Through the Night, Part 2

It was late. Most of the hospital staff were home, and only night time care takers and a single doctor were present in the small building besides patients. It wasn't far from the house nor the Angelic Layer stadium, so for the purposes of aiding Shuuko it had worked well in the past and in this moment now, too.

When Misaki had moved in with her mother, she had made a promise to all of Shuuko's work associates that she would look after her mother's well being. The company even paid for a cellular phone that Misaki could have with her at all times of the day, and she regularly received calls with regards to the subject. It gave Misaki something to feel important about, but at the same time Misaki knew it was a substantial amount of responsibility. In the end, she had approached the subject knowing it was for the best that she was with her mother and she had decided to take any responsibility necessary to be with her. Misaki had thought about this decision many times, and now found herself thinking about it again.

It was hard to regret making the decisions necessary to live together, just the two of them. Misaki was proud to have Shuuko as her mother, without question. Misaki did however wish that her mother would not push herself so hard sometimes. In this particular incident stress and fatigue were the primary causative factors. Misaki sighed, and turned her gaze back to her sleeping mother.

"My beautiful Mother," Misaki thought to herself, reminiscing over the finer times of their relationship. She still remembered the time at the cafe in the rain, when her mother had gone to find her. They had spent nearly an hour talking together, forgetting completely that thousands of people were waiting for the final championship battle. Misaki smiled. They had come back to find the entire Angelic Layer crew and all her friends lined up outside waiting for them. Ichirou was wearing that ridiculous costume...

"And Hatoko ran up to me." Misaki looked towards the window. Hatoko was hurting tonight and Misaki knew she was responsible for it, but she also knew that she would not have the opportunity to fix the pain until tomorrow. If she had called the Kobayashi household, and by slim chance Hatoko had been out of bed to pick up the phone... She would still be hurting because would still need to hang up the phone at some point.

Hatoko had become very sensitive to aberrations in their arrangements, particularly within the last few years. Misaki remembered their promise after the Angelic Layer championships too. The promise that their times together wouldn't end. Hatoko had taken the promise with more sincerity then Misaki, it had seemed. It seemed that now Hatoko clung to every moment she had with Misaki. Recently Hatoko had been running late to meet her, and even though she had denied it, Hatoko's face showed signs of dismay at even her own schedule lapse.

Misaki generally could understand Hatoko's feelings, and they were mutually very close, however Misaki had also tried to give Hatoko time to develop friendships with other people. There were occasions where she had introduced her to possible new friends, but apparently they did not work out. Whether because of her precociousness or her character, Hatoko was very much unlike all of her peers. She was perhaps too special of a girl for these people.

"She is a very special girl," Misaki mused. She turned her eyes away from the window to find Ichirou looking at her. She had become more used to his strange tendencies over the years, but for whatever reason he still insisted on making interesting entrances. "Ah, good evening Icchan-san."

"Is something on your mind tonight, Misaki?" Ichirou asked quietly. Misaki nodded, and Ichirou motioned for them to enter the hallway so as not to wake Shuuko.

Ichirou was now Misaki's step father. It was a little strange at first, but in the past he had been kind and Misaki could now appreciate it when he was around, if at least somewhat awkwardly. "Thinking about Hatoko, aren't you?"

Misaki nodded. Ichirou had a good sense of her, but perhaps he could be said he already had a good sense of Shuuko too and that was certainly an advantage. "I missed her birthday tonight." She turned to look at the ground. "I had promised I would be there, but Mother needed me more tonight."

"You are good to your Mother, Misaki." Ichirou began, and he mulled for words for several moments. "Tonight was a difficult situation for you, wasn't it?"

Misaki nodded again. "I know it would have hurt my Mother's feelings if I has not been with her, but in the end I feel that I would be with my Mother anyways." Misaki slide a foot around on the floor. "I only have one Mother and she needed me."

"You only have one Hatoko, too." Ichirou replied simply. "How do I say this..." He went quiet for several more seconds. Ichirou had given the topic some forethought, and now that he was presenting his view he felt that perhaps it was still best to think before speaking.

"Hatoko adores you completely, Misaki." Ichirou's choice of words were perhaps not what Misaki would have used, but in contemplation Misaki knew that he had selected them for a reason. "But I don't think that completely describes the matter, either." Ichirou turned his face to the side as he concentrated on his words.

"Hatoko is young. People wonder why Hatoko excels at Angelic Layer, and if I were to tell them what I think... It would be that it's not just because of Hatoko's brilliance," Ichirou explained slowly. Misaki looked up at Ichirou, and he turned to look back at her. "It's because of her heart. I'm sure you already knew that inside of you, but sometimes it's nice to hear it from someone else."

"I... I don't know how to describe it," Misaki started. She gazed down at her feet again. The situation was becoming more awkward for her, but she knew Ichirou's wisdom was valuable and found herself trying very hard to be honest with him as well as herself. "I'm not sure what I want out of this situation. I think sometimes Hatoko spends too much time with me. I think that I am keeping her away from other people."

"Hatoko chooses to spend her time with you though. Most of the time she is at school, don't you think she has friends there too?"

"I know she usually has lunch with a specific group of people, but... I..." Misaki trailed off.

"I think the important question is: What does it feel like when you are with her?" Ichirou asked sincerely.

A smile crept on Misaki's face without permission. The question opened the door to many happy memories of spending time with Hatoko, and Misaki was soon inundated with such thoughts. Ichirou watched her curiously. Misaki was usually guarded when it had come to Hatoko because as Hatoko had changed over the last few years, so had she. The changes were not always noticed, and only in moments like these did Misaki begin to grasp them.

"Misaki, you don't have to say anything." Ichirou interjected, and Misaki snapped out of her sudden daze. "It may be confusing now and it is okay. While you contemplate the matter always remember one thing," Ichirou put up a finger and caught Misaki's eyes once more. "You are Hatoko's special person and it is your duty to respect her feelings, too."

- - -

The door to the room closed behind Hatoko's mother as she left, and the space was perfectly quiet once more. Hatoko lay in bed, eyes open. On the surface she seemed completely normal, and just moments before had reassured her mother that she was okay. That she had just been upset for awhile and she needed time to herself. Knowing that Hatoko was not keen to talk about why, her mother had said goodnight. Especially after nine years of raising Hatoko, she had realized that her daughter deserved to be treated like a grownup sometimes.

Stillness in the darkness. The late of night had set in and Hatoko was exhausted from the ordeals that evening. Fortunately the weekend had come, and Hatoko would not need to wake up particularly early. She held Shizuka in her hands and looked into the doll's eyes.

"That was rude of her to say that," Hatoko said quietly to herself, remembering what Tamayo had said earlier. It was unusual for Tamayo to say things like that, but at the same time Hatoko could point to many instances where the older girl had said or done things without thinking. But it usually involved Kotarou, not her. Ah, the finer points of relationships: quarrels. Misaki and her rarely did such things. Their relationship as it stood now was only filled with closeness and happiness. It wouldn't have mattered if they were a couple or not.

"Well, maybe it does. Most couple argue at some point, I guess." Hatoko whispered again, and she rolled over on her side. Setting Shizuka carefully to rest on the side of a pillow, her mind continued its revolutions.

Hatoko wanted to believe that age and size didn't matter outside of the layer. The credo that she had applied to Angelic Layer was an excellent philosophy and it had served her and Misaki, as well as a host of many other people, very well. But Hatoko ultimately wondered if it could be applied to real life, and real social issues. She was inclined to believe that it was. One of the most important aspects about being successful in Angelic Layer was being able to extend your own heart into the angel. Even being capable of doing that... Would take some 'real life' ability, right?

A tear escaped Hatoko's eye. It was too confusing for her. She could ask the questions but could not find the absolute answers. It was even more troubling trying to understand the complexities of something she thought she had known so well. Now it was like all these things were coming up to try to take Misaki away from her. That's it. Last stop. It was easy to blame adults for making things complicated, but Hatoko knew her feelings complicated the matter even more.

Ever since that night Misaki had held her, Hatoko had craved such physical attention. There had only been a handful of nights in the last few years that she had an opportunity to experience Misaki's embrace. And for every night of opportunity there had been an infinite number of nights of despair. Every night Hatoko would think about Misaki, and want her close. It was worse on days where she had not spoken to Misaki for some time.

The frequency of feeling despair, of wanting to be held, was probably the most troubling thing for Hatoko. Over time as she had found that sleepovers would be a rather uncommon event, Hatoko would tend to lay awake at night, thinking over and over again what it was like to be next to Misaki under warm covers. The cold air in her room at this particular moment was not helping. Hatoko was never cold when Misaki was there. Hatoko was never anything bad when Misaki was there. Rather, she was the happiest person in the world.

"You're ridiculous," Hatoko whispered to herself. This was how it started every night. Tonight was different though. Misaki was supposed to be there, and not only had she promised to partake in the party she had promised that she would spend the night. The entire day Hatoko had been bouncing with enthusiasm because she had known Misaki was coming, and now the effects of falling back to the ground so fast were still rattling her. It was like her whole world had been displaced with that one phone call. It didn't help that Tamayo had hurt her feelings, either.

Hatoko wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She had cried all she could after she had left the kitchen, and now her emotions refused to flow out. They would not give her peace this time, and instead they nagged at her thoughts screaming the woes of her loss that day.

Her mind rolling in repetition, Hatoko found herself wondering how she had managed to bring so much duress upon herself.

- - -

Sunlight began to fill Hatoko's room. Commotion could be heard in the household, but it was not discernible. Hatoko snuggled under her covers with Suzuka, not wanting the chilly morning air to steal her warmth. The residence was built in the old style and so the bedrooms could be quite cold at this time of the year.

Barely alert, Hatoko heard a familiar voice coming from the other side of the door to her room. Her eyes opened wide and she sat straight up quickly, wanting to believe she had heard the voice she had thought she had heard. "Yes?"

"Good morning, Hatoko," Misaki said as she entered the room, closing the door behind her. Without care for the cold and without any forethought, Hatoko sprung out of her bed and dashed to Misaki to hug her. Misaki returned the embrace warmly. "I'm sorry I troubled you last night."

A certain peacefulness washing over her, Hatoko didn't have anything to say for several moments. However as she realized she was holding Misaki's torso very tightly her thoughts caught up to her. "I missed you, Misaki."

"I know Hatoko, I feel very bad about it. There were many times last night I wanted to be here and to spend time with you. I think I woke up once at the hospital in the middle of the night wanting to call you on the phone and tell you I was sorry." Misaki smiled, resting one of her hands on Hatoko's head. Her hair was a bit of a mess and Misaki smiled to herself as she combed her fingers through the black velvet strands. "But I imagined your parents would not have liked a phone call at three in the morning."

Hatoko grinned. They probably would not have liked that all. She disengaged slightly to look up at Misaki. "You must have called sometime though to be here right now though, right?"

"Actually," Misaki started, "Kotarou called me this morning. He said that Tamayo had hurt your feelings and that he would really appreciate it if I would come over and cheer you up."

"Ah, no way!" Hatoko replied surprised and a bit embarrassed.

"It's true! He said that he would never forgive me if I didn't come right away. It was kind of a silly way to say it, but," Misaki ran her hand through Hatoko's hair once more. "Kotarou knows that I am important to you. He said he didn't like to see you sad and that if I couldn't be here on your birthday then I should be here as soon as I could."

If Hatoko could have melted right there she would have. She would have to thank her brother for taking the initiative to call Misaki and scold her.

"What time is it do you think? How did you get here?" Hatoko asked, wanting to hear more about Misaki's curious adventures. Wanting to hear more of Misaki's voice.

"Mm, maybe 8 o'clock." Misaki's stomach rumbled and she blushed. "Ah, I didn't even eat breakfast yet. Icchan-san insisted on driving me here and promised he would take care of my Mother. So I said goodbye to her at the hospital this morning and came straight here. Speaking of which," Misaki glanced at her clothes, "I am still wearing my clothes from yesterday. Maybe I should have stopped at home."

"Ah, no. It's okay. You smell nice!" Hatoko exclaimed exuberantly, not caring if she sounded childish. Misaki laughed, and in the back of her mind she knew Ichirou had been completely right about Hatoko and her. And perhaps even being confused about it was okay. As long as she could see Hatoko's smile, it was okay.

"You are sweet as ever, Hatoko."