Last Name

Chapter 13.

His heart was pounding in his ears, and his thoughts were clouded. Daichi jumped the last four steps down the stairs before shoving open the door to get out of the stairwell and onto the floor Nori's room was on. Without slowing down his momentum, he turned the corner, using his hands to push him towards the right direction when he stumbled into the wall. His eyes scanned the empty corridor as he continued to sprint forward. Where was Nishimura? He should have been standing guard in the hallway. He ripped open the door to Nori's room and froze at the sight in front of him. She was gone. The stand that her IVs had been hanging on was knocked to its side. One of the bags had been popped and a cloudy white fluid had spilled from it, making a puddle on the floor. The blanket that had covered Nori had been pulled from the bed, her pillow thrown carelessly into the puddle. A pair of legs protruding from behind the other side of the bed frame caught Daichi's attention. He quickly stepped over the chaos that littered the floor to find Nishimura laying on the ground. Daichi bent over to examine him. He was unconscious but thankfully still breathing. On the back of his neck sat an angry, red welt and a random tremor went through his body. He had been tasered.

Daichi scowled. His hands shook from anger.

Not again. Not fucking again.

--

The first thing you noticed when you began to come to is how dry your throat was. You tried to swallow, but only a choking sensation filled you as you began to cough. Your eyes were still closed, but you immediately heard a low mechanical humming sound as you were slowly raised to a sitting position. You let out a moan as your hand instinctively went to press your temple, but an idle tug on the back of your wrist stopped you. Your head was pounding. You slowly blinked your eyes open, wary of the sudden lights that surrounded you.

"How are you feeling, Nori?" a familiar voice asked as a warm hand covered yours.

"Im..Imai?" you questioned, his face coming into focus next to you. You looked around and realized you were in a hospital room. The tugging you had felt on your hand earlier must have been from the two IVs inserted on the back of your left hand and arm. Your right hand was still in Imai's grasp.

"Here, let me get you some water," he gently spoke.

You weakly smiled and nodded your head as you watched Imai turn to grab what appeared to be a tumbler with the hospital's logo on it from a nearby table. He popped the cap open and inserted a straw into it before holding it out for you to drink from. The cool water rushed down your throat, leaving a weird, metallic and bitter taste in your mouth but instantly soothing the scratchiness that bothered it before. After having enough, you thanked Imai, and he turned to put the tumbler back on the table again.

"Where's Daichi?" you asked. Imai froze, his back still to you. After a brief moment, he let out a sigh before turning back around with a smile on his face.

"He went to go see Kuroo. He asked me to stay with you."

"Oh okay. Thank you so much Imai," you weakly say with a genuine smile. "I wouldn't be back if you all hadn't worked so hard to find me."

"Don't thank me. We were all worried. We're just glad you're doing okay. It still makes me furious that Haku hurt you as much as he did," he replied, his eyes turning dark as he mentioned the last part.

"Yea. He was...something. It could have been much worse," you blankly state, looking down at your hands in your lap, your mind wandering back to the innocent blonde haired man who had gotten caught in the middle of all of this and been killed because of you and then also to Yue who had simply wanted to protect her son. "How's...how's everyone else doing?"

"Everyone's doing fine, nothing to worry about. Tell me...how are you doing? How are you feeling?" he asked, crossing his arms as he stood next to your bed, observing you and your expressions.