Dlbn: It's funny because this is also the first chapter.
Disclaimer: I own the idea, the plot, the doctor, and the doctor's mentioned boyfriend. Everything else belongs to Yun Kouga. I make NO money from writing in this category.
First Hello
Plum eyes opened, zapping almost all the strength from the body of the ten-year-old boy who owned them. The raven haired youth moaned gently and reached for his head. Neko ears twitched slightly atop his head as he felt a wire caress his cheek. He moved his arm to where he could see it and spotted a wire going into his arm; the end of a needle held down and hidden underneath the skin with whitish tape.
"Ritsuka?" A young male voice wondered gently. "Ritsuka, can you hear me?"
The confused teen looked around the room before his vision settled on a teenage male at the foot of his bed. Concerned plum eyes looked back at him as his raven neko ears and tail twitched. The teen's black hair was a little curlier then his felt. He was dressed in some kind of uniform by the looks of it; brown blazer and pants, a white shirt, and a bright yellow tie.
"Who…who are you…?" He wondered.
The elder's face fell as he raced to the side of the bed.
"You don't recognize me, Ritsuka?" the teen took his hand and rubbed soothing circles on the back of it.
"Come on, that's not funny. It's me, Seimei." His other hand ran through the young boy's straight hair.
"Sei…mei…?" The boy asked. "Who are you…? Am I…am I Ritsuka…?"
Seimei nibbled on his bottom lip for a moment.
"Yeah, you're Ritsuka. I'm your big brother. We're brothers, Ritsuka. Don't you recognize me?"
He swallowed a visible lump in his throat as Ritsuka shook his head.
"No, I'm sorry, I don't…" Ritsuka replied meekly, fiddling with the edge of the blanket covering him.
"Hold on." Seimei ordered, before rushing out of the room.
Ritsuka took the time to get a good look at his surroundings. The room was a boring, plain white color on the walls and had a floor made up of a pattern of black and white squares. The bed he was in had metal bars up on the sides as if to prevent him from falling or climbing out on his own. The door to the room was ajar from Seimei rushing out, but he could see pale blue walls and matching tiles through it. There wasn't much else in the room aside from some beeping monitors that he was hooked up to, and some kind of medical instruments on the walls. It must have been a hospital room. The blandness of the room and the bright lights overhead were enough to give that away, even without looking at the rest of the place. The door opened wider and caught Ritsuka's attention as Seimei filed in with three other people; all adults without ears. One, a tall woman with long black hair past her shoulder blades rushed over to her and showered his face with kisses.
"Hey!" Ritsuka complained, trying it pull away. "Stop that!"
A blonde male about her height wearing a black suit without a tie pulled her away from him.
"He just woke up, Misaki, give him a break." He sighed.
Okay, so if Seimei was his brother, then were these two his parents? The man in the lab coat was most likely a doctor. He wore a stethoscope around his neck and carried a clipboard. There was a name sewn above the pocket on his white coat, but Ritsuka didn't care to read it.
"You're awake, Ritsuka." The redheaded doctor said. "How are you feeling?"
"…Confused…" Ritsuka muttered.
"Confused?"
"What am I doing here?" He looked at Misaki and the blonde. "Who are you?"
"Who are we?" The blonde huffed. "This isn't the time for games, Ritsuka. You know we're your mother and father."
"You are…?"
That's what he had assumed but the blonde didn't need to know that. He seemed agitated with him.
"He didn't recognize me either…" Seimei muttered.
"Well, that must have been some tumble you took for you to not remember." The doctor pushed his parents aside and shined a bright light in his eyes. "Other than confused, how are you?"
"I'm okay…my head hurts a little…"
"Probably from where you banged it when you fell."
"Fell?"
"We were playing in Yokohama and you tripped and hit your head." Seimei informed. "I thought you were alright because you could walk and talk, but you took a nap and then just didn't wake up…"
"Oh…" Ritsuka blushed for reasons he didn't really understand. "Sorry…"
"You had a concussion." The doctor stated. "You're lucky they brought you in here when they did. People shouldn't fall asleep with concussions. It's not good."
"Why not…?"
"Well…you could slip into a coma and never wake up…unlike you who slipped into a coma and were lucky enough to wake two weeks later."
His mother was crying now, her face buried in the blonde's suit. He wasn't holding onto her as if he didn't really care that she was upset and didn't desire to show her any comfort. Ritsuka wondered why. Did his parents not love each other anymore? Or was it just his father?
"So what's the deal with the memory?" The blonde wondered. "Why doesn't he recognize anyone?"
"Your son was in a coma, Aidien. I'm not surprised that some of his memories may not be…" He trailed off as his eyes met Seimei's. He cleared his throat. "People have varying degrees of amnesia after waking from a coma. It could be selective, could be long term. There's no knowing how long it will last."
"So he may get his memories back soon, or he could never remember. Is that it?"
That made his mother weep louder and his father roll his eyes at her.
"Pretty much, hai." He nodded.
His father sighed. "Such a hassle…"
Seimei glared. "It's not like he chose this…"
"Hold your tongue, Seimei." His father ordered.
Ritsuka could sense the tension in the room as it crushed down on him from all sides and angles. There was definitely something strange about his family. They didn't seem like much of a family it all. His father didn't bother to comfort his mother, and Seimei was looking at both of them like they were scum under his shoes. But why? Weren't families supposed to love one another? How strange.
"He's not wrong." The doctor told his father, seeming to scold him with his eyes. "I know this is hard for you to manage, Aidien, but don't be such an ass."
Aidien rolled his eyes. "Can you fix him? You're a neurosurgeon, aren't you?"
"You know the answer to that." The doctor replied. "Amnesia can't just be 'cured'. It's not like he's going to one day wake up and suddenly remember everything and wonder why you're all so relieved."
"What can we expect…?" Seimei stood on the side of Ritsuka's bed opposite his parents. "What if he never remembers…?"
"Don't say that, Seimei!" His mother cried, glaring at him from under her hair. "He'll remember…it's possible, isn't it…?"
"I'm not entirely certain how severe the amnesia is, Misaki." The doctor explained with a hint of sadness in his voice. "It may take him a few days to remember everything, maybe a few years. Every case is different, regardless of the level of severity."
"So what can you do for it? Put him on medicine to improve his memory or something?"
"He's a child." The doctor scolded. "I'm not medicating him just to make you happy. Drugs like that may or may not help. Once again, it all depends on the individual person and circumstances."
"If it's what will work…"
"I don't know if it's what will work. I have to talk to him first and see how much he remembers."
"So we're going to be stuck here for a little longer then, hm?" Aidien sighed. "I have to get back to work in half an hour, so I'm afraid it will just be the three of you."
"Good." Seimei muttered, but Ritsuka was certain their father didn't hear it over the doctor's agitated voice.
"I came all the way here from Gora as a favor to you, Aidien." The doctor informed. "Don't be an ungrateful prick, because I can turn right around and go back whenever I feel like it. Just let me do my job. Come back once work is over if you have to go. Give my poor head a rest before I force myself into a coma just to escape you."
"You mean like Mirai?"
"Watch it." The doctor growled, all but shouting at him. "Get out so I can talk with my patient, would you?"
Aidien huffed. "Fine." He stated. "Misaki, a word?"
He pulled her out by the wrist. Ritsuka could see words dying on Seimei's tongue as he was about to shout after them but settled for waving his hand at them as if to excuse them.
"Sorry about that." The doctor muttered. "I'm not normally so rude, but he's a pain in my ass. Always has been."
"I'm aware." Seimei stated. "I'm guessing it's safe to say the feeling's mutual. "Ritsu isn't too fond of him either."
"Your father's a coward." The doctor sighed and gave Ritsuka a pained, yet comforting smile. "But enough about him. Let's talk about you, Ritsuka. What do you remember before waking up here?"
"Well…nothing…" Ritsuka admitted softly, thinking about it for a few minutes. "I don't remember falling or nap time…or anything. I'm just here and I don't know how I got here…"
There was a commotion in the hallway that made the doctor pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Ignore it, Tai…" He ordered himself under his breath.
"Father?" Seimei asked.
"Most likely." He nodded. "Okay let's start with some simple questions then. What's your name?"
"Seimei says it's Ritsuka."
"Ritsuka what?"
"I…I don't know…"
"And how did you know Seimei's name?"
"He told me his name."
"Alright." He wrote in his notebook. "Alright, what I'm going to do is tell you my name. When I'm done questioning you, I'll ask you if you remember it, okay?"
"Okay." Ritsuka nodded.
"What good will that do?" Seimei cocked an eyebrow.
"To test his short term memory. I'm giving him new information and asking for it at a later time to see if his short term memory has been affected. It may just be the long term."
"Meaning…?"
"Meaning he can hang onto and understand new memories, but not old ones."
"I see…"
"My name is Asitai." The doctor informed. "Can you repeat that?"
"Asitai…?" Ritsuka wondered, a bit hesitant with pronunciation.
"Okay good. Now I'll ask you some simple questions okay? Where do you live Ritsuka? In what city?"
"Um…"
Ritsuka thought as hard as he could but he just couldn't come up with a name. He shrugged instead.
"Kyoto." Seimei explained.
"How old are you?" The doctor asked.
"Um…I think I'm…I don't know…" Ritsuka played with the blanket again. "Since I had to take a nap, I must be really young…um…seven…?"
"Ten." Seimei corrected.
"Oh, ten…"
"How old is Seimei?"
"Older than me…?"
"Good." The doctor made a note of that.
"I'm fifteen." Seimei stated. "I'm five years older than you."
"And who were those two people who were just in the room with us?"
"Um…Aidien and…Misaki…?"
"But who are they to you?"
"Um…my parents maybe?"
"Right." Asitai smiled and wrote on his clipboard again. "You go to school, Ritsuka?"
"I think so…don't all kids go…?"
"Yes, they do. What school are you in?"
"I don't know…"
"Kyoto Public School." Seimei corrected.
"What's your favorite subject?"
Ritsuka shrugged.
"He likes art." Seimei said. "How many more of these questions are you going to ask?"
Asitai ignored him. "What's your favorite color, Ritsuka?"
"…I don't know…but I don't like this white…" He pointed to the walls.
Seimei smirked while the doctor laughed.
"Thank you for the input. I'll be sure to consult with our interior designer about it." He laughed.
Ritsuka smiled gently.
"Okay last question. What's my name?"
"…Asitai…?"
"Very good." The doctor smiled and wrote on the clipboard. "It seems like your short term memory is alright, but not long term."
"He basically remembers nothing from the past ten years. Just waking up here."
"Right." Asitai said softly. "I'm sorry…"
"You didn't do it…" Ritsuka informed, yawning.
"I know." Asitai stated. "Seimei, a word, please?"
"Certainly."
Seimei kissed Ritsuka's temple and left the room with him, shutting the door behind him and leaving Ritsuka all alone in the room with the walls whose color he didn't like.
000
Out in the hall, Seimei made sure the door was shut before walking down a little hallway to benches with Asitai and sitting there.
"Explain what really happened. You're too smart to not know the signs of a concussion or to think to get him taken to a doctor." Asitai stated.
"He followed me and overheard an order I gave my Fighter." Seimei admitted. "He was about to run off but I had him stop him with a spell. He fell and hit his head, so I had my Fighter use a spell to erase his memories."
"You mean Soubi?" Asitai asked. "He surely would have reported it to…"
"My real fighter, not that idiot Agatsuma."
"Real…I see…" Asitai sighed. "If you hadn't made him erase his memories, he might not be in this condition, are you aware of this? That spell was created by Soubi's mother, and only he and his mother are strong enough to use it properly. To have your Fighter use it was idiotic."
"What was I supposed to do? Let him remember and blab it?"
"You could have taken him to Soubi and had him do it himself."
"And in the meantime he could've said something to our parents or anyone else. Think, Asitai. Anonymity is everything for Septimal Moon and the world it governs."
"You're a member of Septimal Moon." Asitai informed. "If word got out from your brother because of you, you wouldn't be punished for it like anyone else would have. We would have just swept it under the rug and used Soubi to cast the spell to make the people that Ritsuka told forget about it. Easy. But no, you had to go off and do things on your own, and look what's happened. Poor kid. I'm not even certain he'll ever regain his memories without a counter spell."
"So I get my Fighter close enough to him to cast a counter spell. Simple."
"As simple as you are." Asitai snapped. "There isn't a counter spell. Iyani never made one before she passed."
"I'll make Soubi do it."
"You don't understand. Soubi is powerful, hai, and can use that spell because his mother did. Your real Fighter wouldn't be able to cast it once Soubi creates it. If he tries, the results could be disastrous."
"So what do I do? Let him live the rest of his life with zero memory of the first ten years of his life?"
"Maybe you should've considered this before using your Fighter in that manner." Asitai stood. "If you'll excuse me, I should go tell your mother my results, since I'm certain Aidien ran off with his tail between his legs like he always does."
Seimei didn't argue the point as he stood and followed Asitai. Once he reached Ritsuka's room, he went in as the doctor continued to the nurse's station to ask about the brothers' mother. Inside the room, Ritsuka was still looking all around, as if the answer to unlocking his memories existed somewhere inside.
"Hey." Seimei greeted.
"Hi, Seimei…" Ritsuka stated, eyes landed on his brother's face as he stopped looking around. "What did the doctor say?"
"He says he thinks you're going to make a full recovery. It will just take time." Seimei lied, unable to tell his dear baby brother the truth.
"He did?" Ritsuka grinned.
"He did." Seimei smiled and sat next to him. "But you know what this means?"
"What…?"
"It means someone is going to have to teach you everything you used to know." Seimei stated. "So you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together from now on. After all, who better to teach you then your big brother?"
Ritsuka smiled. "I'd like that, Seimei, thank you."
"Of course."
It was the least he could do after stealing his brother's life from underneath him.