Hello all!
Sorry for such a late update! Been busy with getting a big Yohna anniversary fic out - do check it out if you wish, it's on AO3! And then I was away, but now I'm back with an update. Hope you enjoy it and hopefully going forward we're back to regular every two weeks updates.
I came back to all your reviews, but if I missed you, please give me a shout, the email doesn't notify me for whatever reason :(
Take care and I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Thanks again for your sweet reviews, they always remind me to come back to the story! 3
SUMMARY: Sometimes our enemies are the people that we already know because they know enough about us to hurt us. Yoh knows his family and is afraid of their reaction to them finding out that Anna got hurt, so he tries putting into action a risky plan to avoid that at all costs even though the stress of the day is catching up to him once again.
Chapter 21: Facing a new 'enemy'
'Anna is mean and brutally harsh, but at the end of the day she's still quite young and has been through a lot today! The fact she acts like she does might only be a result of some really terrible past events that have left a deep mark in her life…We all have those and unfortunately they do follow us from one life stage to another…' Lizzy thought watching the girl sleep.
Her heart melted at the sight of her boyf-, fiancée watching Anna fondly, his deep affection for her and care, openly displayed both in his eyes and tender gestures.
"I was going to say…" Lizzy said.
Yoh jumped and looked her way, before he chuckled nervously.
"Sorry, I guess my mind flew away." He whispered.
"No need to be sorry, it's OK!" Lizzy smiled warmly his way before she continued in a soft voice. "And don't worry about whispering, the painkillers should keep her in deep sleep for a while, so she won't hear us! Just don't make any loud noises! I'm amazed she managed to stay this long awake, she fought so hard and not just with the sleep! She deserves to rest…"
"She does, it's been a long day…" Yoh trailed and was surprised to hear Lizzy continue his unfinished thought.
"For both of you. How are you feeling?"
"Me?" His eyes went wide for a second before he replied smiling. "I'm OK, didn't get hurt, that's just blood from her, it's not…"
"I didn't mean if you got hurt physically, but more like how are you holding? I might be wrong, but it's pretty obvious to me that you two aren't just crushing one for another or are just following your parents' choice and you seriously love each other which is really cute and great, but that also means it must really hurt to see her in pain. So, how are you feeling?"
"Uhhh…" Yoh wasn't sure how to respond.
He felt embarrassed to share his feelings with a stranger while at the same time he felt touched that someone that wasn't Anna or Amidamaru or even Manta cared enough to ask about him. He wasn't used to having people care about him…The people he wished cared more didn't seem to hold the same amount of genuine interest in his wellbeing as his friends or fiancée or even the almost stranger in front of him. And that just made him wonder how come he was worth it to some people and not to others? Was it something he did or say?
"You don't have to say if you don't want to." Lizzy added as she finished Anna's bandage.
She went to wash her hands before she started gathering the chocolate bars, water bottles and her card that Yoh left on the floor. The boy almost jumped to help before he remembered his promise to Anna to hold her hand, so he froze in place.
"S…" Yoh opened his mouth to say.
"It's OK, it was an accident, no need to feel bad about it!" Lizzy comforted giving him a reassuring smile.
Yoh closed it.
"I'm an overthinker, not a mind reader just in case you're wondering."
The boy smiled. The nurse wasn't too bad to talk to, he liked that she was so honest about everything almost as if he could read her mind. It put him at ease despite generally being good at reading people even if they didn't speak their mind.
"I'll be fine if she is." He replied finally answering her question about his wellbeing.
"About that, been meaning to say, but she then fell asleep. I'll also repeat it when she wakes up, but I think it would help you to hear she will be fine. The wound is deep, but fortunately it didn't reach anything vital or made any serious damage, she's been really lucky I must say!"
"I'm truly grateful you told me that, nurse." Yoh said offering his characteristic smile as appreciation, genuinely relieved to hear that.
"As I previously said, just Lizzy is fine. I know the formal title is nurse and bla bla, but I'm not from around here, so I prefer just Lizzy when you're not asking for me at the main desk or talking to other medical staff. Unless you also prefer me to call you Young Asakura."
"Not at all! OK, then thank you Lizzy!" Yoh said trying to unwind.
"There is a 'but', but don't worry. She shouldn't make any great effort for the next 48 hours so she won't put much pressure on the wound. I would rather she walk only for toilet needs and just mostly sit down or even lay so the leg is not bent too much." Lizzy explained as she came towards Anna's body reaching for it only to see Yoh lean over the girl protectively, but looking at her confused and rather fearful. All this time, he never let go of her hand for one second despite the rather awkward position.
"What are you doing?"
"I just want to move her a bit more on this side so you can also sit on the bed, you must be tired!"
"I'll move her, don't worry!"
She saw the plea in his eyes and let him do what he wished.
Yoh put his free hand on her back gently, leaning over her and lifting her ever so slightly, yet with great care and moved her further away. He didn't make much space for him, her he managed to squeeze himself in, all this time without letting go of her hand. He leaned on the bed's pillow, yet he maintained a sitting position.
Lizzy watched all this both touched and amazed.
"You're quite strong! Not that she's heavy, but still!"
"I exercise regularly." Yoh chuckled flustered by the compliment, so he quickly added changing topics. "She likes her space and she doesn't mind sharing it with me, so I am sure she would feel better knowing I moved her if she does ask about it."
"I understand." Lizzy nodded softly before she grabbed a bed cover from the nearby cupboard before she approached and dropped it on Anna from as high as possible from her body. "Then I'll let you sort out the covers for her too! Body temperature drops in your sleep, so it would be good to get her wrapped up a bit! I know this room has a fine temperature, but just looking at those bare shoulders and knees give me chills!"
Yoh nodded before he made sure his Anna was all covered up to her chin. If Lizzy hadn't been there, he would have kissed his fiancée's forehead, but he refrained, feeling embarrassed to do such an intimate gesture between them with the nurse there.
"She'll probably wake up in an hour or so, although if needed you can spend the night here." Lizzy said as she dragged a chair close to where Yoh was sitting and stretched her arm offering him a chocolate bar. "Here, eat."
"But it's yours." Yoh replied watching her puzzled.
"I asked for three, one for each. I assumed none of you ate in a while. And the bottles of water are yours too. You were really panicking at the beginning and I'm sorry I couldn't help more and even sent you away to get stuff, but she was the priority to sort out and I needed to focus on her. She's all good now, so both as part of my job and as a genuinely concerned human being, I am now fully concentrating on you."
"But I don't have money on me, I'm sorry." Yoh replied not wanting to believe Lizzy actually meant to give him some food he desperately needed.
"Oh, you got me wrong! No need for money, it was free anyway, it's part of my benefits as an employee here and there's no crime to use some for you and her!" Lizzy insisted. "By all means, please eat and have some water! It might not be showing visibly, but I can see you're still rather shocked by the events. So let me do my job - eat and drink."
"Thank you." Yoh said in a small, yet grateful voice as he took the chocolate with his free hand and Lizzy placed the water on the nearby stand.
He was at a loss of words. He was absolutely starving and still quite stressed about the situation because he didn't know how he'll explain this to his family after his grandfather fussed so much about him not taking care of Anna. What if they…they…they send her away from him?
Yoh immediately pushed that thought aside and focused on finding a way not to tell them. A sudden idea crossed his mind - if Doctor Haru had been here, he wouldn't have dared to ask, he saw how devoted to his family the man was. However, with Lizzy, he felt a different vibe, so Yoh felt he could try this newfound plan. He just had to be careful how to get the words out without getting himself overwhelmed by his fears or saying too much.
He felt physically exhausted for putting such a plan into action, yet he didn't have much choice but to run away with Anna before anyone could notify his family and then risk lying to them hoping they'll believe him and not the hospital that he was the one hurt.
So for now, he focused first on getting some food before tormenting himself further or he was sure he'll faint. He couldn't afford that - he needed to be awake for Anna and guard her sleeping form and also for trying out his plan, so he needed to compose himself although, as Lizzy noted, he still felt rather shook by the events.
He tore the wrapping with his teeth before he started munching on the chocolate. His stomach started to growl pleased and it made him go red before he mumbled an apology.
"It's OK, it's OK! It's normal! This should give you some energy before maybe you get home to your parents and have some food from them. Speaking of, shouldn't we at least call hers? I know you live in a different town - we've seen each other before briefly and I sometimes update your medical records, so I have a rough idea about where you're actually from." Lizzy assured him as she started unwrapping her own chocolate bar.
She noticed him slightly tensing and swallowed his bite before he spoke.
"Yeah, my family lives far away from here. And well Anna's…they're not here either actually…"
"They also live away?" Lizzy asked chocolate bar intact in her hands, too focused on his words.
"No…ummm…I don't know…My family took Anna in actually, her parents kind of abandoned her…" Yoh said uncomfortable to share such private things about Anna, yet he had to because he needed to ask for a favour that required him to say a bit more than any of them would have liked - he hoped Anna won't be too upset about it.
"THEY KIND OF ABANDONED HER!" Lizzy cried a bit too loud totally appalled by what she had just learnt.
Anna started to stir and Yoh and Lizzy froze, holding their breath. The itako's brows furrowed in her sleep as she started curling towards Yoh's side till her head reached their intertwined hands and she turned sideways so she could rest on them, making the cover fall down her shoulders. She made a content sight in her sleep as she nuzzled her head on them happy with her new sleeping position on the side, luckily leaning on the opposite leg than the wounded one. Her expression relaxed as a ghost of a smile crossed her face before she went back to her deep sleep.
Yoh and Lizzy exhaled, though the boy's face was now a tomato. However, that didn't stop him from using his free hand to move the covers back on the girl.
"Aww, she just wanted a better pillow." The nurse giggled looking softly at them and Yoh wasn't sure what to say other than just munch the rest of his chocolate to distract himself.
"I'm sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you! And I also apologize for my previous outburst, it's just I've been teasing her about her parents before and now knowing this I feel I've been rather cruel to her, I feel horrible!" Lizzy admitted feeling a knot in her throat.
Now looking back it made sense Anna didn't appreciate her comment about her parents finding her challenging because they found her that challenging they abandoned her. Lizzy made an effort to swallow her tears.
"It's OK, don't worry, you didn't know!" Yoh said kindly trying to comfort her upon seeing her distress.
"I did apologize after, but I still feel really mean for what I said. It makes sense she was so upset…" Lizzy said thoughtful barely hearing the boy before she reached for her uneaten chocolate bar and gave it to Yoh just as he finished his.
"But I had mine, that's yours or Anna's…" Yoh replied looking confused at her, his blush finally subsidizing, yet a small redness was still visible.
"I've put Anna's aside, this is mine, but I no longer want it, so you can have it, it does look that you need it more than me."
"But I had mine and you could be hungry in the next few minutes or maybe you want it later?"
"I'll buy myself a new one if I need, but after the gaffe I did to your friend, trust me, I'm really not feeling hungry at all. Please, I insist, have mine, you're a growing boy and even though it won't make for a meal, it's still better than nothing."
Yoh looked at Lizzy still reluctant before he grabbed the chocolate and she smiled encouragingly.
"Thank you." He said shyly not used to being treated so kindly by a stranger.
Yoh knew her job was to make people better, but something about it felt like she was doing more than her role actually entitled. It confused him because he knew his family instructed him to what hospital to go to and what doctor to ask for, so he knew if he was nice it was because of his family or the money they probably paid him to keep his 'street fights' hidden, yet his body treated from any wounds.
However, with Lizzy, things were different - her kindness seemed genuine. She was also putting too many questions compared to doctor Haru who never asked more than he needed as probably agreed on with his family. Then what was she up for? Did she have some ulterior motive?
Yoh knew the best way to test if she was good was just to make Amidamaru show up - people who see ghosts are good people, after all. However, whether if she did or not would then result in a scene the boy wanted to avoid until Anna was also up. What if she was a shaman? He can't fight and watch his fiancée, so she needed her up before doing such unpredictable things. And anyway, he had something more important to sort out before that.
"So, I was saying that since Anna's under my family care, well actually under my care since we live together…"
"You two live together?"
"Yes." Yoh realized he got into a risky territory.
"All by yourself?"
"We live with the gh…" Yoh caught himself mid-word before he rephrased. "Yes, we have each other, we've grown to be rather responsible, don't worry!"
"Is that normal here? You see, I haven't been living this much in this country to know all the cultural habits…"
"Yes, you did mention it! Where do you come from? We have an exchange student from the USA in our class, but he's not very nice."
"Oh, then I hope I made a better impression. I'm also from the US, Florida more exactly. I lived there for ten years before my family moved to England. You see, my mother is American and my father is English and they met in university because my mother wanted to study abroad."
"Oh, wow, you've travelled a lot!" Yoh said in awe while munching his chocolate happily - he didn't have such a treat this often and he was still pretty hungry.
"Not quite! Just to England and well, I've actually did visit some other places before coming to Japan…"
"That's still a lot more than me! Tokyo is the biggest city I've ever been to, otherwise, I've just travelled to smaller cities or places. And I've never been abroad although I think I would like to see other parts of the world."
"You're still young, you have plenty of time ahead of you!" Lizzy smiled encouragingly.
"Thank you!" Yoh beamed. "So how did you end up here?"
"My sister and I wanted to try something new than the British universities and we found some good offers of doing university abroad followed by guaranteed job opportunities. We were also young and had been studying Japanese for years, so we wanted to try something else than English and fly away from the nest…" Lizzy's cheerful expression suddenly saddened as she continued. "It was also because our parent's relationship had started to deteriorate and we had enough of their pointless arguments and silly comebacks or how it felt we were always in between or taking sides. We hated it. We just wanted to start new and leave the family drama behind because it was really weighing on us, so I guess that also gave us enough power to just move abroad. It was hard at the beginning and it is still challenging especially because we finished university on the other side of Tokyo which feels like a different town, and we've moved here because of our jobs. We're still getting used to it, but I was lucky to get under doctor Haru's wing and my sister's happy with job, so we're overall good. We even have our blocks next to one another, but we don't live together. Too much time together and we bite our heads off." Lizzy chuckled before she asked. "Do you have any siblings, Yoh?"
"No, I'm an only child."
"Well, then just trust me on this one and I'll trust you about you two being OK living by yourself." Lizzy smiled before her voice became serious, drawing Yoh's attention to her. "But I do promise you I won't let you two walk out of this room before I give you 'The Talk' or at least a revised or an updated version of it, OK?"
"The Talk? What's that? Something to do with what happened to Anna?" His eyes grew wide in concern and Lizzy couldn't stop herself from putting one hand comfortingly on his shoulder.
She noticed the way he froze under the touch and the conflicting emotions in his eyes - fear, uncertainty, puzzlement, nervousness.
"No, not at all, nothing to do with her. As I said, she's out of harm for now unless she starts jogging or kicking with that leg, so don't worry, she's OK. The question is if you are OK, you're still rather tense?" Lizzy comforted him giving a light pat on his shoulder before she retracted her arm back looking softly at the boy who nodded, so she continued. "The Talk is just something important any person who'd done any medical practice should make sure two young teens like you are aware of, especially if you're living together and your parents haven't told you much, although I am sure they might have mentioned it."
"OK. I am not sure if my family mentioned it, but yes, sure." Yoh said sheepishly not sure what to expect, but he felt too relieved to hear once more that Anna was definitely out of harm's way.
He hadn't even realized how much those words have been weighing on him despite Lizzy previously telling him about her condition. Some part of him somehow expected there might be something she didn't tell them and was waiting for her to wake up before saying that, but it seemed his mind just kept thinking of the worse because of the stress instead of his usual 'Things will work out' motto. So he was grateful to hear Lizzy's comforting words about Anna's condition once again and he also truly believed her this time, all doubting thoughts gone.
"Good! Have some water, you're probably dehydrated and that doesn't help with stress too you know? Come on, it will help you calm your nerves!"
"Aha." Yoh nodded unaware what to say as he drank from his new bottle of water - he didn't even realize how thirsty he'd been until he saw he had drank half of the bottle.
Again, he felt foreign to this feeling of being taken care of, especially this much. Aside from Anna and Amidamaru and most recently Manta, he wasn't used to people paying much attention to his needs, so it felt rather nice that someone cared so much. It made him smile at the thought that his wellbeing mattered so much to this stranger. Actually, Lizzy wasn't a stranger anymore to him.
The more he talked to her, the better he felt. He didn't think anymore that maybe she was just doing her job - Yoh praised himself for being good at reading people. He strongly believed that as much as it was part of Lizzy's role as a nurse, it was also part of her personality. So he felt much more confident when he finally voiced his request.
"Since I and Anna are living together and she's under my care somehow, would you mind not telling my family she's the one that got hurt? Could you instead just say it was me?"
"Is that why I was informed you were the one stabbed?"
"Yes."
"Why do you want to hide the truth? You do realize it won't be good for me to update the records inaccurately and I will also need to inform your family, which will mean worrying them about something that hasn't happened to you." Lizzy said seriously, sounding rather upset. "Just because I'm nice, doesn't mean I will lie for you, that's just not OK."
"No, no, you got me wrong, I apologies!" Yoh immediately bowed deeply in front of her, before he raised to continue looking into her eyes pleadingly. "I'm not using you because you are nice, honestly, please believe me! It's just that if my family hears something has happened to her they might not be very pleased with me and…"
He squeezed Anna's hand lightly before he left his free hand brush gently one of her golden locks as if trying to get some comfort. However, his voice was still shaky as he continued - he didn't expect he'll end up voicing his fears or this much about his family, but his emotions made him rather careless with his admissions.
"I'm afraid they'll take her away. They are more worried for her than they are for me and I really believe they might do something like that and please don't try to say something like you're sure they do care about me, just trust me, they don't. I promise you that if you call them and tell them something has happened to me they won't even flinch, but if you mention her, they'll just go insane. And she's all I have, please don't tell them. I promise no one noticed she was the one hurt when we came and that I won't tell anyone that she was the one hurt. Please…" Yoh almost begged, voice becoming smaller and smaller as he watched Lizzy's serious gaze not wavering.
Lizzy's brows furrowed, a conflicting battle inside her happening - between doing the right thing, which was the logical thing to do, or helping Yoh and following her heart's instincts. It didn't sound like Yoh was making stuff up, in fact, he seemed to believe what he was saying to the point he looked as if he was about to burst into tears any second from the horror of losing the girl.
His hand squeezed Anna's hand tighter and the girl's brows narrowed in her sleep. Then he moved the other hand from her head around her body, holding her protectively - the girl's relaxed again, her expression serene and unaware of the situation outside. Yoh closed his eyes tightly trying to stop the tears that were stinging his eyes and tried to breathe, forcing himself to get over it. This wasn't how he hoped his request will go, yet Lizzy's reaction made him realize what he was asking was against the rules and he totally forgot about this. Maybe he should have waited for Anna to wake up than rush with this request.
Yet, part of him still hoped that he could make Lizzy understand because something about her just made him trust her enough to ask for this favour. It also felt less risky than running away, yet now that he voiced it, his fears and reality overwhelmed him, knocking the breath out of him.
He tried focusing on Anna, he just couldn't lose her - he just saved her from the oni and now he needed to save her from his family? Yoh wasn't sure he would be able to win this battle, at least not at this very moment when he was just begging the universe to give him a break from everything that it had been throwing at him recently.
He felt a light touch within him from Amidamaru - it felt comforting, yet it didn't fully calm him enough to stop the tears that flood his cheeks. He felt powerless against his emotions because he loved Anna and couldn't bear the thought of not leaving with her anymore or even sending her back with his family - not after all the progress they've been doing about opening up toward one another. They would only destroy everything they worked so hard on.
And at this point, Yoh realized his relationship with Anna was as important as becoming Shaman King for him. Maybe even more?
