Chapter 22, Hiro Got Run Over by Prostate Cancer
Zack and Kimi sat at a cemitary in Japan on Christmas eve, being the only two still out at the burial sight after the profession left, Kimi clung tight on to Zack, burying her face into his shoulder and crying.
"Oh Zachary, I'm sorry your first trip to Japan had to be such a sad one." Kimi said in a muffled voice.
"It's ok. I understand you're hurting right now." Said Zack, as he tenderly rubbed Kimi's back and the wind softly blew.
"It's not fair! I hardly got to know my father, all because he and mom split up when I was a baby. And now, we had a perfect opportunity for you to finally meet my biological dad, and he was diagnosed with a rare form of Prostate Cancer three months ago, that took his life, right before Christmas!" Kimi cried, as she started to go into uncontrollable sobs again.
Chuckie, who got some time off, accompanied Zack and Kimi to this funeral, because while Hiro wasn't anybody in his family, he was Kimi's biological father, he loved his sister more than anything, and he also realized how hard this was for her, as he lost his biological mom. Overhearing Kimi's sobs, Chuckie got back out of their rental car, and joined in the hug, coming up behind Kimi, as he lay a gentle hand on her trembling shoulders.
"It's ok Kimi." Chuckie whispered, as the three of them snuggled in the middle of that cemetery, trying to get Kimi to calm down, before they left.
After taking another ten minutes, to get Kimi calmed down, they piled into the car, where Kiki, her now 10-year-old half sister was waiting. She too, was very sad, and also had tears streaking her face.
"Going to movie now?" Kiki asked, as her English wasn't as good as everybody else's.
Kimi nodded, too upset to say much of anything, as she put the car into drive, and drove everyone to the movies. When they got there, they saw it wasn't too late to get tickets for the movie that Kiki had been dying to see, her first time seeing Disney's, The Lion King, which had been released for a limited amount of time in the Japanese theaters. At the ticket counter, Zack and Chuckie picked up English translation headsets, which worked similar to those ones back in the states that would provide descriptive to the blind, only in this case, while the main movie was the Japanese dub of the film, the headsets played the English audio track for movie goers who didn't know Japanese, and for little kids who only spoke English, and were too little to read subtitles.
Zack, Kimi and Kiki found seats, while Chuckie went to the snack bar to pick up some popcorn. He managed to carry it back, without spilling it, making it back in time to catch the previews. Soon, the movie started, and everything went fine, until the stampede scene had concluded, killing Mufasa, Simba's father in the end. Realizing this fact, Chuckie, Kimi, and Zack all exchanged looks.
"Why did we bring Kiki to see this movie?" Chuckie whispered to his sister and brother-in-law.
"I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've last seen this movie, I forgot about the father dying in it as well. I'm terribly, terribly sorry." Whispered Zack apologetically, as he glanced over, to see tears streaming down Kiki's face.
He quickly pulled out some tissues from one of his pockets, and handed them to her. While she sadly, cried throughout the rest of the film, she managed to cry quietly, so as not to disturb any of the other movie goers. Once the film ended, they took her to get some ice cream to cheer her up, as everybody felt bad about what they had just witnessed.
"And I forgot that the father dies in this movie." Zack explained to Kimi's relatives that night at dinner, with Kimi ttranslating in Japanese, to those who didn't speak English.
"Yeah, big mistake." Kimi said to Zack.
"Hey, with everything going on, you aren't expected to be thinking straight right now." Said Zack, as he and Kimi excused themselves from the table, and headed back to their hotel where they were staying, to get some rest.
As they were getting ready for bed, Kimi turned to her husband with a question.
"Zack, this might sound stupid, but is it something I did? I mean, I hardly got to know my father, and now, he's gone." Said Kimi.
Zack just sat down on the bed, his pajama shirt barely over his head, as he quickly finished putting it on, before snuggling up to Kimi and answering her question.
"Kimi, there was nothing, you could do. Prostate cancer, while sometimes, it can be treated, in this case, it couldn't." Said Zack.
"Yeah, but if I had been here, maybe, I could have saved his life. I mean, look at my half sister. Now she's without a father, and she's on the verge of teenage hood." Cried Kimi.
"Kimi, she's still got her mom, and look at your brother. He lost his mom, and while at times, it's hard, he's done just fine, I have no doubt that in time, Kiki will do just fine too." Said Zack reassuringly, as Kimi let out a small smile of relief, and gave her husband a hug.
Then, Zack got a brilliant idea.
"Tell you what. Since we've had such a lousy day, with tomorrow being Christmas, and with it already being Christmas day back in the states, with the time difference…" Zack started to say, before Kimi corrected him.
"Actually, Zachary, it's only seven-thirty in the morning back in the states, as we're fourteen hours ahead." Kimi corrected.
"Oh, so it's seven-thirty in the morning on Christmas eve?" Zack asked, making sure he understood her correctly.
Kimi nodded her head yes.
"Well, regardless, since we're very close to Christmas, and tomorrow, we'll be spending another day with your relatives, why don't we open our presents to each other tonight, since we did manage to bring them on the plane with us." Zack suggested, as he went over to one of the dresser drawers, and pulled out two small wrapped packages.
He handed a small box wrapped in blue paper to Kimi, while continuing to cradle the one wrapped in black and white striped paper from Kimi.
"You open yours first." Said Zack, as Kimi tore open her present, to reveal a pair of earrings with the Japanese yang symbol.
"Oh wow! The yang symble! Thank you Zachary!" Said Kimi, giving her husband a hug.
"You're welcome my little dumpling." Said Zack with a smile, as he tore open his present, to reveal a wrist watch with a gold band.
"Wow! It's that watch I saw at the jewelry store I've been admiring! Thank you!" Said Zack, as he put the watch on his wrist and showed it to Kimi.
"Oh, Zachary, you're welcome! And, it's beautiful!" Kimi exclaimed, glancing at the watch.
Zack stood back and smiled at his wife, as she scooted off the bed, and went over to the dresser mirror, to try on her new earrings. Seeing her reflection in the mirror, Zack continued to smile, as Kimi smiled at herself in the mirror.
"Oh, my daddy would love these." Kimi muttered to herself, as she frowned and turned away, looking down at the floor.
"Maybe that wasn't the best gift to get her after all." Zack thought to himself, as his smile faded away, and he, too, looked down at the ground, not wanting Kimi to see his sad expression.
Just then, Chuckie, who was also staying with them, burst into the room, sweaty and out of breath.
"You ok Chuckie?" Zack asked, upon seeing him enter the hotel room, and flopping down on his bed on his side of the room.
"I'm, fine. Let's just say, sumo wrestling, takes a lot of energy out of a guy. I'm just thankful I had my enhailor on me, just in case." Chuckie replied in between gasps of air.
"I told you not to get serious with my uncle, jhe's a professional." Commented Kimi.
"I'll remember that." Chuckie muttered, as he stripped out of his clothes and made his way into the bathroom to take a shower.
At that point, Kimi removed her earrings and placed them back into the box, while Zack removed his wrist watch and did the same. Soon, the couple was all ready for bed, and they were snuggling up in bed together.
"Oh Kimi, I'm sorry if this Christmas had to be such a sad one." Said Zack, as he got comfortable on his side of the bed.
"It's ok Zachary. I'm just glad you and Chuckie could be here with me for this trip, as I know I couldn't have done it alone, and mom couldn't get any time off work to come, seeing she's having to fill in for Betty, who recently underwent back surgery, being unable to work at the Java Lava right now." Kimi replied.
Zack reached in and tightly embraced his wife, as they snuggled up together, and went to sleep.
The following day was uneventful, as they ate breakfast at a sushi bar, and Kimi spent the day going through her father's house, deciding what she wanted of his things. She picked out a few books, as well as a glass statue of a cow that she had sent him a couple of years ago for Christmas, and his favorite lamp that sat on his bedside table. She would have taken furniture, but with him living in Japan, and her living in America, she wasn't sure how things would travel overseas, so she talked her relatives into having a yard sale, or trading it at some local market for things they needed, and her uncle agreed to help with this after Christmas.
Zack spent the majority of his day, playing Go Fish with Chuckie, and staying out of the way, giving Kimi a chance to spend some time with her family that she never gets to see, but he didn't mind, because the worst of the trip was over, and Kimi was glad to have him there for moral support. And that was good enough for him.
And this, ends chapter 22.
Author's Note: As you can see, this chapter was sad, but short. I sort of did it as a nod to the fact that today is when we lost Christine Cavanaugh last year, but since this story is focused on Zack and Kimi, I decided to have it focus on a death in Kimi's family, since Kimi is Chuckie's sister, and Christine played the voice of Chuckie on the series. Also, this story parodies an event that happened in my family when I was little, only for me, it happened at Easter, the relative that died was my aunt, and the mother of my cousins, who were only 9 and 13 at the time of her death, and post the funeral, my family and I took the 9-year-old cousin to see The Fox and the Hound, which was a lovely movie, except at the very beginning, the fox's mother is shot, and the adults were wondering why on earth they went to see this movie, after the events that had recently taken place. And finally, the title of this chapter is a spoof on the title of a well known Christmas song, Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it as best as you could, and I'll do my best, to make the final three chapters of this story, a bit more jolly.