Chapter 1
" Alright, I have a test in surgery, test in internal medicine, test in oriental
medicine...that's about it. Wow, there's only three tests tomorrow!" Yukito looked
over his notes. " Oh, never mind. Test in dermatology."
" I don't have any tests tomorrow. Half of the professors were absent this entire
week for some reason." Touya sat down.
The two medical students looked at their lunch for a minute.
" I don't want to know what this is." Yukito muttered.
" Me neither." Touya answered. " Say, the professor seemed very happy yesterday.
She said something about a project beginning today."
" Which one, the psychiatry one?" Yukito asked. " Hai. She said something about
giving us patients for about a month and to do some research."
" We can research on insanity." Touya laughed. " She probably would give us an
easy one."
" Hai. We're only seventeen." Yukito agreed. " I don't know how you got in, Touya.
I mean seriously. The only reason you are in medical school is because you jumped
from third grade to fifth grade when you were eight. And this college has a medical
school, so you take it at the same time. I got in purely because I got in."
" And I didn't?" Touya scowled. " Nice try, Yuki-san. You need to take an entrance
exam no matter how you got to your grade."
" Hai, right." Yukito rolled his eyes, and Touya elbowed him playfully. The boys
chuckled heartily, and made their way over to the garbage to unload their lunch.
" Alright." Professor Wakatoshi. " Today we are going to begin a very interesting
project. You already saw how mentally illed patients behave, but today you're going
to have a chance to actually privately communicate with a patient. Remember to
record the behavior of the patient, and if you can," She eyed Yukito specifically, "
You might point out some strong traits that can help cure the patient." She took out
a package filled with paper.
" Tsihuan!" She called.
" What are those things?" Yukito asked.
" I think those are the info of the patients we'll be meeting." Touya answered.
" Oh..."
" Yukito!"
Yukito jerked. He hurriedly got out of his chair and went to accept the
papers. He went back to his seat.
" Who do you have?" Touya asked.
Yukito blinked in surprise. " Li Syaoran!"
" Kuso! That's a tough patient you have, Yukito-san!" Touya gaped in shock as he
read the notice after school.
Everyone knows the boy. He was a ten year old that was forced into the hospital about a few weeks ago, and had been raising hellery ever since. There was nearly no possible way to cure him. His background was vague, but somewhere along the line he was traumatized. His actual name was Jinyu, but the doctors and interns called him Syaoran, which was Chinese for ' Little Wolf', because he was more or less a wild animal.
Yukito looked at the sheet and began to read aloud to Touya as they sat at their own beds at the dorm.
" Name: Li Jinyu. Age: Nine-okay, so he's not ten. Birthday: July thirteenth, no
wonder. Blood type: O. Yadda yadda yadda. Here we go. Subject's father had been
noted to be abusive and addicted to drugs and alcohol. It says that he has been
abused every since he was three...had been emotionally abused, physically abused,
and se-never mind. Delusional, fearful of physical contact, and dumbness? Well, he
screams all the time. Steals too, but mostly food and...books? Sometimes he steals
coins...for the snack machines? This is one smart kid, but he's in the private room
now, because he always picks fights...or gets into fights, somehow. Knows martial
arts, has strange abilities, such as creating...rain. Never talks, well, it already says that
he's dumb. Good lord, what kind of nurse wrote this?"
" Looks like he has magical powers." Touya suggested. " Like you and the kaijuu."
" Hai." Yukito agreed. " but normally, psychotics don't have magical powers. How
odd. Kind of sad, actually. He's traumatized."
" Did you see how the professor looked at you when she mentioned pointing out
strong traits?" Touya reminded his friend. " That kid has stumped everyone in the
entire directory. You ought to try hard, I mean, you're so smart and all."
Yukito grimaced. " Ano, yeah, sure..."
The first time Yukito saw Syaoran the boy was huddled in the corner; it was
something he was famous for. He was stringing something between his fingers. It
was a thread of silk. When Yukito entered the room, Syaoran clutched the silk
thread tightly and huddled even more, his eyes squeezing shut.
Yukito pondered on whether he should write thie reaction down, then
decided to put this until later. His job was to introduce himself, to actually form a
relationship with his patient.
" Jinyu..." Yukito began, softly, letting his voice glide as smoothly as possible and
not reveal the nervousness he truly felt. " My name is Tsukishiro Yukito..."
Syaoran's eyes opened immediately and looked at him in fright.
Yukito was puzzled. That was not a look of a menacing animal. That was a look of a frightened one. That was not a look of a thief either. The boy was afraid of him.
Well, Yukito thought to himself. If he really does act like an animal, then maybe I should approach him like one. Thinking for a minute he moved his hands into his pocket, careful not to make any sudden actions, and pulled out a piece of chocolate. Holding out the candy, with his palm up, he offered it to the child.
At the action the boy hissed, like a cat.
Now that was one of a menacing animal. Yukito thought to himself. He crouched down and remained with his hand outstretched, chocolate in his hand for a minute, before withdrawing. The boy obviously didn't want it.
Then to his surprise, the boy lowered his head and began to cry.
Has abrupt emotional transitions...
" Don't cry little one." Yukito murmured. " I won't hurt you."
The boy continued to cry. His head snapped up as Yukito advanced, and he cowered into the corner more and more as Yukito came closer. Yukito slowed, bent down, and wiped away some of the tears from the child's cheeks.
Syaoran blinked. He had never been touched that way before, He stared into the strange man's eyes, and soon lost track of everything. Those eyes were grey, so deep and mysterious...
Yukito avoided Syaoran's eyes because he was afraid of their power. One doesn't need to see the eye to know what it is. Those eyes were magnificent, a pure gold lined with green. No wonder he was called Jinyu.
But in those five minutes, Yukito had already established a connection with the boy. He remained in the room for about thirty minutes, just patting the boy, letting him get use to his voice, his hands, his touch. And when Yukito was stroking the child's sweaty hair, the boy's breath deepened to the point where he fell asleep.
" How did it go?" Touya asked.
" It was..." Yukito blinked. " I earned his trust...rather easily."
" Of course. You're Yue. You can hypnotize."
" I can hypnotize! You should have seen the kid's eyes! I nearly got hypnotized!
Then I wouldn't be here to tell it! But the poor child...he's actually a very nice kid.
Fell asleep on me that half an hour."
" He what?!"
" He fell asleep."
" Whoa, you're good. You should become a psychiatrist."
" Iie, I want to be the director of the surgery department."
" But you're so good!"
" Just with him. The kid has moon magic, Touya. He's naturally attracted to me."
Touya suddenly began laughing. Yukito scowled.
" You're so immature!"
" Hahaha!"
At that, Yukito couldn't contain his own laughter, and soon everyone in the cafeteria was wondering what was happening to the two of them.
The next day Yukito finished with the tests and went to look on his ' patient'.
The guards were holding both of the young child's arms and the boy was screaming
like an animal, tears pouring down his cheeks. This was the child that Yukito had
heard from the rumors, but ever since that first day Yukito already had a different
opinion about him.
" What happened?" he asked a fellow peer.
" Kid busted into the lab." The student answered. " Spilled all sorts of acids and
alcohol all over the place. You should see that place-and he spilled blood too. Now
they're going to restrain him."
" Don't!" Yukito cried before he could stop himself. " I'll handle this." He told the
guards. The guards looked at him uncertainly. Syaoran blinked and stretched his
neck out towards Yukito, silently begging him for help.
" Ai, Jinyu, you naughty child!" Yukito scolded gently. " Come here, come here, let
him go you two. Come here kiddo. There's no need to be afraid."
Syaoran ran into the older student's arms without hesitation, wrapping his little arms around the other's body and burying his small head into the other's chest. Yukito smiled awkwardly. He looked up to see his professor standing with the chairman of the psychiatry department. They were muttering something and the chairman was smiling.
" There, calm down now, kiddo." Yukito murmured soothingly. " Why do you always run around, getting yourself into trouble? Just remember, don't go into those rooms, alright? Just stay where you are. Maybe if you fake it well enough they'll let you go. Come on, don't cry anymore." Yukito wiped away the tears. " Come along." He held the boy by his hand and gently led him to the room. " Come along."
But Syaoran didn't want to go. He reluctantly followed, sometimes pulling
back.
" Come on. I'm coming with you." Yukito persuaded gently. " Come on."
" Iie." Syaoran sobbed. " Iie..."
Yukito stopped. The kid could talk!
Syaoran looked hopefully at him.
" Come on." Yukito sighed, lifting the boy up suddenly. Bad move. Syaoran
shrieked, kicking wildly. Yukito calmed him down and carried the exhausted boy to
the room, and laid him down gently on the bed.
" He isn't very strong." Yukito whispered to himself as the boy's breathing deepened. " He tires easily. Then why do the guards spread rumors about him hurting people?"
" Ohayo Yukito-san!" Sakura smiled as Touya walked out of the kitchen.
" Yuki!" He called. " Kaijuu's been waiting for ya all morning. Hurry up before the
stuffed animal eats everything I cooked."
Yukito laughed as the little winged animal appeared, scowling.
" He wants to starve me to death!" The guardian beast grumbled.
Yukito looked at the Kinomoto family, with a healthy mistress, healthy
brother, and a guardian of healthy appetite. He secretly praised himself. He was so
glad that he didn't have Syaoran for a master.
