RP Log: Blood for Breakfast (Kimimari and Kabumi, year 16 backlog)
[[Backlog for Kimimari and Kabumi, taking place in July/August of year 16]]
It had been about a month since Kabumi-san had returned from her ordeal. In the months she was gone, a few others had cared for Kimimari and her illness, though none with the exacting precision that Kabumi-san had. Even so, Kimimari had a few days where she could walk around and breathe without pain. Where she didn't cough quite as bad and had enough glimmer of hope to keep her going.
Tired of being confined to the sickbed, Kimimari was slowly walking through the halls. She had to pause and lean against the wall from time to time but she was on her feet. Kimimari remembered with a dry smirk the last battle she had had a chance to fight - and how it had almost killed her. If it weren't for Kabumi-san... if it weren't for her, Kimimari would've died there.
A death without meaning as it resulted from failure. She yearned for another chance to be of some use to Orochimayu-sama. She stopped, leaning her head against cool glass. A window overlooked men and women in cages, she watched them without emotion until a coughing fit racked her body, spraying small spots of blood on the glass, on her hands as the coughing fit drove her to her knees.
There were precious few constants in life. Kimimari and her blood-hacking seemed to be one of them--though that wasn't entirely her fault. Kabumi had been away for too long to just ignore the sounds of the other girl coughing. It was a miracle she was still alive, without Kabumi here to keep a careful watch over her.
She turned down the hall, following the sounds of the coughing. Sure enough, there was Kimimari, on her hands and knees, coughing. "Kimimari-chan," she called out, quickening her steps with an urgency she didn't feel. She didn't ask if the girl was all right--obviously she wasn't, and really hadn't been in many years--but she knelt down beside her and gently pulled her upright. "What are you doing out here?"
Kimimari had to wait until the fit of coughing passed before she could even think of answering. When it did her hand came away covered in spots of blood. The sad part was this was nothing unusual. Her illness had its ups and downs but she hadn't felt entirely well in years. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to simply be able to take a deep breath.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to work herself to her feet, she didn't try, staying on the floor instead, "Kabumi-san," she managed to get out, her voice hoarse she fished for her reason for being out of the sick room, it really wasn't a hard one to find, "I wanted to see how far I could walk." It may have seemed a poor reason to someone else, but she was determined, beyond all else, to once more have some use.
Of course she was. Kimimari was trying to prove . . . things to herself again, likely that she wasn't as useless as she really was. It was rather difficult to be a decent kunoichi when one needed glasses, much more difficult when one couldn't breathe without spitting up blood. Orochimayu was attracted the imperfect, despite her obsession with attaining her own perfection.
"Let's get you back to your room," Kabumi said. She pulled one of Kimimari's arms up and over across her shoulders and wrapped an arm around her waist so when she stood she could haul Kimimari up with little problem, let alone resistance. "It's been some time since I've looked you over. Would you object if we fixed that?"
Not that there was really much of a chance Kimimari would say no, not if she wanted to prove herself useful to Orochimayu.
Kimimari said nothing as Kabumi-san pulled her up. There wasn't much she could say about that, as she likely couldn't make it to her feet on her own anyway. That was a rather depressing realization. How was she supposed to be able to do anything if she couldn't even walk around the compound without stopping due to a fit of coughing?
"No, I wouldn't, Kabumi-san," Kimimari said softly. There was the tickling in the back of her throat that promised another fit of coughing was on its way. She couldn't really brace herself for it, the best she could do was let it out and hope the sudden hacking coughs didn't cause Kabumi-san to drop her.
. . . and there it was again. Kabumi kept a strong grip on Kimimari's arm and waist, feeling how the girl's body shook with every cough and attempt at breathing. Normally Kimimari was bony--understandable, considering what her bloodline was--but Kabumi could feel her ribs, her hip, with a rather alarming clarity through her skin.
Even though Kimimari was coughing hard enough to probably knock herself off her feet unaided, Kabumi just hauled Kimimari to her room without any hesitation. Stopping now wouldn't be of any use, and it wasn't as if dragging the girl was putting any undue strain on her body.
Kabumi would need to change these clothes soon, if she was going to have any chance of getting the blood out.
The coughing fit passed as Kabumi-san returned her to the sick room. Kimimari breathed as deeply as she could but it rang hollow and carried a rasping sound with it. Sometimes it surprised even herself that she was still alive. She didn't want to be back in here though, she'd rather be doing something, anything, for Orochimayu-sama. But she was at another point where she could hardly walk.
I refuse to become totally useless, she thought vehemently. She didn't apologize for the blood that ended up on Kabumi-san, it wasn't in her nature. Kabumi-san sat her down on the bed and Kimimari turned her head to the side. Here she was, back where she began.
Bleeding from the lungs was never good, and considering how much there was . . . well, Kabumi could put Kimimari under, but it was really an unnecessary step. There was no reason to keep the girl from experiencing a little more pain for her foolishness.
Kabumi brought her hands together and formed a short sequence of seals. "Sit up straight; breathe as deeply and slowly as you can," she instructed as her hands started to glow. "Let's see what's bothering you today."
Kimimari struggled but was able to sit up as Kabumi-san had asked her. When she took the slow, deep breaths, they were accompanied by a hollow rasping. Breathing so deeply made her dizzy instead of doing anything worthwhile and the world behind bone white bangs started to spin slightly.
She let Kabumi-san care for her, because she trusted someone that Orochimayu-sama put so much trust in. Such a person had to be talented enough to extend her life and perhaps one day get her back so she could once again do what she did best. And then be let out of this cage.
She tried very hard not to start coughing again.
Kabumi gently pressed her hands along Kimimari's back, letting her chakra sink through Kimimari's skin and into her lungs.
It was amazing the girl could breathe. Kabumi had known the damage would grow worse, and without her there these last few months to keep a careful watch over it, it had grown much greater.
The girl was lucky Kabumi had come back when she did.
"Keep breathing," Kabumi murmured, pouring more chakra into the girl's body. First order of business: remove the blood from the girl's lungs before she drowned herself. She likely wouldn't appreciate being forced to hack up more blood--much more blood--but drowning in it was still the worse alternative.
And besides, Orochimayu wouldn't be pleased at losing this one.
Kimimari did as was instructed and kept breathing. Even when it was hard to do so. She kept breathing until a huge fit of coughing took her. It almost doubled her over and the amounts of blood that came out dwarfed the previous ones. It wasn't like she had any need to worry about her clothing, the bed sheets or niceties. She had never had those concerns in the first place.
After a few minutes, and quite a bit of blood, it passed and she fell back on the bed worn from it.
Falling backward was a tad inconvenient, but ordering the girl to get back up was rather pointless when she probably wouldn't be able to. At least she'd managed to cough up most of the pooling blood.
Kabumi went to work without a word, pressing her hands on Kimimari's chest, one above and one below her breasts, the best access she had to the girl's lungs from the front. She wove her chakra through the delicate lung tissues, coaxing this bit to stop bleeding so much, getting this part to ease its swelling.
This treatment alone wouldn't be enough to heal the girl, not permanently, not even fully for the short term. The tissue would start to decay soon, no matter the amount of chakra Kabumi used. This was just a temporary treatment.
It still took much, much longer than it had used to. By the end, Kabumi was sweating, tiny beads rolling down her neck and back. She couldn't afford to let the girl get into this state again, not if she wished to continue her experimenting on her.
As Kabumi-san worked, it became a bit easier for Kimimari to breathe. It had been extremely hard the months that she had been gone. Either no one else here was as talented as Kabumi-san or no one else knew exactly what she had done to treat her. Kimimari was sure it was a bit of both. Either way, this took longer than she was used to.
She opened her eyes slightly so they were just pale blue slits and looked over at Kabumi-san. She looked as if she had spent a lot of energy on her and Kimimari knew that couldn't have been good. How much worse off had she been?
Curiosity compelled her to ask, "Kabumi-san," her voice was barely above a whisper, "will I be dead soon?"
Her glasses were slipping off her nose. Kabumi pulled back, letting the chakra die, and pulled her glasses off before they could fall off. "Soon is a relative term, Kimimari-chan," she said, wiping the sweat off her face with her sleeve. Disgusting.
"As long as I am here, you will not be dying this week." She put her glasses back on, watching the world swim back into focus. "Probably not this month. After that, I'm afraid I can't say."
Kabumi couldn't say as she had no idea whether she (or Orochimayu) would tire of the girl before Kabumi could devise a cure--a real cure, not something that temporarily alleviated her symptoms. Then again, Kabumi wasn't trying all that hard to do so in the first place.
She nodded once. She had come to terms with the idea that she would never fully recover from this illness. There were ups and downs, and the ups were fewer and farther between now. And the downs lasted for months at a time and were getting worse. She closed her eyes, "Will I ever fight again in the time I have left?"
She was sure she knew the answer but she felt like she had to hear it. She really wanted a cure, wished for it, but knew that it would most likely never happen. If Kabumi-san couldn't do that no one could. At least she felt like she could breathe, for however long it would last.
Kabumi studied Kimimari's face for a few seconds after she had asked her question. "That depends on the time and your will, Kimimari-chan," she answered.
Truthfully, she probably should have let this girl die years ago, back when she had manipulated her into heading out after Sachiko, but Kabumi had been curious--could this almost-dead girl do what she had sworn to do?
It turned out no, but only because of a failure of her body. And still, long after she should have been dead, she clung to life. All for the sake of helping Orochimayu. That sort of blind devotion . . . was fascinating. And keeping her from death then had been a test of Kabumi's skills, and since she had left the Leaf she had never backed down against a challenge like that.
"Orochimayu-sama has many enemies still," Kabumi said, still studying the girl. "Will you have her face them without you?"
If it depended purely on her will then Kimimari would never die. She had made it this far on will alone. "Then I will fight," she said softly. She would fight again, and she would, when she had a chance, finish the last fight she was in. Having lost conciseness right before the killing blow had been struck. She still carried with her a good deal of guilt for that failure with her. It was a weight in her soul. She took full responsibility. She was the only one left alive.
"Orochimayu-sama will never face any enemy alone," she said softly. And then, perhaps, if she was destined to die this young she would at least die in a useful fashion. "I will not die in a sick bed," she finished softly.
"Then I'll help you make that come true," Kabumi said mildly. Whether it was a truth or a lie later on, it didn't matter, so long as Kimimari thought she spoke with conviction. If nothing else, Kimimari might be able to buy time for others to escape, and maybe even become a useful fighter if Kabumi actually applied herself to finding a cure.
Kimimari smiled slightly at Kabumi-san's words. She had no reason to think that Kabumi-san meant anything other than what she said so she took the words at face value. It was something to focus on, the hope of being useful again. It added a fire to her that would hopefully fan the flame of her life.
Kimimari hardly ever said 'thank you.' But Kabumi-san's promise was one that moved her in ways she couldn't express otherwise, "...Thank you, Kabumi-san..."
If anyone could make her useful again, it was Kabumi-san.
It had been about a month since Kabumi-san had returned from her ordeal. In the months she was gone, a few others had cared for Kimimari and her illness, though none with the exacting precision that Kabumi-san had. Even so, Kimimari had a few days where she could walk around and breathe without pain. Where she didn't cough quite as bad and had enough glimmer of hope to keep her going.
Tired of being confined to the sickbed, Kimimari was slowly walking through the halls. She had to pause and lean against the wall from time to time but she was on her feet. Kimimari remembered with a dry smirk the last battle she had had a chance to fight - and how it had almost killed her. If it weren't for Kabumi-san... if it weren't for her, Kimimari would've died there.
A death without meaning as it resulted from failure. She yearned for another chance to be of some use to Orochimayu-sama. She stopped, leaning her head against cool glass. A window overlooked men and women in cages, she watched them without emotion until a coughing fit racked her body, spraying small spots of blood on the glass, on her hands as the coughing fit drove her to her knees.
There were precious few constants in life. Kimimari and her blood-hacking seemed to be one of them--though that wasn't entirely her fault. Kabumi had been away for too long to just ignore the sounds of the other girl coughing. It was a miracle she was still alive, without Kabumi here to keep a careful watch over her.
She turned down the hall, following the sounds of the coughing. Sure enough, there was Kimimari, on her hands and knees, coughing. "Kimimari-chan," she called out, quickening her steps with an urgency she didn't feel. She didn't ask if the girl was all right--obviously she wasn't, and really hadn't been in many years--but she knelt down beside her and gently pulled her upright. "What are you doing out here?"
Kimimari had to wait until the fit of coughing passed before she could even think of answering. When it did her hand came away covered in spots of blood. The sad part was this was nothing unusual. Her illness had its ups and downs but she hadn't felt entirely well in years. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to simply be able to take a deep breath.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to work herself to her feet, she didn't try, staying on the floor instead, "Kabumi-san," she managed to get out, her voice hoarse she fished for her reason for being out of the sick room, it really wasn't a hard one to find, "I wanted to see how far I could walk." It may have seemed a poor reason to someone else, but she was determined, beyond all else, to once more have some use.
Of course she was. Kimimari was trying to prove . . . things to herself again, likely that she wasn't as useless as she really was. It was rather difficult to be a decent kunoichi when one needed glasses, much more difficult when one couldn't breathe without spitting up blood. Orochimayu was attracted the imperfect, despite her obsession with attaining her own perfection.
"Let's get you back to your room," Kabumi said. She pulled one of Kimimari's arms up and over across her shoulders and wrapped an arm around her waist so when she stood she could haul Kimimari up with little problem, let alone resistance. "It's been some time since I've looked you over. Would you object if we fixed that?"
Not that there was really much of a chance Kimimari would say no, not if she wanted to prove herself useful to Orochimayu.
Kimimari said nothing as Kabumi-san pulled her up. There wasn't much she could say about that, as she likely couldn't make it to her feet on her own anyway. That was a rather depressing realization. How was she supposed to be able to do anything if she couldn't even walk around the compound without stopping due to a fit of coughing?
"No, I wouldn't, Kabumi-san," Kimimari said softly. There was the tickling in the back of her throat that promised another fit of coughing was on its way. She couldn't really brace herself for it, the best she could do was let it out and hope the sudden hacking coughs didn't cause Kabumi-san to drop her.
. . . and there it was again. Kabumi kept a strong grip on Kimimari's arm and waist, feeling how the girl's body shook with every cough and attempt at breathing. Normally Kimimari was bony--understandable, considering what her bloodline was--but Kabumi could feel her ribs, her hip, with a rather alarming clarity through her skin.
Even though Kimimari was coughing hard enough to probably knock herself off her feet unaided, Kabumi just hauled Kimimari to her room without any hesitation. Stopping now wouldn't be of any use, and it wasn't as if dragging the girl was putting any undue strain on her body.
Kabumi would need to change these clothes soon, if she was going to have any chance of getting the blood out.
The coughing fit passed as Kabumi-san returned her to the sick room. Kimimari breathed as deeply as she could but it rang hollow and carried a rasping sound with it. Sometimes it surprised even herself that she was still alive. She didn't want to be back in here though, she'd rather be doing something, anything, for Orochimayu-sama. But she was at another point where she could hardly walk.
I refuse to become totally useless, she thought vehemently. She didn't apologize for the blood that ended up on Kabumi-san, it wasn't in her nature. Kabumi-san sat her down on the bed and Kimimari turned her head to the side. Here she was, back where she began.
Bleeding from the lungs was never good, and considering how much there was . . . well, Kabumi could put Kimimari under, but it was really an unnecessary step. There was no reason to keep the girl from experiencing a little more pain for her foolishness.
Kabumi brought her hands together and formed a short sequence of seals. "Sit up straight; breathe as deeply and slowly as you can," she instructed as her hands started to glow. "Let's see what's bothering you today."
Kimimari struggled but was able to sit up as Kabumi-san had asked her. When she took the slow, deep breaths, they were accompanied by a hollow rasping. Breathing so deeply made her dizzy instead of doing anything worthwhile and the world behind bone white bangs started to spin slightly.
She let Kabumi-san care for her, because she trusted someone that Orochimayu-sama put so much trust in. Such a person had to be talented enough to extend her life and perhaps one day get her back so she could once again do what she did best. And then be let out of this cage.
She tried very hard not to start coughing again.
Kabumi gently pressed her hands along Kimimari's back, letting her chakra sink through Kimimari's skin and into her lungs.
It was amazing the girl could breathe. Kabumi had known the damage would grow worse, and without her there these last few months to keep a careful watch over it, it had grown much greater.
The girl was lucky Kabumi had come back when she did.
"Keep breathing," Kabumi murmured, pouring more chakra into the girl's body. First order of business: remove the blood from the girl's lungs before she drowned herself. She likely wouldn't appreciate being forced to hack up more blood--much more blood--but drowning in it was still the worse alternative.
And besides, Orochimayu wouldn't be pleased at losing this one.
Kimimari did as was instructed and kept breathing. Even when it was hard to do so. She kept breathing until a huge fit of coughing took her. It almost doubled her over and the amounts of blood that came out dwarfed the previous ones. It wasn't like she had any need to worry about her clothing, the bed sheets or niceties. She had never had those concerns in the first place.
After a few minutes, and quite a bit of blood, it passed and she fell back on the bed worn from it.
Falling backward was a tad inconvenient, but ordering the girl to get back up was rather pointless when she probably wouldn't be able to. At least she'd managed to cough up most of the pooling blood.
Kabumi went to work without a word, pressing her hands on Kimimari's chest, one above and one below her breasts, the best access she had to the girl's lungs from the front. She wove her chakra through the delicate lung tissues, coaxing this bit to stop bleeding so much, getting this part to ease its swelling.
This treatment alone wouldn't be enough to heal the girl, not permanently, not even fully for the short term. The tissue would start to decay soon, no matter the amount of chakra Kabumi used. This was just a temporary treatment.
It still took much, much longer than it had used to. By the end, Kabumi was sweating, tiny beads rolling down her neck and back. She couldn't afford to let the girl get into this state again, not if she wished to continue her experimenting on her.
As Kabumi-san worked, it became a bit easier for Kimimari to breathe. It had been extremely hard the months that she had been gone. Either no one else here was as talented as Kabumi-san or no one else knew exactly what she had done to treat her. Kimimari was sure it was a bit of both. Either way, this took longer than she was used to.
She opened her eyes slightly so they were just pale blue slits and looked over at Kabumi-san. She looked as if she had spent a lot of energy on her and Kimimari knew that couldn't have been good. How much worse off had she been?
Curiosity compelled her to ask, "Kabumi-san," her voice was barely above a whisper, "will I be dead soon?"
Her glasses were slipping off her nose. Kabumi pulled back, letting the chakra die, and pulled her glasses off before they could fall off. "Soon is a relative term, Kimimari-chan," she said, wiping the sweat off her face with her sleeve. Disgusting.
"As long as I am here, you will not be dying this week." She put her glasses back on, watching the world swim back into focus. "Probably not this month. After that, I'm afraid I can't say."
Kabumi couldn't say as she had no idea whether she (or Orochimayu) would tire of the girl before Kabumi could devise a cure--a real cure, not something that temporarily alleviated her symptoms. Then again, Kabumi wasn't trying all that hard to do so in the first place.
She nodded once. She had come to terms with the idea that she would never fully recover from this illness. There were ups and downs, and the ups were fewer and farther between now. And the downs lasted for months at a time and were getting worse. She closed her eyes, "Will I ever fight again in the time I have left?"
She was sure she knew the answer but she felt like she had to hear it. She really wanted a cure, wished for it, but knew that it would most likely never happen. If Kabumi-san couldn't do that no one could. At least she felt like she could breathe, for however long it would last.
Kabumi studied Kimimari's face for a few seconds after she had asked her question. "That depends on the time and your will, Kimimari-chan," she answered.
Truthfully, she probably should have let this girl die years ago, back when she had manipulated her into heading out after Sachiko, but Kabumi had been curious--could this almost-dead girl do what she had sworn to do?
It turned out no, but only because of a failure of her body. And still, long after she should have been dead, she clung to life. All for the sake of helping Orochimayu. That sort of blind devotion . . . was fascinating. And keeping her from death then had been a test of Kabumi's skills, and since she had left the Leaf she had never backed down against a challenge like that.
"Orochimayu-sama has many enemies still," Kabumi said, still studying the girl. "Will you have her face them without you?"
If it depended purely on her will then Kimimari would never die. She had made it this far on will alone. "Then I will fight," she said softly. She would fight again, and she would, when she had a chance, finish the last fight she was in. Having lost conciseness right before the killing blow had been struck. She still carried with her a good deal of guilt for that failure with her. It was a weight in her soul. She took full responsibility. She was the only one left alive.
"Orochimayu-sama will never face any enemy alone," she said softly. And then, perhaps, if she was destined to die this young she would at least die in a useful fashion. "I will not die in a sick bed," she finished softly.
"Then I'll help you make that come true," Kabumi said mildly. Whether it was a truth or a lie later on, it didn't matter, so long as Kimimari thought she spoke with conviction. If nothing else, Kimimari might be able to buy time for others to escape, and maybe even become a useful fighter if Kabumi actually applied herself to finding a cure.
Kimimari smiled slightly at Kabumi-san's words. She had no reason to think that Kabumi-san meant anything other than what she said so she took the words at face value. It was something to focus on, the hope of being useful again. It added a fire to her that would hopefully fan the flame of her life.
Kimimari hardly ever said 'thank you.' But Kabumi-san's promise was one that moved her in ways she couldn't express otherwise, "...Thank you, Kabumi-san..."
If anyone could make her useful again, it was Kabumi-san.