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A/N: Hello people! … Don't look at me like that! I loved the way I left the last chapter off! Some of you may have seen something of that sort coming, knowing I wasn't writing an 'a/n:' to end it. It was awesome, and you know it! Anyway, so wth happened to Takato? Read and find out. This is a romance… not an angst or a tragedy… tragedy? Hmmm I wonder. Love and be loved. Read… and review please.
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Your Writing Your Tragedy

Knock Knock Knock Ugh… here comes the worst part of my job. Telling the parents of these kids.
The front door opened and a small brown hared women came into view. "Oh, hello officer. Is they're anything the matter?" she said.
"I'm afraid so miss… its… its about your son." I said.
"What about him? Did he do anything wrong? No, he couldn't have, he's in his bedroom… asleep. He was coming home late last night so I didn't bother to stay up to see him in." She told me.
"Well… I'm afraid I've got some very disturbing news then." I said.
"You see your son… he… he's been…"

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" the women screamed, and fell to her knees.
"NO! It can't be… how could… why… when? Ah… ah… why my baby boy?" she began to cry.
"I'm afraid we couldn't do anything for him when we found him. We called an ambulance but they weren't sure if they could do anything for him either." I told her.
"You mean… he might…" her voice trailed off.
"Yes… we can take you to the hospital he's at, you and your husband." I told her.

(A/N: Crap… what's his dad's name?) "Honey! Come here quick." She yelled.
"What is it?" he said, helping her up from the ground. "Officer, what seems to be problem?" he asked me.
"It's Takato… he's been…-"

Before I knew it we were in the car headed to the hospital 10 minutes away. I was wrong earlier… this is the worst part of my job, the suspense and fear in people built in on the ride to go see there loved one's.
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"And so class… if you'll please take your seat, we will begin the day." The teacher said.
"Hey everyone, real quick." Kazu called the gang back together.
"What is it Kazu?" I asked. (A/N: notice I'm not specific on who 'I' is)
"You're never gonna guess where Takato's been going the past few days."

"Kazu, if you knew any better, you'd be sitting in your seat. And I don't think you know where Mr. Matsuki is right now. Do you?" I teacher said, she had been listening to us.
"What? You mean he's not here today." Kazu asked her.
"No… his parents called the school to say he wouldn't be in today. Apparently… last night, he was-"
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"Okay class, today we will be learning about World War I." The teacher said.
"Now can anyone… yes, Ms. McMellen." She said.
Everyone turned there head to see a girl of much younger age standing at the door, with a note in her hand. "Umm… Mrs. Wiks… the principal would like to see Rika Nonaka immediately." She said.

My head snapped up from its resting-place on my desk when I heard my name. "Very well, Rika you are excused." She said.
I heard all the girls in the room 'ooh' as I got up and walked to the back door and left the classroom. 'What did I do this time?' I thought to myself. I haven't done anything wrong. Unless… unless Mrs. Wilks asked the principal to do this so I could get in trouble for being a problem at the end of yesterday? Ugh… if that's what this is about I'm gonna be pissed. I reached the principal's office and knocked. "Come in." she said.

"Ah! Hello Rika, how are you?" she asked me with a smile.
I didn't return the favor. "Peachy, and yourself Mrs. Morton? (A/N: Name of my grade school principal)" I asked.
"I'm fine… just fine." She said. She smiled at me… a very eerie smile, and just stared at me for a few seconds as I sat down.
"Well Rika… it does seem that you have built up your reputation of being the tough girl, am I right?" she said rather then asked, but I still complied.

"Yes, I have built that up. But what does that have to do with anything?" I said.
"Well… I received a phone call from your mother today." She said. "Not the other way around, mind you."
"And?" I asked, what's going on here?
"I'm afraid I have some very devastating news for you." she said.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds… she just gave me that smile and stare. "Well… what is it?" I finally asked.
"Well… it seems that." She took of her glasses and cleaned them off. "Well… let me ask you this first, do you know a-" she looked down at a slip of paper. "Takato Matsuki?" she asked.
What? What's going on… I don't like this. Not one tiny bit. "Yes. Yes, I do know him, why? What's he got to do with anything?" I asked.

"Your mother called and said that she received a call from his parents this morning. Apparently he never got home from your house last night." She said.
"What? What are you trying to say?" I asked. A lump inside me began to try to blast it's way through my chest. "Is he… is he…" I couldn't form a sentence.
"Rika… your boyfriend he's been…" she started.

"He's not my boyfriend." I came back to my senses.
"Right, of course not. Rika… last night he was…" she stopped.
"What! What? What happened to him? Was he attacked? Was he jumped… is he…? " I realized that lump trying to burst through was my heart… and it skipped a beat. Was he-

"No! Rika… the police found him this morning, covered in leaves off the sidewalk in the middle of the park, half dead and barely conscious." She said. "They still don't know what happened to him, but it looks like he's been mugged because all the money in his wallet was gone, and he was pretty bloodied up. The only reason the police knew who his parents were was because he had an school photo idea and a family bakery business card in the wallet." She told me.

I sat there in shock… mugged? He was mugged on his way home. But… my mom had offered him a ride home… he had insisted on running home. He had told her he would much better prefer to run home… was… "Is he going to be alright?" I choked out.

"They think so. He's in stable condition right now. The police originally treated it as a homicide because they were sure he was going to die on his ride to the hospital. Somehow though he pulled through. The police are waiting for him to return to full consciousness so they can question him about it." She said. "Your mother thought it was extremely important that you know this. And, we are willing to let you go home with her if you should choose to."

"Yes… please." I said out of my dry throat.
"Very well, you'll have to go upstairs and sit through classes while I call your mother and while she's on her way over, but once she's here you may leave." She told me.

"Good day to you… and god speed to this," she checked her card again, "Mr. Matsuki."
I left the room, and walked back to my classroom without another word. Mrs. Wilks asked me what Mrs. Morton had wanted and I simply told her nothing. A few long minutes later though, Mrs. Morton came upstairs and talked to Mrs. Wilks personally, out of the classroom. When she came back she told me that my mother was here and that I was free to leave.

I packed my book bag and slowly walked out of the classroom. Every minute seemed to last an hour, every second an minute. And after lunch at home mom took me to the hospital.

It was about 20 minutes away, and the car ride seemed to last an eternity. We didn't say much on the ride over there. I was afraid to say anything in fear that talking would only make the ride seem longer.

Forever seemed to pass before we were in the waiting room.

The clock seemed to be moving slower then ever in the waiting room. God! Why on earth was there a waiting room? It only seemed to move everything slower. Just when I thought I would die in the waiting room of old age, Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki came out to talk to us.

"He's gonna be alright! The police are talking to him right now about what exactly happened, but after that we can all go back in there and see him." Mr. Matsuki said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about all of this! It's all my fault. I offered him a ride home last night but he just kept saying how I shouldn't trouble myself, how it was only a half-hour run, if he ran fast enough! I should have never let him go!" my mom told them.

"No! No dear! It's not your fault. It's no one's fault but who ever actually attacked him." Mrs. Matsuki comforted her, they walked off to the seats in the corner and began to talk some more, which left me standing there with Mr. Matsuki.
"It's been a long time since I last saw you Rika." he said to me.
I looked at him. "Yeah. I'm so sorry this happened to him. I didn't mean-"

He hushed me. "Were you the one who attacked him?" he asked me, in a comforting way.
"No. But-" I started.
"Then you have nothing to be sorry about." He told me, and walked towards his wife, and my mom.

I was left standing there. That was all. I felt my heart swell up and I fought back tears, with all my might. I couldn't let them come… not in a time like this where you have to be strong. And being strong means standing tall, and holding your head high. But is that what Takato would want me to do? Stand tall and hold my head high… or would he want me to show some emotions and break down? I closed my eyes I just can't handle this damn waiting anymore. "Excuse me miss?" Said someone.

I opened my eyes and saw a small women standing in front of me. "Are you and those people here to see Mr.Matsuki? Because the police are done talking to him now, you can go in."
I looked back at the group of parents by the window. "Umm. . . what room is he in?" I asked.

"113A." She said, "make the first left once you go through the double doors up ahead, a right at the end of the corridor, and it will be the second door on your right." She said.

"Thank you. Can you. . . um. . . tell them too." I asked, looking back at the parents.
"Sure thing, miss." She replied.
I walked until I was out of site of the nurse and parents, and then I ran as fast as I could through the double doors, to my first left, down the corridor, made a right and found it. "113A."

I opened the door slowly, and saw him lying there rolled over to the other side. I walked in, and a few feet from his bed he rolled over to see me. "Hey!" he exclaimed. God he looked bad. His nostrils were stuffed with cotton balls, which didn't seem to be doing any good as there was still a little blood leaking out. His legs were beaten up with bruises and cuts but it didn't seem that there was too much problem there. But his arms were the only part worse then his head. They seemed to be cut every which way up and down his arms, with bruises in every part that wasn't covered in cuts. But his head. . . ugh. He had bandages wrapped around the upper part of his head, where there seemed to have been a lot of blood coming out, there was a cut above his right eye, and another cut below his left eye.

And finally. . . after a so many years of battling emotions. . . I finally lost to them. I let the hot tears stream down my cheeks, my vision became blurred, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit responsible for what had happened.

"I'm (sob) so sorry." I said through the tears.

He didn't need to say anything. With him I could cry. . . and only with him. I couldn't possibly cry around anyone else. It would show too much weakness. . . but he. . . he knew I was weak already. He knew I was different. . . and somehow he saw it as a good thing that I was crying.

He didn't have to say anything. . . but he did. "For what dear?""

I couldn't help but laugh at this. I couldn't believe that he could be so up beat, so happy, so optimistic in a time like this. Wasn't he worried? Wasn't he in pain? Didn't he want to get his revenge on who ever did this? Wasn't he afraid that they may never find who did this, and that justice would never be served to him? "Your incredible." I said.
"If I was incredible I wouldn't be in this bed . . . if you want to call it that."

I laughed again, and gave him the smile that I had let slip two days ago. He had earned it this time. The first time it just seemed to slip right from under my nose . . . literally. I grabbed a tissue, and cleaned the tears off my face; our parents would be coming in any second now.
"So… doesn't anyone else care about me or what?" he said.
"They're coming." I said.

And sure enough, not even ten seconds later, the door opened and in burst his parents and my mother. "Takato!" his mother exclaimed, giving him a hug.
"Watch it mom, according to the doc I only got a few ribs left and you're threatening to take them away from me." He joked.
We all laughed at this. "Well son… what exactly happened?" his dad asked.

"Yeah…" I said from the corner (the room was really small) "what did happen?" I asked.
"You guys really want to know?" he asked. "Because it was brutal and it hurt a lot."
"If you don't, we'll just read about it on the front page of the paper tomorrow." I said.
"Right… well it was raining, and I couldn't see two feet in front of me." He began.
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"WHERE ARE YOU?" I heard nothing but felt someone behind me, just before I was blinded by the nothingness…

Steel met flesh, as I felt something heavy come crashing onto the top right part of my skull. I fell to my knees under the weight of this person climbing on top of me. I was loosing consciousness… and fast. I fought to get the person away from me… but what was the point? If I was gonna be unconscious then I couldn't possibly run away. Then I felt it… some one else flipped me over as I was attempting to crawl away. There were two people? No… a third party member picked me up and carried me back onto the concrete. They began to beat me with whatever it was they were carrying. Are they pipes?

They slammed the pipes against my chest several times until I finally fought back the person holding me. I pushed my feet off the ground and tried to move backwards and succeeded by falling over on top of them, they let go and I got up again… but before I was even on my feet I felt cold hard steel come in contact with my face flat out. I fell over and unconsciousness was imminent. I heard people talking but it was too indistinct, through the rain it was impossible to hear. I could still somewhat see, I could make out they're figures and see some of there faces, but it didn't last long. I was unconscious. . .

I awoke to the sound of two men talking they were saying something about dead. Me? Dead… no I had to let them no I was alive. I couldn't feel anything… I was so numb I thought I would die anyway. I couldn't open my eyes because I could feel blood spilling near them, but I could feel my feet… I kick with my right foot.

"Oh my God! Mike did you see that?" the first man said.
"No what Jake?" said the man I guessed was Mike.
"Did you see the boy, his foot moved." The man I figured was Jake said.
I kicked again with all my might, and then again to show them I was alive and could hear them.

"Quick, call in an ambulance." Said Jake, and I heard him bend down towards me. "Son, kick again if you can hear me." He said.
So I did, but I didn't think I was going to be able to do it much longer. I was so numb on every part of my body.
"Okay, son. Don't move. I'm a police officer and so is my friend, we've called for an ambulance, so just try and stay with us. You can make it through this." He told me.

"Like fifteen minutes later I felt some people lifting me up and putting on a stretcher." He said. "They carried me into I guess the ambulance and took me here."
"I'm guessing they put me under some gas because I was unconscious again for a while before I woke up in here. Not quite the scene I was hoping to see once my eyes were open again." He said.
"I was hoping I was gonna wake up in my bed, and I had gotten home perfectly safe without any trouble… but nope. I got to see my parents crying and police men waiting for me to wake up."

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Everyone was quite for a while after he finished the story. I stared at the wall for as long as my eyes would take it. He kept looking up and down his ripped up arms, and our parents just sat in disbelief in the only three chairs in the room.
"So… when am I going to be able to get out of here?" he broke the silence
I looked up to see him smiling at everyone. I gave a smirk and went back to looking at the wall. "The Doctors don't know… but they're not going to let you go until they're positive you can walk out of here on your own two feet." His dad said.

"Oh, come on!" he said. "I can walk out of here on my own two feet right now." He said. He started to push off the bed to try and get up. Was he crazy? As he started to sit up, I moved closer to the bed and gently pushed him back into the bed by his shoulders.
"Your gonna be all right… stupid… but all right all the same." I said.
He smiled like never before, laughed, and forced himself back into the bed.
"I won't be all right if this is what I'm gonna have to sleep on." He said. Once again… we all laughed.

Anyway, the next few weeks were kind of hectic. Mom would drive me to the hospital twice a week and she would go out and do what ever she wanted for an hour, then she would come back and get me and that would be it. He seemed to be getting better every time I went and saw him. Then, on the one month anniversary of his stay two great things happened… the first came before I went to the hospital. The police went public announcing they had caught the four guys that were responsible for beating Takato down. The second, was the doctors said Takato was free to go.

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A/N: Okay. . . I know it would take forever for him to actually recover from something like that. . . but for the sake of moving the story along he's gonna get better one month later. If you no like, well too bad :-p
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Once the doctors said he could leave, you could see his eye's light up with happiness. He got right up, got to the door, and down to halfway through the long corridor, before his knees buckled. I moved to help him up, but he stopped me.

"No! I can do this."
"I know you can… but sometimes we all need a little bit of a helping hand." I said. "Now come on, I'll walk in front of you out of here."
"No. Don't do that, I might not be able to lead." He said.
"Well… then you walk in front of me, and we can get out of here." I said.
"No… that's no good either, I might not be able to follow." He said.

I got frustrated with him. "Well what do you want me to do? Just leave you here? You can't even get up on your own."
"Then help me," he started. "Just walk beside me, and be my friend."
I stood there a second, in shock of what he had just said, then decided to do what he asked. I stood beside him, grabbed his upper arm and walked beside him out of the hospital. To the waiting arms of his parents, and the comfort that was going to be his home.

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A/N: Okay… this chapter kind of sucked! Not story wise, but for me. I was working on this chapter and the next together, one day after the other and after finishing both, I went to revise them both and I got screwed over. This entire chapter was deleted! EVERYTHING WAS GONE! EVERTHING! I had to run crazy crap on one of the other computers to try and rescue the documents, and I got lucky. I got it back… but it was crappy. Entire paragraphs were just misplaced, when ever there was a quote- there were no quotation marks, some sentences were just doubled over, typed twice, some of the story was just missing so I had to try and put it differently. It just plain sucked. But anyway, now to the good of the chapter.

Did everyone like it? Well guess what… remember when I said it might evolve into more then just a five chapter story? Well I'm thinking like eight or nine chapters! How is Takato gonna hold himself up after what's happened to him? Yeah I know being mugged isn't usually part of a romance story… but hey it's a real test of love for one another if you think about it. This is a nice, sweet, and short chapter (okay who am I kidding none of my chapters are ever short)… if you'll notice, I only had one real 'a/n:' through the whole chapter and even then it was at the end. But that last quote was note mine… I was randomly looking for quotes to use on the web and I came across this site called like 'the hall of quotes' and that one showed up twice, and I had to have it (the original quote was "Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." by Albert Camus.) I had to have it fit into the story so I had his knees buckle underneath him. And also note- even after all that we've been through, Rika still didn't hold his hand at the end of the chapter. Which is the real reason there is no way this could possibly be the end of the story… also because nothing really romantic happened and I'm just starting to really love this story! Oh… and I made Takato pretty beat up even though he was knocked out like 5 minutes into the whole affair, so just assume that those guys beat the living crap out of him. Anyway… that's all for now.

Love always, and Rukato forever. Peace.

(Truck horn sounded and trucker talking) Honk! Honk! I thank you.
(Chappelle in the background) I'm Rich Bitch!
(I also don't own 'The Chappelle Show' closing or anything remotely like that.)
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