A/N: Hey people! So, I've been so busy with classes at my new Japanese university and all I can say is that I'm dead beat. Classes are from 9:00 AM to 6:45 in the evening. By the time I finish my last class, it's already dark out. Dreading what it's going to be like once winter comes...
Anyway, I apologize for not posting another fanfic. I've just been so busy, tired, frustrated, anxious, etc...! Actually, I have four reports that are due in two weeks, so I hope you'll enjoy this fanfic. By the way, it's also a request from one of my readers, who wishes to remain anonymous. Also, it will be a three-chapter fanfic. Happy reading!
Chapter 1:
In a white-washed room that smelled heavily of antiseptics, Kanami mechanically placed a bouquet of flowers in a vase, before turning to the bed next to her. She bit her lip, as she stared with regret at the bed's unconscious occupant.
"I'm back, Hiyori-chan," the Minoseki Toji whispered.
She drew up a chair next to Hiyori, before taking the girl's sickly-pale hand in her own. Kanami recalled the many times she held the Heijou Toji's hand like this. However, unlike those moments of warmth and tenderness, this time...Hiyori's grip was limp and cold.
With tear-filled eyes, Kanami took in the immobile form of her friend with a loving gaze. After a while, the small feeling of desire in her eventually won over, allowing her fingers to hesitantly caress Hiyori's face—something she'd probably never have been allowed to do if the Heijou Toji were awake. With a feather-like touch, Kanami let herself properly appreciate every part of the girl she secretly loved. Hiyori's delicate porcelain skin, the long locks of her beautiful ebony hair, those soft lips the Minoseki Toji dreamt every night of kissing... In sleep, the Heijou Toji looked just as captivating. However, the features Kanami loved most were Hiyori's eyes—those enchanting burgundy orbs. But now...those beautiful eyes were closed. Locked in a state of unconsciousness for who knew how much longer. With a dagger-like pain in her heart, Kanami, at last, let her tears fall.
This was all her fault.
Three Months Ago...
The aradama she and Hiyori had been sent to contain was harder to beat than they'd expected. Initially, only a handful of younger Tojis were ordered by Director Maniwa to take it down. As an aradama of standard-appearance, nobody imagined that the odds of repressing it were low. However, it wasn't long till the mission ended unsuccessfully with many injuries. Of course, when Director Maniwa asked Kanami and Hiyori to finish the job, the Minoseki Toji didn't hesitate to accept it right away. But after at least half an hour of fighting, Kanami was beginning to regret letting her pride turn down Director Maniwa's suggestion for back-up.
Feeling beads of sweat rolling down her aching body, Kanami released the weary gasp she had stuck in her throat. Her hands, which were sore and clammy, struggled to prevent Chidori from slipping out of her grasp. Trying to ignore how her muscles were aching in protest, the Minoseki Toji glared at the beast in front of her as it raised its head, letting out a blood-chilling roar.
Despite the threatening size of the aradama, what concerned the Minoseki Toji the most was the safety of her partner. Shooting a quick glance at Hiyori, Kanami witnessed Hiyori yell in pain as the aradama ripped its claws through her, cutting off her utsushi.
"Hiyori-chan!" Kanami yelled.
"Don't worry about me! Focus!" Hiyori replied back, as she activated her utsushi again with difficulty.
Hurt at seeing her friend in agony, Kanami nodded, turning her attention back to the aradama monster. Hiyori was right; they needed to end this fast. After seeing Hiyori take so many strikes, Kanami knew her friend eventually wouldn't be able to keep up at all.
"Together!" the Minoseki Toji said, before charging at the menacing beast.
In a split second, both Chidori and Kogarasumaru raked against the aradama's huge side, making the monster roar in rage and pain. With its fangs bared and dripping with noro saliva, the aradama turned towards Kanami, raising its huge wings with the intent of crushing her.
"Kanami! Look out!" Hiyori shouted.
The Minoseki Toji's light-brown eyes widened to see the shadow of those terrifying gigantic wings over her. It was too late; she wouldn't be able to dodge in time! It couldn't end here! She couldn't leave Hiyori alone! In desperation, Kanami raised Chidori in the hopes of deflecting the brunt of the hit, even though she knew it was hopeless. However, at the moment she expected to get mangled, Kanami found herself pushed to the side, before toppling a few feet away.
'What? What happened?' she dazedly thought, trying to clear the spots from her eyes.
Then, her heart dropped when her line of vision landed where she just was. Laying sprawled on the ground was Hiyori, unconscious.
"Hiyori-chan!" Kanami cried.
Her cry of despair received no answer, as the crumpled form of Hiyori remained unresponsive. Kanami's thoughts went into overdrive, once she saw the small pool of blood forming underneath the Heijou Toji's head. Sensations of trauma, guilt, and sorrow ripped through her mind—until only one emotion remained.
Rage.
Her vision red, Kanami let out a yell of vengeance raising Chidori once more. Before the aradama could sink its teeth into the Heijou Toji to deal the finishing blow, Kanami already jumped in between them. Her adrenaline fueled by anger, the Minoseki Toji swung her okatana wildly, her only determination being to destroy the monster that dared to hurt her friend.
For Hiyori...she was going to end this now!
Present Day
The memories from three months ago still continued to constantly plague Kanami. Even when she wasn't awake, they'd haunt the Minoseki Toji in her sleep. Continually replaying the moment Hiyori took the hit meant for her.
"If all goes well, she should wake within five weeks," Kanami remembered a doctor telling her.
However, five weeks had passed—weeks then turned to months, and still, the Heijou Toji hadn't come out of her coma. Despite the medical staff's reassurances and the consoling words of her friends, Kanami could never forgive herself. She was supposed to have taken that strike to the skull. She was supposed to be in that hospital bed. She was supposed to be trapped in that dark dormant world. Hiyori didn't deserve any of this!
Letting her sorrow torture her heart and mind, Kanami remained sitting in her chair beside the girl she loved, never letting go of the Heijou Toji's hand. Every time she'd visit, she couldn't bear having to leave, her sole wish being to watch over Hiyori, besides her awakening. The brown-haired girl felt as if she left the room for just a second, Hiyori would be snatched away from her forever.
Kanami's attention was so drawn to Hiyori that she, at first, almost didn't hear the soft voice at the door.
"Etou-san?"
With red eyes, the Minoseki Toji turned to see a female nurse, standing at the entrance of the room. The nurse, sensing Kanami's grief, seemed almost reluctant to say what she had to inform the young girl.
"Visiting hours are nearly over, Etou-san," she said.
How much time had passed? Taking a quick glance at the window and seeing how dark it was, the Minoseki Toji realized that she must've sat stock-still for at least a few hours. Kanami didn't even acknowledge the nurse when she left, only turning her attention back to the sleeping ebony-haired girl. When they were on the run, she had made a promise to Hiyori. To protect both her and shoulder at least half of her burden. And once again, she had broken that promise.
"I'm terrible, aren't I?" Kanami sadly laughed, through her tears. "I couldn't save you and let everything fall onto your shoulders again. I'm terrible, I tell you!"
She gulped, before continuing, this time with a determined glint shining in her eyes, "I swear, Hiyori-chan, as long as I live, I'll always be thinking of you, whether here in this room or not. You'll never be alone because my heart will forever remain with you—I promise."
Then, slowly, as if to seal to her vow, the Minoseki Toji softly pressed her lips against Hiyori's cold ones. In the children's books Kanami used to adore when she was younger, the sleeping princesses would always awaken from true love's kiss. However, a perfect fairy story was far from what Kanami's life was like. She knew it was foolish to believe a naïve, childish notion would awaken Hiyori.
Casting one final look at the sleeping beauty before she left, Kanami whispered, "Goodbye, Hiyori-chan."
A/N: Once again, I apologize for not writing earlier. There will be two more chapters to this fanfic, which I will post in November and December. See you then!