Part Eight

Seishirou paced the waiting room, far more anxious than he would have liked to admit. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came out. Seishirou immediately demanded to know what was going on. His suspicions were confirmed; Subaru wasn't in danger of dying. "We've got an IV in replacing the blood he's lost, and for now that's about all we can do," the doctor said. "He should be awake by morning."

"Can I see him?" Seishirou asked.

"Sure, go ahead. He's in room 112."

Seishirou thanked him and went to Subaru's room. The Sumeragi was pale but otherwise looked all right. As the doctor had said, there was an IV in, but that was all. His sweater and jeans were neatly folded on a chair, with his coat draped over the back.

"Sir?" a nurse asked, poking her head into the room. "There was a letter in the pocket of his coat, addressed to Johnny." She eyed him skeptically; Seishirou didn't look like someone who would be named Johnny. "I put it in the desk drawer."

Seishirou nodded. "I'll tell him."

The nurse nodded back and left. Seishirou resisted the urge to read the letter himself. He told himself firmly that he respected Subaru's privacy, pulled the second chair over to the bed, and sat. I'll just . . . wait here until he's awake, he thought, well aware of the irrationality of the decision and ignoring it.

It's not like it matters, his inner voice decided to have its say. You've lost, you know it. You might as well give in with grace and be here when he wakes up.

For once, Seishirou didn't argue with himself. He simply took Subaru's hand in his own and waited for the younger man to wake up.

The next thing he knew, a nurse was shaking him. "Excuse me, Sakurazuka-san. It's time for the doctor to see your friend. You have to leave for now."

"Of course," Seishirou muttered, pushing his disheveled hair out of his face and standing up. "What time is it?"

"It's just past ten in the morning."

Seishirou blinked. "I thought Subaru was going to be awake by now."

"So did we," the nurse said. "You'll have to ask his doctor."

Seishirou contented himself with that and waited outside until the doctor came out. "I thought Subaru would be awake by now?"

"So did I," the doctor said. "I must admit I'm puzzled. His vital signs are stable, his blood level has returned to normal. There weren't any head injuries. There's really no reason why he wouldn't be awake yet." He gave Seishirou a reassuring smile. "But I'm sure he'll wake up soon. If you leave a number where we can reach you, we'll give you a call."

"It's the same one that's on Subaru's admission forms," Seishirou replied distractedly. He realized he should go; he was going to be late for work. Not that he particularly cared. But he honestly couldn't sit in Subaru's hospital room all day waiting. He thanked the doctor and left, trying to deny how worried he really was.

****

"Do you think I did the right thing?"

"I don't know." Kakyou's voice was thoughtful. "I guess we'll have to wait and see if it actually works."

"True enough." Subaru picked up a stick and started to draw lines in the sand. "When he got hurt for me, I thought the world had ended . . . I guess I'm hoping the same thing will happen to him."

"Which is why you're still here?" Kakyou guessed. "Since you should have been awake about five hours ago?"

"Might as well make him worry while I'm at it," Subaru confirmed. "I just wish I could be in both places at once. You know, see what was going on."

"I could show you, if you like," Kakyou offered.

Subaru brightened. "Sure."

Kakyou closed his eyes for a second, and the Dreamscape dissolved in front of them to reveal Subaru's hospital room, empty except for the Sumeragi. Subaru drooped. "Guess he's not here."

Kakyou shifted. "He's probably working."

"Yes, I suppose he is," Subaru answered gloomily.

"Well, you can't expect him to spend all his time here," Kakyou said, reasonably enough.

"I know. I was just hoping."

"Do you want to look again later?"

"No, I'll just wait until I feel like waking up."

"Until you're done moping?"

Subaru shrugged. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle."

Kakyou considered this. "Good point."

"Hokuto's still quite irritated with you, you know."

"I know."

"I wish you would come out long enough so I could summon her and you could talk to her."

Kakyou shrugged, obviously not about to risk Hokuto's wrath. "I don't think she wants to see me."

"Don't be stupid. Of course she does."

"So she can lecture me."

Subaru thought about that for a minute. "I miss Hokuto," he finally said. "Right now, I think I would rather hear one of her lectures more than any sound in the world."

"Except one," Kakyou corrected.

Subaru glanced at him.

"Seishirou speaking certain words?" Kakyou said.

Subaru blushed a little. "Hai, except for that."

"Well, I'll come out so I can see Hokuto one of these days," Kakyou said.

"When you're done moping?" Subaru asked.

"Yes."

****

Seishirou took the hospital steps two and three at a time, certain that Subaru would have woken. He was carrying a bag of takeout food in one hand and had a bag of Subaru's clothes in the other. He was somewhat disconcerted when, upon entering the room, he found that Subaru's eyes were closed and his breathing deep and steady. The IV replacing his blood had been replaced by a different IV.

He put down the two bags and went out to the nurse's station. "He's still asleep."

The nurse looked at him nervously. "Yes."

"Did he wake up at all today?"

"No."

"Why not?" Seishirou was starting to sound displeased.

"We still don't know. The doctor's ordered some tests."

"To check for what?" Seishirou tried not to sound nervous.

"Unforseen injuries . . ." The nurse backed away a step from Seishirou's glare. "He could have hit his head when he fell . . ."

"He fell on top of me. He was shoving me out of the way. There's no way he could have hit his head. Why isn't he awake?"

"We don't know, sir," the nurse repeated, backing away another step.

"I suggest you find out," Seishirou snapped, and turned to walk back into Subaru's room. He pulled the chair over and took out the food, then looked at it in distaste and let his head thud against the edge of Subaru's bed. "Why aren't you awake?" he muttered into the sheets. "Why did you have to take that stupid bullet for me anyway?"

Subaru continued staring at the insides of his eyelids.

"This is stupid," Seishirou muttered. He left the bags on the chair and left the room. I can't just sit there until he wakes up, he tried to console himself. I'm acting like a lovesick teenager. I'm going to go home and go to bed.

He did so, and stared at the ceiling for most of the night.

****

The phone rang about six times before it woke Seishirou out of the exhausted sleep he'd finally fallen into. He reached over and grabbed it, muttering half-heartedly, "Sakurazuka desu."

"Ohayo," a very accented voice said. "Is Subaru there?"

Seishirou shook himself awake, recognizing the voice. "No, he isn't. Is this Johnny?"

"Yeah."

"If you want to talk to Subaru, you're kind of out of luck. He's in the hospital."

"Excuse me?"

"There was an attack by an assassin. Subaru was hurt. He's in the hospital."

"How badly hurt? What happened?"

"He was shot. In the shoulder. He lost a lot of blood, but he's okay other than that. Except for the fact that he hasn't woken up yet and they're not sure why. There was a note for you in his pocket, but I didn't have your number so I couldn't let you know."

"What hospital, what room?"

Seishirou told him.

"I'll probably see you there," Johnny said, and hung up. He grabbed his jacket and left his apartment. He went straight up to Subaru's room. Subaru looked very pale and rather pitiful. Johnny looked through the drawers until he found Subaru's note to him.

"Dear Johnny, I know you're probably mad at me for doing this. But I think this might convince Seishirou-san that he loves me. Don't worry, I haven't woken up yet by my own choosing. I'll probably be out a few days, to make Seishirou-san worry. Please don't be angry."

Johnny tossed the note into the trash. "You little jerk! You God damned little bastard! How could you do something so fucking stupid? You could've gotten killed! And for that slimy two-faced son of a bitch that killed your sister!" He was so mad that his hands were shaking. "What the hell were you thinking?"

At this point Seishirou appeared in the doorway. Seeing that Johnny was busy yelling, he waited for him to finish.

"You'd better get back here and talk to me, you little fucker! How could you be so stupid? Getting yourself shot for him, what the hell is that? Do you think this is going to make that bastard realize suddenly that he's in love with you, just because that's what happened to you? The man has no heart, you fuckhead!" He flopped into a chair. "This is why I don't make friends, you little - oh, hi, Sei-san." He looked over at the older man, completely unabashed by the fact that Seishirou had heard everything he'd said.

"So I have no heart?" Seishirou asked, walking in.

"Not that I can see or you would have admitted that you loved Subaru weeks ago. Then he wouldn't have had to do this. If he dies, it'll be your fault - and not because he took that stupid bullet for you. And I'll come after you."

Seishirou blinked at him. "Subaru planned this, to make me fall in love with him?"

"Oh, look who's a genius today," Johnny snapped.

Seishirou walked over to Subaru and looked down at him. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt."

"And that just makes it all better."

Seishirou turned to Johnny and took his sunglasses off, looking the younger man in the eye. "Perhaps for Subaru it will."

"Well, if you'd just pulled your head out of your ass two weeks ago, we wouldn't be having this problem!"

Seishirou glared at him. "I don't need to defend myself to you. My reasons are none of your business."

"Excuse me?" Johnny was looking truly furious. "You kill one of the few friends I have, then come close to killing her brother and one of my other few friends, who is madly in love with you for some unfathomable reason, and you're madly in love back but just too chickenshit to admit it, and now Hokuto's dead and Subaru almost got killed! And you're telling me it's none of my business and you don't have to defend yourself?"

For the first time in his life, Seishirou was struck speechless.

"God, you are so pathetic." Johnny folded his arms across his chest and dropped back into the chair. "Go away."

"The reason I won't defend myself," Seishirou said in a very low voice, "is because I can't. It's because you're right. And there's nothing I can say to you."

Johnny lifted his hands in the air. "It's a miracle!"

Seishirou shot him a look that bordered on being dirty.

"Aren't you saying this to the wrong person?" Johnny asked.

"Yes. But Subaru's not paying attention right now. And I figured if I didn't say it to you, you might wring my neck."

"A very astute assumption. But how do I know you're telling the truth?"

Seishirou shrugged. "As long as Subaru believes me, I don't care what you think."

Johnny peeled one of his gloves off, reached out and grabbed Seishirou's wrist. Seishirou let him take it, and stay that way for a long second with his eyes closed before he let go.

"Do you believe me?"

"Yes. And Subaru may be paying attention, you know."

"Good point. In that case, do you mind leaving, now that you've yelled at him? I'd like to spend a little time with him."

"Sure." Johnny stood and turned to Subaru. "I'll be back later, you little jerk." And he turned and walked out of the room.

Seishirou thudded into a chair. "Subaru-kun, if you're listening, it's time to wake up."

No such luck.

If you wake up, I'll admit I love you, Seishirou's inner voice piped up.

Seishirou squashed it back down. Bribery is hardly fair.

Like you care about what's fair, it responded.

Seishirou took a deep breath and said something he thought he would never say. "Please?"

Still nothing.

"That's not fair, I said please," Seishirou said, completely disgusting himself with how pathetic he sounded. "You got what you wanted; you're supposed to wake up now."

Still not working.

"Subaru-kun . . ." Seishirou tried taking the younger man's hand. He couldn't think of anything to say, at least, not anything that he was willing to say out loud to an unconscious person.

He gave up and started to pace around the room. It was stuffy, so he cracked open one of the windows. He looked outside and saw a clock on the building facing the hospital. It was almost noon.

I'm late for work, he realized. Oh, forget it, I'm so late that I'm not even going to go. I guess I should call.

He sighed and slumped back into the chair, where he promptly fell asleep.

****

Seishirou was roused by the nurse again at dinner. This cannot become a habit, he reflected with a sigh. "Subaru-kun, wake up. That's a direct order."

"And who do you think you are to order me around?" Subaru asked.

Seishirou nearly fell out of the chair. "You're awake!"

"Yeah, I woke up a few hours ago." Subaru smiled. "But my Seishirou-san is so cute sleeping that I didn't want to disturb you."

"Jerk," Seishirou said mildly. "By the way, Johnny's on the warpath."

"Define warpath," Subaru said nervously.

"Well, last time he was here he started yelling at the both of us. Primarily you, though he let me have my share of it too."

"What was he yelling?"

"Oh, vague things about how you planned this to make me fall in love with you?" Seishirou raised an eyebrow.

"Uhh . . ." Subaru began to stammer. "S-Sort of . . . did it work?"

Seishirou just looked at him.

"No, I don't suppose so," Subaru said miserably.

"I still can't believe you tried something so stupid," Seishirou said. "When I'm over my disbelief, then I'll think through the greater meaning of your actions."

"Seishirou-san, I hate you."

"Now that I don't believe for a moment. Do you want dinner?"

"The nurses brought mine already. I'm sorry about ruining your sweater."

"I assure you that my sweater isn't what had me worried."

Subaru looked at him shyly. "You were worried?"

"Well, you were in an unexplainable coma for two days. That's enough to make anyone worry, including all the doctors."

Subaru drooped. "Can we go home?"

"Certainly not. You're not well enough yet."

Subaru looked down distastefully at the IV. "I want to go home anyway."

"Too bad. You shouldn't have gotten shot. So indulge my curiosity for a second. Did you actually set up the attempted 'assassination' and everything?"

Subaru's blush was answer enough.

"How?" Seishirou asked.

"Kakyou-san helped me . . . with his father in the government he knows about that sort of thing."

"I thought Kakyou was a friend of Hokuto's."

"He was."

"So why is he helping you in your . . . search for my affection?"

"Because I asked him to."

"Is that why Johnny is helping you, too?"

Subaru blinked.

"It came up in our conversation that he'd been friends with Hokuto," Seishirou said.

"Oh. Well, yes."

"He's certainly an expert in . . . certain matters."

Subaru just smiled.

"So you're recruiting Hokuto's friends for this." Seishirou frowned, obviously confused. "One would think that they wouldn't be eager to help."

Subaru shrugged as best he could. Making you love me is some of the best revenge I can think of, Seishirou-san . . . too bad it isn't working.

"I think I'd better go get some dinner, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said, standing up.

Not working at all.

"I'll come back and visit before work tomorrow morning."

Okay, so Seishirou is a dink. Not my fault.