Crows Zero

Chapter Four

Sumi flung the door open to meet the panicky eyes of Genji and the others. Lying between them was Izaki. His face was every shade of purple and blue with bits of black and brown thrown in the mix, all contrasting loudly against the softly reddened white bandages around his neck, cheek, and forehead. Even his exposed arms we scratched straight up to the IV stuck in the crook of his elbow, and she could see the extensive wrappings extending over his chest and down below the sheets.

She pushed through their puzzled blockade and clutched his hand. "Izaki?" He moaned weakly and opened his eyes. They stared unclearly at her at first then softened, and he squeezed her hand. She smiled in relief and leaned on the bed, brushing his hair back with her hand. "Hi baby."

"He should be fine after a few days," said the doctor watching silently from the other side of the bed. He lowered his clipboard and smiled reassuringly at her. "As long as he keeps good company, I'm sure it will be a quick recovery." Sumi noticed the way he nervously spied the boys on his way out. No doubt they were not the good company he implied.

She pressed a careful kiss on Izaki's bandaged forehead and sighed lowly. "No wonder every man needs a woman behind him. I take my eyes off you for a second!"

Behind her, Makise and the others gawked. "Y-You two are together?"

Sumi glared over her shoulder at him. "Got a problem, Makkie?"

"Since when?"

"I had no idea," Chuta added, scratching his head in shock.

Genji smirked and slipped his hands in his pockets. "Well, at least now we know she's definitely not a spy."

Sumi prepared to turn on him in deadly force, but Izaki's low chuckle disintegrated any hostility. He acted finer than he must have felt, but at the moment, her mind was plagued with that dark dream—a dream which now held much more clout than she originally placed on it.

The boys recovered from their amazement eventually and cleared the room after sunset, but Sumi stayed. Izaki fell asleep before they left but woke again when they'd gone. She helped him eat a late hospital supper then crawled in beside him on the bed. He insisted he felt fine enough for her to rest her head on him, and she tucked her arm across his stomach, careful not to squeeze too hard.

He started drifting, but her mind was not yet closed to conversation. "Who did this to you?"

"Nobody," he breathed against his sleepiness. "I fell."

"Fell into a rope around your ankle?" He grunted; apparently, he expected her not to know the details. "Was it Tokaji?"

"I told you I fell. Just drop it." He nudged her. "Don't you have to go to work?"

"I'll call in."

"There's no need; I'm fine."

"Don't care."

"Sumi—"

"Not going." She rubbed her face into him resolutely, and he smirked against her hair.

"Only a Serizawa would fight over caring about someone."

"Damn straight," she smiled.

Izaki quickly fell asleep quickly, and, near the close of the silent hour, Sumi herself nodded off. But something in the hallway cleared her dreams. She slipped carefully out of the bed, careful not to wake him, and crossed the room then poked her head into the hallway.

A stretcher zipped past, surrounded by yelling, frenzied doctors, and she stepped out to see them better. Lying atop the white cot, hemorrhaging wildly as the doctors pressed him down, was an image from her nightmare.