damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M35, Clinic

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Nightshift 30: M35, Clinic

Oh. Oh dear. Despite knowing little of the man on the radio in a personal sense, the news hit him hard. He wasn't sure if it was true, but... why would the doctor lie? If it weren't true, they'd find out easily enough, so it would be pointless. Right?

Oh, he was a horrible man! A part of Tamaki wished that he could fight, so he could help take down that awful person himself. But he knew it was just a flight of fancy. But what would they do now? Without any clues at all?

Sighing, he hung up the sign for the clinic. He needed to talk to Ed so badly, but he had his duties here. Even if he wasn't the best or the fastest, he could still do things. And he had to. So he sat down and waited, for either arrivals or some contradiction to what the Head Doctor had said.

Just in case.

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Mello? His face broke into an awkward smile. That it would be a fun name to say was his first thought. After all the Japanese names though, it was kind of nice to hear one that wasn't. "Hello... Mello~" he repeated. It even rhymed!

But they both were pressing him about the fall again. He just wanted them to stop so he could rest, but it didn't seem like they were going to ease up without an answer. "The guard... wouldn't let me pass," he said quietly. "I... ran, but... he shot something." He remembered how it had puzzled him, though the power the boy used had looked like magic, he had no way to sense it, had no idea what it was. "Like... magic," he added. "Til I couldn't... run anymore."

Even in his weakened and drugged state, the thought of saying more about Ashura frightened him. His hands turned to shaky fists and he closed his eyes. "I have to... stay here."

Mello mentally appended the "-gane" to the name Fai had given the tall man, and he filed both away for future reference. He barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Fai's greeting...he'd heard it for most of his life, and it had stopped being amusing before he hit the double digits. Being drugged into a stupor was no excuse.

"You're not exactly going anywhere," he pointed out in response to Fai's last comment. Even if the man's legs could support his weight, sitting up would cause a change in blood pressure that might send him back into unconsciousness. Mello had a feeling Kurogane didn't want to repeat what had just happened.

Again, the magic. He'd reconciled himself to doublethink, and although he couldn't accept those ideas without hard evidence, he worked with them as if this entire reality was a thought experiment. He tugged the blanket up over Fai's legs, where it had shifted to the side during their efforts to keep him alive. "I don't know much about magic," he said, "but you're stable now. As long as you stay conscious, you'll be okay until morning." They were damn lucky he'd been around, but he'd remind them of that later.

Mello looked up to Kurogane. "Don't let him get upset, or it'll affect his blood pressure," he cautioned. "Talk about something good."

"Guard?" Like what had been at the Library? Had Fai been trying to get at something? Maybe one of the Princess's feathers. But he'd said earlier that he didn't know if one was even there, so why head in that direction? He'd given the basement as the only possibility for where not only the kids but Mokona could have been, so that should have also ruled that the feather, if there was one, was also down there. That is, if Fai hadn't been lying, which was always a possibility. If he hadn't been telling the truth, that was one thing, but if he had and had still gone in the other direction then...

Kurogane growled a little when Mello said he shouldn't get Fai upset. Blood pressure? What was that? Apparently it mattered. There went his chance to learn anything further. He'd gotten more than he'd hoped for though, so things were fine. Fai had gone upstairs for some reason, gotten attacked by a guard that knew magic, and had ended up being forced into the room below as a result. That layout would be the basis for later questions.

Now, finding something good to talk about... that wasn't exactly Kurogane's thing. Good for Fai meant annoying for him. And he really, really didn't need to be annoyed any more this evening.

But he also did not want to repeat what had just happened either. Fine, something "good" then. What the hell did the magician like? Other than alcohol which was not being brought up! He tried to find something, but honestly couldn't think of any subject. That left one option then, make Fai pick the subject. "You're staying, so start talking about something good, magician."

Kurogane and Mello wouldn't understand. Not just staying here, he knew he couldn't move easily, but this world. He couldn't leave it. He had to stay behind because Ashura was here. There was nowhere he could run now. It left him feeling very... trapped.

He didn't answer any more about the guard though, or Ashura or any of the rest. Mello said good things, but that was hard to think of as well. There were so very few. Something good... his brow knit for a moment as he considered it. "Kitties," he decided were good. After a moment he smiled to himself and added, "puppies too."

He made a few humming noises as he tried to think of other things, "Really like... liquor, but..." he sighed. "They said... M'not... old enough." He pouted, as though it were a terrible thing indeed.

"Sweet things... hmm... wasn't it nice... having a shop in Outo?" he had rather enjoyed himself in that world, despite the monsters and things. "Hmm... I wanted to bake... lots of things." He tried to lift his right arm to his lips in a shushing gesture, but his arm fell as it reached his chest. It didn't stop him from making the sound anyway, as though nothing were wrong. "Shhh... it's a secret, but... baking is really easy... if you already know... spells." He gave a short, delirious giggle.

Yuuhi didn't dwell much further on that topic though, switching gears immediately to other things, "I like... our journey. But it'll be sad... it always ends sad..."

Kitties and puppies. Definitely not things Kurogane would have brought up on his own. He should have known Fai would follow that strain of thought though; it was too typical. The magician had been at his most annoying in Oto, after all.

Hearing him babble wasn't so annoying as Kurogane had expected, but there were some ups and downs. Animals, then liquor (he was going to get away from that subject fast if he knew what was good for him), the shop, cooking, secrets, spells, and finally their journey... and it ending... "Sad" wasn't the word Kurogane had in mind for how things would end. He'd had enough of these kinds of things and just wanted to get home and stay there for a change. Seemed the magician thought differently.

"Don't think about that," he said after a bit of thought, turning his eyes away from Fai. When it happened, it would happen, but neither of them needed to think about such a thing beforehand. "The princess liked cooking, right?" he tried begrudgingly to make Fai keep talking more about the events in Oto instead. That was as "good" as Kurogane could think of now thanks to Fai.

It was hard not to think about where their journey might eventually end. But for him, he already knew his would stop here. The others would go on and it would all be for the better. If he stayed... then things probably would become sad, just like before.

"Mm... and Syaoran's face when he saw... cute little Sakura in her maid costume..." a smile crossed his lips. Yuuhi was easy enough to distract; thinking about the good times they'd had in Outo and trying not to remember how much he'd upset Kurogane there as well. "What kind of sweets... does Kuro-pon like? "

Heh. Even Kurogane could admit that the kid had been pretty flustered at that. Just something else the Shinobi had been able to see without much thought. That kid was terrible when it came to his emotions - reading them hadn't been a difficult thing.

"I don't like sweets," he sneered, but left the harshness out of his tone. Fai should have known that by now.

It was always fun to watch the children blushing and smiling at each other. It was too bad that... well... it wasn't important really. Not his business to interfere.

"Kuro-pyon's face too..." he glanced up for a moment, meeting the other's eyes. "haven't... seen it like that before..."

As for the rest, "Eeeeeh~?" he asked as though it was the first time Kurogane had told him. Of course he knew already, but that didn't mean he didn't like pressing the issue. "Troublesome," he sighed. He really was getting tired. How much longer was it until morning?

What was he babbling now? "Ah?" he blinked down, confused by just what Fai was referencing. His face was always like this! Maybe he was just being stupid.

He snorted at Fai's other comment though. He knew this one, that Kurogane didn't much like sweet things, but he was only pressing to get on his nerves. That meant he wouldn't be getting an answer. Kurogane had already answered, which was enough. Yeah, you are... he followed up, but only in his mind.

"A little... while ago," he tried to explain. Maybe it just wasn't as funny since Kurogane couldn't have seen his own face. He coughed a couple of times, then settled again.

Of all the people to talk to... conversations with Kurogane always felt one-sided. Either he was talking to himself or Kuro was drilling him with questions. He sighed and let his eyes close, "it's boring... if Kuro-chuu doesn't say anything."

He blinked again, thought a moment, then turned his eyes away quickly before Fai could pick up on anything. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said flatly. And he didn't really - so far as he was concerned "a little while ago" absolutely nothing had happened. He wasn't going to let Fai know that anything had happened if he could help it too. That kind of thing did not need to be explained, let alone recounted!

"Che..." he managed, this time fine with letting his tone match his words, or lack thereof. Wasn't he supposed to be the one getting Fai to keep talking? Now that seemed to have reversed.

"Hnn..." was all he said in reply. If Kurogane didn't want to talk, Yuuhi was fine with getting some rest. Waiting until morning like this didn't sound like any fun at all. He let out a sigh, intent on drifting off to sleep again if they'd allow it.

"Stay awake," he said the moment he saw Fai trying to fall asleep again. He needed the manjuu or something to keep Fai talking; this just wasn't working for him. He'd definitely tapped out his ideas for subjects to speak on, "good" subjects that was, and Mello wasn't giving any indication that he could fall back to questioning the magician again.

"Don't wanna..." he replied, but opened his sleepy eyes anyway to stare up at the ceiling. The pupils were dilated, showing only a thin ring of the blue iris. Conversation was awkward, sleep was out of the question, but there had to be some kind of happy medium. However, he had a difficult time trying to think of what that might be.

"Don't care." This conversation was going nowhere fast. Kurogane needed to find something that would keep Fai talking but that wouldn't have Kurogane getting too flustered to respond. A middle ground. If they couldn't find one, Fai would probably fall asleep without meaning to and that could lead to him not breathing again. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Just talk... about anything, I don't care what," he finally grunted out. No matter what, he couldn't think of anything good or happy to talk about. That was Fai's thing. So he really had no choice but to leave things to Fai's dazed mindset.

They could probably just argue back and forth for the rest of the night about who should talk and about what. He didn't feel up to a fight though and with his current success rate, he was pretty sure he wouldn't win one.

If he had to stay awake, he didn't necessarily have to talk, right? It would probably annoy Kurogane, but that was alright. He started humming the first song that came to mind, the one Oruha sang for them in Outo. Though he might not look it, he carried a tune well, pausing only now and again to clear his throat with a cough. Music had always come fairly easily.

Maybe he'd made a mistake in saying that Fai could talk about "anything". After he'd said it, Kurogane had braced for talk of sake and puppies and such. Instead of that though, he heard a humming and looked down, somewhat dumbfounded. Well, he had said anything, so he guessed that counted. He gave Mello a questioning look, but got a nod that it was acceptable. So long as Fai was keeping conscious, anything was probably all right.

He sighed again, thankful that he didn't have to keep talking, then leaned back against the wall and kept his head lowered to watch Fai and make sure that he kept breathing. If he stopped humming, Kurogane would get on him again. At least the humming wasn't so bad; Fai was in tune, so far as he knew. And he recognized the melody as well. It was the same as that I-1 Oni-woman had been singing that night at the Clover. Not one of Kurogane's favorites, but only because he hadn't agreed with the lyrics.

The song gave him a sort of nostalgic feeling and the drugs made him oddly euphoric. It would have been pleasant except for the fact that he could hardly move and breathing was still difficult. He repeated the song once more before moving on to another one, the same song he'd played on the piano just the day before, with Quatre. It was some classical piece he hadn't heard of before, but the tune had been nice and simple.

Fai had brought up some more blood with his humming; Kurogane could see another red line running down from the corner of his mouth. "Don't stop," he said as he reached out a hand and brushed the blood away again, not thinking too much of the gesture. He'd done the same earlier, so it was no big deal, and Fai didn't need to stop humming because of it either. His mouth wasn't exactly moving except to breathe.

He pulled his hand back with a slid against the edge of the bed to clear the blood before folding his arms again. Watching Fai hum wasn't really all that important unless he kept coughing up blood, Kurogane decided, so he closed his eyes once again and simply listened. He'd give a glance every now and than after any coughing, but that would be all that was needed.

Morning needed to come.

The humming was tolerable, although Mello's attention was cursory. He didn't want to leave them, in case Fai stopped breathing again, but for now, the man seemed like he'd last until day.

Overall, the night had been a success. He'd gotten the tools to modify his radio, made two potential allies, and helped save someone's life. That should be worth a few favors. He wouldn't have time to work on the radio before the night ended, but it would be easy to break the scissors into two parts and give one to L's roommate or Misora.

He was pleased with himself, and he made no attempt to hide it. Mello took the scissors from his waistband and twirled them on one finger as he half-listened to Fai's humming and waited for morning to begin.

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Nightshift 30: M35, Clinic

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