Nurse Me

Chapter 2

Light from a full moon filtered through the trees, but the forest was terribly dark despite the natural light. The girl now stood in a clearing beside the young man. A small building stood in the middle of the clearing.

“It’s underground,” the man told her when he sensed her confusion. “Come on.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest as the wind stirred and followed him to the dark entrance. Her feet carefully shuffled across the ground when she reached the steps. Her body warmed as she slowly descended into the earth, but it was still chilly. A faint glow could be seen ahead of her.

The man, who was a fair distance ahead of her, waited for her at the light source. There was a fusuma on the other side of the room. Voices could be heard beyond it.

“Keep taking this same hallway. His room is at the very end. I or someone else will show you where you will be staying when you are finished.” He slid the door open and motioned for her to enter. She nodded and walked forward.

She walked swiftly, but still had to be careful. Small lanterns hung along the walls. The light was even dimmer than that of the bar. She was almost to the end of the hall when she heard a loud thump from the room adjacent to the Lord’s.

Rapping softly on the wood of the door, she slowly slid it open and asked “Hello?”

A silver haired young man with glasses lay in the floor next to his bed. The sheets had pulled down with him, indicating that he had fallen out of bed. The girl pushed the door aside the rest of the way and rushed into the room. Blood could be seen soaking though his shirt.

“I’m fine,” he shakily told her as she approached. “Tend to him first.”

“But you can’t even stand,” she protested.

“I know,” he told her as he tried to sit up, hissing in pain. “Please, go to him first.”

She looked back and forth between him and the room next door. “I’ll try to hurry. Can I at least-” She was going to help him return to bed, but he continued to wave her away.

Closing the door behind her, she made off to the room next door. She slipped inside with a quiet knock. Two candles burned on tables sitting on both sides of the bed. The amount of wax dripping down hinted that they had been burning for quite some time.

As she approached the bed, she could see that the lord was peacefully asleep. She cringed, not wanting to wake him but needing to treat him. She bent over the bed slightly to get a better look at him. Her breath caught in her throat for a split second. The man had the palest skin she had ever seen, made even brighter by his long black hair. Purple markings ran across his eyelids and down the inner corners of his eyes.

A damp cloth was lying across the man’s forehead. She gently lifted it long enough to reveal an angry slash beneath it. Setting her bag on the ground, she started to rummage through it, pulling out bandages and alcohol. She brushed the man’s hair away from his neck, which gave view to more cuts along his neck and collar. His shirt was off, so she started to lower the covers away from him.

Almost instantly, a hand grabbed her roughly by the wrist. She gasped and bent over the man further as pain shot up her arm. Angry golden eyes with slitted pupils stared up at her. He looked over to the table where her supplies were setting before turning his gaze back to her. She sat frozen until he released her wrist.

“I’m sorry to wake you,” she told him as his muscles relaxed, “but everyone’s insisting I care to you.”

He settled back onto his pillow and continued to stare at her. He too looked her up and down. She ignored this as she continued to pull the covers away from his chest, stopping at his bare hips. More cuts ran along his muscled torso. The bandages were past due for changing.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” she asked him before starting.

The man lowered the covers even farther to expose the area below his right hip. A large and particularly dirty bandage covered it. She sat down on the edge of the bed, ready to work.

The smell of latex filled the girl’s nose as she pulled gloves onto her hands. She carefully pulled the bandage away from his skin, apologizing when it pulled on a sensitive area. Blood was still seeping out of the wound. She grabbed a pad and applied pressure to the area.

“Hold this for a second,” she told him. The man reached down and slipped his hand under hers.

“You really should have been taken to a hospital,” she added as she began to look over the rest of his wounds. “I’ll be surprised if you don’t get an infection. Don’t you have any family that would take better interest in you?”

She could sense the lord staring at her again. Looking up as she bent over his chest, she saw the anger in his eyes. “Sorry,” she muttered as she lowered her gaze. She brushed his hand away as she returned to the pad on his hip. She began to prep him for stitching.

“I don’t have any family, myself. My parents died when I was barely a teenager,” she told him as she started.

They both remained silent as the girl continued to clean and bandage the man’s wounds. Occasionally he would hiss from pain, and she would quickly apologize.

He finally spoke for the first time when she came close to his face, brushing his hair away so she could further look at the cut running across his forehead.

“What’s your name?” he asked in a raspy voice. His eyes showed his weakness as he looked up at her.

“Saya,” she replied with a slight grin. She moved his head towards her so she could better see his head. The man kept looking up at her as she slowly brushed dried blood away from his face. “Think you have any broken bones I should look at?” she asked as she applied a small bandage onto his head.

“No,” the lord quietly replied as he closed his eyes, finally breaking his stare.

Saya stood and covered his body back up. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. I left a few pain pills on the table if you need them.” She walked to the door and looked over her shoulder for a last look at the man. Grinning, she left the room.

“Terrifying isn’t he?”

She looked up to find the man she met in the bar across the hall.

“No,” Saya replied with a puzzled expression. “If you’ll excuse me, the other man is waiting for me.”

“No need,” he replied. “Kabuto’s stubbornly treated his own wounds. Said he didn’t a woman’s help.” He moved his head to the side and pointed to reveal a throwing star that protruded from the wall. “To make sure his point was across.”

“I’m sure the pain is causing him to react disproportionately. Why would the lord terrify me?”

The man motioned for her to follow him back up the hall. Saya followed. “You don’t see it, um?” He stopped and turned back to her. “Saya,” she answered. “Akria,” he nodded his head before continuing on. “You don’t see it, Saya? He’s a damn snake. No doubt you didn’t see that tongue of his.”

“No, Akira. I had to reason to go prodding around in his mouth.” She blushed as she realized what she had said. “Is his tongue forked?” she asked in a whisper.

Akira laughed as he stopped at a room. “No, but it’s long. A lot of guys around here are jealous of it, for obvious reasons. Not that he has a woman.” He smirked at Saya. “I’d watch yourself while you’re here.”

She paled and stood in the hallway, even though Akira had opened the door to the room. He laughed at her. “I’m just messing with you. He only asks for help if he really needs it, so he won’t be scaring you away.”

“Right,” was her only answer to that.

“Hey, lighten up. You’re going to have to work on your sense of humor if you’re going to be working in this drab place. Anyway,” he stepped aside, “this is your room. I’ve been told to tell you that food and other necessities will be brought to you and that you’re not to wander around any of the hallways and rooms that are on the other side of the fusuma we came through earlier. The other hallways on this side are fine, though.”

Saya grinned and thanked him. Akira bit her goodnight with a friendly smile. With no windows to provide sunlight or fresh air in the morning, she would need it.