Chapter III: Every Second Counts
Tick
Tick
Tick
Mori looked over to his left at the factory issued clock that sat on the wall. It read 20:04. Four minuets past the agreed time he was to expect his security guard.
He's late. The young doctor grumbled to himself as he continued checking off his list of antibiotics. It only took one conversation with Natsume for Mori to finally give into his mentor's advice of hiring a bodyguard; one that the old man insisted he'd hire for him. Just more evidence to prove to Mori that as much as Nastume goes out of his way to care for the young doctor, the aged gentleman did not trust him. When Natsume came to visit Mori once more, it was to announce that he had found the perfect candidate for the job. Other than the date and time as to when his first day would be, Mori learned little about the man that Natsume hired other than he was a gifted with years of experienced. It wasn't until Natsume left that Mori tried his hardest to dig into the bodyguard's identity. Even his name was impossible to find with the little facts that Natsume gave him. He knew the old man did it to mess with the young doctor. Teasing him by withholding information was his favorite way and it annoyed Mori to no end.
As the minutes continued to pass by, Mori's irritation grew under his cool exterior. Give it to Natsume to hire the worse bodyguard imaginable. He was probably some promising lieutenant that turned to booze after getting an early discharge and Natsume felt sorry for him. Dumping me with one of his strays to keep the chump from ruining what little he has left in his life. I'd be better off with a nurse.
"I'm here for Dr. Mori Ougai."
Mori turned around and was surprised to see a man not much older than him looming in his doorway.
Where the fuck did he come from? Mori thought.
"Have you ever considered knocking first?" Mori went back to his checklist; feigning indifference.
"Who knocks in a clinic?" The man answered as he stepped over the threshold, looking around the cramped waiting room. A small row of chairs were pressed up against the wall. There were two doors on either side of the room. One to the operation room and the other to the doctor's office which held his desk and most likely a good amount of drugs that any addict would love to get their hands on. "He told me it was small but not this small. You sure you need a bodyguard?"
"Well that depends whenever the bodyguard arrives." Mori tucked the clipboard under his desk. "He's late."
"That clock on the wall is ten minuets too fast."
"And how would you know that? You keeping a grandfather clock under those drapes?" Mori chuckled as he looked the newcomer up and down. Fukuzama sized him up as well as he walked towards the dark haired man slowly.
"I don't know what's worse," Fukuzama began. "Are you too young to be considered an accomplished doctor? Or too old to be playing one?"
"Consider me as both." Mori smiled. He held out his hand. "Mori Ougai. I was the Unit Chief Medic in the National Guard Infantry Unit 356." Fukuzama shook his hand with a strong grip. Mori responded back with an even tighter hold.
Fukuzama guessed that the doctor was around his age. Maybe a few years younger judging with the way he moved and how expressive he was towards him. He has straight jet black hair that hung just above his shoulders which he parted in the middle. Mori stood a touch shorter than Fukuzama. He could tell the doctor had money considering how tailored his doctor's overcoat was cut. It was tailored perfectly to emphasis his sharp shoulders but the swordsman could tell that it was a touch too big on him. Natsume confided in Fukuzama that the doctor was overworked and he saw that now. The coat, as perfectly tailored as it was, hung on him a little too big and his eyes, though animated, looked exhausted. His eyes though. They were the first thing that caught Fukuzama's attention. Amethyst eyes that calculated his every move. While Mori teased and smiled; his eyes cut right through the young swordsman. They were cold and hid a cruelty behind them. Fukuzama could sense Mori was deviously spinning traps for him the moment he stepped into the clinic. Something whispered in the back of his mind to not trust this man. Natsume, what the hell do you see in this doctor?
"Unit 356 was kept at the front lines for a long time during the worst of the war. I'm glad to see someone made it out alive."
"Sounds like you were well informed of our infantries' positions. I take it you were higher up in the ranks during the war?"
"That's classified." Fukuzama stared down at the floor.
"Well you're going to be boring." Mori pouted as he released Fukuzama's hand quickly as if throwing it away.
"If you wanted to hire someone to entertain you, maybe you should have hired a pretty little nurse." The swordsman scoffed.
"Trust me, I would have. But you know Natsume." Mori looked over his shoulder as he opened the door to his office.
"Oh do I." Fukuzama followed but at a safe distance.
"And how did you come to know our Natsume?" Mori placed his clipboard on his desk and turned to face his bodyguard as he sat on the edge of the heavy wood.
"Probably the same way you met him. He came to me." Mori crossed his arms. So far he wasn't liking any of Fukuzama's answers. None of them. Nothing to give himself away. He was closed up tighter than an oyster. Mori liked a challenge but usually he enjoyed torturing his way to the truth. Unfortunately the general rule was to not torture the bodyguard you agreed to hire from your mentor.
"Well..." Mori began looking at his guest up and down; hoping it would intimidate him. "I can tell you're gonna be a riot. Won't tell me your military experience, your relation to Natsume. Can you at least tell me your name?"
"You were the one that hired me." Fukuzama crossed his arms as well; mirroring the young doctor. "Shouldn't have you done your research into your staff."
"We both know you're not working for me because I'm not the one paying you. Natsume hired you. He's the one paying you of course. Probably to keep a closer eye on me."
"And what are you doing that would cause Natsume to want to keep a closer eye on you?" Fukuzama didn't take his cold steel eyes off of Mori. They were as sharp as the sword he kept hidden beneath his yukata. Mori chuckled.
"Well you'll have to stick around long enough to find out." Even Fukuzama couldn't hide his grin as he shook his head away from from Mori.
"My name is Yukichi Fukuzama. Natsume told me that you're running this clinic in hopes to help any wounded that are injured during these latest terrorist attacks. It sounds very noble but I'm getting the sense there's much more to that."
"And what gives you that impression?" Mori kicked himself to his feet and shoved his hands into the pockets of his white doctor's coat. "I'm a young man scarred from the horrors of the front lines." He took a bold step towards the swordsman. "I know what war is capable of despite my youth. My heart goes out to these young men and women who come through my door, half dead all because of a half baked ideal. I'm hoping to save them from a fate that I narrowly escaped myself not too long ago."
"Is that the story you're spinning these days?" Fukuzama didn't move a step as he watched Mori slowly approach him step by step.
"Why would I lie?" Mori was only a hair away from touching Fukuzama. "But then again why should I tell you the truth when you haven't told me anything of yourself, . ." He laughed as he turned abruptly away, turning the lights off on Fukuzama.
"I'll tell you want you need to know." He followed the doctor.
"Can you fight?" Mori opened the door to the operating room, soon to be filled with its next victim in a few hours.
"Yes."
"Are you good at it?"
"Clearly."
"hmm...that's to be seen." Mori turned on the lights in the operating room. "Are you a Gifted?"
"As are you."
"Are you good at keeping secrets?"
"Until someone gets hurt."
"It's a clinic - lots of people get hurt here." Mori snapped.
"How long are we gonna play twenty questions?" Fukuzama sighed.
"Until the first patient comes in."
"Oh! So you're saying you actually get patients when playing doctor?" Even Mori chuckled.
All the while he was taking the bodyguard in. The man looked a few years older than he did but that was probably because he held himself that way. Everything about him was stern and rigid. But not cold. No, there was a sense of warmth under the growl of his voice. A humbleness. He probably came from the countryside where the sun's rays lingered on his pale skin. He wasn't tainted by the dirt of the city pollution. There was also a sense of shame...guilt hung in his expression. Tiredness as well. Mori was curious about him. He wanted to unravel him like a knot but hesitated because maybe he was as predictable as the situation was heading. A young country boy that lived too fast in the big bad city and is on the brink of being spat out. Above all things, Mori hated predictability. It bored him. He chased for plot twists. His desire for the unexpected always had him wound up in the most dangerous of situations but that was where he wanted to be. Was this Fukuzama going to be a dangerous situation? He looked dangerous. His jaw was sharper than his concealed katana. He had a long graceful neck. Though his green yukata swallowed his shape, Mori could tell from his broad shoulders and deliberate stride that he had fighter's body. Muscular but lean at the same time. Like that of a dancer. Swordsman were no different as both dedicated countless years in memorizing footwork and hand positioning.
"The clinic opens at 20:00 and I usually close my doors at 5:00."
"You stay open that long?"
"Gotta be prepared during times of war."
"After what we've been through, do you really consider these car bombings and sporadic killings acts of war?"
"From what you've refused to tell me, I doubt you have any idea what war really means?"
"Come again?" Fukuzawa cocked his head.
"Like you've said, I've sat on the front lines during the worst of it. Can't say the same for you." Fukuzama turned quiet. He doesn't mind playing tit for tat on the matters of himself and the ego of another. But when it comes to the weight one bares after killing countless of people - both innocent and guilty - the game loses it's flavor. It insults the dead and tells those who were left behind to fuck off.
"I have nothing to prove to you."
"You still haven't even proven to me that you're even a bodyguard."
"And what of you? Are you even a doctor?"
"Sometimes." Mori smiled but it was an expression different from the other playful smirks Fukuzama saw on the younger man. Before they were playful, teasing, lighthearted like that of a boastful now. Now...Fukuzama could tell he was telling the truth: sometimes he'll save people for the sake of saving people. But most times, he had an ulterior motive. Nothing altruistic radiated from this man. Fukuzama didn't trust him. Mori was a minefield. Why did Natsume persist so long in convincing Fukuzama into working alongside this doctor? He was a conundrum. Fukuzama had no desire for puzzles but by the way Mori has been dancing around him this entire time, the swordsman got the sense that he was begging him to be solved and he couldn't help but be intrigued.
"If you're not here to save people then why dedicate so much of your time to this clinic?"
"Cough it up as a young man being bored." Mori answered. "Natsume told me little about you but he did say you and I share the same boredom."
"I hate to admit that you're right about that one."
"Oh?" Mori cocked his head. "Just that one?"
"So far."
"hmm." The young doctor smiled. Fukuzama watched him return back to his office and settled behind his desk. "Like I said before, I'm not the one that hired you. You don't work for me. Come if you want. Go if you won't want to. Means nothing to me. All I ask is that you let me do my job without your interference." Fukuzama narrowed his eyes as he considered Mori's words. "You'll soon find out that this clinic is a grey area. Not everything you see will be up to code."
"What does that mean?" Fukuzama asked.
"Stick around long enough and maybe you'll find out."
While Mori's words were on par to the tone of their bickering, Fukuzama couldn't help but feel the threat lying hidden in those words.
"So?" Mori pulled Fukuzama back from his thoughts.
"So what?" Fukuzama searched Mori's mischievous grin; trying to decipher if Natsume had lead him to a challenge that he promised or a trap.
"Are you in," Mori sang. "or are you out?"
And it was here that Fukuzama decided to go down a path that would alter his life forever.
Next Chapter: It's only been several days of working alongside each other and the two young men are at each other's necks. Patients realize that the once peaceful clinic below is now as heated as the war above. Eventually the two reach their breaking point.
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