By the time Mana had found it in her to open her eyes it was dark. She was in a dimly lit hospital ward, a surrounding all too familiar to her as she had a somewhat notable memory of her stay there after the finals of the Chuunin Exams, not to mention the time the fight against the Imarizu left her hospitalized as well.
Upon her awakening a bunch of people gathered around her, some were worried, for some their worries were alleviated by Mana waking up. It was surprising to see Thumb, Muriya, and his family, Shira all gather around her with various thoughts to voice about Mana's awakening.
"You still owe me a spar," Yushijin mumbled. He was sitting on an empty bed farther away, in a whole other corner of the ward. The young man stood up and approached the magician, the circle of people moved aside letting the young man in. "I may have been a bit of a dick to you during the Exams but seeing you alive does make me glad."
"Why is everyone here?" Mana spoke in a weak voice, even if her body did feel a bit numb and sore in places, for the first time that week she felt well rested and her mind was finally flowing clearly.
"I figured that after those guys thought they'd disposed of you, they'd go for your crew. I carried them around me so that I could have them within my sword's reach if the need to protect them came." Yushijin sighed, glancing at the very odd bunch.
"I had two green pills on me when I arrived in Shukuba. Figured you'd make it a tough fight before coming with me so one was for me when you kicked my ass too much for it not to be a pain to move around. The second one was for you if I accidentally went too far. Given how you had a gaping hole where the overdose of food pills hits you, figured the odds of you surviving the ordeal were present, if slim." Yushijin explained. He tapped his ninja kit pouch as he did so.
It did not matter that Mana's sides ached like all living hell. It did not matter that she felt nauseous inside and every moment felt like the moment when she would inevitably throw out all of the gut that the food pills helped her close up and heal, Mana jumped up on her bottom and kissed Yushijin in gratitude. She could feel all the chakra signatures covering their faces and walking away slightly, looking through the window or otherwise occupying themselves. Had they not been in danger, all of them would have left the ward wearing the discomfort of seeing such a passionate expression of gratitude on their faces.
"A "thanks" would've been just fine. As I've said, I may have been a bit hotheaded during the Chuunin Exams and let Erumo be just as hotheaded alongside me when usually I chill her out." Yushijin shoved his hand inside the rich mane of his hair, rubbing it against the back of his head. Shyness was not usually an emotion one would attribute to the young man but now he struggled with not feeling a bit embarrassed and unsure of what was going on.
"You had all the reasons to dislike me and even hate me. I am grateful to you for looking out for these people even when you did not have to." Mana bowed her head, almost letting it slam into her own knees and bed cover.
"Erm… Okay… So I'm pretty sure that Konoha's Sorceress can sense that chakra thingy anyways so… Maybe we can all leave the room now for you two to catch up…" Thumb pointed everyone to the door, assisting the cringing children of her ex-colleague outside the ward. "We could all use a breather, there's only so much hospital stink one can muster anyway," she declared before slamming the door behind her as loud as she could.
"Look…" Yushijin shrugged his shoulders after sitting down on another empty bed, it was surprising to see the whole ward being cleared out but, given how the Shukuba Security had recently saved the entire town budget, not entirely outside the realm of possibility. "You're cool and all that… I mean the jury's still out as to which one of us is cooler…"
"Yeah, no, I get it. I got a little bit too excited." Mana rubbed the back of her head overcome by shyness and wishing she could take that energetic kiss from a bit before back right now. "It would never stop being weird between us, I mean with the history behind me and Kouta and all…"
"Yeah, then there's the fact I could never look at you as girlfriend material… I mean, you're always someone I'm compared to whenever I show off my skills. I could not imagine buying someone like you flowers or imagining you baking cakes and all that. One-uping you is always on my mind and to me, those two things don't really mix well." Yushijin acted like he was examining his newly made blade just due to how uncomfortable the topic made him feel. Neither one of the two youngsters had enough experience in the matter to not stumble on their words or blush when talking to one another.
"So I guess you'll want me to go back to Konoha with you…" Mana looked away with a hint of longing. She did not necessarily long for her home but more for the opportunity to rid the town of the Diamond Hand she had squandered by losing.
"Not immediately." Yushijin grinned with a sip of smartass snark in his tone. "Injuries like yours, leave alone the erratic nature of the treatment, cannot be just walked off. I'm sure Lord Sixth will understand that. Nor will there be any pleasure in beating you right now so we'll settle our scores back home. How you spend your time recovering, that's a different matter entirely."
"I'd kiss you again but… I think I reek really bad, my skin is of weird color…" Mana's eyes shot all around the patches of her skin that the hospital garbs left exposed noticing an odd hint of yellow in the shade of her usually darker toned skin.
"Oh, I'm sure it's just the reaction to how you were healed. Should pass in a while," Yushijin smiled. "I'm not sure someone's liver could even take two green food pills downed all at once, luckily enough, you had no liver, stomach or kidney to speak of when I gave you them, you've grown new ones in just one day, so you should be fine."
"I think this is my third bunch." Mana laughed out before clutching at her aching sides after she moved quickly to cover her sores. The magician realized she had dozens more all over the places she got beaten up and bruised back in the Shukuba museum. Her constant tradition of being hospitalized and falling into a critical condition from time to time was no laughing matter. She was warned not to be so reckless with her body or suffer the potential consequences even after the first time she almost died fighting Hisako.
"In all seriousness, the local doctors did not like my impromptu solution at all. Your liver, kidneys and the digestive tract will recover, oddly enough, they said your heart is something to be worried about. Your chest was pounding like crazy to the point where we genuinely afraid you'd not survive, as the only overworked organ damaged by the abuse of food pills, it suffered greatly." Yushijin looked at Mana with some worry in his eyes. "Let's just say we're squared now: you gave intel to an enemy team about our location during a survival game, I doomed you for possible heart problems later down the line."
"By saving my life…" Mana looked at the hospital window with closed shutters before closing her eyes. "When that beam went through me it was like… I knew somewhere deep down that after I was finished off they'd go to kill off the Security, Thumb, Muriya-san and Muriya-san's family too. I felt like a useless failure, so weak and so alone… Thanks for not letting me go that way."
"Yeah well… From what I've read about you when I was given your files after being sent after you – you do a whole lot of going out of your way to save people yourself. It's only a matter of time before you pull my ass out of a fire so… I'm looking at it like a future investment." Yushijin played it off like it was no big deal at all. Mana smiled while biting her own cheek inside in irritation. She hated when boys did that. Played something so important to Mana off like it was no big deal just to look cool.
"Sometimes I wish we could help other people like this. Itemi-san is really injured and it will take him days if not weeks to get back on his feet if he is treated as he is being treated now. It would be really great if everyone could just down a pill and be up on their feet." Mana sighed. She knew better than to foster such foolish dreams, people without a fully trained ability to manipulate and control chakra could not really utilize the medical food pills as they only enhanced one's own supernatural metabolism, which civilians did not have in the first place.
"You will need a couple of days before you'll be kicking with these feet as well." Yushijin raised a wary eyebrow. "Mana you are not healed right now. I hope you're not foolish enough to challenge whoever did this to you again after you get out of bed. Your chakra levels were hard at work this whole time you were out so whatever chakra you lost had not returned, your body is still injured even after downing two green food pills and your bodily systems are still out of whack."
"I'll be challenging the Diamond Hand again." Mana objected by shaking her head as it sunk in sadness. "I know I've been weakened severely after this beating but that only means I will need to be more careful and play this smarter than I did before. I will need to beat my enemy by being one step ahead of them instead of overpowering them. I cannot leave this alone."
Mana got out of bed, grunting and clutching at her aching joints and sore wounds, with a questioning glare she asked Yushijin to turn away as she changed from her hospital clothes into what remained of her busted up uniform. With pity Mana looked at the busted up contraptions and burnt up pockets and jarring holes in her fancy stage magician's outfit.
"Oh, you don't have to wear that busted thing. Your local pals brought you a Shukuba Security uniform." Yushijin remembered after smacking himself in the forehead, as if punishing himself for forgetting to tell Mana. Indeed the magician found a long azure colored jacket and a white blouse with Shukuba Security decorations folded in the drawer by the side of her bed. It was the same one that high-ranking female officers like Kita Okasune wore when Security was still functional, after being disbanded the inventory must have been drowning in excess…
Despite of the aforementioned excess, Mana did not feel like she was worth of or honoring the uniform, given how handily she was just beaten by the criminals that would have proceeded to eliminate the last remains of Shukuba Security and kill off the few cooperating members of their organization. Something Mana felt responsible for making it easier to do, given how she disbanded the old corrupt Security herself.
Mana froze for a brief while. She had noticed the large branching out and spiky patch of scar tissue on her abdomen where Ring Ring's surprise attack had pierced through her. It was of almost a diamond-like shape as it was launched from a higher up angle and entered just briefly missing Mana's chest while it exited right in her lower abdomen. This patch will fit in just fine alongside the other countless scars on her body but this one was different, more distinct, less chaotic and all over the place. Undoubtedly much more massive than the others.
"Are you done yet?" Yushijin sighed. He was tapping his foot impatiently.
"Sorry, I was just lost in thought." Mana apologized before quickly finishing getting dressed and doing her best to make the uniform look her size. It may have been a fruitless effort but at least whilst an effort was made at all it would have sufficed just fine. It was evidently the smallest size these uniforms came with from the Security inventory but nobody clearly intended to grant them to teenage girls, more on the frail side in term of their build especially…
"So what are you going to do?" Mana wondered, pressing her hand against Yushijin's shoulder lightly to inform she was done with a gentle gesture.
"Just hang around. Irony intended, I don't have the balls to mess with the local law enforcement and administration. This is all your business. I don't have too much time left to bring you in either so whatever you have in mind, I'd appreciate it being done before the day after tomorrow." The swordsman rubbed his nose before placing his hands inside his pockets. This was not his usual way of using body language but the two of them were genuinely quite flustered after Mana's stunt earlier so it was understandable to say the least.
"Understood. Stay safe." Mana's hands changed from resting on her hips before fixing with her own messy hair that scattered and flew all over the place. Eventually, the magician just settled on a nod and left the ward.
"Wait, you're just going to walk out?" Muriya objected. "Is this really safe?"
"I may be injured and far from the fighting condition but the safest place is still with me. Yushijin has done far more than I would have ever dared to ask of him." Mana nodded.
"If you're still sore all over, how do you plan on apprehending Index and Ring? They kind of kicked your ass even at a higher percentage of your combat preparedness." Thumb brought up.
These two were afraid for their lives and reasonably so. Before it was a big risk for Index to come after them, what with Mana – a Konohagakure ninja protecting them, now it was established quite clearly that Mana was in no condition to fight Index off. If the woman was half the hunter that the magician thought her being, she'll go for the first opening she will get. Yet another reason to hurry the hell up with whatever she intended to do.
"I lost the battle but not my resolve. We'll just need to be smarter from now on." Mana tried to hide away her embarrassment. Even if it went against her most heartfelt desires, sometimes she wished to just die and disappear underground just to not feel this embarrassed to stand in front of her colleagues after having failed so miserably. It was at those moments that she needed a reminder of what she was fighting for. How could she just stand in front of them after failing them like that? How could she look Thumb and Muriya in the eyes after failing their dream of a life without constantly feeling afraid for their lives? If she took up the responsibility to protect Muriya's family life and failed them, was she not just as much to blame as the people trying to ruin it in the most bloody and gruesome of ways?
"There is much we need to brief you on. Perhaps it will be best if we do it back at Security." Shira suggested.
"So the town budget was recovered?" Mana asked the most important question. She had assumed that the operation was a success for the longest time but she needed a sturdy confirmation.
"Affirmative." Shira nodded. "I also went behind your back and hired some of the people who were helping me temporarily. Toiya filled the paperwork and made it official, we now have an actual Security Force composed of the few each of us trusted for more menial and casual operations."
"That's good." Mana approved of the notion. The intent behind disbanding the original force was because it was very clearly corrupt and would have imploded in on itself eventually, or so she thought at the time. Mana always meant to leave it for the succeeding Security officers to rebuild based on their own trust and history of those hired. It was just fine if it happened faster rather than later.
"The Diamond Hand is now officially exposed to the public. Instead of the providers and fighters against the corrupt authority system they meant to portray themselves as, they were exposed for a criminal ring they are. Toiya-san also handled that, she's pretty good working with people." Muriya butt into the briefing.
"That's right, we have reason to believe they are now retreating further underground. In just one day we've reported more detached from one another and disorganized assassinations and assaults than the entire last year combined." Shira added.
"They separated the Fingers, most likely." Thumb shared her insight. "They can no longer use the museum as their hideout, the Middle Finger must've authorized a complete scatter operation, dividing the Diamond Hand into three separate organizations. Each one of them worked hard today to gather their own separate "budget" so to say."
"Good, if they are divided we can scoop them up one by one." Mana nodded. Her voice still sounded bitter as she felt like while she knew what needed to be done, she could not help but feel incompetent as far as actually reaching for those goals was concerned.
Thumb, Muriya and Shira all looked at each other in unease. There was something they were hiding from Mana. Something really bad and they would rather keep away from her.
"Guys…" Mana informed them that she noticed their miserable attempt at keeping secrets.
"Look, kid… You know how Diamond Hand work… They're all about hitting you in the knees, crippling you, revenge politics, you said it yourself…" Thumb sat down by Mana's side, trying to rub her shoulders into oblivion with her "friendly gesture".
"Burgoniya's involvement was integral at finding the stolen budget. Her knowledge of reading a scene of crime and working with chemicals and the hound helped us find the money, finding the right warehouse. It was as you said it would be." Shira opened his mouth, deciding to be the bearer of the secret that everyone else would have preferred to keep hidden. "It may be because of that but… We found her body in the apartment complex she lived in. Stabbed in the back on her way to work, just like Okasune-san."
"Index…" Mana mumbled out before slamming her head against the table and covering it up with her palms, as if trying to push it further down and break the whole damned thing.