Pieces of Memory

MsCuriosityinTrouble: Thank you. :) I agree with you that Makimura probably was proud to work with Ryo despite his really subdued demeanor and having to put up with Ryo's partying and lecherous ways. XD I think it's something Ryo knew about too which was one of the reasons why he considered Makimura such a dear friend.

Reesen555: Well...here's the thing. I haven't written for CH in literally years. And I think most fic writers will tell you that it's not easy to jump back into writing for a fandom after so much time away. Or to pick up a fic after a long hiatus like that. Thus why I decided to try my hand at shorter one-shot pieces to get back into the feel of writing for these characters...Also, I do think it's a little unreasonable to make your complaint about that into your review for this fic when I didn't see any reviews, favorites, or follows from you on that trilogy of fics to begin with. That is, unless you were one of the anon reviewers. But still...I plan on getting back to it as some point, but I honestly can't say when. In the meantime, I hope you can enjoy these short pieces. If not...I'm sorry, but they are all I have for the moment.

Dreamykid99: Well, each chapter is going to vary on how much it will feature each character. Except for Ryo who will probably be featured in most if not every chapter. So stick around and I'm sure you'll see more of Kaori from time to time. :)

It all started over a vase.

Kaori had been doing a stack of dishes that morning, leftover from when a client had dinner with her and Ryo the previous evening. She had been in a hurry to get her work done and was carrying a stack of plates when her arm brushed up against a counter, knocking the vase to the floor. It fell apart into several pieces upon impact.

Kaori carefully sat the stack of plates down and crouched closer to the floor to look at the remains of the vase. It was an old vase. Cheap and plain with some dingy yellow and orange flowers in the middle of a white background. It had become chipped in the first week that she had bought it. Part of the reason Kaori kept it in the kitchen was to keep it out of view when guests visited.

Kaori sighed and got up to get a dust pan and brush to clean it up. While it was part of the décor from the apartment where she lived with her brother, this wasn't a vase she would miss all that much. Not really. There were no special memories attached to it and Hideyuki never seemed to notice it.

Still, as she tried to pick up the larger pieces and put them in the pan, she felt a little hole open up in her heart.

One of the shards cut her finger, a paper-cut thin line that hurt more than it bled. Kaori tried to tell herself that the pain she felt at that moment was from the cut rather than because this vase had been destroyed. She brushed the rest of the pieces into the pan, trying hard to make that reasoning stick and failing completely.

It wasn't until she had the mess swept up and was about to deposit it into the bin that she realized the source of her pain. It wasn't the vase itself. It was the fact that another piece of her memory's landscape had been erased.

Kaori sniffed hard and dumped the broken pieces into the wastebasket. It was stupid to get so upset over a vase. She had much better things to remember her brother by. Still, she couldn't deny that she always derived some comfort over the presence of places and things that were around her when Hideyuki was alive. Like that newspaper stand where he bought his daily paper and cigarettes. Like the soba noodle shop he liked to eat on Saturdays. Even something like the night stand he used to keep in his room, which was now in her bedroom, was a pleasant reminder of all of the little moments and routines from their shared life. Their continued existence kept her memories of her brother just a little more vivid.

She leaned over the sink and tried to catch her breath. Would she ever stop feeling upset at these sudden reminders of her brother? Would the rest of her life be spent clutching at anything and everything that helped her remember him and what she had lost when he died? It was a depressing, horrifying thought and yet, Kaori could not stop dwelling on it.

Kaori blinked hard a few more times and then went back to her dishes, trying her best to blot those thoughts from her mind.

A couple of days later, Kaori was getting ready to clean the kitchen again when something caught her eye. She stopped and stared for a full minute until she realized that the vase had been replaced by one that could have been its twin. It wasn't chipped, but otherwise it was the same in every other aspect. Inside were a couple of carnations.

'How did this get there?' she wondered. 'Did Ryo….?'

Kaori thought back to earlier that day and a comment from Ryo brought a smile to her lips.

"But I didn't go to the love hotels, Kaori-chan. All I did was check out the mokkori visions at this going-out-of-business sale downtown. But all they wanted to look at was a bunch of old junk."

'Old junk…like this old vase,' she thought. 'Ryo….'

It wasn't exactly the same. Nothing ever could be when it's part of the past. But it still felt like something warm and familiar just the same.