Rating: K

#18 "Say ahh…"

"Say ahh…"

Shizuka rolled her eyes. You know, the thing her ophthalmologist was supposed to be checking? Instead of her throat?

"Shizuka-chan," the doctor chided condescendingly, "the more difficulty you give me, the longer this will take."

Shizuka stuck out her tongue. "Air, ah eh-uh?"

He gave her a weary look. "Yes, that's better." He took out a tongue depressor and pushed down on her tongue, making her gag. "Yes, everything looks good back there," he muttered as he finally pulled out the tongue depressor.

"Almost as if it weren't my throat that was the problem," Shizuka said dryly.

"Shizuka!" her mother sighed, although it was a weak reprimand. She was used to Shizuka's snarky banter with Dr. Takahashi. They'd been seeing him since they moved to Tokyo over seven years ago, after all.

"You know as well as I do that there's no point in doing this if you've got a cold or an infection," the doctor said. "All right, onto the main event then. Let's have a look at those eyes."

"Still hazel," Shizuka said, trying to mask her nervousness. She leaned back in her seat and let him put the drops in that would dilate her eyes. She hated those drops; they always stung and it was nearly impossible to see afterwards. That part usually hadn't been a problem for her in the past since she couldn't see well to begin with. But now that everything was clear she wanted to keep it that way.

Dr. Takahashi shined a light in her eyes, looked at them with his machines, did all the usual tests that she knew by rote. Finally he was finished.

"Well?" her mother said, her voice sounding as nervous as Shizuka felt.

Dr. Takahashi smiled. "They look perfect. No unusual scaring, no post-op problems, nothing out of place."

Shizuka and her mother let out a unison sigh of relief, and then the doctor stuck his hand out at her. "Well, Shizuka, it's been nice knowing you."

She looked at him, squinting because of the dilation. "What?"

"This is your last post-op exam. You're done. Go enjoy life and don't darken my door again."

She blinked. "I'm… done?"

"You're done. The surgery was a complete success. Everything's fine. You're free to go."

"Oh, Shizuka!" her mother said, sweeping her into her arms and hugging her tightly, kissing her several times like she was a small child.

"Mom!" Shizuka cried, struggling away from her overexcited mother.

"Oh, Dr. Takahashi, thank you so much," her mother turned her exuberance on the poor doctor and Shizuka took the opportunity to make her escape from the examining room. She wound her way through the familiar halls to the waiting room, opening the door with a bang.

Startled, Katsuya jumped up from the seat where he'd been waiting. He'd come all the way from Domino just for this, but had balked at actually going into the examining room with them, preferring to wait out here instead. "I'll just play with the blocks," he'd said with a grin and then she'd remembered the doctor she used to go to in Domino and how she and her brother would play with the blocks in the waiting room and she was so happy to have him back in her life again.

But now he was alarmed by her sudden dramatic appearance. "Shizuka! What's wrong?" he cried.

She couldn't see him well because the dilation made everything blurry, but after fourteen years of deteriorating eyesight, she'd gotten good at interpreting blurs and she could tell he looked worried. "Why are you squinting like that?" he asked. "Did that quack mess something up? I swear—"

"Big Brother, stop, it's just the drops the doctor used to dilate my eyes so he could see inside. I'm fine."

"You're fine?" Katsuya asked, unconvinced.

She threw her arms around his neck. "Better than fine. I'm done!" she cried happily. "He said everything healed perfectly and I don't have to come back anymore!"

"You… he… you…" her brother stammered before finally choking out, "Really?"

"Really. And it's all because of you." She hugged him tighter until he had to pull back.

"Sis, I can't breathe!" he cried, then a wide, goofy grin spread across his face. In a sudden movement that caught her completely off guard, he grabbed her, hoisting her off the floor like a giant rag doll and spinning her around. "WooHOOO!"

"What on earth…?" she heard her mother say from the door into the waiting room and Shizuka thought her brother would stop stiffen like he usually did whenever their mother was around—when he wasn't avoiding her altogether, that is. But he didn't stop; he swung her around one more time for good measure before dropping her, slightly dizzy onto the floor. Her mother smiled. "I take it Shizuka told you the good news, Katsuya," she said cautiously.

"You better believe it!" he said, still with the broad goofy grin. "Okay, so what are we gonna do to celebrate?"

"Nothing 'til the eye drops wear off," Shizuka said. "Everything's too bright and blurry right now."

"And that's normal?"

"Yes, Big Brother," she sighed.

"Okay then. So after the drops wear off, what do we do to celebrate? I'm in Tokyo for three whole days and I've got five thousand yen burning a hole in my pocket that I've been saving from my paper route. What do you wanna do?"

"Ooh, let's go to Aoi-Marushin! I'm totally in the mood for tempura!"

"Aoi-Marushin it is then."

"And then a movie! The drops will have worn off by the time we're done eating."

"You got it, Sis."

"Katsuya, you don't have to spend your money," their mother said. "You…." She paused, and Shizuka could hear the catch in her voice. "You've already done so much."

He looked down, shrugging. "I just did what I had to, Ma. No big."

"You're wrong. It's very big. I… here Shizuka, I have money for you. You kids do whatever you like, on me."

"Ma…" Katsuya protested.

"No, Katsuya, please. Keep your money. You worked hard for it."

He looked up past Shizuka at their mother. "I… Ma… you wanna come with?"

Shizuka held her breath, waiting for a reply. "No," her mother said slowly, "I think it should just be you and Shizuka. You deserve this chance to celebrate together."

There was another pause and then he nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Ma."

"Thank you, Katsuya."

Shizuka let out her breath, not knowing if she was relieved or disappointed. She took the bills her mother had put down on one of the end tables and slipped them into her purse.

"Come on, Sis, you don't need to see well to eat. Let's blow this place and go get some tempura right now. I'm starved!"

Shizuka grinned. "Oh, there's a surprise."

"Hey, watch it!" he elbowed her playfully as he guided her out the door. As she crossed the threshold and the sun nearly blinded her like it always did when she left Dr. Takahashi's office, it sunk in. This was her last time. She would never have to come back.

"You coming?" her brother asked, noting her hesitation.

"You bet," she smiled, threading her arm through her brother's and stepping out into the sunshine, leaving the shadowed doorway of the ophthalmologist office behind.