By the end of the shift his anger had settled somewhere beneath the surface. He knew he'd been irrational. If he had stopped Jason, it would have been worse than letting him die... but this was assuming that he could have prevented any of it in the first place. This was assuming that Jason had been killed by that boy. What if he had simply disappeared like so many others? Did it even matter in the end? The control he felt here had always been a lie. He'd simply exchanged a leash and collar for a cage.

He wanted little more than the opportunity to protect the small friendships he had built, but how was he supposed to defend against something he couldn't fight?

The nurse nudged him out of his thoughts the second time that day. She'd brought him to the sun room, now dark and arranged for a 'movie', and set him down beside someone, apparently because he needed more cheering up. Nataku watched the screen for a grand total of three seconds, but moving pictures weren't really his idea of entertainment. He turned to the man beside him, watching him for a few seconds more before he spoke. "Is this movie thing kinda boring for you too?"