Karute Caged Tigers

"He's eighteen! Probably just shot his liver drowning himself in alcohol, and got a cold. Send him home." House griped, unimpressed.

"He's never had alcohol, moral decision apparently." Chase countered with his accented drawl. "Tested him anyway, he's clean."

"Why are you so interested in this case?"

"He's little more than a kid, House. I just... want to help him."

"Stop, before you bore me enough to jump off the balcony."

"He refuses to give his name, it's quite mysterious."

"I'll take it." House snatched the file, ignoring Chase's roll of the eyes and heading to the side-door to the office, maneuvering himself over the balcony edge and right into Wilson's, opened the back door, ignored that Cuddy was in the room, and threw himself down on the couch.

"I'm in a meeting, House."

"I don't care, Wilson."

House flipped open the file, scanning the contents.

The door opened, House's team filing into the room, looking unsurprised and not bothering to wonder why they had randomly switched offices.

"Use your own office." Wilson grumbled.

"It's easier to annoy you from here than there."

"Of course." Wilson sighed.

"Patient first presented with loss of appetite and fever, was brought in when he fainted on the bus, but he's absolutely refused to answer any questions about who he is or anything else except the fever and appetite loss the last two days and a couple basic questions. He was referred to us after the nurse noticed he was having a simple partial seizure evidenced by unresponsiveness, and he was shivering like he was cold. He had a second one four hours later after they'd transferred him from the ER to a room."

"Cool." House grinned in a way that made the others in the room apprehensive to let him leave as he stood and quickly made his way towards the door, cane tapping on the ground.

"Where are you going?"

"To talk to the patient!" House threw over his shoulder, and everyone in the office instantly went for the door to follow.

"I'll get popcorn and some complaint forms." Cuddy sighed, heading off towards the elevators rather than the wing the patient was staying in.

The others easily caught up to House, and tailed him in depressed silence to the room.

"So you, brat, if you want us to treat you we need your medical history." He demanded gruffly.

The late teenager in the bed sighed slightly and leaned back on the pillows. His hair was light, in an uneven short chop with one longer bit by his face, and his eyes a strangely hypnotizing color that shifted under the LED lights as they flicked away from the newcomers to stare out the window. His build was slight, and they could see that he still wore his street clothes with a hospital gown just draped across him by a nurse.

"There's nothing helpful in it. I'm healthy." He answered simply, faintly accented.

"That's for me to decide. I wouldn't take your word for it anyway, what's your name, I'll send out for records."

Atsushi sighed, internally annoyed, since there were no such records anyway. "Just call me Gekka-Ju if you need to call me by something. Who are you?"

House narrowed his eyes, giving the younger the same stare he would a puzzle. "House, a super smart guy whose gonna find out what's wrong with you. So, you haven't felt hungry, and have been running a fever. Then why were you on the bus? You should have been resting and getting well, are you stupid?"

Atsushi's gaze didn't waver from the window. "It was only a slight fever, I thought it would go away on its own – that happens to me. My temperature rises slightly naturally when I sleep, and if the room is too warm and makes me overheat it will sometimes do that. It always goes away when I get up and moving for a couple hours."

"That indicates a more long-term disorder-" Foreman began the analysis.

"Or." Chase interrupted. "Not. That happens to me too, I get it from my mother apparently, I have met a few people who said the same. It can be normal."

"Freak." House insulted offhandedly, flipping a page of the chart.

"Anything else? Itching, runny nose, rashes?"

"Nothing until the bus, where I fainted, or so I hear."

"Dropped like a rock." House nodded, reading from the chart, then looked up to meet Atsushi's curious gaze and paused. "Lean closer."

Atsushi narrowed his eyes critically.

"Just do it and then stare at me for a bit."

After another moment of deliberation, he did so, leaning forward until there was half a foot of space between him and House. "Kiss me and die." The teen threatened.

"Who'd want to kiss an idiot, it might be infectious and make me stupid enough to not understand that I'm supposed to stay home when I have a fever."

Atsushi was unimpressed.

House held up on hand, pointing at Atsushi and then slowly moving his hand to the left, Atsushi following it with his eyes, finally catching on to why he was doing that, then leaned away.

"Your eyes are Sectorial Heterochromatic Iridium. Pale purple and gold though, both those are unusual alone."

"Born with it. Didn't know it had a fancy title."

"What about your parents."

Atsushi fell silent, expression closing off like slamming a door, once again wary. "… Never knew them." He eventually said, the first piece of any truly personal information to be shared.

"So it is genetic." Foreman again attempted.

"Or." Chase again countered. "Not, and he just has Heterochromatic eyes, which is not all that unusual, even Thirteen and I both have them, his are possibly just a bit more unusual due to the specific rare coloring, but it's not impossible."

"Any history of bad eyesight?" House again directed at the patient, reaching toward Atsushi's left ear and snapping his fingers, which Atsushi glanced at and simply waited for explanation.

"None, had a test last year and I was fine?"

"Well, at the least we can rule out Retinitis Pigmentosa and Wilsons. Any other theories than genetic? Fever, fainting, then simple partial seizures."

"That could be lots of things House. Encephalitis or another virus, bacteria-" Foreman began, trailing off as Chase took over.

"No rash, no abdominal pain either, so arrhythmia, stenosis or prolapse. Possibly an electrolyte imbalance?"

"No to the last one, they gave him an IV on arrival. Heart monitor hasn't picked up anything unusual. Take some of his red life-giving substance and test for cell counts and a general workup, page the radiology house elves to get an MRI to test for Neurofibromatosis, Toxoplasmosis, and Encephalitis, and then throw him off a building." House commanded, shut the file, and shoved the door open with his cane on the way out.