Hair Trigger [Yuugao, Nejiko]

[anbu_moon]

[Set two days after this.]

It had been three days of hell - or at least that was what Yuugao thought of it as. First tracking down Rumi (Hawk, she used to be Hawk) with the help of Kaori (Fox, always Fox in reference) only to find Chidori (poor little Horse) doing her best to restrain... He blinked away the awful images and tried to calm himself.

Comments

Obviously, the window sills are made of very dry or very crappy wood

[weighted_wings]

Nejiko had been dozing on her side facing the window, one arm draped over her stomach with the book Hinaji had brought her to read resting next to her. She found it easier to simply catnap when she was tired then try to stay up through the daylight hours so as to sleep the night through. Additional benefits included not always being awake when the nurses came by to check on her, thus she could avoid having to make small talk with them. She didn't want to discuss her food and what she did or did not eat, she did not want to discuss the book as entertaining as it was, and she didn't want to talk about Yuugao because the nurses dripped inappropriate innuendos that only served to stretch her patience to threadbare. Outclan might not find their coy suggestions to be all that obvious, but they weren't Hyuuga, either. Nejiko always saw more than most anyone liked

Yuugao's brain moves really, really slow...

[anbu_moon]

Things worked oddly when he was this tired. Some senses worked incredibly fast - he swore his reaction times were ten times faster than they'd ever been, but others seemed to take ages to even notice things. Like his hearing. It was as if he was in a huge, long tube. Some sounds bounced down to him within a split second. Others, like Nejiko saying his name, seemed to drift towards him. When his name came to his recognition, Yuugao lifted his face and blinked at it, the action taking at least twice as long as it normally would. And even in his almost out of body mindset Yuugao could tell that.

He continued to stare, screaming at his mind to start thinking, his lips to start moving, for him to do something besides sit there and look like an idiot.

"Nejiko...-san." Good, good, we got her name out. "I...I owe you three chocolate puddings now, don't I?"

He's got puddin' for braaaainz (best keep him away from zombies)

[weighted_wings]

His reactions were much too slow for her liking. The eyes focused too slowly, the words slightly slurred when he spoke. Pudding, frankly, was the last thing on her mind. "I suppose, taichou," she responded carefully. "Would you come in?" Get him off the windowsill. Then she could ask him what in the world happened.

But at least the pudding is tasty!

[anbu_moon]

"I am in," he said, narrowing his eyes in confusion before glancing over his shoulder at the open window and then cocking his head. "Oh. Guess I'm only partially in." Yuugao started to stand and then felt his legs tremble with the effort.

A hand shot back to the wall and hit it with a dull thud but he got the desired effect. He was stable again.

Om nom nom? >>

[weighted_wings]

Nejiko heard the footsteps a moment after he did, and realized it was the nurse. She was just starting to get to her feet when a gloved hand pushed her back to the floor, the back of her head bouncing off the wall beneath the window with a painful jolt. Ignoring the pain she struggled up to her feet again, scuffing (or rather, squeaking) her bare foot quietly as she stepped towards him. "Taichou," she said, voice soft but firm as she placed a hand on his sword-arm. Her own adrenaline had kicked up, as this was probably the biggest risk so far today she had taken with him. He hadn't been visibly armed before. Now he held his katana, and she knew from much experience how dangerous he was with it.

Definitely. Om nom NOM!

[anbu_moon]

Calm down. He had to calm down. He continued the mantra, but the excess of adrenaline kept pumping through his system. And while he had been able to loosen to a normal grip on his katana (compared to the death grip he had started with) Yuugao felt his body starting to tremble. He heard Nejiko's approach and was again amazed when her simple actions made him drowsy again. He had, of course, jerked at her touch, but he was still in enough control to keep his body from retaliating to what it could have considered a threat

~<3

[weighted_wings]

"It's all right, taichou," Nejiko responded soothingly, keeping her hand on his arm as he lowered his sword. The nurse, older and clearly frightened, wisely remained still to avoid Yuugao's attention. Clearly she had worked with shinobi before, but the wide eyes and the shallow breathing indicated how this sort of situation wasn't one commonly handled. Nejiko nodded once to her. "Nurse-san, would you be so kind to have a cot brought in here?"

What Yuugao needed more than anything was sleep. If he passed out here at the hospital for a few hours, so be it.

Merrr?

[anbu_moon]

The nurse nodded and moved slowly out of the doorway. Yuugao, thankfully, was having success calming himself down. Unfortunately, his motor skills and balance went with his anxiety. He looked as dead on his feet as he had in her windowsill and he was quickly getting worse.

"Cot?" he asked, turning to look at Nejiko and wavering on his feet for a moment, correcting his balance before he fell - but not before his head jerked back and then snapped forward again. "What'sit for?"

He would've insisted that he could've made it home - and probably would have started to do that - but it was taking all of his mental capacity to focus on Nejiko and the situation around them. The rest of his mind was very intent on sleep.

Oh noes! Nurses! *grabs nearest lead pipe as the radio crackles with white noise*

[weighted_wings]

After Yuugao was under, Nejiko pulled a blanket over him as ANBU uniform or no, after a long time unconscious here you eventually froze. Or at least she did. And if he got all pissy about extra cloth being in the way in case he snapped to full wakefulness, she would deal with it then. In the meantime, she would make sure the idiot of a captain would get as much sleep as he could. Fate knew he needed it.

...Part of her wondered if this is what Tentsuke and Leigh thought when she overworked herself into exhaustion. Probably, she admitted reluctantly.

She heard the steps of a whole group of nurses approach (along with the sound of wheels on the floor) and had a cool gaze trained on the door. The first nurse Nejiko acknowledged with a slight nod; the same for the cot handlers. The ones comprising the unnecessary gaggle she leveled a cold, hard stare at. "He is asleep," she replied, "but I do not believe he needs anything more than what he is getting now.

"Why are they here?" she wanted to know regarding the gaggle.

Five level ten-nurses surround you. What do you do?

[anbu_moon]

The nurses handling the cot quickly set it up, not daring to look up from their work. One of them had worked with Nejiko before and knew better than to attract her attention.

"To find something to gossip about," the first nurse murmured. She sighed and laid out the blankets after the cot was set up, smoothing out the sheets and daring a solitary glance up at Nejiko. "Is there...anything else we can do to help?"

Despite the scowl the gaggle of nurses continued to whisper amoungst themselves and peer at Nejiko and Yuugao - though Nejiko's stare silenced them temporarily - some even pointing at Yuugao and giggling about how he must be "Cat-san". How he was romantic and they were so cute together and how it would be nice if he was single...

Thank the gods it's not Pyramid Head. :D

[weighted_wings]

The only reason Nejiko tamped down on directing killing intent at the morons in scrubs was because it would wake him up, and he had only just finally acknowledged that it was safe to sleep. She was not about to wake him up and go through the potentially long and difficult process of getting him back to sleep. "What would be nice," she cut in as the nurses continued, "would be if the lot of you not actually being of use disappeared." She pinned them all with the weighty, authoritative glare that only a Hyuuga could pull off.

"I'll remember each of you," she said softly. "Your faces especially. And none of you will continue to discuss any of this, period. Not with others, not amongst yourselves. Am I clear?" Her voice never changed pitch, her white eyes never wavered as she behaved like she actually had any power over them, though at a distance as she (obviously) wasn't a medical herself. She didn't; the worst she could do was report them. At best she could have Haruno intimidate them better.

Your prayer succeeds! The nurses flee!

[anbu_moon]

The Hyuuga glare did manage to not only silence them, but they nodded furiously and disappeared, eyes wide and faces pale. A few even tried to cup a hand over their face in the hopes that Nejiko had not finished memorizing their profiles. In under a minute, it was just down to the two orderlies fussing over the cot, the nurse waiting by the cot and fluffing the pillow, and the two ANBU.

(I shall look again!) ...and now we view Yuugao's Id....

[anbu_moon]

Celibacy was something that a lot of ANBU men found to be a terrible injustice to endure. Yuugao, on the other hand, didn't see it quite that way. Then again, before Hayako he might have agreed with them completely. After the events following Hayako's death...it was just a balancing act. Once he'd felt emotionally stable, he constantly felt new crushes rise up, frustrate him, and then become manageable. His feelings for Nejiko had started much like those he had felt for Asuka. Except with Asuka, they had faded once it was obvious she did not return the feelings. And of course, practically shoving Kureno towards her and bringing up old and raw feelings in the process had killed what lingered

And so the fun begins~

[weighted_wings]

The first gasp of his cut through the thin fog of sleep easily. She half-opened her eyes and listened more, but he was quiet for a little bit so she started drifting off again when the next came. Sitting up, she looked over at him. He was still fast asleep, and dreaming, she realized from the rapid eye movements beneath the lids. His facial expression didn't look distressed or upset, so whatever it was must be a good dream.

She simply watched him, pleased that he had fallen asleep deeply enough to dream. Whether or not it was a restive sleep probably would not be determined until he woke. The occasional muscle spasm of his body gave her doubts

And quickly ends...for both of them, thankfully.

[anbu_moon]

Nejiko on his kitchen table dripping with chocolate was a very, very good image. His mind and body agreed on that one. Thankfully, he was totally unaware of the noises he made at the conclusion of his dream. His mind wandered away to other things and eventually went blank as he sank into an even deeper sleep.

After the sun had gone almost a complete cycle - consciousness finally returned to him. Drowsiness still lingered and he lay still for the time being, examining his surroundings without moving. His eyes did widen when he noticed that something that had not happened for quite some time...had, indeed, happened. He didn't remember the dream, but he had not doubt about what could have happened in it. Either way, he was glad that Nejiko was asleep still. Yuugao swallowed hard and glanced underneath the sheets, cringing

But the memory, oh it lingers.

[weighted_wings]

She stirred a little before replying, "I am now." When she had fallen asleep, she thankfully hadn't woken for anything less than a quick trip to the adjoining water closet to relieve herself and drink some faucet water from a cup. Her stomach had growled during the second trip, but with Yuugao sleeping so---deeply she decided bringing a nurse in to get her some food would be detrimental to his resting. Pulling herself to a sitting position, the blanket still wrapped around her because (as usual) she was cold from sleeping for so long, she turned to look back at him.

Aside from looking discomfited (for reasons she would not ponder), he looked considerably better than he had the other day. That was good. "How are you feeling, taichou?"