Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 39

"Of course you were. If you hadn't gotten help, then I probably would've been dead."

"But..." He gently lay a hand over his faded bite mark on my forearm.

"I've never blamed you for this," I felt his fingers search for the little dented scars in the skin, my arm permanently carrying his bite.

"I want to apologize...but I don't know what the right words are, and anything that I do say would just feel meaningless because I know I would just keep hurting you again," Ichi recoiled from me, a light hiss escaping his lips as his breathing increased.

"Then I'll keep forgiving you," I caught his hand before he fully retracted it away from me, quickly intertwining our fingers so he couldn't pull away. The gesture caught him off-guard, staring at our hands like it was a creature he'd never seen before, "Ichi...look at me."

His dark eyes slowly met my own.

"I care about you, much more than I can ever really say," I tugged his hand past my head, bringing our faces close, "So...let me show you again."

Ichi didn't resist the kiss, stiffly receiving it from me before his mind seemed to put the pieces together, pressing his lips back against mine. I let him hold the kiss for as long as he wanted, pulling away without resistance as I released his hand. Ichi covered his lips with his free hand, his eyes wide before slightly closing as he lowered his guarded hand.

"Can we do that...one more time?"

----

The morning sunlight started to stream in from the windows, streaking across my eyes as the helicopter made another turn. I flinched as my right eye screamed in agony from the brief flash of light over my eyelids, instantly covering it with a hand and wondering what happened to the eyepatch. My answer was easily found as I looked over to see Ichi curled up around me, the eyepatch held in his hand as he slept.

Gently taking it back and slipping it on, I carefully climbed off the top of the naga pile without disturbing any of them and sliding back into the folding seat I was in before.

"Good morning," I heard Stacy call out from her seat, "You've all been out for a long time."

"What's 'a long time' in this context?" I rubbed the heel of my palm over my left eye, stifling a yawn.

"We're a few hours away from the island."

I stilled, shocked awake by the chipper attitude of the vet despite having missed nearly two whole days because I was sleeping.

"Ah, geez...I'm sorry to not be awake the whole time," I groaned as I looked over to the nagas still sleeping.

"No worries. I had my own forms of entertainment," She lifted up a large book that was resting open on her lap, "We had figured you'd be out for the entire flight, considering what you've all gone through."

"You don't know half of it..." I thought back to the 'meetings' between Calmine and I, satisfied that I wouldn't have to answer to that man anymore, "Captivity can really be draining."

"Well, captivity is far behind you all now."

"That's where I hope it'll stay for them," I looked over at the sleeping nagas.

"What about you?" Stacy leaned forward, catching my eye and shifting my focus back to her.

"What about me?"

"Why not come back to the States with us?" She looked towards the nagas, "I know that you're the one that saved them, but...I don't like the thought of leaving you alone on the island."