Naegami - Responsible

Nine: Ruin

Sun was streaking through the windows when a doctor finally approached Byakuya. "Excuse me," he said, "are you Mr. Naegi, here to see a Sayaka Maizono?"

"Huh?" Byakuya, half asleep, started at the sudden sound. "Oh... no. That would be him." He gestured to the figure still passed out on his shoulder.

"Ah." The doctor nodded. "Well, when he wakes up tell him that she's slipped under again. We think she'll be back up within a few days, but –"

"Unacceptable."

The doctor stared. "Son, I don't think you quite understand how this works. We can't bring her back up without risking serious mental trauma."

"Find a way, damn it!" He couldn't explain the frustration suddenly bursting to the surface. "Have you no idea who I am? I am Byakuya Togami, heir apparent to the Togami Corporation, and I am ordering you to safely awaken Sayaka."

The doctor took a step back. "I'm sorry, sir, but there's simply nothing we can do."

It took everything Byakuya had not to stand up and give the doctor a piece of his mind, but Makoto looked so peaceful, and he couldn't bring himself to risk waking him. "Well then," he said curtly. "I suppose someone like you would never understand how helpful it would be to have a Togami in their corner. If only you were willing to try a bit harder... then we might be able to make a deal."

The doctor's eyes narrowed. "Are you bribing me? Well, whatever. I don't care if you're some multimillionaire's son, no amount of money you could throw of us would make what you're asking possible. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some patients to attend to." He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Byakuya speechless with anger.

"I am so much more than my family," Byakuya muttered at the doctor's back, not really caring. What he did care about was what the news would do to the boy leaning against him.

Makoto Naegi woke up in the back of a moving car and panicked instantly. "Hey! Just who are you, anyway?"

"Calm down, you brainless worm. It's only me."

Makoto looked around. He remembered being in the hospital... and then... "Sayaka!" He sat up straight, his gaze demanding. "Where are you taking me? Why aren't we seeing Sayaka?"

Byakuya swallowed. "I'm afraid she slipped back under while we were waiting. According to the self-absorbed prick who informed me of this, there's nothing they can do to bring her back up safely."

"No..." Makoto slumped down, already starting to cry. Then something occurred to him. "Wait... did you carry me out here?"

Byakuya bristled. "It would've been too obnoxious to wake you up, explain the situation, and then try to get your bawling mess of a body into a vehicle. It was simpler this way." The car came to a stop. "Now come on, you need to get inside before Komaru realizes who's dropping her brother off."

He expected Makoto to start sobbing uncontrollably, waking up everyone in his house and getting them chased by Komaru again. Instead, he laughed through a thin veil of tears. "You really carried me all the way out here because you didn't want to wake me, didn't you?"

"Did you not hear me? It was more practical to carry you."

"Then why didn't you wake me when the doctor came up to you in the first place?"