Chapter 3
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in," Sakura answered without abandoning her medical works on Yukawa. The sliding door opened slowly and Natsu was behind it. She slowly came in and took a seat beside Sakura.
It was silence for a while.
"… Um…" Natsu awkwardly broke the silence. "How is it with Yukawa-san?" she asked, concerned.
"I'm fi-"
"Bad," Sakura quickly cut Yukawa's words. Her face, her voice, were cold and stern.
"Bad?" Natsu asked again worriedly.
"Haruno-san, please don't make Kurosawa-san worries,"
"But it IS bad. You can't possibly use your left hand for another couple of months!"
"… That's bad," Natsu muttered, almost whispering to her ownself.
"What is bad? Isn't it good that my hand will be recovered in the next two months? If it won't be recovered at all, then that's bad," Yukawa replied, gently opposing Sakura's words.
"But, I'm the one who caused all this mess. I'm supposed to protect you. That's my responsible, and you paid me for that," Natsu stared at the floor in embarrassment, trying to avoid any eye contact. She was embarrassed with her own carelessness.
"Kurosawa-san,"
Natsu brought her chin up.
"I paid you to protect this village and not me." He kept quiet for a moment. His face looked serious. "Besides, it would be a shame if a man cannot protect a woman," Yukawa smiled with full of confidence. That moment, all the guilts and regrets Natsu felt gone as if being washed away by waves.
That smile, the only smile that can calm my soul.
"Oni-chan?" Kazuki suddenly appeared at the door with a tray of food.
"Kazuki, come in," Yukawa invited but the young girl stayed still, didn't move even an inch. Her face was gloomy and her eyes glistened with unspilled tears.
Sakura and Natsu looked at each other as if understanding each other's mind.
"That's all for tonight. I'll be here again tomorrow night to continue the treatment," Sakura suddenly spoke.
"We'll be going," Natsu added.
As soon as Natsu and Sakura passed the door of the room, the 19-year-old teenager quickly went to Yukawa and hugged him tightly.
"You are as stubborn as father!" She suddenly burst. Her tears wet her cheeks as well as Yukawa's shirt.
"Kazuki?" Yukawa asked gently while stroking the young girl's hair lovingly.
"You are… just like father… always makes me worry…"
Yukawa smiled gently though nobody was looking at him.
"Gomen…"
Hearing the conversation, Natsu covered her mouth with her palm and quickly but quietly walked away, unable to contain her feelings anymore.
If only that word of apology was directed to her, she would be willingly to let go all the despair she had been keeping since the day Kyosuke left her, and she no longer needed to lie to everyone by putting up a fake smile everyday. But, that was 'if only'.
"…wake up…"
A voice. A female voice. It was blurry but somehow it sounded familiar.
"Ky… wake up!…" A giggled was heard.
He opened his eyes and smiled. A woman, long, black haired.
Everything was blurry.
He cannot see her face but her cheerful smile can be seen clearly. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him, her face at his nape and his chin on her head.
"…………" There was another voice. A male one this time and not a single word can be understood from the mumbled, muffed voice.
The woman giggled again and wriggled to free herself from his embrace.
"You'r… so nau…ty!" She complained but the man there just laughed. She was finally freed from him and started to run away. She stuck her tongue mischievously.
"C…tch me i.. y… can!" She ran away, leaving a familiar scent.
Darkness.
Yukawa sighed lightly.
Opening his eyes after he woke up or just let them stay closed made no difference. There was only darkness. But ironically, he could see colours in his dreams and his dreams were always…
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in," Yukawa answered weakly. He brought his palm to his head and wiped his face.
"You're awake?" Kazuki, the daughter of Yamazaki-sama, the village chief came in with a tray of breakfast.
"You don't have to bring me breakfast, Kazuki," Yukawa said in a very calm manner with a weak smile on his lips as soon as the fresh, faint smell of rice awakened his smelling sense.
"You should just rest today," Kazuki suggested while putting the tray on the tatami floor. She smiled cheerfully though it couldn't be seen by Yukawa.
"What rest? I can't sit here all day doing nothing," he protested like a spoiled little child.
Kazuki rolled her eyes and sighed.
"You are as stubborn as father!" She pouted, replying with another childish act.
"I knew, you've said that before," Yukawa grinned mischievously. He got up and started to to fold the futon he had been sleeping on with his right, fine hand. Kazuki immediately helped him putting the futon in a closet though she totally disagreed with his plan to not to take it easy for today.
"So Yamazaki-sama is fine now?"
"Better, but not fine, and stop calling him 'Yamazaki-sama', oni-chan. You are already a family to us," the young girl quickly answered. Yukawa just smiled and quietly chuckled to himself to not make the conversation went any longer. Somehow, he felt like he should keep some distance with the people here around him. They were not his real family anyway and they had been helping him a lot so he thought at least he could pay a little respect to them by not taking anything that was not his. Besides, he never, couldn't feel belonged to this place.
Things had started to cool down a bit. The villagers, especially the injured ones were all secured at the community centre nearby the village chief's house. The other villagers started to build up the village again right after the day the pirates attacked; including women and children, doing their best at the most they could help including making lunches for the men or just picking up rubbish to clear up the area.
The two female jounin themselves had been restless since the past couple of days. Sakura being a medic attended the injured villagers along with the local medics while Natsu went around the village to help wherever she could.
"Kurosawa-san, its lunchtime!"
"Hait! Just a second!" Natsu cheerfully shouted to the motherly wife of Yamazaki-sama who cooked lunch for the men along with other women. After a while, she dropped anything she was holding and stopped her work. She headed towards the temporary tents built nearby the village chief's house and joined the other villagers who were having lunch there.
The sun was high and it shone brightly. Despite the village's condition, the villagers chatted happily during the break from the recovery works. Everyone looked energetic and happy making the village looked very harmony. Even Yamazaki-sama himself joined the villagers for lunch.
In a shadowy corner not far from the crowd, sat the ill but active Kenta-chan and Yukawa with a few toddlers and kids Kenta'' age. Yukawa had been taking care of the children since he was one of the injured. It was not like he wanted to sit and play with the kids but the villagers had refused him with the heavy works and asked him to rest instead. So, taking care of the children was the most he could do; at least it was much, much better than laying on the futon the whole day.
"It's okonomiyaki!" Kenta rose his little voice to almost a shriek.
"No, of course it's takoyaki," Yukawa replied confidently.
"Okonomiyaki tastes better!" The little boy pouted.
"Takoyaki tastes mmmmuch better!"
"Okonomiyaki!"
"Takoyaki! Hey, you! Takoyaki is way better than okonomiyaki, right?" Yukawa suddenly asked a woman who passed by.
"Who, me?" Natsu asked back in confusion. She looked at her surrounding to make sure she was not mistaken.
"Ne, one-chan! Okonomiyaki is more delicious than takoyaki, right?" Now it's Kenta's turn to pull Natsu into his side in a meaningless fight against Yukawa.
"W-Well… I like both…" Natsu answered in stutters, unsure whether to get involved in such childish debate.
"You can't like both, you have to choose! It's takoyaki, right? I knew it!" Yukawa suddenly decided though it was rather selfish.
"If I have to choose then, it's okonomiyaki since you can put many ingredients you like in it," Natsu answered casually. Kenta sneered cockily, or rather, excitedly at Yukawa. The other kids there watched with interests and started to wonder themselves, which one is better?
"How can you say that? Takoyaki is obviously better than okonomiyaki! Isn't it great how people turn those weird, wiggly ink squirters into such delicious octopus balls?" Yukawa objected.
"That's not a reason! Besides, you can put octopus in okonomiyaki too!" Natsu started to be influenced with Yukawa's childish remarks while the other kids who were watching started to take their favourite sides.
"But it won't tastes the same with takoyaki!"
"Oh, it's still delicious anyway!" Natsu sighed slightly, almost felt like surrendering.
"Oh yeah? Then let's armwrestle!" The good-looking man suddenly challenged her.
"What?"
"What?"
"Come on, let's armwrestle!" Kyosuke eagerly put his elbow on the small, round dining table, waiting for his opponent to answer his challenge.
"Then you'll win again!" Natsu pouted.
"I know, that's why I like armwrestle!" He grinned, flashing his infamous charming smile.
"Come on, let's armwrestle!" The man who resembled to the man Natsu had always loved forwarded his challenge again. Natsu suddenly blinked her eyes a few times as if she just woke up from a dream. She looked away from Yukawa, suddenly felt the feeling when she lost her Kyo.
"That's… That's childish, I don't want to. I told you I like both," She answered weakly.
"You have to! You already picked okonomiyaki! Is it because I'm winning you started saying that you like both?" He grinned mischievously. The kids around the two adults jumped up and down and screamed excitedly.
A weird feeling started to invade the 27-year-old woman. Was it anger? Maybe, she thought. Why? Maybe because she felt like this 'Yukawa' was mocking her feelings. Or maybe because god was fooling her. She was not sure about that but she sure was irritated, hurt.
"Fine then! Let's get this over with!" Her voice rose, sharp and full of energy and determination. She was not excited to win this armwrestle but she was just… mad.
Eyes to eyes, hands clutched together. Yukawa's lips curved up into a cocky smile while Natsu's eyes flashed her burning rage. The kids around them cheered excitedly for each takoyaki and okonomiyaki's representative. Some of the villagers who were sitting nearby started to get attracted to the little commotion, smiling knowingly.
"Oh, look at that, Kazuki. Yukawa-kun is having an armwrestle match again," Yamazaki-sama mentioned it to his daughter. He laughed in amusement and seemed to be very interested.
"Oh, there he goes again! He is armwestling with a woman again! Always cheating like that, that sneaky-"
"Now, now, let's just take it easy and enjoy the show," the village chief cut his daughter's whining easily and brought his attention back to the two clutched hands.
"Oh, father," Kazuki sighed in defeat.
-
"Come on, one-chan! You can do it!" Kenta shouted with full of spirit.
Together, all the kids started the countdown. Natsu and Yukawa each adjusted their position slightly to make sure they were ready for their little match.
"START!" Shrieks from a bunch of kids bunched up, irritating each other's eardrums but failed to disturb the two-armwrestling adults' concentration.
The two clutching hands were still at the same spot but were shaking violently. Natsu could feel the powerful pressure that went against her. She did not want to lose, not this time. Heck, she never wanted to lose but the urge to win she felt this time was bigger than she ever felt.
"Hey, you're pretty good," Yukawa started to doubt his victory though he never admitted it, not out loud at least.
Natsu did not reply. She did not want to. She just wanted to win.
The commotion around them rose when the hands fell to the side a little, hinting Yukawa's victory. But Natsu quickly countered it. It was difficult, but she managed to neutralize their hands' position. The okonomiyaki supporters cheered loudly. Now, the time to bring down those takoyaki fanatics down had came.
With all her might, Natsu started to push his hand down to her side. Her hand felt sore but slowly, she started to smell okonomiyaki's victory.
"But…" Yukawa suddenly spoke. "I certainly…" he continued slowly, in ragged breaths. The hands were slowly being brought up again. Natsu's face twitched when she was struggling to bring their hands down again but the situation did not become any better.
"…IS BETTER!"
BAM!
Natsu's hand finally fell on the table, switching on loud cheers from the takoyaki side.
"Yeah, takoyaki won!" Yukawa childishly shouted. The kids on each side kept replying stuck tongue with death glares. Natsu sat still, her face plastered with the word 'huff'.
"That was unfair! You won against a girl! Besides, I told you I like both okonomiyaki and takoyaki!" Natsu suddenly stood.
"That was unfair! You won against a girl! Besides, I told you I like both yakisoba and ramen!" The woman whined.
"How can it be unfair? It was not like any of us had handicap and I told you already, you have to choose,"
"Mou, you're such a bully!"
He ran away trying to avoid the woman's hit while laughing playfully. The woman first looked very angry but eventually, she laughed along with him.
Natsu bent her knees to even her height with the kids'.
"Don't worry. I'll make you a nice okonomiyaki, for each of you, alright?" Natsu consoled the pouting kids on the okonomiyaki side. Though just a little bit, she still felt guilty for losing the armwrestle match just now.
All the kids went 'yay' and they suddenly looked as if they already forgot the event that just happened. Natsu smiled in relieve watching the kids, including Kenta, turned to their original, energetic self back.
"Yukawa ni-chan, I want to have takoyaki too," said one of the little kids while tugging the end of the older man's shirt.
Yukawa suddenly woke from his reverie. Just now, he thought he felt weird, as if something, a playback of a memory piece, a déjà vu, took over his mind. It happened too fast he almost couldn't catch what had happened. Was that… a memory from the past?
"Oni-chan! Oni-chan!" The kids started to jump up and down, trying to snatch his attention.
"Wha-What?"
"Treat us takoyaki!" They demanded rather pushily.
"All of you?" He asked unbelievingly.
"Of course! The okonomiyaki team can have okonomiyaki so we can have takoyaki too, right?"
Yukawa stayed silence. Now, now, let's go through this step by step. Let's see… First of all, how many pennies were left in that little pocket of his?
Natsu humphed looking at the pathetic sight while ushered the energetic kids back to their shelter. At least, she felt much, much less hurt than before. Maybe it was not that bad that he always reminded her of her Kyo.
Takoyaki : octopus ball
Okonomiyaki : I've heard people call them japanese pizza. You can put many ingredients in it, depends on your taste and creativity.
Mou : urm… you said this as a symbol of unsatisfaction.
Woah! Yay! Chap 3, finished! I wish I can update weekly, I'm planning to do so but I can't promise especially when my "Most Important Exam In My 17 Years of Life" is coming soon in November. To those who reviewed, thank you sooooo much! Thank you to those who read my story too! I'll try to update diligently. Yup. And I personally never taste takoyaki nor okonomiyaki. But I wish I could. I talk… type too much.
I write too much that I hate typing.