Holding Hands

The slow, rhythmic beeping of Nagato's EKG kept Khana company while she read by his bedside. She'd gotten used to this loneliness of sorts, enjoying it now that she wasn't always in way of the nurses.

Nagato had stabilized after about two weeks but even now, after being in the hospital for well over a month, he still spent most of his time asleep. Recovering from almost a decade of damage was going to take time. They talked: to keep him awake when he had to eat; when he was too sore to be comfortable; while the nurses poked and prodded; but mostly, Nagato slept. He almost never woke up on his own – when he did, it never meant anything good.

Quietly turning a page in her novel, Khana leaned back into the worn vinyl hospital chair. She was so lost in the maze of Ember's Tomb that she didn't hear his heart monitor speed or feel the stir of his chakra.

Nagato's eyes snapped open. "My arm hurts," he said, throat dry and scratchy.

Khana flinched, he had startled her. She sat up, looking into his unfocused eyes. "Which one?"

"Your side," he groaned, trying to see his fingers, make sure they're still there, while being unable to move his head.

Setting her book down, Khana stood over Nagato's bed. She tried to not look worried, but the pain in his eyes made it difficult. "Can you move it?"

Nagato tried to lift his arm. His pain was quickly replaced with fear when he couldn't. He'd spent half his life being unable to move freely and was terrified it would happen again. "No."

"Can you feel this?" Placing a hand on his bicep, she ran down his arm.

"No." The adrenaline wasn't helping. The screeching of the EKG wasn't helping, either.

Locking their fingers together, Khana squeezed his hand tightly.

"Yes." Nagato blanched as the blood drained from his face, the pain drained from his eyes.

"Okay. You're okay." With her other hand, Khana reached for the nurse's alarm on the wall. Even after they arrived, she wouldn't loosen her grip on his hand. Only once Shizune arrived would she let his hand go numb again.

After a short examination, Shizune leaned over Nagato, placed one hand under his shoulder, the other closer to his collar bone, and pushed. Hard.

Nagato roared in agony, his injured arm coming up to push Shizune away but was stopped by Khana grabbing his hand again.

Shizune nodded, looking satisfied as she straightened up. "Your Humerus had come out of place, putting pressure on your brachial artery and cutting off circulation to your arm. You'll be fine, but I'm glad you woke up when you did." The woman made a small note on his chart to reduce the amount of morphine in his next IV. "You'll need to start strengthening your ligaments soon," she said, adding that to the chart as well.

Nagato didn't answer. He closed his eyes again, trying to ignore the throbbing in his shoulder and the pins and needles in his hand as he tightened his grip on Khana's hand.

"Thank you, Shizune," Khana said quietly, nodding to her in way of a bow.

She nodded back, with a smile, and left the room.

Khana rubbed her thumb over the back of Nagato's hand. "Still hurt?"

But he didn't answer. Nagato had fallen asleep, holding her hand.