Guardian AngelEpilogue "Open your mouth Gaki-san."
Waving the pink color sweet held together between her thumb and forefinger about in the air, Eri motioned to the young lady sitting cross legged on the floor in front of her.
"Ahhhh."
Aiming the candy towards the slightly older girl's mouth, Eri was just about to pop it in when she retracted her hand at the last minute to toss the sweet in her own mouth.
"Gotcha!"
At seeing Risa's pouting expression, Eri bursted into a fit of giggles before settling down, a wide grin apparent on her beaming face. The cute little fang that she was well known for in the past peeked out adorably from beneath her upper lip.
"We have to leave soon or we'll miss the plane."
The longhaired woman jolted out of her trance by Reina's voice transferred her gaze from watching Eri to face her. A lone tear escaped the corner of her eye and many more glistened in her brown orbs.
"Okay."
Helping her up, Reina led her companion towards the exit. As they neared the door, the taller halted in her steps and turned back.
"Do you think she will ever recover?"
At seeing the distraught expression she wore, Reina mentally reprimanded herself for agreeing to bring her here. Why was she so easily swayed by her pleadings? Why did she give in to her repeated requests? She should have waited for a couple more weeks to pass before allowing her to be discharged from the hospital.
"I really don't know. The bullet lodged in her brain can't be removed and we don't know what might happen in the future. But for now, this might be for the best. At least she won't remember any of the painful memories... And she will always have Gaki-san with her."
Reaching for her hand, Reina laced her fingers with the pale slender ones before tugging on them gently.
"Let's go Sayu."
As the door swung shut behind them, it sealed off the entry leading to the pure white room fitted with cushioned walls and a padded floor. The self-locking mechanism sounded with a click, thus locking its occupant within its enclosed space for as long as she would live.
-----
"When will you return?"
The trio stood in a circle, caught up in their own conversation as the world passed by in a flurry all around them.
"Maybe in time. Or maybe, never."
"Ai-chan!"
Flinging both arms around the petite woman, Sayumi sobbed into her shoulder, choking back the tears that had began to fall in torrent like drops. After a duration of about ten minutes, the individual with the milky white skin and dark hair pulled back to stare at her former leader.
"Do you have to go? We were five but now..."
Trying her best to force a smile, Ai gazed up at the girl who used to steal a kiss every chance she got. But instead of staring into a pair of midnight black eyes, she found herself getting lost in a warm honey color filled with passionate affection.
"Gaki-san..."
"What did you say?"
Not exactly confident if she had heard correctly in the noisy airport, Reina who had been standing beside Sayumi the entire time asked.
"Nothing. It's nothing."
Quickly catching herself before she let anything else slip, Ai sniffed hard to prevent herself from crying. It was enough that she alone would bear the secret. No one else needed to know about
her sacrifice.
"Last call for Japan Airlines flight xxx to New York."
"That's me."
Exchanging a final hug with the two girls who had come to see her off, Ai spent a longer time clinging onto Sayumi, reluctant to let her go. When they at last drew apart, the air of jealousy radiating from Reina wasn't lost on her.
"Take good care of her. I'll miss you guys."
Standing from beyond the departure gates, Ai waved at the TanaShige pair until their retreating backs were too tiny to see.
I will miss the way you look at me. -----
[Three Months Later in New York, 12.33 PM]*Ding Dong*Getting up from her position on the couch, Ai opened the door to find a deliveryman with a packaged address to her.
"Miss Ai Takahashi? Please sign here."
Ripping open the wrapper taped around the parcel, Ai found a DVD-Rom with two simple words written on it. "To Ai." Recognizing the scrawling belonging to someone whom she missed terribly, the accomplished musical actress based in the U.S. city slotted the disc into the player and took her place back on the sofa.
"Is this thing on?"
The familiar outline of Risa dressed in a green turtle neck and tight fitting jeans appeared on the screen. Clearly she was meddling with the camcorder, making sure that it was indeed filming.
"Hi!"
Her smile was bright and her eyes sparkled, her face a picture of beauty.
"Oh Gaki-san."
Ai breathed out, unable to take her eyes off the screen.
"You are probably wondering why I'm recording myself like this. The reason is simple actually. I have some things I wanted to tell you. But I knew I wouldn't be able to say them if I saw you face to face."
Pausing after that sentence, Risa looked down at her hands and played with her fingers. A sign that she was contemplating how to continue.
"There is one incident in my life that I greatly regret. And that is letting you go. I should have fought to keep you by my side, to make you realize that we could have been wonderful together."
"Yet I let you leave, believing that you would find happiness if you pursued a career you loved. How I wished I could have been selfish for once, then maybe things would have had a better ending."
Risa stopped fiddling with her fingers and water droplets began to pelt down, landing squarely on the side of her hands.
"After you left, I spent every waking hour taking care of Kame. Because she needed me, I felt I was of some worth. But then you came back."
"Seeing you again made me discovered my true feelings. My concern for Kame, it was for a friend. She was someone I couldn't lose. But for you, it was so much more."
Lifting her head to look into the camera, Risa bit on her lower lip before speaking.
"It was love Ai-chan. I couldn't live without you. That night in the park, it was the happiest moments of my life. I wish I could tell you how much I loved you."
Subsequently, Risa raised her hands to cover her face as she cried sorrowfully into them.
"I'm dying Ai-chan. The doctor said it was liver failure. I don't have much longer. By the time you see this, I hope you would have emerged from the grief."
"I'm sorry for lying. I have never stopped loving you."
The clip ended and the DVD player grew silent, its blue lights flickering to a darker shade. The sudden silence in the room exploded in her ears, blocking out the noise from the busy traffic plying the street beneath her apartment. Falling heavily backwards on the sofa, Ai shut her eyes to keep out the sun’s rays. The daylight seemed blinding somehow. As she curled her body into a tight ball, what happened that fateful night came rushing back in a flood of memories.
~Flashback~ Jabbing frantically at the button which would call up the elevator to this level, Ai looked around desperately for anyone who could help her. Incredibly, there was none. The corridors were dim and there was absolutely no movement throughout the level.
"Where is the staff when you need them?"
Muttering in frustration, Ai could only wait helplessly for the lift to rise slowly from the ground floor. When the light above the elevator finally glowed, renewed hope surged through Ai. Maybe she could at last get some help before the situation deteriorated further. In the same second that the elevator doors glided open, a gunshot rang through the hallways and resonated between the silent walls. Stunned by the booming sound, Ai froze in her step and turned around stiffly.
A second gunshot fired and this time Ai started running. She ran as swiftly as her legs could carry her but the corridors seemed endless, the numerous identical doors flashing past in a fuzzy haze. When Ai located the entrance to her room, what met her reddened eyes was a scene that she will never forget...
Blood, it was everywhere. The deep dark fluid was splattered on the walls, stained the sheets and flowed freely over the thick carpeted floor. Entering the room from the hallway, Ai gingerly stepped over Eri's crumpled body to kneel down next to another still form lying on her side.
"Ga..ki?"
No response. With a trembling hand, Ai clamped one hand on Risa's shoulder and started shaking her.
"Open your eyes Gaki-san. Please!"
Noticing the blood spewing out from a wound in the region of her upper abdomen, Ai gasped aloud and placed her hands over the injury, trying to stop the bleeding by applying pressure. It took a great deal of effort on her part but Risa managed to flutter open her eyelids.
"A-i...c-han."
"Gaki-san!"
Upon seeing Risa's considerably duller chocolate brown eyes gazing back at her, Ai screamed for help. The fear and desperation evident in her voice.
"Somebody call the ambulance! Help us, please. Please!"
The rubber band that was holding up her hair in a high ponytail chose to snap at this moment, resulting in Ai's fringe falling over her face. It was only when she swept back the obstructing strands did Ai realize that her hands were stained with Risa's blood.
"Gaki-san, please-I'll-leave. I'll break up with you. Just don't-don't die!"
In between sobs and hiccups, Ai begged, getting more and more breathless as her hands continued to quake, failing in their attempt to staunch the rapid lost of blood.
"Ai-list-en. Listen-to-me."
Risa urged, her voice soft and weak amid the increasingly deafening sound of sirens approaching the hotel.
"Sa-ve Er-i. Bullet-head. Organ-dona--tion, card."
Pausing to struggle for breath, Risa blinked when the room dimmed considerably. She wasn't sure why her eyes giving up on her at this point. Was it due to the extent of her injury? Or was it because of the sheer amount of tears brewing in her eyes?
"Don't speak like that! We'll get to the hospital-in time. The-doctors, the-y-they-will save you."
A fresh round of tears assailed her eyes and blurred her vision of the person she never wanted to forget. Afraid that she might lose her if she could no longer see her, Ai wiped roughly against her face with the back of her hand, not caring about smudging her makeup or the blood that was now streaked across her features. When she focused her attention back on Risa, she found that the younger’s eyes were closed.
"Oh my god, NO! Risa!"
Removing her hands from where the gun had gone off, Ai cradled Risa's face, caressing her cheeks. Lowering her head to rest it in the nook of the unmoving girl's neck, Ai wept, her body racking with heart wrenching sobs. In the split second when she stopped to catch her breath, a faint whisper grazed passed her ear.
"I lied. I-never-stopped...loving.......you."
And then nothing.
"RISA!!!!!!"
~End of Flashback~ The memories stopped rushing through her mind but Ai didn't open her eyes. Instead, she squeezed them tighter together and slowly moved her hand to the spot over her heart. Grabbing a fistful of her shirt, she clutched it in a death grip until her knuckles turned whitish and her fingernails dug into the flesh of her palm.
In the days after Risa's death Ai hadn't shed a single tear. Perhaps she couldn't believe it, or maybe the shock of it all has not completely set in. Whatever held back her sorrow over these months finally broke.
Every ounce of pent up emotional exploded and reduced her to an uncontrollable wailing wreck. Her nose burned and her chest hurt but she couldn't stop. The stream of endless hot tears spilled from her eyes, drenching her blouse thoroughly in her own tears.
"You said you wanted to see the northern lights at least once. I'll accompany you Risa. I'll go with you to the ends of the Earth.
-----
[Tokyo Shibuya, 7.02 PM]"What are you doing Reina?!"
The couple was standing in the middle of the bustling traffic road intersection. Or rather, Reina was preventing an embarrassed Sayumi from running away. The ex-yankii had foolishly tried to end her life in order for Sayumi to be able to see again. Thankfully her cooker had run out of gas and she had clean forgotten to replace it. Whenever she recalled how pitiful Sayumi would be all alone in this world if she had succeeded, Reina couldn't help but cry. Call her whipped but she was determined to demonstrate her fondness for the bunny to everyone and anyone.
"Let's kiss."
"WHAT?!"
Gaping in disbelief at what Reina had said, Sayumi stared wide-eyed at the shorter woman. Without waiting for a further response, Reina yanked Sayumi close and tip toed to reach her lips. When they pulled apart for air, Reina kept her nose pressed lightly against her girlfriend’s. Consequently, disregarding the wave of pedestrians scurrying briskly past to cross the road, she spoke in a low but heartfelt tone.
"I want the world to know, you're mine."
-----
[Finland, x:xx PM]The night sky was clear and the surroundings quiet as Ai stood by herself near the summit of a snow capped mountain. As she waited, she could almost feel the presence of another person standing there beside her. Slowly but surely, a palette of dusty, dream-like colors painted the sky, lighting it up in a magical display of greenish and sometimes red glows.
Observing the constantly evolving curtains of parallel rays swirling together thus illuminating the vast expense of heavens stirred something within Ai. It was as if the Aurora was telling her that there was still hope despite how gray and dismal things seemed to be. And in this moment, Ai came to a decision.
"I will live my life to the fullest. Because I know you will always be with me."
~THE END~
-----
There, GA has finally come to a close
This is one of my favorite fics and I hoped it was a good enough read for all you readers and comments who have so kindly kept up with it despite my horrible updating speed. I expect that there might be questions about the ending as my writing skills aren't good enough to convey it properly. I would probably come up with a character profile (?) or do you call it character analysis and ending explanation sometime later. As for now, Hammy has her final exams to tackle.
Once again, arigatou gosaimasu (I think I spelt that wrongly
) for supporting Guardian Angel
If any of you wants to run by the trailer again just for closure
[Trailer] Guardian Angel ~ Updated Version
Topic: More Than One Story...[111016 Loving You Forever] (Read 236734 times)