Chapter 8



They stopped in front of a room. Trowa wasn't allowed in, because the nurse, Julie, and the doctor, Doctor Jones, had to clean the body. Trowa stood outside the door and Julie came out with two towels. She led him over to a small bench. They sat down and Trowa started drying his hair with the smaller towel, while he wrapped the bigger one around himself. Julie got up again and came back with two mugs of coffee. She handed on to Trowa. Trowa took it and smiled. "So..." she said. "Trowa." he said, "Mine name's Trowa." She sat back down. "So, Trowa-- That's a nice name-- Where exactly did you find Sasami?" She sipped her own coffee. Trowa looked into the mug and explained the whole thing. "That's terrible." Julie said, "And you don't know who did it?" Trowa shook his head sadly. Julie collected the two mugs and carried them back inside.

Trowa got up, leaving the towels on the bench, and walked to a pay phone nearby. He dialed a number and Kiyone answered. He smiled to himself and told her to bring Quatre, and come with an extra pair of clothes. Hence forth, Quatre called Duo, Wufei, Katherine, and Heero. He gave them the address and then hung up the phone, blocking out Kiyone's question of him being at a hospital. He walked back over to the bench and sat down. He looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, smiling of the remembrance of his best moments with Sasami and the others. One specific scene danced in his mind:

Himself, Sasami, Quatre, Katherine, Duo, and Hilde were at the park, in front of a fountain. Hilde had a camera. They were taking group pictures. They were still trying to figure out to set up themselves. (They are still 17.) They'd finally decided on a setup: Trowa and Katherine in the back; Katherine with her hand on Trowa's shoulder. Quatre next to Duo, those two second in line; Duo making funny faces while still bunny ears behind Quatre's head. And Sasami kneeling down in the front, holding her hands up in a peace sign.

Hilde fixed the settings on the camera, then aimed it at the group. She moved back until she had all of them in view. She pulled away from the view hole. She looked at the group and smiled. She leaned back down and made some adjustments to her settings. The adjustments were for the camera to take two timed pictures after she took the first one, each with ten minutes between them. She looked back through the hole and laughed, "Say cheese! And don't forget to smile!" "Cheese!" they said, except for Duo, whose response was, "Pepperoni!" Just as she was about to click the shutter, someone shouted, "Look out!" Click.

Hilde had an instant develop camera, so when the picture came out clearly, she started laughing. On the picture she held in her hand, a frisbee had been tossed, and Duo leapt up to catch it, knocking Trowa and Katherine into the fountain, and Quatre, who had lost his balance, came soon after. Sasami was the only one still in her right position, the only thing different was her facial features. She had started laughing. Duo flung the frisbee back and walked over to Hilde, along with Sasami. She showed them the picture, and the three of them laughed. It had captured the perfect way of how Trowa and Katherine fell in, with the water splashing up around them. The way Quatre was halfway over the small fountain wall. And how Duo was coming back down with the frisbee.

"Hilde!" Sasami exclaimed, "Do you think you can make copies?" Hilde smiled, "Sure. How much do you want?" Sasami counted off on her fingers then smiled. "Six!" Hilde smiled. "But..." Sasami added, "The original is mine?" Hilde was shocked. "You want the original?" "Please." Sasami pleaded. "Fine," Hilde sighed in defeat. "If you two are done," Duo interrupted, "Let's go help the others out of the fountain." "We forgot!" they giggled in unison. The three of them , Sasami holding her picture in a protective, water proof, bullet proof, Jurain case, walked over to the fountain, where the others still were, getting drenched by the water coming from a stone pot, held by a stone mermaid.

The three of them held out their hands to help them up. Katherine, Trowa, and Quatre looked at each other and smiled. The others never caught the smile. The water group reached up and grabbed the dry group's hands. But instead of pushing themselves up, so the others wouldn't have a hard time, they pulled their arms back, pulling Duo, Hilde, and Sasami into the fountain with them. Right in between them toppling over and landing on the others, the camera clicked for its second picture.

The dry, now wet, group sat there in silence, while the others laughed on, for several minutes. The first to say something was Sasami. "I get the original!" Everyone looked at her, then jumped her, dunking her in the fountain. The camera then took its last picture. She brought her head up from under the water, to where her mouth was just above the top, so she could say what she had to, "Can I get that one, too?" They all sighed. "You're hopeless." Hilde commented. She popped out of the water. "Thanks! I'll remember these moments... forever!"

The word "forever" echoed through Trowa's head. He reached up and wiped away tears that were rolling down his cheeks. "Why-- why am I crying?" he asked himself. He shook away that thought that had lodged itself in between his mind. He looked down at his hands and clothes. His hands were clean now, but the sleeves of his shirt were covered in blood. So was the middle section. He rested his head in his hands and sighed. About fifteen minutes later, Kiyone and the others came around the corner. Kiyone ran up to him. "Trowa!" She stopped when she saw his appearance.

"Trowa..." she barely got his name out of her mouth. He stood up and wiped his eyes clean of any stray tears. Kiyone gasped even louder. He held out his hand and she just handed him the bag with his clothes. "Trowa. What happened?" she finally asked. Trowa was silent as he turned around. Wufei grabbed his arm as he started to walk off. "You can't hide the truth." he calmly stated, "Your wife asked you a question. Answer it." Trowa snatched his arm back and glared at Wufei. His expression slowly softened as he remembered Sasami in the room. "The blood..." he started, "the blood belongs to... Sasami." A deadly silence fell over the group.

Katherine put her hand over her mouth and gave a small gasp. Heero was the one to break the silence. He yelled, "Tell me where she is!" Trowa slowly pointed to the room to his left. "Now can I go change?" he asked. Heero looked at the door and nodded. Trowa walked off, heading for the nearest rest room, leaving the others behind. Heero moved forward. "I'm going in there." Duo stopped him. "You can't!" He pointed to a sign over the door. It was a light. A light with the words: "Emergency" that was white, and shone because of the red background, which was the light.


Chapter 9



"Let go!" Heero snapped, snatching his shirt back, since that's what Duo had grabbed. "What's your problem!?" Duo snapped back equally. Heero sighed and held his head. "I'm-- I'm just worried. Okay?" Duo calmed down. "Oh." "I'm worried about Sasami," he continued, "and the what will happen to the kids." Duo put his hand on Heero's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Everything's gonna be okay. I promise." Heero nodded and let Duo lead him over to the bench. Katherine was the only one not speaking. Kiyone was wailing to Quatre and Wufei. 'Trowa,' she thought to herself, 'You kept your promise. After all these years.' Katherine smiled, as Trowa came back out, holding the bag, with dirty clothes in it now, in his hand. He walked over and sat down to the far side of the bench, dropping the bag on the ground.

Katherine walked over and kneeled in front of him, moving her mouth to his ears. She whispered what she had just thought to herself in his ear. Trowa looked at Katherine and sighed, "No. I haven't." Katherine frowned. "What do you mean?" "I was supposed to be there for her. If I was, all of us wouldn't have to be here right now." Katherine held Trowa's hand. "Don't say that. You did the best you could." Trowa took his hand away and held Katherine's face in both of them. He brought it forward, so their noses were tip to tip. "Kathy, stop worrying You're only going to make things harder on yourself, or for that matter, maybe even all of us." Katherine smiled. "Trowa..." she whispered. Trowa pulled back and kissed her on the tip of her nose. "Thank you, Kathy."

He let go of her face and moved backwards. Katherine stood slowly and walked back to the others. They sat there a few more minutes, no one saying anything to the other, until the light went off. Heero was the first to notice, and the first to stand in front of the door. Trowa got up and stood next to him. The door slid open and Julie walked out. She looked up and over the new sea of faces until she spotted Trowa. She smiled and motioned for him to follow her. Trowa stepped off to the side, as Julie moved away with him. She started walking then stopped a little past the bench. She turned and faced Trowa. "Trowa," she half whispered, "Sasami's breathing has regulated better than when you brought her." He sighed with relief. "But," Julie continued. "But?" he asked, cutting her off. "What do you mean by but?"

Julie sighed, "She's in really bad shape. I'm surprised she made it this far. Some of those wounds were pretty deep. Her pelvic region was even worse. They did the real damage down there. Right now she's struggling to stay out of a coma." Trowa's face held an empty look that made Julie frown. "You brought her here in time. If a minute later, she probably would've died." Trowa cringed at the word. "I'm sorry, Trowa." She gave his hand a little squeeze. "C'mon." she said, "Let's tell your friends they can go see her. The two of them turned and walked back to the others, who were waiting, not so patiently, by the door. Julie nodded before any of them could've asked the question. She ushered them in and the door slid close, but not before Julie said, "I hope she'll be well enough to see you, for your sakes."

The group walked into the room and stood to the side. All of them had already been in a hospital, one way or the other, so they knew what to expect. But they never expected for someone, someone that they met, and someone who stole their hearts and kept it in a special jar, close to hers, they never expected someone like that to end up in a hospital, looking beyond brutality. Katherine stayed further back, with Wufei and Trowa, leaving Duo, Heero, Quatre, and Kiyone go past. Quatre looked down at Sasami in the hospital bed. "She looked so peaceful." he whispered. The oxygen mask had been removed, but the IV tubes were still in her arm, and a new tube under her nose.

"Quatre...?" The question came in a hoarse whisper, from Sasami. Everyone gasped. "Quatre," she continued, "Where's... Heero?" "He's right here." Quatre moved to the side and let Heero pass. Heero moved forward and held Sasami's hand. He felt her tighten her grip. "Sasami," he whispered, leaning closer to her ear, "Who did this? Who was it?" Sasami's grip loosened on his hand. Julie moved forward and took Sasami's pulse. She bite her lip slightly. "She's just unconscious for now." she stated. Quatre pulled up and chair and guided Heero over to it. Heero thanked Quatre and sat down, moving the chair closer to Sasami's bed, and holding her hand.

Duo walked up to the IV bag and poked at it. Nurse Julie came over and removed his hand. "Please, sir. Don't do that." Duo grinned. "Sorry." Julie nodded. Duo watched her as she walked away. Quatre came up behind him and smacked him upside his head. "Don't even think it. You're married." Duo patted Quatre on his back. "I was just watching, not touching." Quatre scoffed and ushered him over to his seat. Sasami inhaled deeply all of a sudden. She gripped Heero's hand once again. Her eyes twitched and fluttered open. She turned and looked at him. "Hi," she whispered, smiling. Heero smiled. "Cat got your tongue?" They both gave a small laugh. He leaned over and gave her a small kiss. "I've been so worried."

Sasami inhaled again, but held on to her consciousness. "You... don't have to be." she said. She touched him on his cheek. "I've told you already. Don't worry, you're with me, and you'll stay with me, forever, until we die. We'll still be together, in mind and soul." Heero leaned into her touch as she slowly rubbed his cheek. "Keep that promise for me." she whispered. She stopped and moved her hand back down to her side. She looked straight ahead and closed her eyes. "Sasami," Heero said, fear audible in his voice, "What do you mean by "promise you"?" Sasami smiled. "Sasami! This isn't funny!"