The Mikagami Tokiya Story
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Prologue
Part One - Gifts.
Snow descended through the darkness of night, tiny wings of white descending from heaven. Miyuki smiled contentedly as she lay back on her hospital bed. The maternity ward was quiet now, the silence only broken by the voice of her daughter, Mifuyu. "Wings of angels from heaven," she mused silently as she watched the falling snow. Her silver-blue hair fell over her shoulders, framing her slender features. Drawing her eyes from the window, she gazed at the bundle in the arms of her daughter. A wave of happiness washed over her. "Dear Angels," she whispered in her heart. "Bless my children - my sweet Mifuyu and my newborn son."
Mifuyu glanced at her mother and flashed a smile. "He's really cute!" she grinned, hugging the infant tighter.
Miyuki laughed fondly. "Not so hard, you'll break him." she smiled, taking the baby from the ten year old girl.
"You haven't told me his name yet," Mifuyu said as she gently rubbed her brother's head, enjoying the feel of his silken infant hair. His eyes were shut in a peaceful slumber. "What do babies dream of?" she asked suddenly, being inquisitive for her age.
"I don't know," replied Miyuki. "His name, by the way, is Tokiya." Her voice was thick with happiness and pride as she said his name, her eyes full of maternal love for the child. Her family was complete, and she couldn't be happier.
"Mikagami Tokiya..." Mifuyu said, testing the sound of his name. "It's sounds funny," she grinned again.
They both gazed at him, sharing the peace he seemed to exude as he slept. A contented silence filled the room. A knock on the door shattered the serene ambience. A nurse entered. "Mrs. Mikagami?" she asked Miyuki. She glanced at Mifuyu, her presence surprising the nurse. "I need to speak with you privately."
"Sure," Miyuki replied softly, a frown of curiosity crossed her brow. Handing the baby to Mifuyu, she threw the blanket aside and followed the nurse.
The bright, white halls of the maternity ward were crowded with people and nurses - new families, growing ones, the entire ward was filled with smiles. The joy of new life filled the ward. In one corner, Miyuki exchanged disturbing words with the nurse. "That's not true!" she cried desperately, not believing the news. She grasped the arms of the nurse. "Where is he? Show me!" Her voice rising in a desperate crescendo. Nodding sadly, the nurse led her away from the ward down a quieter, emptier and more solemn hallway. The Intensive Care Units lined the hall, the drawn faces of the critically ill set the place in a deathly somber silence. A silence that was accentuated by the loud sounds of their shoes against the tiles of the hall. Miyuki did not notice any of the sadly sick faces that appeared through the glass panels of the ward doors, her mind was fixed on one face only - that of her husband, Mikagami Fuyuma. He had been seriously injured in a street melee on his way to the hospital earlier. "Why?" she screamed in her mind. "Why? Why today? Why him?"
Her face set in compassion and pity, the nurse stopped by one of the wards along the hallway and opened it for Miyuki. Desperately calling her husband's name, Miyuki rushed in. She stopped dead in her tracks, her hand clutched to her heaving chest. On the bed, wired to so many machines, lay a very heavily bandaged man. Though his face was bruised, swollen and cut, he smiled a greeting. "What happened?" she screamed, the shock finally overcome. "You were fighting again, weren't you?" she snapped accusingly as she reached his side. "You said you wouldn't! You promised you'd never fight again! And today of all days! Fuyuma, you idiot!" The words tumbled forth, a floodgate of emotions ravaged her being.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can stay here anymore." he suddenly said, his voice was labored and barely audible.
Her words ceased as she stared at him saucer-eyed. "What?" she squeaked.
"They've found me again, and they want the Ensui. They might use you to get to it. I don't want anything to happen to you or to Mifuyu... or to my son. I can't tell you where I'm going... and I may not come back." Miyuki's lip quivered as the words sunk in. Finally overwhelmed, she collapsed to her knees beside his bed and began to weep. "I'm sorry, Miyuki," he rasped as he leant forward and took her sobbing form into his arms. "I've ruined everything for us..." His voice was sincere and filled with regret. So many feelings raged through her mind, but Miyuki was at a loss for words. Hot tears burning in her eyes, she held him tighter as her shoulders shook with her cries. Fuyuma had the fighting prowess of a demon, yet he was a gentle man. However hard he tried, his heritage of the Ensui and the danger it brought with it always caught up with him. And now it faced him squarely and his beloved family was in jeopardy. She understood why he was intending to leave them, but the tears kept falling. She loved and respected him deeply. She had wanted so much for him to watch the son he had longed for take his first steps, utter his first word... she had wanted him to see Mifuyu graduate from college, to meet her future husband - she had wanted so much for him to be happy. And all that she had hoped for now shattered against reality.
"I love you..." she whispered between sobs as she clutched his hospital night shirt. "You have to see them," she exclaimed with fervor. "You must! These are my gifts to you-" she broke off and sped out of the room and down the hall. Moments later, she entered the room once again with Tokiya in her arms and Mifuyu in tow.
"Dad?!" Mifuyu exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's me." grinned Fuyuma. "I had a nasty fall."
"You're such a klutz!" snapped Mifuyu, being too young to realize the gravity of the situation. Then, remembering what the occasion, she excitedly began telling him about her new brother. Gingerly, Miyuki placed the infant in his arms as Mifuyu began to tell him how silky Tokiya's hair was and his warm and soft he felt. As Miyuki watched them, sadness, regret along with an all-encompassing joy filled her as tears flowed forth once again. "This is the last time," she thought. "The last opportunity we will have to be together like this." With that in mind, she sat down on the bed next to her husband as he complimented and thanked her again and again for the gifts he will cherish forever.
Part Two - Beautiful Happiness
Tokiya ran across the living room as his diapers rustled with each step. Laughing enthusiastically, Mifuyu scooped the four year old boy into her arms and ran her fingers through his fringe, which had retained its silken texture. She bounced the giggling boy in her arms. "Kaggak so much." he said innocently in his youthful voice.
Mifuyu laughed wholeheartedly at his words as she lay him down on the sofa. The moment she turned to get a new diaper, he was off running again. "Oi!" she exclaimed playfully as she chased the boy. Finally catching him, she picked him up again and dropped gently on his stomach onto the sofa. Pursing her lips together, she began to tickle his sides as he laughed his high-pitched squeal and kicked about wildly. Getting up again, she turned to reach for a diaper. Then she spun around and smilingly glared at the giggling Tokiya as he dropped his head back down, caught in the act of running away. They repeated this game a few times before he actually managed to take off again. The front door opened just as they ran past. Miyuki smiled as she greeted her daughter, who had once again caught Tokiya.
"How was your day, mom?" Mifuyu asked as she held him in her arms. She passed the boy to her mother. "Hold that for me will you?" she smiled. As her mother put her handbag down on the nearby dining table, he began to tug at her hair.
"Tokiya, don't pull mommy's hair," she scolded gently.
Mifuyu had spread a cloth diaper over the sofa to protect the upholstery. Taking the boy from her mother again, she said, "He's on a permanent sugar-high. You had too many cakes during your pregnancy with him, mom." Miyuki laughed. "Dinner's ready so go have a bath, mom."
"'Go have a bath'?" Miyuki raised an eyebrow. "That's my line. I wonder who's the mother in this family."
"You are." Mifuyu replied as she finished changing her brother's diaper. The minute his feet touched the floor, he ran off again to his mother. She lifted him up and kissed him on the cheek.
After Tokiya was born, they had moved from Tokyo to Hokkaido where Miyuki had gotten a job as an accountant for Cocom Foundation, a promising new company. She had changed a lot. She was harder, tougher in her attitude towards life and it showed in her eyes. She was also more somber, accentuated by her hair bundled neatly in a French plait, frameless spectacles and an executive suit. Mifuyu had become more outspoken and was showing potential to grow into a fine young woman. She was growing into a woman, her long brown hair tied in a pony tail. But it was Tokiya who had changed the most. He had grown a great deal from the tiny infant into a chubby toddler. His speech was quite advanced for a child of that age, being able to form sentences and questions with surprising fluency. His motor skills were also extraordinary, which was not always good since many of the things he threw at Mifuyu in childish anger often his her square in the face. Other than those outbursts, life was peaceful for them, and Miyuki wanted it no other way. Any sort of combat was strictly taboo as far as she was concerned, knowing full well the emotional and physical anguish it could cause. Fuyuma thought her that. He had left them the night Tokiya was born, just as he had said. Miyuki told her daughter that her father was on a research trip and, Fuyuma being an archeologist and historian, Mifuyu believed her mother instantly.
It was Friday that day. Once dinner was over, Miyuki proceeded to give her son a bath as he screamed and wailed in protest. "Oh, for crying out loud!" she snapped in irritation as he squirmed in his baby tub. "Considering your bloodline, you'd at least expect him to enjoy the water but nooo-" Still, she managed to finish his bath and toweled him down. Out of the water again, he was back to his carefree cheerful mood as his mother combed his damp hair. She sighed half-envious of her son's hair. "I'm so jealous." she grinned, smoothing down his hair with her flat palm. With a pat on the bottom from his mother, Tokiya walked off to the living room. Miyuki tittered as she watched her son, his pampers making him resemble Donald Duck. Following him, she entered the living room and saw Mifuyu lying on the carpet, her homework spread out before her. Tokiya was amusing himself disturbing his sister by patting the pages she was reading, distracting her.
"Oi!" Mifuyu snapped at her brother, moving her books away. Miyuki picked the boy up and put him in his little corner of toys. Surrounded by his building blocks, toy trucks and plush toys, he finally settled down. Glancing back as she left, Miyuki took in the scene, a serene smile playing on her slender lips.
Miyuki stood beneath the shower, the warm water washing over her naked
form. Her waist-long hair clung to her neck, back and breasts, water running
from then in rivulets over her soft skin. In the mist that shrouded the
shower, the orange down-light hid her eyes in the shadow of her brow. Her
thoughts raced as she reached up to pull her hair back. "It has been four
years," she thought silently, she pulled her up and off her shoulders,
letting it drop neatly onto her back. Suddenly, her psychological and physical
strength failing her as hidden emotions surfaced, she dropped to the floor on
her haunches. Her salty tears mingling with the water that ran down her face.
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Author's Note: FoR does not belong to me, blah blah blah - usual disclaimers.
So any characters that don't appear in the comic are mine (ie: Miyuki/Fuyuma/Nurse
[the nurse? Big deal...]) Comments/criticism/whatever please! :} This is
my first time writing so do me a favour and review my fic pls! Tanx ^.^
Kriss ^.~