Chiyo rushed out in embarrassment. Had she just cried in front of so many people! How shameful! She groaned and slid down the wall to sit on her butt with her hands covering her eyes.
" Poor Anni. Why did this have to happen to her? She is so young and still has such a vast future ahead of her!" she whispered to herself.
More tears started to trickle down her eyes. A feeling of hopelessness filled her stomach. She had a feeling that she couldn't find the cure. Chiyo felt stupid and lazy. Where would she start?
How did people come up with cures? What should she do? More tears spilled out as she pondered the uncertain future. Annita didn't deserve to die. She was too young and too innocent. Anni was the sweetest little girl she had ever met. Chiyo had never been very good at math but Annita was a prodigy! She could write complex equations all over a chalk board! And, she was also a musical prodigy as well. The pure buttery sound of her flute could echo all throughout a concert hall's vast walls and ceilings. Annita had such a big future yet this...this sickness had to wipe it all away. Like the way that Anni would wipe the chalk off a black board.
Chiyo was practically sobbing now. Suddenly she felt someone sit down next to her. She lowered her hands to look into deep purple eyes with her red swollen ones.
" S-saito-san. What are you doing here?" she mumbled.
" To make sure that you don't cry yourself to death." he replied with no emotion in his voice
She looked away and tried to try her eyes and wipe the snot from her nose. Suddenly, Saito grabbed her hand and put something soft inside of it. Looking into her palm, Chiyo found a blue handkerchief that felt like a lamb's wool.
" Thank you" she whispered before blowing her nose and wiping away the clear streaks on
her cheeks.
She sighed and closed her eyes expecting him to head back in but he made no move to leave. Instead he sighed and leaned back.
" Can you tell me about your younger sister? You don't have to if that makes you upset."
" No it's fine. I think maybe talking about her will make me feel a bit better." she smiled slightly.
" Her name is Annita but we call her Anni. When I first arrived in the western city, I felt very lonely because I couldn't speak their language. Nobody spoke to me and nobody knowticed me. Anni and the rest of my cousins could speak Japanese. They are mixes and their father is Japanese and their mother is European. Because they have a family business, they associate a lot with Japanese business partners. They were all taught Japanese and are pretty fluent in both English and Japanese. All three of them were the first people to ever talk to me other than my aunt. However, Anni was the sweetest of them all. She always brought me sweet hot drinks when I was up late studying and I would walk to her room to tell her a story before she went to sleep. We were...very close."
Saito just stared and nodded thoughtfully before Chiyo continued," However, I knew after a while that Annita had an unshakeable sickness. Sometimes she would forget her name and do some strange things."
" Like what?"
" One time her teacher told me that she took off her shoes in the middle of class and stood on a desk for the rest of the lesson. After school, she asked her teacher where her shoes were and why they were off. Later I learned that she was epileptic. Epilepsy is a brain condition where there are some problems with nerves and such. Because of that she sometimes starts shaking uncontrollably and gets very bad headaches. Recently, she…" her voice broke once again.
" She...has diagnosed with a sickness that has no absolute cure. Annita is depending on me to find a cure but I have no damn idea where to start. Little to nothing is known about her condition and I-I'm just so scared. I feel so dissapointed in myself right now. If I fail, than someone dies as a result of my stupidity."
Tears streamed out her red dry eyes like little droplets of glass. She hurriedly covered her eyes with her hands again. It was so shameful to have Saito see her like this. He...he was just so above her and it didn't feel right to let him see her so unkempt. She needed to be composed around her superiors. Chiyo let out a gasp when she felt something touch her shoulder. Saito placed his hand on her shoulder and stared at her with his never changing stern stare. His eyes were still stony but they seemed dimmer than usual. Although his face hadn't changed one bit...he seemed for relaxed and calm.
They just sat there is silence where no one wanted to move. Peace was such a fickle thing. It came whenever it want to and leaved whenever it pleased. If only someone or something could put a never ending leash on its neck and hold it there forever. This thing called "peace" could never understand the chaos that ensued after it decided to disappear once again.
Chiyo walked into the dining room once again. Her nose was still running, cheeks still flushed, and eyes still swollen and beet red. She bowed low in apology towards Hijikata and said," I apologize for my outburst before. A few hours is all I need. Thank you for letting me have that time."
" Your thanks isn't necessary. We were talking and," he sighed and rubbed the bridge of nose as he normally did when exasperated," You know what? Just take the whole day off. You deserve it since you've been working hard."
He even smiled in the end which earned him a gasp and a enthusiastic " thank you" and bow. Chiyo was overjoyed! She could have the whole day to herself and her family! The brunette ate with unusual vigor that evening. Her previous cry had made her feel much better than she had in a few days. Sometimes crying was like putting sleep into a bottle. It seems to rejuvenate you and let your negative emotions fly away like little cranes. She smiled at Saito and she wasn't so sure if she was seeing correctly but...she could have sworn that she saw the edges of his lips raise ever so slightly.
She mouthed," Thank you to him"
He nodded and turned away. But something about his face just seemed a bit more flushed and pink than normal. Chiyo was pretty sure that she wasn't having a good eyesight day.
