Special Day! Chapter 1: Hatsune's Surprise!
Momo:This is my first fanfic that I have ever posted, so criticism to help me improve my writing skills would be great. Reviews would be nice; if I get a bunch I may be inspired to write more stories. No flaming please.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
***Otonashi***
"Hey boys, it's time to get up!" I hear a female voice, most likely my aunt, yell from down the hall.
I open my eyes to find the sun shining in my face, so I close them again and roll over. Right then I hear the door to my room open. Too exhausted to see who it is, I keep my eyes closed hoping they will go away.
"Hey Yuzuru, get up!" I hear that all too familiar voice – not my aunt, but my brother Yuzero – trying to disturb my sleep yet again.
I groan and pull the blanket over my head.
"Come on man, we don't have time for this." He says without giving up. Seeing I have no intention of getting up, he adds, "That's fine; I'll just go tell Hatsune you felt like sleeping instead of going to see her on such an important day."
I can just picture the smirk on his face, but that does catch my attention.
"Fine," I mumble as I sit up in bed. "I'll be ready in twenty minutes."
"Whatever, but Aunt Kana is almost done making breakfast so don't take too long," Yuzero says as he leaves the room.
I wait a minute after he leaves to finally pull myself out of bed. I then head to the bathroom to take a shower.
About seven minutes later I'm stepping out of the bathroom with a towel around my waist, heading for my room across the hall when I hear my cousin Saki yell down the hall from the kitchen.
"Hurry up Zuru (1); we are leaving in fifteen minutes!"
"Alright!" I yell my response down the hall as I enter my room to get dressed.
I end up just wearing a red t-shirt with some faded jeans and a pair of sneakers. I run my hand through my hair as I do a once over of my room to see if I need anything. When I spot my backpack, I pick it up and check it to make sure all the things I need are in it. I then leave, shut the door and head down the hall to the kitchen.
"Good, you're ready!" Saki exclaims as I walk in. Saki is a middle school student, she has emerald eyes, comes to about my chest in height, she has silk black hair like her father that is somewhat wavy, it falls past her butt. She is one of those kids that have that hyperactive childish voice and is almost always bouncing off the wall.
"Go ahead and have a seat, you have enough time to eat breakfast before you go," my aunt says, handing me a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. So I take a seat at the table and start to eat.
"So do we have everything we need to go visit Hatsune?" Saki asks, staring at me from across the table.
"I think so," I say, stuffing another forkful of eggs in my mouth, which just makes her giggle.
"Alright."
"How many times do I have to tell you? You're not coming with us to visit our sister," comes a voice from the hall.
"I can go. Zuru already said I could." Saki protests, arms crossed, facing the person that has just entered the room.
"Well, there is no point in you coming with us," Yuzero says, leaning against the wall.
"Hatsune may be your little sister, but she's my cousin. I can go with you to visit her if I want!" Saki shouts at him with fire in her eyes. "You're just being a big stubborn jerk Zero!"
Why does he have to pick a fight? I think to myself, finishing the last bite of bacon.
"I'm not stubborn." My brother responds before turning his attention to me. "Do we really have to drag the runt with us?" He asks while jabbing a finger in Saki's direction.
I swear these two remind me of a couple of people I once saw in a dream.
"Yes Zero,' I say in Saki's defense. 'Hatsune would be happy to see her."
"Whatever" is his only response.
I then get up and bring my plate to the sink to rinse it off and put it in the dishwasher. Sometime during the chaos Aunt Kanako slipped out of the kitchen, and is now coming back with something in her hand.
"Here Yuzuru dear, give this to Hatsune for me, it's from Uncle Hatori and I," Aunt Kanako says, handing me a gift bag. She is slightly shorter than I am, has brown eyes, and shoulder length light brown hair.
"I'll make sure she gets it," I say, taking the bag with a smile. "If you two are done being children and are ready we can go now," I add, turning to the two glaring at each other.
"I'm ready to go when you are," Yuzero says, breaking the staring contest between the two.
"I just need to grab my bag," Saki says, racing down the hall to her room.
"All ready!" She exclaims before I can count to ten. When she comes back she has a teddy bear backpack on and a smile on her face.
So we say our goodbyes to our aunt and start walking to the Cancer Center that Hatsune is at.
When we approach the check-in desk, we are greeted by a familiar face. Arisa, the girl we've come to know during our frequent visits, smile as she sees us.
"Hey Zuru, hey Zero, it's good to see you. Here to see your sister?" she asks. She has blonde hair then falls to her mid-back and brown eyes.
"Yep, how is she today?" I ask, signing myself in before handing the clipboard to Zero.
"She's doing very well today, and will be delighted to see you. Who's the tag-along?" Arisa questions while glancing at Saki standing next to me.
"Oh this is our cousin Saki," I say, returning the smile.
"Oh, well it's always a pleasure to see new faces. I'm Arisa by the way!" she says and smiles at Saki. She then turns to me, handing me the forms to fill out for new guests.
I fill the forms out with a little help from Saki, then hand her the clipboard and pen. Saki scans through to make sure all the info is correct. Then she signs her name and hands it to Arisa.
"Here you go," Saki says enthusiastically.
"Thank you!" Arisa says taking it and looking it over. "Alright, here are your passes." She hands each of us our visitors' passes and says we can go to her room now.
As we walk down the hall, a couple of nurses and doctors wave to me and say hello. When we reach Hatsune's room I go in first to make sure she isn't startled by too many visitors at first. She is sitting in her bed looking out the window when I come in.
She looks healthier today. I think to myself. "Hey Hatsune..." That gets her attention, so she turns to me.
"Big Brother, it's so good to see you!" A big smile grows on her face when she sees me. It makes me smile to see her in such a good mood. I pull a chair to her bedside and sit down.
"It's good to see you're getting better. You look much better than when I saw you two days ago."
"I feel a lot better too," she nods reassuringly.
"Actually I've got a surprise for you."
She looks at me with curiosity filled in her sparkling rust colored eyes.
"I'll be right back." I get up and open the door, but when I look out the two are ignoring each other, arms crossed over their chest facing different directions. "You can come in now." I state catching the attention of both and signaling that they can come in.
'I swear Yuzero needs to learn to act his age and not so immature,'
When I look back at my sister after shutting the door behind the two she has a great big smile on her face, with joy, shock, and curiosity in her eyes.
"Happy Birthday!" we all say at the same time as if we rehearsed on the way here.
Then I sit back down in my seat next to her bed as the other two pull up chairs to sit in as well. I take my backpack off and put it on the floor in front of me with the bag with the gift from Aunt Kana and Uncle Hatori.
"Oh thank you! It's so good to see all of you!" Tsune (2) cheers with a bright smile. "Saki, I'm so happy you're here! I haven't seen you in a while!" Her smile drops a little at the last part, but she brings it right back up.
"I'm happy I finally got to come see you, I've been wanting to for a while!" Saki says, just as childish and cheerful as Hatsune. They both giggle.
"Bro I haven't seen you in a few days, how have you been!?" Tsune turns her smile towards Yuzero; he's the one that got her to start calling him 'Bro'.
"I've been doing well, much better now that I get to visit you again. You look much healthier then when I was here last." He has a big smile on his face as he chuckles a bit.
Giggling, she turns towards me, "I thought you had forgotten my birthday big brother, you hadn't said a word about it at all when you've visited all week or before letting them in!" She exclaims.
"I wouldn't forget my own sister's birthday." I smile.
"Actually he was reluctant to get out of bed this morning until I reminded him what day it was," Yuzero says with a chuckle, which makes her and Saki laugh.
"Whatever." I just roll my eyes.
"Hey how about we play a game?" Yuzero looks around for a response. He always acts much nicer when with Hatsune, but then again so do I.
"What kind of game?" Curiosity strikes the young girl on the bed for the third time today.
"How about go fish or something? You've got cards don't you Yuzuru?" He says the last part with a mocking tone as he turns towards me.
"Go fish sounds fun, can we play?" Hatsune directs her question to me.
"Of course I have cards, and yes we can play." I smile as I grab my bag off the floor and take the deck of cards out of it.
After a game of go fish, which Saki has won, we play some other card games for a while. Time passes really fast with all of us having so much fun. Before we know it the lunch bell rings throughout the building. I collect all the cards and put them away, and then we just sit and chat about random things till the nurse opens the door.
"Oh, I'm sorry there is to be no guests during meal times." She says from the door.
She must be substituting for Yuki, the normal lunch lady.
"Huh... But Big Brother is here during lunch time all the time." Hatsune tries to explain.
"Hmm..." Right then we see Hatsune's doctor walking by talking to another doctor, I know both very well.
"Hey Dr. Souma, Dr. Fujiwara, good to see you!" I give small waves when the two look back.
"Oh, Dr. Fujiwara, this is one of your patients, is it not?" The nurse asks the doctor mentioned.
"It is," He responds, eyeing her with a questioning look.
"So you are aware that she is not allowed to have guests during meal time right?" She glances back at us then back to him.
"Yes I am aware, but the two boys are always here. They're her only family. Plus today is the girl's birthday. Let them stay." He walks past her towards us with a smile.
"I see," Her features softens as a smile springs to her face. She's about to move from the door to give Hatsune her lunch when Dr. Souma interrupts her.
"Here why don't I bring that in so you can get on to the next person, they're probably hungry as well." He smiles at her taking the tray.
"Oh alright, thank you." She returns the smile and walks away with the cart of lunch trays.
Dr. Souma comes in and places it onto one of those slide tables they have at hospitals and rehabs. Then I slide the table in front of Hatsune so she can eat.
Dr. Fujiwara is a tall man with short dark brown hair and brown eyes, while Dr. Souma has short black hair and brown eyes. Dr. Souma's hair covers his left eye; he keeps it this way to cover up a scar across his eye. He got the scar in an accident when still living at the Souma estate.
"Well it's nice to see you're doing so well Miss Hatsune." Dr. Fujiwara smiles at her, and then looks around. "Hmm... It's good to see you boys again, but I don't think I recognize the little lady."
"That's because it's her first time visiting," Dr. Souma says as he leaned against the wall behind her.
"Oh, is it now? Well Miss Souma it's a pleasure to meet you," Dr. Fujiwara comments, smiling at her.
"How did you...?" She starts to ask.
"You look a bit like your father, Miss Souma." He smiles at the two.
"Just call her Saki." Dr. Souma states, or as we call him Uncle Hatori.
"It's good to see you Uncle Tori." Hatsune smiles before taking the last bite of her lunch.
"You as well dear, how was your lunch?" He smiles and pulls up a little foldable chair from the corner.
"It was fine." She smiles with glee.
"Well I should go, you may take a break to spend time with your niece on her birthday, but not too long Hatori." Dr. Fujiwara gave our uncle a look of warning before leaving.
"Hey while Papa's here, why don't you open your gifts?" Saki says, smiling.
"Ok, but you guys didn't have to get me anything." Hatsune and smiles with an embarrassed blush.
"Alright, I can take a few minutes, who is going first?" Uncle Hatori looks around for any volunteers.
"I'll go first, unless someone else wants to," Saki suggests.
"That will work!" Hatsune says while turning to her cousin. They both have huge smiles on their faces and when they make eye contact both girls burst out laughing.
"Ok" Saki then pulls out what looks like a picture album. "It's a scrap book I've been working on for a while. It has tons of pictures of all our family and friends, and from all the times we used to hang out. We could put some from today in here as well.' She hands it over and adds, 'I've been taking pictures so I can get them printed and bring them back in a few days." Hatsune looks through a few of the pages then closes it and puts it down in her lap.
"Oh thank you Saki, I'll look through the rest of it later once everyone leaves!" She has a soft smile on her face but you could see a little of sadness in her eyes as she says the last part.
"Alright, papa it's your turn to give her the gift from you and mama!" Saki cheered turning towards her father sitting next to her at the edge of the bed. Saying this also seems to lighten Hatsune's spirits, which makes her giggle. Speaking of gifts from them I lean down and grab the bag in front of me on the floor and hand it to Hatsune.
"Big Brother it's not your turn!" Hatsune declares, trying to hand the bag back.
"I know, this is from Uncle Hatori and Aunt Kanako, she gave it to me this morning to give to you, probably didn't expect him to be sitting here when you opened it." I just chuckle as a look of understanding washes over her features.
"Thank you, I was going to bring it and drop it off on my lunch break but I was rushing out the door this morning and forgot to grab it," Uncle Hatori explains with a slight chuckle of embarrassment.
"It's fine, I didn't mind having to bring it for you." I just chuckle.
Hatsune starts to take the tissue paper out of the bag when she sees something and stops, she then reaches in and pulls out four mega manga. They are all three-in ones, so technically she got twelve manga. She lets out a squeal.
"Yay, Thank you Uncle Tori, I borrowed the first one of this series from another patient last week and fell in love with the story plot. Now I have all twelve volumes, it's the whole series. Thank you so much, and thank Aunt Kana for me too." The smile she has on her face is genuine and comes from her heart.
"I'm glad you like it, we were afraid you wouldn't." He gives her a soft smile.
Alright now it is Yuzero's turn so Hatsune turns to her right where Yuzero is sitting.
"Here you go!" he says handing her a small bag. She takes it while trying to suppress giggles but failing.
"Thank You!" she smiles, she takes the tissue paper out of the bag and finds a little box inside.
When she opens the little box, she gasped, her eyes grew big, and she had shock and joy written all over her face. Inside was a very beautiful silver charm bracelet. A green dragon, a blue flower, a red guitar, an orange paw-print, a yellow smiley face, a purple unicorn, a pink lightning-bolt, and a brown teddy bear dangle from the bracelet.
"Oh, it's so pretty! Thank you Bro!" She exclaims with joy. Yuzero leans over and takes it out of the box to put it on her right hand.
"Glad you like it, but it is from both Yuzuru and I!" He smiles down at her.
"Thank you both so much!" She looks from Yuzero to me.
"Did you like all your gifts?" Yuzero asks.
"Mmhm... I love all my gifts! Thank you all so much!"
"Well it looks like that's everything. I'm sorry, but I have soccer practice in an hour so I should probably get home so I can get ready. But I really don't want to go," Saki explains with a slight frown and her head facing the ground.
"Oh no, it's alright, you should go. Just promise you'll come visit soon, and bring more pictures for us to put in the scrapbook!" Hatsune just smiles at Saki which in return makes Saki start to giggle.
"Will do, as long as one of these two can bring me," Saki says in a playful tone and smiles, pointing at Yuzero and I.
"Don't worry, we will!" Yuzero and I said unanimously, our enthusiasm as uplifting to the girls as their cheeriness to us. I looked over to Yuzero to find him looking at me with that smirk on his face. That happens so regularly with the two of us it's normal, but still tends to get laughs out of people.
"I should get back to work, Happy Birthday Hatsune." Uncle Hatori stands up gives her a kiss on the forehead.
"Bye Uncle Tori!" Tsune smiles and waves goodbye.
"Bye papa, see you tonight!" Saki says as he kisses her on the forehead. He waves to my brother and I, then leaves to get back to work.
"Well we should go to so you can rest and Saki can get ready for soccer practice." I give her a soft smile as she turns towards me.
"Alright, I'm a little tired anyway!" she exclaims with a big yawn.
I take the picture album and put it on the desk next to her bed. Then take her new manga and stack them right next to the album. Yuzero gets up and puts his chair back where it was, as Saki does the same. I pick up all the tissue paper and gift bags and fold them all up to put in my backpack; Aunt Kanako likes reusing them. Then I put my chair back where it was, fold up Uncle Hatori's chair and lean it back against the wall where it was before. Saki says goodbye promising to come back soon, Yuzero says goodbye promising to be back with in the week, then I say goodbye promising to be back tomorrow.
Momo: It's just a little something I threw together, I was thinking about leaving it as a one shot but have decided to continue as a story. I would like to thank TinyPalm for helping me revise this. Also BooBearPurpleHeadmy beloved little sister for listening to me reread this about four times, each time after editing it.
1: Zuru is the nickname for Yuzuru as Zero is the nickname for Yuzero.
2: Tsune is the nickname for Hatsune.
Review please!
And remember this is my first fanfic.
Hope I did ok, and that everybody enjoyed.
Bye for now, and thanks for reading!