Sango was there, early as ever, despite she had woken up late. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept so good and never wanted to wake up. For the last hour she had been there she had been searching the hospital grounds for Miroku, even though she knew the psychiatrist didn't come in until at least two hours after her 8:00 A.M. shift began.
She was busy administering Hamilton's medication as he sat obediently still for her. She disposed of the needle and wiped down his arm. "Alright, all done." She said, cheerfully. "Would you like for Nurse Kagome to bring you some breakfast?"
Hamilton nodded and Sango smiled. Miroku's therapy sessions with Hamilton seemed to be working. Though Sango was still his favourite nurse, he was beginning to be able to separate himself from her without the wild fits and crying.
She promised him she'd be back later and stepped out of the room, waiting for the immediate noise of protest from inside. But Hamilton remained quiet, much to Sango's relief.
Miroku walked into the nurse's station to gather his files and check his appointments for the day. Hayden was sitting at her desk, trying to ignore him. She had been upset since Saturday, and the dreary, cold Monday morning did nothing to brighten her mood.
"Hey, Sango, how's Hamilton?" He asked her, looming close to her as she rummaged through her medicine cart for Howard Bailey's blood sugar medication.
"He's doing a lot better." Sango responded, trying to ignore the fact his presence made her giddy and nervous inside. It should really be illegal for someone to look as good as Miroku looked right now. "Kagome's bringing him some breakfast."
"My first appointment's in just a few minutes with him." Miroku said. "I want to ask if you wanted to have lunch with me again?"
She thought for a moment. If she went out with him again, and this time, feeling the way she did towards him, she wasn't so sure she'd make it back to work in time. She smiled a bit at the thought. "Ask me again in a couple hours." She told him and pushed her cart along towards Howard Bailey's room.
Howard was awake, eating his breakfast calmly and watching ESPN with a lot of interest, but when he saw that it was her who had come to visit him all his attention was on her and he smiled. "Well, hello there." He said.
Sango had learned not to take his nonchalant attitude with a grain of salt. He was definitely an unstable man, and she didn't want to provoke him. "Hello, are you ready for your medicine?"
"Yep." He said, swinging his legs over the side of his bed and rolling up his sleeves. "Anything for my pretty nurse."
Sango simply smiled and filled a syringe full of clear serum. Then put the needle in his arm and wiped it clean. "Alright, Mr. Bailey all done."
"So soon?" He asked, pushing his food away. "You want to leave so soon?"
"Mr. Bailey, I have to go and take care of the other patients, OK?"
"Don't you talk like that to me!" His mood swing was a not a surprise and Sango backed away from him. "I bet you wouldn't think twice about sleeping with that stuck up doctor, would you? But when it comes to me your hesitant. It's because you think I'm crazy don't you?"
"N-No. Mr. Bailey, I don't think your crazy." Sango backed up until her back hit the wall.
"Yes you do!" He said, getting up from his bed and running over towards her. The way he looked out his eyes had changed and his expression curled into an evil grin. "You just don't see how good I can make you feel." His voice was low and sinister and it made Sango quiver in fear.
Not wanting to startle him she gently pushed him away. "Mr. Bailey…"
"Call me Howard." He said, grabbing her wrist and squeezing it hard. "Don't push me away!" He yelled, and slung he across the room. Sango immediately grabbed onto his bed to avoid falling over and she watched in horror as he approached her.
He forced her down onto the bed and began to tug at her uniform. She felt the tears spill down her face as she kicked and screamed, trying her best to fight him off.
"Miroku! Hayden! Anybody!" She screamed, then felt even more helpless when she felt Howard wrap his hand around her ankles to keep her from kicking. His palms were calloused and rough and his breath was horrid. "No! Please! Don't hurt me! Somebody help me!" She hollered, still trying to free her legs from his grasp.
He pulled her top off, exposing her bra and she started to cry harder. "Please, Howard, don't hurt me!"
"Shut up, bitch!" He screamed.
Then suddenly, the door burst open. "Sango!"
The unmistakable male voice belonged to Miroku. He ripped Howard off of her and sent the crazed maniac in the floor. Sango sat up, her attention on her sore and bruised ankles, then on her open shirt.
"Are you OK?"
"Yes, for the most part." Sango said. "Isn't anyone out there? I've been calling for help for the past five minutes." She said, rebut toning her uniform.
Howard was trying to get back onto his feet, but just as he got up, Nelly rushed in and knocked him back down again, handcuffing his wrists then forcing him up.
"Don't worry, Sango. You won't have to deal with him again." Nelly told her, then pushed the man out the door. Howard turned around, his eyes on Sango the entire time and he gnashed his teeth like a dog at her before Nelly nudged him down the hall.
"Did anyone even hear me?" Sango asked again, and she noticed Miroku looked very angry.
"Yea, Hayden's the only one out there. She claims she didn't hear you, but even Hamilton heard you and he's behind a closed door 5 doors down." He said. "Sango, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, I was all the way on the other side of the floor. I heard Hamilton screaming and yelling in his room and when I left my therapy session with Raven to check on him, that's when I heard you."
"No, Miroku, it's not your fault." Sango told him. "I have to get back to work." She said, stepping off the bed and then wincing in pain. "Kami, my ankles!"
Miroku supported her by putting his hands on her hips and lifting her back onto the bed. "I think you need to take the rest of the day off. Do you think they're broken?"
"No, I can move them." She said, wiggling her foot. "They're just sore." Tears came to her eyes and she tried to not cry again.
"Look, why don't you talk to Jay…I'm sure he'll let you go if he knows what happened. You can't work when your this upset." He said, calmly. "Do you think you can walk?"
"Yes." She said, stepping onto her feet again. After a few steps she got used to the ache in her ankles. She was glad to finally be out of Howard's room, and she didn't bother confronting Hayden, instead she headed straight for Jay's office which was a pretty far walk, but she insisted she could make it without Miroku's help.
Miroku stood at the counter as Hayden tried her best to ignore him. "Hello? Hayden…"
"Yes?" She asked sweetly.
"I know you heard her! I know you did!"
Hayden stood up, not speaking a word from the time it took her to come from behind the counter until she was right next to him. "I didn't hear her…"
"Bullshit!" Miroku growled. "I should report you to Jay."
"Go ahead. You can't prove anything!" Hayden says. "Do it and I'll get you back…Sango too." She turned from him and walked back behind the counter to gather some files. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have work to do."
Miroku clenched his fist and pounded it down on the hard surface. His patience was wearing thin with this girl and she still had the nerve to throw him flirting glances after she just threatened him. Damn, he wished he would have had a tape recorder. He wasn't one who wanted to get anyone fired or make anyone miserable, but he had good reasons now.
He checked his watch and decided to calm his nerve down by getting a coffee, then getting back to work in a half hour.
Tuesday morning Sango was a back, not allowing yesterday's events to slow her down. She had went home early yesterday, cuddled on the couch with her cat Kirara and watched movies. Then she took a long cat nap and woke up feeling refreshed.
Then, she realized, she had Miroku to thank. He was the first to come to her rescue, he stopped doing his job just to come and save her from something horrible that could have happened.
She shuddered when she thought of how close she had come to something horrible happening to her. Miroku snuck up behind her, but not too scare her. He patted her on the head with a folder lightly and laughed.
"How's my favourite nurse today?" He asked. "I hope she missed her favourite doctor."
Sango gave him a smile. "You're not my favourite doctor."
"Oh, I'm not, huh?" Miroku asked. "I'm Raven's." He said, grinning. "Crap. I have an appointment with Mr. Banks. Do you think we can have lunch together today since we couldn't yesterday?"
Sango thought for a moment, then looked over at Hayden who sitting at the computer, quiet as a mouse. She still didn't know of Hayden's threat and Miroku didn't take it too seriously. She was just any other jealous female. And Miroku had a lot of experience with jealous females. None of their threats were serious.
"Sure." Sango said after a moment.
"Awesome!" He said. "I'll see you at noon then."
Sango sighed and watched him walk down the hall until he disappeared around the corner. She had been doing that a lot lately, sighing and watching Miroku just walk. Everything about the man intrigued her, even the way he strutted around the hospital like he owned it.
Normally, the kind of cockiness and arrogance irritated her, but Miroku just had a way about him.
Sango looked at her time list and discovered it was time for Hamilton's daily medication. Pushing her cart towards his room, she tried her best to ignore the looks of hate her blond co-worker was giving her, but she could feel the other women's eyes burning holes through the back of her head.
Just as she finished with Hamilton's medication, Inu Yasha and Nelly appeared in the hallway. It was rare to see the two of them on her floor unless they were bringing in a new patient or something happened like it had yesterday. Something must have been up.
"What's going on?" She asked.
Inu Yasha stopped to fill her in. Since it somewhat concerned her. "Sango, I don't you to freak out. But…Howard Bailey has escaped?"
Sango felt her mouth go dry. "But that's impossible. He was in solitary confinement. He couldn't have escaped out of that room."
"I know." Inu Yasha said. "It's all so strange, but me and Nelly are looking for clues everywhere. We don't see any sign of him escaping from his room, which we find really peculiar." The white-haired man turned to Nelly who was searching through files on the nurses desk. "Nelly, go check the recreation room. I'm going to go and search the physical therapy department."
"Right." Nelly said, then quickly took off in the opposite direction, then just as quickly stopped. "Uhm, sir…isn't that where Amber is?"
"Yea, so?" He asked. "We got business to take care of."
Gathering his courage, Nelly continued down the hall. He knew in just a few minutes, he would be face to face with his object of desire. The Bingo girl. Sure, Miroku and Inu Yasha might have laughed at him for liking her, but in his eyes, she was beautiful.
"Miroku, do you think he'll come after me again?" Sango asked, staying very close to him as he led her into the same small café he took her into last week on their first lunch date.
Miroku didn't want to lie to her. It was a possibility, if they didn't catch this creep soon, that he could come after Sango. The guy could be anywhere in Tokyo and it could take days, maybe even weeks to find him. "Look, Sango, I'm going to do everything I can to protect you."
"Miroku…" She said. "You…care about me that much?"
"Of course I do, Sango." He told her. "No matter how tough you might think you are, you're still a woman and you need a man's protection. I just want to look out for you and make sure you're safe."
Her face was tinted pink and she tried her best to hide it from his view, but he had already noticed and he smiled back at her. "No need to be shy around me. Especially after this past weekend."
This only caused her to blush more and Miroku was loving it. He wondered what made this girl so special to him. He had taken her out on a couple dates, kissed her, and normally by now he would have started talking to other women. He would have normally gotten bored and his wandering eye would have found him another pretty girl to flirt with and see how far he could get.
However, with her, the more he got the more he wanted and he couldn't see himself becoming bored. He hoped he wasn't scaring her by his staring at work, or even right now at the café as he sat across the table from her. He couldn't seem to take his pretty blue eyes away from her.
"I'm not shy." Sango lied. "It's just…this is all new to me."
"What's new to you?" Miroku asked. "Being around a man. Thought you said you were engaged."
"I was…" She told him. "It's just…well…he never made me feel like this."
"Feel like what?"
"Like…I'm important." Sango told him. "I've never had a guy want to spend so much time with me. I guess it's just a little weird."
"Every woman deserves to feel wanted." He said. "Especially one as beautiful as you."
Nelly walked into the recreation center located on the bottom floor of the hospital. It was the less intimidating of the entire building. Large, peaceful water fountains trickled into a pool dammed by fake rocks. Even televisions played in front of the exercise bikes and treadmills that were for the patients.
Then there was the Bingo room, which is where a lot of patients were seated down. Kagome was helping Hamilton mark his cards while Hayden was helping Raven, who wouldn't stop talking about Dr. Keseki. Even if Raven was insane, that didn't mean she thought any less of the appealing doctor.
Amber sat in the far corner at a large table and spin the bingo wheel until a ball fell out onto the trey. "B-6!" She announced.
Nelly gathered his courage and slowly approached her. Maybe he should just take Miroku's advice and ask her out. But not right now. He wasn't ready for and he already had to speak to her about business, which is clearly not what he had on his mind right now.
However, he had to speak to her for Sango's safety and the safety of society. Though, he highly doubted he would find any clues as to how Howard Bailey escaped by poking around the Bingo room.
"Excuse me?" Nelly asked.
Amber stared up at him, her face immediately turning a dark crimson red. "Oh, hello…may I help you?"
"I'm just wondering if you saw anything--" He stopped, his throat suddenly went dry and he forced himself to swallow. "Anything suspicious around here the past couple days. We are looking for clues on how Mr. Bailey escaped from his cell."
Amber blushed and looked down at the Bingo ball in her hand, then shook her head. "No. I heard about it this morning, but I didn't see anything suspicious." She said. "O-72." She called out.
"Well, thank you for your time. If you have any questions…" He trailed off and pulled a card from his pocket. "Call me…"
Amber felt as if she was going to die. Nelly had just handed her his phone number, not the police departments number, but his own personal cell phone number. She tried her best to keep her cool and smiled. "I--I will."
"Miroku, we have to be back at work in 10 minutes." Sango told him, checking her watch. "We should head back."
"Damn." Miroku said. "I forgot about work." He laughed, took one last bite of his mostly finished sandwich and a sip of his drink. Sango reached for her purse but he stopped her. "I got it."
"Miroku, are you sure?"
"Hey, you didn't protest the bill when I took you to those expensive restaurants this weekend." He pointed out.
"Well, if you really want to pay for it." She said with a shrug.
He slapped a 50 down on the table, then wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out the door. "You know…" He trailed off thoughtfully and allowed a grin to come to his face. "we're technically not at work anymore. We don't have to act so professional."
Sango looked at him, trying to sound perplexed. She knew exactly what he was implying but she wasn't the type to just make out with a guy she really barely knew in broad daylight. "W-what do you mean?" She stammered as he trapped her against his car.
"I mean, I want to show you my affection before we go back to work." He said, then brushed his lips with hers. She responded immediately and involuntarily, running her fingers through his thick black hair at his nape. After several heated seconds his mouth moved to her neck and her eyes scanned the parking lot, realizing that people were starting to stare.
"Miroku…people are watching."
"Let them watch." He growled nipping at the skin on her neck.
She pushed him away, very reluctantly. "If we're going to do this, can't you take me some place more private?"
"We don't have much of an option. We do have to make it back to work, remember dear?" He asked, looking around. "Fallow me." He grabbed her hand and after a moment of resistance, she fallowed.
"Miroku! Where are we going?"
"Just behind the restaurant. Don't worry, no one can see us back there." She fallowed him until they were out of sight and then he gave her a sly grin. "What are you telling me you want a quickie?"
"No!" Sango protested with a giggle. "I just…liked what we were doing back there."
"Well let's not waste anymore time, then." Miroku whispered, then pulled her to him. He caressed her lips softly with his tongue, licking at the outline of lips. He teased her with his tongue, making her entire body beg for more.
His hands glided along her curves, stopping at her rear. He paused for a moment and waited for her protest, but she just kept kissing him until he himself felt dizzy with desire. Miroku gave her a nice, firm squeeze and Sango pushed him harder against the brick wall.
Despite the chilly, fall air his body was becoming heated. He felt her brush his knee against his very excited erection and he groaned against her mouth, then pulled away to kiss her neck. "If you don't want me to take you right here behind this restaurant, I suggest you stop now." His voice vibrated against her neck, as his lips trailed over her skin.
She just grinned and was about her lift her leg again when she felt something hit her ankle. "Miroku, I think you dropped something."
"I'll pick it up later." He said, the only care he had in the world was her and nothing else. He could have dropped a million bucks and not have given a damn right now. All the blood at left his head and settled in his pants, but when he opened his eyes he seemed to sober up. "Holy shit!"
Sango stiffened. "What? What is it?"
"Sango, stay calm…"
She watched him, his eyes were fixed on the ground and he looked genuinely frightened and disgusted. "Miroku, what is it?"
"Stay close to me, and when you look behind you promise me you won't scream." He said, holding her hand. Curiosity and fear were about to kill her, so she slowly turned her head and her eyes widened.
She slapped a hand over her mouth and held in a scream that came out more as a whimper and she darted her gaze over to Miroku.
There, in the tall, overgrown grass behind the restaurant was a human body of a girl. Her face had been mangled beyond recognition and her thick, pink-coloured hair was crusted with dried blood. In the middle of her mangled flesh, her blue eyes were popped open and frozen in fear.
As if that sight wasn't disturbing enough, it seemed as if he right hand had been gnawed off and various tooth marks were on her skin. After a few seconds of just staring, Sango looked away and started to cry. "Miroku, she touched my ankle."
"We have to report this to the police."
"How are we going to explain how we found it?" Sango asked, trying her best to keep her composure. "Tell them we were about to have sex behind a café?"
"I'll make up something." He said, dialing Nelly's number from the card he was given earlier.
Sango thought back to the day before as she stared down the body, Miroku's distant words of reporting a homicide to the police swam in her head. When Howard was arrested, he looked back at her, gnashing his teeth like a rabid dog. By the marks left on his this poor girl, this could have very well meant this was the work of Howard Bailey.
 | Review this Chapter |
No comments:
Post a Comment