Temptation (NEW)

Chapter Twelve

I woke up and found myself in my childhood room. It took me a second to remember how I ended up here. My grandfather ended up meeting Shikamaru and I at the hospital. I don't remember much about the hospital experience because I faded in and out of consciousness. The booze, weed, and beating really took it all out of me. That was probably a good thing.

I stared down at my right hand. A white cast encased it. It hurt a whole lot. Honestly, everything hurt. Dried blood still caked parts of arms and clothes. It was a horrifying reminder. I pushed myself to sit up with my good hand and looked around the room. Shikamaru was buried in a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor beside me. It reminded me of when we were in high school and he'd sleep at my house. However, this wasn't a fun experience, I'm sure.

"Hey," I called out to him. My voice was dry and coarse.

He stirred a little bit. I think he had a moment of sleepy confusion, too. After a few seconds, he shot upright and gazed at me in horror.

"Hey, how do you feel?" he asked. It broke my heart to hear the worry in his voice.

"I feel like I got my ass kicked," I weakly chuckled.

"I think you got a few good hits in," he half-smiled. He paused for a moment and a frown appeared on his face again. "You scared the shit out of me, though. I've never seen you like that before."

I wanted to know exactly what he meant, but I was scared to ask. It could have been a number of things.

"I want to take a shower," I sighed, changing the subject. "I feel disgusting."

He rose to his feet with motivation I've never seen before. "I'll help you out. You can't get that cast wet. The nurse was adamant about that."

The pain really kicked in when I stood up. I was grateful to have Shikamaru helping me walk. I think I would tumbled completely if left alone. We struggled down the hallway and to the bathroom. My breath hitched when I took a look in the mirror.

I was swollen and bruised. My entire left eye was purple and black. There was dried blood streaks from my puffy mouth, and some smeared across my cheeks. I even bared my teeth to make sure I still had them all (which I did, thankfully). I could barely recognize myself. I looked at Shikamaru through the mirror and his eyes were low. He was hurting for me.

"Let me go grab a plastic bag from the kitchen," he softly said. He started the water in the bathtub before dipping out for a few seconds.

I took this time to grab my phone from my pocket. Part of me hoped Sasuke had messaged me. It didn't matter what it said. I stared at the blank notification panel on my phone for a few seconds. It was already noon, and there wasn't a single word from Sasuke. My heart ached worse than my body.

"Here, let me put this around your hand." Shikamaru had came back with a plastic bag. I shoved my phone onto the counter and held out my arm. He wrapped it tightly in place, and then proceeded to help me undress and step into the tub.

As I bathed myself with a rag with my good hand, Shikamaru washed all of the blood out of my hair. We were quiet for a while. I could faintly hear my grandfather in another part of the house. He was on the phone with someone, obviously talking about me. I think he was scheduling an appointment with a doctor for my hand.

"Did he text you?" Shikamaru finally asked, breaking the silence. "I noticed you looking at your phone."

"He didn't," I sighed.

"Maybe that's a good thing." I could hear the frustration he was holding back in his voice. "I don't want you getting tangled with a guy that does this to you."