Disclaimer: I do not own To LOVE-Ru.
To LOVE-Ru
Empty Memories:
True Heart
Chapter 1
The White Room
"Do you think he'll be okay?"
"You have to understand, the blow he received was quite severe. "
"But will he be okay?"
The air felt clean. That was his first thought when he came to. The voices filling the room were mere background noise at first, but as consciousness returned to him, they became louder and more incessant.
"I'm trying to tell you-"
"Please!"
The voice, it was panicked. He could almost hear the tears through her voice.
"Tell me he'll be okay! Tell me he's going to be fine!"
Her? Yes... it was a girl's voice, but...not one that he recognized.
"Lala-chan!"
"No! Tell me he's going to be okay!"
He didn't recognize any of the voices, but the girl...she was upset.
I have to help her.
Hazel eyes opened to a white ceiling.
"Rito has to be okay! He has to!"
Rito? Who is...
He urged his body to get up, but the response was sluggish. The girl's voice continued to rise though, and this, though he did not know why, urged him to hasten his movements. He rose from the bed into a sitting position, causing the white blanket to fall to his waist. The room was completely white. The only contrast to this were the people in front of his bed. One of them wore a long, white coat. Her hair was auburn, but he could not see her face, for she was facing away from him. Towards a girl with long pink hair. This one was facing him, though she seemed too concentrated on the woman in white to notice him. Her eyes were the color of jade, and her voice, her voice was the one he had been hearing. There were no tears in her eyes, but though his impression had been off, he could plainly see that it wasn't far removed. She seemed so upset, but...why?
He could not tell, but as he gazed at the two women in silence, he noticed a third. Like the woman with auburn hair, she also wore white, but her clothes fit more closely to her body, and a white hat sat atop her head. Black hair streamed down her back, and a rope of bound hair hung over each of her shoulders. Her brown eyes were wide as she stared at him, her mouth hung open slightly, as if she were in shock.
"Rito-san..."
The other two women quieted as she spoke this, her voice barely a whisper, and as one they turned to him. Immediately, the girl with pink hair became overjoyed. A smile spread wide over her features as she rushed towards him.
"Rito!" She collapsed onto him as she encircled her arms around him and buried her head on his chest. "You're alright! Rito, I'm so glad..." She released her hold of him smiled brightly as she wiped a tear from her eye with a finger.
She's crying.
He did not know why she was so happy, nor why she was crying, no more so than he knew who Rito was.
"Rito, how are you feeling? Is your head okay?" He could only look at her as she touched the back of his head with her hand. The stinging sensation that followed caused him to wince. She pulled her hand away at this, and a worried expression crossed her face. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
There was such worry in her voice, the concerned expression seemed as if it were etched into her face. He wanted to answer her, he wanted to smile, if only to make her feel better, but..."
"Rito?"
"Who...are you?"
Her expression seemed to falter at his words, but she smiled quickly and laughed. But the laugh seemed hollow. "R-Rito, what do you mean? It's me, Lala. Don't you...remember me?"
He stared at her for a long moment after she asked that question, but no mater how he tried to remember her face, her voice, he only drew blanks.
"No." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I do not know you."
Her face seemed to freeze for a moment, then she turned and walked away. Her steps were swift, and in moments the door was open. He stared after her in silence long after her form had disappeared through the entryway. The woman in white sighed and gazed at him quietly. Her eyes were a soft green. But she spoke not a word, and soon she, too, turned and walked out of the room.
The remaining girl looked after her nervously, as if unsure of what to do, then turned to him. "You really don't remember her, Rito-san?"
Rito-san... He shook his head. "Who is she?"
She opened her mouth, as if to answer, then shut it slowly. She acted as one who wasn't sure of what to say. She fidgeted under his gaze, then opened her mouth once more. "Well..."
The words that would follow from her mouth could not be heard from the hall the two women had disappeared into. No, in this hall, the most dominate sounds were that of swift steps upon tiled floor. The woman with auburn hair walked in long strides, longer than those of the jade-eyed girls', and she was soon in her wake.
"Lala-chan."
The girl did not stop when she heard the woman's voice, nor did she slow her pace. She walked swiftly with her head down. Pink hair fell over her face, prohibiting anyone from seeing her pain-stricken expression.
"Lala-chan..."
A hand fell upon her shoulder, and at this she did stop. She did not answer the woman, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't.
Why...
Her hands trembled violently, and they continued to even when she balled them into fists.
Why...
Hot tears burned her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. They fell to the ground with barely audible splashes.
Why...
"Lala-chan..."
She looked up at the woman in white, her vision blurred with tears, and opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. The woman in white stepped back when she saw the expression on the girl's face. She had known that his words had hurt her, but...
"Why..."the girl cried, "why doesn't he...remember me?"
The woman did not speak. She couldn't. She held no words that would comfort the girl, not now. But she stepped forward and embraced the girl. The tears that poured against her blouse were many, but this was all she could do for the girl. So she held her tightly as she cried, and spoke not at all.
o0o
"Amnesia?"
The woman in white nodded at the young girl's question. Her hands in the pockets of her white coat, she looked down at the girl and studied her quietly. Her long, dark brown hair fell freely down her back, but a beaded hairband raised a small bunch of hair above her head. Her eyes were hazel, like her brother's, and her fingers fidgeted restlessly at her sides. A girl dressed all in black with golden hair stood beside her, her crimson eyes gazing down at the monitor before them.
"It can be caused by a small number of things, usually trauma related," she continued. "In this case, the severe blow he received to the back of his head. While not life-threatening, you can logically see that there are certain drawbacks. I've done some testing, and it seems that, while he remembers how to talk and perform actions such as walking and writing, he doesn't remember anything beyond waking up in that room."
"Doctor," the golden-haired girl said, her voice quiet, "Is this condition reversible, or..."
"It is completely reversible," the woman nodded. "There have been several cases of amnesia patients regaining partial and total recollection. However..."
The young girl trained her hazel eyes up at the woman quietly. The woman did not finish her sentence, but she didn't need to. "There's no way to know whether or not his memory will even come back at all."
The woman nodded. "He may go the rest of his life with the first seventeen years of his life missing from his memories, or he may begin to remember things. How much he will remember or how long it will be before he remembers, I cannot say."
They gazed at the monitor in silence as the doctor's words set in. Displayed on the screen was a room stark-white, from the floor and walls to the bed and sheets on which a young man sat, leaning against the headboard. His hair, reddish orange, stood out against the white backdrop like a bright light in the darkest of nights.
"May I see him?" the young girl asked quietly.
The doctor nodded. "That's why I called you here. His room is right down the hall. There's a blue flap next to the door. Perhaps seeing a familiar face will jog his memory."
"Lala's did nothing," the girl said, her voice still quiet.
"Perhaps not right now, but, given time, it may have helped him more than we could know."
Crimson eyes followed the girl as she turned stiffly and walked out of the room, then gazed up at the doctor. "Do you really believe she can help?"
"Anything's possible," the woman said, nodding slowly. "Mikan-chan has known him the longest out of all of us. Right now, she has the best chance of getting him to remember."
"Even when someone he has a strong emotional tie to didn't?"
The doctor shook her head. "The mind is still a mystery, Yami-chan. You never know- maybe you will be the trigger he needs to remember the past." She looked down at the golden-haired girl in silence for a moment, then tentatively opened her mouth to speak. "Yami-chan... Lala-chan told me what happened, but I was wondering if you-"
"I don't know," the girl said, cutting her off. "I arrived too late to help Yuuki Rito."
"Oh..." Movement caught her eye on the screen as the young girl entered the white room. "I see."
"Do you know who I am?" The words sounded through speakers as the girl approached the bed. The young man shook his head. The girl stood before him quietly, and, for a moment, the doctor didn't know whether asking the girl to do this so soon was wise or not. A moment later, though, she did. "My name is Mikan. Yuuki Mikan. I'm you're sister."
o0o
The white ceiling stared down at him wordlessly, and, right now, he preferred it this way. His hazel eyes stared back as he lay against the bed. A room as white and plain as this, he felt it was appropriate. His memories were gone, his identity lost. He did not recognize any of the girls who had come to visit him earlier. Not the two in white, not the one who said claimed to be his sister, not even the quiet girl with golden hair who followed. Nor did he recognize the girl with long, black hair or the girl with short, black hair. Three other girls had come that day, the ones with hair colors he felt oddly comfortable with. Two were of the color pink, and the third had hair of pale green. The girl he had first met did not come back, but he couldn't think of a reason why she should have. A man had come, however. His hair was black, and a headband adorned his forehead. He said he was his father, but...
He rest an arm against his forehead in thought. He did not know any of the girls, or the man, but from the way they acted around him, from the way that first girl had left hurriedly, he felt he should have. But alas, nothing came to him. He closed his eyes as a sigh escaped his lips.
Yuuki Rito.
The name sounded foreign to him, alien, even. They said that it was his name, but he felt no attachment to it. He did not know who he was, he did not know where he was. His memories had abandoned him. It was as if he had been born anew, and this room, so white and bare, was his place of birth. It was then not only appropriate, but ironic, that his memories were like the room- almost completely barren.
-END Ch.1-
~~~~~ooooo00000ooooo~~~~~
"In Heart of Hearts,
The Mind is Blind.
In Mind of Minds,
The Heart is Foolish.
The Memories are Both,
The Memories are Part.
When the Memories are Gone,
But the Heart and Mind Remain,
Will You Recognize Me with Your Heart,
Or with Your Mind?
Or Will You Recognize Me At All?"
~~~~~ooooo00000ooooo~~~~~