Fallout

Ichiro slowly awoke to the sound of beeping and opened his eyes to the sight of a white room with wood bordering and florescent lights shining down. He looked around the room to see light, shining in through the window onto Yuki who slept on a chair next to him while she held his hand. He tried sitting up which made sharp pain shoot through him. Feeling around, he found that his stab would had a gauze pad on it. He let out a small grunt.

For several minutes, just lying there, he looked out the window at the Tokyo skyline. Before long, however, a nurse entered the room rather quietly. Ichiro turned his head to look at the woman which started her slightly. She pulled her clipboard close to herself, turned, and left having realized he was awake. Mere seconds later, a doctor and Haruki entered the room.

"You really are awake." Haruki said, surprised and anxious at the conversation he needed to have with Ichiro.

"What happened?" Ichiro asked as the doctor began recording information from the multitude of machines.

"You are very lucky." The doctor responded rather directly.

"Doctor," Haruki started, "Can you give us a little time."

Begrudgingly, the doctor sighed and left the room.

As the door clicked shut, Yuki's eyes opened and she looked over to find her brother standing just inside the door.

"What's going on Haruki." She sleepily said as she rubbed her eyes and stretched.

"Yuki." Ichiro uttered causing the girl to look over at him.

She immediately snapped out of her sleepy state, jumped from the chair, and lunged even closer to her bedside. Her face went slightly red once she realized she was still holding his hand.

"Are you okay?" Yuki wondered. "Oh man, you're actually awake. I don't know how to respond to this. I mean I played it out in my head over and over but I don't know what to say."

"Yuki." Haruki said grimly as she looked at him.

The room went quiet for a few minutes before Ichiro broke the tension by saying, "So, where am I?"

Haruki grieved as he said, "You're in a hospital. You got hurt pretty badly."

"Well, I figured that when I got stabbed." Ichiro half grunted as he pointed at his side.

"Ichiro," Yuki led in. "You've been unconscious for three days."

Pensively, Ichiro struggled through the pain and forced himself to sit up. "Is everyone else okay? I was trying to make it back to the meeting, but I guess I didn't make it."

"I need to know what happened." Haruki said uncharacteristically sternly to Ichiro.

Memories of the situation flashed through Ichiro's head and, with everything he knew of his friends, he let out a sigh and said, "I'm so sorry Haruki. I should have gone to her apartment sooner. She was already," Ichiro paused for a moment before starting over. "Inori was gone by the time I got there. I can only assume it was the old man."

"I'm assuming that too," Haruki leaned in and started to whisper, "and that you killed the old man."

"I did." Ichiro murmured just loud enough for Haruki to hear. "He had killed Inori and he was coming after me. I did everything I could."

Haruki bowed slightly and said, "Thank you and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it back to the group." Ichiro lamented and Haruki's emotions began to weight heavy on him.

"No!" Haruki said holding back his sadness. "I'm just glad I was able make it there in time to save you."

Yuki was on the verge of tears at the thought of what happened to Inori, and what could have happened to Ichiro. Haruki looked at the pain and relief in his sister's face and then back at the mangled Ichiro. Sadness overwhelmed him but he held it down in an attempt at stoicism.

"Well," Haruki said with a slight crack in his voice as he pat Ichiro's leg and continued with, "I should give you two a few moments and talk with the doctor some more. I'll tell him to come back in a few minutes."

"Yea." Ichiro lamented.

"Once you wake up a bit more and feel good enough to talk, I'll need some more details about it all, but don't push yourself too hard for now." Haruki said before he turned and left the room.

Turning to look at Yuki, Ichiro mumbled, "Hey you."

"Hey Ichi" Yuki said fighting through tears.

"Ichi?" Ichiro coughed slightly and chuckled. "I think only Lenora called me that."

Yuki gripped his hand tight and let him know, "Everyone else is worried about you. Shingo and Asuka were here late last night. Takamasa and Konomi were here through a lot of yesterday as well. I think they decided to take shifts guarding you."

"They're guarding me?" Ichiro asked.

"They weren't sure about any of the specifics but Haruki told them about Inori and that there was a statue in there with you." Yuki tried to explain. "It wasn't until Asuka started doing research."

Yuki trailed off and quieted down.

"What is it Yuki?" Ichiro asked as he fought to stay conscious.

"I'll tell you about it all later." She said with tears on her cheeks and a smile across her face. "You don't need to worry about it right now. We just need you to get better."

"You know," Ichiro started after a slight pause. "I figured everyone else was in danger too. There's not really a reason to target Inori. She was really sweet and kind. So, I figured it had to do with her being one of us."

"It's okay Ichiro." Yuki mumbled trying to calm the severely injured and pained young man down.

"No," Ichiro mourned. "I should have made it back to protect everyone. I just lost too much blood."

Staring down at her hand holding his, Yuki cut in with, "It's going to get worse. You were on the news. You know that?"

"The news?" Ichiro quietly questioned to himself.

"At first, they blamed an unnamed red eyed man for the attack." Yuki nearly whispered under her breath. "Haruki sorted out that situation but red eyed people in other parts of the country have been attacked since then. There's near panic when people see us or hear about us. The group knew it was wrong but we only have so much we can do."

"I'm so sorry." Ichiro's voice cracked.

Yuki's tears had almost dried and she stood, uncomfortably numb to the world. The room was nearly silent except for the sounds of the medical machines connected to Ichiro.

"You almost died." Yuki accused him. "You almost died so many times. You can't leave us. You can't."

"I had no intention of it." Ichiro tried reassuring Yuki and, based on the emotion on her face, it worked.

"Three days?" Ichiro asked half jokingly to break the mood.

Yuki let out a small chuckle, "Yea, only three. I bet you got a pretty decent nap during that time."

"It wasn't too bad." Ichiro joked. "I had some decent dreams, lost out on a lot of my exercise, and haven't had anything to eat so I'm properly hungry. I'm a little stiff in the belly region, but I guess that's to be expected."

A knock came from the door which was followed by the doctor from earlier opening it and entering.

"I hope that I'm not interrupting, but I really do need to run some tests and check on his general well-being." The doctor interjected.

"It's okay doctor, come on in." Yuki said more boisterously.

"Would you mind waiting outside?" The doctor asked Yuki.

"She can stay for pretty much anything sir." Ichiro volunteered.

"We're going to be checking some...discreet things." The doctor tried to hint toward Ichiro.

Completely missing the point, Ichiro went on, "I don't mind. She can..."

Yuki spoke up, "I'll be right outside."

Ichiro, surprised at her response, "Are you sure? You can stay if you want to."

"It should only be a few moments until he's done." Yuki replied, "Then I'll be right back in here, and if the doctor thinks you're well enough, then I have some more serious stuff to talk to you about and I'm sure Haruki will want to ask you about everything that happened as well."

With a slight smirk, Ichiro noted, "It's a date."

While her face was red and puffy from crying, Yuki had a smile across her face as she almost skipped past the doctor and said, "Make sure you take good care of him while I'm gone."

The girl left the room as Ichiro and the doctor watched her go. Then the two looked at each other and Ichiro shrugged slightly with a smile.

"Son, if I didn't know better, I'd say you lucked into that girl." The doctor revealed. "She's been here since the very beginning and has almost completely refused to leave your side."

"I'd have to say I lucked into a lot of situations doctor." Ichiro suggested. "But, I lost a close friend when this happened so I'm not that lucky."

The doctor let out a heavy sigh, "I'm really sorry son. Maybe we just focus on getting you better now."

"That sounds like a plan." Ichiro said as he laid back on the bed and the doctor began his testing.