A/N: If you're not in a good mood then don't read this because this is 'one of THE CHAPTERS that will exhaust you just as much as it did me!
Chapter 6
The Truth
Theo felt the cool dew and warm sweet dampen his clothes as he stood motionless behind Tsukushi. He breathed heavily from exhaustion and from the emotional impact of what he saw before him. Slowly the pieces of puzzles moved in his mind but he couldn't put the picture together, and though he wanted to ask a thousand questions of Tsukushi but one look at the girl in front of him left him speechless.
Tsukushi let her hands move slowly over the letters that spelt out her mother's name, the cold, rough granite of the tombstone was as always a comforting feeling against her skin. She shifted her legs to knell comfortably in front of the grave, she turned and motioned silently for Theo to join her, which he did after a few moments hesitation.
After what seemed hours of silence between the two children, Tsukushi finally spoke,
"Mom, this is…Doumyouji Tsukasa, he's my friend."
Tsukasa tooka sharp intake of breath when he heard Tsukushi call him by his real name. Shaking uncontrollably he stood up and walked a few steps away from Tsukushi. He felt himself mentally counting in his head to calm himself down, just like Tsukushi had told him to, and he cursed and loved how much she had affected him, he began to clench and unclench his fists as he attempted to speak, but no words formed in his mouth instead he continued to stare at the small angelic figure staring back up at him.
Tsukushi knew that that this moment would eventually come and she felt her eyes water as she saw something akin to hatred in Tsukasa's face. She sighed heavily before grabbing his hand and forcing him to return the ground beside her.
"I'll start at the beginning…" Tsukushi finally said when Tsukasa didn't speak, "firstly, my name isn't Makino Tsukushi….its Oshiro Kieko."
Tsukasa's mouth widened when what Tsukushi or who he thought was Tsukushi had spoken. Tsukushi nodded to the question that Tsukusa had been eternally thinking.
"Yes, I'm the daughter of that 'Oshiro' the heiress to the Oshiro family fortune, second only to your own family in all of Japan," here Tsukushi looked intently at Tsukusa as to see whether he was prepared for what she was going to say, but Tsukasa was not longer looking at Tsukushi but at his hands.
Tsukushi only continued when Tsukasa took her hand in his and gently squeezed it.
"My mother believed that her life had been perfect, when I say that I'm not saying she cared for the fortune and the people falling at her feet, rather because of her highschool sweethear andlove of her life…Doumyouji Tsukasa."
At this last statement Tsukasa's grip slackened.
"Not only that but she told me that there were three other people that she loved dearly, they were Hanazawa, Nishikado and Mimasaka… she had known them all since childhood and they were closer than family and nothing could ever come between them…at least that's what she had thought. When they were around they're twenties something happened, Doumyouji…your dad, was involved in a car accident. It was serious, they didn't know if he would ever recover…my mother cried for days on end as she sat beside his unconscious body. It would be almost a year before he would regain consciousness and during that time my mother became friends with a nurse at the hospital, she helped my mother by listening to her fears for your fathers life."
Tsukasa noticed bitterness in Tskushi's voice and felt her grip on his hand tighten but not wanting to disturb her he continued to listen silently.
"The nurse rearranged her shifts just to be able to spend time with my mother and she gave my mother supportive advice and even eventually persuaded my mother to stop feeling guilty about wanting to move on with her life," Tsukushi paused for a moment before laughing bitterly, "She even introduced my mother to a nice doctor in the hospital…of course my mother still didn't feel right about dating another man when Doumyouji was in a coma but she finally gave in to the nurse's encouragement and the doctor's charms.
Not long after this she decided to leave Japan for a few years with her new husband…the handsome and charming doctor. Her family and friends didn't approve but my mother never cared even if it meant severing all ties with everyone she had known which included the man she loved, she believed…perhaps I should say wished that her life was regaining some sense of normalcy."
Tears slowly fell from Tsukushi's eyes as she remembered all the times she had seen her mother's bruised and blooded body after her father had beaten her unconscious. She released Tsukasa's hand and took the teddy bear from under her jumper, hugging the bear tightly she shook her head before continuing her story.
"Some years later, my mother returned to Japan…her marriage with her drug abusing husband draining all the happiness in her life and she swore that she would no longer put up with a physically and emotionally abusive husband, especially since she had discovered that she was pregnant. The first thing she did was to find her one remaining friend in Japan, the kind nurse.
The shock she felt when she discovered that that nurse had since married your father was heart-wrenchingly unbearable for her."
Tsukushi turned to look intently into Tsukasa's eyes,
"Yes, Nurse Kaede had helped your slightly amnesic father recover from his injuries, and despair of losing the love of his life…yes, she had been very helpful so helpful that your father soon became so dependant on her that he believed himself in love.
Well once my mother had learned this fact she finally saw Kaede for the conniving and manipulative witch that she was and she was determined to contact your father. But of course Kaede had long since known of my mothers return to Japan after all my father the drug addicted doctor was her brother."
"I don't have an uncle!" Tsukasa finally interrupted unable to keep the anger and frustration from his voice.
"Yes, you do," here Tsukushi placed the bear on her lap and ripped his stomach open to reveal not only white fluff but documents and photos. Tsukushi sifted through the photos before handing over a photo to Tsukasa.
Tsukasa stared dumfounded at the photo, what he saw was his mother in her twentiesdressed distinctly in a nurse uniform standing smiling beside a young couple, the man wearing a white doctor's coat had his arm protectively on the young woman's shoulders. The face of the man however was what struck himmost, the man did in fact look a great deal like his mother the same sharp nose, narrow eyes and stern jaw. Tsukasa's hand shook slightly as he continued to look at the picture. He slowly closed his eyes as all the information that Tsukushi had told him slowly began to sound more real and not just some tale that a single mother would tell her daughter.
Tsukasa suddenly jumped up and without looking at Tsukushi ran through the graveyard, he didn't care that his legs ached or that Tsukushi was calling his name in the distance he only wanted to pretend that all this was a dream, he cursed loudly as the tears that he had fought were now falling freely down his face.
Tsukushi ran as fast as she could but she knew that there was no way to catch up to Tsukasa, so she finally fell to her knees in the middle of the empty street and screamed through gasping breathes,
"TSUKASA…PLEASE…BELIEVE…IN...ME!"
A/N: whew…that was exhausting...thanks for the reviews! Please review and tell me what you think because I'm not sure I caught all my mistakes as I wrote this one sleepless night. I hope I got everyone's names right…
Fluffy-kins: Aww you're really sweet…never enough compliments for a writer lol
Xyjah: Thanks for you review…do you mean literal clarification or dividers between scenes? And that first chapter was terrible I know lol.
UnknownDiamond: Do you want to know a secret?...I've already written the 6 chapters of the sequel to this story, when Tsukasa and Tsukushi are adults. SHHH :P
Ryoumi: Thank-you just doesn't do justice to the appreciation I feel for your comments.
Melody: Hi, I'm working on it :)
Jennyroses: ohhh such a good question…it'll all be revealed soon
I–Smiles-U: Thanks!...what's 'dolphin bay'?
Akai Chou: I know don't you just love TXT stories lol
BarbiGurl: Hope this makes you happy!
Mike: hey, short for Micheal right?...well that person is important later…(but don't tell anyone)
Sweet chick O8: interesting name, and this story really is for my own amusement lol but I've just had final exams to worry about (I'm a 3rd year University student btw)
Purebloodwitch: always good to hear from you!
HYDfan: Hmmm Kaede is a tricky character but fun to write so just wait and see how it all pans out.