Author's Note: This fic is dedicated to those victims of March 3rd, 2011 Tohoku region great earthquake and tsunami. May their souls rest in peace.
Fuuko ripped off the paper of daily wall calendar and smiled happily. Today was Friday and Tokiya has taken a day off so they could go to the rental video shop to grab some movies and watch them together at home.
Bowwow!
She tilted her head to the right and saw her Bichon Frise dog waving his tail happily. She smiled at the dog before patting him on the head.
"Are you ready, Fuuko?" Tokiya asked.
"I need several minutes to find my wallet" Fuuko replied as she started to open several drawers nearby.
"I'll be waiting at the living room" he continued.
Tokiya was about to proceed his way to the living room when the ground started to shake like crazy.
"Fuuko!, Ranmaru!. Hide below the dining table" he screamed out loud.
"Roger!" Fuuko embraced their beloved dog and moved under the dining table.
Tokiya who managed to grab two helmets handed one to Fuuko and joined the party under the table.
He hugged her shoulder and stayed still. The books were falling from their shelves and some fragile dining equipments made a huge crashing sound when they hit the hard floor. After approximately fifteen minutes the ground stopped shaking and there was an announcement from the ward office.
"This is a tsunami alert. All residents of Kessennuma City please retreat to the nearest evacuation area"
"Tokiya, I'll get the evacuation goods so please prepare our wagon before the tsunami comes" she handed Ranmaru to his arms before rushing her way to their bedroom.
Tokiya who fortunately had the car key inside his pocket ran to the parking lot and opened the car door. He placed Ranmaru on the passenger seat and turned on the engine.
"Wait here, boy" he commanded and was about to run back to the house when he saw Fuuko came out with two postman bags.
"I got them all so three of us could survive for several weeks" she said as she passed them to her boyfriend.
Tokiya put their luggage on the backseat and closed the door beside him and fastened his seatbelt.
Fuuko closed the passenger door, fastened her seatbelt and placed Ranmaru on her lap.
"The nearest evacuation center is the K elementary school which located fifteen minutes from here" Fuuko explained.
"Got it" Tokiya answered promptly as he stepped on the gas pedal.
"I beg your pardon, Sir?" Tokiya asked the middle age man who was the headmaster of the evacuation center elementary school.
"I'm sorry to tell both of you but animals are not allowed to stay inside this evacuation center" the man stated.
"But Ranmaru is a member of our family" Tokiya protested.
"I'm sorry young man. It's the rule here" the man answered firmly.
"Then we'll sleep with sleeping bags outside" Fuuko claimed as she pulled Tokiya's right arm.
"Look!, the tsunami!" an elementary school boy who stood near them shouted while pointing at the beach area.
Tokiya and Fuuko followed by Ranmaru ran to the nearest hill to take a better few.
They gasped when they saw ten meters black wave hitting some buildings and brought them to the sea. Fuuko fell down on both knees. Ranmaru licked Fuuko's fingers anxiously and let out a ruthful bark. Tokiya who lost his words hugged his beloved ones as he bit his lower lip to prevent tears from falling to his cheeks.
After a while three of them walked slowly back to the evacuation center.
"We should let Recca and the others know that we are save" Fuuko said.
"I didn't bring my cell phone with me" Tokiya replied.
"I brought mine but I forgot to bring the charger so it's dead" she showed him her useless cell phone.
"The headmaster said that rice balls will be delivered to each person ten minutes from now" an elementary school girl who walked in front of them said to her brother.
"Fuuko, I'll go get the rice balls so prepare the sleeping bags" Tokiya smiled.
"Got it. Let's go, Ranmaru" Fuuko ran along with her white dog.
"I just can't believe why animals are not allowed to stay inside the evacuation center" Fuuko muttered sadly as she patted Ranmaru's head. The dog who just finished eating his dog food waved his tail happily.
"Some people have animal allergy and some of them just hate to share their private space with animals" Tokiya let out a big sigh.
"I understand that human's life is on the top priority. But, animals are not toys. They're alive and they are part of the family" she complained.
Fuuko just could not hold back her tears anymore. She closed her mouth with both hands to hide her painful sobs. Tokiya drew her body near and caressed her purple locks.
"There's always sunshine after rain, Fuuko. Let's get through this together, okay?" Tokiya whispered before he placed a kiss on her forehead.
Fuuko nodded before she lay back on her sleeping bag.
"Anyway, I feel sorry for those people who sleep inside the school" Fuuko uttered.
"Why?" Tokiya asked confusedly.
"Because they miss the beautiful scenery" she pointed at the starry night sky above.
"Yes, indeed" Tokiya smiled as he gaze at the beautiful night sky.
He was told by his elder sister that nothing could win the beauty of night sky after a natural disaster. It was when a huge storm attacked their hometown and their parents were abroad due to their works.
"Tokiya" Fuuko called.
"Hmm?"
"Honestly, every time I stare at the starry night sky I felt horrible"
"May I know why?"
"My mom left the house because she was afraid of my elder brother who often committed violence. At first he was crashing some house furniture but in the end he ended up beating me and my mom. It was a starry night when I came back from cram school and saw my mom hanged herself at the living room"
Fuuko swallowed the lump in her throat before she continued her story.
"When police came I reported that my brother has been committing domestic violence. Just after I finished my report my brother came home and some police officers were about to arrest him when he fought back and ran out of the house. Suddenly a car driven by a certain gangsters came with a high speed and crashed on him. He was gone when the ambulance arrive"
"Fuuko…" Tokiya woke up and moved closer to his girlfriend to take a better look of her face.
"I lost my family in one night and it was one starry night" large drops of tears slipped from her eyes.
He pulled her into a warm embrace. She let out a painful sobs for the second time that day as she buried her face on his chest.
He felt as if his heart is being stabbed by a sword several times when he saw her crying face. The cheerful and strong woman in his arms whom he has known for years seemed so fragile that she may break into pieces in no time.
"I won't ever leave you, Fuuko and I'll keep my words" he whispered to her ear.
A month later
"Gotcha!" Fuuko beamed cheerfully as she raised up the solar energy cell phone charger like a world cup trophy from below the junks at the apartment.
Ranmaru barked happily.
"Stay at the exit door, Ranmaru. You'll get injured if you come in" Fuuko said out loud while moving some junks with a large stick.
She has told Tokiya to go back earlier to the evacuation center since his bag was fully equipped with water bottles they had been keeping for emergency at home.
The apartment was full of mud and she could see book shelves fell on the floor blocking her way to the bedroom. Fuuko felt her heart scattered into pieces at the horrible scenery in front of her. Her photo albums, graduation albums, laptop and USB that contains of those important pictures were all in the bedroom.
Ranmaru's barking voice brought her back to reality.
"Let's go back, boy. We shall not waste our time on regretting things" Fuuko said as she left her home.
Finally she reached her final destination after walking in silence for several minutes.
"Welcome back" Tokiya greeted her.
"Tokiya, what happened?" Fuuko examined her boyfriend who was full of wounds in panic.
"Well, several guys were trying to steal our wallet and some of the food materials but I managed to kick their butts" Tokiya smirked.
"Good job, superman. Now sit down so I can take care of your wounds" Fuuko grabbed the first aid box from her bag and started to pour disinfectant on a piece of cotton.
Carefully she took care of his wounds while he winced in pain every time the cotton touched his wounds.
"Done" she said happily as she stared at those band-aids scattered here, there and everywhere on his face.
"I look like a dumb" Tokiya complained after he checked his reflection through the car mirror.
"I'm afraid that's not the word I hope to hear from you, superman" Fuuko placed a hand on her waist.
"Thank you very much, your majesty. I owe you my life" Tokiya said plainly.
"My pleasure. I wonder why those people decided to steal from us. I thought this country is safe" she scratched her head.
"Everyone is desperate with the current state so they have no leeway to think about other people" he let out a heavy sigh.
"You know what?. You remind me of myself when I was in junior high" she smiled at him.
"So, you were full of bandages at that time?" he smirked.
"Yeah, I just can't stand people calling me weak since I was bullied horribly that I even thought about ending my life during elementary school" she sighed.
"When my parents died and Mifuyu oneesama got killed I also had the same thought as you" he said.
"We're so much alike, aren't we?" she closed the first aid kit box and placed it back to the proper place.
"People around us kept saying that you aren't female and I'm not male because of our appearance. But, for me you deserved to be called a lady" he concluded.
Fuuko felt her cheeks heated up though the temperature was below fifteen degrees at that time.
"And you deserve to be called gentlemen, Tokiya. Those people just have no idea about how strong and capable you are" she added after she got rid of her blushing cheeks.
"Thank you" he smiled at her.
"Anyway, stay still with Ranmaru 'coz I'm going to get some yakisoba from those volunteers" Fuuko winked before she left the spot.
"I'm telling the truth. I need two plates of yakisoba for my boyfriend" Fuuko explained desperately to one of the volunteers.
"She's lying, I saw her with a dog several hours ago. She's going to give feed the dog yakisoba" a middle age woman spoke out.
"I'm not going to feed my dog yakisoba. It's not good for his health" Fuuko responded angrily.
"See?, she's only thinking about her dog" the woman continued.
"I'm sorry, young lady but the rule is one plate for each person" the volunteer man handed Fuuko a plate of yakisoba.
"But, what about my boyfriend?" Fuuko insisted.
"Well, I'm afraid that you must drag him here if you want an extra plate" replied the volunteer man.
"Thank you for your kindness, Sir" Fuuko muttered with a low voice before she headed back to her car.
It was too hard for her to believe how human heart grows weaker than ever when facing disaster that even truth was seen as lie.
She noticed something has gone wrong when she saw Ranmaru barking continuously.
"Ranmaru, what the…" she stopped talking when she saw Tokiya breathing harshly while clutching his chest at the front seat.
Fuuko put the yakisoba into a Tupper-ware and placed a hand on his forehead. It was slightly hot and he was trembling a little bit. She pulled the lever on the side to lower down the seat so he could lie back on a more relaxing position. She undid some buttons of his shirt and gasped when she saw a large purple spot on his left chest. He was having an internal bleeding and there's no doubt that there was a broken bone.
"Fuuko…" he muttered weakly.
"This place isn't safety anymore so I'm taking you to Tokyo" she said as she pulled out the car key from her back pocket.
"But… it takes… more…than three hours to go….there" he protested between his breaths.
"We have enough gasoline and I heard that they have cleaned the road" she replied as she placed Ranmaru inside the carry cage and fastened the seatbelt on the cage to prevent it from falling to the floor.
Fuuko sat at the driver seat, fastened her seatbelt and turned on the engine. She turned on the car navigation system and entered her place of destination hastily.
However, the traffic jam was beyond their expectation. They reached the first highway resting area after an hour and a half. It was nearly ten o'clock pm when they finally arrived at Yanagi's house.
"Yanagi, it's Fuuko. I need your help immediately" Fuuko spoke out in panic after pressing the speak button on the intercom.
After several minutes Yanagi showed up in her pink negligee and a messy hair.
"What happened?"
"Tokiya is dying" Fuuko replied anxiously.
Yanagi hastily opened the front gate and rushed her way to the car. Tokiya was sweating and his face was as pale as a white bed sheet. He was mildly anxious that his body kept shaking.
"Tokiya san" Yanagi took his left hand but he shook it away when he saw her face.
"Mifuyu….oneesama…. I can't go with you…I'm sorry…" he muttered.
"Tokiya, she's not your sister. She's Yanagi" Fuuko said.
"Yanagi….san…" he repeated weakly.
"He needs a surgery right away so I want you to help me bring him inside the house. We'll conduct it at the surgery room underground" Yanagi stated as she supported Tokiya to stand up and headed inside the house.
The next day
"Fuuko, as you know I could only cure physical damage so I'm hopeless when it comes to psychological damage" Yanagi explained when she finished changing Tokiya's drip injection.
"I beg your pardon?" Fuuko raised an eybrow.
"Let's talk about it outside the room" Yanagi fixed a blanket on the ensui master before she opened the room door.
"What do you mean by psychological damage, Yanagi?" Fuuko asked as she sat on the sofa.
"Mikagami senpai has been suffering from heavy stress caused by the natural disaster. There are a lot of similar patients in my hospital currently" the curer explained.
"Your hospital?. Are you… by any chance…" Fuuko muttered.
"Yes, Fuuko. I'm a doctor and Recca is a nurse. I've lost my curing ability since the last battle so I decided to enrolled at the medical college and become a doctor" Yanagi smiled.
Fuuko almost burst into laughter when she heard that Recca has become a nurse. However, she decided to hold back her laugh since she knew that there's no way a person whose total score lower than her manage to get a diploma in the college of medicine.
"I see. So, that's why you were using the dripping injection and gave some shots at Tokiya" she replied warily.
"I should have told you earlier about this but I had no chance since the two of you were living far away" the female doctor gave Fuuko a sad look.
"Never mind about that, Yanagi. I really appreciate your help since me and Tokiya have no relatives to rely on" Fuuko added.
"You're more than welcome here, Fuuko. We are best friends and it'll last forever" Yanagi moved forward and gave her best friend a big hug.
"Thank you so much, Yanagi" Fuuko said before biting her lower lip to prevent her from crying out loud.
"I'll be staying at the hospital together with Recca for a couple weeks since we have to take care of the victims. So, take care and make sure you don't burn the house though the insurance company will pay for it" Yanagi showed an evil smile.
"Hey, don't underestimate my recent cooking skill though I'm still no match to Tokiya" Fuuko poked her tongue out.
"Well then, I'll see you again in several weeks" Yanagi chuckled.
"Take care and say hello from me for Recca" Fuuko replied.
She rose up from the sofa and headed to the guest room when Yanagi left the house.
She found him staring blankly at the ceiling when she walked into the room.
"How do you feel?" she asked while caressing his long silver strands.
He still looked pale though he looked much better than the previous day.
"Drowsy" he replied promptly.
"For your information, I didn't drug you though" she winked.
"I know that, silly" he chuckled.
"Anyway, I've got an incredible news and I'm sure that you're going to laugh your ass off" she showed him her Cheshire cat like smile.
"Try me then" he challenged her.
"Yanagi is a doctor and Recca is her nurse" she stated.
They exchanged look at each other before laughing out like mad apes.
"I have no doubt that he couldn't tell the different between medicines since he's so bad in reading Katakana" Tokiya said.
"Yeah, his Japanese test score always ended up at the lowest rank back in high school" Fuuko giggled.
"How pathetic" he added.
"Anyway, Yanagi said that you've been suffering from a heavy stress" she replaced his ice pillow with the new one.
"I'm… sorry" he muttered after a moment of silence.
"It's not your fault so you don't have to apologize" she took his trembling left hand and wrapped it with both hands.
"I was just worried about our future since we both have lost our works due to the natural disaster" he stated.
Tokiya was working at the law firm while Fuuko was a karate teacher of elementary school students.
"You just worry too much. We managed to bring our bank books and cash cards so we can survive for at least a couple months. Moreover, Yanagi has promised me to introduce some part time jobs here" she raised a thumb.
"I'm glad to hear that" he smiled at her.
"By the way, I was always wondering why you chose to work at the law firm. Your total score was more than enough to pass the entrance examination of the local college of medicine" she scratched her head.
"It's because I want to reduce my encounter rate with death" he answered firmly.
She caught a glimpse of sadness in his eyes.
"Anyway, I'm going to shop for groceries at the nearest supermarket so Ranmaru will be your nurse from now on" Fuuko patted Ranmaru's head.
"I see. Be careful and be home soon" Tokiya replied.
She nodded and waved her hand at him.
Fuuko froze when her eyes caught empty stocks of instant noodles, canned food and bread. Fortunately she managed to get some packs of instant porridge. She was about to shop for more ingredients when the shop lady came to her.
"I'm sorry, we're closing the shop earlier today since the government has decided to perform electricity blackout on this area for a couple hours from now on" the lady explained.
"Electricty blackout?" Fuuko raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, since the nuclear plant was broken down by the tsunami the rest of active power plants won't be able to support electricity for the whole region in this country so I beg for your cooperation"
Fuuko could not fight for her opinion when the shop staff took her shopping basket and brought it to the nearest cashier.
She held her breath and walked out from the supermarket after paying for her groceries. At the entrance door she saw some shop staffs bowing deeply while apologizing to some customers who were about to enter the supermarket. Fuuko has never experienced any war so she only heard about the stories about living a daily life during the war from her school teachers and some war related Japanese movies.
However, she has to admit that the current circumstance she was facing was quite similar to those people who experienced war. She recalled the memory of some broken buildings in the city she lived, people stealing from each other and limited stocks of daily goods. She believed that 'miserable' was the only word that could explain her current state.
"Fuuko" Tokiya called.
"Hmm?" Fuuko turned her sleeping position so she was now face to face with her boyfriend.
They have decided to sleep next to each other with Ranmaru on their feet covered by a thick blanket since they could not use the heating system due to electricity blackout.
"I understand that now is not the proper time to ask but I want you to know that I love you" Tokiya could feel both of his cheek on fire when he said those words.
"I love you too, Tokiya" she replied shyly.
"One more thing" he whispered.
"What is it?" she glanced at him.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
"I don't have any ring with me right now but, would you marry me?"
Fuuko lost her words since she didn't expect to hear such words.
However, after a moment that seemed like forever she finally said her answer while blushing like crazy.
"Yes, certainly"
Tokiya smiled happily before he leaned forward and locked his lips with hers in a chaste kiss.
"I also have an announcement to make" she said when they broke the kiss.
"What is it?" he asked.
She smiled before taking his right hand and placed it down her chest and moved it to the southern part of her body. His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed a slight bulge on her belly.
"Three months I've succeeded hiding this from you" Fuuko made a peace sign with her right hand.
"You'll make a great actress" Tokiya concluded.
"I'm not interesting in acting though" Fuuko poked out her tongue.
"Anyway, I saw in the news that the government will build a temporary housing for the victims of earthquake" he continued.
"Awesome!, we can go back to Kessennuma city then" she raised a hand happily.
"I told you there's always sunshine after rain" Tokiya winked.
"You know what?, your stormy good look gets better whenever you wink" Fuuko whispered.
"If you think that you can get some expensive goods by praising me then you're totally wrong" he pinced her nose.
"Ouch!, I wonder what will Mister Perfect, Tokiya Mikagami gives me as a reward for praising him" she poked him.
"You'll love it" he locked her hands with his above her head while each of his legs was placed beside her waist.
He gave her a naughty smirk.
"Tokiya, you're the sick man here" she fought him but he was too strong for her.
"The sick man has an urge need to be granted, Fuuko" he stated before placing an open mouthed kiss on her neck causing her to let out a large moan.
"Recca, I need those wet towels now!" Yanagi spoke out.
"I'm on my way, hime!" Recca replied from the kitchen.
"Hang in there, Fuuko" Tokiya whispered as he caressed his wife's purple locks.
Fuuko who was breathing harshly nodded as she strengthened her grip on her husband's left arm.
Fuuko has chosen to deliver the baby at the room of their new temporary housing. However, she was having a breech baby so Yanagi and the rest has been spending the whole night doing massage and some other treatments to put the baby back to the proper position.
"Push harder, Fuuko" Yanagi commanded.
Fuuko obeyed and pushed as hard as she could. She screamed out painfully when the enormous pain of delivery struck her. She felt as if her body is being ripened into pieces slowly and since she did not take any medication for painless delivery the pain was just too hard to handle.
"Fuuko, take a deep breath and push again" Tokiya whispered while shedding her endlessly falling tears with his handkerchief.
Fuuko took a deep breath before started to push again.
"I can see the head!" Recca said cheerfully.
"One more push, Fuuko" Yanagi added.
Fuuko bit her lower lip and pushed harder. She let out a relief sigh when she heard the baby cried.
"Congratulations!, a handsome baby boy for the two of you" Yanagi showed the baby to the happy couple.
"We'll clean him right away" Recca smiled as he followed his princess with the newborn baby to the bathroom.
Tokiya supported Fuuko to the sitting position and helped her drink a cup of fresh orange juice through a straw.
Fuuko adjusted her breath after she took a gulp of her drink.
"You did a great job back there" he placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I won't have made it without your support" she caressed his left cheek.
Her body was swollen due to fifteen hours of delivery and the enormous pain she just endured was still fresh in her mind.
He took her left hand and slipped something into her ring finger.
She raised her left hand and stared at the tiny diamond ring.
"Fuuko, would you fight by my side until our last breath?" he asked nervously.
She could feel tears welled up again in her eyes.
"Definitely" she answered firmly.
Tokiya smiled before he leaned forward and locked their lips together in a long and passionate kiss.
The End
Author's Note: Phew!, finished at last! (^o^). I apologize that both Tokiya & Fuuko are quite OOC (T-T). I needed to change their personality to describe how bad the natural disaster was. Anyway, thank you for reading and don't forget to review (^-^). I need your support to become a better writer (^_-)v.
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