Chapter 2

Posted January 28, 2006

Disclaimer; See chapter 1

Shigure was the first one to hear him, him being the one closest to him. His excellent sense of hearing helped a good deal though.

He lifted his dark head and looked at the boy whose bed he was sleeping on. He tilted his head a bit so that he could hear better, He also tilted his ears forward to catch the sound better. There. His heart was starting to beat a little faster, his breathing was speeding up, he was about to wake up. He looked at his mistress, who was currently having a discussion with her mother. He barked to get their attention, at the same time that he did, however, the boy groaned.

These two sounds caused the two people, as well as the two other spirits in the room to turn their attention on the boy. Even that cat that followed his mistress looked at the boy curiously. He turned his head towards the boy. His eyes were half-open and looking at his mistress, then the turned towards his mistress mother, then her spirit.

Akiko looked at the young boy with a nurse's critical eye. He looked slightly disoriented, which she and the doctor were expecting. Also, he was looking directly at her daughter and her without squinting after he had adjusted to the light in the room, which meant that he must have relatively good eyesight. He was also way to thin for a boy of his age; her motherly instincts almost kicked in, but she quickly reigned them in.

As he seemed to be looking past her shoulder, his eyes squinted a bit. With her peripheral vision she saw her trusted Spirit, Tom. Of whom she had let out of her memorial tablet to get a secondary opinion on her patient.

Had he seen Tom? She thought. If he had, that meant he was either a Shaman or, at the very least, had a sixth sense. She would have to watch him, if he was another Shaman, then he would have to be treated with care. With the Shaman Tournament going on, who knew whether every Shaman they met was benign? She decided she had better introduce herself.

"Don't be alarmed; my name is Akiko Yamato. This is my daughter, Hikari. You are in a hospital right now." Said Akiko, pointing to her first, then her daughter. "Hikari, could you go and get Philippes-sensei, please. Take Tom and Shigure with you."

She left, slightly confused with her mothers' orders, her mothers' spirit showing the way with her spirit faithfully trotting beside her. Just as she turned around to ask the boy his name; another nurse walked in. In the two weeks since she moved into this new town, she had met all of the nurses in the small hospital, there were only about twenty or so, and she got along with most of them, but the nurse that walked in was the exception. Her name was Katharine and she was THE most snobbish person she had ever had the displeasure of meeting. She barely did her share of the work and ordered the other nurses to it. She expected everything to be handed down to her on a golden platter. How she ever made it through medical school was beyond her.

She had tried to be nice to the young woman, but there were some people that you couldn't help but dislike.

"Alright, honey. I need your name." Said Katharine, looking at the young boy expectantly. He just blinked at her. "Well, tell me! I haven't got all day!"

Akiko shot a sharp look towards her fellow nurse.

"Kath, he just woke up! Give him time to wake up!" Said Akiko sternly. Katharine just shot her an ugly look.

"Listen, honey, I don't know about you, but I have an important date tonight and as soon as I finish with the kid, I'm outta here. So why don't you mind your own business and go back to your own country!" Said Katharine snottily, taking out a compact from her pocket and looking to see her make-up was still perfect.

Akiko took a deep breath. It wouldn't be a good idea for her to hospitalize the woman, now would it? No, because that would mean seeing even more of her, which would most defiantly not be a good thing.

Instead, she just smiled politely, grabbed the wench and shoved her out the door. She'd think of something later, after she had dealt with the patient. She also locked the door for good measure.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that, but we really would like to know your name, so that we could inform your parents about your whereabouts." Said Akiko is a motherly tone. She looked at the boy expectantly.

Hikari silently followed her mothers' guardian spirit even though she knew where to find the elderly Dr. Philippes; why did her mother tell her to bring Tom when she knew that? She looked at her watch; it was just past six, so he would be in his office, getting his things organized for the next half of his shift.

She came up to his office and gently knocked on the door.

"Dr. Philippes? Are you in here?" She inquired, opening the door a crack and sticking her head inside. "Doctor?"

"Yes? Ah, Hikari. I was wondering who was there. Come in, come in! How may I help you?" Said the doctor from behind his desk, looking at a file of some sort.

Hikari entered the room and shut the door behind her.

"Sir? The patient in room 207 woke up a few minutes ago. My mother asked me to fetch you." Said Hikari politely.

"Room 207...room 207. Ah, yes! That young boy that was brought in last night! I'll go see him right now." True to his word, he closed the file and got up; leading the way back to the room she had just come from. On the way there, she ordered Shigure to get back into his tablet once they reached the room, just on the off chance that the boy had a sixth sight. They met up with Nurse Katharine on the way, mumbling something incoherent, they wisely chose to step out of her way and continued on.

When they got to the room, they discovered the door was locked.

"Akiko?" Said the doctor as he knocked on the door. "Akiko, can you unlock the door? It's only me and Hikari in here, you can let us in."

The door was unlocked and opened a few seconds later.

"Sorry about that, Philippe-sensei. Katharine-san just came by and she was rather rude, so I locked her out. I didn't want her to scare the patient." Said Akiko, opening the door to let the people inside.

"Ah, that would explain why she looked so mad earlier, I suppose she was up to her old tricks? I'll have a talk with her later." Sighed the doctor, before looking at his newest patient, who was currently staring back at him with an intense gaze.

"He hasn't spoken a word since he woke up. Although, I must admit he hasn't been given the chance to." Admitted her mother, looking slightly embarrassed.

He looked on in silence as Akiko pushed out the rude woman, whose name he cared not to learn. After she was out the elder woman locked the door, then she turned and faced him.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that, but we really would like to know your name, so that we could inform your parents about your whereabouts." Stated Akiko.

He just looked down at his hands, between the first girl leaving and the other one entering; he had taken the time to sit up and get comfortable. He tried to remember what his name was, but all he found was a blank. He tried to remember something, anything, but yet again, all he drew was a blank. All he could remember was waking up here. He was about to tell the woman this when there was a knock on the door. He heard someone talking from the other side, but he couldn't make out what was said.

He watched as she walked over to the door and let in Hikari and an elderly man in. He supposed that this man was the Philippes-sensei that Akiko had requested earlier. He said something to Akiko, but he didn't notice what was being said; he was looking at the girl, Hikari. She was staring back, but after several seconds, he turned his attention to the old man.

"Well, young man, my name is Dr. Philippes. Now, I suppose that by now you've already been asked for a name." Said the doctor calmly, looking at him expectantly.

"I-I don't know. I can't remember anything before waking up here. All I can remember is a blank." He said calmly.

Authors Note; Well here's my new chapter, I know it's not all that interesting and very repetitive, but I just wanted to get this chapter over with and I promise that next chapter, I'll try and stick to one persons perspective, which I'll try to have the next chapter up for next Sunday. Also, if you have any questions on something, don't hesitate to ask!

Reviewer thanks;

chibi fire spirit, MaiValentinefan, Andrea-Nefisto, Andrea-Nefisto, Koji Jaganshi. Thank you for reviewing! This chapter is for you!