I'm back. Updating should be easier for me now sense I got my laptop back. Now I can work on it more frequently than I used to. I should've tossed this in there at the beginning but all my stories are un-beta'd. I try my best to proof read, but this chapter I didn't because I have this major migraine right now. So I only typed the chapter up. Shout outs to my lovely reviewers Jess, Samayori, Rowan XX, You Me and Obsession, and Sunset siren curse. Sweet now disclaimer song chapter! Enjoy. Song is Breath Me by Sia
DISCLAIMER I OWN ONLY THE PLOT EVERYTHING ELSE BELONGS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. I MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS!
Help, I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame
Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me
Ouch I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah I think that I might break
I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe
Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me
Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me
Takano slowly became aware of the uncomfortable sensation in his back and neck. He opened his eyes quickly finding the reason, he hadn't moved at all during the night and he had gotten stiff. Sitting up he spared a glance towards Ritsu's face, knowing it would be to much to hope that he would wake up and see those beautiful emerald eyes glaring playfully at him or having a concerned or annoyed look in them. As expected, there wasn't a single change, Ritsu hadn't moved a centimeter last night. His pale complexion stood out against the stark white sheets. There was no trace of emotion on the face. Takano wondered briefly if seeing the face contorted because of pain or that scary peaceful look he got in the car would be better than the blank face.
Standing up slightly he felt the first pangs if hunger. In last night's excitement he had forgotten to get something to eat. Checking his watch quickly he saw that it was almost nine at night and they had arrived around one in the after noon. Figuring that he would here about any changes in Ritsu's condition when they were able to alert him. He headed down to the cafeteria which was going to close in an hour or so. On his way to the cafeteria he made a phone call to , he had gotten the number because sometime after arriving at the hospital he had asked Kisa to get the number belonging to . Kisa had pulled through and sent it to him in surprising speed. He had meant to only take a short nap and call Ritsu's mother afterwards but that hadn't worked out as well as he thought it would.
After a few short rings a female answered on the other side. " speaking. May I ask who's calling?"
"Takano, editor-in-chief of Marukawa's Emerald department. We talked earlier concerning your son." He said properly, leaning against a wall.
"Oh yes! I remember!" cried. "How is Ritsu?"
He inhaled and exhaled, briefly wondering if the nurses already called when they got a free moment. His question was answered with 's next words.
"The hospital staff informed us of his condition. Sadly we can't seem to get away from this meeting. We are trying our hardest, but your in the industry and you know how the people are."
"Don't we all?" He agreed. "So you don't think you'll be able to come to the hospital then?"
"Its very unlikely." She sighed. "Will you keep us posted on his condition Takano-san?"
"Sure." He complied.
"Thank you, I'm sorry if this is a bother to you."
"Don't worry about it. He's my subordinate I should've paid more attention to him. He wasn't in the right state to be alone." He said honestly.
"I just can't believe he would be so reckless and not check the label before he took them!" said, irritation and worry in her voice.
"Neither can I." Takano said. Eyebrow twitching in surprise. How can they still not make the connection even if they aren't on the closest of terms?
"Well, I have to go now. Bye." The line clicked off.
Takano walked into the small cafeteria. They food wasn't that good, but it was edible and that was all he really needed at the moment. There were a few other people in the dinning area with him and he assumed that they were here because the person they were here with was in either Emergency or long term care. A solum faced doctor came in, he looked older and worn out. He walked to a cluster of people, takano guessed that it was a family. The doctor said something to them and they all got up. A young child with the group was whimpering, as if she knew what sort of news was about to be delivered.
Not able to stand the atmosphere Takano threw away his left overs and put the dishes on the conniver belt and headed back to Ritsu's temporary room. He reached the door and when walking inside he heard a female call out.
"Hold the door please."
He held open the door and moments later he heard the soft clicking of heals on tile as the female doctor walked into the room. Looking at the doctor her realized that it was Doctor Felker from before.
"Right, so no changes that you've noticed?" She asked checking her notes electronically.
"Not unless they happened when I was in the cafeteria." Takano answered.
The doctor nodded expectantly. "May I ask you some questions?"
"Sure."
"We did some blood work to determine what exactly caused this because healthy people don't just suddenly go comatose for no reason, I hope otherwise that could be a problem." She joked with the last part, Takano silently thanked her for trying to keep a normal atmosphere. She continued. " Well, anyway the blood work came out with high traces of antidepressants. The amount is lethal! Onodera-san is lucky to be alive."
Takano let out a quiet growl, Doctor Felker heard it however and quickly went back to her explanation. "So my first question is, Were you aware that he was prescribed these drugs?"
"No, I wasn't until I saw the bottle." Takano answered.
Doctor Felker made a note. "Second question, Did you know that Onodera-san was suffering from depression?"
"No. I'm his boss and a friend. Why would I know that?" Takano snapped, the stress finally getting to him.
The good doctor eyed him. "Right. A trusted friend then. Third question. Has in the past had any suicidal thoughts or actions?"
Takano watched her carefully. He knew that she was aware of the connection, unlike any doctor before her. She was good at what she did. She might even know if he lied. So he made the most honest and vague response he could muster. " Well I'm not sure of the times between my senior year in high school when we attended the same high school which wasn't very long and when he came to work for me, but what I am sure of is that he wasn't suicidal, and don't you think that if he was he would've gotten treatment for it along with the depression, or that someone would notice?"
"You have a point, but the dates are bothering me." Doctor Felker mumbled.
" Isn't there a day when you aren't on your peak because of something, and its just that date? Like some people always lose one of their socks on the third day of the month. Maybe something tramtic happened and he was distracted at the time of the issue." Takano suggested, being as vague as he could be.
Doctor Felker chewed on the end of her pen, giving the matter serious thought. She kept reading her notes over. Sighing in resignation. "Alright, but I want you to be aware, even if I think these things are bad for him due to certain side effects, I can't take him off of them permanently you'll have to talk to the therapist that prescribed them. Should the therapist refuse to revoke the script if the situation comes to it then I want you to contact me and I'll talk to him. But when he leaves here then you should keep and eye on him from now on."
She gave him a hard look. Making Takano want to step back, the doctor was fierce when she was determined. Takano nodded though to affirm her command, because that's what it really was. Takano also knew that she didn't by his story about Ritsu but she didn't pressure him, knowing that it would accomplish nothing. Also another thing to add to the list of things he liked about her is she said when he get out not if he gets out.
Before walking out she called to him. "If you need anything don't hesitate to push the nurses aid button, or you can call for me or my head nurse Chiho she's the one bouncing around in the pink nurse uniform with a bunny pin. Trust me you can't miss her. I'll be back."
Takano watched her leave, once again the strange feeling of loneliness at her sudden departure. Looking over at where Ritsu was laying he sighed. There wasn't a TV in the room because he was surrounded by the sterile air and silence you could only get in a hospital. He was about to send a text to Hatori when he realized the time, thankfully it was the end of the cycle and he wasn't going to have to deal with a comatose Ritsu and the artist not making their deadline, what was it with them anyway, was it some sort of code to not finish or have some sort of horrible issues right before the dead line. It seemed like it was always this way. I wonder if literature is any different? Takano asked himself.
The silence seemed to be pressuring him to do something to say something. He steeled his resolve.
†††††††
Ritsu was stuck. Well, not in the physical sense at least. He was slowly regaining his hearing into the physical world, all his other senses where dead to him. At first it was this slow thumping sound that he realized was his heart, still beating strong, but not as strong as it used to. The next thing to hear was different pitches, he couldn't make out the words but he could tell that people were talking one male one female, he figured sense there was a high pitched noise and a low one. The male, or the low pitch, sounded familiar and if he could move his face he would've furrowed his brow in concentration. He was now able to hear noises like a heart rate monitor beep and the sound of a door opening and closing, the scraping of a chair across the floor. He heard a soft exhale.
The low pitch was about to talk. In his hazy mindset he wonder where he was. Now the low pitch was talking.
"Ri..su" It said. He heard only a few syllables. But low pitch knew his name, which meant that the knew each other.
He focused everything on the ear that was closest to the low pitch to make out the words. "I don't know if you can hear me."
Ritsu wanted to alert the voice that he could but he could only hear at the moment, but he did start to feel cold.
"I want you to know, even though I told you this before, I love you. I have sense you confessed your love to me ten years ago."
The words started to make bells ring but he couldn't place them with an event.
"I never stopped loving you, I can't lie to myself anymore. I want you to know that I'm sorry that I was the cause of all your pain for all these years. Had I known..." The voice trailed off.
He was getting the faintest stirrings of a memory but he couldn't recall it and the over whelming cold sensation was getting hard to ignore. He wanted to shiver but he couldn't his body felt like lead. So he could move! He just didn't have any strength left.
This made his mind think faster. His heart instead of getting stronger with his return to the waking it was getting weaker. He was panicking, somehow he knew he had to fight this.
He heard the voice speak again. "Ritsu?" It was hurried and concerned.
His heart was going at a deadly crawl now. He was trying to make it beat faster.
Again "Ritsu? Are you alright?"
Dammit he was not all right! How could the voice not be able to tell the slow pace of his heart! "Ritsu hang on! I'll get a nurse!" The voice was panicked now. He heard fast footfalls and the slamming of a door being opened and a "I need help in here!"e
He heard more footfalls and people yelling things he didn't understand all he knew in this swirling abyss of cold, near the place where his hand should be so he was assuming it was his hand, there was a small source of heat. Subconsciously he knew that it was the voice but he wasn't sure he was going to like the answer of who the voice really is.
He attention soon got diverted when there was a loud beeping and the rushing got more frantic. He felt what little strength he had drain. In one lest effort he summoned all he had to give his heart a boost, which the monitor was going off because the heart beat was so faint, and felt it slowly pick up the pace it was helped with a sudden jolt of electricity. When he was sure that his heart wasn't going to give out on him. He let himself fall back into the dreamless slumber.
The entire time he had never opened his eyes. Never saw the pure fear printed blatantly on his bosses face. He also didn't see the relief once the ordeal was over. But he knew that there was still the slightly warmer area near his hand.
Dun Dun Dunn~! Not really. So what did you all think? Give me a message if there is a spot of grammar that is driving you nuts, I won't mind and I'll fix it when my migraine is gone. Now off I go~!~IF