She sat next to him and cried silently. Kougaiji was still unconscious. She prayed hard with all her might and waited for him to open his eyes. But he lay still. He was running a high fever and his body was boiling hot. Yaone clasped his hand into hers and rested her head on the edge of his bed while tears streamed down her face. She had lost track of time and didn’t know after how many hours she heard a low moan-

“Yaone, is that you?”

Yaone gasped and looked up.

“Kougaiji-sama!” she whispered, “Thank god!!! You’re awake!”

“How long has it been since I’m here?”

“A long while now. I’ve actually lost track of time…”

“I see,” muttered Kougaiji and winced with pain as his hand brushed against his rib.

“Don’t try and talk, Kougaiji-sama. You must rest now,” said Yaone as she hastily tried to wipe her tear-strained face.

“Why were you crying, Yaone?” asked Kougaiji slowly.

“It’s-nothing,” murmured Yaone, “You shouldn’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” he said in a feeble voice, “I don’t want to see you cry like this, especially if it’s about me.”

“You were hurt,” said Yaone unable to contain herself, “You were hurt and injured and the Kougaiji-sama I know has never been this defeated looking.”

“Everyone has their good and bad days,” said Kougaiji, “I’m not trying to gather up excuses for my defeat but what’s the point in crying? Will I get better?”

“No, you won’t,” mumbled Yaone, “But it helps me feel lighter.”

“Hmm…” said Kougaiji.

“I think I should go and leave you alone in your chambers now,” said Yaone getting up and bowing, “You need to rest. I must also let Dokugaiji and Lirin know that you’re awake.”

“No, Yaone,” he said and grabbed her hand, “I want you to stay right here next to me. Don’t leave me alone.”

“As you wish,” said Yaone and sat down near his bed still holding his warm hand. She looked at him. His injuries covered nearly most of his face and his dark red hair only enhanced his features even more. He was one guy who could look handsome even though he was so badly injured. Yaone had removed his bangles but hadn’t dared to touch his earrings. He was always really touchy about them and the last thing she wanted to do was annoy him.

“You know what, Yaone?” said Kougaiji in a weak voice.

“Really, this is why I didn’t want to sit near you. If I’m here, you’ll be disturbed and won’t rest properly.”

“But, Yaone…”

“No, Kougaiji-sama,” said Yaone firmly, “I beg before you. If you don’t rest now, your condition can worsen. I’ll stay right here beside you if you want me to but please don’t say a word!”

“As you say, Yaone,” said Kougaiji meekly and smiled, “But don’t you leave me and go away the moment I’m asleep ‘coz this is the one night I don’t want to be alone!”

“I won’t, I promise,” said Yaone gently, “Oyasumi Nasai!”

“Oyasumi!”

 

 

Yaone looked lovingly on as Kougaiji slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep. She held on to his hand as though afraid to let go, laid back in her chair and drifted off to sleep.

 

 

A fortnight later:

“Do you want another sponge bath, Kougaiji-sama?”

“No, Yaone,” smiled Kougaiji, “However, I’d be glad if you could make me some of that soup which you made two days ago.”

“Sure, Yaone’s special soup coming up for you!” said Yaone and marched out of the room leaving a grinning Kougaiji in her wake.

Yaone came up after a quarter of an hour.

“Here’s your soup, Kougaiji-sama,” she smiled and put down the warm bowl of soup on Kougaiji’s bedside table.

“Thanks a lot, Yaone,” said Kougaiji, “Could you close the door? I need to talk to you about something important.”

“Sure,” said Yaone looking surprised but nevertheless, she walked towards the door and locked it from inside. Kougaiji motioned her to sit down on the chair next to his bed as he drank spoonfuls of his soup.

“As brilliant as usual, of course,” said Kougaiji, “The soup, I mean,” he added as Yaone looked confused, “Let’s get on with what I had to say to you. Firstly, I want to ask you, do you think of me to be a person like my father, Gyumaoh?”

“Of course, not,” replied Yaone, “What makes you think that way?”

“Somehow, I sometimes feel that I’m kind of intimidating when I’m with you.”

“You feel wrongly,” said Yaone straightforwardly, “I don’t know why you think that way but I want you to know that you’re not intimidating at all. On the contrary, you’re a very soft and sweet person unlike the rough and tough one you come across. And I’m being extremely truthful. Next question…”

“Thanks, Yaone,” beamed Kougaiji, “You don’t know how much you saying that means to me. Okay, here comes question two for you. But before that, I want you to remember that when I say this, I’m not trying to infest you with any kind of false hope. For all that we know, we may never be able to do this but I just want to let you know before it’s too late.”

 

 

 

Yaone waited with bated breath for what Kougaiji had to say.

“I love you, Yaone,” said Kougaiji, “I love you very much but I do not want this news to reach anyone apart from the two of us. I’m not saying this so that I can start a relationship with you or book you for life or something crazy like that. It’s absolutely not necessary for you to reciprocate my feelings.”

“What?” that was all that Yaone could manage after Kougaiji’s breathtaking confession, “You love me?”

“Yes,” replied Kougaiji testily, “Don’t say that so many times, someone will be sure to hear you.”

“Ok, I’m sorry,” said Yaone, “But why did you decide to tell me this, Kougaiji-sama? We both know that under the current circumstances, it would be impossible to be in a relationship with you.”

“I’m glad that you get the point. I just thought of confessing my feelings to you because I’m not sure of the future that lies ahead of me. And so, someday if I were to die unexpectedly,” Yaone gave a violent shudder at those words, “I would truly regret not having told you my feelings.”

“But why would you regret it?” asked Yaone.

“You know very well how I feel about you,” said Kougaiji, “I would want you to know my feelings before I died. But as I said earlier, I wouldn’t be doing this because I’d want you to stay alone for the rest of your life and cry for me. No, that’s not what I mean at all”

“So, even if I loved someone else, you would still love me the way you do?”

“Yes, I would. But I’m not forcing you…”

“For heaven’s sake!” exclaimed Yaone, “Stop saying that, will you? You don’t have to force me or anything. I love you too, Kougaiji-sama,” she blushed as she said this, “But I also know that a future with you is as uncertain as tomorrow’s weather may be. So, if someday, all of this is over, I’ll still be there for waiting for you, I promise.”

“Thank you, Yaone,” he said putting aside his bowl of soup, “But you have to be careful that no one else finds out. Or else, Gyoukumen Koushou will be sure to target you. She knows how to toy with my feelings really well.”

“I assure you, nothing of that sort will happen, Kougaiji-sama,” said Yaone, “I will make sure of that.”

“You can call me Kougaiji now,” he smiled.

“Only when we’re alone!” reminded Yaone and Kougaiji nodded and asked, “Did you lock the door when you came in?”

“Yeah, I did,” said Yaone after thinking for a few seconds, “But that won’t make it soundproof…”

“I know it won’t,” said Kougaiji, “There’s something on your face, Yaone,” he said his eyes glinting.

“What is it?” asked Yaone rubbing her face hard, “Is it gone?”

“No,” smiled Kougaiji mischievously, “I’ll do it for you,” saying this he slowly came close enough to feel Yaone’s warm breath on his face. He saw her face reddening until it had turned scarlet. He slowly touched her cheek and pushed back a stray strand of her hair with his long finger. She stopped breathing as he touched her. He then, touched her lower eyelid where an eyelash was sticking out at an odd angle. Pulling that eyelash out, he threw it away. He then moved an inch closer to her face and she bit her lip. She felt like her heart would come out of her body. It was beating harder each time Kougaiji came closer. She slowly closed her eyes and in half a second, she felt Kougaiji’s lips touch hers gently. For a moment, he pulled himself back but within another moment, he was kissing her fiercely. Her tongue probed the bitter-sweet taste of his mouth. ‘Perfect’, she thought as she put her arms around his neck. Her lip was now swollen but she didn’t care. She could go on like this forever. As he kissed her, he found that she tasted too sweet. ‘Typical’, he thought as he continued kissing her. After about two minutes when they broke apart, they were gasping for breath. When they’d recovered, he pulled her into another long kiss.

“Oh, Kougaiji,” moaned Yaone when he kissed a part of her neck.

He felt great to hear her whisper his name like that. They kissed each other for some more time and when they finally broke apart-

“What we did wasn’t wrong, was it, Yaone?” he asked her as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“No, it wasn’t. But we can’t let ourselves get carried away by our feelings the next time…”

“Right you are,” muttered Kougaiji as he stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, “We have to be careful…”

“But remember, what has to happen, will happen. We’ll just have to face it when it does…”

 

 

He pondered over her words for sometime and said-

“And I’ll be there for you, no matter what.”

“Same here,” said Yaone as she snuggled her head deeper into his chest.

 

 

They didn’t know how long they’d been lying there or what their future had in store for them. But all they knew was that this was a moment meant to be so and they had no regrets about it.