Disclaimer: I don't own sCRYed or any of the characters, so please don't sue me. My lawyer only handles criminal charges No original characters, either- too much extra work. Of course, more spoilers- don't ask me which episodes.
A/N: Here's the official fixed-up version of this chapter. Reviews are quickly becoming my life's blood! More! More! I'm constantly checking my computer for new submissions :Cackles like mad scientist at newest addiction: …feed the hunger!
Chapter 2b- waking
"I said get out!" Kazuma yells. "I'm fine, damn it!"
"I just need to check your bandages to make sure you're healing properly…" Mimori's voice coaxes from inside his room.
"I told you I'm fine! Get the hell out of here! Now!" he escalates as if he's about to throw a fit, "Kanami, where are you! Get this chick out of here now, damn it!"
Mimori rushes out into the hall and shuts out the room behind her. She rests her back heavily against the door and stares at the ceiling, relieved to escape such an icy welcome. God, what a jerk! She didn't even get a chance to give him a thorough check-over. But at least he wasn't bleeding through his dressings.
When she finally looks down Kanami and Elian are standing in front of her- Elian looking concerned and Kanami looking apologetic.
Kanami sheepishly offers, "Sorry, Mimori. It's not you. He just doesn't like doctors very much…"
"But I'm not a doctor!" Mimori begins her protest, but sees the futility of arguing a moot point. In what is fast turning into 'Tachibana Hospital', she is the only one with any medical training. This is the worst game of dress-up she's ever played.
She allows herself an audible sigh. I don't suppose someone else wants to check on Ryuho for me. I just can't deal with this right now…
She is surprised when Kanami responds as if she had spoken her thoughts aloud, "Mimori, why don't you want to see Ryuho?" Elian directs a similarly inquisitive gaze at Mimori and then it begins to make sense.
Two Alter users with extrasensory abilities. Why even pretend? Still, she can't quite find the words to express her hesitance. "It's… complicated," is all she can manage. "Another patient who doesn't want to see me for entirely different reasons."
"You shouldn't expect the same behavior from Ryuho. He has…" Elian is searching for a better word but goes for the obvious, "…manners."
It's not his manners I'm worried about. "I don't think I'm the person he wants to see when he wakes up."
"I'm sure that's not true," offers Elian. He looks around to be sure they are alone, and then whispers, "He cares about you a great deal. You know that, right? Right now he's hurting a lot. Emotionally he's in a bad place."
Mimori's fear begins to melt into concern, "Really?"
Kanami adds with sincerity, "He's been having awful nightmares ever since we brought him here. He blames himself for everything that has gone wrong- for all the people he cares about who have died." Elian nods in agreement.
Can this be true? But it's not his fault. In fact, much can be traced back to her and the actions she'd taken against HOLY. She had followed him to the Lost Ground, to HOLY, and had upset his entire world. I'm to blame for his pain.
"Ms. Mimori, that's not…"
"Could one of you come find me when Cougar wakes up?" Mimori cuts Elian off. "I'm going to check on Ryuho now. I have to talk to him." I have to tell him it's not his fault. He needs to know that I never meant for this to happen…
As Mimori makes her way down the hall, Kanami and Elian exchange worried looks.
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Mimori shuts the guestroom door behind her as quietly as she can. When she enters Ryuho's room, she doesn't count on him still being asleep. Should I wake him?
She can feel all the nerve she had worked up in the hall on the way to his room now rapidly dissipating. He does need his rest…
Nevertheless, his wounds need examination as well. She makes her way to his bedside and does a visual check of all the bandages she can see. All seem clean and dry and still in place. She sits down in the chair next to his bed and reaches for his arm to take a pulse. Then she hesitates, worrying that touching him will wake him.
Hell, touching him might not be the best idea for her, either. Despite the decisions she's made about giving Ryuho his space, her brain and heart seem to be warring with each other whenever she is in his presence. Just being this near to him makes her thankful for the chair, because her knees are threatening to do a happy dance. She's thankful for his eyelids, too, because they are locking away those piercing garnet pools that threaten to drown her every time she lingers on them for too long.
Despite her original intentions she finds she is not quite ready for a conversation just yet. She leans her elbows on the bed in contemplation, allowing the fatigue from the day's hectic events to settle out of her muscles. Her head is so heavy. Her eyelids, too.
She folds her arms across each other on the edge of the bed and lays her head on them. I just need a minute to rest. The last thing she sees before her eyes drift shut is Ryuho's sleeping face.
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Cougar feels a breeze on his face and gently opens his eyes- the left, then the right. When they focus, he is staring up at a dusty ceiling fan turning slowly over his head. Where am I?
A bright spot catches the corner of his eye and he realizes it is sunlight pouring through a bare window. Sunlight. The last thing he remembers was being outside, resting comfortably, and preparing himself to 'slip away'.
He had felt it coming over him, like the slowly approaching shade from an unhurried cloud overhead. It had been so certain and inevitable. It had wrapped around him in a delicious calm, promising relief from all burdens. There had been some pain as well, but that, too, had faded with his consciousness. Why, then, was he laying in a bed somewhere, staring at a sunny window? Hmm. No, not dead… Interesting…
He allows his eyes to scan the scene and take in the contents of a bedroom- a quaint little nightstand, a dresser against a wall, the sliding door of a wall closet, a stuffed wing chair, a very large man snoozing lazily in the chair…
A smile instantly stretches across Cougar's face, "If this is heaven, then you're the fattest angel I've ever seen."
Waking to the sound of a familiar voice, Urizane quickly returns the jab, "Like you'd end up in heaven! Ha hah! Smooches to you, too, knucklehead."
Cougar chuckles in response, then asks, "Where are we?"
"Tachibana's house. You gave us quite a scare, man! What were ya tryin' ta do? Die on us?"
Actually… but instead he offers, "Uh, sorry."
He is sure that Urizane knows about the experiments conducted on Alter users on the Mainland. All of that ugliness had come out to the remaining HOLY members following Kyoji Mujo's defeat. However, he guesses that Urizane must not have been informed of Cougar's own history on the Mainland. Well, that little conversation can certainly be put off for a while.
With a hint of seriousness, Urizane inquires, "How ya feelin'?"
"I dunno. Fine, I guess. How am I supposed to feel?"
"Gosh, I dunno," Urizane returns his comment. "This is kind of a first for me- bringing back a dead guy and what not." Then he puts a bit of thought into his answer. "I suppose I'd be… hungry. Ha hah!"
"You've got melons for brains!" Cougar responds and sits up in the bed. He goes to lift the sheet off his chest when he realizes it is clinging to him. Brows furrowing, he explores his torso and finds two particularly tacky spots.
Urizane chuckles at his bewildered friend, "That's where we hooked up the jumper cables."
"Umm… Where are my clothes?" Cougar is not entirely comfortable with his shirtless-ness.
"Yeah, sorry about that. It was such an emergency and everything was going so fast, Ms. Mimori had to cut off your…"
"She's here! And she cut off my clothes! YOWZA!" Cougar becomes absolutely giddy at the prospect of the girl of his affections undressing him. "Was she impressed by my manly physique?"
Urizane can't contain himself at this point, "Ha hah! I think she was too busy trying to save your life, dude."
"Ah! So it was the lovely Ms. Minori that brought me back to this world!" He begins to wind up in standard Cougar format…
"Amazing!SomuchurgencyandactionhuntingaftertheAngelofDeathandsnatchingbackalifefromitsclutchesThespeedrequiredforsucharapidanddecisiveresponseIwishIcouldhavebeenthereWellofcourseIwastherebutIwishIcouldhaveseenitTHE EXHILARATION!"
After this display Urizane is sure that Cougar will be just fine. The noise of this outburst reaches the hall, summoning Elian to the room. He pokes his head in and then beams an ear to ear grin at his recovering comrade.
At his arrival, Cougar welcomes the youngster, "Elian!" Look at that smile! Funny, I didn't know the kid was so fond of me.
Elian enters the room and gives the man in bed an appraising look. Satisfied, he turns around to leave, throwing his words over his shoulder, "I'm going to tell Ms. Mimori that you're awake. She'll want to see this."
"Ackk! Ms. Miiiiinoriiiiiii!"
Urizane half expects the poor guy to fall out of bed from his excitement. "Get a grip, would'ja?"
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The next eyes to flutter open are the color of a dark, heady wine. As Ryuho's mind begins to clear he realizes with dismay that he had allowed himself to drift off to sleep again. He is about to mentally berate himself for such a transgression when he suddenly senses the presence of another nearby.
His eyes dart around the room and settle on a head full of silky black hair resting on the side of his bed. The tension that had crept into his muscles instantly dissolves as his gaze trails from those unmistakable tresses to the delicate features of that angelic face. Mimori…
She embodies the ultimate test of his outer strength. Ever since her return to the Lost Ground, the mere sight of her threatens to crumble the stony façade Ryuho has worked so diligently to erect. It is his own fault because, as children, he had allowed her access to a heart entirely too fragile for exposure to such a vibrant personality. As a defense his typical shyness had always magnified in her presence. However, he was ultimately powerless to overcome the beckon of her inviting smile.
Her exuberance and idealism had been intoxicating and his youthful naïveté had permitted him to cautiously sample an all-too obvious drug. Before he knew it he was drinking her in- spending every available moment with her, lost in her perpetual radiance. Then Mimori had vanished as abruptly as she had appeared, unwittingly taking a part of him as a souvenir. Those youthful missteps had relinquished a control that he would now be chasing for the rest of his life. All because of her…
Ryuho's train of thought breaks when he realizes he has been staring at her throughout his mental musings. He reflexively shuts his eyes, only to have the violent images of his chillingly vivid dream resurface. The images of Mimori tortured, bruised and broken. She can't stay near him. His current endeavors are too dangerous and he cannot afford to compromise her well-being. She is far too important to him.
He must ensure her safety by keeping his distance from her. She can't die like everyone else for whom he has cared- he won't permit it. She won't like it or understand it, but I will protect her. He will do so by leaving her- forcing her to follow a path leading away from him.
A soft unconscious sigh from the girl at his side threatens to instantly undo him. He is one of the greatest Alter users alive and yet this human girl wields a power he may not be able to match. As she stirs to awaken, he fortifies himself for the impending battle of wills, one which may rival the fight that put him in this bed.
A/N: Next installment- Mimori v. Ryuho- what happens when people with such intertwined pasts duke it out in a verbal spar? Also more Kazuma! More Cougar! This is too much fun! Did I mention R&R is much appreciated?