White light, bright light. Even through his closed eyelids, it was too bright. Kakei flung an arm across his eyes to shield them, then lay there for moments afterwards, panting at the exertion that one little action had taken. Not just that, but the pain. His arm hurt. Everywhere hurt. He blinked open his eyes, forcing them to work against their will. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, then gradually adjusted to the light of the infirmary. He looked up at his arm, blue-green eyes flicking over it and taking in the damage. His arm was criss-crossed with angry red scratches and healed-over cuts.
He tried to sit up, and gasped as pain lanced through him, centering around his spine. A nurse noticed him and came over, helping him into a sitting position propped up by lots of thick white pillows.
"My spine... hurts," Kakei said softly. He clenched the sheets between his hands as the pain receded.
"It will, for a time. You took quite a fall; you're lucky you didn't break something." The nurse opened a cupboard to get down a blanket. She spread it out over Kakei's other blankets.
"Didn't I?" Kakei asked, disbelieving. He fell out of a second-story window. How could he not have broken something?
"You didn't break a thing," the nurse smiled at him. "You are one lucky young man. If you hadn't fallen into that bush, you would definitley have broken something. Maybe even died, depending on what you had broken. You're lucky to have fallen into that bush rather than the hard, flat grass." A patient asked for something from one of the other screened-off areas, so she told Kakei to call her if he needed anything, but to try and sleep, and left the blonde alone.
Kakei took out his contacts and slipped them into the plastic container in the pocket of his slacks. They were only for reading anyways. He rolled on his side and looked at his arm again. Lucky, he thought ruefully, and slept. He had no dreams.
---
Kakei stayed in the infirmary for three days, sleeping and eating and taking painkillers and sleeping pills. His spine felt like one huge bruise. During the more lucid periods between taking painkillers and dozing, he vaguelly wondered why Saiga hadn't come to see him. It wasn't as if he wasn't allowed to see anyone; a few friends from his classes had come to see how he was doing. It was all over the school that he had fallen out of a window, although the 'how' and 'why's hadn't been completely established.
On the third day, though, a couple of his friends from history class came by to tell him the latest update on the gossip. Some students who had been in the courtyard that day came forward with their own version of the story, of how they had seen some people in the window after Kakei had fallen. One of them had made the mistake of leaning out the window to grin at Kakei, and a student had seen that it was Makoto.
The new story spread like wildfire. Kids wrote home to their parents about what had happened. Students and teachers gossiped like never before. The gossip reached the dean, and based on word of mouth alone, Makoto Aki was suspended, with rumors of expulsion coming up.
Kakei, now able to stand after days of recuperation, smirked and said nothing. He knew that just because Makoto was gone didn't mean all the hazing-esque behavior on him would stop, but it was one less thing to worry about. Not that he was worried at all today, for today was the day he could leave the infirmary and go back to his dorm for the night. He had dinner in the infirmary, but was allowed to leave after that, with strict instructions to return if he felt worse later on.
As he signed-out, he felt a little dejected. Saiga hadn't come to visit him once. Nor send any message or card or anything. Kakei laughed a bit at the idea of Saiga sending him a 'Get Well Soon!' card, but anything would have been fine.
Kakei sighed, and thought that maybe Saiga just didn't care at all. Maybe he had just continued partying all weekend, gone back to school on Monday, etc. Had he even noticed that Kakei wasn't there? Even if he hadn't heard Kakei's name mentioned in the gossip, he couldn't noticed Kakei's empty bed and notoriety for getting in trouble, and put two and two together, right?
Kakei scowled and forced such selfish thoughts from his head. He was such an idiot. How dare he let someone become so important to him, and how dare he expect the same in return? How dare he even think of trying to connect to someone like that? He was Kakei- cool, calm, rational, had a slight gift..., and didn't need anyone.
Feeling thoroughly depressed, Kakei finished signing the forms and turned to go. The nurse saw his expression and called him back, concern on her face.
"You know, you don't have to leave right away, if you aren't feeling well. You can stay another day."
"What? Oh, no, it's not that." He made his expression casual. "I was just wondering why a friend hadn't come to visit me, that's all."
"Oh? Describe your friend. Maybe they had come to see you."
Frowning in confusion, Kakei described Saiga's appearance in a few short sentences. The nurse's features immediately took on a look of blatant disgust.
"Oh, him. Don't worry, he did come to see you, in a way. He wanted to, but was not permitted." She sniffed disdainfully and acted as if she had done Kakei a service by not letting Saiga in to see him.
"Excuse me, but why not?" Kakei asked, bewildered and growing irritated, while inside happiness bloomed, despite his attempts to crush it. Saiga had come to see him.
"I'd lose my job, letting someone like him into a sick ward. He was like a raging, rabid bear. I told him to calm down, that you were perfectly fine, but he wouldn't listen at all. It was like trying to reason with a forest fire. Of course I wouldn't let him in. Now, if he had just taken a deep breath and stopped shouting, I would have been happy to let him see you, but did he listen to me? No. Teenagers never listen. I don't mean you specifically, but I just can't stand-" She went off onto a tangent, complaining about how teenagers thought they could do whatever they liked and got drunk all the time and never listened and were always rude and other nasty things. She obviously had a teenager of her own, or had been a nurse at this school too long than was healthy.
Kakei, meanwhile, was trying his best not to snicker. When he had composed himself, he smiled politely at the nurse.
"Thank you for telling me. Good-bye," he waved and began walking back to the dormitory, in mugh higher spirits. His good mood, however, evaporated as soon as he walked in the door.
Author's Hype:
Okay. This isn't how this chapter was supposed to turn out. Originally, it was way longer, but I decided to post this much of it, because readers have been waiting a hella long time for it. Just know that the next chapter does indeed have a lemon. A really, er, lemon-y one.
Sorry for keeping you waiting, guys. :P I know it's a major cliffhanger.
Ja ne-
P.S. Thoughts on Makoto? I just wanted to get rid of him, but maybe I should really finish it with him...? Saiga could get into a fight with him or he could just get totally expelled in shame or something. If no one cares, then I'm just going to leave it as it ended in this chapter. No big deal.