So this is a response to AllyToshiki-Suzugamori's story "Broken Smile". I don't know why, but I just felt the urge to do this and be annoying to my friend. ;3
Blinking in surprise at the duo outside next door, a crimson haired teen peaked out of the kitchen window of the house she shared with her brother. Ryoko Suzugamori - or Ryo as her friends called her - paused mid stir, her brow creasing as she watched an elder woman and a melancholy girl about her age exit a small car that was partially hidden behind the bush that seemed to eat the fence. She'd hadn't seen much of their neighbours, even long after they had moved in. All she knew was that is was a girl and her grandmother. Leaning over the counter a little more, Ryoko carefully pulled the curtain back to get a better look at their reclusive neighbours.
" 'Youko?" Squeaking in surprise, Ryoko spun around, holding a hand over her heart, glaring at her brother as he leaned casually against the counter next to her. Growling at Ren, Ryoko snarled at him, waving the spoon she had been using the check the rice as a weapon. She growled even more as she saw her brother's cocky smirk. Her's robe had opened to show off her nightdress and her scars from the emergency heart surgery from when she was younger.
"What's your problem?! Are you trying to take more years off of my life?!" Laughing, Ren raised his arms up in mock defence as his sister began to hit him with her weapon of choice, smiling as she did so. He knew that he should have said something to her instead of popping up behind her like he did, but sometimes he couldn't resist. Sometimes he just needed to scare her out of her wits, regardless of what the doctors said. Sometimes, you needed to let go and have fun, Ren knew that better then anyone with his ever busy 'job' as the reigning champion of the current trending card game Card Fight Vanguard as well as taking care of his younger sister and her doctor appointments. He remembered how hard it had been at first, right after they had started out on their own, their parents and grandparents dying in a crash when Ren was just a few months shy of sixteen and Ryoko was only fourteen.
He remembered when the paramedics had rushed her off, her head and upper chest bleeding bad, her crying in pain and fright as the nurses grabbed Ren, forcing him to stay back as she was carted off. He still remembered her shrieks for him, knowing that calling out for their parents would have been a useless effort. She had woken up next to the corpse of their mother, Ren outside of the car, telling her not to move and if anything hurt and where.
"Ryo! Ryoko! Answer me Ryoko!"
Opening her red eyes, Ryoko groaned and coughed, inhaling fumes from the leaking gas tank of their crushed car. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and it was painfully hard to breath, each inhale felling like she was swallowing fire. Her head felt heavy, much too heavy fr her neck to support as it lolled to the right.
Only, she wished it hadn't.
Looking at her from within the wreckage, was their mother's corpse.
Shrieking in terror, Ryoko tried to move away from the body only to scream in agony as her own injuries caught up to her brain. A hand was gripping her left hand, and she could hear her brother's voice. Swallowing, she let the hand on her jaw softly turn her head to face Ren, his matching red hair and eyes boring into hers as she started to panic, her breathing hitching and becoming shallow.
"Shh... I'm right here Ryo. Don't move. I've called for an ambulance okay? You're going to be okay." Ren knew he was lying through his teeth. He could see that his sister was never going to be the same as she was before this accident. He could see the cuts on her face that would no doubt leave scars. Her neck was lucky to only have a bruise from the awkward positioning of her seatbelt. Her chest had deep cuts all over it, her school uniform mangled and stained bright red. Her left arm was trapped under a piece of the roof of their mother's car and the front bumper of the other person's SUV. It was definitely broken, Ren had heard it snap when the roof had caved in.
Ren knew that he had a few cuts on his own body, but they were minor and could easily be covered by clothing. There was on near his hairline which no one would think much of, if they ever saw it under his mass of red hair.
"Aniki... Okaa-san.. Otou-san.. They're... They're...!" Leaning into the car, Ren carefully cradled his sister's head in the crook of his neck as he cautiously reached over to steady her left arm so that she wouldn't damage it any more than it already was.
"Don't think about Imōto. If you need to think of anything, think about your deck or about as many strategies as you can." Closing his eyes, Ren listened to the operator over his bluetooth, the woman on the other end congratulating him on keeping calm and that the paramedics were almost to them. He knew that something was wrong when their father had allowed Ryoko to sit in the front. He never let either of them sit upfront if he was with them.
His smile dropped when Ryoko started to cough deeply, bringing her hands up to her mouth, dropping the spoon in the process, quickly bringing him out of him memory of that specific day. Her red eyes were wide before they started to fill with tears. He could see her swaying as she tried to find something to steady herself on, each choked cough coming harder and sharper than the last.
Grabbing his sister, Ren quickly laid her down on the floor, on her side for just in case. Swallowing nervously, Ren grabbed the phone off of its cradle and knelt down next to Ryoko, grabbing her left hand and squeezing it as he called the paramedics. Biting his lip, Ren looked down at Ryoko, worry hiding in his eyes as he tried not to panic his sister any more.
"They're coming Ryo. Don't worry. Nothings gonna hurt you anymore."
If only he knew the truth and how full of shit those words were.
