Natsuki was strapped down onto a table before she could blink. She heard Shizuru's voice rambling rapidly to someone, and she heard the wheels squeaking on the ground. She was pushed into a room, where a blinding light shone on a brown chair. She was lifted up out off of the table and strapped down onto the chair with leather restraints. Natsuki's eyes shot open and she franticly searched the room for Shizuru. She was there, and she was holding a syringe. It was filled with yellowish liquid, and the needle smiled evilly at the girl with the bleeding eyes.
Shizuru took the needle and held Natsuki's head down. Struggling, Natsuki whined and moaned for her mother. The needle came closer to her, and Shizuru smiled warmly at Natsuki before she quickly pushed the needle directly under Natsuki's eye. This was repeated to her other eye, and Natsuki, after the pain from the needle subsided, felt her eyelids droop and close. She was still awake, but the muscles in her eye were unmoving, and she was numbed.
She felt Shizuru's presence near her head, but Natsuki couldn't reach her, for she was restrained. Shizuru took a wet rag and wiped the blood off of Natsuki's cheeks, putting a gauze pad over Nasuki's eyes, soaking up the blood.
"She's got a tumor in her eye, if we can remove it, she shouldn't be bleeding like that anymore. We'll use some medicine to stop the swelling, and then we'll have her take some pills to get her ready to remove the tumors."
Shizuru cracked her knuckles and crossed her arms over her chest, sighing deeply.
"She won't be able to see for a few days, will she?" Shizuru asked, looking down at the young girl strapped to the table.
"She will be blind for at least two days, but someone needs to make sure that she takes her medication." The doctor was tall, and she was emotionless, but she was smart none the less, so Natsuki would be in good care. After all, It was the doctor that lost her limbs in a fight with a gang and she was able to repair herself on her own. She was a cyborg, and she just had to plug her brain into a computer to learn the skills and trades of being a doctor.
Natsuki shook her head violently, so that the gauze pads would fall off of her face and onto the floor. She groaned and fought at the restraints, attempting to break them.
"Mama!" Natsuki yelled, making Shizuru push down on the bluenette's shoulders.
"Natsuki, you need to calm down, I don't want to sedate you completely." Shizuru said calmly.
Miyu took a vaccine full of red liquid from the medical cart and motioned for Shizuru to make sure Natsuki was completely secure. Miyu, after Natsuki was relaxed, quickly pushed the syringe into Natsuki's eyelid pushing the liquid into the infected area. This was repeated, and soon Natsuki's eyes were big and puffy, and she couldn't see a thing.
"Miyu, you said this would stop the swelling?" Shizuru asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"It will stop within the hour. I hope you can manage to take her to Yohko? I'll send her a message to get the medicine prescribed."
"She'll need an escort at all times."
"Take care of her then."
"I have work!"
"Shizuru Fujino, is able to take care, of, Natsuki." Miyu said with many pauses.
Shizuru sighed and undid the straps that held Natsuki captive. "Do you have a wheelchair?"
Miyu went into a small room and returned with a blue wheelchair. She motioned for Natsuki to be put into it, and Shizuru complied. Lifting Natsuki out of the leathered chair, she held the girl around the waist and put Natsuki into the wheelchair. Trying to get up, the bluenette screeched when Shizuru used a belt to strap Natsuki's backside into the chair.
Natsuki flailed her limbs around, reaching for Shizuru. She whined in agony as she began to feel the puffy-ness of her eyes. The puss squeezed out of the closed eyelids and Natsuki violently rubbed her sleeve over the irritated skin.
Shizuru quickly grabbed Natsuki's arms and pulled them down to the armrests on the wheelchair, and she had to restrain Natsuki again. Shizuru wiped the sweat from her forehead and took Natsuki's knees.
"You have to calm down. Natsuki, if you keep flailing you'll hurt yourself."
"If I may be of help, this may restrain her and make her more comfortable."
Shizuru looked to Miyu who was holding a pair of glasses that were designed to keep one from rubbing at the eyes. Taking the object, Shizuru strapped it around Natsuki's eyes and took the key to lock the object down. Then, she unhooked Natsuki's arms from the chair. Immediately, Natsuki yanked at the glasses, but they would not budge at all. Screaming, Natsuki reached out and grabbed for whatever she could get her hands on, in this case, she grabbed Shizuru.
"Off." Natsuki whispered, pulling herself closer to Shizuru's forehead.
Bending down, Shizuru took Natsuki's cheeks and caressed them gently. "You'll have them off in a few days, but you'll have to be good, okay?"
"Mama, mama..." natsuki murmured, allowing her arms to fall onto her knees.
Shizuru took the handlebars of the chair and waved to Miyu before pushing Natsuki out of the room.
"Natsuki, do you want to go outside?" Shizuru asked, noticing that the other patients from her wing of the institution were outside.
"We are in the basement, right?"
"Yes, we are. There's a door coming up, if you want to go outside, I'll take you out there with the other kids."
A ball was being thrown around outdoors, and Shizuru waved to Mai who saw her through the window. Midori saw that Natsuki was in the wheelchair, and she was curious, so she ran to the door and opened it for the doctor and Natsuki.
"Nice day out, isn't it?" Midori asked letting the door close after all of them were on the sidewalk that bordered the grass.
Natsuki was smiling, and she jumped up and down in her chair, pushing on the belt in excitement. Throwing her head back, the girl was able to gather all of the scents of the outdoors into her comfort.
"Outside! Outside!" Natsuki said loudly, earning a pat on the head from Shizuru.
"Do you like it, Natsuki?" Midori asked, unbuckling the belt that held Natsuki without Shizuru's permission.
Sometimes Midori thought of herself as a doctor, but she didn't get in trouble for it anymore. Shizuru didn't mind, but she motioned for midori to step back, seeing as Natsuki was starting to jump more violently.
"Natsuki, are you alright?"
"I want to play!" Natsuki answered, grabbing Shizuru's arms for support as she attempted to stand up.
Unfortunately, Natsuki tripped over the wheel chair, but she fell right down into Shizuru's strong arms.
"I fell." Natsuki giggled, slipping out of Shizuru's arms and onto the sidewalk. Franticly, Natsuki felt around until she caught the grass. She flung herself into it and rolled onto her back, feeling the sun beat down on her. "I can't see, 'Zuru."
"'Zuru? I've got a nickname now." Shizuru said, pushing the wheelchair to the side of the building. "Ara, Natsuki is very happy to be outside."
"I can't see."
"I know, but you'll see soon."
"Shizuru-chan!"
Looking up, Shizuru saw a turquoise haired girl holding a black spider stuffed animal in her hand.
"Tomoe, how are you?" Shizuru smiled, greeting the girl with a warm hug.
"I missed you! I wanted to talk to you this morning but you were talking with her," she looked to Natsuki, "and I didn't want to interrupt."
Shizuru picked Tomoe up to hold her, and happily, the girl wrapped her arms around the doctor's neck.
"I thank you for being so polite. I can talk to you now if you'd like, Midori can watch Natsuki."
Midori nodded, and went to sit next to Natsuki who was rolling on the ground like a puppy. Shizuru took this opportunity to take Tomoe to the bench next to the blacktop where everyone else was playing with Yukino and Mai. Sitting down, Shizuru cradled Tomoe like a baby.
"What would you like to talk about, hm?" Shizuru invited, taking Tomoe's spider and placing it on the girl's stomach.
Tomoe purred and hid her face in Shizuru's breast to escape the sun. Tomoe was a small girl, and she was Arika's age. She was a soft child, considering what had happened to her. She was raped, by a man who killed her mother and kidnapped her father. She was terrified of men nowadays, and she loved Shizuru so much that it hurt. She tried to not be so OCD about the doctor, but Shizuru had told her that she was to be whatever she wanted in the mental institution. She was happier in the asylum, and she had nowhere to go. Her aunt offered to take care of her, but the government deemed her unsafe for Tomoe. Miss Marguerite was about forty-six years old, and she lived in a small neighborhood, but she wasn't wealthy enough to take care of Tomoe. Her aunt was also having some troubles on her own, she was fighting cancer with therapy. Another outlet could be Tomoe's grandparents, but they were much to poor without medical expenses to take care of the child, so they only came to visit, but they visited a lot.
"I wanted to ask if we could have another fun night." Tomoe murmured, looking up into Shizuru's crimson red eyes.
"A fun-night? Well, we would have to see about that." Shizuru said.
A fun-night was, well, a fun night! They were always on Friday, and the room would be all decorated with party items and colorful lights, a pizza would be ordered, and the patients would be able to just relax and have fun. Music would be played, and then a movie would be put in after dinner. Each night they would have a theme, but the universal motif would be Disney. So, one night would be Pixar, one would be Disney Princesses, and maybe one would be Disney most exciting part of the night would be that the patients didn't have to go into their rooms for the night, they would be able to have a "sleepover" with each other. The fun-nights included the staff too, so that Shizuru and Yukino would have to participate in the whole thing as well.
Tomoe blushed and held Shizuru tighter, saying, "We all would like to have one..."
"Well I don't see why we couldn't have one, but, you will all have to do a good job when you take the Weekly Evaluation Test." Shizuru said.
The W. E. T. was a test to see how the patients were doing at the asylum. The tests would be submitted to a board of executives who would send out emails and update's to the parents of the patients, and they would also give the doctor's some feedback and sometimes even a raise if they were doing a good job.
"But, that takes forever!"
"Well, honey, it has to be taken, so why not have something fun to look forward to at the end?"
"I guess you're right..."
Tomoe's face drooped, and she was quickly pulled back into Shizuru's grasp.
"Come now! Tomoe, you always do a good job on the test!" Shizuru cheered, making Tomoe giggle in happiness.
"Whose the new girl?" Tomoe asked, changing the mood.
"Her name is Natsuki Kuga."
"What's she like?"
Shizuru sighed and set Tomoe down in the grass, placing the black spider on her head.
"She's abrupt, and she needs some friends. You will be her friend for me, ne?"
Tomoe nodded with hesitancy. "Has she been diagnosed yet?"
"Not yet, I plan to do that after dinner."
Shizuru looked up to see that Midori had gotten Natsuki to get off the ground. They were now on the blacktop, and they were sitting on the ground rolling a blue basketball back and forth to each other. Arika was hanging over them, curious as always. In the distance, Haruka and Yukino were playing catch with each other. Nao was sitting in the grass with her head pressed against the fence that enclosed the patients into the asylum. Mai was sitting next to her, but they weren't talking, they were just observing what was around them.
"Tomoe, how about you go and play with Natsuki, hm? You can get to know each other."
"But...what about you?"
"I've got to go get Natsuki's medicine, but I'll come back, okay?"
"Yes, Shizuru-chan."
...
"Natsuki's mother was called, she's coming in today to see if Natsuki is alright."
"But her mother dropped her off only yesterday!"
"Shizuru, her eyes were bleeding, it is our duty to notify the parents."
Shizuru shook her head, saying, "I know, but this will be hard for Natsuki's health."
"Oh, anyway, I need to have you talk with the mother, seeing as you were the one with Natsuki the entire time."
"Ugh, alright. Saeko Kuga?"
"Yes, that's her name."
"Natsuki, you have a visitor."
It was Shizuru's voice from outside of the bluenette's bedroom. Natsuki sat up from the floor and put her puppy back in the toy bin. When the door opened, Natsuki crawled up onto the bed. Shizuru walked in and sat on a chair she had brought in earlier that day, but the other woman sat on the bed and pulled Natsuki into her grasp. The door was shut, and Natsuki smelled familiar scents from the woman holding her.
"Mama!" Natsuki exclaimed, wrapping her arms tightly around the woman. "'Zuru! 'Zuru this is mama!"
Shizuru smiled and watched the two hug each other. She gave them a moment, before she started speaking. "I'm sure you are aware of the situation, Mrs. Kuga?"
"Yes, I heard, is this contraption," she touched the glasses on her daughter, "stopping her from making it worse?"
"It is, and in a few days we will take it off, then we will remove the tumor."
"Mama!"
"Yes, Natsuki?"
"Can we go home now?"
Silence. Natsuki waited in anticipation for the answer, but no one answered her. The look on Saeko's face became saddened.
"Natsuki, we'll go home when you're better, okay?"
"I want mama now." Natsuki murmured.
"Can she see, Shizuru-san?"
"Not at the moment, in a few minutes she should be able too."
Saeko pulled Natsuki into her lap. "I've got something that may help you. She is your patient, right?"
"Yes, she is my patient."
Saeko reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a bag of little candies. "She loves these. If she's ever bad, just give her one."
"I will, Saeko-san." Shizuru took the bag and clipped it to her clipboard that held Natsuki's information.
Natsuki tried to cry, but her eyes were shut so hard it was impossible. She didn't know that her mother would come and see her again, and she figured that she was going to be left here alone. Natsuki began to moan in pain, and she fell out of her mother's lap and onto the floor.
Saeko gasped and went to tend to her daughter, but Shizuru held up a hand to stop her, saying, "She is dealing with the pain in her own way, if you coddle her, she will never learn."
Shizuru turned to look at Natsuki who crawled into a fetal position, whining deeply.
"I should go, if there's nothing more I can learn from you, but, do you know the names of the medication she will be taking?" Saeko asked, gathering her things.
"Ah, yes. She will be taking morphine, and chemotherapy."
"Alright then, I'll come see her in a few days, please, take good care of my Natsuki, you can't even begin to imagine how hard it was to send her here."
"I understand, Mrs. Kuga. I will take good care of her."
...
Natsuki had to be locked in her room until dinner. Right after her mother left she became very frantic. She tried to climb out of the window, she punched and kicked at the door, and she nearly harmed Shizuru in the process. The media center had to be shut down, and the other patients were moved into the cafeteria for the rest of the day because of Natsuki's screaming.
Shizuru had gotten Natsuki's medicine, but she let the girl try to calm down before she was to give Natsuki the medicine. After a long hour, Natsuki had calmed herself and the screaming was now just little whimpers. The rabbit's foot and the little puppy animal were on the bed, and Natsuki held them close to herself in attempt to feel her mother's presence.
Eventually, it was about time for dinner, but instead of going right to the cafeteria, Shizuru went to get Natsuki. She would always eat dinner with her patients, but during breakfast and lunch she was always busy with work. She knocked before unlocking Natsuki's room, and when she opened the door, Natsuki was on her bed, huddled in the corner.
"Natsuki, do you feel better?" Shizuru asked, sitting down on the bed.
Natsuki looked up to her doctor, nodded, and turned away. She could see clearly now, for the medicine that Miyu gave her was finally working. Her cheeks were a bit puffy from screaming, and her hair was messed up from rolling around on the floor.
"Dinner is ready, if you want it." Shizuru offered.
Natsuki was dormant.
"You want to eat?"
"Mama..."
Shizuru sighed and scooted closer to Natsuki. She wrapped her arm around Natsuki's waist and pulled her into a hug. "You're mama will come see you soon. I promise. I also made a promise to her that I would take care of you, and, I can only take care of you if you let me."
"Mama wants you too?"
"Yes, she does."
"Okay."
...
"I wanna sit with you!"
"I wanna sit with her!"
Shizuru set her tray on the table and sat down next to Yukino. Arika and Tomoe were pushing at each other, fighting over who got to sit by Shizuru.
"Tomoe, you sat next to me yesterday, how about you give Arika a turn?"
Tomoe frowned, but nodded, moving out of the way for Arika to slam her tray on the counter and sit down. She grabbed Shizuru's arm rather abruptly and nuzzled her cheek on the blonde's shoulder.
Yukino was busy speaking with Haruka, and Midori was with Mai, playing chess while they waited for their food. Nao was sitting at the end of the table, while Natsuki was on her knees at the food window.
She as amazed at the cooks, seeing that they would flip pizza in the air and sizzle burgers on the grill. Shizuru had ordered her a chicken wrap, and Natsuki was waiting for it at the moment.
"Here you go, kiddo." said a man dressed in white.
He handed her the plate, and Natsuki rested her chin on the counter.
"Do you need anything else?"
Natsuki nodded, saying, "Thank you."
She took the plate and began to scoot across the floor on her knees. When she was close enough to touch her doctor, she stood and cocked her head to the right, seeing as there wasn't any room for her. Shizuru noticed this, and prepared for another fight, but she was completely shocked when the bluenette sat on the floor, nearly under the table, and rubbed her cheek on Shizuru's thigh. There, Natsuki began to eat.
Shizuru smiled warmly, and continued to sip her tea, but a tap on her knee interrupted her. She looked down to see Natsuki holding a fork up to her. Shizuru chuckled and said, "I don't need that, if you're done with it, go put it in the water bin."
Natsuki fidgeted and waved the fork around, extending her hand even closer to Shizuru. "I want 'Zuru to have it."
"Oh," Shizuru said, smiling weakly, taking the fork from Natsuki. "Thank you."
Natsuki smiled and circled her arms around Shizuru's leg, squeezing the doctor lovingly. Shizuru turned back to her tea and noticed that Tomoe was looking like she was going to explode.
"Tomoe?" Shizuru called, holding out her hand for the young girl.
Tomoe took it, surprised when Shizuru pulled her into her lap. Shizuru kissed Tomoe's forehead and brushed her thumb over the girl's cheek. Natsuki was soon in the middle of the confrontation. She was smiling, and she decided to poke her head up through Tomoe's and Shizuru's legs.
"Natsuki, that's not very appropriate." Shizuru informed, lifting an eyebrow at the girl.
Tomoe buried her head in the crook of Shizuru's neck. She felt uncomfortable but she didn't want to leave Shizuru's embrace. Natsuki was being rather intruding: she was sniffing Tomoe's inner thigh, moving up to the girl's belly button where the bluenette decided that she would poke Tomoe in the little place where she was once connected to her mother.
Tomoe yelped at the sudden touch, and whacked Natsuki upside the face. She then twisted and jerked out of Shizuru's lap to run over to Mai and Midori who were too busy to notice what was going on. The fray happened quickly, and Shizuru was a bit stunned from the situation until she lost the feeling of Natsuki's presence and heard stifling cries from under the table.
"What is going on?" Yukino interjected, turning away from a confused Haruka.
Shizuru ignored Yukino to look under the table at the girl curled in a ball. Natsuki was crying, and the slap from Tomoe had left a large red mark all the way up to the glasses that held Natsuki's eyes captive. Shizuru noticed quickly that the tears would soon flood Natsuki's eyes. Swiftly, Shizuru had pulled Natsuki out from under the table and reached into her pocket for the key to Natsuki's glasses, unlocking them. Shizuru grabbed the back of the contraption and whipped it off of the crying girl. Natsuki's skin was red from the pressure of the glasses, but her eyes seemed better. Tears ran over the child's cheeks, and Shizuru pulled Natsuki into a deep hug.
"Natsuki, you can't do that to other people." Shizuru said reassuringly.
Natsuki latched onto Shizuru's business coat and cried pools of liquid over her doctor's lap.
"It hurts, it hurts!" Natsuki shouted, rubbing the hurt area on Shizuru's stomach.
"I know, I know. Here, let's get you cleaned up okay?" Shizuru took a clean napkin from the center of the table and cleared the tears away from Natsuki bruised face.
"I think it's time for bed, Natsuki. Do you want me to tuck you in?"
Nodding, Natsuki clinged to Shizuru as the woman stood. Together, they walked back through the hallway and into the patient's area. Reaching into her pocket, Shizuru still had the pills that Natsuki was to take, and she had to give them to the girl before she was asleep.
Gently, Shizuru pulled Natsuki into her room and shut the door. Sitting on the bed with the distressed girl, Shizuru pulled out the pills and leaned over to set them on the sink next to the metal door. She returned to Natsuki, who was now breathing hard but stopped crying.
"Can you do something for me?"
Natsuki nodded.
"You see those little capsules on your sink? Will you take them for me?"
Natsuki crawled over to the area to investigate. Picking one of the pills up with her thumb and forefinger, Natsuki flicked it with her tongue and hissed in disgust. She put the pill back and curled back up to Shizuru who sighed deeply.
"Natsuki, I'll give you a treat if you eat them?"
"Huh?"
Shizuru reached into her other pocket and pulled out the baggie full of treats that Mrs. Kuga had given her. She enjoyed the wide-eyed look on Natsuki's face as the treats were jostled in the plastic before her.
Quickly, Natsuki grabbed the pills and shoved them into her mouth, not realizing that she needed water. Natsuki swallowed the pills whole, choked a little, and sat on the floor like a dog.
"Next time, drink some water first." Shizuru ordered, handing a pink square of candy to Natsuki.
Natsuki lapped it up out of Shizuru's hand and jumped on the bed, sucking on it to gather the flavor.
Shizuru sealed the bag back up and slipped it back into her pocket, satisfied at her new patient. She stood which alarmed Natsuki, but she only took the blanket that Natsuki had disregarded off of the floor and draped it over the girl.
"Good night, Natsuki." Shizuru stated, turning to the door.
Stopped by a whimper from Natsuki, Shizuru turned back around to see the girl with open arms, whining.
"I have to go to sleep too, you know."
Shizuru returned back to the bed where she pulled Natsuki into a cradled embrace. She began to rock the girl back and forth like a newly made mother would. Natsuki purred and closed her eyes. She felt safe in Shizuru's arms, and surprisingly, the thoughts of Saeko Kuga vanished from her memory for once.
After about a quarter of an hour, Shizuru was sure that Natsuki was asleep, so she gently lay Natsuki back onto the bed and covered her once more. She also reached into the bin and pulled out the stuffed dog, placing it in the crook of Natsuki's neck. Taking one last look at the bluenette, Shizuru turned out the light and left the room, making sure to lock the door behind her.