Beauty in Darkness

Chapter Nine

"Akemi! Akemi! Are you alright?" I opened my eyes and heard a familiar voice. It was muffled, but I could still make out the words.

"Oh thank God." The voice said as I opened my eyes. Cason was crouched above me, his hand on my shoulder and a terrified look in his eyes.

"What the hell happened?" He asked. I tried to sit up, but he pushed me back down when he saw me wince.

"Tell me. Please." I looked at him and saw that he was being sincere. "Eric and Karlo. They attacked me. I have to say I didn't let them off easy though." I saw the corners of Cason's mouth twitch.

"Let me help you up. We need to take you to the nurse. Or the hospital." I shook my head. "Really I'm fine-" I tried to stand, but tripped and would have fallen on the floor if Cason hadn't caught me. I let out a cry of pain when his hand touched my ribs. "You're obviously fine." He muttered.

Before I could protest, he picked me up bridal style and started carrying me down the hallway and through a set of double doors.

"Cason?" "Yes?" "Thank you." I saw him give a small smile but then my vision turned black again. The last thing I heard was another cry of, "Akemi!"

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When I next opened my eyes, I was lying in a fluffy white bed with a needle in my arm. I still wore my black shorts, but a different pink shirt. I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye and smiled, actually smiled, when I saw Cassie.

"Akemi dear! You're awake!" She cried as she enveloped me in a hug. Her overwhelming sent of perfume almost made me gag, but I refrained.

"Of course I am. What happened? How long have I been here?" I motioned to the Hospital room I was in.

"A day, dear." My eyes widened. A whole day? I missed an entire day of training! "What happened?" I asked quickly.

"Well, you were attacked in the hallways and that nice District Four boy brought you here. The doctors gave you medicine, loads of it, and managed to fix you back up." I felt my face gingerly. It felt normal. I put a bit of pressure on my ribs. They were a bit sore, but defiantly not broken. How did they do that so fast?

Cassie chuckled as if she had read my thoughts. "Capital medicine is very efficient. It works quickly, just like magic!"

I swung my legs around the bed. "No no no. Where are you going?" Cassie asked, standing up. I pulled the needle out of my arm then grabbed a small piece of gauze off of the table and wrapped it around it to stop the bleeding.

"Isn't it obvious? Training! I've missed most of a day and I can't afford to miss any more." Cassie shook her head in disapproval, but didn't try to stop me. Somewhere, deep down, she knew how important it was.

I walked into the lobby and noticed that it looked perfectly normal. No blood or scrapes or anything. Like it never happened, huh?

Cassie stopped me in front of the elevator and pulled a brush from her purse. "Brush your hair. And take this." She handed me a hair tie and I quickly brushed my hair into a ponytail and tied it.

"I had a feeling you would want to get back to it so I also brought these." From her seemingly endless purse she pulled out my pair of combat boots. It was only then that I noticed I was barefoot. Where did my shoes go?

Socks were rolled up into the boots and I quickly pulled them on. "Do I look good? Normal? Like I wasn't just beat half to death?" Cassie nodded and I handed her back her brush.

"Thank you Cassie." I said as I boarded the elevator and went down to the training room.

As soon as I stepped in, I noticed a sudden hush. I looked over to Eric and Karlo and smirked at the surprised look on their faces. I also smirked when I saw that Eric was moving slower than normal and Karlo seemed to have a bruised hip. Before I could take another step, I was swept into a large hug and twirled around.

"Akemi! You're back! You're okay!" Cason put me down and I grinned at him. "Of course I am! You can't keep me down for long." Cason grinned then led me by the hand to the knives station.

"You didn't really work with weapons and since you're late, I figured I'd help you make a start now." I smiled at him and nodded. "That would be great."

Over the last hour of training, Cason taught me not only how to throw knives, but how to shoot a bow and arrow, throw a trident, and even throw an axe. I was amazed at how good a teacher he was. When I said this, he replied with, "You're a good student."

Noah didn't talk to me or hug me or even acknowledge that I was back or had been hurt. "Don't worry about him." Cason said when he saw me look sadly at my partner and who I had thought was my ally.

"He's just trying to not get attached." I shrugged then turned back to my target, imagining Karlo's insane smile on it.

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Cason stayed with me through the elevator ride. "I had to make sure you didn't get hurt again, didn't I?" I rolled my eyes then, to both of our surprise, gave him a hug.

"Thank you. For everything today. I didn't know I could learn so much in so little time." When I pulled away, Cason was blushing and staring at the floor.

"It's really no problem. I'm glad I could help. I'm sorry I couldn't help before when you were-" I held a finger to his lips.

"I held my own, didn't I? I'm not dead yet." Cason chuckled. "You won't be dead at all. Not if I have my say." A confused look crossed my face. What was he implying?

Before I could say anything more, the elevator doors closed between us and I barely had time to wave before he was shooting back down to the Fourth Floor.