Roderick
Jade had paced the floor back and forth the morning she got home from the cage. It was... A crazy night. She wondered how Akira was holding up. She didn't know that someone had left her bloody on her doorstep. She waited... And waited until her nerves got the best of her and she went to the Hirano residence. Mako had told her with a weary gaze. **Aki has been hurt** 

The rest of it was a blur, Jade didn't stop and she wouldn't. She helped Mako before going to the doctor, she helped him after coming home from the doctor. Once he was settled for the night and the house was clean, she went back to the doctor to sleep. Akira had lost so much blood. It was caked onto her clothing, her face. She was missing an arm. Jade tried not to micromanage the nurses too much, lord knows they were short-handed and it was crazy after the full moons. 

Yet, Jade couldn't help but feel some sense of grief... Akira was just in her sights before the moon, she was healthy, healing... Now she had so much more to heal. She had to adapt. Jade watched the way her chest rose and fell at a steady pace. She was still alive, just hadn't woke up yet. Jade eventually got so tired of looking at the blood, she asked the nurses for a wet washcloth, Jade sat carefully on the side of the bed, she gently held Akira's face as she wiped the blood gently from her skin. She was starting to see Aki again, the way she had last seen her, smiling. 

Jade was gentle, leaning in close so she could take her time.
Genevieve
A blur, that was all that it was for Aki ever since she had been dragged by the mysterious individual. She could recall screaming and wailing, surely they came from her father. She recalled the pain, how everything felt so, so cold. 

She saw her mother in her dreams, her face distorted like before, but her voice was clear. Their small conversation ended with the answer she had been looking for god knows how long. Aki couldn't remember, she had no energy for it. In the midst of all the chaos and horror, wall she wanted was silence. 

As bloody and mangled as she was, as little dignity she had given how her clothes were torn to ribbons, Akira fell unconscious, her deep slumber continued even after she was out the wood, it was only a matter of time for her time to wake up, expecting to see her exhausted father's gaze next to her.

She felt a warm, soaked cloth on her face and shoulders, and opened her eyes. This wasn't her father. 

"...Jade...?" Akira said in a faint whisper, too weak to speak louder.

Right, they promised they'd see each other after every full moon. Now there she was, deformed and bloody, barely alive.

"You're... You're okay..." She managed to say, paying no attention to the pain on her missing limb, as if fit was _still there_. 

"Ah... I'm glad..."
Roderick
Jade smiled at Akira as she looked at her, the soft pools of brown staring into her own. She was just happy that Akira was okay, well... Somewhat. She was happy the woman was alive, though she found herself tearing up when Aki commented on how she was untouched. Jade had failed to protect another loved one. She let out a pitiful laugh as she wiped the blood from her face "I am fine, love" She shook her head "Dammit" She scolded herself for crying, pulling away briefly to wipe her eyes 

"I should have been with you, I should've made you come to the cage" She started to wipe the woman's face again, making sure she touched Akiras face gently. "You shouldn't be in this bed..." Everyone she ever touched seemed to get hurt. Arthur, Dimitra, Akira... She began to wonder if she was any better than the beasts that did that to them. 

Although, she tried to put those thoughts out of her mind. She had been here for days waiting for the woman to wake up and she didn't need to waste it balling her eyes out. "I'll tell Mr. Hirano you woke up when I go back over there in the morning" She sniffled, the aftermath of her calming down. "We've both been worried sick."
Genevieve
"Love...?" Akira mumbled, not knowing how to react to Jade's gentle words. She shook her head a little, only slightly as her body protested in pain even with the movement of her fingers. 

"No no, it's fine... It's fine.." She said, too weak to keep begging, though she wished she could tell the other woman to not cry for her. She was unworthy of her tears. 

"Please, don't worry about me."

A darker side creeped in to agree with Jade's words, as it briefly whispered into herself that yes, Akira wasn't supposed to be on this bed.

She was supposed to be dead and forgotten. 

But Akira pushed the thought away. _Not yet_, she told herself. _Not yet._

Mustering what little strength she had due to the blood loss, Aki made an attempt to lift her arm up, searching for Jade's face as trembling fingers tried to clean her face. 

"I'm sorry for worrying you all. I don't want to cause you any pain. None of it."
Roderick
Jade suddenly felt shy, as if she shouldn't have addressed Akira by such an affectionate name. She shook her head "Aki, I am always gonna worry about you." She continued to wipe the blood, Akiras face almost completely clean. She could finally see Aki's soft complexion. "You don't need to apologize. Hush" She scolded. Akira was being silly, none of this was her fault. 

Jade moved from Akira's hospital bed and put the bloodied rage on the table. "Do you want me to fluff your pillow?" She questioned "Get you some water? Are you hungry?" This was Jade's way of trying to take care of her. It was Jade's turn to take care of Aki. She had already dried so many tears, held her. Jade sat back down on the bed at her side, she noticed how Aki's hair was down, she had never seen it that way. "Do you want me to tie your hair up for you?" 

Jade thankfully had her own hair tied up that day, She carefully pulled the ribbon from her hair, letting the untamed waves fall to her shoulders, she held up the now untied ribbon "It's not much but it'll do the trick right?" She moved to sit on her knees so she could lean over Aki, carefully tying her hair up. They were in quite an odd position.
Genevieve
"Well... I...Uh..." 

All the sudden Jade was offering to be her caretaker, willing to accommodate Akira in any way she could, even to the point of fluffing her pillow! 

Aki was overwhelmed, both physically and emotionally. But at the very least she wasn't alone with her thoughts. 

"You're too kind." She said so quietly. She wasn't hungry, she wasn't thirsty, she only needed rest. 


"Okay maybe I can have my hair tied up... Thank you.." Akira let out a quiet, weakened chuckle. Slowly, and with help, she moved her body upwards slightly without fully sitting up, Gods knew she needed to be held the moment. 

In silence, she let Jade tie up her rebellious brown locks into the ponytail that was so characteristic of her. Though the position the two were in didn't go unnoticed.

 If only her body wasn't so exhausted, Aki would be flailing and blushing where she stood.

But she didn't say anything, instead she shut her eyes to avoid looking at certain areas, that would've been otherwise disrespectful to bear witness. 

"It's... All good." She said a bit nervous. "I appreciate your willingness to help."
Roderick
Jade felt so sad for Akira, the way she was so beaten up. She couldn't seem to catch a break from the full moons which seemingly always left her with a new scar. She moved Aki's bangs behind her ear. "There we go, we can see your pretty face now" Her hand gently rubbed Akira's cheek. 

Perhaps what she did next would be odd. She gently moved her hand to Akira's chest. She needed to feel the woman's pulse before she would accept that everything was okay. She felt the soft pulse of her heart against her hand. She closed her eyes fully focusing on it. Before she admitted something. 

"I was so scared that you weren't going to wake up, I didn't want to touch you at first but now..." She feared if she had touched Aki while she slept she would break her, she broke everything else that she touched. 

"You can't scare me like that ever again" She scolded - although knowing that it wasn't her fault. She leaned over, wrapping her arms around Aki's shoulders, her head burrowing into the woman's neck. This was the first tear that Jade had allowed herself to shed. "I don't want to live in a world without you in it"
Genevieve
` tw for sexist and ableist language`

"Pretty...?"

Pretty, her? Akira didn't believe those words at first. For a woman like her had no place in the world. She was now not only queer, but deformed in the eyes of many. Someone who was best kept unseen, to be pitied. 

If there was something she knew that the East and the West valued in women, it was purity and beauty, two things Aki lacked by how much her body had been destroyed. Even if she would prefer if men never looked at her, Akira felt she lost her value. 

But Jade was there, calling her pretty, feeling her heartbeat, cleaning the dry blood of her skin, crying on her shoulder as she hugged her, relieved to see her alive.

Akira couldn't hold her own tears, just when she thought she shed enough of them in the last few months. Her heart was still beating alright, now more than ever with the woman's arms around her.

"Heh... Sorry for worrying you.." She sniffled, cursing herself for not being able to return the hug due to her weakened state. 

Jade didn't want to live in a world without her. Akira didn't know what to say to that, for she was so close to leave it so many times. 

"I'm sorry, Jade. I wish i could stop worrying you.."