Chapter Text
As soon as the last bell rang, she was up and out of the classroom, leaving almost everything and everyone behind her. "Chisaki!" He called, but of course, she was already gone. It had been a fair few years since the incident that destroyed Chisaki's mind and landed her in the hospital a few times, and she still had the scar on her ankle from the first time she tried to walk back and was thrown back, cutting her ankle on some rocks that were on the bed floor. She curled up and went to sleep under the sea, and when she had been spotted by a fisherman, he instantly took her to the hospital. Tsumugu might have been worried about judgement, if they hadn't grown up with the same class as they had when the Ofenhiki happened. He saw one of her friends, a girl named Hagakure, shake her head.
"Poor girl." She mumbled, "Hey, Kihara?" She asked, and Tsumugu looked up. "Just make sure another time like when she ended up in hospital doesn't happen, ok?" He nodded, grabbed his own bag and quickly followed her out. He knew exactly where she had gone, to the sea, and he hated her for it. Even though she was from the sea, and even know he knew she missed it more and more each day, it still threw her back and she got more and more injured each time she landed back on the port.
Chisaki was currently under the water, letting it surround her, and it felt like a breath of fresh air, even though Manaka wasn't next her, laughing, Hikari wasn't ahead of her, racing Kaname, and there was no Shio in sight, just plain, endless ocean that just kept going. Where were the lights from the roofs of her home village? Where were all the crazy vibrant fish? Had they all gone into hibernation to? She didn't know, and even though she was underwater, she started crying slightly, but wiped her tears away so that her eyes weren't blurred for her attempt at the border. She cut through the sea with relative ease, having lived there for the main part of her life, and she started pushing, even when the current got stronger, she kept pushing through the water until the sea pushed back. It reminded her of the ceremony years back, all neon light blue and white foam, and after that, there was the noise, like wind rushing past her ears, only louder and more violent, a giant water tornado. Then the wall came. She rationalised it as just wind, in her head, it was just wind, but the way it formed made the water rush towards you, and even when she pushed back, it threw her back, more violent each time. This time, it sent her flying back into the wall of the port, underneath a boat, knocking the wind out of her. Her head was banging, and she saw Tsumugu just above the water, and knew even if she tried again, he'd just pull her up, so she swam to the surface until her head broke water and she saw the minor storm clouds. Now it all made sense. "The storm is going to come and the lightning will hit anything it can find just above the water. I don't want that something to be you."
"Ha," She half-laughed. "You care about me?" The look he gave her was somewhere between care and disappointment.
"Yes. You're the only friend I have left, really. Also, I saw you get thrown back against a wall. You have to hurt." He wasn't lying, her back was in complete pain, she felt like she'd ran ten miles on land with no ena stops, and was almost entirely sure she had scrapped it. "You are, aren't you?"
"No!" She said, with a little to much emphasis. "I'm not hurt," She lied, "I'm completely fine." He observed her for a second, he'd never met another person like her before. She was bold and never gave up, which could lead to her getting into trouble, as she did when she tried to get through to Shio. He looked at her once more and put the blanket he was holding, which she hadn't even noticed, around her shoulders, and she pulled it tighter around her.
"Shall we go home?" He asked, and she nodded.
It was the middle of the night, and she awoke to lightning and nightmares. Of course, she always got the bad dreams, but tonight they where especially violent and vivid, perhaps because of the tornado that took place while she was trying to get back to Shio, or maybe it was the fact her body was in pain that made it hurt more. She had dressed herself in bandages and cream to try and stop the pain, but when she moved it ached, even if the movement was very subtle. She saw a figure stood at her door, just the shadow of it and the feet. "Tsumugu?" She asked, not scared she might be wrong, but scared she might be right. The door slid open and there we was stood, all shaggy dusty hair and tan skin. "Are you ok?"
"Are you?" He replied back, leaning against the doorframe for a moment before coming in and shutting the door. "You look like you just had a nightmare." She hugged her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, as if trying to hide the fact that she had indeed had a nightmare, but she was to easy to read. Then he noticed she was crying, so he went to leave, but she looked up.
"Wait." She said, looking at him. "Can you please stay?" She mumbled, which shocked him a bit, because she never usually asked him to stay or show affection, perhaps she was scared of allowing herself to feel anything without her friends by her side, but a small part of him silently hoped that she was finally letting him in, and then mentally cursed himself as he walked over to her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder, and he wasn't quite sure what to say. Did she need comforting or just need someone to hold her? He wasn't good with emotions, that had always been Kaname or maybe he should call Akari, she was the married one.
"How's you back?" He asked, going with the safe option so he didn't upset her. Why was he thinking about this so much though? Did Chisaki really mean that much to him as just a friend? Was he sure that she was just a friend?
"Fine, I took some pain killers and the bruising's not gone but the pain is." She mumbled. "Can...You lie down with me?"
"Of course." He responded, and slowly, she lay down with he holding onto her head. He pretended he didn't see her flinch slightly when they hit the floor. "Does it hurt a lot?"
"Hm?" She looked up. "My back? No, I said so."
"No, not your back. Your heart." Dumbly and naïvely, she placed a hand over her heart and pressed down on it. "I mean, no, not your literal heart, your emotional state. I notice the periods of time where you stay awake and don't eat, and its always around the anniversary of the ceremony."
"I think I'd like to be a nurse." She mumbled, avoiding the question. "The nurses helped me and I want to give back. Also, when everyone comes back it means I can help them. I wonder will they be all grown up or will they still be thirteen?" She put her face under his chin, snuggling close to him and he just stayed there, protecting her.
"I wonder." He repeated, still holding onto her.