Kai POV: It's been a weird couple of weeks of physical therapy and treatment. At first, I was nervous about getting back to moving, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I've been able to start eating some foods like soup and things like that. Though I've been extremely cautious about more solid foods so I didn't throw up again. But I could easily tell they were still concerned about the nightmares. Despite them getting better, though, they still popped up from time to time.
But I was still concerned about Yuko, who was still not trusting the others all that much. She wasn't healing as fast as me, and her wound was really deep. She listens and talks with Nya when it's necessary, but she's very quiet with everyone else. It was hard to watch since I knew that she was a pretty relaxed person and a really nice person.
But she was there a lot longer than I was and had a lot more trauma to deal with. She definitely needed to talk with someone.
Right now, I was trying to relax in my bed, trying to get comfortable. My shoulder wound was healing fine without an infection, but every time it gets cleaned, it gets irritated.
The others weren't here at the moment, but Yuko was just sitting there in silence with her eyes closed. She wasn't sleeping, and I was thinking about trying to convince her.
"Hey Yuko?" I started.
"I'm fine where I am, Kai. I don't need to talk to anyone." she responded without opening her eyes.
"How did you know what I was going to say?" I swear she can read minds sometimes.
She looked at me and said, "Because you're extremely easy to read."
"I am not that easy to read." I said defensively, but she was kinda right.
She just rolled her eyes and continued. "Either way, I'm okay, and I don't see the need to talk to strangers." She made it clear there was no room for argument.
I wasn't going to back down, but then Nya and Zane walked in, and she came over to me, and Zane checked on her wound.
"How are you feeling?" Nya asked, sitting next to me.
"Better than before." I answered, which was kinda true. I didn't feel as bad as before, though there was still some pain that was only barely bearable.
She seemed to get that and took my good hand without saying anything. She clearly wanted me to talk about it, and I will later.
Zane, however, said to Yuko, "I'm going to clean your wound now. Is there anything I need to know about?"
She just shook her head and let him unwrap the bandages. The wound was still a dark red from how deep it was, but it looked like it was healing properly. She made some faces as he started to clean it, but she was staying as still as possible.
"So Kai?" Nya said nervously.
"What?" I had a weird feeling about what she was going to say.
"The others were wondering if you would be okay joining us for lunch?" she asked, and I got a little uncomfortable.
"Lunch?" Was all I asked.
"Yeah, it's going to be here, and we prepared some soup for you. But only if you're okay with it." She answered, with a concerned look on her face.
That didn't sound like too much, and it sounds perfectly normal. But I still wasn't one hundred percent, and I'm not sure about how I can handle it. It's been months since I've been around a lot of people all at once.
"If it makes you feel better, the others are just wondering and don't want you to push yourself." Zane said, as he was re-bandaging Yuko.
"Um… Well, I'll think about it, but maybe not today." I said, not really meeting Nya's eyes.
She just squeezed my hand and said, "That's okay. We all understand."
I sighed quietly and nodded. I did feel a little bad about declining, but I can't at the moment. Nya looked over my injuries, and they both left for lunch, promising to come back with food.
"You okay?" Yuko asked, and I looked at her.
"Yeah, I just need some time." That was true, I will be able to do this once I'm ready.
Nya POV: At lunch, we were eating some pasta and the others were talking, but I was just picking at my food. While Kai is physically getting better, there was still a mental block that was hurting him. I want to help him, but I know nothing about how to go about this.
"Do you want something else?" Jay asked, nudging my shoulder.
Only then did I notice the others were looking at me. They all looked a little concerned. I guess I was really spacing out.
"Sorry, guys. Guess I'm not that hungry." I said, putting my fork down.
"Are you thinking about Kai?" Zane asked, and I nodded. It wasn't worth trying to hide what I'm thinking.
"He's doing better, remember that." Jay said, side hugging me a little.
"I know that, but it just seems like…" How do I put it?
"Like his trauma is preventing him from doing things?" Lloyd mumbled.
"Yeah…" That really got everyone down and we all stopped eating.
"Sorry for bringing down the mood. I just can't stop thinking about it." I said, feeling bad about that.
"It's not your fault. We've all been worried about him." Zane reassured, with the others nodding in agreement.
"Is there anyone that could talk to him?" Cole asked.
"I'm sure we could find a therapist, but Kai most likely won't like that. Knowing him, he probably won't even talk to them." I said, leaning over the table.
"True. He's not the biggest fan of talking about himself." Lloyd said, thinking hard about this.
"I'll try to talk with him, and also to Yuko since she was a victim as well." Zane said, bringing up a good point.
"How is she doing, anyway? Has she been talking?" Lloyd asked.
"Not really. She's closed herself, but it's pretty clear that, most likely, been there a lot longer than Kai." Zane stated, and I agree with him.
"What has Kai said about her? They know each other and he could tell us more." Jay said, but I gave him a look.
"And you think he'll willingly break someone's trust like that?" I asked, and that made him laugh nervously.
"For now we try other mental theories for them both and continue to monitor them. They'll talk to us when they're ready." Zane said, and we all nodded.
I guess the one good thing about everything is that there aren't any major attacks against Ninjago right now.