Stupid Addict Tricks

[x-kaminari.livejournal.com]

Angelo comes down to the medlab to pick up some sleeping pills and Nori spots him. And, more importantly, the pills...



Angelo didn't like using sleeping pills, and didn't have a regular prescription of them for that reason. But, once in a while, usually when Amanda wasn't there, he'd have a night where he just couldn't get to sleep, and on some of those nights he'd head down to the medlab for a dispensation.

This was one of those nights.

Angelo might not like sleeping pills, but someone else did... Noriko not really been spying on him and the doctor - she'd simply ducked out of view, not wanting to have to deal with either of them since technically she wasn't supposed to be out of her room this late. She wasn't even bothering to try and figure out what all they were talking about but, peeking out from around the corner she spotted a very familiar little box. Her mouth went dry, eyes fixed avidly to the man's hand as he tucked the box into a pocket.

As he turned to leave, she slipped out, hurrying across the room to catch up with him, whoever he was. "Anou... Excuse me," she said quickly, stifling the urge to add 'your change'. Who knew that anything from those stupid textbooks would have been useful.

He turned, blinking at the unfamiliar voice, then realized who this must be and offered the new girl a polite smile. "Hi. Somethin' I can help with?"

She was practically vibrating with the extra energy in her system and the excitement of her plan. She might as well have been bouncing is place and was definitely beaming at him - which was likely a tad disconcerting, given the quantity of black and skull decorations she was wearing. "Hi! I name is Kikuchi Noriko! Yoroshiku," she said, bowing to him.

It was, just a little. In fact, it was as incongruous as if Sarah had showed up on a sugar high. "Yoroshiku", he returned, managing not to mangle the word too much and hoping it was appropriate. "I'm Angelo. Good to meet you, Noriko." He knew about Japanese naming systems, at least.

Oh, good, sticking mainly to stuff she knew. That was good. Particularly as Nori didn't really have a plan, and improvising was only going to get her so far. "Nice to meet you, too!" The words all run together, the phrase clearly something she had learned that people said, but which didn't really have any meaning for her.

It was kind of cute, really, and he couldn't help a smile. "What's got you up and awake so late?" he asked.

Smiling was good. Smiling meant he were off his guard. But he'd asked a question and she didn't have the slightest idea what it meant. Noriko cocked her head at him and blinked, looking baffled. "I don't know," she ventured after a moment.

...ah. Either she was trying to say she didn't understand her own insomnia, or her English was worse than he'd thought. "Couldn't you sleep?" he asked more slowly.

Oh, of course. She smiled her thanks at the simpler language, and shook her head. "No. Is not can sleep."

"Have you talked to Dr. Grey?" he asked, mindful of proper grammar. "She might be able to help. A hot drink, if nothing else."

Noriko wrinkled her nose at the mention of the doctor - her aversion was well and truly set in stone by now. But the other had possibilities... "Drink is good," she suggested and, turning as though to head towards the little kitchenet that was part of the medlab, Nori affected to trip over her own feet - not an unbelievable prospect, given her perpetual bouncing and the suddenness of her turn. She stumbled into Angelo, using the jostling to cover the motion of her hand stealing towards the pocket he'd tucked the pills into.

Unluckily for Noriko, he'd moved automatically to hold her up, and his hand met her wrist on the way, where her wrist should not be. He glanced down between them, eyebrows going up. "Oh, that's the game, is it?"

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Nori affected a bright, cheerful smile. She was so screwed. "Hai! Yes. Game. Sou desu."

"Cut the crap, Noriko, or I'm callin' Dr. Grey." The fact that he hadn't already done so was more than a little telling. "You must know I don't have any money on me, so... the pills?"

Too many words and too much grammar she didn't know, but it didn't matter. Her mood shifted like lightning as she wrenched her wrist out of his grip. "Kusatta gaijin! Kusu wo taberu, na? Teme butoko, achike!"

Japanese being one of the languages he'd never had occasion to learn, Angelo didn't get a word of it, but he wasn't letting her get away so easily. Strands of skin wrapped around both wrists like a vice, holding her in place. "Be polite", he warned grimly. "Or I will tell the doctor."

Noriko screamed as his skin reached out and caught her, struggling at the bonds. "Yadda! Dashite! Boku dashite! Yarichin, deshou? Loli-con, darou? Dashitte, ecchi!"

"I'm not goin' to hurt you", he said slowly and clearly, not letting her go. "We're goin' to have a nice calm talk about why you just tried to rob me."

Even if she had been listening, it wouldn't have helped, but as it was Noriko just kept on yelling her head off. "Dashitte! Omae, ecchi!"

A puff of green smoke in the doorway turned into a billowing cloud, which turned into a very aggrieved-looking Russian doctor. "Mr. Espinosa." Amelia Voght's voice was like the crack of a whip as she gazed at the unlikely tableau, her eyes icy. "As you're not in the habit of randomly assaulting young female students, explanations may be offered. Immediately."

Ah, crap, was the first automatic thought. It couldn't have been Jean? "I wasn't assaultin' her", he protested truthfully. "I was tryin' to stop her from assaultin' me. Does she look hurt?"

Noriko, on the other hand, was glad it was Dr. Voght - she couldn't stand Dr. Grey and Voght's demeanor didn't worry her as much as it seemed to do the other students she'd talked to. Still struggling against Angelo's hold, she was on the verge of crying and really wasn't sure herself if she was faking it. "Tasukette! Votto-sensei! Tasukette! Itainda! Help!"

Amelia just gazed at her for a moment, her expression cool, if not unkind. "Let go of the child, Angelo," she said, then turned her attention to him. "Sleeping pills?"

He obeyed, taking a step back, then blinked and looked at Noriko. It wasn't that he didn't know that was what it had been about, but if he turned her in now, he'd blow any chance of being someone she could talk to... after a moment studying her, seemingly confused at the mere suggestion, he shook his head. "No. I mean, yeah, that's what I came down here for, but I think I just scared her when she saw me."

As soon as her hands were free, Nori moved back, putting space between her and Angelo, but she didn't run - simply stood there, looking at the floor. Having been caught, she was willing to face up to what was coming. At least for now.

Amelia's look was positively baleful. "I see," she said, dividing the Look between both of them. "Then I suppose I should be glad that this was not the result of an attempt to, say, pick your pocket? Because it would be very unfortunate if a student had access to unprescribed medication that does not in fact address her needs. Given that we, unlike certain other medical 'professionals', are not about to opt for the quick fix."

"No such attempt", Angelo assured her innocently. It wasn't as if Noriko actually had the pills, after all. "If she'd managed that an' I'd been tryin' to get them back, I'd have told you. Promise."

Noriko didn't respond, either to Amelia's Look or to any of the talking. Certainly there was no question that, from the tone, she knew Amelia was Not Happy with her, but either willful stubbornness or something else had her standing stock still, head bowed and eyes pinned, unmoving to the ground.

The look Amelia gave Angelo was no longer simply baleful. Had she had heat vision, it would have melted the flesh off his bones. "Then perhaps you should apologize to Ms. Kikuchi and leave my infirmary." Before I teleport you somewhere unpleasant, was the unspoken, but very clear corollary. "In fact, do so. Promptly. Ms. Kikuchi and I need to discuss the dangers of taking unprescribed medication and given her deficient English skills I'll do her the courtesy of delivering the lecture in private."

"I'm sorry I frightened you, Ms. Kikuchi", he said immediately, returning the girl's earlier bow for good effect. "I'll see you when they let you out."

Still Noriko didn't respond, and while she might not have understood Angelo's words she certainly knew her own name and could tell when she was being addressed or spoken of. But, for all her reaction, she might as well have been a life-sized doll of a girl.

Angelo shot her one quick worried look, then slipped out of the medlab before Amelia decided to turn her obvious wrath on him after all.