Ink Stained

98: tests*

試験

A jittery sensation seeped into her bones as she lay back on the hospital bed in the empty room at Dokokai Hospital, Aihara and Kanou talking in rapid voices over her. Tiny claws scratched under her skin, biting and nipping to break their way out and shred her to bloody pieces.

It wasn't that she felt like a lab experiment laid out in front of two healers with itchy fingers to poke and prod her to figure out what made her tick. It wasn't that she could barely comprehend anything of what the two talked about as Aihara earnestly explained something to Kanou. It wasn't the worry about what would happen once she and Shin got to Kyoto tomorrow that had her scared out of her wits and twitchy to get up and start running.

It was that she was sure that she'd lain on a cold metal slab like this, with far less clothing, drowsy after being doped up on drugs. She knew, she knew, even without properly remembering it. She knew something like that had happened, and lying on this bed, so much softer, so much cosier, still reminded her of it.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands to tight fists, the curves of her nails digging into her palms as she fought to calm the rising tide of intense discomfort sweeping through her.

This wasn't So Fu.

This wasn't the Doctor, doing whatever it was he did to those who ended up under his scalpel.

This isn't a memory, she chanted to herself, fighting to quell the anxiousness stirring in her gut. This isn't a memory, this isn't a memory, this isn't –

But isn't it?

I hate you, she snapped back viciously.

Love you too, Kuniumi returned in a flat voice, totally uncaring.

She shook her head and tried to ignore Kuniumi's presence, instead focusing outward. She glanced to the side and caught Kaede's eye. The Daitengu nodded, reassuring her that he was there. A small smile of relief lighted her face. He wasn't Shin, but she was still glad for his presence there.

Kaede had come with them, on Kouta's insistence. With his Ability to hear anything, Kaede would be able to more accurately tell if Aihara was lying about something from body tics Aihara made that she wouldn't even be aware she was making. Pai had thought Shin would come, but he was tied up with work he had to do with Kouta regarding their trip to Kyoto tomorrow.

She hadn't Kaede to come because she knew how painful it got for him to be in the city. There were millions of people, cars, animals. She'd heard Haru mention before that such noise had overwhelmed him a few times before. Kaede was the only one at the house who rarely left it, and when he did, he was with Shouta or Ryosuke, who kept him from being run over because Kaede wore spelled ear plugs in an attempt to mute the devastating effect of the noise around him.

But Kaede himself refused to let her and Kanou go alone, joking that Kanou was a healer and couldn't protect the both of them if something happened. Kanou, surprisingly, didn't rise to the bait and agreed with Kaede.

Kanou reminded her that Aihara was not the only one they needed to be wary of. Yori Chiisai still hounded her whenever she stepped too far away from the magical boundary of Ayashi House, and Kanou warned her that a Shimo Oni had once come after her. It would be foolhardy to let something like that happen again.

He hadn't meant to, she knew, but a pang of guilt went through her at his reminder of the Onihitokuchi, the unspoken mention of the Amanojaku that stole Shin's now defunct Mask. If only she'd noticed the Oni, so much pain and suffering could have been avoided.