A doctor's office, even one at a hospital, was supposed 
to be a safe place, a sanctuary of sorts.  It is in this space that
doctors can finally grab a few minutes of peace and quiet 
minutes to think.  Something that all doctor's need.


	Unfortunately, Doctor Alistair Blake was denied that 
when an irate mother burst into his office shouting, "What is 
wrong with my son?!"


	When asked later, Dr. Blake would only admit that 
the interruption shocked him.  It was usually the job of the 
secretary to keep patients or their families from bursting into 
a doctor's office.  But, as he had managed to anger Millie, 
his secretary, several times that week, it didn't surprise him 
that Dr. Washington-Ikeda had gotten through.


	The doctor sighed.  He really did not like dealing 
with family members.  He avoided it whenever possible.  
But the Ikeda family wouldn't leave him alone.  He sighed
again.  The benefit of desperate families was that they would 
let you try almost any remedy you suggested; the drawback was 
that they never let you alone.  The Ikedas excelled in both 
areas, led by two matriarchs and a patriarch, no less.  At least
the grandmother didn't scream at him as much as the mother did.


	The younger matriarch was still in his office and still 
breathing fire.  Knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere until he 
addressed her concerns, he faced the woman.  "What do you mean, 
Dr. Washington-Ikeda?"

	
	The younger matriarch practically growled at him.  "What do I
mean?  I mean, besides the fact that my son could barely speak
when he woke up-"

	"He's awake?" the doctor asked, surprised.  Was Millie not 
letting important messages through?  How angry was his secretary, 
actually?


	Dr. Washington-Ikeda, luckily, continued ranting as if the 
doctor hadn't spoken, "He doesn't know who he is!  I'm not sure he 
knew who any of us were!"


	"Dr. Washington-Ikeda, I did warn you that-"


	"Oh, don't give me that 'lack of oxygen to the brain,' crap 
again!  Just do your damn job and find out what the hell is wrong 
with my son!"


	The doctor rose, but not because of Dr. Washington-Ikeda's 
orders.  Although, if the woman thought that was the reason
he was standing, he wasn't about to disabuse her of that 
notion.  He needed to check out his patient.  Surviving that
accident was nothing short of a miracle.  If all continued to
go well, he could get a publication out of this.  To think,
in taking on a case he didn't want, he might find his fame after
all.  "It's about time I go to check on my patient," the doctor
said as he left the room.


	"Yeah!  See that you do!" he heard Dr. Washington-Ikeda shout
as he walked down the hall.



This Side of Living
Living in a Hospital - chapter three



	After all of that poking, prodding and general confusion, 
his room had finally gotten quiet.  The last nurse had left, 
threatening that the doctor would come see him soon.  As his last 
encounter with a "doctor" was not a very good one, that parting 
comment left him more nervous than not.  At least his pain was 
lessening somewhat.


	As he lay there in the bed, he tried to begin to figure out 
what was going on.  He could almost hear the old hag in his head, 
telling him not to do something stupid until he understood what he 
was up against.  He also remembered his answer to her the last time
she brought up her concerns.
	

	'Well, 'Don't get caught' won't help me much in this 
situation.  I guess it wouldn't hurt to review what I know.  
It's not like I can kick any ass in this shape anyway,' he 
thought to himself as he took a deep breath.


	Unfortunately, going over what he did know didn't help 
much.  He was in a hospital, practically immobile and in a lot 
of pain.  No one had explained the "accident" that had put him 
in the hospital or how he ended up in the shape he was in.  An 
older looking Koenma had appeared and had been watching over him 
when he woke up.  Oddly enough, the toddler had called him "Andrew" 
and not by his name or by his title of Spirit Detective.  


	'Come to think of it,' Yusuke recalled, 'No one called 
him Koenma.  The strange lady with fox girl's voice called him 
Mitsuru.  The nurse Gretchen called him Mr. Ikeda.' The young
man shook his head in confusion, or at least tried to before 
the pain stopped him.  'But that was definitely Koenma's voice 
that came out of him.  What the hell does that mean?!'


	Then there was the surprising language difference.  
Everyone was speaking in English.  Everyone.  Even when he 
was able to croak out his thoughts, his speech was in English.  
He understood everything around him, but he had never understood 
the strange gaijin language in school.  He wasn’t even sure 
he was in Japan.  Although Koenma just looked older and Sakyo 
looked the same, no one else in the room appeared to be Japanese.  
And no one seemed to find any of that odd.


	Abandoning those frustrating lines of thought for awhile, 
he recalled the last thing Koenma told him: "We'll help you.  I 
promise.  We will be there to help you in any way you need.  I'll 
be back.  Just rest and let these ladies look after you....I love 
you."

	'Well, that's strange.  Why would Koenma tell me that he 
loves me?  Shit.  I really could use Kurama right now.  Although 
he can be annoyingly vague, he would understand what the hell was 
happening about now.'


	Yusuke probably would have chased around other thoughts 
until he was dizzy if he hadn't heard footsteps and two voices in 
the hallway.  Footsteps accompanied by voices that he recognized.


	"Thank you so much for letting me see him," the female voice 
said.


	"Of course we'd let you see him.  You're practically family 
anyway.  And you've been such a good influence on him.  You are 
probably the only reason that boy is going to finish high school," 
Koenma’s voice replied.


	"You and Alexandria-san both must be so happy that he's awake." 


	"We're relieved that he can talk...and frightened about how 
he's doing now.  It's the reason Xandria is probably screaming at the
doctor right now," Koenma sighed.  "She's worried about her little
boy.  And there's not much I can do to help her."


	At this point the two people had entered the room.  Yusuke 
heard a small breath hitch from the female before she quietly said, 
"I'm sorry.  I'm still not used to seeing him hooked up to so many
machines or looking so banged up.  It's still...it's still a little 
hard."


	"It's hard for me, too," Koenma agreed.


	As the two visitors approached the bed, Yusuke forced his 
eyes open.  "Kei-ko?" he asked as a familiar female face came into
view.


	"Well, he remembers something at least," the older Koenma 
said as he came to stand behind Keiko as she sat in the chair next 
to the bed.  
	

	Keiko, for her part, didn't say anything at first, as her hand
was hovering over her mouth.  Her eyes had begun to water, and a lone
tear was slowly moving down her cheek.


	"Don't cry, Keiko," Yusuke managed to croak out.  "I thought
I told you I didn't want to see you cry again."  Okay, so he told her 
that in a dream when he was dead, but he’d told her.  Seeing her cry 
always upset him.



	The young woman nodded and sniffed a few times.  Then, after 
giving him a tremulous smile, she said, "Hey."


	"Hey."

	"You gave us quite a scare.  We were all so worried." The 
earnestness in the familiar face only seemed to underline that truth 
for the young man in the hospital bed.


	"Sorry," Yusuke apologized as he tried to shrugged, which 
caused him to wince because of the pain. After a few beats, he 
asked, "What exactly happened to me?"


	"You were in...an accident," Keiko said quietly.  "After 
which you were rushed to the hospital."  After a few minutes 
pause, she asked, "Do you remember anything?"


	Yusuke shook his head slowly, "Nothing related to being in
an accident anyway."


	"Well, that's a relief," the older Koenma said.  "I saw the 
scene.  I'm not sure I'd want you to be walking around with memories 
of that, Drew.  It looked like the stuff of nightmares."


	There was that name again.  It bothered Yusuke.  What 
bothered Yusuke even more is that Keiko didn't seem to be bothered 
by the name.  The fact that she was speaking English wasn’t so odd.  
Keiko was always much more serious about school than he was.  She 
even seemed to understand that strange language.  Yusuke was bothered 
that he was still answering in English.  Not as much as being called 
“Andrew” bothered him, but it was pretty close.


	"Who is Drew?" Yusuke asked again.
	

	At his question, Koenma and Keiko turned to look at each 
other, both looking very concerned.  "Well?!" the Yusuke demanded, 
his frustration showing.


	"Um...you are, Andrew," Keiko said quietly.  "At least, we 
think you are," she added.  "What do you think your name is?"


	Koenma snorted, "That's a roundabout way of asking him to 
divulge how much brain-damage he actually has."  Yet, even in that 
sarcastic statement, the older man seemed very worried.


	Keiko ignored him and asked again, "What is your name?"


	Still thrown off guard that Keiko knew him but didn't know 
him, he said, "Come off it, Keiko.  My name is Yusuke.  Urameshi 
Yusuke. You know that!"


	At Yusuke's answer, a clearly frustrated Koenma walked 
to the end of the bed, running a hand through his hair.  "Do I 
give him partial credit for getting it half right?" he seemed 
to ask the air.


	Keiko gripped his arm and looked into Yusuke’s eyes at 
his answer.  "Do you remember anything, anything at all besides 
that name?"


	Yusuke nodded, worried by Keiko’s concern…and still in 
enough residual pain from her squeezing his arm that he was not 
able to do much more.  That girl sometimes didn’t even know her 
own strength…or he was just really weak.  Being the hospital 
sucked worse than being dead.  If anything he was less mobile 
alive than he was when he was dead, as screwed up as that was.


	"Then tell us," she ordered, "tell us everything you 
remember, starting with your clearest memory."


	"What good will that do?" Yusuke groused.


	"Just humor us," the older Koenma said as he turned to 
face Yusuke.  "What do you remember?"


	At that Yusuke groaned.  He knew that Keiko now knew a lot 
about his "job" but she still didn't know everything.  He wasn't 
sure how safe it was to spill everything now, but, he really didn't 
think he had a choice.  After all, Koenma was demanding answers as 
well.  Not that Yusuke had ever responded well to authority, but, 
if there was something the toddler didn’t want Keiko to know, he’d 
have asked her to leave.  Right?  Damnit!  This randomness just hurt 
his head.


	Obviously interpreting his groan and subsequent silence for 
something else, Keiko quietly repeated, “Please.  Just tell us what 
you remember.”


	He never could resist Keiko when she asked in that voice.  
Besides, until he talked to someone, there was no way he was going 
to be able to figure this out on his own, which also pissed him off.  
Taking a deep breath, he began.  "I guess, my clearest memory is 
of the day I died.  It was like any normal school day, I guess...."


	Twenty minutes later, Koenma and Keiko both were staring at 
him as he finished.  "The last clear memory I have is of Kurama 
preparing to face Gamemaster.  The next thing I know, I'm floating 
in a sea of pain and hearing Koenma call me Andrew."  Looking at the 
faces of the two people in the room, he said wryly, "I'm guessing
that things are a little different here."


	"Just a little," Koenma agreed in that tone that always used 
to aggravate Yusuke.  Before Yusuke could get too annoyed, however,
the older Koenma sighed.  "I guess I should be getting back to the
waiting room. Samuel's still there and Xandria's probably finished
screaming at the doctor by now.  Betty's on her way in and 
Hasukawa will probably be there soon, too."


	"And your parents," Keiko added as she looked at Koenma.  
"They are probably coming as soon as they finish for the day.  And
what about your sister?"


	Koenma sighed.  "By now, Samuel's probably called her with the 
good news, so she's probably on a bender.  Jana's stuck too; the
trial isn't anywhere near being over.  Regardless, the rest of
us need to...talk."  Koenma turned to look at Yusuke, "I promise,
we'll do everything in our power to help you."


	At Yusuke's nervous look, Keiko let go of his arm and 
squeezed his right hand.  "You trust me, right?"  At Yusuke's 
nod, she continued, "Then everything will be alright.  Now, get 
some rest.  We'll see you tomorrow."


	At that Keiko finally let go of Yusuke completely and 
stood up.  But, before she left, she leaned over and kissed his 
forehead.  "It's a good thing you woke up when you did," she 
said, her eyes tearing up again.  "Because, if you had died, I 
would have killed you."


	Yusuke smiled at that.  "Yeah." As Keiko began to walk 
toward the door, Yusuke said, "I promise not to put you through 
this again."


	"See that you don't," was her answer as she left.


	Before following behind her, Koenma looked back at him 
one more time.  His eyes showed relief, sadness, and concern.  
Without saying anything else, he walked out of the room, leaving 
Yusuke with more questions than he had answers.  Which he hated.


	This whole experience, being in pain, being practically 
immobile, not understanding anything pissed him off.  And the lack 
of answers?  It was like a huge game of hurry up and wait.  And 
at least ten things were crossed off his weird list that day.

-	to be continued –