Disclaimer: I don't own Sasami, or any of the Tenchi characters.

Sasami shivered both from the slight draft in the back seat of the police car, and from the constant and now almost overwhelming pain coming from her arm and her ankle. "This is probably just about as bad is it can get..." she thought gloomily as she stared out the front windshield of the car. The car rounded the bend, and once again, her arm pounded against the door of the car. She yelped again as the searing pain shot up her arm and flooded her senses.

The officer quickly glanced back when he heard her sudden cry. "Are you ok?" he asked with concern in his voice. Sasami stared at him coldly with venom in her eyes. She turned her head and looked out the window next to her. "That's some kid." he said quietly to himself. "Not even crying, and she's got a broken arm and ankle..."

They continued down the road in silence when at last the car pulled up to the emergency loading area of the hospital, reserved for ambulances and police units. He glanced back at Sasami once more, and saw that she still had that look of complete hatred on her face. He sighed and got out of the police car.

He walked over to the off-duty paramedics lounging against the side of the building. He told them what was wrong, and they immediately went and got a stretcher. The officer opened the car door and caught Sasami as she nearly plunged out of the car. She had passed out and slumped against the door. He quickly undid her seat belt and lifted her onto the stretcher. The paramedics quickly raced her into the hospital where they took her to a room. A nurse gave her an IV and started a heart-rate monitor. The combination of not eating for days and having multiple injuries had been too much for her body to handle. The nurse put an air mask on, and let her sleep, but making sure she was ok.

The officer told doctors to lock the door and not let anyone in except if it was urgent. Then he returned to headquarters, leaving her under the hospital's care. He specifically told them to phone him when she woke up.

A couple hours later, almost 12:00pm, she finally woke up. When the nurse came in to check on her, she had removed the IV and was trying to climb out the window. Because of her broken ankle though, she didn't even get as far as the windowsill. "What are you doing?" she asked calmly as she dialed for assistance. "Sasami winced with pain as she tried to move closer to the window. Within seconds, help had arrived, and they lifted Sasami back into the bed. The nurse unlatched the tie-downs that were used in cases such as this, and tied them around Sasami's arms and legs. She was careful not to do them too tight around her broken appendages though, because if she cut off the circulation, it would be very bad.

The nurse put the IV back into Sasami's arm, and looked at her. She was still slightly dirty from the dumpster, and she was extremely pale from the shock that she was going through. Other than that, the nurse thought, she was a very beautiful girl. "Sleep tight." the nurse said. "Please don't struggle with the restraints, it will just make your arm and ankle hurt more. I'm sorry we had to do that to you in the first place..." She turned and closed the door behind her, making sure to lock it.

She notified the desk that the she had woken up, and to call the officer and tell him. "Hello, Mr. Isuza, this is Mercy Hospital calling. You wanted to be notified when the child woke up? She has woken up, but she tried to escape. We used the restraints to keep her from moving." "Couldn't you put her arm and ankle in a cast, now that she's woken up?" he asked the attendant. "I'm sorry, but both the specialists in those areas of injuries are at home. They will be in at 6:00 tomorrow morning however, and this is when we will treat her." the attendant replied. "Thank you." he said, and then hung up the phone.

"I hope that kid's gonna be ok.." he said sadly as he slid back into bed. "She's a fighter. I bet she'll be fine."

Sasami lay in the dark hospital room tied down to the bed. She couldn't see anything from the way she was facing... "Why did I have to go and try to climb out the window? If I had just stayed here, I wouldn't be tied down now." she said frustraitedly. "I hate being helpless!" she cried as the tears streamed down her face again. "This wasn't worth it!" she cried even harder. "I know I hated you guys... but why did this have to happen? I'M NOT READY TO GO BACK YET!" she screamed, not even caring anymore if anyone heard her. The tears kept streaming down her face... going into her mouth and running into her ears and hair.

Eventually, she fell asleep. She was restless all night, and she kept having horrible dreams.

* * *

At about 5:30, she woke up again. The searing pain from her ankle and arm had returned, as the pain killers had worn off. The pain was pulsing from her arm into her brain in searing waves that nearly knocked her unconscious again. At 5:45, the nurse came in to check on her. Noticing that she was awake, she gave her some more pain killers and turned the tv to cartoons so she would have something to do. She left the room, making sure that it was still locked.

"I hate cartoons..." Sasami said miserably as she stared at the screen.

15 minutes later, the officer arrived again. He walked up to the front desk of the hospital and asked what room Sasami was in. They told him, and sent someone along with him to unlock the door.

The door was unlocked, and the officer walked in and sat in the corner of the room. Sasami looked at him, and then quickly shifted her gaze to the wall at the other side of the room. "Are you afraid of me?" he asked her when he noticed that she had looked away from him so quickly. She looked up at him again, and then looked back towards the wall. He sighed, but kept staring at her. He thought to himself, "I wonder where she's from. Where did she live? Why did she have to stoop to stealing?" He quickly shooed the thoughts from his mind. His relationship with her was strictly professional. She had broken the law, and he had arrested her. He was not to get involved with her whole life's story. He went back to wondering about his future promotion and his upcoming date with a girl his friend had set him up with.

Just then, the doctor entered the room. He walked over to Sasami. "Hi, honey. What's your name?" he asked her. "She doesn't really talk much." the officer interrupted. "I see." the doctor said. "May I look at your arm? I looks pretty bad." he asked her again. Sasami gazed up cooly at him, with no expressions on her face. He knelt down over her arm, still tied to the bed. He slowly untied it, careful not to cause any more pain to Sasami. "It's definitely broken." he said as he stood up. "We should splint it soon." "Would you look at her ankle too, doctor? I think it's broken or something." the officer replied. The doctor looked down at her ankle, but it was covered by the blanket. "I'm going to need to ask you to leave, Mr. Isuza, before I can look at her ankle. "I don't..." "It is necessary." the doctor cut him off. "Please leave." the officer walked out the door and shut it behind him.

The doctor untied her arms and legs and rolled her blanket down off the end of the bed. She wasn't wearing anything underneath except for a very thin gown. She blushed profusely as the doctor rolled the blanket down, looking at her legs. He knelt down next to her ankle and said "Don't worry. I won't do anything." She didn't feel very relieved as she tried to move her legs closer together to close the gap in the gown. "Stop moving." he said "You'll make your ankle worse." When she was semi comfortable, she closed her eyes and tried not to think about what had happened. As the doctor prodded her swollen and purple ankle, she let out a cry of agony and the tears once again began streaming down her face. "I'm sorry." he said sympathetically. "It's definitely broken."

He rolled the blanket back up and carefully re-tied all the restraints. "I don't think these are really necessary, but.. I have to..." he said sadly as he finished tying her feet down. He walked back to the door and opened it. The officer walked back in. "Well?" he asked. "It's definitely broken. They will both have to be splinted soon." the doctor replied.

* * *

An hour later, and after extreme pain on Sasami's part, she was back in the hospital room once again tied down to the bed. The officer was sitting in the same corner, staring at her. The doctor's wouldn't let her leave for at least another day, because she hadn't eaten in a couple days, and she could pass out again if she did not receive proper treatment.

Her lunch arrived shortly afterwards. It was disgusting hospital food, but Sasami was starving. The officer untied all the restraints, and sat in the corner waiting for her to finish her lunch. She was engrossed in her food, but at the same time, nervously eyeing the officer staring at her in the corner. "What is he going to do to me?" she thought. She looked directly at him for the first time. He had black hair that was short. He had the most beautiful brown eyes that she had ever seen before, except for Tenchi's. He was built athletically and he was tall and muscular. He actually looked worried about her... "What am I thinking?" she asked herself. "He broke my arm. He's probably just like every other man. Harsh, and un-caring. And he is a cop, and now I'm under his ... care."

He looked up suddenly and saw that she had been staring at him. For a brief moment, they both looked directly into each other's eyes. Sasami had been the first one to look away. She began eating again.

"I need to go to the bathroom." she said quietly to him. "Um.. Oh.. Ok." he said nervously. He had no idea what to do. Should he get a nurse to help her? He stood there blankly until Sasami said somewhat harshly "Could you please leave so I can go to the bathroom?" "Oh. Yeah." he replied and walked out the door shutting it behind him. It was still locked.

Sasami went to the bathroom, but she had some trouble because of the casts. Instead of flushing the toilet, she left the bathroom and walked back into the main room. She hobbled over to the window. It had been locked with a pad-lock. She couldn't open it. She stumbled back over to the door, and lodged the chair that he had been sitting in under the handle so the door wouldn't open. She hobbled back over to the window.

"What can I use to break it?" she said quietly. She glanced quickly around the room and then she noticed the magazine rack. She picked it up with some difficulty, and smashed the window. The glass fell to the ground almost a story below her window. A big oak tree branch was about 5 feet away from the windowsill. "I have to jump." she thought as the adrenaline started to pulse through her body.

"Be brave Sasami." she told herself as she lunged out the window and managed to grab onto the tree branch. When her broken arm sent a pulse of pain through her arm, it almost made her fall off the branch. She tried to ignore it as best she could, and pulled herself up onto the branch. She crawled to the trunk of the tree and began to carefully climb down. "I'm free again..." she thought as she got a couple of branches down.

Suddenly, she heard pounding from the door. "WHAT'S GOING ON IN THERE?" It was the cop! He was trying to force the door open! She managed to get three more branches down when the cop finally busted the door down. He immediately ran to the open window and looked around. He saw Sasami halfway down the tree and immediately ran back inside and called for backup.

"Dammit, that was too fast!" she thought hysterically. "If only I had a few more minutes!" She quickly kept working her way down the tree, but it was no use. There were already security personnel gathering at the bottom of the tree.

I hope you liked the chapter! It was fun to write! -RyoOhki020