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Of Light, Shadow and Love: Volume 2 Chapter 2 A Light Breakfast
Tohru
shut the door carefully and spun on Lightsider. “What are you doing here?!”
she hissed. Lightsider
colored and turned his back to her suddenly. Tohru’s quick movements had put
her robe into slight disarray. Tohru blushed as well, and she retrieved a
bigger robe as Lightsider stammered his apology. “G . . . Gomen!” he said
frantically. “I thought you’d be ready by now! I thought your shift started
in 45 minutes!” Tohru
glanced at the door. “I have the late shift tonight,” she said. “I’m not on
for another four . . . .” She returned her gaze to Lightsider’s back. “What
are you doing here? Do you know what the Reis would have done to you if
they’d found you up here? It would have made the beating you got at the
nurses’ station look like . . . like . . . is that breakfast?” Lightsider
nodded frantically at the wall, and held the bag out from his side. “I was
hoping we could have a little something together,” he ventured. “Some food?” Tohru’s
stomach made a cute little growl, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since
the tonkatsu early the previous
evening. She looked at the doctor again. He was practically quaking with
embarrassment. Tohru sighed. He was so cute when he was like this, she didn’t
even have the heart to summon her gunsen,
and this was definitely a gunsenable
offense. “You
stay right there,” she commanded. “I’m going to get dressed.” An evil little
idea popped into her mind. “And no peeking!” Poor
Lightsider turned so red, Tohru could see it through his hair. She chuckled
to herself and went to her bedroom, not quite closing the door. Just a last
little jab. She came
back out fifteen minutes later. Lightsider felt a breath of air as she
reopened her bedroom door. It carried a small waft of scent with it. The
doctor frowned as he looked at the wall. He’d smelled that before. Simple,
clean and sweet, it matched Tohru perfectly. She wore it quite often, but for
some reason, it really hit Lightsider this time. What was it? Hakubai.
White ume blossoms! The
perfume triggered ancient memories for the doctor. He had the image of
springtime, of white blossoms, his family, and of a young girl laughing. Tohru
came out of her room, carefully running a comb through her still damp hair.
True to form, Lightsider hadn’t moved from where he had been standing. He was
looking steadily at the wall as if it were a masterpiece of art. The food was
even still in the same hand. Typical. Still, his gallantry was one of
the things she found so endearing. So, she let him off the hook. “All right,
you can turn around,” she said. Lightsider risked a glance. Tohru was dressed
in a set of comfortable sweats. “Let’s see what you’ve brought,” she said,
mock seriously. “It’d better be good.” Much
relieved, Lightsider set the bag on the table, and unloaded the food.
Luckily, the waitresses at Anna Miller’s had done their customary excellent
work, and the food was still either very warm or nicely chilled, depending on
what it was. Tohru picked the scrambled eggs, fruit, toast and grapefruit
juice, leaving the heavier items for Lightsider. She did take several pieces
of bacon, however. Lightsider
took the omelet, sausage, waffles and the orange juice. They sat down at the
table in her small kitchenette. A slightly uncomfortable silence enveloped
the two as they started into the food. “Tohru .
. . .” “Lightsider
. . . .” They
both grinned. “Thanks
for your help yesterday,” the doctor began. “I couldn’t have done it without
you . . . .” Lightsider heard Draegos laughing in his mind. Oh yeah, great. Talk about work whyn’tcha!
He mentally hit the YLF leader with a Big Hammer™ to shut him up. Tohru
gave a shy little smile. “All I had was the idea. The Reis did most of the
shooting.” “It was
a brilliant idea,” Lightsider said. “I don’t think we could have contained
the virus without the serum.” Tohru
smiled, and took another bite of her eggs. “But
actually,” Lightsider mentioned casually, “I meant helping me with the first
few.” “The
first few? You healed the first few yourself.” Her face assumed a teasing
look. “You’ve been holding back on us. I thought you could only do a major
healing once a day.” Tohru took a sip of her juice, and another bite of her
eggs. “I
could,” Lightsider responded, “until yesterday.” Tohru
looked puzzled. Whatever Lightsider was getting at, he seemed to be having
trouble spitting it out. “Just tell me what happened,” she said gently. Lightsider
hesitated at a sudden thought. Tohru had absorbed a lot of weirdness
concerning him in the last few days. He’d gone from being your vaguely
ordinary, rather geeky, kawaii-sensitive
doctor, with a minor ability to heal, to a winged, 400-year-old being, cursed
by the Kami themselves for murdering
his family and his love. What would she say to this? Suddenly, it didn’t seem
like such a good idea. Tohru
covered Lightsider’s hand with her own. He looked up and into the open, bright
expression on her face, and suddenly felt at peace. “Maybe . . . it’d be
better to show you,” he said, standing up. “Show
me?” the cute nurse asked. She stood with him, then followed him to the
middle of the room. She still wore a quizzical expression as Lightsider sat
on the floor and asked her to sit facing him. “I don’t
have any psychic abilities,” Tohru said as she sat. “Even
so, I think you’ll be able to see this,” the doctor said. He closed his eyes
and summoned the Light. Tohru
closed her eyes too. For a long minute, there was nothing. She sighed. “Don’t
doubt yourself,” Lightsider murmured softly. “I don’t think it’ll form if you
do. Just think of your patients, and your work, and . . . and . . . how much
I love you.” Tohru
felt her cheeks flush. The words were still so new to her. But she tried. A warm
sensation, new yet incredibly familiar, enveloped the blue-haired nurse. In
her mind’s eye, she imagined, no, Saw
a prismatic ribbon flare into life around her. It sparkled and threw off
rainbows of light as if made of diamond, and it twined about her like a
living thing. One end emanated from her heart, and the other end, she somehow
knew, buried itself in Lightsider’s. “It’s .
. . beautiful,” she said in wonder. “It’s
yours,” Lightsider said, and felt Tohru slide up to him. She put her head on
his shoulder. His arm curled around her shoulders in an embrace. “It’s
ours,” she said. – — They’d
talked enough to quiet even the Draegos voice in Lightsider’s head. About the
past, the future, the now. But, all things must end, and Lightsider had to
leave. They went to the lobby together. Tohru stole a small kiss before the
elevator doors opened. As luck
would have it, they ran straight into IntelliAyanami. “Oh, hello,
Tohru,” Intelli said nonchalantly, looking at Tohru’s companion. “Ready for
work?” “Ah,
hai!” Tohru said, as normally as she could. “Just, ah, going out for a little
walk beforehand.” Intelli
quirked an eyebrow. “Really,” she said. “And you, Nurse Rei?” “The
same,” said Tohru’s companion softly. “Well,
be sure to be back in time,” the Head Ayanami said. “No . . . distractions,
eh?” She gave a small smile and turned away. Tohru
and the Rei looked at each other, and hurried out the door. Intelli looked
after them and shook her head. Of course it was the doctor, she knew that
about five seconds after the elevator doors opened. Lightsider might be on
the shortish side for a man, but he was still taller than the Reis. He also
held himself differently. Still, it was a convincing Illusion. It had fooled
her for five seconds, after all. Even the voice had been perfect. She hadn’t
come down on Lightsider for two reasons. The first was that she’d never seen
Tohru so happy. The second was that she’d inferred a lot about Lightsider’s
personality from working with him. He wasn’t the type to take advantage. In
fact, he was more the type to melt into a little puddle at the first
suggestion of impropriety. Still,
he had gotten access to the residential floors far too easily. Intelli added
that to the list of security improvements she was contemplating. After a
moment more, she made a little mental note to allow the good doctor access to
the residential floors. After all, emergencies happen.
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