Hello lovelies! How ya doing? I missed you!
Anyways, there's a few things to take care of before the story begins. The first being a response to a guest user who reviewed this asking for information on my disappearance.
So, dear guest reader, since you left me no way to answer your review, I'm doing it here.
I'm sorry the updates are so far apart, I have no intentions of letting this story, or any of my others die, all for their own reasons. This one, minus Perfect, is easily one of my favorites. However, as mentioned in the last chapter of Chalk Outline, I am a new mommy. My daughter will be 5 months on March 9. So it went from being her up every few hours for food, and me being so tired that I just slept with her, to her starting to move and get into things. The only time I have to do anything is when she naps from 10am to about 1pm. And I have to do EVERYTHING I need to get done during the day in that space as I have no help with her. I'm sorry. I swear, I'm updating just as fast as I can. Mostly I've been writing on paper, and transferring it onto my PC, which I'm currently sharing with three school-aged children. I'm doing my best!
The second thing, is orginally in this chapter I had "Uncle" grab Takeru and break his wrist. Then I wrote it out. Then I added it back in, only instead of him being physically hurt by "Uncle" the result is below.
Read&Review if you feel like, but definitely enjoy!
Takeru
When Uncle screams Yama's name, I jerk awake. I listen to Yama run. I race to the door and hear a thud. I get the door open as Yama gets back on his feet, and heads down the stairs. I hear him slip and stumble. Uncle is right behind him. I run down the hallway and stop at the top of the stairs. I get there at the same time Yama reaches the basement door. I watch Uncle reach out and push him. I hear the sound of Yamato hitting the hard starts, and my body shakes. Uncle starts down towards Yama. And then, I'm running down the stairs. I slip and fall. I tumble down the last steps, and pain shoots up my arm. I ignore it, and get back onto my feet. I can hear sirens. I call for Yamato, and tell him that he did it, but I don't know if he can hear me. I reach the basement door the same time Uncle reaches Yama. I can hear car doors slamming outside and lots of voices. Uncle is standing over my Yama, and I can see Yama's blood. I scream at the same time the door is kicked open. I jump, and notice Uncle's surprised look, too. Strong arms suddenly yank me off the floor. The person moves me away from Yama, and I struggle and scream and fight.
"It's okay, Takeru. It's me! It's Kai." I recognize the voice, I know, and my body relaxes, even though my brain is still telling me to fight. Yama's dying! It screams.
"You can't leave Yama! He's gonna die! There's so much blood." I plead with Kai.
"Shh, Takeru. Yamato's going to be okay. There's already another officer with him."
"He got pushed! There was blood." I insist.
"It's okay, Takeru." I start to cry.
Kai
Takeru bursts into tears as I carry him outside. My mind is under assault of memories from the last time I carried this boy away from this house. This time, though, Yamato will not be leaving in handcuffs. This time, it could be a body bag. I shove the thought away as we reach my truck. Yamato wouldn't leave Takeru, and I have to hope that's enough for him to fight through this. Besides, I didn't actually see Yamato. My thoughts were just to get Takeru away. I scan over him once. He looks fine, minus a yellow bruise on his cheek.
"Are you hurt?" I ask. Takeru looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Ya-" He starts.
"Yamato is being dealt with. Are you hurt?" I repeat.
"I-" Takeru starts, then pauses. A hand goes to his cheek. "I fell on my wrist. It hurt for a minute, but.." He tries to move the hand to show me, but screams. His eyes go wide.
"Okay, okay. Don't move it." I say. "I'm gonna call the Yagami's to meet us at the hospital, and then we're going to go." I tell him. Takeru nods, tears still streaming down his face, but the sobs have mostly stopped. His eyes stay glued to the door. I buckle him into his seat belt and close the door. As I'm going around the front of my truck, I hear someone call for "immediate medical attention for an unresponsive teen". I try not to panic. Unresponsive does not mean dead. I reach the drivers door, and pull it open, and search for my phone as I climb in. I buckle myself one handed while search for the number I need with the other. I can only hope Takeru's adrenaline doesn't wear off before we reach the hospital. I start the truck as the number goes through. It rings twice. Taichi answers.
"Yaga-"
"Taichi," I cut him off. "I have the boys. Get your parents to meet me at the hospital." I hang up, and put my truck into reverse, and pull out of the driveway. Then we're speeding off. We pass the ambulance.
"Is that for Yama?" Takeru asks.
"Yes." I say.
"They'll make sure he lives, right?"
"Yes." I lie. I don't know if he'll be okay.
Taichi
"MOM!" I scream as soon as Kai hangs up on me.
"What!?" My mom sounds panicked as she comes rushing into the room.
"Kai wants us to meet him at the hospital right now! He found them!" My mom stares at me with wide eyes.
"What?" She asks.
"They found Takeru and Yamato! Hospital! Now!" I say, and then we're moving. My mom loads Kari and I into the car, and calls my dad to inform him of this, then we're speeding down the road. The car is very silent. Kai never mentioned what state either of them were in, but I'm sure he would've told me if they were dead. At least I hope so.
When we get to emergency, I can see Kai's truck, but there's no sign of Kai anywhere. My mother asks a nurse about them, saying Takeru was in her care, and the nurse could only shrug and apologize. My mom calls Kai about thirty times before Kai and Takeru appear out of a door. Takeru launches himself across the room and into my arms. It surprises me.
"Oof!" I say as his body connects with mine. He's shaking and hides his face against my shoulder. My mother is assaulting Kai with questions beside me.
"Are you okay?" I whisper to Takeru whose clinging to my shirt like if he lets me go I'll disappear. Or he will. He shakes his head.
"Yama," He whines.
"Okay, but what about you? Are you hurt?" Takeru looks up at me with big swollen eyes. There's a mostly faded bruise on his cheek. "Who did that?" I demand.
Takeru touches his cheek and I notice the cast. "Yama." He says.
"Yamato hit you?" I ask, suddenly angry. Takeru shakes his head.
"It was an accident. I tried to wake him up and I scared him. And I fell down the stairs and hurt my wrist." He says, waving the blue cast to show me.
"Ah." I say. Takeru hides his face against me again.
"Where's Yamato, momma?" Kari asks from my side. Takeru stiffens. Before my mom can answer, the room is suddenly filled with rushing nurses and doctors. A stretcher is wheeled in, as the doctors call numbers back and forth. I notice the red dots that trail the floor behind it. They vanish into a set of doors, and as the doors swing closed, I notice a flash of golden blonde. Takeru, apparently saw it to, because he bursts into noisy sobs.
Yamato
I surface from the blank nothing briefly. I see sky, then bright lights. The pain tries to drag me back down, but I focus on anything I can to take my mind off of it. I don't want to go back down. I see a flash of yellow I'd know anywhere, and focus on my brother's too wide, tear filled eyes. The pain there nearly kills me. Then he's gone by the off-white nothing. The blankness takes back over.