Life's Sometimes Funny that Way
A/n: I've decided I'm going to leave the disclaimer out from now on, like I'll put it in the first chapter so it's for the whole story, ok, good. Right then, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, excluding the nasty comment made by someone who hasn't even written a fanfic himself * grumbles *. Oh well tough, if ya don't like it, then don't read, that's all I'm gonna say. Also thanks to Jessantu16 for the encouraging email, and by the way I fixed the last chapter whoever said it was hard to read, no problem. Well let's get on with the fic. *so sorry for the late update by the way, now here's the fic.
*~*~*~*~*
She settled back down into the white sheets and covers, pulling them over her head, an attempt at blocking out the annoying light spilling uninvitedly through the window over the bed. After a moment, the faintest sound of people talking amongst themselves could be heard from down the hall. Grumbling, Ruki threw her pillow over her head in attempt to drown out all the little noises coming from the halls, doors, windows and people. It seemed like it was getting louder, and every single little sound rang into Ruki's ears, every little thing. It was almost like her senses had heightened or something like that. She wanted to scream, it was overwhelming.
So she stood up from the bed, stumbled over to the door, and slammed it shut. It left quite a few surrounding patients and doctors, nervous and annoyed. As the day droned on ever so boringly, Ruki lay in bed, constantly waking up from the disturbing dreams haunting her in sleep. Finally Ruki had had enough, she flipped off the covers on her bed, grabbed the crutches at the side wall and stumbled out into the halls looking for something to do. First she looked for a bathroom, finally spotting one she hobbled into the small confined room and shut the door behind her. She pulled out a small comb lying in one of the small cupboards above the toilet and detangled her mid-back length auburn hair. She sighed putting the brush down and hobbled out of the bathroom looking for something else to do, maybe she could help.
After an hour of just milling around the hospital, she came across the sick children's area and felt a pang pierce her heart. She couldn't stand to be in the wretched hospital for more than a day and some of these kids had been here for months! She looked through the windows where the new borns were cared for and touched it, wanting to hold one of the adorable infants. As if on cue, one of the babies woke up and began wailing for its bottle, a moment later one of the nurses ran in, picked up the child and rocked her gently. The nurse looked up for a moment and noticed Ruki gazing at the tender scene, the older, heavy woman smiled and went over to open the door for the young woman.
Ruki wasn't sure what to say, and thought for a moment, "Can I hold her?"
The nurse nodded, "Sure, do you have any children here?"
Ruki blushed and responded quickly, "Oh no, I'm just here because of my leg. I got shot."
"Oh dear! Does it hurt right now? Have you been given any pain killers?"
"No it's fine right now, I'm just bored," she responded assuringly.
The nurse nodded and slowly lifted the small baby into Ruki's arms, showing her how to hold the child properly. Ruki gazed into the little girl's big, curious blue eyes, wondering who the stranger holding her was. Slowly she sat in the chair the nurse brought over to her, and held the fair, blue- eyed little girl, smiling slightly. One day, she thought, she wanted to have a baby of her own.
"What's her name?" Ruki asked suddenly.
"Oh it's Madison," the nurse replied looking over her sheets on her clip board.
Ruki nodded, cooing at the little bundle of joy.
She glanced up at the clock, it was already five thirty!
"Oh jeez! It's dinner, no wonder I'm starved," Ruki realized.
"Alright dear, here let me take Madison and you can go back and grab something from the cafeteria if you like," the nurse said with a smile.
Ruki thanked the woman, and bid her and Madison good-bye, as she hobbled off. At long last, she found her room and wandered back in. Digging through her wallet, Ruki pulled out a five dollar bill and went searching for the cafeteria. She could have rang her nurse but she wanted to go for a walk. Reaching the cafeteria, she handed the bill to the server and picked out a salad and a bottle of water for dinner. After about fifteen minutes she polished off her salad and water bottle and headed back to the children's area. A new born was just being brought in, and she looked unusually familiar for some reason.
Ruki went to investigate, she tapped on the glass, not noticing the young man down the hall rushing to a pay phone. The door opened and the nurse with smile on her face greeted her.
"Hello dear, finished already?" the nurse from earlier asked amused.
"Yeah, I just had a salad and bottle of water," Ruki responded.
The nurse nodded.
"Who's that new baby?" Ruki pointed at the new born being put into an empty, clean incubator.
"Oh she was just born a little while ago, the mother is resting," she answered, "Why do you ask?"
"Oh no reason, she looks kind of familiar though, what's her last name?"
"It's Matsuki I believe."
Ruki's eyes widened, and questioned cautiously, "What's her mother's name?"
The nurse glanced at one of the forms attached to the clip board, and answered, "Matsuki Juri."
Ruki thought she was going to have a heart attack right then and there. She couldn't believe it!
The nurse gave her a thoughtful look and questioned, "Do you know that name or something? Do you want me to take you to her when she wakes up?"
Ruki still baffled from the news, shook her head, "Uh, no, well not right now. Could you give me the room number, maybe I could visit later or something?"
The nurse gave her a suspicious look, Ruki noted this a replied calmly, "I know Juri from school that's all, she had a crush on a boy named Matsuki Takato and I had no idea they'd actually get married."
She nodded, wrote down the room number, and tore off the little piece of paper. Ruki took the sheet and thanked her.
"I think I'm going to get back to my room for now and visit my friend later, I'm kind of tired at the moment," Ruki decided after a yawn.
"Sure, well Madison will miss you but I'll tell her you'll be back. You'll be back won't you?" The nurse asked hopefully. "Oh yeah, for sure, no problem," Ruki answered happily.
She hobbled away in contemplative thought, wondering whether or not she should go and see her old friends. One part of her wanted to go and see the people she'd known for so long, the part who missed her friends dearly and wanted to forget the past. The other part of her didn't want to go back to face her past, that not going to them wouldn't cause trouble and arise questions that she couldn't answer quite yet.
As she hobbled past the payphones she dropped the little piece of paper the woman had given to her. With some difficulty she leaned down to pick it up, and another hand grabbed it.
Ruki looked up in annoyance at the intruder, and snapped at him, "Hey! Give that back, I don't need your help!"
He turned around to study the rude girl, and his eyes widened, as did hers.
"Takato?" she whispered in amazment.
"Ruki?" he questioned at the same time.
Takato's face brightened in joy at the finding of one of his longest friends, she never liked him that much but they were all still Tamers and knew one another for the longest time.
"Wow! I can't believe you're here, Juri's here and she'll be so happy! Not that I'm not, it's great to see you! What happened to you? Why did you run away? Why are you here now?" Takato blurted out all at once.
Ruki still trying to comprehend the fact that Takato and Juri were married, was becoming quite overwhelmed with the questions and felt her anger rise.
Takato noted this and said quickly, "Of course you don't have to tell me everything right now or anything, um would you like to come to Juri's room. Oh and great news! Juri just had her baby!"
A small smile fell onto her features, and she responded, "Yeah I know, and I also know that it's your daughter too."
Takato blushed and bit his lip, "I'm sorry we didn't invite you to our wedding, when you ran away we'd tried to track you down but no luck. Juri was pretty upset about it, she wanted you to be her Maid of Honour."
At that Ruki's face fell, and she felt terrible, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there, there were just some things I had to sort out alone, and there still are actually. I wished I could have been there for Juri.but after my mother and grandmother's funeral."
She couldn't continue, tears tried to make their way to her eyes but she blinked them away bitterly.
Takato put a supportive hand on her shoulder, speaking softly, "I know, I understand, and I'm sorry."
Ruki swallowed back the sadness creeping up on her again and brushed away the few tears she couldn't hold back. "It's alright, now let's go see Juri."
Takato nodded, handing the paper back to Ruki and leading the way down the hall.
Ruki hobbled down the hall on her crutches, her arms beginning to ache from the lack of muscle in her thin arms, and she sped up her pace wanting to go sit down when she got there.
Takato stopped at the door to his right and pushed it open, "Hey," he said gently. "How are you feeling?" Takato asked tentively, knowing she might be having one of the recent mood swings she'd been having during her pregnancy.
Juri turned her head to the fair brown haired young man she was married to, and smiled as she whispered exhaustedly, "I'll live."
Takato bent down and kissed her for a moment, and sat back up beside her.
"I have some great news," he said excitedly.
"Really? What is it?" Juri asked with a grin at his boyishness.
"I've found someone we've been looking for for four years," he said happily, and just then Makino Ruki hobbled into the room on crutches.
Juri's eyes widdened and jumped up excitedly, "Ruki!! You're here! You're back! We've found you!"
Takato held up the excited Juri as she struggled into a sittin position holding her arms out. Ruki smiled and hopped over to her dear friend, known originally as Katou Juri, now Matsuki Juri.
They hugged and laughed, "Oh I missed you so much Ruki."
"I've missed you too Juri, I'm happy to see you after all these years," Ruki responded joyfully.
*~*~*~*~*
A/n: Well there's the third chapter finally! Heh, sorry about the wait, it was writers' block fault. Anyways I was just typing this as I went, I wasn't at all sure of where this story was heading in the first place so please understand. One thing before I leave, thanks again for all the comments so far, please R&R! Ja for now!^_^ Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I just found this chapter sitting in my file and checked on ff.net and realized I haven't posted this yet! I think I've gone insane, man I'm really sorry I didn't post this sooner considering I've had this chapter finished so long I can't even remember when I finished it! Soooooooo sorryy! And I doubly appologize for all those who've liked this so far, I think it's kinda getting less serious as it goes on, 'cause I'm presently working on the fourth chapter, anyways please keep reading, I'm sorry again! -_-;; I'm such a baka! Keisan
A/n: I've decided I'm going to leave the disclaimer out from now on, like I'll put it in the first chapter so it's for the whole story, ok, good. Right then, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, excluding the nasty comment made by someone who hasn't even written a fanfic himself * grumbles *. Oh well tough, if ya don't like it, then don't read, that's all I'm gonna say. Also thanks to Jessantu16 for the encouraging email, and by the way I fixed the last chapter whoever said it was hard to read, no problem. Well let's get on with the fic. *so sorry for the late update by the way, now here's the fic.
*~*~*~*~*
She settled back down into the white sheets and covers, pulling them over her head, an attempt at blocking out the annoying light spilling uninvitedly through the window over the bed. After a moment, the faintest sound of people talking amongst themselves could be heard from down the hall. Grumbling, Ruki threw her pillow over her head in attempt to drown out all the little noises coming from the halls, doors, windows and people. It seemed like it was getting louder, and every single little sound rang into Ruki's ears, every little thing. It was almost like her senses had heightened or something like that. She wanted to scream, it was overwhelming.
So she stood up from the bed, stumbled over to the door, and slammed it shut. It left quite a few surrounding patients and doctors, nervous and annoyed. As the day droned on ever so boringly, Ruki lay in bed, constantly waking up from the disturbing dreams haunting her in sleep. Finally Ruki had had enough, she flipped off the covers on her bed, grabbed the crutches at the side wall and stumbled out into the halls looking for something to do. First she looked for a bathroom, finally spotting one she hobbled into the small confined room and shut the door behind her. She pulled out a small comb lying in one of the small cupboards above the toilet and detangled her mid-back length auburn hair. She sighed putting the brush down and hobbled out of the bathroom looking for something else to do, maybe she could help.
After an hour of just milling around the hospital, she came across the sick children's area and felt a pang pierce her heart. She couldn't stand to be in the wretched hospital for more than a day and some of these kids had been here for months! She looked through the windows where the new borns were cared for and touched it, wanting to hold one of the adorable infants. As if on cue, one of the babies woke up and began wailing for its bottle, a moment later one of the nurses ran in, picked up the child and rocked her gently. The nurse looked up for a moment and noticed Ruki gazing at the tender scene, the older, heavy woman smiled and went over to open the door for the young woman.
Ruki wasn't sure what to say, and thought for a moment, "Can I hold her?"
The nurse nodded, "Sure, do you have any children here?"
Ruki blushed and responded quickly, "Oh no, I'm just here because of my leg. I got shot."
"Oh dear! Does it hurt right now? Have you been given any pain killers?"
"No it's fine right now, I'm just bored," she responded assuringly.
The nurse nodded and slowly lifted the small baby into Ruki's arms, showing her how to hold the child properly. Ruki gazed into the little girl's big, curious blue eyes, wondering who the stranger holding her was. Slowly she sat in the chair the nurse brought over to her, and held the fair, blue- eyed little girl, smiling slightly. One day, she thought, she wanted to have a baby of her own.
"What's her name?" Ruki asked suddenly.
"Oh it's Madison," the nurse replied looking over her sheets on her clip board.
Ruki nodded, cooing at the little bundle of joy.
She glanced up at the clock, it was already five thirty!
"Oh jeez! It's dinner, no wonder I'm starved," Ruki realized.
"Alright dear, here let me take Madison and you can go back and grab something from the cafeteria if you like," the nurse said with a smile.
Ruki thanked the woman, and bid her and Madison good-bye, as she hobbled off. At long last, she found her room and wandered back in. Digging through her wallet, Ruki pulled out a five dollar bill and went searching for the cafeteria. She could have rang her nurse but she wanted to go for a walk. Reaching the cafeteria, she handed the bill to the server and picked out a salad and a bottle of water for dinner. After about fifteen minutes she polished off her salad and water bottle and headed back to the children's area. A new born was just being brought in, and she looked unusually familiar for some reason.
Ruki went to investigate, she tapped on the glass, not noticing the young man down the hall rushing to a pay phone. The door opened and the nurse with smile on her face greeted her.
"Hello dear, finished already?" the nurse from earlier asked amused.
"Yeah, I just had a salad and bottle of water," Ruki responded.
The nurse nodded.
"Who's that new baby?" Ruki pointed at the new born being put into an empty, clean incubator.
"Oh she was just born a little while ago, the mother is resting," she answered, "Why do you ask?"
"Oh no reason, she looks kind of familiar though, what's her last name?"
"It's Matsuki I believe."
Ruki's eyes widened, and questioned cautiously, "What's her mother's name?"
The nurse glanced at one of the forms attached to the clip board, and answered, "Matsuki Juri."
Ruki thought she was going to have a heart attack right then and there. She couldn't believe it!
The nurse gave her a thoughtful look and questioned, "Do you know that name or something? Do you want me to take you to her when she wakes up?"
Ruki still baffled from the news, shook her head, "Uh, no, well not right now. Could you give me the room number, maybe I could visit later or something?"
The nurse gave her a suspicious look, Ruki noted this a replied calmly, "I know Juri from school that's all, she had a crush on a boy named Matsuki Takato and I had no idea they'd actually get married."
She nodded, wrote down the room number, and tore off the little piece of paper. Ruki took the sheet and thanked her.
"I think I'm going to get back to my room for now and visit my friend later, I'm kind of tired at the moment," Ruki decided after a yawn.
"Sure, well Madison will miss you but I'll tell her you'll be back. You'll be back won't you?" The nurse asked hopefully. "Oh yeah, for sure, no problem," Ruki answered happily.
She hobbled away in contemplative thought, wondering whether or not she should go and see her old friends. One part of her wanted to go and see the people she'd known for so long, the part who missed her friends dearly and wanted to forget the past. The other part of her didn't want to go back to face her past, that not going to them wouldn't cause trouble and arise questions that she couldn't answer quite yet.
As she hobbled past the payphones she dropped the little piece of paper the woman had given to her. With some difficulty she leaned down to pick it up, and another hand grabbed it.
Ruki looked up in annoyance at the intruder, and snapped at him, "Hey! Give that back, I don't need your help!"
He turned around to study the rude girl, and his eyes widened, as did hers.
"Takato?" she whispered in amazment.
"Ruki?" he questioned at the same time.
Takato's face brightened in joy at the finding of one of his longest friends, she never liked him that much but they were all still Tamers and knew one another for the longest time.
"Wow! I can't believe you're here, Juri's here and she'll be so happy! Not that I'm not, it's great to see you! What happened to you? Why did you run away? Why are you here now?" Takato blurted out all at once.
Ruki still trying to comprehend the fact that Takato and Juri were married, was becoming quite overwhelmed with the questions and felt her anger rise.
Takato noted this and said quickly, "Of course you don't have to tell me everything right now or anything, um would you like to come to Juri's room. Oh and great news! Juri just had her baby!"
A small smile fell onto her features, and she responded, "Yeah I know, and I also know that it's your daughter too."
Takato blushed and bit his lip, "I'm sorry we didn't invite you to our wedding, when you ran away we'd tried to track you down but no luck. Juri was pretty upset about it, she wanted you to be her Maid of Honour."
At that Ruki's face fell, and she felt terrible, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there, there were just some things I had to sort out alone, and there still are actually. I wished I could have been there for Juri.but after my mother and grandmother's funeral."
She couldn't continue, tears tried to make their way to her eyes but she blinked them away bitterly.
Takato put a supportive hand on her shoulder, speaking softly, "I know, I understand, and I'm sorry."
Ruki swallowed back the sadness creeping up on her again and brushed away the few tears she couldn't hold back. "It's alright, now let's go see Juri."
Takato nodded, handing the paper back to Ruki and leading the way down the hall.
Ruki hobbled down the hall on her crutches, her arms beginning to ache from the lack of muscle in her thin arms, and she sped up her pace wanting to go sit down when she got there.
Takato stopped at the door to his right and pushed it open, "Hey," he said gently. "How are you feeling?" Takato asked tentively, knowing she might be having one of the recent mood swings she'd been having during her pregnancy.
Juri turned her head to the fair brown haired young man she was married to, and smiled as she whispered exhaustedly, "I'll live."
Takato bent down and kissed her for a moment, and sat back up beside her.
"I have some great news," he said excitedly.
"Really? What is it?" Juri asked with a grin at his boyishness.
"I've found someone we've been looking for for four years," he said happily, and just then Makino Ruki hobbled into the room on crutches.
Juri's eyes widdened and jumped up excitedly, "Ruki!! You're here! You're back! We've found you!"
Takato held up the excited Juri as she struggled into a sittin position holding her arms out. Ruki smiled and hopped over to her dear friend, known originally as Katou Juri, now Matsuki Juri.
They hugged and laughed, "Oh I missed you so much Ruki."
"I've missed you too Juri, I'm happy to see you after all these years," Ruki responded joyfully.
*~*~*~*~*
A/n: Well there's the third chapter finally! Heh, sorry about the wait, it was writers' block fault. Anyways I was just typing this as I went, I wasn't at all sure of where this story was heading in the first place so please understand. One thing before I leave, thanks again for all the comments so far, please R&R! Ja for now!^_^ Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I just found this chapter sitting in my file and checked on ff.net and realized I haven't posted this yet! I think I've gone insane, man I'm really sorry I didn't post this sooner considering I've had this chapter finished so long I can't even remember when I finished it! Soooooooo sorryy! And I doubly appologize for all those who've liked this so far, I think it's kinda getting less serious as it goes on, 'cause I'm presently working on the fourth chapter, anyways please keep reading, I'm sorry again! -_-;; I'm such a baka! Keisan