Last chapter! Enjoy everyone! Thank you again for the reviews, and check out my other stories if you like Slowing Progress.
Chapter 6.
Two months later
"Ray?" Teira looked down at the raven haired boy like she had done every day for the last two months. Nothing ever changed…he was still in that stupid coma. The tears had finally stopped coming, now it was just that down emptiness that bothered the Japanese girl so much.
"Y-you still can't hear me, can you?" Teira smiled sadly, "Well, I don't believe the doctors…I think you know what I'm saying." She sighed and sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, fingering her black shirt. "I, ah—Lee's gotten much better. He might be able to go back home soon…Ray, why can't you wake up." Teira looked down at that familiar pale face, the one that haunted her in her dreams. If I had been just alittle bit faster, he wouldn't be in a darn coma! She continued to tell herself that as she relived the day Ray Kon, her team mate, had been shot.
--
"Drop dead, Kon!" Teira flinched at the words.
So much blood…everywhere…She remembered the red liquid almost as good as his expression. Pale…cold…his eyes—he knew he had been defeated. Everything stopped in that one moment as Ray kneeled over, hitting the cold floor. All of the doctors flooded on top of Lee's father…and Teira's scream flooded the entire hospital. All of the nurses had gathered around the bleeding Neko Jin as the doctors called in a stretcher. Lee's father had been surrounded and handcuffed by the guards. With one last dirty look at Teira, the older man left the hall in insistence of two cops. Teira's eyes lingered over the man's back, wishing the worst for him. Her tear stained gaze finally broke away from the man and to friend who was now being rolled into another hospital room, oxygen mask and all.
And that was how it had happened. That was why Ray was in a coma, and that was why Teira had visited him every night for the last two months. Everything had fallen apart because of a revolver.
--
"Ray…don't make me cry. You know I hate crying." She whined, pulling back a few strands of his black hair. She was about to stand up and leave when a hand clamped around her shoulder.
"It's good to see you." Lee's voice called from behind the younger teen. Teira shifted around to look at him. His black hair was in its usuall ponytail, the almond colored eyes where still dark and mysterious, but his whole aura was sad. He had returned to his former clothes, but a few bandages where still placed around his forehead and arms. Teira smiled softly at him, "Hey stranger, it's good to see you on your feet." Lee nodded and looked down, "I came to see Ray…I'm real sorry."
"It was out of your control." Teira replied firmly.
"I guess I never had control to begin with. I was selfishly mad at Ray when he left the White Tigers a few years ago, and I let my father take it from there." Lee whispered.
"At least you told someone."
"…told someone." Ray heard a faint off whisper of a girl. His head was killing him with the pain, and he couldn't muster the strength to open his eyes. Suddenly the voices stopped and feet shuffled over to his side.
"Ray? Ray?"
"What happened?"
"I heard him moan…Ray? Can you hear me?"
Ray managed another moan and a gasp came from beside him. Ray pulled the bit of strength he had to open his eyes, moaning once more. As the light flooded into his view, he regretted insisting on opening his eyes in the first place. A hand suddenly clamped onto his shoulder, "Ray!"
Lee? Before Ray could add another thought, more people flooded into the room; one being Teira. At the sight of his eyes open, Teira nearly pounced over to where he was laying.
"Ray!" She shouted. Ray smiled at his team mate, glad that she was near him. Suddenly a woman in white pulled Lee and Teira away from the wakened teen and began inspecting his heart monitor, while a doctor gathered by his other side, checking IV's and such.
"Mr. Kon, can you hear me?" the woman called, urgently.
"Y-yeah." He whispered, his own voice sounding foreign to him.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Uh…room?" The woman smiled down on him, "Close, can you tell me which building you think you're in?" Ray looked around at the whiter than white room, "Hospital?"
"Yes, sir. Well, you woke up way before anyone would have thought. Congratulations, you made it!" and with that, the nurse swept up to Lee and Teira, whispering something to them. They both nodded in understanding, and walked up to Ray. Once the doctor left the room, it was only the three. Once the door clicked closed, Ray's eyes locked on Teira who was staring down at him with those honey colored orbs. She brought herself closer up to him and pressed her lips gently on his, taking the raven haired boy's breath away all over again. When they finally parted, Teira smiled down on him as he grinned delightfully. Lee rolled his eyes and turned away.
"How long have I been missing that?" he whispered.
"'bout 2 months…" Teira smiled. "You picked a very inconvenient time to be in a coma." Teira sighed and grabbed hold of Ray's hand. Ray blinked, "that's what happened? A coma?" he choked. Teira nodded and looked up behind Ray. She gingerly let go of his hand and walked out to the hall, leaving Lee with Ray. The older Neko Jin looked over to his right at his former team mate, "Lee."
"This looks awfully familiar." Lee smiled uneasily, "only, I was the one in the bed, and you where the one who was trying to be the friend."
"Yeah…" Ray closed his eyes, "Is he gone?"
"Who? My father? Yeah, he's in custody…" Lee turned away, "I can understand if you don't want to talk to me, Ray. I can't stand myself for what I am…I can't believe I just let him do that to me. I'm not the same person you knew. Everything changed when you left." Lee paused, crossing his arms over his chest. "You were my best friend, and I trusted you even though I never told you anything. I bet you didn't even know I had an abusive father at the time."
"I—…not at the time…" Ray sighed, confused at what Lee was getting at.
"Exactly, I've not been strait up with you." he stopped once more before continuing, "Of all the people to leave, I never thought it'd be you, Ray. But that's how little I know…you don't know much about me at all." Lee finally turned around, facing the other Neko Jin.
"No…but It'll never hurt to talk to me. I may not know a lot, but that doesn't mean I don't want to…it's still hard looking at you—because I can't forget what you said." Ray growled. Lee turned away once more, "I knew I shouldn't have even come."
"Stop it, Lee! You never let me talk, so I'm talking now. Took me being in a freakin hospital for you to actually let me talk." Ray growled, edging himself up in the bed. "I never said I wouldn't forgive you, I just said that its gona be hard." Lee looked down at him once and managed a smile.
"That's more than enough; I just don't want anymore secrets. Keeping secrets has gotten me into this crap; and I just don't want that anymore." Lee sighed and sat down on the wicker chair, leaning back. "I'm scared to death of needles; I love peaches, marshmallows and curry." Lee explained, leaving Ray even more confused, "What are you doing?" he laughed.
"Explaining the simple stuff. The stuff I never told you." he continued, "I've had a crush on Miriam for a while now—" he stopped when he noticed Ray laughing secretly, "Hey! None of this is to be repeated!"
"Absolutely." Ray chuckled.
"Especially the thing about Miriam!" He growled.
Ray nodded, "Uh-huh." He looked over at the Neko Jin. Lee grinned and stood up, walking over to the older teen, "I should have explained everything to you long ago, maybe you wouldn't be in this mess. Keeping secrets was my so called way out. I should have told my best friend,"
"Well, this is a start." Ray nodded and held out his hand to Lee.
Lee smiled and shook Ray's hand in a brotherly fashion. "Yeah, I guess everything is just a work in progress."
DONE! The ending is a bit scratchy from what I wanted it to be, but it turned out rather good from my view, hope you guys like it too. Thank you for the reviews, they pushed me along the way to get this done. Now I'm working on a fic where Bryan is needlephobic, you guys can check that out once I upload it. Thank you all, hope you like it!