See? I told you guys it gets better. ~xoxo~

[Reiko's POV]

It was dark when I woke up. Probably because my eyes were still closed. Opening them was the most difficult task of the day. They felt heavy... almost swollen. I wouldn't remember most of what happened last night. I remember arguing with Tsuki, chasing after Shizuo... Oh. I remember now... sort of.

Before I could form any questions to ask I heard a faint beeping sound. I looked over to see some little heart-monitor thingy beside me. Please don't tell me I'm in a hospital, I thought. Raising my arms -which was also rather difficult- I felt the siderails raised on the sides of the bed, so I wouldn't roll onto the floor I guess.

"Tsuki!" I called. She rose from a nearby chair. "Yeah?" she asked, sleepily. Her eyes shifted from my arm to my face and back again. "What are you looking at?" I wondered aloud, looking at my left arm for myself. It was in a cast. Why? Why was I in a hospital? Why was my arm in a cast? Why couldn't I remember much of anything from last night? Why did my head hurt so bad? Why did my face hurt too? And where was Shizuo?

I concluded that I was either recovering from the best hangover to the best party ever, or I was badly hurt last night. I hoped so much that the first one was true.

"Calm down, Rei-chan," she told me, seeing the nervous look on my face. "You remember what happened?" she asked, tentatively, like I was a child. "I'm not retarded or 4, Tsuki. You can talk at a normal pace," I chided, annoyed. "And no... I can't say that I do remember all that much," I admitted, suddenly missing the ability to cross my arms over my chest in the pouty, toddler-like way I often did. And now that I thought about it, my whole body ached a bit.

"Well, after Shizuo and Izaya ran out of our apartment building, you ran after them. You good so far?" she asked, moving the chair to my bedside and sitting again. "Yes...?" I answered, unsure if I wanted to hear the rest. "Okay," she sighed, and attempted to run a hand through still knotty black hair. "So... after that, they continued fighting, and you threw your hand in front of Izaya's blade to protect Shizuo," she said. Then the memory came back to me. I remembered throwing one of my hands up and then a searing pain in it seconds later, I didn't remember blood, but apparently there was a lot of it with the way my right hand was bandaged.

"After that they were still fighting. You yelled for Shizuo to stop and pulled at his arm... and he… like… backhanded you," she got quiet then, and turned away. "But... you kinda went flying. I'm so happy you're okay now, because you were freakin' airborne!" she cried, turning around again with a smirk on her face, obviously trying to hold her laughter.

"Ah! Yasui-san. So happy to see you're awake. You seem to be feeling better. That's good. You should be able to leave soon. We just need to run a few more tests to make sure you'll heal properly and be sure that nothing else is broken. Is that alright?" the doctor asked. Good thing I'm committed to Shizuo, 'cause this guy didn't look half bad. "I guess so. But even if it wasn't, what choice would I have?" I said with a small giggle. "True," he said, leaving the room with a small smile.

I heard his voice again as soon as he set foot out of the room. And someone else's voice too. It sounded like Shizuo's but it was... rougher... scratchier I guess you could say.

"Y-You see, with the way Ms. Yasui landed, her left arm was fractured in several places. S-She also had a large cut on her right hand which required several stitches -about 6 total- to repair. In addition, she had several bruises on her face, specifically her cheeks, and chest, paired with a sizable wound on her head, somewhere between her forehead and hairline. S-So naturally, her face will be swollen for a few more days." Hm, funny. I hadn't noticed the bandages around my head until he mentioned the wound. That explains the splitting headache I was met with this morning. Wait... did he say a few moredays? I thought. But, I was only in here for the night, right? Aside from that, the doctor's voice was shaky, he almost sounded scared. Nothing like the calm, pleasant man I'd heard from only a minute ago. Then again, I'm always forgetting how "scary" Shizuo is to other people. They'd see his face or even hear his name mentioned and just run in the other direction out of pure fear. I wonder why he's never had that effect on me...

"Mm, okay. Thanks," I heard the man who I assumed was Shizuo say. He sounded so solemn...

Soon, I heard footsteps approach my room, coming closer to my bed. Sitting up, I saw him. It was painful but worth it. Though I wasn't met with a happy smile or even a quiet grin like he normally wears for me. His posture was slouched, his hair was disheveled, his mouth in a perfectly unhappy frown. His eyes looked cold and almost angry. His bowtie was crocked, his dress shirt now only half-tucked into his pants, which had an interesting mustard-colored stain on them. I could tell that his hands were balled into fists, even in his pockets. In a word, he looked sloppy. Still, I called out to him. Softly though, because it hurt a bit to breathe as well. Raising my arm, my better arm, my right arm, I reached out for him, I smiled for him. But he had stopped in his tracks, and I felt my smile fade and then lowered my arm. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"W... What's wrong, Shizuo?" I whimpered, feeling a tear spill from my left eye.

A single tear jumped from his eye too. Slowly, he came closer to me. Gently, he put one of metal bedside guards down and sat beside me. Almost bitterly, he leaned in close, pecked me on the lips, and wrapped his arms around me, like I was some fragile, infantile thing. "I thought you were dead," he whispered in my ear, so low that only I could've heard it. But by the look on Tsuki's face, I assumed she knew what he'd say at a time like this. "I thought I killed you..." he trailed off, his hand clenching the hospital gown I was in. I felt small tears wet the shoulder of my hospital gown, where he'd tucked his face when he hugged me.

Wrapping my right arm around him as much as it would allow, I felt my heart begin to race, and the beeping on the heart-monitor sped up as well.

"What the actual hell are you talking about?" I asked. Shizuo sat up immediately, looking confused. "I'm only been in here for the night, right?" No one answered me. "Right?" I asked again in a more shrill voice. "Reiko, you've been asleep for 3 days…" Tsuki told me. "What?!" I shrieked. "Yeah. But you're awake now," she said, like that would fix things. "I gotta go," Shizuo suddenly said. "Why? What's the hurry? You haven't seen me for 3 days," I whined, grabbing his vest to keep him near me. He didn't say anything. "Shizuo…" I said. He looked down, like the bed sheets were so much more important than our conversation. "I…" he started, still looking away from me. "I've always talked about how I hate violence. About how I'd never hurt anyone and if I did it'd never be a woman. Now look at you," he said, finally looking me in the eyes. "You're in this stupid hospital outfit with cords and tubes hooked up to you. And your face… it's all fucked up because of me-" I cut him off by leaning into him, forcing my lips to brush against his. "Stop that. I know you didn't mean it. Don't blame yourself. If it was anyone's fault it was mine. I should never have come between you and Izaya," I giggled and that seemed to make him angrier.

"What are you laughing for?" he yelled, making Tsuki cringe. I'm surprised I was as still as I was. "What else can I do? I'm already in a hospital. And I forgive you. So what are you all hyped up about?" Shizuo sighed. "You just… You make things so hard. Honestly, I thought you were still knocked out. I came here to kiss you goodbye. I was going to leave. Leave you, hell, maybe leave town. So that you could have the chance to live a better life with a better guy if you ever did wake up."

"Awww," Tsuki cooed from the other side of the bed.

"But you're awake now. And… I can't leave," he finished, hanging his head. Sighing contently, I leaned on his shoulder and sweetly said, "I know."

A/N: You know what I'm gonna say. Review! ~xoxo~