Impossible to Foretell

Chapter 41: Promises and Decisions

We were standing at a crossroads as Kakashi thanked Kabuto for his help, telling him that after they had been thoroughly checked at the hospital, many of the younger victims would be sent to his orphanage.

"Kaiyo."

"Huh?" My head snapped up to look at Kabuto, and I tried to formulate my next question a little more intelligently, "Is there something that you need, Kabuto?"

He pushed up his glasses almost nervously. What did someone like him have to be nervous about?

"I've been thinking, and, if you'll let me, I believe that I may be able to do something for your hip. After all, it is the least that I can do since it is my fault in the first place."

I was struck dumb for a moment. I was very not ready for that question.

"Huh?" Great, that was second time that I had responded with such an inarticulate answer in one conversation. "But Lady Tsunade said that the damage was too pervasive and messing around with the nerves could cause paralysis of my entire right leg."

"Look at Naruto and Sasuke. They both lost an arm in their battle, but now Naruto has a new, fully functioning limb. Obito as well. Half of his body was completely crushed, but Madara rebuilt it. If those injuries could be fixed, then I'm sure that something could be done for your hip as well. I was thinking about something similar to a joint replacement, but instead of the usual synthetic inserts, we would use a new joint grown like Naruto's new arm was. It would be a very risky procedure, but I think that it is the only way that you could return some functionality to your hip."

It took a couple seconds to process what Kabuto had said, but as it sunk in, a rare smile started to grow, curling up the corners of my mouth ever so slightly.

"I'll have to look into all of the specifics, but I like the sound of that. Anything is better than what my hip is right now."

He gave a small nod, "I'll have to look into a few things as well to make sure that everything is in order. Unfortunately, the other part of your injury... That is irreversible."

Oh, of coursed he'd also know that I lacked the ability to bear children after filling my body with medical chakra while healing my hip. I was surprised that he hadn't said anything earlier about the internal organs that were destroyed. 

"Well, I never expected that to get fixed... However, I am excited to hear that I might be able to walk again."

Kabuto looked like he had something more that he wanted to say, but instead he just gave a slightly awkward wave. "I had better return now."

I lifted an arm from around Kakashi's neck and waved back, "Thank you again. I'd love to look into that new hip as soon as possible."

"Of course. I will contact you when I have a set procedure created." With that, Kabuto disappeared down the road to the small orphanage in the woods that he dedicated himself to.

Sakura gave me an earful when I got to the hospital. Not that I expected anything less, but it still wasn't very pleasant being chastised by someone fourteen years younger than me. She did, however, express that she was grateful that I had made it out in mostly one piece and that she would send Kabuto the medical files on my hip.

Feeling utterly useless, I wheeled myself into the hospital lobby in the wheelchair that I would have to rely on until my hip could be replaced. I had been forced to use a wheelchair after the Sasainako incident as well, but that time it was worse. I was stir crazy because I knew that I could get out of the chair, but my doctors wouldn't let me to avoid further damaging the joint. At this point, I don't think that I could do more damage to my hip, and there was no way that I could move around without the chair so I was stuck.

Wheeling around from the front desk after checking out, I saw something that I didn't think would have been possible. Anzu was standing there with her blonde hair freshly cleaned and in its natural, bouncy ringlets. But her orange eyes were unfocused and demure, and she was nervously toeing a small lump in the rug. Anzu looking bashful; I hadn't known that it could happen. She had smarted off to S-ranked criminals and talked to the Hokage like they were equals. But here she was, looking terrified and shy.

A large woman was taking to a lady at the desk nearby, and Anzu kept sending the back of her head angry, fearful glances. Curiosity killed the cat, but good thing I'm not a cat because I was determined to find out what was going on.

"Hello, Anzu," I smiled while wheeling up to her side. "The doctors clear you to go?"

"Yes." She looked down and to the side, "Kaiyo... Would it be possible for me to go to Kabuto's orphanage. I mean, he's creepy looking and I hate orphanages, but I'd rather go to his than the one I'm currently in."

I sighed, "I'm really sorry, but maybe in a little while. You see, there isn't enough space there yet so Kabuto is only taking in the orphans who were homeless before Kanaye kidnapped them. But, after the new building is done, then I can see what I can do."

"Okay." She looked crushed, utterly crushed, like I had just issued her a death warrant.

The lady turned around and glared at Anzu before giving me a sickly sweet grin, "I hope that she hasn't been bothering you."

"No, she hasn't." I took a deep breath as the rational side of my brain told me to think about the implications of what I was about to say, but I had already made up my mind. "Are you, by any chance, Anzu's current legal guardian?"

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion like she couldn't figure out why I had just asked such a weird question, "Yes. I run the orphanage that she lives in."

I gave her a large, fake smile, "Perfect."

"If she's done something wrong, I'll make sure that it never happens again."

My false smile grew, "Oh, it's nothing like that." I had never met her before, but I already hated this woman. "In fact, Anzu's done nothing wrong at all. I was just wondering if you were her legal guardian to see if you were the right person to talk to about adopting her."

"What?" Her jaw dropped, and Anzu had to grab the handle of my wheelchair for support.