Chapter 18
"WAAAAAAH! I'm gonna be late!" Sakura cried as she stumbled downstairs and down the hallway. "Bye Dad, bye Kaho! See you tonight!" And with that, the teenager dashed out the door, still screaming about her tardiness.
Both adults had been sitting at the dining room table quietly playing chess before Sakura had burst downstairs, babbled her hasty farewell, then disappeared, leaving Kaho staring at the spot where the girl had been, rice cracker hanging from her mouth.
"You'll get used to it," Fujitaka said as he leaned over the chessboard and moved his rook out of danger from her bishop.
"If you say so…" Kaho said as she bit into the cracker and turned back to study the board, scowling when she realized she was going to have to sacrifice a knight to save her queen from banishment. She chuckled as she moved the piece, "You know, if Sakura had moved that fast back in that cave she wouldn't have had a problem dodging all those rocks."
Fujitaka chuckled, "Sometimes it's who the death blow might come from rather than the what that makes a person move faster." Kaho blinked at him, completely lost as to what he was talking about. "Tomoyo's concert is tonight and this is their dress rehearsal."
"Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten," Kaho said as she watched Fujitaka move a pawn in a random direction.
"You're still coming, right?" Fujitaka asked.
"Of course, what makes you think I wouldn't?" Kaho asked as she went after the lone and unprotected pawn.
"Well, you're still not completely back to normal yet," Fujitaka said as he watched her annihilate the chess piece. "I don't want you passing out."
Kaho scowled at him, but it was true. She'd fainted twice since their return, but it was only due to the fact that her mind and body were no longer under extreme stress and it was slowly getting itself back to normal. Though she'd slept a lot since their return, her body believed she still needed more, and made sure she got it, even without her consent.
"I won't pass out," Kaho assured him, "As long as we're sitting."
"Front row seats," Fujitaka smirked.
"Only cause you're the daddy of one of the performers," Kaho mocked, then made an unhappy noise as one of Fujitaka's knights claimed her queen, the pawn having been the decoy to remove her protection from her other important pieces. "I should have known you'd be a good chess player…" He merely grinned at her in boyish superiority. She smirked back and popped a static ball under his butt, making him jump about a foot off his seat.
"Hey!" Fujitaka whined as he rubbed his rear end and Kaho mocked his grin of superiority. "Okay, point taken." He moved one of his knights over a few spaces and grinned.
Kaho looked down at the board and sighed, knocking over her king in defeat.
"What's my prize?" Fujitaka asked.
Kaho tipped a delicate eyebrow up at his statement, "Prize?"
"Yes, I win, I get a prize!" Fujitaka said with childish delight.
The woman scowled, "Fine, what do you want?"
The man pondered a minute, index finger tapping nonsense beats against his chin. Finally, Fujitaka grinned, "Show me how you set off whatever you just did under my butt, so I can reciprocate when I feel the time suits it."
"Now why would I want to do that?" Kaho asked as she gave him a sideways glance.
"Cause you love me!" The boyish grin reappeared.
Were it possible, the woman would have melted at the sight, but instead was content to giggle at him. Her giggles ceased abruptly and her eyes became distant, causing the man to look down at her when unexpected silence filled the room.
"Kaho?" Fujitaka asked as he leaned over the table, but there was no response. He stood and walked over to her and turned her chair so she was facing him and put both hands on her shoulders. "Kaho, answer me!"
Her eyes suddenly snapped back into focus and she leaned over and rested her forehead against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, Fujitaka hugged her to him, "What was that?"
She swallowed, pulling moisture back down her dry throat, "Remember when you asked me if I had visions like you did? Like when you touched your magic? I told you I did, but you don't need to be doing anything magical to receive them. If you're anything like Clow Reed, you'll learn in time. More to the point, I just had a vision."
"What did you see?"
"I…" she frowned for a moment, and he could tell she was torn between telling him something. He looked down to see her rubbing the scars on her arms. Aside from Fujitaka's own touch, any other touch did in fact inflict pain on her. With her rubbing on them now, meant she was causing herself pain to try and ward off a different type of pain.
He took her head in his head and tilted it up to look at him, "What did you see?"
She swallowed again, "Before I tell you, I need to explain something else to you. Something that you may find…disturbing…." Kaho gazed straight into his eyes, "Please promise me that you won't think ill of me after I tell you. I swear everything that I'm about to tell you was against everything that I wanted."
The fear and panic he saw in her eyes told him that he was about to hear a major incident in her travels to get back to Japan. If he'd assumed enough, he had a vague idea of where she'd traveled, and what she encountered. "I promise."
She sighed a final time, then, told him a story.