Medical Wing 4 - Innocence Wing

"T-T-Toshi?! What were you doing there?! You know your not allowed near here!" shouted Sparks angrily at the boy as his face was getting redder by the minute.

*Uh-oh. Busted. thought Toshi to himself. I'm in trouble.*

"Uh....Umm...." stammered Toshi as he tried figuring out what he could say. Then he thought of something and forced himself to tear, "I-I missed Kimiko.....she said she was going to come back......and she was going to show me the man's mask.....and she was gone for so long that.....I....I...."

*I'm sorry Kimiko thought Toshi to himself as Sparks attention was diverted from the boy to Kimiko.*

"K-K-Kimiko! You-you let Toshi near this place after seeing what Ayane is like?!" shouted Sparks as he was getting overwhelmed by the surge of information coming at him.

*Whose Ayane? Masque thought to himself. Then, Ayane's face appeared from the ceiling as her purple 'skin' seemed to glow from the light in the room. Masque gasped slightly at the sight, not expecting there to be a living ceiling in the room.*

"Did anyone call me for my, services?" asked Ayane in a sexy tone.

Kimiko was shocked at the boy's "betrayal", and stuttered for an answer. Sparks looked like his head might explode. She clung to the clipboard she held, as if it was the only thing that could save her. She squeezed her eyes shut, bowing deeply, and did her best to come up with some sort of answer, knowing that she was most definitely in the wrong here.
"I...I....I......I d-didn't know....that....t-the mask....it....it w-was......a l-life source....and.......!"
What a weak answer. She just sounded stupid.
When Ayane appeared in the roof, her eyes grew a little more wide and she swallowed hard. She quickly walked over to Toshi and began to shove him back over to the door.
"T-Toshi-kun, i-it may be in y-your b-b-best interest to leave. Go on, go on!"
She knew he would resist, and pushed him out of the doorway and into the hall. It wasn't a rough push, but it had enough force to move him.

*Sparks didn't have a chance to get up until now and was scrambling to his feet.*

"Is that Ayane!?" shouted Toshi happily has he managed to manuver between Kimiko's arms, knocking Sparks back down as he passed.

"Yes I am." said Ayane as two purple arms sprouted from the ceiling and picked him up, "Whats your name, sweety?"

"AYANE! PUT HIM DOWN!" shouted Sparks loudly as he stood up, afraid of what she would do to him.

"I'm Toshi!" shouted the boy cheerfully as he ignored Sparks, now showing just how fake his earlier tears were.

"Sparks, calm down, honey. I'm not going to hurt him or anything." said Ayane as she started tickling Toshi.

*Toshi giggled as he was put onto the table.*

"Wanna lolipop?" asked Ayane in a sweet, yet sincere tone just before Toshi nodded.

*Sparks looked like he was about to have a heart attack as he saw Ayane acting....well.....normal, rather than attempting to seduce him. Spark's jaw dropped in confusion.*

"Wha-?" said Sparks in utter confusion, unable to comprehend what was going on.

Kimiko had turned around to grab Toshi's arm, but gasped when Ayane picked the boy up. She almost started to panic. If anything happened that scarred him for life, it would be HER fault because she gave into his begging.
But she was just as shocked when Ayane spoke to him in a.....well, normal tone. It didn't seem that she was going to seduce him in any way.
Although she had only been here for a short while, she'd seen Ayane's......"moments". She blinked and stared at the two, a bit of at a loss of words.

*Sparks head was ready to blow. He put his hands on his face, trying to get rid of the searing pain that was going through it. Meanwhile, Toshi nodded at Ayane's question. She smiled and took a lolipop from a jar on the corner of the lab (owned by Sparks) and gave it to him.*

"Your nice," said Toshi as he happily licked the lolipop.

"Why thank you dear. Why don't you run along, now, so the adults can do some work?" spoke Ayane gently as he hands seemed to scoot Toshi toward the door.

He then said as he walked out of the room, "I wonder why the adults tried to keep her a secret. She's really nice."


Ayane then looked at Sparks as the door closed behind Toshi, her hands grazing his bum as they returned to the ceiling, "Oh, do you have a headache, baby? Let Ayane make it feel better for you."

Sparks was stunned as he said, "No, I don't need your help! What was that?! I was afraid you were gonna rape him!"

She looked down scornfully and spoke, "What sorta woman do you think I am? He's too young, you know I like them older, baby."

*I am so gonna dismantle you someday. thought Sparks to himself as he was interrupted by him pager again.*

"Damnit. I need a break!" said Sparks as he felt his head pounding even harder.

Kimiko let out a heavy sigh. Things were getting so complicated, mostly for poor Sparks. She glanced up again at Ayane, a bit warily, then back over to Sparks. After a moment's hesitation, she walked over to the nearest counter and soaked a cloth. She then calmly walked over to Sparks and pulling on his sleeve, put the wet cloth on his forehead.

"You need to calm down. Just take some deep breathes, then keep going." The presure was going to kill him at this rate.

She wasn't sure why she was doing this; maybe it was just her sympathetic heart. After a few moments, she took the cloth away and went to put it away. She then prepared herself to take the notes she had written down and put them somewhere safe, and somewhere where they could be easily accessed and used. She'd calmed herself down, and had a completely neutral expression. This was normal. Before she'd come here, she used to do things like this all of the time.

*He knew he needed a break, and it was obvious Kimiko knew it too. When she had come up with the damp cloth, he hadn't expected it as he looked into her eyes. For being new, she seemed to be quite caring. Perfect for a nurse. Perfect for... Sparks started to think before blushing slightly as she had turned away. He didn't expect this and had turned for the door. Within a minute he had walked toward the door as she was looking away.*

Before leaving, he told Kimiko, "Try and get the rest of the info from him."

*This was unsual because normally he added emotion to everything he said, but this time, his tone had been blank, as though he was masking his voice. He headed for the security door as he glared at both Toshi and Masque as he passed.*

Kimiko turned her head slightly, then nodded. It was odd...Spark's voice had sounded strangely....blank. It confused her, because before she'd only heard him with a happy tone. He always seemed to feel SOME sort of emotion.
I bet he even has emotions in his sleep. Maybe he laughs in his sleep!
The thought brought a small smile to her face, and she held back a giggle. But she soon shoved the irrelivant thoughts from her mind. This was not the time to worry about something as minor as that!

She picked up the clipboard she'd set down, and then turned back to Masque's mask. Walking over, she quietly spoke, "Um, Masque-san? Can you tell me anything else about what happened?"

((I might not be able to do much with Sparks until Kaele comes back, so I'll just stick with Masque.))

"Where were we again?" Masque asked himself, then he started again, "Oh yes. After defeating the Akuma, I told miss Kaele that the town would probably disappear again, but as I said that, the wind picked up dramatically, catching Oliver and dragging him to the center. I had went back for him, but found myself unable to bring him to beyond the town wall myself where this didn't seem to exist. So instead, I used my cape to teleport us outside of it. When the winds died down, I didn't see Kaele anywhere, but the town did disappeared, with the exception of a lone well in the town square. Apparently, Kaele had held onto the well while the rest of the town had gotten sucked down it, but luckily, she was ok for the most part. The strangest part about this ordeal was that even the damage to the ground from our battle with the Akuma had disappeared. But I intended to find the cause of this, and invited Kaele and Oliver to come with me."

Kimiko scribbled the new information down, amazed at the acts that Innocence could do. It really was an amazing thing...not to mention dangerous. She paused, looking at the mask, wondering if there was still more. It sounded like there was.
She also made a mental note that she should probably check on Masque's actual body, just to be cautious. At the same time, she wondered if she was doing too much on her first day. Was she being too forward?
She concentrated on listening for the moment, forcing herself to hide the thoughts in the back of her head.

*Kaele wasn't too disappoited that it was taking forever for the security guard to bring back authorization. She had felt awkward seeing Masque without his mask on, and she couldn't imagine him talking through the mask again. She felt scarred from the first time.*

"What's taking so long?" *Kaele asked curiously, observing Bookman when he was impatient.*

"Don't ask me." *Oliver mumbled in reply, not realizing that she wanted a real answer and not just a 'I don't know.' Kaele narrowed her eyes at the clock.*

((sorry about that....I'll make it up to you somehow.....lol....))

*Just as Kaele started glaring at the clock, Sparks had just come through the door.*

"You have visitors Sparks," the the security guard casually

"Eh? What are you guys doing back? Masque's not ready to come out of the tank yet, no matter what he says." spoke Sparks unsure of what they wanted.

"I need to ask him some questions." said Bookman bluntly.



*Meanwhile, Masque continued his story.*

"The accepted my offer, and so we went inside of the well. What we saw was extraordinary. There was a cavern inside of it, and within the cavern was the entire town that had gotten sucked down, but where the well should have been was instead replaced by a deep pocket of water. And within the pocket had been the Innocence hidden at the bottom. I tried to use my gloves to summon it to me but the water seemed to resist it as though it were alive. So, because I have no need to breathe, I strapped my mask tightly onto my head so I wouldn't lose it, and disrobed so I could readily fetch it without damaging any of my....items. But as I was doing this, creatures formed from the water at the edges of the cavern in the shapes of people and the various Akuma which had come to the town." spoke Masque, making sure to include any detail he thought was important.

Kimiko continued to scribble the information down, listening with quite a lot of interest. And...items? What "items" did he mean? Also...the water... "The water...formed Akuma?" she murmured out loud. She blinked, blushed a little from saying it outloud, and continued to listen to him. There was so much she didn't know. So much she SHOULD know, but didn't. She swore to herself that she would inform herself so that she would be able to help fully.

"You don't know what Akuma are?" asked Masque a little confused.

Kimiko blinked again and replied, "N-No...I don't. I've seen these freaky...THINGS...in my life, but I've never known what they are." She fiddled with the pen a little, waiting for a reply and wondering if she'd understand it all.

"Do you know about the Millenium Earl?" asked Masque, trying to figure out how to explain what Akuma were.

Kimiko paused for a moment, then spoke, "...I know a little bit. I've heard some things for the time I've been here."

"I'm surprised no one formally told you of the war at hand. Would you like me to explain it for you before I continue?" asked Masque thoughtfully.

Kimiko thought for a moment, then replied, "There's no need to explain everything right now. You can tell me the gist of it all, but we need to be able to gather information so that we can help you."

"Well, in short, the Millenium Earl is a dastardly fiend who creates machines powered by the trapped, anguished souls obtained within. These machines are what we call Akuma. Anyway, as I was saying, we started to fight these water forms, but they seemed to be remade from the water as quickly as they were destroyed. As the battle continued, a giant serpent of water rose from the puddle where the Innocence was, and the Innocence was now located in its head. Our attacks were ineffective, so I told Kaele to keep Oliver warm with her flames as I used my staff to freeze the cavern. This allowed Kaele to retrieve the Innocence. The next thing I remember is waking up here away from my body," spoke Masque, "Oh yes, speaking of which, can I leave now? The water is getting awfully chilly in here...er...there."

*Sparks blinked, a little shocked at the little old man's grumpyness. He sighed.*

*He tapped the security guard's arm before he spoke,* "Let them through, Lander."

*The security guard obeyed and allowed the trio to pass, Bookman walking ahead of the two teenagers with an aurora of importance. Kaele was still embarrased of seeing Masque, and Oliver was just going with the flow. Eventually, the three of them, along with Sparks, got back to the room where Masque was speaking with Kimiko.*

Kimiko nodded at Masque's description of the Earl and when he started talking about what happened again, she quickly began writing everything down again. It seemed that Masque had endured a lot, along with Kaele and Oliver.
When Masque asked if his body could be removed from the tank, she blinked. She was a little surprised. Even if it was just a mask, he really COULD feel what was happening to his body. "Ah...I-I guess so..." she murmured, "Just let me see if you'll be OK to come out."
She set the clipboard down and began to run a series of tests. After a couple moments, she nodded. "It looks like you'll be fine to come out." Just then, she saw an old man, who she wasn't familiar with, and Kaele and Oliver come to the room.

*Masque couldn't wait to be mobile again. But then Bookman walked through the door along with Sparks, Kaele, and Oliver. Oh great, thought Masque to himself another Bookman..*

"Could we please hurry this up miss Kimiko? Sorry I'm anxious, but I actually have an appointment somewhere that I'm somewhat late for." spoke Masque hoping he wouldn't be trapped here for long.

Then Bookman said, "Not yet Masque. I have some questions for you."

"Not again. I've told them the story. You could ask Kaele and Oliver, they were there as well." spoke Masque exhasperated.

Bookman shook his head, "Thats not what I have questions about."

Sparks was silent throughout this as he pulled Kimiko aside, "Maybe we should leave these guys alone for now."

Kimiko looked up at Sparks, and then nodded. She quickly picked up the clipboard she'd set down and followed Sparks out of the room. Showing him the clipboard, she said, "This is what Masque-san told me."
She brushed a stray hair aside and walked quietly besides Sparks. She glanced up at him; he looked stressed.

*Sparks took the clipboard and headed out of Ayane's room. He glanced at it as they closed the door, then looked back at Kimiko.*

"So he says that he pretty much got bruised up and frost bite. I'm surprised thats all that happened, but it does go along with what the other two said." spoke Sparks as he looked at the notes, "I wonder what Bookman wants with him. Oh well, I'm tired. How about we grab a coffee in the cafeteria for now?"

Then without even waiting for Kimiko's reply he looked at Jacob and said, "Hey, Jacob. Can you hold the fort for now?"

"No problem Sparks. I'm just going over some minor golem glitches I've found to report to Komui later. It should be quiet enough. Also, Toshi is doing looking at the results of some tests in the lab, so it should be calm for you when you get back." replied Jacob, without looking away from his monitor.