1. The first time
Saijou Claudine, the star.
Or that's what she'd like to see herself as, her name shining brightly in the theaters' lighted signs all over Japan, but the cruel reality is that she's just another average actress.
Determined to change that and make a name by herself, Claudine starts to work in an upcoming play in the hopes that this one would finally be the play to catapult her into fame and allow her to succeed in establishing herself as one of the best actresses of the present times.
Every day, she practices hard, whether it's alone or with the help of her castmates until late hours at evening. She practices until she's so exhausted she can't continue any longer and has no choice but to go home.
It's in one of those late evenings in the middle of a gloomy autumn day when Claudine sees her for the first time.
She has just finished one of those long and exhausting days of rehearsals, waving goodbye to her castmates before she steps into the cold Tokyo weather, hugging her coat tightly around her body to keep some warmth within herself.
- So cold – she says, her warm breath becoming visible as it collides against the cold air.
She shivers lightly due to the cold and starts to walk a little bit faster, leaving the theater behind herself to wander through the streets of Tokyo for a good half hour before she begins to discern the apartment complex's main gates.
She quickens her pace to get home sooner, walking through the small garden that leads to the main gates, when she hears some piteous whimpers coming out from around the corner of the building.
She falters on her walk, furrowing her brows puzzled at the sound but she still chooses to brush it off and continue walking to the gates until she hears it again.
This time, she stops to look around her, but it's so dark that she can't see anything.
She furrows her brows again and closes her eyes briefly with the intention of concentrating her attention trying to see if she can hear anything, any sound again, or maybe it was just her ears deceiving her, making her think about how much she needs to get some proper rest after all that hard practice.
Again, she doesn't hear anything.
But when she opens her eyes again, she notices a trail of blood on the ground heading towards the corner.
Fearful but curious and worried, she decides to follow the trail of blood, walking slowly but alert, noticing how there's more blood as she keeps approaching closer to the corner.
She hears the piteous whimpering again, sounding louder than before the more she approaches to the source.
She hides behind the bricks' wall, timidly peeking her head out it to, shockingly, find a woman crouched, almost hidden in the darkness. It turns it wasn't a wounded animal like she initially thought it could be the source of the whimpers, yet is still alarming.
She intakes a sharp breath of air, feeling her heart racing hard in fear of what could have happened to the woman, or if she's even alive and decides to get closer to the woman.
Cautiously and stealthily, she approaches to her, keeping herself hidden in the shadows the entire time not wanting to scare her.
Claudine then notices the way the dim light of the back building's lights illuminate her crouched form, letting her distinguish the brown of her hair and the purple of her unfocused eyes.
Beautiful.
She thinks briefly, letting her gaze wander over the woman's form, noticing the dark colored clothes she's wearing.
Her eyes keeps wandering over body trying to search for any sign that she's breathing or if she has any wound, until she notices the way she clutches her leg tightly and pants heavily.
As she keeps stepping closer, she observes that the woman's hand clutching the leg tightly is completely covered in blood. She also notices the way her face twists in pain.
Claudine takes another deep breath, fighting the wave of nausea that hits her, before she rushes to the woman's side in aid, trying to ignore the pool of blood she's sat on the best she can, or the dangers this stranger could bring with herself.
Upon hearing rushed steps, the woman snaps her head towards Claudine, glaring at her.
- Are you okay? – Claudine asks the woman frantically, concern laced in her tone, but only gains a grunt as an answer.
She furrows her brows again and looks over the woman, her magenta eyes meeting the stranger's amethyst ones, seeing the pain in them.
- I, um, I'm just going to… – Claudine trails off, trying to ignore the smell of iron floating around them as she gets closer to the brunette.
With shaky hands, Claudine tries to reach the woman's wounded leg to take a better look at it, but as soon as she tries to do that, the woman's hand slaps hers hard, accompanying the sudden and harsh movement with another grunt.
Claudine holds her own hand, trying to calm the sting and bites her lip to calm the new wave of nausea that hits her as she sees more blood coming out of the wound with the movement.
- Hey, be nice! I'm just trying to help you out.
She hears another grunt directed towards her.
- Geez, what are you, an animal? Stop grunting at me and let me help you, could you? – she sighs – Just give me a second, I'm going to call an ambulance.
Claudine tells the woman, fishing out for her phone in her bag to call an ambulance but as soon as she has her phone in hand, the same hand that slapped hers minutes ago, grabs her wrist tightly, pulling it towards her, making her let her phone go which falls onto the ground with a loud thud, luckily not breaking at the impact.
- Don't – the woman grunts lowly, hard, cold amethyst eyes meeting again with a pair of equally cold magenta eyes which stares back at her sternly.
- Don't be stubborn, you clearly need medical aid – Claudine grumbles at the woman, clearly bothered by her attitude.
- I-I said no… No ambulance, no hospital or… any... shit like that – the woman says harshly in between shaky breaths and pained coughs, pissing Claudine off even more that she already was with her stubborn attitude.
How can she be so stubborn when it's so clear that she needs to be attended by a professional or else she will die there due to blood loss? Claudine doesn't understand it and doesn't think she wants to. She also doesn't think she has enough patience and energy to try to deal with this woman.
- Méchante va – Claudine mumbles under her breath, looking once again at the profuse bleeding wound.
As much as she wants to leave this ungrateful and infuriating woman sat in the middle of that pool of blood, she can't. She knows it'd be wrong to leave her abandoned to her luck like that, bleeding herself out to death in a dark corner hidden behind the building. It'd weigh in her conscience for the rest of her life.
So she takes another deep and heavy breath, this time to calm herself before looking down at the wounded woman sat in front of her on the ground, trying to think quickly on something to do that doesn't involve calling an ambulance or having to take her to the hospital. Not that the stranger would even let her do that but still.
She glares at the woman before warning her.
- Listen stubborn woman, either you let me help you out, or I'll gladly leave you here by yourself to bleed out to death.
The other woman simply smirks ironically at her words and then chuckles.
- I guess you will have to do the trick.
The woman mumbles with a smug grin on her face.
The ash-blonde groans at her and her attitude, biting her lip to not answer her back and pulls the woman's hand slightly apart from the bleeding wound to examine it. It looks deep but she thinks she can manage to stop the bleeding without requiring any professional aid.
Claudine places the woman's hand back on the wound, pressing it to try and stop the bleeding at the same time she decides quickly along the way to take the belt off her trousers and put it around the woman's leg, over the wound zone. Then she tightens it to cut the flow of blood rushing to that part of her body, making an improvised tourniquet to stop the bleeding and give her enough time to be able to reach her apartment.
- Listen, I live here so I'll take you to my apartment to try and heal your wound, okay?
Claudine says, gaining another grunt as an answer.
She sighs exasperated by the stranger, circling the brunette's waist with one of her arms while the other one places one of the woman's arms around her shoulders to help her stand back up on her feet.
- Do you think you can walk? – she asks the other woman.
- I... think... so – the other woman says, panting heavily.
With difficulty and reluctance, the brunette starts to slowly walk towards the apartment's building with Claudine's help supporting her weight, finally crossing the gates of the complex.
For the first time ever, Claudine can't be grateful enough to see the doorman's cabin empty. She sighs alleviated of not having to explain the situation and together, they keep walking to the elevator, luckily and rarely, not finding any of Claudine's neighbors on their way before they reach her apartment floor. They get out the elevator and head to her apartment's door.
Claudine opens and closes the door the best she can while she keeps supporting the brunette's weight, then, she advances crossing her living room to sit carefully the other woman on the couch.
- Stay here, and don't dare to move – Claudine commands her, leaving the living room to go in search for her first-aid kit.
Maya grumbles not very amused on the couch, gaining a death glare from Claudine before she sees her disappearing behind a door to who knows where. Maya takes this opportunity to take a look at her neat house, enjoying the calming colors in which it's decorated.
She lets her gaze wander briefly over the frames adorning the shelves, seeing a little beaming girl in them. She also sees some trophies next to the frames, but she doesn't have more time to keep inspecting the house as she sees Claudine returning with the first-aid kit in hand.
As soon as the brunette sees her from her spot on the couch, she grins widely and Claudine swears that if she wasn't such a good person like she is, she'd be surely wiping that stupid grin from her face in a matter of seconds.
By the time Claudine crouches next to the brunette to examine the wound again to finally heal it, it has already stopped bleeding so profusely, and she only has to clean and disinfect it, yet it's still a bit messy.
If I could only get some medical aid…
She thinks, sighing, but she can't so she's determined to make the brunette pay for being such a pain in the ass.
This is going to be fun.
Claudine thinks, now smiling sweetly at the other woman while she drenches the cotton in hydrogen peroxide. Maya, unaware of her intentions, grins back at her widely.
- I'm going to heal you now, okay? – she warns the brunette out of courtesy, seeing how the other woman nods, still grinning.
She smiles at her sweetly once again before she presses the cotton hard against the open wound.
- Fuck! – the brunette cries out of pain, slightly jumping in her spot.
This only makes Claudine laugh internally, enjoying of making the other woman suffer.
- Oh, my bad, does it hurt? – Claudine asks as innocently as she can, pressing the cotton even harder against the wound while the other woman keeps cursing and biting her lip hard to hold the tears of pain that threaten to fall from her eyes.
Claudine can't help but be now the one grinning unabashedly, keeping up her "sweet and innocent" torture while she cleans and disinfects the woman's wound thoroughly. Meanwhile she does that, the brunette keeps biting her lip trying to not cry out of pain or even worst, beg Claudine to stop.
- What happened? Why are you hurt? – Claudine asks her curiously, trying to fill the silence that envelops them as she thinks about what she should do next.
- Nothing, and it's none of your business – the other woman mumbles, looking away still trying to hold her tears.
Claudine can't help but sigh, she should have expected the brunette not wanting to say anything about it.
- Can I know your name at least? – she tries again.
- No.
Of course she wouldn't even tell her her name. Claudine sighs again, completely frustrated at the stubborn woman.
Did something so bad happened to her that she doesn't want to tell her about it even when she helped her and is now healing her wounds? Or is it because she is indeed somebody dangerous?
Claudine shakes her head, trying to not think about it and focus on the wound on the brunette's leg instead, moving the cotton away to see how the wound is slowly stopping bleeding. She then takes a new one to drench it in hydrogen peroxide again, pressing the wound hard with it, gaining another groan as an answer.
She continues doing it until the bleeding finally stops and she only has to apply some antiseptic over it, then she puts a gauze to cover it and wraps a tight bandage around it.
- Is it too tight? - she asks the other woman.
- N-No.
- Then I've ended. Now stay here, you need to rest or else the wound would open – she tells the brunette without looking at her, gathering the items she used to put them back into the first-aid kit. Then, she stands up to go and throw part of the used items to the trash in the kitchen.
- M-Maya…
Claudine hears the woman whispering shakily because of the pain, making her halt on her way to the kitchen, furrowing her brows.
- Excuse me? - she says confused.
- M-My name is Maya.
Claudine nods at her in acknowledge.
- I'm Claudine – she introduces herself to the other woman, bowing lightly, hearing her grunt in acknowledge.
Claudine rolls her eyes at the infuriating woman and her manners and disappears again, going to retrieve a blanket from her own wardrobe before pausing at the kitchen again to get the brunette a glass of water and some medicine.
- Here, take these and sleep, you need it.
She tells her, handing her the medicine and the glass of water, making sure the stubborn brunette swallows the pills while she adjusts the pillows on the couch and pulls the brunette's legs up carefully so she's comfortable enough to have a decent rest.
She inspects the bandage one last time, making sure it's not too tight or it's stained with blood, making sure the wound didn't open, and leaves the glass of water on the nearby table in case Maya wants some more water over the night. Then, she helps Maya to lie comfortably on the couch.
- Thank you – Maya says softly, getting comfortable on the couch.
Claudine simply nods and waits until the brunette is lying down comfortably to cover her with the blanket, almost tucking her in. She turns around and goes to turn the lights off.
- Get some rest.
She says, lingering on the living room's door briefly, hearing another grunt as an answer, followed by a heavy breathing, indicating Maya fell asleep quickly probably due the pain and blood loss.
Claudine sighs watching over the mysterious woman, making sure she's comfortable and okay, wondering about her once again before she shakes her head and turns around to go to her own bedroom. It was a long and exhausting day after all and she really needs to sleep.
As soon as her head touches the pillow, she quickly falls asleep, telling herself that she will deal with the mysterious brunette the next morning.
But to her surprise, when she wakes up the next morning and goes to the living room, she finds the couch empty with the blanket she gave Maya the previous night neatly folded on it and with no signs of the brunette anywhere, nor any thanking note on the living room's table.
Claudine furrows her brows puzzled and goes through every room in her apartment searching for the brunette.
- Maya?
She asks out loud, calling her name but she never gets an answer.
- Je peux pas le croire (I can't believe it), such an ungrateful and infuriating woman.
She mumbles under her breath, abandoning her searching to go to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast while she thinks about everything that happened the previous night.
It's almost as if it had never happened at all, as if the brunette was never there on her couch, bleeding, refusing to get any professional medical aid, grunting every time she pressed the cotton against the wound.
It's like it never happened…
Claudine sighs heavily, pouring milk in her coffee mug. She shuts her eyes tightly and pinches the bridge of her nose, it's too early to be thinking about all that again, about her.
In fact, she shouldn't even be thinking about that or about that ungrateful woman at all. She doesn't even understand why she's doing it to start with.
She shakes her head and keeps preparing her breakfast, buttering some marmalade on her croissant to try to distract herself from those thoughts and forget about it.
In anyway, it's not like she's going to see the brunette ever again, right?
Soon, she'll find out that the chances of seeing the mysterious brunette again are higher than she expected.