| [Jun. 28th, 2009|01:06 am] |
Rina had to look away quickly, squeezing her eyes shut to soothe the stinging. He wasn't watching her anyway; his own eyes were dazed and drug-shining. "Tako yaki or steamed buns. Pork and ginger. Got it," she repeated.
He hadn't even seen outside. Didn't know what day it was. He was stuck here in the hospital, and would be for at least a month. If not more. Without seeing outside.
"It's nice out today, warm and sunny," she told him blindly, brightly. "The leaves are green and new and fresh, and the cherry blossoms are just starting to bud. It's still cold sometimes, but... it's nice today."
"It's March 19th," she added, because he'd asked. "The vendors just came out a week ago--" when they'd finally dragged him home, bleeding and fragmented and barely a ninja anymore. "They're here now--well, not now, because it's too late, but... they're here." She'd had sakura mochi that day, and laughed in the sun.
She twisted her smile wider, and tried to open her eyes again. "I'll bring you tako yaki, and steamed buns. Definitely!" The hospital bed blurred in her vision, seal-painted hands fuzzing out into unformed shapes of muddy brown. "Next time, I'll bring it," she tried to assert with confidence, but her voice sounded watery and weak, and it came out as more of a whisper.
Reaching desperately for the doorknob, she opened it and slid out, leaning her head back against the cool texture of the wall. Alone in the hallway for the moment, she closed her eyes, and let the tears leak unheeded down her cheeks. |
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