27: Affliction made Apparent

By nightfall that day, the situation had developed quite unexpectedly.

Soon after the camp was settled in the wake of Fuzō's outburst, Fumio came and paid Kana a visit. It seemed that, during a series of crisis meetings with the other doctors, Fumio had his hands full handling the aftermath. The sounds of muted argument could be heard in the background for several hours, but again Kana was preoccupied with her own tangled thoughts and feelings.

In brief, Kana's role and responsibilities while they traveled had gone through some revision.

Fumio had bowed his head and directly pleaded with Kana to watch over Fuzō and keep the woman from injuring herself or others as much as possible.  Everyone was stunned by Fuzō's bizarre actions and attitude towards Kana, but Fumio was willing to take it in stride until they knew more.

Kana, unaware just what significance the acting of bowing meant, only listened to Fumio's plea in intrigued silence.

Fumio then revealed how Fuzō was a talented and deeply respected member of their medical team, and that people were reluctant to talk about what had happened to her due to the horrifying details. Many feared the woman would succumb to her wounds and didn't want to get their hopes up.

Only a few had witnessed Fuzō's condition from when they first found her, and none of them spoke of it. The shudder Fumio gave and the look on his face when he mentioned it betrayed the magnitude of his horror at the thought. It was clear that he was one of those few.

Recalling now the haunted looks that other Yuka members sometimes gave when they noticed her with Fuzō, Kana understood and accepted that the camp treated it as a matter to be left unspoken. If there was one thing she understood about people by now, it was facial expressions that expressed fear. Fear, despair, and desperation. These were expressions Kana could interpret with her own nuance and personal experience. And many people seemed to be afraid around her.

Still, it was apparently rare enough that any of their comrades made it out of the Land of Rain alive and Fumio was especially unwilling to confine or abandon Fuzō, even if her actions suggested insanity. If there was anything he could do to help, he wanted Kana to find it out. The man again bowed his head, saying he owed Fuzō at least this much.

Awed by the man's confusing and emotional state, Kana had only nodded her head in affirmation. She too wanted to know what had happened and Fumio's details only further aggravated her curiosity.

As such, the acting director had also asked Kana to gather any information she could about what happened and then afterwards report it to him. In the meantime, no one was to disturb the two unless Kana assented.

Furthermore, she was excused from any other tasks, and while tending to Fuzō the two were to be relocated to one of the wagons. Fumio didn't believe it safe to carry Fuzō by stretcher at all anymore, Ryuu's injury being potent evidence, so Kana and the woman would be situated alone on a cleared-out section of one of the cargo wagons.

The wagon's cloth cover would be drawn shut so that no one else would be in view, hopefully giving Fuzō a chance to calm down when she eventually reawakened. This was decided after carefully considering Fuzō's hysterical words.

Kana could only agree, since she would no longer be required to walk and would have time alone with the woman.

This served her own interests very well. Too well even, that it made Kana a bit suspicious as to Fumio's intentions. Surely gratitude couldn't be all there was to it? Gratitude was still a feeling relatively new to Kana, so it was hard to tell. Fumio and Kana had traveled together for a while now, but they hadn't actually interacted with each other all that much. Another problem she didn't have enough information to work out. What was Fumio really thinking?

Regardless, by nightfall Kana was already brought with Fuzō to their new traveling quarters. That said, they were still sharing the space with a bunch of crates and supplies. Only the crates of rations that the Yuka emptied during the trip and been ditched to provide enough room, so the two were sat atop the remaining boxes. Fuzō's stretcher had been affixed to act as a bed and Kana used a blanket as hers.

It made for a stiff and cramped bed, but Kana had dealt with worse. Who was to say that she would actually be sleeping at all anyway?1No, wait. She doesn't mean anything like that!! Yet.

Still, the cloth covering was drawn closed and the space was private. That much was an opportunity to learn and practice more than she could previously.2I blame my proofreader for bringing to my attention how much of this chapter could be interpreted as double entendre

In the darkness, Kana peered over the woman now peacefully resting back on her stretcher. The woman's injuries still stained the new bandages a mild red and the rest of her skin rapidly growing pale. Kana's brows furrowed a bit at the sight. For some reason, seeing Fuzō like this was discomfiting, especially when Kana knew she had some ability to ease the poor woman's suffering.

Now away from prying eyes, Kana felt she could experiment a little more with chakra channeling. It was clearly beneficial for Fuzō in the moment, so she didn't see a reason not to. She was asked to find out as much as she could, too.

Holding the woman's uninjured hand in her own, Kana began gradually channeling more and more chakra through her hands and into Fuzō's, circulating it around to feel her condition. With increasing concentration, a very subtle and pale green glow emitted from the chakra wrapping her hands, indicative of medical ninjutsu.

As she increased the amount, Kana became faintly aware of something wrong. Fuzō's chakra was of course circulating on its own through her body, but it seemed different from the way Kana's circulated. Or anyone else she'd noticed, for that matter. The sensation became clearer the longer she channeled, revealing that Fuzō's chakra seemed to jitter and scrape around in its own network, like a rope pulled too taut and then frayed.

Rather than merely wrong, it was like something had fundamentally broken or changed about the woman's condition. Focusing more clearly on it, Kana tried to home in on exactly what was going on.

And that's when it began. Like whispers of wind, Kana perceived a pressure fluctuating around her, coming from outside the wagon. That wind intensified, brewing with malicious intent. Trickling in from many directions at once, the hostility was palpable.

Eyes snapping open, Kana's body tensed for a fight. Something was outside. Many somethings. Monsters, filled with pure hate and hostility. They were coming for her. Kana felt with conviction that an unspeakable fate awaited if they caught her. Her eyes darted around, searching for them, her enemies. All of her senses were on alert, but they could not perceive what her chakra was telling her was right outside.No footsteps. No growling. No movement save her own.

But then, what was this? Her heartbeat quickened and before Kana knew it, her tantō was unsheathed and brandished in her hand. She couldn't reveal herself yet. It was getting hard to remain in her disguise, her concentration slipping as her chakra roiled within.

The grip on her blade tightened and steadied with ice cold intent. Whatever entered this tent would have to die! Rising into a crouch, Kana released Fuzō's hand and prepared a warding stance. Only after she let go did she notice the sensation beginning to fade.

Whipping around to look back at the woman where she lay, Kana waited as the malice and hostility in her perception faded out entirely. Blinking rapidly in her bafflement, Kana realized that she was in shock.What was that?What. Was. That?

One calming breath exercise later, Kana again had her wits about her. The tantō returned to its sheath, tucked away behind her back.

It was then that memories of Fuzo's words reverberated around her mind:

''Can't you sense it, too? It's everywhere. Everywhere! It comes from everyone!''

Was that...that hatred... what Fuzo meant? That hostility was not natural, like some sort of illusion. What could possibly have caused it? Was this some sort of jutsu, some sort of attack that held her in its grip?

Kana shook her head ruefully, clearing her mind. Provisionally, she would call the phenomenon as experiencing 'Phantom Monsters'. That was as accurate and literal as Kana felt capable of describing for what she had just gone through.

After a weighty plop back into a sitting position, she again peered to assess Fuzō's condition.

It was impossible to tell for now what exactly had transpired, but Kana figured that might be something only Fuzō herself could answer. She only worried that it would be even more unpleasant for the wounded woman than what Kana herself had just experienced. At least it was now obvious why her first reaction was violence. To wake up in a strange place surrounded by that kind of atmosphere...

Kana was certain of one thing at least now: she had to get to the bottom of this, whatever this was. Especially since Fuzō seemed to regard only Kana as an exception. And anything that made her unique was something that Kana nursed a healthy consternation for. Something different about her that others would be suspicious of. What if it was enough to identify her despite whatever disguise she might wear? What if it was something the ritual had caused?

One of Kana's major underlying anxieties was still the long-term aftereffects of the Shinigon's sacrificial ritual.

One way or another, Kana had to get it out of Fuzō. What exactly is different about her? Why Kana? Desperation? Hope? Trust? These things were still too unclear for Kana to understand. And by this point, Kana felt she needed to understand this.

Sooner or later, she'd need to fill Fumio in on what had happened and what she'd learned. It would be difficult to spin it without revealing about her chakra, but...

That line of thought was abruptly put on hold as Fuzō shuddered and took a deep and rasping breath. Immediately after, her body tensed up and her eyes began to flicker.

Kana abandoned her thoughts and quickly grasped the woman's shoulders, gently but firmly holding her from leaping up. Pinning her to the stretcher, in other words.

Fumio could wait. Fuzō came first.

At that moment, Fuzō dark grey eyes flickered open, full of panic until abruptly changing to hope when they met Kana's own. Kana's calm eyes, appearing green from her Henge disguise, stared right back into Fuzō's.

A few beats of silence passed before Kana uncharacteristically spoke first, her quiet voice somehow soothing in tone to the woman's ears.

"Fuzō... -san? Let me help you?"