Tokaharu: Not Where I Had In Mind

Anathesized Exhange

Go in. Why are you so terrified? You did this to her. She should be scared, not you.
Sucking in a deep breath, I checked around me out of pure habit, and pulled it open.
"Tokaku!" Her voice made me stop, just past the doorway. It didn't sound the way I'd prepared myself for. I'd spent the night inhaling the scents lingering in her bed sheets, trying to solidify them in my mind. I'd been waiting for the worst, an angry, scared, broken kind of response to my presence. But it was all together normal, if not exhausted and slightly dazed, having just woke after surgery.
"Ichinose-" I began, taking in the sight of her pale, frail repertoire, oxygen mask still secured over her face, splotches of blood from the operation still present not only on her gown, but on her blankets. An IV drip and too many cords for any type of comfort stretching to machinery. Her hair lay past her shoulders for once as the hair ties that would normally hold it up were gone.
I felt sick. You did this. My stomach had already emptied whatever bitter distrust had been consuming me when I tried to kill her. Now it was filled with regret. She shook her head, reaching out to me. My feet found their way as I seated myself at the bedside, letting her hold my quivering palm.
"Did you find your proof?" I nodded. "Then you need to make a choice. You can go back to your old life or you can stay with me. You can't have both." There was anxiety in her eyes.
I hesitated, letting relief flood my face with a small smile. "That's stupid, Haru." My fingers fell between hers, lacing them together, "Where else would I go?"
A moment of silence before, "Tokaku? What did you decide for your wish?"
I shook my head.
Ichinose brightened up, though her tiredness was evident. Eyes starting to droop, I hit the call button. A nurse rushed in attentively.
I glanced at the woman, "When do you think the doctor will see us?"
"Probably later tomorrow after we run the scheduled tests. Those will start at 10am. Oh, and visiting hours are almost over."
My face must've shown my distaste because fingers reassured me that it'd be okay. "Fine." I huffed. "But if anything happens that I don't hear about then we'll be transferring hospitals." I stood, leaning forward to kiss Ichinose's forehead, "Goodnight, Haru." It was too quiet for anyone but her to hear, and I begrudgingly went back to our dorm room.
Morning arrived, but sleep didn't, which was disconcerting. I never had trouble like this before. The next few days were a blur of tests, some painful, some un-intrusive. All I could do was hold her hand. Hopelessly useless, even though this mess is your fault. Those thoughts never stopped. Haru refused pain medication, which wasn't helping absolve my guilt. She did everything they told her even through her discomfort. Today though, I get to take her home.
Entering her room I was met with a big smile, as if everything was right instead of fucked. I couldn't help but feel my chest tighten, not entirely sure what to do with all my affection.
Haru was sitting up enjoying breakfast, "Toka!" My head cocked to the side curiously. "Guess what!" My eyebrow rose, but then the annoyingly familiar blonde popped up behind me. I groaned.
"More like guess who, Ichinose." Nio smirked.
Haru shrugged finishing her meal. Nio continued, "The chairwoman is disappointed to inform you that you lose. Your target survived and your time limit has expired. Therefore, Ichinose gets to graduate and make a request. Azuma, you're lucky to be forgiven. The wish Ichinose made was for the two of you to have enough money to live comfortably, normal lives together."
My jaw dropped. "You what? My family will try to kill you!"
Nio didn't give time for Haru to answer, "Not if they think you're dead." I almost dropped the bag of clothes I brought. "Oh, and there's already arrangements for your living quarters."
"Toka, I want to go home with you." Nio made gagging noises in the corner of the room.
I whipped around to glare at it. "Get out trash!"
Nio's hands flew up in surrender. "Fine. We're on the first floor of the parking garage."
Once their 'arbitrator' disappeared the doctor came in to unhook all the monitors and inform us. He was an older man, respectful as well as astute. He looked like he was about to have me excused until Haru slipped her hand in mine.
He cleared his throat after reading the file with him. "Miss Ichinose had minimally invasive reparative surgery. She should be capable of returning to most normal activities in about two weeks, assuming she follows her exercise plan regularly, keeps her incision clean, and does not overstress her body until she's ready. I do not recommend any sexual activity if she seems to be having a difficult time physically, while in most cases like this the patient may return to such things fairly quickly, you can never be too cautious." Both of our faces grew hot.
It wasn't the intention, but it was enough to put the thought in my mind. Damnit, now you've meddled with us.
"No lifting or moving anything more than five pounds, no standing in place for more than fifteen minutes, eat healthy meals, don't submerge or soak your incision in water of any kind, clean it twice a day and inform us in case of infection or heart distress. Don't overdo it. We'll call for a follow up appointment in two weeks." With that he left us to get ready to go see our new home.