Right, so this is what, my first fanfic on this site. This is basically an AU where Sunohara is a taxi driver. And on the night that Ushio died in the anime (spoilers) Tomoya remembered that fact and called him for help. Oh and it wasn't that snowy either. Don't know what else to say except, R&R please. Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Clannad or its characters. All I own is a second-grade PC. Oh, and this particular story.
Sorrows of the Forgotten
Punitor567
Sunohara Youhei was in a good mood for the first time in a very long time.
His job wasn't exactly the best one you could get. Being a taxi driver didn't exactly earn you much, especially not on a snowy night like this where people tended to stay indoors and laze around in front of the television. But Sunohara liked his job. It had its perks.
One of those was that after five years of zero contact, a call from Furukawa Bakery came to the station where he worked. He offered to go, wondering if he'd get to see Okazaki and little Ushio after so long.
"Now then," he said to himself, "what face am I gonna wear when I greet them?" After a minute or so of pondering, he decided on the goofball face they knew him best by. It would be harder to pull off without his trademark blonde hair though.
It wasn't easy driving through all the snow. But being a taxi driver meant he knew all the roads of Hikarizaka. And so he managed to arrive at the Furukawa bakery before long.
Reaching the place, he noticed two people standing outside the door. One was Okazaki, and he seemed to be carrying something. The other was the baseball-nut of a father Nagisa had.
Speaking of which, I wonder how Okazaki's actually holding up, Sunohara thought, pulling up in front of them. He plastered a big grin onto his face, and rolled down the window.
"Okazaki! Yo, how's it going?" he said jovially. The two of them didn't respond. That's when Sunohara noticed the grim looks on their faces.
That's also when he noticed just what – who – Okazaki was carrying.
His smile vanished, and he became serious. "Get in," he said, not wasting any time in opening the door.
~Tomoya's POV~
I wasn't able to think very straight with Ushio near-death in my arms. All I could think of was how Nagisa had left me all those years ago. How she was regularly struck by this same unknown disease that Ushio was now dying of.
I hated this world. I loathed it for being so cruel to those who only wanted a small happiness. It wouldn't give me even a month to spend with the daughter I'd shunned for five long years.
However, even in this state, Sunohara managed to surprise me.
As soon as I got in the car and closed the door – the old man stayed behind to look after Sanae-san – Sunohara rammed the accelerator with his foot and I fell back onto my seat.
"Oi!" I shouted at him. "Be careful will y-"
"I know how to drive, Okazaki," he snapped back. "Now shut up and just keep an eye on Ushio."
He glanced back when he said that, and showed an expression that was extremely rare. He was serious and clear-headed, unlike me who could barely string two thoughts together. Was he still really the same idiot?
The taxi raced through the streets of Hikarizaka. At some point, I recognized the route he was using. He was taking us to that newly built hospital.
The same place where the old man once brought a sick Nagisa, who was then cured. And that was when there was no hospital.
Some part of me thought that this was probably the best place to try and cure Ushio. But how would he know about that place…?
My doubts were answered in the next minute when he picked up his phone and called someone.
"Ryou," he said. Fujibayashi? Since when were they on first-name terms?
"Yeah, I know, I'm still on my shift. Listen this is urgent. Can you get a room ready in the hospital in about five minutes? … I know, but please try. It's Ushio. … Yeah, hurry. Thanks."
He hung up, threw the phone onto the passenger seat beside him, and continued driving. His reliability was, I'll admit, somewhat comforting.
I recalled then, that whenever the Drama Club was in a pinch, it would be this idiot who found out a way to fix it. Whenever Nagisa and I had needed help, he'd be there.
Nagisa… watch over your daughter. Don't let her leave now...
~Kyou's POV~
Tomoyo and I were laughing in the hospital lobby. Yeah, I know. Not a place to be chatting around.
I'd come over to visit Ryou at work. Turned out she couldn't leave her shift yet. So I decided to wait for a while since I really had nothing to do, and Tomoyo walked in. She usually lived outside town, so it was a rare treat that we'd see her here in HIkarizaka. She told me she had arrived this morning, and wanted to surprise us tomorrow. But she had needed an eye check-up, so she stopped by the hospital. Really, what facilities didn't this hospital have?
I still couldn't get used to her look with the glasses.
After finishing her checkup, the two of us were chatting in the lobby, when Ryou rushed down the stairs. And like always, all eyes turned to her.
Ryou had gained quite the reputation at this hospital. A kind, cute nurse who was always there for her patients. She was studying in the medical college branch the hospital had, and by speaking to some of the doctors, I found out she was expected to gain a full doctor's post in a year.
Me, I was just some kindergarten teacher in Hikarizaka. Funny, the shy twin grew up to become one of the better known people in this town.
Ryou was, as regulations, wearing her nurse's outfit. However, she didn't have her usual cheerful demeanor. Her eyes were worried, and she stood in front of the sliding doors as if waiting for someone. Two assistants waited alongside with a bed.
And then Tomoya rushed in, carrying a very sick Ushio.
Tomoyo and I both shot to our feet and ran over to them as Ushio was placed on the bed and rushed towards the elevator.
"Tomoya!" I called out. He turned his weary eyes towards me.
"Ushio, what happened?"
"The same thing Nagisa suffered from," he said, his voice breaking. He was in despair. And, like before, I couldn't do anything.
Honestly, what kind of friend was I? I couldn't do anything, couldn't say anything, nothing to comfort him.
"Okazaki," Tomoyo spoke up. "Don't worry. Fujibayashi can take care of her, you know."
I looked back at him again, and then it hit me. He was breaking again. If we didn't do something, if Ushio didn't survive this, he'd be completely gone.
"Nagisa… she died because of this. And now Ushio is going to as well…"
Not good, he'd already half given up.
I grabbed his arm. "Come on!" I ordered, dragging him with me. "Do you know which room Ushio's gonna be in?"
"… 416. Fourth floor…"
"Then why are we standing here wasting time? Let's go!"
~Normal POV~
Sunohara stood outside the doors, far back enough so it wouldn't detect him and open. He watched the scene that took place inside the lobby.
Kyou's here, and Sakagami too?... Well, they can take care of Okazaki.
He was never an important part of the group. He was merely the idiot who existed in that room to provide comedy. He wasn't supposed to be meddling with things that were outside his job description.
Sunohara Youhei may have been part of the Drama Club, but he was a loner in the group. He was the one who had the ability to fade into the background when not needed as a punching bag. And as such, he wasn't needed now when things were grim. That was the jobs of the others.
And so, he turned to walk back towards his taxi. His shift hadn't ended, and he needed all the money he could earn.
Sunohara took one step, and then two.
"… Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself.
He knew. He knew Okazaki and he knew what he was going through. He knew that he'd wallow in his despair, and lash out at anyone who tried to help. At anyone who tried to provide empty words of comfort, the ones he wanted to hear but didn't want to acknowledge. He knew the words Okazaki didn't want to hear but needed to. He knew if anyone else tried to say them, they'd face his rage. He couldn't let Sakagami or Kyou try to stop him lashing out in rage and despair.
He had to do something. He gritted his teeth and stared at the snow falling silently.
"Guess I'm still gonna be the punching bag…"
Sunohara turned and ran into the hospital.
~Kyou's POV~
Outside Room 416, Tomoya was reaching breaking point. Tomoyo and I sat a small distance away because.
Ryou had told us, "Right now, you need to give Okazaki-kun some time to think. He needs a moment or two alone. If things get worse, then please help him. But not before that."
Working in a hospital had made Ryou a bit stronger. A while back, she'd have been in tears due to the worry.
Tomoyo sat with me, biting her lip in worry. We were both silent, and we both kept an eye on Okazaki.
"Come to think of it," Tomoyo said quietly, "how did he get her here in time, with all the snow outside?"
I didn't know. The Furukawas didn't own a car as far as I knew, and neither did Tomoya. So that meant he must have called a cab or something.
Hold on, a taxi? At this hour, there weren't many on the road, and certainly not many of them would be willing to drive here from Tomoya's house, or the bakery. So who'd be willing to take an urgent call like that?
"Sunohara-san is working as a taxi driver now."
"Ehh? So he really couldn't find a decent job, the moron."
The conversation I had with Ryou two years ago came to my mind. Could it have been Youhei…?
Tomoya stood up at that moment. One look at his eyes told me that he was teetering on the edge. I had to do something, and I had to do it now.
Tomoyo and I hurried over to him. He turned to look at us. The look in his eyes was frightening. They were completely blank, with no light in them. He looked on the verge of doing whatever he could to get back at the world.
"Tomoya," I said, desperately seeking for the words. "Don't worry. Ushio-chan will make it out, got it? She'll be fine."
"Don't give me empty promises, Kyou," he retorted, anger seeping into his voice. "Can you really ensure that she'll live through this? Can you really make sure that this town won't kill her like it did to Nagisa?"
"Listen, she's your daughter and I know you're worried. I am too, okay? But she's not gone yet. There's still plenty of chance that she'll be fine-"
"There's plenty of chance that she won't be!" he shouted.
Ryou heard the commotion, and came out of Ushio's room. "Okazaki-kun, please calm down. This is a hospital. Ushio-chan will be fine."
"No, she won't! She'll never be fine as long as we're in this damned town! This town that killed Nagisa! And now it's also going to kill Ushio!"
"Tomoya!"
"Okazaki, you're not making sense. We're all worried here," Tomoyo spoke up. "But it's only a fever, right? She'll make it through."
"Can you guarantee that?! Can you?! No, you can't. I should have left this town. I should've taken Ushio and left before this happened! And now, because I didn't, this town is going to kill her too!"
Tomoya was raging and we couldn't do anything about it. We didn't understand what he was saying. How can the town itself kill a person? He was just trying to lash out at things. He needed something to blame.
But I couldn't say that. I knew that if I did, it would only make him angrier. Saying that he was just trying to put the blame on somebody would throw him over the edge. He might even grow violent.
Why was I this useless?
Footsteps sounded behind Tomoya. "Guess I found you just on time," a familiar voice said.
I looked over his shoulder and saw Youhei, hair back to its natural black and wearing his uniform.
So it was him who brought Tomoya here. But what was he doing here now? That idiot didn't understand what was happening here. And here he was, putting on a serious face and looking like he knew how to calm Tomoya.
"Okazaki," he said, putting a hand on Tomoya's shoulder. "Stop. There's nothing you can do."
He went ahead and said the words that would definitely anger Tomoya.
"Shut up, Sunohara. You wouldn't understand-"
"What I understand is," he interrupted, "you're venting you're rage at whoever's nearby."
"Shut up!" he yelled, turning towards Youhei
"You think that's gonna help? You think by raging at people, you can somehow wake up Ushio, fully healed. Do you think by venting your anger, you can scare the sickness away?"
Tomoya's face distorted into a truly wrathful expression. Before he said anything, I spoke up. Why do I always have to fix the damage Youhei causes?
"Youhei, shut it," I said, glaring at Youhei, angry on Tomoya's behalf. "You're not helping one bit, so just stop talking, alright? You don't understand what's going on here, so don't try to."
Youhei looked at me. Unsettlingly, I couldn't read his expression.
"Onee-chan," Ryou spoke up. This irritated me. She'd been defending this idiot against whatever I said for two years now.
"Enough defending him, Ryou!" I snapped, turning back at her. "Can't you see he's only making matters worse? I get that he's trying to help, but he'd be better off not involving himself in things he doesn't get!"
After I'd said that, I heard quiet laughter. I turned back to Youhei and saw him laughing, his hair covering his eyes. This only further irritated me. What the hell was he laughing for?
"Of course," he said finally, having stopped laughing and now making a weird smile. "You wouldn't know. After all, I'm just a dumbass, aren't I?"
Tomoya, still facing Youhei, took a breath. "Sunohara, thanks for getting me and Ushio here. But now, can you please leave?"
I didn't even see when it happened.
Youhei tightened his fist, and punched Tomoya straight in the face. He fell back onto the ground, his nose bleeding.
For a few seconds none of us moved or made a sound. Then Ryou yelped, "Sunohara-san!"
"Been wanting to do that for five years, Okazaki," he said tonelessly. "Don't give me reason to do it again."
Tomoya jumped up and broke Youhei's nose. Before he could do anymore damage, Tomoyo locked his arms behind him, Tomoya struggling to get free and hit Youhei again.
I ran over to Youhei and grabbed his collar. "What the hell's wrong with you?!" I yelled at him. I no longer cared that this was a hospital.
"Just had to give him a little piece of my mind," he replied, not looking away.
I felt like hitting him too, but he turned his eyes away from me and looked at Tomoya. "Does that help? Did punching me do anything to help you or Ushio?"
"SHUT UP!" Tomoya was screaming now. "THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!"
"What makes you so sure I don't?!"
Those words shut all of us up. I let go of Youhei's collar in surprise. Looking at his face, I was stunned.
It was as though a mask had dropped. He was angry, not just at Tomoya, but at all of us. And one look at his eyes made me wonder if it really was Youhei standing in front of me.
They were full of grief. Full of anger, resentment and despair at the world. They also looked resigned. Resigned to just face whatever was thrown at him.
I wasn't the only one who was shocked. Tomoya had been derailed mid-rampage and he looked like he was trying to find something else to yell about. Tomoyo looked at Youhei as though she was seeing a stranger.
Ryou's reaction surprised me. She looked down, her expression downcast. Whatever it was that he was talking about, she knew. The conversation I had with her three years ago came back to me.
"Onee-chan, Sunohara-san came by the hospital today."
It was after she had come home. I was watching TV while looking through the work my students had done today. There were some pretty good drawings among them.
"Youhei? How is that idiot?"
"Sunohara-san is working as a taxi driver now."
"Ehh? So he really couldn't find a decent job, the moron."
Ryou looked like she was going to say something, but didn't. As an uncomfortable silence grew, I asked her.
"So why was he at the hospital? Did he need his brain checked up?"
"Onee-chan!"
Ryou was angry. Angry on Youhei's behalf. That had surprised me then.
"It was a joke, alright?" I replied, confused at her reaction. "So how is he doing?"
Ryou didn't look very mollified, but she still replied, "Sunohara-san is working very hard," she said briefly. The next one or so hours were spent in uncomfortable silence, until things were back to normal.
I didn't understand it back then, and I still didn't now.
Some small angry part of me said, Okay fine, maybe he's seen some bad stuff, but does he really know what Tomoya is feeling-
One more look at his eyes told me the answer. He knew. He knew better than all of us. Youhei gave off the impression of a jaded, world-weary soldier. He'd seen more tragedy than even Tomoya. I didn't know what to say anymore.
Youhei took a breath, and then made a sad smile while looking at us.
"Five years, Okazaki," he said. "For five years you locked yourself up, and didn't keep in touch with any of us. Especially me: none of you kept in touch. Not after that one day when you called me to try and drag this idiot out of his house. So I wouldn't expect any of you to know about how my last five years went."
"Sunohara-san…" Ryou said.
"It's alright, Ryou." Another shock. Since when was he on first-name terms with my sister? "What I'm trying to say is, Okazaki, is there are times when there really isn't anything you can do. Times when all you can do is pray. Pray and hope that things don't go bad."
He stepped back at that point and turned to leave. "Don't let that chance pass you. That's what you can do, so do it. Take the chance that I was denied."
He made to leave, and none of us could say a word. Except Ryou.
"U-um, Sunohara-san! Since you're here, wouldn't you like to visit her?"
He paused. "I need to end my shift first. I'll come over afterwards."
"Th-then… should I tell her you came by?" she said tentatively.
"… Sure." And with that, he left.
Ryou hurried off after saying "Ushio-chan needs some rest, so it'll be alright." Tomoya went to sit inside her room, and Tomoyo, after telling me to take care of him, left as well. She told me she needed some time to think.
Honestly, so did I. What Youhei said was true. We never bothered to keep in touch with him. The last time I met him really was when we were trying to help Tomoya after Nagisa departed. He was the one who irritated me by saying that we couldn't do anything about it. He was right. We needed to give Tomoya time to recover on his own.
We didn't even know – we didn't even bother finding out how he had spent the last five years.
What hurt me the most is realizing that I didn't even care. Youhei was always there for us whenever we needed him, and we didn't even bother to find out how he was doing. Now I understood why Ryou defended him like that. What kind of a person I was to treat him like that after all he did.
He was already gone. There was nobody around to hear me. But I still said it.
"I'm sorry."
~Normal POV~
Out on the streets of Hikarizaka, a lone taxi moved through the falling snow. Its driver lived in solitude, and yet lived for the sake of others.
The driver of the taxi lived for others, and yet was forgotten by others. Even so, he would always reach out a hand. He would do what others were too afraid to do. It did not matter that he faded into the background. What mattered was that he was always there to lend a hand.
Even if doing so would lead to his own pain.
Outside Room 439, Fujibayashi Ryou placed a hand on the door. Inside was a single comatose four-year-old girl.
"Reika-chan… Your father came by to visit again. He couldn't stay long though. He got into a small fight too." Here Ryou chuckled. "Even so, he managed to save a friend from falling into grief. He's always like that isn't he? Helping others even if he gets nothing in return."
Ryou took her hand off the door, and stepped back. "He'll be back to visit soon. Try… try to wake up, okay?"
Ryou wondered why she did as Sunohara asked and spoke to the girl even if she couldn't hear anything. As always she answered herself. Because he needs somebody to be kind to him.
She took one last look at the nameplate on the door, and walked away. There was still work she had to do.
Room 439: Sunohara Reika
Okay, that's my first fic done. Now then.
Firstly, yeah yeah, I know, Sunohara was OOC. But that was important. One does not simply stay an idiot forever. Especially if they've been through some pretty bad stuff.
Secondly, yes, I know, Nagisa didn't die of the fever but it was that sickness that weakened her so much that she died in childbirth
Thirdly, this fic sounded a lot better in my head.
Punitor567 out. R&R. El Psy Congroo.