Ranma's Flu
9
They walked all the way from the café to the ICU. Akane squeezed the flowers in her right hand as Genma opened the ICU's doors. They knew where Ranma was, and walked straight to him. The "red-hair" nurse was standing beside Ranma's bed. His chest and forehead were covered with cold, wet towels. The nurse noticed the visitors and raised her hand with a nod.
"Oh, hi", she greeted, quiet. The visitors nodded. "His fever is dangerously high, 41.6, and so are his CRP stats – 597. Normal CRP is under 10, but it is not very rare for CRP to rise this high when it's sepsis. Sometimes it can rise even over 600."
Nodoka took a few steps closer to her son and placed her hand on the metallic bed rail.
"You said 'dangerously high'..." she mumbled.
"Yes, it unfortunately is true, but we will do our best to help him get better", the nurse nodded once, sad.
"But... you called us and said he's awake", Genma pointed out, as Ranma laid still, looking more like dead than awake. Slowly Genma reached out to his son's shoulder and placed his hand on him. Then suddenly...
"Uhh..." they all heard Ranma moan and saw him move a bit. He blinked his eyes slowly and coughed a few times. Even though this wasn't actually nice to look at, everyone smiled a bit.
"Ranma, honey, we're here!" Nodoka stroke his chest. Now Akane came closer to him and showed him the flowers and get-well-soon card.
"Here you go..." she said quiet, almost whispering. "But we don't have a flower vase..."
"Actually, I am sorry but we don't allow flowers here in the ICU", the nurse apologized.
"O... oh", Akane stared at the flowers in her hands. "Okay, I... I'll take them back to the gift shop. Just a sec, I'll be back..."
The adults watched the girl go. Soun sighed. Then Ranma started coughing hard. But as he had his oxygen mask, the blood he was coughing couldn't come out. Quickly the nurse took the mask off and wiped the boy's mouth and cheeks with a tissue.
"I'll be back", she said, turned around and walked away.
"Hm?" Genma raised his eyebrow. And Ranma coughed, taking deep breaths in between them.
Soon the nurse came back with some kind of a buzzing machine and a tube.
"Here you go..." she said, quiet, and put the tube in his nostrils. "This is a nose cannula. You need extra oxygen, but as long as you keep coughing and vomiting, you can't wear a mask."
Akane made her way through the hospital, all the way to the café, and the gift shop next to it. She was fighting back tears as she got in line. When it was her turn, she just handed over the flowers to the cashier lady, her hand shaking.
"H-here... I don't need them anymore..." the girl sobbed.
"Okay", the cashier lady nodded and took the flowers. Akane turned away, but then she shouted out: "Hey! I can give your money back!"
"...Oh", Akane mumbled and took the few coins the lady gave her.
Back at the ICU. The nurse was doing her job with the numerous machines Ranma was buckled up in. Then Soun gave a look upon the Saotomes and said:
"I'll go get chairs for us..."
"Oh, about that..." the nurse pointed out. "We are sorry but we don't want too many visitors here. Only one at the time."
"Hm?" Genma raised his brow. Everyone looked at each other. "Well then, which of us stays here first?"
"Me!" Nodoka raised her hand.
Genma brought a chair for his wife and placed it beside Ranma's bed. He pat her shoulder.
"I'll be next to come", he said. "Call me when you're ready."
Nodoka nodded. But just when the men turned away, Akane walked to them.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Away. They told us they allow only one visitor at the time", Genma shook his head. "You come with us. You can be beside him too after my wife and me."
"...Alright."
The trio left. And nothing really happened. Ranma Was awake, as he tossed and turned in his bed every now and then.
"Be careful, honey", Nodoka said quiet, trying to protect the tubes. And as the boy coughed up blood, she wiped it off his mouth and cheeks.
"WhereamI...?" Ranma mumbled quietly, finally opening his eyes a little.
"In hospital. The ICU", Nodoka said gently, stroking his burning hot cheek. "We are all here. I am here with you for now, next daddy will come and then Akane. We are here for you."
"Uhh..." Ranma closed his eyes again.
For a while Nodoka kept stroking her son's side. Every now and then she changed the wet towels on his head and side, when suddenly she noticed his chest stopped from rising. And just a few seconds from that, she heard one of the machine beeping loud.
"Help, someone!" she shouted. Five nurses jogged to the Saotomes.
"Please, move a bit..." a nurse pleaded and gently pushed the lady out of her way. As the nurses started pressing Ranma's chest and giving him oxygen with some kind of a pump, Nodoka burst in tears and retreated behind the curtain.
"Breath! Breath, Ranma, breath!" a nurse shouted out. And finally, Nodoka started hearing the most beautiful sound ever – the heart monitor beeping. Now she peeked from behind the curtain, seeing the nurses giving high-fives to each other, nodding and smiling.
"I-is he...?" Nodoka stammered and walked to her son, placing her hand on his stomach.
"It was a cardiac arrest. But he made it", a nurse nodded.
For a while Nodoka just sat still, Ranma mumbling something what she couldn't make out every now and then.
Suddenly Nodoka's cell phone rang. She picked it up – it was Genma.
"Hi, darling", he greeted. "Could we switch places now? You have been there for quite a while."
"Well... Okay. Come here."
As Genma opened the door to the ICU, his wife was standing just a few meters from him.
"How is he?" he asked, placing his muscular hand on her shoulder.
"Well... he had a cardiac arrest..."
Genma's eyes widened. "Wh-what?! I-is he-?"
"He made it", she nodded. "I bet he wants to see you."
With slow and careful steps Genma walked the ICU all the way to his son. The boy was coughing at the moment, and Genma sat down on the chair.
"Hi, my boy", he said, quiet, placing his hand on his cheek, stroking him with his thumb. Ranma moaned something strange again and gagged a bit. "You know..." the man sighed, "...I have not maybe made it clear to you, but I love you. I really do. You and your mother are everything I've got. Seeing you like this is... like my worst nightmare." He felt tears come in his eyes. He took his glasses off and wiped his eyes a bit. "But believe me, when you are back to your healthy own self, I will continue with training you. You will become the strongest martial artist there ever was."
"...Da...ddy..." Ranma mumbled quietly and coughed a few times.
"Also, you shou-" Genma was about to say, but suddenly Ranma gagged, more like convulsed and threw up a huge stream of blood – right on his dad's lap.
"...Oh", Genma stared at his blood-covered clothes, sighing. He wasn't angry, but what on earth would he do now? Walk around, looking like he had killed someone? But he had more important things to worry about. The boy had lost a lot of blood. He would need more.
"Hello?" the man peeked from behind the curtain. "We need more blood, hello!"
Soon a nurse came to them with a bag of blood. She hung it up to the drip stand, looked at Genma and nodded.
"Okay now, the situation is that we must change his sheets. They are covered with blood", she said. "We will also give him a shower. What about you? What are you going to do?"
"I'll be going. There is one more visitor for him. Could you maybe call me when you are ready, so she could come?"
"Alright."
As Genma left the ICU, Ranma was getting ready for the shower. Only the most vital tubes were needed – in this case, his oxygen cannula and hear rate monitor. A strange, big hospital bed, covered with dark blue plastic sheet, was brought to him. There was no way he could move to it by himself, so three nurses grabbed him and placed on the bed.
The bed was pushed through the huge room of ICU, finally arriving at the showering room. Those same three nurses – all female – started getting ready. They put aprons on, one got herself some shampoos and such and one started taking off Ranma's clothes. He didn't give a shit. He couldn't really even understand what was going on. Everything was blurry and voices echoed.
"Ranma", one nurse said and pet his cheek gently. "I'm going to give you a shower. The water might feel a bit cold, but we have to get your fever down. Okay?"
Now Ranma was laying on the showering bed, naked. One nurse grabbed the shower, but before turning it on, she placed her hand on the boy's belly button.
"Okay now... There is one more thing we must do before we get started..." she grabbed the catheter tube. "...I will pull your catheter off."
As Ranma got the unpleasant feeling down below, he bit his teeth and hissed a bit. But soon the tube was out, and the showering could start.
"Noo-oo..." Ranma mumbled quietly as one nurse was rubbing his hair with shampoo.
"It's okay, good, good..." another nurse smiled, rinsing his left thigh with a sponge. He coughed harsh, some blood spilling around. The nurse just sighed and washed it away with the shower.
Then they were ready. After Ranma was all dry and dressed up, they returned to his bed. He was placed on his bed and connected to all the machines, feeding tube, blood- and antibiotic IV:s.
"Now I guess we should call his family. There was one more visitor for him."
Genma, Nodoka, Akane and Soun were sitting in the café. Soun had bought the newest tabloid, and read it to everyone. Akane was leaning on her hands, sucking some Fanta with a drinking straw, all quiet. And then... Genma's phone rang.
"Hello, Genma Saotome", he answered the phone. "Hm, yes, oh yes... Okay, I'll tell her. Thank you."
"I can go?" Akane's eyes widened. Genma nodded.
As Akane had gone to the ICU and back to the café many times before, she had no problem this time either. So the she was, at the ICU door. She pushed it open and started walking carefully. She got to Ranma. He was laying on his side, shivering.
"Hi, Ranma..." Akane mumbled without looking at him, sitting down. "You know, I would have brought you flowers, but... They didn't let me. If I could, I would bring you a huge bouquet. In all the colors of rainbow." She couldn't be sure could Ranma even hear her, but if he maybe did, she wished those words would make him happy.
Time went by. Akane stroke the boy's side and hair. He let out some bloody coughs every now and then. Then suddenly someone peeked in from behind the curtain – a doctor. He was holding a plastic bag and a long, thin tube.
"Hello", he greeted. "I am dr. Konishi. You are Ranma Saotome... And, you are...?" he looked act Akane.
"Me? I'm, uh..." Should she say his fiancé? No. "I'm a family friend."
"Okay. Now, Ranma. Ranma, can you hear me?" the doctor touched the boy's shoulder. The gave a weak little cough. "Now it's time to do the inevitable – putting on a new catheter." This is when Akane turned her chair around. She didn't want to see this.
Ranma didn't first react at all – until the doctor pulled his pants down. He was getting closer with the tube, when suddenly:
"Don't TOUCH MY DICK!" the boy screamed so loud it could maybe wake up all the patients in this room from coma.
"W-well..." the doctor backed off, but sighed. "We must do this. I will sedate you lightly. Just a moment." He covered Ranma and walked away.
This was when Akane turned around in her chair, but left the chair turned around, as the doctor would be back any minute.
"I can kinda relate to you..." she mumbled. "I would not like to experience that... that what they are going to do to you..."
The doctor came back with a syringe with some white liquid inside. He grabbed the cannula in the boy's left hand and pushed the liquid in. Everything went even more weird in Ranma's head. He felt so dazed he couldn't resist in any way. And so, the catheter was quickly in it's place.
Again, Akane just kept on stroking Ranma. He was breathing hard, coughing every now and then. But suddenly, the coughing stopped.
"Hm?" Akane got worried. She gave a look at every monitor around them, but as she couldn't really make out what they said. So she reached out to the nurse alarm button. A nurse jogged to them.
"How may I help?" she asked.
"I-is he okay? I mean, is he unconcios or...?"
The nurse gave a fast look at the boy and monitors. "No, don't worry, he's just asleep. But I think this is when you leave him for today to rest. You can come back tomorrow."
Hehe, I think the catheter-scene is somewhat funny... xD Am I evil?