Chapter XIV
Suzaku opened his eyes with concurrent periods of awareness over the next three days.
When he was finally fully cognitive, he found himself in a private medical hospital room, laying in a bed with white sheets, and an IV tube in his left arm.
There was a moment he gave into a nurse, ordered to give him a sponge bath, and with his muscles atrophied, bed ridden for the last few days, he didn't have the strength to refuse.
The nurse smiled at him and even blushed as she washed him down. So did he. But he let her to her job. He even thanked her after it was over. It was the proper thing to do, he considered.
Later, he was updated with militant news on his phone through text messages and even learned that another attempt had been made to brainwash Lelouch. But for some reason there had been complications, and now the Knight of Two, Vincent Glasgow, was overseeing a project referred to as CBT, or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, by the Emperor's decry.
Geass was a powerful thing, but was it limited in his scope? Suzaku didn't know. All he knew was Lelouch had used it on him and now it controlled his life.
The last time he had seen Lelouch was in his prison cell via a CCTV link, but he wondered if the next time he saw his old friend would be back at Ashford Academy. That was the plan, after all. To return Lelouch back to where he was before Zero and the Black Knights.
And yet, Suzaku struggled with his memories.
Had Zero saved him? Or had it just been a hallucination brought on from the pain he was suffering at the moment? Nevertheless, he mentally thanked the mysterious "Zero". He would dwell further into it at a later time. Right now, he needed to relax, and recover.
The same nurse returned with a meal tray. Suzaku blushed. But the nurse acted professionally. She had light hair and was very pretty. And much like before during his sponge bath, although he tried to hide looking, he noticed again how ample framed she was at the chest.
She put the tray on a table stand next to his bed. She lifted the tray lid and recited the contents of his lunch. And then said, "Forgive us, Sir Kururugi, but an envelope was misplaced and it was only found now," she looked over to a large stuffed cat toy at his bedside that looked suspiciously like Arthur, "and I suspect it may have come with that."
He had noticed the large gift earlier and wondered about it.
He looked at the nurse for a moment, his eyes wondering again to her chest, and noticed her name tag: Charlene Chapman.
"Thank you," he said.
When she left, he opened the envelope. The card read:
"I'm taking care of Arthur until you're better, buddy. He's well, and waiting for you. Oh, and I ordered a high tech security system for your house, my gift. I'm an Aristocrat, money grows on trees for me. I'll be installed before you get back—Get well, Love Gino."
Suzaku rolled his eyes when he read the last part of the card. Gino was always affectionate, maybe a little too much. But any one who would go out of their way to arrange a boxing match to help another's emotional turmoil was a good friend in Suzaku's book.
A doctor entered Suzaku's room carrying a computer pad. He was an older gentleman with glasses and white hair, wearing a white lab coat. "Good morning, Sir Kururugi," the physician said. "I'm Dr. Reinhardt."
"Morning doctor," Suzaku replied, in good spirits.
"How are you feeling? You've been in and out for the last three days."
"As good as one can be in my situation, doctor." Suzaku decided to eat.
"Of course," the doctor said, tapping something on his computer pad. "You went through a horrific ordeal, but I hear the culprit was caught. I hear the man who assaulted you was Japanese, the brother of a man who was executed not long ago."
Suzaku didn't reply.
"You mean you hadn't heard?"
Suzaku shook his head. "I've had no visitors or dispatches as of such," he said.
"Well, that's your business." The doctor shrugged. "Sadly, I'm here on another matter."
The doctor looked uneasy for a moment. He took a deep breath. And then affirmed Suzaku's worst fear. He explained the hospital's findings when Suzaku was examined.
Suzaku sighed deeply. "Thank you doctor for being honest with me."
"This person really hurt you, Sir Kururugi. We don't know yet if it's irreversible, only time will tell. However, we can try therapy. In situations like this, a good psychotherapist is recommended."
At that moment, Gino walked into the room, and in his arms was Arthur. Gino smiled, as Arthur leapt free and jumped onto the bed. Arthur meowed a happy hello to Suzaku, and Suzaku pet the feline on the head with a smile, happy to see him. The doctor protested, no animals were allowed in the hospital. But Gino gave him the most wicked stare and the doctor dropped it.
"Hey Suzaku, how are you doing?" asked Gino.
There was an eerie silence, then the doctor said, "I'll come back later."
Gino watched the doctor leave, then turned back to Suzaku. "Did I say something wrong?"
Suzaku sighed deeply. Then told Gino what the doctor had explained to him.
Gino was outraged, and he stood with clenched fists at his sides. Suzaku had never seen him so angry. "If you won't sign that bastard's death warrant, then I will!"
"Hachirou Chika said that I'd be the last of my lineage. I do have a cousin, but she and I haven't spoken in years." Arthur appeared to look at him sadly, then meowed sombrely, as if sensing his master's despair. "And yet, why do I feel like I deserve this?"
"No one deserves what this sicko did to you. He took away your ability to have children, for God's sake! For a man not being able to sire a son, well, that's inhuman!"
"Settle down, Gino. The doctor says it might be reversible," Suzaku said calmly. "And everything still works in the usual fashion. I think?"
"Get real, Suzaku. This stuff can never be fixed. You should be mad as hell. Remember what I told you about bottling up your feelings. Get angry, for Christ's sake!"
Suzaku leaned back in bed, sighed. He really did think he deserved this punishment as a form of repentance. "Hachirou Chika said it was the price I'd pay for my actions against my own people," he said, "and for the murder of his brother."
Gino shook his head. "You're wrong, Suzaku. You haven't done anything wrong. Daisuke Chika tried to kill you and he was punished for it. No one should be punished for their achievements, especially you. You're a hero, Hachirou Chika is the villain. At present he's in a maximum detection centre. I'll have his death warrant sent over so you can sign it."
"I won't condemn him to death," Suzaku said flatly.
"Why? Because he's Japanese? He tried to kill you!"
"No, he said he wasn't going to. He only wanted to hurt me, so I would share in his loss. I lost Euphie, so I know how he feels. He seemed a little dumbfounded when I told him I didn't sigh his brother's death warrant. He asked who, but I never told him."
"Anya signed it, and you did the right thing not telling Hachirou, or he would've gone after her."
Suzaku nodded. "I'm conflicted, Gino. Hachirou Chika needs to pay for what he's done, but..."
"Stop being so soft! You wager too much on your emotions."
"Sometimes they can be your best asset."
Arthur then saw the large cat toy that looked like him and hissed at it, he swiped a clawed paw at it, and then turned around, facing away, and laid down on the sheets as far as possible from it. Suzaku chuckled under his breath.
"And sometimes, they'll get yourself killed." Gino retorted angrily. Gino sat down in a chair.
Suzaku felt his eyes began to tear up. "It hurts, Gino. You have no idea how much it hurts. And I'm not just talking about what Hachirou Chika did to me."
Gino sighed sympathetically. "I get it. You miss, Princess Euphemia. We all do. Lelouch did a horrible thing and there are still questions behind it. But right now, he's being watched closely. He's to be released back to his old school. The Emperor has ordered it after a few more behavioural modifications. But every time it seems to be done, suddenly he's triggered, and he screams out for his sister, and the brainwashing has to be started again. He's a tough guy."
Suzaku agreed.
"Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll order some warm milk. I know it's your favourite."
Suzaku wiped tears from his eyes with his hospital gown. "Thanks. But there's still one mystery I need solved before I can rest easy."
"And what's that?" asked Gino.
"How did you find me?"
"That's a puzzling question," Gino mused. "I was hoping you could tell me."
Suzaku shook his head. "Zero," was all he said.
"Impossible! Lelouch is no longer a threat. And his costume was burned."
Suzaku explained what he had seen during the last couple of moments before he fell unconscious at the hands of Hachirou Chika.
Gino looked flabbergasted. "You were in pain, and in the smoke, in combination with the sedative, you must have imagined it. A nurse attendant found you on the front steps of the hospital, no one knows how you got there."
"Then who rescued me? How did they find me?"
"It's a mystery that deserves to be solved," remarked Gino. "Oh, by the way, when you were unconscious, I read some of your other cards. Looks like you have a secret admirer." Gino seemed to look around for the card. "Where did it go? It was here when I came in earlier. You were sleeping at the time, but I got a little nosey."
"By the way, thanks for the large cat toy, Gino," Suzaku said, rolling his eyes. "If it were still intact, it would've gone perfectly with the large cat's scratching post at my house."
Gino laughed. "Hey, after I saw what that bastard and his assassins did to your house, after you spent so much money fixing it up, I had to get it replaced." He shrugged. "But, they were out of large cat scratching posts. So, I opted for a giant cat instead. Guess Arthur feels threatened. I gotta admit, Arthur is a very strongly willed cat. But you owe me for a torn couch."
Suzaku chuckled again. "Sure, send me a bill," he said. "About this card?"
Gino looked around the room. The only card he found was the one he sent. "Yeah, it was here. It must've fell, maintenance swept it up, or a nurse threw it away thinking it was trash?" Gino shrugged, then smiled. "I noticed your nurse is nice looking. If it's not too forward, mind if I ask her out? Since she's your nurse, dating you might be a conflict of interest."
Suzaku laughed. "Sure, go ahead," he said. "By the way, who was the lost card from?"
"It was from something named C.C. The handwriting was definitely feminine. I can tell."
Suzaku nodded, but he didn't know a C.C.
Charlene Chapman waited until she would not be seen and then entered a storage closet. As a nurse, it would not be unusual for her to get some supplies. But she was not there to retrieve anything, she was there to change. Or rather, affront her disguise.
Another set of clothes had been hidden inside for her to alter her appearance.
When she was dressed, she snuck out and left the hospital, leaving her masquerade as a nurse behind her, and those people who decided to call her by a recent nickname: C.C.
Little did they know, something else, in another time, had referred to her as such. It was a non-de-plume, of course, but it suited her purposes for the agenda she had set in motion. Only, recently, things had come to standstill with Zero captured.
She planned on rectifying that.
To be continued...