[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

The waiting room of the doctors office was rather packed. People from every age group sat patiently waiting for their names to be called, teens and younger kids entered through one door, while adults and elderly people enter through the other. They were moving slow, but soon enough it would be Kazui’s turn to get a check up. Her eyes were giving her some trouble, her vision was blurry to the point where she was beginning to get headaches if they stayed in that state for too long. The girl couldn’t even read the comic book that she held in her hands, only a few inches away from her face.

”Uzumaki Hiro!”

The beautiful nurse would call out as she held the door open. An elderly man would rise to his feet and begin to shuffle towards the examination room. Kazui watched as the blurred shape of the man struggled to walk efficiently, age had taken its toll on the man after he was a shinobi for all those years. A sigh escaped the girl as her attention was placed back onto the manga she was reading just to kill time. A boy exited from the room, and the girl finally heard her name called.

"Uchiha Kazui.”

The voice would call out. The girl would stand to her feet and begin making her way into the room, bumping into the table before she eventually used her hands to guide herself safely into the room, the nurse would assist the young Uchiha to her chair before she spoke.

"Please take a moment, the medic will get to you in a second.”

The lady would say. Kazui would nod her head and patiently wait yet again.

"Hai.”

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[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

The day had been busy and none too pleasant, not necessarily because of the people but more so due to the fact that Shikajin had once again been assigned clinic duty. He was a damn good medic and those who worked within the walls of the hospital knew that but the chunin wished that the powers at be didn't assign him to his least favorite task because of his ability. Sure, clinic duty wasn't the most strenuous of tasks and it rarely involved dealing with patients who would need to be admitted. Physicals, the sniffles, etc., were the most common things he saw and in most cases the Nara could have them out in about twenty minutes; but they never stopped coming.

Konoha was a large village and that meant it had an equally large population of people who had nothing better to do than somehow end up at the village hospital. Alas, this was par for the course when the man wasn't in the field on a mission. He was an able bodied medic whose skills could be put to use helping those who called Konoha home, and so they were.

Stepping into the lobby of the clinic would reveal a whole host of people waiting to be seen, it was clear that the Nara wasn't going to get a break until his shift was over. Great. A nurse would alert him that his next patient had already been brought to the examination room and had been complaining of vision problems. Shikajin wondered for a moment why they hadn't been referred to an optometrist as there was only so much he'd be able to do, but in the end it'd once again be up to him to relay the correct information.

The medic would walk into the room and immediately notice the familiar face: Kazui, at least he believed that to be the girls name. She and her ill grandmother had been in a few weeks prior and the prognosis for the latter wasn't great, though it seemed only one of them was present today. "Kazui, was it? The nurses told me you're having vision problems. What seems to be the issue?" He would ask attempting to get some more information to possibly find a cause. Sometimes it was injury, other times stress, or --the most common reason-- was that her eyes weren't perfect and she just needed a prescription for glasses.

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

Kazui sat in the chair with her head tilted back, her vision would return to her for a brief moment, allowing her to stare at the ceiling wondering what the hell was wrong with her. It was beginning to affect performance at the academy to a degree and that’s where she drew the line. Her eyes remained on the white tiled ceiling as she waited. She even tried to count the amount of tiles as fast as she could before the blurring effect took over again.

"30?”

She would say to herself with a shrug as the door opened and gained the girl’s attention, forcing her to sit up straight and give the medic her somewhat undivided attention. She couldn’t see much, nothing more than black hair and white clothing, everything else seemed to fall out of the girl’s vision. The voice however sounded vaguely familiar as he spoke the girl’s name.

"Mmm hai..Kazui, and I have been having some problems with my eyes for a while...uh..”

She would groan as she squinted her eyes, leaning in a bit closer trying to get better details of his face and or name tag, both of which would be unsuccessful. Everything looked like abstract art from her perspective, so there wasn’t much she could do. Perhaps the girl could try to guess their name, but that seemed rude. Nervous laughter would ensue as she placed her hands below her chin, propping her head up as she looked at the mystery figure.

"Would you mind telling me your name..uh..sir?”

She would ask nicely, hoping to not insult whoever this was that was sat across from her.

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[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

Well, it certainly wasn't the reaction he had expected when coming face to face with the young girl again, though it became painfully obvious by her squints that she couldn't even tell who was standing in front of her. If her vision had gotten this bad, and been this bad for a while, then it was a good guess that at her last hospital visit with her grandmother she was having problems seeing. The stress from that incident could have exacerbated the issue, or perhaps been the cause, though it would be tough to tell without more information.

"Shikajin. I helped you and your grandmother a few weeks ago." The medic would reply as he fished a small flashlight out of his pocket. Even though he wasn't an optical specialist all who trained in the medical field knew the basic procedures to check a persons eye health. First would be seeing if the pupils dilated normally while also looking for any abnormalities that could have brought upon the blurry vision. "I'm going to check your pupils, so you're going to see a bright light in each eye for a few seconds." He would add as he approached the young Uchiha. A hand would gently rest atop Kazui's head to ensure that she didn't jerk away as he clicked the torch on, first checking her left eye and then right. While it would seem like a weird test a sudden change in the amount of light one's eyes received was the only way to ensure the pupils were functioning properly.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with them and while that didn't rule out a structural issue it gave a little more headway to the root being an external issue. "Were you experiencing any headaches or pain in the back of your head before your vision got blurry? Have you taken any hits to the head recently?" The Nara inquired looking to see if any foul play had taken place leading to Kazui walking around with a concussion. The side effects were vast but blurry vision was definitely one of them, and considering how rambunctious kids could be it wouldn't surprise him if the girl had hit her head while playing one day.

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

The girl pondered on the name that was given. ’Shika..jin.’ She would think to herself for a brief moment. That name sounded fairly familiar, but she didn’t remember exactly who it was. Her mind began to think of the different occasions where they might have met before, but the guy would inform her that he was the one that took care of her and her grandmother weeks prior when the elderly lady was admitted into the hospital.

"Oh! Hi, nice to meet you..again, Shikajin-san.”

She would say with a smile and a soft chuckle. The girl knew the voices sounded familiar, she just couldn’t assign it to a face. The girl heard the rustling of cloth as Shikajin reached for the flashlight. He was going to check to see if her pupils reacted to the light in any, a standard method to test for concussions.

"Okay.”

The girl said as she rested her hands in her lap and looked straight ahead at the wall as the bright light shines into each eye. The concentrated light beaming into her eye was very painful and made her head hurt for a moment.

"Ow!”

She would squeak in pain, trying her best to pull away from the light. Once the test was finished, Shikajin ultimately got no information from doing this, as her eyes would seem normal for the most part, yet the young Uchiha still couldn’t see much from them. Kazui covered her eyes with both hands, and proceeded to light rub the pain away as Shikajin went on to ask the Uchiha questions. Any headaches or pain in the back of the head? The girl would think for a moment.

"Hm...yes, headaches but not pain in the back of my head. My eyes hurt sometimes as well.”

The young teen would mumble softly as she pointed at her temples. She thought it was just the side effects from her vision being blurred out at random moments. It surely put a lot of strain on her eyes however, but perhaps she could’ve sustained some sort of injury, but that didn’t seem probable.

"I haven’t hit my head though, and I’m not too sure what’s going on. Nothing like this happened before I visited my Obaasan in the hospital, and it has been happening every since.”

She would add on.

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[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

The sensitivity to light had been noted and though Kazui's pupils did dilate as normal there was still something structurally going on with her eyes. What it was, however, was still a mystery in addition to the cause. The girl had been experiencing blurry vision and pain in her temples since that trip to the hospital a few weeks back. It was possible that in her roughhousing with the staff during her search for her grandmother that a stray blow could have landed, but with no pain in the back of her head there was little chance of that being the cause.

The next theory, and probably more likely, was stress. Kazui and her grandmother were the only ones each other hand apparently and they acted as de facto caretakers for one another, and for a young child to have to shoulder the load of looking after an elderly woman suffering from debilitating pain there was more than enough stress to go around. Shikajin kicked himself for not calling someone from that clan when he had the chance. He had been quick to stabilize the woman and see to it she received the necessary medication but failed to go the extra mile. A clan as prestigious as the Uchiha surely had contingencies for these kinds of things and someone would have been able to relieve at least some of the pressure of a child having to take care of her elderly grandmother.

"Have you been getting enough rest since then? Enough to eat?" He would ask already knowing the answers but inquiring just to be thorough. If it was indeed the stress stemming from that emotional event and the toll further care was putting on Kazui then the remedy was simple, though the medic highly doubted it would be accepted without a fight.

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

"Hmm..”

She would muse for a moment, a hand raised and softly rested beneath her chin as she thought over Shikajin’s question. Rest for her wasn’t really any different than it has always been, although she did have a bit more trouble actually falling asleep, but for the most part everything seemed completely normal. Food wise, well she never really ate a lot in the first place, so there wasn’t much she could say about that. She was eating properly however how she always had been. Kazui nodded her head to his questions.

"Yeah I’ve been getting as much rest as possible, and I’ve been eating well.”

The girl would answer softly as things began to look a bit clearer. Her focus was back, but for how long? Her eyes looked at Shikajin as she sighed. The girl had no clue what the hell was going on, and she knew with the information that she was providing to the medic, that she wasn’t helping at all in the slightest.

"Oh look, I can see again! But it comes and goes, and it’s really really annoying.”

She didn’t know how to explain it, and most people would just think she was faking for attention, but that was far from the case. Whenever her vision returned to normal the mild pain would subside.

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MADE BY MIZO

[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

Shikajin was somewhat surprised to hear that the girl's life was seemingly normal given the condition her grandmother had been in a few weeks prior. He had, of course, stabilized her and prescribed a blood thinner to help with the clots and while this would have been around the time for the medicine to start showing its effects it wasn't a cure all. The blood clots were on the severe side and there would definitely still be some pain so the elderly woman wouldn't be running around like a spring chicken. Alas, if the situation had settled enough for Kazui to get rest and eat properly then so be it.

As he pondered over further tests and possibilities the girl would comment that the blurriness had all but disappeared. Now things were getting strange. Shikajin would make his way over to a wall on the opposite side of the room that had pinned to it one of the eye test charts; big letter at the top and constantly getting smaller as one descended. He needed to see just how much the young girl's eyesight had come back, or at the very least get a baseline to compare with her previous records. "Alright start with the top letter and read as many rows as you can." The medic would request with chart in his hand prepared to jot down the results.

All in all it definitely seemed like the vision issues were being caused by stress, and there was a surefire cause to all of that, but if enough rest and food was being obtained then it would be difficult to pin the symptoms solely on her grandmothers health. Perhaps it was a lasting effect of the incident in this very building a few weeks back. Kazui had been extremely emotional while tearing her way through the hallways, and even after the ripping and running she was barely holding it together the entire time she stayed by her grandmothers side. Hmm, a definite possibility but it was a hunch at best. Shikajin first needed to rule out any physical or structural causes before diving into theories.

SPOILER: Click to show

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

The fact that Kazui felt as if there were no significant changes in her sleeping and diet may have seemed surprising to the medic as the thought of the woman being in such a state seemed as if it were going to take a huge toll on the Uchiha, and while it was a big blow for her happiness during that moment, it was safe to say that the young girl had a nice support system to help her through the situation, plus she visited the elderly woman ever chance she got . It wasn’t as if her sleep schedule or eating was perfect to begin with either, so Kazui couldn’t tell if anything was truly out of the ordinary.

Kazui could tell that Shikajin thought something was off about her vision coming back out of nowhere, but to the girl it was as common as it could get at this point. He wanted to do another test or so, to see how well she could truly see. Her dark gaze followed the Nara as he made his way over to a poster chart that hung on the wall. All she had to do was read off the letters? ’Pfft..easy.’ She thought to herself as she sat up straight.

"M’kay..”

She would start as she took a deep breath.

"E..F. P…”

Her answers were filled with confidence but as she reached the third letter, her tone would shift a little. Her answers were less confident, and would come off more as a guess. It was happening yet again.

"Er...T..O..uh..”

The final two were only answered correctly because she remembered what was written below the previous row of letters. She tried her hardest to remember what the final letter was, and finally it came to her.

"Z….uh I..R..F..O.”

She would guess the next row before eventually giving in and admitted that she was no longer able to see. A sigh escaped from her lips as she turned to face Shikajin, knowing that she had failed. Did that mean she would need glasses? As if she didn’t get bullied enough already.

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[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

Shikajin would follow along as Kazui spoke the chart aloud. The first two rows went by with no issue, then hesitation at the third though she eventually finished that one correctly as well. However, by the time the girl reached the fourth row it was clear that her vision issues had returned considering she got none of the letters correct. Well that wasn't good. The medic would take a couple moments to make additional notes in the chart as he plotted the next course of action, though it seemed that all paths were leading to one very obvious conclusion.

Vision problems were common in everyone, didn't matter if you were two or two hundred, and most everyone was able to live normal lives with the addition of a pair of glasses. Sure, it'd be another thing for one to have to keep up with but Kazui was young and in time she'd pick up her pair just as easily as she did the keys to her house. Albeit, Shikajin didn't know for sure that the girl was going to need glasses but needed to start prepping for that conversation should the rest of the tests yield similar results.

Cut and clear as things may have seemed something was still confounding the Nara in the name of the young Uchiha's vision going from fine to blurry seemingly at random. A constant degradation of her sight would have been an easy signal that she needed glasses, but the shifting states made him think that there was something else at play. Was she withholding information? Doubtful. He hadn't known people to lie about their vision given how vital it was for... living, and given their prior encounter Kazui didn't strike him as the type to lie. The prevailing theory was that the issues were structural in nature but without the specialized tools that an actual optometrist would have available there was only so much Shikajin could do.

"How would you feel about having to wear glasses?" Shikajin would ask, not genuinely caring about the answer but more so needing to buy a little time as he worked through the possibilities of what was causing Kazui's ailment.

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

The young girl sighed as she shifted her weight, waiting for Shikajin to explain to her what could possibly be going on or what the next course of action should be. She knew that she failed and understood what he might’ve thought. She was a liar, but she had no reason to be there if she weren’t having a problem. Her gaze returned to the chart for a brief moment, she tried the test again in her head, and performed worse than she had done the first time around.

Kazui wiped her eyes to try to combat the blurriness, but it clearly was not working for her. Shikajin took a moment to think of what he should do next..the girl understood that he wasn’t an expert eye person, but she was confident enough in him to know that whatever he chose would be the choice. Until she heard the word "glasses.”

The girl’s shoulder sunk as she twisted her lips. It was clear she wasn’t a fan of glasses, but she knew that without them, her sight would continue to be cloudy. But what about the times where she could actually see? Well maybe she could just wear them occasionally whenever she was experiencing a loss of clarity.

"I mean...I don’t like glasses, but if it’s what’ll help me see better then...I guess I’ll give them a shot.”

She would explain in a soft tone as she shrugged her shoulders.

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[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

The medic had honestly expected a much more emotional answer to his question. People often took semi-disappointing news in less than spectacular fashions, especially when it altered the way they'd have to live their lives. Glasses weren't a huge change aside from just having something else to keep track of through the day, but for some their worlds may as well have been coming to end. Kazui, however, would more or less accept the outcome if the situation called for it. She wasn't happy, that much was clear, but with the only alternative being constantly fluctuating states of vision, a pair of glasses was easily the lesser of two evils.

However, that was only a possibility and there was still a chance that they'd be able to find the cause of the Uchiha's vision woes and fix them. "I ask only to prepare you for the chance that you may have to wear them, but nothing is set in stone yet." Shikajin would reply. Without specialized tools and machines to test eyes there was only so much the man could do, and he had just about exhausted all of his theories outside of one, though it was unlikely that was the cause. Irritants, in whatever shape or form, could affect ones vision though Kazui hadn't mentioned any actual pain in her eyes which made his hypothesis a long shot, and he hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary when checking her eyes earlier, but that didn't rule out everything.

The human eye, being such a specialized tool, was equally as fickle when it came to even the slightest irritation and it didn't take much to give off the signal that something was wrong. If it were the case that there was an unseen irritant then getting rid of it would in theory end the young girl's vision problems."...But before that, I'll write you a prescription for an eye antibiotic that will flush out any foreign irritants that may be the cause of your blurry vision. Try that for a couple weeks and see if the problems still persist. If not, great. If so, then you'll need to start wearing glasses."

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

"O-Oh..okay.”

The Uchiha would say in a soft tone as she awaited what came next. If that was only asked to see how she would feel about wearing glasses then what was the solution that he was going to offer the girl that could help with her constant changing in focus. Glasses seemed like a good thing to have in case she really needed to see with clarity, albeit the girl hated the thought and image of herself with frames around her eyes, it was like she was asking to get picked on. Kids could be ruthless. But instead, Shikajin wanted to try a different solution, something that would flush out anything that may be the cause of her blurry vision, and truthfully Kazui was willing to try anything as it was beginning to become a nuisance.

The girl held her breath and crossed her fingers as she hoped that whatever Shikajin was offering her would be the solution to her problems, or else she would have to get glasses. The thought of it alone sent shivers down her spine. Yuck, glasses. She would think to herself in a distasteful manner.

"Thank you, Shikajin-san. I’ll give it a try, I suppose.”

Kazui would say as she awaited the prescription.

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[Nara Shikajin]

the worst case scenario is you

Constant bad news would have an affect on even the toughest of shinobi, and Kazui still being a child herself was being loaded with it in short form. Granted, having to wear glasses wasn't the worst thing someone could have to endure in their life and after a while she probably wouldn't even notice they were on her face... until she lost them and couldn't see well enough to find them. Well that was what friends were for, right? Alas, Shikajin had only presented that as a final option should the eye drops he was about to prescribe not work.

The medic would remove a small notepad from his coat pocket before scribbling the name of an eye ointment on it and ripping free the sheet from said pad. "Take this to the nurses station and they'll get you situated. A couple drops a day in each eye morning and night for a couple weeks, after that we'll recheck the condition of your eyes and go from there. Any questions?" The man would inquire after giving the dosage directions, not difficult but it was imperative that Kazui stick to the regiment to give the medicine its best shot at clearing up whatever was causing her vision problems.

There was a chance it could have been an infection, though usually it localized to one eye so that theory was a long shot, but to be honest Shikajin wasn't entirely sure what could have been the cause, and he wasn't sure even a specialist could figure it out, either. Of course, he'd never divulge that doubt aloud to Kazui for fear of putting more anxiety on her plate while also making himself look incompetent, which just wasn't going to happen. At all. A part of him did hope that the eye drops did the trick as the girl had been through quite a bit recently and chances were it was going to get worse for her before it got better.

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KRATOS

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

Kazui was willing to try anything Shikajin decided was best for her, and if that meant going through a weird schedule of putting some strange eye drops into her eyes, then so be it. Perhaps it could put an end to whatever the hell was going on with her, and maybe just maybe she would be able to live her day to day life again without having to wander around blindly or just staying inside altogether. What she had was limiting the things that she could do, and it even started to affect her school work, which is a huge no go for the young Uchiha. Outside of school, it was fine, she didn’t do much anyway, so losing her sight wasn’t all that much of a big deal.

"Hmmph, okay Shikajin-san. Hopefully it works, and you won’t have to see much of me anymore, not in these depressing hospitals at least.”

The girl would say with a forced shiver running down her spine. She had negative thoughts of being anywhere near the hospital, and even though she was only in a doctor’s office at the time, it all felt the same. Gloomy, depressing, and filled with people who weren’t doing so well. To be fair the girl didn’t think anyone truly enjoyed being near a hospital, not even the people who worked there.

"So..I’ll just take this to the nurse and be on my way. Thank you.”

Kazui would say as she stood to her feet, trying to make her way to the door. Her vision was still murky as she waved goodbye to the medic.

"See ya around.”

She would say with a smile as she turned back and walked into the wall softly, confusing it with the door. A squeak of shock and pain would escape her lips before she chuckled and rubbed her shoulder. The girl managed to find the door eventually and exited with a smile.

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