Rain and All That Comes Up From It
(A 'LAMENTATION' Prequel)
It began with a sneeze. It was so astonishing that Takaya found himself looking at his friend and mentor with bewilderment on his face.
"Naoe, you're not catching something, are you?" asked Haruie.
"I think I catch a cold," Naoe sighed.
"You catch a cold?"
Takaya's tone must've been so incredulous, that the older three laughed.
"Yes, Takaya-san, I catch a cold. I'm human too, you know, I'm still prone to cold."
"Uh… yeah…"
Nagahide snickered, "Bakatora must've thought that you're some kind of deity or something…"
"Well, if you catch a cold, then we're not staying out in this rain any longer," Haruie nodded toward Nagahide's parked car.
Soon, all four of them piled into the car, drenched to the bones.
It's been a week since they began what Takaya called 'Ghost Hunting Vacation'. They'd been moving from one place to another, performing exorcism here and there, showing Takaya how to do this and that…
It's also been a week of continuous rain. It almost never stopped, and most of their exorcism duties were done in the open at night.
No wonder one of them caught cold. Takaya simply never thought that it'd be Naoe, though.
'I really did have an image of invincible Naoe in my head', the youth marveled.
They picked up their dinner from a Thai restaurant and headed straight to their hotel, where they booked two conjoined double rooms, separated by a door that can't be locked.
"You're sleeping with Haruie tonight, Takaya-san," Naoe said when Takaya was busy with his dinner.
"Huh? Why?"
"I don't want you catch flu," Naoe sneezed again, "We need you healthy for this vacation."
"Oh…"
"I'll take good care of Naoe, if that what you fear," teased Nagahide.
"… What does that suppose to mean?" Takaya blurted out.
Haruie laughed, "My, my… you're so predictable, Kagetora!"
Takaya pouted.
Within an hour, though, the sneezes were added by a series of cough.
"Naoe… are you sure you okay?"
"Yeah, it's only cold…"
"Maybe you should take a medicine or something…" Haruie hesitated.
"Already did," Naoe waved their concern away.
"Then what're you doing up?" Nagahide looked disgusted, "Sleep!"
Naoe shook his head, "I thought we're going to discuss tomorrow's vacation?"
"Nope. The three of us will, "Haruie smiled, "You are going to sleep!"
"But…"
"No buts!" Takaya dragged Naoe from the sofa and pushed him down to the bed, "You are going to sleep. You're not going to be of any use if you're sick!"
"Why, Takaya-san, are you tucking me in?"
Takaya was so flustered, his face rivaled a tomato, "Whoever tucking you in??!! You tuck yourself in!!"
Naoe laughed, but obeyed anyway. He slipped under the covers and closed his eyes.
Satisfied, Takaya returned to his other friends, who were looking at each other meaningfully.
The planning didn't take long, and Haruie dragged Takaya to sleep with her, despite the boy's protest.
"Naoe told you to sleep with me, so you're going to sleep with me," the female possessor said, and Takaya couldn't say anything against it, so Takaya slept on Nagahide's bed, and Nagahide slept on his bed.
Somewhere late at night, though, Takaya was woken up by the sound of continuous dry cough.
Blinking, he sat up, and saw that Haruie's bed was empty. The room and the bathroom were dark. Naoe's room was bright, though, he could see the light through the gap under the closed conjoining door, but since it can't be locked anyway, he decided to go and check.
He slipped off the bed, wore his night robe, walked softly, almost tiptoeing, and opened the door carefully.
Haruie was sitting on Naoe's bed, supporting the older man as cough wreaked his body. Nagahide stood beside them, holding a glass of water.
He looked at Takaya, who stood uncertainly, and waved him off, "Go back to sleep, Kagetora."
The boy didn't obey, and walked near, "Naoe?"
The coughs stopped, and Naoe took the glass from Nagahide's proffered hand, took a few gulps, and gave it back to the waiting hand.
"Don't worry, Kagetora, it's only flu," Haruie smiled at the younger boy, but something in her eyes strengthened the fear coiling in Takaya's chest instead.
Naoe looked at his young charge and smile, "I'll be okay, Takaya-san. I guess I played under the rain too much."
Takaya wasn't convinced. He stood on the other side of the bed, opposite to Haruie, and reached out to touch Naoe's forehead.
His mentor was rather warm.
"You have a fever," Takaya stated, "You're not going out tomorrow."
"It's nothing, Takaya-san, I still can…"
"I said you're not going out tomorrow. Besides, we're not doing any exorcism, right? We'll only visit some graves."
Nagahide refrained himself from reminding Takaya that the graves were haunted graves.
"Kagetora's right, Naoe, you're not going tomorrow," Haruie agreed.
"So are you, neesan."
"Eh?" Haruie looked at Takaya, confused.
"I'm not leaving Naoe alone when he has a fever, and since I'm banned from anywhere near him, so you're staying."
Nagahide was amused, "You're right. You and I will go together tomorrow. It won't take long, anyway. Naoe and Haruie will stay."
Naoe wanted to protest, but something in Takaya's eyes stopped him.
'Just do this one for me', those eyes said.
Who was Naoe to refuse such blatant show of concern?
The graves scouring took longer than they expected, so much longer, that when Takaya and Nagahide returned to the hotel, it was already late afternoon.
They arrived to a scene they didn't expect.
Haruie was sitting by the bed, dipping a towel into a bowl and wringing it. She didn't even look up as Nagahide closed the door.
Takaya walked near, and knelt beside her, "What's wrong?"
"The fever's spiking somewhere around noon, and it won't break."
Nagahide looked at his feverish companion on the bed, "Did he eat lunch?"
"No," Haruie shook her head, placing the wet towel on Naoe's forehead, brushing his hair attentively, "I could only get him to drink water."
Another cough escaped Naoe's lips, and Takaya frowned.
"That sounded so wrong," the boy observed, his hand reaching out to touch Naoe's cheek.
Naoe opened his eyes to the slight touch, and looked at Takaya with feverish eyes.
"Oh, you're back."
"Yeah," Takaya frowned. Naoe was not warm. He was hot to the touch.
Naoe smiled slightly, opened his mouth to say something, but another series of cough cut his breath, and it simply wouldn't stop.
Years of dealing with Miya gave Takaya enough experience on what to do at times like that. He pulled Naoe up, and moved behind him, supporting the older man as he continued to hack and cough.
Takaya's frown deepened. The cough wasn't dry anymore, it was heavy. Too heavy.
After awhile, the coughing stopped, giving Naoe the much needed air, and Takaya was biting his lip.
Naoe's breath was heaving, as if he couldn't get enough air into his lungs. There was a heavy wheezing whenever he breathed.
It's not only influenza.
'Great, now what do I do?' Takaya thought.
"Did he take his medicine?"
"I think so," Haruie nodded.
"Where is it?" he asked.
"There, on the table."
"Chiaki, support him for me, will you?"
Nagahide moved to lean Naoe's weak form onto his chest, while Takaya stood up and strode over to the table, where a small bag was placed.
He opened the bag and poured the contents out. Aspirin, stomach medicine, cough suppressor, asthma medicine, some antibiotics that he recognized only because his sister takes them at regular intervals…
He picked the last item up. All of the medicines were in pack of twelve. Three more aspirins were left, two cough suppressor, four asthma medicine, five for each antibiotics…
Shit! Naoe's been taking them since the beginning of the journey! He'd been sick that long, and he didn't even notice! None of them did!
"Kagetora?" Haruie's voice brought him out from his silent anger.
He put the medicine down and went over to Naoe's suitcase, rummaged through it for a while, and found what he's looking for. He moved toward the bed with his prize.
Nagahide had laid Naoe down and covered him with blankets, while Haruie was wringing the towel again. Naoe's eyes were closed, his breath short and labored.
"What's that?" asked Nagahide.
"Steam-liquid asthmatic spray and oxygen," Takaya put the small tube and oxygen can on the bedside table.
"What?" Haruie's eyes widened.
"Yeah… It seems that Naoe's asthmatic. That's not a normal flu. He's been sick since we started the vacation, the old fool…"
"That long?"
Nagahide and Haruie looked at each other, then at their bedridden companion.
"Should we take him to hospital?" asked Nagahide.
"No," Naoe's eyes opened wearily, "no hospital…"
"You're not fine, Naoe… maybe it's better if we just take you there…" Haruie tried to persuade him, but Naoe shook his head frantically.
"No… no hospital… hate it…"
Takaya sighed, "Fine. No hospital. But you're doing what I tell you to do, Naoe. Stupid old fool, you could've told me you're sick!"
"Don't want you to worry…"
Takaya looked at Naoe's glazed eyes. 'Great, he's not thinking clearly…we need to break this fever,' he thought.
"Chiaki," he said, "Go take that medicine bag with you and find a drugstore, ask for two of each kind, several dose of paracetamol, two more oxygen cans, and something for pneumonia that won't stand against the cough suppressor, just in case. And a thermometer."
Nagahide nodded and strode out with the bag.
Haruie looked in wonder as Takaya held Naoe up, arranged the pillows behind his back so his head was slightly elevated, and supported him, soothingly rubbing his back whenever the cough wreaked havoc again.
Naoe was only half conscious due to the high fever; otherwise he would've sent Takaya away from him.
"How do you know what to do?" she asked.
"Miya's asthmatic and prone to pneumonia. Yuzuru, too. I've had my share of experience," Takaya smiled slightly as he laid Naoe down after another bout of cough, "Never thought that it'd come in handy with him, though."
"He overestimates his physical condition every time," Haruie said in disgust, "He keeps on watching over others that he's not watching over himself, telling people to eat when he doesn't even touch his food."
"This happened before?" asked Takaya.
"Oh, several times," Haruie sighed, "Irobe's worried sick about him all the time. He just doesn't take good care of himself… always taking care of others…"
"Really?"
"It doesn't show much… he's rarely sick, the bodies he took were almost always healthy, but… they're still human body. They have limits."
"He must've scared everyone whenever he got sick," Takaya commented, brushing Naoe's sweat-slicked hair back. He was amazed when Naoe leaned to his touch.
"Yeah… It's gotta be something big whenever he's bedridden…"
'Especially that one time…' Haruie's thought wander.
Takaya looked worried. Miya always come to him whenever she started to cough, so pneumonia's almost never happened, and he could always take care of it early. It's been a week, a full week of running about in the rain at night… It's remarkable how Naoe stood up that long…
Another cough brought him back to reality, and he realized that the fever had spiked again.
Two hours after that, Haruie was seriously thinking of bundling Naoe to the nearest hospital. The fever had spiked to an alarming level, yet the man shivered uncontrollably under the blanket. He was still coughing, but weakly, as if his strength was slowly diminishing. He woke up several times, but it was clear that the fever had begun to affect his mind.
Takaya stayed by his side. Twice already he'd used the oxygen can, but even that won't help much if Naoe couldn't even take a breath on his own.
Nagahide looked at them worriedly, "Why don't we just bundle him up and take him to a hospital anyway? It's not like he's going to fight us…"
"Nope," Takaya said calmly, "There's nothing hospital can do, anyway. They'd only poke and prod, yet this kind of illness needs to run its own course. No hospital medicine can help. It just makes it worst sometimes. And we can't be with him if he's under doctor watch."
"But…"
"Trust me, neesan, this fever will break in a day or so."
"Kagetora…"
"I said no, Chiaki! Miya hates hospital, Yuzuru hates hospital, I hate hospital… No. He's not going anywhere out of my sight."
Haruie sighed, "But are you sure?"
Takaya smirked, "He's stronger than Miya or Yuzuru, I'm sure, if they can beat asthma and pneumonia, so can he. Besides, this is not a hard case. He can still breathe on his own. It's the fever dreams that worries me…"
"What?"
"Fever dreams, Chiaki. A fever this high invites unwelcomed nightmares."
Haruie frowned, and looked at Nagahide. The man moved away from the bed and Haruie followed him.
"It'll be bad if he's delirious… You know how much he tried to hide things from Kagetora…" Haruie whispered.
"It's bound to happen, you know… Sooner or later… he'd have to face the wolves…"
"So…"
"So, we wait."
"If only Irobe-san's here…"
"Irobe can't do anything anyway. Like Kagetora said, this kind of illness needs to run its own course…"
"Let's just hope nothing bad happens, okay?"
"Yeah…"
Within an hour, Naoe was tossing restlessly on the bed.
The fever dreams had begun.
Haruie watched helplessly as her comrade mumbled incoherently, his fingers gripping his blankets tight.
Nagahide arrived with another box of ice, and Takaya took his seat by the bed again, leaning down ever so slightly, prying Naoe's fingers from the blankets. The fingers clutched at his hand, and he grasped back.
"It's okay, Naoe, it's okay, it's only a dream… it's not real… come on, Naoe, break away from it… Come back to me… Shhh… it's okay, you're save… c'mon, Naoe… come back to me…"
Nagahide looked at the youth with admiration in his eyes.
Kagetora would never do that before.
While Naoe always stayed by Kagetora whenever he's bedridden, Kagetora always moved away whenever Naoe got sick. Irobe and Haruie would end up taking care of him, while Nagahide would stay with Kagetora, watch him mope and worry endlessly, but still had no courage to just stay there beside Naoe.
Takaya, though… Takaya stayed. Maybe having his memories erased was a good thing… He's not trying to be cold and aloof anymore.
Naoe tossed his head to the side, whispering something unintelligible. Takaya moved to fix the blanket, his body leaning over Naoe's in the process.
Naoe's eyes flew opened.
Trapped!
He fought back.
Takaya was fast, though; he caught Naoe's shoulder and pushed him back to the bed, preventing him from leaping up.
"Hush, Naoe, it's Takaya! It's Takaya… I won't hurt you, okay? It's Takaya, Naoe… I won't hurt you…"
Naoe calmed down, and Takaya moved, sitting back beside the bed, though one of his hands still held Naoe.
Naoe looked at the youth before him with something akin to fear in his eyes.
Takaya frowned. Why would Naoe be afraid of him?
"Naoe?"
"Kagetora…"
Takaya smiled slightly, "Yeah… you worried me, Naoe. You have to get back on your feet soon, you know… You're holding us back here!"
"Sorry…"
"Huh?"
"For… burdening you…"
"Stupid old fool. We're friends, right? We take care of each other!"
Takaya's hand grasped his, and Naoe smiled slightly, grasping back tightly
"I thought you'd never come…"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"You never come…"
"…"
'I never come? Man, what kind of bastard was I, leaving my friend when he's ill?' Takaya thought furiously. He smiled at Naoe despite his inner turmoil though.
"Well, I'm here now, right? Go back to sleep. I'll keep the dreams away."
"You'll leave…"
"Hn?"
"If I sleep, you'll leave…"
"Not a chance. I'll be here when you wake up, promise."
"Sorry…"
"Whatever for, Naoe?"
"Everything… for everything…"
And Naoe slipped back into his fevered world.
Takaya frowned. What happened? In their past… something that the Ranmaru guy said Naoe wants him to forget… What?
'Will I ever remember? Do I want too remember?' he thought.
Haruie and Nagahide exchanged looks.
The fever worsened. Haruie was close to calling ambulance, yet Takaya was adamant in keeping Naoe close to him.
Naoe continued to toss around on the bed, mumbling incoherently. Takaya lent whatever strength he can lend, holding his hand, continuously talking to him, trying to draw him out of his nightmares.
What scared Nagahide was that none of the words he could catch from Naoe's delirious mind were dreams.
They were real.
Nagahide had known Naoe for four hundred years. While it's true that he was the rebellious one, he always watches over his friends. And Naoe was far too reckless when it comes to his own good.
Irobe had long ago realized that while Kagetora needs Naoe to guard his back, there's no one to watch Naoe's back. Nagahide and Haruie would often work together, and Irobe automatically worked with Kagetora. Which means Naoe ended up being alone.
Naoe never complained. He simply stayed there, his eyes ever watching, filling in whatever role he's needed to do, and stepped back when celebration time came.
Always like that, over and over again, suppressing his feelings…
No…
Don't leave…
Sorry… sorry…
Those weren't fever dreams. Those were reality. That was Naoe not hiding anything at all. That was Naoe being plain honest with himself for once.
'At least Kagetora's here now,' he thought. Maybe…
Just maybe…
Maybe he can hope that Takaya's not Bakatora.
It was almost midnight, and Haruie was falling asleep. Nagahide had taken a chair beside the bed Naoe occupied, and was already asleep.
Takaya was still up, though, still talking to Naoe, talking things Kagetora would never say. Telling Naoe to hold on, to break the nightmare… telling Naoe to come back to him…
Between consciousness and sleep, something slipped into her mind, something that happened long ago… so long ago…
It was a rainy week, just like this one…
It was her third female body, and they were on an exorcism mission. The rain bothered them all, but more so Kagetora, to the point when he snapped at Naoe harder than usual.
Naoe had simply shrugged, saying, "I can't control weather, Kagetora-sama," went outside their abode at that time, and stayed out there in the rain.
He came back in only when Irobe dragged him.
They had an exorcism to perform that night. It wasn't something big, or hard, just exorcising some lowly generals, but they were careless. And in their line of job, there's no space for carelessness.
They were caught in a volley of arrows. It was a trap so well defined, there's almost no way to get out of it. In the end, they had to exorcise everything else around them.
None of them got out lightly, Haruie had an arrow stabbed her arm, Nagahide had a gashing wound on his thigh, and Naoe caught an arrow in his shoulder. Only Irobe and Kagetora weren't severely injured, Irobe being Irobe the Invincible, and Kagetora because he had his own personal living shield. It wasn't even questioned that Naoe must've caught the arrow shielding Kagetora.
Kagetora spent their short trip to a nearby cave cursing at everyone and everything around them, and taunting Naoe.
Naoe simply shrugged it off, like he always does.
The cave was warm, if rather wet, and dressing their wounds was a simple thing. Irobe went out to catch them dinner, and returned with rabbits. They cooked them, ate them and went to sleep. Kagetora never stopped being mean to Naoe, who ignored him.
Haruie was woken up by Nagahide, and she saw Irobe using his robe to cover Naoe's shivering form.
"The arrow was poisoned," Nagahide said, "Do you feel anything weird? Fever?"
Haruie shook her head, and scooted closer to Naoe, "Is he okay?"
"The fever's too high… and the blood won't stop…" Irobe said worriedly, "I think he's already sick before this… I don't know what kind of poison this is… and this sickness isn't helping…"
'Where's Kagetora?' she had thought, and as if sensing her question, Nagahide gestured toward the cave entrance.
Kagetora was standing there, his face toward the rainy world. On usual occasion, he would've been gone outside, but it was raining so heavily, he had no choice but to stay.
Several hours passed by, and Irobe shook his head helplessly. Haruie sobbed, her fingers brushed Naoe's hair carefully. Nagahide looked outraged.
Irobe stood up and walked up to Kagetora. Whatever being said was never known to them, but Kagetora tensed, and shook his head forcefully. Irobe tried to grab him, but Kagetora exited the cave anyway.
It was a futile effort, and Haruie was tempted to stab her sword through Naoe's chest, if only to end his misery. But Naoe wouldn't want it that way… Naoe would fight until the end… to whatever end…
What hurt Haruie the most was the words she caught in his delirious state.
No…Kagetora-sama…
Sorry… sorry…
Don't leave…
Irobe was furious, and Nagahide looked ready to kill.
The sound of a cracked twig alerted them that Kagetora had retuned.
He was drenched to the bones, and Haruie would just love to imagine that his face was wet with tears, not rain…
Kagetora moved swiftly toward them, and knelt beside Naoe's almost still form, his face unreadable.
Naoe's breath was slowly becoming shorter and shorter, his face pale, his previously fevered body growing cold.
Kagetora looked at him, leaned forward, gathering him to his arms, and carried him to the cave entrance, where he sat down, Naoe leaned on his chest. He took out his flute, something he rarely did after his first possession, and the sweet notes of the bamboo flute filled the air, singing a lamentation of another lost time and missed chance.
The rain stopped, and stars appeared.
Naoe didn't even wake up. That night, the body he used died in Kagetora's arms.
Naoe may never remember.
Naoe may never know.
But Haruie does.
And she remembers.
Haruie woke up to scene so sweet, that it took all of her will not to grab her camera and snap a picture.
She slid out of the bed instead, and walked to stand by the other bed.
Naoe was sleeping peacefully, the fever must've broken sometime when she was asleep, and Takaya was asleep beside him, half sitting on the floor, half leaning on the bed, his hand still grasped Naoe's in a tight grip.
She realized that Nagahide was awake and looking at her, a wide grin on his face.
She looked back at him, and he pulled out a small camera out of his pocket.
Oh…
Oh!
Haruie grinned back. Irobe would love to have a copy of it.
Takaya stirred awake, and Haruie looked at him, this latest reincarnation of Kagetora who put the old Kagetora in shame due to his… nurturing tendency.
It comes with having a sister and being the man of the house, she guessed.
The youth blinked, sitting straight, reached out to touch Naoe's forehead, and smiled.
"He's okay now, isn't he?" asked Haruie.
Takaya yawned, "Yeah, the fever broke sometimes during dawn, but I had to make sure. He'd be up and about somewhere in the afternoon. Something tells me he's not the kind of man whom I can coddle."
'Coddle?' Haruie almost laugh.
Nagahide snickered, and stood up from his chair, "Why don't you just hit the bed, Kagetora? You look wiped out."
"No. I promised I'd be here when he wakes up, and I intent to keep it."
"Wake him up, then."
"What? You don't just wake a sick man like that! He needs his sleep!"
"He's been sleeping for almost twenty-four hours."
"I mean real sleep, not that fevered shit before!"
Haruie laughed.
The voices around him dragged Naoe out of his dream world. He tried to move, but realized that his hand was grasped by someone (or grasping someone), so he decided to open his eyes to see who was holding his hand.
"Oh, you're awake!" Haruie was the one who greeted him, just like she always had before, whenever he was sick or injured.
"Morning, sleepyhead."
Naoe looked at the hand that hold his, and then at the body attached to that hand, and then at the head attached to that body…
And almost did a double take.
"Takaya-san?"
"Yeah. You really worried me, you know, all feverish and delirious like that…"
"What are you doing here?"
"Eh?"
"I thought I told you to stay with Haruie?"
"Let me guess… You don't remember?"
"Remember… what?"
"Oh… Naoe…" Haruie sighed.
"Kagetora's been watching over you, Naoe, all the while you were sick," Nagahide smirked.
"… What?"
"Yeah. You were so hot and all, and the fever dreams must've been really bad… So I just sort of stay here," Takaya shook his head, "Really, Naoe, you should've told us you're sick! You scared the hell out of me, hacking and coughing like that!"
Naoe didn't know how to react. Here was Kagetora, the ever-ignorant Kagetora, spending the night (and the day before that) beside him, watching over him… only because he was sick?
Kagetora wouldn't even know if he'd been impaled by his own sword!
But then again… that Kagetora was not this Takaya…
Haruie was smiling slightly, "The fever's broke, but I think the cough will need some time to go. You're going to take things light, Naoe. No exorcism until you're really well."
"Doesn't matter. We're done here. We can go straight home," Nagahide said, "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Oh… I don't know… I'm thinking of chicken soup and bread, those kinds of food…" Takaya looked thoughtful.
Nagahide scowled, "That's for him!" he pointed at Naoe, "I want real food!"
"Why don't we take a bath first, and then we'll see what we can have, eh?" asked Haruie.
Nagahide continued to scowl, but obeyed anyway, grabbing a towel and stomped to the bathroom.
Haruie smiled and left to her own room, leaving Naoe and Takaya alone.
"Naoe, you really have to take care of yourself more, you know… You can't watch over anyone if you can't watch over yourself," Takaya said softly.
Naoe was stumped. He didn't know how to react to a concerned Kagetora, so he smiled instead, "I'll try, Takaya-san."
Takaya nodded, and let go of Naoe's hand, yawning hugely, "Well, now that you're okay, I'm going to have a cat nap for awhile. Wake me up if you need anything, though," and he crashed onto the other bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Naoe felt weird. He's… what? He's happy that Kagetora stayed by his side, taking care of him for a reason as small as flu. He's sad that he caused this younger man to worry about him. He's angry because he was ill in the first place. He's ecstatic because this new Kagetora seemed to like him much enough.
He's scared because when Takaya finally remembers…
He closed his eyes, trying to sort the emotion in him, and was almost falling asleep when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes to see Haruie and Nagahide beside his bed, fully dressed to go out.
"We're going to find something to eat, Naoe, don't try to move around too much, okay?" Haruie said.
Naoe nodded.
"We'll be back as soon as we can. Just let Kagetora sleep. He's been with you all day and night since yesterday."
"Why didn't you tell him to sleep?" he asked, out of curiosity.
"You think I didn't try?" Nagahide huffed, "He simply refused to go a foot far from you. He said that he promised you he'd be there when you wake up, so he had to be there when you wake up."
Naoe was touched.
"We were worried, Naoe, we really did," Haruie sighed, remembering her dream that night. The helplessness… even when knowing that they'll meet each other again someday… but still… "The fever was very high…"
Fever… Fever dreams… "I… did I…"
Nagahide grumbled, "You mumbled, you called out for him, you begged him to stay, you ask for forgiveness, but that's it. No. You didn't say anything."
Naoe felt so relieved that he felt guilty.
"Just rest, Naoe," Haruie said simply, "We'll be back soon. Sleep if you can, you need it."
Naoe nodded, and watched his friends left.
He turned around to look at the other bed, where Takaya was sprawled haphazardly.
He'd do anything for this man-child… anything… Even if it costs him his life. The same like he'd done for Kagetora.
But Takaya was different… The same person yet different.
Can he hope? Dare he hope?
No answer came to Naoe.
He'd just have to wait and see.
…Weeks later…
Naoe looked at the candle in front of him. His mind felt empty. There's a client that he had to meet, one by the name Asaoka Maiko. Yet he simply couldn't bear to move.
He dreamt about that night when his action forced Takaya away from him.
That was solely his fault. He was afraid that Takaya would remember… He almost lost control…
He buried his face in his hands.
Happiness so close yet so far…
He wondered if he's allowed to be happy anyway.
If he asked for death, will he be allowed that?
Might as well give it a try…
But not now… later…
He still has a job to do. And he still has to visit Kyou-kun. Maybe he can ask if he can ask for that person's help.
Ending up in a tree sounds more favorable than living alone forever.
Later…
But it would do well if he has a will already. He'd just carry it around everywhere.
Save the bother of inheritance scuffle, not that his family would even touch his wealth anyway. But it may help to support Takaya.
So he went to write the letter, and put it in his wallet.
He'd just go to Kyou-kun the next time he sleeps.
Author's note:
Finished!
Yes, this is a prequel fic for Lamentation. It has more spoilers than I thought it would be, but… what the heck. This fic came out due to chronic case of insomnia and the stress of caring for a pneumonia patient. I'm not a doctor, though, and I can't remember all the medicine being used…
I'll post the first chapter of Lamentation two days from now, three days at most. I'm still doing the best characterizing possible for one of the passerby without crippling the story.
I know that the Naoe here is so… off… but I need him like that… As for the Takaya… honestly, I like the Takaya more than the Taka-tora…Takaya is much more… lively.
This happened between Kasuke-case and the 'hotel scene', I mean… Takaya's much stronger at that time already, so it couldn't be only one learning-trip.
Right?
Like I said, this is a sorry excuse for a fic, (I'm trying to write something out of the thirteen episodes I watched…). Hope someone out there will like it, though.
Like always, all typos and mistakes are solely my mistake.
R/R are very much welcomed!
THR