Come on, people! Feedback, please! (pulls sad face)
Same warnings and stuff as last time. Same disclaimer -- not mine, no money.
//flashback//
/dream/
*thoughts*
He awoke, slowly, to the sound of voices. Murmured, he could only hear snatches of the conversation. He strained to identify the voices.
"...what he's like now..."
"react if you tell him..."
"...yourself..."
"...rest of his life..."
He must have moved some part of his body wrong, because sudden pain shot through his body. He was unaware of making any noise, but someone was next to him, holding his hand.
"Aya--" It was Ken.
"What's going on?" he asked tensely. There was a bandage around his head, and he couldn't see through it.
"Aya, the mission... You--" He sounded hesitant.
Youji broke in. "Hell, Ken, just tell him. Aya, you're blind."
He heard Ken stand. "Youji! What the hell do you think --"
Aya struggled to sit up. He yanked his hand away from Ken. "I don't believe you. Get the hell out of my room." He stopped as he felt hands on his shoulders restraining him.
"First, believe it. Youji shouldn't have said it so bluntly, but it's true." It was Ken, and he was angry. "And second, you're in my room. About 2 inches away from the wall." Aya was pushed back down onto the bed. Distantly he heard Ken telling Youji and Omi to leave the room, and the closing of a door.
Ken came back over to him with a sigh, and Aya felt the bandages being lifted from his head. It was dark. He tried to blink his eyes, but found he could barely move them. His eyes felt strange.
"The attacker -- we never found out who he was --" Ken said apologetically, "missed your throat, but got you right across the eyes. They were both burst, and there was a lot of damage to your nose as well.The doctors had to totally remove your eyes -- they were ruined. They put in glass eyes." He hesitated.
"It's -- it's not that noticeable. They did a little reconstructive surgery. And your eyelids got pretty torn up, so they've only got about half their normal strength." Ken waited, but Aya didn't respond. He continued. "Kritiker's not dropping you, don't worry. They've got special policies for agents disabled through duty. You'll stay with us, and get paid the same. And they'll still take care of your sister."
Aya jerked upright. "How did you --" He paused. "She won't --"
"We always do background checks on our new teammates," Ken explained. "I did the research on you, Ran, and had looked into the explosion at your father's office. That's how I found out."
Aya stopped listening to Ken for a moment. Nothing. He had nothing left as his own. He had no strength of his own, no power. He vaguely heard Ken inform him that he was going out to talk to Omi and Youji and he'd be back soon, but he paid him no attention.
Aya simply lay there, listening to the ticking clock, ticking away the minutes of his wasted life.
The dull sound filled his ears and he fell asleep.
/The room he was in was dark. But there was something at the far end of it. What?
"Nii-san!" A plaintive, familiar voice called.
"Aya!" She was at the far end of the room, waiting for him. He started towards her.
But with every step he took, it got darker, and the room appeared to be getting longer. Soon he could not see at all.
"Aya-chan!" He called. She answered, but her voice seemed so far away. "Ran! Why won't you help me? Do you hate me?"
"No!" He tried to shout. "I love you, Aya!" But his voice would not work either. He blundered uselessly through the dark, searching for his sister. Suddenly, he stumbled over something. Gingerly, he felt the cold thing with his hands. Horror and grief filled him as he recognized his sister's features beneath his hands, her ... blood ... running down her neck...
"No!" He gasped, his voice working now, too late. "No!" He felt hands on his shoulders, dragging him away from his sister, and he fought against them./
"Aya!" The hands were Ken's, shaking him awake. "Aya, wake up! You're having a nightmare." Aya stopped struggling. He lifted a hand to his cheeks, feeling the tears there.
"I'm so useless..." he muttered. "These damned eyes -- all they can do now is cry."
He was startled when Ken's arms wrapped around him. "You're not useless, Aya. I'm sorry, this was way too much information to dump on you so quickly. But you're not useless," Ken said fiercely, not seeming to mind that Aya's tears were soaking through his shirt. "Things are going to change for you, yes, but they're changing for Youji and Omi and I too. None of us have ever dealt with something like this before. But we're going to help you, Aya. That's what friends do."
Ken continued to hold Aya as he cried, until finally he was asleep. Carefully, he disentangled himself from the older man, and returned downstairs, trying to work the tingles out of half-asleep muscles in his legs.
"We're gonna have a really hard time of this," he greeted Omi and Youji, who were still in the kitchen. "I went up to check on him and found him having a nightmare. He's already convinced he's useless." He paused to pop open a can of soda. "Like the doctors said, he's going to have to really change how he acts around people if he's going to recover at all."
Youji nodded. "And knowing Aya, that's going to be no easy task."
"Yeah." Ken agreed, recalling to hospital.
//Youji sagged against the wall as the Kritiker doctors took Aya from his arms. He looked down at his bloody clothes, and then to Omi and Ken, who were approaching with at least 20 papers each.
"I think I'm going to get cleaned up. You two have fun with those forms."
Ken rolled his eyes, but noticed with concern that his hands were shaking. He and Omi sat down, Omi explaining that since Kritiker had most info on file, this paperwork was different. Omi was filling out a mission report.
Ken stared at his first paper. A psych evaluation. He ruffled through his stack. There were several of them. Worried, he started to read through them. He began to realize how little he knew about Aya.
5 hours later, their paperwork long done -- even Youji, who'd finally returned with a stack of his own -- a Kritiker doctor approached them, introduced himself by a codename, and began to explain Aya's condition and its ramifications.
"...You're going to want to watch him carefully in the upcoming months. You've all been briefed on psych, so you know what to look for. And don't hesitate to call. He's going to be extremely insecure, very self-conscious and withdrawn. Don't bully him, but stay persistent. And don't avoid the problem either. He'll resent anything that could possibly be construed as pity..."//
"So I vote that you be the one that watches him, Ken."
"Huh?" Ken only caught the last part of what Youji'd been saying. "Why do I have to?"
"Because Omittchi's still got school, and I can't drag Aya around to all the places I go. A blind guy wouldn't enjoy them."
"So I get stuck with him? I mean, not to be uncaring, but I've got stuff to do too. I can't exactly let him be the goalie when I go coach the kids!"
"Just bring him to the park. The sun'll do him some good."
"I --" Ken stopped. He knew Youji was right, and he was making a pointless argument. But Aya was just no fun. And now... "Fine. But what are we going to do with him? Business-wise."
They paused to consider. Finally, Omi ventured, "We could stick him with research and strategy."
Youji nodded. "That's about all he can do now. Which'll be hard for him -- he was always so active."
"Yeah," Omi agreed. "I was in his room once to check for bugs, and he's also got a lot of books."
Ken swirled his half-empty soda, watching the bubbles fizz. "What about cover? Whether or not we keep him out of the shop, there'll be questions. And if we keep him out, we'd still need something for him to do."
"Well with the 'wonders' of today's plastic surgery, there's no trace of any damage. The easiest thing would be to pass it off as something congenital, like retinal detachment." Omi's suggestion sounded good. It wouldn't save Aya and sympathy from the girls, but it would work.
"But what would he do as a job?" Youji reminded. "There's not much a florist can do without seeing."
"There's not much anyone can do without being able to see," Ken remarked. "He was the one who did the most work in the shop, too."
Omi shrugged. "I don't know what to say. I guess ... the only thing we can really do is to leave it 'til tomorrow."
Ken looked at the clock as he finished his soda. 1:20. "Today, actually. I guess I'll talk to Aya when he wakes up tomorrow. Hopefully he won't be up all night with nightmares."
They quietly climbed the stairs, each going to their respective rooms. Ken checked on the figure lying on the futon on his floor -- fast asleep.
*Aya, you're lucky to have people who'll support you. I just hope you'll let us.*
Same warnings and stuff as last time. Same disclaimer -- not mine, no money.
//flashback//
/dream/
*thoughts*
He awoke, slowly, to the sound of voices. Murmured, he could only hear snatches of the conversation. He strained to identify the voices.
"...what he's like now..."
"react if you tell him..."
"...yourself..."
"...rest of his life..."
He must have moved some part of his body wrong, because sudden pain shot through his body. He was unaware of making any noise, but someone was next to him, holding his hand.
"Aya--" It was Ken.
"What's going on?" he asked tensely. There was a bandage around his head, and he couldn't see through it.
"Aya, the mission... You--" He sounded hesitant.
Youji broke in. "Hell, Ken, just tell him. Aya, you're blind."
He heard Ken stand. "Youji! What the hell do you think --"
Aya struggled to sit up. He yanked his hand away from Ken. "I don't believe you. Get the hell out of my room." He stopped as he felt hands on his shoulders restraining him.
"First, believe it. Youji shouldn't have said it so bluntly, but it's true." It was Ken, and he was angry. "And second, you're in my room. About 2 inches away from the wall." Aya was pushed back down onto the bed. Distantly he heard Ken telling Youji and Omi to leave the room, and the closing of a door.
Ken came back over to him with a sigh, and Aya felt the bandages being lifted from his head. It was dark. He tried to blink his eyes, but found he could barely move them. His eyes felt strange.
"The attacker -- we never found out who he was --" Ken said apologetically, "missed your throat, but got you right across the eyes. They were both burst, and there was a lot of damage to your nose as well.The doctors had to totally remove your eyes -- they were ruined. They put in glass eyes." He hesitated.
"It's -- it's not that noticeable. They did a little reconstructive surgery. And your eyelids got pretty torn up, so they've only got about half their normal strength." Ken waited, but Aya didn't respond. He continued. "Kritiker's not dropping you, don't worry. They've got special policies for agents disabled through duty. You'll stay with us, and get paid the same. And they'll still take care of your sister."
Aya jerked upright. "How did you --" He paused. "She won't --"
"We always do background checks on our new teammates," Ken explained. "I did the research on you, Ran, and had looked into the explosion at your father's office. That's how I found out."
Aya stopped listening to Ken for a moment. Nothing. He had nothing left as his own. He had no strength of his own, no power. He vaguely heard Ken inform him that he was going out to talk to Omi and Youji and he'd be back soon, but he paid him no attention.
Aya simply lay there, listening to the ticking clock, ticking away the minutes of his wasted life.
The dull sound filled his ears and he fell asleep.
/The room he was in was dark. But there was something at the far end of it. What?
"Nii-san!" A plaintive, familiar voice called.
"Aya!" She was at the far end of the room, waiting for him. He started towards her.
But with every step he took, it got darker, and the room appeared to be getting longer. Soon he could not see at all.
"Aya-chan!" He called. She answered, but her voice seemed so far away. "Ran! Why won't you help me? Do you hate me?"
"No!" He tried to shout. "I love you, Aya!" But his voice would not work either. He blundered uselessly through the dark, searching for his sister. Suddenly, he stumbled over something. Gingerly, he felt the cold thing with his hands. Horror and grief filled him as he recognized his sister's features beneath his hands, her ... blood ... running down her neck...
"No!" He gasped, his voice working now, too late. "No!" He felt hands on his shoulders, dragging him away from his sister, and he fought against them./
"Aya!" The hands were Ken's, shaking him awake. "Aya, wake up! You're having a nightmare." Aya stopped struggling. He lifted a hand to his cheeks, feeling the tears there.
"I'm so useless..." he muttered. "These damned eyes -- all they can do now is cry."
He was startled when Ken's arms wrapped around him. "You're not useless, Aya. I'm sorry, this was way too much information to dump on you so quickly. But you're not useless," Ken said fiercely, not seeming to mind that Aya's tears were soaking through his shirt. "Things are going to change for you, yes, but they're changing for Youji and Omi and I too. None of us have ever dealt with something like this before. But we're going to help you, Aya. That's what friends do."
Ken continued to hold Aya as he cried, until finally he was asleep. Carefully, he disentangled himself from the older man, and returned downstairs, trying to work the tingles out of half-asleep muscles in his legs.
"We're gonna have a really hard time of this," he greeted Omi and Youji, who were still in the kitchen. "I went up to check on him and found him having a nightmare. He's already convinced he's useless." He paused to pop open a can of soda. "Like the doctors said, he's going to have to really change how he acts around people if he's going to recover at all."
Youji nodded. "And knowing Aya, that's going to be no easy task."
"Yeah." Ken agreed, recalling to hospital.
//Youji sagged against the wall as the Kritiker doctors took Aya from his arms. He looked down at his bloody clothes, and then to Omi and Ken, who were approaching with at least 20 papers each.
"I think I'm going to get cleaned up. You two have fun with those forms."
Ken rolled his eyes, but noticed with concern that his hands were shaking. He and Omi sat down, Omi explaining that since Kritiker had most info on file, this paperwork was different. Omi was filling out a mission report.
Ken stared at his first paper. A psych evaluation. He ruffled through his stack. There were several of them. Worried, he started to read through them. He began to realize how little he knew about Aya.
5 hours later, their paperwork long done -- even Youji, who'd finally returned with a stack of his own -- a Kritiker doctor approached them, introduced himself by a codename, and began to explain Aya's condition and its ramifications.
"...You're going to want to watch him carefully in the upcoming months. You've all been briefed on psych, so you know what to look for. And don't hesitate to call. He's going to be extremely insecure, very self-conscious and withdrawn. Don't bully him, but stay persistent. And don't avoid the problem either. He'll resent anything that could possibly be construed as pity..."//
"So I vote that you be the one that watches him, Ken."
"Huh?" Ken only caught the last part of what Youji'd been saying. "Why do I have to?"
"Because Omittchi's still got school, and I can't drag Aya around to all the places I go. A blind guy wouldn't enjoy them."
"So I get stuck with him? I mean, not to be uncaring, but I've got stuff to do too. I can't exactly let him be the goalie when I go coach the kids!"
"Just bring him to the park. The sun'll do him some good."
"I --" Ken stopped. He knew Youji was right, and he was making a pointless argument. But Aya was just no fun. And now... "Fine. But what are we going to do with him? Business-wise."
They paused to consider. Finally, Omi ventured, "We could stick him with research and strategy."
Youji nodded. "That's about all he can do now. Which'll be hard for him -- he was always so active."
"Yeah," Omi agreed. "I was in his room once to check for bugs, and he's also got a lot of books."
Ken swirled his half-empty soda, watching the bubbles fizz. "What about cover? Whether or not we keep him out of the shop, there'll be questions. And if we keep him out, we'd still need something for him to do."
"Well with the 'wonders' of today's plastic surgery, there's no trace of any damage. The easiest thing would be to pass it off as something congenital, like retinal detachment." Omi's suggestion sounded good. It wouldn't save Aya and sympathy from the girls, but it would work.
"But what would he do as a job?" Youji reminded. "There's not much a florist can do without seeing."
"There's not much anyone can do without being able to see," Ken remarked. "He was the one who did the most work in the shop, too."
Omi shrugged. "I don't know what to say. I guess ... the only thing we can really do is to leave it 'til tomorrow."
Ken looked at the clock as he finished his soda. 1:20. "Today, actually. I guess I'll talk to Aya when he wakes up tomorrow. Hopefully he won't be up all night with nightmares."
They quietly climbed the stairs, each going to their respective rooms. Ken checked on the figure lying on the futon on his floor -- fast asleep.
*Aya, you're lucky to have people who'll support you. I just hope you'll let us.*