Chapter 57 - Gemini Antares
It was a very motley crew indeed that Sakura had to greet at the hospital that afternoon.
"I don't want to waste any time here, okay?" Karin said. Juugo waved awkwardly behind her with one hand, holding Asaoto with the other.
"Well hello to you too," Sakura said. "You, uh, look… Are you okay, Karin?"
She hadn't seen Karin face-to-face in years. The change was.
Well.
Just a little unsettling.
"Just tired. Can you show me the space you've prepared for Asaoto? I figure the faster I get you debriefed about him, the better."
"Sure…" Sakura looked around. "Oh, uh, I think I can handle myself from here on out, guys," she told the rest of the team. "I appreciate the help."
"Mom, you know I still want to help, no matter what," Sakari said.
"Sakari-chan, you should listen to your mother. Go… get some dinner or something, okay?" Karin said.
"…sure, sounds great! I'll see you later, Asaoto-kun, okay?"
"Bye-bye, Sakari-nee," Asaoto replied, waving at her from his blanket.
"Keep us informed of what happens," Hajime said.
"I will, I will," Sakura said.
"I'll be coming in tomorrow, at any rate, Sakura-sensei," Jimichi said.
"Come on, let's go, okay?" Karin said, lowly.
So they went.
"Honestly, Karin, are you all right?" Sakura said, further down a hallway. The wing she had chosen for them was on the first floor. For a reason. "You sure you don't want to get some rest first?"
"This first. Then rest. Jimichi-kun did tell you that I insist on sleeping at the hospital, right? In case something happens while I'm here."
"Of course, he told me everything," Sakura said. "I set up a room on the same floor as Asaoto and Juugo so-"
"Good, good, that's perfect," Karin said. She almost looked like she was limping as she walked.
Karin had brought photocopies of all of Asaoto's charts, all of Juugo's charts, and she carried them with her in a canvas satchel. Juugo carried her other luggage.
Karin took them out of the bag and handed them to Sakura while they were still walking. "Here. Though I suppose you'll want to check him out first and foremost."
"Him?"
"Asaoto." Her voice was a sigh.
"Oh! Yes, absolutely. It'd be nice to get something current," Sakura said. "Do you want me to take you to his room first or-"
"Room first. Then we'll examine him, okay?"
"Well okay then."
Karin's room, to her relief, was directly next door to the one that had been prepared for Juugo and Asaoto.
"So he did tell you to give them a room together, thank goodness…" she sighed. "I was afraid you'd try to separate them."
"Well… the only danger would be if Juugo-san had an episode in Asaoto-kun's presence, but we have staff on constant patrol and-"
"Oh I would never, I would never, I wouldn't ever hurt him, I swear, I'd run right out of there if I ever started to lose control…" Juugo was starting to mumble.
"Juugo-san, I didn't mean to imply anything-" Sakura began, but she found herself interrupted.
By Asaoto.
"Daddy, it's okay, I know you'd never hurt me, it's okay…" He put small, comforting hands on his father's collarbone.
His voice was very young and very quiet but it carried a sweet solemnity that Sakura rarely found in boys twice, three times his age.
Juugo's face calmed, visibly.
"At any rate," Karin said, "you made the right decision, okay?"
They unpacked, quickly.
"There's an examination room just down another hall we can use," Sakura said. "Juugo-san, you can stay in here if you want."
"No, I… let me carry him."
"Daddy, I can walk."
"Asaoto…"
"Asaoto, let your father carry you. Okay?" Karin said. Her voice was strangely soft.
"Okay, Daddy, you can carry me, then."
In that moment, Juugo held him just that little bit tighter, closing his eyes with the embrace.
He set the boy down on the examination table a few feet and a few minutes away, blanket and clothes and all, and tapped his fingers together nervously.
"Juugo, you can step outside while we work, okay?" There was a knowing gentleness to Karin's face, and it was strange how suddenly it had come upon her. "We won't take very long."
"Okay… Asaoto, I'll be right here, okay? I'll be just outside this door…"
Asaoto touched his father's arm as he left. "It's okay, Daddy. I'll be good."
Juugo left.
"…he gets so nervous whenever I have to examine Asaoto. It's better not to risk anything," Karin said, as if it were an explanation.
"But I won't cry, Mommy. I promise," Asaoto said, looking up at Karin with big, water-green eyes.
"'Mommy…'?" The way Sakura said it was far less accusatory than Hajime.
"Am I not a'pposed to call you that here…?" Asaoto said, whispering, lowering his head into the blankets.
"No, dear, you can call me whatever you want," Karin said. She gave the boy a little kiss on the forehead. "We're going to take off your blanket now, okay? It's going to be a little cold but I'll try not to take long."
"Okay," Asaoto said.
Sakura was silent.
It took a shift back into Karin's sharper mood to get her to speak. "Well go on, go get a chart started for him or something. For your records?"
"Oh, right."
Sakura had to mentally shake herself a little. The way that Karin could shift her moods so quickly was downright jarring.
Then again, one would have to have heart of stone not to feel some sort of pity towards Asaoto. Even Sakura, who only knew about his condition through vague terms and telephone calls, felt her heart twisting just looking at his emaciated body.
It was worse when they had actually unclothed him, to check his heart rate, his meager blood pressure. His skin seemed little more than a bare film stretched over his skeleton, and he couldn't stop trembling. But the boy remained unblinking, though vaguely sad, as Karin discussed her modes of treatment thus far. In front of him.
For a six-year-old, he seemed to have a remarkable understanding of his situation.
"So far I haven't been able to isolate whatever causes these attacks, if it's an enzyme or a hormone or something else," Karin explained. "I'm getting close. Drawing blood during or immediately after an attack might be best, since that's how, well, we discovered the cause behind Juugo's own transformations. Problem is, him living away with Juugo…"
"If anything happens, Karin, we'll be sure to draw blood and have it analyzed," Sakura said. "And, of course, I'll send everything along to you."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Karin said, though her voice was not terribly grateful. "I really wish I could stay and continue dealing with him myself, but I can't be here more than a few days, you understand."
"Yeah, I understand."
"I have patients back home waiting on me and—no offense—but I'd rather not risk having anything happen to the little one while I'm here, if I can help it. I've had too many close calls for comfort."
"You mean Asaoto-kun?"
Karin's expression was tired as she looked at Sakura, over the top of her glasses. "No, not him. The one I'm having."
"Wait, you mean you're…?"
Sakura's eyes flitted to Karin's belly, and back to her face, for just the slightest moment.
"Yep."
"Oh, I… should have noticed. Congratulations," Sakura said.
Feeling slightly ashamed that she had mistaken the swelling for normal fat.
"Thanks," Karin said, softly.
But then again, considering Karin's size…
"How far along…?"
"Seven months. Almost eight."
"Wow, you're… really getting far, there. I kinda noticed you were, uh, having a little difficulty getting around."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be traveling if I had the choice. Your daughter is remarkably persuasive, though."
Asaoto was rubbing his thin fingers against each other, waiting, patiently. He was starting to shiver quite severely.
"Oh, I'm… sorry, did she force you to come?"
"No, it was my decision," Karin said, sighing. "Besides, she said it herself. This is a good opportunity for us to discuss our, ah. Findings. Face to face."
"Findings…?" A pause. "Oh. Oh! Those. Yes, well, we can cover those when you're more rested."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Karin said, actually sounding like she meant it, this time.
"Mommy, I'm getting kinda cold…" Asaoto said.
"Ah, well, we're done here, aren't we?" Karin said, quickly. "Got everything you need written down?"
"Oh! Yes, yes, sorry, there, let's get you dressed again."
"Thank you, ma'am," Asaoto replied.
Sakura went to get Asaoto's blanket, from the other end of the table. It had been neatly folded, out of habit.
And it was in seeing the boy pull on his t-shirt.
That she noticed something.
"…Karin?"
"Yes?"
"What's that?"
"What's what?"
Sakura approached the boy carefully. "Asaoto-kun, hold still for a moment," she said.
"Okay."
His hair was very thin, an almost transparent white, but it still managed to cover the marks.
Almost.
She hadn't even noticed when she was checking his heart, earlier. But she was not looking at his neck then.
She was now.
And there, she saw it. A red ring, like a fresh bite, on the back of his neck.
"There, do you see it?" Sakura said.
"See what?"
"This ring of discoloration here."
"…what of it?" said Karin, quietly.
"How long has he had these?"
"As long as I've known him, why?"
The cold waters of realization started tumbling from her head into her chest.
She had seen those same marks on.
Yakata's neck.
And something tickled the back of her mind, a memo, a photograph, freckles on the back of the neck and a scar on the left shoulder blade.
Kiine.
"I need to check something." She left the table and went rummaging in a drawer for a needle, a vial.
"Sakura-"
Sterile pads, gauze, a bandage. "Asaoto-kun, I'm going to have to draw a little blood from you, all right? It's going to hurt a little bit, like a tiny pinch."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad…" Asaoto said, with a glass smile.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" Karin said.
"Just," the needle went in, "testing a hunch," and came back out again, and Asaoto's blood, dark red, had filled the vial. She covered the puncture mark with the gauze, with the bandage, but the skin had already sealed up. "Karin, watch him, I'll be right back."
"No, I'm coming with you," Karin said. She followed Sakura as she left the room. "J-Juugo, go inside and watch Asaoto, okay?"
Juugo was more than happy to.
Sakura was heading for the labs.
"Sakura, please, just tell me what you're doing, okay?"
"I'm checking something."
She found a microscope, pipette, slides, solution.
"Checking what?"
Blood, sandwiched between two slides.
And under the microscope.
There.
"…your cells are in his blood, Karin."
"Wh-what?"
"Here, take a look yourself." Sakura stepped away from the microscope.
Her heart was racing.
Karin looked.
"Th-that's impossible," she said.
"Karin, those are the same cells that were… that were in Yakata's blood, in Taki Kiine's blood…"
"How did you think to check…?"
"I saw those same markings on the back of Yakata's neck, and Kiine, and I thought, maybe there was a…"
"Maybe there was…?"
"…a connection between them."
Karin's breathing got heavy and fast. "Oh, oh… no…"
"Karin, what do you think this-?"
Karin was already leaving the lab. Sakura had to follow.
She found her sitting on a bench in the hallway outside, gasping for air. She had a hand on the base of her stomach, as if she were nauseous.
"Karin, are you okay?"
"It… it can't be, not Asaoto…"
Sakura sat down next to her. "Karin, please, calm down, who-"
"He can't have given him to Juugo, that's…"
"Karin-"
"Or maybe somebody else and—no, not him…!"
"Karin, please-"
"Asaoto can't be one of them…!"
And suddenly, for Sakura.
Things started clicking into place.
"…you don't mean to say that you think Asaoto-kun is…?"
Like Yakata.
Like Kiine.
A clone.
The youngest yet.
Sakura's suppressed fears, cold and slithering, began to rise in her stomach.
"…no wonder, just… no wonder. Juugo was so close to him, they had been so close, so of course he might…"
Karin, unable to bend over, leaned back against the wall and covered her eyes with her hands.
"…how could I not have seen it…?"
Sakura decided, wisely, to wait until later to discuss their findings.
Karin needed.
To rest.