One Step Closer [Fruits Basket]

Chapter 45: Progress Or Regress?

3rd Person's POV

Later that night, after the accident, Natsu was taken to the Sohma General Hospital. Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki stayed by Natsu's side the whole time while Shigure took Akito back to the main estate from his house. After learning about Natsu's current condition, Hatori wasted no time and rushed over to the hospital like a madman. When Hatori finally reached there, he found Tohru sobbing uncontrollably for her older twin with Kyo and Yuki by her side who was trying to comfort her.

"Yuki, Kyo, Honda..." Hatori called out, slightly panting as he walked over to the trio.

The trio looked up and their eyes widened in fraction, seeing him there.

"Hatori..." Yuki muttered out.

"H-Hatori-san..." Tohru cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks. "N-Natsu-Nee... She's..."

Hatori noticed Tohru's red puffy eyes and nose. Her whole face became red from excessive crying and she looked like a complete mess at that moment. Without saying any word, Hatori wrapped his arms around Tohru and pulled her into a warm hug.

"Shh..." he mumbled into her ears while rubbing her back. "Natsu's gonna be fine. I promise."

Tohru sniffled and tried her best to calm down, but she couldn't. How could she? After all, it was her own sister who was now on her deathbed. Hatori pulled away from the hug and ruffled Tohru's brunette hair before walking away from them.

He then collected information about Natsu's whereabouts and straight went to that place. When he reached that specific operation theater, he noticed a doctor with three nurses walking out from there and that doctor happened to be his senpai, Dr. Sakura Takahashi.

"Takahashi senpai." Hatori called out, jogging up to her. "How's Natsu Honda?"

Dr. Sakura looked up to him and smiled a bit.

"Well, good news. She's alive." the doctor replied. "Thank god your cousins brought her in time, or else... But, anyway, she's fine now. That's good news. We had to give her some stitches. Oh and also, she's unconscious at this moment. Right now, the only thing we can do is wait for her to regain consciousness. After that, we'll have to do some test to see if she received any brain injury or not..."

Hatori let out a heavy sigh in relief as he leaned against the wall beside him and ran a hand through his raven locks.

"She's alive..." he mumbled to himself. "Thank god... Thank god..."

Sakura observed him for a moment before speaking up again.

"She's someone important to you, huh, Sohma?" she asked.

Hatori smiled a bit and nodded his head.

"She's my lover." He replied.

"So young?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow before flashing a smirk. "Well, take care of her then."

With that, the doctor walked away leaving Hatori all alone in the hallway. He slowly walked up to the operation theater and pushed the door open. He noticed Natsu lying down unconscious on the bed with an oxygen mask over her mouth and her nose and IV connected to the veins of her arms. He walked up to her and simply stared down at her with eyes filled with nothing but love.

"Thank god you're okay." He whispered as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "If something happened to you, I would've died then and there."

On the other side, Dr. Sakura informed the trio about Natsu's current situation and also told them not to worry as Hatori was with her at this moment. The trio let out a sigh in relief as Tohru flopped down on the chair and put her hands on her face.