In Sickness And Health ~Shikamaru~

Chapter 30

The word 'stable' had never been a word I thought I would be happy to hear. But in one moment, it became the most beautiful word in the world to me. Because after half an hour of holding Reira down and forcing medicine down her throat, the doctor told me her condition was stable. But also that she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. I was okay with that. As long as she's alright, she can sleep as long as she wants. And I'll keep my promise to her and hold her hand the entire time.

I sat next to her bed, holding her hand tightly and just watching the fog clouds come and go on her air mask. Her laying peacfully like this was a far cry from just a little while ago. And it hurt to think about it. There was so much blood... I really thought she was going to die.

Hanzo and Atari stood on the other side of the room, watching and waiting. The doctor said he would be back with a theory on why Reira suddenly deteriorated like that. It's quiet in here though. The only sound is the even breaths of my little girlfriend as she sleeps. The door opened and Reira's father shyly poked his head in. "Umm... is she... asleep?" He asked softly.

"Mr. Sumakoro, I didn't think you would make it." Hanzo commented. He stepped into the room more and shuffled up behind me to look down on her. He's gotten better slowly, he accepts more that Reira is in fact alive. Sometimes he slips down into his haunting spirit theory, but usually a cup of coffee and half an hour in the waiting room fixes that. He looked down at her and sighed.

"What happened?" The question was directed at me. But I had no direct answer. I was just waiting for the doctor at this point to come and say what he thinks happened. Reira's hand was warm and still in mine. I put it to my forehead and closed my eyes in silent thought. What happened to you? Why did you suddenly become so sick? It was question I desperatly wanted answered, and more than anything, wanted a solution for.

It was quiet again and several minutes passed before the doctor entered with a straight face and a clip board that looked like it had seen better days. "Well?" Was all I could say as I sat looking down at Reira's peaceful face.

He sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. "Remember when I mentioned that Reira was at her maximum capacity? That her brain function had reached it's limit?" Of course I did. It was the same day that I met Hanzo and Atari, and Reira's dad, and had that weird conversation with him, and, most importantly, the day I asked her to be my girlfriend. "Well, something happened that got her brain going more than it had and the part that she was injured in is now trying to expand and funtion like the rest of her brain. That expansion is causing tension and a few places are starting tear..."

What? What could have happened to cause all this? "Did she have any nose bleeds or dizy spells in the last week? Complain about head aches?"

"She complained about head aches a few times. Our friend just got out of the hospital though so I figured it was stress."

"Well... it wasn't."

"Why are you explaining all of this to him? Shouldn't you be telling it to Reira's dad?" Atari pouted.

"Who're you?" The doctor asked, and I wanted to laugh, I really did. But I was too busy thinking about what could have happened in the last week to trigger this. Why would she suddenly start having trouble like this? Something happened that pushed her brain to start working beyond it's capability. Was it Alsono's freak out? No, she had already started having head aches by then. Was it the fire itself? No, to much time had passed inbetween till she started having pain.

WHat could have happened. I watched Atari argue with the doctor and Hanzo pick at his nails while Mr. Sumakoro tried to sneak away from the argument that was trying to push the responsibility of Reira on to him. He actually was making pretty good ground. It's weird how Reira couldn't remember what was down that trail that lead to her home. I wonder why...

That's what happened. She remembered. In all of her progress that was always the one thing she could never remember. Faced with the realization that her father was denying her life her last little fragment of memory bloomed in her mind and she remembered what was down that path. And that on small memory was what was killing her right now.