I Cannot Offer You Freedom
Chapter 14
~*~
Every swear word he knew flew through his mind as he took stock of the situation. Every member of the team besides him was currently in the hospital, some more seriously injured then others. Robin! She had promised she would return, come back to him. Michael pulled up the view of her hospital room and watched as her slender form lay limply in the bed, chest rising and falling shallowly, but evenly.
The void was more dangerous then any of them had predicted.
A soft swoosh alerted him to the fact that someone had entered the room from the elevator. Glancing up, he caught sight of Doujima as she walked tiredly over to where was he seated. Her right hand and wrist were wrapped completely in white medical bandages, and she was careful not to put the slightest pressure on it as she sat down next to the hacker.
“How are the others?” she asked, voice still shaking slightly with the day’s earlier events.
Michael shook his head, orange locks flying. “I don’t know. Robin’s the only one who’s got a camera in her room, thanks to you. I haven’t even been able to discover where Miss Karasuma is yet and Sakaki…” he hesitated.
“What?!” the blonde girl asked, her voice rising an octave in pitch.
The hacker shifted uncomfortably; he hated being the bearer of bad news. “He’s…he’s in surgery right now. For his arm.”
Choking back the exclamation of fright that rose in her throat, Doujima rose from her seat and flew towards the elevator she had stepped off only moments before. Sighing, Michaal turned back to his computer and checked up on Robin once more before continuing to try and locate Miss Karasuma.
Robin would be fine, or so he had heard. Since she had only been inside the airless bubble for such a short amount of time, no major damage had been inflicted. The hacker could only assume that the brunette woman would be the same since they had been entrapped and released at the same time.
After a few more minutes of sorting through the hospital’s records he found her in a room down the hall from Robin’s. He did not have a camera in her room, but he hacked into the hospital’s security system and managed to catch a glimpse of her pale, but otherwise intact form through the window in her door.
Satisfied, he returned to the records and searched now for Sakaki; Robin stirred and awakened in the window at the bottom of his screen and he smiled. After another half hour, he found that Sakaki’s operation was finished and he was now being taken to a regular room such as Robin’s and Karasuma’s.
Nodding to himself, the hacker leaned back in his chair and gave his aching right arm a break; he’d have to try and manage one-handed for a while now.
***
Frantic, Doujima burst through the hospital’s doors and ran straight up to the reception desk, hair streaming out behind her.
“Haruto Sakaki!” she demanded breathlessly.
Blinking, the nurse turned to her computer and said a few seconds later, “Third floor, room C343. But-”
Without waiting to hear what else the woman would say, Doujima sprinted for the elevator and punched the up button. Her hands twisted and untwisted themselves the entire way up, and when the doors finally opening with a ding, she tore off once more, almost knocking over a middle-aged couple waiting to step into the elevator car.
Tossing a “Sorry!” over her shoulder, she slowed a little to read the numbers as they flashed by on either side of her. C327…C333…C341…C343! Breathless, she flung open the door and rushed to Sakaki, throwing herself onto her knees by his side.
As her eyes took in the sight before her, they filled with tears and she began to sob, horrified by his condition. Poor Sakaki… Tears coursed down her cheeks in twin rivers and she rested her forehead on the empty mattress space in front of her, feeling a slight stirring as she did so.
“D-Doujima?” came the hoarse whisper.
Her head snapped up and she met a pair of dark, unfocused eyes. A pained chuckle escaped his lips and he asked, “Why the tears?”
Biting her lip, she couldn’t stop her eyes from straying down to his damaged area, fresh tears appearing as she realized he didn’t know.
Confused, Sakaki’s eyes followed her and alighted upon the empty sleeve of his hospital gown. An empty sleeve…
Eyes widening, the rookie met Doujima’s eyes once more, and this time his eyes radiated hysteria. “What happened to my arm?! Where’s my arm?!”
Doujima sobbed even louder and touched his cheek with one finger, but he jerked his head away and turned it so that he was facing away from her. “Sakaki-“
“Go away,” he answered, voice dead.
“But-“
“I said, get the hell away from me!”
Her entire body trembling, Doujima rose to her feet and walked backwards out of the room, her blue eyes lingering on the crippled form. Bumping into the door, she turned the knob and finally tore her gaze away, refusing to look back after that.
Her tears continued all the way back to the STN-J.
***
Rubbing his eyes exhaustedly, Michael slumped back in his chair and cradled his arm to his chest. All he had been able to find out was that Sakaki was going to live, no other information had been provided. He had quit in frustration, and after another check on Robin, decided to call it a day. It was getting late after all, and he was worn out, both physically and mentally.
The elevator swished again and he stood up, prepared to tell whomever it was to go home. Doujima’s tear-stained face appeared and stepped towards him, eyes pained. “Doujima? What happened?”
“Sakaki,” was all she could get out.
“He’s going to be fine,” the hacker reassured her. “I looked him up and he’s-”
“They amputated his arm!” she burst out, cutting him off. “They amputated his left arm!”
Shocked, Michael took a step backwards and fell again into his chair. “Amputated…” he murmured in a dazed voice.
The sun was setting outside and it bathed the room in red, reminding the two occupants only of all the blood they had seen shed in the past week or so. All the warmth was gone from the crimson rays and they slowly faded as the hours diminished, leaving the room in shadowed darkness.
Sniffling, Doujima turned to go and felt Michael’s good arm slip around and squeeze her shoulders in a comforting hug. She turned around and hugged him back, understanding and a friendly sense of comfort passing between them.
Stepping back, the blonde hunter gave the other a small smile and left work for the final time that day, her tears finally starting to dry on her cheeks. Things would look better after a night of sleep. They always did.
***
Well, I know I’m going to be getting a lot of comments about this chapter…Just please be nice! >.< I’m already almost drowning in my own runny nose, so please don’t make things worse! (Ew…that was kinda gross…^_~)
~Dreamwalker
