Chapter 2.
The hazy buzz of the television could not drown his breathing. Exhale toxins, inhale roses. Four hundred and sixty-seven days later, her scent wafted throughout their home once more. As he came to, tip-toeing from his sleep, she nestled into his chest. Her hair, tangled and strewn across the pillow they shared, taunted his lips and nostrils. Soap and dewy roses filled his being, goose flesh raising on his arms.
"Were you in the garden again last night?" He whispered, his brow arched inquiringly and eyes half-lided.
She replied, half-conscious, "I can't sleep when I am not tired."
Sunlight cascaded from the window in tendrils. She sat up, her legs crossed and her hand raised with an orange juice pouch in it. She turned to him, a sheepish smile in her eyes.
He rushed to her, wrapping her in his arms. "What happened?" He inquired.
Squirming, she tried to free herself from his overbearing grasp. "I was taking the stairs to the embassy and now I'm here." She replied, her nose wrinkling. She sighed and tapped her fingers against her chin. "They told me I have to take the day off. I don't understand it though, they're never going to be able to seal the Malaysian deal without me."
The moon, barely visible yet glorious, probably graced the doorway. She laid in the garden, a damp washcloth burning her forehead. Faintly, the white sleeved woman spoke to her as Usui held her hand. Pass. Pass. Pass. Quit.
"Is there any way to treat it?" He asked, his voice frighteningly low.
"It's an autoimmune disorder. There are treatments, but no cure. It'll only slow it down."
"There's no way." She said, staring up from the bottom of the ocean.
Towering above her, Atlantis loomed. "Journey to Atlantis", at least. The clunking of wood and metal maintained a steady beat as the carts climbed the wooden structure and plunged down into a watery grave. Her mouth gaped as the screams echoed from the carts, her eyes bulging.
A tug on her arm drew her attention to her boyfriend. He raised his brows at her, a challenge in his eyes. "Turning back now? You know what that means." He teased.
She blew raspberries, grasping his arm with both hands. "You wish!"
In an hour, they were on the death machine. Her jaw was clenched and her spine was too straight. Usui resisted the urge to snort when she cringed away from every sound. As the workers came to check their seat belts, she huffed in defeat. This was one fight she would not run from.
The machine lurched forward, launching them up a steep mountain. She clenched her hands until her knuckles were white on the bar in front of her. Adrenaline coursed through her body, her stomach knotting painfully and her legs tingling. The end was near, the tracks topped off. In mere seconds, they went from touching the sky to biting the air as they zipped down. She turned to him, triumphant even in her fear, only to see him watching her and smiling in glee. Water sprayed up into the seats and a sharp right turn made her go rigid again. She sputtered and squinted while he laughed into the air.
A loop came, throwing them into the backs of their seats. Misaki screeched against the change of gravity, her hair whipping into her mouth. Usui intertwined their hands in her moment of weakness, her grip crushing his own.
A crash of metal and wood echoed through the house.
He had his arms around her, pulling her closer with urgency. With a start, she turned to him. Her gilded brown eyes gleamed fierce in the morning sun that came from the windows. "Usui?"
Tenderly, he pressed his forehead to her own, squeezing his eyes shut. His heart throbbed, his fingertips painfully aching.
"Usui?"
Languidly, she lifted her hands to his shoulders and shook him, her hands sending electricity through his spine. Roses bloomed in her hair, on her fingertips, inside him. They consumed him, their thorns slicing wildly. She brought her lips to his ear, her breath hot on his neck, and whispered, "Usui, I'm dead."
Grunting as he launched himself up from bed, Usui was shocked to see Suzanna mere inches from his face. Her arms were thrown back in surprise, although her face was stoic as usual. Her down turned eyes were graced by nostalgic thin eyebrows, raised ever so slightly.
"Usui?" She asked again.
Quickly, he regained his composer and demanded, "What are you doing here?"
She perched on the bed, her hands laid on her lap. "The garden, I want to fix it." They said, batting their eyes slowly.
"Oh," He stated numbly, his body submerged.
Silence settled in the air, on their shoulders, in their lungs. Suzanna gave a slight nod, releasing the pressure, and said, "I came to apologize. Hinata found every rake in the garden to step on and ended up ramming into the wheelbarrow we brought. I was hoping the noise didn't disturb you."
"Hm."
But a typhoon swept away the glimmering promise lands.
"Why don't you come outside? We can show you what plants we have so far." She said then left immediately after.
With a sigh, he heaved himself from the bed. His eyes lingered on her perfectly made side of the bed, untouched even in a storm. He drew his eyeglasses from their container and pushed them onto his nose before exiting the house to the yard.
His heart stopped.
Somehow, dirt was everywhere. Not only was there dirt, there was mud and water that drowned out the pavement leading to the back of the yard. Flowers in planters were turned on their side, and weeding had massacred not only the weeds, but the flowers that had semi-survived the last winter. The patio right before the garden was littered with equipment, as well as a mysterious crack that had formed on corner of it.
"I thought you wanted to fix the garden?" He questioned, using all his will power to not gasp in complete awe.
"We are! Although, destruction seems to be the only way to. Have you ever touched this place?" Hinata shouted, pouncing from his place beneath a bush with bread crusts hanging from his lips.
Suzanna came around from the front, carrying another bushel of flowers. She hushed Hinata, "Of course he hasn't, he has other things to do."
"So what compelled you?" Usui asked, sauntering towards the first string of uprooted plants.
Picking up a small daisy, Hinata took off the plastic container from its roots. He began burying the poor plant, the leaves barely visible above the flowerbed. "Well, it looked sad. I get you're busy, but even a chump like you should be able to keep up with housework." He said, nonchalant.
Such easy words to establish a challenge. How long had it been since someone had spoken to him so casually? "Perhaps. But at least I wouldn't have destroyed it while fixing it. What happened to the patio?" He responded, running a hand through his tangled hair.
Suzanna sat the plants at the first flowerbed, her eyebrows raised slightly. "Are you issuing a challenge against my dear husband?" She asked.
"What challenge? I would require a challenger of at least some skill." He replied with a smirk. He reached for a rusted trowel from the ground, his fingers wrapping around it loosely.
A faint blush of embarrassment spread on Hinata's cheeks and he steamed, "I will prove to you I am more than a challenger! I will be the winner!"
In only moments, spades flew and flowers were welcomed back to the earth. There was no competition though, Usui finished fifteen minutes before Hinata and Suzanna. He even helped them finish their side and fix the plants that had been badly abused by rough handling.
"It will be a miracle if any of these flowers survive after this carnage." Usui stated, his fingers on the lip of a petal that wilted sadly as he released it.
Hinata stiffened, pausing his work. He grabbed Usui's shoulders to turn him to face him. "Why didn't you come to the funeral?" He asked, his brows furrowed in hurt and frustration.
"Excuse me?" Don't lie.
"Why didn't you come to Misaki's funeral?"
"Why does it matter to you?" Usui muttered, his face turning away to the breeze.
"It matters because we lost Misaki, we didn't lose you but it felt like we did." Hinata said, tears brimming on his lashline. "I tried to understand, Suzanna tried to make me understand. But I need you to tell me now. I've waited so long to ask, I wanted to give you time to find closure but I haven't found mine yet because of you."
Usui followed his inquiry with silence.
"I don't want you to go to my funeral. I'd rather you just remember me as I am now, no matter what shape I am. Alive is better than dead." Misaki assured. Her fingers twiddled with the ends of hair, catching the light.
"What makes you think that I'll outlive you? You're too stubborn for that." Usui mocked. His hand caught hers and brought it to his lips. She rested her head on his shoulder, raining. It was raining. He was caught in the rain and she would scold him for coming home soaked.
Misaki blushed hotly and quickly shot her hand back from his hold. "Don't say something like that and then do that! It's totally alien." She snorted.
"You're always so serious, Kaichou." He teased. "Besides, I would never let you leave me so easily."
"Baka!" A reflection of millions of Misaki scolded in his ear, twisting the very fabric of time to create an insatiable void. "Why are you only honest with me?"
"I was weak."
"Weak?"
"Yeah."
Hinata put his fist up to Usui's face and brushed it against his chin. "I want to beat you to a pulp but it's obvious it wouldn't hurt you more than whatever you're going through right now." He said with a sigh. He stepped back, putting his arm around Suzanna and looking out over their handiwork.
"Where are the red tiger lilies?" Usui wondered offhandedly.
Suzanna tilted her head to the side, her eyes filled with curiosity. Misaki and her asked, "There were red tiger lilies?"
"I must have been mistaken." Usui mended, his eyes closing. "Thank you, both of you, for the help."
