Fujitaka
The day Kinomoto Nadeshiko died was the day that Kinomoto Fujitaka's life ended.
It hadn't seemed real. Yes, she had been sick. She had been coughing, and she had been growing tired. But she had also been dealing with her family and they were exhausting to her--they were vehemently opposed to her life now and they made no attempts at hiding it. They never had. Always, she had been able to smile and joke it off when they would suddenly reappear in their lives and try to drive them apart, try to break apart their marriage and take Nadeshiko away from him. He had, aty first, thought that it was only the pressures of two young children and her family being too much for her; he had at first thought that she was only having a harder time than normal shaking a bad cold--given the stresses in her life, it was to be expected that her small body would be at its limits. She had thought it was the same thing, and told him not to worry, she was fine, really.
But then, the cold hadn't gone away. It had lasted far beyond where it should have ended, and seemed only to worsen, and he had finally made his wife go to a doctor, taking her without telling her that was where they were going until they got there.
The doctor's words had been a shock. But nothing to the shock of her being admitted to the hospital, and nothing, absolutely nothing, to the shock of her dying.
She had only been twenty-eight years old. Not old enough to have died. Twenty-eight with two children. Too young. It wasn't supposed to have been like that. She was not supposed to have died so young. It was...unthinkable. And yet, it was the reality. She had died, and when she did, some part of him, some part he hadn't really realized was vital to him and made him connect in a world that had always seemed strange, had died as well, leaving a gaping, black empty space inside of him.
He would not cry. He had promised her. He had promised that he wouldn't cry, and so he wouldn't. He realized, somewhat dissassociatedly that night, after Touya had taken his sister to bed and made him eat, what exactly had died with Nadeshiko. He realized that he had died as well. Yes, he was alive, but he was nothing, now. Just...an unfeeling body, nothing left within it that could feel, aside from that gaping, empty space where Nadeshiko had been. There was only this nothingness, and he could not imagine living a life like this.
He sat quietly in the dark the night his wife died, alone and contemplating.
Her funeral was held not long after. The house they had bought together was full of mourners. Her family had come as well. And they had glared at him throughout the whole thing; glared at him accusatively when he clutched the framed photograph of her to his chest, glared at him even as they offered their barbed condolances. It was quite clear, all of it--they blamed him for his death. She had died to young, and it was because of him. He had taken her away form them twice, once when he married her and a second time when he let her die.
They had been quietly vicious, and had stared at the children oddly, pityingly, that these poor children would have to be raised by him. They stared at Sakura, noticing and commenting on her resemblance to Nadeshiko, and by their silence, commenting as well on Touya's lack of resemblance to either one of them. They treated Touya strangely, almost as if they blamed him as well for Nadeshiko's marriage and death; even though he had been born after they had been married, he had still been born the year they had married, and it seemed as if they blamed him somehow for Nadeshiko's frailness--she had had a difficult time having Touya, and it had seemed that perhaps she had never actually fully recovered.
But Sakura they loved. That was obvious; she looked so much like Nadeshiko that it was impossible for the family that had so loved Nadeshiko to not be instantly be taken by the girl.
And that gave Fujitaka a tiny spark, a tiny bit of hope and light as he contemplated the emptiness that his life had suddenly become. They loved Sakura. They would love Sakura. They--well, they were cold to Touya now, but Touya was a good boy, even though he seemed gruff, they would surely...
Touya suddenly fixed him with an odd look, then went back to accepting bereived condolances, not sparing his father another glance throughout the rest of the proceedings.
When the funeral was over; when the house was finally empty, Fujitaka was surprised to notice his son sitting on the sofa, quietly and stonily staring out at nothing.
"Touya?"
Touya continued to stare straight ahead, his face still fixed. "I don't like them, Dad. Mom's family. They're all...well, they didn't care about mom very much until now, did they? They badgered her so much and could never be happy for her, because she hadn't done what they wanted. She was happy, but they didn't care and tried to make her unhappy. And then Mom got sick." Touya's voice trailed off, his eyes seemed to briefly focus on some empty space, almost uncertainly, before whatever brief wavering of resolve the boy had vanished, and he spoke in a voice that was firm and certain, presaging the man he was to one day become.
"I don't want anything else to do with them, Dad.
And then, Touya fixed him with a hard look, and somehow, Fujitaka *knew*. Somehow, somehow, Touya knew--Touya knew what he had been thinking, knew what he was planning. And was saying no.
"And I never want to see them again. I never want to see any of them ever again." His son's cold eyes stared at him, flinty and certain, his meaning clearer than the words he had spoken, and strength in within them that Fujitaka knew suddenly he could never match.
"All right, Touya." Fujitaka said, his voice oddly normal-sounding as something within him crumbled. "If you really want to never see them again, you don't have to."
And part of him wanted to laugh, laugh hysterically and desperately, until tears ran down his face, but he didn't.
Because he had promised Nadeshiko. He had promised he wouldn't cry, and he had promised he would look after their children and make sure they were happy.
Because now he couldn't die.
Annex: Touya