Chapter 21: Waking Up
Hikari opened her eyes slowly as she began to wake up. She was completely wrapped up in one of her quilts, she felt very warm and snug. She gazed around her with that first waking up haze and tried to make sense of everything. She uncovered her head to see better and went to turn.
That's when she realized someone on the opposite side of the quilt was hugging her as she slept. She froze for a moment and slowly turned her head, not knowing what to expect. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw Gale laying next to her. She smiled slightly and put her head back down and began to close her eyes, and then she sat upright and stared at Gale.
'Why is Gale here? Why he laying next to me? How long has he been here?' Hikari heard a giggle and looked to see Akari and Maya sitting in the kitchen area quietly giggling at her predicament. She glared and slowly moved off the bed, trying to not wake Gale up, and went toward him.
"Morning Hikari! Morning, not midnight." Akari said happily as she sipped her coffee. "Not to mention you didn't scream when you woke up. Whatever Wiz did it must have worked."
Maya giggled and nodded, "But whatever it was sure made him tired."
"Now, he was already tired. Trying to keep Mark away, staying with Hikari, being magic… That stuff tends to tire people out."
"Um," Hikari said as the two looked at her, "why was he laying next to me!"
"Easy." Maya said smiling at her friend happily. "Akari told him to."
"WHAT!" She glared at her sister and Akari put her hands in front of her nervously.
"Well, he came in exhausted! He wanted to check on you and ended up lying on the floor! I couldn't let him stay there! And besides, I trust him not be stupid, so I told him to just lie on the bed for a little bit." She explained. Hikari looked mad still so she continued. "He's been doing a lot this past week and when I told him to lay on the bed, I don't think he even realized you were there."
"…" Hikari stared at her sister and finally sighed in frustration, "Really though? I mean… you could of… he could of…"
Maya rolled her eyes, "It's not like anything happened. It may be embarrassing but he needed to sleep and no way was he going to make it home."
Akari picked up her coffee and sipped, "Plus, It's not like you have a couch."
Hikari blushed and moved towards the kitchen. Maya and Akari chatted happily behind her and every now and then Akari would touch her stomach were she was beginning to show. Hikari watched her internally and noticed Akari looked paler than she had the whole pregnancy.
'Not surprising with the stressed I caused… I always cause her stress when Mark is involved.' She suddenly gasped and put her hand on her head. "Mark! What are we going to do about him?"
"Wiz said not to worry about it when he came in." Akari said with a small frown. "I'm not sure though… I think I should just set Tabby on him again."
Hikari stared at Mark as he stood in front of her door looking coldly at her. "Um…"
"Is your psycho sister gone?"
"She is not nearly as psycho as you are." She answered back coolly.
He sneered, "Whatever. Look, I want to ask you a question and I don't want her and her stupid cow near me." Hikari glared at him more. He looked over her head and pushed past her inside.
"HEY! GET OUT!" She shrilled at him.
"Good, she's did leave." He went into the kitchen and plopped down in a chair and leaned back on it. He surveyed her kitchen intently. "Small place you got here. Not really cozy though."
"What do you want Mark?"
He ignored and looked around the small 2 room house. "Where's your bathroom? Or is that only other room in this…" He trailed off as he saw a lump on the bed. "What the? Is she sleeping?"
"It's my boyfriend." She said moving in front of him protectively. In her head she could hear the maniacal laugh of her dream. "He's had a lot to deal with and needed to sleep."
"SO the freak sleeps." Hikari fought back the urge to slap him.
"I'm going to ask you one last time Mark." She said angrily. "What do you want?"
"I want to know what the hell you did to me?" he said simply, as if his question was obvious.
Hikari stared at him. She had not expected that. "What?"
"What did you do to me? You obviously had one of those weirdoes put a spell on me to teach me a lesson or something. Maybe you just wanted to get back at me, I don't know! What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Hikari said mad. "Why the heck would I want you coming back into my life? You screwed it up enough!"
"Like it wasn't the highlight of it!"
"It wasn't!" She spat while gritting her teeth. She felt herself getting ready to snap, something that raley ever happened. Usually only Akari ever snapped but when Hikari did, she was told it was something that Akari had nightmares over.
"Like hell it wasn't." He sneered at her, "No what did you do."
"She… did nothing…" both turned and saw Wizard sitting up on the bed glaring at Mark. "You ticked off… the Witch Princess of Sunshine Island…"
"I've never bugged the brat! I stay the Heck away from her! I've never even really met her!"
"You were… interfering with a girl's relationship… Chelsea and Vaughn… She is friend's with Chelsea…" He said still glaring at Mark as he went over and stood next to Hikari.
"Chelsea? No way! She hates my guts!" Mark exclaimed. "I told her about what happened with," he motioned to Hikari, "And she flipped. She thinks I am the worst possible thing on the planet. When I began becoming friends with A girl named Mary she kept coming up and threating me every time she saw me…" he paused and looked up, "Maybe that's why Vaughn thought she was hanging out with me… Anyway, I … uh…" he blushed, "Look, I've screwed up and Mary is the only girl willing to give me a chance, I ain't about to screw that up!"
Hikari looked at him, "So The Witch Princess?"
"Is a nut job!"
Wizard stared at Mark and finally muttered under his breath causing the door to fly open. "If that is the case… you should go back to… your farm… we have done nothing… other than reverse the obsession spell on you… leave…"
Mark snorted. "Whatever. I'm outta hear!"
They watched him leave and Hikari turned to Gale, "He is a nut job."
"What did you… ever see in him?"
Hikari blushed as she went into the kitchen. "When I first met him he was really nice and caring, people thought Akari was insane for disliking him… then…" she looked down and bit her lip, "He began to change and show his real colors… I don't know why I stuck around so long… maybe I thought I could change him… maybe I was too weak to leave him…"
Gale hugged he and buried his head on her shoulder causing Hikari to blush. "You are never weak… just misguided and… sometimes parioded… you are not weak… I do not like weak…" Hikari wrapped her arms around him feeling tears in her eyes.
"how is it you always know how to make me feel better?"
"I do not know…"
Hikari pulled back and looked up at him, "You know I did realize something because of this whole experience… I love you Gale… I really do…"
"And I you."