Indeed, Akari was awake. Her hospital cot creaked in confirmation following Jin's observation––not that he needed it. He could easily tell apart the various breathing patterns of those in stages of sleep and wake (and even those in-between). It was an acquired skill––one he used to regularly monitor the consciousness of his patients. And to occasionally frighten them.

Akari, having been awake long enough to hear everything, clasped her hand over her mouth. He knows I'm awake? He KNOWS? Still startled, she stole a few more thoughts: But what was he talking to Toby about? Attempted suicide? The words resounded in her mind. Toby… did he once live a stressful city life? One that caused him to go over the edge?

Jin, with the stealthiness of specter, appeared beside her cot and stared down his nose at her. Akari didn't know the nature of the opinions held behind those cold eyes of his, but they caused her to gulp. "I… I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she said, knowing that it only sounded like she was making excuses. "I simply wanted to avoid Toby for today."

Jin pushed up his glasses, causing them to reflect secretively, like the one-way mirrors in an interrogation room. "Is that so?" he asked. "Why is it, I wonder, that you're avoiding him? Has he been bothering you again?"

"Th-that's…"

"At any rate, I guess you have information to hold over his head now. How fortunate."

Akari didn't like this assumption that she––in her desperation––would resort to blackmailing someone. Only Jin would do such a thing. He HAD done such a thing (and to her no less)! Her tongue was ready to lash out this fact, but she held it in favor of delivering a passive-aggressive remark right back: "In the future, Doctor, try to remember that curtains block views, not voices."

Nodding at her, Jin smiled––as if she were a mildewy fountain spewing forth stale brilliance––and then answered, "I see. Thank you, Akari, for your sound advice."

With an irate growl, Akari slid off the cot and to her feet. Truthfully, the pun went right over her head, but she was still rightfully offended by his patronizing attitude. "Well it's been real nice hitting my head, Doctor!" she huffed; "Our visit this time was ALMOST bearable. All because I slept through most of it!"

Jin nearly laughed. Snorting into his hand, he immediately cleared his throat and made it sound as if he had only coughed. It was important to hide his joy around her, because he didn't want her to know how he enjoyed her company.

Akari, remembering the usual nature of their visits, reached behind her back to search her rucksack (and to pull out a herb for ceremoniously throwing at his face, no doubt). But it wasn't there. Her rucksack was GONE.

The girl searched her person with monkey-like confusion, and for a moment, Jin thought she was going to scratch her head and beat her chest in frustration.

"If you're looking for your rucksack, it's at your house," Jin said. "It was left behind."

"Left behind?" Akari parroted. Her wide eyes narrowed with distress; she needed that rucksack. "But I… I didn't deliver that herb to you today…" She patted at her pockets and searched, as if she ever actually stored anything in THERE.

"It's fine. Forget about today, you passed out. The clinic is closing so you should go home and get some rest."

"I'll deliver the herb… I promised! I'll bring it to your house––"

"––No." Jin looked apprehensive. "If you pass out again, what will I do? It'd be troublesome."

"But…"

"Go home. You've been in bad health and constant trouble these days, and I'm beginning to rethink this all," he said. "I've put too much weight on your shoulders, which was a bad move… considering how they're already burdened with the carriage of your sloshy head."

Akari's eye twitched. "Doctor Jin is so kind to think of me," she said forcedly. "But I would never go back on the promise I made to him… because he's helped me a lot!" Though she said this, she truthfully meant the exact opposite. She meant that he was an abusive, condescending dillweed, and that she would instantly betray him if nature ever allowed so. Also, she only ever spoke in the third-person when she was VERY angry.

It was a mystery as to whether Jin caught on or not. Walking away to the window, he solemnly stared out it––as he was plagued with deeper thoughts (and apparently just liked staring out windows). "I shouldn't be so hard on you," he said. "Not with what you live with. Your weakened state, your freakish body, the secrets it creates, and the crushing loneliness of it all. It is truly a horrible curse."

He spoke as if he actually knew what that all felt like.

But how could he? He was human, a respected doctor, and UNFAIRLY blessed with beauty. Akari clenched her fists and fought to relax her lungs––because if she didn't––she was certain that they'd explode and turn her nostrils into erupting flamethrowers. "It. Is. Not. A curse," she metered out shakily. "It is how––I was born. It was NOT a mistake!" After filling with enough air and resentment, Akari finally lost it. "My parents loved each other very much!" she shouted, raising her fists and fighting the urge to pummel Jin. "VERY MUCH. I was wanted. I'm thankful I can say this––because not many can say the same thing… because they're not as fortunate as I am! That's right… Mama said, I was born from love!" Akari stamped her boot so hard––the floor board imprinted. "And being a kappa isn't bad! It's NOT a curse. I won't be disgusted with myself any longer… Living is a miracle, because everyday it allows me to get stronger!"

Jin came closer to Akari, close enough that her fists were almost at his chest. It was as if he were pushing her to hit him. "That's simply foolish," he said, his words made her heart fall. "But I can't blame you for tricking yourself," he went on. "However… I don't believe that living, and being at the mercy of nature, is always the miracle that everyone makes it out to be. Sometimes, it is part of the curse of having an abnormal body."

Akari shrank back, the centers of her eyes dissolving with rage. "So you think that sometimes, people, or creatures like me, should just be put out of their misery?" Her voice quieted, hitting the calm but unstable middle ground between emotional extremes. "You really think that my quality of life is so low? You really think I'm deformed?"

After being called 'spawn of pond scum' by people for so long, Akari's outrage built at any similar insult. She felt she was an ordinary person, not a freak of nature.

"You are abnormal," Jin answered, "still, I can respect that."

"Wha… what's that supposed to mean?" Akari withdrew her fists and stepped back.

Overnight, you've changed the way I look at everything, Jin thought, resisting the urge to hold her; instead, he pushed up his glasses to hide his eyes. And I think I understand it now. I'm not human anymore. Everything about me became disintegrated into a raw state... This affection must be hurting you. After one hundred years of disuse, his heart became jagged metal and now he couldn't use it without causing pain.

"Never mind, it's useless to explain," Jin said, overwhelmed by awkwardness. "In truth, I hate seeing you in trouble. It's a burden, and I want to stop all that." For you. More than anything now, he wanted her to come to him to ease her stress, but his words were jumbling up and coming across as rudeness.

"I don't understand ANYTHING you're saying," Akari yelled. "It's like you think I'm so weak and lowly! But I don't need that kind of sympathy. If you can't stand seeing me be so pathetic, then I'll live my own life without EVER burdening you again!"

He held his jaw solemnly. He had failed to reach her––he had sent her his feelings, but she was out of range.

"And I swear," Akari said, "I will keep getting stronger! Do you know what a kappa is? A demon! Something from legend!"

Jin paused. "What?" he ejected.

"And now, I'll become a hermit river goddess just to show you," Akari went on; "And then when I'm powerful enough to swallow up this whole town with a torrent of water––but of course I won't, because I really like this place––I'll ask you again, just who's at the mercy of nature!" And at that, she ran out of breath from her long spiel of gobbledygook and stomped out the door.

It was a relief once Akari was gone, for Jin could laugh as freely as he wanted to. He laughed and grinned with pure confusion and amusement, which was a rare sight (as rare as a king fish), that he almost collapsed. "Hermit river goddess," he repeated to himself, breaking back into glorious laughter. "What kind of random and ridiculous claim is that?" Any other of her position would strive to become a smiling and angelic martyr chained to a pedestal, not a fierce and wild demon on a megalomanic ascension to godhood.

He realized how much he loved this girl.

With his thoughts abruptly turned to Toby and Gill, Jin's eyes dimmed. Though he always had all the time in the world, he suddenly felt like he was running out of it.