koi no yokan | inosuke hashibira

𝟐.𝟑

Thank you for 100 Reads! Anyway, enjoy this next chapter! <3

It was like time had frozen for a small second as we stared at each other for a moment.

His hair was matted down, sticking to his face. The hue on his face was a fading red color, streaks of tears crawling down his face. There was a bandage all around his forehead, weaving under his bangs, and one going down his throat. A last bandage was one planted right on his cheek.

His eyes were sparkling like stars. The dark green color was like a spell that enchanted me and told me to stare longer. I was lost. I was lost in him.

It was so strange, this feeling inside of me. I've felt it before when I first met Tomioka when he saved me and when I first came contact with master Oyakata. But with someone the same age as me, it was... almost nostalgic feeling.

For the second time, I thought he was the most attractive person in the world. Even with the bandages and messy hair, I thought the same of him.

"D-Do you need something?" I stammered out, snapping myself out of reality quicker then I expected. I shook my head, my hair flowing with my quick moves.

I sat down on his bed, my body facing his as his head tilted down. I could see that his fists were gripping hard on the blankets, his body tensing up after each second. The whole atmosphere in this room suddenly changed.

Maybe it was the sunset light that was barging into the windows, opening up a bright yellow and orange hue into the whole room as it set a calming and quaint tone to this whole room.

Without even thinking, I fluttered my hand over his, softly grasping the top of his knuckles. His skin was cold and quite soft at the touch of mine.

His hand relaxed, his fists letting go of his blankets that he held so close. It was almost immediate with a single action.

"Inosuke, is something wrong?" I leaned in a little, tilting my head. "Do you need water? Or...?" I mumbled on, trying to keep the conversation going and perhaps trying to find the source to this new side of him.

His mouth opened up, a small sigh escaping his lips for a small moment. His face trembled as he shakily turned his gaze off of me and away. His eyes were shut close as more beady tears ran down his cheek.

I bent over the side of the bed, reaching for the batch of tissues.

"Hey, Ino," I sighed as I dragged out a tissue. "I don't know much about your situation, or why we somehow ended up meeting again." I twirled the tissue around my finger a few times. "But at least let me help you."

"Here, let me see." I scooted up to him a little.

I cleaned up his face a tad, wiping away the tears and rubbing off any dirt on his face. He frowned and pouted as I did so, sniffling and shaking his head repeatedly. His face was soft and honestly- quite cute.

"St-Sto..." he groaned out. His voice was deeper and raspier then his normal tone. Now that I saw the bandages on his throat, he must've gotten it damaged.

"Oi! Stop moving or your wounds will open up!" I whined as I lightly smacked his shoulder. "It'll take longer for you to recover if you keep moving around."

His lips were pulled into a frown, but no more tears were streaming down his face. Under his breath, I could hear a raspy curse coming from him.

"I..." he turned his head away. "I-I'm sorry."

Sorry?

I gulped. "Sorry? Don't worry! Your wounds won't open up that quickly, but you still need to refrain from-."