Don't Give Up (On Me)

Ten

The first thing she noticed was that it was dark. Too dark. She thought she'd somehow gone blind, but there was the tiniest bit of light shining through a crack in the wall. The next thing she noticed was the pain. The slightest movement and her ankle sent sharp arrows of pain up her leg. Her neck felt worse than the whiplash she'd had years ago in an accident. And her head! That tiniest bit of light was now a spear through her eyes into her brain. In fact, her eyes fought to stay closed, so she didn't fight it.

She tried to move, to get a bit more comfortable, but then realized she was being held down. The arm around her chest was loose, like he had fallen asleep behind her. But then again, he was a light sleeper. Everytime he tried this, she fought against him. And while he hadn't attempted it for a week or two, he still never got the hint that she didn't want him touching her. So, he tried when she was most vulnerable. She'd lost so much sleep keeping her own guard up against him.

Mind buzzing and clouded with pain, and no immediate memory of what happened recently, she began to struggle. The arm tightened just a hair, and she screamed.

"No!! Get off me, Yahaba! Leave me alone!!" she struggled harder, not caring about the pain anymore, panting from her efforts to get free.
"Hitoka...?" The arm loosened further, enough for her to roll away. Except she only managed to roll onto her stomach. She felt a hand on her hip, and she flinched. The hand was immediately gone.
"Hitoka, what's wrong?"
That voice! It wasn't Yahaba's at all. Nor was it Kyotani's. Slowly, she cracked open her eyes and...
"Eita? You're here?"
"Yeah," he said quietly. His face was so full of concern, love, and maybe just a slight hint of fear. "What's wrong? Is it the pain? I can help you..."
He was almost acting nervous. He reached out to touch her, but then pulled back.
"What happened? How are you here? Where's... no, I don't want to know where he is," she said. "If you're here, that means he's gone, right?"
She heard fabric rustling, and movement all around her. She tried to lift her head to look around, but groaned from the pain. The sounds stopped, almost immediately.
"Let me help you, baby," Eita whispered. She moved her head just enough to be an affirmative answer.

She felt his hands, gentle, yet apprehensive, as they calmly maneuvered her onto her back. He put a pillow under her head, and after a few minutes and a quiet order to someone else, a cold compress was placed on her forehead and the back of her neck. The pain in her head and neck subsided a little and she sighed with relief. But when he tried to straighten her legs, her ankle protested viciously.

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly. Another quiet command, and he eased a pillow under her foot. "Hopefully, that will help. I need to apply more of that poultice and get a new bandage," he said, half to himself.
"I'll go find Mika," someone else said in response.
"What time is it, anyhow? Will she even be awake?"
"It's... a little after 4am."
"If she's not awake, then maybe one of the priests?"
"Possibly. If you can find the one that helped us a couple days ago, that'd be great."
"Eita?"
"I'm right here, love," he replied, his voice soothing and familiar and everything she'd wanted to hear for so long. "I won't leave you."
"Good." His hand slipped into hers, weaving their fingers together. It was enough to pull tears from her eyes. "What happened? Who's here with us?"
"I can tell you, but first, what do you remember?"

It took a little while before they ironed it all out. Eita explained how he'd been following her clues, along with several others, and just recently, two more. Once they received Mika's call, they raced to Lake Biwa, and after a short rest, started searching for her. Hitoka remembered seeing Tori and Hayato, and started fighting once Yahaba and Kyotani made the decision to flee again. After that, he explained how they rescued her from her captors.

"So, how long have I been out?" she asked later, after Mika gave her some medicine for the pain, and left them with enough food and drink to feed an army.
"Just a couple days," Eita replied carefully.
They were seated on the futon they shared, and he was leaning against the wall, holding her in his arms.
"Two days?!"
"Well, we figured you've been through so much stress and everything that your body just took over once you were knocked out." He gently kissed her head. "How are you feeling, love?"
She snuggled closer, his arms tightened around her. "Much better now."
He chuckled. "Much, much better, but..."
"Mika said the headache should lessen once I eat and drink something. The bruise on my neck, and the ankle pain, will both be rough to deal with, but I'm fine."
"When do you want to go home?"
"I've been wondering why we aren't already there."
"Yeah, obvious reason being obvious, genius." He reached up and threaded his fingers through her hair, carefully massaging her head.
"I know." She did her best to snuggle even closer into his chest. "I missed you so much."
"I missed you more."
"Okay, less missing, and more trying to eat something," she heard Kei say. "We don't want to overstay our welcome, even if they've been gracious hosts."
"Also, since it's kinda late, why don't we stay the night, and we can go home in the morning?" Tetsu added. "I'm sure they won't begrudge us one more night."
"Actually, while it would be nice to stick around with you guys, I've got to go. I have a deadline to meet," Oikawa said. "Can I count on a few statements from you for my article?"
"As long as you keep them accurate," Eita warned. "No embellishments."
"I would never..." he started protesting dramatically, and then smiled at the baleful glares coming from the rest of the group. "Don't worry. I don't intend to sensationalize this one. Even I know when to keep it serious."
"Then, we'll look forward to your calls."
"Great!" He pushed himself up off the floor and stretched. Iwaizumi followed suit. "It really was good to see you guys again. Maybe we can meet up again soon?"
When no one answered right away, Oikawa rolled his eyes and Iwaizumi snorted. "All completely off the record. I promise."
"Good. We'll talk to ya later!"
"Thanks for your help, guys."
"Anytime. See ya soon!" And then they were gone.
"Honestly, we should probably find our way home, too," Tori said, with a nod from Toshi, who was gathering up some of the food to take with them. "Work has probably backed up a mile, and I need some downtime before we start back up again."
"Thanks for your help," Eita said softly.
"Like Oikawa said, anytime. Give us a call when you finally make it home," Tori smirked, flashing them a wink. Toshi handed him his share of the food, and they were both up on their feet and headed for the door.
"Later guys," Toshi said quietly, with a wave as they left the building.

For another hour, those left behind talked quietly about their plans for after they picked back up with their lives. They all knew Eita and Tetsu had tour dates to make up for, and then made plans for a few shows together as a surprise for the fans. Kei would be busy updating their websites when they got home, and once Hitoka was back to one hundred percent, she'd resume her photography job.

Still, there was one place Hitoka wanted to go before they went home, and without saying a word, Eita knew exactly where she was thinking.