Review please. Tell me what you think. And merry Christmas, happy Hanukah, pleasant Solstice, and joyful holiday season everyone.
Kaida spotted him as soon as she stepped outside the airport doors with her bag over her shoulder. A tall, lanky, dark haired young man leaning against the car waiting for her. He was staring up that the sky, but the kind faced woman with greying curly brown hair at his side smiled at the sight of Kaida.
"There she is," the woman said, coming towards her with open arms.
"Hi Hana," Kaida smiled warmly and hugged her.
"We missed you!" Hana said stepping back to look at her at arms length. "Our fiery little dragon. The family's not complete without you."
Kaida's smile became a little forced.
Hana furrowed her brows suddenly. "What did you do to your hair color?"
"Hmm?" Kaida touched the light blond locks mixed with liberal streaks of bright red, turquoise, and hot pink. "What do you mean? I've always had the color. It's natural. You know that. It comes from the dragon."
"Not the pink," Hana frowned. "Your dragon colors are red, blue, and gold. There's hardly enough blond on your head as it is without going and dying the rest rainbow."
"It's fine. Don't fuss, Hana," Kaida said, moving past her towards the car and Hosei, who had been quietly watching the reunion.
"Hey," Kaida said softly.
"Welcome back," he said with a polite smile. They stood there awkwardly for a moment, then he sighed and stepped forward to give her a hug. Kaida was tiny compared to him, her head just coming up to his shoulder. They let go quickly, and Kaida tossed her bag in the car.
"Is that all you brought?" Hosei asked as three got into the car.
"Yes," Kaida said simply, staring out the window. "I'm not staying."
"Hmm," Hana hummed as she drove. "So how is University? Do you have any good friends?"
"It's busy, but I like it. I have a small group of friends. It's hard to get too close though, and they're all girls because of the curse."
"I noticed you didn't come home for summer vacation."
"A professor let me help him work on some projects. It's great work experience."
Their tone was light, bouncing around cheerful topics and avoiding painful ones.
"So how are things at home?" Kaida asked. "Anything change much?"
"Not really," Hana replied. "It was strange to be missing you as well as Shunpei at New Years."
"Then another snake still hasn't been born? I assumed so, otherwise I expect I'd have heard."
"Yes." Hana turned off the main road they had been following. Kaida frowned.
"We're not going to the main house?"
"No," Hosei spoke for the first time since they'd stepped in the car. "We're going to the hospital right away."
There was silence as Kaida swallowed. "She's really that bad?" she whispered.
Hosei nodded, his eyes staring determinedly forward.
"What—what happened? Is she really… She's barely fourteen."
"She had appendicitis and when the doctor took it out it got infected. They didn't realize until it was too late and the infection had gotten into her bloodstream."
Kaida blinked hard a few times. "I didn't know," she whispered in a broken voice.
Hosei jerked his head, still not looked away from the road in front of them. "You weren't here."
The three did not talk much for the rest of the ride. At the hospital, Hana parked, then rummaged around in her bag.
"I'm going to call the main house and tell them what's going on," she said to Kaida. "Hosei can show you to Emiko's room."
Kaida didn't move. "Are you going to tell Samuru I'm here?"
Hana looked at her.
"No!" Kaida cried. "Please don't. You don't have to tell!"
Hana sighed. "We've been ordered to tell him anything we hear from you. Hosei and I have managed to push back against the order until today but know I need to call him."
"Fine," grumbled Kaida, turning without waiting for Hosei towards the hospital doors. He caught up and led her on a winding path through the halls until they reached the door to a small room with a card on it that said "Emiko Sohma" in neatly printed letters.
Kaida stopped outside the door. Hosei prodded her from behind.
"Go on," he said. "The nurse said she's awake. She's kind of delirious now, from pain and sickness, but at least she'll be able to see you."
"I left," Kaida whispered.
Hosei stopped poking her.
"I left her, and— and you, and just went off to university as far away as I could pull," she gave a bitter laugh, "which wasn't very far actually, and hid from everyone." She took a shaky breath and pressed her hands to her face. "And now Emiko's dying and I wasn't there for her. I was just gone with no goodbye."
"She'll forgive you," Hosei said softly. "You know Emiko, puppy dog personality and all that. She'll just be glad you came. She'd never blame you."
"You do," Kaida replied. "And so do I."
Hosei didn't respond to this. "Go in and say goodbye now," he said in a gentler voice than he had used since Kaida had picked up the phone and gave her a small push towards the door.
That night, Kaida sat on the roof of Hana's house, avoiding everyone. They had left the hospital just before other's arrived and so far she hadn't had any contact with the rest of the Zodiac.
Inside the phone rang. Kaida could hear Hosei pick it up through the window next to her. The window to his room happened to be the quickest way onto the roof. She leaned back slightly to watch him on the other side of the glass. He was turned away from her and his back was straight and stiff.
"Samuru? The hospi— oh, ok," he said flatly. "Thank you."
Kaida rested her head against the roof tiles, closing her eyes against the hot tears, as inside, Hosei bent over, hands gripping his hair and his shoulders shaking.
Disclaimer: Fruit's Basket and its characters belong to Natsuki Takaya.