I'm not happy with this chapter at all, but the things that happened in it
sort of need to happen. I feel like I'm taking them too fast, though...
*sigh* Anyway, here it is. Chapter 3 should be following shortly, then
I'll move on to my Kenshin fanfic, and then maybe (finally) back to my
Tylor fanfic. We shall see.
Chapter 2
Madoka and Kyousuke were sipping tea with the rest of the local Kasuga
clan, more or less recovering from their admission of guilt with regards to
their love life. That, and thinking about the question that had just been
asked of them- 'When are you planning on getting married.'
It wasn't really that either of them disliked the idea- it was just that
niether of them had thought about it since they'd shed the major
obstruction of their relationship- Hikaru. With Hikaru no longer coming
between them, there was no real pressure keeping them apart... which
eliminated some of the urgency behind their time together. They were
finally getting comfortable as a couple- marriage was something they had
plenty of time to think about.
Of course, now that Kyousuke's family knew how far their relationship had
gone, much of that time had been erased. The Kasuga's were expecting an
answer for when Madoka would be joining their clan, and they would probably
be disappointed if one didn't arrive soon.
Not that there hadn't been pressure before, of course- ever since they
found out that Kyousuke had dumped Hikaru, the entire clan- even those who
lived in the same region as his Grandparents and didn't see him very often-
knew that he'd devoted himself to Madoka. Gentle teasing and subtle hints
came at them almost every day, but there was no REAL pressure, and the word
'marraige' was never used.
Until then.
The sudden appearance of another esper into the middle of the room
interrupted their silent contemplation.
"Akane!" Kyousuke blurted out. She had appeared right over him and Madoka,
and fell into their laps. As she did, he noticed she was passing out.
He also noticed she was in terrible shape. There was a splint on her arm,
there was soot on her face, there were burns on her hands, there were
scratches on her face, and there were tears in her clothes. In short, she
looked as if she'd just come out of a war.
Madoka was a little startled to find a girl falling into her lap for no
apparent reason, but once she recovered she was all business. "Kyousuke,
help me get her into the bathroom. We need to clean her up and see if
she's got any other injuries...."
"I thought she was at the clan meeting- what happened to her?" Manami asked
as the couple carefully moved the injured girl.
"And why did she come here, especially with all of those injuries?" Takeshi
mused. "It must have really drained a lot of her Power to transport here
all the way from the Clan retreat. I didn't even think she was strong
enough to do it...."
Kyousuke and Ayukawa didn't hear any more, closing the bathroom door behind
them.
"Is the furo filled?"
Kyousuke blinked. "Madoka, you're forgetting this is just an apartment,
and a small one at that. We don't HAVE a furo, just a shower."
She sighed. "Right... um, can you 'transport' the three of us to my house?
I can probably take better care of her there."
"Not all three of us at once, but I can probably move us one at a time.
It'll take a lot outta me, though- especially since it's the end of the day
and I've already expended a lot of energy."
Madoka nodded. "Take her first. Try and get her into the bathroom itself,
if you can manuever that precisely. Then come back and get me."
Kyousuke nodded, grabbed hold of Akane, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
The two of them disappeared. Ayukawa checked the medicine cabinet, grabbed
some bandages, and waited. She didn't have to wait long- less than a
minute later he returned, grabbed hold of her, and teleported.
They reappeared in the bathroom, where a sleeping Akane had been gently
placed by Kyousuke. Madoka nodded.
"Now, get outta here for a bit... I'm gonna undress her and bathe her, and
you probably shouldn't be around for that."
Kyousuke nodded, but hesitated. "Um, I will, but... there's something I
never told you about her...."
"Oh?"
"Um... did you know she used to have a crush on you?"
Ayukawa stopped. It wasn't that uncommon for younger girls to develop a
sort of crush on older girls, but once they reached Akane's age it was kind
of rare. It could lead to some rather uncomfortable incidents if she
wasn't careful... but there were more important things to worry about than
that. "Um... no, I didn't. But it doesn't matter, now, does it? She
needs our help."
Kyousuke sighed. Even in a crisis like this, he couldn't subdue his fears-
even though Hikaru was no longer an issue, he was still scared of threats
to their relationship, and having Madoka undress Akane was a bit of a
threat in his mind. Still, this was an emergency- surely he could put
aside his insecurities for a situation like this.
"Right. Um... I hate to ask it, but all that transporting around really
drained me. Can I raid your fridge?"
Ayukawa didn't even bother looking at him, instead moving to take care of
Akane. She knew from her recent investigations into how the Power affected
the Kasugas (especially Kyousuke's sisters) why he was asking. "Go ahead.
I'll call you when I'm done."
Grabbing a bottle of iodine and some cotten swabs out of her medicine
cabinet, Madoka took Akane to the (empty) furo and set her inside.
Stripping the injured girl to her underwear, Ayukawa opened the bottle and
began applying it to the visible wounds, cleaning it first by running water
from the tub's spigot onto each open injury.
Hesitantly, she removed the crude splint, inspecting the area it was
treating. It looked like her arm might have been broken near the wrist,
and there were additional wounds all along the arm. Carefully, Ayukawa
disinfected and bandages the open cuts.
It was while she was doing this that Akane started to stir. Moving
slightly, the wounded girl opened her eyes. "Ma... madoka?" she said
faintly.
"Don't move your right arm," Ayukawa said sternly. "You broke it, and I
had to remove the splint to treat some of your other injuries. If you move
around too much, it might hurt you even more."
Akane nodded. "I won't. Thank you... Madoka." She unconsciously reached
up with her uninjured arm and moved to cup Ayukawa's chin.
Madoka flinched away. "You're not yourself, so I'll forgive you for that,
but I'd prefer it if you remembered that I was in love with your cousin,
not you."
Akane winced as if stung, dropping her arm. She knew her crush on Ayukawa
was a silly dream, but to have it so bluntly disrupted hurt. If she hadn't
already been through hell that day, she'd have been in tears."Sorry."
Madoka worked on in silence for a few more moments. When she was done
swabbing down Akane's arm, she reached for the splint to reapply it.
Finding it was out of reach, she sighed. 'Hmm... I wonder,' she thought.
Closing her eyes, she reached inside of herself and accessed the limited
amount of the Power that she'd absorbed from Kyousuke. Trying to remember
how she'd done it in the ABCB, the tugged at the splint with her mind.
Akane's eyes widened as the two sticks and roll of bandages flew to
Madoka's hand. "You... you're an esper, too?"
Madoka smiled grimly, staring at the stuff in her hand. "Not exactly," she
said, carefully holding Akane's right arm in such a way as to not further
damage it. "But you could say that Kyousuke gave me a little bit of
himself to play with for a while."
"Huh?"
Finishing up with the splint, Ayukawa grabbed the tattered clothed that
Akane had arrived in and handed them to her. "Here, put these back on
until we can find some replacements for you. I probably shouldn't say
more, but if you must know you can ask Kyousuke's father. But first, I
think we should get you to a hospital to get a look at that arm."
"Um... I'm going to need help getting dressed."
Madoka sighed. What more was going to happen that night?
* * * * *
Kyousuke hesitated. He knew he wasn't the only person who was going to
need some food- Akane must have completely drained herself teleporting all
the way from his grandfather's in the state she was in. In fact, she
probably needed something to recharge herself more than he did.
He couldn't make much on his own, but there were the ingredients to make
some ramen available. Snacking on an apple, he started boiling some water
while he assembled the needed materials to make the soup- Madoka didn't
keep the instant variety in her house, but he thought he could handle
making it for scratch.
When he tasted his creation upon completion, he shrugged. It wasn't great,
but it was edible. Fixing himself a bowl, he sat down to eat.
A pale Akane came in, followed by Madoka. "There's some noodle soup on the
stove if you want it," Kyousuke noted. "It's not very good, but it should
give you some energy."
"Um, thanks," Akane said sullenly.
"Eat, and then we'll go to the hospital," Ayukawa ordered. She decided to
save her questions until after Akane was treated, and hoped her glance at
Kyousuke conveyed that message.
Akane just nodded, serving herself a bowl and picking up some chopsticks.
Madoka, just out of curiousity, grabbed a few noodles and tasted them
herself.
"Bleh... Kyousuke, remind me to do all the cooking after we're married.
This stuff is WAY too bland," she said.
Kyousuke's eyes widened. That was the first time either of them had said
anything about getting married to each other. "Um, sure thing," he said,
trying to stay under control. Now was not the time to worry about his
romantic troubles- now was the time to take care of his injured cousin.
Akane was not feeling very happy. First of all, she'd been badly injured
in the attack, and then the girl she felt a significant attraction to kept
pushing the fact that she was dating Kyousuke into her face. To make
matters worse, the ramen she was eating was totally tasteless. It was
filling, however, and she needed to eat something to regain her strength.
* * * * *
When the ramen was finished, the three people piled into one of the cars
belonging to Madoka's mother and drove on out to the hospital. After
checking Akane in to be x-rayed, Ayukawa and Kyousuke sat down together in
the waiting room.
"You know, we still don't know what caused all of this," Kasuga said.
"What do you think could have happened to her?" Ayukawa asked.
"Plenty of things COULD have happened to her," Kyousuke said. "Though I'm
more concerned about the fact that whatever it was happened at the Clan
meeting."
"'Clan meeting?' That's the second time I've heard this mentioned- what is
this 'clan meeting' for, anyway?"
Kyousuke hesitated. Glancing around to make certain that no-one could hear
him, he answered, "Um... I'm not sure if I should say. It's supposed to be
a secret even to those few outsiders who've been told of the Power. Dad
didn't even know about it until after I was born...."
"So is there nothing I can do to convince you to tell me?" Madoka said,
smiling at him in a way she knew was certain to push his buttons.
Kyousuke sighed. "Let me guess- you won't take 'no' for an answer?"
"No, I won't."
"Then I guess I have to tell you, don't I?"
"Yes, you do."
"Okay," he surrendered. "Though I doubt you'll be interested in much of
what I have to say."
Ayukawa smirked. "I rarely am, but listening to you will kill the time."
Kyousuke feigned insult at that. "Hey!"
Ayukawa squeezed his hand. "Come on, what's the story?"
"There's not much to tell, really," he noted. "It's an annual meeting,
where traditionally all the Kasuga's gather. That's no longer the case-
now, except for newborns, children who have yet to reach maturity are
excluded, and attendance is optional after your first appearance as an
adult. I went last year, Akane went this year, and my sisters are supposed
to go next year. Kazuya probably went as well, since we couldn't take him
in when his parents went, though I doubt he was permitted to attend the
ceremonies."
"What do you do at these gatherings? Why all the secrecy?"
"Well, a number of somewhat private clan functions happen during the
meeting. Infants are blessed, most of the clan's marraiges are held, the
laws of the clan are passed, and similar things. Oh, yeah- and once every
ten years, the violators of the clan's laws are prosecuted and punished."
Ayukawa raised an eyebrow. "You have your own laws? Your clan sounds
rather vigilante." There was no real accusation in her voice, merely
curiousity.
Kyousuke again glanced around to make certain they weren't being
eavesdropped upon.. "Well, obviously, there are some crimes which we
cannot allow... others... to know about. If we didn't police ourselves,
then power-mad Kasugas would be ruling all of Japan, probably."
Madoka nodded. "I suppose your superpowers would require something like
that." She paused. "This wouldn't happen to be one of those years, would
it?"
Kyousuke frowned. "I suppose it might be, at that."
"Could one of these 'violators of clan law' be responsible for Akane's
condition?"
"I... doubt it. The combined might of the clan should be greater than the
Power controlled by any one individual. Something else must have
happened."
"I guess we'll just have to ask her when she comes out."
Kyousuke sighed. "Yeah... so what do while we wait?"
"Hmm... we could try calling your grandfather up and seeing what he knows?"
Kasuga shook his head. "No... I don't know if we even can. He usually
relies on the Power so much he doesn't usually bother with things like
phones, televisions, ski lifts, and the like. That's why there was only
one lift at his ski resort.... At any rate, I don't know what his phone
number might be, if he even still has one."
Madoka frowned. "Come to think of it, shouldn't we call Akane's parents
and let them know about her injuries? I've been to their house, and I know
that they have a phone."
Kyousuke sighed. "They were at the clan meeting, too. Either they know
about it already, or I can't get in touch with them. Either way, there's
nothing we can do."
Ayukawa sighed as well. "I just feel that there's something we should be
doing right now. I know that she was hurt pretty badly and that she was in
an obvious hurry to get here since most of her injuries weren't properly
treated. Until we know WHY, though, we can't do anything about this
situation. And that frustrates me."
"Well, lets see if we can think of something to get our minds off of it,
for a while," Kasuga suggested.
"Like what?"
"Hmm," he said, trying to think of something which would take Madoka's mind
off of all the other problems. "How about you tell me what I did wrong
with my cooking?"
Ayukawa blinked. That certainly wasn't anything she was expecting him to
ask. "Well... I don't know. It was rather bland... how about you tell me
how you prepared it?"
"Well, first I..."
* * * * *
"...to the water even before you add the noodles," Madoka was explaining.
"That way-" She stopped herself when she noticed the doctor approaching
the two of them with Akane in toe, a cast on her arm. "Akane!" she waved.
Akane yawned, walking over to them. "Thanks for waiting, you guys," she
said drowsily.
"I'm afraid we had to give her some pain-killer while we set the bone in
her arm," the doctor explained as he handed some forms to Kyousuke, "So she
might be a bit drowsy for a while. Besides her arm, though, she didn't
have any major injuries. She needs to come back in about four to six weeks
for us to check the bone's progress, but otherwise she's fine."
"Thank you, doctor," Kyousuke said, signing in a few places to complete
Akane's check-out. "We'll take her home."
The doctor nodded, taking back the forms and departing. Akane looked like
she was about to fall asleep standing up, and so Kyousuke grabbed her by
the arm to support her as they made their way to the parking lot.
Ayukawa pulled her car keys out of her purse as she asked, "Where should we
take her?"
Kyousuke hesitated. "Akane, do you want to go to your home?"
She shook her head. "I'd rather be around other people right now."
He sighed. "Madoka... can you put her up for the night? There's no space
at my place..."
"Not a problem- we've got plenty of space." Unlocking the car doors, she
got in. Kyousuke helped his cousin into the back seat and then sat himself
on the passenger side.
"Akane," Kyousuke asked as he buckled his belt. "What happened? Why are
you so badly hurt? And why were you in such a rush to get here?"
She answered with one word. "Takauji."
His eyes widened. Madoka looked at his expression before starting the car.
"Kyousuke?"
"Just get us home, Ayukawa," he said, reverting to the more formal address
he used to give her. "We'll talk about it later."
"Kyousuke?" she asked. He didn't answer. "Kyousuke, what's wrong? Why
won't you say any-"
"Madoka," Akane said. "Trust me. He's not going to answer you until he's
ready. I'm tired... let's just get out of here."
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