I vaguely could hear the sounds of people talking. I recognized Usagi's voice and I recognized Aikawa's voice. There was another voice but it disappeared. I wanted to open my eyes but they did not want to open. What happened? Where was I? Was my baby okay?
"Misaki?"
"Ok thank god."
It seemed to work, I groaned, still tired even though I did not know how long I was sleeping. My eyes opened to a blur. "Misaki?" Usagi sounded so concerned.
"Usagi?" I reached up to wipe my eyes. When my vision became clear I was surprised to see that I was in a hospital bed. Usagi and Aikawa were there, Usagi holding my left hand that had a tube attached. "What is…"
My eyes went wide as I remembered the past events. Usagi-chichi, the bus, the sharp pain. The baby? Is the baby alright? "Misaki look at me."
I could not move that I felt Usagi's hand on my cheeks to turn me to him. I must have forgotten how to blink as my eyes started to water from being open for too long. "You are alright. The baby is alright."
"It is?"
When he nodded I let out a sigh of relief. I would have been a failure of a mother if anything happened to them. "Thank goodness."
"You scared me so much." He brought me into a hug.
"I'm sorry. I got so scared when I saw that bus." I saw my life flashing; I did not want the same thing to happen as...my parents. "I didn't want to lose you."
"You won't."
"You should have let him go." Aikawa scoffed.
"And then you would lose my stories."
"And then I would gain back my sleep."
I chuckled, it was nice to hear their bantering. Comforting. I looked to the side when I noticed an over-sized stuffed bear. "Um…"
Usagi did not look back but his face did look happy. "My father left that. I will get rid of it." Usagi-chichi? He really left that, after the fight? "Misaki, you will never see him again."
Oh right, Usagi is getting disowned. All because of me. "Enough." Usagi kissed my cheek. "I made this decision. I do not regret this nor do I want you to feel any guilt for it. Even if I did not do this, I had already decided I would not accept anything from that family. I love you, I want this."
"You should not feel anything from the decisions this dumbass makes."
I still felt the guilt but Usagi's cool lips on my forehead were calming me down. He pulled back to give me one of his rare, genuine smiles. I looked back at the hospital. "Why am I here exactly?"
"Your body gave out from all the stress."
"Oh." Shit. If Hidori finds out about this she will kill me. She was just telling me to watch my stress.
"You will be alright, but this goes back to not keeping things in. You cannot please everyone Misaki and their is nothing wrong with that. You have to think about yourself and you have to think about this child."
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"How long do I have to be here?"
"I can get the doctor. They said once you wake up and everything seems fine then you can go home."
"How long have I been here?"
"About three hours."
"It feels longer." I noticed the sun was going down through the window.
"That's what hospitals will do, god I hate them. Let's get you out of here." Aikawa pressed a button on the side of my bed.
A few moments later a doctor came in. It was my usual doctor, Dr. Watanabe. "Good afternoon Takahashi, great to see you up."
"Um, yeah."
"To bring you up to speed you seemed to collapse from exhaustion and malnutrition. I also hear you are dealing with lots of stress."
"Yeah."
"Not good sweetie, an enormous amount of stress can be harmful to both you and the baby. You had a slight high-blood pressure but it seemed to have gone down."
Great, because I was not handling things my baby had to suffer. "Your baby is still fine, developing nicely, so think of this as a warning."
"Okay, thank you."
She smiled. "It is normal for new moms to feel stressed but it seems you have a good support team. Use them, depend on them." She looked to Usagi and Aikawa. "Let me go get the release forms."
"I sighed with relief, I was very hungry and my stomach decided to let everyone else know as well. "We will pick up something to eat on the way back."
"Good. I don't think those groceries are good anymore?" I remembered they were still in the hallway.
"We will get more." She came back and had us sign the papers. Usagi quickly paid for everything and I was free to go. I was going to take the bear but Usagi did not seem to care for it, so I told the doctor to give it to the children's section.
"Thank you for coming Aikawa. I'm sorry if it was any trouble."
Aikawa gave me a hug. "Not at all. I am just glad you are alright. I nearly had a heart attack when I called and heard you were here. You let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you." Usagi helped me into his car. On our way home Usagi did not say much but he never let go of my hand. He was acting the same way he did when I fell from the roof at his family home. He seemed ready to pick me up again but stopped, instead holding my hand as we made it back up to the penthouse.
"Are you okay Usagi?"
"I'm fine." He sat me down on the couch and went to get me some water. "I called take out. They should be here in 30 minutes."
"Okay."
He sat next to me. "Misaki, I'm sorry."
This was what I was afraid of. "You did nothing wrong Usagi."
"I know I am the cause for most of the stress. I got you into a lot of serious trouble and this time I hurt our child. I am sorry for this. I know you are going to say it is not my fault but this time it is."
"Usagi, I never thought it was your fault. I know I tend not to think about myself and I know I need to change this, but I don't want you to feel anything. I should have talked to you more."
"Yes you should." He kissed me when the doorbell rang.
We ate and watched T.V. Usagi held me in his arms the whole time. Hidori had called but I did not answer, texting her I would call her later. I did not want to tell her I was in the hospital. She would freak out for sure. "You don't have to tell her."
"Somehow I feel she will find out either way."
"I believe that."
That night was a good sleep. Usagi rubbed my back until I fell asleep. It was nice but I know he was doing this because of what the doctor said about stress. I still did not want him to think it was his fault. I don't know how long I slept but when I woke up I was alone. "Usagi?" I wonder if he had work to do?
"Usagi?" I left the room, ready to go to his study when I heard my name being called from downstairs. "Usa…" I froze on the rail.
"Good morning Misaki."
"Nii-chan." I stared in fear as I saw my brother sitting across from Usagi. They both had tea though it seemed neither were drinking. Usagi was not looking at me but I could see the uneasy look on his face. I could not decipher the look in nii-chan's face. He did not seem to be glaring but he certainly was not smiling.
"Misaki, come here."
I did not reply as I made my way downstairs. The tension when Usagi-chichi was here did not compare to this. I took a second to decide where to sit before settling on the part of the couch in between the two. "Hi nii-chan, where's Manami?"
"She is at work. I took the day off. Are you alright?"
"Um, yes?"
"What did the doctors say yesterday?"
My mouth went dry. Just that comment, revealed so much. Nii-chan knew. "I…"
"What did the doctor say Misaki?"
"That I am fine. That I just collapsed from exhaustion and malnutrition."
"And the child?"
"Nii-chan…" "How far along are you?"
I looked down, my hand touching my stomach. "Almost four months."
"Akihiko is the father?" You know it is serious if he is using his real name. I nodded my head. "Takahiro…"
"Quiet Akihiko." I flinched, it is rare to hear him so angry.
"Nii-chan."
"How long have you two been together, Misaki?"
"Over a year. When you and Manami announced you were engaged."
"So long." He said, more to himself.
"Nii-chan...I'm sorry..."
"I get a call that my little sister is in the hospital, pregnant, and I don't even know you have been dating?"
Called? "Who called you?"
"Does it matter? You are my best friend Akihiko. I trusted you to look after my sister, and you knock her up? She is 19, barely going to be 20. Did you stop to think about that? What will this do to her future?"
"Nii-chan, I did think about this."
"Misaki, you are barely an adult. You cannot comprehend these decisions. You were in the hospital because of stress! And Akihiko knows that. You took advantage of her."
"It's not like that…" Usagi, say something!
"You could destroy her life like this Akihiko, how could you?"
"Nii-chan, don't blame him. He wanted to tell you about us but I was the one who said no. We did not plan this but I do not feel any anger towards the situation. Please don't blame him, blame me."
"Misaki. A child is not something to take lightly. Raising a child is not easy. You are too young to have to deal with this responsibility."
"I'm not much older than you, when you decided to raise me."
"This and that are different situations. You saw us struggle, it will not be easy." He was mad. I expected him not to be happy but it still was hard to hear the disappointment in his voice. All I ever wanted was to make him proud.
"Takahiro…"
"I understand Akihiko. You said it many time before that Misaki should not be stressed but I cannot ignore the fact that I knew nothing of this. I would have never let her stay here if this was the relationship you developed."
"Nii-chan..."
"I think you should come back home with me. I think there should be separation for the time being, until we know what our next move is."
I did not want to leave Usagi. I couldn't. "But nii-chan…" I couldn't finish when my headache returned. I grabbed my head and turned to Usagi. He looked at me before getting up and grabbing water and the medicine the doctor gave me.
"Takahiro. Misaki was advised to avoid stressful situations for the time being. Suddenly moving her might hurt her and the child. We can discuss this again but I will feel more comfortable if it is done here."
"That is my sister Akihiko."
"And that is my child."
Nii-chan narrowed his eyes when Usagi spoke. He opened his mouth but closed it each time he looked at me. He finally sighed after closing his mouth for the fifth time, "Fine. It does seem Misaki will need to relax. I will come back tomorrow." He stood up and walked over to me. "Please, take care of yourself. I don't want to hear you are in the hospital again."
I leaned in the hug he gave me. "Thank you."
"Akihiko." He barely looked his way when he left.
The tears came when the door closed. "He hates me."
"He doesn't hate you. I, on the other hand, am probably going to be on his shit list for a while." Akihiko sat next to me.
"I'm sorry Usagi."
"No." Usagi grabbed my hand. "This is not your fault. Takahiro was right. As the older one, I should have had a better sense of responsibility. I was selfish and only thought about a future of us being together indefinitely. I never thought about your goals and dreams. If I thought more about your life, I would not have allowed this to happen."
"Usagi…""But I do love you, and I will do anything to make sure that I make up for that. I won't let you lose your life."
I smiled, "I know you won't." Leave it to Usagi to make me feel better.
My stomach growled. Too much was happening and it was still morning. Usagi almost ordered in again but I stopped him. I liked cooking and it did calm me down.
I hoped tomorrow nii-chan and I could have a better conversation. I see the part I play; I was wrong for keeping our relationship a secret for him. I could only imagine how he is feeling. First you find out your best friend and little sister are dating and then you find out your sister is pregnant. His reaction was reasonable. I needed to beg for his forgiveness.
But I do wonder, who called him?
"No peppers." Usagi mumbled into my shoulder as I made the eggs. It was hard though with the extra weight pressed up behind me.
"Peppers and onions. They are good for you." He grumbled something as I ate a small piece of onion.
"Misaki, is true? Are you pregnant?!" I held the phone away from my ear. I had not expected the call from Kaoruko, or maybe I did. Either way I was in no mood to listen to her screaming in my ear.
"Um, yes."
"So that is why you were throwing up that one day! I can't believe I missed that."
"Kaoruko, if I may ask, how do you know?"
"You don't know? That news is buzzing through the family. Nothing stays hidden for long in this family. Uncle was making a fuss because nii-chan said he was leaving the family because he did not want the baby around the family. My parents are just angry uncle is the first with the next heir."
I did not think his whole family knew at this point. It was scary. Usagi already signed the papers but what if they still come for the child. "Misaki? Did you hear me?"
"Oh, no, sorry."
"Sheesh, I said I was going to come visit next month. I want to bake another cake. I have been getting good at using fondue." Last I heard Kaoruko was going to school to be a pastry chef. Good for her. "You don't have to, not if you are busy."
"Shut up. I have a break anyway. And I want to come see you. Who knew that it would be nii-chan to have a child. I thought he hated kids."
Yeah, still does. So this will be interesting.
Just then the doorbell rang. That should be nii-chan. "Sorry Kaoruko, I have to go."
"Fine then. I will talk to you later."
She did not sound mad or disappointed. It was nice that one person from his family is not angry about this. Now to deal with my own family. "Was that the door?" Usagi asked from upstairs.
I nodded. "Let's get this over with." I walked over to open the door. "Hello Misaki." My eyes went wide when I did not see nii-chan.
"Mana-Nee-chan?"
