Chapter 3: Steps
Kagemiya awoke early the next morning, aware of where she was this time. She looked over and saw Ienzo asleep in a chair next to her. She sat up as there was a light tap on the door. Aeleus walked in and gave her a flower. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Any better?"
"Thank you, Aeleus. I'm still tired."
"Are you...afraid?" he asked hesitantly. She nodded and her eyes welled up with tears. He hugged her as she began to cry. "It's going to be all right. Even will take care of this."
Ienzo woke up. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked, panic rising in his voice as he stood up to join them.
"I'm okay," she said, trying to stop crying for his sake. "Thanks for worrying about me. That couldn't have been very comfortable."
"I fall asleep sitting in chairs all the time," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. Kagemiya leaned over and hugged him too.
"Don't even think about getting up," Even warned her as he walked into the room to change her IVs. "You're in no condition to move."
"When can I...?"
"When I say you can, when I'm done running tests." He drew a vial of her blood, which tired her out even more. Aeleus casually looked away. Ienzo stared at Even, knowing that he was helping her even though what he was doing was still keeping her physically weak. She spent a good amount of that day asleep too.
Every day that she was in there, Aeleus brought her a flower. Even was starting to get annoyed because they were cluttering up his work space. After a few days, he allowed her off the table, but she nearly fell when she tried to stand up; he caught her before she hit the floor and eased her back onto the table. "I'm afraid your leg muscles have atrophied from being immobilized for too long. You'll have to re-learn how to walk." He noticed she was on the verge of crying. "Please don't cry," he added, patting her hand.
"I just feel so helpless," she whimpered.
It reminded Even of when Ienzo first learned how to walk, so he related the story to her. "When Ienzo was a toddler and tried to walk for the first time, he stumbled and fell. I don't know whether he was crying because he'd scared himself and gotten hurt or if he had actually been ashamed of his failure. Then, when no one was looking, he got out of his child seat and tried again. He still stumbled but caught himself on my leg."
***James and Even had been in the research room when Marian had come in with Ienzo to teach him how to walk. The toddler had made it halfway between his mother and father before he'd lost his balance and fell. James had picked up the crying child and tried to console him. "It's okay. You did your best." Even had looked on awkwardly. "There, there. No more crying. Papa's got you."
Eventually Ienzo had calmed down. Marian had given him a bottle and put him in his child seat to rest. Instead, when no one was looking, Ienzo had gotten up and started walking again. They hadn't noticed until he'd stumbled and grabbed onto Even's leg. "Did...did you just walk from over there?" Even had asked in disbelief, picking him up. "Well done."
***He'd looked so happy when I praised him. I haven't given him much positive reinforcement since then, have I?
Ienzo walked in on their conversation. "Are you telling her embarrassing stories about me?" he asked incredulously. "What I was like as a baby is still none of her business!"
So it did bother him when I told Ventus about his parents. "Miss Kagemiya fell off the table. She can't walk yet," Even explained to him. "I was only trying to cheer her up."
Ienzo forgot his embarrassment over his concern for her. "Kage-san, are you okay?"
"I'll be all right...eventually."
Dilan helped her by leading her forward while holding her hands, but she was breathing heavily by the time they made it to the door. He carried her back so she could rest and brought her something to eat (up until then she'd been getting medicine and sustenance through the IVs in her arms). "Thank you. I humbly accept."
When Lea returned to keep them updated, Braig told him what had happened to Kagemiya, and he tried to go see her. Even was in the middle of taking her vitals when he let himself in; Braig watched from around the corner. "I heard about what happened. How are you doing, Yuri?" he asked.
"I've asked you not to call me that," she responded, though she sounded less annoyed than usual when telling him off; she was exhausted from trying to walk on her own and stumbling around like a baby deer.
Even spoke up in her defense to get rid of him. "The patient requires more rest. She is in no condition to see anyone for the time being."
Lea backed off, thinking that Even, Ienzo, and Kagemiya were likely still mad at him for what he had done to them as Nobodies. Ienzo followed him out. "Why do you keep calling her that if she doesn't like it?" Ienzo asked. At least when she was Mikage she eventually got the hang of their new names; Lea seemed to be doing it on purpose.
"Because it means 'lily,'" he said in response. "Why does she let you call her Kage-san?"
"Maybe she likes 'shadow' better than 'lily.' What do Isa and the others call her?"
"Isa calls her Kagemiya-san. Relena-senpai called her Sayuri. Myde calls her Sa-chan."
"Well, none of them have shown up yet."
"They probably won't." There was an awkward pause as the two stared each other down. "I'm really sorry, okay?" Lea said at last, not being able to take the silence. "What I did to you guys was really rotten."
"I've already forgiven you. I'm sure they have as well. With Kage-san's illness it's just been a little tense around here."
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