A/N: So, how many of you guys like X-Files, cause after I wrote this chapter, I found it to be very similar to a certain X-Files episode…No Copyright Infringement meant on anything, everything goes to the respectful owners! And yes I do like the idea of Seiko x Kurosaki, I know Seiko is technically lesbian; they just foil each other very well, try reading the story while listening to Rob Hughes piano cover of Evanescence's My Immortal infinite looper, it makes the story a bit better.
A massive hole opened in the ground, out of which materialized 9 forms, the first to arouse was a male brunette with his over shirt torn; he shook the short-haired brunette girl next to him awake. She woke up to squeal with glee, wrapping her arms around the boy, crying with happiness.
"We made it!" Satoshi yelled, returning the embrace, looking at his girlfriend with teary, joyful eyes.
"Seiko wants in!" Seiko yelled, jumping on top of the couple, smearing her face in Naomi's chest, only to have Naomi giggle at her missed friend's actions.
"No, Seiko's mine!" Kurosaki, some guy that Seiko met in the school and fell for, said casually, grabbing Seiko by the waist to pull her into his lap.
"Well, look who has grown some balls!" Morishige laughed, waking Mayu up.
"Hey, I was stabbed by my best friend and got rejected by who I thought was the one for me, then met Seiko, so I think that I can call Seiko mine." Kurosaki said.
"You're not making any sense." Naomi said.
Kurosaki stuck out his tongue, and then turned his attention to Seiko. Ms. Yui woke up to the giggling bunch of teens. Mayu was kissing Morishige; Yoshiki was holding his head against his hand to try to null the slight temporary throbbing; Naomi was chatting with Satoshi, Seiko, and Kurosaki, catching up on lost time with the two lovers.
"Ayumi, we made it back…" Yoshiki said, turning to Ayumi now that his head ache was gone, "Ayumi?" He shifted his weight to be turned to Ayumi at a perpendicular angle to her back, "Ayumi?" He said, placing a hand on her shoulder, turning her to him, while capturing the silent attention of everyone else, "AYUMI?" He started to sound panicked, He slid her head and shoulders onto his lap, she opened her eyes slightly.
"Yoshiki?" She said.
"Yes, Ayumi, love, I'm here" He affirmed, cradling her in his arms.
"Did…did everyone make it back?" She expressed.
"Yes, we are all fine, thanks to you"
"Good, I'm happy, Yoshiki, I'm cold…"
"Here, take my jacket." Yoshiki said, moving his jacket off, skillfully with one hand, keeping her cradled in his other.
"Thank you, your jacket smells like you," She said, cuddling into the position she was in on his lap, "Yoshiki, I love you." She closed her eyes.
"Ayumi?", "Ayumi!", "Ayumi, please wake up, come on, let's talk a little more, Ayumi?" Yoshiki gasped, trying to get Ayumi to wake up, holding her against his chest.
A/N: Just take a moment to let what just happened sink in; this is sort of the intro to the chapter.
He picked up her wrist hastily to test. He felt nothing. Yoshiki pulled her scarf down to check for a pulse, he placed his hand on her jugular to check for a pulse. He felt something faint. He pulled open her shirt enough to reach down and check her pulse from her heart. He felt a slow and faint pulse beat.
"Call an Ambulance." He shouted at the group, which hastily complied.
The group sat outside the hospital room, watching Yoshiki pace uneasily outside the room, picking at his skin, muttering things, and extremely distressed.
"I'm sure she'll be fine, she's been through worse." Satoshi said, only to be met by Yoshiki's silence as he continued to pace. The group waited in an uncomfortable silence after that. The door to the room slid open, the nurse stepped out.
"Well!" Yoshiki queried, scaring the nurse.
"She'll probably be fine, but she's in a coma of some sorts, the scans showed semi-conscience brain activity, but we don't know if she'll wake up." The nurse replied, "You can go in if you want, but no more than three at a time, as we don't know how she'll react to large groups."
"Kishinuma, you, Suzumoto, and Ms. Yui should go in, you're the closest." Naomi blurted.
"Okay," Yoshiki said, looking sadly to the floor.
"May I ask how this happened, it's like someone drained a large amount of her blood or made her OD, but her blood pressure is normal and we can't any trace of drugs in her system." The nurse stated angrily.
"I found her like this… we were looking for her and found her at the academy" Yoshiki lied to the nurse, "May I go to see her now?"
"Fine…" The nurse flatly answered.
Yoshiki went in the room with Mayu and Ms. Yui; He sat in the seat closest to Ayumi, gripping her hand, looking at her with hurt eyes. "I wish you would return to me," He voiced through the silence tears streaming from his eyes, his mouth filling with small amounts of saliva. Mayu looked to Ms. Yui, a panicked look on her face, as if to say 'I'm scared', they rarely saw Yoshiki loose his composure, and to see him go as far as to cry meant something had to be serious and immensely sad, but they didn't need him to break up to tell the feelings of the moment.
Yoshiki stayed the night there, eventually falling asleep next to Ayumi before Mayu and Ms. Yui left, still grasping her hand. A nurse came around while he was unconscious and slipped a blanket around his shoulders, smiling at the bond of the two, listening to Yoshiki occasionally mutter "Ayumi" in his sleep.
Seiko and Kurosaki arrived at her house to find the three children asleep in the proper positions and a note left to Seiko saying
'Seiko,
I'm going away for a weekend, business stuff. Take care of Yuu, Kei, and Aya
Love
-Dad'
"I guess we're alone he-he-he" Seiko whispered to Kurosaki, grabbing his hand in the most seductive manner possible, leading him to the couch…
Satoshi tried to walk Naomi home, but her death grip proved too much, traumatized by the events in the void of Heavenly Host, she tried to stay the night with him.
"Shhh…let's not wake my parents or Yuka" (Yuka didn't come with them to help) Satoshi whispered, slipping into the house, "Do you want to call your mom?" He received a nod in return. Walking upstairs, the two opened the balcony door as quiet as possible, sitting down on the couch under the overhang.
"Mom?...hello….I'm fine, don't worry…Can I stay at Satoshi's tonight?...Don't worry, you can trust him, he's too much of a coward to do those things…Yes Seiko's fine…It's okay Mom, none of us were exactly sane, and at least the Psychologist wasn't some creep…Bye, G'Night, love you too." Naomi spoke over the phone.
"So…We're good?" Satoshi cautiously asked after Naomi hung up.
"Yeah," Naomi said, smiling for the first time in a long while.
"I'm not that much of a coward…" Satoshi said.
"Yeah you are, but its okay, 'cause you're my coward." Naomi said in response, only to have Satoshi grasp her by the waist and pull her to him, resting her head peacefully under her chin, to which the two fell asleep.
Mayu found her parents, and settled into her new house, not too far from Morishige's house, calling him immediately after she arrived home.
"Shige-nii, how are you?"
"I'm good Mayu, and you?"
"Good, about what had happened back there…"
"I wasn't in my sane mind, I'm sorry…"
"It's okay, I wasn't in my sane mind either, I mean, we could've kill people…"
"Mayu…"
"Yes…"
"Do you, you know, maybe, go out…like on a date?"
"OF COURSE, SHIGE-NII, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT!"
"You have no idea how long it's taken me to muster up the courage to ask you that…"
"Shige-nii…"
"Yes…"
"I...love you"
"I love you too, Mayu, you have no idea…"
"Maybe I do…"
"Yeah…", "…Maybe you do…"
"So I guess Good Night, let's go out tomorrow!"
"Okay, good night, see you tomorrow…Meet up in from of the Kisaragi Academy?"
"Yeah…"
Yoshiki woke up in the morning to find light peering through the window, Suzumoto and Ms. Yui gone, and someone standing at the base of the bed, which he instantly recognized as Hinoe. She had met him once, a few days after him and Ayumi got together, and she helped them plan the plan to revive everyone. Yoshiki arched his back to crack it, without letting go of Ayumi's hand.
"It's a wonderful relationship you two have, remaining with and without innocence, at the same time, it's so great." Hinoe said, breaking the silence, walking over to the window.
"…" Yoshiki looked caringly down at Ayumi, trying not to cry, but couldn't hold back, weeping silently.
"She's fighting inside of her, trying to keep herself from succumbing to the darkness, though, I think you may be happy to know that the family curse has been forsaken…" Hinoe opened her arms widely and quickly, turning to Yoshiki, while saying this. Yoshiki almost felt himself smile at this cheery attitude, but the fact that the love of his life remained in danger just kept egging his heart to sorrow. "I guess I should leave you two alone, in the mean time I'm going to get some food, I'm famished" Hinoe said, winking on her way out. Yoshiki turned back to Ayumi only to be caught by a set of sounds, he heard Hinoe walk out, but she stopped walking and he heard her start to speak, then continue walking.
The door slid open, revealing a heavyset woman with amber hair and green eyes, Yoshiki looked slightly worried, "I'm Nurse Patel; I'm assigned to take care of Shinozaki, perhaps you would like to get some food, you look rather hungry-" (A/N: Know the X-Files reference, well this next part is it!)
"No, I can't rest while Ayumi is in danger." Yoshiki cut her off.
"I can assure you she's in good hands." The nurse reassured Yoshiki.
After some argument, Yoshiki went to find Hinoe. He walked down the hall to the cafeteria. He sat solemnly next to her. He had a small bowl of salad, picking at it, holding back tears, which Hinoe immediately recognized. She gave him a 'Rest Easy' glance.
"I know that this should be a moment for the family, spending time with Ayumi while she's in a critical state, but if you want to, you may join us, when we visit her." Hinoe suggested.
"Thank you" Yoshiki said, trying so hard to hold back tears, even though he could feel them welling up in his eyes.
Ayumi sat on a boat, it was in a misty lake, she stared at the shore, where Yoshiki stood, throughout the night, like a sentinel, grasping onto the rope, his hands bloody against the coarse rope; occasionally, Ayumi would see him try to say something, but she couldn't hear, to which she would try so hard to stand up and cry out in return, but she couldn't move, her eyes fixated on the shore, no one moved. In the morning, Hinoe appeared, completely still, not an ounce of movement, Ayumi didn't see how she appeared, she was just there all of the sudden, she mouthed words, and then disappeared, only to be followed by the appearance of a large heavyset woman with amber hair and green eyes, then followed by Yoshiki disappearing. She spoke, Ayumi heard.
"Young Shinozaki, please come back to us, many people miss you, we know you are fighting you're demons, but you need to come back." The nurse spoke, then disappeared, followed by the entry of Yoshiki and Hinoe, and eventually, only Yoshiki remained.
The tether broke; Ayumi started drifting back into the mysterious mist.
A/N: Another break, sorry for putting these here, I just wanted to make a potentially multi-chapter part of the story in one chapter, but keep the feel of a multi-chapter part. So think about what's happening.
Ayumi felt a tug on the boat, a rope rose from the water, she saw the boat move back towards the shore, Ayumi saw Yoshiki, standing next to Hinoe and her mother, holding a rope in his hands, that were rubbed raw, Yoshiki didn't move, but the boat still advanced to the shoreline. Ayumi felt a great impact on her chest as she opened her eyes, not remembering closing then, to blaring light.
Ayumi looked to see a concerned Yoshiki at her side, his hand in hers, neither rubbed raw, and Hinoe and her mother on her other side, worriedly looking down of her. Ayumi realized that she hadn't opened her eyes all the way or gave any recognition that she was conscious, she tilted her head to Yoshiki and opened her eye's until they were half-lidded, smiling at him, Yoshiki immediately let her hand go to hug her, and to have Hinoe and Asuka follow in hugging Ayumi. Ayumi turned to Yoshiki and smiled, to see him smile back, 'That's the first time I've seen him smile since Ayumi was admitted to the hospital' Hinoe thought, but screeched, "TRUE LOVE!" earning the immediate embarrassment of Ayumi and Yoshiki.
Ayumi signed the release forms to verify that she had been in the hospital, then turned to the receptionist to ask, "Do you know where I can find a Nurse Patel, a heavyset woman with slightly red hair and green eyes?"
The receptionist gave her a strange look, "There's no Nurse Patel here…" She eventually replied.
Ayumi walked out of the hospital with Yoshiki in arm, wrapping her arms around Yoshiki's arm, resting her head on his upper arm.
"Ayumi, The curse is gone!" Hinoe said excitedly.
"You really want to be an Aunt, don't you?" Ayumi said, embarrassed that such a subject had come up in front of Yoshiki, and one that dealt with something on such personal and intimate circumstances. Not that she didn't have an image of them in the future; she just didn't want to drive Yoshiki away. Giving Yoshiki a questioning and concerned look.
"I'm not going to leave you, I have similar 'Dreams', don't worry…" Yoshiki reassured her.
"Which, intimate or children?" Hinoe butted in.
"Do I get in trouble if I say both…" Yoshiki muttered, and then nicely stated, "You know we shouldn't be talking about this, this is personal matters between me and Ayumi and this is public."
"Yoshiki?" Ayumi said.
"Yeah?"
"I need to tell you something…when I was in a coma, I had a weird dream, the entire time, You Hinoe and Mom were there, and some Nurse with the surname Patel…"
"I met a nurse named Patel, she urged me to go the cafeteria to eat…"
"Really?! Well back on topic, I was out on a lake, a misty lake, in a creaky boat, and you stood there, you were gripping a rope that lead back to shore, and your hands were raw, and then the rope snapped and I drifted out into the fog, but then a new rope appeared and you were holding it too, and you pulled me back to shore…" Ayumi started to have a panic attack, but it quickly subdued in her.
"How's Ayumi Kishinuma sound?!" Hinoe blurted.
"So you think…" Yoshiki said, egging her to continue.
"I think you're the one for me" Ayumi said, hugging Yoshiki tightly.
"Ribs…diaphragm…soul…" Yoshiki joked.
"I love you" Ayumi declared
"I love you too" Yoshiki responded.
"LOVE!" Hinoe yelled.
A/N: Sorry for the references, X-Files episode is One Breath, all rights go to respectful owners for everything!…Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
