Mai-Hime belongs to Sunrise.

Alternate Universe. The aftermath of the Carnival is a fun topic to explore but at the same time I feel that it has been done better than any attempt I could make.


Patient, revisited

When the doctor received his initial charts after the surgery he simply raised an eyebrow at the name and frowned. He had seen her name several years ago. She had stayed in the hospital for an entire year, then. Poor thing had just lost her mother—and dog, he recalled her crying over. After the year and the occasional visits from what he assumed was her father, she left the hospital in such a ruptured state that he began to wonder when he would see her again. The years came and went along with those thoughts.

He opened the door and purposefully walked in with his charts. She was already sitting upright with her head covered in bandages and the rest of her body not doing any better. Already he heard the annoyed sigh drift from her lips. He smiled.

"I always wondered when you'd be back, Kuga-san."

One emerald eye glared at him before softening. It still carried such a ferocious quality despite its twin being under wraps. Her lips remained pursed and her gaze returned to the wall ahead of her while he dragged a chair over to sit beside her bed.

"Now, as much as I'd like to catch up, I suspect you'd rather hear of your injures."

The papers were flipped upwards and he scratched his chin absently.

"What a list! You seem to have a penchant for getting yourself in scrapes."

Now a grim smile drew the corners of her lips up. He looked at her for a second before returning to his papers. Shame, he thought. She was a beautiful child when she smiled.

"You took a rather nasty tumble off that motorcycle of yours. Thankfully you managed to listen to public safety announcements and gotten yourself some gear, so your extremities are only bruised with a few scrapes on the palms of your hands. Two ribs in your lower right ribcage have hair-line fractures from the collision… and that's the good news."

Now the girl looked over towards him.

"Good news?" she repeated in a gruff tone. "Then, doctor, do continue with the bad."

The doctor sighed.

"Kuga-san… you suffered a concussion and sustained heavy injury to the area around your left eye. While there was no damage to the eye itself, the trauma managed to sever your left optic nerve." He drew in a deep breath. "You are legally blind in your left eye and your depth perception has been compromised."

She was doing extremely well with the news, he noted. Only her fists were shaking on the bed sheets. He shook his head.

"With that loss… It would be unsafe to go back to riding your motorcycle, much less to return to racing it. I trust I don't have to explain this?"

When she shook her head he stood up and laid a hand on her shoulder.

Maybe the light was playing a trick on him, he mused. When he turned to go he chanced a glance behind him and saw a distinct profile of a wolf projected against the white walls of the room. The shadows dispersed when he blinked, revealing only the profile of a silent girl staring off into space. His brow tensed at the strange vision but realized with a jolt that something even stranger was going on.

She did not shake his hand off.

"And Shizuru?"

He blinked. "Shizuru?"

"Fujino Shizuru. She was in the same accident and should be here." She looked up at him. "Is she okay?"

He knew the name, of course. Who didn't know of the august family of Fujino and their branches? Her gaze was earnest as if trying to dredge up some positive outcome through this entire debacle. He knew his answer would not provide it.

"From what I heard, Fujino-san is in intensive care at the moment. The operation was a success."

He could feel the relief radiate and he sighed once more.

"However, she has yet to wake up from it and may lapse into a coma…"

The shoulder beneath his hand stiffened.

"… I'm sorry, Kuga-san."


Author's note:

I might need to get a hang of this system. Please let me know what you think!