A/N: ZareEraz here! This little fic is for Himawari, whose birthday is today! Hope y'all like it!
Lucky to Have Met You
"What are you doing later today, Kimihiro?" Wari asked, walking along with the woman. The man had run into his friend after work while she'd been out shopping for dinner. They strolled down a pedestrian only street, Wari helping carry a few of Watanuki's bags as she looked at her shopping list.
"Nothing really. Shizuka has classes at the university until later this evening and all that's really left to do is make dinner. We don't have any plans after that."
"A nice quiet evening them? That sounds nice." Wari smiled. "My fiancé was invited to a dinner party and she's begged me to go along, so until something awful happens between now and seven o'clock I have to go!" Wari chuckled.
"But a night out sounds fun too!" Kimihiro commented, shifting a few of her grocery bags. "Shizuka's so busy with school and studying and his job that he hardly has any time to spend outside of the house, so I'm mostly alone. Seriously, who would've thought my married life would be so dull and Yuko doesn't have me work so much anymore, but it's nice to get out of the temple every day, even if it's to cook for that slave driver." She shrugged. "I think I've almost paid off my price to her and so she's trying to drag it out as long as she can!"
"Maybe Yuko just wants you to stick around, not just for work." Wari suggested.
"Yeah, maybe. But she's always going to want three bottles of sake and a side dish to go with any visit it make." Watanuki sighed. She glanced at her friend and noticed for the third time that he was wearing a new suit. "By the way, how's the new job going?"
"Great!" Wari smiled again, swinging his briefcase as he walked. "My boss is really understanding and for the most part doesn't blame me for the weird things that go on in the office. Either he can't figure out it's me causing all the trouble or he just doesn't care enough to fire me."
"Who would want to fire you?" Kimihiro argued. "You're the nicest, most cheerful and hardworking guy I've ever met."
"Bad luck has a way of overshadowing those things." Wari's smiled dropped off his face and he got lost in his thoughts. Kimihiro just let him be for a moment, brushing down her skirt when it threatened to flip up in the sudden breeze. Wari was so concentrated on his thoughts that he didn't notice how close he'd wandered into Kimihiro's space, and accidently side-stepped on her ankle.
"Ow! Wari, watch where you're going, silly." The woman hissed, grabbing the man's attention. She started hopping on one foot to check her stinging ankle. "You just took some skin off, no big deal." The seer concluded, leaning down to make sure she wasn't bleeding.
"I'm sorry!" Wari reached out to balance his hopping friend, but pulled back at the last second, not wanting to do anything else to her with his inborn bad luck.
"You're good. Just don't space out." Kimihiro waved off her friend and started walking again, her gait slightly slower as she waited for the sting to dull.
"Whatever you say." Wari replied, walking with her out into the busy streets of Tokyo, leaving the quieter pace of the pedestrian alleys. They were headed back to Wari's apartment now, since it was closer than the Doumeki temple where Kimihiro now lived after being married to Shizuka for three years. But soon, if things worked out, Wari would be living with his fiancé in their own house, finally able to move out of his tiny little apartment. ]
"Ooo! The light's changing!" Kimihiro pointed to the intersection where they were going to cross. "Come on!" She started running, the bags bouncing against her thighs.
"Kimihiro! We can just take the next light, okay? Wait!" Despite not wanting to run, Wari dashed after the woman as she neared the crosswalk. Kimihiro reached the edge of the cross walk, her ankle glowing purple and black to anyone with the second sight to see it. To Wari, time seemed to slow down as he watched his friend run. Her footsteps were off, her heel hitting the edge of the curb instead of her toes.
All it took was just a misstep, just the wrong turn of her ankle at a curb that send Kimihiro sprawling onto the ground, a resounding snap breaking the air around her. Her groceries scattered across the pavement as she caught herself on her hands. She screamed, drawing the attention of everyone around them. Wari rushed up to her grabbing her shoulders and pulling her out of the intersection as the light changed. The car she'd fallen in front of didn't move, letting the man pull the injured seer out of the street while someone else snagged all of her stuff, before driving past slowly. Wari tried not to jostle his friend too much, carefully pulling her all the way onto the side walk.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Kimihiro hissed, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, wincing at the pain. She cracked her eyes open looking at her ankle. It was kind of folded over on itself, twisted into a position it really shouldn't be in. Whatever was in her stomach tried to come out again, the shock of breaking a bone causing her nausea as a unnatural chill numbed her body. "It's not supposed to look like that." She pointed to her foot, clapping a hand over her mouth so she didn't vomit on Wari. The man glanced down at the swelling mask of black and purple bruises. It was a bad break. She needed to go to the hospital.
"Kimihiro, I'm taking you to the hospital." Wari said, pulling out his phone to call for an ambulance because neither of them had a car.
"Take me to a garbage can first. I'm going to vomit." She chuckled dryly. The seer's body shuddered, her stomach shuddering violently and trying to claw up her throat.
"Don't make jokes, this is serious!" Wari snapped.
"I am serious!" Kimihiro shot back from behind her fingers. Her eyes blurred, dizziness setting from all the messages her body was receiving from her aching nerves. She felt her consciousness slipping away from the shock. "I'm going to pass out, Wari." And then she did, leaving a frazzled man holding and unconscious woman until the ambulance pulled up to take them to the hospital.
Wari had to spend the next few hours filling out Kimihiro's paperwork for her since she was still unconscious. However, she woke up as the doctors were taking X-rays and Wari could hear her complaining, griping and shouts of pain until her meds kicked in so they could set her bone. After getting her into a cast, Kimihiro was wheeled into a hospital room for the night. Wari sat in the waiting room, anticipating when he could go in and see her, check on her, make sure that she was really going to be okay. The knots in his stomach wouldn't let him relax until he saw her. Finally, finally, a nurse called his name, saying that a Kimihiro Doumeki wanted to see him, and then walked him to her room. Wari was left in front of the door, peeking into the window to see his friend resting on her bed, her cast-wrapped ankle propped up by a hanging sling. His chest ached, seeing her in the hospital again. He'd done this. His bad damn luck had put her in here again. He opened the door, ready to face whatever she was going to throw at him, anger, frustration, hate, but knowing that she'd brush it off…again.
"It's a complete fracture." Kimihiro said as Wari walked into her hospital room. "But it only broke in one place so that's good. The doctors want me to stay the night. I'll go home in the morning." Wari didn't say anything, closing the door behind him and then leaning on it. He didn't – couldn't – look her in the eyes. He'd caused this, by stepping on her ankle he'd just done what he did when she fell out of the window. He could've killed her if any of the cars coming up to the crosswalk had run over her. She could be dead now. The only consolation for Wari was that she wasn't dead, but she was still in the hospital with a broken ankle that he'd caused. "If there's one thing worse than breaking a bone it's getting it set back into place again! That or waiting for X-rays. Seriously, I couldn't look at my ankle the entire time, it was just too weird to see it sitting at the wrong angle. It could've been so much worse, but at least I can get out of this cast in a few months. Maybe Yuko will let me off easy for a while, being crippled for a little while. But hey, why not make the most of it right?"
Wari didn't reply.
"At least nothing has to grow back this time. That time I completely smashed my toenail off was painful and Shizuka kept making fun of me when my nail didn't grow back correctly, all wonky and bent." She laughed, tucking her hand behind her head. "You stepped on my toe that time didn't you? Well, it's over now so it doesn't matter." The one-sided conversation trailed off when Kimihiro realized that she wasn't going to get an answer. Minutes passed in silence as the seer watched her friend. Wari wouldn't look at her, or speak to her and she knew that he was probably wrestling with guilt. But it really wasn't his fault. This time his bad luck just happened to fall on her. Other times when he'd touched her, nothing went wrong, but he only acted like this when the bad things happened. She knew he was worried about her, especially after the first time something like this happened. Because of that, Wari carried a little bundle of guilt with him as well as the scars that they both scared.
"Every time something like this happens…it's like you're proud to have broken a bone or burned your hand or smashed one of your toenails off." Wari sighed after a while, shaking his head at the woman in the hospital bed.
"Yeah, because that means I didn't die." Kimihiro smiled, pointing to her broken ankle. "I didn't die, Wari." She smiled wider. Wari remembered the first time Kimihiro had almost died, falling from the window of their school. Afterwards, in Yuko's shop, he'd tried to say goodbye to the girl, to keep her safe from his bad luck. But she'd refused, telling him how much she loved seeing him smile, how she loved cooking for him. Wari couldn't say goodbye after that demonstration of true friendship and a kind of love. Kimihiro wasn't going to give him up. She was going to live, through determination she'd said, so that she could see Wari smile every day. Wari smiled, his eyes lighting up. He had made a promise in his heart, to smile, just for her.
"Through determination, right?"
"Yep." Kimihiro grinned. But then she jostled her ankle and hissed at the pain. Wari's smile dropped, reaching out to comfort her but stopped short. He couldn't touch her, not without something bad happening again. But she calmed down and settled back into her hospital bed. "Besides," she started, "I have to stay alive for this little one." Kimihiro said, rubbing her stomach. Wari's eyes widened in surprise, his fear for Watanuki growing with the feeling of awe from her and Doumeki's blessing.
"You're having a baby?" He asked, his voice soft as he glanced at Kimihiro's smiling face.
"Yep! And I haven't told Shizuka yet, so keep it a secret for now." The woman winked. "If he found out right this second when I've just broken my ankle, he'll be even more protective than you are!" She laughed.
"Kimihiro, this isn't a laughing matter. What if something serious happens next time? Or what if I hurt your child? What will you do then?" Wari asked, his worry finally over taking the happy moment.
"Wari, if I'm with Shizuka I'll be fine. We'll just be extra careful from now on, 'kay?" Kimihiro suggested. "Don't to try to disappear on me again. I want you to be the third person to see my baby."
"The third?" Wari asked, confused.
"Well," The seer blushed. "I want to see him first, and then Shizuka, because he is the father and then you! What I'm saying is that I want you in my life still." She admitted, her eyes honest and caring as she stared at Wari.
"I'm dangerous." He stated.
"You're wonderful." She replied, smiling. "I couldn't have a better friend." Kimihiro had cornered him…again. She wasn't taking no for an answer, just like she hadn't years ago. That was the wonderful about her, she was stubborn to a fault, and kind and caring and those traits just made it hard to say no.
"I'm so lucky to have met you." Wari conceded, smiling again.
"I'm happy to have met you." Kimihiro agreed.
"Mrs. Doumeki?" An orderly stuck his head into the room, drawing the couple's attention.
"Yes?" Kimihiro replied, sitting up slightly to address the worker.
"You're husband is here to see you. He'll be up in just a minute."
"Thank you." She nodded and the orderly slipped out again.
"Looks like that's my cue to go." Wari shrugged.
"You don't have to." Kimihiro said.
"I should get going anyway. You and Doumeki have lots of things to talk about, don't you?" Wari winked. Kimihiro's hand drifted to her stomach again.
"Yes, we do. But not right this minute. He'll have a conniption." A sweat drop appeared on Kimihiro's head and she made a face.
"He probably will, though I'd actually like to see that. He's so serious all the time!" Wari chuckled. "How about we have chiffon cake the next time you're feeling up to making it? With pink cream?" The man suggested, suddenly craving the treat that they'd shared after Kimihiro had recovered from the fall out of the window.
"And it'll be a secret, just between us." The seer smiled again, as Wari turned towards the door.
"Yep."
"Hey! Can you find wherever they put my groceries and give them to Shizuka? I know they're around here somewhere."
"Sure, but you shouldn't be worrying about that right now." Wari raised an eye brown at her.
"When it comes to food and my husband, I always worry about it, you know that." Kimihiro joked.
"Yeah, I know." Wari waved and opened the door to Kimihiro's room, closing it behind him and came face to face with Doumeki in his business suit, having just come from university after hearing about his wife's fall. He didn't look worried on the outside, but Wari could tell that he was upset. He also knew that Wari's presence there meant that he was the reason that his wife was in the hospital. Doumeki wasn't upset at him for causing the fall that broke Kimihiro's ankle, he knew that Wari's bad luck was random on who it attached itself to, but it did happen to occur around people that Wari was around a lot. Like him and Kimihiro. Doumeki had just learned to roll with it and be careful, even if he wasn't directly affected himself. He had to be careful for his wife and then deal with the consequences when they happened. It was just life now.
"You know about the chiffon cake?" Wari asked Doumeki slowly as he was about to open the door.
"I always know about the chiffon cake." He replied, mentioning the first time Watanuki had promised to keep the treat a secret from Doumeki after she'd fallen out the window. He'd known about it anyway, having been leaning against the wall outside of Yuko's room at the time, bleeding for the price of the wish he'd wanted granted. Both men nodded at each other, vowing to keep the knowing about the chiffon cake a secret between them. Wari started walking down the hospital's hall, letting Doumeki have his wife all to himself.
"You know, she's glad to have met you." Doumeki called, his hand on the doorknob.
"I know." Wari replied, smiling softly again.
"I am too." Doumeki said, laying it all out between them all. Neither of them was mad at him. They didn't get angry when bad things happened to them because of his bad luck. They were his friends instead, happy to hold out their hands to him, to not push him away like so many other people had when tragedy struck. A single tear dropped from Wari's eye and he smiled wider.
"I'm lucky to have met both of you. Thank you." He started walking down the hall again, but stopped turning to look at his friend. "You're in for a surprise, Doumeki." Doumeki's face stayed impassive as usual, but Wari knew he'd piqued his interest. Wari winked and continued walking. Doumeki opened the door and went inside, watching his friend disappear around a corner before going to his wife. What he didn't see was Wari, silently crying, so happy to be needed even after all of the years of trouble he'd caused. Lucky, that's what he was when it came to those two. For once in his life, he'd been lucky to be blessed with such good friends.
