damned_institute | Nightshift 33: M35, Clinic

Entry tags:

Nightshift 33: M35, Clinic

Tamaki was still awed and touched that Ritsuka had set up the clinic for him. He... well, he'd stay alert and up and as focused as possible until Raine showed up. And anyone else. He remembered Kratos had said something about not being able to make it....

They really did need more healers and doctors. Maybe during the day he could hold classes in first aide or something, and anyone who wished to help could come. Yes, that was something he could focus his mind on. That was good.

He struggled out of bed, eyes still feeling hot and itchy from crying, and opened the door with another small smile directed at his roommate.

From the sound of the intercom, something was happening tonight. Maybe he should ask Ritsuka to stay after all.....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It must have been something he ate...." Tamaki mumbled, almost distractedly. He sighed and nodded, knowing that Hikaru was right. But what exactly did he mean?

"Ah, do you mean about...last night? Ritsuka knows...." And he didn't think there was anything left to talk about. He'd let out what he had to a little with the younger boy, earlier, and now he felt he really needed to focus. "Or about... everything?" If Mori hadn't been told everything, then they really needed to bring him up to speed!

Or maybe Hikaru meant both.

"Everything would be nice." Hikaru shrugged, sitting down on Tamaki's bed. Ritsuka's reassurances got the boy a weak--but genuine--smile, but he still looked worried. Leaning back, he looked up at Mori. "How much do you know about this place, anyway?" Hopefully, the other Host had been here long enough (and had been social enough) to at least learn the basics about Landel's.

"...But I'll settle for what happened last night, if you're feeling up to it." Mori was the national Kendo champion. He could probably kill the bastard that had hurt Tamaki.

Good.

Mori remained at the door, keeping an ear out for anyone else who might show up. Whoever hurt Tamaki was still out there, somewhere. His eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced sideways at the door. Whoever it was...

"---know about this place, anyway?"

Hikaru's question broke through and he blinked, looking back at the group. He knew enough, he thought - monsters at night, hospital was really a lie, don't travel in groups, Mitsukuni wasn't there. He hefted the closet rod on his shoulder as an indication that he knew it was dangerous and left it at that. Nia had been kind enough to explain everything to him, despite his lack of conversational skills. Same, really, with Chopper.

He, like Hikaru, was far more interested in what Tamaki had to say. The Club took care of their own, and with Haruhi, Mitsukuni and Kyouya missing, it meant they had to protect the ones remaining all that much harder.

Ritsuka remembered seeing such concern before. All siblings had that sort of affection, a protective instinct to be close to each other. Hikaru and Kaoru had that in spades - a closer relationship than he ever could have imagined. He and Seimei...they had been close, but there had been so much Ritsuka didn't know about his brother. He was missing ten years with him. Hikaru and Kaoru had the sort of closeness Ritsuka wanted and he envied them for that. He tried to return Hikaru's smile, but he'd never been very good at smiling for no reason. He tried though, just to give his friend reassurance.

The prospect of hearing what happened last night made Ritsuka uncomfortable. He wasn't entirely certain why, either. The idea that someone had hurt his roommate and he hadn't been there to help - it made him angry and frustrated and confused. He was at a loss as to what to do and so he just sat there, watching like some sort of strange voyeur, privy to the Host Club's reality. Mori still didn't seem like a talker and that was unnerving, so Ritsuka scooted a bit further away from him and picked at his pant leg, not sure what else to do.

Tamaki sighed.

"Well, as long as you've been warned, Mori...." Tamaki managed, understanding what the quietest of the Hosts was indicating. "And last night..."

What more was there to say? Other than things he'd never ever say to anyone.

"There isn't much more to it than I said," he admitted. "I... he tried to do something to me, and it shook me up something terrible, but he didn't hurt me or....anything. And it's over and done with and.... I have the clinic I have to focus on." He offered another weak smile.

"And we really are terribly understaffed tonight. We're just lucky Ritsuka offered to stay and help...." Without his roommate, Tamaki wasn't sure what he would have done.

As strange as it seemed, Hikaru was completely comfortable with having Ritsuka there. Normally, he wasn't very fond of outsiders witnessing the Club's inner workings, but Ritsuka was a good kid, and he'd already been through so much with them. He was probably an honorary member at this point, knowing Tamaki.

Seeing how uncomfortable the boy looked, Hikaru got up and walked over to him, tousling his hair slightly.

"Tamaki..." He wanted to shake the guy, tell him to snap out of it, but...he couldn't do that. Instead, he just shook his head.

"I'll go get Kaoru in a few minutes," he mumbled. "If he's feeling better, he can help out. If he isn't, I'll just let him sleep and help out by myself."

Whatever happened, Tamaki wasn't ready to talk about it and Mori would have to wait until he was to get the full story. It was something major though, something terrible enough to get everyone riled up, and to get Tamaki to close down like this. Mori set the closet rod down against the wall and moved further into the room, waiting until Hikaru moved to go over to Tamaki. Standing to the side, he looked down at his leader and said, "Tamaki."

Then he gave him a small smile, as if to say that whatever happened, he wasn't going to pry, but if Tamaki needed it, he was there. He didn't need to tell him now, maybe not ever, but Mori was going to stick by his side as long as Tamaki needed him. That included the clinic, of course. Mori knew first aid, as anyone who spent time around martial artists did. He'd wrapped his hands up earlier after rubbing them raw in trying to get the rod down at any rate.

He just wondered if Hikaru would need protection or not as he went to get his brother. Even one hallway over could be dangerous and leaving any Host undefended would be a bad idea.

It was admirable how Tamaki was trying to push forward, but Ritsuka still remembered how he had cried earlier and couldn't help but wonder if Tamaki was really alright. If he wasn't, he had friends that would help him through it though. Hikaru came over and tousled his hair and Ritsuka instinctively brushed his hand away, giving the twin an irritated glare. The expression vanished quickly though and he could feel ghost whispers of his cat ears as they flattened against his head. They should have, with the apologetic look he gave Hikaru in that moment.

"Be careful out there," he cautioned, worry displacing any other emotion as he thought of Hikaru going out into the halls alone. He didn't want his first night in the Clinic being filled with seeing his friends bleeding.

And where was Soubi? If Tamaki stayed this understaffed, the Clinic was going to be hard up on hands. Was the Fighter not coming tonight? Was he sick? Ritsuka wished he was a better Sacrifice, or even just a better friend. He had no idea what was happening with Soubi or Miku or any of his other friends and that... made him feel utterly powerless.

Between Mori and Hikaru, Tamaki felt the tears come again. And he wished they wouldn't! He should be alright! Nothing had even happened, he was being ridiculous!

Furiously, he wiped at his eyes, not wanting to show that side of him. It had been alright with Ritsuka, for some reason, but he felt childish and silly crying in front of Hikaru or Mori.

"Well!" he tried, standing up very quickly. "I... have books that are very helpful. And not just for first aide for more advanced medical techniques and procedures, so we're.... we're very well prepared for any emergency...."

He cleared his throat, knowing his voice was wavering but hoping everyone would let it slide. "And Hikaru, if you'd like to bring Kaoru something....?"

[[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/394104.html?thread=32561272#t32627576).]]

"And as outdated as some of my knowledge is, I'm a healer," Raine said, walking in. She'd only caught what Tamaki said, but she'd figured out context with far less to go on (fragments of ancient texts and intercepted class notes had a surprising amount in common). "Did someone have a question?"

Seeing that no one was hurt, she was mostly watching Tamaki, and her concern was clear. She could see he'd been crying, and while he likely wouldn't want to talk about anything that made him start again, she wanted to know what was wrong if she could help.

[askfgkasflg I'm really really really really sorry for my fail. ;_; I didn't realize Fey had posted. orz]

"No, no questions," Hikaru replied a little tersely. He knew Raine by sight and by reputation, but he hadn't exactly interacted with her much during his lovely two week stay at Landel's. She was Tamaki's friend/mentor/whatever, not his. Even though M35 had replaced the Music Room and the Aid Society was the new Host Club, Hikaru didn't quite trust her yet.

He walked away from Ritsuka and started to move towards the door...avoiding Tamaki's gaze the whole time. Mori was a little harder to avoid because of his sheer size, so he just got a rueful look. "Actually, I think I'm going to go get Kaoru now. You want to come with, Ritsuka?" That way he wouldn't be out in the halls alone...and he'd have someone to talk to.

Tamaki was trying his best to stay calm and Mori nodded, letting the subject go for now. If he was given a reason or a name, he'd act, but until then, he'd let Tamaki deal with it as he saw fit. He and Mitsukuni had been hands off about the Haruhi thing as well, and while this wasn't exactly the same sort of circumstances, he wanted to let the Host deal with it as he saw fit.

A new person entered the room, a young woman claiming to be a healer. Mori quirked an eyebrow and stood back as she came in, letting her take center stage. If she was a healer (who said that anyway? Didn't she mean doctor?), then she was far more important to this Aide Society than he was.

Hikaru moved toward the door and shot him a puzzling look, to which Mori could only nod. He recognized that expression - Hikaru was giving up on the surface, but underneath he was still boiling mad and wary of this stranger. Mori stepped aside, figuring he could stay here and watch the others as long as Hikaru wasn't by himself. He wasn't sure how much a little kid like this Ritsuka could do, but then he knew not to judge entirely by appearance.

Tamaki was regaining control and Ritsuka felt a little more at ease. He felt horrible about it, but he never knew how to act around upset friends. He knew what he wanted when he was unhappy, but gauging normal reactions against his own was a bit of a stupid thing to do. He wasn't exactly going to win a Mr. Normal award for his coping mechanisms.

Raine walked in and Ritsuka perked up upon seeing her. He remembered this woman from the time she helped him and Miku and... Alfons. The thought of his now missing friend brought him crashing back down almost at once. He hoped Raine didn't ask about him...

Not that it seemed that would be an issue. Hikaru asked Ritsuka to go head out with him and Ritsuka nodded, sliding off the bed to grab his flashlight. Going out alone was suicide here and even if the two of them together weren't the most formidable duo in the halls, two heads were better than one. "I'll go with you."

Maybe they could look for Soubi along the way.

"Ah, Miss Raine." Tamaki nodded to the woman, wiping quickly away at the last of his leaking tears. "No, we were just discussing what we do here, that's all. Ah, this is Mori, he's from back home. We go to school together." He waved to the tall, quiet man.

"Miss Raine is an invaluable fixture of the Aide Club," he explained. "We're attempting to expand and gather more people and more space, to be able to handle the bulk of the institute." Which was difficult, but they were getting there.

And all of this provided him with distraction.

Raine walked over to the group, but her eyes were on Tamaki. "What happened?" Her voice was gentle, but he should know by now that she was very hard to dissuade. All she knew was that he'd seemed upset earlier that day, and he'd left M35 with someone she didn't know and didn't trust, and then he didn't come back--something that really worried her.

In retrospect, she suspected Kratos knew something; asking him would have been a lot easier than the upset child in front of her, but she needed to know. If someone had hurt him...

Good, Ritsuka was going to go with him. Hikaru gave the kid one of his first genuine grins all day and leaned against the doorframe. He was good enough at hiding his emotions that only someone who knew him well...like most of the people here...would be able to tell that there was anything wrong at all.

"Ready to go, squirt?"

[moving outside (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/393234.html).]

Watching as Hikaru left with the younger boy, Mori frowned a little. Hikaru was barely holding together. He was tempted to go after him, but he hadn't been called and he just sighed internally as he watched Hikaru go off. He'd have to speak with him later, just to be sure that the younger Host was alright. He'd been getting strange vibes from him since they first met and now those instincts were sounding the alarm bells louder than ever. Later. Right now, Tamaki was the priority.

Mori bowed like the gentlemen he was when he was introduced to Raine, but didn't say anything more. The woman seemed determined to focus on Tamaki and the one thing the blond didn't want to talk about. If Tamaki didn't seem like he wanted to say anything, Mori would step in, but until then...he couldn't do much more than wait. It was strange, taking this stance even here - there was a feeling of urgency here that he'd never sensed back at Ouran. Then again, the biggest problem they'd had back at Ouran was dealing with jealous clubs and what the next theme of the Host Club should be. This was life and life was never as simple as the school board would like them to think.

Poor Tamaki. The guy was getting it from all sides tonight. Everyone wanted to know what was up with him, and he'd likely be hearing that question a lot. Ritsuka hoped that explaining it over and over wouldn't wear on the guy. Looking up at Raine and Tamaki and the ever silent Mori, Ritsuka wondered just what he was doing mixed up with all these people.

Friends.

Right, friends. Not strangers - they were friends. He had to remember that. Pulling his camera out of his desk drawer, Ritsuka stuffed it into his pocket and turned to head out after Hikaru. He froze when he heard what the Host called him and bristled. "Don't call me that!" he snapped as he headed out after him.

[going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/393234.html?thread=32815634#t32815634)]

Tamaki glanced at Raine and shrugged. "Nothing," he said, hoping she wouldn't push. He'd talked about it enough, and more than enough people knew already. He couldn't bear to have anyone else knowing!

"Just feeling a little bit homesick, I'm afraid!" he added, smiling sheepishly. Which, well, was true. He did miss when things were simple and he'd never killed anything and he'd never been....

In such awful situations.

Raine frowned; he couldn't possibly expect her to believe that. But, if he didn't want to talk about it... she hadn't known him long and didn't really have the right to force it out of him. Besides that, he had a lot of friends; maybe he was getting things taken care of on his own.

"All right," she said. "But if it's something I can help with, let me know. I won't stand for someone hurting one of my teammates." She was a force when she was angry, and when a child under her care was hurt or threatened--even Kratos generally got out of her way.

[Jumping down to help the new arrivals!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nightshift 33: M35, Clinic

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject