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

Allied Anxiety

Mana usually hated the hospitals. Nobody cared that the food merely provided what was required for an organism to survive and rebuild, one had to deal with the inevitable influx of needles or medical ninjutsu treatments that, honestly, varied in quality. Sometimes, depending on what was being treated, the Mystical Palm treatment felt like a refreshing shower of ice-cold water in a hot summer day, sometimes it felt like some supernatural force assembling your bones together inside your body like a ship in a bottle.

Not only that, then there was the newly found solitude. Kiyomi and Meiko were out of the village for nobody knew how long, Kiyomi was gone until the whole Yamanaka and Uchiha tension settles, Meiko – until Hokage-sensei deems that there has been just about enough traveling. Eiju tried his best to remedy that, even through the signs of sickness he tried to hide, through intense headaches and nausea he still came to visit. Still, he had a full-time job to micromanage so Mana didn't blame him for anything.

For a village-famous entertainer, Mana sure felt a heck of lonely. Sometimes she'd have preferred being lonely, luckily enough, Team Walnut assumed the responsibilities of giving the village just about enough information to where Mana needn't worry about those things. She was questioned once and very off-handedly, just a meaningless procedure to close off a nasty page in the village history.

What could have been the end of Konoha and the birth of a new massive forest became just a page in the village news for a couple of days. Why would it not have? People and things tried to destroy Konoha or take it over almost every week, most of such stories slipped under the radar of the public for years and, frankly, even if they did come out, the public would get too bored by them all too soon.

Despite these feelings towards hospitals, Mana did enjoy her brief stay in Konoha's own just this once. Even the solitude that bugged her now more than it ever used to felt like not that big of a deal with what the magician had on her mind. More exactly, what she had managed to roll off her chest after the incident with the lanterns and the eco-terrorists intending to raise some natural scenery and not letting the village built in its place stand in their way.

By the time Mana could bravely, if somewhat slowly, walk out from the hospital and look around, she felt somewhat somber about what had plagued her consciousness for the last few days. And yet, for whatever reason, the magician felt like there was no need to yell about what has been simmering inside her from the top of a mountain. She hugged her parents, she had seen father more than once but she was surprised to see mother taking a break from work.

*****

"We have to stop this." Kouta dug into his manju. His voice was calm and a little snappy even.

"I agree, I guess my magic shows are a bad time for a date." Mana giggled. Usually, she'd be in a rush home to get out of her uniform, into something stuffy and cozy like a blanket and watching the drops of rain running down her window. With Kouta, however, she didn't mind sitting around the hall and watching people walk in and leave the place, sometimes stopping for a brief chat.

"I mean, it's like you're dating the audience. I'd really like for us to do something that doesn't include you working." Kouta somehow managed to place an entire bun into his mouth at once. Sometimes Mana forgot what a food hog her boyfriend was. After the bun went down about as well as a full mouth of sticky bread with sweet, kiwi filling would go through the limited capacity of the human esophagus, the boy suddenly became a bit embarrassed and looked away.

"Sorry I didn't come to pick you up today or visit you in the hospital." He apologized.

"It's fine, you have an actual job that sometimes takes you outside the village, I get that," Mana replied. She did her best "it's not a big deal" voice and, honestly, in the rational part of her mind she really wanted to feel that way. Irrationally, however, she really wanted to see Kouta at least once during those days, even if it was impossible. "I wouldn't have come to pick you up from the hospital if that'd mean waiting for hours around your parents too..." she tried lightening the mood.