A Taste of Forever (Katakuri x Reader)

Chapter 14 - Your fault

Red halos covered your knees when you eventually decided to shuffle back to your feet. How much time had passed since you lost control over your emotions, you weren't sure, but based on the strong orange tint of the evening sun that flooded the bathroom you guessed that it must have been at least a few hours. The tears had stopped falling some time ago, but your body was still too exhausted to move from its spot on the floor. It was tired from recovery anyway, and the emotional rollercoaster only taxed your body further.

Dragging your feet over the floor, you made your way over to the sink and took a look at yourself.

Oh wow...

You didn't just feel like shit, you also looked like it. Red swollen eyes stared back at you, framed by dark circles and puffy cheeks that almost made your eyes disappear in them. Your cheeks had gotten crusty from tears and the red lines on your front, courtesy of the annual rings of the wooden door digging into your skin, attested that you did in fact not move from your position the entire time. However, the most shocking thing to you were the streaks of dried blood that covered your chin and part of your dress.

In your mental rollercoaster, you hadn't paid attention to the pain that originated from your lips as you bit through them. You had only tried to keep them from quivering, and yet you looked like some banshee out of a horror story.

Grabbing a washcloth from the cabinets below with one hand, you suddenly stopped as your other hand hovered over the cold, shiny metal of the faucet. Your hand around the washcloth balled into a fist as you glanced at the door from the corner of your eyes.

Katakuri was still out there, you could feel his presence with your own haki. In fact, you could feel that he was not only out there, but that he hadn't moved much since you had locked yourself in and was sitting on the ground next to the door. Did you want him to know that you had started moving again? The sound of water surely would let him know.

Fuck, why should I care?

Turning the faucet on, you waited for the water to run warm before you held the washcloth under it. The warm water flowed around your fingers as it soaked the soft terry cloth, and when you were sure that your washcloth was thoroughly soaked, you wrung it out between your fingers.

Showering was off the table since you were still covered in bandages, band-aids, and you weren't sure whether you could work around the IV that still hung lazily off your arm, and so you decided to settle for a thorough scrubbing session in the sink. It wasn't like it was the first time you had to do that.

You stripped in front of the mirror and you only prayed that Brûlée wouldn't pop up in front of you, or at least have the decency to pretend she didn't see anything and immediately disappear again.

As you rubbed your sweaty body up and down, a sudden knock startled you in the most unfortunate moment, causing you to accidentally rip the IV needle out of your arm and send your blood to gush across the room.

"(Y/N), a bird will fly against the window and startle you. Try not to rip the IV needle out."

Aww, thanks mister. I just did that!

You glared at the door as you pressed the washcloth on your wound to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible.

But he meant well.

A long sigh pushed past your lips as your features relaxed and your eyes shifted on the washcloth that had slowly started to turn red.