To thine own self
by Ainzfern
15
In a peaceful and pristinely neat recovery room located on one of the upper floors of the Midas Bio-Lab, Raoul Am sat with almost uncharacteristic serenity, his elbow resting on the arm of this chair and his chin propped on one elegant hand. His eyes never left the occupant in the bed in front of him, covered by a crisp white sheet, sleeping quietly and breathing deeply as his body slowly worked its way out of the medically induced coma that his immersion into the healing amniotic tank had required.
Raoul smiled to himself slightly as he leaned forward and pushed the tousled red hair back from Katze's forehead, approval and a certain glint of genuine pleasure warming the depths of his green eyes as his gaze traveled over the now-unmarred side of Katze's face. He stroked his fingers down the smooth warm skin of Katze's cheek, marveling, just as he had when Iason and Riki had been healed through their immersions all that time ago, at how complete the curative process actually was.
Remarkable, Raoul shook his head. One would never know that Katze's face had once been deeply scarred. It was just as if it had never happened.
Sitting back once more, Raoul resumed his original pose, watching as Katze stirred ever so slightly before settling again with a deep sigh.
Good, Raoul's rich mouth quirked, he was starting to come out of it.
Most of the trial subjects had now been removed from the tanks and were following the same unhurried waking pattern as Katze was. At this stage, Raoul and his medical team were united in their agreement to follow a process of non-interference. The less intervention the patients received, the more natural their waking process, the less stress would be experienced by them. This, the medical team felt, was going to be a most important factor in their adjustment to the reality of their restoration.
One or two had awoken already, amazed and relieved, if somewhat bewildered still, to find their bodies returned to their original condition. Aylin Penz, due to the nature of her injury would require a few more days in her tank. Raoul's chief medical officer, a gentle-natured middle aged citizen from upper Midas had virtually assigned himself to her case, ensuring that she would be well cared for and counseled through the inevitable post-coma confusion upon her extraction from the tank.
Shifting in his seat, moving his long and graceful limbs into a slightly more comfortable position, Raoul huffed a soundless wry little laugh.
Of course, Raoul had assigned himself to Katze, quite without even having to consider the decision.
Following his required time period in immersion, a team of medical techs under Raoul's direct control, had gently and respectfully lifted the mongrel's naked body from the tank, removing the breathing apparatus and carefully cleaning his skin of the residual amniotic fluid. They had even washed his hair, just as they had done for all of the participants emerging from their tanks. Following that, Katze had been brought here to his private recovery room, where Raoul had taken an almost ridiculous amount of gratified satisfaction in conducting the post-immersion examination on his healed body.
It was with no small amount of pleasure, that Raoul had been able to make a notation against each and every single entry on Katze's pre-immersion chart.
Every scar was gone. His genitals were fully restored, a perfectly healthy penis and fully reformed testicles now nestled where once there had been nothing but truncated flesh and ancient scars. Even a downy covering of dark auburn pubic hair had been beginning to cover the area, Raoul had noted with approval during the examination. Quite clinically, and with no sense of voyeurism whatsoever, Raoul had physically manipulated the regrown flesh, gently rolling the soft sac between his fingers gauging the weight and size of the testes, pressing here and there upon the flaccid cock and feeling the density of the penile tissue.
Everything quite normal. Quite perfect.
There had only been minimal physiological reaction to Raoul's handling, Katze's quiescent cock filling and lengthening slightly as Raoul had completed his inspection. But as he had ceased direct contact with the area and made his final entries to Katze's chart, he had noticed that the response of Katze's flesh had subsided almost immediately once the stimulation had ceased.
Also quite normal, Raoul had acknowledged at the time. In truth, the very fact that it had happened at all was quite encouraging, considering how deeply unconscious Katze had been at the time.
Now, sitting silently next to the ex-Furniture, Raoul sighed softly, his eyes never leaving Katze's profile.
He had no doubt that Katze would be pleased with the outcome.
Raoul certainly was.
A whisper-soft murmur from the occupant in the bed immediately pulled Raoul's focus. Standing, he moved to Katze's side, leaning over him slightly and laying one gentle hand on the red-head's bare shoulder. "Katze?" he said softly, his eyes closely watching Katze's face, "Katze, can you hear my voice? Do you know who this is?"
Another sigh, another barely audible murmur, was the response to his question. Katze's brow creased slightly, his eyelashes fluttering as he began to stir in earnest now. Slowly, those light brown eyes opened, filled with utter confusion.
Smiling, Raoul rubbed Katze's upper arm soothingly. "Hello, Katze," he said softly, smiling down at the befuddled mongrel. "Welcome back."
Katze stared at him. "Raoul?" he croaked after a moment, his voice sounding rusty and disused.
Immediately, Raoul poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the side-table. He turned back, sliding one hand under Katze's neck, lifting him so that he could sip from the glass Raoul held for him. Katze drank about half the water before lifting one hand slightly and nodding. He looked up at Raoul, his brow once more creased, but his eyes becoming clearer.
Propping a couple of pillows behind Katze's back so that he could recline semi-sitting, Raoul perched on the edge of his bed, one hand almost unconsciously rubbing down the length of Katze's forearm, in order to comfort and sooth him. "Do you remember where you are?"
Wetting his lips, Katze nodded. "Yeah," his voice sounded less ragged now too, Raoul noted. "Bio-Lab, right?"
"Yes." Raoul nodded at him. "You're in your post-immersion recovery room, in fact."
Katze nodded, looking wearily around the room. He frowned again. "How long was I out?"
"You were kept medically unconscious for about four weeks, in total."
Raoul watched as Katze frowned down at his hands, obviously trying to assimilate the passing of so much time. Looking up once more he grimaced slightly. "I'm so tired," he said softly. "Why am I so tired?"
Raoul shifted slightly into a better position, leaning forward slightly as he answered, slowly and clearly, to better help his still-bewildered patient understand. "Your body has just been through an accelerated healing, Katze," he explained. "Even though you were essentially 'sleeping' the entire time, that process has still put an incredible amount of strain on your physical resources. It's quite normal for you to feel exhausted. It will probably take several days, over which you will find you'll need to sleep quite frequently, for you to regain your energy."
"Huh," Katze nodded, peering blearily at him.
"Do you understand, Katze?"
"Yeah," Katze nodded. "I understand. I do." He shrugged slightly. "Just feel a bit fuzzed, is all."
"Of course." Raoul reached out and patted his shoulder gently. "I know you're tired, but... do you wish to ask me anything at this point?"
Katze looked around the room once more, before his eyes narrowed slightly, more clarity appearing as each second passed. "Yeah," he murmured, meeting Raoul's eyes. "Did it work?"
Raoul smiled at him. "Yes, Katze," he replied warmly. "It most certainly did."
Katze sighed deeply and, in that long exhalation, Raoul heard his profound relief. "Good. That's good." He swallowed hard, lifting his hands to rub them over his face, almost as if trying to wipe away his weariness. As he did so he suddenly stiffened, sitting upright as his eyes widened. His right hand dropped heavily to his side, but his left hand remained where it was, his fingers touching, searching, seeking the familiar lines of a scar that was no longer there. "Oh, my God..." he whispered, his voice shaking, his body beginning to do the same. "It's... it's..."
"...Gone. Yes." Raoul gently reached up and pulled Katze's hand away from his face. "Would you like to see?"
Mutely, the mongrel nodded at him.
From the bedside table, Raoul lifted a small square mirror that he set there earlier for this very purpose. Passing it to Katze, he moved back once more, smiling gently as he observed Katze almost hesitantly lift the mirror and gaze into it.
Several silent moments passed as Katze simply stared, his face almost devoid of emotion. Then, slowly, those oddly golden eyes filled, Katze's mouth dropped open and he lifted his hand once more, pushing his hair back out of the way, turning his head slightly to better see the left side of his face. "Oh," he said at last, his voice soft and filled with something very close to astonishment. "Raoul, it's..." he swallowed hard, his gaze never leaving his own image as one single tear tracked its way down his face. "I never thought... never believed I'd ever see this face again. My face. An unmarked face."
"Are you pleased?"
Katze nodded, his eyes still staring at his reflection. "Yeah," he whispered. "Yeah, I'm pleased." He blinked, giving himself a little shake as he sniffed softly and handed the mirror back to Raoul. He stifled a deep yawn, once more settling back against the pillows.
Placing the mirror back on the side table, Raoul lifted one elegant brow at the red-head. "Ready to sleep again, I see."
"Hmm," Katze blinked heavily, before rousing himself again. He made a vague gesture towards his lower body. "That worked too, then?"
Raoul smiled again. "Yes, it did."
"I thought so," Katze murmured, turning his head to meet Raoul gaze with weary solemn eyes. "I can feel something different, something there, y'know?"
"Yes," Raoul hesitated a moment. "Did you wish to see that also? Naturally, I will absent myself while you do."
"No," Katze sighed deeply, his eyes drifting shut, almost as if he simply could not manage to keep them open any longer. "Too much to take in now," he murmured thickly, "I'll look later, okay? When my head is working better."
Chuckling softly, Raoul nodded. "Of course. It is a great deal to absorb all at once."
There was no reply from the bed. Katze was quite literally out for the count.
Raoul watched him sleeping for a few moments, his sharp eyes noting his general health, his color, the rate of his breathing. Satisfied that all was as it should be, he rose to his feet, taking a moment to straighten the sheet over Katze's chest and ensuring that he was comfortably covered and cushioned. With one final touch of his fingers against Katze's cheek, Raoul turned and quietly left the room.
An hour or so of work, a light meal and then he would return.
The thought of actually going home, oddly, never even occurred to him.
Sitting at his small dining table in his spacious apartment in upper Midas, Katze almost leisurely dragged in a deep lungful of sweet-scented smoke as he nursed his coffee and made a few notations on a file decoding job that he was going to send through to Riki.
He had been home for nearly a week, gradually reassimilating himself to the life he had interrupted in order to enter the trial, He was glad to know his black market 'lieutenants' had kept the business running smoothly in his absence, even if somewhat less aggressively than normal following his warning about United's ill-fated attempts to break up their operation.
On the day following his initial waking from the immersion process, Katze had been far more alert and Raoul had made a point of telling him that the threat from United Industries had now been contained. Officially, General Grace's security forces and the federation department of revenue had dealt with the Company and its directors.
Privately, Katze suspected that the 'unofficial' level of United, the level that had been behind the attacks on him and Riki, had also been dealt with. He knew Blondies... and he knew Iason Mink. If the people responsible weren't already dead, then they soon would be.
Considering what potentially could have happened to him in Partia that night if Raoul had not been right next to him, Katze had to admit he couldn't find much sympathy in his heart for those ill-fated individuals.
Glancing across the main room at his ever-active terminals, Katze smiled slightly.
He actually felt remarkably good.
Riki had been right. Despite Katze's fears that his restoration might bring about some fundamental change to his personality, the truth was nothing even remotely like that had occurred.
He just felt better. That was all. Better about his appearance, better about himself.
He was even seriously considering getting a haircut.
That second day after waking, Katze had finally climbed shakily out of his bed, padding over to the full length mirror behind the door and looking at his naked body with a steady and un-averted gaze for the first time to too many long years.
Amazing had hardly been a strong enough word.
He'd stood there for some time, just shaking his head and looking at himself. At a damn-near perfect package of cock and balls, right where they should be, looking like they ought to. He hadn't wept. Upon entering the trial, he'd imagined that he would have at that moment. But, when the time came, he was too damned contented to even think about it.
He had stepped closer to the mirror then, lifting his hair back from his face and staring once more at his unmarked cheek. Oddly, for a just a moment, he had felt a kind of wistfulness that the mark was gone. It seemed almost to symbolize the end of an era, the final removal of any unrequited emotional tie that he might once have held for Iason Mink. A symbol of growth for him.
It kind of made sense to Katze, when viewed from that perspective, however. He cared for Iason, that was true. Probably always would. But, it was muted now. Something else had taken its place. Iason belonged to Riki, and Katze...
Well, Katze belonged to himself. At least for the moment, he amended now with a slight smile, sipping his coffee.
Raoul had been by to visit him practically every night since he'd been released from the Bio-Lab. It was nice, actually, having the Elite's company. Sometimes the Blondie only stayed to pass a few words with him, other times they shared a meal together. Raoul hadn't attempted to kiss him again, Katze had noticed, almost regretfully. But he did seem just as predisposed towards him now as he had been before the trial; still warm in his regard and willing to touch him without hesitation, even if only on the shoulder or the face.
Katze was actually very pleased to see that this hadn't changed, either.
As for the things that had changed; the inevitable physical alterations... well Katze was dealing with that. It had been a long time since he'd felt physical arousal, and he had to admit; at first it was a bit discomforting.
Still, Katze was a pragmatic man at heart. There was always a solution.
He had masturbated the second night he was home, touching himself intimately for the first time in more years than he cared to remember; rediscovering his body, what he liked, what worked, what didn't. In all honestly, Katze grinned slightly, thinking back on it, it really hadn't taken him long to settle into the old familiar rhythm.
Not unlike riding a bike, he supposed, once you'd learned how, you never really forgot.
Sprawled on his sofa, stroking himself to release, he had reached orgasm with a raw shout that was probably heard throughout the entire apartment complex. The power of his climax had been honestly startling to him. Abstinent for so long, his newly awakened body had conspired to reacquaint him to the world of sexual completion with one hell of a bang. As the paroxysms had ceased, his almost helpless cries had trailed off into a low delighted, slightly breathless, chuckle.
God, he had forgotten how fuckin' good that felt...
Of course, he now had to be more mindful of certain things. Underwear, for instance. It had taken him a couple of tries to get his cock properly placed when he dressed so that he was comfortable. And he had to be careful when crossing his legs, too. If he moved to quickly, crossed them too tightly, it fuckin' hurt.
And, of course, Katze snickered wryly as he finished his coffee and crushed out his cigarette, there was trying to piss through a morning erection.
Now that was a pain in the ass.
He honestly couldn't remember how he'd managed it before; if he'd forced the process or if he'd just waited and endured the full bladder until the damned thing went down on its own. For the moment, he was taking the second option but he supposed, Katze grimaced slightly, he would probably just have to gut up and ask Riki about it... the kid would know, after all.
A soft beep from his computer terminals caught his attention and he rose, walking over to look at the incoming message. As he read the brief E-mail, a genuine smile rose on his face. It was from Raoul; a brief acknowledgment that he had arranged a clear day in his schedule to escort Katze on the promised tour of his Bio-mechanical fabrication plant on the edge of Tanagura.
He hadn't forgotten, after all.
Still smiling, Katze tapped out a quick reply, accepting the offer gladly.
Sending it off, Katze pulled out his chair and seated himself at his desk. Opening programs and making connections to monitor and seek reports on the various activities the Ceres market was pursuing. Absently making a mental note to send the files for decoding through to Riki, Katze once again allowed himself, as always, to become fully absorbed in the complex world of cyberspace and business dealings.
Just another day.
But a good one, nonetheless.
To thine own self – chapter 14 << >> To thine own self – chapter 16