Long Awaited Return (Open)

It was almost a common occurrence when someone falls into this coma-like state. A mysterious plague that struck in the hearts of many. Even some of the strongest shinobi fell to such a curse. Ari was no exception however as she laid on the hospital bed. With tubes and wires over her scarred body as the heart monitor kept a rhythmic beep. It was peaceful, and perhaps too peaceful at that. Her lungs drew breath and her heart beats. Yet she never stirred or showed any sign of ever waking up.

Then, a spike on the monitor, and then another. Leading up to a steady increase before her eyes fluttered open. Groggy as her bones felt stiff as a board. At first she was confused as to why there was so many things attached to her. Ari's bones creaked as the joints finally moved in who knows how long as her hand found the wires and began pulling them out. When she removed the wires that checked her heart rate, the monitor made this very distinct sound that indicated that she flatlined. But Ari honestly didn't care as she proceeded to remove anything out of her and proceeded to patch up any minor things like needle punctures and whatnot through chakra.

Standing up on her feet as she felt a bit wobbly, but she still had her balance. Ari stretched her arms above her head as more joints pop like a rice krispy treat and proceeded to do some other stretches to get her body, well, waking up as her mind was waking up too.

"How long... has it been...?" She mumbled to herself as she looks out the window.

As Kanara made her way towards the hospital, carrying multiple cold batteries in her robes, giving them the appearance of an armor she wore underneath the fabric, she couldn't help but to inwardly swear at her situation. The entire thing that led her to her appointment in the hospital today. It was no wonder. After all, if she didn't bring her body temperature down and kept it low basically all the time, she would likely fall unconscious. Something she couldn't allow herself to do as it wasn't only a sign of weakness, a weakness she couldn't others to see, but also a huge risk for her. After all, the person that ruined her life was still out there, lurking, waiting for a time to strike.

Shaking her head slightly as to cast those thoughts away, she noticed she was now standing in front of the hospital. Looking up its walls, letting her gaze wander from window to window, she sighed as she went through todays program in her head. She was scheduled to receive a physical examination as well as an intravenous transfusion with a cold blood thinner. While neither the thought of her having to undress and be examined or the transfusion, the former because of the embarrassment and the latter because of the enormous pain caused by it, was something she was looking forward to, she already made peace with it in her mind. After all, if there was a chance they would be able to fix whatever was wrong with her body.

As she was about to enter the hospital, still early she suddenly noticed a girl or rather a young woman standing behind one of the windows looking outside. Pausing for a second staring at her, she slightly and shyly raised her hand, waving at the person behind the glass.

Innocence was making her rounds through the hospital as she always did. Today, Innocence was wearing her typical lab coat outfit. The genin's best hopes for advancement lay within the medical division as she was too incompetent a fighter to really be of use on major missions. She was thus trying to curry favor with the medical establishment by doing as many rotations as they would allow. Innocence was flipping through her clipboard when she spied a familiar name. Ari Dokuma.... the poor girl had fallen into a plague coma a few years ago. Innocence wasn't sure of the exact date, but she knew that it had been sometime since the martial artist was conscious of the world around her. Innocence was responsible for checking some of the life support systems on those who had fallen into a plague coma and Ari was next on her list.

Unlike Ashitaka, Innocence had always liked Ari. She had been a bit fussy with her Dad but Innocence could relate to that. From what the medic-in-training knew she was a strong willed kunoichi and she was pretty good at Taijutsu. Innocence heard that she had lost her vision on a mission that her Dad was leading and that he blamed himself for it. Although apparently she had managed to get some new eyes. The details were fuzzy and not entirely clear to her.

No one tells me anything.

She rounded the corner and prepped her checklist of all the the things she'd need to do. She was still looking at her checklist when she entered the room and stopped a few feet from the Iron native's bedside.

"Okay thleeping beauty. Firtht up we need to...." Innocence stopped in her verbal tracks when she looked up. Ari was awake! She was awake and staring out the window as if she didn't recognize the world outside. Innocence's jaw dropped and she found herself unable to say anything but her charge's name.

"Ari?"

It was definitely Konohagakure, that much Ari could deduce from the agriculture and the iconic rock wall that bore the faces of the previous Hokage. Each one was the face that she briefly remembered from her studies. But in truth she’s only ever met two of them. One of them happened to be her sensei before he had risen up to Kage. Even then she was still a part of Team 10. It was hard to believe how things have turned out for Team 10. One committed treason, and the other combusted himself. It was a sad outcome for the team, and Ari couldn’t help herself from wanting to piece it back together. Perhaps with Nyguyen’s aid she can do just that. But so much had changed as some of the buildings were obviously new and some new streets were constructed. Not the major roads, but the back roads that Ari used to take had changed too. It was the little things really that Ari knew were different.

Speaking of, Ari wondered how Nyguyen was doing. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she hoped that he at least shed the ghost of his past and just spent time with his family as a civilian. Ari was only ever at his house once, but thinking back on it the monstrous workload was taking a toll on his family. Not so much as to his wife, but more so to his kids. It happens when someone who spent considerable time with their children suddenly spends most of their time at work. Or perhaps he was always a workaholic? Not that she would have any right or place to weigh in such thoughts since she doesn’t have any children of her own. However she knew what it was like to be with family.

The thought of family brought up her grandfather. She remembered how sick he really was despite him displaying a show of strength on most occasions. Especially when guests were present. Underneath it however, was the sickening curse that was encroaching his lungs. An unfortunate side effect from smoking so much in the past. He always refused to accept any treatment for the sickness due to the treatment involving surgery. Even then there was always a high risk that something could go wrong, and well… if the cancer didn’t kill him then the careless doctor with a scalpel will. Ari made a decision in her head to visit the old man and see how he was doing since she’s been gone.

As she looked out the window, there was someone who was walking towards the building. The years of slumber had actually allowed her body to recover from the scar tissue for the most part. There was still some faded tissue along her arms, but still it was something. Another thing was that Ari didn’t notice at first, but apparently her hair grew long. It wasn’t exactly in the best of shape though, but that was okay. Some snips with a good brush and other stuff would clear it up real quick. Or so she thought. The person with what Ari assumed to be armor had stopped as their eyes met, and was shyly waved at. Ari responded with a wave of her own before the door behind her opened with someone speaking.

Ari turned to look over her shoulder to see Innocence standing at the door with a lab coat on and a clipboard on hand. It actually took Ari a second to confirm that it really was Innocence as Innocence was, well, taller than before.

”You’re Innocence right? Seems like you’ve earned a lot to get that coat.” Despite what their modern world was, medicine was a long and difficult road to master. To be a doctor took literal years if not a decade or studying and practicing just to be considered to be proficient in that field. Then they specialized in a certain aspect of medicine. Some did so with poison to both use and find an antidote. Others focused on oral and so on. Least to say it was no easy feat despite what their shinobi world was like, and frankly Ari understood how difficult it was.

Seeing as something seemingly caught the attention of the woman in the window, making her turn away from it, after she waved back at her, Kanara looked back at the entrance. Taking a deep breath, she through the front gate, reaching the reception and waiting in line until it was her time.

As she reached the counter she got greeted by the receptionist, seemingly confused by Kanaras outfit, asking her what's wrong, which made Kanara reply: "I have an appointment for a transfusion and a check-up... the name is Kanara Uchiha." As Kanara let her name and intention sink in for a few moments, she pulled out her ninja headband from her bag, showing it to the receptionist. After a short while of her looking through a few notes and documents, Kanara saw her taking out a slim folder with a biohazard symbol stamped onto it. Watching as the receptionist's expression changed from happy to cautious and confused to understanding, Kanara assumed that she was reading her file. As the lady at the counter turned her attention back to her, telling her that her usual physician wasn't available today and that the one person that was doing her program today was called Innocence Uchiha, as well as the floor she was on currently, if the plans were correct, Kanara smiled and replied: "Thank you.", before making her way up via the stairs.

As soon as she reached the floor in question she would see another nurse on the same floor, and after a short chat with her, she got presented a room number. Taking slow steps towards the room in question now, Kanara tried desperately to suppress her nervousness. After all, even for her usual doctor, the procedure was as unpleasant as it was for her, and also didn't she like to show this kind of weakness around other people. Having reached the door now, Kanara would take a deep breath before knocking at the door and entering.

Innocence stared for a few seconds without blinking as she internalized what she was seeing. Ari wasn't just sitting up...she was talking! Innocence would have dropped her clipboard if she didn't maintain an iron grip on it at all times. When Ari's words were finally processed she blinked and looked down at her lab coat. She chuckled and shook her head.

"The one and the thame" she replied in response to Ari's question. "Ath for the lab coat not muth really. Jutht be alive and not a complete dumbathth. The war hath thet the bar pretty low" she confessed. Innocence wasn't really the time to admit her own mediocrity but she felt like she could trust Ari for some reason. The truth was that despite her protestations, Innocence placed a great deal of stock in her father's opinion about the girl. She never spoke at length with her, but given the way he used to talk about her she felt that Ari wouldn't think less of her if she was brutally honest about where she stood in the hospital pecking order. Innocence looked down at her clipboard and flipped through the section that talked about what to do if a plague coma victim wakes up. A lot of it was extra-careful ninny nonsense. Innocence would have just slammed the button near Ari's desk and let the doctors handle it, but in this case she wanted to take care of the situation herself.

"Well thinthe your awake I'll get you prepped for diththarge mythelf. What'th the latht thing you remember Ari?"

Innocence walked up to Ari and started reading the measurements on the monitors. She took a few notes before she was interrupted by a stranger. There was a knock and then the sound of the door being opened. Innocence turned around and saw a young woman with long black hair enter the room. The lab coat clad junior doctor raised an eyebrow. She vaguely recognized the individual as being an Uchiha. The fact that this person was kin was enough to not spare them being cussed out but not much else.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?! Can I help you? Probably not cuz we don't do pthythiatry in thith wing!"

She wasn't sure how long it's been since the war, but however long it was the war seems to have tied a lot of people with the aftermath. That was typically how it went though. Start wars, spend however many resources to win, but whether they win or lose. By the end of it, all sides become… well, broken. Leaving the survivors to pick up the pieces and try to make things normal again. But like a vicious cycle by the time they even get close to achieving that goal. Something happens and suddenly another war starts again. That's just unfortunately how their world worked. Conflict, no matter how hard anyone tries to avoid it, will find them.

"Oh I wouldn't sell yourself short. It's still an achievement no matter how mediocre it may seem. I mean, every great person starts off somewhere, and I'm pretty sure this is your start." Perhaps the sleep was exactly what Ari needed. She felt more relaxed than she did during the war. As for Innocence's question regarding the last thing Ari remembered. It wasn't that hard to remember as to Ari; it felt like it was only yesterday.

"Well I remember the war had just ended with the Land of Lightning, and Tengoku just succeeded Nyguyen as Hokage. Speaking of, how is Nyguyen…" She was interrupted when there was a knock on the door, and when the door opened Ari didn't know who she was. Other than that, she just came into the hospital. Innocence however looked like she was going to tear her into a new one for being in the patient's room and possibly the wrong wing. Ari wasn't sure what to do here except to wave at Kanara.

"Hi." Out of curiosity, Ari activates her sensory field as she seeks to get a reading of just about everyone in the vicinity. Just basic information such as chakra signature and perhaps what element each one had.

Using Sensing Technique

As Kanara opened the door, she got "greeted" by innocence, who swiftly told Kanara that this wasn't the psychiatry, therefore she must have been wrong here. As multiple thoughts crossed her mind, she could feel Herja being quite amused in her head, however not having the courage to speak her mind, which was fine enough for Kanara. While a large part of her wanted to retaliate and already had laid out a few plans for that, those being for example:

-answering in the same lispeling sound that Innocence made usually, saying "Thorry, i thought that id be right here, theeing that the reception guided me towards my fellow clan member..."
- taking a look through the room, seemingly not noticing Innocence until specifically looking down to "notice" her afterward, stating: "Oh? Sorry, I didn't see you down there...", or to tell her that the hospital wasn't a place for children to play doctor.

However, the more friendly and shy side inside of Kanara was stronger in this regard, deciding not to make the younger Uchiha mad, especially since such insults could easily create unwanted hostility.

As Kanaras face went red and she could feel her face heating up, even more then it "normally" would with the state of her body now, she slowly started in an apologetic voice: "I-.. I am sorry Innocence, but the reception guided me up here... i heard you are assigned to my procedure today though so..." Leaving the sentence open in the room, Kanara looked at the inhabitant of the room she entered. As her eyes widened slightly as she recognized the girl with the long, beautiful, white hair, she returned the wave shyly, before starting to speak: "You were looking at me through the window, right?"

While Kanara had formulated it as a question, she knew that it was her. Even with the reflection, the windows had from the outside, Kanara was able to see the person behind them.

OOC
[Kanaras hair colour is crimson red.]

(seems dead to me)

Innocence had a short lived reunion with Ari and after a brief conversation she had to go back to work on other patients.

[Exit]