Chapter Eleven: Kiji Meddles (In A Good Way)

(Warning: This chapter deals with issues such as depression and the refusal to eat, causing unhealthy body proportions. Read ahead at your discretion)

Over the next few days, Elizabeth had refused to leave her cell. She was getting thin, her hair stringy and unkempt. She ignored the callings of her friends, ignored the guards trying to get her to eat. She only drank tiny portions of water per day. Even Seitarou couldn't convince her to leave her cell, and he was her favorite of the guards in the prison. At least Seitarou had taken the letter away. That awful letter, telling her that she was the world's worst person. Maybe she really was an awful person. Maybe she deserved that.

"HE DID WHAT?!" Hajime demanded once he had finished reading the crumpled-up letter.

Seitarou, clearly scared, said, "I told you we shouldn't have given her that letter, Sir. It's awfully cruel."

"Cruel doesn't begin to say what her awful father wrote," Hajime growled. "He lost the right to call himself that by writing this letter."

"Sir, I did warn you," Seitarou replied nervously.

"This man doesn't understand the importance of family. One of my inmates is starving themselves because of this!"

"I know, Sir. But-"

"If you say 'I warned you' one more time, Seitarou, you're fired."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm going to talk to Seventeen," Hajime said, standing up. He put the letter in a file.

"What are you doing with that?"

"If her parents ever visit, I am going to shove that letter in their faces. They deserve to know just how important family is."

Seitarou nodded. "Alright then, Sir."

Hajime walked to Cell Twelve and slammed open the door. Elizabeth was curled up in the corner, the same corner that Trois had found her in seven days earlier. She hadn't moved. The cell had begun to smell due to Elizabeth's body odor. She had gotten painfully thin, even though it had only been seven days. Elizabeth hadn't even slept since before she got the letter.

No inmate had been allowed in her cell since Trois' visit. He had only been allowed to check on her since there had been a history of her getting attacked. Now guards checked in on her cell during breaks.

"Hey, Seventeen," Hajime began. "Stand up. You've been moping in here for a week now."

Elizabeth just groaned. She didn't have the energy to even try and move.

"Stand up, Seventeen!" Hajime ordered. "I read that stupid letter from your father, if you can even call him that. It was horrible, I get it. If I ever see him, I am shoving that into his face to make him see just how terrible it really is. But you have to get up. If you stay in here, refusing to eat or shower, you're going to starve yourself to death. So get the fuck up and come with me."

"Where?" Elizabeth croaked. Her voice was hoarse and dry. She had only drank the bare minimum of water that she needed to survive.

"To the infirmary," Hajime stated. "So come on, Seventeen. I'm getting you some food and water. Okina's going to take care of you, make sure you recover."

"I don't want to," Elizabeth managed weakly.

"That's it." Hajime grabbed Elizabeth's arm and yanked her up, forcing her to be on her feet. She was pretty much dead weight, but not because she didn't want to stand, because she couldn't. Not really.

"Why?"

"Why? Why am I making sure that an inmate doesn't die on my watch? Because it'd be a lot of paperwork, that's why."

"All I am is paperwork to you?" Elizabeth sounded hurt and a little flat.

Hajime sighed in annoyance. "Not just paperwork. You are going to prove your family wrong, Seventeen. Don't show me you're worth something, show them. You're proving them right by starving yourself."

Hajime picked Elizabeth up and tossed her over his shoulder. She was tiny compared to him, a foot and two inches shorter. He carried her like that to the infirmary, where he set her on a bed.

"Okina!" Hajime called. "Seventeen's being stupid again."

Okina came up and looked Elizabeth up and down. "Was she starving herself or was she forced to not eat?"

"We don't starve the inmates, Okina," Hajime chided him. "She did this to herself after her 'family' wrote her a terrible letter."

Okina nodded. "I'll hook her up to an IV. I doubt her stomach is strong enough to take solid food at the moment."

"How long is she going to be here?"

Okina sighed. "Probably about three or four days this time. She's a frequent customer, apparently."

"Apparently, yes. Just make sure she doesn't die. I've got work to get to."

Hajime left the infirmary and Okina sighed. Looking over at Elizabeth, he realized that she had fallen asleep. Dark circles ran underneath her eyes, her face was gaunt, her body thinner than natural. Not skeletal, not even close, but thin enough for it to be unhealthy. She was clearly malnourished, parts of her skin yellow. Her hair was greasy and matted, completely tangled up into knots that would take Kiji at least an hour to undo. She looked awful. The picture of unhealthiness.

Okina sighed, putting the IV into Elizabeth's elbow and then going back to his work. Number Seventeen should have a reward: Most Frequent Injuries. She had been there four times since she had arrived and only one of those had been a legitimate check up. Now she had starved herself? Okina seriously wondered what was in that letter. What kind of family would write something that would drive their daughter to do something like this? What was in the letter that had driven her to do this?

After about two hours, Elizabeth still sleeping, Trois burst into the infirmary, followed very closely by Kiji, who was quite literally dragging a poor Honey behind him.

"Where is she?" Trois was full of worry and concern.

"Three!" Kiji exclaimed, clearly exasperated. "Why did you run here as soon as I told you where Seventeen was?"

"She is my friend, Kiji," Trois told Kiji calmly. "I was concerned when you told me that my friend was in the infirmary. I would have done the same for Honey."

"You didn't have to drag me along," Honey whined.

"Shut up, Eighty-two," Kiji ordered. "Three, I would have taken you here later!"

"Well I apologize, Kiji, but I care about my friends." Trois spoke with his usual calm and collected manner. The only thing corrupting it was his concerned face.

"Don't worry, Kiji," Okina told Kiji calmly. "Seventeen's asleep right now. You're all more than welcome to see her. Just leave soon enough and don't wake her up. Don't even try and touch her."

Trois nodded and went to Elizabeth's bedside. He sat down beside her, feeling awful when he saw how bad of a shape she was in. He really would have freaked out if it were Honey, honestly! Kiji came in and rested his hand on Trois' shoulder.

"I know you care about her, Three," Kiji told him, keeping his voice gentle.

Trois blushed. "She's just my friend, Kiji."

Kiji nodded. "In some ways, yes. I do see how you look at her. Do try not to scare her away. She's quite the catch, if you do manage to get her."

"It's not like that," Trois insisted. He didn't move. Trois kept staring at Elizabeth. Kiji's hand on his shoulder was quite comforting, actually.

"Maybe not yet, no," Kiji replied. "But perhaps someday. She does sometimes look at you in the same way."

"She does. . ?" Trois didn't dare hope. His crudeness with women had left a pretty big stain on his confidence, one that he tried his best to hide.

Kiji nodded again, knowing that Trois wasn't looking away from Elizabeth. "Perhaps someday, there's hope for the two of you."

"Can we go yet?" Honey whined.

"Not yet!" Kiji snapped at Honey. "Three will be ready in a moment. We will go then."

"Fine," Honey complained.

Kiji turned back to Trois. "Don't worry, Three. Everything will be alright."

---

Four days later, Elizabeth had been cleared to leave. This time would be different. She promised herself that she would stay safe, stay healthy. Unfortunately, she was not prepared for what Cell Thirteen was going to do as soon as they saw her at breakfast the next morning.

"ELIZABETH!" all four cried in unison as they pounced on her, burying her in a hug.

"Cell Thirteen, please don't smother Seventeen," Seitarou requested nicely.

"We're so glad you're okay!" Nico exclaimed as they all stood up. Yeah, that's right. They had knocked her to the ground with that tacklehug.

"Yeah!" Uno chimed in. "Don't scare us like that! We were terrified when Seitarou said that we couldn't see you."

"We almost had Jyugo break into your cell to check on you," Rock said.

Jyugo nodded. "It's true," he confirmed. "Don't scare us like that again!"

Elizabeth laughed. "I'll try not to."

Elizabeth looked much better. Her skin was back to normal, the dark circles beneath her eyes had decreased, she was smiling for the first time in over a week, and the smile lit up her whole face. Her hair was back to its voluminous, curly self and it fell in her face as she talked. She was still a little thin, but otherwise, she was back to normal.

Soon enough, breakfast ended. Elizabeth went back to her cell and picked up a book. She began to read, but as soon as she had finished the first paragraph, Seitarou came in.

"Seventeen, Supervisor Mitsuba has requested your presence in Building Three," Seitarou informed her. "I'm here to escort you."

Panic filled Elizabeth. She had just recovered! Did she have to go to Kiji? What did she do? Did she disappoint him in some way? Oh goodness, she'd heard horror stories of Kiji's infamous 'mom lectures.' She had even been on the receiving end of one, back when Kiji had made her over.

Nevertheless, she followed Seitarou to Building Three. Terror flooded her thoughts. Her mind went through everything that she had done over the past two months. None of it had seemed bad! What did she do what did she do what did she do what did she do what did she do what did she do what did she do what did she do?

Finally, she got to Building Three, where Kiji was waiting.

"I'll be back for you when Supervisor Mitsuba tells me to," Seitarou told her gently, backing away.

"Number Seventeen!" Kiji said, pointing his finger at her. "I've got a special job for you."

Elizabeth gulped in fear. "What is it, Sir?"

Kiji waved his hand. "Oh, call me Kiji. You and Three will be working on building some of Nanba's finely crafted furniture."

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. Was that all? "May I ask why, Kiji?"

"Because you two have good chemistry and appear to work well together, that's why. Besides, Hajime did tell me that you're one of the best when it comes to working with tools. I want you to work with me here. At least for today."

"Alright. . ."

"Now come with me. I'll take you to the work room."

Elizabeth followed Kiji to a work room where Trois was waiting there, surrounded by a pile of wood.

"You two will be making some shelves," Kiji explained. "The instructions are near you if you need them. I do suggest following them. We do have a standard to keep up, after all."

Kiji left the room and closed the door, locking it behind him. Elizabeth and Trois both stood there awkwardly, not knowing exactly where to start.

"You look very nice," Trois told Elizabeth. His cheeks had developed a pinkish hue. "I mean, you look well. You've healed up quite nicely."

"Thanks," Elizabeth muttered awkwardly. "You look nice, too."

"Thank you," Trois replied.

"We should probably get started."

"Yes! Let's."

Elizabeth walked over to the instructions and examined them. They were for shelves with small drawers. "Well obviously, we need to build the frame, first. Let's get to work on that. Then we can fit in the skeleton and finally, the drawers."

Trois nodded. "I'll go grab the pieces of wood."

The two of them set to work, working as if they had always been meant to. They didn't get in each other's way as they worked, passing each other the required tools for every step of the way without even being asked what they were. For the most part, they worked in an awkward silence.

After a few moments, Elizabeth was installing the skeleton of the shelf and Trois came over to assist. He stood behind her and moved his arm so that it was just over her arm. Elizabeth was glad that Trois couldn't see her face because she was blushing. Her hand slipped, causing the wood to go diagonally.

"Here, you need to install the piece like this," Trois said, fixing the piece of wood so that it was level. "See?"

Elizabeth turned her head so that she was face-to-face with Trois. Their noses were less than an inch apart. His breath smelled of roses. She was starting to notice the smaller details, like his eyelashes. They were the same color of his hair, long and colorful. His glasses were halfway down his nose. Were his cheeks usually this pink? Why was he so close. . ? Yet, she found her hand slowly inching towards his.

Trois also turned so he would be face-to-face with Elizabeth. Her breath smelled like apples and her blue eyes seemed to pop. How had he missed how blue they were? They were like a perfect combination of sky and ice, blending together in her eyes to form sharp and clear blue eyes. Her glasses were usually up by her eyes, but they had slid down to the tip of her nose while they were working. Were her cheeks usually this pink? He found his hand inching towards hers.

When their hands touched, Elizabeth found her heart beating unusually fast. She shyly turned her face away, causing her brown hair to fall in front of Trois' face.

"I see," she mumbled anxiously.

Trois nodded, turning his face back to their work.

Outside of the room, Kiji was watching, frustrated. "No, you idiots! You're supposed to kiss!"

No one could hear him, but he was still upset. He wanted them to kiss! That's why he had set this up for them! He wanted them to get together! Why couldn't his matchmaking work? Kiji was pouting, clearly upset.