Anaya's Creator: Gutten Tag! I'm back!
Kaiba: It's another update!
Malik: Where was Stormtracer? She didn't review.
Anaya's Creator: I don't know. Thanks for the reviews everybody! :-D Please review this chapter, Stormtracer.
Mokuba: Here are the other reviews we got:
KrysOfSorrow:
shudders a little I'm not sure I like that insane giggle, but here's your update.
SilverMoonPhoenix:
I'll read your stories when I get the chance, k?
Gardevoir-Mages:
I read your stories, pretty good. That's all I have to say.
FanofYGO:
I'm glad you like this.
The rest of junior year passed at the pace of a cheetah sprinting at top speed. And the day after school let out for the summer, Rogue received a phone call from the doctor's office.
"Hello... this is she..." Rogue said. Then her eyes went wide. "Oh my goodness... y-you're j-joking right? There's no way... you're not joking... Yes, yes, I'll come down straight away. Thank you and a good day to you too, Sir."
With Adan guiding her, Rogue made her way hurriedly through the sunny streets of Domino. She was in such a careless rush that, she didn't heed Adan's warning about the crossing-the-street light being red. A car skidded to a halt at her left side.
"Hey, watch where you're walking!" shouted a familiar bossy female voice.
"And hello to you too Mai," Rogue greeted.
"Rogue?" was the semi-shocked response.
"And who else with green hair would be crossing the street when the light was red?"
There was a loud honk from the car behind Mai. "Hey lady, are you gonna move or what? Some of us actually have to be somewhere today."
"Hey shut-up Bub, I'm talking to a friend of mine here!" Mai shouted at the car then turned back to Rogue. "Where are you going in such a dash?"
"The doctor's office at the hospital,"
"Hop in then; I'll be driving past there on my way to Joey's place anyhow."
Rogue felt along Mai's convertible then jumped in the back seat. "Thank you, Mai." As the car sped off again, Rogue pondered why Mai would risk being late for a date or something or other with Joey to help her. The two of them weren't exactly friends, too many differences between them. They were more like acquaintances. In fact, the only things they had in common were that they both had a stubborn, independent mindset and were good friends with Serenity.
"Hey Rogue, how's the relationship with Malik going?" Mai asked suddenly, jerking Rogue from her thoughts.
She blushed, "It's going very well; how about you and Joey?"
"Never better, but I must admit, things would be a little easier for that knucklehead if he moved out of his alcoholic father's apartment.
"He still lives with that drunken baboon even though he can move in with any of us?"
"Oh, Lord knows we've told him, several times, but you know how he is. He wants to be able to earn the money to buy his place on his own. And even after he's moved out, he still wants to help that man with his debts."
"Well, we can't blame him for wanting to help his kin," Rogue admitted. After all, that's what Odeon and I did during Battle City, and Malik turned out not to be so bad, despite his horrible first impression.
The car screeched to a halt in front of the hospital. "We're here," Mai announced.
"Thanks for the lift Mai," Rogue said as she got out of the back of the car.
"No problem, are you sure you can handle things from here?"
"Yes, thank you." She heard the car drive away and then headed inside.
Rogue passed the main desk of the hospital, then climbed a few flights of stairs and reached her doctor's office.
"Good afternoon, Miss Kaisaris," the secretary told Rogue as she entered the office. "Dr. Auge will see you in a few moments."
"That won't be necessary Miss Clara, I'm free now," the doctor's voice said from down the hall. "Come in Rogue."
Rogue wandered down the familiar passageway to the check-up room, trembling with excitement. "Dr. Auge, you said you had good news about the operation that could give me back my sight on the phone."
"Yes, I did. Now we can't do the procedure right away. We'll have to do some extensive tests through out this year and possibly at the end of your senior year, you'll have your sight back."
Rogue could barely contain her excitement; she could feel her blood storming through her veins. Her heart was pounding more loudly then one hundred elephants pounding in perfect rhythm, but they came to an unexpected halt at the doctor's words...
"However, this entire procedure will cost you well more than two million yen."(1)
Rogue's jaw dropped then she looked down at where her hands had been fidgeting in her lap. "I... I don't... I don't have that kind of money... and I know our insurance will only cover half of that..." she admitted.
"You don't need all of it now, of course, this is just a forewarning of what it's going to cost you. Also there is still the possibility that the operation will not work, in spite of the tests we do."
"I'm sorry, doctor; I really have to think about this..." With that Rogue got up and left the office, very disappointed and confused.
When she stepped outside the office, the weather had changed drastically. It was now raining; however, Rogue walked down the streets, taking her time to get home. Finally after wandering after what seemed like hours she reached home. Mother was off on a dig again and this time she wouldn't be back for a long while, so Rogue had the house to herself.
Rogue took off her now soaked coat, went into the kitchen and started a pot of boiling water; there would be nothing better than to have a nice cup of hot chocolate to cheer her up. She brought her laptop down from her room and checked her e-mail.
"It is 5:45 p.m. you have one message," the computer told her in a long bored tone.
The message was from Malik. Things were getting easier for him, Ishizu, and Odeon now, but there was still a lot of work for him to do. He was trying to find the time to come and see her, in the flesh, again, but until then, he'd keep up with the e-mail and visiting her using the Millennium Rod.
Rogue typed back a reply and sent it then she heard the tea kettle go off as the water in it came to a boil. She grabbed a cup from the cabinet and mixed in the chocolate then sat back down at the table in a dismal mood and waited for the warm drink to cool.
Adan landed on top of a chair beside her, and ten minutes later his eyes became unfocused as Malik took control over his mind. The bird had become quite used to this and normally didn't mind when Malik took over, it gave him some time to rest his very busy birdie brain.
"Rogue, you don't look so good," Malik commented as his transparent form appeared and put misty arms around her.
"I went to the doctors today." She leaned into the warm wind that was his form and felt some of that warmth rub against her wet hair.
"I know, I read about that e-mail you sent a few minutes ago. You'd think that since this is a 'test' they'd not ask for payment. That's an awful lot of money to ask for, especially for an operation that may not even succeed."
"I know." She felt him nuzzle her face lovingly then he whispered in her ear. "Malik, I don't want to be blind the rest of my life and I don't want to always have you straining your energy to give me sight using the Millennium Rod." She looked down a little, biting her lower lip, and in her lap, her hands began fidgeting again.
Back in Egypt, Malik strengthened the power if his Rod and transferred his control to her mind, but only so she could see and hear him. "Rogue look at me," he told her, gently making her look at him. "This is never a waste of my energy. Why do you keep thinking it is?"
"It's just... that I can sense that this takes a lot of energy for you to do... And I don't want to always depend on you for everything, or any one else for that matter. That's one thing I've always hated about being blind, you always have to depend on someone. Even when I fight I depend on Aden to be my eyes like he is for everything else. That's why I want to go through with anything that could restore my sight to me. I want to be independent again."
"I can see your point Rogue, but I'm afraid I can't help you at the moment. All the money I've earned I need to use for helping Ishizu and Odeon mend the damages from you-know-what. I'm so sorry, I wish there was more I could do for you, my love."
Rogue reached out to his transparent face, which was now staring at the floor, and pulled it up to hers. "This is more than enough," she told him. She gave him a gentle kiss which she felt him return.
The kiss ended when Malik gave a small groan and keeled over s little. The image of him in Rogue's mind flickered, as if she were watching a badly tuned television program.
"Malik, are you alright?"
"I've used a little too much energy for the moment, I need to rest."
"Then go,"
Malik nodded, ran a hand down the side of her face,and then disappeared from her mind.
As soon as he had left the phone rang.
"Hello,"
"Hey Rogue; it's Serenity. Mai called me earlier and said that you had gone to the hospital. Are you okay?"
"I'm just great." There was a tone of exaggeration in Rogue's voice.
"You don't sound great."
"Well, let's just say I'm severely disappointed."
"What happened?"
Rogue told Serenity all about the procedure and the money it would cost her and all that other great stuff.
Serenity dwelled on all of this for a moment, mulling it over in her mind. "Don't give up Rogue, I'll think of something."
"Thanks 'Ren, but I don't think it's going to help. Bye..."
"See ya."
Rogue hung up the phone and returned to her hot chocolate which had cooled by now.
Back at her house, Serenity hung up the phone as well and thought for a moment. Over two million yen!! she thought in shock. That's well more than any medical insurance can cover... but perhaps... She picked up the phone again and dialed a number.
"Hello, is your boss in the office today? Great, thank you," Serenity hung up the phone for the second time and left her room. She slid down the railing, left a note for her mother saying where she was headed and when she expected to be back, then pulled on her coat and dashed out the door. Please let this idea work... she pleaded mentally as she made her way through the wet streets of Domino to the center of town.
She came to a halt at the center of town at the gates of a large building, Kaiba Corps to be exact. Serenity went inside, got in the elevator, and rode to the top floor. Quaking a little because some of the cold rain had soaked through her coat, she stumbled out of it and made her way to Kaiba's office. She knocked on the door timidly.
"Enter, if you must," was the gruff reply.
"Seto," Serenity said as she entered his office.
Kaiba looked up from his desk, "Serenity, what are you doing here?" And he walked over to her as she took her coat off then embraced her.
"I needed to speak to you about something very important," she said as he let got of her. "It's about Rogue."
Kaiba's face grew slightly worried. Ever since he began dating Serenity he had become more sympathetic, Rogue had become an older sister to Mokuba and was Serenity's best friend. So actually, he was only worried for Mokuba and Serenity's sake, more than Rogue's. "What's wrong with her?"
"The eye operation procedure that your doctors discovered can help bring back her sight, but the procedure is going to cost her far too much," Serenity explained as she sat down on the couch in Kaiba's office and he sat beside her.
"Doesn't she have medical coverage?" he asked, simply out of curiosity.
"She does, but it won't cover enough of the price to allow her to have the procedure."
Kaiba thought for a moment. He couldn't just give Rogue the operation for free, his pride wouldn't allow that. According to Serenity, Rogue could cook simple recipes, despite her handicap, but only the simplest and she had also told him before Rogue had been blind her mother had taught her to cook. As for Kaiba, to say this as bluntly as possible, he couldn't cook period. "Okay, how about this: if she agrees, my doctors will do the operation on Rogue, and if it works shewill cook for me, but only if she agrees."
"Why not give the operation to her for free?"
Kaiba had seen that question coming. "Call it my damned pride," he said quickly.(2)
"You'll have to talk it over with Rogue, but that could work."
"Very well; I'll contact the Kaiba Corp doctors and let them know they may have a patient on the way."
"Thanks Seto," Serenity threw her arms around him and pecked him on the cheek, then picked up her coat and left the office.
"The things I do for love," Kaiba muttered, and he sat beck down at his desk and got back to work, reminding him to call Rogue that evening about the operation.
1122334455667788990011223344556677889900
(1) In American money,1 million yen around 10,000; so I guess 2 million would be about 20,000 and for the operation they are planing for Rogue, they would have to do several tests and procedures on her before the actual surgery. This would probably be rather reasonable.
(2) Oh come on! Could you really see Kaiba giving her the sugery for free?
112233445566778899112233445566778899
Anaya's Creator: Review please! If you review I'll give you a cookie!