room in two opened; the one who had apparently saved his life walking through. Most striking about the rather beautiful lady were the tremendous bee wings that unfurled from her shoulders. Following shortly behind – the small number of bees fluttering about her. It was clear enough that this was a member of the Kamizuru. Kinsue smiled and allowed himself to fall back against his pillows. He was in Iwa, after all, and had a chase to live another day.

After the woman noticed his alertness and spoke, he responded as brightly as he could manage. ”Just the tail-end of it; nothing I hadn’t figured out myself. Although, I’ve had worse in my–” another strike of pain and a coughing fit interrupted him midway.

”...On second thought, maybe this is about the worst I’ve lived through. I owe you a great deal for bringing me in.” The man would pause, trying to settle his still anxious pulse. ”This is Iwa then, I take it? Glad to be among friends.”

[Kabu]

"That's right, welcome to Iwa. I only wish that it was under better circumstances." Yoshiko responded to his questions with a practiced smile. She could tell that it was forced, though she at least hoped that it had gotten good enough that others wouldn't be able to tell. This entire incident had brought back some memories that she was having a hard time shaking off, namely those of her brother's death. She had watched, unable to help while he had succumbed to very similar wounds. Her forced smile soon gave way to a pained grimace as the memories threatened once more to surface.

Determined to not let herself slip into depression she quickly shook her head, taking a couple deep breaths as she cleared her mind. After that any attempt at feigning calmness was likely a fool's errand. Nonetheless she still had a job to do and she could only hope that he would be okay with her after witnessing... "In any case, my name is Kamizuru Yoshiko. I'm only an apprentice medic but you'll largely be under my care." she spoke to introduce herself.

"So, how are you currently feeling? Does anything hurt specifically? Don't be afraid to let me know if there's anything that you need."

[Jinan B]

Kinsue allowed himself another slight grin at the woman’s welcome. Wishing it were under ‘better circumstances’ was certainly an understatement; and one that to no one’s surprise, the Karagata shared. Something of a silver lining was presented. He had long since wished to travel to the village of Kiri’s one major military ally. Over the years he had been to Rock Country many a time, working on one of the numerous trade agreements the Karagata had brokered in the region. The civilian work had never proved significant enough to allow him into Iwa itself. Some irony now that he had made it entirely through failure and accident.

He turned his attention back to the Kamizuru: Yoshiko, it seemed. She certainly appeared to be an experienced shinobi, the finer details of her movements speaking to an advanced physical prowess likely beyond Kinsue’s own. More apparent than that, however, was her seeming distress at the situation. It was enough for the Karagata to raise an eyebrow. After all, she was a medical-nin (even if a professed apprentice), and she had done her work rather well seeing as he still lived. Had something happened earlier in the day? If she was the one who recovered him from Grass Country, had she encountered the same enemies who defeated him? Kinsue hoped she hadn’t lost a comrade in the attempt to save him.

If only he could remember what happened in Grass.

In the midst of his speculation, he had nearly missed the question Yoshiko posed to him. ”Well, I don’t feel any other major wounds aside from the obvious. Breathing isn’t great, but that’s no surprise.” ‘Isn’t great’ was another understatement. Daggers shot through his chest each and every second, and although there were no other major wounds he was certainly bruised all over. If he hadn’t been well acquainted with pain over the years, he may well have been incapable of even speaking.

”As far as need goes… I don’t remember much of what happened. I was after a Nukenin named Itou Hideyoshi. He must’ve ambushed me, considering.” He gave a minuscule roll of his shoulder to imitate what in healthier times would be a shrug. It was just more speculation, but taking one incapacitating wound wasn’t often the result of a heated battle. He pressed on.

”If you could tell me what happened when you found me; whether you encountered him. It would be a comfort.”