Chapter 7: Drowning Hopes of Survival. (Former Title: The Flooding Fear.)
Hikari was awake before the sun was up. Her Poketch showed the time to be about 5 am. She looked over at Satoshi, admiringly. He had saved her life twice now, and he seemed to deeply care about her, as he planned a surprise birthday party for her. She smiled as she leaned over to him and kissed him in the cheek. She started to blush now, but this time, she didn't care. She looked at her right arm, where the Beedrill stung her, then felt the area where the Beedrill got her with Pin Missile. Both places were still painful, but not as much as before. She struggled to stand up, using a tree near by for support. She started to practice walking without her 'crutch' because it made her appear pathetic (in her point of view).
After getting used to walking, she walked (more like, limped) over to Satoshi and shook him. This time, he just opened his eyes, and didn't sit up quickly (for once, he avoided head butting Hikari). They both ate breakfast (berries) and started heading South (after checking).
They walked for about half an hour, when they came across a large river.
'Damn it. Hikari can't swim in her current condition...' Satoshi looked around as he thought of a solution. 'Oh wait. Those Bamboo trees!' He walked towards the trees and cut them using his knife. He found some vines that he could use to tie them together. Hikari watched as Satoshi struggled to make a raft. She just limped over to him and helped him tie the Bamboo together. Having finished the raft, they ate whatever berry they had for lunch and pushed the raft towards the river. Before the raft actually touched the water, Satoshi lifted up Hikari and set her down on the raft and continued pushing. Thankfully, the water was calm, so the raft didn't go anywhere. Satoshi climbed on and started to row with Takeshi's dishes. Hikari did what she could with her left hand.
They rowed for about an hour. The raft was about 3 quarters through the river, when the water currents became strong. The wind was strong, and it started to rain. The raft managed to reach the other side, so he stood up on the raft and picked up Hikari in his arms.
"Satoshi, you shouldn't stand up on a raft when the water current is strong," she warned.
He didn't seem to listen and moved towards the edge of the raft. The raft was drifting away from the land, shaking violently. Desperate, Satoshi jumped off the raft in an attempt to reach the land. However, he couldn't reach the land, so he threw her with all his strength towards the land. She landed hard on her injured arm, the pain almost knocking her out. She was going to pass out, when the splash made from Satoshi landing woke her up. Satoshi surfaced quickly, extending his arm to reach for the land.
Unfortunately, the raft (moving fast from the current and the wind) rammed against the side of his head, knocking him out. Hikari, seeing Satoshi knocked out, started to panic. Determined to prevent Satoshi from drowning, she dived in after him, ignoring the pain from her wounds when they made contact with water. The water was below freezing, but didn't freeze due to the current. With the help of the current, Hikari reached Satoshi ('floating' under the raft) and grabbed him with her good arm. The current was strong, but desperation and fear of death gave Hikari extra strength she thought she didn't have. She was barely able to reach the land, with Satoshi. She desperately tried to push his unconscious body onto the land, but because he was soaking wet, he was a lot heavier than normal. After using her last strength to push him onto the land, Hikari's vision started to fade away, when a strong water current hit her in the face. She was already beginning to pass out, but with the help of the water current, she did.
She eventually regained consciousness when her forehead was slammed hard into a boulder in the middle of the river (the current pushed her towards it). She quickly resurfaced and got some air into her lungs. Using all her remaining strength, she swam towards the edge of the river and managed to climb out of the water. She took a moment to refresh her mind as she coughed up water. After catching her breath, she started to crawl towards Satoshi, who was still out cold.
Her forehead started to bleed as she crawled but she didn't realize that she was bleeding; she assumed that it was a stream of water. She reached him and started to shake him. He didn't wake up, so she checked his pulse; he was still alive, but just unconscious. She quickly thought the actions that needed to be done in order to wake him up. A thought came across her, which gave her face a deep shade of red.
'...Do I have to give him mouth to mouth cardiopulmonary resuscitation?' she thought, hesitating. She made up her mind: she was going to have to do it. She moved her shaking hand over Satoshi's forehead and pushed it down, while she used to other to hold his chin up, opening the windpipe. Hikari gulped and she removed her hand and pinched his nose. She lowered her head, her lips touching his. She pushed air into his lungs, and started to push his chest down. She repeated the process 5 times, but got no results.
She was starting to panic because Satoshi failed to wake up. Tears started to pour from her sapphire blue eyes, while blood trickled down from her forehead. She thought that Satoshi was gone, but quickly cleared that thought as she kneeled closer to try the cardiopulmonary resuscitation again. She kissed him first, then started to breathe into his lungs. She moved her violently shaking hands over to his chest and tried to push his chest down, when she felt a sudden twitch under her hands. She looked over at Satoshi's face and saw his eyes trying to open.
Quickly, she shook him, trying to help him snap back into reality. Satoshi opened his eyes, while quickly sitting up, crashing his head into Hikari's bleeding forehead (for the fourth time). Her head was close to his, so the impact was stronger than before. Satoshi sat up, coughing up water, as Hikari looked up at the sky, stunned from the sudden impact. Satoshi looked up at her, as she started to fall backwards. Startled, Satoshi grabbed her by the shoulders, accidentally touching her injured arm. This shock woke her up from the state of numbness, causing her to hiss in pain as she looked at Satoshi's brown eyes. Satoshi noticed that Hikari was bleeding from the forehead, blood trickling down to her blue lips; he pointed at her forehead, unable to say anything.
"Huh, wh...what?" she asked, looking at Satoshi's finger pointing at her forehead. She moved her shaking hand and touched her forehead, and hissed in pain as her fingers brushed across a cut. She pulled her finger back, and was surprised to see her blood on her fingers. "AH! I...I'm bl...bleeding! But h...how? From...what? W...was it f...from your... head butt?" she asked, shaking violently.
"Doesn't look like it...Hey, what happened to me?" he asked, rubbing the side of his head, where the raft hit him.
"W...well, you...were out c...cold from...s...something, I...I can't r...remember...an...
anyway...I had to...dive in t...to save you... ...I... pushed you out of th...the water...I d...don't know wh...what happened...everything w...went black...I woke up wh... when I h...hit something...I...climbed out of...the water...you were...still out c...cold, so I...had to..." she stuttered, shivering from the cold. Her cheeks started to blush as she was about to tell him what she did.
"Ohhhh..." Satoshi started to blush too. "Thanks. I know it must have been hard..."
He hugged her, but when his face touched her neck, he noticed something. 'Why is her skin so cold? Sure the water is cold and the wind is too, but her skin shouldn't be this cold...' He pulled back, and observed Hikari's features. Her skin was pale and cold, she was shaking physically, she stuttered when she talked, she seemed to have trouble remembering things, her sapphire blue eyes normally filled with spirit seem to be tired, and her lips were blue. He looked at her, shocked by his findings. 'Oh no...she has hypothermia...Oh crap...what do I do?'
He opened Takeshi's bag, which was soaking wet, and pulled out the medical equipment, but they were all ruined. Satoshi just wiped Hikari's blood off her face with a leaf and stood up. He helped her stand up, and started to walk South, towards the field. Satoshi was very worried about Hikari's condition; she had hypothermia, and he didn't know what to do about it. Because of her condition, he stopped walking and started up the fire. Hikari sat near the fire, shivering while she warmed her cold, wet body. Satoshi was cold too, so he sat right beside her, drying his vest. Once his vest was completely dry and warm, he took it off and put it on Hikari. He then inched over to her, put his arm around her and used his own body heat to help warm her up.
"Wh...what are you d...doing?" she asked weakly, blushing a little from his actions.
"Well, you...you look cold. That's all..." he replied, not daring to tell her that she has hypothermia.
"Thanks..." she replied softly, wrapping her arms around him. His warm embrace felt good to her.
"Here, drink this," he said, as he handed her a cup full of water, "It's heated from the fire. It'll help you warm up."
"Thanks..." she replied softly, releasing him from her grip. She slowly drank the warm water and closed her eyes as the warm water traveled through her body. Satoshi looked at her, examining her condition again. Her lips were beginning to regain their ruby red hue, her skin was normal, her sapphire blue eyes still appeared tired, she stuttered less when she talked, she was still shaking a lot, and she seemed to have regained some of her memory. He sighed in relief as the symptoms of hypothermia slowly disappeared.
"Hey, what happened to your forehead, anyways?" Satoshi asked, noticing that it stopped bleeding.
"Oh. I think the c...current pushed me into a b...boulder, and I crashed head f...first, I guess." she replied after she finished her drink.
"Hey, thanks again for the CPR." he said as he embraced her again. Hikari closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth provided by Satoshi's embrace. She slowly fell asleep in his arms, but Satoshi didn't sleep. He just watched her fall asleep in his arms, and started to blush as a thought came across his head. He kissed her in the cheek, silently whispering "I love you..." He blushed again, and gently rested his head on top of hers, watching the fire crackle. Hikari smiled, as she wasn't sleeping when he kissed her and whispered his thought.
'I knew it...he does like me...should I tell him how I feel? ...' she thought, as she slowly drifted asleep.