Affinity

Chapter 15: A knife, a sword, a scalpel pt.2

a/n: Hi Friends! Darian popping in here to provide a trigger warning for this chapter. I should have posted it sooner, and I'm sorry. There will be mentions of SH and obscure references to suicide. You all deserve to feel safe and comfortable while reading, and I'm sorry if this content triggered you. <3

"If you died, I would've killed you myself, Emiko. You know that, right?" Sakura glared at her niece, blue eyes flaring.

Emiko could only nod meekly, not used to this angry side of her aunt. Sakura's coffee cup was placed on a side table, dark liquid sloshing over the edge and steaming as it spilled. Her expensive overnight bag was discarded on the floor, along with the cream coloured jacket that had draped across her narrow shoulders.

Slender arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"You scared me half to death, Miko. God, kid. Never do that to me again."

She could feel the warm tears pooling on the shoulder of her hospital gown, sadness pouring from the trembling woman in front of her. Slowly, Emiko wrapped her arms around her aunt, allowing her quirk to dissipate just a little of the sadness she noticed.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." she whispered, burying her face in her aunt's hair. She inhaled her fresh citrus scent, allowing it to cleanse the last of Shoto from her brain. "I'm so sorry."

Sakura sighed, shifting her weight and pulling back from her niece slightly. "What did Shoto tell you?"

A pause, then "About the fight and what came after, Miko. What did he tell you?"

Irritation had replaced sadness in an instant, though Emiko couldn't quite understand why her aunt was so annoyed with her.

"Nothing, Sakura. He wouldn't say anything. It was annoying, honestly." She tried to play off her own emotions, tried to hide just how scared and panicked she'd been waking up in the hospital.

"Okay. I'm sorry I couldn't be here when you woke up, but you were unconscious for 2 days, and I needed a shower something desperate. Shoto didn't leave the hospital the entire time, either. If I was here, he slept in the waiting room. He wanted to be sure you were okay, after everything."

"What do you mean, after everything?" Emiko's voice trembled, concern flooding through her as her aunt refused to make eye contact.

"What exactly do you remember from that night, Miko?"

Emiko launched into the tale, starting from the instant the bomb went off. She left no detail out, as though talking about what she remembered could bring back what she didn't. It terrified her, having huge gaps in her memory. Time was never meant to go missing, and memories were made for a reason.

"And then I just saw him come towards me... that's it."

The image of Stain diving towards her, blade glinting in the poorly lit alley sent a chill down her spine. His teeth bared to her, as though he was some sort of wild animal. His rage and the desire to kill filled her mind and she found it more and more difficult to remain calm, now that her senses weren't clouded by adrenaline.

"Okay." Sakura paused, reaching across Emiko for the still steaming cup of coffee. "After that, Stain... he stabbed you. Badly."

She remembered it, that flash of pain.

"You were bleeding out in that alley, and there were no other options. Todoroki had to... he had to cauterize the wound. But nobody realized that the impact of his sword had broken a few of your ribs, which in turn punctured a lung."

Her mind was reeling, but she tried to focus. She stared straight ahead, keeping her eyes locked onto her aunt.

"So when the ambulance and the pro's showed up, you were loaded into an ambulance and brought here. In the ambulance, they noticed you had some major gashes in your hands and knees from the concrete, so they gave you stitches there. You also suffered a concussion and had blood all over your face."