This will not be the final chapter, as I had thought. Writing goes like that...sometimes it flows like a river, and wants to chart its own course. Other times, inspiration just stops.
Sorry this took so long, but I'm a very slow writer—just ask anyone who reviewed my story "Yugi's Gift" over in the Tenchi Muyo fandom. That story suffered from years of inactivity, and as you can see this story is suffering the same fate. But I can promise you that it WILL be finished, even if I can't say when...
Anyway, I hope my readers will find the end of this chapter worth the wait.
Chapter Six
Aoi opened her eyes to darkness, wondering what had woken her. She looked around the familiar room and, seeing nothing unusual or out of place, she realized the answer: the room was completely silent. Kaoru-sama's light snoring usually generated the background noise she needed to sleep.
Struggling against her useless legs, she levered herself up in the futon and glanced over his shoulder; the alarm clock read shortly after three in the morning. "Kaoru-sama?" she whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you awake?"
"For about the last twenty minutes," he answered softly, turning over on his back. He yawned. "But I'm starting to get drowsy again." He reached over and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Go back to sleep, Aoi-chan. I'll be okay."
Aoi believed that like she believed a flock of dragons would soon fly through their bedroom window. "Kaoru-sama, you have not slept a wink, have you?" she objected. "I must do something to help you. Here, please help me up." She held out a hand to him.
Reluctantly, Kaoru turned to his wife and gently maneuvered her into a sitting position. "Please turn around," she instructed.
He turned his back to her, and she lifted off his gray tank-top. Even in the dark, the ugly puckered scars stood out like snakes. She let her fingers trace over them briefly, before running her hands up his back. Sliding her palms up over his shoulders, she squeezed lightly, massaging the tension from him. The knotted muscles felt like iron under his skin. "It's what happened at the deposition, isn't it?" she probed. "I do not often ask you for things, Kaoru-sama, but please let this go," she asked, continuing to rub his shoulders. "You are making yourself so tense that you cannot even sleep. I forgive that man, and you should, too. He will still be punished for what he did. It will just take longer."
"I've tried to let it go, Aoi-chan. It's just...it isn't about..." he stammered. "Never mind." He turned to her and took her hands. "Thanks, Aoi-chan." He leaned in and kissed her softly, then took her hands. "I'll be alright. Let's get some sleep now. I imagine we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."
SSS
Aoi-chan's light massage and counseling helped Kaoru manage another four hours of sleep. The first slice of gold light was peeping over the window sill of the bedroom when the door opened and something brown flew in. "Big Brother!"
"Oohhff!" Kaoru grunted as fifty kilos of vivacious teenager dropped onto his chest. "Big Brother, come see it!" Chika-chan insisted, tugging on his shoulders. "You have to come see!"
"All right, all right, Chika-chan," Kaoru muttered as he gently lifted the girl off him. He sat up and stretched. "What is it?"
"Miss Chika!" Aoi's voice came from next to him as she roused herself. "What are you doing in here?"
"You'll have to come see for yourself!" Chika teased, giggling her way out of the bedroom. "It's outside!" She called from the hallway.
"My, Miss Chika certainly is lively," Aoi observed in the bland tone she always used to conceal a state of shock.
"She's just really outgoing," Kaoru dismissed as he fetched her kimono and underwear from the rack by the door. "She'll settle down in a year or two." He helped Aoi-chan into a sitting position, and quickly dressed her. As he lifted her into her wheelchair, he decided that he would talk to them separately about this. Certainly no one in the house had any reason to question Chika's intentions, but at the age of fourteen, she was getting a bit big to be bouncing on Kaoru's knee, let alone sitting atop him in her nightdress.
As he was rolling Aoi-chan down the walkway toward the house, he noticed the flash of light reflecting from a window as a vehicle came up the driveway. Odd, he thought. Who would be pulling up to the house at this time of the morning?
When Kaoru opened the back door, he was greeted with a slender hand in his face. "Hold, it right there, soldier," a Texas drawl instructed him.
"Miss Tina?" Aoi-chan was the first to ask. "What is this all about?"
Kaoru rolled his eyes. "What are you up to now, Tina?" He sighed as Tina pulled two long pieces of black cloth from her pockets.
"You two are prisoners of war," she said in an overly serious tone, and gave them both a wink as she tied the blindfolds around their heads. "Can't have you looking around at our territory, can we?" she laughed. "Alrighty then, march!"
She guided them slowly through the house, and after a moment Kaoru felt fresh air again. He blinked as Tina removed his blindfold. "Tada!"
Kaoru's mouth dropped open. He fought back tears of joy.
Taeko-chan, Chika-chan, and Miss Miyabi stood before him with proud grins on their faces. Behind them sat an enormous cherry-red pickup truck.
SSS
"It holds the road pretty well," Kaoru observed, guiding the truck down the narrow dirt road. The little Mazda convertible he had lost in the wreck had placed him barely two feet off the street. Driving this monster felt almost like flying an airplane.
"It is an American model of very high quality," Miss Miyabi explained from the seat next to him. "Not to mention very expensive." Out of the corner of his eye, Kaoru saw her turn to him. "I trust it will last you considerably longer?"
"Aww, go easy on him, Miss Manager!" Tina objected from the rear jump-seat. "He had a pretty girl with him, after all." She nudged Aoi in the side with her elbow. "Ain't that right, Miss Aoi?"
Silence. Tina felt her face redden. "Sorry," she backtracked. "I guess I said the wrong thing."
"Not at all." Aoi demurred with a warm smile. "Aside from a little bad luck, Kaoru-sama had been on a long journey, and was very tired."
"I am certain you did not intend your comment to be offensive, Miss Tina," Miyabi agreed. "Neither did I. I merely meant that..." she trailed off upon glancing in the rear-view mirror. "Miss Tina, are you quite alright? You look as if you don't feel well."
"Well, to tell the truth, I do feel a little queasy," Tina admitted, rubbing her stomach. "It's probably somethin' I ate." She scowled. "I knew we shouldn't have let Tae make breakfast this morning!"
"Well, then you might want to wait until dinner," Kaoru laughed. With room for only five in the truck, and that rather tightly, Taeko and her rambunctious cousin had volunteered to stay behind and cook lunch while the others accompanied Kaoru on his test drive. He halfway wondered if there would be a house to go back to.
SSS
Just please, Kaoru prayed silently outside Miyabi's office door, don't let her see it on my face. If I can only tell her myself, in just the right way...
Well, no sense hesitating any further. He tapped his knuckles on the heavy wood.
"Yes, come in...ah, Sir Kaoru, just the person I need to see. Please, be seated." Miyabi removed her reading glasses and pushed her keyboard aside. "It seems Lady Aoi is faring well."
"She hasn't gotten any worse," Kaoru semi-agreed as he settled into the chair. "I wasn't all that crazy about her riding with us this morning, but she seemed to handle it pretty well.
"She did indeed," Miyabi nodded. "Now then, I need to ask you something. I don't suppose you noticed anything odd at the deposition yesterday?"
Oh, God, Kaoru thought. She's seen it. She's going to kill me. "Other than the fact that we lost, even though we had everything going for us?" he replied wryly. "Not really."
"We did not 'lose'", Miyabi corrected, leaning back in her chair. "Judge Sasaki decided to dismiss the suit in favor of a trial. I was upset at first as well, but in retrospect, I have found that I agree with his decision. Katanaze-san is a spoiled brat from a wealthy family; I am certain the judge is gambling that prison time will teach him a far more effective lesson than financial punishment."
"He's not a brat."
This got Kaoru the pause he was seeking, along with an uncomprehending stare. He concluded that the door to his doom was open, and decided to race ahead. Might as well get this over with, while I have the chance. "He's an irresponsible moron who just happened to have a car, but he's..."
"Sir Kaoru?" Miyabi prompted when he trailed off. She leaned forward across the desk. The expression in her brown eyes was more intense than he had ever seen. "Please explain to me what you are saying."
"He...he tried to settle with me out of court." Kaoru blurted. "He was going to give me a blank check!"
Miyabi's hand went to her mouth. "What have you done?"
"I know it was stupid, Miss Miyabi, but the guy nearly killed Aoi-chan! Do you expect me to let him just buy me off?"
"YES!" Miyabi surged out of her chair. "Your wife is in an unbearable state. Helping you around the house has been her only dream since she was five years old, and now she can't even use the bathroom by herself. Had it not been for your manly pride, we could have been taking her to the hospital to be cured right now!"
Kaoru had always been careful to hold his peace during the more fiery of Miss Miyabi's lectures, but this time he had had enough. "I don't care! I can't do it, Miss Miyabi. I want to earn that money, I have to, and I will, if takes me the rest of-"
"Kaoru-sama? Miss Miyabi?"
The soft voice ended Kaoru's tirade like switching off a lamp.
She had to have been sitting there for at least one minute, certainly long enough to hear him say-
"Aoi-chan, please," he implored. "Come here."
The door softly closed—with Aoi-chan on the other side.
SSS
A storm was brewing to the east. It was cold tonight, and there were no stars.
Aoi-chan might or might not forgive him. The question would burn a hole in his mind until he found out. But whatever she was feeling, in the mean time he would not let her stay out here in the dark, in this weather, even if he had to drag her back to the house, wheelchair and all.
Moonlight glinted off metal at the edge of the woods, and Kaoru broke into a trot.
She was sitting with her back to him, apparently staring at the trees.
"Aoi-chan?" he almost whispered.
"This is new for me," she answered blandly, without turning around. "I have felt many different emotions since I met you, Kaoru-sama. Joy, fear, confusion, love—and yes, sometimes a little frustration. But this..." She choked on the last word, and when she turned around, the expression on her face was new to Kaoru, too. There were times when he had imagined what a really mad Aoi-chan might look like, but he was completely unprepared for the clenched teeth and burning blue eyes, rimmed with tears, that greeted him. It made him feel like he had been kicked in the stomach.
"I have never been angry with you before, Kaoru-sama. I know why you did this. I realize that you did not intend to hurt me. But you...this was not the act of the Kaoru-sama I know. The Kaoru-sama I know is a good person, if he is a little sad and confused sometimes. He makes mistakes, just as I do. He can be clumsy, like Miss Taeko, or brash like Miss Tina. But he is never, ever this thoughtless. He would never say—"
"There's something else new that you're feeling, Aoi-chan," Kaoru interrupted. He paused to see if she would let him finish. "You've never taken any thought for yourself before."
Her face changed subtly, and for one terrified moment, he thought she had taken offense. "You should think of yourself sometimes, Aoi-chan," he rushed on. "I'm seeing a new side of you tonight, too. This Aoi-chan is willing to fight, not just for me, but for herself."
He approached her, and whatever god was up there answered his prayer that she would not back away. He knelt down, so that his eyes met hers. "You ran away from home, defied your parents and"—he almost said broke your back—"busted your hump cooking and cleaning, all for me. A guy who never did anything to deserve any of it.
"I really blew it, Aoi-chan, and I'm ready to accept whatever the consequences might be. Except for one thing." He took her hands, and lowered his gaze to her knees. "I can't lose you, Aoi-chan. You're not just the best thing in my life; you're the only good thing in my life."
He felt a hand under his chin, and found himself looking up into the clear blue eyes he knew so well, still glassy from crying. "You will not lose me," she assured him. "I swore from the first day I met you that I would never leave your side. But that other Kaoru-sama, the one who left me this way because of his bitterness; that Kaoru-sama never had me to begin with. He is not the man I married, and I do not want to see him again. To do so would be unfaithful to my husband."
The quiet of the night was interrupted by a peal of thunder in the distance, and Kaoru flinched as the first cold drops of rain fell on his arm.
"Hurry!" Aoi-chan told him. He grabbed the handles of her chair, and ten seconds later, they were inside the back door, soaking wet and splitting with laughter. Kaoru knelt down and embraced his wife. "I love you, Aoi-chan."
She drew back, and as his face descended toward hers, she placed a hand on his chest. "No," she whispered, turning her face toward her lap. "I will sleep in Miss Miyabi's room tonight. You have much to think about, Kaoru-sama. I don't wish to distract you."
He just stood and watched as she wheeled herself away.
SSS
It was no longer, Miyabi told herself as she pounded away at her keyboard, merely a matter of money. Judge Sasaki was right: justice was now the goal. Miyabi would have gladly admitted to being a vengeful person. She knew this was an aspect of her personality that others disapproved of, but she refused to apologize for it. After all, as long as it wasn't taken too far, vindictiveness had certain practical uses.
Her haranguing of Kaoru was not over his attitude toward Katanaze—indeed, she secretly approved of his having shown some spine for once. But the missed opportunity and it's consequences infuriated her. If that boy could only learn to control his anger...use it to his advantage...
She typed the final line of the report she had been working on for days, took a breath, and was about to click on Save when the phone rang.
"Sakuraba residence," she greeted quietly. "This is she...I'm sorry, who's calling?...I see. You should know that this has caused a great deal of trouble..." The man on the other end interrupted, and spent five minutes explaining what he wanted. What he said left her agog. Her eyes got wider and wider as she listened to him.
It took her a few seconds to find the words when he finished. "Sir...really, you needn't do that. I am humbled by your generosity, but...I see then. Yes sir, if you insist! Again, you have my most sincere gratitude!"
SSS
No Aoi-chan. It felt like the old days, Kaoru reflected as he lay quietly on his futon. Aoi-chan in the house, and he in the guest house, forbidden to enter the mansion on pain of a lecture from Miss Miyabi and a firm escort out the door.
That Aoi-chan had forgiven him was one thing. She was always quick to forgive, and even blame herself for wrongs done to her. But she was letting him sweat this one a little. For her to take such a middle-of-the-road approach was, he felt, a pretty big indication of how much he had hurt her.
But it was no use thinking about that anymore—what was done was done. The most he could do was get some rest, and hope that she would be back with him tomorrow night. He reached up and switched off the light
But the room did not go dark. He had no sooner tugged the string overhead than the door flew open, flooding the room with light from the hallway. In the doorway stood an exultant Miss Miyabi. She was breathing as if she had just run a kilometer or two, but her face was alight with joy.
"Sir Kaoru! Katanaze-san's father has offered to pay for Lady Aoi's surgery!"