Soul of the Dragon

Chapter 31: It's Complicated

"Okay, nobody disturb me or I will murder them," Fish said bluntly to Yusei and Lise. She flopped onto her couch and fell asleep almost instantly.

Lise laughed. "She hasn't changed much." She spread Fish's blanket back over her and opened the door to the bathroom. "Mind if I go first?"

"No, go ahead," Yusei gestured for her to go on.

"Thanks." She closed the door behind her and jumped into a warm shower. She finished quickly out of habit and changed into her pajamas. Only then did she notice the wound on her arm hadn't healed in the slightest.

"Lise?" Yusei knocked. "You okay?"

"Fine," Lise responded, opening the door and striding past Yusei. "All yours."

"I'll be fast. I want to check out your arm before bed."

"How did you know?" Lise whirled on him.

"I didn't, but I suspected you were hiding something," Yusei smirked despite Lise's glare. "See you in a minute." He closed the bathroom door.

"Damnit," Lise cursed. "How could I be so stupid?" She felt her blushing cheeks with her hands and sighed. "What a night." She examined her arm again, if anything it looked even worse, like a deep canyon carving into her skin.

Yusei emerged just as Lise had settled herself on the remaining couch. "Don't go to sleep yet, Lise. I want a look at your arm."

Lise groaned and sat up. "But I'm tired..."

Yusei quickly toweled his hair. It lay relatively flat and tussled for a couple seconds and sprung back to sticking up. He sighed and Lise snorted behind her hand. "It never does lie flat," he grumbled, and crossed over to the first aid cabinet. "You don't want to get an infection do you?"

"No," Lise yawned and moved over for Yusei to sit next to her.

He assembled tools while Lise held her arm anxiously. When he was ready, Yusei held his hand out. Lise hesitated. "You'd better indulge me if you want to get to sleep tonight, Lise."

She gave him a sharp look, but placed her hand in his. "Don't be a perv, dumbass."

"Sorry." Yusei examined Lise's wound and whistled lowly. "Shit, Lise, it looks like you lost a fight with a hot fire poker."

"That bad, huh?"

"It's not funny." Yusei's brows knit together and he prepped an antibacterial. "This is gonna sting."

"Oh good, I have something to look forward to."

"Ready? Three, two, one." Yusei pressed a cotton swab doused with alcohol to Lise's wound.

"Ow," she cringed, her fingers trembling in Yusei's palm.

"It's almost over, aaaaand, done," he tossed the used cotton ball in the trash and readied another. "Relax," he added when Lise balked at it. "It's just water this time."

"Oh..." This time she sat much more still.

Yusei started bandaging when that was done. He thought to himself, his expression contemplative.

"Um," Lise started just as Yusei spoke.

"You first," Yusei said immediately.

"Kay, but you're gonna think I'm stupid. Well, more stupid than I already am," Lise blushed and twisted her hair. She paused and Yusei waited. "I wish I could be like you. I mean, I don't want to be a boy. I wouldn't know what to do with the different parts, but I want to be able to hide my emotions. I feel way too much. I wanna be strong, and I try so hard to be, but I'm just not..."