Bab 14: Recovery Without Relaxation
AN; It's been a while, but not long enough for me to feel bad considering all the fics I update. Lol.
Feel free to check out the rest of the series if you want to read about the MC's interdementional cycle of reincarnation, but all installments can be read separately.
As always, y'all be killing it with the support, particularly comments, which are my favorite fuel for writting. You guys are the best. Seriously. 💙
So, without further ado, I give you the next chapter. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
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I jerk awake, confused and disoriented. The feeling of distress and the spirits of the dead surrounds me thickly. To be fair, neither of those things were new or unexpected since I'd woken up in the hospital, but never so close. The spirits were genuinely too scared of the way my soul manifested to approach without an invitation from me.
I scrub gunk out of my eyes, pushing myself up with a slight hiss. Katsu Fukimoto hadn't actually stabbed me that well, his knife having slashed my side, but the blade had dug in between my last ribs a bit. That combined with self inflicted wounds on my wrists when I was cutting myself free means I lost a fair amount of blood running through the fucking woods, even though my actual wounds weren't that severe individually.
I glance around the room, noting that while Lin and Naru were banished to a hotel for a proper night's rest, since both had been staying with Gene and I, day and night, Martin and Luella are still resting in the cots near us, having been allowed by the hospital to stay overnight do to our "considerable ordeal", which, fair. It doesn't take long for me to recognize that similar to the night before, the distress keeping me from sleep is coming from Gene.
Once more, I find myself quietly dragging myself across the room to a nightmare ridden Gene and climbing up next to him, shaking the boy awake. "Gene."
I can tell that, based on the heavy feeling of death resting around him, that his dream is a psychic one induced by a spirit rather than anything natural. It takes a minute, and some flaring of my own energy before he comes out of it, eyes wide and hazy. "Tsukiyo?"
Smiling gently at him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders before I expand my aura, letting it wrap around us and spread past our hospital room into the hospital hallways and beyond, a nonviolent force, but heavy end attention getting regardless. I concentrate it to act as a barrier to the spirits, keeping them away. I can feel them, watching us as they have been since we arrived. This entire time, they've been swarming and converging around us, careful to stay at a certain range of me, but that doesn't mean they haven't still been bothering Gene. It would have been better if someone had put up a kekkei barrier in the room earlier to protect the spiritually sensitive occupants, but my makeshift one of aura will have to do. Gene groans in something like relief, his head flopping onto my shoulder, making me snicker, before I lift his chin to make eye contact, tone serious. "Dude, you are psychically exhausted from a year of astral projection. What the hell do you think you are doing communing with spirits in your sleep?" I scold quietly, scowling.
The boy wilts. "I'm not doing it on purpose! But, they're so desperate-"
"Nuh Uh," I interrupt sharply. "No. You are hurting yourself. Find the door in your souls that the spirits contact you through, and shut it. The dead can wait. It's the living that are running on a deadline."
Gen pouts, but nods and relaxes. Using a trick I learned from Masako, I address all the spirits, my voice reverberating slightly with power. "Gene cannot help you right now. But, if it is the light you seek, the peace and rest and to meet your passed loved ones while still being able to watch over the living, step forward."
The mass of spirits are wary of me, but one brave little girl drenched in blood takes the opportunity to draw near. I gentle my smile as she speaks, knowing that I've always been more approachable to children. "Will I see mommy there?"
I nod. "You will." The portal to the Beyond opens, and out comes my leather clad friend, his sharp teeth in a goofy smile that makes the bloody child giiggle. It doesn't take long for more to follow her into the rift of glowing stars, Death welcoming them as he twirls his scythe.
"Oh, my!" I flinch, turning to see the Davis couple both watching with interest, apparently awake now. "How fascinating!"
Gene snorts. "Mum has some medium and empath appilities, and dad is sensitive, but not really a spirtualist."
I nod in understanding as the two began to rapidly fire theories off about my unusual barrier and energy use, more talking to each other than me, somehow wide awake despite the hour. Then I remember why I woke up in the first place and smack Gene gently, ignoring his startled yelp. "Go to sleep."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Is this going to be a habit?" Naru says a bit coldly as he walks in to find Gene and I sharing a hospital bed again.
Gene snorts, something mischievous glinting from him. "Nah, she's just keeping the ghosties and bad dreams away." Gene's smirk goes wider. "You should ask her to do it with you too, sometime, Noll."
Naru sputters and I decide to ignore the secret twin conversations they're having underneath the one the rest of us can here in favor of greeting Lin with a hug for the coffee he's snuck me. "You are a saint and I'm just about ready to offer you my first born."
Lin snorts, shaking his head as he pulls up a chair. "Why is your pychic energy all over the hospital?"
I shrug. "Mass cleansing. The spirits wouldn't leave Gene alone, so I cleansed what I could and now I'm using my aura to keep the rest away since they are generally unwilling to approach me without my permission."
Lin gives me a curious glance, clearly wondering why that is, but I only offer a mysterious smile as his hair shifts, revealing the eye he usually has covered as he looks around. He hadn't said anything, no one has, but I knew that that eye is special somehow. I would need to ask Mai if she could discreetly confirm that it is a different color than the other one, something I didn't want to directly ask Lin about yet. It would be cool to meet someone else with heterochromia.
My phone rings and Lin very kindly grabs it for me. I answer it to here Sora begin blabbing my ear off. Mai had finally gotten home and filled him in, having smartly kept my hospitalization on the down low. "Yo."
"…. You're okay?" Sora's voice is small and thin, and it makes my heart ache.
"Yeah, baby boy, I'm just fine," I soothe gently, as I put the phone on speaker in my lap, knowing no one will mind, trapped in their own conversations.
"So, how exactly did you get stabbed?" He asks, baffled, but sounding calmer. I bark out a laugh, unable to help it at his genuinely curious tone.
"Well you see," I smirk feeling the twins and Lin's eyes snap to me at the teasing tone now in my words. "I was helping a band of magical warriors rescue a beautiful prince locked away be a fire breathing dragon."
"I-" Naru chokes, sounding aghast and incredulous as Gene face palms, shaking with laughter while Lin just grins, finding this just as funny as me.
"… You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?" I ask innocently, lips twitching.
"That thing where you say things that don't make sense but are still at least a little true and only make sense late," Sora complains, and I toss my head back in laughter. He was rather precocious for an 8 year old" And isn't it usually a Princess?"
I shrug even though he can't see me over the phone, cheerfully ignoring the flabbergasted expressions on my eavesdropping friends' faces. I cope with trauma using humor and they'd better get used to it. "Sometimes, princes need help too, darling."
"Right. So, did you fight the dragon?"
I hum. "Yeah, but I mostly held him off for the queen to finish him off. It was pretty great." Gene smiles softly, head against the pillows and his hand in his brothers, eyes shut in a mix of grief and happiness.
"Huh, never heard of a queen slaying a dragon. But, what really happened, Bhaji?"
"I'll tell you when your older, love."
"Ugh!"
XXXXXNARUXXXXX
Something tight loosened in my chest when Tsukiyo returned to her own bed. Seeing her her so casual and affectionate with Gene made me feel strange in a way I couldn't quite understand, especially because she wasn't like that with me at all and I've known her much longer.
I couldn't even tell if I wanted her to be like that with me or not.
I watch, entranced at the sweet smile on her face and the sheer tenderness in her eyes as she speaks to her little brother and Mai on the phone and another feeling in my chest seems to grow stronger for a moment. I glance at Gene, frowning as I tug on our mental link. What is this?
Gene glances at me, confused, and then took my hand again. It took exactly 3 seconds before he burst into loud, guffawing laughter. He is laughing so hard, he's actually starting to cry and even Tsukiyo is watching him bemused from her bed, phone in hand. Noll, you bloody idiot!
I glare. What? Why are you laughing? Gene!
Gene wheezes, still cackling and I have to consciously remind myself he is too delicate right now for me to smack, especially considering my mother is watching with raised eyebrows. Oliver, that feeling? It's a crush. Dumbass.
My eyes go big. What?… No, no it's not! I don't have crushes!
Gene rubs at his damp eyes, grinning widely. You do now.
I scowl. No, I don't! I flick my eyes at Tsukiyo, scrutinizing her as she talks on the phone. Yes, she's… she's one of the most genuine and kind people we've ever met. And she's strong. Her abilities, of course, but her mental fortitude is… impressive. And her fierceness was... She was bleeding out, but she still stood at our defense. And I'm not blind, Gene, even I can see she's a stunningly beautiful girl, but-
I cut off my mental tangent as Gene howls, his mirth overtaking him again. You idiot scientist! What the hell do you think a crush is?! You admire her, inside and out. You want to be closer to her, don't you? She's someone important to you, isn't she?
I blink, taken aback. I did want to be closer to her. She was the only person I'd ever actually wanted to be friends with since Lin, and I remember the ache in my chest when she had pulled away from me after I lashed out at her when she told me Gene was alive, the way id felt sick as the guilt ate me alive when I realized I'd hurt her feeling. But did that mean I had a crush? That I wanted to be more than friends with her?
My breath catches as sun streaks through the window to light her brown hair up with streaks of mahogany and bronze and copper, the chunks of silver glowing inthe light as she squints and turns to Lin, eyes nearly crinkled shut as she smiles, and something in my stomach swoops.
Oh. Oh, bloody hell. I… might have a crush.
Gene snorts. And here I thought it would be Lin.
I blink, before whirling and snarlingj. "What?!"
"Oliver! Mind your voice, this is a hospital. Actually, both of you are being far too loud! Honestly, I thought I raised you two better!-" I tune my mother out to interrogate my laughing twin through our mind link, trying to keep my eyes from wandering to Lin and Tsukiyo, where the two were bent together over the phone, smiles curling their mouths as they listen indulgently.
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Some time later, Tsukiyo's head whips up, tilting as she listens to something. I look to Gene, but whatever it is, he didn't seem to be able to sense it.
Then, Genji and Akko Fukumoto and their two youngest children, Hayate and Wakakna, enter the hospital room, driving it to silence.
I feel myself go stiff, hand going to wrap tightly around Gene's shoulder. Our parents shuffle closer to us, my father settling at my side, eyes like flint. Gene is nervous, but not out right scared and I can feel the barest hint of hope from him that has my teeth gritting. Clearly, even after everything, he is still wishing for our biological family to want us.
The optimistic fool.
Lin has risen to his feet, standing next to Tsukiyo much like how I'm standing with Gene, silently protective, but the girl herself merely smiles. "I was wondering when we'd be seeing you all again. Come in."
It's awkward, even I can feel it, my muscles tensing as the Fukumoto family, what's left of it, shuffles inside. Hayate and Wakana, my uncle and aunt, look just as drawn and worn as my… Hibiki's parents. Somehow the couple seems to have aged since we last saw them and I clench my jaw against the pang of sympathy that hits me.
Then, as one, the Fukumoto, an old noble family with wealth and prestige and centuries of history and pride, lower themselves to the hospital floor and bow. Tsukiyo jerks, moving to stop them, eyes wide, but Lin keeps her from rising, just as I keep Gene from doing the same since neither of them should actually be getting out of bed yet. Mum and dad, however, hurry to the family, aghast and doing their best to coax them off the unsanitary floor. Genji resists, the old man's head bowed. "We are- we are so very sorry for the pain our family has caused you. We know we cannot atone for it-"
"You do not need to," Tsukiyo cuts in, sharp but not unkind, and even that turns yet softer in the silence. "You four have not commited any wrongs, and you cannot, must not, bear the weight of other's sins, kin or otherwise. Please, rise."
Reluctantly, in the face of the words, and the force of nature that is Luella Davis, the Fukumoto get to their feet. Aiko is weeping silently and I shift in discomfort, conflicted. "It was our son and grandson who have brought you so much harm. You, our precious daughter's children, our blood as well. This was a result of our own failings as parents."
"No," Gene speaks up now, the tremble in his voice only barely audible. "No. You- Their actions are their own. You didn't do anything wrong. You would have stopped it, so please don't blame yourself."
Tsukiyo nods. "Sometimes, regardless of how well someone's raised, they just don't turn out to be good people. The reverse is true, when the kindest souls can be born from the cruelest excuses of homes. We are all responsible for our own actions."
I nod, the wisdom and logic of those words abating some of my own, admittedly, misplaced anger and distrust at the Fukumoto Clan.
Genji shudders, voice gruff. "You children are kind and wise beyond your years. But, still, all your treatment will be taken care of by our family. And you can be assured that while Ju-Junichi has faced his own justice by Hibiki's will, Katsu will not be escaping either. We have handed him over to the police and we will not be aiding him, financially or otherwise."
I feel dark satisfaction curl in my gut even as Gene struggles with himself. "I… I wouldn't begrudge you helping him. He's still your grandson-"
"As are both of you," Genji growls. "Blood doesn't lie. Ha! Those words were so dear to us, a reminder of our connection as kin. And yet,…"
I sigh, tipping my head forward. "Thank you. We appreciate your actions."
Akko swallows roughly, hands twisting untill my mum takes them in her own, smiling the same gentle smile that convinced Gene and I to come home with her and dad from the orphanage. I take in Aiko's and Wakana's cheekbones, and Genji's jaw, Hayate's hair, and I see Hibiki, my mother, and even Gene and I. I didn't need to hear Gene's confirmation in my head nor see the softness in Tsukiyo's expression to know the Fukumoto are being genuine. So, when Akko gathers her courage and and asks if Gene and I would be willing to stay in contact and explore our familial connection to them, I agree, believing that things might be fine after all
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After the Fukomotos leave, Naru comes to stand next to me, the rest of the visitor chairs currently around Gene's bed after having been moved around. Noting his tired aura, I offer to share my hospital bed with him as I'd done with Gene, not thinking much of it. It's only when he accepts that I realize how out of character it is. His side is warm against mine, and I catch the scent of tea as one of his hands delicately reaches out to take one of mine, and my jaw only remains hinged out of sheer competency on my part.
He turns, voice lowering as he murmurs into my ear, his breath hot against my cheek, tickling me slightly. "I… About what happened in the basement, I…. Told the police everything. I'm sorry if you hadn't wanted anyone to know about what he tried. I just-"
"Hey," I interrupt gently, turning, nearly bumbling our noses together. I move to pull back only to freeze and then absolutely melt when Naru, my friend, leans his forehead against mine in a shocking display of affection that turns me to mush, my voice lowering to nearly a whisper. "It's fine. I appreciate you considering my feelings on it, but it really is better to hit him with as many charges as possible. I don't think you were really in any state to skirt the truth with the police about his attack on me anyway, even if it does end up putting my business out there."
Naru let's out a relived breath, pulling back and offering me a frankly adorable smile. I feel phantom paws on my shoulder and wince, hoping Lin doesn't ask, likely having accidentally overheard through his shiki now perched on me.
"I want to be a good friend to you," Naru states without preamble.
I grin, eyes falling shut as the newest dose of pain killers hit me. "I have faith you will be exactly that."
We sit quietly together after that for a long while before I drift off to sleep.
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Later that night, I got a much less pleasant phone call. Rather than my younger siblings, it was my older one, "Ryu?"
"Hey, Tsukiyo! Listen, I need another favor, okay? So-" Ryu begins the same way he'd started all his calls recently. He's stopped asking about Sora and I, long stopped answering my calls and messages or sending money. And when he instead started asking for money, just a one off, an emergency, he said, I'd convinced myself I was paranoid, that my wariness of him was merely because I couldn't read his trustworthiness over the phone. But, this was the third time he'd called for money in a row, when he should have already graduated with a degree for a well paying job, and it doesn't make sense for him to need money from his younger siblings to make rent, especially when we didn't really have anything extra to give him that wouldn't strain our barely sufficient finances as it was. The last two times he'd called, I'd given him, from my own personal savings, probably more than I should have. But, I can't do that anymore. Sora is still my priority, and then Mai. Ryu would have to fend for himself.
Dread pools in my stomach as Ryu makes some excuse about his car breaking down and needing money again, and I steal my spine, pursing my lips. "I can't Ryu, I'm sorry."
"…What?" I narrow my eyes at the harsh reply, feeling my walls come down as I stare at the phone resting on my pillow next to my head where I've curled on my side, forgetting everything and everyone around me as my focus narrows in on my conversation.
"I said, I don't have the money," I say, deadly calm, sitting up. "Say, Big Brother, what happened to that contractor job you were talking about, Hm? You were so excited about using that degree of yours."
"It's… it's fine. But, surely you have something saved up, rRight Tsukiyo?" He tries again.
"I can't," I reply neutrally, not really noticing the quietness from Gene's side of the room as I stare at my phone, hardening my resolve as I begin to mentally brace myself for what I'm starting to suspect will be a highly upsetting next few minutes.
"What do you mean you can't? Why are you being like this, Tsukiyo? Aren't you being too greedy? I'm your blood!" He suddenly snaps and I refuse to flinch at the malice in his voice aimed at me from out of nowhere.
My lips curl into a sneer, my focus entirely on the call as my anger spikes. "I don't have any more money to spare. And why are you avoiding my questions? Did you lie to me?" The telling silence on the line has my heart thudding. "Ryu, what did you do?"
"Look, it's just a small setback. I failed some classes-" he starts, his excuses coming quick, panicked as he backtracks, but my fury is already upon me.
"Failed a few- Ryu! You don't even have your bloody degree?! What the fuck?! What the hell have you been doing this whole time?!" I sputter in disbelief. "You took all the insurance money from Mama and Oto-chan's death with the understanding that you would send money back to us, help with our schooling, and bring us to live with you! What did you do with all that money!?" My anger briefly takes a backseat to my sheer horror. "How the hell am I supposed to pay for college?!"
"Just shut the fuck up!" Ryu explodes and I snarl, abruptly standing up from my hospital bed. "It's not my fault! And I'm not responsible for your well beings!"
And suddenly the rage is back in full force. I whirl, distantly register the sound of something getting knocked over and sharp pain as the IV needle gets ripped out of my arm, but I tune it all out, instead, focusing only on the call and making sure the rising psychic energy in my body doesn't escape. "The fuck you aren't! That insurance money was for all of us! You were supposed to use it to give us all a better life! You're our legal guardian, asshole, but I've been raising Sora on my own by running myself into the fucking ground!"
"I didn't ask to be stuck with you two! Why is it my problem?! You are just the children of the bitch that replaced my mother!" He slurs out, and I glance at the phone incredulously, because is this man actually drunk or high right now? My spiraling thoughts stop when hands grip me tightly, and I note Naru's alarmed face as he tries to stem the bleeding of my inner arm. I grit my teeth, having completely forgotten I wasn't alone, embarrassment filling me. I turn to walk out into the hallway, lowering my voice as I catch sight of the frozen Davis family, watching my family drama unfold, my cheeks heat up in shame.
"No one replaced her, Ryu! She died! And you don't get to be resentful about it when you used my mother's life insurance on yourself while abandoning us! Half siblings, or not, you still agreed to our arrangement!" I hiss, ignoring the eyes I can feel watching me, wanting to leave the room to have my freak out in private, but unable to as a nurse comes in to treat the mess I've made of myself, Naru still holding my bloody arm.
"Just give me some money, bitch!" Ryu spits, and the room is silent enough that everyone hears it, despite my phone not being on speaker.
I clench my teeth tightly, breathing deeply. "Fuck you, Ryu." I hang up , tossing my phone onto the bed so I don't break it and trying desperately to get my emotions under control, breathing deeply with shut eyes as I start trying to adjust my plans.
I'll probably still be able to go to college with how much I am currently making and scholarships, but I might have to put it off for a while. My investments won't show returns for a few more years. We might need to move because our creepy neighbor is seriously giving bad vibes, but we'll probably manage it within two months,…. assuming Naru and Lin didn't just shut down SPR and leave now that they've found Gene. Fuck!. I'll take a gap year-
"-ukiyo! Tsukiyo!" Lin calls, shaking my shoulder and I blink, coming back to the present.
"What?!" I snap, immediately regretting it. "Sorry. Sorry! I-"
He squeezes my shoulders, eyes understanding. "It's fine. Are you alright?"
I purse my lips, nodding tightly. "Fine."
Naru snorts. "Yeah, right." I shoot him a poisonous look. "Aren't you the one always preaching the power of friendship and relying on friends or whatever?"
I sigh. "Not much you can do about my deadbeat brother, is there?" The room is silent and I grimace at the pity from the Davis couple, their bleeding hearts tugging at my empathetic awareness. "Nothing to be done about it. We've been fine without him, and we'll continue to be fine. I'm sorry for my… display."
I cringe, noticing the room looks slightly disheveled, several objects having been shifted and some papers scattered. Clearly, I hadn't managed to keep my psychic energy in as well as I hoped, but nothing was broken, so that was a win. I thank the nurse, before asking her to help me be discharged as soon as possible.
Naru hisses, guiding me back to bed. "You were stabbed!"
I glare. "Barely. I can rest at home. There isn't much more they can do. I need to get back." I wanted very desperately to just be home with my little family so that I could hug the life out of my little siblings since my older one is apparently a giant dick.
"I want to leave, too!" Gene cuts in, and I thank him silently for diverting the attention. "I'm on bed rest, too, so I might as well leave. I definitely don't want to stay in the hospital with all these spirits."
Lueslla sighs. "It will be a while before you are fit to come home to the UK,-," I wince at the confirmation that my cushy job will likely not last, and silently adjust my plans some more. "-and we can hire an at-home caregiver to help with your physical therapy and supplements for the malnutrition when your father and I eventually return home. There really isn't much more that the hospital can do for you, Gene, that can't be handled at home, or well, your brother's home, I suppose."
Lin sighs, before looking at me, his expression softening at my pleasing look. 'I'll go see what the doctors say and see about the paperwork."
I smile in relief.
XXXXXGENEXXXXX
I glance over at Tsukiyo, the girl having fallen asleep again rather quickly, likely due to the painkillers and emotional turmoil, curled up facing us on her uninjured side. I look at Oliver, sitting next to me in my bed, nudging him when I notice his eyes trained on her. "That…. That was a lot," I whisper to my family, still a bit shocked.
Mum looks just as concerned as I expected considering this is how she got about all hurt children, Tsukiyo the latest to draw out her mothering instincts, Naru and I having done the same years ago. "She takes care of her little brother on her own?"
Lin nods, his expression dark. "Mai, too. They share most of their finances, but she takes care of both of them, like the head of their little family."
Mum's eyes were teary. "What a wonderful young lady."
I nod wholeheartedly. That was obvious, even ignoring how she'd risked her life for Oliver and I. "But, it sounds like she's really going through it now." I glance at Noll, doing a double take when I see his eyes burning with protective fury. My eyebrows raise and I snort. Not a crush, my ass.
Oliver shoots me a dirty look, but doesn't respond to my mental jab, much to my glee. "I don't think I've ever seen her lose control like that, even with all the danger we)ve been facing recently."
"She'll be fine. We'll make sure of it. We still owe her after all," I remind him gently, sensing how unsettled he is. Hell, even I found it a bit disturbing. I didn't know Tsukiyo like Lin and Naru, having really only seen her wearing a gentle smile, a teasing grin, or calm neutrality. Even when she was facing off Junichi, I hadn't actually seen much on Noll's back. But, the way she had shaken the room in her upset earlier, something between alarm and hurt and rage on her face, growling into her phone even as she tried to hide her loss of composure, had clearly been a glimpse beyond a mask no one was supposed to see.
"Indeed," Dad murmurs, eyes intent. "The girl is incredibly talented. She'll have a place with SPR as long as she wants one, be it the Japanese branch or even the British one. And we always take care of our employees."
I notice how my twin relaxes a bit more at that, exchanging a relieved look with Lin, not that anyone else would be able to see if. Of course, that's when I see mum's lips curl into a smirk and I perk up, a grin appearing on my own face as she opens her mouth, mischief glinting in her eyes. "Of course, you could just make it easy for me, Oliver, and make her my daughter in law."
I cackle at Oliver's aghast face as he turns bright red.
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AN; This felt a wee bit like filler, sorry y'all, but we'll be getting back into the spooky things soon. If you have ideas for future original cases, let me know! There are a couple famous haunted places I want the gang to visit too.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone