The Little Warrior

Chapter 3: Relief

-April 9-

A week into Risa's treatments, she was still responding well. The number of cancer cells were continuing to drop, and with them, her healthy blood cells and platelets.

Rei and Yūichirou worried that she would get an infection, but Dr. Yoshida told them not to worry about it too much unless her absolute neutrophil count was below one thousand. Anything below five hundred carried a high risk of infection and needed to be monitored vigilantly.

The chemo still made Risa sick to her stomach and she had a poor appetite, but Dr. Yoshida prescribed Tylenol with Codeine and increased the dosage of Zofran, which provided some relief. Rei also noticed that Risa's nose bled more than usual, but Dr. Yoshida wasn't concerned as her platelets weren't dangerously low and her blood was still clotting enough on its own without medical intervention.

That afternoon, Risa was playing dress up with her stuffed animals. As she finished brushing her hair, she examined the brush and let out a shriek of terror as she found clumps of her hair stuck in its bristles.

"Mama, Papa!"

"What is it, Risa-chan?" Rei asked.

"My hair's coming out!"

"It's okay, little one. It'll grow back." Yūichirou assured her.

"Why is it coming out?"

"Umm," Rei began. She wasn't sure how to explain it to her without frightening her, but she cleared her throat and told her the best she could. "you remember when we told you about the medicines Dr. Yoshida is giving you to beat the bad guys?"

"Yes." Risa replied.

"Well, sometimes they make people lose their hair too." The raven haired woman continued.

"Will it grow back?" Rei and Yūichirou wrapped their arms around their daughter and smiled at her.

"Of course it will." Yūichirou said with a nod.

"What do I do until it does?"

"Mama or I can trim your hair, so that it will still look thicker and fuller for a little while. Then, after it falls out, we can buy you hats, scarves, or a wig."

"Okay. Can you cut my hair? I want to cut it like Hanako's." Hanako was one of Risa's friends from school. She had her light brown hair in a bob style, cut just above her shoulders and it complemented her face nicely. Risa thought it looked beautiful and wanted to be just like her.

"Sure. I'll cut it for you now if you'd like." Rei offered.

"Yay! Thank you, Mama." Rei pulled a pair of scissors from her purse and went into the bathroom and grabbed a towel from the towel rack.

"You're welcome. Sit here." She instructed as she tapped on a chair. The little girl sat down and Rei draped the towel over her daughter's shoulders and started to cut her hair.

Minako stepped out of the studio, walking swiftly along the sidewalk as the wind blew through her long golden blond locks. She had just finished a photo shoot to promote a Romance film she was starring in called 'Route Venus', based on her first hit album of the same name. She had written the script herself with the help of a professional screenwriter. Having been cast in a number of minor roles since her high school years, this film would give her that huge break in her acting career, or so she hoped.

Now, she had the rest of the day off and she was on her way to Makoto's bakery for a snack. She was starving, her stomach rumbling, but luckily, the shop was just four blocks away. She walked at a medium, purposeful pace and made it there in just under seven minutes.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The thunder Senshi greeted politely.

"Yo!"

"Minako-chan, hey. What brings you here?"

"Oh, I just finished work and I was just about to stop at the hospital, but I wanted to buy more of your delicious cupcakes."

"Sure. What would you like?"

"I'd like a dozen of them. Two mocha fudge, three strawberry, three green tea, two sakura, and two mochi with azuki filling and green tea frosting. I want to get something for Risa too, but I don't know what."

"Well, Rei-chan said she's developed an aversion to anything with chocolate in it, saying it tastes like metal, so I baked some vanilla and strawberry ones, plus a few Elvis ones which are banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and peanut butter chips."

"Great! How much?" Makoto gave the price and Minako handed her a ¥5,000 bill. The brunette opened the register and gave her the correct change and packed the cupcakes into two cardboard boxes.

"Thank you. Have a nice day!"

"You too." the blond replied as she walked out of the bakery. The hospital was a block away and it took her only two minutes.

"Auntie Minako!" Risa called excitedly as Minako came into the room and set the cupcakes on the tray table.

"Hey Risa-chan. I love your hair!"

"Mama did it for me." the child beamed.

"It's gorgeous. It suits you perfectly."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Look what I brought for you!"

"What did you buy this time?" Rei inquired, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"Cupcakes. Mako-chan remembered to make some without chocolate for her, knowing how picky she's been." Minako opened the boxes and displayed the cupcakes for Rei, Yūichirou, and Risa to choose from.

Rei opted for a mochi and green tea cupcake, Yūichirou picked a sakura one, and Minako chose mocha fudge.

Risa chose an Elvis cupcake, since she was craving peanut butter at the moment, and took a small bite. She was delighted by the flavors and devoured the entire treat. This was the most she had eaten in a week and it made her parents happy, though nervous about how she would tolerate the food and keep it down. She was surprisingly still hungry and reached for another cupcake.

"Be careful, sweetie." Yūichirou reminded her. "We don't want you to get sick from eating too much too fast."

"Okay. Can I have another one though?"

"Okay." Risa grabbed a strawberry one and tasted it. It was delicious and she finished it too. She was full by now and requested to have some saved for later.

"Mako-chan has really outdone herself this time." Rei said, smiling.

"Yeah, these are amazing." Yūichirou agreed.

"I agree. To Mako-chan, the galaxy's greatest chef!" Minako exaggerated. The group ate more cupcakes and closed up the boxes so the rest of them wouldn't go to waste, then they chatted until visiting hours were over.

Later that night, after Rei and Yūichirou gave Risa her bath and tucked her into bed, Yūichirou fell asleep lying next to his daughter while Rei, who wasn't ready to sleep yet, logged onto a blog site on her Blackberry and typed a new entry.

"Risa was much better today. She was energetic and is starting to eat more. Just watching her today, it was almost as if she didn't have cancer at all. She looks wonderful.

She is beginning to lose her hair now, so I shortened it to make it appear temporarily thicker and fuller. She was melancholy about it at first, but she seems to be accepting it just fine.

We received news this morning that the amount of leukemia in her blood is down to ten percent. Dr. Yoshida told us that she is doing fantastic and expects her to be in remission by next week at the rate things are going, if not sooner.

Yūichirou and I are coping pretty well, considering everything that's happened. Full nights of sleep are rare, but we manage at least a few hours per night, or at least he does. Ami suggested that we go to counseling to help us feel better. We are looking into it. We'll do anything we can to help our little girl, even if we have to talk about our feelings to total strangers.

The baby continues to grow and is very healthy. I am almost eighteen weeks along. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet, although Risa is convinced it is another girl and refers to it as her baby. It always melts our hearts when she does that. She's like a little mommy. We agreed to wait until the birth to find out for sure.

I must sign off for the night. Later!" Rei added her signature, logged off and put her phone back in her purse, then she laid down on the roll away bed and stared over at her husband and child until she could no longer keep her eyes open and a smile formed on her lips as she fell asleep.