AN: Getting over it…sort of. Picking up where Sano was talking to his sister Adzuma. Um….yeaaaah. - Next chapter = much more humor
"WHAT?!" Sanosuke bellowed.
"You heard me. Don't yell, people in the other apartments are probably trying to sleep." Adzuma responded softly, taking another sip from her mug and shivering from the warmth that was sent down her throat.
"I can handle you getting a new job, but having to move out into a new apartment in a completely different city is out of the question!"
"Sanosuke, you're not the one in charge, I'm making the decision! You're going with me!"
"Why can't I stay with Kenshin? I'd be allowed to board, you could certainly afford it with the new job!" Sanosuke yelled.
"Because I'm putting you in the hospital!" Adzuma screamed back, slamming her coffee mug down on the table. Remnants of the coffee splattered across the newspaper and unopened mail, causing Adzuma to curse and run to the counter for a paper towel.
"You WHAT?!!!" Sanosuke was straining his voice to an extreme. He had never been more angry in his life.
"The whole reason I got the new job was for you. I'm putting you in the flipping hospital so you'll get help!"
"Help for what?!" Sano threw his hands up in the air, and they fell back to his sides loudly. He slammed his arm down on the counter as he waited for Adzuma to turn back to him.
"All the drugs, you shit head! Don't play dumb with me!"
"I'M NOT GOING TO ANY FUCKING HOSPITAL!" Sanosuke was absolutely livid. Adzuma was his match in any argument, but she easily could recognize that Sanosuke had never been this angry in his life.
"I'm not going. I can handle it myself." Sanosuke had brought his voice down, but he was leaving that apartment.
"Sanosuke-"
"See you…" He had no idea when he'd be returning, or if Adzuma would be there if he decided to return. He didn't finish his goodbye, leaving it as it was.
"We're moving in a week. You'd better pack!" She shouted, just in time before he slammed the door.
{Oh, I'll be moving all right. But I won't be moving with you.}
Kenshin was lying facedown in his bedroom on the carpet. He hardly had the will to breathe, and he just wanted to die. Wanted to die.
Like Tomoe
The phone rang. Lisa left a message.
"Hey Kenshin. Sweetie, we're just calling to make sure you're all packed because we're leaving tomorrow for Japan. I guess I'll try back later if you forget to call us first…"
{Shit}
Kenshin was in no mood to greet new sisters. He rolled over on his back. All was silent. The wings of the fan turned around, slowly, slowly, slowly, driving him mad.
"TOMOE!" He screamed, her name stretched out on his long, dying wail. All the air he had taken into his lungs left him, and he didn't take another breath. He didn't want another breath. He wanted to die. But instinct won out, and he took a long, rasping breath that turned into a sob.
Aoshi had heard the scream, but he did nothing. He did not know Kenshin well. They were not friends. Come to think of it, Aoshi didn't really have any friends, though Soujiro followed him around a lot. There was a knock on the door, and he could only assume that it would be Sano, the world's ultimate freeloader. He went to go open the door, but discovered that Soujiro had already done so. He was as surprised and Sou was, though he didn't voice it.
"Sano," Sou asked, almost panicking, "why do you have two duffel bags?"
"Is Kenshin here?" Sano asked back.
"The bags, Sagara." Aoshi replied sternly, crossing his arms. There was no way in hell he was bringing drugs in HIS dorm.
"Not drugs, asshole. I know what you're thinking." Sano grumbled, "Where's Kenshin?"
"There was a pitiful shriek coming from his room and I can only assume that he's not up to having visitors." Aoshi leaned up against the wall behind him. He wanted to go back to his room and finish his nap.
"Please….guys….I know I'm not as close to you as I am with Kenshin, and why he is, who knows. But, please…I need somewhere to stay."
"Like always." Aoshi rolled his eyes.
"It's different this time. My sister is moving. To another city."
They went silent. Aoshi was trying to calculate what exactly Sano meant.
{ 1) Is this "permanent"? 2) Maybe he just had an argument…. 3) Oh crap, maybe he got kicked out 4) I wonder if it would be legal anyway… 5) Dammit, why isn't Kenshin out here to deal with him?! 6)…}
"Hey Sano, anything to help out a fellow band member." Soujiro finally closed the door.
The three boys stared at each other awkwardly before letting Sanosuke into the dorm.
Amakusa swept his hair back into a ponytail. He had been thinking about cutting it, but his hair had always been long. But who was he to be thinking about his hair when Magdaria needed him?
{God, forgive me}
He stepped into the elevator, nervously fingering the note in his pocket with Magdaria's faded photograph, taken way back when the sickness was not so bad. When hospitals were the last thing on their minds, when mother smiled at father, and father had a clear, unrelenting faith in the Creator.
{Back then…}
He turned the corner. Nurses milled around in their blinding white uniforms.
{Blinding white like angels. They are doing God's work.}
He walked into the room. Magdaria was sitting up staring at the TV though he doubted she was actually watching it, because the Teletubbies were dancing around on the screen.
{But Magdaria doesn't believe that. God, forgive her.}
"Hey, sis."
"Amakusa!" She smiled. Today she was in a good mood. Sometimes she didn't want to talk to Amakusa, because she knew he would somehow bring up God, and that was the last thing she wanted to talk about. But she was glad that Amakusa was with her, finally, after not seeing him for so long.
Saitou walked into the room and stopped short, an unappetizing lunch tray in his hands. Amakusa turned.
"You must be Uncle Saitou," Amakusa smiled, extending his hand. Saitou sort of nodded, indicating that he was incapable of a hand shake what with the food tray in his possession.
"So, have you gotten some good bonding done with Uncle?"
"I hate kids." Saitou quipped. Amakusa turned back to his uncle.
"She's not a kid." Amakusa responded,
"I hate teenagers too."
"Then why are you a teacher?"
"That, Amakusa, is the million-dollar question." Saitou's voice hinted at humor, but his face didn't show it. Over her stay, Magdaria came to believe that Saitou's face must have been paralyzed somehow, because he sure as hell didn't have a large range of emotions.
"They're letting me out today." Magdaria changed the subject.
"Oh really?" Amakusa asked.
"I'm sorry you just got here. But you can stay with me and Uncle Saitou for a little while. Right, Uncle?" Magdaria flashed her highly vexed uncle a sweet little smile and his eyebrow twitched. It was taken for "yes".
"All right! We're going to have so much fun!" Magdaria squealed. Amakusa smiled at his baby sister and Saitou rolled his eyes. He walked out of the room with his uneaten tray of food, mimicking Magdaria in a high voice.
"All right! We're going to have so much fun! La le la le da!" But when he was out of the room, he smiled, and dumped the inedible meal in the trash.
"I refuse."
"Come ON!"
Soujiro and Aoshi were arguing again. Behind Soujiro were the rest of the band members, all of whom had their arms crossed and were trying to guilt Aoshi into complying with disapproving faces. And behind Aoshi, well….there was a wall.
"It's just a teeeeeeeny little karaoke bar. No one will even know you're there. Besides, it'll just be like a little warm-up for the band. Get to know your singing voice." Soujiro pleaded.
"I don't sing! You said all I was doing was writing songs and playing the piano on a 'when-needed' basis. I don't need your pathetic little warm-up. I'm saying this once an for all, I AM NOT GOING!"
20 minutes later
"Dude, you should've learned on your b-day at the Kickin' Chicken." Misao shook her head. Aoshi couldn't believe they had literally dragged him out of the dorm and into Kenshin's car. Kenshin was a good driver, mind you, but he was rather distracted and nervous what with four other people in his car (especially the loud-mouthed Sano who was flicking off other drivers just for the hell of doing it). He was also running on empty, he had no money for gas, and the car was not the newest of the new. To be precise it was a Camry Lisa had given him when he had first moved into the dorm.
"THAT'S RIGHT, DUMBASS! JUST SPEED ON UP WHY DON'T YOU?!" Sano screamed out the window, flipping off yet another driver. Kenshin noted that for some funny reason, he always chose the adolescent boys in sports cars. Especially the really muscular guys wearing bandannas on their heads and sunglasses.
"Sano, if you don't stop that, someone is going to either shoot you or try and ram me off of the road- HOLY SHIT!" Kenshin swerved as the driver of a shiny black camaro shot right in front of him. A Burger King take-out bag was thrown out of the passenger side, smashing right into the windshield; lettuce and mayo remained while the bag blew away.
"DAMMIT SANO! What did I tell you?!" Kenshin shrieked. He started his breathing exercises that Julie had tried to teach him whenever he had the urge to hyperventilate, but the truth was, it had been years since she taught him so he didn't remember a damn thing and ended up settling for hyperventilating anyway.
This could have been a ten-minute drive, but what with the chaos, it ended up being about twenty.
The 'karaoke bar' was really a restaurant…..with a small bar in the back, but business was slow and there were just a few high school kids from the area ( and a few recognizable ones from Eldewater) having conversations and, of course, doing a little karaoke. The five band members chose a table, ordered a few glasses of water, and thus began to stare at each other.
"So. Who's going first?" Soujiro asked.
"Why don't YOU go since YOU suggested it?" asked a bitter Aoshi. All eyes turned to Soujiro and he immediately regretted being the first to open his mouth.
"Ummm….okay. I'll show you guys that there's nothing to it!' Sou proudly walked up on stage, and promptly walked right back off.
"What's the matter?" Misao teased.
"I forgot that tonight is the night you have to make up your own words. Hand me a napkin and get me a pen!"
Soujiro worked furiously for five minutes before being satisfied and marching back onstage. The rest of the band members watched in anxiety as Sou walked to his doom. What would happen next?!
Note: I have never ever done karaoke. I have never even been to a place that holds karaoke. I just set this up so I could mess up a few songs and….well…bring in more funny stuffs!
"WHAT?!" Sanosuke bellowed.
"You heard me. Don't yell, people in the other apartments are probably trying to sleep." Adzuma responded softly, taking another sip from her mug and shivering from the warmth that was sent down her throat.
"I can handle you getting a new job, but having to move out into a new apartment in a completely different city is out of the question!"
"Sanosuke, you're not the one in charge, I'm making the decision! You're going with me!"
"Why can't I stay with Kenshin? I'd be allowed to board, you could certainly afford it with the new job!" Sanosuke yelled.
"Because I'm putting you in the hospital!" Adzuma screamed back, slamming her coffee mug down on the table. Remnants of the coffee splattered across the newspaper and unopened mail, causing Adzuma to curse and run to the counter for a paper towel.
"You WHAT?!!!" Sanosuke was straining his voice to an extreme. He had never been more angry in his life.
"The whole reason I got the new job was for you. I'm putting you in the flipping hospital so you'll get help!"
"Help for what?!" Sano threw his hands up in the air, and they fell back to his sides loudly. He slammed his arm down on the counter as he waited for Adzuma to turn back to him.
"All the drugs, you shit head! Don't play dumb with me!"
"I'M NOT GOING TO ANY FUCKING HOSPITAL!" Sanosuke was absolutely livid. Adzuma was his match in any argument, but she easily could recognize that Sanosuke had never been this angry in his life.
"I'm not going. I can handle it myself." Sanosuke had brought his voice down, but he was leaving that apartment.
"Sanosuke-"
"See you…" He had no idea when he'd be returning, or if Adzuma would be there if he decided to return. He didn't finish his goodbye, leaving it as it was.
"We're moving in a week. You'd better pack!" She shouted, just in time before he slammed the door.
{Oh, I'll be moving all right. But I won't be moving with you.}
Kenshin was lying facedown in his bedroom on the carpet. He hardly had the will to breathe, and he just wanted to die. Wanted to die.
Like Tomoe
The phone rang. Lisa left a message.
"Hey Kenshin. Sweetie, we're just calling to make sure you're all packed because we're leaving tomorrow for Japan. I guess I'll try back later if you forget to call us first…"
{Shit}
Kenshin was in no mood to greet new sisters. He rolled over on his back. All was silent. The wings of the fan turned around, slowly, slowly, slowly, driving him mad.
"TOMOE!" He screamed, her name stretched out on his long, dying wail. All the air he had taken into his lungs left him, and he didn't take another breath. He didn't want another breath. He wanted to die. But instinct won out, and he took a long, rasping breath that turned into a sob.
Aoshi had heard the scream, but he did nothing. He did not know Kenshin well. They were not friends. Come to think of it, Aoshi didn't really have any friends, though Soujiro followed him around a lot. There was a knock on the door, and he could only assume that it would be Sano, the world's ultimate freeloader. He went to go open the door, but discovered that Soujiro had already done so. He was as surprised and Sou was, though he didn't voice it.
"Sano," Sou asked, almost panicking, "why do you have two duffel bags?"
"Is Kenshin here?" Sano asked back.
"The bags, Sagara." Aoshi replied sternly, crossing his arms. There was no way in hell he was bringing drugs in HIS dorm.
"Not drugs, asshole. I know what you're thinking." Sano grumbled, "Where's Kenshin?"
"There was a pitiful shriek coming from his room and I can only assume that he's not up to having visitors." Aoshi leaned up against the wall behind him. He wanted to go back to his room and finish his nap.
"Please….guys….I know I'm not as close to you as I am with Kenshin, and why he is, who knows. But, please…I need somewhere to stay."
"Like always." Aoshi rolled his eyes.
"It's different this time. My sister is moving. To another city."
They went silent. Aoshi was trying to calculate what exactly Sano meant.
{ 1) Is this "permanent"? 2) Maybe he just had an argument…. 3) Oh crap, maybe he got kicked out 4) I wonder if it would be legal anyway… 5) Dammit, why isn't Kenshin out here to deal with him?! 6)…}
"Hey Sano, anything to help out a fellow band member." Soujiro finally closed the door.
The three boys stared at each other awkwardly before letting Sanosuke into the dorm.
Amakusa swept his hair back into a ponytail. He had been thinking about cutting it, but his hair had always been long. But who was he to be thinking about his hair when Magdaria needed him?
{God, forgive me}
He stepped into the elevator, nervously fingering the note in his pocket with Magdaria's faded photograph, taken way back when the sickness was not so bad. When hospitals were the last thing on their minds, when mother smiled at father, and father had a clear, unrelenting faith in the Creator.
{Back then…}
He turned the corner. Nurses milled around in their blinding white uniforms.
{Blinding white like angels. They are doing God's work.}
He walked into the room. Magdaria was sitting up staring at the TV though he doubted she was actually watching it, because the Teletubbies were dancing around on the screen.
{But Magdaria doesn't believe that. God, forgive her.}
"Hey, sis."
"Amakusa!" She smiled. Today she was in a good mood. Sometimes she didn't want to talk to Amakusa, because she knew he would somehow bring up God, and that was the last thing she wanted to talk about. But she was glad that Amakusa was with her, finally, after not seeing him for so long.
Saitou walked into the room and stopped short, an unappetizing lunch tray in his hands. Amakusa turned.
"You must be Uncle Saitou," Amakusa smiled, extending his hand. Saitou sort of nodded, indicating that he was incapable of a hand shake what with the food tray in his possession.
"So, have you gotten some good bonding done with Uncle?"
"I hate kids." Saitou quipped. Amakusa turned back to his uncle.
"She's not a kid." Amakusa responded,
"I hate teenagers too."
"Then why are you a teacher?"
"That, Amakusa, is the million-dollar question." Saitou's voice hinted at humor, but his face didn't show it. Over her stay, Magdaria came to believe that Saitou's face must have been paralyzed somehow, because he sure as hell didn't have a large range of emotions.
"They're letting me out today." Magdaria changed the subject.
"Oh really?" Amakusa asked.
"I'm sorry you just got here. But you can stay with me and Uncle Saitou for a little while. Right, Uncle?" Magdaria flashed her highly vexed uncle a sweet little smile and his eyebrow twitched. It was taken for "yes".
"All right! We're going to have so much fun!" Magdaria squealed. Amakusa smiled at his baby sister and Saitou rolled his eyes. He walked out of the room with his uneaten tray of food, mimicking Magdaria in a high voice.
"All right! We're going to have so much fun! La le la le da!" But when he was out of the room, he smiled, and dumped the inedible meal in the trash.
"I refuse."
"Come ON!"
Soujiro and Aoshi were arguing again. Behind Soujiro were the rest of the band members, all of whom had their arms crossed and were trying to guilt Aoshi into complying with disapproving faces. And behind Aoshi, well….there was a wall.
"It's just a teeeeeeeny little karaoke bar. No one will even know you're there. Besides, it'll just be like a little warm-up for the band. Get to know your singing voice." Soujiro pleaded.
"I don't sing! You said all I was doing was writing songs and playing the piano on a 'when-needed' basis. I don't need your pathetic little warm-up. I'm saying this once an for all, I AM NOT GOING!"
20 minutes later
"Dude, you should've learned on your b-day at the Kickin' Chicken." Misao shook her head. Aoshi couldn't believe they had literally dragged him out of the dorm and into Kenshin's car. Kenshin was a good driver, mind you, but he was rather distracted and nervous what with four other people in his car (especially the loud-mouthed Sano who was flicking off other drivers just for the hell of doing it). He was also running on empty, he had no money for gas, and the car was not the newest of the new. To be precise it was a Camry Lisa had given him when he had first moved into the dorm.
"THAT'S RIGHT, DUMBASS! JUST SPEED ON UP WHY DON'T YOU?!" Sano screamed out the window, flipping off yet another driver. Kenshin noted that for some funny reason, he always chose the adolescent boys in sports cars. Especially the really muscular guys wearing bandannas on their heads and sunglasses.
"Sano, if you don't stop that, someone is going to either shoot you or try and ram me off of the road- HOLY SHIT!" Kenshin swerved as the driver of a shiny black camaro shot right in front of him. A Burger King take-out bag was thrown out of the passenger side, smashing right into the windshield; lettuce and mayo remained while the bag blew away.
"DAMMIT SANO! What did I tell you?!" Kenshin shrieked. He started his breathing exercises that Julie had tried to teach him whenever he had the urge to hyperventilate, but the truth was, it had been years since she taught him so he didn't remember a damn thing and ended up settling for hyperventilating anyway.
This could have been a ten-minute drive, but what with the chaos, it ended up being about twenty.
The 'karaoke bar' was really a restaurant…..with a small bar in the back, but business was slow and there were just a few high school kids from the area ( and a few recognizable ones from Eldewater) having conversations and, of course, doing a little karaoke. The five band members chose a table, ordered a few glasses of water, and thus began to stare at each other.
"So. Who's going first?" Soujiro asked.
"Why don't YOU go since YOU suggested it?" asked a bitter Aoshi. All eyes turned to Soujiro and he immediately regretted being the first to open his mouth.
"Ummm….okay. I'll show you guys that there's nothing to it!' Sou proudly walked up on stage, and promptly walked right back off.
"What's the matter?" Misao teased.
"I forgot that tonight is the night you have to make up your own words. Hand me a napkin and get me a pen!"
Soujiro worked furiously for five minutes before being satisfied and marching back onstage. The rest of the band members watched in anxiety as Sou walked to his doom. What would happen next?!
Note: I have never ever done karaoke. I have never even been to a place that holds karaoke. I just set this up so I could mess up a few songs and….well…bring in more funny stuffs!