After a long journey that included, a tense train ride among the Exwires, an even more tense bus ride with an atmosphere so thick a knife could cut it, the exorcists had finally arrived at the Inn that the Kyoto field office had booked for them.
Rin crouch down next to his sister. "You feeling okay?" Sakura bit back a groan and nodded. She was hunched over, trying to catch her breath through her dry heaves.
"I fucking hate the transportation systems here." Sakura spat on the ground and huffed, rubbing the sweat off her forehead.
"It's still ironic as hell," Izumo muttered, standing next to the two.
"It...really is." Sakura took a deep breath and pushed herself up.
"Are you sure you're okay, you're looking a little pale." Rin bit his lip as he looked at his sister's face. Sakura's entire face was ashen.
Sakura nodded and rubbed her nose. "Yeah, the train just threw off my chakra system." She pulled her hand back, frowning when she saw blood. "It got all jumbled up. Just give me an hour or two. If I'm not better by then, then yes, something is wrong with me."
"You sure, you've got a nosebleed," Izumo said.
Sakura nodded and pulled out her handkerchief, pressing it to her nose. "Yeah, an hour, two tops."
"You ready?" Shura asked. She had the Exwires stay back as they waited for Sakura.
"Yeah, I'm fine to be moving now." She grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder.
"If you're sure." Shura grabbed Shima and pushed him into the Inn. "Get in already."
"I really don't want to," Suguro groaned. "Why did it have to be this Inn?"
"Stop complaining." Suguro grumbled under his breath and glared at Izumo as she pushed past him. Suguro groaned and finally entered the Inn. The workers slowly came to stop to look at him in shock.
"Is that…?"
"It's Bon!"
"Bon! Welcome home!" Bon groaned, his shoulders trembling in anger.
"Uh-oh, we're at thirty percent now," Shima said with a smirk.
"And Renzo and Konekomaru have returned too!"
"Someone go get the Okami!"
"Please don't!" Suguro shouted. "I'm not here for some kind of social visit! I'm here on a mission as an exwire!"
One of the workers returned to the front entrance, eagerly pulling a woman with him. She had black hair that seemed to shimmer and was wearing an elegant kimono. The base color was pink, with green accents. White flowers seemed to float across the fabric. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of Suguro. "Ryuji!"
Suguro groaned and cursed under his breath. The woman approached him, almost in shock.
"Ryuji," she repeated his name and looked at him closely. Out of no where her face contorted into rage and she pulled on his ear. "What on earth were you thinking dyeing your hair! You look like a chicken!" She let go of him and glared at him, her brown eyes becoming fiercer. "I thought you said you were never coming back here! Or was that just some lie?"
"I wasn't lying!" Suguro shouted. "The order just happened to book us at this Inn! And yeah I dyed my hair! It represents my dedication! And why the hell are you calling me a chicken?"
"Some dedication!" the woman snapped, jabbing her finger into his chest. "You used to look so handsome! Why would you ruin your looks with something as stupid as that?"
"Get off my back!" Suguro shouted.
"Uh, hello ma'am!" Konekomaru cut in nervously. "I know it's been a while but..."
"Oh, Neko! And...Renzo! I hardly recognized you!" All traces of anger disappeared from the woman as she faced the other two boys. "I'm sorry you two have been stuck babysitting Ryuji." Suguro grumbled under his breath, crossing his arms.
"Is anyone else kinda lost?" Rin muttered.
"I think I got the gist," Sakura said.
"Oh, where are my manners?" The woman bowed lowly and straightened up to face them once more. "I'm Ryuji's mother, it's nice to meet you. Thank you all so much for looking after my troublesome son."
Rin's eyes widened and he looked at her in shock. "Whoa!" His tail wagged behind him. "You're his mom? You're really pretty!"
"Oh, why thank you." Suguro's mother laughed lightly, causing Suguro to click his tongue and roll his eyes.
"Oh enough with the act already." Her eyes turned towards Suguro, narrowing slightly. Suguro paused and looked away quickly.
"You couldn't tell?" Sakura asked. "They look exactly alike."
"Really?" Shima asked. "I wouldn't say 'exactly' alike."
"Are you guys forgetting I'm a doctor, and an agent of espionage?" She asked. "Genetic profiling, on a physical level such as this, is actually quite simple."
"Oh yeah, how so?" Suguro asked sarcastically.
Sakura glanced at him and smirked. "You get your color from your mother, skin, eyes, and hair to be exact. Your eyes shape closely resembles hers, but the subtle differences are probably from your grandma on her side. And just by looking at her, I can already tell that your facial and body structure comes from your father. Though, I can't draw anything conclusive until I've seen your father in person, but I think it's safe to say you get your looks from your mother's side of the family." The pinkette turned to his mother and smiled, bowing. "And as my little brother mentioned, said looks, are actually very beautiful and graceful. I can tell that you hold yourself to a high standard. And, it's obvious that he has the same standards for himself."
"Oh...yes." His mother blushed and giggled. "Ryuji...I wish you had told me you had such a nice girlfriend."
Suguro's head snapped over to look at his mother in horror. "What!?"
"G-Girlfriend?" Sakura repeated, her cheeks turning pink. The other Exwires busted out laughing at the comment.
"Oh man! Suguro and Sakura! As if!" Rin laughed, holding his sides.
"Ma! She's not my girlfriend!" Suguro shouted.
"And why not?" His mother demanded. "She's a nice, beautiful girl."
"Oh my god." Suguro groaned and shook his head, after a moment he sighed heavily and looked at his mother. "No, just no."
"What, a mother can't be concerned for her child?" She demanded. "I still care for you, Ryuji! What's wrong with me wanting you to marry a nice girl?"
"Ow! What was that for?" Izumo shouted. The group looked over and saw that Sakura had a hand over her face, her eyes wide. She had an arm extended, at level with the side that Izumo was rubbing. Sakura slowly turned towards her and moved her hand, blocking the others from seeing her mouth. After a moment Izumo snorted, her hands flying up to her mouth as well. They both looked at Suguro and busted out laughing.
Suguro growled and glared at them. "What!?" Sakura took a deep breath and fell to one knee in front of Izumo. She held out a hand, as if she was offering something to her.
"Oh, Yoshikuni! I made you this ring out of a lotus, so please, marry me!" Suguro's eyes widened slowly as he watched her. Shima and Konekomaru both snorted, covering their laughs.
"Oh Ryu-chan! You're so sweet!" Izumo gushed, laughing.
"I'm gonna kill both of you!" Suguro shouted, his face bright red.
"What are you two going on about?" Rin asked.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you what I learned when we went to fix your sword!" Sakura said, laughing.
"Tell him and you are dead!" Suguro threatened.
"Alright, alright, let's reign it in," Shura said. "Remember, you're representing the order."
"Sorry ma'am." Despite the apology Izumo and Sakura were still chuckling. Shura sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okami, thanks for your hospitality."
"Oh it's no problem, the order is always welcome here." She smiled as she accepted the gift from Shura.
"We've already talked to the director, so we're going to head out to the field office," Shura said. "We'll leave some doctors to help treat the injured."
"Oh, thank you kindly." Okami bowed her head and smiled.
"Oh yeah, Miwa, Shima, Suguro!" The three boys looked at her, wondering what she wanted. "I know you guys have been away from home for a while, so why don't you go around and say hello to everyone." She turned to the other Exwires. "I want the rest of you to help Mr. Yunakawa in treating the wounded. Mr. Yunakawa, I don't care how much you hate it, but Haruno here will be treated like a senior class doctor, got it? She has a reputation for creating antidotes and cures to previously unknown poisons and toxins. Sakura, think you're up for the task?"
"If they treat me respectfully," Sakura answered with a smirk. "I've been studying the herbs and their uses against demonic poisons and the like. It's pretty cut and dry, so I should be able to whip something up to help."
"Good." Shura turned to Rin and pulled him close, laughing. "Alright Rin, you make sure you behave yourself, alright? Think of this as part of your training." She winked and playfully pushed him away when he responded in compliance.
Sakura's eyes widened as she looked at the amount of patients, and their conditions. She hissed and rubbed the back of her head. "Is there any treatment so far?"
"We have an herbal tea that is helping to slow the progression of the poison, but it's not working as fast as we would hope," Mr. Yunakawa said.
"Right, got it." Sakura quickly pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "Give me a cup of tea. And some blood samples if possible."
"Alright, as for you Exwires, you can help by serving the herbal tea and replacing the drip bags when they run low," Mr. Yunakawa said. He pulled on Rin's shirt, stopping him from leaving with the others. "Not you, Okumura."
"And why not?" Rin asked, pouting.
"I need help," Sakura answered quickly. "Normally I have an assistant back at home, but she's not here right now. As much as a failure you probably are with medicine, it's better than nothing. Plus, maybe I could teach you a few things."
"Are you sure?" Mr. Yunakawa asked. Sakura nodded and pushed her brother off towards a corner.
"We'll be over here. Give me the tea and blood as soon as possible please," Sakura answered. She pushed Rin, leaving the teacher.
"What was that for?" Rin asked.
"They don't trust you," Sakura answered with a sigh.
"Why not?" Sakura sighed and stroked Kuro's head.
"Because they're all assholes. They're probably going to send you from person to person and end up just shutting you out," Sakura said. She smiled when an Exorcist approached her with the tea. She thanked him and sat down, Rin following suit. Sakura poured herself a cup and took a small sip. "Valeriana fauriei… zingiber officinale, pimpinella anisum, hypericum perforatum, hamamelis virginiana, and ceratonia siliqua."
"Wow, you can tell all that by just a sip?" Rin looked at his sister in all. Sakura smiled boastfully and nodded.
"That's not all your big sis can do! Not by a long shot." An exorcist came by, giving her a few test tubes of blood.
"Do you need any equipment?" she asked. Sakura shook her head and took out her scroll.
"I've got my own." She unrolled the scroll and stopped at a symbol. she performed some hand signs and summoned a small case. Sakura opened it up, taking out various equipment. She placed a few drops of blood in a petri dish. She grabbed a fresh cup of tea, using her dropper to take some out. She squeezed a few drops onto the blood and put it under the microscope. "Interesting."
"What?" Rin leaned forward, looking at the dish. Sakura turned the microscope, allowing him to look. He leaned in, smiling when the image came into focus. "Cool."
"Indeed. Now, notice the large granules in the blood, the orange looking ones," Sakura said, stirring the tea. "That's the poison. The granules have reduced in size, but not by much."
"What if you add more tea?" Rin asked.
"The tea can only work so much," Sakura answered. She pulled a book out of her scroll and flipped through it. She rested her hand over a symbol and pulled out a few herbs. "After a while it looses it's effect. If the tea did more all these people wouldn't need to be here."
"So, what do you need to do?" Rin asked, looking up. He noticed that she had gathered a large amount of herbs from the book. "Wait, do you have a summoning book inside the summoning scroll?"
"Yep, I can't keep everything in the scroll. I'd be searching forever for things."
"How many do you have?"
"Too many," Sakura answered. She summoned a mortar and pestle and began grounding up the herbs until they were a fine powder. She sprinkled some of it on the blood and watched the reaction. "The consistency doesn't seem affect how the poison reacts to it. I need to isolate the herb that is causing the most affect and then combine it with others that will enhance it's ability."
"Can you really do all that?" Rin looked at his sister in awe.
"Of course," Sakura answered. "Rin, I need you to go to the garden and get me several sprigs of each herb they have growing. And you can take your time." She smiled and winked at him. It took Rin a moment to understand her but when he did his smile grew.
"Gotcha sis!" He jumped up and rushed towards the garden. Sakura smiled and shook her head fondly.
"Now, which one of you does the most." She turned back to the microscope, a relaxed smile on her face.
"Hey." Sakura looked up, seeing Suguro, Shima, and Konekomaru standing before her. "Heard you were helping create a cure."
Sakura nodded, smiling up at Suguro. "Yep. There hasn't been a poison that could best me. Natural or man made, known or unknown, I've created the cure."
"That's quite impressive," Shima said.
"Why thank you." Sakura smiled and turned the pages in her book. "I wonder if some rosemary will help."
"Rosemary, I didn't think that was medicinal," Konekomaru said.
"Oh, it's not," Sakura said, not looking up from the book. "But I've found that the herbs don't always have to be medicinal in nature to have a positive reaction."
"Oh, so do you have anything so far?" Suguro asked.
"Given the limited blood samples they gave me, not much," Sakura said with a sigh. "I'm at least thankful they gave me vials so it can be stretched out, but honestly the positive cure combinations are endless. As it is, I'm probably going to end up using two vials just to test individual reactions, and that's only for the herbs. If I expanded my ingredients, I'd never have enough time." She stopped and hummed. "What about thyme?" She flipped through the book once more, pulling out some thyme.
"Wow, you sure work hard," Shima said.
"Of course." Sakura didn't look up at the trio as she pulled the thyme leaves off the stem and ground them up. "This is life or death, I have no choice but to work hard. I missed one night of sleep curing Kankurō, three on an outbreak in a small village west of Waves, and a week's sleep and nearly three days food on a chameleon poison. And those were with an entire team."
"Chameleon?" Suguro asked.
"The genetic make up of the poison constantly changed. I had to isolate the shifting element and then neutralize it. After giving out that first antidote, it took less than a day to cure it completely," Sakura said. She frowned as she watched the thyme react to the blood. "Thyme accelerates poison speed by 1.36 seconds." She quickly wrote down the observations in a notebook.
The trio looked at her in shock as she replaced the blood sample, making sure to label and protect the previous one. Her head suddenly snapped up and her ears twitched. Her tail shifted nervously, flicking every which way.
"What's wrong?" Suguro asked. Sakura didn't get the chance to answer before there was a scream and a wall was knocked down. A snake slithered into the room, hissing wildly.
"The patients!" Sakura gasped jumping up. She ran in front of the snake, taking out a kunai. The snake reared back and hissed at her. "Go ahead, harm them, I dare you!" A golden staff flew past the snake, impaling itself in a support beam. Sakura took her eyes off the snake for a second to stare at the staff, but in that second the snake surged forward.
"On basara gini hara nenhatana souka! Seal of Armored Self-Defense!" A glowing shield appeared, protecting Sakura from the attack. The snake slithered back, returning to a blonde woman.
"The hell do ya think your doing!" Suguro shouted from in front of Sakura. "You all must have lost your minds to be fighting each other!"
"Suguro, thanks," Sakura said, staring at him in shock.
"No problem." Suguro slid out of his stance and looked back at her. "You okay?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Honestly, who do you think I am?"
"Right, stupid question." Suguro smirked and turned back to the three blonde girls. Two men, one with blond hair, the other with black, were in front of them as well.
"Bon!" The blond greeted.
"Ryuji! You're back! And you brought Renzo!"
"Shut up!" Suguro shouted. "Are you guys really fighting right now? Enemies are at our door! Several exorcists are here fighting for their lives and you nearly endangered them! Not to mention you almost hurt Haruno! She's probably the only person that could find a cure and you nearly took her out!"
"Wow, way to have faith in me," Sakura muttered sarcastically.
"I seem to remember stepping between you and that Naga." Suguro said, glaring at her for a moment. "But how stupid can you get?" Sakura moved back in surprise, not expecting his next outburst to be directed at her. "Nagas can be really dangerous! It could have killed you!"
"Hey! Who the hell do you think I am? Some pitiful snake can't harm me!" Sakura shouted, glaring at him. "I've faced bigger and badder snakes before! I can show you one that easily span the length of our village!"
"Idiot! What use would you be to everyone if you had died? Some Nagas have a poisonous bite that can cause paralysis or even hallucinations!" Suguro turned his anger towards her, forgetting about the people that had actually been the ones that had almost harmed her. "Worst case scenario would be death!"
"That doesn't matter! I'm a doctor! My patients health will always come before mine!" Sakura declared. "I don't care if I die as long as my patients are fine!" The two glared at each other heatedly, sparks flying between them.
"Uh, Bon…?" Shima gulped nervously as his call fell on deaf ears. The two continued to glare at each other, ignoring everyone else.
"But if you're not here, then who's gonna help them?" Suguro growled. "That kind of thinking is pretty fucked up! Ever hear of self-preservation?"
"You have not faith in your exorcists, do ya? And self-preservation be damned!" The two continued bickering, easily ignoring the stares.
Shima groaned and scratched his head. He held out a hand, miming pushing something and huffed, bringing it down. "Is it bad that I just wanna push them together right now?" He asked quietly. "I mean seriously, that is some major tension they got goin' on."
"They're arguing like an old married couple," Konekomaru whispered. He squeaked when two fierce glares were directed at him.
"Uh-oh." Shima chuckled. "I think they heard you."
"Bon! It was those damn snake women." That shout seemed to grab Suguro's attention, and not in a good way.
"It doesn't matter who the hell started it! I'm ending it!" Suguro shouted.
The 'snake woman' turned up her nose at Suguro. "Hmph. It doesn't matter if you have the priest's blood and that you technically have a higher rank, the one that you should be taking to is your dear old dad."
"Hey! Don't talk to Bon like that!" The blond male shouted at her.
"No, Mamushi is right," Suguro said. "And trust me, I plan on talking to him. Anyway, you better knock it off and leave the patients alone. Haruno." Sakura looked over at him, raising an eyebrow when he called her name. "If they do anything like that again, call me."
"I don't have your number," Sakura said, staring at him blankly. Suguro sighed and rolled his eyes. He took out his phone and handed it to her.
"What happened here?" Rin asked, walking over to them.
"Nothing that wasn't hand-" Sakura paused as she glanced up, noticing that he had a tray of watermelon in both hands, and on his head. She stared at him for a moment, before tilting him and looking at him curiously. "I thought I sent you out to get herbs. How did you end up with watermelon?"
Rin raised an eyebrow before he grimaced, remembering her mission. "Damn it. I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry, I got sidetracked."
"No kidding." Sakura muttered. She took out her phone as it rang.
"Yeah, I ran into Suguro's dad and he wanted me to cut up these watermelon for the patients," Rin said.
"You ran into him?" Suguro asked, looking at him in shock. "Which way did he go?"
"I...don't really know. He hoped a fence," Rin answered. Suguro growled and took his phone out of Sakura's hand. He stormed past them, Shima and Konekomaru running after him.
"Is anyone going to eat this yummy watermelon?" Kuro asked, licking his lips.
"That is a good question," Rin said.
Sakura looked at the watermelon in his hand and narrowed her eyes. "Give me one of those."
"Huh?"