derepressed: (i'm lost send help)
chizuru "would you jerks stop leaving me" yukimura ([personal profile] derepressed) wrote in [community profile] recountal2014-06-09 08:26 pm

reunion;;

Yukimura Residence.
Edo, Japan, January 1864.

[The years have stretched on and on, agonizingly slowly. Part of it is because Chizuru lacks the child-like lack of perspective that makes time fly by so quickly in the earliest years; mostly, it's because the Nagumo are so very cruel. Time flies when one is having fun, but among that clan...

This is the first opportunity she's had in years to even consider a visit to Edo, and though she might pay for it later, she doesn't care. There's something she has to do here, and so here she is, dressed in the finery one would expect of the wife of the young master of the Nagumo. Perhaps it's strange, to see such a finely-dressed young lady in front of the humble Yukimura clinic.

She doesn't care. She just doesn't care.

She is stopped, outside the house, because it's both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The house looks mostly the same, but the subtle differences, are they there because it's not her that's living there? All the touches of a young woman are gone. Chizuru has never lived here, but Kaoru has, and -

The differences are Kaoru's touch. That eases the knot of tension in her gut the slightest bit and gives her the courage to move forward, to call into the house as though she's a patient and this is a perfectly normal visit.]


Excuse me? I was wondering if perhaps I might speak with Yukimura-sensei...

[He won't be here. She's sure he won't, sure she's remembered the timing because her memories are all that's gotten her through the years at the hands of those horrible people, but that's okay. He isn't the one she is here to see.

She's depending on the fact that it will be Kaoru who will answer her call.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (lullaby)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-21 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
[The sound of his name draws his attention over, though it's slow, like her voice has to pierce through a thick wall before actually reaching him. He's confused - it doesn't show on his face, but he's confused and it's starting to make him feel cornered and panicked. Her hand is extended between them both but it's like he can't see it at all, even though he wants to set his bowl down to reach for it instinctively.

Why is she so far away?

He thinks it automatically and knows that it doesn't make sense, but it just serves to upset him further. Why is there this gap between them - this distance? He doesn't understand it. She's a stranger, someone that he just met recently and lent a room to so that she would have a place to stay. A place away from that clan, that clan, and a strong bubble of nausea rises in him when his thoughts drift that way. His hands are shaking badly by now, enough so that the quail egg gently rolls from the side of his spoon and drops to the table, but he doesn't seem to notice that either.]


It— I can't... I can't breathe—

[His grip on both the bowl and the spoon remains tight as ever and he doesn't seem to be having any trouble breathing, but there's a note of clear panic in his voice. He can't see, either - not well, anyway. The tears that had welled up before are now rolling down his cheeks, obscuring Chizuru's awkwardly outstretched hand from him. The feeling of nostalgia, briefly warm, is now biting and painful, sitting heavily on his chest.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (traces of war)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-21 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[Chizuru, despite the panic in her voice, is doing something that normally would help tether him to the ground in any other situation. Having something to pin his focus on would normally do him worlds of good. But this... Something about hearing Chizuru's voice in particular just makes the pressure worsen. Though his breathing had been fine to start, it seems like he's working himself up so badly that he's starting to actually have trouble with it. It comes to him in short gasps, a gentle whistling noise accompanying each inhale. He tries to force words out regardless, but his ribcage feels like it's being pressed inward, compacting his lungs and throat.

When she touches his hand, he starts so badly that the bowl drops from it. He's somewhere else entirely; the hand on his own is unkind, and the clatter of that bowl hitting the table - the mess it's surely made - will bring him such horrific punishment that he knows he'll be sick from it. He feels sick. The tightness in his chest has migrated, opening up a pit in his stomach that seems like it could swallow him whole.]


No! No—!! [His voice is shrill, but Kaoru can hardly hear himself. The spoon drops to the table too and his hands wind into his hair instead, tugging, anxious, before he pushes himself away from the table.] Chizuru, Chizuru— I still— I still can't- [His wild mind still doesn't entirely understand why he's calling for her, but he needs to. Chizuru is the only anchor keeping him tied to this world. To "this" world...?

His hands drop, one immediately covering his mouth. An unpleasant gagging noise follows and Kaoru's turning on his heel, blindly crashing his way out of the room.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (who nees tissues when you have curtains)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-21 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[The first place that his feet carry him to is the porch, because it's outside and suddenly everything inside just feels so horribly stifling. It's like he's looking at the interior of an entirely different house, and the walls that pass him by in a dizzy blur on his way out seem completely foreign and oppressive. He feels as though he doesn't belong, like he's a stranger in a building that he knows (knows?) he had grown up in. It makes bile rise in the back of his throat, and with it comes a deep-rooted feeling of - loathing, despair, anger. They're old, old feelings; it's almost like reaching into a chest and dusting off prized heirlooms.

These horrible, rotten things have been with him all along, he knows - he knows that almost immediately, because of how easily they come to him. He's struck by the fear that maybe he's been an equally rotten person all along, harboring this sort of decay. Maybe he deserves this. A word echoes in the back of his mind - worthless - and it draws up a raw, short and frightful scream, sucking the strength from his legs.

He teeters at the porch edge before collapsing, immediately retching over the side. It's impossible for him to even register where he is right now and Chizuru's words are little more than a distant buzz, drowned out by the harsh pulse of blood at his eardrums.

Still he searches, coughing once his mostly empty stomach has been emptied fully. Curling up doesn't help to alleviate anything, but he does anyway, wiping feebly at his face.]


Chizuru... Chizuru, where— Where are you...?
souredsweet: jackandtink (faith is lost)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-21 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's almost like snow blindness with how he looks around and sees nothing, even though there is nothing physically wrong with his eyes. Nothing about this place is familiar, even though it is. He's too disoriented to be able to tell where he's ended up just yet, so in the end he simply tries to focus on Chizuru's voice, listening and waiting and breathing in harsh and uneven gasps. He's not calmed down by a long shot, but when he hears her footsteps heading toward him... something about that is enough to bring him down at least a little. If nothing else, he no longer feels the pressing urge to lean over and dry heave anymore.

When she offers the glass to him, he looks at it with confusion beneath the panic and the harsh upset. A glass, a glass - water. Right, he needs to drink it. He reaches out, hand still shaking, to take it. Even if it isn't filled very high, he'll likely still manage to spill some trying to get a sip, because his motor control is severely limited for the time being and he honestly can't even tell if his hand is getting anywhere near his mouth.

He'll succeed eventually though, making a soft noise as the foul taste is washed away and his throat is soothed. He doesn't reach up for the washcloth just yet - doesn't see a point in it. He's supposed to use it to clean his face, but the tears haven't stopped yet.]


Why... did that happen—? I can't see, I can't see anything...

[Even his voice seems heavily afflicted by tremors, rising and falling gracelessly. He can see - it's not like he's literally blind, but he's having so much difficulty putting himself back into his own body in the right order.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (lullaby)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 11:17 am (UTC)(link)
[He does jump a little at first, but if she doesn't let that deter her, he won't move away any further. He recognizes this hand. Even through his haze of confusion, he fully recognizes it and it brings him a little comfort - not enough comfort to soothe away his anxiety entirely, but enough to ground him a little more. She'll be able to wipe away his tears without his interference, though it seems they won't be slowing any time soon. There's not enough awareness present, self or outwardly directed, telling him to get a hold of himself, to stop, to not burden a veritable stranger with this breakdown.

Her words, though... He can't focus on her voice even though he knows he should. Something about it is still deeply upsetting to him, like it shouldn't be here, or maybe that he shouldn't be listening to it. The place and time is all wrong. This entire scenario is wrong; that feeling settles deeply in him, impossible to shake even as his thoughts gather just a little.

Eventually, he sets the glass down and raises his shaky hand to touch the back of Chizuru's. His fingertips are wet with condensation from the outside of the glass and from water that had spilled in his tremors. There isn't much strength behind it, either intentionally delicate or because he simply doesn't have a lot in him right now.]


You— aren't worthless...

[The need to say that bubbles up before he can stop it, and he instinctively knows why. It's a word that haunts him, and that part of himself that's slowly starting to come to understands that it's a word Chizuru's surely heard throughout her lifetime. The context is different - why? Because Kaoru had been worthless for a different reason. Biological incompatibility.

But he knows they'll have found a reason to apply the same word to Chizuru.]
Edited 2014-10-22 11:17 (UTC)
souredsweet: breadcrusts (doubt)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 11:49 am (UTC)(link)
[He has two lives now, too, even though his memories are sorting themselves agonizingly slow and in the wrong order. He knows what it's like to grow up with a measure of worth - with a loving parent, good neighbors, a mundane but reachable goal. Though he's been involved in the ochimizu even in this life, it hadn't been anywhere near enough to make a dent in the placid, peaceful bend of time that seemed to stretch endlessly before him.

But that's wrong. This is not the life that he was meant to live. The tranquility of it isn't suited for him, like he's living on time borrowed from a stranger. Except it hasn't been borrowed from a stranger at all, has it?

His eyes raise to Chizuru's face, searching it. There is something direly important about this person. It's difficult for him to grasp at the train of thought when so many are at odds in his mind; his fingers press against her hand a little more.]


Kindness— That kindness... ["Neither are you", even though he's dimly aware of the fact that Chizuru is suffering alongside him. More, likely - what kind of bitterness has she experienced in this lifetime? How much strength does it take for her to be able to wipe his tears away like this? To sit with him in this awful situation?] You... were always a gentle person.

[A statement, not a question.]
souredsweet: jackandtink (worthless)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[He shakes his head almost immediately at that, because it's so at odds with the sister that he remembers - or is remembering, rather. The memories return stilted, unfocused, and he can't harness enough concentration or energy to actually try discerning what's inside of them just yet. He just knows that this woman with a face so like his own (in more ways than one, he's starting to see, and that scares him) is someone that he was supposed to... protect?

...That isn't quite right. It isn't wrong, either - there's a fierce underlying sense of devotion and dedication when he thinks of Chizuru as his little sister. But the sentiment is not so pure, and his subconscious mind makes that known quickly. There is something wrong with his intentions, and his face screws up in an expression that mimics someone in pain. It's not physical pain he's in, though - not really. It's still hard for him to breathe, but even that's secondary in comparison to this unpleasant sweep of long-buried thoughts and sentiments.

Again, he shakes his head. He reaches up with his other hand, grasping desperately, latching on to her sleeve like he's afraid she'll pull away and leave him if he doesn't keep her anchored.]


You are, you are, you are, you are—! Why...? No— You did so much— [She has always been kind to him, hasn't she? Even when... For some reason - why, why hadn't he ever reciprocated? What had stopped him?] Because— you're my cute little sister...

[The words sit like lead on his tongue. It's meant as an endearment, but he knows at the same time that it's far, far from that.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (you're a hot mess)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[Hearing that - "I love you" - he needs to hear it, but it also wrenches a low, horrible, pained noise from him; something that teeters on the edge inhuman because god, remembering hurts.

He... has never been a good brother to her, has he? Not in this life, not in that distant-but-coming-closer life that he had been forced to leave behind. In that one... why had he hated her so much? He can't remember the reason yet, but he can recall the sentiment, bitter and heavy and sharp. It fills him like a heavy sludge, though his mind is at least able to discern that these aren't his emotions. Or... they are - they are, but not. They're the ones that he left behind with that terrible life.]


I love you... I missed you...! [And now that he's said it, the loneliness seems to sweep over him like such a strong tidal wave that he really can't breathe for a second. He's drowning in just how alone he's been. Years and years and years.

Ah... That's why he had been angry, isn't it? Because Chizuru had forgotten him in the same way that he had forgotten Chizuru in this life. His grip becomes more desperate, knuckles white, eyes wide and panicked.]


I'm— I'm sorry- I never meant— [It's still impossible for him to thread together a proper sentence though, and he breaks off with an unpleasant cough.]
souredsweet: jackandtink (nasty as hell)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[She may be shaking, too, but Kaoru certainly is. When she holds him, the tremors only seem to increase, but he'll refuse to allow her the room necessary to pull away. He needs her to be close - he desperately needs to know that she'll forgive him for forgetting, that she won't abandon him now that something - something has gone wrong. This isn't the way it's supposed to be at all, on so many levels. He can only think to himself over and over please please please don't go.]

I— I hadn't even realized... I couldn't remember... I still— I can't remember...

[There are a lot of things that he can't remember - gaps in his memories that stand out hauntingly. ...But they're filling in. He hopes that they'll fill in the rest of the way, because he really doesn't think he can continue living if he's left like this, caught halfway between the person that he was meant to be and this new and suddenly foreign self that he still can't pinpoint coming into existence.]

I only wanted... No— I wanted... What had I wanted—?
souredsweet: breadcrusts (who nees tissues when you have curtains)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rather than abating, the heaviness within him only seems to grow. It's a sick sort of feeling, but he's also rapidly running out of energy. Remembering an entire lifetime is hard, especially when that lifetime had been less than pleasant. He's already so exhausted, but he finds the strength in him to continue clinging like Chizuru is the life raft keeping his head above water.

His voice, when he speaks again, is terribly small.]


I don't want to remember that.

[It's terrible, it's a terrible thing and he doesn't want to face what that means for him. If all of these rotten things are within him, doesn't that make him a rotten person? Sick to the core - someone that Chizuru would be better off without, but he can't let her go now. He can't. It's selfish, but he's a selfish person, isn't he?

...Maybe it would be better if he cut her loose while there's still time.]
souredsweet: jackandtink (faith is lost)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[The fingers running through his hair both soothe and agitate him, but nothing doesn't agitate him in his current state. He feels too delicate, too sensitive - everything seems to be poised to hurt him, to make him feel small and awful.

But he can't hold it against Chizuru. Not Chizuru - not his precious sister. The most important person in the world to him, who he had forgotten for so long... He doesn't think he'll be able to forgive himself for that, even though a small, vindictive corner of his dormant mind whispers to him that this is being even. He violently pushes that thought away, shaking his head against her as he pulls himself closer still. Maybe this closeness will be able to relieve some of the toxic feelings that are bubbling to the surface. He wants nothing to do with those heavy weights.]


I won't— I'll never go anywhere! I don't want to leave! Please, please, please—

[He doesn't want her to leave either, but he's so afraid. She knows - she knows, doesn't she? About this rottenness inside of him... He suddenly feels hideously ashamed.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (who nees tissues when you have curtains)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-22 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[His breath comes to him in great big terrified heaves, and he really is trying to get closer because he's suddenly struck by the paralyzing fear that he will disappear. This body may still be left behind, and there may still be a consciousness within it, but will it be his? Even with the memories of this new life he's lead, can he call that person "himself"? He isn't entirely sure, and that's what leaves him breathless. He's only just got his sister back; he can't possibly be taken away so soon.

His grip tightens further still, possessing more strength than his shaking hands would suggest.]


I do— I believe you! I couldn't— I could never hate you... I love you, I love you, I love you so much! [But that love feels wrong to him. It's heavier than it should be, more like a shackle than a warm hand to hold. He presses his face into the crook of her neck, face still wet with tears, trying and failing to calm himself.]

There's nothing to forgive you for. I love you so much... I love you, I'm sorry— I'm so sorry! [He's starting to feel a little lightheaded, his gaze drifting even further out of focus.]
souredsweet: breadcrusts (nobodies)

[personal profile] souredsweet 2014-10-23 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
[For several long moments, he keeps his face buried and obscured from the morning air, trying and failing to collect himself. It's too hard - his thoughts are too scattered, and Chizuru's panic only ends up feeding his own.]

I don't want to lose you, either!

[But he's desperately scared. The person that he was wasn't worth knowing. The person that he is now had forgotten all about her, living a charmed life in the same way that she had once before and he hates himself for it on a level that truly frightens him. Why is it so upsetting? Why had he been so angry with Chizuru for - for things entirely out of her hands? His breath catches in his throat and he makes a pitiful noise, but the power behind his voice is leaving.

More memories are surfacing. A house - a manor? More confusion, strange faces, the term designated killer. His face is almost completely without color now, with how much blood has drained from it.]


Please don't let me go...
Edited 2014-10-23 06:52 (UTC)

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