D/C: I don't own RK.
Hi! i'm back...and recovered from the shoes which were thrown at me (ok, it's official, if anybody throws one more shoe at me, he can kiss it good bye!). I wasn't planning on updating today, but here i am, doing it anyway.
Ok, folks, enjoy!
Chapter 8: Guilt
Kaoru pushed through the double doors of the emergency unit. She made her way to the receptionist's desk, staring down at the floor so no one would notice her bloodshot eyes.
'Yes? How may I help you?' the receptionist inquired.
'Um…I want to see a man with the name Kenshin Himura, he was hit by a car an hour ago' Kaoru told her.
'Ah, yes' the receptionist said. 'He's in the ICU now, I'm afraid you won't be allowed to see him'
ICU! 'But he's my husband; I really need to see him!' Kaoru insisted.
The receptionist sighed. 'I'm really sorry, miss, but I can't let you see him' she said apologetically.
Kaoru bit her lip, and looked around frantically. Then, she noticed an arrow with the words ICU SECTION printed along its length.
She ran away from the desk towards the corridor in which the arrow pointed.
'Miss, come back here!' the receptionist cried after her.
But Kaoru ignored her. She ran down the narrow corridor, passing doors and units till she reached the very end where the ICU unit stood.
Kaoru took a deep breath, and started to push the door open.
'Hey, miss!'
Kaoru turned around, startled. She saw the medic who had told her to go home at the scene of the accident hurrying towards her.
'Where is he! You have to let me see him!' she demanded, grabbing him by the front of his shirt.
'He's in there' he told her, glancing at the ICU unit.
'How is he?' she asked anxiously.
The medic shook his head. 'Not very good' he told her. 'He got serious head injury'
Kaoru's hand flew to her mouth. 'He's going to be okay…isn't he?' she whispered.
'I can't tell you that' he told her. 'Not only was his head injured, but he lost a quite fair amount of blood too'
Kaoru felt herself on the verge of tears for the third time this day.
'He's not going to…die?' she choked.
'We did everything we could to help him, but right now he's in a coma…we can't do anything for him now' he told her. 'We'll just have to wait and see'
Kaoru glanced back at the door. 'Can I see him?' she pleaded.
'Yes, yes, of course' he agreed.
He opened the door for her and she stepped inside.
'Um…I got you the stuff' she suddenly said, holding out the bag.
'Yes, let me take that from you' he offered, and took the bag.
He, then, led her to the furthest end of the room.
And there, she saw him.
Lying on his bed, Kenshin was heavily covered in bandages, and connected to the Artificial Life Supporting System; an oxygen mask was covering his mouth, a glucose sachet was held over him, injecting the liquid in through his wrist, and a heart monitoring screen showing his life line…and looking deathly pale.
Kaoru automatically felt the tears wetting the sides of her face.
The medic glanced uncomfortably at her. 'I'll leave you alone with him, alright?' he said, drawing up a chair for her. 'Don't touch anything, though'
Kaoru nodded, and he left.
She sat down beside him, and tears welled in her eyes as she looked upon his face.
She took his left hand in both of hers, and held it tightly.
'Kenshin' she choked, as the tears began to pour down her cheeks. 'Kenshin…I know you're not going to hear me…but I'm sorry…I really am…I'm sorry for being the most horrible wife to ever exist… I dunno what to say…I mean, I made an unforgivable mistake, I thought you had cheated on me when my trust in you shouldn't have wavered at all'
She lifted up his hand and pressed it against her cheek.
'I'm really sorry' she whispered. 'I wish I could take all this back, but unfortunately, no one invented a time machine yet…so I can't possibly do that…'
It hurt her to see Kenshin like that, but it hurt her more that he didn't seem to hear her, to notice that she was there…as if he was already far away from this world.
Stricken by that sudden thought, she glanced at the monitoring screen, and breathed a sigh of relief; there was a pulse, he was still alive…
'Oh, Kenshin!' she choked, sobbing against his bed blankets, her hands still gripping his.
It might have been seconds, it might have been minutes, hours…Kaoru didn't know; all she knew that she had never cried like this before, because she didn't have to; she had never come across such situations, and she was having a hard time handling it.
Suddenly, she felt something vibrating at her side. Kaoru started, looked down and remembered the cell phone in her pocket.
She pulled it out and glanced at the screen; it was Megumi.
Kaoru chewed her bottom lip; Megumi was probably worried sick about her. She glanced back at Kenshin…but she didn't want to leave his side.
Nevertheless, she owed Megumi an explanation.
Almost reluctantly, she let go of Kenshin's hand, rose from her chair, and went outside. She hit the TALK button.
'Hello, Megumi' she said, wearily.
'Kaoru! Oh, thank God! I was panic-stricken when I got home and didn't find you!' Megumi's voice came on the other end. 'Where are you!'
'Don't worry, I'm fine' Kaoru assured her.
'Yes, I know…but where are you?' Megumi demanded.
Kaoru hesitated; should she tell her? She could, but that would mean she'll have to tell her about the terrible mistake she had done, and Megumi would start scolding her…and Kaoru didn't need that right now. She had enough problems right now.
'I'm…at a friend's' she lied.
'Oh? And who is that friend?' Megumi asked.
'You don't know her' Kaoru muttered.
'Are you going to be back by lunch?' Megumi asked.
'Um…no, I'm having lunch here' Kaoru said. 'Sorry'
'No, it's alright…next time, though, tell me before you go anywhere' Megumi replied. 'Have fun, okay?'
Kaoru gulped. 'Okay' she said. 'Bye'
She ended the phone call, and turned the phone off completely.
She stuffed it into her pocket and went back into the ICU. She walked towards Kenshin's bed.
Her brow furrowed a shrill beeping reached her ears. Becoming frantic, she hurried to the bed.
She looked up all the devices connected to Kenshin. Everything seemed normal, except…
Except…
'DOCTOR!' Kaoru screamed, rushing out of the ICU. 'Help, please! His pulse is dead! Somebody do something!'
Several doctors grouped around her. 'What? What's wrong!' one of them asked.
Kaoru broke into tears. 'Please…my husband, his life line is dead! That pulse on the screen…it's all dead! Please, help him!' she cried.
The doctors' expressions turned serious.
'Hiroki, take this lady away to the waiting room…' the doctor who spoke first said.
'NO! Please! I wanna stay with him!' Kaoru cried, as another doctor grabbed her arm.
'Yogi, get the surgical equipment ready…' the doctor said, ignoring her. 'Jomai, Henya…come with me'
The three doctors pushed through the double doors of the ICU, pulling on surgical gloves and garments.
'Kenshin!' Kaoru screamed, trying to wriggle free out of the doctor's grasp.
'Miss, please…' the doctor said, exasperatedly.
'NO!' Kaoru screamed. She broke free of his grip and rushed back inside…to Kenshin…
'Give me a twenty'
Kaoru stopped dead as one doctor pressed the electric chargers to Kenshin's bare chest.
Kenshin's body jerked up from the bed a little, and fell back onto the soft mattresses.
Kaoru stared in horror. All this is happening because of me…me…
The doctors checked the monitor, shook their heads.
'Give me a charge of 30 Volts…come on, we're losing him!' the doctor holding the chargers said urgently.
We're losing him…they're losing Kenshin…
The doctor pressed the chargers to Kenshin's chest again. He jerked up more this time, and Kaoru felt as if she was jerking herself, choking…suffocating…on her own emotions.
'40 Volts' the doctor said.
Kaoru felt arms on her shoulders, pulling her away, dragging her away from Kenshin…
'No! Kenshin!' she screamed.
'Please, miss, you're disturbing the doctors!' the medic said frantically.
Kaoru wanted to stay, but her energy was fading away with each scream, with each struggle…
Her eyes slowly drooped, and her limbs started to go limp…
'Please…save…him…' she whispered, before passing out completely.
A/ N: So, how did u like it? personally, i favor the last part...i was imagining the whole thing as i wrote it and i got goosebumps all over my skin. Anyway, if u wanna know what happens next, then wait for the next chappie...oh, and plz review!
-ZEN