Author's Note: Eh, this is a minor chapter. Whatever.
Chapter 11 (Hearts For The Heartless)
"Kita, over here! I think this is what you're looking for." Hoshiko shouted with an almost sing-song tone from the opposite side of the convenience store. After school, Kita and Hoshiko had decided to go shop for chocolates for Valentine's Day because it was approaching quickly. Not to mention the fact that they hadn't seen much of each other lately so it was nice to be able to spend at least a little bit of time together. The store was surprisingly vacant of people considering that it was only a few days before Valentine's Day. They had been expecting the place to be crawling with women fighting over who would get the last box of creamy caramels.
School had let out early that day and Kita hadn't informed anyone at the Sohma Estate so there was no way Akito would be expecting her early. She had to get the candy and she couldn't think of any other possible way to do it but to buy it now.
Kita had spent the last two nights sleeping on Akito's futon. Both times, he had been very sick and uncharacteristically loving towards her. Usually the love part is covered by the desire to get her on the floor part. In the past few days though, he didn't try to push her beyond her limits, not that he even had the energy to. He would just constantly want to sit with her and tell her she's beautiful and that he loves her.
Kita thought it was strange that all of a sudden he changed from being so violent and lascivious to becoming so positively...sweet. It probably had to do with the illness but even that wasn't a total explanation. Again, Kita got that sense that there was something important that she didn't know about him.
He was a silent sleeper. He didn't snore, or talk, or even move. He would just lay there like a fresh corpse, still blessed with faint traces of life lingering in his cheeks and a little in his lips. That first time she had stayed with him, after Kita had woken up for school, she had been terrified that he had stopped breathing while he was asleep. She had to actually check his pulse and put her hand on his stomach to make sure air was still passing through his lungs.
No matter how sick he is today, I can't stay with him again, Kita told herself. She didn't want him getting used to her sleeping next to him every night because if he did, he might start demanding it all the time no matter what his physical state was. And if she were to stay when he was feeling good, it would be making things all too easy for him.
Currently, she was stuck wandering through the cosmetics aisle, initially trying to find where the candy was but getting distracted by some new powder and foundation combo. She didn't frequently go to this store and it changed around so often but it was the only place that was having a sale on Valentine's Day candy so it was their first pick.
"Over where?" she shouted back into the abyss of hygiene products and breakfast cereals.
"Three, no wait, four aisles over. Near the front."
Kita took the instructions and found Hoshi, sitting on the floor of the aisle in front of a monumental display of every chocolate and processed sugar product with hearts on it that you could ever hope to find. The entire aisle seemed to be packed full for women who venture out and purchase sweets for their husband, boyfriend, or 'just friend.'
"Whoa." Kita said, gazing intimidated up at the pink, white, and red mountain.
"Yeah. That is one shit-load of chocolate. We better start searching." Hoshi said, standing up. "Hey, what are you getting for Rai? I want to make sure we aren't getting him the same thing." She picked up a variety pack of chocolates and inspected the back for its contents.
"I was going to get him a big package of Reverse Pocky sticks actually." Kita said, finding the sticks and holding them up.
"Good. I was going to get him the variety. He seriously likes everything." she said, tossing the box into her shopper's bag. Kita nodded. It was true. When it came to candy, Rai wasn't picky. He once said, as long as it's covered in chocolate, it's good.
One down, Kita thought, putting the Pocky sticks in her bag.
With all the candy in front of them, buying for everyone else was simple. She got caramel-filled chocolates for Hatori, milk chocolate for Shigure, white and milk chocolate swirl for Hatsuharu, multicolored candy-coated chocolates for Momiji, butter creams for Kureno, and fruit creams for Hoshi.
As she moved down the aisle, she was reminded of someone who she wouldn't have to buy for this year. In front of her on the bottom shelf were peppermint chocolates, her father's favorite. She shakingly reached down and picked up a small box of them that resembled the box of chocolates she had bought for him last year. He had been so surprised and grateful for the gesture, he had enthusiastically eaten them all that night. She ran her finger over the edge of the box and placed it in her shopper's bag. Then she grabbed another box of them and put them next to the pervious box. Her mother's favorite were the peppermints too.
Now for the hardest person to shop for, Akito. Kita wasn't even sure if he liked chocolate since he really didn't seem to like much of anything. Plus, surrounded by all the pink and white hearts made her think he would be sickened to even stand within three meters of the aisle.
"Turn around." Hoshi said randomly.
"What?" Kita asked, realizing that she had been deep in thought.
"Turn around. I'm picking up something for you and I want to be able to pay for it without you seeing what it is." she said, holding her shopper's bag behind her back.
"Okay, turning around." Kita rotated to face the back of the aisle, where all the non-Valentine's candy was located. Amidst the bright-toned packaging and flashy gimmicks, one particular box caught Kita's eye.
It was a sort of metallic black box, pretty much a very dark gray shade, that caught the light in just the right way so that you were drawn to it. Shiny but not garish.
Kita walked over and picked up the box. Dark chocolates. She smiled and put them in her bag. Done.
"Hoshi, am I allowed to go pay for these now?" Kita shouted out in no specific direction.
"Yeah, I'm done." she shouted back from the front of the store.
Kita loaded her goods onto the counter and grabbed her wallet from her schoolbag.
The money Kita had for the chocolates had come straight from her dad's wallet. She wasn't allowed to access money from any bank accounts and she didn't have a job so all that was really left was the money directly from his wallet and the various monetary pieces he had hidden around the house in case of an emergency. It pained her to use the money, it felt like stealing, but she really didn't have any other options.
She watched the peppermint chocolates get rung up and found her heart breaking anew.
"So, where do you want to go now?" Hoshi asked Kita, drumming her fingernails on the counter. She was clearly irritating the check-out lady but didn't seem to notice or care.
I'm out, Kita pondered, finding the concept to be practically unheard of in recent times. I am currently free to do whatever I want for another hour without any obligations. I don't have to go to school or see Akito if I don't want to.
But when she really thought about it, she wasn't in the mood to do much of anything. She was an introvert by nature anyway. On top of that, her back and leg muscles had been infiltrated by shooting pains that would not cease and she really couldn't think of anything she'd rather do than sleep or read or even comfort Akito because she really had no energy for anything else.
"I don't feel right." Kita stated vaguely. "We could walk around a bit or something but I'm not up for anything too strenuous right now." Her voice sounded more melancholy than she would have liked.
Hoshiko raised an eyebrow. This wasn't normal Kita. Kita had never been anything resembling the life of the party prior to her father's death but she had always at least been willing to bare an event for the promise of a sleepover or seeing a late-night movie afterwards. She would approach any social gathering with an awkward smile and a corner to stand in while she contently observed everyone else acting wild. This new Kita didn't want to do anything at all. This new Kita knew nothing beyond wallowing and staying shut inside the Sohma gates. This new Kita walked around with her head down like she was going to burst into tears at any given moment but looked too nullified of emotion to actually cry. I want the old Kita back, Hoshiko decided.
"Listen Kita. Sometime soon, you, Rai, and I are going to go out like old times. We could go bowling and laugh about how we suck or drag Rai shopping or something, anything to bring you out of this funk you're in."
Kita simply nodded, knowing the likelihood of those plans ever taking place was slim.
"For now, I'm going to take you to a restaurant and we'll split the biggest dessert they have, on me, because you need human interaction. And you've been looking kind of skinny lately and I want to make sure you're getting your nutrients."
The corners of Kita's lips curled into a fleeting smile.
"See there's some old Kita coming back. Let's go!" she proclaimed, grabbing her hand and dragging her out of the store.
"I have to be home in an hour though, okay?" Kita said, but Hoshi didn't seem to hear her. In Hoshi's mind, time didn't exist.
Kita reached into her schoolbag pocket and turned on her cell phone to see what time it was.
Hoshiko may have all the time in the world, but I've got to meet a sick boy in an hour and if I don't show, he'll be mad.