Wisdom
By August

He loved her. He had since the first time he laid eyes on her, it was as simple as that. Everything about her simply shined to him. Sure it bothered him that she didn't return his feelings, but, then again, what sweeter love is there than that which is unrequited?

Today had begun so well for her. She got an 'A' on her history exam, talked up a cute boy (and got his number) and met her four best friends for lunch at the Arcade. Everything had been going downhill from there, of course.

"What do you mean, surgery?" The raven-haired goddess shouted at the unfortunate doctor

"Well, Miss Hino, I mean that those wisdom teeth of yours need to come out. Soon." He replied, attempting to calm the obviously distraught girl.

It seemed to work. She stopped yelling at him at least. After inhaling and exhaling several times, Rei sighed and gave up. "Fine. When do I have to come in?"

"Tomorrow would be the best. Now, no eating or drinking after midnight tonight understand? I'll see you in here bright and early at 9:30, okay, miss Hino?" Doctor Barker said, watching the 16-year old girl turn and leave his office. 'Well, that went well' he thought to himself, returning to his work.
~

"Chad? Chad! Chad, where are you!" Rei shouted through the house, searching every room for Chad, the guy that lived with her and helped her run the temple. Although she had insisted stubbornly on not taking his help, Chad insisted (more stubbornly) on staying and helping. She was glad too, ever since her Grandpa died, it had been terribly lonely around the temple. She was thankful for the company.
Suddenly, Rei spotted Chad in the backyard. He was practicing some karate moves on the punching bags by the Koei pond. Rei just had to stop and admire his sleek, toned body. All too suddenly, Chad turned and waved her over. Blushing profusely, Rei walked over to him.

"I was looking all over for you Chad." She said sullenly. She definitely didn't feel any better since her dentist visit.

"Well, ya found me dudette! What's up?" Chad responded, his familiar surfer-boy lilt loosening a small smile from Rei's lips.

"I went to the stupid dentist today."

"Ooh, must be bad. What he say?"

"My wisdom teeth are impacted. I have to get them out tomorrow morning."

"Oh man, that sucks! I got my wisdom teeth out when I was...heh, about your age I suppose. Damn, that hurt." Chad said, grinning.

"Oh thanks, Chad, you're a lot of help." Rei replied sarcastically. She turned to leave, but Chad put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I'm sorry. Hey, I'll drive you home after your surgery if you want. I'll hang with you and stuff, since you'll be pretty much out of it for a while anyway. Want to?" He said apologetically. He hoped with all of his heart that she would say yes.

"Yeah, I need a ride home anyway, Dr. Barker says I'll be a little loopy. Yeah, you can drive me home. That is, if you don't mind?" She responded, hoping he wouldn't change his mind.
~

All that night, Chad's mind was racing. Sure, his body was tired, mostly from his rigorous day of training, but his mind was in total overdrive, and he was powerless to do anything about it. All he could think about was Rei. Well, that was nothing new, all he could EVER think about was Rei. But this was different. He usually had one or two non-Rei-related dreams a night, but no, not this night. He began having a nightmare about her surgery. Of the doctors telling him that she got sick and that no, he couldn't see her yet. A loud voice.

"Chad?"

The voice he had heard in his dreams must have been his scream, as he woke up with a start looking into Rei's violet eyes. Oh, how he loved those eyes. But, he had to concentrate right now: Why was Rei in his bedroom?

"Chad? Are you okay? I heard...Screaming."

Rubbing his eyes, Chad responded, "Oh, yeah. I had a wongo dream. I'm better now."

Rei giggled softly at his surfer-boy lingo.

"Are you sure? I mean...I can stay if you want me to. I mean, if you'd feel better, you know." Rei said, her voice shaky. Chad realized that she had had a nightmare too, and was scared to go back to sleep in her own bed. He moved the corner of his bed blankets and patted the bed invitingly.

"Yeah, ya know, I'd feel better with you around." He said, smiling softly as she crawled into bed with him. She had the cutest pajamas on, in his opinion. Pale blue with little smiling moons and stars. He loved them. Chad was surprised, as deep in thought as he was, to look down and see Rei's head resting on his chest. He was a little embarrassed at first, seeing as how he had no shirt on, but she didn't seem to mind, so he forgot about it. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her silky black tresses. He couldn't remember when he'd been this happy before. A soft rumble of laughter escaped his chest when he realized that Rei was snoring ever so softly.
~

The next morning, Chad packed Rei up (complaining all the way, of course) and got her to the dentist's office with 10 minutes to spare. Rei spent those ten minutes pacing nervously, while Chad tried to calm her down, finally giving up and picking up a magazine. Fortunately for everyone in the office (who were being slowly driven crazy by Rei's incessant marching), Dr. Barker walked in and retrieved Rei. Together, they walked through the backdoor, leaving Chad to read his magazines and pretend to not be nervous.

23 1/2 magazines later, Dr. Barker brought Rei back out. As soon as Chad saw her, he knew she was different. First of all, her face was puffy and her cheeks were bruised. Also, Chad noticed, she was walking kind of funny. She usually carried herself with amazing presence, like a princess, but at the moment she could barely carry herself at all. Dr. Barker was half holding her up.
Chad stepped up to them and took a hold of Rei around the waist.

"How she feeling Doc?" Chad asked, glancing nervously between her and the doctor. He had never seen Rei like this before.

"Well, she's recovering pretty normally. Her cheeks developed bruises, but those should go away in a few days. Also, she most likely won't be able to speak until tomorrow or the day after that. Here are her pills, make sure she takes 2 every 3 hours. Okay? And stay with her, in case something happens with her blood clots. She's AB, correct?" The doctor said quickly, handing him her pill bottles.

"Um, yeah. So am I, if that ever comes up."

"That's good to know, well, good luck." The doctor smiled, and Chad (with Rei in tow) walked out the front door and to his waiting car.
~

The ride home was relatively quiet. Chad hummed to himself softly, while Rei lolled between consciousness and unconsciousness. When they arrived back at the temple, Chad carried Rei's slumbering form up the temple stairs (which seemed to have multiplied profusely overnight) and into the back of the temple, where their bedrooms, kitchen, and living room was. He laid her down gently on the living room couch, grabbed the remote, and flipped through the channels like the pro that he was. Rei continued to sleep soundly against Chad's arm until he relented and moved to lay behind her. Well, he would have been lying behind her if she didn't keep rolling over and facing him.
Although he tried his hardest, he just couldn't concentrate on the television. Here, in front of him, less than a few centimeters from his were the lips that belonged to the most beautiful girl in the world. He managed to negotiate a move so that their lips weren't so close, but this caused another problem as her cheek rested against his chest. He was worried about what she would think, then thought for a moment 'Hey, she won't really remember any of this anyway' and continued watching the TV.
~

The next day, Rei was feeling a little better. Her jaw wasn't so swollen, and her cheeks were not so bruised. She still wasn't up to talking, and Chad decided it would be best not to push it. He helped her with her pills, watched TV with her (Although most of the time she was more content to rest against his chest-she never really liked TV much anyway) and fed her all the soft foods he could think of. Finally, as he looked down at her nearly prone body, he just couldn't take it anymore. He had to tell her. 'What's the harm?' he thought to himself, 'she won't remember, and I'll be able to get it off my chest finally.' He laughed softly at that, seeing as how the only thing "on his chest" right now was Rei. He shook her softly to wake her, then began to speak when he saw her eyes flutter open. Better to speak before he lost the courage.

"Rei, I have something really important to say to you." He started.

Rei looked up at him, and Chad was sure she was listening.

"Rei, I...I love you. I always have. You are my moon, my stars, you're my whole world. I don't know what I would do without you. I think that I would probably die. I want you to feel the same about me, but I know in my heart that you probably never will. I mean, look at you, you're so beautiful, you could have any guy you wanted. Why would you ever even think about being with a loser like me." He stopped, clearly bumming himself out. He looked at her to see her reaction.

Rei blinked, once, twice, three times. She continued to stare at him with that blank stare that she had been giving everyone since her surgery. Chad's heart dropped. She hadn't understood a word he had said. But then again., hadn't he known that would happen?

He sighed, more depressed at that moment then he was sure he had ever been. He had just confessed his true and undying love to a girl who didn't even understand a word he had said.

Rei continued to stare at him then did something that surprised Chad so much that he almost (almost) pushed her off the couch onto the floor. She leaned up and kissed him. But (thank the gods) instead of pushing her off the couch, Chad retaliated the kiss with one of his own. His brain was on fire trying to understand what was going on. 'I guess she understood what I said after all'
The rest of the night was heaven to Chad. He cooked them both a soft dinner, they kissed. They watched some television, they kissed. He helped her take her pills on time, they kissed. And so went their night.
~

The next morning, Chad woke up first. Looking over at the goddess who slumbered next to him, he decided to cook her a wonderful breakfast. He stood and wrapped his robe around him and padded out to the kitchen.

A while later, Rei woke. She stretched, yawned, and stood to dress in her robe. Something about her room seemed different, but she couldn't pinpoint it. She gasped when she looked at her digital calendar and realized that it had been two whole days since her surgery. She couldn't remember anything about the last two days; in fact, her last memory was receiving her shot before the surgery. Stumbling into the kitchen, she spotted Chad and smiled faintly. He walked up to her (to kiss her) but she ducked out of the way.

"What the hell are you doing Chad?" She shouted, furious.

Chad stuttered, not comprehending what was happening. Where did the loving Rei go? Did he do something to make her mad?

"What did I do wrong Rei? Why are you mad at me?" He begged her.

"What did you do wrong? You tried to kiss me, you idiot!" She yelled, before storming out of the room and to her room, slamming and locking the door.

Chad was left to wonder what happened. He knew after a while, of course. She didn't remember. 'How could she forget?' he thought sadly. 'I was so sure...'

Behind her door, Rei cried her violet eyes out. Between sobs, she cried out to the gods, begging for an answer.

"How could he have known I felt? I'm not ready for him to know yet."

~