Author's Note: Yeah... I know. I haven't updated this in forever. But, I want to get this finished... and a very nice girl gave me a wonderful review. So, I went back, read the first three chapters, and felt inspired again. So, here's the 4th chapter... I have six planned.
--
"At the end of the world
Or the last thing I see
You are
Never coming home
Never coming home
Could I? Should I?
And all the things that you never ever told me
And all the smiles that are ever ever..."
Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance
--
Asleep on the couch.
He was still there when Aoi went and checked on him at around 4:30 in the morning. She had woken up from a nightmare, and become very afraid that he had run off... like he could run at all, in his condition. He'd be so sore when he woke up... she doubted he'd be able to leave that couch.
But he was still there, to her relief, sleeping peacefully, the scratches on his face scabbed over, the blanket she had given him barely covering his hefty, muscular form.
She smiled, if a little sadly, remembering her nightmare.
"Miss Umenokouji?"
Her cellphone was in her hand. She didn't know why, but it was on speaker phone. She didn't even remember it ringing... a voice had just suddenly started speaking.
"Yes?" she replied tentatively. She was nervous, but not because she didn't know the caller. What was wrong? What had happened? Her mind was running to dark places, thinking of those she loved and the things she feared could happen, thanks to the things she'd seen on television...
"We need you to identify a body... there's been an accident..."
She choked up. Midoriko! Shiroi!, her mind screamed at her. One of them had been kidnapped from school, raped by some pedophile, and left in an alley for dead, just like one of those horrible American thrillers in which a mother was on a 'roaring rampage of revenge'. She just knew it...
"Could you come to the station?"
She had no choice. Suddenly, she was there, in a too-clean, too-bright room, where a body on a stretcher was covered in a white sheet. The body was too big to be either of her sisters'...
She never got to pull back the sheet. She knew who it was. Things flashed red, black and white... she could smell alcohol, but the only thing she could feel was fear.
Water spread out across the floor... but it wasn't water. It didn't smell like water. And soon, it turned red and viscous and warm... soaking into her sneakers and socks as it rose above her ankles.
She felt her back against something cold and hard... a wall? She couldn't look over her shoulder and check... For some reason, she just couldn't...
And the sheet was starting to rise as the body sat up, and she couldn't look away.
Look away, look away...
Wakeupwakeupwakeup...
Her eyes had opened then, like they opened now, shining with fearful tears, but she wouldn't cry. It had only been a dream. Akira wasn't dead, her sisters were fine. Everything was going to be okay....
"Aoi..." he mumbled, and she was taken by surprise for a moment.
"Yeah, Akira?"
"Go back to bed. Stop staring at me."
She chuckled a little. "But you're so cute when you sleep... how can I resist?" she replied. Cute wasn't exactly the right word... and in his state, anything that could be considered a synonym for attractive was too far off. Pensive, or peaceful, were really the only ways to describe it.
"Go back to bed... don't make me get up. Everything aches like shit," he grumbled, pulling the blanket over his head.
"I bet it does," she said, kneeling in front of the couch. "You gonna tell me what happened?"
"Why?" he asked, peeking out. "So you can fix me up like a good little nurse?"
"I was going to do that anyway," she responded honestly. "I don't trust you to do it properly yourself."
"I did just fine while I was in the mountains," he replied stiffly.
She blinked. He was awfully adamant about her not touching him... well, she wasn't going to force it. If he wanted to be covered in scars, that was his problem. She doubted that he could reach most of the lacerations on his back, though. "Tell me anyway," she pressed.
He pulled the blanket back down. He wondered if he should tell her... after all, Goh had threatened to hurt her. Do more than hurt her, actually, and he didn't put it past that psychotic motherfucker to keep his word. But, with all of the things Aoi had to deal with, was it fair to worry her with that, too? Her worry would be threefold; for herself, for her two sisters. But, then again, was it fair not to warn her? She could at least be on guard, and maybe, able to defend herself from an attack. Goh obviously wasn't stealthy, and he was too crazy for a sniper; he liked to get in people's faces, get in their head, mess with them...
"You remember a really pale guy with a lot of facial piercings at the last two tournaments?" he asked her.
She thought about it for a moment. "Weird hair, a scar... didn't like Kagemaru very much?" she finally asked him.
"Yeah, that guy."
"I heard he beat the shit out of Jacky. Guy was in the hospital for a few months," Aoi said quietly, biting her lip.
"Yeah... it took Jeffry and Wolf to get Goh off of Jacky. Vanessa Lewis was about ready to kill him," he agreed. "Goh met me at the park."
Her amber eyes blinked, and she asked slowly, "Met you...?"
"I didn't invite him. He was looking for--" he paused for a moment. There was where the lie would begin, and it would have to be believable. Aoi knew he was a poor liar, but he would have to improve rapidly for her sake. "--me. He wanted a rematch, for the fourth tournament," he lied.
She nodded a bit, seeming to buy it. He was relieved. "Oh..." she said, but then, her features changed a bit. Her nose wrinkled slightly, her eyes perked up, and her lips twitched. "But, how did he know to find you here?"
SHIT.
Akira had to think of something quickly... maybe it was time to lie a little less. "I don't know," he said. After all, he hadn't known how Goh had found Aoi's address. "Maybe Pai told him. Or maybe he just asked around. Your school is pretty famous..." he said.
She nodded again, her suspicions sated. "Yeah... I forget that sometimes..." she said, slipping into wistful thoughts of what it would be like to be a normal girl, going to college, having a boyfriend... that sort of thing.
"Well... he did this. I mean, I still beat him, but he brought a knife..." he said. "And you know how he is. Doesn't know when enough is enough," he replied.
"Ah... okay..." she said, giving another little nod. She was buying it... because it was believable. People could be competitive, hateful creatures. It was easy enough to play on the way people would always believe the worst of others. "I guess it's a good thing you don't look a lot worse."
"You make it sound like I went easy on him," he chuckled. "Don't worry... he's probably just as messed up as I am," he finished.
"I don't care about Goh."
'You should.'
"I'm just glad you came back..." she said, reaching for his hand.
He tried to pull it away, but for some reason, he just couldn't get it to move. Reflexively, his fingers curled around hers, and squeezed it reassuringly... and it was just so damn annoying, the way he felt more relaxed and safe when she squeezed back, that he just fell right back asleep.
It was becoming harder and harder for Akira to not fall in love with Aoi Umenokouji.
--
"Akira-kun!"
Akira turned around to see an excited eight year old girl tugging on his sleeve. He was fourteen,almost twice her age, but she was like his little sister. Annoying at times, but when she wasn't around, he missed her. And, like an older brother, he would never admit it; she'd get a big head. She looked up to him a lot, almost like a hero, because he was so talented at Hakkyoko-ken, and their parents were all close friends. It was a great ego-booster when he felt down about his training.
"Dad said that he's taking me out for mochi! Because I did so good today! I did all three katas without messing up! I landed on the tape and everything! He says I'm gonna make green belt for sure next week!" she said, her voice quick and excited. Her hand had left his sleeve, her little fists balled up in joy as she almost hopped up and down. "Wanna come?"
He pondered saying no. Mochi ice cream wasn't a very healthy snack... and if he went, she would take it as a license to start to demanding piggyback rides, and their fathers would find it to be cute, and make him give in to her ridiculous demands...
But seeing her so excited about something that would one day be so meaningless melted his heart a bit. He just... couldn't say no. It would be too heartless to make her smile fall, and he wouldn't be able to bear the guilt if she turned away and walked back to her father with her shoulders slumped, like a slowly deflating balloon. He couldn't rain on her parade like that.
"Alright," he agreed, ruffling her hair.
"Sugoiiiiii~" she cheered, pumping a fist into the air, as if that had been some miraculous David versus Goliath victory. "My baby sister's coming, too, and so is my mom! You should call your mom, too!" she told him.
So, his father called his mother, and she said that she would meet them at the mochi stand in the nearby park.
They all left the Budokan together, as one big group. Aoi's mother was holding three year old Midoriko on her hip, and with Aoi's father right beside her. Aoi walked between Reiji and Akira Yuki, holding both of their hands. Akira remembered his father looking down at her, smiling; maybe his parents had thought of Aoi as their daughter, the same way Aoi's father thought of him as his son.
It had made him a little jealous, since his father had smiled so rarely. Aoi had been born a heart-breaker. He'd waved those thoughts away, because people were supposed to be proud of Aoi right now, the same way people took pride in him.
"Aniki..." she began to whine, and he knew what it meant. "Please give me a piggyback ride!"
He knew it was useless to resist. His father would make him. But, he had expected it. "Fine..." he knelt down on the sidewalk. "Jump on!"
"Yay!" she cheered, latching onto his back. He stood up, her arms wrapped around his neck while he held up her legs. All three adults laughed.
"My son, the toughened Hakkyoko-ken prodigy... bows to the whims of an eight-year old girl..." his father joked, but Akira frowned.
"No, it's good," Aoi's mother said. "She's already training him. One day, he'll be a respectable husband."
Akira blushed a bit; he knew that they meant for little Aoi. But she was just a kid! The age difference was... gross! Suddenly, he needed to get away from them. Parents were stupid sometimes.
"Betcha we can beat them to the ice cream," he told her.
"Yeah! Let's go~!" she agreed wholeheartedly, probably having not heard what their parents had been talking about, or just being too young to understand their grownup jokes.
He broke into a slow run... not too fast, because he didn't want her to fall off, but fast enough for it to be fun for her. She cheered, holding on tight; today was a fun day for her.
They beat the adults to the mochi cart, but it didn't matter. They just laughed at the teenager and the child who stuck their tongues out at them before demanding the ice cream confection from the vendor.
"Um... I want..." she looked at him. "What are you going to get, Akira-kun?"
He thought for a moment. "Vanilla," he decided. "Or maybe green tea."
He knew she didn't like green tea flavor. She didn't like tea at all... mostly because her mother liked tea, and Aoi's was ever the daddy's girl.
"I want whatever you're having," she said, clinging to him.
He sighed. "Two strawberry mochis, please," he told the vendor.
Aoi beamed; he knew that strawberry was her favorite. Like most kids her age, she liked sweet, fruity flavors. He wasn't crazy about them, but this outing was about her, not him.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light in the graying sky. Their parents looked up. "I think it's going to rain..." Reiji mumbled.
Aoi's mother looked upset. "We won't make it back to the house... we'll be soaked. Midoriko-chan will catch a cold."
"Hon, there's a gazebo right there. We can wait out the storm," Aoi's father pointed out.
"I suppose..."
Everyone ate their ice cream, and as the rain began to drizzle down, the group made their way to the shelter of the gazebo.
"I want to play in the rain! Come on, aniki!" Aoi began to insist. She was tugging on his arm again.
"No... you'll get sick," he told her.
"But..." she began to whine, her lips pouting.
"If you get sick, how will you be able to train tomorrow?" he told her. "You don't want to fall behind," he said, knowing that she would want to stay on top of her training more than she would want to play in the rain.
"Yeah... I guess you're right..." she agreed, sitting on the bench next to him.
The light drizzle had quickly turned to a torrential downpour... not uncommon in the spring months.
Thunder boomed, but Aoi seemed unfazed. Instead, she complained, "It's cold."
"You should have brought your jacket," her mother said crisply.
Aoi frowned, but was quiet.
"Hey, Aoi..." Akira began.
She looked up at him attentively.
"Good job with your katas."
Her smile blossomed again. "Thanks, aniki."
"No problem," he said, ruffling her hair again.
Another half an hour passed... Akira began to wonder what was taking his mother so long. Reiji seemed to as well... and suddenly, sirens began to blar, red and white ambulances speeding down the nearby street. He knew it was silly, but he worried. He looked to his father, who nodded, and took out his cellphone.
A few seconds later, he put it away, muttering, "Reception must be bad..."
Later that night, after the rain had stopped and the group had begun to walk back to the Budokan, they'd passed by a car wreck. At a four way intersection, someone hadn't seen a light...
And Akira's worry hadn't been so silly after all.
--
"So stupid..." he muttered, looking up at the cieling. He'd barely been asleep, his mind unable to create dreams, but only dreg up old, bad memories.
He hated himself for the events that had followed that day.
A confused and distraught teenager, he hadn't been able to stop himself from blaming her. If she had chosen someone else as the object of her hero worship, then his mother wouldn't have been driving in the rain.
He'd slowly detached himself from her, throwing more of himself into his training, until, one day, when she was fourteen, it was time for the first World Martial Arts Tournament. Now a teacher at the Budokan, he had been sent an invitation... leaving without telling Aoi's family. His excuse was that he didn't want to disappoint them if he lost, but in reality, he just didn't want to see her smile at him and be proud of this accomplishment, when he was unfairly blaming her for his mother's accident.
He had lost, to Pai Chan's father... a skilled and experienced Chinese master. He hadn't felt too disappointed; after all, it had been his first try, and he'd still been green.
But there was no hiding it, when he won the second time around. And, it turned out to be what inspired Aoi to enter the third. Had she been mad at him, for not telling her that he had entered? He knew she would have cheered him on.
"Aoi..." she had fallen asleep, with her head on the edge of the couch cushion. It didn't look comfortable. "Aoi."
She yawned a little, sliding her head closer to his.
He sighed. "Aoi, wake up," he told her.
Slowly, her eyes opened. "What is it?"
He turned on his side, pressing his back against the back of the couch. He knew she wanted to stay out here with him. He knew he should just tell her to get back to her room, to avoid another fight with her mother... but he gave in. She was trying so hard. "Come here," he said, taking her arm and pulling her up onto the couch beside him.
She seemed too sleepy to care. "Whatever..." she mumbled, laying beside him, her forehead resting against his chest. Both of them barely fit; he was big, and she was small... so as long as they didn't move, they'd be fine. He curled an arm around her waist... to keep her from falling off, of course.
He tried to tell himself that he was only doing it because he felt guilty about imposing himself on her family... but his heart beat a little faster, and as Goh's laugh invaded the back of his mind, his arms tightened around her.
Aoi didn't seem to mind.
--
"We're damned after all.
Through fortune and flame we fall.
And if you can stay then I'll show you the way,
To return from the ashes you call."
Mama - My Chemical Romance
--
Yeah, this is the BAWWWWWWWWWW chapter. Wiki must have added more on Akira recently; I don't remember them describing his personality before. Wiki says that he is, 'known to be hot-blooded and impulsive by nature. He also can be naive and intemperate.' So, I guess I do have him in character... YEAH, GO ME! Accidentally having people in character. I'm awesome.
Yeah, there will be more 'bawww' in the future. Like, a lot more 'bawww' and maybe some lemon, and possibly a tournament... and MOAR GOH. NEEDS MOAR GOH. He'll be back in the next chapter.
So I lied at the beginning of this chapter. There's probably gonna be more than six. I can't fit a good conclusion to this in the next two chapters.
Also, notes on the sparse Japanese I used. 'Sugoi' means, 'Wonderful' or 'awesome'. Basically, just another way to say, 'Yay'. 'Aniki' means 'big brother' but I'm not sure about how it is different from 'oniisan'. Mochi ice cream is ice cream covered in this gummy like substance made from rice. Mochi, by itself, is a popular New Year's candy in Japan. It can also be found at most Asian specialty stores. It's pretty good, but the texture is weird if you're not used to it. Gummy is a very loose way to describe it. It's kind of spongy, too...
Okay, leave me a review, please. I'll try to get the next chapter finished soon, but I have a lot on my plate both as far as fanfiction goes, and off the computer. Which is why it sometimes takes months.