Chapter 5: Deals

Usami Akihiko waited impatiently once more to hear what Aikawa had to say.

Like before, she was being hesitant, as if there was something she didn't want to tell him.

What is it? Are we fighting right now or something? his happiness deflated the slightest.

Ah, well, I guess that would explain why they aren't here…

But still, something about the way Aikawa had gone strangely quiet unsettled him.

"Erm, have I said something wrong?" he asked, causing her to jump at his words.

"No, no! Just...they're a little hard to explain, is all…" she waved off his question. "I'm just trying to...er, figure out how best to describe them…"

Her words put Akihiko at ease, and he readjusted himself as he moved his hips awkwardly and as much at his legs would allow.

Impatient and uncomfortable, all he could do was wait.

God knows what's going on in her head he thought.

Aikawa began panicking and her palms began to sweat.

Crap, crap! she thought.

He has no idea what happened…

Unbeknown to her author, she had decided not to mention the fact that Misaki had been a passenger in the car when the accident had occurred. Since Usami Akihiko had an infamous habit of ignoring deadlines and slacking off, she had practically begged Misaki to go with him when she told Akihiko to get more paper.

After the accident had occurred, Aikawa had been the one contacted for Akihiko, since he was on bad terms with his family, he had much rather she be listed under his contact information on his file. Her heart had nearly stopped at the news the couple had been in an accident, and had broken nearly every legal road law in the country of Japan as she frantically drove her way to the hospital.

She had ran to the emergency room, her hair a mess and clothes soaking wet from the heavy rains outside. When she had made it to the emergency waiting room, she was a winded, unappealing mess, only to find the reception desk unoccupied. She looked around frantically in the room for any member of staff, and nearly fainted at seeing the person she had least expected to see there-

Takahiro.

He was waiting by himself in the dimly lit area, slumped over in the uncomfortably small chairs hospitals always seemed to provide. Looking up, as soon as they had made eye contact his usually sweet expression turned sour.

He immediately looked away and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Without really thinking, Aikawa made her way towards him. He seemed to try to sink farther into his seat as he saw her approach.

When she stopped in front of him, however, realizing there was nowhere to run or hide, he looked at her directly in the eye.

"What." he stated, more than asked in a monotone voice.

"Why are you here?" she asked incredulously.

Takahiro scoffed at her question.

"Well, I got a call saying that Misaki was in an accident, so I came." he said. "I mean, even if I am mad, I'm not heartless enough to just leave my brother alone in a place like this."

"Yet you were heartless enough to abandon him before?" she asked. He glared at her.

"This is not the time nor the place to discuss this, listen-" he paused, the faint sound of footsteps could be heard. "The nurse said that she'd be back in a few minutes, I think that's her."

Sure enough, in a few moments the nurse appeared.

Aikawa gave Takahiro one last suspicious glance before going over to the reception desk to check herself in

After checking in, Aikawa sat down in the chair to Takahiro's left t wait for their names to be called.

He wrinkled his nose at her and looked down at her in intimidation. She simply ignored it; she wasn't ready to leave him alone so easily.

"So, why are you here," he asked. "I mean, it's not like you care about my brother or anything, so you must be here for him, right?"

"If by 'him' you mean Usami-sensei, then yes. Yes, that's part of why I'm here, but I'm also here for Misaki-kun as well." she said. Takahiro snorted.

"Don't be so familiar when talking about my brother. You're just here for your money making author, right?" he crossed his arms and looked away.

"If you cared about him at all, you would've let me know what was going on all those years." he muttered.

Aikawa brisled at Takahiro's words.

"First of all, Usami-sensai is not just a money making author. He's my friend, and I care about him as if he were my own family. And Misaki-kun," she said, Takahiro twitched at the way she emphasized his name. "Misaki-kun is very, very special to me. I love him dearly, so I rushed here as soon as I got called."

Takahiro glared at her, and she glared right back with as much if not more menace than he was giving her.

"And for your information, I didn't say anything because I know, for a fact, Usami-sensei loves Misaki-kun more than anything in this world. He'd never do anything to hurt him." she stated.

"But, but he touched my brother, and didn't even tell me about it. What kind of friend is he, that he couldn't even tell me? And more than that, why did it have to be my brother? Couldn't he have been in love with someone else?" He asked.

"Well...in the beginning, he did love someone else…" she whispered, looking up at him.

"You."

Takahiro's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Wha...no, no...he couldn't have! I'm sure I would've-"

"No, he did. He loved you for years," Aikawa looked back down at her hands in her lap. "But you never noticed."

Takahiro was stunned at her words. That stunned look quickly turned to denial and anger.

"Why should I listen to what you say, anyway," he spat. "You're in league with those two!"

"I guess I am." Aikawa said simply.

The two sat in silence for several minutes, Takahiro shifted in his seat uncomfortably as Aikawa remained motionless, staring at the emergency room door waiting for the doctor to come and bring them to where Akihiko and Misaki were.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door finally opened.

Aikawa's jaw dropped at the sight of the doctor who, as tall as he was, had to duck slightly to avoid hitting his head on the door frame. He had inky black hair and cobalt blue eyes, and regarded Aikawa and Takahiro with the kindest of smiles. He was undoubtedly handsome, and Aikawa recognized him immediately as the Nowaki used in one of her author's series that he had based around his childhood friend - Kamijou Hiroki's - relationship.

He must be Kamijou-san's boyfriend she thought.

Deciding it was best not to mention anything, she kept her mouth shut and tried to look as normal as possible as Nowaki spoke.

"Hello, my name is Kusama Nowaki. I'd take it you two are here for Usami-san and Takahashi-kun?" he asked sweetly, making her blush slightly.

"Y-yes...we are." Takahiro stuttered, obviously affected by the attractive aura of the doctor.

Aikawa snickered at the thought.

"Well, I'm here to help take care of them for now. Actually, I'm usually a pediatric surgeon, but since it's so late at night and we're so short staffed, I couldn't just refuse patients in such critical condition…" the doctor smiled at them again. "But don't worry, we're very good at what we do here, so right now they're both stable and resting comfortably."

Aikawa and Takahiro sighed in relief.

"Now, would you two like to see them yourselves?" he asked.

Both of them nodded, and practically shoved each other out of the way as they followed the doctor into the emergency room.

The three of them walked down the dimly lit hallway, passing rooms with sleeping patients, the sounds of beeping and water drips echoing throughout the building along with the sound of their footsteps.

"We'll have to take the elevator first, though, since all of the regular rooms for patients in the emergency unit are filled, they've been moved to the extra overflow rooms on the sixth floor." Nowaki said. Shortly after he said that, they all turned left, facing the elevator doors. Nowaki pressed the button to call the elevator down.

"So...hasn't this cut into your overtime hours tonight?" Takahiro asked curiously. "I mean, you probably could've let someone else take the surgery job, right?"

The elevator door opened and the trio entered.

"Yes," Nowaki said as the door closed. "I could have let my Senpai take over, but the whole reason I became a doctor was for the sake of helping others."

He looked at Takahiro as the elevator began to rise.

"I was supposed to go home about 4 hours ago, yet here I am. But, if I were to leave, knowing that there was something I could've done to help, wouldn't that be going against the very reason I went into this career in the first place?"

Takahiro blushed at the doctor's cool words.

"I...I guess you're right." he scratched his neck in embarrassment as Aikawa remained silent.

"Besides," Nowaki continued, watching the numbers light up as they moved up each level. "Takahashi-kun is so small, for a minute I thought he was a kid himself. It's not that I don't trust my peers, but I couldn't just leave him. And, Usami-san is a friend of a friend, so I'd feel really guilty if I left work knowing he was hurt too."

The elevator doors opened and the three of them entered the sixth floor hallway. Still embarrassed, Takahiro tried to cover up his last fail at conversation.

"I just meant...even so, you must have plans or a life outside of work, right?" he said. "I mean, I myself would never be able to sacrifice my time like that if I knew other people I trusted would be able to handle it..."

The doctor suddenly stopped in front of one of the rooms, causing Takahiro and Aikawa to nearly crash into him. He paused before he took a hold of the door handle.

From where she was standing, Aikawa could just barely see a sad, faraway look begin to creep into the sweet man's eyes as he looked down at the handle.

"I did have plans tonight…" he whispered. "I was supposed to spend time with him today…promised..."

"I'm sorry? What did you say?" Takahiro asked.

"Hm?" The doctor quickly snapped out of his own thoughts before looking over and smiling at them once more.

"Oh, it's nothing, nothing! Now," he slowly opened the door. "Why don't you spend a little time with Usami-san and Takahashi-kun? I'll be back in a bit with the paperwork."

Once Aikawa and Takahiro were inside, the doctor quickly disappeared down the hall.

As the door shut, the same tension between them had quickly been replaced in Nowaki's absence.

Yet, any chance of the two beginning to argue was quickly snuffed out at the sight of Misaki and Akihiko, both wrapped in bandages and hooked up to several machines.

Takahiro's face immediately softened as he quickly rushed to Misaki's bedside. Misaki's small chest rose and fell with each small breath he took. His eyelids fluttered faintly as he slept. His face was slightly swollen, and his chest was wrapped up, similar to Akihiko in the bed next to him whose torso was covered by the criss-crossing of bandages.

They both had bandages wrapped around their heads, but unlike Akihiko, Misaki seemed to be in much better shape. Unlike Akihiko, whose legs were both in casts and whose face was cut, Misaki had only broken his right arm and had a few bruises on his arms and face.

"Oh, Misaki-kun…" Takahiro said, taking his left hand. "You look awful, but I'm so glad you're alright." The older brother held his younger brother's hand into his own as he watched him sleep, completely oblivious to his former best friend, Akihiko, in the bed next to him.

It made Aikawa feel sick.

She silently slid behind Takahiro to look at her author. She gently brushed her hand across his cheek as her sad eyes traveled his broken body. She looked behind her over at Misaki.

She smiled sadly at the thought that, if not for Takahiro being there, she would've placed Misaki and Akihiko's hands together.

Just like something you would write about, you hopeless romantic she thought, looking lovingly at her friend and author.

When Nowaki had returned, he knocked quietly on the door before entering.

Both Takahiro and Aikawa looked up at him as he smiled and closed the door behind him.

"I'm sorry, I just had to pick up the official paperwork on Usami-san and Takahashi-kun's injuries." he said before flipping through the small folder he held in his hand.

"Let's see...Usami-san has breaks in multiple areas of his legs, a few burns on his abdomen and head trauma."

"Takahashi-kun, on the other hand, has a break in the humerus bone in his right arm, two broken ribs and head trauma as well."

Both Takahiro and Aikawa paled at this information.

"W-wait...if they both hit their heads, does that mean they have brain damage?!" Aikawa panicked.

"Well…" Nowaki sighed as he looked her in the eyes. "We're not completely sure on this. Though, both patients have damage in the cerebral parts of their brain, we're thinking there might be some moderate to severe memory loss for both of them."

"Wait...you're kidding, right?" Takahiro stammered as he his hand through his short brown hair. "This doesn't happen in real life, losing your memory. You've got to be kidding me."

"Actually, these cases do happen from time to time," Nowaki said. "Sometimes, the patient wakes up not knowing the year or the time, sometimes they don't remember chunks of their past, and sometimes - on luckier occasions - they don't forget anything at all. It just depends on the patients themselves."

"But, interestingly enough," Nowaki continued, walking over to the opposite side of Akihiko's bed.

"We believe Takahashi-kun has a lesser chance of memory loss. From what the medical evidence is showing, we believe Usami-san shielded him with his own body during the crash. As you can tell, Takahashi-kun has significantly less injuries than Usami-san. If he were to have shielded his body by hugging him, per se, then Usami-san must've taken most of the blows from the outside as Takahashi-kun got jostled a bit while in his grip."

"This would also make sense that somehow, they had both somehow managed to hit their heads as well, if they were in such close proximity to each other. So, if anyone is going to have the most memory loss, I'm afraid that it will probably be Usami-san." He added quietly, looking down at the silver haired author.

Aikawa let out a shaky sigh as she ran her own fingers through her hair at this new information.

Great, now he's going to have memory loss too?! she felt her anxiety rising at the very thought.

She took a quick glance at Takahiro, who seemed eerily emotionless and quiet.

"Ah, well, I'll give you all a little more time with the patients. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call the number written down next to the phone and I'll be sure to answer." Nowaki gave a quick bow before exiting the room once more.

"Aikawa." Takahiro said as soon as Nowaki left.

She stood up from where she had been kneeling to hold her author's hand and looked at him.

"Yes?" she asked, looking at him with a guarded expression. Suprising her, he took both her wrists and pulled her close to him.

"HEY! WHAT'RE YOU-" she began to yell before he put a finger to her lips.

"Let's make a deal." he said cooly, sending a shiver down her spine before he released her wrists.

"What kind of 'deal' are you talking about?" she whispered, rubbing her wrists.

His eyes seemed to be filled with a sudden excitement that set Aikawa on edge. Afraid that he had finally snapped, she was about to take a few steps back before he spoke.

"I want you to make a deal with me - if my brother and Usami wake up, but they don't remember each other, than we need to keep it that way, understand?" he said, making Aikawa to freeze in her tracks.

Are you crazy?! There's no way I'm agreeing to that! she scowled at him.

"What do you take me for?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Takahiro's eyes seemed to hold a devilish glint before he spoke again.

"Oh, well, if you don't, then I guess I'll just have to tell the whole world that the famous Usami Akihiko has been sleeping with a man - but not just a man, but one that's ten years his junior." he said.

If she wasn't certain before, Aikawa was one hundred percent sure now that Takahiro had completely lost his mind.

"There's no chance in hell you'd do that - think about Misaki-kun, you'd be hurting him along with Usami-sensei!" she said in disbelief.

Takahiro seemed to think for a minute, realizing that what he had said was flawed. Aikawa could practically see the wheels turning in his head before he answered her again.

"Well, that's true. But, being as I was friends with Usami for such a long time, I do have my fair share of dirty secrets about him that, oh, I don't know...I could possibly let slip to some ravenous news reporter somewhere." Takahiro said, smirking at the now fuming editor in front of him.

"You wouldn't." she whispered.

"But I would." he said. "Please, Aikawa. All you have to do is help me keep them from remembering each other, and then you won't have to worry about this at all. It's simple."

Shit. she thought bitterly.

I can't let Usami-sensei's reputation ruined. But, Misaki-kun...he couldn't possibly live without him! And Misaki-kun too, he loves Usami-sensei so much…

Aikawa's frustration began to grow.

"But...why?" she asked, her fists shaking in rage. "Why would you go so far as to ruin Usami-sensei just to keep them apart? Why do you care that much?"

"Why?" Takahiro asked, looking genuinely surprised.

It pissed Aikawa off.

"I thought it would be obvious." Takahiro said, gently placing his hand on top of Misaki's head.

"I just want what's best for Misaki. And I think the best thing for him would be to pretend like Usami never existed. Then, he could possibly find a nice girl, they could get married and he could start a happy, healthy, normal family of his own." Takahiro said, looking down lovingly at his brother.

It made Aikawa's skin crawl.

She was silent for several minutes, thinking it over and weighing her options.

She could say no; then Misaki and Akihiko could be together, but Akihiko's reputation would be ruined. Now, before the accident, Aikawa knew for a fact her Usami-sensei couldn't give two shits about his reputation as long as Misaki was left out of it.

But now…

Now she wasn't even sure if he'd remember who Misaki was.

Then that left her with the option of going along with Takahiro's plan. Akihiko's reputation would be safe, and Misaki would be fine, but only if they both didn't remember each other.

It was a huge gamble to take.

Aikawa's stomach began to ache from anxiety as Takahiro waited for her response.

"I...I," Aikawa stuttered, before finally giving into Takahiro's threat. "I guess then, you have a deal."

Takahiro's face lit up immediately as Aikawa hung her head in shame.

"I'm glad you see it my way! Now," he said excitedly, fumbling around the hospital room. "Let's see, they can't wake up in the same room together, so I'll have to request for Misaki to be moved…"

Takahiro took a hold of the corded phone and dialed the number the doctor had left on the side table next to Misaki' bed.

"Ah, hello. Yes, Dr. Kusama? I was wondering whether I could request to have Takahashi Misaki moved into a private room…"

A whole new wave of shame washed over Aikawa as she sat in front of her author now, who was wide awake and looking at her expectantly.

It was in this room she had given up his one true love for the sake of his career - a choice he should've been able to make himself.

"Well, gee...ah…what are they like..." she rambled as he took in every word she said.

What do I do?! she thought.

Maybe…

A sudden idea popped into her head.

"Well, first of all, their name is Takahashi Misaki." She said with a confidence she didn't even have a fraction of.

"Misaki…" Akihiko said, lavishing in the way the name rolled off his tongue. "Takahashi Misaki."

"Yep!" Aikawa said smiling.

I'm sorry for what I'm going to do, Sensei Aikawa thought, before she began to think up of clever lies to feed the man in front of her.

Hello there!

Geez, this was a super long chapter...well, writing it took a while anyways xD

And yes! Misaki is alive! I don't think I possess the backbone to kill him off anyways, he's so sweet and cute.

I feel like a bad person, I keep ending chapters on cliffhangers and such...

Oh well. Halloween is coming up! I'm super excited, but I'll still try to get the next chapter out by next week, even though I'm going to be super busy and hopefully I won't die from stress...

Well, I'm going to go drown my worries in ice cream and hot pockets.

Thank you all so much for the follows/favorites/reviews! ;A; ! I hope I deserve them and I'll do my best to keep everyone interested in the story!

-OopsIThoughtICouldFlyy