Night of Surprises

Chapter One - Training Pains

Mai lay on her back with an ice filled medical pack pressed to her forehead. The light above shone into her eyes and she had to close them before they brought on another wave of pain. She couldn't move at all, only blink and moan as her broken body tried to mend itself. Spots of blood lined her arms, and bandages had been wrapped tightly around her left leg where a deep gash flowed blood every second. She was beginning to fear for her life as her heartbeat ceased to slow and her breathing became uneven and forced.

"Mai, you breathe too loudly. I'm trying to concentrate."

Mai could not believe what she was hearing. She slowly turned her head gently in her pillow and glared over at her young roommate. "I am in agony, Mikoto, and all you can do is complain that I am dying too loudly for you?"

The black haired girl rolled her eyes. She was stretched out on the carpet watching her favourite cooking series on TV. "You're not going to die, Mai."

"Humph… I could you know," she muttered, turning away from her. "You could go to sleep tonight and then wake up in the morning to find me nothing more than a corpse."

"Hey Mai, do you think you could cook this for me?"

Mai growled and punched her hands against the mattress as she had a fit of rage. "Stop watching TV and come and check on my injuries!"

"Okay, okay." Mikoto ambled up to the bed and jumped up beside her friend with no softness whatsoever. She scanned her from head to toe, naming each training injury and poking it playfully.

"Hey!" Mai protested as she was poked sharply in the forehead.

"First you have a headache because you kept screaming when Shiho's Child dove at you. You gave us all headaches, actually."

Mai bared my teeth. "That thing is massive! No one else seemed to notice that it was only aiming for me, either!"

Mikoto continued, jabbing a finger at her right shoulder. "You're shoulder is bruised because you ran into a tree."

"Natsuki was chasing me with a gun! Of course I'm going to run!"

"You're scratched along you're forearm because I misjudged you're speed to dodge."

"Yeah, that one is you're fault," the red-head said with triumph.

"You're stomach is hurting because you haven't eaten all day." Mikoto sounded especially disapproving this time.

Mai didn't have a reply for her. Not one that she would want to hear, that was for sure.

"Last of all," Mikoto said with an almighty punch directly into Mai's knee. "You have a tiny scratch along your leg that you insist you bandage when yet again it was you're fault."

"How was it my fault that Midori's spear flung at me?"

Mikoto laughed out loud and rolled onto her back beside her injured friend. "You tripped onto it after it was flung out of her hands. How is that Midori's fault?"

Mai sighed and smiled up at the ceiling. "I guess you're right. I was pretty clumsy today, huh?"

Mikoto laughed again and rolled onto her stomach, not minding at all that her arm became entangled with Mai's like usual females would. "Yeah, you sure were." Her smile faded suddenly. "You know though, now that I think about it, you haven't eaten for a few days now."

Her companion closed her eyes and turned away from her, muttering, "I'm going to sleep."

"O-okay," Mikoto said sadly, leaving the bed. She didn't understand what was going on at all, and Mai felt a little bad for it.

"Have a good night, Mikoto, and don't worry about me, okay?"

Mikoto turned to find Mai smiling at her and nodded her head. "You have a good night too, but I will worry until you tell me what's wrong."

A smile spread across Mai's face. "Figures."