To Lose Trust
Chapter three
Silence
Dr. Okawa sat down heavily in the chair Touma motioned him too. Next to him, Seiji still glowed green with his hands on Shin. Dr. Okawa watched him closely. When Seiji collapsed into the chair, he was up and checking Seiji's vitals.
" Okay, What is going on here?" asked Dr. Okawa.
" How are you feeling Shin?" asked Touma seeing Shin open his eyes.
Dr. Okawa turned towards Shin," He still has the tube to help him breath. Shin, I'm going to take the tube out. I need you to do as I say." Dr. Okawa started detaching tubes," I'm going to count to three. I want you to take a deep breath and when I say three blow it all out. Are you ready?" He asked Shin. Shin nodded," One, Two, Three." He pulled as gently as possible though Shin coughed as he withdrew the end of the tube." Your throat will be sore for a few days. Now, let's talk about what's going on in here."
Seiji reached up to put his hand on Shin's throat but the older boy pulled away," Don't touch me."
" Shin…?" questioned Seiji.
Touma turned away from Shin to face the bigger problem," Ryo, we can trust him."
Ryo studied Touma carefully before making his decision," Why?"
Touma looked uncomfortable, his eyes roamed the room until they fell on Dr. Okawa," He's been keeping a secret for my family for nearly a year. He was the chosen successor of Dr. Tari. Dr. Tari kept the secret a lot longer than I can remember."
Ryo looked to Shin who just looked away," okay, Dr. Okawa, do you remember all the strange stuff that happened a couple of years ago?"
" Yes, I was just finishing medical school." Replied Dr. Okawa while watching Shin carefully.
" Do you remember the tales of armored warriors that came out around that time?" asked Touma.
" How could I not. I saw something that I still can't describe. Everything I know says that I couldn't have seen what I saw." He replied as his attention turned to Nasuti.
" Believe what you saw." Replied Seiji ushering Nasuti into his seat and leaning on a wall for support.
" Five armored warriors…" sighed the Doctor scanning the room," I should have guessed that there would be some sort of healer with you."
" Yeah, but it comes with a price." Seiji massaged his temples and spoke softly.
" Okay, I've seen what you can do first hand but why?"
" We can't answer that." Replied Ryo," We're not really sure ourselves."
" I'm sure finding medical attention when you need it has been hard. How do you explain sword wounds and the like without giving away who you are."
" Yes." Replied Seiji," My ability to heal is limited. I can fix it after it's been patched up, or make broken bones mend but I can't force anyone to let me heal them. There is also a price to pay for using my healing."
" What kind of price?" asked Dr. Okawa.
" Migraines," replied Seiji softly," Depending on how extensive the healing exhaustion."
Dr. Okawa looked suddenly concerned," And now?"
Seiji looked up sharply," I'm fine, this headache isn't from healing Shin."
Shin looked down at his hands but didn't say a word. In all reality, he was embarrassed by his reaction. He had never meant to slap Seiji. Tears welled up as Shin tried to sort out his thoughts and feelings. Everything was a jumble, a tangled knot of confusion and pain. Desperate to take his mind off the pain he began pulling at the bandages wrapped around his arms.
Touma watched the cloud of emotion pass across Shins face before the tears began to fall and understood completely. When he began tearing at the bandages, Touma sat on the edge of the bed. Remembering Shin's reaction to Seiji, he held his hand out to the smaller man.
" Let me help." Said Touma softly as he held out his hand.
Shin gave him a deer caught in the headlights look before slowly putting his hand in Touma's," Can we just go home." Whispered Shin.
" It's going to take some time, they had you in here for a reason." Replied Touma unwrapping the gauze," You scared me Shin, I thought I had lost you." Shin was silent, unwilling to answer," I know you don't want to talk about it right now but you'll need to talk about it. I'll be waiting when you're ready."
" Dr. Okawa, when can I leave?" asked Shin," I just wanna go home."
" Soon, I'll work on it." Replied the doctor," I'll probably have you out of here in a couple of hours though a lot of people will question it and it goes against my better judgement."
" I'm sorry." Said Shin softly," I just want to go home."
" Okay," said Ryo taking command," Can you make that happen?"
" I'd like to get Nasuti home too." Said Seiji giving his wife a measured look.
" If someone leaves a car I'll stay back to drive Shin home." Replied Touma.
" Okay," replied Ryo," Suti, will you leave your jeep for Touma and Shin. The rest of us can go home and get ready for you guys."
" Yeah, no problem," Replied Nasuti handing her keys to Touma," I'm ready to go home too, I'm pretty tired."
" All right," replied Dr. Okawa," I'm going to work on Shin's release."
" Do either of you need anything before we go?" asked Shuu turning to Shin and Touma.
" No, I think we'll be okay." Replied Touma pulling a chair up to Shin's bed." I have my cell phone if we need anything."
" I'll take care of dinner tonight." Said Shuu, " I'll just stop off at the restaurant."
" Would you just go, all of you. I don't need anyone to stay." Said Shin.
" Stop it Shin." Cried Nasuti," I don't know what's wrong but whatever it is we're here for you. I Ow!" Nasuti grabbed her stomach and Shin's head snapped up.
" Suti?" questioned Seiji.
" I'm fine, the baby just kicked."
" How much time do you have left?" asked Dr. Okawa," Not much I'm guessing."
" Five weeks." Replied Nasuti.
" This is too much stress for you, Who's your normal doctor?"
" I don't have one." Blushed Nasuti," I couldn't find some one that I trusted. I've had all of my checkup but no ultrasound."
" At least you did that much." Replied the doctor," I own a private practice across the street from the Date-Sasaki Dojo. I want to see you tomorrow for an ultrasound."
" I'm one of the owners of that dojo," said Seiji," You can ride with me and then I'll be able to be there with you."
" Don't forget to drink lots of water before you come[1]." Said Dr. Okawa moving towards the door.
Touma watched the whole scene carefully. Everyone was tense, including the doctor, and it showed in their behavior. Ryo was too quiet and Shuu was pacing nervously across the floor. Seiji was scared. His stance was the same confident mask but his violet eyes betrayed the emotional storm raging within. It frightened Touma to see them that way. Shin was their support but he knew that wasn't going to work, Shin needed the support. He watched as everyone said their good byes to Shin and began filing out of the room.
" I'll be right back." Touma said to Shin before following everyone out. Once outside he closed the door," Ryo, are we back to a lockdown?"
" Yes." Replied Ryo softly," Can you handle this right now Touma? Are we all going to fall apart?"
" We're going to be fine." Said Touma running a hand through his hair," Something happened to make him do this. I'm sure of it. We're going to have to be strong for him. We'll survive this. We can talk more later tonight."
" All right. We'll see you later. Call before you come so we can be ready." Said Ryo.
" Okay, but you freaked me out with some of the lockdown stuff. I know he set it up this way but it might be harder on him than it was on me." Said Touma.
" Hopefully it makes both of you realize how hard this is on the rest of us." Snapped Ryo.
" You had a right to be angry with me but something tells me we can't be angry with Shin. Not right now, maybe not ever. We know Shin, this was really out of character, that means we have to find out what's wrong. He's always been there for us, it's our turn now. Pretending that nothing happened will only make it worse. Trust me, when you're that desperate some one has to intervene." Touma took a deep breath," Something is really wrong, I just don't know what."
" Alright, I get it, I'll try and check my temper." Said Ryo," We're still running the lockdown."
" I understand."
" Touma," said Seiji softly," This is even more serious this time. He's been cutting himself for a long time, this has been building and it's going to take a lot longer to fix."
" I understand that, but I don't think you understand. This isn't something you can just fix." Touma felt the tears slowly escape," I understand why he would do this. I understand that there are times when you feel so numb that the only way to remember you're alive is to see if you still bleed, to see if you feel pain. It's a terrifying place to be."
" You're right, I sorry."
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Shin sat silently in the passenger seat of Nasuti's jeep. He had been silent since their friends had left. It took an hour but Dr. Okawa got Shin released despite his admittance. Touma watched Shin, accepting the silence as fact rather than trying to fill it with endless chatter. Once in the jeep he knew he had to get Shins key to the drawers.
" Shin, I need your key." Said Touma softly.
" I know." Replied Shin as he removed the key from his keys.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
[1] You have to have a full bladder for the ultrasound.
Authors Note- Sorry it's been so long since I updated. Life's kind of gotten in the way. It was a rough summer, I left my Boyfriend of 2 ½ years because he cheated, I lost my best friend because she knew and didn't tell me until after the girl he cheated with came forward. Life's great. I'll have another chapter out soon.