Grasping at the Sky

Chapter 27: Development

She had never thought in her short life of seventeen years that she would have to learn to walk again. She had no memories of learning the first time, nor had her mother had stories to tell her of such achievements due to Kira being five when they'd met. She hadn't thought she'd need the memory, because once you learned such a thing, you never lost it, or at least she'd thought that. Losing a leg had taught her otherwise.

She wondered how much harder it would have been without the training she'd had as a ninja her entire life. She was physically stronger than she would be otherwise, so perhaps things were going better than she thought they were. It just didn't feel like it.

Sweat slid down the side of her face and back at the effort, her hands gripping at the waist high bars on either side of her. She was trembling all over, anxiety and pain making her teeth clench as she concentrated on the chakra flow that acted like strings to pull and shift the metallic leg. The prosthetic was crude but perfect for learning how to use one, nothing fancy, just gesture shapes to make up body segments. When they'd amputated her leg, they'd also implanted a small metal bar that acted as the anchor attachment for the prosthetic. From there the joints for the knee and foot went on and much like how puppet masters used chakra strings to control weapons, the person learned a far more basic version that would control the movement of the joints. She'd never have feeling in it, not like touch or pain, but it allowed her the subconscious knowledge that it was there doing its job.

She'd managed to learn that while sitting a chair, rotating and shifting each joint carefully until it had become easier. From there she'd come to the present, which was putting those motions into practice. Putting weight on it hurt more than she'd thought it would. While the wound itself was mostly healed thanks to medical ninjutsu, the nerves around the area were still throwing a tantrum, causing phantom pains to crop up even more as well as pain from the implant that had done nothing but sit there until now. The pain made it ten times harder to concentrate on moving the joints of the prosthetic correctly, which caused her to trip and fall, even collapse under a suddenly useless appendage.

It was embarrassing and hard on what little spirit she had left.

"Come on Kira, you can do this," Sakura cheered her on from the end of the therapy railings which was only a few more steps away. "Just take a deep breath in and try to imagine what a normal step looks like."

It was meant as encouragement, Kira knew that, but the pain was suffocating and she was tired, that alone made a few steps look like a few miles. They were in the rehab room for the third day in a row, the large room filled with different tools and items that Kira didn't know anything about, nor did she care to.

Her eyes flickered past the pink haired ninja to her other silent supporter. Sai had shown up just before her session had started, stating that Temari was stuck in a meeting and sent her apologies. Kira could hardly be upset, the blond did have a job to do and she'd been at Kira's side constantly over the last few weeks. For whatever reason Sai had ended up staying, planting himself in one of the chairs along the far wall and pulling out a sketchbook. He wasn't one of her staple visitors, but the artist had shown up once or twice to check on her, normally in the company of Sakura.

It was a curiosity that often plagued her mind. Something that often led down a bad road of tangenting thoughts about Tenten and Lee, and then a certain redhead. Gaara hadn't been back around since that day they'd spoken and Kira wasn't quite sure if it upset her or not. She didn't know what to think, only that her chest ached and she couldn't breath right when she thought about it.

Her thoughts were once again her down fall and Kira felt her grip slip on one of the joints, the ankle, a second too late. The formed shape that acted as a foot caught on the ground like a toe would and her hands slick from sweat didn't hold her up like they should have. She crashed to the ground with a startled gasp, landing on her hands and knees, the fake one rattling and sending shockwaves up her leg. Her teeth gritted harder as she stared down at the ground and the sound of hurried steps came closer.