Disclaimer: The property of the Ronin Warrior Characters, and the song in the beginning belong to their perspective owners. All other characters belong to us.
Sweet Affliction
Chapter 1 (Rated NE (nearly extreme) for vulgar cussing.)
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February 24th, 2003.
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Girl, you looks good
Won't you back that ass up
You's a fine motherfucker
won't you back that ass up
Call me big daddy when you back that ass up
Hoe, who is you playing with, back that ass up
Girl, you looks good, won't you back that ass up
The hard thumping, wall vibrating, lyrics pummeled out from the surround system, rattling the Koji manor. Hiroshi, one and half years old, sat before the stereo system on the floor, bouncing to the hard and furious fast beat while clapping his hands.
Rekino Sanada, bearer of the Lady Wildfire armor, Guardian of Ryo of the Wildfire-her brother- quickly sauntered into the living room with her hands pressed against her ears. She loved music, but not this shit. It made concentration difficult. Not that Rekino ever concentrated much. Truth was, there were several college application forms that Rekino had to fill out, and if she didn't get them finished by this afternoon, she could very well miss the application deadline.
Of course Rowen had turned his application in weeks ago and ever since then he had been hampering on the others to get theirs done quickly. Under pressure Cye had filled his out and turned his in two days ago. The others were slowly and steadily getting theirs finished, but who knew when all the college application forms would be turned in?
The music was still trying to blow her eardrums into cyber space. Oh great, she had been with Rowen so long she was starting to think like him. Ugh. Rekino shook her head and swiftly turned the stereo off with a push of the stop button. She sighed in relief.
"Fucking A, that shit is horrible!" She looked down at Hiroshi who stared up at her with his big green eyes. "You can't be listening to that crap, Hiroshi."
A furious scolding erupted from an upstairs bedroom and Rekino cringed. Why couldn't Amaya just accept the fact that at times cussing was a required need? She hastily apologized to the Lady Torrent Guardian while, at the same time, mimicking Amaya's lecture. Hiroshi giggled at this.
Rekino sighed. The atrocity of that damn rap song was still pounding in her brain as a blatant memory charging on full speed like a bull wanting to mate. She could kill Josephine for this. Whatever possessed her to buy that damn CD in the first place?
Hiroshi continued to look up at Rekino. "Aun Reeko," he blubbered forth.
Rekino looked back down at him before scooping down and lifting him up into her arms. She cuddled him with a hug, loving him up. Who cared what others thought. To her Hiroshi was the cutest kid she had laid eyes on. And it wasn't because he was her nephew. Okay, maybe it was because of that.
"We're gonna need to get you some better quality music, Hiroshi. None of this rap crap that Josephine likes." Rekino wrinkled her nose in disgust which made Hiroshi laugh and clap his hands.
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Turning, turning, turning. Why wouldn't it stop? All day long, her stomach kept turning over and over, squeezing tight, then releasing. It flip flopped and gurgled. It surged upward, then back down. And the dizziness. She shut her eyes tightly, feeling the room spin uncontrollably around her, powerless to stop it.
Her head pounded violently. Had it been from the music blaring downstairs earlier? Perhaps so, but it was hard saying. She felt so sick. And Halo's Light did not bring much comfort to her.
Hana clutched her stomach and moaned to herself. The stomach flu. This is what it had to be. She could have sworn she had heard someone in the city announce that it was going around. What a fine time to be sick.
And then it came. That all too familiar feeling of something rushing from her stomach and into her esophagus. She turned pale and with a hand over her mouth ran to the bathroom where she pushed Cye out of her way before going inside.
Cye felt uneasy as he pushed himself from the wall he had been slammed into. Something was wrong, he realized. Hana never forced anyone out of her way unless she was protecting them. He rubbed a shoulder with a grimace and looked toward the bathroom in distraught as his sea green eyes widened.
"Hana," he called after clearing his throat. "Are you okay?"
The Lady of Halo's only reply was the horrible sound regurgitating the supper they had eaten two hours ago. It continued. Cye frowned and turned his head away. It wasn't easy listening to Hana vomit her dinner up, and he wondered if the food had simply disagreed with her. After all, his cooking was still top notch.
Cye was getting concerned with every horrendous sound coming from Hana. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to get Rekino. He hurried downstairs, calling for Rekino. "Rekino, I think you might want to head up to the bathroom!"
"Why would I want to do that? I don't have to go." Rekino raised an eyebrow at Cye the moment he had come into the living room. Had he completely lost it?
"I think you should," Cye said seriously, his brow furrowing. "Hana's sick."
Rekino quickly handed Hiroshi to Cye and made a dash up the stairs. Cye watched her go as he shifted Hiroshi to his other side. Was it his fault that Hana was sick? Once again, the self blame hit him hard. Any other time, he was not one to blame himself for things he had no control over.
But what if this one time he was at fault? It was hard to focus.
"I hope she won't need to go to the hospital," Cye said softly as he looked down at Hiroshi.
"Hosital!" Hiroshi cooed and bounced in Cye's arms.
Cye smiled weakly at Hiroshi's attempt to speak. Even at one year old, he was pretty easy to understand. Well, most of the time any how. His thoughts turned to Hana. What was taking Rekino so long?
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Hana rested against the toilet with the side of her face against the seat. Her face was pale and flushed. She was sweating.
Rekino stood in the doorway, momentarily looking at Hana's condition before stepping fully into the bathroom. "Damn, Hana. Why the hell didn't ya tell anyone ya were sick?" She grabbed a clothe and ran it under cold water. After wringing out excess water, she folded it and wiped Hana's face.
"Because I didn't think to," Hana moaned. Her stomach felt awful, a tight knot. What was wrong with her?
"How long have ya felt like this?" Rekino asked.
"I think since this morning," Hana answered. She was starting to get tired of sitting there. Her bed was sounding more and more appropriate the more she thought about it.
"Did ya skip a period or anything?" Rekino was getting suspicious.
"I don't think so," Hana murmured as she struggled to get to her feet. Her knees buckled and Rekino quickly caught her. "Thanks, Rekino." Hana managed a small smile.
"What are friends for?" Rekino said as she helped Hana walk back to her room. She helped her to lie down in bed and covered her up.
"Rekino, do you think it's just the stomach flu?" Hana asked weakly.
"Hon, I think you're pregnant!" Rekino said before leaving the room to grab a bucket for Hana to use.
Hana grew quiet as she watched Rekino leave. Pregnant?
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Ryo bobbed his head in time to the music as he drove through a business district. The weather was nice, the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom. And work had been great. He could barely wait to tell Mia and everyone the excellent news he had received today. He signaled left to go up the exit ramp to get to the freeway. Once on the freeway, he shifted the Toyota Camry into high gear and floored it, speeding forward and passing other speeding vehicles.
This was the life. Cruising down the freeway with the convertible top down, the wind blowing his raven locks behind him, the feel of the wind on his face. Work had been particularly interesting, particularly when one of the Japanese Macaques somehow got out of its enclosure and lead the Zoo staff on a wild chase throughout the zoo.
It had taken an hour to catch the animal and secure it back into its enclosure. What a day it had been indeed.
His exit was coming up and Ryo signaled to go right. A semi truck was coming up along side him, and he sighed. In a hurry that he was to get home to his wife and son and to his friends, he knew better than to move out in front of a truck with such large proportions. The truck was agonizingly slow though. Ryo tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he slowed down to avoid passing up his exit. The truck moved ahead, faster now that Ryo had slowed down. The vehicles behind Ryo began to move out from behind him, passing him on the left side.
Ryo sighed. How long did it take a semi truck carrying logs to pass? This was ridiculous. A horn blared behind Ryo and he fought the urge to flip the rude driver off as it raced around him, with tires spinning. The nerve of some people.
The truck crawled a bit more and finally after an exceedingly long time -according to Ryo-it moved on ahead, passing the exit and making room for Ryo to get behind it in the lane he needed. "About time," he muttered as he signaled and soon got on the exit, heading toward the district which would take him home in one straight shot. Ten miles to go and he would be there.
The city lay out before him with its metropolitan landscape looming in the distance. Buildings scraped the sky, seeming to disappear into the endless blue hue. Traffic buzzed about like colonies of ants coming to and fro and pedestrians intermingled in and out, carrying on busily. Toyama, although not as large as Tokyo or Shinjuku, was by its own right an industrious city that operated mostly on seafood importing and exporting. There were some other markets the city focused on, but seafood operation was the main industry here.
The roads were a blur as Ryo drove through the city, following the usual trail to the outskirts of the city where his wife and his son and everyone else waited. The long hours he spent at the zoo would soon reward him with Mia's embrace and Hiroshi's giggle.
The foliage of trees and shrubbery began to thicken into woods and the highway stretched into a lone long road with less traffic as it twisted and turned, dipping down and twisting back up as it began to clear into what appeared to be a deeper setting of a cul-de-sac, at least to the untrained eye.
The Koji property was laid out in rolling fields surrounded by a forest in a triangular point with a mountain wall that closed it off from behind. Behind the property was a private lake where they swam on occasion and private cabins they used once in a while. Truly, it was beautiful here, and even more beautiful when the sun rose to shine its vibrant colors across the rapidly lightening sky.
Ryo slowed his speed down enough to turn left onto the driveway hidden by more foliage and shifted to adjust the gears to the low grade and drove downward onto the property. The driveway leveled out and became flatter as he drove forward and soon parked beside Mia's jeep. He sighed as he turned the ignition off. It was good to be home.
Eagerly he climbed out of the car and went inside the manor. "I'm home!" he announced.
"Oh hey, Ryo," Cye greeted as he turned to look at Ryo. Hiroshi was still in his arms, but he was reaching out for his father with eager arms. Cye handed him over immediately. "I wouldn't advise going upstairs," he suggested to Ryo.
"Why not?" Ryo asked as he held Hiroshi, cooing at him with tickling fingers. Hiroshi giggled, twisting and bouncing in his father's arms.
"Hana's sick," Cye explained with a frown. "Rekino's up there with her now, but I haven't heard anything from her. They've been up there for quite some time."
"I wouldn't worry too much," Ryo said. "She probably has the flu. Some guys at work said it was going around."
"Hm," Cye said with a nod. "Yes, you're probably right."
"Phew!" Ryo suddenly wrinkled his nose in disgust when the horrible smell rose into the air. Hiroshi bounced, suddenly a bit heavier on the bottom. "Hol-"
"Ryo Sanada, if you dare sprout that blasphemous word out, so help me, I'll give you the beating you deserve!" Amaya threatened from somewhere upstairs.
Ryo grinned like a school boy as he carried Hiroshi to the changing table and laid him down on it. "Time to change that stinky poo," he said as he took out what he needed.
"Poo!" Hiroshi kicked his legs into the air.
Cye smiled, shaking his head. Thankfully, his own child was fast asleep. These days it seemed Josephine had taken to napping with Devon at a particular time, oft around two o' clock in the afternoon. Now it was going on nearly five thirty, and soon she would wake up and breastfeed.
Still Cye worried about Josephine's health. She ate less at times, preferring to stay with Devon all the time, while at other times she tended to push him away as if not wanting to have anything to do with him. Mia had told him it was just a phase that should be expected, but the worry would not die so easily, and Cye was a natural worrier at times.
He excused himself from Ryo and Hiroshi- who was now freshly changed and playing tug-of-war with Ryo's long hair, which Mia and Hana had threatened to take scissors to- and headed down the little hallway passage to the extra room Josephine had decided to use as a bedroom/nursery.
He went in, softly calling Josephine's name, but not receiving an answer. Music from the mobile above Devon's crib played a soft melody, combined with Josephine's loud snoring. Cye smiled and chuckled to himself as he bent and kissed her forehead, then checked on Devon. Sound asleep too.
Should I wake them? he thought to himself. But they look so peaceful, and Josephine has mentioned to me her exhaustion. She deserves this. If Devon wakes up, I'll take care of him and give her the day off, even if she complains I do too much as it is.
Too much. The words echoed in the back of Cye's mind as just two days prior, Josephine had argued with Cye the importance of rest, and insisted he take a day off now and then. With his six day work week full time, combined with cooking and cleaning the house, taking Devon for a few hours each day, Josephine feared that Cye was going to work himself right into a hospital. But now it seemed oddly enough that Josephine was the one who was always fatigued, always grouching until after her nap. At times she would even cry for no reason at all, very unprincipled of her.
Post partum depression, Rowen had told him just yesterday. It explained Josephine's mood swings, her lack of hunger, and her constant fatigue. The entire understanding of post partum depression baffled Cye, but who was he to disagree with Rowen? All Cye knew was that he felt troubled every time he saw Josephine's tears, and sometimes she would cry for no reason at all.
What was he to do?
What?
Cye did not know the answer to that underlying dark cloud of a question. He heard grunts and walked to the crib, peering down into it. Devon was kicking his legs and making squinting faces. Cye waited to see if perhaps he would fall back into a deeper sleep. Such was not the case.
Devon started wailing at the top of his lungs.
Josephine shot awake. "Motherfucker!" she snarled as she punched her pillow.
"Honey, please relax," Cye said as he scooped Devon up into his arms to calm his crying.
"No, I won't fucking relax!" Josephine spat vehemently. She pointed her finger at Devon. "I'm sick and tired of that… that thing always bawling its damn eyes out!"
"Josephine," Cye said softly as his eyes looked dismal.
"Take him out of here," Josephine ordered as Devon's crying increased in volume. "Take him out before I snap his neck.. NOW!"
Cye was stupefied as the very idea of Josephine even considering harming Devon nearly sent him over the edge of the cliff. How could she even think of doing such a thing to their baby? Their son? He wanted to go off on her, tell her she needed to stop and think about what she was saying. Get her to listen to reason. But there was no chance of that. In this mood, she would never listen to him.
Cye hurried out of the room with the crying Devon, closing the door behind him. He heard Josephine bawling in the bedroom and leaned against the closed door, feeling frustrated. What was he going to do?
