Girin's POV-
I lay in the middle of my hospital bed, listening to the sounds of birds chirping, children laughing, and Tokama threatening to throw med-nin out the window. You know, the usual. The med-nin was saying I couldn't use my arm for a few weeks at least, as it was severely burned. Tokama argued that I had the Chuunin exams to attend, and that I didn't have two weeks to waste in a hospital bed.
I turned to my left, seeing Dakede in the bed next to mine, staring out the window. He'd broken three ribs when he'd slammed into the branch, and his fall had done some damage as well. He was stuck here with me…. Poor guy. I decided it wasn't fair for him to be here alone when I had Tokama outside, and I wondered when his family would come to visit him.
I looked around, deciding it was best my family didn't show… My mother was scary… Growing bored, I turned to Dakede, nodding my head at him. "Hey Dakede, don't you wanna take the armor off? It's gotta be 70 degrees in this building, it's not cold." Dakede turned to me, eyeballing me slightly, before shrugging. His mouth and nose were covered as always, but his green eyes stared out at me. "I'm not hot, and I would rather not take off the armor."
I shrugged at his response, reaching my good hand up to scratch my cheek. "Well… you seem kinda lonely… Don't you have any family?" Dakede turned to look at me once more, and I got the distinct feeling he didn't like me. Then his eyes softened, and he looked down. "I have a twin sister, and a mom. They'll be here soon."
I smiled kindly at the child, waving my hands in a prompting motion. At least he talked. I placed my hand on the bed, tapping it as I continued listening to Tokama arguing. "So uh… Looks like we won't be in the Chuunin exams, huh Girin?"
I turned to him in surprise, not expecting him to talk to me again, or even really ask me anything. I frowned at his question, looking down at my gloved hands, before looking up at the roof. Would we be in the Chuunin exams? Could we afford not to be in the Chuunin exams? Dakede seemed pretty hurt, and I wasn't doing much better…. But if we didn't go to the Chuunin exams we'd be stuck as Gennin, and our teammates would be Chuunin before we were…
The thought of Seika being a Chuunin while I was stuck as a Gennin left a bad taste in my mouth. I turned to Dakede, before looking back down at my hands. I turned to Dakede, a determined look on my face. "I don't know about you Dakede, but I refuse to remain a Gennin! Not only will we attend the Chuunin exams, but we will advance to Chuunin on the first try!"
Dakede smiled back at me, nodding his head in agreement. It was nice to know the green eyed boy shared my determination. His smile faltered however, and he realized a flaw in our plan. "But Girin, the med-nin said we can't use our arms for a few weeks… The Chuunin exams are in six days…" I merely shrugged, deciding his argument was irrelevant. We were going to compete in the Chuunin exams, that was all that mattered. "Where in the rule book does it say we need to use both arms to participate? You use your steam armor to fight, and I only need the one hand for the Landmine Fist. I'll just have to start training!"
I stood to leave, only to grimace as my damaged arm banged against the wooden frame of the bed, and I laid back in the bed… "Maybe I'll train later…" Dakede chuckled at my antics, and I glared at him lightly, before turning on my side. What a pain this was, I hated it in the hospital…. My bandages were scratchy, the blanket was rough, the pillow was as hard as a rock, there was steam everywhere, the…. Wait, steam?
I turned to look around the room, watching as more steam flooded in. What was this? I heard a groaning sound from Dakede, and I turned to look at him, raising my brow. He turned to look at me, a look of dismay on his face as he did. "My sister's here…"
Ahhhh, so the steam came from Dakede and not the armor… Nice to know. I turned to the door, as a young woman, no older than myself, floated in on a bed of steam, looking for all the world like royalty. She floated over to Dakede's bed, plopping down at the edge, moving to a sitting position. Her voice rang out in a high pitched, innocent, child like tone. "Dakedeeee! Look at you! You're all hurt! And just the other day I was on a mission, and I felt a stabbing pain in my arm… Guess that was my twin sense activating huh?"
Dakede shook his head irritably, pushing his twin off of the bed with his foot. "There's no such thing as a twin-sense Kaiya, you're just trying to seem special to make people pay attention to you. You're a Chuunin now, don't you have better things to do than bother me? Like go on missions maybe?"
Kaiya pouted at her twin's accusation, brushing it off, before turning to notice me. "Oooh! Who's your friend?" She reached out and tousled my hair, pulling the blond strands to the side to stare at them, until I reached my hand up and slapped hers aside. "I'm my own person Kaiya-chan, I don't need Dakede to introduce me. My name's Girin, and Dakede and I aren't friends, we're… Dakede, what are we?"
She recoiled as her hand was slapped away, and I began to feel bad as she pouted. Dakede on the other hand, found it immensely funny that someone had denied her sister something she wanted, and he was clearly trying not to laugh. "I'd say we're more of rivals Girin, maybe acquaintances."
I smiled at his answer, nodding my head and looking at Kaiya. "See, rival slash acquaintances. Not friends." Kaiya merely laughed at my statement, flipping her long black hair, a chiming noise ringing forth as I noticed the array of ornaments she had in her hair. "Awwwwhh, lucky you, Dakede's such a horrible friend, he's allergic to laughter."
Dakede scowled at his sister's words, but looked away, deciding it was best not to get into it with the girl. Kaiya looked back at me, creating another steam platform, floating along it to sit on my bed instead. Her kimono flowed around behind her as she floated, and I wondered why she wasted chakra like that, when walking was so easy. That's when I noticed the bandages on her legs, and I was curious, but from the look Dakede shot me, I figured it was best not to ask.
I looked up at the woman's eyes, a bright green color that shocked me slightly, then back to the ornaments in her hair. They were all gold, though some had intricate drawings, while others were plain. I reached up to touch one, but Kaiya slapped my hand away, suddenly angry. "Hey, don't touch those! Those aren't for you!" I raised an eyebrow at Dakede, and he swirled his finger around his temple, the universal sign for crazy.
I looked back at Kaiya, who was busy counting her ornaments, sending me angry glares. When I opened my mouth to apologize, she stood, making her way back to Dakede's bed, and I shrugged. She gave Dakede's head a pat, as she made her way to the door. "Sorry Dakede, but your friends trying to ruin my lucky charms, I'm out."
I raised an eyebrow at the woman, as she shot my one last glare, before leaving. I turned to Dakede, who grimaced at the expression on my face. "I know, I know, she's weird. She thinks she's the chosen servant of lady luck or something, I don't know, all I know is she's really weird about when it comes to luck… Just be glad you didn't break a mirror or something."
I nodded, pretending to understand what Dakede was saying, before turning back to the trail of steam that followed the woman… What an odd clan of people. I lay back down on the bed, as Tokama once again began arguing with someone outside. I wondered why Dakede's mother hadn't yet come to see him, but decided it was unimportant. If he wanted to talk about it, he would.
I turned back to the door as Tokama entered, and he sat down on my bed, clapping me on the leg. "Don't worry Girin, I'll make sure the med-nin fix you up in time for the Chuunin exams. They said you'll heal faster with rest, so no more talking, and don't let me hear about you getting out of this bed, or I'll tell your mother."
The man seemed to be stressed, and I sat up in my bad, staring at him. "Tokama-san... What's wrong?" Tokama looked at me, raising an eyebrow at me, before breathing a heavy sigh and rubbing his nose. "Well Girin, the Tsuchikage's sending me on a mission. It seems our beloved cousin has resurfaced, so I'm to go capture him."
I gave a start at the man's words, knowing who he meant. Our cousin was dangerous, and not a very good person to be hunting. I hoped Tokama could handle the man, Tokama was strong, after all he'd been offered the position of head of the Explosion Corps several times, even if he had rejected it. But still, our cousin was strong…
Tokama must have noticed the look on my face, cause he chuckled, shaking his head at me. His blue eyes stared into my brown eyes as he looked at me. "Come now Girin, don't tell me you're worried about me? I can handle him, and don't worry, I won't kill him either. I'll just capture him and bring him back, the Tsuchikage can sort out the rest. Now get some sleep."
Dakede raised an eyebrow at me as I turned on my side, and Tokama began to leave. He reached his hand out to nudge my shoulder, nodding his head at Tokama's back. "Hey, who's your cousin, why do you seem so worried?" I frowned, rolling over to my other side, frowning slightly. "Deidara... My cousin's name is Deidara."
