Disclaimers: I do not own KHR
Dedicated to Vicky126 and yukiXsnow
Sorry for the long wait!
Chrome Dokuro sighed, and rubbed her eye tiredly, avoiding her covered right eye. After a long day at work, she was ready to go home and just sleep. Working at a hospital was tiring. She stared at the paper in front of her, the words blurring together, before she stood up and grabbed her white coat, walking out of her room into the corridors of the Namimori Hospital.
She walked into her patients' room, smiling at her patients, checking if everything was alright. A young boy who had come to take his appendix out tugged at the ends of her coat. She looked down to him.
"Ne, nee-san, can you read me a story?" Chrome smiled, before pulling up a chair. She grabbed a children's book, and opened it, reading softly until the boy fell asleep. She tucked her long purple hair behind her ear and sighed.
She glanced at the clock. 11:30. She sighed in relief; her shift was almost over. Besides the fact that today was one of the most boring shifts on earth, her shift had started at noon until now because she was covering for her cousin, Fran.
"Stupid Fran," She mumbled, rubbing her eye once more. He was off with his boyfriend, Bel, while she slaved away doing a double shift. But she felt kind of good though, that Bel had finally taken some time off his career to spend some time with Fran.
The woman stood up, stretching, and yawned. She bent down to give the sleeping boy one last pat on the head, tucked the book away on the shelf in his room, and walked out. Her watch gave a little beep; releasing her from the huge, white prison they called a hospital. Walking back to her office, she cleaned everything up.
"Bye, Chrome-san." Chrome started, and she looked to her left and saw a woman with long, orange-brownish hair and wide brown eyes. It was Kyoko. The soft smile on her face was always there whenever she saw her nurse. "See you tomorrow." The young woman nodded, hanging up her white coat. She walked down the hallways towards the sliding doors, nodding bye to the receptionist, Mammon, and pulled out her purse to get her keys. Then she froze.
"Oh, kami-sama," She breathed out in horror.
A man with ebony-colored hair and pale skin was sitting down on the street, leaning against the door of a car next to hers. He held his left arm at an awkward angle, and two silver tonfas that lay beside him glittered in the street-light. He was covered with wounds, his dark hair matted with dried blood. Dropping her purse, she ran over to him, her violet eye wide with worry.
"Sir? Sir! Can you hear me?" She turned over his wrist and felt a pulse. It was still beating. Relieved at this little sign of life, she closed her eye and ran back towards the hospital. Mammon looked up, startled when Chrome burst in, yelling her head off.
"Mammon-san, get a stretcher!" Kyoko came running out.
"Ch-Chrome-san? What's going on?" Chrome ignored her, and she ran back towards the man. She knelt down next to him, calling out to him, trying to get him to wake up. She looked up when she heard footsteps. It was Kyoko. Chrome nodded gratefully. She looked him over rapidly, checking for wounds that she needed to do first aid on.
Before she could get a closer look at the man, Tsuna, another doctor with brown bushy hair ran up to them, carrying a stretcher. At the count of three, they lifted the man gently onto the gurney.
"All set," Tsuna murmured, strapping the unconscious man onto the stretcher. She followed them inside, trotting beside him, and in her head she was running through the emergency practices she had taken. Tsuna shot her a look of pure panic; he had never experienced something like this because he was a pediatrician.
Suddenly, he started convulsing and he began gasping for air.
Right. Make an airway.
She intubated him, taping it in place. She flinched when the ventilator came on; her nerves were shot with panic. Tsuna grabbed a stethoscope and listened.
"He's good," He reported. She breathed out in relief, and behind her, Kyoko also sighed in relief. She glanced at the heart monitor.
"Alright, he's okay," Chrome looked at the other wounds, cleaning them efficiently and suturing them closed. She jumped when the heart monitor screeched, signaling that it went into failure. Her violet eye widened, and she immediately began pumping his chest, shooting a panicked look at the male doctor.
"Tsuna, bag him!" She said desperately, forgetting to add the prefix in her panic. She began compressions. Tsuna shot over to a cabinet and pulled out the bag. He attached it to the patient's mouth and squeezed it, keeping in time with Chrome. She counted to herself, pumping in time with Tsuna.
"Lidocaine," She ordered Kyoko, and the nurse ran off and brought back the box. She popped it open and handed it to the impatient purple-haired woman. Chrome injected the drug straight into the man's heart. Behind her, Kyoko grimaced.
Tsuna's voice rose a little. "Nothing." Kyoko turned, and took the paddles off the cart and charged it with the other defibrillator. She handed it to Chrome, who ordered for it to be set to two hundred. She armed herself, and pressed down on the man's chest.
His body jumped into the air as she electrocuted him. Nothing happened. She did it again, but there was no response. Tsuna made a small sound in distress.
"Change it to three hundred," She said frantically, and electrocuted him once more.
"Flat line," Tsuna reported, and Chrome gritted her teeth and placed the electrical pads on the man's chest. His body leaped into the air as she electrocuted him once more. Chrome looked at Tsuna again. He shook his head.
"Kyoko-san, Epi!" She demanded anxiously and immediately administered it directly into the man's heart. Glanced at the monitor again.
Nothing.
She felt panic rising up within her. She felt this uncontrollable need to save him, to make sure that he got out of this alive. She gritted her teeth. No. She was going to make sure that he was going to make it. "Time?" She asked.
Tsuna instantly replied, "Nine minutes." Really? It had felt like a second. She cleared her head, and turned to the table. She saw what she wanted, and she snatched up a scalpel. "I'm cracking his chest." Tsuna's hand quickly covered her own.
"No, Chrome-!" She glared at her friends for the first time in her life and hissed, "He's dying." She yanked her hand out of his grip and felt down the man's ribs. Once she reached the bottom of the diaphragm, she made an incision. She mustered up her courage and slipped a gloved hand inside. She heard Tsuna cuss and Kyoko whimper. She closed her eye and blocked out everything, concentrating as she massaged his heart.
Please, she begged him silently. Please, keep your heart beating.The heart didn't feel too bad. It kind of felt like a warm, wet, Silly putty. She concentrated on manually pumping blood through the man's body. Faintly she heard the heart monitor with its constant screeching. It practically screamed, 'failure'. She started as the heart monitor gave out beeps, signaling that he was back.
"W-What?" Kyoko asked, sounding stunned. "Was that… him?" Chrome smiled, and slipped her hand out.
"Yes," She replied. "Start a drip." Kyoko came forward and attached him to a drip. Chrome snapped off her gloves, and she walked away, letting Kyoko and Tsuna take care of the rest. She rubbed a tired hand over her good eye. Once she was outside the emergency room, she leaned against the white walls of the hospital.
"Tough," She opened her eye and looked at Mammon. She was wearing a white dress shirt and a dark purple pencil skirt. Mammon had her bangs covering her eyes again.
"What's tough, Mammon-san?" she asked. The receptionist shrugged, standing next to the young doctor.
"Seeing stuff like that. You're a surgeon, you see tons of gruesome stuff like that; but I'd bet my money that you don't always get a good night's sleep." Chrome smiled faintly.
Her perceptive friend was right once again. Working as a surgeon, and sometimes helping out with the police at the morgue, she sometimes had trouble falling asleep at night. And it meant that Mammon was a hundred percent sure that she wasn't sleeping because Mammon would not bet her money for anything. Once the receptionist mentioned her money, you knew that she was serious, and you shouldn't mess with her.
"Why'd you try so hard?" Mammon asked her after a few minutes of silence. Chrome blinked, remembering the overpowering sense to save him even if it cost Chrome her own life. She played with her bracelet nervously, stalling. Twisting it, the silver chain glinted in the light. It was a charm bracelet, and she had two lucky charms on it. One was from Fran, a silver frog that was said to have brought music, and Bel, Fran's boyfriend, had given her a crown, saying that it would bring her wealth. She fumbled with it, and finally settled for an, "I don't know."
Mammon raised an eyebrow, but she let it go. Chrome sucked in a breath, and closed her eye. It was over. He was saved. Then, as the impact of what just happened hit her, she closed her eye, and sank down.
"Oh Kami, what happened to him?" She murmured tiredly.
*K*H*R*
Hibari Kyouya hissed in pain. Everything hurt so much. He moved his arm a little, wondering whether or not if it was broken. He hissed again, but this time in anger. Damn those pathetic herbivores. They were going to pay. But for now, he needed to get away to rest and recuperate. He stumbled through the woods, and saw a parking lot. He walked through it, everything blurry with pain. He hissed in pain as his left arm came in contact with the rearview mirror of a car. Yup. Definitely broken.
But nevertheless, he was safe now. Those idiot herbivores wouldn't dare to come out and follow him here in plain sight of the civilians. No, of course not. He saw a white building with a red cross over it. Just his luck. Smiling grimly, he made his way towards the hospital to get himself fixed up. Then he could have his revenge and bite all those idiot herbivores to death. However, everything started spinning when he got closer, and the pain became unbearable. It soon began spinning so bad that he leaned against the door of a car, panting heavily, his tonfas clattering onto the ground. He closed his eyes, but then they flew open again when he sensed someone near.
He snatched up his tonfas, ignoring the screaming pain in his left arm. Suddenly, a black figure shot towards him, and hit his neck, paralyzing Hibari. The herbivore with the ski mask on- Of course. All the herbivore had to wear a ski mask while they were attacking someone. Hibari thought dimly at the back of his mind- grinned, and whispered, "Not so strong, are you? Oh well, we'll get you next time."
The figure leaped away.
Hibari didn't have the strength to move anymore, and he sank to his knees, letting go of his tonfas. He sank down against the door of the car, and closed his eyes. The darkness was overtaking him.
"-ir? Sir! Can you hear me?" He heard her, but he couldn't open his eyes. She felt him turn over his right arm, and press gently on the inside of his wrist. He relaxed at the touch; it was gently and comforting. The hand suddenly disappeared, running away. No, he thought dimly, his senses shutting down. Come back. He wanted that strong, yet gentle touch again. As if they heard his thoughts, footsteps approached.
"Sir, we're going to help you okay? Nod your head if you can hear me," The soft, musical voice commanded gently, yet firmly. He didn't have the strength to do that. More footsteps joined him.
After a while though, everything was peculiar. He would hear the voices clearly, and then it would fade away again. He was also being jostled up and down; it was all so very strange. Then he was still, and he felt somebody clean his wounds and sew them shut.
Suddenly, he heard a soft pop, and an echoing shriek, then he was falling through the darkness towards a little speck of white. He floated just in front of the little speck, and he peered curiously at it. Reaching out cautiously towards the white sphere, he held it. It was warm, and it was emitting a gentle glow of light in this dark abyss. The sphere grew brighter, and suddenly the whole room was bright.
Then there it was: dozens and dozens of faces, all glaring accusingly at him. They shook their fists at him, pointed at him accusingly, and then they pounced. Pain seared through his body. His chest was being pushed on, pumping at his heart. His ribs cracked, and he gasped out in pain.
"You killed me!" A man howled, pummeling his fists into Hibari.
"Why'd you do it? My family!" Another shrieked hysterically.
"All gone, you monster!" A woman wailed, and proceeded to punch him. Damn, she had a good right hook. He struggled frantically in their grip, before another stab to his chest at his heart. It hurt. A lot. His body jerked as his body suddenly had a feeling as if electricity went through him. He wanted desperately to get away from this place; it was going to drive him insane.
"Let me go, you pathetic herbivores, I'll bite you all to death," He hissed menacingly. They growled back.
"No use, you demon, we're all dead!" A child in the back cried. "You are too, if you're with us!" Everyone yelled in chorus of madness and insanity. He needed to get away. Badly. He jerked again as his whole body was wracked with a jolt of pain. His body jerked due to the reaction.
"Why'd you kill us?" A man from the back screamed, taking out a needle and stabbing it into his chest. He flinched. More pain. He hissed back to the man, fear starting to overpower his anger.
"It was my job." He shot back. He needed to get out of here, escape his past demons, and suddenly, warmth. Suddenly, the skylark felt someone's hand in his chest, squeezing his heart gently but firmly, as if willing him to go on.
Please. Please, keep your heart beating. He blinked when he heard that soft voice again. The hand that was massaging his heart was gently squeezing it, and he felt himself being pulled gently away from his demons. They howled in rage as he was pulled back from the light and into the darkness.
He sighed in relief as he lay in the darkness, waiting. Then his body was screaming for him to wake up. He groaned, but complied. He heard beeps that sounding like a heart monitor. He smiled grimly in his head. He knew that sound. He was in hospitals all the time. There was another sound too; a soft breathing, a clock ticking. Curiosity took over his common sense to sleep, so he decided that it was finally time to wake up.
And then he opened his eyes.
*K*H*R*
It was the eyes.
Chrome waited with bated breath as she heard his heart beat faster, signaling that he was waking up. When he opened his eyes, she couldn't think. The steely eagle eyes that glinted with intellect and ferocity, showed an independent man with an insurmountable sense of pride. She had always agreed with the saying that the eyes were the window to the soul. Or was it door instead of window? She couldn't bring herself to care.
His eyes were a bluish steel color, and they narrowed at the sight of her.
"Herbivore," He started, nodding to her. "Thank you." She blinked. He held out his right arm, his left being in a cast. She reached out to shake it, but when she did, he suddenly pulled her down till they were face-to-face. It was a little too close. But his aura was threatening.
"Herbivore," He hissed, anger clear in his eyes. She said nothing. "Why did you save me?" He snarled. Her eye narrowed in return. She saved his stupid life, and this was how he treated her? Besides, how did he know that she was the one who operated on him?
She ignored it. "I did," She said keeping her voice calm and quiet, but still underlined with quiet anger. "Because I wanted to," She continued, not telling him that she felt an overpowering sense to protect, to help. His eyes narrowed even more.
"Do you know how much danger you've put yourself in?" He said quietly, glaring. His eyes gleamed with threat. She was confused, but she kept it in, and she pulled back. He looked surprised that she dared to pull back.
Chrome brushed her long, purple hair back, regaining some of her dignity of being pulled down disgracefully. "I'm Chrome Dokuro," She introduced herself, and walked out of the room, her head held high. She paused at the door, and looked back. She smiled, softening her features.
"Get some sleep," She told him softly. Then she shut the door and walked out. It was finally time to go home. She glanced at the clock. 5:00 am. She sighed, deciding to take the day off. Mammon had left at around midnight.
Her low heels clacked on the polished tiles as she walked down the aisle to the exit. Unlocking her car door, she drove back home, barely making it back without falling asleep. She stumbled into her bedroom, trying not to wake her cousin, Fran. He was sleeping in the other room, but he was a very light sleeper. Yawning, Chrome undressed and put on her white nightgown. It was very short; white and loose with small straps, but comfy. She then flopped onto the bed without even pulling the covers up around her.
As Chrome dozed off, she didn't know that she was being watched. Her bracelet glinted in the moonlight, before the frog charm gleamed red, emitting a soft red glow around it…
… and back in the hospital, a bedridden patient smiled grimly, and gripped the GPS tracker tighter, eagle eyes glaring at the red dot gleaming on the screen.
"Stupid Herbivore," He muttered, and leaped out of bed, grabbing his coat and tonfas, pulling the IV out and disabling the heart monitor in one swift motion. Silently, he padded over to the window, and slid it open. The moonlight paled his skin, and his eyes glared predatorily into the night. Then, with a deep breath, he jumped out gracefully, landing quietly before he sprinted off in the direction of a certain doctor's house.
*Owari*
I decided to write a new fic, and I can't update regularly because my school blocked FFN on Monday-Fridays, and I go to a boarding school, so when I DO finish, I can't update quickly. SO bear with me please, and please review!
P.S. Everyone is in their 20ishes. Okay? Not official, but I'm still thinking about their ages. IT's an AU of the TYL characters!