DM: So I'm back! Thank you to Mechanism Unknown, other, Amariokoand i l0ve c0ffee for your reviews, they were very encouraging.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club. Aside from Haruhi, Tamaki and Kyouya, all the characters in this chapter are original and belong to me. A note: the staff of this mental hospital as well as the patients were created by me for the purpose of this story and by no means portray my view of actual staff or patients, so please don't be offended by them as characters.
The Ward
II
Martha the Masochist
"I now present into your charge, Tamaki Suou, aged 23 years. Hair color is blonde, eye color is blue. Height 180 centimeters, weight 64 kilograms," the escort from the regional hospital in Japan rattled off. A round lady whose face Tamaki could not see typed everything into a computer behind a desk. The room was silent except for the light tapping sound she made.
While he thought it odd that he had been introduced with his first name first, he decided not to speak and instead looked at the floor. It was very shiny, very cheap linoleum. At last the lady looked up.
She had a round face and wore an impossibly crisp nurse's uniform. Her eyes pierced him, and a shiver went down his spine. He looked at the floor but then back again. She pursed her lips, making her face look even rounder.
"Hello," she said in a patronizing tone, "I'm Nurse Gertrude."
An uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that this was a bad lady. Tamaki wanted to leave more than anything else, but he had steeled himself for this day ever since that blasted judge had condemned him here. He looked at the escort with a feigned look of confusion.
"He can't speak English, ma'am," the man explained. She smiled sweetly, but something about it struck Tamaki as vicious (something in the sharpness of her teeth, perhaps). Could she tell he was only pretending? He wondered. Her eyes were full of distrust.
The two exchanged some words that Tamaki didn't hear while two burly men in white uniforms came into the registration office.
"Ah, Butch, Jim, this is our newest patient, Tamaki," Gertrude said, gesturing between them, "These are our orderlies here at Thorny Towers," she explained to the escort. Butch and Jim tipped of their little hats to reveal identical bald heads and barely indistinguishable faces. However, when they smiled, Tamaki could see that Jim had his four frontal teeth (the two top and the two bottom) knocked clean out. Butch boasted a full set of yellow pearls. Tamaki could hazard a guess as to their relationship.
Gertrude continued to speak with the escort (though Tamaki could now see that it was quite obviously flirting) as Butch and Jim each grabbed one of his arms. He was about half their individual width, and therefore was in no position to struggle.
"So pretty," Jim said as they dragged him down a hallway, "Like a girl." Tamaki swallowed and turned away from Jim's leering face. Butch snickered.
"We'll see what he's like after a month," he said, ruffling Tamaki's hair with his dirty hands. Tamaki cringed. The two ogres laughed. Meanwhile the sound of the main door shutting told him that his escort had left. He was really stuck here.
"Butch! Jim!" Gertrude called out in a surprisingly sharp voice. The two snapped to attention, shaking Tamaki like a rag doll in the process. The tapping of her sensible heels echoed down the hall as she approached them from behind. Tamaki felt an ice cold shiver run down his spine.
"Now then, he has an appointment with Dr. Wilbur, so please take him to that room now," was all she said, but Tamaki couldn't stop the sinking feeling in his stomach. The orderlies tipped their hats and continued to drag him off. He turned around (had had been too afraid to when she was speaking) and could see her smiling to herself, a cruel, wicked smile.
"Here we are, girly," Butch said as they stopped at a door. Jim laughed and echoed, "Yea, girly." Tamaki tried to look like he didn't understand and only stared blankly at the door. Butch opened it and thrust him inside, closing the door so fast it hit Tamaki in the back.
Cursing them under his breath, Tamaki looked around the room. It was a surprisingly normal-looking psychiatrist's office. A balding, squat little man sat at a desk on the far side of the room, typing furiously into a computer. He hadn't noticed Tamaki and continued to work, muttering to himself as he did so.
"Uhm," Tamaki began tentatively, almost forgetting to only speak Japanese. The man jumped out of his chair and landed on the ground with a thud.
"Damn it, Gertrude! I told you not to interrupt me!" he shouted, rubbing his hip. It was only when he stood up that he realized that it was not Gertrude, but some strange young man. He sighed, exasperated.
"Have a seat," he said. Tamaki pretended not to understand. Wilbur glared at him.
"Sit down," he repeated, pointing to Tamaki and then to the lumpy orange couch against the wall. Tamaki sat down.
"So, since you can't speak English and you've got slanty eyes, I'm going to assume you're a chink of some sort, is that right?" Wilbur said, pulling a clipboard out of a drawer and retaking his former seat.
Tamaki could not hide his shock and disgust at the word "chink." Wilbur smiled and wrote something down on the clipboard.
"You're that crazy that killed his grandmother, huh? You don't look like you have it in you, if you ask me…Then again, neither did Francis…" he trailed off, speaking more to himself now and continuing to scribble things down.
"You are a pig," Tamaki said in Japanese, "You're not a doctor at all."
Wilbur looked up and set his pencil down.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" he asked. Tamaki continued to stare at him defiantly. Wilbur leaned over until he and Tamaki were almost nose to nose.
"You don't realize it yet, but you soon will," he said maliciously. He smacked Tamaki across the face. Tamaki looked up in horror, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He got up and started backing out of the room, wanting to get as far away from this man as possible, but his knees had begun shaking again. Wilbur grinned, revealing large, square, yellow teeth.
Tamaki finally found the doorknob (he had been feeling the wall behind him for some time now) and was turning it when Wilbur said one last thing.
"You and Francis should get along well. You're almost exactly the same case."
Tamaki fled from the room and into the hallway, where Butch and Jim were waiting for him. He was captured once more. However, to Tamaki it was a strange relief to be with the two thugs, as they were straightforward and easily read. That doctor, though, hid something gruesome behind his eyes. Tamaki shivered. Butch and Jim laughed.
"That Doc's a right strange one, huh?" Butch said, pulling Tamaki round a corner in the hallway. He was beginning to hear sounds from a room at the end of the hall.
"Right strange, that Doc is," Jim echoed in his slow and stupid way. Tamaki's heart began pounding as they came up to large double doors. Butch released him and pressed the button to open them. Jim threw him inside and then stepped in afterwards.
Tamaki hit the floor with his knees, wincing at the pain. Linoleum was much harder than it looked.
"Get along good with everyone now, ya here?" Butch said, prodding him with his toe.
"Yup, ya hear? Get along good with everybody," Jim echoed. Tamaki clenched his fist in anger and annoyance. Standing up weakly, his knees aching terribly, Tamaki looked around. A small group of people sat at a long rectangular table on the other side of the room.
The first was an extremely attractive woman with a long face and long hair. She wore the beige clothes of a patient with the top few buttons undone. She was looking straight at Butch. To her left sat a young Asian woman with large eyes. She was very short and stared at the wall blankly. Next was a twitchy and thin young man with large glasses and already thinning hair. Last and furthest to Tamaki's right, was an extremely fat man.
Perhaps it was Tamaki's imagination, but the fat man was eyeing him with a hungry look in his eyes, his doughy features stretched into an eerie smile. Tamaki felt bile rise up from his stomach and clapped a hand over his mouth, breaking eye contact with the large blob.
"Go on, sit at the table," Butch said, giving him a light push,
"Yea, go on," Jim repeated, pushing him a little harder.
The woman on the far left stood up.
"You can have my seat," she said, smiling seductively. Tamaki cocked his head to the side, pretending not to understand her. Jim got impatient and pushed him into the chair, which he nearly knocked over in the process.
"Martha, you sho' are gracious," Butch said, "Too bad he can't say 'Thank you' in English, eh?"
"Yea, too bad…" Jim said. The three engaged in a conversation in low voices. Tamaki turned to the Asian woman.
"Hello, do you speak Japanese?" he asked. The girl slowly turned her head towards him and fixed him with her blank look. Tamaki felt his heart sink.
The twitchy man, noticing Tamaki's disheartened state, leaned across the woman and extended a hand, essentially pretending she was furniture.
"Don't mind Haruhi, she doesn't talk anymore. Don't know why. I'm Francis," he said in English, expecting Tamaki to shake his hand. Tamaki reached out tentatively and took it. They would have spoken more, but they heard a thud from the other side of the table.
Martha had been pushed to the ground and was now clawing at Butch's leg, giving out a low moan.
"You sure are crazy, aren't you?" Butch asked, slapping her face. She fell back but came up moaning louder,
"Yup, you're crazy," Jim said, kicking her in the stomach. Tamaki's eyes widened in horror. Martha appeared to be enjoying the beating.
"More!" she cried out. Butch punched her in the jaw and she fell to the floor, writhing in pleasure. Jim fell to beating her while Butch began undoing his pants. Tamaki looked across the table. No one seemed at all concerned with what was happening in front of them, not even Francis. He met eyes with the fat guy again and felt the same shiver of revulsion. Tamaki turned back to the scene.
As Jim slapped her face repeatedly, Butch began undressing her. She continued to moan. Tamaki shut his eyes.
"Ahem," he heard. It was a small, relatively inoffensive sound, but it brought all the sounds of movement and moaning to a halt. He opened one eye, barely daring to breath.
Nurse Gertrude, with another, younger nurse in tow as well as Dr. Wilbur stood tapping her foot in the doorway. Butch sheepishly began putting his clothes back on while Jim stepped away. The pleasured look was gone from Martha's face, and replaced by one of abject terror.
"Well, it's a good thing it's your day today, isn't it, Martha dear. Your compulsions are getting out of control," Gertrude said quietly. Martha sat up and scooted until her back was against the wall. Her face was covered in bruises and her clothes almost completely off.
"No!" she cried, "No! Don't make me today! No!" Gertrude looked as though she was about to say something, but Dr. Wilbur stood in front of her and put a hand up.
"Now Martha, you want to be corrected, don't you?" he asked in a patronizing tone, bending down and beckoning to her as if she was a small animal. She pressed herself as hard as she could against the wall in an effort to get away. Tamaki felt his legs stand up on their own.
"Wait!" he cried out in Japanese, "What the hell is going on?" Gertrude snapped her fingers and Butch and Jim were on him in a second. He struggled to get free, his heart beating at a frenzied pace, but they were too strong. The other nurse came up to him. Francis looked away and Haruhi remained blank. The fat man looked even hungrier than before, his eyes traveling up and down Tamaki's struggling form.
"Hello," she said, smiling. Her blonde hair was tucked under a nurses cap and her face seemed a mask of makeup. "I'm Betty. Nice to meet you, Tamaki."
He struggled to back away when she grabbed his face with one hand. Her nails were very long and dug into his cheeks.
"Don't bother nurse Gertrude and Dr. Wilbur while they're working, ok?" she cooed. Tamaki felt tears leak out of his eyes as she squeezed harder. She released him, and he noticed that her nails were filed into sharp points. Gertrude snapped again and Tamaki was dropped to the floor, knocking his chair over. The two thugs went over and picked up Martha, who appeared to have fainted. The group left the room.
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
Kyouya steeled himself as he waited for someone to answer the door. The Suou Mansion was as impressive as ever, but now was not the time to be awed. He had information to collect. He had to clear Tamaki's name.
At last a voice came on over in the intercom by the huge doors.
"Please state your name and business," it said curtly. Kyouya smiled to himself. He had planted someone on the inside a week ago just for this purpose.
"Dr. Ootori Kyouya. I'm here on a house call for a diabetic patient who works as a maid here, Miss Wakamura Akane."
If Akane had carried out her part correctly, this visit would go without a hitch. Sure enough, the doors swung open and he was greeted by the girl herself.
Wakamura Akane was an eighteen year old diabetic who had worked part time as a maid in the Ootori household up until the murder of Tamaki's grandmother. In order to investigate the crime scene to clear his friend's name and rescue him from the foreign asylum, Kyouya needed someone on the inside whom he could visit regularly without arousing suspicion, and who was trustworthy and smart. Akane fit perfectly.
The two walked inside and up the stairs to her room, Kyouya looking around all the while and noting that without the Onibaba (his nickname for her meaning Demon-grandma) around the staff looked much more relaxed.
Once inside the room, Kyouya posed the question that had been bothering him since Tamaki's trial: "Where is Tamaki's father?" Akane shook her head, her black hair whipping around her.
"We haven't heard anything from him, and he took his personal maid staff with him on his trip. I'm afraid to press the issue too much, as that would look suspicious," she said, allowing him to check her insulin. If anyone were to come in, they had to look like doctor and patient.
"Anything important you can tell me?" he asked calmly. He had expected as much. Suou had known something bad was going to happen and so he fled. But how did he know?
"I found this while cleaning her room," Akane replied, pulling a small plastic bag of white powder from her pocket. Kyouya took it and examined it.
"It looks like cocaine," he said. Akane nodded.
"Additionally, it seems that a member of the cooking staff was fired two weeks prior to the murder. The reason was not given," she added. Kyouya rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"That could be important," he said, "please try to gather more information on that person so that we can track them down." She nodded obediently.
The doctor and patient time over, they left her room. Before they started walking downstairs, Kyouya stopped and put a hand on her arm. Akane felt her heart skip a beat.
"One more thing," he whispered, "Let me see her room."
Akane shook her head.
"No one is allowed to enter it unless they're cleaning it. If we were seen, it would be all over for us," she replied.
Kyouya let out a low growl of frustration. He had to find a way to examine it thoroughly. Akane showed him out and waved goodbye, her heart sinking with each of his steps.
"I'll be back next week," he called without turning around. His investigation had officially begun.
DM: Ok, so that's all for now. I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know what you think! Next Chapter: Freaky Francis.