Thank you, hrtofdrkns drom deviantART, for the idea of the chapter! ^^
Chapter 28 – When I Almost Gave Up
There were nurse students in Kuroshima, they weren't even rare. But as K10-3 was the ward for the most sick people, the students usually didn't want to go there. But this day one young, slender woman, maybe more like a girl, came in for a one month period. She had her thoughts about this place, but had heard that the staff was very professional, able to keep the ward together.
The girl was walking the stairs to the third floor, rang the bell and waited for someone to open it.
And after a few seconds, a man came to let her in. He was Mitsuhiro.
"Welcome to K10-3", he smiled and reached his hand towards the girl. "My name is Mitsuhiro Akiyama."
"Thank you. I am Reiki Abe", the girl shook hands with him.
Reiki was introduced to all of the nurses, and after the staff, it was time to meet the patients!
"Here we have Kagura and Kikyo..." Mitsuhiro said as they walked into the living room. "And there are Kagome, Sango and Miroku..."
Reiki smiled and waved at them. They walked to the couch and sat down, Reiki next to Inuyasha. They stared at each other for a while, but then she reached her hand towards him to greet him...
And so the boy attacked her.
"Inuyasha, stop!" Mitsuhiro shouted and quickly grabbed him, trying to pull him away as hard as possible.
"Koga!" he shouted. "Help me! Come hold Inuyasha!"
Koga wouldn't really care, but oh well, why not?
The wolf boy grabbed Inuyasha from his armpits and pressed him against the floor.
"Are you alright, Reiki?" Mitsuhiro asked, worried.
"Y-yeah... Just scared that's all", the girl panted.
As everyone could guess, Inuyasha was strapped on bed. And like always, Mitsuhiro was the nurse to be sitting beside him. Hours went by, no words from Inuyasha, not even from Mitsuhiro.
But the man was getting a bit tired. He called an another nurse and went for a coffee in the nurses' break room.
Reiki was there, too. Mitsuhiro sat next to her.
"Um, Mr. Akiyama..." she started.
"Call me Mitsuhiro", the man smiled.
"Okay, Mitsuhiro... Am I right that you are Inuyasha's own nurse?"
"Oh yes", Mitsuhiro and sipped his coffee. "Why?"
"I'm just wondering, how can you manage with him? He could kill someone if he just wants to!"
"We have a very strong bond between us. It started when he was only eight years old. Of course, things have got and maybe will get just worse and worse from those days. He gets stronger by the day. I don't really want to think what he's like and how are we going to manage him when he's 20."
"And you still carry on caring for him?" Reiki wondered.
"Yes. But there was this one day when I almost gave up..."
Inuyasha hit puberty at 12 years old. And that was a catastrophe for Kuroshima's childrens' ward. He was the oldest patient in this ward, and when he lost it, he did big time. He was insanely aggressive. There were no days he wasn't either drugged or strapped on bed. But he had never been strapped in a straightjacket, because there were two reasons – first, there simply weren't straightjackets that small, and second, it was simply illegal. But sometimes the nurses or even the doctor were seriously considering it.
Mitshiro had agreed to take more shifts, having very little days off. It was very tough for him. Even being exhausted, he couldn't sleep well and had started losing weight. But he sincerely wanted to do everything he could to help the boy. He spent hours and hours sitting beside the limb restrained Inuyasha every week.
What a beautiful day in Japan, the mental hospital Kuroshima. Everything was just like always, also in the childrens' ward.
"Rrrryah!" Inuyasha shouted as he attacked a nurse. He tried to bite her throat, but she managed to dodge his fangs. She didn't need to press the alarm button – the other nurses heard her scream and ran to them straight away. Mitsuhiro was one of them. He grabbed Inuyasha from his sides and dragged him away from the nurse he had attacked. But when Inuyasha lost it, he didn't care who he attacked. Sometimes, even Mitsuhiro was no exception. Normally he kept him as his father substitute. But nothing, nothing could stop Inuyasha when he went berserk. The only ways were strapping or sedating him.
"Don't let go!" Mitsuhiro shouted from behind Inuyasha, holding him back from his armpits. Inuyasha fidgeted like no tomorrow and tried to bite Mitsuhiro.
When this battle started, Mitsuhiro was feeling maybe a bit sorry for the boy. He was simply one sick young boy. But as the battle carried on, he started to get a bit pissed. He was tired. He was hungry. He could feel the boy's claws digging on his wrist.
"Where's the goddamn sedative injection?!" he shouted. As sympathetic as he was by his nature, just like Inuyasha, he, too, lost it big time when he did.
Finally a male nurse came with thick leather gloves and a big syringe filled with transparent liquid inside. Mitsuhiro pressed Inuyasha against the floor, one nurse put his pants down, but the nurse with the syringe didn't sting yet.
"This won't hurt, Inuyasha", he said. Inuyasha started growling so much he was salivating. He wriggled and tried to kick the syringe-man.
"Stay still!" Mitsuhiro shouted. But it didn't take many seconds before the injection was stung. But sedatives as effective used in the ward K10-3, these were much lighter – they didn't knock the patient out, didn't make them go limp. But dizzy enough to be either limb restrained, or, actually usually, just to be taken to their own rooms with a nurse beside him/her, so they could talk and feel safe with an adult beside them.
Inuyasha, obviously, was an exception. He was Always strapped in bed ever since he had reached ten years of age. Younger than that, he was still so weak he could do practically no harm to an adult nurse. He always needs a nurse beside him, no matter where he went. Even bathroom.
Now Mitsuhiro and the syringe-man were carrying Inuyasha from his limbs towards the limb restraining room. They were feeling calm, until suddenly Inuyasha broke away and scratched Mitsuhiro's arm open, making blood spill.
"M-Mitsu-!" one nurse shouted and ran to him. Mitsuhiro hissed in pain and held the bleeding, long wound in his hand.
"Hold Inuyasha!" someone shouted. Inuyasha was carried away, and two nurses were crouched next to Mitsuhiro.
"You must get to the hospital before you bleed too much or the wound get's infected", one of them said.
An ambulance came in the childrens' ward's yard. Mitsuhiro, who had his arm already bandaged. He got in and so they drove away.
"So this is a children's ward?" the ambulance nurse asked. "May I ask how on earth you got a wound that bad?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised."
Mitsuhiro's wound was already disinfected in the ambulace, and when he got into the emergency duty, he got to sit in the waiting room, as he wasn't in danger of life.
Finally he was taken in to the doctor's office. His wound was disinfected again, and so the doctor started stiching it.
"So, a mental health nurse?" he talked, still concetrating in stitching. "Specialized in children?"
"Yes", Mitsuhiro nodded. "But the ward where I work is for the sickest kids in whole Japan. And the lad who gave me this wound happens to be a hanyou, and my own patient."
"He doesn't like you much really does he?" the doctor raised his eyebrow.
"Oh no, no, it's not that..." Mitsuhiro said a bit quiet. "He's just very sick..."
"That's it!" the doctor smiled as the wound was stitched and bandaged. Mitsuhiro shoke hands with him and walked back to the waiting room, sitting down. He took his cell phone and called K10-3.
"Hey, it's Mitsuhiro", the man said. "Could someone come pick me up from here?"
Of course they could. Now Mitsuhiro could just wait. As he stared at his bandaged arm, he really started thinking, is this what he wanted from his life? Sitting beside a silent boy for days and nights. Being scratched and bit by him? Fighting him daily, having almost no days off at all? Should he give up?
But...
He had known him for four years. There were many sweet moments – playing with a ball, reading bedtime stories, going showering together and playing with water in there... And stroking his silky hair when he slept, sitting beside him. Comforting him when he was crying and missing his dad.
'Oh what was I thinking!' Mitsuhiro hissed in his mind. He was almost angry that he even thought about giving up on Inuyasha! How could he even think about something like that?! He knew he was important for Inuyasha. He needed someone taking care of him.
Mitsuhiro walked out from the hospital and stood there for a few minutes, until a car came. Mitsuhiro stepped in, and so they got on their way to Kuroshima.
"Does the wound hurt?" the driving nurse asked.
"No. But how is Inuyasha?"
"He's strapped on bed... Hasn't eaten anything", the nurse said a bit sad. "I think you could help us out?"
"Actually, yes, I do."
After having a little coffee brake, Mitsuhiro headed towards the isolation room where Inuyasha was, strapped on the bed.
"Knock knock!", he said, smiling, opening the door. There was a female nurse sitting beside the boy. "I'll take in from here."
And so the nurse left. Mitsuhiro got in and sat down on the chair, moving closer to the bed. He placed his hand on the boy's chest. But it was the hand what had just beed stitched and bandaged. And so, Inuyasha didn't strart growling – he started whimpering.
"Don't worry, you don't need to be sorry", Mitsuhiro said, moving his hand on top of the boy's head, between his dog ears. "If I ever shout to you like today, just remember I'm just a one stupid human guy", he winked. Inuyasha didn't smile, but sighed and closed his eyes.
"And since then I have always knewn we have had and most probably will have for a long while a relationship. We care for each other", Mitsuhiro ended his story.
"I don't know if I could do that but..." Reiki said quietly. "I wish I could."
