Chapter 7: Dead Wrong

Tai sat anxiously in the hospital waiting room. Today was the day that he was supposed to get an update on his mother's condition. He drummed his fingers on a small table next to his chair with one hand, and with his other hand, he was flipping through his mom's high school yearbook. He was looking through the pages and pages of faces, searching for something, but he wasn't sure what. He had seen his mothers picture and Tohru Honda's picture what seemed like a thousand times. But he kept flipping. Then, something finally caught his eye. There were two Sohma's in a row: "Yuki Sohma", and "Kyo Sohma". Interesting- the same last name as his dad. Yuki smiled a sweet, but sort of cheesy smile. Tai flipped back to the front of the book, where the student council officers were. Sure enough, Yuki was the student council president. He looked like a real big shot, from what Tai could see. He was obviously popular- in every picture, he was with a bunch of girls, always smiling. His smiles always looked kind of fake, though, like he didn't mean it. However, there was one picture of Yuki, and another guy. This guy looked kind of "punk", with a spiked collar, and the sleeves of his school uniform torn off. However, both he and Yuki were smiling sincerely, like they were good friends. Not having seen him in the seniors' section, Tai flipped to the juniors' section and quickly found the punk looking guy with the white hair.

"Hatsuharu Sohma," it read. Strange… another Sohma? And to top that off, right next to Hatsuharu was "Momiji Sohma", a blonde boy who looked to be a lot younger than a junior in high school. Tai flipped back to the seniors' page, where he'd been looking before. He looked at Kyo's picture. When he looked at that picture, a chill went down his spine. He looked so familiar! But he was positive that he'd never met him before, and even if he had, he'd probably look a lot different now. It was the same odd feeling he'd felt when he'd seen that man on the street…

"Is there a "Tai Sohma" here?" called a nurse from the doorway. Tai raised his hand and walked over to her, eager for a report about his mother. However, the nurse stayed silent, as if she was hiding something.

"So… is she okay? Is she gonna be okay?" Tai said, both desperate for the answer and dreading it.

"Tai… I have some bad news," the nurse said. Tai's heart was racing. "Tai… your mother is dying… and she would like to see you… for just a moment." Tears began to cloud Tai's vision. He nodded. The nurse turned around and lead Tai to his mother's room. He entered the room, taking soft steps, not making a sound. He stood by his mom's bed. She looked very pale, and she was hooked up to two monitors. She turned her head to look at him, and it seemed to take up all of her strength.

"Tai…" she said, and her voice was very weak and raspy, "don't worry about me… don't dwell on the past. I wish I could have known you for longer… but don't worry… you've got your whole life ahead of you, so go out and live it. Okay, squirt?" She laughed a tiny bit and held his hand. "It was great knowing you…" she closed her eyes. On impulse, Tai cried,

"Wait!" Arisa opened her tired eyes once again. "Mom… who… who is my father? I mean, my real father," He said. He could barely look at his mother; his eyes were filled with tears.

"Your father… K… Kyo So-" her voice faded into nothing, and she closed her weary eyes again… for good.

Tohru stepped into Dr. Sherman's office, feeling very nervous and uncomfortable. Her palms were sweaty, she felt nauseous, and on her life, she couldn't figure out why Dr. Sherman had wanted her to come there. Dr. Sherman sat at her desk, filling out some papers. Tohru thought that she was oblivious to her presence, when she said,

"Yes, Miss Honda, if you would kindly sit down…" Tohru obeyed and sat down in one of the chairs that were neatly aligned against the wall.

"Dr. Sherman looked up from her paperwork. She studied Tohru and her surroundings. "Have you brought all of your things?" she asked, once again speaking to Tohru as if she were a child. Tohru nodded.

"Okay, then… Tohru, I'm sorry for any discomfort, but I'm afraid we're moving you…"

"Moving me? Where?" Tohru inquired. There were only four wings in the institution: The Recovery wing, the Close Observation wing, the Isolation wing, and the Staff and Services wing. Tohru herself had first been housed in the Isolation wing, which was for patients who had recently arrived, and were being studied for their condition. Tohru shuddered- she had very bad memories from the isolation wing. About a year later, the Staff had still not known what to do with her yet, so they had relocated her in the Recovery wing. She had stayed there ever since, except she had moved rooms a few times. Obviously she could never be housed in the Staff and Services wing, and she didn't know why she would be moved to the Close Observation wing. That wing was for the patients with severe problems- like they badly mutilated themselves, almost to death, or they had killed massive amounts of people. Some of them refused to come out of their rooms, or they were mute, or weird things like that. There was no way Tohru could end up in that wing. They must just be moving her to another room, like they had done so many times. That made perfect sense. But… something in Dr. Sherman's voice didn't seem quite assuring.

"Tohru," she continued, "we're moving you to the Close Observation wing." Tohru's heart sank and her stomach flipped inside out. Why would they move her there? She hadn't done anything that would make her legible to be moved there… or had she? Her thoughts immediately flashed back to that night, when she had found Uo lying on the ground. She had been out of her room late at night, which was completely forbidden for patients. However, that certainly wasn't enough to get her into the Close Observation wing. Unless… Tohru gasped. Dr. Sherman thought that she was responsible for Uo's condition. She had been out late at night, and was found with a dead body… no, not dead, don't say dead… Tohru bit her lip and swallowed the lump in her throat. Although she already knew what the answer was going to be, she inquired,

"Why?"

"Tohru…" The Doctor's voice shook, "I was informed about Sunday night, how you were found with reporter Uotani… and well… it turns out that she was infected with the same poison- it is poison, by the way, so it's not contagious- that all of the rest of the patients have. And although I don't personally think that you could have been responsible for this dreadful act… well, we can never be too careful…" she gave Tohru a questioning look. Tohru could tell that she wasn't quite being truthful about believing that she hadn't poisoned Uo. In fact, she's bet that it was Dr. Sherman's suggestion that Tohru had been responsible. Then, there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Dr. Sherman called cheerfully. Two tall, burly men stepped through the door. They looked mean, like they had each won a thousand fights, and like they could punch though a brick wall.

"Miss Honda, if you would gather your things, these two nice men will show you back to your room now, okay?"