“Do you think we’ll get much out of the kids today?” Shisui wondered aloud. “They were pretty traumatised last time we saw them.”
There was no immediate answer; what filled the brief silence between the two officers were their swift, steady footsteps. Itachi himself had his doubts, but they had to start somewhere, didn’t they? Every little helped, and the children were the closest source they had to those who had been in direct contact of the culprits. Itachi and the rest had already done their due diligence, by cross checking voice recordings, and what they could make of the build of the masked criminals as well as the layout of locations used in the red room videos.
“I don’t know,” Itachi admitted. “Dr. Tsunade says a few are well enough to be interviewed. We should do our part, at least.”
There were no further questions, and neither of them spoke until they were met by the doctor in question. A buxom woman with a temper, Dr Tsunade was the head of the Konoha Hospital.
“About time you two got here,” came her brusque greeting. “The children have just started playing. Give them about ten minutes and I’ll let you talk to them.”
“And hello to you too, Tsunade-san,” Shisui said in good nature. “How are they doing?”
Pleasantries were exchanged, and a somber discussion ensued. All in all, the doctor had positive news to impart. The children had made progress on recovering from their injuries, malnutrition and for some, the drugs that had been in their system. Their mental state, however, was not as easy to mend. Few were willing to speak, while the rest preferred to remain silent. There had been nightmares too, she shared.
“I see,” Itachi said sympathetically. The poor things.
His gaze flickered then, to one of the beds in the ward. If he was not mistaken, wasn’t that…?
“Hey, Itachi.” It was then that Shisui chose to nudge him. “Isn’t that the kid who was really attached to you that day?”
While Rukia battled her emotions with a lowered head, it was only matter of time before the rest of the children noticed the grown ups. Of course many would recognise them, for it was hard to forget the face of a saviour. Yet, due the mental state of many, there were those (mostly the youngest) who hurried to hide or go back to their beds.
Upon noticing the children’s movements, instinctively the petite turned and faced both officers. Big violet eyes staring back at the one called Shisui (she could remember since it was similar to the word sushi), and the one called Itachi. A part of her was annoyed to be one of the eldest, but again, she couldn’t help to see the rest of the children in distress.
Leaving her sketches behind, carefully the child made her way down and towards the kids that were mostly afraid. Reminding them they weren’t the evil men, but the good guys. The heroes!
Some didn’t trusted right away, but once a couple of the youngest were calm, she made her way towards both officers, her heart racing and feeling constant goosebumps. Those who didn’t hid, despise being with the toys remained wary, but it was true that each of them were curious.
A small (and quite forced) smile was offered to both as a greeting.
Moving her arms against her waist while trying to figure out what to say, or do, she decided with a nod to go straight to the point, “You look scary coming out of nowhere like that.” a small pause.
“...But you came...” she mumbled, before looking away, pretending to check on some of the kids nearby.
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