𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑. || 𝐓𝐎𝐊𝐘𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒

PART 18.

AUGUST, 2005

Most the night was blur when recalling everything at once. It was almost as if none of it happened at all. However, I had a fresh scar in my shoulder that said otherwise. By some miracle Takemichi was able to win against Kiyomasa but, he of course wasn't left unscathed either. His friends came to help us fight the rest of Kiyomasa's gang and though their effort was appreciated, they didn't do much. In the end, we were saved by the sirens. 

Everyone had been injured that night whether it was mentally or physically and for some it was a combination of both. 

Draken took the most damage and we all waited anxiously to hear if his surgery was successful. I dreaded hearing the outcome as I fidgeted nervously with my fingers. If he were to die, then the blood would be on my hands. 

'God, at times like these I wish I had--'

The sound of heavy footsteps abruptly interrupted my thoughts. I felt myself freeze in fear of who it could be. 

"When I said we should meet again, I didn't mean like this." The voice was all too familiar and brought with it a warmth I'd missed from all those years ago. 

"Baji, it's you." I felt my body put itself at ease and anything I'd been thinking about were far from my mind as he stood in front of me. His dark hair was tightly pulled back and damp while parts of his clothes were still fairly wet from the rain. 

"I heard about what you did or at least part of it," he said and sat down in a chair beside my hospital bed with hands buried in his pockets. 

"I'm sorry, honestly. I didn't want it to end up like this and I know this my fault," I rambled off in guilt and frantically covered my face with my hands. I groaned in frustration and shook my head while fighting the urge to cry.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Baji panicked as he tried to prevent me from crying since it seemed he didn't know how to exactly deal with a girl who suddenly starts to cry in front of him. "Come on, don't cry alright," Baji started to plead. 

"I'm not crying. I'm not Takemichi," I stated a bit more bitter than I intended it come off before I turned to him with a confused expression. "Why'd you come here anyway? I was sure that any member of Toman didn't want anything to do with me."

"I heard you helped save Draken. That doesn't sound like something to mad about," he explained with an arched brow and leaned back in his seat. 

That's when I realized that the only people who knew about what happened were the other four. They had chose not disclose anything to the rest of the gang because of the backlash I'd get. Though, I didn't want to hide it any longer. I deserved any consequences that would come my way especially since Draken could die due to what I did. The past here was different but, fundamentally I most likely played a huge role in persuading Kiyomasa. 

"It's my fault," I blurted out quickly and casted my head down to my hands. "It's my fault that Draken got stabbed."

There was a heavy silence between the two of us and I couldn't bring myself to see Baji's reaction. I could already guess that it would be disappointment or even hatred. If I were to be honest, I hoped he wouldn't respond and would simply leave. But, I realized that was a selfish hope. 

"Did you stab him?" Baji asked and kept his stare directly on me. 

"No I didn't but-"

"Are you glad he was hurt?"

"No-"

"Then how could you be at fault?"

"My brother is Hanma and I'm the reason that Kiyomasa wanted to stab Draken. If it wasn't for me than I could have prevented Pah from going to jail or being manipulated so really this whole entire day is because I was selfish and didn't listen to him. Even you--" I stopped myself before I revealed too much about the future as I gazed at Baji who still didn't quite understand what I was trying to explain to him since I'd been speaking so fast from stress. 

"What about, me?"

"You..you um," I kept repeating as he awaited my response patiently. "I meant that you had to get called to fight and stuff."

"Oh don't worry about that. It was pretty fun," he admitted with a proud grin on his face and put his hands behind his head. 

"Fun?" I said quizzically. 

"I like to fight so that's not a problem." He then quickly sat up in his seat. "But, I'm also super gentle with girls if you were wondering."

"And why would I be wondering?" I teased and tried to hide my smile behind my hand. 

"I said if," he corrected and I broke out into laughter from how embarrassed he seemed. I tried to prevent myself from laughing any harder but each time I glanced back over at him, I couldn't help it. I tried to muffle the sound in the blanket until I snorted and I immediately paused to turn my head away. 

"Was that a snort I just heard from you?"

"Oh, shut up," I retorted and went to playfully hit his shoulder forgetting about my injury. "Shit."

When my eyes landed on my bandaged shoulder, another face came to mind. I'd forgotten about Draken's condition. Was he okay? Was the surgery a success?

"Draken. Is Draken okay? Is he alive at least or did he..." I started ramble off and panic while jolting up to leave the room. 

"Y/n, he's alright, okay? He's fine, his surgery ended almost two hours ago."

I let out a sigh of relief and fell back onto the bed frame. "Draken's alive. It all worked out and he's alive. I'm glad." I smiled a bit before wincing in pain from the sudden movement earlier. 

"I thought Mitsuya told you?"

"Mitsuya?"

"Yeah, he was pacing around outside your room earlier so I thought he said something."

"I didn't even know he came by..."

Baji's eyes widened for a moment and he reached into his pocket to pull out a small box. "He said he forgot to give this to ya'."

I picked up the box from his hand and realized they were cigarettes. The same beat up box that Mitsuya had said he'd found for me a few days ago. 

"How does he do that?" I whispered quietly to myself. 

'God, at times like these I wish I had a cigarette to calm me down.'