Family Matters – Chapter 2

The night was anything but restful, she had woken up several times, startled by nightmares and dreams of past memories. Memories of fights she had had with her daughter. And when it wasn't because of her dreams, it was because of the nurses that would come to check Sastsuki's vital signs and monitor readings. Thankfully the night shift nurse was kind. She had brought her a couple of pillows and a blanket to make her position in that uncomfortable chair a bit more comfortable. And for that she was grateful. She was a somewhat tough old woman, but her aching body would gladly take all the comfort it could get.

Early in the morning Enishi came to visit again. Judging by the dark bags under his eyes, and the blood-shot eyes, she could tell he hadn't had much sleep either. She wouldn't be surprised if he had spent the greater part of the night crying.

"Good morning mother. Here, I've brought you some sweet bread and tea. I'm guessing you haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry."

"Mother, you have to eat, I don't want you to get bedridden as well."

"..." There wasn't much she could reply to that.

"Anyway, mother, how is she? Any change?"

"The doctor came to check on her just before you arrived. He says nothing has changed. But that is suppose to be a good thing. The fact that she survived the night is already a small victory."

"... I understand."

"Mother, you should go to the hotel. You need to eat something, take a bath and rest for a few hours. I'll stay with her."

"No. I want to be here if she wakes up."

"Please, mother. Listen to me just this once. Go rest. I'll let you know if she wakes up. Besides, she would want you to take care of your body. She worries for you too, you know?"

She was unable to find an argument to contradict his Enishi's logic. He was right. Her daughter and her might have been in bad terms, but she knew her daughter would always worry for her well being. She remembered one of times she fallen sick again and had been forced to be hospitalized, Denroku had told her that Enishi secretely called Satsuki to give her the news about their mother. And apparently she had called everyday, more than once, to know how their mother was. That made her happy, of course. But what made her even happier was that she would also call to know how the Kissuiso was going. It was no secret that the Inn's finances weren't going well, so she often called, often giving advices and ideas to Enishi. She might not have wanted to take her mother's position as Madam Manager, but she still cared about Kissuiso. It was the place where she had grew up, her home. It was only natural for her to still care about it and the people that depend on it.

"Fine. I'll go. But I'll be back in a few hours. In the meantime, if anything happens – and I mean anything – call me at once."

"I will mother, don't worry."

"That's impossible. Of course I will worry."

"..Yeah, I know. Sorry..." He gave his mother a small smile.

The rest of the day went with no change. After a few hours Sui came back and both stayed at Satsuki's side in comfortable silence. The doctor had come in the end of the afternoon to check on her again. The 24 hours period since the surgery was almost up. He said that if she survived the second night, and if she remained stable, in the morning they would try taking her off the ventilator, to see if she could breathe on her own.

Around dinner time – for the other patients at least – Enishi's phone rang. And to his surprise it wasn't either Denroku or Takako. It was Takashi Sato*, Ohana's homeroom teacher. He and Enishi were friends since they were kids. There was a slight age difference between them, Takashi was a few years older but a common interest had brought them together as close friends, Satsuki. The Literature teacher had once had a huge crush on her. In fact, they use to date during high school. Despite the though competition, he had managed to win Satsuki's heart. But it didn't last beyond that. After graduating high school both went separate ways, to study in different universities. As far as Enishi knew they hadn't kept contact.

"Excuse me mother, I'll take this call outside." With that Enishi left the hospital room and went to a more deserted part of that hospital floor.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Enishi, it's me, Takashi."

"Hey! I'm surprised you called. You don't do that very often except when you want a driking buddy. If you are calling to invite me to go drinking tonight, sorry but I can't. I'm in Tokyo."

"I know... I heard you had left suddenly with your mother in tow. This is a small town, you know that news travel fast around here".

"Y..yeah, that's true." Enishi hesitated. He didn't know if he liked where this conversation was leading to. "So if you know, why are you calling then?"

Well, you see, I ran into Takako yesterday and she told me you had come to Tokyo because of an family emergency. And since the only family you have in Tokyo is Satsuki, it didn't took me much to figure out that something had happened to her. Am I wrong?"

"Y-yeah, you're right. But please don't mention this to anyone, and specially not to Ohana. She doesn't know yet."

"Ok, I won't say a word, but what the hell happened? What is the family emergency?"

"I guess I can tell you... My sister is in the hospital, she was shot during a robbery gone wrong."

"What?, Seriously?"

"Yeah. They removed the bullets but she is still in critical condition. She's ventilated, and she didn't wake up yet."

"..."

"Hello, Takashi, are you still there?

"Yes... I'm here."

"Yeah, it's a big shock, isn't it? I still can't believe that my sister, the strongest person I know, is in a hospital bed fighting for her life".

"Yeah..., it's … unthinkable."

"You sound really down. I didn't know you still cared for my sister that much..."

"How can I not care? You know how much I loved her when we were together, you were there, you saw."

"Yeah, but it has been a long time."

"I know. I guess part of me still loves her. Although we are complete strangers now. "

"You two could at least have kept contact, as friends."

"We tried, but it didn't work."

"Really? How come?"

"We did mailed [as in, with real letters – back then phone text messages were not a thing yet] each other. Just small talk. We traded information about each other's campus life, and that was it."

"Then why did you two stopped communicating?"

"Well, I guess there is no harm in telling you now... Throughout the years of our university life, whenever we had a break from school and came back home to visit our families, we would run into each other. We talked some more, went out for drinks as friends, but let's just say, it didn't worked out. One thing led to the other and before we knew it we were doing it..."

"Doing it?"

"Yeah man, are you dense? Sex. We had sex. "

"Oh... But that doesn't explain why you didn't kept contact afterwards."

"Man, do I need to explain everything to you? As I said, we had sex and I don't mean just once. We did it every we would meet, almost every day of our vacations before the breaks would be over. When we would leave to campus again, we would go back to the casual letters exchange. I guess you can say we were in a long distance relationship of sorts, because when we came back for the next break, we would be all over each other again, but always in secret."

"I see, so there was still something between you guys. But why did it end?"

"Why? Well because I'm a fool that's why. During the summer break of our last year as university students, I confessed to her again. I said I still loved her, that it meant more than just sex for me."

"Let me guess, she didn't reciprocate your feelings and dumped you".

"Yeah, something like that. She told me she liked me, but didn't love me. That for her we were just fooling around, having fun."

"That must have been tough".

"Yeah, tell me about it. After that she stopped replying to my letters. She would ignore any attempt I made to contact her. But it's no surprised she didn't want to talk to me. After all, she must have been really busy with her boyfriend at the time."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? She got married near graduation. That probably mean that all that time, she already had a boyfriend in Tokyo. I was just a toy to have fun during her vacations."

"Well, if it is of any consolation to you, she only got married because she got pregnant. She once told me that her husband was a good guy, but they weren't in love".

"That is of no consolation at all..."

"Er... Yeah, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. That is all in the past now. Just because she dumped me that doesn't mean I won't care about her. So please, call when there are any changes on her condition"

"I will, promise."

"Thanks. And you? How are you holding up?"

"Me? I'm managing somehow. I feel that I'm about to break down any minute, but seeing my mother so unlike her, so fragile, I don't know... I just feel that I have to be strong for both of us. I have to be a man. My father he would know what to do or say in a situation like this but he's gone. I'm not like him, but I have to at least try to fill his shoes."

"Yeah. Do your best, Enishi. You can't be that crybaby that you were when we were kids anymore. Your mother needs you".

"Exactly. But it's tough."

I know.

"..."

"..."

"Well man, I have to go. You take care."

"Thanks, you too. "

"Ok. Beye."

"Beye".

Enishi sighed. That had been one long conversation. He was surprised that his friend was still somehow not over Satsuki. If he had been over her, we would not have cared so much. And he definitely would not have told what had happened in the past with such sorrow in his voice. Enishi wondered if that was the reason why his friend was still single and was in no serious relationship. After all Takashi was – dare he say it – a handsome, decent guy with a stable job. And in a town that small, it wouldn't have been that difficult to find someone good enough to marry. Now that he was thinking about it, his friend had been engaged to marry once, but it had never gone past that. As far as he knew, Takashi didn't even dated the so called bride to be. It had been nothing more than an arrangement set up by both families. Something still very common in small towns like theirs. But Takashi had refused the whole thing on the spot once he found out about it. Enishi had not know at the time, but now the reason was rather obvious. His friend was still in love with Satsuki back then. This engagement had been set up around the time of his third year as university student or so.

"Wait a minute, could it be?" A sudden idea appeared in his head. What if his sister had reject Takashi's feelings because she had heard about the engagement? It would make sense... If it was true, then destiny was really cruel."

"When she gets out of this, I'll have to question her about it."

Enishi was suddenly in a better mood. The prospect of playing match maker was giving a sense of excitement. Well, he knew that it had all happened a long time ago. Even if that was the real reason why she dumped him, that doesn't mean that she would feel anything for him now. Heck, apparently she got over him pretty soon, even getting a new boyfriend, pregnant and then married and such. Not to mention the several boyfriends she had over the years after her husband's death. Still, it would be fun to tease her about it. He had never been the one teasing, always the teased".

"You took your sweet time. Were you on the phone all this time?"

"Yes, mother. Sorry about that. I was talking to my friend, Takashi Sato. He found out that something had happened to sis and called to know more."

"He found out? How? Don't tell me Ohana already knows too?"

"No, she doesn't know. Don't worry. He kinda found out by himself, no one told him."

"I bet that Takako woman has something to do with this, hasn't she?

"She only confirmed it was a family emergency. She didn't tell him anything else."

"Mm."

"So, what did you talked about for so long?"

"Well, I told him about sister's condition, of course. But most of the time we spent talking about the past, of the time when he and sis dated."

"I see."

"..."

" I was waiting for you to return to go the restroom, so excuse me."

After that the Shijima matriarch left the room. Enishi sat in the chair she left vacant and in a whispered but playful tone talked to his unconscious sister. " - Sis, you really have to wake up soon. I've learn some interesting things about your past, your love life to be more precise, and I'm itching to question you about it. It will feel good to be the one teasing you for a change".

Author's Note:

* As far as I know, Ohana's teacher is still namess in the anime. And I couldn't find his name in any of the character's name lists I had access to either. So I had to come up with a name for him. Choosing names aren't my thing so I just pick a first and last name from lists of the most common names. Sorry if it is a lame name.

On a second note, I would like to point out that I had the idea for this story, and most of the plot before it was revealed that Ohana's late father was Satsuki's "big one-sided crush". So this story won't follow in that direction. The same goes for the other characters. As you may know,[SPOILER] Enishi and Takako married in the recent episodes. But in this story there are still only dating. Ah, and why having Ohana's teacher was Satsuki's old flame? Simply because he was the only male character in the anime that I could use XD Unless you would like to see a crack paring like Mr. Ren x Satsuki (oh, weird image) . Besides, the teacher guy seems to be pretty funny (and therefore a good match for Satsuki).

Also, I know that this chapter is rather short. I do have plent of more story already written. But I still have to make some adjustments, and it would make more sense to stop here. There is nothing much happening here, but it's still important stuff.

Anyway, I'll try to update soon. As always, read and review, thank you.