SUMMARY: There's an accident, Rei gets hurt… I'm bad at summaries, just read please ;) Rei x Gai, Rei x Ruca, slight shounen-ai
RATED: T because of some violence
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Saint Beast or any of the characters.
PLEASE R&R
EDIT: fixed some spelling errors, and Ruka and Yuda's names^^
The sun was already going down, when the six Saint beasts finally decided it was time to go home. They'd been searching all day for the mystic crystals the Goddess had requested them to find. They hadn't had any success so far, but searching in the dark wasn't really productive either.
"Watch out!" Goh suddenly yelled, as some demons jumped out from the bushes surrounding them. Defensive, the six angels stood with their backs against each other. Ruka felt Rei's slender body pressing against his side, but tried hard not to get too distracted. He's so beautiful.
The horned creatures didn't seem to have the ability to speak, they just attacked growling, and with their fangs and claws ready to rip every piece of flesh they could find. One of them attacked Rei, and instinctively Ruca aimed at it, killing it with one blow.
"T-thanks," Rei said, slightly blushing. So cute. Ruka just smiled at him, before they both had to defend themselves against more demons.
Somehow, the demons managed to split them up, Goh and Ruka into the east of the forest, Yuda and Shin into the south. Ruka immediately tried to get back to Rei, who was now stuck between about fifteen demons and a deep ravine, together with Gai. Yuda and Shin were already too deep in the forest to be seen.
"Rei!" he screamed, as he saw the purple haired angel take a hard blow against his chest. Apparently dizzy, he stumbled backwards. Ruka felt his own heart stop for a second, when he was sure his friend would fall backwards into the abyss.
Just in time, Gai managed to pull Rei back.
"Ruka!" Goh warned him. Quickly he turned around, just in time to see a demon attacking him, his sharp claws blinking in the red light of the sunset. Automatically, he shot at him with all the power he had, a mere second before he would be shred to pieces. With a sickening sound of a body exploding, the demon went down.
For a moment, the demons seemed to stop coming, which gave him time to look at where Rei and Gai where fighting the creatures. One of them had Gai pinned to the ground, sitting on top of the small blonde, ready to kill him. Rei jumped in and shot the creature off his friend, but another one slammed him hard at his head.
"No!" Ruka cried, desperately wanting to save his friend. But the demons had starting to attack him and Goh again, and he couldn't even reach Rei, as he saw his friend collapsing to the ground, unmoving. Please be only unconscious!
He saw Gai jumping back to his feet, running towards Rei. New demons were coming, bigger ones. One of them shot at them with some dark manipulations of the atmosphere. Out of experience, Ruka knew that it felt something like being hit by a train. Crap!
What seemed like a century, happened within a few seconds. Behind him, he felt that Goh was also staring helplessly at what was happening to their friends.
Rei stirred and opened his eyes. Gai just stared at the blow coming at them, like a wild animal would stare into the lights of a car rushing towards it. Probably at instinct, Rei threw himself in front of the smaller angel. He got hit at full power, his body protecting Gai's, but couldn't prevent them from being blown over the edge of the ravine.
NO!
Ruka didn't realize he was screaming it out loud until he heard his own voice, sounding painfully desperate and helpless. Goh sounded just the same, while seeing their friends fell into a gap in the earth about ten miles deep.
Rei, please be conscious! Please use your wings!
Suddenly the demons started attacking them again, driving them deeper and deeper into the forest.
More scared than ever, Gai kept clinging on to Rei's limp body. "Wake up!" he screamed into Rei's ear, getting absolutely no response. Don't you dare to be dead! "Rei! If you don't wake up, we're both death!" To his annoyance, he felt tears of fear and worry burning in his eyes. "Wake up! Please!"
With less than a quarter of a mile left to the treetops covering the bottom of the ravine, Rei finally stirred weakly and opened his eyes. Hoping, begging, that the other angel wouldn't panic, Gai yelled at him. "Use your wings! You've got to slow us down!"
"I'll… try." He seemed to tense from pain when he used his strength, but his wings came out, and he held on to Gai tightly. Even with his best effort, he was too wounded to get them to fly back up, but before they hit the trees, they'd slown down just enough to not get killed by hitting the tree's branches.
Quickly, Rei pulled back his wings, so they wouldn't get stuck. To Gai's surprise, he still felt the other angel's arms around his. Geez, he's still trying to protect me? In an effort to protect Rei back, he tried to kick with his legs against the branches to slow them down even more, and to prevent them both from hitting their heads.
Still, they hit the ground at a fair speed and for a while, everything turned black.
Slowly consciousness returned, and with that, a stabbing pain in his left leg. Immediately, he opened his eyes and sat up, trying not to move his hurt leg. Rei was lying next to him, on his stomach, with his face in Gai's direction. The angel was paler than usual, much paler, and his eyes were closed. Is he… still breathing? Careful not to move him, not to worsen any possible injuries, he held his hand in front of Rei's mouth. A sigh of relieve came over his lips, as he could feel Rei was breathing. A bit weak and fast, but at least he wasn't dead.
"Rei?" As gentle as possible, he shook at Rei's shoulder. "Hey! Come on, open your eyes!"
With a soft groan, Rei opened his eyes and sat up, one arm clamped against his stomach. It was obvious he was in pain, more than Gai. Crap, if neither of us can walk, than how are we supposed to get out of here? Staggering a bit, Rei looked at him. "Gai? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but I've hurt my leg pretty badly. I can't walk on it." Worried, he put his hand on Rei's shoulder. "How about you?"
"My stomach really hurts, where that blow that demon gave hit me. And my head hurts to." Rei closed his eyes for a moment. "And I'm dizzy."
"You probably have a concussion," Gai said. "But can you walk or fly?"
Quietly, Rei shook his head. "The trees are too tight, I can't fly trough them. But I think I can walk. Maybe there's some other way out of here, we can at least search for it."
"Okay." Without thinking, Gai stood up and almost screamed from the pain in his leg. Damn, forgotten about that. Surprised, he felt Rei lifting him on his back.
"No complaints, you obviously can't walk," Rei said, before Gai could protest. The pain was audible in his soft voice, making it sound a bit sharper.
"I won't complain." Gai sighted. "Just don't pass out without a warning."
"I wasn't planning to do so," Rei muttered. Despite his words, Gai could feel him staggering a bit with every few steps he took.
"Rei, you're hurt. Maybe…"
"Even if I'm hurt, we'll need to get out of here to get help. And since you can't walk…"
"Then just leave me here and sent someone to pick me up later!"
Rei turned his head a bit in his direction, just enough to look at him from the corners of his eyes. "Do you really think I could just leave you here, while you can barely protect yourself? Besides, Goh would kill me if I did…"
Gai grinned. "Okay, that's true." A few cats ran by them. "Hey, cats!" he yelled, with his mouth just a few inches away from Rei's ear. The purple haired angel gasped startled.
The cats stopped at Gai's voice and looked at the two angels curiously. Okay, I've got their attention. Now let's hope they know a way out of here. Rei wasn't as frail as he often seemed, but he was in no condition to be carrying Gai for miles.
"Is there any way to get out of this ravine?" Gai asked. The cats meowed about an old stairway, inside a cave, which led all the way up to the ground. Quickly, he thanked the cats, and told Rei the directions.
"It should be less than a mile up ahead," he ended his explanation.
"A… stairway?" Rei said surprised. "Who made that?"
"How are those cats supposed to know? Probably some angels from really long ago. Anyway, it's by far the easiest way out of here."
"True." With a soft sigh, Rei started walking again.
By the time they had reached the cave, Rei felt like he could collapse any moment now. His head was spinning and he was getting nauseous from the headache. Still, his stomach felt worse, like it was being shred to pieces from the inside. Besides, it was already dark outside, so he could barely see where he was walking.
"Rei? Shall we rest here for the night?" Gai asked, as they entered the small cave. At the end of it, the stairway was just visible in the deep darkness.
Too exhausted to even answer, Rei nodded. Geez, how am I supposed to walk all the way up? Somewhere in between the entrance of the cave and the stairs, he kneeled beside the cave wall. Carefully, Gai slid off his back and leaned with his back against the wall. With a deep sight, which hurt his stomach, Rei sat alongside him.
"Rei?" The blonde looked away. "Um… sorry for being a burden."
"What do you mean?" he asked afoul.
"Well…" Now Gai sounded annoyed."You know, not being able to walk and stuff."
For a moment, Rei couldn't think of how to respond. Had he made the smaller angel feel this way accidentally? Why can't I ever seem strong? Like Ruka…"You're not a burden. If it wasn't for you, we'd still be wandering around in those woods. You came up with the idea of asking those cats for directions."
"Hm." Apparently a little ashamed for what he did, Gai embraced him and leaned against him a bit. "You're cold."
He hadn't noticed that himself, but indeed he felt himself shivering slightly. "I'm just tired," he sighed, before relaxing against both the cave wall and Gai. Without his own accordance, his eyes slid shut and he felt himself falling asleep slowly.
"Goodnight, Rei," he heard the smaller angel whisper in his ear.
"Goodnight… Gai…"
Next morning, it felt like he had been running around all night, instead of sleeping. His entire body seemed heavy and hurting. When he opened his eyes, he saw Gai looking at him worriedly.
"Rei? You okay?"
No. In fact, I don't recall ever feeling worse than right now."I'll be fine."He forced himself to smile faintly. "We only have to walk the stairs, and we'll be save."
Gai nodded. Rei stood up, with a lot of effort, and Gai climbed on his back again.
Trying to ignore his pain, Rei started climbing the stairs. Please don't let this be a long walk.
All day long, they had been searching for their friends, hoping that Rei had managed to fly up and that the two of them would be somewhere near. Finally, Ruka gave a signal from the air that he had spotted them. As quickly as they could, the three other angels ran after him, finally seeing Rei and Gai in the distance.
Goh felt his heart skip a beat when he saw Rei was carrying Gai, but as they got closer he realized that the smaller angel seemed in much better shape than Rei. Ruka landed in front of Rei, caressing some hair out of the other angels face. Rei just smiled at him weakly, while Gai carefully climbed off his back.
"What happened? How did you get out?" Juda asked. Gai started telling, while Goh embraced him slightly but tender. In his relieve to see his friend alive, he barely listened to what the smaller angel was saying.
As the blonde angel finished his story, Shin looked behind, at Rei and Ruka. Luca was looking at Gai, but Rei seemed to be fighting to keep his eyes open. His face was ghostly pale. "Rei?" Shin asked worriedly.
Now they all stared at Rei, as the slender angel soundlessly collapsed in Ruka's arms. Ruka called his name, but he didn't respond. Deadly still he hung in his fiend's arms, eyes closed.
"Yuda, he needs healing!" Ruka cried, almost panicking. Tenderly he laid his friend on the ground. To his shock, Shin could barely see Rei breathing. No! Please, Rei! |Yuda rapidly checked Rei's body.
"He's got an internal bleeding in his stomach," he said. Carefully he kissed the injured spots, and healed Rei's injuries. After healing the last injury, the concussion, he looked at Ruka with an almost guilty look on his beautiful face. "His body is healed, but I can't undo the blood loss."
"You did what you could," Ruka said, holding Rei close and burying his face in Rei's long hair. "Thanks." Shin could see that his friend was nearly crying. No wonder, Rei looked so weak…
"Will… Will he be able to overcome the loss of blood?" Shin asked quietly. Please say yes…
"I… don't know." Yuda didn't look at him. "I really don't know. His body has been through a lot. Besides the blood loss, he's also completely exhausted."
"That's my fault," Gai mumbled with a guilty look on his face. "I've hurt my leg. He had to carry me all the way to here."
"Wich one?" Yuda asked. Gai showed a big bruise on his left leg, and Juda healed it.
"Now, let's take Rei home." With some effort, Yuda stood up. Tenderly, Shin laid his arm around his friend's shoulders to support him. No matter how strong Yuda was, using so much of his powers still made him tired. He doesn't even think about himself. He's so sweet… He couldn't help but enjoy being so close to Yuda.
"Maybe if we had found them sooner…" Yuda mumbled, with a worried glance at Rei. The purple haired angel was being carried in Ruka's arms, still unconscious. His face seemed to be getting even paler as time passed.
"Yuda, you did the best you could. All we can do now is to take care of him until he gets better," Shin said quietly. If he gets better. Almost scared at his own thoughts, he sighted. Not if. When.
Yuda didn't answer, but silently laid an arm around Shin's waist, getting as close as possible without making it difficult to keep walking.
It had been already more than five days since the accident. Rei still hadn't woken up, and his friends kept taking care of him as best as they could. Luca had been at Rei's house all the time, even slept close to his unconscious friend. The others visited every day to help with chores.
Still feeling almost guilty about not being able to heal Rei completely, Yuda stepped into Rei's house. "Ruka?"
His friend's face was pale, and it looked like he had barely slept past night. But he managed to make a faint smile.
"He still hasn't woken up?" Yuda asked quietly.
"No. But last night he seemed to be dreaming." Ruka sighted. "So I tried to stay awake. I want to be there when is wakes up."
"You also need to take care of yourself, you know," Yuda said carefully. "It won't help him if you get sick."
"I know." Ruka looked away. "But I just can't leave him. When he collapsed… I really thought he was going to die right there." He turned away, probably to hide his tears. "I don't want to lose him, Yuda."
"If he was dreaming, then maybe he's finally starting to awake," Yuda tried to cheer him up. "Why don't you just go sit with him? I'll do whatever work there is to do."
"Most work is already done," Ruka answered. "But… would you mind to just keep me company? When I'm alone with him, I keep checking if he's still breathing. And I keep thinking, what if he dies? I don't want to think about that." Ruka voice was trembling slightly.
"He's survived so far. I don't think he'll die that easily. Though it would be best for him to wake up soon. His body needs energy, but he hasn't eaten in five days."
"Luckily, he's just conscious enough to swallow if I make him drink a glass of water," Ruka sighted. If he wouldn't have been able to drink, he would have died already. Angels barely got hurt badly, so there were no real medical supplies in Heaven. "With so much blood loss, his body really needs the fluids."
"He'll get better. He has to," Yuda said quietly.
Ruka nodded and walked back to Rei's bedroom. Yuda followed. The purple haired angel laid in bed motionless, his slender body covered by a thick blanket. His beautiful face was still pale, and he obvieously lost weight. He had already looked frail to begin with, but now he looked even more vulnerable.
But still, despite the injuries he had suffered, he had managed to carry Gai for miles. Rei was a lot stronger than he looked, Yuda realized. Ruka must have realized that aswell, but he still tried to protect Rei like he was a porcelain doll. Same as what I do with Shin. Though he had to admit, he doubded whether Shin would have survived such an internal bleeding, if Juda wouldn't be there to heal him right away.
"Yuda?" Ruka suddenly asked, sitting on the edge of Rei's bed, caressing the other angel's hair. "Do you think… he'll blame me?"
"Why would he?" Yuda asked.
"Because I once promised to always protect him."
"We were all under attack. He's capable of protecting himself. He won't expect you to risk your life to make sure he doesn't get a scratch. He wouldn't even want that."
Ruka sighted tiredly. "I know."
"Why don't you go to sleep for I while? I'll watch over Rei," offered Yuda.
Ruka shook his head. "I'll sleep once he's better."
That night, after everyone except for Ruka had left Rei's house, Luca sat down on the edge of Rei's bed once again. Softy caressing Rei's hair, he suddenly felt him stirring a bit. His heart seemed to skip a beat as Rei sighted slightly.
"Rei? Can You hear me?" Please answer! "Rei?"
"Ouch. R-Ru… ka..?" Rei mumbled, without opening his eyes.
"Yea, it's me. Are… are you really awake?" Tenderly he laid his hand on Rei's skinny cheek.
"Ruka…" Slowly Rei opened his beautiful golden eyes a bit. "I… was so scared… I'd never see… you again." He cares that much? Swallowing some tears of relief, Ruka hugged him tightly. Rei's slender body was warm and so soft. With a sight he buried his face in Rei's hair.
"I was scared you'd never wake up again," he whispered in Rei's ear. "I'm so glad you're alive." He felt his friend cuddle against him weakly.
"Ruka? How long… have I slept?" Rei asked, his voice only a little more than a whisper.
"More than five days," Ruka answered. "Yuda healed you up after you fainted, but you had lost so much blood… I made you drink some water every few hours, but you really need to eat."
"You… you stayed with me all the time?" Rei finally realized.
"Well, yes. I just wanted to help you as much as I could."
"Ruka, you must be exhausted!" Rei said, with some guilt in his soft voice.
He's worried… about me? "Rei, you nearly died. I had to be with you." Though he had to admit Rei was right about one thing. He did feel exhausted. Suddenly a bit sleepy, he relaxed against his friend. He felt Rei sighing.
"Lie in bed with me. You need to sleep."
"But…" Almost startled, Ruka sat up.
Rei looked away, blushing slightly. "I'm not wearing the same clothes as I did when Gai and me fell into that ravine. So I guess you've already seen me naked. Besides, if you'd go home now to sleep, I'd be worried."
Ruka suddenly remembered he and Shin changed Rei's clothes together. It was kind of hard to forget how beautiful and perfect Rei's naked body had looked. He felt he was blushing and looked away. "Um, okay."
Rei shifted a bit, and Ruka crawled underneath the blanked. Rei turned over to his side, so they were facing each other. Tenderly, Ruka laid his arm around Rei's shoulders. Rei smiled faintly and crawled up against Ruka's body.
Ruka fell asleep almost immediately. Still smiling a bit, Rei listened to his friend's breathing. I love him so much… In his sleep, Ruka still held him tightly. "Mmf. Rei… Love you.."
Rei immediately felt himself blushing. "Ruka," he whispered, relaxing in his friend's arms. "I love you too."