Dead And So Not Loving It - Chapter 6 (Repost)
Title: Dead And So Not Loving It
Author: Javits
Fandom: Kleptoverse.
Summary: In which things aren't normal. And may never be normal again.
Notes: Originally posted in October 2007.
It had been the worst two weeks of his life.
Sure, he had a lead on which jewel could be Pandora, and was more determined to get revenge than ever, but one of his greatest fears had been realized. Yuffie was gone, dead.
It had been so strange without her around. He would be in the kitchen, or the living room, and he'd call out to her, try to get her attention, only to have Aoko remind him that she wasn't there any more.
Aoko had been the only one he'd managed to tell himself. He hadn't been able to tell the police when he'd called them from a payphone and advised they check out the roof of that building, and he hadn't been able to tell mom and Godo at all. No, they'd had to hear about Yuffie's death from the investigating police.
But Aoko he'd told. She had been asleep when he'd called, but he hadn't managed to say anything but her name when she told him to wait right where he was-she'd be there in half an hour. He'd been lucky that she'd come out with her father for Kid's latest heist; she was on his doorstep in less than twenty minutes.
It had taken him four hours to finally tell her. Four more before her father called her cell phone, asking if she'd heard from Kaito; the police had found Yuffie's body…
An hour after that, mom and Godo had arrived, along with Nakamori-keibu and the local homicide division. There had been a struggle, they'd said. Yuffie had managed to incapacitate her murderer before she'd died, and the man was in custody.
Aoko never asked Kaito how he'd known Yuffie was dead before the police did, and Kaito never told her. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He'd already lost Yuffie, and wasn't about to lose her, too.
Kaito still wasn't sure whether or not he was surprised the police had neglected to mention her dying thesis, but he'd decided that he probably wasn't. The first part had been pretty clear, but the second half… the police probably hadn't understood a word of it. That part had been meant for him and him alone, and he wasn't about to let what his sister had written go to waste.
Mom and Godo had stayed. Not at the apartment-Kaito had asked them not to-but they'd rented a room at a nearby hotel. They planned to stay until the funeral… whenever that would be. No one had wanted to start planning for it, so they hadn't. Heck, they hadn't even told anyone else back home that Yuffie was dead yet… It was too hard to.
Besides, the coroner hadn't even been able to do an autopsy yet (as if it was some big mystery how Yuffie had died!), and the police weren't going to let them lay her to rest until then. He'd heard whispers that the morgue she was being kept in had become haunted, and wished it were true. He told Aoko that, too.
He'd told Aoko a lot of things since Yuffie's death. She was the only one he'd been able to speak with coherently, and she had been willing to listen.
Aoko had even camped out on the couch for the first few nights, but she'd eventually had to go back home. That hadn't stopped her from taking the train out from Ekoda every day, though, just in case he needed her. Kaito was grateful, but he wished she would stop treating him like a glass doll… She hadn't even gotten mad when he'd flipped her skirt just to get a rise out of her, to try to convince himself that things could be normal…
But things couldn't be normal again, or at least not for a long time. Yuffie was dead.
And that was why the last thing Kaito had expected to see was Godo walking into the living room well before sunrise, with a very-much-alive Yuffie in his arms.
…A Yuffie who had just exclaimed, "I think I'd know if I had a brother!"
Shock passed into confusion, and Kaito shot up from the chair he'd been curled up in, crossing the room in quick strides as Godo deposited Yuffie on the couch.
Godo had moved away, standing awkwardly on the other side of the room, but Kaito paid no attention to their stepfather. Right now, Yuffie was all that mattered.
"Idiot!" he said, trying to sound as annoyed as he could. "Of course you have a brother! Don't you dare forgot it, or I'll haunt you once I die!"
Perhaps it was in bad taste to make a joke about ghosts, but it was, at the least, normal.
He wasn't usually one to hug his sister (though she had made a habit of hugging him), but he knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, to convince himself that he wasn't imagining things. He could feel her breathing, and she was warm… She was there. She was real.
Yuffie was alive.
Author: Javits
Fandom: Kleptoverse.
Summary: In which things aren't normal. And may never be normal again.
Notes: Originally posted in October 2007.
It had been the worst two weeks of his life.
Sure, he had a lead on which jewel could be Pandora, and was more determined to get revenge than ever, but one of his greatest fears had been realized. Yuffie was gone, dead.
It had been so strange without her around. He would be in the kitchen, or the living room, and he'd call out to her, try to get her attention, only to have Aoko remind him that she wasn't there any more.
Aoko had been the only one he'd managed to tell himself. He hadn't been able to tell the police when he'd called them from a payphone and advised they check out the roof of that building, and he hadn't been able to tell mom and Godo at all. No, they'd had to hear about Yuffie's death from the investigating police.
But Aoko he'd told. She had been asleep when he'd called, but he hadn't managed to say anything but her name when she told him to wait right where he was-she'd be there in half an hour. He'd been lucky that she'd come out with her father for Kid's latest heist; she was on his doorstep in less than twenty minutes.
It had taken him four hours to finally tell her. Four more before her father called her cell phone, asking if she'd heard from Kaito; the police had found Yuffie's body…
An hour after that, mom and Godo had arrived, along with Nakamori-keibu and the local homicide division. There had been a struggle, they'd said. Yuffie had managed to incapacitate her murderer before she'd died, and the man was in custody.
Aoko never asked Kaito how he'd known Yuffie was dead before the police did, and Kaito never told her. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He'd already lost Yuffie, and wasn't about to lose her, too.
Kaito still wasn't sure whether or not he was surprised the police had neglected to mention her dying thesis, but he'd decided that he probably wasn't. The first part had been pretty clear, but the second half… the police probably hadn't understood a word of it. That part had been meant for him and him alone, and he wasn't about to let what his sister had written go to waste.
Mom and Godo had stayed. Not at the apartment-Kaito had asked them not to-but they'd rented a room at a nearby hotel. They planned to stay until the funeral… whenever that would be. No one had wanted to start planning for it, so they hadn't. Heck, they hadn't even told anyone else back home that Yuffie was dead yet… It was too hard to.
Besides, the coroner hadn't even been able to do an autopsy yet (as if it was some big mystery how Yuffie had died!), and the police weren't going to let them lay her to rest until then. He'd heard whispers that the morgue she was being kept in had become haunted, and wished it were true. He told Aoko that, too.
He'd told Aoko a lot of things since Yuffie's death. She was the only one he'd been able to speak with coherently, and she had been willing to listen.
Aoko had even camped out on the couch for the first few nights, but she'd eventually had to go back home. That hadn't stopped her from taking the train out from Ekoda every day, though, just in case he needed her. Kaito was grateful, but he wished she would stop treating him like a glass doll… She hadn't even gotten mad when he'd flipped her skirt just to get a rise out of her, to try to convince himself that things could be normal…
But things couldn't be normal again, or at least not for a long time. Yuffie was dead.
And that was why the last thing Kaito had expected to see was Godo walking into the living room well before sunrise, with a very-much-alive Yuffie in his arms.
…A Yuffie who had just exclaimed, "I think I'd know if I had a brother!"
Shock passed into confusion, and Kaito shot up from the chair he'd been curled up in, crossing the room in quick strides as Godo deposited Yuffie on the couch.
Godo had moved away, standing awkwardly on the other side of the room, but Kaito paid no attention to their stepfather. Right now, Yuffie was all that mattered.
"Idiot!" he said, trying to sound as annoyed as he could. "Of course you have a brother! Don't you dare forgot it, or I'll haunt you once I die!"
Perhaps it was in bad taste to make a joke about ghosts, but it was, at the least, normal.
He wasn't usually one to hug his sister (though she had made a habit of hugging him), but he knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, to convince himself that he wasn't imagining things. He could feel her breathing, and she was warm… She was there. She was real.
Yuffie was alive.