School Girls' Stories - Year 2

Chapter 40 – Fuji\'s Forgiveness

Shai paced across the living room, unable to sit down. Shinji and Risa were sitting on the couch, stiff as a boar. Yuki, Shinwa, and Kyoei were sitting on the floor, trying to keep young Shu’s attention on them while his mother paced in front of the door again.
“Where is she?” she grumbled unhappily.

Yuki’s stomach lurched, twisted, and flopped. She had been wondering much of the same thing since she had been awoken at three this morning by her ringing cell phone. It was Shai, absolutely freaked out over what Kyoei had just called to tell her. He became more worried when Amatsu did not arrive home. Shai finally called and woke up the Chenbaro-Tennison household, Teiyoku answering the phone on the third ring. In Shai’s panic she forgot whom she was speaking to and cried, “Why isn’t Fuji answering her cell phone?” Minutes later it was revealed that Fuji was not in her bed, and Devilin was in his own room, but wide awake. Devilin panicked when he picked up the phone, asking Shai where Fuji could have gone. She had just been there a half an hour ago, where could she be now? The world had stopped and Noriko, Teiyoku, and Devilin had raced out of the house to find her. Devilin could only assume Danko had not made it home yet, she was not answering her door, and Amatsu would not answer his own cell phone. For hours the group had gone out and searched, joined shortly by disheveled sister, nephew, biological father and eighteen-year-old girlfriend, best friend, best friend’s live-in, and Kyoei. They searched the town over and found nothing. Noriko went back and checked the house over and over, thinking that Fuji had hid within one of the wall units that was a trap door from long ago. She was not there, nor had anyone been there in years. She should have known her daughter never would have risked becoming dusty.

Now it was noon and there was still no sign of Fuji, or Danko, or Amatsu. The family was exhausted the police would not allow them to report a missing person within twenty-four hours since they were not worried about foul play. Noriko drove to the police station and the Taiikuka clan was sure that the situation would be changed quite quickly and Fuji would be searched for with renewed vigor.

“Have you ever seen your mommy so tense?” Yuki asked, playing with Shu’s hands as he stood, wobbly, on two feet. He had begun to take small steps, but was still not fully walking yet. Yuki was happily helping him stand all he wanted.

“Don’t remind him of that,” Shinwa reprimanded. “We are here to keep Shu from seeing how tense his mom is.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be on set today?” Yuki asked back.

“I thought this was more important.”

“You are so sweet.” Yuki leaned in to kiss Shinwa, still holding Shu by the hands and dipping the baby boy romantically as she kissed Shinwa.

“You two are teeth decayingly sweet,” Kyoei mumbled. He stood up and walked over to Shai, grasping her by the shoulders gently and leading her away from the door. “I know you are worried sweetie, but your pacing is not going to make her come back any sooner. Besides, she’s probably going to go back to the manor instead of here where there is a house full of worried relatives.”
The front door opened and in walked Fuji, still in blood stained night clothes, a new coat wrapped tightly around her, faux fur. Boy, Kyoei hated being wrong, though he had to admit he was grateful to watch her walk through the door. He felt like a real parent, and he was only twenty-three. Fuji was his new breath of fresh air and he wanted to reach out and strangle her, then hug her, then pound her for looking so shocked that there was a large group in the living room anticipating her every move.

With her beautiful eyes wide she asked, “What are you all doing here?” and Shai was the first to jump up and hug her sister with such delightful glee it was hard to be mad at the girl any longer.

“Where did you disappear to?” Yuki shrieked, standing up and forgetting she had been holding little Shu, whom Shinwa caught gracefully and reminded himself that if he ever had children with Yuki this was how she would treat them. Shinwa then hugged Shu protectively to his chest while the others surrounded Fuji.

“Where is that blood from?” Shinji cried, pushing all other young ones to the side and reaching for his daughter. At first he worried, knowing the truth about Danko, but he knew his daughter would not still be wearing it if it was Danko’s blood. Fuji had more sense than that. He also would have thought she would have had more sense than to disappear for hours too, and again he wanted to throttle his daughter.

“Blood…?” Fuji looked down at herself and laughed slightly. “It’s Devilin’s, he was bleeding all over Amatsu’s leather seats, so I was trying to use my shirt to stop it. I think that is why I bought the coat… or else it’s because it is cold outside and I forgot one.” Fuji seemed decidedly out of it, not very Fuji-like. What was very Fuji detailed was she was fidgeting, like she used to when nervous. She seemed to hate being surrounded and Yuki could see how tense she was.

“Where have you been all of this time?” Shinwa demanded. “Where’s Amatsu?”

“Amatsu?” everything was a question to her. “I have not seen him since he dropped me and Devilin off early this morning.”

This gave Kyoei more reason to worry and he was hurrying for his cell phone, calling Amatsu in a hurry once more. Where had that bastard disappeared to now?

“So you went to the mall?” Shai asked, staring at her older sister with shock written all over her face. “The… Why didn’t anyone look in the mall?”

When was the last time Fuji had walked into a mall? Her mother always catalogue ordered everything for her so it fit perfectly and Fuji had taken up going to tailors when she wanted something her mother would not allow her to buy. The last time Fuji had bought something at a mall was when she, Yuki, and Shai had gone nearly four years ago and bought make-up. Fuji had bought a purple nail polish that was hideous on her and she had quickly thrown it out and stuck with the make-up that her mother bought, through special order, or received for free because it was made by Maple-Gold, which had a hand in everything.

“I’m too tired for this right now,” Fuji suddenly sighed. “I’m going to go up to bed.”

“You have to call your mom and step-dad and Devilin first,” Shai insisted. “They are worried sick about you.”

Fuji sullenly nodded, reaching into her purse for her cell phone, which was not there. She sighed and excused herself to the kitchen to use the main line. Yuki sighed and watched her best friend disappear behind the door of the kitchen. “What do you think happened?”

Only one person knew that answer. Shai walked across the living room and into the kitchen, but she did not find Fuji on the phone, she found her on the floor, curled up against the counter, her face in her knees as tears fell down her face, silently. Fuji cried as gracefully as she lived, and poor Shai wished the girl would just let all of her inhibitions go.

Shai closed the door behind her, signaling that no one else was to enter. Everyone in the living room was torn between wanting to be there for Fuji and afraid of what it was she would have to say. They obliged and waited outside of the kitchen.

Shai slid down beside Fuji and said, frankly, “You need a bath. You smell like blood and cigarette smoke. I can only imagine what the ladies at the mall thought of you.”

“I showed them the gold card and most shut up and just helped me. I bought several outfits as well, but I left them with Danko, I was too tired to carry anything, or bother changing, but I was very aware of how cold I was.”

“You were with Danko?” Shai asked, trying to not seem like she was prying though it was exactly what she was doing.

Fuji sat up straighter, the tears stopping as she turned to Shai. “How would you feel if you were raped?”

“What…?”

“Just answer me.”

Shai thought about it, never really wanting to think of such tragic things, but she thought on it. What if she had never been attracted to Mr. Tennison and he had pushed her onto the bench and raped her in the girl’s locker room? She had barely been able to go on living while she was pregnant, how could she have survived being raped? “Devastated,” was the only word that came to mind.

“Imagine being raped, and it was your only time with the opposite sex, and because of this one time, perhaps two, you contracted AIDS, how unfair is that?”

“Fuji, you can not save Danko.”

Fuji shook her head, the small tears starting again. “No, I know that,” she said dramatically, “but you didn’t hear her. I wanted to tell her I am sorry for pulling away from her, I’m sorry for… not being what I should have been, a friend, but she said I didn’t owe her anything. It was the right thing to do… but then she began crying. I could not stand seeing her cry; she just started begging to know why it happened to her. Why did God do this to her? What did she do to deserve being raped? Kaori enjoyed it, but she had hated it. Kaori was not raped, she was freely giving, but it might be her fault if Kaori contracted it… and then Nakago would have it… and…” Fuji just broke down. It was then Shai realized Fuji was not crying for her own pain. To see a woman like Danko, who had always been more male than female, break down and just cry, and beg, and plead, and ask for forgiveness, from someone, anyone…

Shai had no idea what to say to that. She had never really liked Danko. The woman was brash, and obsessed with Kaori, and seemed to have become possessive of Fuji in the last few months, but did she deserve this? What made Shai feel worse was that she could not automatically say ‘no’, though she knew that to be true. Danko did not deserve this, no one did, and Fuji was the one who truly realize that. For once, Fuji’s heart was more filled with love than all of theirs. While they had all been looking for Fuji desperately, who had really thought about searching for Danko? Shai wrapped an arm around Fuji’s shoulders and allowed her friend and sister to cry and waited out the rest of the afternoon, that was not looking to be as spectacular as she hoped it would be.