Do you Fall (too)?
Scars faded, injuries healed. As time presses on so do the processes that come with such a passing. With each and every hour that ticked by, each and every singular thought that arose, her wounds slowly began to mend, her hands no longer requiring protection that she had forfeited to begin with. Saki's exterior was healing rather nicely; even if her interior were in shambles.
The hunt for answers left her feeling vague, empty and slightly discouraged. While her questions only deepened, her appetite for an answer became impossible to appease. And as it had panned out, Hatori wouldn't be back to quell her hunger anytime soon. Cock-blocking could ensue, even if he honestly hadn't meant it to this time, seeing as Akito had apparently contracted a cold and needed 24 hour monitoring.
For a week now, Saki had been creating scenarios in her mind's eye to which she could play out in real life so as to cause injury to herself and receive Hatori's attentions. But she surmised that would end in him ignoring her and returning straight back to Akito. After all, his loyalty did not lie within her.
By now, she was far too tired to conjure scenarios, far too tired to execute plans. The days with Hatori gone were costly to her health. As Megumi had once been her pole of stability in a swirling vortex of an unstable world, Hatori was now that grounding pole, if not much more than that.
Today in particular, she had consumed hours at her parent's house visiting Megumi and enjoying her time with her younger brother, Arisa and Tohru. After school it was unanimously decided that Saki's old house was the place of congregation, which she wasn't opposed to as she was able to see her brother that way. Besides, Saki genuinely wanted to hang around with Tohru and Arisa. It had been a while since she had.
Once they left, seeing as night was vastly descending upon them, Saki made her retreat as well.
As she walked over the threshold of the door and into the condo, it hit her like a flying brick just how exhausted she was. Her shoulders slumped with invisible weight, body sinking to the floor as she kept balance with her back against the door. Bum hitting the floor, Saki lifted her head, staring vacantly at the ceiling.
She was getting sick. It was easy enough to know her own body and when she lost several days of sleep her immune system decided it was high-time to retire. She hid the symptoms well enough. Clearing her throat was a ruse to cover the coughs; saying she was tired (which wasn't a lie anyway) gave way to her feelings of utter chills and finally excusing herself to the restroom for 'duty-calls' gave her ample time to gag in to toilets when nothing came out.
Her stomach turned in false upheaval in confirmation of such statements, her throat swallowing the sensation before she had a chance to spew the contents of school lunch all over Hatori's immaculate dressings.
By no means would a hand over her mouth repel the sickness, still it served to help her feel slightly better in case of withdrawing the contents of her stomach. It wouldn't matter so much if her own mess ended up on her hands. Washing hands was easy enough. She just didn't feel like mopping an already slick enough floor.
Head slouching to the side, Saki stared dejectedly around, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular as the heat of an oncoming fever radiated from her forehead, pilfering the warmth from her limbs leaving only the cold to settle in her body.
Common sense would argue that now was the time for her to haul her ass up and into bed. But seeing as her own deductions never often led to brilliance, Saki ignored the concept in favor of not having to move. The fever could potentially be to blame for that, but Saki thought it iniquitous, unjust to fault her fever; she was just lazy.
Already she was starting to tremble from the chills; it probably wouldn't be too much longer before she passed out from sheer fatigue. Saki simply let the cold overtake her as she waited for the sweet bliss of the dark veil to rob her senses.
Karma's a bitch though, and it seemed today of all days, it was out to get her. Darkness, bliss, whatever you wanted to call it: it never came. She was left sitting there amidst her nausea, cursing the butterflies that made her stomach feel like muck.
Her head told her to call Hatori. Nothing major really; just inquire where he hid the medicine; where he hid the drugs that would knock her out for the rest of the night.
Plain and simple: she wanted some sleep. And if Hatori was going to stay at the Sohma Estate for another week, not that he relayed any info to her, then she needed the next best thing to put her to sleep: drugs.
Minds did often change, however, and hers was not exempt from the capability. As she would confirm the option by attempting to get up and grab the phone, Saki would pull a last-minute-reconsideration, leaving her butt where it sat and her arms where they draped; against the cold hard surface of the condos glass-like tiles.
This only served in making her feel colder, her body shaking like a leaf on a windy day. Saki figured it was time to get into bed and wrap her body up like a cocoon in Hatori's blankets. He wouldn't mind if she perspired all over his linens. At least, he would be forced to ignore it because regardless of what he thought she was going to anyway.
Depending on what her stomach decided to do she might vomit on them too.
Lovely thought.
Pressing her weight heavily against the door behind her, Saki pulled as much strength as she could administer from her legs and tried to lift her body upwards. It was a difficult task with no decorations or furnishings to seize help from. And just when she managed to get halfway, the door pushed her over; head first onto a cold, hard floor.
It took her a few full minutes to regain a veneer of consciousness, her fevered mind immediately straying to: 'Damn doors. They really can hit you in the butt.' After another few seconds she scrunched her nose, asking herself how doors could move on their own in the first place.
A voice answered her question.
"And what possessed you to make you sprawl against the floor in such a..." Hatori glanced over her underwear which was visible from her arrangement "...lady-like position?"
"The dignity your condo exudes is awe-inspiring. I felt the overwhelming urge to do something stupid so...here I am."
"Likely story..." He yawned, slightly bending to get a better view of her face and the possible problem causing her flaccidity "It's too bad I don't believe you."
"Don't waste your time. You sound like dirt. Go get some sleep. Help me later when you don't sound like you swallowed a lawn-mower."
Shaking his head, Hatori crouched to her level, knees bending as his feet continued to support the weight. Purple eyes glared menacingly up at him; had he not a heart he might have laughed at the comedy of it all. She was, after all, face down on the floor unmoving, him towering above her form. If anyone had the upper hand it was by no means her.
Saki conceded and closed her eyes. Seeing as she had no other alternative within her grasp; moving was no longer an option she would consider.
Then all at once, her anxiety, illness and nausea evaporated at the touch of Hatori's cool hand on her forehead. It was relaxing. But she couldn't bask in the sensation too long, for Hatori reeled away too rapidly.
"You're burning up."
"Not on fire."
"You might as well be."
"Sorry to disappoint then, because I am, under no circumstances, stopping, dropping and rolling."
Hatori chuckled. "Well you have two of the three executed. You're forehead isn't cooling any from lying on the floor though."
"I'm not rolling, Ha-san. I'm not moving an inch."
"And how exactly did you plan on taking care of this problem if I didn't come home?"
Saki attempted thought of scenarios, 'excuses' if you will, to give Hatori; it quickly became apparent that the fever was messing with her brain-wave function. A side-effect of that was talking incoherently. "I'm of capable...fever...take care...of myself?"
"Yes, you're grammatically incorrect sentences attest to such a notion."
"Shut up...ass."
Hatori laughed "Sick and still biting…I believe it's safe to say: you'll be fine."
Saki sighed, her arms crawling beneath her so that they may lift her weight off the ground, pulling her out of such an unruly position. She tried and tried, but to no avail. "Why are you here? I thought Akito was sick."
"Was. He had a cold so I monitored his health for a few days to make sure it didn't turn in to something worse…something like what you have, per say."
"Hardy har har." She spat, pushing her arms so hard against the tile floor that when she let go the force her face smacked the floor with held just as much intensity as the former. "Mm…I've decided. The floor's much nicer. Go to bed, I'm sleeping here tonight."
Rolling his eyes, half in amusement, Hatori grabbed Saki by the waist, beginning the ascent on pulling her limp body off of the floor. In effort to help him, even if only by the little bit she could handle, Saki put her unstable palms to the floor, her feet finding their traction and assisting her up.
They reached halfway like that when Saki's stomach lurched, lifted and then promptly fell like an elevator with its cable clipped. Unable to produce an intelligible sound besides the 'mmph' associated with the upheaval of one's stomach contents, Saki shoved Hatori aside to run for the restroom, but as fate would have it out for her, Saki only made it two steps in front of Hatori before falling and then promptly releasing every ounce of her innards on the floor.
Like the gentleman he was, he kept a grip on her shoulders and pulled her hair back while she spewed all over his clean tiles.
Positive that she coughed a lung up in the mess somewhere, Saki wobbled to stand after the wrenching ordeal, grateful that Hatori's grip never faltered. Else she might have ended up in her own pile of guts; which, in thinking about it, wasn't a wonderful prospect.
"I-I…I'll clean that..."
"No. You won't." Hatori assessed firmly, bending further to grip her legs and pull her body into his arms and against his chest.
Saki's eyes widened with the inertia from being hauled in to the air, tightly closing her eyes as if the motion would prevent her from vomiting again if she felt the need. Moments passed that she kept her eyes closed, but with no support underneath her neck, her head fell back, unable to support its own weight after the energy loss. "How are you-? Is the curse broken?"
Hatori cocked his elbow under her head so that she wouldn't get sick again from the flailing position her neck had assumed. "No. You learn how far you can bend the rules when you're cursed. How do you think I managed to bring your unconscious body to the Sohma Estate when we first met? As long as I cease from completing the hug by wrapping my hands around your side we're fine. Just don't move, essentially."
Weakly she smiled "No arguments there."
His heart compressed at the smile. He'd seen her in a weak position before, he'd seen her naked and unconscious for good measure. Somehow, it was different to see her coherently recognizing the pain her body was putting her through. Her body draping over his arms like a marionette did nothing to quell the ache in his heart that had just dropped daringly in to his stomach.
Mind set and refocusing on his patient's needs, Hatori proceeded to carry her to his bed, wrap her up in the blankets and place a cool, damp towel upon her forehead. She wanted to thank him, to tell him that she appreciated him being around her more than words could express. Saki wanted to convey all of the feelings welling up inside of her like a volcano about to erupt, but the heaviness of deprived sleep began to overtake her the minute she was settled in his bed. So instead she settled for intertwining her fingers with his.
Hatori jumped at the affectionate contact, his hand contracting backward only to be locked tighter in her grip. "Stay." She ordered quietly, rolling her body toward him and drifting back off to sleep, the death-grip dwindling until eventually her hand only limply grasped his, enabling him to sneak away.
Still, he didn't move. Hatori simply sat there, his hand in hers, observing her sleep. He lifted a hand to remove a lock of her hair from her face and deeply sighed.
He could be so dense sometimes. The love she exuded for him was painfully obvious to him now since her drunken confession. Surely, a simple gesture like this wouldn't have alarmed him (too much at least) before. Hatori probably would've compared the contact like that with one's security blanket: the object of security giving the owner a sense of peace to allow sleep. Hatori was now her security. But he was also her love.
He rubbed his aching, itching, tired-stricken eyes. She was falling far too fast. For them...for him. He needed to halt the progress or face the consequences. And with Akito in charge, he wasn't sure how willing he was to face the latter.
As hard as it were to admit; Hatori wasn't helping the problem. After being gone for almost a week, he had missed Saki just as much, if not more. Each agonizingly slow, sleepless night he found himself wondering what she was doing, where she was at and hoping that she was getting some form of sleep. And while that had been obviously utterly hopeless, Hatori held on to some perseverance that Akito's cold would relent and he could go back home.
Hm. Home, he thought, I've never called it thus before. It wasn't home when he retired from his work to sleep on the stiff, bland couch. It wasn't home when he had a day off that accounted for catching up on his paper work. A month ago, he never would have called his condo home. In fact, it still wasn't what he considered home. When Hatori thought of going 'home': Saki came to mind. Not the tasteless lights in his condo or the bed lined with clean linens. He always thought of Saki.
This entire time he had been blind to it, but now it showed more than ever; like a blinking neon sign pointing the way. Ever since they first met, Hatori had been right beside her. Their abilities recognized the static before either one of them at all. Something resonated between them that pulled the two together at any cost. He'd never experienced emotions this raw or love so deep that it connected with something deeper than just what existed on the outside. Not with family, not with Kana...not with anyone.
Perhaps...Saki wasn't the only one falling; hadn't been the only one falling. For some time now Hatori had been falling right beside her; on a descent in to hell.