Underground Ward: Past afflictions (IO)

Dusk settle over the village of Hoshi. Darkest of hours. Normally a peaceful thing for the village, it’s people. But not for one individual woman, Hotaru Shinkou. But her night did not start there or gradually escalated to a point where should couldn’t not fathom. As a fever developed and her Yuumei did it’s best to calm her body she would request that one of her servants, more trusted than the others to take her somewhere. That servant did just that. 

She laid in a hospital bed, within an underground ward of Hoshi hospital. Out of view of the many patients that inhabited it. Only select staff members knew of this, of her. She tossed and turned, cold sweats and a fever beyond her understanding. She slept, uncomfortably so. 

She dreamt of the past, a past full of conflict and aggression. The screams and battle roars would be clear to her. The clashing of blades and the singing of deflection would ring within her ears. Images of death and slaughter. She could see Jutsu of all sort take place on a field within an unnamed valley. Brothers at arms oppose the army she was standing with. The voice of her father would catch her attention. She would turn to see him standing alongside Ayato and Shina. They stared down both Vaenar and Haegon. 

“Hotaru! Mind your surrounds!” A voice ordered, her attention snapped to a blade that was aimed for her throat, with swift guard from her arm she would use the gauntlets to parry it attack and counter with a rapid slash of her own. She pants as she was at the mercy of many quick calls. The voice that spoke to her was someone of a dear individual to her. His eyes brown, yet like honey in the sunlight. Brown hair and a great built. He was honorable and kind. Strong and calm. Everything that she admired and everything that she was not. Suzaku, was his name. He fought with such valor that it shamed the opposition. “Thank you, Suzaku, you saved my life yet again.” She pressed her back to his as they were surrounded by warriors, supporters of the Hoshimura rebellion. “That’s seven times already, Hotaru. Where is your head?” He grunts as he struck down a foe. She would scuff as she blocked and took down one of her own. 

“Forgive me. I heard my father’s voice. And-” His words would cut her off sternly. “You need not worry of Lord Yasaki when he’s in the presence of Ayato and Shina. They are the best of the very best. You head must focus on the fodder to reduce their distraction. Focus on what’s before you and that’s it!” He was passionate even in those words. He did not lash out at her, even though she has only been there for some time under his command. He was her commanding officer and she was his novice subordinate, but he cared for her. She cared for him. 

The two spend their time training and patrolling together. She recalled the first time she met him. He was kind to her, despite her status and rank. He did not treat her any differently than the others. He saw her. For more than what she came from. He saw…her. 

But as time went on they were soon overcome as they went to help another. Both were struck down both heavily injured. Hotaru punctured several organs, slowly bleeding to death. Suzaku looking at her from the ground, already dead. She teared, she cried as she struggled to reach out to him. He loved to read books, she could spot it from his armor a red cover book with a unique design. He was fond of learning more about ninjutsu. How it worked. Suzaku couldn’t use chakra. Only his physical strength and so he was great at Taijutsu and Bukijutsu. 

Her vision blurred and faded. Was she…dying? 

[WC: 655]

The underground ward of the Hospital screamed secret experiments from a mile away. Used once by a great mind of Hoshigakure, most of the area lay abandoned. Except in the circumstances like this.

The room at the center lay a blond-haired heiress of the Pendragon. The daughter of Yasaki Uchiha and Genin of Hoshigakure Hotaru Shinkou. Morphin up to her ears; she seemed to be experiencing a reaction akin to a fever dream. Natsuki could tell from the way the eyelids of the patient moved.

“I thought you said Yuumei would save her life.” She complained to the figure next to her—a tall, black-haired, barefoot man.

“I don’t remember saying it would regrow her internal organs.” Seto Yomiyama answered in a melancholy fashion with the certainty of a king.

Regardless, it was Natsuki’s turn to save the war veteran's life from the battle of the valley.
The Valley of Ashes. It was unnamed before Ayato, and the loyalists fought Haegon and his rebels.

The kunoichi remembered the day they loaded the dead bodies in carts and burned the nameless soldiers in a great pyre. It rained ash like snow and painted the blond and red rocks in grey.

Natsuki stood over the Pendragon and put on her surgical equipment, gathering chakra into her palms. Hotaru would have been part of that pyre if she had coughed from the cart that contained the bodies of the noblemen and women of Hoshi. Or at least those whose remains could be identified.

She proceeded to slowly cut her way into the area where her failing kidneys were. Hotaru would live if she could survive the night. It would undoubtedly be a long one.

The honorable servant of Hotaru would standby while Seto and Natsuki spoke. The elder woman did not intervene, nor redirect their attention from her lord. Hotaru was the one that was important, not her. It was to her surprise that the young master was surviving solely because of the Yuumei within her…in other words, Hotaru was suppose to be dead long ago. 

“If I may interject, from what you two speak, young master Hotaru was suppose to be dead a long time ago. This…Yuumei is the sole reason for her to still be with us? And I take it that you, Seto are the one behind it.” She would gaze at him, with the one good eye that she had. “For that, I am most appreciative towards you, and you miss Natsuki for meeting with us. Young Master Hotaru requested someone that was trust worth. The both of your names escaped her lips before she lost consciousness.”

The servant would then remain quiet from this point on. She did not wish to disturb them while operating on her master. She was going out on a limb by keeping this operation from Lady Alyssane, something that she could lose her position and station behind. Mildred was one of the most favored, and honorable of the servants. Quite skilled at combat as well, being Hotaru’s personal guard as assigned by Alyssane. 

Hotaru would lay there in her fever dream as the operation began. She was unaware as to what was going on in the real world, stuck in a constant loop of the dream of losing a lover, a friend, a confidant. 

Mildred:

[WC: 270]
[TWC: 925]

It seemed that these Pendragon had done their thing again. They wouldn't leave their precious heiress to the hands of the shinobi, and thus they had sent one of their creatures with them. Mildred that dried up ole crone had even gotten authorization access to the ward. Most shinobi did not know its existence, including hospital staff, alone step foot here.

"You hear that cousin, be real gentle as you chop Hotaru to pieces." The dark-skinned man proclaimed. His sense of humor was as dark as his Shade Release techniques. Natsuki knew that he despised Pendragons. They were kin to the Yasaki by marriage. 

During the old Kage's feud with Haegon, some members claimed the treasonous Hoshimura. One of them even found his way into that fake ANBU guard of his. Silveraxe is a ferocious fighter and an ugly man. Silveraxe made for an even more hideous corpse. Yohei cut him down during the battle, nearly splitting him with his katana.

Their family was friends to the loyalists and played Silveraxe as an isolated incident alone traitor, but many suspected otherwise. They tried to keep their hand in both pots was something they were not willing to forget.

"Bonesaw," Natsuki commanded, and a bipedal armadillo summons that acted as a nurse brought the peripheral in her hand. She cut Hotaru in the stomach area, trying to get to the liver. As she did, blood began to trickle upwards to Hotaru's chest.

"Let's clean that drip." The Armadillo obliged and cleaned the red fluid with soft fluffy fiber. The cotton almost disappeared in the summon's hands.

The Armadillo would seal the liver in a bag, list the name of the organ and to who it belonged, and put it in the cooler. The creature would then give Natsuki a different sealed suitcase that contained the liver transplant. It belonged to a Hoshi Senju who had died recently, someone very dear to Hogokage and had donated her organs to save someone in need.

"Tsubaki, it meant Camellia Flower," Natsuki thought as she read the name of her fallen friend. Once unsealed from the bag, Natsuki would use the mystical palm technique to replace the old failing liver of Hotaru carefully.

WC: 331

Seto extended a muscular arm and ran it through his blue hair, checking its softness. "Not particularly Lady Mildred, drinking made dealing with unpleasant people like you so much easier."

Mildred, the up jumped housekeeper of the Pendragon Clan, was a lady only in name. Servants heard a lot, to be sure, and kept quiet on most matters, not this one. The handmaiden had been in their service for six decades since the days of the Old King of Haven. Mildred had been old as far as Seto could remember from his childhood.

"What happened to me is the reason I could save your beloved Hotaru's life from certain death." Outlaws had ambushed Seto's party near the ghostly water. The Yomiyama hadn't donned his armor correctly, for he was in bed with a camp follower when the brigands emerged from the woods while many of them hid in treetops where they rained arrows down on them.

He took an arrow through the thigh and a spear on the shoulder, yet he fought on. He never saw the fireball that hit him and flung him into the river, and whereby all rights he should have drowned, Seto floated downstream and woke in the Abyss Isle. Perhaps someone had found Seto by the shallows, taken him for dead, stripped him off his clothes and boots, and pushed his body back into the river, and the current did the rest.

"It's a well-known story. The monk in the Temple of the Abyss Island told me I had washed up on the tide, naked as my name day. We all come bare to this world, so I now see it was only appropriate to start my second life as such."

Natsuki continued with the operation as Mildred repeated the agreed-upon details between the Pendragons and the Hoshi top brass. The Senju liver had already replaced Hotaru's original one. Then she would replace Hotaru's left lung with that of a deceased Uchiha, who Natsuki slew in single combat. Finally, a right Jugo kidney taken from a missing nin's stash would replace  Hotaru's. Stichting the fellow Kunoichi back up, Natsuki would use her mystical palm on top of the stitches as an extra safety net to stop them from opening. The armadillo summons who moonlighted as a nurse aid would seal Hotaru's organs in a bag and place them inside a freezing cooler.

The total cost of the procedure for the Pendragons would be 50,000 ryo. A small price to pay for the sake of their heir. Especially of an heir such as this.

WC: 428

-1 Jugo Kidney
-1 Senju Liver
-1 Uchiha Lung

----
+1 Shinkou Kidney
+1 Shinkou Liver
+1 Shinkou Lung 
all sealed inside cooler
(All of them count as clanless due to how Shinkou clan being non-transplantable)

The prestige elder of the Pendragon, Mildred would snicker at the comment made by the matured Shinkou. “Kyokyokyo. You’re sense of humor knows not bounds, Seto.” With a whither crack smile she would turn her attention to Lady Natsuki as she worked on Hotaru. 

The banter back and forth between herself and Seto was very vitalizing, and she wouldn’t mind it much if it was to continue, but her priority was to make sure that her heiress to clan and political influences was well taken cared of. “As much as I love to dance with you around a verbal table of jabs and kicks, I have to make sure that Lady Natsuki does not slip up. After all, she is working on someone dear to the both of us.”  

She would watch intently as the operation came to a smooth end. Efficient, more than she originally would give her credit for. Walking over to the unconscious Hotaru’s bedside, she would examine the surgical work of the Hyuuga more closely. “I must say, Lady Natsuki, you are a miracle in human form. Brilliant work.” She would say as she reaches into her ryo purse and pulled out the desired amount to pay for the transplants. Extending the funds over to her she would make stern eye contact. “Let’s not forget that when the time come and Hotaru is of proper station, you owe her an eye.” With a smile she would render the ryo over to her. 

Then taking her hand and placing it over the forehead of the warm Shinkou female. Her temperature drastically lowered to a more acceptable level. This gave her pause as she glanced at the princess of Hoshi. Thinking to herself - this woman is a real treasure to the land of Haven. Her medical prowess far exceeded that of anyone she had come across. Perhaps this had something to do with her blood, but she will not tarnish her skill with something so petty. 

“…ugh…wh-where am I?” The familiar voice would snatch her attention, Hotaru has woken. 

———
+Jugo Kidney
+Senju Liver
+Uchiha Lung

-50,000 ryo 
Ryo Balance: 79,800 ryo

The Pendragon handmaiden seemed to be concerned about what will happen to Hotaru in the field of battle. Probably the reason why they were so easy to bend the rules and accept transplants for their precious daughter. As far as Seto was concerned, a vile practice whose power came only from the Yuumei. The Yuumei symbiotic amplified the traits of its host, sometimes anger. For Seto, it was apathy. Natsuki had responded many times. However, it also strengthened the host's power. Making Seto strong enough to shatter the last S rank missing Nin.

However, Yuumeiw was by no means a miracle worker. The truth was that Hotaru was old, way older than her peers. She was nearly a decade older than the Hogokage. Having that late of a start in your shinobi career would be detrimental. Most people wouldn't even dare to try it at that change. That is true for many other occupations. You don’t usually start training at thirty-one to be a ballerina.

“Hotaru will do well to armor herself in faith. But I’ve seen her fight. She might do well to also armor herself with different means to power.”

The lass seemed to open her eyes. She was coming back to it slowly. She didn’t seem to be in pain, the medical expertise of Natsuk showing. The silver Hyuuga was the most outstanding medical practitioner in all of Haven, although Akabayashi would say otherwise if someone asked the Terumi vulture Ayato kept around. She seemed lost.

“Wakey wakey, eggs, and bakey.” He said with a grin, a sly grin.

WC: 260

In the midst of her grogginess, Hotaru would struggle to focus herself. Obscuring figures towering over her, 3 in total. A trusted voice would snap one of the three figures into focus for her. Those amber eyes of her’s would hone in on the sly grin of the Shinkou, or rather the Yuumei? Seeing as Seto does not see himself as a disconnection of the Yuumei, but a being that’s one with it. She could understand that perspective. Her very own Yuumei seem to share a similar view. They even implied once to her that she was no longer of her own free will, but a vassal to the greater will of the Yuumei. What did that mean exactly? Was she but a puppet, were her actions not of her own freedom? This would often leave her perplexed. Hekate, that was the name of Hotaru’s Yuumei, often spoke with perplexing endings. 

“Seto-sama? You came? I wouldn’t have thought you would with your schedule.” Her voice carried a tone of gratitude at its purest. Her focus would the. Find Natsuki, a dear friend of hers. Despite their age gap. “Nats, you too?” She smiled faintly. It was then that Mildred took her by her arm, gently. “This was endearing, truly. But we must return you to you room, M’Lady. Your mother would be most unpleased if she should find out of your absence.” The woman would sternly gawk. Hotaru would nod after a while before looking to her two trusted and bow. “We will depart in but a moment. You wouldn’t have me leave so hastily after what they did for me, would you?” Hotaru would take her arm from Mildred’s hand. Standing to her feet. The elder woman would step back. This was but a reminder for her of her station in the presence of one such as Hotaru. 

There was a brief moment where the Shinkou granted her a stern expression of her own. One that they all should know of when this woman was serious about something. Mildred would glance to both Seto and Natsuki before lowering her head in slight embarrassment. “Of course not, M’Lady.” 

Hotaru would then redirect her attention over to both Natsuki and Seto. “Forgive me for that display. That was not something I’d have liked you all to see.” Her eye would suddenly catch the blood on the bed she was recently laying upon. Her eyes would slightly widen, out of concern. Looking down at herself she would see that she was stained with blood, her clothing. “What did I miss?” she asked. 

TWC: 2,265
———————
Mid Thread Claim
Transplants
22 Stats - vigor
Jichinsai [V7.2] : 1,750

515 remaining

Approved