Description: Kyo wakes up in Marie Howard Memorial Hospital in Southtown after his misadventures in Thailand. Yuki decides not to maim Kusanagi further even though he made her worry.
Beep beep whirrr. Click. Beep beep whirrr. Click. This is the repetitive soundtrack of Kyo Kusanagi's recovery room in Marie Howard Memorial Hospital; the endless chirps and clicks from the medical equipment he's hooked up to. Even though he's the least likely person to just sit still and rest, he doesn't have much choice in the matter currently. Days upon days of constant fighting against Shadaloo forces, Mr. Big, attack helicopters, Iori Yagami, and even Vega himself have left him in a sorry state: A mummy-like full-body bandage job restricts his movements and prevents Kyo from injuring himself any further.
He just woke up after "sleeping" for three days straight, and now is amusing himself by casting his blinking gaze upwards, counting bumps in the spackle to pass the time. Needless to say, for a restless individual such as Kyo Kusanagi, it is a rather agonizing experience, and not because of his terrible injuries.
The door to Kyo's room suddenly opens, admitting...a nurse! Not Yuki! That's gotta be disappointing. "Right this way, Miss Kushinada." OH WAIT IT IS YUKI! It's April Fool's Day all over again! LOL!
Stepping out from behind the nurse, Yuki moves forward with a weak smile. Geez, Kyo looks awful! But he probably knows this, there's no need for her to harp on it. "Thank you, ma'am," Yuki bows politely to the nurse, and moves forward once the door is closed and the two of them are alone. This is just one more reason to fuel the fire for her studies to become a doctor. "Hey handsome," she murmurs quietly, setting down her backpack and reaching out to place a warm hand on his forehead, brushing aside the bangs of his hair. "How are you feeling?"
Kyo's eyes definitely light up as soon as Yuki enters, even though he can't really tilt his head completely to gaze upon her. Her arrival is like a cool drink of water after being away for so long. To her question Yuki's boyfriend replies slowly: "Mmmmffgmmf ggmmmf rrrgh." There's still the small matter of the bandages around his mouth to contend with.
What? Who puts bandages over someone's mouth? There's no need for that. Yuki frowns, then tugs the gauze downward. That would inhibit his ability to /breathe/, who's the knucklehead? "I seriously need to get into this profession before they kill you," she grumbles, readjusting the bandages to her liking. "I guess they're still feeding you intravenously. I brought apples for when you're well enough to chew." Tugging a chair next to his bedside, Yuki flops into it with a sigh, and brushes the hair away from her brow. "I brought some books to read to you, too. And fighting magazines, and a Reader's Digest...hopefully there'll be something you like. I wasn't really sure what all you'd need. But if there's something you'd like, let me know, okay?"
What Yuki doesn't know is that the nurses bandaged Kyo's mouth to shut him up, because as soon as he woke up he started yelling at them to cut the bandages and let him out of here. Once she readjusts the bandages Kyo takes a few breathes, then smiles weakly at her. "I'm starving!"
"I bet you are!" Yuki laughs. "Stomach's all empty and stuff. I'll ask the doctors what you're allowed to eat." When he's allowed to eat, that is. Maybe he already is? She doesn't know, but she's not going to feed him something just so he can vomit all over himself. She leans over and kisses his forehead affectionately. "So how long are you supposed to be in that thing?"
"I was hoping you could tell me that..." Kyo grumbles, quite obviously unpleased with his current situation here. Yuki knows her boyfriend is the restless sort, never content to just be sitting around in one place, much less practically tied down to a hospital bed with a combination of bandages and serious injuries working to immobilize him. "I'm ready to go right now though-" he grits his teeth, trying to will his body up off the hospital bed, "-so if you could just tell the doc-nngh!" His grimace of effort turns to a wince of pain as he pushes himself far, far too early.
Wisely he gives up any further attempts to get out of bed before Yuki really has to scold him. "...Damnit."
Sighing, Kyo seems resigned to his fate, which is going to be this room, and this bed, for the time being. He adopts a more serious expression after a minute or so silence, finally asking quietly, "So how long was I out?"
Yuki frowns when Kyo starts to thrash, and places a finger sternly on his nose. "Stay. Put." And she keeps staring intently at him until he obeys. Only then does she relax and settle back in her chair. "You've been here for three days, so far. You almost died, Kyo." She looks away, scrubbing her hand over her mouth, furrowing her brow. She heaves a deep sigh, closes her eyes, then removes her hand. "Your parents and I were worried sick that first night. We weren't even allowed to come in."
Kyo is quiet for a little while after Yuki asserts that he almost died, looking back up to the ceiling with a reflective look in his eyes as that statement sets in. "Yeah... for a minute there, back in Thailand, I thought maybe this was the one, the one I wouldn't come back from..."
His words echo off the walls of the small, confined recovery room, and it's only after they've faded completely that he manages to somewhat painfully turn his head back towards Yuki to flash his trademark smile at her.
"Just kidding! I'm sure you'd come rescue me if it were true, right?" He chuckles at himself, then winces, even laughing hurts!
"Yeah, I'm sure a bookbag would knock them to their knees with sheer terror," Yuki sighs. She held back what she'd almost said...that she doesn't want him to fight anymore. But she knows that's not something he could, or even /should/ do. It's part of his heritage, and people will be after him...even her...probably for the rest of his life. He has to fight to stay strong. Besides, she refuses to tell him how to live his life. She's had enough of her mother trying to do that for her, she knows how suffocating it can be. "Just promise me you'll be careful in those kinds of situations, Kyo. You know I don't want you to die."
He attempted to defuse the seriousness that the conversation had drifted towards with a bad joke, but Kyo knows he won't be able to just switch the topic so easily, not when they're talking about something like the possibility of Kyo dying in battle.
He goes quiet again, and this time it's not just comedic timing.
"I'm... sorry I made you worry. I guess the letter I sent wasn't very comforting, huh?" he murmurs. Kyo loves a challenging fight, likes nothing better but to test his abilities against the best in the world. However, in a good amount of those fights he puts his body, and indeed, his life, at serious risk. If it wasn't so ingrained in his very being, literally in his blood, he would try to stop fighting just so Yuki wouldn't have to worry. Beyond pure enjoyment there is another reason he fights.
"If I don't keep fighting... I won't get stronger, and if I don't get stronger..." his somewhat sad expression changes to a determined one, something Yuki is used to seeing, "...I won't be able to protect the people who are important to me."
"Yes, I know," Yuki sighs. "I know very well." She looks down at her knees quietly. She can't help feeling like a burden to him after hearing something like that. She won't say as much...not now, anyway...but she /does/ wish she could do something for him other than give him another reason to risk being dead. "Just be careful, like I said. Don't worry about me being worried, that'd happen regardless," she points out with a small smile.
With her chair scooted up close to Kyo's bedside, Yuki leans onto the thin mattress, folding her arms beneath her chin, and curling her legs up onto the chair. She closes her eyes, heaving a quiet sigh. "You should get some rest." She should too. She hasn't slept well since she heard Kyo had been admitted to the hospital.
Kyo instinctually tries to reach out to stroke his girlfriend's cheek, but he still hasn't regained feeling in that arm yet. "Hmpf, you think I'm tired? Like I said I'm ready to get out he-zzzz..." Out like a light, perhaps because of an automatically-administered dose of painkillers. More likely it's because Yuki's here now, making these drab surroundings feel comfortable enough to sleep in.
Log created on 02:25:43 07/08/2007 by Kyo, and last modified on 06:45:35 07/08/2007.