IX: Warm Awakenings
Beep, beep, beep...
I was rudely awakened by the unpleasant thumping of my head. Underneath me, I felt the springs of a rigid bed digging into my back, begging me to lift my weight. The sharp smell of disinfectant clogged my nose, causing a burning sensation to begin at the top of my nostrils. Furrowing my eyebrows, I tried to open my eyes only to be temporarily blinded by a white light nearby.
Squinting, I took in the dull, unfamiliar room. White walls surrounded me, coated with shiny streaks from which I assumed they were recently cleaned. I turned my head to the far right, where I recognized the heart monitor I was hooked up to.
So that's where the sound was coming from.
I've woken up to that same sound so many times, yet this time it didn't feel as cold as when I woke up alone, only accompanied with the beeping of my heart. Sometimes, I even managed to relax to it, for it was a reminder that I was alive.
I began to sit up, using my elbow as leverage. My head snapped to the left as I felt my palm being squeezed.
Reina's eyes opened, but all that they met with was a dark room, illuminated by the faint light of the hallway nearby. Her head turned to the right, but that side of the room was enveloped in shadows. It was another night that she'd wake up in this room alone again.
"Hey. You're up, kiddo?" a childish adult voice spoke, and she quickly turned to meet eyes with the familiar voice. Rei looked at the young girl with a silly grin, accompanied by a cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth.
She sat up with a grunt, rubbing her head in an attempt to cease the pounding. "What does it look like?" she replied sarcastically. The idiot always struck a nerve with asking the most obvious questions, she thought.
A hoarse laugh. "Seems like that training was too much for you again."
She grunted once again. That's right. I remember practicing with Rei before I winded up in here. I hated being in here, she continued to mentally speak to herself.
"It was nothing. I'll try again tomorrow." was all she could say.
His palm made contact with the back of her head lightly, but despite the gentle attempt, the motion still caused her brain to jump around and she fell back into the stiff springs of the bed.
"Don't try acting all tough, sweetie. You're about as useful as a grain of salt right now."
Reina could not find the voice to speak. Her head was still pounding as she slipped between consciousness and unconsciousness. The man beside her pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, tossing it to the polished hospital floor and smearing the black ash onto it's cleanliness, striking contrast between the light and the dark.
Rei stood up abruptly, turning to leave the room. Reina's eyes began to close, only to flutter open again as she tried to stay awake. Her gaze hovered over the man's back, his hand outstretched as he waved with the back of his palm.
Her eyes closed again, and when they reopened, that same hand was shoved into the pocket of his baggy jeans. For the final time, her eyes betrayed her, and upon opening them, the silhouette of the man was gone and all that stood there was the hallway accompanied by it's flickering light. He was gone, like a burned out light in a cold cellar.
But by then, she was out cold, too.
I looked into the warm brown eyes of the boy next to me, registering a smile begin on his face as the corners of his lips curved upwards.
"Good morning," Gon said sheepishly, and I noticed the deep purple bags underneath his eyes. He looked about ready to fall asleep at any given moment.
"Morning," I yawned, raising my eyebrows when I took into account my scratchy voice. I watched as Gon reached over to the bedside table, his hand returning with a clear glass of water. He held it up to my face, and I took it with the free hand that wasn't accompanied by his.
I downed the drink in less than a few seconds, using the back of my wrist to wipe my mouth. Gon was still staring at me, so I gave him a smile and thanked him. He only shook his head in response, the smile remaining on his face as he looked at the ground.
I poked him on the face, sucking in my cheek as his gaze returned to me. I relaxed my face with a sigh, trying to come up with something to say. In all honesty, I just wanted his attention for some unbeknownst to me reason.
"Why do you look so tired?" Is the only thing I could come up with, despite the fact that I already knew the answer.
"Killua and I did a lot of training this morning. Guess I took it a little bit too overboard." Lie.
I retracted my hand from his, pulling my arms into the air as I stretched. After hearing the oh-so-joyful cracks of my spine, I let my hands fall, only for them to wrap around him as I pulled him into a tight embrace. He returned the gesture, and I let my chin rest on his shoulder with a happy sigh as I closed my eyes.
Just then, the sound of a door knob turning reached my ears. I cracked an eye open as the door was pushed open, and my gaze met with a shocked, white haired boy whose hand was still on the knob.
"Oh, uh... sorry for... interrupting," Killua spoke before retreating, pulling the door closed with him.
I pulled away from Gon as I called after him. "Wait!"
The door paused it's parting, then opened a bit to reveal half of his face, causing focus to be on his bright, icy eyes. "What?"
"Come here." I showed off my best smile, hoping that he'd refrain from being stubborn today.
His face- or well, the portion of it that I could see- disappeared from the slight crack in the door, and the door slowly followed suit as it closed on it's own. I pulled my top lip upwards to one side, annoyed that he ignored my request.
The knob once again fully turned, and that portion of Killua returned, along with the rest of his body. He took a step into the room, and, not surprisingly enough, I could see the blue and purple battered bags underneath his eyes from where I was seated across the room.
He clumsily shoved his hands into his dark blue shorts pockets, averting his gaze from my own. "What do you want?"
I tapped my index finger to my chin, a goofy smile tugging at my lips. "Nothing, really."
He looked towards Gon, who gave him an encouraging smile, before sighing and pulling an arm out to scratch the back of his head. "So... how are you feeling?"
"Hmm... I'm pretty good. But, you know what would make me feel better?"
He brought his arm down, leaving it to hang by his side. "What?"
My smile grew wider as I opened my mouth to speak, "Come here and I'll tell you."
He grunted, shoving the hand back in his pocket before making his way towards us. He stopped about a meter away from me, only to be ushered closer until he was leaning down to give me his ear.
I used my hands to cup his ear as I took in a deep breath to make it seem like I was about to speak. I then blew out all of the air into his ear, causing him to jerk back as his hand instinctively covered it.
"Ah! Seriously, Reina?!"
I laughed a bit too loudly before calming myself down with breathing exercises. I looked up at him with a huge grin. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Come here, I actually wanted to tell you something."
He looked at me suspiciously from the corner of his eyes, causing me to sigh. "I promise, I won't do anything like that again. C'mere."
He slowly brought his face back to eye level, before turning to give me his ear once again. I brought one hand up to cover my mouth as I whispered, "A hug."
He pulled back, shaking his head violently. "No, no. I don't hug." He put his hands in his pockets as he turned and began to walk away. I reached over, snaking an arm around the front of his throat as I pulled him back towards Gon and I, simultaneously wrapping my other arm around Gon's shoulders. It was an awkward position, but it was rather funny.
Gon looked towards me with twinkling eyes as he began to giggle, causing the sound to rub off on me as I laughed along with him. I could feel Killua's shoulders beginning to shake with the effort of being concealed, before he too gave up and broke out into laughter as well.
And soon, the awkward tension in the room was quickly replaced with a warm awakening.
