Avena dropped to her knees beside Rowen. "Rowen! Talk to me!"
Not a word.
She searched for a pulse. Nothing. She put her ear to his chest and listened with every bit of attention she could manage. Nothing. "Oh, GOD!!!" she screamed.
A man came out of the shop they were in front of. She looked at him. "Go call help!" The man didn't know what she said. "Doesn't anyone in this country know English?!" she shrieked. Then Avena pointed at Rowen. She patted his chest and drew her finger across her throat in a slicing motion. She pointed at the man and formed her hand to her ear like a phone. Then she mimicked the wailing sound of a siren. The man's eyes widened in comprehension and he ran into the shop.
Avena began pressing down on Rowen's chest, then letting it rise. She'd never actually learned CPR, but she knew enough. After a few compressions, she held his nose and put her lips over his, forcing air into him. Then she pumped his chest again. She soon became lost in the repeating pattern. At some point, she hardly noticed, there was a strange flash of blue in her eyes as she leaned over him.
Dimly, she was aware of a loud noise approaching. She ignored it. Then there were voices all around her. Someone said to "get her out of the way" in broken English. But someone else, speaking easily in that language, said not to because "she's the only thing keeping him breathing" and the person who'd been trying to pull her away stopped.
For a moment, Rowen started to breathe on his own, but it was only the smallest fluttering intakes and they didn't continue. So Avena continued to breathe for him. More sirens came. A clatter of metal on concrete began. Skilled hands were working around her but after a couple attempts they gave up trying to move her, instead taking over the chest compressions so she could concentrate on breathing regularly. Someone was encouraging her and reminding her to breathe for herself too.
Then Rowen was being lifted and someone guided Avena, who was still providing his breath, up a pair of steps. They were moving but standing still. She was starting to get a little light-headed. Suddenly, she was ripped away from Rowen and held still.
Once she'd caught her breath again and focused her eyes, Avena realized she was inside an ambulance. The man holding her released her. Another medic had taken over the CPR and she could hear the siren howling. The medic who'd been holding her was asking her something. "I don't know what you're saying," she said exasperatedly. "Umm…hablas ingles?" she asked. When the man just looked confused, she thought about what she'd said. "What? Didn't I say it right?"
The medic gave up and made her stay out of the way, which wasn't easy in the cramped space of the ambulance. Avena silently watched the men work on Rowen.
Abruptly, the ambulance jerked to a stop. The doors were slammed open and Avena quickly jumped out and away. The stretcher was taken from the vehicle. She could see that Rowen was breathing—barely—by himself, though a mask was over his nose and mouth. She followed the medics as they rushed him into the hospital.
Someone grabbed her elbow. She shook loose and stayed alongside the stretcher. Doctors were rapidly exchanging information with the medics as they moved into a cubicle. The someone grabbed her arm again. "Let me alone!" she cried and tried to jerk free.
"Avena Jameson?" She halted at the sound of her name, but kept her eyes on the boy she'd hopefully saved. The person continued, "Are you Avena Jameson?"
"Yes."
"Do you know that young man?"
"Yes."
"What is his name?"
"Touma. Touma Hashiba. But his friends call him Rowen."
The person called to the doctors and spoke in Japanese. The doctors asked more questions, rushing about without stopping to look at the British girl or her translator. The man asked, "Does he have any allergies?"
"Not that I know of."
"Who are his parents?"
"…"
"Okay. Where are his parents?"
Avena turned and looked at the man. He wore the uniform of a Japanese police officer. She replied bluntly, "Dead and currently unavailable."
The officer narrowed his eyes at her. "Alright. Is there anyone we can reach?"
"If you'll tell me what they're going to do with Rowen and continue to act as translator, and, of course, show me how to work the phone, I'll call anyone who needs to know."
"Fine. For now, go sit in that chair."
Avena glanced back at Rowen. The hospital personnel were now wheeling him towards a door. The officer talked hurriedly to a nurse. Avena looked at the chair he'd pointed her to and dropped into it. She stared at her shoes.
A minute or so later, the officer came back. "Miss Jameson? They had to take him into surgery."
"Call me Avena and why surgery?"
The officer sat down beside her. "They think that somehow, one of his bones or something has torn a hole in a lung."
"Oh dear…"
"Miss—"
"Avena."
"Avena, I'm Randy Carter. I'm a friend of Mia's."
"Mia's?"
"Yeah. She asked me to be on the lookout for you."
"Oh."
"She also wanted me to take you into custody."
"What?!"
"But right now, I don't think that has top priority. I'm going to have to ask you some questions before you start making phone calls."
"I'll tell you what I'm allowed to."
Randy raised an eyebrow. "Okay. First of all…"
* * * * * * * * *
"Hello?"
"Hi, Cye."
"Avena! Where are you?"
"Can I talk to Mia?"
"But—"
"Cye! I want to talk to Mia. Now!"
"Okay…I guess." Cye covered the phone and called, "Mia! Phone!"
Mia tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm right here; no need to shout."
"Oh." Cye handed her the phone and sat on the couch.
Mia put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Mia, why'd you set the cops on me?"
"Uh…"
"Never mind," Avena said. Mia couldn't think of the last time the girl had sounded so solemn. "There's been an accident…"
* * * * * * * * *
"Why can't we go?!"
"Because the roads are frozen! There have been at least five major car accidents in the last fifteen minutes alone and one Ronin in the hospital is more than enough. We're just going to have to wait."
Ryo looked like he'd explode.
Sage picked up a third magazine. "You know, Ryo, you get any madder and you could melt the roads."
"Shut up!"
Sage met Ryo's eyes, his face set grimly, and said slowly, "Calm down."
Ryo bit his lip, clenched his fists, and calmed himself a little.
"Could we walk?" Cye asked, immediately seeing the stupidity in his own question.
"No," Mia sighed. "We'd be bluer than Rowen's hair by the time we got there."
"Did we call Kento?" Ryo inquired.
"Yes. And you've already asked that twice."
"Oh… Could he get there from his place?"
"No. It's even worse over there. They barely missed the ice storm driving home."
Cye kept glancing at the phone. "We can try to call Avena back."
"How? She didn't leave a number," Ryo stated flatly.
Mia grinned. "I have Caller ID, baka. How long have you been living here now?"
Ryo scowled. "Aw, shut up!"
Cye had dialed the number in. A man answered with, "What?" in an annoyed tone.
"Um, is Avena there?" Cye asked sheepishly.
"Yeah. Who's this?"
"Her cousin."
"Oh, then you're the one to blame. Look, this girl has to be the most aggravating person I've ever known! What were you thinking, letting a girl like this loose?"
"Sir, I believe you should blame my friend Kento for that."
"Yeah, sure. Hold on."
The next voice Cye heard was Avena's. "Cye?"
"Hey, there. How are things going?"
"A nurse said that Rowen's still alive. The surgery's going to be going for some time yet, though."
"Well, could you call us every fifteen minutes or so and give us an update?"
"If Randy'll let me."
"Randy?"
"The grumpy guy whose phone I'm using… Cye, he's got me in handcuffs," she whined.
"Why?"
"Because I kept wandering off. He cuffed me to the chair. He's not too nice. Ow!"
"What?"
"He hit me. He says I'm not too nice either." She started laughing. She sounded a bit hysterical.
"Avena, are you okay?"
"I don't know. I feel a bit odd. And my cheek hurts. They gave me stitches for it. And my head hurts, too."
"Maybe you should take a nap."
"Don't start that again!"
"Avena, how'd you cut your cheek?"
"Uh, gotta go!" She hung up.
Cye hung up the phone and sat down. "Something is going on besides what she's told us."
"No, duh!" chorused the others.
* * * * * * * * *
Avena awoke with a start. Someone had tapped her arm. She looked at the vaguely familiar person. "Who are you?" she asked.
"Randy, remember?"
Avena blinked. "…noooo," she said slowly.
Randy looked at her. "That's not funny."
Avena looked confused. "What do you mean? I don't remember you."
Randy thought of something. "What's the date?"
"I don't keep track of that sort of thing usually."
"Okay. What's your full name?"
"Avena May Jameson. Why are you asking me weird questions?"
"When is your birthday?"
"…uh…" She looked blank. "I, um, I can't remember."
"Come on. Let's find a nurse. I think you've got a concussion."
Avena let him drag her along by the hand. "A cussing what?"
* * * * * * * * *
"Excuse me, sir."
"Yes?"
"You Mr. Carter?"
"Yes."
"I tell you tell Jameson-san—"
"It's Avena!" the girl interrupted.
"Avena-san," the nurse corrected herself."
"Not Avena-san! Just Avena!" Avena exclaimed exasperated.
"I sorry. I not know American custom well. Only say some words."
"That's fine," Randy said. Then he asked in Japanese what it was the nurse was going to say.
When the nurse was finished, he turned to Avena. "She said that Rowen is out of surgery. He's breathing with the help of a machine and they really need to know who his parents are. Or can you remember?"
"It was only a mild concussion! I can still remember most things!"
"Well?"
Avena picked at her thumbnail. "His mother is dead. His father is…"
"His father is what?"
"I'm not supposed to tell."
"Tell anyway."
"…passed out drunk in their apartment."
"Wait a second… Is that how all this happened?"
"Umm…"
"How did you cut your cheek, kid?"
"A shard of glass from a broken lamp base," she lied, thinking of the shattered furnishing on the floor of the apartment.
"How did the lamp get broken?"
Avena decided to shut her mouth. It was still sore from the cut anyway and giving Rowen mouth to mouth had made it worse and all this talking certainly wasn't helping. Besides, the doctor who'd given her the stitches had said it was probably wise not to talk too much for a while. 'Excuses, excuses…'
"Avena," Randy said in his tough-cop voice, "you will tell me how the lamp got broken, you will tell me whether or not Mr. Hashiba had anything to do with Rowen being here, and you will tell me now!"
Avena tried to convince herself that she didn't care about her promise to Rowen. She'd broken dozens of promises to Cye before, and to her brothers. Yes, but that was Cye and Harmon and Kenneth and this is…Rowen… As she began talking, tears fell from her eyes. And it wasn't because of her cheek.
* * * * * * * * *
"Are you sure you're okay?" Ryo asked again.
"Yes," the voice on the other end sobbed, belying the statement. "Can I talk to Cye, now?"
"Sure. Here he is." Ryo handed Cye the phone and walked to the kitchen. He could hear the Ronin of Trust reassuring his cousin in a soothing voice as he left.
In the kitchen, Mia and Sage were simply sitting at the table. Ryo joined them and sighed. "Well, Rowen is out of surgery."
"How is he?" Mia asked.
"They've got him on a machine to help him breathe. He isn't awake. What more is there to know?"
"What about Avena? Has she seen him yet?" Sage asked.
"No. Doctors won't let her. But she's upset about something… She was crying."
"…crying?" Mia asked, stunned.
Ryo nodded.
The three sat there in silence. Avena…crying. It was difficult to comprehend. What could have made Avena cry?
Just then Cye walked in. He was brushing tears from his eyes. "Guys…"
Ryo bolted to his feet. "What is it? Is it Rowen?" he asked anxiously.
"No," Cye said quietly, composing himself, and now his voice sounded a little angry. "It's about his father…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR:
See, I haven't killed him yet, so there's no need to come after me with deadly intent, okay? Sorry 'bout keeping you waiting so long. I got a bit busy with "A Fiery Rain" for a while, and stuff in real life. Yes, this chap.s shorter than the others, but the next couple are going to be a tad on the long side, I'm afraid. However, it should only take a couple to close up the story.
Yeah, anyway…review, please?
