Enchanted

Chapter 15

Eventually, she unwrapped her arms around him, watching him as he fidgeted with his fingers and pulled at the brim of his hat.
"Uhm..Yashiro? You okay?" Hanako asked, avoiding her gaze but still tentatively shooting his hand up to press his palm against her forehead. "You look tired."
Now that she thought about it, she did feel tired. Her head felt like five boulders on her shoulders, and her eyelids were struggling to keep themselves upright. "Why do you care?"
He frowned, a crease forming between his brows as he finally mustered the courage to meet her eyes. "Are you seriously asking that right now? You might be mad at me, but I'm not just gonna ignore you, especially if you're not feeling well."
Well, that's certainly a different turn from usual. Grumbled Nene's thoughts, but she held her tongue. "Fine. Well, I'm.."
She was about to angrily assure him that she was fine, but a long yawn interrupted her train of words.
He raised his eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "Still think you're fine?"
"It was just a yawn." Nene snapped, glowering at him. "I'm perfectly.."
Yet another yawn bursted into the argument, and disrupted Nene's rant.
"Sure." Hanako replied, throwing her a mocking smile as he eased himself off the windowsill. "Well, I know that you're about to pass out, so can you do me a favor and just lay down? We both know you want to."

Sure, the thought of curling into a ball and drifting into sleep did sound tempting, incredibly tempting at that, but, she would never agree with him while she was still stubborn like this, so, she firmly crossed her arms and shook her head. "I'm. Fin—"
Now, the good news! It wasn't a yawn! The bad news? Well..she fell. The exhaustion was so unbearably heavy on her shoulders she completely lost her balance, and..fell right into the comforting arms that belonged to a certain brunet haired ghost. Surprisingly-but-not-really, he caught her in record time, nearly breaking a rib or two from his desperation to keep her from toppling over. "What did I just say?"
She grumbled, but eventually muttered, "I'll go lay down."
"Thank you. But, I'll help." He scooped her up, despite her protests, and carried her all the way back to the ever so far windowsill! News flash, it was right behind them.
He placed her in the corner of the windowsill, and tucked her in his cloak that he had summoned with his Hakujoudai's help.
"Thank you," she mumbled, burying herself even further into the not-surprisingly freezing fabric.
"You're welcome," Hanako replied, ruffling her hair before he took a step back and looked away. "Need anything else?"
"No, I'm fine," Nene said, fidgeting with her hair.
"Alright," Hanako nodded, running his fingers through his choppy bangs. "Just let me know if you do."
It took her awhile, but ultimately, sleep's mollifying arms came and scooped her up, whisking her away to tranquil silence and needed peace.

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When she thought of waking up, she assumed it would be done peacefully and serenely.
She did not expect, however, expect waking up from terrifying green eyes chasing her around like she was its target.
All she remembered was trying to run farther and farther away from the piercing emerald eyes, only to be cornered by another pair of the irises or a haunting voice screaming at her to stop moving.
She made fists into her makeshift blanket as she struggled to catch her breath, and apparently she was panicking too loudly, because Hanako had awoken—wait, how did he go to sleep?—and immediately rushed to her side. Sluggishly, he inquired, "you 'kay?"
"Yeah..yeah, I'm fine." Nene whispered, her chest heaving as she fixed her rosewood gaze onto the tiled floor.
His palms hovered just above her shoulders, and tentatively, they moved up to settle in her hair. "Did you have a nightmare?"
"Yeah.." Nene mumbled, toying with her teal dipped tresses.
"Do wanna talk about it?" Hanako asked, traveling down to the side of her neck to rest on her shoulder, rubbing loose circles with the pad of his thumb.
"No, you should just go back to sleep. You're probably tired." Nene glanced up, and elicited the corners of her lips to quirk up.
"I'm not just gonna take a nap while you're over here panicking," Hanako argued, tentatively pulling her back into his embrace. His right hand found its place in her creamy tresses, and his left settled just above the small of her back. "Also, I don't get tired. I'm a ghost. You're the human, aren't you? Your needs matter more." He combed his calloused fingers through her locks until he could hear her breathing quiet down, then pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, and didn't immediately zoom out of the bathroom, much to Nene's shock. Usually, he would give her a smooch, and dash out of wherever they were like he was being chased by every angry supernatural they had encountered.
Not that she was appalled by this new behavior.