Chapter 12: Yuki's Last day
It was Yuki's last day at the house before school started again. Hana had both Yuki and Joaquin wake up. When Hana came to Joaquin, he had his journal in his arms while he was sleeping. Joaquin was reading in it to fall asleep, there was also a pen nearby his bed. He was writing more in his journal. Hana was curious to know what he was writing, but the respect of privacy came first and foremost, at first before her own curiosity took its hold. Then she slowly took the journal to read about his life, she was successful. She opened the book to the most recent page written in.
The time I have spent with Hana and her daughter Yuki has been quite an interesting situation for me. Yuki still displays some distance between me and her, but I believe we have made progress so far. Ever since showing her my other form as a Yapino, she has shown comfort around me, but only a little trust. It's understandable; I'm a stranger to her still. I wish I could stay longer here honestly. It's like home only greener, but home is someplace I don't want to come back to, I'm already dead…
Hana stopped as Joaquin was waking up. She put the journal on the table before Joaquin realized anything. As he was waking up, he realized that Hana was standing next to him.
"Hey, good morning Hana." Joaquin said. He then realized that his arm didn't have the journal he fell asleep with.
"Huh, where is it?" Joaquin asked Hana.
"Where's what?"
"My journal, I had with me when I fell asleep." He looked around for a quick minute and saw it on the table. Joaquin questioned on how it got there and had some suspicions.
"Hana, did you take my journal?" Joaquin asked. Hana looked with a little guilt for invading his privacy.
"Well, I just put it there because I thought it would be uncomfortable to sleep with. You know, being jabbed by the edges and what not." Joaquin questioned it, but made sense.
"Well ok, thanks Hana. So what's the plan for the day?" Joaquin asked as he was getting up.
"Well we gotta drop Yuki off at school today and then we'll just see what we can do from there." Hana was smiling again with a little bit of guilt from reading the journal a bit. Her English wasn't that good when reading it but she understood some of what he wrote like don't want to go back to' and 'I'm already dead.' She wondered what he meant by that. Joaquin noticed coffee was ready, and went to grab a mug and poor himself some. Yuki woke up and made served herself when she saw Joaquin.
"Good morning Jacky san." Yuki said to Joaquin.
"Hey kiddo, sleep good?"
"Yea can't complain, it's always good to be home, even if it's only for a little while."
"Home is where the heart is."
"Ain't that the truth." Both went to sit down at the table. Hana joined them at table and began to eat.
"Yuki, are you all packed?" Hana asked Yuki.
"Yes mom, everything is good to go. By the way thanks for doing my laundry."
"Oh it wasn't me, it was Jacky san who did it."
"WHAT?! I HAD UNDERWEAR IN THERE!"
"Relax I didn't touch that, I let you mom do that." Joaquin reassured her.
"But did you wash them?!" Yuki asked.
"How else are they going to clean them?" Yuki got mad and embarrassed that Joaquin saw her underwear and wanted to kill him right there for acting casual about it.
"Yuki I didn't touch them, I just dumped them in and you mom got them out and folded them." Yuki then felt relieved.
"Yuki you should thank Jacky san for helping you." Hana requested.
"Thank you Jacky san." Yuki said with a look of anger on her for looking at her garments. Joaquin didn't touch them, but rather took the basket and dumped them in the machine without touching them physically. After breakfast, Yuki decided to have a chat with Hana while Joaquin went outside for fresh air.
"Mom, can I talk to you in private?" Yuki asked Hana.
"Yea sure baby." They went into Hana's room for privacy. Yuki had some concerns that Hana realized and wanted to see what they were and if she can remedy them.
"So what's bothering you?" Hana asked Yuki.
"Well, it's just our guest you know, Jacky san."
"Something about him bothers you?"
"Not just that, he's a wolf and don't get me wrong, he's nice and cool once I got to know him a bit, but why is he here?"
"Yuki I told you, his bike broke down and the piece he needs won't be here for a couple of months."
"So why can't he stay at a hotel or somewhere?"
"Yuki, where are you going with this? Jacky san has been helpful and he's only here for a little while."
"I don't know I just sense that something is wrong with him."
"What do you mean? Like he's a bad person or something?"
"No, like he's hiding something. Could be that he is a bad person or there's something he's not telling us."
"Like what?"
"Well, when I look in his eyes, it's like I'm seeing something fading very slowly. Sadness, guilt, like he regrets something he did."
"Well he was in a war; it's probably post-traumatic stress disorder. The thing usually soldier's get after seeing war and death. He's been through a lot and he needs peace."
"But why here?" Hana thought about what Yuki asked. She looked back on the past week on how Joaquin was helpful and told his story, yet realized his coughing was still a mystery when he doesn't look sick.
"I just felt like he should have a helping hand. He's a drifter and looking for a purpose, at least that's what I think. He needs our help and we're going to give it to him, understand?" Hana said with a stern tone. Yuki finally agreed reluctantly.
"OK mom, I'll go with it, just keep an eye on him."
"You don't have to worry Yuki, I'll be fine." They came out of the room as Joaquin was getting back inside to help Yuki with the packing. He took the bigger suit case and Yuki took her back pack as they headed to the car. As they were getting ready to leave, Hana decided to ask Joaquin to come with them.
"Hey Jacky san, why don't you come with us? I hate leaving you here all alone out here." Hana said to Joaquin
"You sure? I don't want to be a bother with you guys."
"Its ok Jacky san, besides I want you to see the school Yuki goes to."
"Oh the one with the dorms. Sounds more like college."
"Well this is not a college; we don't have parties and get laid on a daily basis." Yuki interrupted. Hana got a little mad at Yuki, but Joaquin started laughing at what she said.
"Good one Yuki! Alright then, shotgun." Joaquin jumped in the front of the car and they were off. The ride lasted for an hour before Yuki began to talk.
"Hey Jacky san, can I ask you something?" Yuki asked.
"Sure, ask away."
"You said you lived with your grandparents, right?"
"Yes ma'm I did."
"Well, what happened to your mother and father?"
"Yuki, don't ask that!" Hana said
"No it's ok, I don't mind." Joaquin reassured Hana. Joaquin looked at Yuki and began to explain.
"Well you see, my father was Navajo who lived in a small community with my grandparents in New Mexico, and my mother was an illegal immigrant from Mexico who worked in a café for a little while before meeting dad. They met and just hit it off like that. They never got married, but had me a year later. They lived together in an apartment, mom stayed home with me and dad was training to be a pilot so he could fly those planes for the fire department, my grandparents often checked on me to make sure we were in good health. They kept saying that my parents should get married, but dad hated formalities and just had this notion that tradition is gone and marriage would just strain them."
"Wow, sounds like your dad was happy with what they got."
"Yea they were, then things got bad."
"How so?
"When I was 4, immigration broke into the house and arrested my mother after finding out she was in the country illegally. I was put in the custody of Social Services and had to be in a foster home for a few weeks, until my dad and grandparents came and got me after getting custody of me back. They tried to get mom back, but INS said no to them and sent her back sense she illegally got in the country. Dad fell into a great depression and even started drinking for a little while. My grandpa had to set him straight, and he was ok before joining the army. He became a helicopter pilot and was sent to Somolia during Operation Gothic Serpant in 1993. He was killed in battle after being shot down, he died on impact. Ever since then it's been me and my grandparents." Yuki and Hana felt sad for him after hearing his story.
"Jacky san, I'm so sorry. Your life has been so sad." Yuki said.
"It wasn't all bad, My grandparents have been great to me, even in my teens when I went through a bad phase in my life."
"Phase?"
"I was kind of a trouble maker later on. Stole cars, picked wallets, graffiti, shoplifting, even fighting for a while. Got in trouble with the police, which bothered them seeing I had some of the best grades in school. Guess I was just mad, angry at my life of not having parents or being both wolf and human. My grandfather showed me the way and guided me into being both."
"Both? What do you mean by both."
"Human and wolf both in the same body. It's what I was taught." Yuki thought about what he said, the fact that he didn't have to choose. Hana now knows how he was able to get through life, by accepting both. They eventually got to the school and Joaquin helped Yuki helped her unpack. Yuki saw Shino and went up to her.
"Hey Shino! What's up?" Yuki asked Shino.
"Yuki! Hey how are you pal?" They both embraced and talked about their experience of their vacation. Shino then shifted her head to Joaquin. The tanned man of tall stature and well-built fascinated her, and the fact he was foreign made it more interesting.
"My, who is that?" Shino asked Yuki with a strange mix of curiosity and some lust.
"Oh, his name Joaquin Valero, we call him Jacky."
"You don't say, where is he from?"
"He from the United States."
"Oh, an American, wow, we don't get his kind here that much."
"Shino, why are you looking at him like that?" Shino had a look of want on her but Yuki remedied that.
"Shino, your 16 and he's in his late twenties, its not happening. And besides you already have a boyfriend." Yuki said to Shino.
"Yea I guess you're right." Shino and Yuki began to walk back to the dorms with Hana and Joaquin behind them with the luggage. He got inside and saw what the school looked like. His memories went back on high school with less uniforms and more casual clothes with cliques and cheer leaders, one which he dated for a while back then. He then went to the dorms of Yuki. He was surprised when he saw how small it was.
"Wow Yuki, how do you not develop claustrophobia in this place? It's more like a walk in closet." Joaquin said to Yuki.
"Well you Americans have big rooms and bigger space, I can see why you would think that."
"I'm just saying." Joaquin helped Yuki unpack and after which they said their good-byes until Christmas. Shino walked in and decided to talk to Yuki.
"Hey Yuki, what's going between your mom and Valero san?" Shino asked Yuki.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean him and her alone in the house. You know what adults do, right?" Yuki for a moment hated Shino for saying such things, then thought about the possibilities.
"What?! No! Not with him, its not mom!" Yuki said angrily.
"Ok, Ok, I'm just saying he looks like a nice guy and your mom looks like she needs a good man in her life." Shino left to be with her boyfriend. Yuki had bad thoughts about what she said. Could it be that mom is looking for another man?
Hana and Joaquin were driving home. Hana looked at Joaquin and thought about what his early life was like for him. Loosing parents to both the law and war, being with grandparents, have a great mind yet overshadowed by unresolved issues of rage and better yet, going off to war despite the fate of his father.
"Jacky san, can I ask you something?" Hana asked Joaquin.
"Yea sure, what's up?"
"What does the word Yapino mean?" Joaquin thought about how she even knew the word, but then answered.
"Its Navajo, it means skin walker." Joaquin answered.
"Skin walker, whats that?"
"It's a beast that's an animal but walks upright like man."
"Oh I see, is that what they called you back home?"
"Some did those that believed that I had an evil spirit. As I said, some see me as sacred, and some thought I was a trickster spirit."
"Huh, that's interesting to know." Hana was glad to hear the answer, but Joaquin wanted to know where she heard the word.
"Hana, where did you hear that word?" Joaquin asked. Hana was silent to answer, Joaquin asked again but still no answer, then he pieced it together.
"Hana, did you read my journal?" Joaquin asked sternly, Hana was still silent. Joaquin became upset.
"Hana! Why? I got personal stuff in there that's meant for me only." Joaquin said still no answer. Hana felt guilt for invading his privacy. The rest of the drive home was awkward and Hana felt regret for asking him the question. When they got home in the late evening, Joaquin got out and walked straight to the house. Hana decided to talk to him.
"Jacky san, are you mad?" Hana asked with a sad look on her. Joaquin saw it and calmed down.
"No Hana, I'm just disappointed, that's all." Hana then bowed down to him.
"I'M SO SORRY! YOU'RE JUST A MYSTERY AND I GOT CURIOUS! I'M SO SORRY I HAD NO RIGHT!" Hana began to cry a little, but Joaquin came and calmed her.
"No need to shout, its ok." Joaquin said with a smile. Hana felt relieved and went inside with him. Ame was looking from a distance and was wondering about the possibilities of life for him, Yuki and Hana if Joaquin were to stay.