Foreword: I guess I figured I wanted to write a piece for s-Cry-ed, you know? Anyway… On with the story.
"…" denotes speech.
'…' denotes thought.
Disclaimer: No. I don't own s-CRY-ed, and I highly doubt I ever will.
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Resurrecting the Light
"How come you're always staring out the window like that, Kazu-kun?" A little girl, perhaps only nine or ten, stopped in her place, and looked over at the person she viewed as a brother.
He looked over at her for a moment, and then turned his head back to the window. After a few moments of pointed silence, the man sitting in the window sill spoke to her, "I guess… I'm waiting for somebody, Kanami."
She set a basket down on the ground and took a step closer to him. "Oh… Well, who are you waiting for?"
Kazuma stared at Kanami gravely and sighed, "I'm not sure…" Over time, his body had seemed to heal, since he had stopped using his Alter as much. After he used it, he actually had enough time to let his body recuperate. Kanami hadn't noticed any problems with his arms or his eye.
"Then how do you know that you're waiting for somebody?" The little girl handed him a sandwich, which he accepted, and curiously waited for an answer.
The mahogany haired man chewed thoughtfully, and spoke between bites, "I guess… I used to be fine… but now I feel… like I'm waitin' for… somebody." He stopped chewing and sighed, "Maybe I'm just bein' stupid, but it seems like somebody's just missin'… I started feeling this way after that whole thing with Mujo… After we all went our separate ways."
"Kazu-kun… This isn't like you at all. You never mope around all day. Come on, get up! Get up!" Kanami grabbed a hold of him and began to pull on his arm, in a feeble attempt to get him outside.
The man shook his head a few times and ran his fingers through his hair as he stepped towards the door, "Alright already! I'm going! I'm going!"
"Now, Kazu-kun, I want you to go outside and do something. Take a walk or… I don't know! Just do something to keep you busy." There was a sense of pleading within her voice as the little girl shoved him out the door and locked it. "I'll see you at lunch."
"But I… Ergh… Fine, see you at lunch." Kazuma about-faced and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he strode down the dusty pathways, heading away from the tiny little cottage that he shared with Kanami.
Small clouds of dust hovered around his feet as he shuffled away from the house. 'I don't know… I'm just not sure who I could be missing… I'm not even sure if I can remember all their names…'
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"Umm… Let's see… It's this way, I think…" Mimori sighed as she rested her forehead on the steering wheel of her car. She finally glanced over at the map resting in the empty seat next to her. "There used to be a pathway here… Why…Where did it go?"
The woman continued to drive on, using the map as best she could to navigate her path. She coaxed the jeep up the sloping pathway, as the map dictated. Resting at the top of the hill, Mimori Kiryuu stifled a yawn and wiped at her eyes. 'I really should have gotten more sleep… Maybe leaving so early in the morning wasn't such a brilliant idea…'
Slipping out of the car, the woman raised her arms high over her body, and attempted to pull the sky down. Her clothes were somewhat ruffled in appearance, due to her lengthy trip from the city. She readjusted her blouse because it had begun to ride up, and she was in danger of revealing her stomach.
Mimori hated to show off her body much, despite the fact that she was in great shape, physically. She always wore long sleeves and pants, even in the face of unbearable heat. This habit stemmed from her father, because he had always frowned upon revealing clothes, unless she was going to a formal party. Then, the dress would be handpicked by her mother, who was more lenient with that sort of thing.
"It's already ten-thirty? Oh man… I've been cooped up in that car for about seven hours. Perhaps I should stretch out for a little bit longer… Who knows how long I'll be in that accursed jeep for?" Mimori leaned against her car and whisked the sweat away from her brow with a handkerchief.
What had once been a slight zephyr had become a steady breeze that purloined said handkerchief, carrying it farther and farther away from the girl.
On an impulse, Mimori Kiryuu dashed away from the jeep, reaching out for the elongated piece of cloth. Each stride took her from the jeep, until finally she grabbed hold of the linen cloth. "Now I have you. I guess it was just a little bit of bad luck that you flew all the way over he-"
A massive crunch made her reevaluate her position. "Or… It could have been good luck." Setting off at a sprint, Mimori headed off towards the jeep, carrying her precious cargo.
"Damn it! Oh crap! Er… maybe if I just leave, nobody'll know that it was me." She had heard that voice before. It was one of the voices that she could never forget, even if she were to forget even her own name.
It was Kazuma.
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He backed away from the totaled jeep, leaving the massive boulder lodged in the hood of the motor vehicle. "Er… it was the other guy with Alter powers. I swear!"
"Hey! You! Stay right there!" A voice called out to him from the other side of the jeep.
Turning, the young man began running away, straining his leg muscles as much as he possibly could. "Gotta go! See you later, lady! Have a nice life!"
"Kazuma, the Shell Bullet! Stop right there!" It was obviously a feminine voice, and, as far as the mahogany-haired, young man could tell, she could now see him.
"So it's a fight you want, eh! Well, I'm not one to disappoint!" Sliding to a halt, Kazuma's arm began to become encased in an ochre and orange armor. Three flanged fins protruded from his shoulder as he quickly spun around in a complete circle, finally stopping as he faced the voice. "You'll be sorry you messed with Kazuma the Shell Bullet!"
As one of the fins disintegrated, propelling him forward at extreme speeds, he took the time to examine his opponent. After quickly evaluating her 'assets' he shifted his focus, and let his eyes roam over her body, making sure that she wasn't concealing any type of weapon. His golden irises drifted up to her face, and raven black hair.
"You… I know you… Mimori! What're you doing here! I thought you were supposed to be in the city, you know, as a doctor or something like that!" Using every ounce of will in his body, he managed to force his Alter to stop. Driving his fist into the ground between her legs, his armor faded away into nothingness, leaving only a slight tingling in his arm.
Kazuma looked up with a cheerful smile and a glint in his eyes. "Er… Sorry?"
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"Just look at the damage you've done to my car! I just bought this thing too! I'll never be able to deliver these medical supplies in time! Especially," she cleared her throat and jabbed an accusative finger towards the massive lance of rock protruding from the front of the jeep, "with that embedded in the engine."
"I already apologized for that, didn't I! What else do you want from me?" he demanded, as he rubbed at his aching arm. 'Damn… My arm's still hurting a little… I thought I was over this.'
"Kazuma! Kazuma!" Mimori cried, shaking him gently. "Are you alright? You seem distracted." Inside of her skull, she was instantly analyzing the situation with the cold logic of a doctor.
"Huh? Nah… I'm fine. My arm was just hurting a little bit…" Kazuma pulled his sleeve over his arm more, concealing it within folds of cloth. The young man turned, so that his right arm was behind him.
'He's hiding something.' Mimori stepped forward and grabbed the hidden arm. It was like trying to detain a bucking bull, but she somehow held tightly. "Stop fidgeting and let me see your arm! I am a doctor, you know." She slid his maroon sleeve up, and gasped audibly. "It's…"
"It's fine." He jerked his arm out of her grasp and covered it, hiding the massive lacerations adorning it. "It's just hurting a little bit…"
"Your arm looks like you've been punching knives!" Sadness was laced with concern as she gently reached out to him. "Please… Please let me see if I can do something for you."
Saying nothing, he extended his arm towards her, and allowed himself to be seated on a boulder nearby. "So… What're you doing this far out? Aren't you workin' in the city?"
Picking through some of the things in the jeep's trunk, Mimori finally pulled out an undamaged First Aid kit. "This'll do nicely… Oh, I heard that there wasn't a doctor out here, so I volunteered to do this. It got so stuffy in the city. It may not be very pretty out so far in the Lost Grounds, but it sure feels better. There's almost no air pollution at all. It just makes me feel a lot more relaxed." She sat down next to him and began to rummage through the tackle box of medical supplies.
The battle-hardened man could do nothing but wince as he felt a sharp pain dart through his arm. "Ow! What the hell are you tryin' to do to me!" The blood drained from his face and he cried out, "N-No! You keep that needle away from me!"
"Will you hold still? This will hurt more if you're moving around!" As he continued to wriggle and writhe, Mimori spoke exasperatedly, "If I don't do it right, I might have to do it twice, or even three times! Now hold still!"
Gritting his teeth in pain, Kazuma focused on counting the tiny pebbles lying about on the deserted road. The sting of the needle seemed to pierce into his very core, finally forcing him to clench his eyes shut as well, in some sort of feeble attempt to ignore the pain.
"There… You're all patched up… I think." The girl looked around his arm once more, making sure that she had closed up every gash. That was the most stitching she had ever done on one patient.
Kazuma, obviously, was about ready to fall down in pain. One thousand, nine hundred, seventy-eight stitches would make even the toughest of customers gasp in anguish. "What the hell did you do to my arm? It was fine the way it was!"
"No, it wasn't. It may hurt right now, but I promise you that you'll feel better once we can take the stitches out." The woman wiped some sweat away from her brow and grimaced at the totaled jeep.
Remaining silent for a while, the man finally stood up and examined the pincushion that was his arm, "You promised, so it better."
"I never break promises." Mimori sighed in defeat as she watched the hood of the vehicle completely fall off. "It's no good…" With her deep brown eyes, she assessed the situation as best as she could. 'I don't have anywhere to stay tonight… I guess I'll have to pray that nobody tries to rob me… or worse.' She visibly shuddered with the last thought.
Kazuma, with a large bag slung over his shoulder looked over at the doctor, saying, "What are you standing there for? Come on, hurry up."
Mimori's mind seemed to blank, and she stumbled over her words, "Wh-What do you mean?"
"I gotta pay you back, right? I don't like owin' anybody anything." Motioning vaguely to his arm, he grinned at her, "You can crash with me an' Kanami 'til you're ready to move on." He held out his good arm to the black haired woman.
Taking his hand to climb over a rock, Mimori and Kazuma quickly separated, opting, instead, to walk side by side. "Thank you… Kazuma. Now I really owe you one."
"I wouldn't say that. You patched me up and I'm lettin' you stay with me for a while. Don't that make us even?"
"You… don't remember, do you? Right after the thing with Mujo and the Mainland, you and Ryuho were fighting… Once you finally beat him, you helped me get him to the hospital." She bowed a little to show gratitude, "So I guess I still owe you one."
"Eh, that was a freebie. I couldn't let a lady like you have to deal with that moron all alone. 'Sides, I couldn't go back to Kanami in the shape I was in. She would've finished me off! Let's just call it even." Smiling sadly, Kazuma began to remember, 'I stayed with you… not Ryuho… As hard as I tried to get you to notice me, you just didn't seem to even care. You would always be polite, but distant…'
"Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm perfectly fine. Why'd you ask?" The man shrugged and exhaled, readjusting the bag slung over his shoulder, which was laden with most of the medical supplies from the woman's car. 'Probably askin' about the arm.'
"Your smile… I guess I'm not used to seeing you smile like that." The woman stopped and looked at the powerful Alter user.
Feeling a slight blush come up on his face, he turned away and kept walking. "Er… How would you know what my smile's like? Not like I do that a bunch."
Jogging lightly to catch up with him, Mimori blurted out, "Don't you remember your time in HOLY? I… we spent time together then. How could you forget that? You were smiling so much then…" She giggled as she remembered his table manners in the fanciest restaurant in the City.
"I had fun then, even though I didn't want to. You really seemed as out of place there as I was. Guess that's why you were stuck with me, huh? I gotta say though… I wouldn't have wanted to have anybody else hangin' with me. They were all too stiff. Least you knew how to relax a little." Kazuma reached out his hand and helped her over another big rock. He had a pensive look on his face, as though he was trying to drag his forgotten memories to the surface.
"Well, I certainly couldn't imagine you sitting peacefully with Ryuho, or another Alter user for that matter. You really like to get into fights, don't you?" Looking on the horizon, the doctor could see the tiny house that they were heading towards.
Completely ignoring her question, because it was so obvious, the fiery man continued to delve deeper and deeper into his memory. Smiling slyly at his companion, he chuckled and said, "If I remember right, you were rockin' that dress like it was nobody's business. Don't see too many girls lookin' that nice where I come from."
"K-Kazuma!" Blushing heavily, her eyes widened slightly. 'Was that some form of compliment? I… wasn't expecting him to remember anything…' Inwardly, she lamented the outfit she had worn that night, 'Why couldn't I have picked out something with sleeves!'
The dull and lifeless light shining from Kazuma had been replaced with a much more radiant luster, and the frown that had been a constant lately was long gone. There was a genuine smile on Kazuma's face. One that had not been seen in a long time.
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Author's Notes: Why did I do this fiction? I don't know… I guess I wanted to have a longer piece with this couple. I always felt like there was some onscreen chemistry between the two. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, there will be more on the way, but I'm not sure when I'll update. By the way, I had to use ghetto-lines because the Line tool in the document editor wasn't working... I wasn't too happy of a person when I figured that one out. I always use the Lines to separate the story from the random crap that nobody ever reads.
