Disclaimer: Not mine
Drown
IMPORTANT NOTE: I fixed one minor but major error in the last chapter thanks to velocet. I also want to let people know that I have only read the manga of Love Hina (Thanks Mantis Man, for reminding me). So I wasn't really aware of any accents that Kitsune had in her speaking. If there any other mistakes, please let me know.
Kitsune looked around nervously. The days had passed quickly at the Hinata House since her family had come. It was now the day before her biopsy and Kitsune was having her hair done…by her nieces.
She was kind of iffy on why they would want to style her hair in the first place. It wasn't that long. She'd grown it out to her shoulders and had it flipped out but it was still pretty short. But being the children that they were, her three nieces were able to find a variety of ways to style it. All of those ways were painful.
Kitsune would scrunch up her face now and then, much to the delight of the youngest boy in the family, Jiro. He would squeal with delight every time she did that.
However, soon the poor thing became tired from watching his sisters and cousins play with Kitsune's hair. He got up and ran around trying to find his mother so he could complain. Kitsune, not knowing what was on his mind, called him back. Jiro turned around and looked at her while still running.
The little boy never saw the wall coming.
(AN: My little cousin keeps on running into the wall. It's the best thing in the world. And the kid never ever cries. Just gets back up and moves on.)
Kitsune let out the giggle. But that was soon interrupted with a vicious twist of the hair by her niece, Setsuko. Kitsune winced.
At that moment, Kitsune's mother came in, holding Jiro. When she saw her daughter at the mercy of the Horrid Hairdressers, she laughed and shooed them away.
There was a little grumbling but everyone survived and scampered off to find their next victim.
Kitsune's mother sat down next to her daughter.
"Do you feel better?" She asked. Jiro squirmed out of his grandmother's arms and ran off to find his mother…again.
Kitsune nodded and squinted and she combed through the knots and twists in her hair. The girls thought it was a good idea to put leaves and sticks in her hair.
Kitsune's mother reached over and began to pull out the offending objects.
"I didn't mean about you hair." She murmured. Kitsune looked at her, confused.
"Then what are you talking about?"
"The alcohol in your room." There was a pause as Kitsune recollected the thoughts from the morning.
The morning after her family had arrived, they hadn't thrown away the alcohol. Too much had to be done. The task kept on getting put off until today morning.
They had awoken and immediately, Kitsune's mother got to work. She began to gather the bottles and pour the liquid down the sink in the bathroom. The bathroom was soon filled with the odor but Kitsune's mother emptied it all. Kitsune helped with the last four bottles. It had been hard but she'd managed.
"It was hard."
"Are you happy you did it?" Kitsune nodded uncertainly.
"I still crave it mom. Not as much as I used to, but the craving is still there." Her mom nodded. "Just know that I'm proud of you. It took your grandfather a long time to quit smoking. You quitted like that." She snapped her fingers.
Then, in came running the little boys and the males of the gang. That gang included Seta and Keitaro. They were all joking amicably.
There had been no real squabbles between the two groups, for which Kitsune was proud of. She thought that her sister-in laws and the females of her gang might have a problem.
There had been a minor one between Shinobu and the sister-in-laws. They hadn't trusted Shinobu with the cooking. That had upset the calm and semure Shinobu. But Kitsune had taken the three aside and explained to them the position that Shinobu was in. She was the cook of the dormitory. After that, the sister-in-laws decided just to be assistants to a girl almost twenty years their junior.
But in the end, they all gelled together, like peanut butter and jelly.
They were one big happy family.
Then, in came the men, interrupting Kitsune's train of thought. The men carried in the groceries. Keitaro set down the list Shinobu had made on the counter.
Kitsune longingly looked at the wide array of food set on the counter. There was everything. Everything. The everything that Kitsune couldn't have. She couldn't eat dinner because of her impending biopsy.
Eight hours before her biopsy, Kitsune couldn't have anything to eat. Because of that, everyone was taunting her about the delicious food to be made by Shinobu and the sister-in-laws.
There was the fact that Kitsune could partake of the food if she wanted to because the biopsy would be more than eight hours away after dinner. However, Kitsune didn't want to take any chances. So she opted out of dinner and breakfast. She decided only to have a piece of bread or two.
Soon, there were eclectic aromas of various spices wafting throughout the dormitory. There was a hint of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and a ladle full of tomato soup. What all these independent flavors were going to make today was a mystery to all but Shinobu and her "assistants."
"Dinner time!" called Ai.
There was a mad rush for the table. All the children and men fought for places at the table while the females casually occupied them. The places were all soon occupied with the smell of food wafting to their noses.
Shinobu looked at them all and beamed. "Dig in." she said. The rush of arms towards the center was incredible. Everyone was clambering for food, except for Kitsune, who sat back and enjoyed the joy shone on everyone's face.
.~.
The next morning, Kitsune awoke, feeling grumpy and hungry. She had watched everyone devour good food last night while she had to be satisfied with bread. But that was one of the lesser worries on her mind.
Her biopsy was today.
Kitsune stood up, grabbed clothes, and made her way out to the bath area. She quickly bathed and found herself in the kitchen where everyone was eating breakfast.
Kitsune smiled weakly at them. She couldn't even drink water. Instead, she sat herself down and watched the others gorge themselves.
Soon it was time to leave. Kitsune felt her adrenaline begin to pump. She was very nervous. The only people coming were her mother, her eldest brother, her eldest sister-in-law, Naru, Keitaro and Haruka. Those six would be responsible for giving her moral support.
Kitsune looked over at everyone and bid her goodbyes. They were all as anxious as she was. The procedure was supposedly simple but the resting period was immense.
Various thoughts began to fly through Kitsune's head. She wasn't at all prepared for this surgery and she felt as if she would throw up if she even allowed herself to go through with the surgery.
The car lurched forward and Kitsune placed a hand on the seat in front of her. Her mother and Naru both grasped her hand. They were at the hospital.
Kitsune and the others made their way inside the hospital. It was a nice wing of the hospital which they were in. Kitsune shrugged off all support and made her way over to the receptionist.
"Umm…hello?" The receptionist looked up at Kitsune and smiled widely.
"Hello! How may I help you?" The attitude of the receptionist immediately put Kitsune's fears to rest. She was safe with these people.
"I'm here for a liver biopsy. The doctor told me to come an hour early…so here I am." Kitsune added a smile for the added effect.
The receptionist nodded and flipped through some pages. "Your name must be Konno Mitsune, correct?" Kitsune nodded. Again the receptionist smiled. "Okay. One second."
She turned to one of her fellow receptionists and said a few quick words to her. Then she stood up and made a motion for Kitsune to follow her. In turn, Kitsune motioned to her group to follow her.
As they made their way down to the room of her surgery, Kitsune couldn't help but seek comfort in those around her. It was nerve-wracking. She wasn't used to this kind of stress.
They entered the room where Kitsune was to have her biopsy silently. The receptionist told Kitsune to sit down on the hospital bed while she fetched the doctor. Before she left, she offered the rest of the group refreshments. No one took any.
Soon, Dr. Kaji arrived. She smiled at Kitsune.
"Shall we begin?" Kitsune glanced over at her support group and nodded. She was as ready as she would ever be.
"Okay then. Lay down please. I'm going to have to pull your shirt up pretty far. Do you want them to leave?" The doctor motioned towards her brother and Keitaro.
"How far up?"
"Eh…Around your ribcage. A tad bit higher than that." Kitsune shrugged. "They can stay." The doctor nodded. She pulled up Kitsune's shirt.
"Place your right hand above your head please." Kitsune did so.
"Okay. Now, I'm going to make an outline of your liver and then I'm going to insert an anesthetic to numb it." The doctor did so and waited for a few minutes as the anesthetic took affect.
Kitsune let out a smile. "It feels so weird." She murmured. The doctor smiled. "Oh the rest is going to feel and look much weirder. For this next part, you're going to have to hold absolutely still, okay. Otherwise, if you don't, I could nick your lung or gallbladder and that won't be pretty."
Kitsune let out a small giggle. "Now, hold your breath for ten seconds. On your mark, get set, go."
Kitsune sucked in her breath and closed her eyes. The moment her eyelids shut, she felt pressure being applied to the area. "I'm making an incision in this area. So hold still Ms. Konno." After a few minutes, there was another announcement.
"Okay. The needle is in." For the next few minutes, Dr. Kaji worked on getting a sample of her liver tissue out. Finally it was done.
"Be happy Kitsune. We're done! Now, don't move. I'm going to bandage the area and then I'm going to have to have to hold a towel to your incision for around one to two hours. After that, you can go home. But, you'll have to rest in bed for a long time, getting get only for the bathroom. The total rest time should be twelve hours. You'll feel a bit of pain but take Tylenol for that, not aspirin or ibuprofen. Those two will thin your blood. A nurse will monitor you until you're ready to leave, okay? So until next time, good-bye!"
The doctor left, after a few more words with Kitsune's gang. Soon, everyone was trying in some way to help Kitsune. They were however, only causing her more pain. Haruka helped her out.
"Just back away people. Give her room to breath." Kitsune meekly thanked Haruka, who only nodded in return.
Two hours later, Kitsune was back at home resting. She was feeling a bit of pain and had followed the doctor's orders to take Tylenol. Now she was resting in her futon, slowly being lulled to sleep by her ever-present shamisen music.
.~.
Two things. Sorry for lack of updating. I've been very busy with homework. I wouldn't expect very many updates until January. I have lots of work over winter break. But check my bio if you want regular updates on how I'm doing with this stuff.
The end was very rushed. I'm very sorry, but I thought you guys deserved an extra chapter.
On to reviews:
dennisud- That chapter was a scene setter! Wow. You're good. J Thanks for reviewing, once again. You're one of the few people that return. I actually thought about a confrontation but I couldn't really think of one except for the one mentioned with Shinobu and the others. I can't picture little Shinobu arguing.
mr-winkie- Yup. Kitsune's family is huge! I like huge. So she got humongous! I'm glad you liked the scene between Kits and her mom. It was hard because I didn't know how everyone would react to stuff like that. Some people would be real calm with that kind of stuff. I wouldn't. You're friends are mean…but funny…you actually ate a whole one???? I ate a little piece of the habenero and my mouth was on fire! You must have been dying!
Labyrinth- Hey! Thanks! ::giggles:: You're stalking my fic! That is funny!
Dark-Hand- Lots of people are cool! I couldn't think of any interesting situations so there won't be any. Sorry. L I've actually thought of the different reactions. I'll look more into it. Thanks for the compliments! You're getting close on the ending. I won't say which one though….
velocet- Thanks for catching my mistake! Thank you so much! Life is busy for me too so I don't blame you. I do hope you'll like my next fic. It's kind of like this one but it's an AU. I'll let you know when I post it. No worries ;) Once again, thanks for catching that major mistake!