I AM BACK! Hahaha… From where? From hell. Sorry, I am not exactly an organized person which resulted in heaps of assignments crashing down on me and in the end, buried me. It's the semester break now so you would probably say, 'Hey, you're free now! Write more!'. Sorry but not gonna happen. I'm moving currently, for this first time in my life so I have a lifetime of things to pack. So, my only advice and apology, be patient! And to some of you who was hoping I don't abandon this story, I can promise you I will never. Though my straight stories are sort of abandoned (I seriously should continue those… When I have the time….), I will assure you this JR fic will not be.
Thanks Chey dear who kept me company through the assignments complains and beta-ed it in a single day. Wuv yoo too!
Look at Me, Only Me chapter 7
Escape
'It hurts… Someone, make the pain stop…'
….
"Takahiro, don't worry. We'll be there soon." That's what I heard at first. Followed by, "Don't worry. You'll be fine."
But all I could see were the colors swimming around in a dizzying manner. Everything was out of shape, continuously growing longer, shorter, thinner and fatter. I held on to the only thing that felt normal, the only thing that was solid, unchanging. It was warm and strong, wrapping me up protectively. I buried my face into the sturdy object and closed my eyes against the confusing world. And that soft darkness welcomed me with open arms.
However, it didn't last long. A short while later, words forced their ways into my ears, a pile of jumbled up conversation. One that did not made any sense to me. They were asking me to let go, let go of something, but what I did not comprehend. A force then tried to separate me from my solid support, my buoy in the vast ocean, which I clung on to, even harder. Why would I let go this to go into a world filled with spinning, floating shades? I did not understand at all but after a sharp sting on my arm, everything started to slow down and dull into a grayish hue, finally disappearing into black.
…..
"What did you do to him?" Akihiko shouted at the man in white as the boy in his arms fell limp.
"I just gave him a sedative shot. Don't worry. We'll do all we can to help him. Can you place him on the bed there so that we can examine him?" The doctor gently asked the obviously tensed up man. Akihiko's face scrunched up in pain before he extremely reluctantly put the boy on the white sheets. However, he refused to let go of the small, pale hand that previously held onto his like he was a lifeline, clutching it to his heart. The doctor sighed and began his inspection.
The silver haired man watched both the doctor and the boy closely. As the professional continued, his face became even grimmer. With the help of a nurse, he administered a drip immediately to the boy's free hand and from what Akihiko see, the drip consistency was unusually faster than normal. The man in white resumed his observations. Akihiko was getting more and more impatient not knowing anything and finally, he grabbed hold of the bustling man.
"What's wrong with him?" The doctor shot him a look that could be considered as fierce before softening seconds after when he saw Akihiko's face which was a confused mixture of anger and fear.
"Sir, your-" The doctor paused in his words, unsure who this boy was. Akihiko smoothly yet emotionlessly supplied 'ward'.
"I'm his guardian. I'm all he has now," he muttered. His face was painted with a frustrated look, angry that he was not the best guardian for the boy, upset that he did not noticed the changes in the boy when he was given this responsibility. He gripped the boy tighter. The doctor cleared his throat before starting.
"Well, your ward is suffering from what I would like to say, a rather serious case of dehydration. Other than that we have yet to discover but for safety reasons, we would like to keep him in the hospital for a day or two for further inspection." Just as the doctor finished, the supposedly sleeping boy emitted a couple of rough coughs. To Akihiko's horror, what left the corner of the boy's lips was a trail of red liquid. The doctor immediately wiped away the boy's life blood with a cloth provided by the nurse and pulled open his jaws, shining a torch into his throat.
"It seems like he's been vomiting as well. And quite often, that is. His esophagus is bleeding," the doctor noted in dismay, talking more to the nurse taking down notes than to Akihiko.
"Sir, I seriously think I need to execute a full body examination immediately so would you kindly follow this nurse and proceed to the registration counter to fill out the patient form?" Akihiko got the immensely long sentence simplified into two words, 'get out', which he very much wanted to disregard but could not find a way to rebuke the words. Guilt was filling his body as the nurse steered him out of the room. How could he not see how much the boy was suffering? Why didn't he say a single word? No, Akihiko was more upset at himself for not asking.
"Sir, please fill out this form and a deposit is required for administrative purposes." Akihiko took the pen and paper stonily, threw down some bills without even asking how much that was needed for a minimum. If money could bring back the fire that he had seen when he first laid eyes on the boys, he would gladly give millions.
When Akihiko began to fill in the form, his hand froze for a second after writing 'Takahashi' in the name column. A soft light lit his heart and brought warmth to his body as he slowly penned the characters that meant 'bloom beautifully'.
….
Misaki woke with a start, feeling very much alert compared to before. However, he was careful to remain still. Looking around in his dark surroundings, he felt a warm, heavy weight on his right hand while his left hand had a prickly feeling. Flexing his fingers on the left, he winced as the intruding object in his skin bit him like an ant's bite. Then he saw, the towering steel pole with a bag of clear liquid hanging onto it, the liquid flowing into him through that bite.
'I'm in the hospital…' He thought to himself. Abandoning that thought casually, he turned to his other side, only to see a worn out Akihiko sleeping, holding on to his right hand.
'He must be really tired…' He felt guilty for causing trouble but deep down, he was slightly glad, happy to see that the man actually worried and panicked over him. The soft heat was calming. Misaki lightly slid his hand out from the slack grip to softly caress the man's face. When the man moved a little, Misaki's hand froze immediately. Sitting up ever so slowly, he then bent down to Akihiko's forehead to lightly brush his lips across it. The man stirred slightly.
"Takahiro…" In an instance, the spark of heat vanished into a blizzard. The piercing pain in his hand became stronger and moved to Misaki's heart instead of his hand when the words left the man's lips in a whisper, so soft and yet so harsh.
'I have to get out of here…' Misaki thought blankly. His heart and mind were furiously building walls around themselves although it was to no avail. They were crumbling like bread crumbs hit by a tsunami. Without a sound, Misaki ripped off the IV drip expressionlessly. The pain in his hand was not as great as the pain in his heart, like a drop of water compared to the ocean. He slipped off the bed, opening the door carefully, quietly, all the while keeping his eyes on the deeply breathing man.
When he was safely outside of the room with the door closed again, he sprinted silently through the dark hospital corridor barefoot. Even so, he could not stop the trail of tears from falling.
….
Oh well, that's it. See, Usagi-san is not all that bad! If you don't get it, the meaning of Misaki's name is 'bloom beautifully'. It's really a girl's name but cute though. But I'm sure there would be still some bashing. Anyhow, how would you like to see Haruhiko in this? I just suddenly had an itch to put Haruhiko in… But the Haruhiko I imagined would be a slightly different, mind you.
Well, where's my welcome back present? You know, the button below is saying 'click me'.
Twilight Cherry