Chapter 2
By Kohan- second half by Miko of da Shinigami
Rei and Hotaru walked into Usagi's hospital room and smiled a little, trying to hold their pain back from their faces in front of Usagi.
"Are you feeling okay, Usagi-chan?" Rei asked, sitting down next to her.
"Yeah, I feel the same...just inside a hospital room." She said, and smiled. There was a long, awkward silence that followed.
"Um...we met these really weird guys in the waiting room..." Hotaru said, trying to make good conversation.
"Really?" Usagi said, face brightening a little.
"Yeah, and uh, they were really cute" Rei added.
"What did you mean by 'really weird', Hotaru?"
"Well, they were bringing their friend in to get his broken leg set...and he wasn't exactly up to it. One boy was Chinese and he kept going on about injustice..."
"A Chinese boy, huh?" Usagi said, thinking a little.
"Yeah...and we got our marrow tested. The secretary said that your parents and Shingo were going to get theirs tested tonight."
"Listen, guys...thanks for coming...you don't have to stay, I know you have school tomorrow."
"Usagi...how about I come and see you after school is over?" Hotaru asked.
"I would come, but my father has a business meeting and we're going out of town." Rei said,
"It's okay, Rei. You can come and see me some other time I don't know what good company I'll be, Hotaru, they start me on the pills tomorrow...I heard they make you sick."
"I'll stop by anyway."
"Okay. Ja ne, guys." Usagi said and waved them out. Perhaps she would see what was on the television set...
***
Hotaru waited anxiously for the last bell to ring. She watched the clock and ignored her physics teacher as best she could. When the bell finally did ring, she jumped up from her seat after quickly scribbling down her homework assignment and walked swiftly to the door and into the hallway. On her way to the locker bay, she ran headfirst into someone.
"Ouch," Hotaru said, grabbing her arm where she had hit it on the wall. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," She said and picked up the person's books, ready to make a dash for it again.
"It's all right," He said, and Hotaru looked up, it was Duo from yesterday.
"Oh, it's you...we seem to be running into each other a lot."
"Yeah. Is your arm okay?"
"It's fine...it will be."
"I was just on my way to get something to eat with Wufei, would you like to come along?" Duo said, nodding to the Chinese boy next to him.
"Thanks but no thanks, I'm on my way to the hospital to see Usagi..."
"Oh, well then, would you mind if we joined you? I'd like to meet your friend, and I'm sure Wufei doesn't mind hospital food, do ya, Wu-man?"
"Duo..." The Chinese started, then sighed. "Injustice..." He mumbled.
"Okay, I guess that will be all right. I don't know if she'll be up to talking or not, she's starting on the pills today."
"It's okay. I'm used to talking to people who aren't really responsive." He said and smiled, then he threw a look to Wufei who frowned. Hotaru smiled a little.
"Okay."
***
Hotaru knocked on the doorframe of Usagi's hospital room. The door was open and Usagi was sitting on the bed flipping through channels on the television.
"Hi Hotaru-chan." She said and smiled.
"How are you feeling, Usagi?"
"Good. I mean, better then I was feeling earlier, after they gave me the pills."
"This is Duo and Wufei. We met them here yesterday."
"I know you." Usagi said to Wufei. "I bumped into you on the way home yesterday."
"Yeah." Wufei said.
"Uh, sorry about that."
"So what, you get HBO on here?" Duo asked, looking at the television set.
"HBO?" Usagi asked, a little confused.
"Uh, never mind." Duo said and laughed a little. He took a seat at the chair and started playing with his braid.
"Usagi, has the doctor talked to you about finding your bone marrow match?"
"Hai. He said that my parent's marrow and my brother's marrow didn't match."
"W-w-what did he s-say about our marrow?" Hotaru asked, getting quite discouraged that her friend might never getting well.
"I...I don't know, Hotaru-chan. He only told my parents, he hasn't told me anything. He'll probably tell you, if you ask him."
"I'll be right back." Hotaru said, and walked out the door. Duo got up and followed her, leaving Usagi and Wufei alone.
***
"If she doesn't get a bone marrow transfusion, what's going to happen to her?" Duo asked, keeping up with Hotaru's quick pace.
"Let's just say that she won't live long enough to see her next birthday."
"That bad, huh? Well, you should make her life now as happy as possible."
"Or find a donor." Hotaru said, and stopped at the front desk. "Excuse me, do you know where Dr. Joushi is?"
"He is with a patient at the moment." The secretary said, without looking up.
"Well, do you know how long he'll be?" "No."
"Could you find out? The lady wants to talk to him, now." Duo said, tapping on the desk.
"I could page him." The secretary said in an annoyed voice.
"Please."
(Miko of da Shinigami- and now, the change in authors. Can't you just feel the quality deteriorate as you read the a/n?)
***
"So," Wufei said, attempting to start a conversation with the sickly girl. "How are you?" 'I am such a baka. I can't believe I just asked a dying girl how she is?!'
"I'm fine," she said smiling. "Considering the fact that I'm going to die."
"Don't worry," Wufei said, doing his best to cheer her up, something he was definitely not the best at. "I'm sure everything will turn out okay."
"Thanks Wufei," she said, sitting up. "You're the few people who tell me that."
She smiled slightly, before falling over. WuFei caught her just as she was leaning toward the side.
"Are you-" Wufei was about to ask, before she cut him off.
"I'm fine. Just a little…tired," He set her down on the pillow where she drifted off into a deep sleep. She looked so weak and so pale Wufei had to restrain himself from shaking her into consciousness, just to make sure she was alive. But he figured the steady beeping of the monitors was a good sign. He looked down at her one last time. 'It's hard to believe this girl is actually dying. She has such a life ahead of her. Had such a life ahead of her. It's almost sad.'
Then her left to find his comrade and head back to the apartment.
***
"Did you reach him yet," Duo asked, tapping his fingers on the desk.
"He's in with a very important patient right now. I'm sorry sir but you have to wait," she said, annoyed the boy and not even trying to hide it.
"Oh silly me," Duo sneered. "To forget that even at hospitals some patients are more important then others."
The secretary just opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, speechless.
Duo went back to his seat next to Hotaru. She squeezed his arm a little and gave him a weak smile.
Finally the Doctor came rushing in.
"What's so important that you had to keep paging me," he asked the secretary. She just pointed the pair.
Dr. Joushi smiled at them. "What did you need to asked, Miss Tomoe?"
"She needs to know whether or not her marrow is a match," Duo said.
Hotaru pinched him and whispered in her ear.
"I can talk for myself Duo!"
He just grinned.
Dr. Joushi went rummaging through some sheets of paper.
"No," he said, looking over the results. "I'm sorry, but neither you, nor Miss. Hino have matching marrow."
Hotaru looked down at her feet, tears blurring her vision. "Thank you," she said quietly, walking away.
Duo turned to the doctor before following her to Usagi's room. "I want to schedule an appointment for marrow testing on my friends and I. When can we come?"
Dr. Joushi looked at the calendar. "Three days. Anytime between four and seven."
Duo grinned. "Thanks!"
Hotaru went running down the hallway, tears streaming down her face. 'I was hoping, so much, that one of us would be a match. So much.'
She ran headfirst into Wufei and they both fell crashing to the ground. When he heard that sound, Duo came running around the corner, tripping over Hotaru, and sliding he straight into Usagi room, which Wufei just left.
"Ouch," he said.
"Quiet, baka," said Wufei, brushing himself off as he got to his feet. "Usagi just feel asleep."
Hotaru just sat on the ground, silent tears streaming down her face.
Duo jumped to his feet. "Hotaru?" he asked.
"Hai," she said.
"Do you want me to give you a ride home?" he asked quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.
She looked up at him.
'Why does it hurt me so much, to see her sad?' Duo thought. He could feel the tears forming him his eyes, but he covered them up, helping Hotaru to her feet.
"No," she said. "I'm walking to Rei's temple and spending the night there. It's close by and I'd rather walk."
He looked her in the eye, frowning. "Can I walk with you?"
"No," she said, looking down. "I don't want to be a bother."
"You wouldn't be," Duo said grinning. "But if you need the time alone, then take it. Just please be careful. And call me, if you ever need someone to talk to."
"Hai," she said, smiling. "Ja ne Duo."
"Ja ne Taru-chan!"
***
"And he said Ja ne Taru-chan!" Rei almost shouted.
"Not so loud Rei," said Hotaru, who now resembled an over-ripe tomato. "What's important now is finding a donor."
"Hai," she said, suddenly serious. "I was hoping so much that one of us would match. But all's not lost."
"Yup" Hotaru said. "Just temporarily missing."
"Yeah."
***
"Did you talk to Usagi?" Duo asked Wufei as they headed towards their apartment.
"Yes," Wufei said, not wanting to discuss what happened, he added. "Maxwell. Stop talking. Your voice it starting to get on my nerves and I fear I may have to kill you."
Duo just mumbled. "That was uncalled for."
'I hope we can find a donor. For Hotaru's sake. I don't know why, but I can't bear to see her so sad.'
"Will Usagi be okay?" Wufei asked, finally breaking the silence.
"They don't have a donor," Duo said. "She'll die unless they find one soon."
Wufei pulled up the collar of his jacket. "I hope they do."
"Why?" Duo asked. "I didn't think you'd care about something like thing."
But Wufei wouldn't answer him.
'I hope they find a donor. For my sake. I don't know why, but if she dies, it'd be my fault.'
***
Miko- I hope I lived up to the first chapters of this fic. =^-^=! I hope you enjoyed it and please don't kill me if I ruined the story so soon! r/r!