She didn't know how long she spent laying there, trying to control her lungs and slow the effects of the poison. It burned through her body, blocking all thoughts in her mind and causing her to break out in sweat. Blood trickled from her mouth from the wound in her neck as she stared blankly up at the ceiling, trying to deal with the pain.
The door to the room opened and Genma strolled in casually. "Are you done- Shit!"
He was there instantly, lifting her head and shaking her shoulders roughly, his toothpick flicking up in concern. He pushed Saigo's body off her to free her breathing slightly. She coughed up a small amount of blood.
"Kumori! What happened... Oh shit..."
"What is it, sensei?" asked Tsuno, peeking in as well. His face paled as he rushed in, followed by Hikari, and they knelt beside her as well.
"P-Poisoned," rasped Kumori, wincing in pain. There were raised voices from downstairs, and Genma's face paled further.
"We have to get out of here. Now. Hikari, take her out the window and meet me in the forest. Tsuno, come with me."
Genma and Tsuno dashed out of the room, back downstairs. Hikari lifted her gently, carrying her on his back and jumping out the window. Her muscles were screaming, burning with every faint heartbeat as her body struggled to fight off the poison.
Hikari dashed quickly from the village, back through the cave and out from the waterfall. He jumped the rock face, landing in a crouch in the trees and dashing forwards into the shadows. Actually, the sun had not yet set fully, but to Kumori, everything was dark.
They stopped after a few minutes in a small, secluded clearing. Hikari gently placed her on the ground, looking over her wounds before pulling his t-shirt off. His dark hair hung in his face as he silently tied the shirt around her upper body tightly, stopping her arm from bleeding. He cast around for more bandages, but found none and pressed his hands onto the wound on her neck instead, her blood flowing over his fingers and hands and dripping from his wrists.
She tried to steady her breathing, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth as steadily as she could, but it was useless when she began shaking, The poison was attacking her body viciously, and she guessed that had it not been for her built up tolerance and her clans tolerance for poison, she would be dead by now.
They remained like that for a few more minutes until Genma and Tsuno burst into the clearing, Tsuno carrying her backpack and limping, his ankles apperently broken. She struggled to sit up, but coughed up more blood and fell back onto Hikari.
Genma pulled bandages out of his bag, staunching the flow of blood from her neck before moving to her leg. It was bleeding, possibly, more than the wound on her neck, and the tendon was completely severed, leaving her leg limp. He bandaged it tightly, quickly stopping the bloodflow. Kumori's vision wavered and she manged to sit up, reaching for her bag silently. Tsuno handed it to her and she ripped it open, clumsily pulling the poison holster from it.
After a moment of struggling to open it, Genma pulled it open for her and she looked out at the selection of antidotes with her blurred vision. Which one is it? she thought vaguely. Her vision wavered again.
Fast acting, attacks nervous system, slow, strained breathing, slow, faint heartbeats, sweating, shaking... Some kind of animal poison... snake probably... Which one is it?
"Which one is it, Kumori!?"
"S-Snake.... Try... Try... Try G1..."
Genma scanned the holster along with Hikari, looking for the antidote.
"There," said Hikari, pulling out the antidote. He pulled out a syringe and held up the vial, pulling the needle's cover off and drawing the liquid into it. Remembering her words from before, he squirted off the first centimeter to rid it of any air bubbles. He undid his shirt from around her body, pulling out her uninjured arm and rubbing it below the elbow before shakily raising the needle.
Kumori winced as he carefully slid the needly into her skin, injecting it slowly before pulling it out and covering the place he had injected into. The affects were almost immediate, she stopped shaking and her breathing stabilized, but it was a general antidote. It covered all snake venoms roughly, prolonging the life of a patient unti they could get the proper antivenom.
Seeing her condition improve slightly, he retied his shirt around her body tightly and she winced. Her neck was sending sharp pangs of pain across her shoulders and causing a throbbing headache. Blood was still trickling from her mouth in a small rivulet, dripping from her cheek onto her neck.
"Why isn't it working?" asked Tsuno desperately. The pannick in his voice was evident.
"That was just a general antivenom for snakes," she whispered, finding she could speak more clearly now. "I still need to identify the specific snake it came from."
"How long are you going to last for?"
Genma's blunt question hit the other two team members hard, and they stared at him open mouthed.
"What do you mean 'last for'!?"
But to Kumori, it was a perfectly valid question. She let out a raspy sigh, thinking for a few moments.
"Considering my current symptoms and bloodloss... one day with regular doses of the antivenom, unless I find the snake it came from."
"One day!?"
"Shut up, Tsuno. You're too loud," said Hikari seriously. She silently thanked him for shutting up the loud gennin.
"Then we have to start running now to reach the Leaf in time. The medical-nin should be able to save you," said Genma, standing. Tsuno tried to stand as well, but his broken ankles gave out and he fell back. Shouri whined and nuzzled his head under one of Tsuno's arms.
"Hikari, you carry Kumori and I'll carry Tsuno," said Genma, pulling Tsuno up. Tsuno's face said he didn't want help, but he knew he would only slow them down if he moved on his own.
Hikari lifted Kumori with both arms, taking off after Genma. The muscles on his bare chest rippled as he jumped from tree to tree and held her up at the same time. Her breathing was shallow and strained, but there was less pain to deal with.
"...Hikari..."
"What?" he hissed, his attention turning toward her. She coughed and looked up at him.
"What does my face look like?"
"What!?"
"No... Like what colour is my skin... visible symptoms..."
"Oh... Your eyes are glazed over," he said, eyeing her intently. "your skin is paler than usual and your lips are blue."
Saying it outloud seemed to unnerve him even more, but Kumori wasn't paying attention.
"Breathing: shallow, strained; Heartbeat: faint, uneven; Sweating, shaking, blurred vision, all around pain, blue lips, glazed eyes, pale skin..."
"Stop talking, you'll wear yourself out," came Genma's voice in the darkness.
Fear struck her again. "Hikari... Quickly tell me what colour my blood is!"
Hikari lifted the bandages on her neck in confusion, obeying her. He suddenly froze. "It's... thick and dark, almost black..."
"Oh no... Put me down..."
Hikari pulled up, landing in a crouch in the clearing below, Genma landing beside him. Hikari placed her on the ground and she forced herself back into a sitting position.
"What is it?"
"I found out what poison he used, and I've decided I don't have as long to live as I first guessed," she said calmly. Her voice came easily now and her breathing was stabler, but the realization of what she had been poisoned with sent waves of fear washing through her body.
"And I left the anitvenene at home. In fact, you should remember me saying I didn't need it."
"Yeah, you said it was from a foreign species that you wouldn't encounter here."
"The common brown snake, one ounce of it's venom can kill 14,000 people easily."
"Then how do you counter it!?"
"The venom of this snake is possibly the scariest thing to me... It's properties are... unnatural. It contains neurotoxins that affect the nervous system, breathing and heart all at the same time. The venom contains three types of molecules: neurotoxic peptides which can cause death by asphixiation, relaxing the skeletal muscles around the lungs before paralyzing them; neurotoxic phospholipase A2's which destroy nerves; and prothrombin activators which affect the blood. The prothrombin activators are what you worry about, it basically stops bloodflow by turning your blood solid slowly, clotting it inside your body... I'll give my body three hours before it stops working completely."
"Phospholipase," said Tsuno, trying out the word.
"Pass me my backpack," she said. It was easier to speak now, not that that was a good thing. It meant her muscles were relaxing.
Hikari undid the shirt and she reached into her backpack pulling out her venom holster and opening it easily this time. She pulled out five separate needles and scanned her antidotes and antivenenes, selecting five, three different ones and the other two the same.
She injected a specific amount of each countervenom into her body, before breaking the tips of the syringes and throwing them aside. Without asking for help, she tied Hikari's shirt around only her arm this time, and he lifted her again, this time carrying her piggy-back as they dashed through the trees towards Konoha.
Hikari pulled her closer as he sped up, her bare stomach pressing on his back as he dodged through the trees. She felt her muscles completely give out as her mind began to slip away, and she nestled her head into his shoudler, closing her eyes. Hikari turned in suprise at the gesture, but returned his eyes to the path ahead.
"Keep her eyes open," ordered Genma. Hikari obeyed, jolting her out of her doze.She coughed up blood and let out a rattling breath, the poison was beginning to eat at her lungs again. The sun had begun to rise, and she recognized the forest around them to belong to the Fire country. They were nearing Konoha. Perhaps she would make it afterall.
A new wave of pain washed over her suddenly and she cried out softly, tears streaming down her cheeks against her will. Her head throbbed painfully before it passed and she relaxed slightly. Hikari turned his head in concern, and suddenly sped up, dashing at an almost impossible speed. He left Genma behind for a few moments until he managed to catch up to the gennin. She didn't know that Hikari had been so fast.
"Hikari," she whispered into his ear.
"We're almost there," he said.
"I have the only antivenene in the village for the brown snake, it's in my closet. It's labelled as Brown Snake, Common, AN2. It's the only way to stop the poison."
"I need to get you to the hospital though," he said. She managed to shake her head.
"Take me to my apartment first."
They left Genma and Tsuno behind again as the village gates loomed up before them. Hikari forced chakra to his feet and took off, launching himself into the air and landing on the wall before jumping down and dashing towards her apartment. The sun was almost fully up.
He practically knocked dow her door and placed her on the bed, dashing to the closet and emerging a few minutes later with a small vial in his hand. He moved his hand towards her backpack, but she reached up and stopped him.
"You don't know how to inject this type of antivenene properly, just bring it to the hospital. Tell them to administer it subcutaniously instead of intraveniously. Remember, sub-cu-tan-i-ous-ly."
"Subcutaniously," he repeated, pocketing the antivenene and lifting her again. As he dashed from the room, her body convulsed, her heart thumping irregularly for a few moments before relaxing. More blood trickled from her mouth as Hikari carried her towards the hospital as fast as he could, which was very fast.
They were there in a matter of minutes, bursting through the front doors and skidding to a halt in the lobby. There was a moment of silence before a group of medical-nin rushed over and took her from him. Hikari handed them the antivenene.
"She said to administer it subcutaniously instead of intraveniously," he said to the shinobi he handed it to.
"Why!? Brown snake antivenene?"
"I don't know! I'm not a poison expert!"
"No, he's right. In her condition, if you administer it with an I.V. it will have a greater chance of a brain hemmorage and death. Take her to emergency!"
Hikari watched helplessly as Kumori was placed on a stretcher and run through a pair of double doors by a group of medical-nin. He hesitated for a moment, glancing behind him, before dashing in after her and running up beside the stretcher.
"Hold this and make yourself useful," ordered a medical-nin. Hikari placed a hand over her breathing mask, still running to keep up with the stretcher. They entered a room crowded with various machines and one of the doctors administered the antivenom, quickly bandaging the place it had been injected. They didn't seem to notice Hikari holding onto the breathing mask as they rushed around the room.
Hikari suddenly reached down and grabbed Kumori's hand, squeezing it tightly. It was very cold and sent shivers up his spine. She opened her eyes, focusing as best she could on him, tears still streaming down her cheeks from pain. Her fingers twitched slightly and she weakly squeezed his hand, coughing a few times.
A medical-nin suddenly pushed Hikari back out the door, leaving Kumori alone in the cold, electrically lit room. She suddenly lurched, her stomach muscles contracting violently as she let out a loud scream, the venom taking full affect. Several doctors pushed her back onto the stretcher, calming her down.
Hikari heard the scream and tried to turn back into the room, but he was pushed out by a number of doctors.
"Kumori!"
He got no answer, but he picked out low moaning from withing the room. Fear washed over him, followed by deep concern. He tried again to get back into the room, but the doctors pushed him out roughly and slammed the doors shut, leaving him on the ground.
He stood and pressed his face up to the glass, but his vision was blocked by the throng of doctors around her. He raised his hands and made a few quick seals.
"Byakugan!"
He squinted through the doctors, finding Kumori's still form. His blood froze. There were two doctors performing CPR, pressing their palms violently into her chest and forcing her to breath. He saw one rubbing a defibrillator, the two metal pads used to shock the heart back into action, together. They pressed the instrument into her chest suddenly.
He watched helplessly as Kumori's thin frame jolted, twitching from the electric shock. They did this twice more, before the doctor in charge pointed to the door, directly at Hikari, and shouted something to a medicl-nin.
The medical-nin ran out the door, pushing it open and turning towards Hikari. He released his Byakugan, looking up at the medical-nin.
"What's going on!? What's happening to Kumori!?"
"Look, I need you to calm down. You need to tell us what happened. I'm not going to lie to you, Kumori is suffering from cardiac arrest. She has had a heart attack and we need to know exactly what drugs she took beforehand to reverse it. Think carefully, it's a life and death matter."
Hikari felt as if he were going to have a heart attack as well, his breathing sped up as he looked between the medical-nin and the emergency room. He took a deep breath to calm himself, not that it helped all that much.
"The first drug she took was an antivenene that covered all poisonous snakes, and that slowed the poison. It was labelled as G1."
"Good, now we know she took other drugs, so tell me about those."
"She said something about there being three types of molecules in Brown Snake venom, but she didn't have the antidote, so she took five other things which I don't remember. Three were different and the last two were the same. The ones that were the same were labelled as 'Anticoagulant AT.'"
The medical-nin's face paled considerably, he apperently knew something Hikari didn't. He looked as if he were going to pass out at any moment, but he quickly regained his senses.
"She took the double doses of the wrong antidote..."
"What's wrong now!?"
The medical-nin didn't respond, instead pushing the double doors apart and shouting over the commotion.
"It's a double dose of AT Anticoagulant! Stop that!" he barked a another group of medical-nin doing something to Kumori's breathing mask.
"Get a full list of antidotes! Now! And get that kid to remember, this girl's not gonna last very long even with that information," came a return shout. Another medical-nin burst out of the door, dashing down the hall and almost knocking the other medical-nin and Hikari over.
"Okay, listen kid. We need a full list of everything she took. Can you remember?"
Hikari desperately raked his memory, but was distracted by the shouts of the medical-nin inside of the emergency room. The medical-nin grabbed his still bare shoulders and pushed him against the wall, blocking his view of the room. He tore his eyes away and met those of the medical-nin.
"You have to remember... Anything, any small bit of writing you caught on the bottles. Anything she mentioned. Anything at all, no matter how insignificant it might seem to you."
"Ugh... I don't know! I can't remember!"
"Calm down and relax..."
Hikari sighed in frustration, sweat forming on his brow as he closed his eyes in concentration.
"Ugh... something about neurotoxins... neurotoxic petides or something... something activators and neurotoxic phosphi-something. I don't know!"
"Wait, she injected that into her body!?"
"No, that's what she said about the venom... she injected.. I remember... One of them, the first one was labelled as a polyvalent antivenin, another was neostigmine-"
"That's the word we were looking for. She's having an allergic reaction... This is bad."
He pushed back through the doors, shouting in at the doctors again. "It's an allergic reaction! She took Polyvalent Antivenin and Neostigmine, probably along with Antropine as well, but I'm not su-"
"Out of the way!!"
It didn't help Hikari to see the Hokage herself come dashing down the hall along with her assistant and the medical-nin who had come out of the room a few minutes ago. The Hokage burst through the door, glancing at Hikari before brushing past him.
This is really bad, he thought. Someone shouted again and that was too much for him as they pressed the shocking instrument into her chest. There was blood on the floor of the emergency room and on his own hands and body. Had he gotten here too late?
When the emergency room died down, the doctors going silent, some walking out slowly and shaking their heads, Hikari could take no more. He took one more look at the emergency room, before dashing down the hall to find his sensei. His hands were shaking and his knees felt weak as he ran into the lobby.
Genma was pacing the lobby, his arms crossed over his chest and his toothpick still. He noticed as Hikari dashed into the room, almost trippinf on the carpet as he skidded to a halt.
"Sensei!"
"Hikari, where's Kumori? Is she alright now?"
"I don't know what's going on... They put her in emergency and she had an allergic reaction and then a heart attack and-"
"Heart attack!?"
"Yeah, and they tried shocking her heart back... And they asked me about what she injected... And then-then the Hokage-sama herself went in."
"Geez," muttered Genma quietly. But the concern was evident on his face and his eyes darted to the hallway that led to emergency. Another group of medical-nin ran out of the hall, covered in blood that Hikari hoped belonged to someone else.
"I shoud have stopped her when she found out that Saigo was a poisons master as well. It was too much for her. If she dies..."
"Don't say that!" shouted Hikari suddenly. Genma turned back to him.
"You go home, I'm going to find out what's happening. I'll call you if anything happens, alright?"
Hikari only managed to nod. "How's Tsuno?" he asked, trying to tear his mind away from Kumori and her current state.
"He'll be fine. Go home and get some rest. And put on a shirt."
Hikari looked down and remembered his shirt was still tied around Kumori's arm. His chest was smeared with her bloody handprints, and he guessed that his back and shoulders had even more blood on them. He sivered before turning and striding out of the hospital as Genma dashed down the hospital hallway towards emergency.