[AQ] Heart to Broken Heart [Sayuri/Ai]

[Sayuri]

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{Spoiler}
Fear Of Heart

+ Description: You're scared beyond all reason. Enemies and danger are lurking around every corner. In all honesty you're not sure what to do. You don't even know how to become your ‘would be self’. So what do you do with these woes and emotions?

+ Talk to a friend, they might be able to help: +2 Guardians, +1 Faberge, -2 Roost

+ Don't think about it, keep on going anyways: -2 Guardians, +1 Faberge, +2 Roost

+ Talk to your Guardian Character about it: +2 Guardians, -1 Faberge, +1 Roost

+ Stress over it even more by doing nothing: -1 Guardians, -3 Faberge, +1 Roost

+ Requirements: None

+ Submitted by Teale

The events in West Otonoki had long since passed, yet strangely enough things had not improved for Sayuri.  She'd been caught in a whirlwind of complete chaos ever since then, going from aching joints to a fever and then another flare a few weeks later.  Her parents had lectured her for hours when she came home puffy faced that day, reprimanding her for dealing with such dangerous students and running around like a complete loon.  They'd put her on a strict regime of exercises and medication, pairing it off with mandatory crutches.  She'd avoided most of her classes during this time, staying at home and completing her work with as much vigor as she could manage.  It was disheartening being trapped for so long, unable to talk to her friends outside of a few texts.  They seemed to be suffering a great deal with all the egg news happening, yet for the umpteenth week in the row she was completely out of the loop.

Her second flare up was even worse than her first, her fever paired off with an eye infection that sent her straight back to her old room at the hospital.  She'd spent a fair amount of time resting and working, using whatever moments the nurses weren't looking to text her friends.  After several days her fever broke and the medication started to work again, allowing her to walk again without any lingering pain.  Finally she was deemed well enough to head back home, and while waiting for her driver to pick her up she swung her legs over the edge of her bed, scrolling through twitter and sighing at the mess everyone had caused.

It felt like so much had happened, yet there was still much on her to-do list.  Her last conversation with Kirishigi had been even worse than the first and Ai had been forced to protect her from his faction members.  Not to mention the sucker punch she landed on the poor West Otonoki student.  She still felt guilty about that entire mess.  Once she was back in her own room and sitting at her own desk at school, she'd make sure to write that poor girl an apology!  For now though she had to focus on getting out.

Ai

[Ai]

Because of his mother's health issues, hospitals have been like a second home to Ai for the past (almost) two years. But they were also the places he hated the most in the world. A usually bright and cheerful person like him was really brought down by the depression and sickness that were ever present in those places. Every time he felt even the faintest bitter smell that was specific to hospitals, his stomach turned upside down. Still, the boy tried to hold it in. For his mother.

This was a dark side of Ai that people had yet to see. Sure, there were a few other people who knew about his mom being ill, but they had yet to see how vulnerable he was in that building. How so very much different. His confidence, aura and all his charisma was gone, and the boy just seemed... afraid. Afraid that he might lose something very important to him. For Ai, there was nothing he feared more than being left alone.

This wasn't even half of what had been bothering him... so many things had happened and every time he tried to put his thoughts in order, every single insecurity he had washed over him at once and he was forced to shrug it off, unless he wanted to despair. Ai knew what turning X looked like and that was one of his fears too. He'd been doubting himself too much lately and that was something he really shouldn't do.

Today was a regular Saturday in which he went to visit his mom before her chemo. He wanted to be by her side, but that came at the cost of watching her suffer.Why couldn't things, for once, go well? As he was on his way back from his mother's room, he passed by Asuna's former room. Asuna was a 12 year-old patient whom Ai had bonded with. Unfortunately, not that long ago, she'd lost her battle. Ai had been avoiding that room ever since, but today, his footsteps somehow led him there, without him putting too much thought into it.

The door was surprisingly ajar.

Well, that was to be expected, they wouldn't keep the place empty for too long. Part of him was curious about who'd come in and whether they'd be there long. But part of him really didn't want to go through the pain of losing another friend. Hospitals... weren't good places to make friends.

Still, curiosity got the better of him as he peeked inside the room. But...wait... was that Sayuri? What was she doing there, alone? Was she ill? At the thought that his friend might be hurt, the boy pursed his lips in a tight line. He... hadn't seen her at school for a while, now that he thought about it. "Sayuri?" He called out to her, but not before safely knocking on the door.

[Sayuri]

She heard the footsteps before the knock, the echo resounding in the hallway as the sound approached. Her driver still hadn't texted her that he was around so she didn't even bother to look up, thoughts still muddied by the situations at hand when a voice spoke up. Her head whipped around to the source of her name, realizing after only a brief second that it was Ai standing right outside her room. She perked up almost immediately, back straightening as she put her phone down on the bed.

"Ai!" she called out, immediately reaching over to grab her crutches as she slid off the bed. Her legs were even shakier than before, the ache lingering as she tried her best to stand. She had barely cleaned up the place since her stay and the room was an absolute mess. She had books covering the side table and sheets falling to the floor. She hadn't been expecting visitors and someone usually came to fix everything as soon as she was gone. Pulling at the blankets on the floor with one hand, she motioned for him to enter.

"I didn't know you were going to be at the hospital today! Are you sick? I heard there was a stomach bug being passed around our grade, I hope you haven't caught it," Once her bed was fixed she leaned against it, straightening the books into something that resembled a neat stack rather than a toppling tower, "You'll have to forgive the mess, I'm not usually this disorganized. It's been a rather rough couple of days though...."

Even with the crutches she was beginning to feel dizzy, leaning more and more against the bed until finally she pulled herself back up. She had to rely on any upper body strength she had to get back on the bed. Though the other had seen her weak before, he'd never seen her in such a state. Perhaps it was better that her parents kept her home; at least her classmates didn't know how weak she truly was. With a deep breath she allowed herself to sink into the soft material, offering the other a weak smile as she patted the spot next to her.

"Here, sit. We haven't seen each other for so long. I'm sure plenty has been going on with school. I managed to catch the tail end of it online the other day."

[Ai]

With worry written all over his face, the silver-haired stepped inside the room, cautiously. A room that held painful memories of a deceased friend, now had another one of his friends inside. Ai had been aware of Sayuri's condition for quite some time, but he'd never seen her quite like this. He didn't know how bad it was... or how bad it could get. Looking at her as she stood up on shaky legs, his heart sank. Why did so many people around him have to suffer? If only he had what it took to heal everyone... How nice it would be to live in a world where everyone was healthy and happy. Maybe then, he'd be able to be truly happy as well.

"Ah, no please, my room is much of the same, it doesn't bother me at all!" The boy waved his hand dismissively as he approached the bed where his friend stood. "Rather, I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced ... I just happened to see you inside and..." For a moment, the boy allowed his thoughts to trail off. For how long had Sayuri been like this? They were supposed to be friends, yet he had no idea that she had suddenly gotten worse. Just like he had no idea Ji-Yoo was despairing. Or what Yasuko was going through. He'd been neglecting so many of his friends lately...

What had he been doing, even? Just spending his time over at Faberge, allowing music to eat away his time or get involved in problems that were honestly none of his business... He completely strayed away from his priorities. Those were supposed to be... caring for the ones who were close to him. Not letting them suffer. "You should have told me ou were here... I could have visited you sooner, I could have..." What could he have done, even? If Sayuri didn't tell him, she probably didn't want him to come in the first place. "Sorry, forget what I said, I'm just... worried about you." He averted his eyes, pursing his lips in a straight line as he stared absent-mindedly at the floor.

Sayuri said that she'd caught up with things online, did that mean she also saw him freak out at Aoife? He'd character changed and been so mean to the girl, what would Sayuri have to say about it? Would she be upset? Would she still want to talk to him? Ai shook his head briefly. No, she'd seen how he acted while he was character changed, right? She'd... be able to understand him, right? "Well. since the dance event we went to, not much has happened... but older, bad stuff keep on being brought up on twitter, so it gets crazy every now and then."

Speaking of the dance, Ai remembered leaving quite abruptly, he hadn't quite been homself back there either. He got a bit too defensive when Sayuri and Mitsuo kept on urging him to dance. "But don't worry, you haven't missed much, I'm sure you'll be able to get back on track once you get back to school. But until then, do make sure you get plenty of rest. Haha, I'm sure you get that a lot though." Running a hand through his long, silvery hair, the boy let out a soft chuckle.

When she asked him why he was at the hospital, though, his body suddenly went stiff. Overtaken by worry for his friend, he just ran into the room without thinking. She'll probably want explanations, wouldn't she? Ai truly didn't want people to look at him differently, knowing that his mom was very ill. He liked to keep things comfortable and lighthearted between his friends, to not make them worry... but that also led to him being, to some extent, fake. "No, no worries, I'm fine." And he was... physically, at least.

[Sayuri]

Sayuri shook her head at his apology, allowing him to speak before talking herself. "It's not at all a problem, Ai. I left the door open. If you were in the area then it would make sense for you to notice my room. I'm not exactly the most subtle of patients," she laughed at that, thinking back to the ruckus she used to cause during her longer stays. As much as she was supposed to stay in bed and rest, she always took opportunities to crawl away and find a new friend to hang with. She'd caused quite a few announcements over the loud speakers about missing children in the hospital. If anything, she'd mellowed out in her teenage years.

Not that she didn't ever sneak out, but now her schemes were more elaborate and her lies were better prepared. She knew when to rest and when to run, and when it came to hospital visits she figured the longer she stayed put, the faster she'd get out. She'd come to understand her responsibilities to her own body and realized how much more exciting the world was once she was able to get out.

"I'm really happy to hear that you're worried about me though. Truth be told, I hadn't mentioned my situation to many of my classmates. The teachers are aware of it, of course, but I think maybe only a handful of friends are actually aware that I'm missing. I'm glad you're able to see me off today, though. It's the first time anyone has ever done that." Even if he was a few weeks late, his presence really did mean a lot to her. The last time she'd left this place she'd been completely alone. It was scary to think she'd be attending Seiyo Academy for the first time that same week. Now she knew that once she stepped out of those doors, there would be people waiting for her.

The very thought of it filled her with so much unbelievable joy that it nearly brought a tear to her eye. She really was so happy for the people she'd met.

The mention of the 'bad stuff' brought her back to reality though. It was clear that Ai was hesitating as he spoke. She'd seen some of his interactions with the others, frowning from her hospital bed as she read over his various responses and the words of others. All of this drama get being brought up, and while she could understand the need for justice there was still a need to be humane when dealing with others. Seiyo was a place of learning, not a battle ground! Everyone, including the Egg Hunters, should be treated with respect.

"I have you and the others to help me catch up this time," Sayuri agreed, allowing the both of them a brief moment of silence before addressing what she hoped wouldn't be a time bomb. She folded her fingers over her long skirt, overlapping them over each other before finally asking the question she'd been throwing around in her head.

"So, if you're not sick then whyb are you here? Volunteer work? Visiting someone else?" We agreed to trust each other, didn't we?"

[Ai]

Ai nodded slightly as she spoke. He wasn’t about to tell her that he used to spend a lot of time in this particular room and that he’d been avoiding it for the longest time, after his little friend passed away. The reason why they’d not met there so far was because he was a coward… a really big one, who didn’t know how to handle the feeling of loss. Though, in this moment, the silver-haired boy felt guilty for not having visited sooner. He was at the hospital so much, it wasn’t like he didn’t have the opportunity.

Not knowing whether she had had a lot of friends from school visiting her or having spent all that time alone, Ai just sighed again, continuing to look at the floor instead of her. Why was he avoiding her gaze, though? Ah, he knew… no matter how good of a friend Sayuri was, Ai still felt insecure. He didn’t want to eventually admit to his worries and weaknesses. And she’d ask, he knew she would. Sometimes he had the feeling that he was so easy to see through to, since he wasn’t used to straight up lying to someone.

When Sayuri acknowledged that her classmates didn’t know about her being in the hospital, Ai felt slightly worse for not knowing to visit her sooner. She was a precious member of his club and an even more precious friend. She shouldn’t have to spend so much time in this awful place on her own. “ Of course I would worry, you’re such a dear friend to me.” He finally looked at her, his gentle smile bearing a hint of sadness. “I mean, I hope this won’t be the case, but if it ever happens again, please let me know. I’ll visit you as often as I can.”

Ai was like that too initially, disliking violence, always looking for a middle ground, but Nagamasa had a definitive influence on his behavior, or so it would seem. His character change was even worse, but Sayuri would know. She’d seen it in action. The way he went about Justice was starting to look wrong to others and he was being called out on it. Could his dream even survive in such an environment? How long would it be until even he started to believe that his dream wasn’t worth it? It was already hard to cope with the violence to begin with, not as much as in the beginning though.

And then it came. The question he secretly hoped she wouldn’t ask. He averted his gaze again, trying to focus on something else, calm down and put his words in order. Again, Ai wasn’t the type of person who went around lying to others. Hiding things maybe, but not straight-forwardly lying. Sayuri was his friend and she was right, he’d promised to trust her. However, so many questions were running through his head: How would she see him once she found out? Would she pity him? Would she treat him differently? Or would she see him as a burden?

“I was visiting my mom.” He finally spoke, his expression somewhat stern. “ She’s been getting treatment here for a long time so… I’m in this place a lot more often than I’d like.”