AN: First off, I would like to thank all my faithful readers for being very patient for this chapter. If you got patience, then you'll know if you remember this story. I thought I would finish it during break, but real life took over instead. However, I kid you not, I finished this entire chapter TODAY! It was a t God-given day when I could just sit down with my PC and flowing thoughts I wished I had eariler. So, I thank everyone who has been patient to this point. Now, enought of my babbling and on with the story!
Chapter 18
"Neverending Daylight"
I want to stay with him so he will not be alone.
I want to stay with him so I won't be alone.
The darkness of yesterday ended sooner than she expected. It was like a surreal dream. She was dressed as a maid and visited him in the hospital. Staring absently at the foot of her bed, she wondered if everything that happened was a dream.
Could it be?
It's possible...that...
She dashed out of bed, swung open her door with a thud and rushed to his room...only to see a disarrayed bed, with no sign of him. Focusing on her feet, she slid down at the doorway. Her hands shook as she recalled the memory of last night.
"Gomen, Machi. Gomen."
Yes, he apologized for a pain that wasn't his fault. His pain. Her pain. She breathed deeply, letting the heated flush of sadness pass with the cooling air from an opened window from his room. It invited her to see what he saw everyday before the day begun. She accepted its invitation to view a beautiful scene from its sill. The comforting quietness embraced her with the sound of nature and thoughts of sharing this with him.
Morning greeted him with voice of three males, two doctors and a nurse. One of the doctors was his family doctor, as well as his family. A rare gentle smile greeted him as he arose.
"Good Morning, Yuki. How do you feel?" the doctor left his conversation with the other, sat by Yuki's side and started to check up on him with his stethoscope.
"I am doing fine. I feel better," he plainly replied, still feeling sleepy. He yawned while the doctor was checking his pulse.
"Dr. Chiro said you might be going home this evening...that is if you able to pass some fitness test."
"Fitness test?" Yuki nerved. He knew that might be the one thing that will keep him kaput, but he knew some how he will get by.
"You'll get through it," the doctor assured, "I know that for a fact." As he rose from his seat he ruffled Yuki's hair as if he was a little boy.
"Ah..." He reacted with a single squinted eye and a half smile.
"I'll be going now and be sure to see me when you return home," the doctor instructed.
Yuki smiled, "Okay." His smile faded after the family doctor left.
Home…
…it's almost ending, ne?
It ends too soon…
and for it to end like this…
no good at all.
The morning moved slower than any days she had experienced. After two hours of solitary nothingness, Machi occupied herself with packing and cleaning. She packed her own things and cleaned her room. As she was cleaning, she reminisced a time, in the winter, when Yuki and her brother stopped by her apartment after one of her breakdowns at school. She didn't mind Kakeru coming to check on her, but she was so embarrassed when she saw the object of her secret affection. With so much heated anger and confusion, she wanted to strangle the idiot for bring him over. Worst off, a private unmentionable the idiot found was in his hands. She was so humiliated that she didn't know who to hurt. She found herself packing away that unmentionable when she returned to her senses. A stifled laugh came as she stuffed it underneath her shirts.
She soon joined Asume downstairs to help her reset the house back to the way it was before they arrived. She saw the girl scowling at a stain on the living room couch while she was scrubbing for who knows how long. Machi put her hand over those scrubbing hands. Asume paused and looked over her shoulder.
"Oh Machi-chan, you are finished packing?"
"No."
"Um…okay," she smiled, "Let's see…oh! Machi, do know how to get rid of this annoyance of a spot? I tried at it for hours and…"
"Don't bother. He could get a new one." Machi glanced down at her feet.
"Er…" Asume carefully inserted a delicate subject of both Kakeru's and Machi's life, "Your father?"
"The owner of this house," she said, as she picked up the plastic red pail next to Asume and pointed towards the kitchen with her freehand. "I'll start." Asume spoke no further and followed the girl to the kitchen.
After hours and hours of cleaning and scolding a certain boy who hates cleaning more than extensive paperwork, Machi returned to packing. This time it was not her own. Earlier, she and that boy had an argument of who's going to clean Yuki's room, for they will not return to this house after picking him up at the hospital. They were told by his family members that it's best for him to return home, so he could rest more before school starts again. Machi lost the argument once Kakeru mentioned that Yuki would be horrified to know that his friend went through his things…his PRIVATE things.
"I wouldn't be surprised if I find handcuffs, a leather whip and a porn tape," he jokingly added. On that note, Machi ended the argument with an idiot head bash in the name of her beloved and went straight to packing.
She started with the drawers, which was disorganized mix of unfolded underwear, socks, and a yukata belt. Yes, Yuki did mention they were two of a kind. Machi sorted them the best she could and attempted to fold them as she placed them in his suitcase. She discarded her perfectionist approach ever since she left her parents house, therefore Yuki should understand that suitcase packing will never be her skill.
The closet was no better. At least Machi didn't have to work hard at pulling clothes off the hangers because most of it was still in the laundry basket. She remembered when Yuki asked her how much detergent he should put in the machine when he tried to do his laundry after the first week they were in the house.
Gomen, Machi…I was spoiled at home and didn't bother to learn the functions of this thing.
"Don't say sorry," Machi spoke to her memory, while she sat as his desk chair, putting clothes one by one in their pile in the suitcase. Once she finished with the clothes, she collected the unpacked items, such as his comb and toothbrush and placed them in his toiletries bag; books and notebooks in his small knapsack. She viewed her finished task in the suitcase, which was unusually neat and well tucked, and closed it with a zip. After everything else was closed, she sat and sighed at the clean, but sad sight of bags.
I am sad, but happy that it ended with you.
We won't return to that world that same way we left it...
…because we will be together.
A cool, clear, darkness overshadows the landscape as he stared at through the glass pane. He felt a little exhausted from the series of test that was put forth, but as Hatori predicted, all was well. It ended with a prescription and a release from Dr. Chiro. However, Yuki was told to keep away from strenuous activities until his family doctor said it's alright to return. Yet again, Dr. Chiro was in good hopes that he will grow out of it in the long run… figuratively speaking, of course.
He waited in the quietness for the crew to come to his solitary rescue, as well as for a change of clothes, which made him wonder why they weren't there in the morning. He could have asked Hatori, but he didn't want to trouble the sleep-deprived doctor of such thing.
Heh, I feel like a child, all of the sudden.
I guess this how it feels to be so much…
…in love.
As he continued his lone moment, tears started to trickle down his cheek and soon, they turned into streams. He stared at his hands in awe.
I am happy…but I cry?
The sensation of a fingernail tap against the forehead brought Machi out of her daze. Once her fiery gaze targeted the owner of that finger, he was already retreating from a future source of pain.
"If you stand there too long, you're gonna get left behind!" Kakaru sing-songed as he waved his hands. "I thought you couldn't wait to see him…"
Ignoring her idiot-brother's words Machi paced past him and his girlfriend, without a word. She tugged a small suitcase along side of her. Kakeru reacted with a sigh and reached for the bag. He got no acknowledgement from Machi, but received a rewarding pat on the back from Asume. They continued through the hospital parking lot to the shaded automatic doors – hopefully revealing a healthy friend.
Inside, they had to check in at the reception before they could go further. All three visitors started to worry that it might take a little bit longer than they anticipated, but silence hid their thoughts as they walked towards their friend's room.
Kakeru knocked on the door, opening it gently and saw the boy standing by the window, in his last-night pajamas with a tear-streaked face. "Yuki…" His eyes widen. Asume glanced between the two and sense that something strong will come.
"Here goes…" she whispered to Machi, who was still trying to register in her head if there was something wrong with Yuki.
"DON'T CRY! DADDY'S HERE TO TAKE YOU HOME!" he dropped the suitcase, dashed and squeezed the boy in his arms.
"MANABE!" Machi snapped. Asume calmed her with a hand on an arm.
"It's alright," she grinned, "this is how he shows his affection."
Yuki struggled to pull his friend away, but gave in when there is no use. "You idiot," he said. Upon releasing him, Kakeru revert to his rare, serious self.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.
Yuki studied the faces of those behind Kakeru and cracked a smile. "Much better, now that everyone knows. I am ready to leave this place…but first I will need my suitcase."
"That's what we here for!" Asume gleamed. She and Machi brought forth the suitcase and left the room with Kakeru following behind. Machi managed to steal a glance at her beloved before exiting. Yuki responded with a smile, although his eyes were somewhat sad.
The process was slow, but Yuki was free from his confinement of three days. Everyone, but Machi chatted his ear off about what had happened the past two days and informed him that they had reached the end of their getaway.
"Is that why you were crying?" Kakeru asked, while driving on the quiet highway back to home.
"My eyes were bothering me," Yuki said, "I had an allergy attack, remember?"
"Oh yeah…sorry 'bout that, man," Kakeru couldn't believe he never thought of that. He also realized that it was just him and Yuki talking. To his side in the front, his girlfriend snoozed away and Machi too in the back. He chuckled softly, "They had been working hard all day, so we could go home tonight."
"Did you work hard too?" Yuki asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Um…supervising is a tough thing you know. Plus, this supervisor has to drive." Yuki shook his head at the expected answer. "There's one thing you should know, Yun-Yun, she worked hard." Kakeru pointed to the girl in the back with his chin. "I never seen her so focused on the things she did today."
Yuki stare at the girl sleeping by his side. He haven't heard her said a word to him, but he does not need words to know she welcome him back. He let her slumping head fall onto his shoulders and her arms embrace his waist, her chest rested against his side. Yuki gave her a little shake to let her partake in this moment. Machi stirred from her sleep. As she found herself doing the improbable, she rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming.
"Something sad, but happy has begun," Yuki whispered.
"It has ended?" she replied.
"Only my longing," Yuki gently smiled as he held his beginning in his arms for the first time.
The summer was my longing…
…and it has ended…
…with you.
My tears welcome a new beginning to a sad end.
"Just wait and see. It'll come...summer's end"
"Oh, I get it!" Yuki spoke out loud. His loud thought woke up Asume, attracted unwanted attention from the 'supervisor' and ruined a romantic moment in the back.
"What is it?" Machi irately asked. She did not enjoy the stares from the front.
"Just a saying I didn't get before…it's sort of a 'family thing'. It's nothing really," Yuki nerved.
"You got a cool family!" Kakeru changed the mood much to Yuki's luck. "Oh yeah, Commander said to visit him as soon as you get back. Don't forget, Yun-Yun!"
"Is everyone so beautiful in your family?" Asume asked.
"I want to be cool like that doctor guy!" Kakeru added.
"You're too much of a moron to be cool," Machi inserted.
"That's mean! Yun-Yun thinks I'm cool! Ne, Yun-Yun?"
Yuki could only smile at the moment.
His 'summer's end'.
Thank you so much, everyone.
AN: This chapter is dedicated to the fans of this fic as well as Frubra fandom in general. For those of you who didn't know, Frubra has ended in Japan with chapter 136. The endings were much to my satisfaction...that's all I could say in respect for those who are still un-spoiled. However, Tayaka did give her brief version of "Summer's End" in one of those ending chapters and it was sweet. I love the dialouge between Yuki and Machi. I wouldn't never thought of that! That's Tayaka for ya, lol. Anyways, my fic is also ending with the last chapter, which might come soon...if I have another day like today. I have an idea already for a great ending! What will happen now that his summer has ended? What about their summer? Stay tuned (as long as your patience let you) and find out! Ja ne!