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After the Fall - Prologue, the Young Woman
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A young woman walked into the office, barely believing what the letter had said. _Remanded to custody._ In other words, he was nearly cured. It wasn't surprising; two years of psychotherapy, alongside the six months of detox from the stuff his sister had been constantly feeding him, had left no doubt that his mind was indeed sound. Actually, after detox it had mostly been the time delay in proving to the doctors, first through a letter from the good doctor and then through an actual visit, that the patient's other assertions were in fact the truth and not products of a deranged mind. The only thing left had been to cure that unnatural phobia towards roses before he could safely be sent to the outside world.
And now he was to be sent home. Well, actually, not home. The young man couldn't be placed there, there was nobody left there to care for him and help him to adjust to the changes that had taken place. A two-year timeout from the world had left him with a deep need for belonging, for familiar faces, and definitely for someone to care for him.
And he'd asked for her. He hadn't known she was the mysterious benefactor who had paid for his stay and his recovery, but he'd asked to stay with _her_.
The young woman smiled as the doctors asked the specifics: in what room would he be staying, what sort of people lived there besides herself, what opportunities were present for both personal growth and for employment should he decide to seek it, and a litany of other concerns. Where his family was: she answered truthfully that they were both incarcerated as well. The girl hadn't taken her detoxification nearly as well, and tried to take her own life multiple times before being sent to a more intensive treatment center. The father had been cured rather easily, but quickly moved away to work at another school. It was a delight to learn that his old ways hadn't returned.
The young man was brought out, and his clothing returned. She waited until he returned, now the dashing figure she'd remembered from so long ago. Apparently he'd managed to keep up his physical training after detox, he certainly looked fit as ever.
The two entered the taxicab, and sat waiting for the return to home. The young man began staring out the windows, in wonder at all the changes to his home city, while the woman sitting beside him watched and just enjoyed the fact that he was smiling. It'd been over four years, back when they were just in junior high, since she'd seen him really smile.
Then he turned to look at her, and Nabiki Tendo's heart skipped a beat. Her Kuno-chan was finally coming home.