Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Legend ~ Book Two: Misadventure, Mayhem & Really Hot Guys ❯ Five: The Visit ( Chapter 5 )

   KC stood in front of her mirror and critically examined herself. Festive red dress, check. Knee-high black boots, check. Minimal makeup and jewelry… She fingered the carved jade bracelet around her wrist that she had snuck back from Konan and promptly forgot about until rediscovering it in the bottom of her bag. More proof of where she'd been. She had two others just like it, one for each of her friends. She didn't know if they were worth as much in Konan, but she was pretty sure genuine white jade from an ancient civilization would fetch a pretty penny in any respectful antique shop. Even if it was a bit questionable whether this particular ancient civilization actually existed in her reality or not…

   At the very least, Brady would go absolutely gaga over the trinket. Even Kimiko could appreciate fine jewelry. KC would just have to make sure Nuriko never found out she'd swiped the matching trio from his jewelry chest.

   "You ready to leave yet?" her mom called from the stairs. For the fifth time. Her growing impatience was obvious.

   KC sighed. No more procrastinating. Time to face the inevitable. She grabbed her purse and a small overnight bag that she'd packed with the bare minimum of clothes and toiletries for a sleepover at a friend's house. And The Book, of course, buried well beneath everything and wrapped securely in her pajamas, just to make sure no unsuspecting busybody would accidentally stumble across it. Brady had warned her that at least two of her younger cousins had developed a penchant for snooping through unguarded purses and suitcases.

   It had been KC's idea to stay over at Brady's a day earlier than planned, since she and her mom had intended to celebrate Christmas at the Summers anyway. No sense in going home and then going straight back, after all. Kimiko still planned to arrive the day after Christmas as today she would be spending it with her own family.

   After much consideration, KC had also repacked the huge duffel, discarding most of Brady's choices in favor of the bare essentials; a few pairs of jeans, shirts, a light hoodie, numerous pairs of thick socks and every bra and panty she owned. She'd also thrown in an extra pair of sneakers and most of the contents of the bathroom medicine cabinet (and she could only pray her mom wouldn't notice anything amiss until it was all over). No way would she be stuck for who-knew-how-long in that world without modern medicine again! This time, she'd be prepared for anything.

   She'd already stashed the duffel in the back of the Subaru's trunk, behind the folded chairs her mom had never bothered to unpack from their last trip to the beach. She'd have to find some way to sneak it into the Clubhouse during the party, but with all the chaos going on she didn't think it would be too difficult.

   She turned to leave the room and spied her new phone on the dresser. Oh, yeah. Don't forget that. Not that she'd have any use for a phone in Konan, but at least she'd have time to figure out how to use it. The damned thing was basically a pocket computer, and technical wizard she was not. When she picked it up, the screen automatically turned on and she saw she had three new notifications. Two new texts from her friends. And a third from her dad. She fiddled with it until she figured out how to open them; Kimiko and Brady said basically the same thing, Merry Christmas and good luck, with Brady's addendum of, "Can't wait to party this afternoon!"

   Her dad also wished her a Merry Christmas. He didn't mention a word about yesterday but asked her to send an updated picture of herself. She deleted the text.

   "Any day now, Katriana!"

   That was definitely her mom's hurry-up-or-there-will-be-hell-to-pay voice.

   "I'm coming!" she hollered, slipped the phone into her purse and pounded down the stairs. At the bottom, she put on her sulkiest expression.

   Annie rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. We're going. You haven't seen your grandmother since Easter. She's the only one you have left. You should visit."

   KC shrugged and scuffed the floor. "It's not like she'll know if I'm not there, anyway," she mumbled. "She doesn't even remember who I am."

   Annie sighed and draped an arm around her shoulders. "She does know and she always asks after you. It's just because you look so much like Grandma Marty when she was your age. It triggers old memories, I guess. You know it isn't her fault. Her Alzheimer's…"

   "I know," KC cut in. "But it doesn't make it easier to see her like that."

   "You think it's easy for me?" Annie shot her a reproachful look. "She's your only living grandmother, but she's my only mother. I don't enjoy seeing her like this any more than you do, but I'm not going to just foist her off to some home and forget she exists. Especially not at Christmas. We both know how terrible that feels, right?"

   Appropriately cowed, KC silently followed her mother out to the car.

~*~*~*~*~

   The wooden sign posted at the entrance of a long, paved driveway read Happy Trails Retirement Community in big, colorful letters. "Where Happy Retirees Spend the Best Years of Their Lives!" proclaimed the subtitle. A cartoonish sun complete with beaming face smiled down from the top-left corner, and a pair of rabbits frolicked playfully in the bottom-right.

   "D'ya think someone stole that sign from a daycare center on a dare or something?" KC asked as they passed it, just as she always did whenever they visited the home.

   Annie's mouth twitched up, but otherwise, she didn't respond. They drove up the long drive dotted on either side with sprawling willow, oak, and maple trees, bare and lifeless. Large patches of snow still covered much of the landscape, and even larger patches of muddy grass and dead leaves covered the rest of it, but in spring it would be a pretty, picturesque country scene straight out of a brochure.

   Small, neat cottages began to appear, festively decorated with lights and tinsel by their independent owners. The buildings soon grew larger, turned from single houses to community apartments for those who didn't wish to bother with the upkeep of a yard anymore. Nurses stations were located on each floor of these buildings, just in case their more elderly tenants needed medical attention.

   The largest of the buildings came into view at the end of the drive. The sprawling complex housed the physical therapy center and the nursing home meant for those residents no longer able to care for themselves independently. Here was where Grandma Kitty had spent the last three years of her life, ever since her Alzheimer's had taken a turn for the worse and she'd started forgetting how to do the simplest tasks.

   KC always dreaded these visits, because she never knew what to expect. Sometimes, Grandma Kitty was bright and alert, joking around and teasing her like she did before the disease had taken over her mind. Other times, it was like sitting in the room with a complete stranger. The other times were coming more and more frequently these days, so KC did her best to be busy whenever she knew her mom had a visit scheduled.

   It's Christmas, she thought as they rode the elevator to the fifth floor, the dementia ward. Please let her be in her right mind today…

   The ward had been decorated to the nines. Green and gold streamers draped the ceiling and red fold-up paper bells hung at intervals between them. The large foyer-slash-dining-room was packed; clearly, they'd arrived just as breakfast was finishing up. Many of the residents sat in wheelchairs at small tables that had been covered with red plastic tablecloths. Nurses and aides hovered over some of the residents who were still eating. Many of them sat in a blank daze, staring off into space or muttering to themselves. One woman meticulously fed a well-worn doll, oblivious to watery oatmeal dripping down its filthy face as she cooed at it to take just one more bite.

   KC's stomach turned as she looked away, only to meet the eyes of another lady who scowled at her with obvious disapproval. "This isn't the place for pets, young lady," the woman snapped. "Your bird does not belong here."

   She blinked. "Bird?"

   "The bird! The bird!" The woman gestured impatiently at KC's shoulder. "Why isn't it in a cage? It will fly away!"

   "Oh. Uh…" KC stepped back.

   "Golden songbird! Pretty golden fire wings," a man to her right crooned, reached out to brush thin fingers against her back. She recoiled and hurried down the hall after her mother. "And you wonder why I hate this place," she muttered as she caught up.

   Annie raised an eyebrow. "Why? What happened?"

   "Nothing. Never mind."

   They reached room 501 at the end of the hall. The door was open, the privacy curtains surrounding each of the four beds drawn back. Two beds were unoccupied, sheets stripped and blankets folded neatly at their heads. They'd been filled the last time KC had been there; she wondered briefly if the patients had died, then mentally kicked herself for being so morbid.

   Grandma Kitty sat in her wheelchair beside the wall-length window, staring outside. She'd been dressed in red slacks and a warm, bulky Christmas sweater; even under the layers, KC could see how thin she'd grown since the last visit. The wrinkled hand resting on the chair arm looked positively skeletal, a far cry from the plump, warm hand she remembered.

   Annie approached the woman with a hesitant smile. "Merry Christmas, Mom," she greeted softly. Pale blue eyes turned from the window to look at them, and to KC's immense relief, they filled with recognition. A large smile crossed Kitty's face as she reached to grasp her daughter's hand. "Annie girl, I've been waiting for you," she proclaimed. Then, to KC, she added, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

   "I'm sorry, Gran," KC replied guiltily. "I … I guess I've just been so busy with … with school and stuff."

   "Well, never mind, never mind." Kitty patted her hand. "I'm glad you came to visit. Merry Christmas! Sit, sit! Let's talk awhile. Annie, how's that job going? And your young man? When are you going to bring him to visit again? He was such a nice man…"

   KC's heart sank. Her mom had already brought Tate to meet Kitty? Before introducing him to her own daughter? How many other people already knew? Before she could work herself into a mood, though, KC felt her grandmother's eyes on her.

   "So, my girl, how about you? You met any nice young men lately?"

   A certain shrewd twinkle in those blue eyes suggested that Kitty might know a thing or two, and KC's face heated up despite herself as Hotohori wormed his way into her thoughts. Again. "N-no, not me," she stuttered around a nervous little laugh. "Don't have a boyfriend yet."

   Kitty gave a knowing little hum but thankfully dropped the subject in favor of grilling Annie about her job again. KC slouched in the uncomfortable chair and listened to the two catch up, mumbled a few vague responses to questions posed by her grandmother, and otherwise passed the time alternating between poking around on her phone and staring out the window at the snow-covered trees.

   And then her grandmother broke out the playing cards. "Anyone up for a game of Pinochle?" she challenged.

   "Sure, Mom." Annie shot her daughter a look, and KC rolled her eyes.

   "Sounds like fun." She reluctantly put her phone away and scooched her chair around to the other side of the bed as Kitty dealt the cards, using it as a table. They played several rounds and, as always, Kitty whipped both their butts, fiercely guarding her unofficial title of Pinochle Champ.

   "I'd swear you cheat," KC grumbled as she shuffled the deck after their fourth round. The loser with the worst score always shuffled the deck; it usually turned out to be KC.

   Kitty just laughed and patted her hand. "Now, now. Let's not be a sore loser. It's just due to my mad skills," she teased, earning a laugh from Annie and a reluctant grin from her granddaughter. "Now, if you wanna see a real cheater, you should play a round of poker with Marty." She tsked disapprovingly, although her eyes twinkled with mirth. "That lady can cheat the beard off Saint Nick and he'd be none the wiser."

   KC slid an uneasy glance to her mother. It wasn't that she didn't like listening to stories about Grandma Marty, who'd apparently been quite the wild child. But reminiscing over old memories tended to trigger Kitty's dementia and KC didn't want a repeat of Easter, wherein they'd spent most of the visit gently reminding her that Grandma Marty had died years ago and that KC wasn't her, no matter how much they looked alike.

   Luckily, Annie seemed to pick up on her daughter's unease, because she reached over to rub Kitty's shoulder. "You look tired, Mom," she said gently. "It's nearly eleven already. Do you want to sleep a bit before you go to lunch? I hear there's going to be a big meal today. I think a children's choir is singing Christmas carols, too. I know all this excitement wears you out."

   Kitty hummed. "I suppose a quick nap wouldn't hurt. Gotta get my beauty sleep for all these young, male nurses." She winked while Annie just rolled her eyes.

   "You don't really flirt with the nurses," KC scoffed.

   "Sure I do! Gotta keep 'em on their toes." Kitty cackled at her granddaughter's expression. "Makes it even better when they flirt back. A man with a good sense of humor is a keeper, I always say." Now KC was the one rolling her eyes as she waited for her mom and grandma to make their goodbyes.

   When she leaned in to deliver her own departing hug, Kitty murmured, "You bring your young man by and introduce us sometime."

   KC once again felt herself blushing. "I don't have-"

   "Oh, nonsense." Kitty laughed. "I wasn't born yesterday. You bring him by and let me get a look at him. He handsome?"

   KC snorted. "Yeah, Gran, he's handsome." She stuffed as much sarcasm as she could muster into the reply. "Loaded, too. He rules his own country and everything. So it might be hard to get him away to visit." She snickered when Kitty poked her teasingly in the side, leaned in to hug her goodbye.

   "You watch out for that blue devil, though," Kitty murmured.

   "What?" Frowning, KC pulled away. Her heart sank; her grandmother had that look in her eyes. The glazed, vacant stare that suggested her mind had just wandered off somewhere. KC hated that look.

   "That blue devil," Kitty murmured again. "You watch out for him, now. He's got the face of an angel and a demon's own black heart. He is not your friend. Don't you believe anything he tells you. You mind me, now."

   Heart pounding in her throat, KC tried to pull back, but her grandmother gripped her hands tight, squeezing with a strength KC hadn't known she still possessed. "Y-yes, Gran. I'll watch out for him. I promise," she said weakly.

   "I'll look forward to meeting your handsome, rich boyfriend," Kitty teased as she smiled up at KC, eyes clear and bright. Just as if the strange moment had never happened. And to her, it probably hadn't.

   KC returned a shaky smile and stepped back, muttering a quick goodbye as she trotted after her mother. "What was that all about?" Annie questioned once she caught up.

   "Uh, nothing. Guess she had a little episode," KC shrugged and tried to play it off as they wandered through the foyer to the elevator.

   "Pretty songbird! Golden flame wings! Where are you going? Come sing for me," the unfamiliar man shrieked from his wheelchair. KC cringed and crept behind her mother until the lift arrived, hastily squeezed through the half-opened doors and startled a group of visitors on the other side.

   Annie shot her a disapproving glance as she murmured an apology to the departing crowd. "I'm not going to get you back here for a good long while now, am I?" she asked when they reached the first floor.

   KC just hugged herself and didn't bother to reply.