Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

A Brand New Line in the Sand

Looking at the group of people gathering by Hanasaku's ward with flowers and gifts made Mana squelch herself inside. Why would the charismatic Lady Fifth actually have time for Mana to see her? The very idea now made less and less sense and Mana wondered why it ever seemed sound, besides the fact that the magician genuinely wanted to see her mentor.

She's already lost one mentor figure in her life without getting to properly say goodbye. Even if she was to wait beside Hanasaku's ward until the end of the visiting hours, even if she had to pull every favors she had in the building, Mana was not about to look past moments of weakness like this without checking on the woman.

"It's Konoha's Sorceress!" somebody noticed making Mana blush and smack her forehead. She wanted to play it cool but it went about as well as it usually went in one's blooming years when they tried to look cool. In the eyes of some of her fans and people that just knew of her in general, she just revealed herself as a bumbling child. It was not like the day could have gone that much worse...

"Hey, guys. You think you can gift me a moment with my mentor?" the magician put her hands together with a smiling plead.

Strangely enough, it went through better than the magician hoped. Maybe she was losing popularity in the village due to not performing for a while now and that was why the people were less persistent and all over her but the bustling ward was quick to clean out leaving Mana alone with her sensei.

"Sensei. I did not know you were in the hospital." Mana bowed to the woman.

Hanasaku looked seriously worn out, her eyes were bagged and her face had plenty more wrinkles than it usually did. Her hair looked messy and some of the blood vessels over her arms and her face looked darker. Despite that, the woman looked quite happy which strangely made the worry over her condition greatly dim down.

"It's not like I can blame you, it's not like I made a habit of falling this ill." Hanasaku scratched the back of her head as if she was sort of blaming herself for getting injured.

"True, I'm sure you'll be back on your feet and swinging in no-time though." Mana tried comforting her mentor. Seeing the number of flowers and gift boxes stacked beside her bed made the magician feel a little better about not bringing the woman anything. It did not appear like she needed or wanted anything really.

"Actually... I think I'm going to call it quits." Hanasaku declared with a smile that usually was more comfortably resting on Meiko's face.

"W-What?" Mana's jaw dropped. She tried to keep her composure in front of the woman and speak with the proper etiquette that was in order when talking to one's superior but this declaration made the Sannin bust through yet another block wall.

"Yeah. Someone finding out my weakness, that's bound to spread. Also, I don't think I'm going to ever be the same after that technique. The medical folk think that my inhuman stamina and healing are gone for good, I'm just like everybody else now. I'll get old, I'll die if someone hits me too hard, I'll age and all that package." Hanasaku smiled. She looked like she was comfortable living that way and even more down with her decision.

"Oh, I see..." Mana looked down and to the side in discomfort.

"Oh! I'm sorry, it's not like there's anything wrong with being normal it's just... I spoke with Sixth and... That's it. You know. There are no more friends I have to talk with. Howoku and Tanshu got themselves killed, Misu was the one who helped my other bros get killed... Everyone I grew up with has passed on and this may be the last warning call I will ever get. It's a rare chance that one even gets one, usually, their warning call is getting themselves killed on the spot..." Hanasaku's soft tone and her gentle gestures almost made Mana's eyes water.