A Crimson Route [Act Two, Scene Eight Up]

[AntonSlavik020]

It looks like her sisters may be just who she needed to talk to to realize how much if an idiot shes been. I don't expect it to be instant, of course, but she seems to be on the right path.

[Mirage_GSM]

None of the three of us can even really remember why me and Fumiko seemed happier

"Fumiko and I"

...plus one past tense that snuck in that I can't find again right now^^°

Again a very good chapter. Her youngest sister reminds me a bit of a toned down version of Hisao's youngest from Hoitash's stories - a bit too clever for her age

[TheTealeaf]

Nice seeing the family unit and their interactions.

Wondering when the old master of romance will show up and how the sisters are going to react!

So Mina's coming clean...

I hear confession is good for the soul, so mebbe it'll be good for Mina.

As always good update, looking forward to more!

[CloudGrain]

It looks like her sisters may be just who she needed to talk to to realize how much if an idiot shes been. I don't expect it to be instant, of course, but she seems to be on the right path.

Indeed, sometimes it takes getting told the same thing over and over, but especially from a perspective someone trusts before they'll bother to admit the truth. Still a few hard little bits left to go before Minako will actually be willing and able to totally admit her fault, but hey, it's definitely a start.

None of the three of us can even really remember why me and Fumiko seemed happier

"Fumiko and I"

...plus one past tense that snuck in that I can't find again right now^^°

Again a very good chapter. Her youngest sister reminds me a bit of a toned down version of Hisao's youngest from Hoitash's stories - a bit too clever for her age

Will check back through it! As always, thanks very much for going through things for me and pointing out the few bits that need shoring up, Haven't had the opportunity to read too much of Hoitash's work, but can certainly say that I almost intended for her to come off exactly as such. While Fumiko and Minako are both a little more impulsive and a bit less capable of really understanding people when they're a bit out of sorts, Hitomi's a foil to that.

Nice seeing the family unit and their interactions.

Wondering when the old master of romance will show up and how the sisters are going to react!

So Mina's coming clean...

I hear confession is good for the soul, so mebbe it'll be good for Mina.

As always good update, looking forward to more!

Thanks kindly Tealeaf, it'd definitely be telling if I answered any of those questions, so unfortunately not going to right now.

---

Just a general update; work's slowing down right now to a near standstill. Hopefully I'll be pulling myself out of the effective slump that I'm in relatively shortly and get back to work, but as always, it's just a little hard for me to predict these sorts of things. So, just a heads up that it's going to be a bit of a crapshoot as to when the next update may come out.

[CloudGrain]

Act Two, Scene Eight

But for every truth perceived



"Get out, Nakai." Not pleasant first words, and coldly spoken... but they felt appropriate.

Despite the turmoil of emotions brewing inside me as I turn away from the figure in the doorway, my voice is almost perfectly toneless as I stare up at the blank white ceiling. Since my family has come to visit, things have been going well enough... I've been able to keep myself occupied, been able to keep the thought that this might happen in the back of my mind. I made up with Fumiko the morning after I pretty viciously sent her out of my room, Hitomi berated me a little bit for being an idiot, but it seemed like it'd been enough closure. It'd sort of manage to lay the issue to rest for a little while, at least in my own mind.

But... I'd still decided to be prudent today. If anyone from school was going to visit me, they'd probably visit me after school Saturday. And if anyone from the school were to visit me, it'd probably be Hisao.

So I'd deliberately kept my sisters and mother for a little bit after their 'lunch-time' and asked them to pick up a few things for me on their way back to the hospital after they went out to eat. It was just a little bit of 'insurance' against the idea that Hisao might possibly come to try and visit me in the hospital. I wasn't sure what it'd be that I'd feel if he did and wanted at least a bit of privacy just in case things got a little heated. There's still anger I feel for how things turned out... and there are still a lot of other emotions that I haven't quite been able to file away so neatly. I've hardly been able to decide how I might react, right up until the moment that he opened the door.

Even now, while he's standing in the doorway unmoving I've hardly got any idea how I'll continue to react. Even after telling him to just go away, to leave me alone... I'm hardly certain that it's what I really want him to do. When he finally manages to respond, his voice cracks just a little bit.

"Are you alright, Mina?" He sounds completely dejected even as he asks the question.

Something sparks the anger, and my reply is dripping with both sarcasm and contempt. "Oh, yeah. Things are wonderful. I'm just in the hospital, covered in bruises and getting injected with plenty of shit every now and again. It's much more fun than a day at school, especially weekends. I've got about twenty TV channels here, fifteen of them news. I'm catching up on so much. Even now that they've pulled out the IV and taken all the wires off me." Hisao winces, looking down at the floor as my gaze is just about to meet his. As much as I feel like my anger is completely justified, I feel myself feeling bad for being so harsh as soon as I actually look at Hisao.

He looks like crap... as though he hasn't slept in the past few days, tired and drained with bags under his eyes, and a way of holding himself that's just plain wrong compared to how he usually does. My comment looks like it had just about the same effect on him as getting up and slapping him would have as he stares at the floor so carefully. It seems like pushing his gaze from the floor to me is physically painful for him as he bites the inside of his cheek.

"I'm so so sorry, Mina." His response is just barely over a whisper, just barely audible as I stare him down, and he quickly averts his gaze as I do the same. There's a flutter somewhere in my stomach as I find myself suddenly wishing that I could forgive him with just that. Tell him that it was all going to be fine, admit that I'd been at least somewhat to blame on what happened. He hadn't pushed me down the stairs, I'd fallen.

He looked genuinely remorseful for what had happened. He was still Hisao, the same person that I'd managed to find so many good things over the course of the past few weeks. The same person who I'd been so worked up over the idea of being rejected by... It takes just a small extension on that thought to go right back to anger.

Despite all that, he was the same person who yelled at me in the middle of everyone. Accused me, ignored my asking to deal with things a little later, and finally rejected me. He's probably just doing this to try and make himself feel a little less guilty. He made himself perfectly clear back at the school what we were to one another now.

"Fine. Now that you've said your piece, go. I've lived through worse, you didn't push me. No need to feel guilty, so you can leave." The icy tone cuts through the air nicely enough, and Hisao's staring at the floor again. He's probably trying to come up with some flimsy excuse, some little extra thing that might make things seem so much better, some lie that could help to sweeten things up. It's hardly a surprise that he seems to somehow muster the courage, even under my sharp glare to make his way over to one of the chairs next to my bed and find himself a seat. His voice is shaky at best, and the fact that he doesn't even look up as he starts speaking earns nothing but contempt from me until I start to actually process the words.

"I... I don't know if I've ever been as scared in my life, Mina. Even my heart attack... that was just a few seconds before I blacked out." Unconsciously, as soon as I hear about Hisao's heart I immediately find myself pushing my anger aside as I simply listen attentively. "But running down the stairs after you fell... not knowing..." Hisao shudders at that, pausing for just a brief few seconds. His hands are clenched in his lap, knuckles white as he whispers. "Not knowing if you were okay." His voice trembles at that last sentence and he meets my gaze with watery eyes.

Whatever anger was still in me seemed to be just about completely mollified as I suddenly realize just how sincere Hisao is right now. It all seems to click at once, that he looks like absolute crap for a reason, that he can't even meet my gaze right now... that he's feeling so utterly and completely guilty because he does care. It's not that made-up caring face that people put on when they just know that they're supposed to feel bad, he's genuinely been stressing over this.

I feel guilty, realizing the simple fact that it'd be a monumental effort on my own part to try and come in and say the exact same thing if the roles had been reversed. As sour as I still was, looking back on the events of Tuesday, I can't help but admit that I haven't exactly done things 'right' either... Hisao's probably managing to go above and beyond what I could force myself to do if we were in the opposite positions. It's only after a deep, shaky breath of my own that I finally manage to stop myself from being so icy towards Hisao.

"I'm... fine, Hisao." I finally admit, getting him to look up at me as he seems to notice the change in tone. "A few nasty bruises... a really badly sprained wrist... but I've definitely had worse." Hisao takes a deep breath, looking relieved as he gives a few nods. As opposed to earlier, the admission looks like it actually lifts a bit of weight off his shoulders. "I mean... I still hate hospitals, but I'll be out in just a few days without too many problems." I admit, getting an empathetic-looking grimace from Hisao. My mind kinda goes back to an instance where I swear I can remember Hisao mentioning spending months in a hospital, and I can't help but cringe a little at just the thought of it. A day was bad... a week was horrible. But months of being more or less tethered to a hospital bed sounded like a punishment in one of the circles of hell.

Of course, as soon as I've more or less managed to actually forgive him for simply falling down the stairs... it really only leaves one last avenue for the conversation to go in. The direction that's the whole reason for my anger at Hisao in the first place. The reason that I fell down the stairs rather than the simpler fact that I had fallen down the stairs. The explosion in the hallway that'd still be something both of us would have to deal with after I got back to Yamaku in a few days.

The silence manages to pervade for the next few minutes... an uncomfortable heavy thing that seems like it could only promise that either we'd avoid the topic or that if we actually managed to talk about it, it'd be difficult. It's after a few moments of that heavy silence, of that awkward avoidance of the only topic that was on either of our minds that Hisao manages to break the silence.

"I'm sorry for how... things happened. Not just after it was over." He says it slowly, somehow managing to flame my anger back into being. I manage to bite back a few responses though, trying to keep a lid on my anger as he tries to play it off. "I just... I'd asked some people about you after someone was concerned about you being alone. People started saying things about how you really ought to be careful... about how you shouldn't do some things." Despite doing my best to contain the bit of building anger, I can't help but snap a little bit at that.

"So what? Because other people were concerned about me you decide to scream at me in the hallway?" My voice has a scathing edge to it once again, this time though, Hisao seems a little bit more able to stand up to it. The fact that he seems to take it with equanimity makes me angrier still. "Decided that waiting a whole twenty minutes after class, bringing it up quietly when you came over would be way too much for you to handle?" I growl, sitting up on the side of the bed and almost daring Hisao to look away at this point. Instead of the cold anger I'd felt before, it was a hot anger that I felt now. "Because obviously everyone else has a way better idea about what's good for me than I'd know, right? Especially you!" That gets him to look away awkwardly as I tap into the anger towards almost everyone who seems to treat me like some sort of fragile thing. "You had to just keel over before you'd explain to me what was wrong, how could screaming at me asking the same sorts of questions possibly go wrong?" I ask, struggling to keep my voice to a normal conversational volume. People would come running here if you started screaming.

"I..." Hisao seems to choke on the word for a moment, taking a deep breath before attempting to continue. "I... don't..." He bites it off after a moment, raising his gaze to look at me with a pained expression. "I was afraid." He says slowly, seeming to try and choose his words a little more carefully. "What everyone was saying... how they were saying it."

"So what, you believed everything everyone said?" I said, snapping just a bit at the statement.

"Nobody told me anything, Mina. They were all just concerned about you, said that it'd be better if you were safe." Hisao started, exasperated.

"So why did you decide to freak out about it? Why did you decide to go crazy? Why did you make the whole thing into something for everyone to watch and gossip about, you idiot?!" I ask, raising my voice as high as I dare hoping that nobody will come to check up on me. Hisao seems to withdraw just a little bit at that, turtling right back up into whatever shell he had in order to try and avoid the question with some mumbled excuse. "Why couldn't you just leave it alone and let us be happy for a little while?"

"Because I was afraid that I might do something wrong." Hisao says it slowly, once again unable to meet my gaze as I stare down at him. "I didn't know if I could accidentally hurt you... if anything that I'd done was wrong..." He said slowly, chewing over the words. "I didn't want to find out when something had already happened, Mina. I just... I couldn't imagine how badly it feels." He says it miserably, looking as though I've just gone through a rigorous torture session to wring the information out of him."Not knowing if I might have hurt you, not knowing if I could without even knowing it in the future... it hurt." I'm not quite sure what I want to do right now... strangle him or hug him to try and empathize with him.

He looks me dead in the eye, finally seeming to find some reserve again. "You lied to me. For days... weeks." Hisao looks like he doesn't want to say it but he grits his teeth and balls his hands into fists. "You lied to me, Mina." His voice chokes a little as he says it. "Do you know how much that hurt? How much I worried? Wondered if I'd hurt you? Wondering why you hadn't simply told me? I started thinking about it and could only think about the worst things as being true if you'd avoided it. Just... awful things..." His voice peters out as he shakes his head, as though trying to shake out some bad memory or image. He sniffs deeply then moves nearer the bed, gently taking my hand. "Remember watching the sunset?" He doesn't give me a chance to answer, he plows on regardless. "It was perfect Mina. Then finding out a few hours later you'd been lying to me?" He sighs. "I was angry, rash, hot headed and said things that I regret. But how can I be with you when I'm unsure if I can even trust you?"

He looks at the floor and in the silence of the room, I hear a tiny 'plip' noise as a tear hits the floor.

The anger is gone again as I feel him shudder just a little bit, replaced by more uncomfortable feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach as my mind haltingly manages to grasp what he's been saying over and over. After his little scare when we'd gone out to lunch in town on Sunday... I definitely had an idea of the fear of something happening. It'd taken more than a little time to convince myself that he'd be okay after I left, that since he'd taken his medicine and caught things early that he wouldn't have too many issues. It'd taken just about every ounce of my self-control to not pester him on and on about it, to not go right down to the nurse and risk getting both of us into a little bit of trouble if too many questions were asked. It'd been because I was still so content in hiding my own condition that I'd been able to keep so quiet, giving him the same type of leeway that I so desperately wanted.

All that he'd wanted to really do was make sure that he hadn't hurt me. Sure, it was exactly the same sort of thing that everyone else told me as they were so careful around me, didn't let me do anything for myself. But it wasn't because he was just afraid of letting me hurt myself, it was because he was afraid of hurting me somehow without knowing. I can remember the guilt that I felt, even knowing that it was hardly my fault that he'd had his own condition 'pop up' in town, and can hardly imagine how much worse it'd be if I really had caused it. That was what he was so angry about, what he'd been trying to avoid at all costs by confronting me.

I squeeze his hand a little bit, trying to reassure him as I work the words through a lump in my throat. "I'm sorry too..." I sniff, running my free hand, splint and all across my face to try and keep myself from looking like a complete wreck. "I just... I didn't know what would happen." Hisao manages to look up at me, the faintest glimmer of hope in his eyes. "People always seem to think that I'm... that I'd just fall right over in a stiff breeze. That if I got a tiny paper-cut it's all over. That if I got a bruise it must mean that I'm about to bleed out inside." I find myself explaining, practically gushing out that half-hidden hatred of being 'babied' all my life for the first time. "People just... always think that they know what's better for me, even though I've managed to get this far alright. I just..." I grimace, more or less deciding that I've gone too far to hold anything else back. "It was a big part of what made hanging out with you so special."

Hisao looks a little confused, but a little bolstered by the statement. "I got to do things with you that... well... nobody else would do with me." I admit it, giving a weak smile at the less 'real' guilt of managing to get Hisao to do a lot of what he'd done with me. "Climbing a tree? Playing soccer? Even going out to town with you... A lot of people would constantly be trying to look after me, to make sure that I didn't hurt myself, try to keep me from doing it in the first place. Constantly making sure that everything was okay. But with you I could be... normal. I could do all sorts of things." I say it with a guilty smile-turning grimace. "But... telling you just seemed like a worse and worse idea... especially after... well, the sunset." The guilt of the whole situation settles down in my stomach even as I feel my cheeks warm up just a little bit at the happy memory.

Looking over, I think that Hisao's expression manages to mirror my own pretty closely. Happy, but at the same time the littlest bit put-off by the whole situation. It's his turn to squeeze my hand just a little bit, managing to push aside the worse feelings as he smiles reassuringly. "Okay. I understand." I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding at that, a sigh of relief that Hisao had been able to at least say that much. Few enough people seem to understand that much about me even after having been around me for years. I doubt that just about anyone else outside of my family might be able to say if we'd gotten into a fight like me and Hisao had just a few short days ago. Surprisingly, Hisao manages to go a step further than even that. "I forgive you."

That lifts a weight off my chest, out of my gut where the guilt had settled. "I forgive you too." I find myself saying, letting all that pent up anger about the whole situation finally fade as I squeeze Hisao's hand. With things seeming to be becoming just a little bit more... normal, getting the other stuff out of the way I can't help but want to tease Hisao a little bit to clear out the heaviness that still seemed to be in the air. "But so help me God, Hisao, if you try to break up with me like that again Hisao... you'd better sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life." I growl, getting a startled look out of Hisao for a moment before we share a few seconds of laughter as my expression softens.

"Can I come by to visit tomorrow then?" Hisao asks, looking more than a little bolstered by the conversation now. The bags haven't exactly managed to dissapear magically from underneath his eyes, and they're still just a little glazed over from what I assume is a lack of sleep. But he's sitting up just a bit straighter, looking just a little more alert, and most importantly has the ghost of a smile on his face as he asks the question. The change feels just as welcome for me, as I close my eyes contently.

"Yeah... I'd like that." There's a sudden nagging feeling in my gut as I look past Hisao at the clock. It's more than a little past the time that I'd expected my family to be coming back... and I'm absolutely sure that there would be all sorts of stuff I'd hear about it if they found me and a boy holding hands in my room when I'd a little suspiciously managed to get them to head out for a longish while. "Er... Hisao?" I ask, withdrawing my hand with a little bit of confusion from Hisao. "If you... left right now it'd probably save us from a little embarrassment when my family comes back. I kinda haven't told them... about this." I feel my cheeks and the tips of my ears both burning as Hisao seems to come to the realization and blush a little himself. "I can introduce you tomorrow! But uhh... today would be... awkward." I manage to more or less just barely squeak out as Hisao gives an uncomfortable grin and nods quickly.

"Alright, yeah. I understand." He says, standing up and straightening himself out a little bit as he rubs the back of his neck. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Mina." He says it with a smile, leaning in and giving me a quick peck on the cheek before he leaves. Honestly, I want nothing more than to pull him right back to me to get a proper kiss out of him... but I can't imagine living it down if my sisters or mother walked through the door right at that moment. As it stands, I feel like every second is adding just a bit more to the risk of the whole situation. Still, I can't help but blush a little as I wave when he's at the door... realizing that things had turned out so much better than I'd expected. As soon as he's out the door, I find myself settling back into the hospital bed as contently as I think that I've ever been.

Things between me and Hisao are... good, I think. Which is basically the complete opposite of what I'd assumed they'd be when this was all said and done. It'd been the encounter that I'd been absolutely dreading since it happened, and it somehow turned out okay. I'm so caught up in my relief that the voices in the hallway are more or less passing in one ear and out the other for a little while as I just lay back contently. The simple contentedness with the whole situation manages to be just about completely shattered as the door swings open to reveal Fumiko with a downright evil looking grin plastered across her face, Hitomi looking like she's dangerously close to laughter, and my mother absolutely beaming. The combination of expressions between all the members of my family promises absolutely nothing good for me.

"So... your boyfriend seems nice enough. Mom was kinda disappointed that you were trying to hide him from us!" Fumiko says, managing to draw a giggle from Hitomi as I wish that I could disappear into my bed. Mortified really doesn't manage to fully convey how I feel right now as my family is looking me over and, more likely than not, trying to figure out the best possible ways to embarrass me over the situation that they possibly can. Or at the very least... Fumiko's probably trying to do exactly that. My mother somehow manages to do it without even trying.

"Really, Minako, it would've been nice to know about it before!" My mom starts, already getting me to cringe just a little bit as she smiles in way I assume is trying to be reassuring. "But you should be happy! I would've been happy to have snagged such a cutey when I was your age!" I cringe as Fumiko and Hitomi both laugh at that, feeling heat rise to my cheeks and ears. This is going to be a long... long... remainder of a day.

[AntonSlavik020]

Loved it. The talk between Mina and Hisao was well done. Glad to see her finally realize what Hisao was really trying to do and why he was angry with her.

Also, loved everything about the last paragraph. That was hilarious. Nice bit of levity after the heavy topic of the previous conversation.

Also also, stealth post at work for the win!

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, that discussion went a lot better than it had any right to, considering how it started

[Solistor]

Still reading, still enjoying. I was smiling by the end of the Mina/Hisao conversation, but my suspicions were confirmed when the family was revealed to have been eavesdropping or at least pulled the story from Hisao. I expect many teasings about this in the future.

[Mirage_GSM]

The problem with that is that her sisters have already been depicted as unusually mature, so it would be quite strange if they suddenly started childishly teasing her sister for having a boyfriend.

[CloudGrain]

Loved it. The talk between Mina and Hisao was well done. Glad to see her finally realize what Hisao was really trying to do and why he was angry with her.

Also, loved everything about the last paragraph. That was hilarious. Nice bit of levity after the heavy topic of the previous conversation.

Also also, stealth post at work for the win!

Thanks kindly! I actually have TheTealeaf to thank for looking over quite a bit of the conversation between Mina and Hisao and steering me more or less in the right direction. It was a really, really annoyingly difficult bit for me to write, and I seriously owe him one for managing to hammer out some general advice and direction for me regarding it. I'm really glad that it's done, because blech, writing hurts both my braincells sometimes. Quite glad to have been able to toss in some of the comic relief at the end via her family. I'd like to think that most of us all know 'that' feeling when our siblings/parents seem to go above and beyond conscious thought in embarrassing us!

Also, quite impressive that you're getting off stealth posts at work, I have to admit. Don't get caught, be sneaky like Kenji!

Well, that discussion went a lot better than it had any right to, considering how it started

Definitely. It's a pretty idealistic universe where neither of them snapped any more at the other and drove the wedge between them deeper, nor lacked the will to continue once things had been started. But hey, idealistic happens every once in a great while, so why not indulge in the fantasy of it happening here, eh?

Still reading, still enjoying. I was smiling by the end of the Mina/Hisao conversation, but my suspicions were confirmed when the family was revealed to have been eavesdropping or at least pulled the story from Hisao. I expect many teasings about this in the future.

Very glad, as always, to continue to entertain. I'll admit that it was a bit... predictably cliche that they managed to catch Hisao on his way out of Mina's room. But hey, occasionally the opportunity arises to poke fun at someone that you just can't quite just ignore! In this case, to at least somewhat lighten things up after some pretty serious stuff... maybe manage to keep Mina a little more humble given her nature too.

The problem with that is that her sisters have already been depicted as unusually mature, so it would be quite strange if they suddenly started childishly teasing her sister for having a boyfriend.

Have they been? Hitomi I'd admit to certainly being portrayed moreso as an empath than most people would be, and a little bit more capable of holding her tongue. Fumiko's 'intended' portrayal was as almost an echo of Minako's personality in most regards. That's not to say necessarily immature, but it is certainly pretty apt to poke fun at other people where it's tolerated and warranted. Hitomi even has a tiny hint of that same trait in her, though much less pronounced than her sisters might have. As to their mother... well, I think I can pretty safely say that most people have been absolutely horrifically embarrassed by their mother at some point in their life even without their mother making a real conscious attempt to do so. Given the subject matter, I wouldn't exactly see something like that as a 'zero-possibility event'.

[Oddball]

The problem with that is that her sisters have already been depicted as unusually mature, so it would be quite strange if they suddenly started childishly teasing her sister for having a boyfriend.

Siblings never grow out of childishly teasing each other.

Now for the story...

Remarkably well paced with some very strong characters. I don't quite get why everyone is treating her like she's made of glass though. With the build up you gave it, I expected something much worse than what she had.

Hisao seemed to loose his temper really easily considering that he has a habit of keeping his own condition a secret as well.