FicWad

Chapter Nine: No Sunshine:

Shichiro sat in the doctor's office and waited. His arm was still sore from the needle driven into it. He breathed rapidly with the ticking clock. The fifty-seven-year-old doctor ran a blood test on him. Shichiro looked up at the ceiling. The soft ticking in the background didn't help. The professor played out many scenarios of what could be wrong with his body in his head.

/Maybe they need to up my dosage again/, he thought. This would make the first time in two years. He was close to maxing out the limit, but Shichiro had no choice. Overdose or cause a blood bath at KU; given those two choices, he would gladly take the former. The door opened and brought the patient back to earth. He looked up and saw the doctor standing before him. Shichiro prepared for the worst.

"How is it?" he asked. The doctor gave him a grave look. Shichiro tried to look positive when he noticed the look in his eyes.

"It can be fixed with pills, right?" he asked. The doctor's brown horn-rimmed glasses looked dim as he shook his head. The professor started to sweat. His doctor handed him the test results.

"Your body is starting to reject the pills," the doctor said frankly. Shichiro looked at him startled.

"What?" he asked.

"Your body is rejecting the pills," the doctor repeated. "Your kitsune is breaking down. You'll need to feed it soon."

"Well…how long do I have?" the professor asked with big eyes. The doctor pushed up his glasses.

"Hard to pinpoint exactly,” he admitted. “It could be days or months." Shichiro looked down at his lap. This felt like a blind swipe. His kitsune was starting to break down? He glanced at the doc.

"Isn't there any other medication to help cope?" he asked in a trembling voice. The doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid not," I said in serious tone. Shichiro fidgeted a bit.

"Well… what should I do?" he asked. The doctor pushed up his glasses.

"You're actually on a good day,” he explained. “You caught the pain just in time. You should be stable at the moment, but I would advise you to start feeding as soon as possible. Otherwise…well, do I really need to finish that sentence for you? The professor lowered his head.

"I see," he replied. He had no choice: feed his forever-hungry kitsune or die. The pills and Amaya had pushed him to that point.

*

Meanwhile, Tsuzuki made his way to the university library. Watari, Hisoka, and Anna were around a computer. They looked up when they heard footsteps. Tsuzuki looked at them all.

"Hey," he said.

"Found anything?" Hisoka asked. Tsuzuki's face went grim.

"Everyone hates her here," he replied. His partner gave him a puzzled look.

"That bad?" the boy asked.

"Yeah," his partner replied, nodding. "Well, there was one person who cared about her. I talked to her brother a few minutes ago."

"She has a brother?" Anna asked.

"Yeah," her boyfriend said. "He seemed be in quite a hurry and hiding something."

"Not hard to see why," Hisoka replied. "Nakata-san lived a wild life."

"The brother said that she was misunderstood," the older shinigami went on. As they talked among each other, Watari came across an old discovery about to be refreshed.

"Hey guys," the scientist spoke up as he stared at his laptop screen. "Rieko was pregnant when she died, right?" The trio turned their attention to the scientist.

"Yes," Anna replied, "By three weeks, why?" Watari sat back from his computer.

"I ran the DNA test on the baby to find out who the father was," he went on. "At first, I thought I had added the information wrong, so I entered it all in again. I got the same results as before."

"So, who is the father?" Anna asked. Watari pointed to the screen. Everyone gathered for a look. Anna raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Nakata Masayuki?" she asked. Tsuzuki's eyes shot wide open.

"That's Rieko's brother!" he cried. Everyone looked at him, stunned.