1.16.04 (Its still pretty damn cold here -25!)

Wow, my god. Thank you everyone for the reviews! I haven't had that many reviews for a single chapter ever. It maybe a small number (11) but believe me I'm crapping my pants over it...Wow, how elegant with words I am today. Anyways. On with the fic. R&R

Chapter 7:

Tsuzuki rushed through the automatic doors of the hospital. Sherry sat in one of the chairs in the lobby, her eyes red from crying. When she called him she didn't inform him of what happened, the only thing he could hear between her sobs was that Hisoka had been put into the hospital.

"Sherry, what happened?" He asked as he approached the woman, she just stood up and hugged him. He suddenly felt a small panic in his chest and pushed her away to look at her face. "He's not…" He said holding his breath.

She laughed sadly, "No."

Tsuzuki gave a heavy sigh of relief, "Well, what happened?"

"He got pretty badly beaten earlier today…" She began as she walked up to one of the elevators, "Here, let's go see him."

"One dislocated shoulder, four cracked ribs, stab wound on his belly, multiple cuts and some pretty severe bruising…" Sherry listed as they both sat beside the sleeping boy's bed. His face was black and blue in addition to the bandages he sported on his arms. Tsuzuki assumed that there were more bandages underneath the hospital gown but didn't care to see, the tip of the iceberg was enough to send him screaming into the night.

"Did…Did Saki do this?" Tsuzuki asked as he watched his friend's steady breaths.

"Yeah. He's being omitted into a better facility."

He gave a bitter laugh "Shit…They should have done that earlier…"

"They were planning to but they didn't think that his case was that bad…I'm just sorry that they didn't decide to do it sooner…Poor kid…"

Tsuzuki didn't say anything; he just stared quietly, thinking of ways the predicament could have been avoided and the only conclusion he came to was "If only I was there…"

Sherry gave a sniffle and brought a tissue up to her face, "I heard him crying out as they relocated his arm. It tore me to pieces…I got a hold of you because he was calling for you in his delirium. Not for his mother or his father, he called to you."

Tsuzuki still sat in silence and listened to the woman talk through small sobs, a wave of guilt washing over him. "Its terrible, he really doesn't need to be in the institute, but his parents are so damn irresponsible and greedy to care…I mean, who would just send their child away?" She wrapped an arm around her waist and wiped her nose with her tissue. "Anyways, Konoe still has to get a hold of his parents to discuss insurance issues with them…You know what…I'm gonna' go get some coffee, you want anything?"

"Ah, no thanks…" He declined, not really thinking of himself at that moment.

"Ok, well I'll be back."

"'Kay." He said; his eyes never moving from the boy.

She left the room and he grabbed a chair from the corner and sat next to Hisoka's bedside; propping his upper body on the side of the bed. He buried his face in his arms, half tempted to let out a sob. "Damn it, how could I let this happen…?" He thought. Suddenly a slight stirring from the person next to him caused him to look up. A pail hand touched the top of his head softly, comforting him.

"Tsuzuki…" He said looking down at the older man, "I'm sorry I made you cry…I didn't want you to be upset…I feel so terrible about it."

"No, no, no!" Tsuzuki insisted, hoping the boy wouldn't start to cry the last thing he wanted to see were tears streaming down his bruised face. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. I just want you to focus on getting better."

"I…" He said as tears began to fall "…just didn't know I'd upset you like that…I don't want you to be upset…your too important to me…"

A heavy heat swelled in the violet eyed man's chest as he listened to the boy crying and trembling over, not his injuries, but him. Hisoka's thoughts on him were so vague before but now they just seemed to spill out of him right along with his tears.

Tsuzuki moved to sit on Hisoka's bed side, he looked down at that pale face now covered in injuries and hesitated a bit before feeding the urge to embrace him like a child. He yipped as his friend accidentally brushed up against his bruised body, which the man held looser in response.

"I'm not upset." He assured the boy again.

"You were yesterday I felt it…"

"Don't worry about it, it didn't mean anything…" He said softer as he rocked back and forth trying to ease his companion's pain. The door opened and Tsuzuki glanced over to see Konoe standing behind him. The old man coughed and looked to the side, not quite sure of what to think of the scene in front of him.

"Oh, Tsuzuki, I thought you were sick today?" He said roughly.

"Yeah, but it's nothing. Sherry told me the situation and so I came to see if I could help. What are you doing here?"

"I just got off the phone with Hisoka's parents and they asked for him to come back home."

Tsuzuki was silent for a moment it felt like a sledgehammer had been taken to his heart. He looked down to the blonde whose face was now plastered with a horrified expression.

"I don't want to go back there!" Hisoka said with a mixture of sadness and disgust.

"I'm sorry, Hisoka but it's out of my hands. You're going to have to bring it up with your parents; they know what's best for you." Konoe said as slowly and carefully as he could.

"Know what's best for me!? They don't know what's best for me! They hardly know me let alone what's best for me!"

"Hisoka you're going to have to calm down I-"

Despite his injuries Hisoka pushed himself out of the bed and onto his feet he bent forward a little as the pain from his stomach screamed at him to sit back down. He bent towards the phone near his bed but the old man's hand blocked him, "You need to get back into bed." he said firmly but Hisoka's face just bent in anger.

"Fine." He exclaimed sharply as he ripped out the I.V. from his hand, "I'm going to go find another phone then." He stated as he headed out the door followed by the old man shouting and walking after him.

Tsuzuki still sat on the bed now staring at nothing and simply listened to the sickly combination of the silence of the room and the pulsing in his head which was now aching. He suddenly felt weak and laid down on the empty bed in hopes to clear his mind.

"God, why do you insist on another person leaving me? Why must you punish me with loneliness? Please I've had enough…"

"Tsuzuki…" A voice called to him from a muddled dream world of his own thoughts.

Tsuzuki opened his eyes to notice that he wasn't in the same room as before. "Where am I?" He said as he tried to get up however, his head greatly protested the movement. His hands went to massage his temples but they were to stiff to apply any real pressure.

"You passed out in your friend's room so we moved you into one of your own," The voice answered.

Tsuzuki's purple eyes focused on blue cerulean ones guarded by bronze framed glasses, "D-Doctor?" He said in shock.

"I've told you before, don't be so formal call me Tatsumi. I like to have less formal relationships with my patents." The man insisted.

"Oh, sorry."

"So, how do you feel?" The doctor said as he leaned forward in his chair bringing his finger tips together.

Tsuzuki groaned and fell back to a laying position, "My head is killing me and my hands feel numb…"

The doctor gave a sympathetic smile, "Well, that's to be expected given you're circumstance, but try to think positive."

Tsuzuki sighed and looked out the window trying to avoid the concerned gaze being directed at him. Tatsumi had been his doctor for a year now and he liked him quite a bit however, once and while he came across a little too motherly at times and made the violet eyed man uncomfortable at times.

"Tsuzuki," The man said with a firm yet concerned tone, "how long are you going to live so carelessly?"

"I don't know. How ever long I'm allowed to act careless I guess."

"Well at some point your going to run yourself down and make life worse for yourself, I just want you to be aware of that…"

"I know, I know…" Tsuzuki said in a childish tone he then sat up and hopped off the bed.

"Where are you going?" his eyes following the man as he traveled across the room.

"I'm going to visit my friend." He said simply; a little agitated by Tatsumi.

"That boy whose room you were in?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah. Why?" He responded as he grabbed the door knob.

"He just left."

"What?" The purple eyed man shouted.

"Yeah, his parents handed me his discharge papers and took him. What's going on?" He asked, his voice making it obvious to how confused he was.

"His parents?!"

"Yes." Tatsumi answered, now completely lost as to why his patient was so frantic.

"Crap!" Tsuzuki flung the door open with more force than he intended to as he ran as fast as he could to the boy's room. Anger raced through his veins as he ran, there was no way he was going to let Hisoka's selfish parents take him away only to be miserable.

"This doesn't make any sense. If they don't want him around why are they bothering to bring him back?! It's not because they care, there has to be an ulterior motive to this…"

Before he could make it all the way to the room he ran into sherry who was staring at him from down the hall.

"Tsuzuki what are you doing?" She asked the man who was now gasping for breath in front of her.

"Where's…Hisoka?" He said between ragged breaths.

"His parents took him home, not to long ago."

Tsuzuki gave a sad and tired moan as he leaned against the wall to brace his now very dizzy body. "Shit…I wanted to talk to him…"

"I thought as much." She said with a laugh, she pulled an old receipt from earlier that day and wrote something on the back of it, "Good thing I was able to remember it…." She commented herself as she handed him the paper.

"An address?" He said looking questioningly at it.

"Yeah, I don't think he'll be coming back to West Wind but you could probably stop by his house and talk to him there."

"Thank you." Tsuzuki smiled and shoved the paper in his pocket, he pulled the woman into a sudden hug causing her to make a combination of a laugh and an "oh" noise.

"But I want you to make me a deal," She said as she pulled away now making eye contact with him, "before you go to Hisoka's place I want you to go home and get some rest. I don't know what's up with you but I think it's safe to say you shouldn't be on your feet."

Tsuzuki gave another smile and said "It's a deal."

T.B.C. R&R