Bloody Rose

Acceptance

Chapter Fifty-three:

Acceptance

The machines monitoring Hattori, Kuroba, and Hakuba went crazy as the two teens returned from their friend's mind. As soon as Hakuba regained consciousness, he sent word to Shinichi that Hattori had given his okay to administer the drug. Ai didn't even hesitate as she injected the serum into his IV. Doctors and nurses rushed in shortly after, attempting to find out what was wrong.

"He is trying to wake up it seems", one doctor stated before another ran in behind them.

"His brain activity is nearly off the charts. Just what is going on?!" they shouted, rushing to move him into x-ray and CAT scan.

Ai knew they wouldn't find anything. She had made sure the drug was untraceable. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the drug to run its course.

Standing at the door way was Shinichi who watched with mixed feelings as the doctors and nurses rushed his best friend into emergency protocol, trying to figure out why his body was literally beginning to seizure. The process was painful, something that Shinichi knew about firsthand from several different occurrences in which he used the drug to become himself again and again.

"How is he?" a voice whispered into his mind.

"Seizing", he whisper back, "they are trying to get his body to relax, but they won't be able to until the drug runs its course."

"It takes about a day right?"

"The seizure lasts about an hour at the most and yeah...the rest of the drug takes about a day. It might be to his good fortune that he is unconscious right now."

"Will he survive?" asked Kuroba who joined the conversation.

"Ai says it's a 50/50 chance."

"If he does live...will he be changed? Like us?"

Shinichi sighed. "There is that possibility. I would rather he not be like us, but it's highly likely. There is something in the drug that chemically alters our bodies and while Ai has been trying to fix that side effect, this particular dose is like ours, just altered to be more on the healing side physically. I don't know all the science of it, but Ai and Agasa procured it and manipulated it to be something to help his body mass heal more quickly and hopefully...end up saving his life."

"I guess we will know by tomorrow then", Hakuba muttered.

"Yeah", agreed Shinichi, but all three of them were less than optimistic. They couldn't afford to be positive when it could mean utter devastation, should Hattori truly die.

DCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDC

Hakuba was sitting in bed staring out the window when a soft knock came from his doorway. Turning, he was surprised to see Izumi Naoko standing there, a gentle smile on her face.

"You are Saguru Hakuba, right?" she asked sheepishly coming in.

"Err, yeah", he nodded, "you are Izumi Naoko?"

"Yeah that's me", she smiled, "pleasure to meet you", she said stretching out her hand.

Hakuba clasped it in a handshake before letting his arm fall back to his side. She peered at his scratched and bruised face and then at his leg dangling over the bed.

"Seems painful", she commented as she took a seat in the guest chair.

"It's not bad. I am on some pretty high dosed pain killer. They had to put about fifty stitches in my leg and snap the bone back into place."