Chapter Eleven: As a Last Resort
Waiting for her turn was similar to biding her time for a doctor appointment. If Erika were to put the second entrance exam into words, she wouldn't hesitate to depict it as taking the patient's role. Each participant had to take turns at entering the examination room, given that they were only allowed to access it once the preceding participant had been cleared from the room. Consequently, integrity was put to the test in hope that the following medical practitioners wouldn't disclose classified information such as medical records in the field.
Erika got there in time as written on the advance notification. Unfortunately, her turn was the last in line seeing that she was the only one left in the empty corridor on her own. Her soles tap on the floor repeatedly and disturbingly enough. Restlessness striking, the long wait resulted in it. The proper strategy to get it over and done with was to experience the assessment to come.
"Hyūga Erika," notified the proctor, "You may enter the room."
The first thing she did without being asked was to throw an eye on her surroundings. If truth be told, the examination room was unreasonably spacious for a proctor handling a single applicant. Ray of light cracked through the window in the corner of the room, falling over the medical procedure chair as though it was giving prominence—a hint perhaps.
"First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on making it to the second part of the entrance exam. My name is Shizune and I will be serving as the examiner of this ongoing test." Predictably, the woman in her early 20s led the way to the examination chair, "The difficulty of this test is conditional on you alone. All you have to simply do is follow my instructions. Before we start, make sure you lie back in a relaxed position on this chair."
Without a second thought, Erika did as the examiner said, leaning back in the patient chair.
"You will be put under a Genjutsu and you are strictly prohibited to break out of it without my permission. Fear not, this Genjutsu will situate you under the circumstances in which you have to find the most advantageous solution from your very point of view to the given problems. So far, so good?"
"How do I ask for your permission to regard my final solution as true?"
"I will be taking charge of the Genjutsu itself, Erika-san, including the state of affairs and the duration itself. However, your final solution will determine whether you will gain a pass in this exam or not." The corner of her mouth twitched faintly upward, "Why don't we start in a little while? For my part, I truly look forward to how the highest score achiever on the written test will put her medical knowledge into practice."
The explanation Shizune offered hinted at how Erika's eventual answer would be evaluated subjectively no matter how. If her answer somehow didn't live up to the examiner's expectations, sad to say that she would not make the grade on this second test. Having said that, she still would like to consider the high expectations Shizune ridiculously set as a motivating force. When was the last time she took on a less pessimistic attitude for real?
"All set," announced Erika.
"Now close your eyes and take a deep breath."
"Erika-san."
Her back pressed hard against the pillar as she buried her tense face in the crook of his neck. His warm breath gave her ear a tickle, "It's over. Open your eyes now."
Just when her eyelids cracked open, Erika found out Itachi's figure had driven her petite body to a corner, his arm still wrapped around her waist. Spontaneously, she pushed him back, her eyes cautiously inspecting her clothes from head to heels—she was fully clothed as yet.
"U-uchiha! What were we doing?" She got to the point.
Itachi's head turned around, "There had been a serious earthquake striking. As you can see, these are the damage it caused."
The furnishings seemed familiar to all appearances—how could she forget about the interiors of her own room? Be that as it may, the destructive earthquake had turned it into a place she could barely recognize. Kiyoshi wouldn't be very pleased with this scenery as much, recalling that he found fault with the way she decorated her room in the night before the written exam with tossing the scroll around. She sank her teeth into her lower lip, beginning to wonder where could her strict father be at this moment in time.
"Are you sure these were caused by a natural disaster? Not a really strong earth release attack?" Erika doubted as she gazed around emptily.
"Not a single soul would have such violent strength to be able to result in all these," explained Itachi. "If you are feeling rather fine now, let's head to the place of refuge and see if we can lend a hand."
"What? Why? We're all the victims of this incident, Uchiha! You must have hurt yourself while protecting me. I'm going to tend to your wound first if there's any, and then look for Otou-san everywhere."
"Because you are a part of Medic Corps and I'm also a member of Konohagakure ANBU," reminded him, his Sharingan glowing in the dark, "As long as we can still sustain ourselves, we will put our duty to be of service to the village first."
She did not bat an eyelash. In this virtual reality Shizune created, Erika noticed she had been accepted as a member of Medic Corps and apparently, her next (it could also be her first) assignment, which would be evaluated in the actual reality was to come to the aid of the villagers in danger. All the same, these circumstances felt so true to life, triggering her to become a bit alert when she was well aware of it being completely made up, and no offense, exaggerated.
But what if she were to anticipate something unexpected?
"Stay safe," Itachi said before walking away.
Keep this in mind, this is not real. Unknowingly, she had been repeating it in her mind like a mantra.
Shortly after Erika arrived at the collapsed hospital, she located several tents set up in front of the building. Stretchers moved back and forth to each tent nonstop, carrying the injured party into the shelter. At the time she stopped in her tracks confusedly, incapable of making up her mind to set foot in which tent first, a quick tap on her shoulder drove her out of her self-absorption. "Did you hear? Shizune-taichou called us to attention." Told a man dressed in Medic Corps unappealing uniform.
Little did she know she was also dressed in the same uniform she thought of unappealing. "Of course," answered Erika without a doubt. "Um, you go first!"
The Medic Corps captain had presented herself in the front, passing over the two medics who had gotten there just now. "I'm glad to see all of you making it here. However, we cannot express our gratitude freely in this current state when our neighbors are very likely to strive for themselves, trapping in the rubbles and all. For that reason, I am gathering all of you here—to brief on our upcoming mission."
"The purpose of the mission itself is to come to the aid of the injured party. Find any survivals and transport them to the shelter. It's as simple as that. Nevertheless, the difficult part is to assign degrees of urgency to the patients," Shizune raised her hand, showing off different colored ribbons, "Put the red-colored ribbon on the Immediate, the yellow-colored one for the Delayed, the green will be put on the Minimal, and save the black ribbon for the Expectant."
"I needn't explain further as to how you would categorize your patients by the importance requiring swift treatment, inasmuch as I have every confidence in your capability of making the most sensible decisions as a medic. Relating to the mission, I haven't really mentioned what it is going to be. It goes without saying that we are rescuing the injured party but promise me one thing—no, take an oath that you will definitely return in one piece. I want to see and still be working together with all of you here in the future. If there are not any questions, then dismiss!"
At first, Erika had no difficulty in triaging the patients by picking out the appropriate ribbon for them. Possessing the Byakugan put her to an advantage over the accurate and timely diagnosis, not to mention more instantaneous decisions to be made. For all that, she had no clue about the denotation of the Expectant patient. Is the black ribbon of any use? She was of the opinion that every patient who entered the medical tent was predominantly treatable. Regardless of how fatal the wounds were, she wouldn't think twice about tying the red ribbon onto their wrist. One of the rules governed the medical-nin indicated that no medic should give up on their patient's life, in virtue of it she refused to ever use the black ribbon even as a last resort.
The medics were divided into two operations, on the whole, either searching for any survivals on the scene or staying behind in the medical tent. Coming directly on the scene required more flexibility and whatnot, that being the case Erika opted for standing by in the tent instead. Besides, the tent was running short of medical practitioners at the moment. Almost everything went under control, until a familiar face showed up, crossing the threshold of the medical tent, linking arms with a certain man whose chest was stabbed with a giant piece of concrete, fresh blood gushing out from his chest.
"Where do I lie him down?" Kiyoshi panted.
"Here," Erika guided her father and the death-dealing patient to the nearest exam table. "Where did you find him, Otou-san?"
"Below ground," answered the ANBU commander. "Judging from where I came across him, I conclude he is one of the construction workers in charge of the new central post office. The concrete has also been pierced into his chest by that time. I'm afraid if I removed it, he could've been no more because of the excessive bleeding."
The medical-nin didn't respond right away, concentrating on the patient's vital signs. Her pupils dilated when she learned how faint her patient's vital signs were without having to activate her Byakugan. To make matters worse, the piece of concrete ruptured his high-cervical nerves, disabling most of his muscles (especially in the arm) to even make any movements. Erika glanced upward, looking at the painful expression the patient was making. The first and foremost thing to do was remove the concrete from his chest, but it was rather high-risk. The surgery needed at least two conscientious medics to perform. To be honest, she had doubts about pulling it off by herself, especially when she was hardly experienced in performing surgery alone. Even so, she didn't have the heart to envision her patient's no more coming times.
"Otou-san, can you watch this tent and the other patients for me? I'm going to operate on this patient." Without delay, she transferred the severely injured patient to the operating room.
The young medic could've sworn she followed the surgical procedure without error; then again, things didn't go smoothly as she wished. Initially, she managed to maintain the patient's body temperature and blood pressure to prevent him losing more blood during the surgery. Until she carefully took hold of the piece of concrete and pulled it away without hurrying, his blood pressure dropped drastically, causing her to turn down the anesthetic drugs on impulse.
"I'm sorry for bothering you but how long will the surgery take? A new patient has arrived and it seems someone has to amputate the limb any minute now!" Cautioned the ANBU commander in panic.
"I – I'm getting there! Oh, shoot—" Suddenly, blood began to pour out of one of her cuts within the patient. To her dismay, her hands sank into the internal body parts, nearing the source of bleeding and transmitting friendly green chakra to stop up the bleeding.
"Don't die on me. Please... Don't you dare die on me!"
The ECG monitor by the side of the operating table drew a flat line as it produced a long-lasting piercing sound. The long cut on the patient's chest had not been sewn up, her hands hovering over the open cut before curling up into a ball. Realizing that she was unable to resuscitate his heart under these circumstances, warm tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Erika-san! Why are you neglecting the patients in the medical tent?" Shizune sneaked into the operating room, moving closer to the table. "It appears that this patient didn't survive. I'm deeply sorry…" She reached for Erika's shoulder and squeezed it firmly yet gently, "But you failed this second test."
"You failed me because I wasn't able to save the last patient on the operating table?" Protested Erika as soon as she was awakened from the Genjutsu the examiner cast. "I beg your pardon, I was unsuccessful in bringing the patient to life because I did the operation without the help of others. I carried it out all alone, whereas in reality, it is practically impossible to perform surgery single-handedly. This test you put me to is certainly of no avail, seeing that we wouldn't likely to be faced with the way things stood there in real life."
An amused smile plastered on Shizune's face, "If you were already conscious of the fact that it was indeed impossible to operate on the patient, why did you still persist in it?"
"Because I had no choice! Did you expect me to let the concrete be stuck in his chest and see him suffer until he breathed his last?"
"I totally understand that you came to a decision to perform surgery on the mortally wounded patient, but what about the other patients you left in the tent? Did you expect one of the patients' leg to be amputated on its own?"
"But the patient I paid more attention to deserved the immediate treatment more!"
"That was your huge initial mistake, Erika-san. You triaged your patients incorrectly." Pointed out Shizune, walking over to her desk.
The young medic narrowed her eyes with skepticism. "What do you mean I triaged them incorrectly?"
"What was that patient suffering from?"
"A piece of concrete stuck in his chest, damaging his high spinal cords."
"How many colors of the ribbons I provided you with and what are the implications of each color?"
"There were four colors. Red for the Immediate, yellow for the Delayed, green for the Minimal," recited Erika, "…and black for the Expectant."
"Exactly," Shizune nodded in all seriousness, "That patient was one of the Expectant."
The resentful applicant furrowed her brows as she stated, "Rule number one: no medic ninja shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end. I believe the rule is not only applied on the battlefield but for all patients regardless of where it takes place," she paused, "That rule is irrelevant in real practice, is that what you're trying to tell me?"
"Trust me it is not the same," denied the Medic Corps captain. "Getting back to my previous question, what were you going to do with the other patients who were also in need of treatment in the tent?"
"I intended to give medical care to them once I got the operation done," replied Erika. "You shouldn't have cut me off in the first place… I haven't gotten used to performing surgery on my own, having said that I'm fairly up to speed on treating minor injuries. You should have given me more time to prove it."
Shizune let out a sigh; "Still you were risking several lives to save one when you were in the know about the chances of making it."
"I didn't know," Erika denied. "In fact, I will never know until I give my best."
"Human life cannot be compared with trial and error, Erika-san."
"Where did you get that idea from, Shizune-san?" She raised her voice, glaring at the woman seated on her chair. "I value life more than any medics you ever took under your wing. Someone I cared very much for died because of the way of thinking a medic like you planted in their minds. They gave up on a patient whom they didn't even give a once-over to because she was merely a criminal. That's indeed my very own definition of neglecting the patient."
"Seemingly, you haven't seen my point at all when I have figured out whom you're talking about," the older woman leaned back, "It's regarding your late mother, Senju Sakuya, correct? I might not be present at the hospital when it all occurred but I heard all about it. Let me clarify this matter—first things first, we did not neglect her nor we let her lose her life on purpose. That's because we had anticipated that she might not be able to pull through even if we had given her treatment. Moreover, the emergency room was already in utter chaos before even Kiyoshi-san rushed her to the hospital, we already had enough on our plate at that time. Take note of this, Erika-san this will be your new learning: we can do nothing because we cannot play God. Doctors aren't simply designed for delaying the death of the patient but increasing a person's quality of life."
Refusing to accept the rejection, Erika slammed the door in Shizune's face while taking off.
Today mission was less complicated than usual much to Itachi's surprise, allowing him to accomplish it fleetingly. As soon as he reached Konoha, he ended up checking up on Erika without a second thought. Arriving at the hospital front gate, he leaned his back against the concrete wall as he waited for the commander's daughter to pass by the gate. His arms crossed over his chest, embracing his erratically beating heart. Fret not; Erika aced the written test when least expected. Certainly, she would sail through the second exam without exception as well. For all that, his quickened heart rate didn't show any signs of holding steady any minute now, as though he was getting a bad feeling about Erika not doing her best. Rumor had it the assessment of Medic Corps' second part entrance exam was unfairly subjective, depending on the first impression the participant made on the examiner. But a rumor meant nothing until the truth was spoken. Itachi could only deep down hope for a neutral assessor getting the measure of Erika's fact-based expertise.
By the time he was lost in thought, staring into space, he took no notice of Erika going past the gate. She appeared to be in a hurry as if someone was plausibly chasing after her—no, she had the air of avoiding him, if she was conscious of his presence in the first place.
"Wait!" The clearer she made out his voice, the wider the step she purposely took.
"What's wrong with you? Did the test go well?"
"Don't ask!" Erika started running as fast as her legs could carry her, provoking Itachi to go behind her.
He didn't force her to tell all here and now yet he kept up with her pace until she gasped, fighting for breath. Of course, he was mindful of her minimal stamina, for that reason he wasted no energy in yelling at her from behind. As her hands stretched out to her knees, propping her bent body, Itachi nonchalantly walked to her side so that he could get a glimpse of her glowing features.
"It is all right if you didn't pass," Itachi rubbed her back, showing sincere compassion, "If you are ready to talk about it or happen to need a shoulder to cry on, I will be there for you."
Without warning, Erika burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, I never knew the likes of you could even tell a corny joke," complimented her half-heartedly in between her laugh.
"Unfortunately, this rare side of me is only shown when you're having a bad day."
"Maybe I can actually take a break from being in a good mood once in a while," acknowledged the commander's daughter. She swallowed her saliva, looking away from Itachi's onyx orbs, "You… You've figured out, haven't you? That I—"
"Yes," nodded the Uchiha ANBU, "And you don't have to repeat it yourself if it hurts your feelings."
Erika sighed, "It's not possible to hide it from Otou-san then…" she turned to him hopefully, "Are you disappointed in me?"
"Not exactly," replied Itachi, "More like surprised, if you ask me."
"So am I," she agreed. "At first, I didn't expect that I would nail the written test. Perhaps I got overconfident and thought lightly of the second test. And then it happened… I still can't believe that it all went by in the blink of an eye. Even though I kind of regret everything now, I don't have the faintest idea what actually went wrong."
He shut his eyes for a moment before opening his mouth, "Do you recall when you discovered I was still sneaking up on you while you and Hanabi were playing hide-and-seek? Prior to that time, I was finally assigned to Team Rō and went on an actual mission for the time being. Nevertheless, I still have no clue why the commander decided to retrieve me to watch over his daughter. I admit my sub-unit aborted our last mission but why was I the only one paying the consequence?"
"In the end, I ended up performing my original mission reluctantly. Until you dragged me down the tree and gave me a twisted ankle," he chuckled. "Following that, we had a talk. You told me Hiashi-san gave you a second chance to look after Hanabi although you let her sister, Hinata slip away once. Indirectly, you have given me a reason to go on even though the result may not be to my liking at all. You encouraged me to keep going and think of it as a second chance instead of a consequence. Perhaps you can think of it the same way in your situation."
"I'm flattered that I somehow inspired you to look on the brighter side, but we are not in the same boat, Uchiha. My aspiration differs from the policies and the procedures the Medic Corps have. That's why they rejected me because they don't think I would fit in!"
Itachi squeezed Erika's shoulders firmly yet gently, "Calm down, Erika-san," reminded him. "The next entrance exam will be held a few months from now. Prove them wrong—"
"I'm not taking the exam again!" After realizing that she had unknowingly raised her voice, her gaze softened, "Natsu was right after all. I was predestined to serve the main family because my fate is already held in the stars, it's unchangeable."
Handling with care, he pulled her body close to his and placed his hand on the back of her head and the other on her back. "I understand. I will not push you if you don't feel like it," in a little while, he let go of her, looking her in the face, "But what will you do after this? Are you going to take care of Hanabi again?"
"I think so. I'll persuade Hiashi-sama to have me back tomorrow," her lips curved upward as her cheeks flushed. "Thank you for the consolation. In the end, you made me come clean without even trying."
"Anything for you," the Uchiha ANBU couldn't help himself but smile back at her while tucking her hair behind her ear. Before long, he took her by the hand and carried her along, "Come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"I promised that we will go on a date every day, didn't I? You're quite lucky that today is no exception."
The memorable place Itachi had in mind for their first date turned out to be the traditional café he often visited at leisure. The café itself located a long way from the center of Konoha, offering its customers a temporary getaway from the hustle and bustle, complemented by the classic decorations in every nook and canny that enhanced the environment. The wind chimes greeted the two guests with a sweet melody as the door slid open, notifying the waitress who had been anticipating her day shift to come to an end.
"Hi there, Itachi-kun! It's been so long since I—Erika-chan?" Exclaimed Shinko, Itachi's former teammate with a mouth agape in disbelief.
"Hello, Inari. Um, you work here?" the untypical Hyūga girl returned the waitress' question.
"Obviously, yes!" Shinko nudged Itachi, "Are you two… on a date?"
"It seems like it—"
"It's not like that!"
"Different answers at the same time. I like the harmonization!" Teased Shinko. Unexpectedly, her hands reached out after Erika's, her eyes gleaming full of hope. "If anybody hasn't told you this, you have my blessing, Erika-chan. Who would've thought the two youngest students in our class would make such a cute—"
"E-enough said, Shinko!" Itachi's cheeks burned up in embarrassment before he changed the awkward subject, "I'll have one serving of Dango, please!"
"Coming at you!" The waitress shifted her gaze toward Erika, "And the girlfriend! Pick whatever you're craving for since the boyfriend's paying."
The said girlfriend ran her eye over the menu, "For me, I'll go with what he ordered."
"Two servings of Dango, I repeat. Anything else?"
The couple looked at each other in bewilderment before Shinko jumped into a conclusion, "Two servings of Dango for the cutest couple of Konoha at table 1!"
After making sure their former classmates at the Academy had given a wide berth to them, Erika buried her face in her palms. "This is so embarrassing."
"I feel the same way," Itachi faced away, "Imagine how would we make our relationship public at this rate."
"I know right! Seriously Uchiha, you only made my day worse by introducing me to your ex-teammate. I'm sorry but I really need to leave now. I don't think I have a thick skin to face Inari after this…" The auburn-haired girl rose from her seat quietly.
The Uchiha ANBU stood up to grab her wrist, "Do you forget about your order?"
Erika pulled her wrist away by force, "Let me go, Uchiha! I don't have an appetite for it to begin with!"
Out of nowhere, a man having the stereotypical look of an Uchiha appeared and broke off Itachi's grip from Erika's wrist. "She asked you to let go," he stood up coolly for her at first before turning to Itachi and came to realize, "Itachi? What are you doing here?"
"What about you, Shisui? What are you doing here?" The younger Uchiha frowned.
"As far as I can tell, a couple was having a fight, so before it turned into a heated argument, I got myself involved because I was mainly concerned about the girl. Turned out the guy I sided against is my own cousin. It's a small world, isn't it?" Explained Shisui before glancing at Erika with a silly grin on his face, "You must be the one hindering my cousin from attending the clan meeting. My name's Shisui, by the way."
Here it comes another weirdo. Erika rolled her eyes before putting on a smile. "We've met before at the Uchiha District. Does it ring a bell?"
"By all means!" Stealthily, Shisui whispered to Itachi, "Is she flirting with me?"
Itachi heaved a deep long sigh, "You were right from the start, Erika-san. Let's leave this place for good—"
"Hey, hey, Itachi! Don't be a royal pain when we haven't really caught up on one another for quite some time now. Now sit back and get me to know her better!"
The younger Uchiha directed his gaze to the commander's daughter. "Err, I'm not certain of saying this, but my cousin, Shisui was under the impression that we were having a fight just now. Why do we not continue having a fight so that we can draw the attention back to us?"
Shisui shouted at the waitress who was trying to find her missing customer, "Hey, Shinko! If you ever wonder where I went, I moved to this table!"
"There you are, Shisui-kun! But don't you think you're invading their privacy too much?"
The police member looked at the couple, "Itachi, Erika, is my company bothering you?"
"Yes!" They answered in unison.
"Ah, that's because they haven't gotten used to my company yet!"
"If you insist…" Shinko let out a giggle. Little did she know the two of her guests had escaped from her sight. "Shisui! How dare you teleported my lovely guests!"
Unlike the tricked waitress' suspicion, the two of them managed to sneak away to a quieter place when the distractors were not paying heed at all. Feeling guilty, Itachi walked Erika home in silence, keeping his distance by coming behind her. That was the least he could do to ensure her safety on her way back.
"Did you tell your cousin about us?" Erika broke the unwanted silence.
"Not yet."
"How did he find out?" she added, "Is he… tailing you, by any means?"
"What? No. I trust Shisui in every respect," he denied. "Perhaps our… awkwardness makes it plain to see."
"But we were only on our first day!"
"That's because I rarely hang around with a girl before. As a result, they began to speculate," he brushed off. "There's nothing to worry about, I assure you."
Erika didn't make a response until she came to a standstill at the front door of her house; she spun around and threw her arms around the taller boy's torso, resting her chin on his shoulder. "I met two Uchiha today. I guess I should start calling you by your first name since I can't imagine addressing your last name while we're in the neighborhood of the Uchiha District." She paused to stare deeply into his eyes, "Maybe you should drop the '–san' as well."
"Sure, Erika…"
"It does sound weird to hear it coming from your mouth, though," she leaned into his face and mumbled. "Don't skip the clan meeting anymore, Itachi."
He bit his lower lip nervously as he watched her back disappeared behind the door.
author's note: yo, it's me. so how's this chapter? are you surprised that i failed erika's entrance exam? i don't wanna give her everything as easy as that, she has to struggle a bit, tbh. but near the end is kind of cute, don't you think? fluff all the way! itachi is the type of boyfriend that won't be our boyfriend after all :( and i hope i didn't portray shisui too annoying here lol while rereading it, he kinda reminded me of gai/rock lee lol
