"So not that I wanna be that type 'a wanker but… What exactly is your business with this lad and why is there a rabbit in this ward?" Eiju wondered scratching his stubble. The time Mana had not seen the reformed Quack was quite kind on him, shaping the medical ninja into quite a handsome man devoid of any traces of the past vices that used to haunt him.
"Oh, it's because I'm a rabbit, isn't it?" Usubane locked her arms around her chest with a protesting glare and puffed cheeks. She looked almost offended by the fact that most medical ninja questioned her presence in the recovery room.
"No, it's because you're covered in fur which gathers all sorts of infectious filth…" Eiju snapped back before Usubane turned away and pointed vibrantly at the little furball racing from one side of the recovery room to the other and just barking out in the air.
"What's that then?" she asked.
"It's no secret that Inuzuka and their canines share a unique connection. If one of the pair is injured we usually allow the other one to be close because it aids the recovery process." Eiju replied without losing his cool. "Judging from the starry eyes, I have a feeling she's yours." The medical ninja turned to Mana.
"Does the presence of Bane-chan threaten somebody's well-being?" Mana asked with a tired tone of voice just to set things straight.
"Well, no. There are no procedures done in the recovery room that may cause an infection and we can filter out something as simple as natural infections, it's more of an ethics thing, really." Eiju massaged his own neck in submission. Almost like it took the reformed Quack up to now to realize he did not care all too much about trivial ethics and allowed something he brought up just in case to escalate because of the response of the teen rabbit.
"Bane-chan?! Mana-san shortened my name and gave me an honorific!" Usubane shrieked out. If her presence did not inconvenience the recovering people inside the recovery room, the noise coming from her sure would have.
The magician gave Usubane an angry glare and the rabbit did act meeker for a second or two but the excitement of working alongside Mana and getting her own personalized manner of referral from her idol was too much excitement to restrain just due to a simple glare of discomfort.
Eiju leaned in onto Mana's ear. "Can't you just de-summon her if the critter's givin' you problems?" he asked with his most genuine attempt to keep it hidden from the fluffy rabbit of titanic sized ears.
Usubane did glare at the two, she registered people speaking about something concerning her but she was not quite able to make out exact words, which robbed her of the chance to get outraged at it.
"Sorry, she was kicked through the seal in my new hat and I'm not sure I can send her back unless she herself decides to go back or gets injured badly." Mana shrugged. "We're not hitting that rabbit." She added after seeing a golden shimmer in her old friend's eyes.
"Well… Not that she's doin' much harm here. This place's is basically for people that just need to lie down a bit or a nice green glow for a moment to get back into it. Your friend here should be coming back to his senses any moment now." Eiju relented.
"Kidenshi-senpai is hardly my friend. I doubt he even knows my name." Mana replied without much emotion, just staring at the sleeping and dirtied face of her older colleague. "Although I am glad that he is well." She sighed in relief.
"So what's next, Mana-san!? We're waiting for the dog-guy to recover so he can tell us who kicked his ass and then we can save the world again, right!?" Usubane got energetic again. Her bunny hops caused loud thuds that while leaving no permanent damage to the rabbit's surroundings were quite irritating.
"Again?" Mana took a break from trying to stare a hole in the brain of Inuzuka Kidenshi, almost as if trying to hex him into waking up, to look at her rabbit friend in confusion.
"Well… You know… You did save the rabbits and lead us to a new home. May as well have saved my world and that of most other rabbits too!" Usubane replied with an amount of admiration in her eyes that seemed almost delusional.
The magician decided to not even argue about that. She would have fired off defenses against that unfounded praise for days and it would have gone nowhere with the amount of esteem that Mana had garnered in this young rabbit's eyes.
"When I saw you talking to Usujitsa like he was just your pal and actually talking him down, when I saw you walking in front of the entire herd, when I saw everything you did for Usuzoku-sensei… That was beyond amazing. I knew from the beginning I wanted to work with you, Mana-san." Usubane kept on cheering.
"You're lucky most 'a those blokes are out. They'd be laughin' pretty hard at this." Eiju sighed after resigning to a corner. He also appeared to have taken an interest in Kidenshi's case. Mana could not leave it alone.
"What exactly is your interest with Kidenshi-senpai?" Mana asked him directly. "Has this something to do with orders from above or…"
"Just hidin' from other, even more menial work, dear." Eiju shrugged his shoulders before placing his hands inside the pockets of his coat. "Funny things, these coats. Shouldn't have any pockets if ya asked me, all too easy to slip drugs and food pills in and out… Not that I'd do such a horrendous thing…" Eiju shook his hands with an apologetic smile.
"Now…" he added after a moment of silent self-reflection.
The group of bystanders inside the half-crowded recovery room all turned at the source of a cringing noise – a young Inuzuka boy who then ended up covering up his head due to the tremendous headache that followed shortly an awakening right after getting walloped out. Within moments of his awakening, the worried Pomeranian leaped right at the boy's face, while the intention of the noble canine was undoubtedly to emulate the human gesture of a hug, the result and how it appeared looked like something much cruder that dogs sometimes did.
Kidenshi's grunts got muzzled by the fur of his companion and his speech only became intelligible once the Inuzuka finally managed to tear the dog off his face. Shortly after being parted from Kidenshi's face, the canine leaped back onto the boy's shoulder and began scurrying all over the young man's body. It was an odd sight to see but the dog was remarkably skilled at moving around Kidenshi's body to the point where it appeared too fast and too skillful not to be related to how these two fought.
"Hello, Kidenshi-senpai. I'd like to know what happened to you." Mana said.
"Oh… Konoha's Sorceress? I guess you carried me here, huh? It may have been a bit of an overkill to bring me to the hospital for something trivial like an outcome of a brawl but I am grateful." Kidenshi grinned at Mana with a full mouth of sharp teeth, especially the fangs.
The Pomeranian on Kidenshi's shoulder growled at Usubane and then silently scowled at Mana. "Oh… I guess Pompomaru isn't too excited about you two. Was he a problem? He's an older dog so he has problems warming up to new people."
Kidenshi looked more cheerful than Mana recalled him being in the Academy. He smiled with a sense of genuine joy and warmth. While a young man like this looked capable of just as identically genuine rage in battle, Mana was pleasantly surprised by the warmth displayed by her older colleague. Maybe it was just a rank thing… Mana often forgot she was a chuunin already.
"To answer your question, we were working on our mission record. It was supposed to be a simple C-Rank mission but it got complicated, as it usually does…" Kidenshi sighed as his face was quick to change from excitement and warm joy into disappointment. Mana was a bit entertained to hear that her bad luck in the field was to a point shared alongside more ninja and that she was not alone in the experience of things escalating out of control.
"Is the mission confidential information?" Mana wondered.
"It's a C-Rank mission, obviously not. We were out to dispose of those weird pumpkin lanterns that began popping up each morning. Apparently, the villagers were getting freaked out by those things, namely by how they're normal lanterns that smell of pumpkins." Kidenshi was getting a bit off-track there.
"So you ran into whoever was placing those lanterns?" Mana tried to fix that.
"Well… Yeah. In case you're not aware, my smell is kinda awesome so I figured that I and Pompomaru could do something more than just destroy the lanterns that were placed. We could find whoever's messing around with them and kick their ass!" Kidenshi snickered as if having realized that his idea was a bit naïve but very well-intentioned. It was not unlike younger or lesser-ranked ninja to attempt and go above and beyond their objective to impress someone.
"Why weren't your mates with you?" Eiju asked, he barely looked into the conversation but since his current mood was avoiding as much work as he could reasonably get away with, adding on to the dialogue surely beat working.
"Well… I'm not sure if you know but… Our team does not quite get along…" Kidenshi snickered again. His ability to break into restrained but genuine fits of laughter reminded Mana of a certain red-headed blacksmith. "I'm sure Kiyomi could testify if she was here."
"Kiyomi? Why would she testify such a thing?" Mana raised an eyebrow.
"I mean… We had a fight in the Forest of Death once. You weren't there, I think, but we only lost it cause Chominu rushed in all by himself and didn't wait for us." Kidenshi shrugged making a slightly apologetic face.
"I see…" Mana pouted her lips and looked away in a bit of embarrassment. There was an awkward episode where she was knocked out by one of the competitors encasing her in chakra crystal. It must have been at some point in between that and the magician's awakening and reconnection with the team. It was not that pleasant of a thing to remember. Nobody liked times they were beaten and rendered a burden on their team because of it.
"Well… If you're on a mission, I should probably let your mates know about you getting decked in the face pretty badly. What are their names?" Eiju wondered.
"Akimichi Chominu and Lithia Uchiha." Kidenshi sighed. "Lithia's bitching will be a pain to sit through…" the young Inuzuka thought out loud before snickering again and displaying his unique Inuzuka trait of quite prominent fangs alongside his set of teeth.
"Hmph. Some lanterns and hooligans placing them are beneath Mana-san!" Usubane wrapped her hands around her chest in dismissal.
"It wasn't like I asked you guys for help, or anything." Kidenshi shrugged, giving the duo of a rabbit and her summoner and indifferent glare. "You're not really a part of this mission so you may as well do whatever the hell you want, you do have my thanks though."
"Lanterns… So odd…" Mana couldn't resist cracking a grin to herself. "The fact that they have a specific smell as well…"
"Yep. My smell, as well as that of Pompomaru, is pretty sharp and it really reeked badly of pumpkins. A pungent and very prominent aroma to say the least." Kidenshi sighed. "Distracted me a fair bit too, not that one against two were fair odds…"
"There were two of these hooligans?" Mana raised an eyebrow. "Were they ninja?"
"Tough to say…" Kidenshi sighed. "Everybody fights like one these days: samurai, rogues, pirates, martial artists, monks… You'd think having a dog running around your body and tackle things would be the peak of weirdness in the specter but it ain't even close. The green-haired chick did use leaves to attack me though."
"Leaves? That's a technique of a Konoha ninja for sure. One that plenty of specialized ninja use, from the Barrier Corps to the Intelligence Division." Mana realized that there may have been an interesting case in this story for her. Something so distinctively odd that it intrigued her to no end, it was a new sensation, never before has Mana been gripped by a mystery like this that it overrode all her other instincts.
Even working alongside an Uchiha comrade of her slightly older colleague, something that felt like an extremely awkward possibility in the horizon if she was to take up this chance to delve deeper, no longer felt like a deal breaker. Truth be told, after this whole nasty story with the Uchiha and the Yamanaka, the magician wanted to have as little as possible with either side, especially after taking a side made her own relationship with the village deteriorate.
Not a couple of minutes after Eiju left to send the hawks messaging Kidenshi's team about what had happened to him, the Inuzuka sat up and looked like he was about to go. Before Mana could object, Usubane stepped in between the two and spread her hands out wide. The corners of Mana's lips turned upward while her glare given to the rabbit softened.
"You should really wait for your own team before leaving. You have an excuse to do nothing so I have no idea why you'd be doing something." Usubane objected. Mana smacked her head with a smile before meeting Kidenshi's questioning gaze.
"I must admit I agree with Bane-chan. You have lost to the enemy already, be it that you were caught unaware by their strength or not. It is for the best if we regroup with Chominu-senpai and Lithia-senpai." Mana closed her eyes. Her head shook softly to emphasize her objection to Kidenshi just running off right after returning to his senses.
"You just say that because you've not met them…" Kidenshi smiled with a full showcase of his dentures once more. "But whatever, you're a chuunin so I'm pretty sure you outrank me anyway."
Pompomaru barked a pair of times. This was one of those few cases where the noises that left the throat of the canine were not filled with growls and threats. Perhaps it was a sign of approval from the dog's part too.
"This would be especially wise if the enemy actually is a rogue village specialist ninja. Even with me assisting you, I am not sure we'd be able to defeat someone like that," Mana said.
"I never took you for the type that runs away from a tough fight." Kidenshi joked. He may not have realized it now but this teasing observation stung the magician deeper than it was his intention to drive this dagger. "I mean you took on one of those Team Phobos freaks in the Chuunin Exams. This rabbit also is not the one you used before. Even after the exams, you seem to be soaring above us at an unbelievable pace."
Mana turned away to hide her blush at being complimented. It has been a while since she's been praised without a weakness or shortcoming of hers being pointed out right after. She wanted to mention something about being taught a lesson in just how weighty power was in an argument before Usubane butt in with a cheery observation of her own.
"Usuzoku-sensei outranks me actually. He sent me to Mana-san after she's called out to us as a test of my abilities. I will not disappoint Mana-san!" Burning hearts seemed to shape from the irises of the teen rabbit while she raised her fist as well as her fluffy ears in the air swinging them about in a combination of thrusts.
A good fifteen minutes later a pair walked into the recovery room – an Akimichi with the signature massive frame that the ninja of that clan all had and used in battle and a much more petite, dark-haired Uchiha girl dressed in Lolita clothes.
"Look alive, peasants. We're burning daylight with how badly you've been screwing this mission up so far," The girl was quick to speak up.
"Wow, she just went out and said it there…" Chominu scratched his chubby cheek, his fingernails moved through the boy's face like through a marshmallow. "Called us literal peasants."
"Hey, Lithia, I kinda got myself beaten up but I got us a little helper." Kidenshi snickered in his own signature manner to which Mana was just about used to by now, as well as the nostalgic reminders of the parallels his gestures mimicked.
"Yes, well… I do thank you for your trouble picking up after these losers but now that I have decided to involve myself in this matter, we will be quite fine." Lithia objected looking at Mana with a rather dismissive albeit not hateful glare. It may have just been that this curious soul was too indifferent to the magician's presence to dislike her and if there was one emotion Mana hated being directed her way, as an entertainer, it was indifference.
"I'll have you know this is Mana-san you're talking to!" Usubane stepped in to defend Mana's position where it was entirely unnecessary to do so. The rabbit even went as far as to charge at the dainty Uchiha girl. Chominu stepped in with his hands raised up in a very sturdy looking block to protect his teammate. Usubane's attack was mighty enough to make Chominu flinch and for his face to get serious for a moment but it was still playful and therefore stopped in its entirety.
"Out of my way, you lumbering idiot, you're obstructing my view." Lithia yawned to which Chominu just stepped aside. He did not look all too pleased about being bossed around but he was not the type to have the words to talk back at the girl and put her to her place.
Still, as troublesome as the prospect of working alongside this little she-devil was, the intrigue of the mystery of the pumpkin lanterns and rogue specialist ninja was too spicy to overlook.
"Very well then," Lithia appeared to relent to an argument that never existed. It appeared like a peek of an obsession to always have the last word in every conversation, even those where she decided over nothing. "I shall pay for your services, Konoha's Sorceress, if you show these incompetent chowder heads how to complete a mission like this."
"Pay me?" Mana blinked rapidly a pair of times.
"Of course, you are an entertainer, after all. More than even the common folk your services can be bought and sold, to be entirely honest, I've been sitting on a thought to one day bargain for your services." The little angel on the inside, fostering a goblin on the inside, smiled with a dismissive hand gesture.
Mana left the recovery room with her fists clenched tightly and her teeth grinding, thoughts of pumpkin lanterns floating around her head as a pleasant distraction from the violent thoughts she was fostering at the moment.