I don't own Skip Beat or its characters.
One minute Kyoko was fine and was even arguing with him about not wanting to rest. Then he was teasing her about being scared of ghosts. And before he could understand what was happening, Ren's body already moved from the couch and was beside the unconscious Kyoko on the floor.
He really thought that she was perfectly fine like she said, even though he noticed that her complexion hasn't returned to its normal color yet. But she was fine throughout the whole movie or so he thought. She was even able to pretend as if she was not afraid of ghosts. Then there she was lying on the floor.
The things going through his mind as he sits beside her unconscious body is that it was his fault. He should have forced her to rest and not let her watch the movie. The movie was bad for any healthy person without vertigo, but worst for people with vertigo. And as if that was not enough, he even teased her about being afraid of ghosts, which could be the reason she is now lying on the floor unconscious.
While he blames himself, he carefully picked her up in his arms and carried her to the guestroom. Once in the guestroom, he balanced her body on one knee and supported it with one arm then used the free arm to move the blanket away, so he could lay her on the bed. Once he had her placed on the bed and propped up so that she would be comfortable, he covered her with the blanket. Then he walked out the room to get his phone to call the hospital.
He needed to see whether the doctor that had seen to her was still at the hospital. And he didn't know what would be the best course of action - not when it involves Kyoko.
Luckily the doctor was still at the hospital. The nurse who answered the call told him to bring Kyoko to the hospital immediately after hearing the details of what had happened.
Ren hung up the phone and quickly rushed towards the guestroom. In his hurry he crashed right into the doorframe. The noise caused by the towering young actor crashing into the doorframe was plain loud. It disturbed the unconscious Kyoko and she stirred.
"Mmmmmmm," Kyoko murmured.
"Mogami-san, are you okay?" asked a worried Ren, who ignored the pain on the right side of his body that had crashed with the doorframe.
"Tsuruga-san? What happened?" asked a confused Kyoko who looked around to take in her surroundings.
"You fainted when you got up from the couch. Do you remember?" asked Ren as he walked closer to where Kyoko was on the bed.
"I fainted? I remembered watching a movie with you," said Kyoko as she tried to remember. Then I got up and felt really dizzy and nauseous and that was it."
"You felt dizzy and nauseous before your fainted?" asked a worried looking Ren as he examined her face.
Kyoko nodded. The nodding made her nauseous and dizzy again. This caused her complexion to go pale again. Ren noticed the change in her complexion.
"We're going to the hospital," Ren proclaimed.
"I'm really ok, Tsuruga-san. There's no need to go to the hospital," protested Kyoko who was feeling worst by the second.
"We're going to the hospital and that's final," Ren declared as he moved closer to scoop her up from the bed.
"Please, Tsuruga-san, at least let me walk on my own!" Kyoko cried out.
"No," said Ren in a low no nonsense voice that didn't leave room for Kyoko to protest further.
Ren parked the car near the entrance of the hospital. He got out of the car and rushed over to the passenger's side. He then opened the door and scooped Kyoko into his arms. Then he closed the door and locked the car.
Ren walked straight to the doctor's office. He had made an appointment during the brief phone call earlier on, so they didn't have to go to the registration counter first.
While Ren carried Kyoko in his arms, Kyoko was silent. She was hiding her face in his muscular chest that she could feel through his coat. She would have never been seen snuggling up to a man's chest in public, but what other choice did she have? She couldn't win against Ren in this argument – especially when she felt so sick even when her eyes were closed. So her only choice was to closed her eyes and hid her tomato red face in his chest so that the whole world couldn't tell that this embarrassing woman in Ren's arms was her.
Since they got there earlier than the appointed time due to Ren's insanely fast driving, they had to wait. Ren settled Kyoko down on the couch in front of the doctor's office and he kneeled in front of her, so he could study her complexion to determine her condition.
"How are you feeling?" asked Ren gently.
"Just a little sick," Kyoko replied softly due to the worsening condition that made her feel awfully weak.
"Don't lie to me, Mogami-san. You don't look like you're just a little sick. For heaven's sick! You look like a corpse!" exclaimed Ren in frustration brought about by Kyoko's stubbornness to tell him how she was really feeling.
Kyoko visibly cringed at the frustration she heard in his voice and instinctively moved away from the sound of his voice.
Ren noticed this and regretted letting his frustration show in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Mogami-san. I didn't mean to yell at you. I just felt helpless when I can't do anything to make you feel better. And you lying to me about your condition didn't help make me feel better. Please, please don't be scared. I'm not mad at you," he explained.
Kyoko relaxed a little.
"Tsuruga-san! Me being sick have got nothing to do with you. You're not the cause of my sickness. How can you blame yourself when all you've done was to help care for me and make me better?" Kyoko reasoned.
"Thank you, Mogami-san, for not blaming me. But it could have as well be my fault since you were fine until I teased you and made you go rest in the guestroom" said Ren softly.
"It was so not your fault!" yelled Kyoko who stood up all of a sudden.
The sudden change in her position made her feel like dying and her brain wasn't able to catch up to the change in position, so she swayed. Ren saw this and stood up and caught her.
"Please, Mogami-san, don't get so worked up. Just sit back down while we wait for the doctor," pleaded Ren as he helped her settle back down on the couch. "Here. You can lean against me, so you'll feel more comfortable."
"I really don't need to lean against you! I really can't! I'm heavy!" cried out Kyoko in alarm.
"You're not heavy at all," said Ren as he wrapped his arms around her shoulder tightly and brought his arm closer to her body so that she was forced to lean against him.
"Mogami-san, the doctor is ready to see you," a nurse that had exited the doctor's office called out.
Kyoko was about to get up, but of course Ren was too fast for her. He swiftly scooped her into his arms and strode into the doctor's office.
Of course the sight had both the doctor and the nurse in shock with their mouth hanging open.
"Mogami-san, it looks like your condition haven't really improved and had even worsen," said the doctor after he had recovered from shock.
"It really was better this morning," Kyoko cried out not wanting Ren to think that she had lied to him yet again.
"Then why are you being carried around? Isn't it because you feel so sick that you can't walk by yourself?" asked the doctor with questioning eyes.
"Oh, that would be me," said Ren sheepishly. "She said she could walk, but I thought that might not be the case."
"Well, you didn't have to carry her by yourself. We have wheelchairs here, don't we?" asks the doctor turning to look at the nurse with an accusing look.
The poor nurse could do nothing, but nod her head and agree with the doctor.
"Oh, no. Please don't blame the nurse," said Ren as he noticed the accusing look the doctor gave the nurse. "It was my fault. I thought it was faster to carry her here rather than wait for the wheelchair."
"So what are the symptoms that you're having?" asked the doctor changing the topic and turning to look at Kyoko.
"I was fine this morning then I felt dizzy and nauseous and soon after I fainted," said Kyoko as she jogged her memory for what had just happened.
"What were you doing before the nausea and dizziness hit?" inquired the doctor.
"I was watching tv then I was trying to get to the bedroom," replied Kyoko.
"Were you walking really fast before you fainted?" asked the doctor.
"No. I was walking at a normal pace," said Kyoko.
"What about what you were watching? What type of show was it? Were there times when the camera seemed to be moving around really fast like an amateur filming a movie?" asked the doctor.
"Yeah. It was like a homemade VDO and the camera seemed to be shaking in some parts," said Kyoko as she recalled the movie she had just watched with Ren.
"What about your memories? Are you able to recall things that just recently happened?" the doctor inquired further.
"Yes," said Kyoko without hesitation.
Ren brows furrowed at Kyoko's last reply. The doctor noticed this and turned to look at Ren with a questioning look.
"What is it Tsuruga-san?" asked the doctor.
"Actually there were times when she seemed like she was unable to recall what had just recently happened,"
The doctor silently noted down what Ren and Kyoko told him.
"What is it doctor?" asked Ren.
"Mogami-san seemed to be suffering from both a concussion and vertigo. The concussion was brought about by Mogami-san's fainting and hitting her head twice yesterday. And her vertigo this time seemed to be brought about by her watching tv where the camera is not held steady. This confuses the brain and brought about the dizziness and nausea." said the doctor.
"Will she be permanently cured of the vertigo?" asked Ren.
"It depends on what causes her vertigo. In people who are very sensitive, vertigo can be caused by not enough sleep. So if she gets enough sleep it will go away. But there are other causes of vertigo. It could be caused by an infection, and head or neck injury, a stroke, brain tumor, medications, migraine, Meniere's disease, or calcium build up in the inner ear. But since vertigo is mostly caused by nonlife-threatening causes, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just be careful when you have your dizzy spells so that you won't put yourself in danger," said the doctor.
"Can we do a test just to make sure?" asked Ren with concern.
"We can, but that's a lot of tests to do and we usually don't recommend it," said the doctor looking at both Ren and Kyoko.
While Ren and the doctor were conversing, Kyoko was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation due to her condition. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open when it was making her so horribly sick. All she know was that Ren was really worried about her and he was really trying to get to the cause of her condition so that she wouldn't have to suffer like this anymore. This really warmed her heart and she felt really grateful. But she was afraid that it was a burden for him. But it was not like she could protest or stop him since it was taking all of her effort to just sit there and keep her eyes open.
"Please have her do all the tests," said Ren determined to find the cause behind Kyoko's sickness.
"It's going to take a while to do all the relevant tests," said the doctor wanting to make sure that Ren still wanted to go ahead with all the tests.
"I understand," said Ren not backing down.
"Then please wait outside, while the nurse gets Mogami-san a wheelchair and I list all the required tests," said the doctor.
Ren nodded his head and turned to help Kyoko to the waiting chair outside.
A/N's note:
Ooooh, it's already been 3 chapters for just this week. I'm definitely on a roll. I'm a sucker for reviews even when they're criticisms, especially during this time in life where everything is so stressful and I need comfort from your reviews. So please, please review since it keeps me going with the story, which I intend to finish, but your reviews make me write faster. * evil laugh.
Most importantly, I have been told about jumping between tenses a lot. I am working on that in the newer chapters and have been trying to keep the story in one tense, but it has been really hard. I'll eventually go back and attempt to edit all of that in the older chapter. I'm sorry if it annoys the hell out of you. Just bare with it for a while.