Title – Price of Forgiveness (Chpt 8)
Author - HourglassThorne, hourglassthorne@yahoo.com
Rating – R (see warnings)
Pairing(s) - Pairing yet to be specified
Warning(s) – Glühen spoilers;
strong language; graphic
violence; disturbing content
Notes:
Status of fanfic – ongoing
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"Youji! Wait up!" A beautiful young woman rushes up to the tall blonde, little girl in her arms and a large bag hanging off her shoulder, just as he is about to head out the door. Youji smiles affectionately, his entire face lighting up at the sight of the two greatest loves in his life.
"Asuka," he manages to get out just as his wife stands up on her toes, stretching elegantly so that she can capture her husband's lips. They linger there for a moment in the sunshine flooding the room, until the child trapped between them begins to fuss at the lack of attention to herself. Breaking off the kiss, Youji chuckles and gathers his daughter up in his own arms. "Don't think we could ever forget about you, Kaiya-chan. We both know that you are the absolute center of our universe."
Asuka smiles at the scene before her for a bit, but then
her expression changes as she seemed to remember why she was rushing to catch
her husband before he left. "Darling, I
need to ask you a huge favor."
"Yes?"
"Could you take Kaiya with you to work today?"
"I thought that you had the day off today…"
"The hospital just called and really need me to cover a nurse who's called in sick, and Kaiya's sitter is off visiting relatives today."
Youji smiled at Asuka. "I don't think that should be too much of a problem. I'm leaving work early today anyways to have lunch with Mamoru, and it's been a while since he's seen Kaiya." Then he turned to tickle his daughter a bit. "So what do you say, Kaiya-chan? Do you wanna come to work with Papa and distract everyone at his office, and then get spoiled completely rotten by your Uncle Mamoru?" The little girl squealed with delighted giggles while her father laughed. "I guess I'll take that as a yes."
While he had been conversing with his daughter, Asuka got out the stroller and placed the bag with various baby supplies within it before taking Kaiya from Youji's arms and getting her strapped into it. "Be good for your Papa now, Kaiya-chan. Don't let him use you to get out of too much work today. Love you little angel," she said with a smile as she bent down to kiss her daughter. Then she turned and gave her husband, wrapped her arms about the taller man's neck, and gave him a long, lingering kiss that left both of them a quite breathless. "I love you, Youji. You take care of yourself and our little girl, ok?"
A bit light-headed from their last kiss, Youji nodded as he stroked his wife's soft cheek tenderly. "Always," he murmured softly as he took a hold of the stroller and began to head out the door. "Love you too, sweetheart. Have a good day at the hospital."
And then Youji and Kaiya walked out into the bright light of the day, away from Asuka who stood there in the doorway, watching them walk farther and farther away from her…
~*~
Dark jade coloured eyes slowly opened, staring blearily at nothing in particular for a few long moments. Then, a long arm reached out across the bed, tenatively examining by touch the side of the bed that would normally have been claimed by another familiar warm, inviting body. The sheets on that side were cold, and it was evident that no one had slept there at all. Youji pushed himself up on his arms and looked about, his brows furrowed as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Asuka?" he murmured, trying to find something that looked familiar. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair and down to rub the back of his neck, which felt very stiff and sore. In fact, his entire body felt like one big bruise, and he bit back a groan as he moved. Then, his fingers caught hold of an unfamiliar thin chain resting at the base of his neck. Confused, Youji caught hold of the chain and lifted it free of the turtleneck he was wearing. There, hanging from the chain in the middle of his chest, rested a small delicate gold wedding band that was a perfect match for the slightly larger one that rested upon his own left hand.
Then Youji remembered.
Asuka was dead, buried just the day before. He and Kaiya were alone in England now. No… Strike that. They weren't alone. They were with people who said that they were his friends from before he got amnesia. And a part of him truly believed them when they told him that. However, that same part was also telling him that they were keeping something from him. Something very important. But just before he was able to fully confront them and get the answers he wanted, some folder full of crime scene photos of Asuka's death spilled open and he lost it. Youji blearily remembered breaking down completely, but feeling some comfort in the three men who gathered around him when he did so. Vaguely he recalled being handed some pills by the younger blonde boy, Michel as well as a glass of water.
"Must have been a sedative," he thought to himself. After taking the pills without too much protest, the tall blonde couldn't really remember too much after that. Blearily he recalled being helped back up the stairs by Aya and Ken, with Mamoru… Omi… trailing close behind saying something he couldn't really remember. "Wonder how long I've been out." He tried to get to his feet, and soon found the world shifting unpleasantly, discomfort compounded by the soreness in his sprained ankle. However, despite the pain and spinning room, Youji moved gingerly over to crib and check on his sleeping daughter.
"Agnes must have put her to down while I slept. At least, Kaiya seems to like that old lady," Youji mused as he replaced the blanket that the infant had kicked off in her sleep. When he had left her with Agnes to go downstairs to confront the others, she was happily playing pat-a-cake with the grandmotherly woman. Sighing, he shifted himself backwards a bit and turned an eye towards the closed door to the hallway and the rest of the world beyond himself and his daughter.
He wanted answers. He wanted answers so badly that it hurt.
However, instead of storming downstairs once more and tracking down the people who held the answers he sought, Youji made his way back to the bed and burrowed himself down into the covers. As much as he ached for the knowledge of his forgotten past, the knowledge of his recent present was too much for his heart to bear at the moment.
"I can't face the rest of the world right now," he thought as he buried his face into his pillow, willingly collecting the remainders of his earlier drug-induced unconsciousness about him like the comforter that he had curled up under. Without much trouble, he began to slip into the blissful abyss of a hopefully dreamless unconsciousness.
"Asuka… Why did they have to take you away from me now?"