Rosenkreuz… sweet Rosenkreuz
Chapter 36: Sticks and Stones
Surprisingly, Brad beat him to Nagi's crumpled body. He lifted the boy, cradling his upper body. There were purpling bruises all along one side of the kid's face. With deft fingers, Brad opened the uniform jacket and pulled it to the side, revealing bruises that traveled down the neck and under the red t-shirt. "Pull up the bottom of his shirt; see how far the bruising goes."
Bren pulled the shirt out of the drab pants and sure enough, the skin along the boy's still too thin ribs was also discolored. He turned and drew up the leg of Nagi's pants, his calf was also bruised. "Shit… they go all the way down his body."
"But only on the one side, like he fell on it."
"He hit hard, look at his wrist, it's got to be sprained."
"Let's get him up onto your bed and see how serious it is." With great care, Brad stood with his small burden, moving carefully through the doorways into Bren and Nagi's room. He set the boy down on the bed and they worked together to ease the child's clothing off without aggravating any potential injuries. They stripped the kid to his boxers, an action that revealed several problems. The boy was far to thin to be healthy, and he was bruised on his left side from hairline to ankle. His left wrist was swollen and undoubtedly sprained if not fractured and when Brad lightly pressed the ribs on that side, Nagi moaned. "Might be cracked, I don't think they are broken though." The American checked the midnight eyes. "He might have a concussion…"
"No shit?! What the hell happened? He get tossed down the stairs again?" Bren's temper was up. He thought he had put a stop to anybody picking on the Brat… besides himself of course.
"I don't think so… that time the damage was all over… this is focused. He hit something hard with only this side of his body. I'm going to get ice for that wrist, see if you can find a bandage in the bathroom."
Bren fumbled through the cabinet, shoving aside half empty bottles of medicine and first aid supplies as well as an errant washcloth or two. He finally found the rolled-up Ace bandage in the back, under an ancient towel. The wrap was a little dusty but he didn't think the kid would mind. He returned to the bedroom to find Brad on his knees beside the bed, holding one ice pack to the boy's wrist and another to his face.
"How's the wrist?"
"It's not broken… well at least it doesn't appear to be. We'll get it x-rayed to be sure there isn't a hairline fracture or anything like that. Wrap it up please." He left the wrist to Bren and checked over Nagi's head. "He's got a bump on his side. No choice, we'll have to take him to the infirmary."
Bren grunted his acknowledgement. Brad knew his opinion of the infirmary… and the doctors working there. "Oh yes… they were so good to him last time."
"We don't have a choice. You take him. I will contact his instructors and see if they know anything."
**
It was turning out to be a long night. Schu refused to leave his young teammate's side. The doctors were getting rather surly about it. But there was no way he was gonna leave the kid. If he only had 'greenies' to worry about, there would be no problem. In fact, he'd PREFER them to the 'staff'. But the chief resident in charge that night had ordered all the healers out, saying the boy's injuries were beyond their experience. Schu hadn't missed the glare one upper classman had given the doctor's back. Not only were the 'greenies' perfectly able to handle these types of injuries, they did everyday after all… they probably could have helped the kid recover in less time with a lot less pain.
Schu was sure it was simply another case of Schultz's vile influence. He would really have to do something about that monster one of these days.
They had taken x-rays, poked and prodded the boy, did the usual tests. Now… they were just waiting. The poor brat was lying on a cold table. They had changed him into one of those ridiculously thin examination gowns. Schu had taken off his shirt and draped it over the boy, to give him a little warmth. That was the great thing about having graduated; Schu didn't have to wear the uniform anymore. Nagi still did, partially because he was still technically 'in training', and partially because it attracted less attention for him.
He didn't like how long this was taking, or how the kid hadn't woken up yet. He was also a little concerned that the doctors DIDN'T seem to be worried over the boy's lack of weight. Well… in general the doctors didn't seem concerned about their patients but that was nothing new. He heard the curtain behind him rattle. It was the strange LACK of readable thoughts that told him who was standing behind him. "Find out anything?"
"Training accident."
"TRAINING ACCIDENT?!!! What the FUCK were they trying to do?" He turned and met Crawford's cold and angry eyes.
"I've already filed a complaint."
"Filed a complaint? How's that gonna help?!"
"There IS a procedure I have to follow…"
"I don't." He muttered under his breath.
"You will NOT get involved in this. It was a training accident… it happens. It happened several times with you if I'm not mistaken."
"Yeah… but…"
"But nothing." He took a deep breath and pulling off his glasses, rubbed his eyes. "I know… I know you care about him…"
"He's a little brat…"
Crawford continued as if he hadn't heard. "And you don't want to see him get hurt. But these things happen. It will be looked into. For now, that's all we can do. I'm going to go and demand some treatment for him."
"I'm not leaving him alone here."
"I know." The American left to shake up the staff.
**
Brad shook his head as he returned to the apartment. Schuldich wouldn't be there. Nagi had been kept overnight for observation, even after he had finally woken up. The telepath had thrown a fit, then insisted that he wasn't leaving. The doctors really hadn't had much of a choice in the matter. Brad understood, he was upset as well. But he also knew there was nothing to be served by sitting beside the boy. The training was rigorous, and especially for physical psis, the demands their gifts placed on their bodies was tremendous. Speaking of which, they would have to find a way to get the boy to eat more, he wasn't taking in enough calories to fuel his body AND his gift.
He unlocked the door and entered the apartment, frowning at the fact they had forgotten to turn off the lights. Their apartment wasn't free, the rent and utilities came out of their stipend. He couldn't wait till they could get out of here and get some REAL employers. The contracts were standardized and there was NO negotiation with Esset. But a private employer… even when they contracted with Esset for services… then he could negotiate a decent salary.
He looked at the abandoned dishes in the sink, Schuldich hadn't finished them. He tidied his stack of files; hopefully he could get to them tomorrow. He was regretting a bit his insistence to have Nagi on his team. He could have gone with another psi until the boy finished his training at the normal rate. But something about the kid nagged him. He couldn't explain why… but he HAD to have Nagi. He did wonder a bit if the boy was being pushed too hard though. This accident was a perfect example.
He had spoken the truth, accidents DID happen. He can remember reading several medical reports on the redhead, for injuries sustained on the training ground or in the combat classes. And he remembered the condition Schuldich was in after that disaster with Schultz. At least Nagi's condition was because of actual training.
He wondered a bit at why he wasn't 'seeing' these things? These problems, with Farfarello and Schuldich, this accident with Nagi… they related to his team, and therefore to him. So why wasn't he 'seeing' them before they happened? He was getting mighty suspicious over these omissions. Perhaps he should add this to his list of things to investigate. He yawned. But not now. He needed to sleep; he had some battles to fight tomorrow.
**
Fortunately he had a great deal of patience. Brad sat next to the boy's bed, waiting for him to wake up. Schuldich had refused to leave until Crawford arrived, then he went back to the apartment to get breakfast, and finish the dishes. He opened up the business section. It was a new area of study for him; Brad thought his precognitive ability could be useful in the stock market. He was conducting an experiment right now… having 'invested' an imaginary $10,000 in various companies and was now following their progress. So far he was 'ahead' by several thousand dollars.
A quiet sound from the bed drew his attention back. He had insisted on a bed at the end of the ward, so with the curtain pulled around, it was almost as if the boy had a room of his own. There were only a couple other patients at this time so the infirmary was fairly quiet. The kid was stirring. They had disturbed the boy's rest every hour or so all night long so he wasn't overly surprised that Nagi wasn't waking too fast. He waited till he saw two slivers of deep blue.
"Nagi." The boy blinked a few times, as if waking was very difficult. "Nagi… I need you to wake up for a bit." Another minute or so and those eyes stayed open, then focused on Crawford.
"brad…" The boy's voice was thin, and shaky.
"Nagi… how do you feel?"
"tired."
"I'm sure. Are you in a lot of pain… don't try lying." He added having a flash of the boy doing just that.
He nodded… then winced. "hai…"
"I'm not surprised. You have extensive bruises all down the left side of your body. Your wrist is severely sprained and you have two cracked ribs. I need you to answer a few questions for me… then I'll get someone to give you some painkillers." He frowned when the boy shook his head, Schuldich and his aversion to medical assistance was a bad influence on Nagi. "You WILL take them, or I will have them use an injectable kind and hold you down myself if need be." He was pleased by the instant obedience from the kid at that point… if only Farfarello and Schuldich could be so well behaved. "Good."
He pulled out a notepad and pen. "Your instructor said it was an accident that happened during yesterday's training session. Was it?"
Nagi hesitated then nodded.
"If you don't feel it was an accident you have to tell me."
"it was… accident."
"Truthfully?" Nagi nodded. "Very well. I want you to tell me what happened. Take a moment to think about it… then tell me in sequence."
"late afternoon." Brad nodded and started to take notes. "the instructor trainee was attacking. i was supposed to block. i couldn't. i got thrown into the wall."
"Where was your instructor?"
"onawabe-san?"
"Yes."
"he doesn't train me all the time."
"So you have a trainee instructor?"
"hai."
"And Onawabe wasn't supervising?"
"iie."
"Does this happen a lot?"
"hai."
"All right. I'll get one of the healers."
**
Nagi was safely tucked in Bren's bed. They had managed to get him released late in the afternoon. Bren had taken him back, and gotten him to eat something. Brad stuffed some painkillers down his throat and now the boy was peacefully sleeping them off. The other two were sitting at the table, coffee in hand.
"Let me get this straight… they are letting a TRAINEE teach what is essentially a novice, unsupervised?"
"From what Nagi said, yes."
"Isn't that a little like the blind leading the blind?"
"I've already lodged the complaint."
"Well I guess we know where Nagi's been getting those bruises for the last few months." Bren muttered.
"Bruises?"
He stared at the American. "You haven't noticed? He's had these bruises on his arms and legs. He won't talk about them though. I figured they were from training but I couldn't figure out how he was getting them. But if they have an inexperienced trainer working with him… this might not be the first time he's been knocked around."
The man scowled again. "I wish you had told me…"
"I thought you knew. But I guess you don't see him in anything other than his uniform too often."
"From now on… tell me about these little details. I can't do anything if I don't know."
"And why DON'T you know… oh master oracle?!"
Brad frowned again. "I don't know. For some reason… I'm not seeing a lot of things." Schuldich just stared at him. "I know. It's worrying me too."
TBC…