Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Hejira ❯ Awakened ( Chapter 5 )

Author's Notes: I decided to write one more chapter before I leave for vacation. It's not extremely long, but I wrote it on short notice, so please forgive me. I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter.

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Hejira

Awakened

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Fuji's gaze flickered between Aiko's flushed face and the cordless phone that sat on his nightstand a foot away from him. She was getting worse and worse by the looks of it. He leaned forward, placing the electronic thermometer into her mouth and pressing theON button. I don't think she can take much more. Fuji thought decidedly, finally picking up the phone and dialing 911.

“Please state your emergency.” A female's pleasant voice floated through the speaker.

“Um, my sister, she has an extremely high fever.”

“What's the temperature please?” She said breezily.

Fuji extracted the thermometer from Aiko's mouth and glanced down at the blinking digital numbers. “107.3 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Her voice stiffened. “Your address please, sir.”

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“Why didn't you call 911 earlier?” Tenaya said into the phone, sounding frustrated.

”I don't know!” Fuji said exasperatedly. The truth was, the only thing keeping him from calling as soon as he could was the fact that he knew Aiko hated hospitals. It was a stupid excuse, and if Aiko were awake, she would surely berate him for judging so poorly in a situation like this. If she died, well, it'd probably be his fault.

Tenaya groaned, picking at a loose thread on her shirt as she sat up in bed. “I can't believe you didn't call until her temperature was over 107degrees Fahrenheit. What were you thinking? You probably should've called at 105!”

“Yes, Tenaya, thanks for reminding me.” Fuji sighed, slightly tired of Tenaya's nagging. “Well I have to go alright? Just wanted to tell you what was happening. See ya.” He flipped his phone shut, stuffing it into his pocket.

He leaned back in his uncomfortable hospital chair, staring at the door opposite him, across the hall. Behind that door, Aiko was either dying or surviving, and he had no idea.

Right at that moment, a doctor pushed open the door, looking around before spotting Fuji and walking over to him. “I'm Doctor Sano.” He said, extending a hand.

“Fuji.” He replied, shaking his hand. “How is she doing?” He asked anxiously.

Dr. Sano sighed, removing his facemask. “Not quite sure yet. She is still deeply unconscious, and a scanning showed that her heart could stop at any moment. Her body's temperature was just too high. She has a healthy heart, but it's been pumping so much blood to keep her body running that she is internally exhausted.” He took a deep breath. “Has she had any injuries lately?”

Fuji stiffened, nodding slowly. “Actually, she was hit by a car about a week ago and was just starting to recover.”

Dr. Sano nodded, not surprised. “In this case, the fever was a self-defense mechanism. Let me explain.” He said quickly, seeing Fuji's confused face. He took a seat beside Fuji.

“Her immune system was extremely weak after fighting off all of the bacteria cells in her body, the bacteria that had entered through her wounds from the accident. I'm guessing that it had not completely fought off all of the bacteria and that some remained. One of the pathogens managed to survive, but her white blood cell count was much too low to defeat it. Therefore, her body responded in the only way it could in a moment like this.

“It raised its temperature. Many types of bacteria have a strict range of temperature in which it can survive. Usually, the range goes up to about 102 degrees Fahrenheit. However, this particular strain of bacteria can survive in temperatures up to 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Her body, trying to clear itself of this foreign bacteria strain, raised its temperature, hoping that at a certain point, the heat would kill off all of the bacteria cells.”

Fuji nodded, beginning to understand.

“But this type of bacteria is tougher than most, and her body kept heating up more and more, trying to kill it off. That is why her fever is so dangerously high. If you had called any later, some of her vital organs may have already shut down.”

Fuji closed his eyes, not believing how close he had come to just letting her die. “Thank you Dr. Sano.” He said. “But what now?”

Dr. Sano smiled. “Fortunately, we managed to identify what type of bacteria it was, and we injected the right medication to kill it off. Her temperature is still extremely high, but it seems to be lowering, slowly.”

His face darkened. “But we're not sure how much damage her fever has caused, since she has yet to regain consciousness. She could wake up with anything from brain damage to paralysis, or not wake up at all.”

Fuji stiffened.

“We can't say unfortunately.” Dr. Sano sighed, standing up. “If she lives through the night, her chances for survival will have tripled.”

Fuji nodded, thanking the doctor again. He sighed, placing his head in his hands as the doctor left, leaving him alone in this empty hallway again.

Surely this was déjà vu.

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Aiko opened her eyes, of course, not that she could see anything. She felt something hard on her nose and mouth, pumping clean fresh air into her tired lungs. She wanted to cough, but couldn't find the strength. In fact, she could barely move a finger, and she closed her eyes, as if keeping them open was too hard a feat. Which in this case it was.

She felt separated from her body. Was this even her body? Who was she? Where was she? Why did these question sound so familiar?

Just before she drifted into unconsciousness again, she heard a man's kind voice whispering quietly to someone beside him. Aiko strained her ears, amazed that she could actually catch his words.

“…it might be our only choice.”

“But didn't that boy say she had just suffered through a car accident? And a pretty horrible one by the looks of it.”

“Yes, only a week ago.”

“We can't possibly resort to that. Not only is she already injured, all of her vital organs are on the brink of shutting down from the fever. To do that would be murder.”

“To leave her would be murder. Her heart is slowly but surely shutting down anyway. This is the only way we can stop that.”

The other person hesitated. “I see.” She, or he, whispered softly. “But you know what the shock will do. Too much and it will completely kill her heart. The chances of this working are almost zero.” The person said slowly.

The doctor sighed. “I know, don't you think I know? But if we don't do this, then her chances are zero. We must. If she doesn't regain consciousness in the next six hours, then get the defibrillator machine out. Charge three hundred on the first try.”

“...I understand.”

“It's all chance from here. If she has a strong heart, she can take it. If she doesn't…” He didn't have to finish.

Aiko's consciousness began to drift away. The defibrillator machine was a large electronic machine with paddles that were placed on the patient, sending an electric shock through the person's body. It was used to shock a heart back into life. But she didn't need it. She wanted to scream out at the doctor “I'M FINE! I'VE REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS, SEE!” But she could barely open her mouth before the darkness swept over her senses again.

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Aiko stared down at her knees, picking a stray piece of lint off her skirt. She sighed, looking around the bar.

To her left was Chisato and most of her friends. They had all had at least a few shots, and were howling with laughter at the unfunniest things. Meanwhile, Aiko sat by herself, boredly stirring her Chablis with a straw. She didn't drink much alcohol if she could help it, although she was the type of person who could chug a gallon and still be able to recite quantum physics.

Aiko sighed, wondering if she would've had more fun at home doing chores, or finishing up the assignment her mom had been about to give her. She didn't know really, for she couldn't think straight with the music blasting at about a billion decibels. Her drink was practically vibrating with the soundwaves.

She sighed again. She had been people watching most of the time. She sat near the door, and she had a good view of people coming in, although they couldn't see her unless they turned in her direction. All night long, there had been a steady trickle of people walking in. A few of them had caught her eye, but not enough for her to make an effort to say hi to the person.

However, just as she was contemplating whether or not she should just leave, in walked a crowd of people. It was the largest crowd yet, over thirty people, it seemed. It appeared to be a bunch of middle aged men in suits, but at the end of the crowd was a group of young guys, around her age.

There werefive of them in all, and they were all gorgeous, not to mention filthy rich by the looks of it. And unlike the other people in their party, there were not dressed so formally. The majority of them were wearing either button-ups or T-shirts with jeans.

Aiko smiled. She knew she could probably admire them in secret for a while, for she was sitting mostly in the shadows. Although with the ruckus Chisato and her friends were making, some of them were bound to glance in her direction. But she knew that even then, they'd probably just look away. What was there to see? A plain girl, with average looks and average clothes, sitting at the bar, looking like a loner. One glance would tell it all right?

Surprisingly, Aiko felt nothing as these thoughts ran through her head. She was so used to blending in with the background that it no longer bothered her. Insults bounced off her like super balls, for she had pretty much grown immune to them over the years of living at home with her model-worthy siblings. She knew such young, handsome, wealthy men wouldn't look at her twice, even if she did believe she was looking quite nice today.

She smiled to herself, letting her gaze flicker over them, memorizing who they were by their hairstyles. One man, the oldest judging from his looks, had his hair shaved close to his head, and two other men spiked their hair. Another had his hair medium-length, hanging to his ears, and the fifth guy had hair that fell gently past his right eye, ending at chin-length. This last man was the one who caught her eye.

She felt her eyesfollow him as he sat down at a table with his friends, only a few yards away. He looked to be the youngest, but also seemed to be the center of attention. His hair was a dark brown, and looked extremely soft. He had light eyes, it was hard to tell the color from here. He looked familiar.

Aiko smiled, sipping her Chablis as she quietly studied him. He watched with interest as the guy with the shaved head spoke animatedly. “Wouldn't it be nice,” she thought to herself. “If I got to know a guy like him?” But she pushed the thought out of her mind effortlessly, knowing that at most, he'll notice her and look away.

“Hey Aiko! Come here!” Chisato yelled. She and her friends had left the bar and were sitting in a large booth at the other end of the club with a group of people Aiko had never seen. Chisato waved her over, pointing discreetly to a guy sitting next to her. “Isn't he hot?” She mouthed, her eyes twinkling.

Aiko smiled, glancing one more time at the guy she had been watching, before picking up her drink and walking in Chisato's direction.

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He smiled as Shinji retold his story of something-or-other, he wasn't quite sure for he wasn't exactly paying attention. He ran a hand through his hair, looking around slowly so as not to seem rude.

He didn't know why his dad made him come to these clubs. They opened about a five different clubs a week, and going to them was useless in his opinion. However, he looked up to his father greatly, and so he obeyed, just to please him. But he wished he didn't have to hang out with his dad's sons. They were all rich, much like him, but didn't have much brains. All they could talk about most of the time was their cars or their girls. It got tiring after about the first few minutes. And this club was the same as all the others. Alcohol, girls in crazy outfits, rich men, loud music, blabla.

But one girl in particular caught his eye. She had just gotten up from her seat at the bar with her glass. He had not noticed her before because she had been sitting in the shadows. But as soon as she walked into the dancing lights of the club towards another booth, his breath caught in his throat.

She was absolutely beautiful. Her sleek, shining locks of chestnut hair cascaded over her back from her ponytail. Her outfit accented her appealing figure but was, for once in these clubs, modest and un-revealing. The features of her face were delicate but well defined, and he could tell even from this distance that she was a mix. Despite herobvious beauty,she was not the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen. But something about her, her innocent features, her kind eyes, her fluid, careful movements, made her stand out miles above the rest of the girls he had met.

“What's wrong man?”

He snapped out of his thoughts, turning to face Shinji who had an annoyed look on his face. “Screw your story.” He thought, standing up and stepping out of his booth and towards the girl.

“Tonight, I'm meeting her.”

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Author's Notes: Ok, this chapter was mostly flashback, I think. I hope you liked it though.

Thank you everybody for reviewing. Have a nice summer, and see you guys in a month!