The Faint Hearted by ancient-relic

oo1 - The Encounter

Grinning, a young girl, no more than sixteen, poked her head out of the doorway. The coast was clear. Wheeling out a tall device from which her IV hung, she placed her foot on one of the legs, and pushed off down the hall.

Her laughter of delight bubbled in her throat, but she forced herself to keep silent- her freedom was limited, and her nurse would be after her momentarily. Rolling right into a recently-vacated elevator, she pushed the ground floor button. Spinning around on the pole while the elevator went down threatened to make her sick to her stomach, but she swallowed the sensation, and pushed off the back wall of the elevator as it dinged on the main floor, propelling herself into the busy lobby.

"Kagome!" a voice called out over the bustle. The girl turned, using her momentum and her foot to change directions in a smooth curl, heading towards the voice.

"Sango!" she laughed in response, greeting her closest friend. Sango was a young woman who manned the visitor service/information/registration desk, and had a cheery, happy disposition. Kagome had tumbled right into her one day on one of her escapes from boredom, and they had quickly become fast friends in the rough ten minutes that Kagome had before her elderly nurse, Kaede, found her and dragged her back up to her room.

Ever since then, she had visited Sango when she worked- sometimes under the watchful eye of Kaede, sometimes not. And some days, Sango even managed to bring Kagome treats from the outside world, like soda and candies and fast food.

"Have you escaped again?" Sango laughed, opening the little door in the desk to allow the girl through.

"You betcha!" Kagome eyes sparkled. "Kaede must have left while I was asleep, planning on returning before I was awake again- but won't she get a shock!"

Sango smiled fondly at the young girl. Despite her age, Kagome had a rather childlike disposition. She was also fairly small for her age, though reversely, she was extremely clever and witty. She had been hospitalized off and on for a heart condition that threatened to collapse one, if not all of her ventricles, and she needed constant supervision, else a seizure send her into a life-ending coma.

"You shouldn't worry Kaede too much, Kagome." Sango reminded her. "She takes very good care of you, and has stuck with you for the longest." Kagome also had a habit of driving her nurses insane. So far, Kaede had been the only one to keep up with her… which seemed to be a miracle, given her age.

"I like Kaede the best," Kagome replied with a coy smile. "That's why I don't actually leave the hospital."

Sango remembered when they had to call the police to help find Kagome- she'd hitchhiked to the movie theatre several blocks away, and was watching one of the popular movie releases. "You can be quite tricky, can't you,"

"Mmn," Kagome nodded.

The phone rang, and Sango spun in her chair. "You know the rules," she reminded.

"I won't touch anything, promise," Kagome smiled as Sango answered the phone. Sitting down in another empty chair, she used the ribbon in her hair that held the long locks away from her face to attach her IV to the arm.

Wheeling over to the other side of the little area, she watched as both people and paramedics trickled in and out of the ER section. She loved to come downstairs and people-watch… it was one of her favourite past-times. She always imagined the stories behind their injuries, some more frightening than others. She imagined that maybe, she was one of those people- who would get to walk out of the hospital and go home after a few hours.

She was jolted out of her daydreaming when a rather unique figure walked out of the ER and towards the table. Patients also came to this desk to pick up their paperwork, and usually there was another woman, Ayame, who worked here with Sango. It was Ayame who covered the paperwork portion for the patients, while Sango dealt mostly with the visitors. However, it was then that Kagome realized that she was sitting in Ayame's vacated chair; meaning that the red-haired lady wasn't on duty.

As the boy approached her, she took her time letting her eyes wander over him, her mind spinning his story. He had long white hair, stretching to the small of his back. She decided she would call him Silverhair- a tribute to those delicate locks, so much more luscious than her own. It amused her how medieval his new nickname sounded.

He was tall, and his shoulders were strong and square, but his skin was fair and looked delicate. He looked extremely handsome, though he had delicate features- a strange combination. Dressed casually in a button-down shirt and jeans, he looked relatively humble; though the look in his eyes said otherwise. She wondered where he lived, what his family did for a living. Surprisingly, she couldn't create his story. She was distracted from her distraction as his eyes focused on her face.

It was his eyes that held Kagome's attention the longest, hands down- they were a startling shade of amber; such a fair, unusual gold that looked to be the colour of honey. She couldn't even settle on the right word to describe the exact shade- no hue- but he was resting his forearms on the counter, watching her and waiting for her to gather her wits again.

"Uh… yes?" she squeaked, heat rushing to her face. He had totally just let her check him out! She noticed that there was a hint of a grin at the corner of his mouth.

"I am signing myself out of this place," he replied seeming genially. His voice was deep, though still more boyish than manly. Kagome felt the little hairs on the back of her neck rise.

"Are you eighteen?" she squeaked again, too flustered to speak at a normal decibel. He seemed to notice this as well, and questioned her with a mocking lilt.

"Is your voice always so piercing?"

Kagome was so shocked by his smugness that she could have tripped- luckily for her she was already sitting. Her face heated further- if such a thing was possible. Anger seemed to overwhelm her shyness, and her eyes sparkled again, this time in defiance.

"Are you always so rude?"

The boy didn't seem to expect her to gather herself to quickly, and his eyes appraised her face as he took her in for a second time.

"You don't work here, do you." It was a statement, not a question.

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest, and raised her eyebrow. "Very astute of you," she replied, returning his previous mocking tone. However, he didn't rise to her barb, merely returning her raised eyebrow with one of his own.

"If you are a patient here, then why are you here?" he responded, resting further on his arms as he leaned towards her over the counter.

"Because I can be-" she replied, too leaning closer, refusing to back down.

"Kagome!" a shrill voice called out. Kagome cursed Kaede for her timing, but leant back anyways, detaching her ribbon and tying back her long black hair. "There you are!"

Kaede shuffled up to the desk, paying no attention to the silver-haired boy beside her. "Back to your room this instant!"

"I see," the boy chuckled. "A detainee."

Kagome scowled in his direction, but allowed Kaede to drag her away. She heard Sango's voice question the boy.

"Sorry for making you wait. Your name please?"

She strained to hear the boy's real name, but it was lost in the rumble of the lobby. Curiosity poked at her, nagged her, demanded to be satisfied. Who was that boy? And what was he doing in the hospital? As the elevator doors closed, he turned to her, a smug grin stretched across his handsome face. He waved, a mocking gesture. Bye, he mouthed. Turning away in mock indignation, Kagome huffed.

She told herself to forget those stunning eyes and that rude smile, but to her chagrin, the mocking grin lingered all the way up the elevator ride. His silver hair shone in every beam of sunlight down the corridor, and his beautiful, mocking smile lingered on the back of her eyelids every time she shut her eyes.

"Curse you, Silverhair!"