Chapter 27 - Sleeping, as though dead

Sleeping, as though dead



Kaede's head jerked up, ripping her out of her dream. She sat, breathing heavily, her entire body shaking.

She looked at Yuula, lying on the hospital bed, breathing through a tube. Kaede held one of Yuula's hands in both of hers. Unnoticed tears spilled down her cheeks as she prayed for Yuula to wake up.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she stood up, turned around, and came face to face with Duke. Noticing her tears, she hastily dried her eyes and spoke in an extremely shaky voice.

`What are you doing here?' she asked. `I thought you guys had all left?'

`We did, but I went to the shops to bring her these,' he held out the flowers he had been carrying. `I thought, you know, when she wakes up…'

Kaede smiled at him, and felt tears forming again. She wiped her eyes quickly and was about to leave when she felt Duke pulling her into a hug.

Kaede, startled, did nothing, until she actually noticed what was going on and hugged him back. `I know you're more her friend than I am,' Duke's voice shook as he said this. `And you have more right to cry than I do-'

`Don't be thick,' Kaede laughed through her tears. `You have as much of a right to cry as I do.'

Kaede pulled away from him and saw tears now stained his cheeks. She patted him on the shoulder and they sat down together, waiting, in silence.

Kaede was thinking things over in her head, remembering her dream. Sanura was Yuula's past life, she felt sure of it. And now Sanura was dead. Maybe this was a sign. She hoped it wasn't.

`Um, Duke,' Kaede said, breaking the silence. Duke looked up, his eyes red from crying.

`When I was waiting in here, I fell asleep, and had this dream. Yuula, or someone really like Yuula, was in it.'

Duke leaned forward, suddenly interested.

`And, this girl, she died,' Kaede said, biting her lip to stop the tears she knew would flow if she didn't control herself.

Duke stared, and shook his head. He buried his face in his hands. `No,' Kaede heard him whisper. `No, she won't, she can't.'

Kaede stood up and jogged over to him. She kneeled beside him and patted him on the arm. `I'm sure it won't happen,' she said half heartedly. `She won't honestly; it was just a dream, Duke. She's not really going to die.'

Duke lifted his face up again. Fresh tears were falling down his face. Kaede patted his shoulder again, and shook her head. `It was just a dream.'

`But you think she might die, don't you?'

Kaede couldn't say anything to him after that, and returned to her seat. He sat in his chair, crying, until the tears had dried, and he had returned to normal, or as normal as he could be. Kaede wished she hadn't said anything, and just returned to that horrible silence while they waited.

Kaede was sitting right next to the hospital bed and held Yuula's hand in hers, and was just about to say she was going to go home when she felt Yuula's hand twitch. Kaede opened her hand and saw Yuula's fingers had curled.

Kaede jumped up and leaned over Yuula. She watched Yuula's face, and saw her eyelids flicker.

`Duke,' Kaede yelled, grinning. `She's awake, she's awake.'

Duke ran over and watched, and slowly, Yuula's eyelids opened. She blinked in the harsh, bright hospital lights. She groaned, covering her face with her hands.

`Kaede? Duke?' Yuula's voice came out croaky and uncertain.

`Yeah, it's us,' Kaede grinned at her friend. `You alright?'

Yuula nodded slowly, grimacing through the pain. `What day is it?'

`Monday, you've been unconscious for two days,' Duke said, smiling down at her.

Kaede looked at Duke's face, full of love, and decided that maybe they should be alone together.

`I'll go get your doctor, and a cup of tea or something. Do you guys want anything?'

`No thanks,' said Yuula, and Duke just shook his head. Kaede left them and ran to the doctor's office. She knocked quickly and let herself in before she was answered.

`My friend, Yuula Miharu, she's awake,' Kaede said.

The doctor jumped up and ran to Yuula's room to go check on her. Kaede followed him half the way, but stopped at the hospital vending machine. She put in some coins and pushed the button for tea. When it came out, she took one sip, disgusted by how sweet it was, but it was he only source of caffeine, so she put up with it. She wandered back to Mokuba's room to see how Seto was coping.

She entered and saw Seto asleep in his chair. Kaede knelt down beside him, and set her cup on the table. She was gazing up at him, considering waking him, but she heard a voice behind her.

`Hello, who are you?'

Kaede whipped around and saw a girl standing beside Mokuba's bed, holding his hand. Kaede stood up and looked this girl up and down. She was tall, and her hair was bright orange, and underneath her eyes were little pink lines. She wore a long sleeved top with a shorter baggy sleeved short on over the top, and jeans.

`I'm Kaede,' she said quietly, and stood on the other side of Mokuba's bed.

`Hi, I'm Cira!' she said brightly. Kaede stared at her. `You know, Seto's sister.'

`Seto has a sister?' Kaede glanced over to where Seto lay, fast asleep.

`He hasn't told you about me?' Cira demanded, and dropped Mokuba's hand, and strode over to where Seto sat. She kicked him roughly in the shins and he woke up with a grunt.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked up at Cira, and jumped to his feet. He ran over to Mokuba's bed, hardly noticing Kaede was there. He took Mokuba's hand, and his face fell when he saw that Mokuba was still unconscious. He turned back to Cira, suddenly angry.

`I told you not to wake me up until Mokuba came round!' Seto fumed.

Cira stared back at him and crossed her arms. `You didn't tell Kaede that you had a sister!'

`I don't!'

`What am I then?'

`Adopted,' Seto sneered back at her. Kaede hit him on the back, and he turned around, really noticing her for the first time since he had woken up.

`Ouch, what was that for?'

`You should be nice to your sister,' she said, and slipped behind him, picking up her tea from the table and hurried out of the door. She heard him following her, ignored him, and ran as fast as she could back to Yuula's room. She stopped outside, watching through the glass as Yuula talked with Duke.

Seto stood next to her, trying to explain. `It isn't like she is my real sister, otherwise you would have met her ages ago, oh come on Kaede, does it really matter?'

Kaede held up her hand to stop him as she watched Duke move towards Yuula. She shushed Seto and tiptoed to the door.

She almost laughed when Duke hugged Yuula, but to her surprise, Yuula hugged him back. She was even more surprised to see tears in Yuula's eyes. She strained to listen to what they said.

`I love you Yuula,' Duke said, and tears fell down his face as he said these words.

`I love you too,' Yuula replied, and Kaede jumped when she heard this. But then: `Ryou.'

Duke jumped a foot in the air and stared at Yuula mouth open.

Kaede swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable in this atmosphere. Yuula had noticed she was their, and was looking at her looking at Duke looking at Yuula.

`Oh,' she whispered. `Oh, my, GOD!'

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