A doctor's office, even one at a hospital, was supposed

to be a safe place, a sanctuary of sorts. It is in this space that

doctors can finally grab a few minutes of peace and quiet

minutes to think. Something that all doctor's need.

Unfortunately, Doctor Allen Blake was denied that

when an irate mother burst into his office shouting, "What is

wrong with my son?!"

When asked later, Dr. Blake would only admit that

the interruption shocked him. It was usually the job of the

secretary to keep patients or their families from bursting into

a doctor's office. But, as he had managed to anger Millie,

his secretary, several times that week, it didn't surprise him

that Dr. Washington-Ikeda had gotten through.

The doctor sighed. He really did not like dealing

with family members. He avoided it whenever possible.

But the Ikeda family wouldn't leave him alone. He sighed

again. The benefit of desperate families was that they would

let you try almost any remedy you suggested; the drawback was

that they never let you alone. The Ikedas excelled in both

areas, led by two matriarchs and a patriarch, no less. At least

the grandmother didn't scream at him as much as the mother did.

The younger matriarch was still in his office and still breathing

fire. Knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere until he addressed her

concerns, he faced the woman. "What do you mean, Dr. Washington-Ikeda?"

The younger matriarch practically growled at him. "What do I

mean? I mean, besides the fact that my son could barely speak

when he woke up-"

"He's awake?" the doctor asked, surprised. Was Millie not letting important messages through? How angry was his secretary, actually?

Dr. Washington-Ikeda, luckily, continued ranting as if the doctor

hadn't spoken, "He doesn't know who he is! I'm not sure he knew

who any of us were!"

"Dr. Washington-Ikeda, I did warn you that-"

"Oh, don't give me that 'lack of oxygen to the brain,' crap again! Just do your damn job and find out what the hell is wrong with my

son!"

The doctor rose, but not because of Dr. Washington-Ikeda's

orders. Although, if the woman thought that was the reason

he was standing, he wasn't about to disabuse her of that

notion. He needed to check out his patient. Surviving that

accident was nothing short of a miracle. If all continued to

go well, he could get a publication out of this. To think,

in taking on a case he didn't want, he might find his fame after

all. "It's about time I go to check on my patient," the doctor

said as he left the room.

"Yeah! See that you do!" he heard Dr. Washington-Ikeda shout

as he walked down the hall.

This Side of Livinig

Livinig in a Hospital - chapter three

After all of that poking, prodding and general confusion, his room had finally gotten quiet. The last nurse had left, threatening

that the doctor would come see him soon. As his last encounter

with a "doctor" was not a very good one, that parting comment left

him more nervous than not. At least his pain was lessening somewhat.

As he lay there in the bed, he tried to begin to figure out what was going on. He could almost hear the old hag in his head, telling

him not to do something stupid until he understood what he was

up against. He also remembered his answer to her the last time

she brought up her concerns.

'Well, 'Don't get caught' won't help me much in this situation. I guess it wouldn't hurt to review what I know. It's not like I can

kick any ass in this shape anyway,' he thought to himself as he

took a deep breath.

Unfortunately, going over what he did know didn't help much. He

was in a hospital, practically immobile and in a lot of pain.

No one had mentioned why he was in the hospital or how he ended

up in the shape he was in. An older looking Koemna had appeared

and had been watching over him when he woke up. Oddly enough,

the toddler had called him "Andrew" and not by his name or by

his title of Spirit Detective.

'Come to think of it,' the young man mused to himself, 'No one

called him Koemna. The strange lady with fox girl's voice called

him Mitsuru. The nurse Gretchen called him Mr. Ikeda.' The young

man shook his head in confusion. 'But that was definitely Koemna's

voice that came out of him. What the hell does that mean?!'

Abandoning that frustrating line of thought for awhile, he thought back to the last thing Koemna told him: "We'll help you. I promise. We will be there to help you in any way you need. I'll be back. Just rest and let these ladies look after you....I love you."

'Well, that's strange. Why would Koenma tell me that he loves me? Shit. I really could use Kurama right now. Although he can be annoyingly vague, he would understand what the hell was happening about

now.'

The young man probably would have chased around other thoughts until he was dizzy if he hadn't heard footsteps and two voices in the hallway. Voices that he actually recognized.

"Thank you so much for letting me see him," the female voice said.

"Of course we'd let you see him. You're practically family anyway. And you've been such a good influence on him. You are probably

the only reason that boy is going to finish high school," the

male voice replied.

"You and Alexandria-san both must be so happy that he's awake."

"We're relieved that he can talk...and frightened about how he's

doing now. It's the reason Xandria is probably screaming at the

doctor right now," the male sighed. "She's worried about her little

boy. And there's not much I can do to help her."

At this point the two people had entered the room. The young man

Heard a small breath hitch from the female before she quietly said, "I'm

sorry. I'm still not used to seeing him hooked up to so many

machines or looking so banged up. It's still...it's still a little hard."

"It's hard for me, too," the male agreed.

As the two visitors approached the bed, the young man forced his

eyes open. "Kei-ko?" he asked as a familiar female face came into

view.

"Well, he remembers something at least," the older Koemna said as he came to stand behind Keiko as she sat in the chair next to the

bed.

Keiko, for her part, didn't say anything at first, as her hand

was still over her mouth. Her eyes had begun to water, and a lone

tear was slowly moving down her cheek.

"Don't cry, Keiko," the young man managed to get out. "I thought

I told you I didn't want to see you cry again."

The young woman nodded and sniffed a few times. Then, after giving him a tremulous smile, she said, "Hey."

"Hey."

"You gave us quite a scare. We were all so worried." The earnestness in the familiar face only seemed to underline that truth for the young man in the hospital bed.

"Sorry," the young man shrugged and then winced because of the pain. After a few beats, he asked, "What exactly happened to me?"

"You were in...an accident," Keiko said quietly. "After which you were rushed to the hospital." After a few minutes pause, she

asked, "Do you remember anything?"

The young man shook his head slowly, "Nothing related to being in

an accident anyway."

"Well, that's a relief," the older Koemna said. "I saw the scene. I'm not sure I'd want you to be walking around with memories of

that, Drew. It looked like the stuff of nightmares."

There was that name again. It bothered him. What bothered him

even more is that Keiko didn't seem to be bothered by the name.

"Who is Drew?" the young man asked again.

At his question, Koemna and Keiko turned to look at each other, both looking very concerned. "Well?" the young man asked again, his

frustration showing.

"Um...you are, Andrew," Keiko said quietly. "At least, we think

you are," she added. "What do you think your name is?"

Koemna snorted, "That's a roundabout way of asking him to divulge

how much brain-damage he actually has." Yet, even in that sarcastic

statement, the older man seemed very worried.

Keiko ignored him and asked again, "What is your name?"

Still thrown off guard that Keiko knew him but didn't know him, he said, "My name is Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi."

At the young man's answer, a clearly frustrated Koemna walked

to the end of the bed, running a hand through his hair. "Do I give him

partial credit for getting it half right?" he seemed to ask the air.

Keiko gripped his arm and looked into his eyes at his answer. "Do you remember anything, anything at all besides that name?"

Yusuke nodded.

"Then tell us," she ordered, "tell us everything you remember, starting with your clearest memory."

"What good will that do?" Yusuke.

"Just humor us," the older Koemna said. "What do you remember?"

At that Yusuke sighed. He knew that Keiko now knew a lot about his "job" but she still didn't know everything. He wasn't sure how

safe it was to spill everything now, but, he really didn't think

he had a choice. Until he talked to someone, there was no way he

was going to be able to figure this out on his own.

Deciding that the best thing to do was to share, Yusuke opened

his mouth and started talking. "I guess, my clearest memory is

of the day I died. It was like any normal school day, I guess...."

Twenty minutes later, Koemna and Keiko both were staring at him

as he finished. "The last clear memory I have is of Kurama preparing

to face Gamemaster. The next thing I know, I'm floating in a sea

of pain and hearing Koemna call me Andrew." Looking at the faces

of the two people in the room, he said in a half-laugh, "I'm guessing

that things are a little different here."

"Just a little," Koemna agreed in that tone that always used to

aggravate Yusuke. Before Yusuke could get too annoyed, however,

the older Koemna sighed. "I guess I should be getting back to the

waiting room. Samuel's still there and Xandria's probably finished

screaming at the doctor by now. Betty's on her way in and

Hasukawa will probably be there soon, too."

"And your parents," Keiko added as she looked at Koemna. "They

are probably coming as soon as they finish for the day. And

what about your sister?"

Koemna sighed. "By now, Samuel's probably called her with the

good news, so she's probably on a bender. Jana's stuck too; the

case isn't anywhere near being over. Regardless, the rest of

us need to...talk." Koemna turned to look at Yusuke, "I promise,

we'll do everything in our power to help you."

At Yusuke's nervous look, Keiko squeezed his hands. "You trust

me, right?" At Yusuke's nod, she continued, "Then everything

will be alright. Now, get some rest. We'll see you tomorrow."

At that Keiko stood up. But, before she left, she leaned over

and kissed his forehead. "It's a good thing you woke up when you

did," she said, her eyes tearing up again. "Because, if you had

died, I would have killed you."

Yusuke smiled at that. "Yeah." As Keiko began to walk toward the

door, Yusuke said, "I promise not to put you through this again."

"See that you don't," was her answer as she left.

Before following behind her, Koemna looked back at him one more time. His eyes showed relief, sadness, and concern. Without saying anything else, he walked out of the room, leaving Yusuke with more questions than he had answers. But, at least it was all out there, and,

maybe, people could begin to help him figure out what the hell was

going on.

- to be continued -