Taste of Family

In a plane so far, yet so close to reality, existing between the realm of consciousness and dream, Rikuo floated. All around him existed only darkness that wanted to swallow him up and never let go.

  However, none of the beings inside the fog dared to approach the sleeping child. It wasn't like they were afraid of him. A child so young who could do nothing but dream inside their world. What kept them at bay was something far stronger than them.

  A monster that guarded the boy like a ferocious beast and tended to his little soul with a gentleness of a mother.

 "Don't be afraid of the dark

 I am here with you~

When your eyes lose their spark

 Your string I shall take with me~" 

  The beast sang, hand gently caressing the sleeping boy's hair. Behind the veil that covered her entire being, eyes so golden glinted with amusement.

 "Wake up now child." It murmured. "They are all waiting for you." 

 As if he had heard what it said, Rikuo's body glowed and faded away into petals of white that scattered way like the snow. The beast smiled as it watched him leave for the waking world.

"η μοίρα είναι δική σου"

She whispered to him as a goodbye. This will not be the last time they meet, for fate will surely bring them together again. But for now, they had to part ways. It was not the time for him to know about her yet. With a simple smile on her lips, the monster woman strode away and a soft melody faded away.

  "Have faith in your Heart~

   For it'll never betray you again."

….

   Consciousness returned slowly to Rikuo. At first it was only the sound of beeping, of the words spoken that cut in and out too much for him to understand their meaning. His eyelids felt heavy, he did not dare open his eyes.

 "-Ri-..."

  "Yes, So-"

"...-No-"

"I…-stand…"

 Next, he started to see flashes of light that turned his pitch black vision into a sea of red. Someone, at some point even forced his eyelid open then turned the flashlight into his vision, blinding him for a moment.This time, the noises became louder.

 "He's waking up-"

"Sigh…"

  Someone sighed in relief and Rikuo was wide awake. He fluttered his eyes open, turquoise gems taking a moment to adjust to the suddenly too much light in the room.

 The blonde boy looked around his surroundings, on guard yet unable to remember why. He assumed he was in the hospital by the smell of medicine that filtered through his nose.

   Around his bed stood his teacher, ruffled and dirty. She looked like she hadn't had a bath in a  week. He thought that he saw the edges of her eyes red but it was probably his imagination.

 Next to her stood Mr.Gatou, eyes critically scanning him up and down with a small flashlight held between his slender fingers.

 'Ah, So he's the one…' Rikuo noted, absently to himself before resuming his observation.

 'But...where is everyone else?'

 The teen's lips parted to voice out his question however he was overtaken by violent coughs that broke out of his dry throat.

"W-where is-!! Cough! cough!!-"

 "Don't push yourself. Irina, water please."

Mr.Gatou who had been watching him quickly moved to gently rub his back and pressed a glass of water to his lips after Irina handed the four-eyed man the cup. 

 Rikuo gulped down the offered water greedily, feeling the dry, itchy feeling in his throat disappear. Once the entire glass was gone, Mr.Gatou lowered the teen back into a lying position.

"There, now that you're awake, I need to go inform Elder Ninenji. I'll leave the explanation to you Irina."

 The brunette woman nodded, her face expressionless.

"Go Kousuke, I'll take care of my idiot pupil."

  Gatou Kousuke shook his head and left the room. Irina waited until the footsteps completely faded away then turned towards Rikuo who stared at her, brows furrowed.

 "You're dying to ask where others aren't aren't you?" She asked him.

  "Y-yeah…"

 "Ugh, before I tell you about that, we need to talk, Tsujimura Rikuo." 

Her cold voice sent shivers running down the teen's spine. He flinched a bit, expecting a lecture from their hot-headed teacher. Irina continued-

"That was very irresponsible of you to do. What were you thinking, Cadet Tsujimura?"

 "But it was heading towards the others!-"

"Yes and I'm not saying that you shouldn't have tried to protect them. You saved their lives Cadet, but you tried to do it at the cost of your own life."

 "Tell me Riku, what if you died? What if Shuuji didn't heal you in time? If I didn't catch you before you hit the ground? What would we say to your parents? To the nurses you talk to everyday with?"

  Irina didn't yell, she didn't scream but the impact of her words still hit Rikuo like she raised her voice. The blond teen fumed silently, unable to refute her words. 

He laid there, eyes stinging yet unable to cry, refusing to cry. Because he wasn't wrong. He wasn't wrong in saving their lives so why was she angry? It wasn't like his parents cared about him. If they did, wouldn't they have visited him at least once at the hospital?

  And the nurses would soon move on, they had other people to take care of so they don't have to focus on him so much. 

 He was so focused into himself that it caught him totally off guard when strong arms suddenly wrapped around him. Irina hugged him tightly, as if to reassure herself that Rikuo was there, alive and well.

"What about me? Shuuji? Kousuke and old man Ninenji? What about us Rikuo? Do you think we won't miss you? That we won't blame ourselves if you died?" She asked voice hoarse.

 The blonde teen shook his head. He returned her hug as his body shook with he tears that finally poured down his face. Rikuo sobbed silently.

"You know, when we thought you died, I saw Shuuji cry. I've never seen that kid cry before and i knew him since he was a 7 years old little brat." 

  Irina patted the boy on the back in comfort, hiding her face by pressing it into Rikuo's hair.

"I'm sorry Rikuo, for letting the situation get to the point you had to jump in. If i had just finished the battle quickly-"

 Rikuo shook his head, wanting to say 'It's not your fault.' However only sobs escaped his mouth. The 15 years old cried at his oen helplessness, for making his partner cry and teacher sad. He also cried thankfully for the care they had for him.

  Teacher-student duo sad there for a while, just comforting each other, relieved that they were all alive and well.

  It didn't take long for the teen to gather himself once the tears stopped. By the time he stopped crying, his eyes were puffy and swollen and voice even hoarser then before. Rikuo pouted, their teacher cried too so why was he the only one who looked like he got stung by a swarm of bees?

  Irina laughed at het pouting student and ruffled his wavy blonde locks, causing them to curl and Rikuo scowl. She handed him the bottle of water placed by the drawer.

 "You wanted to know what happened right?" She asked, getting a nod from the teen in turn.

"Well, I'm happy to tell you that they are alive and well. Officer Kunichi only had superficial wounds. He is currently with Officer Asahi, filling out the paperwork necessary for them to be given access to the Midnight realm."

 "Thank god…" Rikuo mumbled, glad that the tall man was fine. "What about Shuu?"

 Irina's expression rippled slightly. A pit started to form inside the blond's chest.

"He's in medical coma. He almost emptied his pool if it hadn't been for Jor…"

"Is-"

"Is it my fault?..." he asked, unsure of how to deal with the news. Irina had said Shuuji healed him, that's the only way he would have emptied his reiki pool-

"No!"

"Huh!?" Rikuo jumped at the sudden yell, snapping out of his spiraling to see his teacher standing there, eyes blazing.

"It's not your fault. It was Shuuji's choice to heal you, knowing that he was almost running empty. Don't blame yourself for his decisions."

 The brunette woman ruffled the teen's hair again.

"Besides he is fine now, so don't worry your pretty little head over it."

The blonde smiled a little at Irina's attempts of cheering him up. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the water bottle that hit him in the head.

"Shut up! You're noisy!" Came a disgruntled voice from the bed beside-

'Wait, beside?' 

 Before Rikuo's brain could fully comperhend the situation, Irina was up and moving.

"Shuuji!! You're awake!!" The woman threw herself to the protesting ravenette.

"Gah!! Get Up!!"

 "Haha…" the blonde snickered at the sight, finally releaved. Then the snickering blew up into a full blown laughter, stopping the wrestling two in middle of their match to watch the laughing blonde.

 They shared a look and soon all three of them were laughing, just happy to be safe and sound.

….

Pink paint covered the walls and what seemed to be glittery pink slimes overflowed from almost all of the cabinets. Rikuo was pretty sure he caught glimps of several live flamingos inside the bedrooms.

  After getting discharged from the hospital and coming back to their apartment, it wasn't a sight he thought he would see. Damn, he was looking forward to a nice, long rest too…

  Besides him, Shuuji trembled with a suppressed rage and he could see their teacher inching back toward the door. 

 Within a minute, the cane held in his partner's arm was thrown towards their teacher and the two were out chasing each other.

"I'M NOT SORRY!!"

"COME BACK HERE YOU DAMN CLOWN!!!!!!"

  While comical it didn't concern Rikuo much. However what concerned him was-

"Where are we supposed to sleep?"