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The curiosity visible in Osana's eyes somehow made the pain from her wound even worse.
Raibaru discreetly pulled the cotton sleeve concealing the large cut on her forearm in an attempt to soothe the pain.
She avoided eye contact with Osana as she started to speak with a forced smile. "I found her outside my house, clawing at my front door," Raibaru glanced at the orange kitten purring softly on the orange haired girl's lap.
That was far from the truth. A truth that only her, the feline and a certain stalker knew.
"You look a bit disoriented," Osana frowned as she puts the back of her hand on Raibaru's head while looking into the other's eyes with concern.
A tint of pink appeared on Raibaru's cheeks.
"Just a headache..." Raibaru mumbled softly. As much as she hated lying and keeping secrets from her best friend, she couldn't bear to make Osana feel guilty about something she had no control over.
"Well, why don't you get some rest? I can give you some headache medicine if you'd like," Osana offered a small but genuine smile.
"It's just a minor one. A good sleep would solve that," Raibaru quickly got up. "You should probably feed little Polka over here. I didn't have cat food so I just feed her some raw fish. She seemed to like it a lot,"
Osana chuckled. "Well she isn't exactly a fan of cat food. She loves nothing but fish,"
As Raibaru stood there, scratching her head, Osana noticed something odd.
She's using her right hand as opposed to her left hand.
Something's definitely wrong with the blonde girl before her.
"Raibaru?" Osana called out the other's name. "Are you okay?"
Raibaru jumped slightly. "Huh... Yeah... I'm fine... Like I said, headache,"
Osana nodded slowly but not taking her eyes off her best friend.
Her face is a bit pale, she looked exhausted and likely hurt.
But there's no sign of bleeding or any other type of injuries. Well, not that she can see much courtesy of Raibaru's dark red cotton sweater.
Weird choice of clothing. It is getting colder outside so wearing a sweater isn't something out of the ordinary. However, Raibaru never wore something with such big sleeves that covers the entirety of her hands. Not in the years that Osana knew her.
Raibaru, noticing Osana's suspicious stare, bid her goodnight and walked down the hallway, approaching a guest room instead of Osana's. The ginger noted this as well and her growing concern is getting hard to ignore.
But she kept quiet and lifted her beloved kitten off her lap and brought her to the kitchen. As she was serving her some fried fish, the sound of water running echoed down the hallway.
She petted the kitten and began tiptoeing her way to the guest bathroom. She opened the door to find no one but the lights of said bathroom reflecting in the sink definitely means Raibaru were here recently. Osana reached for the sink's cabinet.
Her eyes widened. A certain red-white box is missing.
Even if she wanted a pill for her headache, it wasn't in the first aid kit. This isn't Raibaru's first time in her house, the blonde knows where everything is.
Osana got up, and began sneaking towards the guest room right next to the bathroom. The ginger put her ears close to the door.
Raibaru usually fell asleep as soon her head hits the pillow so Osana were expecting silence or some soft breathing.
What she hears instead, is a familiar voice whimpering and hissing.
With no hesitation, she pushed the door open and find Raibaru staring at her in shock from the bed.
The missing medical kit laying open next to her.
A roll of bandage hovering over her bloody left forearm.
And a small amount of blood oozing from her wound, dripping onto the bed sheets.
Osana froze.
She should've known better than believing that her kidnapped cat would be found so easily.
That Raibaru wouldn't refuse medication even for a minor headache since she always wanted to stay at her best at all times.
Anger, guilt, regret, worry started building up in her the more she looked at the girl before her. Who tried to hide her injury.
An injury indirectly caused by her.
"Why would you put yourself in danger?!" the ginger yelled. The wounded blonde turned away in shame. "I told you you can't do anything about it and look at you now! You're injured and bleeding!"
"But I brought back Polka, right?" Raibaru replied, looking straight into Osana's eyes, causing her to fell silent.
"And we're safe. You can report the stalker to the police now. It's worth this..." she hersed in pain. "Little cut,"
"I'm sorry I lied to you. I just didn't want to you to blame yourself-" Raibaru's sentence halted as Osana embraced her tightly, sobbing hard.
"You idiot... What if... What if..." more and more tears fell as the images of worst case scenario played in the ginger's mind. Raibaru returned the physical affection using her uninjured hand, rubbing up and down her back to comfort her.
"Everything's alright now. None of those will happen. I'm strong, remember?" Raibaru whispered to her best friend's ear. "I won't let anyone harm you whatsoever,"
Osana looked at her and smiled faintly. Raibaru returned that smile with a weak one of her own.
"At least let me treat your hand!" Osana exclaimed, plopping down before her.
The blonde smiled sheepishly as the latter took her hand. "Well, it's not like I know how to treat cuts like these anyway,"
Osana shook her head. "Go figure, you didn't even clean it," she said, grabbing the bandage from Raibaru.
"To be fair, I've only dealt with bruises my whole life,"
The ginger raised a brow as she grabbed a pack of gauze pads from the medkit. "You never accidentally cut yourself with a knife before?"
"Only once. 8 years old me tried to helped my mom making a sandwich and well... We ended up with 5 delicious sandwiches, one bloody sandwich and a crying little Raibaru," the blonde scratched her head at the silly memory.
"Bet everyone at school asked you about the bandage on your finger," Osana smiled as she dried the wound with tissues before wrapping the bandage around Raibaru's arm and began tying it.
"Not exactly my proudest moment now, but little me definitely enjoyed the attention," to the end of the sentence, Raibaru flinched when Osana crossed both ends of the bandage, applying some pressure on her wound.
"Does it still hurt?" Osana looked up, giving all attention to Raibaru.
"Nothing I can't handle," the blonde replied, a painful smile plastered across her face.
It's a sight she couldn't bear. It's been a while since she saw a true, sincere bright smile on her best friend's face.
Before she could think about her next act, Osana leaned over and kissed Raibaru softly on the cheek.
She quickly backed away, both girls were turning all shades of pink.
The ginger turned away, "Th-that's just so you feel better, okay?!" She snapped. "It's a friendly gesture! Hope it helps!"
Raibaru couldn't help but grin widely at her company. "It did. Thanks a lot, Osanji,"
"I-I need to check on Polka. Just stay here and don't mess with that until I come back!" Osana got up and left without waiting for a response.
"She didn't get mad at me for calling her Osanji," Raibaru's smile didn't fade even after the bedroom door closes.
Osana were slumped over the kitchen's wall, caressing the orange furball on her lap.
She sighed deeply as she closed her eyes. After calming herself down and thinking through everything that has happened, it dawned upon her what she just did.
She kissed Raibaru's cheek.
Osana blushed profusely. It's not every day that she does something spontaneous like that.
"She doesn't seemed mad about it," she muttered. "Maybe she really thought it's a friendly gesture,"
"Do you think she likes me, Polka?" she asked the kitten. The ginger feline meowed in response.
"I hope I'm finally cutting my hair this time,"
The bedroom door swung open and Osana was greeted by a more relaxed Raibaru.
"Did you bleed out of the bandage?" Osana asked, sitting down and examining the neatly wrapped arm.
"I don't think so. I don't feel it bleeding after a minute," Raibaru answered, letting the ginger untie the bandage.
"Good," Osana smiled as the bandage came off. "It stopped bleeding," she looked up to see Raibaru smiling at her, genuinely and brightly for the first time after a few hours.
She then dragged Raibaru to the bathroom and began cleaning the wound.
Once finished, they're back in the guest bedroom.
"So do we bandage it now?" Raibaru asked, staring at the bandage roll in the medkit.
"Not yet. This is the most painful part in treating cuts," the ginger explained, taking out a bottle of antibiotics ointment. "Don't hold anything back, okay?" she looked to Raibaru, looking for confirmation.
Raibaru nodded.
Osana dipped her two fingertips in the case and began applying the white substance on the wound. The injured arm began shaking, hisses and whimpers were heard from the blonde girl.
After a few moments she glanced up and see tears forming in Raibaru's eyes.
"Just a little more," she assured her hurting best friend as she applies the ointment on the last bits of the injury.
She quickly wrapped the wound up and placed Raibaru's hand down. Osana lifted her head to see Raibaru on the verge of tears.
Her face was full of pain as she gripped the sheets, almost ripping them apart. Her eyes looked pleading and pleading, she was asking for Osana to take it all away.
It didn't take long before the ginger moved forward and cupped her best friend's face between her hands. With her thumbs she brushed away the stray tear from her cheeks.
She could hear Raibaru's shaky breath as she pulled her closer and pressed their lips together. She felt the blonde tense against her before relaxing into her kiss.
Raibaru reached her free hand around the ginger's waist, pulling her flush against her body. They remained locked together for what felt like eternity until Osana pulled away. Both were panting, faces red and eyes half closed.
"Sorry, I just..." the ginger trailed off, feeling ashamed of what she had done.
"Osana, it's okay," Raibaru said, raising her hand to caress the other's face. She then moved closer, leaving nothing but inches of space between her and the ginger. Osana felt her heart pounding in her ears. "I... Like you too,"
Osana was taken aback. Her mind went blank for a couple seconds, but she recovered soon enough when Raibaru gently placed a kiss on her lips. They stayed in that position for several minutes until the both of their breathing started getting steady again.
They pulled apart slowly, resting their foreheads against each other.
Raibaru gazed into Osana's fire colored eyes. Burning in the red pair were passion and love, reserved for her only. They burned so strong even her left arm started feeling hot and... Painful.
Osana felt happy and content. A warm feeling spread in her chest as she watched her best friend, now lover smiling softly at her. She leaned in for another kiss. But Raibaru pulled back suddenly, clutching her bandaged arm.
"Oh my god! Raibaru, I'm so sorry!"
Love is truly one hell of a drug.