Mai HiME
Lost & Found
Chapter X
Notes: Um… okay, I get a lot of the KashiMashi thing… Let me clear it up, technically speaking it is very similar to the girl in that series (whom I totally forgot her name). This is actually isn't a disease but more like a strange symptom that Mai seemed to have, it is more like a blindness of the sight when she get stressed out. I'm going to assume that Takumi would also suffered it too along with a heart condition, though lucky him that his girlfriend: Akira is there to keep him from being stressed out with school. Mai actually suffer from colorblind acuteness (fyi: women tend to pass this gene onto their son(s), but they usually don't experience color blindness only men get to experience colorblindness), which bring to that there are certain color that she can't distinct (guess what color it is).
Two months quickly gone by and Mikoto has yet to woke from her slumber, Mai diligently stayed by her side as soon as she got out of work. The woman practically live in the clinic, she talked to Mikoto everyday about her day at work and the people she interact with that day. Poor Takeda would be beaten half-death each day only to get treated so that he would survive the next beating, Shiho would asked Natsuki to took pity on him by giving him a two days weekend to recover from his wounds and the biker agreed to the term.
Of course, the first thing Natsuki did after giving Takeda a good beating was to went off and find Tate. She found him at one of the bars Mikoto happened to own, and an all-out brawl started with the biker being unbelievably strong and very pissed. They trashed the place and Natsuki ended up throwing Tate out, she left enough money to cover the damage before heading out to give Tate one last warning to stay away from Mai or his mother will find his corpse in Tokyo Bay. Tate was as usual, drunk and didn't remember jack about her warning.
"Ahh… Shit, I can't deal with this anymore…" Nao wined like a kid once the meeting was over. "Since Mikoto was out of commission and Yukino is busy at the clinic, you have no choice but to sit in for Mikoto. Mikoto trusted you enough to let you take over her position in emergency time like this," Reito said giving Nao pad on the head. "I think she just want to kill me sooner, all these damn meetings consisted of nothing but those damn bastards wanting things that's irrelevant to the company's future. I just don't get how she managed to deal with them," Nao let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sure Mikoto will wake up soon, though I'm not sure if your hair will remain that color or turned white before then. It's pretty stressful being the Chairperson/CEO isn't it?" Reito give her a warm smile. "Shut up, I'm going home." Nao said as she stomp away fuming mad at the man's cool demeanor.
"Haruka-chan, smoking isn't good for your health." Yukino scolded the blonde as she walked out into the backyard of the large mansion. "I smoke to release the stress of the day's workload, it's not like I'm chain-smoking." Haruka replied before taking another drag out of the burning cigarette. "If I ask you to quit smoking, you won't do it then?" Yukino asked in a rather innocent voice. "Hm? Do I get some kind of reward for not smoking?" Haruka asked without thinking. "Hmm…" Yukino looked thoughtful. "It will be a secret then," Yukino said with a cute impish smile. This made Haruka wonder if she should stop smoking for just one day to see what kind of reward Yukino will give her, though she wondered if it's something worthwhile or just a lie the young doctor made up to get her to quit smoking. Haruka took one final drag of the dying cigarette before putting it out, "Deal."
"Nao-chan, dinner is ready." Shiho called from the kitchen. "Just five more minutes," Nao called back from the living room. The laptop screen reflected against her frameless glasses, the girl was practically neck-deep with so many electronic documents that she had to read before the week's end that she cursed her luck for ever befriending the comatose girl. "Nao-chan, dinner now." Shiho said standing by the doorway that lead into the kitchen in a nice pale pink dress and white apron in front of it. "Just five more minutes, I'm almost through with this file." Nao said without giving much attention to the other girl. "I spend enough time making dinner for us, so we'll have dinner right now. Work can wait later," Shiho said as she got Nao by the ear and adamantly dragging the other girl with her into the kitchen to have dinner.
"Honestly," Shiho sighed as they sit in their living room and Nao was back at staring at the laptop screen once more. "I can't help it, with Mikoto the way she is. There's no one to take care of the company but me, her parents retired already and she put me as her personal secretary. It's my job to keep things run smoothly when she isn't around to attend the meetings, though I never really done any of those until now." Nao said as she turned to look at Shiho with sincere forest eyes. "I'm sure that she will come back to us," Shiho said as she leaned in and captured Nao's soft lips. Soon the laptop lay forgotten as the couple was nowhere in sight.
At the clinic, Mai was by Mikoto's bedside holding firmly onto the girl's hand as she did for the last two months. "Mikoto, what do you want to do when you wake up from your sleep?" Mai asked the sleeping girl softly. "Maybe we should go on a long walk to stretch those muscles, and I will cook whatever you wanted to eat afterward. Then maybe we will go outside and watch the night sky together," Mai started sobbing again. It become like a ritual now, visiting the girl and talking about the future and finally breaking down into uncontrollable sobbing.
The door click opened and closed, Natsuki dressing in her leather suit holding onto her helmet with her right hand. "Yo, how is she?" the biker asked. "Still the same," Mai answered wiping her tears away and forced a smile on her face. "Why don't you go home and get some rest? I'll take over for you," Natsuki said to her long time friend. "No, I'm fine. You should be home with Shizuru-san, life is short and there's no telling when you'll die. So spend it with the person you love," Mai smiled but tears started to flow down her face yet again. "You're right, but let's talk for a little bit. Mikoto would like to hear us talking about our days, that would really let her know more about you. Of course, there are things about her that you should know too." Natsuki smiled as she pulled up a chair and sit down next to Mai.
"I remember how you would have such a hard time telling any shade of yellow from gray, and when you're stressed out you're pretty much blind. I always wondered how you managed to keep yourself from being stressed out though, but when I noticed how cooking really relaxed you…" Natsuki trailed off. "I was glad that your symptom won't occur so often that it would cause serious problem to your grades. Then again, I need you to help me study so I really can't afford to have to gone blind on me most of the times." Natsuki shoot a nervous laugh while scratching her head innocently enough that Mai couldn't help but smiled a little at her friend.
"I think Takumi was lucky that he didn't get the color blindness gene, but the heart condition and the acute blindness were bad enough for him anyway. He's a good boy and managed to get a scholarship from abroad, and his heart operation was a success too." Mai sniffled a little from those old memories. "Did you know that Mikoto kicked my butt when I was out and about during my first year at Fuuka High? She was this scrawny rich looking kid, and Nao thought it would be fun to pickpocket her. It was the first time I come back to the dorm with a dislocated shoulder, and Nao wasn't lucky because her mom caught us fighting with Mikoto. Somehow she talked Nao's mom to not punish the spider, and she offered to treat her illness if she sent Nao into military school. Saying that she needed some tough disciplinary, Nao's mother thought it was a good idea but she didn't pay attention to the part where Mikoto will have her admit into Japan's best hospital to treat her illness. Nao was bitching about it at first, but somehow changed her mind and ended up becoming good friend with Mikoto. Now the brat is living a good life and her mother well-taking care of because of Mikoto," Natsuki laughed.
"Of course, Nao's mother is currently living comfortably in a beach house Okinawa. That stupid spider never be specific as to where in Okinawa though," Natsuki said with a disgruntle look on her face. "If you think Shizuru was popular, you should see Mikoto when she graduated from military academy. I was there because Nao dragged me along with her," Natsuki said with a shaking fist in front of her. "Anyway, she was popular from the young to the old. Her popularity isn't the same as Shizuru though, she was popular because of her kindness and ability to gain the trust of people around her while Shizuru is more about her physical appearance. The girl practically get at least over a thousand love letters and proposal letters each day after her graduation." Natsuki laughed remembering the frowning Mikoto staring at the pile of mails on the table in front of her when Natsuki came to visit with Shizuru for business discussion.
"Nat… Natsuki, you really like to embarrass other people don't you? I should expect that much from you since you've been with Fujino-san for a few years now," Mikoto spoke weakly and that made the women jumped in surprise. "Mikoto!!" Mai cried out as she leaned over and wrapped her arms around the girl. "Ahh… M-Mai… I'm bleeding…" Mikoto grunted feeling pain shooting up from her shoulder. "Kiddo, I see you're back to the land of the living." Natsuki said with a grin on her face. "Did Fujino-san kicked you out of the house for sneaking mayo in the house again?" Mikoto asked once Mai released her. "Idiot! Of course not!" Natsuki raised her voice looking clearly embarrassed. "Bingo," Mikoto chuckled. "Pff.. anyway, I'm going home now that you awake. I'll drop by with Shizuru tomorrow then," Natsuki waved and left quickly since she wanted Mai to have some alone time with Mikoto.
"Mai, when I'm better…" Mikoto paused. "Would you like to go out with me?" Mikoto asked at last. "Yes," Mai nodded with a smile and more tears run down her face but this time it's happy tears. "Don't cry," Mikoto said as she weakly reached up and wiped the tears away. "Go home and get some good night rest, I think I'll go back to sleep again." Mikoto said as she closed her eyes again and fell asleep immediately. Mai nodded and gathered her things and went home, happy that Mikoto is alive and couldn't wait to let Yukino and Haruka know of the news.
"Suzushiro-san, I'm awake now and I need to discuss something with you. I'll see you later then," Mikoto said over the phone that Chie loaned to her. "Chie-san, help me change out of this and to the office." Mikoto said softly handing the phone back to Chie. "Sure thing boss," Chie said with a bright smile. "Of course, I get to go home after that right?" the young surgeon asked. "Yes, give Aoi-san my regards too." Mikoto nodded as Chie helped her get into her shirts. "Of course," Chie grinned.
"I'll take it from here," the blonde woman said standing by the door to the office. "Sure, just make sure you put her back in bed when you leave." Chie said with a mischievous smile before leaving the two women alone. "Can you do a sloppy job? I don't want it to be clean because the cops will suspect it to be from the pros, instead I want it to look like rival shooting or maybe random. You have the right to refuse though," Mikoto said weakly. "I'm fine with it, but this will be my last job if you don't mind me quitting. I want to start fresh, because she's important to me and if I keep this job I will only put her in even more danger than she already is." Haruka said bluntly. "That's just find, your official duty with us is being her bodyguard anyway. But don't do it just yet, you can do it once they let him go." Mikoto said with a serious look on her face though it's more likely because of the wound. "Got it," Haruka nodded and helped Mikoto back to her bed before leaving the clinic.
One last time huh? Guess I should really make it look good as a final farewell to my old life then, Haruka thought to herself as she mounted her bike and put her helmet on. Though she have to admit that Mikoto isn't as innocent as she looked, the girl was really cunning and planned out pretty much everything. As expected of an ex-military, being logic and strategic. She's not a rookie but I bet her ranking pretty high, it be higher if she stayed though. "You're very cunning Minagi Mikoto," Haruka murmured to herself as a smirk spread across her face as she turned into the driveway of the large mansion and noticed another car there and she knew that Mai is back.
Author's Notes: Quicky: I don't have the acute blindness like Mai, but I actually have experienced acute deafness from time-to-time. Went to ear doctor to check it and my hearing is fine, but sometimes people would scream my name standing like two feet in front of me and I couldn't hear them at all. It's really annoying when your teacher is explaining things to you and you suddenly gone deaf for like 2-5mins. and no, it's not a known symptom or even in the book of science. ice box: I'm looking for entertainment or some kind of amusement to be exact 'laughs'. This chapter chould explain about Mai's little blurred vision during her graduation day at Fuuka High. Anyway, I might not be updating for a few days, all depends on how much brain cells I have left 'laughs'. Hopefully my brain doesn't decided to take a vacation before this story finish! Gambatte!!! Hope y'all enjoy!!!