Tears and Katanas...
Another AU piece in which I detail the events mentioned in Oops... The day Cara Tatsumi risked her life to protect her brother. Let's do this!
It was early evening in the Tatsumi household when Cara woke up, after fighting a goddess and well... Dying essentially everybody kind of just, crashed in the house, Cara in her room, and all the others (including Kanji, oddly) slept on the floor in the living room
"Well shit" Cara thought to herself, standing in the doorway looking at the way certain people paired up. Kanji and Naoto sat sleeping upright on the couch with his arm behind them, Yosuke Senpai and Yu Senpai lay parallel to each other, Chie and Yukiko in a similar position, Rise lay on the couch with Kanji and Naoto with her legs across their laps
"Thank god Ma likes having guests, we can all finally rest, all we have left to do is wait for the trial so That Adachi bastard will get locked up and we can finally prepare for Senpai's leaving party... Wait a sec... Where the hell is Teddie?" She looked around the room, about to wake up her brother when suddenly the world went black...
When she woke up, all she saw wasa the inside of...Junes? but everything looked like it had seen the apocalypse!
"No!" she whispered, sitting up, vision still blurry and fading "We...We defeated the goddess! She said she'd leave us all alone! W-What happened!?" horror struck her suddenly, where was Kanji? And Ma? Oh god and her friends! Her vision started to become clear as she stood shakily, oh thank god! Her friends and brother were all around her, breathing normally. Until a cold hand placed itself on her shoulder and a horribly familiar voice breathed into her ear.
"It's beautiful isn't it?"
"Aagh!" She screamed loud enough to jostle everyone awake the shock slowly faded to confusion, and rather quickly again to horror as Adachi, escaped from his holding cell it seems, grabbed Cara by the throat and brandished his Katana.
"Now kiddies, we wouldn't want to do something rash would we? Wouldn't want the pretty little girl's throat getting a rather nasty cut would we?" He giggled menacingly, Cara panicked, what she wouldn't give to speak Japanese right now, she could tell him what a prick he is... Instead she settled for yelling to her brother.
"Kanji, whatever he's saying, don't panic, don't let him win! We beat his ass once we can-" She cut herself off with a choking sound as Adachi tightened his grip
"Shut up bitch! You want me to hurt you? Because I'm tempted to rip your oesophagus out!" He yelled at her smiling with a twisted insanity, even though she couldn't speak the language, she was scared...
"You bastard let her go! Fight us like a real man! You really need a hostage? Come on you punk, I'll fight your ass myself without a persona!" Yelled Kanji, in Japanese, she could only guess he was saying something reckless that's going to get him killed from the way Naoto yelled at him grabbing him by his shoulders in an attempt to hold him back
"Kanji-Kun!" Cried Naoto, as he gently pushed them aside and took a step forwards towards us, all of a sudden, Cara hit the ground, having been thrown by the friendly, neighbourhood murderer, she scrambled to her feet and ran to her brother. He caught her and shoved her behind him
"Are you okay?" He asked her quietly. A fire burned in his eyes. And that fire screamed "I'm going to kill a bitch"
"Kanji, whatever you're about to do, stop it, I can't let you get in danger! I promised Ma!"
"I'll be fine Cara, don't you worry, Hey Naoto?" he smiled as he looked at Adachi, pushing Cara backwards towards the small detective, said detective looking surprised as she held Cara's shoulder tightly.
"Yes Kanji-Kun?"
"If this goes tits up, keep her safe okay?" Cara had never wished she could speak Japanese so much in her life as that moment, the second she looked at Naoto's face she knew that her dickhead brother had just said something that could only mean bad news, because Naoto and the others looked like they were about to cry, or go and help Kanji. None of them stepped forward though, god knows what he'd do if they did, but he could pull a fast one on Kanji too, not to mention, kanji was unarmed. Cara felt sick. And kanji had taken stance.
Kanji then let out a roar rivalling a lion in volume and lunged, but Adachi was too quick and dodged effortlessly, his face contorting into a wide, horrid grin, Kanji continued to attack with his fists, being blocked and dodged every time until Yu-Senpai whispered something to Naoto, resulting in her shouting in English.
"Kanji-kun, kick him in the legs and knock him down instead!" To this Kanji smiled and did just that, crouching low and lifting one of his legs, he spun on his arms and swung his heel into the side of Adachi's ankles, knocking him down on his side. While the whole group cheered him on Kanji quickly got to his feet and ran at Adachi, aiming to stamp full-force downwards onto his chest, unfortunately just as Kanji jumped Adachi crossed his arms and pushed, sending Kanji flying, sprawled across the ground in a heap, he tried to get up but the way he landed messed up his back and he fell back to the floor again wincing in pain as he struggled to sit up again. Adachi got up during all of this, now prowling over to Kanji he dragged the end of his Katana across the floor, making a quiet grating sound on the charred, cracked earth on the ground.
The whole group was petrified, completely unable to move, Rise had tears in her eyes and Naoto was too terrified to try and conceal theirs... Kanji was capable of totalling this guy in one blow! How was he knocked down so easily? The group's eyes widened as Adachi took the blade in both his hands. Everyone immediately knew Kanji was not going to get up in time. All of a sudden a surge of desperation caught the group as they all began to move forwards. But as suddenly as they moved to defend him, someone had already beaten them too it...Cara had intercepted the blow, a look of shock spread across her face as she looked down, to see the whole blade had gone right through her torso, just below her stomach, blood began to pour out of her and she began to feel the pain, at the exact same time as her brother, she screamed in agony.
When Kanji opened his eyes to see Adachi above him, cackling and grinning like some sort of Cheshire cat, he was fine... He knew he was going to die... At least Cara would still be able to look out for ma he thought...He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain that was sure to follow, somebody yelled his name, he wasn't sure who, hopefully not Naoto or Cara, he'd hate them to be upset... Suddenly he felt a spray of something warm on his face; confused he opened his eyes, only to see the end of a katana, mere inches away from his face, covered in some kind of dark liquid. He looked past that, upwards, following the drips of substance dripping onto his shirt, only to see something that made his heart stop ... At the other end of the katana, was Cara, back to him, arms splayed wide in order to shield him
"Aagh!" they let their screams out in perfect unison, a tragic, terrifying symphony no-one should ever hear... one of extreme pain, the other of horror and anger. Adachi seemed to stay there for god Knows how long, the group horrified and shocked into stillness, Rise collapsed onto her knees and started to sob, overwhelmed and on the brink of a breakdown. Adachi eventually gripped the young girls shoulder and shoved her down.
"You want to interfere do you?! Alright you brat! I'll kill you first!" Laughing manically he twists the katana, unleashing a primal, terrified scream from the young girl, she flails and screams, tears pouring down from her eyes, this scream is the one that shocks Yu into action, pouncing on Adachi he knocks the man over, letting go of the katana.
"Yosuke! Help me hold him down! Help her!" He shouts at the group, all rushing forward immediately, Naoto and Chie rushing to Cara, Yosuke jumping onto Adachi to help Yu hold him down, Yukiko ran to kanji, still curled up in shock, tears soaking his face, mumbling things and breathing irregularly.
"Naoto, what do we do?!" yells Chie trying to be as helpful as possible
"Hold that katana! Don't worry Cara-Chan! We'll get you fixed up again, I promise okay?" They try to comfort the girl, ripping at their sleeves, ending up just taking off their shirt.
"Chie take the Katana out! Now!" As she pulls the Katana out of the fifteen year old, Cara arcs her back as she tries to keep her head clear, knowing what their trying to do, as Naoto ties the shirt tightly around her, slowing the bleeding.
"Teddie! Is that portal ready yet?" Shouts Naoto as they pick Cara up off the ground, handing her to Chie. Cara's arms hang limply over Chie's shoulder and she tries not to black out. Suddenly the sweltering heat of the T.V world turns into the Warmth of the shop, then quickly into the bitter cold of the night air. She thinks she hears someone talk to her, she focuses on that voice.
"Cara-Chan, Stay awake! We'll get you to a hospital soon okay? You'll be fine-Hello! Yes! Send your least irritating officers and an ambulance, a young girl has been run through with a Katana! We're running to the hospital now from Tatsumi textiles... We're close to Junes, Goodbye. Keep running Chie-Senpai!" After an indeterminate amount of time of them running Cara heard sirens and, while still staying awake, closed her eyes, she'll be fine soon she told herself...
Two days later and they find out at least three rounds of surgery were needed in order to get her back up again (paid for by the police service, it was their fault Adachi got out, turns out the guard fell asleep on the job and Adachi got out through the T.V, however he could have easily used the door too, they forgot to take his keys away from him, so that's what they presumed happened) the whole police service gave her, Kanji and Mrs. Tatsumi a full apology, even though one almost made Kanji flip his shit by trying to make excuses, he got stopped by Naoto, only to punch the bastard themselves! , Chie and Yukiko tried to make her some food but was quickly stopped by Kanji ("She's sick enough as it is, we don't need to give her food poisoning too!") Yosuke even came by with a guitar to sing with Rise and Teddie to cheer her up when they visited, they even learned some western songs for her. Naoto and Kanji, it appeared, never left her side except to eat and other essential human things, Yu, Nanako and Dojima-San also came to visit, being in the same hospital made that easier of course.
She couldn't help but feel concerned about Kanji though, he hated hospitals, especially since dad... Mustering as much energy as she could she said quietly
"Kanji, maybe you should go home... I know you hate it here and I'd hate for you to lose anymore sleep, I also know you've been skipping school when I'm being operated on, Naoto told me, says they stay with you too, says you've had nightmares... "
"No fuckin' way kid, I love you more than I hate hospitals, sleep an' school be damned, I gotta look after Ma, she's been cleanin' too much, and Naoto's stayed over when you've had Op's 'cause she couldn't be alone, Yosuke's been asking me to teach 'im English so he can learn your favourite songs"
"Yeah, he has a voice on him... So do you..."
"Hehe... Rise actually wants to ask you how you do your makeup, and as for me and Ma? We both love you too much to let you go through this hell alone, so no matter how much I hate this god damn place, I will always love you more yeah? It's a big brothers job. Besides, after seeing my little sister get stabbed, fat chance you'll be able to get me to leave your side."
"What happened after Naoto and Chie got me out anyways?" She asked, curious about how everything went down with Adachi.
"Well, according to Yukiko I was just sitting there sobbing uncontrollably staring at the puddle of blood you left, until Yukiko slapped me, only thing she could think of... Then I went ape-shit at Adachi, damn near killed the bastard, it took all four people there to get me off of him... Looked as though they wanted to as well really, we all care about ya y'know?" yes, she knew, she patted Kanji's head and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"Have you been eating?" She inquired, if those two chickens would just get together already she wouldn't have spent these past few months tearing her hair out and admittedly pushing Naoto over into Kanji once or twice...
"Yeah, if I didn't look after myself Naoto would kick my ass, they totally could too!" He laughed
"Helps they have a gun!" She laughed with him, as the joy died down Kanji took her hand and placed his other hand on her head gently.
"I will always be there for ya... Okay?"
"As will we" A familiar voice caught the attention of the two the whole Investigation team were there with her mother and Naoto in the forefront, standing by the door, all obviously having heard Kanji's speech, Naoto with tears in her eyes and her hat held to her chest (out of respect I think?) And Ma also had a tear in her eye, going over to hug her daughter she whispers
"It's true dear... Me, your brother and all your friends are constantly coming to the shop to give their condolences and some" Now glancing pointedly at Naoto "Also needing comfort, if we're not careful I'll soon run out of tea!" She chuckled letting a lone tear travel down her cheek. Cara slowly wiped the tear away and held her family's hands in her own.
"Are you lot gonna come in or what?" Kanji translated for her and they all shuffled in awkwardly (especially Yosuke, attempting to sit down, forgetting his guitar was strapped to his back and falling on his ass) She felt the need to express her thanks to everyone.
"Thank you so much, all of you, when I first met you all, I could barley leave the house even with Kanji with me, I want you all to know that I love you all and even though these past few weeks have been hell, and I won't be able to see my senpai off when he leaves, you have all made my life brighter with everything you've done everything... From the beginning...Right to now... And one day I'll be able to talk to you without needing Kanji to translate!" With tears in her eyes she looked to an equally teary eyed Kanji as he began to translate for her, voice breaking on occasion
"Watashi ga saisho ni anata ni subete ni atta toki' , son'nani anata no subete o arigatōgozaimasu, watashi wa anata no subete wa, watashi wa, korera no kako sū-shūkan ga sa rete iru nimokakawarazu, jigoku no anata no subete o aishite iru koto o shitte hoshī, watashitoisshoni shite mo kanji de iewoderu ōmugideshita, to watashi wa anata ga subete no ima ni... Hajime kara anata ga subete o ittekita subete no mono... To akarui watashinojinsei o shita, kare ga hanareta toki ni watashi no senpai o miokuri dekiru yō ni... Soshite, tsuitachi no watashi wa arimasen `kanji o henkan suru tame ni hitsuyō to suru koto naku, anata ni hanashi o suru koto ga dekirudeshou!"
By the end every person in that hospital room laughed and had tears in their eyes, looking at each other Yu counted 1-2-3 and in unison they all said.
"We love you Cara-Chan!" Cara's face was full of surprise as she realised they learnt a little English, just to communicate to her... It made her cry with joy, so many tears in one day, it was a wonder that any of them had any moisture left in their bodies to carry on crying... Despite the pain, she was happy, so very, very happy at last...