Chapter 7
Kyo stared out the classroom window, wishing with all his might that he could be home right now. He snorted a bit and thought, "When did Shigure's house become home?" Then his mind wandered over the sweet memories of Tohru wandering about doing her chores and spreading smiles wherever she went like flower pedals. He knew she was at home, and probably bored silly, rather like he was sitting here in class. He wasn't as good at being charming as Shigure or as smart as Yuki, but she seemed to enjoy sitting and talking with him. He could make her smile as well as anyone in the family.
His soul had felt more at ease since he had known her. Even more at peace than when he was at Kazuma's dojo. It was wonderful to have at least one non-family member who knew of his curse that didn't think him a monster. He knew his place in the family. In a way, he'd always known.
He was the scapegoat. He was the poor relation that made the others feel like their lives were better. Kagura had even said so in her confession. She had felt like her life was the worst life anyone could have until she met him. His was worse, so she felt better about hers. He closed his eyes and thought how pitiful it was to have to tear someone else down to make yourself feel better. But isn't that what Akito was all about? No one was allowed to be happier than that miserable Akito.
He thought of his impending confinement. It wouldn't be long now before he would be locked away from the world, and from her. How could it end this way? He didn't deserve this. He had never done anything to anyone. He never asked to be the stinkin' cat! But it had been part of the deal made with that devil, Akito. Most of all, Tohru didn't deserve this. She had brought them all so much happiness and shown them a different world, not ruled by Akito's poisoning darkness. How could any of them go back to the way it was before?
He had heard a song once, which spoke of having changed. The singer couldn't go back to the room that she lived in as a child because she had grown too much, emotionally, to fit there. But still, the singer was afraid to move on to the promise of something better because it was unknown. And in her confusion, she had started romanticizing the things from her old life, even though they were not all that great. It applied to him and all his cousins. They had grown and changed, and could never fit back into those places that they lived in before meeting Tohru.
But, he had noticed something change in Tohru. She wasn't quite as oblivious as everyone seemed to think she was. He could see her stop and get caught up in her inner thoughts more than she used to. She had come to them a quiet girl with her own demons, but that didn't stop her from laughing at the slightest thing. Slowly, she had helped each of them deal with their own inner turmoil. As he thought back on it, it almost seemed like this one girl had experienced every type of hurt that all the Zodiac members had experienced in her own life. He wasn't sure if that were true, but she had suffered losses equal to, if not greater than, theirs. And for each of them, she had kind, loving words of encouragement and hope. How could anyone retain such hope in the face of such despair? Tohru was a wonder.
A gnawing feeling began to take hold in his gut. He looked at the clock on the classroom wall and tried to decipher this strange feeling. It wasn't time for lunch. He didn't exactly feel hungry. Instead, it was more like a worry feeling; anxiety. His eyes caught a random movement across the room from him. Yuki was glancing around with a deep frown on his face, as if looking for something out of place. Everyone else was engrossed in the practice test that was being administered.
Kyo thought to himself, "So, Yuki feels it too. What could it be?" At that moment, Yuki's eyes made contact with Kyo's glare and they studied each other for a moment. The anxious feeling grew at an alarming rate. Something was definitely wrong.
The faint sound of running footsteps grew louder outside in the hallway. Kyo broke off his staring contest with Yuki to glance towards the window in the door. There, in the little pane of glass, was the terrified face of Momiji. Kyo jumped up and headed for the door. Now he knew something was wrong if other members of the family could feel it. What could it be?
Yuki was right behind him, ignoring the complaints coming from the teacher that had finally noticed the disturbance. Yuki just called over his shoulder, "Student Council Emergency." and kept running. In the hallway, they met Hatsuharu and Momiji. Without another word, the four sprinted towards the nearest exit. They all felt pulled towards Shigure's house. Kyo asked between pants, "Does anyone know what's going on?" Hatsuharu shrugged and only said one word. "Tohru." That was enough and everyone continued running.
Shigure had never thought it could take so long to reach his house from the main house. He had written about such situations in many novels, but this was the first time he had experienced panic making time seem to crawl. Beside him, Hatori's normally serious face was twisted into a scowl of intense concentration. Shigure couldn't even think of anything funny to lighten the atmosphere.
Shigure kept talking nonsense into the phone to keep Tohru calm. He discussed chess moves and recipes he had collected for her to try. He even at one point tried to tease her about which guy she liked the best among the cousins. He flirted and chatted like his life depended on it. Of course, he didn't want to think that maybe her life depended on keeping her talking.
Hatori mentally cataloged the possible problems that Tohru could be facing. He didn't realize it, but he mumbled loud enough that Shigure could hear it over the noise of the car and phone. The biggest problem was if Tohru's spleen had ruptured. Knowing Akito, he would not be above hitting a sick girl. If her spleen was damaged, she could be bleeding internally. She would experience pain, her abdominal muscles would be rigid, and then she would become confused and light headed from blood loss. Eventually, she might even go into shock. So, Hatori stressed to Shigure the importance of keeping her talking.
The lane to the house finally came into view, and Hatori took the turn so quickly, the black sedan nearly careened off the gravel road into a tree. Shigure couldn't help but squeal in surprise and comment to Tohru on Hatori's horrible driving skills.
The car barreled down the lane. Suddenly, the figures of 4 people appeared on the road around a bend, and Hatori had to twist the wheel sharply to the left to avoid hitting them. The front of the car was now pointed at a large, ancient tree that was going to do some serious damage to their car, if they hit it. He then yanked the wheel harshly back to the right, to swing the back end of the car back around to follow the front wheels, and head back down the lane. The thick cloud of white dust that trailed behind them enveloped the 4 running figures until they were invisible.
Shigure squinted over his shoulders and realized that the figures on the road were Yuki, Kyo, Momiji and Hatsuharu. From the brief glimpse at their faces, he could tell the boys were worried. How could they know that something was happening with Tohru? Or was it just some excuse to get out of school early. Shigure thought about this for a moment and realized that Yuki, being the straight-laced student that he was, would never just skip school.
The sedan slid to a stop in front the house, and the two men vaulted out of the doors before the cloud of dust could catch up with them. Shigure hung up the cell phone and called out, "Tohru? We're here. Where are you?"
Hatori slammed the front door to the side and stepped into the front hall as he looked around at the mess of the main room. The heater from the kotatsu was the first thing to greet them. For some reason, it was no longer under the table where it belonged, but was lying broken by the front door. As his eyes adjusted to the darker room, he followed the whimpering sounds across the room.
Tohru was lying on her usual pallet of blankets, under the kotatsu. He was shocked to see her curled up into a tight little ball on her side, with sweat pouring off her from the pain. He immediately stooped beside her and carefully removed the phone from her clutched hand. In his best, calming voice he asked, "Tohru? Can you hear me? Can you tell me what happened and where it hurts?" He pulled out his thermometer and stethoscope in a professional manner. Then he pulled out a blood pressure cuff and carefully wrapped it around her upper arm.
While he was pumping up the blood pressure cuff, Tohru turned her face towards him and frowned. The tears were still pouring out of her eyes, but she seemed surprised to see him there. The squeezing on her upper arm made her whimper and shift. He knew it was uncomfortable, but he needed to know if her blood pressure was falling, which would indicate a rather large loss of blood. Shigure folded himself on the other side of Tohru and watched on with worry. Unconsciously, he reached down for one of her blankets, and pulled it up as far as he could without interfering with Hatori's examination. The dog knew that keeping a patient warm was the first step to preventing shock.
When Hatori had let all the air out of the blood pressure cuff, he swiftly undid the Velcro, and tossed the tool back into his bag with a loud, "Shit! Where is that ambulance!" Shigure looked up into his friend's usually calm face and found definite lines of worry. He reached out to grasp the sleeve of the agitated doctor and asked what was wrong using only his eyes. Hatori looked back and stated, "Her blood pressure is dangerously low which indicates a ruptured spleen and fairly severe internal bleeding. We need to get her to the hospital and into surgery!"
Just at that moment, the four panting boys ran in through the still open front door. Wild eyes scanned around the room and tried to make sense of what they saw and what they felt. Momiji and Hatsuharu collapsed into quivering heaps on the floor while Yuki and Kyo used each other as support to remain mostly standing. Kyo huffed out, "What…. happened…… to …… Tohru?" Yuki added, "We……felt ……something….. was….. wrong."
Hatori continued fussing over the increasingly confused Tohru while Shigure took it upon himself to explain what they knew so far. "Well, it seems that Akito purposely called Hatori and I away from the house. While I was visiting Hatori, Tohru called in tears and pain saying something about Akito coming by. We just got here ourselves and an ambulance should be arriving any minute. Do you boys think you could go out to the main road and direct them here? It might be hard to see the entrance from the main road."
Yuki and Kyo stood up straight with stricken looks on their faces, while Momiji started crying softly. Kyo asked what they were all thinking, "Is it that serious?" Hatsuharu sprung up from the floor and jogged back out from where they had just come. "I'll go." Kyo didn't wait for an answer from the harried doctor, he simply turned and sprinted after the cow. Those remaining in the room heard, "Yea right. Like YOU could give anyone directions! You'd probably get lost on the driveway yourself!"
Shigure rose from his position next to Tohru, announcing, "I'll go call her grandfather to let him know we are taking her to the hospital. I'm sure he'll meet us there." So, with that space vacated, Momiji slowly crawled up next to the girl that he liked so much. He was still winded, but he managed to strike up a conversation with her, and be cheerful.
Tohru turned her glassy eyes towards Momiji and tried to smile through her hazy pain. It was hard. All she wanted to do was drift away so she wouldn't feel this much discomfort. But that would be rude. She could already see the little tears welling up in the bunny's eyes and she reached a trembling hand out to sooth him. He grasped onto her hand after she had wiped away his tears, and brought to his lips to kiss it.
At the moment, Hatori was gently palpating her abdomen, trying not to aggravate her pain. Still, he needed to confirm his worst fears. He was greeted with the rigid abdominal muscles he had expected. This was a common symptom of the internal bleeding from a ruptured spleen. Then, he gently pressed around in the area of her spleen, and she let out a whine. Damn! He anxiously ran his hand through his hair trying to think what he could do here to stabilize her while they waited for the ambulance. Swiftly, he moved down a bit and pried her legs out from under the table, and propped them up on top of the table. He then grabbed the discarded blankets around her, and piled them on top of her sweating frame.
Shigure hurried back into the room announcing that Tohru's grandfather would indeed meet them at the hospital. Then, it was just a matter of waiting. Momiji kept murmuring things to keep Tohru awake, while the older men shifted nervously in their helplessness.
Finally, they all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the commotion of the ambulance crunching down the driveway. No sound had ever been so welcomed. Yuki looked out the open front door to see the ambulance with Kyo hanging off one mirror and Hatsuharu hanging off the other. Yuki almost smiled watching the cat giving directions to the driver and gesturing for them to "Hurry the hell up!" Yes, Kyo's voice could even carry over the running engine and wailing siren.
The four boys pulled back and watched in awe as the world exploded into non-stop action. The paramedics grabbed boxes and stretchers and disappeared into the house. There wasn't enough space in the front room, so even Shigure was ejected to join the boys on the porch. It all had an air of unreality to it. Hatori was shouting directions in a voice that never really rose in volume; it just seemed like shouting since he was so authoritative. They watched as an IV was set up in her arm, and some weird blow-up pants were put on her. They later found that these were trauma pants or anti-shock pants and were to help keep her blood pressure up since it might be too far to the hospital. They saw the paramedics hook up some wires to her chest, which made the boys blush, thinking about those strangers' hands being THERE! Then, she was placed gently onto a stretcher and whisked out of the house and into the ambulance.
Hatori turned to the group of cousins on the porch and tossed Shigure his keys. "I'm riding in the ambulance with Tohru to monitor her condition. You bring the boys and anything that Tohru might need in the hospital. She might be in emergency surgery by the time you get there, so hurry." As Hatori was climbed, and right before the door shut, he called back, "And Shigure, drive carefully. I'll make you personally pay for any damage to that car!"
After the ambulance roared away into the distance, the quiet descended on the shocked group like a blanket. Each mind was struggling to comprehend what had happened, and what was about to happen. At least, none of them were standing there with their mouths hanging open, although, Momiji was the closest to that description.
Shigure was the first to come out of his stupor and started thinking rationally. "Well, we need to gather some things for Tohru's stay at the hospital. She might be there a few days if she has to have surgery like Hatori feared." And the older man shuffled his way back into the house, followed by 4 boys like baby ducks after a mama duck.
The group was shocked at the condition of the front room. The kotatsu was leaning up against a wall. The little blanket bed that they had made for Tohru was torn up, with blankets going every which way. Everything that had been on the table was unceremoniously dumped in a pile on the floor, and there was debris from the paramedics supplies scattered about the open space.
Wasn't it just the night before that they had gathered around the friendly table and done homework then played chess? The room no longer resembled the inviting space where they enjoyed being together and taking Tohru's mind off being sick. Honestly, the room looked like a bomb had been detonated.
Hatsuharu knelt down and poked at the dented and damaged heater. He picked it up by a wire like it was a dead animal and asked, "Sensei? Isn't this supposed to be under the table? What's it doing all the way over here?"
Shigure just sighed and explained, "Tohru said Akito had been here, but she didn't ever get around to saying what he had done. Knowing him, it was probably not pretty. That was there when we arrived, so I don't really know how it got there." Shigure looked very upset for a moment, then put on his business face and started issuing orders in a high, sing-song voice. "Right, now Tohru will need some clothes, and her toiletries. She'll probably appreciate something to do in the hospital, like reading, or games. Anything else we forget we can return for this evening. Right!" he clapped his hands together in delight, "Now I'll go get her clothes together!"
Just the idea of the big pervert rifling through her unmentionables made all 4 boys shout in unison, "NO!" Of course, Kyo added a few more comments to his rant. Momiji volunteered to retrieve her clothes and pajamas.
So Shigure tried again, "Fine, then I'll gather my flowers bathing supplies and toiletries." Again, the thought of him touching Tohru's mysterious bathroom possessions that hid in her private, boys-off-limits drawer of the shared bathroom sent a quiver of revulsion through the boys. Kyo immediately volunteered for this job, and for some reason, Yuki did not object. Probably because Yuki didn't really want to face the mortification of having to go through those objects. It was almost as bad as raiding her panty drawer!
Before Shigure could make anymore perverted suggestions, Yuki volunteered to gather things to amuse Tohru during her stay at the hospital. He raced to her bedroom and found Momiji carefully folding some clothes into a duffle bag. Yuki gathered her latest fiction book, some of her long term projects for school, and the picture of her Mom that she kept with her at all times. Thinking about her latest obsession with learning chess, he carried these objects to the main room to gather the chess set and book.
In the main room, Hatsuharu and Shigure were trying to set everything back to rights while they waited. The little heater would probably never work properly again, so they simply set it out on the porch. The table was placed back in the middle of the floor. Hatsuharu complained, "Sensei. Why did you have to buy such a heavy table?" Shigure simply laughed, "Well, those two are so into fighting that they are always breaking my house. The last table was smashed to bits in a fit of rage, so I thought I'd get one that would be more of a challenge." No one in the house really knew that the very heaviness of that table had contributed to Tohru's injuries.
Yuki started moving about, trying to find all the chess pieces that had been flung to the four corners of the room. Some pieces were missing, so he started folding up the blankets that had served as Tohru's makeshift bed. He found several pieces buried among the covers.
It was only a few minutes later that Kyo was heard hurrying Momiji down the stairs with their supplies. As expected, Kyo's face had a blush that looked like it might become permanent. He was muttering about silly girls and their useless products. When the two rounded the corner into the front room, the others stopped cleaning and moved towards the sedan. Yuki tossed his treasures into the duffle bag that Momiji was holding open, and then they sprinted after Shigure.
As they were loading into the car, Kyo looked skeptically at Shigure getting behind the wheel. "Are you sure you can drive this thing? I mean, it would be really crappy to get into an accident on the way to the hospital."
Shigure merely waved his hand in a dismissive gesture and reassured the nervous boys. "Yes of course I can drive. I'm an excellent driver. It is just that I choose not to. Besides, why should I drive when Hatori seems to enjoy being in control so much?" Though this sounded reasonable, it did nothing to calm their concerns. Still, this was the only way they had to reach Tohru, so the four boys said nothing more. That didn't mean that they didn't watch the older man like a hawk, and hang on for dear life when rounding corners at a high rate of speed.
It was an exhausted group that finally found their way into the lobby of the hospital. Shigure approached the information desk and pulled out all his charm to schmooze the poor hapless woman into telling them where Tohru was. It seemed that she had gone straight from the emergency room to have some tests run. Shigure's face faltered for a moment, and the boys behind him all looked stricken. Regaining his composure, Shigure asked the kind woman if she could page Hatori for them.
Yuki asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "Is that such a good idea? What if he's in with Tohru? We don't want to interrupt him!"
Shigure turned slightly and smiled affectionately at his younger cousin, "Hatori doesn't do surgery. He would have found the best surgeon in the area to handle sweet Tohru's case. Don't worry. If he was truly preoccupied, Hatori would simply ignore me, like he always does."
Not a moment later, the phone rang at the information desk and the friendly woman told the caller, who was undoubtedly Hatori, that his party was looking for him at her desk. They didn't have to wait for long before the tall figure of the Sohma doctor approached them from one of the intersecting hallways.
Hatori explained to the group, "She is having a CT scan to determine the severity and location of the bleeding. Normally, if the bleeding is not too severe, we could have just admitted her and monitored her condition. But it seems that she may need surgery to either repair the rupture or remove her spleen. The CT scan will show the surgeon if he can proceed with a non-invasive laparoscopic procedure, or if he will have to use a conventional surgical procedure. " He scanned the faces of the group, and added for their benefit, "But I'm sure she'll come out fine. Nothing keeps our Tohru down for long."
With that explained, he led them to the waiting room and disappeared back into the antiseptic halls of the hospital. There they met Tohru's grandfather and Aunt. Although, the Aunt did not stay long after giving the three men that her niece lived with a nasty look. Kyo muttered, "That woman never did like us after we rescued Tohru from her insulting clutches." Yuki agreed, "It's a wonder someone as nice as Tohru can have relatives who are so mean-spirited." Momiji piped in, "I sure hope Tohru is going to be okay. She promised to teach me that chess game you guys are learning. I want to be part of the chess club too." Hatsuharu smiled his tiny smile and wrapped a protective arm around Momiji's shoulders, "You like anything that makes her smile." Momiji just smiled up at his older cousin and nodded his head. Truthfully, the rabbit thought, they could all just start a Tohru fan club, and it would be just as much fun.
It was nearly a half hour later that everyone was settled down in the waiting room. The guys had explored looking for snack machines and brought back something for everyone. Of course, someone had to accompany Hatsuharu or he would have ended up in another city. Hatori had returned to wait with his family for any news from the CT scan. A television hung from the ceiling in the corner but no one paid it any attention.
Shigure finally thought of a question that had occurred to him during all the excitement, "Why were you boys running back to the house?"
Yuki spoke up for all of them, "Well, we felt something was wrong. It was a strange, gnawing feeling, like being hungry, or nervous. I thought it was just me, until I saw Kyo looking around for the source of the urgency. Then, Momiji showed up in the hallway and we knew it wasn't just us. Momiji was the one to know it had something to do with Tohru."
Momiji simply looked down and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know how. It just felt like something was wrong with her. The feeling was so strong, that I knew I'd go crazy if I didn't do something about it."
A doctor appeared in the opening of the waiting room and Hatori immediately jumped up and hurried over to his colleague. After some hushed conversation, the new arrival scurried off and Hatori turned to face his relatives. He announced, "Well, the CT scan results indicate the Dr Yamato can proceed with a laparoscopic procedure to repair Tohru's spleen." He walked over and sat next to Shigure who still looked like the doctor was speaking Greek. "That means, they won't have to remove her whole spleen, and they won't have to cut her open like a traditional surgical procedure. Recovery will be quicker and she won't be in quite as much discomfort. Depending on how she responds to the transfusions, and barring any new bleeding, she should be back at home in a few days."
The boys slumped down in relief, and even Shigure seemed to sag. Hatori rose to his feet and gave Shigure a knowing look, "I'm going to call my office and let them know where I am. If there are any other emergencies, they can just page me." Shigure knew he was really saying that he was going to let his assistants know where he was if Akito started pitching a fit. Shigure's face hardened in anger as he thought about Akito's manipulations and how he had harmed an innocent Tohru. It was truly pathetic for the head of the Sohma household to be jealous of and threatened by a sixteen year old girl!
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