Heartaches

Chapter 26

By KellyQ

After Akiza left, Mina walked past Jack's room and stopped. She smiled to herself, knowing that things will either get better or change. She walked into her own room and closed the door. Mina leaned against it for a moment before she started to get ready for bed and when she awoke in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, she noticed Yusei at the kitchen table working on what looked like a damaged cell phone.

Mina blinked several times. She couldn't help but stare at Yusei's body since he was only wearing his boxers. Mina had to admit that Yusei had a good-looking figure.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" Yusei asked quietly, not even pausing to look at the woman.

Mina snapped out of her thought, not meaning to be caught gazing at him. "N-no! I was just getting some water." She walked over to the cabinet, got her cup, filled it up, then turned and walked out.

Before she walked out, Yusei watched her for a moment and noticed that Mina was blushing the whole time. A light teasing smile made its way to his lips, knowing that Mina was one of those people who was open minded. Yusei knew on some level what she was thinking when it came to his relationship with Jack and what the blonde-haired teen wanted. The expression on her face was all too clear when she and Akiza walked in earlier.

"Mina?" came Jack's voice, snapping him back to reality. "Where's Yusei?"

"Uh..he's in the kitchen," Mina replied.

Yusei looked up to see Jack walk in, dressed in his blue robe. Mina bit her lip, wondering if she should listen in. No. I need to respect their privacy, she thought, walking into her own room, closing the door behind her.

Once Crow got Rally settled in his room and into bed, the red-haired teen walked into the kitchen to see Blister getting ready to leave. He paused and eyed Crow to see a distant look in his eyes.

"What got you to hit rock bottom?" Blister asked.

Crow sighed and walked over to the window and stared out. "Just thinkin' ..."

"I may not know Yusei as well as you do, but I wouldn't worry about things all too much," Blister reassured, heaving his bag onto the table and placing his laptop in it.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Crow responded. "It's Kiryu ... he's in a lot of pain and I feel so helpless ..."

"I know how you feel on some level," Blister responded, referring to what happened to him and Aero. He placed the strap on his right shoulder. "Don't be too hard on yourself ... we're doing what we can."

With that, Blister walked out, leaving Crow with his thoughts.

The tiny mechanical spider made its way into Kiryu's room, and watched him shifted uncomfortably in the hospital bed. After Martha had left to get some meds for him, he continued to shift around, feeling his legs move on their own accord. Kiryu moaned a little, feeling sore. The spider scurried under the bed when footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Trudge peered in to see that Kiryu looked a little tired and fragile. He walked up to see that his legs were tangled up within the sheets.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Trudge asked, dismissing the fact that Kiryu had brain damage and some times had bad seizures. "Do you want me to remove the sheets or what?" Trudge continued to watch and he decided to pull the sheets back. Just as he did that, Kiryu started to twitch and shake. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and saliva formed at the corner of his mouth. Trudge frowned. "Hey, stop that, or you're going to hurt yourself!"

Without thinking, Trudge reached out and tried to hold Kiryu still. By this point, the spider had scurried to the other side of the room and made its way to the security camera and hooked itself to it. Before Trudge knew it, he was pulled back by another security guard and a nurse checking to see if Kiryu was alright.

"Hey, what's going on?" Trudge asked, confused why he was pulled back.

"I was going to ask you the same thing!" the nurse snapped. "Where you trying to take advantage of him or something?"

"Wha ... what? I was not! I just came in to check up on him and he started to twitch and shake," Trudge explained. "And that's when you guys came in!"

"What's going on?" came Martha's voice. They turned to see her standing there with a disapproving look.

"This officer tried to take advantage of this poor patient!" the nurse explained.

Martha eyed the whole thing and sighed. "What happened, Trudge?"

"Nothing! I just came in and he started to twitch and shake, so I tried to stop him from hurting himself!" Trudge explained.

Martha sighed again. "Why don't you go home and get some rest, Trudge," she advised.

The nurse and the security guard stared at Martha for a moment. Trudge looked down at the floor in embarrassment.

"Did you hear me, Trudge?" Martha said, louder than before.

"Yes, ma'am, I did. I guess you're right. I should be going now," the officer said shyly.

"Good boy," Martha said.

The nurse busied herself making sure that Kiryu was comfortable again as the security guard ushered Trudge to the hospital's front door.

When Martha was sure Kiryu was in good hands for the night, she left, but she couldn't get out of her head a sneaking suspicion that something was going on in that room and she was determined to find out what it was.

To be continued...