Mila rubbed her eyes tiredly as the sun's first rays slipped through her window. She blinked a few times to chase away the early morning blur in her vision before sitting up, hearing a few satisfying pops as she stretched. With practiced efficiency, she donned her usual silk attire with the addition of a heavy cloak for the winter chill.
Mila stepped out of her room, rubbing her hands and shivering slightly as the cold air hit her. She padded leisurely towards Aroka's room; a path she had walked... well, surely more times than she could recall.
Once she reached the familiar door, she stood to its right, her usual post, and leaned against the wooden panes.
'Misora might be coming today,' she thought, eyes tilted up towards the still-brightening sky, 'Such a good kid, it's not hard to see how they're related." Mila was surprised when Aroka had first asked her to send a message to her father. She knew how her friend felt about her birth parents and she had seen her resentment first hand, so she couldn't imagine what Aroka had to say to them. Who would have thought, when her biological family arrived at the compound, she had no harsh words for them, she even forgave them. She believed her friend was a good person, yes, but this caught her off guard. Mila was just a child when her parents, too, gave her away to the main family. Just like Aroka, her parents were also poor and could not afford to raise a child, but the difference came in that Mila's parents came to visit her regularly throughout her life. They brought her gifts on her birthday, made her food a few times a month, greeted her warmly in passing, and even then Mila had a hard time ignoring the resentment she held for them. Growing up eased her anger, as time is ought to do, but it didn't seem so for Aroka. Or maybe it was just harder to notice; people are like that.
Mila wasn't oblivious, though, she knew her friend's newfound forgiveness didn't come from nowhere; she was dying. Aroka had mentioned having a sister before, and though she never said too much about it, Mila imagined she must have wanted to meet her, if only to see the daughter their parents didn't sell. It seemed her friend was better than she gave her credit for, though, because Aroka seems to genuinely care about Misora. However she might feel about her parents, she didn't want to miss the chance to have a sister.
A quiet noise from inside the room pulled Mila from her dreary thoughts. She shook her head and decided not to think too much about it, else she get too caught up in things yet to come. Once her mind returned to her, she noticed the sky was already bright and the sun was out in full. Should she wake Aroka up? Another quiet noise from the other side of the door seemed to indicate that wouldn't be necessary.
"Are you up?"
There was no response, but she thought she heard something. A gasp?
"Are you ok?" Mila slid the door open just a bit.
Aroka was indeed awake; she was sitting up in her bed near the far wall. But something was wrong. Her eyes were wide, her face twisted into an expression Mila didn't recognize as she stared directly at the gap in the door. It was… wrong, somehow. Mila couldn't put her finger on it… Aroka, her eyes were wide… Her eyes...
Her eyes…
Her eyes were green.
A scream tore through the morning air, jolting Toru out of his thoughts, his head snapped up and he threw open his door. A pit formed in his stomach; he knew where it was coming from. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, passing dozens of bewildered faces poking out into the halls.
When he got there, the double doors were wide open and there was already a small crowd. He unceremoniously pushed past a few clan members before he could enter the room. Then he saw it.
Aroka was huddled in the corner, doubled over on the ground, head buried in her hands. The scream coming out of her mouth was almost unbearable. A frantic Mila stood nearby, desperately trying to ask what was wrong but Aroka only flailed and kicked when she tried to touch her, pushing herself further into the corner.
"What happened?!" Toru grabbed Mila's arm, eyes wide and brows knit. She could barely hear him over the terrified cries of their friend.
"I-I don't know! She just woke up and started screaming! She's been covering her eyes the whole time, something's wrong with her eyes!"
"Crap," Toru muttered, gritting his teeth. He glanced at the concerned onlookers outside the door and spotted two men he recognized as shinobi, "You two! Bring her to the medics ward now!"
The men nodded with a "yes sir!" and stepped forward, they approached Aroka and grabbed her arms as carefully as they could. She screamed even louder, struggling against them as if her life depended on it. When they pulled her out of the corner her head instantly dropped to face the ground and her hands pressed tighter against her eyes. Once they pushed her out the door she became even more frenzied to the point they had to pick her up because she would not walk. They hurried quickly towards the medical wing and her screams faded with them.
"Toru, what the hell was that? What's wrong with her?" a woman shook the young leader's arm.
"It's nothing. Go back to what you were doing, everyone!" he demanded in a tone he seldom used.
Obediently, the small crowd dwindled until it was only him and Mila. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair before turning to her; she was crying now.
"Don't worry, she's going to be fine," he said as comfortingly as he could, "I'll make sure of it."
Mila bit her lip and nodded, still staring off in the direction they had gone with a frightened dread in her eyes. Toru could only give her a gentle clap on the shoulder and an apologetic glance before turning and rushing off towards the medical ward as well.
Mila waited anxiously outside the treatment room slumped forward with her head in her hands. It had been hours since those men had rushed an unhinged Aroka into the ward, followed by half a dozen men in white. The screaming stopped soon after, but Mila's ears still rang incessantly; it was a sound she would be hard pressed to forget. There were quiet murmurs coming from the other side of the heavy door but she could never make out more than a few words at a time:
...went wrong...
...we don't know why…
...Aroka...
...the eyes...
Mila shook her head vigorously; she had to stop listening, they'd come tell her what they knew soon so surely there's no use trying to piece it together now. But soon wasn't soon enough and Mila needed to know what happened. Had her mind played a trick on her?
Were Aroka's eyes really green? She must have seen wrong but it was so real, so jarring. There's no way she could have just made that up, right? It must have something to do with her sudden outburst, right?
The door next to her clicked open, startling the preoccupied woman who shot up in an instant. Five men in medic's attire stepped out one by one, each with deep frowns on their brow. Mila recognized all but one of them. Behind them came Toru and an older man she remembered as one of his advisors donning equally grim expressions.
"Toru! How is she?"
"Oh, Mila, you're here. She's ok, the medics gave her a sedative; it'll keep her asleep for a few hours."
"Do they know what's wrong with her?"
"...Not yet."
"What… what's going to happen now?"
"Don't worry, they'll figure it out for sure. Until then you should take a break; once she wakes up she'll want to see you."
Milas gaze fell and she nodded reluctantly.
It's been a week since the incident. The doctors won't let me see her; they tell me she hasn't woken up yet and they need to be careful given her condition. I idle outside the locked door for a few hours every day, trying to catch a glimpse of her whenever the doctors come and go. I don't know why, but I'm not sure I trust them.
I hope she's ok.
Toru visits her regularly, he assures me Aroka is doing well; it's only a matter of time before she wakes up, he says. He tries to convince me to not visit so often, to take it easy; maybe he can tell I haven't been sleeping much. I feel better knowing he's watching out for her. The three of us might be different: our ranks, our wealths, our pasts, but we grew up together, we're friends. I know he must be hurting as well so I try not to make him worry about me.
It was the early afternoon and the air was frigid, possibly the coldest day yet, and the sun did little to warn away the chill. It was better inside the building, mostly, but Mila still wished for the winter to pass quickly.
She leaned her head against the wall, drifting in and out of sleep. It was a wonder how she was able to rest at all in such an uncomfortable position but maybe it was just a matter of desperation.
"..."
Mila lifted her head and tiredly blinked a few times. Did... she hear something? Glancing around she saw no one in the hall and there was only silence.
It must have been her imagination.
"..."
No, it was definitely something, it sounded like... a mechanical hum? Maybe more like a buzz? It was soft but, if she pressed her ear to the wall, it was definitely there. She would have thought nothing of it, after all there must be medical devices inside the room that make little noises like that, but she was sure it wasn't there just a few minutes ago.
Mila stood up and knocked on the door; maybe it meant something was wrong with Aroka? Were any of the doctors with her? After a few knocks with no response Mila frowned and dropped her hand in frustration.
"Huh?"
Her hand had hit the doorknob and it turned without resistance.
She reached for it again and, as before, it turned. It was unlocked, someone must have forgotten to lock it when they left. Sure she wasn't supposed to go inside but she could come up with some excuse if she were caught, right? It couldn't hurt. Nodding to herself, Mila pushed open the door and the screams flooded out.
Stunned, she was glued to the floor, having barely taken half a step inside. Her legs shook as she processed what her eyes were seeing. A woman lay on a medical bed on the other side of the room, metal restraints binding her wrists and ankles, bruises colored the surrounding skin a sick red-purple. Her hair was wild and matted and her face was ghastly pale, even from a distance Mila could see the tears streaming down her ashen cheeks. She writhed painfully on the white bed, head thrown back as she fought uselessly against her restraints. Her jaw was wide, not for a moment did she stop screaming, those same terrible screams that rang in her head every time she tried to sleep.
"What are you doing? Get her out of here!"
Mila was too shocked to notice two doctors running towards her, one of them pulled her back while the other ran inside.
"You can't be here," the one in front of her said firmly before following his colleague and shutting the door behind them.
The silence rang in her ears, though it was almost more unbearable.
