X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ Après ❯ Loss ( Chapter 5 )

Warnings: 1. Author attempts to be funny. 2. Character death. 3. I'm insane and wielding a pen. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Part Five: Loss

A new semester, a new class…Seishirou thought.

He looked at the high school biology class. The boys in the back were throwing paper airplanes to each other. A couple of girls were chatting idly in the corner. One girl even had a cellphone out and was chatting incessantly while painting her nails.

::Tree-san, how do you feel about a quick snack?::

::You're NOT feeding me one of your students, Seishirou.::

::Damn it.::

Seishirou cleared his throat and took off his sunglasses. He pulled out the roll call sheet.

"Take your seats, class," he said, patiently.

The students all ignored him. He took a breath and tried again. Once again, he was ignored. Patience wearing thin, he tried once more. And he was still ignored. Seishirou decided to use his trump card.

"SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND LET'S TAKE ROLL!!!" he shouted. "OR YOU'LL ALL STAY AFTER SCHOOL AND CLEAN THE SHOWERS!!!"

Silence. Perfect, deadly silence. Broken by footfall and screeches as students hurried to their seats.

"Thank you."

Seishirou quickly took roll then pulled out a pile of papers. He gave a small stack to the first person in each row of students. He instructed them to take one and pass them back.

"This is the new semester syllabus," he said. "Look them over. I want them signed by you and one of your parents. Return them by Wednesday for extra credit."

Seishirou took a piece of chalk and wrote on the board.

"There will be five units this semester. Unit One, the basics of biology. Unit two, introduction to dissection. Unit three, we will be doing dissection. Unit four will be a lecture on the important of safety in the lab."

Here, Seishirou paused. It was obvious that none of the teenagers were really paying attention. The Sakurazukamori rolled his eyes. He listed the fifth and final unit. It was a unit on reproduction, but Seishirou had a better name for it.

"Unit five," he said, his one good eye glinting. "The Do's and Don'ts of Bondage."

"Whaaa~" the class exclaimed in universal horror.

Seishirou cracked up. The entire front two rows of students unconsciously scooted their seats back a few feet.

Maybe this semester will be fun after all, Seishirou thought.

* * *

Nekoi Yuzuriha's after-school schedule was simple: stop at Dukylon Café, get a snack, head off to meet Kusanagi, eat ice cream, go home. Today wasn't any different.

The now fifteen-year-old inugami mistress skipped along, popping the last bit of sweet roll into her mouth. Little Inuki walked along beside her. Shiyuu Kusanagi would be waiting for them at their usual meeting place. Yuzuriha smiled as she saw the former Chi no Ryu just ahead.

"Konnichi wa, Kusanagi-san!" she called happily.

"Hello there, little lady!" Kusanagi smiled.

Yuzuriha ran up to her friend. Inuki jumped into Kusanagi's lap as his mistress sat down at the table in front of the tea house. The inugami barked happily as Kusanagi stroked his coat.

"I ordered your favorite tea for you, little lady," Kusanagi said.

"Thank you," Yuzuriha smiled.

"How was your day?"

"Oh, it was wonderful."

"That's good."

The tea arrived. Kusanagi pulled a couple of dog biscuits out of his jacket pocket and gave them to Inuki. The inugami happily munched on the biscuits and licked the man's hand in gratitude.

Yuzuriha and Kusanagi drank their tea, talking about their day, occasionally pausing to munch on the pocky that Yuzuriha had in her bookbag. The young former Ten no Ryu happily told her friend about her day as he smiled. Inuki napped at his mistress' feet.

After about forty-five minutes, Yuzuriha, Kusanagi and Inuki left. They began walking off toward the apartment that Yuzuriha shared with Arashi and Sorata.

Suddenly, there was the sound of an alarm. Yuzuriha and Kusanagi looked towards the sound of the alarm. It was a bank and there was a man rushing out.

"Hey!" Kusanagi shouted. "Stop!

He ran over to stop the running man. The burglar didn't stop, but pulled out a gun. He pulled the trigger and Kusanagi fell.

"KUSANAGI-SAN!!" Yuzuriha screamed.

The man with the gun ran down the street. Yuzuriha rushed over to Kusanagi's side. She saw the bullet wound, which was bleeding heavily.

"Kusanagi-san…" Yuzuriha sniffed.

"Hey…little lady…" Kusanagi said weakly. "I…I tried…"

"You'll be okay," Yuzuriha said. "You'll be okay."

"I'm sorry…"

"Someone call an ambulance!" Yuzuriha cried. "Please!"

* * *

Later that night, Sorata and Arashi spent time trying to find a way to get Yuzuriha out of her room. The younger girl had locked herself in her room, refusing to let anyone in. Her sobs could be heard throughout the apartment. Her loss had hit her hard. Kusanagi had died before the ambulance arrived.

"Sorata, this is so unfortunate," Arashi said.

The Ise priestess carried a tray of food to Yuzuriha's room as Sorata paced, thinking of some way to help his young friend. Arashi stood outside Yuzuriha's door. She knocked on the door then set the tray down.

"Yuzu-chan," she said. "I know you're probably not hungry, but I made you something to eat."

There was no answered, except for the sound of the younger girl's sobs. Arashi closed her eyes. She wanted to help her friend, but if Yuzuriha didn't let anyone near her, there was no way she could.

"I've left the tray outside the door if you get hungry."

With still no answer from Yuzuriha, Arashi sighed. She walked back into the sitting room, where Sorata was still pacing. The Kansai monk looked up as the Ise priestess came back.

"Anything?" he asked.

"No. She didn't say anything, nor did she open the door."

"I wish we could help her," Sorata said. "But I don't see how we can if she refused to talk to anyone."

"Give her time, Sorata," Arashi said. "She'll talk when she's ready."

* * *

Ayame picked the phone as it rang. She pressed the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Ayame, get your mother on the phone. This is your father."

Ayame rolled her eyes. She called her mother. Mitsuko came out of her room and took the phone, pulling off her glasses.

Ayame went in her own room, pulled out a book and turned her music on. She read her book and listened to her music for a while until her mother came in.

"Ayame," Mitsuko said. "I have back new. Your father's in jail. Seems he robbed a bank and shot a civilian."

"Dad robbed a bank?" Ayame asked. "Why? I mean, he's a surgeon. He doesn't need money."

"He mentioned something about wanting to blame on his brother," her mother replied, a look of annoyance on her face. "Honestly, I don't know why he hates Seishirou so much."

"Dad got what he deserved. Time in the slammer."

"Ayame, I know you don't like him, but this is your father we're talking about."

"So?"

"We need to bail him out."

"No, we don't," Ayame said. "Besides, he shot a civilian. That's attempted murder. He's not going to be released. And even if he did get out, he's committed a felony. He'd lose his job."

Mitsuko thought that through. She nodded in agreement.

"Dad also tried to pin it on Uncle Seishirou. So he'd be disowned from the family. Then he'd probably take it out on me."

Again, Mitsuko nodded.

"You're right," she told her daughter. "He'll just have to be stuck there."

There was a period of silence. Mitsuko sat on her daughter's bed. She seemed to be thinking about something.

"What will Grandpa Masaki say?"

"He'll probably be saddened, but there's not much even a Sakurazuka can do in this case," Mitsuko said.

Ayame nodded. Mitsuko stood and headed back into the sitting room, presumably to call Masaki. Ayame turned her music back on and went back to reading. She didn't care that her father was in jail. In fact, she was rather glad.

* * *

The next day, Kamui, Keiichi, Fuuma, Sorata, Arashi, and Ayame met for lunch as usual. Kamui sat next to Keiichi, leaning on the taller boy as he ate. Fuuma glanced at Kamui occasionally. Sorata and Arashi sat in silence. Ayame pulled out a cellphone and began punching numbers. Sorata looked over at the girl.

"Whatcha doing?" he asked.

"Texting a friend," Ayame replied. "I'm been meaning to send a message to her since I got here."

"By any chance is that Hiyama Hotaru?" Kamui asked.

"Uh, huh," Ayame replied, not looking up. "I bet she's wondering how you are. She knew that you were going back to Tokyo after your house burned down. When she found out that my mom and I were coming here, she asked me to text her f I ever found you."

"She remembers me?"

"Yeah."

Sorata turned to Kamui. "So I take if you and Ayame were more than just neighbors?"

Kamui nodded. "We were in a research group together. Hotaru was in our group as well."

"Interesting."

"Oh!" Ayame exclaimed. "I should tell Hota-chan that Dad got arrested!"

The others looked at her. Ayame just laughed and sent the message. Kamui raised an eyebrow.

"Your father got arrested? Why?" he asked.

"Cause he robbed a bank, shot a civilian, and tried to pin it on Uncle Seishirou."

"He must have been the one!" Sorata exclaimed.

Ayame looked at the Kansai monk. She asked him what he meant. Sorata and Arashi exchanged glances.

"Our friend, Yuzuriha, was there with a friend with the robbery happened," Sorata explained. "Her friend was the one who was shot."

"He died that afternoon," Arashi added. "The bullet hit a lung and got stuck inside."

"Oh," Ayame said. "I'm sorry."

Kamui turned to Sorata and Arashi. "Was it Shiyuu-san?"

Sorata nodded.

"Poor Yuzuriha," Kamui said.

"She refuses to leave her room and she won't eat, either," Arashi said. "I went in to check on her this morning. She hadn't touched any pocky or any of the food I left for her."

"Yuzuriha not eating pocky?" Fuuma asked. "She must REALLY be upset."

Sorata and Arashi nodded.

"Well, let's hope she'll be alright."

Ayame agreed. "Eventually, she'll get better. But losing someone special is hart to deal with."

Ayame's cell beeped, letting her know that Hotaru had replied. She looked at the screen, the tossed the phone to Kamui. The amethyst-eyed boy caught the phone with a confused look on his face.

"Hota-chan wants to talk to you," Ayame said. "And don't worry, it's Hota-chan and not Taru-chan."

Kamui nodded. He began punching buttons, chatting with the girl from Okinawa. He seemed to be enjoying his chat with Hotaru.

"Hota-chan and Taru-chan?" Sorata asked.

"Taru-chan is Hotaru's split personality," Ayame explained.

"Never piss her off," Kamui added.

"Yeah," Ayame agreed, sweatdropping. "That's good advice. Too bad Higata-san didn't take that advice."

Kamui laughed nervously.

Later, the lunch bell rang. Kamui returned Ayame's phone and left with Keiichi. Ayame, Fuuma, Arashi, and Sorata headed to their class as well.

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Wahhh!! Sorry it took so long to update! Thank you for being so patient with me!

Special thanks to Kreshnya, Hikaru-chan, and Lanie for reviewing!!