Nothing new to say. Really, I'm just on a role in trying to make up for my extended absence. :) Also, please point out any and all mistakes that I've made in this chapter! I'm pretty sure I got them all, but still. I might've missed it regardless of however many times I reread this chapter.
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Edited as of: March 23, 2014
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"You're very scrawny for a grown woman, ya know. Are you sure you were considered healthy when you were alive?"
I couldn't help but twitch at the girl slathering a healthy amount of green ointment on my back, where scratches lined across my back in what appeared to be an orderly fashion. Her hands shifted aside the string of the backless gown that I had changed into earlier, allowing an easier reach for her to rub the somewhat nice-smelling ointment onto my back. I grimaced reflexively at the contact, but held still. These annoying scratches must've happened during the time Naruto and I had attacked Sasuke at the same time cause I certainly couldn't recall getting them when I had been fighting him one on one. They weren't particularly painful and they were easy to ignore, but Unohana had insisted the ointment be put on anyway to ward off any possible infections that could set in. Speaking of Unohana...
I gave her a scowl from her standing position outside the door. Her back was turned to me, so there wasn't much my scowl could do for her. She was currently talking to what I assumed to be a woman. A very tall woman. She completely towered over Unohana by quite a few inches. She was making nervous hand gestures and I noticed her grey eyes kept sweeping in my direction every few seconds, as if she were afraid I would attack Unohana since her back was turned. Unohana eventually led the woman away from the doorway, disappearing from my sight to more than likely give the woman a peace of mind so that she may actually talk to her properly.
I snorted at that. Shinobi I may be, but even I had my morals. I wouldn't attack a woman who had partially healed me unless she gave me a damn good reason to hurt her. And so far, she hadn't done anything to me in an antagonizing way. She had been civil and polite to me the entire time that I had been awake. Apart from all the semi-antagonistic jabs to my ego, she was alright. As far as I was concerned, she was more friend than she was enemy to me right now.
Though I do have half a mind to kill this annoying girl. She hasn't stopped talking since she first came in.
There was nothing really noticeable about the girl tending to the scratches that littered my body. She was of average height and her hair was a plain brown that was held up in twin, spikey pigtails. Her eyes were an interesting shade of stormy-grey and lilac, but other than that, she wasn't really all that noticeable. Except for the fact that she talked like her life depended on it.
She waved her hand in front of my face obnoxiously, the motion heavily exaggerated. "Hello?" She drawled, bringing her face close to mine. "Anybody home?"
I didn't like how close she was to my face and I think my next reaction completely justified it. Tensing, I unthinkingly reared back and head-butted the girl, a grunt escaping my lips at the impact. She landed a few feet away on her ass, moans of pain erupting from her mouth as she cradled her more than likely injured head. Tears welled up in my eyes as I felt what suspiciously felt like blood trickle down my forehead and in between my nose and left eye. The girl had a harder head than I'd thought.
Normally, I would criticize the girl for getting too close to a ninja's face and use her now abused head as a good example of what the consequences could be, but I found that I didn't blame her. She didn't know that I had been a Shinobi when I had been alive and she certainly hadn't known how uncomfortable I get whenever people I don't know get as close to me as she had. She didn't know how I functioned, to work around my Shinobi-ingrained habits so as to avoid things like this from happening. Therefore, it was only through sheer force of will that I let the matter of her getting in my face go and helped her off the polished, wooden floor.
She continued to massage her head and gave me a small glower. "What'd you do that for?" She asked, pulling her hand away to check for blood. "I know you're new and all, but attacking a Ranked Officer is a high offense here in the Seireitei, regardless if you're a Plus or not!"
Finally.
Ever since I had woken up, I had gained no amount of new information as to where I was and what the area was like. The words "Seiretiei" and "Plus" made absolutely no sense to me, but "Ranked Officer" most certainly did. It was a position of power, one that could possibly be connected to one of five levels of power back in Konoha. I wasn't sure what levels there were here, seeing as how we had never used words like "Ranked Officer" to describe our Shinobi, but I was almost positive that if this place was as organized and well-directed as I thought it was, then there was no mistake that there were other positions of power here in this "Seireitei" just like how a "Ranked Officer" seemed to be people of some importance.
"I don't like people getting in my face," I said, sitting back down on the bed, smoothening out my hospital gown. I took care to keep my hair over my shoulder. I'd rather not have green ointment drying in my already obnoxious pink hair. "It makes me uncomfortable."
"Noted," She grumbled, then she noticed the wound on my head and gave a small squeak of terror. "Oh my God! If Captain Unohana finds out that you gained another injury, she's going to kill me!"
"Hmm? Did Haruno-san get hurt again?" And look at that. Speak of the Devil. It has returned at last.
I watched with great amusement as all life left the girl's face and she slowly turned around to face her superior with reluctance, eyes wide and fearful. I noticed her legs were shaking and her fingers were making circular motions and I couldn't resist a smirk. I didn't understand why the girl was really afraid of Unohana. I mean, she wasn't even all that scary. Sure, her chakra levels were nothing to snort at, but that was really all that I found worrying about her. Oh. And the katana she carried over her shoulder. That worried me a tiny bit cause no idiotic person carried around a weapon they couldn't use unless they were confident in their skills for said weapon.
"Well, um, you see, Captain," She said nervously, stuttering and faltering over her words, which caused her to lose what little sense of calm that she had left and turning into an apologizing mess of overrated tears and pleads of forgiveness. I shamelessly admit to mentally laughing at the girl's misery as Unohana simply watched her with a calm smile on her face. She spoke only when she was sure that the girl had had her fill of meaningless talk.
"Vera," She began patiently—I mentally rejoiced because finally, I could give the girl a name instead of calling her "she", "girl", "the girl", and "it"—as Vera looked up, "there is no need for such hysterics. It seems to merely be a scratch. Not in the least bit life-threatening. You are not in any sort of trouble for something as trivial as a scratch. And besides." Here she smiled her somewhat dark smile. I kid you not, I could've sworn I saw shadows begin crawling across her face and giving her an even more threatening appearance. "It appears to not have been your fault. So no harm done."
I sweatdropped slightly at that last part. Oh sure. Blame it on me when she clearly should've known not to shove her face in mine to begin with...
A dazzling smile lit across Vera's face. "Thank you so much, Captain!"
"Of course." Unohana leveled me with a look as she came to my side and placed a square of gauze over the new wound. I found myself interested in how quickly she could change emotions. She just went from understanding to dead serious in two seconds flat. "In two days time, you are to meet up with the Head-Captain and discuss your arrival here. Be warned that he will not tolerate any lip or nonsense from you. He may be a fair man, but he does not allow disrespect in his presence and he expects nothing but the truth." Her hands left my forehead, returning to the clasping position in front of her and giving me a deceivingly kind smile.
I tilted my head and smiled innocently at her. "I have every intentions of telling naught but the truth, Captain." That was a downright lie. I had had all the intentions of barging right on into the office of whoever owned this place and demand to know what the hell is going on here. Unohana apparently noticed that, though, and set up rules for me to follow and respect before and after the meeting. It was funny how she thought that I would actually follow them.
She obviously saw the tiny white lie hidden beneath my words and I instantly noticed the suddenly frigid atmosphere just as a frosty look appeared on her face even as her smile never disappeared. "Good. I wouldn't want anything to befall you in any way. That would be horrible hospitality on my part and it would do nothing but tarnish my Company's and my own reputation as a Captain." That said, she turned smoothly on her toes and walked out of the room, shutting the door silently behind her.
I had the suddenly childish urge to stick my tongue out at the door, but I realized that even if she couldn't see me right now, she would know what I did and would more than likely figure out some way to punish me without breaking any rules or laws on her part. I had no doubt in my mind that she would succeed, no matter what I tried to say to get out of it. She was a smart woman. I believed that the second I saw her. That didn't mean that I couldn't still think it. People that only seemed to care about their reputation rather than those around them really...irritated me.
"You shouldn't test Captain Unohana like that," Vera said lowly, casting the door fearful glances every few seconds, as if she were afraid Unohana would suddenly come back and yell at her.
"I don't like having rules laid out for me when I don't even know the rules myself," I said coldly, my teasing and mischievous mood gone completely and replaced with annoyance.
Vera flinched at my tone. "She doesn't mean to restrict you or anything, Haruno-san," She said, seeming more demure and timid than her earlier chattering self. "Those rules are mainly meant to protect you and keep you out of trouble with the other Captains."
"Because I'm trespassing?"
She hesitated in answering and I noticed immediately. I frowned at her. Her face flushed a deep pink color, but she held my gaze with her own strangely-colored eyes with a wavering stare. "N-Not technically," She said. "There are certain circumstances where other souls from Rukongai come into Seireitei, but those times are rare and kept secret between the Captains. We as Ranked Officers are not qualified to know such information."
I pointed out to her that she had yet to answer my question and I knew that she was reluctant in answering when she hesitated yet again. She seemed to be afraid of revealing too much to an outsider.
"It seems to me that Captain Unohana doesn't seem to believe your sudden arrival isn't that of trespassing, but rather that of an accident. If you had been trespassing, you'd already be in front of the Head-Captain by now. You wouldn't be treated so lavishly like you are now."
Shit. If this was what people here considered "lavish", I'd hate to see what their idea of "poor" was.
Sighing, I asked, "What is there to do around here? I'm bored out of my mind." Which was true. I was bored out of my mind and I wasn't going to sit in this room for the next few days just staring at the walls and counting the dots on the ceiling. Lame way to spend my apparent death sentence. An afterthought suddenly hit me. "And do you have any other clothes? I'd rather not wear this gown my entire stay here."
Vera seemed to brighten considerably at that, grinning widely as she shoved a backless shirt and a pair of black sweats that she seemed to have grasped straight out of thin air into my chest, grabbed my hand, and proceeded to drag me out of the room, chattering about how there was still a lot of chores that needed to be done and that she could use the help as soon as I had finished changing. I made a face at the thought of chores. Chores meant work and work was not something I liked to do willingly. Unless it involved ninja work. Then that was okay. But any other work? I was as lazy as Shikamaru was on his lazy days.
However, considering that I was at the mercy of all these "Soul Reapers", I sucked up my complaints and helped Vera around the compound as soon as I had changed into the rather comfortable clothes that she had given me. This place was positively HUGE. I wanted to say that it was bigger than the Uchiha compound, but that sounded absolutely ridiculous to my mind. I couldn't deny, though, that this place was much cleaner and better taken care of than the Uchiha compound had ever been.
While the Uchiha compound was large and spacious, it was also run-down and dirty, years of neglect catching up to it. And since Sasuke wasn't one to clean an entire compound by himself, he didn't bother doing anything to keep his home in top shape for the hopefully reborn clan in the years to come. He only cared for his parent's house, taking extra care to throw everything of Itachi's in a hidden compartment and proceeding to seal everything away so he wouldn't have to look at them. It was rather pitiful and childish, but I came to realize that that was his way of coping and so I didn't question him.
I ran a very clean, very white, rag across a counter in an occupied patient's room, grumbling about the horrible smell that came from the rag that had just been sprayed with a type of chemical that completely destroyed any hopes of germs gathering in a single place. Vera didn't seem to mind the smell. If anything, I wondered if she ever got intoxicated with the smell because of how close her rag always got to her face as she waved her arms around exaggeratedly as she talked to the patient on the clean bed, which was occupied by a girl who looked no older than sixteen and was covered in gauzes and bindings. For all I know, though, since I found out from Vera a short while ago that Soul Reapers take forever to age, this chick could be an old woman for all I knew.
She laughed at Vera when she hit herself in the face with her rag, doubling over slightly when she complained about the smell and threw the rag on the ground. It didn't stay there long. She immediately picked it up just as it left her hand, her face red and her eyes fearfully turning to the door.
"Oh, relax, Vera," the girl said, waving her hand at her as she muffled snickers in her other hand. "Captain Unohana's on the other side of the compound in her office. No need to freak out!"
"I kid you not, I think the walls have ears, Lexi," Vera said lowly, furthering my opinion of her being a child mentally as she gave the walls suspicious looks. "I sometimes think they are conspiring against me and are keeping Captain Unohana informed of everything I do."
"You're not very sneaky and conspicuous, Vera. It's actually very easy to tell when you've done something wrong" I deadpanned from my reaching position by the counter. The goddamn top of the cabinets needed to be cleaned according to Vera and I was too freaking short to even come close to the top. Making matters worse, Vera was sitting in the only chair in the room and I sure as hell wasn't going to climb onto the counters just to clean the top of the cabinets. I'd have to clean the counters again cause my skin touched it. And God forbid, I'd have a very pissed off healer on my ass cause I haven't taken a shower in God knows how long.
Vera pouted at me. My eye twitched when she didn't make the connection that I needed a chair and she was using the only fucking one in the room! The girl, Lexi, instantly made the connection and a wave of snickers assaulted her. She hid her face from me, shoulders shaking violently as she struggled to keep her laughter quiet. Yep. She just took the top of my Shit List.
"But, Sakura-chan," Vera whined as I resisted to cringe at the blatant familiarity that Vera was showing me, "you've only been her for a couple of hours! How could you know that I'm not a stealthy person?"
"Two things," I said sarcastically, giving up and falling back onto my heels. I placed the rag on the counter and started towards Vera. "One: you walk obnoxiously loudly. You sound like a rampaging elephant." Vera made an offended sound, squawks of protest escaping her mouth. Lexi began laughing heavily, slapping her hands on her knees as I rounded the corner of her bed. "And two: you can't be a stealthy person if you can't read cues that people are trying to send you."
Grabbing the back of the chair, I forced Vera out of her seat, sending her screeching to the ground as she landed on her ass as I walked away with my prize. Lexi's heaves reached my ears as she went into another round of barely contained laughter. Vera's mumbles were barely heard over Lexi's laughter and so was easily ignored as I finally completed the last chore Vera had given me.
"You're cruel, Sakura-chan," Vera accused with a mock glare on her face as she rubbed her tailbone area.
I gave her a mockingly raised eyebrow. "I never said I was nice."
"Obviously! Look at what you did to me!"
A playful smirk made its way onto my face and I relished at the way Vera instantly grew wary of my smirk. "You'll quickly learn just how much of a cruel person that I really am."
I cackled at the defeated look on Vera's face. I had two days of freedom before judgment day came around. Two days of complete screwing around and annoying the hell out of whoever I could without getting in too much trouble. Damn straight was I going to make the most of my few days of freedom before I was chained down with new rules and laws again. That's the life right there.
I know it's late. I'm sorry. I've been going through two deaths over the past few days: my best friend committing suicide and my uncle dying of a sudden heart attack. . It's been hard, but I'm managing and I'm happy to have gotten this chapter out before I leave for Arizona tomorrow morning, in which I'll be gone till next Tuesday, I think. I have a horrible memory. xD
To those of you that are still interested in creating a cover for this story, please don't hesitate to ask me questions and bombard me for answers about anything that you might need to know. :) I'll be happy to help!
Hopefully a new chapter will be up next week as well! I'm sure my cousin would be more than willing to lend me her laptop to work on some stuff. ;)
Ja ne~!
-KalafinaJ
