Of new haircuts
When I woke up I could see already familiar to me ceiling. Ah, hospital. Again. Should I just move in here?
I could voices near me,Matron was discussing something with Nohara-sensei outside of the room.
My whole field of vision was practically blocked by stupid bandages on my face. Right. I got the stuffing beaten out of me.
When I checked my surroundings, I noticed girl my age sitting at the table and bandaging a teddy bear. On a shelf near her were dozens of animal plushies all wrapped up in bandages,there were syringes sticking out from some of them.
Hmm? Did they put me on a morphine? They are actually a bit scary.
I stood up trying not to make a sound, not that I was especially successful, but the girl was way too absorbed into her work. My hallucination sure is hardworking.
As I came closer I was able to see her features clearer , she had the exact same purple marks on her cheeks as Nohara-sensei.
She was humming a song, while bobbing her head :
Muscles, muscles everywhere
Attached to bones and come in pairs
Over 600 are what you’ll find
The skeletal, smooth and the cardiac kind
The masseter – in your cheek
Helps you to both smile and speak
Sternomastoids in your neck
Help you to rotate your head
Trapezius in the back of the neck
Attach your shoulders to your head
The deltoids are the next in line
To help you lift your arm just fine
(Source:Teaching the Human Muscular System
Robin Walling)
I honestly don’t think that I am capable of having such hallucinations even if I was drugged.
Is she related to Nohara-sensei? Probably daughter, maybe sister or niece?
It is kinda ballsy of him to leave alone his family with potentially unstable killer like me.
Ha
Who am I kidding? Probably good half of Konoha shinobi forces is like that. But on my record of victims are only citizens of village, civilians to boot.
Suddenly I remember what happened and my mood plummeted towards the pits of Abyss.
I casually put my hand on the back of the chair and looked over her shoulder at what she was doing.
Mr Bear-san was so wrapped up in bandages, he would probably die from suffocation if he could breathe. Maybe she is practicing torture?
As I looked at the shelf where other plushies were seated, I became more sure of my hypothesis.
But isn’t her awareness just too bad? I might not be the best at it myself, but how can you not notice someone standing literally behind your back?
Click. We both turned our heads towards the sound. The girl suddenly jumped from the chair “ Tou-san!” and head butted me.
Damn. What an iron head
My nose hurt like a bitch.
“ Ouch,ouch,ouch” she exclaimed and rubbed her head. I sure hope it hurts, I thought slightly vindictively.
I felt something dripping from my nose.
Ah, blood.
I channeled a bit of my chakra and it trickled back up.
The girl stared dumbfounded at my blood for a second and then bowed at 90 degrees. “ I am so sorry , please accept my apologies”
Ah, she is one of those super polite nice people
“ It’s alright , no harm done” I said lamely, feeling slightly uncomfortable by her sincere apologetic attitude, when it wasn’t her fault
She instantly jumped on me and started rotating my head from all angels looking intently at my nose.
“ emm, is your head alright?” I asked her while she was manhandling me.
Why does it sound wrong?
“ I meant your injury, it was pretty heavy hit”
Her face was so close it was practically touching mine, it was somewhat uncomfortable. She slowly blinked at me realising that I am human here and not one of her plushies.
She backed away with yelp and blushed. “ I am alright” she waved hands in the air.
“ Hello, I am Nohara Rin.I am going to be great medic-nin one day like Tsunade-sama or my Tou-san. ” she smiled with kind smile
Okay?Why did she say it?
“I am Shimizu Kaito. Blood Type O?” Are we supposed to offer one fact about ourselves no one asked for?
Her eyes were shining brightly at me “ How did you do that with your blood? It is so amazing and useful for medic-nins.Can you teach me?” Wow, she is intense when it comes to anything medical related
I was a bit touchy about that subject.
Flashes of memories appeared in my head
[“ Mo..monster” Daiki shouted and backed away from me in horror]
Don’t be a dick to nice people just because you are in shitty mood
Don’t be a dick, don’t be a dick I chanted
I stared with dead seriousness at her “Do you know Lord Jashin ?”
She naively shook her head and looked at me like I am going to impart her the truth about mysteries of the world.
“ They say:
A kill per day
keeps the doctor away.
That’s about it.”
Damn, I really tried to hold it in
Not that I knew anything else about him, I only met once that crazy Jashinist at the square, before he was apprehended by police.
Before she could ask anything else we heard the movement from two other people in the room.
Forgot, they are here
Cough
Nohara-sensei was looking at us weirdly. He first checked her head for any bumps and then my nose.
I felt drained. Is it chakra exhaustion again? Doesn’t seem so. I feel mentally tired
“ Good..” I looked at the window “ day? Nohara-san, Matron” I bowed to them.
“Rin, patient has woken up, so go to my office now” he slowly guided her to the door
I was pegged as a bad influence on his child probably
I made two finger salute at her as farewell
Now the three of us were left alone.
Medic-nin clapped his hands. „Now, shall we check your vitals, Kaito-kun. “
“ Okay” I answered quietly
I sat down on the bed and Nohara-sensei was doing diagnostic jutsu on me.
I hesitated for a bit and clutched the corner of the sheets „Emmn,Matron..” I mumbled with nervousness “is Daiki okay?”
Her gentle smile got strained a bit as she sat at the closest to me chair.
“ He is not injured” Well, it is as good as it gets, I suppose. Why do I even care about someone like him
“Kaito-kun, aren’t you friends with Daiki? How come you got into such serious fight?”
I was a bit confused “ didn’t Daiki explain what happened?” I asked
“ No, he refused to say anything. We received a report about aftermath from shinobi , who…. “ she struggled to replace the word apprehended “..helped you out”
I smiled bitterly. Is it because he felt guilty? Scared of taking responsibility? Or just terrified from mere thought of that day?
I thought we knew each other like the back of my hand, but maybe I never knew anything about him.
“ Well, I was training as usual , then Daiki cam with 4 other children from orphanage and they beat me up” neither Nohara-san nor Matron as much as blinked at this statement
Such nice people, I snorted inwardly
“ Then when others left, Daiki started shouting at me, calling me pretty much god’s favourite and blaming me for all injustices in the world . I got angry, it became somewhat hard to control my kekkei genkai. “Really nice way of saying I went batshit crazy both of them narrowed their eyes at the mention of that.
I didn’t want to elaborate more about my chains, the less is known the better. And it wasn’t like Matron and sensei were particularly trustworthy.
Damn ,I bet , if I truly killed Daiki, there probably wouldn’t be that much repercussions.
The situation with that old scum was considered to be self defence. Despite the fact that he was successful merchant and useful to the village, I didn’t get any punishment. He had no family, so all his assets just went to the government.
I wonder if in his place was member of some clan. Situation wouldn’t be swept away that easily.
In comparison, Daiki is but an orphan, who doesn’t have any noteworthy talents.
And I am a holder of rare kekkei genkai. To be honest, it is a bit sickening. Because I was just lucky to have one.
Luck is also strength in a way, I suppose.
Well, I always knew that world is unfair place.I am certainly not complaining about getting the long straw in life.
One week before entrance exam.
The return to the orphanage was awkward to say the least. Usually our sleeping arrangements are changed once a year, which already happened not so long ago.
But they relocated me to a single room with no roommates after hospital.
It is almost like they think I will go on killing spree if others annoy me too much. Fair enough, I suppose
Considering the fact that I used to sleep in the same room as Daiki, I am more appreciative of such arrangement ,then apprehensive of being isolated.
But because it is the second time this summer, that I randomly disappeared like that, rumours became more and more exaggerated with each passing day.
The most popular theory is me being possessed by a demon. I personally like the one , where I am runaway experimental subject of mad scientist.
Apparently Daiki was also admitted to the hospital, he was shocked ,but unharmed so he was checked out soon enough.
When he came back , he was white as a ghost. And when others asked about me, he showed frightened expression. As far as I know he locked himself up in the room least he encounters me.
After that whatever relationship with others I previously had was utterly broken. And everyone just gave me wide berth.
The thing I struggled the most with now was sleeping. Before that, I had quite often nightmares about my first kill. But everyday I trained to the point of passing out from physical exhaustion.
Even if the sleep wasn’t all that restful, at least I was getting it and the amount of nightmares was decreasing.
I WAS getting better.
Until I received new material to agonise about.
Dammit.
Even if I was doubling the amount of training, all it exhausted was my body, not my mind. I tried to distract myself with stupid routine work, so I can just Stop thinking. Easier said than done.
The pale crescent moon shone through the window at sleeping young boy.
Gasp
Huff.. huff… huff
I shot up from my lying position and gasped for air clutching at my throat. My whole body was shaking as I continued heavily breathing.
“Just stop. I want to sleep. Please just… just stop. Why won’t it stop?” I begged whatever deity was willing to listen to me.
My t-shirt was soaked through with cold sweat as I was stilling battling against images in my head. The tears, which I didn’t feel, were streaming down my face.
[ “Mo..monster, you are monster” Daiki shouted at me in horror
“ You should just die” he spat out
This time chains didn’t stop. I was watching and Relishing at the sight of them tearing him apart piece by piece.
It was repeating again and again with new methods of killing. ]
“ I didn’t kill him, I didn’t, no no no … I didn’t? Right? I don’t remember…. What is Reality and what is a dream?”I hugged my knees and tried to regulate my breathing.
Cold. I need cold.
I went to the bathroom and turned on the lights. They were flickering with eerie yellow glow. There were five sinks and big mirror in front of them in the room.
I pulled at the switch and cold water gushed out. I dumped my head in the sink and it became somewhat easier to breathe.
I turned it off and looked up at my own reflection. In front of me stood a boy with heavy dark circles under his bloodshot eyes.
Drops of water were cascading from my hair.
[“ Ah, he looks like an angel. He will certainly become a heartbreaker in the future” one of the oba-sans in the park laughed and pinched my cheek]
“ I certainly don’t look anything like that right now” at that thought I started giggling.
[“ No, I don’t like you. I will only date someone as beautiful as Kaito-kun” the girl rejected confession and started throwing covert glances at me.
Someone near me mumbled “ Fat chance of that happening. Kaito-kun is rare to be seen beauty”
The boy, who just got rejected, murderously looked at me.
I didn’t know neither the girl nor the guy.
After that, I got a broken arm from the fight with that boy for a very simple reason. Existing. Being something that others coveted.]
My giggle turned into full out laughter. Tears kept streaming down my face.
How disgustingly beautiful
White like a snow skin, mole under left, that brings otherworldliness and mysterious charm.
I never asked for any of this.
[„Yes, yes… these blue eyes and such a beautiful face. I know, you were just asking for it. Right? Right?! Hahaha“ he started caressing my face. Then his hand slowly slid down under the hem of my shirt.Disgusting]
I started slowly examining my features with my hand. Especially eyes. Isn’t it just blue? My fingers were trembling as I positioned around my eyes almost wanting to gouge them out.
[“Everyone approaches you only because of your face, no one really likes you.” Daiki shouted at me]
I suppose, it is true. I ran towards and started rummaging through drawers.
Found it
I quickly returned back with scissors in my hand and manic grin on my face.
[ „Anyway, if you weren’t temping me with that face, none of this would have happened. All of this is your fault“]
“ If the problem is my face, then wouldn’t solution be so very simple. If I disfigure myself, won’t everything be finally alright”my body shook with excitement
I looked at my reflection and started crying.
That is the only thing that I received from my parents.
Why should I be the one to do anything about it?
I am the victim
They are the ones who are disgusting and at fault
I don’t want anyone to see my face at all. I should protect myself from something like that ever happening again.
I looked at the scissors on the sink. Right.
I just need to hide it.
I clapped my hands together and started laughing hysterically. It was such a weird picture.
He always gathered his shoulder length hair into some sort of messy bun to keep it away from his face.
Right now he pulled part of it to the front and started chopping crazily at it. He cut the bangs that completely covered his eyes and ended at the tip of his nose.
He still could see everything perfectly after channeling minuscule amounts of chakra towards his face. He did it so it would continue to stick without moving.I Will only do it when necessary, but it is not that difficult after all that training.
The only part that was left uncovered was from the tip of his nose to his chin.
He laughed happily looking at the mirror
For the first time in a long while he had a dreamless sleep.