Rating: R for mature themes
Pairing: Seishirou + Subaru
Disclaimer: Subaru, Seishirou and to some extent,
the chairman, belong to Clamp. The rest,
unfortunately, is real.
Warning: Mature themes, macabre things that really
happened
Scalp Hunter
by Beth
The doctor's hands were sure in their movements as he checked the pulse and breathing. Michiru found them calming, a good focus for her thoughts. She wasn't prepared to think of the body on the bed - her mother's - just yet.
"I am afraid you were right in your assessment when you called the ambulance, Yamazaki-san. Your mother has passed away. Please accept my condolences."
Michiru did not move - did not even blink while the doctor signed the death certificate. She reflected on how young he was - not even thirty, his features elegantly handsome, his hair a bit too long and falling just that inch off the collar.
Michiru Yamazaki was forty-three, and her life had just broken into pieces. Now she had no-one.
The doctor seemed to sense that as he stood up. He hesitated for a moment and placed his hand on hers.
"It must be a great burden for you, Yamazaki-san. You need time to mourn and then go on with your life." He took a card from his leather-bound folder of forms and certificates. "This is the address of a reputable funeral home. They will take care of everything for you."
She nodded and thanked him politely. When the door closed after him, she went down to her knees and cried a bit, but not as much as she would have if the short exchange hadn't happened.
Then she called the funeral home.
The businessman from the funeral home was evidently pleased.
"We decided that we would contract you for twenty scalps in advance this time!" he laughed. "You're the best there is!"
"I try my humble best," the doctor murmured politely.
He didn't pick up the envelope until the businessman had left the restaurant. He knew how much would be in it, after the recent conflict between competing funeral homes had pushed the going rate up. A perfectly satisfactory sum that would see him with a vacation in Europe after next month's medical conference. He thought about the subject of the conference, "Saving lives in emergency situations", and smiled.
He did not like the term 'scalp'. He preferred 'patient'.
The security officer showed the doctor into the boardroom. The company officials were milling around the unconscious Head of Marketing, a man in his fifties. They parted to allow the doctor and the paramedics following him to approach.
"Heart attack," the doctor said quickly. "We need to get him into the hospital, quickly."
Wordlessly, the paramedic put the man on the stretcher and followed the doctor out of the room. Once inside the ambulance, one of them busied himself with rearranging the medical supplies; the other one slipped behind the wheel and steered the car into traffic.
The doctor took out a pre-prepared syringe and performed the injection. He stared calmly with wide brown eyes as his patient's breathing slowed and stopped, the pulse quickening for a moment before stopping as well.
"We lost him," he said, and the orderly nodded. He tapped on the window in the partition separating them from the driver and the ambulance changed direction, heading toward the funeral home.
It was somehow a strange tableau: the president of one of Tokyo's most respected real estate companies, his secretary, and the manager of a construction site stood around a boy, gazing at him intently. The boy in turn did not pay attention; he concentrated within himself. Wind whistled between the half-constructed walls of the building-to-be, tugged at the boy's blue coat, and playfully messed up the black hair, but the emerald eyes remained closed.
"I can feel them," Subaru said finally. "They're old spirits, and it will be complicated. I am very sorry, but if the exorcism is to be performed correctly, I will have to meditate during the night and come back here in the morning to complete it." He bowed apologetically. "I am sorry, but that is the only way."
"Of course, Sumeragi-san," the president said amiably. "We're very glad you are here to help us, and the delay is no problem."
"I would also recommend that all work be halted," Subaru added. "I wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt."
"Yeah, there's been enough accidents already," the site manager agreed. "I'll get to it - with your permission, Mr President."
"Of course, Suzuki-kun," the older man said. "Sumeragi-san, I'd like to-"
A scream, and the sound of a scaffolding falling down.
It was just around the corner, but when the four arrived there at a run, the wounded worker had already been placed in a safe position. Behind them, the secretary reached for his phone and called an ambulance.
"He just slipped and fell," another worker reported.
The president looked at Subaru, who nodded.
"The spirits are disturbed," he explained. "Their effect on reality isn't even conscious; it's a side effect of their energy that centers around living beings. After tomorrow-"
The president nodded. "I trust you, Sumeragi-san."
Subaru's shoulders sagged with a sudden desperation. Then he kneeled beside the unconscious man and stretched his hands over him, muttering a simple chant, stabilizing the energy, withdrawing the negative influence of the spirits. Doing whatever he could.
Moments later the ambulance arrived. The doctor was calm and business-like as he examined the patient, muttering about damage and treatments. Subaru found himself reminded of Seishirou, though this man was a few years older and more delicately built. He thought it had to be something in the way they both held themselves - perhaps just the fact he'd seen Seishirou in similar situations with the animals at the clinic.
At a nod from the doctor, the orderlies that had followed him with a stretcher picked up the wounded man and started to carry him away. Subaru went with them for a few paces, just so he could finish the spell. He was glad that from what he'd understood of the doctor's muttering, the man wasn't in an immediate danger.
Then one of the orderlies stumbled and the man's body fell off the stretcher, landing on the ground with a loud thud. The doctor didn't even turn his head.
"I think you - should be more careful," Subaru said shyly. "That man already suffered a fall, and-"
"Don't interfere with my work," the doctor snapped.
"I'm- sorry..."
"Just shut up."
Subaru stared at the ambulance door, uncomprehending.
"-and I don't know why he was so upset," Subaru finished his story. "I just wanted to help..."
"I'm sure you did, Subaru-kun," Seishirou assured him. "I'm afraid you've just met with the evidence of decaying morale in the national health service."
"What do you mean, Seishirou-san?" Subaru was wearing an amethyst jacket today, and white gloves with black crosses. They were walking slowly toward the construction site, Seishirou accompanying him as the clinic was that way as well.
"I'm afraid surveys show that doctors and nurses don't take their job as seriously as they used to. Especially in the emergency services - they get so much stress, and still they don't get as much money as the ones who work in the hospital. I guess they just feel unappreciated." Seishirou shrugged. "It's one of the problems, just like smuggling out prescription drugs, or scalp hunting."
"Scalp hunting?"
"There's lots of funeral homes in Tokyo, and they all pay doctors to direct the deceased's family so that they do business with that particular home - sometimes even when someone dies in an ambulance they just drive straight to the funeral home. It's unethical, of course, but considered a fact of life."
"That's horrible," Subaru said, trembling slightly.
"There's more horrible things connected to this," Seishirou said softly.
Emerald eyes widened, and Subaru's bottom lip trembled. Seishirou gently placed a supporting arm around the boy's shoulders.
"Rumours say, some of them are so greedy," he continued, "that they don't wait until the patient dies on their own. There are... ways to quicken the process. Drugs like certain blood pressure suppressants, or Pavulon - an extremely powerful muscle relaxant that causes total paralysis, including the breathing apparatus."
"Like being imprisoned in your own body..." Subaru whispered.
Seishirou used his free hand to gently take hold of the boy's chin. "Don't worry," he whispered. "You'll always have me to protect you from all harm."
Subaru nodded, blushed bright scarlet and extricated himself from the older man's embrace. He reasoned with himself that they were about to part ways anyway, and the chairman would probably already waiting for him. The look on Seishirou's face had absolutely nothing to do with the way he dashed off.
Seishirou smiled angelically.
The construction site seemed eerily deserted without the workers. The only persons present as Subaru arrived on the scene were the president and his secretary.
"I apologize for my lateness," the boy said breathlessly.
"Oh no," the president said. "It is I who am early. Old men like me don't need that much sleep, especially after what happened yesterday."
"Is the man who was injured alright?" Subaru asked. "I did not think he was hurt too badly..."
The president's eyes were very tired. "He was dead before they brought him to the hospital."
"I'm sorry," Subaru whispered.
Complete silence as the paraphernalia were set up, daggers planted and ofuda placed in precisely the right places. Subaru's soft chanting blended in with the distant noises of the city. Then he froze, eyes closed, hands clenched and trembling.
"Please stand back," he said softly, calmly. "They are old spirits, and very powerful."
He did not look, trusting his command to be obeyed. Instead he concentrated on aligning his mind to the plane the spirits inhabited, until finally they responded and took form in front of him.
Two men and a woman, they unable to settle their dispute over her, and her unable to decide between them. Hokuto, Subaru thought, would have a field day counseling them.
"Welcome, Master Onmyouji," the woman said softly. "It is an honor to be called by you."
"And it is an honor to speak to you," Subaru answered equally politely. "Aiko-san. Katsura-san. Harada-san."
"Sumeragi-san," one of the male spirits - Harada, the boy realized, the poet whose odes to Aiko's beauty were acclaimed as on a par with Shakespeare's sonnets - acknowledged.
The other, Katsura the ronin, killer of princes, just snorted derisively. "What do you want, trickster?"
"I wish to discuss the recent happenings in this vicinity. I am sure that you know change cannot be stopped, and this area is destined to become the site of an apartment building. It would bring much good if your energies could be kept in check now; no-one means you harm."
"They are ripping up the earth in the very place where we died," Harada pointed out.
"And being damned impertinent about it!" Katsura thundered.
"Not one grain of respect for our memory, for the greatest tragedy ever to happen in this land-"
"It's our gods-given right to push them off their stupid ladders!!"
Suddenly Aiko held up a hand and both men stopped. "Was anyone hurt?" she asked. "We did not mean to cause permanent harm."
"A man died yesterday." Subaru bowed his head, unable to look into Aiko's suddenly tear-filled eyes, the same orbs Harada had immortalized as 'holding the deepest darkness of the caves, and the flicker of the fire that tears through them, heading right for your heart'.
She was silent for a moment, then she turned to the men. "It ends now."
They nodded.
"We are very sorry," Aiko continued. "If there's any way we can help..."
She started to glow, her suddenly condensed energy bright enough to influence the real world. Somewhere to his left, Subaru heard the president and his secretary gasp; then a tentative footstep, and another as the secretary approached them. Before the boy could turn, repeat his warning, there was a scream.
"Kinoshita-kun!" the president gasped, watching the younger man fall to the ground.
"Kami-sama!" Aiko exclaimed. "I'm sorry!!" She hid her face in her hands, and her two companions each placed a hand on her shoulders.
Subaru was already kneeling by the fallen man, checking his injuries. To his relief, the man was conscious, though delirious and moaning incoherently. "It's not anything dangerous, Aiko-san," he said quickly. "But I do think it may be better if you retire to another plane for the time being."
The female spirit nodded and disappeared, with Katsura and Harada following her. Subaru turned around at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw the president, accompanied by his driver.
"I've called an ambulance," the president said. "Will Kinoshita-kun be alright?"
"Yes," Subaru nodded. "It's simply psychic shock."
"Who... was that person we saw?"
"Aiko. The geisha from Harada's poem, 'White dove'."
"The one who killed herself when she was unable to decide between him and that bandit." The president nodded with understanding. "Now I see why they both followed her into death shortly thereafter. I take it that the White Dove Inn stood here?"
"Yes."
A squeal of tires on gravel, and the ambulance was there. Subaru winced inwardly when he recognized the same doctor, though this time he had just one paramedic with him.
"He fainted and fell," the president explained to the doctor. "Sumeragi-san thinks it's not serious-"
"I am afraid we shall have to see about that," the doctor said.
He helped the paramedic load the barely conscious Kinoshita on to the stretcher and then into the ambulance.
"If I may, I'd like to come with you to the hospital," Subaru offered.
"Yes, that would be a good idea," the president agreed.
After a moment of hesitation the doctor nodded. Thirty seconds later the ambulance was already off, weaving its way through late-morning Tokyo traffic.
Kinoshita moaned, and Subaru placed a hand on the man's forehead to calm him, allay the visions that his touching Aiko had brought. Then the man stilled, falling into dark unconsciousness.
The doctor rapped twice on the driver's window, and the car stopped on a sidewalk. Subaru wondered why - wasn't getting to the hospital a priority? He realized that the doctor wanted to give Kinoshita an injection, and it made sense that the bumpy ride through this district's streets - just by the docks, and full of obstacles - would make it difficult.
Then he noted the name on the bottle the doctor drew the fluid from. Pavulon.
total paralysis, including the breathing apparatus
"Why a muscle relaxant?" he asked tentatively. "Kinoshita-san is only unconscious, and you don't have a respirator here-"
There was a flash of coldness in the doctor's eyes. "Please, do not interfere with my work. This is exactly the right drug in this situation."
Subaru swallowed convulsively, a sudden insight confirming his suspicion. "It will kill him. You're a scalp hunter."
A cruel smile twisted the doctor's lips. "My, aren't you perceptive."
Then the blunt edge of the IV stand hit Subaru on the back of the head, knocking him out. The doctor rapped on the driver's window once, then again. There were a few droplets of red on the edge of the glass, on the other side.
The door opened, outlining a tall figure dressed in an impeccable suit.
"It's not a good day for hyenas to be hunting, apparently."
One move, and the doctor had the syringe's needle against Subaru's neck. "Pavulon takes effect in under three minutes. You won't be able to save him."
A shrug, and then the man took off his glasses. Amusement in the golden eyes. "Impressive. So calm..."
A soft smile from the doctor. "They call me the Angel of Death."
"No, dear doctor." A sudden wind and the sweet smell of sakura. "You're not the Angel of Death. I am."
And the syringe shattered, the deadly drug flowing harmlessly down the doctor's hand.
With a last mad dash he pushed past the intruder and made it as far as the edge of the pier. But then pink petals swirled around him, sending needles of pain through his muscles.
"You disrespect death," Seishirou said. "You do not appreciate it, you think only of the money. And you hurt Subaru-kun."
Afterwards, the body landed in the bay.
White, and the smell of medication. Something warm enveloping his hand, a reassuring presence.
Subaru fuzzily realized he was in a hospital. And Seishirou was holding his hand.
"Sei-seishirou-san?" he asked.
"Right here, Subaru-kun. Always by your side."
Subaru felt himself blush. "What happened-?"
"The doctor escaped after rendering you unconscious, but apparently he slipped and fell into the water. I'm afraid he drowned. It appears Kinoshita-san was conscious during your confrontation in the ambulance, and the police are launching an investigation based on his testimony."
"So Kinoshita-san is alright?"
"Perfectly." Seishirou sent him a warm smile. "I took the liberty of advocating for a small monument to be erected in the new building's courtyard, to commemorate the lovers that died there."
Subaru nodded. Then he closed his eyes. "Seishirou-san, why are men so evil? Why do they do such things for money?"
"One of the mysteries of the human race, Subaru-kun. But don't worry: with me by your side, you don't have to worry about anything else."
With his eyes closed, it was easier to simply squeeze Seishirou's hand in a mute thanks, and forget himself as sleep took him again. He felt safe from the strange, hostile world, as he fell asleep again under the older man's gaze.
{FINIS}
Author's Notes:
Yes, me working my feelings off in a fic again. For all its Robin Cook-ness, urban legend feel, this story's real. The place: Lodz, Poland. Not a hundred miles from where I live. I used the real drugs they were using in Lodz, and the real nickname for the doctor, though his character and description is made up and partly based on how folk legend described Josef Mengele (who shared the nickname). The stretcher incident is true as well.
Medical procedure used is based on the one in Poland. Not sure about the lingo, haven't studied medical English.
Pavulon info:
The chairman comes from "Old"; there, his company apparently deals in real estate trading, but I also made it go into development, so I could give someone an accident easily.
The spirits are made up by Yours Truly, though the names of the guys might put someone in mind of a certain anime featuring a red-haired ronin...