Spirited Away: The Wait [ORIGINAL]

Returning

A gray-haired woman burst into the corridor and hurried towards the nurse that had just exited the room. With much anxiousness, she approached her. "Sakino, I was informed Chihiro was found unconscious and that she's having another high fever. How is she doing?" she asked in a shaky voice, clearly fearing for the worst. Her knees were buckling and the nurse quickly ushered her to have a seat before she collapsed.

"She's fine, Mrs. Ogino. The doctor's doing a check-up on her so it may take some time since she needs to be given some IV drops. Her temperature rose drastically, most possibly from dehydration."

The elderly woman rubbed her clammy hands against her dull skirt and pressed her index fingers to her temples. She shut her eyes, hoping the dizziness would go away soon. "Mrs. Ogino, are you feeling alright? Wait here, I'll get a cup of tea for you."

Her footsteps sounded through the near empty hall, getting softer and softer as she left. Yuko slumped against the chair in a messy heap, grabbing the handkerchief from her pocket to dab at the beads of perspiration that lined her forehead and upper lip. "Chihiro's going to be fine. You're thinking too much, Yuko. Just breathe. You can do this. Breathe," she muttered to herself. She had to keep her cool, if not for her, then for the sake of Chihiro who was in there.

That daughter of hers was certainly going to get it from her if the fever was really from dehydration. After all, she'd been nagging every day over the phone to get her to drink more water. And she had been reminding Chihiro to stay in bed instead of going out in her condition. Really, she just wouldn't listen sometimes. And see what it had lead to?

"Oh, I hope she's alright..." Yuko murmured uneasily. As she focused more on her breathing, her head gradually began to clear. "Here's your tea, Mrs. Ogino," Sakino appeared by her side, handing her the warm plastic cup.

"Thank you so much, Sakino," she breathed as she carefully took a sip from the cup, feeling the tea warm her insides comfortably. "I don't know what I would do without you."

Sakino grinned and shook her head. "Well of course! If I didn't take care of you I wouldn't get to eat more of those marble cakes of yours, Mrs. Ogino."

"I'll be sure to bring more of those the next time I come here, then," Yuko chuckled. "Although I think it'd be better if I didn't have to come here that often..."

The nurse smiled and took a seat next to her. "Don't worry, I'll keep a closer eye on Chihiro so you won't be coming over so much."

That prompted the worried mother to frown. "She's going to get it from me when she wakes up. I've already told her countless times to take better care of herself, but she never listens! She's going to be the death of me someday."

"Not just you," Sakino replied wryly. "She doesn't listen that much to me either. I think those books that she's reading are giving her better comebacks. It's getting harder to win her in arguments now."

"Certainly a trait she got from her father," Yuki chuckled, albeit rather sadly as her thoughts trailed back to her beloved husband. Both she and Chihiro had grieved and mourned for a long time, and time seemed to have helped heal that gaping wound in their hearts, but she knew both of them still missed him dearly. His endearing smile, his comforting hugs that would come whenever he got back from work, his passion for both his work and family. He was such an amazing person, yet...

A tissue in Sakino's hand appeared in Yuko's line of vision and she looked up at her in surprise. The sad smile on Sakino's face told her she'd been crying again. Slightly embarrassed, she gratefully accepted the tissue and dried her tears, sniffling. "I'm sorry, I just... whenever I think about Chihiro like this, I can't help but think about Akio, and..."