The end has come. The original version of this story ended at the last post. That was all there was supposed to be. I worked about three weeks finding an ending that mediated the tragedy while still working well with the rest of the story. The song is neither happy nor sad, possibly hopeful at the end but I felt mournful throughout.
I hope everyone who is reading and following review. There will be no continuation. This was meant to be around 10k words shorter then it is but I have problems with length. I can go days with minimal talking but my creativity is going a mile a minute. (Now you probably think I have ADD or ADHD, Possible, although never diagnosed.)
Any way on with the conclusion.
Naru slowly awoke. His body ached. From his toes to his hair hurt. Feeling like lead, he pushed open his eyelids. Lights blinded him; he groaned as he closed them a moment, then pushed them back open. He needed to know the situation.
He saw white sheets tucked around him, bars on the side of the bed alerted him to being in a hospital, beeping spoke to his pulse increasing under his exertion. He closed his eyes waiting for the beeping to rejoin a slower steady pace.
Minutes later, body still sore but more manageable he opened his lids again. Pale blue hospital walls, a curtain closed to one side, with a window to the other. A shadow stood in the window, black suit, gray hair; tall, military stance told him whom it was.
He clenched his hands a couple times rejuvenating the blood flow. The shadow turned toward him and surveyed his condition. "So you are finally awake." He noted in English.
Naru made a neutral grunt. The best response he could manage at this particular moment.
"Lin informed us of leaving you on that island, Of Your condition and that of the girl. He tried not to give us much hope." The man informed him looking back out the window. "A Miss Hara contacted your mother." Naru's interest was piqued. "Gene contacted her before going to that girl. Miss…" he reached for the name, opening a file on the chair he read it. "Yes, a Miss Ta-ni-ya-ma." He spoke, his mouth contorting around the Japanese name.
"Miss Hara has been having a hard time during this natural disaster. Your mother invited her to England. It took courage to make the call and your mother wishes to make sure she knows how much she appreciated it." The man closed the file and looked back to the window. "Lin made it back to the coast with the little fishing boat around midnight. He gave the coast guard your coordinates and they arrived a little bit after dawn. They rescued the dogs and found you and that girl you were with."
"Father," Noll's voice croaked interrupting the man. "Not now." His voice slightly above a whisper as the man turned to watch him. "Please." His fist clenched to white knuckles and the remnants of his fingernails dug into the flesh of his palms. He rolled onto his side and turned his face away.
The man studied him for a second. "I suppose this can wait, I will leave you to rest." He looked at his watch then back at Noll. "We are leaving in the next couple hours." He stated as he turned and left the room. When Noll heard the soft click of the door closing, he reached off the side of the bed to the curtain.
His father would have insisted on a single room. Only one person would be put in the other bed but he had heard no sounds from it.
He reached for the curtain, gripping it he flung it toward the wall watching as it raced across to reveal the bed next to him. It was empty. He looked at the tossed sheet and knew someone had been there. Squinting his eyes, he recognized the Kanji symbols of Mai's name on the wall. She had been there, but not anymore.
He pushed himself up to sitting position. Wires wrapped around his arms restricting his arms. He detached himself from them and pulled out the IV. He would rest on the plane, and in England. Tripping the button on the bed gates they lowered and he placed his feet on the cold floor ignoring the beeps of the machines he had disconnected. Carefully he balanced to a stand then leaned over onto the other bed flopping unceremoniously while his legs refused to work properly.
He grabbed the file at the end of the bed and flipped it over. Reading what he could and skipping most of the Kanji, he did not know Naru interpreted the charts and data as best he could. A diagram showing a leg with line just above the knee and an 'x' through the lower half stopped him cold. A form noting a procedure of some kind dated a few days later then he thought it was, although it was possible he slept that long, he studied.
"Shibuya-san" a male nurse walked in wearing green scrubs. "You shouldn't be up yet."
Ignoring the man's concern, he handed him the file. "Where is Taniyama, Mai? She was in this bed."
"I am sorry sir." The nurse took the file and shook his head. "I cannot release information to non-family."
"Taniyama, Mai was an orphan she has no family, tell me what happened."
The man hesitated then flipped through the file. "Matsuzaki-san released her to the care of a priest. Father John Brown. He was going to take her to be with her parents." He closed the file. "I must insist you get back into your bed, we need to do some tests before you can leave."
"I need some clothing," Noll stared at the nurse.
John knelt on the soft turned dirt in front of a stone. It held a name he cherished for several years now. Taniyama. A few feet away he watched as a girl's reflection appeared on a shiny black stone. Brown hair and chocolate eyes smiled through the pristine rock. Soft voices skimmed barely audibly to his ears. A graveyard was not a new place for John, but these last few days, challenged his faith in a powerful loving God.
Slight relief tempered his sadness and stress. The orphanage was to the south of Tokyo and safe. Yet even in this slight relief, they were planning to adopt upwards of twenty-five displaced children who their families were missing or dead. He would return to the orphanage in a few days to help the adjustment.
John relaxed letting his fingers dig into the fresh soil, and listened to the voices he knew he should not hear.
"I've missed you mother." Chocolate-eyed Mai smiled in the reflection of shiny black stone. Nothing ever seemed to keep her from smiling for long.
"We've missed you too dear." Another face reflected in the stone, an older lady with the same brown hair. "Since the last time I saw you…" she paused dabbing the tears from the corner of her eyes. " You have grown so much since then, and have made wonderful friends."
"She's just like her mother," a man's voice echoed. "I had to fight my brother for her." a man's face appeared. Dark brown hair cropped short under a newsboy cap brown eyes smiling at her. He leaned over and kissed the girl's forehead.
Mai felt a gentle cold touch on her forehead. "Dad," Mai sighed happily.
"Well at least it wasn't your dead twin. It would be easier to fight your reflection." Her mother soothed. Placing a hand on his shoulder, "But then, love always knows the difference."
"I'd rather not fight a tsunami either." He chuckled.
"Mmm…" Mai blushed under their tease. "I didn't mean to."
"But he followed you anyway."
Her mother and father wrapped their arms around her shoulders. She felt a cool breeze envelope her. Another reflection came at the corner of the stone as if called by their words, a black haired boy with shining blue eyes.
"Let me join in!" the reflection jumped between her parents and enveloped Mai in a fury of wind. "My brother never lets me have enough time with you." He kept his hand around her shoulders and smiled. "After Naru interfered, I thought, I might never see you again, but it takes more than that to get rid of me." He gave her a wide smile then kissed her forehead.
"A-hem" a noise from the boy on the corner of the rock alerted them to his presence. "If you would unhand my assistant, Gene."
The twin stuck his tongue out at his brother keeping his arm wrapped around her. Mai laughed and turned to look behind her. "Naru?"
"Mai, the Doctors were looking for you."
"Ayako knew where I was she said it was ok." He looked up at Naru and found his smirk had gone to a thin line. Ayako must not have told him, she thought. "John was here." She glanced back at John who rested next to the wheelchair he had pushed her here in.
"He means, Mai-chan." Gene's voice called her to look into the reflective rock. Gene raised his eyebrows mischievously like Yasuhara. "He wanted to play doctor." Mai blushed red as she saw Naru's fist clenching.
"Gene that will be enough. Mai, why are you laying on the ground?" Naru asked. "You should not be jarring that leg."
"I didn't jar it." she spoke softly pulling a weed out of the ground by the tombstone. Her one leg was straight out infront of her while next to it laid a stub cut just above the knee with fabric folded around it. "How else am I supposed to take care of their grave?" she looked up at the polished rock but no one was there. Tracing the kanji that spelled her name, she said a silent prayer.
Noll knelt next to her and bowed his head toward the grave. Opening his eyes, in the polished rock, he saw two faces smiling at him. 'Take care of her…' the wind whispered in his ears. He nodded once and they were gone. Looking again, He shook his head, must be his imagination.
"The plane is leaving in an hour." He stated. Mai looked up at him.
"But you weren't released from the hospital yet!" she exclaimed.
"He released himself. Against Medical Advice." Lin approached pushing a wheelchair. "The Doctors are more worried about him." Lin spoke professionally with a nod of greeting to Mai.
"We are leaving in an hour; waiting for them we would miss our plane."
"You were scheduled to be released by then; to go directly to the plane. My searching for you will make other preparations late." Lin reproached his ward. "Please do not make them rethink my continued employment, again."
"You heard him Mai; let's get you on that plane." Naru knelt next to Mai and placed a hand around her shoulders and another under her one leg careful not to touch the other.
"How does me going to England, factor in your employment Lin." Mai kept a hand placed on her parents' grave, tracing the lettering and dates.
"It doesn't," Naru stated lifting Mai up off the ground. Hs muscles rejected the strain but he overruled them and stood. Mai cringed at the movement and bit her lip but was unable to holdback a slight whimper as her one hand clenched Naru's shirt in a fist. Naru held still unsure of further movement hurting the girl in his arms. Lin placed the wheelchair behind Naru and guided his ward to sit in it while still holding her. Once she settled, she continued her line of questioning, through clenched teeth hoping to ignore the pain.
"If it doesn't why are you taking me to England?" Her hand lingered on the green scrubs shirt Naru was wearing.
"My job is to get Oliver Davis back to England." Lin began pushing the wheelchair and Mai let her hand release Naru's shirt. She tried to smooth it back. Light green was not his best color, but it was nice for a change. "The best way is to take you with us to prevent him from running back here on his own."
"I can take care of myself." Mai placed her hands on the wheels and stopped their movement.
"The last time I left you ran towards a tsunami," Noll stated idly.
"I don't think there will be another one anytime soon." Mai crossed her hands over her chest firmly.
"You have fallen into wells, been pulled into a lake, possessed, and knocked bookshelves on top of yourself, is that how you take care of yourself?" Lin began pushing the chair again. John walked beside him pushing Mai's empty chair.
"I did fine until you visited my school."
"And how do you expect to pay your rent without a job?"
"I have some savings." She squirmed under his criticism.
"And then?"
"I will find a new job." Mai looked back at the faces watching her from a familiar black rock.
"With that leg?" He instantly regretted his words and a scowl from Mai told him he had been to blunt. Mai turned her head to look back at the familiar black stone she visited so often.
'Oka-san, Otou-san, It looks like I will be gone for a while. Please don't worry, my new family will take care of me, but I will always remember you. Don't be lonely; I will come back to you.'
"And you are so much better, using your abilities to kill yourself?" Mai felt the wheelchair halt. She had not told anyone about what had happened and Naru probably thought they did not need to know. He would be weak just from psychometry they might not have realized what others abilities he had used.
"Qigong is used to heal the body," was Naru's cool reply… he motioned for Lin to continue walking.
"You are not trained to heal using Qigong and the strain of trying to use it almost kills you." Lin passed a man standing at the entrance of the cemetery watching them. She looked up to the man; she had seen him before around the hospital.
"Father," Noll greeted in English. Mai knew limited English but recognized the phrase. She smiled up at the man who had adopted and raised Naru. The trip to the cemetery had drained her energy. Safe in Naru's arms she let herself drift off to a real sleep.
"She will have a lot of rehabilitation before she can be helpful. We could set her up with a stipend and rehire her in a year or two." he noticed the slightest shake of the head from his son, and almost and imperceptible tightening of his arms around the girl. "That is a long way to go for an assistant." Noll's father noted.
"She makes good tea." Naru stated.
"So does your mother," his father looked down to see his sons reaction but there was none. He had fallen asleep head resting atop that of his assistant.
Well it's a winding road
When your in the lost and found
You're a lover I'm a runner
We go 'round 'n 'round
And I love you but I leave you
I don't want you but I need you
You know it's you who calls me back here
Gene watched as the reflections faded from view he faded back into his own familiar darkness. Seeing them walk away hurt worst then the pain of the car hitting him. Worst then his lungs screaming for air, even worse than clawing through plastic and knowing his fate was sealed as he sunk to the bottom of the lake.
Each time he saw his brother his heart was ripped once again from s soul.
Then there was Mai. He was dead long before they had met. He should not have been able to contact her, but he did. She should not be able to affect him, but she did. He should not have been able to love her, but he did. It should not hurt to see her with his brother, but it did. He knew she never loved him, but he did.
Maybe he should take his final rest, a soul was not meant to struggle on past death, but he did. Some day he would let go of this world, he was no longer part of but not today. He should not know about those he left behind, but he did. He cried as another piece of his heart shattered as they walked away together. He wanted so much to be with them, but he was glad they were not with him.
And when I close my eyes I see you
No matter where I am
I can smell your perfume through these whispering pines
I'm with your ghost again
It's a shame about the weather
I know soon we'll be together
And I can't wait till then
I can't wait till then
~Fin~
The end had come, the story is marked complete. I hope you enjoyed, and hope to read what you think about it. Thank you all for reading.
