Awk! Please forgive me for the long wait! I just didn't have any time to type any chapters up! Thanks to all who reviewed! So without further ado, here's the next chapter. read on
Ch. 35- Found
"Oh, Marina…what happened," he voiced quietly.
Kai dropped to his knees in the wet stand as he stared at Marina's still form. The team had almost given up hope of every seeing her again, by her own will, or others. He shook his head and gently rolled her onto her back. Her head lolled lifelessly and water dribbled from the corner of her mouth.
Kai thought that she looked pathetic and worse-for-the-wear. Tiny cuts covered her face, arms, and legs and her black eye was worse. He was a little shocked at her appearance. She was almost unrecognizable with her right eye not even visible among the large, purplish-black, swollen bruise. She had a fat lip that was dry and bloodstained. Her boots were gone, so she was barefoot and Kai would've seen a bloody mess if he looked. Her black gloves and wristguards were also missing, and her knuckles were white because she clutched something tightly in her right hand. Her clothes were also in tatters.
Kai got over the initial shock of his examination and tentatively put two fingers under her jaw to search for a pulse. Her skin was ice cold, but she still have a pulse, albeit a weak one. He would have to get her to a hospital quickly or she would fade away. Kai picked her up bridal style and held her to his chest, hoping his body heat would help to warm her up a little. He cursed the fact that he didn't have a cell phone as he rushed up the concrete steps that led to the park. He sensed, rather than saw, as Ray came up behind him and moved in front of his path.
"Ray, get out of the way," Kai snarled.
"No! We need to talk…" the neko-jin was obviously deep in thought, or he would've noticed Marina sooner. As it was, Ray was so concerned with the task he thought was his duty, that he didn't notice her until Kai tried to brush past him impatiently.
"Kai, what…?" his golden eyes widened with shock. "Marina? Wha-"
"Can't talk. I have to get to the hospital," the slate-haired teen interrupted firmly.
Ray looked at the battered girl Kai held in his arms, oblivious to the fact that his clothes were getting wet, and decided that their talk could wait until another time.
"I'll run ahead to the hospital," Ray said and took off towards town like only a neko-jin could.
Kai rushed after him, but quickly lost sight of him. His precious burden weighed him down and it was awkward to run with someone in his arms. He pressed forward nevertheless, and ignored the fearful glances from other people in the park. He was used to being stared at, and even though he didn't like their attention, it was still better than being mobbed by crazy fangirls.
He exited the park and plunged into traffic heedlessly, dodging around moving cars as horns honked at him angrily. Kai sighed in relief when the bright red hospital sign came into view down the street. It had taken him almost ten minutes to get there, but time seemed to have past him by a thousand times that.
The automatic doors opened, washing Kai in the pungent, sterile smell of a medicine cabinet. Ray was waiting inside anxiously, beside two young doctors and a rolling stretcher. When Kai entered Ray pointed him out and the doctors rushed over and quickly took Marina from his arms and placed her on the stretcher. Then they whisked her away through the double-swinging doors that resided off to the right. Kai and Ray tried to follow them but were blocked by a very stout nurse with a nametag that read: Kathy.
"I'm sorry, but you can't enter here," she told them firmly.
Kai ducked around her outstretched arms and pushed through the doors. As the nurse rushed to the main desk Ray hurried after Kai.
"Kai, I don't really think that we should be here," he cautioned.
Kai ignored him and looked down the white hallways impatiently. Marina was nowhere in sight, but he turned down a corridor anyway. Ray had to jog to keep up with Kai's long strides, peering into every glass-walled observation room. Passing doctors and hospital personnel looked at the two teens strangely and Ray began to feel a little nervous.
"Kai, I really think that we should just wait," he said and reached out to grab Kai's arm. "There's nothing more we can do. You don't have any reason to distrust the hospital Kai, so lets go and let them do their job."
Kai hesitated, and paused. 'Ray's right. What am I doing? I don't even know where I'm going.'
Two white-clad security officers with black badges suddenly appeared in front of the two bladers. Kai glared at them defiantly as the stout nurse quickly followed. When she saw them she frowned and crossed her arms over her chest impatiently. "Do I have to have you escorted out of here? I warned you not to come down here, this ward is strictly for patients only."
"We're sorry, we just…got carried away," Ray explained haltingly.
"That's no excuse to break hospital policy," Kathy said sternly. "I haven't worked an eleven hour shift just to get fired for allowing two teenagers into an off-limits area."
"We didn't mean too," Ray said convincingly, "it's just…that girl is really close to us, and we're worried about her."
The nurse's expression softened a little, and she sighed. "Alright then. Come with me back to the waiting room and I'll see what I can do." She nodded to the security officers and led Kai and Ray back to the waiting room.
Kai looked at his Chinese teammate curiously. He hadn't known Ray to have such a silver tongue. Kai hadn't had to say a word. The nurse left them in the room and gestured for them to sit down. They sat in the only two vacant seats in the crowded waiting room. It appeared that tonight had been a very busy night for the hospital, and it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet. The nurse returned shortly with a clipboard in her hand.
"Since you know the patient, will you fill out this form please," she said as she handed Ray the clipboard. "And contact her family as well." She smiled at them, then glanced at Kai. "Um, would you like a change of clothes?" she asked.
Kai glanced down and realized that his shirt has damp from carrying Marina. "No," he replied shortly.
"Alright then," Kathy said briskly. She smiled then added kindly, "I'll check on her condition for you, okay?" The nurse bobbed her dark head and left them staring at the clipboard in Ray's hands.
Ray passed it Kai, figuring that the Russian would know more about Marina then he did. He flipped through the pages and found that there were five forms to be filled out in total. They asked for the patient's full name, age, phone number, emergency contact, care card number, family history, medical records/conditions, etc. Kai shook his head slowly, even though he knew her the best out of his team, he really didn't know any professional information about her. She hadn't disclosed a lot of personal information and the Bladebreakers hadn't thought to ask. Kai didn't even know if she had a birth certificate.
Kai looked at the forms once more, and handed Ray 50 Yen (A/N- they are in Japan after all.) for the pay phone in the corner. "Better tell them where we are," he said simply.
Ray got up willingly, as the chairs weren't really that comfortable and he always felt nervous waiting for news. He walked up to the pay phone and had to insert the coins a few times before they would take. He punched Tyson's number into the machine and held the phone away from his ear a little (A/N- those things are so filthy!) as he waited for the number to connect. After the phone rang five times Ray was about to hang up in despair when he heard a click and a feminine voice answer, "Hello?"
"Hi Hilary," Ray greeted. "Um, why are you answering Tyson's phone?"
"Ray?" she replied slowly, having forgotten that he had gone out. "Oh, well, you know Tyson. He wouldn't get off the couch to answer. Where are you?"
"At the hospital," he replied calmly. "Can you put Tyson on?"
"The hospital! Oh my god! What happened?" she asked urgently.
"I'll explain later. Can I talk to Tyson, please?" Ray asked firmly. He would much rather deal with Tyson right now, over Hilary's girlishness, even though he was normally pretty tolerant.
"Fine. But how come I never get told anything?" Hilary answered, annoyed. The line went silent, and then Ray heard muffled yelling and arguing. 'Oh, come on. Don't argue now! This phone doesn't last all day,' Ray sighed.
"Hello?"
"Hey Max, where's Tyson?" Ray answered. He was beginning to get annoyed by his teammate's lack of maturity.
"Oh…um…well he's a little busy arguing with Hilary right now," Max answered calmly.
Ray sighed heavily. Sometimes Tyson could be difficult, and him and Hilary seemed to argue all the time about one thing or another. They were too stubborn.
"Hey Ray, have you seen Kai?" the blonde asked. "Cause he's not here."
"Yeah, he's with me," Ray replied. "We're at the hospital."
"Oh, what happened?" Max asked concerned.
"We found Marina, but she's in bad shape," Ray explained quickly.
"What?! Is she okay," he asked. Ray heard more yelling, this time from Max, who never raised his voice under normal circumstances. "Shut up guys! They found her! If you would just stop arguing I could hear what happened!"
"We don't know what happened yet," Ray answered when the line went silent. "So don't bother coming down okay? I don't know how long we'll be here."
"Oh," Max sighed. "Are you sure you don't want us to come?"
"Yeah, it's pretty crowded here," he answered quickly. "There's nothing you can do here, so you might as well stay at Tyson's."
"Okay. Well, call us if anything changes," Max replied.
"I will, bye."
"Bye Ray."
Ray hung up the phone and made his way back to Kai. For some reason nobody had sat in his chair, even though it was the only free one and people were leaning against the walls. Ray suspected that they were all afraid of the glaring, spiky-haired, war-painted teen with the white scarf who occupied the seat beside the vacant chair. Ray sank into the uncomfortable plastic chair and glanced at the clipboard in Kai's lap.
"You fill it out?" the golden-eyed teen asked.
"If you call printing on three lines filling it out, then yes," Kai replied sarcastically. All in all he had only managed to fill out her first name, age, and nationality. He had debated making up a last name, but since he couldn't fill out the majority of the forms anyway, he hadn't bothered.
"I called the dojo," Ray said, ignoring his teammate's tone. "Tyson was arguing with Hilary, so I told Max. They aren't coming down."
Kai's only response was a bored, 'hmph'. Just then the nurse returned, looking grim. "Poor thing," she said sympathetically. "Your friend will be fine. She's in stable condition, but she's still in bad shape."
Kai handed her the clipboard and she clutched it to her chest, not bothering to look at was written (or in this case, not written.)
"Can we see her?" Ray asked.
"I'm sorry dear, but she's unconscious. And visiting hours are over. If she's conscious by tomorrow though, you're welcome to come if her condition improves. Visiting hours are from eleven to two, and four to seven."
She walked away, shaking her head. Kathy looked down at the paperwork in her hands and frowned. It had barely been filled out at all. She turned around to look for the two teens, but all she saw was a white scarf flowing around the corner.
Well, sorry again for the update taking so long, I hope the wait was worth it a little. I can't update as much as I would like due to the fact that I have homework usually everyday, and very little free time! But I have an interesting fact for you, did u know that chewing gum in Singapore is an offense, and you can be fined for it? hehe, just a little bit of useless information for you. (At least I think I got the country right. Does anybody know?)
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