A/N: Well, ch3 comin' at cha' and I hope it lives up to the previous two. As usual Houjun is Yuu Watase's creation and this storyline's mine. Here we go…
Hana gently shut the door to Houjun's room and made to turn away. She paused, her hand still on the doorknob, and put her forehead against the rough wood. For a second, she just leaned against the door and listened for any sounds that might mean Houjun was in trouble again. The nurse could only make out muffled scraping sounds and the rustling of paper. Satisfied that the young man was going to be alright for a few hours, she whirled around and took a determined step forward. Keep it together, Hana, she thought as she forced her feet to go in the direction of the nurse's station. He'll be okay, just finish your things as fast as you can and then you can see him again.
She was so focused on putting one foot in front of the other, that the young nurse walked right into her supervisor, crashing into the older man and nearly knocking them both over.
"Hana! Watch where you're going, for chrissake!" he exclaimed in irritation. "I could have been a patient!"
"S-sorry, Doctor Johnston." the young woman stammered, "I was distracted."
"And what, pray tell, distracted you so much that you couldn't even watch where you were going?" Dr. Johnston demanded, glaring at Hana over his black wire-frame glasses.
"Well, you see sir, it's-it's this patient I was with…" the nurse said hesitantly. "Houjun Ri… He-"
"Did you say Houjun?" the supervisor cut in, his light gray eyes going wide behind his glasses. "The silent one in solitary, who's prone to anxiety attacks and has a tendency to lash out at anyone who gets within four feet of him?"
Hana nodded. "I-I think that's him." She frowned for a second then gathered all her courage. "He didn't seem so bad to me," the nurse said, looking anywhere but at the doctor in front of her. "He was actually pretty gentle. He let me hug him and everything."
"How?" the older doctor asked incredulously, his previous ill humor starting to dissipate. "How did you get him to let you come near him? Every person we've ever assigned to his room either sent him into a fit of hysterics or else he tried to attack them. What did you do?"
"Well, I don't think it's anything special really," Hana replied with a small shrug. "All you have to do is let him know he's safe. You know just be gentle."
"Interesting…" the doctor mused. "I've been in there myself, and I consider myself to be a very gentle and understanding psychologist, all I've ever gotten were negative reactions. Just yesterday, I went to Houjun to give him his weekly medication and he went completely over the edge! He seemed fine when I opened the door, didn't even flinch when I told him I was coming in, but the second I got close to him he got so hysterical that I had to call an aid to hold him down while I gave him the needle." Dr. Johnston gave Hana a pained look and added, "He tried to take a swing at me! Nearly got me too, but I moved just in time and then- well let's just say I've never seen anybody get so upset so quickly in my entire twenty-five years as a doctor."
"I can tell you right now, Doctor Johnston, that with Houjun you need to be extremely gentle and reassuring," the young nurse told him earnestly. Her face was a mixture of sadness and caring, her green eyes shining as all-too-fresh memories of Houjun's inner turmoil surfaced. The young man's arms clinging to her as he trembled in her arms, his tears soaking through her blouse as he sobbed out his pain… It all replayed itself in Hana's mind, making her voice soften and hold a note of remorse as she continued to explain Houjun's reactions to her supervisor.
"He's really hurting inside and so he's become sort of like a child, easily frightened and very emotionally fragile. That's why he tried to hit you. You provoked the fight or flight response in him and he chose fight."
"Well, that does explain why he tried to attack me, but I still don't understand why he reacted so strongly after the fact," the older man said in confusion. "What I mean is, usually patients who strike out at us hit and then retreat into their own corner as if nothing happened, or else they become so violent that we are forced to sedate them. Houjun, however, goes into fits of complete insanity! He starts shaking and sobbing, even going so far as to start tearing at his own flesh. He was so distressed on one occasion that he ripped his wrist open and landed himself in intensive care for two days. Although I have seen patients react that way, it puzzles me because he doesn't seem to be psychopathic, and although I've seen signs of psychosis in him, he's otherwise quite normal. Except for the fact that he doesn't talk and has deep psychological wounds, that is."
"It's like I said," Hana replied. "Houjun is a very gentle and caring young man. I think he cares so deeply for others that when he knows he's almost hurt someone, it drives him to act out the way he does. I think it may have something to do with whatever it is that brought him to this hospital to begin with."
Dr. Johnston nodded. "I suppose we'll find out once he decides to talk." The older man sighed heavily. "I just wish Houjun would let one of our doctors try to help him…"
Hana's eyes lit up at these words. "I'll help him!" she said at once. "I've already proven that I can handle Houjun's emotional outbursts and besides, I felt like I really connected with him before. I know it's against protocol for a nurse to offer psychological counseling to a patient, but I'm about to pass my doctrine and I just know I could help him!"
"I don't know, Hana," Dr. Johnston said doubtfully. "It goes against all our rules and if something were to happen to Houjun, we could be shut down…"
"I would take full responsibility," Hana said firmly, standing up a bit straighter. "I would never let him get hurt, but if something does happen, I'll tell the officials it was all my fault and that you didn't even know I was treating Houjun."
"Still…I can't go against the rules of this hospital," the older man said regretfully. "Although I could possibly take Houjun on as my own patient and let you counsel him, but that would go completely against my better judgment."
"Couldn't you make an exception, just this once? Please… " she looked pleadingly at her supervisor. Every part of her was hoping-praying- that the doctor would change his mind, and let hers be the hand that pulled Houjun out of the darkness of his own mind.
Ever since she'd first heard his sobs from the hospital hallway, she'd felt sympathy well up within her for the pain this young man was going through. Then when she'd pushed the door open and found Houjun slowly rocking back and forth, sobbing brokenly and trying to melt into the walls, she had felt her heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. Watching someone so young trying to fight off that kind of horrible pain all alone…it just wasn't right. He needed her and although the young nurse couldn't quite place the feeling or pinpoint exactly why she felt the need to help Houjun, Hana knew that she would keep him safe at all costs. "Please?" she said again, her voice soft and starting to hold a note of desperation to it.
Dr. Johnston sighed again, then threw his hands up in the air, letting them drop to his sides in defeat. "You seem to be very keen to take this young man on as your patient, Hana, and I'm sure you would make an excellent psychiatrist, but I'm just not sure about this. The safety risk for Houjun is too high for me to-"
"I would die before I hurt him!" Hana cut in fiercely. "I'd never let him do anything to endanger himself, or anyone else for that matter. I'll do whatever it takes to save him from himself, even if it means I have to take a punch in the face every time I see him." Her green eyes blazed with a fire so strong that Dr. Johnston almost took an apprehensive step backwards.
"Well, if you feel that strongly about it, I suppose we can give it a try," the doctor said after a moment's consideration. He turned serious and added, "I must impress upon you the gravity of what you are about to agree to. Houjun will not be easy to handle, he's known to break down unexpectedly and when he does it is very violently. Add to this, the fact that he does not talk, and therefore cannot tell you what's bothering him, and the fact that he is prone to hitting out at others as well as to hurting himself…Well to keep it simple, he is a patient with very special needs. Do you think you can handle it?"
Hana nodded firmly. "As I said, Doctor, I'll do whatever it takes."
"Right then," Dr. Johnston cleared his throat importantly. "Hanami Sakura, you are the official counselor of Houjun Ri and you have just agreed to take full responsibility for your own actions and the actions of your charge. You will be working with Houjun under the pretense of being my assistant, as I will be the doctor legally responsible for seeing that he receives the help he needs, and you will tell this to anyone who asks. Do you understand?"
Hana saluted smartly. "Yes sir!" she said, trying to hide the grin that was quickly spreading over her face. "You won't regret this decision."
"Good." Dr. Johnston approved. "Now get to work before you get behind schedule."
The nurse nodded and hurried off towards the nurse's station.
A/N: Well there ya go ch3. hope it was okay and sorry if it was a little slow, transition chapters aren't my best ones. Gomen minna! Anyways I used some psychological terms in this chapter so here's an explanation.
Glossary of psychological terms:
Psychopathic- person with a mental disorder that makes them behave a certain way. Like serial killers or rapists. They get pleasure out of causing others harm so they're considered to have a mental instability- or if you want to get technical a psychopathic personality. Basically, you can't love anyone and you're an extremely cold, self-centered person.
Psychosis-disease of the mind not associated with any actual injury, or disease, of the brain. That means the person has no biological unbalance in their brain that causes whatever abnormal behavior they display. Example- people who refuse to talk because they suffered excessive shock at some point in their life (yes, that's what happened to Houjun).
See you next chapter
~Tenshi Kitsune~