Coming back to consciousness was a lot like trying to drag herself up out of quicksand with just her fingernails as leverage. It was a slow and arduous process, full of false starts and flutters back down into what could only be described as a comforting nothingness. Sometimes she thought she heard voices, and she would attempt to rouse, only to feel as if there were a heavy weight upon her lids. She still felt so weak, so drained, that often surrender was easier than trying to keep up the fight. She didn't know how long she stayed inside the darkness, drifting in and out of fever dreams, but at some point she did come back to her senses, and with that return to awareness was Tsukino Usagi's first words in nearly a week.

"...'m hungry," she mumbled, with lips that felt like ancient parchment. There was a sudden flurry of movement over her head, an excited shout, and dimly Usagi registered other noises surrounding her... a steady, constant beeping... the tick and whir of umpteen machines... and if she really pricked her ears, more activity in the areas beyond. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize where she was, particularly as the memories of Ochi-Me came flooding back in horrible detail. She cringed, both in recollection of how that battle ended and because she really was very uncomfortable right now. Everything ached, like a throb she felt from the top of her head right down to her toes.

"Usagi!"

The blonde groaned, still focused on cataloguing every new pain as she slowly came more and more into full wakefulness. That strangely heavy feeling about her eyes hadn't dissipated, she realized, and so clumsily she reached up only to find a rough fabric had been bound there.

"No no... don't touch the bandages, Usagi. At least not until the doctor gives the all clear," a voice interrupted the fourteen-year-old's explorations, and she felt a gentle, warm hand catch hers and bring it back down.

"Mama," Usagi breathed, raggedly.

The hand squeezed hers, then another came to frame the side of her face, careful of the wrappings there.

"Hi baby," the familiar voice said, in a tone choked with thickly suppressed emotion. She felt Ikuko stroke the wisps of hair at her ear with the pad of her thumb, and relished in the fact that at least she wasn't alone in this scary place. There were few places she truly hated more than the hospital. It reeked of sterile death. As if Ikuko sensed this, she added, "I'm here. It's okay. Don't worry, we'll have the doctor in here as soon as we can. Your nurse ran off to retrieve him."

"What happened?" Usagi whispered, even though she knew perfectly well the answer lay in a botched distraction attempt and lots of Dark Kingdom... whatever that hell that goo was.

There was a long beat, and Usagi could feel her mother's tension like it was another physical being in the room. She was about to open her mouth and ask what was wrong when Ikuko hesitantly began,

"You had a run in with one of those... those monsters that's been wreaking havoc on the city lately, on the way home from school with your friends. They... they said it targeted you for energy, and that they managed to get you away but that this only made the creature angrier. It shot some sort of acid in your face before the Sailor Senshi arrived and destroyed it."

"They destroyed it?" Usagi latched onto that bit with enormous relief, murmuring "Thank God!" before wondering how exactly, when it had been so strong; so formidable. Which brought her to her next query -

"Where are the girls?"

Another pause, though this one shorter than the last. "School, I assume. Though they've... all been by fairly regularly to check in on you; see how you were doing. Ami-san sat with you quite a lot and read from your textbooks while you slept. She didn't want you to fall behind and explained there was a chance you would still absorb the information despite being in a non-responsive state."

Usagi groaned aloud. "No wonder I was out so long!"

Ikuko gave a soft chuckle. "I told her the chance was very unlucky you'd remember any of it upon waking up. She, grudgingly, agreed with me. Oh, and Naru-chan was here yesterday with Umino-san as well. They've all been very worried and will be so happy to hear you're awake at last."

Usagi smiled, her heart welling with gratitude for having such amazing friends, even if they did subject her to schoolwork while unconscious in the hospital. She unthinkingly reached up again to paw at her bandages; they cloyed and itched and were altogether very bothersome.

"Usagi, stop," Ikuko reminded, and Usagi frowned at the querulous edge to her voice. She reluctantly dropped her hands, picking instead at a loose thread on the bedsheet.

"You said the doctor will tell me when to take them off? Why not now?"

She didn't mean it to, but the question emerged more like a petulant whine than an innocent curiosity. She couldn't help it; she didn't handle restriction well. It made her a little claustrophobic, and anyways, nothing made her feel better more than seeing the ever present reassurance in her mother's kind blue eyes. She could use some of her 'It's all gonna be alright, dear' eyes right about now.

Ikuko sucked in a shaky breath. Usagi cocked her head, nonplussed by the immediate increase in tension she felt fill the room.

"Mama?" She pulled herself very carefully into a sitting position, ignoring the protest of her ribs. She reached out to where she knew her mother to be, some puerile need to either console or be consoled taking hold, and started when she encountered wet skin. "Mama! Are you crying?"

Ikuko's hand was trembling now as she brought Usagi's fingers to her lips; kissed them fiercely.

"You know we love you no matter what, right? That we'll help you no matter what? Move mountains for you, if you needed it."

Usagi's heart was beginning to drop as she nodded along; yes, yes, of course she knew all that. Had never once doubted their support much less their love, even when she did things behind their back that would surely send them into an early grave were they in the know. She could only think of one reason her mother would react this way...

"What aren't you telling me?" Usagi whispered, trying to swallow her fear and failing miserably. Her voice became shrill when she begged, "Mama... what's wrong with me?"

She was so, so scared, dread curling like a beast in the pit of her stomach, but nothing could have prepared her for the true horror of the answer.

"The- the acid... it got into your eyes... They rushed you into emergency surgery, did everything they possibly could, but... it was too late. They couldn't reverse the damage to your cornea." Ikuko's next words were spoken very quietly, yet packed a punch as vicious as if she'd screamed them. Her mother was unable to hide her anguish as she continued, "The doctor says... it's unlikely you'll ever see again."

The air left Usagi's body as if it had been knocked out of her. She began to hyperventilate, hardly registering as the machines around her started going crazy, and new voices joined the fray, telling her to calm down, just breathe, but how in the hell was she supposed to do that when she had just been told she was blind? How would anything be okay ever again? She was lost in a world of darkness, never to see sunshine again; clouds and birds and colors and oh god, the faces of her friends and family, all gone...

The panic came hard and fast, and though she could still hear instructions being thrown at her from all directions, it was just too much on top of the loss of life as she knew it. Usagi passed out, back into the nothingness that was now to be her everything.

Mamoru pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the headache that had been brewing for near on a week now - basically, ever since this whole mess began. It started with the battle against that deranged youma from the Dark Kingdom, and ended with him pulling so many hours of overtime he hardly remembered what the inside of his apartment looked like.

There had been so much collateral from that awful afternoon in the city. The hospital was so overrun with injured bystanders that it hardly had room for them all. It was a constant flow, with those who were not a high priority case being referred a district over. This led to more than a few angry prospective patients, which is how Mamoru came to be standing in the middle of the waiting room trying to reason with a woman with a hyperactive nosebleed.

"M'am, if it's only a trickle it's not going to kill you yet. I have people about to drop dead of severe blood loss from an arm or a leg that was burnt off during the downtown debacle that require the emergency room far more desperately than you," Mamoru was saying, done with being polite to this hag with a hankie. She brandished it like a weapon, biohazard be darned, but Mamoru stood his ground.

"Now you see here, you miserable lout-"

"That will be quite enough," a voice cut through the nasty termagant of a woman's defamations, and in stepped a tall middle-aged man in starch white scrubs. He had an old, tired look about him, but the wrinkles around his eyes bore a youthful humor and it was this wry humor he leveled Mamoru's way before schooling his expression to face the firing squad. "I understand you're upset, but that is no reason to insult my interns. As Chiba-san has explained to you numerous times, we have our hands full with victims of the attack downtown. We're booked. Now I apologize most sincerely for the inconvenience, but Roppongi is only fifteen minutes away and I happen to know the Midtown Clinic would be more than happy to correct your issue, in half the time and for half the price as well. I do know a person or two, and can make a call on your behalf as long as you please cease distressing my other patients."

That shut the woman up real quick, and after a curt thank you she passed along her information to the receptionist and was on her way. Mamoru followed the older doctor out into the hall, shaking his head all the while.

"It's madness, I tell you. Everyone out there thinks their problems are worse than everybody else's, and meanwhile we have people upstairs who are actually dying from melted limbs and stolen energy, so weak they can barely raise their heads. And don't get me started on their manners..."

"Well if she was any indication, I think I have a good picture," the doctor said, chuckling deprecatingly. "Come... you're useless to me out there. I think I have something much more up your alley. A long term project, so to speak..."

Mamoru's interest was piqued, and he jogged a little to keep up with the other man's brisk pace. "What is it, Chiryoshi-sensei?"

Doctor Chiryoshi smiled at Mamoru, leading him through the maze of hospital towards their still unknown destination. "Something that is going to require every bit of your unerring patience. You told me you wanted to gain more training in rehabilitation; well, I think this patient is going to be the perfect candidate for you, and with your focus in trauma recovery, I foresee this being the best fit for both parties. I have a girl - tough case - who was involved in the 'downtown debacle', as we're apparently calling it now? She took a beating like the rest of them, came in completely battered, and we were able to fix her up nicely in that respect but... in the course of the attack, the acid was shot into her eyes and she was blinded. I need someone willing to dedicate their time to getting her back on her feet; lead her through the convalescence process. Basically... to teach her the rudimentary skills she once knew but now must learn all over again. Because as it is, she's... not taking the transition well."

"Whatever you need," Mamoru swore, his heart twisting painfully as he tried to imagine what that poor girl must be going through. He saw that he was being taken into the intensive care wing, and wondered what this job would have in store for him. As if on the same line of thought, Doctor Chiryoshi added,

"I know this going to be a rather difficult venture for you; something we've never asked of you before. Which is why if you succeed, I'm willing to offer you a permanent position on my team. You're only eighteen, but your diverse range of skills, strong work ethic and innate knack for picking up on what others often miss vast outshines all others in your year. You're something special, Chiba-san. Born to be a healer. I would be honored to take you on as my personal assistant, and guide you through the residency program until you yourself are ready to don the white jacket."

Mamoru gaped until he realized how rude that was, and rushed to compose himself.

"I... That would truly be the greatest honor, Chiryoshi-sensei. I will try to be worthy of your faith in me," he said, his heart thrumming like a child's at Christmas, still struggling to pull himself together. Chiryoshi was a mentor to him in a way few others had been, and he knew it would be the chance of a lifetime. He was finally beginning to see the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that was getting his medical license.

"Don't try. Do," Chiryoshi responded; his favorite saying. He cast a gentle smile at Mamoru, a subtle vote of confidence, and Mamoru felt emboldened. They ended their journey outside a closed door, but Mamoru could hear muffled voices from within. "And the only faith you need to be earning right now is hers. So. Are you ready?"

"Yes sir," Mamoru answered, without a beat.

Chiryoshi knocked in warning, then slowly pushed open the door, his practiced look of professional solicitude already in place. Mamoru did his best to mimic the expression before following the doctor into the room...

Only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw who laid upon the bed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know things don't exactly work out like that in a hospital setting. Bite me. This ain't Grey's Anatomy here xD So what do you guys think? I liked that Mamoru might be interested in trauma recovery - given what he went through as a child! Are you excited about where this is going? Usagi and Mamoru might be off to a rocky start at first, but like all good things, the wait will be worth it ;) I also wanted to note that Chiryoshi means "healer" in Japanese, so little Easter egg for y'all!

BIG THANKS to my wonderful, lovely, dearest reviewers of last chapter! You kept me accountable ;P TropicalRemix, CassieRaven, Panda1573a, cindermane, jessielee14, Rufael, Guest (x2), karseneau1, championofjustice27, Roxypockets1, Daire123, SaturnnFoxx, karinori, Deadly Aura, Sesshy's Rose, Oreo596, Tori-Lee Keene, and phillynz. MUCHOS GRACIAS! Hope you guys will stick around!

Until next time,

AngelMoon Girl