Human Value || Kakuzu

Ch. 9 - D-Day

"Okamoto, see about the man in bed 3 when you're done. I've tried everything, but he keeps complaining." One of the medical shinobi tapped the female on her shoulder before leaving to put her charts away.

Holding in the urge to let out a deep sigh, Risa finished tending to her patient before turning to see Jiro Otsuka smirking at her from his clinic bed. Ever since she'd been placed on medical duty, she'd basically been in charge of all of the 'difficult' patients, partly due to her temperament and mostly due to the running gag that she wasn't liked. The frequent flyers knew that once she was involved, there would be no shenanigans; in turn, they would receive any care they needed with no hesitation.

"Okamoto-san... My throat is parched." Jiro sneered. "Be a dear and fetch me some water."

There was only one person who seemed to bypass that rule and it was the male that was staring back at her. It was only because he knew of the stipulations that kept her there. For Kakuzu's sake, she was trying to stay out of trouble and keep a low profile, but the older gentleman was testing her patience.

"Mr. Otsuka, your stay here is well overdue. Your eyes are healed and you have no substantial symptoms." Risa handed him a cup of water. "Can you leave so someone more deserving can have this bed?"

"Do we not have cold water anymore?" Jiro frowned in disgust. "You know how I like my water."

"We've been at this for months now." Risa rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to sit here and play house with you. I've done my due diligence and you're a disturbance to everyone here. It's time for you to change and grow up."

Jiro laughed loudly as he eyed the irritation that was written all over the girl's face. "I should change like you? You don't even sound like a country bumpkin anymore - you just sound dead. Perhaps the weight of your partner's sentence has finally humbled you."

"If you're trying to rile me up, I don't have that kind of energy for you."

"I'll leave... on one condition."

"And what's that?"

"You come back to the ranks as my partner."

Risa had turned her back to him to leave, but his words made her stop in her place. Go back to the ranks? If only he knew how done she was with this village and how much had happened in the background. She would entertain his thoughts for the moment, but it would mean nothing in the end. Looking over her shoulder, she spoke.

"Why would I want to do that?"

Jiro swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood up with a smirk. "I can help you reclaim your honor. Think of your old man and the sacrifices he made. If I were you, I'd be trying to get back in good graces while everything is still fresh."

"I'll have the doctor give you your discharge papers."

Risa left the room, hearing nothing but Jiro's laughter, and went to the nurses' station. She didn't have time to dwell on Jiro's proposal as it wasn't even a consideration in her mind. After her shift was over, she quickly left and went to Kakuzu's hut. Her schedule involved dropping a bag off at the waterhole, then heading over for dinner with Kakuzu. While she was in the middle of cooking, there was a knock on the door and she stopped to answer it.

"Hello Risa." Tatsuo stood in the doorway with a smile, his hands concealed by the sleeves of his robe. "May I come in?"

"What did I do now?" Risa sighed as she turned away to finish dinner. Because she was in somewhat of a time crunch, she had decided to make something simple but now her plans were going to be further derailed because of this conversation.