Final Reaction
A Blue Seed Fic by Tobu Ishi
Of course I don't own Blue Seed, you foolish copyright enforcer.
-part 4-
"It's her mitama," Matsudera whispered, her voice worn thin with emotion. "It's killing her."
"What?!"
The sentiment was echoed by everyone in the hospital hallway...and, since every member of the TAC, including Sakura, had turned up to check on Momiji's condition, all those 'what?!'s made quite a bit of noise. Several passing aides and patients gave them dirty looks; Koume gave them the finger in return, then turned her attention quickly to the young doctor who had allowed Matsudera into the test lab.
"I'm afraid your friend has summed the situation up all too accurately," the doctor said, his eyes skimming the clipboard in his hands. "The alien tissue implant in her chest...a mitama, did you call it? According to our tests, it's been spreading through Miss Fujimiya's systems by way of spores carried by the bloodstream, and attempting to subvert her tissues to its own uses. I believe it may be performing the same function that its fellows have used on the various minor lifeforms that have been terrorizing our city in altered form...trying to turn Miss Fujimiya into one of its own."
"But...what set it off just now, of all times?" Takeuchi blurted.
The doctor shook his head. "From what your Miss Matsudera has been telling me, I don't think anything set it off. It's probably been doing this since it was first introduced into her body. Naturally, her immune systems have been fighting it off since then, but apparently it was a doomed battle...and she's about to lose."
"Green roots..."
"Huh?" Yagashi said, turning to stare at Kusanagi. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Kusanagi looked as shocked as if he'd been slapped across the face. "This morning...I noticed that Momiji's hair was starting to grow green roots...but we thought it was a prank or something, so I didn't think about..." His voice, already halting, trailed off completely.
Matsudera cast a shrewd eye at the mutant's own leaf-colored locks. "So," she said, nodding. "It's trying to make her like you, isn't it? A mutant. And somehow the process went wrong..."
"I'm afraid we're not sure what caused the mutation process to backfire," the doctor said with a sigh. "All we can tell you is the results of that backfire...and they don't add up to a good outlook for the patient. Miss Fujimiya's respiratory system is closest to the site of implant, and so it has been the hardest hit of any part of her body. Due to her immune system's shielding reactions, mixed with the spores of the mitama itself, her lungs and trachea are slowly filling with a thick, saplike substance which we haven't had much success in removing. Frankly, she's suffocating. We've put her on an artificial lung, but..."
"But what?" Mr. Kunikida asked anxiously.
The doctor met his eyes honestly. "Sir, I'm truly sorry...but unless some miracle could...oh, I don't know, double or triple the patient's immunity, this is like bailing out a sinking boat with a teaspoon. Even if we do manage to find a way to keep her lungs clear, her other systems will succumb to the destructive effects of the spores one by one, and she will die."
For a long, wordless moment, the soft bumps and murmurs of the hospital routine were all that could be heard. The young doctor flinched at the expressions of shocked disbelief on the TAC's faces.
"I...really am sorry," he said, dropping his cold professional manner for a moment. Takeuchi heard a quiver of regret in his voice, and wondered how young he really was. "We did everything we could. Would you like to see her?"
Mr. Kunikida hesitated, then glanced at his friends and comrades and nodded.
"Yes, please."
The soft, regular tone of a life support monitor and the steady hiss of a mechanical breather were the only sounds in the small hospital room. It wasn't as though there was no one there; it was simply that not one of the seven people ranged around the walls could think of anything to say.
All the words in their hearts fell silent whenever they glanced at the still, pale figure that lay silent in the bed between them.
Momiji looked like a ghost. The color was gone from her face; her hair lay limp on her pillow. The impersonal white hospital gown and sheets sucked away whatever life might have been left in her appearance, and none of them could look at the wires and tubes keeping her alive without wincing.
Without the sound of the monitor to reassure them, they might have thought her already dead...
It was Kusanagi who finally spoke, his voice raw with emotion.
"This is my fault," he said, staring helplessly at his hands. "I knew she was sick. I should have told someone...should have watched her more closely-"
Kunikida rested a hand on his shoulder, silencing him. "You didn't know how bad it was," he said, trying to comfort the guilt-wracked young man. "None of us could have known. We all spoke to her before she left the meeting yesterday, and none of us did anything-"
"But it's not the same for you!" Kusanagi snapped, wrenching away from the older man's touch. "You aren't her protector, you're not the one she trusted with her life!" He saw the looks of alarm and even pity that the others were giving him, but he didn't care. Once again, his stupidity was killing a Kushinada...he was losing the one he loved all over again, and he had no one to blame but himself.
Momiji's words of that morning wouldn't stop running through his head. 'I have to get to sleep...oh, and please don't tell Mr. Kunikida, he'll just worry about me...' And before that, her smiling face looking out the window at him: 'You know, Kusanagi, the title of "Mamoru" doesn't have to extend to a silly head cold.' If he'd just taken her illness more seriously, maybe this wouldn't have happened...maybe she would be here talking to him, happy and safe, instead of...of....
Unknown to him, a single tear slipped down his dark cheek.
Takeuchi saw it and bit her lip. "We were all supposed to protect her," she insisted.
"But I let her down," he whispered. "I let you all down...and now it's too late."
To his left, someone cleared her throat softly. Looking up, he saw Sakura's bespectacled face looking back at him. The blond miko set her chin stubbornly, gripping the arms of her chair with resolute hands.
"Don't talk like that, Carrot-Boy," she said gruffly, not quite meeting his eyes. "If you don't believe in that dumb sacrifice girl's power, who will?"
For a second, Kusanagi looked dumbstruck. Then his expression calmed.
"You're right," he whispered, his voice quiet but full of resolve. "But...I don't know what to do..."
A small smile flitted across her face. "Yeah, well, if I know this group, we'll think of something. And hey, if you need help, I can give it."
"Sakura..." Takeuchi said, her voice amazed.
Kunikida seemed just as thrown. "You're the last person I would expect to make an offer like that," he murmured.
The miko shrugged, as if to say, 'what can you do'? "Heck, I guess I'd kinda miss her if she was gone. 'Sides, there'd be lots less to do around here, you know?"
Beside her, Kusanagi pushed through the group, knowing all eyes had gone to him and not caring anymore. Taking a deep breath, he knelt beside Momiji's bed. "I'm sorry," he said, simply, reaching to take her hand. "I'll do whatever I can to help you...I promise."
As his fingers touched hers, a sparkling light leapt from them. The flash was short and instantaneous, but Kusanagi leapt back, nearly falling over in his surprise.
"What the-?"
"What was that?!"
"I don't get it-"
The room filled with commotion-and then, one voice cut through it all.
Matsudera's voice.
"That's IT!"
Leaping to her feet, the lady scientist crossed the room in three strides and was at Kusanagi's side, grabbing his hand and turning it so that the mitama on the back caught the light, tossing it back in a sparkle of blue.
"Hey!" Kusanagi yelped, trying to pull away without knocking anyone else over in the crowded room. "What're you doing?"
Matsudera's eyes were alight. "Kusanagi, you were implanted with mitama at a very young age, weren't you?"
"Uh...y-yes, that's right..." the mutant stammered, very confused at this new turn of events. "But I-"
"And you grew up intertwined with the mitama, right?"
"Well, more or less-"
"Perfect!" the scientist cried, letting go of his hand to grin in triumph. "I understand it now! Momiji was too old to be turned into a mutant; her body systems were already almost fully-grown and established when she was implanted! But you...you were just a baby when they got you. In the process of growing, you must have developed some sort of bond with them, something that lets you cope with their presence in your system!"
"Um, yeah, that's why they call me a mutant," Kusanagi muttered. He had a sense that this was leading to something, but he couldn't quite figure out what...
Kunikida looked thoughtful. "Hmm...so, that explains why she was able to command that Aragami back there. Kusanagi, you've been implanted with Orochi's mitama for so long that they've fused with you...but Momiji is still mostly separate from hers, so some of the old devil's power must have been left in it! And so, when their lives were in danger..."
"Exactly," Matsudera agreed. "Anyway, since we've found from Momiji's case that the mitama spores travel through the bloodstream, your defense system must be there! In your blood! Or...sap...or whatever." Losing momentum for a moment, Matsudera caught herself and barreled onward. "So the solution's simple-we'll give Momiji a transfusion of your blood!"
"What?!" The cry went up from around the room.
Yaegashi frowned. "Are you sure it's really blood?"
"It doesn't matter," the woman scientist said, waving her hands to emphasize the point. "If my guess is correct, whatever defenses you possess will be transferred temporarily into Momiji's body along with the borrowed...er...well, whatever. That should slow the expansion of her mitama down to the point where her body can cope with it and push it back again, at least for a while. Who knows, maybe her immune systems will even copy yours and give her a permanent defense!"
Kusanagi's face was skeptical. "Matsudera, even I'm not sure what it is, and it's my own blood...what makes you think that it won't make her even worse?"
"I don't know for sure," she admitted, "but it seems like our best chance. I think the bond between you two and your shared seeds might make it work in a way that a transfusion to someone else might not..." She glanced up at him then, her expression grim. "And if it does make her worse...well, what have we lost by trying?"
Remembering the doctor's dark predictions, Kusanagi swallowed hard and nodded, getting to his feet. For a moment he hesitated, then walked to the door. Matsudera followed, as he shot a last look back at Momiji, then returned his gaze to the scientist.
"Well, it looks like you're going to get to experiment on me after all," he said, his voice dark with irony. "Have fun, doc."
________________________________________________
AN- And there it is, folks; a ray of hope in a troubled story. ^_^ Will the transfusion work? Will Momiji die? Will Tobu Ishi ever get more than five reviews a chapter? *sniffs sadly* Who knows? One thing is certain--you need to review! Reeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiieeeeeewwww aaaaaaalllllllreaaaaaaaadyyyyyy!!! *takes a bow* Thank you. -Tobu Ishi
A Blue Seed Fic by Tobu Ishi
Of course I don't own Blue Seed, you foolish copyright enforcer.
-part 4-
"It's her mitama," Matsudera whispered, her voice worn thin with emotion. "It's killing her."
"What?!"
The sentiment was echoed by everyone in the hospital hallway...and, since every member of the TAC, including Sakura, had turned up to check on Momiji's condition, all those 'what?!'s made quite a bit of noise. Several passing aides and patients gave them dirty looks; Koume gave them the finger in return, then turned her attention quickly to the young doctor who had allowed Matsudera into the test lab.
"I'm afraid your friend has summed the situation up all too accurately," the doctor said, his eyes skimming the clipboard in his hands. "The alien tissue implant in her chest...a mitama, did you call it? According to our tests, it's been spreading through Miss Fujimiya's systems by way of spores carried by the bloodstream, and attempting to subvert her tissues to its own uses. I believe it may be performing the same function that its fellows have used on the various minor lifeforms that have been terrorizing our city in altered form...trying to turn Miss Fujimiya into one of its own."
"But...what set it off just now, of all times?" Takeuchi blurted.
The doctor shook his head. "From what your Miss Matsudera has been telling me, I don't think anything set it off. It's probably been doing this since it was first introduced into her body. Naturally, her immune systems have been fighting it off since then, but apparently it was a doomed battle...and she's about to lose."
"Green roots..."
"Huh?" Yagashi said, turning to stare at Kusanagi. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Kusanagi looked as shocked as if he'd been slapped across the face. "This morning...I noticed that Momiji's hair was starting to grow green roots...but we thought it was a prank or something, so I didn't think about..." His voice, already halting, trailed off completely.
Matsudera cast a shrewd eye at the mutant's own leaf-colored locks. "So," she said, nodding. "It's trying to make her like you, isn't it? A mutant. And somehow the process went wrong..."
"I'm afraid we're not sure what caused the mutation process to backfire," the doctor said with a sigh. "All we can tell you is the results of that backfire...and they don't add up to a good outlook for the patient. Miss Fujimiya's respiratory system is closest to the site of implant, and so it has been the hardest hit of any part of her body. Due to her immune system's shielding reactions, mixed with the spores of the mitama itself, her lungs and trachea are slowly filling with a thick, saplike substance which we haven't had much success in removing. Frankly, she's suffocating. We've put her on an artificial lung, but..."
"But what?" Mr. Kunikida asked anxiously.
The doctor met his eyes honestly. "Sir, I'm truly sorry...but unless some miracle could...oh, I don't know, double or triple the patient's immunity, this is like bailing out a sinking boat with a teaspoon. Even if we do manage to find a way to keep her lungs clear, her other systems will succumb to the destructive effects of the spores one by one, and she will die."
For a long, wordless moment, the soft bumps and murmurs of the hospital routine were all that could be heard. The young doctor flinched at the expressions of shocked disbelief on the TAC's faces.
"I...really am sorry," he said, dropping his cold professional manner for a moment. Takeuchi heard a quiver of regret in his voice, and wondered how young he really was. "We did everything we could. Would you like to see her?"
Mr. Kunikida hesitated, then glanced at his friends and comrades and nodded.
"Yes, please."
The soft, regular tone of a life support monitor and the steady hiss of a mechanical breather were the only sounds in the small hospital room. It wasn't as though there was no one there; it was simply that not one of the seven people ranged around the walls could think of anything to say.
All the words in their hearts fell silent whenever they glanced at the still, pale figure that lay silent in the bed between them.
Momiji looked like a ghost. The color was gone from her face; her hair lay limp on her pillow. The impersonal white hospital gown and sheets sucked away whatever life might have been left in her appearance, and none of them could look at the wires and tubes keeping her alive without wincing.
Without the sound of the monitor to reassure them, they might have thought her already dead...
It was Kusanagi who finally spoke, his voice raw with emotion.
"This is my fault," he said, staring helplessly at his hands. "I knew she was sick. I should have told someone...should have watched her more closely-"
Kunikida rested a hand on his shoulder, silencing him. "You didn't know how bad it was," he said, trying to comfort the guilt-wracked young man. "None of us could have known. We all spoke to her before she left the meeting yesterday, and none of us did anything-"
"But it's not the same for you!" Kusanagi snapped, wrenching away from the older man's touch. "You aren't her protector, you're not the one she trusted with her life!" He saw the looks of alarm and even pity that the others were giving him, but he didn't care. Once again, his stupidity was killing a Kushinada...he was losing the one he loved all over again, and he had no one to blame but himself.
Momiji's words of that morning wouldn't stop running through his head. 'I have to get to sleep...oh, and please don't tell Mr. Kunikida, he'll just worry about me...' And before that, her smiling face looking out the window at him: 'You know, Kusanagi, the title of "Mamoru" doesn't have to extend to a silly head cold.' If he'd just taken her illness more seriously, maybe this wouldn't have happened...maybe she would be here talking to him, happy and safe, instead of...of....
Unknown to him, a single tear slipped down his dark cheek.
Takeuchi saw it and bit her lip. "We were all supposed to protect her," she insisted.
"But I let her down," he whispered. "I let you all down...and now it's too late."
To his left, someone cleared her throat softly. Looking up, he saw Sakura's bespectacled face looking back at him. The blond miko set her chin stubbornly, gripping the arms of her chair with resolute hands.
"Don't talk like that, Carrot-Boy," she said gruffly, not quite meeting his eyes. "If you don't believe in that dumb sacrifice girl's power, who will?"
For a second, Kusanagi looked dumbstruck. Then his expression calmed.
"You're right," he whispered, his voice quiet but full of resolve. "But...I don't know what to do..."
A small smile flitted across her face. "Yeah, well, if I know this group, we'll think of something. And hey, if you need help, I can give it."
"Sakura..." Takeuchi said, her voice amazed.
Kunikida seemed just as thrown. "You're the last person I would expect to make an offer like that," he murmured.
The miko shrugged, as if to say, 'what can you do'? "Heck, I guess I'd kinda miss her if she was gone. 'Sides, there'd be lots less to do around here, you know?"
Beside her, Kusanagi pushed through the group, knowing all eyes had gone to him and not caring anymore. Taking a deep breath, he knelt beside Momiji's bed. "I'm sorry," he said, simply, reaching to take her hand. "I'll do whatever I can to help you...I promise."
As his fingers touched hers, a sparkling light leapt from them. The flash was short and instantaneous, but Kusanagi leapt back, nearly falling over in his surprise.
"What the-?"
"What was that?!"
"I don't get it-"
The room filled with commotion-and then, one voice cut through it all.
Matsudera's voice.
"That's IT!"
Leaping to her feet, the lady scientist crossed the room in three strides and was at Kusanagi's side, grabbing his hand and turning it so that the mitama on the back caught the light, tossing it back in a sparkle of blue.
"Hey!" Kusanagi yelped, trying to pull away without knocking anyone else over in the crowded room. "What're you doing?"
Matsudera's eyes were alight. "Kusanagi, you were implanted with mitama at a very young age, weren't you?"
"Uh...y-yes, that's right..." the mutant stammered, very confused at this new turn of events. "But I-"
"And you grew up intertwined with the mitama, right?"
"Well, more or less-"
"Perfect!" the scientist cried, letting go of his hand to grin in triumph. "I understand it now! Momiji was too old to be turned into a mutant; her body systems were already almost fully-grown and established when she was implanted! But you...you were just a baby when they got you. In the process of growing, you must have developed some sort of bond with them, something that lets you cope with their presence in your system!"
"Um, yeah, that's why they call me a mutant," Kusanagi muttered. He had a sense that this was leading to something, but he couldn't quite figure out what...
Kunikida looked thoughtful. "Hmm...so, that explains why she was able to command that Aragami back there. Kusanagi, you've been implanted with Orochi's mitama for so long that they've fused with you...but Momiji is still mostly separate from hers, so some of the old devil's power must have been left in it! And so, when their lives were in danger..."
"Exactly," Matsudera agreed. "Anyway, since we've found from Momiji's case that the mitama spores travel through the bloodstream, your defense system must be there! In your blood! Or...sap...or whatever." Losing momentum for a moment, Matsudera caught herself and barreled onward. "So the solution's simple-we'll give Momiji a transfusion of your blood!"
"What?!" The cry went up from around the room.
Yaegashi frowned. "Are you sure it's really blood?"
"It doesn't matter," the woman scientist said, waving her hands to emphasize the point. "If my guess is correct, whatever defenses you possess will be transferred temporarily into Momiji's body along with the borrowed...er...well, whatever. That should slow the expansion of her mitama down to the point where her body can cope with it and push it back again, at least for a while. Who knows, maybe her immune systems will even copy yours and give her a permanent defense!"
Kusanagi's face was skeptical. "Matsudera, even I'm not sure what it is, and it's my own blood...what makes you think that it won't make her even worse?"
"I don't know for sure," she admitted, "but it seems like our best chance. I think the bond between you two and your shared seeds might make it work in a way that a transfusion to someone else might not..." She glanced up at him then, her expression grim. "And if it does make her worse...well, what have we lost by trying?"
Remembering the doctor's dark predictions, Kusanagi swallowed hard and nodded, getting to his feet. For a moment he hesitated, then walked to the door. Matsudera followed, as he shot a last look back at Momiji, then returned his gaze to the scientist.
"Well, it looks like you're going to get to experiment on me after all," he said, his voice dark with irony. "Have fun, doc."
________________________________________________
AN- And there it is, folks; a ray of hope in a troubled story. ^_^ Will the transfusion work? Will Momiji die? Will Tobu Ishi ever get more than five reviews a chapter? *sniffs sadly* Who knows? One thing is certain--you need to review! Reeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiieeeeeewwww aaaaaaalllllllreaaaaaaaadyyyyyy!!! *takes a bow* Thank you. -Tobu Ishi