Ch. 9 Falling Up

Hellllooooo! So the last chapter, this one and the next were all supposed to be one chapter but PSHHH, that didn't turn out... aaand this one's the last one i have typed up as of now so i'll be working hard to type up to ch. 15 up this week.

Enjoy! :)

Falling Up

I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up—
Up to the roof tops,
Up over the town,
Up past the tree tops,
Up over the mountains,
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds.
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around,
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down.

~Shel Silverstein

Every so often, I could hear a far away moan or a groan or a sniffle or a huff, it would sound exasperated or worried and I could most likely tell why. I 'd been under this odd veil of black for sometime now, I couldn't tell if it had been just hours or possibly days, but some time had passed since the explosion until now and I was beginning to panic.

Haruhiko might get worried, we were supposed to meet up tonight, or last night or... the other night and neither of us has ever dropped out on each other. The shroud of black only started to get heavier as guilt poured its weight on me; I shouldn't be so worried, but I couldn't help myself. Would I ever get out of here? Surely, I would - the hit to my head shouldn't have been that bad. This was hopefully a light concussion that caused me to pass out, it probably hadn't been too long, it's probably because I haven't seen the day shift into night in so long that I feel so out of sorts.

After a few more moments of pondering, I decided the best course of action would be to regain my bodily functions and movements, perhaps if I twitched my finger enough, the grieving voice would be relieved to know I was still alive.

Sadly this proved to be extremely difficult, I first had to find where my hand even was. At the moment I felt all over the place and it took me a while to pinpoint its place. When I did, I had to demand my brain to begin taking instructions from me again, for some reason it wouldn't even acknowledge that I was speaking to it. It paid me no mind until I felt like I'd physically taken its place. It was taxing and by the time I felt like I'd taken over, I felt ready to take another nap under the darkness of the veil.

Just as I started to feel comfortable, the whispering voices seemed closer than before. Although they were quite a distance away, I could make out my name being said every so often. By two different voices, one who was obviously my doctor by the way he treated me solely as a patient but the other voice; it held attachment.

It couldn't possibly be my father, ever since I became a police officer he basically disowned me. Maybe it was my sergeant to find out how long I'd be out; or it might be Rikki-san, he always worries too much about me. I kept avoiding the possibility of it being Haruhiko-san being the one here with me. How would he know I was even here?

He wouldn't.

Instead, he'd probably be really upset with me for not contacting him in so long.

My heart clenched at the idea of Haruhiko-san's angered face looking down at me and so, to rid myself of the thoughts, I turned over and looked for the cloak of ebony to rot under for my terrible actions.

What surprised me was very startling, I could hear and feel the pop of bones, clear as day, as I shifted over to my side. There was a dizzying whoosh of movement as pain shot through my neck and I whined loudly. Then after my eyes shot open from shock, they were quickly shut after the bright light sent pain straight to be brain. But before I closed them, a shadow too familiar for comfort stood over me.

"...Todou-kun?"

'Haruhiko-san? What's he doing here?!' I moaned out a few mumbled words of surprise, but I doubt he caught them.

"Todou-kun, wha- are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Yeah, that was definitely Haruhiko-san. With furrowed brows due to the intense light coming from the other side of my lids, I found my voice and croaked, "Usami-san?" 'Ouch that hurts,' I thought, wincing from the sting of my dry throat.

Either Haruhiko-san could read minds or the doctor was present to realize I needed water. I could feel a plastic straw press lightly against my chapped lips and out of instinct drank from it quickly; completely disregarding the other two people's reprimands to not drink so quickly, until the straw was pulled away all together.

Slowly opening my eyes to get used to the brightness, I found Haruhiko's eyes staring back at me and we stayed like that for a second before he leaned over to hug me lightly. His face was buried in my hair and I heard his voice crack as he sighed out my name. My headache was still present, but more bearable now as I was getting used to the atmosphere. This was definitely a nice hospital. I've never been hurt on the job, so I wasn't sure weather or not this was special treatment to wounded officers or something.

After my speculation of the room, I turned towards Haruhiko-san who was still holding me, his head perched on my shoulder. I hadn't realized yet, but my hands were on his back, smoothing over the clean fabric of his usual attire - a suit, however the blazer was nowhere to be seen. Odd.

Some time passed until he pulled back, planting a kiss to my forehead and separating our bodies, leaving only the link of his palm over the side of my face, thumb caressing my cheek lovingly. There's a faint smile on his face and I offer my own back.

Confusion took over the moment and I asked, "How did you know I was here?"

Sighing, he removed his hand from my face and took both of my hands into his, taking a moment to look at them, then continuing to intertwine our fingers and standing upright. He seemed like he was going to speak until a doctor basically appeared from out of thin air. His hands gracefully emerging from pockets and pulling out a tiny flashlight to examine my eyes, then continuing to take my pulse and blood pressure. It was odd, the touch was gentle and feather light and I feared that I might be simply dreaming. Why wasn't Haruhiko-san saying anything? And why was this doctor faintly smiling as he went through the procedure?

Everything around was starting to get a little too bright and overwhelming.

Once he was finished, he walked over to the foot of the bed, hardly making a sound, picked up a clipboard and scribbled a few things before promenading over to Haruhiko-san and whispering into his ear. They spoke quietly, Haruhiko sounding deeply thankful and promising something that didn't reach my ears. The interaction further confused me, as Haruhiko-san's attitude towards strangers was nothing more and nothing less than stoic, and I itched to remove my hands from Haruhiko's grasp to pinch myself and check if this was reality.

They wrapped up not too soon after and as the doctor left, he turned and said, "You will have permission to leave tomorrow, however you'll be on leave from work for the rest of the week. I hope you recovery is quick, Todou-kun." his voice was a deep, yet light and happy, carefree.

Turning back to face each other, Haruhiko squeezed my hands and sighed, "I'm so glad you're all right."

"Um, yeah. About that, how did you know I was here?"

"That was my cousin, Hanayasuhiko, he works here and let me stay despite the visitor hours rules."

"Okay, but how did you know I was here?" I stated for the third time, getting frustrated. Not that I wasn't happy for him to be here, no not at all; quite the opposite, I was elated. However, his name wasn't yet in my emergency contacts, neither was Misaki's, but either way, Misaki doesn't know about our relationship...

There's a pause as I think through how possibly Haruhiko-san could've known, I doubt it was that cousin of his - we'd never met before.

Coughing, and turning his face to the side Haruhiko finally speaks up and says, "It was on the news."

I mean i highly doubt this is much of a cliffhanger... you guise already know what happened..

maybe that was a cheap ending... siiiiggghh. Next chapter will be better! Rating could go upp... maybe idk. Take that as you will. I love it when I get a review! Makes my day! Plus I'm toats open for requests still. I'd love to hear them~!

anyways see ya next chappie.

Lots Of Love~