Silence In Numbers: File One, page 3
Chapter 2: Innocence
Date: Forgotten
Time: Unknown
Location: Apartment… Home… Room
Status: Lost confu- pain dark… da-pain-rk… c-c-can… nt…
“Stop what you’re…” “D-don’t, y… at you’re doing…” “…acceptable.”
Katsumi wasn’t sure if she was breathing. She certainly couldn’t move. It took all her will just to curl up on her side, her fingers gripping at the carpet as her mouth remained open in a silent gasp, her eyes clenched tight in agony. Pain wracked her body as something else assaulted her mind, images and sounds rushing through her brain. A distant voice said they might be memories but it was impossible to tell. They didn’t come one at a time but all at once, joining and mashing together in a maelstrom of confusion and a storm of rapidly shifting emotions. She never got a chance to recognize one, or even understand. Her mind couldn’t focus on any one thought.
This is… wasting the remains… would you please consider… think about our future… when is it time… see her face… unarmed… this is against… won’t be a part anymore… LISTEN TO ME… LISTEN…
Sweat made her hair stick to her cheeks and forehead and the lone thought she was able to bring up was a hope that it would end as long as she could hold on. Her nerves were on fire and her body shook under the pressure. Time had long been gone; she assumed she’d been lying there for days, but it could have been hours or maybe minutes. Ideas such as time were beyond her grasp for the moment, leaving her stuck in the tormenting darkness. She reached out for the one source of understanding she knew existed, the one comfort possible in this situation: Ayane…
Katsumi? Her sister’s voice replied quickly. You sound horrible…
Lots of… pain… Katsumi fought to organize her thoughts enough to speak over the link.
It’s hitting you now, isn’t it? Ayane’s voice was sad. Where are you?
I got to… home… my place… thankfully… It hit me… this morning? Whenever I got back… I passed out… through the door… inside. Home…
You’ve been out for twelve hours?!
I… guess so? I can’t figure out the time… It’s hard to think because… Now it’s doing that… voices thing… Memories? I can’t… remember… Think I hear…
Oh no… Okay, focus on my voice, Sumi. Only on mine. Focus on my words and ignore all the others. Katsumi shut her eyes, blocking out all but her sister’s words. Follow me back to reality…
Eventually, very eventually, it began to subside. Katsumi felt herself take a breath for what must’ve been the first time in hours, a ragged gasp. Every joint and muscle burned as she started by moving a finger, slowly releasing her death grip on the carpet. Her thoughts began to sort themselves out. Thank you, Aya… I don’t know what I’d do without you.
I’m just glad you come to me, Sumi. Take care of yourself… Don’t go anywhere tonight, okay?
Even in her current state Katsumi smiled. I won’t.
A knock came on her apartment door, but it was still distant, her vision and hearing returning but still swimming as she opened her eyes. She pressed her hand to the ground, pushing with all her willpower just to sit up, but it felt like a boulder sat on her back. Another knock came but she ignored it, sitting on her knees and crawling to the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet.
“Boss? C’mon, it says you’re home, can’t fool me.”
Katsumi recognized Kurasano’s voice but the best she could do right now was rest her forehead on her arm on the edge of the toilet, close her eyes and silently curse his timing.
“Alright, fine, I’m coming in. If you aren’t decent that’s just your own fault!”
She tried to tell him to leave and not come in but speaking was still beyond her ability. In her mind’s eye she willed the bathroom door to shut, but to her disappointment she didn’t spontaneously gain psychic powers right at that moment. Sano lived in the same building on the same floor as she did and they’d exchanged key codes for simple convenience, such as getting something the other person forgot. At this moment, though, Katsumi was regretting the decision.
The door slid open and Sano stepped through. He was surprised by the darkness of the apartment; it was 10 PM, Katsumi had obviously been home for over twelve hours, surely she’d had plenty of time for a nap. He noticed the bathroom door was open and saw her sitting inside, her head on the toilet seat, and suddenly things made more sense. “You sick, Captain? Stomach virus seems a little odd for you. Survive an explosion and get brought down by the flu?”
He expected a sharp retort and possibly a death threat, but instead Katsumi just turned her head slowly to glare over at him. Her eyes were red-ringed and bloodshot, and the color of her skin certainly wasn’t normal either. On top of that he noticed she was still in her combat suit, meaning she apparently hadn’t changed since the night before. “Whoa… Sama what the hell happened to you?”
“Captain… Sama,” she managed to croak out, her voice not completely answering her will. She sat back against the wall, closing her eyes as a dull pounding rang through her head.
“Right, sorry… Still, it looks-“
“Shut up, Sano…”
“Should I call some-“
“I’m fine.”
Samakura’s lavender eyes locked on him and Sano got a very unwelcome feeling, as if he was right on the verge of going from friend to hated enemy somehow. It felt like he was very close to losing Katsumi’s friendship forever if he did just one thing wrong. He didn’t understand it at all, didn’t have any answers, but he knew enough to shut up and not push the issue. Instead he shrugged and sat down against the wall across from her, watching her but looking down at the floor when she shot him another glare. They sat in silence like that for ten minutes. Sano kept stealing glances but Sama didn’t give him another look. She continued to stare at the floor, unmoving. If he didn’t know better he’d swear she’d forgotten he was there.
He wanted to ask what the problem was, or what was with her reactions to him, or why she was suddenly so distant and serious. Something told him he wouldn’t get an answer but a dismissal, and it wouldn’t be something he’d easily recover from. There were sensitive issues, sure, everyone had them, but what was so bad that even acknowledging it could cause hatred towards him? He’d come to ask if she wanted to get something to eat, assuming she’d be bored, but it didn’t seem like an understanding thing to do at the moment.
Then again… Samakura didn’t seem to want to talk about things right now, if ever. He shifted his thoughts away from how he’d handle normal people and adapted them to fit his unique Captain. Pretending like he hadn’t noticed anything different would probably be a good idea, after all acknowledging weakness or any problems had never been Sami's strong suit. Sano looked up, running a hand through the short crimson spikes of his hair. “So yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t shoot me for barging in uninvited, but I figured you’d be bored. Wanna let me make it up to you by ordering some food or something?”
Katsumi seemed to drift out of her thoughts and back to reality, running through his words. She gave him a look that he swore was grateful, though of course there was no way she’d ever say it. “You do owe me.”
Sano grinned. “What, for me barging in here or for you keeping me from hitting the pavement last night?”
Katsumi scoffed softly, looking back at the floor. “Barging in. It’ll take a lot more than food to pay back saving your life.” Her voice was still distant and distracted, but at least it wasn’t angry.
“You also told me to jump.” He stood up and was about to offer her a hand up before he thought better of it and pulled out his phone, leaving the room to call for food.
Katsumi sighed, psyching herself up for a few moments before managing to pull herself to her feet, focusing on balance and slowly making the way to her closet to finally change out of her mission outfit. Fortunately Sano hadn’t made any comment on that, and she trusted that he probably wouldn’t bring the situation up with anyone else, but she dreaded him asking about it in the future. It was almost guaranteed that he would eventually. Still she wished that, somehow, he’d forget about it. Maybe- if she was lucky- he’d at least think it was a one-time thing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Yee-ha!” Reno leapt out of the company helicopter that had delivered him to the small Tesoro Village, unable to wipe the grin from his face as he waved to the pilot before jogging off down the street. It was already late but he had wanted to make sure he’d have the week off guaranteed, uninterrupted. His grin widened once he reached the house he felt he never spent enough time at. Entering the door he spotted his beautiful wife Lenora, catching her in surprise and pulling her into a kiss.
The brunette woman laughed at the end of it, resting her arms on his shoulders. “You should greet me like that more often. What’s with the excitement?”
“I’m just an exciting person. And aren’t you lucky? You get me for an entire week!”
Lenora flashed him a smile. “A week? They’re actually letting you go for more than a day?”
“Better believe it. Where’s my other angel?”
“She went to bed, reluctantly, but you should wake her.”
“I was planning to either way.” Reno grinned and kissed his wife again before heading to his five-year-old daughter’s bedroom, opening the door. “Liaaaaanne…”
The little girl stirred, sitting up and rubbing her eyes before they opened fully as she suddenly raised her arms. “Daddy!”
Reno swept her up, kissing her blonde head and spinning in a circle before lowering her to look at her face, pulling off his shades and sticking them on her. “Why’re you sleeping, huh?”
Lenora stood in the doorway, shaking her head with a smile as their daughter pointed at her. “Mommy made me!”
“Mean old Mommy, huh?” He grinned, catching his wife’s look. “Uh, I mean, good girl for obeying her. But we have more important things to do right now, I’m here for a week and we’re taking advantage with some family time!”
“Yay! Do we get to play games?”
“Pff, what’s more important than games?”
Lenora raised an eyebrow. “School? Learning? Life experience?”
“Laaaaaaaaaaaame,” Reno rolled his eyes as Lianne nodded in agreement. “Games are the most important life experience. School can be done when I’m at work and not here spreading large amounts of awesome around.”
Lenora knew better than to argue and agreed with him anyway as she took a seat on the couch, soon joined by her husband and daughter. Reno set the little girl down between them as she asked about his work. “Were you a hero Daddy?”
“Ha! Was I?! I won the night! I even saved Captain Sama’s life! Lemme tell you about my skill…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
M watched with his trademark ever-present smile as his window shimmered, becoming a view screen upon which an older man with salt-and-pepper hair appeared. The man had a strong bearing that commanded respect, but that didn’t seem to affect M. He didn’t even take off his hat or glasses to greet the Chairman of his company; he just kept that same damn smile on his face. “Chairman Hackett, I’ve been waiting for you to contact me.”
“Are you dissatisfied with my punctuality, M?”
M’s smile widened. “I didn’t say anything.”
Joseph Hackett sighed. He hated dealing with this man, but it was necessary. “I understand you acquired the disc we asked for.”
“My team did, yes. I’ve sent it in for processing, research and analysis. Our next move will be determined based on its contents.”
“Your next move will be determined by me, Director.”
M responded with a grin. “Of course.”
Hackett waited for further confirmation but all he received was a continual smile. He shook his head. “Just be sure to forward all findings to me before making any decisions. Understood?”
“I wouldn’t think of undermining you, Chairman.”
“I didn’t say anything about…” Hackett grimaced. “I’m done dealing with you, Director. Get back to work and bother me when you have results.”
The screen cut off and M chuckled to himself, looking out the window. “You aren’t nearly finished dealing with me, Chairman Hackett. You’ll know when you’re finished, and you’ll be far more than annoyed when it happens.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Katsumi’s apartment was small, a lot smaller than she could probably afford with her pay, but she never seemed to mind. At the moment it was as trashy as always with clothing and junk spread over the little space there was on the floor and counters. The apartment really only had two rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom/living room, plus the small bathroom, so the only seating was a couch with a table in front of it and a TV on the other side of the table. Katsumi and Kurasano were both sprawled back on the couch with their feet on the table next to the remnants of their ordered food, watching the flickering screen in the dark.
Katsumi had changed into simple shorts and a half-shirt, getting as comfortable as possible while Kurasano had remained in his suit, though the whole suit was ruffled and uncared for now. Katsumi picked a piece of popcorn from the far-too-large bowl between them, popping it into her mouth as she pointed at the screen, watching a man in a terrible-quality horror movie running from the camera. “That guy’s so dead. That camera’s killed four people so far.”
Kurasano grabbed a handful of popcorn, shaking his head. “No one can outrun that thing. You think it’s really the camera or the cameraman?”
Katsumi shook her head. “No, it’s the camera; did you see when it was, like, slithering on the ground? A guy can’t do that.”
“So how’s it killing them without hands then? It just keeps zooming in and fades out.”
“I dunno, maybe it beats them with the lens like in that one zombie movie.”
The camera spun upside-down for the fifth time in what the director must have thought was artistic and Sano sighed in exasperation. “The hell man, you can’t even see when it does that! Fine,” he spun around, putting his legs over the back of the couch and leaning his head back to watch the TV upside-down, “I’ll just watch it like this from now on.”
Sama nodded. “Tell me what I’m missing from this viewpoint.”
“Uhh… Okay, those two people you see are just talking.”
“Ah. I can see why that needed to be upside-down.”
“Yeah, it really adds a new angle to the conversation.”
“That was just a bad joke.”
“Don’t blame me; this movie’s flipped its lid.”
Katsumi groaned.
“Seriously, I can’t make heads or tails of it.”
“That one didn’t even make sense.”
“Bite me. It’s hard to think with blood rushing to your head.”
“Then maybe you should sit right.” Katsumi grabbed his foot, flipping him forward off the couch to the floor.
“…Ow….”
“Baby.” Katsumi smirked, looking back to the TV. That lasted about five seconds before the bowl of popcorn was dumped on her head from behind.
Sano laughed as Samakura turned to look at him, but stopped at the glint in her eye. “Uh-oh…” He took off running and dived behind the bed as the bowl spun through the air and slammed into the wall where he’d just been, leaving a clear dent. “Truce, truce!”
Like he was getting off that easily.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ayane lay in her hospital bed, her room dark and silent aside from the low background noise of the air conditioner. She was on her side, curled up a bit with her eyes closed and her head pressed into the pillow, her arm around the stuffed plushy – a “moogle” from the Final Fantasy video game series - that Katsumi had gotten her a long time ago. She was smiling, unable to prevent the expression from widening as she listened to the humming in her head. It was a soft song – even a sad song – but one that she had heard thousands of times before, one that she just couldn’t feel sad during.
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hm hm hmhmm… Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hm hm hmhmm-mmm… Ahh, ahh, ahh, ah, ah, ah ah-ah-ahhhh…
Ayane sighed softly, continuing to smile as she hugged her stuffed moogle tighter. Your voice is prettier now…
Mmm. So it wasn’t pretty when we were younger? Katsumi responded in an amused tone.
It was… It’s just prettier now. I bet if you actually sang it’d be beautiful.
I can try, next time I see you. But I only do it for you – you know that.
Ayane smiled. I know. My lullaby is enough.
Do you know you’re thirty-one? Katsumi’s chuckle reached Ayane. Are you ever going to grow out of wanting me to sing you to sleep?
Never, Ayane answered with conviction. It’s your job.
I’m not complaining. I love anything I get to do for my baby sister, Katsumi responded in an overly-adoring tone that made Ayane’s face nearly split in a grin.
Sumi…
Yes?
I wish you were here.
There was a pause for a few moments.
…So do I. Nights apart still haven’t gotten any easier.
Ayane could hear the regret in Katsumi’s voice, and she saddened. Sorry… I didn’t mean to make you sad, I just… I wish I was with you right now. It doesn’t feel right.
Good.
Huh?
It shouldn’t feel right. It’s not right. And it’s not normal, either – or permanent. Once you’re better we’ll go back to normal, and right. Before too long I’ll be back to singing you to sleep in person.
Ayane opened her eyes. Promise?
I promise. I hate… You know I hate this. I only get to see you twice a week usually, that’s not… Katsumi’s frustration was evident, and it helped Ayane as she listened. That’s not good, or… Twice! Once every three days, it should be every day! In a perfect world I’d never even leave…
Ayane smiled – only her sister would say things like that and mean every word. Then I hope we get a perfect world. But… Until then… I’ll take as much time with you as I can get.
