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MiDNiGhT BrEeZe PaRt 5

The night had gone by so slowly. I stood there at the edge of the roof and just gazed at the nightlife that was occurring in the busy streets of Tokyo. I ended up not going back down until the sun rose over the hills off to the side. The light hit my face and that's when I came back from my gazing slumber.

I headed down the side of the roof walking through the long hallways of my grandmother's house. It seemed to be full of life in the very first brake of day. The garden was full of birds flying everywhere seeming as if they had to be at a certain destination at a particular time. As I headed for my room I passed the kitchen where my grandmother had been cooking up breakfast. She seemed so active and ready for the up coming day. There had been a mellow mood floating around the house as the morning continued on. Even the children seemed to be not as energetic as they were yesterday. Sakamae was very intrigued by why all the grown ups where so down and mellowed out. I caught her asking my aunt, Mrs. Matsuki, why she had to wear her Sunday dress on a Saturday. Her bright black hair glimmered in the sunlight and the redness from her cheeks was as pleasing as it could get. She had never before worn make up but for a little 5 year old she seemed very well adapted to it. She bobbed up and down trying to convince my aunt on trying to tell her what was going on. Dayu came into the room just as Sakamae was at the end of her string and giving up on trying to figure out what this whole occasion was for. He wore the same exact suit as his father did but in a much short version. He had cold black eyes. Eyes that had only met my glaring gaze for a split second, but that was well over enough. More or less he reminded me of myself as a younger child. Very active and willing to do anything. His face was nothing but an unpredictable mask covering the real him hidden underneath all that.

The rest of the family endured a long conversation at the dining table. I skipped breakfast trying to get as much sleep as I could since I didn't sleep that night.

"You know it's not good to stay up till dawn man, especially if you have jet lag", Seta said as he walked out of the room.

"I don't know man. There's just a lot on my mind right now and I just need some time to think know what I mean?" I replied back.

He shrugged and said he would be heading down to breakfast. As I lied there on my futon I gazed upward onto the ceiling. My mind seemed to slip away from my own grasp and before I knew it I was fast asleep. When I woke up it was eleven-thirty. My grandmother was leaning over me whispering my name into my ear as if trying to wake me from my sleep but not disturb me.

"Keitaro...Keitaro...Keitaro", she said over and over again.

I became conscious and lifted myself off the futon.

"Where almost getting ready to leave for the funeral. Get ready. We'll be leaving in half and hour. There's a bathroom down the hallway for you to use. When your ready just go downstairs into the living room and wait for the others", she said as her voice began to crackle.

It was a long and drowsy process for me since I hadn't gotten much sleep. I took a nice hot shower that woke me up. When I returned to my room Seta had been walking up the stairs with a towel and headed for the bathroom.

"Hope you didn't take all the hot water man', he said sarcastically.

To me this wasn't the perfect time to be sarcastic. I wasn't feeling great as well. I ran my hands through my strike black hair and responded, "All there."

My grandmother had laid out cloths on the futon for me to wear to the funeral. As I walked downstairs into the living room my aunt and uncle had been waiting there with Sakamae and Dayu. Kaori and Asami had just walked in after I did.

Kaori wore a dark blue silk dress, almost black but not quite yet. Her body smelled of baby powder as I entered the room. The fragrance of her perfume swept over me along with the familiar smell of Asami's body. I always seemed to be very fond of her smell for some reason or another. She had very lightly tanned skin and wore two matching diamond earrings on both ears along with a small piercing high above her left ear. I thought this strange since I had not seen her yet before with her hair up but I couldn't say least of it anyways.

The sun was high in the sky by that time. The soft cooling breeze of the winter winds seemed to clear my head. The cemetery wasn't far off from my grandmother's house but my family decided to drive there.

"You sure you don't want to join us?" ask my aunt.

"No I'll be fine", I said.

My father was the last one to leave the house. His face seemed to be lost. I couldn't find any certain emotion on his face. It was so blank...as if someone had stolen who his true identity was. It wasn't like my father to have such a blurry expression.

"I'll walk with you", he said as he closed the gate that lead up towards the main door.

There was nothing but silence between my father and I. It had been such a long time since I had talked to him and now I was here with him. He was so down. As I glanced over towards him as we were walking I caught him looking at the sky for a quick moment and saying something under his breathe. He then slowly returned his eyes toward the floor and we walked on.

When we got the cemetery the rest of the family had been waiting for our arrival. I greeted some of my mother's friends of which whom I didn't know. I walked pasted my little cousins and they seemed to be scared to see my mothers coffin lying there in the middle of the earth waiting to be brought down and buried. My grandmother was now in tears. She seemed so strong to so many others but at this moment she looked like something inside of her had died.

My father stepped forward as we sat down on the chairs. It was so quiet. Nothing but the winds mighty blows was heard. I heard a rustling of leaves behind me. I turned to see Naru standing there already tearing at the eyes. I pulled her a chair and she sat behind me as if not wanting me to see her cry.

My father, Kanjiro Urashima, began, "We have lost something so beautiful in our lives. Today...today is something more. Something so deep inside our very souls. Isako Urashima...a loving wife, mother, sister, and daughter to all. We have lost someone so special to us. Someone whom cannot be replaced. Her love was so amazing. Never hating others...only caring for them. Never fear...but strength. I breaks my heart to see someone like you my love be gone so fast. I will never stop telling myself that it is all a bad dream and that I will wake up and you will be there lying beside me. Some of us cannot accept the truth that lies before us here today. I don't think any of us can do that. I don't think we ever will. But until that day we shall always know that you will be there guiding us on...waiting for us to arrive with you at the paradise up so way in the sky...waiting until that day when we shall all meet...together forever once again...This is where we stand..."

My grandmother was crying so hard by now. All my father did was look at the coffin. A stare so blank that I would never figure it out. He bent down and kissed the coffin. Under the breeze of the wind he whispered only something that could he alone would only hear. The whole time he had been giving his speech I only looked at the ground before me. I only remembered...remembered memorizes so deep. My grandmother than sat up and put a single white rose on her coffin and stood beside my father and cried on his shoulder. The pain was too intense...I don't know...I felt so alone...sitting there just thinking...only thinking...I stood up and walked forth. Out of the side of my pocket I pulled out something so rare to me that only God knew what it was. I pulled out a dried dead dandelion and sat it on top of the coffin.

It was sometime during summer when I was a little boy. My mother had been attending to the garden and I was running around carelessly acting as if I was Spider-Man jumping here and there.

"Come here Keitaro", she said to me.

I walked over to her and she point to a yellow dandelion that had just sprung out from underneath the soiled ground.

She picked it and said to me, "If you are every lonely sweetie and mommy isn't around to comfort you, you could always hold this close to your heart and I will always be right there waiting inside of you."

I remember her smile that day. It was so bright and full of life. I had kept that dandelion every since then and now I was giving it to my mother again as a remembrance of me when she would pass into the next life.

As people begun to leave I still stood there, and from across me stood my father.

"I'll see you back at the house ok man", Seta said as he placed his hand upon my shoulder.

"Ok man I'll catch you later", I said.

Only my father and me stood there.

"I'm so sorry Keitaro", Naru said from behind. "She was like a mother to me also."

All I heard was the silent cracking of leafs as she walked across the cemetery. I stood up straight and looked at my father in the eyes now. He seemed as if he wanted to be alone before they buried her. All I did was nod toward him and walked off. Just as I was about to turn the corner I saw my father on his knees crying beside the coffin. I was such a sad site for even me. As the night went on I walked around the outer limits of Tokyo brushing off a tear or two every now and then. When I got back to my grandmother's house the family had already eaten and Asami had been putting food away.

"I left something for you on the table if you're hungry. Thought you might end up home late", she said not seeming to take notice in me but only in the dishes she was washing.

She begun to tremble and dropped a plate on the floor. I rushed over to help her and then she just leaped on me.

"Why Keitaro? Why? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Why did it have to be her? Why? Why..." she said through tears.

I couldn't really say anything. I was so lost. I only comforted her and told her that I would clean up the kitchen and that she could go upstairs and rest. I sat there cleaning the floor of the broken pieces of plate that lay everywhere.

"Kei-Kun is my auntie Isako going to be ok? I didn't really know what happened today. All my mommy said to me was that your mommy was going away to a better place", Sakamae said as she walked in.

"Are you sad Kei-Kun?" she said.

I sighed.

"I don't know. My mind is so off right now Sakamae-Chan. I don't really know what to think anymore", I said.

She stared at me with a one of those clueless stares that children get when they hear something that they just don't understand.

She held up her Hello Kitty doll towards me and said, "Is auntie in a happy place now Kei-Kun?"

It took me awhile before I answered her again.

"I hope so Sakamae...I hope so."

I carried her in my arms off to sleep.

As I walked up the stairs towards her room she said in my ear, "I hope so too Kei-Kun...I hope so too."

.: Yay another chapter done. Phew im sooo tired right now. Didn't get much sleep last night but yea. As you might notice this chapter does reflected a sorta sad part of my life and what has happened in Keitaros life as well. Im hoping that things will kick in. It was a mellow chapter and it has been a mellow day so yea I cant really complain. Hope you ladies and gentlemen still like the story. I plan on putting more of a twist to the upcoming chapters ahead and make things really odd but fun for those who get it. Thanks once again for reading. R/R . Ciao:.

Tony