[fic] [yst] At the Stars 9/?

[morphaileffect]

this should've been part of the previous chapter, i think...



At the Stars
Part 9

It wasn't all in Ryo's head: a touch of color seemed to have returned to Seiji's cheeks. In fact he seemed a little healthier now than he was than before he went into the hospital, if that was at all possible. His vital signs were stable and the doctors who saw him were in agreement - he was ready to go home.

Seiji's hand was steady when he reached out to get the notebook that Ryo gave him. It turned out that he didn't need the notebook just yet. He'd written out whatever was in his head on the sheafs of paper the hospital had provided. There would be plenty of time to transfer it all later.

"He wrote all night," Seiji's older sister reported, sounding pleased. "We barely had any time to talk." Seiji smiled at her and apologized. She had come all this way for him; they should have time to talk.

"I know you're needed back at your workplace soon, but please come back to the apartment with us," he asked her. She readily agreed.

Even between siblings, the air of formality could not simply be abandoned by the members of the house of Date. They talked, all the way out of the hospital. Or, rather, Yayoi spoke, and Seiji listened. There was little that Seiji wanted to say, but he wanted to hear everything. How was the family? And the dojo? How was Satsuki? Still driving Grandfather insane with her motorcycle?

It wasn't because his throat still hurt from the tubes that had helped him breathe, either - his voice had noticeably lost its earlier roughness.

They decided to bring Seiji back using Yayoi's car. It was roomier in the back, and decidedly fancier than Shin's. Ryo was going to ride with Yayoi and Seiji, so he could lead them to the apartment.

Shin agreed easily enough to this arrangement. Truth be told, he had something else to occupy him while discussions about transport were going on. He nudged Ryo with his elbow, then gestured with a turn of his head back to the hospital grounds.

A gaggle of young nurses and interns, male and female, had gathered at the entrance. When they noticed that Seiji was looking in their direction, they waved enthusiastically.

Ryo raised his eyebrows. He remembered that Touma had specifically asked the hospital staff to keep Seiji's presence there low-key. He had even (nicely enough) threatened to file a lawsuit in case any of the doctors and nurses broke confidentiality and spoke to the press about Seiji's stay. This was all carefully done in Ryo's presence, so that he, too, would be able to appreciate the necessity.

...Then again, who could help it if the staff wanted to see Seiji off? And if he'd agreed to hand out autographs - as Rin Koujirou, his pen name, of course - before leaving? Seiji had always been charming; this was just proof that he could draw admirers even while mostly unconscious.

If anyone was bothered by all the attention, it certainly wasn't Shin. He sounded amused as he remarked "Same old Seiji."

Seiji must have been used to the spotlight, too, to some degree. He raised his hand for a farewell wave that made the hospital staff beam with delight. Yayoi herself was barely able to restrain a smile as she rolled up the automatic windows, keeping Seiji safely hidden away behind dark tint.

Ryo stared at Shin, hoping for a reaction that would normalize the entire scene. Chuckling, Shin shook his head and walked back to his car.

Yayoi stayed at the living room while Shin and Seiji spoke privately. Shin had requested to have some time alone with Seiji before he returned home.

She seemed relaxed, and watching her gave Ryo a sense of relief; she was a doctor herself, and if she acted like there was nothing to worry about, then Seiji must truly be in the clear.

Ryo asked if there was anything that Yayoi needed - she had barely touched the cup of tea that Shin had made. There was a guest room. She had been up all night. Maybe she needed to lie down and rest?

She shook her head, but thanked him for the offer. She invited him to sit with her. Ryo hesitated, but soon agreed. There was nothing much left to do now that Seiji was settled in.

For a moment neither of them talked. She sat looking out the balcony, at the greenhouse specifically, not minding the stillness and the silence.

Man, Ryo was bad at this. It wasn't just talking to women specifically: small talk in general made him uncomfortable. Couldn't he and Shin maybe exchange places for a bit...?

"You know," she began, to spare him the agony, "this is not my first time here. But this is the first time I have been here in a while." She looked around. Ryo couldn't tell if she liked what she saw or not. "So much has changed."

She continued by saying she had helped Seiji move here. This wasn't the same as when he was a child in the Yagyuu household; Seiji would be living on his own, as an adult. She had wanted to see for herself the kind of "accommmodations" that her adult brother would have. She had also wanted to make an impression on the person who wanted to be entrusted with her adult brother's health and safety.

She recalled with a small laugh that she had browbeaten Touma into buying "proper" furnishings so her brother would not feel homesick (to Seiji's utter embarrassment). That was back when Touma wasn't "Dr. Hashiba" yet - barely 20 years old with his head all over the place - and she could still make him feel like crap.

Since then, she said, he'd grown up. They all had. It must have taken a great deal of money and effort to build that greenhouse outside, she quietly observed; it was lovely.

"Sanada-san," she said after a pause. "I saw a suitcase when we entered. I remember seeing Hashiba-san with it a number of times. May I see what is inside it now?"

Ryo thought about it. "I'm... I don't know, Yayoi-san. Touma told me not to touch it. He said all his notes are in there..."

"That is precisely why I want to see it," she said, with a note of insistence ringing strong and powerful under a lifetime of politeness. It was quite surprising, the way it was surprising when Seiji got emotional or upset - it felt like something that was kept in check for a good reason.

She leaned forward and looked him in the eye, and Ryo found himself drawing back, drowning in pale violet. "He does not need to know, does he?"

And before he knew it, he was bringing the suitcase to her. And opening it for her, and blushing when she flashed him a brilliant smile of gratitude.

Suddenly he could see how Seiji could have gone through a phase when he was wary of most girls.

Ryo sighed, watching Date Yayoi taking out handwritten notes carefully, sheaf by sheaf, from the suitcase. He felt he had to come up with a really good (or at least hilarious) explanation if Touma chose this precise moment to open the front door.

Half an hour later, Shin walked out of Touma and Seiji's bedroom with his eyes downcast. He closed the door unhurriedly. Any ordinary person might have missed the anxiety on his face; he was faking nonchalance so well.

But Ryo knew his childhood friends better than that. He stood up and strode toward Shin. It was his alarm that startled Date Yayoi into forgetting the notes in her hands for a moment. Her eyes as she looked up were glazed over.

"He can't move his legs," Shin said quietly, in response to the question on Ryo's face.

Before Ryo even understood what Shin had said, he was moving quickly toward the door. Shin held out an arm to stop him.

"Don't go in there just yet." Shin seemed strangely guarded. "He doesn't want to alarm the two of you."

"What do you mean, he doesn't want to alarm us?" Ryo turned to Yayoi. "That's a bad sign, isn't it?" He had been walking earlier, when he was coming home from the hospital - with the help of his cane, but walking. He even looked like he was doing better.

What was all this?

Seiji's older sister stood. "It means his muscles are weakening further," she muttered, still lost in her thoughts. In a louder, more present voice, she continued, "I need to see him."

She stepped past Ryo toward the door, but Shin blocked her path, holding her by the shoulders at a respectful distance. "He's asked if he could... give it another try. By himself. He thinks it might have been the three days' disuse - "

"Shin, we might need to take him back to the hospital!" Ryo had raised his voice. By now he was sure even Seiji knew that not being alarmed was out of the question.

"Please, Ryo." Shin looked at his friend. His voice was stern, and his green eyes hard. "Give him a little time."

It was a stalemate, then. Seiji had recruited Shin to his side, and if Ryo was going to oppose him, he was opposing Shin as well.

He was about to step forward, ready to face Shin head on, but Yayoi stepped back. Slowly, as if in a daze, she made her way back to the couch. Her shoulders were slouched, which was unusual for her.

"I don't understand," she was mumbling, almost too softly for Ryo and Shin to hear. "I don't understand."

The two young men watched her return to her seat, her poise only too clearly forced. She picked up some of the pieces of paper she had laid out on the table before her.

"These notes..." She wasn't looking at him, or at Shin, as she spoke. "Hashiba-san's notes... they all make sense. If these are accurate, then it is true that Hashiba-san has done everything humanly possible to prevent the disease from getting worse." She dropped the pieces of paper she was holding, and seemed to fold into herself. Her hands settled on her knees, and balled into fists. "So why is this happening?"

Ryo had had enough. He pushed past Shin to the door. Shin didn't pursue him, but watched him closely. Even if Ryo would not look at him, he wore a look on his face that sharply said Don't.

Defiantly, Ryo put his hand on the doorknob.

Then the landline rang.

Shin was definitely not about to leave his post. Yayoi was still visibly upset. It was up to Ryo to attend to the call. Reluctantly he tore himself away from within Shin's reach to answer it.

The caller ID reflected an unfamiliar number. Possibly a payphone. He let it ring a few times more before picking it up.

"Who is it," he greeted.

"Ryo."

Touma. Of course, with the warped sense of timing. Ryo's hand tightened around the receiver. "Where are you?"

"I can't stay on the line long." Behind his exhausted monotone was the noise of light traffic: cars and trucks speeding by. "I got your messages. How is Seiji? Is he still in the hospital?"

"He just got out today." Fighting to keep his voice level. "He's... he's not doing too well."

There was a pause. Then, "...What do you mean?" And it might have been Ryo's imagination, but he sounded just a little less than worried. Like he was faking concern, like Shin was faking lack of concern just a minute ago.

That, on top of everything else that happened today, was not good for Ryo's temper.

"Damn it," he blurted out, "come home. Come home and see for yourself."

"I will. I will. Just..." He could see Touma in his mind's eye brushing hair back from his forehead, that familiar nervous habit. "Tell me. I'll think about it on the way."

Ryo kept himself in check, started to say Seiji was fine when he came home, but suddenly became unable to move his legs. Then he realized he didn't know what else to say. Shin was the one who had been with Seiji when it happened.

"Shin...?" Ryo called. Shin blinked impassively. He had crossed his arms over his chest, but he unraveled them when he finally decided to head to the phone and take the receiver from Ryo's hand.

One last warning look, then Shin turned his back on Ryo. "Touma," he greeted coldly. Then proceeded to talk into the receiver.

Shin was pointedly looking away. Yayoi was the only one watching him, and her attention was split between him and Shin. She would not be able to stop Ryo if he went in to check on Seiji now, in spite of Shin's objections.

On the spot he decided he would be sorrier if he did not go through with it.

Ryo took another step toward Seiji's bedroom door.

Then he heard the knob turning.

The door opened slowly. The first thing Ryo saw was Seiji's hand gripping the frame. Then the gap widened.

Seiji did not have his cane. He must have felt he did not have time for it. He was pulling himself up to a standing position at the doorway with great effort, if the sweat on his skin and his shallow breathing was any indication.

He was in a new jinbei, one that Touma had bought for him during his last trip downtown with Ryo. He was fully dressed for sleeping. Why the hell did Touma have to call now?

"Touma," he muttered with an exhale of breath. And again, "Touma!" more urgently, with another.

Ryo felt rooted to the spot. Shin had stopped talking, and was staring at Seiji open-mouthed, mid-sentence. Yayoi leapt to her feet.

Before anyone could say or do anything, Seiji let go of the doorframe and took a step forward, toward the phone - toward Ryo.

With no strength in his legs, he fell.

Ryo ran forward and went on his knees to catch him. His chest struck Ryo's chest. Seiji wasn't very heavy, but Ryo feared nonetheless that the impact caused some damage. He quickly maneuvered his own body to a sitting position and held Seiji across his lap, cradling his friend's upper body in his arms.

There were no wounds, no indication of broken bones as far as Ryo could see. Seiji was intact, though his heart was beating wildly.

"Touma," Seiji repeated one final time, before his breathing failed him and he had to close his eyes.

Just then Shin heard a loud "click" on the other end of the line - Touma had ended the phone call in a hurry.

"Seiji!!" Not knowing what else to do, Ryo held his friend more closely. Yayoi knelt by them both and pressed her fingers down on the sides of Seiji's neck, bent down to lay her ear against his chest.

"T-take him back to bed," she stammered when she was done, her composure all but disintegrated. "He just lost consciousness, b-but he's breathing. An oxygen tank..."

There was an oxygen tank stationed in the room Touma and Seiji slept in. Ryo didn't need to be told twice. He gathered Seiji up in his arms and rushed him back into the bedroom. He heard more than felt Shin and Yayoi following close at his heels.

Soon after they were able to hook Seiji up to the tank, things seemed to take a turn for the better. Yayoi stayed by Seiji's bed, watching over him while he slept.

Shin and Ryo stayed outside the room, until they heard Yayoi say Seiji was stable. Then Shin said it was high time for him to go.

Touma was coming back to the apartment later that day. He had told Shin as much. That made Shin feel it was all right to return home, where he was also needed.

Shin placed his car keys in Ryo's open palm. After visibly struggling to find the right words of gratitude, Ryo gave up and simply asked if it was all right to drive Shin to the train station.

Shin had laughed. "I thought you'd never ask," he'd answered with a wide grin.

But stepping out of the apartment meant that Ryo would have to take his leave of Yayoi. She was going to be left alone with Seiji again.

And he wasn't even sure she was all right.

She had assured them that she was, and when she did, her back was straight and her voice completely level. He gave her time to compose herself, as he would give Seiji time, and it turned out to be exactly what she needed.

When he came back into Seiji's room, she had greeted him with a curt nod, ready to speak.

"My apologies," she said carefully, softly so as not to wake Seiji. "I have... never treated a family member before. I... always imagined I would do well." The proud Date woman avoided his gaze.

There was a reason why doctors were not usually allowed to treat their family members in emergency cases. It was something that Ryo, who was rarely around doctors himself, understood only now. It got him wondering how Touma was able to keep his wits about him on that night when Seiji stopped breathing.

If he had been in Touma's place, what would Ryo have done? He might have freaked - or worse, struggled to keep calm, and then made one bad decision after another.

It was different when Ryo had his armor. Not thinking and just plunging into the fray came to him naturally. And of course, snuffing entire armies of youja out of this dimension in order to save the world was different from saving a single human life.

At times the latter could be more difficult. Especially if you care deeply about the life you've taken into your own hands.

He knew that now.

So Ryo did his best, in his halting fashion, to assure Date Yayoi that she had done well. She had only stuttered - that was no crime. She was able to perform her duties as a doctor still.

But though she appreciated the gesture, and could look him in the eye again, it was too easy to believe that behind that pale violet wall, she was still being hard on herself.

Ryo asked her if it was all right if he stepped out for a bit to take Shin to the station. She seemed thoughtful.

"Sanada-san," she decided to ask just then. "How did he sound?"

Ryo knew what she meant, but didn't know how to answer. Touma had sounded - far away. Distracted. Even a little sorry that he called. But there was no way for him to share such abstract thoughts with confidence.

"Tired," was what he decided to be the best answer.

"I see." Her features softened into a blank expression. "Then he should not find me here. There will be a better time for us to talk."

Ryo understood. "I won't take long," he promised.

What he and Shin discussed on the short drive out was limited to practical things: how much Seiji's hospitalization had cost, how much spending money Ryo had left, and how much Shin was going to tell Rinfi to wire over. Shuu wanted to foot the entire hospital bill, and as much as Ryo wanted to protest, it would be a great help.

Talking like this made Ryo feel old and weary, as very few things did.

They also tried talking about Touma's plans for setting up his own laboratory - namely if it was still on the table. Ryo said plainly that he did not know. Touma claimed that he went out to meet with potential investors sometimes, but never talked about any of his "appointments" in detail when he came home.

"Do you believe him?" Shin asked point-blank.

Ryo's answer wasn't as direct. "I trust him."

Shin nodded. It was a satisfactory answer. He let the matter drop. At any rate, it was nothing the two of them could discuss only by themselves.

"Listen," he said presently, "there's a place in Tokyo I could stay. I'll take a research break so I don't have to report to the office. So if you need someone to help you with Seiji... I'll just be a few stations away."

"Shin," Ryo exclaimed, "you don't have to do that! I can handle it!"

"Ryo," Shin calmly replied, "I want to be there for him, too."

Of course. Shin had also seen for himself what was going on. That was all anyone had to do to realize how bad things were getting.

It was enough to make Ryo feel guilty for ever feeling alone.

Before Shin left the car, he laid a hand on Ryo's arm. "I'll contact you once I've settled in," he said, "so if you're going to do anything stupid again - call me first, all right?"

"What 'again'?" Ryo laughingly shook off Shin's hand. "I didn't do anything stupid today!"

Shin huffed, "You almost did! If I hadn't been there!"

Ryo chuckled bitterly. Shin flashed a sad smile at him before he stepped out, and closed the passenger side door.

There was just one place he had to go before heading home. He had promised Yayoi he wouldn't take long, and he was sure that he wouldn't.

He just had to drop by. Tell the salesperson what he wanted. Pay for the thing. Then leave. There was no time to learn how the damn thing worked, or even how not to break it - but Ryo wasn't about to go back to the apartment without it in hand.

Touma was coming home tonight.

(tbc)