One Night

Chapter Eleven

Yohji slowly regained consciousness to a feeling of wrongness, when everything suddenly snapped into place. The rescue attempt, fighting Schwarz and then the island sinking… He quickly opened his eyes and tried to sit up using his right arm, only to curse at the burning pain that seared through to his shoulder which seemed to rival the one in his left ankle. Yohji flopped back down, breathing through his mouth as the wave of nausea passed. Guess he wouldn’t try that again soon.

He turned his head to find an unconscious Aya lying next to him on the beach. His lover didn’t appear to be breathing for a moment and Yohji almost cried out in pain at the thought before he saw the shallow rise and fall of Aya’s chest. Blinking away the blurriness from his vision, Yohji forced himself to raise up a bit, but wisely used his left arm instead.

Yohji looked up and down the beach and didn’t see a thing. Scooting a bit closer to Aya while trying not to jostle his ankle, he sat up using his left arm and attempted to assess the man’s condition. Aya, impossibly enough, seemed even more pale than normal. Yohji undid his lover’s coat and felt the chest and stomach area. He felt a protruding rib and even more worrisome, there was a hardness in Aya’s abdomen that indicated possible internal bleeding.

In the museum, Aya had been trapped under some fallen debris, just as Yohji’s foot had been, before the island broke up completely. The man was unconscious when Yohji managed to get his wire around him and fought against them both following the island to the bottom of the sea. Despite the pain in his shoulder, Yohji had not let go of his lover until they both made it to the beach, where Yohji had promptly passed out. Not sure how long they’d been here, Yohji looked at his watch and noticed about an hour had passed since they’d gone after Schwarz and their targets.

Cursing himself as seven types of a fool, Yohji belatedly turned on his emergency tracer. He rummaged around his boyfriend’s coat until he found Aya’s and turned that one on for good measure. He hoped like hell Birman could find someone to send to rescue them or Aya wasn’t going to make it. Yohji wasn’t stupid and so wouldn’t pretend that Aya’s injuries weren’t critical.

Yohji pulled his gloves off and ran his fingers through Aya’s wet, tangled hair then across high cheekbones. He loved Aya so much and now was once again close to losing that which he loved. Yohji wondered what he’d done in a previous life to deserve this.

Aya stirred then opened his eyes, blinking them several times before they locked onto Yohji. He made to get up, prompting Yohji to say, “Don’t move, Aya. You’ve got at least one broken rib and maybe some internal bleeding as well.”

“What about you? Are you okay?” The concern was evident in Aya’s gaze.

“I fucked up my shoulder and left ankle. They hurt like a bitch and I don’t think I can stand much less walk out of here, but other than that, I’m fine.” Yohji couldn't stop touching Aya’s face and hair. He didn’t want Aya to know that he figured his ankle was busted up pretty good and his shoulder was absolutely useless. Aya didn’t need to worry about him on top of everything else.

Aya closed his eyes and leaned into Yohji’s caress before asking, “And Omi and Ken?”

“I haven’t seen them since Berserker was trying to smash Ken’s skull into dust and that Prodigy kid was kicking Omi’s ass, the bastards.” Yohji sighed. “I’m hoping they made it to the beach also.”

“It’s going to be dark soon and the temperature is going to drop. I’m not sure we’ll get out of this one, Yohji.” Aya opened his eyes to look at him with what seemed to be regret in them.

“Don’t give up yet, Aya.” Yohji leaned in for a kiss. “I’ve got our tracers turned on. If anyone is still alive in Kritiker, Birman will make sure they track us down. I’m not ready to die yet.”

“Hn.” Aya’s response was followed by his eyelids fluttering shut and his breathing evening out once more. Not sure if he’d just fallen asleep or passed out from blood loss, Yohji moved in closer to carefully lie down next to him. All they could do now was to wait for a rescue. Yohji knew that they’d get rescued. They just had to.


*****

Aya woke again and this time there was no light in the sky. He shivered from the cold and tried to limit the movement because it caused his side to ache. Aya turned his head to look at Yohji and prayed that his lover would make it out of here alive.

For himself, Aya wasn’t sure that he’d last much longer. He felt so cold and weak. The only thing that calmed him was the fact that Manx had gotten his sister to safety. Aya had more than enough money set aside to take care of Aya-chan for the rest of her life; he just wished he’d gotten to hug her one last time. Aya was too exhausted to even care when a tear trickled from the corner of his eye. It was just too much effort to worry about it.

Aya lifted his right hand to his mouth so he could tug his glove off with his teeth. He wanted to touch Yohji one last time. He’d stopped denying that he was in love with Yohji, his only regret was that he’d been too much a coward to tell his lover what he felt. Aya reached out to trace Yohji’s lips then moved his hand to thread their fingers together.

“I love you, Yohji.” There, even if Yohji hadn’t heard him, at least he’d said it out loud. If there was any justice in the universe, maybe they’d be reunited in another life and Aya wouldn’t squander their time together that time around.

After a few minutes, Aya felt the fatigue wash over him as he started to drift off to sleep. He thought he heard voices and saw some flashes of light, but that was soon swallowed up into darkness that wouldn’t be denied.

*****

Yohji woke to the sound of quiet sniffling. This time when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a hospital room instead of on the beach. He noticed the bed next to him was empty so turned his head to the sounds that woke him. Omi was sitting in the chair beside the bed with his head bowed.

“O-omi?” Yohji needed to clear his dry throat before he could get the word out.

The young man snapped up his head and Yohji could see the tracks of tears before they were wiped away. Omi got up to stand next to the bed and said, “Yohji-kun. You’re awake. How do you feel?”

Yohji noticed that Omi seemed awfully upset about something and that set off warning bells. Suddenly not interested in assessing his major aches and pains, Yohji had a more pressing question. “How’s Aya?”

“Yohji…” Omi’s eyes filled with tears again as he walked over to look out the window. This really made Yohji’s stomach clench since Omi wasn’t answering him.

“Omi, you’re making me think the worse. Where the hell is Aya?” Yohji was unable to keep the panic out of his voice.

Omi turned back from the window with tears streaming down his face. “He… he didn’t make it. They… when he was in surgery, he coded on the table and they couldn’t revive him…”

Yohji felt as if someone had reached in and tore his heart out through his chest. For a moment he couldn’t breathe, until he finally dragged in a deep lungful of air before screaming in denial, “Noooo….”

With a jolt, Yohji went from being caught in a nightmare to sudden wakefulness along with the befuddlement of awakening in a strange place. Recalling what had caused the terror, Yohji quickly turned his head to see Aya sleeping in the hospital bed next to him. Taking a deep calming breath, Yohji noted the steady rise and fall of the man’s chest and the frantic beating of Yohji’s heart lessened until he no longer felt as if it would burst through his body.

Leaning his head back against his pillow, he noticed that his right arm was in a sling while his left leg was in a cast suspended over the bed. Yohji tried to remember what had happened since washing up on that beach and recalled being woken when someone picked him up. He vaguely recalled a brown haired man sporting a five o’clock shadow instructing an EMT to help him carry Yohji to the vehicle. Another man, blond hair, fairly good looking with, of all things, a scarf tied around his neck, had been at one end of a stretcher which contained Aya, with another EMT at the other end.

He didn’t remember much after that because once they were in the ambulance, one of the tech’s put an IV in his hand and Yohji fell asleep once again. About to press the nurse call button, Yohji paused when he noticed there was someone else in the room, asleep in a chair. Realizing that it was Omi, Yohji called out softly.

He watched as Omi blinked his eyes and yawned before noticing that Yohji was awake. He sprang from the chair and crossed to the bed in a rush of motion. “Yohji-kun. You’re awake. How do you feel?” While it was apparent that Omi was trying to keep his voice down, the relief was evident.

Dèjá vu. Yohji shook the chilling remnants of his nightmare off as he tried to assess his various aches and pains. “How do you think I feel? My shoulder and ankle are killing me. The rest of me feels like I was run over with a Mack truck. Does that answer your question?” Yohji tried to keep the snark out of his voice since he knew that the question was due to Omi’s concern, but seriously, it really was a stupid question to ask someone in a hospital bed.

Omi had the grace to blush as he adjusted something on Yohji’s IV and almost immediately the pain lessened. Yohji sighed in pleasure and said, “Oh, yeah. That’s much better. What did you do?”

“They have your IV hooked up so that when the pain gets bad you can press a button and it’ll release some morphine into your drip every hour or so. The nurse showed me how to do it in case you woke in pain.” Omi fussed with Yohji’s blanket and pillow before he continued. “You separated your shoulder and had to have surgery to place a pin in your ankle. You’ll be out of commission for a bit.”

“And Aya? How is he?” Yohji looked over to his lover, who still looked too pale. He noted that one of Aya’s IV’s bags was a unit of blood.

“He’s going to be okay, Yohji, but Aya lost a lot of blood and they had to remove his spleen. He also has a broken rib and several cracked ones,” Omi explained as he walked over to Aya’s bedside to look at his unconscious teammate. They boy wore his emotions on his face and the worry and guilt was evident as he adjusted Aya’s blanket. Yohji knew that Omi blamed himself every time any of them got injured. He took his roll as leader of Weiss very seriously.

With a sigh, Omi walked back to Yohji's bedside, his expression changing to one of leader. “Manx says it’s not safe for us to stay here too long and is arranging for Weiss to go to Villa White as soon as the doctor will release you and Aya. We’ll stay there until everyone is healed, which could be a while.”

Yohji didn’t care where they were as long as he was with Aya and the man was alright. He then remembered to ask with a flash of guilt, “What about you and Ken? Last I saw, Schwarz was wiping the floor with you guys.”

Omi blushed and frowned at him before saying, “Ken is in the next room with a concussion. I’m just dealing with some bruises and contusions but other than that, we’re fine. You and Aya got the worst of it from the falling debris. Where Ken and I were standing, the floor opened up before anything could trap us.”

Despite his efforts to remain awake and find out more information, Yohji yawned. The narcotic in his bloodstream was making it hard for him to remain awake. Omi must have noticed because as Yohji closed his eyes, Omi said, “Get some rest, Yohji. I’m going back to my room for a few hours of sleep, too. I just wanted to make sure that you knew what was going on. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

*****

Aya came to awareness slowly, but kept his eyes closed while he tried to make sense of the situation. The last thing he remembered was… his eyes snapped open to reveal that he was in the hospital. Aya looked around and saw Yohji asleep in the next bed and a little of the tightness in his chest eased at the sight of his lover. Yohji’s right arm was in a sling and his left leg was in a cast, suspended over the bed. While the man looked pretty banged up, at least he was still alive.

Attempting to sit up, Aya hissed in pain when his whole left side protested. He recalled the horrible pain he’d felt when that chunk of rock fell on him and it was all he could do to protect his head from the crumbling building.

Aya was distracted from his thoughts when a nurse came into the room. She headed straight to his bed, not even sparing Yohji a glance and he was a bit miffed that his lover didn’t seem to be getting proper care. When the woman noticed that Aya was awake, she said, “Good morning, Mr. Fujimiya. I need to check your vitals, but would you like some water first?”

After he nodded, the nurse picked up a cup and held the straw to Aya’s lips. The water tasted better than normal but it was probably because of his thirst. When he finally finished, he turned his head away from the straw and asked, “What’s wrong with me?”

“You have one broken and several cracked ribs plus you are recovering from major surgery. You ruptured your spleen so it had to be removed. The doctor will explain everything to you later when she makes her rounds, but just so you know, a spleen is something you can live without.” The nurse explained all of this while she checked his IV bags along with a bag hanging on the side of the bed. Aya was embarrassed to note that is was filled with urine but was happy that she seemed satisfied with what she saw there and didn’t need to check his catheter further.

She picked up his wrist to check his pulse, made a note in his chart then applied the cuff to verify his blood pressure and, after another notation, took his temperature. “Your blood pressure is still a little low so the doctor may give you one more unit of blood. Are you in any pain?”

Aya shook his head ‘no’ even though the pain in his side was increasing every moment; he didn’t like to demonstrate any weakness, especially to a stranger. She looked at him for a moment before pulling back his blankets to check the bandages wrapped around his middle. Aya watched her undo them and noticed a drain wrapped within. He couldn’t prevent a hiss of pain when she cleaned the drain and replaced some of the wrappings. Aya noticed her frown and watched as she filled a hypodermic needle with fluid before injecting it into a shunt on his IV and the next thing he knew, everything went black once more.

*****

Yohji noticed Aya stir in the bed next to him and watched, hoping that Aya was finally going to wake up. He was bored to death, but didn’t want to turn the TV on and disturb his roommate. That was also why he'd shooed Omi from the room earlier, plus the fact that the nurse was checking his catheter at the time. Normally he wouldn’t mind a beautiful woman playing with his dick but not under these circumstances; besides, he was currently taken. Yohji hated that his injuries prevented him from leaving the bed to take care of necessities and he dreaded the first time he had to take a crap, since he’d been told a bedpan was in his future. Fuck.

Using the control to shift his bed to a more seated position, he saw Aya’s eyes open at the noise. When Aya’s befuddled gaze met his, Yohji smiled and said, “Hey there, how are you feeling?”

Aya tried to move as if to sit up but hissed and closed his eyes in pain. Yohji pressed the call button for the nurse and moments later she arrived.

“Yes Mr. Kudoh?”

“Aya’s awake, can you help him sit up?” Yohji knew better than to wait for Aya to ask a stranger for help. Hell, he wouldn’t even ask it of his teammates for the most part.

The glare Aya sent his way was pretty mild, all things considered; a sure sign Aya really wasn’t at all well. Yohji watched while she raised Aya’s bed, checked his vitals, made sure the IV’s were fine. When the nurse pulled the curtain to block Yohji’s view, he knew that is was time for Aya to have his catheter checked. The blush on Aya’s face confirmed Yohji’s suspicion as the curtain was drawn back again. Aya didn’t raise his eyes as the nurse made him drink some water while she asked, “Are you hungry, Mr. Fujimiya?”

Aya shook his head only to stop when the nurse said, “If you can eat and drink okay, we can remove the catheter. Will you try to eat something?”

This time the glare was directed at the young woman, who only smiled when Aya gave a single nod of his head.

After the door closed behind the woman, Aya turned to Yohji and asked, “Do you know anything about Aya-chan?”

Yohji shook his head and replied, “No, Ayan. I’ve only been up a little while and haven’t spoken with Omi since the middle of the night when he let me know everyone was okay and that he and Ken were in the next room. He stopped by before, but I was busy and you were sleeping so we didn’t get a chance to talk. I’ll call him and tell him to stop by now.”

Aya nodded and closed his eyes while Yohji used the phone. After he hung up, Aya opened his eyes to look at Yohji as he asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better, but it could have been much worse. I’ve got a separated shoulder and broken ankle. They had to put a pin in my ankle because the damage was so bad. Doctor says I’ll probably be in a cast at least six weeks before I can graduate to a special boot with metal supports and Velcro fastenings.” Yohji grimaced at the thought.

Aya seemed about to say something when the door opened to admit the nurse with a tray of food, followed by Omi. Yohji hid a smile behind his hand when the nurse set the food in front of Aya and admonished him to eat everything on his plate like a good boy. The look on Aya’s face was priceless. Yohji didn’t think he knew whether to strangle the woman or take her to the nearest mental institution.

Omi saved the day by walking over to Aya and saying, “Aya-kun. I’m so glad you’re awake.”

Omi sat in a chair situated between both beds as the nurse left the room.

“What’s the status of my sister?” Aya looked at Omi, obviously not in the mood for friendly chit-chat.

“Eat your lunch while I fill you in.” Omi’s smile changed into a frown as he watched Aya ignore his request. “The doctor is reluctant to discharge us but Manx says it’s not safe for us to remain here too long. One of the conditions of being released early is you being able to handle solid food.” This was mission Omi speaking and Yohji watched while Aya reluctantly complied.

Omi nodded; apparently satisfied that Aya was doing as he’d asked. “Manx stopped by this morning. Your sister, Manx and Birman are staying in a safe house together for the time being. Aya… your sister woke from her coma.”

Aya dropped his chopsticks and just stared at Omi for several moments in shock before he could speak, “Awake? Aya-chan’s awake? And I wasn’t there.” The last said so softly, Yohji barely caught it.

He watched Aya close his eyes and lower his head while he got control of his emotions. Yohji cursed the injuries that kept him from going over to his lover and gathering him into his arms. Instead, Yohji distracted Omi’s attention from Aya by asking, “How is she? Have they had any doctors check her out? What are you telling her?”

Omi was more than happy to fill them in. “Well, Sakura was about to tell Aya’s sister all about him, but Manx interrupted her in time. They did have a doctor look Aya-chan over and she’s fine. The doctor was amazed at her recovery.” Omi turned to Aya, who was once more under control as he sipped his soup. “She remembers your parent’s death and is worried about you. All they’ve told her at the moment was that she was kidnapped and when you went to rescue her, you got caught in the museum’s collapse and are missing.”

Aya continued eating, his face betraying no emotions whatsoever. After the soup, rice and fish were consumed, he pushed the cart holding the tray to the side and said, “So she doesn’t know I’m alive.”

“Not at this point. We felt it was your decision alone to make.” Omi replied. “Manx also has arranged for us to leave for Villa White as soon as possible. We are too vulnerable here.”

Aya nodded and Yohji once more wished he could pull Aya into his arms and kiss the sadness away.

“When do we leave?” Aya asked.

Omi blushed before he replied, “The doctor won’t release you and Yohji until you’ve both proven able to eat solids and… have a bowel movement.”

“Why?” Aya’s frown returned.

“After major surgery, they need to make sure your complete digestive system is working properly.”

“And how the hell am I supposed to get to the bathroom to accomplish this requirement?” Aya was more than a bit disgruntled as he asked.

Yohji was glad to be several meters away from his lover as Omi mumbled, “You have to have the nurse help you walk to the lavatory and verify your movement.”

“What was that?”

Omi meeped at the look of rage on Aya’s face and quickly said, “Er, I think I have to return to my room now and check on Ken. I’m glad you’re awake, Aya-kun. I’ll stop by later.”

Yohji watched the coward rush from the room and looked over to Aya. There was a bit of red receding from Aya’s neck and Yohji said, “You’re not in as bad a shape as I am, Ayan. They’ve got me so trussed up here that I’ll have to use a bedpan before they’ll let me out of here.”

The look Aya sent his way told Yohji that his lover didn’t much care what embarrassment *he* had to go through as long as Aya avoided any. Yohji decided that now was a very good time to press his pain med’s button and sleep through Aya’s anger, which is exactly what he did.