Two in One - Chapter 004
I do not own Love Hina.
No characters in this story are real. Any character not readily recognizable from LH belongs to me and can be used if my permission is gotten first.
This story is set at the end of Vol. 14 before the wedding.
7:12 pm
February 15, 2004
New York City
United States
It has been three days since the attack that had hurt Keitaro. The doctors were amazed that he was technically still alive. The portion of his brain that remained was still active. His body was healing at a rapid pace, which amazed them. However, his brain could not heal or regenerate like the rest of his body.
With how well he was healing even though he had to be on machines to keep his body stable, they had decided that he could be moved out of the intensive care unit into a private room. Seta and José were spending their time in turns in Keitaro's room so that he would never be alone. They know that at times, when the pain relievers would start to wear off he would become aware of what was going on around him. Therefore, they stayed that when he did wake, he would see someone he knew.
Even when he was asleep, they read to him so that he could hear a voice that he knew. Seta had the television on with the volume down low, just loud enough to be heard. He would switch the channel between a local Japanese Radio station, NHK, Discovery, History, and News channels so that Keitaro would not loose himself.
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Strange, I know I have been hurt. However, I cannot feel any pain. I cannot even feel anything except on my face. Why is this? What has happened to me? I CANNOT MOVE? SOMEBODY HELP ME! I see SETA sensei sitting there, but he acts as if he cannot hear me, even though I can feel my mouth move, my tongue works. Why cannot you hear me Sensei?
Wait, I cannot hear myself either, but I can hear things, the television is on, sensei is reading aloud. However, I cannot hear myself speak, WHY IS THIS?
Everything looks strange, flat, it seems dark to my right side. Why is that? My vision is messed up also, what is wrong. SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG!
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José opened the door to Keitaro's room, carrying food for Seta and himself he enters the room. "Good evening Mr. Noriyasu, I have dinner here." José looks past Seta to see how Keitaro is doing and almost drops the bags of food when he sees that Keitaro's eyes are open. "Sir, Keitaro is awake," he says in a subdued voice.
Seta whips his head around to see Keitaro there with his eyes open. He stands up and moves over to his bed. "Hey part-timer, about time that you work up, time for you to get better and get back to work." He said jokingly, trying to sound upbeat with what happened.
Looking into his eyes, Seta sees the questions and the pleading for answers, he watches his mouth move trying to speak and ask questions.
Seta gets a sad look on his face, but he understands what Keitaro is trying to ask. "Ok, I will give you what you want. Kei, you have been hurt very bad, though you are healing pretty well. You were shot four times, in your leg, hip, and your shoulder. Those are healing very well. You also took a hit in the head."
At this, Keitaro's eyes opened very wide.
"Yes, you understand I see. That one has everyone worried. That one damaged your brain and spinal cord. You are paralyzed from the neck down and a portion of your brain has been destroyed." Lowering his head, the sadness, and grief could be heard in his voice. "Even if your spine was ok, though the doctors are seeing some regeneration there, the portion of your brain that was damaged is the part that controls your motor and auto nominal functions. The hit to you head also damaged your left eye."
Keitaro moved his eyes, though he could only see from one, to look at the ceiling. Absorbing what he had been told, trying to think of what the implication were. After a minute, he looked back to Seta, his eyes asking him to continue.
Seta nodded at the look of resignation in Keitaro's eyes. "Yes you are hurt bad; machines are being used to breath and pump your blood for you. The doctors here are not holding out much hope, but one of the doctors is looking into something he had heard rumors about. So we don't know what is going to happen."
Keitaro closed his eyes, thinking and worrying about what had happened and what was to come. Not hearing the door open, he does sense that someone else has entered the room. He slowly opens his eyes, pain is starting to cause flashes in his eyes. He sees a woman in a nurse's uniform come toward the bed.
"I see you are awake. Are you in pain?" she asked.
Keitaro grimaces to show that he is.
She nods and puts a note in his record. Reaches up and adjust the flow rate of medication into his I.V. "There that should help, I will check back later and see haw that helps." She smiles at him and then moves away.
With the increase in medication and from the exhaustion of his body trying to heal itself, Keitaro drifts back off to sleep.
Seta is sitting there, thinking about what is to come for Keitaro, when he hears a commotion outside the door. He moves to the door, opening it, he finds the nurse trying to stop a group of young ladies wanting to enter Keitaro's room. Seta smiles at the sight of the nurse, who only spoke English, and the other ladies who did not, trying to argue.
He steps forward to save all. "Sshhhhh," he sounds out quietly. Keitaro is asleep.
The nurse seeing that he has everything under control, smiles at him in thanks and then moves off.
Haruka seeing this interplay gives Seta a hard look.
Seta smiles at the ladies and motions them to follow him to a waiting room just down the hall. "Well, I see it did not take you that long to get here, I starting to wonder if you were coming." He said with a smile, thinking of all the other times they had chased Keitaro somewhere.
Haruka moves up to him, taking him into a hug, happy to be back with him. He holds on to her, finally letting some of his grief to show.
The Ladies look on, showing their own pain and the questions in their eyes about how Keitaro is doing.
Seta looks up, "There has not been any real change, and he does wake at times." He sees the hope spring into everyone's faces. "But, he still cannot speak nor does much of anything."
Naru looked up at Seta, tears in her eyes, "Can, can I see him," she asked. Her emotions very plain in her voice, so much pain, and longing.
Seta looked to her with a smile, trying to cheer her up. "Go ahead Naru, but he is asleep right now from his pain medication."
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Naru headed out of the waiting room and went to Keitaro's room. Slowly opening the door, she spies a sheet-covered form in the bed, many wires, tubes, and cords going to his arms. A large clear tube connected to a breathing machine and two red colored tubes connected to some type of pump were connected to his neck.
Stepping further into the room, she noted a young man of Hispanic origins sitting around the corner, reading aloud from a Japanese newspaper to Keitaro. Even though the young man knows that Keitaro is asleep, he continues to read.
At the sound of the door closing, he stops reading and turns to her. "Ah, you must be Naru; Keitaro has told me much of you." He says in a low voice, filled with concern. He stands up offering her the chair he was in. "I shall leave you alone with him, if you alike?"
She does not even notice that he is speaking in fluent Japanese. She nods her acceptance to his suggestion.
As he quietly leaves the room, she pulls the chair over to the bed. Sitting down she takes his hand into hers, covering it with her other hand. "Oh Kei, what are we to do? I am so scared of going on without you. You have to get better. I do not want to be alone anymore." Saying this, she leans down, kissing his hand, then laid her head on his hand with tears flowing freely down her face.
With her head lying on his hand, she looks toward his face, seeing the hoses going into his neck partially obscuring his face, bandages covering the deformed side of his head. "Kei, you opened up my heart, you showed me what love really is. That is not about what a person wants, but what a person wants to do for others. –Sniff- You are too good for me, but I do not want to loose you. I do not want to go back to being the old Naru. –sniff- SO don't you die on me, I want you to come back with me, to our home." Finally feeling a little better, being there with him, she drifts off to sleep.
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José left the room and headed toward the waiting room, assuming that is where Seta is since he was hearing several Japanese voices coming from there. From the door to the waiting room, José sees Seta surrounded by a number of beautiful young ladies, all of them trying to get him to talk about Keitaro. Leaning against the doorframe, he smiles at the scene before him.
Sensing a presence behind him, he turns seeing Keitaro's doctor, "Seta, I think the doc wants to talk to you," José speaks up, getting Seta's attention. José moves into the room allowing the doctor to enter and close the door.
Seta moved out of the group of young ladies toward the doctor. "Is there any news doctor," Seta ask.
"We will be taking him back into surgery tomorrow and start working on the broken bones. He is going to end up with several metal plates and tubes to support the damaged areas," the doctor said. In English
Everyone was hanging on his words trying to understand what he is saying.
José started a running translation so that the ladies could understand what the doctor was saying. The ladies turned to him with looks of wonder and worry. Worried about Keitaro and surprised that this foreigner, not even an American understood both English and Japanese.
The doctor continued, "The plates will support the bones while they attempt to heal. Also a research doctor from UCLA Medical School has a research project going that might be able to help Mr. Keitaro."
Seta and Haruka looked to the doctor in shock and after José had translated, the ladies looked to the doctor with hope in their faces.
"He has asked for a biological sample so they can do DNA matching for possible treatment."
They looked at the doctor in confusion, "What kind of treatment is possible when a portion of the brain is destroyed," asked Seta.
"I am not sure either, I have not studied in the neurological field since my school days," the doctor stated. "He did state that they would be looking into organ a donor, which is why he requested the biological sample to see if there was a donor available."
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8:58 pm
February 15, 2004
Somewhere in southern California
A young medical intern in her white lab coat stands behind her superior. He is watching the plasma screens as they show the results of the ongoing DNA results from the Urashima sample being analyzed.
"Do you think we will find a match," she ask.
The doctor holds his chin in his hand as he observes the readout. "Theoretically yes, I just hope the match is in the databases. Otherwise we may not be able to find out who the match is."
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February 19, 2004
New York City
Four days have gone by and lots of time again spent in the operating rooms. The reconstruction of Keitaro's bone structures has been completed. Using metal and plastic plates his bones have been positioned so that they can heal properly.
He is again in his room resting and healing. Naru and with her Motoko, Kanako, and Shinobu, spend all their time with him. He is never alone. Each of them coming to understand the feelings they have for this young man. Also finding that there are others that feel the same way as they each do.
The doctors are dumbfounded at his healing ability. They watch, monitor, prod, and take samples trying to understand what is happening. Parts of his anatomy that normally should not show any healing is doing just that. His nerve ends in his lower brain are showing signs of growth and is attempting to reconnect, but unfortunately, his brain is not showing any growth, though it does show signs of attempting to do that. Parts that were separated due to shock trauma are growing connectors, but no new brain cells are growing. They use the best imaging devices they have to monitor this growth and take copious amounts of notes, if they can figure this out, and then others can be helped.
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Somewhere in southern California
The intern comes into the doctor's office, "Sir, we have gotten a match to the Urashima DNA."
The doctor turns to the intern, keeping himself calm so that his excitement will not show. "How many matches and what is their availability," he asked.
"Ahw, three matches' sir, one from military sources, one government civilian, and one from Texas Department of Correction. It appears to be the same person on all three matches," the intern reports, trying to keep her own emotions under control.
The doctor is getting more interested by the minute, especially by the DoC reference. "What are the specifics on the Military and Government sources?"
"Hmmm, the military database is the Army, and the government source is the Intelligence community database," she said. "We are drawing on all sources to get more information on him."
The door behind them opens and a lab assistant hands to the intern a folder.
"It appears that we have the personal data we need here," she said.
"Oh," is all the doctor says as for her to continue.
"Yes, his name is Jason Kendricks, age 54, born May 12, 1950. Conscripted into the Army in 1968, served three tours in Vietnam, Ranger, Green Beret, Languages specialist. Seconded to several CIA missions into Laos and China during this time. Continues working with the CIA and NSA during the years after Vietnam, missions to essential every hotspot in the world, first team into Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, also worked with Delta and Rainbow. Fluent in many languages, his repeated best cover was as a Russian Intelligence operative to get into many places he was not supposed to."
"Married a Russian expatriate in 1990, with whom he had one child, of six years old. Retired from government/military service in 2000. Wife injured in an attack on her business in 2000, attackers got off on a technicality. More than likely, he was the target, possible setup by the intelligence services to silence him due to what he may know.
He found the attacker and messed him up badly, and doing so made even more enemies in the services. Was sent to prison for five years for felony assault, is still in prison at this time." She looked up to the doctor after completing her report, waiting for his response to her report.
The doctor mulls over the report, then ask, "How close is the DNA match?"
"99.992 percent," she says with a smile, "almost a perfect match."
"Set up an appointment and book a flight for me, soonest," he says. "I also need to make some calls."
"Yes sir," she turns and leaves the room.