Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Call Me Onii-chan... Call Me Your Koibito ❯ Sleeping Cinderella ( Chapter 5 )

Jou watched anxiously as the doctor bent over the bed. Shizuka sat on the other side, looking half-frightened and half worried.

"She took some rather hard knocks, I can tell you that." The doctor peered into her eyes with a tiny flashlight. "Those cuts are nasty, I might have to sew up quite a few of them. But she'll be alright, with time. She must be traumatized psychologically with the whole ordeal, so be careful of her when she wakes up. Might act temporarily insane. Only thing is, what in the world happened to her?" The doctor gave Jou a hard, stern look.

Jou returned the steady gaze. "I didn't do it to her. Some punks did, and I found her in an alley in that condition."

The doctor shook his head. "Poor things. The ones that work such things for money… they get younger and younger all the time…"

Jou leaped to his feet, despite the warning look in Shizuka's eyes. "She's NOT a whore!" he yelled hoarsely, "It's my fault I didn't protect her, and she's not the type to do stupid things like that! You're a doc! No one told you to ask questions, just make her better!" He sat back down in his seat, hard, glaring at the doctor.

"Whoa, son, I didn't mean to offend you. I apologize. Now, make sure she sleeps as much as possible. The healing process will be faster if she doesn't move around too much. Make sure she eats when she wakes up, soup, or something nourishing and easy to digest. I've given your sister prescription medicine for her bruises and some of those cuts I'll fix up right now. She should pull through okay. If she develops a fever or any of the symptoms, call me right away. I'll come back tomorrow to check up on her."

She seemed to sleep too much. She was still all day, except for a slight movement of her fingers or so. Jou watched her, waiting for her to completely wake up, so he could finally pour his heart out and hold her in his arms again. Shizuka, knowing her brother's emotional turmoil without being told, left him alone in Nakomi's room as much as possible. She only came in once or twice a day, to check on Nakomi and reapply the ointment to her cuts and bruises.

"She's going to be okay, aniki," Shizuka said softly, laying a hand on her brother's shoulder.

He started, awoken from a half-doze in his chair, and muttered, "Thanks. But I won't believe until she wakes up completely."

Shizuka placed a tray in front of him. "You need to eat. All this worrying isn't good for you, you know…"

He waved it away. "I don't want to eat anything. All I want is for her to open her eyes and smile again." He slumped down in his chair, eyes red and blood-shot, hair tousled and clothes disheveled. He knew he looked like a mess. He didn't care.

Shizuka put down the tray with a sigh. "How'd you get into this pack of trouble in the first place? After you got my eyes operated on… this apartment… and you and Nakomi… I thought you and Mai…?" She looked at him questioningly.

"Mai's gone. Out of my life, at least," he said. "I moved my stuff out of her house and left a note to say I was leaving." He pointed at the bags at the door. "There they are."

"You're welcome to stay, aniki… but doesn't she have a family… home, somewhere? I don't mind if she stays, I'm just wondering if her family might be worried." She gestured toward the sleeping form in the bed.

He looked out the window, frowning. "Just a dad. Her mom died a few years ago," he replied. His frown deepened as he recalled all the times he'd encountered her dad. A tall, muscular man with a harsh, rough voice that constantly ordered his only daughter around, with clothes smelling like cigarette smoke and often, alcohol on his breath. "Get off the phone, you've been on it long enough, you little brat," and her hurried whisper, "Sorry, Jou, dad wants me off the phone now. I'll see you tomorrow." The few times he visited her little blue and white house two blocks away, and her father prowling around the living room, giving Jou harsh looks as he took long swigs of beer from a bottle. And that one time, when Jou helped her paint her room, and he noticed the black-and-blue bruises alongside red streaks on her arm and shoulder. She had said she'd fallen off the front porch because she was being careless, but he suspected her dad had given her a beating for coming home late the night before, from the movies with Jou. He'd cringed as he heard her soft, "I'm sorry dad, I didn't mean to come home so late," and his growling voice, "You little slut, have you been screwing around with that guy? I'll beat the living daylights out of you." "No, no, dad… we went out to the movies… please, dad, no, not the belt…"

Jou clenched his fists.

"- and I always thought he was the nicest guy." Shizuka looked at Jou and realized he hadn't heard a thing. Shaking her head, she picked up the tray and headed out of the room.

Jou moved over next to the bed. He was sleepy, so sleepy. But he wanted to be there when Nakomi woke up. He wanted to be the first thing she saw… but so sleepy…

He suddenly had a thought. He reached out the window and carefully broke off three roses: a bud, a half-blown, and a full blossom. Placing a kiss on each, he set them in a small glass vase on her beside table, so they'd be the first things she'd see.

Satisfied, he laid his head on the bedspread, and closed his eyes, faintly recalling her voice from sometime long ago… "My favorite flowers? Roses…"