Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Home - Part Three

Opening her eyes, Kurenai was looking up at white ceiling. She frowned a little, turning her head to the side, seeing her brother asleep in the chair next to the bed. She felt weak, barely able to call out to him.

"Aoi..."

Jerking awake, Aoi stared at his sister. Realising that she was awake, his eyes widened and he stumbled out of the chair, pressing the button to call for the doctor. In about a minute, a doctor and two nurses rushed into the private suite. They gave Kurenai a thorough check-up before confirming that she was recovering well, and in a day or two, she would be able to go home.

"What happened?" Kurenai asked, her eyes half opened. Although the doctor said she had been in a coma for the past three days, she still felt tired. Her entire body felt heavy, and even just breathing was taking so much effort.

"I think it's better for you to rest now," Aoi said.

"Don't bullshit me," Kurenai retorted, glaring at him. Glad to see that she could still glare. "What happened?"

He grabbed the remote for the TV in the room and turned it on, changing over to the news channel for her. In large letters across the screen: LIVE BROADCAST. LARGE METEORITE STRIKES! AN UNPRECEDENTED DISASTER. 2000 dead, 25000 injured. The camera was a shot of Tokyo from the sky, showing the destruction.

Apparently, three days ago, a large meteorite entered Earth's atmosphere and broke off, striking Tokyo and devastating the city. Kurenai was among the 25000 injured rescued, and Aoi stated that it was a miracle she lived, though she was legally dead as her heart stopped for a minute.

After he heard the news, Aoi flew back to Tokyo from Singapore where he was on a business trip with their father. He found the hospital where they took Kurenai, and had them transfer her to a private suite where she had been sleeping for the past three days. He had been by her bedside since.

"Where's Ayako-san?" Kurenai asked.

"She's at your place, making you a meal," Aoi smiled. "She knew you wouldn't like the hospital food, and she wanted to prepare for when you're awake. She got lucky. She was in Kyoto visiting her family when this happened. She was the one who called me."

Staring at Aoi, Kurenai could not describe what she was feeling.

"What's wrong? Does something hurt?"

"My heart," she whispered, tears swelling in her eyes. "But I don't know why...it's like, I've forgotten something. Something really important. Someone really important."

Seeing the tears roll down her cheeks, Aoi was flabbergasted. His sister had always been a very strong person. They were polar opposites. When Aoi would cry, Kurenai had always taken the abuse from their father without even a single complaint. At their mother's funeral, Aoi was bawling his eyes out while she stood with him, holding his hand but not a single tear. Yet here she was, crying for no apparent reason.

He grabbed her hand, holding it tightly in his own. "It's okay, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll remember soon," he said. "Just focus on getting better, okay?"

There was comfort in her brother holding her hand, but it...felt wrong. She was sure she held someone's hand like so too, but it felt different.

--

Two days later, Kurenai was given a clean bill of health and the okay to go home.

Both Ayako and Aoi came to bring her home, and both were fighting each other to carry her bags. Kurenai watched them, letting out a soft sigh. Somehow, this scene warmed her heart.

Before this, she rarely talked with Aoi unless he came to her apartment crying, or asking her for help with work. These last two days, however, they had been talking about...well, anything and everything. She learnt that he met a guy from work, and they had been on a few dates already. He even recently got his driver's licence.

With Ayako clinging onto her arm, they were heading out of the hospital when a nurse came to inform them that reporters had gathered outside the hospital, waiting for discharged patients to interview. Especially for Kurenai, the Chuya daughter.

While Aoi went off to make a call, arranging for the driver to pick them up at a different exit, Kurenai's attention was somehow attracted to the ward room she was standing outside. Room 1504, with two patients: Chishiya Shuntarou, and Niragi Suguru.

She stepped away from Ayako, walking toward the room and stood by the door. She had no idea why, but the name Chishiya Shuntarou seemed familiar. She peeked into the room, seeing the two patients though it was the one with blonde hair she looked at. The feeling of something forgotten was becoming overwhelming as she felt tears in her eyes.

"Miss Kurenai, let's go."

Just as she was about to walk into the room, Ayako called out to her. Aoi returned from making his phone call, and Ayako once again linked her arm with Kurenai's, walking off.

Hearing someone outside the room, Chishiya tilted his head a little to see better. He just about caught a glimpse of a woman with long black hair, though he could not see her face. Somehow, she seemed familiar. Like they had met somewhere.

He was soon distracted, however, by the coughing of the patient he shared the room with.

"Can you please keep it down?" Chishiya asked. "Although...that seems like quite an unreasonable request, doesn't it?"

The man in the other bed was wrapped up in bandages from head to toe. From what Chishiya heard the doctor and nurses said, he had been burned. And both of their hearts stopped for a moment too.

"I'd be happy to change places with you. But then again, your wounds are pretty bad too..." Niragi said.

"Anything changed for you, now that you've been to the edge and back?"

"Nope...my body's all fucked up though. Something changed for you?"

"Up until now, I've been wasting my life away. I feel like maybe I can live an honest life now...or something like that. But...I still feel like something is missing. Like, a part of me is...gone."

"How cliché."

-The End-

A/N: Hi guys! This is Author-chan, Ava. I want to thank you guys so much for your support through this fic. I never thought I would gain so many readers who thoroughly enjoyed my writing and loving my OC so much. Thank you for accompanying me on Kurenai's journey. 

Stay tuned for book 2: Red Strings.