Well, this fic will be updated more regularly. I've decided to work on only this fic and another until their done, and then start on a couple more. Hopefully that will please the readers of this one.
Once again, any misinformation – I'd be glad if someone pointed it out.
Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
It didn't take long for Jonouchi to realize there were several distinct changes in how the American's drove compared to the Japanese that he hadn't realize in his tired state in the taxi-cab.
For one thing, everyone drove on the wrong side of the road, something he realized only after beginning to drive down the left side.
He had pulled over clumsily, just avoiding the truck that was honking angrily while the driver cursed him – in words he could actually understand because those had been the few words he was interested in learning – and made rude gestures. He calmed his sister down as much as he could before he started to watch the other drivers for a good half an hour.
After figuring out the basics (how to turn, when to stop, who had the right of way), he decided that it was probably for the best following another driver.
He made it to the hospital in one piece, with no accidents or tickets, and with Shizuka only screaming thrice. He mentally curse Sakurai-san. It was obviously his fault. He honestly couldn't expect someone who didn't know what a quarter looked like to know the driving laws, could he?
The woman at the front desk smiled and said something. Jonouchi immediately realized a major flaw in his plans.
He grabbed a notepad and a pen from the counter, and drew a stick figure of his sister, drew an eye, and then handed the paper to the woman.
She looked at it, smiled, and asked something slowly, pointing to herself and saying "English".
Jonouchi was about to point out that obviously he couldn't speak English. If he could, why would he draw the picture?
Shizuka spoke before he got the chance, and said "Japanese." Jonouchi realized she had probably asked what language they spoke.
The receptionist had a quick conversation with an idle nurse, who waked off. Then she held up an index finger, motioning it would only take a minute.
The nurse returned with a girl who was probably Jonouchi's age. She had long, black hair, brown, Asian eyes and was wearing very casual clothes, especially since Jonouchi had the impression she worked there – or at least volunteered.
"Hi, are you the Japanese people?" she asked.
"You speak Japanese?!" Shizuka asked, clearly surprised.
The girl nodded. "My name is Jennifer."
Jonouchi introduced himself and Shizuka.
"Shizuka?" the girl asked, thinking. "Kawai Shizuka?"
Shizuka nodded, and Jennifer's smile spread across her face. "My dad's your doctor. I can bring you to your room."
Shizuka smiled. "That's great. Thank you very much."
"Actually," Jennifer said, waving off the thank you as if it was no big deal, "Dad was just in Japan for a business meeting. He just got back a couple of days ago."
She stepped into an elevator and Jonouchi and Shizuka followed. "Your room is on the top floor. I hope that's okay. Dad likes to keep all his patients close together.
Jonouchi started to mutter something, but Shizuka cut him off before he could offend her. "It's quite all right."
The elevator lurched to a stop, and the three of them got off.
Jonouchi couldn't help notice how clean it was. He could almost see himself in the floor. There wasn't a mark that shouldn't be there on any of the pure white walls, although there were some old Japanese paintings.
He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, as if his mere presence would make it any less clean. Shizuka seemed more at ease, probably because their mother was a bit of a clean freak and her house was usually near this level of clean, though her shoulders were a little tense and her steps were much more careful and deliberate than they had been on the ground floor. Jennifer seemed completely relaxed, but that was most likely because she came up here often.
Shizuka looked at one of the paintings. "Why are these here?"
Jennifer smiled. "A lot of Dad's patients are Asian, so he wants them to feel more at home here." She caught Jonouchi's look, and smiled. "Not all of them are, of course. Just most of them."
"Why would they come here?" Jonouchi asked, not meaning to sound as rude as he did.
Jennifer looked offended. "Why did youcome here?"
Shizuka giggled. "I'm sure he didn't mean to offend anyone, did you Big Brother?" Jonouchi quickly shook his head. "I think he was just wondering why they would fly all the way here. I'm sure not every one of them has my same problem orthe money to get here."
Jennifer smiled cautiously. "A lot of them have moved here."
They started walking again, Jonouchi trailing just a little behind the girls who were talking about Something-Or-Another that he really didn't care too much about.
A shiver ran down Jonouchi's spine, and he stopped in his tracks while the girls continued ahead of him.
He looked around. On one side of him was a door, slightly ajar. Someone was obviously inside because he could hear them slightly, and on the other side of him was a painting of a samurai. He decided it must be the samurai giving him the creeps, and he started moving again. The girls had stopped not too far ahead when they realized that he wasn't with them any more, and he caught up to them quickly.
"Are you okay?" Shizuka asked, concerned.
Jonouchi grinned. "Of course."
Jennifer rolled her eyes slightly, then unlocked and opened the door they were all standing in front of.
The room was bare, but not as much as Jonouchi had been expecting. The bed looked comfortable, and there was a small, drawerless dresser with a mirror over it. Jonouchi noticed another thing.
"It's too small," he said. Shizuka and Jennifer looked at him. "I mean, shouldn't she be sharing her room with another woman. With one of those curtains that go across the room and everything?"
Jennifer snickered under her breath. "No. She's going to be staying here for the next one or two weeks, so we think it's best to give her privacy."
Jonouchi looked surprised. He looked at Shizuka, who didn't look surprised at all. "What do you mean, staying here?!"
"I mean, she'll be staying in the hospital. She'll sleep here, eat here," she waved her hand as though she were explaining it to an idiot.
"No one told me this!"
Jennifer laughed. "You're only upset because you won't have your half-translator with you."
"I am no –" he thought about her words, then realized that even if Shizuka didn't speak muchEnglish, she still spoke more than him.
Jennifer smiled sweetly, then told both of them to stay there. Then she took off down the hall.
"You're okay about staying here alone?" Jonouchi asked.
Shizuka nodded. "I'll need to bring some of my clothes over here, but I'm fine."
"What about the hotel?"
"Why do you think I only told you to get one bed?"
Jonouchi muttered something that sounded like "because you wanted to save me some money."
Shizuka smiled at him, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew."
"I guess as long as you're okay with it, there is not problem, huh?" Jonouchi said, smiling, and suddenly feeling very alone depsite the fact that Shizuka was still beside him.
A couple of minutes passed.
Jonouchi turned to the door. "I should go back to the hotel and get your stuff."
"Big brother."
Jonouchi stepped towards the door, and stopped when Jennifer appeared out of no where with a small, colourful book in her hand.
"It's a phrase book," she said, handing it to Jonouchi. Jonouchi looked at it questioningly and flipped through the pages.
"It's for tourists," Jennifer sighed. "If you want to say something, it will probably be in there."
Jonouchi smiled. "Thanks. I need to get Shizuka's things though, so I should be going."
Jennifer nodded. "I need to find Dad and tell him is patient is here," she turned to Shizuka. "Make yourself comfortable."
Jonouchi shivered again as he passed the samurai and the door, but this time he wasn'tgoing to stop.
The door opened.
He stopped.
"Dad!"
"Sakurai-san?!"
"Jonouchi-kun?"
Jennifer blinked slowly. "You two know each other?"
"Unfortunately," Jonouchi muttered. Sakurai-san ignored him. Jennifer glared.
"We met in the airport the day I came back. I didn't realize that Shizuka was myShizuka, though."
Jonouchi shot him a glare that could melt stone. "If you touch her, I'll kill you."
"I'm her doctor. I don't have much of a choice."
Jonouchi's glare didn't waver.
"It's my job. I won't take advantage of her." He looked at Jonouchi before trying again. "I'll have Jennifer with me, if it makes you feel better."
It did. A little. Not by much.
Sakurai-san moved a little, and Jonouchi suddenly had the urge to see who was in the room.
The doctor waved a hand in front to his face. "Are you okay? You look a little spaced out."
Jennifer said something in English. He looked at Jonouchi, slightly concerned, then at the patient in the room before closing the door firmly behind him.
"I don't want you to go into that room, do you understand me? The patient is very sick and weak, and they don't need any more disturbances than necessary."
Jonouchi grumbled under his breath angrily as he stalked back down the stairs.
Con Crit more than welcome. Flames will be mocked.
REVIEW REPLIES
Taskemus: I'm glad that you like it so far. And my goal is to make it as realistic as possible.
Kumori Sakusha formerly known as Saelbu: Hope I updated soon enough.
Misura: Sakurai figures "you don't like me, I don't have to be nice to you." I'm thinking I should've given him a harder time riding it, but for now I won't. It was early in the morning. He didn't get caught in rush-hour traffic. –Evil thoughts–