-Begin Chapter Two-
Waking up to Love
I awoke, not knowing how much time had passed. Suddenly I was filled with pain leading in from my arms and calves, I tried to moved one of my arms, but it was to no avail, they had stiffened beyond my ability to move. I opened my eyes tentatively, afraid of what I might find, and found myself staring up at white. I moved my eyes sideways, white curtains blocked my sight.
I felt something warm against one of my hands. I lifted my head and looked to find the warmth's source. I felt a slow smile creep across my face, it was Rei. He had fallen asleep, his head resting on the bedside. Rei looked so cute like that. I rested my head against the fluffy white pillows.
I felt calmer now that I knew I was safe, yet something still pulled the back of my heart in a fretful way; I was still scared stiff of the panther as I wondered if it had followed me.
I heard the door creak open and heard sharp footfalls soon follow. I watched the edge of one of those accursed white curtains, and saw a nurse. Her bleached skirt reached her knees and a blouse collared her neck and white sleeves reached to her elbows.
She was carrying a tray, burdened with food. She set the tray down with a decisive plunk, and turned to face me. Her light blues eyes met mine, and she nodded, as if all was as if it should be.
The nurse walked over to Rei and tapped him on the shoulder. I saw Rei's head lift up.
"Hi?"
Rei sounded so sleepy, and I was silently annoyed that she hadn't let him sleep. The nurse nodded her head towards me and left without saying a word.
Rei turned his attention to me. He smiled upon finding me awake. Rei ruffled his hair, yawning, and continued to smile.
"Hey, Mariah."
I felt the fretful pulling at my heart stop and a warm feeling fill my chest. I soon found my voice and used it.
"Hey, Rei. Where am I?"
"The hospital. You were losing so much blood out of your arms and legs, I thought it would have been best for you to be here."
"They were cut?"
"Yeah, they were, made so pale that it worried me."
I sighed, I couldn't remember anything besides fear since that night.
"How long have I been asleep, Rei?"
"Unconscious more like, but two days either way."
Two days, I hoped that this was a good sign, maybe the panther had given up chasing me after all.
"Have you been here the whole time?"
"As long as the doctors would let me."
There was a few minutes pause in our conversation as I digested this new information. What did that mean? Could it mean he felt the same way about me? Or was he just worried as a friend? I couldn't tell.
"Mariah?" Rei sounded so tentative, so shy.
"Yes."
"What happened? I mean, its not everyday you run out of the village in your night gown crying your eyes out.
"Actually I do, Rei." I just couldn't resist a chance to be sarcastic.
"Very funny, Mariah. I'm being serious."
I sighed as the unwanted memories started to fill my mind. I felt hot tears form in my eyes.
"The village was attacked in the middle of the night. A...a panther I think did it. It had a bright orange stripe running down its spine to the tip of its tail, and it had glowing red eyes. I barely woke up in time to dodge a fatal attack. I suppose it had injured my arms and legs while I had been asleep. I ran into the village, it was devastated. There were bodies lying on the ground everywhere, no one had survived. Your parents, and the White Tigers, were among the dead."
"You saw them?"
"Yes. It was awful Rei, there was so much blood...and...that...panther was covered in blood." I felt the tears pour down my cheeks. "It was so bloody."
I felt Rei run his thumbs down my cheeks, drying my tears.
"It's okay Mariah. It won't hurt you now."
As much as I wanted to believe Rei, I just couldn't. Something told me that the panther was out to get me. I cried harder.
I felt Rei's thumbs pause around the corners of my mouth. As indecision flowed through those digits and into me, my tears stopped. I opened my eyes and stared up at Rei. What was he going to do?
I stared helplessly as Rei's face loomed nearer to my own. Our lips met softly for about five seconds before Rei broke away.
I stared into his eyes, they looked so ashamed.
"Rei..."
"Mariah, I've always loved you for as long as I can remember. That's why I left the White Tigers in the first place, I just couldn't stay around you and stay focused on my Blading."
I blinked, I knew he had never been a traitor. "I've heard absence makes the heart grow fonder, and its true for me."
"What do you mean, Mariah?"
"I..." this was going to be difficult for me to say, maybe more so than Rei, "I love you too, Rei."
Suddenly there was a sudden sharp knock at the door. I twisted my head so that I could see in that direction better.
"Come in."
A doctor came in followed by Tyson, Max, and Kai.
"Ah, Mariah, I see you're up. Good, good."
"How'd you know my name?"
"Mr. Kon told us. Since you're up I guess you'd like to know how long you're going to be here."
I figured I'd be told even if I didn't want to know. However, I did want to know how long I'd be stuck with all this white. "How long am I stuck here?"
"It depends on how long your wounds heal and how long it takes to walk."
I nodded to myself, that might be a while. "Okay."
The doctor left the room.
"Oh, food!"
I turned my head to look at Tyson. I blinked; he was heading for the tray of food the nurse had set on the floor a little while ago.
"Tyson, that's not for you, and I can't see how you're still hungry, you just ate before we came here."
"But I'm hungry."
I blinked, that sounded like Tyson.
"And you wanted to stop at every candy store, Maxie."
I saw Rei look over to Kai and perk an eyebrow.
"That why you came, Kai?"
"Make sure they didn't stop at every food and candy store and make themselves broke? Yeah."
"Why did you care?"
"Because I'd most likely get stuck helping them out."
I smirked. Amusing, never thought that could describe Kai before.
-End Chapter Two-
pardon my language for a sec: DAMMIT! Writing the part where Rei and Mariah admitted they loved each was a literal pain for me to write... as you can see, I can't do romance stories, so why am I writing this again?