IV
Amu lowered herself back into a lying position and let the nurse hook up an IV dropper. They then quickly pushed Amu towards a different room, presumably an emergency room. Tadase followed them about half way, giving Amu reassuring smiles before he having to stop at the door and wait outside.
Amu had never been into an ER, and didn't really think she qualified to be in one. It wasn't like she was dying, nor was she unconscious. She hadn't even been cut or stabbed anywhere life threatening. But maybe it was a precaution. Amu wouldn't know anyway; it wasn't like she was a doctor. Maybe something really bad can happen with the few injuries she had. She really couldn't be the judge of her own safety.
She lay silent, following the nurse's instructions as she got over the general check up portion. Soon, a doctor was at the nurse's side and the nurse reported Amu's vitals, all of which Amu did not understand besides simple words like 'heart rate' 'blood pressure', etc. The numbers meant nothing to Amu but apparently were good, since the doctor didn't seem too displeased with what he heard. Soon, she was instructed to sit up and take off her uniform jacket so he could check out the cut on her arm better.
Rather than having her take off her blouse or roll up the sleeve, the doctor cuts it off. Perhaps it was just to make procedures quicker in the case of dire emergency. And considering Amu was probably still bleeding, it probably counted. Amu sighed at the thought of explaining to her parents what happened to her uniform.
For some reason, she was also wondering how Tadase was doing. Was he worried? And back to her parents, how were they going to explain everything at all? Her brain was so conflicted. The doctor was saying a few things, but Amu was too lost in her thoughts to notice what exactly what he was talking about.
Meanwhile, just outside, Tadase was pacing nervously. He knew Amu was fine. A few cuts weren't enough to be worried about. Plus, he trusted the doctor to stitch her up well. There was no need to be worried about Amu anymore, as long as she wasn't unconscious.
Instead, he was worried about how this happened, and how he'd explain this situation. Obviously, he could tell his father and he'd be able to try to get something done. But there was also the drowning thought that it was his fault Amu got hurt. All he wanted to do was get to know Amu more through shopping.
"Stupid…" he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "What was I thinking? I've never decided to change when hanging out with my friends after school…"
He sighed and mumbled a few more self-accusatory statements, eventually getting dizzy from pacing. He sighed once more and sat down on one of the chairs, playing with his fingers absentmindedly. He was starting to get impatient for some reason.
Thirty minutes later, Amu walked out of the ER with the aid of one of the nurses. The doctor took up the end with a clipboard in hand. Tadase shot up from his chair to help Amu, as well as greet the doctor.
"Are you okay, Amu-chan?" Tadase asked immediately upon reaching Amu's side.
Amu nodded shyly. She was a little embarrassed that she was crying when she had to get stitches though. Tadase sighed in relief, though he knew she would be fine anyway. The doctor turned to him, clicking the back of his pen.
"Are you her guardian?" he asked. "We need a few things to be signed and all that."
Tadase hesitated. He clearly wasn't his guardian, so he had no idea how to respond that would keep Amu's parents from knowing what happened. He finally opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, someone else from behind him spoke. A large pair of hands placed themselves on Tadase's shoulder, causing him to crane his neck to see who would touch him so familiarly.
"I'm their guardian for today if you don't mind." the person said. "I'll take care of everything for now."
"Otou-san...?" he questioned incredulously, blinking up at the man standing behind him.
The tall, ash blond haired man with kind violet eyes looked down at Tadase with a friendly smile. Amu stared at the man in confusion, nearly falling back when she heard Tadase call him his father. This beautiful man who looked to be in his mid-30s was Tadase's dad? Which also meant…
"K-kouchou-san!" Amu stammered, bowing more than 90 degrees. "N-nice to meet you."
Tadase's father laughed softly. "We haven't formally met, have we? I'm Tadase's father, and the schools principal, Amakawa Tsukasa. Don't mind the different last name. A pleasure to meet you, Hinamori Amu-san."
"Otou-san, why are you here?" Tadase asked.
Tsukasa patted his son's shoulder, lowering his voice slightly. "Call it intuition. I already called Amu-san's parents with an excuse. I figured it would be bad to let this get out so early on. I hope you don't mind, Amu-san."
Tsukasa smiled at Amu, and Amu found it hard to say no. She couldn't help but notice how much Tadaselooked like his father. Even down to the hairstyle. She managed a nod. Tsukasa nodded in return, looking at the doctor.
"She's my student, so I'll account for her today," Tsukasa told him. "She was with my son when it happened, and I have a suspicion another one of my students was involved…" the last part had fallen into a mumble.
"Pardon?"
"Don't worry about it. As I said I'll handle the papers and everything." Tsukasa responded, and the doctor leads him into a room so they could talk privately.
Tadase's father was very mysterious. Tadase seemed like even he was surprised to see his father, so clearly, he didn't call him to help. So how exactly had he known? Amu hummed in thought as Tadase helped her to a seat. Her leg had a small bandage over it, both of her hands were wrapped in gauze, and Tadase assumed the cut on her arm was also wrapped in gauze, but couldn't tell through her blazer.
The two sat in silence for a bit, Amu swinging her legs absentmindedly. She was thinking about whether she should call her parents or not, and also about how to explain what happened if she were asked. She doubted 'I tripped and fell into a bush' would work. She also considered it being better left alone and if they found out then she'd explain. Maybe after it was all taken care of.
Tadase noticed Amu eyeing her dirty and destroyed uniform and put his hand on her shoulder, talking only when she looked over at him. "Otou-san can get a new uniform for you if you're worried."
Amu blinked, staring at Tadase for a bit, taken aback by the sudden question. "But if I return home like this it'll be a cause for worry…"
"You could tell your parents a friend is giving you a tour around the town," Tadase suggested. "And then otou-san can either have your uniform tailored or can find a way to get a new one."
Amu nodded slowly. Tsukasa came out of the room and shook the doctors hand before returning to us. Tadase immediately stood up out of formality, but Tsukasa sat him back down by pushing his shoulder down until he was back on the chair.
"There's no rush," Tsukasa said. "The doctor had something else come up. So I wanted to brief Amu-san on what she needs to do, in case she missed it." he turned to Amu, who fiddled with her hands awkwardly. "The doctor said you're fine, but if you feel any pain, take some painkillers. And your stitches come out in two weeks, so you have to be careful not to do too move too much so you don't burst the stitches."
Amu nodded slowly. "O-okay…"
"Anyways, why don't you call your parents. I can talk to them and explain the class president is going to show you around a bit." Tsukasa smiled. "If you don't want them to hear any…hospital sounds we can wait in my car. I'll get you a new uniform, but in the meantime, I might have to have you borrow something from her old closet."
Tadase stiffened when his father mentioned the term 'her', and Amu looked from Tadase's father, then back to Tadase, slightly confused. No one offered an answer. Tsukasa helped Amu up and Tadase rose to his feet as well. Soon they were out in Tsukasa's car with Amu dialling up her parents' phone number on her cell phone.
Tsukasa took the phone from Amu and started a chipper conversation naturally. Amu chewed on her lip, trying to listen to the conversation, but getting lost, since he kept going off topic. He was definitely good at making situations comfortable for people. She sighed and looked at Tadase, who was staring out the window, playing with his fingers to keep himself occupied.
"Tadase-kun…" she managed, at first not knowing why she said his name, but quickly coming up with something before Tadase looked over expectantly. "I-I want to thank you…"
Tadase looked over at Amu, smiling slightly. "I only did what I should have done." His smile faulted. "But…I can't help but think I could have done more if I hadn't have left. Maybe…maybe she wouldn't have tried something…"
He rubbed his arm awkwardly, looking away. Amu chewed her lip a little more. Tadase was feeling guilty? She sighed quietly, absentmindedly playing with the gauze on her hands. She wasn't sure if she should comfort Tadase or not. Since she already knew Saaya only attacked her because Tadase left, so he was technically right. She couldn't just tell him that, though. After a bit of thought, she decided to stay quiet.
A little while later, Tsukasa handed Amu back her phone with what looked to be a triumphant grin. Amu took it as good news and bowed her head in gratitude, putting her phone in her bag.
"Your folks are nice," Tsukasa remarked, starting up the car. "Your mother was glad you were making friends. Your father…well, I'm not too sure he was pleased about Tadase's gender…"
Amu flushed slightly, hiding her face in her hands. "Ugh, Papa… He's such a pain sometimes…"
"...So, I kind of said Tadase was a girl." Tsukasa added, laughing slightly as he noticed Tadase's ears turn bright red through the rear view mirror
"O-otou-san!" he shouted exasperatedly. He refused to look at Amu the rest of the ride.
Tsukasa continued laughing as he drove to their house, leading Amu around too quickly for her to get a good look around. Soon they were in a room and Tsukasa was tossing out several articles of female clothing from a bin in a closet. Did Tadase have siblings? He only mentioned a step-brother, which he seemed to have a bad relationship with. She picked up a black dress, looking at it, before tossing it aside.
"Here, you go through it. I'll give you some privacy. I've got to get a uniform for you pronto anyways." Tsukasa moved aside, and disappeared out of the room, leaving Amu alone with a box full of clothing.
She eventually managed to choose her outfit, of course, the colour scheme being black and white. A black ruffly blouse with a seemingly matching choker, and a pair of white Capri pants with a black lace at the bottom. Whoever this belonged to definitely fit her style.
Then, almost as quickly, she was pushed out of the house with Tadase. She blinked in surprise, wondering what just happened. Even Tadase seemed a bit perplexed at first, but just shrugged a little and patted Amu's shoulder.
"Well, let's walk around the town then. Otou-san will call when he gets his hand on a uniform."
Soon, Tadase and Amu were in the town. She got a couple of looks, probably from the gauze on her arm and hands, but she ignored them, as she had gotten used to people staring. It helped when your outer character was confident and nonchalant. Even though every time she caught someone staring, she mentally wanted to disappear into thin air or be sucked into the ground by a black hole.
Amu eyed a small boutique with a more girly selection of accessories, a little longingly, but looked away when she noticed Tadase watching her curiously. He instinctively took her wrist and, without warning, dragged her towards the shop. Amu stared at the back of the blond's head in bewilderment. He looked back with a dazzling smile that Amu nearly had a nosebleed from.
"You were looking at it, right?" he said, stopping in front of the shop. "I wont tell anyone if you don't want me to."
Amu bit her lip, looking at some of the stuff forlornly, but let Tadase pull her inside to look around. How had she managed to let Tadase see her girly side so quickly? Amu wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Despite not wanting to seem needy, she immediately gravitated towards some card suit themed jewellery and clips.
Tadase watched her with a small smile. She was acting lot less awkward now, which was good. He couldn't help but think of how cute she was when she wasn't trying to act like she was tough. He shook his head quickly, telling himself to snap out of it. He really hoped he wasn't staring.
"Tadase-kun?" Amu's voice brought him from his thoughts. "Is there something on my face? Or did a stitch already break?"
Tadase shook his head quickly, the tips of his ears heating up. Yep, he was staring. "No, no! I was looking at something…behind you."
He hurriedly went to point out a row of flower crowns that were conveniently behind Amu. Amu broke into a grin and grabbed a couple. Sure they were cute for her, and Ami would love them, but for some reason, she imagined these would look adorable on Tadase as well. Before she could even try to do anything though, Tadase placed one on Amu's head, laughing slightly.
"Huh?" Amu blinked, trying to look up to see what one he'd put on her. Her hands reached up to touch it.
"They're red roses," Tadase said with a gleeful grin. "They compliment your hair very well."
Amu took it off, examining it, before turning to find a mirror and looking at herself, putting it back on. "Waah, it really does look nice!"
Tadase laughed quietly, but hummed and got distracted by something else turning away. Amu used that as the perfect opportunity to place one of the flower crowns she was holding on his head with a soft giggle. Tadase turned to look at her confusedly. She couldn't help but smile when she got a good look at him.
"You look like such a flower boy." she clapped happily, holding up a mirror for him to see.
He frowned slightly, his hand reaching up to touch the colourful flower crown, unsure whether to get mad or laugh. Amu's expression made it an easy choice though. He chuckled softly, taking the crown off.
"Maybe I should buy it?" he joked, as he was already putting it back.
Amu giggled slightly, returning the other flower crowns in her hand to their spot as well before making her way out of the store. Tadase smiled and followed her out, jogging slightly to walk next to her. They continued walking around the town for another hour or so, fooling around and having fun, before Tadase got a call from his father, telling him that the uniform was ready.
A/N: So an anonymous reviewer asked what happened to Love vs. Jealousy. I explained this in the first chapter I think? It's also in my bio I believe. But I decided to delete and re-write some of my older fanfics. So the original version of this has been deleted. If anyone still wants the original I have the files still, though I'm not too sure how I could share them. I chose to re-write Love vs Jealousy again because people really liked that one (seriously it had like 300 reviews).
Anyways, here's another chapter. If you havent noticed, I do put multiple chapters together sometimes when re-writing this. I figured that would make it end up shorter. (in which its working, as the chapter I'm currently on in my original is 20 I think, and the chapter I'm on in my rewrite is 15) I also removed a few unnecessary chapters. Or- chapters I felt were unnecessary. I hope you guys like this chapter~ 3 I'll see you in my next chapter!