So how did you all like chapter 1? I can tell this story is going to be emotionally taxing to write, but isn't every story? Well, enjoy chapter 2! By the way, I'm also working on some fan art for both my ongoing stories. If you're lucky I'll post them *wink*. And also remember to rate and review, because I don't know what I'm doing wrong if you don't tell me. Thanks! :)
Arrivederci,
x-LiveFantasy-x
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When Mariko shut her locker door, Raiden was standing behind it, his face unreadable. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and bade him a feeble, "Hey."
"Are you seriously okay with this?" His eyebrows knit together. "You don't have to tell everyone if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine. I've thought it through; this isn't something I can hide and I'd rather I told them myself," she shuddered. "God forbid they found out a different way…"
They walked down the hall in silence, which they did often. At that point in their relationship, they didn't need to be talking all the time. Somehow, one always knew what the other was feeling, so exchanging words wasn't necessary. It was like the connection identical twins have; they could be anywhere, be doing anything, and always feel the other. They could hate the other's guts and still sense the little invisible cord that pulled their souls together. The bonds of friendship run deeper in some then they do in others, and in the case of Mariko and Raiden, they were as deep as scars.
They approached their homeroom with ample time to spare. Mariko stalled in front of the door, her hand frozen by her side. Raiden opened his mouth to try and dissuade her again, but she held up a hand to silence him and pushed the door open.
Their homeroom was relatively small compared to others. In their school, freshmen and seniors had their own homerooms, but due to being short-staffed the sophomores and juniors are all meshed together. Mariko was thankful for that because Raiden was a junior and she was a sophomore. Mariko had many friends and was very popular among the sophomore not only for her beautiful looks but her stunning personality, but she never put Raiden on the back burner for anyone else.
Inside there were six people sitting in various places in random groups at miscellaneous tables. In the center of the room, Yuji Sato sat tinkering with something, broken pens and what looked like dismantled staple gun parts scattered around his desk. Yuji could make a machine gun out of paper and doilies, which is why so many people are fascinated with and terrified by him. His look was even unique; his hair was made up of short tendrils of chocolate brown streaked with blood-red tones and his eyes were like giant rubies.
On the far side of the room, a boy with honey colored hair and a girl with dark eyes were sitting together. The girl was Kairi Suzuki and the guy was Takeshi Matsui, two people Mariko had prayed wouldn't be there when she delivered the news. Kairi was sitting on Takeshi's lap and giggling as he flirted nonsensically with her. Kairi stole a glance at Mariko and smiled wickedly at her while Mariko rolled her eyes and took a seat as far away from the vile couple as possible. Everyone knew that Kairi despised Mariko for some unknown reason. Mariko had heard that she was asserting her power over Takeshi, who had been mildly infatuated with Mariko years before. Mariko always thought Kairi was just jealous of her, be it her looks or her popularity. Nevertheless, Kairi's words and actions stung her core no matter how much she tried to ignore her. Takeshi followed her lead blindly.
Osamu Watanabe and Kioshi Fumazaki – the nerd and the quiet one – were talking quietly by themselves. Not much was known about either of them, other than that Osamu thought he was too smart for friends and a social life and Kioshi longed to be like him. Everyone thought that Kioshi was gay for Osamu, but Mariko hated making assumptions like that about people, so she assumed they were just friends.
Sitting alone next to a window with good sun was the new student. Aya Mochida was her name and she seemed to be immersed in a book. Normally, she would be talking to other students or making dry humor jokes, but she was silent when she had a book in her hands. She was a lovely girl with thick caramel colored hair and eyes like golden honey, but no boys ever talked to her. They all got shot down within three seconds of opening their mouths. That's why Mariko and Aya got along so well right out of the starting gate: they could hold their own. Aya looked up for a moment and waved at Mariko, and Mariko retuned her smile.
"Hello?" a little figure appeared at the door. "Anyone home?"
"Aiko, hi!" Mariko said, putting on a cheery smile for the little girl. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Junior high doesn't start for another half hour, silly," Aiko said, moving towards Mariko's desk. "I'm here to drop something off to Mr. Yamaha."
Aiko Azume was an eighth grader from the connecting junior high school. She had a free period in the beginning of the day, so she was a runner to the high school. Needless to say she was there often because Mr. Yamaha's phone had been broken for three months. She looked so much younger then she was, with her enormous sea-green eyes and extra-long auburn hair, but acted older than anyone in the room. Teachers trusted her with everything.
"Right on the desk, there," Mariko pointed. As she stuck the envelope she was holding in his desk drawer, Mariko added, "You can stay for a bit if you want."
"Thanks," Aiko said. 'I was planning to. I have 20 minutes to spare."
Aiko joined Aya in the corner, rattling off questions about her book. Mariko was starting to feel better about the whole "telling people" thing. She felt herself relaxing knowing that so many people would understand where she was coming from. She knew she had to do it soon, before Mr. Yamaha arrived. Not that he would care that much; he was very passive.
She stood up from her chair and tugged on Raiden's jacket. She gave him a nod and he followed her to the middle of the room. Mariko hated being on the spot like that, but she wasn't sure what else to do.
"Hey guys," she said loud enough for everyone to hear. She was thankful to get everyone's eyes on her the first time. She felt her palms begin to sweat and she could feel herself shaking lightly. She was glad that Raiden was there, because she would have passed out if she were alone. "I, uh… I have something to tell you."
Aiko stood up and asked, "What's wrong, Mar?"
Aya closed her book and turned towards her, her eyes full of concern. "We're listening. Go ahead."
Mariko mustered every last bit of her strength and said, "I went to the doctor yesterday, and he told me that I have a rare form of cancer. I have six months to a year to live."
Silence followed her simple yet powerful sentence. No one spoke for a moment while the information sunk in. Mariko wasn't friends with some of the people in the room, but even the people she never talked to before like Kioshi and Osamu looked horror-stricken. Aiko broke the silence by rushing over to Mariko, hugging her around the waist and saying, "Oh, Mariko…"
"How could this happen?" Aya's face was downcast. "I can hardly believe it."
"Me either," Yuji had dropped his little mechanism and it broke on the floor, but he didn't look like he cared. She didn't talk to Yuji that much, but they'd been in the same class since Kindergarten.
Everyone cares so much… At tear slipped down Mariko's cheek, and she was fully aware of Aiko and Raiden at her sides and the others around her who were so sorrowful after hearing the news. So many people actually gave a damn what happened to her. It made her so happy to know how many people cared about her…
Then Kairi spoke up from the back of the room.
"You really believe all this crap?" She raised a heavily-penciled eyebrow and slipped off Takeshi's lap.
"She doesn't need this right now, Kairi," Aya hissed as Kairi sauntered over to them.
"Can't you see it? Little miss 'feel sorry for me' is obviously doing this to get attention," Kairi was now right in front of Mariko's face, and Mariko felt small compared to her. She reached out and took a lock of Mariko's hair between her long, red fingernails. She looked straight into Mariko's eyes and smirked, "Cancer? That's all you could come up with? How come you still have all this pretty hair, then?"
Mariko swatted her hand away, her face twisting into a scowl. "If you had two brain cells to rub together, you'd know why I still have all this 'pretty hair'."
"Listen, bitch," Kairi was steaming now. "You might have everyone else fooled, but I'll believe you're dying when your body is in a coffin. Until then, you're still a little stuck up, attention begging goody that can't get popular without lying."
"Says the girl who lies about everything," a voice came from behind her. Kairi whirled around, her eyes angry enough to blister, to see that it was Kioshi who had spoken up. Kioshi, who never talked, much less insulted anyone. Mariko barely knew what his voice even sounded like. This was momentous.
After thoroughly staring him down with a look sharper then daggers, she turned back to Mariko, her face less angry and more stoic and smug. "And even if she was dying, the world would be rid of one more uppity airhead."
Raiden stepped forward and blocked Kairi from Mariko, setting her back a foot. His face was rigid as he sneered, "Step off, Kairi. Now."
Kairi opened her mouth to say something else, but Takeshi got up and tugged on her sleeve. "Come on, Kai. Let's go."
She stepped back, but Raiden didn't move. Mariko had lost her ability to form coherent words long before Kairi even opened her mouth. Kairi followed Takeshi away from the stunned group, eyes following them both.
That wasn't the even strange part. As she stepped by Raiden, she traced a finger up his chest, her eyes full of a sudden and unexplainable desire, and said with a sultry tone, "And there would be less competition, too."
Before anyone could reply, the door slammed shut.
Raiden immediately turned around and took Mariko by the shoulders. She could tell he was stunned too. "Are you okay?"
"I…" Mariko had no words. Aiko tightened her grip on Mariko's hand.
Aya and Yuji had gotten up, but they weren't staring at Mariko. No, they were staring at something at the door.
Please, please don't let it be Kairi again, Mariko thought with a whimper.
Everyone turned around to see what was there, and what they saw wasn't Kairi. Not even the teacher. No, what they saw was something no one could comprehend.
Standing at the door was Tsukiko Kishinuma.
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Accompanied by her brother, Tsukiko made her way into the classroom. Every eye on her was full of disbelief and shock. They had right to; everyone thought she had dropped out of school.
Hiroshi Kishinuma stuck to her side like glue. Though his face didn't say it, they all knew that if anyone dared say anything hurtful to his sister, he would tear them limb from limb, no matter how passive he seemed to be.
Raiden couldn't believe his eyes. It had been four months since anyone had seen hide or hair of the lovely, broken Tsukiko. He could see in her expression her time to herself had changed her. She was always a good student and never missed a day of school in her life. Raiden saw her everywhere around town; riding her bike, going to the farmer's market, running errands with her brother for her parents. She was a happy soul with not a care in the world…
Until August 9th happened.
After that day, Tsukiko hadn't been seen anywhere. If it weren't for her brother constantly reporting her status at school, many would have assumed she committed suicide. She was in the perfect frame of mind to consider it and had all the time in the world to think about it. For some reason, thought, Raiden never thought she would be able to. He always remembered her as the lighthearted girl from school and not the despondent, pitied figure that never left the house after that tragic day.
Tsukiko didn't even take a seat. She went straight up to the group, and they parted for her. She stood in front of Mariko, her arms folded and her back slightly hunched over self-consciously. Raiden moved to get Mariko away, but she held up her hand and approached Tsukiko.
"I heard about what happened," Mariko said to her. "I understand now."
Tsukiko nodded. "I know. I know about you, too."
Raiden was very confused at their silent exchange, but Mariko looked like she fully understood everything.
"I'd like you to come to my house today after school," Tsukiko handed Mariko a slip of paper, probably with her address on it. "I want to talk to you."
Mariko took the slip of paper and smiled the first real, genuine smile she had all day. "I look forward to it. Thank you."
Tsukiko nodded, her expression that of relief, and turned to walk back to her brother. Everyone looked confused and unsettled by the conversation. Raiden turned back to Mariko, who was smiling and crying at the same time. She was the only one who looked… happy.
He didn't think he would ever be able to understand everything she could.
