The Pediatrician's Closet

Penitence

A week passed. Ema got better. His hours got worse. The baby he had to admit with hand, mouth, and foot ended up worsening before he got better, but Masaomi was there to hold him as his mother slept in a nearby bed. He knew that part of the reason she could sleep at all was because the doctor himself held her child. Happily, two days later, he was able to release the babe to recover at home.

On Wednesday they returned for a checkup. As he tickled the baby's stomach to get his mouth open so he could see how the sores were healing up in there, Dani knocked on the door.

"Doctor, your sister's at the front desk for you. She's in a fit state."

His nerves prickled. Ema had never come to his office before when she had needed something. She always called, just like the rest of the brothers. What could be wrong that she felt she had to come here herself?

Once he finished the check up, he checked his phone. There were three missed calls. Usually he kept it on silent when with patients, but he hadn't felt any vibrations.

When he saw her, Dani was still hovering nearby with a drink of water, which Ema didn't so much as twitch to touch. At the sight of her trembling frame and wide, bright eyes, he all but ran the rest of the way to her.

"Ema, what happened?"

"He's..." she stopped and shot an uneasy glance at Dani, who put the cup of water down on the counter.

"I'll give you some privacy." She turned back to work well enough, but Masaomi suspected she did so reluctantly. He also hadn't missed that crook to her eyebrows when she had looked between Ema and him, as though something just made sense to her.

Masaomi gestured to an empty exam room and they went in. He closed the door behind him, hoping she didn't think much on the cartoon paintings on the walls and dangling toy birds.

"He's coming to kill you," she blurted out.

His hands went cold. "Who?"

"Kaname's friend, the one I..." she bit her lip. Her hands clenched so hard on her ruffled skirt that her knuckles showed white. "Masaomi...did you really shave him and ruin his reputation at the temple?"

He opened his mouth to ask how she knew that, then realized it didn't matter. All he could do with that information is try to lie, and he had no intention to do that to her, no matter how it made his gut twist.

"Yes," he said. "But what makes you think he's going to kill me?"

"He left a voicemail on my phone. Said he—said he was going to kill one of my brothers, a-a-and after-after hearing from Kaname last night that Chi had been kicked out dishonorably and that he suspected it might be you—" her breathing hitched and, suddenly, her face screwed up against watering hysteria. "What if I got it wrong? What if he's after Kaname? Masaomi, his voice, it was—I don't—"

He went on auto pilot, rushing to stroke her arms and hush to her like he would a terrified child. It was all he knew. He just stopped himself from pulling a toy out of his pocket. But even if he did know better, his rattled insides would have made it impossible for him to think straight.

"And he called me of all people—" she gasped. "This has got to be my fault, you—you must have heard about what he did—it's my fault, I shouldn't have gone to that stupid club, what if he's—"

A knock on the door interrupted her breathless tirade. Frowning, Masaomi went to the door to see Dani again, looking far to disinterested to be real.

"There's a young fellow up front saying it's urgent he get a word with you," she said.

"One of my brothers?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't have the look, and he's not the adopted one either. Told me to give you this."