Chapter Nine: Sleep

Kyoko sat in the farthest corner of Tsuruga-san's patient room with the script held up as a protective shield to block any holy rays from hitting her. Her entire body was tense and ready for anything. The closest she had been to Tsuruga-san was in the brief moment that it took her to drag the green chair from his bedside to the corner. In those few moments she had held her breath and looked away from him, willing herself to be as quiet as air. Only when she was safely hidden behind the script did she dare to peek out the side to see if he had moved or woken up. To her relief he was in the same position he had been before and his breathing was slow and steady still.

She tried to focus on the script, but her arms were starting to shake from holding it up so high, and the sound of Tsuruga-san's deep breathing distracted her constantly. Eventually she gave up on holding the script out so far, and instead she slouched down and covered her face with it. It suddenly felt so good to her to close her eyes. The pure holy aura surrounding Tsuruga-san was warm, like a fireplace, and his breathing filled her ears peacefully.

She was actually exhausted. Between her frenzied bike ride to work and her fight through the cafeteria she was covered in bumps and bruises and was wiped out. She settled into the chair more comfortably. It felt really good to just sit here. And as long as she sat by Tsuruga-san she was fulfilling her duty to Yashiro. Her breathing slowly adjusted so that it matched Ren's. Her eyes grew too heavy to lift. And within ten minutes of entering the room she was sleeping peacefully.

Slowly awareness came to Ren. He felt calm and rested. When he opened his eyes he saw the clock high on the wall showed that two hours had passed since the nurse had put him under again. He closed his eyes and stretched, feeling stiff from the long nap. Then he paused, something was wrong. It took him a minute to place it, but eventually he realized that there was a second set of breathing within his room. He opened his eyes again and found her.

Kyoko was curled up in the green chair, the chair that used to be right next to his bed. Somehow it had ended up pushed awkwardly in the corner. She didn't look terribly comfortable, but a small blanket had been placed over her shoulders, indicating that at some point a nurse probably came in and checked on them.

A sudden blush broke across Ren's face. He could only imagine how it looked to an outsider, the two of them resting so peacefully in each other's company. Well, he didn't really have a choice actually, the medications made sure of that. But why was Kyoko there again? It's Mogami-san. And why was she sleeping?

As his gaze lingered on her, he noticed the white pages of something curled up around her shoulder. Curiosity got the better of him and Ren had to get up to see what it was. He moved across the room as quietly as he could, trying not to wake the sleeping girl up. He could see exhaustion in her face. It was clear that she needed the rest. When he got closer he noticed how delicately her eyelashes rested against her cheek. He wanted to reach out and caress that cheek. But he resisted. Instead he maneuvered carefully so he could get a good look at the papers that rested on her. It seemed to be the script for Go. Why she had that he wasn't sure. Perhaps Yashiro had left it in the room and she had begun reading it out of boredom. Then again, there was supposedly a fantasy element to the drama, so he couldn't imagine her being disinterested in that.

Curiosity quenched, he decided to return to his bed. Or perhaps to go out and find a nurse. Without thinking he put one hand on the green chair to steady him as he stood up. That little movement shook the chair, and before he could raise from his crouch beside her, the girl's eyes slowly blinked open. He held perfectly still and willed her to go back to sleep.

Ren held his breath apprehensively as he watched her expression unfold. Apparently she did happen to notice a man's face being mere inches away from her own. And apparently, it surprised her a great deal.

Before he could speak Kyoko let out a surprised "Kyaa!" and leapt straight to her feet. Well, she would have leapt to her feet, only she had been fairly tangled in the chair to get into a comfortable position, and also Ren was pretty much filling the space where feet would normally go. So instead of gracefully leaping to her feet, she kicked out of the chair sideways and landed straight on Ren. For his part, he had tried to follow her momentum and catch her. Unbalanced as they both were, the two of them crashed to the ground. Ren only had time to wrap his arms around her protectively before she could get hurt.

They laid there in different degrees of surprise. Kyoko was still half asleep and confused about everything, and Ren was terrified of moving and giving away the positions of his hands. It very much brought to mind the time he had caught her in his apartment when she had fallen in an attempt to cook during their Dark Moon improv. He had to fight the desire to squeeze her again as he had in his apartment. This time he would have no role to fall back on as an excuse. Instead he calmly addressed Kyoko, hoping to charm her away from a freak out.

"Hello Mogami-san. I think we might have gotten tangled up. Are you hurt anywhere?" He said evenly and politely.

Kyoko really wasn't sure what dimension she was in right then. She was utterly disoriented, which honestly was kind of how her whole day had been going. "Uh… Tsuruga-san?"

"Yes, I'm Tsuruga, are you hurt? We should probably move to a different position if you aren't."

At that she realized that she was being held, tightly, by none other than her senpai… again! This time her blush started all the way at the soles of her feet and rose to the crown of her head. She snapped her hands away from his waist to her sides and turned stiff as a board within his grip.

"I'm-I'm not hurt." She stammered out.

"That's good. Then I'll release you, okay?" Ren watched her, a little panicked by her sudden stiffness. Don't scare her, just be calm, you can do this.

Author's Note: I couldn't help it. I loved that scene in chapter 71 so much! Eeek! I feel bad for Kyoko at this point, she's had a rough day and a very disorienting one. I promise she won't always be so out of it. What do you think? Hope you are enjoying the read!