Day 44: Arts and Crafts Room, Second Shift

[gothamsfuture]

Astor hadn't talked much after introducing himself, which hadn't bothered Terry. With all the crap their little hospital of horrors piled on the patients, he couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to open up to some stranger. Plus, not talking meant he could get a decent meal in, and then check out the bulletin for the latest in Landel's news and

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[see_my_back]

Just as predicted, the nurses were their usual pushy selves and insisted that Sakura spend some of her free time in the arts and crafts room. No, of course she couldn't go to the Sun Room where she could actually read the bulletin or converse with others in what was more or less the hub of the information network. That would be way too easy.

Instead she was stuck at a table with construction paper, glue, glitter, and other useless stuff. At least in flower arranging class, they'd been learning something useful. But here? First of all, Sakura didn't have a creative bone in her body. Her family's crest was a plain white circle for crying out loud! Sure, she could organize things by color, value, height, whatever, but make it just to have it look pretty? Ha.

There was absolutely nothing even remotely practical to making anything with this stuff. She sighed, picking up a white piece of paper. Maybe she could at least write up some explosion notes. They probably wouldn't work, not without chakra, but at least it would give her something to do. She picked up the scissors, looking dubiously at the saf-t-cut edge. Children no older than four were given shuriken and kunai in her village, but here, adults couldn't even be trusted to cut paper? Great.

[Hanatarou~]

[mitase]

After his conversation with Artemis over breakfast Hanatarou was even approaching cheerful: he was going to help someone out tonight, someone he might even be able to consider a friend. Someone actually wanted his help enough to ask for it, too, even if it was probably just because he was the first healer Artemis had run into or something. He'd still asked.

He really would have preferred to stay in the Sun Room during the shift, and maybe see if one of the kittens would deign to sit with him again today, but his nurse insisted that some time in the crafts room would do him some good. What good it would do, he really wasn't certain, but he didn't want to try to argue or anything - although he did balk a little when she insisted that he should "make a new friend."

The nurse was insistent as usual, though, and he found himself settled at a table across from a pink-haired girl who seemed about as thrilled to be there as he was. "And here you go," the nurse added, setting a pile of those fuzzy wires and some tissue paper in front of him even as he sat down. "Why don't you make some more pretty flowers, like you did last week?" And with a smile and pat on his shoulder, the nurse bustled off again, presumably to interfere with someone else.

Hanatarou slouched in his chair as though wondering if he could slide under the table and hide. He didn't even dare to look at the stranger sitting with him now, either - she was probably getting ready to make fun of him for the flowers comment.

[see_my_back]

If she didn't know better, she'd say the guy across from her was one of Hinata's relatives. Shy, quiet, dark hair falling in his face, everything fit. He even looked like he thought she was going to eat him or something. Was she really that scary? Just because she'd had a bad morning, geez! It couldn't be all that bad!

Still, when the nurse sat him down and dropped what looked like garbage in front of him, then mentioned making flowers, she had to admit, she was curious. She might not be able to make them, but she could arrange them in a way that was supposed to be pretty. Or at least that's what her teacher said.

"Can you really make flowers out of that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and tapping her brush on the edge of the plastic cup full of water they'd given her to paint with.

[mitase]

Hanatarou automatically froze up when the girl began to speak, but - she sounded actually curious, not mocking. At least, that's what he thought. He hazarded a cautious glance up at her, then down at the pile of supplies the nurse had left, and forced a tiny smile.

"Um. K-kind of...?" he replied, reaching out to pick up one of the wire things and examine it closely. "They don't, um, look all that much like real flowers. Not really." But he'd pretended, because working with even fake flowers felt kind of like home.

Everything here was just a false imitation - the flowers, Hisagomaru, even his own abilities - but he was willing to accept what he could for now. At least until he managed to get back home again.

[see_my_back]

Definitely a lot like Hinata. Only a boy. Sort of.

Well, she got along with enough with the Hyuuga girl(though she couldn't say much for Neji. At least he seemed to be making some progress) so it shouldn't be trouble to get along with this guy either. In theory of course.

"Show me, when you're finished, okay? I used to do some flower arranging back home, but we didn't really use paper flowers." She picked up the brush and rubbed it around in the black watercolor paint.

"I'm Sakura. What's your name?"

[mitase]

"Oh, uh...." Hanatarou was more than a little surprised by the girl's reaction, and still watched her as though waiting for her to add another comment, or maybe throw something at him. Or something. When neither was forthcoming, he almost automatically introduced himself, including his rank without even thinking about it. "Er, I'm Yamada Hanatarou, seventh seat of the 4th Division, pleasedtomeetyou."

He glanced down at the wire in his hand, then back up again, brows drawing together in a mildly puzzled frown. "You did flower arranging back home, too?"

[see_my_back]

What were the odds? So this guy was in some kind of military group too? Hardly looked like he should be, but then, she'd learned better than to judge on appearances alone.

"You don't have to be so formal, it's okay. But, you're in some kind of military thing then?" she deduced. Once the paint was of the right consistency, she set about scribbling up the characters onto the paper strips. She took time to make them neat, since she didn't have to scribble them up in the middle of battle like usual.

"Mm hmm, they required it at the academy I went to. I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise," she gave a short laugh, smiling slightly to herself. "But I'm glad I did go. It turned out to be pretty fun."

[mitase]

"Huh? Oh...yes." What was she writing over there? Whatever it was, it looked kind of interesting - but Hanatarou wasn't about to ask. "The, er, Gotei 13. But 4th Division is only medical and supply." They weren't exactly the most exciting part of the "military thing" so if Sakura was hoping to talk to a fighter or something she'd be sorely disappointed.

He began idly twisting the bit of wire, adding another piece to make a leaf of sorts on a stem. "But the...the captain of my division, she's very fond of, um, flower arranging."

[see_my_back]

"Really? I'm a medic too," she replied, hoping that it might, at the very least give them something to talk about. Who knew? He might even have some medical textbooks she could look at. Or maybe where they were. She had a pretty good idea, but it always helped to have the information verified instead of charging in with only a vague idea of where to go. "We don't have divisions or anything, but we get sent out as teams."

She picked up the brush and dropped it into her cup of water, coloring it a murky black, then set the strips aside to dry. Once Hanatarou got started, she could kind of see how it might make a flower. Sort of. That was a stem with a leaf, right?

"So does your captain make everyone else do it too? Or do you actually like it Hanatarou-kun?" she asked. Didn't seem like the sort of thing just anyone would take up, especially when they were still in a mental hospital, so he had to have some interest in it himself, didn't he?

[mitase]

That was a surprise - she was a medic, too? It was enough to make Hanatarou pause for a moment before glancing up at her again, distinctly curious but also a little shy still. "R-really? You are? How do--I mean, um, what do you do, back home?"

Some people here didn't have any special abilities, he knew, so it could be that her idea of a medic wasn't the same as his. She could just be the kind who worked with splints and bandages and medicines and not any other kind of healing. And if she wasn't a shinigami, which he didn't think she was, she wouldn't know about reiatsu...probably.

He caught his lower lip in his teeth and chewed on it absently as he reached out to pull some of the tissue paper closer to himself. "She likes to hold, um, exhibitions for flower arrangments. And...I guess having flowers around made it feel more like home. Even if they're not real flowers."

[see_my_back]

"I'm a ninja," she said matter-of-factly, pride evident in her smile. "A medic-nin to be specific, but still a ninja. I studied under Tsunade-sama so I learned a lot of healing jutsu and all about different kinds of medicine. It was a lot to memorize, but I guess you could say I really like that sort of thing."

A slight blush came to her cheeks. She didn't usually admit quite so openly what a bookworm she was. Most people thought it was a waste of time, especially when so much of ninjutsu was judged on power alone. "I'm actually looking for some medical books and things here, just to make sure the same medicines I know will still work here." Then there was hunting down all the right chemicals and plants, but that would have to wait until later.

"Er, anyway, we mostly heal with chakra, but there's lots of other first-aid techniques for emergencies that don't require it." Getting injured was always an emergency, but having no chakra to boot? Well, it was a good thing she'd studied so hard.

"They have exhibitions?" Sakura blinked a few times at the news about the flowers. She knew it was a good skill to have if she ever had to do some spying or pretend to be a normal girl, but she didn't see much practical use for it. Apparently other people did. "Hey um, can I try it?"

[mitase]

"N-no, I like it too, it's...interesting." Hanatarou hesitated, tilting his head to one side a little with a thoughtful look. "I, um, think there's a library upstairs. Maybe. I haven't been there myself, but I saw it on the map?" Another pause, then he quickly added, "B-but I've been to the pharmacy and some of the storage rooms upstairs, and there's supplies?"

When she spoke about healing with "chakra" that seemed to imply some kind of power that he wasn't familiar with. Was it anything like how he healed? Now he was starting to get really curious himself - he hadn't met many healers here, and none since Atoli had disappeared.

"Oh, yes, she does and encourages others in the division to join in...." He trailed off at her request, though, wondering if he'd heard that correctly. "You want to...try this?" he asked, holding up one of the sheets of tissue paper with a puzzled air.

[see_my_back]

Looked like appearances were pretty deceiving in Hanatarou's case. What'd been a shy little half-awake nobody, was now someone who'd very much grabbed Sakura's interest.

"Yeah, I saw it on the map too, I was gonna try to get there tonight I think. But- You've been to the pharmacy already? Do... do you have a list of what they've got there?" Damn! She'd hit the mother lode! If he knew where to find all the medicines, just imagine how much time it would save her! "Or even if you could just tell me- that would- ah, that would be so great!"

If she knew what medicine they already had, then it would be so much easier to get those antidotes or just to treat people in general! She scooted her chair closer, stacking up the papers once they were dry and picking up some of the tissue near Hanatarou.

"I've never done it before, but I'm a fast learner if you show me."

""

[mitase]

Hanatarou blinked, then nodded a little with a slightly uncertain smile. Sakura seemed to be pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing, which was encouraging, but - he didn't have his journal with him. Of course. "I didn't recognize the names of most of them, so, um, I was making a list. I wanted to post it on the bulletin, in case someone knew...but, er, it's in my room."

Some of them might be familiar, just with different names. Very different names. But he had no way to tell, and of course they didn't have any of the medicines that he was used to from back home.

He blinked at her as she slid closer, then gave a mental shrug and started folding a couple of sheets together. "Well, er, you just fold them like this, and then wrap one of the wires around. Like this?"