Bed Rest

In a brilliant flash of light, both Tanji and Valen appeared in a familiar lobby. The rain-starved streets of Hoshigakure were replaced by the carpeted floor of the village's hospital. The distant smell of antiseptic had always been offputting to the large jounin, too many bad memories attached to it. Though, he pushed such intrusive thoughts from his mind as he reluctantly released his grip on Valen Akari, traitor and coward.

You can't deny me forever, Tanji, the cold voice chided internally before slipping away.

Unfortunately, he had more important things to do than ridding the world of one more snake; he had a village to think about and, of course, the unconscious boy over his shoulder. He'd never met the boy before, and yet he felt some strange duty to look after his wellbeing. Perhaps this was what it meant to be a village shinobi? The question came to occupy the man's mind as he laid the unconscious Genki onto the stretcher the medical staff provided. Why hadn't he felt this before?

This duty.

It was strange and, even as he filled out the requisite forms, he could not shake it from his head. He'd been on countless missions, ended lives, and saved many more all in the name of Hoshigakure. And yet, he'd never felt anything like it in all his days as a shinobi; the indescribable connection to another, of doing something for another. The only feeling he could compare it to was the blissful days he'd spent with Nina, his now estranged beloved. Sure, it wasn't exactly the same, but it was similar and it troubled the man more than he could put into words.

He was certain he'd left all that in the past; where he wanted it to stay, where he wanted it to die.

"See that he is well taken care of," Tanji said, handing back the forms. What a strange sentiment, was he really concerned that the doctors wouldn't take care of the boy? No, it was just the right thing to say and it seemed the medical staff understood that, as they simply nodded and reassured the jounin that all would be well.

"Oh, and give him this when he comes to," Tanji handed a hastily written letter to the attending physicians along with most of Genki's belongings.

Boy,

I hope you are well, the doctors seem convinced you'll make a full recovery and for that I am grateful. I am sorry things went the way they did. We should talk, if you want the rest of your effects, seek me out—I won't be leaving our village anytime soon.

-Tanji Heiji

Under normal circumstances, the mountainous jounin might have stayed in the waiting room for more news on the boy's condition, but these were far from normal circumstances. He returned to the oddly quiet white-haired boy who had opted to remain near the entrance to the lobby. It seemed, to Tanji anyway, that the boy was thinking about something and it made him appear oddly human and vulnerable—he really was just a boy.

Wordlessly placing a hand on Valen's shoulder, Tanji took a breath as his whole body evaporated into nothingness and the pair disappeared into the ether once more.  

---
Exit.
[Valen gave me permission to control his character in this thread for the sake of brevity.]

TWC: 545

+2 stats
+22 words to Daytime Tiger
+523 words to Gate of Limit
-1 unconscious Genki and all his effects save for his Katana and Manipulated Fabric, which Tanji will be keeping until retrieved.

Genki’s eyes opened wide as he slowly awakened. The Uchiha let out a slow yawn as he sat up in bed. He looked around, curious where he was. When he saw the cast on his arm and felt the bandage on his cheek, he realized the location of his whereabouts. Yep. Genki was in the hospital. He let out a sad sigh as he remembered why he was here.



That traitor, Valen. He was the one who put him here. As he recalled the events of earlier today, Genki slowly thought about each one. He had accused Genki of being a hypocrite. No, Valen didn’t understand to whom his oath was sworn to. It was not to any code of battle. It was simply to Hoshigakure. To defend it all costs. But the man did seem to have one logical argument. To get revenge for a woman, he loved, that was tortured. Genki knew what Valen had sworn his oath to. It was a different kind of oath, but an oath the same. Genki swore an oath of protection to his village. Valen swore an oath of love to his loved one.



And that time that Valen had told Genki he would kill him if he was his shinobi. It just went to prove Genki’s point. Valen didn’t mind betraying those of his own. Genki let out a long, sad sigh. He didn’t know what to make of it all.



He scanned the room, seeing if he could check out soon. Genki saw his stuff on the ground, but he didn’t bother to check if everything was there yet. He looked around until he noticed a letter on his bedside table. It seemed to be addressed to him. He carefully ripped it open, making sure not to rip its contents.



The Uchiha pulled out the letter within the envelope and read it. Yeah, of course, he would make a full recovery. They would have told Genki earlier if he was going to not be able to make a full recovery. He mentioned something about being sorry about the way the events unfurled. Genki would, of course, have liked to not to have swords drawn, but there is only so little you can do when dealing with a traitor. And speaking of swords, where was Genki’s? It seemed like everything else was there.



Genki looked at his items on the floor. Almost everything was there. Something was nagging at him. He knew it wasn’t his katana. Oh crap! It was his manipulated fabric. He had bought it just the other day. It had been seven thousand Ryo! Genki scanned the rest of the letter, making sure Tanji didn’t mention anything about it.



Thank goodness. He had Genki’s fabric and katana, but he wanted to meet with Genki to give them to him. Well, it seemed like Genki had taken care of everything that required him to be here. He pulled on his pants, rather awkwardly as he had to do it with only one arm. And then the truly challenging garment was his t-shirt. After a few minutes of attempts, he managed to slip it. Genki just barely managed to get his sweater on.



He organized all his items, put them in their respective places, and got ready to go. Genki slipped his headband into his pocket and decided to zip his flak jacket up. The Uchiha struggled with putting it on, but he succeeded.



Genki made sure didn’t leave anything behind, and then he walked out of his hospital room. He walked down the hall that smelled of anti-bacterial and entered the lobby. It was a dull white room that had a harsh white light shining. Genki looked around and saw a family sitting in the room, looking concerned. He walked up to the front desk and requested forms so he could leave.



The Uchiha sat down next to the family and started filling out the form. The family looked at him, and probably because of his flak jacket, asked with disgust, “Are you a ninja?”



“Yes.” Genki was almost done filling out his form, as he waited for their response.



“You heathen! You use your ‘jutsu’ to ‘protect’ us. All you do is use your devilish magic to manipulate us.”



Genki signed his name at the bottom of the form and sighed. He got up, walked to the front desk, and put his form down on the desk. As he started to walk out towards the door, he said to the family, “Wonderful news to hear that. You’ll thank me someday though.”



Genki walked out onto the street, looking around at the buildings. The typical wood-framed stonework of Hoshigakure was built beautifully. This village truly was among the stars in its beauty. He slowly walked down the street, until he reached the intersection. Genki saw a slight indent in the dust where his body had hit the ground. He turned the corner, heading for his home.



The sun was starting to set as he reached his home. He slid the wax-paper door open, slowly walking in. The house was eerily quiet as he stood in the kitchen. Genki called out, waiting for a response from anyone in the house. Out of the blue, he heard his brother, Hattori, run down the stairs. Hattori ran into Genki, tears in his eyes. Hattori buried his head into Genki’s chest. As Hattori cried, Genki asked, “What happened? And where are Mom and Dad?”



Hattori, a seasoned 16-year old Jounin, said, “They’re leaving with Valen. They, they said they wanted a stronger leader.”



Genki brought his brother’s head up and looked him in the eyes. He said to him, “Damn that Valen. He took our parents away from us, and he did this to me.”



Hattori stepped back a bit, and he saw Genki’s broken arm. Hattori said in shock, “He did THAT to you? Why would he do that?”



“Well, you see. So, I tried to stab Valen in the back, but then he punched me really hard, and I landed on my arm, and I broke it. Then I passed out, and the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.”

After a few more minutes of discussion, the two brothers both went to their rooms. As Genki lay down on his bed, he thought to himself, “Valen doesn’t know this, but I’ll be the end of him.”



WC: 1068



Exit



Claiming:

5 stats (5 stamina)

1000 wc to Bakuton

68 wc to Lost Arts of Kiri