Chapter 2 Injuries

"Briinggg"

Kaede awoke to the sound of the phone that morning. "Rintarou-kun! Get the phone." He moaned, not wanting to get up. He looked at the alarm clock next to his bed it wasn't even 9:00.

"Briinggg"

"Damedayo!" he muttered pulling himself out of bed, "who the hell is calling this early on a Saturday? And where is Rintarou?" as he went to the phone he noticed a note lying on the table.

'Went to get something, be back soon - love you, Rintarou' Kaede scowled, "what was so important he had to get up this early?" He thought

"Briinggg!"

"All right, all right!" he said exasperated, picking up the phone "Moshi Moshi". He said into the receiver.

"Are you the emergency contact for Noe, Rintarou?" asked a warm female voice.

"Yes, I am Sumizume, Kaede" Kaede said completely awake now

"This is the Parthenon Hospital in Tokyo, your friend was just brought in"

"Is he alright?" Kaede asked panicking under his calm exterior

"you might want to get down here as soon as you can" and then there was a click.

"Shit" Kaede thought "Damnit Rintarou, what did you do!"

Kaede pulled on some clothes and got a cab to take him to the hospital, asking the driver to step on it. Within a half hour he was rushing into the hospital and ran to the front desk. "I just got a call about a Noe, Rintarou" he said, he had never been so flustered in his life. The woman looked at the register and then gave him a sympathetic look. "You are his family? Poor boy, I don't see things like that everyday, and I work in an ER"

"what do you mean" Kaede said quickly, his heart in his throat. "is he going to be all right?"

"he is in surgery right now, he should be done in a few hours, if you could, please just wait over there"

Kaede sat down in the nearly empty waiting room. The only other person there was a beautiful man with long silver hair and a kitten in his lap. The kitten jumped down from the man's lap when Kaede sat down and started rubbing up against his leg. "get away cat, I am in no mood" Kaede said testily. The man watched the cat and came to sit by Kaede.

"Are you the family of that thin blond boy?" he asked interestedly

"Why do you ask that?" asked Kaede suspiciously.

"Because that kitten really likes you" he said not noticing the suspicion in Kaede's voice "She is a hero that one" he said thoughtfully, "I wouldn't have noticed him in the alley unless she directed me there." Kaede stared at the man, not knowing what to think

"How did it do that?" he asked cautiously

"Well," said the man "I was coming to set up the store, about 8:15, like normal – because we open at 9:00 on Saturdays - when I saw her mewing incessantly. Thinking that she wanted something I went over to her, but she ran across the street. So I shrugged, thought she didn't like people. But then she turned around and mewed again, as if to ask me to follow her. So I did. And that's when I found him laying there, broken, shivering in the red snow nearly completely naked. She sat on his chest and just looked at me as if to ask me why I wasn't helping him – he was unconscious see. So I ran into the store and called an ambulance and brought out a blanket and covered him with it until the ambulance arrived. Good thing I did too, he seemed to be close to hypothermia."

As the man finished his tale Kaede looked down at the cat in wonder. "She really is a hero, isn't she" he said finally.

"Sure is" said the man, "she didn't even want to get of his chest when the paramedics arrived. So we I hoped in the back with them and took her into my lap. Anyway, I hate to leave, but I just wanted to wait here until his family arrived. I have my shop to run. My name's Sohma, by the way. Ayame Sohma. Let me know how he does, ok?" the tall silver haired man held out his card to Kaede, and Kaede pocketed it, nodding silently. "I really am sorry" Ayame said sadly "I don't have any experience with these kinds of things, I wish I got there sooner, though I don't know how much good I would have done, I am not much of a fighter, myself."

"No," Kaede said finally "You did more than enough, thank you" He was trying really hard not to cry now. Ayame left, after resting a comforting hand on Kaede's shoulder for a moment. What Ayame said was roaring through his head. "I found him laying there, broken, shivering in the red snow… naked… unconscious. I'm not much of a fighter" who had done these awful things to his beloved Rintarou? How could they do something so cruel to someone so innocent? Why was he in Shibuya so early in the morning? Rintarou's happy smile flashed through Kaede's mind's eye, and tears began to roll down his cheeks without his permission.

Lost in his thoughts and worries Kaede was surprised when a doctor came to him in the waiting room "Sumizume-san?" he asked. Kaede got up, still holding to the kitten, silently asking the small creature for comfort. "Noe is in the intensive care unit. His injuries are quite severe and he has gone into a coma from blood loss and mental exhaustion. I think the events of today were really mentally, emotionally, and physically taxing on him."

"What injuries?! What events?!" Kaede asked, getting angry now, he didn't like that he was out here not knowing what happened to his beloved Rintarou.

-Flashback-

"Isn't it our lucky day?" The sadistic voice said as Rintarou spun around, dropping the cat as he went "We were just about to leave for the night but, you are so pretty I think we can go a little longer, isn't that right boys?" Six large street yakuza type guys filling in a half circle around him. Rintarou never really had any fighting experience, he tried Karate when he was a kid, but he was so clumsy he would normally hurt himself more than anything else, so his parents pulled him out of it. He regretted that now. As he looked around he saw that one of the gangsters had a baseball bat, and another, a bent pipe with what looked like –Rintarou flinched – blood on it.

The others were carrying other sorts of weapons of similar degrees of creepy, which made Rintarou really just want to run away as fast as he could, unfortunately, there was no where to go. He shrank against the window and wished desperately to disappear. The lead gangster laughed and said "You know, I think I just gave this kid a complement, he should say thank you, shouldn't he?"

"You know, Kazuo, I think you did" the guy with the pipe said smiling wickedly. "What do you think, Kiyoshi?" he addressed another

The guy with the baseball bat – "were those NAILS in it?!" Thought Rintarou – lumbered toward him smiling. The bat swung and Rintarou narrowly dodged it, feeling one of the nails scrape against his cheek, but the guy with the pipe was prepared. The pipe swung up and hit him in the stomach so hard that Rintarou felt a few of his ribs break, and the wind was knocked out of him as he hit the ground. "Hold it, Kudo" said the guy named Kazuo. "we don't want to kill him-" Rintarou's heart lept – "at least, until we have finished teaching him a lesson" Kazuo finished sadistically, and Rintarou's felt his heart pound in his throat.

"There is an alley right there" one guy said, "it will be light soon, we don't want to be seen"

"Thank you, Tetsuya, what would I do without you? You are always watching out for me," Kazuo said. "Kiyoshi, if you please" he said addressing the big guy with the bat. Kiyoshi smirked and grabbed the jacket of the boy on the ground, pulling him off his feet. Rintarou wiggled until his jacket came off and tried to run. The pipe connected with his fleeing back and he returned to the ground, air leaving his lungs again as he hit the icy ground hard. Salt from the ice on the ground got into his wounds and he cried out. Kiyoshi laughed as he grabbed the leg of the still winded Rintarou, dragging him into the alley. Rintarou kicked weakly at the large man, but the grip only tightened. "Now pretty boy, what to you have to say?" Kazuo said once the seven of them where safely in the dark alley next to the shop.

"I'm…so..rry" he managed to choke out between gasps and sobs "Please don't." he whispered after.

"What did you say? Did you just say 'please don't'?" the guys all around him laughed. "That wont do – Tetsuya hold him down – Kiyoshi, don't miss this time" Rintarou felt hands holding him down to the ground, and felt a fierce blow come out of no where, striking his side, a nail piercing through his skin.

"Now lets see if the rest of you is just as pretty" He pulled off Rintarou's coat laughing in pleasure. Rintarou felt his pants rip down the middle so the two legs weren't connected by anything, he then felt his underwear being torn open from the inside. "you are pretty down here, but I cant see up here too well" Kazuo tore apart the inside-out shirt that clothed Rintarou so viciously that there wasn't one scrap of cloth left on the boy's body, exposing the poor skinny boy to the elements. There was still snow on the ground and the cold got into every nook and cranny that was exposed. "tie him up" Kazuo said now. Rintarou felt his hands being tied tightly behind his back, and a piece of sweaty cloth was shoved in his mouth, which he nearly gaged on.

"I want you to watch this," Kazuo said, flipping Rintarou onto his back, "lets teach you some manners, shall we?" Rintarou, being able to see for the first time, saw a shadowy figure looming over his legs, the others were around the rest of him. Rintarou shook his head frantically, kicking uselessly at his captors. They laughed even harder. And without any preamble, Kazuo shoved himself all the way in to Rintarou. Rintarou tried to scream but he couldn't with the gag in his mouth. Kazuo pulled out, then went all the way in again, and again, and again, and finally came, whopping triumphantly, into Rintarou.

"My turn" said one of the others eagerly. "Wait," said Kazuo, "his eyes are closed, why are his eyes closed?" the other five looked at each other warily "FIX IT!" he yelled at no one in particular Rintarou heard a scramble and felt sweaty fingers on his eyelids. Then he saw the guy about to enter him. He tried kicking again but he felt his pant legs get jerked down and a swift blow with the pipe to each leg broke and crippled them. He wiggled, dislocating his shoulders but serving no greater purpose. The guy holding his eyelids also held his head so he couldn't look anywhere but at what was happening at the end of his bare torso. The big man entered swiftly and expanded the opening so painfully that Rintarou nearly passed out. He also pulled out, and then went all the way in, over and over until he came in Rintarou. "Having fun pretty boy?" Kazuo asked sweetly from behind the man who was now doing up his trousers. He switched with one of the guys by at the side of the alley and soon the process started again. And again until all six came into Rintarou. Hot tears streamed from the tortured boy's eyes noiselessly. All he wanted to do was get a present for his boyfriend. Now how would he be able to face Kaede again?

"Lets have some more fun with him" Tetsuya said wickedly after everyone had finished. "Anyone have some water?" someone held a large full water bottle out to him. "Great! Who wants to do the honors?" a large hand grabbed the water from beyond Rintarou's peripheral vision. Suddenly he couldn't breathe, he choked and gasped, trying to draw in air, but someone had pinched his nose. Water filled his lungs even as he tried to find air to breathe and he could feel himself drowning. As soon as he thought he was going to die, it stopped, and he was able to breath again. The cloth was removed from his face and he tried to sit up coughing up water as he went. However, as soon as he could breath for a few seconds without coughing, someone pushed him back down and shoved the wet cloth back in his mouth. "You do it this time" Rintarou heard Tetsuya say to someone he couldn't see. Three more times the process happened, he would have water fill his lungs until he nearly passed out, then they would stop and he would catch his breath again. "Why don't you just kill me?" he finally screamed at his captors, terrified.

"Oh, we will, don't you worry" Kazuo said nastily "but we want to have some more fun with you first, now stop talking" Rintarou felt a fist slam into his mouth and he felt a metallic taste in his mouth. At the same time he felt the cold tip of two knives, one on his back, the other on his torso, ripping his skin open Someone kicked his ribs and he lay doubled up in pain. He felt the smash of a pipe against his face and felt his nose break and his eye swell unnaturally, making his limited vision, even more limited. Rintarou tried to scream again but the wet rag was shoved deep into his mouth. He couldn't make a sound.

Just when the final blow was about to come – from the baseball bat – Kazuo held up his hand and silenced his jeering friends. Sounds of a siren were getting louder. Not a word was said, but the men all fled, Kudo giving one last hasty blow to Rintarou's head, knocking tattered, bleeding boy unconscious.

- End of Flashback -

"He has a punctured lung and 4 broken ribs, along with some internal bleeding and deep external wounds, which we have fixed. His legs were both shattered and his arms were dislocated they have all been set, his skull is fractured and water in his lungs suggest that he may have been water-boarded, we are not yet sure. And there are signs of rape, by at least four people, probably more. " The doctor said grimly "it seems that a group of guys – most likely lower level yakuza – approached him, beat and raped him, then tried to kill him. He is lucky to be alive" Kaede was speechless. Who could do this to his precious Rintarou? "he will heal in time, but the mental scaring will no doubt be significant, that will take a lot more time to heal, and we are going to need to keep him here, at least until he wakes up, and most likely for a good while after that. "

Kaede didn't know what to do. "Can I see him?" he asked

"you may, but the cat cannot go in" the doctor said sternly.

"the cat goes. She saved his life" Kaede said with a fierce look on his face. They glared at each other for a few moments then the doctor sighed.

"fine, but you have to wash it first" Said the doctor, finally conceding. "we don't want any outside germs in there, especially when he is already so compromised."

"fine" Kaede said "is there a place I can wash her?" the doctor led him to the public toilets. And left with a "Just a sec" he came back a minute later with some liquid soap.

"this is the stuff we use for surgeries." He said "it kills more germs, and she looks pretty dirty." He also handed Kaede a small cloth towel. "make sure she is totally clean, ok?" he said finally. And Kaede set to work trying to wash the cat.

Kaede finished bathing the kitten quickly and walked hurriedly towards the ICU, still drying her fur. He passed by room after room, mostly of people who had had surgery in the last 24 hours or so and were either awake, and doing reasonably well, or sleeping peacefully. He walked up and down the ICU three times before finally asking a nurse which one Rintarou was in. she pointed at the one two rooms behind him. Kaede looked in and had to check the name on the door to see if it was really him. He went in and sat down next to his lover and looked at the still body in shock.

Author's notes – I know that a cat would never EVER be allowed in the ICU, but I just had to make an exception for Sakana-chan

Also, if anyone has not tried to wash a cat before, it is the hardest thing humanly possible – for some cats anyway – some cats like water. Haven't decided which Sakana will be. She may just accept it because she is so little