Gulping, she turned up the sound of her tv, trying to block out the memory of that horrid night when she had gone running to Sousuke's apartment only to find him gone and all the equipment that had protected and watched over her missing. She had barely hung on to her sanity that night and the days that followed without him. She had not known what it was to be truly alone until he left.
Flipping to a new channel, she took a deep breath and pushed away the memories. It had been easy to forget that she still had friends around her, keeping watch over her. There was Konoko with her digital camera, taking picture after picture and video after video for her collection, afraid she would forget too much if she didn't catalog her daily memories in zeros and ones and a thousand pixels. There were classmates who enjoyed her company, who looked up to her to guide them. There was the landlady who stopped by from time to time to make sure she had everything she needed since she was living alone.
She shouldn't have been scared, but she was. She was powerless to find the courage to take action without Sousuke to fight beside her. That dark period tested her nerves, her strength, her resolve to live. She was grateful to know she could, but her heart shied away from knowing that feeling again. She hugged Bonta-kun close to her body, taking comfort in the miniature likeness of the costume Sousuke had fought in during the lull in the storm of crisis after crisis.
The memories would pass along with the weakness they generated. With time, she would learn to forget to flinch whenever she felt the hidden gaze of a camera on her face, content in knowing it was friends and friends alone that sought her likeness. It would pass because she knew her true strength now and that she the ability and the courage to rely on herself and only herself. She just hoped that Sousuke would never have to leave her side again.
Written for Thefirefly (Livejournal) with her prompt of Sousuke/Kaname and Camera.