Disclaimer: YESSSS! The results of the medical test have come back! I'm Setsuna's sister! Setsuna, here I come! Ooops, Kaori Yuuki owns Angel Sanctuary.
Chapter 3
Before another word can be spoken, a loud voice yells from outside the bathroom door, "Who is in there! Unlock this door at once!"
Like a signpost, Kira points them to the window, as Setsuna grabs Sara and runs to the glass escape route. Opening it, he jumps out first, so he can break Sara's fall from the one floor drop. Quickly, getting up, he looks up and stretches his arms out to catch Sara. She jumps down after him, landing straight into his open arms, pushing him to the ground with her weight. Under Sara, Setsuna finds himself reluctant to get up. He wants to wrap his arm around her tiny frame, but he feels her get up off of him. Confused about what to do for her or say to her after Kira's confession of love, he gets up and brushes himself off of the twigs and dirt and grass. Then, he turns to Sara and does the same for her. Sara shies away from him and dusts herself off. He stands there surprised. He expected it, knowing that he had been gone too long. But, maybe a cruel twist of fate had occurred.
What if Sara loved Kira, too? He had been gone for too long. How could he expect her to stay in love with him when he had turned his back on her and ran away from her? What if Kira had picker her up and taken care of her while he was so busy trying to forget her? Had they been in contact secretly over the years he had stayed away? But, he couldn't believe Sara could plunge the knife into his back. It had to be that Kira loved her all along and just now decided to reveal it. He was always teasing her and flirting with her. But, he always thought that it was because she was his sister. Shaking his head, he ran to his next class before he made the decision to leave this country, too.
In the next class, he notices Sara is there, except this time, Kira is hanging from her shoulder. He tries his best not to cause a scene by walking up to Kira and beating him up in front of everybody. When class ends, he walks right up to Kira, not caring what Sara thought.
Kira smiles, "Setsuna! Yo!"
He grabs Kira by his collar, surprising the other students. Sara gasps, but follows their quick steps. Outside Setsuna speaks with a low tone.
"What is your problem?"
Kira smiles, "Nothing. I'm just flirting with the woman I love. Is that a problem?"
Setsuna turns to Sara to see her reaction.
She punches Kira's arm, "Stop joking around. I have to go back to class or else Mother will worry. See you two around."
Setsuna couldn't believe this. She threw off Kira's confession of love as a joke? He turned to face Kira just in time to see him pull out a cigarette.
After lighting up the cigarette, Kira shakes his head, "That woman…"
Immediately, Setsuna goes back to threatening Kira.
"Kira, what was that about? Why did you do that?"
Taking a puff on his cigarette, Kira smirks, "Oy, Setsuna, get a hold of yourself. You wanted to run away from her, didn't you? You're the one who left her. Her reason for studying here might not be you anymore. You have no right to suddenly say I can't have her, when you turned your back on her."
Expecting Setsuna to scream obscenities at him, he is surprised when he feels a raging fist meet with his jaw. Setsuna stands over Kira's fallen form.
"You bastard! I love Sara! I betrayed her because I love her! I don't expect you to understand!"
Kira reaches for Setsuna's figure as he watches it turn and run away.
Slumping over, he curses, "So you still can't love me, Setsuna?"
Setsuna runs to the other side of the building, where he bumps into Sara, knocking her to the ground.
Both break out in unison, "I'm sorry."
Setsuna blushes seeing Sara's face turn away from him.
Wrinkling his eyebrows at her show of disgust for him, he asks, "Are you alright, Sara?"
Before she can answer, Kira jumps on her, covering her face with kisses.
Sara pushes him off, shouting, "Kira, get away! I told you to stop joking!"
She gasps when she sees his face so close to hers, with his eyes filled with unshed tears.
Kira whispers, "I'm not joking. I love you."
Setsuna pulls Kira off of Sara and throws him to the ground.
Ignoring Setsuna's curses, Kira calls out, "Sara, where are you going? I wanted you to buy me lunch!"
Sara's face pales, "I have to go now. Mother says that I should never speak to Setsuna again, or she'll kill him."
She gets up to leave. Setsuna's vision blurs for a moment. He realizes he's about to faint. Grabbing on to Kira, he tries to breathe. Sara leaves without another word.
Kira calls after her, "Where did Setsuna come from? I didn't even mention his name! Wait, Sara! You forgot to buy me lunch!"
Sara doesn't hear him. Setsuna doesn't see her walk off. His head spins and he loses consciousness for a moment. When he wakes up, a couple of minutes later, he finds Kira pouring his soda over his head.
Setsuna jumps up, crying, "What is your problem!"
Kira laughs, "You passed out. Let's go home and get you cleaned up. Our next class starts in a little bit."
Setsuna seethes with anger, but leaves willingly with Kira. The moment that Sara spoke, Setsuna felt his head spin and knew he wouldn't be able to watch her leave. The emotions were too much for him. He had been trying to forget her for three years, and now she walks in and every dream he had of getting his life in order have been destroyed. Now that he has felt his heart truly beat and his mind open up and his body react to his dreams, he doesn't want to go back to the way things were. He wants to live in this dream forever and never wake up. He can't go back to sleeping with her picture every night and waking up with dried tears in the morning. He can't continue having that dream of holding her and getting struck by lightning. His throat chokes and he can't swallow. It's more than lump in his throat. The pain shoots through his chest. His heart feels a sharp stab. Grabbing his left side, Setsuna leans on Kira for support until they reach the car.
They leave in their car, which they spent so long saving up for. Setsuna and Kira both work at the hospital as nurses. Many of the female doctors make passes at Setsuna, but not one will go near Kira. They know that he is only working there for the prescription drugs he writes out to himself and stamps the doctor's signature on them. The only thing that keeps him from getting caught is that he destroys the records with his supernatural powers. That's how he got into this university in the first place. He changed his records, which made him seem like the model student. Setsuna, on the other hand, worked very hard to get where he was right now. Setsuna never hated Kira for cheating his way through life. Kira's life wasn't his own, anyway. At home, Setsuna worries about his meeting with Sara. Kira comes in and tries to calm Setsuna down.
Kira offers, helpfully, "Don't get so confused."
In a calm anger, Setsuna hisses, "I'm not confused."
Kira laughs, "You have no idea whether you should break those fragile, but sacred love laws or run away again."
Setsuna feels nothing except the pounding of his head. It's as if someone is driving a nail through his head with a hammer.
Setsuna shouts, "Get away from me, Kira!"
Kira shakes his head, mockingly.
"I knew that you two would end up meeting again. I just didn't know when or where. I wondered how you would react."
Enraged, a confused Setsuna grabs his jacket, and the car keys and leaves. Kira runs out after him, but only in time to watch him pull out and drive away. Gasping for air, Kira stands outside and notices a figure running up to him. He reminds himself to cut back on the drugs and cigarettes.
Recognizing her, he mutters, "Sara."
Sara runs up to him and out of breath, she asks what happened. Kira realizes what she was doing.
He chuckles, "I didn't think you'd follow Setsuna home. You both are full of surprises."
She wrinkles her eyebrows, "What are you talking about? Where is Setsuna going?"
Kira answers, smartly, "To kill himself."
Sara looks at Kira and wonders if he's serious.
Her look of amazement quickly disappears as Kira shouts, "Come on! We've got to find him!"
She runs to her car parked on the street. She opens the door to the driver's seat, but never expects Kira to snatch the keys out of her hand.
She protests, "Give me my keys!"
Kira gently picks her up and carries her over to the passenger's side. She struggles as Kira unlocks the door and puts her in the passenger's seat then buckles her seat belt for her.
She demands, "What are you doing! This is MY car! Kira!"
Getting into the driver's seat, he buckles up. Panting from the exertion of struggling with her, she hears him grumbling about reminding himself to give up smoking. He starts the car and shifts gears to pull out of the driveway.
Panicked, she cries, "Kira, where's Setsuna? What's going on?"
Kira ignores her questions.
"Sara, help me look for Setsuna. Look in every crevice that I might miss."
Seeing the look of the devil in Kira's eyes, she can only shake her head up and down in compliance. Looking out the window of her car, she searches the streets for her beloved brother, Setsuna. Tears stream down her face at the thought of losing Setsuna. He can't kill himself. What happened that he wants to kill himself? Her confusion only leads to more tears.
Kira gets tired of her tears and demands, "Sara! What is wrong? We've searched the whole town! We've got to broaden our search for Setsuna. Help me!"
She turns to Kira, "You want me to help you! Fine! Head for the ocean! Now tell me what is going on with Setsuna!"
Kira sighs and realizes that there is more emotion between the two siblings than he realized. How would Sara know to look for him near the ocean? Maybe she's taking a guess. But, then why would she wait so long to tell him, endangering Setsuna's life? She would have told him the minute she knew where Setsuna was. She couldn't hate him this much to WANT him to die for leaving her for three years. Kira heads for the water and renews his search for Setsuna.
Sara's eyes search the cliffs of the Chesapeake Bay.
We've driven pretty far. I wonder which ocean he has reached by now. It took me so long to get here. Forgive me, Setsuna for making you wait so long. Setsuna…
Kira wonders, aloud, "Sara, do you hate Setsuna so much that you waited this long to tell me or are you taking a guess at his whereabouts?"
Sara mumbles, "He needed time to think things through."
"What?"
With tears streaming, she loses control, "Nothing, Kira. Just get us to the cliffs!"
Seeing the passion and determination in her eyes, he doesn't question her. Two people who love the same man find Setsuna's car near the cliffs, just like Sara said. Getting out of the car, they head out to look for him. Sara runs to the cliffs, and Kira can only follow her. Spotting Setsuna at the edge of the cliff, Sara gasps in horror. Setsuna is leaning on the hand bars, deep in thought. Without thinking, she runs to him, tears streaming down her cheeks, with open arms.
Kira stumbles after her, out of breath, grumbling, "That's it! I am going to give up smoking forever!"
Setsuna turns around feeling his heart race as someone runs up to him, crying his name.
SARA! What is she doing here? Does she know what I am about to do?
"SETSUNA!"
Sara runs into Setsuna's arms. Trembling, and in tears, she hides her face in his chest, afraid to see if Kira was telling the truth. Setsuna feels tears in his own eyes at Sara's sadness. Lifting her chin up with his finger, he looks into her eyes.
Filled with emotion, Setsuna is only able to whisper, "Sara, what are you doing here?"
Sara looks into his eyes and answers, "Setsuna, I…I…I want to know what you are doing here."
He grunts, "I was just thinking."
Kira finally catches up with the two. Huffing and puffing, he sits on a rock.
Setsuna looks at Kira and comments, "Kira, you need to give up the drugs and smoking!"
Kira flashes Setsuna a nasty look that broadcasts revenge for the smart remark. In their relief, the three never notice another figure lurking behind them near the trees. The figure smiles cynically.
