Saito sighed for the umpteenth time that night as the bandages fell from his hands again. Ever since his parent's (and just about every other person at that party....) found out, he found little reason to hide his wounds. Hell, Aria and his mother had all but banned him from opening the sink, lest he get any supposed idea's. So here he was, back in his room and trying to bandage himself up from the numerous injuries on his body. It was slightly uncomfortable, not to mention itchy, but it was better in the long run all the same.
But why was it so hard to do?
He thought he'd stat off easy: Bandage the arm, then the chest. His legs and feet weren't as injued as his upper body, so some ice packs and medicine would be enough for them. So far, things were a disaster.
He tried to use his left hand to bandage his right arm, but the spasms constant spasms he received made it hard for him to get a good grip on the cloth. Likewise, tying to do it the other way around, only to end up in worst condition than he did before. He was really tempted just to disregard bandaging altogether and just leave the wounds open. He was already banged up as it was, and it wasn't like bandaging would do much good at this point.
With a small sigh, he placed the bandage down and stared at his arm: It was paler than usual, most likely due to the loss of blood he received from the constant running he did. The rest of his upper body felt sore all over and even slight contact caused a stinging sensation to spread. He cursed inwardly and picked up the bandages again, remembering Aria's words to him earlier.
"If you don't patch yourself up, I'm gonna wrap you up like a mummy!"
While the threat itself seemed extremely childish, it was pretty much going to be hell for him with all his injuries. He suddenly shivered to himself, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was wearing only a loose pair of pants. While the feeling of being wrapped in a full body bandage might have appealed to some people (His friend Kakeru came to mind), he found very little joy at the prospect. He did wish that the air-conditioning on the room was off. It was usually convenient, but right now it was just plain irritating. The best part was that it was automatic, so he couldn’t turn it off.
He gave himself a small once over again. While his head had managed to remain mostly unscathed, every other part o him wasn’t so lucky. Numerous scratches and slight burn wounds were all over his arms, which looked similar to a movie he saw about the Golem of propmetheus once. His neck had some light bruises in it, but was none the worse for wear.
What really got the burnt of the damage was his torso and stomach. Two long gashes extending from just below his chest down to his sides were the most noticeable thing, along with the recently wiped blood. Some remnants of raw skin also showed; a little souvenir from the burns he received earlier. Numerous bruises also dotted his chest and back, which were black and pruple in color. While he was still too weak to bandage himself, he was thankfully strong enough to wipe all of the excess blood and dead skin off. Now he looked like he was going to die, rather than someone who was already dead.
As he was about to try bandaging again, he heard the door to the room open. He didn’t bother looking up; it was either Aria going to yell at him for not following her plan, or his mother coming to demand explanation’s as to his public display of execution (or PDE, as he liked to call it). Either way, neither o the scenario’s appealed to him very much.
The sounds of footsteps got closer to his room, and he held his breath slightly in anticipation. He was half-considering getting up ti find a shit, then he remembered they were his family and it wasn’t like it mattered anyway. They’d seen him naked before.
“Saito-sama?” ....That didn’t sound like Aria or his mom. At all, “I came here to see if you needed assitance with your injuries.”
Saito looked up and saw Yukari standing at the doorway, staring at him through concerned eyes. Her usual maid outfit was gone, replaced by a pink shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms. Her hair, which was usually tied into a long braid, was let down and her glasses were nowhere to be seen, ‘She must’ve heard the commotion and come to investigate.’ He thought to himself.
“Yukari......No, I’m not having any trouble....”He did his best to ignore his slight state of undress he was currently in and started wrapping around the bandages again. Thankfully he wasn’t facing forward, so she didn’t see the gruesome state of his injuries. “I’m just having a bit of a hard time with the rolling-“
He was thrown off again as another spasm rocked his hands, making the bandage fall onto the floor. He (barely) resisted the urge to yell and start cursing at the annoyance and made to pick up the bandage again. Before he could reach it, however, another pair of hands reached won and grabbed it.
Yukari looked at the bandage with some slight surprise, but made her way behind him on the bed nevertheless, “Allow me to assist you, Saito-sama...” She tried to keep the surprise and hesitancy out of her voice. It had been a long time since she’d seen him actually properly dress his wounds or scars. Usually he would get skin colored make up and hide the wounds after wiping them down for blood.
Saito was hesitant to let her, “I’ll be fine.” He made to turn around to grab the bandages from her, but another spasm rocked through his body. Strenuous movement aggravated his wounds and caused him to temporarily lose control of his body.
“You’re in no condition to do that,” She let her fingers touch his shoulder slightly, “I’ll take care of the dressing of the wounds for now. When you’re capable of doing it yourself, then I will stop.”
Saito didn’t answer her. For a moment she thought he didn’t hear her, but he raised his right arm up and offered it up to her. Nodding to herself, she placed a hand under it and started rolling the bandages.
She felt herself wince slightly when she saw the injury on his arm. While the cut itself didn’t reach into impalement levels, there was no doubt that the injury wasn’t serious. She saw the broken skin and slight remnants of washed up blood at the edges, marking the wound as recent.
“Saito-sama….” Saito gasped slightly at her light touch. He had expected it to be unpleasant, for the wound to get agitated again. But what he felt was different. Her grip on his arm was soft, and the light contact her fingers made on the wound didn’t cause any pain or agitation. On the contrary, it felt relaxing.
He felt strange, like he something was weighing down on him. Now that the fighting was over, now that the irritation of being unable to heal himself had disappeared, he suddenly felt odd. His eyes stung, though whether he was inured there or not he didn’t know. He was just glad that he wasn’t facing her.
Yukari took a deep breath and set about getting to work. With her previous experience, wrapping up the entire forearm didn’t cause her much trouble and soon she was finished. She did the same with his other arm, which he offered up to her after she finished with the first. It seemed that he finally accepted her help without any questions.
“Saito-sama?” She finished wrapping his left arm and stopped, “I need to wrap a bandage around your chest, could you please turn around?” She saw him shake his head to the side left and right and sighed, “It will be harder for me to do the medical treatment if you don’t face me…” Actually, that was a lie. She could probably do it just fine even with his back towards her, but it would’ve been more uncomfortable for him.
After a few more seconds, he still didn’t turn around. Feeling annoyed at being ignored, she made grabbed him the shoulders and turned him around, “Saito-sama, please be reasonable and-“
She stopped and stared at him, eyes widening. It wasn’t because of his frontal injuries, which did look pretty bad to begin with, but something else.
He was crying.
His face was dyed red, though it was mostly his cheeks, and the wet tears stained the underside of his eyes. Saito looked up at her with widened eyes, the clear fluid going down the sides of his face. His lips were pursed together, trying to stop the tears from falling again. In her surprise, she let go of his shoulders, which he used as a chance to turn around once again and wipe the liquid from his eyes.
“Saito-sama….” She reached out a hand again and touched his back lightly, but he didn’t respond, “Saito-sama, what’s wrong?”
“…….I killed someone….” His voice sounded alien even to him. It sounded hoarse, like he was forcing himself to talk after getting smacked in the throat, “He was down and I could have arrested him…..but I didn’t. I just felt so angry about what he did, and he kept taunting me that the police were on his side, that I just…..” He stopped talking as he felt another wave of tears welling up.
“…Saito-sama…”
“Why is this so hard?” He turned his head slightly and gave her an ironic smile, “I’ve already said I don’t believe in my family’s ideals and that I’d do anything to stop criminals from escaping punishment. But when I looked at his face, when I saw him begging for mercy, I……” He saw his image again, “He laughed at me once, you know. Told me I was a monster and it was only a matter of time before I was just like him….”
He stopped talking when he felt a gentle pressure encircle him. Yukari hugged him, wrapping her arms lightly around his chest and pulled him towards her. The feeling of his bare back against the cotton of her shirt felt oddly relaxing to him.
“It’s alright….” She breathed out softly, “I know you’re not a monster…..” She pressed her face onto his shoulder slightly, “I’ll always be there to help you, and you know that. You’re not going to turn into a monster.”
They stayed that way for a few more minutes before remembering themselves. Feeling the pain of the wounds again, Saito turned around and let Yukari wrap the wounds around the bandage. The crying had stopped and a small smile was on his face.
“That’s all I can do for now,” She stood up from the bed and observed her handiwork, “The bandages should be changed every 6 hours, so I’ll be back at that time.”
“Yeah, thanks…” He nodded absently.
She made her way to the door before she stopped. Turning around, she called out to him “Saito-sama,” He looked up at her in slight surprise, “…Will the scars ever heal?”
“The scars?” He looked down at his bandaged hand, “Well, I suppose I could borrow some of Aria’s medication if she allows it. Otherwise, it should heal on its own, given enough-“
“I wasn’t talking about the physical scars.”
Saito paused. He looked downwards at her before answering hesitantly.
“No, they never really heal…” He didn’t have the strength to lie to her.
“……I see."She stepped out of the room and closed the door gently, but not before she heard his last words.
“Scars don’t heal on their own or through time, but they can be treated just like any other wound. Thanks, Nee-chan.”