"Your cuts and bruises are superficial and should heal in a week." Her attending physician flipped the pages of the clipboard in her hand, peering at the next page with more concern. "Our labs are still trying to determine what was injected into you. All we know at present is that it had some hallucinogenic compounds that targets the victim's short term memory."
Fate nodded, looking none the worse for wear aside from eyes sunken from nightmares likely caused by the drugs inside her. Everything Doctor Kobayashi had told her matched with what she could figure out for herself. She had no recollection of the time between receiving the good news that Testarossa Inc's offices would be moving to Singapore, and a strangely compelling woman hovering over her in the room she had been found in. The blood-soaked stranger had referred to her in some japanese-accented way she could not recall now.
Of a certainty, this reeked of her family's meddling and she felt the ground beneath her tilt and shake. She didn't know what was up or down, or why she was even in this country. Everything was labelled in Hiragana, or was it Katakana? Kanji? The blonde couldn't keep straight the complicated writing system that the Japanese language employed. She was just grateful that her doctor was fluent in english and able to converse with her.
"We'll be keeping you for a week for observation while we continue flushing the last of the toxins out of your system. Aside from that, your vitals are strong and everything else checks out. We've even checked for…" The woman flushed slightly, coughing into one hand, "For assault. There were none." It was a standard procedure when patients came in with memory loss.
Long lashes fluttered closed, "I'm certain my mother would be glad to know." If her melodic voice held a tint of bitterness, neither present made mention of it.
The raven-haired doctor patted her hand comfortingly. "In any case, I'm clearing you for visitors, but not more than two a day, all right?"
Visitors? In a strange country? Fate nodded again, laying back against her pillows with a weary sigh. A thought intruded upon her consciousness and she stopped the departing doctor, "Wait, please. May I visit others?"
The doctor eyed her patient. Right, she had been admitted as part of a pair. "I suppose I can allow that." She returned to make a notation in Fate's patient records. "But no longer than an hour." Kobayashi glanced at her watch, "The other patient is back in surgery. You will need to check later if they are able to receive visitors."
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Ueda Kippei bit back a curse. Right, no smoking in hospitals. Stubbing out his cancer stick at the provided bin near the entrance, he accepted the surgical mask from the door staff and made his way into the lobby. Absently hooking the elastic ends over his ears, he identified himself at the reception counter.
"Commissioner Ueda." Shiro's gravelly voice greeted the man. Dressed in nondescript civilian clothes, the head of the Takamachi clan looked no more than a worried father awaiting news of his child. With him were the rest of the core family. It had been a full sixteen hours since Ueda had been called to the scene, and it was clear none gathered had had much rest. All wore mandated masks as well, though Momoko had trouble keeping hers on, what with needing to dry away the silent tears she kept crying.
Exchanging bows, he shrugged out of his trenchcoat and settled on one of the many seats set aside for family outside the operating theatre. "How is she?"
"Shot through her waist and shoulder. They missed bone but got an artery and an intestine." Shiro grunted, "Two more stopped by her vest, but she has… old wounds. They're being extra cautious, especially with all the blood she lost."
Ueda could tell that the old codger was worried. It would've been the height of rudeness to mention it, and so the commissioner simply bowed. "I wish her a smooth operation and recovery."
"Thank you, Ueda-san." Momoko gave the man a tremulous smile as she bowed back, dabbing away more tears at even the terse description her husband had given. "What of her friend?" The matriarch asked.
"I will speak with her doctor to find out. I wished to meet you first. I've polished this turd as much as I could to keep official lines clean. My bosses will wish to extend their gratitude in person at a later date. For now, you may rest assured that there will be no repercussions of your clan's actions. The royal's people have not made a move, not even to confirm that this is indeed, one of their own. We will assign watch over them both until they are out of the country." Momoko opened her mouth to protest, her baby had just come home!
Ueda held up a hand to stay the woman's expected arguments, "I assure you, they would be far safer on the island nation that keeps stringent tabs on every citizen and outsider within their borders. To avoid the appearance of fleeing 'heat', I suggest the rest of the family remains, HOWEVER, I understand that TSAB's Yagami Hayate has contacted her own people here to help."
Subsiding with great reluctance, Momoko sighed, exchanging glances with the rest of her family. "The moment it is acceptable for us to leave the country, please let us know, Ueda-san."
"I most certainly will, Takamachi Momoko-san. My people will contact you for statements when it is appropriate, it will all be for private record only, of course. Dewa~" Snatching up his coat, he bid the family farewell and made his way to the Testarossa's ward.
It was just his luck that he had caught a doctor departing the private room. Showing her his badge, he thanked her as she led him to the privacy of her office.
"You have my gratitude for seeing me, Doctor Kobayashi."
The raven-haired doctor invited the commissioner to have a seat before settling into her own with a sigh. Doing her rounds always killed her feet. "I'm glad you caught me, actually. My shift is almost ending."
Rifling through the report on her desk, she flipped it open and turned it upside down for Ueda to read. "Unknown toxins huh?"
"Nothing anyone here has ever come across. I've called the most brilliant people in the field for opinions. We'll see what I get." She took off her glasses to rub eyes burning from reading reports for over twelve hours.
"It seems to have a timed release effect, so getting her to us within hours of the toxins being injected into her system may help blunt whatever intended consequence it had. Regardless, she still displays a marked loss of memory that we aren't sure she will ever recover. Physically, she was untouched. Any cuts and bruises she has were likely the result of her fighting her bonds."
The doctor gave a mirthless chuckle, "What a fight she put up, too. If she'd struggled any harder, she would have broken either the straps around her, or her own bones."
Under the mask he wore, Ueda chewed thoughtfully on his chapped bottom lip, wishing he had a cigarette to help his thought process. "How soon until she is up for questioning? I need to get a statement from her."
"A few days. If you'll give me a contact, I can let you know. She was catatonic when she came in, I don't want to push her back into that state from revisiting fresh trauma. If she even remembers said trauma…" Kobayashi sounded disgruntled. As a doctor, unknowns were hateful to deal with, since it impeded her ability to treat her patients properly.
Presenting his card formally to the doctor, Ueda nodded. "I look forward to your call then. Good evening, Doctor."
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Gentle fingers combed through the mussed auburn locks that had fallen over the face of the figure lying in the hospital bed. Wire after wire linked the figure to beeping, blinking machines, and a mask had been strapped securely over the patient's mouth and nose, the tubes connected to it leading to a machine that slowly aided in the regular rise and fall of their bandaged chest.
"You never go for half-measures, do you?" The soft voice was laced with equal parts worry and exasperation, slightly muffled behind a surgical mask. It was easier to tell what was not bandaged than what was on the woman lying in the bed. She was wrapped from neck to waist, both her forearms were in casts, and her left arm was also in a sling. Her legs and head appeared to be all that had escaped injury and the short, redheaded woman shook her head at what must have driven the patient to go so far.
Seated in the visitor's chair, Agito did her best to neaten the mass of auburn hair again, unsurprised when her wrist was caught in a trembling, weakened grip. Blue eyes muddied with painkillers pinned the redhead where she sat. That was the thing with Nanoha, she never dallied when waking, it was full throttle, full power the moment the woman gained consciousness and nothing in-between.
Her vision swam even under the dimmed lights over her bed and Nanoha squinted, fighting the double-vision of a familiar redhead seated by her. Her capture of the strange hand around her head had succeeded via sheer luck alone. "A… gi… to." Nanoha's voice was a mere rasp and she coughed, then gasped when that stressed her abused body beyond what she could hide. "Don't," Agito urged, gently unclipping Nanoha's mask to allow her a sip of water from a straw. About to refasten the mask over the woman's face, Nanoha's one mobile hand stopped her.
"Hate," she whispered. "La… ter." Nodding, Agito proffered more water to the thirsty executive who gratefully accepted a few more sips before falling back into her pillow. Just that simple act had taken everything out of her.
She had hazy memories of surfacing to the sight of her family. She thought she had reassured them that she was fine, but she recalled her mother's teary-eyed smiles and had a feeling she had failed in that regard. A sigh was beyond her body's ability to produce, and so she simply focused on trying to draw breath whilst bandaged like some Egyptian mummy.
Her most pressing concern was neither of herself nor her family, and it presented itself clearly to the redhead when she croaked a single word, "Fei… to…?"
Agito threw her a look, and she could tell the redhead was annoyed, "What about your AVP?"
Was she being forced to articulate more? Swallowing against a throat still dry, Nanoha struggled to force her words out, "How… is…?" Beads of perspiration dotted her brow.
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Blowing out a breath, Agito shrugged, "There haven't been any newspaper reports about a princess of Midchilda dying, if that's what you're asking."
The shaking hand around her wrist tightened, "O… ne… gai~" Please. The redhead ground her teeth at the sight of Nanoha fighting past all the pain and drugs to ask about unimportant things, "Fine, okay? She's fine. She can't remember much, sure, but she's well enough to be walking around on her own. By the kami-sama, Nanoha, think for yourself for once. You're in no shape to be worrying about other people!"
It was an old argument with the redhead, and Nanoha didn't possess the wherewithal to rebut the woman. Her eyes drifted shut even while she fought at the darkness threatening to claw her back into oblivion. "'M fine…" Fate was fine, which meant Nanoha was fine, that was all there was to it. Whether the blonde remembered… anything, was besides the point.
"Help… her… please…" Agito stared at the TSAB executive, consternation writ large across her expressive pixie face. The lack of acknowledgement had Nanoha's eyes drifting back open. Clouded blue bored pleadingly into Agito's tilted, plum-shaded gaze. "She's… a… lone…"
"By the kami, you're such a stubborn arse. All right, all right. Yagami owes me big," she grumbled. The hand tightened on her wrist again, "Tell… Ha… ya… 'M fine…"
"Yes, well, we'll see how much my cousin believes me."
Nanoha bit back another attempt to sigh. She knew that tanuki would have likely gotten full reports on their conditions by now. There was no time to waste lying here and Nanoha began feeling around for the controls on her bed. "She… likes… sweet…" Agito rolled her eyes, then yelped when the executive began shifting far too energetically than could be good for her.
"Wh… Nanoha, you just got out of surgery!"
"Sit…" The stubborn executive demanded, panting from her efforts. This weakness was more than unseemly. The sooner she got back on her feet, the better she would feel. "All right! All right! But you have to promise it'll just be for a short while. I don't want some doctor biting my head off because of your pigheadedness."
Quieting down, Nanoha nodded, hating how winded she felt already. 'Get your shit together, Takamachi, there's no time.'
"Thank… you…" Agito fidgeted under Nanoha's warming, if still blurry regard. Damn this woman. Even in bandages and casts she continued to be painfully attractive to the redhead. "Since you're up, I may as well brush your hair. It's a bloody mess, innit, gov? Stubborn cow."
Affecting a British accent, the redhead fell back into their old dynamic from back in their Oxford days, earning a twitch of lips dry from being under for so long. Reluctantly submitting to the brushes, the auburn-haired woman fought back memories of someone else touching her hair as she tensed and relaxed her calves. There was no time like the present to get started on exercises, even if her limbs shook uncontrollably while she did so.
"Stubborn cow," Agito repeated softly. The executive had fallen silent some minutes later, and Agito knew she was once more fast asleep. Carefully fastening the mask back over the lower half of Nanoha's face, she set the bed's incline back to flat and tucked the covers snugly around that battered form.
Grumbling that she was not being paid enough for this, she ventured down to the basement, finding the expected convenience store tucked between the food court and outpatient pharmacy. Picking up a few things, she made her way to the ward that housed TSAB's other executive.
It was coming to 11AM on Sunday and Agito figured the gaijin would be up by now. Knocking on the door, she was bid to enter by the softly mellifluous voice of the Midchildan princess.
The woman had her bed raised to a comfortable reclining position. She'd been listlessly flipping through available channels, finally settling on a random channel airing some animated show about girls with crazy magical powers. At least there were english subtitles for this one.
Agito paused by the entrance and took stock of the blonde. She was unmistakably beautiful, even in her drab hospital gown. Her golden mane draped heavily over one shoulder while soft wisps of hair fell appealingly around a face that prompted thoughts of angels fallen down to earth to bless the world with their beauty. Her wine-red eyes, a defining feature, looked at Agito with mild confusion.
"May I help you?" Fate's greeting was icy cool, the blonde falling back to long-used defenses when faced with uncertain scenarios. And this, this situation she was in, was highly unusual, to say the least.
'Ho boy…' Flashing the blonde a tight smile from under her mask, Agito closed the door and approached the bed, "We're work acquaintances, Testarossa-san," Agito explained in english.
This got a favourable reaction from the glacial blonde and she tilted her head ever so slightly, "I fear you have better of me, Miss…"
"Inoue," Agito supplied her, and Fate dipped her head in thanks. The woman could be wearing paper napkins and would still hold court easily with the aristocratic airs she wore so naturally.
"What do you remember?" Pulling over a visitor's chair, the redhead sat down by the woman's bed.
Fate pursed her lips, "The pandemic was in full swing, many countries were in lockdown. Singapore was one of the few still open for business, and Testarossa Inc was poised to take advantage of lowered leasing costs to set up the head office there… That was around the beginning of 2021."
Agito's brow furrowed slightly, "Apologies, it appears you have lost some two years and more of time." Fate nodded slowly, "Perhaps they were not the best, hence why my mind has discarded them."
Plum-shaded eyes studied the blonde speculatively. This woman truly believed her life must have sucked. Maybe she was using prior experience to judge the gap she couldn't remember. Expression clearing, Agito remembered something and pulled out her cellphone.
Fate watched the pretty redhead scrolling through her device with mild curiosity. Finally, the woman found what she was looking for and settled on the side of Fate's bed to better show the blonde her phone's screen. Pressing play, she increased the volume.
Fate saw herself, dressed more formally than she tended to in Testarossa Inc. She seemed to be presenting to an audience, and she blinked, recognising the redhead in the video as being the woman visiting her now. The her in the video seemed so poised and confident, unlike how she always felt when speaking to an audience.
She cast Agito a curious look, but the woman only nodded her chin at the screen, "The best part is coming up."
Suddenly coming into view was a strikingly gorgeous woman she had never seen before. Or had she? There was something vaguely familiar about the woman. She was lifting an arm to film Fate with her cellphone, and suddenly, what was being filmed was streamed directly into the presentation Fate was making. Fascinating.
"T…SAB?" The question in her voice was obvious and Agito nodded, "You're the AVP of Operations for TSAB, those lucky bastards." There was no heat in the redhead's curse, and at Fate's further questioning glance, Agito shrugged, "I tried stealing you for DoCoMo. Nothing personal."
A faint smile had been curling the corners of the blonde beauty's mouth before she frowned. Those words seemed familiar somehow. "Nothing… personal," she repeated, tasting the words, fancying she could taste more. Wok-fried beef noodles. The sudden tidbit sent a piercing stab into a spot behind her eyes and she dropped her head into one hand, wincing.
"Testarossa-san? Are you all right?"
"I…" Crimson eyes blinked away sudden tears from the pain that was already receding. "I am uncertain." Holding Agito's hand in hers, she rewound the video, re-watching the last part of her presentation. Pausing, she tapped at the screen. "I think I saw her… when I woke."
Agito slid a considering look to her, and Fate felt as if she were being silently questioned. She squared her shoulders, pale but growing firmer in her belief. The cuts under her bandages ached, but they were nothing next to the ache in her heart. What made it worse was, she had no idea why she felt that ache.
At least, the redhead spoke, "That is the EVP of Operations in TSAB, Takamachi Nanoha. Your… boss." Feeling oddly triumphant, Fate trailed her fingers over herself and the woman she now knew she truly did know. "May I… have a copy of this?" The blonde asked, curious at why her past self looked so oddly at who was purportedly just her boss.
Agito watched the ice thaw slightly and wondered just how much Fate would remember. She shrugged a shoulder, "As long as you keep it private. This is proprietary media that should only be available to certain people in DoCoMo and TSAB. Fortunately, you are one of those people." She gave the woman a thin smile.
Moving back to her chair, Agito leaned back, "You have good instincts. That was one of the reasons I tried to headhunt you for my company. You aren't wrong, you know," Eyeing the blonde from under her red fringe, she crossed her arms, "She was there when you woke. In fact, she is in this building right now." Agito hated herself for sharing that piece of information, but was enough of a realist to know there was little to gain hiding the fact from Fate.
Eyes wide, Fate stared at her visitor. A sudden feeling of dread gripped the blonde, "Wh… Why is she… As a visitor?" She asked, hopefully. Those hopes were dashed by the grim shake of Agito's head.
"Patient. She was… hurt." Saving you. Agito knew better than to share that last, certain Nanoha would likely never speak to her again if she overstepped her bounds with the blonde. The redhead had yet to get a bead on the relationship the two TSAB executives had prior to the blonde's memory loss, but she wasn't one to ignore her own instincts, and everything told her to tread carefully about any information she shared with the princess.
"Takamachi Nanoha. Nanoha." The name rolled off the blonde's tongue easily. Perhaps it was muscle memory? "Is it possible to visit her?" An urgent need to see the woman rose within the Midchildan. Could she help fill in those gaps in her mind?
Agito was shaking her head, "She was out for almost two days. I saw her before coming to see you and she had fallen back to sleep when I left."
"Is… Is she all right?" A faint memory of a woman leaning over her, blood pouring from one shoulder, tugged at Fate's heart.
It took the Inoue woman far too long to answer her. "Her life is not in any danger," was all the redhead would share, eyes refusing to meet Fate's. That settled it.
"H-Hey!" Agito felt herself pushed out of the way as Fate swung long legs over the side of her hospital bed. Bare feet slapped onto the cold linoleum of the floor and Fate began casting around for her hospital slippers, finding them strewn haphazardly under her bed.
Slipping her feet into them, Fate grabbed the IV drip stand her drip was hanging from. "Inoue-san, I humbly ask that you show me to her ward." The velvet-encased steel of the princess' words brooked no argument.
Why did she have to deal with two stubborn cows in one day, Agito asked herself crankily. "She's probably sleeping."
"I understand. Please, there is no one else I can ask." 'Fuck…' Agito thought, as the full force of the blonde's puppy dog look was directed at her. "If a doctor kicks up a fuss, it's all on you," she groused, refusing to be charmed by the smile the blonde threw her way. Sighing aggrievedly, she settled Fate's free hand on her shoulder and led her through the hallways to the lift lobby.
The dread grew in the blonde when the redhead punched the number for the ICU floor. No… The walk down the hall was interminable, and when she finally shuffled her way through the door the redhead was holding open for her, she felt all the blood drain from her already pale face.
"Testarossa? Fate? Hey, don't faint on me." Helping the suddenly shaky blonde to the chair she had just been in an hour ago, she watched the woman settle numbly into it. "I have seen corpses that look better than her…" Fate whispered, eliciting a snort from the redhead. "Don't let her looks fool you, this idiotic git made me help her sit up earlier."
Fate took in all the machines hooked up to the woman, the fully bandaged torso visible under her loose hospital garments, the casts and sling, and felt her eyes grow hot with tears that threatened to fall. "Why is she…"
"Uh, I'm not too sure myself," Agito muttered. It was a half-truth, she had some details from Hayate, but not all of it. "You'll have to ask her yourself." Fate could barely see the woman under the breathing mask covering half her face.
"Thank you for bringing me here," the blonde said softly, "I'd like to stay with her, so please do not wait on my behalf." Even if Takamachi was just her boss, it still felt right that Fate should remain and watch over her. Agito eyed the woman obliquely, knowing that lunch would be distributed to the wards soon. "I'll let your attending nurses know, then."
Nodding silently, eyes never leaving the face that seemed so pale and bloodless, Fate merely pulled her chair closer to the woman's bedside.
Looking on at the silent tableau, Agito cleared her throat, "Be gentle with her, she's been through a lot," she asked of the blonde, who nodded once more.