This is the last hospital chapter, and from here we can go calmly back into slice of life mode. I had fun with this. Next chapter is one that I think we'll all have fun with now that I think about it. Nothing dramatic or broody next chapter, just a simple date between our two heroes. They need a break, don't you think?

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Bandai?


It was his last day in the hospital, Jou himself clearing him that he would be good to go home as long as he took the prescriptions that he needed for the transition period to living the rest of his life with one kidney instead of two, and Yamato drew in his sketchbook as he listened to the buzzing in the background of some soap opera that was being shown on the TV in his room, and as Jun and Taichi were debating who would win in a fight to the death between Anne Frank and Helen Keller. It was a rather ridiculous conversation to be honest, but hey, the quirks of Jun and Taichi usually turned out to be one of the few things that brightened up an otherwise dreary life he would have lived. It was fun though when the two loves of his life argued the way they currently were, whether it was about hypothetical death matches between Helen Keller and Anne Frank, or instead a hypothetical death match between Gandhi and Josef Stalin, Yamato always found himself enjoying whenever Taichi or Jun tried desperately to come up with evidence to support whatever insane theories that they had.

As he stayed resting in his hospital bed, Jun and Taichi sitting off to the side as their words volleyed back and forth about the two girls in question, Yamato remained quiet and simply continued to sketch. It wasn't that he was necessarily good at sketching, though his doodles weren't bad if he had to say so himself, but the leather bound sketchbook was one of the gifts that Yuuko had brought on her visit, and so he wanted to make use of it. Susumu had been on an overseas business meeting for his company at the time of the shooting, and it was Yuuko who had visited two weeks prior with the younger trio to express their relief that Yamato had lived, and for her to reassure him that she kept certain details of what happened, such as the shooting going down in the streets of the very gay Doyama, a secret from the Yagami patriarch.

As Jun exclaimed the fact that as a person who lacked most of her senses that Helen Keller had the killing power of the proverbial blind samurai, Yamato doodled a hot dog that was waving hello and saying 'Hiya!', as he thought on what Yuuko was doing for Taichi and himself. She was keeping the location of his injury a secret so that Susumu wouldn't know that he and Taichi weren't living with their 'girlfriends' of Sora and Jun out in mainstream Osaka, but instead were together in a gay district, as young men who loved one another. He was grateful for Yuuko, the woman being the closest thing to a mother that he had ever had, but a part of him just wanted to tell Susumu the truth about everything, to stop the charade of everything they had ever done to further the secret and just come straight out with it to say it. It was something inside of him that he had never wanted to hide from Susumu in the first place, and a thing that whirled around wanting to show the man the proud truth, but Yamato knew that in the end that this part of him would lose out, because in the end he had long ago decided that the situation with Susumu, the knowledge he would be given about this world of theirs, it rested on Taichi's decision, not his.

He doodled a few more things in his sketchbook beside the hot dog, like a beagle that was wearing a top hat and a wolf that was fiercely running across the page, before a knock on the door caused himself and his two companions to look over at who it was that had let themselves in. It was his doctor Jou of course, but there was also an older man who was accompanying the young doctor who Yamato knew to be the Chief of Medicine at the Osaka hospital. He was a jovial sort of man, a Japanese Santa Claus would be a good way to describe him, and Yamato recalled meeting him a handful of times during his stay there. To the little discomfort that he felt considering that most of the pain from his lost kidney was now gone, Yamato sat up straighter in his bed to give a better impression, since this was Jou's boss after all.

"How are you doing today, Ishida-san?" the Chief of Medicine practically ho-ho-ho'd as he gave Yamato his weekly greeting during Jou's rounds that the man had made a point to be present for, apparently having a lot of hope for Jou being one of the hospital's next great doctors.

Yamato smiled at the older man for showing his concern, though it was a bummer that Jun and Taichi had stopped their debate when the Chief had joined them in their room. He considered making a joke about a pain in his side, but figured that perhaps that could be something that the doctors and nurses would make a point to check him for. Instead, Yamato figured he'd poke fun at a very real different pain that came with a stay in a hospital.

"I'm doing okay, Sir," Yamato nodded to himself in confirmation as he continued on, "except I just realized that since this is my last day here, that you'll probably send me the bill for it when I get back home. I mean, I know the government pays for most of it, but I'm still not looking forward to it when I get the bill in the mail."

The Chief laughed for a moment, before the man remembered something and frowned. "I'm not quite sure what you mean, Ishida-san. Your hospital bills have already been paid off."

Yamato shared glances with Taichi and Jun, before turning back to the Chief. "What are you talking about?"

"Your hospital bills have already been paid off," the man repeated, "all in one check."

Closing his sketchbook, Yamato gripped onto it as a bad feeling entered his chest. "By who?"

He watched as the Chief whispered something to Jou, and as Jou began to fumble with the papers in his hand as he looked through for the answer. It took a few minutes, but the name Jou read off made Yamato feel sick to his stomach. "Takaishi Natsuko."


"A storm is coming, Mr. Wayne."

Man, that movie sucked.

Anyways, we are officially halfway done!