I pulled on the black collar of Yuki’s leather jacket and dropped my head onto his broad chest, sobbing. I think it stunned him a little, but after a while I felt his warm arms around me and his chin resting on my mop of white hair.
“It’s alright, kid.”
Was this Yuki? The Yuki I knew would insult me, not comfort me. Something was definitely wrong. I pushed him away quickly and tried to run out the door, but I was too weak from depression and lack of sleep. Yuki easily stopped me and literally threw me back onto the large bed. I was going to fight back, but something in his fiery black eyes made me stay put.
“It’s not your fault that I died,” Yuki said with a hint of anger or frustration in his deep voice. “Stop blaming yourself.”
“If I were a stronger person than I w-wouldn’t have killed...” I couldn’t finish the sentence because I broke into more violent sobs. I curled up into a ball and forced myself to breathe. I felt his hand on my shoulder and I brushed it off, but it all changed with a simple word and what came after it.
“No.”
No? What kind of answer is that? I was pondering this but was snapped back into reality by a rough hand on my cheek. I looked up and saw that Yuki also had tears in his eyes. This shocked me so much that I didn’t see his face turn to my ear.
“Don’t cry.” These words were whispered so quietly and sadly in my ear that I shivered and could not help but obey. I guess this was the first time I saw any emotion from the teen. I looked straight into his face and looked quickly away when I noticed that he was staring at me too. My heart was freaking out in my chest and I was having a lot of trouble breathing. He was so intimidating.
By the time my tears stopped falling I was so tired that my head fell onto the fluffy pillow and my puffy eyes closed. I tried not to fall asleep, but I must have because when I finally pried my eyes open Yuki was staring at me with a worried look on his face. He still had his signature scowl on, but something in his face had softened. I wearily sat up, holding my throbbing head.
“Are you alright? You were asleep for almost five hours.”
“What?! I have to go cook dinner then! Thanks for, um, taking care of me.” I stood up to leave. Unfortunately I did so so fast that my vision went blurry and my knees buckled. I saved myself from falling at the last moment by holding tightly onto the bedpost.
“You’re not going anywhere.” He growled at me.
Then the most unexpected thing happened. He smiled. In all of the time that I have known the ninja I have never seen him smile. I began to wonder if he was possessed by demons or that I was still sleeping.
“You have a fever too,” Yuki stated. He touched the back of his hand to my sweaty forehead, pushing my bangs back. “You look kind of surprised too.” How can I not look surprised when the grumpy guy that hates me starts nursing me back to health? I mean, I always thought he hated me. He wouldn’t even call me Aki. I suppose that all of my doubts about Yuki liking me left within the next few seconds.
Totally out of character, Yuki stared intensely into my eyes; I could feel the fire in his eyes melting the blue ice in mine. That was all he did before jumping on top of me on the bed and pushing his mouth roughly against mine.
To be continued...