Chapter 24: Sins of the Past and Sins of the Present
Keitaro stepped through the doorway of his home, dreading the ensuing silence. It had been almost a full day since his wife went into labor. The chaos of Motoko's near death, the murders at the hospital, and the premature birth of his son were all too much for Keitaro, but he endured – he had to.
"Go home Keitaro, you can't do anymore here," said the doctor. Keitaro looked up from his perch hovering over Motoko's bed. The doctor could see the bright red capillaries in the young husband's eyes, the pain raging within them. "I will not leave them," Keitaro replied with a conviction that the doctor recognized.
He too had almost lost his wife and child in an accident so many years ago. He understood the torture of watching helplessly as loved ones hovered near the precipice. Placing his gentle hand on Keitaro's shoulder, the doctor calmly spoke, "Keitaro, you need to rest. You can't be strong for them if you're fighting exhaustion. Please, go home and come back in the morning. I promise that I'll call you the moment there's a change."
Keitaro was beyond exhaustion – he felt his soul on the verge of disintegration. He wanted to refuse, but he also wanted to escape the misery that he was feeling. Without saying a word, Keitaro nodded his head and capitulated to the doctor's wisdom.
An hour later, Keitaro was home, but at that moment, it felt anything but home. His mind was still troubled by the day's event. Had it been a terrible dream? What about the murders? Though he had no reason to believe it, Keitaro could not help but feel that the deaths were somehow connected to him.
His somber contemplation, however, was interrupted by a stray word uttered.
"Keitaro?"
Keitaro's eyes widened at the recognition of the voice. It was the voice that had haunted his days and nights since he awoke from his coma. It belonged to the one he loved most in the world – the one he made a promise to as a five year old boy playing in a sand box.
"Keitaro, is it really you?"
The dulcet voice quivered with each passing word. Keitaro felt the emotions bursting from every syllable. Slowly, he turned to face the voice and saw standing before him was Naru Narusegawa.
He had seen pictures of her on the internet. Sarah had kept a picture blog of all the members of the Hinata Sou. None of them did her justice. Naru stood tall, her hair long and shimmering gold. Her eyes glistened in the dim light of the hallway light. She was wearing a summer dress with a pink floral pattern. Keitaro felt the wind knocked out of him. She was beautiful – radiant. She was the Naru he remembered all those years ago.
But she was no longer Naru Narusegawa. She had married and was pregnant with someone else's child, news he had learned from a posting on Sarah's blog. Naru caught sight of his eyes as they glanced towards her bulging waist line before falling to the floor.
She had never felt more naked, but dared not look away from him in embarrassment. She had once before taken her eyes off of him and he disappeared as a result. She would not make the same mistake again.
Naru's eyes locked on to the man before her, scanning every detail of his body. She was startled. He was not the Keitaro she remembered. The eyes were shrunken into his head, dark and sullen. His lips, stretched tight across his face, lacked the illuminating smile that had always made her feel at home. Naru had seen Keitaro sad before, but never in misery. It was as if he had lost hope.
Suddenly, the realization struck her with titanic force. Keitaro was alive and standing in front of her. Emotions that she had buried long ago were rising back up, threatening to revolt against her senses. Tears began streaking down her cheeks. "I can't believe you're alive," she stammered, slowly making her way to him, stretching out her hand.
"Please be real," she kept repeating in her mind, over and over again.
He watched her come closer. Keitaro felt battered by his emotions. He had spent the past 26 hours at the hospital, keeping vigil over his wife and newborn son as they struggled to live. Now, his first love had resurfaced. "What should I do?" he asked himself.
Naru made the choice for him. She embraced him, crying into his chest. "Oh Keitaro," she wept, "I can't believe you're still alive." Keitaro, at first, was uncertain of what to do. He had imagined this scene a thousand times over, but dreams weren't real. This was.
"Please, hold me," Naru cried out, sensing his hesitation. Needing no more prompting, Keitaro wrapped his arms around her, remembering the feel of her warmth. He took in her scent – the smell of lilac filled his nostrils. It was the perfume that he had gotten her as a birthday gift.
They stood in the middle of his home, embraced. Neither knew what the future held for them, but in the moment, they didn't care. They were together again; two star crossed lovers reunited. Fate had been brutal, denying them their much deserved happily ever after.
Time had passed, but neither knew how much. It was Naru who made the first move. She stepped back, breaking from the embrace. She wanted nothing more than to remain in his arms forever, but Naru also wanted answers. Keitaro was taken from her and she wanted to know why, but the words would not come out. She was overwhelmed with emotions that had taken her years to suppress.
Keitaro saw Naru's body tremble. She was struggling to speak. Seeing her in pain, Keitaro instinctively went to her and embraced Naru once more. He then recounted the days after he had awoken from his coma, how Haruka had arranged his supposed death and move to America. He then paused in his narration. He did not know how to proceed. At first, he thought of lying to her about his marriage to Motoko, but knew that he could do no such thing. Naru deserved to hear the truth. So with a deep breath, Keitaro spoke of Motoko and their relationship. Naru's response was immediate.
She pushed Keitaro violently back, nearly forcing him to the ground. She flailed her arms, pounding him with her fists. "How could you marry her!" she screamed, "Do you know how much pain she caused us? All those years of misery!"
Keitaro tasted blood. A stray punch had landed clean against his bottom lip. As the bitter taste of iron began to permeate throughout his mouth, Keitaro chuckled. Caught off guard, Naru cried out, "What are you laughing at?" Wiping the blood from his lips, he turned his attention towards her and winked. "I missed the Naru punch," he replied.
Catching sight of the blood, Naru's mind flashed back to the day at the hot springs – she could never forget the blood from that day. She collapsed onto the floor, clutching her head in her hands. Keitaro saw this and went to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh," he whispered, trying to calm her down.
Naru lifted her head so her eyes could meet his. Keitaro was taken by the pained expression that he saw. "How could you love her after everything that she did to you, to us?" she cried out.
Keitaro could only stare back into Naru's deep green eyes in response. With a sigh, he sat himself down next to her and began to stare off into some place that Naru could not see. For a moment, the house filled with a deafening silence. He then spoke, "I don't really know myself. I know Motoko hurt me, you, and everyone else, but I could never hate her for it. I mean, she also suffered, more so even." Keitaro paused, giving him time to breathe. He then gently placed his hand on top of hers and held it firmly. He continued, "But mostly, I needed to start living again. We all did."
Naru had nothing to say. She needed time to digest all that had happened. She felt betrayed, angry, hurt, and happy all at the same time. Motoko had taken him from her. Haruka had hidden him from her, and now Keitaro was married and having a baby with the woman she had blamed for all of the pain that they had suffered.
But she too was with child and married to a man not Keitaro.
Did any of that even matter now? She was with him again. Naru turned to him and looked deeply into his eyes. With her free hand, she gently caressed the side of his face, the tears unabated. Though she had confessed her love a thousand times over, he had never heard the words from her directly.
"I love you," Naru professed, feeling every bit of those words. Keitaro felt his heart leap into his throat. He had known of Naru's feelings, but to hear those words spoken aloud was an experience beyond anything he could have imagined. It was a dream come true, but also terrible burden.
His mind drifted towards the memories of his wife and child still in the hospital. Naru felt his body shifting away from her – his hesitation. She too had similar thoughts of her husband and the child she was carrying, but her heart could not be denied. She had longed to feel Keitaro's touch and keep the promise that they had made to each other.
"Just this one night," she whispered before pressing her lips against his. Keitaro wanted to struggle and break free, but couldn't muster the strength to resist. The day's events had worn him down raw. He could no longer fight the desire that he had imprisoned within his heart. .
Though he loved Motoko, Naru would always be his promise girl. "Just one night," he told himself, giving into her kiss.
Shinobu watched in utter horror as she watched the two become enmeshed into one another from the window. She wanted to scream out and stop them from doing something that they both would regret. In truth, she wanted to stop Naru from taking away her sempai for a second time.
She felt a hand pressing on top of her shoulder. Kitsune knew the turmoil her young friend was experiencing. Though never admitting her feelings, she too wanted to be with Keitaro. But none of them had Keitaro's heart. It was and would always be Naru's. That was why she, Shinobu, and Su agreed that Naru would be the one to make first contact with him.
It was only right for Naru to be with him – marriage be damned.
"C'mon, let's go and leave them be," Kitsune spoke as she left for the car. Shinobu nodded her head in agreement and walked away from the window. Su remained behind. The smile that she donned had vanished, replaced with a harsh expression that did not suit the young princess.
Having her back towards her friends, neither saw the sneer enveloping Su's face. The only thing preventing her from bursting through the window was her need for vengeance. Pulling a PDA from her pocket, Su clicked onto an icon. On the display, she watched the scene in the living room unfold as the two lovers finally consummated their love. Unbeknownst to them, a tiny web camera had been installed in the light fixture and was recording the affair.
Clicking the PDA off, Su walked over to her friends and took her place in the car. As they drove away from the house, Su reveled in silence as her plan unfolded as expected. "Soon," she whispered as they sped back toward their hotel.
Miles away, a TV in a hospital room sputtered to life. Attached to the TV was a device manufactured by Su Tech. The device clicked on as it began receiving a broadband signal from a video source a few miles away.
Motoko lay in her bed, trying to emerge from the black. Slowly, she managed to find her way back to the light. As she opened her eyes, Motoko could see the flickering images of the television, but could not make them out. She struggled to shake the slumber from her vision and slowly the image came into focus.
Her eyes widened in shock as she saw her husband with another woman in the throes of passion on the television screen. She could feel her heart breaking as she bore witness to Keitaro's infidelity. But it was the recognition of the other woman that threatened to unravel the young mother.
"Naru," Motoko gasped. It was then she spotted her tanto, ceremoniously draped in white linen, on the table next to the bed. Her attention returned to the television screen. Motoko watched in silence as Keitaro and Naru made love – she knew it was love and not carnal lust.
Each moan was a dagger through the heart.
Each moment that passed was an eternity of heartache and torture.
When they finally climaxed, the television screen switched off, leaving Motoko in the dark, alone with nothing but the tanto as her only companion. For minutes, she did nothing. She struggled to maintain her grip on sanity as the maelstrom of emotions tore through her soul. Then she looked over to the blade.
Taking it into her hand, Motoko unsheathed the sharp steel from its casing. Clenching the blade tightly, Motoko began to sob uncontrollably.
The only words she uttered was, "I love you Keitaro."