First of all, I'd like to say how sorry I am for not updating this in so long. At first this was just a random story that just came to me. I didn't really put much into it and I eventually lost inspiration. BUT a while ago I actually sat down and wrote up a timeline and figured out a good amount of the storyline. I don't really have an endgame for the story planned out yet, but I feel like I will be able to continue it starting over from the beginning. There are a few changes to the story, one of them being the length of the chapters. I'm going to try my best to make them longer, but I'm not yet accustomed to writing that much for a single thing so I can't give an absolute guarantee as to when it will be updated. In addition to that, I'm starting college in the fall and getting a job in the near future, but I will try my hardest to get chapters out in a timely manner. As usual, all characters, concepts, organizations, and places that you recognise belong to their respective owners. Please let me know of any mistakes, and friendly criticism is always welcome along with normal reviews. As with any author, reviews keep me going. On that note, please enjoy the new and improved first chapter!
Drip.
"One."
Drip.
"Two."
Drip.
"Three."
The room was silent except for the sound of blood dripping onto the previously pristine white tiled floor and the small girl's mumblings.
She took a deep breath before continuing with her counting. Ever since she could remember, her mother would tell her to take a breath and count whenever she found herself upset. To ten and back again until she had calmed down. This was a tactic that she found herself using more and more these past few years.
The girl slowly ran her small hand across her mouth. Holding it up to her eyes, she saw that it was covered in blood. She let out a small giggle. She was exhausted beyond relief, but she couldn't help thinking about how most girls her age would never have to go through the same things she did on a daily basis. She was only nine and had been submitted to the kind of pain that most adults haven't felt in their lifetime. She giggled again. I really must be one of a kind… for everyone else's sake I hope I'm one of a kind.
She put her bloody hand on the ground and attempted to sit up. She used all the strength she could muster, but still couldn't push herself off the ground. She groaned, closed her eyes, and placed her head on the cool tile floor. She found herself thinking of what it was like back home, before her parents were killed and she and her sister were taken away and sold like livestock. She remembered her bedroom, her mother had tried to paint it pink but she had insisted on blue. She thought about the kitchen that she had spent so many hours cooking with her mother in. She frowned. She could never remember exactly what the kitchen looked like before the tragedy that befell her family, she could only remember the way it looked that night, every surface, covered in blood and gore.
The girl was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening. She stiffened. She could hear the sound of his shoes, tapping with every step he made. They were awfully nice shoes for such a horrible man.
He stopped in front of her and knelt down. "Now, now, darling. It won't do if you fall asleep. For this experiment I need you to be fully awake."
"Where were you?" She managed to croak out of her parched throat.
The man smiled. "I was just seeing how your dear sister was doing."
The girl's eyes widened in panic as she looked up at the man. "You said you wouldn't touch her if I kept cooperating! You promised!"
The man's smile slowly became more menacing. "And I intend to keep that promise only if you can manage to stay awake when I need you to."
He pulled out a knife and slowly dragged the blade against the girl's cheek, causing her to let out a choked sob.
"Ah! You still feel that do you?" The man grinned and moved the blade so it hovered just over her navel. "Let's see about this, shall we?"
He plunged the knife into her flesh.
The small girl's vision blurred. No. No! I can't… I can't pa-pass out. She held on as long as she could before the darkness overtook her.
Sora slowly opened her eyes, looking over to the beeping alarm clock. 6:20. She groaned. Shit. Slowly sitting up in bed, adamantly refusing to think about her dream, she moved her hair away from her face and pulled the heavy covers off her sweaty body. She moved her feet to the cool wooden floor and stood up, groggily making her way to the bathroom, removing the clothes that had stuck to her body during her restless sleep along the way.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She looked awful. Her long raven hair was a complete mess and she looked almost sickly. She lightly touched the dark circles under her round, crimson eyes and frowned at the grey tinge to her naturally pale complexion. I suppose it's my own fault for relaxing on my day off, sometimes it's better to be exhausted. I don't dream when I'm that tired. She took one last look at her appearance before turning on the shower and letting herself be enveloped by the steam.
She was tempted to take her time in the shower, but she knew that doing so would make her late for work so she quickly washed her body and turned off the water. Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed the fluffy towel that hung next to the shower, wrapped it around her thin frame and reached for another to dry her freshly washed hair.. She walked across the room and ran a hand across the mirror, removing the condensation. Her skin had regained a bit of its brightness and the bags had faded a bit, making her look considerably less zombie-ish. She applied a bit of concealer, not enough to over do it, just enough to make the bags less visible. She sighed and moved away from the mirror, deeming her appearance 'good enough'.
Sora walked back to her bedroom and stopped in front of her closet. Throwing the towels on her bed, she picked out a simple pair of black slacks and a plain white blouse. As an afterthought, she grabbed a couple pairs of clean scrubs, remembering that she had a shift in the Emergency room that evening and the ones she kept at the hospital were in desperate need of replacing. She was one year into her residency. Medical school had been a nice distraction for her and she really enjoyed it, but after starting her internship, then residency, she found working at a hospital in the heart of Tokyo extremely tiring.
Once she was dressed, hair properly dried and brushed, she walked into her small living room, opening curtains to let in the early morning light as she went. Placing her scrubs on the back of the couch, she scooped up a remote and turned on the television for the morning news.
She prepared her simple breakfast of coffee while listening to the news, the anchors were droning on about something boring, but she looked over to the screen when a statement from a CCG spokesperson caught her attention.
"We would like to remind all citizens to remain cautious at night and to remain with friends and on busy, well lit streets. Your safety is our primary concer-"
Sora muted the t.v.
She shook her head and sighed into her coffee cup. They make it sound like you'll be perfectly safe if you just do those simple things, as if that would really stop a ghoul. You have to step off the beaten path eventually.
She quickly finished her coffee and gathered her things. Pulling on her shoes and coat, along with a long scarf, she stepped out of her apartment, into the hallway of her building. She locked her front door and gave a friendly smile to the elderly woman who was leaving her apartment as well.
"Good morning, Hamasaki-san, how are you feeling?"
The woman gave Sora a smile in return. "Good morning to you too, Miyamoto-san. I'm feeling pretty well this morning considering the weather we've been having. The cold isn't good for these old bones."
Sora never had the heart to tell the sweet woman that she didn't like honorifics. "You will let me know if you need any help, won't you?"
"Oh no darling. Don't worry about me, you already work those long hours, I can handle myself, I'm one tough old lady" Hamasaki replied with a chuckle.
Sora smiled again. "Of course, forgive me for doubting you. Speaking of long hours though, I do need to head out."
Hamasaki gasped. "Oh! You should have told me sooner! It won't do you any good to be late. You best get moving."
"Have a good day, Hamasaki-san."
"You too, dear."
Sora gave one last smile to the old woman and turned to make her way down several flights of stairs to the lobby of her apartment building. The doorman held one glass door open for her. She thanked him and stepped out into the November chill, starting her walk to work.
Sora sat down at her desk in the tiny, monochromatically decorated office she shared with two other doctors after hanging up her coat and scarf, and began working on some paperwork that needed to be complete by that afternoon. Two minutes into her work, her boss peeked his head into the office. Dr. Kurosawa was a tall, handsome man in his thirties with short dark hair and a fringe that he kept partially tucked behind an ear, that if let loose, would come very close to completely covering his bright blue eyes. He was a friendly man, but his employees learned fast that he could be a bit mischievous. The man in question was currently looking at her with a concerned expression. "Miyamoto, did you forget about the meeting?"
She furrowed her eyebrows. Confused, she asked, "What meet-"
"The administrator wanted to speak with the doctors taking the E.R. shift this evening."
Sora's eyes widened. "Shit! Shit shit shit."
She frantically searched the room, looking for her white lab coat, finally realising that it had been sitting on the back of the chair he had just been occupying. Slightly embarrassed, she quickly put it on.
Kurosawa chuckled and moved to the open doorway, "You know, that's really no way to talk around your boss."
Sora looked up at him and smiled, "You know, I've never really known you to care."
He grinned and held out one arm towards the hallway, "We should go, we'll be late."
Sora sighed, sending a glance to the papers on her desk, then followed him out the door. She shook her head. He's not going to be so pleasant when he's handing me my ass over that paperwork.
They reached the conference room just as the meeting was about to start and took their seats, earning a small glare from the administrator. Sora was internally smacking herself for forgetting the meeting, having to be reminded by her boss of all people. How the hell have I not lost this job yet?
The administrator of the hospital was a man in his fifties with greying hair and a face that once must've been handsome, he wore an expensive suit and sat up straight with confidence and a no- nonsense look on his face.
There was only one word Sora used to describe the man who sat at the head of the long table- hardass.
He cleared his throat and got straight to business. "We have been asked by the CCG to be on standby until late in the night." He paused. "It appears that there is an operation nearby and they are expecting casualties. It's going to be a busy evening, make sure you're ready. These people are saving lives, let's do the same for them. Any questions?" When nobody spoke up, he nodded his head and stood up to leave. "You're dismissed."
The administrator left the quiet room. The doctors in the room sat in silence, internally sighing and preparing themselves for the gore and death they would no doubt witness that evening.
The silence was broken by the snobby and slightly nasal voice of Dr. Fujioka, his face scrunched up into a superior sneer. "You'd think with all their training, they'd figure out how to not get themselves killed."
Sora scowled. That little peice of shit. "You'd think with all your training, you'd figure out how to not let someone die on your operating table"
She got up and left the room before the other doctor could process what she said, Dr. Kurosawa following her out.
Many people knew that she was bit touchy about the CCG, however all they could do was speculate as to why. She was friendly, but people learned quickly that she wasn't one to talk about her past.
Kurosawa quickly caught up to her angry pace, placing his hands into the pockets of his pristine white coat. "I thought you knew by now to just ignore Fujioka."
"I do." Sora clipped.
"Clearly." Kurosawa smiled and looked at his watch. "Well, you best put on a smile, you have clinic duty for the next four hours."
Sora gave him a look and held back a groan. I'm forgetting everything today aren't I?
Kurosawa chuckled and walked away.
Sora made her way down to the clinic and walked to the nurse's station. A short, friendly nurse in her early twenties looked up and smiled when Sora approached. "Oh! ! Your first patient of the day is in exam one." She paused, handing the file to Sora and sighed. "Looks like a kid shoved some coins up his nose."
Sora looked up from the file. Seriously?
The nurse nodded, as if reading her mind. "Good luck."
Sora sighed and walked to the exam room, knocking on the door before opening it and walked in to face a perfectly calm toddler and a panicked mother. Here we go, She thought with a sigh.
Four hours later, Sora headed down to the cafeteria to get some lunch, and a coffee that would hopefully ease the headache that was creeping up on her.
After she paid for a bagel and the coffee, she sat down in a padded booth, finally letting herself relax. Good lord, if I had 5 yen for every time someone came in with something stuck somewhere it shouldn't be, I'd be a billionaire, she thought with a sigh. Sora looked down at her bagel while taking a sip of her coffee. She wasn't sure if she wanted to ruin her love for bagels by throwing it up. It had been too long since she'd eaten meat for her to be able to keep the normal piece of food down. After a few moments, she decided that she wouldn't risk it, resigning herself to her simple cup of black coffee.
She spent a good five minutes sitting with a bored expression on her face while stabbing the bagel with a flimsy plastic knife. She found it funny that she had been praying her lunch break would come faster for the past four hours, but when the time finally came, she spent it beating up a bagel. Sora sat up and put down the knife when she heard someone approaching. She looked at her watch, noting that she still had five minutes left.
She looked up at her coworker. "Oh no you don't, Ikeda. I still have five minutes left of my break."
Ikeda was a small, shy, 23 year old woman, with mousy brown hair cut into a bob that almost reached her chin. She worked as an intern under Dr. Kurosawa and was in charge of finding cases for the doctors who worked for him to take.
Ikeda stopped mid step, file in hand, shocked that Sora knew she was there. After a moment, she composed herself. "We have a patient with a serious lung infection and you're the only Pulmonologist onsite today, the patient's condition is quickly declining."
Sora sighed. Who can say no to that? She held out her hand and Ikeda quickly placed the file in it. She stood up and threw away the remnants of her lunch. "Alright, Ikeda, what do you think about the case?"
Sora began walking out of the cafeteria, the younger woman following closely behind.
She looked up to Sora, "Y-you want my opinion? But I'm just an intern."
Sora laughed. "Honey, I was an intern not even 2 years ago."
The other woman blushed. "I-I guess."
"So?" Sora asked, referring to the case.
Ikeda looked confused. "So… O-oh! The case! Right?"
Sora nodded and laughed again. "C'mon, we've got a long couple hours ahead of us and I still have to work the E.R. tonight."
Early that evening, Sora sat in the lab, running tests on her patient's blood. She looked up from her clipboard momentarily when Dr. Kurosawa walked in. The tall man was wearing dark blue scrubs instead of his usual crisp suit and Sora couldn't deny that he looked really good in the color. He stopped next to her and leaned down to look at the computer in front of them, causing his fringe to fall from it's usual place behind his ear.
"Your lung patient?"
Sora just nodded, looking back down at her clipboard.
"He's stabilized right?"
"Yeah, he is. I'm just finishing up a bit of blood work."
Kurosawa nodded and straightened. "Alright, have a nurse finish it up while you go change into your scrubs and get a cup of coffee for the E.R. shift. We're working a late one tonight."
Sora stood up and stretched her arms above her head. "Yeah, sounds good."
She walked past Kurosawa and called in a nurse. After telling the nurse what needed to be finished, she and Kurosawa walked down the hall together in comfortable silence until they reached the locker room.
As Sora reached for the door, Kurosawa stopped her and smiled. "I'll meet you in the cafeteria for that coffee, right?"
Sora paused for a moment, "Uh, yeah. See you down there."
She watched him as he walked away down the hall. She thought it sounded almost as if he was asking her out and it confused her more than she would like. She shook her head and walked into the locker room to change.
When she walked into the cafeteria, freshly changed into scrubs, she sat down at a table across from Kurosawa and accepted the coffee that he had apparently paid for.
The man across from her took a sip of his own coffee. "I didn't get a chance to mention it earlier, but you looked pretty tired this morning."
Sora raised her eyebrows and gave a small mischievous smile. "Why Doctor, are you implying that I didn't look my best this morning? I was under the impression that you were good at talking to women."
He chuckled. "Well seeing as I'm single, I guess I'm not as good as some would believe."
Sora hummed in agreement as she took a sip of coffee.
"So you're not going to tell me?"
"Nope" She said happily, making sure to pop the p at the end.
Kurosawa chuckled and shook his head. "You really are a mystery."
"I try."
They sat in silence, sipping their coffee. Sora looked at the clock on the wall. "We'd better get going, don't want to be late."
Kurosawa looked at his watch. "You're probably right, thanks for the chat."
Sora smiled as she stood up and pulled her hair into a ponytail. "I should be thanking you for the coffee."
"Oh don't worry about it, can't have you looking tired all the time."
Sora huffed with only a small smile showing her amusement. With that, they walked down to the Emergency Room and split off to their respective patients.
Sora's shift was fairly quiet for a while, just a few patients here and there, until about 2 hours in, when the ambulances started flowing in. Once the doors were opened, Sora could immediately smell the blood. This can't be good.
The room was suddenly bustling, everyone was moving at once. There were several patients that she had to send to an open O.R. within the first ten minutes of them being there. The room reeked so much of blood that it almost made Sora dizzy. She took a deep breath and kept trudging on.
She had just finished setting a broken leg when a nurse walked over.
"Dr. Miyamoto, we have a patient with several deep lacerations in his upper and forearm. If you're finished with this, I could really use your help."
Sora wrote something in her patient's chart and hung it on the bed as she stood up from her stool. After stripping off the gloves she was wearing and throwing them away, she followed the nurse to a bed across the room. Sitting on the bed was a very plain looking man with a completely straight face. An expression that Sora found pretty odd due to the four knives that were currently stuck in his arm at various places.
She walked over to him and pulled up a stool and sat down. She looked up at the man after she put on a fresh pair of gloves. "Well," she started. "I certainly hope you don't have a fear of needles. Because we'll be spending the next hour or so sewing you back up."
The man looked at her with the same blank expression. "I doubt it could be much worse than what's currently in my arm."
Sora chuckled. "I suppose that's a good way of looking at it." She got some supplies out and pulled over the medical tray that the nurse had put together. "I'm going to have to do this one at a time, alright? I don't want you bleeding out. Now if I could have you lay down on your side, that would be great."
The man simply nodded and did as she asked. She carefully removed the knives and placed them on a try next to her and removed his shirt with the help of the nurse before she left to help other patients.
After most of the bleeding had slowed down, Sora picked up a hypodermic needle. "This is a local anesthetic, I'm going to try and get as much of this done as possible without actually putting you out."
After receiving another nod, she cleaned a bit of his skin with an alcohol swab and administered the anesthetic.
The man in front of her didn't even flinch. Geez, is this guy made of stone or something? He didn't flinch when I was taking the knives out either.
She thought she must've made a weird face because suddenly the man was looking at her oddly. Sora laid out some surgical drapes, carefully avoiding the wounds and picked up some gauze, dipping it in the prepared antiseptic solution. She looked up at him, giving a short laugh before looking down to clean the area around the first wound. Only peeking up for moments at a time. "What is it?"
He tilted his head slightly, or as much as he could while laying on his side. "Have we met before?"
Sora smiled, threw away the soaked gauze and dipped another piece in saline and began to clean the wound itself. He did look slightly familiar, but she couldn't place it."I don't know, have we? What's your name?"
"Hirako Take. Yours?"
"Miyamoto Sora." She put aside the gauze and began irrigating the wound, not looking up until she was finished. "I don't think your name is ringing any bells though."
Hirako gave a small hum in acknowledgement and closed his eyes in what the raven haired woman assumed was thought.
Sora reached over to pick up the threaded needle and the needle driver, but paused when she realised why he looked familiar. Oh shit she thought. This is so not good, how the hell did he recognise me? I was what? 15?14? Wearing a mask for that matter. This is bad. Sora took a breath. Calm down, don't let him see you panic, just treat him and move on. At that thought, she picked up the tools and began stitching him up.
She noticed that his eyes were open just after she finished with the second wound. She looked him in the eyes and knew immediately. Fuck. He knew. Sora looked away and began working on the next wound. A few minutes later a man bleeding profusely from the place where one of his arms used to be was being rolled by on a stretcher, he seemed frantic and was apparently repeating something over and over.
"C-Clow-Clown. Clown. I-it at-ate…"
Sora's brow furrowed a fraction. Great, they have something to do with this. And now Hirako probably thinks I do too. She looked back at Hirako for a split second before going back to the wound, but paused when he spoke up.
"Don't worry, I don't have any intent on turning you in. Intuition you could call it."
Sora looked at him in disbelief, "In that case, you must be a pretty shitty investigator."
Her words actually made him chuckle, something she figured was out of character for him, but she found that she really liked the sound. "I suppose so."
Sora sighed and started on the last wound. "I really shouldn't argue with that decision, but I think you're legitimately crazy."
Hirako raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be focusing on my arm, not my head?"
Sora chuckled. "I guess you're right."
Ten minutes later, she was snipping the extra suture off the end of the last wound. She looked up at Hirako with a smile. "No need for general aesthetic. Yay! So, I want you to take it easy for about 2 weeks and then come in at the end of those 2 weeks for a follow up and suture removal, we'll also talk about any needed physical therapy. Sound good?"
Hirako nodded and sat up slowly.
Sora gave him one last wary look and stood up, taking off her gloves in the process. I really don't want to, but somehow I feel like I can trust him. She pulled her expression together and smiled. "I'll see you in two weeks then. Good luck."
After saying goodbye, Sora looked at her watch. 12:30. She sighed, she still had 2 more hours left, however, she didn't have much time for thoughts before she was called away to help another patient. And so the long night continues.