Isono was checking his hair for gray in the reflective surface of the table top when the doctor came for him. The man's reflection had surged out of nowhere and Isono caught preening, had jumped like a teenager caught with porn. The doctor didn't laugh or reassure him. He just said that Isono could visit now. The walk to the ICU was long. Nurses darted by with places to be. A doctor surged past them and into the stairwell. Isono's heart was racing. People died here. People were dying here.And the doctor wasn't smiling.
"How was the surgery?" asked Isono unable to just hear their feet anymore. It was so far away, why weren't they running?
The doctor stopped and then looked at him steadily.
" We were able to remove the tumor but it was uneven and it seems to have caused cysts that are just too deep for us to go after surgically. His brain swelled during the procedure and he's on some powerful medications now. But the cysts are in places that are…not optimal. We'll have to watch their growth very carefully. But we've done what we can do now. He's comfortable."
Not optimal. Isono's brain was skipping like a record. Not optimal. Seto said that just the other day about a CEO suicide in America. Not optimal. God.
"When will he be up and about?"
The doctor looked at him steadily now and Isono realized why he hadn't really met his eyes before. This was not a recovery. This was a death knell.
"We'll try to shrink the cysts but as they seemed to come from the tumor itself, its unlikely we can shrink them. They will continue to cause bleeding and swelling. His seizures will increase. He has maybe a year."
Isono thought he said the next part well but he actually just stuttered, " B-biopsy?"
" Too deep in the tissue" the doctor said softly. "We've contacted Dr. Helena from Princeton, she should be here in a few weeks. She's one of the world's leading research oncologists. I wouldn't give up hope just yet. But there may be no cure. Or no way of reaching the cysts. Not even nano technology can penetrate the gray matter safely."
Isono was going to throw up. He'd run over a man a month ago doing his job and now he was going to throw up. He eventually didn't but he had to lean over and grab his knees and breathe.
" In his situation, the usual policy of visiting hours will be suspended for you."
Breathe.
" When you see him try to refrain from telling him just yet. He might panic and hurt himself in his delirium."
Breathe. He's still alive you fool, Isono thought. He's waiting for you.
Isono straightened his back and started forward, the doctor had to trot to retake the lead. At the back of the ICU, in a room alone, was Kaiba.
The first thing Isono noticed were the angry red welts along the crown of his forehead. They were yellowed with iodine and pin pricked. And he was connected, by the side of his skull, to some sort of horrible machine, that looked like it belonged in a James Cameron movie.
"We performed a Ventriculostomy after Oxygen Therapy failed. It can be removed soon, his respiration and pressure are already much better" The Doctor said. Isono couldn't hear him. His own pressure was skyrocketing. This young man would die in a place like this, seize until he stroked out.
The doctor said some sort of excusing phrase, put a hand on his shoulder and left. Isono sank into the chair. It was comfortable. His brain was traitor for getting distracted by his ass.
Kaiba eyelids twitched in his sleep and he made a soft noise of pain. Isono wanted to brush back his hair. But manmade bee stings littered his forehead. So Isono took a spidery hand in his own. This would have been a good time to weep. But he didn't. He just rested his head on the soft edge of the bed and rubbed the carpal tunnel joints of that thin hand until he couldn't think of anything but wheelchairs and bedpans. He thought of entering that bedroom room and not hearing click clacking or someone cursing in German or someone sneaking around at night pretending he wasn't drinking more coffee at 4 am. Isono needed a good wracking cry but instead he just leaked into the witching hours.