This is a "What if" from "The Fool's Pursuit" dedicated to Belphy who wanted to read an alternate retelling of SaruMi's ending. "What if Saruhiko managed to see Misaki before he passed on?" Some of the part is mentioned in "Each and Every Bonds" and how Munakata survived in "Each and Every Bonds" is also explained. Due to the number of words, I split the one-shot into two parts.
It can be read as stand-alone even though, it is better for one to read "The Fool's Pursuit" before this.
Chapter 1: Never-ending Nightmare
In a medical facility of the Gold Clan which was currently under the control of the Blue Clan, Kushina Anna stared into the glass panel of a sterilized ICU. A certain young man with chestnut red hair was lying on a bed in there where there were various machines surrounding him. His nose and mouth were covered with oxygen mask which pumped oxygen into his body. His arms were covered with various tubes channeling drugs and nutrients to help in his body function while his free fingers were all bandaged up. Her heart lurched at the sight. The beeping machine was the only signal telling her he was alive.
She felt a hand over a head as she felt tears welling up her eyes at the sight of her fallen clansman.
"Izumo." She turned and greeted hugging him on his waist.
"He's strong. He'll be able to pull through." Kusanagi Izumo, the adviser to the young Red King commented looking into the glass panel. She knew it was a lie but she wanted to believe in it in the lie known as miracle.
"He's suffering from unnamed sexually transmitted disease, broken immune system and multiple organs failure from the effect of the drugs which was injected into him." Enomoto Tatsuya informed Hidaka and those who were involved in the operations Fushimi had sat out from due to his knee injury.
"Those sick bastards!" Hidaka Akira slammed his fist on the table. He looked down on his food which he almost going to puke on just looking at it reminding him of the horrid state of the victim they had rescued from a now abandoned facility.
"With that condition, he took a bullet for Captain. Can't believe that he's being reduced to such state." He added tightening his grip on the fork he was holding. It was a miracle that he was still breathing.
"Akiyama. Where's the report?" Fushimi Saruhiko had heard that Scepter 4 had busted an experimental facility recently. An operation led by the Captain himself. He was curious to read.
"He didn't even have to show himself actually." Fushimi thought clicking his tongue,
"HOMRA is involved so… Captain said they chanced upon the facility and decided to break out those guinea pigs." Akiyama Himori continued his report.
"I see." There was more to it. Munakata Reisi was never an easy man to read. He probably knew that HOMRA would be involved.
"Any movement from them lately?" Fushimi questioned. He was a little pissed considering he was ambushed by a bunch of Strains breaking his kneecap and was left groaning in pain until Akiyama and Benzai found him. The words those Strains used made him uneasy. They were acting on someone's order and that person ordered them to leave him saying he they were not to touch him but to go after a certain black dog as experimental subject instead.
They did not need subjects with red aura. "No longer need." Was the words they used. Fushimi was somehow annoyed by the words used.
His mind was distracted until the blue King sat by his bedside reading out the report and bringing him back to his reality.
"Oh I thought I'm being ignored by someone like Akiyama-kun I had sent back. I don't think you're even listening to him." He said with his eyes on the report.
"You're the one who didn't call out to me." Fushimi stated the fact. Munakata Reisi smiled.
"I merely want to see how my capable subordinate is doing and if he is recovering well?"
"Now you see me. Get back to your own work." Fushimi could not be bothered. His knees were covered with cast. It would be a pain if he lost the use of his knees even though he would not be bothered. He would be back to work in another two weeks.
"All subjects except one were silenced. We have no evidence that the Green is behind this." Munakata read the report on behalf of Akiyama to him.
"A survivor huh? You can get him to testify against the Green easily." Fushimi commented. Munakata was obviously trying to tell a joke to Fushimi but it was not funny.
"An experimental subject survived from the atrocious experiment but I doubt for long. I'm using the medical facility from his Excellency I have control over now to preserve his life."
"So? You want me to interrogate him? Just give the order." Fushimi knew that this man wanted him to interrogate the surviving victim but wanted to hear the request directly from him. Fushimi closed his eyes in annoyance.
"He's rather fragile. With the level the remaining healers from Gold Clan have, preserving his life is asking too much from them. I requested to put him in induced coma to reduce his pain until we can get him to tell us about those who were involved in his capture and experiment and you can decide if you want to release him from his pain." Fushimi frowned. Since when his boss had a sense of empathy towards a mere victim from some experiment, it was more like he was putting the victim in more pain. Not that Fushimi would care. Munakata removed his glasses and polished his lenses.
"I don't want you to have the same regret like me for that man. He saved my life in the expense of his own life mistaken me for someone else. He didn't have much time left." Munakata said looking at Fushimi with a look of sympathy. Fushimi could not retort at him with this expression he was showing him before he put his glasses back returning to his bossy personality.
"Get well soon. I want to see my favourite subordinate back in action." Munakata gave him an unreadable smile.
Fushimi found himself grabbing the blanket tightly. His eyes were gorging wide when he was sent the profile of the victim and his current medical condition a week later when he was discharged.
"Mi-sa-kii." He read his data in disbelief. There was no way Yata would let himself fall into the Green without a fight. What kind of joke was this?
There was not much change in Yata Misaki's condition much to Munakata's relief when he came to visit him in the Gold Clan medical facility after Anna and Kusanagi had left. At least his condition did not worsen. Deep down he knew what was happening. He was waiting, waiting for something or rather someone. Before that, he could not let go despite being in so much pain.
"I'm… sorry… Saruhiko. I'm… so… sorry that... I'm... an... idiot... I still... can't figure... out why... you left me..." Yata could not stop mumbling with his weak incoherent voice as he laid bleeding on Kusanagi's arm after he was shot.
Munakata looked at the trembling figure hooked up to machines in sympathy. He could not bear to lie to him that he was Fushimi when he was not. He wondered if he was wrong to force him to hang on to his life.
"Did you have a good dream, Yata Misaki?" Munakata wondered. Of course not. After whatever he had gone through, he would never be able to sleep in peace. He would be lucky if he could rest without being plagued by nightmares.
Yata was shaking his head and tears flowed uncontrollably down his cheek as though he was begging the perpetrator to stop. He was just put to sleep once more after a short talk to Anna assuring him that he was fine. He had done well in enduring the pain with the stoppage of drugs which induced his coma. Never did he tell anyone the culprit who put him in captive while awake. Munakata was aware that he knew.
Yata Misaki was humiliated by six men and was infected with different sexually transmitted diseases before he was sent to a secret medical facility where he was injected with all sorts of chemical to speed up the virus or try to heal him in the same manner before breaking him again. At the same time, they would like to see if his power as a clansman could be drawn out to the highest extent or even heal him. Evidently, his hair and his nails were seen to grow faster than the normal rate. His nails were cruelly plucked off in order to "punish" him for defying them it seemed. Yata Misaki did try to escape but he was recaptured. This went on for two weeks until his power finally went out of control.
That was in assumption from the autopsy report of the seventeen former USAGI which their bodies were picked up by Scepter 4. The price paid would be his own life once his power ran out.
The bullet embedded in Yata Misaki's heart was not removed as it would kill him instantly. Even so, any strenuous movement would kill him as well. The bullet invented by the assailant was made to kill him when the bullet embedded would explode into shard in the organ it hit which happened to Yata as his heart was badly damaged. The heart-lung machine was used to keep him alive instead.
Munakata's brain would have exploded if it hit him. Did they calculate that Yata Misaki would take the bullet for him or was it planned by using him as a bait?
(It was only later he found out that a certain sixth King had the power to "reject" injuries with the approval from Dresden Slate after an incident known as "Roulette Ritual" when he fully embraced his power as a King saving his life. That King became a target for Fushimi's resentment because he had left the medical facility after Suoh Mikoto's "death" with the confined Mizuchi Koushi for their unwise quest against the Silver King.)
"Misaki!" A familiar voice was heard. Munakata barely realized that Fushimi who had just discharged had rushed here as soon as he received his report. He gasped at the sight of Yata in the ICU. He was not the lively and energetic Misaki he knew. He looked so frail and deathly pale being hooked up my so many machines keeping track of his vitals.
"Tell me did JUNGLE did this?" Fushimi grabbed Munakata by his collar demanding for answers. He had read the report of Sample Y. Munakata grabbed his hands in response and yanked it away. There was not the way he should speak to his superior.
"Yata Misaki wouldn't say anything about the culprit. He's quite a loyal friend I would say." Munakata turned to look at the young man who having a fit in the ICU solemnly. Munakata had already deduced the answer but he had no evidence unless he heard it from Yata himself.
"I'll let you see him later. He's not allowed too many visitors in a short time. His body can't take it." Munakata finished straightening his collar and left the two young men to their own as promised.
Yata had a nightmare. They were taking turn to humiliate him saying how they would teach him about virginity. It was different from what Saruhiko often teased him because he was unable to talk to girls. Even as an idiot in studies, Yata knew this was what a man and a woman would do at night in bed but he was attacked by six guys in an alley. He knew it was not right even though he could not feel anything from the local anesthesia he was injected by someone he knew.
A girl with a ponytail tied on the right was laughing at him hysterically commenting how he deserved it and he should blame Saruhiko for his plight because he kept things from him.
"You know what, I was under orders to force Saruhiko out of HOMRA and he really fell for it. I made him betrayed you and you fell out with him. It's all me! You took his attention away from me so I'll take it on you.
"No… Saruhiko… I'm… sorry…" Yata struggled to say.
Fushimi could not believe his ears as he kept vigil by his bed side and almost dozing off. He was in germ resistant gowns and masks over his mouth. He was not allowed to enter the sterile room unless he done so by the absolute orders of the Blue King warning him that he would end up killing Yata whose immune system had already broken down if he did not obey. Fushimi grabbed Yata's shoulder and attempted to wake him up from his neverending nightmare.
"Misaki, wake up. It's stupid monkey here. It's alright now. You're safe." Saruhiko struggled to comfort him to the extent of calling himself names Yata would have called him. He did not realise that he was crying until a bandaged hand found himself to Saruhiko's cheek wiping his tears.
"Saru is finally here to see me. Aren't you happy to see me in my sorry state?" Yata said in his weak and inaudible voice through his oxygen mask which was fogging as he breathed in and out. Yata felt weak and tired all over. He could barely keep his eyes open. Even so, he could finally see his face as compared to the blur he saw on that fateful day when he took that fatal bullet for him. It was actually the Blue King he had saved.
"Yeah, that stupid monkey is here to see the idiotic crow. You must be an idiot to lose a fight and ended up under others' mercy." Saruhiko said in a muffled but energetic tone through his mask. He caught Misaki's hand which fell off his face weakly. Fushimi was trying not to cry. He could no longer put up his heartless mask.
"You're right. I'm an idiot. I thought I know everything about you but actually I don't know anything about you. " Tears welled up Misaki's eyes as he admitted the fact. Fushimi was supposed to have a bright future ahead of him if he had never entered his life.
"What can I do... to make... up with you?" Yata started coughing as the medical readout began to ascend to the dangerous zone as his heart was beating too fast despite being hooked up to machine to take over the functions. Fushimi glanced around and noticed the warning. The USAGI would be rushing in anytime. It was a wonder Fushimi did not lose his cool at this sight. He needed to stay strong for Misaki.
"Misaki, it's alright, calm down. Remember I told you it wasn't you. I decided not to attend high school at my own discretion. I made my choice, it's my life." Fushimi rubbed his hand on Yata's chest trying to calm him down. Yata was getting too agitated.
The reading finally slowed down to the normal zone shortly with Yata sobbing with his head lolling towards Fushimi. Fushimi knew. He had read up on psychology of those who had undergone extreme trauma. He knew Yata needed him badly.
"… all I have left is you." Yata's voice echoed in his mind when he begged him to help him save Anna.
"I finally understood what is virginity, Saru." Yata said feeling disgusted of himself. "You must be ashamed of me. I'm just an idiot. I know nothing."
"I'm sorry, I should have accompanied you that day, Misaki. Let me stay with you." Fushimi would always regret that day he left Misaki by the train track. This time, Yata did not hear him. Yata had already dozed off from the effect of the anesthesia channeled into him. He should not be kept awake for too long.
"I'm sorry, Misaki. Everything will be alright" Fushimi said seemingly to comfort Yata stroking his hair but the truth was, he was comforting himself.