Foreword: Crap. It took me forever to write this, because I've been working on my actual book. I'm hoping to get it out before the end of this school year. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: Well… In case you are picky, I'll say it again. I don't own s-CRY-ed and I don't own any of the characters. Any original stuff, however, I do own.
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Rough Cut
"We need to biopsy it. Now that the lump has sunk back into his body, we have no way of examining the material. We have to biopsy it." Mimori looked down at the cleansed body of Kazuma the Shell Bullet. He seemed to be paler in complexion than usual, and his mahogany hair hung limp and dull, coated in a fine film of grease, since it hadn't been washed in a few days.
Hooked up to a respirator, and an IV needle, Kazuma was receiving his nourishment in liquid form as it slowly pushed its way into the man's bloodstream. His chest heaved up and down, still making it seem as though he was struggling to breath, even though he was hooked up to a respirator. The man's eyes were completely shut, hiding the precious, golden irises that he had. Kazuma's mouth was semi-open, and the tube down his throat coupled with the oxygen mask on his face gave the Alter User a frail appearance.
"Er…" The doctor readjusted her glasses and shifted position, tearing her eyes away from her friend. She felt a pang of sadness sting her heart as she thought of how he would react to being so helpless. She coughed and continued speaking to the congregation of other doctors gathered around her. "Since he's still in a comatose state, I think it's safe to simply do the biopsy procedure here. It would be less of a hassle to sterilize this room than it would be to completely move the patient in the state he's in."
The eerie suction of the respirator rang out in the now silent room, greedily sucking in oxygen, and releasing carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere. Kazuma's whole body heaved as air was pumped into his body, and was subsequently extracted. He was limp and unmoving, as though he had always been that way and always would be.
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The large probe glinted maliciously in the bright, fluorescent lights. The pointed end, specifically designed for tearing samples from human flesh, seemed to be anxiously waiting for its turn to be used.
Unflinching, and undaunted, Kazuma remained completely still. The fact that he was in a medically induced coma definitely helped, for the man had a terrible phobia of needles and syringes.
Mimori stood with her arms folded, carefully watching Kazuma for some sort of sign of movement, despite the fact that she knew there wouldn't be any. She sighed, admonishing herself for being naïve. 'Of course he's not going to move. He's in a coma, even though it's medically induced.' She was alone in the room, because the other doctors all had filled schedules, and couldn't take the time out to bother with Kazuma.
Placing her hands on the probe, she deftly placed it over the blackened flesh, which looked as though it was bruised. Cool steel gently pressed against warm flesh, and slowly began to pierce through. Blood calmly bubbled to the surface, covering the tanned skin of Kazuma in its scarlet residue.
Since, according to their tests, the foreign substance was just under the skin, and right above the muscle, it would be easy to extract a sample of the matter. The only problem was all of the blood. Since Kazuma had been frequently been losing massive quantities of blood in a very short period, Mimori was unsure how much longer his body could take that kind of abuse.
The pointed probe tore into the center of the metallic, yet oddly fleshy lump within Kazuma. The bespectacled doctor clicked a button on the side of the syringe-esque apparatus, and listened as the sickening squelch of the suction made Mimori cringe as she watched the specimen slip through a tube and be spat out onto a Petri dish. 'That noise gets me every time… Now, let's take a look at the results of the biopsy.'
Slipping the glasses up, and resting them on her forehead, she glanced through the microscope, trying to examine the sample. As her eyes darted back and forth, she suddenly lost all view of the chunk of material. Pulling away from the microscope, she was barely in time to see that a green mist had begun to dissipate from where the tiny piece of black flesh had been in the dish.
"Oh my!" she vocalized, quickly jotting things down on a pad of paper. "I have to tell Kazuma about this…"
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Everything slowly came into focus. He could see her deep brown eyes staring down at him in concern. His voice was hoarse and raspy as he spoke up to the woman, "What the hell? I feel like I got hit by a train then stabbed by a damn chopstick."
"That's probably-" As she realized what he said, she did a double take, "Wait… What?" Mimori was utterly confused as to the random comment made by her friend. Of all the things to choose… "Why a chopstick?"
"Chopsticks are blunt! They hurt like a bitch when you get nailed by one." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The pain in his body didn't even seem to be affecting him one bit, although his speech was a little muffled by the oxygen mask he had placed over his face. Reaching up carefully, he yanked it off with a slight grin, "Damn thing was startin' to bug me." Starting in a trickle, it slowly grew into a flood, as his laughter rang out in the room. Not even the piercing pain ravaging his body would hold it in.
After a few moments of indulging, and even joining in on Kazuma's infectious chuckling, the doctor finally placed her hand on his chest, and calmly, yet firmly said, "Stop. That's enough, Kazuma. I have… news for you… You should hear this."
"Yeah, yeah… Okay, I'm done laughin'." He repositioned himself with his left arm, still conscious of his stitches in the other one. He sat up against the back of the hospital bed, and tried to keep a straight face.
He failed.
Every time he thought he could keep his composure, a large smile cracked on his face, and he found himself grinning stupidly at Mimori.
His constant smirking was starting to get on her nerves, and she folded her arms in a huff, and scowled at him. "Will you stop that! I'm trying to tell you something important! What's got you smiling all of the sudden?"
"I have no idea. It's just happening…" He couldn't repress the grin coming to his face, and he simply said, "Just seeing you makes me want to smile. I don't know anything about you, except that your name is Mimori Kiryuu, and that you're a doctor, but I just can't help it. It's like one of those crazy impulses, you know?"
"Kazuma… I'm going to have to ask you something very hard… It shouldn't be taken lightly… and it's not something to smile about." She wearily slid down into the chair next to Kazuma, and readjusted her clothing, along with her long, white, lab coat, making sure that she was completely covered. It was a completely unconscious move, but it happened nonetheless. She had just formed a habit over the years of always being overdressed, and had never been able to shake it.
"What? Cold or something?" He still had a massive grin plastered on his face. Mimori had never seen him like this. He usually never smiled, more or less grinning so broadly. He was just simply grinning moronically, with a gleam in his eyes. All the layers of his troubled past had been stripped away. Maybe it was for the better…
"N-No! I just… well… Er- Never mind that," folding her arms across her chest, she sulked, and attempted to portray the seriousness of the situation. "Look! Just listen, will you? I… I need to have your consent for this… I want to perform a surgery on you. It's go-"
"Another one! Jesus! By the time you guys are done with me, my entire body'll be a scar!" The man lapsed into silence, and the smile was replaced by a grave and thoughtful look. He sat still, his labored and heavy breathing hitting like a drum in the otherwise silent room. "Gimme one sec… I gotta thing about this whole thing… this screwed up situation I'm stuck in… I gotta think about me… and even you. Do I trust you enough to put me under the knife again?"
Mimori simply put an arm around him, and slowly it developed into a hug. "You can trust me, Kazuma… I will make sure that you come out of this okay. Just… You just have to trust me on this one." She was completely baffled at her own actions. As a doctor, she shouldn't have done something like that. There were countless things that could have gone wrong, and each could have been potentially fatal. Mimori didn't know why she had felt such a strong compulsion to simply hug Kazuma, but nonetheless, it happened.
His face was pressed against her shoulder, and he held onto her tightly as he sobbed into her shoulder, "I'm just… I'm actually kinda scared. I'm in some place I don't even know, surrounded by people I don't know, and I can't remember anything! I only know your name… I don't know… I'm just… It's all too much for me."
'I've never seen him like this… He's a wreck… complete and total wreck. What can I do? What can I do…?' Mimori frowned and simply stood still, keeping the amnesiatic man within her embrace. She could feel something deep within her. It was almost a need to keep him close… to keep him safe. Something about him had just made her take an instant affinity to him. As a doctor, Mimori was good at rationalizing her feelings, even if she knew that deep down, she was only deluding herself.
"Kazuma… Let's just… talk. So you can get to know me better… I understand that it'll be somewhat uncomfortable, but I really think that you should get to know me a little bit better. We were…" Mimori paused and a blush began to creep up her cheeks as she said, "… close."
He wiped away his tears and sat back once again. He could see the sense in what she was saying. After all… if she was the only name he could remember, she must have been important.
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Ryuho watched in disgust as Mimori held Kazuma in her arms. He was fuming and his normally cold façade had finally shown some emotion. By simply looking at him, a person could tell that he was livid. His fist was clenching and unclenching as he stared through the one-way glass into the patient ward. He stalked away, feeling repulsed at the sight of Mimori with Kazuma. "Damn… Kazuma… I won't let him touch Mimori again! He'll regret it… I don't buy any of that amnesia crap… He's up to something."
The new commander of HOLY plopped into his chair in his office, brooding. He propped his forehead up on his palm, staring at his desk with ice cold rage. "I want him out… I want him to just leave. He should be back where ever losers like him live… Why is he a constant plague in my life! Just when I thought I could finally settle down… perhaps with… but he has to show up!"
"I absolutely forbid it. Why is such a dangerous man allowed to simply come here? He, as shown in the past, obviously has no regard for other people… I could lock him up… I could lock him up, and throw away the key…" The teal haired man seemed to repeat the same phrase over and over again, like a maniac. A devious plan was formulating within his mind.
It was easily shot down. "Damn… He's too strong to simply put into prison, like the rest of the rabble. But what if I could… What if I could just get him to leave, and Mimori to stay? That would work… It would work very well…"
He sat, slouched in his chair with his hands folded in front of his face, as he sported a cunning and impudent grin. "Yes… I must carefully bait my trap, because I only have one chance to get it right."
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"So… I'm some powerful badass or somethin'?"
"Er… If that's how you want to put it, then yes. You are even stronger than Ryuho. You remember, the teal haired man from earlier." Mimori was quickly seeing the old Kazuma manifest himself within his body, even though he had less of an arrogant attitude.
"Heh, I was wonderin' what had his shorts in a bunch." Shrugging, Kazuma grinned, apparently pleased with himself. "Figures that an ass whoopin' would do it."
Mimori seemed to space out and she arbitrarily said, "I wonder how Kanami is doing… She seemed upset over the whole ordeal when we left. It must have really scared her. I hope she's been doing fine with the neighbors."
"Kanami? You mean that little girl you were talkin' about? You said somethin' like you an' me livin' with her, right?" Kazuma was lying back in the hospital bed, propped up by a few pillows, so that he could see Mimori. Even though he had no idea who this 'Kanami' was, he could still feel an innate concern for her safety. 'Just who was she to me?'
Mimori stood up and checked all of the readings on the myriad of machines that were hooked up to him. "Yes… Kanami is like a little sister to you. You've been looking out for her for a few years." She sighed in relief as everything checked out as normal, and she made sure that the IV was still in his arm. Noting that his breathing was still ragged and labored, she sat back down.
He sat quiet and still for a few moments, just thinking about the little girl and what he should do. "Just… I don't want to see her. I don't want to let her down by not rememberin' anything… It's best if she just stays away for a little bit." Again, their conversation lapsed into silence, and Kazuma closed his eyes, breathing as deeply as he could. The breath came back out all at once, like an explosion.
"Mimori… Go ahead…"
She looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant.
"Cut this thing out of me."
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Author's Notes: Took a while to get this out, but that's because I've been working on other projects. Sorry guys. I'll update, albeit it will be loads slower.
Random Bonus:God… I love doing annoying stuff like this. Anyway… The name of this chapter is Rough Cut, which is an obvious reference to a band called Rough Cutt. Now, who was the guitarist for Rough Cutt, and what band is he with now?
Double Bonus:"Gimme one sec… I gotta thing about this whole thing… this screwed up situation I'm stuck in… I gotta think about me… and even you." I modified that line from the refrain in a song called "One Sec". I doubt anybody'll get this, but who made that song? They're not mainstream and not even Google will help you. I'll be sincerely impressed if anybody gets this one.
Last Chapter's Bonus: Yngwie Malmsteen wrote and performed the song Black Star. It's an excellent piece of music, so if you should happen upon it, definitely check it out.