44: Reinvestigation

Kana watched as she stood back from the examination bed, entranced by the swirling of green and white light that flowed over Fuzō's skin and body. Kaoru held her hands aloft over her daughters body, tracing over her limbs and guiding the light around.

The pattern of its movement was gentle and exploratory, probing and cleansing. Fuzō had closed her eyes, trying to relax as the light entered her body. It seemed one had to ease into this process, gradually flowing deeper and deeper into the body until the chakra pathways and points themselves could be observed.

More fascinating to Kana's senses, it seemed like a more thorough and effective version of the way she herself had been channeling chakra into Fuzō.

Why was that? Was there a similarity between the sealed chakra from the scrolls and Kana's own? Such a thing, it was undoubtedly a rare opportunity to observe. Improving her understanding of healing would be a major benefit, arguably even more so that her offensive skills. And better understanding her own uniqueness would help in all manner of ways going forward as well.

Thinking just that, Kana shifted her gaze over to the scrolls floating beside Kaoru. Peering closer, one detail immediately drew her focus and caused her eyes to widen slightly.

The scroll had drawstrings and a leather strap used to close and lock it once it was furled up. The center of that leather strap was sporting a sigil. A sigil she recognized instantly.

It was exactly the same as the one1 on her heirloom hair clasp.

Kana's eyes narrowed briefly in contemplation, distracted by the unexpected link to her past.

But before she could even begin to formulate what to think or ask about, a horrified shriek gasped out from Kaoru's mouth, whipping Kana's attention away from the scroll.

Fuzō seemed to shudder slightly, but that was all the reaction she gave. Kaoru on the other hand, stumbled backward and canceled her technique.

"Heavens and ancestors! How could this be!? This is not something a human should be able to bear!" Kaoru shivered frantically. She cast aside the scrolls in her hands and ran towards the wooden box from before, digging around inside of it.

Kaoru... must have detected the phantoms plaguing Fuzō. Kana's first reaction to them had been similar. A verbal description and all the preparation in the world could not compare to experiencing that sensation in person. It was easy to understand Kaoru's reaction, so Kana calmed herself down.

Oddly enough, Fuzō only had an exhausted and weary look on her face. Perhaps the terror and pain was no longer as jarring to the poor woman herself. Still, that itself was worrying, and Kana made to step closer and check on Fuzō personally.

However, just as she put her foot forward, a discarded scroll rolled up against Kana's foot in the chaos, drawing her attention as it brushed up against her toes. The sigil matching her hair clasp faced upright and peeked up at her.

With Kaoru distracted and Fuzō panting wearily, Kana spared a second to pick up the scroll and absentmindedly shoved it in a pocket of her heavy overcloak.

By the time Kana made it over to Fuzō's side, Kaoru had also rushed back with a wide paper tag between her fingers. The large letters on it only spelled out 'Seal', surrounded by a simple circular fūinjutsu formula. The older woman's hands shook as she began peeling back the robe where it lay over Fuzō's belly.

"Kaoru-san... you felt it right?" Kana prompted, unsure what Kaoru was planning, "Do you know-"

However she was interrupted.

"I-I don't know. I cannot- I've never felt something so truly awful. The cases I've dealt with in the past... those were on the level of persistent aches. This is... this is unlike anything I've.."

Fuzō's mother shook her head furiously, shaking away her confusion. The deadly seriousness and concentration of a professional took hold once more. Her hands steadied and she smoothened out the paper tag over Fuzō's stomach, placing a palm over the seal and focusing.

"But I know this... this horrendous affliction is somehow tied to her chakra now. Her pathways have been damaged by something, some sort of change. A shock, a tremor, some sort of psychological harm? I couldn't tell you. But, it must have been agonizingly painful, for her own body and chakra to be damaging each other. I have my theories, I think what's happening... those hallucinations some sort of sensory collision with her inner energies-"

She halted her rant, looking between Fuzō and Kana, setting her jaw.

"That's beside the point. It must be stopped or it will run her ragged with the strain! I have to seal her very chakra itself or it will only continue! I can scarcely imagine how she could last this long already!"

Bringing up her other hand in a two-fingered handsign, Kaoru's palm on the paper tag glowed with her chakra and activated the seal. The formula symbols and lettering swirled and expanded outward onto Fuzō's skin, causing the wounded woman's body to jolt and tense up. Kana unconsciously tensed up at the same time.

Seal the body's chakra itself? That was possible? Wait, if the power of these seals was on the order of the barriers she'd witnessed, then that was surely the case. Then, what she felt was wrong with Fuzō all that time ago was a problem with the chakra itself, or its composition? What did that mean? Chakra could harm the body this way? What about her own body, did the same apply to Kana after she had been so... altered?

Despite the simplicity of the sealing tag and the relatively mild physical reaction, Kana was deeply unsettled by the idea of her chakra being restrained or sealed. It reminded her of the darkness in her memories, the helplessness in her captivity, the extension of her will being stolen from her. Worries of long-term consequences and side effects surfaced in her mind. This distraction preoccupied her attentions away from most everything else on her mind.

Her chakra roiled inside her own body accordingly, reassuringly, its mere presence slowly soothing her worries.

Soon after, as soon as the seal finished affixing itself in place, Fuzō's body gradually relaxed and the tension left the wounded woman. She had seemingly lost consciousness once again. Kana briefly looked up, focusing on reality once more.

Kaoru was trying to calm her beating heart and unsteady breath, "T-there. Until I learn more, until I have... a better idea how to handle that... at least this should alleviate her symptoms."

Saying that, Kaoru knelt beside the bed once more, placing her elbows atop it and resting her face in her hands,

"Fuzō... my daughter, I should never have pushed you down this path. This is so much worse..."

A few droplets slipped between the older woman's palms and plopped against her daughter's shoulder. Kana watched as the stern older woman sobbed softly before her, unsure of what to do... if anything. This sort of situation was not one Kana was good with. Well, maybe a question then?

"Ahhh, Kaoru-san. What exactly did you do?" Kana asked with a serious voice. She did want to know, after all.

This proved successful somehow, as Kaoru took a moment to wipe her face and compose her voice,

"My apologies Kana-sama. I was not as prepared to... handle something like this as I thought. I- I have placed a restorative seal over her chakra reserve. This will keep her chakra from circulating and unburden her damaged chakra network, allowing it to heal. Hopefully..."

Kaoru rubbed the back of her hand over her forehead, removing some sweat from her short rusty-red bangs,

"Or rather, for us to find a way to heal her network. I've never seen anything like this. Her chakra network itself seems to have changed it's structure, like a river turning and carving a new path, in some places even flowing backwards. It is akin to your blood vessels and heart rearranging, this does not just happen! At the very least, insulating her internal energies like this will keep her body and mind from feeling the burden. Like when a stream runs dry, its banks cannot be eroded by the water. This is the only thing I could think of to buy us some time."

How strange. Thinking from a purely medical perspective, Kana felt she understood the situation. It matched with her own observations, some items in particular made more sense with what she'd felt all this time channeling chakra into Fuzō. But Kaoru had managed to learn much more detailed information in a much shorter time frame.

As Kana suspected, learning more about medical arts, how the body worked, and how her own body worked... could yield crucial skills to have. The idea of something like Fuzō's condition happening to her... was another terrifying thought. Seals, medical jutsu, and her own circumstances... thoughts of these brought more uncomfortable fears and anxieties to her attention.

Kana took one of Fuzō's hands in her own, the physical contact somehow bringing to mind their mutual struggles. She was drawn out of these thoughts once more by a voice.

"In the meantime, however," Kaoru continued, a conflicted look in her eyes and a grimace pulling at her lips, "Fuzō will be so much weaker. Her body, her natural stamina still needs to recover from her physical injuries. She will be unable to compensate using her chakra anymore, which I suspect was the only reason she was able endure for so long."

'Besides you. Besides all that you alone have done to bring her back.' Kaoru's eyes seemed to say. Sometimes these nonverbal communications were easier for Kana to understand. And this one in particular conveyed a sense of gratitude that Kana could appreciate. Kaoru truly...

At the moment, Kaoru looked pointedly at the hand Kana was holding, "So, just keep in mind how fragile her condition is. Kana-sama, I know that you have-  I must ask that you... that you please-"

"Now, now mother... don't count me out yet. I'm a bit stronger than you think."

Two sets of eyes flew to Fuzō's face, where the grey eyes of the wounded woman looked back with a sense of peace Kana had never seen in them before.

"Fuzō, you're awake!?" Kaoru stood and immediately coated her hands in medical ninjutsu, examining her daughter.

"Mmmm, much earlier than expected, right? I guess I never knew what a chakra seal would feel like. It... wasn't so bad." Fuzō tilted her neck to look at her mother, whose concern was written all over her expression, "This, this isn't so bad."

"How do you feel? Is it... better?" Kana asked, clasping Fuzō's hand between both of her own and then gently setting it down.

"I don't feel bad... anymore. Kana-chan, not at all like it was before. But I, I don't feel good either. More hollow and so, so numb. My skin tingles everywhere, my body feels heavy. I never imagined this numbness, this emptiness would be such a relief. Where there was tension and pain, there is now only soreness."

With that, Fuzō weakly chuckled with the purest sound Kana had ever heard from her, tears of relief dripping gently down the woman's face as her body lay limp,

"It's gone. That unending pressure... it's gone. Kana... Thank you..."

Kaoru drew close and softly wiped her daughter's tears away with another handkerchief, pulled from who knows which pocket in her medical robes.

Kana moved to Fuzō's other side and brushed back the woman's bangs, which had come loose and dangled down over her eyes when she'd tilted her head.

In response Fuzō struggled to bring up her right arm, which wobbled leadenly towards Kana's own head, where she patted Kana with an affectionate gaze. Kana didn't know how to feel about the gesture, a sort of half-hug-embrace, but leaned down to make it easier for Fuzō anyway. With her head resting sideways on Fuzō's shoulder, Kana allowed her hair to be awkwardly patted. The feeling brought a bit of warmth, like with Michiko.

However Fuzō next turned to Kaoru, still right by her side, and adopted a much more serious glint to her eyes,

"But there is something else I cannot stand, eating away at me." A look of fear crossed Kaoru's face before Fuzō continued, "I have a lot to ask, and I won't rest until I've heard some answers."

The way she said it... it almost sounded like a threat. Holding her own health hostage?

"First, what exactly happened between you two?" Kaoru awkwardly averted her eyes at that, but Kana closed hers and tried not to wince at the memory.