Thank you, thanks you, Hrtofdrkns, for the idea ;) More!
Chapter 44 – The First Day in K10-3
The patients in the ward K10-3 were mostly young adults, from 20-30 years of age. But the minimum age limit was only 14 years. Sometimes this caused problems – pre-teens and adults... What a mess.
The most usual age when coming here was around 25, from jail or other forensic wards, sometimes maybe just straight from court...
But there was this one more place patients came from. Very rarely.
The children's ward of Kuroshima.
New patients from children's to the K10-3 didn't happen every year. Maybe not in two, three, four, or even more years...
But then this one year, this month, today it would happen. A 14-year-old hanyou boy would be transferred to K10-3, with his own nurse Mitsuhiro Akiyama.
The K10-3 staff had been told about this boy long time ago, so that they could get ready for him. They had seen Mitsuhiro a few times before, in some random shifts when in need. They knew that he knew what he was doing – he would be the best nurse for the boy.
They were getting ready. Mitsuhiro and Inuyasha were packing his stuff in his bag. But there wasn't much to put in. He had worn only hospital clothes for years after his dear, green striped shirt didn't fit him anymore. He had grown a lot. He used to love drawing with crayons when he came here, but as time went by, he stopped. These days he simply didn't do much. He just sat on windowsills and floor, and walked around, not talking, playing or anything. But Mitsuhiro had found out something Inuyasha liked to do – and that was listening to reading.
And now it was six years since he came here – now he had just turned 14. So now it was time to leave. Inuyasha wasn't nervous or anything – he knew Mitsuhiro would come with him. And that was the most important thing.
"I wish you well", one female nurse said, shaking Inuyasha's hand. The boy just kept his hand slack, not shaking back. They were standing at the main door.
"Bye, Inu!" child patients of different ages cheered from the living room. Inuyasha had been the oldest patient in this ward for now. At first he was completely rejected by the other children, but through these six years he had been somewhat accepted. The main reason why he was rejected was simply the fear. Only the ones who could not be afraid of him took contact.
No other child had been here as long as Inuyasha – all the children that were here when he came had left a long time ago and new had came in.
But now he would become the youngest patient in the new ward. Inuyasha might not be nervous – but Mitsuhiro was. Who knows how the boy would react?
Inuyasha and Mitsuhiro walked through the never-ending maze of buildings that formed the hospital of Kuroshima – the biggest forensic hospital in whole Japan.
Building A2... Buiding C1... Building U3... F7... E8... M4... Building K10. It was three stories high, and there was a caged yard – like in all of the wards in here had, except for the children's ward. Inuyasha had a look around as they walked towards the main door.
Mitsuhiro had already received the ward's keys. They walked into the building and took the elevator to the thrid floor. The man placed his hand against the glass door to the ward. There read "Ward K10-3".
"Get ready", the man nodded. Inuyasha didn't react.
The door was opened. Mitsuhiro walked in, Inuyasha just peeked and looked around. He sniffed the air a bit. Then he saw an old woman wearing a nurses' gown walking towards them.
"Welcome, young boy! I am Kaede", she greeted with a sunny smile. "and ye must be Inuyasha. I have heard about ye, so..."
But as Kaede got closer, she got too close... and Inuyasha started growling, baring his fangs.
"Oh, sorry, sorry..." Kaede backed off a few steps.
"He's just maybe a bit nervous..." Mitsuhiro tired to explain, whispering in the boy's dog ear: "Get a grip of yourself, buddy."
This time Inuyasha didn't get a private room – as there was only one of those in the whole ward. It was for someone who really needed it. Inuyasha didn't know whose it was. Maybe he would some day.
Kaede joined Mitsuhiro to show Inuyasha around the ward. Finally she opened the room 2632 door. Inuyasha saw a blue colored room with two closets, two beds and nightstands. And on the left bed lain a man on his stomach, reading a book.
"This is yer room", the old lady said. "And this", she pointed at the man on the bed. "He is Miroku, yer roomie."
Miroku closed his book, got up to go shake hands with the boy.
"Hi. I'm Miroku, 25 years old. You're... Inuyasha, right? You look young... How old... I mean how young are you?"
Inuyasha just stared at him. After long silecne...
"Doesn't he talk?" Miroku raised his eyebrow.
"No", Mitsuhiro shook his head. "But I bet he will learn to like you if you read him books. I do it very often."
"... Is he possessed or something?" the man asked, not joking. Kaede gave him a very angry face. That was a bit uncalled for!
"Well, I bet you will be friends!" Mitsuhiro smiled, rubbing his neck.
Miroku nodded as the duo left the room, leaving Inuyasha's bag behind on the bed.
Inuyasha could sense the tension in this ward as he, his own nurse and one other nurse he didn't know yet walked the main corridor. The boy was getting nervous. He started shaking a bit.
'You're in grave danger...' a voice in his head whispered.Inuyasha stopped walking, squeezing his fists, his sharp claws digging against his hand. Mitsuhiro noticed this and looked over his shoulder.
"What is it?" the man asked. He could see the boy was nervous.
A car was driving towards the mental hospital of Kuroshima. They would be there any minute – Inuyasha's father and big brother. They wanted to support their family's youngest member by being there for him when he was about to have a big change in his life.
"So, here we are..." the father, Inutaisho, said, as they stopped the car in front of the building K10. They got out, ringed the doorbell...
"Who is it?" a voice from a radio asked.
"Inuyasha's father Inutaisho Kita and his big brother Sesshomaru."
And so they were let in.
'They have sharp axes behind their backs...' the voice in Inuyasha's head told him. Inuyasha felt his heart start racing.
"Inuyasha...?" Mitsuhiro wondered.
'They will kill you. To survive, you must kill Them!' And then Inuyasha broke. He started growling loud, crouched a bit and attacked the unknown nurse.
"Hey!" Mitsuhiro shouted and grabbed the boy. He yanked like no tomorrow. Mitsuhiro did the alarm. "Get a straightjacket size S, and an injection of Propofol!" he ordered the 'unknown nurse' who had managed to escape from the boy. Nurses started streaming into the ward, heading towards the battle field.
The nurse ran to the medicne room and came back with a white straightjacket and the injection. This would be Inuyasha's first time being strapped like this but he was used to getting stung.
As Inuyasha was pressed on the floor, Mitsuhiro sat next to him on his knees, stroking the boy's shoulderblade. He knew this would be hard and scary for him. This Was his first time in a straightjacket, and, after all, he Was still a child.
"It's okay, I'm here... Just for you... Don't worry", Mitsuhiro consoled him. Inuyasha got his injection...
But as Inuyasha's family had been on their way through the stairs towards the ward, they had seen the huge pack of nurses run past them. They could hear the alarm ring.
"What's going on in there?"
An old lady opened the main door, but didn't move from the doorway.
"Ahem, I don't think ye want to see what's happening right now..."
But when they heard Inuyasha howl, Inutaisho pushed the lady out of his way and looked around – and saw the fight. There were seven nurses, strapping Inuyasha in the straightjacket. The boy was too dazed to fight back very much. Inutaisho could smell the chemicals from the syringe that laid on floor.
After Inuyasha was wrapped up, Inutaisho was standing in front of the main door, absolutely petrified of what he just saw. His youngest son, laying on floor on his side, drooling on the floor, clearly dazed, and, the worst...
"I-is that a... straightjacket?" Inutaisho stammered. He had never seen a one in real life. "You strapped my little son in a straightjacket?"
"We are sorry", the nurse Kaede apologized. "This was his first time... And to tell ye the truth, we really don't think it will be the last."
Inutaisho dashed to his son, Sesshomaru walking slowly after him. Inutaisho knelt down beside the boy on the floor, starting to stroke his hair. The man couldn't understand this. Was there really no way to stop this hell? Was there no way to get Inuyasha out of the hospital, to real life?
"Would you like to be together at peace?" Mitsuhiro asked the trio. Inutaisho nodded. "Okay then. We do have a family room in here but I think Inuyasha has to take it easy. We'll lead you into his room, so he can lay down."
Mitsuhiro knocked the door of the room 2632.
"C'm in", said a male voice from inside. They walked in... Miroku was laying on his bed, playing Pokemon on his GameBoy Advance. He had earbuds on his ears, but took them off.
"Would you mind if you could leave the room for a while?" Mitsuhiro asked Miroku. "Inuyasha would have his family visiting."
"Sure", the man nodded, put the earbuds back on and left the room.
"If you're having some problems, let us know at once", Mitsuhiro said as he walked away, closing the door.
"They don't trust us", Sesshoumaru snorted as he sat on Miroku's bed. Inuyasha laid down on his bed, but his father moved so that he could hold his son's head on his lap.
"I... I didn't really think I would see you like... this", Inutaisho said, quiet. "I have never even seen a straightjacket... And never, ever believed I would see YOU wearing a one..." He bit his lip and wrapped his arms around his son.
Sesshoumaru looked at this, feeling sorry. Not only for his father, but also his brother. Like their father, Sesshoumaru hadn't ever seen Inuyasha acting like a normal child. Before Inuyasha got his schizophrenia -diagnosis, doctors just said he is mentally retarded and, being dog hanyou, simply feral by nature.
But Inutaisho knew how to cheer up his lastborn. He dug his bag and took out a bottle of Mountain Dew. He was positive he would enjoy this. But...
As Inutaisho opened the bottle and helped the boy sit up, Inuyasha showed no signs of starting to drink. He simply sniffed he bottle, turned his ears behind and backed off.
'It's poison... Do not drink ...' the voice in Inuyasha's head told.
Inutaisho was shocked! This was the day of new things – Inuyasha was at the new ward, had his first time ever in a straightjacket, and first time ever he rejected Mountain Dew... This didn't look good.
A knock on the door was heard. Both Sesshomaru and Inutaisho turned towards the door. Mitsuhiro walked in with a small, plastic syringe, filled with transparent liquid. This wasn't an injection – just a normal syringe, used dosing liquid medicine. Inuyasha had never agreed to swallow pills all these years he had been here, so he was given the medicine as liquid straight to his mouth. Usually he didn't object.
"What medicine is that?" Inutaisho asked Mitsuhiro slowly reached his hand towards the boy's mouth. Carefully he opened up the boy's mouth a bit, just enough to get the syringe in. He pushed the liquid in, and that's it.
"Good, Inuyasha", Mitsuhiro praised. "And, to answer your question: this was just the same medicine he has always eaten, Clozapine."
"It won't daze him?"
"No, it's just an antipsychotic. Don't worry, it's going to be okay."
Time went by in the silence. It was getting a bit dark outside. Inuyasha's family would be leaving within half an hour.
"Listen, son", Inutaisho said. "We will be back. I promise you."
Inuyasha sat up and stared at his father with his mildly glowing, red eyes. Then he got closer to the man... and licked his cheek twice. First Inutaisho was pretty surprised, but smiled and rubbed his warm dog ear gently.
"I am and always will be proud of you."
"It's time to go", said Mitsuhiro as he came in. It was just about 8 PM. Inutaisho nodded and stood up from Inuyasha's bed, and so did Inuyasha.
"Want to escort us out?" Inutaisho asked. Inuyasha didn't react. And so they left the room. Inutaisho and Inuyasha walked hand in hand, Sesshomaru two meters after them.
"Bye bye, son", Inutaisho placed his hand on his son's shoulder for the last time. "Sessh."
So Sesshomaru walked to his brother and gave him a feeble hug.
They walked out, closing the main door with a huge bang. Inuyasha flinched by the bang and rushed against the door, pounding it with his fist, bit and licked it. Sesshomaru had already dissappeared into the stairwell, but Inutaisho had stopped, and waved his hand with a sad smile.
Inuyasha pounded the door for about a minute since his family had left. After he had stopped, he kept licking it.
"That's it", Mitsuhiro sighed and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "They are gone. You should stop the licking. Let's join other patients for evening meal."
And so the duo walked all the way to the dining hall. As they walked in, all the patients in turned towards them.
"..." everyone stayed quiet. Unti...
"He's CUUUTE!" a man with woman's voice shouted. "Let's get to bed!"
"Don't mind him", Mitsuhiro whispered as he led the boy to one free seat. He made him a meal and brought it to him on a tray, starting to feed him.
"These first days I will be at work, by your side. Just to make sure you don't attack anyone and that you don't get attacked by anyone."
The evening meal was over. All the patients were about to go to sleep. This would be the first night for Inuyasha sharing a room. But Miroku, his roomie, seemed cheerful and amenable. He did seem maybe a bit angry, seeing Inuyasha being set down on his bed on his back, still strapped in his straight jacket. Miroku had never seen anyone wearing it.
"But... what if he needs to go to toilet in the night?" Miroku asked. "He can't, you know, do things by himself and can't tell you he needs help."
"He's wearing diapers."
"...I see."
Inuyasha did wake up in the middle of the night, but not because of call of nature. He marched through the ward all the way to the office and peeked in from the door.
"Inuyasha? Is something wrong?" one of the three night nurses wondered. Inuyasha started whimpering, and walked in, not minding the nurses disallowance. He stopped at the phone and gave a look upon the nurses.
"...You wan't to call someone?"
"But who?"
"Could it be... Your daddy?"
Inuyasha whimpered, which told the nurses to call him. But it was so late... But when they had seen how dedicated he was towards his son, maybe he would agree to have a short phonecall.
Rign ring!
"Uh... Inutaisho Kita", the still half-asleep man picked up the phone.
"Here at the ward K10-3. Your son want's to have a talk."
"I see... * yawn! * Give him the phone."
And so the nurse did. Well, not actually. She had to hold it against his ear since his hands were wrapped around his chest.
"Are you sad? Do you miss me?" Inutaisho asked. Inuyasha whimpered. He loved hearing his daddy's voice. "Do you remember the first night at the children's ward? You are just like what you were that night. You wanted to call me. But just like back then, you will feel better tomorrow."
For a while Inuyasha just whimpered to the phone, his daddy shushing back. But finally he said:
"Maybe you should go back to sleep, son."
"That's a good idea", the nurse holding the phone nodded and withdrew it. Inuyasha barked once, but calmed down and turned his ears back.
"Now get back to bed", one nurse ordered. And so Inuyasha slouched through the ward all the way to his room. But there was one thing that the nurses had forgot: Inuyasha couldn't open the room's door. So Inuyasha started banging his head against it.
"...What the...?" mumbled half-asleep Miroku. He got up and opened the door. "Where have you been? This time of the night?"
Inuyasha walked in and crashed on his bed on his back. Miroku rolled his eyes and covered up his new friend.
"Good night", Miroku nodded.
