Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC

Chapter 87

Eight days had passed since Mariko brushed with death and she still hadn't woken up. Keigo wanted to be there every second of the day until she woke up, but his duties as a hero were still existent, and he was occupied for most of the day. During that time, Araya remained by her side. A fact that ruffled his feathers angrily whenever he thought about it; he as the one that sent Mariko in there after all. He had to recognize that Mariko still trusted him though; if he couldn't be there he would rather her wake up to a friendly face than none at all.

He spent whatever time he had leftover with her though. That meant that for the past eight days, he had been at her bedside waiting for her to wake up. Now it was six in the morning, and the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, lighting the sky from an inky black to soft indigo. Keigo hadn't moved the entire time and had spent the last seven hours in that torture device called a chair. He hadn't slept in days. He wasn't aware of anything going on outside of that hospital room, his attention completely focused on the woman lying in the bed. He held her limp hand, rubbing gentle circles into it. It was warmer than it had been on her first night there. That was a good sign.

He felt like a part of him had died when she'd come through the portal looking like that. Her clothes had practically been shredded.  She'd been covered with blood as she coughed it up and nearly drowned in it. Her body was littered with cuts and bruises; she was also covered with burn wounds from trying to cauterize her wounds herself with shaky hands while she was barely conscious. It was horrifying to find out she'd done that to herself just to keep from dying. His stomach dropped just remembering it.

The blonde trailed his eyes to her sleeping figure. Her expression was soft and peaceful; as though she lived without a care in the world. He knew that couldn't have been farther from the truth though. Never the less it was strange to see her looking so relaced after coming so close to dying.

               "How could I have allowed that to happen?" he asked himself. He was a hero and more importantly her boyfriend. He was supposed to protect her and take care of her. She was the love of his life- the person he cared about more than anything or anyone in this world. How could he have been so stupid as to let her do something so dangerous? She hadn't just gotten hurt, she'd nearly died. And he'd only seen the physical wounds, surely she wouldn't be ok mentally after experiencing trauma like that either. It'd been obvious that Shimizu was out for blood- Mariko's blood. How could he have agreed to her being sent as a hostage? A human sacrifice? It didn't matter if she was a soldier, she was his girlfriend... "What kind of boyfriend lets their girl become a torture victim?" he asked himself.

He sighed inaudibly and leaned down, bringing her hand to his forehead and resting against it.

The sun continued to rise, filling the room with an orange- almost red- light. Mariko found herself being drawn to it but struggled to open her eyes. They felt so heavy- her entire body did; she did it though and found herself in an unfamiliar setting. She blinked slowly, and tried to move her hand, but couldn't. Her limbs felt like lead, the only thing she could feel was a soft pressure on her right hand.

Mariko looked down. Keigo was sitting at her bedside, holding her hand. For a moment she didn't react, her brain still trying to wake up and take control of her body. She must've been dosed with a heavy pain killer for it to take so long just to wake up. Slowly, she scanned the room and realized she was in a hospital. Before she could wonder why, memories of the mission came flooding back to her.

Her fingers twitched slightly, alerting the blonde. Immediately his eyes snapped up to her, hopeful that she had woken up. Seeing that she had, he sat up properly. He wanted to cry with relief. "She's awake, she's finally awake." Now wasn't the time to cry though; he had to make sure she was okay.