More Human Than Human

"Talking"

'thoughts'

"Recordings, talking on the phone or singing"

"Speaking another language besides Japanese"

:Talking through the comm. links:

Rated T for language and anything else I might have missed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my O.C.s, Starts after the events in "The Masked Brave, Dumpson" and goes from there with a few twists.

At the Tomonaga house

Deckard came out of recharge suddenly, not knowing why aside from the fact that something seemed… off.

"Something is not right," he muttered as he scanned the surrounding area for anything amiss. The Police Detective didn't find anything at first but after a moment he heard a noise that sounded like muffled crying.

Then he realized that crying was painfully familiar.

"YUUTA!"

Deckard drove out of the garage and transformed into robot mode so he could see into the boy's window.

Sure enough, Yuuta was curled up on his bed crying. At first Deckard thought the boy was having a nightmare but then he saw that Yuuta's cherubic little face was scrunched up in pain and he was holding his abdomen.

"Yuuta!" Deckard shouted through the closed window. "What's wrong?"

Yuuta looked up at him with tear filled eyes. "Deckard…" the boy screamed before he could say more.

A moment later, lights came on in the hallway and Azuki came in and put a hand on Yuuta's forehead. "Yuuta, are you alright?"

Yuuta just bit his lip and cried. Deckard placed a servo on the window sill, wishing there was something he could do; he hated seeing Yuuta suffer, he would rather give up his Super A.I. Unit.

Azuki looked up and saw Deckard at the window. She went to open it and asked in that soft voice of hers. "Deckard, what's wrong with Yuuta?"

Deckard clenched his denta for a moment before forcing himself to calm down and answer. "I don't know, I heard him crying and came to investigate but…"

He looked at Yuuta as the boy started to sit up but then fell back on the bed screaming "IT HURTS!"

Azuki sat on the edge of his bed. "Yuuta, where does it hurt?"

"Right here," Yuuta pressed a hand on his side and cried when it hurt him even more.

Azuki felt there and pulled her hands away when he screamed again. She felt his forehead to see if he had a fever. "Oh, you're burning up,"

Deckard realized he was digging his digits into the side of the house and pulled away to look at the damage to the siding.

"Something wrong, Master Deckard?"

Deckard jumped and looked to see Shadowmaru's wolf form standing in the Tomonaga's driveway. "Shadowmaru, what brings you here?"

The robot canine shrugged. "I was out for a walk, thought I'd stop by on my way back to the station," the mech transformed into robot mode and stood in his usual casual stance with his arm-servos crossed. "So what's going on with Little Boss?"

Deckard flinched and looked at the window. "I don't know, Azuki is checking on him now. She says he's overheating and he's having stomach pains,"

Shadowmaru's optics widened and he went to look in the window just as Azuki came up to it.

The girl looked worried and was surprised to see Shadowmaru but greeted the Ninja Detective politely. "Oh, hello Shadowmaru," She looked at Deckard. "Deckard, I know it's late but I think Yuuta needs to see a doctor. You think you could give us a ride?"

Deckard's orange optics widened with worry but he forced himself to remain calm as he nodded. "Of course. May I?"

He reached up to the window and reached into the Yuuta's room once his sister moved aside and tried to lift him.

To his shock and horror, however, Yuuta just screamed and writhed even more, prompting him to set the boy down.

Deckard looked at Yuuta and then at his servo like it was a snake about to bite him; he had hurt Yuuta, his Yuuta.

Azuki tried to soothe her younger brother and reassured the distraught Brave Police mech. "It's not your fault, Deckard. Wait here, I'll call an ambulance."

She started to leave the room to make the call but Shadowmaru stopped her. "Wait, I think I know someone that can help. Let me just go get them,"

Deckard looked at Yuuta and then nodded at the Ninja. "Alright, but please hurry,"

"Roger!" Shadowmaru transformed into his patrol car mode and peeled out of the driveway, turning his siren on once he was on the road, leaving Azuki and Deckard to watch over Yuuta.

Sometime later he came back with a blue-and-tan ambulance that backed into the Tomonaga's driveway.

Before Deckard could say anything, a brunette woman jumped out the back of the ambulance with a bag slung over her shoulder. "Where is the patient?"

Azuki saw the EMT worker in their yard and called down. "One moment please," she left Yuuta's room and was at the front door a few minutes later. "He's upstairs. Please, can you help him?"

The woman followed her inside. "I'll do what I can,"

Both girls disappeared into the house so Deckard returned his attention to Yuuta until they came into his room.

The strange woman who had come in the ambulance set her bag down and sat on the edge of Yuuta's bed as she took out a thermometer and started asking questions. "So, what's your name, kid?"

Yuuta whimpered when she lifted his arm to tuck the thermometer under it and said. "Y-yuuta Tomonaga,"

The woman smiled and dug in her bag for a stethoscope. "Well, Yuuta, your sister tells me you have a fever and stomach pains. Anything you care to add?"

Yuuta shook his head and curled up around his midsection.

The female paramedic took the thermometer out from under Yuuta's arm when it beeped and checked the reading on it. "Ok. On a scale of one to ten, with one being no pain and ten being the worst pain you can imagine, how bad are these stomach pains?"

Yuuta mumbled into his pillow.

The woman tilted her held as she put the ear buds for the stethoscope in her ears. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Yuuta held up seven fingers and cried out when the woman pressed the stethoscope to his abdomen after listening to his heart.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," The paramedic listened for a moment before leaning over to look Yuuta in the face. "Yuuta, this might not feel so great but I need you to bear with me, okay kiddo?"

Yuuta nodded and braced himself as cold hands pressed on his stomach to feel around.

"Where does it hurt worst?"

Yuuta pointed to his side and the woman slowly, carefully, worked her way there. "Were you injured there recently? Eat anything strange?"

Yuuta shook his head and cried when the afflicted area was pressed on and Deckard almost had to restrain himself to keep from throwing the woman—who he belatedly realized he didn't even know—away from Yuuta.

The female paramedic held her hand there for a moment before hissing and saying. "Yeah, he needs to get to a hospital,"

When they heard this Deckard was about a spark of his Super A.I. Unit away from trying to crawl through the window and Azuki clasped a hand over her mouth and asked "What's wrong?"

The paramedic put her equipment back in her bag. "If I'm correct then Yuuta has appendicitis and will most likely need surgery before it gets too serious if it hasn't already,"

She started to reach for Yuuta but Shadowmaru asked. "Alright if one of us lifted him out through the window so you don't have to carry him downstairs?"

The paramedic hesitated before throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Not the most medically professional way to do it but if you can do it without jostling or dropping him, I'm game,"

Deckard leaned closer so Yuuta could see him. "Yuuta, I'm going to try lifting you again. Think you can bear with me until we get you into the ambulance?"

Yuuta thought for a moment and nodded. "I think so,"

Deckard started to reach through the window to lift him but Shadowmaru put a servo on his arm-servo. "Maybe I should lift Little Boss out, this requires a finesse that I don't think you have,"

Deckard looked at him sharply, anger rising in his circuitry so suddenly he didn't have a chance to understand it before snapping "That's what you said about dealing with Kagero, remember how that turned out?"

Shadowmaru flinched away like a kicked dog, pun not intended, and looked at Deckard blankly. "Believe me, Deckard, I remember,"

Deckard realized he had overstepped at least a handful of boundaries with his comment and hung his helm in shame. "I'm sorry, that was out of line,"

"Yes, it was," Azuki frowned at Deckard; during the brief encounter with Shadowmaru's older brother, she had come to pity Kagero, even though he had held her hostage.

She even tried to convince him to come with them to explain to the others but the two brothers knew they wouldn't be given a chance to so Kagero knocked her out by carefully tapping his digit against the back of her head, just hard enough to make her black out for a few minutes. When she woke up Yuuta told her that Shadowmaru had distracted the others so Kagero could get away.

The paramedic spoke up hesitantly. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but can you guys discuss this later, please? Got a little boy here that needs a hospital so unless you guys want to wait here while I carry him downstairs to the bus and…"

"No, no, I got him," Shadowmaru slowly reached through the window and handled Yuuta as though the boy were made of broken glass as he lifted him through the window, hushing the boy whenever he whimpered, and carefully passed him to Deckard.

"Alright, tricky part is over, passing Little Boss to Deckard now," he was talking to both Deckard and Yuuta when he said this; Yuuta so the boy would now what was going on and Deckard so he would be ready to receive the boy.

Deckard couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief when Yuuta settled into his cupped servos; sure, the boy was still in pain but he was hanging in there. "Come on Yuuta, let's get you in the ambulance," He knelt down and waited for the paramedic to open the back doors of the ambulance so he could put Yuuta in it.

He stiffened when Yuuta whimpered again and looked down to make sure the boy was okay.

To his surprise, Yuuta grabbed his thumb-digit and held it to himself like a frightened child would a stuffed animal and said in a small voice. "Deckard… don't go…"

Deckard looked at the boy for a moment before reassuring him. "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you the whole way,"

The paramedic came out of the house and opened the back of the ambulance so she could climb in and pull a gurney closer to the doors.

Deckard started to place Yuuta on the gurney but his servos made it difficult so the paramedic took Yuuta from him and strapped him down to the stretcher and hooked him up to a monitor.

She explained what she was doing as she taped the wires to Yuuta's chest under his shirt. "Alright, kiddo, this monitor is going to keep track of your vitals on the way to the hospital, if anything goes off it will beep, Understood?"

Yuuta nodded and the woman gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Alright, lie still and hang on, because we'll be going fast," she closed the doors and went to pound her fist on the barrier between the back of the ambulance and the front where the driver would be.

Yuuta couldn't see up front from where he was but he could hear the vehicle's engine start up and the sirens come back on as they drove away.

Outside, Deckard looked at the front side window of the ambulance to get a look at the driver only to find that the windows were tinted. 'Hmm, that's odd. How many ambulances have tinted windows?'

He didn't have time to dwell on it, or use his scanners to try to see what was behind the tinted windows, since the ambulance drove away so he transformed into vehicle mode and followed.

As the two drove away, Azuki ran out into the yard, obviously intending on riding with Yuuta but stopped when she realized she had just missed them. "Yuuta…"

Shadowmaru saw she was starting to tear up and smiled down at her. "He'll be fine, he's in good hands now and the doctors will fix him up when they get there,"

Azuki smiled up at him. "I know, but…" she looked away with a worried look on her face.

Shadowmaru considered for a moment before offering. "Want me to take you there to see him when your sister wakes up?"

Azuki looked at him. "Oh, I don't want to be a bother,"

Shadowmaru waved her off. "It's fine, I was going to go check on him and Deckard on my way back to the precinct anyway. I can wait a while and give you girls a lift if you want,"

Azuki smiled up at him shyly. "Thank you," the smile became more sincere when the girl asked. "Can I get you anything?"

Shadowmaru shook his helm. "No thanks,"

Azuki pulled the jacket that she had thrown over her pajamas tighter around her and sat on a box that was pressed against the wall in the garage. "So, what brings you here this late?"

Shadowmaru transformed into his wolf mode and lay down under the tree in the yard, silently musing at the ironic 'de ja vu' of the situation… only this time it was Azuki with the "brother problems".

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk and somehow ended up in the neighborhood. I heard yelling so I came to investigate and found Deckard looking like he was about to try to crawl into Little Boss' bedroom window. The rest I think you can figure out,"

"Oh," Azuki went quiet, not sure of what else to say.

Shadowmaru let his helm rest on his paws and once again thought to himself 'All that's missing is that cat and this would be just like last time I was here.'

Just then he heard the cat door on the side of the house open and close and looked up to see Urunyan come outside. 'Ah, speak of the furry little devil,'

The cat noticed the giant robot wolf in the yard and stared at him, meowing as if to say "You again? What are you doing in my yard?"

Shadowmaru slowly moved closer to the cat and laughed as he fluffed up and arched his back. "Is that supposed to scare me, fluff ball?" he playfully pushed the cat over with his muzzle and the cat flipped over and retreated to where Azuki was sitting.

Azuki picked up the cat and carried him inside. "I'll go see if Kirumi is awake,"

Shadowmaru waited while the girl went inside to find her sister. Unknown to them, he was able to hear their conversation when she did.

Kirumi griped tiredly as she came downstairs. "What's with all the noise? It is way too early for this…"

Azuki hurriedly explained what had just happened. "Yuuta has appendicitis, the ambulance just left. All that noise you just mentioned was from us and the paramedic that came in the ambulance,"

Kirumi's eyes widened. "What, an ambulance? Oh poor Yuuta!"

Azuki went upstairs and waved her hand for Kirumi to do the same. "Get dressed, we're going to meet him there,"

Kirumi walked ahead of Azuki and looked over her shoulder at her. "Deckard giving us a ride?"

Azuki shook her head and she went into her room. "No, he followed the ambulance so Yuuta wouldn't get scared. Shadowmaru offered to give us a ride,"

"When did Shadowmaru get here?"

Azuki left her door open a crack since she and Kirumi were the only ones home so they could talk. "He said he was out on a walk and heard shouting when he was passing by and wanted to know what was going on. He was the one that got the paramedic,"

"Huh, that was nice of him," Then Kirumi leaned out of her room with a grin on her face. "Was the paramedic cute?"

Azuki paused for a moment and said. "Well, now that I think about it, she was actually quite pretty,"

Kirumi's smile faded. "Oh, it was a girl. Never mind,"

Azuki opened her door to look at Kirumi. "Why? Hoping to meet a handsome gentleman in a paramedic uniform?"

Kirumi blushed and ducked into her own room. "N-no, no I wasn't,"

Both girls finished changing out of their pajamas and went back downstairs and outside where Shadowmaru was waiting.

"Finally" the purple mech feigned impatience to tease the girls before transforming into his car mode.

Kirumi looked at Azuki and said "Shotgun" before going over to Shadowmaru's front passenger side. "Hi Shadowmaru,"

Shadowmaru opened the door on that side for her. "Hello,"

Azuki paused, wondering if Shadowmaru would be okay with her sitting in the driver's seat or if she should just get in the backseat, and stopped completely when she heard someone say her name.

"Azuki?"

Azuki looked in the direction of the voice and saw Masaya Kashiwazaki standing at the edge of their yard, looking concerned. Immediately, Azuki lost track of all coherent thought at the sight of her crush standing in front of her with his jacket unzipped over his pajamas. "Oh, Masaya, um hi… uh…"

The older boy walked closer. "Is everyone alright? I heard sirens and when I looked out the window I saw Deckard following an ambulance out of your guys' yard,"

Azuki clasped her hands nervously; she was always nervous around Masaya and she was already worried about Yuuta so her nerves were all over the place. "Y-Yuuta has appendicitis, he was in the ambulance you saw leaving here. We were just about to go after him to make sure he's alright,"

Masaya's concerned expression changed to one of sympathy. "Oh, sorry to hear that, I hope he's ok,"

Azuki blushed and nodded shyly.

Meanwhile, Shadowmaru and Kirumi sat watching the two "lovebirds" silently until Shadowmaru asked. "Just how long has this been going on between those two?"

Kirumi sighed and leaned against the arm rest and let her head tip to the side so that her seatbelt was supporting it like a sling. "Since Azuki was at least Yuuta's age. Everyone knows they both like each other but neither of them has the guts to say it,"

Masaya gave Azuki a reassuring smile and gestured towards Shadowmaru's alt. mode. "Well I'd better go so you can go see Yuuta,"

Azuki nodded, only half hearing what he was saying. "Okay,"

Masaya waved as he started to walk away. "See you later,"

Azuki also walked away. "Later…"

Masaya looked at her strangely and Shadowmaru said "Over here, Azuki,"

Azuki looked around and realized that she was walking away from Shadowmaru rather than towards him to get in his alt. mode.

She blushed and went back to where the purple unmarked patrol car was parked and waved goodbye to Masaya one last time before retreating behind Shadowmaru's door when he opened it for her, thankful for the dark-tinted windows as the door closed so no one could see how embarrassed she was… except for the Ninja Detective himself and her sister.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile

Yuuta lay on his back in the back of the ambulance, unsure of how long it had been since Deckard had placed him in it, while the paramedic looked him over as best she could with whatever equipment she had on board.

At some point, the paramedic put a hand on the side of his face to get him to look up at her as she said. "Alright, we're almost there. Once we get there a lot of things are going to happen really fast, so…"

Yuuta started to nod off, despite the pain in his abdomen, but the paramedic gently patted the side of his face to wake him up. "Hey, hey, stay awake, kid. Please, just hang in there a little longer,"

Yuuta blinked and tilted his head back to see out the windows in the back doors of the ambulance to see if Deckard really was following him like he promised.

He could only see the flashing lights from the strobe lights on the top of the ambulance and he couldn't tell if Deckard's lights were mixed in with them or not.

As the paramedic had said, as soon as they stopped the back doors opened and nurses came to take him out of the ambulance and into the hospital building.

As they pulled the gurney out, Yuuta heard a transformation sequence and Deckard's voice calling his name.

He looked around to try to locate the mech but the one of the nurses pulling him inside held him down to keep him from rolling off the gurney while the other one went over to talk to Deckard.

Once they were inside he was wheeled through the lobby, down a hallway, through a set of double fire doors, down another hallway until he got to a strange room full of doctors.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Deckard drove behind the ambulance the whole way to the hospital, refusing to let the blue-and-tan vehicle out of his sight. 'Aren't ambulances supposed to be red and white? Or blue and white?'

When they got to the hospital Deckard saw a couple of nurses waiting at the curb that converged on the ambulance once it stopped and they opened the rear doors to reveal the paramedic pulling the gurney Yuuta was on closer to the door to be taken out.

As soon as they stopped Deckard transformed and tried to check on Yuuta but the boy was strapped down to a gurney so he couldn't sit up to look at him and the nurses that were helping unload him were blocking his view.

Then Deckard saw them wheeling Yuuta inside and, well, panicked. 'They're taking Yuuta away!'

He started to follow but just as he realized he wouldn't fit through the automatic sliding doors one of the nurses, a middle aged woman with nut brown hair pulled up in a ponytail wearing light blue scrubs, came up to him. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside,"

Deckard nodded. "I know, I just…" he looked at Yuuta, just barely managing a glimpse before the gurney disappeared from view, then back at the nurse. "He'll be okay, right?"

The nurse looked at him like she was wondering if he really was concerned or if his A.I. was making him act like it because his "boss" was in trouble. Deckard took it in stride, he got that look a lot, until the nurse nodded. "We'll do everything we can for him. You can see him when we move him to a recovery room after surgery,"

Deckard let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you,"

The nurse went inside while Deckard went to stand around the corner of the building so he wasn't blocking the doors or traffic while he waited for Yuuta.

After a moment, Deckard started pacing; he wasn't a pacer but he found himself doing it until he decided to lean against the side of the building and let his mind wander anywhere but the worst case scenario of what might be happening to Yuuta right then.

"Hey"

Deckard jumped and looked up to see Shadowmaru on the roof. "Oh, hey Shadowmaru,"

The Ninja Detective tumbled off the roof to land on his peds on the ground and lean against the wall next to Deckard. "Just dropped the girls off at the door, they wanted to make sure Boss was alright,"

Deckard immediately felt bad for leaving without Yuuta's sisters; they were just as worried about the boy as he was but since Kirumi had been still asleep he had assumed Azuki would have wanted to wait at home to fill her in when she finally did wake up. "I should have done that myself,"

Shadowmaru looked at the mech like he wasn't sure he heard right. "And let Boss panic when he realized you weren't 'right behind him the whole way' like you promised?"

Deckard went quiet, he knew Shadowmaru was right.

The Ninja Detective's expression softened. "So, how's Little Boss?"

Deckard sighed and shrugged as best he could with his arm-servos crossed over his chest. "I don't know, they brought him into the operating room and said they would move him to a recovery room when they were done,"

He pinched his nasal ridge. "But they didn't tell me where any of those are so I can't exactly peek in his window to check on him,"

Shadowmaru leaned his helm back and dimmed his optics as he touched his headband. "Hmm, the operating room is in the middle of the building so there are no windows for you to look in. The recovery rooms, however, are on the second floor and most of them do have windows but we'll have to wait until he is actually in one to find his window,"

Deckard looked at the Ninja. "How did you…" then it dawned on him and he snorted with a smile. "You hacked the security cameras, didn't you?"

Shadowmaru smirked at him. "Only the ones in the hallways pointed at the directory signs. I didn't peek in anyone's rooms if that's what you're asking,"

Deckard hesitated before asking. "Do you think you can find him?"

"Already on it," Shadowmaru his optics dimmed again and used his connection to the security cameras to locate their boss.

While they waited, Deckard remembered something he had been meaning to ask the Ninja Detective. "Shadowmaru, how do you know the woman from the ambulance? You never mentioned her before,"

Shadowmaru stiffened as his optics brightened and he looked away with a "tch" sound.

Deckard knew right away he was hiding something. "Shadowmaru…"

The purple mech suddenly perked up. "Oh, look, found the boss,"

Deckard frowned and felt conflicted; he knew Shadowmaru was only trying to change the subject but while he didn't want to give up on his questioning he just had to make sure Yuuta was okay. 'Screw it, I'll just ask him again later,'

"How is he?"

Shadowmaru dimmed his optics again. "Hmm, he's already in the operating room, the doctors put a mask over his mouth and nose and are using some sort of gas to sedate him while they operate. He's nodding off now…"

He paused for a moment and said. "Now the surgeon is making sure Boss is out while a nurse is getting all the equipment ready for him. Ok, how many scalpels do they really need for one operation?" he mumbled the last part and let his servo fall away from his head band, breaking of the surveillance feed.

"They're starting now, I'll spare you the details,"

Deckard let out a sigh of relief, he may not be able to see it for himself but now he knew Yuuta was safe, for now. "Thank you,"

The two mechs sat in companionable silence for a few moments longer until Shadowmaru pushed away from the wall and stretched. "I'd better head back. I've been out longer than I should have been,"

He waved over his shoulder as he walked over to the parking lot. "I'll tell the others the Boss won't be in for work,"

Deckard waved back. "Alright, I'll be along as soon as I can. Oh, Shadowmaru…"

Shadowmaru stopped and turned his helm to show he was listening. Deckard smiled "Thank you," then he added "and send your friend my thanks as well next time you see her,"

Unseen by the police mech, Shadowmaru smiled. 'If only you knew…' "No problem, Master Deckard,"

The Ninja detective transformed into his patrol car mode and drove away, leaving Deckard alone as he leaned against the wall as he looked up at the hospital building. 'Get better soon, Yuuta,'