Shikon Corp Asylum, Chapter 1: Impressions
"Patient Seventeen, I repeat. What is your full name, in its entirety?" The doctor muttered and tugged his glasses from his tired eyes.
The boy before him, bound within a chair of iron chains muttered a few words in a rasp. His lips quivered which each syllable, and abruptly, he snarled. The doctor pulled the switch again.
Electricity pulsed and began to violently surge through his temples. The prisoner's entire body convulsed uncontrollably. It felt as though he had been submerged in an acid bath. The many voltages ended when the switch was released, and smoke drifted upwards into the dimly lit room. Pants from the young male's lips filled the silence.
The doctor gave a sigh, leaning his thin form back into his own chair that creaked, "Seventeen, I remind you that your therapy is for your benefit, and your benefit only. The more you fight it, the more pain you will receive…Its best if you cooperate. Now I repeat. What is your full name…?"
The captive did not lift his head from its hanging position. Blood began to seep from the corner of his mouth. He could feel the copper taste consume him. 'That's all you can take, is it?' The voice in his head teased him, yet he was too tired to care.
With another breath of exasperation, the doctor shifted back from his desk, "He's lost consciousness."
Men gathered about the limp male slouched in the grip of the iron chair, and sunk a hot, glowing poker into the flesh of his wrist. The prisoner's head shot up almost instantly and his arm violently began to shake with a low growl.
The smell of burning flesh entered the doctor's nose, yet he dismissed it, placing his glasses back on. "Seventeen, we'll not have you falling unconscious during your session. We must complete it…" He gave a wave of his calloused hand, and the men crowded about his patient moved their burly forms towards the thick doors that made up the entrance of the basement.
"Perhaps he is too exhausted for more questions…" A woman, languid in her movements eased her form to the doctor's side. She passed the prisoner a careless glance, and sat at the edge of the desk, a slender leg folding over the other. "He's never talkative you know…"
"Dr. Danvers…" He began, but with one stare at the paperwork in her hand, he grew quiet. He seemed to find his bearings once the blonde remained in place, and he stood from his seat, "Should you not be elsewhere with Dr. Bulma?"
"She's on her way down, Gero. She told me that we have an intern that will be volunteering regularly…looks like she'll be working with you." Her azure eyes fell partially lidded, and she spread the papers about the doctor's desk, "You'll have to post-pone Seventeen's treatments, at least for now…" She backed away from the desk and blocked the doctor's view of the prisoner.
"Damn children…" He snatched the papers from the woman's grasp, and began to review the details that accompanied his new aid.
"Higurashi Kagome…Seems like she just needs a few volunteer hours in order to graduate. She'll be around constantly. To be on the safe side, you should take Seventeen out of solitary…He'd be accounted for and it won't give the girl the impression that he's being treated…differently."
"You know he's too dangerous for that." The doctor glared at the papers in his hands, lips pressing together in a thin line. The men behind him were already busily undoing the straps that held Seventeen to his confines.
Dr. Danvers gave a soft snort, "Bulma is already wary of your methods. You should hurry and get him in his straight jacket before she sees this. If you take the volunteer, I doubt she'll be on your back still."
The guards did not have a problem in lifting Seventeen from his seat. All the while, his head remained bowed. He seem dead to the naked eye if it were not for the sluggish rising and falling of his chest. They forced him to his feet and straightened his arms out in preparation for his straight jacket. Sadly, for them, he would not be so compliant. He shifted, and with all of the force he could muster, he rammed his forehead in the chin of a man standing before him. Blood cascaded from the wounded guard's mouth, and he stumbled back, his voice strained.
"Boss, He broke Harry's his jaw!" One of the men yelled, shrinking back.
The look of horror on his face was evident.
A grin graced the patient's countenance- though it was dark and vicious, hinted with a morbid intent. He barely had time to attack another, since one of the guards came from behind and slammed his fists into the boy's back.
It felt like his back has been torn wide open, and the pain did not end.
Seventeen immediately tasted the dirt of the ground, and a gruff groan left his lips as his torso was kicked repeatedly, breaking his already healing and fractured ribs. He was sure he would vomit soon; bile was already rising to his throat, fully suffocating him. He attempted to roll onto his stomach, or lift his knees to shield himself, yet more men flooded the room and spread his arms from his form. Each kick met its point, and he felt his bones crumbling. He held in his pain, laughing all the while. Blotches of black filled his vision, the spots never ending. The ink black strands of his hair were grasped, and his face nearly shattered with each punch that was delivered. The copper taste of blood once more entered his mouth, along with his own bile, and it spilled, just as his nose was broken from a punch. He gagged, his abdomen tightening until he felt as though his stomach would burst. He couldn't breathe….he couldn't breathe. It was not long, the youth fell into the arms of unconsciousness
"Jesus Christ…" A man muttered, and the guard from before continued to hold onto his jaw as medics rushed in, and another kicked the limp body a last time on the floor.
"What's going on in here?" Another woman scampered forward, struggling to close her long lab coat. She pushed her way passed the mass of and guards and found herself faced with the shocked facades of both her employees.
The doctor, eyes wide in fury, stormed towards his director, "Dr. Bulma, it's the guard's fault. Seventeen was contained!"
"You were to keep a careful eye on him! How hard is it to subdue him when he is undergoing therapy, Dr. Gero?" She screeched, fingers balling into fists at her sides.
"You will not make his actions seem as though they are a cause of my incompetence! I had things under control!" He spat, glaring towards the woman with his unyielding hate.
"Take him to the infirmary!" Bulma seemed to ignore the screaming man before her, slinging her hand out towards the majority of the guards that remained stunned. They moved as she desired, yet her head jerked back towards the doctor, "I'll deal with you later. You damn well better have another plan in mind to help him recover."
The prisoner came to hours later, azure eyes lazily setting apart. An unsettling fire traveled up his chest. He knew that all of his ribs were perhaps broken, yet he was yanked upright and grew faced with the angry façade of his doctor.
"Hold him still…" The elder man murmured to the men and they scrambled to get Seventeen pinned by his shoulders. The doctor tipped forward, adjusting the rubber gloves on his hands, "That was not a very nice act you put on before…"
The prisoner's bored gaze went blank, trailing the doctor's actions as he inched his fingers around a needle, "I take it you didn't enjoy the outburst I had…" He wished to vomit again, yet he forced a taunting smile to form onto his lips. 'He's going to put us to sleep for a while again...I can feel your body dying around me...'
"I've had some hours to design a new program for you, Seventeen." He approached his patient and the male began to glare. He went to break free of their hold, yet effortlessly, the men continued to pin him down.
"You're getting desperate…" He hated being high on sedatives. Regardless of what he wished, they removed his straight jacket, still keeping hold of him. He'd do anything to get the voice in his head to vanish, but he couldn't take another tranquilizer. He had been asleep for weeks already.
The needle plunged into the flesh of his forearm, and almost as an afterthought, they redid his straight jacket. He could already feel sluggishness engulf him. He attempted to glare above towards the ceiling, but the room began to grow black.
"Aww…Sssh..." The woman doctor from before falsely comforted, tugging the youth's dark hair from his features, "These are only to help you, Seventeen. You should appreciate them…After all, they are now a part of your wellness plan…We'll make you better any way we can…"
"I don't need help…" He murmured with the last of abilities, feeling his voice fade from use. Gero and Maron both began to fade into the darkness of his mind.
"Oh yes, you do. Otherwise you would have never been enrolled here…" Gero said, passing a glance to the two men behind him, "…Make sure that he does not eat, nor drink and his therapy will resume…Get a nurse to sedate him regularly…We don't need any more problems from the likes of that boy…"
Xx
"We've been expecting you, Ms. Higurashi." Dr. Danvers lifted her arm from behind the counter to shake the girl's hand.
"Kagome will do..Dr…Uh?" Mentally, she cursed herself. She had made sure she would learn the Doctor's names and faces from the print out she received. Somehow, thanks to Inuyasha, she had always gotten distracted and her plans never were completed. Awkwardly, she lifted her hand to shake the woman's.
"Danvers. Dr. Linda Danvers." She smiled, giving the girl a nod. "You won't be working with me, yet I'm going to take you to the correct doctor. He works on the other end of the building." She hurried from around the counter and motioned for Kagome to follow.
"There sure are a lot of patients here…" She murmured absently, gazing at the many nurses and patients in the brightly lit room. She could even spot patients roaming about outside through the large glass windows lining the walls.
"Yes, Shikon Corp was built after the merger of two hospitals, Capsule Corp and Sacred Valley. It is expected. We pride ourselves on the ability to contain this many individuals…" She paused before the elevator's doors and pressed the up button.
Kagome bit onto her lower lip, settling for a nod. She could not say that she was actually comfortable in the cold building. The people walked by as if they were dazed despite their happy faces, but it was the only hospital that still had openings left for interning. She missed every single dead line that should have been met, again, thanks to Inuyasha she grumbled.
The elevator's doors parted with a ding and both females stepped inside. Dr. Danvers pressed the button with a large two in the center, "So, does your interest in our hospital stem from some want to become a doctor of the mentally ill?"
"I've given it some thought. I'm not sure what I'll major in, really." She cleared her throat with the lie. She had not given anything in the present much thought when they were battling demons in the feudal era. Only now after Naraku's defeat could she try to get her life back on track.
"Hopefully, after you get your degrees, we'll see you around here." The blonde felt the elevator lift, and she took a glance to the girl at her side. She was currently staring down at the floor.
After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator's doors parted to reveal the second floor, "Right this way Kagome. Dr. Gero should be more than happy to see you…"
Xx
"Keh, what do you mean she went home?"
"I told you, she said she had something to do. She left early this morning." The small kit shrugged, staring into the gaping, black orifice of the Bone Eater's well. "Said something about an end turn."
"An end turn?" The hanyou blinked, his arms folding across his chest.
"Yeah, it sounded highly important." Shippo nodded to himself, entwining his arms in the same manner his friend did.
"Must be one of her tests." Inuyasha scowled, taking a seat beside the well's wooden frame. Kagome would not leave and not tell him unless it was highly important, or at least he hoped she would. His nose wrinkled
"Well, Naraku's defeated. She doesn't have a reason to stick around here much…" The small kit began the sentence with enthusiasm, yet his voice went dull when he realized what he was saying. A soft sigh passed his lips. He half expected the older male at his side to strike him, but Inuyasha sat there, staring straight ahead blankly.
'Love.' The kit looked towards the sky thoughtfully. He would never understand it.
Xx
"And through this door my dear is where I keep my personal patients. They are usually rowdy, but have no fear. They are highly sedated and should prove harmless." Gero nodded, peering to the young woman that just shrugged with a smile. She was virtually fearless, he concluded. Nothing about the area frightened her, not the dimness of the lower areas or the partially dead and frozen look in their more "chaotic" patient's faces. He pushed his back into the door to open it for her, and once she stepped through, he walked quickly to get ahead of her.
"Personal patients?" She repeated, her brows lifting as she continued to follow him. He was a kind old man, she gathered. He honestly appeared to have the best interest of his patients in mind. Their rooms were more spacious than the other rooms in the hospital, not to mention they appeared genuinely happy, unlike the fake plastered smiles of the patients on the lower levels. She would enjoy working with him, she knew.
"Yes, those that I rehabilitate personally through my own means. The other doctors here tend to be not as tenacious as I am about offering immediate help to these aching individuals…." He scanned the large room at his patients, paying no mind to the many nurses tending to them. Some were lying upon the couch resting and others were sitting at the many tables playing board games. Just as he expected, his star patient Seventeen was sitting against a wall, his legs spread out before him in his straight jacket. It was indeed dangerous to have him out in the open, yet the special formula used to sedate him seemed to be taking affect. He had always been one to sit alone, though unlike previous times, he really appeared as though narcotics were running through his veins. He stared into emptiness, the glossiness of his eyes adding to the effect.
"Your director said that I could choose which patient I wanted to assist you with, right?" Kagome spoke her thoughts aloud. Her head sat at a tilt and she pressed her lips together. It was a hard task choosing. She didn't want anyone that would be a burden, or be around someone that could possibly injure her, "I want to help with…him..." She motioned towards the male sitting alone by himself with a nod of her head. He seemed to be a logical answer. He seemed lonely, not to mention sleepy. He'd be an easy patient to help with.
The Doctor damned her very name. The girl wanted to help with Seventeen. His teeth gritted, "Surely you can choose someone else. That one isn't interesting…"
"That aside, he seems like he could use a friend. I want to help you with him. Is that alright, Dr. Gero?" His comment came as a shock to her.
The elder man scoffed, running a hand down his long white beard. "Yes, yes my dear. You can help with him if you'd like…"
That had been the first day, and since then Kagome had been mapping out how she would formerly introduce herself to the constantly drowsy male. He did not appear to be aware of his surroundings, or worst of all, himself. Half the time she watched him, he blended in with the surroundings. It had taken a week or more for Gero to finally get around to him and have her join a session with them
She had gone over his chart and files in their entirety, and braced herself for the worst. The oddest thing about him was his name- the number Seventeen. His birth date was unknown, he had no known living relatives, and surprisingly, he could not remember anything before his enrollment in the hospital. At least that's what was written on his paperwork. He had been deemed insane: suffering from bipolarism, schizophrenia, blackouts without being to clearly differentiate between right and wrong. When she spotted him initially, he merely seemed to be completely out of it. 'Gee, Kagome, you sure know how to choose a patient.' She bit onto the inside of her jaw and took a glimpse at the doctor sitting at her side. They both were behind his desk as they waited for the patient to walk in.
"Nervous?" The doctor asked, facing ahead without a single glance to her.
"A bit." She admitted, "He didn't seem anything like his chart when I first saw him…"
"That's because he was sedated heavily, need I remind you. A patient like him has to be kept under, dear."
"Will he be sedated today?" Panic gripped her.
"If he is to answer his questions that monitor his progress, he'll need to be somewhat aware. No, he'll be on a lighter form of his medication. Here he comes now…"
When he spoke, the doors of his office opened to reveal the rather disheveled and unmoving patient. The guards dumped him into the single chair in front of the desk and strapped him to it. Soon after, they exited back into the hallway. Kagome swallowed a large lump building in her throat. The patient's head was bowed low and by the looks of it, his straight jacket was firmly secured. He had the inkiest of dark hair that spilled over his neck and shoulders, she noticed. It was thick, wild even, and as he lifted his face, the azure of his eyes captured her attention. They were pure, despite his sinful appearance.
"Good morning, Seventeen. Have you slept well?" The doctor began with the preliminary questions. He couldn't do much with the girl watching his every move, so the basics would have to suffice.
The patient was silent for a while and after a groan, and the sickening pop of his neck as his head tilted, he answered, his voice strained, "I've been sleeping for days now doc…I think "well" is a bit of an overstatement…" For now, his ribs were only sore, and his nose had healed correctly. He did not understand his quick healing factor and he did not see it as a gift. The faster he healed, the faster they got to breaking his bones.
He wanted to knock the sarcasm out of the youth's tone, but he ignored the urge, scribbling something down on the pad in his hands, "I'd like for you to meet Kagome. She'll be fulfilling an internship here for a few weeks. She's to help with your rehabilitation."
Kagome tried to stretch her lips into a smile, but she was stunned. An evil presence had somehow crept upon her. She was unsure of its location, but it was near. But was that possible? It wasn't the doctor, no, but was it the male before her? He seemed so…unreal. He hadn't even been aware of her presence until the doctor mentioned her. He spoke dully- his voice laced with a hint of malice. Unlike the other patients, he was not unscathed. Light bruises were currently scattered around his face. The smallest of dark circles were on his temples and his rather red and black eye lids lowered as he spoke. The doctor was right. He had been highly tranquilized. He could barely keep his eyes opened.
"They've given you a new straight jacket, have they?" Gero pressed on.
"…At your order, of course." Seventeen added as an afterthought, blinking a few times to clear his blurred vision. He had taken more hits to the head than he had believed, "I'll be out of it in no time…" 'Of course you will, with my help…'Seventeen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He rid himself of the voice during his time of unconsciousness, and he hoped that it would not have arrived as soon as it did. He wasn't so lucky. As usual, the voice went on rambling, rising in volume and dying in abrupt whispers. As far as he could remember, he was plagued by the other being within his head, if the other "being" did exist. Other people didn't tend to think so.
The doctor leered at the boy before him. Seventeen had always been a smart ass, a cunning smart ass. They were forever giving him a new straight jacket since he tended to find his way out of them, whether he hurt himself or not, "You didn't acknowledge my helper, Seventeen. I said that she'd be aiding with your rehabilitation."
The patient's eyes quickly fixed onto the girl at the doctor's side. His upper lip twitched briefly, "…Let me guess, she's going to…keep me bound in a session of therapy…"
Kagome's eyes widened and she parted her lips to speak.
"Don't worry my dear…remember he is always plagued with delusions. Try not to take anything he says seriously…" He nodded, writing a few notes down.
"I am not, lying!" Seventeen roared, his brows narrowing in a strain as he yanked forward, nearly ripping himself free from the chair. His voice bounced over the walls, and the outburst seemed to take all of his strength. Pants spilled lazily from his lips, and his eyes hardened at the doctor.
Kagome jumped visibly- jerking backwards from the animal like snarl that just left the male before them. The look in his eyes was so feral, so intense, and so real! Was he possessed by a demon? Despite her fear, the doctor at her side seemed amused. He was stoic, yet the glint in his eyes and the slight curl of his lips signaled otherwise.
"If you continue with these outbursts Seventeen, I'll be forced to increase your medication…You should be on your best behavior for our guest, Kagome…."
Seventeen's head snapped in the girl's direction. His eyes quickly traced her tensed form, "Who, her? How is she different from the other witches-" He went rigid. He felt something in her, though he could not place it. It was a sort of energy, a pure light. 'What is this?' The voice in his head demanded, and aloud, he barked, "Quiet!" He usually could keep the voice at bay, yet now it seemed like it wanted to overpower his own thoughts. As it continued to speak, it sent waves of sharp pains spiking through his head. 'Keep me away from that girl!' "I said be quiet!"
"He's speaking to himself again…" The doctor sighed in exasperation, straightening himself in his seat, "Come my dear…I need you to leave before things get dangerous…Next time I promise he'll be more sedated than now."
Kagome nibbled onto her lower lip, and forced herself to move from the seat. She could not take her eyes off the man before her that gritted his teeth and threw his head back with a growl.
"Shut up!" Seventeen yelled as the voice began to rumble on and on like a grand symphony. His brain nearly felt like it would explode. He closed his eyes tightly, his fingers clenching into fists.
Clumsily, she made her way out from behind the desk and stumbled through the exit as the doctor directed. The guards forced themselves into the room, but she did not stick around. She found herself running madly down the halls, and into the stairwell. What in Kami had she gotten herself in to?