A/N: Thanks to my first reviewers, Midnight and Ms. Alyse! I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
It's hard to believe I've written well over 5k words for this fic already... it's getting a little out of hand, actually. I spend my days writing fan fics and drinking soda. It's become well out of my control - this story just seems to have a life of its own.
Look forward to smut next chapter, my children. OP will deliver.
Grace was in all her steps,
heaven in her eye,
in every gesture dignity and love.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost.
Shion decides to make bacon and eggs for supper. Nezumi brought them home last night, and they look delicious after the bland vegetable soup they usually have.
When Shion places the bacon in a hot skillet, the small den fills quickly with the scent.
Down one of the tunnels, Shion catches the sound of Nezumi's heavy it's-too-early-to-be-awake footfalls.
"Morning."
Nezumi slumps on the sturdy old sofa without acknowledging Shion. His mussy hair is unbound and unbrushed.
"It's my day off, you really have to wake me up at the crack of dawn?" Nezumi gripes with a petulant expression. Like a child who's told he has to wake up early on a weekend.
Though Shion's reality of a Utopian No. 6 where no one truly suffered has been irrevocably shattered, he also finds himself inexplicably drawn to this man.
Nezumi.
Shion doesn't know if that's his real name, though he has a feeling it isn't. What is his real name? How did he find himself in the West Block?
Shion doesn't even know where Nezumi works or what his work is.
"Someone has work for you. One of his dogs got in a fight with a coyote. He didn't think much of it because the dog wasn't cut up too bad, but the wound is infected. He's got a few silvers for you if you can fix the dog up."
"I'm not really a vet," Shion answers hesitantly.
"Human or dog, it can't be that different. Treat the infection and clean the wound. Probably more simple than a gunshot wound."
"If you won't do it though, I'll tell Inukashi to just put it down."
Inukashi-? What a strange name. To just put the poor thing down...
What would be the trouble in trying, and he'd get paid. If he could be less of a burden on Nezumi, he would try.
"I wouldn't know where to get any antibiotics to treat the infection."
"There are a few medicine shops on the pier, most of them are pretty seedy, but I'll see if I can find something."
Nezumi smiles wickedly at Shion.
"You're probably the closest the West Block has to a doctor, and you're going to treat a dog. How's your pride feel, Your Holiness?"
"Ha," Shion laughs. "What pride? I'm a godly man who's cast pride away. I'm the most humble person you'll ever meet."
Nezumi snorts. "My apologies, Majesty."
Shion catches Nezumi's gaze, and something hot runs down Shion's spine.
Shion breaks away hurriedly from Nezumi's eyes and finishes getting breakfast together.
"The medicine woman said this salve would pull out the infection, and you'll just need to keep disinfecting and purging the infection until the wound heals."
"You got this from a medicine woman? What is it, eye of newt and mug wort or something?"
Shion is speechless. Did Nezumi expect a medicine woman's salve to be anything more than an expensive placebo?
Nezumi sighs. "The medicine woman's salves are good. Antibiotics like you had inside No. 6 cost a fortune in the West Block. More than Inukashi could spare for one dog."
"The medicine woman's salve costs one silver. And it does work."
Shion takes the salve reluctantly, and lets Nezumi lead him to his "patient."
Nezumi brings him through an oak grove. The trees begin to thin and Shion spots the ruins of an old brick building. It's quite large compared to the others Shion's seen in the West Block, and seems sturdy despite the state of disrepair it is in.
He guesses it was probably a warehouse or a factory at one point. A rusty chain-link fence runs around the perimeter of the building, though it's broken in many places. The building has massive walls with gaping windows. Many of them are boarded up, but a few still have steel-reinforced glass in them.
It looks like a fortress to Shion. Inside the fence, Shion sees lumps of fur curled up under the shade of the open bay door.
Probably the dogkeeper's dogs.
"It was a textile factory. Inukashi and his dogs live here. In the winter he sets a couple of oildrums on fire for warmth and people pay a small fee to sleep on the ground by them."
"He also rents out the big, furry dogs to sleep by for warmth."
The dogs notice their presence and begin raising an alarm. Shion hears dogs growling behind him, and whips around to find dogs surrounding them from all sides.
The dogs advance and back them against the fence.
A shrill whistle echoes from inside the factory, and the dogs retreat back to the shade to lie down.
Shion doesn't notice he was holding his breath until he takes a ragged breath.
Nezumi looks over at Shion with a smirk.
That jerk wasn't even worried.
A dark-skinned boy with long hair exits the warehouse with a dog at his heel.
Well, truth be told, Shion doesn't know if it's a boy or girl.
"My dogs said they smelled something rotten. Hmph, of course it was you."
"I'm really hurt, Inukashi, I thought we were friends."
"With a rat like you-never. You wouldn't even taste good, I'd probably get indigestion if I tried to eat your spoiled meat."
Inukashi's nose twitches.
"This weird guy the one that's gonna help my dog," Inukashi asks, pointing a finger to Shion.
"The one and only Dr. Shion. You should be grateful he's going to take care of one of your mutts, and for cheap, too."
Shion and Nezumi follow the dogkeeper into the factory ruins. Inukashi leads them up to a loft in the rafters where the wounded dog lies curled up.
The dog takes slow, ragged breaths. Inukashi gives the dog a quick scratch behind the ears, and it stretches out in its side exposing the wound.
The fur around the dog's wound is matted and dyed black. The wound itself was weeping putrid yellow pus.
"This is pretty far gone..."Shion mumbles.
He reaches out to inspect how deeply the infection had spread, meaning to move the dog's matted fur out of the way.
The dog growls and Shion pulls back quickly.
"Is he going to take my arm off if I try to touch him?"
"Not if I'm here," Inukashi replies.
Shion reaches out and gives the dog a quick pat on the head.
"There, there. We're going to fix you right up," Shion murmurs.
The dog quiets and Shion pulls a pair of scissors from the supply bag Nezumi had prepared for him.
"Hey, what are you going to do with those?"
"I'm just going to trim back the fur around the wound so I can get a good look at it. His fur will grow back."
"Well obviously, that wasn't what I was worried about. Geez, where'd you find such an oblivious guy, Nezumi?"
As Shion trims the shaggy dog's fur, he can crimson roots snaking away from the wound.
"The infection has begun to spread through his bloodstream. I would say that the prognosis isn't good. Let's hope the salve Nezumi had prepared is worth what he spent on it."
Shion is not convinced the medicine woman's salve is more than whatever plants she found in her backyard ground together. Not likely to be much more than hocus-pocus.
"The progwhatsis? Can't you even speak like a normal person?"
"Can't you tell just from how the good doctor said it? The dog is probably half-dead already."
"I'll do whatever I can for your dog, Inukashi." Shion looks the dogkeeper in the eyes, his gaze steady.
Shion is totally serious. When he says he'll do "whatever he can" for Inukashi's dog, Inukashi feels like that weird guy actually would do anything for the dog.
"Whatever, just do it already. What's up with you anyways?"
Inukashi storms down the stairs and out through the bay doors.
The area around the wound is mostly clear of hair, though Shion wishes he has a way to shave it instead.
He disinfects the wound, and does the best he can to cut around the necrotic flesh. He had no way to know if he was doing it correctly, since he never treated anything more severe than a kitchen accident. All theoretical. Shion is still confident.
He sutures the wound closed expertly - that he had plenty of practice with. All in all, the wound is already looking significantly better.
Nezumi watches Shion's hands with interest. There is a grace to his movements, even as he is sewing together flesh.
Shion hopes his thorough cleaning of the wound will allow the dog to fight the infection on his own if the salve doesn't work.
He slathers the paste onto the dog's wound, feeling like a fool. The dog growls at this. Not at Shion cutting away his flesh or sewing him up, but the placebo-paste. Thankfully, the dog makes no move to bite him.
'I'm sorry,' Shion thinks. 'I wish I had something better, but I don't.'
He bandages the wound to keep the dirt out, and then packs up the supply bag.
"That's all for now. The rest is up to Inukashi and this poor fellow." Shion gives the dog a few light pats on the head. "You just gotta keep your chin up, and keep fighting, okay?"
"Bru-wow," the dog says.
Nezumi clutches his gut, choking with laughter. "Y-you're really g-good with animals, aren't you?"
"What's so funny about that?" Shion is baffled by the sudden outburst of laughter.
"Just something my grandma told me once-that animals... l-l-love...idiots!" Nezumi is fraught with a fresh burst of of raucous laughter.
Inukashi's head pokes up the stairs.
"What the hell you carryin' on about?"
"Beats me..."
Nezumi is threatened by laughter again, but manages to control himself this time. "Children wouldn't understand, so go back to your dogs."
"Actually, Inukashi, I have a couple things to give you first. You'll want to change the bandages, and clean the old salve off. Boil the water first and let it cool down to air temperature. Put on fresh salve, and redress the wound."
Shion hands the jar and a roll of bandages to Inukashi.
"What, that much is good enough already, isn't it?"
"No, the infection has spread beyond the wound now, so you'll need to keep flushing it out. As he gets stronger, he should be able to fight it off."
Inukashi grumbles. "What a pain..."
"If you do this, I'm fairly certain your friend will live, though he might need some time to get his strength back."
"Well..."
"He's counting on you to help him, since he can't do it."
"Even a stupid kid like you can do something simple like boil water and wrap bandages, can't you?" Nezumi smirks.
"Of course I can, I didn't say I wasn't going to do it, did I?" Inukashi gives Nezumi a petulant glare.