STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I do not own YYH. YYH and its characters rightfully belong to Yoshiro Togashi. Unfortunately, that fact is for eternity.
LADY ON THE CANVAS
Chapter Three
"It's like a memory... Especially a memory you wish you could forget but can't."
She woke up with a headache.
The night before, after she walked out of the Old Woman's dinner, and her awkward encounter with Kurama on the street while she was on Yusuke's arms, rain poured hard. Going back in the old house was the last thing on her mind then. So, she decided to go to the nearest bar; Yusuke in tow. (He won't let her go alone. "It's not like I'm going to drink myself to death," she told him. "Well, let's just find out," he answered, jokingly, with his trademark scoff.)
As far as she was concerned, the moment they entered the bar, she had no intention of getting herself drunk.
One bottle of margarita; that's six shots for her. Or was it eight?
She couldn't remember. Nor could she remember what Yusuke drank, how many glasses he had, who paid the drinks. (Nor could she remember the way Yusuke sensually rounded his arm around her hips when she stumbled. He tried hard then not to smile with satisfaction.)
The sound of the door opening sent a painful shot in her head. "Yusuke brought you in this morning." Yukina entered the room with a breakfast tray. It was ten o'clock, and she's suppose to be waking up in her hotel room, but obviously not.
"This morning?" Botan tried really hard to remember. Surely all of it happened last night, and not this morning.
"Yes. You got all of us worried. Kurama called six times to check if you've arrived home."
Kurama. She didn't want to hear it. After a long silence, she said, "You've changed." When Yukina answered with a quizzical expression, "Well, you just barged in my room without even bothering to knock."
"You've changed too, you know?" Yukina said, not feeling offended at all. "Before, you never mind when people don't knock and just barge in your room."
Botan started on her tea thoughtfully. "Really?"
After a while of silence, they both started to laugh.
* * * * *
After Yukina left, Botan fell asleep again. It was three in the afternoon when she woke up; the April breeze graced from the open window tried to cool off the room.
Botan pulled herself up in a sitting position, and stayed like that for a while. (Several hours of sleep somehow turned her headache into a mild dizziness.) For a moment, she couldn't quite remember what spring day it was, but judging by the lunch Yukina silently put on the side table, it's Sunday – Yukina's day-off.
She shamelessly ignored the things around her -- the breeze, the smell of the spring grass. But she did noticed the old cherry blossoms tree after sometime of staring outside obliviously.
Then Botan started to remember.
She started to remember memories. Especially memories she wished she could forget but cannot.
She remembered the day when she was released from the small orphanage. It was just a usual day for her, actually. Breakfast at eight, classes started at nine, lunch at twelve, and midday nap at one. She was playing with the other orphans late in the afternoon, when she was summoned to the Principal's office. She was busy beaming and nodding to whatever the Principal was saying when she noticed the stunning, middle-aged woman with whimsical colored hair sitting stoically on a chair in one corner of the room. She smiled at her but realized that she somehow made a mistake by doing that, judging by the stern gaze and pursed lips she gave her.
It was the Woman that made that usual day special.
* * * * *
On their way to her new home, only a few words were spoken between them.
"Did you understand what your *Enchou-sensei told you?" the woman with a whimsical colored hair asked, crisply for sure.
"Um," she nodded.
"Really? But you weren't even listening to him."
If it wasn't for the Woman's air of severeness, Botan would have blabbed endlessly, without the malicious intent to impress, just to entertain. What would she talk about? About everything -- except about herself.
Well, she did not have any entertaining, or impressing, things about her to tell in the first place, anyway.
*
What's to tell with a little girl who was left purposely by her own mother in the train station with just a battered suitcase boxing her few belongings?
What's impressive about a little girl who, after a few days of patiently waiting in the train station only to realize that her mother would never come back for her, calmly went to the scribbled address in the piece of paper she had in her jacket pocket.
"Hello." She greeted the man who opened the gates of the little orphanage, cheerfully.
The Principal understood then and there what the fates gave to that little, shabby girl who knocked on his door with a smile on her face one autumn evening.
*
No, she didn't want to disappoint the Woman with her sad, sad story.
*Principal
Author's Notes:
Despite the standard disclaimer, I take all the credit for the original plot/story of this particular YYH fanfic. I spent excruciating days, which turned into months, then years, of occasional staring into spaces (i.e. the blue sky, my room ceiling, spent countless minutes of imagining possible scenes behind closed eyes without falling asleep; and spent time of looking for the right thing/person to inspire me, just so I can weave the scenes of this story.
In the end, I give credit to Mother Nature, the vast northern skies, my freedom, and the power of Murakami's words and his enigmatic stories.
Before I forgot, please excuse me for the imperfections --- grammatical errors, and all. Hey, I keep telling you, English is NOT my first language. ^.^'
--- From this chapter onwards, I will reveal everything that happened about Botan and Kurama's past. ---
So hang on!
To readers, thank you for your comments and time for reading this story.
--- Jessie Katz