How embarrassing! It has been brought to my attention that I accidentally labeled this story after Sumire rather than Sakuno. D: That certainly got a shock out of me. I changed it now so everything is prim and proper. xD I got no replies back about the time skip and how realistic to make it so I assume I can go full steam ahead? I'll probably make time go by faster and keep everything flat and realistic like I always have. /nods If I get a bit too into all of the terms you can tell me and I'll add explanations of everything at the bottom. =)
Here I am at the end of me
Trying to hold to what I can't see
I forgot how to hope
The night's been so long
I cling to your promise
There will be a dawn
-Beauty from Pain by Superchick
There were two people that infuriated him right now. A particular bluenette and that blasted attending that screwed up the dosage. Akihiro traced the rim of his mug as he thought of the past few days. The attending hadn't been the one to write the dosage, but it was truly the fault of one of the interns assigned to the man. Akihiro had all the right in the world to end the hopefuls career right then. He let out a sigh. Interns were famous for their infamous prescriptions. He himself had caught at least a dozen lethal doses of medicine during his multiple year reign at the hospital.
It wasn't truly uncommon to see a newbie write up a patient for thrice the dosage that was recommended, but it was surprising to see an attending that missed the mistake. He rubbed his forehead with his disengaged hand. This was becoming a mess faster than he could solve it. Luckily the case would soon be out of his boundaries. Earlier that day he had sent off the papers to the transferal department to deal with.
With any luck Yukimura Seiichi would become a patient of the Osaka branch by Friday. He had given express orders that the boy be transferred as quickly as the team could fax the reports over. He sipped his green tea slowly and wished for once that his office was a bit closer to the exit. He needed a smoke. He knew the medical implications about smoking, but honestly didn't care a bit. Green tea had nothing on a good cigarette when tension was high.
The ringing out of his pager knocked him out of his disgruntled though. A hand slapped the switch to the communication systems and he said, "What is it?"
"The forms you submitted have been received. We faxed the file on Yukimura Seiichi to the Osaka University Medical Hospital. Is that all you require, Akihiro-san?" The clipped sound of the operator came through the speaker at an annoying tone, but to Akihiro no sound could have been more welcome. "That is all."
He flipped the switch back down before releasing a sigh of relief. It would be just a bit longer before he could get that nuisance out of his hair. Long and gone with any luck.
-It doesn't matter where we take this road-
The week had passed rather slowly. The days had come and gone, but they all seemed to last longer than they should have. Sakuno stared up at the ceiling and gloomily realized that it was the day she was supposed to go off her medicine. She hated the stuff, but that didn't mean she wanted the reminder of her impending surgery.
She had multiple surgeries before, but it never lessened the fear. She ran her hand through her hair in an attempt to calm herself. The worst thing that she could do was overthink the situation. The more she thought the more she became afraid. She chuckled weakly. It was some weird procedure the doctors always put her through. They wanted to make sure that she knew exactly what was going to happen to her before she signed the papers.
She hated hearing everything. The more she heard the more anxious she got. By the time he had reached the explanation of how he was going to stop her heart, Sakuno was on the verge of fainting. A heart bypass was it? No matter how many reassurances they gave her that it was entirely safe, Sakuno couldn't stop the little demon in her mind from blowing everything out of proportion.
Sakuno looked down at her chest warily, almost to confirm that her heart was still beating. The smooth skin that covered her chest would soon become marred like her back. They said that they'd try to keep the incision as low as possible to not show, but it was little consolation. Scars took years to disappear if they ever did. She didn't want to become a patchwork quilt, but also didn't want to die.
It was a small exchange, but Sakuno was becoming tired. She was tired of all the surgeries and all the treatments. She knew that she was lucky for lasting so long. The cut off rate for surviving dropped sharply before two years and she was already on her third after diagnosis. It didn't make her feel any better though.
Yes, she was so tired. Not just of her life, but she was getting tired of people. Envy was how she would describe the emotion. Going to school was almost depressing now. Hearing girls talk about idols and men about sports, it hurt a bit. Having people be so happy and so innocent. A part of her almost wished them to be sad just for the sake of sharing in pain. Misery loves company.
She couldn't hate them for having a simple life, but she could envy them. They were children, just children. She hoped they would stay that way for a long time because growing up hurt. They didn't know what they were getting into when they dreamed of becoming 'big kids'.
She sighed and rolled off her bed and onto the carpeted floor. She forced herself up from the ground and rested a palm across her forehead. She wobbled a bit from the dizziness that struck her, but shook it off and headed out of her room.
She waved to her grandmother before heading out the door to school. She hustled her way down the streets with her hand shielding her from the sunlight and hazily made her way towards her homeroom. She clutched at the doorway and closed her eyes for a moment. She wished away the black clouds that were beginning to cloud her vision and stepped into the room. It was almost second nature to make it back to her desk and she collapsed eagerly in the chair.
She had a premonition that that day would not turn out well. One premonition that was unfortunately fulfilled. Her vision never cleared. Thirty minutes into the class she raised her hand and signaled towards the door. Her teacher softened his eyes before giving her a nod of assent. Sakuno barely made it to the nurses office.
She collapsed outside the door weakly and clung to her head. She wheezed weakly and willed herself to get to the door. She needed to at least knock on it, that was all she had to do. She lashed out an arm against the wood with a thump. Her arm ached with the pain but it seemed so strangely dulled now. She just wanted to go to sleep.
She faintly heard the gasp of the nurse before being pulled up to her feet. When on the receiving end of a migraine, the only thing that really helped was to sleep. Medicine did next to nothing when a migraine got up and running. She felt herself collapse upon the bed for a moment before she reached out to sleep.
-Cause I'm already gone-
Niou loathed brats. Notably the young ones that tended towards worshiping the regulars whenever they won a practice match. However, it was to be conceded that there were many variations of brats. It was rare to see Niou seek out one of these brats considering his infamous behavior. The pig-tailed one was neither in her homeroom or in the cafeteria for lunch, so where was she?
He mumbled angrily as he sauntered down the hall. The sound of an opening door caught his attention and he looked to see his kouhai exit from the nurses office. His eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. He slipped behind her and gave her a quick, "Yo. What were you doing in there?"
Niou was working on building his case. The girl was a bit of an enigma to him. What did worry him was how much like Yukimura she was acting. It was strangely reminiscent of the days before Yukimura collapsed and was brought back to the hospital. It worried him. He didn't ever want to see anything like that day ever again and if it meant that he'd have to force himself as a companion to this girl he would do it.
The way she looked at him was one resembling horror and fear. She looked like a windup toy that had been wound too tightly. "I was just a bit ill, sempai. Thanks for asking though. Are you going to the office as well?" She was playing keep away as usual. He stopped himself from sighing. It was so irritating to have people make martyrs out of themselves.
"Yes, yes I'm sure." He feel silent as he carefully examined her. Her eyes were filled with ill-concealed guilt. Her hands were clenched together before her. Her face was scrunched into a worried expression. It made him feel bad for putting her in this situation, but nothing could be gained unless something was forgone.
"So, you going to tell me the real reason you go to the hospital every Monday?"
That was so awful. I feel like crying. QQ I had no clue how to switch into this part. Everything will begin to connect in the next chapter which will end part one. I hope you guys are as excited as I am. *-* I've been waiting for this next chapter so I'll try making it a bit longer than usual.
Also any advice for revising the summary I have for the story would be helpful. I know it does a poor job of representing the story, but I don't know what to write with only 255 characters. :/
Also opinions on whether or not Seigaku should play a bigger part in the story? I've decided on NiouxSakuno, but Yukimura will still play a strong role as a friend, never fear. Thank you for reading! :D
Zemmno: Moms can get really assertive it's almost scary. O.O And I can't believed I messed up Sumire and Sakuno. D8 How embarrassing. /hides in corner Thanks for reminding me!
Aryaputra: Thanks so much for reminding me to change that! And the luck is super appreciated. xD
GethinPathIsolator: /twitch Should I be worried about being murdered now? D: Or should I worrying about giving you too much heart break? /hovers with finger on 911
