Okay, I've decided to write another ShiMa fic. It's quite depressing so make sure to whip out the tissues. I know I, as the author, will cry as I write this. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this story as much as I will. Well, besides the depressing part. -.-'
Disclaimer I do not own Vampire Knight…or ShiMa. If I did, there would be more appearances of them in the manga.
Title Abyss
Chapter One Unfair Death Sentence
10:00 p.m. Everyone remained quiet as we awaited Serein's return. There was a sense of anticipation in the air. The Chairman announced that there was a mandatory event scheduled for today and there will be no excuses if one was to miss it. The Chairman was never one to be serious so whatever it is must be extremely important.
Our ears filled with the loud creaking of the door as it slowly opened. Every eye in the room fixated on Serein as she walked over to Kaname and whispered quickly in his ear. He nodded and mouthed,
'Thank you.' Kaname turned to us.
"Serein has just informed me that we are having our annual physicals today. No one is to miss their exam or they will be severely punished." He paused and looked at the ancient clock on the wall. "The exams will be at three o'clock this afternoon. Apparently, they're giving us human doctors so it would obviously be suspicious if we did it at some odd hour of the night."
The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. It was replaced with a predicable sense of dread. Aggravated whispers were heard around the room.
"Physicals. Wonderful. And at three o'clock, too," Shiki muttered.
"Why do we keep having these stupid physicals? We've done this at nauseum (A/N: nauseum is Latin) and not one of the Night Class vampires have health issues," I said.
"And what would happen if something was wrong with your little head today?" Shiki teased.
I glared at him. "I'm perfectly healthy!"
He smiled. "Want to make a bet?"
"Sure."
"I bet that I will be the healthiest out of the two of us. If you lose, you will buy the pocky for a year. And if you win, I'll buy the pocky. Deal?"
I smirked. "Deal."
Time passed and we headed to the rooms where the physicals were being held. We were all put in alphabetical order according to our last name. The girls and guys were separated of course. As we all fell in line, the doctors gave us forms to fill out about our health. I started answering 'No' to all of the questions.
Have you ever experienced dizziness?
No.
Have you ever broken anything or been injured?
Yes.
Have you ever experienced problems with the function of your muscles, organs, etc?
No.
Damn this is annoying--answering all these questions for nothing. I mean, vampire bodies are by far the strongest in the world. We rarely get sick and injuries are something unheard of. If a vampire does get sick, he or she will probably be considered weak. I guess one could say that they would person would be an outcast.
Are you pregnant or have you ever been pregnant?
No…
This is such a waste of time. I'd rather have our gay manager force Shiki and I to kiss rather than doing this at the moment. I don't mind kissing Shiki. I mean, he is a really good kisser and I do feel some sort of physical attraction to him.
"You look annoyed."
I looked at Ruka who was standing in front of me. I held up the questions in response.
"C'mon! Keep the line moving!" one of the doctors said.
The line moved forward and I finally finished the stupid questionnaire. I gave it to one of the nurses and I sighed. This is taking longer than I expected and it's really getting on my nerves. Shiki and I have a photo shoot in an hour and if we don't finish, we'll lose a job.
"Sakimashi Asame."
Damn it! At this rate, I'm definitely going to be late for the shoot. The line moved forward and I sighed in relief. If I'm late, I'm sure the manager would understand. I mean, my health is more important than my job, right?
It wasn't long before they called Ruka and I was the next one. I looked at the clock and groaned. It was 4:45 p.m. The photo shoot is at 5:15. For some reason, I don't think our manager is going to be so forgiving today. I have missed too many shoots for my own good.
"Rima, you aren't done?"
I turned to see Shiki standing beside me.
"No. My line is taking forever." I suddenly remembered our bet. "How did your physical go?" I asked curiously.
He smiled. "I'm the healthiest out of all the guys," he said, obviously proud of himself.
I smirked. "Well, we'll see how mine goes. What if we tie?"
He shrugged. "We'll just have to discuss that if that is the situation that occurs. I highly doubt it though."
"Don't push your luck," I said.
"Touya Rima, you're next please," one of the nurses called.
I turned back to Shiki, smiling. "Happy?"
"Extremely. Hurry up."
I turned and started walking toward the door. Suddenly, a weird sensation shot through my legs and I stumbled. I caught myself before I hit the floor. What was that?
"Don't be clumsy. It might affect your physical," Shiki said, amusement clearly in his voice.
I gave him a fake smile and walked into the room. The doctor smiled at me.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Mashiro." She faced another woman. "This is my nurse, Yagushi-san."
The nurse bowed and I returned the bow.
"Touya-san, will you please remove your shoes so that we may weigh you?" Yagushi-san asked.
I nodded and took them off. I stepped onto the scale and I was horrified. How can I weigh that much? Time to slim down. I stepped off the scale and waited for further instructions.
"Would you please look at the chart on the wall and read what you see, please?"
"Hai," I muttered.
I stepped in front of the chart.
"Read line 8 please."
"Ga. Ru. Ka. Mi…" my voice trailed off when my vision wavered for a moment. I rubbed my eyes and looked at it again.
"Is there a problem, Touya-san?" the nurse asked.
I shook my head. "Ne. Ta. Ki," I finished.
The nurse studied me for a moment. "Was it hard to read?"
"No. My vision just blurred for a moment," I answered.
She nodded and wrote on the clipboard. "Please stand against the wall so I may measure your height."
I obeyed and she measured my height.
"5'4," she said.
I pouted. Damn, I'm short. It's sad when I admit it. Shiki likes to tease me about because he's a good few inches taller than me. Well, at least I've grown at least half an inch.
"Could you please stand on one foot for about ten seconds?" the nurse asked.
I stood on my left foot and tried to maintain my balance. I was finding it relatively hard to balance today. I mean, stumbling on my way in was just weird. I totally lost my balance after about seven seconds and I fell to the ground, my head colliding with the one of the chairs against the wall. I groaned as I rubbed my head. Dr. Mashiro and nurse were alarmed.
"Are you okay?" the nurse asked, concerned.
"Yeah," I managed to say.
What the hell is wrong with me today? I'm acting like an idiot! I noticed that the doctor was staring at me with a contemplative expression on her face.
"What?" I asked, irritated.
"Do you stumble often?" she asked.
"It started recently," I said, trying to figure out where she was going with this.
Of all the damn days, it had to be today.
"Could you please come to the hospital with me Touya-san? I want you to get an MRI scan just incase you injured yourself," she said.
You have got to be kidding me! I'm definitely going to have a pissed off manager on my hands!
"I'm fine. I really need to--"
"Touya-san, please," Dr. Mashiro interrupted. "It's just to make sure you're okay."
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay. Let's get this over with quickly."
When we arrived at the hospital, we headed for the Neurology lab. We were greeted by the doctor. She smiled warmly at me.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Kashimaka. I'm the head of the Neurology department. What's your name?" she asked.
"Touya Rima."
Dr. Kashimaka looked at Dr. Mashiro.
"Why have you brought this young girl to me?" she asked.
"Well, she hit her head during her physical and I just want her to have an MRI scan just incase she has an injury," Dr. Mashiro explained.
Dr. Kashimaka nodded. "Well, okay. Let's get started Rima-chan."
About fifteen minutes later, the scan was complete and I sighed in relief. Being crammed up in that machine is really uncomfortable. Dr. Mashiro left a few minutes after the scan because she had to get back to the physicals. Dr. Kashimaka put the MRI scans up and she examined them. She let out a soft gasp and turned to me.
Oh no. Something's wrong.
"R-Rima-chan, good news. You're not injured, but…" her voice trailed off as she looked at the MRI scans again.
"But?" I pushed for the answer.
She looked at me. "Rima-chan, could you please let me examine your movement?"
I frowned. "Okay."
"Please walk from that wall to the other," she said.
Why am I being examined like this? Is something wrong with me?
I started walking and about halfway, I stumbled a bit. I stopped and just stood there. Why is this happening to me?
"Um, okay. Enough of that. Dr. Mashiro had you stand on one foot during your physical, correct?"
I nodded.
"And you lost your balance obviously." She sat down and motioned to the chair in front of her. I sat down and she held up her finger. "Please touch my finger and then your nose."
Why is she asking me to do all these things? I'm sure I'm just a bit tired. I touched her finger and then my nose and continued to do so until I was told to stop.
"A bit faster, please," she said.
I increased my speed and I couldn't do it anymore. My finger would completely miss its target. What's going on? This is really starting to scare me and I rarely get scared.
Dr. Kashimaka sighed and she stared straight into my eyes.
"Rima-chan…I'm about to tell you something really important. Please don't doubt me because I'm being completely serious," she said. She took a deep breath. "R-Rima-chan…you have a disease called Spinocellular Degeneration. The nerves in your body will slowly begin to function improperly. Walking, eating, talking, and doing any other daily activity is going to become difficult for you. You--"
"You can't be right!" I shouted angrily. "You've made a mistake! It has to be a mistake! I've never had health issues!"
"Rima-chan, calm down!" She took out another scan. She held it up next to mine. "Compare this brain to yours. Your Cerebellum is shrinking. Isn't that enough evidence for you? It's hard to diagnose this disease and I am never wrong. You're starting to stumble, Rima-chan and your other symptoms will start to show along the way."
My mind just couldn't register what she was saying. How could I have a disease? I'm a vampire! I'm a healthy, strong vampire! I'm not supposed to have health problems! How am I going to accept this? My life is going to be totally ruined by this!
"I-it can be c-cured, right?" I choked out in a whisper.
"At the moment…there is no cure," she answered.
My world suddenly crumbled down. My life…is completely screwed up now. What am I going to tell my parents? My friends? How am I going to accept this reality?
Dr. Kashimaka handed me some papers.
"Rima-chan, this is information about your disease," she said quietly. "Please read over it carefully so that you know as much as possible. Please let the people around you know so that they can be aware to be very alert around you."
I took the packet and just stared at it. My fate is spelled out in this packet. The rest of my life is going to be overruled by this disease. My life is going to become a living hell. One question ran through my head as I left Dr. Kashimaka's office without a word.
Why me?
Author's Note: Okay, this is by far the worst chapter I have ever written. I'm sorry Clarisse and Hikari for the crappy chapter. I know it was rushed, but I'm not a doctor. I have no idea how to do physicals and MRI scans. So please bare with me when I write about the medical stuff. This is a real disease and you can look it up on Google. It's a really cruel disease. Unfortunately, there is no cure for it. I know everyone is OOC, but this is an AU fic so their personalities are totally different. I know that the next chapter will be better than this. My first chapter of all the stories I write are always crappy, but the rest is fine.
REVIEW. REVIEW. R-E-V-I-E-W. PLEASE REVIEW. I need them to keep me going.
XxShiMaxX