Check up

The street was empty as he stood in front of the building. It was a relatively new addition to the neighborhood, having been built around the time he had left due to his sickness and personal issues. His gaze shifted so that he was looking down the street towards 7th Heaven, his home, before returning to the building in front of him.

How long had he been standing here now?

Ten minutes?

Twenty?

An hour perhaps?

Cloud had been surprised when he had come home nearly four weeks ago and Tifa had almost instantly bombarded him with the news that the man that had taken care of her in Midgar was back. He didn't really get the full story, but she was smiling the entire time, so that was enough for him.

Then, just a few days ago, Tifa dropped a bombshell on him. Dr. Hiragi would like to meet him in his new clinic, just down the street.

"What for?" he had asked.

"He wanted to properly introduce himself," she replied with a little shrug.

So that's why he was standing in front of this building, unsure how to proceed. On the one hand, he was really curious about the man, only ever having heard stories about him. But on the other he was still a doctor. Him and doctors didn't exactly have the best history.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep, calming breath and stepped forward to open the door. He almost jumped at the sound of a bell ringing as he stepped inside.

Calm down, he told himself. Just a check up. He's not gonna strap you to a table and experiment on you.

Right?

Cloud looked around for a moment. A small room. Hardly furnished, but what was there gave the room more of a homely feel. It didn't exactly look like a clinic. Certainly a far cry from Dr. Drake's place.

"Just a second!" a voice called out just as he was about to sit down on one of the chairs of this little waiting area. Shortly after, a man walked in. His greying hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and a neatly trimmed mustache adorned his round face. A pair of glasses rested on his nose. "Ah, Mr. Strife. Welcome."

"...Doctor," Cloud replied, his hand gripping the back of the chair as he stood there. He watched as the older man bowed, as was custom in Wutai. The gesture made him feel a little awkward, since he never knew how to respond. But now it was obvious where Tifa had picked it up.

"Please come in," the doctor said in a friendly tone before he ushered him into the back and into another room. His office, it seemed. Just like the front it was hardly furnished. "I'm sorry if it looks a bit messy. I'm still getting everything in order."

"Would you like some tea?" Dr. Hiragi asked while Cloud sat down in a comfy looking chair in front of the man's desk. "I just made some."

Why is he offering me tea? Is he trying to pull something? The paranoid part of his mind immediately jumped up, and Cloud felt tension wind up in his gut. He could be slipping him some sleep powder to knock him out, only to then strap him to a table and cut him open.

"Let's try upping the dosage, shall we?" he heard a familiar voice in the back of his mind followed by a mad cackle. He felt his breathing grow erratic and he looked around, gripping the armrests of his chair tightly as his mind returned to those agonizing days beneath Shinra mansion.

"Mr. Strife?" He jumped when a voice startled him out of his nightmarish reverie. His head shot up to look into the brown eyes of the doctor, radiating a calmness that somehow managed to return him to the here and now.

This isn't Hojo. This is the man that took care of Tifa, he reminded himself.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Cloud closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath before nodding his head.

"Yeah. Also a cup of tea would be nice," he replied. The older man let go of his shoulder and gave him a look, then left the office to fetch the tea, leaving Cloud to his thoughts.

He continued to inhale and exhale, resting the back of his head against the backrest until he heard the man come back.

"Here you go," the doctor said while handing him a warm cup of tea. He watched the cup for the longest time, the paranoid part of his mind screaming to throw it away and run. But Tifa trusted this man, and Cloud trusted Tifa above all. Slowly he guided the cup to his lips and took a sip. It tasted earthy, with a hint of bitterness. As he swallowed, Cloud could feel the warmth of the tea spreading through his body, comforting and calming his mind.

It was delicious. And familiar.

"It's the same tea Tifa likes to drink," he found himself murmuring, and he looked up when he heard the doctor chuckle from behind the desk. When did he sit down?

"I'm afraid I'm to blame for that. Got her hooked on the stuff," Dr. Hiragi said with a grin, and Cloud found himself relaxing.

"And now she's trying to get the kids and me hooked on it as well," Cloud chuckled.

They remained silent for a moment, simply drinking their tea. Cloud didn't really know what to say now that he was sitting in front of the man that had taken care of Tifa when she was at her lowest.

No. That was wrong. There was actually something he could and wanted to say.

"Thank you. For all that you've done for Tifa, I mean."

The older man looked at him for a brief moment, before setting his cup aside.

"It was the right thing to do. I have some first hand experience with Shinra's cruelties myself." The doctor gave him a pointed look, before smiling. "Besides, her companionship was something I came to cherish very fast. It felt good having someone to talk to in the evening again. So let's say it was my pleasure and leave it at that, Mr. Strife."

Cloud grimaced at the name. "Just Cloud, please. 'Mr. Strife' makes me feel a bit old."

Dr. Hiragi let out a little laugh. "Cloud then."

Cloud watched as a little frown formed on the doctor's face. "You're looking much better than the last time I saw you."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I'm sorry. Did we meet?"

"Kind of. At the time you were completely out of it. Tifa had just found you at the train station and didn't know what to do," he explained.

"Ah." Cloud nodded. That made sense. Of course Tifa would do that.

"She's a very special woman, you know?"

Cloud found himself chuckling. "Believe me, you're not the only one that's been telling me that."

"Well what can one more hurt then?" Dr. Hiragi joked a little, but became serious again. "If I may ask: you've been suffering from Geostigma until recently, hadn't you?"

"Yeah." Cloud nodded, looking down at the desk. "Is this why you called me here?"

"I would be lying if I said this was purely social. I'm a doctor. People's health is something important to me," he said with concern in his voice.

Cloud's first reaction was to tell him that he was fine, that he didn't need to be checked, but something stopped him from uttering those words. In his mind he saw the look in Tifa's eyes as she asked him if he had contracted Geostigma. He knew his medical history wasn't good. Two cases of Mako poisoning and recently Geostigma. That he was even sitting here right now was a miracle in itself.

What if he wouldn't be so lucky next time?

"I understand if this is uncomfortable for you," the doctor said.

"...I don't have a lot of font memories of doctors," he admitted.

"Shinra?"

"Yeah." He nodded and took a sip from his tea to help him to calm himself.

"I can only imagine what it was they did to you. But I want to assure you that I won't force anything on you," Dr. Hiragi said. "We can simply sit here, drink our tea and then you can walk out of that door."

Cloud took a deep breath. He would be lying if he said he didn't want to leave right now. But then he reminded himself of how much pain he had caused Tifa and the children.

He loved his little family. And that love was enough to chase away the ghosts of his past.

"Alright..." he said. "Just no needles, OK? Not yet anyway."

Dr. Hiragi gave him a calm smile. "I promise. Let me earn your trust and then we tackle that issue together."

"Tifa trusts you," Cloud commented. "That's enough for me."

"Be that as it may, I want you to trust me," the older man said earnestly and despite himself, Cloud found himself smiling slightly.

"That sounds good."

After finishing their tea, Dr. Hiragi led him into another room that was already looking much more like he'd expect a clinic to look like. The smell of antiseptics invaded his nostrils, and he resisted the urge to gag.

"Please, sit down," the man said while pointing towards an examination bench and taking a little notepad on which he started to write something. "Let's start with a few questions. For the patient file."

"Sure," Cloud mumbled.

"Date of birth?"

"11th of August, 1986," Cloud replied.

"23 years old then," Dr. Hiragi said, his tone taking of a professional tone, but never losing that calm edge.

"Size?"

"1.73m."

"Blood type?"

"Uh, AB."

"Impressive, not a lot of people remember their own blood type. Any sickness or allergies common in the family?"

"No." Cloud shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. I do suffer from motion sickness when in a car, boat or airship."

"Not a fan of tight, moving spaces I assume?"

"Yeah."

Hiragi scribbled some more on the notepad, then looked Cloud in the eyes. "Now...as much as I wish I didn't have to ask," he began in a calm, if apologetic, tone, "but, do you have a surgical history?"

Cloud was sure he knew he did have one, it was obvious looking at him. He dropped his eyes, involuntarily looking at the glove that covered his right hand and forearm, used to cover up the injection scars. No one except Tifa had ever seen them before. "Yeah," he admitted, sounding almost ashamed of the fact.

"Would you like to elaborate? We can put it on hold for another time if you're more comfortable with that."

"Later sounds good," Cloud muttered.

"Alright." The doctor sighed and wrote something on the notepad before he placed it back on the table. He put on a pair of medical gloves, then took a pen light out of his pocket and moved closer to him. "Try not to blink, please."

Cloud did as he was told as the doctor inspected his eyes. After that, Dr. Hiragi took out a stethoscope and told him to remove his shirt and turn around.

He noticed a frown forming on his face as soon as he had undressed, eyes focused on the scar on his stomach. Nervously, Cloud turned around. He jumped when a hand gingerly touched where its twin rested on his back.

"You're lucky to have survived that," the doctor commented calmly. "This could have gone straight through your Aorta."

"I'm guessing that's bad?"

"Very bad. Now let's see."

"Shit!" Cloud swore when the cold diaphragm pressed against his back.

"Really?" he heard the doctor chuckle.

"I just don't like cold things!" Cloud shot back and wanted to slap himself for sounding a bit whiny.

"Take a few deep breaths."

Cloud breathed in and out a few times just as he was instructed.

"You can put your shirt back on again," Dr. Hiragi said and took off the stethoscope. "Sounds like a healthy set of lungs you got there."

After he got dressed again, they did a few more checks, before the doctor removed his gloves and took his notepad again.

"Scars aside, you're the picture of perfect health as far as I can tell," he said. Cloud released the breath he didn't know he was holding and found himself relaxing. "So how did this feel?"

"It wasn't bad, I suppose," Cloud admitted.

"Good. Being comfortable is very important," Dr. Hiragi said as he took a few notes. "And of course anything said in here is strictly confidential, so no worries I would spill something to Tifa."

"She'd be the first person I'd tell if we find something wrong with me," he replied.

"Good!" The notepad was put away again and the other man looked at Cloud. He did a little shrug. "Anyway. That's it. Anything else, we'll do once you're more comfortable."

"Thanks, doc." And Cloud meant it. They left the examination room and headed towards the front door. He was about to leave when the doctor's voice stopped him.

"Ah, before you go. You're a courier, if I remember correctly?"

"Yes. Strife Delivery Service," he said with a small measure of pride in his voice.

"Then might I perhaps ask you to deliver something to my daughter in Wutai?"

"Hmm, that's pretty far away, but sure, I can do that. It'll cost extra, though." He did try to cut down on spending too much time away from Tifa and the kids. Longer deliveries should be more worth his while now.

"That shouldn't be a problem." The older man rubbed his chin and Cloud could see some amusement in his eyes. "You know, Wutai is lovely this time of year. Perfect to spend some days with the family. Perhaps in a ryokan?"

Cloud cocked his eyebrow. "Do you really want something delivered, or are you just telling me to make a family trip?"

"Both. I really have a package I want delivered. But my daughter owns a ryokan, and since Wutai isn't exactly around the corner I thought it might be a good idea to make up for it by inviting your family to stay for a few days and enjoy some time together. Consider it a generous tip."

Cloud stared at the man. He looked kind and patient, but now the blond also noticed that he could be a pretty sly individual.

The corner of his lips rose into a little smirk. He was starting to like him.

"When and where?"

"In two weeks."

Enough time to make arrangements for a trip.

"Deal."

Hah, I've wanted to write the Doc and Cloud interacting for the longest of times. I hope I didn't disappoint.

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for some more stuff, and of course the next chapter of Fractured Mind is going to be posted tomorrow.

Read & review!