A/N: Greetings, one and all! Before you pick up those stink-bombs to throw at me, let me apologise. I am sorry for not writing any more Hayate the Combat Butler fanfics. I am also sorry for not writing another City Hunter fanfic in months. And I half-heartedly apologise for writing this Another Universe sequel to The Living Yurei: Reunion is Her Only Salvation. What could I do?! The story wouldn't get out of my head! I had to put it down on paper or go mad. Surely, you don't blame me for choosing sanity over propriety.
So, this is a re-imagined sequel to The Living Yurei. I am not sure if any of you will like it. But I had to write it nonetheless. Let's hope you enjoy reading it. Also, whether I will be publishing the next chapter or not depends on your feedback. So, review away! Please. Seriously, tell me what you think of it.

Disclaimer: I do not own City Hunter or its characters, nor do I own any of the songs mentioned here. Except for the canon characters from City Hunter in this chapter, all the rest are of my creation.

SINCE I SAW HER STANDING THERE

Chapter: 1

"Ma, I tried. It's not my fault. Please"
Maya Nogawa's ghost eyed her daughter with a look filled to the core with contempt, disappointment and shame. She stood next to the burning pyre on which her husband's corpse lay.
"Ma, please. Don't look at me like that. I tried! I swear to you – "
Her precious Ma had already leaped into the pyre.
"Ma!"
'The widows were forced to sacrifice themselves onto their husband's pyre. Sati, they called it'
'Good things are going to happen to us, Saki. Kaori's birthday this year will bring us a lifetime of joys'
"MAAA!"
The breath left Saki Nogawa's body and the echo of her scream seemed to bring it back. She heaved and held her throbbing temples in her hands, struggling to breathe again.
'I am here. I am here. It was a dream, only a dream'
It was a nightmare. Saki struggled to get to her feet, reminding herself that it was just a dream, that Ma had never become a sati, that Ma had never despised her for being alive even though the one she loved was dead, that Ma herself had been dead for more than two decades.
'It was a dream'
With trembling hands, she opened the bottle and the pills scattered on the floor. Sighing and grumbling and reminding herself it was just a dream, Saki gathered the pills one by one and refilled the bottle.
"When you think that you can't take it anymore, take one pill, just one", her doctor had warned her.
Saki thrust that one pill in her mouth, its bitter taste thickening on her tongue, and walked to the kitchen. She had forgotten again to keep a tumbler of water at her bedside.
'It was just a dream'
It was her first pill in three months. Dr. Kimura would be proud.
"They think you are unfit to be around children because of these pills you take, Saki"
Well, why don't they try surviving the death of everyone they love by feasting on dew drops and air? And who had prescribed the pills anyway, Dr. Kimura?
"You have had a nervous breakdown. I had to prescribe this medication. We'll get over the addiction soon enough. I am not giving up on you"
She would have never gone to the psychiatrist were it not for Kenji. He had said she needed help and constant attendance. Boohoo, Kenji, she had survived four months without you or anyone.

It began at Sofu's funeral, she supposed. The people could not help but talk how tragic it was that the old man expired just a month after his wife's death. They would not shut up. Kenji had taken the responsibility of the funeral on his young shoulders, the same way he had done for Sobo's. Saki remembered sitting on a chair, surrounded by her friends. Kenji had come to her,
"Sensei, the priests haven't arrived yet. Have you seen them?"
She recalled,
"No. They were going to be late. I sent Hideyuki-san to fetch them. They should have been here an hour ago"
Aimi and Kenji had looked at her like she had said something terrible. She would not forget that pitiful and horrified look for as long as she lived.
"What did I say?"
She caught the sight of a body covered in white clothing on the unlit pyre.
"Kenji, whose funeral is this?"
Her friends had spent the week after trying to coax her into seeing a doctor. She stoutly denied that she was unwell and that she needed to see a psychiatrist. After they had left, Kenji had sat by her for a long time. She supposed it was his turn to talk her into accepting that she had a disease, but he simply reminisced with her about the olden days.
"Sensei, you should come with me"
"To where?", she had asked.
"To the base. There are many sailors who live with their family"
"Technically, I am not your family, remember?"
"Then let's get married"
She remembered glaring at him as if he had insulted her with the worst expression one could use against a person. He seemed unmoved and quite resolute.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"No. You can live with me then. I can look after you. I don't have to come here often and get barked at by my superiors about the unreasonable amount of emergency holidays I ask for"
"You don't have to come here, Kenji. I never ask you to"
He had said in the same voice, as if she were not walking away but was still sitting next to him,
"I will come whether you ask me or not"
She knew he would. After a long and humiliating confrontation with her own mental state, Saki Nogawa had agreed to consult a psychiatrist, for Kenji's sake, for her friends' sake.

They had diagnosed her with depression and a nervous breakdown. They explained to her why she had the same recurring nightmare, why she could not concentrate well, why the people had stopped leaving orphans at her doorstep, why the school had forced her to take a compulsory retirement. It had taken her a year and a half to recover and get used to the absence of children around her. Her friends would come to visit her when they could. Kenji would come and stock the house with groceries. Her self-respect broke little by little every time he pleaded with her to keep the money he had brought or at least let him hire a house servant. She had always believed that to be obliged was to be sold. But no one would hire her for a job despite of her high qualifications. No one would stop showing her just how much support and help she needed. He was the only exception.

He visited her whenever he was in Japan; once a week, twice a week, sometimes once a month. He showed no pity for her and treated her the way he had been treating her since the first time he had asked her hand in marriage.
"It is a pleasant day, is it not?"
No amount of impoliteness or anger could keep Tsuyoshi Onoda from sitting in the Nogawa backyard, three feet away from Saki. She hesitated to accept it as the truth, but Saki had come to look forward to Onoda-san's visits. As it has been mentioned before, he never made her feel like a patient.
"Of what use is all this beauty if you don't have your loved ones to enjoy it with?", she was in one of her moods.
"You do have people who love you, Miss Saki"
Just when she thought he would remind her of his affections, he said,
"You have your friends. You have Kenji. Mr. and Mrs. Saeba come to visit you often"
"You wouldn't know what it means to lose everyone and everything you care about. And to live everyday feeling worthless and handicapped, having no one to whom you mean something. I wish I could put an end to it all"
He absently kept looking at the sea waves rolling on the beach. Saki assumed he would not reply.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey"
She stared at him, thoroughly bewildered. Japan's toughest business tycoon was singing a love song on her backyard steps.
"You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away"
"Are you…"
"The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamt I held you in my arms…"
She felt her cheeks turning warm for the first time in many years. His singing voice was exceptionally pleasant. He went on,
"When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken. So I hung my head and cried"
Onoda-san looked back at her after finishing his song. They must have looked at each other for quite a while – she in surprise, he in love. Onoda-san said as a matter of fact,
"I love you. Please don't die"
Her recovery had become speedier since that day.

In the house as silent as a cemetery, Saki mopped the floors clean. There was no sound of children's pitter-patter outside the bathing rooms. The clatter of tea cups and saucers from Sobu and Sofu's room was absent. She was alone and recovering from her nightmare in that dark, lifeless house. Soon, she smiled at the thought of it, he would come and the house would gain some semblance of life again. How she had begun to grow fond of Onoda-san, she could not tell. His understanding of her temperament, his conversational quirks, his singing voice, and his unwavering, steadfast love for a miserable person like herself had to be what had finally endeared him to her after eleven years. It was not love on her part, not yet. It was the yearning for good company which understood her and avoided deferring to all she despised about herself. It could not be love though. Love was the ever-present feeling of nostalgia she carried in her heart for Hideyuki.
"Would you like to go someplace today?"
Onoda-san does not believe in greetings. He stands in the door, blocking all the sunlight except the broad rays coming from the sides. Saki bends and puts the vase on the tea-table,
"Won't you come in?"
He does and asks again,
"So what do you say?"
She looks at him and gives a guilty smile,
"I made breakfast"
"Ah"
He removes his coat, loosens his tie, and rolls up his sleeves,
"How may I help?"
"You may not"
More than a decade has passed and he still looks the same. Only on a closer look can one make out the tiny, faint crow feet around his eyes. She had begun to think he wore white shirts on purpose when meeting her.
"I will hold the tea cups", he advances towards the kitchen.
"Stay where you are"
He says in that condescending and mischievous manner so peculiar of him,
"Yes, Sensei"
If Onoda-san had never proposed to her and had simply asked to be her friend, she would not have felt self-conscious around him. He rises to take the tray of food and tea from her hands, and Saki smells the whiff of his enchanting cologne.
"Thank you", she says and sits across him.
"A toast platter?", he asks.
Saki nods,
"Toast done five ways – garlic toast, French toast, cheese garlic toast, mushroom on toast, buttered toast. I did not feel like cooking Japanese today"
"This is good. Thank you"
She watches him eat like the sophisticated gentleman he is,
"You are welcome"
They were just two friends sitting in a drawing room and having breakfast until he said -
"You always make breakfast for me. We should try something different next time"
"Such as?"
"You make me dinner and I will make you breakfast"
Saki raised the cup of tea to her mouth to hide her smile, knowing well what he meant. She would never have smiled at the flirtations of any man other than Hideyuki, but she could not help it when Onoda-san was involved.
"I think I will pass"
"I was hoping we could go somewhere special today because I had something important to ask you. However, since I have to get back to the office in an hour, I will say it right here because frankly, it is crucial that you give me an answer before I go for the US launch"
Saki put her tea cup down and faced him eagerly. His expression was solemn and sincere,
"Miss Saki, will you marry me?"
She narrowed her eyes and shook her head,
"You can't be serious"
It was his third time to propose to her! She sighed,
"Do you not get tired of this? I have given you my answer years ago"
"Circumstances varied then. Despite of all my patience, I cannot put it off any longer. Will you marry me?"
"I can't. I won't"
"Why not? You know...", he frowned, "Let's get it all out. Why can you not marry me? What do you not like about me? And Detective Makimura is not a valid reason anymore"
"Why do I have to give reasons for not wanting to marry you?!"
"Do you care about my happiness?"
"That is not..."
He interrupted her,
"Do you care about my happiness?"
She gave up and sighed,
"Yes, I do"
"Do you think I would make you do anything which jars your well being and free will?"
"No"
"Do you find my company unacceptable?"
"No"
"Do you think I am unpleasant?"
"No"
"Do you think I am sexy?"
She stared at him through the narrow slits in her eyes and he took the hint to simmer down. His voice was calm and soothing,
"Then pray tell me, Miss Saki, why do you not want to marry me? Am I under a misunderstanding that you have come to care for me?"
"No", she moaned, and then composed herself, "It is not what you think"
"What is it then?"
Saki tried to calm his brow with her words,
"It is not that I despise you or think you unworthy. And it is not that..."
She was aware of her cheeks colouring. Onoda-san persisted,
"That?"
She mumbled,
"It is not that I don't want to marry you"
His brow alighted and his eyes held her captive. Saki said,
"It's not that I don't want to. I just don't want to marry you out of desperation, because there is no other choice for me"
She bowed her head and hoped that he would understand. Saki did not wish to marry him out of gratitude for his friendship. She wished, if circumstances changed, to marry him because she had at last recognised his love for her and could return it with friendly affection, if not a love equal to his.
Onoda-san had risen,
"Thank you for the breakfast"
She stood and looked up at his face. There were no signs of a bad temper or melancholy, not that anyone other than her could detect those on his face.
"I would like to call on you today afternoon"
"Sure", she said, "I have the day off from work"
"Excellent. I will take your leave for now", he said.
Saki stood in the door and watched his Bentley drive away. The man was an enigma.

After much difficulty, Saki had secured the position of an English tutor at a foreign languages institute. The pay was lesser than what she had received as a teacher with twelve years of experience, but it sufficed to sustain one person. The job was much less rewarding than teaching delinquents, but it was a job. She did not have to accept Kenji's charity anymore. She had brought some test papers home for correction when -
Knock-knock!
Saki put her pen down and rose to open the door. She could see no one from the glass pane.
"Yes?", she slid the door open.
It was a handsome man (much younger than herself, she noted), clad in a three-piece suit and holding a bouquet of hydrangeas. He gave her a dazzling smile and went down on one knee,
"My heart is a bookmark in your beautiful hands; tuck me in the pages of your life, and I will love you tenderly like an old paperback for the rest of my days. Please marry me, Miss Saki!"
"What...", she would have exclaimed, but another equally beautiful young man came on the scene.
He carried a bouquet of orchids,
"You are beauty and grace. My heart is a temple and you're the goddess. Accept my love, oh learned and poetic one, for in the shadow of your midnight hair, I wish to breathe the last of air. Please marry me, Miss Saki"
"What is going on?", Saki came down the front stairs.
She almost jumped back on the stairs when a third person in a suit came to kneel next to the other two. He held up a bouquet of roses,
"You love books, I will buy you a library! You love to walk, I will strew the path with flowers! You love children, we will make as many as you want! Do marry me, Miss Saki!"
"Who are you? And have you all lost your minds?!", she asked.
They kept smiling and kneeling, holding their respective bouquets of flowers and looking at her with the utmost adoration.
"They are your choices"
She turned at the sound of Onoda-san's voice and saw him coming to the row of the proposers. He said,
"I am too"
It had to be a practical joke, and if it were...
"What do you mean?"
He said,
"You do not have to marry me because you have no choice or options. These are your options. Choose wisely"
That which followed could have been attributed to Saki's mental state from the year before. It was simply an uncontrolled reaction, one which she had not had in years. Saki burst out laughing at her highest volume. She shook all over and clapped a hand on her mouth to stifle the merry jolts, but she could not stop. Her stomach had begun to hurt from such a raucous laughter, so she held an arm over it and still laughed wildly. Leave it to Onoda-san to make me lose my calm and act like a madwoman, she thought.
He had come to stand right before her as the last tremors of her laughter began to subside. Saki saw him smile and found that she was grinning too.
"Marry me", he said.
"Onoda-san", Saki shook her head, still shaking, "You are..."
"Madly in love with you"
She sobered quickly. He said,
"I have waited all these years for you. I have seen you struggle through the worst and said not a word. But I can't bear to see you alone and haunted with so many bad memories. I want to be there at your beck and call, to comfort you, to be your companion with all that life has in store for you. Could you be so kind enough to make me the happiest man in the world by marrying me?"