Chapter 16

Hein slowly opened tired eyes at the new surroundings of the Medical Bay. The first pain of having your body ripped through by phantom particles was gone, replaced by the dull ache. Looking up from the pure white covers of the bed, he saw Aki, asleep sitting in the chair by his bed.

They were forced to shut up after arguing, since two doctors came in demanding that he get some sleep and quiet down so the other patients could get some as well.

The sound of the normal music rang quietly through the room, almost lulling him back to sleep. He smiled at the sleeping Aki, her arms propped up on the back of the chair (she was sitting backwards on the chair, facing him), brown hair falling in front of her face.

Sighing, he looked down at his clothes, a subconscious growl forming in his throat. He hated anything, anything that wasn't black or dark gray.

He slowly sat up, glancing over at the mirror and visibly flinching at the state of his hair. No gel and sticking out in just about every direction. He ran a hand through it, but it stubbornly went back to sticking up in every direction. Again, he attempted to flatten it, but it persistently stuck up again.

Sighing in defeat, he laid back onto the bed, looking at the ceiling idly. He had mentally memorized every crack and hole and the cream color by the time Aki woke up, blinking furiously. She slowly brushed back her hair and turned dark eyes onto him.

"Ah, so she's finally up." Hein said, lifting an arm to his forehead in a pathetic attempt to hide his overly messy hair.

"So, you can get up now? And we can do something useful, like go scan for the final spirit?"

--------------------------

"Ooooh my head hurts." Hein said as he sat down in the cabin of the scanner that lifted of the city, not unlike the one Gray and her sat in a little while before he died.

Aki thought of making a snide remark, but remembered the pain she felt after the phantom particles had ripped through her body. Headache didn't even explain it. Watching the Major out of the corner of her eye, she slowly clicked on the keyboard, and the scanning room lifted higher above Houston. If she weren't inside a barrier she was sure it would be scorching hot.

"I should have stayed in bed."

Aki giggled, "No, you should brush your hair."

He blinked incredulously, then remembered the rather unorganized state of his hair, "Shut up."

She smiled slightly, "Is your hair always that messy in the morning? Or rather, without your beloved hair gel?"

"No…" He rubbed his aching forehead.

Aki shook her head, trying not to laugh. He must have had a bad headache if he wasn't trying to make good retorts. Shaking her head, Aki grabbed the glass of water she happen to have, poured some onto her hand and raked it through his hair, it finally slicking back again. One drop of water went down his nose, making him go cross-eyed as it dripped off the edge of his nose.

"Better?"

"Oh yes, much better. " He said sarcastically as he patted his own head to see the difference.

Aki laughed, "You're really slow when you're tired, aren't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" He glared slightly.

"Ah. I take it you're not a morning person."

He glared.

Aki laughed, and went back to scanning the city for the spirit wave. So far there had been nothing. She doubted there would be anything at all. This was more just to kill time then anything else, and of course to make sure to rule out any possibility.

David gave a slight moan as he rubbed his head, "Do you have any pain killers?"

"Yeah, back at my office." She stopped the scan and the cabin lowered back to the ground, "Come on."

Sighing, he followed her to her office.

Aki walked in, looking around the cabinets. She successfully found a bottle of aspirin and gave it to him.

"Aspirin. Oh yeah, real original there." He popped to into his mouth, swallowing them without water.

"At least they work." Aki said pointedly.

He mumbled something incoherent; yep, definitely too tired to make any witty comments.

---------

Solo by Severus

A/N: Sorry it took so long to upload this chapter. The WTC collapsing and all that stressed me and induced bad writers block, but inspired poetry instead. Well, anyway, I can write since the shock wore off, finally.

Hein is watching Interview with the Vampire. *Giggles* I recorded it and now he's obsessing over vampire books.