Manami groaned and shifted, stopping suddenly when she felt a sharp pain at the base of her neck. She slowly blinked her eyes open and looked around her. She was moving. Through a hallway and she could tell by the scrubs all the people wore that she was in a hospital.
"No! Dammit I have no insurance!" She moaned unhappily to herself.
"Not to worry, it's been taken care of." She jumped in surprise and then moved her hands up to clutch at her head when the pain intensified. "Careful, you were hit pretty hard."
She slowly moved her fingers apart so she could look up at the nurse pushing her bed along. "What?"
"The man you came in with, his agency is taking care of it all." The nurse smiled gently down at her. "How are you feeling Miss Mochizuki?"
"Rough, my head and neck are killing me. What's going on?" She asked and she moved her hands over her eyes to shield them from the harsh light.
"We'll talk when we get back to your room. I'll also dim the lights to help with the pain. Can you tell me your name and age?" The nurse softly asked, turning the bed down a hall.
"It's Manami Mochizuki, I'm 26 years old." The nurse smiled at her again.
"Good, that's very good." They moved past a room before the nurse began to pull her in backwards. She settled the bed against the wall and locked the brakes in. "Oh, he's sleeping."
"He? He who-?" She tried to sit up at her words, but the pain doubled as she moved her shoulders and she groaned and laid back down.
"Careful! We haven't gotten you on pain medicine yet, you're still very weak and tender right now." The nurse scolded her as she walked away from the computer and stood next to the bed. "Would you like to sit up?"
Manami nodded gently, trying not to hurt herself again. "Yes please."
The nurse pressed a button on the side of the bed and it began to rise slowly. Once she had it settled she helped Manami to sit up more comfortably. "Would you like a pillow?"
Manami shook her head, staring across the room and seeing a blonde haired man sitting in her room. "Who's that?"
"The man that carried you in. The agency he's in is paying for your stay." The nurse said dimming the lights and then going to the computer.
"What agency is he with?" She asked, playing with the hospital gown sleeves.
"I'm sorry, we can't advise of other people's agencies and hero names. Hero Confidentiality and all that." The nurse said not looking up from her screen. "Once he wakes up you're free to ask him yourself."
Manami nodded, watching the man who seemed to be deep asleep. He was wearing nice black boots, grey dress slacks that looked baggy on his form, and a black scrub top. His head was tilted back to rest on the wall behind him and he seemed peaceful. "I'll let him sleep, he must be exhausted from having to carry my fat ass."
The nurse snorted a laugh before hiding her smile behind her hand. She looked over at Manami and winked. "You'd be surprised honey."
Eh? Manami blinked in confusion but then settled her head back against the bed. "So how long have I been out?"
"Since you got here? Probably about forty minutes. We had to run some tests and it's better that you were asleep for them, but your doctor will be happy to see you up. We'll get that blood transfusion started as soon as possible." Manami snapped her head over to her, whimpering at the pain that shot down her body.
"I'm 0-, I don't know if you guys will have some here." The nurse nodded her head, waving away her concerns.
"We got the shipment from the donation site last week, we have plenty. But don't go moving too much, the bleeding just started to slow." Manami moved her hand slowly up to her neck and felt a wet sticky spot. "Don't touch it! I still have to clean it and stitch it up!"
She moved her hand back down and stared at the blood on her fingertips. "How bad is it?"
"The wound? About two inches wide and a centimeter deep at the worst spot. I wanted to stitch you up immediately, but the doctor wanted your tests run first. I'm going to grab the supplies, I'll be back soon. Hit the orange button next to your left hand if you need anything." Manami nodded at her, not looking up from her wet fingertips as the nurse left.
The door closed, not so gently behind her and the man began to stir. She watched as he groaned and then rubbed a hand down his face before leaning forward to yawn. His eyes opened and she watched as he looked up and locked eyes with her. He jumped back and gave a gasp of surprise. "You're awake!"
"Yeah, I just woke up a few minutes ago." She answered, looking back down at her fingertips. "The nurse left to get stuff to close up the wound on my neck."
He walked forward and she was shocked at how tall he seemed to be from where she was laying. She mentaly shook herself, it must be because of my injury and how i'm lying. He crouched down next to her bed and frowned at her. "What's wrong?"
She laughed lightly and gave him a sad smile. "Besides the fact that I woke up in the hospital with very little memory of how I got here?"
He gave her a small smile in return and nodded. "Yeah, I guess that is something to be pretty upset about. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, it's fine. Thank you, by the way. For bringing me here. I know it must have been exhausting, and troublesome." He narrowed his eyes on her.
"Troublesome? The only thing that was troublesome were those damn villains who ruined a wonderful night. You? No, you weren't any trouble to me." He smiled softly at her and grabbed her hand.
His palm touched the blood still on her fingertips and he immediately moved his hand away and covered his mouth with his other one. "Oh god not again."
She watched curiously as he ran to the garbage on the other side of the room. He opened it up and she could see his body shaking as he threw up whatever was in his stomach. He finally stopped heaving and grabbed a paper towel to wipe his mouth. He threw it away and stayed facing the garbage, head lowered and fists gripped tightly.
"Damn it, I thought I would have been able to hold that one down." She blinked curiously as he turned to the sink and washed off his hands.
"Hold what down?" He jumped and turned to look at her. His cheeks flushed and she could see it in the light coming from the window into her room.
"Ahh, a snack. I had one while I was waiting for you to get back. But then I felt the b-blood on your hand and I lost it all." He said walking back over to her. He dragged the seat he had been dozing in earlier to the side of the bed and sat down in it.
"Oh, I'm sorry. If you want you can take a couple of my tips from tonight and get yourself more." He shook his head and smiled at her.
"Nah, I'll be okay. Plus those are your tips, not mine. I didn't sing at a bar for them." She sighed and looked down at her hand again.
"Yeah, a bar that turned into a fight club within minutes of my last set." She made a frustrated noise and leaned her head back. "It was such a good night too, the tips were great, my microphone was working, people were watching and dancing. What an awful memory it'll be now."
"Hey don't worry about it, there will be other bars to sing at, and if you want me and my friends can be your security to make sure it doesn't happen again." She laughed softly and looked over at him.
"Security huh?" Her eyes flashed with humor and he stared at them in wonder. They were a gorgeous jade green.
"Wow, your eyes are beautiful." She flushed at his compliment. "Sorry, that was kind of brash huh?"
"No, it was nice, thank you." The door opened and the nurse and a doctor walked in.
"Ahh, so you are awake! Good." The doctor said as she walked in and moved to stand on the other side of the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Weak, I can barely move my head and hands. Moving my head and shoulders hurts. What's my diagnosis?" She asked, turning from the man to speak to her doctor.
"Well, you have the wound on your neck that we need to sanitize and stitch up. Plus I think you have a concussion." The doctor gently pressed on the front of her head. Manami hissed in pain and she moved her hands to the sides of her head. She pressed again and the pain was less, but still caused her to try and move away. "1-10 what's your pain right now?"
Manami blinked her eyes as she tried to focus. "Uh, my neck is at about a 7, and my head is an 8."
The doctor nodded and held out her hands. "Good, now squeeze my hands as hard as you can."
Manami grabbed her hands and squeezed. Once she was done she looked at her hands in surprise. "That's not as much as I can normally do, is that because of blood loss?"
"It could be, but I want to wait until we get your results back before I officially diagnose. I'll be back when your test results are, please try to stay awake." The doctor walked out of the door without another word and Manami was left blinking in shock.
"Alright, I need you to turn away from me so I can get you cleaned up and stitched." The nurse said, rolling over a small table of items with a bright light attached. "This is going to hurt and I'm so sorry but I really can't wait any longer."
"It's okay, I'd rather do this now than later." Manami said, trying to turn herself. Her arms shook with the effort and before she could become frustrated warm hands moved hers. She watched as his hands gently grabbed her and turned her over, setting her down to face him.
He sat back down and smiled softly at her. "Don't wear yourself out. I've got you."
The nurse pinned her hair up with some kind of clip and then she heard liquid moving. "You may want to hold onto something, I am truly sorry Miss Mochizuki."
Manami nodded and gripped at her own arm. The warm hand touched her again and she opened her eyes to find him offering her his hand. "I still have blood on me."
"I can handle it, come on, you won't hurt me." She gently took his hand and gripped it hard when the first swipe of a cotton pad against her neck hit. She cried out and her eyes filled with tears as she felt the sting.
Her hand gripped his bigger one and he watched as she tried to bite down her cries of pain. The grip on his hand didn't hurt, he could feel the pressure but she was too weak to cause him any real pain. She blinked quickly and he saw tears slip out.
"I'm so sorry. But it's almost clean, then I'll stitch it up and get you some pain medicine, I promise." She nodded at the nurse's words. He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand and she blinked away tears to look up at him.
"You're doing great." He said to her, she gave him a shaky smile and he returned it with a gentle one. He saw a flash of metal and racked his brain for something to distract her. "After we get out of here how about we get breakfast? Would you want to get some breakfast?"
She sniffled and whimpered as the needle pushed into her skin. He looked away and focused back on her. "We'll get pancakes, maybe waffles. Some really good bacon and lots of syrup. I know a really good place that has french toast, would you want pancakes or french toast?"
She blinked up at him and he saw a small smile through her pain. "I l-like french toast, with p-powdered sugar and h-hot cocoa."
"Good, once you're done getting poked here we'll get some food in your belly." She smiled and tightened her grip on his hand as the nurse made another stitch.
"C-can I get hash browns too?" She asked, her voice sounding like she was trying to be playful, but coming out shaky.
"You can get whatever you want." Her jade eyes locked onto his and he smiled at her. "I'll even let you get cake and eat that first, ruin your entire appetite."
She huffed a laugh and the nurse moved the needle away. She grabbed a cotton pad and filled it with more of the liquid. "Almost done, I just need to clean it one more time."
"Do you like cake or pie?" He asked her as the nurse touched the pad to her neck.
She hissed in pain and her teeth bit into her full bottom lip. "I-ice cream. I like ice cream."
The nurse finally moved away with the table. "There, all done. I'll go get your pain medicine."
She quickly walked out of the room and he moved his free hand to gently rub her back. "You did so good, I couldn't have done that without some drugs in my system."
She laughed shakily and smiled at him. "You're a hero, you face worse things than this all the time."
He shook his head smiling at her. "Oh no, I'd rather get into fights with villains everyday if it meant I would never have to get stitches or see blood again. That kind of stuff makes me queasy."
She laughed again, her shoulders shaking gently. "If you save me from villains and treat me to breakfast, I'll take all the needles in the world."
His mind turned serious as he looked at her. You wouldn't have to take needles for that.
The nurse walked back in with a shot full of something in a golden color. "Alright, this is the pain medicine. It's best if I get it as close to the wound as possible. Deep breath."
She took in a shaky breath and he gripped her hip, trying to help distract her. His own mind wandered at the feel of the plump flesh meeting his palm. He shook his head, yelling at himself to behave.
The nurse was turning away with the needle, tossing it into the trash. "Very good. You did extremely well."
She smiled over at the nurse and laid her head back down. "I think I'll take a pillow now please."
The nurse nodded and walked out of the room, pulling the little table behind her. "Absolutely. I'll be right back with that and hopefully the transfusion will be ready soon."
The door closed behind her and he looked down at the woman on the bed. His hand was still on her hip and her hand was still holding his. He watched as she breathed in and out a few times. "That's good, keep breathing. It'll help the medicine move faster."
She opened her eyes and blinked up at him. "Thank you for distracting me."
"Distracting you? I was trying to find someone to get breakfast with. There was absolutely no distraction going on." He joked and smiled at her.
"You don't need to take me to breakfast. You've done more than enough." He frowned at her, throwing a hurt look on his face.
"You don't want my amazing company for breakfast? That's incredibly rude of you. And I was even going to make sure we ate ice cream first." She smiled and shook her head gently, rolling her eyes.
"I don't even know your name."
"Taishiro. It's Taishiro Toyomitsu." She looked at him again and moved her hand against his so they were shaking hands.
"Nice to meet you Taishiro Toyomitsu, my name is Manami Mochizuki." His smile softened as he gently shook her hand.
The nurse returned with a couple pillows and a blanket. She handed them over to him and he gave her a quick thanks. "Your transfusion is ready, I'm going to get it ready and be back with the IV."
Manami nodded at her. Wiping her fingers along her cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Okay. Thank you."
The nurse left again and he moved his hand under her head and gently lifted it up. "Easy, easy now."
He moved the pillow under her head and then slowly set her head on it. He unfolded the blanket and placed it over her body. She sighed as it settled on her body.
He sat back down and smiled at her. "That's better, huh?"
She opened her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."
"You're welcome Miss Mochizuki." She frowned at him and he blinked back at her. "What?"
"You carried me to a hospital, stayed with me while I was passed out, and held my hand while I was stitched up. Please at least call me Mochizuki." He flushed under her stare and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I-I never got your permission to use your last name casually like that."
"I'm asking you to." He looked back at her and his flush deepened.
"On one condition. You call me Toyomitsu." She smiled and nodded.
"I can do that."