Chapter 6: Recovery

I am going to be completely honest with you, but, until today, at least I think it was still 'today' I have never been truly unconscious, as well in the type type of unconscious where your brain decides enough is enough, I am pulling the plug.

Maybe that was comas? Never been in a coma either, so I can't say for sure.

But, for me, the first thing I remember after chopping the head off of that fucking bitch, was the smell of hospital, industrial grade disinfectant. The kind of stuff where you weren't sure if it wouldn't burn like acid if you got it on your skin and the warning labels had warning labels.

The next thing I remember was a steady beeping sound that sounded off with every beat of my heart, ah, a heart monitor. I had, mistakenly, tried to open my eyes to take in my surroundings, and instantly regretted it as the light above me seared my eyes and stabbed directly into my brain.

A groan escaped my lips as my sense of touch slowly made itself known, although I could have waited on feeling the somewhat itchy blanket on top of me, too much starch on it. I could hear a murmur of vague voices as I attempted to open my eyes again, actually making decent progress with it as I managed to get them open despite the pain from the light.

Things were blurry for several moments before I managed to blink myself into focus so that I could properly see the room around me or more properly the window in front of me.

You have slept in a hospital bed! HP & CP Restored by 100%

Yup, I was in a hospital room, that's for sure. The large window beside my bed showed me… Konoha?

"Ah, Uchiha-San, you are awake!" A feminine voice announced cheerfully, bringing my attention to the door for the room where a nurse with pastel blue hair and green eyes was standing signalling something to someone in the hallway. "Good afternoon, Michiru-sensed should be here shortly, she was quite insistent on being your primary physician when they brought you in."

"Ho…" I tried to question how long I was out only to rasp and cough as my dry mouth and throat protested in response.

"Here," the nurse said gently as she helped me into a sitting position for pouring me a glass of water and helping me drink it. "Try again now, dear."

"How long?" I questioned heard as my mind and thoughts slowly became more coherent.

"How long have you been out?" The nurse questioned for confirmation, getting a nod from me. "A week, you were brought back along with the more severely wounded shinobi from the front lines, you've been in the hospital for about four days now."

I stared at her for a moment, a week? I was unconscious for a kami damned week!?

"I'm sure you have questions, but you will have to wait for Michiru-sensei, she'll be able to answer all of them," the nurse assured me.

Feeling something strange… down below I chanced a glance down before paling slightly as I saw a tube leading out from between my legs. Ah… a catheter… I am not going to think about it.

"Well, it's about time you woke up," a familiar voice stated dryly as Saya-Taicho stepped into the room, out of her jonin uniform and in an outfit that looked like a blend of a smock and a kimono strangely enough, her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and her silver coloured eyes glinting in amusement. "Go ahead and continue your round, Sachi-san, I've got it from here."

"Of course, Michiru-sensei," the nurse replied with a small bow of respect before stepping out of the room.

"How are you feeling, Yuriko-chan?" She questioned me with a raised eyebrow, taking my chart out from the foot of my bed and a pen from… somewhere.

"Ah… confused mostly," I admitted. "And… a little uncomfortable with a tube shoved inside of me."

Saya-taicho snorted at my frankness before shaking her head and making a note. "Once I finish my checkup, we can work on getting that out of you and walking a bit," she assured me. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Well, we were assaulting the enemy base on Tensei Bridge, we had successfully gained entry and we were in a pitched battle trying to open the gates, I had ended up fighting a… jonin I think it was?" I said, frowning a bit in thought before shaking my head. "A lot of it's a blur, but the last thing I remember was cutting that bitch's head off before falling unconscious."

Saya-taicho nodded in approval as she made several more notes in her clipboard. "That's better than what most do when first coming out of a week long nap," she informed me with a grin, getting a chuckle out of me. "Saw the ending to that little spat you had with her, especially the applying your chakra scalpel to a weapon, devastating result. Orochimaru was curious as to what you little improvised jutsu did and performed an autopsy and sent a report along, your 'little' cut mutilated the woman's lungs, hell, it would've taken someone on the level of Tsunade-sama to save her."

I stared wide eyed at Saya-taicho in response. "What?" I questioned in surprise.

Saya-taicho nodded in confirmation. "Hokage-sama has classified it as your personal jutsu for the time being," she explained to me, patting my leg. "Congrats, not many make their own jutsu before they hit their teen years," she said teasingly. "Anyways, your left humerus had been broken in half by the time I had gotten to you, along with severe bruising on a couple of your organs and cracked ribs," she listed. "And you managed to pick up a minor infection when you were fighting her as well along with giving yourself minor chakra exhaustion on top of that, all said and done, you were completely fucked over and lived to tell the tale."

I couldn't help but giggle at taicho's words, getting a grin from the woman. "So… how long am I trapped for?" I questioned as I looked around the room.

"Three days at the shortest," she told me after a moment. "You're fully healed, I just want to make sure you're mobile before sending you back out, and you'll be on medical leave for a month after that," she raised a hand to forestall my protest. "Hokage's orders, you're also going to be meeting a psychiatrist to go over your two near death experiences to make sure you are still mentally stable."

Taicho smiled indulgently as I let out a groan and slumped back into the bed with a pout on my face. "My team?" I questioned nervously.

"Alive and well," she assured with a smile. "Still on the front lines, they weren't injured during the mop up operation."

"So we captured the base then?" I asked for confirmation, getting a nod in confirmation.

Taicho chuckled as I yawned suddenly, unable to keep my eyes open. "Get some sleep, Yuriko-chan, you earned it."

Nodding blearily, too tired to argue, I slumped back against my bed and drifted off into a deep slumber.

Hospitals are boring as fuck when you are a patient, this is a universal fact accepted and agreed upon by everyone, hell an Iwa shinobi would even agree with a Konoha shinobi on it!

That was why TVs had been first brought into the hospital rooms, to give the patients something to distract themselves from their boredom. Unfortunately for this plan, daytime TV to a shinobi was boring as fuck.

Soap Operas like 'The Young and the Ninja' were terribly inaccurate and an insult to seduction specialist everywhere. 'Shinobi Stunts' a civilian show where other civilian pulls some stunts shinobi do in their everyday life? Good for a chuckle or two, but still boring.

Talk shows? Only put that on in front of a shinobi if you want to die in a horrible fashion. The way they insult the number of lives lost amongst the shinobi to protect their home was an insult of the highest order.

Kids shows? Colourful, but dull, predictable and pandering. Fuck. That. Noise.

Thankfully I managed to find my little slice of television heaven in three places. Honest to god anime in the vein of One Piece and My Hero Academia, the news, and a channel dedicated to ninja, as in you actually needed to channel chakra into the remote in order to get the channel to show up. Don't ask me how it works, but thank kami Saya-taicho showed me how to access it.

It generally ran shows that could be kinda compared to cooking shows in a way, only instead of cooking meals and cookies, we were creating deadly ninjutsu and insanity enduring illusions. Granted a lot of it was theory talk, but hey, it would keep the attention of shinobi and it was keeping me busy as I took down notes.

I looked up as the door to my private room opened (Thank you clan privileges!) and quickly shut the television off and sat up at attention as best as I could as the goddamn Hokage strode into the room.

Take your Yondaime, take your Nidaime and take your goddamn Shodai and get them the fuck out of my way, to me, Hiruzen Sarutobi was the fucking goddamn golden standard of shinobi, he had no special clan Jutsu or techniques, no unique elemental manipulation, no overpowered special transformation. Just summoning, basic ninjutsu and his own mind and the man kicked everyone's ass!

"Hokage-sama!" I greeted in surprise as he entered, smiling at me, he didn't look quite as old as he had in the anime, with less wrinkles and still had some colour in his hair.

"You may relax, Yuriko-chan," he assured me waving me down. "Don't worry about standing at attention when you are a patient in the hospital."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," I replied, yes I was blushing, this was Hiruzen mother fucking Sarutobi bitches, you'd be blushing too!

He chuckled a bit as he looked me over, glancing down at the notes with a knowing smile on his face, one that twitch further as he caught sight of the doodles I had made in the margins, hey I'm seven thank you very much! "It's good to see you are recovering well," he told me kindly causing my cheeks to heat up further. "I've been going over the reports on your progress and your performance at Tensei Bridge," I felt my entire body stiffen as I raised my head to look at him in shock.

"Yes… your progress is rather remarkable, I must say," he continued, nodding to himself as he grinned. "Which… is why I am going to be promoting you to chunin once you are cleared for duty."

At this point, I was pretty damn certain that my jaw was through the crust of the earth at this point as I stared at the Hokage in shock. "Pro… promote… me?" I managed to gasp out in question.

"Indeed," he confirmed with a chuckle. "Saya-san was the one who recommended it, and it was supported by both Goryo-san and Orochimaru-kun."

I swallowed tightly at the reminder of Orochimaru, as much as I wanted too, I couldn't say anything about his actions, I had no proof and it would cast more suspicion on me if I did. "And sensei, my team, what will happen with them?" I questioned.

"You will remain under Hasai-san's command for the remainder of the war, and from there you will continue to remain a team, although you will occasionally be pulled to participate in missions on an as needed basis," he explained to me. "It won't be made official until you are cleared for duty, but the paperwork is already finished and a flak jacket is being prepared for your size, of course it is up to you to wear it or not."

I nodded dumbly in response, acknowledging that I heard him. "I… thank you, Hokage-sama," I said finally after somewhat getting over my shock.

"Thank you for your service, Chunin Uchiha," he replied with a smirk before he excused himself, leaving me alone in the room.

"Well… damn," I said aloud as I fully realized what just happened.

Maybe it was because of my shock, but at that moment, I remembered something. Where was my box declaring the completed mission.

It was at that time that my attention was brought to a little blinking light in the corner of my vision, it looked like a transparent scroll, and as soon as I focused my attention onto it, a new pop up appeared.

We have made a small update to your interface after noticing several small potentially dangerous errors for our users. Now, instead of a pop up potentially blocking your view of someone trying to stab you, we have delegated all pop ups notifications to the scroll that was blinking, when you focus your full attention onto the scroll it will bring up a list of notifications to peruse at your pleasure.

Regards, Management

Sure enough there was a list of notifications at least three 'pages' long.

Most of it was the notifications of those I killed and the loot I acquired from them, something worth selling or experimenting with I suppose. a quick tally showed me that I ended up acquiring 12,498 EXP and 59,600 Ryo from the ten chunin and eight samurai I had defeated.

Next up was the completion award for the quest.

PRIMARY QUEST Completed!

Battle for Tensei Bridge

OBJECTIVE

Capture the Iwagakure base on the opposite side of the bridge for Konohagakure.

REWARD

18,750 EXP, 20,000 Ryo, 5,000 Reputation with Konohagakure and allied nations, field promotion to Chunin

BONUS OBJECTIVE

Capture the base with less than 40% losses for Konohagakure and allies - completed

Personally heal 250 soldiers - completed

Your team survives - completed

REWADS

12,500 EXP per objective completed, 10,000 Ryo per objective completed

SECRET OBJECTIVE

Found an alternative way to cross the gorge

REWARD

12,500 EXP, 8,000 Ryo

68,750 EXP acquired from the mission alone… wow… that would explain the… eight level up alerts!

Jesus mother of all the Kami! It was tempting to open up the page and start doling out my 40 stat points, but I remained focused on sorting through the various alerts.

One in particular caught my interest.

People have begun to notice your abilities and have called you a genius, you have acquired the [Genius] perk!

I blinked.

Fucking what?

Who in the nine unholy hells would call me a genius? I mean seriously, i've been flying by the seat of my pants this entire time.

Letting out a groan I hit the little icon on the box to explain the perk.

[Genius] - People have heard of your abilities and praise them for it, you stand near the top of the food chain with your skills, don't let it go to your head though - +1 INT per level (Applied retroactively) and you have a +25% EXP gain for all skills.

Alright, I won't complain about that kind of bonus then I guess. I let out a groan as I slumped back into the bed. Yeah… I think at this point Orochimaru at the very least would be keeping an eye on me from here on out, how… troublesome.

Oh hey, Shikamaru's phrase!

Shaking my head I put those thoughts out of my mind for the moment and opened my status menu.

Name: Yuriko

Level: 24

EXP: 1,577/13,000

Age: 7

Gender: Female

Title: Chunin (+25% to all Reputation gains)

STATS

HP - 900

CP - 2,914

STR - 30 (33)

INT - 67

DEX - 34 (37)

VIT - 30

WIS - 42

LUK - 15

Ryo - 232,252

Stat points - 40

Damn my new perk jumped my INT up big time, alright then, ten points to my WIS and twenty to my DEX, and the last ten split between STR and VIT.

Name: Yuriko

Level: 24

EXP: 1,577/13,000

Age: 7

Gender: Female

Title: Chunin (+25% to all Reputation gains)

STATS

HP - 1,325

CP - 3,582

STR - 35 (38)

INT - 67

DEX - 54 (59)

VIT - 35

WIS -52

LUK - 15

Ryo - 232,252

Well, those look like chunin stats, I suppose, shaking my head I let out a sigh. I'm a chunin now at seven years old. I honestly had no idea what to feel about that, it's a wartime promotion, so when the war was over it would come under review, but since Hokage-sama was the one to give it to me, it would likely stick.

Fuck it, it wasn't like I was going to be able to remain unseen forever, at least this way it would be a bit harder for him to try and abduct me because of the fact that I had people's attention for the time being.

So… I should take the time afforded to me by my medical leave to train up and start grinding out bonus stat points. Hm… I wonder, were there anything like dungeons for me to use as a training ground? Battle mobs for more experience and possibly loot?

Hm, speaking of loot. "[Inventory]," I vocalized, narrowing my eyes as I sorted through the assorted gear and items that I had acquired before coming across a specific pair of items

[Women's Crimson Chakra Jacket] - A sleeveless jacket for women, it has seals sewn into it that increases the wearer's chakra control and allows the item to physically adjust itself to the wearer. -25% to Chakra costs. Durability 100/100

Alright, now that is pretty damn cool, hmm, alright I'll take a look at it later, now… the second item.

[High Quality Kunoichi Sandals] - Heeled sandals used by kunoichi, these particular ones have small seals that support the user's elemental chakra control and allows the item to physically adjust itself to the wearer. +15% Effectiveness to any of the [Nature Chakra Control] skills. Durability 100/100

Heeled sandals? But the effect… goddammit… why was I reborn a girl? Well… no use crying about it now, I am one, and there would be way too many questions if I tried to get a surgery to change my gender… if there even was such a thing in this world.

I looked around the hospital room for a minute before letting out a sigh and turning the TV back on, grinning as one of the local anime 'Tales of Chakra' started up, it was actually one of the interesting ones.

"Freedom!" I cheered happily as I signed the last of the discharge papers, getting a chuckle from Saya-taicho as I slapped the pen down, clad in a simple pair of shorts and t-shirt.

"It's not that bad in here is it?" she questioned teasingly, her grin widening as I turned to glare at her.

"Yes," I replied. "The food sucks, most daytime TV sucks, the books here suck and you suck for making me stay here for 72 hours!" I was being childish, and I didn't care, I physically am a child dammit!

Saya-taicho took it in good stride as she ruffled my hair, much to my vocal protest, before walking with me to the doors. "I'll be redeploying in a week to Kikyo Pass," she informed. "Mizu seems to be making a push for it."

I nodded, showing my understanding. "Be safe," stupid choice of words, but… I didn't know what else to say, Saya-taicho was older and more experienced than me, but all the same… I wanted her to be safe.

"No worries squirt, I'll be around to terrorize you when you end up in the hospital again," she assured, patting me on the back.

I rolled my eyes at her before impulsively hugging the older woman and headed out the door, briefly spotting a somewhat stupefied look on her face as I left the hospital.

Taking in a breath of fresh air I focused myself on my next task, heading home. Walking through the village was an… interesting experience, while normally most would recognize the clan symbol on my clothing, some of the shinobi recognized my face, one of them actually stopping me to thank me for saving his life during the battle in the field at Tensei bridge.

It was strange, being thanked for it, I only vaguely remember the man from the blur that was the battle that I spent the majority of healing, popping soldier pills to restore chakra, and healing again.

It was a relief when I was inside of the Uchiha compound, the guards greeting me cheerfully as I entered, making my way home. I came to a pause as I reached the front door. It… it has felt like ages since I've been here, and I could tell, no one has been here since I had left to enter the front lines.

Blinking back the few tears that had threatened to well up I pushed my way in, calling out a greeting to the empty house as I took off my sandals and entered the house proper. Once I was certain I was alone I opened up my inventory screen and pulled out the two items that had caught my interest, both were a deep red in color with a bit of a collar that fell a few inches short of my chin. The jacket itself was a short one was came down to just below my ribs and seemed to be designed to be left open considering I wasn't able to close it around my own flat chest.

Oh… I'm going to grow boobs aren't I?

And not thinking about it!

Strangely enough, the sandals were oddly… comfortable once they were sized to fit me, or maybe it was my DEX score that let me keep my balance as I tested moving around with them at increasing speeds in the back yard. Satisfied that they wouldn't affect my mobility I set them aside and put my old sandals in my inventory.

Picking up the jacket I looked it over curiously, with the seals on the inside of the jacket, the outside of it was fairly bare with no distinguishing marks on it. Making up my mind I quickly run into the room and stripped out of the clothing the hospital provided me with and started looking through my clothing for something else to wear.

Finally, I decided on a sleeveless black shirt with a dark blue skirt that fell to my knees, I was initially hesitant to wear skirts and the such like at first, but… they were in my wardrobe and at some point I would probably be required to wear on a mission, so I decided to just man… well… woman up and wear one. With a pair of biker shorts underneath of course.

Once I was dress I made a quick trip to the washroom to clean my face and run some damage control on my hair, normally I had kept around my neck in length, but, as a result of my early graduation I have had less time to run maintenance on it any more than brushing it out and pulling it into a ponytail.

Now that I was looking at it, however, as it fell down past my shoulder, I found myself actually… liking it longer and unbound. Once I finished brushing all of the tangles out of it I decided to leave my hair be and headed to the door slip on my new sandals, grabbing the jacket on the way out I made my way to my outfitter of choice.

It was a place my brother had brought me at one point and the shopkeeper, a downright bear of a man that I was almost certain was broader that Jiraiya, and not with fat endeared himself to me with his jovial attitude and the jokes he liked to fire off. The place was called 'Suguro's Shinobi Outfitters' and carried a lot of high quality items relatively cheaply.

"Welcome!" Suguro called out as I strode in, beaming broadly at me as he looked me over. "Well, if it isn't the medic that kept a quarter my customers alive!"

"What customers? You mean this place is a store?" I shot back quickly grinning as he gave me a stupefied look before bellowing out in laughter.

"Oh, I like you, Yuriko-chan, only you, your brother and that Obito kid are the only Uchiha's I've met with a sense of humor!" he said between his bouts of laughter, garnering a larger grin from me in return. "So, need to do some resupplying, kiddo? Or more stuff to sell."

"I might have some stuff for you later," I replied, Suguro was my preferred merchant for the loot that I acquired throughout my battles, thankfully the man didn't really ask questions about where I got them, just if I knew any details about them. "You do some customization work on clothing, right?"

"Well, not myself personally, my daughter is the one who does all the work," he informed with a shrug. "She isn't here at the moment, on a date with some… boy," I couldn't stop the giggle that escaped my lips at his growl. "But if you leave the order with me I can pass it along to her."

"That works," I concluded after a moment of thought and placed the jacket I was carrying onto the countertop. "I… acquired this jacket during my trip to Tensei Bridge," I explained as I opened it up to show the seals. "From what I can tell the seals help with the wearer chakra control… somehow," I continued, tracing the seals for him, the big man nodding, his eyes glinting intelligently. "And no, I am not selling it, I wanted to add the clan symbol onto the right side of the front here, I'm leaving the back open incase I find a symbol for myself."

"Ah, ye know me too well, lass," he told me with a chuckle. "Alright, I'll let her know what you want, you mind if I make a trace of the seal though? Even if I can only produce a lesser effect, it would be a big seller."

"Only if I get a copy of the trace," I shot back, grinning, it was shocking to learn, but this man was one of the very few sealing experts the village had within it, one of three, including Minato and Jiraiya. "And… a ten percent discount on my next supply stock up?"

Suguro grumbled a bit as he narrowed his eyes at me before letting out an explosive sigh. "Fine," he relented far to dramatically to be real. "Drive me into poverty why don't you?"

I snorted in response. "Like that would break your poor wallet," I said teasingly. "Thanks alot, Suguro-san! I got more errands to run right now though."

"Alright, come back tomorrow, my daughter should have it ready by then!" he called out to me as I left the shop, waving to show I heard him.

My next stop was the training grounds, from what I could recall, the lower numbered ones, 1-20 were for team and genin training, but there were more, up to 50 if I wasn't mistaken, and the ones I was looking for, from their description as over populated with chakra beasts, were training fields 20-33, I wouldn't be surprised if those places were the 'dungeons' for me to use.

Sure enough a large screen floated before as I approached.

Welcome to Konohagakure Environmental Training Grounds! These are the Dungeons within Konohagakure, created in conjunction between Tobirama Senju and Madara Uchiha using ninjutsu and space/time seals, each field contains chakra mutated beasts to be fought, and while the danger is great, if one is strong enough, they can find items lost by other shinobi that you can claim as your own!

Fields are only accessible to Chunin rank and above unless otherwise allowed

YOU MAY ONLY ENTER ONE FIELD PER EVERY 24 HOUR PERIOD!

20. - Blackwood training grounds - Recommended Levels 20-25 - The Blackwood training ground doesn't look like much, but within the trees are squirrels who have been absorbing chakra from the very ground for decades, be warned, they may be small, but they are vicious, pray that you don't run afoul the Forest Boss.

21. Woebegone Swamp - Recommended Level 25-30 - The nesting place of a species of Falcons that take full advantage of their aerial advantage, using powerful Wind Release jutsus to buffet invaders as they are trapped on the ground. Take caution for the Boss does not take kindly to those who invade his lands

22. Dry Gulch Wasteland - Recommended Level 30-35 - Water is a very precious resource, this training ground will test how well you know this fact, but be warned, other creatures are thirsty too, and they learn how to survive by drinking blood.

23. Shattered Fields (Plains) - Recommended Level 35-40 - When this field had been created, something had went wrong and the very ground was split apart and separated, leaving over small trails to get between the 'islands'. Watch your step, for if you fall, there will be no return.

24. Takayama Mountain simulation Training Area - Recommended Level 40-45- Created to assist Konoha ninja in their training for battle in mountainous regions, much like the one Kumogakure inhabits, the beasts that roam this ground have become one with the elements that rage within

I blinked in surprise as I stared at the box floating before me, no longer reading any more of the various training grounds, it'll take a while before I get to them anyways.

Huh, good thing I didn't come here earlier hoping to super grind myself. Wouldn't have been able to get in anyways.

Shaking my head I turned away for the time being, I wasn't planning to go in today, first off, I just got out of the hospital, so I needed to make sure my skills were up to snuff. Second, I had an appointment with a psychiatrist in an hour.

Won't that be fun.

The Yamanaka clan had few major jobs in Konoha, first, they were our primary interrogators, hard to lie to someone who is literally in your head. Second, they're our gardeners, doesn't seem so impressive, until you take into account that said 'gardens' carry some of the most poisonous and dangerous plants within the Elemental Nations. Third, they were the village's primary source of Psychiatrists to run psych evals on their shinobi population.

It was one such Yamanaka that I was meeting with in a modest office that had only a single window, and several dozen types of silencing seals engraved onto the walls, hey the information we have could be connected to psychosis thank you very much!

"Welcome, Yuiko-chan," my assigned psychiatrist, one Fuyuko Yamanaka greeted me cheerfully, her pupiless blue eyes warm and inviting as she kept her pale blond hair in a tight bun. "Please, take a seat and get comfortable, would you like something to drink?"

"Ah, green tea if you have it," I replied after sitting down on the normal couch across from Fuyuko-sensei. "Thank you."

The woman quirked her lips at me as she moved to the small kitchenette that already had a pot of hot water boiling, bringing it over she quickly prepared the tea for the two of us and set a full cup before me. "Now, this is just a basic psychological evaluation to ensure your mental stability for continued service as a Chunin, congratulations on that by the way," she told me, making my face heat up as I ducked my head in response.

"It's still kinda surprising," I admitted after a several moments. "I don't even know if I'm ready to be a chunin to be honest."

"That is absolutely normal," Fuyuko-sensei assured with a calming smile as I looked up. "Not many people are completely sure they are ready for such a promotion in situations like this, is that going to stop you from living up to that promotion?"

"Of course not!" I shouted before freezing and blushing at the unintentional shout. "I mean… no, I will be doing everything I can to live up to the faith placed in me with this promotion."

Fuyuko-sensei chuckled a bit in amusement as she leaned back into her chair. "As I understand it, you had some close encounters during your most recent mission, why don't you tell me about those," she requested with a gentle and patient smile.

Taking a deep breath I braced myself for a long session.

END CHAPTER!