Before you read this I want to specify that I know absolutely nothing about hospital procedure or police procedure other than what I see on TV here in America, so it's pretty limited and not accurate. On top of that, the story taking place in Japan makes my little knowledge worth even less. So the following scene is probably COMPLETELY different from real life.

Without further ado, enjoy the fruits of my procrastination!

Tsuki didn't realize when he lost consciousness, but when he next opened his eyes he was in a hospital room. Satou was asleep in a chair next to his bed and Martin was reading a book in another chair close to the door. He looked up when he noticed Tsuki was awake.

"Where…?" Tsuki began but stopped. His voice came out as a croak and it hurt his throat.

"Hospital," Martin answered.

Satou's head shot up at the sound of his partner's voice. "Martin…" he said sleepily, "what…?"

Martin gestured to where Tsuki was pulling himself into a sitting position.

"OH MY GOD!" Satou nearly shouted as he stood up and a smile appeared on his face. "OH MY GOD! TSUKI!"

"Yeah…" the blonde croaked. The others were bandaged as well but Tsuki's neck felt stiff with bandages or maybe it was a brace. He couldn't tell and wished there was a mirror so he knew which.

"I can't believe you're alive!" he laughed. "They said you'd be fine, but I don't trust docs. Thank God you're alright!"

"How…?" Tsuki winced.

"That bastard Orihara had a gun," Satou said, his words sounding a bit impressed. "He downed two of them before they realized what had happened, and then the others were easy pickings! Of course he saved Miyamoto for last, shooting him in his legs so the bastard bled out. When you passed out, he kicked the bastard around, yelling at him the entire time. Then the asshole died, too quickly if you ask me, and he remembered us."

Satou grinned at Martin who didn't return it. "I call help," Martin stumbled after a minute passed and it seemed like Satou wouldn't continue explaining.

"Right!" Satou laughed. "Fucking Orihara left after Marty called the cops. He was probably scared of gettin' busted. Then an ambulance picked us up. Karen, Yahiko and the others have been in an' out all day waiting for you to wake up."

"Day?" Tsuki croaked.

"It's just been a day," Satou said dismissively. "They said it might take longer."

Martin nodded. "Two or three."

"You lost a lot of blood," Satou continued babbling. "The docs said it was lucky the asshole didn't cut a bit deeper, or else you'd've been dead for sure."

Tsuki smiled.

"Got the devil's luck," Satou said with a shake of his head.

"Roppi-san?" Tsuki croaked out. He glanced around but saw no sight of the raven or his red coat.

Martin shook his head and Satou growled, "Bastard hasn't shown his damn face. Good riddance if you ask me."

Tsuki wanted to cry. He was afraid that Roppi still hated him. He had been so sure that Roppi would come to save him even if the raven hated him, but Roppi had barely come in time and not to save him at all. What did that mean? Was Tsuki just being an idiot hoping that the other man returned his feelings? Why couldn't Roppi just be here for him to ask in person?

Martin tapped Satou on his shoulder and said something quickly to him in English. He glanced at Tsuki as he spoke and seemed worried. Satou replied in kind, though much slower and stumbled over his words.

"What?" Tsuki asked. He hated being kept out of the loop.

Satou smiled nervously. "Nothing much, just something he thinks Orihara did. It's not important."

"Is!" Martin growled. He hit glared at Satou and then turned to Tsuki. "Orihara-san said you no let die!"

"What?" Tsuki asked, not understanding.

Satou sighed. "He's talking about right before Orihara fled from the cops. He grabbed Marty and spat something about not letting you out of his sight. Weird asshole."

"No let you die," Martin nodded.

Tsuki tried to hide his smile but failed horribly. "Really?" he whispered.

Satou frowned. "You don't have to be so damned happy about it," he grumbled.

Martin rolled his eyes. "You know where Orihara-san?" he asked Tsuki.

"He's not at his place," Satou growled. "I checked."

"To turn in!" Martin scoffed.

Satou shrugged.

"I have to find him!" Tsuki cried. His throat hurt less now that he was using his voice, but when he tried to sit up his head ached and made him wince.

"No, don't move," Satou said, quickly moving to stop Tsuki. "The docs need to examine you at least, and then the cops want to question you about the incident."

As if on cue, a doctor walked in with a chart under his arm, beaming at Tsuki in a polite way. "I heard you talking from the hall. That's a good sign." He checked up on Tsuki's injuries and continued, "There are some police officers here that would like to speak with you. They've already spoken to your friends and just want to confirm their story. I would like you to stay another day if you wouldn't mind."

"That's not possible," Tsuki told her. "I have to leave."

The doctor frowned. "I would not recommend it, but if you keep your brace on, take your medication and check in with us tomorrow morning, I am willing to permit it."

Tsuki could have kissed the man.

The doctor smiled. "Your friends warned me this might happen. Your American friend, Karen, argued for a long time that keeping you here would be equivalent to bankrupting you since you need to work. Since you are not involved in any serious yakuza fights," he said with a glance at Satou, "I can't see a reason that you would further injure yourself outside this hospital."

Tsuki started tearing up. "How can I ever repay you?"

He waved a hand. "There's no need. I just want my patients to be happy. When you're done with the police, I'll come back and check you out if you have no further questions."

The doctor left and Martin smiled at Tsuki's tears of happiness. Satou was looking away and muttering something under his breath in English.

Two police officers entered shortly after the doctor left. Apparently they had been waiting for Tsuki to wake up instead of waiting for an update on his status. Tsuki wondered what would make them so eager to talk to him, unless they were just very bored and had nothing better to do.

"Sleeping beauty's up," the first one said as she entered with a smile. "How are you doing?"

Her partner looked as cold as stone so Tsuki looked at her instead. "Just a little sore. I'm eager to return home."

She nodded. "We did a little investigation and discovered your previous apartment was burned down. Do you know who did it?"

"The same men who kidnapped me and my friends."

She glanced at her partner who wrote that down. "And you recently got a new apartment. Were you staying with friends between then and now?"

"Yes."

Her partner scribbled something before saying, "That's a lie."

Tsuki looked at him.

"If you're going to lie to us then there's no point talking to you."

The friendly officer held up a hand as if to say stop before continuing to smile at Tsuki. "I'm sure you were just avoiding specifics. Isn't that right?"

Tsuki shook his head. "I stayed with a friend in Shinjuku."

The male officer continued, "A friend who you met just before moving in with. A friend who has been known to deal in shady business and who you only met as a client before offering you a place to live. A friend who's name is Hachimenroppi Orihara."

Tsuki was taken aback. "If you know that, why bother asking me?"

"We want to know if you'll lie to us or be honest like your friends." Tsuki glanced at them and Satou didn't meet his gaze while Marty shot his boyfriend a mean look. "Now, are you going to tell us the truth?"

"It was the truth," Tsuki asserted. "Roppi-san is my friend. I might not have known him long but that's still what he is."

The female officer said, "I'm sure he is. What we want to know is why you were living with Orihara-san. He's not the kind to have friends or to be nice to strangers he just met."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Orihara-san is someone we've known about for some time, but every time we want to talk with him, he disappears off of our radar. He tries to avoid us even though we don't mean him any harm, so we try and ask what his friends think of him so we can rule him out as a suspect to the countless crimes he's accused of. If you can give us any hint of his whereabouts, we would be very grateful."

"Grateful enough to put a number out there?" Satou interrupted.

Tsuki gasped at him and the two officers exchanged a look before the male officer said, "Not officially."

"Not like it'll help you," Satou said, "but I know where he lives."

Tsuki stayed quiet while the female officer stopped smiling.

The male officer smiled instead. "Yeah? Where?"

Satou gave them Roppi's address while Marty and Tsuki looked at him like he had slapped them in the face. Tsuki couldn't believe his friend would betray him like this. He knew Satou hated and feared Roppi-san, but this was low even for him. He hated the cops and refused to turn to them for anything, so how could he hate Roppi-san enough to give them his address?

"Do you happen to know anything else?" the female officer asked, turning her smile on Satou.

He wasn't fazed but smirked at her. "Tsuki moved out and hasn't seen Orihara since, not including yesterday's incident. After that, Orihara disappeared and no one's seen him. Asking this guy's useless since Orihara doesn't even like him enough to visit him in the hospital."

The officers exchanged a look and the male took more notes while the female smiled at both Satou and Tsuki in turns. "Thank you for the information," she told them. "That's all we'll be needing."

She waved as she left with the male officer writing more stuff down before he followed her. But he stopped in the doorway and turned back. "By the way, we already knew Orihara's address."

Satou gave him a questioning look while Tsuki sighed in relief.

"There was a report called in this morning from Shinjuku involving an empty apartment filled with blood and destroyed furniture. We were called because they found the blood to belong to Orihara." He left without another word.