I Think I Know You... (Koty)

[Dr. Nik Kenjutsushi]

Winters in Pilot Ridge were cold and windy, snapping up as early as the last week of October with snow and small gusts. Being that it was already November and the white specks were swirling through the air, all of the town was dressed for it in thicker coats, hats and scarves.

Except for her. Nakia Kenjutsushi loved the snow; it was one place where she seemed to blend in rather than standing out, with her white hair and bright blue eyes set in ghostly pale Asiatic features. She enjoyed the pure, clean feeling of the winter breeze against her skin, through her hair; the sharp ice taste and smell when she closed her eyes and breathed in the chilly air. Winter was a wonderful time of year. Dressed in her street clothes (as she had the day off today), the only concession she'd made to the chilliness of the air was a white peacoat, buttoned all the way up as she left the hospital after her consultation. The rest of her was dressed for a normal day - pale acid wash jeans, white athletic shoes, and a white blouse under the coat that had short sleeves (she rarely wore it because her skin was so sensitive to light, but she was covered up outside today). Her smile beamed with mischief as she waved goodbye to the Emergency Room technician, then settled gently on her face as she moved outside to walk towards downtown.

It was an interesting week, and her husband was being very entertaining in a variety of ways. Hence, her smile and the visit to the doctor who'd treated him recently. But it wasn't completely on the forefront of her mind, either - there was some shopping to be done for Christmas soon, and since she was in the area anyway...

Someone staggered out in front of her from a side street, startling the middle-aged woman into stopping with a gasp. It was a young man -a teen, most like- who clutched his head as he stumbled vaguely in her direction. The direction of the hospital. Almost immediately, maternal concern brought her to him, putting her pale hands on his arms just as he collapsed in front of her. Kneeling, she looked the boy in the face, seeing red.

Bleeding from the nose, severe disorientation. Almost looks like a concussion, but no wounds to the face. I need more information for a diagnosis.

"What's the matter?" she asked, kneeling with the boy, her blue eyes staring into his face openly with worry. "What's happened to you, child?"

She knew better than to ask if he was all right; he clearly wasn't, and if he said he was, then it would be par for the course on people trying to play off hurts and illness. That response could never be trusted. Besides, this boy looked ready to fall unconscious at any moment.

[Koty Hura]

If there was one thing Koty really did miss about Japan, it was the significantly better public transportation system. The island was a tiny fraction of the size of this country and it was completely sorted for transit. One could get from one side of the island to the other by bus, subway, bullet train.. And there were stops close enough to almost anything so that it was actually convenient the vast majority of the time. Not here. Here public transit was an afterthought and it felt like it was just glued to the side of the department of whatever. It seemed like the only place the bus took him was to the mall or the school.

Every single time he needed spices or ingredients that couldn't be found at a supermarket, he had to get off the bus and hike the better part of a mile. Was it worth it? Of course. Was it inconvenient? As hell. So Koty was a bit distracted and a bit preoccupied and had been lost in his own thoughts right up to the point that a grubby wrinkly man wreaking of alcohol had grabbed him by his leather jacket and thrown him into a nearby brick wall. Too shocked to react otherwise, Koty turned to run.. only for the man's nasty hands to find his face.. The man was screaming about something but he wasn't making any sense in the slightest.

Why would he make sense? He was a strung-out drugged-up crazy bum.. Probably going through withdrawal or tweaked out or just having an episode.. whatever the crazy guy's issue was, when he touched Koty's skin something in Koty's mind seemed to tear.. get dislocated.. ripped out of it's socket.. broke. It was like what had happened when he'd experienced Dante's vision, but there was no context here. There was nothing to make sense of. Whereas Dante's precognitive episode had been like a large amount of water injected into Koty's metaphorical veins, this was more like sewage.. and it was under extremely high pressure and it was such utter nonsense and full of fear and terror and confusion......

A short while later Koty stumbled out of an alley. His leather jacket was scuffed and torn, the knuckles on both hands were bruised, his nose was bleeding at a somewhat alarming rate.. In fact, it looked like a blood vessel in one eye had ruptured as well. The Japanese boy was struggling for consciousness and almost as hard to stay on his feet. His breathing was erratic, movements jerky and uncoordinated.. It really did look like he'd just been hit in the head with a baseball bat and been given a concussion..

Several times he fell to one side or another, somehow managing to shove himself back to his feet and keep moving.. Seconds ticked by like hours and finally around another corner there was someone. A target. A goal. If he could just make it to that person surely they could help.. Koty had no idea that he'd been headed toward the hospital, but it was a happy coincidence.

The image of the someone, though.. Something about it struck Koty far harder than just 'a person in his time of need'. Something was clear even though his murky blurred and partially reddened vision. White.. and blue. White hair, brilliant blue eyes. In his condition, Koty couldn't place what this meant.. but he knew that he had to get there. He had to make it to this person.. He.. wasn't going to make it. It was too far.. Even with her heading toward him, the world was fading too fast. Within feet of her Koty fell to a knee and immediately forward, his eyes wide open but completely unseeing. He knew she had spoken but he didn't understand what she had asked.. The voice seemed so very familiar, even though it wasn't one he recognized...

Koty stuttered out the only thing he could think of.. Who to call to help him.. "Mei-an.. Sens--" and whatever life had been keeping Koty conscious for the moment was used up. His body went limp as his mind tried to cope with the forced introduction to chaos and literal insanity.

If Nik decided to play doctor on the spot she would be able to easily enough find Koty's wallet. No insurance card, but he did have a small medical card that he had no known allergies and that his blood type was O-positive. If she touched his skin with bare hands at any point, though, she would likely find her mind poked at with visions.. visions of a feminine figure.. with white hair and blue eyes.. only as soon as details started to come into focus a wall of stone and ivy rushed into existence to bar anything further about the mysterious woman.. The woman that Nik stared at in the mirror every day.

[Dr. Nik Kenjutsushi]

The poor boy was clearly in grave distress; he looked up at her, but didn't seem to see or hear her well. Definitely disoriented. And... wait.

'Meian-sens...ei'? Was this boy one of her husband's students? Now that she looked closer, and heard him speak in a slurred manner, the doctor could tell that he was of her own nationality - Japanese. A transfer student, perhaps? Barely, she caught the boy as he pitched forward, cradling his upper body in her arms as his head fell against her shoulder. Blue eyes looked about for a moment, then called out to the hospital valet that had glanced their way. She needed to get him out of the cold, off the street. Despite being on hospital grounds as well, she could be let to treat him, given his residency at the school and her own ability as a practitioner. But what mattered was discovering what was wrong and getting him someplace safe.

As the valet rushed inside to get a wheelchair or gurney, Nik placed a hand on the back of the boy's neck, opening up her special brand of empathy to feel the symptoms he felt as skin touched skin.

What she found was very unique and very telling; a small backlash of memory pricked at her consciousness, memories that weren't hers. Or, rather, memories that came from a vantage point that was often above her in one way shape or form. And considering that she'd never seen this child before nor was he so much taller than her...

These are Vincent's memories. The boy must have been a telepath who kept these memories with him, who trained with her husband. And since there were no mind-readers on her husband's roster at all since his arrival, that meant this boy was one of his former students. Given his age, she also thought she knew which one despite having never met him in person before. Hush, child, she thought directly, allowing her powers to slip through further and patch some of the bleeding in his face, relieve the pressure in his eye just enough. You're safe with me.

Inside, she asked simply to be allowed to check over the boy and was granted a small room with a padded examination table. Finding the wallet with the medical card and idea confirmed the identity of the teen, and she called the school to speak directly with the office briefly. Someone who drove (likely a security officer) would be sent to pick them up in a half hour. She had until then to come up with an adequate diagnosis and treat what she could while she had the hospital's staff and supplies on hand.

Locking down her own mental shields tightly, Nakia went to work, discovering the sources of aches and pains, watching flickers of ghostly figures dance at the edge of her vision. She ignored them, looked deeply, and made her analysis. Patient is a psychic metahuman of a telepathic subtype. Severe disorientation, scattered thoughts, bleeding in the sinuses causing nasal drip and mild eye damage, critically low mental shielding, and ultimately unconsciousness; all signs of an overwhelming of psychic ability. Treatment of the nose and eye are foremost, then rest to allow the mind to recuperate - a psychological and psychic evaluation highly recommended upon awakening.

[Koty Hura]

There was the faint sensation of being moved following Koty blacking out.. There were a lot of faint sensations during his exhausted, dreamless sleep. Being moved, being touched, being manipulated, the faintest tugs at his mind and body on a non-physical level.. If Koty hadn't known any better (he didn't) he would have imagined he was under the care of a doctor or something.. Of course, he was barely aware of any of these things, and slightly less aware that any of them were connected.. so when he awoke and felt a padded something beneath him he froze solid and held his breath to try to figure out what was happening around him.

Unfortunately, the place was basically silent. He could hear the sounds of a somewhat busy place far off.. the faint hum of lights.. but there was very, very little for him to go on not even mentioning that each of Koty's senses felt somewhat dulled. What he did notice after staying still and getting his bearings, though, was that several things felt.. freshly 'good'. It was hard to explain.. There was also the issue of his bruised and sore mind.. which felt as if it had been repositioned too. Almost like it had been tucked into a metaphorical bed, some maternal figure calming and petting it.. Images of a female figure with white hair and stunning blue eyes. One that fit very well with the more familiar scarred and hardened image of a man Koty knew very well.

"Nakia.." he mumbled outloud.. before realizing that he had said it outloud.. and his eyes popped open, instantly full of those brilliant blue eyes and that snowy white hair. He blinked several times.. uncharacteristically calm for someone who just woke up from being exhausted mentally to the point of passing out, and simply stared at her for several seconds through half-lidded and tired eyes. "I think I know you.." Why did he think instead of know? Because Vincent's shielding around his wife was reinforced concrete. Even stronger than the shielding around his children.. and while Koty had often gotten glimpses of the woman he had never truly seen her. He knew about her in a vague way.. How she was an extremely strong and stubborn woman, how she was an amazing mother with maternal instincts that would make bears cower in place, that her stature somehow contained more force of character than Vincent himself believed he had.. but he had never seen her in this way, as thought he were laying his own eyes on her. So he couldn't be sure. Especially not exhausted and groggy as he was.

"My name is Koty Hura.. I attend Hammel Institute. I was.. assaulted by a man. I believe he was unstable." Koty's words were somewhat weak and seemed practiced.. like this was something he could recite in his sleep. Keeping up the memorized recitation, Koty then launched into what he knew of his medical history. "I have no known allergies, blood type O-positive, I have dual citizenship and have only been stateside for less than one year, and I request that you wear gloves while examining me. I have a contact-based metahuman ability." Surely it was okay to tell doctors that one was metahuman.. At least when one was being examined by them. Then again, every time in the past that this had happened, Koty had been in Eisai. Oh well.

All that out of the way, Koty simply remained motionless and stared up at Dr. Nik, waiting for her to tell him what she knew, ask him questions, or otherwise finish her examination. He had no idea how long he'd been there, but judging by how awful he still felt (despite feeling 'patched up') he imagined it couldn't have been very long. Despite looking and acting mostly fine.. and being reasonably quick to recover from incidents like these, Koty simply knew how to act. In reality any sudden movements or visual motion or blood pressure changed were quite likely to have the boy not only feeling sick, but also disoriented and dealing with one hell of a headache. When one couldn't be strong, appearing strong was generally a reasonable compromise.

Why was Koty familiar enough with feeling this way that he had his entire act figured out and practiced? Mostly because had only basic mental shielding.. Shielding himself from telepathy kinda went against what he understood his purpose to be, so the only shields he'd practiced were those against the more powerful and taboo things that people or other telepaths could do.. Murder, rape, drugs, and the rough equivalent to DDOSing a telepath.. That being connecting with him on so many levels all at once that it completely overwhelmed his ability to function. Other than that, most anything else was game. It was insanely hard to create a defense against insanity that didn't also block out everything else, so.. Koty just took this incident as an acceptable risk. Even if it did leave him feeling like his mind had been run over by a truck and left out in the cold to bleed.

[Dr. Nik Kenjutsushi]

Both Nakia and her charge had been transported back to Hammel by the time Koty began to stir. Despite it being her day off, the albino doctor had opted to stay and take care of the boy herself, since he seemed to know her husband somehow and felt it was her responsibility since she'd found him. Apologizing to Walter and Kieron, she took one of the two side rooms and set up the touch-telepath in there, with explicit instructions not to touch him without barriers during examination. She'd already had her own mind prodded enough, and she knew how to block most of it.

But since it was her day off, the nurses had everything handled and she was able to file the necessary paperwork to retrieve the rest of this boy's information. Koty Hura, age 16, Japanese transfer student from Eisai Gakko. Ability: Tactile Telepathy. Last known trainer... "Vincent Meian, training completed in 2012," she mused softly, looking from the file to the unconscious boy. That explained a lot. The only rudimentary but strong shielding, the reason why he seemed to know her, why all his 'memories' were of a distinct vantage point, why he knew their name and asked of it in his moment of need. "Looks like you have another one," she sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "You need to stop bringing home strays, my love."

A short time later, a mutter of her given name caught the doctor's attention, and Nik turned around to move hurriedly to the bed, looking over her patient. His eyes opened, focused, and she smiled at him. "I believe you are right," she answered gently, a hand placed lightly on his arm over the damaged leather. "Don't worry - you're safe here."

His disjointed comments sounded half like rote memorization, half testimony - almost clearly formed, but with a sense of confusion that was likely due to the psychic backlash of his powers. Given what he'd stated and what his medical and school files said of his ability, that likely meant he was severely damaged in his psyche. A trip to see Dr. Neville, then, after this, she mused. The psychiatrist could help with the backlash, perhaps even aid in the reinforcement of those shields whose groundwork had been laid by her husband. Strong shields, yes; but they could still be overpowered if the subject were willful enough or the student unwilling to use them. It needed to be rectified.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hura-san," Nik replied softly, maintaining her smile. "My name is Dr. Nakia Kenjutsushi, the on-call physician here at the Hammel Institute. Given the information in you school file, I believe you are quite well acquainted with my husband, Meian-sensei. Since you seem to still be under the effect of what is essentially a psychic concussion, I'm going to recommend that you stay here for the time being. Do you understand?"

She didn't move away from his line of sight as she spoke, making sure to keep as little change as possible in her patient's viewpoint. There were a number of side-effects she'd seen from mental overload - headaches, nausea, motion sickness, disassociation with surroundings, falling in and out of consciousness... it was effectively what she had stated just a moment ago; symptoms of a concussion. "Is there anything I can get you to help with the side-effects?" the doctor asked, blue eyes searching his face for a sign of any sort. "An aspirin, or a glass of water? I can turn the lights down as well, if they're too bright. Just don't move unless you need to; I've already patched your blood vessels as best as I can, but if you start having trouble seeing or taste blood you need to tell me right away."

Koty's ability was surprisingly a lot like Nik's - both were touched based, both felt the inner workings of a human being, and both the owners of such abilities felt to use their powers to help people. However, as Nakia discovered in medical school, you simply cannot fix everything. There was too much in the world, and it caused too much harm to the wielder of the abilities they had to let everything through. It had been a hard lesson, knowing she could heal someone but also knowing she risked death if she did, but over the years she had learned. Come to terms with the fact that she simply could not save everyone. It had felt so selfish and wrong, but in a way dying for the sake of one person was selfish as well - could she not use her gift with as much restraint as possible and heal so many more?

If Koty was looking for someone to tell him that this accident was his fault, he wouldn't find it here. But he also wouldn't find someone who would release him completely of blame, either. This would be a life lesson for the boy, and one he needed to learn if he were to survive and thrive as a normal human being.

[Koty Hura]

"Blood. That is what that taste is.." It wasn't a fresh taste.. just the taste of the blood that was still between his teeth and had yet to be fully diluted by his saliva. "It is.. an old taste. I do not believe there is need to worry, Doctor." Seriously, he'd wondered what the taste was. Bleh. Human blood tasted horrible. It was a wonder that a rare cooked piece of meat could taste so good. Then again, the grass was always greener on the other side, wasn't it?

"I am.. not thirsty. I do feel that I could most certainly eat, though. Did I lose much blood, Doctor? I am.. having difficulty recalling how I came to be in your care.. or exactly where I am." Koty had never lost enough blood to pass out before.. He's lost enough that it was noticeable, sure.. He said he thought he'd been assaulted.. But that was a natural response. It took someone genuinely disturbed to overload Koty. That, or a precog like Dante who received burst-transmissions of every possible outcome of every situation he would even end up in. That was a lot of information to take in. Still, he'd made it to his room before he'd passed out.. and he did remember it. This must have been different.

Different. Yeah, different. The man looked different. He was.. crazed. Homeless. A pauper. The man was crazy and had turned on Koty like th eboy had been invading his private space despite the 'space' in question simply being an alley. --That's right, Koty had been in town.. going to get spices and asian ingredients so he could cook. That's why he was hungry. He hadn't eaten today. Low blood sugar plus psychic overload thanks to a crazy man. Oh boy. As Koty flexed his hands slightly he felt the dull thrum of pain from his knuckles and wrists.. He must have fought back.

"There is an alley, Doctor.. Only a few blocks from the bus stop. I believe that is where I was assaulted.. I think I may have fought back. I do not know if I harmed the man that attacked me." Koty automatically tried to sit up, but just the sudden compression of his abs changed his blood pressure enough to convince him instantly that getting up was a bad idea as his entire head gave a grinding thud of pain. His face contorted in a grimace, but he worked hard to keep his jaw from clenching..

"I.. believe perhaps some water may be in order, Doctor, if that is possible.." tha-THUMP.. tha-THUMP.. Each beat of Koty's heart was met with the world losing focus for an instant and getting darker, not to mention that same dull pain pulsing throughout his head. "I often remember what I was forced to see... What does it mean that I do not remember anything after being surprised at the initial contact?" It means some crazy shit had been downloaded and Koty's brain had dumped it as quickly as possible to keep him sane.. but that had just been double the work. Copying, then deleting. And holy crap had that man's mind been full. Koty couldn't remember of what, but it was full. He knew that much.

Meanwhile, here he was.. still not entirely sure where he was, how long he had been there, or exactly what had been done to him or what he had done to retaliate.. But he was here meeting his mentor's wife in person for the first time... it was a shame the circumstances were so crummy. He'd have preferred to make a better impression.

[Dr. Nik Kenjutsushi]

The doctor shook her head. "No, or at least I doubt it," she answered simply. "Nosebleeds may be messy, but they very rarely cause any real degree of worrisome blood loss. I have some simple snacks here, if you think you'll be able to stomach them."

The memory loss was more than likely caused by the psychic backlash as well, and considering that the boy was having enough trouble keeping things sorted in his head, Nik didn't make mention of it. She did, however, shift so that she was perching on the bed next to him, nodding silently at his recount of events. Having seen the mild scuffing on his hands a knuckles, the pale woman could understand why the Japanese boy thought he'd fought back. If there was pain elsewhere from the conflict, her physical (once the teen was feeling more stable) would identify it.

Seeing that Koty was trying to rise, the doctor laid a cool hand over his chest and gently laid him back down. "Don't try to sit up yet," she ordered, her tone more maternal than militant. "I have water bottles that you can drink while lying down. Would you like one?"

Despite the fact that he'd already asked for water, the repetition was to help calm the telepath down. His heart was beating quickly, and his breathing was shallow. Calming his nerves, easing him back into normal conversation, giving him simple things to answer - they'd help focus his mind and get him off the attack. If just for a short while.

"As I am not a telepath, I can only guess from a medical standpoint," Nakia offered softly. "Neurologically, I would equate it to being in shock of sorts. Such as after a car accident, the moments we are in a state of hyper-alertness are focused and clear, but as the adrenaline drains so, too, does the attentiveness. Most people who are in these limited states of shock rarely remember anything clearly once the danger has passed." Sean may have been able to tell the Japanese boy about the mind's ability to shut out psychic trauma, but that was partially because the older official was a psychiatrist as well as a telepath himself. The loss of memory, coupled with the unwanted and dangerous contact, could also mean psychic scarring beneath the surface. That needed to be treated as much, if not more than, the physical damage.

[Koty Hura]

Well.. Lack of horrendous blood loss was good. That means severe dehydration was less likely.. and dehydration with an already raging headache was just.. bad. "I believe I would very much like to try, Doctor Kenjutsushi." In reference to the food. Seriously. Hungry plus headache plus dehydration (or.. possible dehydration, anyway) was no fun. Food would mean blood sugar which meant everything else aught to come easier.

Koty hadn't been able to do much more than flinch off of the table before Nik was gently holding him down. Her quickness had surprised him, as well as her seemingly being able to read his intentions in an instant.. But then, she was a doctor. A damn decent one, if his memories and impressions from Vincent were any indication, with lots of experience with youths. He wasn't entirely sure what her ability was, but maybe that had something to do with it as well.

"Yes, Doctor. If it is not too much trouble.. Water as well as something.. light.. to eat would be very much appreciated." Koty's breathing may well be shallow.. but he wasn't aware that his heart was beating fast. It felt pretty normal to him. Either Nik was overreacting, or Koty had no idea and everything was in sort of slow motion... Which was quite a possibility, honestly. Heck, everything might have a purple hue to it and be blurry. He'd just woken up and was feeling kinda awful. Couldn't even open his eyes all the way. If Koty wasn't such a stickler for the English language, he'd probably be slurring his words and making no sense.... but who knew? --Actually, Nik did. So his heart must be beating fast.

"Neurological shock.." That.. was one hell of a think to think about while in slow motion after having just woken up. Somehow Koty didn't think that was quite what happened.. He wasn't sure why or how, but he was relatively sure that in this case it was more like a blackout.. his mind literally shutting off it's higher functions in order to preserve itself at the first taste of the writhing insanity. Somewhat like the way one's body refused to allow them to breathe chlorine gas. A person would choke to death before they got more than a small bit of a lung full of chlorine. Apparently, presumably, Koty's mind would shut off entirely before getting much more than a glimpse at the insanity in the man's mind.

Speaking of that man.. He would still (even now) be lying unconscious in that alley. A 16 year old trained in martial arts running on pure adrenaline and instinct... was capable of doing serious damage to a crazed homeless man with no fighting ability whatsoever.

"Doctor.. I believe I would be.. much more comfortable in a seated position. I will not object to remaining in your care for as long as you see fit, but may I inquire as to how long I will need to remain in this position? I feel that.. lying horizontally will do .. very little to prevent my head from.. throbbing." It still was. Each beat of his heart, Koty could see the sharp lines in his vision blur, the whole world take on an instant of purple and yellow static. He felt like he could hear the individual valves in his heart opening and shutting. "This jacket.. is also very warm.."

If Nik was willing to allow Koty to sit up she could help him get his jacket off, too.. and whenever she did allow him to sit (er, help him sit up) she'd find that his hands and arms would flush noticeably because of the impacts they'd dished out.. and his face would lose some color.. Lose color in that his face was a bit red for the moment. The blood was rushing to his head a bit while he was laying down. If he did sit up, though, Koty would get a much better idea of the trauma that had taken place in his mind.. wild flashes of visions making him wince and waves of dizziness and small shooting pains throughout his skull would accompany the lessening of the throbbing. Perhaps this wasn't going to be something as easy to walk away from as he'd anticipated.

[Dr. Nik Kenjutsushi]

After being assured that Koty wasn't going to try and get up yet (at least, not without her help) the doctor removed her hand and stood, using slower and more obvious motions to keep him from needing to track her too fast. She'd already gathered that the boy was feeling motion-sick - no need to make that worse. Crossing the short distance between the bed and the cabinets, Nik made short work of finding the stack of fruit and granola snacks as well as standard purified water bottles, took three of the former and one of the latter, and moved back to the prone boy. Placing the snacks down on the bedside table, her hands gestured in an 'up' motion. "Let's get you re-situated, then."

Helping the Japanese student up, pale hands fluttered around with surety and care, lifting and adjusting the pillows behind the lean back of her patient before pulling off his jacket with efficiency. She coaxed him into scooting back a little, then eased the teen back into the pillows with gentleness. She could feel through her own shielding and control of her power little spots of a headache worming its way in, but once everything was settled the ghostly woman took the jacket and set it aside, using the lack of contact to reconstruct her control again.

"Would you like me to call Dr. Neville while you eat and rest?" Nik asked, looking up at Koty. She would call the man regardless - it would just be now or later. This type of psychic damage would not be easy to deal with and probably wouldn't go away for some time. She could treat the physical and some of the psychological damage, but everything else would have to be cared for by a more specialized physician than she.

[Koty Hura]

Now sitting and comfortably cool, Koty could focus on exactly what hurt and where and how bad. Only it was difficult to do with the little tugs of dizziness coming at him in arrhythmic waves. Also there was the issue of Dr. Neville. All Koty knew about him was that he was an extremely powerful telepath and that he was.. uh.. dean? Dean sounded right, but either way, someone who had the power within the school to force a student back into training or out of classes giving them problems and.. many other things.

"No.. No I will.. I will see Doctor Neville on my own time when .. when I feel more stable." He very slowly raised his hands to rub his eyes and took in and let out a deep breath. "I do not believe that now would be the best of times for.. decisions or training or.. even much intelligent conversation." Sure, Nakia was going to note this in his file and likely call Dr. Neville regardless, but Koty could at least try to prevent the need to deal with that today.

Dropping his arms back to the bed, Koty rotated his jaw, then made to slowly grab the bottle of water and open it. He would bring the bottle to his lips and tilt it up... and slowly keep tilting it up.. further and further... until there was no more liquid in it, at which point the boy would let out a relieved sigh before bringing a hand up to the side of his head as his vision swam. Duh, long breath plus suddenly fuller stomach equals blood pressure changes. Fun stuff. Dr. Nik's normally white hair was a strange shade of golden amber. Still, worth it. Koty's body had been screaming for water. And now he had granola and fruit snacks. --Or he'd have them once he stopped seeing seven fingers on his hand.

"Are you going to stay with me here, Doctor? Or do you have other patients to attend to? I do not wish to be a burden and I can only imagine I have taken up a great deal of your time already.." Poor Nik.. Taking care of one of Vincent's surrogate sons on her day off. Koty had no idea. Of course, even if he had known, he'd likely be occasionally forgetting. About the only things that were working fully were his involuntary reflexes (breathing, heartbeat.. uh.. blinking?) and whatever part of his brain registered curiosity and the need to carry on with idle conversation. Apparently. Though the little crackly snaps of pain sporadically floating throughout his head may land on one of those things eventually. They were getting worse. But at least the throbbing had mostly gone away.

"I would have much preferred to meet the wife of my Sensei on better terms. In my mind I'd brought your family dinner.. Not.. psychological trauma and bruised knuckles." He sighed out a breath and swallowed, feeling the coolness of the water radiate out across his torso. ["Please forgive my appearance and my lack of a gift, Doctor."] --Oh, that meant that the part of his brain that differentiated languages was working as well. Always a good thing, right?

[Dr. Nik Kenjutsushi]

Nik sighed slightly. Children and their fear of authority figures. That may not have been exactly what was going on here, but she wasn't going to call the man for a psychiatric evaluation. It was for healing and side-effect control, pure and simple - there was no reason to be afraid. "I'll be calling him before you leave regardless," she stated firmly. "If only because I doubt you'll be able to leave without him looking you over. Your physical injuries are minor, but I can't do anything about the psychic backlash by myself. I need a second opinion - no training, and you likely won't have to talk, I promise."

The fact that Koty drank all the water was a little surprising, given his dizziness and nausea previously, but without hesitation the doctor cracked another bottle open for him and set it on the end table. "Drink more slowly," she reminded him. "Your body is still weak from the assault on your senses, and if you take in too much you'll be sick." He was obviously still disoriented, and having him throw up everything he just drank would not only be counter-productive... but would probably make the poor boy faint again.

At the question, the albino woman gave him a skeptical look, though it was more out of surprise than anything. That sounded eerily like something her husband had said to her the first time they met, though the patient in question was someone else rather than the tall man she married that first time. Koty may not have been that man, but he obviously had just as much (if not more) concern for others over himself. "Of course I'm staying here with you," she answered with a soft sigh. "Walter and Kieron can handle everyone else today; my main priority is you, at least until we can get you stable enough to return to your dorm."

Poor kid. ["Don't fret about it now, Hura-kun,"] she soothed, brushing the teen's hair from his face lightly. ["It's a pleasure to meet you, regardless of happenstance."] No one could really predict when something like this would happen, now could they? ["Just rest - we can meet more formally some other time, when you're well."]