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*****
While Yukihiro was submitting his report to the Hokage, Ryota went to find Yomi, who was waiting near the gate for their arrival.
"Yomi, we're back. We were able to save all the hostages. Well, most of the work was done by Kaida."
"Where is Kaida? Is he alright? What happened on the mission? Is he hurt?" Yomi started asking all the questions running through her mind.
"Kaida is taking the hostages to the hospital, and yes, he's fine. But I can't say the same for the bandits."
Ryota began recounting everything that happened on the mission to Yomi—how Kaida became enraged seeing Ayame thrown out, how he brutally killed everyone, and how he single-handedly saved all the captives without their help.
Yomi listened intently, but she didn't share Ryota's enthusiasm. While Ryota thought Kaida was impressive during the mission, Yomi knew how soft-hearted Kaida was. Killing someone for the first time, especially in such a brutal manner, would surely affect him. Not to mention the guilt of not killing the bandits earlier and blaming himself for what happened to Ayame.
She was deeply worried for Kaida and wanted to be near him, so she went straight to the hospital.
…
Kaida admitted everyone to the hospital. Ayame was in particular need of medical treatment; she had banged her head on a stone in a suicide attempt. Ryota had tied a bandage on the wound as soon as Kaida's clone escorted everyone to safety.
If not for the quick action, Ayame would have definitely died from blood loss. Medical ninjas took her to the emergency room while Kaida sat outside, waiting.
Everyone else was also receiving treatment, as none of them were without injuries. Kaida had been sitting there for an hour when a small hand gently squeezed his shoulder, jolting him to full alertness, ready to attack.
"It's me," Yomi said with a gentle smile, not the least bit afraid that Kaida might have attacked her; she knew that would never happen.
"What are you doing here, Yomi? Are you here to check on Ayame's condition? She's in the emergency room right now," Kaida said, his voice filled with guilt.
Yomi gave Kaida a tight hug. "It wasn't your fault. You can't predict the future, and most importantly, you saved her. She's alive thanks to you, so don't blame yourself."
"No, Yomi, get away from me. I'm a monster. You know how I killed those men. Even you will hate me like I hate myself now. They were begging to be saved or even killed, but I... I let them live and die a slow, painful death. I failed twice—first, by not saving those people who died because of those bandits, and then, to calm my mind, I tortured those bandits," Kaida said, pushing Yomi away.
"They deserved much more than what you did to them. You did nothing wrong; don't blame yourself," Yomi insisted, continuing to hug him. Kaida needed to hear that, and the emotions he had been suppressing for so long broke free like a dam giving way.
He sat down on the chair and started crying. Yomi stood beside him, letting him cry out his guilt. After about ten minutes, Kaida calmed down.
"Take this," Yomi said, handing Kaida a pill.
"What is this?"
"Sensei said you'd need some sleep. This will remove the effects of the soldier pill, though you'll feel extremely sleepy afterward," Yomi explained. This was why she had been late to the hospital.
"But, I…"
"I know. I meant after she recovers," Yomi said, knowing full well that Kaida wouldn't leave until he was sure Ayame was safe.
After waiting for another half hour, they finally saw the doctor come out of the emergency room.
"Sir, how is she?" Kaida asked as soon as the doctor opened the door.
"She's out of danger now, but we still need to keep her here to monitor her condition," the doctor said. Even though medical ninjas can heal a person much faster, that's usually for ninjas. In the case of a civilian, they can't use any major jutsu suddenly since their bodies aren't accustomed to chakra. Even mild chakra, like medical chakra, might harm their bodies.
"Can we see her now?" Kaida asked without missing a beat.
"Yes, but make sure she doesn't talk too much. She's just out of danger, not healthy," the head doctor said before leaving.
Kaida nodded and went inside, while Yomi stayed behind for a moment. "Thank you for saving our friend, Doctor," she said before following Kaida. The doctor just smiled and went on his way.
***
"Ayame, how are you?" Kaida asked.
"I'm fine, Kaida-san. Thank you for saving me. But what happened to the others? What about… what about my father?" Ayame asked, still worried about the others from the caravan, especially her father, who had been wounded while trying to protect her.
"All the women captured by the bandits are safe now, and your father is alive. He's getting treated in this hospital and is actually in better condition than you," Yomi said, as Kaida once again fell into guilt, thinking about the people from the caravan who died.
"Thank God. Thank you for saving us," Ayame said to Yomi.
"I wasn't the one who saved them; he was," Yomi said, pointing to Kaida.
"Yomi, I'm sorry for what I'm about to say," Ayame said and then looked at Kaida. "Kaida, every time you helped me and my father in the past month, I started to like you more and more. And when you came to save me today, those feelings became permanent. I know you love Yomi, and it's shameless of me to tell you this now, but when I was about to die, it was my last regret. I don't want to have it anymore, so… I love you."
Both Kaida and Yomi were speechless. Neither of them had expected this. Yomi's mood suddenly shifted, her thoughts racing: 'What the heck? I came here to meet a friend at the hospital and am leaving with a love rival?'
But it was nowhere near as chaotic as Kaida's feelings. Already burdened by the guilt of thinking everything that happened was because of his indecisiveness, and after his first time killing someone so brutally, Ayame's confession was just too much for him to handle.
"I'm not sure what to say, Ayame, but I know one thing: if you knew the truth, you'd hate me. I'm the reason you suffered this. I could have killed those bastards a day before yesterday, but just because I didn't want to kill anyone, I left them alive, and they did this to you," Kaida said, almost on the verge of crying again.
Ayame looked at Kaida with a confused expression, unable to make sense of what he was saying. Yomi understood and clarified, "During our previous mission, we had to escort a large caravan. Those bandits tried to ambush it, but seeing the size of the caravan, they ran away. Kaida went ahead to check if the path was safe and saw those bandits fleeing. He feels guilty that if he had killed those bandits, this wouldn't have happened."
"No, Kaida-san, it wasn't your fault. You might have killed those bandits, but others would have taken their place. It was our fault. We had a very bad sale this week and couldn't make much money, so our village elder decided to save some money on our escort and hired only genins. Otherwise, this wouldn't have happened," Ayame said, trying to lift Kaida from his unnecessary guilt.
Yomi smiled, seeing Ayame trying to cheer Kaida up, but she wasn't about to share Kaida. So what if you love him? I love him more, and if she shared him with every girl who liked him, well, with Kaida's looks and kind personality, that number could easily reach a hundred in the future. But there was no need to make a scene, especially when Ayame was still in the hospital.
Just as Kaida was about to respond, the nurse in the room interjected, "The patient is getting too riled up; she's still not healthy. So please, you two, leave. You can continue your conversation after she's recovered. And boy, I know the first kill is always the hardest, but remember, they deserved it. You didn't just kill someone; you saved tens, if not hundreds, of civilians from getting killed." He patted Kaida's shoulder reassuringly.
"Thank you. Take care, Ayame. We'll come back to see you," Kaida said to the nurse and Ayame.
"Kaida-san, don't think too much about what I said. I don't expect a reply from you; I just wanted to let you know," Ayame said with a smile. Kaida nodded and left the room.
Now, only Yomi, Ayame, and the nurse were left in the room.
"I don't know why you said that, but if you love him, feel free to try to win him. But let me tell you, I love him more, and I will make sure I'm the one who becomes his wife. But I'm not going to hate you if you
win; that would just mean you loved him more than I do," Yomi said, not liking how Ayame seemed to give up when she said she loved Kaida.
"I don't think I have time for that, Yomi. I have to go back to my village and handle many things after this… but in the future, you may find me constantly pestering you and Kaida," Ayame said with a smile so big that it was hard to believe she had been injured.
"As you wish," Yomi replied as she walked towards the door but then stopped and said, "Get well soon," before leaving.
"She's a good girl," the nurse commented.
"I know, and that's why I don't have much confidence in my love life," Ayame said with a sad smile.
"It's so good to be young," the nurse said with a chuckle before returning to his seat.
***
Kaida went home and took the pill as Yomi had instructed. The effects were immediate, and he felt overwhelmingly drowsy. He collapsed onto the bed like a log.
Yomi returned about ten minutes later and shook her head at the sight of Kaida. She adjusted his posture, placed a pillow under his head, and then went to her room, also exhausted, and fell asleep immediately.
***
After sleeping for an entire day, Kaida finally woke up.
"This is new. Even after training for three days straight, I've never felt this tired," Kaida thought. It was true; normally, he would have woken up much earlier, but many things had piled up—his anger, the Sharingan, guilt, and finally the medicine—all of which resulted in him getting much more rest than usual. But the good thing was his mind was now clear. Though he still felt a bit guilty about killing someone, he now understood the price of dwelling on the past. He wasn't on Earth anymore; he had to change, or else…
"You finally woke up," Yomi said, coming into the room to check on him.
"Yeah, I needed that sleep," Kaida said with a small smile.
"Great! I've already ordered food. You get freshened up; Sensei asked us to come to the training area in two hours," Yomi said, wanting to keep Kaida busy so he wouldn't dwell too much on the recent incident. Kaida noticed this and was grateful to have someone so caring by his side.
"Okay," Kaida agreed. After they ate, they headed toward the training area.