Eijun dragged himself closer to Miyuki, still unable to fully lift any of his limbs. They felt heavier than normal and any movement he attempted seemed to lag from what he wanted. His legs especially refused to cooperate and forced his arms to pull the entirety of his weight. Even his mind wasn't very clear like his thoughts were being filtered through cotton, only to randomly bombard him in a rush of panic to then revert back to the trickled, unprocessed rambles. At this point, he was powered by pure adrenaline alone. Whatever that gas was, it still had a strong hold on him and tried to drag him back under.
After multiple days or even weeks with some form of injury and no aid from pain medications, Eijun ignored the increased ache in his thighs. The ease in which he was able to disregard the fresh wounds as they rubbed against concrete should scare him. In a few minutes or hours, it may, but currently, it was not his top priority. As he dragged himself along, he could feel the stitches catch in their trapped state between solid ground and his legs. He could feel them tug at the irritated flesh they clung to. It was hard to tell if he pulled any of them out in the process, but at the current rate his mind was working, he couldn't find it in himself to care. His only goal right now was to get to Miyuki who has yet to respond.
It seemed to take him forever to close the small distance between them as he basically half army crawled his way over with limp noodles for arms. He pulled himself through Miyuki's blood and tossed his now ruined glasses aside and out of the way. The glass was shattered and nearly sliced in half, the two sides were barely held together by a thin sliver of plastic. The lens had a small crack in one side previously, it hadn't been bad enough that Miyuki's vision was obscured, but now they had been rendered completely useless. There was no temporary fix for them.
"Miyuki…" Eijun huffed from the exertion. He received a muffled, slurred sound in response. It almost sounded like a "go away". Frustration began to build on top of his concern, and before he realized what he was doing, his hand had already gripped onto Miyuki's wrist. He expected resistance when he tugged, but Miyuki's arm easily fell away and stayed down when Eijun released it. He could just make out the start of a jagged cut slightly above his left eyebrow going diagonally down his forehead, but the rest was still hidden behind the other hand. That eye was squeezed shut as rivulets of blood gathered in the inner corner and overflowed over the bridge of his nose until the trail was halted by Miyuki's pinkie.
Eijun shifted so his elbow propped him up, while he grabbed for Miyuki's other arm, the one that covered the worst of it. Like the first, he was met with zero resistance, and Eijun instantly had to blink the tears back as his vision began to blur. The cut continued down between his eyes and across the bridge of his nose until it curved underneath his right cheekbone. It wasn't a clean or even slice by any means. The wound was wider and deeper along his forehead and thinned out significantly around his nose before it grew deeper again on his cheek. A majority of the blood had traveled down his face and painted his cheek closest to the floor where it pooled. Eijun watched as blood oozed over the raised edge of the skin to slide down an already premade path.
Miyuki's right eye cracked open, hazed with pain and exhaustion. Eijun could only assume the gas still flowed through Miyuki's system as well. But unlike Eijun, he didn't appear to have the same adrenaline rush to keep him awake. Miyuki blinked slowly as if he was about to fall back asleep at any moment.
"Miyuki!" Eijun tried to call out louder, but his voice sounded distant in his own head and it made volume control difficult. For all he knew, he could have been whispering the entire time. "Miyuki! " he gritted out as he watched Miyuki's eyelid fall shut. Eijun slapped his hand down onto Miyuki's shoulder, the sound was wet with the layer of blood on his palm, and it nearly caused his hand to slide right off. He managed one solid jostle before he lost his grip. Thankfully, however, it was enough as Miyuki's eye cracked open once more.
"Wha-?" He croaked, voice rough and speech slurred. Miyuki sounded irritated at being kept awake, yet he made no attempts to move from his position on his side. Eijun didn't think he was even fully aware of what was going on anymore as the chemicals that lingered lulled him to sleep.
"We need to do something about your face," Eijun grunted as he made an attempt to push himself into a seated position. It did not go well. He felt too weak to put any force behind the motion. He had both his hands underneath himself as if he were about to do a push-up, but only managed to lift his torso a couple of inches off the ground before his arms gave out. He just needed to raise himself enough to pull his knees up, but his legs hurt in a way that may make that movement impossible. Or at the very least, excruciatingly painful.
"...later…" Miyuki groaned as his eye closed completely for a second time.
"Not later, now." Eijun reached out to shake Miyuki awake again, to no avail. Calling out to him didn't achieve anything either. In a last-ditch effort, Eijun dug his fingernails into Miyuki's bicep to see if the pain would jar him, but unfortunately, not even that worked, Miyuki had fully succumbed to the gas's effects once more.
Which was not good. Eijun didn't know exactly what to do. He had been hoping Miyuki would have some idea, but apparently, he was going to be out of commission and leave Eijun to figure it out on his own. They didn't have any more forms of fabric other than their shorts. However, Eijun didn't feel comfortable being fully nude. They were already in a vulnerable state as it was and the lack of clothes was a small layer of protection they no longer had. Eijun himself hadn't searched the cabinets for materials, though Miyuki hadn't found anything useful in them for his nosebleed and reused the fabric band that was shoved in his mouth. The small strip of cloth was already crusted over with dried blood, and even if he rinsed it off now, it wouldn't do well on the extent of the gash. Though, it may come in handy for dabbing away excess blood and dirt particles. It was better than nothing, at least.
The first problem, however, was getting his legs to cooperate with him, regardless of the damage to them. His wounds, for the most part, were stitched up so he couldn't in good conscience leave Miyuki to lay there and bleed, but he didn't have many if any at all, options he could make use of. The attempt to push himself up and slide his knees underneath his weight ended in failure, but maybe he could roll over to his back and he could straighten up from there.
It was worth a shot.
Eijun flailed himself around until he came to a rest on his side, but had to stop short as pain shot through his legs as he had put a large amount of pressure on the wounds. They were just above his knees, and in his attempt to roll, he had instinctively tried to use his knees to assist the flip over. While it had succeeded to move him off his stomach, he could feel a warmth seep out of the wounds with the accompanied heated throb that radiated outward. Eijun squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the pain to simmer down, at least enough so he could unclench his fists and peel his nails out of the palm of his hands. He shivered through the pain, and he quickly began to wonder if the levels would ever lessen, or if it was going to continue to expand. Just the thought of movement felt as if it increased the pain. Eijun grit his teeth; he couldn't just lay there, he needed to move, dammit. In one motion and with all of his weight, he flopped over completely onto his back.
He released a shaky breath, it hadn't been as bad as he feared it would. The roll onto his side had been worse, or maybe that was because he had already irritated the wounds too much to really tell if the action had hurt. Either way, progress was made and it was a whole lot easier to push himself into a seated position. It seemed almost pathetic to repeatedly struggle for something as simple as to sit up. Lately, he had come to learn that the small, everyday things he could normally do could be so easily stripped from him. The lack of control they had was terrifying.
Eijun was hit with a strong rush of vertigo at the new position. The room swirled around him and it took all of what little strength he had to keep himself upright. Eijun squeezed his eyes shut with the onslaught of dizziness, with the off chance that everything would settle when he opened them again. Unfortunately, the effect was the exact opposite of what he wanted and made it ten times worse. As he wasn't able to observe the room spiraling, he was instead hit with the sensation as if he was spinning. He could feel himself slowly topple to one side and barely caught himself with his arm before he could fall over completely. The nausea struck soon after, and with it, his eyes shot open, but it was already too late, his stomach was rejecting the little that it contained.
He just barely managed to twist his upper half to the side to avoid vomiting on his lap when the retching began. A small stream of clear fluid splattered onto the concrete next to him, the taste of bile adhered to the back of his tongue. After the first bout, not much else came up other than stomach acid, and even that, quickly ran out. It left him to painfully dry heave; eyes watering and nose running as his body continued its attempt to purge. Eijun had to force himself to cough to break the cycle as he stared blankly at the darkened spot on the ground. His arm shook from where it held him several inches above the concrete as he panted heavily through his mouth. He remained slouched to the side while he waited for the nausea to fade, the rest of his aches temporarily forgotten. The temptation to lay back down and sleep was excruciatingly compelling. Eijun was so close to doing just that but caught himself right as the thought fleeted across his mind. He couldn't rest yet, and if he lays down now for even a small break, he could almost guarantee that he wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.
With his free hand, Eijun wiped at his eyes then his nose, and lastly, he broke the small string of saliva-bile mixture that connected his mouth to the floor. He slowly pushed himself back until he was seated upright once again, careful to keep his movements slow or risk the nausea amplifying. Thankfully, his body agreed that he was done, and he was even more grateful that the lightheadedness had diminished slightly while he was busy throwing up.
Eijun was finally able to take a look at the damage done to his legs. He had felt all that was done to them but had yet to actually see the extent of it. He was almost afraid of what he would witness, but he knew he needed to look. Just above his knees were two long, maybe five inches in length, slices that were poorly stitched together. The edges were jagged and uneven, and the areas that had sutures appeared to have been pulled almost too tight, where the ends seemed to overlap each other. The gaps in between the stitches allowed blood to continue to freely flow out, and if Eijun hadn't just thrown up, he would have then when he looked closer into the divide, he was pretty positive he saw the inside of his leg. He hoped it was simply a trick of his mind like the blood caught the light at just the right angle to create the illusion. However, the only reason that kept him from believing his own fallacy was that he had felt how deep the man cut into his legs, knowing he cut straight to bone.
Blood absolutely covered his legs. It coated his thighs completely and smeared down his calves as well. His path to Miyuki was marked with a trail of blood as he dragged himself over. Eijun knew there would be blood, but he hadn't been expecting the amount he was seeing. Small drips fell over the edge of the metal table he had been on during the procedure, creating a puddle where the trail started. It somehow even soaked into his shorts, it turned the dark blue fabric to splotchy black. Even if he were to use his shorts to staunch blood flow, he would have to reconsider now knowing they were contaminated. But what was there for him to use anyway?
A tiny glint of metal caught his eye out of his peripherals. When he zeroed his gaze in on the item, he instantly recognized the hook the kidnapper had tossed to him after he assaulted Miyuki. A short length of suture was still connected to it and Eijun immediately knew what he needed to do. He wasn't going to risk dragging himself to it in case he struggles to sit up again, but he also knew he wouldn't be able to walk without even needing to try to find out. Which left him scooting to retrieve it and back. While he probably looked silly as he closed the short distance, it was effective and only caused him minimal amounts of pain. Hook held between his lips, Eijun pulled himself backward. It was significantly easier on his legs, as it mainly required the use of his hands and arms, though he had to glance behind him often to know when to stop.
When he returned to Miyuki's side, he twisted himself to face him and pushed Miyuki's shoulder so he was flat on his back. Eijun started at Miyuki's form, unsure how to proceed. Already, Eijun knew he was going to have to put himself in a position that would likely be painful, as he didn't think he could manage good angles seated next to Miyuki's head and legs outstretched. He had an idea of what might be the easiest approach but knows his wounds would not agree. It would be best to just do it without overthinking it. If he allows himself to consider how much it'll hurt, he knows he would be more likely to chicken out midway.
With a deep breath in, Eijun hoisted himself up and pulled his legs underneath him so he was seated on his knees. And as he thought, the position hurt like hell. His legs were already screaming at him to move, but he wasn't done. He lifted his right leg up to stretch it across Miyuki so he ended up straddled over his torso, knees on either side of him. Eijun clenched his jaw through the sharp pain, like a heated knife being repeatedly stabbed into his legs. A light poke on his lip reminded him of the hook. Eijun pulled the hook from between his lips as he examined Miyuki's face. There weren't a lot of sutures left on the hook, which meant he would need to plan out where they were going to go. It also meant there was no room for mistakes.
Eijun doesn't know how to sew, and he was positive applying stitches wasn't the same. Honestly, he would have been better off attempting to fix a hole in a shirt over closing a wound on a face. But there were no other options or any other people who could do it. They didn't even have a mirror for Miyuki to do it himself if he were awake. That left it all up to Eijun. He leaned forward and stared at the deeper portion across Miyuki's forehead. He will start there, then move to his cheek. The bit over his nose wasn't nearly as bad for Eijun to waste stitching on it. Eiun reached a shaky hand onto Miyuki's head. He hesitated before he finally worked up the guts to pinch a section of the wound together with the needle held poised between the fingers of his left hand. His first attempt was weak, the sharp end didn't even pierce flesh. Eijun was horrifyingly surprised with how much pressure was required for him to get results and was actually pretty glad Miyuki wasn't awake for it. With another deep breath, Eijun forced himself to fully commit and shove the hooked needle through the first edge of skin and up from underneath and into the skin on the other side. He pulled it completely through, suture easily sliding through the punctures as blood beaded out of the new holes.
The next step, however, stumped him. How was he supposed to tie it off? Eijun didn't think he would be able to tie a knot onto the loose end, but he didn't think he would be able to simply continue the stitching in one single loop. He'll need to cut it off at some point to conserve what he has, but he doesn't have scissors or even a knife. What he did have, however, was his teeth. Though he didn't know how well that would work, yet it was all he had. Eijun grabbed the loose end and looped it around to tie it like he would a shoe. He tried to use as little of the length as possible as he slowly pulled the edges of the wound together, not wanting it to be too lax or too tight. When he was satisfied with what he had, he curved the suture around to double knot his work into place. Eijun leaned further to get his teeth onto where he would want it to be cut if he had access to a sharp object. His front teeth themselves didn't appear to be enough just from biting down, but with a sawing motion, he eventually separated the sections.
Eijun repeated the steps two more times on Miyuki's forehead before he moved on to his cheek. The cheek was harder to work on than the forehead as there was more cushion of the skin compared to the more solid surface of his forehead. The last few he did took longer as blood slicked the process and caused his hands to slip frequently. Several times he ended up jabbing the wound directly with the sharp side which was resulting in more blood welling up over the edge. By the time he chewed off the last of the sutures, he had gotten blood on areas of Miyuki's face that had otherwise been free of it, and he could feel drying blood on his own face, but mainly around his mouth. The amount of suture he had been left with was enough for six stitches. Three in Miyuki's forehead and three on his cheek. They weren't enough to fully close the wound, but it was something at least.
Eijun finally allowed himself to roll off Miyuki to lay on his back, and instantly relieved the pressure off of his legs. He didn't realize that his back was hurting from holding the position over Miyuki for so long until he straightened out his spine. Eijun sighed up at the ceiling as the adrenaline finally began to wear off, leaving him exhausted and numb.
Never again! He thought. The whole experience in stitching someone up had not been a good one, and he internally vowed to find an alternative next time. His eyes drifted closed as a small voice in the back of his mind informed him that he would do it again if he had to.
