| Coming and Going [Kuromaru, Yasuo, Waki] | [Jun. 24th, 2009|05:34 pm] |
[Companion piece to the Pirates thread. Takes place during Pirates and Ninja.]
"You're a bad ninja," Kuromaru mumbled, his muzzle resting on his forepaws as he lay across the hospital bed.
Yasuo refrained from pointing out that Kuromaru was the one needed in the hospital for chakra surgeries -- even if they were mostly certain the rot was gone this time. He also refrained from pointing out that if Kuromaru hadn't been so determined to leave the village, they could be home in the clan grounds right now waiting for Tsume's return, rather than locked in a hospital room to ensure Kuromaru stayed where he belonged. And finally, he refrained from pointing out that he was following orders, while Kuromaru was disobeying them at every turn -- his doctor's orders to stay put for surgery, the Hokage's orders that Tsume go without Kuromaru, and Tsume's orders that Kuromaru stay here.
Refraining was getting easier. He'd already pointed everything out many times over the last two days.
"She's pulling again."
He looked up at that. There was no change in Kuromaru's body. "How much?" he asked finally.
Kuromaru answered with the canine equivalent of a shrug, a ripple of fur and muscle up his spine. "Pretty steadily."
"Steadily's not bad. Means she's fighting." Meant she was alive.
Kuromaru grumbled. "If Ryouma were here..."
"But he's not," Yasuo said sharply. He hadn't told Ryouma that Kuromaru was here; he didn't want more complications. If Ryouma, as the alpha, encouraged Kuromaru's ill behavior... It didn't bear thinking about.
"If he were..."
Yasuo went back to reading his book.
With a whine, Kuromaru jumped down off the bed. He wandered the room. Every so often, he stopped to sniff. Yasuo watched him covertly, noting the lax tail and the flopped ears. Seeing the way Kuromaru's feet dragged with each step. It wasn't a happy canine. Or it was a canine with very low chakra.
Yasuo frowned. "Kuromaru? How much is Tsume pulling?"
"Pretty steadily."
Which didn't tell him how much. "Kuromaru."
Kuromaru gave him a sullen look over one broad shoulder. His head dipped. One leg buckled. Before Yasuo could get over there, Kuromaru's eye rolled back in his head, and he slumped to the floor.
Yasuo slammed to the ground beside the still figure. He scrambled to catch a foreleg and find a pulse. "Help!" There was no way to know if anyone heard him. "I need help in here!"
His fingers dug through fur to the warm skin beneath. No pulse. No breath. Not the slightest flutter of chakra. Yasuo summoned his own into his hands, pouring it into Kuromaru -- and felt it wash down the pathways, gone without stirring the large heart.
He slammed a hand against one of the machines littering the room. Nothing happened. He rose up, hitting switches until it began to wail. That would bring someone. He dropped back down, starting compressions on Kuromaru's chest, pulsing chakra in with each shove.
The door opened. "What--"
"Chakra collapse! His is gone!" Yasuo yelled, still compressing, feeling bones creak under his hands. Kuromaru's mouth was open, his tongue pale.
The nurse in the doorway vanished. Yasuo pressed again. Then again. At the third compression she raced in with three more people and a machine wheeled between them.
"Move," someone snapped.
Yasuo dove out of the way, shoving himself across the floor. "His partner's pulling his chakra -- he just dropped," he said, explaining as quickly as he could.
The doctor who'd accompanied them in -- a woman -- hesitated before drawing a syringe. "Someone get Waki-sensei."
One of the nurses ran out. The doctor lifted a glass bottle, piercing it with the needle and drawing golden liquid into the syringe. It seemed to move, flicks of red sparks here and there, capturing the eye. Chemical chakra; not quite the same as what went into solider pills. Better, somehow, though Yasuo wasn't sure how.
He knew the dose she gave him was high, as the others hooked Kuromaru up to machines and she injected the thick liquid.
The machine squealed and spiked, sensor registering lethally high. One paw twitched. The heart monitor beeped. And then everything went dead again. The doctor was already drawing another dose of chemical chakra, with one nurse making dire warnings against using too much.
"He's dead," the doctor snapped. "We can't do much worse to him!"
"An overdose of chakra--"
"It all drained away. He doesn't have too much chakra," the doctor nearly yelled.
The nurse frowned at the monitors.
"It's draining to his partner," Yasuo inserted, hoping one woman wouldn't screw things up.
"Then the rot he was in treatment for--" the nurse began.
"That's the least of our worries." The doctor injected Kuromaru again. Again the machines screamed, but this time when they settled the EKG reading kept going.
"He's going into tachycardia!"
"His heart's still beating," the doctor snapped. "That's better than it was." She turned to find Yasuo, pinning him with her gaze. "She's right, though. Overdosing him is as dangerous as giving him too little. He's already had more than is normally safe."
There was a question, there. Yasuo answered it without pausing. "If he has no chakra, then it means Tsume had no chakra--" Had. Gods, she had to be alive still. "So -- so two peoples' worth, at least, still wouldn't overdose him."
"Still doesn't have enough, which is why the tachycardia," the doctor mumbled, and dosed Kuromaru again -- while the nurse threatened to go find a surgeon. "I wish you would," the doctor snapped. She watched the monitors, her fingers still on Kuromaru's pulse. It began to settle out. His chest rose and fell, shallowly but moving. Only then did the doctor pause to look around. "Where's Waki, anyway?"
"Not in until later!" The nurse who'd gone charging off earlier slammed in the door, out of breath.
"Figures." The doctor's eyes were on the read outs, one hand on Kuromaru's wrist. She nodded slowly.
"His levels are still low," the nurse said in an undertone.
The doctor snorted. "Just can't please you, can I? Giving him too much, levels are still low... weren't you going to call a surgeon?"
The nurse glowered around and fell silent.
"Kuromaru-san? Can you hear me?"
Yasuo watched the canine closely, knowing that being without chakra could easily damage the organs -- but most especially the mind.
Then Kuromaru's tail moved, and the single eye opened partway. Only a sliver of hazy golden iris was visible, but it was enough.
"Hi," Kuromaru mumbled. "S'it breakf'st?"
"No, but I'm glad to see you're awake. Come on." The doctor stood. "Let's get him on the bed."
**
"We can moderate your chakra levels here," Waki said, his eyes even more bloodshot and his hair wilder than usual. Yasuo was pretty certain they'd called the doctor in from his bed. He still smelled a bit like liniment and musty sheets. "And we can keep them stable, even if that other Inuzuka--"
"Tsume," Yasuo muttered, trying not to get annoyed and failing.
"Yes, him, even if he does more jutsu."
Yasuo was pretty sure that Waki did this on purpose, just to annoy them all. He bit his tongue against pointing out that Tsume was a woman.
"We can keep your chakra steady with these machines, here, but the danger is, of course, that it won't give your body a chance to replenish naturally. Chemical chakra isn't meant to be used forever. It ebbs slowly, at which point your body can create natural chakra. But if your partner again pulls more chakra than you have, then we'll be in the same situration as a moment ago. If you think she'll need more for jutsu, we can simply keep you filled with chemical chakra. But we don't know how long she'll be out there, and -- hm, oh." He frowned, pulling a pill from his pocket and staring at it as if he wasn't sure how it had gotten there. One of the nurses reached out and took it from him. "If she's out there for too long," Waki continued as if he hadn't stopped, "then the chemical chakra can begin to sear your pathways. It's hard on your organs. Not meant as a long-term fix, you see."
"So, we're working with best guesses, here," Yasuo clarified, worried that Kuromaru would have lost the important parts in that muddle of information.
Waki nodded.
There was no hesitation in Kuromaru's rumbling bass. "Put me on the chakra."
Yasuo sat down on the bed, lowering his voice. "You understand that it could hurt you?"
"I don't care." Kuromaru was still staring at Waki, as if waiting for the doctor to do something now.
"She probably won't need that much chakra again. Any lesser amount she pulls, your own reserves can handle."
Kuromaru turned to regard him steadily. "If it were your familiar, would you take that chance?"
Yasuo reached out, stroking the thick fur. "No. But I want to make sure you know that this could be bad for you. For both of you."
Kuromaru nodded. "I know. It's all right." He looked at the doctors with calm assurance. "Let's make sure I have enough chakra."
Gazes flicked up to Yasuo, as the responsible human able to sign for Kuromaru's care in Tsume's absence. He nodded once.
"We're going to put this IV in your leg, Kuromaru-san," the woman doctor said, stepping to his hips. "You can't pull it out, all right? It's a saline solution, but hooked up to the chakra drip so that when your chakra falls below a certain level, it'll deposit it automatically. That means you can't leave."
"I won't leave." Kuromaru sprawled on his side so she could get to his veins. "If I'm gonna make sure Tsume has lots of chakra, I've gotta stay here." His tail thumped. "Better than solider pills."
Yasuo smiled slightly, petting Kuromaru's head, itching around the healing scabs carefully. Now that Kuromaru had a job, he doubted there would be any more escape attempts.
"And the good news," Waki said cheerfully, "is that there's no more rot! Or that chakra draw and subsequent dosing would have left your face and brain an oozing mess!"
Yasuo stared at him for a long moment. But the senior physician was already turning away, consulting with someone just outside the door.
Maybe he didn't do it just for the reaction. No one would say something like that.
Kuromaru was wagging enthusiastically. "That's right! So when Tsume gets back, they can open up our chakra centers again! 'Cause I'm not mush! And Ryouma doesn't have to worry anymore!"
"That's great, Kuro." Or maybe Waki did do it for the reaction. Yasuo petted the big canine and tried not to think about it too closely. |
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