• CHAPTER 150 - RECOVERY

    Nothing like a hot spring and a stolen flower to brighten my days.

    "Hot, hot," I inhaled sharply as I dipped myself into the hot spring.

    "Thus comes the name 'hot spring'," Kai remarked with a chuckle as he started stepping in.

    "I've never seen you in swim trunks before," I cocked an eyebrow, observing Kai's white swim trunks with a red stripe running down each side.

    Kai frowned as he seated himself, "That's because I never swim,"

    "You better get used to wearing them if you ever want to join me in here," I frowned at him as I seated myself as well.

    "I didn't imagine I would ever witness you in a swimsuit," Kai chuckled.

    "Anyways," I changed the subject, "are you okay?"

    Kai stared at me for a moment, "What do you mean?"

    "You've been a little off since we left Kira and since we encountered Minoru and Kaiba," I stared at him in concern, thinking back to when he shattered my dinner plate. "Is there anything I can do?"

    At that, Kai stood up, walked across our small hot spring to my side, leaned over, and gave me a feather-like kiss on my lips. He seated himself next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me onto his lap. I leaned my head back against his shoulder and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

    "I just feel like holding you," Kai smiled against my ear, wrapping his other arm around my waist.

    "Your hands..." I looked down at Kai's hands under the water. "They're warm."

    "As warm as they could ever be," he nuzzled his face against my neck.

    "Do you remember what it's like to feel warm?" I asked, fondling with his fingers.

    Kai sighed slightly, "I had forgotten until I met you," he chuckled. "I can't remember how it felt for myself to be warm, but I now remember how warm another human feels."

    I turned around to face Kai while sitting on his lap. His hands locked around my hips and my hands locked behind his neck and I pressed my forehead against his, "If I could transfer all of my warmth to you, I would in a heartbeat,"

    "You do when I hold you," Kai whispered. He chuckled. "And when you have a fever."

    I smiled sentimentally, "If anything ever bothers you, please tell me," I kissed his forehead. "Even if it has to do with me; just let me know."

    "Same to you,"

    We sat for another long moment together until I spoke up, "Should we go inside? It looks like it's going to rain."

    Kai moved his hands to my bottom and stood up, lifting me out of the hot spring. He stepped out of it and headed towards the house. I responded by locking my arms and legs around Kai, startled. Once we entered the house, Kai took us into the bathroom quickly to keep too much water from dripping onto the ground. As soon as Kai set me on my feet, he grabbed a clean white towel and wrapped it around me.

    "How is your foot holding up?" he asked, pulling out his own towel.

    I looked down at my still-bandaged foot, "It's doing better. Still tender, but better."

    "Perhaps we can finally remove the bandage," Kai said as he dropped onto one knee. He slowly started to unwrap the bandage around my foot. "It appears to be better."

    I glanced down at my foot as Kai removed the rest of the bandages. He dabbed any dripping water off with his towel, causing me to wince a little bit, and he observed the stitches. The stitches looked as though they could come off any day, but how was the bone?

    "The bone might still have a few infinitesimal cracks, but just be cautious when you walk," Kai started up with his thesaurus again. "You might need to use crutches."

    I shook my head and frowned, "I want to make myself not be such a weakling,"

    Kai frowned back at me, "You're strong in some parts,"

    "I'll pretend that didn't sound perverted," I looked away, blushing.

    "You're cute when you blush," Kai smiled at me.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    With oven mitts on my hands and dirt on my face, I packed the dirt into the small area of ground around a soon-to-bloom iris. I had been spending a pathetic forty-five minutes trying to figure out how exactly to plant the dumb flower right. When it came to gardening, I had a black thumb--I killed everything I touched, just like my mom. Aya and dad were the green thumbs of the family; what wasn't Aya good at?

    I used my forearm to wipe the sweat from the blistering sun off of my forehead and I sighed irritably. I continued to press on the soft soil around the circumference of the flower and I would end up scooping more dirt over to make the ground more even. I felt as though, since I was planting a flower right at the front of the house, outside of the bedroom, the ground had to be perfect in the off-chance that anybody would so happen to drive down the nonexistent road.

    "I'll ask her," I overheard Kai on the phone as he stepped out of the house. When I looked over at Kai, he had hung up his phone and he stared at me. "Where did you get the flower?"

    I looked down at the wilting, half-dead iris that was planted before me. I hunched my shoulders in embarrassment, "I-I dug it out..."

    "From where?" I could hear Kai suppressing a chuckle.

    "A store," I looked away, beaming. "I saw an iris earlier today when I was getting food and I had to have it." I pouted and slammed my hands on the ground. "Oh God, I'm a criminal! Again!" I had almost forgotten about when I personally mur--killed Mayura almost two weeks ago.

    Kai chuckled and kneeled next to me, "Why an iris?"

    "I think they're beautiful," I smiled lightly, staring at the silken petals of the purple masterpiece with a few small splotches of brown. "And I like the name."

    Kai finally looked down at my hands and he frowned, "Why are you using oven mitts?"

    I hid my hands in my lap and blushed, "We don't have any gardening gloves,"

    "You could have just stolen some of those," Kai chuckled, rolling his eyes.

    Removing one mitt and smacking Kai upside the head with it wasn't enough to make the guilt go away, "Don't say that! I feel horrible!"

    "Then why did you take it?"

    "Because it was pretty!" I looked away again.

    Kai sighed but I could tell he was smiling while he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "I thought I taught you better,"

    "You sure as Hell taught me to speed," I mumbled.

    "So you're insisting I'm a bad influence?" he looked at me with one eyebrow cocked.

    "Pretty much!" I blustered immaturely. "You made me do this!"

    "So what is the significance behind such a beautiful flower?" Kai asked, touching one of the petals.

    I looked down at the flower and blushed, "It's cliché and silly, but I'm hoping that this flower can represent me in a way,"

    "How so?" Kai asked curiously.

    I pat the soil around the flower lightly to keep myself occupied, "I was thinking that, so long as I'm alive, the flower will be, and if I'm ill or even dead, the flower will be too,"

    It took me a few seconds to realize that what I said sounded better in my head but it was too late once I looked over at Kai. His face appeared more apathetic than saddened but his eyes were a turning to a depressing gold. I looked down at the ground and sighed, trying to smile to bring up the atmosphere.

    "That's not what I'm referring to, Kai," I smiled at him. "I'm just saying in general. I'm expecting this flower to survive for another seventy years."

    Kai cracked a small smile, "Same here,"

    I frowned, "But it's a flower and I'm a horrible planter. It will be dead by the time we go back into the house."

    "May I ask you something?" Kai looked at me, keeping his arm around my shoulder.

    "Anything," I smiled back at him, removing my oven mitts.

    "First off, why on earth are you outside without shoes on?" Kai looked down at my flip flops. "You can't get dirt in your stitches."

    "Calm down, I'm not dying from it," I frowned at him; it had been a couple of days since he removed the bandages.

    Kai paused for a moment and kissed my cheek, "Would you want to visit Kira today?"

    My heart leaped, lodging up my throat and then down to my feet. All sorts of weird emotions happened at once but I merely responded with a quick, small nod, "Y-yes,"

    "He opened his eyes today," Kai smiled and it reached his eyes. "He's recovering."

    "So he's going to live?"

    Kai nodded, "It seems likely," his face fell a little. "You can't go in alone, though. He's still incredibly weak and vulnerable to the scent of blood."

    "That's fine--I just want to see him!" I called out excitedly, almost on the verge of tears. "I want to see Kira! Let's go now!"

    "Okay, okay," Kai chuckled. "You should rinse off first. You're filthy."

    I frowned, "Thanks,"

    Kai gripped my bicep gently, "Don't be afraid; he won't hurt you." he smiled.

    I smiled back, noticing Kai's grip was gradually firming on my arm, "I know, I'm just nervous,"

    Kai smiled and kissed my forehead, "All will be well,"

    So did that mean that Kai was going to get better as well?