Puppet Control

②

Tokido was sitting on her hands as the doctors rolled her back to her room, just having finished her MRI scan. She began fiddling with the bandages on her left wrist, observing her surroundings, and thinking. 

It turns out that not only was the left side of her face burned, but most of the left side of her body, save for her fingers, foot, some of her calf, part of her thigh, and hair. 

'Lucky I tied my hair back last night I guess...' she thought. 

"I'm going to pick you up to put you on the bed, okay? Then I'm going to put a tube in your arm, right? You're a little low on blood." The doctor said in a soft tone.

"A what-" the little girl looked scared, quickly whipping her head towards the doctor, accidentally hitting him with her tangled bush... her hair.

"Pshf- Don't worry, it'll only pinch a little bit. It'll go away in a second. Here, take this." The doctor handed Tokido a little white bear with a red nose and small purple eyes. "Just like you, huh?" 

"Yeah! What should I name him?" Tokido held up the soft bear in her hands, smiling brightly.

"Hm, well do you know the movie 'The Jungle Book'?" He said, putting his clipboard on a nearby table.

"Yeah! It's one of my favorites! Why?"

"You know Baloo?"

"Yeah!"

"That's what you should name the bear, then!" The doctor laughed, ruffling the little girl's hair.

"Oh, perfect!"

"What'd I miss?" 

Tokido turned to the familiar voice, smiling when she saw who it was. 

"Rumi!" She bobbed on the bed and put her arms out to the hero. 

"Hey, Toki. I brought your food." She leaned down and handed her a small white bag.

"Really? Thank you!" Tokido opened the bag and took out one of the rice balls, unwrapping it and taking a bite. "I like your shoes! They look like my eyes!"

Rumi looked down at her violet sneakers and laughed. 

"So how is she?" she asked the doctor.

"Doing well! Although, almost half of her body was burned in the fire. Not as bad as her face, however. I think she's permanently going to have the scars, but she'll be good to go soon. I just don't know where she's going to go. As you probably know, her house burned down and we've got no word from her mother yet. I'm a little worried she'll have to g-"

The phone on the wall by the door started ringing.

The man looked at the phone, walking over. "I need to take this real quick." 

"Doctor Takao?"

"Speaking."

Rumi walked over to the bed Tokido was eating on.

"Hey, Toki. Can I ask you something? Promise not to take it too seriously, 'kay?" she asked.

The girl took another bite of the onigiri. "Sure! Oh did you see Baloo?" She held up the white bear in front of the older girl's face. 

They both smiled. 

"Cute. But the question I was going to ask, since your apartment isn't um... in the best shape... and since your mother might not get released before you... would you maybe like to stay with me? Just for a little while."

Tokido's smile dropped. "Is mommy okay?"

Rumi gave her a sympathetic pat on the head. "I'm sure she's fine. I'm asking just in case."