Taking Time to Heal

It had been two days since the attack on Elkwood and for the first time I was opening my eyes in a rather uncomfortable bed, the room was white with a table next to me with flowers in a vase. A man with an eye patch in a lab coat was standing at the foot of the bed writing something on a chart. He looked up at me and smiled, from what I could tell from the view outside my window I was in Mori so that fear was resolved but I still was anxious about the battle I had just come from. I sat up and looked at him, cringing a bit as the wires from the machines I was hooked up to pulled at my skin. "What happened? Is everyone else alright?"

I walked over to the kid and laid him back down as I answered, the sensors for his heart rate had gone up quite a bit since he had regained consciousness and we needed to keep that down for a quicker recovery. "Everyone else is fine, from what we can tell there were no casualties in the battle." I held my tongue before I said the next part about the people we had yet to account for, a member of that list being a member of this kid's genin squad according to his files and that sort of anxiety would do nothing but stress him out and slow the healing process. "You have some visitors though, give me a minute and I'll go get them." I walked out of the room to the lobby to get his friends.

As he said that everyone was alive I let out a sigh of relief, when I was able to get to my feet I would need to go visit Hebi and see how bad he had gotten roughed up. As the doctor left I noticed the insect insignia on his sleeve and would make sure to look up what that meant later. I could hear a loud ruckus from the hallway though and I was confused, rather than sitting up I found the remote to my bed and sat up that way to see a familiar blue mohawk. "You're alright!!" Kamehoshi ran across the room and stopped at my bedside, my bumped fists together like normal and laughed. I cringed a bit as the laughing hurt the wound in my side but not nearly as much as it had hurt walking away from the battle.

I had walked into the lobby to find the turtles sitting as I left them, pacing around the room until at last they could go see their friend. They all looked to me and I gave a nod, they all started to run but I caught most of them. Only one turtle with a blue mohawk got around me, the others walked down the hall calmly with me and piled into the room one by one until there was almost no space left at all. I pushed my way in to the small desk in the back corner to fill out some final forms to wrap up the procedures we had to perform on the kid.

I smiled and laughed again as I noticed not only had Kamehoshi come to see me but a large chunk of the entire family had made the trip. Even Kamesora was here on his little cloud, he had flown over everyone to see me first, we also did the fist bump and chuckled "Youhadusworriedtodeath!" We all got quiet or a minute and looked at him, including the doctor, "Sorry, I said you had us worried to death. Next time this happens have me go get help." "Don't worry, there will be plenty more chances for you to get help before something kills me." Everyone laughed at that joke except for sora who seemed rather concerned but my expression seemed to eventually let him know I was kidding so he sighed and flew up to land on a shelf and work on grooming his cloud.

I'd since calmed down from my meltdown in the power control council meeting and had decided that I needed to find somebody who would actually talk about Elkwood. Takeru was being asshurt about the whole situation and quite frankly, I didn't like it. He may be older and more experienced, but I'm the goddamn general of the Imperial army. Regardless of my bitter thoughts, I held a calm look on my face as I made my way into the hospital. I asked the receptionist where anybody who was injured in Elkwood was being treat with a cold tone in my voice. She nervously pointed in the right direction and I went on my way. I strode down the hall way until I heard noise coming from one of the rooms. I looked into the doorway and saw a small teenaged boy laying in bed and the room was filled with turtles. I stepped into the room, knocking as I did so.

I chuckled at the kid's joke even though it seemed to slightly upset the little turtle but then my attention was drawn elsewhere along with the attention of everyone else. Standing in the door was Haru who seemed considerably calmer than he had been two days ago at the council meeting but still very much on edge, that was expect though seeing the level of responsibility he had in the military. I had finished the paperwork I needed to do for now so I stacked it up and clipped it to a board before rising to my feet. "Lord Haru, I assume you wish to talk to the patient about his experiences? I'll leave you to your business." I made my way past the turtles that had the room nearly packed wall to wall and gave him a nod as I passed him at the door. I would make my way down the hall towards my office where I would stay in case the general wished to speak to me about the kid's condition when he got done here.

I turned my attention as the room fell silent at the knock at the door, we turned to see a man dressed in a military uniform that seemed to serious for his own good. Dr Aburame, as I had determined from the name on his clip board, greeted this man as a lord with great respect but I personally didn't recognize him before leaving us more or less alone. The turtles would move to clear an almost clear path between the man and my bed, the only one still in the way was Kamehoshi who wanted to stay at my side no matter which military official decided to drop by. "Do I know you sir?"

I nodded to Shitai as he walked past me. "Doctor." I then made my way to the bed standing with my arms crossed behind my back, holding in hand in the other. I looked down at the boy with a stern look and replied. "I am Haru Raba, general of the Imperial Army. You probably don't know me, but I know you are Takoda Kuma. I'm also aware you were at the battle of Elkwood earlier this week. Would you care to explain what happened?" As I finished my statement, I stretched an arm over and grabbed a chair for myself. I removed Lionheart and placed it on the floor next to me so I was able to sit properly. I crossed one leg over the other and folded my hands together, gingerly touching the tips of my fingers together.

The general of the entire imperial army had come to visit me, the pride instilled in me from my bear warrior heritage made me glow at this honor. "I would say I'm honored you are here but I'm sure you already know that." Kamehoshi looked at me and shook his head, "Kiss ass..." I scowled at my friend before returning my attention to Haru, "Elkwood though, I was woken up by the sounds of the battle already in progress. Me and some friends stay in a house there most of the time to perform missions for the community, but anyway... when I woke up I saw building on fire and went on the attack and managed to beat down a chunin commander to scatter one of their squads but at the expense of me having to leave the battlefield from my wounds. In the chaos though I swear I saw two giant monsters fighting." The turtles all turned to mutter and agree with each other, Kamehoshi had told this story many times back in their homeland and it proved consistent with them.

I smirked at the boy and his turtle. It was nice to have someone be honored by my presence and not disgusted by my unconventional methods. I listened to Takoda, trying to piece together what had happened. It seemed to be a surprise attack early in the day, almost as if they'd known there was a small summit going on within Morigakure. Then he mentioned something about giant beasts. Fuck... Had Bryn mastered that demon already? I had to ask, but I needed to remain composed. I held the tone in my voice and kept a straight face, but internally, I was slightly panicking. I knew about Bryn being a jinchuuriki, but what was the other beast?

"What did these beasts look like?"

I held my head as I thought about it, the beasts hadn't really started fighting until after I went under the influence of the beast shape. "I'm not sure really, I was forced to use my bear form and I can't concentrate while that happens." Kamehoshi cleared his throat to get everyone's attention as he made himself known once more. "I saw them, there was a giant Minotaur with four tails and an even larger bear with eight. The fight didn't last very long though."

I chill ran through my body as the boy's turtle announced what it had seen. I couldn't believe it, the Yonbi had been mastered by Bryn and someone had sealed the Hachibi within themselves. Then it hit me. Takeru. I had sensed something during the meeting. Fuck. I didn't have the slightest of ideas on what to do.

"Thank you, are you sure it was a Minotaur and a Bear? Tell me it wasn't a polar bear, please."

I was nervous for the first time. This would not be good for my war contributions. I needed to find a new way to acquire some assets and fast.

Kamehoshi took a moment before answering but then slowly responded, "Yeah, a giant polar bear with eight tails. Does that mean something we don't know?" Everyone was muttering again but Sheldon spoke up now. "It means that the Hachibi isn't sleeping in his cave anymore. I haven't seen that beast for the better part of a thousand years either, I wonder if he remembers me." Everyone grew silent at these words, the second most powerful being in existence was on the loose and they were only now realizing.

I sighed. I was now nervous and angry. I was speechless. I just sat in the chair for a few minutes and collected myself before I got up. "I need some air." I walked out of the hospital room and outside of the building. I leaned against the wall and just breathed. Unless I could figure out a way to win over Takeru, I'd be fucked. The tides had turned in this war, and I didn't like it. My power struggle was in jeopardy and I didn't like my power being threatened.

I watched as Haru left the room at this news, I turned to Sheldon for a moment and then back at the door. I didn't know what all was going on but I knew enough to say that whatever it was that I didnt like it.