[Open] Restore life the way it should be

[thelittleprincess]

Who: Ami and whoever wants to see her sick and vulnerable
Where: The training grounds for her teammates, the hospital for everybody else.
When: February 14th to the 22nd 
Notes: Ami has a fear of hospitals, and is terrified she'll die from illness in one, like her mother. So this'll be fun.


[February 14 - Team Shisui's Training Grounds]

Ami circled around her opponent, mindful of their teacher. She was thankful that they had headed right into sparring today; it helped explain the flush rising in her face, and the way her gaze was drifting slightly. She had staunchly ignored the signs of fever that had crept up over the past few days, stifling the coughs and sneezes as much as possible to avoid worrying her family. They always got so worried, because colds and flus hit her harder than most.

Like her mother.

Ami shoved down the stab of terror that lanced through her chest at the old memory. She was quiet normally, but she had all but taken a vow of silence since her voice started turning hoarse. She buried her face behind her collar and sniffled quietly, springing to the side to avoid a kick. Her head swam at the sudden motion and she stumbled, turning her ankle and tumbling to the ground, hard. The impact forced a cough out of her, and it was as if the floodgates had opened.

She hunched over, hacking and hacking. She felt something wet spatter against the palm she had raised to her mouth, and drew it away. It was speckled with saliva and... redness. Blood. Ami remembered that sight—blood, oozing from between her mother's fingers, the older woman smiling and trying to hide it from her little girl even as she swayed in her bed.

"I—" She coughed again, hard, unable to force out the fear that made her hoarse voice small and tremulous. "I think I'll need to forfeit."


[February 14-22 (Discharge Day)]

Ami hated the hospital.

She hated the smell, she hated the walls, she hated the tile, she hated the linens, she hated the feeling of the stethoscope on her chest and back as she was told to inhale, again and again, and she hated the way none of it had seemed to change at all in the past nine years. She snuffled miserably and tried to ignore the doctors and nurses that talked with her aunt and uncle when they visited. Bronchitis, they said sometimes. The mother had chronic bronchitis, didn't she? Mama had a lot of things, Ami remembered, and curled up tighter under the blankets heaped over her. A lot of things. But her lungs had been the worst.

She buried her face in her pillows and tried to convince herself that the pain in her throat was what was making her eyes sting with tears.

Comments

[abileunaspada]

"... I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it, Ami," The words were soft, almost sad as she just held Ami. There was only so much she could do though, and she'd heed the wish - she'd stop saying that. It was only upsetting her more, and that was the last thing she wanted. At that point the older girl only held Ami close, letting her cry and get what she needed to out.

"I'm here. I'm here for you."

[thelittleprincess]

"And I believed that someday I'd make jounin and my parents would be there." It came out sadder, smaller than it should have been. Less bitter, and more broken thanks to the tears. "And then Daddy died on a mission and Mama collapsed at the market and went to the hospital. And that was that. Belief isn't—there are other things to rely on."

Effort. Help. Tangible things she could control or get from other people. She squeezed her eyes as a set of sobs tried to bubble up.

[abileunaspada]

Adela didn't say anything else, letting Ami cry and continuing to pet and soothe down her back. Sometimes... Breaks like this were needed. And that Ami was so distraught... It made her sad to see.

"... Ami... Are you scared of what might happen...?" Once more she squeezed the smaller body to hers, letting Ami have time to think and answer however she liked. All she could do now was let Ami know that this was a safe place to answer, and that Adela wouldn't think any less of her for it.

[thelittleprincess]

"Scared?" Ami let out the first laugh Adela had ever gotten out of her, though it was watery and self-deprecating. "No. I'm terrified. Every time flu season rolls around, I think about her. Her, in a bed like this, smiling and withering away." She sucked in a quick breath. "I don't... I'd rather die like Daddy. I don't want to wither."

A death on the battlefield wouldn't be drawn out, stained by the unkillable hope for the day she'd magically 'get better' as the people she loved watched her follow in her mother's footsteps.

[abileunaspada]

"It's okay to be scared," Closing her eyes, she just held the smaller figure and tried to soothe and comfort where possible. There wasn't much else she could do, but she could at least try for Ami's sake, "Being sick, being put on dangerous missions, they're both just different ways of fighting for your life. This one's just scarier 'cause you can't just stab whatever's threatening you. So it's okay to be scared, right here, right now."

[thelittleprincess]

"...I hate being here," she said again, with feeling. The tears subsided to sniffles and huffs, but more or less her base composure was finally returning, now that she had gotten the chance to finally let out what had been dragging on her the past few days.

Surprisingly contrary to what Adela said, she—she didn't feel scared. Right here, right now.

[abileunaspada]

"Then, better or not, you're not staying here."

She let those words hang before she finally pulled back, grabbing a few tissues for Ami and handing them to her when she spoke, her smile clear behind her mask again, "I won't let you stay in here. Whether you're cleared or not, you need fresh air and to be out of here sometimes or you'll just go crazy. So if you're not out in the next couple of days I'll break you out if I have to so you can get that fresh air and outside time. Sounds good?"