Chapter 8: Stories and a Sleepless Night

Night had fallen at the hospital, and yet Usami Akihiko could not sleep.

He sighed in frustration, tossing and turning for what felt like the thousandth time that hour.

He had just too many things buzzing around in his head to focus on sleep, and whenever he tried closing his eyes, they just ended up back open as he stared blankly at the plain white ceiling above him.

By now, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness in the seemingly pitch black room, and he had taken it upon himself to count the tiles in the ceiling.

He was extremely uncomfortable, and the only thing that kept him from thrashing in frustration was the fact that his legs were both elevated in small hammocks. This fact also made it impossible for him to roll over or even lay on his side.

Akihiko had always had the habit of pacing when he had a lot on his mind, and in the past, he recalled, it often kept him from sleeping whenever he had had a manuscript to write. In his childhood, his mother would often scold him whenever he would wander around their large and luxurious mansion at night, due to all of the added stress life at home caused him.

Now, being stripped of this habit felt as irritating and frustrating as if Aikawa had told him to quit smoking cold turkey that day. He softly banged his head into his pillow, desperate for the sweet release of sleep to overtake him.

He squinted to check the time that the clock on the far wall of the hospital room read.

1:45 AM he thought bitterly.

Aikawa had left when visiting hours had ended over five hours ago, leaving Akihiko in this bored, irritable and lonely state. He repeatedly banged his head into his pillow, and stopped suddenly, slowly opening his eyes.

Aikawa...he thought.

What you told me...is it really true?

"What do you mean he's missing?!"

"It means exactly what I said," Aikawa had said, lying through her teeth. "Misaki-kun is missing, well, technically anyway."

All of the excitement that had once been in Akihiko's demeanor had left completely.

"Missing...but, how?" He asked, looking at her with hurt in his eyes. "Why?"

Aikawa shifted uncomfortably, trying to think up the most believable and smooth story that she could think of off of the top of her head.

Digging back deep into her mind, she faintly remembered a conversation she had had with a good friend of hers that was a chief editor of a branch of the manga department at Marukawa Publishing, Takano Masamune.

She remembered how he had told her the odd story of how the person he had loved had seemed to disappear one day completely, without saying so much as a word to him or leaving a hint of where he had gone - not even in his files.

Sorry, Masamune-san, but I'm going to steal your experiences a bit. she thought silently.

"Yes, missing." she repeated. "One day, he just...left. He didn't say why, or even where he was going. He just...left."

Akihiko looked at her doubtfully.

"You're sure there's no clues to where he could have gone to? Haven't we tried looking for him?" he asked, trying to remain calm.

It was difficult and scary to be in the dark about a situation, but now it was double so with the fact that he was fuzzy on many memories. If what Aikawa said was true, that his lover really was missing, how would he even begin to search for him when he couldn't even remember what hair color or eye color the boy had?

Aikawa could tell that Akihiko was second guessing himself, which was convenient for her if she was going to get him to believe her story.

"Usami-sensei, we've searched everywhere and have tried everything to try to find him, but we've had zero luck - we couldn't even find his personal records or medical information." she said, giving him a serious and what she hoped was a sympathetic look.

Akihiko wasn't even really focused on Aikawa that much anymore, but more of on his own thoughts. Aikawa could practically see the wheels turning painfully in his head, which was much like a clock trying to tell the time when it was missing most of its gears.

"That shouldn't be possible...what was his name again? Ta...Ta...Ta-something Misaki, right?" he asked, looking at her with his silver brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to remember Misaki's name.

I can't tell him Misaki's real name she thought.

Then he'd easily be able to just look into Misaki's information or just simply ask around and find him wherever he is.

Looks like I'll need to get creative.

Swallowing, she racked her brains for memories - memories of books, manga, movies - anything that gave her an easy last name to assign to Misaki.

"Yes, you're mostly right." she said. "His name...his name is Tatsumi Misaki."

Ugh. Couldn't I have thought of something better?! Idiot!

She tried to seem as convincing as possible, sweating slightly as she waited for Akihiko to respond.

"Misaki, huh?" He said, looking up at the ceiling. "Misaki…"

He turned his head to look at Aikawa before speaking again.

"Well, when I get out of here, I'm going to keep looking for this Tatsumi Misaki until I find him." His eyes shone with great hope and pride as he gave her a reassuring smile.

He took the bait.

"Yes, I'm sure if you try hard enough, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to, Usami-sensei!" She smiled.

You liar she thought sourly to herself.

Aikawa knew that the name Tatsumi Misaki was fake, which meant that it didn't matter how long or even where her author looked, there was no way he was going to find him.

She was giving him false hope and setting him up for certain failure.

I'm the worst.

As Aikawa sat in self loathing, her author next to her was pumped and ready to go. If he wasn't injured, he would've wanted to start his search that moment - he was willing to search anywhere and do anything if that meant that he would be able to find Misaki.

Most of all, and what he was most curious about, was what had happened that had caused Misaki to disappear so suddenly.

"Tatsumi Misaki," he breathed, gazing out the small window of his room. "I wonder, where in this world could you possibly be…"

Little did the author know, his beloved Misaki was only down the hall, painfully close but yet still so far away.

The psychical distance that Akihiko believed was between him and his lover was comparable in size to a chasm. But in reality, and unknown to Akihiko, the actual distance was more comparable to a crack.

Where are you? was the only thought occupying his mind.

Where are you, Misaki?

Akihiko laid in his bed, the same thoughts still occupying his mind even in the late hours of the seemingly endless night.

I never even got to learn what he looked like he thought, feeling depressed.

Just before he was able to learn more about Misaki from Aikawa, visiting hours had ended and Aikawa had been asked to leave. She had already broken the visitation rules for the past few days while she had waited for Akihiko to wake up. The only reason the hospital had let her stay was that she had promised them she would leave as soon as he woke up and after she had gotten to spend some time with him.

Just my shitty luck he thought bitterly, pouting by himself as he looked at his own reflection in the hospital room window.

He studied himself, noting the cuts and bruises that covered his usually unmarked face. He lowered his chin to get a better look at the dark circles under his eyes, frowning at the unattractive contrast they made with his pale skin.

He cursed, realizing that if he didn't get any sleep soon that his dark circles were only going to get darker.

He sighed, covering his forehead with his arm. What he wouldn't give to be able to go back home to his own comfy bed - back to where things were familiar, unlike the foreign and sterile environment of the hospital.

Home…

Akihiko smiled slightly, remembering the only semi-good news he had received that day when his doctor Nowaki Kusama had come to check in on him.

"Really?! That's great!" Aikawa had said, happily clutching Akihiko's arm as Nowaki had told them the great news.

"Yes, we're thinking of releasing Usami-san from the hospital in the next day or so," Nowaki said, beaming at the two of them.

"Well, from what we've gathered from the head injury pictures we took of the damage to Usami-san's brain, we're guessing most of whatever memories he's missing now will slowly come back to him as time progresses."

"The most effective way we've helped patients suffering from memory loss in the past is by allowing them to go to familiar places, indulge in familiar sights and sounds or even just talking to friends or relatives can help make the pieces click together, so to speak." Nowaki continued as he flipped through the papers on his clipboard, yet still making the effort to smile kindly at Akihiko as he did so.

"Since the anesthetic has worn off by now, you should be able to remember generic things about your life or yourself, like your age, your name, your occupation, etcetera. But, we think the best thing we can possibly do for you right now is to let you go home as soon as possible." Nowaki said.

Aikawa cheered again before tightly hugging her author beside her, who seemed stunned at Nowaki's words. Although Akihiko was excited to hear the news still he hesitated before celebrating himself as he asked the doctor a few questions.

"Uhm, Kusama-san? Are you sure it's alright for me to leave in such a short time? I mean, what about my head injuries and my legs…" Akihiko asked.

Nowaki came closer to him and rested a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder.

"Usami-san, please believe me when I say I would never approve of your release if I thought you still needed to recover. Your legs are probably just numb from being elevated for so long, plus you've been laying still for days. We'll have you put into casts with more mobility so that you'll be able to walk if needed, but you'll probably have to be in a wheelchair for a while while you're recovering." Nowaki said.

"Please, don't stress over this. Tomorrow, we'll change your bandages and check your head injury, alright? You mainly suffered from a large amount of road rash, so you should be alright to heal at home as long as you have someone you can call if you need any help. But," He looked at Aikawa from the corner of his eye. "I'm sure Aikawa-san would be willing to help you if you were in trouble, Usami-san. She's a good friend."

Aikawa blushed at the compliment and nodded, giving her author a smile before excusing herself to go to the restroom. In the meantime, Nowaki had given Akihiko a routine check up and asked him a few questions on how he was doing.

By now, Akihiko was able to recall much more information than when he had first woken up, which pleased Nowaki greatly.

Akihiko recalled that he was a man from a wealthy background, an author and many things about himself that included his personality. He knew that during his childhood, he hadn't gotten along well with his brother, Usami Haruhiko or his brother's friend Ryuichiro Isaka, whom he remembered were both (irritatingly enough) usually annoying and could be huge assholes at times. He also remembered that Kamijou Hiroki was his childhood friend, who, on the other hand, was usually short-tempered, in a bad mood and almost always had his nose in a book, but he and Akihiko had been friends for so long that he was more of a brother to Akihiko than his actual brother.

He felt as if there was someone he was forgetting, but he ignored it - he would probably remember their name eventually.

Usami Akihiko did what he wanted and almost always got what he wanted, whether it was a tangible object or if he simply wanted to go wild with his imagination when writing.

Though, as Nowaki had been expecting when he had asked, Akihiko was in the dark about many of his older memories - childhood memories, teenage experiences and even the plots to his own novels were nowhere to be found in Akihiko's memory. Many events or experiences were hazy, and if he tried to focus on one for too long his head would begin to throb, so he tended to just leave them be.

Nowaki assured him that this was a normal occurrence with most patients suffering from head injuries, and that eventually it should begin to happen less and less frequently.

After talking for a while, Akihiko was finally convinced, and sighed deeply in relief that he was going to be able to go home in a few days.

Though, as he talked to the doctor, he couldn't shake the feeling that he seemed oddly familiar.

Have...have we met before? I feel as if I know this man... he thought, silently analyzing Nowaki. Eventually, he just shrugged.

Oh well. It's probably nothing.

When Aikawa returned, Nowaki went briefly over the basic plan one more time and made sure Akihiko had taken his proper medications before bowing and leaving the two alone once more, giving them both a cheerful wave as he went on his way to finish the rest of his shift.

When they were alone, Aikawa sighed deeply and gave Akihiko's shoulder a tight squeeze.

"Isn't this great?! You get to go home soon!" she said happily. Akihiko smiled at her.

"Yes, it is...but," he said suddenly, furrowing his brows. "I can't shake the feeling I know Kusama-san from somewhere. Have we met before, Aikawa?" he asked innocently, taking a sip of water from the cup that was placed on the side table.

"Oh, Nowaki-san?" she asked. "Yeah, you know him."

"You write about him and Kamijou-san all the time in your gay novels." She said bluntly, making Akihiko choke on his water in surprise.

"WHAT?!" He yelled in surprise as Aikawa laughed at his shocked face.

"Jesus is there anything else I should know about that goes on in my books?!" he asked, still coughing slightly after practically inhaling his water.

"Oh, yes! Why didn't I think of it before!? You have to know the plot of all of your ongoing series if you're going to get back to work as soon as possible when you get home!" Aikawa said. She continued babbling as Akihiko groaned loudly at the promise of work, listening half heartedly to what she was saying.

Aikawa had babbled on and on about his books right up until the time the hospital made her leave, and as annoyed as Akihiko had been, the silence that greeted him after the hours of company seemed very...lonely.

Maybe I should try to get some sleep he had thought. He had closed his eyes and attempted to go to sleep, but instead he spent the next couple of hours thinking only of Misaki.

How did I honestly think I would get any sleep anyways? he thought, coming back from him memories from the previous events that day.

Shifting back onto his back, he dared to check the clock again.

2:30AM

He groaned, lightly hitting his forehead with his palm.

"Fall asleep, dammit." he whispered to himself.

It wasn't until the sun began rising that Usami Akihiko was finally able to pass out from exhaustion - he finally had fallen asleep with one arm tucked under his head and the other laying across his chest as the morning sunlight made his silver hair shimmer.

But still, even in his dreams, Misaki was the only thing occupying his mind.

BAM surprise update TWO days in a row :D~

(I busted my butt to finish this chapter. I hope it's ok even though it feels like it's a little short...)

Thank you everyone for reviews/follows/favorites (;w; ) (I know I say it almost every time I update BUT I MEAN IT!)

I really hope I can update soon again I have a scene I really want to write but I don't want to rush to get to it ;n;

(and YES ALLY IF YOU'RE READING THIS THERE WILL BE MORE MISAKI.)

Also shout out to my friends Allison, Jordan and Fiona for being my Aikawas and yelling at me to keep writing :3 (and convincing me that what I have is good before I upload it...seriously I probably wouldn't ever upload anything without them)

I hope everyone is doing amazing!

-OopsIThoughtICouldFlyy