Author Note: Please review!
~CWA


CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT: INSANITY PART VI


Day Two

The next morning was tense and heavy. Danny was in a bad mood. It was obvious from the bags under his hooded eyes to the messy appearance of his hair. He walked around the room quietly with a bit of a slouch. Mai caught him scratching at his chest a couple of times. Yet he never spoke a word and his dark mood seemed to effect everyone. No one dared to bring up the incident from last night, not even Naru. Every time Naru was about to say something about it, Danny had just given him the darkest look any of them had ever seen. It shut Naru up pretty fast. And if it can get Naru of all people to be quiet, Mai thought, that's pretty bad. It's a good thing we're sectioned off from the kids. Danny would have scared them all off.

"I'll go check the building out," Danny finally spoke.

"I'll go with you," Mai meekly offered, but Danny just blew her off.

"I'll be fine on my own," he snapped a bit harshly before stalking off.

He practically slammed the door behind him when he walked out, causing Mai to jump before she shivered to herself. Danny is really unhappy, but is he mad at us? Or just mad about what we saw? Or about whatever caused the scars? Thinking back to the scars on his chest, Mai frowned as her stomach started to turn.

"Whatever caused Danny's scars had to have been… rough," Mai mused quietly to herself, unaware she was speaking out loud.

"Rough," Monk repeated, "Try traumatic. All of those scars were pretty deep and some seemed older than others."

Monk shook his head sadly as he thought back to the scars as well. He was no medic, but knew enough to get by. From what he did know about healing, he knew that whatever caused those scars to Danny was more than just a simple fight or accident. Someone did it to him on purpose, painfully, Monk thought as his heart clenched. Danny had become like a brother to the man and was a good friend. The thought of anything causing Danny that much pain was hurtful to all of them, even Naru and Lin seemed a bit disgruntled about it.

"It's troubling to say the least," John chimed with sorrow lacing his voice, "To know that something or someone did that Danny of all people…"

"I hope it was a ghost," Masako added softly, "… I don't think I can stand the thought of an actual person doing that to Danny."

Neither can I, Mai gulped thickly, if it was a real living person who did that to Danny then they're… they're monsters! And even if it was a ghost, it's a monster too! Just anything to do that to another person, living or dead, is a monster! Simple as that! But if it was a ghost that did that to Danny then had to have been very powerful… Mai thought briefly to what Danny had stated before, at a previous case, about how a painful death isn't pleasant, how he was so angered by Urado.

"…You don't think," Mai spoke slowly, "You don't think that maybe… Whatever did this to Danny was trying to kill him, do you? Was someone or something trying to kill Danny?"

"It's safe to say yes," Yasuhara answered gently, "You saw the scars. It was likely a fight to the death…"

His tone was somber and created more tension in the air as they digested the information. Naru frowned slightly. As if knowing what he was speaking, Lin spoke their thoughts on the subject.

"Those were not scars from just fights," Lin finally spoke clearly, "Not all of them. The rugged surface of them were likely from it just being reopened repeatedly, but some were clean-cut as if they were done with tools."

"Like a doctor," Mai muttered in confusion, "But why would a doctor do that?"

She looked up at the others wide teary eyes, blinking in confusion. She didn't get it. It didn't click in her mind like it did in the others. Monk placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly as he squeezed it slightly.

"Mai," Monk's voice was soft and gentle as if speaking to a small child, "I think what Lin is suggesting is that for Danny to have such clean cuts like that then…"

His voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence as his throat swelled with emotion. The others looked just as distraught. Masako was wiping tears away with her kimono as she hide her face, not wanting anyone to see her in such a state. Ayako had small tears forming in her eyes as she looked away from the group with her arms crossed. Yasuhara was shaking slightly as furiously wiped away at his glasses. John was tense as tears came down his face, a bit thankful that at least Nao wasn't with the group at the moment so she didn't have to hear the heartbreaking conversation. Lin had turned away from the group with a dark expression, Naru doing the same as Monk choked back a cry.

"Do you remember your dream Mai," Ayako finally spoke, "the one with Urado? How he killed you? For someone to make such clean cuts like that on Danny, we doubt he would have done it willingly…."

Mai's eyes widened in realization. Someone… Someone forced him to get torn up like that like Urado had tied up his victims and sliced them… Her stomach turned as images danced in her mind, all showing Danny in the same state as the victims of Urado. John finally looked up, uncomfortable with the conversation and eager to calm everyone down.

"We can't just go assuming things. Obviously some of them are from fights since they're so messy. But for all we know, he could have had a surgery."

"A surgery like that," Naru scoffed darkly, "That was a perfect 'Y' on his chest similar to the cuts a frog would get when it's dissected… Those scars were professionally done and no surgeon in their right mind would do something like that."

At that moment, Danny returned unnoticed by the others. He stood toward the wall and they were too absorbed into the discussion to even notice his presence. As Danny listened, he started to shake as anger bubbled inside him. He wasn't angry at them. He was angry about the topic. He was angry at his so-called parents. He was angry at what they did to him. The anger flowed through his veins and sent a message to his fist. He slammed the side of his fist against the wall, but it wasn't strong enough to puncture it. The loud THUD caused everyone to jump before looking at him with mixes of sorrow, surprise and guilt. Danny's eyes were a bit blurry from the tears as he kept his head down, not wanting to look anyone in the eyes.

"You're right about one thing," his tone was low and dark, trembling a bit in rage, "They weren't in their right mind…"