LOLZ I UPDATED:B
Dc-chan: Geez, I got inspiration to write at the weirdest times. It's currently 3:45AM here in California and what am I doing? I'm writing. This causes me to have mixed feelings; I like to write, but I also like sleeping. Aw, hell…it's summer! I can sleep whenever I want to dammit! XD
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Episode 8 of Luckiest Loser
Trials and Tribulations
I remember once when I was young, probably around five or six-years-old, I wandered away from my parents in the park into a thicket of trees. I can never recall the specific reason why I did so though, but it was probably something silly. Well, it started getting late and it was then that I had noticed that I had no idea where I was and I was surrounded by tall looming trees that looked even scarier as the sun slowly set, almost like monsters. I had begun getting fearful that I was lost and I would never see my parents again for I couldn't find my way back. I huddled up against a tree eventually and started crying my eyes out until a police officer with a flashlight found me and guided me through the woods back to my parents. Until this day I regarded those few hours lost in the park the scariest moment of my life. However, sitting in a hospital makes you have a whole new perspective on what in life is scarier: being all alone in the park or the fear that your little brother may be unconscious on his deathbed.
I started to cry. Was this all my fault? If we had never gotten into an argument this wouldn't have happened therefore I felt like I was the one to blame for this.
As I sat outside Tetsushi's hospital room with Haruhi, Hunny, and Mori, I couldn't help but bury my face in my hands as warm salty tears streamed down my cheeks. I wanted him to make it through this so badly it hurt. Even screaming at the drunk driver after he had spun out in his car hadn't helped or even when the police came to arrest him I didn't feel satisfied. I wanted that man to die for what he did, but I knew all he'd get for his irresponsibility was a few years in jail when he deserved so much worse.
I felt Hunny put his hand on my back and he offered me Usa-chan and this time I gladly accepted the stuffed animal into my arms. I hugged it tightly against my chest, squeezing it for dear life and silently praying that everything was going to be fine.
I didn't know how long I was sobbing into the stuffed rabbit before the doctor came out. Maybe one or two hours? It felt like forever.
I held my breath. Please, let him have good news.
My eyes were fixed intently on him. Hunny grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze and Haruhi put her hand on my shoulder. Even Mori, who had begun to slouch in his chair, sat upright and leaned forward probably as anxious as I was to hear what the doctor had to say.
The doctor held a chart in his hand and began reading off of it like it was a monologue script. "Sugiyama, Tetsushi. Broken arm, fractured collarbone, three fractured ribs, and a torn spleen." He paused and looked at me before smiling gently. "I know it sounds like a tall order, but after the examination we just conducted I can assure you that he will be perfectly fine."
I exhaled a huge gulp of air and sank back into the chair that I was sitting in. What a relief! I couldn't imagine what I would've done if the doctor told me that he wouldn't make it. It was like a huge weight was lifted off my chest and I could breathe again.
"That's great news!" Hunny said enthusiastically. "Ne, Takashi?"
Mori nodded with a small smile in my direction. I blushed and looked away quickly.
"However," the doctor began again while he tucked his clipboard under his arm, "his torn spleen will require extensive hospitalization. I would like to discuss the details further with your parents, are they here?"
My elevated mood sunk faster than a ship in a maelstrom. "A nurse called them about thirty minutes ago, they're on their way." I answered meekly as I dropped my gaze to the tiled floor.
"Well," the doctor checked his wristwatch thoughtfully, "when they arrive tell them to meet me in your brother's room. I want to reexamine some of his x-rays, but don't worry. I promise you he'll be right as rain in a few months." He then disappeared back into Tetsushi's room, leaving me to wonder my impending doom.
"What's wrong?" Haruhi asked with raised eyebrows. "You look…scared."
I slowly turned my head towards her as beads of sweat rolled down the back of my neck. "You have no idea."
"Hm?" Hunny tilted his head to one side. "Will your parents be angry with you?"
I handed him back Usa-chan while biting my bottom lip. "Angry? That's the understatement of the century."
"But you didn't do anything wrong." Haruhi said while frowning.
"That's not what they'll think…" I trailed off as I heard the ever so familiar sound of high heels clicking furiously against the floor along with the sound of someone uttering quite loudly a long string of curse words.
Here they come.
Down the hallway I could see my parents approaching. My mother's hair was a mess and was sticking out in all directions so she resembled a Gorgon from Greek mythology. Her lips were pursed together most egregiously. My father had his fists clenched as his sides as mouth blasted swear word after swear word. They sure were an unholy sight to behold especially when I knew their rage was going to be pinned onto me.
I stood up shakily, my legs felt weak beneath me and I couldn't think of anything to say to calm them down.
They stopped right in front of me and were momentarily silent until my mother started her infamous harpy screeching causing nurses, patients and their family members in the hospital to look up from what they were doing.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? FIRST WE GET A CALL FROM YOUR SCHOOL SAYING YOU WERE ABSENT ALL DAY AND THEN WE GET A CALL FROM THIS HOSPITAL SAYING THAT TETSUSHI WAS HIT BY A CAR! If you were responsible, like Osen, this wouldn't have happened. It's your negligence that landed Tetsushi in the position he's in. This is your fault."
I struggled to say something, but my father held up his hand to indicate that neither he nor my mother wanted to hear what I had to say on the matter. I sighed heavily. Parents were so unfair. They weren't even going to hear me out.
"We're both very disappointed in you, Nodoka." He said sternly, I was thankful he wasn't the screaming type like my mother was when he talked to me.
"Sometimes I can't believe how thoughtless you can be." My mother put her hands on her hips and shook her head at me. "If you were more like your sister then this-"
"-but I'm not like Osen!" I interrupted franticly. "Can't you understand that? I'm not like her at all! I'm just me and you two are the only ones who seem to have a problem with-"
"I don't want to hear it!" My mother scolder me harshly as she raised her right hand in the air.
I immediately shut my eyes, waiting for the upcoming slap to strike me across my check, but it never came. Confused, I opened my eyes to see what had prevented her from doing so.
I took a sudden sharp intake of breath when I saw that Mori had stood up from his chair and had caught my mothers's wrist in midair about a foot away from my face. His face was stoic like usual, but I could see a twinge of annoyance in his dark eyes.
My mother looked completely indignant and thunderstruck at the same time. She probably didn't know what to make of Mori's actions. She seemed mortified though.
"It wasn't Nodoka's fault so you shouldn't blame her." He said in a low voice as he languidly released her wrist from his grasp.
Now, my father wasn't an easy man to intimidate, but the good six or seven inches Mori had over him was enough to make him a little pale in the face. It was like David versus Goliath.
My mother glanced nervously at Mori before talking to me again, this time in a much more placid tone. "Did the doctor say anything?"
"He said," I mumbled while pointing at the door, "that he wants to speak with you two."
My father put his hands on my mother's shoulders and steered her into the room without saying another word to me.
I put my hands behind me head and forced myself to chuckle. "Well, those were my parents." I looked around at Hunny, Mori and Haruhi and none of them appeared to be as amused as I pretended to be so I dropped the act and plopped back down on the chair. I was pathetic sometimes.
Just then a sickening cute tune of music filled the air.
I raised my eyebrow as I saw Hunny take his cellphone, one that was identical to Mori's, out of his pants pocket.
"It's Tama-chan." Hunny exclaimed. "He's probably worried by now so we should go. Will you be alright if we leave you here, Nyo-chan?"
"Yeah…"
"You don't sound too convincing." Haruhi said bluntly while sweatdropping.
"Don't worry about it. I've dealt with them before." I told them confidently.
"Okay." Hunny said, though from his tone I knew he wasn't entirely persuaded. I'll admit it; I'm a terrible actress.
I watched them leave with a fake smile on my face. At least they wouldn't be there for the worst of it; my miserable guilt trip. I wanted to be left alone for that part anyways.
The next two weeks passed by tranquilly. I guess it was because I was looking for other things to keep my mind on other than my brother who I visited everyday. Sometimes I would wait outside though if my parents or Osen was seeing him. On those occasions I would wait until they left before entering his room.
I surprised myself by attending school regularly when I normally avoided it like the plague. I'm sure I was just doing it so I wouldn't be constantly worrying about my brother. I stayed away from the bakery though because I didn't want to be around my parents more than I had to be. I felt a little silly for missing the feeling of flour all over my hands and nibbling at raw cookie dough made from scratch. Baking had in the past been the way I dealt with things because it was therapeutic for me, but now that I didn't have it I had to cope some other way, which I managed shockingly. School was a great distraction especially when my class was preparing for the upcoming school festival and there was lots of work to be done.
Neither of my parents spoke about the Mori incident, but sometimes during dinner my mother would sent a dirty look my way across the table as she shoved a piece of meat into mouth with her chopsticks. I decided to never bring it up as long as I lived.
Near the end of the second week the hospital called with good news. They said that Tetsushi was recovering quickly, but that he would still have to stay in the hospital for a couple more weeks even though that was the case it provided me with some small comfort.
It was on a Saturday afternoon when the two-week peace, that I was getting accustomed to, shattered like glass.
I was laying sprawled on the red cushy couch in the living room with a book propped up on my stomach. I was trying to read it because it was an assigned reading from my English class, but I ended up just zoning out while staring at the page in front of me. It was a truly lost cause.
I was happy that my parents weren't around to badger me about this. They had left early in the morning to prepare a stall for the Tanabata Festival going on in the neighborhood tonight. I hadn't gone to the festival since I was a little girl and I was prepared to make sure that tonight was no exception to that long-withstanding tradition.
I heard a knock on the front door so I closed my book and tossed it carelessly onto the couch as I stood up.
Lazily, I walked to the front door and opened it. My eyes widened when I saw who it was.
"Hey, Nodou-chan!" Hikaru and Kaoru greeted me in unison.
I instantly tried to slam the door in their faces, but one of the twins stuck their foot in the way to prevent me from doing so.
"That isn't very nice, even after we came all this way to cheer you up." He removed his foot and pushed open the door.
"Cheer me up?" I resisted the desire to laugh at that inane scheme. "How could you two do that?"
"Well…" The twins exchanged crafty glances with one another. I didn't like the looks of this already.
"So you heard about what happened then?" I said gravely.
"Kyoya's family runs that hospital so he found out and told us. Then Milord got all teary eyed and he insisted that we form The Committee Dedicated to Making Nodou-chan's Revival of Happiness."
I hated that nickname with a burning passion.
"Milord has sent us here to get you ready for the Tanabata Festival." One of the twins said with a sly grin.
I started to walk away. "I'm not going…"
"Why not?" They chorused together.
I shrugged. "I don't feel like it."
"Haruhi's going."
"She always goes just in case she has to take care of her dad when he gets drunk." I grumbled while running a and through my hair.
One of the twins wrapped an arm around my shoulders playfully. "Don't you want to have fun?"
"Not really." I said curtly. "Agreeing to this is going to be the only way to get rid of you guys, isn't it?"
"Pretty much." He beamed at me.
This left me only two options: suffer through an evening with nagging twins or give into their demands and go to the festival where I can lose them in the crowd. I picked the later, it seemed less stressful.
I swallowed what little pride I had. "Fine, just leave me alone after this."
They then proceeded to drag me upstairs and upon locating the bathroom across from my bedroom. They sat me down on a stepping stool that my brother had used when he was too small to reach the sink and began planning out what they were going to do with me.
I swayed back and forth as I waited.
I twitched at the comments they made about my nose being too small, my eyes being set too close together, not having high enough cheeks bones, and, according to them, my forehead was too big. I guess it was a good thing my forehead was usually covered by my bangs. The only thing about me that seemed to not bother them were my eyebrows. They said my eyebrows were well defined and it added a much-needed decorum to my face and were very eloquent. It stumped me how they could see all this jut by looking at my face for a few seconds. To be honest, I didn't want to know how they knew.
I wanted to get this over with.
"You have split ends." One of them pointed out as he fingered my hair with one hand while he had a comb with the other.
"Yeah, so? It's just hair." I said dryly.
"You don't take very good care of it do you?" The other twin said as he joined his brother in analyzing the tips of my hair.
"I don't really worry about stuff like this…" I replied, wondering why now I was feeling embarrassed over this subject.
Hikaru snapped his fingers. "Kaoru, get me the scissors."
I gave him a dead pan expression as he took the pair of scissors from his brother. "What are you going to do with those?" I fidgeted in my seat. He appeared positively menacing with the scissors in his hand with a ghoulish twinkle in his eyes.
"Trim those split ends." He said as leaned closer to me with a devious smirk. "After all, like you just said, it's just hair, right?"
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Dc-chan: In case you haven't noticed, Nodoka makes a lot of mythology references when describing people. Perhaps…she has an interest in mythology? Particularly Greek. ;D
It's really hard to write in the twins especially because Nodoka can't tell them apart and therefore she can't specify which one is speaking to her. Oh, the limitations of writing in first person perspective finally get to me! D':
Thank you for all the lovely reviews last chapter.
The Tanabata Festival is Japan's star festival so you can pretty much guess what'll happen in the next chapter. Will they succeed in cheering up Nodoka? Or will things just go from bad to worse? I think that chapter might be broken up into two parts…meh.
Peace out and don't forget to review!
