The Hero and the Damsel

Unspoken Answers

            The hours that passed after that strange, unreal moment are hazy for me. I remember the hollering and yelling of my father while my mother held his arm in a matter of restraining him. Toshinori seemed to stand his ground on whatever my father was shouting about. I wasn't really paying attention to the shouting and the aggressive conversations that took place after the yelling dampened down. My mind was still back to Toshinori...kneeling in front of me. I was fixated on that moment, that second, processing whether it actually happened or was something my delirious, pregnant mind created.

As I sat on the couch in my demerol state, my parents soon decided to leave. I walked with them to the door, giving farewells as my mother somewhat dragged my father from my house. I watched the scene, witnessing it but not processing it as I absent-mindedly waved good bye to them. Even when they had disappeared around the corner, I was still standing in the doorway, one hand on my barely visible baby-bump, the other hand in the air waving at no one.

I stood there, waving at nothing in particular until I felt a large hand rest atop my head with such gentility before its warmth left my head and took my beanie along with it. That action pulled me from my daze, turning around while lowering my waving hand, to look up at Toshinori. His glistening blue orbs still help pain and hurt behind them, deceiving the smile that was on his face. "Come on Sweetheart, why don't you go sit down in the living room for a bit?" With that, he took my wrist carefully, and I started to regain some semblance of consciousness as I felt his calloused, scarred hand over my slender, dainty wrist. He carefully guided me forward as he closed the door behind me.

After the door was closed, Toshinori released my wrist and started making his way to the living room. I made no motions to go after him, in fact I made no motions to move. All I did was mumble under my breath. "Why?"

Toshinori stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at me. "Sweetheart?" The pain that was still in his eyes was clouded over with confusion and concern.

Wheels began to turn in my head as I continued to regain the concept of time and place. "Why do you look so hurt?"

That seemed to confuse him even more. Toshinori turned completely around and walked over to me, enveloping me in a warm, strong hug as he pulled me close to his massive, toned chest. "I'm not hurt at all Ayano." I simply held me there, tender and gentle as to not bruise me or squeeze me too much. After a moment or two in our amorous embrace, he stepped a bit away from me, still holding me in his arms as he focused those crystal blues on me. "Work wasn't bad today, no scrapes or bruises. It was a quiet day for villainy!" With that he gave that heroic laugh of his.

His heroic laugh. His lie. His fake confidence. I glared up at him, scanning his features. His smile was too broad, that enigmatic, debonair smile he gave the media. That heroic laugh he used to cover up feelings of self-doubt and his own fears. He was lying right now! He was lying to me! So, I remained focused on him, which made that annoying laugh of his die down as he worried a bit. "Ay...A-Ayano? E-Everything all right?"

"You're lying to me." That was all I had to say. All I needed to say as I felt his body jolt and tense a bit, the arms that held me close to him tensed.

Toshinori started to avoid my gaze at that moment, preferring to peer off to the side towards the stairwell to the second floor as he began fretting and stammering. "N-N-N-Nonsense. I-I-I'm not lying to you...I-I-I-I'd never l-l-lie to you."

I grit my teeth. He was a horrible liar. To be honest, that was fortunate. "Yagi Toshinori." There was another jolt as I noticed his muscles start to tense and harden, not that they weren't already hard to begin with. However, I pushed forward, ignoring my hulking boyfriend's obvious discomfort at the topic. I moved my hands, reaching up to place them on his cheeks, forcing him to move his head and look at me. Once those oceans were on me, I spoke again. "Why...are you hurt?"