Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter One, Hot Springs and Hospitals

For the first time since she left the hospital, Mokuren had slept more than twelve hours. It felt like someone had replaced her bones with lead, and she wondered if it would be so terrible to skip her 'morning' routine. As they had finished preliminaries around seven in the morning, she argued to herself that she had already stretched.

In the end, she dressed and locked up the room she was meant to share and headed down the hall. Temari had been up for most of the day's early hours, but it seemed she had not come back quite yet, or Mokuren hadn't noticed her enter or leave, but she was sure she had not been that tired.

Her teammates' chakra indicated sleep, so she didn't bother to knock, simply picking the lock - someone had set a few traps, probably Kentsu. It seemed like he intended to specialize in them, with consideration to his recent fights.

They were in sleeping bags again, but clothes were scattered about instead of food. She debated waking them up to be annoying, but eventually settled on turning all the wall art upside down and stealing the light bulb before resetting the traps and locking the door.

Mokuren doubted she could sleep, and she was fairly hungry. Tetsuko had gotten breakfast, but the other two had not bothered. She had won some of Hibito's money playing cards and blew it out on 'breakfast' at a nice place. It was almost eight in the evening, and Mokuren spent a while picking at her food, deciding what to do next.

She noticed when Maitsu arrived at the hotel - probably from the hospital. Mokuren doubted she had gotten much sleep, and visitation hours were likely over now. She would visit the next day, she silently promised. For now, she heard a group chattering about a hot spring and decided to follow them.

There was only one Onsen around the Sand, and it had high entry fees, but she had gone when she could. Her father's family in Arunde owned the only onsen in all of kaze no kuni that did not have gender barriers. She and the onsen had both been named after the same thing; a great Magnolia tree that towered over the springs.

As Mokuren sunk into the water of the women's bath in Sango, she wrinkled her nose. She'd been a real brat about her father's childhood stories, mocking him more than once for being so grateful to a tree that he named his first child after it, or twisting it around and accusing him of naming her after a pervert zone. That was what other adults seemed to consider Mokuren Onsen, anyway.

"Why's your hair still in ponytails? You should take it down."

Mokuren stared the blue-haired child down. "My hair's always up." She informed her seriously.

"Even when you shampoo?"

"Always."

The little girl made a face and walked away. With a sigh, Mokuren stretched and stared up at the 'sky'. Her father had enjoyed a rather lot of hobbies, even though he had been more consistent than Karusuke. Stargazing, especially - he claimed that Suna had the clearest sky in the world. Wave country probably had so much light pollution that Mokuren would be just as frustrated above ground as below.

She was drawing a blank. She'd slept, she'd eaten, Mokuren didn't need anything. Her general hobbies, like bothering neighbors and family friends, were not great ideas. Stargazing was out. She'd finished her training scrolls, suffered through the 'romance' novels she had accidentally packed, and Temari had returned to the hotel. Her newest hobby, working with her summons, was ideal, but reminded her of Kanemaru. His talk with Hibito had been a disaster, the fight the icing on the cake. Her old hobby of picking up odd jobs was unwise in a foreign town at night. She wondered if Sand ninja were allowed in any kind of official library - probably better to try during the day.

Eventually, she just returned to the hotel, choosing to rest on the mats in Tetsuko's closet. It was with some surprise that she woke up, three hours later, to the sound of Kentsu whining.

"Did they have to end the second exam at midnight? Nothing's open..."

"You should have eaten before you slept."

"The only reason you did is 'cause you emptied it!"

Silence reigned, and Mokuren was tempted to whistle.

"You know..." Tetsuko began, "... you might have to fight her. In the tournament."

Noo, nope. Mokuren would interfere. At his current level, she couldn't leave someone like that to him.

"Yeah, well. I'll kick her ass!"

"...'Course. But - what if Mokuren has to fight her? I mean, she's Mokuren, but..."

That seemed like a good time. Swooshing the door open, Mokuren said, "How cute."

She gave herself bonus points for the fact Tetsuko jumped high enough to bang his head.

"Y-you! What - get out of there!" Kentsu barked, waving his hands around.

"Not until Ringo apologizes."

Tetsuko understood immediately, so she took away a few points. "You want me to be sorry for caring?"

"I want you to be sorry for doubting me," she corrected.

"Well, I want you to apologize for eavesdropping!"

"I wasn't eavesdropping, I just heard my name."

"So what, you teleported -"

"Then what were you -"

"Ah, look, the dawn lights are coming on. I'm so glad they account for summer." Mokuren commented loudly after her sudden attack knocked both down.

Shoving the pillows off, Kentsu began to rant, but Mokuren hurried out to check if the free breakfast station had opened yet. It didn't serve much, but she had some hopes.

Around ten, Maitsu knocked on the boys' door, and was unsurprised when Mokuren answered. "Visitation starts at eleven," she mumbled, and Umerano stepped up to give Udonsu and Kirikama's room numbers.

"Thank you, I - we will come by," Mokuren corrected, catching Kentsu's scowl.

Maitsu nodded and left. Umerano gave her pseudo-niece a small smile before following.

Tetsuko went to check with Temari, and the three set out to look around stores and such until eleven. Kentsu took note of posters advertising a festival in a couple of weeks, and wondered if they would be able to attend.

Mokuren shared some of her winnings from Kanemaru, and they stocked up on weapons, seals and wires. They had twenty-seven days left to train, and Mokuren suspected this was their last day to do with as they pleased.

At the hospital, they decided to visit Udonsu first. Tetsuko didn't think he was ready to see Kirikama, but he didn't say so. Udonsu was already awake and eating when they arrived, and Aida was sitting with him. The pink-haired boy was surprisingly enthusiastic, although Tetsuko noticed Mokuren's cringe when Aida apologized. Apparently, he felt he needed to for being such a lousy opponent.

Udonsu himself was pretty positive about his own injuries, but grew very confused when asked about Kirikama.

"Did something happen?"

"Have you talked to Maitsu?" Kentsu asked, grimacing.

He nodded. "She didn't say anything about Kiri-kun, though."

"Well... I'll ask her about that." Mokuren mumbled, opening the door. "I think she's with him now."

Kirikama's room was much larger, and Umerano stood by the door. "They're only allowing one person at a time," she explained.

Mokuren nodded. "Why didn't you tell Udonsu?"

"I know it's unfair, but he shouldn't have to worry just yet."

Raising an eyebrow, the younger brunette let that go. "How's Kiri-chan?"

"He's no longer in immediate danger, but... He hasn't woken up yet, and with his injuries, there's been some talk... I'm sorry, I'll be direct. The doctor does not think Kirikama will be able to return to Wind country for quite some time, and doubts he will ever be able to live as a ninja again."

That... Was extremely direct. Mokuren didn't know what to say. Her first thought was to ask if Kamiki had been informed, but she wasn't a relative and probably shouldn't be. Kamiki had few friends, none of whom were in Suna, and it was altogether more stress than she could handle alone.

"Can we request a doctor from Fire country look into this?" She chose to ask instead. Wave was a small country with little reputation; there was a chance that the doctor was ill-experienced. Fire country was well-known for its medical experts, however.

Umerano shook her head. "A specialist will be coming to look at him soon."

There wasn't much else to say. Maitsu exited soon, allowing Mokuren to enter his room. Kirikama was hooked up to an impressive number of machines, and she could see he was breathing steadily from the doorway. Sitting beside him, she wondered if he would find his mummylike appearance amusing. There was no visible skin on his arms, but it was clear that he had lost most of at least three fingers, his left pinkie, left ring, and right thumb. With a sneaking look around the room, she lifted the blanket to look at his toes. She couldn't quite tell, but he didn't seem to be missing any. Chunks of his legs looked to be gone, however, and that was sickening enough.

Tetsuko and Kentsu visited him as well, after coming to find her. The three left the hospital together, deciding to track down Temari. There was a reasonable chance that one of the them would have to fight Kujaku - and there was little time to waste.