If you want to know why I haven't updated in what seems like forever, then I have explained it in my new story 'Let The Games Begin' so I'm not going to explain it all again but I will say that my inspiration for this story hit an all time low until I re-read all of your amazing reviews. I honestly cannot describe how much they mean to me, to know how much people love this story, I couldn't take the chance of just letting it left where it 'ended' for another year. My writing style may have changed slightly and hopefully for the better. Thank you to everyone who hasn't given up on this story, you're the reason why I haven't.
Pain. The first thing she felt was aching pain spreading like fire throughout her body. Was this was it felt like to die? She had imagined it many times before, the last moments of life before the relief of death but in these strange day dreams it was either quick and peaceful or slow and torture. An echoing beeping and sickening clean odour was definitely not what she expected. A copper taste stained her mouth and she could almost make out a voice somewhere in the distance. All senses but sight were working, making her internally frown as her desperate attempts to open her eyes failed. How could this be? Why did death need taste but not need sight?
This couldn't be death, she concluded, it felt too real. Too alive.
Making a last attempt to force her eyes open she managed to see a slit of white light, blinding from above. The voice was becoming louder and more frantic. It was her name. The voice was shouting her name but still she could not place the caller. All she could figure out was that it was male and oddly familiar. "Yumi? Please Yumi?" What did they want? For her to open her eyes again? She tried but she could not find the energy, her aching body drained. "Please, open you eyes. For me. Please Yumes" Something trigger deep inside of her. Yumes. It was him, there was no one else it could have been.
She had to do this, open her eyes. For him. From everything she had been through she was a fighter and if she could survive her past, she could carry out the simply task of opening her eyes. Slowly the light hit her and her vision began to adjust. The first thing she recognised was the piercing green orbs that stared down at her. Ulrich.
He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out, instead his hands rested gently on her cheeks and his fell to her collarbone. His body shook and a wetness sunk to her skin. He was crying. She lay there hopeless as he let out his tears before his head shot up and placed kisses all across her face before finally settling on her lips. She had no strength left to return the kiss and could taste his tears but she never wanted it to end. For the first time in weeks, she finally felt safe again. The sound of the door opening and footsteps running into the room forced Ulrich to pull away.
"Yumi!" Came the shouts of two very scared voices. Her parents ran to her side with Ulrich reluctantly stepping aside to let the shaken adults comfort their daughter. The daughter they feared they would never see again."Oh, sweetheart" her mother softly whispered through her tears, stroking Yumi's hair and taking her hand in hers, "You're safe now, you're going to be okay I promise"
Her father took her other hand, also crying. He didn't speak, no words could ever describe the immense relief he had felt as soon as they had heard about Yumi waking up. Three weeks in a coma had caused everyone to be prepared for the possibility that she may never wake up. But Takeo knew his daughter, her knew she would come back to him. She always did.
Yumi tried to speak but was stopped by a thick tube flowing from her mouth, across her chest and connecting to a large machine, preventing any noise. Then she realised what the tube was doing, it was making her breathe. Panic began to rise at the involuntary action. She wanted to breathe by herself. Her heart monitor began to beep rapidly. "Yumi!" she heard Ulrich shout in panic from the end of her bed. A cold hand pressed against her chest.
"Relax, Yumi, just try and relax" came a deep voice along with Ulrich asking what was wrong, "She's just panicking, it's completely normal. Once she's relaxes and let's the machine control her breathing she will be just fine." she heard what she assumed was a doctor explain. "Come on Yumi, there's no need to panic, nothing can hurt you." slowly her breathing and heart rate dropped back to a steady rate. "There you go," the doctor told her, "Told you that you would be fine. Now I think the best thing to do would be to try and sleep again."
Before the doctor even finished his sentence, Yumi was already unconscious.
She woke hours later, this time finding the act of opening her eyes so much easier and natural. The bright light had faded dramatically and she guessed it must be now night. Trying to look around this room she was struck by a sharp pain, making her cry out, the sound muffled and distorted by the breathing tube that still stuck out of her mouth. Tears sprung to her eyes as the pain struck again as she flinched.
"Don't try to move," came Ulrich's voice from beside her, "just lie still, don't move your neck." But she wanted to, she needed to see him. Bracing herself for the pain, she tilted her head to the side, quickly glimpsing him before shutting her eyes tight as pain flooded her. "What did I say about moving?" he warned, gently taking her head a very carefully moving it back to it's original position, trying to cause her as little pain as possible. He stood up from the single chair that sat beside her bed, hovering above her and for the first time allowing her to see him in full view.
He smiled softly down to her, "Hey, Yumes" tears fell from her eyes at the beautiful sight of him, he quickly brushed them away with him thumb, "Please don't cry, it's over now. You're safe. I'm never going to let you get hurt ever again. I promise"
It's quite short and isn't the best of endings but I think it's a good start to get back into the story and a little bit of fluff never hurt anyone right? I promise the next chapter will be up in a couple of days and will be much longer and will explain what happened to Yumi after she was found in a lot more detail.