It's been two weeks since Godou and his sister found the man and talked to the police. He still hasn't woken up and the police have no leads on who he was or what happened to him. Their best guess for why he doesn't seem to exist is that he's been a captive of some criminal element and just escaped. Judging by the number of blade wounds he had Godou believed it to be a near thing.
No one has come forward claiming to know him so he's officially become a ward of the state until he either wakes up or someone claims him. Shizuka had, had nightmares for a few days after that day but thanks to her brother's and grandpa's efforts she was able to cope with what she saw. However, once she got over them she asked about his status and when I told him he apparently didn't have any family she all but demanded we visit him every day.
Godou didn't mind, in fact he would probably have taken the initiate to visit himself at some point as he felt sympathy for the teen who appeared to be near his age. He wanted to talk to him and help him deal with what happened but that leads back to the original detail, he still hasn't woken up.
If Godou thought about it he wasn't very surprised after he had learned just how badly injured, he was. The doctors had, had to operate him for twenty hours straight and it was nothing short of a miracle that he survived. Apparently his heart and lungs had been damaged, curtesy of the wound Godou had first noticed, in addition to a large number of broken bones, head trauma, organ damage and blood loss. By rights he should have died long before I found him but he had somehow grabbed life with a death grip and refused to let go. It also helped that he had near superhuman levels of regeneration, something the doctors still don't know the cause of.
Still, the operation was successful and while it was unsure how well he would heal they were optimistic at his chances of recovery. They would be extremely doubtful of his chances to regain full range of movement with his body if not for his aforementioned recovery rate. While it seemed to be gradually slowing down and weakening it has helped him recover a lot better than anticipated.
The only curiosity is the reason for his apparent coma, something the doctors were sure had nothing to do with his injuries. Godou mulled over the information as he came up with more possible explanations for both his injuries and coma, something he had taken to doing while he watched over his sister. Shizuka had taken to talking to the strange youth about her days during the visits as she believed it would help him wake up quicker. Her brother wasn't so sure but since it didn't hurt and frankly didn't matter he just watched on she recapped her visit with her friends.
It was currently their break from school before their new year started and his sister had spent it with her friends as she did every year. Godou was happy that she had such good friends but it was a bit tiresome to hear her talk about them all the time, especially when it was the 2nd or 3rd time he's heard the tale.
It was just as his sister took a breath to continue telling them how they had met this funny afro guy at the mall who had apparently been a mime (something that greatly confused him) that the man started to stir. This naturally caught both their attention and Godou wasted no time calling for both a doctor and the police officer in charge of the case. Seeing the doctor franticly rush to the room while the officer walked at a much more sedate pace he went back inside the room. The first thing he noticed was the boy was now completely awake, although he apparently wasn't trying to sit up. The second thing he noticed was the boy's eyes…they were completely dead.
Not the kind of dead that people who were controlling/suppressing their emotions but the kind of dead that a corpse might have. There was absolutely nothing shown in either his blank gaze or impassive face. He didn't look surprised to be in the hospital or even alive, nor did he look panicked at waking up somewhere unknown. He simply looked empty.
Godou was shaken from his appraisal as the doctor hustled in and started going over and checking his physical state. Despite all the poking and prodding he continued to lie there, silent and unmoving…empty, and it both scared him and made him sad. The officer had entered the room sometime in the middle of the checks and quietly observed him. Although judging from the subtle tightening of his brow and knuckles Godou realized he must have made similar observations about the teen.
It was only when the doctor tried, and failed, to get his patient to describe how he was feeling that the officer acted.
He cleared his throat before saying "Doctor, I know you want to make sure your patient is completely fine but the sooner I can ask my questions the sooner we can possibly find out what happened to him. And the sooner we can make the pay."
The last sentence was said so quietly that Godou half believed he imagined it. The doctor looked a bit put out but he did nothing more than give a curt nod before backing away from his patient and leaving the room. The officer gave a shallow nod of thanks before turning his attention back on the youth, who had continued to state impassively into space, giving no reaction that he had noticed anything happen.
"Now, I know you just woke up so I'll try to keep my questions brief. First off what is your name? and do you know who did this to you?"
As soon as the words left the officers mouth the first sign of life in the boy appeared, and it was painful to see. His facial expression didn't change but his eyes…they filled with an amount of agony and sorrow that it made the occupants of the room catch their breath. It also caused Shizuka to start crying softly and reach for her brother's hand in search for comfort.
The boy didn't speak for a few minutes and the officer was about to repeat his questions before the he finally got a response.
"Ichigo." He whispered, the name was laced with so much pain, guilt, sadness and self-loathing it was like he hated it with every fiber of his being.
The officer swallowed dryly as he processed the maelstrom of emotion before he responded with a halfhearted attempt to lighten the mode, something he knew was bound to fail.
"Strawberry huh? Got a last name?"
If this was the Ichigo of the past, he would have immediately felt aggrieved at the common misconception of his name and responded angrily. Now however he did nothing, willingly letting the misconception stand as he no longer felt anything but guilt and loathing of the real meaning of his name.
"No." was his quiet answer and it was true…he no longer had any family and certainly didn't want to use his last name…It was just one more reminder of his pain and failure.
The officer frowned lightly, lips pressed into a tight line, at the answer. He sounded sincere but there was pain in that response, something he'd have to look into.
"Do you know who did this to you?"
Ichigo just lied there silently for a minute before he answered with another quiet "No."
As much as it hurt even thinking about his friends in family, let alone his last memories of them, he couldn't get them in trouble. Although a rather large portion of himself did wish to hurt them but it was at war with his past feelings. All of this combined with the agony of knowing what had been stolen from him couldn't be brought back and the hatred he felt for them not being able to fight it. His emotions were in turmoil and the conflict was tearing at his mind but he continued to wear a blank expression as he stared into space.
The police officer obviously didn't completely buy it but he didn't press him and knowing it was unlikely that he would get more out of him. He just sighed and said he'd come back at a later date when he was feeling better. Something that Ichigo would have scoffed at if he wasn't currently tearing himself apart from the inside.
It was at this point that Shizuka gave a tentative greeting making her presence known, which drew his attention to her for the first time and it hurt. She was about the same age as his sisters and despite having no real similarities to them reminded him of them. And the agony that the reminder brought drowned out the rest of his conflicting emotions as his body started to shake. He was on the verge of a breakdown and quickly started hyper-ventilating,
Godou seeing this grabbed his sister and made to exit giving a few parting words before leaving the room.
"We were the ones that found you, and will probably come visit you again sometime. Get better soon, and for what it's worth I'm sorry for whatever happened to you."
Godou wasn't particularly proud of his words as they sounded awkward and strained but he wanted to at least get them out of the way. Unfortunately, his words were the last straw for Ichigo and he finally broke. Godou and his sister left with the noise of a man crying in anguish trailing at their feet. He quickened his pace, dragging his sister along with him, as the doctor and a few nurses starting rushing towards Ichigo's room.
-Later that night-
Ichigo stared out through his window at the moon, drawing a miniscule amount of comfort from its light. He absent-mindedly held his substitute badge tighter, although in anger or for comfort not even he knew. According to the doctors they needed two nurses to pry it out of his hand before they operated on him.
Ichigo hadn't tried activating his Fullbring yet, for a few reasons but the most important was that he wasn't sure he wanted to. He had nothing left to fight for, nothing left to protect…and his badge was just a painful reminder of why. So he continued to hold it tightly as he stared at the moon, his mind no longer in agony, he simply felt empty.
After his breakdown, which he didn't know how long it lasted, the doctors told him about his injuries. Apparently he was going to have a lot of scars, the mostly notable being the one from his father's last attack. The memory the thought brought up once more filling his mind with despair as he subconsciously brought his other hand up to lightly touch the wound.
They had also said it was possible he'd have trouble moving in the future, something that would have been a certainty if not for his apparently freakish regeneration rate. Although that had been slowing down every day, growing weaker and weaker, something that he didn't know what to make of.
His mind turned towards thoughts of his visitors, who according to the doctors have been visiting almost every day since he was brought here. If the girl didn't remind him of his sisters and their visits bring back memories of why he had no one else come, he would have appreciated it. As it was the thought of them, and their past and future visits, did was bring him more pain.
Currently he was contemplating whether or not he even wanted to keep living. He had nothing and no one left to live for after all. He knew he shouldn't think like that but the pain he was in easily overpowered that part of his brain. He would have sought advice from someone but he had no one he trusted to turn to. Even his spirits were nowhere to be found, something while not too surprising only left him feeling very alone and vulnerable.
He had tried attempting Jinzen with his badge, since he thought that his Shinigami powers (or what was left of them) had merged with it and thus would be similar to a Zanpakutō. Apparently that was not that case, that or he no longer had them. The thought caused even more pain to run through his mind as he believed it to be possible. After all his friends and family had abandoned him, so it only made since that they would as well.
So Ichigo continued to sit there, staring at the moon as he contemplated his future and whether he even wanted to live through it. All the while tears continued to fall down his face, unnoticed, as his body quietly reacted to the pain his very soul was feeling.
AN: And that's the end of the chapter. There's probably not going to be any action the next chapter either so I hope you don't mind all the emotional stuff. No promises that the feel train will ever stop though. Anyways thanks so much for the positive reviews you've given me, motivated me to get this chapter out today. Thanks for reading.
-Ren
