A Recca no Honoo fanfic
By Tenshi no Ai
Does. Not. Own.
Ch. 3: The Ones Left Behind
(Fuuko, Kasumi and Kaoru's POV)
(Fuuko's POV)
So, you haven't seen either of them? I ask. Everybody in Yanagi's World Literature class shakes their head. I sigh and leave, walking to the middle of the campus. Ever since Saturday, the day that Yanagi and Kaoru were over at my house, I haven't seen Yanagi OR Recca. I'm starting to think that they eloped or something! Nobody knows where either of them are. Even though Recca doesn't go to our college, he's here often enough walking Yanagi around that most people should know who he is.
It's weird. Kaoru says that Recca hasn't been home since Saturday night. Kagerou-san says that Recca had left to pick up Yanagi at my house, but I remember that Yanagi left early from my house for theirs. Domon says that he thought he had seen Yanagi go by the flower shop, but he was dealing with a strange customer at the time and didn't think about it. Mi-chan doesn't know a thing about Saturday night, but he was calm and cool about it.
He didn't appreciate the eloping comment though.
But the more I think about it, the more it seems like it could've happened. I mean, maybe the Sakoshita family didn't approve of it or something. They're a rich family, and maybe they didn't want their only daughter marrying the adopted son of a fireworks maker.
But the impression I got from Yanagi was that her parents would be all happy about the whole thing, and Kaoru's tape is filled with how she wants the wedding in a Western style that she's certain her parents would pay for. So, where could she be?
My cell phone beeps. My mom's been worried about me since my disappearances' back in high school, so she bought me this to keep tabs on me. Ah, moshi moshi, I mutter, reaching the quad and sitting at one of the benches.
The voice sounds like Kagerou's. I guess Recca finally decided to show up.
Hai, Kagerou-san. Did Recca come by?
A pause. Fuuko-chan, could you find Mikagami-kun and Domon-kun and come over to the house? Kaoru-kun is already here.
I look at my watch. 1:37. Whatever it is, Kagerou must've been real anxious to pull Kaoru out of school. Aa. Is Recca and Yanagi there?
Could you please just come by? Her voice sounds anxious, and then I hear a click.
That's...odd. Did something happen? Suddenly, I don't feel very well. Did something happen to Recca? Is Yanagi currently at his side at the hospital, trying her best to heal him, even with her weakened powers? Or...did something happen to Yanagi?
All these what if's' are hurting my head!
I head immediately to Mi-chan's apartment. He has morning classes, I remember that, but I don't think he has another class until 3 or so. I bang on the door until he opens it, an annoyed look on his face.
What do you want, Kirisawa? He's glaring at me, and all of a sudden I remember that he has a night job, so he usually sleeps whenever he has the chance.
Kagerou-san just called me and told me to get you and Domon and come over to her house, I explain quickly. He looks at me for a minute longer, then walks out and shuts the door behind him.
Did she say anything else? Mi-chan asks as we head over to the flower shop. I shake my head, too worried about what *could've* happened. We collect Domon without much fuss, then we head over to the Hanabishi house nearby, walking through the alleyway as a shortcut.
I don't know why, but when I walked through there....I got the chills.
Kagerou-san greets us with an expressionless face and hurries us to the family room. Kaoru was already there, a worried look on his face. After we sit down around the table, Kagerou-san takes a deep breath and starts. I'm sorry to be so mysterious about this, but Recca just came by. He wouldn't tell me much, but...he did say that Yanagi was in the hospital.
I slam my hand down on the table. What? Since when?
She looks at me cautiously. I'm guessing since Saturday night.
Kaoru springs up, I should've walked her home! I-
It's not the time to start blaming ourselves, Kagerou-san sternly interrupts, we're all going to go to the hospital together and find out for ourselves what happened. My son was extremely distraught when he came by, and he wouldn't tell me anything about the nature of Yanagi's condition. Judging from that, we have to assume that it is very bad.
Saturday night? But she was with me on Saturday, and then she left to go to Recca's house a couple streets away....between there and here something happened?
And all of a sudden Kaoru's words come back to me.
*I* should've walked her home....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Kasumi's POV)
I feel so listless right now. It's such a nice Monday outside, and instead I'm stuck at the hospital, entering in all the weekend med charts. This is a prefectural hospital. Do you know how many people live in a prefecture? Do you know how many people get injured or sick in a prefecture every day? Too many for me to do and not get driven crazy.
I try to look over the counter at the sliding-glass doors, trying to get a peek of summer, then I give up. I haven't magically grown the 4 or so inches I would need to see over the front desk yet. So, back to work I go...typing in character after character for names...kanji, kanji, kanji...hm, willow'...
Sakoshita Yanagi.
I drop the chart. Their eyes, wanting to know more, more. Hurt me, tell me more. Tell me all the details. The number of bruises, how long do you think she struggled before...that man....broke her arm? Already taken the pregnancy test? Positive? How about STDs? Tell us everything.
That's what I hear her parents say in my dreams.
And I see stormy blue eyes shining with tears.
Sullenly, I pick up the chart from the floor. One of the doctors must've been looking at it recently; it's still on a clipboard. I close my eyes, then put the clipboard down next to the others. It's a special case that the doctors all want to monitor. After all, it's about the daughter of one of the richest families in this whole town, if not the prefecture itself. That's why everyone cares. It's still a miracle that the news reporters haven't swarmed the hospital. Maybe they don't know yet, maybe they just have respect.
I get up from the seat that I've been occupying for the last 3 hours and walk around the counter. I'm determined to get a hit of sunshine, even if it's just looking at it longingly through the glass doors. Life's not fair.
In the distance, I see several people approaching. A...a large man, a woman, another one with long light hair, a boyish looking girl, and a shorter boy. Funny...something about them seems a bit familiar.
Large man. Large man. Focus on him only...why? Reminds me of a huge stone, a-
Ishi.
Ishijima Domon.
*Him*.
I feel the ground shuffling beneath my feet. Or is it the other way around? I *have* to do something. *He* is a friend of that other guy, the guy who thought I was a nurse, the guy who is the boyfriend of Sakoshita Yanagi.
They're going to ask me questions. And I'll be compelled to answer because...*he* is there. I don't want to answer them...but I want to help *him*...just like I used to in high school for all 3 years. Then we went our separate ways
He took my heart with him.
But no, that's old news. He's in love with another girl. That's okay, I guess. I knew that before.
The doors slide open for them, and Ishijima...Domon-kun actually has to duck a bit when they walk inside. They look around the lobby until, by chance, the short boy looks at me. Hey...do you work here? he asks.
I look at him with a blank expression, then sigh. No avoiding this. Hai, I do, I say quietly.
Suddenly everybody following the boy zooms in around me. I let my eyes flit around them, looking anywhere but...
his voice thunders down around me, and I *have* to look up. All these feelings...they well up in me, making me dizzy and alert. I know what he wants, but I can't...
Domon-kun, how are you? It's been a year, hasn't it? A year since we've graduated? A year since I've last seen you? I can't believe it's been so long. Are you in college? I remember you weren't sure of it just before we graduated. Or are you working at the flower shop all the time now? I'll have to stop by sometime and buy some flowers. I haven't had the time, really. I'm only here as an intern, you see, I babbled, hoping to deflect any questions. But Domon-kun has always been able to hold rigidly to the ground and see through all illusions...when he wants to.
He sighs, then crouches down to my level, something I resent from most people but not him. Never him. Kasumi-chan, do you know what happened here Saturday night? To Sakoshita Yanagi? She's a friend, and we really want to know what happened to her.
I look up at the others with him. The boyish-looking girl...yes, I'm certain that's her. Kirisawa Fuuko, the girl that Domon-kun said he was in love with. She's looking around the hospital anxiously. And then there's the girl with the long light blue hair next to her. A really tall girl, actually. I don't know who that is. A woman with shoulder-length black hair dressed in a causal sun dress and a blank look is next to the long-haired girl. And then there's the short boy. I only call him short because he's only a couple inches taller than me. He's shuffling around anxiously.
More people expecting the worst.
Minna-san, I'm only an intern. What makes you think that I would know about a Sakoshita Yanagi? It's against hospital policy to tell anyone of other people's cases, and I must abide by this, even if I hate this job.
Domon looks satisfied, until the long-haired girl speaks. Because you would have to type in all the cases into the computer, the voice is low, deep....masculine? A man?
I can't tell you about that case! I burst out suddenly, surprising everyone and especially myself, it's classified! I may hate this job, but I have to abide by these rules! Onegai, just leave...
Domon-kun puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles comfortingly. Kasumi-chan, she's our friend. We have to know. Her boyfriend won't tell us, so we have to go to the source.
Why does *everyone* want to know about Sakoshita Yanagi's case? Her friends now...everybody just *has* to know. My eyes start tearing up, and I look up at Domon-kun's face. His eyes...so gentle...stop looking at me like that! Just like the time, three years ago, when you said that you were sorry but you were in love with someone else and I already knew but I still had to tell you how I felt...
Almost mechanically I draw myself away from his hold on my shoulder and walk around the counter. The file's still where I left it, and I take it and bring it over to them.
With shaking hands, I slowly hold it up to Domon-kun.
Take this, the offering of my love...
This has everything that you would want to know since Saturday night... I hear myself speak without a quiver in my voice.
It's out of my hands now...
~~~~~~~~~~~
(Kaoru's POV)
Yanagi-chan...
I don't know how I got home, how I'm sitting in my room right now. I guess Kagerou-kaachan brought me here.
Yanagi-chan....
The walls in my room are white. A dull white. It used to be a supply room before Hanabishi-tousan cleaned it up for me. Then me and Recca-niichan painted the walls cause Hanabishi-tousan said he did enough and Kagerou-kaachan's allergic to paint. Recca-niichan took out the first can of paint he could find cause he was being lazy and it just happened to be white.
White. White. Clean white. Pure white. Innocence...
Yanagi-chan.
The word rips out of my throat as I slam my fist against the wall. I stay like that for an endless moment, then I slowly remove my hand from the wall. The thin covering of paint is chipped, and spiderwebs of black starkly show.
The wall isn't white anymore.
I mumble, and it makes me feel worse but I can't not say her name,
Bruised....cracked....not....not....she's not....
My fault!
Hot tears squeeze out of my eyes as I clamp them shut in wretched denial. But I can't deny. I won't deny.
Yanagi-chan....Yanagi-chan....
I should've walked you home! You were going to my house! I should've....why didn't I...
I stand. My eyes painfully open, and the first thing I see is the tape.
The tape I made with Yanagi just before....
My eyes drift toward another precious object. Gold shyly peeking out of a hastily wrapped cloth.
The white wrappings drift to the floor under trembling hands. The tape is on the floor.
The tape.
I was editing it when....
Because of you... I raggedly breathe out. The blade of Kougan Anki's first face is high above me, and I stare at it in distant wonder. Then I'm looking at the tape, that black rectangle on the floor.
Yanagi-chan!
Kougan Anki slips out of my hands, clattering onto the floor. I can't do it. I can't do it.
Yanagi-chan is in there.
I fall to the floor, clutching at the tape and hugging it to my body. The edge of the plastic rubs against my bandana, caressing the jagged scar on my wrist.
Yanagi-chan...
The hard plastic tape is a poor substitute for your warm, soft hugs.
~~~~~~~~~
Ah...another chapter done. Yeah, this focuses on Kasumi-chan a lot, but this was the only way I could write this chapter and really get into developing her character. Next chapter will really get into Yanagi's feelings, as well as Fuuko's and Mikagami's. Writing this story's really getting to me, but I will finish this....most likely it'll be done before the end of October (of course, this is assuming that I post a chapter every week or something....go to my author's page to see why that's too much to hope for). But at the same time, writing this is good for me, kinda like purging my soul or something. Well, what's really making this story easier to write are the kind reviews that I get...
...and when I talk about kind reviews, first and foremost I'd have to thank ReccaGirl for her empathy. I plan to delve as deep as I can into the Hokage's feelings, so I hope this won't be overload on you. And thank you for your prayers, but at this point, shouldn't they be going somewhere else? (I hate to bring up the WTC, Pentagon, and Pennslyvania crash, but it's hard not to. Naturally my prayers go out to the families of the victims....probably none of whom would be reading this angsty-as-hell fic.) To The Blue Sorceress, Kasumi-chan's the coolest! You don't have to thank me for putting her in this fic. And that's all I have to say on the subject. Oh, Showstopper! It's so nice to see you again after that train wreck of a fic called Abekobe no Madougu! (innocently I'm not plugging my own fics....of course not....) I wonder why everyone wants to see how I feel about on the subject of rape. I'm a girl, and I've seen the emotional and physical effects of it on a friend, what *am* I supposed to think? All I'm doing is writing a fic based on that...And to sacharine, this kind of fic is only challenging to write if you don't realize all the aspects of a subject like this. I seem to be forcing people to think about how this *could* happen to anyone, and I'm happy for that. I guess anything could happen nowadays, huh?
See you for 4!
