The Broken Watch 2

Yuki watched over Ayumi's shoulder holding his hands together squeezing them tightly. 'Saki… please be alright…' The tap of feet and whining boards from upstairs grew louder as Ken and Hiroshi drew to the steps. Yuki placed his hand on Ayumi's shoulder alerting her to their presence. "They're coming back," he said under his breath.

The faint light that Ayumi was emanating from her disappeared shattered to vapor. She stood up regaining her usual face that was heavily wrinkled in worry. She stepped away letting Hiroshi hand over the blanket to Yuki. Once Saki was covered up and allowed to rest they retreated to the kitchen to keep an ear out for when Saki would wake. Yuki sent his brother back to search for Jun to make sure that he was alright. When Ken was gone Yuki turned to his friends who both had uncertain faces. "What should we do? I'm worried about Saki, but…"

Hiroshi could see that Yuki was starting to lose it for how much he had been holding it together. "Hey man. It'll be alright. Like I said before Saki's strong. A little rest and she'll be up kicking me into the pavement."

Yuki choked on a laugh at Hiroshi's joke breaking in a smile that felt painful. "Yeah…"

"Do you know what happened to her?" said Ayumi stepping into the conversation making the two boys realize that she was out of the loop. She had not been brought up to speed and the way that Yuki was acting she was not certain if he was overreacting.

Hiroshi stepped in seeing that Yuki was not able to respond. "We don't much. We found her barely walking in the street before she collapsed. What you see is how we found her."

"Saki…what can we…" Ayumi's voice began to break up with the bubbling emotions rising up pushing tears. She tried to wipe them away quickly, but could not work fast enough to keep them at bay.

The stream of tears from Ayumi made Hiroshi panic a little not wanting to have the girl crying, but also not knowing what he could do. 'Great…first Yuki and now Ayumi… Yuki just better not start crying…' Hiroshi tried to give a reassuring hand to Ayumi but caught out of the corner of his eye that Yuki was starting to lose it. He let out a long sigh and pulled out chairs for the two of them to sit down. Hiroshi stepped out of the kitchen becoming a little embarrassed by the scene developing (especially since Ayumi was faking it).

In the living room, it was quieter, though Saki's presence made the room feel heavy. Hiroshi took an uncomfortable seat in the end chair that gave him a view of Saki. "Can't believe this happened to you… You're always charging in beating up bullies for Yuki. And now you're lying here…" Hiroshi dug his face into his legs as he drew up close.

"…Yu…ki…" said a strained voice from Saki's lips. Her body started to move slightly and her eyes flicker open.

The low groans and sounds from Saki caught up to Hiroshi pulling his head up and turning to Saki. When he confirmed that he was not dreaming it he turned to the kitchen. "Yuki! Saki's awake!" Saki was already trying to sit up, but a pained bite across her lips pulled Hiroshi back. "Hey, don't overdo it. Just lie down."

"Yuki…"

"Saki?" Yuki said from the edge of the living room before he sprinted over to her side dropping to the floor to meet with her eyes. "Saki! I-I…" Relief and joy overcame his words choking them before they could get out. He reached out his hand resting it on her hand needing to have the contact to remove any thought he could be dreaming. "Saki…"

Hiroshi stepped in between the two seeing that Yuki was too buried in his feelings to be able to talk properly. "I think what he's wanting to say is 'how are you feeling?'"

"Where am I?" Saki said trying to look around from her position, but finding it too difficult to move. She tried to pull back away from all of the faces that she was getting in front of her becoming unnerved by the attention.

"You're in my house," Yuki said.

Saki was feeling a little better and broached the effort to sit up. This time her body did not protest as painfully for her, but it put Yuki on edge. She gave him a comforting smile to ease his concern that she could read so easily.

"Easy. You were banged up pretty good," Hiroshi said trying to give his aid to Saki where he could.

"What am I doing in your house?" she said once she was sitting up on the couch with the blanket on her lap. She was getting looks from the others and feeling like she was an invalid. It was a helpless feeling that she did not like.

Yuki, Hiroshi, and Ayumi turned their heads to each other in silent stares as though they were communicating with each other without words. When they finished their telepathy Yuki leaned in having become the elected leader. "Well, we were sort of hoping that you could tell us. We found you down the street barely standing before you collapsed in front of us. We brought you back here so that you could rest." At the end of Yuki's words, they lean in a little towards Saki awaiting an answer to the mystery.

Saki pulled back from the ganging up that she was receiving from her friends coming to a loss at their reactions. Her mind was still catching up to what was happening to her immediately that she had not thought about why she was in the state that she was. "I collapsed? Outside…" Various images caught in the filters of her mind were slowly piecing together events. 'What was it… I was…' Saki tried to go back to the start when it happened. "I was… doing something… important I think…" The gears were turning in her head, but it was slowly dragging their feet along as though they did not want to be let outside for everyone to see. Saki pressed her palm against her forehead pushing through her hair straining at the edge of her memories.