Haruka and Rai's Japanese Adventure

[Faye]

When she withdrew her hand, he sat up immediately, stretching his back which gave him an upside down view of the window behind him. He relaxed back in the chair, a sigh escaping his lips following by a yawn which he quickly stopped when he realised he was showing her he was tired.

He watched her speak, agreeing with everything she said, everything they've been through has been nothing but trouble but something else always stayed the same. He never left her.

His grey-blue eyes blinked when she directed a question at him, his heart thudded in his chest, picking up a faster rate than her heart monitor was going. His eyes fell to his lap, pondering. What would he say? How could he answer that?

"I guess love does crazy things to people..." He admitted, he wasn't going to out right say it but at least she could have an idea. His fidgeted with the end of his skin tight tank top, anxiously awaiting her reaction.

[Nicolette]

There was a brief silence between the two as Haruka processed the words he had just spoken. The word 'love' repeated in her mind at least ten times before she suddenly realized what he meant and her eyes widened. Her heart moniter suddenly began to beat a bit faster and she looked at him in surprise.

"C...care to repeat that...?" she asked in disbelief. She couldn't have heard him right. For him to say something like that, he would have to actually mean it, because she did not take Rai Aikaryu to be a liar.

And if he really did mean it... How could he?! How could he love her? Of course, she very much liked the boy; that much was clear to her. She had consciously liked Rai for at least a month, and she had fought herself in her mind over and over again over whether she liked Rai or Kyerin. Obviously, she let her mind take the decision and was made a fool. Her heart had protested, but she had spoken those words to Kyerin and was rejected...

Those cuts she had made were punishment for being foolish, for putting her heart out on the line and letting it fall over the edge. She had sworn to herself to never breathe a word of her feelings for as long as she could, especially if there was even an ounce of doubt that they might be rejected... But if Rai had indeed said what he had said... Then maybe it wouldn't be going against her promise.

[Faye]

"A-ah... um"

He hesitated, was he actually confident in how he felt? He was feeling pretty sure about it, going through thick and thin with her all the way must have meant something. And there was always that warm fuzzy feeling in his chest every time they were together, every thought about her that clouded his mind.

The heart monitor had sped up and a smile tugged at the ends of his lips but it quickly faded as he remembered her request. What... what was he going to say? The smell of the hospital had disappeared now that he was used to it, the constantly noises he could hear throughout the entire hospital were gone, as if he were deaf. All he could concentrate on was her. Haruka.

"I... I love.. you, Haruka," He breath had been caught in his throat, his eyes fell back to the ground.

[Nicolette]

The heart moniter sped up even more as Haruka's eyes widened larger. She watched the boy in front of her and there was no doubt in her mind that he meant what he said. There was no way in hell he would lie to her, especially given the place they were; he was not that evil and cruel.

She swallowed hard and she reached her hand forward, her fingers gently brushing under his chin as she tapped it to make him look up. The moment his head was up, she sat up from her bed and moved forward, letting her lips press against his.

She wasn't ready to say the big 'L' word in return... But she could at least let him know that she was well on the road toward it.

[Faye]

At the time, Rai was half expecting her to tell him not to love her, and that he didn't mean it and all of that jazz, screwed up crap. He mostly thought that because of the way her mother was with her partner, Yuusuke (he picked that up from previous events). Haruka had always spoken that no one cared for her...

Someone did.

That was him.

Then the world stopped. He felt a pair of warm lips on his own, willingly, it wasn't his move first, she had made the first move. He melted into the kiss, savouring it for as long as he could before he had to break it due to being uncomfortable. He took a deep breath and licked his lips a little. Mmm~ he could get used to that. Wanting more, he pressed his lips back against hers after moving a little.

[Nicolette]

They kissed multiple times as Haruka's heart moniter went crazy next to her. This led to them being interupted as a nurse came in to check on the moniter. She let out a small giggle and Haruka quickly drew away, a bright red blush staining her cheek bones. She sat back against her bed, looking embarrassed to have been caught the way she had been.

"I apologize for that, Amagi-san. Your heart moniter had me a little worried, but I see nothing wrong." The nurse let out another small giggle, smiling warmly at Haruka. "But since I'm in here, I would like to change your bandages."[/i] She glanced at Rai.

"A-ah... alright..." Haruka said as she coughed a little. She turned to look at Rai. "I...I'll see you when she's done?"

[Faye]

If Rai had a heart monitor attached to him, his would have spazzed out the same as Haruka's was. It was an assurance towards him, it showed him that she was feeling something about the situation, that it was real and not out of... pity or something cruel like that. Though he didn't take her to be such a person.

Their small session was interrupted by a nurse coming in, Rai's heart thudded against his chest and he quickly fell back down on his chair, acting as innocent as possible but a dark red colour had risen to his cheeks, exposing his embarrassment.

"A-ah, right," He said, quickly realising she didn't want him present when the bandages came off so he rose from his seat, exiting the room. The foul smell of anaesthetic flooded back to him, swirling around his nose, making him feel nauseated. The noise of babies screaming, knives slicing against skin, heart monitors, the sobs of people losing their loved ones... He wondered how he kept his head screwed on sometimes.

He just leaned against the plain, white wall beside the door to Haruka's room, waiting.

[Nicolette]

Haruka sat up and the nurse instructed her to take the hospital gown off her upper half while she went to fill a small bowl with water. When she returned, she was dipping a few rags into the bowl. She set the bowl on the small table next to Haruka's bed and she began unwrapping Haruka's bandages around her chest.

Once they were gone, the nurse started to tenderly move the wet rag across where the blood had dried. Haruka let out a hiss of pain, but bit her lip in order to keep from crying out. She glanced down and was shocked to see the various cuts around her ribcage area. There was one on her left breast, around where her heart was, but it looked like it would heal just fine with some time. They all, though, looked like they'd leave scars.

The bandages around her stomach came off next and Haruka winced at the sight of more cuts. The cuts were cleaned of dry blood and bandages were wrapped back around her torso area. Next were the bandages around her arms. Old cuts had been reopened, Haruka could see, and new ones had formed. The nurse gave her a concerned look, but Haruka refused to look at her face as her cuts were cleaned and rewrapped. Haruka kept in mind to buy bandages before she went back to T'zen Island.

Once everything was done, the nurse helped Haruka back into her hospital gown and the girl sat back against the bed, staring at her lap with empty eyes. The nurse placed a soft hand on Haruka's shoulder before she turned to retrieve Rai.

"She's gotten a chance to see her injuries. Please make sure she doesn't hurt herself more."

With that, the woman left down the hall as a doctor called her name.

[Faye]

Silently he waited outside the room, longing to be back in Haruka's presence, he wanted more kisses, to be completely honest.

After a few minutes of agonising impatience, the nurse finally slipped outside of the room, requesting he keep a close eye on her. Rai nodded but thought hardly anything of it, Haruka seemed stable enough to be able to handle it, besides, she had him there, so should be fine...

But he thought he may as well keep it mind, who knows what could happen.

With a content smile on his face, he walked back into her room, quietly closing the room behind him and took a seat back down on the leather covered chair he had sat in before. "How are you feeling after that?" He asked, curiously, he was also concerned for her, too.

[Nicolette]

"I... really fucked myself up, didn't I..."

Her voice was quiet and sounded a little sad. A small, sad smile slid onto her lips and she shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on her lap. She didn't know what else to say. Rai knew nothing of her old cuts, and he didn't even know why she had her new cuts. What would there be to tell? She couldn't just bring it up out of the blue.

She let out a shaky sigh and looked up at Rai. "Can you really love damaged goods?" She asked, sounding defeated and tired.

[Faye]

His eyes saddened when she spoke, he looked at the new bandages and wished he could see through them to see exactly what they looked like but he didn't want to pry, either. The sadness only grew with her second comment, which was a question than anything else.

He nodded, though, "Always," He said simply, a warmer smile spreading across his lips as he grabbed her hand in his, gently rubbing the top of it.

"Your grandparents have gone to see your mother at the other hospital. I do hope your grandmother's okay, though... you gave her a real good scare,"

[Nicolette]

Haruka squeezed the boy's hand lightly as she moved her fingers to gently lace with his. She listened to the comment he made of her grandparents and gave a small, distant nod as she thought of the elderly couple. They'd taken care of her since Tsukiko had become ill, and even had Haruka stay with them when Tsukiko couldn't even bare to look at her own daughter. They had been so wonderful, and here Haruka was, causing trouble for them when they certainly didn't need it.

She brought her other hand up to run through her hair again.

"This was certainly the last thing they needed bothering them... Mama's been in the hospital and now, here I am, in the hospital... They don't need to be busy worrying about me when Mama's so unstable..."

[Faye]

Rai noted that she seemed to like their hands laced together, he didn't mind, he just found this whole thing a bit weird. Haruka was so distant with affection like this when they first met but now... she was willingly kissing him, holding his hand all the time. It was great!

However his mood fell when Haruka spoke, speaking of being a burden towards her grandparents. He squeezed her hand a little tighter. "Don't talk like that, Haru-chan, you've obviously been through a lot, judging by how you were acting when I came in before," He brought up his other hand to gently run down her cheek, caressing it softly. He wasn't sure what else to say to make her feel better..

[Nicolette]

Haruka was quiet for a moment. She could faintly remember the moment she had first woken up, but only because she had felt fear and that was the sharpest part of her memory. She felt weak and foolish for having been seen like that, but she let out a small sigh and shook her head.

"I don't even know if I will be able to go back to the island at this point. It's doubtful that my mother will get any better, and I can't leave my grandparents to deal with this on their own. Besides... I don't even know if they'd let me go back after an incident like this."

[Faye]

"The island would probably be a good place for you, right now, obviously, here, is a lot of bad memories, a lot of things could trigger another incident,"

Of course, he was just saying that so she would come back to the island with him. He'd look after her though. He'd make sure nothing happened to her. Ever. He rested his elbows on the bed and brought her hand up to gently kiss her knuckles. "But we'll see, okay?"