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NOTICE:
Update: January 20, 2009
AN: There will be a chapter four for this fan fic! I am currently writing it. Please bear with me. I cannot say when it will be finished, it all depends on time I can squeeze in for fic-writing! Thank you.
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A GALS! Fan Fiction
"Emergency"
By Bloody Priestess
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Summary: Find out what made the resident Mr. Cold and Heartless chose this rather NOBLE profession that's so UNlike him. Rei Otohata made a vow — he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that... when he saved the one most important to him...
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Disclaimer: I do not own Gals! Just fan with some plot bunnies that need to he exorcised into writing.
I don't have a Beta reader. I edited this all on my own. I tried. Please bear with me and my typographical errors. English is not my mother tongue. But I will try my best. Just as my English instructor tried. Lol.
In addition, I am not a Medical student (a nurse, pre-med, whatever) I can not guarantee a 100 percent accuracy on the technical whatchamacallits. I intend to make this fic really layman-friendly. I've done some research, I hope that would be enough. If I miss the mark, my apologies.
Emergency is a song by the band: Paramore. Before I Forget is a song by the band: Slipknot. I'd also like to acknowledge my good friend—iceblueyes for helping me out with the fic's title. And credit the brilliant, late Sidney Sheldon and his novel, Nothing Lasts Forever which has become somewhat a reference for some of the technical stuff used in this chapter—you see, I was reading this book before I fell asleep and dreamed this up. It figures, right? :)
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Author's Notes:
(1) What started as a one-shot is now a 'regular' story composed of chapters. This is to avoid eye-stain from staying too long in front of the computer's screen. (My optometrist will kill me, its bad for his business, you see…)
(2) This is not a SONG FIC. And although lyrics of certain songs have been mentioned; the lyrics are used more like reflections of the characters.
(3) The idea for this story first came to me in the oddest manner. How? You ask me. This came to be in a dream, a nightmare, whatever you call it. Anyway, the anxiety brought about this, plagued me all day and I found myself distracted to oblivion and back. And like any stressor I come across, I dealt with it by writing ...and Voilà! A fic loosely based on it, is the end result. I hope this will do. :)
I guess... I should dedicate this story—
To all who loved and lost and to all who lost and yet, loved again…
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Chapter One: Before I Forget
It was like waking up from a dream…
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He made a vow to himself— he was to become a doctor and save lives. He did just that.
And she was the witness to what he accomplished.
His icy blue eyes were fixed upon an inanimate piece of stone sticking out of the grassy ground as he fell into the throes of a memory.
A playfully gentle breeze fondly messed his neatly styled dark mane that draped a rather bleak shadow over his unfathomable expression. The years he spent in hell (which was the general population called medical school) were kind to him. For he still had that calm, impassive and rather aloof, handsome face he was very known for back in high school.
The memory unfolded like a yellowing letter. It's now brittle with age, and stiff from being unread after all these years… But somehow, standing right on this very spot— He remembered that trying day when he came so close to breaking that promise as if it happened yesterday…
'It was like waking up from a dream—where all you have is the ruthlessness of reality. A reality that is heedless to what you dream and idealized yourself to be and to have.' He thought glumly.
Reality taught him to be hard and jaded. It taught him in one way or another to lie (lied by twisting and telling half truths), cheat (cheat a patient out his natural freedom to scream out hysterical distress), steal (steal the sole God power to take a life and save)... in a word, professional.
That, he surmised, entailed one to be unemotional. And for the most part, detached. All of which were contrary to what he wanted: to change.
Rei tried to change and better himself—to change and be better than what he was back in high school. That was one of the significant reason to why he chose this profession. He wanted to change for the better, dammit. And yet, what I am now... Rei inwardly scoffed at the irony. What he is now was hardly what one was supposed to be if one wished to become a doctor, one who has the heart and desire to heal and save.
They should have called me a butcher instead of "Doctor".
"I guess... C'est la vie." A realistic part of him sighed resignedly. However...
Bullshit, some enduring optimistic part of him thought, Life should not be like that. This was not he had in mind when he made the choice to become a doctor. But reality was more forthright and crueler to they who have dreamsand aspirations.
Someone like him— Rei Otohata.
Oh yes, he recalled the day very well…
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Rei believed himself to be an earnest individual... Well, that was true. Past tense.
When he first started his first year residency in the prestigious Tokyo Medical Hospital, a large non-profit hospital three years ago right after he passed his licensure exam; he has always been so.
At only 22 years old, after graduating B.S. Biology, he entered medical school. The first two years of med school which were either spent memorizing long lists of medical terminology and processes or spent in the laboratory examining cadavers. And the later half of the four-year course was spent dealing with live patients under the watchful eye of medical instructors and qualified doctors, usually doing the dog's end of the work—filing, handing things over (pen, charts, et cetera) like some menial personal assistant rather than a prospective colleague.
At 26, He was still very eager enough to begin his residency. He thought the worst has passed. He thought that he was finally able to put all that he learned and trained in medical school and during his internship to practice. Freshmen always had stars in their eyes and a dream that burned and tucked underneath their feet propelled them up like a comet in the sky. Ready, eager and idealistic— just when he first thought he had matured and well-settled all the crappy things back in medical school —he had to be put through an ordeal that shocked and uprooted all that he fostered all his life.
The despair of an optimist insistently cut up, had reshaped him into something he is NOT: An optimistic idealist shaped to a cynical realist. And so, for the first time since graduating from high school... Rei was suddenly at a loss again.
But he decided to shove the mar to the back of his mind. And from then on— everything after that occurred like clockwork. Similarly, he moved like he was a piece of machinery— more detached than ever. After what he had seen, done and saw being done stripped him of his passion and heart for the lifetime vocation he pledged himself to.
The vocation that was supposed to change him from the heartless prat he had been known for to something more. A something that possessed had a real, functioning heart.
Where was the love and passion for the job? He was slowly robbed of that. And yet despite the loss that was supposed to kill him, he was just fine. Rei realized. And it was the latter that irritated him the most. For he considered that he betrayed himself for ever permitting himself to compromise —to 'follow' procedure — to succumb to such a low (but they called it a "standard"). He severely assessed that he was NOT man enough to fight for what he held dear. Death before dishonor. But then again, surrender was also not an option.
And then came this one seemingly ordinary afternoon.
It was rather breezy late summer day on his third year residency. Rei was detached from the rest of the world in the most literal and figurative sense of the word. The hospital's confines was only world that seemed to matter. His schedule was a grueling 36 hour shift—from 6:00am to 12:00 noon the day after next.
His day had begun quite routinely. After checking in, he depleted the first half of the morning alongside an attending physician (Dr. Jiro Haryumo) in the doctor's hospital rounds in an effort to learn the ropes of this whole healing business along with five other residents (most of them were from other med schools in the country).
Dr. Haryumo was in the lead of the group, followed by the senior resident—Dr. Mistuhara Hidaka, then by Rei and the five other residents and joined in the company of other equally aspiring doctors—medical students. Each were expected to make observations and gain experience through the fondling of countless medical-scientific gadgets and constant analysis of ambiguous charts that warrants one's patients continued existence long after they leave their hospital beds. They will take down notes while the head and attending physician made check-up rounds in the recovering patients ward.
"Code Red… ER two…"
Code Red was the hospital's emergency code that meant mass casualties were headed their way. The group was off in a shot when the hospitals P.A. systems requested the immediate presence of all the able bodied doctors to Emergency Room number two.
From behind their desks, the nurses cannot help but be drawn to the tall, dark haired resident as the group hurried past. They covertly watched Rei. He responded my lengthened his already-long stride whereas the rest practically jogged just to keep up.
By the announcement was repeated, they were already past the recovery wing and filing into the service elevators.
Whitewashed halls, the lingering smell of sanitation products and closed private room doors passed his line of vision. As soon as the final intern just about leaped into the closing elevator doors, Dr. Haryumo began his prepared monologue about how they needed to prove themselves to him.
That they—the lowly residents, are to be tested on just how they well they toil under the strain of pressure of a real life crisis that the hospital environment. True enough, they finished med school, passed the licensure examinations and were styled, "Dr. So-and-So, or with an M.D. after their names." But it was a fact, that none of them had much experience in the real situation.
Rei thought to himself, how much they have been overly underestimated. With his tightly fisted hands determinedly kept to his sides. He realized he may be the only who thinks that way. He hated when he does that. He basically hated anything self-important sounding. To him, self-importance is a filthy, unforgivable thing—it was something he no longer deserved to feel.
What seemed like an endless stream of long, busy, and endless corridors later, Rei and the rest of the team burst though the double-swinging doors and into this sad little realm of pain, suffering, struggle and death—the hospital's emergency room.
The ER.
Hell awaited beyond those doors that were swiftly swinging to a stop. And it lay before them… just for them.
"Timely… you fellas look equal to angels in those white hospital coats. Get rid of them. Scrub-up. Save them."
The residents were instantly whisked away by nurses and hastily geared into the hospitals vivid-green colored scrubs and removed from the white gowns they were made to wear during their rounds.
Someone screamed. "Mother no! Please! Help her… no…."
Whilst the quicken pace, the nurses and first-to-arrive doctors stated something about a shoot-out between the local police force and a fleeing horde of bank robbers that occurred in the city's crowded downtown district which apparently caused this outpouring of gunshot victims.
Rei tuned out the chatter as he concentrated on his current patient—the third one he treated from the moment he stepped into the ER.
"KISEKI? Where is my boy? You must tell me where he is…"
"Madame, pl—" A doctor cut her off. "She out of danger. Move her out and send her to Recovery. Let them have their share of this!"
Refusing to allow the gruesome exclamations of pain, frustration and frayed nerves to get to him, Rei gritted his teeth and set his jaw.
"This is just like med school, Otohata." He repeated over and over as he topped off the final stitches on an elderly police officer's bullet-pierced shoulder. And the rest followed like a mantra from a textbook he had to memorize by heart—oops, he had no heart— with his head then… Secure the knot, cut the excess… "Easy, sir—you'll be alright." He said soothingly as he was taught and there was no further feeling beyond that.
"Nurse," the girl beside him bolted upright as an inexperienced first year still-in-college intern markedly would. "Clean that up and put that arm into a sling after bandaging, stat."
Rei was right in the middle of a bizarre branch of hell, yet all this was especially familiar to him now… it seemed like home.
Peculiar, to say that was to say hell was his home.
"Doctor?" a second nurse with a name plate that read: Ayumu Shimizu, R.N. (AN: R.N. – registered nurse) said breathlessly as she appeared behind the parted curtains to where Rei was working. "Are you the doctor planning to go into general surgery who is assigned with Dr. Gregory McCauley's team?"
When Rei nodded, she beamed despite her disheveled hair and grungy uniform. Rei surmised that she was such in a state of alarm that she could not remember who she was sent to fetch.
"You're needed immediately... Dr. Haryuno is already in the OR, the patient is en route there. He specifically requests that you join him..."
"Alright. Which OR?" Rei said to the newcomer not bothering to correct her false impression, he was still a junior resident… But not entirely incompetent, a confident part of him averred. But certain rules and procedures—that includes, labels—must be strictly observed to maintain a sense of order, routine and professionalism.
"Operating room one, doctor," she replied. And with that Rei set off before Nurse Shimizu could say anything more.
"Sir—?" Rei queried upon arriving in OR one.
"Otohata? Good," Haryumo's voice was muffled by the surgical mask he had on, "Clean up. Scrub up again. Then, come over h—"
"Dr. Haryumo! Dr. Hidaka!" another anxious intern burst in. "You are needed in OR three— the Chief Justice is going into cardiac arrest! Please, he might not make it this time around. Please, doctors."
OR one burst open for the third time and in came the patient on the gurney.
Rei immediately took notice of the patient's bloody policeman uniform as the cart past by. The patient lay still as death and cold fist gripped his soul.
The patient was mercifully unconscious as he was transferred unto the operating table by two paramedics. As the third paramedic pushed the empty gurney out of Rei's way, the young doctor was already doing a quick yet efficient initial assessment of the new patient from where he stood.
"Damn." Dr. Haryumo muttered, "The Chief Justice! He have to prioritize that that!"
Hidaka nodded his assent immediately.
The cold fist tighten as Rei stood by.
"Otohata, you can take care of this, I know you'll do McCauley and I proud. Let's move, Hidaka." And they were gone.
Dr. Gregory McCauley was one the brilliant heart surgeon from the United States. McCauley was spending his sabbatical volunteering in-between hospitals in Japan after his favorite niece suffered a vehicular accident and was successfully operated in a Japanese hospital. And Tokyo Medical had him four days a week! Instead of the usual two or one day he spends in Tokyo General Hospital and other rival hospitals. And during precious four those days, he took under his wing and tutelage the crème de la crème of Tokyo Medical's staff.
Ice blue eyes surveyed the room. All those who remained OR one were the already assembled— an anesthesiologist, a resident (Rei remembered to be his junior), a medical technician, a scrub nurse and two circulating nurse.
Rei assumed command, eyes hard and seemed to be much older than the owner's mere 29 years of age. "Prepare the equipment. Prepare the patient for surgery." he instructed the rest of them. "What is the patient's current condition, nurse?"
The heart/respiration monitor beeped feebly as it was finally attached to the patient. Why he's barely hanging on.
"…this one has multiple lacerations, but most importantly has taken a bullet to the torso— hemorrhaging terribly en route to the hospital." Someone was saying as a nurse came forward was shaking badly as she dressed Rei in his new set of clean mask and the rest of his surgery gear. "We're practically rummaging through the blood bank as we speak, doctor—this one's a blood-type AB. AB negative to boot."
Personally, Rei detested the prospect of blood—and all that it represented. But these 'needy' people looked up to him as a beacon of hope and life. He was once told, "In addition to medicine, you must also prescribe hope."
And, yet the upsetting part was the fact that he couldn't remember who shared that particular piece of counsel. All he recalled was it never came from any of his clinical instructors but from someone dear and near to him, could it be —
"Doctor?"
"Don't dally! Please send someone to retrieve at least four units of it after cross-matching the patient and donor's blood. And for God sakes, hurry! We're trying to save a life here!"
Dr. Otohata reached for the victim's stained uniform and began to shear the clothing for a better access to the wound. Despite his training, that should have accustomed him to naked forms. Rei could not help it— He was still a man.
He reasoned as he flushed with the sight of the patients beautifully shaped breasts, a superbly lean and shapely torso and smooth skin. He recomposed himself with a discreet, rather self-conscious cough. And keeping his tone abruptly methodical and detached (which was not hard to do), he said to all with in an earshot, "We need to extract the bullet, prepare for an operation then a blood transfusion, and hustle people! She's already lost a great deal of blood. Somebody go and double check—she's an AB."
"Don't leave, miss." He soothed the patient, "Don't stop holding on, miss—er."
"What is her name?" Rei asked a resident to check the patient's identification card.
It one of the many procedures taught. They needed to able to 'connect' with patient. Its intention was to have the patients to know someone was with them in such time of physical, emotional and possibly, psychological ordeal. He needed to call them by their name and keep them back into the realm of the living.
"Shibuya Precinct Officer, Ran Kotobuki." someone said.
The scalpels Rei held clashed to the bloodstained tiled floor.
And as if a foreign entity took over his body, Rei unceremoniously seized the blood-soaked bandages — that have been used to put pressure on the wound to minimize the flow of blood— of which were set in chaotic disarray over the patient's torso and face when the nurse hurriedly (and quite untidily) readied the victim for the imperative operation.
Ran.
It took a second or two before her all-too familiar appearance registered a memory into his unbelieving mind.
He pulled the plastic cap off the patient's head. Her long, softly wavy hair still shone in that unmistakable flame-red color and that infamous scarlet streak was still in her long bangs, her eyes were lovely lidded and framed with heavy curling fringe of eyelash, and her mouth was slight parted as if waiting for a prince's kiss.
His kiss, perhaps? Rei almost thought he was in dream. For he had an abundance of dreams just like this…
No, this is no damn dream— The violence was unmistakable once the rose-tinted glasses were finally removed from his eyes as he looked closer. Her hair was really streaked but not with hair-dye—but with her own blood. There was a bluish-purple bruise just under her left eye and a raw cut on her lower lip. As he continued to look, she continued to flush out blood from her bullet wound. But, thank the heavens that head wound was only a superficial.
Rei set his jaw, in retaliation to the searing stab his patien—no, his friend's circumstance brought upon his senses.
He hadn't seen her in years but he still considered her a friend. Regardless of what people say, he too intensely cared for the friendships he formed.
She was a friend of his. She was the closest thing to what the populace would rank as a 'girlfriend'. In his mind, although they were officially called so— he really had feelings for her...and (though her definition may vary) she had feelings for him too.
Rei was quite taken aback. After all these years, she still had that similar deliciously aching effect on him.
Cursing under his breath for the having all these inappropriate thoughts at this extremely ill opportune moment, he began this practiced procedure of extracting a foreign object from a human body. His expertise of the routine —that was drilled into his being from day one of his time in med school — took over his prior qualms and directed his hands into skilled and efficient movements.
And then he realized that all the things he had to give up —forcefully or willingly— was worth it. He is a doctor, he knew what to do— he can save her. He will save her. It was in his hands now.
It was very typical of her. To remind me before I forget. Rei thought wryly but at the same time, glad. "Let's begin." He said, enthusiastic for the first time in years...
Finally.
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End of Chapter One
To be continued…
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Author's Notes: (1) The last line in the song is somewhat a forewarning of sorts... what do I mean? 'Read On', I tell you. :)
(2) Please do REVIEW. I would greatly appreciate anything you care to share with me (please be specific so that I'll know where to look and edit)—your insights, your corrections, your comments, your 'hello'/review will morethan do…
Thank you.
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