Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel... and I can't think of anything witty or humorous to put here so... on with the story... I guess

I don't personally like this chapter, because I think there is too much dialogue, but whatever...

Chapter 18: I'm the New Cancer

As the two boys ran up the snow covered hill it seemed that the only sound that could be heard was the snow crunching beneath their boots. Satoshi was trailing far ahead of Daisuke, although he seemed to be slowing down as he reached the top, allowing Daisuke to finally catch up to him, both of them panting heavily from the long sprint.

Although Satoshi witnessed it first, both of their eyes settled on a sobbing Riku who was kneeling near Shizuku, who was collapsed on what seemed like dark red snow.

"Riku? What happened?" Daisuke asked right away, although Satoshi didn't stop to ask about questions in which the answers would be meaningless at the moment, he just knew that Shizuku had been hurt, and it was clearly visible that she was still loosing blood at a slow rate.

"Where is the nearest hospital?" He asked while carefully picking up Shizuku, making note to not touch the deep gash that was covered by the sleeve of her coat which was now crimson instead of the original badge color. He could had sworn that they had passed one on the way from the hotel to the museum, but when his mind was racing like this, it was hard to remember the slightest direction.

"I-I think we passed one a couple blocks that way..." Daisuke managed to choke out while pointing somewhere in the west, and as soon as he did, Satoshi made a mad dash in the same direction.

The sun had already disappeared over the horizon as various streetlights started to flicker on, although not one soul occupied the streets that Satoshi, as his hallow footsteps echoed back at him, as if mocking him that he wasn't going fast enough.

He silently prayed that there actually was a hospital nearby, because he knew that he couldn't keep sprinting like this forever, and only had enough energy for a few more blocks, at best. And after that thought, he stopped for a second to catch his breath, which escaped his lips as puffs of crystalized clouds. His heart was pumping so hard that he could hear it echoing in his ears.

At that moment, he felt something wet in between his fingers and felt somewhat sickened when he saw that it was Shizuku's blood. But there was one thing that he didn't understand, and that was how it was still pouring out at this rate, since it should have stopped at least by now.

Wait, I have to focus... He thought, and tried his hardest to recall his surroundings, and after a few moments, suddenly remembered where the local hospital, and dashed across the street, despite the red light and the car a couple blocks away and heading in his direction. He nearly dodged it and received a mouthful of vulgar language from the driver, but barely listened.

Racing across the street, he finally reached a hospital, and within a close proximity slowed his pace just the slightest as the automatic doors opened. In the lobby, there was only one nurse at the desk who was preoccupied by reading some sort of fashion magazine, and didn't notice him at first until he ran up to her and basically shouted with what little breath he had left.

"Excuse me ma'am, but my friend has been hurt." He said, the words coming out quickly, as she finally lifted her eyes from the article about Jessica from Girl's Generation(1) and gasped when she saw Shizuku's arm. In a matter of seconds, she had said something into a telephone that Satoshi couldn't quite make out and a gernie was pushed into the lobby by another nurse.

"Take her to room 3A and get Dr. Lee to look at this girl immediately." She told the second nurse, who in response nodded and took Shizuku away from Satoshi before he could say anything, and was wheeled down a hallway in a blink of an eye.

"Young man..." The nurse said, now addressing him directly. "I'm going to need you to help fill out some information on your friend here while the doctor is with her." And he silently nodded as she took out a small amount of paperwork and started to ask for general information.

Satoshi's POV:

"And you are sure that you don't know the cause of her injury?" The nurse asked me for what seemed the fifth time, and once again I shook my head 'no', although I would have very much have liked to know what had actually happened to Shizuku. My best guess would be that Riku would know, since she was a witness to the whole thing.

"Will I be able to see her soon?" I asked, and the nurse as she review the papers that I just helped her fill out, and hummed a bit to herself with uncertainty. She was about to answer when she looked at my hands and gasped a little bit.

"Oh my! You have blood on you, the restrooms are through that door, and when you come back, there is a waiting room where you may stay until the doctor has finished with her." She told me, which cause my eyes to subconsciously wander to my hands, which in fact, had an amount of dried blood that I had forgotten about since now. I didn't utter another word to her as I followed her instructions to the washroom where I ran the cold water over my fingers in an attempt to wash off the blood that wasn't even my own. A small shiver went down my spine just looking at the liquid, thinking about how she was able to get such an injury, and wondering if it was enough to even kill her.

Master Satoshi, perhaps it would not be a great shame to witness this girl die this way. Krad said, but I decided against listening to him, allowing him to get inside my thoughts was a common occurance, but right now was a time when I especially didn't want to hear the sound of his voice. It was hard to put up a mental block against my other half, and like most times, it proved to be unaffective.

Ignore me you may, but you realize that I am right, a death like this would be better for that girl..." He continued on, and no one would be able to just ignore the type of things he was saying, as I gripped the fossit handle in aggravation for a split second before shutting off the water, causing complete silence in the room. I didn't stay in there long and quickly dried my hands on the thin brown paper wipes and tossed it into the trash bin.

Leaving the restroom, I took note that the hospital was mostly quiet, and seemed to be mostly empty except for a few stray nurses and doctors roaming the hallways. None of them paid any attention to me when I sat down in the empty waiting room. And somehow, the fact that it was so silent here caused me to slightly worry. Perhaps since this is a quiet town, they don't have all the neccissary equipment that Shizuku might need, she looked and felt like she was on the brink of death as it was, and I had no idea if they even had what it is cabaple of keeping her alive.

She would have died eventually, sooner is better than later in my own opinion." And with that comment, I felt my patience begin to finally snap with him.

"I don't want your opinion!" I half-yelled out loud, and silently swore in my head that he had actually gotten to me, and my heartbeat picked up speed and my chest tightened up, causing my breathing to become shallow.

"Satoshi?" I heard an all too familiar voice say, and I picked up my head to see Daisuke, who was comforting a still shaken-up Riku. The two of them sat in the seats across from me, and I looked at the door, somewhat wondering if some others would come in as well, but no one else did.

"Risa and Ayumi went to go tell Sensei what happened..." Daisuke said, and I was starting to feel a bit uncomfertable with the awkward silence that was between the three of two of them looked terribly worried, and had expressions on my face that could somewhat describe what I was feeling. I saw Riku clasp her hands together and lean her forhead against them, as if she was doing some sort of silent prayer.

I still had no idea what had happened to cause the injury, but I could tell that Riku wasn't in any position right now to talk about it right now. When the time came she would have to tell the doctor what had happened, at least, I was pretty such she would be able to do that much. The ticking of a small wall clock echoed throughout the room, and made the mood of the whole situation seem even worse, if that was possible.

"Excuse me..." A new voice said as a man in a white coat entered the room. "The three of you must be friends of Ms... Sakishima, correct?" He said while looking down at his clipboard, and we all nodded in response to his question. He made the motion with his hand in which to follow him, so was got up from our seats and walked down the hallway and into an elevator.

"I'm not the doctor who is in charge of her, but I was told to give you the information concerning your friend." He said, and frequently looked at the report he held in his hands. "She had quite a large gash in her arm, which is going to require some stitches..."

"But will she be alright?" Riku asked, and the doctor gave an uncertain sigh, which concidering had much blood she had lost, was not a good sign.

"It's hard to say, she has a rare blood type, O negative, that we don't have in this hospital, and when she looses that much blood, that means her body isn't getting enough oxygen. We have her set up to an oxygen mask and have been able to stop most of her bleeding, but there is no guarantee..." He said, but almost anything in that message was even close to reassuring. We followed the doctor off of the elevator, and Daisuke looked like he was about to say something, but stopped when we saw another man in a doctor's jacket.

"Which one of you was the one who brought Ms. Sakishima to the hospital?" He asked, and I stepped forward without saying another word. He made the motion for me to follow him into a room, while Daisuke and Riku remained the hall with the other doctor.

"I am Doctor Lee, and I was asked to observe Ms. Sakishima's injury..." He said before we entered one of the rooms, and inside was Shizuku laying down on the bed with an oxygen mask on, and a thick layer of bandages wrapped around her arm. It was on my instinct to rush up to the bed. She seemed to be breathing deeper than before, which could serve as a good sign that she was still breathing.

I didn't bother asking if she was going to be alright, because frankly, I knew that the answer wasn't going to be definite, and since it wasn't going to be, I wouldn't want to hear it.

"Might I ask you, was her arm still bleeding quite a bit when you carried her here?" He asked quite plainly, as it was not a big deal, but I felt a lump start to grow in my throat which refrained me from speaking, so I nodded my head instead.

"I see... Then I may not be incorrect to assume that she has hemophilia(2), it would be quite a rare case, but it does look like the most probable answer." He said while studying the clipboard in his hand a bit longer, jotting down a couple words occasionally, but I had a sort of feeling that he didn't even want to give me the time of day.

And that was the least kind of feeling that I would want to get around the person who is suppose to help Shizuku live.

"You are doing everything you can to help her... right?" I asked inquizitively, and in response, he seemed to scowl at me for a second before looking back at the clipboard, not even giving me an I observed him for a minute, and felt that something about him was a bit familiar, but I knew that I could have never met him before. Something about his black hair seemed rather fake to me, now that I took time to notice, but something about his structure made me feel as if I should know who he was.

After a minute of just standing there without him saying another word to me, I felt that things had gotten a bit too awkward for my liking. So I silently slipped out into the hallway where Daisuke are Riku were waiting, and I knew that they were wondering what was going on, so they didn't even have to ask. But frankly, I didn't have anything to tell them, so I just sat down in one of the folding chairs in the hall.

We all sat in silence, which was what seemed like the common thing today. But really, there was nothing to be said at a time like this. And whatever this pain in my chest was, I knew that I hated it. There was no real way to describe it, except that it felt like worry, that something else would go wrong.

Why is it that you feel such emotions for this girl, Master Satoshi? And that was one question that I didn't want to answer him. Probably because, I wasn't even quite sure of it myself. She had started off as nothing special, just a girl who seemed to keep far too many secrets, and a lack of social skills at that...

You see? Why, she is positively weak, completely unable to defend herself. He said, which for once caught my attention, not to any point that Krad may be trying to make me see, but the previous question that I had almost forgot about.

"How did she get hurt?" I asked out loud, but was looking straight at the wall more than anything else, although I had a feeling that Riku knew that the question was meant for her more than anyone else.

"I-It was my fault..." She stuttered to say, and her voice croaked with a type of sadness that I couldn't really classify any further than guilt. "These guys came up to Risa, Ayumi and me, and Shizuku knocked one of them out with a snowball, but the other one was about to stab me in the chest when... S-she pushed me."

She practically risked her life to save Riku? I thought to myself, clearly if she didn't then Riku would without a doubt died immediately, but then again, pushing her out of the way was almost the same result for standing in Riku's place for her... I couldn't understand why she would do something as dangerous as that, I just couldn't.

"You kids should get back to where ever you came from..." Doctor Lee said, emerging from Shizuku's room, and Daisuke and Riku immediately followed his orders and stood up from their chairs. Unlike myself, who remained seated just the way I was. There was no option of leaving Shizuku behind at this hospital, especially with a doctor who seemed to like giving me the cold shoulder.

"I'm staying, you guys can go." I said, although my focus was really on Lee, who was giving me a type of death glare which burned with hatred. He went back into the room without another word, while Daisuke and Riku took the elevator back downstairs, leaving me alone in the empty hallway.

Feeling a sharp pain on my head, I jolted out of my chair in shock, only to meet the face of the scowling doctor. I had no idea why he would hate me this much, since we had clearly never met before, but I could tell that he didn't like me, whatever the cause may be. Maybe I just didn't look like the right type of person to him, or it was what I was wearing, not that I was wearing anything in particular that would make anyone mad, but you never know.

"Hey Romeo, it's time to wake up." He said, and it finally came to my attention that I had indeed fallen asleep in the hallway, which was strange, because I didn't remember even dosing off, but I apparently did. It felt like he hit me in the head with the clipboard that never seemed to leave his hand, and I could still feel a stinging pain in the back of my head.

"Your girlfriend should be waking up soon, and you want to be there when she does, right?" He told me more than asked, speaking as if it were a rhetorical question. And even through the way he phrased it, I felt a sigh of relief come over me, that she would be alright after all.

"Just make sure that she takes these pills two times a day, and within about two weeks, get those stitches removed from her arm." He said blandly, and handed me a small white bag of what presumably held the prescription of which he was referring to. He went back into the room, and following his previous orders, I followed him inside.

He gathered a jacket and a couple other things that he placed into a bag, and started to go outside, where I was standing in the doorway, somewhat confused by these actions.

"Where are you going?" I asked him, just to receive an annoyed sigh in reply. I would swear that I had never met a more cruel doctor in my life, although he was able to get the job done, as he so claims. My eyes wandered over to Shizuku on the bed, whose arm was now in a white sling and covered with bandages.

"I plan on going home, my work here is done. You may take Ms. Sakishima back to your hotel whenever she is up to it." He told me before brushing past me and out of the room, somewhat still leaving me in a state of confusion. I mean, when you think about it, how could he just leave right now? Just incase something else had happened and Shizuku wasn't alright.

And on top of that, a number of things about this doctor started to seem somewhat shifty in my eyes. Rushing out of the room and into the hallway, I saw that Doctor Lee was already stepping onto the elevator, in which case I ran to interrogate if not just for ten seconds long.

"Why is it that you seem to hate me, I think it's my right to know that much." I said quickly, and held open the elevator door so that it wouldn't be going anywhere. There was nowhere else for him to go, so he would have to answer.

"I have no respect for you, boy." He said with a scowl, and marched right up in front of me, in which case I had to look up, since he was much taller than myself. In all honesty, I was feeling a bit intimidated, but I kept a blank face.

"When she wakes up, she's going to think that you saved her, that much I know... But just let me enlighten you, that all that you were capable of doing was to bring her here so that someone else could help her." He told me bitterly, obviously holding no word on his mind unspoken.

"All I have left to say..." At which time he loosen my grip on the door, forcing me to release it. "Is that Ms. Shizuku would deserve better than the likes of yourself." Was Doctor Lee's final words before the elevator door closed, leaving me on the other side.

On any other case, I would have ran down a stairwell to beat him to the lobby, where I would refuse to let our conversation end on such a mysterious note, but I knew that there was something much more important that needed my attention at the moment.

Walking back to the room, I decided not to let a breath of the experience that I just had with this doctor be known to Shizuku, because that may have caused her to worry, and that would be one of the worst things that should happen to her now. I clenched the white bag in my hand even tighter, and entered the room for what I hoped would be one last time.

Opening the door, I was quite surprised by what I saw. Shizuku was clearly conscious once more, and was trying to get up from the hospital bed, rubbing her forehead and looking around through slightly squinted eyes. She sat on the bed for about a couple second before attempting to walk a couple steps, only to start to stumble.

I quickly reacted and balanced her out before she fell down, grabbing her waist as I felt her lean on me for some support. She then turned around and looked at me, something in her expression seemed somewhat like mixed emotions, one of them was clearly shock, but I wasn't able to identify anything other than that.

"S-Satoshi?" She asked in a stuttered whisper, and I could feel her slightly shaking. "Where am I?"

Before answering her, I sat Shizuku down on the bed, then taking a place right next to her. It then came to my attention that she was only wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and looked as if she was very cold. I made no hesitation to wrap my own jacket around her shoulders, and when she tried to take it off, I held it there by placing my hands on her shoulders.

"You're in the hospital... Do you remember anything of what happened?" And although it took a couple seconds for what seemed like her to gather her thoughts, she finally nodded, but then let her eyes drop to the floor to avoid mine.

"Why... did you do that?" I slowly asked her, and tried to forget about everything else. I just wanted to focus on her for this one moment, when she is so fragile and needs someone with her.

"I-I don't know." Was the first thing she said, and although her eyes looked so depressed, she didn't cry. "I just got scared, and I felt like I had to do something..."

I took hold of her right hand, and looked at it for a moment, how it looked quite small compared to my own. Except, when I looked closer, I could see a faint outline of something across her wrist. Pulling her arm out of my jacket, I felt my eyes widen at the multiple scars that occupied her arm, and just found myself staring at it in sheer silence. Once Shizuku noticed what I was looking at, she made an attempt to quickly pull her arm back, but I caught her wrist before she could.

"What are these?" I asked her, obviously they were scars, but they looked like they had been done by a knife. And considering how they were close to almost fading, it was clear that they weren't recent.

"T-They're from years ago... A-An accident that happened, and I just happen to heal very slowly..." And I could feel her shaking even more than before, as if she was afraid of me.

"Shizuku, did you know you have hemophilia? These cuts from this 'accident' could have easily killed you like today." And based on the shocked look on her face, I could tell that she obviously had no idea of her disease. Very softly, her head landed on my chest, and I could feel her softly sobbing into it, probably from realizing how close she could have been from dying whenever she had been cut by whatever caused her scars.

"Thank you..." She said quietly, still burying her head into my sweater, and I placed my hand on top of her head, holding her just a bit closer.

"For what?" I supposed that she meant for telling her, but I wasn't quite sure what she exactly meant, since those two words seemed to be so very vague. And I wouldn't want to get a wrong message from her.

"For saving me, you carried me to the hospital, didn't you?" And for once, I was at a loss for words, mainly because of the cruel words that Doctor Lee had said to me, and how part of it was already true. I hated that man, but I knew it that he did speak the truth. Maybe I wasn't the right type of person for Shizuku, and yes, I know that she does deserve better.

I decided to be spontaneous, to pretend that everything was perfect, and to just take a risk. I grasped her chin, pulling her away from my now slightly damp sweater, and wiped at her wet cheek with my thumb. I started to lean in, and she started to do the same, except when our lips were barely touching, she started to look at the ground and back away. So I closed the small amount of space between us, pressing my lips against her soft ones, and she placed her hand on the back of my head, pulling me closer.

We separated just a second afterward, and Shizuku was blushing deeply, both her cheeks were bright red with heat, and my heart seemed to be speeding up to a dangerously high rate. I took a deep breath in order to lower it a bit.

How pathetic you can be, wanting a girl as helpless as her... Krad said, putting me more in a mood of anger more than anything else, and it would be a moment like this where I would want him to disappear more than ever. That I could actually give Shizuku the amount of attention and compassion that she deserves, but I couldn't.

"S-Should we go back to the hotel?" Shizuku stuttered and I simply nodded my head. I knew that she would still need help walking since it would be a while for her to fully recover, but I personally didn't mind giving her an extra little help. And yet, her question made me think of another of my own...

How did that doctor know we were staying at a hotel?

A/N: Yeah, I know the title makes no sense, I was listening to the song "There's a Good Reason Why these Tables are Numbered Honey You Just Haven't thought of It Yet" by Panic! at the Disco. NO MORE SUMMER SCHOOL FOR ME!
(1) SNSD forever! Jessicaaaa~ :DDD
(2) Hemophilia is a disease where it takes a very long time for blood to clot and stop flowing from a open wound. It also may cause internal bleeding, usually around the joints. It usually only in affect against males, but there are some very rare cases where females have these defective genes.

Those who don't review will have their names written in my Death Note ^.^