Re: Redemption, Termination (3.4/?)
anonymous
May 23 2012, 03:56:50 UTC
"Ooo! Present, present!" Teddie beamed, eyes meeting Kanji's with the most grateful look he'd ever seen; more excited than a little kid at Christmas, and so damn thankful that Kanji had to look away as he flushed.
"W-well, ya gotta let me get it out, ya little dork!" he laughed, opening his pack. He took a moment to pull the plush out from the bag, but it came out with only a small bit of snag before it came free.
The moment Teddie got his hands on the plush, Kanji felt an intense surge of emotions from the boy; so many, all at once--the bright-eyes look of excitement, the wide grin of thrill...and then his eyes were filling with tears, and Kanji panicked, eyes wide as he feared over what he might have done wrong.
"Uh...T-Teddie, are you..." But Teddie had buried his face into the big plush, thin, bony shoulders shaking, and Kanji heard the hiccupping sobs.
"This..." Teddie hiccupped, voice muffled by the plush. "This is the best gift...I..." He looked up, face so happy and grin so wide through the tears that Kanji never once doubted the sincerity of Teddie's gratitude. "Thank you so much, Kanji!"
Kanji was unable to hide the grin and the pride that completely transformed his features; destroyed the punk persona he maintained, and revealed the hidden person his mother had always claimed existed.
"Ha...I guess ya really like it, huh?"
"Like it?!" Teddie seemed flabbergasted by this statement, as if Kanji had made some outrageous accusation. "I love it! It's the best thing I've ever--!" But then his eyes focused on something on the plush, something out of place, and he cocked his head, lips pursing slightly in his befuddlement. Kanji's heart stopped as he sensed something the matter.
"W....Wha s'wrong?" he mumbled, suddenly feeling the pride in his craftsmanship turn to self-consciousness. What could be wrong with it? Was it terrible? Did he not like it after all?"
But Teddie, oblivious to the worry and dread, grinned wide, turning the plush around to face him. "It's got a button missing!" he chirped.
Indeed, Kanji saw, there was a loose thread right in the front of the red and white plush fur where a button should have been. Upon peering into his schoolbag, Kanji saw the missing button, a red semicircle, staring up at him innocently, unaware of the panic it had caused him.
Kanji just smiled, and began to chuckle with relief, shaking his head. "Awww, s'that all?" He smiled, pulling out his small, personalized sewing kit from his pocket, a skull-decorated rectangular box he carried everywhere. Just in case.
It only took moments for him, upon taking the plush, to loop the button back onto the fuzzy red and white body of the bear, attaching it stronger than ever.
Musta sewn it on half-asleep.
Teddie, meanwhile, watched with wide, curious eyes. He grinned wide when something seemed to click into place.
"You made me that plushie, didn't you, Kanji?" Teddie asked gently, smiling with so much gentleness. Kanji went pale.
"Uh...No. I. W-what the hell makes ya think I did that, huh? I-I can't do somethin' like..."He blushed, and Teddie's grin only grew wider.
"I knew you did!" he affirmed with a nod. "It smells like you, Kanji! So now I know for sure! It's so wonderful! Ahhhh, you're so talented!" He beamed, and snuggled the plush close as soon as it was back in his arms, perfect again.
Kani felt that craftsman pride swelling up inside him again, and he could feel his lips curling up into a broad grin.
"Haha...Thanks, Teddie."
---
"I swear, Ma, ya should'a seen Teddie's face. It was like--I ain't ever seen anyone so happy in my life."
"That's so wonderful to hear, Kanji. I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself."
Re: Redemption, Termination (3.5/?)
anonymous
May 23 2012, 04:01:22 UTC
"Course I am, Ma! I mean, how could I not be? You need to meet 'im, Ma, ya really do. He's got this interestin' foreign look like nothin' you've ever seen, an' it's beautiful, Ma. I mean, his hair, it's just...It's like--"
"Gold like honey?" There was an amused smile in here eyes and in the laugh lines around her mouth.
"Uh-huh! An'--An' his eyes, they're--"
"So blue they make you want to swim in them?"
"Oh my god, yeah, I just...Have I already told you this, Ma?"
"Only every chance you've gotten in the last week, sweetie." Kanji's mother laughed softly as she set down another plate in front of him, filled with eggs and sausage links. "Now eat your breakfast, or you're going to be late. If you don't go to school, there will be no going to Teddie's, you know."
Kanji's eyes widened at that, and he scarfed down rice from his first plate--his mom always had made enough to look like he had brothers--before moving on to the next.
Twenty minutes later, he was stumbling out the door, toast hanging out of his mouth as he struggled to pull his boot on. Carefully, he cradled his bag with a smile; he'd made another new toy for Teddie--a rabbit this time, and the fourth of a series of toys he'd been making Teddie since he'd seen the level of joy the first one brought.
He ran to school like that, scarfing down toast and grinning like a fool.
Inside, his mother watched him go with a gentle smile as he jogged down the street.
"Katsuya...If only you were still around to see how your son has grown..." she said gently, shaking her head. "....Be sure to keep him safe, darling, wherever you are...He'll need it. It's always hard when you're in love for the very first time..."
---
After school, Kanji only made a small detour upstairs to get himself a new pack, much as he did every week when his ran low. He speedily navigated around the crowd of second years who were all in a mob of people eager to get home. He went so fast he nearly missed the small group of nondescript teenagers grouped together talking.
"Man, what the fuck even is Morooka's deal?"
"The douche needs to retire already; piece of shit can't teach to save 'is life and he obviously doesn't enjoy it. Doesn't need to take it out on the rest of us."
"Someone needs to just get him fired already. I wish I could clock him like that first year."
Kanji dug the heel of his boot into the wood flooring to stop his quick speedwalk down the hall, and stopped, listening. His fingers tightened. He turned around on the sole of his shoe and pinned the last guy to the wall, fixing him with a glare.
"Listen you little shit," he growled lowly, baring his teeth at the male. "If I hear you shit talkin' Morooka like that again, sayin' someone needs to get 'im fired or any more of that bullshit, I'm 'onna come up here an' make sure someone puts you in your place, you get that, you fuckin' pansy?" The boy stared at him with wide, fearful eyes, skin pale and body shaking hard against the fist that was currently pinning him to the wall. Kanji slowly let him go, and snarled, backing away. The boys looked at each other, pale-faced and nervous, and quickly shuffled towards the stairs, not wanting to see what Tatsumi would do if they stayed.
As Kanji marched past the door to 2-2, good mood mostly ruined (although, the thought of Teddie began to bring his spirits up almost immediately), he heard the sound of a familiar, gruff snarl from in the room.
"I don't need piece of shit kids who can't mind their fucking manners protecting me like some fairy princess, Tatsumi. Least of all garbage like you."
Kanji stopped, didn't really glance back; just stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Who said I was defendin' anyone, ya half-baked piece of crap teacher. You ain't got proof of shit." Kanji looked down, pulled out his wallet, and continued on.
----
Kanji jogged into the Inaba Municipal Hospital, smiling ear to ear as he pulled out a container, setting it on the secretary's desk as he jogged in.
Re: Redemption, Termination (3.6/?)
anonymous
May 23 2012, 04:05:05 UTC
"Kanji-kun, right on time as always!..." She looked down, opening the container. Her entire face lit up in a smile. "Ohh, are these the famous croquettes of yours I've been dying to try~?"
"Sure are, Misuzu-san, baked last night, just for you! I hope ya enjoy!"
"I sure will! Thank you for the kind gesture, sweetheart!" The secretary smiled as she watched him go. "What a sweet boy, that Kanji-kun." She dug in with gusto, beaming the entire time.
---
Kanji grinned as he walked up towards the room, seeing the door to Teddie's room just up ahead, open and ready for him to make his entrance. He reached into the bag, hand running against the plush bunny, ready to deliver it.
...He stopped, however, upon nearing the door and hearing a weak wheezing, punctuated by harsh, wet coughs. Kanji dropped his bag, running into the room, fear seizing his heart.
Teddie was lying down, pale and clammy with sweat, eyebrows furrowed with the efforts of the coughing shaking his small frame. With eyes shut tightly, and arms gripped so tightly around the bear plushie, he appeared to be in a good deal of pain.
Sayoko stood beside him, writing information down on a clipboard. In her hand, she held an oxygen mask, which she put on Teddie once she was done writing down information. His breathing, labored and noisy, caused condensation on the inside of the mask with each breath.
To his horror, when he coughed, Kanji saw small flecks of blood hit the inside of the oxygen mask, and he fell forward, gripping the door frame as the room began to spin.
That caught Teddie's attention, who looked over at him weakly, eyes glowing with weak hope and elation.
"K--Kanji---"
But Sayoko turned at the name, and intercepted the teenager, walking towards him.
"I'll be right back, Teddie; I'm sorry, but you're in no shape for company right now."
She closed the door behind her, shutting out the sad, mournful wailing from inside Teddie's room, which only seemed to exacerbate the coughing fits. Kanji winced at the sound of the wailing, biting his lip at the sounds of the emotionally distraught boy, and stumbled backwards until he found a chair to sit on.
"Is.....Is he...." Kanji went pale, shaking slightly, scared to hear what Sayoko might have to say about him. Sayoko looked at him seriously, glanced away, and then looked back with a certain level of purpose in her eyes.
"He should be fine...His respiratory system is experiencing some irritation and problems right now, but....." She looked down. Then back at him. "...Kanji-kun." She said seriously, and Kanji looked up at her, eyes growing red and puffy with the straing of trying to hold back his emotions. "...We need to talk."
She put down her clipboard, and walked up to him, looking at him in all seriousness. "...Can I have you empty your pockets for me, Kanji-kun?"
Kanji looked up at her, slightly startled, as if she had slapped him. He opened his mouth to retort, even started to-- "Why the hell---What are you gettin' at--" but stopped himself. Eyebrows furrowed, he reached into his pockets, emptying them.
His wallet. His portable sewing kit. His cigarettes.
Re: Redemption, Termination (3.7/?)
anonymous
May 23 2012, 04:08:00 UTC
Sayoko seemed to look over the items for a few moments. Eyed them. Her eyes kept flickering back to the cigarettes. She reached forward, picking them up.
"You make Teddie presents." It was a statement, not a question. "Cute plush toys. The sewing kit tells me that much." She paused, taking in a deep breath, as if she knew the answer, but didn't want to ask it. She held up the cigarettes. "Do you smoke these while you work on them?"
Kanji stared at her numbly for a few minutes. Wondered what she was getting at. Was more terrified he might know.
It smells like you, Kanji!
"N....No, I....Ma doesn't let me smoke in the house...." he said softly, very quietly, shaking. He went pale, and his eyes widened. "Oh...Oh god...But.....I've smoked around 'em...O...On the way to the hospital...I..." He stared up at her, horror in his eyes. "Sayoko-san....You...You sayin'....I did that to 'im...?" Sayoko closed her eyes. Took in a deep breath.
"Second hand smoke has embedded itself deep into your plush toys. They...They might be irritating his respiratory system." Sayoko said quietly. "...I've taken most of them away...To be cleaned and to get the lingering third hand smoke out of them...He won't let go of the last one, though."
Kanji sat there for a while, pale and shaking, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He barely registered when Sayoko turned her back to him; only reached over, and took hold of a trash can, worried he would empty his stomach into it.
"....Kanji-kun..."
Kanji looked up at her, wet eyed and shakey. Swallowed the saliva welling up in his mouth at the thought of Teddie lying there, shaking, coughing, and wheezing because of him. Wearing that oxygen mask because of him.
Lying in a hospital because of him.
Mental images of his father were flying through his head now, thoughts of him, pale and coughing up blood so frail, so frail wheezing into his oxygen mask as life slowly slipped away from him.
Him, him, all him. No, Dad, don't go, please, just---
Kanji felt bile in the back of his throat, leaned forward, emptied the contents of his stomach into the basket.
Sayoko put a pitying hand on his shoulder.
"...When you feel alright to walk, you should go home for the night....and don't bring back anymore gifts until you kick that habit of yours."
---
Kanji walked into his house, miserably, not even hearing the words of concern from his mother as she walked away from her customer to see what was the matter.
It felt like his head was full of water, swishing around, slamming against the insides of his skull with every movement, and making him completely nauseous with every movement. He dropped his school bag on the floor, collapsed on his bed, and lay there for some time, too miserable to move, walk, think.
When some time had passed, he moved to take off his jacket. Felt a slight bulge in his pocket. Upon removing it, he saw the new pack of cigarettes he'd bought just this morning.
The next morning, the neighbor found a new, unopened pack, flung hatefully into his back yard from the open window of the Tatsumi residency.
"W-well, ya gotta let me get it out, ya little dork!" he laughed, opening his pack. He took a moment to pull the plush out from the bag, but it came out with only a small bit of snag before it came free.
The moment Teddie got his hands on the plush, Kanji felt an intense surge of emotions from the boy; so many, all at once--the bright-eyes look of excitement, the wide grin of thrill...and then his eyes were filling with tears, and Kanji panicked, eyes wide as he feared over what he might have done wrong.
"Uh...T-Teddie, are you..." But Teddie had buried his face into the big plush, thin, bony shoulders shaking, and Kanji heard the hiccupping sobs.
"This..." Teddie hiccupped, voice muffled by the plush. "This is the best gift...I..." He looked up, face so happy and grin so wide through the tears that Kanji never once doubted the sincerity of Teddie's gratitude. "Thank you so much, Kanji!"
Kanji was unable to hide the grin and the pride that completely transformed his features; destroyed the punk persona he maintained, and revealed the hidden person his mother had always claimed existed.
"Ha...I guess ya really like it, huh?"
"Like it?!" Teddie seemed flabbergasted by this statement, as if Kanji had made some outrageous accusation. "I love it! It's the best thing I've ever--!" But then his eyes focused on something on the plush, something out of place, and he cocked his head, lips pursing slightly in his befuddlement. Kanji's heart stopped as he sensed something the matter.
"W....Wha s'wrong?" he mumbled, suddenly feeling the pride in his craftsmanship turn to self-consciousness. What could be wrong with it? Was it terrible? Did he not like it after all?"
But Teddie, oblivious to the worry and dread, grinned wide, turning the plush around to face him. "It's got a button missing!" he chirped.
Indeed, Kanji saw, there was a loose thread right in the front of the red and white plush fur where a button should have been. Upon peering into his schoolbag, Kanji saw the missing button, a red semicircle, staring up at him innocently, unaware of the panic it had caused him.
Kanji just smiled, and began to chuckle with relief, shaking his head. "Awww, s'that all?" He smiled, pulling out his small, personalized sewing kit from his pocket, a skull-decorated rectangular box he carried everywhere. Just in case.
It only took moments for him, upon taking the plush, to loop the button back onto the fuzzy red and white body of the bear, attaching it stronger than ever.
Musta sewn it on half-asleep.
Teddie, meanwhile, watched with wide, curious eyes. He grinned wide when something seemed to click into place.
"You made me that plushie, didn't you, Kanji?" Teddie asked gently, smiling with so much gentleness. Kanji went pale.
"Uh...No. I. W-what the hell makes ya think I did that, huh? I-I can't do somethin' like..."He blushed, and Teddie's grin only grew wider.
"I knew you did!" he affirmed with a nod. "It smells like you, Kanji! So now I know for sure! It's so wonderful! Ahhhh, you're so talented!" He beamed, and snuggled the plush close as soon as it was back in his arms, perfect again.
Kani felt that craftsman pride swelling up inside him again, and he could feel his lips curling up into a broad grin.
"Haha...Thanks, Teddie."
---
"I swear, Ma, ya should'a seen Teddie's face. It was like--I ain't ever seen anyone so happy in my life."
"That's so wonderful to hear, Kanji. I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself."
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"Gold like honey?" There was an amused smile in here eyes and in the laugh lines around her mouth.
"Uh-huh! An'--An' his eyes, they're--"
"So blue they make you want to swim in them?"
"Oh my god, yeah, I just...Have I already told you this, Ma?"
"Only every chance you've gotten in the last week, sweetie." Kanji's mother laughed softly as she set down another plate in front of him, filled with eggs and sausage links. "Now eat your breakfast, or you're going to be late. If you don't go to school, there will be no going to Teddie's, you know."
Kanji's eyes widened at that, and he scarfed down rice from his first plate--his mom always had made enough to look like he had brothers--before moving on to the next.
Twenty minutes later, he was stumbling out the door, toast hanging out of his mouth as he struggled to pull his boot on. Carefully, he cradled his bag with a smile; he'd made another new toy for Teddie--a rabbit this time, and the fourth of a series of toys he'd been making Teddie since he'd seen the level of joy the first one brought.
He ran to school like that, scarfing down toast and grinning like a fool.
Inside, his mother watched him go with a gentle smile as he jogged down the street.
"Katsuya...If only you were still around to see how your son has grown..." she said gently, shaking her head. "....Be sure to keep him safe, darling, wherever you are...He'll need it. It's always hard when you're in love for the very first time..."
---
After school, Kanji only made a small detour upstairs to get himself a new pack, much as he did every week when his ran low. He speedily navigated around the crowd of second years who were all in a mob of people eager to get home. He went so fast he nearly missed the small group of nondescript teenagers grouped together talking.
"Man, what the fuck even is Morooka's deal?"
"The douche needs to retire already; piece of shit can't teach to save 'is life and he obviously doesn't enjoy it. Doesn't need to take it out on the rest of us."
"Someone needs to just get him fired already. I wish I could clock him like that first year."
Kanji dug the heel of his boot into the wood flooring to stop his quick speedwalk down the hall, and stopped, listening. His fingers tightened. He turned around on the sole of his shoe and pinned the last guy to the wall, fixing him with a glare.
"Listen you little shit," he growled lowly, baring his teeth at the male. "If I hear you shit talkin' Morooka like that again, sayin' someone needs to get 'im fired or any more of that bullshit, I'm 'onna come up here an' make sure someone puts you in your place, you get that, you fuckin' pansy?" The boy stared at him with wide, fearful eyes, skin pale and body shaking hard against the fist that was currently pinning him to the wall. Kanji slowly let him go, and snarled, backing away. The boys looked at each other, pale-faced and nervous, and quickly shuffled towards the stairs, not wanting to see what Tatsumi would do if they stayed.
As Kanji marched past the door to 2-2, good mood mostly ruined (although, the thought of Teddie began to bring his spirits up almost immediately), he heard the sound of a familiar, gruff snarl from in the room.
"I don't need piece of shit kids who can't mind their fucking manners protecting me like some fairy princess, Tatsumi. Least of all garbage like you."
Kanji stopped, didn't really glance back; just stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Who said I was defendin' anyone, ya half-baked piece of crap teacher. You ain't got proof of shit." Kanji looked down, pulled out his wallet, and continued on.
----
Kanji jogged into the Inaba Municipal Hospital, smiling ear to ear as he pulled out a container, setting it on the secretary's desk as he jogged in.
"Good afternoon, Misuzu-san!"
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"Sure are, Misuzu-san, baked last night, just for you! I hope ya enjoy!"
"I sure will! Thank you for the kind gesture, sweetheart!" The secretary smiled as she watched him go. "What a sweet boy, that Kanji-kun." She dug in with gusto, beaming the entire time.
---
Kanji grinned as he walked up towards the room, seeing the door to Teddie's room just up ahead, open and ready for him to make his entrance. He reached into the bag, hand running against the plush bunny, ready to deliver it.
...He stopped, however, upon nearing the door and hearing a weak wheezing, punctuated by harsh, wet coughs. Kanji dropped his bag, running into the room, fear seizing his heart.
Teddie was lying down, pale and clammy with sweat, eyebrows furrowed with the efforts of the coughing shaking his small frame. With eyes shut tightly, and arms gripped so tightly around the bear plushie, he appeared to be in a good deal of pain.
Sayoko stood beside him, writing information down on a clipboard. In her hand, she held an oxygen mask, which she put on Teddie once she was done writing down information. His breathing, labored and noisy, caused condensation on the inside of the mask with each breath.
To his horror, when he coughed, Kanji saw small flecks of blood hit the inside of the oxygen mask, and he fell forward, gripping the door frame as the room began to spin.
That caught Teddie's attention, who looked over at him weakly, eyes glowing with weak hope and elation.
"K--Kanji---"
But Sayoko turned at the name, and intercepted the teenager, walking towards him.
"I'll be right back, Teddie; I'm sorry, but you're in no shape for company right now."
She closed the door behind her, shutting out the sad, mournful wailing from inside Teddie's room, which only seemed to exacerbate the coughing fits. Kanji winced at the sound of the wailing, biting his lip at the sounds of the emotionally distraught boy, and stumbled backwards until he found a chair to sit on.
"Is.....Is he...." Kanji went pale, shaking slightly, scared to hear what Sayoko might have to say about him. Sayoko looked at him seriously, glanced away, and then looked back with a certain level of purpose in her eyes.
"He should be fine...His respiratory system is experiencing some irritation and problems right now, but....." She looked down. Then back at him. "...Kanji-kun." She said seriously, and Kanji looked up at her, eyes growing red and puffy with the straing of trying to hold back his emotions. "...We need to talk."
She put down her clipboard, and walked up to him, looking at him in all seriousness. "...Can I have you empty your pockets for me, Kanji-kun?"
Kanji looked up at her, slightly startled, as if she had slapped him. He opened his mouth to retort, even started to-- "Why the hell---What are you gettin' at--" but stopped himself. Eyebrows furrowed, he reached into his pockets, emptying them.
His wallet. His portable sewing kit. His cigarettes.
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"You make Teddie presents." It was a statement, not a question. "Cute plush toys. The sewing kit tells me that much." She paused, taking in a deep breath, as if she knew the answer, but didn't want to ask it. She held up the cigarettes. "Do you smoke these while you work on them?"
Kanji stared at her numbly for a few minutes. Wondered what she was getting at. Was more terrified he might know.
It smells like you, Kanji!
"N....No, I....Ma doesn't let me smoke in the house...." he said softly, very quietly, shaking. He went pale, and his eyes widened. "Oh...Oh god...But.....I've smoked around 'em...O...On the way to the hospital...I..." He stared up at her, horror in his eyes. "Sayoko-san....You...You sayin'....I did that to 'im...?" Sayoko closed her eyes. Took in a deep breath.
"Second hand smoke has embedded itself deep into your plush toys. They...They might be irritating his respiratory system." Sayoko said quietly. "...I've taken most of them away...To be cleaned and to get the lingering third hand smoke out of them...He won't let go of the last one, though."
Kanji sat there for a while, pale and shaking, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He barely registered when Sayoko turned her back to him; only reached over, and took hold of a trash can, worried he would empty his stomach into it.
"....Kanji-kun..."
Kanji looked up at her, wet eyed and shakey. Swallowed the saliva welling up in his mouth at the thought of Teddie lying there, shaking, coughing, and wheezing because of him. Wearing that oxygen mask because of him.
Lying in a hospital because of him.
Mental images of his father were flying through his head now, thoughts of him, pale and coughing up blood so frail, so frail wheezing into his oxygen mask as life slowly slipped away from him.
Him, him, all him. No, Dad, don't go, please, just---
Kanji felt bile in the back of his throat, leaned forward, emptied the contents of his stomach into the basket.
Sayoko put a pitying hand on his shoulder.
"...When you feel alright to walk, you should go home for the night....and don't bring back anymore gifts until you kick that habit of yours."
---
Kanji walked into his house, miserably, not even hearing the words of concern from his mother as she walked away from her customer to see what was the matter.
It felt like his head was full of water, swishing around, slamming against the insides of his skull with every movement, and making him completely nauseous with every movement. He dropped his school bag on the floor, collapsed on his bed, and lay there for some time, too miserable to move, walk, think.
When some time had passed, he moved to take off his jacket. Felt a slight bulge in his pocket. Upon removing it, he saw the new pack of cigarettes he'd bought just this morning.
The next morning, the neighbor found a new, unopened pack, flung hatefully into his back yard from the open window of the Tatsumi residency.
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