The Recovery of Hinata

[Riko]

A soft warm bed. A vicious fight between multiple warriors from a wandering group. In the end...a team member fallen and a group defeated. In the end...one young warrior was rushed to the hospital to recover. It was still dark out when Hinata awoke from her slumber and glanced at a window that was off to her side. Its still dark out. I can't believe I'm okay. How did this even happen to me? Hinata thought back for a moment about what had happened. She remembered a battle. A teammate of hers was captured...so she recalled, and her other teammates fought the wandering warriors to defend him. For a few moments, she tried to remember what had happened until she recalled how she was beaten by a man that used bow and arrows as his weapon of choice. There was no surprise that she lost. Though Hinata wasn't really doubting her skills, she realized that she was a close ranged fighter and that her weakness was seen whenever she was forced to face an opponent that was able to strike from far distances. Why did that man spare me? Hinata sighed and waited in bed, head up and eyes staring at the ceiling. A few tears trickled from her eyes as she realized that she proved to be less than useful to her team and that her training up to this point has not come to use. She believed at that moment that she was a disappointment to her team. What would she do now?

[Hitomi]

Hitomi peeked her head into the room to see if Hinata was okay. She was worried about her teammate deeply although anyone that knew her would probably realize that he was more worried about Xexame. It seems that I just fell in love with him and already he's been taken away. If Suzaku is behind this, I won't let them get away with this. I wanted to be stronger to be next to him, but if I need to get stronger to defeat Suzaku, then so be it. Hitomi's face was a pinkish red color. This was in part because of her crying and in part because of her anger. Finally, Hitomi decided to step into the room, placing both feet in its boundaries and stepping next to the bed to look down at Hinata who was lying there with the intention of recovering. "So, are you feeling any better? I'm sorry that this happened to you." A few teardrops began to fall from Hitomi's eyes as she blinked. "This was all my fault. Nothing that I've ever done would have prepared me for that ambush, and I...I...I just froze for a moment in the midst of battle. Everything that happened is my fault. Had I been able to react faster....well...maybe you wouldn't be hurt, and maybe Xexame would still be...." Hitomi jerked her head away in sadness, not able to show her own ally her true emotions. She completely turned around to face a wall near the door and started to cry. If it wasn't before, it was now more than obvious that Hitomi was upset over the situation and that her heart ached.

[Riko]

Hinata said nothing. She simply sat there with a depressed look on her face. In a way, she couldn't help but think that it was her fault for all of this even though she was told that it wasn't. She was now more sad. Not simply because of her condition or how she felt, but because of the way her teammate felt about who she assumed was the boy who had been captured. I need to be stronger. I need to be stronger. That was all Hinata could think about. It seemed that the two warriors were now thinking about the same thing.

[Riko]

OOC: Anyone else there?

[Dagomis]

Dagomis jumped into the window the room, placing himself on the ledge. His eyes were sunk deep in their sockets, as the thoughts of his failures spanned across his mind. Every failure of the day: the loss of Xexame, the inability to protect his students and the lack of battle reading skill. These were all things he was meant to do as a Tsurabi and as the leader of the team in which he had been placed. There was no reason for these failures, the fact that they had happened was inexcusible to him. He couldn't do anything but feel shame and pain within his heart, that stuck there and began to dig its way deeper in. He turned to face Hinata and Hitomi both sitting there in the room. The words almost escaped his mind amidst all the other thoughts, but he managed to get them out before they disappeared to the brink. "How do you two feel?" But, once they came out, they were shallow and meaningless in the situation. He regretted them even as he spoke them. To him, the words just showed that he was too weak to do anything at the present moment. He was now undeserving of his position and the words spoke that clearly. Once the words were finally out, he expected the immediate vilification of him on the part of the other two room occupants. He somewhat shrunk in his mind, though unsure if he did so on the corporal plane. His mind wasn't close enough to his body to recognize its movements.

[Xexame]

The door to the Hospital room that held Hinata slid open slowly. Xexame fell through, collapsing to the floor. He remained there for a second before he was able to lift himself up with his left arm and his knee. A weak smile appeared on his face although the expression was mixed with a bit of nervousness.

"Hey everybody. Are you all okay?"

[Riko]

Before she was able to answer her sensei's question, Hinata turned her head to the side and placed all of her focus on the person that had just stumbled into her room. At first, a look of nervousness appeared on her face but that quickly changed to an expression of relief as she saw her missing ally struggling to walk into the room. She couldn't believe her eyes. It hadn't been that long since her teammate was captured, but seemed that he was able to escape without much trouble. Hinata wasn't able to move well and her only reaction was to stare at him with a puzzled look on her face. She had so many questions to ask him, but she didn't know if it would be appropriate to ask him any questions yet.

[Hitomi]

Hitomi's eyes widened as she looked over to what she believed to be Xexame. Her eyes were immersed in tears and her face had become a bright red color from the crying. Until now, she had been taking the situation terribly. She slowly walked over to Xexame and put her hands on his head. She then poked him slowly to make sure that it was really him and not some kind of hallucination. She looked at his shoulder only to find a lack of an arm. "Is it really you? Xexame?" Her eyes that were beginning to dry had immediately begun to start up again and become drenched with her tears. "I can't believe it! I thought you were dead for sure! How did you escape from that group!? What did they do to your arm? Did you fight them off?" Hitomi gave him no time to answer as she hugged him and squeezed him tightly. Only the sounds of her crying could be heard throughout the room. No longer did Hitomi seem to be like a warrior, at this moment, she seemed like any average female who had found something dear to her that she once believed was lost forever.


From outside the room Maya was yelling. It wasn't the child Maya though, but instead it was the adult version of Maya. She walked in to see Hitomi crying, Dagomis standing there on the window ledge lost in his thoughts, Hinata lying in bed with a puzzled look on her face, and Xexame who was standing there being squeezed by Hitomi. He was missing his right arm. At first, Maya was going to yell about the noise, but then she decided to look at Xexame. With more effort than imaginable, she managed to separate Hitomi from Xexame so that she could examine his arm. "What could you have done to get this? It looks like your arm was torn off or something. Was this a battle wound? Its okay, I have something that can fix you up." She looked at Hinata and then then rest of the team. "I'll fix you all up. Don't worry." She gave a warm smile that was unnatural for Maya, although she wasn't too familiar with these students, she was concerned about the overall safety of warriors and she knew that this team must have been through tough times. There was no need to add to it. She walked over to Dagomis and whispered to him. "I'll need to see your group for a while. They'll need a lot of care...And as for Xexame, he'll need about a week before he can fight again. I have something for that arm. If you could, just direct your students into a bed and tell them to get some rest. I'll be back shortly."

[Dagomis]

As Xexame walked into the room, Dagomis turned and raised his head. But he felt no better at sight of him. Xexame's appearance just forced him to realize that he had lost a member of his team, and forced him to free himself from the kidnapping group. A thought came to mindn of something to say, but before the words could come out, Maya walked into the room. He heard her words and spokewto his in what could be called a response. "Maya's in charge." With his speech, Dagomis no longer felt a need to be in the room or in the presence of others. With his face still faced downward, he casually slipped out of the window while the focus was not on him. He no longer felt worthy to be in anyone's presence, no longer deserving of his position as the head of a team or as a Tsurabi at Sentou Gakuin. There was nothing that could help, and nothing that could bring his head up, so he faced the road ahead and walked forward.

Once he was a few meters away from the hospital, he disappeared leaving no presence left of himself. There was no point in his being thought about at the moment. No point in his being seen at the moment.

[Xexame]

Xexame turned around slowly after seeing Maya walk away. He was looking for Dagomis but he couldn't seem to find him anywhere. Still exhausted from his lack of energy and the amount of energy needed to get home, he staggered over to the bed where Hinata was, sitting down but making sure to not be too close as to annoy her or make her uncomfortable.

"So do you guys know where Dagomis went? After Maya walked away he seemed to disappear."

[Hitomi]

Hitomi was still crying although she had started to calm. Nothing that anyone was saying made it through her eyes. She could only think about Xexame returning and that reminded her of him leaving in the first place. Although it wasn't him intentionally leaving, he still left. Needing time to herself, Hitomi quietly walked out of the room, slipping past Xexame.


Moments later, Maya walked back with what looked like a large arm. The arm was a very dark color, and was obviously not a human arm. It appeared to be the arm of a creature actually. More like a humanoid creature though. Perhaps a demon. She walked over to Xexame and Hinata. "Hinata. I'm going to need you to rest for a bit. You still haven't recovered from the battle and you shouldn't focus too much on Xexame. What ever happened to him, its over now so you don't need to worry. Just rest." She then walked over to Xexame and dragged him to a room out in the hallway. While in the hallway, they passed Hitomi sulking in a corner alone. Hitomi watched as Xexame was pulled to a different room. This room was filled with tools that looked dangerous and complicated. Maya sat Xexame down on a bed and gave him a serious look. "Listen Xexame. From your wounds, its obvious to me that your arm was torn off." She examined it carefully, inspecting it for even the slightest detail. "Actually, it looks like someone, or more likely something, ate the arm...with their teeth?" At first, Maya seemed puzzled but she didn't let it distract her. "In any case, I can give you a new arm that will be better than your old arm, but some things may have to change. I understand that you are not a human but a different species altogether. This will allow you to go through this process, but you will need to remain in your alternate form...forever. I know that your other form is more powerful and to be honest, I think that it would be better if you were to remain in that form forever. The arm will only work with you at your physical best and this form won't accept it...well, at least not the right way. Once you get this arm on, things will be different. You'll look different. You'll be stronger though. You'll need to train more too in order to get used to the new arm of your alternate state. Overall, the effects aren't bad but actually beneficial for you. Do you wish to make this decision? Once you do, you can never go back to the way you were before."

[Xexame]

"Do it."

Xexame reacted immediately. There was no hesitation whatsoever in his response. He couldn't imagine doing anything the same way anymore without his arm. For the sake of revenge too, he knew that he would need to be stronger and use both arms in order to kill the Suzaku Leader. His decision was final and no matter what, there would be no regrets about the decision.

"Do what you need to. As long as I can get my arm back."

[Hitomi]

Maya nodded. "Very well then. First things first. I'm going to need you to transform immediately. Afterwards, I'm going to inject you with this chemical that will alter your shoulder so that I can put the arm on you. It may hurt but if you would like to go through with this then transform now." Maya pulled out the arm that she was going to use as well as a needle that contained a bright pink fluid. It looked like acid and had a pungent smell to it.

[Xexame]

Xexame quickly transformed. His entire appearance and physical structure changed right there on the spot. First, his hair grew much longer and darknened up just a bit. Afterwards, his facial appearance changed to look more serious. His skin complexion darknened as well and he grew a little taller than before. Even his eye color changed. It was as though he was a completely different person. Even his voice had changed due to his transformation. He was completely ready and willing to accept anything that would happen.

"I'm ready now. Do what you need to do."

[Hitomi]

Maya nodded and prepared to do her work. She was quite amazed at the new form of Xexame and realized that the form would definately be a plus.As she expected, the arm was still missing on the body. Using a scalpel-like object that resembled more of a sword, she scraped the edges of Xexame's shoulder, making it smoother and ready for the new arm. She then injected the shoulder with the liquid in the needle. His skin bubbled as the nerves would now become more active and speed up slightly, allowing them to quickly adjust to and adapt to the new arm and its abilities. The overall process of putting the arm on wouldn't be long now, but the process itself would be very, very painful. Scrape. Scrape. She continued to smooth out any jagged and rough edges
that the arm morphed into while she injected him. She then did the same to the demon arm and placed it in the socket where his old arm was. The procedure was nearly complete.

The insides of this arm by this time were started to heal up and close. The fluid injected in the arm and Xexame would cause cells to regenerate at a hastened pace than average, allowing wounds to heal quicker while burning at the same time. Usually, the fluid would be dangerous to humans, but to a demon or some other species, the effects would be less disastrous. At this point, the shoulder and the arm would regenerate until both are reattached. Of course, the common time for the shoulder and arm to fully merge would be about 7 weeks to 4 months total. Cells were cells afterall. However, with the next thing that Maya would use, things would speed up a bit. "Next is the bonding acid. This will hurt a lot. I warn you." She injected more liquids into his shoulder that were a dark red color. This liquid would speed up the cell regeneration process and cut the time by about 80 to 90% allowing the shoulder and arm to combine in a few days or even a few hours. All of that would depend. As the liquid began to visibly take effect, Maya began to sew the arm together extremely tight, insuring that the shoulder and the arm would remain together.

[Xexame]

Xexame could do nothing but yell out as his arm shook from the sheer pain. His mind told him to pull his arm away, but his will wouldn't let him. He knew that his yells must have echoed throughout the hospital, but he couldn't help it. This was by far, the most pain that he had ever felt in his entire life. This was even worse than when he was forced to be a servant in his past.

[Hitomi]

Maya looked at him. She understood that he must be feeling great pain at this point. Luckily for him, the main part was now over. "Congratulations Xexame, you now have a new arm and shoulder. You must make sure that you don't try to use it though for at least a full 7 days. Once this is done, you will need to train your arm and how it feels. You should be able to switch forms of your arm from the way your old arm looked to the way this arm actually looks. Now, I ask that you go back in the room with Hinata and rest for a while. Take Hitomi with you two. They should be better in about a day or so, but you will need to stay longer." Maya left out of the room, looking for any other patients that might be in the hospital.

[Xexame]

Xexame walked out of the room and saw Hitomi nearby. She must have been a little worried from the screams of Xexame. Walking was still hard and Xexame's new arm for some reason felt so much heavier than his old one. Maybe it was because he became so used to not having one so quickly, but he was really happy that he now had a new arm. At that point, the only thing on Xexame's mind was training so that he could get revenge on Suzaku, specifically Kisuke. When he became stronger, he had planned on killing him with his bare hand, literally.

After looking down at his arm, Xexame began to walk towards the other room down the hall with Hinata in it. He passed by a few others in the hospital. Each person looked like they were in much less pain than Xexame. He opened the door with Hinata and took the bed beside her. He couldn't sleep yet. The pain was too great at this point. He stared at the sky, trying to memorize the patterns. He'd be in here for a while. What else could he do?

[Riko]

Hinata looked over at Xexame who had just walked back in the room. From her position in the bed, she was still able to hear him screaming when he was down the hall. She noticed the new arm on his body to replace the old one and figured that the surgery was a success. She looked at him as he placed himself into bed. "You okay Xexame?"

[Hitomi]

Hitomi slowly walked in, saying nothingas she heard Hinata's question to Xexame. She was going to ask the same question although in a way, she knew the answer to it. She was close to the room that Xexame had the surgery in and she could hear the pain that he went through. SHe waited for a response. By this time, her face had dried and no longer were tears coming down her face. In the end, she was just relieved that he was back. She walked past Xexame's bed and slept in the bed next to it. For now, it was time for her to rest. In a few days, her and Hinata would be released. In a few days, Hitomi would begin her training so that she could pay back whoever did this to Xexame. She would become stronger and be an Elite.

[Xexame]

Xexame continued to look up, at first not hearing Hinata's question. Within a few seconds though, he looked at her and began to answer her question.

"It hurts a little, but for the most part I'm fine. I just can't wait to get out of this place and start training again."

He turned his body sideways and noticed Hinata there. He couldn't say anything. Somehow, he could feel that she was upset about something. He wasn't sure what he was upset about, but he knew something was there. For a moment, he believed it was his fault. It very well may be his fault. He didn't know how to react. He turned back over so that he could easily face the ceiling. After counting a few tiles, he closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep.

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