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"It's not working, Matsudaira!" Kunikida roared over the din. His hands were clamped one over the other so tight that his knuckles were pure white; his brow dripped with sweat as he rhythmically pressed his fists into Kusanagi's chest, forcing the blood through the man's body. Takeuchi was crouched beside him, her mouth clamped over his, propelling vital air into his lungs. The constant, high-pitched whine of the flatlined heart monitor reverberated throughout the room, adding to the urgency of the people inside. "Do something!"
Matsudaira rushed to the bedside, hurriedly tapping the air bubbles out of a large syringe. "Move out of the way!" she ordered, shoving her boss aside. Her graceful fingers prodded the man's ribs until she found a spot not far from a weakly throbbing mitama; she plunged the hypodermic needle through his skin, between the ribs, and straight into his heart. "Keep working at it, Takeuchi! Yaegashi, get me another-"
A single, abnormally rounded heartbeat blipped on the monitor. "Come on," the scientist urged, injecting another round of heart stimulants into a vein in his arm. "Start pumping-"
A series of the irregular heartbeats flashed across the monitor. Before anyone could respond, the rounded marks began increasing in speed and power until they were flying across the monitor, sounding off another alarm. "Damn! He's gone into V-tach! Koume, get the paddles NOW!"
Koume came flying across the room, pushing a huge machine in front of her. The redhead plugged the contraption in; Matsudaira snatched two huge paddles from the front and rubbed them together. "Yaegashi, charge this thing to half-power!" she bellowed, placing the paddles at ninety-degree angles from each other on Kusanagi's torso. "CLEAR!"
Everyone jumped back from the bed as she pressed the paddles against his chest; the young man's body arced in the air as the electricity surged through it. The reading on the monitor slowed a little, then sped up faster than before. "Three-quarters power! Ready . . . CLEAR!" Sizzling sounds echoed as Kusanagi's unconscious frame recoiled from the shock. The monitor bleeped, then flatlined.
"Charge it as high as it will go, Yaegashi!" Matsudaira screamed over the uproar. "If this doesn't work, we'll probably lose him! CLEAR!!!!!"
The charge swept through his body, raising him almost a foot off the bed as every muscle in his body contracted; he suddenly went limp and fell back against the bed, perfectly still.
The heart monitor beeped softly, silencing its previous alarms. One small, weak, but normal heartbeat thumped onto the monitor, followed by another, until his heart was beating at a slow, regular rhythm. His mouth parted slightly; the ragged sounds of his breathing accompanied the tone of his heartbeat. Matsudaira dropped the paddles back into their slots and sagged against the machine, suddenly exhausted. "He's all right," she sighed softly. "He's going to live."
A slight whimper behind the group drew abruptly drew the group's attention; they turned to see Momiji standing in the far corner. "Is he . . ." she barely made out.
Kunikida stepped towards her, his hands stained with green blood. "It's going to be all right, Momiji," he told her softly.
The teenaged Kushinada nodded once before bursting into tears.
"What the hell happened?"
Momiji stared at her hands; she could make out the voices of each individual TAC member as the group chattered angrily back and forth. "Well," Matsudaira's wearied voice echoed, "from what I could tell, he had a reaction to the antimicrobals I had given him. His physiology is such a strange mix of human and plantlike forms that I can't tell what medications will react with him."
"Is that what caused his seizures? The medications?" Kunikida asked.
"I can't be entirely sure until I run a few more tests, but I believe so."
Koume's impatient voice broke in. "So Kusanagi had a couple of seizures that made his heart stop, right?"
"No. The seizures are apparently unrelated to his heart failure. The parasites that the Aragami infected him with have spread into his cardiac and respiratory systems, causing the attack. He has to be constantly monitored now, to guard against another attack of PVC."
"PVC? The plastic thing?"
Matsudaira sighed. "No, Koume, premature ventricular contractions. During the attack, the bottom chambers of his heart began beating so rapidly that his heart could not fill up with blood. It's nearly as bad as complete heart failure. That's why I had you bring out the defibrillator; his heart had to be jolted out of that rhythm before it killed him."
Momiji shuddered when the scientist mentioned the word "killed." "So . . . what happens if Kusanagi has another attack like that?" she queried hesitantly.
The older woman put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I honestly don't know, Momiji. The defibrillator puts a great deal of strain on the body; his heart is already weak from the infection. I . . . I can't give any guarantees-"
Standing up, Momiji swallowed hard and nodded her head. "I understand," she whispered. "I- I'm going to sit with him . . . ."
She rushed off before anyone could say another word.
Murakumo crept towards the tiny shrine, a scowl on his face. "Damned Kusanagi," he cursed under his breath. "If it wasn't for Princess Kaede's objections, you would be dead by now." The mitamas on his hands throbbed softly as he reached the battered torii; he snarled under his breath and kept going. "I'm not going to let the Kushinada interfere with your destruction!"
He could see the princess curled up on a bed of tatami in the entrance to the shrine. Carefully, he slunk closer to her, then pulled a vial out of her voluminous robes. The Aragami studied the bluish liquid carefully, then slipped the vial into a pocket inside his jacket. He placed another vial, filled with tinted blue water, back into her robe. "I'm not taking any chances . . . ." He paused when he saw the infant god Susano-oh staring at him. "I do this to protect you, my lord," he told the child. "I will not let the Kushinada risk your life just for that imperfect soul!"
The infant stared back at him calmly, a wisdom beyond any found on earth lurking behind his eerie gaze. Murakumo bowed once and slipped back into the darkness to maintain his vigil on the shrine.
*~*Yamata-no-Orochi watched cautiously from among the trees as the seven year old Kusanagi stepped out into the human world for the first time. His master's words rang in the young boy's ears as he leapt from branch to branch. The Kushinada is here inside the park. You will watch after her from the shadows and make sure no harm comes to her. Make sure to keep yourself hidden from the humans unless absolutely necessary. He rubbed a huge bruise on his shoulder from where Orochi had shoved him out of the cave. Now get out of my sight and don't return until I call for you!
Landing amidst the branches of an old maple tree, Kusanagi scanned the open park area. Images of Kaede had been implanted in his mind by his Aragami master; he examined every face until a young girl with blue hair and a sailor's type school uniform ran down the path in front of the tree. "That's the Kushinada?" he asked himself, unimpressed. He stared down at the girl as she pranced around in circles laughing and singing to herself. A craggy man in a grey trenchcoat followed behind her, smiling and chatting with people as he passed by. Kaede suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground with a shout; Kusanagi started, but the older man reached the girl first.
"Are you OK, Kaede?" He lifted her up and wiped the dirt from her scraped knees.
She sniffled a little, wiping away her tears with one hand. "My knees hurt, Father," she whimpered, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"It's all right, Kaede. Here," and he swung the little girl up onto his shoulders, "I'll carry you back to the car and we'll bandage those scrapes right up. OK?"
The young Kushinada giggled as her father strode back the way they came. Kusanagi began to follow them, then stopped. They seemed so . . . . so happy together, as though they hadn't a care in the world. His little mind flared with resentment as he thought about the scene that had just transpired in front of him. Why did he have to suffer just for her? He hated that smile, those joyful eyes; his memories were of nothing but pain, endless drilling in the processes of destruction. Far back in his mind were vague memories of infanthood, but they were clouded over with cold statistics and battle techniques. Tears began to well in the young boy's eyes; he angrily dashed the tears away. I won't do it, he snarled in his mind. I won't follow them, I don't care what that jerk Orochi says!
"Hey, you! You, up in the tree! You wanna play baseball?"
Kusanagi looked down, startled. A trio of boys were standing under the maple's branches, looking up at him. He shrank away, unsure of what to do. "Aw, come on! It'll be fun!"
Fun? The Aragami-created child wasn't entirely sure as to what fun was, but it has to be better than just sitting up in a tree. And his heart longed to go out and frolic like normal children, although he did not know that as being normal. Ignoring his master's previous warnings, he jumped down from the tree and landed perfectly on his feet. "OK," he said shyly.
"Great! My name's Ranma, and I'm six years old! This here's my friends Ryouga and Akira. What's your name?"
"Um . . . . . I'm Mamoru."
The boy named Ranma grabbed him by the hand. "C'mon! Let's get over to the playing ground!"
Four more boys, all about six years older than them, were waiting for the group when Ranma, Kusanagi, and the others arrived at the small baseball diamond. "OK, guys, we've got another player," Ryouga said. "Let's get started!"
"Wait a second." One of the older boys stepped forward. "What's up with the green-haired kid?" He reached over and pulled a hair out of Kusanagi's head. "And you've got funny lookin' cat eyes, too!"
"Leave him alone, Hiro," Ranma said. "He's OK, really!"
The other preteens pushed the younger kids back and encircled the bewildered Kusanagi. "You look like a walking carrot," one of them jeered, poking him in the chest.
"Stop it," he whispered, suddenly aware of how alone he was. His eyes darted about frantically, looking for any sign of his master hiding in the trees. "Leave me alone!"
"Leave him alone, Hiro!" Ranma shouted, charging him. He found himself pushed aside again; the older boy had six years of martial arts training over him, and was much stronger. Ryouga came over to help Ranma, but two of the older boys came by and pinned them to the ground.
Hiro then grabbed the young Aragami's hand and stared at the mitama imbedded in the flesh there. "What's this thing?" He prodded it with one finger-
-and Kusanagi shoved the older boy aside roughly. "I said leave me alone, dammit!!" Bringing his hands together, he generated a ki wave from his mitamas and blasted the boy.
The ki blast threw Hiro back several meters; he sat up slowly, grabbing his arm in pain. "He broke my arm!" he wailed.
The other boys stared at him in shock; he shrank back, suddenly horrified at what he had done. "I- I didn't mean to hurt him . . . . I'm sorry . . . . ."
"Freak!" Another of the young men picked up a rock and flung it at him, hitting him in the face. "Weirdo! Get away from us!"
A stick struck him in the shoulder, followed by a piece of brick and an empty bottle. "Freak!" they shouted as they bombarded him with trash and other objects. "Monster!"
Ranma and Ryouga pried themselves free and ran to their new friend's aid. "Mamoru! Hey, you jerks, leave him alone-"
The two boys stopped in their tracks. Where the bottle had cut him seeped green blood, staining his T-shirt and running down his arm. "He- he's not human . . . ." Ryouga whispered, pointing at his wound.
Kusanagi stared at them with haunted eyes filled with tears. "I'm . . . I'm sorry," he sobbed; before they could react, he leapt into the nearest tree and vanished from sight.
"Mamoru . . . ." Ranma called after him. "Mamoru . . . !"
Kusanagi kept running until he reached one of the entrances to Orochi's cave. He dropped to the grass and huddled up into a ball, sobbing. Why are you back here, toy? a sibilant voice hissed from the foliage.
"I- I saw the Kushinada, but she left, and then I met some kids and they started pokin' me and I used a ki attack on one of them and the kept calling me a freak and I-"
WHAT? Orochi's eyes flared red; brandishing a many-forked tentacle, he struck him hard across the back, shredding his T-shirt. I told you not to let yourself be seen! He lashed out again; Kusanagi screamed and curled up into a tiny ball to minimize the surface his master could strike. Worthless trash! I should destroy you now! The tentacles tore into the skin of his back until the blood flowed freely; Orochi drew back and studied his pupil with disdain. Now, are you sorry you disobeyed me, fool?
"Y- yes, master," he choked through his sobs. "I won't - won't do it again . . . ."
The Aragami lifted the boy up in his tentacles and carried him back into the cavern. I'll heal you now and let you rest, the demon conceded as he bore him down the tunnels. But for now, let this be a warning . . . . .
Momiji adjusted the oxygen mask that covered the lower half of Kusanagi's face and tucked the sheets back around him. He kept tossing and turning, murmuring from the depths of his coma as memories of his past haunted him. The teen stroked his cheek, concern etched on her face. "You'll be all right, Kusanagi," she whispered. "I'm here for you . . . ."
A single tear, tiny and sparkling, slipped from one eye and slid along the contour of his cheek before dripping down onto Momiji's hand. "Oh, Kusanagi," she murmured quietly, touching the droplet to her lips. His face was contorted in pain and sorrow from the memory; it twisted her heart to see it. Slowly, she leaned down and, hesitating, brushed her lips against his forehead. "I'm here for you, Kusanagi. I promise, I'll never leave you . . . ."
The constant beeping of the monitors was her only answer.
Chapter 4 coming soon to an FFML near you....
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