AbhorsenSabriel87: Hello all ye readers/reviewers. Well, aren't we just so proud of ourselves?
Teresa: --sighs-- Here we go again...
Sabriel: Honestly, you are some of the best reviewers/readers I've had in all my years of writing. It's, it's truly amazing.
Teresa: Sabs, don't start something you can't fix...
Sabriel: --glares darkly at her, dropping her sarcasm-- I already have. It's called all of my bloody fics.
Teresa: --sighs again--
Sabriel: And by the way, you all want a damn disclaimer, go read the first chapter! I'm not doing another one, damnit!
Teresa: You're hopeless. Let's just do the response and get it over with, okay?
Sabriel: Feh. I'm doing a response page later, remember?
Teresa: Oh yeah...
Sabriel: And now I can write my damn fic and get it out of my system. --grumbles darkly--

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---The sounds Yusuke Urameshi awoke to were very few; a steady beeping, someone breathing, and shoes padding on the floor. Even with his eyes closed, he realized that he was probably in the hospital. Too little too late he thought bitterly, but for some reason he felt groggy and weak, not like he usually did after a fight. He opened his eyes and blinked, trying to see more clearly. What he did in fact see was the salt-and-pepper design of the hospital ceiling. Blinking again against the light coming from his left, he turned his head to see a window open on his left with daylight streaming through it and a young woman sleeping in a chair next to his bed.

---The woman had short brown hair going only about halfway to her shoulders and pale skin. She looked like she had been called out of bed and thrown on whatever was closest, that being a pair of wrinkled jeans and a white T-shirt. A hospital blanket was wrapped tightly over her shoulders and her slender frame was pulled up tight in the chair. Still tired as Hell, Yusuke blinked a few more times to stay awake when the door opened and a woman in her early thirties walked in.

---"Keiko, I brought you something to eat," the new young woman said, closing the door behind her. When she noticed Keiko asleep, her sentence had drifted off and she placed the bento boxes she had been carrying on the table. As she walked over to the girl, she glanced at Yusuke, who looked back up at her in a confused manner. An expression of shock flew onto her face and the woman cried out, "Yusuke! My baby, you're awake!" Now crying uncontrollably, she ran her hands over his face and kissed his forehead, sobbing something incoherent. It's okay Mom Yusuke thought, reaching up his left hand to hold onto hers, although loosely. I'm okay; it's not the end of the world. The woman grabbed his hand and held it tightly, dropping to the floor with tears running rampant down her face.

---The other girl in the chair stirred and gave a questioning sound as most people do when they awaken from a disturbed sleep. "Atsuko?" she sighed, sitting up and looking down at the woman. "What on Earth...?" She cut herself off as she looked at the Reikai Tentai's face, looking at her weakly and tiredly, but smiling and awake. "Yusuke..." she breathed, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh thank Enma you woke up." She struggled to keep the tears from falling as she stared at him with a regretful look on her face. Confused, Yusuke was about to ask her about it when the door opened again, this time being a nurse with silvery-blonde hair and golden toned eyes wearing the nurse's uniform over black jeans and boots. She looked over at the two women, then glanced at Yusuke.

---"Well, you are resilient, I'll give you that much Mr. Urameshi," she stated, picking up the chart at the foot of his bed and looking over it. "You and your friends were lucky to have survived. I'm afraid I have some bad news though." His head feeling thick and tired, Yusuke gave the nurse a quizzical look and tried to ask what was wrong... but the words didn't seem to come out of his mouth. Coughing slightly to clear his throat, he tried to ask again, but again nothing came out. His mother looked up at the nurse in terror and sobbed, "No, this can't be. Didn't enough happen to him already! He's never going to be the same as it is!" Now thoroughly bewildered and worried (and starting to get angry), he once again tried to ask What the Hell is wrong with me!

---"I'm afraid we have bad news," the nurse repeated. "As it stands, you have been unconscious for over six days since the accident. Your right arm was completely shattered and crushed, and glass shards had cut through a lot of your neck. We had a hell of a time getting you to live, but you're life I'm afraid won't be as it was before."

---"Just tell him what you did!" Keiko shouted, still trying to hold back tears. The nurse sighed and looked at Yusuke gravely with her gold eyes.

---"We had to put you into surgery to save your life," she continued softly. "We had to remove the glass shards from your neck and throat, which is a very delicate procedure. Unfortunately, it has potential problems, which apparently you have contracted. The procedure can make one lose his ability to speak, and I'm sorry to say that it's permanent." She paused for a moment, as if debating to speak again when Atsuko yelled at her again, "Tell him everything!" In this moment, Keiko's tears flowed freely down her face and she fled from the room with her face in her hands. Now even more concerned, the disabled detective looked up at the nurse in confusion.

---"We... in its state when you arrived, your arm was inoperable," she continued softly. "If we had left it the way it was, you might not have survived and would have been in immense pain if you did." She looked in Yusuke's eyes, sadness running through them genuinely. An uncontrollable feeling of fear crept up and grasped Yusuke's heart, and his inquisitively scared look gave the nurse all the motivation she needed to finish. "I'm sorry, but to save your life, we had to remove your right arm." His mother beside him burst out in a fresh wave of tears, but Yusuke could barely hear her as the realization hit him and sunk in. The nurse left the room quickly; neither of them even noticed. Anguish and depression hit hard, and within moments the once fabled "fearless Spirit Detective" had tears coursing over his cheeks and cried screams of anguish. But, of course, no one could hear them.

---Nor would anyone ever hear his cheery and confident voice again.

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---When Kazuma awoke, he had no idea where he was. He could hear machines beside him, as well as a quiet young woman's voice. "When will he wake up miss?" the voice asked timidly, voice laced with sorrow and worry. Yukina? he thought and he tried to open his eyes. When he realized that they were covered by something like bandages, he called over quietly, "Yukina? Is that you?" His voice sounded hoarse and quiet from disuse, but he heard her run over to his side, something clicking like crystal marbles as she did, and she grasped his right hand. "Kazuma?" she asked, placing a cool hand on the side of his face. "I'm so sorry. If I had been here sooner..."

---"What are you talking about?" he asked, trying to sit up but realizing almost instantly that it hurt to move his body at all, and even if he could he was far too weak. He heard the sound of a second pair of feet walking over and another woman spoke, equally as quiet as the first, but different. "Mr. Kuwabara, I'm afraid we-"

---The sound of the door clicking open reached his ears and instinctively he turned his head to see who it was, forgetting about the bandages over his eyes. The light scent of formaldehyde and morphine drifted in, and someone else walked in. "Kazuma, you're awake?" the voice asked, also a woman's but older. Her voice seemed worried as she walked over to the side of the bed and sat on the edge. "Hey Shizuru," he said softly. "What's going on? Where are we?"

---"The hospital," the voice replied quietly. "I'm so glad you're okay otooto-kun."

---The unknown woman's voice coughed, as if she was trying to get the attention subtly back to her. "I'm sorry I have to tell you this," she said quietly, her voice touched with tears and almost as heavenly as the girl's whom held his hand tightly, "but you'll never be able to see anyone again." Kazuma smiled and joked quietly, "You're not telling me I have a few days to live, are you?" The ominous silence that met his words removed that smile quickly. "What? What is it?" he inquired again.

---"I'm sorry Mr. Kuwabara, but I wasn't kidding," the voice continued quietly. "You've been unconscious for almost eight days. We have to run a series of check-ups to make sure that your body isn't rejecting the blood transfusion we gave you and that your surgery wounds are healing. Those are minor. But I'm afraid that your eyes are a different matter." A choked sob reached his ears from next to him and the hands the gripped his right tightened. He himself suddenly realized what the other woman meant and leaned his head back, trying to keep at bay his own tears. "We tried to help, but your eyes were just too badly damaged." The voice stopped for a moment and took a heavy sigh, as if she didn't want to continue with the terrible news.

---"I'm blind, aren't I?" Kazuma asked, knowing and fearing the answer at the same time. There was a pause and a sigh came from the foot of his bed, roughly where his sister sat. "I'm afraid so," the doctor/nurse replied gravely. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do." The door clicked shut and the Reikai Tentai let the tears fall, trying to comfort the girl at his side as he heard slight ringing noises as something like crystal hit the floor repeatedly.

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---When Kurama awoke, he was surprised to see white all around him and heard nothing at all. His head throbbed with dulled pain, as did most of his body. Not about to let it stop him, he carefully sat up in his bed and looked around him. It was pretty definite that he was in a hospital; white walls surrounded him, white linoleum covered the floor, an IV catch rested on the forefinger of his left hand, and various machines had seemingly random flickers of light and lines moving across them. He'd seen this before when his mother was in the hospital two years ago, when he'd committed his first crime as Suichi Minamino and met Yusuke. Struck by a sudden bout of dizziness, he fell back against the headboard and waited for someone to come in. He didn't seem too badly injured; his demonic healing had taken care of that. So why was he still here? Why hadn't his mother taken him home?

---Only a flicker of movement from the door alerted him that someone had entered the room. When he looked over, he spied a young nurse of about his own age with platinum blonde hair. She closed the door behind her and kept looking at a chart in her hand until she came within a few feet of his bed, when she suddenly looked up and smiled pseudo-cheerily. Kurama immediately sensed that she was a demon, but not a threat. She put down the clipboard and used American Sign Language (ASL) to ask him, How are you feeling, Minamino-san?

---Surprised, but not unknowing of the language, he responded As well as can be expected. I am a little tired and disoriented, but I'll be fine. He thought to himself She must be deaf. But why is she a nurse if... He suddenly remembered his mother and started to ask if she was all right when the door opened again, revealing a male doctor in his late thirties or so with sandy brown hair. He looked up at Kurama, then looked over at the woman and seemed to lip sync something. Kurama furrowed his brow; why didn't he just ask her if she could read lips? Why go to the trouble of making sure he couldn't hear what he was saying?

---The girl shook her head, then looked back to Kurama and signed Do you remember what happened to you or where you are? Kurama nodded and responded I was in an accident just outside of Tokyo. I'm guessing I'm in a hospital. The woman nodded and seemed to translate for the other physician. Once again, Kurama became confused. What the Hell was going on? Why couldn't he hear them?

---The doctor began to speak, but Kurama kept his eyes on the girl's own gold ones, as she was the one he could understand.

---I'm afraid I have some bad news she signed, locking her eyes with his as she "spoke". You've been asleep for eleven days. The crash injured your brain's main control center where orders are sent to your nerves to move your muscles and allow your senses to work properly. By the time we started surgery on it in an attempt to save your life, it had already started to shut down permanently. We weren't sure at first exactly what had been shut down, but now we realize-

---I'm deaf, aren't I? Kurama signed back in despair. Where is my mother? Have you told her? The nurse looked startled and quickly turned to the doctor, translating for him. A pained look settled on her face as the doctor looked at Kurama gravely. He started to speak again, but Kurama couldn't understand him. He turned to the girl, but she seemed unsure about whether or not to translate. The doctor glared at her and appeared to chastise her, then returned his gaze to Kurama as she signed what he said.

---I'm afraid there's a problem with us doing so. Your mother didn't make it to the hospital. She died on the way here. Kurama couldn't believe his eyes. His mother? Dead? No, that couldn't be. This had to be a nightmare. He looked away from the two and stared at the floor in shock. She's not dead. She can't be dead. She's all I have! She cannot be dead! He squeezed his eyes shut to fight back the tears that threatened to fall when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

---Instinctively, he shoved the person away as hard as he could and punched his right hand into the wall again and again. She can't be dead! Wake up! God damnit body wake up! This isn't real! As he felt strong hands grab his arms and force him back onto the bed, he fought with all his diminishing strength, opening his eyes and looking wildly around for escape. Two twenty-or-so year old male nurses hand grabbed his shoulders and forced him down, and were now trying to keep him still as the doctor filled a syringe with a clear liquid. Panic gripping his features, he struggled harder in an attempt to get away from the doctor with the shot. With no such luck, he saw the doctor moving towards the IV and sticking the needle into the line. Panicking, Kurama ripped the clasp off his hand and tried again to get out of the bed and leave. The doctor seemed to curse and shout to someone else when the blonde woman came forward and shoved hard on Kurama's chest, pushing him hard into the bed on his solar plexus and making his lose his breath. In the short second that he had, the doctor shoved the needle into Kurama's arm and injected the drug, jerking the needle out as soon as he'd finished. Sleeping fog drifted into Kurama's view and instantly he felt his body going limp with exhaustion.

---The final thing he saw before his body completely failed him was the blonde nurse doing the sign for I'm sorry. Tears came into his eyes as the realization hit him that this wasn't a dream, and they fell as his eyes shut once more in dreamless, drug-induced sleep.

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---Hn? Where am I? Hiei opened his eyes slowly to see a blurred ceiling above him, as well as a few machines, wires, and tubes out of his peripheral vision. He blinked to clear away the blur and noticed the lines and blips on one of the machines seemed to be matching with his heartbeat. Oh, that's right, the hospital he thought distantly. The ambulance must've gotten to me before death did. Figures... He tried to sit up, but realized that he couldn't; he was being restrained by something. He tilted his head to look down at whatever was restraining him, but searing pain shot through his neck and head as he did so. Deciding that perhaps this was not the best course of action, the fire demon laid his head back against the pillow and fumed. If Koenma hadn't been so stupid to take away most of my power, I'd be out of here by now... Speaking of which, how long have I been in here? He looked around at the area as best as he could, but couldn't tell anything about the date other than it was dusk. Sighing, he returned his garnet eyes to the ceiling and thought about the circumstances as clearly as he could.

---We were in an accident and attacked he thought. Yusuke's arm was shattered; Kazuma's probably blind... Kurama! Shiori! What about them? I have to know if they're all right. This time, he moved his hand to the clasps (as they were obviously designed to hold someone about twice his size) and slowly began loosening them. When he'd gotten the ones around his arms and shoulders off, he looked over his arms. They had been bandaged again, although he could still see the lower part of the Kokuryuuha mark on his right and his left had been put in a cast, probably from being crushed by the demon that attacked them. Carefully, he reached over and touched his neck, wincing slightly at the pain. It had been bound and well cared for, as had the wound on his head he noticed, but it still hurt like bloody Hell. At least I didn't break my neck he thought, putting his hands back in his lap and moving his head enough to look out the window. I can still move. It'll heal soon enough. Something clicked in the direction of the door and slowly he turned his head to see who had entered the room.

---She stood roughly five foot four or so and bright copper curls pulled back in a ponytail reached her slender waist. Her small frame hid itself behind the nurse's uniform and that lay over a long white skirt and a white blouse. Sapphire blue eyes glanced down at the clipboard as she closed the door quietly behind her, then looked up at him. "Well, it's good to know you're awake, sir," she said softly, her voice light and sweet as an angel's. "Your friends and all of us were quite worried about you." She walked over to the machines and wrote down a few things, then looked back at Hiei. "Not a very talkative person, are you?" she asked. "Well, that's all right. I just need to know your last name, Mr. Hiei."

---"It's just Hiei," he whispered quietly. He coughed to clear his throat and looked up at her again. "How long... have I been in here?" The slight smile fell from the nurse's face and she looked back at her clipboard. "You arrived here twelve days ago," she replied softly. "You've been unconscious since then, and twice we've had to have you restrained because of violent spasms during you REM stages of dreaming." Hiei inwardly cringed; that hadn't happened before... at least, not very often. "What about the others?" he asked hoarsely. "What about Shiori and Suiichi? Are they all right?"

---"Your friend Suiichi woke yesterday and is now sleeping. The other two boys are at the moment having follow-up surgery, in case we missed something. But, Mrs. Minamino I'm afraid..." She looked away, tears forming in her eyes as she tried her hardest to deliver the painful news. But Hiei could already guess; trapped in a car that had fallen off the edge of a ravine, she had had very little chance of survival as far as he could see it. Still, for some reason it was heart wrenching to hear. "She died. I understand." He sighed and continued softly, "How did Suiichi take the news."

---"I was not there to witness," she sighed, turning back to her duty of completing the charts, "but I heard that he... did not take it well."

---"Why can't I move?" Hiei asked suddenly. "I can move my arms, so I know my neck wasn't broken." The nurse looked back at him with a genuinely surprised look and nodded, the slight smile returning to her naturally tan face, as if relieved that someone was smart enough to know the symptoms and possible outcomes of certain injuries. "Your neck was fractured slightly, but no permanent damage had been done to it or your skull, which had received hairline fractures. Enough for surgery and a neurologist, but nothing to worry about. The medication we had you on originally your body rejected, so we don't have you on anything at the moment." Hiei nodded as best as he could without sending his neck into searing pain. "Your neck should be finished healing soon and you'll be able to sit up without it hurting so much."

---"When can I leave?" he asked bluntly, hoping the answer would be something along the lines of "soon". But the nurse looked back at him, the serious look returning to her face. "I don't know," she replied. "Not for another twelve weeks, at least."

---"Three months?" he replied, startled. "I thought you said I wasn't that injured!" He attempted to sit up, but piercing pain shot into his lower back and neck and he fell back again onto the bed. Oddly, the pain didn't course through his legs like it did his arms. As a matter of fact, he couldn't feel anything in his legs at all. "My legs," he muttered, stark fear crossing his face as he looked down at them, unmoving. "I can't feel my..." Overcome with shock, the fire Koorime's vision was clouded by black as the nurse called for a doctor. He'd passed out as he realized that he couldn't move his legs.

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Sabriel: Well, that's it for now. I'm done. --attempts to warm up fingers ('cuz she sits in her basement to type these and her basement is fucking cold all the time) and turns down Evanescence music--
Teresa: How could you have been so cruel!
Sabriel: --looks over, rather bored--
Teresa: They didn't deserve that! Especially not Kurama!
Sabriel: Hn. The fox-boy going deaf isn't enough to get him truly hopeless. Neither is Yusuke losing his voice or Kazuma having to stay for extensive surgery. I noticed you said nothing about either of them.
Teresa: Well, they're important too, but Kurama's hurt most by it!
Sabriel: Really? Let's think about this for a second; Yusuke, whose greatest form of enjoyment is fighting with people whether physically or verbally, lost his right arm and voice, and Kuwabara, who also loves to be active and enjoys looking upon Yukina's face, is now bedridden for a long while and can never see Yukina's face again. True, Kurama will never be able to see his mother alive again or ever hear her voice-
Teresa: But then again he can't hear anything now anyway, not even his favorite music! And what about Hiei, ne! I thought he was your favorite character!
Sabriel: --glares darkly at her-- I don't play favorites in angst stories. In case you haven't noticed, Hiei's whole life in his eyes revolves around him being able to move. Stop bothering me about this; you've known this was going to happen since day 1.
Teresa: --goes silent--
Sabriel: Readers who have gotten this far, I commend you for your strength and ask that, if you want to, please wait for the next chapter as patiently as possible. In the meantime, I would really like some flames scorning me on my treatment of everyone's favorite Reikai Tentai. Reviews are nice, but flames will due, considering the theme of the story. Until next time readers.