DISCLAIMER: I do not own Wallflower.
"SUNAKO-TAAAN!" Two blonde heads tackled Sunako onto her rear.
"Oof!"
"I thought you died!" Gin bawled in her ear, while Yae wiped her nose on a lock of Sunako's hair.
"You guys," Yuki called as he ran up the steps. He actually managed to look angry at the twins and scolded, "You know Sunako is hurt, so don't do that!"
"Sunako-tan," Gin turned watery eyes on Sunako. "A tiger tried to eat you yesterday,"
"It did,"
"There was a video on Blue Tube about it," Yae sniffled and poked a finger into the hole in Sunako's shirt. Sunako swatted her hand away as she stood up from her sore behind and dusted off the back of her shorts.
Gin turned to Yae inquisitively. "Why was that boy naked?"
"Yuri says that her dad takes off his clothes whenever her mom is upset," Yae confided.
Sunako hid her laughter with a smile. Yuki shrugged. "Public schools," he explained.
He turned big, concerned amber eyes on her. "You're okay now, right? I couldn't really talk to you before because of that guy you were with at the hospital. Man, he was scary. But I'm really sorry about that day. I didn't think it would turn out like that but I guess it was my fault for taking you to the Mori Zoo," Yuki's face reddened and he hastily said, "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with the Mori Zoo but I should have known better - I mean, what am I saying? All that matter's now is that you're okay,"
"I guess. But um, what are you talking about?"
"Nothing. It's nothing," He rubbed the back of his head, his face still bright red. "I was rambling,"
Why must everyone speak to me in riddles? Why?
Before Sunako could interrogate Yuki further -
"Sunako!" A middle-aged woman with short blonde hair bounded up the stairs. The Tomoya matriarch pulled Sunako into a warm hug. Mrs. Tomoya kept her hands on the girl's shoulders as she inspected her from head to toe.
"You poor baby," Her eyes sparkled with emotion as she grasped Sunako's hands. Now I see where Yuki gets it from. "Yuki told me about how you have hemophilia so I thought I'd buy you some vitamin K supplements," Mrs. Tomoya explained as she fished the bottle out of her purse and handed it to Sunako. "To help clot your blood,"
"Oh, it's mild. Really, you shouldn't have," Sunako mumbled to the bottle and twisted it awkwardly in her hands.
"Well, I don't mind. It's nice to have an excuse to see you. I'm busy working at the shop all day," Mrs. Tomoya explained with a 'what can you do about it?' smile. She looked at Sunako sternly and scolded, "You should be more careful,"
"I'll try,"
"I don't want to bother you when you need rest, so we'll be on our way," Mrs. Tomoya smiled gently at her before hollering for Yuki to round up the twins, who had ended up stuck in some rose bushes.
Sunako closed the door and watched Yuki and Gin cry through the window when they pricked their hands on the rose thorns. She glanced down at her own hands, at the cutely wrapped bottle of Vitamin K. "I guess I'll put this in the medicine cabinet." She said to herself absently.
As she ambled through the empty halls, Sunako remembered that her bathroom didn't have a medicine cabinet. She was of optimum health and disliked frills in her bathroom; rather she enjoyed a Spartan affair, with only the essential hygiene products on her counter. If she were to put it in just any random bathroom's medicine cabinet, she figured she'd forget which one.
Sunako stopped beelining for her room and said to herself, "Auntie won't mind if I put this in her bathroom."
Auntie's bathroom, was of course, frills and excess. Sunako waded through all the impractical glittery bathing products and found herself in front of Auntie's magenta medicine cabinet.
It was locked.
"It's locked," She deadpanned. "Why is it locked?"
Sunako furrowed a dark brown and frowned. "Why does it feel like Auntie is keeping secrets from me?" She inspected the padlock between her fingers. "First, the thing about Takenaga's mom being her big sister, and now she's probably smuggling some happy drugs into her medicine cabinet."
It didn't take much time for Sunako to find hedge clippers to break the padlock. She set the giant scissors in the tub and opened the cabinet. Inside, the shelves were lined with little orange bottles, all prescribed to Mine Nakahara. Sunako chewed the inside of her cheek as she took a bottle out to figure out what it held.
"Antidepressants?" Sunako chewed harder. "Antidepressants? For what? I mean, depression, yes, but she always acts so cheery and fluttery." She stared at the shelves thoughtfully. "I can only think of Auntie's husband's death as the source."
Sunako was aware that at some point, Auntie had been married. This had been before Sunako had fallen under Auntie's care. It was around the time that Auntie became her guardian that Sunako learned that Auntie was a widow. Auntie never spoke of him, but Sunako had thought that Auntie had loved him very much if she was always so unsatisfied with all the men she was with and if she was always looking for a man.
"I guess I never thought much about him. My uncle. I don't even know what he looks like, or what his name was, or what he did. I didn't realize that Auntie was still mourning him."
Sunako guiltily shut the medicine cabinet and took the clippers and the supplements with her as she quietly slipped out of her aunt's bathroom. She felt like she had stepped on Auntie's privacy, but at the same time, she felt hurt that her aunt had never talked to her about this. Didn't she think Sunako was mature enough to understand these things? Did she think Sunako wouldn't understand her feelings? Did she think Sunako couldn't sympathize with her?
The teenager went to her bedroom, dropped the supplements onto her nightstand, and went to take a shower. She mulled over some more in the shower. It seemed like Auntie had been disowned or something by the Oda family, if Naomi Oda's acidic reaction to Auntie being Sunako's guardian was anything to go by. Traitor, is what Naomi had called Auntie. Sunako sank into the tub after washing herself. Her wet bangs stuck to her eyes, so she pushed them away. It was sad, that Auntie was left alone without her family and her husband. Was Auntie alone before Sunako became her charge?
Loneliness. Sunako leaned her head back to the tiled wall. She was all too familiar with it. She was lonely at home without Auntie. She had been alone at school for having strange interests and no interest in socializing with her peers. Alone, all the time. Sunako had become used to it, having only her thoughts as her companion as she went through the day. But Auntie, the social butterfly, was always so happy to be around people. How did she deal with her loneliness after her husband's death? Was trying to meet every man in the entire world and downing cabinets full of antidepressants an answer to her loneliness? And if she knew loneliness, then why did she leave Sunako alone all the time? Did she not understand that Sunako hated it too? Did she not care for her niece's feelings? Did she not empathize with Sunako? Why didn't Auntie spend time with her?
Sunako felt the burning in her eyes and blinked rapidly. "Damn it, I thought I washed the shampoo out of my hair." She stopped rubbing her eyes at the quiver in her voice. Then her vision began to quiver with hot tears. Sunako watched as they dropped into the bath water. "Am I...crying?" She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. Maybe if she pushed hard enough, the tears would go back.
sksksksksksksksksks
"So?" The red-head cocked a brow over a periwinkle eye. "You stalked them,"
"I did not stalk them. I asked my driver to follow his car. That girl," The other red-head gritted her teeth at mentioning the hussy. "just happened to be there with him,"
Ranmaru Mori crossed his legs and folded his hands elegantly on his knee. "And what did that accomplish?"
"I don't know," Noi Kasahara replied crossly. "But he took her on a date and then drove her home. Why? Why would he do that? I bet it was because his mother doesn't approve of our love so she's hooking him up with some girl,"
Ranmaru shook his head, a similar look of distress on his face. "She is unbelievable. First, she sinks her claws into what's mine, then she goes after Takenaga,"
"And they're first cousins! I mean, at least we're," Noi pointed between herself and Ranmaru. "like, third cousins!" Noi cried out. She hugged her pillow angrily and rocked herself back and forth on her bed. "And my poor Takenaga has no choice but to listen to his mom. He's such a good son,"
"That girl will spread her legs for anyone," The boy squeezed the upholstery of the chair he was sitting on. "Literally. She gave me and Takenaga a show, that slut,"
"Wait, why was Takenaga in her hospital room?" Noi raked her laquered nails across the pillow, over the little piggies stitched on the fabric. "Oh, I imagine he was trying to explain the situation to her,"
"Perhaps. But she ran away, and after that she was seen leaving with Takenaga," Ranmaru tossed the surveillance tape onto Noi's bed. It bounced to her toes. "I thought I could intercept her, but she didn't return to her room where I was waiting for her,"
Noi frowned and picked up the tape. She set it down on her lap and looked at her fiance. "What's our next plan of action? She's like Rasputin! No matter how much we try, we can't get rid of her. Blood thinner didn't work, tigers didn't work - what do we do? At this rate, we're probably going to end up getting married!"
Ranmaru grimaced at the thought. "We'll have to work harder, then."
sksksksksksksksksks
"My eyes hurt" was the first thought that popped into Sunako's head as she woke up Monday morning. Upon touching the tender, red skin around her eyes, Sunako went to wash her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and the tip of her nose was fading from red to pink.
She still couldn't believe the crying mess she had become that night. The last time she cried...she couldn't even remember. Maybe on the day she was born? Sunako sluggishly readied herself for school, her heart feeling heavy in her chest.
When Sunako arrived to homeroom, her classmates were in an excited buzz. Her homeroom teacher entered after she sat in her seat. She glanced at the seat besides her and found it empty of Kyohei.
"Class," Mr. Homeroom announced. "We have a transfer student,"
When he walked in, the class let out a collective gasp.
"Takenaga?" Sunako muttered to herself, her elbow slipping on her desk in shock. Why was he in her school? Why had he transferred? Why was he in her homeroom?
Takenaga Oda held himself regally at the front of the class. He said to the class with his polite, condescending way, "Hello, I am Takenaga Oda. I hope we can all get along together and work hard this year."
Much like when Kyohei had been introduced, the girls and the boys reacted predictably to the latest addition to their class. Sunako watched his carefully composed face suspiciously. Just what was her enigmatic cousin up to?
His cool gaze fell on Sunako and he acknowledged with her with a slight lift of the corner of his mouth. Takenaga was assigned to a seat at the front of the class, allowing Sunako to stare at the back of his head in an attempt to read his mind. It didn't work, but she did it anyway.
The door slid open and rattled with the force exerted by one Kyohei Takano.
"You're late," Mr. Homeroom frowned and dusted the chalk off his fingers.
"I know," Kyohei stormed through the rows, pausing to shoot Takenaga a look, and sat noisily besides Sunako.
"Good morning," Sunako said to him quietly.
"Morning," He grumbled back. Kyohei's clothes were disheveled and his breathing was slightly labored.
"Sleep in?" She asked while she wrapped a lock of her hair around her pencil.
Kyohei watched her play with her hair for a little before he answered, "I stayed at the hospital with that old fart," His eyes followed her hair as she let it fall from her pencil. "I hate hospital beds,"
Sunako bit her lip thoughtfully before she asked him another question. "If you don't mind me asking, why was your dad in the hospital?"
He raked his fingers through his spiky blonde bangs. "Got in an accident. He was in a coma for a while," Kyohei picked off numbers on his fingers. "I'd say, eight years or so,"
Eight years again. A chill shot down Sunako's spine and she shivered.
"What kind of accident?"
Bang! "I'm sorry! I'm late!" A flurry of long, auburn hair flew from the door to the front of the classroom. Mr. Homeroom stopped writing on the board and looked at the girl in bewilderment.
The girl smoothed out the front of her navy blue smock, pushed her bangs out her blue-green eyes, and fluffed her hair before giving a brief bow. "Hi, I'm Noi Kasahara! It's nice to meet you all,"
"Ah, Miss Kasahara," Mr. Homeroom composed himself, dusted the chalk off of his fingers once more, and introduced the girl, Noi, to the class. "Yes, we've received another transfer student. Class, this is Noi Kasahara," Mr. Homeroom's frown deepened. "I was going to ask her to introduce herself, but she seems to have done that herself,"
Noi smiled at him sheepishly. She turned to face the class once more and her smile grew. Sunako looked at who she was smiling at, and was surprised to see her cousin on the receiving end of the girl's bright, mega-watt smile.
For his part, Takenaga was momentarily stunned by Noi's appearance, but soon, he was giving her a gentle smile. Somehow, the smile looked unnatural to Sunako. She had trouble scrutinizing his face and his body language from her angle in the back, but she tried her best. Yes, she agreed with herself, that definitely looked like a sugary, generic smile manufactured for girls to trip over their feet and pee themselves over while imagining flowers and sparkles in the background.
"That girl," Kyohei's hand gripped the back of Sunako's chair, his face close to hers as they both watched the exchange between the two new students. Sunako found herself forcing herself to breathe properly. What was it about his my-mom-did-my-laundry/boyish smell that frazzled her so? "That girl was there when that guy gave you that drink. She was with him. I'm pretty sure that was her,"
Sunako regarded Kyohei with a sharp look. "That's suspicious. Very suspicious."
A/N: Wow! Another update within the same month! Madness!
A tad introspective of Sunako and a little more on the mystery that is Auntie.
I'm muy busy right now, but it seems like I'm only ever inspired to write when I have things to do. #avoidance
Since there is a lot of unraveling in this story, when there are huge time gaps between chapters, I think it's harder to read. I even had troube remembering a few things. Also, I've noticed that I've been scrapping the romance a bit in favor of the plot. Sorry 'bout that. This is my first time writing a real, drawn-out, plot-driven story, so bear with me. I still need to practice writing romance, so in the future, I will work harder on making chapters with more romantic interactions between S + K while keeping the story going. Thank you for reading :)