My Heart Will Go On
Theme from the movie Titanic
Sung by Celine Dion
watch?v=xVTlpQlUNFI&NR=1&feature=fvwp
START
As a personal request, I ask you all to watch this youtube video BEFORE you read the chapter, then listen as you read. I will explain in the footnotes.
There are those moments of time in a persons life where it seems the entire universe would pause; no sound, no movement, nothing. For most of the occupants of the Team Dojo, this was one of them.
The Soldier had stolen the march on EVERYONE there, except for one other person. The only one that wasn't staring with a stupefied expression was Chidori Shunya, Japanese representative to the United Nations. Sousuke had gone about this like it was another Military operation and achieved 'Total Surprise', blindsiding his 'Opponents' better then his Japanese forebears did on December 7th 1941. And none of them was more surprised than Chidori Kaname!
Every night in my dreams,
I see you. I feel you.
That is how I know you go on.
She looked from the strangely familiar box to the person that set it in front of her, back to the box. She slowly reached for the tiny container sitting in front of her, her hands trembling harder then the one that placed it in front of her. Slowly, like she was handling live explosives, she opened the box.
Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on.
Nestled inside was a ring, with a single perfect diamond surrounded by a quartet of flawless sapphires. She knew this ring! It had once adorned the hand of someone she missed so much, the loss still hurt years later. It would probably hurt her for the rest of her life.
Seeing the contents of the velvet covered box, she gasped, "Okaa-san! (Mother!)" She was so startled she covered her mouth with her hands and dropped the box to the table. Her head snapped to her other side, eyes locking on her Fathers. The latest missile guidance packages couldn't have tracked faster. Her Father was cloaking himself in his armor of Japanese stoicism, locking his face into a totally neutral mien. But she could tell. She was her Fathers daughter after all.
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
His eyes gave it away. He approved! He must have. The only possible way Sousuke could have gotten this ring was if her Father had given it to him. She turned back to her boyfriend to stare at him in wide-eyed, open-mouthed wonder. For someone that didn't know him very well, it would seem he was a bit nervous. Even her Father could tell that.
Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never go till we're one
He huskily whispered the fateful question, "Kana-chan, will you marry me?" The set of his jaw, the stiffness of his shoulders, the look in his eyes all spoke to her of a man scared out of his wits. He was terrified. Of her and her answer.
Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to
In my life we'll always go on
Shocked, flabbergasted, astonished, staggered, amazed, dumbfounded, bowled over, astounded, surprised, flummoxed, and even gobsmacked. Any and all of these adjectives could apply to the young woman.
Until this moment, she never knew how fast a persons mind could run. Her thoughts were bounding around inside her head like the atoms of a chunk of enriched U238 inside a nuclear reactor in a chain reaction. 'OH Kami-sama, did he just ask what I think he did? Is he serious? BAKA! What am I thinking? Of course he's serious! This is Sagara Sousuke, the single most humorless man on the planet. He can't tell a joke even to save MY life, let alone his!'
For her, there was only one answer. The only one she could possibly give him. She picked up the box, reached for his hands and set it in them. Looking into his storm-gray eyes, to stunned to remember her English, she reverted to her native Japanese, timorously stuttering her answer. "Ha, ha, hai!", and offered her quaking left hand.
Near, far, wherever you are.
I believe that the heart does go on.
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart.
And my heart will go on and on.
They both watched the action as he carefully pulled the ring out and, with trembling hands, gently slid it on her finger. It fit almost like it had been sized for her. Once the ring was settled in place, they looked into each others eyes and she slammed into him for the second time that day, this time knocking him backwards to the floor. Neither noticed the fall as she smothered his face with kisses.
Ron screamed, "BOOOOYAAAAAAAAA!" He was so excited he knocked his chair over.
The couple settled into a deep kiss paying no attention to the pandemonium erupting around them. All of the women were squealing and most had tears flowing. They had left there seats and were now crowding around the new fiancés. Ayame bounded around the outside of the circle shouting about how she had a new brother.
Waiting for the women to release the young man, James, Gene, Ron and Shunya were standing close together watching the females accost the newly engaged couple. With a sad look, James leaned to the blond young man and whispered, "I hope you were paying attention to that, Ronald!" Both Gene and Shunya nodded sagely.
"What'd ya mean MrDrP?" James didn't answer, merely looked back at the group surrounding the couple.
Gene answered for his friend, "What he means, Ronald, is we would suggest you keep these events in mind for future reference, because you have a hard act to follow."
"Huh?" Ron looked from his Father to James to the couple being mugged back to James. He noticed the older man was no longer looking at him. He was poignantly watching the red-headed young woman gushing to her friend. Then it occurred to Ron exactly what James was alluding to. "Ohhhh!"
You're here, there's nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on
Gulping he said, "Understood, Sir."
A couple of hours later, everyone was upstairs listening to Sousuke play the Fender and singing Karaoke. Kim and Ron's friends from high school Felix and Monique had arrived a while ago and Wade had returned from his parents. Kaname noticed her father slipping out of the living room for the patio. "I'll be back in a bit." Sousuke just gave a curt nod. Then she went looking for her father.
When she closed the patio door and looked around she didn't she him. Looking to the side she spotted the ladder to apartment roof on the side of the elevator shaft. Shimmying up, she found her father standing on the north side of the roof, leaning against the rail, looking into the night sky.
She slowly approached him, the roofing material making a slight grinding noise under her feet. He turned his head to find his daughter standing there, backlit by the lights from the city and the moon high in the sky. In one hand was a small metal tumbler, the other held a flask. He tossed the contents of the tumbler over the side the roof and slipped the set into a jacket pocket. He offered her his arms, pulling her into his embrace.
She leaned into her father, smelling his cologne, the wool of his suit, the faint whiff of Sake and a hint of cigar. All the smells that to a little Kana-chan meant Papa, Otoo-san. Her daddy.
He pushed her back, holding her shoulders, looking her in the face. Cupping her cheek, he said, "Look at you. All grown up. College student, majoring in physics no less, living on your own and working with a Team going around and saving the world. And now you're engaged to be married. Kana-chan, your mother would be so proud of you."
She had a question burning within her. She had to ask it. Curiosity was killing her. "Daddy, I know what it meant to you, Kaa-sans ring. Why did you give it to him?"
"The first reason was your mother wanted you to have it. As to the second… You know, as a younger man, I was a bit of a rogue." Seeing the look of surprised disbelief on her face he grinned, "Oh nothing major, let's just say there's a reason your mother would never let me get another motorcycle and leave it at that. She was the one that whipped me into shape though."
He held her under his arm as he turned his eyes back up to the night sky. "The first time I saw her, was at the Omiai (oh-me-eye, a formal meeting between parents and their marriageable children). Kami, the temper she had. She refused to wear the traditional Kimono. Instead she wore a pair of denim jeans and sweatshirt underneath the Kimono, and just before my family arrived she went to the restroom and got rid of the Kimono."
"It wasn't that she disrespected my family or even hers. She was making a point. And the point was she would accede to the families' wishes and go through with the marriage, but she would never be the traditional Edo period Japanese housewife. And she made that point very well known. After her little display, my parents were about to leave talking about another girl from the same family. But I refused.
"She was so beautiful. Sixteen and with a fire you could see not just in her eyes, but in her entire being. I was nineteen and instantly smitten. We started to date and as we got to know each other better, she called me her Senzai-tekina shōnen." Hearing the term Kaname's jaw dropped. She had heard Kim calling Ron the English version. 'Potential Boy'.
"She said she saw within me the potential to be something greater thing the Bōsōzoku I had been." The shocks for Kaname kept coming. First, out of nowhere, Sousuke asks her to marry him. Now she was finding out her staid law-abiding Father had been a member of one of those "violent running tribe" gangs.
He looked at her and noticed her expression. Grinning wryly he said, "I'm not say it was the right thing to be doing, there was just something about being the sentōsha, (the leader) as we roared through the streets of Tokyo, a hundred strong, looking for a fight!"
"She gave me an ultimatum though. Settle down a bit, knuckle down and complete my studies. Go to college and make something of myself or she would have her parents dissolve the arrangements. Our parents, both sets, wanted the marriage to succeed, but that wasn't the reason I did as your mother asked. It was because I couldn't stand to be without her."
"Now, I look at you and I see her standing there. You have the same fire she did, that same courage and determination to let nothing stand in the way of her heart. Oh make no mistake; there were times I had to break her will to mine. Usually over the few times she let her desire for some fashion override her fiscal sense. But it didn't happen often, your mother was too pragmatic."
"Chidori Kaname-chan, you are my eldest daughter, my pride and joy. I know I don't say it very often, but I love you so very much. And I am so proud of you."
"I see you looking at him the same way your mother looked at me and I couldn't find it within myself to deny you the same happiness, the same joy that we shared. The only thing that worries me is that Sagara-san is a Soldier. He could be taken from you tomorrow or thirty years from now.
"That was the reason I gave your man that ring and pushed him a bit. I was the one that told him not to wait to long. Because I want you to be happy. I want everyday, for the rest of your life to be filled with joy and love. And he makes you happy."
"It's as simple as that Kana-chan."
Authors Note:
To be honest, I had no intention of even setting the scene to music, but when I came across this version I knew it was the one for this opening of this chapter. I would just like to say that I had a specific reason for choosing this particular version of the song.
The Duke! With his co-star Maureen O'Hara they made a total of five movies together. Everyone a Classic showing Love, Courage, Fortitude, and 'Grit'.
In case some of you, my gentle readers, haven't figured it out, I am a HUGE John Wayne fan. I grew up watching 'The Duke'. Big Jake, The Searchers, McLintock, The Quiet Man, Hondo, True Grit and Rooster Cogburn and all the rest of his movies.
I remember as a young boy being nearly in tears as The Duke died in his last film, The Shootist! He was the Hero! How could the Hero be killed? And it was my Papaw that explained that even Hero's sometimes die. Often in the act of becoming a Hero.
I, along with my two brothers, was raised by our mother without a steady male role model. The Duke was the best we had. One of my step-fathers taught me to swim the same way Hondo Lane taught his soon to be stepson. By literally being tossed in to the lake by the seat of the pants. The only difference was I was launched with the admonition of "Swim or drown M***** F*****!"
I was 14 when he passed from this earth and I'm not ashamed to admit that I did cry then.
Ask ANYONE that knew the man and they would tell you that there was little difference between his on-screen portrayals and his off-screen 'character'.
He was a man rooted in the concepts of Honor, Integrity and Personal Accountability. A persons misdeeds were not the fault of Society or the System or the Schools or even the parents. A man was responsible for his own actions and the blame for something could be placed NO WHERE but at the foot of the one that violated the standards of Common Decency.
He was the quintessential American who would be in tears at how far his beloved Republic has fallen. Where nothing is the fault of the one performing the actions. It's always someone or something else's.
To me his life and philosophy could be summed up in a single quote.
John Bernard Books (The Shootist): "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be put a hand on. I won't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them."