Sliding Doors – KoF Edition
by
RobertCop3
It's a new year, so I'm going outside of my comfort zone and trying something completely different: writing an AU timeline for my main Fatal Fury/KoF fanfic timeline. It's a "what if?" scenario involving my fanfic "Family Ties." In this case, when Mai is fighting her honor duel, she does not have the breakthrough that enables her to master the "Kagerou no mai" (Solar Flame Dance), and so she loses to her cousin, setting up an alternate timeline where she also loses her dojo. This fic starts right up in the middle of "Family Ties," so I do recommend you read that first so you know what's going on, because I don't feel like recapping. Hey, I'm the storyteller. I'll do as I damn well please. Besides, I'm also trying to encourage people to read more of my stuff.
And this may seem depressing, but try and stick with it. I promise it has a happy ending! And also, let me know what you think of this "alternate timeline" idea, because I've come up with a few ideas for stories for it.
All characters are the property of SNK/Playmore. I don't own them, the video games, or the anime.
Chapter One
Seki, Japan. The Shiranui Clan Temple. October 1996
I couldn't do it, Mai Shiranui thought sadly as she wavered there unsteadily on her feet, feeling like she was about to faint. I just can't gather the energy that the Solar Flame Dance requires. It's too much. I'm sorry, Ojisama. I've failed you here today. Mai wiped some blood from the side of her mouth and considered her next strategy. She could probably continue to dodge her cousin's attacks for a while longer, but she just couldn't get through his defenses. She was starting to think her best bet was to yield before Nobu got lucky, and struck a blow that was crippling or fatal.
Mai's opponent, Nobutoki Shiranui, the grandson of her uncle Saburo, seemed to see this in the ninja girl's eyes, and though he could easily have brought the fight to an end, he decided to taunt her some more. "I can end your suffering, Mai-san! Just yield, and admit that you never had any business trying to be a ninja! You'll still get to marry your hakujin boy toy, and Hanzo-sensei's dojo will get a proper master. Everyone gets what they want!"
Mai scanned the edges of the ring, studying the faces of her clan. Most of them were jeering, more were shouting for her to yield. But in their sea of smug faces, she saw Andy Bogard, the man she loved, and would soon marry, and someday have children with. His blue eyes were shining with the light of love as he looked straight at Mai, and she could see that he was saying something. Though he spoke too softly for Mai to hear over the shouting of her clan and the blood pounding in her ears, lip-reading had been part of her kunoichi training.
"I believe in you, Mai," Andy was saying to her. "Win or lose here today, I love you, no matter what."
I love him so much, Mai thought sadly. And I've failed him, too. Her gaze moved back over to her cousin, who was still taunting her.
A spark ignited within her upon seeing Nobutoki's ugly sneer. No! It can't end like this. I can't give up or yield to this bastard. Andy believes in me. Grandfather trusted me to be the master of my family's dojo. I won't fail them. So what if I can't do the Kagerou no mai? I can still hit Nobutoki-san hard with everything I've got, and take him down.
Mai's anger at her cousin and her clan gave her a second wind. She tucked her fan into her mouth, and charged at Nobutoki with her head bent towards the ground. Nobu was taken aback by Mai's sudden rush, and was not prepared when Mai planted one hand on the cobbled ground of the courtyard, then balanced on it as she flipped the lower half of her body forward over her head, sandwiched her cousin's own head between her ankles, then used her leg strength to lift him off the ground and fling him to the other side of the ring, where he landed with a satisfying smack.
Nobu rose to his feet somewhat shaky, but recovered quickly when he saw Mai come somersaulting through the air towards him. At the last second, she extended her leg, trying to bring her heel down on his head. Nobu managed to sidestep that move, but was hit a second later by Mai's Ryu En Bou, sending him to the ground again.
To the untrained eye, it might appear that Mai was gaining the upper hand. But on the sidelines, Andy was watching with concern. She's making the same mistake I sometimes make, he thought. Fighting angry. She's too unfocused. She'll get tired too fast, and then her cousin will own her...
"Focus, Mai," he whispered. "Please try to focus..."
Nobu was quick to notice the same thing Andy did. After taking another kick to his midsection, he jumped back a few paces and raised his tonfa in a defensive stance. Mai charged at him again, her arms a blur as she whirled her fans in front of her. This time, Nobutoki saw the opening in her attack. Calmly, he swung outward with his tonfa when Mai was almost on top of him, catching his cousin in her solar plexus.
Mai paused in her advance as the wind was knocked from her. Nobu followed this with a low sweep of the tonfa at her legs, which Mai jumped to avoid. She shifted her stance quickly in midair, and tried to bring her knees down on her cousin's head. Nobutoki rolled under this as she came down, then quickly sprang to his feet and slammed both his tonfa into Mai's back, this time charged with chi fire. The ninja girl cried out in pain as she took the full brunt of the strike, and then crumpled to the ground.
Mai's cousin backed away a few paces, expecting her to finally give up. His smug expression quickly turned to one of shock as Mai rose shakily to her feet once again. Maybe it was the fire in her eyes, but for once, Nobutoki was surprised to find he did not have any taunts. "Mai-san, you... you're really not making this fun for me anymore! Just yield before I'm forced to seriously hurt you!"
Mai took a deep breath, and then spit some blood onto the courtyard stones. "I will die before I yield to you!" She growled at her cousin, then charged at him again.
This time, there was no style or finesse in her attack. She closed the distance between herself and Nobutoki and swung her fans at him as hard as humanly possible. For several minutes, they went back and forth, exchanging blows, though it was clear to anyone watching that Nobu was getting a lot more hits in than Mai.
On the sidelines, Andy's heart was pounding, and he was biting the knuckles on his right hand. It was torture, watching his fiancee suffer such a beating, but at the same time, Andy could not show weakness in front of Mai's clansmen by looking away. Come on, Mai, focus! Stop fighting angry! We both know you're a better ninja than this!
Come on, girl! Mai was thinking to herself out in the fighting zone. Push yourself to the limits! Your man is counting on you! Your family's future is riding on this! She managed to get one more solid hit in with her fan, striking her opponent in the ribs, but Nobutoki avoided her follow-up by pivoting his body to the left, then he spun around and lashed out with his tonfa. Mai raised her fan to try and block it, but her cousin's weapon broke through, snapping her fan clean in half. Nobu's tonfa never did stop until it found its true mark, striking Mai hard on the right side of her face.
Bright stars exploded in Mai's vision, leaving her unable to see for a few seconds. Her cousin took full advantage of that time: a swift strike to the gut, followed by another blow to the back of Mai's shins, causing her legs to give out and bringing the kunoichi to her knees. Another blow to the left forearm, making Mai drop her other fan. Then Nobutoki was behind her, pinning the tails of Mai's fighting costume to the ground with his foot while he used his tonfa to put Mai into a strangle hold.
Mai tried frantically to breathe as her cousin cruelly pressed his weapon down on her windpipe, but she could feel her lungs starting to burn. And in her current position, she had nothing to use to give her any leverage over the hold. Still, she stubbornly tried to fight on, struggling under her cousin's grip, even though she gained no ground. Damn it, I can't lose... I can't give up...
Andy had turned white as a sheet. He could see that the fight was now unwinnable, but Mai was still struggling against Nobutoki's unbreakable hold. "Please, Mai..." He whispered. "You can't win this fight anymore. Just yield before he breaks your neck."
A moment later, as if Mai had somehow heard her lover's plea, her voice of reason finally won out over her anger. The ninja girl managed to raise one hand, and feebly tap it against Nobutoki's forearm. Nobu relaxed his grip enough to let Mai breathe. She took several gulps of life-giving air, and after the fire in her chest had died down a little, she gasped out: "I... I yield..."
Though he gave her enough leeway to breathe, Nobutoki still kept his hold on Mai. "Louder, please," he said to her.
"Uncles!" Mai called over to the bench where the clan elders were seated. "This contest... is over! I... yield to Shiranui-Nobutoki!" Mai's head sank a little as the weight of those words sank in, tears started to form in her dark brown eyes, and her voice cracked a little when she repeated: "I... yield, I... I yield..."
Mai felt the tonfa stick lift off her neck completely as Nobutoki stood up straight to give a respectful bow to Jirou and Saburo. The rest of the clan began to applaud him. Over on the sidelines, Andy was tensed like a coiled spring, waiting for the formalities to be over so he could be at Mai's side. Mai stayed on her knees, looking down at the ground, tears now streaking her face. There was a time when she would never have cried in front of her clan, but now... she saw no reason to hold back. In a few more moments, they would no longer be her clan.
Sure enough, once the applause died down, Jirou Shiranui stood up and raised his hands, arms held wide apart. "Shiranui-Mai!" He called over to his great-niece. "Granddaughter of Shiranui-Hanzo, daughter of Shiranui-Tadatsugu. In accordance with the terms of this duel, agreed upon by the both of us before it began, you are henceforth exiled from Clan Shiranui! And furthermore, you relinquish any claim you might have had upon your family's dojo, and all possessions contained therein. It is now closed to you and your descendants, from this day onward!"
He took his seat once more. As if these words had drained the last of her strength, Mai Shiranui collapsed forward to the ground, her face buried in her arms. Nobutoki had left the ring, so Andy Bogard now raced to his fiancee's side.
He gently turned Mai over and cradled her in his arms. "Mai, are you okay? Please... speak to me!"
Her brown eyes opened only slightly, stained with tears. "Andy," she whispered. "I... I failed." Then she slumped back in his arms as the adrenalin left her system completely, and she finally fainted from the beating she had taken.
Andy placed two fingers on her neck and blew a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse. "It's okay, Mai," he whispered. "All that matters to me right now is that you're safe." He then ran his hands up and down Mai's arms and legs, feeling for broken bones. Everything seemed intact, so Andy rose to his feet, carrying the wounded ninja girl bridal style in his arms.
"We are not devoid of compassion," Jirou said to Andy. "You will both be allowed to stay at the dojo until this time next week, to get your affairs in order and make any arrangements you need. We will be there next Saturday morning, with the legal documents for Mai-san to sign."
There were many things Andy would have liked to do or say at that moment. But if he spoke his mind, Jirou might reconsider his offer to let them stay another week in the dojo. Instead, he simply bowed his head at the elder ninja. "Arigato, Shiranui-Jirou-san," he said, then turned and started to carry Mai out of the temple.
By the time Andy reached the bottom of the long stone stairway, Mai was awake again. Andy asked her if she could walk, and got no answer. Mai simply stared blankly at the dirt path ahead of them, so Andy continued to carry her as they made their way back to the village of Seki. Since she remained silent, Andy decided to do the same. It was probably still too early for Mai to want words of comfort, and she certainly wouldn't want to hear Andy's thoughts on how that fight could have gone better if she hadn't been so emotional.
Doesn't matter now, anyway, Andy thought. What's done is done. I'm sure Mai feels bad enough already.
Finally, when they were less than a mile from the outskirts of town, Andy said: "Um, Mai... we're almost at the town. Do you think... maybe you should put your kimono back on?" Right before her fight with Nobutoki, Mai had quick-changed out of the ceremonial kimono she'd put on that morning and into her fighting costume. Andy knew that ordinarily, she wouldn't have been averse to wearing an outfit in public that gave people an easy view of her assets, but at the moment, Mai probably didn't want to be ogled or heckled.
"Right," Mai said weakly, her voice still a little hoarse from having Nobu's tonfa pressed against her neck earlier. "Please... put me down."
Andy bent at the knees and gently helped Mai out of his arms and into a standing position. The kunoichi started to spin quickly in place like a graceful ballet dancer... and then stumbled to the ground after only a few turns, her face down in the dirt path. The white sash that usually went around the waist of her ninja uniform was in knots around her knees, while the tails on the rear were wrapped in a tangle around each of her arms.
Andy actually found he had to hold back a tear of his own. Mai had become such an expert in changing outfits in a split-second. She hadn't stumbled like this in the middle of the technique since she was fourteen. For her to stumble now... she must really be upset, even more upset than she'd been in the weeks after her grandfather had passed on.
The kimono Mai had been trying to change into was lying on the path a few feet away. Andy quickly snatched it up and used it to cover Mai's half-naked body. Mai worked her way up into a sitting position in the dirt, her normally beautiful face now a study in misery.
"I t-tripped," she said, her voice breaking as tears started to flow from her eyes. "I c-c-couldn't win a simple honor duel, and now... I tripped while d-doing my quick change. I can't do anything right, Andy!" Her voice trailed off, then, and Mai buried her face in Andy's shoulder and wept bitterly.
Andy sat next to her, his arms around her, feeling Mai's body shake with sobs as tears continued to pour from her eyes. "Andy..." she spoke again after a few minutes. She had stopped crying, but her voice was now punctuated by hiccups. "I'm so sorry..."
"You don't have to apologize to me, Mai. It's okay... we're still together, and as long as we have each other, we'll get through this."
Mai sat up suddenly, and pulled his arms off of her. "Okay? How can it be okay? You were there! You saw what happened. In his will, my grandfather made me the master of his dojo. He trusted me with it! And I failed him... I... failed everyone! We're homeless now because of me!" She buried her head in her hands and started to cry once more.
For a few moments, Andy knelt there, wondering if he should put an arm back around her or not. In the end, he simply said: "Mai, we're not homeless. Remember, we talked about what to do in the... very unlikely event that this happened. We'll go to South Town. We have friends there who can help us."
Mai snorted, and hiccuped a little more. "The very unlikely event. Yeah, right. We should have known I'd fail."
"Mai..." Andy started to say again.
"Save it," Mai cut him off. "I just want to go back to the dojo, and crawl into bed for the rest of my life." Mai rose to her feet, and after she had untangled her fighting outfit, she put her kimono back on and tied the obi tightly around her midsection. She then continued down the path towards town.
Andy blinked a few times in surprise. Mai had never spoken to him like that before. Well, no, she had, but usually Andy had given her a good reason. This time, he wasn't sure he had.
She's had a bad day. She'll feel better after a good night's sleep. The best thing to do now is get her home and start treating her wounds. Andy nodded to himself, then got to his feet and hurried to catch up with Mai.
Neither one of them spoke much as they arrived into town and walked to the train station. Mai spent the train ride back to Mino with her head resting in Andy's lap. Andy sat there and simply looked down at her, while holding Mai's hand in his own.
A large, purple bruise had blossomed on Mai's right cheek, courtesy of the hit she'd taken earlier from her cousin, and Andy was getting more than a few nasty stares from the younger, more progressive Japanese men in the train car. When they were about an hour from Mino, one such man actually walked over to them and asked Mai: "Excuse me, miss... but are you alright?"
Mai sat up next to Andy. "I'm fine," she said in a monotone that Andy had never heard her use before. Her voice was usually so perky and bubbly.
"Are you sure?" The man persisted. "This car is full of witnesses. Don't be afraid to tell the truth."
"I'm fine," Mai repeated in the same tone, staring straight ahead without looking up at the man.
He still stood over them, this time flashing Andy a dirty look. "Um..." It was obvious that Mai was not going to say more, so Andy quickly tried to come up with a story, not wanting to tell a stranger about ninja clan matters that didn't concern him. "We... were... hiking in the foothills of Mount Takinami earlier today, and... she tripped on a tree root."
The man snorted. "Yeah, I'll bet she did. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you... pathetic excuse of a man..."
Mai suddenly stood up, whipping a fan out from the sleeve of her kimono. "Are you fucking deaf? You heard what he said. We were hiking, and I tripped on a tree root. My man would never abuse me, and how dare you even insinuate that! Now get the fuck out of our faces before I give you a bruise to match mine!"
She raised her fan menacingly, and the man quickly turned and started to walk towards the door to the next train car. "Crazy woman..." He muttered. "Was only trying to help, for Christ's sake..."
Mai sat back down in a huff, ignoring the stunned looks from everyone else still in the train car, Andy chief among them. He knew how mercurial Mai could sometimes be in her moods, but such a violent outburst (laden with profanity, no less) was not normal for her.
"Mai," Andy said with just the barest hint of hesitation. "Was that necessary? That guy was misinformed, but he meant well."
Mai's body visibly sagged again, as if the fight she'd had in her a moment ago seemed to evaporate. "Who cares?" She muttered, and lay her head back down on Andy's lap. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore..."
For the rest of the trip, they were silent. Night had fallen by the time they got back to the dojo. Mai insisted that she could make it up the long stone stairway, but only got halfway before she collapsed to her knees, from a mix of physical and emotional fatigue. Andy scooped her up in his arms and carried her the rest of the way. Once at the top, he managed to get the door open, stepped into the darkened foyer, and kicked off his sandals.
Andy then navigated to their bedroom with Mai in his arms. Once there, he used his elbow to slide open the door, and to turn the light on. He got Mai to the futon and laid her gently down on her side.
"You must hate me now," Mai said softly as Andy started to undress her.
Andy paused in the action of pulling off her tabi socks, his blue eyes coming open in alarm. "Hate you?" He asked in disbelief. "Why would I hate you?"
"We're homeless now, because of me," Mai said, her head turned away from him. "Because I was stupid enough to believe I could actually win against my cousin. What was I thinking? I should have let you fight in my place."
"Mai, I told you before we have places we can go, so we're not going to be homeless. And anyway, I didn't interfere because you said it was a clan matter."
"Yes, but my clan has never liked me," Mai shot back. "Why should I have cared about showing them any respect?"
Andy placed his hand gently on Mai's shoulder. "Because you're a good person. Because your grandfather raised you to be better than the rest of your clan." Andy flinched then, realizing that he probably shouldn't have mentioned Hanzo. Sure enough, Mai's body started to tremble with sobs.
"And we see all the good that did," said Mai. "If you had fought Nobutoki instead of me, you would have won. You've always been a better fighter than me. I'm just a weak, useless girl that you always have to rescue. I'm dead weight in this relationship. I don't even know why you still want to marry a weak little girl like me. You should find another woman who's actually worthy of being Mrs. Andy Bogard."
Andy suddenly felt a twinge of fear knotting his stomach. He had never heard Mai talk like this before, and it scared him. "Mai, please don't say things like that. Look at me."
Mai, however, had buried her head in the pillow. She did not consider herself worthy to look at him, to gaze into those handsome blue eyes, to lose herself completely in his passionate kiss, to feel warm and safe when he held her close under the covers on cold nights...
"Mai, I love you," Andy continued. "I told you earlier that whatever happened in that fight, I would love you no matter what. And I meant it. I'll always love you. I don't care that we don't have the dojo anymore, I still want to marry you, build a home with you, give you children someday. And you're the only woman I want to do this with, Mai. If I can't have you, then I don't want to do them with any other woman. So please don't say things like that. I... I need you."
Mai said nothing in response, so Andy repeated more firmly: "Mai, please tell me you understand that. I. Don't. Want. Another. Woman. You are the most beautiful, most unique woman I've ever met, and you are the only one I'll ever want. And I'm not leaving, ever. Do you understand?"
Though her face still remained buried in her pillow, Andy heard her say faintly: "Okay."
For a while, Andy just sat there, unable to say anything more. Mai continued to cry softly, her body trembling from her sobs. Finally, when it looked like she had calmed down a bit, Andy spoke again. "Mai, we need to get the rest of these clothes off. You have wounds that need to be treated."
Mai did not stir, so Andy had to finish undressing her himself. Thankfully, both her kimono and her fighting gi came off rather easily. After he had stripped her down to her panties, he winced as he saw all the raised red welts on Mai's otherwise flawless skin, courtesy of Nobu's tonfa.
"ll be back with something for those," Andy said. He got up and made his way down the hall to the kitchen, where Mai kept the medicinal herbs.
Andy opened the cabinet, for a moment overwhelmed by the variety of dried leaves, bark, roots, berries, and fungi contained on its shelves. He took a deep breath and tried to remember his training. Hanzo had insisted that both Andy and Mai learn how to heal injuries as well as inflict them. Andy had been more interested in learning how to hurt, since he believed this would be more useful to him in his quest to kill Geese Howard.
Now Andy wished he had paid more attention to those lessons on healing. After taking another deep breath, Andy selected a few leaves and a small piece of bark, then ground them up with a mortar and pestle while a pot of broth heated on the stove. When the broth was boiling, Andy mixed the powdered herbs in with it. Then he poured some into a ceramic cup, selected a few more things from the cabinet, loaded them onto a tray, and made his way back to the bedroom.
Mai was still lying on the bed, in the same position that Andy had left her in. He made a medicinal salve by mixing a few drops of water with some ground up root, and applied it generously to Mai's welts; he placed a cold compress of gauze dipped in water and some berry juices over the purple bruise on her face, then fed her the cup of broth infused with the healing herbs. That done, he tucked Mai into bed, pulling the heavy blanket up to her chin. He also removed her treasured hairpin, so Mai wouldn't poke herself in her sleep. Then he took off his own kimono and got in bed next to Mai.
An hour later, and Andy found that he couldn't sleep. Next to him, Mai was resting, courtesy of the drowsiness induced by the herbs in her broth, but it was not a peaceful sleep. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath their closed lids. Her head would occasionally jerk from side to side, and sometimes a moan of despair would escape her lips. "No..." She muttered softly. "Andy... I'm sorry... please don't leave..."
When he heard those words, Andy could guess what she was dreaming about, and his heart ached for her. He remembered what she had said earlier. He'd never heard Mai talk like that before, and it hurt him deeply that she would ever think he'd stop loving her, just because she had lost a fight, even a fight as important as this one had been.
Andy reached over in the dark, placed his hand gently over Mai's, and whispered into her ear: "I love you, Mai. I'm never going to leave you. Never. I'm staying right here, no matter what. Please... feel better. It hurts me to see you so unhappy. So, don't let yourself give up because of what happened today. Pick yourself up and come back to me. I promise that I'll never stop loving you."
He leaned in, then, brushed his lips tenderly over her own, their mouths only just touching like butterfly wings, and then lay back on his own pillow. But it would still be a few more hours before Andy finally fell asleep.
The moment she had been waiting for since her freshman year in high school was finally upon her. The church was packed with family and friends, and all eyes were on Mai Shiranui as she stood before the altar with the only man she had ever loved, would ever love.
Mai was a vision of absolute beauty in her bridal gown, and she smiled warmly at Andy in his powder-blue tuxedo, her luminous brown eyes aglow with the light of love. Andy smiled back as he lifted the veil from Mai's face, his own eyes radiating that same love.
"Andy," the priest spoke. "Do you take this woman, Mai, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, forsaking all others until death do you part?"
A tear of happiness gleamed in the corner of the kunoichi's eye. Andy opened his mouth and spoke: "I don't." That tear quickly changed into one of sadness as it slid down Mai's face, followed quickly by a few more.
Mai's mouth came open in disbelief. The look of love on Andy's face was gone now, replaced by his usual stoic visage. She was so shocked she could not form words. So Andy continued on: "I only wanted to marry you because I thought you were the number one kunoichi in Japan. But you lost both the honor duel to your cousin, and your family's dojo. Clearly, you aren't number one. So why do you think I would still want to marry you?"
"Seriously," Terry Bogard, who was standing behind his brother, spoke up. "A failure like you isn't worthy of his love."
"You're weak," said Mai's maid of honor, Mary Ryan. "You always have been. So what makes you think you'd be worthy of his love? Or the love of your friends?"
Mai could no longer stand, and had sank to her knees before the altar. She was a pitiful sight as the tears streamed down her face, streaking her makeup. "No," she whispered pleadingly. "I'm sorry, Andy. I'm sorry I failed, but... I can do better. I know I can!" She looked up at him, and folded her hands in front of her. "I'm begging you... please don't leave me. I can prove myself worthy, if you just give me another chance! Please! I love you!"
Andy shook his head, his blue eyes like ice, devoid of pity. "But I don't love you. Not anymore. I don't waste time with losers. And the fact that you're begging shows me just how pathetic you really are. Goodbye forever, Mai." With that, he turned and started to walk back up the aisle. Terry and Mary followed him a few seconds later, leaving Mai alone.
The guests assembled in the pews were starting to jeer at her now, throwing insults and telling her that Andy had done the right thing to leave her. Mai's head sank to the floor of the church, and she wept bitterly.
"Please come back, Andy!" She sobbed. "I'm sorry I failed, but I can do better. I know I can, just give me another chance! Please... please don't go..."
Mai sat up in bed with a start. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer against her ribcage, and the sheet underneath her was soaked in sweat. Next to her, Andy moaned a little in his sleep, but did not wake up.
She shivered a little as the cool night air hit the sweat on her skin, so she rose from the bed and donned her bathrobe, which was draped over the chair in front of her vanity. Her movements were stiff and awkward, as her entire body still ached from the duel earlier.
The duel I lost, she thought bitterly. She cast a look back to the futon, at the dozing form of her fiance. Andy's own sleep appeared about as restful as her's: his brow was furrowed, and she could tell he was grinding his molars again, which he hadn't done in a very long time.
He's having a bad sleep because of me, she thought. Because I failed. Watching him now only reminded her of the dream she'd just had, and Mai could feel the cold sweat on her brow again. She went into the bathroom, stepped up to the sink, and gingerly peeled away the bandage on her cheek.
The ninja girl winced as she touched her fingertips to the dark purple bruise underneath. The healing compresses would prevent it from swelling, but it would be a while before it faded completely. Hurts, but it will heal. There are some other hurts that probably won't.
Mai splashed cold water on her face, then dabbed herself dry with a hand towel. She left the bathroom, but did not feel like going back to bed just yet. So instead, she made her way to the kitchen. The first thing she noticed when she snapped on the light was that Andy had not put away the pot of broth from earlier. Typical of him, she thought. Except for spaghetti and natto, he's completely inept in the kitchen. She poured the remaining broth into a Tupperware container, then snapped on the lid and put the container in the fridge.
She stood there for a moment with the door open, looking at the food on the shelves. Mai hadn't eaten anything solid since breakfast that morning, but she found that she was currently lacking an appetite. In fact, she wondered if she would ever be hungry again. She closed the fridge door, and after getting herself a drink of water from the sink, she started back towards the bedroom.
On her way, she passed by the doorway to the reading room. Her eyes were accustomed to the darkness, and Mai could clearly see her grandfather's favorite chair, which Mai had been preserving since Hanzo's death. She thought about how she would soon have to say goodbye to it, and a few of his other old possessions that she'd been looking after, largely because preserving them made it feel like he was still with her, in some way.
This thought reminded her of why she would soon have to leave them behind. Mai sank to the ground, huddled up on the hardwood floor with her head against her knees, and began to cry as she once again remembered her loss to Nobutoki.
All that training, and I couldn't even defend my rightful claim to this place. I gambled everything, and lost. You should never have made me master, Ojisama. I was a foolish girl who thought she could play with the boys. Through the teary haze of her vision, she imagined the spirit of her grandfather sitting in that chair. Mai wondered: if he were here now, would he say how ashamed he was of her? Probably. And it's what I deserve. He always said that the master must appear strong, at all times. Today, I was a weakling. A weak little girl who doesn't deserve his love, or his respect.
The ninja girl's muscles were still tight from fatigue, so Mai finally forced herself to stand up and walk back to the bedroom. Once there, she slipped off her robe and got back into bed next to Andy. Normally, when she was feeling bad, she would find comfort by snuggling up against him in the dark, but tonight Mai felt that she didn't deserve that comfort.
I don't deserve his love, either. Instead, she lay closer to the edge of the bed, facedown in the mattress with the pillow over her head, so Andy could not hear her weep. An hour later, she had no more tears left to cry, and she was tired, so tired both physically and spiritually, but she would still lay awake until sunrise, before sleep finally claimed her again...
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Okay... I think this might be the most depressing thing I've ever written. Mai's dream in particular was really hard to both write and proofread. But at the same time, it's a wonderful challenge writing depressed Mai, because when is Mai EVER depressed?
Hope to have another chapter up soon. For those still reading, thanks for sticking with it. Like I said, there's a happy ending to it. I promise!
Please feel free to review and let me know how I'm doing!