Chapter 4: Stressful Sleep

Chapter Four: Stressful Sleep





Izumi lay on her bed hugging her pillow tightly as she kept her still red face buried in it. After what Katsu did, she couldn't trust herself to speak, and decided that it'd be best to head home early. None of the teachers seemed to mind it, mainly since she had good grads to begin with, and not to mention that she lived alone. Many of the teachers took pity on her, pity that was really not needed by them; Izumi had enough self-pity to fill an ocean.
The only one that did seem bothered by her leaving early was Daisuke, Katsu had basically figured it out right then and there, he seemed heart broken by it, but then thought it might be for the best. Though Daisuke on the other hand was more concerned for her mental wellbeing then about how good of bad her grades were.
Still, how Katsu reacted bothered Izumi a little bit, it had almost been a week since Hana's death, yet he seemed somewhat indifferent about the whole thing. Maybe she was analyzing it too much, everyone dealt with death differently, she did know a little bit of what Katsu's family life was like, living with a mother that stayed at home while the father worked day in and day out. That was all she knew but something about how it sounded seemed off to her. Izumi shook her head as she sat up clutching her pillow, no she was probably reading far too much into this.
Her cell phone rang then, with a slight frown she looked at the caller ID, it was Hana's home phone number, it must have been Hana's mother.
She answered it. "Hello?"
"Ah Izumi-chan, hello how are you?"
"I'm…." she hesitated. "I'm okay, how are you Mrs. Hibiki, also may I ask why you're calling?"
"Izumi-chan…" Hana's mother groaned. "Call me Ai; even Hana kept telling you that, now then, I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with us at some point this week."
Izumi frowned slightly. "Are you sure? I mean you just lost your daughter recently and everything…"
"Yes." She said in a very soft voice. "That is true, but my husband is here with me, but no one is there with you Izumi-chan."
She winced at the woman's words, she was right obviously, but Izumi didn't want to burden to other people much like how she was being right now.
"I want you to think about it okay?" Hana's mother spoke drawing her back into the conversation.
"Okay… I will, but I might not be able too since I work."
"Alright, hope to hear from you soon."
When Izumi hung up she let out a deep long sigh, she wanted to go, really she did, but it still hurt too much to go over to Hana's home at the moment, Hana's parents seemed to really want Izumi to not blame herself over their daughter's death for they too saw her blog and couldn't understand when Hana would write that.
Now that she thought about it, she still had Hana's cryptic text saved to her cell phone, sitting up on her bed she look at the message again hoping it would give her some kind of idea as to why Hana would even send such a thing to her, only nothing came as she looked at it again.
It was a fruitless endeavor and Izumi knew that, but she couldn't help but look at it again. As she let out a sigh, she suddenly felt that someone was watching her, looking out her window Izumi froze, there standing in the rain with no umbrella just standing there, looking up at her with a dead gaze.
"Wha…? Suzu-san…?" What is she doing there? But Izumi made no movement, for she thought if she did, something would happen as the sound of the rain muffling all sounds around them. Izumi kept staring at Suzu thinking that if she looked away something would happen.
However nothing did…

"What? Suzu followed you to your house?" Katsu looked completely aghast at what he just heard.
They were having their lunch break in the garden when she told Katsu what had happened last night with Suzu.
Izumi nodded. "Yeah… I was really surprised, I thought she was going to do something but she just kept standing there… looking at me with those eyes." She shook her head and hugged her knees. "I never thought someone would hate me so much…"
He looked at her with concern. "Did… anything happen?"
Again Izumi shook her head again before resting her chin on top of her knees. "No she didn't do anything she just stood there looking at me. But over time I became worried you know? So I went out with a towel and an umbrella but she was gone…"
"What?" Katsu snapped making her jump. "You went outside?! Are you nuts? She could have done something to you, for all we know she's turned into a stalker!"
"She's not a stalker Katsu-kun…" At least not yet… "Maybe she just wanted to say something to me…"
"Then why did she run away when you came outside?" he asked folding his arms across his chest.
"Maybe she became chocked up and left?"
"That's being naive Satomi-san…" he said before he looked at her with narrowed eyes, a blank expression on his face before reaching out and placed a hand on Izumi's head and ran a hand through her hair. "You shouldn't rush in to things like that; it might not be like that again, you need to promise me that you won't do that again."
"But…"
"Promise me Izumi-san," he reverted to using her first name again. "I don't want to hear form someone else that something happened to you." his features softened. "Please, Satomi-san I only want things to go well for you. You deserve some good in your life."
Izumi went quite before leaning her head on his shoulder; she closed her eyes and said nothing. Katsu started to run his hand through her hair again before smiling slightly and resting his cheek. They stayed like that for a while; Katsu then opened his eyes and glanced with a slight dark glare over his shoulder to the trees before looking back to Izumi. "Satomi-san… I don't think falling asleep here is a good idea."
She opened her eyes and rubbed one of her eyes, she didn't seem to realize that she had almost fallen asleep. "Oh… sorry… I guess I didn't get much in the way of sleep last night."
He laughed a bit. "Did you stay up last night to get ahead on your studying, again?"
"Yeah…" she said before yawing. "Sorry… I should probably go and sleep in the nurse's office, since the teachers are still giving my work in advance I can get a head on that homework later today. So I'll talk to you later." She stood up, and began to leave when Katsu grabbed her wrist to stop her; she looked back at him in confusion. "Is something wrong?"
The look on his face became concerned again, before he stood holding her hand. "I'll walk you to the nurse." He said.
"Oh… you don't have too; I can get there on my own."
"I know," he said with a smile. "But I just want to make sure that things are okay. You don't look so good…"
She frowned slightly. "I don't?"
"Well, you look a bit pale is all… paler then usual I mean…"
"Really? I didn't see any difference why I left home."
He raised his hand to her, waiting for her to take it. "Come on." He said with a smile. "At least let me do this one thing for you."
She hesitated, Izumi wasn't sure about taking his hand, even though Hana was gone, she still saw him as Hana's boyfriend her eyes averted away, one hand gripping her arm. "Katsu-kun… I…"
His smile fell slightly before he reached for her hand, and pulled to gently towards the school.
"Katsu-kun…!" she looked at his back surprised, he didn't look back at her as he walked. "I told you I'm okay, I don't need a bodyguard."
Katsu didn't say anything as he walked, keeping a slightly tight grip on her hand.
"Katsu-kun…!" she said his name again as they walked into the school, he continued to hold onto her hand as he led her to the nurse's office, and little to Izumi's surprise it was empty again, it started to make her think that they may not even have a nurse.
He gently forced Izumi to sit down before taking the nearby stool and sat down in front of her with his elbows resting on his knees.
Izumi merely blinked at him, unsure of what he was doing. "I know you're going through a lot." He said finally. "But it's not good to keep it locked inside, you know if you need to talk to someone I'm here to listen, don't push yourself so hard that you'll become sick. It'll worry people."
Izumi was quite, her eyes now downcast to her own clasped hands in her lap. "Sorry…"
Katsu placed a hand on her cheek making the girl look at him. "You don't have to be sorry Satomi-san, just be more careful." He stood before slowly pushing her on the bed then placed the covers over her. "Now get some sleep." He said running the back of his bandaged hand over her cheek.
She grasped his hand in her's and asked softly. "How's your hand…?"
Katsu smiled softly. "It's getting better each day, now get some rest."
"Kay…" Slowly her eyes began to drift, the grip on her hand lightened before her head tilted off slightly as she quickly fell asleep instantly.
He slowly pulled his hand away but continued to run it lightly through her hair as she slept, just how many days had she not been getting any sleep?
Yet he was no different, he hadn't been able to sleep well after Hana's death… still, he had more stamina then her, he'd probably ditch class to sleep in another place later. But he didn't want to leave Izumi's side just yet; she looked so cute while she slept.
Cupping both sides of her face Katsu leaned his head down only to stop a few inches away from her lips, his eyes narrows.
"How long are you going to follow Satomi-san?" he asked softly before turning to look at Suzu who was standing in the hallway looking into the nurse's office.
"You shouldn't even be near her." she said. "You know it's her fault that Hana-chan's dead…"
Katsu looked at her but did not utter a single word in response.
Suzu walked further into the room, her eyes wide as they still retained that dead look. "It's Satomi-san's fault and you know it, yet for some strange reason you're trying to woo her, you're trying to get her to fall for you? Why? When Hana had your heart…"
"What should it matter to you?" he asked. "Hana's dead, she's never coming back. But Izumi is still alive and yet all of you, including the teachers, you all are on two sides. You ether hate Izumi for something that she could not stop nor was aware of, or you give her so much unneeded pity that it's disgusting. Like those teachers, I hear them constantly talking about Izumi and about how good her grades are even though her parents had died, they all keep talking about the deaths of her family rather than how she is doing now as a person. No one seems willing to be there and support her in this school from what I have seen; someone has to take the responsibility to make sure that she doesn't slip further down a road of despair."
Suzu repressed a laugh by placing the back of her hand to her lips. "You've got to be joking, everyone here agrees that she shouldn't even be here, admit it, you too think it would be better if she were to just disappear off the face of the earth."
Katsu didn't take those words kindly; before she could even blink he grabbed hold of her shirt and yanked her close so that Suzu would stare into his angry gaze. "Say that again to my face…" he cut himself off and gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare speak like that about Izumi, you know nothing of what she had to go through, unlike you with your perfect life." He shoved her away causing her to lose balance and fall to her knees. "Both your parents have such high qualifying jobs, you have a good relationship with them and yet you act like this, so tell me..." He looked at her with a blank look in his eyes. "Did you even take your medication today…?"
Suzu's face flushed red before she quickly turned and ran out of the room, at that moment another person came in; it was the school's nurse Nana Honda.
Her short brown hair was pulled slightly back into a half pony tail held back by a yellow clip with a sakura flower in the center. Her large dark brown eyes were framed behind a large set of glasses.
"Well that was strange." She said before turning to Katsu. "Oh, hello there Atsuko-kun."
"Hi." He said with a soft smile. "My friend Izumi-san is here, she's pushed herself so hard that she's exhausted herself to sleep. You don't mind if she stays here until she wakes up do you?"
Nurse Nana smiled sweetly. "No it's fine, you go on ahead, I'll make sure no one bothers Satomi-san." She walked quietly over to where Izumi was sleeping and made a slight sound. "Aww, she looks so cute sleeping like that! Oh I wish I could see a photo of what she looked like as a littler girl she must have looked so adorable!" letting out a contended sigh she pulled the curtain back to allow her to sleep in quite. "Now then, you should go back to your class, I'll make sure no one bothers her at all."
Katsu merely glanced to the now closed curtain before heading to the door only to stop and add. "If Wanaka-san comes back please make sure she does not get near Izumi, the look in her eyes… it's not normal."
Nana tilted her head to the side while her index finger rested on her chin. "Really? Hmm, well if you say so, I have noticed some changes though…"
"So you'll make sure nothing happens while I'm in class?"
She nodded. "Yes of course, it's my job to make sure that nothing happens to her. You go; she'll be fine with me."
Katsu looked back at to the bed where the curtain was drawn before he left the room to head back to class.

Izumi groaned slightly as she shifted in the bed, opening her eyes, she rested her arm across her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling for long moments as she listened to the sound of the clock.
Her mind instantly snapped to life, instantly realizing that something was up, with a gasp she quickly got herself up and pulled back the curtain only to see an empty nurse's office. Getting out of the bed she saw that she was the only one here. Ether the nurse had gone out to do something or…
…or classes have ended and I'm all by myself… Izumi thought with a slight bit of dread. She peeked her head into the hallway and saw that the lights had been turned off, she was definitely by herself. "Oh great…" she said to herself. "This is all I need, well, I better go get my book bag from my locker and just head home." She left the nurses office, not noticing or realizing that her bag had been brought to her while she had slept.
"Man…" she said to herself again as she continued to walk down the hall looking out the window.  "I can't believe I slept through the whole day like that… Katsu-kun or someone should have come to wake me. But then it's not like anyone would know for how long I was going to sleep like that…" she lowered her head and let out a sigh. "I need to be better than this…"
She kept walking until she reached her classroom, opening the sliding door she headed to her desk, only her bag wasn't on its hook that was attached to her desk. "Huh? It's not here… that's strange." She looked inside her desk and saw a note resting on top of some of her note books. Taking it, she opened the note and read it.
Satomi-san,
The Nurse told me not to disturb you while you slept so I took the liberty of bringing your bag to the Nurse's office, Nana-san; the nurse told me that she would make sure that you were taken home safely. I also placed some of the notes that we had for class today. I figured that you would check your desk before heading home; I didn't want Suzu to do anything to your bag while you were sleeping so that's why it's there.
Katsu.
P.S. Don't you dare stay awake the whole night again, if you do I'll tie you to a bed and make you sleep at the correct time. So when you get home, do some homework, take a bath, eat, and go to bed in that order.
I'll see you tomorrow at school.
Izumi placed the back of her hand to her mouth as she laughed a bit, he knew her very well to do something like this.
I should thank him for this when I see him tomorrow. Izumi thought to herself before heading out of the classroom only to stop when she heard a familiar voice speak to her.
"Is something really that funny Satomi-san?"
Izumi turned to see Suzu, standing there at one end of the room, her dark brown eyes were wide, but her facial expression was completely blank.
"Wanaka-san…" Izumi frowned at the girl before turning to her fully. "What are you still doing here this late after school?"
"I should be asking you that," she walked further into the room. "Why didn't you go home with Atsuko-san? You're practically dating him."
"I'm not dating Katsu-kun." She looked away, her eyes filled with guilt. "He's just a friend to me."
"Then why did you let him kiss you?" Izumi's eyes went wide before slowly looking to the girl as she continued to talk. "You and him… in the school's garden, he kissed you, like it was by force and yet you didn't pull away. I wonder why that is? Perhaps it was because you wanted him to do it?"
"You… you've been following me…?" she asked in a shaken voice as she recalled seeing Suzu standing out in the rain.
Suzu didn't answer; she just remained quiet and continued to stare.
Izumi took a few slow steps back, Suzu remained where she was, her eyes just continued to stare.
"I… I need to go!" Izumi quickly turned and ran out of the classroom, she looked back, only seeing Suzu standing in the hall, looking at Izumi as she ran further and further.
Izumi ran down the hall as fast as her legs could carry her, wanting to get back to the nurses office, at least there she would feel slightly safe. She opened the sliding door and stepped in, she was blocked by something warm and soft sending her back slightly. Hands came out and landed on the girl's shoulders to steady her.
"Satomi-san are you alright?" the nurse asked with a look of surprise on her face. "I was about to go looking for you when I saw you weren't in bed." She frowned seeing the look on the girl's face. "Did something happen?"
Izumi grasped Nana's white coat sleeves. "Please, help me!"