My Happiness, My Heartbreak
Author's Notes: Darker, deeper…better?
We can always hope, can't we?
Trust the author: I like this one. Just make it past the long personality- and history-forming descriptions, and I think everyone will be fine.
I beg of you: please do not hesitate to comment, compliment or critique. I believe my style was somehow different (positive or negative, that is for all of you to decide) in this chapter.
Disclaimer: All characters and places are property of the manga-ka CLAMP and companies related to it. Only the plot and story is my intellectual product.
Chapter Two: The Paralyzed Stranger
Sakura Kinomoto was walking tiredly home from her work at the flower shop. Awhile ago, the day held no sign of the current rainy conditions: the sky was blue, the clouds were pure white, the sun was shining brightly gold and most of all the weatherman said nothing of a storm. Then again, nobody said that people should trust media broadcasters.
A cheap, old umbrella was no match against the batter and beating of the heavy rain. The dark shadows forming in the blackened heavens hid the stars and moon from view, and threatened all below them with the fury of water. Lightning streaked across them in large, almost artistic forms. Thunder followed with near-music quality, accompanied by the song of nocturne birds and falling drops of water. Overall, a thick curtain of fog gave everything a dream-like quality.
Despite this natural symphony of colors and sounds, not many were on the flooded sidewalk to observe it. Only the few remaining pedestrians were racing against time and precipitation to make it to the safety of their homes, and the steady tap of footsteps were decreasing more and more in occurrence. There were a few irritating police sirens erupting off somewhere, and scattered bangs of pots and pans.
Closing the useless, torn umbrella in frustration, Sakura tossed the wrecked thing to the side as if no more important than litter. Pulling up her inadequate blouse in a failed attempt for cover, she growled with annoyance and ventured into the lonely ways already half-soaked.
For her, this was life as she knew it. As a near-bankrupt wretch, living on a small quantity of food and an even tinier apartment to supply for education, she didn't find that situation too surprising…Fate constantly threw minor disasters at her: should it come in the form of academics, work, money, lovelife (rather, lack thereof) or nature.
Either way, things were far from glamorous.
Instead of taking the normal, cemented path to home (if one would call her broken, leaking-roof house a 'home'), she took the shorter path home. The trail through the park cut travel time nearly in half, but there was the trouble of mud, silt and other annoying things.
Still, Sakura was already yards into the park, and trying to ignore the discomfort that began to seep into her feet. The place wasn't as picturesque as before: Penguin Park was no longer the clean, well-kept playground that it used to be. The swing chains had broken over so many years of overweight children, the see-saw jammed from the effect of erosion, and the large penguin's paint was turning white with age.
These nostalgic thoughts were cut short as she tripped unceremoniously unto the wet soil, scraping her face on the littered rocks. Cursing inwardly, she lay there for a few moments before standing up lazily. Yet as she stood upright, some unknown object crashed full-on unto her.
-a yelp erupted.
Scrambling upright quickly, she wondered what strange woodland creature she might have encountered. A deer, perhaps? Or some kind of common mammal?
Clicking in annoyance, she began to walk ahead, but felt the same kind of obstacle. Stooping down, she squinted in the low light to check what was preventing her from moving. Seeing the faint outline of a ruffled, uneven object, she bent lower to see clearer.
As she did so, Sakura suddenly detected the scent of blood. Did she…kill something by crashing into it?
Reaching out to touch the mysterious thing cautiously, she recognized the texture of sodden cloth. She then decided it might have been one of those homeless, street-stalkers who were one of the only people that were poorer than her.
Backing up with disgust, she sidestepped a few and continued on her way, that is, until she heard something through the rain.
"Help me…"
The rusty, broken voice was barely audible, but held such a level of intensity that even Sakura Kinomoto had to stop in her tracks. Retracing her footsteps, she knelt by the stranger and strained to see a face.
Brushing short dirt-laced hair to the side, she at first thought that it was an elderly-looking man, but as the pouring water washed the muck away, the person was revealed to be no older than herself. His face was still contorted in an expression of pain, and added years to his actual age.
"What do you want me to do?" Sakura asked coldly, only curious about the miserable beggar who just happened to bump into her. "Please, help me…" Was the forced reply.
She was about to leave the cursed creature on the grass when she noticed something on her hand. There was the stain of scarlet liquid. Suddenly feeling a streak of concern, Sakura slung her small backpack over the shoulder and carried the seemingly lifeless body up.
The 'beggar' wasn't as heavy as she thought he would be; Sakura didn't have much of a difficulty lifting him off the ground. Fortunately for both her and the unknown person, her house was only a few minutes away.
In spite of this fact, her legs nearly didn't make it up the stairs of the apartment building. Sakura was only able to open the door of her small place because she herself collapsed. From the factors of a tiring day and overtime, the weathering of the season and this, the exhausted girl had every reason to fall over.
Still, even at nine 'o clock, the auburn-haired girl managed to get back on her feet, turn on the lights, put the backpack on the kitchen table and take out the extra folding bed. Sakura's mind was too fatigued to criticize her decision of bringing a street rat home.
What was peculiar was that the stranger was bleeding steadily from the back. The fluid had seeped down across his face and shoulders, soiling her white extra bed red only moments from being pulled out. But not even the sight of blood could bring Sakura back from the brink of slumber. She was asleep before her hair met the pillow.
…………………………………………………………………………………
It was pitch dark when her eyes reopened. The digital clock read plain black, as the batteries had run out just moments before. The small window showed no light at all, and the only luminance was the small space between the door and the floor.
Sitting up, wide awake though still dead-tired, Sakura looked all around her. Everything was normal enough, and looked the same way it had always been on regular nights.
But the night before wasn't a regular night.
Noticing that the empty bed was gone from sight, the stranger gone like a passing moment, she began to doubt if the events of the previous evening were real at all. There were many feelings she had that told her it was all just some strange dream…but sense told her otherwise.
The only thing that made her stand up was the smell of blood in the air.
Tossing the thin blanket to the side, she made for the door. Her runaway guest left a trail of colored drops leading to the exit. The doorknob was marked with the same half-dried quality of blood, and the hallway outside her apartment bore irregular spatters of the liquid.
Sakura followed them, observing the trickle line getting narrower and narrower. She went like this till she finally came to a stop:
It was the stairs.
The trail disappeared, then created large stains on the third, eighth and eleventh steps that connected to each other with thread-thin spurts. Sakura's usually indifferent eyes widened to what she saw.
This wasn't the end of the shocking scene. At the foot of the stairs was a pool of said liquid, scattered randomly in a short area. A strange track led to the corner, showing fingerprints and scrapes.
Quickly bounding down the stairs, Sakura turned the corner and backed away in near-horror. She began to run back to her apartment upstairs, but noticed that her bunny-shoes were making stamps where they went.
Going back, she carefully knelt down beside the stranger. He looked quite dead…except for the fact that his chest was rising and falling just like any other person would.
Exhaling a long sigh of dear relief, she removed her stained slippers for the moment and leapt up the stairs, skipping the bloodied steps. Rummaging through her laundry for a clean towel, she finally found one and went back downstairs.
Sakura began to clean the spots from the stranger's face when she heard the sound of footsteps. Gasping sharply, she jumped up from where she was sitting down and peered through the slits in the staircase rail.
It was her landlord, Touya Mitokono, ready for his regular midnight coffee break.
Knowing that the irritable and constantly busy young man wouldn't be too happy with the mess in the landing, she tried to think quickly of a plan.
"Good evening, Touya-san!" Sakura greeted brightly, and Touya-san nearly jumped through the ceiling in surprise.
"Good morning Sakura. What would you be doing at this hour of the morning?" He sternly asked, clearly annoyed. Glancing at the clock, Sakura finally figured out the time. It was 3:48 in the morning.
"I just wanted to check if my umbrella was here or not. I think not. Perhaps I left it at the florist's sh-" The twenty-one year old girl said, but was cut off short.
Touya-san didn't look too pleased. "I wonder why you sound to sunny…"
Gulping, Sakura knew what he was talking about. The sunniest she got was when she got a good grade or a raise at work, and even then she was a cloudy day with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms.
"No, Touya-san, I was given a promotion."
"In a florist shop?" he replied, mocking her occupation.
"Yes, from arrangements to that and cashier work."
Touya-san lifted an eyebrow and said, "Well, see now, all this has caused be to lose my caffeine-need. I guess I should thank you. Hmph, good morning then."
And so he vanished in the same way he came: sleepy.
Almost giggling in happiness and luck, Sakura almost forgot why she was downstairs at nearly four in the morning…but fortunately she didn't. She was walking back when she heard his voice call:
"Take care of yourself Sakura."
She smiled faintly. Touya-san was short-tempered, but cared a lot for her…a little like a big brother. Or was it something closer? Either way, it didn't matter to Sakura.
…………………………………………………………………………………
It was sunny…even with such a small window, the rays of light came in pouring gold. Still, the warmth wasn't overwhelming, and there was the somehow good smell of drying leaves that drifted in from the outside.
Amber eyes opened suddenly to dull pain and aching. Immediately alert, he stood quickly upright despite his stiffness…he saw bandages all over his torso and limbs, as well as parts of his face.
Also, he found that he wasn't paralyzed any longer.
Then he remembered. The flashes. Just a short moment. Then blinding pain. A bullet or two, it was hard to tell. Then falling to the ground. Paralyzed from the waist down. Blackness coming…
He was snapped from his dark recounting by a light sneeze. He found it somehow…cute.
There was a girl sitting on a computer chair, rubbing her nose and half-asleep. She had short golden-brown hair falling down in soft sweeps, and seemed no more than twenty-three: his own age.
"Oh…so you're awake." Sakura asked, not quite herself yet. She let out a large yawn, stretching her arms and legs. Steadying herself upright, she blinked tiredly.
"No point going to the university today…I'm already late…" she continued, not minding in the least. It was her day off today at th floral shop too, and she deserved a lot of rest.
"Sakura." The young man said.
Stunned, Sakura became entirely awake. "How did you know my name!"
"It says so on your ID." He replied calmly. His eyes were expressionless.
Slightly embarrassed, Sakura changed the subject. "So…what's your name?"
"My name…I've forgotten my real one." The stranger replied, casting his eyes down. Sakura felt a sharp shard of pity for him, but then he continued,
"Li."