Mad About You

Chapter 13: Somebody Save Me

AN: WEEE! This didn't take nearly as long as before to get out. Hopefully it'll be longer, too. Now to the review commentaries!

Yumi Night: BACK OFF! Tala is mine! *grabs him and glomps him*

Desert star: No! TALA and KAI are MINE! BWAHAHA!

Jeri101: Well at least I got it out, Kara! Geez! LOL!

Not nearly as many reviews to comment on as last time, so the fic will be longer this time! Keep the reviews coming! I finally broke 100!

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Kai had a sickening feeling in his chest. Staring at Ayame in the hospital bed unconscious just made the doctor's story even more fresh in his mind.

He remembered waking up in the middle of the night, getting dressed and hurrying out in the night to Ayame's house, finding out from her guardian that she was out. He had searched all over looking for her until he spotted them wheeling her and Tala in to an ambulance. The rest was a blur of memories until he reached the hospital.

Kai could remember everything after that.

"She just passed out from surprise. Miss Hamaguchi should be fine. Her boyfriend, however, only has a few hours at the most. I suggest you visit him soon if you know him. He's in room 313." All this was said extremely quickly as the doctor was paged on the intercom and had to leave.

Kai had stood in awe, staring at his first love lying in the hospital bed. He pulled a chair hesitantly by her side and held her hand loosely, so that he could pull away if she woke up. Then he remembered Tala.

True, Kai didn't know him at all, but he felt that it was extremely rude not to pay his respects, especially since Tala's girlfriend was the one who loved him (Kai).

Kai pulled himself from Aya's side and headed to the room the doctor had indicated. He paused before taking a long, deep breath and opening the door.

Tala lay there, still unconscious. Kai knew that if he died, Ayame would be free to go out with again, but something inside him wasn't right.

He didn't want to love Ayame that way.

He didn't want to love her at the expense of her boyfriend's death.

It was just. . . wrong.

Immoral.

Corrupt.

Heartless.

Sure, Kai prided himself on being the outsider, the one who didn't speak or want friends, but he was not a heartless bastard. He wouldn't just watch Tala die to comfort Ayame.

Kai slowly walked over to Tala's side and sat down. Then he talked to him as though he could hear Kai.

"She loves you, you know," he started, heeling a bit stupid for talking to an unconscious person. Still he continued, this time talking a bit quieter. "I love her too, Tala, but I'm not going to disrespect you. I'm going to wait until she says something to me, or if she doesn't, I'll move on. I promise."

Kai, feeling that he had said enough, stood, stared at Tala for a second more, and left the room. When he returned to Ayame's room, she was awake and talking to her guardian, who had just arrived. He decided not to disturb them and headed for the cafeteria, seeing as it was almost 6 in the morning.

He walked into the small cafeteria and looked around. About 50 tables were scattered carelessly around the cafeteria. Each of them had comfortable-looking chairs surrounding them and Kai wanted to sit badly. He didn't want to sit by himself, though, and he thought that now was a good time to have Max, Rei, Kenny, and Tyson around.

Noticing the lack of his friends, he sat by himself and laid his head down in his arms. He didn't want to go back upstairs, but he didn't want to stay here either. He couldn't imagine what people did when they waited for family and friends to be released from the hospital and now he knew how it felt to be held up.

Kai just sat there for at least an hour, wondering whether he should go back up to see Ayame again. She had to be worried about Tala, and her father must have had her released by now. Still, Kai stayed where he was for a little while longer before working up the strength to go and visit.

Kai peeked in to the room before he went in, to find Ayame still sitting there. Her father was nowhere in sight. Kai really didn't think he had the courage to face her, but he took a deep breath and went inside anyway.

Ayame simply stared curiously at Kai when he entered, but then she gave him a half-smiled before he took a seat.

Neither of them said anything for a while. Ayame was the first to speak.

"The nurse said you came by earlier. Have you seen him yet?" At Kai's confused experession, she added cautiously, "Tala, I mean." Ayame tried to speak as nonchalantly as possible, but her voice was shaking and she sounded as though she was afraid of the answer.

"I haven't seen him for an hour, but he was the same as you last left him." Ayame sighed and she lowered her head to her chest as though she didn't want to show Kai her tears. Either way, he saw them falling to her clenched fists.

"I'm so unhappy," she said, her arms beginning to shake. "I've lost my mom, my dad, and now I'm going to lose Tala? He's known me since I was 6-years-old. . ." Kai had the sudden urge to wrap his arms around Ayame right then, but his pride held him back.

"You want me to take you to go see him?" Kai asked, finding something interesting to look at on the floor.

"No. I don't want to see him. I just don't want to remember him that way." All fell silent for a while. "Kai, about earlier. . ." Ayame started. Kai had known that it was coming; he just didn't know how long it would be.

"Let's just not talk about it." He realized that he sounded mean, so he hastily added, "please."

Ayame stared at him for a minute before she said, "You don't have to walk on eggshells for me, Kai."

"I'm not walking on eggshells for anyone, Aya," he responded coldly, making sure that he had said it quickly and firmly. To his surprise, Ayame smiled at him.

"That's why I like you, Kai," Ayame stated. "You never act a certain way for anyone." Kai could feel his cheeks starting to turn red.

"Yeah. . . ." There was a great silence as the two sat looking at each other.

"I'm glad you came, Kai," Ayame said suddenly.

"Me too," Kai responded naturally.

More silence. Before Kai could think of something else to say, a doctor burst through the door. He looked flustered.

"Miss Hamaguchi, I have terrible news," he started, and Kai knew what was coming. "Your boyfriend, Tala, is dead." The doctor was paged, and he fled the room as quickly as he could.

It didn't matter; Ayame didn't seem to hear the doctor at first. She just sat there, looking straight ahead. Kai didn't want to bother her, but he couldn't just sit there looking stupid, so he stood up and sat on the bed beside her.

Slowly, Ayame, still staring into oblivion, leaned her head on Kai's shoulder. He sat there awhile, and then, feeling quite useless, wrapped his arms securely around her.

AN: Please review guys!