So I thought I should post this fic after it has been 'maturing' in my brain for at least a year now. Good vintage yes? It basically came into fruition because some people who read 'Today is Your Birthday' commented that it would make a good fic. And I couldn't leave it alone. If you haven't read it yet (TIYB that is) then you should just do it, I mean it's only a little poem, but I feel it adds more meaning to this story. I think now that I have finally found myself in one place for long enough I can get back to ignoring the great outdoors and finally spending some quality time, just me and several screens.
enjoy :p
Somnolence
Chapter 1
----With Mikan, six weeks ago----
There is something that feels different in the atmosphere when the sun shines, the air feels richer, smoother, like melted chocolate, life seems less urgent, slower. The heat that rises off of anything in the light. I think it is the smell, above all other things, that differs. It smells warm.
I think the best thing about the sun is Natsume. Sometimes he reminds me of a cat, he is so weather-affected. When it rains he sits, always in the same chair by the front door, he doesn't talk, he doesn't eat. He paces up and down by the window in his apartment, hair practically standing on end, when the weather is stormy. Best of all when it is sunny, he stretches out on his balcony with his eyes closed and the most content expression on his face. I think he is beautiful when the sun shines, I think life is beautiful. They called me on a Saturday I had been trying to coax Momo, the cockatiel, out of our fridge all morning but had eventually given up when the phone rang for the fourth time. I picked it up after three rings and instead of the voice of Iinchou, as I had expected, The sterilised tones of the consultant of IC at the local hospital.
----with Natsume----
This time was the same as every other before it. As usual the first thing I noticed was the various beeps and whirrings and tickings synonymous with an ICU and therefore me, and then as my surroundings slowly encroached upon my subconsciousness came the familiar pushing of the breathing machine, I could hear the hospital around me, the general commotion, and then approaching footsteps, the refreshing sensation of cool air sweeping across my over-heated brow. The swing of the hospital door that caused it; then the zealous stride of a junior doctor.
It was then then that the rest of my brain began to function and I felt the familiar sensation rising in my throat and gagged on the rubber pipe feeding my lungs. My eyes peeled open not yet used to the light. It was like being reborn, for the 19th time. And then as the usual panic began to eat at my sanity it hit home. This time was different. My hand lay limp next to my side, my line of vision was clear, there was no talking. She wasn't there. I must have made some movement because the turquoise clad female in the corner of the room was now making her way to my bedside her hand reached out to hit the panic button above my head, I was back in familiar ground.
"Mikan" I rasped as soon as the tubing was removed wincing away from the light being shone into my eyes. I scanned the room searching for her presence, this would be the first time in 12 years that Mikan had not been staring, wide eyed, at my face. She had not been clutching my hand, and she hadn't been the one to hit the panic button, like she always was.
"Mikan, where's Mikan!" The doctor frowned at me shaking her head.
"You are in der Schweiz" she said in broken Japanese, now scribbling something onto my chart.
"I...how long... I mean.." I struggled with the words, still trying to work out why I was in Switzerland.
"You have been sleeping for six week" She mumbled into the chart not looking at me.
A record, I had made a record, this was the longest I'd every been under for and it scared me, not because of the medical implications or the loss of six weeks from the short life I had left. It scared me because Mikan was not there and in her absence I had confirmed one thing. I needed her.
My reverie was broken by a high pitched breedle from the end of the bed.
"Verdammt! I will go" The un-named doctor rushed from the room taking her whining black pager with her. The door swung on it's hinges for a moment before it was caught by another hand and an altogether much sterner presence entered the room.
"I'm Dr Maeda and you, I presume, must be Hyuuga Natsume. I am fully aware of your... ah for want of a better word, condition" He gestured with his right arm. Maeda was exactly as you would expect a consultant to look, his dark hair was combed over to one side and slicked down with so much cream it gleamed under the strip lighting like a helmet. His glasses rested far enough down his nose to render them obsolete, his suit looked as though it had been ironed whilst he was wearing it, and his voice was carefully designed; loud enough to be heard and yet monotonous enough to cause minimal alarm.
Despite his paltry flaws, Maeda carried a sense of self importance that was strangely comforting and I confess I trusted him. This didn't mean I had to be nice to him.
" Why Switzerland?" I croaked at him still getting used to my voice.
"Mr Hyuuga, you have been very ill, you were transferred to this hospital as a GCS three comatose two weeks ago and to go from a three to a fifteen in a matter of hours is practically unheard of in fact, if it wasn't for your.... situation, this would not be the only hospital transfer for you." Maeda pushed his glasses further up his nose and sniffed as if to fill the silence left after his speech.
"Fine. Can I speak to Mikan now?" I tried not to sound like a over tired grump, but six weeks of sleep is kind of difficult to wake up from.
I hope you liked it, I liked writing it, it was nostalgic. Right, please feel free to leave un petit review, you know I love 'em. And now I'm off to bed. as it goes I'm feeling a little somnolent myself. (-_-)
love from
iHEARThyuuga
xxx