And, as always, Takeno sat in the recently purchased medical clinic and waited with a smile.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Behind him, nurses comented to eachother his willingness and ability to stand in one spot.

And finally.. Making her debute.. Amethyst walks through the doorway with a spotlighting flashing down on her.

Alright, so it doesn't quite go that way..

Kicking hte door once, a nurse or two looks over...

The door is kicked again, but a bit more harder - it nearly rips off the hindges... Neriously, a nurse walks over to it and opens it..

That third kick misses the door, as it's opened, and Ame falls clear backwards - hitting her head on the hard cobblestone street just outside hte clinic... The nurse bites her lip apologetically nad steps away before Ame sees who opened it..

Amethsyt gets up and curses off a storm, stepping in unless someone comes out to help her...

And of course, who better to step outside then the doctor himself. "HELLO!" He exclaimed, bursting out to see the recently wounded Amethyst fall down and, well, wound herself. "I'll charge you nothing if you pay for my broken door. What brings you back over here?"

He was happy now, he had a patient. Patients were nice people, usually.

Once up on two feet, Ame placed an already bloodily bandaged hand to teh back of her head to see that.. well, if you're perceptive, she was bleeding from the back of the head now as well... "ah shit..."

Glances over to the doc.. "How about I don't pay for anything, you fix me up, and I save this clinic from any future deaths that might happen while I'm around..." Talk of a true wanted person having a hard, though day...

Fact, she looked exhausted.. As if hte woman was trying to see how long she could stay away from him adn the clinic before dieing. Of course, this wasn't the case; her inner voice was the main thing wearing her down. But who's to know...

"No! That's my job. Just fix my door!"

With a snap of his fingers, two nurses came forth behind him. Mumbling something to them quietly, the nurses ran off, most likely to prepare a room.

"So you're injured again Ms. Amethyst? How unfortunate. Come on inside, I don't take no for an answer!"

He stood aside against his injured and abused door, awaiting her entrance.

Ame winced slightly at his abrupt order... And muttered something about not being a carpender...

Suddenly, if not melodramatically, Amethyst realized why she didn't come back here as of late... Taking 5 or so paces in, the moderately injured woman with concussion turned around slightly to glance indecisively towards the mutually broken doorway... Then.. towards Koi...

Was she too late to leave? Most likely so...

Takeno was a little put out. His first and thusly best friend in all the town broke his door, and now refused his aid.

"Come on in! The hospital beds are fine." He advertised proudly, making a sweeping gesture to the inside. "I even have food now! No longer do our patients go hungry. The Hombow Clinic lives up to it's name!"

He really hoped she'd walk in, that would be rather neat.

This decision just became that much harder when Take mentioned food. Who could turn down food? Though she recently had her Meal Of the Day at the sakeshoppe, it was in the woman's policy to take what was freely given..

Took another step into the clinic... stopping again...

But this guy creeped her out. He was going to keep her down on a bed in an enclosed room. And what with the thoughts of Mori coming back, she dind't want to be around when the samurai took places o'er again.

But.. this was Take Koi.. he didn't hurt her previously and didn't reject her suffering...

Took a few more steps in...

Finally, the woman sighed.. Completely in the clinic now.. Felt like she lost something in this battle..

Takeno clapped. Finally! Someone to talk too. He had been ever so lonely in the clinic with only the nurses to talk to him. The nurses didn't like to talk much either.

Takeno lead the slightly angstful and possibly unhappy Amethyst to a familiar looking room, and motioned for her to sit down while he went to clean his hands in a wash basin. "So what's today's problem?"

Ame was ushered to the oh so famillar room in the place... Were those her bloodstains that were still on the bed? Hmmm..........

Walking over to the bed, the woman sat back down... She never much liked the smell of this place.. And it was bothering her even now. But who was she to care...

Watched the man, raising her already heavily self-bandaged left hand that was.. quite bloody... adding in.. "I bumped my bloody head on the way in too..."

Paused... Seriously, Take was acting like a puppy when it's master comes home to the farm after being sent off for a few years.. "Do you get out of thsi place at all?"

Takeno called for a nurse to come in and change the sheets. "I told you, I run a clean operation here! At least I do when I operate, anyway."

Takeno rushed over to a small wooden table with a bag on it. The first thing he did was open it, and following that, began to willy nilly pull out various medical tools. "I see. Care to show me your hand then? As in, take off the bandages? They look dirty. And I get out of this place... .when I make house calls!"

Amethyst furrowed her brows.. "You need to get out to breath air" muttering something about male filth... shivered momentarily...

She began to unwind the bandages.... was sure alot of them considering this was just her one hand and all. Was enough cloth here for 3 hands. What was that woman thinking.. or planning...

While midway through her bandaging, her evil mind kicked in... ~Once you take it off, take out your sword and take his life. Or, better yet, grab those tools and gouge out his eyes..~ Closed eyes tightly...

Once the bandages were off, the full damage of her hand (palmside) was unseen due to all the smeered and dried blood. However the woman didn't immediately show the doctor.. Instead, she reached for her sword, ripped the sheath from the belt, and handed that over to him with her good hand.. "I don't want to kill everyone right now.." the woman started...

There was a soft beat outside.. it grew until a full march was heard.. Just outside the window, a Large army of men, of samurai, stomped past the clinic and down the street.. the marching lasted quite a while but eventually died down as they went right past the clinic. In the end, Ame was practically suffering a heart attack, gripping her sword sheath so tightly as to nearly injure her good hand...

Takeno totally ignored the sword, and shut the windows. "Sorry about that!" He said obliviously.

Turning back to the woman, he whistled for a nurse to come in. "Go boil me some water, please." The frightened nurse nodded slowly as she took in the sword visually.

As an after thought, her reached over to delicately tug on the sword, trying to pull it from her hand.

~******... Mori is back too soon. Now what am I going to do. At least.......~ the woman bit her lip and looked to the door. it didn't sound like anyone had entered...

after a long moment, the woman finally calmed down, breathing out a LONG sigh of relief.

Finally noticed Take trying to still 'delicately' pry the sword from her fingers.. And, eventually if not indecisively, Ame let it go.

"I don't like samurai. And I ******ing well Hate armies of them..." the woman commented, her eyes back towards the shut windows... Shivered slightly... Her head was still bleeding, as was her left hand.

A nurse returned into the room as Takeno set the sword down on a table near the wash basin. Clearing a place on the table, she set down a large bowl of hot water. Momentarily leaving, she came back with another bowl of steaming water, in which there were a set of cloths.

"Alright Amethyst, just relax, I'm going to clean the wounds now."

Please.. like Ame could relax under the soothing care of a professional highly skilled doctor when it came to getting her wounds patched up. It's a Man for crying out loud..
Amethyst could never trust men..

"Hai..." The baikokudo's eyes never left him.. as if expecting him to reach out and stab her with a needle or other sharp object. Then hand her over to Mori.

~Then kill him, it'll solve this problem easily. Rip open his --- ~

Ame shivered, closed her eyes, and tried her best to rid herself of those images her mind just gave her. Almost shuttering.

It wasn't as clear as before, but hte woman was in alot of pain. She tried her best to hide most of it, And she's been through much worse. But it still hurt.

"Oh calm down." Takeno said calmly as he began to lightly towl off the wounded hand. He made a frowning type face, "You need to clean these more, they could become infected, and you might lose your hand."

"Piss off.." growled out Ame while wincing slightly at the towl.. Muttering lowly.. "That water is hot...." before going quiet...

Her mind, presently, was on other things... How to gather bandits with a samurai army around.. How not to break and kill everyone.. how to avoid Mori and Muga altogether... How to keep Obsid safe...

it was all too much responsibilty.. how did she get herself into it..

Absently, the woman muttered to Take's second batch of words, "yeah.."

"It's supposed to be hot. Maximum cleaning power and what not." He said, lightly scrubbing the wound, cleaning off all the fresh and crusted blood. Finishing that, he produced a bandage from his bag, and began to bind the hand. "You need to watch yourself." He repeated this with the head wound.

"I do..." Ame growled out during the head bandaging.. the hot water to the back of her hair forced her back to reality and towards how much her head really hurt... Glared up at the man while he wrapped the bandages securely and professionally around her forehead. She looked just pissed and stressed out.

However, once the man was done, the woman felt slight ease being in this place (this is a first time 'ease' feeling ever inside a building) compaired to outside with the army of samurai.

This first time out of place feeling forced her slightly on edge nad unsure what to do about it. Though this answer came soon. Since she was in this position before and around this specifically stubborn doctor...

Ame laid back on the bed, cautious of her head wound cause it hurt so damn much. Luckily.. this bed had pillows... Ah pillows, lovible cotton bundles of puff. This is where Amethyst - far from visibly relaxed - laid their as if arguebly trained.. and glowered at Take Koi... Her glance as if saying 'will this be okay, jerk?' but.. without words..

cursed off slightly, eyes never leaving the man....

Takeno could visibly see the woman's discomfort. "Why don't you rest in here alone for awhile... then we can talk about paying for a new door." With a quick smile, he walked towards the exit. "Just stay put and rest awhile."

"feh.... yeah.. rest.... right..." after a bit she grumbled out. "Like I can rest anyplace with men walking around alive... errr.... nasty filth.. smell..... "

Of course, eventually, the woman found comfort in being alone... In this clinic room. That smelled funny... wearing bandages.. It was just odd...

She planned to escape for a while.. but before she got too far, the woman slowly sunk into the bed and drifted into nightmares.

*Sasha enters the clinic from the street*

Singing "AAAAANNNNN... He never did bugger a boy again!"

Sasha wasted no time in finding where Amethyst was resting... he tiptoed into her room and sat down in a chair. She was obviously haveing nightmares.. but she was still more at peace then he had ever seen her. He sat down and suddenly felt awkward.. not a lot to visit with when the person you came to see is unconscuious.

There were ugly nightmares going on. Alot to do being being eaten by herself and killing off all her friends in the process.. then a piece about Mugatou drugging her considerably and her death..

With that death, Amethyst woke up. Sitting up suddenly, gasping out.

Who if anyone to be there, Sasha was the last person she expected. Slowly glancing over to him, the woman grasped for the sword at her side - which wasn't there since they put it on the other side of hte room before bandaged by Koi.

Glaring darkly at him, the woman growled out, "How'd you know I was here..."

Sasha grinned with al his teeth.

"A little government birdie told me about some havoc in the street.. so i figured I'd bring you something nice to put you in a better disposition"

With that, Sasha produced a somehwat ornate bottle willed with a clear liquid and a couple of sprigs of herbs.

"Our favorite drink with a touch of lavender... HAHAHAHA" Sasha laughed the the absurdity of offering a calming flower to the woman.. it had seemed a beter idea, and more symbolic to drowin it in drink.

With some quick sleight of hand, he produced two glasses.

Still not knowing how he found out she was here bothered her considerably. But sight of the drink solved that problem..

Glanced at hte bottle.. then at the glasses... then back at hte bottle.. did the math.. furrowed brows.. "Where's your bottle?"

"Well, I was figurin on sharing this one with you.. i didn't think you would trust a drink from me anymore unless we both partook.. but if it's a question of volume that conserns ya commrade, I've another in my pocket.. though it is a bit more plain."

Sasah poured for two and offered on to Amethyst.

"So, what shall we drink to today?"

reached for the glass after he poured the liquid til he eventually gave it to her (I hope). Honestly, when it came to alcohal ame could give a lesser damn less she was dealing with Mugatou and Moritsune... It helped her forget things and right now the woman was lacking..

Glanced at him for moment.. "Right now, I could give a lesser damn.. but... ah..." glanced at the liquid.. unsure... furrowed brows... "to... killing moritsune?" wasn't sure she should be drinking to the death of someone else.. heard it was bad luck.. btu right now.. didn't know if that was a rule in japan or not..

"To future endeavours" Sasha raised his glass. He wasnt sure who Moritsune was, but Sasha rarely wished harm upon anyone ... especially one he didn't know.

"I've also brought you something else.. it is a slave made of a petrolium distilate with healing minerals in it. It should help with keeping your wound free of infection.. maybe even heal cleaner and faster."

Sasha passed the woman a small glass jar with an opaque yellowish substance in it.

"Just rub a bit on the wound when you change your bandages"

took the drink down after the cheer without hesitation.. fact, she took the entire glass down in 1 gulp.

And the winc that followed was harsh.. coughed a bit, gaged... choked.. calmed... breathed again.. and raspingly muttered out, "good stuff.. I... want more.. later too.." held out glass as if 1 wasn't enough...

While she did the man passed her a second bottle... first thought it was more to drink.. til he gave his explination.. her tentative drink fun died immediately, to the effect of something jumping off a cliff... glanced at him... however, took it anyway.. her trust for him died again.. memories of that zombie powder crap came back behind the alcohal..

Sasha poured Amethyst another glass. Hard drinking was omethign that the Russian understoon. He was dying to ask Amethyst what had ahppened, but he figured that she was likely trying to forget all about it.. so instead he toasted "To clarity"

placing the bottle of medication beside the bed, the woman clinked against his glass slightly.. wondering blindly for a moment what clarity meant.. but it must've been something good.. since, well.. he said it, was russian, and knew how to drink...

Drank down her second glass more slowly.. so she didn't choke again.. before putting the glass down and muttering.. "leave a bottle here before ya go... when ya go.."

paused.. still wonderd what clarity meant... but was too stubborn and 'strong' to ask... so dwelled on it..

"Of course! It is a present for you, after all"

Sasha stretched his legs a bit and stood up to examine the shelves and their contents.

"So what the latest goings on in the town? I'be been holed up in my lab with some research lately, so I am a bit out of it.

Wondered what she should tell him.. watching hte obscenely tall man stand and tower over her while looking around hte room.. glanced once again at the bottle distrustfully. .her mutter a quiet lowvoiced one...

"Moritsune is back.. with an army, I think.. he's going to screw over town again I guess.. That's the biggest thing, I guess.."

"Ahhh.. so this Moritsune is a general. What would he want with this town?... well, i guess it is a rather important place....hmmmmm.."

Sasha sat back down.. impending was was a troubling thing... a battle in the streets would seriously effect his research.

"So where do you fit in with this Moritsune character?"

"There's that Mugatou bastard.. That's like you cept with spikey blue hair and more of a dungeon than a lab... He... ah.." glanced once again at the drug.. then back at the drink in the man's hand..

Glowered at the floor.. "doesn't matter.. they're bad and they don't like me... or many people here.. "

"Sounds pretty serious... how far out is this army? It's the first I've heard of it. Do i need to prepare myself to fight? I'll be damned if they are gonna ruin my sweet setup here."

went quiet for a while.. . wondering what ot make of this.. and hte fact that the russian supposedly didn't hear Mori walking through down with his army - most likely back to the fortress. (pause with chibi thought bubble of an explosion in the alchemy lab, sasha muttering about how he's deaf.. the army walks by.. and he gradually gets his hearing back and misses it) - forced her into mild paranoia about him...

finished the conversation.. "he's in a big fortress east of edo.. on teh mt side.. hard to miss... And, far as I know, he's alreayd here... err.. don't wanna talk about it anymore, alright?" got pissed..

Sasha was a bit surprised about the news.. well.. he HAD been really into his studies... and he had been meditating on his spiritual alchemy for a while. It seemed that war had come to him...

"Well.. sound slike i have some preparing to do... Heal up, commrade.. i guess your blade will be needed soon... my iron may be calle upon as well."

Sasha left in a much more sombre mood than was normal for him.

*Sasha exits the clinic for the street*

Dr. Takeno walked into the room containing 1x injured Amethyst.

"Hello!" He exclaimed brightly, walking in with a tray that contained a large glass of water, and a thick piece of bread that smelled of chicken and, well, bread.

"The meal is free, but the door is not. You remembered the door, right Ms. Amethyst?"