"I really should have told you what's been going on…I just didn't know how to and all these thing where being advised to us ...we just couldn't tell you anyways, even though we wanted to..."

"what are talking about..?" I ask.

"We know ayame."

"...know what?" I cautiously answer, fearing that she may be referring to the pills and how I purposely don't take them.

Her eyes move away from me as she closes them for a moment.

"we know about your nightmares." she remarks opening them as she focus's her visual back to me; her iris's wide and circular black gaze sending a cold and eerie sensation to me.

"What? my nightmares?" I repeat, somewhat relived but still alarmed at her response.

"Yes, in fact you've had similar nightmares when you were younger and it was theorized that your violent outbreaks where somehow liked to them."

"This theory was confirmed as you begin taking the pills, we noticed that your nightmares faded along with your violent outbreaks and so for a time we believed you were cured from these dreams as well as your illness.

"however, we had noticed for a while now that your nightmares had come back, so we feared that the pills may have stopped working."

"now I want you to know, before revealing any kind of details to you about your condition, we have always been instructed by the medical specialists to run it by them first.."

"So we simply couldn't explain any of this to you at that time and as we noticed that your nightmares were getting worse, we –"

"Wait, how did you guys even know I was having nightmare?" I abruptly interrupt hitomi.

"We heard you ayame, we heard you screaming at night, and even heard you as you would talk to yourself, ranting these alarming violent tangents that really begin scaring us...you would even sleep walk at times..."

"kouta and I took you to the medical specialist and they confirmed that your body was slowly rejecting the pills and that they needed to do something fast or risk having this violent side of yours return like it once did as you were younger."

"They explained that this time however, it likely would be far more difficult to treat your condition given how much your mind and bodies matured and development over the years."

"They ran various test and examinations to fully understand what was going on witth you and after fully analyzing you, they concluded there was very little they could do to prevent or cure you from you condition at that point."

"in truth, they hardly had an answer for your condition when you were just a child..so it was only expected they'd be truly unfit to handle you as you are now…."

" Kouta and I asked for any possible solutions or options to help you, the only one that was given to us was to dangerously strengthen the pills potency to the point where it could severely damage your body and mind."

"they said that they needed to modify the pill in order to force your body to stop the effects and progression of your illness .."

"However it was made clear that this was a dangerous but temporary solution that would provide them with more time to find a safer cure... but as time went by they begin to see that they weren't having any progress in finding something safer."

"kouta and I were petrified and in disbelief as we started to realize the harsh reality of this predicament."

"It all seemed like a lose lose situation; the enhanced pills were said to be dangerous enough to kill you with continuous usage, but without them we would end up losing you regardless."

"Meanwhile, and just as we were instructed to hide this information from you in order to avoid alarming or distressing you and your mind in any way..."

"kouta and I had to be fragile with you, interacting cautiously in order to avoid revealing any of this information with you...and it was difficult ayame..."

"The enhanced pills took a while to start working and it was so hard just ignoring you while you screamed over the nights in agony before the pills begin to take effect..."

"and when they did finally take effect they weren't even consist and gradually became more dangerous to use as we waited for the medical specialist to come up with something safer.."

"So even when the pills seemed to be working and gave you "peaceful nights", we could not rest easy knowing that you could very well have not waken up from the effects of the pills forcing your body to do what it's not naturally supposed to do."

"And so for a while, kouta and I were experiencing sleepless nights as we worried about your illness..."

"at first we were surprised that you never seem to ask or come to us about your nightmares...we begin guessing that you didn't feel comfortable addressing it or somehow was not able to remember when you were having them...either ways, it worked to our advantage since we weren't allowed to address any of this with you anyways...

"From there, it didn't take long but kouta and i made the decision to seek out a cure for you on our own and after searching everywhere and ultimately giving up on medicine and even standard medical ninjutsu practices.

" we were fortunate enough to have a good friend of ours tell us about these three mystical toads that could help you with your condition. "

"I'm not sure if you remember this friend of ours, it's been quite some time since you've seen him…his name is Iaso.. he's been a family friend of ours for quite some time."

"You, Seiji and his son Ichigo used to play all the time together when you were all much younger."

"Isao told us about these three legendary toads; one red, one yellow and one blue, said to reside somewhere in the outskirts of Mount Myoboku . These three toads are legened to have extremely powerful healing powers; said to restore and heal almost anything"

"legend has it that they heal not just the body, but the mind and spirit. Releasing unique chakra's capable of tempering with even abstract concepts such as pain, fear and even mental trauma and disorders. "

"As Isao explained more to us about these ancient toads, he made it clear that everything he's heard about them so far has been mainly stories fabled and rumored by men and toads alike."

"but in truth, no one had actually ever seen or meet these three toads...they could have all very well not even existed.."

"Isao told us he would see what he could do and find regarding the myth of these three toads and after returning with extensive research he announced to us that he believed that there was a strong possibility that they not only existed, but that he could also find and know where they are located."

"He promised to go and seek them out within the massive and treacherous Mountains of Mount Myoboku and when the day came for him to leave he once again reminded us not to get our hopes too high.. this was still very much a long shot he said to us..."

"but we already had absolute faith in him finding these toads and returning with a cure...this was because aside from being a close and trustworthy friend, Isao was an amazing and powerful shinobi, who was well known and regarded in the village for his close relations and affinity with the toads and their Ninjustu. "

"As he stood in front of us in his final moments before leaving, he told us the reason why we could not go off with him."

"Apart from not being contracted with the toads, we would be unfit to travel the unfamiliar maze's and potential traps that could cause us to transform into toads for the rest of our lives...it would simply be to risking and we would only slow him down since we would also require extensive understanding of Senjustu and natural energy in order travel safely with him."

" So only Isao could complete this mission...and he was so humble and gracious about it all as he told us briefly about his plan and also how his two accomplices traveling with him had already had an idea of where to find these three toads."

"The two where toads themselves, small and rather old looking that claimed to be married as they stood on Isao's shoulders."

"I believe their names where Fukasaku and Shima."

"They claimed to know nearly everything about the mountain and also how they've been searching for these toads themselves and had through the years gathered enough information to pinpoint their hidden location."

"Isao left off that day and returned four and a half months later just this evening with large wooden barrels of what he claim to be the cure for you. "

"He told us earlier today about his voyage and how when he found the three toads deep within a hidden oasis that they were not at all how he expected them to be."

"Each of them was well within ten stories high but could transform themselves into the size of a fly, they could turn invisible and intangible at will and would do so whenever they noticed anything that saw or came near them. They also swallowed any being that dared to enter their oasis; which explains why no one knew or even saw them."

"He told us that for a while he really didn't know how he was going to bring back a cure as he tried for months to capture them."

"He couldn't see or touch them whenever they spotted him so it took him quite a while but he eventually discovered the secrets of their power, he figured out that their healing power was mainly in their saliva.."

"wait... saliva?" I respond feeling the disturbing green slim still linger in my stomach...

"yes... saliva...i'm sorry ayame but it was the only way.." she responds pausing as she notices my disgusted reaction.

"...their healing power was transferred within the waters of the oasis they lived and bathed in so Isaso took barrels of that water with him. he told us that the water would not work as well as the saliva but since he only could manage to take such small amount of the saliva, he decided to bring more than enough of cure that still remained in the oasis water."

hitomi removes the blood stained sheets away from my bed as she helps me up to my feet.

"...Judging from what happened tonight, it looks your body's reached its limit with the pills."

...

"We were very lucky ayame" she says hugging me.