thirty crows (朱) action/video (time shift catch-all)

[yourhatred]

September 22nd - closed to Law

[Itachi leaves his bedroom as usual, but exits it at death's door.

The time shift, catching him moments before he would conclude a fight with his brother, moments before the time he was brought from into Luceti in the first place, dumps a bleeding, wreck of a man out the other side of the doorway. The ninja staggers, a bloody arm that had been held out in front of him catching onto the opposite wall of the hallway.

So ready. He'd been so ready. What's going on? Literal moments away from dying, prepared to give into the inevitable, Itachi now finds himself having to do his damnedest to keep himself breathing. The orange glow of Susano'o at first barely surrounding him as he arrived, fades away into nothing as he fights against the darkness at the edge of his vision.

Where is Sasuke?

Coughing, his free hand covering his mouth as blood ran through his fingers, the man leaned further against the wall, the last of his adrenaline leaving him.]

September 23rd - OTA

[Late in the day, after a fair amount of rest, Itachi finds his journal and spends a while reading through it. The other entries become too confusing after a while, but he at last tries to make one of his own. After all, it does seem to be a form of communication.]

I'm looking for Uchiha Sasuke.

September 24th - OTA

[After a failed attempt at trying to get up and make his own breakfast, the ninja will eventually escape the house by way of a substitution technique and wander the town. The clothing is slightly ill-fitting, as the Itachi that's been living in Luceti for the past four years is a fair bit healthier than the one walking slowly through it now.

Don't worry. The cough isn't contagious.

He can be found in basically any building around the town center, and eventually sitting wearily at the fountain.]

September 25th

[Officially banned to the house, but still this older self until he wakes up the morning of the 26th.]

Comments

[yourhatred]

[The removal of the blood makes breathing a little easier for now. It will slowly fill again if left alone, but right now that's a weight removed. He can focus a little more on other things.

Chakra transfusions are normal in his world. This one's a bit crude but it works all the same. Itachi's heavily depleted reserves take it in greedily, allowing his body an easier time of recuperating. Nala's healing energies, not as barred by the general strain, are better able to work on the important things.

It won't strengthen the heart, but it helps to stabilize it.

He twists his head away from Law's, gulping in air and the larger amount of oxygen it provides. The breaths are still ragged, but he can take them on his own.]

[deathsdoctor]

[It's working. Law carefully increases the flow of chakra as Itachi twists his head away to gulp in air. The shinobi isn't the only one needing to do that; Law gasps himself once as sweat begins to bead along his brow and a slow throb builds at the base of his skull.

Keep going. Nala's now starting to get somewhere.

Teleporting him shouldn't kill him now.]

Going to get you to the clinic.

Stay with me.

[He doesn't notice he's repeating himself. It's a mantra going through his mind and overriding the building pain from each draining ability.

Stay with me.

His fingers flick again and suddenly they're no longer in the house, but in the operating room of the Battle Dome clinic.]

[yourhatred]

[The sudden change of scenery is startling. He'd just been through one - how was he now dealing with another?

Itachi is starting to turn a wide-eyed, accusatory gaze on Law, as though he might be responsible for all of this, when it's broken off by another coughing fit that causes him to squeeze his eyes shut in pain. The wings he still doesn't realize he has on his back tremble.

He's still relying on this man to keep him alive, whether he'd brought the ninja there or not. He'd said this was a clinic. That meant actual tools and medicines that could help him.

Is he dreaming, that all this has happened at once? Why dream about someone he doesn't know at the moment of his death? It's too much to think about, so he stops thinking about the scenario entirely. He has to live first.]

[deathsdoctor]

[The response to the coughing fit is an oxygen mask being strapped over Itachi's face and the electrodes for a heart monitor being attached. Law's face is pained and there's a sharp widening of the eyes in surprise at the cut off accusatory glare. What. Why?

He doesn't understand and he doesn't have time to try and figure it out right now. Right now all that's important is saving his life and he can sort out the rest later.

What's important is keeping in physical contact with his husband. He has to maintain a conduit for the chakra transfer to flow and Nala's magic to act. It's not easy, as he maintains Room and next summons blood to transfuse in him to counter what was lost from the thigh wound. Not easy with all he has to do.

Not easy is no excuse at all, and so he does. There's no other option for him.]

[yourhatred]

[This man is doing so much at once, it's impossible to keep track. He seems to have some sort of teleportation ability that differs from that of the fourth hokage in that he can move things without having to move himself. That's about all he has a chance to notice.

Itachi tries to relax and breathe in the oxygen, though part of him is still trying to keep him from panicking. He can't even spare the chakra to activate his Sharingan in order to get a better idea of what's going on. He needs all that energy to heal.

The more calm he is, the easier it will be for this man to work. As thrown off as he is by this, he has allow for it. So he keeps as still as he can, not struggling.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Still multitasking. Bringing to him the drugs, the surgical tools. He has to be careful - he can't put Itachi under to work an operation - it'd kill him, and he won't be able to stop him panicking if he opens him up to work directly on the damage and that's as good as a death sentence right there as well.

But he can't work blind.

So he has to take a gamble.]

Itachi. Listen to me, Itachi. I've got to operate to repair the damage - but it's not safe to put you under. Do you understand?

[yourhatred]

[The ninja stares at him. He understands. The idea of being operated on by someone unfamiliar doesn't set well with him. It's not the procedure itself that bothers him. Who knows what clan secrets could be stolen from his body? But he doesn't exactly have much choice at the moment. This man wants him alive, that much is clear, and he needs to keep himself alive.

So he nods, and keeps focusing on breathing through the mask for now. If he's awake for the operation, at least he'll be able to see what's happening to him - even if he won't have the strength to change it.

It's not a trusting look that Law is getting, but it's one of understanding.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Why is he looking at him like that?

He keeps working. So much to do.]

You won't feel pain. Just pressure. Don't panic at it. It's normal for my abilities.

[So much to do. The leg's bleeding too much and he can't handle that and fix his internals at the same time.

He needs - his journal appears, suspended in the air and hanging open. Here's hoping she's nearby and listening.]

Mia! Need you in the OR, now.

[yourhatred]

[His abilities? Itachi doesn't really have the luxury to be curious right now, but he is despite this. The basic healing had seemed similar to what he's used to, but the teleporting is more along the lines of what the fourth hokage could do. How did his other healing abilities work? Are they related?

As Law calls for someone else, the ninja turns a sharp glance to the doorway. He doesn't like the idea of more people getting involved, especially more people he doesn't know. That bothers him more than the operation itself.

But he can't waste energy fretting. He has to lay there and relax.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Journal discarded now that Mia's answered and is hoofing it over, Law reaches for a scalpel. He can't wait.

There is no pain. No blood - not even the sensation of it welling against skin. No impairment of anything as flesh parts smoothly.

Just pressure.

It's almost like Itachi hasn't been really cut at all.]

[frost_jewel]

[Mia comes to the dome at a run, but into the room with Law at brisk walking pace instead. Running makes other people nervous and it's too boisterous. She doesn't knock.

She also doesn't come much farther than the door, taking stock of the situation with her eyes first. What she sees does not read well.]

Tell me what you need me to do. [She makes it firm, almost loud, meant to cut through Law's concentration without slicing it to ribbons.]

[yourhatred]

[The ninja's attention is fully on Law's work as he watches in quiet fascination. He's definitely being cut open, but the lack of blood and pain makes the whole process surreal. What sort of technique is being used here? He can't even waste energy on the Sharingan to get a better look at it. He would in a heartbeat if he thought it wouldn't risk his heartbeat to do it.

His gaze shifts slightly as the woman enters, but at this distance he gets only a blur. He can see the operation somewhat better, and it interests him more right now anyway.

But soon even this much makes him a bit dizzy and he's forced to lean his head back to just stare at the ceiling and breathe into the mask.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Law doesn't even look up. There's the rib cage. And even from here he sees the taint of disease eating away at his husband.

There's one sharp stab of relief and then he's listing out instructions.]

I need you to start on his left thigh. There's a large penetration wound there, cutting down to the bone, and the tissue there is torn from whatever that caused it being pulled out. [Thus making it worse] Itachi is type AB positive. I've already brought the blood here.

[Teleportation is useful in other words.]

Then, next order of priority is his right arm. Burns, severe second degree, extending down from his elbow. [An infection risk as well.] He can't handle an infection right now - his body is already trying to shut itself down.

[frost_jewel]

[Law isn't through his second sentence before Mia's at Itachi's side, focus and healing turned to his thigh. If he's already lost that much blood, then he shouldn't lose more, and she can work and listen simultaneously. The part of her that goes on observing has questions; first among them, who in the village would attack Itachi this way? Causing damage this severe in so short a time-

Questions can wait. She feels Itachi struggling, and keeps herself well away from whatever sleight of hand Law's power works.]

Ply is purifying. [In quiet response to his last point.] It should take care of anything he already has.

[She moves methodically through healing his leg ('halfway', held well together and no longer bleeding but not scarless), starting the blood (as painlessly as she can, but she doesn't think he feels much), and finally burying herself in the finer work of healing his burns.

All the while, she tries to keep peripheral awareness of what in the world Law is doing.]

[yourhatred]

[More healing techniques, these also more like the ones he's used to but still not the same. She'd called it something... given it a name.

It's too hard to focus on the details. He'd stopped paying attention to any pain caused by his injuries a long time ago. If he hadn't, he never would have been able to finish the fight. It's not easy to ignore, but it had become necessary to learn over the course of his illness.

Right now, breathing is his main concern. As long as he can keep doing that, the other two can do their jobs.]

[deathsdoctor]

[He slowly nods.]

... he has a terminal illness. Had. Either this place had erased it or kept it check. In all the time I've known him, the only time I've seen a trace of it was during the last Valley. [Luceti Valley.]

His internal organs are ravaged. They shouldn't be. I can repair the damage... but...

[And his hands are flying. It's a different type of surgery. He's sealing the holes in the lungs, resculpting the flesh of each organ at an impossibly precise level to return function and excising dead tissue, and encouraging regeneration at the cellular level with Nala. Now that he can see and target the magic.

It's a stronger set of lungs that are emerging. One of Itachi's hands briefly enters his peripheral vision and the slightest hint of blue on nail snags him. It's an odd bit to catch his attention.

But, Itachi hadn't worn nailpolish for years.]

...

... his fingernails are painted...

[Realization finally hits and he sounds sick.]

[frost_jewel]

[Painted fingernails don't strike her as anything unusual. Mia looks up from her healing because of the tone.]

Then what brought it back so quickly and with such severity?

[Such an illness would explain why it feels like trying to hold back a river with her arms.]

[yourhatred]

[It's becoming harder to listen, but he has to. They're speaking about him as if he can't hear them and it's important.

But that work on his lungs...

He takes a ragged breath, overwhelmed by the work that's taking place there. What technique is this? If only he could lift his head to look again...

They continue to speak about him like he's been there before. Like they know him. The man is aware of his illness, but seems confused that it's there now. Why? Why why why...

He has no answers, and his senses are too all over the place for him to listen to what else is being said.]

[deathsdoctor]

Timeshift.

He's been sent back to a certain moment in time. Itachi hasn't worn nailpolish for years.

[Utterly, utterly sick.]

The moment of his... death.

[frost_jewel]

Hm. [There isn't much more she can do for his burns without putting too much of a strain on Itachi; Mia turns to get gauze and bandages, only looking at Law again once she's back to work.]

It doesn't get to win this time.

[It would be conversational in another setting, with different words, and so soft - she doesn't want Itachi to hear the words but she does want him to know how determined they are, if he can.

Hearing him draw another terrible breath, Mia stops again and rests the back of her hand briefly against his shoulder. She looks him in the eye when she talks.] You're doing well. [You aren't the only one fighting for you. Then it's back to work.]

[yourhatred]

[It takes a moment, but Itachi gets his eyes to focus on Mia as much as his blurry vision will allow. Her words don't get any other reaction, positive or negative.

The ninja isn't the sort of person who looks for comforting words. He doesn't believe he requires them in order to try his hardest. The sentiment is appreciated, though it would be appreciated more if his thoughts were more in order.

When she moves away again, his gaze returns to the ceiling. All other words and noise are drowned out by the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears.]

[deathsdoctor]

[The lungs are done. Next. He turns his attention to vessels around the heart.

The heart itself.

The most delicate oart.]

It won't. [Non-negotiable.] I won't allow it.

[Not like this.]

[frost_jewel]

[Mia doesn't doubt his tenacity in Itachi's case. Short anything else to address specifically once his burns are lessened and bandaged, Mia shuts her eyes to take a long breath. Using Psynergy and Nala together takes extra balance and concentration.

But it will help, it will keep Itachi from fighting entirely too hard to stay within himself. So Law can work without quite as much worry about whether he would stop breathing.]

[yourhatred]

[His breathing eases. Itachi closes his eyes.

It's not because he's losing consciousness, and he doesn't intend to, but his lungs haven't felt this relieved in some time. Even when he'd been able to keep his voice clear, keep his coughing at bay, it had been a struggle that took a great deal of medication.

This will keep him alive long enough to face his brother again, granted he has the opportunity to relocate him.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Law falls silent as he makes increasingly delicate movements, until they're whisper fine, and timing them as not to disrupt the body's own natural rhythm. It's a bare kiss of sensation on the heart itself.

The pinnacle of his skill as he works his power to mend what's beating under his fingers. The process looks now more witchery than surgery as the damage is smoothed away and what is still strong is strengthened.

Mia's combination of Psyenergy and Nala is working it's magic alongside his own efforts. He works with the regeneration, adding an extra touch of his own abilities with Nala in spots that require more.

Once he finishes here, Itachi should be edging out of the immediate danger zone. Then it's just a matter of cleaning up the rest of the damage in here, and strengthening him overall. The rest can be finished in time.]