Ow my brain and back [Nejiko, Tentsuke]

[weighted_wings]

[begins the morning after Tentsuke takes Nejiko to his place.]

[summary for sna: In which Nejiko wakes up with a vicious hangover, discovers (among other things) she has a tattoo, and tries really really hard to not think about any of this.]

The first thing Nejiko became aware of was the inside of her mouth. Desert-dry with a thick, leathery, immobile slug she belatedly realized was, in fact, her tongue. Ugh. She wished she could spit it out. Her face felt frozen and stiff. Actually, her whole body felt that way. Except for her head. Oh, God, her head. Had she been practicing with Tentsuke and tried to catch a hatchet with her forehead? Somehow she convinced her numb arm to move... only to have it flop onto the bed beside her. Groaning under her breath in pain and effort, she dragged her arm up to her face before resting a few minutes. Using her fingertips to pull her hand up to her forehead, she felt the intact metal of her hitae-ate and breathed a moan of relief before letting her hand drop bonelessly.

She roused again because now alongside her head, her back, of all things, was prickling like... hell if she knew. She was also too warm, and the lump next to her was pouring out heat. All attempts to roll onto her back were thwarted by said lump, so she rolled in the opposite direction onto her stomach. Pain lanced through her back, bringing further consciousness and the confusion that comes with not remembering a damn thing. She lay there, one arm draped heavily over the edge of the bed.

Wait.

She slept on a futon. (Didn't she?) There was no draping an arm over the edge of her futon.

The hanging arm proved unresponsive, and her legs vehemently protested movement, to say nothing of the arm that discovered some freedom when no longer being smooshed under her body.

"Agh," she croaked later when bright stabbed her eyes through the lids, driving the agony that laughing called itself her brain up to new heights. She tried to push herself up, failed, and had to settle for turning her head to the opposite side. While her hair trapped her breath and heated the space therein, at least it provided a sunshield of sorts.

When she woke again, she was sweating horribly from the combination of sun, blanket, hair, and lump. And to add to that, she had to pee.

Cursing fate took no conscious thought as she struggled feebly to get free of the tangle she was in. Then the lump moved and Nejiko found herself nose-to-nose with something fuzzed out of focus. Her head threatened to split violently into threes when the fuzzy-thing barked. And before she could regain her composure something warm, wet, and slimy slid along her face and into her hair. Nejiko flailed, or tried to, but she did manage to roll onto her back.

He heard Mika bark and cracked open an eye. On his stomach, Bloodfang also opened his eyes. The two locked glance for a second, neither moving. The kitten slowly collected himself and shot Tentsuke a look that could only be interpreted as 'This never happened' before he jumped down and headed back to the forge.

He heard the unhappy sound that must have come from Nejiko. Standing up, he yawned deeply and then let out a low whistle. Mika showed up a second later, tail wagging as she demanded petting for doing a good job as guard dog. He obligied, rubbing her ears a few times while he wondered if he should let his hung over teammate sleep some more or go in and check on her.

"Water on the night stand," he called out, scratching Mika's ears while the dog nuzzled him happily.

Nejiko was too busy curled on her side, breathlessly panting and gasping for air while her back kept doing its best impression of a freshly stoked bed of coals, to hear Tentsuke. The seal hadn't hurt this badly. She had still been able to move, at least. This... her body blatantly refused to move and begrudged her even the chest movements necessary to breathe. The desire to urinate was forgotten as she tried to keep herself as still as possible.

What the hell had happened to render her into such a state??

He gave her five more minutes before getting up off the couch and wandering back to the bedroom. He leaned into the door frame. "Good morning, sunshine," he said. "Not feeling too good are we?"

How fortunate that she'd managed to roll towards the door! Because after this, there was nothing that was going to make her move. "Uhnnlugh," she attempted thickly, eyes glassy and not quite up to focusing yet. She hurt, oh god she hurt. Someone just stab a kunai in her brain and be done with it.

He walked into the room and up to his stand, opening the drawer and pulling out a pill bottle. He counted out two, not trusting her to not down it all in some feeble attempt to stop the pain. He put them in her hand and held up the water. "Take 'em, drink this."

With effort her fingers curled around the pills. She eyed the stein with something like mistrustful hope. She licked her lips, or tried to, and wondered if the sure-fire pain of sitting up would be worth it. Her other hand extricated itself from the blanket to grab his wrist. Using him as leverage, she slowly began the herculean task of pulling herself to an upright position. She wasn't going to get there, however, without some help.

He pulled her up slowly, making sure there weren't any quick movements. Hell, he was in too deep to stand on ceremony anymore. Any chance at coming out of this unscathed was pretty much gone by now. If he was lucky, she'd be in too much pain to realize the full ramifications of her situation until she was well out of punch range.

She sagged heavily against him and closed her eyes to focus on simply breathing in a semi-normal manner. The blanket had shifted so that it lay across half her lap, not that she noticed. She pushed the pills into her mouth and almost choked on the chalky taste. Keeping a hand over her mouth, she reached for the water and downed the whole amount in one go. Gasping when finished, she let her hands (and the stein) drop to her lap while she rested her head on his shoulder.

Her stomach queased when the pills and water hit it like Leigh's weights. Fisting a hand in her shirt, she prayed to whatever deity was listening to please not let her be sick.

"I don' feel good," she mewled pathetically.

He reached back into the drawer and pulled it a tiny vial, making sure not to rattle her too much. "Should had this ready," he remarked, shaking it a few times to make sure there was something left. A little bit of liquid sloshed around but it should be enough to quell the nausea. He popped the top and put it to her lips. "Right, one shot," he stated, tipping it a bit.

She drank obediently and let her eyes close. Her back was informing her she was spitted over a fire and she could have sworn her brains were leaking from her ears, and she wondered, if her eyes fell from their sockets would they stop hurting?

Sleep began pawing and clawing and much as she wanted to give in, another pressing matter renewed itself and with greater vigor.

"Tentsuke... I needa use the bathroom."

It was just a matter of standing up really. And then he hobbled with her to there and let her finish the trip as he closed the door. With a low whistle, he called Mika again and opened the back door, walking out with her to get some fresh air.

It's a sad, sad state of affairs when you have to brace yourself on a toilet to keep from toppling over. She looked down at the floor and wiggled her toes just to be sure they were still attached. Then she wondered why her arms were dark gray and her legs so white. The thought slipped away as she glanced around the bathroom, her eyes drawn to the beige clothes draped over the towel rack.

She blinked. Then blinked again. They looked awfully...

Oh, no.

The blood drained from her face as she pulled up the bottom of the shirt she was wearing. She saw the clean bandages - and they went at least two inches below her navel; far lower than she normal would wear any. Dropping the shirt, she lifted one foot and noticed how pants and underwear were conspicuously absent. She let out a low moan, both at the realization that all she had on was an oversized longsleeved sweatshirt (and the too-low bandages), and at the fact the blood which had drained so quickly came rushing back to make her head spin.

When she finished, she snatched up her pants and pulled them on, embarrassment not quite blocking out the pain. The belt was buckled before she pressed her head and both hands against the wall.

She had no idea of what happened. The only thing keeping her from absolutely freaking out was the fact that she was at Tentsuke's, and she knew that his jokes and other aggravating mannerisms aside, he was a gentleman. So nothing really bad could've happened if he was looking out for her.

But what was up with the bandages?

Mika had taken off after butterflies again and Tentsuke figured ten minutes was enough time for privacy. Anything more and then he'd be forced to worry. So he ambled back inside and came up to the bathroom door, giving it a knock. "Alive in there?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," came the reply.

Keeping a hand on the wall for support she made her way over the door. Her pants were still cold and damp (why were they cold and damp?) but she'd rather have them on regardless.

She opened the door slowly, eyes wide and face stricken and flushed at the same time. "What... what happened?" she whispered.

"Ah..." he replied, putting a hand to the back of his head. "Best I can tell, you and Asuka and Sai went on a massive bender last night. She... kind of ran into me and told me to take you home but... yeah, didn't think that was the best idea."

...Oh, god, if Hiashiko found out about this...

"I can't go back like this," Nejiko stated. She shook her head and winced when her brain felt like it was rattling. Putting her hands to her temples, she groaned, "What's wrong with me?"

"Ah, that would be hung over," Tentsuke replied. "You know the fact that you've dehydrated yourself completely, puked a few times and forced your liver into overdrive. You have two choices. Spend the day here, spend the day in bed. You'll feel somewhat human by the afternoon."

"...I like those choices. Do they include dark and quiet, too?"

"I think I can accommodate that," he replied, eyeing her. "Though you're going to want to take the pants off again before getting into the bed. Still wet from the cold shower last night I bet."

She blinked at him, hands still at her temples. "Why was there a cold shower?" She didn't want to take her pants off and it showed in the way she dropped her hands to cross over her midsection.

"Because you couldn't stand and you would have just passed out on the floor without it," he stated, deciding to not press the issue until she was near enough to the bed to get tempted by it.

"Oh." She walked carefully towards him, focusing on keeping her balance. She could do this, she was a Hyuuga, she... wanted to go back to sleep. Mm, sleep. Reaching to grasp his shirt, she stopped walking to get her bearings before continuing on.

He took in a deep breath and walked with her back to the bedroom again, making sure she didn't run into anything too sharp. He wandered over the window and pulled it shut, dousing the light from outside. "All right, go back to sleep, I'll be outside," he stated. "And... seriously, you don't want to sleep in wet pants." He backed out towards the door.

"Mm. Tentsuke?" She sat on the bed and waited for his reply before speaking again. "Ah... um, why're my... why are my bandages different?"

So hard not to fidget right now.

He paused. "Ah... might want to hear that explanation when you're more steady," he replied.

"..." That pause didn't seem like a good pause. "Does it have to do with the fact my back feels like it's on fire?"

He cleared his throat. "Ah... yeah," he replied. Man... he really should have gotten rid of all the weaponry in his room before putting her in there. He watched her and sighed. "That and the cream to your left."

She looked where he mentioned and frowned at the tube before picking it up. "Topical solution?" Apply evenly to marked area the instructions began, and the more she read the wider her eyes grew. This was the same stuff that...

"Please, please tell me this is some insane and really in poor taste joke and not what I think it means."

He tried to think of something to say but came up blank. "Just get some sleep. We'll deal with it later," he said, plucking the bottle from her hand.

She grabbed his wrist. "Do I have a tattoo on my back!?" she demanded with a bit of desperate denial. Please let me be wrong. Please please please let this still just be some sick joke. She looked at his face, trying to see his eyes. "Tentsuke..."

He cringed at that. Because man, did he feel like a bastard saying the next part. "Yeah, you do."

She moaned wordlessly and fell against him in a half-swoon. Bad enough to get herself so smashed she couldn't recall what she had done, but a tattoo? Hiashiko was going to be furious and...

If she wanted to, she could've Looked. But somehow, despite the bandages and the lotion, she could still partially pretend that she didn't have anything on her back, so she refrained. Perhaps sleep wasn't such a bad idea. When she woke up, this would all be a dream. Or most. Or something.

He paused for a second before gently patting her on the head. "Honestly, you're just making yourself feel worse this way. You should just get some sleep. We'll talk about it when you're better."

"Can I just stay here?" she grumbled against his stomach.

"Yeah," he replied. "That's been the plan."

"After the hangover's gone, I mean."

He snickered. "You know you can stay as long as you like," he replied. "But it ain't as bad as it looks now. I know, I've been there a couple of times myself."

"You, at least, didn't have to go home to my aunt." Sighing, she sat up again and pushed the hair from her face. "Very well, I'll sleep."

He smiled a bit. "Sounds a bit like yourself there." He stepped back and turned to the door. "I'll check in later then."

She nodded and waited until he was gone and the door closed before considering the pants situation. Now that she had been in them for a while, the lower-half of her body was freezing. So she took them off and spread them out on the floor before getting under the blanket. Curling into a ball she wrapped her arms around her legs and tried desperately to think of something else besides the tattoo or her lack of underwear.

Well, Tentsuke had mentioned Asuka and Sai... Nejiko promised herself that when she was sober again, she was going to find out just what happened. In the meantime, she began dreaming up various painful methods of execution. Because this was all their fault.

Tentsuke took the time to fix the damn door from last night. He some spare parts in the forge he could just melt down. All it required was getting the first going and a fish for the cat. The kitten seemed somewhat mollified from his position first thing this morning so there were no arguments.

So he worked on smelting the metal and then forming it into something usable, occassionally checking in on her through out the morning. Mika came in, ate lunch, went out again. Bloodfang caught a mouse and Tentsuke rewarded him with an extra fish. He popped the old lock out of the door and added the new one, doing so as quietly as possible. By early afternoon, he was cleaning up around the living room, finding an assortment of weapons in the couch cushions.

No wonder sleeping last night hadn't been comfortable.

Nejiko, meanwhile was sleeping wonderfully. The bed just right, the blankets warm without being hot, and the pillows weren't lumpy. And while the faint scent of ash never completely dissipated, she didn't mind for the comfort it gave. She had shifted from her side to sleeping on her stomach, both arms underneath the pillow she had her face buried in.

Some time later she woke up on her own, but instead of rising from the bed she just lay there with a perfectly blank mind and eyes only half-open in the gloom of a curtained afternoon. She hnn'd and closed her eyes again to snuggle against the pillow and was about to drift off when she heard footfalls approach.

He peeked in and decided she looked asleep enough to not be disturbed if he went for something. He was wiping the last bit of soot off his fingers when he meandered in, heading to the drawers and opening them softly to get what he needed.

She opened one eye and watched him open the drawers. "Tentsuke?"

He paused and frowned. "Yeah. Sorry, needed a screwdriver," he said, retrieving the item from there. He stuck in his back pocket and crouched down bringing himself eye level with her gaze. "How you doing?"

"I am never, ever drinking again," she replied, opening the other eye. He had nice eyes. Pity about his hair though. "What time is it?"

"Ah, sometime around two I think," he stated. "You've been pretty much a rock the entire time."

"Nnn." She looked at him tiredly. "That stuff needs to get put on my back. And's there any water?"

He eyed the empty stein. "I'll refill it," he said. "We'll... figure out that first part next." He walked out and filled the large mug with cold water. He came back a minute later and handed her the mug. He knew what was going to have to be done about that lotion but... yeah, she wasn't drunk any more and his suggestions weren't going to sound too good to sober ears.

She was sitting up when he returned, blanket covering her lap, and she drank greedily from the stein. Too soon she stared at the empty bottom before handing the mug back to him.

She didn't ask how big the tattoo was. The bandages were clue enough.

He pondered getting another one but decided to forgo that. "I can take care of the lotion," he stated, trying not to squeak. "You just have to lie down on your stomach."

"...I'm going to have to get the sweatshirt off first," she said quietly. Feeling glad for the bandages and refusing to think more on them lest her face color more than the faint pink it already was, she focused on pulling the back up over her head but leaving her arms through the sleeves. Thus her chest remained covered and she could still use her arms. Moving carefully and focusing only on what she needed to do, she kept the blanket in place with one hand before laying prone, her head pillowed on her arms.

She would not feel self-conscious about this. It was only Tentsuke. And she was, except for her bandages, naked in his bed and oh god I'm not thinking about this. And to keep the sudden rush of heat to her face to herself she buried her face in the 'bowl' her arms made and refused to lift her head.

He pulled a kunai from out of his pouch and held on to it tightly. Gah. His hand was shaking like it was caught in its own little earthquake. He took a few breaths and tried to calm down because this was just ridiculous. This was standard medical procedure. Remove bandages, asses damage, apply ointment, rewrap. And it wasn't like this time she could do it himself.

He brought the kunai down on the bandages and cringed at how loud a noise they were making as they cut. He was careful though, this close to her he couldn't afford nerves. So the bandages snapped free as he moved down the side of her back, never coming close to the skin. He adjusted the blanket a bit before peeling the bandages away.

He frowned. "You're probably going to have to have medical double check this," he stated, eyeing it carefully. He traced a finger along one line and eyed the bit of pus that came out when he did.

...Yes, Fate did have it in for her.

"What's it doing?"

He looked at it and then at the writing on the back of the topical cream. "Ah... maybe what it's supposed to. But, I don't know. Never gotten one of these myself," he replied, examining it further. Well, it looked like it was scabbing over anyway. The design was still there but it looked painful.

He unscrewed the top and put some in the palm of his hand. "Gah," he said. "This stuff numbs." He read the tube again. Man would he fail as a medic nin. It was doing exactly what it was supposed. Even better, it promised to kill any infection that might try to take root in his hand.

"Kind of cold," he warned before very carefully rubbing his hand across her shoulder. He didn't want to aggravate things but he needed enough pressure to encourage the skin to absorb it.

She jumped at the initial contact--the lotion was cold and his hands, she realized, were big. At least she didn't make any embarrassing sounds. The lotion set to working almost immediately, cooling the burning in her skin, and she relaxed under his touch. ...Maybe this wasn't so bad?

"Don't rub too hard," she cautioned, turning her head so he could hear her. "Don't wanna break open the scabbing. ... What is it, by the way?"

He frowned. He should have gotten Sakurai to do this. Obviously he was failing at not overdoing it. "Ah," he started as she spoke. "Looks like a tree. Probably going to be very pretty once it heals."

"Hn." A tree. That was interesting. She wondered why she had gone for that.

She started to doze, only to come out of it when he squeezed more lotion on her back, that hadn't been warmed by his hands. Speaking of... "...How far down does it go?"

He saw her jump slightly and frowned. Right right, warm first. Gah, how could it be this difficult. He paused at her question and tugged at the blanket in answer. It was resting on the end of the tattoo at the moment.

"...Ah." No wonder her butt was cold. Even if it was only the top quarter--

She was adamantly not thinking about where his hands would be going because if she did, she would die, and while she wanted to die she didn't literally want to die because for someone to find her naked corpse in Tentsuke's bed would be just so very many shades of wrong and then how in the bloddy hell would she be able to face her mother's shade while admitting she'd died because of an aneurysm as that was an exceptionally not-honorable death because it that was a cop-out death especially if the aneurysm was brought on by a rush of blood which was in turn brought on by emotion when she was a Hyuuga and Hyuuga controlled their emotions, not let their emotions control them as a Hyuuga is not a Hyuuga without control and she had control, no question about that at all and--

--and now that her back was no longer screaming in agony, her head could contribute its more than two-cents' worth as her brain started swing sledgehammers at her skull to try and expand its horizons to a place less cramped.

She groaned and whimpered at the same time.

"Tentsuke, if you've any compassion for me at all... please, please kill me, and make it swift."

He laughed a bit as he continued his work. "Ah no. Sorry. See this is part of the lesson that makes sure you never get that blitzed again. Usually the morning after is enough but you've got a whole art piece on your back to remind you too." He closed the tube, not sure which god to thank for not getting killed in the process of all this. He realized it was mostly luck. Knowing how Nejiko operated, he knew when she was stuck in an inner monologue and not paying attention to things around her. So he had moved fast, finished the job and had all his important parts intact.

"I'll get you some bandages," he said, examining his hands. He poked one with the other and felt nothing. Under different circumstances that could entertain him for hours.

She just kind of nodded, face still covered. Amazing her skull hadn't cracked from the pounding afflicting it.

Another whimper-groan vibrated out of her throat as she raked her fingers through her hair only to make it through about halfway before her fingers got tangled in the knots. She tried to pull her hands out but they didn't budge.

...

I hate my life.

He came back to find her getting eaten by her hair. Well... that probably wasn't good. "Okay, new rule," he stated firmly. "You're not allowed to touch anything while you're hung over." He put the bandages on the bed and sat down next to her. He examined the problem and almost made a joke that the only way out of it was to cut it all off.

If he hadn't just had something similar happen, it would have been funny. "Hold still," he said, trying to work the first knot free.

"'s not like I can exactly move," she sighed, too tired and too hurting to be snappish.

"It's more for once you're free," he replied. It was a delicate operation but he freed one hand. "There we go," he said. "You can know listen to my advice and not move."

Her hand flopped onto the mattress after he let go. "So what can I touch?"

"Ah... the bed cover," he started, working on the other hand. "The bandages of course." He paused getting the second hand free. "That's about it."

"Murrrrrrrrr." The other hand flopped as uselessly as the first, just on the other side of her head. Hangovers, tattoos, and knots. Could today get worse. ...Oh right, the mostly-nakedness. Dammitt, and she had almost been able to forget that. At least the tattoo wasn't on her stomach?

He paused at the odd sound and decided he was imagining this. Reaching, over to his bed stand, he grabbed the comb there and went to work on the knots themselves. "Sorry... guess the cold shower without the... whatever you put in your hair didn't help matters."

Despite her throbbing head, the pull on her hair as he detangled the knots one at a time didn't bother her. She turned her head so that she faced the direction opposite Tentsuke, her eyes sliding shut. "Shampoo and conditioner," she provided. "Nothing really fancy."

"What now?" he asked. "Conditioner? Isn't that like..." He gave up. He was never going to understand the hair process of girls so it was better to give up early on. He pulled at the knot, keeping a grip on her hair so it didn't pull too much at the root. At least this he knew how to do. Yanking at Leigh's hair once had resulted in a firm lecture on how to brush someone else's hair.

The knots finally came undone and he could get the comb in from scalp to end without incident.

"Conditioner's like lotion for hair, and..." And wow it felt nice to have someone else combing her hair. Her whole body went limp as she focused on the gentle tuggings on her scalp. The hum of approval was deep enough in her throat that it sounded more like a purr.

He started again and then decided he needed to get some sleep. Decent, not getting poked by sharp things all night long, sleep. Very gently, he braided the hair and found a rubber band to secure the end. "That should keep it from getting bad again." He stood up. "Bandages," he stated, pushing them towards her.

"Shirt," she replied by waving the hand of a still-sleeved arm at him before dropping it back down. Bandages required moving. Staying still right now was much more preferable.

She turned her head so she could look at him again, silver eyes studying him.

Right. That hadn't been on the approved list of things to touch. He leaned down, stopping a few inches from her and grabbed the sleeve. "Shirt," he replied walking backwards and taking the shirt with him. As soon as it came free, he dropped it on her head and stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Removal of the shirt meant she had had to roll on her side as both arms were still in the sleeves, but the old bandages stayed up long enough that she didn't flash him again. She dragged the shirt from her head and let it drop to the floor before stretching and pushing herself up to a sitting position. She contemplated the rolls on the nighttable and grabbed the widest one to begin the process. She was no stranger to torso bandages seeing as she wore them almost all of the time. With this, though, she had to do a little guesswork, along with going criss-cross the shoulders (front and back) and as much overlapping as she could without over-doing it. The first roll went into that x-design and along her collar bone. The next roll (to her vast amazement) managed to cover her from sternum to two inches below her belly button.

...Her wrapping herself probably was the wisest course of action. Except...

Who had wrapped her previously?

Ignorance is bliss, she quickly reminded herself she hoped it hadn't been the tattoo artist but rather Asuka-sempai or Sai as she set the almost-empty second roll back on the nighttable. The shirt on the floor she contemplated if it was worth the effort to retrieve from the floor to put on again.

Common sense won out and she used her foot to hook the fabric and bring it up to where she could reach it with her hand. Arms in first, then head through the proper hole, and pull down to cover. Grab a part of the blanket so you can pull it up over your butt as you fall onto your stomach and voila!, you're decent.

And despite the pillow, smacking facedown into something was not helping the still-raging headache. She reached up to grasp the hitae-ate, hesitated, and let her hand drop without moving it. She would live with a little extra pain, but her forehead was remaining covered.

He didn't know what to do after he left her there. So he shuffled about and arranged things on the shelves until he was somewhat pleased with their location. He pondered making food and decided more water would probably be best. But the stein was still on the room so that was out. He sat on the side of his couch and tapped his foot on the ground.

After a while, he walked to the door and knocked on it gently.

"Enter," she called. Because saying 'Come on in, I'm decent' really didn't fly with her right now.

Oh... well that was distinctly more Nejiko like. He opened the door and peeked in, glad to find her decent. "I'll get you some more water," he said, grabbing the stein from the desk and walk it into the kitchen. He brought it back full and handed it to her. "So are you feeling better," he asked. "I think I have some painkillers in the bathroom."

She held the stein a few moments before setting it on the night table. The thought of hitting him passed through her mind for the singular reason that it felt like every time she was comfortably on her stomach, he was telling her to sit up and drink some water. Of course, that, like sitting up, would require more movement than she wanted to perform. And she'd only just finished wrapping herself, too.

"Ne... If you've done this before, don't you have some, I don't know, morning-after tea that helps with hangovers? 'cuz those painkillers are doing nothing for my head."

He eyed her. "I got hungover once," he stated, crossing his arms. "And then I was more careful." He thought about it for a moment though. "It's not tea you need, it's probably caffeine." He paused. "But I think it would makes things worse in your case." He shurgged. "Just going to have to suck it up I guess."

She squinched her eyes shut in a grimace. "I hate my life."

He patted her on the shoulder. "No, you just hate the last twelve hours of it. And... probably the next six as well."

"The seal didn't hurt this much," she grumbled. Which in truth was probably incorrect as her perceptions were quite skewed, but at least in regards to affected areas, one's backside plus the whole of their head (her eyeballs ached, damn it) equaled much more than the surface area of one's brain. And when she had woken up the next morning, her head had still ached but certainly not like this. Plus, the seal-agony was along and at specific points. This... this was all over. No end.

"Maa, maa," Tentsuke sighed. "You're being overly dramatic. You are hung over, not on your death bed," he laughed.

"Says you," she retorted, opening her eyes. "At least when I woke up from that I was mobile. Still sore, but mobile."

Later, she would kick herself for bringing that up. For now, she said it because it was on her mind and the filter that existed between brain and mouth wasn't completely back in place yet.

He frowned, realizing trying to steer her clear of thoughts concerning that night were failing. "So then," he replied, "you should probably just go back to sleep for a while longer."

"Nn. Tentsuke?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking over at her.

"Don't frown. Doesn't suit you." She closed her eyes again. "And... thank you. For helping me."

He was somewhat glad she closed her eyes since he was probably doing something very unmanly again and turning slightly pink. Instead he waited until her breathing settled into a rhythm and put a hand on her head. He leaned in just a bit. "I will always be there, for you," he whispered.

He stood up, let the hair drop from his hands as he did, and he walked out of the room once more.