Please Note: I extended the previous chapter a bit. This chapter won't make sense without the additional context.

I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.~ Charlotte Bronte

Chapter 3 : Physique

Blue curtains were parted giving Izumi a view of the outside world. Lush wet grass covered the slope that the clinic sat on along with its ashy counterpart. In the distance, a lighthouse could be seen blinking through the fog. The morning rain had clogged up most of the view, rendering bird watching useless.

Izumi sighed. How was she supposed to keep an eye out for any suspicious shinobi activity now? Then again, Doctor Shenki could take his messages elsewhere. Izumi hated being as helpless as she was. At the same time she felt relieved over the fact that her death would not be her responsibility should she die that instant. Well, that is if she overlooked the technicalities behind her disabled-ness.

"Little Sakuya, you should smile more," advised Nurse Yumitsuki from across the room. She was attending to Shiomi, an eight year old girl that had taken to observing Shenki like a fish to water whenever he did his rounds around the clinic. According to the nurses, the Sector D orphans that dwelled in the nearby forest were not pleased with the girl's defection. They had made their sentiments known when they broke her leg in the altercation from yesterday.

Izumi could not help but envy the girl. Shiomi could still move her other limbs unlike herself. It made Izumi feel inadequate, like she had failed some sort of hidden test.

"Sakuya," called Shiomi, and Izumi turned her fridget face to face her 'older' peer, "do you think Doctor Shenki will visit us today?"

"I hope not," she grumbled. She still was not sure what to think of the man. The doctor was not from Lightning, but that still did not explain his features. They screamed Kumo to her, and until recently, Konoha and Kumo had been at war. A year had barely past since then, and she doubted Kumo would willingly allow one of their ninja to roam free like Konoha did with two of its Sannins.

"And why is that?" the man in question wondered as he stepped right through the door.

Shiomi's caretaker jumped before turning around to shoot Shenki an annoyed look. "Warnings! Please use them! They exist for a reason!" the woman chided as she clutched an unraveled blanket to her chest.

"Yes, yes, Yumitsuki. I apologize," the doctor waved off.

Shiomi, not understanding what a wave off was, waved back in a confused daze. Her face fell as Shenki approached Izumi's bedside.

Unlike yesterday, when Izumi first woke up, her bed was no longer aligned with the door that was right to center of a person entering. It was turned to face the left of a person entering, which was her right if she were facing the door, and the bunk was pushed to the room's right handed upper corner. She had requested it be so, so she could keep an eye on things out the window and what was going on inside. It was a decision she did not regret, seeing as Shiomi had joined her hours later.

"Yumitsuki, how about taking Shiomi out for a walk? I'm sure she could use it," suggested Shenki.

The nurse frowned but did not object. She transferred a bewildered Shiomi to the nearest blanket covered swivel chair and dragged the girl out of the room before the child could protest. Shenki, for his part, had taken a seat at the swivel chair that was parked under the counter beside Izumi's bed.

"So, I'll take it that Kagami Sakuya isn't your actual name, is it?" Shenki commented casually.

"What?" piped Izumi. She fought back to keep her surprise out of sight. The nurses had said the bodies of the adults were charred beyond repair. Had Shenki purposely misinformed them? Misinformed her? "What're you talking about?"

Shenki's frown deepened as he informed her, "The name you gave the nurses while they bathed you, it's not your real name." With his arms crossed over his yellow polo shirt, he leaned back in his chair. The doctor's coat shifted with him. "Imagine my surprise when I finally got around to examining the bodies down at the morgue and found Sharingans in their eye sockets." Shenki dropped his arms to the chair's armrests and looked Izumi directly in the eyes. "See, I wanted to get a better understanding of what caused their deaths. That way I could figure out whether or not it correlated with your paralysis. So, imagine my surprise when I was confronted with those demon eyes, Uchiha. It gave me quite the fright while I was peeling back layers upon layers of charred skin."

"Al-alright! I get it! You-you don't appreciate b-being lied to!" Izumi stuttered out.

"I don't," confirmed the doctor as he looked out the window in thought. Then he added, "I'm not going to ask you to reveal your identity beyond the fact that you're an Uchiha. I'm a healer, not an agent of war nor a rampaging pirate like you Fire folks and the Wave people like to think, so I ask you, when it comes to health, keep it truthful. Are we clear?"

"Y-yes," responded Izumi.

The doctor nodded in approval as he rose from his chair. If Izumi could have leaned back she would have in order to do a double take. The ends of Shenki's lips had quirked upward for a split second before smoothening out into its standard frown.

"Being skeptical and paranoid is all good and well out on the battlefield, but being able to recognize when someone is offering assistants is also important," Shenki inparted. With that, he turned around and began walking towards the doors.

"When will you begin treatment?" Izumi called out to him.

He paused and turned to look over his shoulders. "Once I'm finished examining all those involved in your case."

Izumi grit her teeth but nodded. She new it was coming, the sciency phase of healing, but if that meant moving again and atoning for her failures so far, then so be it.

~Author's Notes~

{Chapter completed on} October 29, 2018

First off, just want to say, Happy Halloween. I don't celebrate it, but I do love seeing the costumes people make on the internet. I don't live in the suburbs, so I don't see trick-a-treaters passing by outside my window. I guess this is my way of giving you guys a treat. I'm sorry for not updating. I've just been out of it these last two months even though I shouldn't be. I failed my college entrance exams, but I've been fortunate enough to get a second chance to retake them. That's really put a damper on things for me(the whole retaking and should be studying part).

P.S. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this again, since I'll be out job hunting soon. I can't post-pone that segment of my life forever. The teen in me is shrieking in terror.