A/N: Well, new season premiered! I got a bit of inspiration now...well, just a bit. Don't know when next chapter will be ready, but there's a chance it will be finished before the end of April, maybe.
Hope you enjoy, take care and see ya next update!
49 / The Dead Lion's Den
Genji held the guitar close, fingers on strings, playing loose melodies, a lullaby, a ballad, none of them made much sense but he played them anyway.
The apartment was finally clean, everything was in order. Dishes were cleaned, and in their places. Ramen cups were thrown out. Water bottles, all empty, in the trash. Papers, all useless, had accompanied the bottles to the trash. Clothes were in the hamper or hangin in the closet, ready for a new day. His old things, his sound equipment, his electric piano, the pair of small speakers, lay where he had left them that first day. The guitar, he carried, playing music on it, thinking about the past, the present, and everything else.
It had only been a day since Franchouchou had...reunited.
He had decided to give the girls space while they decided what to do. Renoir, himself, was busy with school for a few days. As for Tatsumi, well, Genji could care less.
(the girls will be back on stage, he was almost sure of it)
He played another song, the melody didn't make sense, but he played it nonetheless.
His mom had called him earlier in the day; she had asked him the typical questions about his health (and chastised him for his smoking, again), how Karatsu was, and if he had seen any of his old friends or neighbors ("Oh, you saw Mrs. Hondo? How is the old lass?), and finally, the question he had dread, if he had called his father. Genji had inwardly groaned, and as if he had heard him, his mother went on to ask him why he hadn't called his father. She's not rushing him, but he can't keep ignoring him forever.
"He's not the bad guy, son," his mom had told him, sounding tired all the way in Florida.
Genji knew.
The old man had never been the bad guy; he was just bad at being a father and a husband, he was never home, never around when they needed him.
(the one time he was around, that truck had been faster)
The old man had tried, his mother (and Sakura) had told him, tried to be a good father, worked himself to the bone, to give them everything they could ever need, he loved them, but he was never home. He had "forgotten" to take care of himself, his relationships, and everything in between, but he had never forgotten why he worked himself day in, day out.
Sakura, his mother told him, had stayed with their father to save him from himself. His sister had understood their father better than he ever had, they were the same, the old man and Sakura. Working hard was something they did, ignoring the world around them for just one simple thing, but unlike their father, Sakura never forgot herself. Sure, she worked a little too hard (and failed) but she never forgot about them, never forgot to bring the old man his lunch and dinner, never forgot to call him to remind him to come back home, never forgot to make him breakfast, never forgot to make sure he ate, never, never.
And then, Sakura died, and the old man almost lost himself; he lost his job, he lost his way, wandered around Karatsu like a ghost, drinking, crying, screaming for the daughter that would never come back. He had gotten his head back together, eventually, but their relationship had never improved.
(if only Sakura hadn't left early that day, if only that car, that stupid piece of junk, hadn't had a flat tire, if only the old man had fixed the tire and given his daughter a ride to the post office, if only Sakura had never known about that Mizuno, if only Sakura hadn't wanted to be an idol)
Genji put the guitar aside with a sigh.
Life didn't seem fair.
His parents had managed to move on. What had stopped him?
Sakura had visited a few days before her birthday (her last), a pair of tickets in hand, spending most of her savings in a concert she'll never get to see, thinking, wishing, but her brother had ignored her all day. He was busy. He had homework. He had friends to visit, whatever. After she left, their mother had tried to get him to at least wish her a happy birthday, but he had refused, and mom had sighed, had shook her head, and went on chatting with her daughter on the phone. But there wouldn't be any more visits, anymore birthdays, anymore of anything. Sakura was gone. A truck had run her over, right in front of their house, right in front of the old man, and he couldn't put his daughter back together again.
His mother had cried for days, others she had worried for the wandering old man, who had taken to wandering all over Karatsu, trying to drink his sorrows away, not knowing when he was going to come back.
(he couldn't put her back together again, couldn't put her back together again)
Sakura was dead and gone, and he never got to say goodbye, never got to wish her a last happy birthday, never got to apologize, never, never.
Genji wonders if the others are the same.
Parents that had not been able to say goodbye? Friends that were just thinking about lunch? Was there a fight? Was there silence? Was dead so far away no one saw it coming?
He imagines it all; Mizuno's kid challenging the lightning and losing; Amabuki's old pal, jumping, landing, a fiery victory, challenge won, challenger dead; Go's child, her heart had failed her, failed her when it shouldn't have, failed her when she had her whole life ahead of her; Konno, who can say, as the plane came down, there was screaming, dread, everything, but nothing to be done; for Yugiri, he doesn't assume, but someone had cared enough to remember; and Tae, what could he say? All dead, all gone, many regrets.
Genji let himself fall on the bed, eyes scanning the ceiling, thinking about what his mother had told him, what Sakura had told him.
He need more time to think aboutー
Franchouchou, whatever happened from here on out, was up to the dead, not the living.
(after all no matter how much they wanted, no one could put those girls together again)
Kotaro had already messed up.
It wasn't morning, it was noon.
It was well past a good morning, breakfast all but forgotten, no one had remembered about lunch, but Kotaro Tatsumi was good at pretending that there were no problems whatsoever.
(Sakura had called him stupid, she had looked him straihg in the eye, afraid, lost, incredulous, and told him he was stupid...)
He felt stupid.
Sakura just stared at him, blinking, confused, unsure, even a tad bit worried.
(back then, before Tatsumi, when she had known him as Inui, she had called him stupid a few times, a smile and disbelief on her face; she had never meant it)
If only Sakura could have called him an idiot again, everything would suddenly be fixed.
But it was Lily who recovered first, glaring cutely at him and saying, "It's not morning. It's noon."
He was back in his element.
"Well, duh!" Kotaro said, as he had planned it all along. He hadn't, but it was a start. The man glanced at the window, ignoring the lion, the zombie, and the dog that snoozed nearby, not a care in the world. How he envied the sleeping dead. "I didn't say good morning today, so I say it now, see?" Now Sakura was looking at him as if he were an idiot, an eyebrow raised, lips twisted, not really sure what to make of that remark.
"Do...you need something?" Ai asks, a pretty frown on that bandage face others, eyebrow raised, waiting. Kotaro pretends to think about it, or at least, pretends to be pretending to think about it.
He knows what he wants, he just doesn't know how to say it.
"Where's Saki?" he asks instead, finally noticing that one of them is missing, trying to use her as a distraction. He still doesn't know what to say.
"Genji gave her a ride to Mrs. Amabuki's house a while ago," Ai explained.
Kotaro isn't the least bit bothered. He tries not to be. He wouldn't dare to stop the girls, not now, not ever, from leaving the mansion.
(they're his responsibility, all his, all his mistakes, his foolishness, his wish to fulfill a dream, his wish to fulfill the dream of a dead girl)
Instead, Kotaro pretends to be disappointed.
"I see," he frowned. He was tongue tied, unable to find his words for a few seconds, before inspiration finally hit him. "We need to have a meeting." The girls are silent, staring at him.
"We need to wait for Saki," Sakura finally says, breaking the silence, and the other girls nod in agreement.
"Fine!" Kotaro replies, louder than he expected, waking up the lion, who stares at him with lazy eyes before letting out a loud yawn, and going back to sleep. Everyone's silent for a bit more before Kotaro asks, "So...so...what are you planning to do now? Eh? Eh? What's Franchouchou planning? Vacation? Retirement?"
(he thinks he knows what they'll say...he was expecting it)
The girls are silent again, and Sakura shrugs and says, "Nothing until Saki comes back…"
"That's fair, that's fair," Kotaro remarks, nodding fast, seeing a way out, trying to escape the inevitable. "Wait for Nikaido, got it! Got it! Fine!" He's already beginning to lose his cool, he's losing it a bit.
(he remembers Sakura, the truck, Sakura, the bear, Sakura her death, Franchouchou is already dying, already dead)
"Alright, once you ladies talk it all over, we'll have that meeting, okay? Okay! Bye-bye, see ya!" And he left, disappearing behind a closed door, walking fast, barely hearing the sound of a phone ringing as he walked quickly back to his office.
Before leaving, Aoi had given her daughter a cellphone. For emergencies, Aoi had told her, and to keep in contact if anything changed, the sort. Ai had given Saki her phone number before the ex-biker had left, so she wasn't so surprised when Saki called.
Saki had told Ai that she was coming back in half and hour or so, after finishing with whatever Mrs. Amabuki needed her for. She was probably calling to ask them if they wanted her to bring some lunch. Reiko was giving her a ride, she had said.
Instead, Saki had asked Ai to put them on speaker, and upon hearing a new voice, the girls couldn't help but let out a loud groan, unsure of what was going to happen now that someone else knew.
/….
A few days later, Saki doesn't know if she should clap or hit her head against the wall.
Today was suppose to be a good day, just some introductions, and they were done, Susan would try to examine Romero and Safari and be gone, but instead, what they got was Susan, sticking her freaking head inside the lion's mouth, Sakura panicking on the side, not knowing what to do, as the older woman cheerfully examined the lion and told Sakura what a magnificent stuffed animal she had.
The girls, Saki, Ai, Junko, and Lily, had decided to drop by and visit their family and friends that day, leaving Sakura, Tae, and Yugiri alone back in the mansion. Sakura was feeling better, already but Yugiri (as well as the others) had insisted she take it easy today, too. Saki promised they'll order something when they got back, Reiko was giving them a ride back to the mansion once they had finished with their visits.
Instead, what awaited them when they arrived, was Susan, examining the zombie lion's mouth, then his paws, then his eyes, his ears, mane, and then, head back inside the mouth again, and Sakura crying out, "Please! Stop doing that!" Yugiri and Tae watched in stunned silence, not knowing how to react, only when Reiko, who was standing with an equaling bewildered Maria, blurted out,
"Susan, for the love of…"
"Oh! Hey, Reiko! And Maria, too! Hello!" Susan grinned at Sakura, who was jumping from foot to foot. "He's a pretty one."
"Please," Sakura begs her. "Don't put your head in his mouth again!"
"Susan, what the fuck!?" Saki cried out, sharing Reiko's frustration.
"What?" Susan asked innocently, as Safari shook his large mane, yawned and walked somewhere to the corner. "He's the laziest cat I have ever seen in my life...and I see them often." Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "I got here a little early," the woman explains, and Saki just glares at her.
"Did ya?" Saki turns to Sakura and the others. "Where's Tatsumi?"
"He's gone on an errand," Yugiri explains, giving Susan a mystified look. Sakura just lets out a loud sigh, and before Saki thinks about reprimanding the older woman, Genji and Renoir arrive, walking behind them.
Both young men are silent, before Genji lets out a loud laugh, and asks his sister if he can tell the moron about this.
Sakura just glares at him as Susan laughs, and Saki actually hits her head against the wall in frustration.