Bête Noire
Chapter1: The Scent of White Roses
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or Digimon.
Genre: Angst/Drama
Rating: M
Summary: "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Yukimura Seiichi yells, his eyes murderous. Everyone is looking at him. "I-I came here to mourn your sister's death, " Kari answers him. "You dare- ?! After all you're the one who put her in her grave!" He, then, lunges at her, his hands going for her throat.
The fragrant scent of white roses hangs in the air.
Everyone is dressed in black.
The guests are faceless to Kari; she doesn't know them. They attend the funeral held for Michihiro Yukimura, the youngest child of the Yukimuras who have died tragically by the hands of another, the hands of a monster. The air is stricken with grief, and even the sky that is the color of misery makes the impression as if it wants to weep with them.
Kari waits patiently for her turn to lay a single white rose in the girl's grave as she stares at her portrait instead of the girl in the coffin, too guilty to face her.
The man who looks like a father in front of her has laid his flower in her coffin and then retreats.
Not it's finally her turn.
Her heartbeats quicken in anticipation, even though her heart feels heavy enough to tear.
Kari has just taken one step forward to pay her respect and mourn when suddenly a voice booms in the air as harshly as the cry of thunder.
"WHY IS SHE HERE?!" Yukimura Seiichi, Yukimura Michihiro's beloved brother yells at his parents, before he turns to her.
His eyes are wild, crazed - murderous. He looks like he is about to commit a crime. Everyone is looking at him.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"
"I-I came here to mourn your sister's death, " Kari answers him with her throat constricting.
"To mourn her death? To mourn her death?! How dare you?! You're the one who put her in her grave after all!"
The guests gasp at his accusation, some of them starting to whisper about the degree of truth in it until the most authoritative of them tell them to shut up. Even though they all know that the objective truth, they are so easily swayed by another's words.
Kari, however, is struck by his hurtful words, wobbling a few steps back. She almost stumbles and starts crying, embarrassing herself in front of the assembly of people.
"Kari!" She hears her brother shouting for her, as he rushes towards her, the sound of grass crunching under his shoes.
Yukimura, however, pays no need to it and lunges at her, his hands going for her throat.
He would've probably tackled her to the ground by her neck and choked her senseless if it hadn't been for his parents who held him back in the last moment. "You bitch, how dare you to show your face here after you've left my sister to die?!"
Kari's brother goes between him and her, standing protectively in front of her and moving both of them back.
In the meanwhile, his parents desperately try to calm down their son and reprimanded him at the same time. "Seiichi! It is not her fault that Michihiro is dead. If it is anyone's fault then it is that vile man's! Don't you dare to twist the truth!"
"Lies! All lies! Would my sister be dead if she hadn't taken her away from the wedding?! Bring her back, you bitch!"
Yukimura is struggling violently to break free from his parent's grip, fully intending to lunge at her again. "I'm going to kill you!"
"Seiichi! How dare you to talk about murder at your sister's funeral?!"
The other guests agree with his mother's opinion and start reproaching him as if they had the right to interfere in the business of Yukimura's. As if they hadn't just swayed towards antagonism concerning the Yagami girl, and now they're turning against the son of the Yukimura's. They are so fickle it hurts.
"I don't care! I'm still going to kill her! She deserves to die! Who dared to invite her anyway?!"
"We're the ones who did. She's only here because we invited her!"
His parent's confession silences and stills him but only for one moment before he screams and thrashes again.
"She's the reason why this funeral has to be hold in first place! How could you've done that?!"
He's struck Kari's nerve once again and her legs shook. She would've crumbled to the ground if it hadn't been for the tight grip of her brother holding her upright by her waist. She hasn't even realized that he has moved her away from the Yukimuras without her realization, from the furious young man who is spewing accusations of murder.
"Seiichi!" The sound of his mother's slap cuts through the air like a hot knife and echoes hauntingly like bells just like her voice that is able to shatter glass. All the other guests gape and stared in shock.
Yukimura's head whips to the side from the harshness of her slap.
"That's enough. Say anything else to degrade her further and I'll disown you," she announces in front of all the guests; it's not an empty threat, she can make it come true any time.
Yukimura sneers. "Disown me? Disown me? You would disown your own son for that bitch? She's the reason why your daughter is dead! You're the worst, mother."
An expression of hurt spreads across her face like the web of a spider and she looks like she wants to hit him for his disrespect again.
However, this time it's his father who hits him
"Seiichi," his father's voice slices through the argument. "Enough. Don't you dare to be disrespectful towards your own mother."
Yukimura is in shock. His father isn't a brute who would resort to violence as a solution, especially not on his own children; he has never hit him before. His father is like a kind and gentle and reasonable man. He must've really angered his father this time. He keeps his tongue in check.
Then, his father turns to Kari. "Please forgive my son's behavior, Kari. We don't blame you in any way. We both know that it is a tragic incident."
His wife's also eyes are soft with understanding. She approaches Kari who tenses up unintentionally, irrationally fearing another barricade of accusations because she might decide to take her her son''s side after all she never does. Her brother nevertheless pressed her tighter against his side protectively, his arm tightening around her petite frame. She suddenly feels weak, exposed like her body is cut open, her insides out for everyone to see and take a nick.
However, Yukimura's mother's words don't tear her open further but they stitch her flesh back together instead. "No one is blaming you, Kari. I knew what happened. You didn't abandon Michihiro. I saw it with my own eyes: you were almost raped, too, by a man that night. Another tragedy has almost happened. I'm just glad it never did. You did nothing wrong."
She's a kind woman, Kari realizes. It makes her want to cry.
She touches Kari's cheek. "My daughter was such a shy girl. She wasn't one to make friends easily and she is often lonely. So, it had been highly unusual for her to introduce a friend to us. She even clung to your arm. I never forgot that sight. The happiness on my daughter's face."
The woman's statement about her daughter's lack of friends rings true, reflected in the age gape of the attending guests; there were many mid-aged to old people but almost no young ones. The mourning guests are mostly the friends of Michihiro's parents. Michihiro is loved by the old but not by her peers.
The mother's lilac eyes are a reflection of her son's in the term of shape but not color and fill with tears. "I see so much of my child in you. You two have the same kind of heart. I would've liked to have you as my second daughter."
Kari's own eyes fill with tears at the confession of the other woman. "Mother…"
The older woman smiles, then hugs out of impulse.
The funeral ends eventually that day.
The sky finally dares to weep.
Ten years later…
"I told you to avoid doing business with that man. Now you're creating unnecessary problems for me!" Yukimura reprimands his subordinate sharply on the phone, sitting in the office of the CEO – who is himself. "I don't care. Take care of this, this is your job, not mine."
Then, he puts down the phone with slightly more force than necessary, angry and frustrated at the incompetence of this particular subordinate.
It has been ten years since his parents have died. They have left their cooperation behind for him to rule. The Yukimura Enterprise, one of the most powerful business lines in Japan but it means nothing to him. It is nothing but a tool for revenge. Everyone he loved is now dead.
It is as if they have followed their beloved daughter into her death; he isn't surprised about that, especially considering his mother but he has been when it came to his father. He's thought he would be stronger.
A knock interrupts him.
"Come in."
His secretary enters his grand office with a calculating smile and says, "Yukimura-sama, the bête noire project is done."
A sinister grin splits his face in two. "Finally."
His secretary hands him the tablet she is holding. "Those are the final test results."
He takes the device from her, his eyes scanning the document with satisfaction. "Perfect."
"If you don't mind me asking, Yukimura-sama, what is the bête noire project about?"
"It's just as the name of the project implies," he answered her cryptically, letting her decipher the meaning of his answer on her own.
He stares down at the streets below him, touching the glass of the window with one hand, his gaze lingering on all women who have brown hair. Their resemblance to that particular woman is only skin-deep; limited to their hair color. Kari Yagami is above them all, he thinks, putting her on a pedestal ironically. He hates her but he respects her ability to make his mother feel fondness towards her. Not anyone could do that.
However, he still loathes her until today and remembers one particular incident that makes him particularly angry. But not only he remembers, Kari does so as well.
Six months after Michihiro's funeral, the Yukimuras invite Kari to their house without their son's knowledge. They don't think it is important to inform him because he is out today with friends anyway. He would've been against it anyway.
Kari has accepted the invitation and found out that the house of the Yukimura's is large but rather tasteful than extravagant with ocher-walls, forget-me-not flowers (the meaning of the flowers is not lost on Kari) and a few paintings. The interior is full of soft rather sharp angles on contrary to Kari's expectations.
The Yukimuras are really nice people, Kari confirms once again when she has been served oolong tea and Chinese lotus cake by them with the utmost happiness and respect.
Yukimura's mother has processed her daughter's death more or less well but Kari still sees the heavy sorrow she hid behind her mask.
"Do you like sweets, Kari?" She asks her.
"Yes, I love them! My brother always warns me to not to eat so many because I might get cavities from them, though."
The other woman laughs good-naturedly. "Just tell him that you'll brush your teeth carefully afterward. But that's so sweet of your brother to worry about you. All big brothers worry about their little sisters, don't they? He's just like Seiichi in that aspect."
She flinches in surprise when the other woman's hand touches hers.
"Please forgive my son for what he'd said to you at the funeral," she tells her sadly. "He didn't mean it. He is just… unable to deal with his emotions because he hasn't been able to accept his sister's death."
Kari has never been able to banish the words he had said to her during the funeral and sometimes she even has nightmares about it but nevertheless she reassures his mother, "I never held a grudge against him for it."
Yukimura's mother smiles gratefully at her. "That silly child. But I can't blame his inability to cope with his sister's death. He has always protected his little sister after all. He had wanted her grow up into a happy young woman; it had been his dream."
This astonishes Kari but she stays quiet. Yukimura's mother continues with sadness,
"It's no wonder that it has almost destroyed him when he couldn't protect her from that man."
"He wanted her to grow up into a happy young woman?" Kari repeats carefully but a frown still graced her pretty features. "Does that mean she was unhappy?"
"I wouldn't say unhappy but rather burdened. She had been bullied by some nasty girls in school and it didn't look like they were going to stop until I had stepped in and put them in their rightful place myself, namely far below my daughter." Her hard expression of anger melts into sadness. "Sadly, my daughter is fragile, you know?" Yukimura's mother says sadly before she gritted her teeth. "Those damn creatures. How dare they to prey on my beloved child! If it hadn't been for the principal back then, I would've wrung their neck."
Yukimura's mother still remembers vividly that she had slapped those girls so hard that their cheeks had been bruised for two weeks straight according to Michihiro. It had served them right. She'd wanted to go further, though.
"Michihiro had been bullied?" Kari states in disbelief, her voice snapping her back out of her memory. "I can't believe that. Who would bully such a nice girl?"
Yukimura's feel another flash of hot anger. "I can't believe it either. But yes, unfortunately she had been bullied. You know my daughter isn't as outgoing as you're; she comes after her grandmother rather than me or my husband. She had been unfortunately an anxious which had been exactly what those creatures were waiting for!"
"That's- that's horrible!" Kari agrees, now angry herself. She hates people who prey on the weak. She remembers the time when her friend has been bullied and ganged upon by a quartet of girls, and she has done exactly the same as Yukimura's mother: put those girls in their place. Friends needed to stick together and protect each other.
Her reaction seems to please the woman of the Yukimura family.
She smiles brightly, "Tell me, Kari, if you have attended the same school as my daughter, would you've tried to protect her as well?"
"Of course, ma'am. I would've protected Michihiro with my life," Kari declares with sincerity.
"That's exactly what I've wanted to hear," Yukimura's mother's eyes light up. "You two are so selfless when it comes to other people. And you just confirmed what I have thought: you would've been perfect as Michihiro's older sister; I would've loved to have you as my second daughter."
Kari understood why she had wanted her as her second daughter: because of their overwhelming similarities.
Michihiro and her are like two kindred souls, twin-flames even. They share similar fears and dreams and aspirations; they are like the reflection of each other in spite of fundamental external differences. She has seen so much of herself in the other girl and the other way around, too. It is such a tragedy that Michihiro is no longer with them.
And the woman in front of her is her mother. Such a wonderful, great woman.
Kari swallows the tears back that threatens to well up in her eyes. "I-I- already have a mother but I would've loved to be your daughter as well."
Yukimura's mother smiles and touches Kari's hair, running her hand down it in comfort. A mother's touch. "Such a good child," she says, her voice overbrimming with emotions uncharacteristically.
"I knew that you wouldn't betray my expectations."
She grips Kari's hand and pulls her up. "Why don't you go to Michihiro's room and take a look? My daughter has always wanted to invite a friend to her room but she never had the opportunity to, you know."
"Bu-but I can't do that! I can't just go into your daughter's room!"
Yukimura's mother laughs. "Of course, you can. Michihiro would've been so happy to have you in her room. She would've wanted to do all kind of girly stuff with you like trying on make-up or gossiping about guys. Besides, you've my permission."
Kari is convinced. "Alright. I will go then."
"Enjoy yourself," Yukimura's mother tells her. "Oh, and by the way, why don't you stay for dinner, Kari?"
"Oh no, I couldn't impose!"
"It's not imposing at all. We would be happy to."
Kari smiles. "Alright."
"Very well."
Kari goes upstairs to Michihiro's room.
"Honey, Kari is staying over for dinner," Yukimura's mother tells her husband who has been reading newspaper on the couch the entire time to give them their privacy.
"Oh those are absolutely wonderful news!"
"Absolutely." His wife agrees with a brilliant smile. She hasn't smile like that since her daughter's death. A beginning, a new beginning – they might be able to welcome a second daughter to their family tonight.
"That's why I need you to do some grocery shopping. And, please buy some red wine as well; we ran out."
"Of course, I will. I will go at once."
Yukimura's father stands up and walks out of the house to the garage of his car to get the ingredients. Yukimura's mother goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner but then she spots her husband's car keys on the table of the living room.
"Oh dear, you forgot your keys."
She grabs the keys and hurried after her husband.
"Mother, father, I'm home," Yukimura Seiichi announces, taking off his shoes at the door entrance and putting them away in the shoe shelf.
He waits for his parent's reply but there is none. Strange, he thought.
I am sure they told me that they would be definitely home today.
They have a guest today. He hadn't cared enough to find out who their guest is and disappeared outside to the city to go to the blind dates his friends have set up for him. He had wanted to take off his mind. He'd even dressed up a little for the occasion in a white dress-shirt with blue checkered pattern and a pair of black pants. It has been for nothing, it seems. His date has been an absolute disappointment.
So, he'd come home sooner than expected. He is supposed to be home in the evening for dinner but now he is already there for lunch.
If he had known that his parents weren't home, he would've eaten dinner outside.
He sighs and goes upstairs.
Michihiro's room is pretty and feminine
The room is just the perfect size, not too big, not too small. White and pink is its dominant color scheme. A bookshelf stands at the wall, filled with diverse cute girly things which attracted Kari's curiosity and made her approach it. She takes a look at the contents in the shelf without touching or removing them from their original positions, of course.
When she spots a framed photograph of a young man with blistering red hair and piercing amber eyes, she smiles.
So, this is what you have wanted to show me.
A photo of the captain of a high-school basketball team, apparently cut out from a magazine. The young man is caught by the camera as he leads his team to victory, his gaze focused and passionate, burning brighter than the sun.
Kari understands at once why Michihiro has liked him and she is all the more saddened at the fact that her friend would never be able to confess to this boy and share her love with him. She would never know how requited love feels like. If Kari have known how the party would've ended, then she would've introduced Michihiro to her brother. Tai might not have been a basketball player but he is just as passionate and ambitious when it came to soccer as the boy in the photo. They would've been happy together.
A knock at the door disrupts her train of thoughts.
"Mother, are you here?" Someone asks, then steps into Michihiro's room.
Kari is startled when it turned out to be her brother, Yukimura Seiichi.
His eyes widen in shock when they spot her as well, before hardened with anger. She feels a pang of fear. She hadn't forgotten his attempted assault or his soul-fragmenting words at the funeral. She thinks he's going to hit her.
"What are you doing here?" He growls.
"Your- your mother told me to come here," Kari stammers, having to force out the words from her throat.
He looks as murderous as he had back then during the time of the funeral.
"My mother, my mother, of course it would be her. She must've really lost it after my sister's death," he says cynically to himself with a bitter chuckle.
It makes Kari angry, how dare he to talk about the wonan who gave birth to him like this? He's an infidel son. "Don't talk like that about your mother."
His eyes turn sharply on her with a glare and he grabs her arm hard, making her cry out. "Don't you dare to tell me how I should talk about my mother or not. You have no right to interfere with my business."
His fingers bit into her arm; it is rapidly bruising under his strength. "Let go. You're hurting me."
"Come with me," he orders, going so far to drag her out of his sister's room. At first, Kari lets him.
"You've no right to be here, especially after her death! What makes you think you can be here? How do you think my sister would've reacted? She would've been angry at you, hated you, of course!"
She would've loved to have you in her room.
Yukimura's mother's words suddenly give her the strength she needed to tear her arm out of his grip.
"That's not true! Your sister would've loved to have me here! She have told me herself that she have a picture of her crush she wanted to show me!"
He stops in his tracks, stunned at first. "What did you just say?"
"You heard me," Kari says, meeting his gaze firmly.
"And, I'm going to stay. You've no right to make me leave. I will stay until your sister would be satisfied if she is still here."
"Does that mean you just snooped around in her room and went through her things?" He asks sharply.
"So what if I did? Your sister has told me herself that she wanted to show me her things."
He smiles sinisterly; it made all the fine hairs on her neck stand up.
"You're such a shameless girl, aren't you?"
She takes a step back but it is already too late.
Suddenly he grabs her arm and flings her onto his sister's bed,
this time successfully going for her neck with no one to stop him.
Kari panics.
She's being crushed under him, not only under the weight of his hands on the base of her throat but mostly under the weight of his heavy body on the top of her stomach. Her body is growing numb, she is pinned below him with no way of defending herself, even though her hands are gripping his wrists hard.
She is suffocating!
"How shameless can you be?! Going on a room-tour in my sister's room, even though you're the one who put her in her grave?!"
"Yukimura-san," she manages to choke out, and wondered how long she could still stay lucid. "I can't-"
But he isn't listening. His beautiful face is a grimace of fury and hatred. She is already starting to black out, the sight of the figure above her starting to blur.
Unconsciousness is calling to her.
Suddenly he is ripped off her. Her mother has ripped her son off her, enabling Kari to lurch to the side and cough violently, clutching her throat that is already beginning to bruise.
She slaps her son hard across the face. "Seiichi, how dare you?! You almost strangled her, do you realize that?! You almost killed the friend of your sister!"
"She's not my sister's friend, why don't you realize that mother?! She's the one who put her in her grave! I should've killed her the first time I saw her! I should've never let her get close to my sister! I would've definitely strangled her to death if you haven't interfered, mother!"
"Seiichi! Do you even know what you're saying?!"
"Of course, I do, mother!"
"No, you don't! You don't at all! Don't talk about murder so easily, especially not about the murder of a girl who is so precious to your sister!"
"She's not precious to my sister! She's not her friend! She's her murderer! Why don't you see that! Why do you see so much of Michihiro in her instead?! She can't replace your daughter, no matter how much you want to!"
"Shut up! One more word and I'll erase your name from our family register!"
To the shock of Kari and his mother, Yukimura laughs. "You already said that during the funeral. But I know you, mother. I know that you're not bluffing."
"Stop it!" Thy both turn to look at her in shock because she is the one who have raised her voice this time. "Please don't argue anymore because of me. I will go home."
"Kari…"
Yukimura clicks his tongue. "Tsk, playing the martyr now?"
"Shut up, Seiichi!" His mother barks before she softened her tone when turning to Kari. "Are you okay, Kari? Can I bring you a glass of water? Ointment? Maybe we should call the doctor-"
She shakes her head. "I'm fine, Yukimura-san. I'm tired for today. I will just go home."
"Then, let me drive you home-"
"It's okay. I can drive myself."
"I-I see. I'm really sorry about what just happened, Kari. I will make sure to discipline my son. Please don't hold it against him. And, please don't hate us."
Kari shakes her head again. "I could never hate you."
"Then, will you come by to visit us again? You're always welcome in our home."
Kari nods with a faint smile but there is no sincerity in her eyes, only tiredness.
She excuses herself before she goes downstairs and leaves the house of the Yukimura's.
"Look at what you've done!" His mother shouts at him after that bitch is gone.
"I know what I did, mother."
"You-" She raises her hand to slap him again but stops when she saw that there is no life in his eyes. A part of his soul is still dead on the inside because of his sister's death. "I've not raised you to become like this. Go, I don't want to see you again, Seiichi."
She is disappointed in him; he could see it in her eyes.
That night, Yukimura Seiichi packs his things and leaves home.
When Yukimura's father comes home, he announces happily, "I'm home, love! I've brought the best wine I found! We even have lobster and – What's wrong, my dear?"
He, however, finds his wife, sitting on the couch with an expression of sorrow that makes her look old and exhausted. She smiles emptily at him. "Honey."
When she has told him Kari has left and that she probably won't come back anymore and that perhaps the same might apply to Seiichi, her husband drops his groceries and walks towards his wife to embrace her with an expression that is a mirror to hers. They might not only have lost a daughter today but also their son.
The windshield wiper swings like a pendant, keeping the plane of glass free from the rain to make it possible to see the road.
However, the sight of the road is blurred for a completely different reason as repressed tears well up in her eyes as she remembers Yukimura's hurtful words.
"How shameless can you be?! Going on a room-tour in my sister's room, even though you're the one who put her in her grave?!"
"She's not precious to my sister! She's not her friend! She's her murderer! Why don't you see that! Why do you see so much of Michihiro in her instead?! She can't replace your daughter, no matter how much you want to!"
However, she has luck with the traffic because of the lack of cars on the street due the rain today, managing to drive home safely.
"I'm home, Tai," Kari announces, forcing a smile on her face as she arrived home.
"Welcome home, Kari. How is your stay at the Yukimura-"
Tai stops his sentence abruptly. "Who did this to you?"
"What-"
Suddenly Kari realizes that he must've meant the thick purple ring of a bruise Yukimura's crushing grip must've left around her neck.
"It was that bastard, wasn't it?" Her brother have always been an ESP when it came to her. He had been against her going to the Yukimuras in first place, even though he understood that the married couple liked Kari and would've treated her well, he also understood the danger their son posed to her. However, he had let her go in the end after she had convinced him.
"I'm going to kill him! "I'm going to beat him into a pulp! How dare he to lay his hands on you?!"
"Tai, calm down!" Kari urges him, holding him back with great difficulty as he is on the way out to the Yukimuras.
"How can I calm down?! He tried to strangle you!"
"Tai, Kari – what's wrong?" Suddenly their parents come to the living to see what the commotion is all about.
"Mom, dad, hurry up and help me to hold Tai back! He wants to fight with Yukimura-san!"
"Tai!" Their parents cry out in unison, moving to help Kari to hold her brother back.
"How can you do that?!"
"How can I not?! Mom, dad! He tried to strangle my sister! Isn't that reason enough?!"
They both gasp, then stare silently at each other.
Guilt eats up their hearts.
After a long while, the three of them manage to calm Tai Yagami down and they sit down in the living room to discuss the situation with some tea.
"We need to at least file a report," Tai states.
"We can't do that," his parents reject that idea, though.
He slams his fist furiously on the table. "Why not?! What he did is physical assault! He strangled her!"
His parents exchange glances.
"That's because he's still upset about his sister's death," his parents reason.
"That still doesn't give him the right to do that! Kari is grieving about that girl's death, too, but she doesn't go around and strangles people!"
Kari flinches, even though she knows she has no reason to.
"We know that," their parents say, then sigh, turning their attention on their daughter. "We should let Kari decide. She's the right to after all. If she does, we'll inform the police immediately. Kari, what do you want? Do you want to file a report against him?"
She smiles sadly and shook her head.
"Why not?!" Her brother shouted.
"Because I understand him."
"Her death isn't your fault, Kari!"
"I know but…I still don't want to. Michihiro wouldn't have wanted that too."
Present
It has been a particularly unpleasant memory of Yukimura.
Of course, he has not cut his bonds with his mother afterward and vice-versa but it had been one of the worst arguments he ever had with his parent. He'd moved out and spend a few months in his friend's home until the steam between him and his mother have cooled off. Afterward, the relationship and interaction between them had become strained but they were at least still seeing each other. Nevertheless, Yukimura is painfully aware that he should've spent the valuable time with his mother, with his parents much more preciously.
He would never get it back now.
It is such a tragedy.
And, of course, Kari Yagami has not ever visited their home again.
He should've been overjoyed about it back then but he hadn't been.
Because afterward his mother has descended into an endless spiral of depression, even going so far to take drugs and drink alcohol in excess. It has been what have killed her in the end. Just remembering it, makes him furious and sad.
He has always wondered if he hadn't assaulted and chased Kari Yagami out of their house and had allowed her to become his mother's substitute daughter, would his mother had ended up differently then? Why hadn't he simply allowed her to become his mother's daughter? If it had been what kept his mother alive and her sanity intact, then so be it. But he knows why. He had wanted to be enough for his mother but he hadn't been. In the end, this has caused her demise.
If he'd just gone to her home and apologized to the girl, and let her brother beat him bloody, would she have returned to his mother side and prevented her from becoming a ruined woman?
But even when his mother have gradually worsened, he never sought out Kari and he also knew why: he have been too proud to do so.
However, even though he wondered if it had been his fault, he still hated her. That bitch had promised his mother to visit her again, and yet she had never been back even once, even though his mother had treated her like her own daughter. Her resolve had been just that weak! If she had really loved his mother, then she shouldn't have let him stopped her from seeing his mother! So stupid, such a stupid, spineless girl!
She had not even attended his mother's funeral, even though he have invited her, not because he'd forgiven her but because it is his mother's last wish.
She had not care about his mother at all!
She had not try to help, to protect his mother in any way when she had needed her the most, that ungrateful little bitch!
His mother never had any enemies, because she is one of the most vicious women who has ever existed, but because she had always crushed them under her boot like insects. Her mother had never, ever needed to protected from anyone; the only thing she has needed to be protected from is her bottomless love for his sister that have drove her to her death in the end.
He looks at the family photo on his desk, his eyes clouding over with grief.
It is time to visit his family's grave.
Kari Yagami puts a bouquet of white roses on the grave of Yukimura's mother, paying her deepest respect to older woman who have treated her like her own daughter.
"I'm sorry, Yukimura-san. It took me ten years to face you. But I just couldn't go to your funeral; I was too ashamed."
"Is that so?"
Kari startles when she heard a male voice behind her. She stood up, no longer kneeling before the tombstone of Yukimura's mother and turning around abruptly.
It is the man who she hasn't seen for ten years since the fallout with the Yukimuras; standing before her is Yukimura Michihiro's brother: Yukimura Seiichi.
Kari is overwhelmed by a rollercoaster of emotions. Anxiety. Nostalgia. Shock. Agony. And, even anger. She can only remember how much he had hurt her and a small part of her even resents him for it. Even though she has never held grudges before, she thinks that he's gone too far this time.
It has been so many years since the last time she has seen him.
He's changed physically over the years: he is even taller and bigger now, his body filled out with muscles. But his eyes are still the same, beautiful and the same shape of his mother's. They are what make her feel a pang of pain. Surprisingly, they are devoid of hostility and full of curiosity and even cordiality instead.
He is no longer the eighteen-years old boy from back then. He is now a real man, which showed not only on his body but also his features that have become sharper and more masculine, more mature. He is, however, still as beautiful as back then. She can see so much of his mother in his face. It makes it all the worst.
She suddenly sees a future, an alternative future that however could never become reality now.
He is wearing a red suit that made him look sharp and handsome but it also too bloodthirsty in her opinion. Her own simple blue work dress seems like a counterpart to his crimson suit, her ying to his yang.
"Good afternoon, Yagami-san," he greets her politely, even cordially.
"Good afternoon, Yukimura-san," she greets him back, able to keep her stutter out of her voice.
"Long time no see. Ten years to be exact. It has been ten years since I've seen you the last time."
"Yes, it is."
"Is that all you've to say?" He questioned her.
"What else do you want me to say?" She asks him with a sense of detachment.
"I don't know," he replied casually with an easy-going grin, starting to approach her.
Kari can't keep her sense of detachment towards him, towards the thickening tension of the situation, suddenly having to suppress the urge to take a step back.
"Tell me how you've been the past years for example," he tells her and touches her hair in the same way his mother has done years ago. It shocks her. She flinches.
His luminous grin is still on his face. Even though she is wearing high-heels, she still has to crane her neck to gaze up at him.
The gentle touch of his warm hand on her hair made her heart race, mostly from fear but also from an unknown emotion she couldn't name.
"You've become even more beautiful over the years," he complimented her beauty as if he is enamored with it. It is strange to be praised by him.
He'd definitely noted how she'd changed over the years and he is not lying when he have paid her that compliment. Kari Yagami has definitely blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Her features are even prettier now, sharper and her large eyes more angular than before, betraying her small change in personality. Even her hair-style has changed now; her hair is no longer cut right above her shoulders but now having grown past her shoulders and tied into a French braid.
Kari can't help but to be hypnotized by his stare. But after the spell is broken, she felt a sense of discomfort and pushed him away.
"Please don't touch me," she tells him warily, still feelings his hands around her neck from all the years ago.
"Alright if you say so," he says condescendingly but makes no attempt to enclose their distance a second time to Kari's relief.
"Tell me, did you pay your respects to my mother already?" He inquired instead.
"I did."
"Then, do it again."
She frowns. "Why?"
"She would be probably very happy if you did," he reasoned.
"I guess you're right…," Kari muses aloud, believing that she owed the older woman at least this time but misses the sinister shadow that flits over his face as she listens to him.
She turns her back to him and kneels down, pressing her palms together to pay her respects to the older woman again, closing her eyes.
Yukimura removes something from his pocket.
Suddenly a wet, pungent-smelling cloths presses hard over the lower part of her face by a strong hand, muffling the noises of surprise she's making. She's pulled into a standing position by the man behind her– she can't even dream of defending herself, it is happening too suddenly.
It's Yukimura, she realizes with a chill. She's disappointed. She's hurt. How can he do this to her? Again? She manages to twist her head far enough back to face him, heart slithering into an abyss at the malicious expression on his beautiful face that looks so much like his mother's.
She claws and grabs his hand, but she is fighting a losing battle as she can no longer hold her breath and eventually breathes in the chloroform.
Yukimura-san, don't – She doesn't want this. She doesn't want this to happen. She doesn't want to be his enemy. She isn't his enemy. Why can't he see it? Her large, pleading eyes try to convey her plea but it is pointless, he doesn't care – she is already slipping into unconsciousness.
She blacks out and slumps limply in his arms.
The scent of white roses hangs in the air again.