Sena yawned in his hospital bed, staring ruefully down at the large cast covering his ankle. Correction: His sprained ankle. Which really hurt since the hospital people couldn't give him anymore anaesthetic until his parents got back from their cruise to the Carribean. In a week.
On the table next to his bed were various get well cards, some personal like the ones from Suzuna, Mamori, Monta and Rikku, and the rest were from other Football teams, like the White Knights, the Wild Gunmen, the Zokugaku Chameleons and the Bando Spiders. The other bedside table was piled high with flowers and chocolates from Sena's legion of loyal fangirls. The ten helium balloons he'd been sent were bobbing on the ceiling, and the long curly ribbons were losing their curliness.
"Good morning Sena-kun." Sang Nurse Mitarai cheerfully as she bounced into the room with another bouquet of flowers in the crook of her elbow. "How are you doing this morning?"
Sena smiled politely and waited until Nurse Mitarai had finished cautiously adding the flowers to the teetering pile. "Good morning Nurse Mitarai. Thank you for asking." He reached over and carefully plucked the card off the flowers. 'To Eyeshield 21-san. Get well soon!' Sena read to him self. "What's going on today?"
Nurse Mitarai's practiced smile faded ever so slightly. "Well Sena-kun, I know you were supposed to have a private room for your stay-" Hiruma hadn't been keen on allowing his ace to bunk with common riff-raff, so he had 'convinced' the hospital staff that a private room was best for Sena- "but we've run out of rooms for non-critical patients and, well..." She fidgeted awkwardly in place and eyed Sena apprehensively.
"It's okay with me Nurse Mitarai." Sena assured her quickly. "I don't want to be a problem, after all you're all very nice to me." Sena settled down in his bed and watched the anxiety vanish off the nurse's face.
"Well," Nurse Mitarai beamed and smoothed Sena's bed sheets with a practiced touch. "That's excellent news. Your roommate is the niece of the Canadian Ambassador, so we didn't want to turn her away. Oh, don't worry Sena-kun!" She said quickly as Sena's face paled with fear. "She's a very nice girl and shouldn't be any trouble. You two should get along just fine!"
Sena wasn't fully convinced, what if he did something to offend her and damaged Japan's relations with Canada? However he nodded all the same. "Alright then." He agreed and Nurse Mitarai turned to leave.
"She'll be here shortly Sena-kun, so you'll have some time to think of things to talk about!" She called over her shoulder and hurried into the hall, as though afraid Sena would change his mind.
With a groan of pain and frustration, Sena dropped his head into the fluffy pillow. "I need sleep." He said to himself. "Maybe when I wake up I'll know what to say to her." He snuggled under the covers as best he could with one leg strung up in the air and fell asleep.
"...should be awake... wake up for... sure... miss?"
"No... good for now... don't... up... talk... wakes up."
Sena heard voices talking to the left of his bed. 'Who do they want to wake up?' He wondered groggily and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. "Mmm... Who's there?" He forced himself to sit upright and blinked bleary eyed around him.
"Oh Sena-kun!" The head doctor of the hospital, Dr. Takeda was standing at the foot of a new bed. He rushed over and said, "Nurse Mitarai already informed you that you would be getting a new roommate, didn't she? Good, good." Dr. Takeda smiled and continued without waiting for an answer. "This is Nico Hawke-san, the Ambassador's niece."
Dr. Takeda pointed to the girl lying in the new bed. She somehow looked completely different than what Sena had imagined. Instead of the petite, blonde haired, blue eyed girl he was used to seeing in American movies, there was a very tall girl with very short dark brown hair and grey eyes. She had a peculiar scar running around her ear and one of her teeth jutted out on an angle. Somehow, that look made him feel a bit more comfortable.
"Yo Sena-kun." She grinned at him and gave a little wave. "What's up?"
He smiled shyly at her. "Hello Hawke-san. It's nice to meet you."
Nico shook her head. "Just Nico, a'ight? Hawke-san is what people call Uncle Mark." She regarded Dr. Takeda for a minute. "I'll be good here. You can get goin' and save someones life now."
Dr. Takeda laughed. "Very well then. I have to make a call to your uncle and let him know you're situated. I suppose he'll want to pay you a visit." He bowed politely to Nico and offered an encouraging smile to Sena before walking out the door.
"Ahh, now I can actually talk without a herd of freaked out doctors actin' like I'm dyin' or somethin'." Nico stretched out on her bed and Sena caught a glimpse of a tattoo on her wrist. She noticed his eyes and grinned again. "Oh, curious 'bout this I see?" Nico shook back her sleeve and revealed what looked to be a coil of barbed wire encircling her wrist. "Got it last birthday, it was a gift from my brother Miles. Pretty cool, ain't it Sena-kun?"
Sena nodded vigorously. "It looks awesome Nico-san. Is it wire or something else?" He narrowed his eyes to try and see it better. He would never be allowed to get a tattoo, but he loved looking at them.
"It's barbed wire. Pretty good eyes for you to notice that detail." Nico gave him an approving look. "So, if you don't mind me askin', how'd you break your leg?"
Sena sheepishly laughed. "I help out with my school's football team, so when they practice, I usually help out, and when we were running around I slipped and, well... Heh heh." He scratched the back of his head and waited for Nico to flip out.
"Wow, and I thought I had it rough sprainin' my ankle!" She whistled lowly and craned her neck to get a better look at Sena's cast. "When I can get over there, can I draw somethin' on it Sena?" She asked hopefully when she saw that nobody had signed it yet.
"Uh, sure Nico-san, I don't see why not." Sena said cautiously.
"Great!" Nico cheered and settled back in her pillow. "So, what's your favorite NFL team Sena?"
"I don't watch many professional games, we don't get channels with American sports." Sena admitted. Nico shook her head at him.
"That's just wrong. I'll have Uncle Mark rig somethin' up before the next game. We can watch it together, a'ight Sena?" She yawned and pulled out her cell phone. "Looks like I got a text from Uncle Mark. I'm not answering now." Nico yawned again. "Damn, they gave me enough painkillers to knock out an elephant."
"I wish I was in that situation." Sena mumbled. "I'm not allowed to have anymore until my parents get back to Japan in a week."
Nico gaped at him. "No way! Are you serious?" She demanded, and Sena nodded. "Dammit, that's not fair. I'll see what I can do for you Sena." Nico nodded firmly.
Sena panicked. "I didn't mean for to do that!" He said immediately.
"Oh, I know that." Nico waved Sena's explaination. "I look after my friends, and now you qualify."
Sena smiled to himself and listened to Nico talk about what her family was like. Maybe this week wouldn't be that bad after all.
So, whatcha think? I hope to have a better update rate than my other fics.