Akane nervously opened the door to the doctor's office. "Dr. Tofu?"
Dr. Tofu looked up from his desk to spot the young girl entering his office. "Why, hello, Akane. What bring you here?" He stood and moved closer to observe her a bit better. "You don't look like you've been in a fight. Is something wrong?"
Akane nodded, trying to build up confidence. She never like asking for help, but these dreams - nightmares really - weren't going to go away on their own.
It wasn't as though she needed help figure out what the dreams meant. The nightmares were all about her anger getting out of control and destroying everything she cared about. She knew she had a problem with her temper, but she didn't know how to solve it, which was pretty clearly the solution to get rid of those nightmares.
To make matters worse, she couldn't keep this in the family, as it were. Her elder sister seemed to never get angry in the first place, she hadn't seen her father do anything but cry since her mother had died, and she couldn't tell if Nabiki ever got angry or how she dealt with it. Then again, Nabiki was attending Furinkan now, so Akane didn't see her as much during the day.
Hence, her visit to Dr. Tofu's office just a few minutes before it closed.
"Y-yes," she answered, fighting to keep down her blush. It did not help matters at all that she had a crush on the doctor. "I'm having really bad nightmares," she began explaining her problem.
Tofu listened patiently while Akane explained her nightmares in detail, her conclusions about them, and the solution she needed. A small degree of worry disappeared; he'd seen Akane start getting more violent and angry for a while now. Akane recognizing the problem and wanting to change was an important first step to correcting the problem before it got out of hand.
As Akane finished her tale, Tofu smiled for her. "It's okay, Akane. I think I can help."
"You can?" Akane brightened considerably. She just knew Dr. Tofu would be able to help.
Tofu nodded and motioned her to an examination room.
-----
A few moments later, Akane walked out of Dr. Tofu's office still reeling somewhat from the talk. A lot of what Dr. Tofu had told her disagreed with what her sister Kasumi had always told her. Talking about boys and sex wasn't wrong? Last time Sayuri, Yuka, and she got together and done that Kasumi had chewed her out for almost half and hour. Encouraging boys to look wasn't wrong? Kasumi always complained about what she wore if it was anything like what Nabiki started wearing recently. Then again, she had always complained to Nabiki as well, and Nabiki just ignored her. Somehow, that seemed wrong to Akane, but Dr. Tofu had actually suggested doing just that.
Well, she hadn't actually mentioned Kasumi to the doctor by name in fear that he'd have another one of his fits, but that was exactly what his response boiled down to.
The doctor had said her anger came from trying to deny that she wanted to talk to her friends about boys, and maybe even date some boy. (Not that any of them were likely to compare to Dr. Tofu, in her opinion, but he'd suggested starting with boys more her age.) Akane wasn't sure that was it, but it couldn't hurt to try it - she'd have to talk to Nabiki about it and see what she thought of it.
Dr. Tofu had also suggested that, while she might not ever completely control her temper, she had to learn not to hit things when she got mad. He'd suggested going to a dojo that specialized in defensive techniques and softer styles than what she was used to. Akane was sure her father would object, but she planed to talk to Nabiki about that too. Maybe they could ask Dr. Tofu to talk to her dad about it.
While Akane headed home to chat with Nabiki...
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See other episodes by Brian Drozd
(Posted Sun, 23 Mar 2003 04:58)
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