Chapter 2

Yamato trudged through the snow, headed towards Mei's house. He couldn't get his mind off of her. He tried everything he could think of as to why she'd be upset, but nothing made sense to him. It worried him a bit. He was Mei's boyfriend, and as such, he was supposed to know everything about her. But the fact that he couldn't fit this one puzzle piece in place worried him.

Arriving at the apartment complex, he walked up to Mei's door and rang the doorbell.

"Who is it?" came the reply over the intercom after a few long moments.

"It's Yamato," he replied. "I came to check on Mei."

After a few seconds, the door unlocked and opened. "She's actually sleeping right now," Mrs. Tachibana said, "But please come in."

"Thank you," he said as he shut the door behind him and took off his shoes. He noticed that her eyes were a bit red but he elected to not say anything about it. He didn't want to seem disrespectful at all. Instead he went straight to his main purpose for being there. "How is she?" he asked as he followed her into the main living area of the apartment.

"She's all right, just taking things hard. She never really did get over losing him."

The statement caught Yamato off guard. "Excuse me," he said, "Him?"

Mrs. Tachibana stared at Yamato for a moment before a thought of clarity hit her. "That's right. We never told you about what happened, did we?"

"No ma'am, I'm afraid you didn't."

"Well, have a seat at the table and I'll make some tea."

She walked into the kitchen and started to make the tea, all the while not saying a word. Usually, Mrs. Tachibana would talk Yamato's ear off every time he came over. But this time was completely different, and Yamato could definitely feel it.

After filling a teacup for Yamato and one for herself, Mrs. Tachibana sat down at the table. "Three years ago, my husband, Mei's father, passed away from cancer."

Yamato froze. He had known that Mei's mother was single, but he never knew what had happened to her father. Probably because he felt it wasn't his right to know and never bothered to ask "I'm so sorry," he said, trying his hardest to sound genuine.

"It's okay," She said reassuringly before continuing. "We didn't even know about it until about two weeks before he actually passed away. Today in fact. The tumor was in his brain, and it was so big that the doctors said there wasn't anything they could do and told us to start preparing funeral arrangements. The worst part is that he died on Christmas day, Mei's 14th birthday."

This completely shocked Yamato, and made him feel deeply sorry for her. He had known what losing a family member was like, but losing an uncle or grandparent was something completely different from loosing a parent, especially at a young age. And losing them on your birthday had to be one of the most horrible things anyone could have to deal with. "I take it Mei and her father were rather close," Yamato commented.

"Yes, they were. I remember when she came home from the school the day she was accused of killing the rabbit. She was an absolute mess and was afraid that her father would be mad at her, thinking that he'd believe what the teacher had said. She tried to hide herself in the closet to avoid seeing him at all, but he found her nonetheless.

"But rather than lecture her, he picked her up and gave her a big hug. He then brought her over to the couch and sat her down, asking her to explain what happened. I don't know how, but my husband just knew that Mei wasn't the one who killed the rabbit. If I had been the one questioning what happened, I probably would have believed the teacher instead. But I'm happy he got to the phone first.

"My husband was always slightly less traditional than other people. He was definitely less traditional than his father, but he was a good man. And he loved both me and Mei very dearly."

Yamato reflected on all this, just starting to put all the pieces together. "Was…" he started to say, stumbling with his words on this part. "Was Mei there when he passed away?"

"Yes, she was," her mother said solemnly. "Although I should mention that she was there very reluctantly. I practically had to drag her to see him those last few days. She definitely didn't want to be there. I guess she didn't want to admit that she wasn't going to have a father any more.

"He got her a special gift that Christmas. He got her Marshmallow." At the sound of his name, the fluffy white cat popped up over the back of the couch and climbed up onto Yamato's lap. Yamato smiled as the cat nuzzled its face into his palm before stretching and then curling up in his lap. Yamato smiled and so did Mrs. Tachibana. "That's why she's so close to him. She was super excited to get him, and it definitely took away a bit of the sorrow for her, which was probably his intention.

"But he day he died was particularly difficult. We knew he was going to go within a 24 hour period, but we didn't know when. He was in complete pain when we got there. The nurses gave him as much pain medication as they safely could, but it didn't really do much. Still, he pushed through it and tried to put on a strong face for Mei. But the moment he passed she became an emotional wreck. She ran out of the room crying. I tried to chase her but she moved too quickly. The doctor's said they'd page a security guard to get her and keep an eye on her so that I could take care of the paperwork."

Mrs. Tachibana wiped a tear from her cheek. "Afterwards, I went downstairs to try and find her, but the security guards said they weren't able to locate her. I started to panic a bit, looking frantically across the hospital waiting room for her. It was then that I spotted her outside, sitting with a boy about her age who happened to be wearing a cast on his left arm. I walked up to them and saw that they both had cups of hot cocoa in their hands. I assumed that the boy had bought it for her."

At the mention of the boy, Yamato's eyes popped open a little bit. Knowing that Mei was still anti-social at that point in her life, it surprised him that she would actually be talking to someone else, especially on that day.

"She was still crying a bit," Mrs. Tachibana continued, "but not as much as she was when she ran away. I wanted so badly to scold her for running away but, in the end, I decided to let it be. She had gone through enough that day and me scolding her in a public place wasn't going to help matters any. The young boy pointed out that he'd seen her run out of the hospital crying and decided to check on her. He explained that after helping her calm down that he bought the hot cocoa to help her out and keep her warm in the cold. I thanked him for it and we walked back inside."

Yamato smiled and was about to comment on the little boy when they heard some stirring coming from behind them. They both turned to see Mei walking out of her room. She was wearing a matching blue tank top and gym shorts. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen from crying and her hair was matted to her face on one side. Looking up she saw the two of them sitting at the table. She'd been woken up by the sound of talking but wasn't sure who was there. But now, seeing who it was caused her to blush slightly.

"Y-Yamato?" she said, partially groggily, partially confused. Yamato stood up and started walking towards her. Mei instinctively turned her head away and clutched her left forearm with her right hand, something she usually did when she was nervous or embarrassed. She didn't want Yamato to see her like this and her face turned a little redder.

But Yamato pushed that all aside. "Oh Mei," he said softly as he walked up to her. He pulled her into a hug and just held her there. She responded by returning the hug, clutching him a little tighter than he was. She nuzzled her face in his chest and softly cried.