Chapter 14 Awake
Ryo felt consciousness pulling at him but he was so warm and felt so safe. He didn't really want to wake up but soon his hunger wouldn't let him sleep anymore. He was starving.
He blinked his eyes open and didn't recognize his surroundings at first. The last thing he remembered was falling of Whiteblaze. He wasn't sure how long ago that was though. He thought he could remember different people waking him up and giving him soup or helping him get out of bed but he wasn't sure. Those memories were hazy and distorted and he thought maybe he had dreamed them.
He pushed himself up and was surprised when nothing hurt. He looked down at his bare chest and was amazed to see that there was no sign of the bruises that had been there and the ribs were healed. His arms were in the same condition. He realized that he must have been out for a long time.
When he looked around his room he realized that there were sleeping bags spread out along the floor and currently they were full of his friends. His extra bed held a sleeping Cye. He was tempted to let them sleep but he was so hungry. He picked up his pillow and threw it at Cye. It flew true and hit the sleeping warrior's head. Cye jerked up in bed.
"Who did that? I swear I am going to kill you if I find out which one of you it was!"
"Shhh. Cye don't wake them up. I did it. Hope you don't decide to kill me."
Cye just stared open mouthed at Ryo. Ryo, not sure what was going on, tried to talk to Cye again.
"Cye, I am really hungry. Could you please make breakfast before I starve?" Ryo really was hungry and he was feeling kind of disturbed at the way Cye was just staring at him like he had grown a horn or something. He quickly reached his hand up to his head to make sure and was relieved when he felt nothing there. For some reason Ryo felt perfectly at peace. He was safe again and nothing was going to happen to him here. He was happy without really knowing why.
"RYO!" Cye jumped up and ran over to Ryo and was now hugging him tightly. Ryo wasn't sure what was going on. All he had done was ask for breakfast and now Cye was hanging all over him like he hadn't seen him for a weeks or something. Ryo looked up when he heard a strangled sound coming from one of the sleeping bags.
He found Kento, Sage, and Rowen staring at him with the same open-mouthed look that Cye had earlier.
"Uh.. Hi guys? You wouldn't happen to know what is wrong with Cye would you? All I did was ask him for breakfast." Ryo didn't get a response but was now buried beneath all of the Ronin Warriors. They were all talking at the same time. He couldn't make out anything they were saying but he knew one thing. He couldn't breathe.
I CAN'T BREATHE!
Immediately the weight on top of him was removed and he took a shaky breathe of air. Now the Ronins had gone from trying to smother him to standing back away from him looking at the ground.
"Guys its not that big of a deal. You didn't hurt me or anything." When Ryo said that he felt like someone had said that to him before during his dream. Someone had promised that they weren't going to hurt him anymore. "I just want some breakfast."
No one would look at him or respond. He sighed in resignation. He was just going to have to get breakfast himself. If they wanted to sit there feeling bad for themselves then that was their problem. He slowly stood up. He wasn't surprised at how shaky he felt. This is what he had expected when he woke up, weak. He made his way over to the Ronins.
"You didn't hurt me. You were all just excited. Normally I wouldn't have a problem when four guys jump on top of me but.." he motioned at his very slim form "right now I'm a little out of shape."
At first he was sure that his words weren't going to have any affect at all on them but Kento looked up at him.
"Did you say something about breakfast? Cause I'm hungry."
"Your always hungry." Replied Cye
A friendly fight broke out and Ryo grinned in pleasure. This is what he was used to. This was normal. He felt his legs start to give out on him and some one grab his arm and put it around their shoulder for support. He suddenly felt sleepy but he refused to go to sleep until he had breakfast.
"Ryo you ok?" asked a voice. It took Ryo a minute to realize that the voice belonged to the person that was holding him up. Sage his sleepy mind told him. He was going to open his mouth to respond but the energy he felt earlier had disappeared. He decided on another method instead.
Just tired. I think I overdid it there.
He projected his answer to everyone and not just Sage. It was much easier for him to talk this way than it was to talk out loud. He heard Sage say something about going back to bed and he answered with out thinking.
NO! Not until I get breakfast. I'm starving.
He knew he was coming out sounding like a whining kid but he really wanted to have breakfast. Kento picked him and carried him down stairs. Ryo thought about complaining but he knew that he didn't want to walk down the stairs himself. He was put on the sofa while Cye went into the kitchen to make breakfast. He decided he would take a quick nap.